Bionic vision just around the corner
Oct 24, 2006 in Uncategorized
A silicon retina that reproduces signals in the optic nerve
Oct 24, 2006 in Uncategorized
A silicon retina that reproduces signals in the optic nerve
Oct 24, 2006 in Uncategorized
You and your date just had a lovely dinner, but the popcorn at the movie theater snack counter still looks oh-so tempting. If you break down and buy that bucket of buttery goodness, it may be because your brain’s reward centers have been sensitized by ghrelin, a peptide a new study implicates in anticipating food rewards.
Oct 19, 2006 in Uncategorized
Being a generally polite person, I usually hold doors for people. But lately I started wondering what proper etiquette in these situations? Obviously if a person is two steps from the door it’s polite to stand there and hold it for them. Equally obvious is when that person is 100 yards away. Somewhere between these two points is the fine line between polite guy holding the door and psycho stalker freak standing in the open doorway.
I want to know where this line is. Is it five feet from the door or twenty? Really, though, I don’t think it’s a set distance. I think there is a somewhat complex equation used to determine where to draw the line. You need to give certain people more distance than others. Someone on crutches gets maybe ten extra feet whereas Mr. Mullet gets a few feet subtracted. There is also weather to consider. If someone is rushing to the door to beat a thunderstorm, you probably need to give a little more leeway.
And then there is the whole hotness factor. The amount of additional distance given for someone is proportional to there coefficient of hotness. Again up to a point. SO I don’t think it’s a simple linear scale. So you have a base distance which gets adjusted based on some combination of ability to open the door themselves, the weather, and probably most important, the hotness coefficient. Now if I can just figure out how to put them together…
Oct 12, 2006 in Uncategorized
Swiss newspaper SonntagsZeitung , reports that the Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications (UVEK) hired ERA IT Solutions some time ago to come up with a program capable of infecting PCs and tapping conversations without the need to crack VoIP PC-to-PC encryption.
Well, that was odd. This story briefly made the front page and got buried. That’s not the odd part. After it got buried, it kept getting Diggs for no apparent reason. It was buried. No one was going to see it unless they specifically looked for it or if it were dugg by one of their friends.
At one point it was up to 36 diggs. Looking through the list to see who was digging it after it got buried, I saw some names I hadn’t seen before. There were a total of 6 that I checked on that had just registered today. They had no friends, so the idea that they found a buried story through their friends was out. When I went to check their history, it came up as “invalid user provided.” Poof. Gone. I can only assume that since these accounts were created today and disappeared a short while later, that they were banned.
It seems someone is up to some kind of shenanigans here. I don’t mind that the story got buried. It happens. No big deal. What happened afterward is annoying. Someone (or several someones) were up to no good apparently trying to resurrect a buried story. I don’t know who or why, but I’m glad they were caught and banned.
Update: this gets stranger and stranger. 2 of the 6 profiles that I noticed being banned earlier have reappeared in the “Who Dugg This” link. But their profile still comes up as invalid. I’ve also noticed that there are more brand new accounts digging this story. I’m beginning to wonder if this is some kind of attempt to get me banned.
Oct 05, 2006 in Uncategorized
OK, we all knew that. But here’s proof…
jack_larrycater is currently not in your Messenger List.
Add to your Messenger List (Ctrl+Shift+A) Report as Spam (Alt+Shift+R)
jack_larrycater: hi
jack_larrycater: u there ?
jack_larrycater: hello
BUZZ!!!
Me Perkins: yes?
jack_larrycater: am mr jack
jack_larrycater: u ?
Me Perkins: me what?
jack_larrycater: u ?
jack_larrycater: name
Me Perkins: perkonis
jack_larrycater: ok
jack_larrycater: am 45 nigeria m.married with three kids
jack_larrycater: am a banker……………..am working with fidelity bank plc
Me Perkins: Ah, I’ve got 3 kids myself
jack_larrycater: ok
jack_larrycater: u married with three kids ?
Me Perkins: yes
jack_larrycater: ok
jack_larrycater: how can i trust u ….am here for a business transaction .if u can handle it ?
Me Perkins: alas, no. If I try to conduct international business again, I’ll tip them off about my location.
Me Perkins: It’s too risky
Me Perkins: Damned NSA
jack_larrycater: risky
jack_larrycater: ?
jack_larrycater: see this is %100 risks free
jack_larrycater: ok
jack_larrycater: am insider in the bank
Me Perkins: Oh no. I can’t let thge NSA find me again.
jack_larrycater: see this is just to claim the next of kin
jack_larrycater: ok?
jack_larrycater: i will back u up
Me Perkins: You know they send people to Gitmo now days?
Me Perkins: I’m not going back
jack_larrycater: there will be no problem i promise .i will use my position and what i have to defence it
jack_larrycater: so will can share goodmoney
jack_larrycater: ok?
jack_larrycater: yes
jack_larrycater: i no that ok
jack_larrycater: there is a prove
Me Perkins: I’ve spent too much time running and hiding from them
Me Perkins: it’s too risky
jack_larrycater: i have the certificate of deposit in my bedroom …………
jack_larrycater: yes i no
jack_larrycater: see the money is unclaim for 5 years now ok?
Me Perkins: no. i can’t
jack_larrycater: why ?
Me Perkins: i told you, the NSA is looking for me
Me Perkins: that would leave a HUGE paper trail
Me Perkins: you don’t know how persistent they can be
jack_larrycater: i no
Me Perkins: and I can’t go back to gitmo
Me Perkins: you dont know what its like there
jack_larrycater: but with this money u can go out of the country with ur family
jack_larrycater: i no
jack_larrycater: but i dont want the money to be share between the top directors
jack_larrycater: ok
jack_larrycater: if u can assist me
Me Perkins: i can’t.
jack_larrycater: i just need a foreigner to claim the fund
Me Perkins: how do i know you arent one of them???
Me Perkins: You’re trying to track me now aren’t you?
jack_larrycater: no
jack_larrycater: am not
jack_larrycater: am a banker
jack_larrycater: ok
jack_larrycater: see i sue to god
Me Perkins: You’re sueing God?
Me Perkins: what court do you use for that?
jack_larrycater: yes
jack_larrycater: as in?
Me Perkins: In which court are you sueing God?
jack_larrycater: see
Me Perkins: which God are you sueing btw?
jack_larrycater: i sue that am not lieing if u can only calim the fund i will assure u that there is no probelm ..the bank is searching for the kin
jack_larrycater: jesus christ
jack_larrycater: ok
Me Perkins: they arent really from the bank. its the NSA searching for me
Me Perkins: and Jesus is actually the son of god
jack_larrycater: yes
jack_larrycater: so can handle it ?
Me Perkins: no. I keep telling you, they will find me.
Me Perkins: And they’ll probably come after you for helping me
Me Perkins: They’re relentless
BUZZ!!!
jack_larrycater: so can handle it ?
jack_larrycater: ok
jack_larrycater: bye
Me Perkins: what is that buzz? You ARE trying to track me down aren’t you?
jack_larrycater: u dont need money
Me Perkins: I have all the money I need. lol That’s why the NSA is after me
jack_larrycater: see i dont even no u before
jack_larrycater: what i need u for is just to claim a late man depositor fund that is
jack_larrycater: unclaim in the bank
Me Perkins: no way. I know you’re a g-man.
Me Perkins: youre trying to find me
Me Perkins: and take me back to gitmo
Me Perkins: that’s why you keep buzzing me
BUZZ!!!
jack_larrycater: no
Me Perkins: i dont believe u
jack_larrycater: ok
jack_larrycater: that is u
jack_larrycater: ok
jack_larrycater: so now u loose
Me Perkins: oh well
Me Perkins: at least you havent found me yet
jack_larrycater: see
jack_larrycater: bye
Me Perkins: bye
jack_larrycater: ok
jack_larrycater: bye
Apparently he has no problem beleiving that I’m escaped from Gitmo and on the run from the NSA. But it didn’t stop him from trying. He was persistent.
Oct 02, 2006 in Uncategorized
Using some new mathematics and a silicon chip covered with hundreds of thousands of mirrors the size of a single bacterium, engineers at Rice University have come up with a camera that captures just one point of light several thousand times in rapid succession.
I think this will be interesting to watch. It reminds me of how the CD player evolved. 16 bit D/A converters then 32 bit, etc. and then someone decided to go to a single bit floating D/A converter. I wonder if digicams will take a similar approach.
Oct 02, 2006 in Uncategorized
UPHAM, N.M. (AP) — A rocket that was the first launched from a commercial spaceport in New Mexico–and the first to crash–has been found in the desert, company officials said Saturday.