Monthly Archives: August 2007

Book Review: Folk of the Fringe

Posted by on August 30, 2007 2 comments

When I see a new Orson Scott Card book pop-up on Audible.com, I snatch it up and give it a listen. So when Folk of the Fringe came up, I recognized it as a suggestion from my brother and was rather excited about it.

Folk of the Fringe is actually a collection of themed short stories similar to The Worthing Saga. They all take place in a post-world-war-three era where nuclear and biological weapons have destroyed a majority of the United States population. All infrastructure is gone along with communication and government. Those who have survived have to create their own government and salvage the old infrastructure.

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Terraform Mars?

Posted by on August 27, 2007 1 comment

Settlement on a Terraformed MarsRecently, a well know scientist suggested that Mars is a perfect terraforming target. Lowell Wood, a noted physicist and a former employee of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory said, “I suggest that the near-term outlook is that Mars will be terraformed.”

Notice that he didn’t say eventually or someday. He said “near-term.” He explains that he believes the terraforming could be seriously underway by the middle of this century and completed by the end of the 21st century. Interestingly, he claims that humans have been terraforming Earth for centuries (see the definition of terraforming linked above for more understanding). Of course this is on a much smaller scale as Earth is already habitable.

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Design your dream home — online

Posted by on August 25, 2007 1 comment

Floorplanner.com exampleDesigning your own home just got a lot easier. Suite75 (from the Netherlands) has created a fantastic application which allows you to not only create your own floorplan, but also design what goes inside.

Buying a new home, rearranging your room, or moving into a new office? You can save time and have more fun if you lay out your ideas ahead of time.

And the coolest part, it’s free!

Well, it’s free for the average home user. If you want to use it professionally, then of course, there is cost involved. Go ahead, try it out and if you like it, sign up for a free account.

Note: Although it may sound like it, they aren’t paying me, I just though it was cool.

New Google Earth (GoogleSky?)

Posted by on August 24, 2007 No comments

As you may recall, I wrote about Celestia a while back. Celestia just got some serious competition. The new version of Google Earth, 4.2, will include a feature many have dubbed “Google Sky.” And if you haven’t guessed it from the name, Google Earth can be “turned around” to show you the stars. And it works in a similar fashion to Google Earth. Just zoom into a location in the sky and any high resolution images that are available will be displayed.

Nebulae, stars, planets and constellations can all be searched. Some pretty amazing images can be seen. That being said, Celestia is still easier to navigate and more complete when it comes to tracking and viewing celestial bodies. But the integration into Google Earth and the use of high resolution images will make “Google Sky” far more popular. And I’m sure Google will continue to improve the navigation and searching in Google Sky.

So if you are willing to install a beta version, checkout the new Google Earth. There are still a few glitches with the beta, but it’s very usable.

For more information on the new features in 4.2, checkout the Ogle Earth posting.

Eight-million-year-old bug — thawed and alive

Posted by on August 9, 2007 3 comments

Does anyone else feel a little uncomfortable about unleashing eight-million-year-old bugs into our current ecosystem?

This is nothing to worry about, say experts, because the process has been going on for billions of years and the bugs are unlikely to cause human disease.

Still seems a little risky to be doing something like that on purpose.

Murphy vs Bonds — Dale takes the gloves off

Posted by on August 9, 2007 3 comments

Dale Murphy recently fired out at Barry Bonds for his “unknowingly” taking performance enhancing drugs.  I was shocked at the public display of, well, hatred he has toward Bonds.

“…  I’ve heard the last few weeks, that that he’s being treated unfairly. You know, life just usually isn’t like that. You don’t usually get treated unfairly. You usually get what you deserve. This is what Barry deserves. He’s a hard guy to like. He’s a hard teammate to have and, you know, he’s set a terrible example for our kids.”

And that’s from a relatively respectable source.

And he’s right!  Here’s someone who cheated (regardless of whether it was explicitly against the rules or not, the spirit of the rules were breached), and is being rewarded with a very coveted record in a major US sport… “America’s Past Time.”  And we honor him.  That’s the “American Way.”

Book Review: Team of Rivals

Posted by on August 8, 2007 2 comments

Taking the advise advice of my brother (which I usually ignore), I pulled “Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln” from Audible.com and started listening. Doris Kearns Goodwin does a masterful job of portraying Lincoln with all his goodness and still showing some of his weaknesses. Her inclusion of records and quotes from family, friends, colleges and rivals highlights important aspects of Lincolns life in the Presidency.

The book begins with the Republican National convention of 1860 when Lincoln was seen as a 3rd or 4th choice as the Republican nomination. He somehow (due to his political maneuvering) won the nomination and eventually the Presidency. After winning the election, Lincoln invited several of his rivals from the Republican convention to be part of his Cabinet, most prominently William H Seward, Edwin M Stanton and Salmon P Chase. This move is now viewed by political historians as one of the reasons he was so successful. He united the factions of the party (which was still in it’s infancy) by bringing the leaders of each of the factions into the cabinet.

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McDonald's wrapper improves taste

Posted by on August 8, 2007 No comments

A recent study highlighted the influence of marketing on children by taste testing food wrapped in McDonald’s food wrappers.

The study had youngsters sample identical McDonald’s foods in name-brand and unmarked wrappers. The unmarked foods always lost the taste test.

Is this something we need to start looking at regulating more? Should advertising by junk/fast food companies be regulated or even banned (similar to smoking advertising on TV/Radio)?

Study author Dr. Tom Robinson said the kids’ perception of taste was “physically altered by the branding.” The Stanford University researcher said it was remarkable how children so young were already so influenced by advertising.

Very interesting….

{democracy:4}

iPhone Review

Posted by on August 1, 2007 1 comment

iPhoneAs I mentioned before, I succumbed to the seduction that is the Apple iPhone. Two coworkers purchased it the day it was released and I promptly began drooling over the device. The beauty of the screen and the ease of the interface lured me to it. I couldn’t help myself and visited the AT&T store the following Saturday.

Of course, my wife wanted one as well, but that meant $500 x 2. Ouch! So we decided that I would get one and if she really liked it and felt she still wanted one, we could get her one later.

I came home and promptly connected it to iTunes to activate. The activation process was painless and within 10-15 minutes (mostly downloading the new version of iTunes) I was up and running with my new iPhone.

That was about 3 weeks ago and so I’ve had plenty of time to try it out. Here’s my evaluation:

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