Archive for October, 2008
Bailout results in rising mortgage costs
It’s funny how things change. When I first moved to the (SF) Bay Area back in 2001, I briefly joined and spent time with the local Nortel user’s group (a group of other telecom professionals who all work on the same telecom equipment I do). During my time with them about 6 years ago (2002 [...]
Project Diary: Xtools (7)
Revised all Xtools templates to continue to output the content of the page from WordPress (for notes/comments/documentation links/etc).
Documented known bugs in a publically accessible format (in preparation for adding more beta testers)
DNB Parsing, Best Practices
DNB Types [static list]
Documented best practices in a publically accessible format (same as above)
Continued work on ESN parser & templates
Old Verio Hosting
I just discovered this week that despite the fact that I discontinued my hosting through Verio, they continued to host my content via the IP address assigned to my old website. In fact, my old username/password still gave me access to the FTP account.
I had thought that they would wipe all of the content [...]
Radioactive Mice?
Although the comments on this YouTube video indicate that the content is well over 2 years old, it’s still amusing to see hairless mice that glow under a UV light. Apparently some scientists decided to change the genetic code of the mice to cause stem cells to glow when in the presence of UV light.
AI Chatbot achieves 83% pass rate on Turing Test
NewScientistTech posted an article with a log capture of their recent conversation with a ChatBot that was an applicant to the annual Turing Test competition. Apparently ElBot managed to fool 25% of the Turing judges (or 83% of the necessary judges fooled in order to pass the Turing test).. In simple terms that means that [...]
Project Diary: Xtools (6)
Resolved all outstanding bugs from v0.10.0 (frankly, I’m embarressed to discover how many critical bugs there were in this release… but they’re all fixed now.) and began working on implementing the new parser. The next one will be a alternate route selection parser. NARS/BARS/CDP etc.
All my programming time has diminished my attentiveness to building the [...]
Fight Club infiltrates Disney
In a series of acts of vandalism that would make Tyler Durden proud, Disney has had a number of mature themes introduced to their films (even those films that were only “recently” brought to home theatre format in the 1990s). To the best of my knowledge, there hasn’t been any controversies in any of the [...]
GATTACA NOW!
Genetic Engineer takes a leap forward today with the announcement that a Spanish couple has genetically engineered one of their babies to be free of a genetic disorder and as a donor to their first child that suffers from Beta Thalassaemia major, a disease that affects the ability of red blood cells to transport oxygen [...]
Tallest Lego structure
Gizmodo reports that the new world record for Lego constructions was built in Vienna measures up at 96.73 feet (29.485 meters) and at 460,000 bricks.
The photos are interesting. Of course, it makes my engineering gene kick in and wonder what the largest free-standing lego structure is (this was supported at multiple points in the structure [...]
Passport
I have acquired my first passport. Hopefully they will return my birth certificate soon. I have plans to visit the Mexican Riviera this year for a cruise with my girlfriend and it turns out that in order to go on the cruise, I need a passport.
I wonder if there’s a Visa stamp for entering/exiting Mexico [...]
