I must be knocking on death’s door.
Blog
-
My best friends: me, myself and I
I talk to my computer. It responds better when I do. My friends and family look at me sideways and pause to make sure I’m not addressing them; I’m talking to myself. Aloud. With purpose. They ask, "are you feeling okay?" They think, "he’s flown over the cuckoo’s nest!
" Now, I’m vindicated!
In a recent study published in Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, psychologists Gary Lupyan (University of Wisconsin-Madison) and Daniel Swingley (University of Pennsylvania) conducted a series of experiments to discover whether talking to oneself can help when searching for particular objects. … It was found that speaking to themselves helped people find the objects more quickly.
[Source, Science Daily, It Doesn’t Mean You’re Crazy – Talking to Yourself Has Cognitive Benefits, Study Finds]
[Derived from Source, AlphaGalileo Foundation, It Doesn’t Mean You’re Crazy – Talking To Yourself Has Cognitive Benefits, Study Finds]
[Original Source, Taylor & Francis Group, The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology – Self-directed speech affects visual search performance] -
I will change the world
I recall childhood dreams
And the adult in me
Misses them
So it seems
All I have left are
Daydreams. -
If code is not property, are software patents invalid?
An appeals court has ruled that code is not property and therefore cannot be stolen. Wow! The potential ramifications are huge. The RIAA could find themselves unable to sue over copied media. More directly, this appeals court may have just invalidated every software patent ever filed. I personally despise software patents. Now, I’m not a lawyer as such I suspect my presumptions are very wrong. The undeniable result is that if you copy custom created software from your employer, you have not committed theft.
The 2nd Circuit Appeals Court ruled that since computer code cannot be physically obtained, it doesn’t fit the legal description of a stolen good. … The court was quick to point out that this decision should not be interpreted for all cases of electronic theft, however the legal recognition that code isn’t physical property (which people have been saying for years) is sure to make this case a focal point in future MPAA/RIAA wranglings.
[Source, Gizmodo, Appeals Court Rules Computer Code Is Not "Property" and Can’t Be Stolen]
-
Knoxville Earthquake
Knoxville had a genuine earthquake at roughly 12:30am on April 11, 2012! Houses shook and a loud boom was reported in Rocky Hill, South Knoxville, and Seymour. #knoxquake
Type: Earthquake
27 minutes ago
Magnitude: 2.2
DateTime: Wednesday April 11 2012, 04:39:14 UTC
Region: eastern Tennessee
Depth: 4.9 km
Source: USGS FeedEarthquake Details
This event has been reviewed by a seismologist.
Magnitude 2.2
Date-TimeWednesday, April 11, 2012 at 04:39:14 UTC
Wednesday, April 11, 2012 at 12:39:14 AM at epicenter
Time of Earthquake in other Time ZonesLocation 35.756°N, 83.825°W
Depth 4.9 km (3.0 miles)
Region EASTERN TENNESSEE
Distances 13 km (8 miles) E of Maryville, Tennessee
24 km (14 miles) SSE of Knoxville, Tennessee
49 km (30 miles) SE of Oak Ridge, Tennessee
275 km (170 miles) E of NASHVILLE, Tennessee
Location Uncertainty horizontal +/- 10.3 km (6.4 miles); depth +/- 3.1 km (1.9 miles)
Parameters NST= 16, Nph= 29, Dmin=12.2 km, Rmss=1.35 sec, Gp= 50°,
M-type=”Nuttli” surface wave magnitude (mbLg), Version=4
SourceMagnitude: USGS NEIC (WDCS-D)
Location: USGS NEIC (WDCS-D)Event ID usc000903d
Upgraded:
Earthquake Details
This event has been reviewed by a seismologist.
Magnitude
2.3
Date-Time
Wednesday, April 11, 2012 at 04:39:12 UTC
Wednesday, April 11, 2012 at 12:39:12 AM at epicenter
Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones
Location
35.797°N, 83.838°W
Depth
19.4 km (12.1 miles)
Region
EASTERN TENNESSEE
Distances
10 km (6 miles) E (85°) from Eagleton Village, TN
10 km (6 miles) ESE (116°) from Rockford, TN
10 km (6 miles) SW (215°) from Seymour, TN
22 km (14 miles) SSE (154°) from Knoxville, TN
232 km (144 miles) NNE (13°) from Atlanta, GA
Location Uncertainty
horizontal +/- 0.4 km (0.2 miles); depth +/- 0.8 km (0.5 miles)
Parameters
NST= 18, Nph= 24, Dmin=16 km, Rmss=0.14 sec, Gp= 86°,
M-type=duration magnitude (Md), Version=B
Source
Southeast U.S. Seismic Network
Event ID
se041112aIn 2007, Knoxville ran practice drills in preparation for a 7.7 earthquake. Thankfully, it hasn’t come yet!
Possibly linked: Apparently there was a magnitude 8.6 earthquake off Aceh, Indonesia at the same time. Tsunami warning issued. See also usgs.
-
Easter Weekend
Had a phenomenal Easter weekend. My daughter came home from college in New York so the entire family was together. Her siblings really miss her. The weather was perfect! I have grass on the lawn for the first time since…well…since I bought the house in 1997. And we had a great Easter egg hunt although I believe the Easter bunny needs to be a little tougher on hiding eggs next year.
As for Monday, I need a pick me up. Must have spent all my happiness this weekend.
-
Wastin’ the day away in tech
Yesterday I wasted my time trying to move Windows 7 Ultimate from one machine to another. Techies know the chipset/driver problems that come with such an endeavor, but, none the less, we feel we can overcome these challenges. A day later, I feel I am so close yet I still do not have a machine to perform my coding duties upon so I succumb to allowing the new machine to having a fresh Windows 7 Professional installation and prepare myself to spend the day reinstalling software. This is such a waste of time. Operating systems should accommodate moving a hard drive from one machine to another, realizing the chipset and hardware drivers are wrong, and fix itself seamlessly. Ugh!
-
It’s a technical kind of day
Spending my day cloning Windows 7 Ultimate from a mechanical hard drive to a solid state hard drive to put into a new computer. Word of advice: chkdsk first! (and don’t forget to set the partition active)
-
Cash is dying – anyone can accept credit cards
Square hit the market with a bang. An innovative small piece of hardware took advantage of the microphone feature of a smartphone’s headphone jack to create a way to read a credit card and interact with software on the smartphone. You can buy a Sqaure at Target for $9.99 and I believe you get a $10 credit from Square. They make their money via a percentage of the transaction but you don’t need a merchant account.
Now Paypal is getting in on the "anyone can accept credit cards" game. Paypal is offering their smartphone card reader for free. Soon, your excuse of "I have no cash" to say no to Girl Scout cookies and Boy Scout popcorn will be gone!
-
First Amazon Purchase
I went back and looked at my Amazon order history. My first purchase was made in 2003. It was a dvd of School House Rock. Guess what I’m putting on the television when I get home!
