Hope someone is listening

by -bast-
Another Sign of Dawning Realization:
[Via Only in it for the gold]

Dot Earth is running “Eleven Questions for Obama’s Science Team” and I would like to especially recommend they (and all of us) think long and hard on question eight, which is a nice statement of one of our themes here:

My request to the Obama transition team is to introduce the economy team to the science team. Economists like Daniel Tarullo would benefit from discussing the laws of thermodynamics with Steven Chu. I’m also sure that the science community would benefit from learning something of the complexity of economics theory and practice. New ideas might evolve!

I’m certain that physics has laws that must be obeyed at our peril, but I’m not convinced that economics has shown their ‘laws’ to be inviolate. In fact, just now to the contrary those principles are looking quite tarnished. And, I’d like to see a science-cum-economics dialogue continue and evolve throughout Obama’s tenure in the White House. It would greatly benefit our transition to a sustainable economy based on alternative energy, resource conservation, green jobs and creative partipation by all sectors of our society.

Thanks to the questioner, Wayne Hamilton of Springdale, Utah.

Nice question. It would be a great idea to also include the energy team in the discussion. Science, economics and energy use will all have overlapping urgencies that may be more easily solved by overlapping conversations.

Technorati Tags: Economy, Environment

Seeing colors in low light

Nightmare? That’s a Horse Seeing Different Colors!:
[Via Guadalupe Storm-Petrel]

Most of us are aware that cats, dogs, and many different wild mammals, birds, and reptiles have better night vision than we humans do. However, we might forget to include domestic horses, cattle, and sheep in this group of animals that possess eyes adapted for sensitivity and acuity in low-light conditions. The large eye of the domestic horse, Equus caballus, has a mobile pupil that can dilate extensively at night to increase sensitivity to photons. In addition, the choroidal, or vascular, layer of the equine eye has a reflective modification called the tapetum lucidum, which bounces photons back for a second chance at capture by the photoreceptors of the retina (reviewed by Ollivier et al., 2004).

Photographs representing the trichromatic appearance for a human (above), and modified to represent the appearance to a dichromat, such as the horse (below). From Carroll et al. (2001)

[More]

Interesting discussion of how well horses see in low light. Turns out humans can do almost as well and we can see more colors with out trichomat system. I wonder when someone will try to create a fourth receptor that extends vision into other wavelengths. Seeing in UV might have some interesting uses.)

Technorati Tags: Environment, Science

Not good

by Joe Attardi
Every 30GB Zune In The World Froze At 2am This Morning [Microsoft]:
[Via Consumerist]

If you’re Steve Jobs, you probably dream of stories like this: Zunes all over the world foze up at around 2am this morning and won’t reboot, and nobody knows why.

ArsTechnica says it seems to have affected all owners of the 30 gig model, and hit no matter what you were doing at the moment:

[More]

This is an epic fail. Not only does something screw up, but it causes the player to crash and just became a brick. And all MS has said is:

Customers with 30gb Zune devices may experience issues when booting their Zune hardware. We’re aware of the problem and are working to correct it. The Zune Social might be slow or inaccessible. Sorry for the inconvenience, and thanks for your patience!

I figure to be zuned will appearon the Urban Dictionary soon.

Technorati Tags: General

Yankees do it right

by bobster1985
I wish the Yankees symbolized the American economy:
[Via danieldrezner.com :: Daniel W. Drezner]

It kills me to write this post, but I’m about to defend the New York Yankees. I do it only to make a point about the American economy and free competition, so bear with me.

[More]

The Yankees are acting the way smart companies should be: spending to remain competitive. The interesting analysis of the numbers for different professional sports indicates that baseball is the most competitive one, that the large amount of money spent by the Yankees actually creates less of a dynasty than those seen in basketball.

Now, could the Yankees spend less money and be competitive? Probably but then more of the profits would probably go to the owners, not the players. I would rather that the huge amounts of money go to the workers than to the owners.

As in business, there are two models for innovation: create your own (best farm system) or buy someone else’s (free agent). Oakland has been successful with the former, while New York has followed the later.

This sets up a nice feedback loop for the Yankees. People will only pay lots of money for a game if the team is worth watching and has a chance for the post-season. There is a lot of demand for Yankee tickets, driving up the price. But, there had better be a wonderful team on the field or people will not go. Then the demand drops.

If you have lots of money, it is actually easier to buy someone else’s creativity. The best creative solutions to problems usually come when money is lacking. Oakland does a wonderful job with little money but finding and nurturing the best young players. But since these great players eventually move on to teams that pay them a lot more, Oakland has to continually be creative to remain competitive. The Yankees only have to spend money.

But it is still a trick to put the right sort of team together. The Yankees are generally creative with how they spend their money and just do not throw good money at bad players. The Mariners tried to do this for a few years, in order to maintain some competitiveness. They had a huge payroll and an awful record. Simply spending money is not the right approach.

Spending money wisely is important and the Yankees have done a pretty good job of this. Now if American companies could just do more of that also.

Technorati Tags: Economy

Cartoon insights

Friday Night Open Thread:
[Via HorsesAss.Org]

When I first set up my old blog, I had the following quote at the top of the page:

“Surprise is the base of all humor, and nothing is more surprising than truth”

It’s by Calvin and Hobbes creator Bill Watterson, and it’s cartoons like this that demonstrate it.

I miss Calvin and Hobbes.

Technorati Tags: Economy

Female regulators

Sex and Money: Are Women Regulators Different?:
[Via AlterNet.org: Coverage Areas]

It is hard not to notice that two of the regulators who stand out for doing the right thing in this incredible financial mess are women.

[More]

As I recall, Enron also had a woman who refused to go along with their illegal machinations. As the article makes clear, it is not only being a woman but also someone who is not part of the club. Regulators, and journalists also, do not investigate their friends very well.

Madoff runs a Ponzi game for years and no one notices because he is a nice guy. These two women push against the corrupted agents of two different administrations and are called the worst epithet in Washington: “Not a team player.”

Hope we get more of these there now.

Technorati Tags: Politics

How the web changes things

by CoreBurn
One hundred days which changed the lives of so many:
[Via Dr. Jeff Masters' WunderBlog]

The following is a guest blog from Paul Timmons, Jr. (Presslord), leader of the portlight.org charity. Thanks to the efforts and donations of the Weather Underground community, the portlight.org charity has made a major difference in the lives of hundreds of under-served victims of Hurricane Ike:

Sunday September 14, 2008, was supposed to be, for me, an intentionally uneventful day. I had even made a point of going to mass the previous evening, so that I’d have no obligations on Sunday. For a variety of reasons, I needed a day of rest and relaxation. So there I sat Sunday morning, in my living room recliner, having walked the dog and fed the cat, ready for a day of nothing. Some cable news program was on the television as background noise, reporting the aftermath of Hurricane Ike and my laptop was in…well…my lap, as I read Dr. Masters blog and the comments on the same subject. Just your average, garden variety lazy Sunday morning.

Then a fellow by the name of Patrick Pearson (y’all know him better as Patrap) posted a comment which would profoundly and positively transform my life…and the lives of hundreds and hundreds of people.

It’s a story about the fundamental goodness of the human spirit and the power of community…and the Internet as a tool to facilitate great works.

Read More;

So, one man got the idea of returning the generosity of Texans towards those affected by Katrina by helping those affected by Ike. A simple comment on a blog and by the time it was over, $40,000 had been raised and $500,000 in goods and services had been delivered.

The individuals who made this happen used their connections to spread the word, accomplishing something that would just not have been possible before. They have some really nice ideas of what to do next, things that cold make a real and continuing impact on people along the Gulf and East coasts.

In times of rapid change, single individuals can make a large difference. The Internet enhances this ability tremendously.

Technorati Tags: General, Social media, Web 2.0

Snowing again

The snow has started again. Radar shows some more headed this way but temperatures are above freezing.

Never thought I’d be waiting for rain.

Technorati Tags: Environment, General

Let’s vote on a slot machine

Greater Transparency for Slots Than Voting (Priorities Folks!):
[Via Concurring Opinions]

News from Underground has a priceless posting comparing the steps states take to ensure the accuracy and security of slot machines and e-voting machines. Here are some highlights. Nevada requires vendors of slot machines to provide it access to the machines’ software. By contrast, for most states, the source code for e-voting machines remains safely in the hands of vendors with no right of access provided to election officials or the public. A Nevada agency certifies slot machines, and the public has an opportunity to comment on that certification process. Depressingly, a select number of private companies certify e-voting machines at the vendor’s expense and the certification process is deemed a trade secret. Yes, even the certification process is hidden from public view.

The bottom line: the gaming business is subject to greater transparency and accountability than our voting process. It seems wrong, and a bit shameful, to associate a greater sense of responsibility and accuracy to gambling than voting. We care more about money earned through somewhat licentious means than our fundamental right to pick our elected officials in an accurate and secure manner. That seems to be where we are right now, but I have my hopes for the future. More to come on that in 2009. For now, happy holidays CoOp readers!

Maybe we should let the slot machine manufacturers produce out e-voting machines. Sounds like they could bring some valuable experience. I like the irony that the source code from the slot machines has to be open while the makers of voting machines are able to keep their code private for proprietary reasons.

Which one do you think is designed to make cheating more likely?

Technorati Tags: General, Politics

Offline due to weather

Compare these two pictures taken yesterday with similar ones from Dec. 22 below. And this is with some intervening snow melt.

The dogs have not been happy with snow that is deeper than they are tall. They have generally followed in my tracks until they could get under the tree line where the snow was shallower

Well, we had about another 8 inches of snow. We lost power on Christmas Eve so we got to open presents all bundled up in a dark house. It snowed throughout the day yesterday, eventually stopping in the early afternoon. The power returned shortly thereafter.

Looks like we lost several trees (I have a named maple, that had been carefully pruned its whole life, that looked like it had exploded. A red plum is on its side. Several trees lost major branches and no longer have a symmetrical shape.

My rough estimate is that well over 2 feet of snow fell in the week before yesterday. In over 20 years living in the NW, I have never seen anything like it. At least we never lost power until the end.

The forecast is for some more snow today but it should be warmer today. The highs tomorrow are supposed to be in the 40s and the lows are above freezing. And it is supposed to rain EVERY DAY for the next week.

So, back to normal NW weather. Hope the rain melts the snow really fast.
.

Technorati Tags: Environment, General

Great idea

The eco font:
[Via AMERICAblog: A great nation deserves the truth]

Leave it to the Dutch to come up with such a practical yet creative solution. If I ever get around to buying a printer I will definitely give this a try.

The Ecofont saves on printing ink by … well, using less of it. Letters in the freely downloadable typeface contain multiple small circular holes, meaning that each letter requires less ink to be printed. As the designers put it: “After Dutch holey cheese, there now is a Dutch font with holes as well.” Quite.

Though rather striking, the typeface is wholly readable (no pun intended) and is, apparently, most effective at nine or 10 point. It’s also sans serif, because, of course, the little flourishes on serif fonts will use up more ink when being printed.

Spranq claims that the Ecofont will reduce ink use by up to 20% – not bad for something that was developed over “lots of late hours (and coffee)”.

Perhaps the most intriguing thing about the font is the question it raises: why hasn’t anybody thought of this before? It appears to be one of those blindingly obvious innovations that simply slipped under the radar all this time.

As it’s now widely accepted that printing should be minimised, there seems little reason as to why most homes and workplaces couldn’t switch some or all of their printing to the new typeface, thus saving themselves some cash and doing the environment a small favour.

What a cool idea! Not only more ecofriendly but should be cheaper also. I’ve downloaded it and will check it out.

Technorati Tags: Environment, General

Off in the snow

Update: Just spent 30 minutes using the Subaru to compress enough snow in the Dirve way to get out. Looks like once I am on the main drag it will be no problem. Hope so.

I’m going to see if I can get my AWD Subaru out so I can get some food for Christmas. I have the feeling everyone else in the house will want to come along with me. Here are a few shots of what our yard looks like.

About 18 inches of snow on the table.

The little black mass at the bottom of the tree is our small dog, Hoshi, who is trying to find a way back to the house without having to enter the deep snow.

View from the front porch. Looks like there is one tree down in the front. I guess I will have to wait until the spring thaw to deal with that.

Technorati Tags: Environment, General

And this is how the world changes

Another first for Twitter: Tweeting the Plane Crash:
[Via The Moderate Voice]
tweeted his miraculous escape.

Here are his tweets:

Can’t see much, but that’s the crash site. http://twitpic.com/ut2c 6:35 PM Dec 20th from twitterrific
This was crash #2 for me. Maybe I should start taking the bus. 5:58 PM Dec 20th from twitterrific
Ugh … My glasses fell off in the mass exodus getting off the plane .. Can’t see very well 5:57 PM Dec 20th from twitterrific
Holy fucking shit I wasbjust in a plane crash! 5:25 PM Dec 20th from twitterrific
I’m at Denver – http://bkite.com/037kb 4:10 PM Dec 20th from Brightkite

I love how he texted his cursing directly into twitter. And he was able to take a picture of the plane after his escape. It looks like his tweet was 5 minutes after the accident.

Twitter may not be useful for everything but it certainly allows an alternate route for emergency information to travel.

Technorati Tags: Social media, Web 2.0

Social media – must have

by Tony Austin
When Your Corporate Social Platform Becomes Mission Critical:
[Via A Journey In Social Media]
[Crossposted at SpreadingScience]

Life is full of learning experiences, and we had one yesterday.

A minor patch to our environment exposed underlying database corruption, which resulted in our internal social platform being unavailable for almost a full business day.

The backups? They were corrupt as well.

Thanks to the exceptional effort of everyone involved, nothing significant was really lost.

Sure, there are lessons to be learned on proper support practices for important applications (and our social platform is now one of those), but there are other lessons to be learned as well.

Things happen. While these tools are becoming as mature as email, they still rely on databases that can become corrupted. Chuck details some of the lessons learned. And this is from a company where mission-critical is a well known term. For these tools, it should become used by almost everyone.

#1 — The Impact Was Stunning

Len wrote a great post on “The Air That I Breathe“, and I think that’s a great analogy.

All day long, it was hard for many of us to get business done, simply because the platform wasn’t available. It was pretty much in the same league as “email unavailable”.

So, at what point did this social platform go from “nice to have” to “need to have”? There wasn’t a defined point that I can see, it just kind of snuck up on us.

People were resilient, and adapted — that’s what we all do anyway. But it was a huge impact to a lot of people’s workday, and didn’t do anything to help with establishing confidence around the platform.

When tools become a part of a person’s workflow, removing them has huge effects on productivity. It’s like running out of toilet paper.No one really notices until it happens. They can get by with alternatives but no one is very happy.

#2 — At Some Point, Declare Your Social Platform As Mission Critical

We didn’t do that.

As a result, we didn’t get the same operational procedures that EMC’s top-tier applications get. I’m *not* blaming the IT guys — they have a schema as to how they categorize things, and our application wasn’t in the appropriate tier.

Why does that matter? More scrutiny and extra effort is applied to make sure that the application is always available — and usually at significant additional cost.

Some of the investments that top-tier applications get include:
advanced test, dev and staging environment to allow quick roll-back if there’s a problem
snapping off disk copies of your database and running consistency checks before it goes to tape or other backup device
HA failover of servers, storage — or even physical locations!
Maintenance at off-hours, rather than prime time

Well, now we have a case to do elevate the category, so to speak.

And probably a willingness to spend more $$$ to keep this from happening again.

It is sometimes hard to convince the powers that be to put the money and resources into new areas such as this. But it should not be necessary for a meltdown to see the need. There should be a process in place, one that is well-defined, to determine what has moved from “nice to have” to “can’t live without it.”

#3 — Vendors In This Space Will Need To Revisit Their Processes

EMC sells mission-critical hardware and software for a living. We know what top-tier customer support looks like — it’s an integral part of our business.

You never can get good enough at this stuff, trust me.

Now, we’re not blaming anyone here, but I think it’s safe to say that we were exercising our software vendor’s support processes in a very unique and unexpected manner. We had 10,000+ users down, and things were pretty bleak there for a while.

Everyone pitched in and helped once an emergency was declared, but it was pretty clear that it was an immature process, relatively speaking.

If you’re a vendor in this space, and you’re convincing customers that your product is essential to their business, and your customer does what you told them to do and now has their entire company running on your stuff, you’re going to have to start thinking like a mission-critical vendor, and invest appropriately.

Everything breaks now and then — it’s what technology does.

What can’t break are the service and support processes: problem escalation, expert triage, advanced notice of potential problem areas, proactive preventative fixes … the whole ball of wax.

This is one of the worries about the cloud. An organization’s capability is determined by another organizations view of mission critical processes. If a company says it is prepared, it had better be because expectations will not be happy with ‘an accident that could not be foreseen.’

Technorati Tags: Social media, Web 2.0

Winter wonderland

Very slow posting. We have been hit hard with a lot of snow and terrible weather. We usually have power outages in such weather so I have kept the computer off waiting for a break.

Since Thursday, we have had close to a foot and a half of snow with high temperatures below freezing. So no melting. Over the weekend, they were predicting a record-breaking storm with winds exceeding 60 miles an hour in some places.

Luckily we got very little wind where we are, just lots of snow. We had two major tree limbs just miss the house and one of my favorite named-varieties of maple looks like it exploded from the amount of snow that broke it. I had spent some time knocking snow off of the trees I knew could be brittle but this one had never had a problem.

The dogs had initially frolicked in the snow but now really hate it. That’s because it is now deep enough that they almost disappear and have to hop from spot to spot. Our little one had tried to follow in my footsteps where i had crunched the snow down but got ’stuck’ one time with no where to go.

Both dogs now just hold it as long as possible and then cling close to the house when they are let out. Not fun anymore.

Today is supposed to be the only reasonable day this week, with little chance of more snow. It will be nice if Fedex can deliver some presents I know have been delayed.

Technorati Tags: General