Out There http://www.wasowski.net/blog/ en Copyright 2009 Mon, 16 Mar 2009 15:28:40 +0100 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/?v=3.2 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Search photos by color! So how often do you want to find a picture with certain colors, that fits into a theme, or goes with something else? I actually have found myself in that position a lot... go figure. Anyways, here's a website that lets you do just that:
Multicolr Search Lab

They've taken 10 million images from Flickr that are released under the Creative Commons license, and let you search for images that have a certain color, or a certain color combination. Brilliant! Now, all I need is for someone to develop an app that lets me use this technology to search my own photos. Now THAT would be flippin' awesome.

]]> http://www.wasowski.net/blog/2009/03/search_photos_by_color.html http://www.wasowski.net/blog/2009/03/search_photos_by_color.html Things Out There Mon, 16 Mar 2009 15:28:40 +0100 Rant of the Day: CSS should not be used for layout So I will admit that my knowledge of web design has stagnated recently, despite a genuine interest in it.  What can I say - life happens.  However, I do read what little I have time to stumble over, and this article caught my attention:
CSS should not be used for layout
The author builds up his argument in a rather convincing and (for those of us who are a bit rusty on floats and positioning) kind way, and ultimately the point he is making seems fantastically true and logical

Of course, all of these things can be fixed. But the point is they have to be fixed! The correct CSS is inextricably bound to the content. Smarter people than me have tied themselves into knots trying to figure out how to make a three-column CSS layout that doesn't have these problems.

If I had some more free time on my hands I would dig into this article and put the claims to the test.  and pull up some old links to articles on "perfect" 3-column design in CSS and compare.  However, I don't have the time at the moment, so I will have to take the argument at face value, and accept it as possibly true.  At least it's an interesting read!

]]> http://www.wasowski.net/blog/2009/02/rant_of_the_day_css_should_not.html http://www.wasowski.net/blog/2009/02/rant_of_the_day_css_should_not.html Techie stuff Tue, 03 Feb 2009 14:13:48 +0100 Right on! The Tuskegee Airmen, who made history during World War II as the country's first black military pilots only to return home to discrimination and exclusion from victory parades, have been invited to Barack Obama's inauguration.

WWII's Tuskegee Airmen Invited To Inauguration

]]> http://www.wasowski.net/blog/2008/12/right_on.html http://www.wasowski.net/blog/2008/12/right_on.html Thu, 11 Dec 2008 14:01:25 +0100 Advice to President-Elect Obama This is an interesting collection of advice from 18 men and women in various positions of political, and other, leadership in American. Wonder if he will "listen" to all these? From Reader's Digest:
Memo to President-Elect Barack Obama

"Talk But Also Listen" -- David M. Abshire

"Encourage Debate" -- Karl Rove

"Remind Us What It Takes To Be Great" -- Anne-Marie Slaughter

"Restate the Case For U.S. Leadership Abroad" -- Madeleine Albright

]]> http://www.wasowski.net/blog/2008/12/advice_to_presidentelect_obama.html http://www.wasowski.net/blog/2008/12/advice_to_presidentelect_obama.html Thu, 11 Dec 2008 13:59:42 +0100 H.M. - one of the most intriguing cases in neuroscience/cogsci - dies at 82 I still remember reading about H.M. for the first time... I think that was when I realized just how amazingly curious, odd, amazing, complex and mysterious the human brain is. This man suffered severely from seizures and in an attempt to stop them underwent brain surgery in which parts of his hippocampus were removed. The seizures stopped, but H.M. was completely unable to form new memories.
H.M., An Unforgettable Amnesiac, Dies at 82

]]> http://www.wasowski.net/blog/2008/12/hm_one_of_the_most_intriguing.html http://www.wasowski.net/blog/2008/12/hm_one_of_the_most_intriguing.html Sat, 06 Dec 2008 18:23:12 +0100 Let's make the world smarter - with salt(?!) I am probably not alone in having NO IDEA the impact that iodized salt apparently has on mental, cognitive and physical development. In fact, in reading this article: Raising the World's IQ I must admit that I struggle to fully accept the science... I mean, can they really meant it when they claim
We’re preventing people from becoming mentally retarded.???

I have checked my calendar several times, and am at least certain that this is not an april fool's joke. So here's to spending a few bucks on salt and preventing retardation!

]]> http://www.wasowski.net/blog/2008/12/lets_make_the_world_smarter_wi_1.html http://www.wasowski.net/blog/2008/12/lets_make_the_world_smarter_wi_1.html Fri, 05 Dec 2008 11:35:10 +0100 'meh' is now a word!! Collins English Dictionary includes 'meh' in it's 30th anniversary edition

]]> http://www.wasowski.net/blog/2008/11/meh_is_now_a_word.html http://www.wasowski.net/blog/2008/11/meh_is_now_a_word.html Mon, 17 Nov 2008 16:05:54 +0100 The real great depression - what we should be comparing the current financial crisis with The Real Great Depression

This interesting article suggests that whereas many current politicians, finance-gurus and even historians are comparing the current financial situation to Depression in the 1920s and 1930s, the parallels between then and now really are not that strong. The crisis in the 1920s was caused in great part by
overlarge factory inventories, a stock-market crash, and Germany's inability to pay back war debts, which then led to continuing strain on British gold reserves.
Clearly, these are not factors in today's financial environment.

]]> http://www.wasowski.net/blog/2008/10/the_real_great_depression_what_1.html http://www.wasowski.net/blog/2008/10/the_real_great_depression_what_1.html Things Out There Thu, 16 Oct 2008 14:25:32 +0100 Sumopaint - online image editing software Sumopaint - Image editing in your browser

Pretty neat, good for simple editing. I am fascinated by the symmetry tool!

]]> http://www.wasowski.net/blog/2008/07/sumopaint_online_image_editing.html http://www.wasowski.net/blog/2008/07/sumopaint_online_image_editing.html Techie stuff Fri, 11 Jul 2008 09:54:08 +0100 Bored at work but can't procrastinate w/o getting busted? Try Read At Work - the way to read at work without getting caught.
*grin*

]]> http://www.wasowski.net/blog/2008/06/bored_at_work_but_cant_procras_1.html http://www.wasowski.net/blog/2008/06/bored_at_work_but_cant_procras_1.html Random thoughts Thu, 05 Jun 2008 14:56:15 +0100 an interview with bill gates from 1986 CD ROM is totally different. We hope with CD ROM you’ll be able to look at a map of the United States, point somewhere, click, zoom in and say, “Hey, what hotels are around here?” And the program will tell you.



Sounds like Google Maps to me..... Bill Gates 1986 - Programmers at Work]]> http://www.wasowski.net/blog/2008/05/an_interview_with_bill_gates_f.html http://www.wasowski.net/blog/2008/05/an_interview_with_bill_gates_f.html Techie stuff Tue, 20 May 2008 11:21:13 +0100 Bringing the right hemisphere of the brain center stage An article that looks into the emerging popular interest in the right side of the brain; and in the differences between the left and right hemispheres.

The left side, home of the human language center, is the outspoken logical, linear half of the equation. The right side, home to spatial perception and nonverbal concepts, is the nonlinear, high-concept source of the imagination and of pleasure.


Let Computers Compute. It's the Age of the Right Braint

]]> http://www.wasowski.net/blog/2008/04/bringing_the_right_hemisphere.html http://www.wasowski.net/blog/2008/04/bringing_the_right_hemisphere.html Cogsci stuff Tue, 08 Apr 2008 15:14:04 +0100 Panorama of San Fransisco after earthquake

]]> http://www.wasowski.net/blog/2008/02/panorama_of_san_fransisco_afte_1.html http://www.wasowski.net/blog/2008/02/panorama_of_san_fransisco_afte_1.html Things Out There Fri, 15 Feb 2008 14:29:55 +0100 Shakespeare was messing with your brain So I got bitten by the Shakespeare bug during high school, thanks to a rather brilliant english teacher. I never had enough scholarly insight to pursue this interest to any serious degree, but I was continually fascinated by some of my own reactions to the complexities of his writing that have fascinated untold numbers... A while ago I stumbled on this article - Reading Shakespeare has dramatic effect on your brain - and a whole host of new levels of fascination entered my consciousness. Did Shakespeare have any idea that he was using a linguistic technique known as functional shift that involves, for example using a noun to serve as a verb? I doubt it. But, perhaps he found that doing so tended to captivate or engage his audience, and so stuck with it. We can certainly conclude that he wasn't close to realizing that This process causes a sudden peak in brain activity and forces the brain to work backwards in order to fully understand what Shakespeare is trying to say., nor that this heightened brain activity may be one of the reasons why Shakespeare’s plays have such a dramatic impact on their readers..

Regardless really of how he came by this technique, it's pretty cool!

]]> http://www.wasowski.net/blog/2008/01/shakespeare_was_messing_with_y.html http://www.wasowski.net/blog/2008/01/shakespeare_was_messing_with_y.html Cogsci stuff Mon, 21 Jan 2008 22:55:39 +0100 creative ways "around" an obstacle *snicker*

because you can lead the horse to water, but you can't make it drink...or something like that:

Procedurally enforcing workflow

]]> http://www.wasowski.net/blog/2008/01/creative_ways_around_an_obstac.html http://www.wasowski.net/blog/2008/01/creative_ways_around_an_obstac.html Mon, 21 Jan 2008 13:53:43 +0100