Awesome Random Number Generator
May 27, 2009
This is awesome.
An automatic dice roller.
Inflation vs Deflation
April 14, 2009
Excellent graphical explanation of inflation and deflation. Click the links to check it out.
“Inflation. It’s bad right? When prices rise your money is worth less and nobody wants to see their hard earned cash decline in value. But what is inflation anyway and what are its root causes?”
“Deflation is inflation’s polar opposite. It’s what happens when prices go down and you get more bang for your buck. Sounds good right? But deflation, like inflation is complicated and much less understood than inflation.”
Twitter for Dummies
February 6, 2009
Scott Hanselman’s Computer Zen – How To Twitter – First Steps and a Twitter Glossary
“We’re having loads of fun over on Twitter. I’ve blogged about it before and how it’s a conversation starter, a message bus, a subject tagger and conference organizer and a link sharing service. It’s a river of uselessfulness and truthiness. It’s a permanent cocktail party where you know some folks, and don’t know others. Some are famous, some are your friends. There’s a the constant background of overheard conversations, except on Twitter, it’s socially acceptable, nay, encouraged, to jump in. No need to say, “oh, I couldn’t help but overheard, excuse me but…” “
Copyright Villians, the Edmonton Oilers
February 3, 2009
Last week, the Edmonton Oilers lost a game to the Buffalo Sabres by a score of 10-2.
So, having a little bit of fun, Fan 960, the radio home for the Calgary Flames decided to have a little fun and create a song to the tune of Lola using a few game audio clips.
I think if you look into the copyright implications, there is NOT any chance that the Oilers would have been able to stop this song if they had to take it to court.
In the US, fair use is determined by four factors. I think that all of them are met easily in this case. See Wikipedia for the factors.
In Canada, I think it may be even more clear cut. Fair dealing is determined from six factors. But “Quoting trivial amounts may alone sufficiently establish fair dealing.” I think using a few seconds of a 2.5 hour broadcast would qualify as trivial.
Fan 960 should have just said, “Take us to court.”
I think Pat LaForge (Oilers President) called Gary Bettman(NHL Commissioner) who called Ken King (Flames President) who called The Fan.
As an Oiler fan, I hated the game. But the best part of a rivalry with Calgary is being able to torment Flames fans when you have the opportunity. The Oilers should have left it alone. Instead the song is getting more airtime then it otherwise would have.
Like being posted on a technology blog from an Oilers fan. I want the right to post the song written about the Flames.
Thanks to mc79hockey for the heads up.
You will run screaming from the room!!
February 3, 2009
Microsoft Songsmith claims to write music to lyrics. And it does. But the new meme is to take a classic song’s vocal track and see what Songsmith comes up with. They are as hideous as you expect.
Here is Hotel California by the Eagles.
Security Reality
February 2, 2009
There is always a weak link in any security system.
Dogfood for Dinner
January 28, 2009
At Essentialtalk, we have been working on an LMS for a number of years. We have used it a little bit internally, but we are conciously going to be using it to a much bigger extent going forward. Really starting to eat our own dogfood.
Then today, I saw the ultimate eating your own dogfood story. This is awesome. Here is the original link.
“The Best Dogfooding Story Ever
The common expression for using your own software is “eating your own dogfood”. Sometimes this term gets verbed by simply calling it “dogfooding”.
If you’ll indulge me briefly, I’d like to tell you what I think is the best dogfooding story ever. However, it’s not a software story. It’s a woodworking story.
The primary machine tool in any well-equipped woodshop is a table saw. Basically, it’s a polished cast iron table with a slot through which protrudes a circular saw blade, ten inches in diameter. Wood is cut by sliding it across the table into the spinning blade.
A table saw is an extremely dangerous tool. My saw can cut a 2-inch thick piece of hard maple with no effort at all. Frankly, it’s a tool which should only be used by someone who is a little bit afraid of it. It should be obvious what would happen if a finger ever came in contact with the spinning blade. Over 3,000 people each year lose a finger in an accident with a table saw.
A guy named Stephen Gass has come up with an amazing solution to this problem. He is a woodworker, but he also has a PhD in physics. His technology is called Sawstop. It consists of two basic inventions:
* He has a sensor which can detect the difference in capacitance between a finger and a piece of wood.
* He has a way to stop a spinning table saw blade within 1/100 of a second, less than a quarter turn of rotation.The videos of this product are amazing. Slide a piece of wood into the spinning blade, and it cuts the board just like it should. Slide a hot dog into the spinning blade, and it stops instantly, leaving the frankfurter with nothing more than a nick.
Here’s the spooky part: Stephen Gass tested his product on his own finger! This is a guy who really wanted to close the distance between him and his customers. No matter how much I believed in my product, I think I would find it incredibly difficult to stick my finger in a spinning table saw blade. Unbelievable!”
Rational Response to Peanut Allergies
January 28, 2009
Bruce Schneier is always calling for a rational approach to security and privacy. Today he posted about parents being rational about children’s safety. What a concept.
Schneier on Security: A Rational Response to Peanut Allergies and Children
“Some parents of children with peanuts allergies are not asking their school to ban peanuts. They consider it more important that teachers know which children are likely to have a reaction, and how to deal with it when it happens; i.e., how to use an Epipen.
This is a much more resilient response to the threat. It works even when the peanut ban fails. It works whether the child has an anaphylactic reaction to nuts, fruit, dairy, gluten, or whatever.
It’s so rare to see rational risk management when it comes to children and safety; I just had to blog it.”
Guardian’s 1000 novels. Only 968 to go.
January 27, 2009
The Guardian recently listed the 1000 novels everyone should read.
Saw the list from @timoreilly. He has read 152 of them.
I am only at 32. Not even one for every year I have been alive. And four of those are comics. Thanks TinTin and Asterix.
Check out the whole list here.
Awesome poster. Get yours here.
