Author: AMH

Books to avoid

By AMH

B sends me a link to the opposite of all of those book recommender tools out there, the LibraryThing UnSuggester, which analyzes their database of people’s book collections and tells you what books you shouldn’t read if you like a particular book. More accurately, it tells you what books are least likely to be in the same collection with your selected book. I tried out two of my favorites from different genres, and while it was pretty accurate on its unsuggestions for Cryptonomicon, the list for Pride and Prejudice has a significant overlap with my collection, what with the Norvig … Continue reading Books to avoid

DCMA Exemptions

By AMH

I was talking with a colleague on Friday about the legality of backing up a video found online to an internal server as a safeguard for still being able to view the film in a class setting even if the network, or the film’s server, goes down when one is planning to use it. While it is not entirely the same situation, the first item on the Copyright Office’s list of exemptions from DCMA copying restrictions certainly suggests that doing so is not inconsistent with the Copyright Office’s interpretation of fair use: Audiovisual works included in the educational library of … Continue reading DCMA Exemptions

Do this and that and the other yourself….

By AMH

In the past week, some very different do-it-yourself projects have come across the MAKE: Blog: Building a crystal radio out of household items, Mak e a resistor man! (sooooo cute!), make an LED Popsicle stick picture frame, and a bit late from the holidays, Make a Pecan pie based Icosahdron, aka the pie-cosahedron.

Christmas Countdown

By AMH

Every year Matt over at X-Entertainment puts together a Advent Calendar based on the Playmobile toy advent calendar, plus he promises to post goodies in his weblog each day. If you haven’t seen this before, you may want to read the History of X-E’s Advent Calendar first, as this year’s story picks up with the same running cast of characters. If you have read along in the past, Knacks has a MySpace page!

Holiday Gadget

By AMH

I was chatting with some colleagues about what new holiday gadgets they are coveting, and was surprised that there isn’t really a major toy coming out that I’m interested in. And then I saw the new Altair 8800 kit [via Boing Boing]. I have no practical use for this thing, but I think it would be a blast to play with. The “differences/comparison pictures” section of the site is really well done – I recommend it as well as the more obvious technical documentation sections for a picture of how these are actually being built.

Finally, a good use for a Mac

By AMH

In one of the cutest hacks I’ve seen in a while, someone uses the Powerbook motion sensor to power a software marionette [via MAKE: Blog]. The applet code is included – it draws on a library for accessing the Sudden Motion Sensor, but there are links provided to a couple of such libraries, if you are interested in trying this hack out for yourself. At the least, go check out the great videos of the marionette in action.

Moby-Dick Liveblog

By AMH

Maybe this is done a lot and it’s the first time I’ve run into it, but I love the idea of liveblogging a book as you read it, and defective yeti is doiing a brilliant job with Moby-Dick. Just a couple of weeks ago he came up against the infamous “whale chapter”: “Cetology” has the narrator giving an impromptu lecture on the nature of the whale, grouping the beasts into fourteen categories and offering lengthy descriptions of each. Here, Melville uses a literary technique known as OMG BORING! In some other context I might have found this engrossing, but here … Continue reading Moby-Dick Liveblog

Science in the university

By AMH

In response to Harvard releasing its internal report on their educational objectives, Steven Pinker discusses some reservations, more with the high-level phrasing than the specific steps to be taken, it seems [via Arts & Letters Daily]. Of particular interest – even at Harvard the debates about requiring science, how much science, and of what types for what reason take place. Pinker laments that the current argument for science education seems to have a greater requirement that the applicability to social issues be made the focus than other fields find required of themselves. While it isn’t a full argument, I thought … Continue reading Science in the university

Dismissive, veers towards defensive…..

By AMH

I know that good weblogger style would suggest that I shouldn’t link to another of ze’s videoblogs so soon, but I’ve been catching up after not web surfing much the past couple of weeks and couldn’t resist pointing people towards his tips for hiring a web developer, starting with what their personal appearance says about their development aesthetic. Very funny, in a “I wish it weren’t kind of true” way.

Next up, Survivor: Grad School…..

By AMH

I was chatting with a friend about life, and the topic rolled around to issues of grading and busting cheaters. Which led me to speculate about how awesome it would be if that awful reality show “Cheaters” was about academic dishonesty. Which led me to write the following: CHEATERS: ACADEMIA Scene: at bucolic college campus, a professor calls up a PI. Prof: “I think I have a case of cheating, but I need evidence.” PI: “Give me the details – I’ll build up a dossier.” Night vision camera shots of the professor at the computer using Turn-it-in PI: “These cases … Continue reading Next up, Survivor: Grad School…..