The Web of 6.28.2007

• Now this is a cool (and happy) looking bird.
• The best way to succeed: it’s all in who you know.
• One of the best optical illusions I have seen.
• Vista, the most secure OS?
• Life at Google, insider e-mail from MS headquarters. There is something about this that irks me.
• Bald-eagle is too be taken off of the Endangered Species List. Great success story.

The Web of 6.27.2007

• IBM’s new supercomputer. Capable of 3 petaflops. DOE will be using one soon.
• Giant penguin fossils discovered in Peru. See the article and photos. This news is all over the net.
• Cool article on timber rattlers.
• Tony Blair resigns. Not being British, I thought he did a good job.
• An absolutely great interview of ‘Heroes’ creator Tim Kring on the upcoming second season of the show.
• More cool stuff coming for the Wii. This time it’s Wiiware.
• Wikipedia random article of the day.

The Web of 6.26.2007

• IMAGE spacecraft pictures of the aurora australis. Good article as well.
• Dads, it’s time to step up: help your daughters with their math!
• Hi-Def image of Earth as viewed from Apollo 17.
• The American Film Institute has refreshed their list of the best movies of all time.
• Librarians playing video games. I love it.
• Cool video of clips from the first day of shooting on the new Indiana Jones movie. Notice Lucas and Spielberg?
• Remember Tron? Now you can play it online and off.
• Wikipedia random article of the day.

Top 5 t.v. shows cancelled way to early

5. Jericho – I know, I know, CBS has decided to bring the show back for at least 13 episodes after being bombarded with complaints and tons of peanuts. Point is it should never has been in that situation to begin. Jericho is/was one of the most original shows to air in years. Great plot, great story arcs and a wonderful set of characters and character development. Would have been higher on this list if the cancellation stuck.

4. Surface – Sci-fi show which aired for 15 episodes on NBC before getting the ax despite average ratings and great potential.

3. The Adventures of Brisco County Jr. - It starred Bruce Campbell and it was canceled after only one season. It starred Bruce Campbell people! That should have gotten it at least 5 seasons alone! Great show too.

2. Futurama – If nothing else this show was hilarious and had a bunch of great pop-culture references even if they were 2k years in the future. If the Simpsons can run for 15 years they could have gotten at least a few more out of Fry, Bender and the gang.

1. Firefly – Best show ever to have gotten canceled. I have three words to described it and that should be all we need: Cowboys in space. Blows the originality of any other show on any network out of the water. Great acting, plot, characters, music, costumes, effects, stand-alone stories and arcs not to mention an awesome theme song. It had everything, just an amazing show. Still have no clue what Fox was thinking.

I would have liked this list to be a little more objective but you like what you like.

The Web of 6.25.2007

• If fire were made of water.
• WoW fansite worth $1 million. WoW is right.
• I haven’t yet determined if this is a good thing or not. Robo Fruit-Picker.
• Some of the words invented by Shakespeare.
• If you haven’t watched ‘Destination Truth‘ on SciFi you need to check it out.
• I’m not sure about this comic crossover. Seems a little weird to me.
• The most original vacation destination ever.
• Star wars fans hate Star Wars. Great article over at JIVE.
• Wikipedia random article of the day.

Normality and the 18-month-old

As defined by dictionary.com ‘normality’ means the following: conforming to the standard or the common type; usual; not abnormal; regular; natural. I suppose for adults this concept is easy enough, at least in a narrow sense. Some argue that normalcy cannot be defined except in specific contexts such as the economy of a nation or the functionality of a specific items. Take for instance the wobbly shopping carts at your local supermarket/superstore; they are acting outside the norm. Of course many people, my wife included, would argue they are the normal and those that actually will move in a straight line are, in fact, the odd ones out.

But I digress.

In abstract cases such as human behavior, I believe that normalcy is more difficult to pin-down. Actually I believe it does not exist; in other words what is good for the goose may or may not be good for the gander. When one person declares another abnormal, they are simply comparing that person to their own perceived view of themselves. If certain factors or certain number of factors differ, that person may be labeled ‘out of the norm.’ But let’s face it, no one considers themselves to be not normal, excluding the popular trends of today where individuals dress or act certain ways for the sole purpose of wanting others around them to label them as such. To some degree we all believe that our actions, likes, dislikes points-of-view etc are normal and if anything everyone that doesn’t see it our way our outside the norm.

But enough about abstractness.

One of the most fascinating things about watching my daughter grow up is to watch her develop her own sense or normality. For instance, she understands that daddy doesn’t always (or normally) walk around with a stuffed monkey on his head. Therefore when he does it is out of the ordinary and, evidently, very funny and deserving of a good laugh and a hug. Or when my mom comes to visit and my grandmother is not with her, she knows that situation is odd and reacts to it. Recently I was giving her a bath and she was playing with a set of cups that come in various sizes and colors that allow you to stack or nest them. This time however she only wanted to put them on her feet. The entire bath she wanted them on her feet. She would work diligently to get them to stay then look up at me waiting; she knew this was different, out of sorts and deserving of a reaction of some sort. I acknowledged the change with a smile and comment, she went on with her bath the whole time making sure the cups were on her feet. The most fascinating thing about this exercise was the realization that even at her age and mental capacity she is beginning to formulate her own sense of normality and recognizes when something contradicts that. She is her own person with her own reality.

That being said the next time she laughs at me for having a monkey on my head I won’t take it as abnormality, I’ll take it with a giggle and a hug.

The Web of 6.23.2007

• An entire lake just disappears. Sounds straight out of a apocalyptic movie/book to me.
• Guess I’m glad I was the firstborn.
• It’s about time. Welcome back Pee-Wee.
• Everyone has seen it but Canon on the electric guitar can’t be beat. Wow.
• Wikipedia random article of the day.

Slow day on the web it seems.

The Web of 6.22.2007

• This is just plain cool. A binary wooden binary adding machine. Make sure to watch the video.
• First glimpse of Indy since 1989.
• Goodbye old friend.
• New game announced for the Wii, Dragon Blade. Two-handed sword control sounds sweet.
• Avengers movie? I find it hard to believe they will pull this off.
• This is what all the fuss is about, stem-cells.
• Wikipedia random article of the day.

Strides in the acceleration of science through knowledge diffusion

I suppose the title says it all?

Actually probably not so I’ll attempt to explain what I mean. The fundamental concept is actually very simple: The faster knowledge is accessible to researchers the quicker more research can be done, thus accelerating scientific advancement. Sort of similar to a snowball affect. Makes sense right?

Believe it or not this is actually a new concept in the field of information science. At least new in the fact that someone has decided to promote it and actually try to put it into practice. There could be several reasons for this that range from lethargy to technological limitations. I prefer the latter and that is where I’m putting all my eggs, though my mother strictly warned me against such practices. Well Mom, there all there, sorry.Never in the history of human ingenuity and scientific development has information been so easy to share. We can think Al Gore and his internet for that. I’m not going to go into the details on this revelation as I am assuming most people reading this have a clue about the WWW and it’s impact on communication and thus knowledge sharing. More on that in a minute.

But it goes beyond capability, there must be by desire to share. Historically researchers have been anxious about all out sharing there findings and strategies, except in situations where they are getting the credit for it and, ultimately, ground for tenure. This seems very ironic and counterproductive to me and apparently to the new generation of scientists. With all the problems and issues currently facing our planet such as global warming, petroleum distribution, fossil fuel consumption and war, just to name a few, there seems to be a much bigger push for sharing. Personally I think that is the way the scientific community should work and will be better for it.

The information science field seems to also be sitting up and taking notice. There is a lot of focus, particularly in the US Government, on what is being termed federating searching and the ‘Deep Web‘. These technologies and concepts, when used and implemented to their potential, will define the title concept. A few examples of these ‘new’ engines can be seen at Science.gov and Science Accelerator. From these sites you might actually see some of my handiwork (/wink).

Other industries and entities also seem to be taking notice. Check out this article by the O’reilly group about the innovations over at Nature Precedings.

All I can say is Go, Go Science!

The Web of 6.21.2007

This section be a collection of some of my favorite stories/articles of the day.

• How can they always find a way to change the classics. The new Transformers.
• A new ride for Batman in “The Dark Knight.”
• Confessions of a Samurai Coder. Fun read for the programmers out there.
• I love surfing Random Article on Wikipedia. Try it for yourself.
• Ah, the good old days of only 8-bit. Don’t lie, you want one.