Sunday, December 28, 2014

ongoing flame wars

Oooh flame wars on religion
http://michaeljkruger.com/a-christmas-present-from-the-mainstream-media-newsweek-takes-a-desperate-swipe-at-the-integrity-of-the-bible-part-1/

Even the swipes at swipers seem to make their own fundamental mistakes, presumably in the heat of the moment, but can be just as wrong.

the misunderstood Bible

http://www.newsweek.com/2015/01/02/thats-not-what-bible-says-294018.html

The Bible: So Misunderstood It's a Sin
BY KURT EICHENWALD / DECEMBER 23, 2014 6:54 AM EST

NEWSWEEK

Filed Under: Culture, Bible

They wave their Bibles at passersby, screaming their condemnations of homosexuals. They fall on their knees, worshipping at the base of granite monuments to the Ten Commandments while demanding prayer in school. They appeal to God to save America from their political opponents, mostly Democrats. They gather in football stadiums by the thousands to pray for the country’s salvation.

Across the cultural divide


Saturday, December 27, 2014

Friday, December 05, 2014

of course I want one

https://flynixie.com/


This one won the competition:
http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2014-11/03/nixie-drone-wins-intel-wearable-competition

Sunday, November 23, 2014

stillness

From the NPR show --  "making a living was not the same thing as making a life"

"So in an age of acceleration, nothing can be more exhilarating than going slow. And in an age of distraction, nothing is so luxurious as paying attention. And in an age of constant movement, nothing is so urgent as sitting still."

http://blog.ted.com/2014/11/04/the-art-of-stillness-in-an-age-of-distraction/

Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Improvisation on a classical theme


I've thought and tried to express this before but Stuart puts it in a much nicer way. We know that Mozart "made stuff up" all the time, improvising and inventing, trying new ways to play a tune every time he touched an instrument. Yet today there are traditional interpretations that "freeze" a particular performance as "perfect" and must be copied as accurately as possible. How sad Wolfgang would have been.

Impersonation instead of interpretation, WSJ 11/11

http://online.wsj.com/articles/impersonation-instead-of-interpretation-1415662800?KEYWORDS=impersonation+interpretation

By STUART ISACOFF  Nov. 10, 2014 6:40 p.m. ET

Recordings have made possible the wide dissemination of marvelous musical works performed by the greatest players in history. Today, we can hear Glenn Gould’s Goldberg Variations (either one) or Oscar Peterson’s improvisations any time we like—and we can do this at home, or in our cars, or while jogging in a park. In what other age has so much rich musical heritage been so available? Still, this bounty comes at a price. In some ways recordings have had a negative impact on the art of piano-playing.

Monday, November 10, 2014

This year's OTR at the Concord Rod and Gun Club

November 8th Benefit for Jhamtse Gatsal:  see http://jhamtseinternational.org/ for more information.
Jon's presentation starts here:  talking about the school and orphanage.
See the entire playlist in YT:  https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7ocrE0tlpoD7iTf4nrqXHqCeSEGeocmY

See the award-winning documentary in Lincoln-Sudbury:

Wednesday, November 05, 2014

scrod on the wharf: a life lesson or two

Returned from trip to NOLA; wonderful place.
Learned something that I'd like to share:

If you're in a tourist location like the waterfront in front of the Cathedral, just wandering like an idiot tourist, and someone smiling approaches you, and starts a conversation like the following, or some variant:

"What would you say if I could tell you where you were born?"
"And what would you say if I could tell you where you were standing a year ago?"
"....  "

Your immediate reaction should be to quickly step back out of reach and yell at the top of your voice "STAY AWAY FROM MY SHOES!"  - yell it several times.  "PLEASE GET AWAY FROM ME!".

If you don't, the con continues engaging you, smiling, with some answers:
"From your mother's belly, is where you were born"
"Standing on top of your feet, that's where you were standing a year ago."
Okay, entertaining enough to put you off your guard?  Watch out for what happens next.

If this "short con" person is able to stay close to you, and continue to talk, eventually when you are not paying attention, this is likely what will happen next:  they (he or she) will lean down (away from where you can see) as if picking up something from the ground.   You will discover that your shoes are covered with a glop of gooey material.   WTH ?

There is an offer to wipe it off, "Come here, I'll get it off" and what ends up happening is the goop is spread over your shoes (lesson 2: don't wear your good shoes when you go about as a tourist) and eventually wiped off with a rag.

Finally the con is finished off with:
"You're not going to walk away without paying for your shoe-shine, are you, Mister ?"
"Just $20"
"TWENTY BUCKS?"
"Well for you, $10, I have change."

So yours truly got away with a $10 lesson in getting con'd, or in the New England vernacular, scrod on the wharf in NOLA.  And some weird goop on my shoes.  This can of course happen anywhere, at least at mid-day among many others it can be escaped with some cash losses, and without bodily harm.   I got away cheap, considering.

----------------------------
scam 2:
This one is actually more emotionally scarring, for very different reasons:
1. kid walks up to where you are sitting.
2. kid starts to dance, very fancy quick footwork,
3. adult stands behind him, obviously in charge, no particular emotion showing
4. kid finishes dancing, and yells out "Hey gimme a buck !  One buck, man!"

In hindsight one possible thing could have been, to get up, dance some yourself for the kid, and reply "you dance for me, I'll dance for you" -  "thanks and have a great day".    But only in hindsight.

What was stunning was the boldness of the pair, imposing their "entertainment" on a seated tourist, and the fact that a child, maybe 7 or 8 years old, was in the scam.   At that age, it's hard to imagine this is a consenting or willing participant, or that the dollar or any portion went to the child.  To accuse a local of child abuse on the street of a city you don't know, and without law enforcement nearby, can be not only fruitless but potentially dangerous.  

Daytime, in the tourist laden streets, there was an interesting massed presence of state troopers.  But late evening, a fistfight can be starting outside a bar on Decatur Avenue, with no law enforcement anywhere nearby.

----------------------------
Scamming tourists happens every day.  I'm happy my pocket was not picked, or suffered greater financial losses.  Maybe one thing to do is to carry a decoy wallet that only has a few dollars in it, while your real wallet with the rest of your money is safely tucked in the belt under your shirt and coat. 

Friday, October 17, 2014

Nov 8th Concord Rod and Gun Club 7pm

Come join us November 8th at 7pm see details below.


== 2013 rocked the night away - see the video from last year. Music starts about 17:17, after the presentation about Jhamtse Gatsal children's community.

Friday, October 03, 2014

Trikes grow up, or not

Gotta have these !

Friday, September 19, 2014

enFORCE or GUIDE the action of cancer cells, or people

New and fascinating approach to change the behavior of cancer cells; the thinking could just as well apply to other (people) behavior.

http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2014-09-18/new-thinking-about-treating-cancer/transcript 
And what stuck out for me in your article was you cited a doctor in Shanghai who said he was inspired by Confucius who wrote, "if you use laws to direct the people and punishments to control them, they will merely try to evade the punishments." Confucius said it made more sense to guide people by virtue. And Dr. Wang said you could take the -- Dr. Wang, the doctor in China, said you could take the same approach with cancer cells.
So in a wider sense, let the path of least resistance be
-- for water, let it flow downhill and collect in its pond (at its resting energy level)
-- for cancer cells, to "behave nicely and not destroy the host" (not necessarily to destroy)
-- for people, to "do the right thing" (because it's actually easier to be "virtuous")

Wonder how game theory can leverage the "guidance".  To be blunt about it, it's another form of "mind control".

Avast me hearties, talk like a pirate day!

Every year, Sept 19th.

Avast me hearties !
Even knit like a pirate: http://talklikeapirate.com/knitlikeapirate.html
Depending on the sense of humor at your local store
http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2014-09-18/features/sfl-talk-like-a-pirate-get-free-doughnuts-at-krispy-kreme-on-sept-19-20140904_1_pirate-day-free-doughnuts-best-pirate-imitation 
you might get a free donut!
from the article: 

Thursday, September 11, 2014

use your head to unlock your car

Physics at work:  try it !   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Uqf71muwWc
???

Friday, September 05, 2014

auto-delete incoming mail when you're on vacation

now THAT's civilized...
http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/08/daimlers-german-employees-can-set-emails-to-auto-delete-during-vacation/376068/

Daimler Employees Can Set Emails to Auto-Delete During Vacation
Workers can look forward to coming back to an inbox exactly as they'd left it.
Rebecca J. Rosen Aug 14 2014, 12:12 PM ET

Stefanolunardi/Shutterstock

Even the most disciplined relaxers can find themselves just, you know, every now and then, taking a peek at their work email when they're away on vacation. Yes, their out-of-office reminders are set. Yes, they are really trying to enjoy their time away. And, yes, it'll just be there waiting for them, all the same, once they get back. But, nevertheless, they check.

Now, Daimler's German employees have the option of taking advantage of a new program, "Mail on Holiday," that will make this bad habit impossible: It auto-deletes all incoming email.

As the Financial Times reports:

The Stuttgart-based car and truckmaker said about 100,000 German employees can now choose to have all their incoming emails automatically deleted when they are on holiday so they do not return to a bulging in-box.


The sender is notified by the “Mail on Holiday” assistant that the email has not been received and is invited to contact a nominated substitute instead. Employees can therefore return from their summer vacation to an empty inbox.

“Our employees should relax on holiday and not read work-related emails,” said Wilfried Porth, board member for human resources. “With ‘Mail on Holiday’ they start back after the holidays with a clean desk. There is no traffic jam in their inbox. That is an emotional relief.”

As someone who plans to spend a good part of her own vacation catching up with a few far-flung friends over email, I find myself appreciating that the value of this program stems from an often-overlooked divide: the wall of separation between work and personal email.

There is a tendency to pin the stress of work on the medium—email, for the most part—via which that stress is delivered. When we hear of people spending hours on email after they've tucked their kids to bed, is it the system of email that's keeping them from relaxing? No. It's their jobs, though email is what allows their jobs to have that sort of access into their homes and personal time.

Daimler's program is a reminder that it doesn't need to be that way. Just as email has allowed work to flow into the home, it is a spigot that can be shut off. And, for those with both a work and a personal account, it's possible to do so without cutting off all the water to house.

are you committing a crime right now ?

http://blog.erratasec.com/2012/11/you-are-committing-crime-right-now.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SqkqpW6EvnM
clicking this video is a crime ?  really ?

Monday, September 01, 2014

who is your unsung hero?

unsung heroes walk among us every day

Friday, August 22, 2014

electrical stimulation to enhance learning

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/09/prepare-to-be-shocked/375072/

Be very careful before you go messing around with your brain. Some studies that "show" improved learning appear also to reduce performance when that learning is actually to be applied. Hmm, look for "zero sum game" -- the data is so new and sparse it's hard to make any conclusions.   See the "brief chronicle" at the bottom.

from the Atlantic:
Prepare to Be Shocked
Four predictions about how brain stimulation will make us smarter
ALEXIS C. MADRIGALAUG 13 2014, 8:09 PM ET
Alvaro Dominguez

Several years ago, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency got wind of a technique called transcranial direct-current stimulation, or tDCS, which promised something extraordinary: a way to increase people’s performance in various capacities, from motor skills (in the case of recovering stroke patients) to language learning, all by stimulating their brains with electrical current. The simplest tDCS rigs are little more than nine-volt batteries hooked up to sponges embedded with metal and taped to a person’s scalp.

It’s only a short logical jump from the preceding applications to other potential uses of tDCS. What if, say, soldiers could be trained faster by hooking their heads up to a battery?

Tuesday, August 19, 2014

the other end of the connection

So we looked at learning.   Then there is the other end of the interaction:  yes - the teacher!  The teacher end of the teaching-learning linkage as it turns out, uses many of the same strategies as learning.

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/09/building-better-teachers/375066/

http://find.minlib.net/iii/encore/record/C__Rb3161501?lang=eng&suite=def  at the library

Building a better teacher : how teaching works (and how to teach it to everyone) / Elizabeth Green

Tuesday, August 12, 2014

Learning about learning

Peter Brown's book on "Making it Stick" covers a multitude of topics relating to the process of learning.    Many topics, wide ranging, get the book from the library and read it.
http://find.minlib.net/iii/encore/record/C__Rb3157337

"If you think you can't, or you think you can't, you're right."

Learning can be seen as " Slowing down forgetting ".    Actually the most learning happens at times when you feel you're not learning anything at all:  while struggling to "figure it out".   This non-intuitive conclusion is what research is proving.

Hanging on to what you've learned, is effective when you review (retrieve the information) at spaced intervals, not too soon, not so late as to be relearning,

Retrieval effort is valuable: reflection (thinking about it, visualizing, thinking through the details of the steps, ... dare we say obsessing about it) helps consolidate the memory and learning.

Avoid the trap of familiarity - other incorrect impressions of learning process - most learning when trying very hard, not feeling successful --  we misinterpret short term familiarity with actual long term learning.

To work on the "retrieval":  change order of review, difference between abstract knowledge and deep familiarity that allows use in different environments -- Leitner boxes are and example -- http://leitnerportal.com/LearnMore.aspx

Embrace difficulties:  the more EFFORT you put into retrieval, the better the learning sticks with you.  Better to attempt a solution and supply the wrong answer than not to make the attempt, because the effort helps consolidate the learning.

Mistakes and errors are constructive parts of learning -- not a sign of failure but of effort.

Also:
* Okay, differentiate between fluid intelligence and crystallized intelligence:  read up on it.
* Similarly,  System 1 and System 2 knowledge and how they are used.

Interesting:   incompetent people have a surprisingly high (and wrong) assessment of their ability.  The irony of this observation is that because they are already sure they know everything, they also have no incentive to actually find out any facts or learn anything about a subject.

Learning styles are a myth:  effective learning uses every possible style.   Not only that, some are more important than others:   in fact, fluency with words happens to be important.  In short:  practice the skills to read and write; sure it's hard, but as above, effort consolidates the larning.

1. Master the complexities:   study it, be in charge
2. Embrace every style of learning, particularly ones that are hard for you:  the effort is what counts
3. Practice retrieval, interleaved, spaced learning.
4. Distill the underlying principles, build the structure of your knowledge

Increase your abilities:  do and learn something new.  It will all become useful in the larger scope of things.

"Don't stop"  (that's from me).

Does your service provider support 2FA ?

http://twofactorauth.org/

Wednesday, August 06, 2014

your password alone is not enough

Reminder --
http://burdenon.blogspot.com/2013/12/two-factor-authentication-for-fb-gmail.html  (watch the video at the bottom of this post, if you don't want to read...) 

http://burdenon.blogspot.com/2013/12/two-factor-authentication-for-microsoft.html

If you have not already set up two factor authentication on your personal email, the recommendation from CNN and the security experts they talk to, is to do so:   http://money.cnn.com/2014/08/05/technology/security/russian-hackers-theft/index.html

Wednesday, July 02, 2014

Gibberish Generator

If you ever need a bunch of words with proper sentence structure, that mean absolutely nothing:
http://www.andrewdavidson.com/gibberish/?companyname=WGC

Thursday, June 12, 2014

drama of dna

http://medethics.med.harvard.edu/events/

“The Drama of DNA” — A play and panel about the shifting landscape from newborn screening to genome sequencing

Thursday, June 19
6:00 – 8:00 PM
Harvard Medical School
MEC Amphitheater
260 Longwood Avenue, BostonPANEL: Lynn Bush, PhD, MS, MA, Columbia University; Karen Rothenberg, JD, MPA, NHGRI, NIH, U Maryland Law; and Robert Green, MD, MPH, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and HealthCare Center. RSVP here.

Thursday, June 19, 2014 - 6-8PM

    Captionless Image

Wednesday, June 11, 2014

drawing on eggs with mathematica

http://blog.wolfram.com/2014/01/14/the-wolfram-technology-conference-egg-bot-challenge-winners/
scroll down to see the winners, patterns created using mathematica software.


three tied for third place:
John Francis Palsmeier Luis Chiang Richard Gass

second, then first place:
Michael Sollami Jan Říha

and it's possible to buy one from the evil mad scientist
http://shop.evilmadscientist.com/productsmenu/tinykitlist/171-egg-bot

and software
http://wiki.evilmadscientist.com/Eggbot

take that, Ukrainians !

Tuesday, June 10, 2014

Eyes on Road, Please

Keep your eyes on the road.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHixeIr_6BM to watch directly
Wait until the commercial allows you to skip

Sunday, May 18, 2014

Gemini capsule

At the MIT Flea today with PJ, Victor, Jo, Paul, Richard, Josh, Marc.

Monday, April 28, 2014

nonverbal power postures

Two minutes to improve your confidence.
Fake it 'til you BECOME it. 
( have you ever thought "I don't deserve to be here, I'm a fraud.."? )

Paul Ekman's research also shows your facial expressions can influence your internal emotional state.  See:   http://www.paulekman.com/
No charge, you're welcome.
DO watch the whole thing.

Saturday, April 26, 2014

can you build your brain power?

According to Dan Hurley (see http://danhurley.com/) who appears on his web page with a bowtie (?! maybe he doesn't CARE what YOU think ...) -- IQ is malleable (maybe not the word he used).

Short term memory are two types:
- remembering things, which does not help with anything other than remember them
- working memory, which can be strengthened with exercise (like a muscle?)

(Most) entities selling software to "improve your brain" will likely claim to "improve your working memory",  without actually saying doing these things will make you ? smarter ? more intelligent ? higher IQ ? -- BUT  will point out a strong correlation between high level of function in working memory (short term), and all of those other things.    Better concentration, handling more things in your head simultaneously, what can go wrong ?

http://lumosity.com  - you've heard the ads on NPR
http://www.cogmed.com/  - bought out by Pearson

There is something really appealing to the idea of improving "working memory", the ability to solve problems, vs. "crytallized memory" of static facts and unchanging body of knowledge.

Sadly all of these are playing on the boomer generation's fear of dementia, which ranks as a fate worse (more to be feared) than cancer.  Skeptics continue to take pot shots:  http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/39768/title/Does-Brain-Training-Work-/.    Some are not even ambiguous about it:  http://www.gainesonbrains.com/search/label/cognition :

"I sure could use a little memory boost. Unfortunately, despite the growing popularity of brain-training apps and programs like LumosityCogniFitCogMed, andJungle Memory, I’m not going to find any help here.

They're totally bogus, you see."

[updated 4/27]

Saturday, March 29, 2014

office for android and ios now free

If you have not already heard, Microsoft is giving away Office on your smartphone and tablet (both IOS and Android platforms).
For the official site: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/mobile/
In combination with OneDrive (the new name for SkyDrive)

Can't save the file to local storage (too bad!), only to cloud, your OneDrive, or your o365 site.
Seems like this was already possible with web app in a browser (say Chrome).
There is a rudimentary local create file (how much are you going to thumb in on your phone anyway) option which can be sync'd to the cloud later.  There will always be some file sync and version conflict any time there are multiple editors and storage locations.

My Android only does Word and Excel (not sure where PowerPoint went).
The AppStore for IOS hints that PowerPoint is available, but I have not tried.

Thursday, March 20, 2014

180 panorama from iriver camera

[click on picture to see full pano]
Winchester Common

Converse Bridge, looking towards Post Office - downstream

Mill Pond- 180 it's the same brick sidewalk on both ends of the panorama --


Center with disappearing cars.

Sunday, March 09, 2014

Using Video to start a difficult conversation

http://m.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2013/05/how-not-to-die/309277/

as seen on video .. (from the article)
How Not to Die
JONATHAN RAUCH  APR 24 2013, 9:58 PM ET

Angelo Volandes's low-tech, high-empathy plan to revolutionize end-of-life care

Dr. Angelo Volandes is making a film that he believes will change the way you die. The studio is his living room in Newton, Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston; the control panel is his laptop; the camera crew is a 24-year-old guy named Jake; the star is his wife, Aretha Delight Davis. Volandes, a thickening mesomorph with straight brown hair that is graying at his temples, is wearing a T-shirt and shorts and looks like he belongs at a football game. Davis, a beautiful woman of Guyanese extraction with richly braided hair, is dressed in a white lab coat over a black shirt and stands before a plain gray backdrop.

“Remember: always slow,” Volandes says.

“Sure, hon,” Davis says, annoyed. She has done this many times.

Volandes claps to sync the sound. “Take one: Goals of Care, Dementia.”

You are seeing this video because you are making medical decisions for a person with advanced dementia. Davis intones the words in a calm, uninflected voice. I’ll show you a video of a person with advanced dementia. Then you will see images to help you understand the three options for their medical care.

Her narration will be woven into a 10-minute film. The words I’m hearing will accompany footage of an elderly woman in a wheelchair. The woman is coiffed and dressed in her Sunday finest, wearing pearls and makeup for her film appearance, but her face is vacant and her mouth is frozen in the rictus of a permanent O.

This woman lives in a nursing home and has advanced dementia. She’s seen here with her daughters. She has the typical features of advanced dementia …

Sunday, February 16, 2014

news flash: you are not really wasting all that time playing games

First google made us stupid.
Facebook made us lonelier than ever.
Is there any good news out there ?  Yes !   Mourn not, Flappybirds will be followed by ...

NYT reports research on leveraging addictive nature of some of those games to build better minds.
Yep,  from the article:
"
First it was Doodle Jump. Then Dots. And now — will it never end? — Flappy Bird.
So many of the games that we download on our smartphones are a waste of time, but we can’t seem to stop playing them. My current high score on the late, lamented Flappy Bird is three. After weeks of tap-tap-taping to keep that stupid little bird flying. Three.
Why do we keep falling for these things?
The answer to that question just might be found in, of all places, a medical laboratory at the University of California, San Francisco. Researchers there are trying to figure out what makes games addictive — and how we might use video games to make our minds stronger, faster and healthier.
"

Wednesday, February 05, 2014

don't let someone else determine your happiness

many hits on google searching for:   "don't let someone else determine your happiness"

Sandra Bullock on Charlie Rose interview on Space recently mentioned this.
You don't need that cup of coffee to make you happy.
Getting that big part should not determine if you are happy or not.


Saturday, February 01, 2014

training everyone should be aware

In an environment where gun violence is increasing I wanted to share that resources are available to address what to do to give yourself the best chances to survive.  DHS/FEMA has made some resource information available.   The following is not a happy subject but I'd like to think it should be part of our general awareness, and as automatic as "stop, drop, and roll" when someone (or yourself) is on fire.   Please check it out yourself before unleashing on others, particularly kids.

From http://training.fema.gov if you search for "web based training" and search on the results for "active shooter" a course comes up IS-907 -- searching a bit more here is where the course is available: http://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/IS/courseOverview.aspx?code=IS-907.    On the right hand side menu, there is a box for "Take This Course" and below that, handouts for instructors as well as students.   There is also an option to "Take Final Exam" which we hope does not involve being in an actual scenario.

There are many training organizations and videos online for what to do in the event of an "active shooter" in your environment (school ?  shopping mall ?  workplace ?), but some can lean toward extreme positions -- this one from FEMA seems among the level-headed that are available.

Thursday, January 30, 2014

Nest in your net

Open the pod bay doors, HAL (Nest).

I'm sorry Dave, I can't do that ...




5 extremely creepy reasons 1.1 million Nest users need to re-read their privacy policy

Michael del Castillo
Upstart Business Journal Technology & Innovation Editor
Email  | Twitter
When Google bought Nest for $3.2 billion earlier this week, it bought its way into 1.1 million households whose owners were never consulted for the deal. Already, theSeattle Times has reported that influential users are returning the device out of privacy concerns, and Wired has called the sale “an annexation: an occupation of territory, the application of irresistible force.”
Instead of just sitting around and mourning the loss of privacy, we thought we’d take a look at the fine print of Nest’s actually policy. Five things in particular totally creeped us out and should give any current owners or future customers pause to think.

The NSA: Google has already been forced by the National Security Agency to share information it never would have otherwise wanted to share. Nest, which isn’t currently known as one of the PRISM companies forced to share information with the government, now is. “Your personal information may be subject to legal requirements, including lawful requirements to disclose personal information to government authorities,” according to the statement.
Who needs to ask your permission? Not Google: Nest pledges to ask permission before sharing your personally identifiable information with third parties for purposes other than to provide Nest’s core services. “We do not rent or sell our customer lists,” the policy emphatically declares. And yet, Google—a massive company that now deals in robots, artificial intelligence, vehicles, search, marketing, hot air balloon internet connections, images, social media, mobile phones, and quite frankly too many other industries to list—is no longer considered a third party. No renting or selling necessary.
Google knows if you wave your hand: The Nest Learning Thermostat knows if you’ve switched on a light or entered a room and “can adjust the setting to a preferred temperature." The Nest Protect system for detecting carbon monoxide can “sense whether something in the room is moving…and provide the ability to silence a nuisance alarm by waving your hand.” We can't help wonder what other gestures the technology could easily detect?
Two different versions: Based on the device you own, you may have a different privacy policy. Some information that the Thermostat collects, like handmade temperature adjustments, just isn’t applicable to the Protect. But other information, like “information input during setup,” which appears in both devices is actually quite different from device to device. For example, Thermostat owners will be asked to disclose whether or not the device is in their home or business, whereas Protect users will only be asked to share where in the building the device is placed.
Tony Fadell wants to expand: The founder of Nest isn’t content with just thermostats and carbon monoxide detectors. In November he told the New York Times, “Right now I can tell you 10 things, minimally, that can get changed in the house. They are all great markets with large incumbents who haven’t innovated in years.” What Google really got when they bought Nest was its own made-to-order division of the “Internet of Things,” with a privacy policy and all.
To be fair, I use Google every day—and I’d guess that at least once a day I give the company’s technology permission to reach into the depths of my online life for some benefit that I perceive to be greater than the cost of my privacy. It wasn’t always that way though. At the beginning I resisted, with images of George Orwell's 1984 swirling in my head, until having an online life at all became synonymous with giving up my privacy. Google has already proved my willingness do to so in the digital world and soon I'll likely have a chance to prove or disprove my willingness to do in the real world too. After all, who wants to come home to an unnecessarily cold apartment?

Michael del Castillo
Upstart Business Journal Technology & Innovation Editor
Michael earned his BA from Mercer University, along the way excavating a Roman bathhouse with the American School of Archaeology. Plus, he provided security at Oxford University, where he also studied literature and philosophy. He earned his MS from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism while training for and running in the New York marathon

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

hexahexaflexagons

Martin Gardner's article on hexahexaflexagons and how to make them
http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/maa/cmj/2012/00000043/00000001/art00002

Thursday, January 23, 2014

pants with their own fb page

https://www.facebook.com/NOCTP















Server crashed when too many people went to order them.
Already over half million likes.

Saturday, January 18, 2014

good luck with that Edward

Have you ever thought "is my phone listening to me even when it's turned off?"   Remember -- even after you "power off" your cell phone, the alarm works.   Which means that at least the clock continues to run, and some software is running enough to run the alarm clock application.  "Powered off" indeed.   Is it really only for dramatic effect when spies not only take the battery out but smash the phone to smithereens ?

Turns out refrigerators don't block phone signals, but other things do:
http://makezine.com/2013/06/26/edward-snowden-can-a-refrigerator-function-as-a-faraday-cage/

Also on Make:  kill your phone - from http://killyourphone.com/
http://makezine.com/2014/01/17/how-to-kill-your-phone/

and Phonekerchief ( site seems to be inactive http://myphoneisoff.com/ )
http://makezine.com/2010/11/18/phonekerchief-blocks-cell-signals/

Reminds me of the shielding wallets that claim to block RFID readers from skimming your NFC payment cards -- one of them is http://www.idstronghold.com/?gclid=CPz_wbnniLwCFYNQ7AodEFQA4g - many more googling under "rfid shielding wallet" - there's a million of them !

So if you use your phone as a NFC payment device, and you don't want thieves to skim your RFID information, you put the phone in a "safe" wallet, but then you can't receive or make phone calls, or use the internet, or send and receive email.

Hmmm.

Sunday, January 12, 2014

save a life, sing stayin alive !

http://heart.arizona.edu/cpr-video   Continuous chest compression CPR -- No check for pulse, no clear airway, no mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.  Keep blood flowing to brain.  Do it even if they are gasping.

Here is the important statistic:   every minute delay reduces chance of survival by 10%.  So waiting five minutes, chances of survival is reduced 50%.   Not for infants, small children, nor drowning victims.


Please also understand that there are appropriate and potentially inappropriate uses -- see the report from the Community Ethics Committee on withholding non-therapeutic CPR on the  CEC website at http://www.medicalethicsandme.org/ -- follow on FB and Twitter, and join the conversation on current topics.