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Posts from the ‘Misc’ Category

Mar 3

LED Lighting: Finally Ready for Primetime?

Let There Be Light

I’m a huge sceptic when it comes to new lighting technologies. Nothing seems to work quite as well as a good old-fashioned incandescent light bulb.  Yes, they are inefficient, they give off large amounts of heat and  yes, they have a short lifespan.  However, they are relatively cheap, provide a nice warm light, they are dimmable and are simple to dispose of.  There is an almost endless variety of incandescent lighting options.   In the Northwest, with our filtered sunshine and 9 months of gray skies, good lighting is vital. Read more

Jul 25

Randy Pausch, author of The Last Lecture, has died.

Randy Pausch, the Carnegie Mellon University computer science professor whose final lecture inspired millions, has died of pancreatic cancer. Dr. Pausch, 47, who turned the lecture into a book, said that no one would have been interested in his words of wisdom were he not a man in his 40s with a terminal illness.

For any of you that missed Dr. Pausch’s Last Lecture, here it is:
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More about Dr. Pausch.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randy_Pausch

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Jun 23

Universcale

Nikon has put together an amazing interactive site that puts the world in perspective, literally. This is one site you must check out.

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Apr 8

Dangerous Pathway

Amazing video of the Caminito del Rey in Spain. More info on the pathway can be found at Wikipedia.

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Apr 8

How Deja Vu Works

There are more than 40 theories as to what deja vu is and what causes it, and they range from reincarnation to memory glitches. In this article, we’ll explore a few of those theories to shed some light on this perplexing — and scientific — phenomenon.

Déjà vu is a French term that literally means “already seen” and has several variations, including déjà vécu, already experienced;déjà senti, already thought; and déjà visité, already visited. French scientist Emile Boirac, one of the first to study this strange phenomenon, gave the subject its name in 1876.

There are often references to déjà vu that aren’t true déjà vu. Researchers have their own definitions, but generally déjà vu is described as the feeling that you’ve seen or experienced something before when you know you haven’t. The most common misuse of the term déjà vu seems to be with precognitive experiences — experiences where someone gets a feeling that they know exactly what’s going to happen next, and it does. An important distinction is that déjà vu is experienced during an event, not before. Precognitive experiences — if they are real — show things that will happen in the future, not things that you’ve already experienced. (However, one theory about déjà vu deals with precognitive dreams that give us a “déjà vu feeling” afterwards.

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Apr 3

Down the Tube: the Sad Stats On Happiness, Money

A new study suggests that Americans today are no happier than earlier generations despite an increased standard of living due to a poor use of leisure time.

Despite the sharp rise in our standard of living in recent decades, Americans today are little or no happier than earlier generations. Why not?

A new study suggests one possibility: Maybe we need to be smarter about how we spend our time. And, no, that doesn’t mean watching more TV.

Feeling unpleasant. You can think of your happiness as having three components. First, there’s your basic disposition — whether you are, by nature, a happy person or not. Clearly, there isn’t a whole lot you can do about this.

Second, there are your life’s circumstances, such as your age, health, marital status and income. Often, this stuff isn’t nearly as important as folks imagine. If your income doubled, you would initially be delighted. But research suggests you would quickly get used to all that extra money.

That brings us to the third factor, which is how you spend your time — something you have a fair amount of control over. This is the subject of a major new study by academics Daniel Kahneman, Alan Krueger, David Schkade, Norbert Schwarz and Arthur Stone.

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Feb 25

Americans Change Faiths at Rising Rate

A new Pew research report entitled, “U.S. Religious Landscape Survey,” showing that more than 44% of Americans have left the faith of their childhood.

From the NYT article:

More than a quarter of adult Americans have left the faith of their childhood to join another religion or no religion, a new survey of religious affiliation says. The report, titled “U.S. Religious Landscape Survey,” depicts a highly fluid and diverse national religious life. If shifts among Protestant denominations are included, then it appears that 44 percent of Americans have switched religious affiliations.

For at least a generation, scholars have noted that more Americans are moving among faiths, as denominational loyalty erodes. But the survey, based on interviews with more than 35,000 Americans, offers one of the clearest views yet of that trend, scholars said. The United States Census does not track religious affiliation.

In the Pew survey 7.3 percent of the adult population said they were unaffiliated with a faith as children. That segment increases to 16.1 percent of the population in adulthood, the survey found. The unaffiliated are largely under 50 and male. “Nearly one-in-five men say they have no formal religious affiliation, compared with roughly 13 percent of women,” the survey said.

The rise of the unaffiliated does not mean that Americans are becoming less religious, however. Contrary to assumptions that most of the unaffiliated are atheists or agnostics, most described their religion “as nothing in particular.” Pew researchers said that later projects would delve more deeply into the beliefs and practices of the unaffiliated and would try to determine if they remain so as they age.

Interesting read, but it will take some time for me to think about the implications of the data. What about you? What are your thoughts?

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Feb 21

New $5

The new US $5 (FIVE) Dollar Bill.

New $5The new $5 bill goes into circulation this month. Pretty cool.

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Feb 13

Man learns to read after 17 years of teaching high school

John Corcoran graduated from college and taught high school for 17 years without being able to read, write or spell. Pretty amazing story.

For 17 years Corcoran taught high school for the Oceanside School District. Relying on teacher’s assistants for help and oral lesson plans, he said he did a great job at teaching his students.

Corcoran’s life of secrecy started at a young age. He said his teachers moved him up from grade to grade. Often placed in what he calls the “dumb row,” the images of his tribulations in the classroom are still vividly clear.

“I can remember when I was eight years old saying my prayers at night saying, ‘please, God, tomorrow when it’s my turn to read please let me read.’ You just pretend that you are invisible and when the teacher says, ‘Johnnie read,’ you just wait the teacher out because you know the teacher has to go away at some point,” said Corcoran.

For 17 years Corcoran taught high school for the Oceanside School District. Relying on teacher’s assistants for help and oral lesson plans, he said he did a great job at teaching his students. ”What I did was I created an oral and visual environment. There wasn’t the written word in there. I always had two or three teacher’s assistants in each class to do board work or read the bulletin,” said Corcoran. In retrospect, Corcoran said, his deceit took him a long time to accept. ”As a teacher it really made me sick to think that I was a teacher who couldn’t read. It is embarrassing for me, and it’s embarrassing for this nation and it’s embarrassing for schools that we’re failing to teach our children how to read, write and spell!”

While still teaching, Corcoran dabbled in real estate. He was granted a leave of absence, eventually becoming a successful real estate developer. It wasn’t until he was 48 years old that he gave reading and writing another chance. He drove to an inconspicuous office with a sign he couldn’t read. He studied and worked with a tutor at the Literacy Center of Carlsbad. Assigned to a 65-year-old volunteer tutor, Eleanor Condit, he was able to read at a sixth-grade level within a year.

Corcoran is now an education advocate.  ”I believe that illiteracy in America is a form of child neglect and child abuse and the child is blamed and they carry the shame, if we just teach our people how to read we’d give them a fair chance,” Corcoran said.

He has written two books, “The Teacher Who Couldn’t Read” and “Bridge to Literacy.” He is also the founder of the John Corcoran Foundation. The foundation is state-approved as a supplemental service provider for literacy in Colorado and California – providing tutoring programs for over 600 students in small group settings, and individually in homes through an online program.

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Nov 28

34 Scripts and Ideas for Getting Back at Telemarketers

The Federal Trade Commission has just slapped Do Not Call Registry offenders with $7.7 million worth of penalties. With a figure like that, it’s clear that telemarketers are finding that boundaries are a problem. But that doesn’t mean you have to take their abuse — fight back using these 34 tools and tactics.

Ideas

Get guidance and suggestions for the best ways to get telemarketers off your back.

  1. Counterpitching: This Web designer suggests that you offer your services to the telemarketer on the other end of the line. Alternatively, you can also pretend to be in the business that they’re selling from and make them feel silly for calling.
  2. Time to Fight Back: This article details ways to get back at telemarketers. You can waste their time, attempt conversational techniques and more.
  3. Do Not Call: Check out this list for ideas to use when called by a telemarketer. You’ll find toilet humor as well as guilt tactics.
  4. How to Deal With Those Damn Telemarketers: Follow these tips when you get a telemarketing call. Some of the most important are: Don’t just hang up, and make sure you say both “no” and “take me off of your list.”
  5. Having Fun With Telemarketers: Here, you’ll find 20 fun ideas for making telemarketers wish they’d never called you. Highlights include a marriage proposal and a few ways to waste their time.
  6. Anti-Telemarketing Action Kit: This guide from UCAN (Utility Consumers’ Action Network) details ideas for keeping telemarketers at bay. You’ll learn how to hurt them financially, waste their time and get payback.

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