Comments for non-standard deviation http://nonstandarddeviation.com they distracted us, so now we're distracting you Fri, 21 Nov 2008 17:22:22 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.2 Comment on dammed beavers: the truth, the half-truth and kinda-like the truth by Ned http://nonstandarddeviation.com/2006/09/17/dammed-beavers-the-truth-the-half-truth-and-kinda-like-the-truth/#comment-2859 Ned Tue, 16 Sep 2008 17:02:49 +0000 http://nonstandarddeviation.com/2006/09/17/dammed-beavers-the-truth-the-half-truth-and-kinda-like-the-truth/#comment-2859 <p>I live in Williamsport, PA and was a resident of Trout Run (suburban Trout Run--second mountain on the right). What struck me was the reference to Dagget Lane. US 15 and 14 run through it, but there are very few streets. It was easy for me to know that Dagget Lane is not in Trout Run, PA. As for the source of this change, it couldn't be someone from around here or they would have changed it to a street named Mill, Creamery, Main, Liberty or to Truman Road.</p> I live in Williamsport, PA and was a resident of Trout Run (suburban Trout Run–second mountain on the right). What struck me was the reference to Dagget Lane. US 15 and 14 run through it, but there are very few streets. It was easy for me to know that Dagget Lane is not in Trout Run, PA. As for the source of this change, it couldn’t be someone from around here or they would have changed it to a street named Mill, Creamery, Main, Liberty or to Truman Road.

]]> Comment on distractions, distractions everywhere and not a moment to think by Dave Kaufman - Techlife http://nonstandarddeviation.com/2007/03/04/distractions-distractions-everywhere-and-not-a-moment-to-think/#comment-184 Dave Kaufman - Techlife Sun, 04 Mar 2007 14:06:57 +0000 http://nonstandarddeviation.com/2007/03/04/distractions-distractions-everywhere-and-not-a-moment-to-think/#comment-184 <p>Thanks for linking to my article about Nick's show. I don't claim to be original in thought, it was written after seeing a single show (the preview show at that). </p> <p>I have since commented to Nick a few times that the League of Awesomeness certainly has room for him, as he clearly is following in the footsteps. And as I am sure has crossed his mind, with Ze exiting stage left this month, there may be an opening for those Sportsracers looking to feed their craving</p> <p>I am not saying he's a calculated genius, I'm just sayin...</p> <p>Again thanks for the writeup and keep reading, I have covered quite a few distractions lately, like my ongoing Line Rider series, my Guess the Google game and the ever popular Stick Arena.</p> Thanks for linking to my article about Nick’s show. I don’t claim to be original in thought, it was written after seeing a single show (the preview show at that).

I have since commented to Nick a few times that the League of Awesomeness certainly has room for him, as he clearly is following in the footsteps. And as I am sure has crossed his mind, with Ze exiting stage left this month, there may be an opening for those Sportsracers looking to feed their craving

I am not saying he’s a calculated genius, I’m just sayin…

Again thanks for the writeup and keep reading, I have covered quite a few distractions lately, like my ongoing Line Rider series, my Guess the Google game and the ever popular Stick Arena.

]]> Comment on ancient wonder and modern mediocrity by non-standard deviation » distraction sunday http://nonstandarddeviation.com/2006/08/21/ancient-wonder-and-modern-mediocrity/#comment-183 non-standard deviation » distraction sunday Sun, 04 Mar 2007 06:40:56 +0000 http://nonstandarddeviation.com/2006/08/21/ancient-wonder-and-modern-mediocrity/#comment-183 <p>[...] Apropos of nothing more than being subscribed to a feed that linked to it, my next stop was an article by John Cox detailing efforts to understand how the Antikythera Mechanism works. I’ve sounded off on this topic myself and, given that little rant, the portion of Cox’s report that most obviously migrated into medium-term memory is on page 3. It’s here that Cox quotes Michael Edmunds, a professor in the Cardiff University School of Physics and Astronomy, as describing the mechanism as a calculator rather than a computer since: [...]</p> [...] Apropos of nothing more than being subscribed to a feed that linked to it, my next stop was an article by John Cox detailing efforts to understand how the Antikythera Mechanism works. I’ve sounded off on this topic myself and, given that little rant, the portion of Cox’s report that most obviously migrated into medium-term memory is on page 3. It’s here that Cox quotes Michael Edmunds, a professor in the Cardiff University School of Physics and Astronomy, as describing the mechanism as a calculator rather than a computer since: [...]

]]> Comment on version control: writers vs programmers by Andy Dent http://nonstandarddeviation.com/2006/07/25/version-control-writers-vs-programmers/#comment-76 Andy Dent Wed, 24 Jan 2007 20:46:23 +0000 http://nonstandarddeviation.com/2006/07/25/version-control-writers-vs-programmers/#comment-76 <p>I found the GroupEdit proposal very interesting, particularly as I work in a scientific organisation with colleagues who are involved in international standards refinement (XML-schemas such as GML and GeoSciML).</p> <p>Beyond a certain level of complexity, Word's change tracking and markup becomes unwieldy, as well as the instability you mention. I have my own horror memory of being stupid enough to try pasting about 20 Visio diagrams into an architecture document in Word.</p> <p>I'm not convinced about your argument that the natural object of interest is different for writers and programmers and I don't actually believe that the line-orientation of Subversion is particularly good. We have gone a long way backwards compared to the method-oriented editors of Smalltalk and the classic ObjectMaster environment for C++ et al, about which I blogged nostalgically last year.</p> <p><a href="http://www.artima.com/forums/flat.jsp?forum=106&thread=158259" rel="nofollow">http://www.artima.com/forums/flat.jsp?forum=106&thread=158259</a></p> <p>I think that there is a larger "text chunk" which seems relevant to the GroupEdit discussion and would be analogous to methods in an OO language. If anything, the GroupEdit proposal highlights how silly it is that most of our tools are still line-oriented.</p> I found the GroupEdit proposal very interesting, particularly as I work in a scientific organisation with colleagues who are involved in international standards refinement (XML-schemas such as GML and GeoSciML).

Beyond a certain level of complexity, Word’s change tracking and markup becomes unwieldy, as well as the instability you mention. I have my own horror memory of being stupid enough to try pasting about 20 Visio diagrams into an architecture document in Word.

I’m not convinced about your argument that the natural object of interest is different for writers and programmers and I don’t actually believe that the line-orientation of Subversion is particularly good. We have gone a long way backwards compared to the method-oriented editors of Smalltalk and the classic ObjectMaster environment for C++ et al, about which I blogged nostalgically last year.

http://www.artima.com/forums/flat.jsp?forum=106&thread=158259

I think that there is a larger “text chunk” which seems relevant to the GroupEdit discussion and would be analogous to methods in an OO language. If anything, the GroupEdit proposal highlights how silly it is that most of our tools are still line-oriented.

]]> Comment on paying attention to non-tactile buttons by Esteban Barahona http://nonstandarddeviation.com/2007/01/11/paying-attention-to-non-tactile-buttons/#comment-50 Esteban Barahona Thu, 11 Jan 2007 16:49:22 +0000 http://nonstandarddeviation.com/2007/01/11/paying-attention-to-non-tactile-buttons/#comment-50 <p>Let's leave multi-tasking to computers and focus on few things at the moment ^_^</p> <p>either way, not having tactile feedback on the keyboard is less accesible. Apple is bold to try a one-button phone that uses a touch-screen as input device, but why not use one hard-keyboard on the "back" of the phone?</p> Let’s leave multi-tasking to computers and focus on few things at the moment ^_^

either way, not having tactile feedback on the keyboard is less accesible. Apple is bold to try a one-button phone that uses a touch-screen as input device, but why not use one hard-keyboard on the “back” of the phone?

]]> Comment on paying attention to non-tactile buttons by Josh Viney http://nonstandarddeviation.com/2007/01/11/paying-attention-to-non-tactile-buttons/#comment-49 Josh Viney Thu, 11 Jan 2007 16:28:54 +0000 http://nonstandarddeviation.com/2007/01/11/paying-attention-to-non-tactile-buttons/#comment-49 <p>Very thought provoking. As someone who recently switched from years of Windows to OS X, I've definitely been frustrated with the new environment's focus on enabling multitasking. While I love my Mac, I just wish I could get the damn windows to maximize to full screen to help me maintain focus on the task at hand.</p> <p>I'm not a legal expert, but my understanding is that the laws banning use of mobile phones in the U.S. only ban use of phones without a hands-free kit. My original point was meant more as a comment on the iPhone's reliance on visual queues for interaction. It is a strength, as Steve Jobs mentioned, but it might be a potential weakness as well. You know the saying: "With great power comes great responsibility".</p> Very thought provoking. As someone who recently switched from years of Windows to OS X, I’ve definitely been frustrated with the new environment’s focus on enabling multitasking. While I love my Mac, I just wish I could get the damn windows to maximize to full screen to help me maintain focus on the task at hand.

I’m not a legal expert, but my understanding is that the laws banning use of mobile phones in the U.S. only ban use of phones without a hands-free kit. My original point was meant more as a comment on the iPhone’s reliance on visual queues for interaction. It is a strength, as Steve Jobs mentioned, but it might be a potential weakness as well. You know the saying: “With great power comes great responsibility”.

]]> Comment on web 2.1: featuring significant improvements over 2.0 by non-standard deviation » actual, interesting info from web-two-centric sources; no, really http://nonstandarddeviation.com/2006/07/28/web-21-featuring-significant-improvements-over-20/#comment-15 non-standard deviation » actual, interesting info from web-two-centric sources; no, really Sat, 07 Oct 2006 03:46:59 +0000 http://nonstandarddeviation.com/2006/07/28/web-21-featuring-significant-improvements-over-20/#comment-15 <p>[...] In this site’s so far short and intermittent life, I’ve made the necessary snarky and ironic comments regarding web 2.0. [...]</p> [...] In this site’s so far short and intermittent life, I’ve made the necessary snarky and ironic comments regarding web 2.0. [...]

]]> Comment on web two: money made easy by non-standard deviation » actual, interesting info from web-two-centric sources; no, really http://nonstandarddeviation.com/2006/08/20/web-two-money-made-easy/#comment-14 non-standard deviation » actual, interesting info from web-two-centric sources; no, really Sat, 07 Oct 2006 03:45:53 +0000 http://nonstandarddeviation.com/2006/08/20/web-two-money-made-easy/#comment-14 <p>[...] In this site’s so far short and intermittent life, I’ve made the necessary snarky and ironic comments regarding web 2.0. [...]</p> [...] In this site’s so far short and intermittent life, I’ve made the necessary snarky and ironic comments regarding web 2.0. [...]

]]> Comment on dammed beavers: the truth, the half-truth and kinda-like the truth by Steve Mate http://nonstandarddeviation.com/2006/09/17/dammed-beavers-the-truth-the-half-truth-and-kinda-like-the-truth/#comment-12 Steve Mate Sat, 30 Sep 2006 00:43:34 +0000 http://nonstandarddeviation.com/2006/09/17/dammed-beavers-the-truth-the-half-truth-and-kinda-like-the-truth/#comment-12 <p>Brian,</p> <p>I vaguely remember this story from years ago, whether through the news or email I don't recall.</p> <p>The original was a great piece of creative writing and you've done an excellent job of researching it. Knowing the original author's name is a real bonus. Bylines are important.</p> <p>Thank You, Steve</p> Brian,

I vaguely remember this story from years ago, whether through the news or email I don’t recall.

The original was a great piece of creative writing and you’ve done an excellent job of researching it. Knowing the original author’s name is a real bonus. Bylines are important.

Thank You, Steve

]]> Comment on dammed beavers: the truth, the half-truth and kinda-like the truth by Matthew May http://nonstandarddeviation.com/2006/09/17/dammed-beavers-the-truth-the-half-truth-and-kinda-like-the-truth/#comment-11 Matthew May Tue, 19 Sep 2006 09:22:01 +0000 http://nonstandarddeviation.com/2006/09/17/dammed-beavers-the-truth-the-half-truth-and-kinda-like-the-truth/#comment-11 <p>Hi Brian. </p> <p>Another interesting piece of investigation :) I had seen this email some years ago and found it funny, but I didn't bother to trace its origins. Without taking the time to follow the trail myself I would have to take other peoples' word for what happened, but certainly from what you've said I would tend to agree with your conclusions. </p> <p>So anyway, here is a sign (that) other people on this earth are reading this stuff :-)</p> <p>MAtt.</p> Hi Brian.

Another interesting piece of investigation :) I had seen this email some years ago and found it funny, but I didn’t bother to trace its origins. Without taking the time to follow the trail myself I would have to take other peoples’ word for what happened, but certainly from what you’ve said I would tend to agree with your conclusions.

So anyway, here is a sign (that) other people on this earth are reading this stuff :-)

MAtt.

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