Language Lament

In this article, Wired's "The Luddite" column takes yet another look at the impact of the IM, e-mail, and blog phenomena on the English language. It links to the broadly-traveled recent revelation that people can't properly discern the intended tone of an e-mail, even though they think that they can.

I hail from the school that separates "formal language" from "informal language," and as a result tend to produce a broad range of linguistic output in the course of my daily life. This blog, for instance, is written in an informal and conversational style that would not necessarily be appropriate in the technical documentation that I formerly wrote (Or any "professional" communication, for that matter. e.g. Corporate e-mail). Further, there is a notable difference between my speech during an evening with friends and during a presentation or interview. In most situations, I choose to maintain mostly-proper grammar and syntax. I can attribute this behavior to the following facts: I'm a reasonably proficient typist, and I actually learned the rules in the first place. That doesn't mean that I don't bend to the subculture, convenience, temporal economy, and even anti-establishmentarian aspects of "IM speak" in my actual instant messages...

In other news, it appears we don't need an excuse to surf the 'net anymore, we can do it "just 'cuz."

Implants for Your Significant Other?

From the was that "commitment" or "should be committed" department:

No, I'm not talking about silicone or saline implants (or any other form of "enhancement"), just RFID chips. That's right, if these crazy Canadians are to be trusted, the keys to one's heart and home can now be replaced by a tiny implantable RFID tag. Needless to say, there are some serious privacy issues associated with this type of implantable tag.

Table-top Neutron Generator

See the press release from RPI related to the paper that verifies, and -- in the humble opinion of the Institute -- "significantly enhances" the crystal-based table-top fusion experiment from UCLA (neutron generation is seen as evidence that fusion occurred). Check out the bold part of the quote below -- it kinda makes you smile, or just want to run an experiment with a bazillion crystals.

A research team led by Seth Putterman, professor of physics at UCLA, reported on a similar apparatus in 2005, but two important features distinguish the new device: “Our device uses two crystals instead of one, which doubles the acceleration potential,” says Jeffrey Geuther, a graduate student in nuclear engineering at Rensselaer and lead author of the paper. “And our setup does not require cooling the crystals to cryogenic temperatures — an important step that reduces both the complexity and the cost of the equipment.”

Debate rages regarding whether 1980's "cold fusion" afficionados can safely resurrect their old baseball caps and coffee mugs. However, the UCLA and RPI techniques are not -- I repeat, not -- useful for power generation. Basically, fusion is easy; "getting out more energy than you put in," however, continues to make the old hype remain a pipe dream.

Feeding Time for Two Pointless Obsessions

I stumbled across another sudoku article focused on logic and computation. I also managed to ensure that I won't have to buy another book of these crack-esque puzzles in the foreseeable future. (Aside: It's "Book 1," so of course the puzzles are "All New," at least to this publisher...) "How did a certified addict manage to cut off a supply?" you ask. Simple, actually - I found a better dealer. Books don't keep record times for you, always start off with puzzles that are entirely too easy for anyone that has any sudoku experience, and -- horror! -- require carrying a pencil. Besides, I needed another justification for the existence of my Pocket PC.

Here's some coverage of not-quite-as-alternative bicycle designs that place the cranks further forward than on a traditional bike, but maintain a layout that is somewhat more in line with the traditional designs than that of full-blown recumbents. If they can achieve price parity with the higher-volume traditional bikes, these designs could actually start to sell. One of these years, I may deliver a dissertation on bicycle frame geometry and its effects on the stability, handling characteristics, and comfort. Of course, that would require more research -- so don't hold your breath.

Randy Advice from the British NHS

The British National Health service has some free advice on their web page for all of their citizenry. (Note to the repressed or too-easily-offended: "move along, nothing to see here...")

Anyhow, get a leg up on the competition with these handy tips and exercise suggestions, straight from the NHS (via google cache, due to the ominous footer on the posts themselves). Something tells me that this wouldn't go over too well with the Bush administration... Oh, and by the way, Fourteen February has different significance in the UK, too -- at least this year. Cupid would be proud.

Cool Optics | Search

There are recent stories about Nike's contact lenses and PixelOptics' eyeglasses that are both interesting, but take different approaches to vision enhancement. Maybe one day we can all qualify to be pilots.

On the search engine subpoena front, Lore Sjöberg at Wired has some tongue-in-cheek advice on how to justify the "real motivation" behind some of your questionable searches. Personally, I just use the "I was making sure nobody had my band name / album title" defense -- it works in fairly broad circumstances -- e.g. the chart-topping hit Felinephilia by The Uranium Enrichment Process.

Where Were Those Pictures Taken?

So, I got a shiny new personal Google Maps API key and am starting to mess around with it, showing the knowledge gained from my first lesson. It provides location markers that pop up links to the corresponding photo galleries. This is not a full-blown geocoding extravaganza; it is meant to give some overall context to where each set of pictures were taken, not a precise location for any particular image...

Maybe I'll go nuts and do that for some future trip, I cant' really say. There are some pretty cool applications that make it easier, and I do have a GPS receiver now. I also have a handy-dandy cheat-sheet that provides a few plausible starting points for the non-code-writers, like me.

Intel Macintosh Fanfare and FUD

First, the challenge gets a nominal financial incentive: Make Windows XP and OS X dual-boot on an Intel-based Mac. Why, to win fame across the whole internet, and get some cash, to boot (ba-dum-dun)... The contest site unfortunately links to the completely uninformed Nakfull Propoganda blog posting, wherein the author thought he had accomplished something profound but hadn't really done much of diddly-squat (unless telling the EFI bootloader to load the vanilla sample EFI applications that Intel makes available -- instead of the actual OS kernel bootstrapping routine -- is somehow useful). At least NetCraft lends credence to the "powered by OS X" logos that are prominently displayed on the blog site. The only good content on this page is all from the guy that writes the Apple Intel FAQ, who is WAAAAAAAAAYYY more patient with the ignorati than I.

Second, the FUD-mongering: This eWeek article is so chock full of FUD, it makes a cynic smile...
Quote:

"Attackers have been focused on the [Intel] x86 for over a decade. Macintosh will have a lot more exposure than when it was on PowerPC," said Oliver Friedrichs, a senior manager at Symantec Corp. Security Response... There are many more malicious hackers who understand the x86 architecture in-depth... And attackers have access to hundreds of documents and examples of how to exploit common vulnerabilities on x86, whereas exploits for PowerPC are far fewer, Friedrichs said.

Analysis:
Norton Antivirus for Macintosh version 10.1 (*NEW* *IMPROVED* *Now with Intel-based Mac support*) was released on 25 Jan 2006. The eWeek article with the above choice quotes was published on 26 Jan 2006. Coincidence? Or, should the first page of the article simply state the following: Symantec manager believes that he can increase revenue by scaring folks into NAV/Mac software licenses and subscriptions with every new Intel-based iMac or MacBookPro that is sold. The article tries to recover and/or regain credibility by quoting a couple of "security researchers," including one that is critical of some OS X coding practices. I am not a virus writer (IANAVW?), but it seems to me that the underlying hardware architecture has almost diddly-squat to do with most of the types of exploits that are seen in the wild today. Heck, most of the payloads manipulate files in the file system -- not exactly the type of thing that requires digging out some rainbow-covered books on Intel processor/chipset internals or your trusty old-school 1980s Intel 8086 assembly programming manual. In fact, I'd bet that you probably don't even need to read this Cross Intel Architecture Development Tool write-up.

All your bike are belong to us

Read this Business Week article to learn about the UCI rules, and why the general "look and feel" of the common bicycle isn't likely to change any time soon. Economics are the primary justification for why recumbents, velomobiles, and other non-traditional HPVs aren't terribly likely to escape from niche status. The good news is that the component groups keep getting cheaper and better.

For an object lesson in supply-and-demand, note the huge disparities between the prices of road bikes and mountain bikes from your traditional vendors. The technology differences don't justify the prices, so don't even try to convince me that mid-range and high-end MTB parts are any heavier or perform any more poorly than their road counterparts.

"Intelligent Design" Dismissed by Vatican

Just about everybody picked up this story last week. An article by Fiorino Facchini, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Bologna* was published in L’Osservatore Romano, the newspaper of the Vatican. The article supports Judge John E. Jones’ ruling in the Dover case (PDF), and states that intelligent design is not science. Although the article does not convey the official position of the Catholic Church, the Vatican newspaper does not print articles that contradict church positions. Here's a quote translated from the actual article:

“If the model presented by Darwin is not considered sufficient, one should search for another. But it is not correct from a methodological point of view to stray from the field of science while pretending to do science. It only creates confusion between the scientific plane and those that are philosophical or religious.”

*: For you non-Italians, the University is not affiliated with Oscar Mayer.

Now, imagine a collaborative project in Sandwich, IL between the University of Bologna and the University of Texas at Austin's Pickle Research Campus...

Three and a Half Trillion Sudoku Puzzles

C|Net news.com has a nice column that points to this American Scientist article about the game of Sudoku. The article begins with a nice diatribe about the fact that mathematics is more than arithmetic, and continues on to expose (page 4) the following:

...9 x 9 Latin squares were not enumerated until 1975; the tally is 5,524,751,496,156,892,842,531,225,600... The order-3 Sudoku must be a subset of these squares. They were counted in June 2005... 6,670,903,752,021,072,936,960...

{Skip Ahead a Bit, Brother}

When all these symmetries are taken into account, the number of essentially different Sudoku patterns is reduced substantially. In the case of the order-2 Sudoku, it turns out there are actually only two distinct grids! All the rest of the 288 patterns can all be generated from these two by applying various symmetry operations. In the order-3 case, the reduction is also dramatic, although it still leaves an impressive number of genuinely different solutions: 3,546,146,300,288...

Yellowstone Gallery - Updated

UPDATED: Starting using the Coppermine Photo Gallery -- it's a PHP/MySQL online photo gallery application. Anyhow, converting the Yellowstone Gallery to use this tool, and updating the URL to: http://lonewolf-digital.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=1

Lawsuit-resistant Table Saw for Schools

This one is actually kinda cool, or at least would be cool in a "cost is no object" world. The blogosphere is proud to bring you news of the SawStop, the world's first flesh-averse table saw. It is touted as being capable of saving your digits (or your weiner) by reacting to a change in conductivity in under 5 ms. Guess that makes it the first documented case of digit-all (go ahead, groan -- I know you want to) shop technology; donate one to your school now -- only $2799... Or, just get the Sears Craftsman Professional 10-inch table saw for $999.99, and use the remaining $1800 to cover your medical deductables and/or legal expenses.

Convergence for the sake of convergence?

From the probably-even-dumber-than-it-looks department comes this Sony mouse / VOIP flip-phone (JDM news courtesy of OhGizmo!). As a habitual headset user (a practice which allows me to continue the manipulation of my cursor via keyboard and/or mouse, despite using the phone or my IM's voice chat), I'm at a loss to understand the utility of this product. Although they do occur sometimes, the percentage of phone conversations that require my undivided attention is generally quite low. (I wish some of the oblivious automotive cell-squakers out there behaved as if they shared that sentiment.)

I think it would be really evil, however, to force a Technical Support center to use these things... "Umm, hang on, I (uhh) need to put you on hold so I can use my (uhh) mouse to look up some information for you..."

National Champions

The University of Texas Longhorns won the Rose Bowl 41-38 with a dramatic come-from-behind victory -- scoring twice in the final six and a half minutes to overcome a 12-point lead by the University of Southern California Trojans. Texas quarterback Vince Young was outstanding -- completing 75% of his passes and rushing for 200 yards, including 8 for the winning touchdown on 4th-down-and-5 when the game was on the line.

UT was well represented by fans attending the Rose Bowl; the Longhorn faithful occupied somewhere near 40% of the roughly 95,000 seats. We made enough noise to force USC into two delay of game penalties, and into calling two time-outs during the 3rd quarter.

Hook 'Em Horns!

Rene Descartes on Problem Solving

Looks like Descartes agrees with some of my ramblings on problem solving...

Quotes:

• "Each problem that I solved became a rule, which served afterwards to solve other problems."
• "Divide each difficulty into as many parts as is feasible and necessary to resolve it."
• "Everything is self-evident."

Quotes of the [arbitrary time period]

On the presidency, faith, and insanity:

Any man who wants to be president is either an egomaniac or crazy. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower

Do I think faith will be an important part of being a good president? Yes, I do. -- George W. Bush

A casual stroll through the lunatic asylum shows that faith does not prove anything. -- Frederich Nietzsche

On WMDs:

Free nations don't develop weapons of mass destruction. -- George W. Bush

I feel compelled to speak today in a language that, in a sense, is new; one which I, who have spent so much of my life in the military profession, would have preferred never to use. That new language is the language of atomic warfare. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower


Just for fun:

When you are courting a nice girl, an hour seems like a second. When you sit on a red-hot cinder, a second seems like an hour. That's Relativity. -- Albert Einstein

English Pronunciation is Fun

The top twenty-one reasons that pronouncing English is fun (in no particular order):

1. We must polish the Polish furniture.
2. He could lead if he would get the lead out.
3. The farm was used to produce produce.
4. The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.
5. The soldier decided to desert in the desert.
6. This was a good time to present the present.
7. A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum.
8. When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.
9. I did not object to the object.
10. The insurance was invalid for the invalid.
11. The bandage was wound around the wound.
12. There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row.
13. They were too close to the door to close it.
14. The buck does funny things when the does are present.
15. They sent a sewer down to stitch the tear in the sewer line.
16. To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow.
17. The wind was too strong to wind the sail.
18. After a number of injections my jaw got number.
19. Upon seeing the tear in my clothes I shed a tear.
20. I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.
21. How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?

Canine Intelligence Quotients

The Christian Science Monitor has an article entitled "Why your dog is smarter than a wolf" that drew my attention for somewhat obvious reasons. Here's a quote:

"The wolves ... were only interested in the meat," notes Miklosi. "The dogs were of course interested in the meat, but knew that one way to get it might be to figure out what the human wants them to do."

To Csanyi, this proves that dogs have acquired an innate ability to pay attention to people, and thus to communicate and work with them. This is a skill that wolves don't assume even when raised from birth to learn it.

Dogs are "very motivated to cooperate with and behave like people," says Csanyi. "That's why dogs can do things no other animal can do."

So, the animal that has been bred for human social interaction over a period of several generations was more inclined to trust and rely upon humans than the animal whose ingrained social expectations are wildly different than what they have experienced for a couple of months. It's quite amazing what passes for science reporting these days...

Longhorns Win Big 12 Championship

The University of Texas Longhorns secured the Big 12 championship in convincing fashion and secured a second-consecutive Rose Bowl date with the little old lady from Pasadena. My Big 12 tracking page has been updated with a quick Flash that plays The Eyes of Texas while running through Texas' conference scores in reverse-chronological order. The weekly results tables are still available, too.