Dad 2.0 (beta)

What happens when you return a pair to Tom?

I though Tom’s was an online retailer, but it’s not. Tom’s—aka Tom’s Shoes—is primarily a manufacturer; they also sell their shoes directly via their website. Check ‘em out @ tom.com.

Newfangled pens?

Are the livescribe pens worth the money?

Well, we're about to find out--if Nathaniel cooperates that is.

College Audio

With so many choices here's one recommendation:

• Audioengine A5s

These self-powered speakers sound great and look great.

Get a pair @ Amazon

Domain Names: Who’s your Daddy, I mean your Registrar?

Though I am slightly embarrassed to admit it, I use GoDaddy to register my domains. I also use Dotster and Register.com, but sheeze I haven’t been able to find a truly low-cost registrar.

I’d love to find a great registrar that just sold domain name, unfortunately there ain’t much money in domain names and that’s why registrars gotta sell, sell, sell.

here’s a link for GoDaddy.com:

CAE (Computer Assisted ESP)

Technorati Tags: Hacks,ESP,Science,Religion,Cards

I’m usually not a believer….and I’m still not, but you might be. Mr. Clifford Pickover has an amazing, or should that be “amazing” ESP or "Extrasensory Perception" experiment—he admits it’s only 98% accurate, but my results were more like 100%. Anyway,.you should check it out http://sprott.physics.wisc.edu/pickover/esp.html and lemme know what you think.

Talking to animals to understand what they see

How do you administer, much less score a test for a Doe, or a Buck? (I don’t mean Jane Doe, or Uncle Buck.)

I know what you’re thinking—assuming of course you’re a human of a certain age…

No, I'm not talking about Dr. John Dolittle that venerable Hugh Lofting character; no I'm not talking about Rex Harrison who played Dr. Doolittle in the 1967 musical of the same name. Nor am I talking about Eddie Murphy nor Kyla Pratt who starred in Dr. Dolittle 3 and Dr. Dolittle: Tail to the Chief. (Who knew there were so many Dr. Dolittle films?)

No, I’m not talking about: Polynesia, Gub-Gub, Dab-Dab, Too-Too, Pushmi-pullyu, Tommy, Matthew, nor any of the other characters from the Dr. Dolittle books.

I’m talking about a couple of psychologists (who else?):

I’m talking about Drs. Jay Neitz and Timothy O’Neill. Working at W. L. Gore and Associates (an international company of 8,000 employees—all of whom share the same title: associate) they developed a new digital camouflage:

Optifade:

Which hunter is more invisible? Mimicry camouflage, like the RealTree brand shown at right, can blend in beautifully with the background, especially to human eyes. The designers of Optifade, the new digital camouflage shown at left, say theirs is more effective because it’s specifically calibrated to the deer’s vision and uses large shapes (called a macropattern) to break up the outline of the hunter’s body. (Left: W.L. Gore. Right: RealTree.)

John Tierney wrote about Optifade in an article published in the September 23, 2008 New York Times.

Tapping Into What a Deer Sees, and Doesn’t

Approximately 30,000 years after hunters took to adorning cave walls with their image of a deer, it occurred to them it might be more productive to consider the deer’s image of a hunter.

This was not an easy task. Deer have not left cave paintings of any humans, much less of hunters in camouflage. Those manly overalls and caps splotched with green leaves and brown branches may have looked invisible in the catalogue and impressed the other humans back at the lodge, but what did the deer think of it? Were they just rolling their eyes at each other?

Eventually, though, a few deer were bribed to reveal their secrets. They were given food pellets in return for taking vision tests. The results were not good news for the camo-clad hunters — but ultimately not really good news for the deer either.

… snipped …

“We can measure in animals anything you can measure in a human being and every bit as accurate,” Dr. Neitz says. “The difference is that a vision test that might take 10 minutes in a human can take six months.” The research revealed that deer vision is a little blurrier than human vision — about 20/40 — and that deer see the world roughly like a human with red-green colorblindness. Their eyes have only two color receptors (unlike the three in the human eye). Fortunately for hunters, they have a hard time seeing blaze orange.

Read the rest of the article.

the discussion continues in this September 22nd posting on his blog: TierneyLab:

Can You See Me Now?

I’ve never been a hunter, but I’ve always had a sneaking admiration for their camouflage — partly because I love outdoor gear, and partly because I respect anyone so passionate about a quest that he’s willing to put on an otherwise ridiculous uniform.

Now, as I explain in my Findings column, there’s a new type of digital camouflage specifically designed to fool deer’s vision. Called Optifade, it’s being unveiled today by W.L. Gore, the inventor of Gore-Tex. The camouflage was developed under the supervision of two psychologists, Jay Neitz, an animal-vision expert at the Medical College of Wisconsin (whose color-vision laboratory offers some on-line tests for humans), and
Timothy O’Neill, a retired Army lieutenant colonel and a former professor at West Point who has been called the father of digital camouflage.

Read the rest of the posting

Technorati Tags: New York Times,NYT,camouflage,hunting,Dr. Dolittle,John Tierney,Science Times

Netbook Recommendation: Acer Aspire One

Technorati Tags: Netbook,Acer Aspire One,AAO

Though not perfect—hey what is—the Acer Aspire One is very, very close and is sure to please. It’s lightweight, inexpensive, durable, has gotten rave reviews, and makes a great “laptop” for students.

No moving parts!

I got the least expensive model—low cost is one of the design goals for a Netbook—the Linux version with 512MB of RAM and an 8GB Solid State Drive; I suggest you do the same.

I got mine @ J&R and I'm sure you'll be happy if you get yours there too.

If you prefer not to leave the house then get it from Amazon.

 

Netbooks are great, but which one to choose?

Technorati Tags: Netbook,Acer Aspire One,AAO

There are lots of different flavors of Netbooks and most of 'em look delicious.

Is there one that tastes better than then rest? Is there one that tastes great and is less filling?

The Acer Aspire One looks particularly tasty:

Here are some postings on the Acer One:

Tao of Mac:

Tale of a Netbook

For the past couple of weeks, I’ve been running a little experiment – I’ve been trying to figure out whether or not the netbook concept fits my current lifestyle.

And I’m pleased to say that yes, it does – quite so. But the concept, alas, is yet to be realized in a way that I feel truly comfortable with, and this piece will tell you why – after quite a long ramble, for which I apologize in advance.

The One

Two weeks or so ago, during one of our usual lightning shopping trips to pick up stuff with the kid in tow, I picked up an Acer Aspire One – the relatively cheap 512MB/8GB SSD Linux model.

My reasoning at the time, after all my previous considerations on the matter, was more or less as follows:

I needed something small and light that would let me write, surf the web in a full screen (including watching the occasional Flash video, for despite what Apple thinks, there is lots more interesting content outside YouTube), as well as access the rest of my stuff from afar (via VNC, Citrix and whatnot).

Laptop Magazine:

Acer Aspire one: An In-Depth Look

June 12th, 2008 by Jeffrey L. Wilson

Acer sure moves fast. This morning, a little over a week after the company announced its first entry into the mini-notebook space, the Acer Aspire one (Linux version, full review here) arrived in our offices to much glee. We couldn’t wait to test Acer’s answer to theEee PC, HP Mini-Note, and MSI Wind NB.

However, before we began testing, we talked to our Acer rep who informed us that ours is a pre-production model that has a handful of known bugs (primarily inconsistent Wi-Fi and video playback issues), which are being fixed before the system ships. We kept that in mind as we dug into the system and evaluated its potential.

krunker.com reports an early price drop:

Acer drops the price of the Aspire one

23 Aug 2008 12:06 am

With more and more netbooks coming to market every week, it was inevitable that some companies would become dropping prices on current models. Case in point- Acer has announced that they are lowering the price of their Aspire one lineup which frankly was already an inexpensive Intel Atom system. The base model which comes with a 1.6GHz Atom, 512MB of RAM, an 8GB SSD, and a Linux OS now goes for $329 (down from $379). The next system which has 1GB of memory, 120GB HDD, and the Windows XP OS now goes $349 (down from $399). Finally, on the high end, Acer introduces a new 160GB model with a six cell battery. This model will go for $399. The Aspire one would certainly be an attractive netbook were it not for the strange mouse buttons and the cramped keyboard. Then again - at $329, one might be able to forgive these deficiencies.

Finally, here's Acer's site for the Aspire One:

Unfortunately this page is all Flash so it's a PITA to paste more then a link to the page.

Stereotype: Lesson On Stereotype (and assuming)

Technorati Tags: NPR,Assume,Stereotype,Prejudice,Sit-in,Greensboro,NC,Woolworth,Lunch Counter

Merriam-Webster defines Stereotype as:

Something conforming to a fixed or general pattern ; especially : a standardized mental picture that is held in common by members of a group and that represents an oversimplified opinion, prejudiced attitude, or uncritical judgment

The American Heritage Dictionary (fourth Edition 2000) defines Stereotype as:

A conventional, formulaic, and oversimplified conception, opinion, or image.

Stereotypes have no place in the modern world. Stereotypes have no place in your mind. Stereotyping will bite you. Stereotyping will make you look dumb, stupid, simple, and prejudiced. Though if you are using stereotypes you probably are.

I am confident, however, that when you listen to this 7 minute piece from NPR you will understand how silly stereotypes are and stop using stereotypes.

The Woolworth Sit-In That Launched a Movement

All Things Considered, February 1, 2008 · On Feb. 1, 1960, four students from all-black North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College walked into a Woolworth five-and-dime with the intention of ordering lunch.

But the manager of the Greensboro Woolworth had intentions of his own — to maintain the lunch counter's strict whites-only policy.

Franklin McCain was one of the four young men who shoved history forward by refusing to budge.

(Stop reading this text and listen to the audio from NPR.)

McCain remembers the anxiety he felt when he went to the store that Monday afternoon, the plan he and his friends had devised to launch their protest and how he felt when he sat down on that stool.

"Fifteen seconds after … I had the most wonderful feeling. I had a feeling of liberation, restored manhood. I had a natural high. And I truly felt almost invincible. Mind you, [I was] just sitting on a dumb stool and not having asked for service yet," McCain says.

"It's a feeling that I don't think that I'll ever be able to have again. It's the kind of thing that people pray for … and wish for all their lives and never experience it. And I felt as though I wouldn't have been cheated out of life had that been the end of my life at that second or that moment."

McCain shares his recollection of the exchanges the four African-American men had with the lunch-counter staff, the store manager and a policeman who arrived on the scene — and also a lesson he learned that day.

An older white woman sat at the lunch counter a few stools down from McCain and his friends.

"And if you think Greensboro, N.C., 1960, a little old white lady who eyes you with that suspicious look … she's not having very good thoughts about you nor what you're doing," McCain says.

Eventually, she finished her doughnut and coffee. And she walked behind McNeil and McCain — and put her hands on their shoulders.

"She said in a very calm voice, 'Boys, I am so proud of you. I only regret that you didn't do this 10 years ago.'" McCain recalls.

"What I learned from that little incident was … don't you ever, ever stereotype anybody in this life until you at least experience them and have the opportunity to talk to them. I'm even more cognizant of that today — situations like that — and I'm always open to people who speak differently, who look differently, and who come from different places," he says.

On that first day, Feb. 1, the four men stayed at the lunch counter until closing. The next day, they came back with 15 other students. By the third day, 300 joined in; later, 1,000.

The sit-ins spread to lunch counters across the country — and changed history.