I love numbers—for various reasons. Most germane to this post is that I think that finding numerical patterns makes me feel like I have some control over things, although—to be sure!—such an approach is illusory at best, and misleading, at worst. Nonetheless, finding real or apparent numerical relationships in the Universe is interesting and comforting. So, finding this link that …
Sometimes, It All Just Works
As of this writing, the successful landing of the Mars Science Laboratory (aka Curiosity) is old news, but the technology that allowed it to happen and also allowed me to partake of the excitement is what I wish to address today. The night of the landing, I was exhausted—so much so that I just couldn’t get my act together enough …
Did You Say What You Meant?
The topic of an item I found today is interesting in its own right, but it was the shortened title of the material, provided by the editor of a summary newsletter, that caught my eye. “Modern culture began earlier than thought”, reads the headline—not too far removed from the title of the linked-to item, above. My first interpretation of this …
Miscommunication Potential
As is often the case, I find things in my daily perusal of things technical items that can have wider implications. Take this piece from the July 3, 2012 Wall Street Journal, which describes different approaches to using online communications channels, and the problems that result from the disparate styles and choices. I pride myself on my ability to communicate. …
Functional Fixedness
What do a flock of starlings (known as a murmuration) and ferromagnetism have to do with each other? On the surface, probably nothing. Nothing, that is, unless you are a team of scientists with a perspective and approach that goes outside what their nominal area of study seems to call for. A team headed by William Bialek at Princeton University …
Organic Connections
The Communications of the ACM (Vol. 54, No. 6, June 2011) had a fascinating article entitled, “Biology-Inspired Networking”, wherein the author described how a team at Carnegie Mellon University has developed a new networking algorithm. Their approach is based on the observation that developing neural cells in fruit flies organize not just themselves, but also the cells around them to …
You Think You’ve Got Privacy? Think Again!
Recent kerfuffles on the online privacy scene owing to a change in Google’s “privacy” policies reminded me of several such that have surfaced over the past few months. One has to do with a utility embedded in many smart phones that allows your carrier to track your usage of the various services to which you are subscribed. This utility is …
The Value of Computer-based Social Networks–Or Not
Technology as a means of establishing and facilitating communication between people has a long history. Let’s skip right to more modern means, beginning with the telegraph, move through the years to the telephone and on to fax, followed by the early days of computer-network mediated message handling via nascent email and early chat tools. As we get closer to today’s …
Who Owns Your Information?
If you are a denizen of the various social networking sites, I hope you are aware of the battles that are raging with respect to “privacy” settings. Some locations, such as Facebook, have as an overarching philosophy that all information you post should be available to everyone by default, and that it is your responsibility as a user of the …