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Epeus' epigone: Fear of the new - the Internet, Tea, and MapReduce

2008 Sep 8, 10:26"This is what I call the "cup of tea" problem, after Douglas Adams: Newsreaders still feel it is worth a special and rather worrying mention if, for instance, a crime was planned by people 'over the Internet.' They don't bother to mention when criminals use the telephone or the M4, or discuss their dastardly plans 'over a cup of tea,' though each of these was new and controversial in their day."PermalinkCommentsinternet security humor douglas-adams via:sambrook

INTOURIST Soviet Union Russia Labels - a set on Flickr

2008 Aug 29, 10:44Cool 30's Soviet Union tourist brochure logos and designs. "Intourist was renowned as the official state travel agency of the Soviet Union. It was founded in 1929 by Joseph Stalin and was responsible for managing the great majority of foreigners' access to, and travel within, the Soviet Union. It grew into one of the largest tourism organizations in the world, with a network embracing banks, hotels, and money exchanges. Some of the best Intourist labels and brochures produced during the 1930's were designed by A. Selensky. Some of the labels in this set are signed by him, including a rare constructivist style travel brochure I have included as well."PermalinkCommentsflickr photo propaganda graphic russia history design

Tag Metadata in Feeds

2008 Aug 25, 10:13

As noted previously, my page consists of the aggregation of my various feeds and in working on that code recently it was again brought to my attention that everyone has different ways of representing tag metadata in feeds. I made up a list of how my various feed sources represent tags and list that data here so that it might help others in the future.

Tag markup from various sources
Source Feed Type Tag Markup Scheme One Tag Per Element Tag Scheme URI Human / Machine Names Example Markup
LiveJournal Atom atom:category yes no no , (source)
LiveJournal RSS 2.0 rss2:category yes no no technical
(soure)
WordPress RSS 2.0 rss2:category yes no no , (source)
Delicious RSS 1.0 dc:subject no no no photosynth photos 3d tool
(source)
Delicious RSS 2.0 rss2:category yes yes no domain="http://delicious.com/SequelGuy/">
hulu

(source)
Flickr Atom atom:category yes yes no term="seattle"
scheme="http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/" />

(source)
Flickr RSS 2.0 media:category no yes no scheme="urn:flickr:tags">
seattle washington baseball mariners

(source)
YouTube RSS 2.0 media:category no no no label="Tags">
bunny rabbit yawn cadbury

(source)
LibraryThing RSS 2.0 No explicit tag metadata. no no no n/a, (source)
Tag markup scheme
Tag Markup Scheme Notes Example
Atom Category
atom:category
xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"
category/@term
Required category name.
category/@scheme
Optional IRI id'ing the categorization scheme.
category/@label
Optional human readable category name.
term="catName"
scheme="tag:deletethis.net,2008:tagscheme"
label="category name in human readable format"/>
RSS 2.0 category
rss2:category
empty namespace
category/@domain
Optional string id'ing the categorization scheme.
category/text()
Required category name. The value of the element is a forward-slash-separated string that identifies a hierarchic location in the indicated taxonomy. Processors may establish conventions for the interpretation of categories.
domain="tag:deletethis.net,2008:tagscheme">
MSFT
Yahoo Media RSS Module category
media:category
xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/"
category/text()
Required category name.
category/@domain
Optional string id'ing the categorization scheme.
scheme="http://dmoz.org"
label="Ace Ventura - Pet Detective">
Arts/Movies/Titles/A/Ace_Ventura_Series/Ace_Ventura_-_Pet_Detective
Dublin Core subject
dc:subject
xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
subject/text()
Required category name. Typically, the subject will be represented using keywords, key phrases, or classification codes. Recommended best practice is to use a controlled vocabulary.
humor

Update 2009-9-14: Added WordPress to the Tag Markup table and namespaces to the Tag Markup Scheme table.

PermalinkCommentsfeed media delicious technical atom youtube yahoo rss tag

Microsoft launches 3D wonder Photosynth for consumers | Webware : Cool Web apps for everyone - CNET

2008 Aug 22, 5:35Photosynth now available and easy to use: "Photosynth, a technology demo from Microsoft Live Labs, has graduated from its "ooh, that's pretty" status to being a viable Web service for consumers. The technology, which takes a grouping of photographs and stitches them into a faux 3D environment, can now be implemented with photos you've taken on your digital camera or mobile phone, and converted right on your computer. Previously, the process of stitching these photos together took weeks of processing on specially configured server arrays. With its latest version, Microsoft has managed to shrink that into around the time it takes to upload your photos."PermalinkCommentsvia:felix42 photosynth photos photography 3d microsoft free tool

Deriving a Non-Recursive Fibonacci Function Using Linear Algebra

2008 Aug 20, 10:51

In my Intro to Algorithms course in college the Fibonacci sequence was used as the example algorithm to which various types of algorithm creation methods were applied. As the course went on we made better and better performing algorithms to find the nth Fibonacci number. In another course we were told about a matrix that when multiplied successively produced Fibonacci numbers. In my linear algebra courses I realized I could diagonalize the matrix to find a non-recursive Fibonacci function. To my surprise this worked and I found a function.
The Nth Fibonacci value is (1 + sqrt(5))^N - (1 - sqrt(5))^N all over sqrt(5) * 2^N
Looking online I found that of course this same function was already well known. Mostly I was irritated that after all the algorithms we created for faster and faster Fibonacci functions we were never told about a constant time function like this.

I recently found my paper depicting this and thought it would be a good thing to use to try out MathML, a markup language for displaying math. I went to the MathML implementations page and installed a plugin for IE to display MathML and then began writing up my paper in MathML. I wrote the MathML by hand and must say that's not how its intended to be created. The language is very verbose and it took me a long time to get the page of equations transcribed.

MathML has presentation elements and content elements that can be used separately or together. I stuck to content elements and while it looked great in IE with my extension when I tried it in FireFox which has builtin MathML support it didn't render. As it turns out FireFox doesn't support MathML content elements. I had already finished creating this page by hand and wasn't about to switch to content elements. Also, in order to get IE to render a MathML document, the document needs directives at the top for specific IE extensions which is a pain. Thankfully, the W3C has a MathML cross platform stylesheet. You just include this XSL at the top of your XHTML page and it turns content elements into appropriate presentation elements, and inserts all the known IE extension goo required for you. So now my page can look lovely and all the ickiness to get it to render is contained in the W3C's XSL.

PermalinkCommentstechnical mathml fibonacci math

This American Life

2008 Aug 18, 11:29"A special program about the housing crisis produced in a special collaboration with NPR News. We explain it all to you. What does the housing crisis have to do with the turmoil on Wall Street? Why did banks make half-million dollar loans to people without jobs or income? And why is everyone talking so much about the 1930s? It all comes back to the Giant Pool of Money."PermalinkCommentspodcast audio economics npr radio mortgage

Dr. Horrible Link Roundup

2008 Aug 10, 3:33

Doctor Horrible's Sing Along Blog is an Internet only show you may have already watched and heard everything about. If you missed this somehow, its a musical by Joss Whedon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly) staring Neil Patrick Harris as an aspiring super villian who can't get up the courage to talk to his laundromat crush. Its very funny, fairly geeky, and on the Internet so of course I've enjoyed it thoroughly and have some links to share. It surprised me how many blogs that I don't usually see posting the same things telling me about it: first on Eric's blog, then The Old New Thing, and even Penny-Arcade.

Dr. Horrible's again available online via Hulu with commercial interruption.

Check out the official fan site. They link to such things as the owner of Dr. Horrible's house. He had appeared on Monster House, a reality show about remaking people's homes like Monster Car or Pimp My Ride is about remaking folk's cars, and had his house turned into a evil scientist's lab. Consequently its a perfect fit for Dr. Horrible and in return the owner appears in one of the final scenes and in the credits as the 'Purple Pimp'. Apparently the purple suit is his. Also on his blog you can find out what's happened on that big chair that appears in the show. All I'll say about that is, good thing Neil Patrick Harris wears a lab coat while sitting on it.

At the recent Comic Con some attendees took video of the Dr. Horrible Comic Con panel (video clips contain spoilers) some of which I've grouped together. Besides the videos containing the creators and stars of the musical who are all hilarious (see Felicia Day's comment on twittering) there's also some excellent bits about a possible second installment and information on the impending DVD. To finish off this series of Dr. Horrible links check out this Venn Diagram of Felicia Day's work.

PermalinkCommentsdr. horrible doctor horrible humor link roundup

Dark Knight and Mariners Baseball

2008 Aug 4, 8:39

The weekend before last I saw Dark Knight with some friends from work and then we all ate at Z'Tejas after. Like everyone has said and as the name implies Dark Knight is... dark. Dark Knight was a little over the top at times as compared to Batman Begins but I really enjoyed it. Two times during the movie I thought it had ended but I was wrong. The Joker is both frightening (Cringe inducing line "Wanna know how I got these scars?") and humorous ("Where is Harvey Dent? ... You know where Harvey is? You know who he is?", as well as the pencil magic trick). I can certainly recommend it to anyone who enjoyed Batman Begins. The previews included Burn After Reading a new Coen Brother's comedy that I look forward to, and Quantum of Solace which hopefully does the same thing Dark Knight has, keep up the new direction on the refreshed franchise.

Safeco Field Suite photoThis past weekend Sarah and I went to a Mariners baseball game. I think this is the first MLB baseball game I've seen in person. Sarah's company gave out tickets for the game and the use of a suite. Its a room half way up the stadium with comfortable chairs, a mini-fridge built-in to the marble counter-topped center table, and a big flat screen television with the game on it. I suppose that's in case you don't want to turn to the right and sit at the window, or walk out onto the balcony which features three rows of comfy chairs overlooking the field. Anyway there was free food and drinks and I met some of the people Sarah works with.

PermalinkCommentsbaseball batman nontechnical

OpenRemote-Home

2008 Jul 29, 2:40"The Home of the Internet-enabled Home. We are an Open Community in the Home Automation and Domotics space. We believe an Open Source approach can revolutionize the way people create, install, and maintain software in the industry."PermalinkCommentshardware java opensource remote software home automation

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Your American accents

2008 Jul 23, 5:19"Everyone can do an American accent... at least everyone thinks they can. After the BBC's Stephen Robb took a lesson from one of the movie industry's top accent coaches, we asked readers to record their best US accents."PermalinkCommentsbbc audio accent language english

New Scientist Short Sharp Science Blog: What do your belongings say about you?

2008 Jul 22, 6:15Determine one's personality based on their home. Feels like pop science, fortune cookie results still fun though: "Sam Gosling, psychologist ... analysed photos from a handful of New Scientist readers to see what he could deduce about their personalitiesPermalinkCommentsscience psychology article personality

GNSO Final Report Part A - August 2007

2008 Jul 22, 10:58"ICANN Generic Names Supporting Organisation - Final Report: Introduction of New Generic Top-Level Domains"PermalinkCommentsicann tld dns reference

Kirkland Uncorked Weekend

2008 Jul 21, 10:36

Kirkland Uncorked posterSaturday we went to Kirkland Uncorked, a wine tasting festival near our home. We took the bus and after finding the correct one (they really should have different numbers for buses that are on the same route but traveling in different directions) made it to the festival. Unfortunately I don't remember any of the names of the wines just which ones I enjoyed by order. Recalling that I enjoyed the first one I had and the second to last one, doesn't really help me find them again. There were local artists who had setup booths and Sarah got a lovely necklace. After that we ate at Cactus which, because it was such a lovely day, had all its windows and doors open.

Sunday was quieter. A few household chores and plenty of GTA4. I almost got the One Man Army achievement but I found that after four minutes with six stars I eventually dropped back down to three stars without realizing it.

PermalinkCommentswine weekend nontechnical

Wizards of the Coast's Dungeons and Dragon's podcast

2008 Jul 16, 8:38Dungeons and Dragons podcast which includes recorded sessions of the Penny Arcade and PvP webcomic creators playing D&D.PermalinkCommentspodcast penny-arcade mp3 feed audio pvp dungeons-and-dragons nerd dnd

Advertising: Microsoft Hires Too-Cool Ad Agency In Brilliant/ Dumb (?) Move

2008 Jul 11, 1:35Furious George comments: "Extensive focus group testing shows that having Seth Rogen present as a relatable everyman enhances positive feelings about the possibility of having sex with Megan Fox, and hence, using Windows."PermalinkCommentsad advertising microsoft

6.09: The World According to Woz

2008 Jul 7, 5:26"888-8888. This was his new cell-phone number, and his greatest philonumerical triumph. The number proved unusable. It received more than a hundred wrong numbers a day."PermalinkCommentsapple prank wired article phone education steve-wozniak

The official website of the McFLY 2015 project ! Le site officiel du projet McFLY 2015 !

2008 Jul 3, 1:27"...get Nike to make available to consumers the futuristic-looking sneakers seen in the 1989 movie Back to the Future Part 2". Flying cars etc.PermalinkCommentsvia:incredulous bttf movie humor shoes

w/ extra duck. - a set on Flickr

2008 Jul 1, 12:13Famous pieces of art with a yellow rubber duck added.PermalinkCommentsart humor flickr paintings duck

RFC 3675 - .sex Considered Dangerous

2008 Jun 30, 3:55FCC wants nationwide free wifi that's free of porn. They should read this. "Periodically there are proposals to mandate the use of a special top level name or an IP address bit to flag "adult" "unsafe" material or the like. This document explains why thiPermalinkCommentsdomain dns rfc ietf internet porn government politics censorship

New Scientist Technology Blog: Dual-display e-book reader lets you flip pages naturally

2008 Jun 25, 2:50A few interesting interface ideas for a dual-display reading device.PermalinkCommentsvideo book interface ui
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