i believe that the razor blade manufacturers hit their billionth mark within a decade of beginning production. yes, few companies ship billions- but logitech hit billion from multiple models. razor companies from the same model blade.
the evo system evolved from a system called VRVS. it has been in use for many years now supporting multiple platforms. there is much more info on the web page, but the brief summary is that evo is a java app that allows one to have multi-party video conferences. each vid stream can be adjusted for quality (network bandwidth and framerate). conversations are run in "rooms" which can be private or public.
we should be talking about how to encourage the deployment dnssec and related protocol modifications/enhancements.
yes, re-creating the internet from the ground up to be safe from all harm would be nice. i suspect that this effort will take a little while. until then, interim measures should be pursued. dnssec is one of them.
So, I have been wondering about this myself, partic as I have a large number of almost big enough hard drives sitting around. An inexpensive alternative (with obvious performance hit) might be to use usb or firewire disk enclosures and add them en mass to whatever system you are using.
I realize that this is a bit different than your orig question, but it might be an interesting stop-gap solution, partic as the enclosures are about $25 each (without disk).
Re:Emergence & Hidden Order
on
Emergence
·
· Score: 1
a link (http://www.kb.cert.org/vuls/id/323070) to the US-CERT pub recommendation. It is also interesting to note that the suggestion to "use a different web broswer" is the last offered (see section III. Solution).
The fact that the technology is being donated to a third party pyrotechnic organization seems oddly benevolent. Cheers to Disney if this is altruistic.
My twisted mind, however, thinks that this is a technology that could be profitable as a weapons technology. And my mind thinks that Disney's stockholders might be a bit uneasy having a large profit source coming from weapons licenses.
Transferring the technology into the hands of "others" and just accepting money over time is quite a lame way of dodging the nastiness, but it might also be one of the few options available to disney in an age where we at slashdot find sport in criticizing them no matter what they do.:)
IIRC, the GeekPort had better/more power through the pins, better layout of where the powered pins/wires were located, and more controllable element than RS232.
That said, yes, RS232 is quite similar and many have done similar fun hacks using that connector.
The fact that the BeBoxes had the "geek port" always put a smile on my face. the fact that the OS supported hardware designed for futzing around made me smile. I wonder why the idea never caught on to have a standard, hardware interface designed for home soldering enthusiasts (the port was designed to be physically large enough to manipulate without special equipment).
I am aware of some work done at Ohio State University on the connectivity needs from the ISP point of view (campground to the internet). The solution involves a satellite uplink, a pickup truck and a portable gas generator. The project is called Transportable Satellite Internet System (TSIS) (project page, press release, photographs)
The folks at OSU might be willing to share information. I know they have used the trailer system to provide 11b wireless to events held "out in a field" as well.
It would seem that the NSF should be brought into the discussion. They fund a variety of CS and computer related research. Their recent reorganization (yes, we realize that this is a b-school weighted nonsense term) is based on better addressing "real" needs in the area.
If you are not familiar with the projects they fund, you really are not looking hard enough.
There are folks who are pushing into this space today. Yes, the equipment might not be there at the moment, but we are not far away. If you take parallelism into account, these data rates are actually quite achievable.
A list of folks doing work in this space. Examples via the RENs (research and education network) web pages: http://apps.internet2.edu/showcase-archive .html http://www.canarie.ca/press/publications/re search_ horizons.pdf http://archive.dante.net/geant/geant -publicity.htm l#SHDTdemo
Examples from researchers: http://lhcb-comp.web.cern.ch/lhcb-co mp/ComputingMo del/grid/sloken.ppt http://www.google.com/search? hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe =UTF-8&q=ska+astronomy+data+rates+gbps&btnG=Google +Search
I agree about the md5's. FYI, this is the sum generated from the BT file i just grabbed. No clue if the file will decompress, just thought I would add the sum to see if folks thought it was any good
I have been mulling the same thing for a while. I have considered dumping all the mail into a database and having each email "point to a folders." The would allow a single email to be described by several different parameters.
I have often wanted to be able to place an email into a folder without copying the entire email thread. However, doing this removes the email from the context of the thread. In my mail client (MozMail), there is no way to have an email in one folder point back to a thread in a different folder. At least no way that I know of.
I believe that some email clients do use a database back end for mail. However, re-indexing is supposed to take a long time. I am not sure of the best solution to the re-indexing problem, but I suspect that a few simple tables containing subject lines and message ID's should not be too difficult. If a small table such as this pointed back into a filesystem where the full text of the email resided, one might be able to separate the problem into managable chunks.
Maybe it is time for a quick perl/mysql proof of concept...
So... yes, articles published in PDF format will be indexed, but if one is doing real research, one is probably conducting a comprehensive literature search (e.g, if one is a PhD). If one is a PhD, there is a growing volume of new data will be published online, but there are still important corpos of off line literature, both old and new.
If one is doing "research" on how to buy a new car, or "research" for one's fifth grade home work project, I suspect that PDF files are probably just fine as a source and that comprehensive literature searches are not necessary (but might still be useful).
The article states "Google is implicitly pushing you toward information stored in articles and away from information stored in books." More relevantly and accurately (and obviously), Google is pushing you towards information that is stored online. If one uses Google for research, one should understand that it is not the only tool available. If one uses Google as the only tool, well...
I think this is a vaguely interesting point that might have a lasting impression on the way online content is indexed/stored/made searchable. However, the more relevant issue here is that individuals need to learn how to search (as many have already pointed out in comments), search tools must be understood in the context of available tools and a sense of the data to be found must be developed (it does not need to be known in advance).
Some companies provide loaner equipment to universities. It would be interesting to find something that is of interest/use on your campus and then get some hardware to play with. Videoconferencing equipment (end point stations and MCUs) might be a good start.
SIP and VOIP. This is something that is cool, fun and fairly accessible to folks with a decent network connection. And, if you have the energy, the administration on your campus might be interested to hear that it could save them money.
Games. Games are an interesting and fun topic. With a bit of thought, a talk could be constructed that mixed fun with learning (grin).
Internet2 Days. Advanced Networking. If you are at a school that is involved in Internet2, there are resources that are available.
Microsoft Resrach Group. Evil blah blah yes, whatever. Say what you will, but they are still smart people. Your login indicates that you might be interested in HCI, so Dumais's site might be a good start. Other companies are also listed in various places.
GRID. buzz buzz buzz. You say that no marketing hype is allowed. Well, for all the buzz about GRIDs, the folks that can give you the skinny are prob to be found here. Depending on your location, asking one of them might just get a visit.
As you are at a university (and I am assuming you are in the U.S.), you might find that someone from the NSF would be able to give you some interesting insights into what they consider to be important, interesting and fundable. Again, not sure how successful you would be at getting anyone to visit, but it is a a starter for ideas.
Lastly, many of the folks that you might want to have present will be busy. It might be worth considering an interactive presentation over video. Sounds cheezy, but many folks are used to this type of presentation.
I opened a coffee house a few years ago and was curious about the many of the same questions. I found Alex Lopez-Ortiz's collection of info quite useful. It seems to be kept up to date by another, but the core information is still useful.
There is an entire section on "Caffeine and your Health" that is prob most relevant to this discussion.
A friend of mine has an interesting "I don't get it" review that might be interesting to some out there.
Personally, I thought the book was interesting in a meandering sort of way. However, I think it is vaguely suspicious that the book's footnotes (yes, a piece of fiction with copious footnotes) are longer than many novels.
The IPL (The Internet Public Library) is a good site as kids start to get a bit older. It is organized much like a public library. The idea is to gather and review information that exists out in the wild and organize it in a way that is useful to individuals who are familiar with "real" libraries.
The content is collected, organized and maintained by actual librarians. There are a handful of reasons why this is in and of itself interesting. The upshot is that the content is organized and a bit more useful to individuals who are not "nerdy" (to use your term) than Google.
More to your actual question, the IPL has links for Fun Stuff that might be a help for you. It has been a while since I poked around in there, so I had not realized they re-designed and added so much new stuff for pre-schoolers (and kids in general).
my experiments with indoor plants
on
Gardening for Geeks?
·
· Score: 3, Informative
For several years now, my friends have watched as I geek out over some house plants. I have had a great deal of fun watching several of my plants grow.
Amaryllis About 7 years ago, I was given an Amaryllis. A flowering plant that has a bulb. When I received the bulb, it was already on the way to flowering. When it flowered, I took a q-tip and cross polinated the flowers against one another (not sure what the correct term is). I left the flowers on the plant until they dried out and fell off. After a few weeks, the stem on which the flowers grew turned into a small bulb that obviously contained seeds. I have since re-planted the seeds and given away about 10 small amaryllis plants to friends. Unfortunately, I have not been able to watch any of the small plants grow large enough to flower again, but hope to do so with my most recent bunch. I have also had the original large bulbs split into separate bulbs several times. I now have four large bulbs from the original (plus the many small plants that have grown from seed).
Ficus When I finished school, I purchased a small ficus tree. It grew quite well sitting in the window. When it out-grew its pot, I trasferred it into an overly large Rubbermaid
container. Once it was in the too-large container, the extra soil space allowed it to grow out of control. As I was living in a small, urban apartment, I decided to plant my own "lawn" in the pot. I was able to sustain a small patch of green grass along with the tree for an entire summer (all indoors). I learned a great deal about small ecosystems (clippings must be VERY small to not matt down new growth) and potting soil from bags (these bags contain bugs- if the plant is indoors, the bugs will be indoors too).
Worms One of the things that I learned from the Ficus-lawn experiment (see above) was that a small potted-plant system does not break down organic matter very quickly. I spoke to several friends, gardeners and academics. They all said that the possibility of getting the lawn clippings to compost properly in the large container was fairly slim. However, they said that if I was interested, I should look into getting some worms to help out. They also said that the worms would help with small bugs. On several occasions, I gathered earthworms that appeared on the sidewalks after rains, but I am not sure that any of them survived for long in the soil system (I believe that worms require fairly loose soil and potted plants generally end up with fairly dense soil).
I have also played with various other herbs and flowering plants. I have 4 calla lillies that I have grown from the same cross polination "technique" that I used with the amaryllis described above. The callas live happily in my office windowsill with a cyclomen, hyacinth, and several pots of amaryllis (at various stages of maturity). They all seem happy enough living in a windowsill.
All that said, there is a wealth of information out there on how to grow plants of all varieties. As useful as the information is, I have always found it more interesting to experiment on my own and see how much I recall from high-school biology and geolgraphy courses. A bit of common sense can keep almost any plant alive; a bit of experimentation and work can grow a single plant into many or
CHEF is another project that is in the same area (much like MIT's OpenCourseware, which has been mentioned). CHEF is a product of the University of Michigan. Michigan currently has something they call Course Tools, but CHEF is a completely new codebase and is supposed to have additional/new/expanded features. I won't bore you with a list right now, if you are interested, the links are above.
Slashdot Mirror
not many can say that they created something that a mass of people wanted/liked/appreciated.
well done.
i owe you a beer (or six).
i believe that the razor blade manufacturers hit their billionth mark within a decade of beginning production. yes, few companies ship billions- but logitech hit billion from multiple models. razor companies from the same model blade.
http://evo.caltech.edu/
the evo system evolved from a system called VRVS. it has been in use for many years now supporting multiple platforms. there is much more info on the web page, but the brief summary is that evo is a java app that allows one to have multi-party video conferences. each vid stream can be adjusted for quality (network bandwidth and framerate). conversations are run in "rooms" which can be private or public.
many other features.
we should be talking about how to encourage the deployment
dnssec and related protocol modifications/enhancements.
yes, re-creating the internet from the ground up to be safe from all harm would be nice. i suspect that this effort will take a little while. until then, interim measures should be pursued. dnssec is one of them.
Resources for Sharing Information and Offering Help
Katrina housing offers
Red Cross (a bit obvious, but just in case)
Next of Kin registry/a>
So, I have been wondering about this myself, partic as I have a large number of almost big enough hard drives sitting around. An inexpensive alternative (with obvious performance hit) might be to use usb or firewire disk enclosures and add them en mass to whatever system you are using.
I realize that this is a bit different than your orig question, but it might be an interesting stop-gap solution, partic as the enclosures are about $25 each (without disk).
FYI, Holland was one of the MacArthur Foundation Fellow's a few years ago.
a link (http://www.kb.cert.org/vuls/id/323070) to the US-CERT pub recommendation. It is also interesting to note that the suggestion to "use a different web broswer" is the last offered (see section III. Solution).
The fact that the technology is being donated to a third party pyrotechnic organization seems oddly benevolent. Cheers to Disney if this is altruistic.
:)
My twisted mind, however, thinks that this is a technology that could be profitable as a weapons technology. And my mind thinks that Disney's stockholders might be a bit uneasy having a large profit source coming from weapons licenses.
Transferring the technology into the hands of "others" and just accepting money over time is quite a lame way of dodging the nastiness, but it might also be one of the few options available to disney in an age where we at slashdot find sport in criticizing them no matter what they do.
IIRC, the GeekPort had better/more power through the pins, better layout of where the powered pins/wires were located, and more controllable element than RS232.
That said, yes, RS232 is quite similar and many have done similar fun hacks using that connector.
The fact that the BeBoxes had the "geek port" always put a smile on my face. the fact that the OS supported hardware designed for futzing around made me smile. I wonder why the idea never caught on to have a standard, hardware interface designed for home soldering enthusiasts (the port was designed to be physically large enough to manipulate without special equipment).
I am aware of some work done at Ohio State University on the connectivity needs from the ISP point of view (campground to the internet). The solution involves a satellite uplink, a pickup truck and a portable gas generator. The project is called Transportable Satellite Internet System (TSIS) (project page, press release, photographs)
The folks at OSU might be willing to share information. I know they have used the trailer system to provide 11b wireless to events held "out in a field" as well.
The Internet2 Detective is a small binary that will check to see if your host is connected to Internet2.
http://detective.internet2.edu/
It would seem that the NSF should be brought into the discussion. They fund a variety of CS and computer related research. Their recent reorganization (yes, we realize that this is a b-school weighted nonsense term) is based on better addressing "real" needs in the area.
If you are not familiar with the projects they fund, you really are not looking hard enough.
There are folks who are pushing into this space today. Yes, the equipment might not be there at the moment, but we are not far away. If you take parallelism into account, these data rates are actually quite achievable.
e .htmle search_ horizons.pdft -publicity.htm l#SHDTdemo
o mp/ComputingMo del/grid/sloken.ppt? hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe =UTF-8&q=ska+astronomy+data+rates+gbps&btnG=Google +Search
A list of folks doing work in this space. Examples via the RENs (research and education network) web pages:
http://apps.internet2.edu/showcase-archiv
http://www.canarie.ca/press/publications/r
http://archive.dante.net/geant/gean
Examples from researchers:
http://lhcb-comp.web.cern.ch/lhcb-c
http://www.google.com/search
Lots of other examples exist.
I agree about the md5's. FYI, this is the sum generated from the BT file i just grabbed. No clue if the file will decompress, just thought I would add the sum to see if folks thought it was any good
b 6529f50451091e6bface362
md5sum
MozillaFirebird-0.7-win32.zip
8c363353
I should have noted that the "other" email client is evolution.
I have been mulling the same thing for a while. I have considered dumping all the mail into a database and having each email "point to a folders." The would allow a single email to be described by several different parameters.
I have often wanted to be able to place an email into a folder without copying the entire email thread. However, doing this removes the email from the context of the thread. In my mail client (MozMail), there is no way to have an email in one folder point back to a thread in a different folder. At least no way that I know of.
I believe that some email clients do use a database back end for mail. However, re-indexing is supposed to take a long time. I am not sure of the best solution to the re-indexing problem, but I suspect that a few simple tables containing subject lines and message ID's should not be too difficult. If a small table such as this pointed back into a filesystem where the full text of the email resided, one might be able to separate the problem into managable chunks.
Maybe it is time for a quick perl/mysql proof of concept...
So... yes, articles published in PDF format will be indexed, but if one is doing real research, one is probably conducting a comprehensive literature search (e.g, if one is a PhD). If one is a PhD, there is a growing volume of new data will be published online, but there are still important corpos of off line literature, both old and new.
If one is doing "research" on how to buy a new car, or "research" for one's fifth grade home work project, I suspect that PDF files are probably just fine as a source and that comprehensive literature searches are not necessary (but might still be useful).
The article states "Google is implicitly pushing you toward information stored in articles and away from information stored in books." More relevantly and accurately (and obviously), Google is pushing you towards information that is stored online. If one uses Google for research, one should understand that it is not the only tool available. If one uses Google as the only tool, well...
I think this is a vaguely interesting point that might have a lasting impression on the way online content is indexed/stored/made searchable. However, the more relevant issue here is that individuals need to learn how to search (as many have already pointed out in comments), search tools must be understood in the context of available tools and a sense of the data to be found must be developed (it does not need to be known in advance).
I also assume that the Amazon text searching of books story might put another spin on this.
Some companies provide loaner equipment to universities. It would be interesting to find something that is of interest/use on your campus and then get some hardware to play with. Videoconferencing equipment (end point stations and MCUs) might be a good start.
SIP and VOIP. This is something that is cool, fun and fairly accessible to folks with a decent network connection. And, if you have the energy, the administration on your campus might be interested to hear that it could save them money.
Games. Games are an interesting and fun topic. With a bit of thought, a talk could be constructed that mixed fun with learning (grin).
Internet2 Days. Advanced Networking. If you are at a school that is involved in Internet2, there are resources that are available.
Microsoft Resrach Group. Evil blah blah yes, whatever. Say what you will, but they are still smart people. Your login indicates that you might be interested in HCI, so Dumais's site might be a good start. Other companies are also listed in various places.
GRID. buzz buzz buzz. You say that no marketing hype is allowed. Well, for all the buzz about GRIDs, the folks that can give you the skinny are prob to be found here. Depending on your location, asking one of them might just get a visit.
As you are at a university (and I am assuming you are in the U.S.), you might find that someone from the NSF would be able to give you some interesting insights into what they consider to be important, interesting and fundable. Again, not sure how successful you would be at getting anyone to visit, but it is a a starter for ideas.
Lastly, many of the folks that you might want to have present will be busy. It might be worth considering an interactive presentation over video. Sounds cheezy, but many folks are used to this type of presentation.
Frequently Asked Questions about Caffeine
I opened a coffee house a few years ago and was curious about the many of the same questions. I found Alex Lopez-Ortiz's collection of info quite useful. It seems to be kept up to date by another, but the core information is still useful.
There is an entire section on "Caffeine and your Health" that is prob most relevant to this discussion.
http://degelau.com/books/InfiniteJest.html
A friend of mine has an interesting "I don't get it" review that might be interesting to some out there.
Personally, I thought the book was interesting in a meandering sort of way. However, I think it is vaguely suspicious that the book's footnotes (yes, a piece of fiction with copious footnotes) are longer than many novels.
The IPL (The Internet Public Library) is a good site as kids start to get a bit older. It is organized much like a public library. The idea is to gather and review information that exists out in the wild and organize it in a way that is useful to individuals who are familiar with "real" libraries.
The content is collected, organized and maintained by actual librarians. There are a handful of reasons why this is in and of itself interesting. The upshot is that the content is organized and a bit more useful to individuals who are not "nerdy" (to use your term) than Google.
More to your actual question, the IPL has links for Fun Stuff that might be a help for you. It has been a while since I poked around in there, so I had not realized they re-designed and added so much new stuff for pre-schoolers (and kids in general).
For several years now, my friends have watched as I geek out over some house plants. I have had a great deal of fun watching several of my plants grow.
Amaryllis
About 7 years ago, I was given an Amaryllis. A flowering plant that has a bulb. When I received the bulb, it was already on the way to flowering. When it flowered, I took a q-tip and cross polinated the flowers against one another (not sure what the correct term is). I left the flowers on the plant until they dried out and fell off. After a few weeks, the stem on which the flowers grew turned into a small bulb that obviously contained seeds. I have since re-planted the seeds and given away about 10 small amaryllis plants to friends. Unfortunately, I have not been able to watch any of the small plants grow large enough to flower again, but hope to do so with my most recent bunch. I have also had the original large bulbs split into separate bulbs several times. I now have four large bulbs from the original (plus the many small plants that have grown from seed).
Ficus
When I finished school, I purchased a small ficus tree. It grew quite well sitting in the window. When it out-grew its pot, I trasferred it into an overly large Rubbermaid container. Once it was in the too-large container, the extra soil space allowed it to grow out of control. As I was living in a small, urban apartment, I decided to plant my own "lawn" in the pot. I was able to sustain a small patch of green grass along with the tree for an entire summer (all indoors). I learned a great deal about small ecosystems (clippings must be VERY small to not matt down new growth) and potting soil from bags (these bags contain bugs- if the plant is indoors, the bugs will be indoors too).
Worms
One of the things that I learned from the Ficus-lawn experiment (see above) was that a small potted-plant system does not break down organic matter very quickly. I spoke to several friends, gardeners and academics. They all said that the possibility of getting the lawn clippings to compost properly in the large container was fairly slim. However, they said that if I was interested, I should look into getting some worms to help out. They also said that the worms would help with small bugs. On several occasions, I gathered earthworms that appeared on the sidewalks after rains, but I am not sure that any of them survived for long in the soil system (I believe that worms require fairly loose soil and potted plants generally end up with fairly dense soil).
I have also played with various other herbs and flowering plants. I have 4 calla lillies that I have grown from the same cross polination "technique" that I used with the amaryllis described above. The callas live happily in my office windowsill with a cyclomen, hyacinth, and several pots of amaryllis (at various stages of maturity). They all seem happy enough living in a windowsill.
All that said, there is a wealth of information out there on how to grow plants of all varieties. As useful as the information is, I have always found it more interesting to experiment on my own and see how much I recall from high-school biology and geolgraphy courses. A bit of common sense can keep almost any plant alive; a bit of experimentation and work can grow a single plant into many or
CHEF is another project that is in the same area (much like MIT's OpenCourseware, which has been mentioned). CHEF is a product of the University of Michigan. Michigan currently has something they call Course Tools, but CHEF is a completely new codebase and is supposed to have additional/new/expanded features. I won't bore you with a list right now, if you are interested, the links are above.