Wednesday, July 09, 2008
Amazing Garden
Amazing Beijing Olympic Garden has some incredible images of a garden. While described as being for the Beijing Olympics it seems the pics are from a Mosaiculture show at Century Park in Shanghai in 2006. There are three pages to scroll through. My fav is this one:
New Otto malloc helps spot ancient bugs
New Otto malloc helps spot ancient bugs describes a clever hack to malloc that found a 30 year old bug in yacc.
Pixar's Tightknit Culture Is Its Edge
Pixar's tightknit culture is its edge is a nice example of what most companies no longer seem to be doing.
Tuesday, July 08, 2008
FISA Redux
Technology Liberation Front writes The More Things Change… "I’m boning up on the history of the FBI, reading Athan Theoharis’s The FBI and American Democracy. So far, I’ve gotten from the FBI’s inception (100 years ago this month) to midcentury. The most remarkable thing about it is how familiar it all seems. As Theoharis tells the story, the FBI has, from its inception, pushed for ever broader authority to spy on Americans. During the first half of the 20th century, it pushed relentlessly for broader statutory authority. When Congress would not give it the authority it wanted, it sought authorization from senior executive branch officials for authorization to break the law. If authorization wasn’t fortcoming, the bureau would often do what it wanted anyway and not tell its nominal superiors of its activities"
The Prosecution Of George W. Bush For Murder
The prosecution of George W. Bush for murder is more interesting than the title sounds. It's actually a book doing very well without media support.
Is Obama Swiftboating Himself?
Lawrence Lessig says that the Obama campaign has been Self-Swiftboating.
"Swiftboating" is (1) attacking the strongest bits of a candidate's character, with (2) false or misleading allegations. That was what Kerry suffered -- attacking his courage as a soldier, the characteristic that distinguished him most from Bush, with misleading (at least) allegations by some who knew him when he served. Self-Swiftboating is to Swiftboat yourself: For a campaign to do something that has the effect of undermining its own candidate's strongest characteristic, with actions that are (at best) misleading."
I agree that Obama's strongest characteristic is that he appears to be a new kind of politician and the best hope to bring about change in how Washington functions. That's not just new policies, but a change in how policies are made. For example, his fund raising via small donations from many, could actually help remove the influence of money from poicy. That's a lot to ask, but I think that's what a lot of people are looking for.
"The Obama self-Swiftboating comes from a month of decisions that, while perhaps better tuning the policy positions of the campaign to what is good, or true, or right, or even expedient, completely undermine Obama's signal virtue -- that he's different. We've handed the other side a string of examples that they will now use to argue (as Senator Graham did most effectively on Meet the Press) that Obama is nothing different, he's just another politician, and that even if you believe that McCain too is just another politician, between these two ordinary politicians, pick the one with the most experience. The Obama campaign seems just blind to the fact that these flips eat away at the most important asset Obama has."
He goes on to argue the best example is his flip on Telco immunity in the FISA bill. While most people don't understand or know of the issue at all, this gives the Republicans the ability to attack him as flipping and just another politician. I can see that, but I also think the fundamentals in this case are very wrong. The bill is not a compromise, it's a cave in to Bush and Telco immunity is bad.
Ars Technica describes how The new FISA compromise: it's worse than you think. "Specifically, the new legislation dramatically expands the government's ability to wiretap without meaningful judicial oversight, by redefining "oversight" so that the feds can drag their feet on getting authorization almost indefinitely. It also gives the feds unprecedented new latitude in selecting eavesdropping targets, latitude that could be used to collect information on non-terrorist-related activities like P2P copyright infringement and online gambling. In short, the FISA Amendments Act of 2008 opens up loopholes so large that the feds could drive a truck loaded down with purloined civil liberties through it."
"Swiftboating" is (1) attacking the strongest bits of a candidate's character, with (2) false or misleading allegations. That was what Kerry suffered -- attacking his courage as a soldier, the characteristic that distinguished him most from Bush, with misleading (at least) allegations by some who knew him when he served. Self-Swiftboating is to Swiftboat yourself: For a campaign to do something that has the effect of undermining its own candidate's strongest characteristic, with actions that are (at best) misleading."
I agree that Obama's strongest characteristic is that he appears to be a new kind of politician and the best hope to bring about change in how Washington functions. That's not just new policies, but a change in how policies are made. For example, his fund raising via small donations from many, could actually help remove the influence of money from poicy. That's a lot to ask, but I think that's what a lot of people are looking for.
"The Obama self-Swiftboating comes from a month of decisions that, while perhaps better tuning the policy positions of the campaign to what is good, or true, or right, or even expedient, completely undermine Obama's signal virtue -- that he's different. We've handed the other side a string of examples that they will now use to argue (as Senator Graham did most effectively on Meet the Press) that Obama is nothing different, he's just another politician, and that even if you believe that McCain too is just another politician, between these two ordinary politicians, pick the one with the most experience. The Obama campaign seems just blind to the fact that these flips eat away at the most important asset Obama has."
He goes on to argue the best example is his flip on Telco immunity in the FISA bill. While most people don't understand or know of the issue at all, this gives the Republicans the ability to attack him as flipping and just another politician. I can see that, but I also think the fundamentals in this case are very wrong. The bill is not a compromise, it's a cave in to Bush and Telco immunity is bad.
Ars Technica describes how The new FISA compromise: it's worse than you think. "Specifically, the new legislation dramatically expands the government's ability to wiretap without meaningful judicial oversight, by redefining "oversight" so that the feds can drag their feet on getting authorization almost indefinitely. It also gives the feds unprecedented new latitude in selecting eavesdropping targets, latitude that could be used to collect information on non-terrorist-related activities like P2P copyright infringement and online gambling. In short, the FISA Amendments Act of 2008 opens up loopholes so large that the feds could drive a truck loaded down with purloined civil liberties through it."
Astronomers Discover the First Ring Around a Moon | Solar System | DISCOVER Magazine
Astronomers Discover the First Ring Around a Moon "For more than 300 years we thought Saturn was the only body in the solar system with rings. But by 1989, after ground-based measurements and flybys from Voyagers 1 and 2, we had discovered rings around the other three gas giants—Jupiter, Uranus, and Neptune. Now the Cassini spacecraft appears to have found a ring system around Saturn’s second-largest moon, Rhea. The discovery took astronomers by surprise. Just what is a ring doing around a moon, especially one that is significantly smaller than our own?" Here's the press release.
Teenager Finds Baby Bat In Her Bra
"Abbie Hawkins, a hotel receptionist, thought her mobile phone was ringing when she felt vibrations coming from her clothes." It turns out it was a baby bat that had been in her bra for 5 hours.
Mad Men
If you didn't watch the first season of Mad Men, AMC is having a marathon on 7/20. I saw a couple of episodes and it didn't click but now I want to go back and give it another shot. Same thing happened with me and the Sopranos.
Monday, July 07, 2008
Bush Boom Bah
Paul Krugman in Bush Boom Bah shows a graph entitled: The 2001-2007 Expansion Was Weaker Than Average; Only Corporate Profits Grew Rapidly.
Roundest Objects in the World Created
Roundest objects in the world created.
"Now, an international group of engineers and craftsmen has gone him one better and built a pair of nearly perfect spheres that are thought to be the roundest objects in the world." They are to be the new definition of the kilogram. "The kilogram is the only remaining standard of measurement tied to a single physical object: a 120-year-old lump of platinum and iridium that sits in a vault outside of Paris, France. But the mass of this chunk of metal is slowly changing relative to the 40-odd copies kept by other countries, and no one knows why or by how much."
I thought the kilogram was the weight of a liter of water but Wikipedia says that used to be the definition but it was changed since it's not convenient. Water evaporates. and has different densities at different temperatures. So in 1799 to an all-platinum kilogram prototype and in 1889 this was updated to the current prototype.
"Now, an international group of engineers and craftsmen has gone him one better and built a pair of nearly perfect spheres that are thought to be the roundest objects in the world." They are to be the new definition of the kilogram. "The kilogram is the only remaining standard of measurement tied to a single physical object: a 120-year-old lump of platinum and iridium that sits in a vault outside of Paris, France. But the mass of this chunk of metal is slowly changing relative to the 40-odd copies kept by other countries, and no one knows why or by how much."
I thought the kilogram was the weight of a liter of water but Wikipedia says that used to be the definition but it was changed since it's not convenient. Water evaporates. and has different densities at different temperatures. So in 1799 to an all-platinum kilogram prototype and in 1889 this was updated to the current prototype.
More Evidence for a Revolutionary Theory of Water
More Evidence for a Revolutionary Theory of Water
"In the recent study, Nilsson and colleagues probed the structure of liquid water using X-ray Emission Spectroscopy and X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy. These techniques use powerful X-rays, generated by a synchrotron light source, to excite electrons within a water molecule's single oxygen atom. Tuning the X-rays to a specific range of energies can reveal with tremendous precision the location and arrangement of the water molecules. In this way Nilsson's team found that water is indeed made up of tetrahedral groups, but clear evidence also emerged for the dominance of a second, less defined structure in the mix.
The idea that liquid water is made up of two structures is not new. German physicist Willhelm Conrad Röntgen, who discovered X-rays in the late 19th century, published a paper proposing that liquid water comprised two different structures—one tetrahedral 'ice-like' structure, and another more loosely arranged structure, which helped explain why water behaves in such unusual ways. Now, more than a century later, the current study is giving new life to Röntgen's 'two structure' model."
"In the recent study, Nilsson and colleagues probed the structure of liquid water using X-ray Emission Spectroscopy and X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy. These techniques use powerful X-rays, generated by a synchrotron light source, to excite electrons within a water molecule's single oxygen atom. Tuning the X-rays to a specific range of energies can reveal with tremendous precision the location and arrangement of the water molecules. In this way Nilsson's team found that water is indeed made up of tetrahedral groups, but clear evidence also emerged for the dominance of a second, less defined structure in the mix.
The idea that liquid water is made up of two structures is not new. German physicist Willhelm Conrad Röntgen, who discovered X-rays in the late 19th century, published a paper proposing that liquid water comprised two different structures—one tetrahedral 'ice-like' structure, and another more loosely arranged structure, which helped explain why water behaves in such unusual ways. Now, more than a century later, the current study is giving new life to Röntgen's 'two structure' model."
Sunday, July 06, 2008
Einstein Still Right
Theory of Relativity Passes Another Test. "Einstein's theory of General Relativity has been around for 93 years, and it just keeps hanging in there. With advances in technology has come the ability to put the theory under some scrutiny. Recently, taking advantage of a unique cosmic coincidence, as well as a pretty darn good telescope, astronomers looked at the strong gravity from a pair of superdense neutron stars and measured an effect predicted by General Relativity. The theory came through with flying colors."
Twittering
The Twitter Fan Wiki is as good as anything at explaining why some people seem to love Twitter. E.g, see the pages on hashtags and non-person twitterers. I still don't really get it.
Wednesday, July 02, 2008
Movie Review: The Incredible Hulk
I was somewhat curious about the Incredible Hulk even though I was never a Hulk a fan. I didn't hate the last Hulk film by Ang Lee as much as many people but I find the character pretty limiting. He fights the army, throws a tank and then his girlfriend calms him down and he remains calm until the army comes after him again. Well this film follows that formula but it works pretty well. It's not quite as good as Iron Man which had a little better balance and more humor.
This Hulk is not a sequel to the last Hulk film but a new start. The new origin of the Hulk is told via a montage during the credits. It starts with Banner living in Brazil, working in a factory, learning calming techniques and searching for a cure (same as every Hulk story). The army comes and there's a fun chase that's a little reminiscent of the Bourne Ultimatum. Then the real story unfolds. Banners experiment was part of an army research program to develop a super soldier. One of the solders who survives a Hulk encounter wants to volunteer and become a super soldier (this is foreshadowing Captain America), which leads to a worthy opponent for the Hulk.
Edward Norton makes a fine Banner. Liv Tyler is good and William Hurt plays the one note General. Tim Roth seemed a little miscast as the villain but did fine. The effects are good and the Hulk looks sufficiently huge and mostly real. There are fun cameos by Bill Bixby, Lou Ferrigno and of course Stan Lee. There's also a Tony Stark appearance at the end just before the credits and there's nothing after the credits to stick around for. If you're into the comics there is more foreshadowing of future characters.
This is a pretty good summer action film and a competent Hulk story. If that's interesting to you you'll enjoy the film, if not, skip it. My understanding is that there are plenty of deleted scenes, so the DVD might be more interesting.
This Hulk is not a sequel to the last Hulk film but a new start. The new origin of the Hulk is told via a montage during the credits. It starts with Banner living in Brazil, working in a factory, learning calming techniques and searching for a cure (same as every Hulk story). The army comes and there's a fun chase that's a little reminiscent of the Bourne Ultimatum. Then the real story unfolds. Banners experiment was part of an army research program to develop a super soldier. One of the solders who survives a Hulk encounter wants to volunteer and become a super soldier (this is foreshadowing Captain America), which leads to a worthy opponent for the Hulk.
Edward Norton makes a fine Banner. Liv Tyler is good and William Hurt plays the one note General. Tim Roth seemed a little miscast as the villain but did fine. The effects are good and the Hulk looks sufficiently huge and mostly real. There are fun cameos by Bill Bixby, Lou Ferrigno and of course Stan Lee. There's also a Tony Stark appearance at the end just before the credits and there's nothing after the credits to stick around for. If you're into the comics there is more foreshadowing of future characters.
This is a pretty good summer action film and a competent Hulk story. If that's interesting to you you'll enjoy the film, if not, skip it. My understanding is that there are plenty of deleted scenes, so the DVD might be more interesting.
Guantánamo Techniques, Old Chinese False Confession Ones
The International Herald Tribune reports China inspired interrogations at Guantánamo.
"The military trainers who came to Guantánamo Bay in December 2002 based an entire interrogation class on a chart showing the effects of 'coercive management techniques' for possible use on prisoners, including 'sleep deprivation,' 'prolonged constraint,' and 'exposure.'
What the trainers did not say, and may not have known, was that their chart had been copied verbatim from a 1957 Air Force study of Chinese Communist techniques used during the Korean War to obtain confessions, many of them false, from American prisoners.
The recycled chart is the latest and most vivid evidence of the way Communist interrogation methods that the United States long described as torture became the basis for interrogations both by the military at the base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, and by the Central Intelligence Agency."
"The military trainers who came to Guantánamo Bay in December 2002 based an entire interrogation class on a chart showing the effects of 'coercive management techniques' for possible use on prisoners, including 'sleep deprivation,' 'prolonged constraint,' and 'exposure.'
What the trainers did not say, and may not have known, was that their chart had been copied verbatim from a 1957 Air Force study of Chinese Communist techniques used during the Korean War to obtain confessions, many of them false, from American prisoners.
The recycled chart is the latest and most vivid evidence of the way Communist interrogation methods that the United States long described as torture became the basis for interrogations both by the military at the base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, and by the Central Intelligence Agency."
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