Pasta Night!

Tip of the hat to reader Simon M.:

Shopping in Texas...

Forwarded to me by my lovely bride:




Debbie would look just like one of those guys in the background...

The Contract that Changed Everything...

The fascinating story of some Chinese farmers who were so fed up with Communism that they risked their lives to enter into a capitalist experiment.  They were found out, and thought they were doomed – but then the government decided to make them a model for economic reforms...

Yes, I know it's from NPR.  For your own safety, don't venture into the other parts of the site without protective gear.  Or alcohol...

The Rise and Fall of Personal Computing...

Here's a fascinating chart by Horace Dediu, showing sales of various kinds of personal computers.  While looking at this, keep in mind that the vertical scale is logarithmic – sales are not leveling off.  The ramp for the handheld devices is astonishing – we knew that, but this chart really brings that fact home...

The Bark Side...

Just in case you're one of the four people who hasn't already seen this:

Glory Bush...

AKA Tibouchina heteromalla.  From BPotD, of course.  They're on a wildflower roll...

Look What We're Creating...

 My mom sent me this clip from “Judge Judy” (apparently some kind of TV show).  I don't know anything about this show, but it certainly doesn't look like any courtroom I've ever seen.  The clip shows her interviewing a defendant who provides us with a beautiful, crystalized view of what our welfare state creates: people with a clear belief in their entitlement to our money.  It's infuriating.



The backstory to this is the assertion (in the email my mom forwarded to me and on numerous web sites) that CBS removed this video from the web when requested by (variously attributed) politicians.  I've been unable to verify that.  Also my mom wondered whether Judge Judy actually sent the tape to Congress, as she promised on the video.  Whether she did, I believe, is irrelevant – something as prosaic as an observable fact is not going to change the attitude of any Congresscritters...

Oh, Never Mind...

Reader Jim M. writes:

I am really concerned about North Korea's appointment of the "dear leader", Kim Jung Ill's youngest son to be the new leader of North Korea -- a nuclear power!

After all, Kim Jung Un (pronounced Kim's young-un?) had NO military experience whatsoever before daddy made him a four-star general in the military. This is a snot-nose twerp who has never accomplished anything in his life that would even come close to military leadership: he hasn't even so much as led a cub scout troop, coached a sports team or commanded a military platoon...  So, setting that aside, next they make him the "beloved leader" of the country. Terrific!!!

Oh, crap! I'm sorry. I just remembered that we did the same thing here. We took a community organizer who has never worn a uniform and made him Commander-in-Chief; a guy who has never led anything more than an ACORN demonstration and made him the leader of this country. I'm sorry I brought this up, never mind.

Oh, This Looks So Cold!

Via my mom, this collection of ice sculptures from Fairbanks, Alaska.  Brrr!

Food Follies...

Someone in the kitchen has way too much time on their hands!  Via reader Simi L., a whole collection of such things...

Leucadendron discolor...

AKA the Piketberg conebush.  Known to me as “beautiful”.  From BPotD, of course...

This Is How a Society Commits Suicide...

Selected more or less at random from the new Washingon, D.C. regulations (PDF) covering (amongst other things) rat exterminators:

(i) A wildlife control services provider shall make every reasonable effort to preserve family units using humane eviction or displacement and reunion strategies and shall not knowingly abandon dependent young wildlife in a structure.
(j) Wildlife shall not be kept in captivity longer than 36 hours unless specifically
authorized by the Department or unless reunion attempts are being employed. In the case of attempted reunion, a wildlife control services provider may hold wildlife in captivity for up to 72 hours.
(k) Captured wildlife shall be transported in covered, secure containers in such a way as to:

      (1) Minimize stress to the animal and its exposure to the elements by covering
the trap or vehicle with appropriate material;
      (2) Ensure that the covering is of such material that the animal has an adequate
supply of air to prevent overheating; and
      (3) Minimize potential hazards to the general public.

(l) A wildlife control services provider shall not use sticky or glue traps to control any wildlife.

The city is now obligated to enforce these new regulations.  That means a small army of unionized inspectors and (given that we're talking about Washingon, D.C.) armed enforcement officers.  This, in a city where more than half the kids drop out of high school.  When the priorities of a society favor the rats over its own young, you know the end is near (for the society, not the rats)...

Laugh or Cry, Your Choice...

Also from Simon M., this little story about the evolution of mathematics education:

I purchased a burger at Burger King for $1.58. The counter girl took my $2 and I was digging for my change when I pulled 8 cents from my pocket and gave it to her. She stood there, holding the nickel and 3 pennies, while looking at the screen on her register. I sensed her discomfort and tried to tell her to just give me two quarters, but she hailed the manager for help. While he tried to explain the transaction to her, she stood there and cried.. Why do I tell you this? Because of the evolution in teaching math since the 1950s:

1. Teaching Math In 1950s (when I was in school)

A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is 4/5 of the price. What is his profit ?

2. Teaching Math In 1960s

A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is 4/5 of the price, or $80. What is his profit?

3. Teaching Math In 1970s

A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is $80. Did he make a profit ?

4. Teaching Math In 1980s

A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is $80 and his profit is $20. Your assignment: Underline the number 20.

5. Teaching Math In 1990s

A logger cuts down a beautiful forest because he is selfish and inconsiderate and cares nothing for the habitat of animals or the preservation of our woodlands. He does this so he can make a profit of $20. What do you think of this way of making a living? Topic for class participation after answering the question: How did the birds and squirrels feel as the logger cut down their homes? (There are no wrong answers, and if you feel like crying, it's ok).

6. Teaching Math In 2011

Un hachero vende una carretada de maderapara $100. El costo de la producciones es $80. Cuanto dinero ha hecho?

ANSWER: His profit was $375,000 because his logging business is just a front for his marijuana farm.

I believe I've met the counter girl described in the first paragraph – I've had a very similar experience.

Israeli Security Development...

Reader Simon M. passed this along:

TEL AVIV, Israel The Israelis are developing an airport security device that eliminates the privacy concerns that come with full-body scanners. It's an armored booth you step into that will not X-ray you, but will detonate any explosive device you may have on your person.

Israel sees this as a win-win situation for everyone, with none of this crap about racial profiling. It will also eliminate the costs of long and expensive trials.

You're in the airport terminal and you hear a muffled explosion. Shortly thereafter, an announcement: Attention to all standby passengers, El Al is proud to announce a seat available on flight 670 to London. Shalom!

AGW Proponent Loses a Bet...

In 2008, Dr. James Annan (a prominent anthropogenic global warming proponent) made a £100 (about $150) bet with Dr. David Whitehouse (a skeptic) that by the end of 2011 there will have been a new record for warming.

There was no new record set.  Dr. Whitehouse won...

“Typing” at 255 WPM...

Court reporters and close-captioners have been “typing” at the high rates of speech (up to 255 words per minute) for a long time.  They aren't really typing in the sense we normally mean it; instead they are recording the sounds of speech – the phonemes – using a special stenography machine (basically, a typewriter for phonemes).  Long ago stenographers developed a way of writing these sounds by hand.  In both cases, the end result is basically a list of sounds, which the stenographer must then manually convert to typed text (at normal typing speeds!).

In the late 1970s, several companies developed computer-based systems that sped this process up enormously by automating that last step of converting the list of sounds into typed text.  One of these companies (Xscribe) was based in San Diego, and about a million years ago, I worked for them as a hardware and software engineer.  It was a very interesting place to work at the time, as they were pushing the envelope on what you could do with a microcomputer.

Today there's very little trace remaining of Xscribe.  The company struggled on into the '90s, went public, but then seems to have disappeared.  Google the name and you can find people selling spare parts (apparently those systems are still being used!), but that's about it.  The domain name xscribe.com now shows the page for Stenograph Corporation, who was Xscribe's main competitor in the period I was there ('81 to '82).  I found conflicting news stories about possible acquisition of Xscribe by Stenograph or its parent company Quixote.  In any case, Xscribe appears to have failed in the end.

Now there's an open source program that does basically the same thing that Xscribe's (very expensive) hardware and software did.  It uses a $45 gaming keyboard as its input device, a normal PC, and the free open-source software package named Plover...

Crow – Sledding!

Check out this awesome crow (and read more about it):

The Ponder...

Via my mom (click to enlarge)...

First It Went Up...

...and now it's going to come down – but nobody really seems to know where...

TIOBE Index Time...

The annual index of programming langauge popularity (measured by lines of code produced) is out.  Java and C both still dominate, but are declining (as percentage share) slowly.  Objective-C (Apple's language of choice) is still climbing fast.  There are the usual surprises down in the mud (Ada, anyone?). 

After last year's index came out, a colleague who was aware of my gray beard and somewhat odd background asked me how many of the languages here I had programmed in.  I never went back and looked it up, but here's the answer for this year's list: I've used 9 of those languages enough to call myself “proficient” in them, and there are 5 more that I've done at least one project in.  There are several languages I've done a lot of programming in that aren't on this list at all: Forth (go ahead, laugh!) and a dozen or so assembly languages (most especially Z80)...