Update: Shades of Cryptonomicon! Cryptonomicon is Neal Stephenson’s awesome book addressing cryptology and control of information flow.
So while the idea is not new (it’s been done in distributed systems for a while), it is the first I’ve seen it done by a major entity. Google is making quite a statement here.
Update #2: As you might know, I have an interest in seeing MESSENGER succeed (it’s one of those things that looks great on your resume if an instrument on the mission package that you worked on succeeds… or if not… you just let it die quietly and a year of your life disappears). Here’s a really really cool 3D pic from the MDIS instrument. Click to enlargify it. Instructions on making the 3D glasses are here.
Here is the info behind that image:
Date Acquired: January 14, 2008
Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): NAC image from 108830230 resampled on a topographic map made from more than 80 NAC and WAC images.
Instrument: Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) and Wide Angle Camera (WAC) of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS)
Scale: Sveinsdóttir crater is about 120 kilometers by 220 kilometers (75 miles by 140 miles).
Of Interest: This graphic shows a portion of the fault scarp Beagle Rupes cutting through the highly elliptical crater Sveinsdóttir in a three-dimensional (3D) representation. Standard 3D glasses (which can be assembled at home), with a red filter in front of the left eye and a blue filter in front of the right one, can be used to view this picture. By combining information from multiple images of the same portion of Mercury’s surface taken under different viewing angles, the topography of the surface was determined. A high-resolution image was then overlaid on the topography map, resulting in this 3D image. In total, over 80 MESSENGER images were used to create this 3D view of Mercury’s surface. As the MESSENGER mission continues, many more images will be acquired, and these additional images will provide views of Mercury’s surface from a variety of illumination conditions and viewing geometries. These myriad views, anchored by topographic profiles to be acquired by MESSENGER’s laser altimeter, will enable large portions of the surface of Mercury to be studied in 3D.
Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington/Planetary Science Institute
Update #3: Greenspan talking again. He makes mention of banking institutions failing and whether it is a bad thing.
“It depends on how it is handled and how the liquidations take place. And indeed we shouldn’t try to protect every single institution.”
But here’s the part that bothers me: Who should we protect and why? Is it Capitalism if we aim to protect certain institutions? Fannie and Freddie kind of made sense but you need to answer those questions still. Given the serious nature of the problem if those two were to default on their secured loans, yes, it was imperative (would have made the Wall Street Crash look like a church picnic and the global economy would come to a screeching halt). But does this mean we have given up on market forces and capitalism favoring the strongest? Are we socialist already or are we taking that long downhill slide? Do we stop protecting additional companies? If so, why, and if not, why?
Update #4: Who says education cures “stupid”? Wall Street Journal is finding out that it doesn’t, when it allows reporters to attack Palin out of emotion rather than fact.
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Secrets of the Dinosaur Mummy.
That’s the name of the show, I think.
So, plague-carrier #2 (the boy) decided to share his disease – The Plague™ – with the rest of the family. Nice.
When you are sitting up late at night, can’t sleep because you feel unwell, and your ears are ringing perhaps because of massive infusions of Nyquil (or perhaps not) you notice that the world has sort of a surreal timeless quality to it. Part of it is because you are watching old Star Trek re-runs and thinking “Gosh, that Mariette Hartley sure was hot” and then you’re exposed to old grainy commercials with Lindsay Wagner selling mattresses from a company you don’t recognize. Another part is because there are ads for singles and you realize that they all look like they are twelve years old. And they keep showing ads for those damn three-pound roto-tillers, nose-hair trimmers, insulin and diabetes ads, oxy-clean ads, super-putty ads, bad credit ads, and term-life insurance ads.
And the Nyquil. I mentioned the NyQuil, right? The corners of the room appear wispy and there’s a light haze in the room, which softens the fact that it all looks like it is tilted somewhat.
Oh, did I forget to mention that the in-laws are here?
So anyway, there’s this totally bitchin’ serving of whacked-out surrealness going on, and then comes an ad for a show that you just aren’t prepared for:
Secrets of the Dinosaur Mummy.
Used to be when we were kids, we were interested in mummies (Go… Tut!), we were interested in dinos… who wasn’t, right? Well now we have to stack them to get anyone to even so much as twitch. In the not-to-distant future…
Hot PIck-up Secrets of the Rabid Schizophrenic Joan-Crawford-Channeling Fossilized-Bigfoot-Snarfin’ Leisure-Suit Dinosaur Shark Mummy on the Love Boat (guest starring Adrienne Barbeau, David Hasselhoff, and Ricardo Montalban)
That almost sounded normal and pretty good. Where’s my damn Nyquil…?
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Drudge posted a pic right above a caption “Obama supporters ready for a fight”. The pic:
Shown here is the CNN Headline News story room, apparently.
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I like it when crazy people have the grace to know it and embrace it. Man rides out hurricane on his porch.
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