Technology
gregladen | April 19, 2014UPDATE: Linux Install.
Installing Copy on Linux was pretty easy. You go to the web page, download a tarball, upack it, then inside the tarball figure out the folder that matches your OS (i.e., 32 vs 64 bit) and go into that folder. Then run the Agent. That may, if you are good, put a thingie on your notification area. Click on that and then sign in and install and stuff, that's it.
There are two pages you might find useful, one for Ubuntu the other for Copy more generally if needed.
Notably, the install on Linux was easier for Copy than for Dropbox. Dropbox install LOOKS easy but never…
drorzel | March 8, 2014One of the endlessly recurring topics around here is the use of PowerPoint and comparable presentation software. Usually because of some ill-informed rant against the use of PowerPoint.
It's come around yet again in a particularly ironic fashion, via an online slideshow at Slate, the only medium more consistently exasperating than a bad PowerPoint presentation. In keeping with modern tastes, this has been re-shared so many times that I finally went to look at it, but it's more of the usual, in a more annoying medium. This is a bit of a shame, as there's actually some good presentation advice…
pharyngula | March 5, 2014Sometimes those are good descriptors. I read a happy story for a change this morning: it's about Arunachalam Muruganantham, an Indian man who embarked on a long crusade to make…sanitary napkins. Perhaps you laugh. Perhaps you get a little cranky at a guy who rushes in to meddle in women's concerns. And there's some good reason to feel that way: he starts out with embarrassing levels of ignorance.
He fashioned a sanitary pad out of cotton and gave it to Shanthi [his wife], demanding immediate feedback. She said he'd have to wait for some time - only then did he realise that periods were…
carlyo | February 26, 2014New Scientist, the world's most-read science and technology weekly, returns to the Festival as a key Media Partner, once again greatly enhancing our ability to reach out globally to the growing number of ultra-inquisitive Festival fans who just can't get enough insight into science's new and emerging frontiers!
Known as the magazine for "people who ask why", New Scientist, with its solid team of writers and experts, brings a comprehensive and inquisitive approach to reporting on a wide array fast-developing and futuristic developments in science and technology --from space, technology and the…
carlyo | February 24, 2014By Barri Gurau, Corporate Energy Initiatives
Lockheed Martin
How long do you think it took for the world’s population to reach 1 billion? It took more than a century for the world’s population to double to 2 billion, which we reached in the 1930s. Since then, the population has grown at an incredible rate to more than seven billion and by 2050, an estimated nine billion people will inhabit the earth.
So how do we meet the demand for energy, food and water?
The world needs new and different solutions to support the growing population and to continue to drive amazing new technologies. Doing the…
drorzel | February 20, 2014In comments to the post on computer display colors, Will Slaton notes that Mac displays emit polarized light. And, indeed, this is an inherent part of the backlit LCD technology-- the individual pixels are bits of liquid crystal between two polarizers, and an applied voltage causes the liquid crystal molecules to flip between a state where they rotate the polarization of light, and a state where they don't. In one of those configurations, the polarizers block the light, and in the other, they let it pass. By rapidly varying the voltages, you can make the pixels flash on and off in the right…
drorzel | February 18, 2014This year's "Flame Challenge" is to explain color in terms an 11-year-old can follow. I have opinions on this subject, a background in AMO physics, and access to scientific equipment, so I'm putting something together. In the course of this, though, it occurred to me to wonder how my different portable computing devices process color. And since I have access to an Ocean Optics USB4000 spectrometer, I can answer this question in more detail than anybody needs.
So, I have three principal electronic devices that I use to do computer-type things: a Moto X smartphone, an iPad, and a Lenovo…
drorzel | February 5, 2014Both SteelyKid's kindergarten and the snow-day day-care program that the kids go to were closed today, which kind of threw a wrench in things. But it's also kind of fun, as I got to spend some time playing outside with SteelyKid on her play set in the snow. The "featured image" above is a cell-phone snap from this, and I got three short video clips of her going down the slide.
Of course, it's kind of stupid for these to be three separate YouTube clips, but when I went to stick them together using Windows Movie Maker (which is what I've used for this sort of thing in the past), it turns out…
dr. dolittle | January 27, 2014New research published in Science Reports by Strauch et al., shows that fruit flies can tell the difference between cancerous and healthy cells. The researchers recorded calcium patterns indicative of neuronal activity that was stimulated in response to various odors emitted by healthy and cancerous cells. Because cells with cancer differ metabolically from healthy cells, they emit different volatile compounds that can be detected by olfactory receptor neurons on the antennae of fruit flies. When exposed to breast cancer cells or healthy cells, the flies exhibited different patterns in…
dr. dolittle | January 10, 2014 Image from www.clker.com. Woodridge, IL, USA --- Great White Shark Opening Mouth --- Image by © Denis Scott/Corbis
Scientists have discovered that great white sharks (Carcharodon carcharias) actually live longer than previously thought (up to 23 years or so). Using radiocarbon age estimates, Dr. Hamady and colleagues at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution determined the animals can live to the ripe-old-age of 70+ years. These findings mean that great white sharks, like humans, may take longer to mature. It also means that overfishing may pose more of a threat to them than previously…
gregladen | December 26, 2013ALERT ALERT ALERT
Totally obvious phishing scam. Have a look:
If you look at the URL's this email links out to they are from .es domain and have nothing to do with apple. Pass it on.
gregladen | December 6, 2013Here's an infographic of some interest:
by sofyay. Explore more infographics like this one on the web's largest information design community - Visually.
If that embedded version doesn't work for you here's the big-huge version that is very readable but also big. And huge.
carlyo | November 25, 2013X-STEM - presented by Northrop Grumman Foundation and MedImmune - is an Extreme STEM symposium for elementary through high school students featuring interactive presentations by an exclusive group of visionaries who aim to empower and inspire kids about careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). These top STEM role models and industry leaders are sure to ignite your students’ curiosity through storytelling and live demonstrations.
Our spotlight on our X-STEM Speakers continues with Author and Publisher of Skeptic Magazine Dr. Michael Shermer.
In this world of…
carlyo | October 11, 2013By F. Mark Modzelewski
World's Largest STEM Event to Excite and Inspire Educators, Administrators, Students & Families
The USA Science & Engineering Festival (www.USAScienceFestival.org), supported by presenting host sponsor Lockheed Martin, is pleased to join forces with the U.S. News STEM Solutions (http://usnewsstemsolutions.com/) to host their National Conference April 23-25, 2014 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C. The combined Festival and Conference will bring together educators, scientists, performers, business and government leaders -- as well as…
gregladen | October 7, 2013I just finished "Linux Shell Scripting Cookbook" (Second Edition) by Shantanu Tushar and Sarath Lakshman. This is a beginner's guide to using shell scripting (bash) on linux.
Usually, a "cookbook" is set up more like a series of projects organized around a set of themes, and is usually less introductory than this book. "Linux Shell Scripting Cookbook" might be better titled "Introduction to Linux Shell Scripting" because it is more like a tutorial and a how too book than like a cookbook. Nonetheless, it is an excellent tutorial that includes over 100 "recipes" that address a diversity of…
gregladen | September 10, 2013What if you went to drive to work one day and the highway on ramp was closed, and a big sign across it said "Highway is closed. Sorry for the inconvenience."
Well, you would find your way to a different highway entrance. But say that one was closed as well.Then, you check around and find out that all the highways in your state are closed because the state decided to close them. No more highways for you.
Or, one day you go to check the mail and there is a single post card, and nothing else, in your mail box. The post card reads "The United States Postal Service has permanently suspended…
carlyo | September 9, 2013This past June, more than 2,000 business, government, and education leaders gathered in Austin, Texas, to discuss the state of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education in the United States at the U.S. News STEM Solutions National Conference. The USA Science & Engineering Festival was honored to attend and we are looking forward to our partnership for the 2014 National Conference this coming April.
"This is the absolutely perfect time to be talking about STEM education," explained Barbara Bolin, executive director of the Michigan STEM partnership. "Because STEM…
gregladen | September 1, 2013On this blog.
Below is the relative percentage of operating system use by the readers of this blog from a four month longs sample form the middle of the year last year compared to the most recent six months this year. There is not a lot of change, but notice the nearly five percent drop i nWindows use, which seems to be taken up mainly by an increase in the use of iOS.
In addition, Linux use has dropped a worrying two percent.
However, really, OSX and Android etc. are all based on Unix-like operating systems, so the numbers for this year can be recalculated to look like this:
But…
gregladen | August 25, 2013The following is an entry from the Esoteric Programming Language project (see link below):
HERE is the site. If you go check it out, don't miss the programming langauge designed for Orang Utans, called Ook!
Hat Tip: Ryan Jean