Day 1017: Rocks Don’t Talk Or Disappoint
June 9, 2008 - Filed Under blogistas, computing & internet, science & technology, visualization
A large part of my decision to become a geoscientist and not a physician, accountant or politician was the delicious prospect of not dealing with many people. I’m no misanthrope (ask anyone in my family or at work who has to put up with my incessant babbling thorough commentary), but give me a computer or a book and I’m gone. Hours upon hours go by while I swim through data, words and the mental caverns that spontaneously open and close during the journey.
That which we are capable of is a lot more interesting than this that we are capable of. Art, science, art meeting science are definitely worth meditating on more than the personally unsolvable problems of New Orleans, which new rung of hell, especially formed for him, will Karl Rove descend to or what sweet and merciful god would make the chairman of the Texas State Board of Education utter the words “That little baby born in the manger was the god that created the universe [thousands of years ago].”
So, I gleefully partake of and share the innovations, connections and progress that we humans make in our amazing and flawed capacity. Such a dichotomy of purpose always makes me wonder who we really are.
* Presenting the Star Trek Holodeck 1.0 (well, not really, but check it out, it’s 3D without all that currently comes in the way of visualizing in 3D!)
* Female friends often encourage me to take up knitting. My response is always, “What ever for?” Duh, topology, of course! New Math Tricks: Knitting and Crocheting
The math of handicraft was long dismissed as merely a cute trick or an inconsequential coincidence. Now, however, handicraft has begun to come into its own as a legitimate tool for mathematical research. This is especially true of knitting and crochet, which, thanks to the efforts of a new group of researchers, are now receiving a great deal of attention from the world of theoretical mathematics.
Go, professors, purl through the back loop of that Möbius strip … or something like that.
* The Zac Browser for autistic children. From a CBS News SciTech article:
… it greatly simplifies the experience of using a computer. It seals off most Web sites from view, to block violent, sexual or otherwise adult-themed material. Instead it presents a hand-picked slate of choices from free, public Web sites, with an emphasis on educational games, music, videos and visually entertaining images, like a virtual aquarium … It essentially takes over the computer and reduces the controls available for children like Zackary, who finds too many choices overwhelming.
* Finally, blogging is good for you. Scientific American says so. Actually, it’s good for the ill and recovering in need of a means of self-expression.
… Research shows that it improves memory and sleep, boosts immune cell activity and reduces viral load in AIDS patients, and even speeds healing after surgery. A study in the February issue of the Oncologist reports that cancer patients who engaged in expressive writing just before treatment felt markedly better, mentally and physically, as compared with patients who did not.
There is no way in hell blogging improves sleep and boosts immune cell activity in this healthy individual.
The following sentence reminded me of what a blogosphere can be, what it was for many in the months immediately following Katrina and The Flood and how it can comfort, grow wonder and teach or devolve into a cesspool of unlistening, screeching self-righteousness. The choice is always ours.
… Whatever the underlying causes may be, people coping with cancer diagnoses and other serious conditions are increasingly seeking—and finding—solace in the blogosphere.
Day 757: Science & Tech News
September 24, 2007 - Filed Under computing & internet, geology, gizmos & hacks, science & technology, visualization
New Dense Zone Within The Earth’s Lower Mantle Proposed: “… research suggests that a section of the Earth’s brittle mantle about 620 to 1,365 miles (1,000 to 2,200 kilometers) deep actually is a ‘transitional zone’ where the rock turns into a strange, incredibly dense state.”
Drawing On Air With Haptics In 3D: “By putting on a virtual reality mask, holding a stylus in one hand and a tracking device in the other, an artist can draw 3D objects in the air with unprecedented precision.”
7 Reasons I Switched Back To PHP After 2 Years With Rails: “7. Programming languages are like girlfriends; the new one is better because *you* are better.”
Buy A Laptop For A Child, Get Another One Free: “The marketing program, to be announced today, is called ‘Give 1 Get 1,’ in which Americans and Canadians can buy two laptops for $399 … One of the machines will be given to a child in a developing nation, and the other one will be shipped to the purchaser by Christmas. The donated computer is a tax-deductible charitable contribution. The program will run for two weeks, with orders accepted from Nov. 12 to Nov. 26 … The machines have high-resolution screens, cameras and peer-to-peer technology so the laptops can communicate wirelessly with one another. The machine runs on free, open source software. ‘Everything in the machine is open to the hacker, so people can poke at it, change it and make it their own.’”
Day 723: Of Interest
August 22, 2007 - Filed Under computing & internet, culture-society-history, desi / india, government, music, new orleans, visualization
* So, why is it that Brad Pitt’s housing project moves forward (with time for hot spots and shots), while anything FEMA-related putters along? The system is heavy and broke, fix it.
* Discover Magazine’s Jaron Lanier keeps it real:
… Science can declare the approximate limits of its territorial ambitions and be stronger for it. My dearly missed old friend Stephen Jay Gould framed this possibility beautifully with his proposal for “nonoverlapping magisteria.” I’ll go further and suggest that scientists should not only refrain from ridiculing people who find hope on the other side of the border but should also actively delight in a cacophonous, multicultural colonization of that far frontier so that it can’t be monopolized by fundamentalists. A workable definition of spirituality is “one’s emotional relationship with unanswerable questions.” It’s possible to find joy in them.
* If you haven’t heard, the Data Mining dude mapped the blogosphere on a, well, sphere, and finds that Kos, Michelle Malkin, pornographers, sportswriters and other charlatans are the shining stars of weblogging but in different relational ways.
* Inspite of myself, I appreciate and laud Maya Arulapragasam’s energy, spunk and go-getter business savvy. Rolling Stone gives M.I.A.’s new Kala 4.5 out of 5 stars, while not noticing that her reworked version of disco “classic” Jimmy [video] is mostly objectionable. What say you, peeps, to the rest of the album - aamam or illai?
Day 721: Great Balls Of Plasma!
August 20, 2007 - Filed Under science & technology, visualization
Japan’s AIST Develops True 3D Image Projector
The newly developed device, however, creates “real” 3D images by using laser light, which is focused through a lens at points in space above the device, to create plasma emissions from the nitrogen and oxygen in the air at the point of focus. Because plasma emission continues for a short period of time, the device is able to create 3D images by moving the point of focus.
… At the moment, the distance at which the device can project images is limited to between 2 and 3 meters. Improved laser technology will enable images to be projected at greater distances and with more color, so we may soon see 3D images floating above our city skylines.
Related: Artificial bones made with 3D inkjet printers
Day 680: How Google Earth Really Works
July 10, 2007 - Filed Under gizmos & hacks, mapping, visualization
Mapheads out there will be pleased to read Avi Bar-Zeev’s multi-part series on How Google Earth (Really) Works. A graphics expert, Bar-Zeev is an original founder of Google Earth and created some of the rendering applications for Second Life and other VR simulators.
After the intro and legalese comes Part 1, The Result: Drawing a 3D Virtual Globe, which hashes out how Google Earth deals with map projection in free-perspective (vs. a fixed point of view, like in traditional maps) and the texture mapping required to bring that level of complexity to an average home computer. What I like about Bar-Zeev’s approach is that he really teaches the reader, as opposed to waving at the moving parts.
The next topic is how Google Earth streams data to the end user’s computer.
Day 676: While On The Topic Of Sea Level Rise
July 6, 2007 - Filed Under environment, global, mapping, new orleans, science & technology, visualization
This reminds me of the time a friend’s student wrote about “seal levels” and “seal level rise” in her homework and tests, and cracked us up. Oh, how we mocked, “Oh, wait until global temperatures rise and Sea World and circuses have a huge influx of seals!” Bad grad student humor, I know.
Anyway, here are some global sea level rise maps from the University of Arizona’s Department of Geosciences Environmental Studies Laboratory, including North America, Louisiana, Florida, the Northeast US and Europe. Note that the maps are projections based on a model, but one that more or less accurately represents the current estimates of flooding with increasing rise in sea level. The maps referenced below are for a 1 meter (3.3 feet) increase - the website has a suite of maps for increases up to 6 meters, animations that go with each map and an interactive bit (which works sporadically).
When global sea level rises even by 1 meter (3.3 feet), there will be a lot more than New Orleans to worry about. We then have two choices: ask every single city, village and town on the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic to move to higher ground (any estimates on the sea level highstand?) or demand Dutch-like flood protection. If Amsterdam and the coastal Netherlands aren’t going anywhere, why should New York City, Washington DC, coastal Delaware, coastal North and South Carolina, Miami, coastal Louisiana including New Orleans and all of coastal Texas? More critically, how does one propose to move them? If it takes millions to move a town of 200, what’s the plan for, say, Manhattan?
Day 575: Google Maps Has Super Zoom
March 26, 2007 - Filed Under funny, gizmos & hacks, mapping, visualization
GoogleMaps SuperZoom Chad Screenshot - Camel!
Geekologie reports:
Google Maps apparently has a super zoom function for certain locations. Some of them are additional images inserted for partners like National Geographic, but others are actual satelilite photos of random locations … The original zoom levels were okay, but this is to the point where privacy is actually an issue.
Above is a Google Earth screenshot of the example location provided in the article. All of this technology to violate the privacy of that poor camel!
Day 573: GeoPress Experiment
March 24, 2007 - Filed Under computing & internet, crime, gizmos & hacks, mapping, new orleans, public domain, science & technology, visualization
Following up on the last two posts, I installed GeoPress on this WordPress site. The installation took under 10 minutes, most of which was spent acquiring Google and Yahoo! Maps API keys and waiting for all of the servers to talk to one another.
As a test, let’s map the armed robbery that recently took place at 4731 Music St. New Orleans, LA
INSERT_MAP
Yeah, the placement of the map and formatting requires some work, but that’s my blog template’s problem and not one for GeoPress. The bigger concern is how to use this tool to map many crimes (points) on a single map in a meaningful manner, and then (later on) plot this data against variables such as population, age, sex, race, etc. (layers).
Important Related Link: Citizen Crime Watch - Citizens Can Do Better
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