Wednesday, November 30, 2005

Monday, November 21, 2005

QuakeHelp.net

I've decided to save lives rather than grade papers.

This is a rare opportunity to save lives and establish personal relationships in a region where we desperately need friends.

Spread the meme!
Children are Freezing
Are there Sleeping Bags in Your Attic?

Problem: Millions of displaced earthquake victims in Pakistan and Kashmir are in danger of freezing to death. Snow will soon fall on shelterless people.

Solution: Emergency airlift of life-saving camping gear.

Your Mission: Organize friends and family to gather good quality tents, sleeping bags and blankets and send them, with goodwill messages, to emergency collection points.




...as I lay shivering on the hard earth, too cold to sleep and cursing myself for not having brought a better sleeping bag, I could not imagine how the villagers would cope with the imminent arrival of winter and its heavy snows.

Soon we are likely to know. In the aftermath of the earthquake, which killed at least 73,000 people and left an estimated 3 million without homes, United Nations officials have warned that the death toll could rise sharply from hunger, disease and exposure.


--John Lancaster, Washington Post, Nov 13, 2005


"Earthquake Relief: If we don't help Pakistan, al-Qaeda's friends will"

"...radical Islamic groups have vigorously opposed U.S. and international aid because they know this will weaken their propaganda efforts. In a speech last week, Jamaat's leader, Qazi Hussain Ahmed, said, "The Americans are [providing relief in Pakistan] to damage the solidarity of the country, and will work for materializing their ulterior motives."

The United States and the world community must now do nothing less than spearhead a response similar to that following the tsunami, not only for self-evident and overwhelming humanitarian needs but also for long-term national security.


--Hussein Haqqani, Globe and Mail, November 17, 2005


Monday, November 07, 2005

The End of an Alliance Between Whaler and Whale - New York Times


Just a great picture:

"ABC Natural History Unit
Killer whales attack a huge humpback in a scene from 'Killers in Eden.'
Readers
"

Researchers Look to Create a Synthesis of Art and Science for the 21st Century - New York Times

Researchers Look to Create a Synthesis of Art and Science for the 21st Century - New York Times: "The six-story Calit2 laboratory, which overlooks the Pacific Ocean, is designed for 900 faculty and student researchers. Two separate wings extend from the main building. On one side is an ultrasterile set of nanotechnology clean rooms designed for making devices like sensors for detecting pollutants, biological warfare agents and cancer cells. On the other side is a new digital media arts center composed of auditoriums and computer visualization laboratories, where the Calit2 scientists, engineers and artists can display their projects.

For Mr. Smarr - who as director of the National Center for Supercomputing Applications in the 1990's oversaw the development of Mosaic, the first World Wide Web browser - this synthesis of art and science is vital in light of the role he expects artists to play in designing the future.

'Part of the artist's insight is to be able to interpret the future earlier than anybody,' he said during an interview in the small hideaway conference room adjacent to his office. 'We regard the artist as fully equal with any scientist at Calit2.'

"

natural foot-based guidance system


the right tool for the job, and a great example of the new physical computing

Electromechanic parts in the sole of the shoes are able to generate the angle of the shoe as well of the feet artificial. The artificial bevel is not distinguishable from a real one. Individual and virtual trails can be communicated by the shoe. Tests with the prototype demonstrate taht the principle of "walking in a trail" also works with th evitual produces topography.

The Trails can be created by different application syenarios: Assistance to avoid hitting a obstacle on certain situations, target-orientated guide from point A to point B, reference to nearby "Points-of-Interests"... even a virtual borderline of a accessible area is imaginable.
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Examples from the same site

People Projects Information Search



Sunday, November 06, 2005

gizmag Article: Siemens develops printable, low-cost, disposable video display

View all images for this article
(3 total)

Siemens develops printable, low-cost, disposable video display

(link to this article)

November 7, 2005 Siemens has announced a new colour display screen that can be printed onto paper or cardboard and is thin, flexible, and affordable enough to be included in books, magazines, labels, tickets, instructions, multimedia games embedded in the breakfast cereal box and a host of other traditionally “dumb” media where clarity of the message is vital – such as the dosage instructions on drugs, installation instructions for people who normally don’t RTFM ad infinitum – when the new technology reaches market in 2007, the convergence of media types will further accelerate with the possibility of video instructions incorporated into packaging, video-enabled print adverts, and printed magazines and books with multimedia

Friday, November 04, 2005

Visualizing the transparent sea of cyberspace

iSpots wireless technology at MIT: If I may quote myself,

We live in a transparent, sea of cyberspace, and for the first time in history the flow of information through that sea is trackable and accessible over a global, growing Internet. This is a major development in the multi-billion year history of life and mind, and it is happening in our lifetimes. It is a big story, and a big scientific opportunity.
This project, and this image, looks like a significant step in the right direction.
ispots.mit.edu

Wednesday, November 02, 2005

High-Tech Door Better than Star Trek


High-Tech Door Better than Star Trek: "You may be wondering what is so great about a door that opens only just enough to let a person come in or out; it minimizes the amount of heating or air conditioning let out of a building, as well as minimizing the entry of pollen or other pollutants from the outside."

WebORB Message Server Chat (with Google Maps)

Wonderfully done chat superimposed on a map.

A standard transcript (above the map, not shown) fills line by line.

Each bubble erases all other bubbles
I wouldn't do that. One wants (I want) text-as-you-type chat in the bubbles.

The changeID field is too subtle. Needs a little highlighting.

Still a huge bang in a simple interface