5/15/2009
do you still have good hearing?
this website provides a test.
they claim most people over 25 can not hear this tone.
WARNING: your neighbor's dog WILL be able to hear it!
hearing test
they claim most people over 25 can not hear this tone.
WARNING: your neighbor's dog WILL be able to hear it!
hearing test
digital cameras: megapixel count is irrelevant
This article neatly explains how a camera with 10 megapixels may take worse pictures than a camera with fewer megapixels.
megapixels explained
megapixels explained
5/14/2009
business models
*taken from Seth Godin's blog*
A business model is the architecture of a business or project. It has four elements:
1. What compelling reason exists for people to give you money? (or votes or donations)
2. How do you acquire what you're selling for less than it costs to sell it?
3. What structural insulation do you have from relentless commoditization and a price war?
4. How will strangers find out about the business and decide to become customers?
A business model is the architecture of a business or project. It has four elements:
1. What compelling reason exists for people to give you money? (or votes or donations)
2. How do you acquire what you're selling for less than it costs to sell it?
3. What structural insulation do you have from relentless commoditization and a price war?
4. How will strangers find out about the business and decide to become customers?
the official white house Flickr account
http://www.flickr.com/photos/whitehouse/
not sure how useful this really is, but it's cool that it exists.
not sure how useful this really is, but it's cool that it exists.
the future of the New York Times?
David Geffen wants to buy it and turn it into a non-profit.
If Geffen were successful in landing The New York Times, said one of the confidantes, he'd convert it into a nonprofit institution. He would regard the newspaper, perhaps the world's most influential journalistic enterprise, as a national treasure meriting preservation into perpetuity. His model would be the ownership structure of Florida's St. Petersburg Times, which is controlled by a nonprofit educational institution, the Poynter Institute for Media Studies. "David would hope the newspaper makes a profit," said the confidante. "But he believes that operating without the ultimate responsibility of paying dividends or necessarily having to be profitable is the best way to run an institution like The New York Times."
If Geffen were successful in landing The New York Times, said one of the confidantes, he'd convert it into a nonprofit institution. He would regard the newspaper, perhaps the world's most influential journalistic enterprise, as a national treasure meriting preservation into perpetuity. His model would be the ownership structure of Florida's St. Petersburg Times, which is controlled by a nonprofit educational institution, the Poynter Institute for Media Studies. "David would hope the newspaper makes a profit," said the confidante. "But he believes that operating without the ultimate responsibility of paying dividends or necessarily having to be profitable is the best way to run an institution like The New York Times."
calendar proposed by Isaac Asimov
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Season_Calendar
it's 4 months with 91 days per month/season.
kind of cool.
it's 4 months with 91 days per month/season.
kind of cool.
Wolfram Alpha launches soon
Wolfram Alpha homepage
Wolfram Alpha wikipedia entry
It is an online service that answers factual queries directly by computing the answer from structured data, instead of providing a list of documents or web pages that might contain the answer. If this works the way they're saying it does, then this will be HUGE.
Type in a query for a statistic, a profile of a country or company, and instead of a series of results that may or may not provide the answer you’re looking for, you get a mini dossier on the subject compiled in real time that, ideally, nails the exact thing you want to know. It’s like having a squad of Cambridge mathematicians and CIA analysts inside your browser.
Wolfram Alpha wikipedia entry
It is an online service that answers factual queries directly by computing the answer from structured data, instead of providing a list of documents or web pages that might contain the answer. If this works the way they're saying it does, then this will be HUGE.
Type in a query for a statistic, a profile of a country or company, and instead of a series of results that may or may not provide the answer you’re looking for, you get a mini dossier on the subject compiled in real time that, ideally, nails the exact thing you want to know. It’s like having a squad of Cambridge mathematicians and CIA analysts inside your browser.
Nobody was born on October 5th in 1582
During the Middle Ages, astronomers and mathematicians observed that the calendar year was not completely accurate with matching solar years. Errors in the Julian calendar were noted by church officials and scholars because church holidays did not occur in their appropriate seasons.
In 1582, Pope Gregory XIII, and his astronomer and mathematician created a new, reformed calendar known as the Gregorian or New Style calendar. It was adopted first in Roman Catholic countries. Protestant countries adopted the calendar during the eighteenth century.
In order to make the calendar adjustment in 1582, ten days were eliminated from October. October 4th was followed by October 15th.
weird.
In 1582, Pope Gregory XIII, and his astronomer and mathematician created a new, reformed calendar known as the Gregorian or New Style calendar. It was adopted first in Roman Catholic countries. Protestant countries adopted the calendar during the eighteenth century.
In order to make the calendar adjustment in 1582, ten days were eliminated from October. October 4th was followed by October 15th.
weird.
5/08/2009
is our reality merely a cat's dream-world?
My cat sleeps 12+ hours every day.
Which means maybe to her this world is like a dream.
5/01/2009
Chrysler (as of May 2009)
Chrysler is pretty much screwed.
When they merged into (or were purchased by) Mercedes the future looked bright.
It didn't go over very well.
They did make a few nicer looking cars that sprang from the time they were together:
the 300
the magnum (which is the station wagon model of the 300)
the pacifica
the charger
and the challenger.
However, aside from the 300, nobody bought any of them, and they lost a lot of money.
Chrysler isn't even technically a car company anymore. They're owned by a chop shop called Cerberus Capital Management.
Perhaps Ford will purchase the Jeep or Chrysler name from them, otherwise Chrysler is about to become history.
Ford motor company (as of May 2009)
Ford is in trouble.
Back in the late 80s/early 90s they were minting money.
They had two of the best selling vehicles of all time with the Taurus and the Explorer.
Those days are long gone.
They have since renamed the Taurus as the Fusion, and started calling the Escort the Focus.
Few people were fooled by this re-naming scheme.
Ford makes very few desirable vehicles at this point. When was the last time you heard a 16 year old kid say "I can't until I have enough money saved to buy a Ford!"
my guess is you've never heard that, and neither have I.
Ford has a decent chance of survival based on 2 things.
1. William Ford Jr. is the executive chairman, and he actually CARES about the company. It's HIS name on the back of all these cars. He's helped Ford get to the point where they don't need a government bailout.
2. Guys like Ford trucks. also, the current Ford Mustang is actually a cool car (unlike that souped up Escort they called a Mustang back in the 1990s).
General Motors (as of May 2009)
Pontiac, known for it's iconic red arrowhead logo, the split grille design, and perhaps an overuse of random chrome accents, has been officially declared dead. They will not be producing 2010 Pontiac models. The writing was on the wall when they renamed the Grand Am the G6, and then shut down Grand Prix, GTO, and Bonneville and replaced all 3 of those with the G8.
The goal is to sell off or shut down Saab, Saturn, and Hummer.
The focus will be put on Chevrolet, Buick, Cadillac, and GMC; for the time being.
The ultimate goal will be to sell Buick or somehow incorporate it into the Cadillac brand.
GMC will be merged together with Chevy trucks.
This will leave GM with two core brands in the U.S. :
Chevrolet and Cadillac.
Not a bad plan, but it's going to cost millions of dollars to implement it, and it's going to take a bit of time and skilled planning.
Neither of which GM has a whole lot of left these days.
We'll see what happens I guess.
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