The Last Mile for Internet Video- January 11, 2008 Power and network companies often talk about the "last mile" in their distribution networks -- that is, the mile between a network substation and the customer's house. The last mile is the hardest to build, the most expensive to maintain, and the most important part of the network. Well, I think the "last mile" for internet video is the distance between the office chair and the couch. Internet video is exploding but it will be restricted to the tech-savvy until there's a simple, cheap, way...http://www.mwilliams.info/archive/2008/01/the-last-mile-for-internet-video.php "No Woman Is Illegal"- January 11, 2008 I'd really like to know what Hillary means by "No woman is illegal". (I think it's likely that she said "no one is illegal", so let's not worry about the gender issue.) Clinton and her busload of traveling press moved from there to the popular local Mexican restaurant Lindo Michoacan, where a "roundtable" that was actually square passed a microphone around to tell her people's concerns about the mortgage crisis and foreclosures. She took notes and munched on tortilla chips. ... A man shouted.http://www.mwilliams.info/archive/2008/01/no-woman-is-illegal.php Colleges Don't Teach Computer Science Anymore- January 10, 2008 Most colleges don't really teach computer science anymore, they just churn out Java programmers. I personally hate Java, and though I really like C and the .NET framework in general I completely agree with Joel Spolsky when he writes that modern CS students don't really learn more than what's needed to generate monkey-level software and basic websites. Instead what I'd like to claim is that Java is not, generally, a hard enough programming language that it can be used to discriminate between..http://www.mwilliams.info/archive/2008/01/colleges-dont-teach-computer-science-anymore.php I Need a Rovio- January 9, 2008 WowWee's Rovio robot looks amazing. Here are more details, including an expected release data of Fall 2008. For $299 it looks like a steal. Too bad my wife is scared of robots.http://www.mwilliams.info/archive/2008/01/i-need-a-rovio.php Bloxorz- January 9, 2008 Bloxorz is way too addictive to find during work hours. (And more time wasters, courtesy of GeekPress.)http://www.mwilliams.info/archive/2008/01/bloxorz.php Video Trace Software Creates 3D Models From Video- January 9, 2008 Bernardo sent me a link to some neat software from the Australian Center for Visual Technologies that can extract 3D models from video with some human assistance. VideoTrace is a system for interactively generating realistic 3D models of objects from videomodels that might be inserted into a video game, a simulation environment, or another video sequence. The user interacts with VideoTrace by tracing the shape of the object to be modelled over one or more frames of the video. By interpreting...http://www.mwilliams.info/archive/2008/01/video-trace-software-creates-3d-models-from-vide... Teen Pregnancy and Future Earnings- January 8, 2008 I spent a couple of minutes scouring the web but couldn't find strong data to support this hunch, nevertheless... I doubt that pregnant teens gain much benefit from special programs that help them earn symbolic high school diplomas. Pregnant students in a Denver high school are asking for at least four weeks of maternity leave so they can heal, bond with their newborns and not be penalized with unexcused absences. The request is unusual in Colorado's public schools, where districts tend to...http://www.mwilliams.info/archive/2008/01/teen-pregnancy-and-future-earnings.php Ron Paul Is A Crazy, Racist Conspiracy Theorist- January 8, 2008 As many people have been pointing out for a long time, despite his current attractiveness to disaffected conservatives Ron Paul is a crazy, racist conspiracy loon. Finding the pre-1999 newsletters was no easy task, but I was able to track many of them down at the libraries of the University of Kansas and the Wisconsin Historical Society. Of course, with few bylines, it is difficult to know whether any particular article was written by Paul himself. Some of the earlier newsletters are signed by.http://www.mwilliams.info/archive/2008/01/ron-paul-is-a-crazy-racist-conspiracy-theorist.p... Air Traffic Management Inefficiencies- January 7, 2008 From the National Air Traffic Controllers Association FAQ we can see some interesting numbers. On any given day, more than 87,000 flights are in the skies in the United States. Only one-third are commercial carriers, like American, United or Southwest. On an average day, air traffic controllers handle 28,537 commercial flights (major and regional airlines), 27,178 general aviation flights (private planes), 24,548 air taxi flights (planes for hire), 5,260 military flights and 2,148 air cargo...http://www.mwilliams.info/archive/2008/01/air-traffic-management-inefficiencies.php The 19th Amendment -- Good Idea 3- January 7, 2008 I've discussed the wisdom of the 19th Amendment before, but I've never sunk so low as to accuse women of voting on pure emotion! Then Clinton began getting emotional: "It's not easy, and I couldn't do it if I didn't passionately believe it was the right thing to do. You know I have so many opportunities from this country just don't want to see us fall backwards," she said. Then, her voice breaking and tears in her eyes, she said, "You know, this is very personal for me. It's not just...http://www.mwilliams.info/archive/2008/01/the-19th-amendment-good-idea-3.php |