Isotropic is …
... my personal blog. Anything I write here is simply my personal, probably ill-formed, opinion and does not represent the views, beliefs, positions, or opinions of any other person or entity.
Monthly Archives: December 2008
It’s gonna be a long day
Today will be a whole second longer than any other this year. This is also the longest year since 1992, the most recent previous leap year which also included a leap second. Leap seconds are used to keep standard time … Continue reading
Posted in Sci-Tech
Tagged leap-second, timekeeping, time standard, time system, wts, Windows Time Service, ntp, network time protocol
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Zen and the Art of Existence
Q. Do I have a right to exist?A. Does 8? From comment #22 on Scott Aaronson’s What can first-order logic do for your self-esteem?.
The Universal Cure
“The year in crackpottery, and what it costs us.” (Coturnix, ScienceBlogs) links to several additional sites about bad science, among them “7 (Stupid) People Who Sued the Scientific Method” (McKinney, Cracked.com). McKinney humorously summarizes each case and then states what … Continue reading
Windows Genuine Pain In the Ass
This is old news, but I need to rant a bit. You’d think that downloading a file from a web site would be a simple process, but noooo, our friends at Microsoft have to make it a major effort — … Continue reading
Posted in Daily-Grind
Tagged Windows, Microsoft, genuine advantage, Windows Genuine Advantage, WGA, rant
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Merry Christmas
Well, anyway, a belated Happy {Christmas | Hanukkah | Kwanzaa | Solstice | … | Thursday}.
Uncanny Valley of User Interface
Jeff Atwood’s ‘Avoiding The Uncanny Valley of User Interface‘ caught my eye, so to speak. His contention is that “a web app that apes the conventions of a desktop application is attempting to cross the uncanny valley of user interface … Continue reading
I’ll be watching you
“[I]nvestigators have used an MRI to read images off the visual cortex […] Before you get all panicky and worry that now the CIA will be able to extract all of those sexy librarian fantasies out of your brain by … Continue reading
Tunnel Vision
Sometimes it’s difficult to schedule a plumber, but twenty years? These leaks were discovered that long ago. An investigation of the extent of the problem was begun in 2004 … tick, tick, tick. But what really got my attention was … Continue reading
Not Occam’s Razor
I recently found this Gillette Fusion razor while straightening up my desk at work. Synchronicity with the resurrected ads I’ve begun seeing again. I’d received it in the mail a year or two ago — Gillette trying to boost sales … Continue reading
Posted in humor
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Remotely Controlled Thermostats
Speaking of cold weather, here’s an interesting idea: let the government control your home’s thermostat. Next year in California, state regulators are likely to have the emergency power to control individual thermostats, sending temperatures up or down through a radio-controlled … Continue reading