If I were writing a paper about geocaching

I think I might be very interested in reading this article. I wonder how many active geocaches there are in the world right now? I'm betting an enterprising soul could find the answer to that question.

Aloha TIM302 students

If you found this blog, then you know how easy it is to create your own blog... and by extension a podcast.

You can see that this is really not so difficult. If you create your own blog, then you have completed the first step. If you need a place to store your audio files, don't forget your UH user account. You can find more information on your account at http://www.hawaii.edu/personalhp/. You can use FTP software like SSH (Windows) or Fugu (Mac) to upload files to your account.

Geocaching and Tourism

If you are thinking about doing Geocaching for your group project, you might want to check out the options at http://www.geocaching.com for some ideas about how and where to hide your cache. Remember the location of your cache should be Latitude and Longitude coordinates which are hidden in a puzzle.

As an example I will be hiding a cache in a place familiar to most of you... watch this space for the puzzle. :o)

Podcasting made easy

Four easy steps.

1. Find a place to host your podcast file. You can use your UH Account. Here are links to more information on how to activate and FTP to you UH account.

2. Create a blog. You already have access to Blogger through your iGoogle userid.

3. Create a post on your blog with a link to your podcast file. For example: http://www2.hawaii.edu/~plawler/podcasts/wordnerds.mp3

4. Once you have created a successful blog and uploaded audio content, the next step is to create an RSS (really simple syndication) feed for your content.

An RSS feed can be created easily (and for free) at Feedburner.com. Check it out!

I think I've been to this lecture

I once heard Vint Cerf say that, "Power corrupts and PowerPoint corrupts absolutely."

Eastern Promises

Geez... don't these guys know about guns. All the knife work was making me queasy. I'm not sure why it is that full frontal (male) nudity is the big deal that it is, but you have to get past a lot of blood and gore to even see it.

Anyway, this was otherwise a pretty good movie. Not quite as good as 3:10 to Yuma, but head and shoulders above The Nanny Diaries.

One of my favorite optical illusions

Here's a really strange one. Stare at the girl's shadow for about 30 seconds and she will start rotating the other way. She isn't really of course, but you may have to close your eyes to get her going anti-clockwise again.

If you look at the foot nearest the floor, and only at that foot, you'll see it's simply oscillating back and forth. Question: Why do you perceive her spinning clockwise? It's a flat figure with no changing highlights to supplement your intuition.

What happens when your iPhone gets run over by a car?

Ever wonder what happens when your iPhone gets run over by a car?

Well... I found out the hard way. My friend Ryan wrote up the whole story in his blog.

The Geocaching Puzzle

Okay... here is the puzzle. If you can figure out the coordinates, then you can plug them into any mapping software (or Google Earth) like this:

37 25 19.072 N, 122 05 06.246 W

This will bring you very close to the location of the cache. The cache itself is a small black rectangular box (like the kind you hide keys in).

Good luck!

For the truly geeky among us

This is for real. It was created by Wenger to celebrate 100 years of innovation. This unique special edition knife contains all 85 tools currently produced by Wenger (Maker of the Genuine Swiss Army Knife).

How much will this grandaddy of Swiss Army knives set you back? Only $799. Operators are standing by.

The Word Nerds

Hi... my named is Paul

<< hi paul >>

and... I'm a word nerd.

<< murmur of incredulity >>

When I was in grade school I used to read the dictionary for fun. Scary, right. What a joy to discover that there are other freaks out there, too! The Word Nerds is a podcast all about language, the words we use, and "why we say the things we do." Here's a small sample. You may need to follow along for the latter part.

I highly recommend you give it a listen if you love words.

Catholic Insider

This is a great podcast to listen to for sound-seeing tour ideas. Roman Catholic priest Fr. Roderick Vonhögen takes you on a journey of discovery through the fascinating world of the Catholic church. A Catholic show, but not just for catholics! Explore the history of the Catholic church during sound-seeing tours all over Europe.

You can subscribe to the podcast by pasting this URL into iTunes or some other podcasting software.

http://feeds.feedburner.com/catholicinsider

Shownotes can be found at the following URL:

http://sqpn.com/category/educational/catholic-insider/

College 2.0

There are many stories lately about professors recording their lectures and posting them online for download, but one professor in the UK is going even further. He's getting rid of in-person lectures completely. Instead, he's only recording the lessons for students to download as podcasts or video. Students can then ask questions via email or text message, and the professor will respond on his blog. It's all very "2.0" of him.

While some will say that this is a less personal approach to teaching, that might not really be true. What the professor noticed is that there's less benefit in large lectures for the students to actually be present. Instead, this way, he can focus on spending time with students in smaller groups, where he's actually focused on teaching, rather than just lecturing. Not surprisingly, in order to facilitate that, he also has a web-based schedule for students to see when he's free to meet.

Pimp my Flash and Bling my Ring

One of the lastest trends in "Geek Chic" is the $3,500 14k gold-plated USB Flash drive inlaid with diamonds. If this isn't quite enough bling for you, an 18k model is also available from White Lake.

"This product will open new markets for us," said White Lake owner Rob van Berkom, in a statement. "We have sold huge amounts of personalized USB stick with logos over the past year. Our customers used them as a give-away. Some of them asked us for a more exclusive product line. This stick meets their demand, so we expect to sell quite a few of them."

In a related trend, Swarovski crystal encrusted cell phones are also the "in" thing. It costs between $100 and $300 to "bling your ring" with crystals. You can purchase a kit and do it yourself, or they will do it for you at MyBlingRing. Their customers include Britney Spears, Hillary Duff, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Amanda Bynes, etc.

Akeelah and the Bee

Who would have thought that they could dramatize the world of competitive spelling bees. Sounds almost as dry as high school debate. ;o)

This movie, however, has done a terrific job of doing exactly that, and most of the credit goes to the young, and very talented, Keke Palmer. Her interaction with each of the other characters brings believability to all of them.

Laurence Fishburne turns in an excellent performance as Professor Larabee. In fact, I can't think of anything I've enjoyed him in more. There are so many layers to his personality, and we never do learn the whole story... but we are able to clearly see him emerge as a very complex human being, and we see Akeelah helping him as much as he helps her.

This is also a great family film. 5 stars!

The Trunk Monkey

This was a series of very funny (okay, some of them were funnier than others) commercials that because a viral sensation. Here is the first Trunk Monkey commercial.

Sudoku and Aging

Recently I was talking to my mother on the phone and she said that she has taken up Sudoku to keep her brain active. It appears that keeping the brain active as we age is helpful for a number of reasons. Scientists say a daily dose of such exercises improves the memory and even the condition of dementia patients.

In Japan, where senior citizens are not as averse to "gadgets" as my mother is, Nintendo has sold a combined total of more than 3.3 million of its “Brain Training for Adults” released in May 2005 and a sequel that came out last December. Its portable DS consoles on which the games are played are constantly out of stock in shops.

“I wanted to make a contribution to society through my findings, to tell the world that you can train the brain,” said Ryuta Kawashima, professor of brain science at Tohoku University, whose theory has been featured in many books and video games.


Not to be outdone, Sony is also in on the act. In the photo, Japanese women play PlayStation Portables (PSP) during a "brain training" program in Yokohama, west of Tokyo. Sony Computer Entertainment, which has the "Brain Trainer" using Kawashima's theory for its PSP console, is holding "Video Game Workshops for Grown-ups", in a bid to appeal to older generations.

ピタゴラスイッチ

In Japan they refer to a Rube Goldberg type machine as a ピタゴラそうち (pitagora souchi) Pitagora for the Greek mathematician Pythagoras and souchi meaning a contrivance or a device. A cute NHK children's show creates a pun on the name and calls itself ピタゴラスイッチ (pitagora suitchi) or Pythagoras Switch.

RFID and Privacy

Brendan Walker, a 37-year-old software engineer in Canton, Ohio, is one of a growing number of computer and technology experts who are becoming anxious about possible abuses of the technology. Mr. Walker fears that thieves will be able to eavesdrop on the radio transmission and buy gas at his expense. He also figures that he himself could walk past the pump and accidentally pay for somebody else's gas, though the card companies say he would have to get within two inches of the scanner to accomplish that feat.

RFID: Legitimate fear or fear-mongering? by ZDNet's Mitch Ratcliffe -- A Wall Street Journal article details the exploits of RFID-defeating privacy advocates and a few snake-oil solutions.

No More (Sammy & Sasha Nelson)

You can embed video with YouTube like this. Oh, and these are two VERY talented 14 year olds, btw.