Big Science Wednesday

[filkertom]

It's Pi Day and the birthday of Albert Einstein.

What's looking interesting on your scientific or technological front? I'm beginning to poke a toe into the vast ocean of machinima.

Comments

[redaxe.livejournal.com]

I like this, in which a man outfits the family minivan and home with cesium clocks, then spends a couple of days on vacation atop Mount Rainier. When they get home, the clocks verify their predicted time dilation of +22 nanoseconds. Not a major breakthrough of any sort, but the sort of coolth you don't see every day.

[blueeyedtigress.livejournal.com]

Aside from a new bout of wrestling with my frankensteinian kit-bash of a computer ...? (I really miss it when I can't get online from home!)

[scifantasy.livejournal.com]

What with my tax return being accepted by the various governments, and my refund imminent, I'm preparing for Project Magician, which is my personal name for my computer system overhaul.

First, I'm building myself a new desktop (it will have the hostname of Magician, hence the "Project" name), something I've never done. So I've been spending a bit of time these last weeks spec'ing a new system, working out the details, and everything.

Second, once that's set up, I'll be turning Fool, my current desktop, into a webserver. That'll keep me from having problems when I let the IP address of my music collection slip--it won't slow down my websurfing, as it did some weeks ago.

In the meantime, I'll also be getting a hand-me-down Powerbook from my father--a Titanium G4, one of those fantastic bricks of computing. I'll be reinstalling that OS with a copy of OS X I'll need to buy on eBay, and christening it High Priestess.

[drzarron.livejournal.com]

I'm working up some more Steampunk sculpture.

As to machinima, if you got a project in the works and need help, let me know. Would love to do voice or graphics work for you.

[kightp.livejournal.com]

At work, I'm building video podcasts (which involves learning a couple of new geeky things, as well as the science of getting my boss to calm the hell down).

At home, I'm trying to get better with my digital camera, esp. wrt framing in the camera and not having to PhotoShop the heck out of stuff to make it acceptable (to me).

[ladystarblade.livejournal.com]

Personally, I'd settle for my office email actually sending and receiving emails.

Other than that, I recently laid hands on a MP3 voice recorder for a few interviews coming up. Neat little gadget...I've got to test its range and clarity thoroughly.

[palenoue.livejournal.com]

What I'm really excited about in the world of tech is the One Laptop Per Child project: http://www.laptop.org/laptop/

And to see it in action: http://blog.wired.com/monkeybites/2007/03/hkons_olpc.html

I can't wait to see what happens when _millions_ of knowledge-starved kids in developing nations grow up with these. In ten years I expect some major upsets in established computer circles.

[cjfringe.livejournal.com]

Think about it. Millions of kids in developing nations all IMing ASL? It'll make eternal September look like a stroll in the park. :P

[mdlbear]

There are some fascinating things going on in the world of eInk and other "paper-like" display technologies -- when you can fit all of Wikipedia on an SD card, it's only the weight and expense of LCD displays that gives paper an advantage for most uses.

I work for a company that makes printers and copiers -- we have to worry about these things.

[sdelmonte]

As I'm not much for personal tech, I prefer to sit back and watch the new space races. Will it be Bezos or Branson? China or the US? Bigger or smaller? Your guess is as good as mine.

[eleri.livejournal.com]

Uru machinima playlist

My tech sort of awareness tends to be in the realm of genetics.

[hanabishirecca.livejournal.com]

For me right now, I'm trying to understand the position of people who oppose global warming and state it is hogwash. So far, I haven't seen anything compelling and have seen quite a few scientific inaccuracies in their position.

[mstrhypno.livejournal.com]

Pi Day - a day to say "Be Damned to You, Indiana Legislature, for trying to legislate the value of Pi to 3!"

A Pi Day Prayer:

Hail Eris,
full of grace,
a custard Pi,
right in your face.....!

Lee "Can you tell I went to Discordia College?" Darrow

[cjfringe.livejournal.com]

Eh, Machinima's kinda tired (I knew the three main Machinima pioneers way back when in 1996). I'm excited about the advances with walking robots and nanotech recently personally.

[trdsf.livejournal.com]

I shall reflect upon my own small contribution to the lore of π: the discovery of loop sequences within the extended decimal. I celebrate Alternate Pi Day anyway, the 314th day of the year, as it happens in non-leap years to fall on my birthday. :)