Out There http://www.wasowski.net/blog/ en Copyright 2008 Mon, 17 Nov 2008 16:05:54 +0100 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/?v=3.2 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss '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 um, cities planned for people rather than cars? yes please! Designing Cities for People

]]> http://www.wasowski.net/blog/2008/01/um_cities_planned_for_people_r.html http://www.wasowski.net/blog/2008/01/um_cities_planned_for_people_r.html Things Out There Wed, 16 Jan 2008 16:43:13 +0100 through artificial natural selection, robots evolve traits such as self-sacrifice for the greater good, and lying So, I'm not really sure what conclusions, if any, to draw from this article... "Lying is an emergent property of intelligent behavior" just seems a little ridiculous. And obviously, the truth isn't that simple. However, it is strangely fascinating that an experiment that involved programming robots with "genes" and then placing them in a "world" where they had to find food and avoid traps, Floreano observed the following:

The fourth colony sometimes evolved “cheater” robots instead, which would light up to tell the others that the poison was food, while they themselves rolled over to the food source and chowed down without emitting so much as a blink.

On the upside,

Some robots, though, were veritable heroes. They signaled danger and died to save other robots.

Robots evolve and learn how to lie

]]> http://www.wasowski.net/blog/2008/01/through_artificial_natural_sel_1.html http://www.wasowski.net/blog/2008/01/through_artificial_natural_sel_1.html Cogsci stuff Tue, 15 Jan 2008 15:59:15 +0100 taking the "web" out of web-apps? A new project in the Mozilla pipe-line is almost taking us full circle in the desktop application -> web-application cycle. Traditional desktop applications like email, calendars and office applications have all sprung up in new forms on the web, offering users benefits such as accessibility and quicker launch times. However, Mozilla has raised questions such as "why do you need a 'back' button, or a navigation bar in your web-app?" and in response is developing Prism - an application that pops out web-apps and allows them to run directly on your desktop. Circle complete?

Prism isn’t a new platform, it’s simply the web platform integrated into the desktop experience. Web developers don’t have to target it separately, because any application that can run in a modern standards-compliant web browser can run in Prism.

i, for one, am giving this one a try...

]]> http://www.wasowski.net/blog/2007/10/taking_the_web_out_of_webapps.html http://www.wasowski.net/blog/2007/10/taking_the_web_out_of_webapps.html Techie stuff Fri, 26 Oct 2007 15:41:57 +0100 what happens when your kids never gets to scrape his knee kids today are turning into wusses.  i've said it for years, and now people i hope are starting to see that all the things that we now do in the name of safety are in fact doing damage to our kids.  yes, falling out of a tree hurts.  it might even leave you with a broken bone or two.  but when you consider some of the benefits - improving your balance and muscle control, learning how far you can push yourself before you fall, what exactly the playground looks like from above - is the risk really so great that we need to stop kids from climbing trees?
Safety first, yes, but today's overprotected kids need to live a little

"When children spend time in the great outdoors, getting muddy, getting wet, getting stung by nettles, they learn important lessons - what hurts, what is slippery, what you can trip over or fall from. We need to try to break down the perceived safety barriers to playing outside."

(Peter Cornall, the head of leisure safety for the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents in England)

so let your kid get muddy, suffer a few scrapes and bruises, and learn some of life's most important lessons!

]]> http://www.wasowski.net/blog/2007/10/what_happens_when_your_kids_ne_1.html http://www.wasowski.net/blog/2007/10/what_happens_when_your_kids_ne_1.html Personal Mon, 22 Oct 2007 10:47:39 +0100 what happens when your kids never gets to scrape his knee kids today are turning into wusses.  i've said it for years, and now people i hope are starting to see that all the things that we now do in the name of safety are in fact doing damage to our kids.  yes, falling out of a tree hurts.  it might even leave you with a broken bone or two.  but when you consider some of the benefits - improving your balance and muscle control, learning how far you can push yourself before you fall, what exactly the playground looks like from above - is the risk really so great that we need to stop kids from climbing trees?
Safety first, yes, but today's overprotected kids need to live a little
"When children spend time in the
great outdoors, getting muddy, getting wet, getting stung by nettles,
they learn important lessons - what hurts, what is slippery, what you
can trip over or fall from. We need to try to break down the perceived
safety barriers to playing outside." (Peter Cornall, the head of leisure safety for the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents in England)

so let your kid get muddy, suffer a few scrapes and bruises, and learn some of life's most important lessons!

]]> http://www.wasowski.net/blog/2007/10/what_happens_when_your_kids_ne.html http://www.wasowski.net/blog/2007/10/what_happens_when_your_kids_ne.html Mon, 22 Oct 2007 10:45:59 +0100 release the not knowing
the second-guessing
the no right answer

the wondering if
the doing your best
and hoping it's enough

not having an answer to
the twists and turns in life
is what makes every choice
unique
and exciting

and yet riddles our road with
doubt

]]> http://www.wasowski.net/blog/2007/09/release.html http://www.wasowski.net/blog/2007/09/release.html Personal Tue, 11 Sep 2007 21:54:22 +0100