A respite from a stressful week.
Lazy Day
March 25th, 2005Open Source Climate Change
March 24th, 2005There was a post in slashdot a few days ago, about some of the politics and debates that get started by the competing models for how climate is changing. The post, implies one group of researchers is criticizing another, for not publishing the source code they’re using for their model, but only the general algorithms.
The source code is the plain text which can be turned into a computer program you can run, the algorithm, simplistically would be the idea of what the source code implements. The critics in this case seem to be alluding to the idea that it’s difficult or impossible to replicate and thus verify the results of the simulation if one cannot reproduce the software used to generate the results. It’s an interesting discussion, should researchers be forced to publish the source code when presenting data? Many of the concepts ‘science’ is based on, rely on being able to independently reproduce results, which may be nearly impossible if one has to recode the algorithm, as for any somewhat complicated algorithm, there are likely to be many subtly different ways to implement it.
Websites into Space
March 24th, 2005And this isn’t just because Craig’s a friend; it’s just too weird.
From CNN
On March 11, a company called Deep Space Communications Network beamed the first commercial transmission of a Web site into space.
The message? Over one hundred thousand separate postings from craigslist.com, the popular community Web site that includes classified listings for jobs, housing and other goods. The transmission included a date and time stamp, as well as an audio track identifying the message as originating from Earth.
In case an alien needs an apartment or used washing machine, it’s all set.
Climate Change arguments from the Left
March 22nd, 2005Do some leftist social science critiques so damage the planet that we shouldn’t engage in them?
Here is an example from the 2001 issue of The Annals for the Association of American Geographers in which David Demeritt argues that we should fully explore the social construction of climate change models. Social constructionists argue that politics, culture, and power influence the building and application of such things as Global Circulation Models (GCMs). Power can derive from politicians eager to exploit uncertainty over science as a cover to advance corporate agendas or from academics eager to promote their discipline as the sole source of prediction on climate.
The author does provide mea culpas on the use of leftist critiques by the right as a way to undercut the entire climate change project. However, I think that he vastly understates the ammunition that his own efforts lend to opponents of climate change.
GM and Globalisation
March 21st, 2005There has been concern to monitor GM foods, and research has been conducted, but it is our curiousity that keeps people from disregarding the bans. We saw what happend to Dolly, the cloned sheep, with premature ageing. Now cloned human embryos can also go through that process. In the UK there is a briefing from genewatch that highlights new GM plants and crops worldwide. GM foods are widely adopted in North America, but for the rest of the world, there is continued controversy over using them. In Hawaii, there has been a GM papaya resistant to viral disease grown extensively since 1998. Thailand is now trying hard to remove their GM papaya and there are no longer exports to Europe for fear of spreading contamination. China is considering to grow GM rice. Rice takes up one quarter of the agricultural land, so if any disaster were to happen, it would be on a large scale. There is a lot of concern, that with the rise of globalisation, there will be more disruption of native, natural ecosystems, as new plants are introduced. GM foods can provide protection from insects and disease, they can offer longer shelf life (apparently pringles and kraftdinner are GM, as well as a whole list of others). But they can also create problems for the environment, as the ecosystem is displaced, and the GM crop may take over a native species which may eventually become extinct. If there is going to be GM of plants and crops, I think it should be done indoors, in greenhouses, with tightly secured walls, so that we don’t disrupt the natural landscapes. We only have one world…
Xbox 2 will be Microtransaction enabled
March 21st, 2005We discussed in class how some people were ready to pay real money to buy virtual goods in online games.
Well it’s seems like microsoft and games publisher won’t miss out on this opportunity to cash in more money.
The Xbox 2, to be realeased sometime next year, will enable “real money” microtransactions (a few cents to a few dollars) to buy virtual goods from virtual stores that will enhance the gamer experience. Microsoft expect an additional $5 million per game in revenue from this service.
Now that money seems to be breaking the barrier between the real and the virtual world, I think it’s worth wondering about a few questions:
Will I be able to get insurance for my virtual space ship. I mean if I spend hundreds of hardly earned real dollars in a real job to buy the best weapons and shield for my virtual space ship I might want to insure it in case my enemy destroy it. I might also want to get life insurance for my Sims character.
Furthermore if somebody vandalize my ship, can I take legal actions against him for vandalizing my property? Is the virtual ship actually my property?
Are virtual goods taxable?
Do I have to declare the online gaming points that I earned in my income tax report?
How much a dollar is worth in virtual gaming points, is there some kind of floating currency exchange rate?
Can I get a loan from my bank to buy this super new reactor for my virtual ship? Will they consider my virtual ship as a good enough guarantee for the loan?
In brief there is a lot of funny questions like this that seems to arise, some might be ridiculous, some might already have answers, but my point is that by introducing real money in virtual gaming world, it seems to me like it’s going to make it even harder for some people to draw a line between the virtual and the real.
Organize your brain just as easily as you organize your computer
March 21st, 2005This NYTimes article describes software that will help us organize our thoughts and ideas. After all, are not our brains no more than a set of file folders or a road map? (I wish it was but then I’m reminded of the state of my office and my inability to read maps.)
The article also explains the origin of this collection of software:
Both programs grew from the “Mind Mapping” movement, which is more famous in Britain and other parts of Europe than in North America, and whose origins are usually attributed to Tony Buzan. Beginning in Britain in the 1960’s, Mr. Buzan popularized the idea that to learn new topics, organize thoughts and become creative, people should draw “mind maps” on big sheets of paper, ideally with crayons or pens of many different colors. Mr. Buzan’s theories, including his 10 strict “laws” for drawing such maps, are available in his many books and seminars and at his Web site.
Who would have thought that crayons would improve university lectures? 😉
IMAXs and evolution
March 21st, 2005Without comment from our neighbours to the south.
From the Guardian, Creationists take their fight to the really big screen
They are the epitome of safe family entertainment, renowned for lavish animations, exquisitely filmed scenes of natural grandeur and utterly tame scripts. But IMAX films have suddenly found themselves catapulted into controversy, thanks to their occasional use of the dreaded E-word: evolution. In several states, IMAX cinemas — including some at science museums — are refusing to show movies that mention the subject or suggest that the Earth’s origins do not conform with biblical descriptions.
Reading the NYTimes article on the same issue, it becomes clear that decisions by American IMAX theatres have impacts here as well.
The number of theaters rejecting such films is small, people in the industry say – perhaps a dozen or fewer, most in the South. But because only a few dozen Imax theaters routinely show science documentaries, the decisions of a few can have a big impact on a film’s bottom line – or a producer’s decision to make a documentary in the first place.
Evolution not Revolution
March 21st, 2005Just some thoughts I’ve had since our class on thursday. It seems like at first glance, a lot of these things that are taking place on the internet and otherwise are huge leaps from what happened before. But I feel like on closer inspection, many things which at first seem to be wildly different, are just familiar things projected into a very slightly different domain. It reminds me of the nature of ‘discovery’, often what are touted as new discoveries are just incremental improvements.
It may seem weird to us right now that people are purchasing virtual land for real dollars, but it must have seemed equally weird when people started buying futures on the stock market, liability insurance against things which will never happen. However those things are natural outgrowths of speculative stock trading, and fixed liability situations.
It’s also important to remember that just because something is touted as the way of the future, does not mean everything changes overnight. The new and old often co-exist for long periods of time, and who is to say which will win out in the end (whoops if you bought a laserdisc!).
I was reminded of this while I was reading this Reporter (I know… I know…) article which I happened to be reading in the back row of my class.
In reference to installing wireless access points in classrooms:
Masi said that some professors have requested wireless access be not available in classrooms, for fear that it would lead to a modern equivalent of students reading a newspaper in the back row.
When will it Stop?
March 20th, 2005Although there are various indicators of global warming, when will it be enough to say we’ve got to stop our current inappropriate actions? If we decide to designate an area as a wildlife refuge, we should maintain our word. I wouldn’t trust any government that goes against its word, unless it’s to help its citizens over the long term. This is unfortunately not the case. In a BBC News Article Senators voted 51-49 to allow oil drilling in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildife Refuge. If he thinks this is going to help the country, he’s crazy. What’s ironic is that the problem is cyclic. If he uses the money to fund technology, for instance, like GIS, he’ll be using GIS to find out why the country is doing so poorly.
Reading Novels on your Mobile
March 19th, 2005The new addition to the paperless society, you can now read novels on your cellphone in Japan, (soon coming to north america). It seems to be picking up in Japan, in the article they even say that a lot of people are reading novels on their mobile at home????????? I don’t know if it is easier to read Japanese characters in a small screen than it is to read english or french, but I could hardly imagine myself reading a whole novel on my cellphone where not even a whole sentence fit on the screen.
War Begins at Home
March 18th, 2005
A few photos before the actual war. One victor. One loser.
Digital Cities
March 16th, 2005Now that I think about it, London Ontario could be considered a digital city. I worked there over the summer, and they have an online map, where you can look at different developments in the city. For instance, you can find out where the closest library is, if there are bus routes near your house, you can look at flood plains and vegetation, location of schools, etc. They also have an aerial photo option, so I had the opportunity to zoom in and see my house from above. Click on City Map in order to use these features. When people phoned the city for help, often planners would direct them to the online maps. I think the maps and the information is useful for citizens, that is, if they have access to a computer. Or if developers come into the department, the planners show them right there, what is taking place in their neighbourhood, etc. I think it helps give cities a place, in the global world, a global identity. For instance, there’s a paper on Kyoto that highlights the potential of the digital city, with access to business, transport, universities, local authorities, volunteer groups, and more, all linking people and places worldwide. There is a lot of work involved to create a digital city, with different layers having to come together.
Web Check in
March 14th, 2005I recently flew from Halifax to Montreal on Canjet (a few hours ago, actually) – thankfully it wasn’t planned to be jetsgo! Canjet is offering a new service where passengers can “check-in” online from their own home up to 12 hours in advance up to one hour before departure. Passengers must have a printer connected to their computer; they print out the boarding pass and upon arrival at the airport head straight for security (if they don’t have any luggage, of course) – no need to wait in the check in line.
I know airport lines are annoying, but the ironic thing is that I have never seen CAnjet’s line be more than 3 or 4 people long… have a little patience! If we prefer to spend a few extra quality minutes with our computer to check-in for a flight instead of waiting 5 minutes to have a little contact with an airline employee, I have to wonder what society is coming to. I notice that more and more, people are opting for choices that involve less interaction with other people, especially unfamiliar people. This relates back to our conversation in class last week about our need for order and familiarity.
Electronic wasteland no longer in Nova Scotia
March 14th, 2005The Daily News, a newspaper in Halifax, recently ran a full page photo/article on Nova Scotia’s plans to ban electronic material from landfills. As of January 1st, 2006 things like: televisions, computers, scanners, cell phones, VCRs, printers and blackberries will no longer be allowed to make their permanent homes in Nova scotia landfills.
There will be a surcharge icluded in the original price of the electronic product when you buy it, which will help the manufacturer pay for the costs of recycling the product. Manufactures will be responsible for the recycling and won’t be allowed to charge the electronics users anything at the time of drop off for recycling, this is why the surcharge will be tacked on to the original price. The products will either be recycled or reused, but most importantly the harmful toxic substances of these products will be removed from landfills.
Details haven’t been completely worked out, but it sounds like this program is a defiinite go ahead – very ambitious, but very admirable! I’ll bring the paper clipping to class Tuesday – remind me to show you!
Food Blogging
March 14th, 2005I finally ran across a blog I want to post about, it was mentioned in slashdot this morning. It’s by the head of a blogging company called fotoblog, and it is simply a collection of pictures of what he eats each day. For some reason (possibly because I’m hungry) this struck me as a pretty cool idea, and I browsed through a few pages of his meals.
What I can tell about him:
- he is not a vegetarian
- he eats out quite a lot
- he seems to eat a decent variety of foods
I really enjoy food, and a lot of things I enjoy doing are also centred around food, so I can imagine if I had a similar record of what I was eating, it’d probably be a fairly complete record of important things. Anyways, it’s an interesting idea.
Coal powered industry in China
March 14th, 2005Climate change is a big issue today…as we are seeing more frequent storms and droughts, and natural disasters, due to humans’ influence on the environment. As China is building for more economic prosperity, the country continues to rely heavily on coal power, (80%), the BBC news article claims. The coal industry may help to relieve poverty, but other (more efficient, less damaging sources of power) may also help to relieve poverty, but they have to make that decision to switch. It is often difficult for developing countries to tackle poverty and at the same time use better technology (the technology is often expensive). Sometimes developing countries can do this, if they are resourceful or inventive. China does have the role model Sihe mine, in which methane is collected as coal is being mined, and it is diverted and used to power other stations. It’s kind of frightening, though, to think what will happen if such a large country (with a large population) developes the bad habits as Western countries, before they adopt less damaging technology. Does Garry Peterson have any thoughts on this or simulation models of what might happen, in terms of climate change?
Computer Plumbers
March 14th, 2005I ran across a BBC piece about people being trained to become computer plumbers. Now it might seem like a little bit of a juxtaposition, we often think of plumbing as ‘low-tech’ and computers being ‘high-tech’, more of that up-down dichotomy I suppose. Of course the reality isn’t much different, people often recruit my help when their computers get their pipes clogged so to speak.
I like the term because most people seem to fundamentally believe they understand plumbing: after all, it’s just things flowing through pipes. Nothing mysterious about that. Compare this to computers, which people seem to treat as systems of vast complexity, never to be understood. An attitude like that tends to make people start randomly clicking things, and then giving up in despair when things don’t work. If one goes with the attitude that things are usually happening for a reason, it’s generally a lot easier to fix things.
On a side note, we don’t learn about computers in computer science. Computer science is called information science or something like it in most other languages, which sounds a lot different. In reality, we primarily learn a funky subset of math, and it just happens that computers have a lot of applications of the funky math. Of course, it’s not that uncommon for computer nerds to gravitate towards things like computer science, so the person in computer science may also happen to have the knowledge to be able to remove whatever Kazaa installed. It’s interesting to note that there are people who are in computer science who have no knowledge about, and little intersest in, computers. Often they are doing management minors (ew).
So, Computer Science: the mathematical study of theoretical plumbing systems. Knowledge of plumbing not required.
Computas, society ‘n natur, dogg
March 13th, 2005Gizoogle is a cross between Google and a dictionary of African American Hip Hop Vernacular. It’s a search engine that translates its results into “gansta-speak” a la Snoop Dogg. The results are entertaining (to me anyway) and the site has received quite a bit of coverage. Here is some coverage from the Washington Post. The site is another example of the how the net shifts our definitions of content, intellectual property, and context. Here is free tool that allows you to take any webapage and make it completely different, in a way some people might be offensive.
Try translating our blog. The caption under the second to last cat photo is particularly funny.