Roy Cleveland Sullivan (February 7, 1912 – September 28, 1983) was a U.S. park ranger in Shenandoah National Park in Virginia. Sullivan was hit by lightning on seven different occasions and survived all of them. In his lifetime he gained "Human Lightning Conductor" as a nickname. On September 28, 1983, Sullivan died at age 71, by committing suicide, reportedly distraught over an unrequited love.
According to National Geographic's Flash Facts About Lightning, the odds of being struck in a lifetime is three-thousand to one. If the different events of "being struck by lightning" were statistically independent, the chances of being struck seven times in a lifetime are about one to twenty-two septillion (1:2.2 x 10^24).
(www.wikipedia.org)
5/10/09
Feedbooks
I was thinking of getting a kindle like device but Europe is lagging behind in that respect. Not having a 300+ Mln uniform speaking market sure doesn't help.
A nice site: "Feedbooks," the future of paper? With a site like this there is no need to visit a library anymore; if it grows, that is.
Another thought, if ebook readers are supposedly very good for reading, why wouldn't they be very good for writing? Just an easy device where you can write at whim would be very good for professionals, like journalists.
A nice site: "Feedbooks," the future of paper? With a site like this there is no need to visit a library anymore; if it grows, that is.
Another thought, if ebook readers are supposedly very good for reading, why wouldn't they be very good for writing? Just an easy device where you can write at whim would be very good for professionals, like journalists.
5/6/09
5/5/09
Push-Pull Sensor Networks
"Push and Pull in Sensor Network Query Processing" by Adam Silberstein.
I wasn't really thinking about sensor networks, but was looking at how to dissimate data for a small Internet-based project which popped into my head.
Funny, how push and pull models really can influence a design. Somehow, push seems natural for sensor networks since the cost of broadcasting is high, i.e. send-once is the most minimal strategy one can think of. However, pull seems more natural for Internet distributed applications since range-based broadcast cannot be done and pull-only applications cannot be exploited that easily.
I wasn't really thinking about sensor networks, but was looking at how to dissimate data for a small Internet-based project which popped into my head.
Funny, how push and pull models really can influence a design. Somehow, push seems natural for sensor networks since the cost of broadcasting is high, i.e. send-once is the most minimal strategy one can think of. However, pull seems more natural for Internet distributed applications since range-based broadcast cannot be done and pull-only applications cannot be exploited that easily.
5/3/09
H1N1 Appears To Be Transmittable From Human To Pig
"In an interesting twist it appears that H1N1 influenza can be transmitted from humans to swine. Apparently a Canadian pig farmer vacationed in Mexico, returned to Canada and infected about 10% of the swine on an Alberta farm. The swine subsequently developed flu symptoms." (slashdot)
Nine out of ten pigs suggest calling it "Human Flu."
(Sometimes Slashdot is funny)
Nine out of ten pigs suggest calling it "Human Flu."
(Sometimes Slashdot is funny)
Stalinistic Cana-chopper
Police in the Netherlands are using an unmanned miniature helicopter to track down the illegal cultivation of cannabis.
The first flight of a newly-designed mini helicopter led to the discovery of a cannabis drying shed and a plant cutting facility. The canna-chopper senses heat and takes air samples out of ventilator shafts and chimneys, it is able to 'smell' THC. The mini helicopter, which can stay airborne for a maximum of eight hours, is used to track down indoor cannabis plantations.
Cannabis plantation is a huge industry worth as much as EUR 2 billion where 80 percent of the marijuana is exported.
I am Dutch, to me, smoking cannabis is something for juveniles and tourists and, in general, a non-issue. I don't smoke myself, it makes me fall asleep or makes me sick, so, well, in my twenties I just gave up. I don't even drink these days since I am solely a social drinker.
Weed is silly, it is deemed illegal because someone wrote that down somewhere at some point; like pork shouldn't be consumed since that is written in the Kuran.
The chopper seems an exercise in transforming our society into a police state. "Uphold the law at all costs" is the new adagium in the Netherlands. I have no sympathy for fools. Change the damned law and legalize, at least we would make money instead of wasting it on non-issues.
The first flight of a newly-designed mini helicopter led to the discovery of a cannabis drying shed and a plant cutting facility. The canna-chopper senses heat and takes air samples out of ventilator shafts and chimneys, it is able to 'smell' THC. The mini helicopter, which can stay airborne for a maximum of eight hours, is used to track down indoor cannabis plantations.
Cannabis plantation is a huge industry worth as much as EUR 2 billion where 80 percent of the marijuana is exported.
I am Dutch, to me, smoking cannabis is something for juveniles and tourists and, in general, a non-issue. I don't smoke myself, it makes me fall asleep or makes me sick, so, well, in my twenties I just gave up. I don't even drink these days since I am solely a social drinker.
Weed is silly, it is deemed illegal because someone wrote that down somewhere at some point; like pork shouldn't be consumed since that is written in the Kuran.
The chopper seems an exercise in transforming our society into a police state. "Uphold the law at all costs" is the new adagium in the Netherlands. I have no sympathy for fools. Change the damned law and legalize, at least we would make money instead of wasting it on non-issues.
5/2/09
Formalizing Common Sense
Summary
In this phone interview that took place in front of an audience at OOPSLA 2008, Guy Steele spins a yarn with John McCarthy, the father of Lisp, attempting to find out some details surrounding the language inception in the 50’ and its later evolution.
Bio
John McCarthy has been involved in Artificial Intelligence since 1948, a term he coined in 1955. He has been mainly interested in formalization of common sense knowledge. He designed LISP in 1958 and developed the concept of time-sharing. Among others, he has received the Turing Award, the Research Excellence Award, and the Kyoto Prize.
About the conference
Starting in 1986, OOPSLA Conference has proven to be the cradle of many techniques and methodologies that have become mainstream over the years: OOP, Patterns, AOP, XP, Unit Testing, UML, Wiki, and Refactoring. Gaining its prestige with 3 academic tracks, OOPSLA Conference has managed to attract researchers, educators and developers every year. The event is sponsored by ACM.
In this phone interview that took place in front of an audience at OOPSLA 2008, Guy Steele spins a yarn with John McCarthy, the father of Lisp, attempting to find out some details surrounding the language inception in the 50’ and its later evolution.
Bio
John McCarthy has been involved in Artificial Intelligence since 1948, a term he coined in 1955. He has been mainly interested in formalization of common sense knowledge. He designed LISP in 1958 and developed the concept of time-sharing. Among others, he has received the Turing Award, the Research Excellence Award, and the Kyoto Prize.
About the conference
Starting in 1986, OOPSLA Conference has proven to be the cradle of many techniques and methodologies that have become mainstream over the years: OOP, Patterns, AOP, XP, Unit Testing, UML, Wiki, and Refactoring. Gaining its prestige with 3 academic tracks, OOPSLA Conference has managed to attract researchers, educators and developers every year. The event is sponsored by ACM.
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