Poorly written book, poorly written review
on
Mathematics and Sex
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
Unfortunately, the author of the review didn't actually offer much insight into the quality of the writing.
Cresswell doesn't do a very goood job of integrating the actual math with the implications of the the theories. She'll say things like "Mathematicicans would use an equation that looks like this: [large integral here]", but then not explain the integral or math at all, and instead launch into a discussion of the social ramifications of the mentioned theory.
When it comes to the social aspects, she's not a very clear writer either. Her writing style can be ambiguous and make it difficult to follow her examples.
Her writing is also filled with cheap sexual puns and insinuation. Perhaps good for your average/. reader, but not for anyone who's made it past the adolescent humor phase.
Overall, the book had some interesting notions and some notable flaws. She didn't do anyone any favors by pointing out the scary math and then ignoring it. She could have conceptually addressed the math a little more without scaring off the math-phobic. It also could have benefited from a good editor.
(Apologies for the vague examples; I haven't got a copy of the book with me.)
Check out tribe.net for a social networking schema based on groupings, or (wait for it) tribes of people. Yes, we want the option of identifying with others. It's a good thing.
The Pilot G2 is a smooth rollerball, much more comfortable than a ballpoint. It's also way cheaper than a fancy pen, and refillable. What more could you ask?
Check out Boswell for the Mac. You enter, import, copy/paste whatever text you like (including entire directories, email archives, etc). It's got an amazing search engine that can manually or automatically filter any entry into any number of virtual folders based on any number of key words. The interface needs some work, but the concept is magnificent.
You can't possibly imagine...
on
Drama in the Desert
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
what it's like until you've been there.
A lot of people don't believe it can be as good as claimed, Leave No Trace, gift economy, etc. And most of them they stay at home, bitterly bitc^H^H^H^Hposting about how lame everything is.
Those who do believe show up and create it. This self selection process yields a pretty amazing bunch of people.
Ask anyone who's complaining if they've been. For those (few) that have, ask if they were invovled in anything, or just were waiting for the experience to happen to them. It's all about being involved.
And yes, there's drugs, frat boys, and trustafarians. But there's also the most incredible art you've ever seen, more intense life experiences that you didn't mean to have, and more real possibilities for life than you had any idea existed.
The truth has been said before: you find what you're looking for. If you want lameness you can find it anywhere. But if you want transcendant, indescribable life epxerience and community, you'll find it there like no other place.
Here's a good, short article on the vastness and variety of the experience.
Another good bit is the speech Larry Harvy (founder of BM) gave at Cooper Union earlier this year.
Well, movies.go.com has done just that. The frame is here or you can start here and click through "All Time Leaders" and the "Inflation-adjusted list" link.
There are only 3 movies from the last 20 years in the top 15 spots, and TPM is #15. The rest are mostly classics.
Sounds like the old LavaRand program at SGI. These days the project has almost been moved to http://www.lavarnd.org
IIRC, they had an array of lava lamps which they took digital images of every 30 seconds or so, and then ran through some form of diff. Turns out the diffs were pretty random, or near enough to seed a good random generator.
Zilla is mentioned at Apple here. Sounds like they are still playing with it.
Not surprising that they have it. Crandall wrote it (and pieces of Mathematica), and was Chief Scientist at NeXT. Now he's a "Distinguished Scientist" at Apple. Odds are he's got his own lab and a budget to do with as he pleases.
Also from that article: "Zilla was not used to find record-setting prime numbers, as is often supposed; instead, it was used to develop, through factoring and other number-theoretical calculations, certain cryptographic systems, tests, and algorithms such as Fast Elliptic Encryption (FEE), described below."
Funny thing that. I'd thought it was used for prime searches as well. When I had him as a professor at Reed he complained when the divide by zero bug was revealed in the Pentiums. Turns out he had to throw out a bunch of the searching he'd done on clusters at NeXT because some of the boxes he'd been running on were x86 based. Details of his ongoing research are at his site: http://www.perfsci.com.
Timbuk2 makes the undisputed best-now-and-forever bike messenger bags on the planet. They also have a line of "Computer Commuter" bags with padded laptop sleeves. And you can choose custom accessories and colors at their very well done site.
Actually, a purse can work well for male flavored geeks too. You just have to choose the right one.
I use a small lumbar pack from Kelty. It's got room for the Palm, cell phone and headset, checkbook, Myntz, Clif Bars, keys, tools, paper back, etc, and more. When it's not stuffed it's pretty compact and easy to deal with.
For the ultimate accessory-accessory check out the cell phone holster made by Timbuk2.
Slashdot Mirror
Unfortunately, the author of the review didn't actually offer much insight into the quality of the writing.
/. reader, but not for anyone who's made it past the adolescent humor phase.
Cresswell doesn't do a very goood job of integrating the actual math with the implications of the the theories. She'll say things like "Mathematicicans would use an equation that looks like this: [large integral here]", but then not explain the integral or math at all, and instead launch into a discussion of the social ramifications of the mentioned theory.
When it comes to the social aspects, she's not a very clear writer either. Her writing style can be ambiguous and make it difficult to follow her examples.
Her writing is also filled with cheap sexual puns and insinuation. Perhaps good for your average
Overall, the book had some interesting notions and some notable flaws. She didn't do anyone any favors by pointing out the scary math and then ignoring it. She could have conceptually addressed the math a little more without scaring off the math-phobic. It also could have benefited from a good editor.
(Apologies for the vague examples; I haven't got a copy of the book with me.)
Check out tribe.net for a social networking schema based on groupings, or (wait for it) tribes of people. Yes, we want the option of identifying with others. It's a good thing.
The Pilot G2 is a smooth rollerball, much more comfortable than a ballpoint. It's also way cheaper than a fancy pen, and refillable. What more could you ask?
Check out Boswell for the Mac. You enter, import, copy/paste whatever text you like (including entire directories, email archives, etc). It's got an amazing search engine that can manually or automatically filter any entry into any number of virtual folders based on any number of key words. The interface needs some work, but the concept is magnificent.
what it's like until you've been there.
A lot of people don't believe it can be as good as claimed, Leave No Trace, gift economy, etc. And most of them they stay at home, bitterly bitc^H^H^H^Hposting about how lame everything is.
Those who do believe show up and create it. This self selection process yields a pretty amazing bunch of people.
Ask anyone who's complaining if they've been. For those (few) that have, ask if they were invovled in anything, or just were waiting for the experience to happen to them. It's all about being involved.
And yes, there's drugs, frat boys, and trustafarians. But there's also the most incredible art you've ever seen, more intense life experiences that you didn't mean to have, and more real possibilities for life than you had any idea existed.
The truth has been said before: you find what you're looking for. If you want lameness you can find it anywhere. But if you want transcendant, indescribable life epxerience and community, you'll find it there like no other place.
Here's a good, short article on the vastness and variety of the experience.
Another good bit is the speech Larry Harvy (founder of BM) gave at Cooper Union earlier this year.
Well, movies.go.com has done just that. The frame is here or you can start here and click through "All Time Leaders" and the "Inflation-adjusted list" link.
There are only 3 movies from the last 20 years in the top 15 spots, and TPM is #15. The rest are mostly classics.
Cheers, Noah
Sounds like the old LavaRand program at SGI. These days the project has almost been moved to http://www.lavarnd.org
IIRC, they had an array of lava lamps which they took digital images of every 30 seconds or so, and then ran through some form of diff. Turns out the diffs were pretty random, or near enough to seed a good random generator.
Cheers, Noah
Zilla is mentioned at Apple here. Sounds like they are still playing with it.
Not surprising that they have it. Crandall wrote it (and pieces of Mathematica), and was Chief Scientist at NeXT. Now he's a "Distinguished Scientist" at Apple. Odds are he's got his own lab and a budget to do with as he pleases.
Also from that article: "Zilla was not used to find record-setting prime numbers, as is often supposed; instead, it was used to develop, through factoring and other number-theoretical calculations, certain cryptographic systems, tests, and algorithms such as Fast Elliptic Encryption (FEE), described below."
Funny thing that. I'd thought it was used for prime searches as well. When I had him as a professor at Reed he complained when the divide by zero bug was revealed in the Pentiums. Turns out he had to throw out a bunch of the searching he'd done on clusters at NeXT because some of the boxes he'd been running on were x86 based. Details of his ongoing research are at his site: http://www.perfsci.com.
-Noah
Or get one new at Toys In Babeland
-N
Timbuk2 makes the undisputed best-now-and-forever bike messenger bags on the planet. They also have a line of "Computer Commuter" bags with padded laptop sleeves. And you can choose custom accessories and colors at their very well done site.
-Noah
--
Convenience is bad for the environment.
Actually, a purse can work well for male flavored geeks too. You just have to choose the right one.
I use a small lumbar pack from Kelty. It's got room for the Palm, cell phone and headset, checkbook, Myntz, Clif Bars, keys, tools, paper back, etc, and more. When it's not stuffed it's pretty compact and easy to deal with.
For the ultimate accessory-accessory check out the cell phone holster made by Timbuk2.
-Noah
--
Convenience is bad for the environment.