Author: Jon

And you thought you were old

Carbon globules in meteorite may have seeded Earth life – space – 30 November 2006 – New Scientist Space via Kurzweil AI

Now, analysis of atomic isotopes shows that the globules could not have come from Earth and must have formed in very cold conditions, possibly before the Sun was born.

It’s crazy to think about little bits of carbon that have been hanging around inside a rock since before the sun was born.  I mean, that’s, like, a long time ago, and stuff.

But to think that, maybe, some carbon got stuck inside this rock, where it was more or less protected, way back before the sun.  Then that rock flew around space until it eventually crashed into earth, where the conditions were right for life to emerge.  Eventually, that life became us, and koala bears, and fruit bats.

They aren’t sure that’s what happened, but it’s a good theory.  Makes you feel really small and insignificant, doesn’t it?

Its about time

Security Of Electronic Voting Is Condemned – washingtonpost.com

The recommendations endorse “optical-scan” systems in which voters mark paper ballots that are read by a computer and electronic systems that print a paper summary of each ballot, which voters review and elections officials save for recounts.

It’s amazing that the electronic voting systems have lasted this long. We all know that computers have problems. I mean, I’m a software engineer. I know better than most how buggy software can be. But still, we let the computer count the votes with no way to check the results? That’s insane.

Instead, we really should be using the system that this study recommends. You use a touch screen to cast your vote, then it prints out a piece of paper with your vote on it, which is both easily readable by you, and by the machine. You then stick that piece of paper into the counting machine, and you’re done. Yes, election officials have to make sure you don’t take the paper home with you. If that’s a big deal for your election officials, you need new election officials. This way, everything is quick because it’s done by a machine. But if you have any questions (Like the county in Florida that seems to have lost 10,000 votes or something in this most recent election), you can count the ballots by hand.

This system combines the best qualities of both paper ballots and electronic voting, and it makes it very hard to interfere with an election. At least, to interfere by messing with the votes. Messing with voters is a different story, but it can’t be helped if people are dumb.

Edited to add: A coworker mentions the problem here, that it’s difficult to change a vote. Let’s say you vote, and the card that prints out is wrong. What do you do? We don’t really want poll workers to be able to change the vote, or to be able to throw votes away and make new ones.

Maybe the machine will accept your old ballot, destroy it, and allow you to make a new one. If you destroy one without replacing it, the machine sounds an alarm that can be heard from space.

_NB: Any comments about Bush stealing an election will be marked as spam and deleted. _

Wine and women

The Wine Collector: Practical Wine Collecting Advice

Women are more disciplined drinkers and physically smaller. This in turn leads to less consumption and a lesser need to collect.

Disclaimer – a good friend of mine works for Vinfolio, the source of this post. That probably doesn’t matter, but I thought I’d let you know anyway.

So, why is wine collecting male-dominated? I don’t think it’s because women are smaller. The first (currently only) comment on the post suggests that collecting in general is more of a male thing_. _I certainly know more males who collect stuff. And I think women collect stuff more as decoration. Maybe that’s just the impression I get from the women collectors I know, and doesn’t accurately reflect women overall.

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Warning – box contains decapitated pony

This Is Broken – Warning on Hasbro pony toy

“Adults take note: Pony comes unassembled in box with head detatched. You may wish to not open the box around your children if they may be frightened by a box with a decapitated horse inside.”

I guess it’s nice to warn parents that their children may be scarred for life when they open the box and see that their wonderful new pony is headless.  Although, I’m not sure it’s really the box that’s frightening.  I mean, if you are frightened by a headless pony, I don’t think the placement of the pony inside or outside of a box will make much difference.

Ive always wanted to do this

In Following His Own Script, Webb May Test Senate’s Limits – washingtonpost.com

“How’s your boy?” Bush asked, referring to Webb’s son, a Marine serving in Iraq.”I’d like to get them out of Iraq, Mr. President,” Webb responded, echoing a campaign theme.

“That’s not what I asked you,” Bush said. “How’s your boy?”

“That’s between me and my boy, Mr. President,” Webb said coldly, ending the conversation on the State Floor of the East Wing of the White House.

This is an exchange between new VA Senator Jim Webb and our intrepid leader. I’ve always wanted to be a total dick to the President, although I realize that it’s kind of childish.

I hope Webb takes a bit of this fire and desire for change and actually does something constructive with it. Going to a White House reception, avoiding the President, then being rude to him when he seeks you out is a little counterproductive, I think. Like it or not, Bush is going to hang around for another two years, and anything that happens is going to involve him. Being rude to him in public will probably endear you to the loons at Daily Kos and whatnot various liberal whackos, but it’s not exactly advancing the cause.

Edit: I realized after I posted this that it’s a little hypocritical to call Jim Webb childish, then take cheap shots at Daily Kos. So, I apologize to the Daily Kos and the surrounding community.

Wait, the Post DOES get it

Rob Pegoraro – Missing the Big Picture – washingtonpost.com

In doing this, they seem to be giving in to two of their least-appealing instincts: a need to regulate every single aspect of the mobile-phone experience and an irresistible urge to nickel-and-dime the customer.

Should have known that I can’t expect the front page guy to know what’s going on.  You have to look to the tech columnist for tech news with a basis in reality.  This is actually a pretty good explanation of why the Verizon/YouTube deal is dumb for Verizon.

OMG two baseball posts in one day!

ESPN.com – MLB – Pen collection: O’s to add Williamson, Bradford

The Baltimore Sun reported that Bradford, who pitched for the Mets last season, will receive a three-year contract from the Orioles.

Chad Bradford, hero of a chapter in Moneyball, is going to be an Oriole!  This is cool.  Of course, they’ll probably pay him way too much, as they usually do.  But at least they didn’t blow $100 million on Carlos Lee.  And the Orioles generally don’t run into money problems.

Just like every other year, I get excited about the Orioles in the off-season.  They’re finally addressing a real need (the bullpen), and the young rotation could be on the verge of greatness (Or it could be on the verge of going back to the minors).  I guess we’ll see.  The Yankees and Red Sox were very beatable last season, so maybe next year we can actually compete.

This is probably all happening because I mentioned to some people that I was seriously considering abandoning the Orioles for the A’s because the Orioles haven’t been making a sincere effort to get better for years.

Two different viewpoints

Washington Post’s take

Verizon Wireless is hoping to parlay YouTube’s reputation as the premiere Web site for posting and sharing homemade videos into success for its own mobile-video service by delivering YouTube clips to subscribers of its premium V Cast service starting next month.

Gizmodo’s take

The deal is expected to be officially announced later today and launch next month but it’s important to note that you won’t be paying $15 per month for the YouTube you know and love. Nope, the video service will be a part of V Cast, Verizon’s multimedia hub, and won’t be a replication of the content you get on the actual YouTube Web site.

There is no chance this is successful. YouTube is successful because you can do a quick search, and find whatever video you were looking for. Your friend mentions that he saw this great video clip of something, and you go to YouTube, and there it is. You watch, it’s funny, you tell your friend, “Hey, I saw that, it was funny.”

Now, with Verizon’s YouTube-branded substitute, your friend mentions a video, you search VerizonTube, and you get a one minute clip of “24” made specially for your cell phone. You go to your friend, telling him you couldn’t find it, and he stops returning your phone calls.

It doesn’t make any sense to me. YouTube had a hugely successful idea. Now, Verizon thinks they can come in and copy YouTube without the user community that made it popular, and be successful? That’s just stupid. What they’re really doing is more like making a mobile version of network television with the YouTube brand to generate interest.

I hope Verizon loses a ton of money on this, and it teaches them (and the idiots who will no doubt follow them) a lesson. And it’s annoying, because I need a new phone, and I currently have a Verizon phone. I know that if I go to the Verizon store, they’re going to push stupid VCast junk at me that I don’t want.

A fallen hero

SI.com – MLB – Poll: Big Mac in HOF? Don’t hold your breath – Monday November 27, 2006 9:01PM

The Associated Press surveyed about 20 percent of eligible voters, and only one in four who gave an opinion plan to vote for McGwire this year. That’s far short of the 75 percent necessary to gain induction.

In the late 80’s, before I became an Orioles’ fan, I loved the A’s.  I think I’ve mentioned it here before, but Mark McGwire was my favorite baseball player.  This skinny little first baseman who hit 49 home runs as a rookie, hit the home run that provided the A’s only win in the ’88 World Series, how could you not like him?

I was pulling for him to break Maris’ record.  That was a fun season of baseball.

But then the steroid allegations came out.  I know he’s never actually been caught doing it (Neither has Barry Bonds, but everyone knows he’s been on something), but it’s pretty hard to believe that he was totally clean.  I don’t trust Jose Canseco any further than I can throw him, and I believe that he would make up stories to sell books.  But there’s too much pointing to steroids, and McGwire never really did anything to clear his name.

I know the player’s union would kill him if he undermined the work they did by volunteering for steroid tests, but they’re going to shoot themselves in the foot.  What good is protecting the players’ rights if people lose faith in the integrity of the game and stop watching?

However, I think the whole thing may be moot.  Even assuming that McGwire was clean, I don’t think he deserves to be in the Hall of Fame.  His career average was .263.  He had a total of four seasons where he played 100 games and hit over .280.  Yes, he hit a lot of home runs, but that’s all.  Generally, admission to the Hall of Fame requires a more well-rounded player.

So, we’ll see.  But I don’t think he makes it in, and I don’t think he deserves to.

Nano is over

I just hit 50,000 words. For some reason, the text file validator at the Nano site decided to give me 2,000 extra words, but since what really matters is less than vs. more than 50,000, and I’m definitely more than 50,000, who cares?

So now I spend some time with my wife, finish getting the condo ready to sell, then maybe work on my 2003 novel. Next week. That sounds like a plan.

Edited to add: I’m disappointingly not that excited about finishing this year. Yes, it’s my fourth time out of five finishing. Yes, I know I can do it. But last year was more exciting.  Perhaps it’s because I’m now firmly convinced that I need a new challenge (Like finishing a novel instead of just starting them).