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Andrew DeWitt

bit.ly | Basic | a simple URL shortener - 0 views

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    A URL shortener and tracker.  This website tracks how many times your links have been clicked and by whom and when.  This is a great tool to see if people are actually looking at the links you post.  Plus, its super easy to use and you can create custom links.
Andrew DeWitt

YouTube - Fictionalized Criticality Accident - 0 views

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    An event in the study of nuclear weapons.  See my blog post for more info  http://bit.ly/903zlH
Brian Earley

2001: A Space Odyssey Interpreted - 1 views

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    After watching the movie I was lost, but this interpretation gave me an understanding of the crucial bits without the drawn out breathing clips. If you watch this four part video for 30 minutes you've practically watched the movie.
Gideon Burton

I'm So Totally, Digitally Close to You - Clive Thompson - NYTimes.com - 0 views

  • Social scientists have a name for this sort of incessant online contact. They call it “ambient awareness.” It is, they say, very much like being physically near someone and picking up on his mood through the little things he does — body language, sighs, stray comments — out of the corner of your eye
  • This is the paradox of ambient awareness. Each little update — each individual bit of social information — is insignificant on its own, even supremely mundane. But taken together, over time, the little snippets coalesce into a surprisingly sophisticated portrait of your friends’ and family members’ lives, like thousands of dots making a pointillist painting
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    A 2008 article in which the new kinds of digital relationships made possible through Facebook and other social media are discussed. Digital friends have "ambient awareness" through news feeds, begging the question about kind of friendship and their authenticity.
Brian Earley

Rene Descartes perceptions of philosophy - 0 views

  • As Descartes said, “Those who set about giving precepts must esteem themselves more skilful than those to whom they advance them”
  • In other words, someone might alter the truth solely so they could come up with something to say, while the real truth might not be capable of being expressed so easily, it can only be observed. Some things in life are too complicated to express, but however there are going to be people who believe they can express those things, even though they cannot accurately do so.
    • Brian Earley
       
      I have read scientific journals wherein the author reports on complex interactions or relationships on the molecular level. Often I believe that they really cannot accurately do so. Perhaps scientific journals would be better if they were accompanied by videos. That would make them more like blog posts.
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  • are the emotions which are based off of your opinions even real, since they are based off of opinions?
  • Your perception is going to determine what it is that you feel, that is, your conscious and unconscious perception of what is going on is
  • For it seemed to me that I might meet with much more truth in the reasonings that each man makes on the matters that specially concern him, and the issue of which would very soon punish him if he made a wrong judgment, than in the case of those made by a man of letters in his study touching speculations that lead to no result, and that bring about no other consequences to himself excepting that he will be all the more vain the more they are removed from common sense, since in this case proves to him to have employed so much more ingenuity and skill trying to make them seem probable.
  • More especially did I reflect in each matter that came before me as to anything that could make it subject to suspicion of doubt, and give occasion for mistake, and I rooted out of my mind all the errors that might have formerly crept in. Not that indeed I imitated the skeptics, who only doubt for the sake of doubting, and pretend to by always uncertain; for, on the contrary, my design was only to provide myself with good ground for assurance, and to reject the quicksand and mud in order to find the rock or clay.”
  • since emotional intelligence is not completely concrete, it can be subject to skeptics
  • “how do I know that anything is even real”
  • Accordingly I shall now suppose, not that a true God, who as such must be supremely good and the fountain of truth, but that some malignant genius exceedingly powerful and cunning has devoted all his powers in the deceiving of me; I shall suppose that the sky, the earth, colors, shapes, sounds and all external things are illusions and impostures of which this evil genius has availed himself for the abuse of my credulity…”
  • I am, I exist. This is certain. How often? As often as I think. For it might indeed be that if I entirely ceased to think, I should thereupon altogether cease to exist. I am not at present admitting anything which is not necessarily true; and, accurately speaking, I am therefore [taking myself to be] only a thinking thing, that is to say, a mind, an understanding or reason-terms the significance of which has hitherto been unknown to me. I am, then a real thing, and really existent. What thing? I have said it, a thinking thing
  • So it really is thought that makes him who he is, since he is thinking about himself all of the time, in addition to thinking about and in regular life.
  • Thought determines who someone is because your thoughts are controlled, and all your thoughts over your lifetime caused your emotional development, which causes you to be who you are.
  • So it is easy to say that your thoughts understand and/or control who you are, but it is much harder to say that your emotions understand and/or control who you are.
  • I recognize it is impossible that He should ever deceive me, since in all fraud and deception there is some element of imperfection. The power of deception may indeed seem to be evidence of subtlety or power; yet unquestionably the will to deceive testifies to malice and feebleness, and accordingly cannot be found in God.
    • Brian Earley
       
      I think people in "The Matrix" would love Descartes
  • “To laugh often and much; To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; To appreciate beauty, to find the best in others; To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded”
  • conclusive as to whether or not pleasing other people infinitely is going to be self-beneficial, it could be considered a perfect thing to do since it is positively contributing to life.
    • Brian Earley
       
      The conclusion for me from this commentary is that thoughts are what make us who we are. Therefore, we must put a lot of our energy into controlling our thoughts so we can become what we want to be.
    • Brian Earley
       
      On my mission, I taught a lady that was offended to the point of tears when a member called the Prophet, the 'mouthpiece' of the Lord. She thought it as a very degrading term to call such a respectable man. Perceptions determine feelings.
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    This commentary explains the unique observations that Rene Descartes made of observations. I feel like I have had similar thoughts at times. I feel comforted knowing a dead French guy thought the same way that I think.
Jeffrey Whitlock

A Drop in the Ocean - Introduction to Microfinance Seminars (session 1) by Daan Harmsen... - 0 views

    • Jeffrey Whitlock
       
      I highly suggest checking out this pretzi on microfinance. It might be a bit hard to understand if you are just becoming acquainted with the subject. I might suggest reading the Wikipedia article on it first.
Andrew DeWitt

BitTorrent, Explained - Peer to Peer - 0 views

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    Great video about how BitTorrent can help you (and help you help others) get the files you want faster.
Bri Zabriskie

Plover: Freeing Stenography | Geek Feminism Blog - 0 views

  • overlap between the stenographic and computer geek worlds is bafflingly small, considering how vital efficient text entry is to virtually every tech field
  • on-commercial applications for stenographic technology.
  • into any X window using a $45 off-the-shelf keyboard.
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  • Steno is the only text input system that’s functionally equivalent to conversational human speech.
  • wearable computing is unlikely to really take off until we get the head-mounted display issue worked out, and I don’t currently have any idea of how to make that happen on a practical level.
  • could be attached to thighs, belly, biceps, or wherever,
    • Bri Zabriskie
       
      initial reaction? weird, weird weird weird!
  • phonetic system in your muscle memory.
    • Bri Zabriskie
       
      which is why TypeWell which expands words when you type all the consonants is so much easier to remember. Plus you can program your own abbreviations. It' makes mroe sense for the general public. And how are Deaf/ HoH people supposed to learn the phonetic system of what to them is a foreign language? That seems a bit short sighted to me. 
  • hackathon
    • Bri Zabriskie
       
      a what?
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    Interview with someone who's created an open source stenograpic keyboard emulator for transcription services. I work in transcription so I think this is pretty stinking awesome.
Brandon McCloskey

Web 2.0 for all? - 0 views

  • a lot of work around standards for Web 2.0 work has yet to properly started, let alone finished.
  • Some of this work has happened. Things like RSS feeds, XML etc have made it simpler for computers to share complicated bits of data. But it hasn't gone far enough and it's not just data.
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