Posts on My Perspective

Crystallizing Thinking

Sat, 13 Jan 2018 21:21:20 +0000

Conversation often crystallizes my own thinking far more effectively than solitary reflection.

No Such Thing As Talkers Block

Thu, 11 Jan 2018 22:44:24 +0000

No one ever gets talker’s block. No one wakes up in the morning, discovers he has nothing to say and sits quietly, for days or weeks, until the muse hits, until the moment is right, until all the craziness in his life has died down.

If You Want Something New

Wed, 10 Jan 2018 01:03:09 +0000

If you want something in life that you have never had, you will have to do something that you have never done.

Scientists and Authority

Thu, 21 Dec 2017 00:00:00 +0000

…treating scientists as an authority is naive. The only authority is the facts.

Trying a bit of honey

Sat, 11 Nov 2017 00:00:00 +0000

So i ran across a browser plug-in named Honey today. They claim to be able to find better deals on Amazon than what the site promotes as the lowest price. The plugin tool looks at all of the listings for the item, totals up the price along with sales tax and shipping, and then presents a link in the page to the cheapest version that it found. I’ll give it a shot to see if it saves me as much as others claim it has for them.

She Blinded Me With Science!

Sat, 28 Oct 2017 00:00:00 +0000

How To Get Rid of an Earworm

She Blinded Me With Science!

Lately, the kids have been fixated on a the song from The Clash – Should I Stay or Should I Go? It got me thinking about popular songs from the 80’s and other genres of music besides American Punk and Psychobilly. One of those genres that they have not been exposed to very much was Technopop. I thought it would be fun to introduce them to this subgenre by way of a fun and whimsical number from Thomas Dolby – She Blinded Me With Science! It turns out that it was a very good replacement. Time will tell if I’ll hear the kids yelling out “Science!” instead of constantly asking me if they should stay or go.

Complex Systems and Their Origins

Sun, 25 Sep 2016 19:56:50 +0000

A complex system that works is invariably found to have evolved from a simple system that works.

What I’m Currently listening to

Wed, 17 Dec 2008 00:00:00 +0000

BarlowGirl – Home for Christmas

Home For Christmas - BarlowGir…

Scotch Tape emits X-Rays: film at 11 « Watts Up With That?

Thu, 23 Oct 2008 12:12:00 +0000

This just boggles the mind. What’s next? Silly Putty allowing us to image distant galaxies?

Scotch Tape emits X-Rays: film at 11 « Watts Up With That?

Can This Watchdog Sniff Media Bias? - NYTimes.com

Thu, 16 Oct 2008 11:32:00 +0000

Article about spinspotter.com and their Spinoculars tool that allows people to report bias in articles and offer corrections that can be voted on. It has potential.

Can This Watchdog Sniff Media Bias? - NYTimes.com

Neat Binary Adding Machine

Wed, 17 Sep 2008 17:41:00 +0000

And it’s done with marbles!

Flora and Fauna 3

Tue, 16 Sep 2008 02:15:00 +0000

I think these were called Snowball plants.
This flower had a butterfly on it.

Flora and Fauna 4

Tue, 16 Sep 2008 02:15:00 +0000

Flora and Fauna 2

Tue, 16 Sep 2008 02:13:00 +0000

A Weeping Willow just outside the garden.
These tiny, unimpressive-looking flowers were incredibly fragrant.
A very large Crate Myrtle.

???

Flora and Fauna at The Hermitage

Tue, 16 Sep 2008 02:10:00 +0000

Here is an interesting, gnarled old tree.
The tree was in bloom.
Here’s another shot of it.
Mary thought these trees looked interesting.

Cicada

Mon, 08 Sep 2008 02:04:00 +0000

Here’s a cicada shell I found in the backyard over the weekend while attempting to remove wild black raspberry vines. It was very hard to get the camera to focus on the cicada, rather than the wall in the background. I finally had to put my hand immediately behind it and get the camera to focus on it.

Google Chrome Crashes on Flash-based Weather Map

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 20:01:00 +0000

Well it didn’t take long to wipe the shiny off of the Chrome. When Google said that they had developed new ways to automate user actions in the browser, and that they had tested it on all of the top sites, I actually believed them. I should have seen their caveat that they couldn’t fill out forms as a warning sign.

What do you think a common user action is for people when there are three active tropical storms in the Atlantic? Why, they go to weather.com and view an animated map. Doesn’t it strike you as exceedingly strange that Google’s testing didn’t account for something that … normal?

Just Plain Ridiculous: UC System discriminates against Christian applicants

Wed, 02 May 2007 20:37:00 +0000

A physics textbook was considered invalid for meeting core requirements solely because each chapter of the book included a single bible verse at the beginning of the chapter. ACSI was told that if the book did not contain these verses, it would be acceptable. A lawsuit was filed, and the case is scheduled for trial later this year.

Is green tea good for arthritis sufferers?

Mon, 30 Apr 2007 16:32:00 +0000

A new study (I don’t trust studies!) from the University of Michigan Health System (never heard of them before) suggests (boy, that’s a real weasel word) that a compound in green tea (so … not the tea itself, but a small part of it) may (another weasel word) provide therapeutic benefits to people with rheumatoid arthritis (what about other types?. Oh well. I may as well try it.

Windows Live Writer

Mon, 14 Aug 2006 15:47:00 +0000

Well, Microsoft has finally gone and created a (free) replacement for FrontPage that doesn’t consist of adding a “Publish to Blog” button in a Word toolbar. Windows Live Writer is a lean and mean tool that makes blogging easy without a huge executable. I’ve been able to test it using both MSN Spaces and blogspot. It’s in Beta right now, so give it a shot.

Automatically Edit Commercials in Media Center with VideoReDo

Fri, 27 Jan 2006 18:18:00 +0000

This sounds wonderful! I’ve been using Nero Vision, and was wondering if this is better. When I tried it out, it detected commercials OK, and I loved the tools for rocking back and forth between frames. What stinks is that it limits the trial version not only to 14 days, but also to 30 minutes. That is not enough time to confirm if it gets the audio out of sync with the clip or not.

The future of HTML, Part 2: XHTML 2.0

Fri, 27 Jan 2006 17:34:00 +0000

I’m beginning to hear the first rumblings of XHTML 2.0 …

Boeing Talking About Bigger 787 Jetliner

Wed, 21 Dec 2005 13:38:00 +0000

The 787 is a real hit with airlines, which is bad news for Airbus and their A350. While producing a hypothetical 787-10, which could carry more passengers than the 787-9, might cannibalize the market for the 777-200ER, it allows airlines to lower their costs by maintaining fewer models in their fleet and to keep fuel costs down since the 787 is lighter and more efficient than the 777 line.

Official Google Blog: Setting trends

Wed, 21 Dec 2005 13:18:00 +0000

Now this is cool, and a little scary. Google allows you to see your search terms and trends (if you have Personalized Search turned on). While the terms and trends forme do not yet contain enough information to be useful, the graphs showing WHEN I search certainly do!

NTSB: Plane Crashed After Wing Fell Off

Wed, 21 Dec 2005 13:08:00 +0000

This still sounds really strange to me. Wings don’t normally just fall off, especially since aircraft are manually inspected before every flight. I’m really curious about this one, and will keep looking for updated information.

Support for the US is Surging in Muslim Nations

Tue, 20 Dec 2005 02:45:00 +0000

What? You mean that our support for Israel wasn’t the cause of our low popularity in the Muslim World? You mean it won’t take centuries to reverse? Hmm. Maybe somebody in the current administration knows what they’re doing, you think?

Bo Bice Bitten by RMA Curse

Tue, 20 Dec 2005 02:17:00 +0000

Is Bo Bice really more popular than to Goo Goo Dolls? And is Ashlee Simpson more popular than Bo Bice? What is this world coming to?

Local Weather Forecast for Kennesaw, GA (30144) - weather.com

Mon, 19 Dec 2005 21:50:00 +0000

C’mon, I want SNOW for Christmas!

Pluto Probe Heads to Launch Pad

Mon, 19 Dec 2005 21:44:00 +0000

Finally we’ll learn more about Pluto! Too bad I’ll be a decade older when we start getting data back. It’s amazing that they can even take photos and gather data when hurtling past the planet at 30,000 mph!

Now THIS is what I need

Fri, 21 Oct 2005 12:45:00 +0000

WRTSL54GS Wireless-G Media Storage Link Router with SpeedBooster

First peek at the Linksys WRTSL54GS WiFi media router - Engadget - www.engadget.com

I’ve been wanting a network-attached storage device, but the standalone systems are too pricey. By attaching storage to the router, it’s always on (without having to leave a host computer always running), and it’s cheap at $100.

It had to happen eventually ...

Tue, 08 Feb 2005 17:16:00 +0000

When you perform a task so often that it becomes second-nature to you, when your muscle memory allows you to do something without consciously thinking about it or planning it out, this is the result.