I tagged Ethan Zuckerman’s post abpout video “windows” to other places in a links dump recently. The idea is to put big video screens and cameras in fast-food restaurants around the world, and provide virtual “windows” into other restaurants in other countries. In talking about the idea, Ethan threw out a great aside: (If I… Continue reading Weird Windows by Various Authors
Category: Technology
The Science Blogging Bubble Ends?
Over at Nature Networks, Timo Hannay has posted a conference talk in which he questions the future of science blogging: “Science blogging is growing” I confidently wrote in an essay a few months ago. Then, like any good scientist, I went in search of evidence to support my prejudice. But I couldn’t find any beyond… Continue reading The Science Blogging Bubble Ends?
How to Print a Document in Microsoft Word
First, you hit “ctrl-p” which brings up a print dialogue box. Then you check the settings, andclick “OK.” At this point, a small status bar pops up at the bottom of the page, showing that 0 pages have been sent to the printer: This bar will remain in this state forever. Wait as long as… Continue reading How to Print a Document in Microsoft Word
Bandwidth and Community Expectations
Derek Lowe has posted an article about X-ray lasers in chemistry, which amused me because of the following bit: Enter the femtosecond X-ray laser. A laser will put out the cleanest X-ray beam that anyone’s ever seen, a completely coherent one at an exact (and short) wavelength which should give wonderful reflection data. This is… Continue reading Bandwidth and Community Expectations
Micro-Blogging Conference Talks
I’ve seen a lot of neat stuff discussed at the Science in the 21st Century meeting, some of which I’ll talk about in more detail later, when I have more time to think. One of the most interesting experiences of the meeting, though, has been using FriendFeed to sort of collaboratively live-blog the talks, along… Continue reading Micro-Blogging Conference Talks
Memo to Windows Vista
To: Windows Vista From: Chateau Steelypips Please note that when I change your settings, I do it for a reason. You do not need to be aware of the reason, just know that there is one. In particular, when I change the “Windows Update” setting to something other than “Install updates and automatically restart any… Continue reading Memo to Windows Vista
Rocket Science: Still Hard
Bad news from the worthwhile sections of this morning’s New York Times: another SpaceX rocket blew up. A privately funded rocket was lost on its way to space Saturday night, bringing a third failure in a row to an Internet multimillionaire’s effort to create a market for low-cost space-delivery. The accident occurred a little more… Continue reading Rocket Science: Still Hard
Brief Interviews With Hideous Men
Every week, the New York Times Magazine features some sort of profile article about a person or group of people who are supposed to represent some sort of trend. Every week, the people they choose to write up come off as vaguely horrible, usually in some sort of entitled-suburbanite fashion. I’m not sure if this… Continue reading Brief Interviews With Hideous Men
Email Passeth All Understanding
The other day, the Dean Dad remarked on one of the quirks of academic technology: Last week I saw another iteration of something I still don’t really understand. People who are perfectly civil in person are often capable of firing off incredibly nasty and hateful emails. Sometimes they’ll do that with cc’s all the way… Continue reading Email Passeth All Understanding
“Door Close” Dialogue Boxes
I collect and grade lab reports electronically, and both classes I’m teaching this term had labs due yesterday. I’ve also agreed to be on a faculty committee to evaluate proposals for a fellowship program, and they had a preliminary application deadline yesterday or today. As a result, I’m spending a lot of time downloading Word… Continue reading “Door Close” Dialogue Boxes