Can someone (Greg) please give me a good explanation of the difference between RSS and RDF? I especially would like to know if functionality-wise there are any differences.
Today at my sons school was "Bring your parent to school" day for his class. Basically they asked one of the parents of each student to come in throughout the day and talk to the kids about what they do at work. They coordinated my time with when the kids had computer class. First of all, 4 year olds are so cute! But what really amazed me was how advanced these kids are. I was worried about trying to explain what I do to these young kids on their level, but I ended up talking on a much higher level than I expected. These kids really know their way around a computer, it was just so incredible. After talking with them for about 15 minutes we played some games - each and every one of them was able to find the game themselves on the Start Menu, adjust volume settings, click through different menu options, etc... all kinds of things that my mother can't do. It was alot of fun and I think my son really enjoyed the time. One of the teachers mentioned that they were having a DBA come in as well. I have no doubt that these kids will not only firmly grasp the concepts but have some amazing ideas starting to form that will lead us to the technology of tomorrow.
Was doing a search for something on the Microsoft website and I came across something very interesting. There are some fascinating authors on here including some of the project and team leaders for many of the MS product lines. In particular take a look at this entry from Chris Pratley on why he converted from being a Mac entusiast to a MS lover.
Wired has a good article on the ethical issues raised on the fatherless mice from last week.
Greg Iles is one of my favorite authors. I just finished reading The Footprints of God and it is amazing how much research the man must do to prepare to write such a book. His ideas on quantam computing are pretty incredible and the way he presents them makes one feel like the technology really could be out there in some secret government lab right now. What really got me with this book was the way he combined the very advanced technology with the philosphical and ethical aspects of creating such technologies. The underlying point throughout the book is that just because we may have the ability to create something doesn't mean that we neccesarily should do so. I think this is a lesson that many in the world of advanced science forget.
Found this really cool tool - Gender Genie. It uses an algorithm developed by a guy in Israel to evaluate text and determine if the author was male or female. It claims to have an 80% accuracy rate on entries over 500 words. I tested it on a number of blog entries made by fellow Baltibloggers and it got all but one right - anyone wanna try and guess which female friend writes like a guy?! (In her defense it did get her gender correct on 3 out of 4 entries I tried).
So as the hoopla surrounding The Apprentice dies down a thought occurred to me - it seems like most reality TV series are magnets for people to try and make themselves famous, but throughout this one there has been one name that has been conspicuously absent. I am of course talking about the person about whom Malcom S. Forbes said (at least according to her website):
"Donald Trump’s most towering achievement isn’t Trump Tower or Trump Casinos or any other of his dazzling great things and doings, it’s Ivana."
Yes ladies and gents, Ivana Trump has somehow been missed in this whole thing. You would think from the way she was made out in the press in the early 90's as a gold-digging bitch that she would be smack in the middle trying to get as much attention as possible, but she has been eerily quiet. As far as I can tell the only thing she has been up to is giving motivational speeches about being a mother - so the big question I ask is where has she been?
Don't know why but this week seemed to just start out feeling like nothing would go right. But now here we are at the end, and everything is looking up! Must be the anticipation of 80 degree weather for the weekend! Not gonna dwell on the bad from the beginning, just wanted to say hope every week ends up being as good as this one turned out!
I think I just watched one of the best movies that I've seen in a long time. Wow. I am still sitting here just thinking about it and all I can think is - Wow! It was just a great movie. I am talking about "Pieces of April" - a little known film that if it weren't starring one of my favorite actresses in the world (Katie Holmes) I never would have seen. Every single person, from the black lady helping with dinner to Oliver Platt in an incredibly subtle role as the father, played their parts perfectly.
What was so amazing was how it captured everyday life in a single days time. We all have things happen to us, some good and some bad, and it is really up to you to decide how to react, how to deal, how to cope, and how to deal with other people doing all of the above. Just typing it makes me think - Wow.
In the words of Stephen Merritt:
One April day,
we'll go miles away
and I'll turn to you
and I'll say:
I've always loved you in my way.
I'll always love you in my way.
OK, so I'll admit defeat. Pennystock was right all along and I tend to agree that the crown will be handed to Bill over Kwame.
So for whoever watched The Apprentice tonight my big question is editing. Obviously the producers are trying to create an image in the minds of the viewers, but the last 20 minutes was just ridiculous - Omarosa screwing everything up with everyone else ever so perfect? Now don't get me wrong - I hate her as much as the next guy, but it just seemed to me to be overexagerated tonight. I was listening to an interview with Sam (who has become a local celebrity in DC) and he was talking about how they edit the scenes to make things look a lot worse then they are then when they actually happened. Tonight seemed to be playing right into that, and kinda detracted from the show as a whole.
Of course there was one redeeming factor - the Spider Man 2 trailer! Now that is the way that all movies should advertise on TV. I wonder how much Sony had to pay for that spot?
Since it seems to be becoming customary to write on Sunday morning about things seen on SNL last night... Did anyone catch George clapping during the closing sequence? Man, that was funny!
Wired has a good article addressing the same concerns with privacy and Google that I mentioned yesterday.
I chickened out - as noone had any good ideas for me to do in NC, I finally gave in and bought tix to fly to Atlanta Sunday evening instead of driving. The only down side is that now we won't have a car down there. Oh well, worse things have happened in life before!
Last but certainly not least - I was quite surprised that The Donald got rid of Troy over Kwame. Sure Troy is a loose canon, but he definitely showed a lot more innovation and spirit than Kwame ever did. And bringing back Omarosa???
There's already been plenty written about the "meeting of the minds" that took place last night at the Brewer's Art. There's even a couple of pictures floating around. I think the thing that struck me the most was that everyone was just regular old joes - no supergeeks or dorks in the whole group (excluding myself of course!). It was cool that people who normally would never have had anything to do with each other, with different political, social, and religious leanings could get together for something they all agreed about - Beer! There was some conversation last night about what the future of blogging will hold and it centered mainly around the commercial values, but I can see fitting the whole world peace thing into it as well. I can definitely see doing this again and at the very least it has given me the oppurtunity to find some fascinating reading material when things are slow at work.
And lest I forget - thanks Greg for saving me from having to be the one to ask "Ummm, excuse me... Do you blog?"
Exciting news from Google today - but the privacy issues do scare me a little. I am actually surprised that as a company that has been at the forefront of the technological revolution they would do something that is so blatantly opposite what any Chief Privacy Officer would tell you is the right way to go. I was even more surprised to check the Google management page and see that they don't have a CPO at all! Maybe they're just waiting for me to submit my resume....
Saturday night I am planning on packing up everyone in the car and driving down to Atlanta for 10 days with the in-laws. As scary as that sounds (the drive part, not the in-laws - they are fun!) I've done it a bunch of times before straight through the night and the biggest issue has always been how tired I am when I get there. I usually end up sleeping for like 20 hours straight and even then I wake up tired. So this time I am thinking of doing something different and driving to about halfway (somewhere in North Carolina) finding a hotel and then doing something with the family in NC before tackling the second half of the journey. Only problem is that I have no idea what there is to do in NC except college basketball and they won't even be in town. So.... anyone have any ideas of what to do in North Carolina?
To one of my favoritest sister-in-laws in the whole wide world!