I just had a great time speaking at Ignite Seattle 17. My talk was "From STEM to STICK: How to Raise Engineers". If you're interested in that, contact me. Thanks to folks who gave me positive feedback after :-)
The STEM club's blog is at http://laserclub.blogspot.com .
I've set up a From STEM to STICK site to hold links to the concept, etc.
Sunday, August 19, 2012
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Fresh start on blog tools
After not posting for quite a while, I've updated my publishing setup, and hope to resume blogging now.
Tuesday, March 14, 2006
FoRK: Space-efficient Groove Recordings
As I mentioned in old bits on the FoRK list, I bought the hobby kit that makes an Edison cylinder recorder that records on plastic cups. (I still haven't assembled it yet, though.)
The cylinder recorder was replaced by the more space-efficient record discs, of course. (Edison fought that, as he fought many improvements of his work.) Anyway, I was just wondering what the most space-efficient format would be for a groove recording. And in a practical sense; what shape of medium would allow the biggest collection (in recorded hours) to sit in someone's closet?
Rectangular shapes fill up rectangular closets fairly well. But if the player is moving this rectangle in zigzags, like a CRT's electron beam, it seems a little tricky to swing the pickup needle around to the next groove. Even if that problem is solved, it might be best to have a looooong rectangle, so you canmaximize the straightaways and minimize the hairpin turns, if just for easier maintenance.
The cylinder recorder was replaced by the more space-efficient record discs, of course. (Edison fought that, as he fought many improvements of his work.) Anyway, I was just wondering what the most space-efficient format would be for a groove recording. And in a practical sense; what shape of medium would allow the biggest collection (in recorded hours) to sit in someone's closet?
Rectangular shapes fill up rectangular closets fairly well. But if the player is moving this rectangle in zigzags, like a CRT's electron beam, it seems a little tricky to swing the pickup needle around to the next groove. Even if that problem is solved, it might be best to have a looooong rectangle, so you canmaximize the straightaways and minimize the hairpin turns, if just for easier maintenance.
Friday, February 10, 2006
Doubly Maximal Lipograms
Cup of java in my hand, so warm,
A sunny, pinkish glow proclaims a morn.
Across a Sound, Olympic pyramids
Command a land from shiny, snowy lids.
About five years ago, I wrote a few examples of what I call "doubly-maximal lipograms"; writings missing the two most-common letters in English, "e" and "t". I misplaced my notebook containing them, though.
Yesterday I decided to start anew, one or two a day, and with a goal in mind for each piece. Yesterday's was: "If any of you, man, woman, or child, can show a fair claim for avoiding a union of him and his woman, you should say so now." Today's piece is the trochaic pentameter poem at top; today was the first day in a (rainy) month or so that I could see sunrise off the Olympics.
After my effort in 2001, I came across a comment in Douglas Hofstadter's "Le Ton beau de Marot" (p. 107), where he notes that in 1983 he and a few friends started speaking in plain maximal lipograms (speaking without words with "e"). They then tried speaking in doubly-maximal lipograms (though he did not give it a name). He wrote:
I'm going to withhold judgment on how difficult it is after practice. It certainly is hard when starting out. I suspect it's not so much the time you need to become fluent at single or double lipography, but rather the volume of output. That is, it may take having a few dozen lipograms under your belt to get the tricks of that lipogram form. If you're avoiding "e" and "t", that number of successes may take ten or twenty times as long as if you're just avoiding "e", but currently I do suspect that the tricks are out there. You will, however, probably find that you can be nowhere near as precise as you want. For example, I haven't thought of a good replacement for "three" (or tre-/tri- words), other than "four minus ... a singular?".
A sunny, pinkish glow proclaims a morn.
Across a Sound, Olympic pyramids
Command a land from shiny, snowy lids.
About five years ago, I wrote a few examples of what I call "doubly-maximal lipograms"; writings missing the two most-common letters in English, "e" and "t". I misplaced my notebook containing them, though.
Yesterday I decided to start anew, one or two a day, and with a goal in mind for each piece. Yesterday's was: "If any of you, man, woman, or child, can show a fair claim for avoiding a union of him and his woman, you should say so now." Today's piece is the trochaic pentameter poem at top; today was the first day in a (rainy) month or so that I could see sunrise off the Olympics.
After my effort in 2001, I came across a comment in Douglas Hofstadter's "Le Ton beau de Marot" (p. 107), where he notes that in 1983 he and a few friends started speaking in plain maximal lipograms (speaking without words with "e"). They then tried speaking in doubly-maximal lipograms (though he did not give it a name). He wrote:
We soon discovered that whereas in an "e"-less mode we felt hampered but were still able to say pretty much anything we wanted, in the new doubly deprived mode, we were virtually immobilized -- not a single pre-formed thought could be expressed without lengthy mental struggle, and usually not even then. Deleting just the one letter of highest frequency was debilitating but survivable; deleting the two letters of highest frequency brought us to our knees.
I'm going to withhold judgment on how difficult it is after practice. It certainly is hard when starting out. I suspect it's not so much the time you need to become fluent at single or double lipography, but rather the volume of output. That is, it may take having a few dozen lipograms under your belt to get the tricks of that lipogram form. If you're avoiding "e" and "t", that number of successes may take ten or twenty times as long as if you're just avoiding "e", but currently I do suspect that the tricks are out there. You will, however, probably find that you can be nowhere near as precise as you want. For example, I haven't thought of a good replacement for "three" (or tre-/tri- words), other than "four minus ... a singular?".
Wednesday, January 11, 2006
You're the "Art Museum" ?
When a singer covers a classic but wants to change something in the lyrics, it's best to sleep on it. And, usually, to forget it. Sometimes people make a change because the original is too risque, or too dated. But why did Anita O'Day feel she needed to change Cole Porter's "You're the Top"?
Instead of "you're the Louvre Museum", she sings "you're the art museum". Like we're supposed to remember what a "Bendel bonnet" is, but we can't recognize the most famous (and, for Porter, the "top") art museum in the world? The whole song is best-in-class references; genericize that and the song has no point. That most of the references are now obscure only makes them cooler.
Instead of "you're the Louvre Museum", she sings "you're the art museum". Like we're supposed to remember what a "Bendel bonnet" is, but we can't recognize the most famous (and, for Porter, the "top") art museum in the world? The whole song is best-in-class references; genericize that and the song has no point. That most of the references are now obscure only makes them cooler.
Tuesday, November 01, 2005
Sociology of Paper
Malcolm Gladwell has a popular article called "The Social Life of Paper". It argues in part that some of the most effective people are those whose "messy" desks are actually well-structured for finding information. Or rather, much of the knowledge work we do today is better supported by piles than files.
Yesterday Scripps Howard reported that a study by Pendaflex shows that the way people manage their desktop paperwork correlates with certain sociological or behavioral patterns. One interesting result: the messier the desk, the more education the person is likely to have. I don't know if "messier" is used in the underlying study; I'm using it as a placeholder for a pile-oriented desk versus a file-oriented desk.
Yesterday Scripps Howard reported that a study by Pendaflex shows that the way people manage their desktop paperwork correlates with certain sociological or behavioral patterns. One interesting result: the messier the desk, the more education the person is likely to have. I don't know if "messier" is used in the underlying study; I'm using it as a placeholder for a pile-oriented desk versus a file-oriented desk.
Thursday, September 29, 2005
Socrates and Google: Learning to Forget
Thought I'd share my post to the Humanist list (use of tech in
teaching and researching the humanities). The topic is needing time away from the computer, and our growing reliance on tech for memory.
------------------------
[Hide Quoted Text]
> From: Steven D.Krause
> Subject: Re: 19.304 contemplation and computing
>
> Of course, the problem of technology and "critical thinking" (or just
> "thinking") has been a problem for thousands of years.
> [ ... Socrates on Theuth and Thamus ... ]
> Substitute "digital communication" for "letters" and I think you can
> see how these things fit together.
Thamus was right. The mnemonic powers of pre-literate (as in pre-writing) societies astounds us today. Who among us can recite a three-hour epic poem?
However, Thamus only looked at the costs, and not the benefits. For example, it's been argued that Western Civilization's success in science could not have occurred in a non-literate society, because observations need to be written down if they are to be trusted with the passing of time, and properly analyzed.
Similarly, we today enjoy amazing benefits from being able to tap into the global Googlebrain that all Web users are collectively growing through their individual accretion of factoids and comments. But I agree with those who have said that in another decade, people will feel hopelessly lost if their Web access is taken away. Lost in the sense of feeling they are no longer themselves.
It used to be only hard-charging workaholics who felt anxious without access to their email. More and more, that feeling affects everyday people; if you don't experience it, you likely know someone who does. A similar dynamic affects people's growing reliance on search engines for recalling simple facts, and the use of blogs and wikis (I like Backpackit.com) to maintain personal memory (both short-term and long-term).
> [T]hey will be hearers of many things and will have learned nothing;
> they will appear to be omniscient and will generally know nothing;
Quite true. Like Thamus, I lament that aspect. It's wonderful that the Web helps people to learn so much. At the same time, you never know if someone mailed you something useful/clever/obscure/intelligent because they are such an intelligent, well-educated, interesting person, or because they did a 30-second search on Google. And I do think my brain is learning to become lazy; either I'm just forgetting how to remember, or I subconsciously know I'll be able to look something up again in the future, and it gets thrown out.
teaching and researching the humanities). The topic is needing time away from the computer, and our growing reliance on tech for memory.
------------------------
[Hide Quoted Text]
> From: Steven D.Krause
> Subject: Re: 19.304 contemplation and computing
>
> Of course, the problem of technology and "critical thinking" (or just
> "thinking") has been a problem for thousands of years.
> [ ... Socrates on Theuth and Thamus ... ]
> Substitute "digital communication" for "letters" and I think you can
> see how these things fit together.
Thamus was right. The mnemonic powers of pre-literate (as in pre-writing) societies astounds us today. Who among us can recite a three-hour epic poem?
However, Thamus only looked at the costs, and not the benefits. For example, it's been argued that Western Civilization's success in science could not have occurred in a non-literate society, because observations need to be written down if they are to be trusted with the passing of time, and properly analyzed.
Similarly, we today enjoy amazing benefits from being able to tap into the global Googlebrain that all Web users are collectively growing through their individual accretion of factoids and comments. But I agree with those who have said that in another decade, people will feel hopelessly lost if their Web access is taken away. Lost in the sense of feeling they are no longer themselves.
It used to be only hard-charging workaholics who felt anxious without access to their email. More and more, that feeling affects everyday people; if you don't experience it, you likely know someone who does. A similar dynamic affects people's growing reliance on search engines for recalling simple facts, and the use of blogs and wikis (I like Backpackit.com) to maintain personal memory (both short-term and long-term).
> [T]hey will be hearers of many things and will have learned nothing;
> they will appear to be omniscient and will generally know nothing;
Quite true. Like Thamus, I lament that aspect. It's wonderful that the Web helps people to learn so much. At the same time, you never know if someone mailed you something useful/clever/obscure/intelligent because they are such an intelligent, well-educated, interesting person, or because they did a 30-second search on Google. And I do think my brain is learning to become lazy; either I'm just forgetting how to remember, or I subconsciously know I'll be able to look something up again in the future, and it gets thrown out.
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