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Do open-access electronic journals really help science?
The latest fad in the scientific publishing world is open access e-journals. In my field, for example, the Optical Society of America’s Optics Express has become one of the most popular journals, despite being only a decade old. The journal is basically a peer-reviewed website; people submit self-produced papers in either Word or LaTeX form, […]
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Maybe there are dumb questions…
I’ve been wondering about the following: When somebody says “think about the color blue” you cannot help but have an image of blue (or something blue) pop into your visual cortex no matter how hard you try otherwise. Moreover, the thought apparently triggers rather similar neural patterns to those excited if you were actually seeing […]
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Saudi Oil and the US dollar
Last week the dollar began to recover in value as the Bush administration finally started making serious noise about a strong dollar policy. Now, right on the heels of that display, the Saudis finally agree to up production. Both events were a bit long in coming, at least relative to the reasons stated by each party. […]
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REALbasic: Cross-platform that really doesn’t work
It sounds too good to be true. Write once, run everywhere. (Where did we hear that promise before?) Alas, it is. I’ve been working with REALbasic for about a year, now, and my conclusion is that it’s not ready. Given that they have been working on it since 1996, I suspect it never will be. […]
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For the love of all that is holy, stay the hell away from OpenOffice
Twice now I’ve had it hopelessly corrupt a file on me. (What is it they say about “fool me twice, shame on me?”) Saving isn’t enough with this ungodly piece of shit. You need to run ten minute backups of the file you’re working on so that OpenOffice can’t kill it. The latest accomplishment of […]
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Poem for the day
Didn’t see that coming, did you? I think this one is especially appropriate for the time, as well as needed balance to the last post: O look, look in the mirror, O look in your distress; Life remains a blessing Although you cannot bless. O stand, stand in the window As the tears scald and […]
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RIP American Broadcast Television, 1939–2009
The end of broadcast television was always going to happen eventually, but thanks to the FCC and the vagaries of a little-known modulation format known as 8-VSB, it may happen before the end of this decade. As of February of 2009, analog television signals will be shutdown across in America. The signals which have been […]
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Politically incorrect thought of the day
If America somehow had a different history, and were predominantly black, having had only black presidents thoughout our past, right now we would be celebrating Barack Obama as potentially the first white president.
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Boeing 777 time-lapse construction video
This is a remarkable look at what goes in to making a Boeing 777. In four minutes. Much of the 777 is outsourced as entire sections, such as the vertical stabilizer, so a lot of what you see are the parts coming in off the docks and being maneuvered into Boeing’s massive hangar for final […]
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Tazer Man!
The following is best read in a voice akin to that of Don “The Voice of God” LaFontaine: IN A WORLD where people have forgotten their manners, made deaf to their fellow citizens by ipods sprouting from their heads, apathetic to those around them: one man stands alone, willing to fight for truth, justice, and […]