tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-52628192012-01-20T19:08:19.788-05:00building a taller soapbox. one entry at a time.ConTendemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08971553464885003409noreply@blogger.comBlogger7471100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262819.post-1137537468495871402006-01-17T17:37:00.000-05:002007-04-16T17:28:02.090-04:00

grand-central-II . long time ago

Slava F.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02423968333870612247noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262819.post-1134167926628928892005-12-09T17:37:00.000-05:002005-12-09T17:38:46.636-05:00

This one is also from 2002. December. 

Slava F.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02423968333870612247noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262819.post-1129818352070385892005-10-20T10:24:00.000-04:002005-10-20T10:25:52.076-04:00

deck 12 had a nice set of 2-foot tall chess pieces. 

Slava F.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02423968333870612247noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262819.post-1129317717320369362005-10-14T15:20:00.000-04:002005-10-14T15:21:57.326-04:00

for RDK, with a splash of color 

Slava F.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02423968333870612247noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262819.post-1129314659550199752005-10-14T14:25:00.000-04:002005-10-14T14:30:59.556-04:00

This is what the picture came out to be when photographing from the cruise ship pulliing into Nassau (Bahamas) harbor.This picture firmly belongs in the "Family album". The almost wide-angle lense does a reasonable job with the sky, but editing in Picasa is not very precise. Obviously the sea needs to be isolated and adjusted for brightness and contrast. 

Slava F.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02423968333870612247noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262819.post-1126231377932824802005-09-08T22:02:00.000-04:002005-09-08T22:02:57.996-04:00

Who Has Time For This?: The Best Startup Advice I Have: "Likewise, technology companies shouldn't expect to sell their 1.0 product without undergoing a learning curve around the needed feature set, the competitive response, the right type of channel and sales rep, optimal pricing, etc. And yet, nearly every business plan I have seen shifts gears directly from Development to Sales, staffed by a

Slava F.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02423968333870612247noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262819.post-1126055373571771392005-09-06T21:09:00.000-04:002005-09-06T21:09:33.633-04:00

Take it away, readers.">News You Can Lose, Part 2 - The readers give their gripes about cable news. By Jack Shafer: "This being Labor Day, I shall undertake no labor except to clip and paste comments from my readers. Yesterday, I invited them to expand upon the subject of my column, 'News You Can Lose: What I hate about cable TV journalism.' read the whole thing. Take it away, readers."

ConTendemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08971553464885003409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262819.post-1125532099273131022005-08-31T19:48:00.000-04:002005-08-31T19:48:19.350-04:00

I have reading about this for a while, and it is really neat. Wired 13.09: The Dream Factory: "The concept is simple: Boot up your computer and design whatever object you can imagine, press a button to send the CAD file to Lewis' headquarters in New Jersey, and two or three weeks later he'll FedEx you the physical object. Lewis launched eMachineShop a year and a half ago, and customers are using

ConTendemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08971553464885003409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262819.post-1124383254373789832005-08-18T12:39:00.000-04:002005-08-18T12:41:22.106-04:00

figured I will repost my review on amazon here.Hard to read or to forgetThis is certainly a special book. It is the first Mccarthy book I have read, and it certainly made my eyes open wide. His style is very deliberate, slow storytelling - perfectly matched to the scenery and pace of the protagonists. The lack of first names, deliberate obfuscation of most character's origins and motives make

Slava F.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02423968333870612247noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262819.post-1124315110633396172005-08-17T17:39:00.000-04:002005-08-17T17:45:10.640-04:00

J. and I were invited to a posh restaurant in Manhattan. As J. was leaving the house A. piped up, "I also want to go with you." Thinking of the restaurant J. said, "I do not think they you would be able to come there." Of course, it was a the restaurant the real conversation was about. As A. made clear in her next sentence, "I have seen that Manhattan. Only adults are allowed to go there, but

Slava F.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02423968333870612247noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262819.post-1123681115252175172005-08-10T09:38:00.000-04:002005-08-10T09:38:35.296-04:00

A friend pointed me to eBay: Wi-Fi Speed Spray DramaticalIy Increase Data Throughput (item 5791782530 end time Jul-29-05 13:54:21 PDT): " Wi-Fi Speed Spray DramaticalIy Increase Data Throughput Works with all 802.xx wireless networks! FAST!!!" heh.

ConTendemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08971553464885003409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262819.post-1123542665863049232005-08-08T19:11:00.000-04:002005-08-08T19:11:05.950-04:00

'Record' bank robbery in Brazil: "The thieves dug a 200m (656ft) tunnel into the bank from a nearby house in the northern city of Fortaleza." cool.

ConTendemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08971553464885003409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262819.post-1123119241588457462005-08-03T21:34:00.000-04:002005-08-03T21:34:01.653-04:00

Microsoft's Exchange Server gets its own 'Western Front': "So yet again Microsoft acquires a business with a tried and tested product; enabling it to offer a solution to a problem that it unwittingly helped create in the first place." heh.

ConTendemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08971553464885003409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262819.post-1123084318069349882005-08-03T11:51:00.000-04:002005-08-03T11:51:58.130-04:00

I am interested in following these types of projects. Haystack Project: "The Haystack Project is investigating approaches designed to let people manage their information in ways that make the most sense to them. By removing arbitrary application-created barriers, which handle only certain information “types” and relationships as defined by the developer, we aim to let users define their most

Slava F.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02423968333870612247noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262819.post-1122957716591392852005-08-02T00:40:00.000-04:002005-08-02T00:41:56.596-04:00

[click on the image for larger version]

Slava F.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02423968333870612247noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262819.post-1122933310327873262005-08-01T17:55:00.000-04:002005-08-01T17:55:10.383-04:00

Civilization IV Due Out this Year: "The official website, Firaxis.com, claims that Civilization IV is a 'game of remarkable depth, Civilization IV spans the entirety of human history, from the stone age to the space age. At the start you choose the nation you want to lead. At first, your people are primitive stone-age villagersand its your job to guide their development and research technologies

ConTendemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08971553464885003409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262819.post-1122664613002679662005-07-29T15:16:00.000-04:002005-07-29T15:16:53.070-04:00

BBC NEWSJedi knight stars at Asean gala: "the stars of a skit at a dinner after the Association of South-East Asian Nations (Asean) summit in Laos were the Russians, participants agreed. Dressed as a Jedi knight, Darth Vader, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stole the show. Cloak-clad and with a lighted sword, Mr Lavrov brought the house down."

ConTendemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08971553464885003409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262819.post-1122320450545732182005-07-25T15:40:00.000-04:002005-07-25T15:40:50.553-04:00

very nice article from Joel, as usual: Joel on Software - Hitting the High Notes: "For today, though, I want to answer just one question, because if this part isn't true, the whole theory falls apart. That question is, does it even make sense to talk about having the 'best programmers?' Is there so much variation between programmers that this even matters?" read the whole thing.

ConTendemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08971553464885003409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262819.post-1122319708429558182005-07-25T15:25:00.000-04:002005-07-25T15:28:28.436-04:00

if you did not know it, it's new to you. Found this interesting tidbit online today:"One of the nice things about GMail is that you can send an email to yourself and add on a “qualifier” after the email name. That is, if your email address is me@gmail.com, you can send yourself email like me+todo@gmail.com. The +todo is what I call the “qualifier” and, despite its addition, your email will get

ConTendemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08971553464885003409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262819.post-1122302438610863622005-07-25T10:40:00.000-04:002005-07-25T10:40:38.676-04:00

Wierd item for sale. What else is new? eBay: Pinhole Camera made from a human skull: This can be yours, I made this pinhole camera from a life size replica of a human skull a few years ago. Works great with no light leaks. The Shutter is between the Eyes and the back opens up to accept a 4x5 film holder (included). Also comes with two incomplete boxes of Fuji Provia 100 4x5 color slide film as

ConTendemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08971553464885003409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262819.post-1121968794382282932005-07-21T13:57:00.000-04:002005-07-21T13:59:54.390-04:00

A friend writes in with:Google maps now present a partial map of the moon. Kinda nice.http://moon.google.com/Don't forget to try zooming in for a close up. "Moon Grommit! The moon ismade of cheese!"Google promises that,on July 20th, 2069, in honor of the 100th anniversary of mankind's first manned lunar landing, Google will fully integrate Google Local search capabilities into Google Moon, which

ConTendemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08971553464885003409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262819.post-1121291915207533272005-07-13T17:52:00.000-04:002005-07-13T17:58:35.213-04:00

At the conclusion of this article, we read:"I liked the space, the location, the layout, the pool, the lifestyle," said Mrs. Bartow, the president of the Murray Hill Neighborhood Association. "You never have to go outside for anything."[boldface mine - ed.] How does this recommend the neighborhood if the president of its association does not even want to leave the building?

ConTendemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08971553464885003409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262819.post-1120850055718823802005-07-08T15:12:00.000-04:002005-07-08T15:14:15.723-04:00

A friend took this image in our house.

Slava F.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02423968333870612247noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262819.post-1120756575165274402005-07-07T13:13:00.000-04:002005-07-07T13:16:15.173-04:00

Strange bedfellows in this newspaper article digest relating to London terror attacks. A Circuit City ad for Halo2 a game in which "... Master Chief—a genetically enhanced super-soldier—is the only thing standing between the relentless Covenant and the destruction of all humankind."

ConTendemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08971553464885003409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262819.post-1120632322494384512005-07-06T02:30:00.000-04:002005-07-06T02:45:22.503-04:00

A. with blackberries during a recent outing.

Slava F.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02423968333870612247noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262819.post-1120116013958002042005-06-30T03:11:00.000-04:002005-06-30T03:20:13.960-04:00

I have been earning for a clean, crisp gust of air. It will be here soon - in early September. I was reminded; however, of this snowstorm picture.Taken in Brooklyn Heights, Dec. 25, 2002.

Slava F.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02423968333870612247noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262819.post-1120115443465838992005-06-30T02:49:00.000-04:002005-06-30T03:10:43.473-04:00

Over the last few days I have been brooding over various articles bemoaning low pay for teachers, poor opportunities for high school graduates and drop outs, bleak future for college graduates all tied together to a theme of US economic decline and malaise. The best part, for a contrarian like me, is of course that this is just a lot of food for writing. The bad part, is that of course I never

Slava F.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02423968333870612247noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262819.post-1119563779719756222005-06-23T17:56:00.000-04:002005-06-23T17:56:19.723-04:00

Photo: ????.???? | ???? | ??? ??????? An excellent journalistic shot. For those not following politics or news - the portrait is of the russian President - V.Putin done up as an 19th century government minister, or emperor.

Slava F.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02423968333870612247noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262819.post-1119476333772777032005-06-22T17:34:00.000-04:002005-07-07T15:09:33.226-04:00

An image from Southwest USA.Some more of these images from a 2002 trip here

Slava F.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02423968333870612247noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262819.post-1119046697737209692005-06-17T18:18:00.000-04:002005-06-17T18:18:17.803-04:00

from BBC:A vast Nazi-era air raid shelter too tough to tear down is to be revamped as an art gallery and luxury penthouse.The seven-storey building in central Berlin was erected on Hitler's orders during Allied bombing of the city.After the war, its 2.6m thick steel reinforced wall thwarted a series of East German attempts to demolish it. neat.

ConTendemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08971553464885003409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262819.post-1118688345683186912005-06-13T14:43:00.000-04:002005-06-13T14:45:45.690-04:00

How cool is that? The Summer of Code is Google's program designed to introduce students to the world of open source software development.This summer, don't let your programming skills lie fallow. Use them for the greater good of open source software and computer science. Google will provide a $4500 award to each student who successfully completes a project by the end of the summer. (Payment

Slava F.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02423968333870612247noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262819.post-1117711984681490452005-06-02T07:33:00.000-04:002005-06-02T07:33:04.760-04:00

In my family it is highly desirable to nname people “in honor of” someone. That someone has to have had passed away, although it does semm ok to name more than one child in the extended family the same way. Thus, two brothers could, theoretically, name their children after their grandfather. As I am faced with deciding the name of my next child, due sometime today, I am faced with a problem.

ConTendemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08971553464885003409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262819.post-1117567048359584572005-05-31T15:17:00.000-04:002005-05-31T15:17:28.436-04:00

Among announcements that Kodak is stopping the production of its 8mm color film, one voice seems missing. Why does not Kodak just transfer the know-how or at least grant non-exclusive license for this film under creative commons or similar license? May be Kodak cannot make money on this film, but some smaller company could? It would be nice if the government (US or some other) would even allow

ConTendemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08971553464885003409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262819.post-1117307568465450162005-05-28T15:12:00.000-04:002005-05-28T15:12:48.470-04:00

grand-central-II .

Slava F.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02423968333870612247noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262819.post-1117306457199677462005-05-28T14:54:00.000-04:002005-05-28T14:54:17.266-04:00

grand-central . This was quite fun, although I do not know how A. does it. So much equipment to carry. In order to use a tripod in Grand Central, or anywhere else in the city, one needs a permit, apparently. Once the police saw the permit; however, they were more than happy to help us out.

Slava F.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02423968333870612247noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262819.post-1117143063537403742005-05-26T17:31:00.000-04:002005-05-27T10:18:05.443-04:00

From Master & Margarita,a nice exchange, much much better in original russian that this translation (from here):'What is your command, messire? ' Faggot asked the masked professor. 'Well, now,' replied the magician reflectively. ' They're people likeany others. They're over-fond of money, but then they always were . . .Humankind loves money, no matter if it's made of leather, paper,

ConTendemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08971553464885003409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262819.post-1116425962489139452005-05-18T10:19:00.000-04:002005-05-18T10:19:22.556-04:00

BBC NEWS | UK | England | Worldwide response to 'Piano Man': The mystery man was unable to communicate with police or carers after he was found in a street in Sheerness in a rain-soaked suit. When staff at the Medway Maritime Hospital gave him a pen and paper in the hope he would write his name, he drew a grand piano. His carers then put him in front of an instrument in the hospital chapel and

ConTendemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08971553464885003409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262819.post-1116165062521871382005-05-15T09:38:00.000-04:002005-05-15T09:51:02.526-04:00

For the next three days I am helping J. at the SURTEX trade show in NYC. Today I am blogging from my blackberry, so I do not think I will be providing any hyperlinks with the posts. So what is SURTEX? It is a surface design show, occuring at the same time as the stationary trade show, and this year, the internationall furniture show. We have a booth. A small one, way out of the way of any

Slava F.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02423968333870612247noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262819.post-1115925557960881092005-05-12T14:58:00.000-04:002005-05-12T15:19:18.456-04:00

Not exactly Miami, but South Beach nonetheless.

Slava F.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02423968333870612247noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262819.post-1115845499734530732005-05-11T16:46:00.000-04:002005-05-11T17:05:00.253-04:00

Arriving in Charlotte, NC for a customer presentation last week was accompanied by 3 separate pangs. Firstly, Google, Yahoo, and Mapquest all refused to ascertain the customer location, and so we had to hope our hotel was located somewhere close to it and not 50 miles off in the wrong suburb. Secondly, tiredness from working all kinds of hours for almost two weeks was seriously impairing my

ConTendemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08971553464885003409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262819.post-1115844362147300912005-05-11T16:38:00.000-04:002005-05-11T16:46:02.576-04:00

Over the last few weeks, I have done a poor job of posting. No, no, keep your objections. I have, and I admit it. That does not mean I did not want to post, but does that count for anything? I have had all manner of thoughts. Reviews of some recently, and no longer so recently read books. Three or four by Vince Flynn and his superhero Mitch Rapp. A mystery in Russian, "Cosmopolis" by Dan DeLillo.

ConTendemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08971553464885003409noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262819.post-1115776835380980372005-05-10T22:00:00.000-04:002005-05-10T22:00:35.826-04:00

That's a slightly unusual article for NYTimes - Bombs Bursting on Air It is possible that I just like the author's tone (calm, lucid, in my reading) to that of many other NYTimes columnists. It is a subjective judgement to be sure, on my part.

ConTendemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08971553464885003409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262819.post-1114704097259808492005-04-28T12:01:00.000-04:002005-04-28T12:01:37.260-04:00

Mark A. R. Kleiman: The battle of the bulge as a policy problem: "... obesity is like global warming. In both cases, advocates of 'doing something' oversimplify complex science, and advocates of doing nothing use compexity to obfuscate the existence of real problems." I liked this phrase, even if I think it does oversimplify things. As part of my job I have to make decisions about product

ConTendemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08971553464885003409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262819.post-1114552901722120742005-04-26T18:01:00.000-04:002005-04-26T18:01:41.723-04:00

What hold bad swiss-instilled habits have on us. I took of my watch and decided to take a walk through downtown. A few things became immediately apparent. One is that I am old and getting older. Another is that I cannot take a 20 minute stroll without looking at my wrist, where the watch usually is, every few minutes. Since I did not have a watch I can only average the numbers, but I did try to

ConTendemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08971553464885003409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262819.post-1114030076676707412005-04-20T16:46:00.000-04:002005-04-20T16:47:56.676-04:00

Someone must be wrong here:InfoWorld/CRMBuyer - Demand Spirals for IT ConsultantsBusinessWeek - Tech's Gathering Gloom

ConTendemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08971553464885003409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262819.post-1113962455901726352005-04-19T22:00:00.000-04:002005-04-19T22:00:55.900-04:00

Abstract: road & grass Originally uploaded by slava_f. Alright. I happen to like this. More of these here

Slava F.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02423968333870612247noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262819.post-1113577966082205492005-04-15T11:12:00.000-04:002005-04-15T11:12:46.086-04:00

A. with J.Originally uploaded by Con Tendem. reproduced here without photographer's explicit written consent. Knowing him, he probably would not mind though.

ConTendemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08971553464885003409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262819.post-1113426302131505212005-04-13T17:05:00.000-04:002005-04-13T17:05:02.130-04:00

wow, this is not someething you see very often on the news. CNN.com - Police:?Woman sold daughter for car - Apr 13, 2005: "A woman was arrested for allegedly forcing her 12-year-old daughter into prostitution and trading a 14-year-old daughter for a car."

ConTendemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08971553464885003409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262819.post-1113067646829515002005-04-09T13:27:00.000-04:002005-04-09T13:27:26.830-04:00

You know the situation in pretty tenuous, when countries rush to console their populace with words like these: "Syria has confirmed that its leader shook hands with the Israeli president, but added that this did not change Syria's position on the Jewish state. Iran and Syria do not recognise Israel. Syria and Israel are officially at war." heh. Other difficult handshakes and exchanges of

ConTendemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08971553464885003409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262819.post-1112893143895391052005-04-07T12:59:00.000-04:002005-04-07T12:59:03.896-04:00

Ian Fleming Concordance with gems like: 272 British agent holed up in Novaya Zemlya. After working under cover for 15 years, he wants out and is helped across the East-West Berlin border by Bond's shooting. I spent my 16th summer going through the 20-odd Bond novels. Whoever put this together is a lot more knowledgeable about Bond than I am.

ConTendemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08971553464885003409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262819.post-1112844803002266192005-04-06T23:21:00.000-04:002005-04-06T23:33:23.003-04:00

Actually, this is not about gmail at all. It is about a new addition to google maps. The original beta of google maps was a nice variation on the standard map/directions theme. It had the typical "google response time" - orders of magnitude better than anyone else, which enable the drag-and-move of the map in real time. However, that was to be expected. If nothing else, folks at google labs have

ConTendemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08971553464885003409noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262819.post-1112656934151557132005-04-04T19:18:00.000-04:002005-04-04T19:22:14.153-04:00

Apparently, Blabkberry browser is compatible with the blogger interface. All my attempts, mostly unsuccessful, to mail in blogger posts were for naught. All I had to do to enable blogger access was to ... try. Live long and learn. (Oras my father says affectionately: "it is not helpful if you are an idiot")

ConTendemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08971553464885003409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262819.post-1112652765531877722005-04-04T18:12:00.000-04:002005-04-04T18:12:45.533-04:00

Chambers Street Station Originally uploaded by Con Tendem. A few hundred feet from this station, some conductors stop their trains to observe a minute of silence for 9/11 victims. Aboveground, all seems normal.

ConTendemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08971553464885003409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262819.post-1112649892411889852005-04-04T17:24:00.000-04:002005-04-04T17:24:52.410-04:00

MSNBC - Floods swamp parts of Northeast: "And at Cincinnatus, N.Y., about 20 miles east of Cortland, the Otselic River flooded a nursing home, forcing out about 35 residents." [ed - emphasis mine] I really like the fact that NY has a town named after Cincinnatus.

ConTendemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08971553464885003409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262819.post-1112399681674884422005-04-01T18:54:00.000-05:002005-04-01T18:54:41.673-05:00

I assume this has been making round, even making it to slashdot main page - CNN.com - Internet study finished -- after 7 years - Mar 31, 2005 Lawmakers had demanded the $1 million study, ultimately called "Signposts in Cyberspace," under a 1998 law. Passed almost at the dawn of what became the Internet boom, the law required the Commerce Department to seek a study about Web addresses and

ConTendemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08971553464885003409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262819.post-1112384802534778982005-04-01T14:45:00.000-05:002005-04-01T14:46:42.533-05:00

Just saw the my gmail quota went up to 1.5GB. Is there a chance google is not going to be able to win the quota race with yahoo/msn ?

ConTendemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08971553464885003409noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262819.post-1112157496511973412005-03-29T23:38:00.000-05:002005-03-29T23:38:16.513-05:00

I think it certainly takes guts and brilliance to answer a mathematics question with a haiku. what happens to solutions of dispersive systems when dispersion tends to zero.It is a rather surprising new phenomenon, but not easy to express in layman's terms. In a report to the American Philosophical Society I put it into the form of haiku: Speed depends on size Balanced by dispersion Oh,

ConTendemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08971553464885003409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262819.post-1112044852198615212005-03-28T16:20:00.000-05:002005-03-28T16:20:52.196-05:00

RDK mentions this strange phenomenon - The New York Times > International > Europe > Amsterdam Journal: A Dutch Soccer Riddle: Jewish Regalia Without Jews Just minutes before a high-stakes soccer game not long ago between this city's home team, Ajax, and their rivals from the southern city of Eindhoven, a chant built to a roar in the hall packed with supporters where they were serving plastic

ConTendemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08971553464885003409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262819.post-1111788302076428802005-03-25T17:05:00.000-05:002005-03-25T17:05:02.076-05:00

Today's lunchtime walk. 

Slava F.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02423968333870612247noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262819.post-1111787790059518272005-03-25T16:56:00.000-05:002005-03-25T16:58:24.213-05:00

I walk. It stays.

Slava F.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02423968333870612247noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262819.post-1111786741349172552005-03-25T16:39:00.000-05:002005-03-25T16:39:01.350-05:00

Plain disturbing.  

Slava F.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02423968333870612247noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262819.post-1111595920856165642005-03-23T11:38:00.000-05:002005-03-23T11:39:53.436-05:00

Nut strike cracks after 13 yearsStriking workers at a walnut processing plant in California have voted to bring their 13-year walkout to an end.understated quote of the day: "Nobody ever thought it would take this long"Lucio Reyes, union secretary-treasurerheh.

ConTendemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08971553464885003409noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262819.post-1111424699287015512005-03-21T12:04:00.000-05:002005-03-21T12:04:59.286-05:00

Mark Kleiman has two interesting articles up.Schiavo, Hudson, and Nikolouzos:Sun Hudson, a six-month-old boy with a fatal congenital disease, died Thursday after a Texas hospital, over his mother's objections, withdrew his feeding tube. The child was apparently certain to die, but was conscious. The hospital simply decided that it had better things to do than keeping the child alive, and the

ConTendemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08971553464885003409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262819.post-1110949312673084522005-03-16T00:01:00.000-05:002005-03-16T00:17:18.940-05:00

Another breakfast picture from St.Petersburg.[March 3rd] This time it is an apple-filled pastry with a milkshake. The milkshakes differ from American ones in that there seem much heavier on milk and very light on the ice cream. In fact, I suspect there is no ice cream involved in it at all. Thus, it is mostly a frothy sweetened milk beverage, rather than a strong on the sugar and taste milkshake

ConTendemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08971553464885003409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262819.post-1110948206277276732005-03-15T23:43:00.000-05:002005-03-15T23:46:00.070-05:00

Here is looking at you, kid.For the record, I did not take this picture. I have; however, being granted its use in my personal memorabilia collection. If you like the picture and want to hire the photographer - that could be arranged.

Slava F.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02423968333870612247noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262819.post-1110927775028248222005-03-15T18:02:00.000-05:002005-03-15T18:02:55.026-05:00

but here a quote from a book called "On Bullshit", "One of the most salient features of our culture is that there is so much bullshit. Everyone knows this. Each of us contributes his share. But we tend to take the situation for granted. Most people are rather confident of their ability to recognize bullshit and to avoid being taken in by it. So the phenomenon has not aroused much deliberate

ConTendemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08971553464885003409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262819.post-1110566237669184702005-03-11T13:34:00.000-05:002005-03-11T13:37:17.670-05:00

plumbing more of the links on newsmuseum I found this:wow. I must note; however, that doing this in the darkroom is a good deal more troublesome than in Photoshop.

ConTendemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08971553464885003409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262819.post-1110565080091434892005-03-11T12:59:00.000-05:002005-03-11T13:18:00.093-05:00

In this post wretchard reminded me of the famous air-brushings of Trotsky. So successful was Stalin's campaign to remove Trotsky from history that I, somewhat more curious about history that most, never even heard of him until after perestroika began. At this point it is probably impossible to rehabilitate his historical stature as the heir apparent to Lenin, someone with enormous influence and

ConTendemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08971553464885003409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262819.post-1110471656684814292005-03-10T11:20:00.000-05:002005-03-10T11:20:56.683-05:00

BBC writes about a British company that is taking the marketplace functionality of eBay and applying it to personal banking. I am not sure how successful this model can ever really be - but it might be interesting if the market rates established at this marketplace become some sort of a marker for a fair interest rate... "...Zopa - an online loans service that works in a similar way. Anyone with

ConTendemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08971553464885003409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262819.post-1110221128730839752005-03-07T13:45:00.000-05:002005-03-07T13:45:28.730-05:00

Very interesting NYT article - Is a Cinema Studies Degree the New M.B.A.? - that wonders whether familiarity with film-making process and techniques is going to be a basic requirement for lawyers and managers of the future. I would say that is not very far-fetched, since for a few millenia rhetoric *was* a required subject for anyone trying to achieve a formal education.

ConTendemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08971553464885003409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262819.post-1109772367969994192005-03-02T09:05:00.000-05:002005-03-02T09:06:08.000-05:00

There is a Winnie-The-Pooh cartoon in which the bear is asked whether he would like, "honey or sweetened condensed milk" to spread on his bread. Pooh famously replied, "both, and hold the bread if you'd like."Similarly, when asked whether I wanted sour scream or sweetened condensed milk with my "syrniki" (fried cheese cakes) I had no choice but to answer, "both". That cost me 25 rubles (about a

ConTendemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08971553464885003409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262819.post-1109677504511835582005-03-01T06:41:00.000-05:002005-03-01T06:45:04.513-05:00

My office decided not to spring for breakfast in the hotel this time. That is probably just as well. It is however, somewhat surprising that it is so hard to find a place that would serve eggs for breakfast. I really would have thought it a default russian breakfast, but alas.Anyway, I decided to walk from my hotel to a place I found on last visit, called “...Else...” It is wannabe european-slick

ConTendemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08971553464885003409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262819.post-1109218417919717792005-02-23T23:08:00.000-05:002005-02-23T23:13:37.920-05:00

I have been a mostly satisfied smugmug user for some time now. As time went on, I got used to all the good things smugmug provided, and began to be annoyed and bothered by some of the things it did not provide. Like what? Like more detailed statistics and absence of RSS feeds. There were other things I was not crazy about, but these were the two main ones. Does the link in the title fix these

Slava F.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02423968333870612247noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262819.post-1109205544718339552005-02-23T19:39:00.000-05:002005-02-23T19:39:04.716-05:00

Following some of the weblogs I read, here is a sample of articles I found interesting today:A funny ad on craigslistplay part of officaint,my wife and i are already married.(6 months) family don't know about it,so we want to do the wedding over,we are looking for a good actor to do this.this will take place in a hall.will take up maybe one hour of your time.pay is good,will pay $100 an hour,will

ConTendemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08971553464885003409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262819.post-1109124399220782942005-02-22T21:06:00.000-05:002005-02-22T21:06:39.220-05:00

very interesting article When is Time to Add Another Person? There are two major components to the decision to hire another person: 1. Remember that everyone's productivity decreases when you add a person into the organization. 2. You need to add in your overhead costs to salary (the overhead costs are a little less with a contractor). interesting numbers in there.

ConTendemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08971553464885003409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262819.post-1109085943495528212005-02-22T10:25:00.000-05:002005-02-22T10:25:43.496-05:00

Tresure Map 

Slava F.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02423968333870612247noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262819.post-1108745366070140412005-02-18T11:49:00.000-05:002005-02-18T11:49:26.070-05:00

from BBC NEWS | Health : "Women who argue with their husbands are warding off heart disease and other causes of death, researchers believe."

ConTendemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08971553464885003409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262819.post-1108589626732520092005-02-16T16:33:00.000-05:002005-02-16T16:33:46.733-05:00

New Zealand unveils Stonehenge replica : Located roughly 90 minutes from the capital city of Wellington, Stonehenge Aotearoa is designed to educate the public about astronomy and the technical capabilities of the ancients, as well as draw tourists. It doesn't look like the present-day, crumbling 4,000-year-old stones in southern England. Rather, it tries to re-create how the structures may have

ConTendemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08971553464885003409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262819.post-1108407453385666442005-02-14T13:57:00.000-05:002005-02-14T13:57:33.386-05:00

DPReview reports:Canon Japan has this morning sprung a surprise on everyone with the announcement (in Japan only so far) of the EOS 20Da. This specialized version of the EOS 20D appears to be identical except for the removal of the 'hot mirror', the filter in most digital cameras which removes the InfraRed part of the spectrum. This camera would be especially suited to astrophotography as well as

ConTendemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08971553464885003409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262819.post-1108009664635893412005-02-09T23:16:00.000-05:002005-02-09T23:28:16.396-05:00

A new category of postings devoted to random thoughts of what is surely studied somewhere, but I do not know anything about... Lotus Notes, and I imagine other desktop email programs, allow the users to customize the header of their emails with little icons. There is a library of icons available, and you can upload your own. This is the same type of functionality that allows people to upload

Slava F.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02423968333870612247noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262819.post-1107969354885690062005-02-09T12:15:00.000-05:002005-02-09T12:15:54.886-05:00

Should not this be a pretty big story? Fiorina resigns as chief of HP If not because HP is so important, but at least because she really was one of the most visible and powerful - in terms of the company size and revenue she managed - women in the business world? I do not know, seems like waves of this resignation will reverberate strongly through a game of musical chairs of shuffling

ConTendemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08971553464885003409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262819.post-1107874920510445452005-02-08T10:02:00.000-05:002005-02-08T10:03:34.306-05:00

In a short article Mike Gunderloy talks about light and easy tools for requirements gathering and brainstorming. In particular, he mentions MindManager product as a useful tool. I could not agree more. Most of the brainstorming, agenda-creating, and multi-task tracking I have to do I process through this tool. Whenever I have to think of a new module for my product - I first turn to Mindmap to

Slava F.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02423968333870612247noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262819.post-1107824118721618232005-02-07T19:55:00.000-05:002005-02-07T20:30:37.116-05:00

once it was new 

Slava F.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02423968333870612247noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262819.post-1107444271145485512005-02-03T10:13:00.000-05:002005-02-03T10:24:31.146-05:00

A friend is sort-of featured in the NYTimes Arts section article. Very exciting. Since to see the article you have to get registered [for free], I am going to excerpt relevant passages, perhaps with some comments. As dusk fell on a recent afternoon in Morningside Heights, Dasha Shishkin, a 27-year-old Russian-born artist, was awaiting Mr. Biesenbach and Ms. Heiss in her tiny cubicle of a studio

Slava F.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02423968333870612247noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262819.post-1107443535479605522005-02-03T10:08:00.000-05:002005-02-03T10:12:15.480-05:00

RDK writes in with: we *are* living in the age of science fiction! http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/03/technology/circuits/03chef.html Indeed. The articles talks about ... the sushi made by Mr. Cantu, the 28-year-old executive chef at Moto in Chicago, often contains no fish. It is prepared on a Canon i560 inkjet printer rather than a cutting board. He prints images of maki on pieces of edible

ConTendemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08971553464885003409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262819.post-1107311917848572512005-02-01T21:38:00.000-05:002005-02-01T21:38:37.846-05:00

Very good write-up on why computers are not a commodity, and may never be. my conclusion was that despite the self-interested rhetoric of some vendors (and gullibility of a few pundits), computers weren't the commodity - computing (and bandwidth) was. Just as power generators built by my friends at GE aren't the commodity, electricity is. It's not even close to a subtle distinction. read the

ConTendemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08971553464885003409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262819.post-1107294451131632932005-02-01T16:47:00.000-05:002005-02-01T16:47:31.130-05:00

Should not this be making bigger news among the conspiracy theorists and geopolitical analysts - BBC NEWS | Business | China had role in Yukos split-up?

ConTendemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08971553464885003409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262819.post-1107196907874910962005-01-31T13:41:00.000-05:002005-01-31T13:41:47.873-05:00

Good column with some novel metrics for TV- The New Republic Online: Me Time

ConTendemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08971553464885003409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262819.post-1107184340424511752005-01-31T10:09:00.000-05:002005-01-31T10:14:36.996-05:00

RDK sends in a quote from NYT's Metropolitan Diary Kitty Burns Florey was walking down Broadway near Lincoln Center one evening behind two teenage girls, obviously tourists. One of them said, looking around, "But where are the supermarkets?" The other replied, "Oh, they don't have any." The first girl stopped dead. "You mean - they eat out every day? Three meals?" Her friend raised her

ConTendemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08971553464885003409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262819.post-1106928491374831532005-01-28T11:08:00.000-05:002005-01-28T11:08:11.373-05:00

From Wired News: My IPod, My Self: "IPod and user form a cybernetic unit," said Giesler. "We're always talking about cyborgs in the context of cultural theory and sci-fi literature, but this is an excellent example that they're out there in the marketplace.... I have seen the future, and it is called the cyborg consumer." The cyborg consumer, Giesler said, is one that uses several different

ConTendemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08971553464885003409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262819.post-1106795632789654722005-01-26T22:13:00.000-05:002005-01-26T22:13:52.790-05:00

"The fact that vanillin cannot be detected in the lignin on shroud fibres, Dead Sea scrolls linen and other very old linens indicates that the shroud is quite old," Mr Rogers writes. "A determination of the kinetics of vanillin loss suggests the shroud is between 1,300 and 3,000 years old." I wonder if they are going to allow a whole new testing iteration now.

ConTendemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08971553464885003409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262819.post-1106795421397109222005-01-26T21:57:00.000-05:002005-01-26T22:10:21.396-05:00

I miss my grandmother whenever I have time for a telephone call and noone in particular to call. The routine of going to her apartment whenever I came back from a trip and waiting for her to say, "Tell me from the beginning. So, you got to the airport..." Long arguments regarding some important or irrelevant front-page subject where I would try dispel the notions she has held since Stalin was

ConTendemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08971553464885003409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262819.post-1106764721970962762005-01-26T13:38:00.000-05:002005-01-26T13:38:41.970-05:00

CNET writes about a possible case of a virus infection of a car on-board computer - Lexus a nexus between cars and phone viruses? | CNET News.com Now, there is a vast difference between the navigation or on-board comfort setting system and the few dozen chips and microprocessors that control fuel-injection, all-wheel drive and other critical driving ans safety functions. Still, this is an

ConTendemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08971553464885003409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262819.post-1106335962266160082005-01-21T14:32:00.000-05:002005-01-21T14:32:42.266-05:00

I think Paul Krugman is getting better as he gets back to his economics roots, and away from political speculation. As far as I can see, the whole point of him writing a column for NYT is to cover economics issues for the paper, not foray into politics. He has been lucky lately, as the Administration makes Social Security moves that are right up his alley to counter, debunk, and deride. A lucid

ConTendemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08971553464885003409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262819.post-1106334733580020502005-01-21T14:12:00.000-05:002005-01-21T14:12:13.580-05:00

CNET has an interesting essay/slideshow with examples of some of accessories that work with the iPod. It is an interesting section of the economy, and perhaps one area were creative juices are at their most free at the moment. link: Photos: The iPod economy | CNET News.com

ConTendemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08971553464885003409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262819.post-1106283200456165132005-01-20T23:23:00.000-05:002005-01-20T23:53:20.456-05:00

An ad on the side of an MTA bus in New York said: "Follow us into the future of Medicare" I did not quite understand the point. There are always at least two dimensions to any social program - as it related to money and to people. Medicare's future does not relate well to money. Or at least to having money. Medicare is expected to have a multi-trillion dollar shortfall within the lifespan of the

ConTendemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08971553464885003409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262819.post-1106153083251251022005-01-19T11:44:00.000-05:002005-01-19T11:44:43.250-05:00

Senate committee OKs Rice as secretary of state by 16-2 vote -Democrats John Kerry and Barbara Boxer are only "no" votes.well, this seems to score points for everyone involved. John Kerry could not very well vote for Rice, could he?

ConTendemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08971553464885003409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262819.post-1105654798615297522005-01-13T16:10:00.000-05:002005-01-13T17:19:58.616-05:00

Friend forwarded information about this company - a hybrid of iWon.com and eBay.com. PrizeWise is a coupon retailer that allows its users to participate in an online trading platform similar to eBay. The difference is that prizeWise users attempt to win the items posted on the site in sweepstakes-style auctions instead of bidding on them. See "The Buying and Selling Process" below for specific

ConTendemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08971553464885003409noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262819.post-1105383898850919982005-01-10T14:04:00.000-05:002005-01-10T14:04:58.850-05:00

Q: Why is Costco Wholesale selling caskets?As a service to our members.I do not know if these are a good deal or not, but as a mostly satisfied Costco customer, I am still finding it a little freaky.

ConTendemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08971553464885003409noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5262819.post-1104854420541356722005-01-04T10:09:00.000-05:002005-01-08T00:17:14.953-05:00

Background: There are a few bus routes I can take home from work. Almost all of them stop on the bus stop right in front of my office, but one is about a hundred yeards farther down the street. I have bad eyesight, so I only see which bus it is when it reaches the first stop. If I need to - I sprint. I am a bad runner, but usually make it in time to catch the bus on the farther bus stop. So far

ConTendemhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08971553464885003409noreply@blogger.com0