This pen would have been really useful in college (click on the videos at the bottom of the page). These days I don’t take notes often, but I imagine it would be quite useful if I had a lot of face-to-face client meetings.
UPDATE: There’s a better video at ZDNet.
It looks like I may finally get my PS3 in less than a month. I was waiting around for the rumored 120GB version, since the 80GB is out of production. Well, I’ve decided I won’t wait past June 12th, when the MGS PS3 Bundle comes out. It will have:
The whole thing is $500, so it’s like you get the upgraded controller and video game for free; that’s probably a $100 value. I will be putting that towards an extra controller and, if I feel like spending ridiculous money on (what most would call) a minor convenience, the infrared to bluetooth converter and the Harmony One remote.1
My grandfather had to drop out of high school during the Great Depression. He eventually got his GED, but said that most people he spoke with assumed he had a college degree. He was a very bright man, but he credited this to reading The New York Times every day, cover to cover.
Seth Godin writes about how business is poor at The New York Times, while standards and focus are slipping. Recent articles include two stories on Barbara Walters and her new book, and a review of The Olive Garden. Yes, The Olive Garden. After reading this, I have serious doubts as to whether someone could repeat what my grandfather did.
I remember growing up hearing that The New York Times was “the paper of record“. I looked up that term in Wikipedia and found there is resistance to that venerable term by Western newspaper editors, especially those at NYT:
Daniel Okrent, at the time the public editor of The New York Times, wrote on April 25, 2004 that his paper is no longer a newspaper of record, and that this change is to be welcomed. In his view, the journalism of a “newspaper of record” is “as much stenography as reporting, as much virtual reprinting of handouts (in the form of verbatim transcripts of unexceptional speeches) as provocative journalism.” John Geddes, the managing editor of The New York Times, expressed this even more strongly: “I don’t think there can be a ‘paper of record’. The term implies an omniscient chronicler of events, an arbiter that perfectly captures the significance and import of a day in our lives. I don’t work at that place.”
I think we’ve lost something good here.
Orson Scott Card, author of Ender’s Game, slams J.K. Rowling for suing a small publisher for copyright infringement. The book, Harry Potter Lexicon, is based on info from a website that Rowling herself awarded in 2004.
Card is right on several points. He does an excellent job pointing out the similarities between Ender’s Game and Harry Potter, which reminded me of Harry Potter vs. Star Wars.
However, he seems so upset about JKR’s actions that he undermines his own agenda. Bringing up the Stouffer lawsuit diminishes his case, as 2 minutes of research shows it is without much merit. For one, the character Larry Potter is not, as he claims, in the Muggles book.
He also speculates on her motives rather unfavorably. I’m wondering if he had space to fill, or was just pissed off and rambling. If he kept his tone a bit more civil it would have made a more convincing argument. If I were to speculate, I’d say that as a literature snob himself (OSC almost got a doctorate in English lit.), he’s a tad peeved that JKR was so successful with her “subliterature”.
What he doesn’t bring up is that Rowling has stated that she wants to do a Harry Potter encyclopedia1. If the Lexicon was done well enough, it could potentially cut into her sales (although with a 10K print run it’d be like a fly buzzing around a cow). I agree that for publicity’s sake, she shouldn’t have sued. She does look rather greedy given her target.
For the record, I think Ender’s Game is one of the best sci fi books in the last 30 years, and the Harry Potter series is pure joy.
Scott Hodson has created a Google maps mashup that displays wi-fi hotspots. I was surprised at the results, as I expected T-Mobile to dominate. In my area, AT&T has a much bigger presence. It’s like they got every business that wasn’t a Starbucks or convention center.
Today I read an amazing article in Wired about Piotr Wozniak, the inventor of software that uses spaced repetition to help you learn things permanently. Spaced repetition is where you learn something, then relearn it right at the point where you’re about to forget it. Each time you relearn it, you remember it for a longer period of time. The concept is simple, but requires a computer to determine the exact point at which you need to relearn something.
Wozniak created software called SuperMemo (SM) to implement the spaced repetition algorithm. In essence, it’s the ultimate flashcard program. It allows you to use images, HTML, and sounds, too. His latest feature is “incremental reading”, where you grab a bunch of documents from the web (or email, etc.) and throw them into SM. You prioritize the documents as you insert them; when you have time to read them, SM determines the order. As you read the document, you pull out info nuggets that you don’t want to forget, and these get added to the flashcard stack. Interesting, but it sounds like a bit of work.
Although it can be used to learn anything, the killer app is language learning. Indeed, in Wozniak’s native Poland, SuperMemo has been used extensively by students of English who wish to study abroad. There’s also rampant piracy and use in China and other countries. However, piracy is unnecessary, since Wozniak writes openly about the algorithms he uses, and open source alternatives have arisen.
One standout is Mnemosyne. It also offers support for HTML, images, and sound. One interesting feature is the 3-sided flashcard, which is particularly suited to language learning by including written form, pronunciation, and translation.
Another free program I saw recommended was OpenCards. It is based on OpenOffice Impress, a free PowerPoint alternative. As such, your flashcards can contain anything that can go into a PowerPoint slide, such as background images, animation, video, sound, etc. OpenCards runs on all major operating systems.
One issue I had with this super learning system is that, other than language, I couldn’t think of much that I wanted to keep in permanent memory. It did occur that in addition to foreign words, this is a great way to retain a large English vocabulary and keep it sharp. In On Writing, Stephen King recommends expanding your vocabulary by reading good authors and looking up words you don’t know1. I already do this, but now I can retain them indefinitely. That’s pretty cool.
If I was in school, however, this would be a fantastic way to retain knowledge for tests. I did a lot of cramming, which they tell you not to do. Cramming helps you pass quizzes and tests that cover recent lessons, but when it comes to the comprehensive final, it fails2. High school students who use this system diligently can demolish memorization-heavy AP tests. Not to mention the vocabulary-heavy SAT. Heck, this could make even high school language courses worthwhile! And all of this would lead to a clear advantage in college, where the same system should also work wonders. Later in life, you can brag about graduating magna cum laude – in French! – even though you studied something you never ended up using.
Update/Clarifications (4/23/08)
In case I didn’t sell this strong enough, the Wired article explains how cognitive psychologists and memory researchers are completely baffled as to why everyone isn’t using this technique. They equate it to using torches when light bulbs are available.
Although there is an obvious use for high school students, it occurred to me that placement in accelerated classes starts as early as 3rd grade. In my school system, you had to be placed there by 7th grade if you wanted to take the most advanced math classes in high school. So parents probably should start their kids as early as 2nd grade.
You don’t need to leave your computer on all the time – it will save your progress to disk 🙂 However, it is important to use the software daily. Skipping several days can set you back quite a ways.
Another free program is Anki. While it’s a general purpose spaced rep. program, it has extra features for learning Japanese, English, and Russian. Students of Japanese can also try Reviewing the Kanji. It was also suggested in the Lifehacker forums that Pimsleur language CDs (which are available at your local library if you don’t want to buy your own copy) could be converted to OpenCards decks for optimal aural learning.
Update (6/15/09)
I should have mentioned that Anki is my main program now. I find that it’s the most usable at this time. However, for practicing your pronunciation of foreign languages, Rosetta Stone is pretty good.
ZBalance got me thinking. In a recent comment thread, he lamented that he hated top 20 radio, but was concerned his kids wouldn’t.
I find that the older get, the more stuff I like. But top 20? My first thought was, “hell, no”, but I figured I’d better check. So I headed over to Billboard Top 100 and had a look-see.
There was nothing in the top 10 I liked, which satisfied the music snob in me. It’s almost entirely R&B, which is not really my thing. But I continued on and, damnit, I found stuff I didn’t hate:
12. Rihanna – Don’t Stop The Music
Standard club hit, and to be honest, I’ve always liked good house music and club hits. Henry Rollins described industrial dance as house music done right. Obviously I prefer industrial, but I know catchy when I hear it.
13. OneRepublic – Stop And Stare
14. Timbaland Featuring OneRepublic – Apologize
OneRepublic is what I call “Smallville music”. Smallville uses a lot of catchy pop music and has even released two albums. Much of it is stuff I hadn’t heard before, and some of it blows up later. I’m not the only one who has been paying attention; KryptonSite has taken the time to list everything played on Smallville, by season.
OneRepublic, however, has the dubious distinction of being on the most commercialized Smallville episode ever. The entire episode was a commercial for Stride gum and OneRepublic itself – to the point where OneRepublic is shown giving multiple concerts in an abandoned Stride gum factory. I think it was a pretty shameful day for everyone involved.
15. Alicia Keys – No One
After just explaining how I’m not into R&B, I find myself liking this track. What can I say? It grabs you with a solid beat and fantastic vocals.
16. Lupe Fiasco Featuring Matthew Santos – Superstar
This is lush, slickly produced hip hop along the lines of Kanye and Jay-Z, and I do enjoy some of their stuff. Superstar doesn’t quite reach that level, but does have a great hook.
There you have it. I actually like 25% of the top 20. This was certainly a surprise to me. All I can say in my defense was that I did not like the track from “Webbie, Lil’ Phat & Lil’ Boosie”. I cannot tell you how relieved I am to write that.
However, something still isn’t settled. ZB thinks he’s old because he doesn’t like modern music. I understand this; I distinctly remember thinking that if I liked modern music when I aged, it would mean I was still cool. Now, though, it feels like I only appreciate this stuff because I’m getting old. Perhaps it’s time to remind myself that even in my younger days, I could go from Ministry to George Michael without skipping a beat.
I recently posted a rap video about proper web design and coding, and now here’s a bunch of electro songs from CSS. This time, we’re not talking about cascading style sheets.
You’ve probably heard Brazil’s CSS without having any idea who they were. I had a couple “oh, THAT’s who does this” moments while listening to them. Hopefully, you’ll be as happy as I was to solve the mystery.
The vocals of lead singer Lovefoxxx have a fantastic, Bjork-like cuteness to them, down to the occasional rasp. When that Portuguese accent comes out, she’s downright dangerous. And she curses! A triple threat. CSS is an abbreviation of Cansei de Ser Sexy, which is Portuguese for “tired of being sexy”. While they mean it in jest (it was a Beyonce Knowles quote), there’s a definite sexiness to their sound and lyrics.
Here are a few tracks I really liked, starting with the ones you probably heard already:
Music Is My Hot, Hot Sex
Let’s Make Love and Listen to Death From Above
Alala
Off the Hook (I think you can hear the Bjork-ness best here)
A while back I contacted Samsung to ask them a question about one of their widescreen LCD monitors. Specifically, I wanted to know if it had a 16:9 (AKA 1:1) mode; without it, signals from your cable box get stretched and/or cropped.
Three months later they send a reply that has nothing to do with my question. Some standard “check your drivers” bullshit. Clearly, the dumbass tech didn’t even bother to read my question. So I dropped it. But they didn’t.
They are now SPAMMING me! I actually got an unsolicited marketing email from them. Apparently my question gave them the right to put me on their spam list. So I marked it as such in Yahoo mail and hope others are doing the same.
Bastards.
I am currently renting a house that is for sale. The rent is dirt cheap and includes most utilities, so I can’t complain about that. But I think I may have stumbled across a shady realtor practice.
First, some background info. The owner won’t take less than $700K for the house, and most believe the market will not support that price1. My hunch is that the selling agent agrees, although she has told the owner she fully believes the house will sell for that price.
Before getting the listing, she said she’d have an open house every other Saturday. After the papers were signed, she has held an open house every weekend.
It is important to note that there are two types of open houses. A broker open house is only open to real estate agents. They get to take a good survey of the house and decide whether it is right for their clients. This directly helps out the homeowner, because it increases the number of people selling his house.
Then there is the public open house. Here, every Tom, Dick, and Sally can come off the street, check out your house, and paw through your stuff while you’re trying to figure out what to do for the next 4 hours. This typically has little benefit for the seller, because most people walk into the house, look around, and then ask things like, “How many square feet is this?” or “What’s the price?” or “There aren’t any ethnic people in this neighborhood, are there?” Usually, the answer is not what the buyer wanted to hear. However, the showing agent can now get their contact information and what they’re looking for, adding them to their client list.
The house I’m in appears to be major client bait. It borders 3 streets, one of which is fairly busy. The agent has stated that they get a lot of visitors during public open houses. So many, in fact, that she’s decided to hold one every Saturday and Sunday, from now until the house sells. Oh yeah, she’s got a 6 month contract.
As a renter, this really sucks. In fact, I’d say it borders on harassment. I doubt she’d do this if the homeowner were living here, and if I moved out it would be a big win for her.
But as a homeowner, it doesn’t help, either. First, the selling agent isn’t running the open houses; it’s going to some random agent in the office. My network of Crack Team spies have confirmed that the agents do absolutely nothing to sell the house. Rather, they sit in the corner and collect names and phone numbers. I confirmed this lack of motivation again today. As I was scrambling to get things ready (I was given zero notice this time), I spoke with the showing agent. It became immediately apparent that she had no knowledge of the house or owner, nor did she care to. Clearly, she had no plans to sell the house.
If you find yourself in this situation, there are a few things you can do. Obviously, you can limit open houses. You can also get open house reports asking about the solid leads they’re generating. You can be lied to, sure, but this only works for so long. Then the agent looks like she can’t close since she loses so many solid leads. But most importantly, be realistic about your selling price. Maybe it’s time to call it quits.