In May, the New York Times had some interesting gas price charts showing both the actual and inflation adjusted historical prices back to 1920 as well as then current regional differences in the US.
Monday, November 12, 2007
The 50 Dumbest Things Bush Ever Said
The 50 Dumbest Things Bush Ever Said. My favorites:
44. "You know, one of the hardest parts of my job is to connect Iraq to the war on terror." --interview with CBS News' Katie Couric, Sept. 6, 2006
34. "We need an energy bill that encourages consumption." --Trenton, N.J., Sept. 23, 2002
32. "I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees." --on "Good Morning America," Sept. 1, 2005, six days after repeated warnings from experts about the scope of damage expected from Hurricane Katrina
31. "I would say the best moment of all was when I caught a 7.5 pound largemouth bass in my lake." --on his best moment in office, interview with the German newspaper Bild am Sonntag, May 7, 2006
15. "Rarely is the questioned asked: Is our children learning?" --Florence, South Carolina, Jan. 11, 2000
13. "I just want you to know that, when we talk about war, we're really talking about peace." --Washington, D.C. June 18, 2002
6. "There's an old saying in Tennessee -- I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee -- that says, fool me once, shame on --shame on you. Fool me -- you can't get fooled again." --Nashville, Tenn., Sept. 17, 2002
4. "Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we." --Washington, D.C., Aug. 5, 2004
3. "You work three jobs? ... Uniquely American, isn't it? I mean, that is fantastic that you're doing that." --to a divorced mother of three, Omaha, Nebraska, Feb. 4, 2005
44. "You know, one of the hardest parts of my job is to connect Iraq to the war on terror." --interview with CBS News' Katie Couric, Sept. 6, 2006
34. "We need an energy bill that encourages consumption." --Trenton, N.J., Sept. 23, 2002
32. "I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees." --on "Good Morning America," Sept. 1, 2005, six days after repeated warnings from experts about the scope of damage expected from Hurricane Katrina
31. "I would say the best moment of all was when I caught a 7.5 pound largemouth bass in my lake." --on his best moment in office, interview with the German newspaper Bild am Sonntag, May 7, 2006
15. "Rarely is the questioned asked: Is our children learning?" --Florence, South Carolina, Jan. 11, 2000
13. "I just want you to know that, when we talk about war, we're really talking about peace." --Washington, D.C. June 18, 2002
6. "There's an old saying in Tennessee -- I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee -- that says, fool me once, shame on --shame on you. Fool me -- you can't get fooled again." --Nashville, Tenn., Sept. 17, 2002
4. "Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we." --Washington, D.C., Aug. 5, 2004
3. "You work three jobs? ... Uniquely American, isn't it? I mean, that is fantastic that you're doing that." --to a divorced mother of three, Omaha, Nebraska, Feb. 4, 2005
Movie Review: American Gangster
Sometimes there isn't much to say about a movie and review takes a little time to write. I saw Sir Ridley Scott's American Gangster a week ago and what's stuck with me is that it was long and Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe both gave good performances that I've seen before.
Denzel plays Frank Lucas, a real life Harlem drug lord from the 70s. He cut out the middleman, negotiating with growers in Vietnam and shipping it back to the US himself and selling pure heroin at half the price of the cut product his competitors were. He named his product Blue Magic and treated it like a brand. Denzel played him as Denzel. Strong, confident with a commanding presence, Crowe plays Richie Roberts, an honest cop in a completely corrupted New York City police department. Crowe's performance was reminiscent of his Jeffrey Wigand role in The Insider.
At two and half hours the film is on the long side, but what's worse is that it feels long because not much happens. I checked my watch twice, but more out of curiosity than boredom. We see events unfold and Frank's rise to power and fall but the film would have been better served if it was a half hour shorter or denser. None of the many supporting characters are anything more than props. The final takedown was drawn out but the very end of the film had an unexpected turn which was very interesting. It ends the film on a high note but it would have been more fun if more time was devoted to it. Good film, worth seeing, certainly not great.
Denzel plays Frank Lucas, a real life Harlem drug lord from the 70s. He cut out the middleman, negotiating with growers in Vietnam and shipping it back to the US himself and selling pure heroin at half the price of the cut product his competitors were. He named his product Blue Magic and treated it like a brand. Denzel played him as Denzel. Strong, confident with a commanding presence, Crowe plays Richie Roberts, an honest cop in a completely corrupted New York City police department. Crowe's performance was reminiscent of his Jeffrey Wigand role in The Insider.
At two and half hours the film is on the long side, but what's worse is that it feels long because not much happens. I checked my watch twice, but more out of curiosity than boredom. We see events unfold and Frank's rise to power and fall but the film would have been better served if it was a half hour shorter or denser. None of the many supporting characters are anything more than props. The final takedown was drawn out but the very end of the film had an unexpected turn which was very interesting. It ends the film on a high note but it would have been more fun if more time was devoted to it. Good film, worth seeing, certainly not great.
Do Creationists Drink Guinness?
I'm guessing they won't like their new Reverse Evolution commericial
Sunday, November 11, 2007
History of Touch Systems
Bill Buxton of Microsoft Research has posted Multi-Touch Systems that I Have Known and Loved. It's a great description and includes a timeline going back to 1982 of various systems you've never heard of and would love to play with.
Hands on With MS Surface
A loyal reader of this blog sent me a link to Surface in Boston This Week and gave me an assignment to go and see it. I did yesterday and watched a demo and got to play with it a little.
Yes that's me. The paint program only worked if you touched the surface rather hard. Waving or a light touch didn't register at all. In the demo of water covering some stones (which is very cool) you can just wave your hand over the screen to impact the water. The faster you wave, the faster the ripples. Touching also works. I got the sense these differences were just how the apps were tuned.
So the demo was a machine with one MS person seated on one side and about 6 of us standing around the other side. Shortly after we got there I realized one of the other people around the machine was Dan Bricklin inventor of the spreadsheet with Visicalc. I recognized him from some other events I'd seen him at. Others didn't know who he was and I laughed when I heard an MS person ask him if he was "in tech". Dan's a faster blogger than I am and wrote about the demo. He even uploaded within a few hours some videos I didn't realized he took. In video number one you can see me in the black jacket on the left with my friend Mike in a cap to my left. The video of me playing with the paint app above is Dan's video number two.
He met with MS for 30 minutes the day before and posted a video of that interview that shows the experience very well. At about 6 mins in they describe the device. It's a regular windows computer with a DLP and 5 infrared cameras. The table top is a diffuser, so only close things are "seen". At about 27 mins in there's a nice demo of an in store system showing more info about cell phones for sale. I expect there's more at the MS Surface site, but it didn't load in Safari. The thing to note is that surface is based on this optical system and will never be a handheld device. It won't compete with an iPhone. I suspect Apple could scale up their touch screen technology, though I doubt it they could ever make it study enough for Surface's market of public lobbies, casinos and stores.
The music app was similar to an iPhone's coverflow, except with the larger screen they could show 3 rows of album covers. You click on the corner of the cover to "turn it around" to see the list of songs on the album, also similar to an iPhone. With the greater screen real estate you pick a song by dragging it to the semi-circle on the side of the screen representing the playlist. That's very nice and you can use two fingers (or two people with two hands) to drag multiple songs to the playlist at the same time.
I'm not sure I saw anything really amazingly more useful than a normal computer. The dining app allowing you to order and pay and divide the bill is very nice. Such things could be done via other systems. Today at (at say LTK) they bring a device to your table allowing you to swipe your own credit card, add a tip, get a receipt and complete the transaction. A screen could show images and allow dragging and dropping just like the surface demo. The cell phone info app in Dan's video could work today with a computer with a mouse, but people don't make them that pretty. Yes the touch interface is slicker but it got me thinking I'd like to see more visual-based interfaces on regular computers. Their photo app has a popup menu to allow e.g., emailing the photo, I'd much prefer an outbox on the side of the screen letting you drag to the image (or several images) to it, like the music app allowed adding a song to the playlist.
According to MS, Surface may not roll out for 3-5 years, that's a long time. At $5,000 a pop I suspect it will be much longer before you start routinely running into these. I like the innovation and I suspect MS and Apple will argue over intellectual property. Dan is already thinking about how to get standard gestures in these UIs across venders. I'll note I was surprised that mouse gestures in Opera and Firefox were the same and that FPS controls standardized. Maybe it will "just happen" but that seems like a big if.
FYI, the Sherridan Hotel in Boston is part of the Prudential parking system. I paid $24 to park for less than 2 hours. Bleech.
Yes that's me. The paint program only worked if you touched the surface rather hard. Waving or a light touch didn't register at all. In the demo of water covering some stones (which is very cool) you can just wave your hand over the screen to impact the water. The faster you wave, the faster the ripples. Touching also works. I got the sense these differences were just how the apps were tuned.
So the demo was a machine with one MS person seated on one side and about 6 of us standing around the other side. Shortly after we got there I realized one of the other people around the machine was Dan Bricklin inventor of the spreadsheet with Visicalc. I recognized him from some other events I'd seen him at. Others didn't know who he was and I laughed when I heard an MS person ask him if he was "in tech". Dan's a faster blogger than I am and wrote about the demo. He even uploaded within a few hours some videos I didn't realized he took. In video number one you can see me in the black jacket on the left with my friend Mike in a cap to my left. The video of me playing with the paint app above is Dan's video number two.
He met with MS for 30 minutes the day before and posted a video of that interview that shows the experience very well. At about 6 mins in they describe the device. It's a regular windows computer with a DLP and 5 infrared cameras. The table top is a diffuser, so only close things are "seen". At about 27 mins in there's a nice demo of an in store system showing more info about cell phones for sale. I expect there's more at the MS Surface site, but it didn't load in Safari. The thing to note is that surface is based on this optical system and will never be a handheld device. It won't compete with an iPhone. I suspect Apple could scale up their touch screen technology, though I doubt it they could ever make it study enough for Surface's market of public lobbies, casinos and stores.
The music app was similar to an iPhone's coverflow, except with the larger screen they could show 3 rows of album covers. You click on the corner of the cover to "turn it around" to see the list of songs on the album, also similar to an iPhone. With the greater screen real estate you pick a song by dragging it to the semi-circle on the side of the screen representing the playlist. That's very nice and you can use two fingers (or two people with two hands) to drag multiple songs to the playlist at the same time.
I'm not sure I saw anything really amazingly more useful than a normal computer. The dining app allowing you to order and pay and divide the bill is very nice. Such things could be done via other systems. Today at (at say LTK) they bring a device to your table allowing you to swipe your own credit card, add a tip, get a receipt and complete the transaction. A screen could show images and allow dragging and dropping just like the surface demo. The cell phone info app in Dan's video could work today with a computer with a mouse, but people don't make them that pretty. Yes the touch interface is slicker but it got me thinking I'd like to see more visual-based interfaces on regular computers. Their photo app has a popup menu to allow e.g., emailing the photo, I'd much prefer an outbox on the side of the screen letting you drag to the image (or several images) to it, like the music app allowed adding a song to the playlist.
According to MS, Surface may not roll out for 3-5 years, that's a long time. At $5,000 a pop I suspect it will be much longer before you start routinely running into these. I like the innovation and I suspect MS and Apple will argue over intellectual property. Dan is already thinking about how to get standard gestures in these UIs across venders. I'll note I was surprised that mouse gestures in Opera and Firefox were the same and that FPS controls standardized. Maybe it will "just happen" but that seems like a big if.
FYI, the Sherridan Hotel in Boston is part of the Prudential parking system. I paid $24 to park for less than 2 hours. Bleech.
Saturday, November 10, 2007
Edward Tufte in Boston in March
I forget who's been interested in seeing Edward Tufte Courses, but I'd thought I'd mention he'll be in Boston giving his one day class March 3-5. I took it about 12 years ago (yikes!) and really enjoyed it.
Black Holes Linked to Cosmic Rays
Universe Today explains Black Holes Linked to Cosmic Rays. A big question was what caused ultra high energy cosmic rays, which were sometimes detected with energy above the theoretical limit. These are referred to as the " Oh-My-God particle". The answer is supermassive black holes, those found at the center of galaxies.
"The [Pierre Auger Cosmic Ray] observatory is actually an array of detectors spread out over a 3,000 sq km area. As the cosmic rays collide with the atmosphere, the resulting spray of particles are caught by the detectors, which house large tanks of water. The detectors are so sensitive, they can detect a different in timing, which allow astronomers to triangulate the direction the cosmic ray came from. The particles are flung with such energy that they point back to their galaxies, like bullets coming from a gun."
Update: Today APOD covers it with a pretty picture.
"The [Pierre Auger Cosmic Ray] observatory is actually an array of detectors spread out over a 3,000 sq km area. As the cosmic rays collide with the atmosphere, the resulting spray of particles are caught by the detectors, which house large tanks of water. The detectors are so sensitive, they can detect a different in timing, which allow astronomers to triangulate the direction the cosmic ray came from. The particles are flung with such energy that they point back to their galaxies, like bullets coming from a gun."
Update: Today APOD covers it with a pretty picture.
Wednesday, November 07, 2007
More on Farm Bill
The Plank from the New Republic says the Farm Bill is "Even Worse Than You Thought!. In addition to all the standard stuff, there's a new subsidy for coal-to-liquids to use it as a transportation fuel!
Yes, "to get the tax break, CTL developers will have to capture 50 percent of the carbon they produce," but "CTL releases two and a half times as much greenhouse gas into the atmosphere per unit of energy produced as diesel."
Thank you Sens. Jim Bunning (R-KY) and Jay Rockefeller (D-WV).
Yes, "to get the tax break, CTL developers will have to capture 50 percent of the carbon they produce," but "CTL releases two and a half times as much greenhouse gas into the atmosphere per unit of energy produced as diesel."
Thank you Sens. Jim Bunning (R-KY) and Jay Rockefeller (D-WV).
Congress Attacks Yahoo Executives
The New York Times reports Yahoo Executives Defend Company in China Case.
"Two top Yahoo Inc. officials on Tuesday defended their company's role in the jailing of a Chinese journalist but ran into withering criticism from lawmakers who accused them of complicity with an oppressive communist regime. 'While technologically and financially you are giants, morally you are pygmies,' House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Tom Lantos, D-CA., said angrily after hearing from the two Yahoo executives."
Declan McCullagh did some live blogging from the hearing and makes some comparison to events in the US. Lantos is a Holocaust survivor so he knows a little about oppressive governments. I wonder how he and the other members of the committee feel about FISA amendments that gives retroactive immunity to telecom companies that cooperated with the NSA on warrantless domestic wiretaps.
"Two top Yahoo Inc. officials on Tuesday defended their company's role in the jailing of a Chinese journalist but ran into withering criticism from lawmakers who accused them of complicity with an oppressive communist regime. 'While technologically and financially you are giants, morally you are pygmies,' House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Tom Lantos, D-CA., said angrily after hearing from the two Yahoo executives."
Declan McCullagh did some live blogging from the hearing and makes some comparison to events in the US. Lantos is a Holocaust survivor so he knows a little about oppressive governments. I wonder how he and the other members of the committee feel about FISA amendments that gives retroactive immunity to telecom companies that cooperated with the NSA on warrantless domestic wiretaps.
Tuesday, November 06, 2007
Glenn Greenwald on Ron Paul
Glenn Greenwald writes about The Ron Paul Phenomenon.
"By far the most significant and interesting political story of the past 24 hours is the extraordinary, record-breaking outpouring of support for Ron Paul's presidential campaign. Therefore, it is being ignored by much of our establishment press -- not a single article about it in TheNew York Times or The Washington Post (though it is discussed on a couple of their blogs), nor even a mention of it on the websites of CNN or CBS News (which found space to report on Stephen Colbert's non-candidacy). But MSNBC and Fox News did at least both post the AP article on the Paul story."
Cenk Uygur has a bit more on this. Greenwald lays out Paul's position as a principled libertarian for a limited federal government. If it's not spelled out in the constitution the federal government can't do it. If you want them to, pass an amendment. I respect Paul's positions and wish more candidates were as principled, but I'm a federalist.
He's serious about getting rid of the IRS. There's something appealing about that, but I think I'd want to streamline the amendment process pretty quickly. I believe that some things can be more efficient if centralized rather than duplicated 50 times. I like having the FDA, CDC, SEC, FCC, EPA, NWS and NASA at the federal level. Maybe not everything they do but the ideas. Can you imagine how difficult it would be for businesses to cope with 50 different banking regulations? If Paul's ok with these kinds of things (and I'm not sure he is) or we can have some fast amendments, then I could consider voting for him.
"By far the most significant and interesting political story of the past 24 hours is the extraordinary, record-breaking outpouring of support for Ron Paul's presidential campaign. Therefore, it is being ignored by much of our establishment press -- not a single article about it in The
Cenk Uygur has a bit more on this. Greenwald lays out Paul's position as a principled libertarian for a limited federal government. If it's not spelled out in the constitution the federal government can't do it. If you want them to, pass an amendment. I respect Paul's positions and wish more candidates were as principled, but I'm a federalist.
He's serious about getting rid of the IRS. There's something appealing about that, but I think I'd want to streamline the amendment process pretty quickly. I believe that some things can be more efficient if centralized rather than duplicated 50 times. I like having the FDA, CDC, SEC, FCC, EPA, NWS and NASA at the federal level. Maybe not everything they do but the ideas. Can you imagine how difficult it would be for businesses to cope with 50 different banking regulations? If Paul's ok with these kinds of things (and I'm not sure he is) or we can have some fast amendments, then I could consider voting for him.
Bush Beats Nixon
USA Today reports Poll finds Americans split on taking military action in Iran. But what's most interesting is what they chose to bury in the last paragraph:
"Meanwhile, Bush reached an unwelcome record. By 64%-31%, Americans disapprove of the job he is doing. For the first time in the history of the Gallup Poll, 50% say they 'strongly disapprove' of the president. Richard Nixon had reached the previous high, 48%, just before an impeachment inquiry was launched in 1974. "
Yup, it's official. Bush is now more unpopular than Nixon. And what were we about to do to him?
Well Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) tried to impeach Dick Cheney today. Daily Kos has the summary. Kucinich made the motion, the Democratic leadership made a motion to table, which Republicans started out in favor of and then changed their votes to allow a debate. The Democratic leadership tried to avoid a spectacle and moved it to the Judicial Committee to die.
Yup wouldn't want to agree with more than half the nation.
"Meanwhile, Bush reached an unwelcome record. By 64%-31%, Americans disapprove of the job he is doing. For the first time in the history of the Gallup Poll, 50% say they 'strongly disapprove' of the president. Richard Nixon had reached the previous high, 48%, just before an impeachment inquiry was launched in 1974. "
Yup, it's official. Bush is now more unpopular than Nixon. And what were we about to do to him?
Well Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) tried to impeach Dick Cheney today. Daily Kos has the summary. Kucinich made the motion, the Democratic leadership made a motion to table, which Republicans started out in favor of and then changed their votes to allow a debate. The Democratic leadership tried to avoid a spectacle and moved it to the Judicial Committee to die.
Yup wouldn't want to agree with more than half the nation.
Schumer Defends Mukasey Vote
Chuck Schumer (D-NY) explains his support for Mukasey in the New York Times today, A Vote for Justice. He says that since the DoJ is so important and in such a shambles we need someone to fix it. "There is virtually universal agreement, even from those who oppose Judge Mukasey, that he would do a good job in turning the department around."
Of course there's also the cave in to a threat: "Should we reject Judge Mukasey, President Bush has said he would install an acting, caretaker attorney general who could serve for the rest of his term without the advice and consent of the Senate."
He does say that Congress might soon pass a law banning waterboarding and if so, he believes Mukasey would enforce it, which I agree with. Of course I would guess Bush would veto such a bill and that Congress wouldn't override it.
Carl Tobias presents a pretty balanced set of Questions Senators Should Ask Themselves About Attorney General Nominee Michael Mukasey.
Of course there's also the cave in to a threat: "Should we reject Judge Mukasey, President Bush has said he would install an acting, caretaker attorney general who could serve for the rest of his term without the advice and consent of the Senate."
He does say that Congress might soon pass a law banning waterboarding and if so, he believes Mukasey would enforce it, which I agree with. Of course I would guess Bush would veto such a bill and that Congress wouldn't override it.
Carl Tobias presents a pretty balanced set of Questions Senators Should Ask Themselves About Attorney General Nominee Michael Mukasey.
MIT Designs Stackable Electric Two-Seater Car
Interesting article from CNET: MIT offers City Car for the masses. They've designed a small stackable electric two-seater. Pictures are here, check them out.
MIT Sues Gehry For Faulty Designs
Another reason to hate Gehry's building at MIT: MIT sues Gehry, renowned architect of daring $300m Stata Center.
"The suit says that MIT paid Los Angeles-based Gehry Partners $15 million to design the Stata Center, which was hailed by critics as innovative and eye-catching with its unconventional walls and radical angles. But soon after its completion in spring 2004, the center's outdoor amphitheater began to crack due to drainage problems, the suit says. Snow and ice cascaded dangerously from window boxes and other projecting roof areas, blocking emergency exits and damaging other parts of the building, according to the suit. Mold grew on the center's brick exterior, the suit says, and there were persistent leaks throughout the building."
"The suit says that MIT paid Los Angeles-based Gehry Partners $15 million to design the Stata Center, which was hailed by critics as innovative and eye-catching with its unconventional walls and radical angles. But soon after its completion in spring 2004, the center's outdoor amphitheater began to crack due to drainage problems, the suit says. Snow and ice cascaded dangerously from window boxes and other projecting roof areas, blocking emergency exits and damaging other parts of the building, according to the suit. Mold grew on the center's brick exterior, the suit says, and there were persistent leaks throughout the building."
Oil Prices Makes Coal Cheap, Still Bad For Environment
Bloomberg reports Gore Nightmare Wins as Europe Pays to Ship U.S. Coal. "A ton of U.S. coal is so cheap at about $47 that European utilities will pay $50 to ship it across the Atlantic."
"U.S. coal prices are equal to $1.98 for each million British thermal units of energy, compared with $12.51 for fuel oil and $6.91 for natural gas, data compiled by Bloomberg show. A million British thermal units is the equivalent of eight gallons of gasoline."
"U.S. coal exports have increased 37 percent this year and will continue to climb because of record global demand and a weaker dollar."
"U.S. coal prices are equal to $1.98 for each million British thermal units of energy, compared with $12.51 for fuel oil and $6.91 for natural gas, data compiled by Bloomberg show. A million British thermal units is the equivalent of eight gallons of gasoline."
"U.S. coal exports have increased 37 percent this year and will continue to climb because of record global demand and a weaker dollar."
Hurricane Season 2007
After a fierce start, this hurricane season is fizzling. There's a month to go, lets hope it stays quiet.
But Mom...
This is a crazy story, Mother’s sting catches son, Cory Ryder, ‘hiring hitman to kill her’. 16 year-old boy has Playstation, then has bad grades. Parents take away Playstation. Boy is upset, makes scary comments. Mother has undercover cop pose as hitman. Boy tries to hire (fake) hitman to kill parents in exchange for dad's truck. Boy charged with attempted murder, mother testifies against son.
Monday, November 05, 2007
Weed It and Reap
Michael Pollan wrote in the Sunday Times Weed It and Reap a good summary of the state of the Farm Bill in Congress. Is it too much to ask that we subsidize food instead of junk food?
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