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Articles of Interest from Peter Squire

 

The second instance of interesting Web sites from our friend Peter Squire:

Top Articles for the week

Fun stories of the week

Website/Radio Show/Book

Biology

General

Military

Robots

Software

Technology

2007 01 11 ernie Interesting Web Sites Comments (0) Permalink

Recycling your computer

A friend has been organizing his work space at home and had a few computers that he didn’t need any more, and asked for some advice on selling them, donating them, or otherwise getting rid of them. The most expedient thing to do in this area, if the computer and/or monitor is in working condition, is to take it to the local landfill where they have a special container for working electronic devices. It is really important that a computer and monitor are disposed of properly since they contain potentially hazardous materials. It also is a great idea to recycle the computer and monitor as someone will be able to use the device or parts of it.

We recently purchased a computer from Dell. They have a program whereby you can recycle your computer and/or monitor. A shipping label is included with the packaging material and if you pack your old computer and monitor in the box, it will be pocked up for free. HP has a similar program.

Here is a list of three resources about recycling computers.

When I come across other resources, they’ll be put into my delicious list of URLS with the tags recycle and computer, http://del.icio.us/ernestackermann/recycle+computer.
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U.S. Deaths Confirmed By The DoD: 3001
Reported U.S. Deaths Pending DoD Confirmation: 11
Total 3012
DoD Confirmation List
Latest Coalition Fatality: Jan 07, 2007
Source: http://icasualties.org/oif/

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2007 01 07 ernie Commentary Comments (0) Permalink

Scaling down

Doing some research for my upcoming Programming Languages class I came across some articles by David N. Welton: “Articles by David N. Welton”. The one titled “Downwardly Scalable Programming Languages” contains a quote to share.

“Good systems should be able to scale down as well as up. They should run on slower computers that don’t have as much memory or disk storage as the latest models. Likewise, from the human point of view, downwardly scalable systems should also be small enough to learn and use without being an expert programmer.”

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U.S. Deaths Confirmed By The DoD: 3000
Reported U.S. Deaths Pending DoD Confirmation: 6
Total 3006
DoD Confirmation List
Latest Coalition Fatality: Jan 04, 2007
Source: Iraq Coalition Casualties

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2007 01 05 ernie Commentary Comments (0) Permalink

Articles of Interest from Peter Squire

Crossing the Brooklyn Bridge

Peter Squire, a friend, occasionally sends me and a host of others a list of articles that he finds interesting. The list always contains some sites that I’d like to read further, come back to, and recommend to others. The list comes by email and I think it ought to be blogged. So without asking his permission, here is the list I received this morning from Peter Squire, with URLs converted to hyperlinks by me.

Top Articles for the week

What It Takes to Make a Student http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/26/magazine/26tough.html?pagewanted=1&ei=5087&en=f88b748bf061ed7e&ex=1182142800

A review of important scientific achievements reported in Science News during the year 2006. http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20061223/bob22.asp

Fun stories of the week

Best Buy Offers Digital Life System. New software will turn your home into a networked oasis. http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/posts.aspx?id=17491

Fact or Fiction?: NASA Spent Millions to Develop a Pen that Would Write in Space, whereas the Soviet Cosmonauts Used a Pencil http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa004&articleID=9CF01C5C-E7F2-99DF-3EEFFCD06138AEC4

Website/Radio Show/Book

There are military academies, what about a public service academy? http://uspublicserviceacademy.org/about/

Brain

Foods may affect the brain as well as the body http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20060304/bob8.asp

Exercising the body can benefit the mind http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20060225/bob10.asp

Biology

 Longevity Gene Keeps Brain Agile http://www.technologyreview.com/BioTech/17949/
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa003&articleID=C055A20E-E7F2-99DF-3D3D2252606AAAC8

A hair-like optical fiber implanted in the skin could make frequent glucose measurements easier for diabetics. http://www.technologyreview.com/BioTech/17943/

General

Lessons for the Mentor http://www.cio.com.au/pp.php?id=457796608&pp=1&eid=-154

Work-Life Balance http://www.economist.com/business/displaystory.cfm?story_id=8450071

Enhancing Quality of Life–and Saving Billions http://www.carnegiemellontoday.com/article.asp?Aid=376

Group Formed to Address Future of Libraries in Internet Age http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/1206/122006tdpm1.htm

Robots

 DARPA raises stakes for urban robot race http://news.com.com/DARPA+raises+stakes+for+urban+robot+race/2100-11394_3-6142278.html

Real Robots http://www.thestar.com/article/164480

Robotic Baby Seal Wins Top Award
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6202765.stm

Tagged
2007 01 02 ernie agglomeration Comments (0) Permalink

Ajax and PHP

I am really liking AJAX and PHP, by Cristian Daire, Filip Chereches-Tosa, Bogdan Brinzarea, and Mihai Bucica. I’ve only read the first chapter and browsed the book, and it seems very clear and well-written.

I’ll be the instructor in a course titled Building Web Applications With AJAX this coming semester. I’ll be recommending this book to my students.

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U.S. Deaths Confirmed By The DoD: 2982
Reported U.S. Deaths Pending DoD Confirmation: 9
Total 2991
DoD Confirmation List
Latest Coalition Fatality: Dec 28, 2006 – http://icasualties.org/oif/

3041

2006 12 28 ernie Books Comments (0) Permalink

Mommy Kissing Santa Claus

Our sons were here for their annual Christmas visit. What a pleasure. Oliver, according to his usual custom, gave us a Christmas CD by his band, A place To Bury Strangers. The lead track is I saw mommy kissing santa claus. I like it very much, a very interesting and original arrangement.

Want to hear it? “I saw mommy kissing santa claus,” MP3 version, recorded by A place To Bury Strangers.

—
U.S. Deaths Confirmed By The DoD: 2966
Reported U.S. Deaths Pending DoD Confirmation: 14
Total 2980
DoD Confirmation List
Latest Coalition Fatality: Dec 26, 2006 – http://icasualties.org/oif/

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2006 12 26 ernie Commentary Comments (0) Permalink

Fun Sing

Fredericksburg.com created a really neat feature for the holidays. The page Holiday Songs contains the results of ‘people-on-the-street’ video vignettes singing their own versions of several Christmas songs and carols. It is funny, heartwarming, and am interesting collection of people singing without reservations; being themselves.

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In Iraq:
U.S. Deaths Confirmed By The DoD: 2957
Reported U.S. Deaths Pending DoD Confirmation: 8
Total 2965
Latest Coalition Fatality: Dec 23, 2006

2006 12 24 ernie Interesting Web Sites Comments (0) Permalink

view du jour: December 23, 2006

Here are a few pictures I took yesterday of our beech tree. The rain made the bark look almost black and gave the sheen. The tree looks muscular to me, with as much strength as the Minotaur. Click on a thumbnail to see the pic at full size.



Speaking of the Minotaur, The Minotaur Takes a Cigarette Break is a very good read. “The Minotaur, having endured 5000 years of immortality, is currently living in a trailer park in the Deep South, working as a line cook in a restaurant.”

—
U.S. Deaths Confirmed By The DoD: 2957
Reported U.S. Deaths Pending DoD Confirmation: 12
Total 2969
DoD Confirmation List

2006 12 24 ernie Commentary
view du jour Comments (0) Permalink

Please no surge. No more.

Eugene Robinson’s column A ‘Surge’ in Wasted Sacrifice in today’s Washington Post is another eloquent voice stating what we all know and need to admit. Continuing Bush’s plan in Iraq is a continuation of asking people to sacrifice their lives – sacrifice their lives – for no good or well-thought-out plan.

Contrast that with Tony Auth’s cartoon in today’s Philadelphia Inquirer that depicts Bush asleep and dreaming of thousands of more troops goign into Iraq carrying a flag labeled Victory. The cartoon carries the caption “Visions of Sugarplums Danced in His Head.” Disgusting!

2006 12 19 ernie Commentary Comments (0) Permalink

Visual proofs/explanations

Browsing reddit this morning, I came across a link that included some visual proofs, displayed below. They are very clear explanations of some mathematical identities. I started looking around for some others. Here’s what I found:

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And today’s special is ..
You have an active mind and a keen imagination. -fc
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2006 11 03 ernie Interesting Web Sites Comments (0) Permalink