THE SINGULARITY IS NEAR: When Humans Transcend Biology By Ray Kurzweil, Viking Press (1999)
..in 2005 I thought of it as being something that would happen in the 2020's or so.
On further investigation, The Singularity is here, Now.
In the following video, about 4/5 of the way through, an ominous factoid; the mass of technical information is doubling every four years.
The mass of information in a particular discipline that a student begins to study in their first year of University will have already doubled by the time they get their 'masters' degree.
The way Ray Kurzweil lays it out the singularity happens when knowledge renews itself before it renews itself again. An ever increasing exponential growth of knowledge.
Of coarse the human factor is the kicker here; the amount of information we can ingest will regulate how much effort or resources we put into producing more.
Thus one could think of this moment as a place where we stop the process, a new dark age begins where what we've learned is enough, and no further questions are asked - or permitted...
After some articles are 'put to bed' at FilterBlogs they get a Posthumous Long-tail Aperitif - links to related media that I was unaware of at the time of my original post.
Posthumous Long-tail Aperitif: Update: Feburary 28, 2011 (link to update below, with-in the text of the essay: Pascal Bruckner presents us only with "a bag of snakes")
***
Posthumous Long-tail Aperitif: July 18, 2010:
One thing that is sorely lacking - in this post, and in the general discussion of the Hijab issue - is the opinion of Muslim Feminists!
The great divide between the West and the Muslim world culturally, not to mention the language barrier, isolates us from each other generally - add to that the absence of the discussion of the issues of woman's equality in popular media - and it's no wonder no one has asked Muslim Feminists what they think of the Hijab issue.
At 2:30 of this interview from BigThink, Naomi Wolf talks about it:
"The Grande Noirceur (literally, Great Darkness) is the name that critics of Quebec premier Maurice Duplessis's regime have given to the conservative policies undertaken by the provincial government in the 1936-1939 and 1944-1959 period of Quebec history."
Quebec's publicly funded health insurance program, the Régie de l'assurance-maladie du Québec (RAMQ), no longer has "..an obligation to satisfy religious or cultural preferences..." in the opinion of the provinces human rights commission. The government is not planning to tweak the law to ensure accommodation continues. From the CBC piece again,
"Up until Tuesday, RAMQ did accommodate such requests on a case-by-case basis, handling about a dozen a year."
A Dozen Accommodations a Year? Look out everybody, the sky is falling, the sky is falling.
Betraying an ignorance of the institution she is charged to protect, Quebec Immigration Minister Yolande James keeps shouting down arguments against this new prescription, 'This is Democratic you know, people agree with this' she says. Yes, we know Yolande James, we know. And the Germans voted for Hilter. Besides that, I'm detecting the government 'doth protest too much'; like they're not entirely comfortable with the road they're embarking down and find themselves needing to retort, 'well, she said it too'.
I'm wondering what the end game is here? Divide-and-Cut-Services perhaps? The neo-liberal agenda revealed?
I've been watching this logic-fault filled debate, unfolding now in Canada, begin to unfold in Europe three years ago. I think it's important for all Canadians to read the following series of arguments. It starts with a polemic by the French philosopher Pascal Bruckner: "Enlightenment fundamentalism or racism of the anti-racists?"
Pascal Bruckner presents us only with "a bag of snakes". Untangled they aren't scary any more.
In re-reading this essay almost a year after I published it, and seeing that this post is getting by far the largest number of hits in this blog, I'm driven to add some content that I hope will clarify what is a complex issue - and to add my take as a impetus that may help to start a conversation.
In my opinion this is the centre of Pascal Bruckner's argument:
"Today we combine two concepts of liberty: one has its origins in the 18th century, founded on emancipation from tradition and authority. The other, originating in anti-imperialist anthropology, is based on the equal dignity of cultures which could not be evaluated merely on the basis of our criteria. Relativism demands that we see our values simply as the beliefs of the particular tribe we call the West. Multiculturalism is the result of this process. Born in Canada in 1971, it's principle aim is to assure the peaceful cohabitation of populations of different ethnic or racial origins on the same territory. In multiculturalism, every human group has a singularity and legitimacy that form the basis of its right to exist, conditioning its interaction with others. The criteria of just and unjust, criminal and barbarian, disappear before the absolute criterion of respect for difference. There is no longer any eternal truth: the belief in this stems from naïve ethnocentrism."
Having lived the experiment, there are two points I take issue with. When Bruckner says, "Relativism demands that we see our values simply as the beliefs of the particular tribe we call the West." - he uses the term "values" but what he means is a much larger set of values, beliefs and mores with-in a medium of ever changing technological realities - for example the idea that a hot bath every day is civilized is ridiculous - our ancestors only 100 years ago may have had one hot bath a month. By racing past this idea one might allow one's self to think that the values of another culture are completely alien to yours - but my experience in this multicultural land is that in so many more ways we are alike then we are different. An our ability to communicate past the differences to an understanding that even the elements of the foreign culture have parallels in our own culture is the usual way these thing go in my experience.
The fear of the other, the ignorance of the other is what gives Bruckner's sentence above so much power - and what makes it so completely wrong. Later in the paragraph Bruckner carries on with this radical interpretation of the modern anthropological view: "The criteria of just and unjust, criminal and barbarian, disappear before the absolute criterion of respect for difference." The "absolute criterion". But there is no absolute criterion, it is rather a continuing functioning of practical accommodations. The cultural adaptation of one culture to the other happens slowly, over one generation, maybe two. And the individuals who are new here see themselves as accepted - but outside - and this acceptance, this accommodation makes them want to understand the culture that is all around, to become apart of it. Their children are the most Canadian of all, in fact they're so hip it's sickening. :)
Now here's the quick of it. Bruckner's own argument - that we are "heirs to both movements" (the age of reason and it's counter point romanticism), and that thus we have shown an ability to critique ourselves as we go along - is what makes this Multiculturalism work with-in a democratic society. We make mistakes - like allowing the Sharia courts in Ontario for some months - but we correct the mistake. As well, and this is really important, we don't have slums in Canadian cities because of an enlightened social policy - and thus economic want rarely leads to radical interpretations of the kind Bruckner presents as a norm. His own construct viewed with out ignorance and Us vs Them radicalism, defeats his argument!
Pascal Bruckner presents us only with "a bag of snakes". Untangled they aren't scary any more.
Bruckner's essay is a criticism of multiculturalism and the liberal democratic vision in general. It asserts that the western and Islamic worlds cannot be integrated. That liberalism will be slaughtered in it's comfortable social-safety-net sleep by extremist Islam that is everywhere and is bent on it's destruction.
These essays came in a political environment that, besides 9/11 included:
The murder of Theo Van Gogh. The film director and grandson of the great painter had his throat cut on his way to work by a psychotic teenager on a mission from Allah (serving his natural life in jail).
The death threats directed at Van Gogh's screen writer, the ex-pat Somali intellectual, and then member of Dannish Parliament, Ayaan Hirsi Ali - who prostituted her political affiliation for around-the-clock Danish secrete service security - and later for an American visa (which would not have come before she became an anti-terrorist celebrity).
The Prophet Cartoon controversy - a Danish newspaper "Jyllands-Posten" published 12 cartoons ridiculing Islam, September 30, 2005. Islam forbids representations of the Prophet. Cartooning the Prophet is a laughing slap in the face to that popularly held tenant. We should have understand this better than we seemed to, instead newspapers hedonistically trumpeted their right to say anything what-so-ever that they wanted to - and gave not a moment to the thought that maybe, they were being hurtful. The Old Testament also speaks against idolatry, a injunction that seems to be ubiquitously ignored by Christians. It was a part of the reason Jesus overturned tables of the money lenders and smashed icons at the Temple in Jerusalem, where he then spoke about the corruption of the word of God there.(link to bible.cc)
From my perspective, we had experienced none of the above craziness in the wake of 9/11 here in Canada. One of the foundations of the western enlightenment is the separation of church and state - but Ontario has had public funding of Catholic schools - and if Canada is supposed to be the icon of multiculturalism in the world - then everything seemed to be going just swimmingly circa 2007. Multiculturalism was working here, went my thinking, because we we're more enlightened that those lunatic, nationalist Europeans and their world wars that we saved them from. So I thought then... But being a romantic but not naive, I knew this would be coming sooner or later.
The psychosis following 9/11, and propelled later by the beating of the drums leading to the Irag Invasion, made thinking clearly on these topics particularly difficult. Further, at that time, the way Buckner kicks legs out from under the cannons of liberal democratic thought was very effective in creating confusion. Rather the than the usual purpose of philosophical debate, that of lighting a path forward towards a better world, Bruckner polemic served to create chaos in thinking. Perhaps a reflection of his own thinking.
In my humble opinion it's essentially Straussian. It presents Socratic paradoxes in current frameworks that are then used by neo-cons and neo-liberals to contort the national politic with-in a generational agenda to dismantle the liberal Democratic framework that evolved as a result of the Cold War.
It's Rush Limbaugh. It's the 'ends justify the means', and it's a metaphor that hides three un-speakable themes; nationalism and racism and sexism. A backwards mindset that hasn't evolved past master/slave economic and sexual relations.
(Hey buck up buckeroo, it's only been 170 years since the British Empire calculated it was in their interest to abolish slavery- we're gettin' there.)
My take on this: accommodate, accommodate and accommodate this generation of new Canadians - their daughters will most likely not wish to isolate themselves thusly - so this too shall pass.
The Government of Quebec though, seems to think creating an 'other' inside the province would be good for the ruling party. Are Jean Charest's Liberal Party looking to stabilize the parties base via the women's vote combined with a Quebec nationalism as they pursue their unpopular neo-liberal 'cut and cut' policies in the wake of the financial melt-down? (As opposed to the right wing dart, 'tax and spend liberals'.)
An 'Un' Proud Canadian, Today
Just like we pretend we did for the Native North American cultures, and towards wave after wave of super-exploited immigrants - this is Canada the New, the apologetic, the enlightened, Can-a-da.
Now, where did I put that Internment Camp?
As I heard on CBC Radio One's talk back feature this morning, I'm very 'un' proud to be a Canadian today.
In 2007 I posted a similar mpeg animation, derived from the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSMI).
I like the DMSP mpeg4 visualization, but the NSIDC visualization has five extra years data. And, most importantly I think, the new one is better 'tuned'; it better represents what a viewer on the ground would see; James Bay at the bottom of Hudson's Bay Canada becomes ice-bound every year (so far), as does the Alaskan Archipelago.
You can download the file by clicking on the earth satellite view. It's 2.9 MB, opens in a blank tab and pops up your download management system. The 'movie' is from NASA and will play in any player as long as you have mpeg4 codecs.
My StatCounter account shows I've gotten a lot of visits to the movie; people like to see the data like that. Very effective imho.
(Click on the map to go to the original Sport Distance Calculator map.)
Tags: Avenue Road, bicycle, bike, biking, College, commute, Eglington Avenue, mapping, map, route, Toronto, University Avenue, wiki,
Cyclists who want to make their own map:
* Go to Sport Distance Calculator, make a map of your favourite route… (save is above the map) * Then post the URL of the map in Twitter (there's a button for that), and add #BikeRouteWiki to the end of your Tweet
I will monitor the Twitter list – when a new map comes in I will take a picture of it to use as thumbnail and publish it HERE and in FilterBlogs – with a link back to the original Sport Distance Calculator user generated map. The original map is secured with a pass word and only the creator can make changes to it.
(If you do change your map – please re-post in the Twitter list – so I’ll be aware of it – changes may effect the search label it gets.)
All Bicycle Route Mapping Wiki Project maps are posted in Twitter at List: '#BikeRouteWiki'.
(Click on the map to go to the original Sport Distance Calculator map.)
Tags: bicycle, bike, biking, commute, Dundas St. East, fast, Greenwood, King St. West, mapping, map, route, Spadina, Toronto, wiki,
Cyclists who want to make their own map:
* Go to Sport Distance Calculator, make a map of your favourite route… (save is above the map) * Then post the URL of the map in Twitter (there's a button for that), and add #BikeRouteWiki to the end of your Tweet
I will monitor the Twitter list – when a new map comes in I will take a picture of it to use as thumbnail and publish it HERE and in FilterBlogs – with a link back to the original Sport Distance Calculator user generated map. The original map is secured with a pass word and only the creator can make changes to it.
(If you do change your map – please re-post in the Twitter list – so I’ll be aware of it – changes may effect the search label it gets.)
All Bicycle Route Mapping Wiki Project maps are posted in Twitter at List: '#BikeRouteWiki'.
(Click on the map to go to the original Sport Distance Calculator map.)
Tags: bicycle, bike, biking, commute, Dundas St. East, Greenwood, King St. West, mapping, map, route, safe, Spadina, Toronto, wiki,
Cyclists who want to make their own map:
* Go to Sport Distance Calculator, make a map of your favourite route… (save is above the map) * Then post the URL of the map in Twitter (there's a button for that), and add #BikeRouteWiki to the end of your Tweet
I will monitor the Twitter list – when a new map comes in I will take a picture of it to use as thumbnail and publish it HERE and in FilterBlogs – with a link back to the original Sport Distance Calculator user generated map. The original map is secured with a pass word and only the creator can make changes to it.
(If you do change your map – please re-post in the Twitter list – so I’ll be aware of it – changes may effect the search label it gets.)
All Bicycle Route Mapping Wiki Project maps are posted in Twitter at List: '#BikeRouteWiki'.
Or, how to 'longtail' a phone conversation you're eavesdropping on but can't hang up the receiver because they'd hear the click and find out.
Podcast of the March 12th 2010 show, "Visiting Hours"
This Week on A Translation of WireTap with host Jonathan Goldstein, I glean an appreciation of the difference between "Owning the Podium" and being caught in the torch-glare of a drugged mob that's struggling with the difference between being god, and just being. Also, I see the reason why, when something awful that stops a room happens, sometimes there's a mute of inappropriate laughter.
When it's over, my question, "Why shouldn't writing be an Olympic Sport?" - is answered.
Her knowledge of music history and music theory had me thinking she must have a degree from some prestigious university; and that the folksy way she tells stories, was excellent journalism learned at the finest schools.
She's self taught.
Laurie Brown brands herself on the web as a Journalist - and professional journalists who've studied the craft in centres of higher learning and who have pieces of paper to say it for them and have years of experience - do not dispute it - even though she has no framed documents on her wall.
Laurie Brown landed a job as host on the weekly Citytv Toronto program "The NewMusic" in 1985. John Martin, pitched the idea of a video-music-magazine to Moses Znaimer the Executive Producer and co-founder of CityTV - the show premiered with hosts Jeanne Beker and J. D. Roberts in 1979. The NewMusic borrowed from the sensibilities of the Rolling Stone and The New Musical Express magazine. The show became a template for MTV and Canada's MuchMusic.
"Making Plans for Nigel" by XTC
(Update 2014/08/15 - Here's an embed of XTC's "Making Plans for Nigel" - that doesn't stare blankly at you and state: 'This video not available in your country'. Maybe.)
For me and my friends it was an important affirmation in a time when nowhere in the television establishment could we find a positive reflection.
The first video I ever saw was "Making Plans for Nigel" by XTC; needless to say, we all felt like Nigel. Seeing this "video" on TV made us feel a whole lot better. Moses Znaimer hired Denise Donlon and Laurie Brown in 1985 - Donlon as producer/host and Brown as host. With Donlon producing, Laurie Brown learned the ropes of broadcast television 'Moses Style' with no prior experience - which wasn't extraordinary at CityTV - it fit the way things were done with-in Moses Znaimer's vision, "The Participatory and Interactive Streetfront, Studioless, Television Operating System."
Donlon's influence was a big part of what became the second wave in the life of the show. Donlon rose to executive producer, later president of Sony Music Canada and now the head of CBC Radio - English Services.
Laurie Brown became associate producer at CityTV and in 1990 moved on to CBC Newsworld as reporter. Later she hosted her own segment on "The Journal" called "On the Arts". She quickly learned the new meme at the CBC - the old school network television model, big budget, high-end production values. She then quit CBC to go write. To do that, she bought a home in her native Nova Scotia and came back with "Success Without College: Days and Nights in Rock & Roll TV"(Penguin) in 1994. (Which I have yet to read.)
Spreading great music is important to Laurie Brown; she's the real thing, she has a higher calling. I believe it is her passion for the larger truths; her belief in the goodness in people and the knowledge that, if we can just get it right - see the world as it really is - we can solve any problem.
Brown's faith in human nature seems to provide the thread that creates structure in her learning - that institutional learning provides for most of her less enlightened peers in journalism today. You can hear it in her ad-libbed story telling between eclectic selections of music on CBC Radio Two's "The Signal" (10:00 p.m. to midnight Monday through Saturday).
Laurie Brown is currently holed up at her Nova Scotia home working on a novel while at the same time recording new episodes of The Signal. There is no such thing as a 'good example' of such an eclectic play list - producer Andy Sheppard and Brown create something brand new every night. A couple of nights ago though, this selection was a musical epiphany for me, and it spurred me to finally write on the great Broadcaster and Journalist. Owen Pallett - Lewis Takes Action
(Click on the map to go to the original Sport Distance Calculator map.)
Tags: bicycle, bike, biking, Bloor, Humber, mapping, map, path, route, recreational, Royal York, safe, Toronto, wiki,
Cyclists who want to make their own map:
* Go to Sport Distance Calculator, make a map of your favourite route… (save is above the map) * Then post the URL of the map in Twitter (there's a button for that), and add #BikeRouteWiki to the end of your Tweet
I will monitor the Twitter list – when a new map comes in I will take a picture of it to use as thumbnail and publish it HERE and in FilterBlogs – with a link back to the original Sport Distance Calculator user generated map. The original map is secured with a pass word and only the creator can make changes to it.
(If you do change your map – please re-post in the Twitter list – so I’ll be aware of it – changes may effect the search label it gets.)
All Bicycle Route Mapping Wiki Project maps are posted in Twitter at List: '#BikeRouteWiki'.
This year's mild winter has forced the Manitoba government to close its winter road system earlier than usual. Some of the roads, which are used to transport goods to remote communities, were open for less than a month.
To put this in a geo-context, here's an image of a Google Map of the northeast quarter of the North American Great Plains and the Great Lakes Lowlands. Chicago is near the bottom of the map; the red Google marker indicates Wrong Lake Manitoba, which is 300 km north of the capital Winnipeg.
*where singer songwriter Neil Young played in his first band*
A group of Truckers is stranded near Wrong Lake in the north east of the province.
At least half a dozen semi-truck drivers are stuck in the mud and one 52-year-old driver has been airlifted to safety after an early spring thaw left the freight haulers stranded on a winter road near Bloodvein First Nation.
The province shut down the seasonal transport road linking many northern First Nations last Wednesday, after warm temperatures made maintaining the vital winter routes impossible. A convoy of trucks was dropping off loads of groceries and gravel crushers to the Island Lake communities of Garden Hill and St. Theresa Point at the time of the closing, and didn't depart for Winnipeg until late Friday evening.
[...]
Earlier this week the Manitoba government asked for Ottawa's help to airlift critical goods to northern communities after the early shutdown of the winter road system. About half of the winter roads opened by Feb. 1, with the rest opening Feb. 12. Normally, the road system -- temporary routes created over frozen swamps, muskeg and even lakes -- is open for about eight weeks.
[,,,]
A state of emergency has been declared by two northern First Nations -- Shamattawa and Red Sucker Lake -- that depend on goods arriving on winter roads.
Northern Grand Chief David Harper, of Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak, expects other communities to soon call states of emergency. His organization is assessing the communities to find out how much their supplies fell short this year.
Harper said the winter roads are used to truck in non-perishable food and building supplies, as well as fuel to heat homes and operate vehicles, boats and planes.
MKO is supporting the province's call for the federal government to help alleviate costs to fly in urgently needed goods.
In this map, surface temperature data from 1951 - 1980 is compared with data collected for 2000 - 2009. These data points are really good - GISS is error-ing way on the conservative side here.
*since the 'teabaggers' or 'teacuppers' or here's a new one, 'teapotters' (tempest in a), have made carbon emission climate change denial-ism one of their psycho-babble talking points*
By choosing recent data as the base line in this map, we are confident in the arctic numbers - which are sparse from earlier; the long range bomber developed during WW ll changed that. The data source is likely the military installations placed there as part of the DEW LINE early warning system against a Soviet Nuclear attack (GISS doesn't say - it's a secret).
Notice the red spot above the Alaskan archipelago. Scientists have recorded data that describes El Niño and La Niña effect in the Pacific that sees surface temperatures in the Ocean radically change, which in turn changes weather patterns over the Pacific. When those patterns are forced into The Rocky Mountain chain by the spinning of the planet they run up the west coast of North America. When they reach Alaska they fork - some continues north into the arctic and some spills east and south into the North American Great Plains and the North American Boreal Forest (including northern Manitoba).
The other northern hot spot on the GISS map is at the top of the Atlantic Ocean's Gulf stream, just north of Great Britain. We don't know yet if this 'turning over; effect recorded in the Pacific Ocean happens in the Atlantic but scientists have measured ocean currents called "The Thermohaline Circulation" (Wikipedia). In the Atlantic the current follows a similar path as the Gulf Stream (a weather pattern) - up the east coast of North America turning east just south of Newfoundland and then across the ocean south of Greenland and Iceland to Great Britain and north to the hot spot on the map.
El Niño and La Niña are prime examples of how the oceans can affect global temperatures. They describe abnormally warm or cool sea surface temperatures in the South Pacific that are caused by changing ocean currents.
Global temperatures tend to decrease in the wake of La Niña, which occurs when upwelling cold water off the coast of Peru spreads westward in the equatorial Pacific Ocean. La Niña moderates the impact of greenhouse-gas driven warming, lingered during the early months of 2009 and gave way to the beginning of an El Niño phase in October that's expected to continue in 2010.
An especially powerful El Niño cycle in 1998 is thought to have contributed to the unusually high temperatures that year, and Hansen's group estimates that there's a good chance 2010 will be the warmest year on record if the current El Niño persists. At most, scientists estimate that El Niño and La Niña can cause global temperatures to deviate by about 0.2°C (0.36°F).
I usually don't let myself even think of spring until after half way through March. We regularly get snow in the second week of this month and that usually marks the last snow. This year it's been over 10 C for over a week now.
After some articles are 'put to bed' at FilterBlogs they get a Posthumous Longtail Aperitif; links to related articles published after my original post - towards a better user experience for you, the reader:
March 20, 2010
In an aside near the end of this article, I hypothesize about the way our brains learn through physical activity. Today, while listening to CBC Radio One's Quirks and Quarks I twigged a related story. From the March 20 2010 episode of CBC Radio's Quirks and Quarks in a piece entitled "Train the Brain" (third segment), Bob McDonald Interviews Dr. Kai Miller, a physicist and doctoral student in neurobiology and medicine at the University of Washington in Seattle who is collecting and analyzing brain wave data of imagined physical actions and comparing it to the real actions effects on brain activity.
CBC Radio One, Quirks and Quarks - "Train the Brain"
In an earlier post, "Google Filling Print Media Voids on the Internet", I rounded up some neat "Thingy's" I'd found in Google Search - little virtual machines Google has added - that I happened upon by chance.
Here's some examples from the earlier post:
The Definition "Thingy".
Twitter Live Feed "Thingy".
These "Thingy's" - these virtual machines - are smart; they know who I am, where I am, what I usually search for and what I'm likely to choose from a list. They remind me of the information I used to get from my local Newspaper. With Geo-Location Google can aggregate local info from the world wide web and provide me with useful, local data, much like my daily newspaper used to do.
*I stopped buying newspapers after they collectively dropped the ball on the Iraq War build up.*
Google has replaced editors, layout craftspeople and printers with some very short lines of HTML code.
What are these Thingy's?
Since publishing the earlier article I have been exploring; using keywords like "weather Toronto" to get real time and local info at the click of a mouse. When the clocks sprung forward last weekend I searched "current time" and got this:
*'Yikes', I said to myself, 'I 'd better get to bed!' My sleep patterns are screwed up since the time change, more than they were before. The more I think about this EST/DST thing, and the more I think it's original purpose - to make people feel better about the war effort during World War ll [Wikipedia article] - the more I think that now, it's just a way for governments to place themselves between the people and nature. Such huberus, such self important posturing - like the nukes they have aren't enough. Why do governments all over the planet have such an insecurity complex? That observation offers a further insight into why they constantly use macro engineering formula designed to divide us with fear of the 'other'.*
But, anyways... Back to the point of this post...
I'm constantly tripping over these little Google machines everywhere I go. Here's a new one I found this morning called, "Results from people in your social circle for Toronto Blue Jays - BETA": (The link should bring up YOUR social circle for Toronto Blue Jays - which might have no data.)
"Cell Phone Apps on Desktop?
Where are all these Thingy's coming from? Is there a place where I can look at all of them and choose? So I decided to dig a little deeper... . Voila! I found this page in Google:
It took me some time to figure out why these virtual machines are appearing now, but with them all in one place it's apparent they were originally designed to download on your android phone - they're Cell Phone Apps Google has re-written so they work in Google Search - on the desktop.
My Blog is becoming my "Home Page", one of several reference hubs I use to gather all my Internet activity in one place (other's include Twitter, RSS feeds and email). I think my blog is one of the most useful hubs because I know what's here and where it is, because I write all this stuff.
*That physical act of typing - in tandem with learning - wires info in our brains better than other ways we learn stuff like; Reading (somewhat passive), Listening (somewhat passive), Watching (really passive). Physical action combined with the creation of new mental pathways, creates a web, a multi connected mesh of contacts to an idea. Thus, if I write it I'm more likely to remember a thing because I have created more possible paths to the data, and a way of verify the path is likely correct. If I write it while running along side a crowd of rioting demonstrators, I'm REALLY likely to remember it!
The only thing that 'learns' us as well, I believe, is sport. The key I think, is both writing and sport have a physical element involved in the learning process; sport involves more muscles, more neurons and more brain areas than typing - but any co-relation between the physical, and learning helps map the stuff in our brains as we learn. They are different but the same; for example - it's hard to Google stuff while your running out a two base hit- on the other hand - it's impossible to learn how to read facial expressions in an online social network.*
So, to get back to the point of this post - again... These phone apps for desktop look really handy, so to start, I'm going to Post Google's "Search Features" links in my Sidebar for quick reference; like today's weather forecast... Then I'm going to the park - it's going up to 16 C (60 F) today - there's bound to be some baseball, a game of 'round ups' perhaps where I can reinforce some happy facial imprints :)
"A report on the Windsor, Ont., hospital at the centre of surgical errors recommends reinstating full privileges for Dr. Barbara Heartwell, a surgeon who performed mistaken mastectomies.
[...]
"The final three recommendations refer to the ministry itself, including setting a March 2011 deadline for a provincewide quality assurance program for pathology reports
"Hours before the release of the report, Dr. Allan Forse, chief of surgery at Hôtel-Dieu, announced his resignation, effective Sept. 1."
Changing the positions of the deck chairs on the Titanic; and no one gets even a 'remark' on their resume. "Quality assurance program" is a ad speak term for a PR program - so people 'feel' like they're getting good doctoring.
Dr. Barbara Heartwell's "Opps" Resume:
Janice Laporte of Sarnia mistaken mastectomy in 2001 by Dr. Barbara Heartwell.
Reprimand by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario in 2005 after a botched thyroid surgery performed by Dr. Barbara Heartwell.
Laurie Johnston of Leamington (pursuing a $2M law suit) mistaken mastectomy in November 2009 by Dr. Barbara Heartwell.
WINDSOR, Ont. -- Hotel-Dieu Grace Hospital's board of directors restored Dr. Barbara Heartwell's surgical privileges Thursday, concluding that the surgeon is not a threat to patient safety.
[...]
On Feb. 23, Heartwell voluntarily stopped performing surgeries at Hotel-Dieu while the hospital reviewed her past cases. But she changed her mind three days later, prompting then-interim chief of staff Dr. Kevin Tracey to suspend her privileges.
The MAC found that Heartwell’s suspension was not necessary because “less restrictive measures” could be taken. It recommended to the board that her hospital privileges be reinstated and that another surgeon review her cancer cases for three months.
[...]
Heartwell admitted she misread a pathology report in one of the cases because of “a confluence of factors,” including a “poorly formatted” report and a positive ultrasound test.
So Dr. B. Heartwell was in a rush and didn't read the pathology report in it's entirety.
A review by the administration at Hotel-Dieu Grace Hospital decided that is was in the best interests of the community and the Hospital to require another surgeon review all Heartwell's cases before she commences an operation for the next three months.
This is a major slap down for a professional; it's like the surgeon is back to interning. This will undoubtedly result in her resignation from the hospital, as working under such conditions de facto, admits the doctor agrees that she is not competent.
In another case involving this modern doctor the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario (CPSO) investigated another surgery Dr B. Heartwell preformed in 2005.
The Star learned that Heartwell was reprimanded by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario in 2005 after she performed a surgery that left a patient's thyroid condition untreated and didn't document the fact that the surgery was unsuccessful.
The CPSO issued a written caution to Heartwell after the patient -- who wants to remain anonymous -- complained that she went in for surgery to have a thyroid nodule removed but came out of the operating room with it still intact.
The patient's overactive thyroid was not treated and Heartwell had instead removed tissue from the thymus, also located in the neck area.
Nevertheless, Heartwell wrote in her operative note that she had cut through the patient's thyroid and that the procedure was "essentially" carried out.
The CPSO found that Heartwell failed to "exercise sufficient care" to make sure the operation was going as planned and noted the discrepancy between what she described in her notes and what actually happened on the operating room table.
All along the way her Lawyer appears to be giving advice designed to minimize indications in Dr. Heartwell's record that she may not be competent, or stable enough to be a professional. This is a lawyers job, to best represent their client. This will allow the quick doctor to take another job in another bailly-wick.
Unfortunately, three destroyed lives in Ontario - under the current review structures - means that another Province or State will now become the setting for more 'quick' doctoring.
Note the gremlin showing 'about 1 hour ago', should read, 'about 1 minute ago'.
A quick Google of my headline gets exact headlines from several places (here, here) starting March 10, 2010.
Using a 'Tour Du France' allusion: I'm not in the lead group of 7 or so riders; but I'm right behind, in that first mass of 150 riders (multiply by 10,000 and that's a pretty accurate number of W3 developers).
Now with Twitter geo-location I can see where they are... . :)
Shadowy Men On A Shadowy Planet - Having An Average Weekend (Kids In The Hall Theme).
Their sound represents the Queen West - Handsome Ned - Cowboy Punk movement of the late seventies and eighties. The movements still going, still evolving; see "The Nationals".
They started out playing the various dives in Kensington Market, like 'The Greeks'. If The Greeks had sawdust on the floor to soak up all the spilt beer it would have been better - but it didn't, and it wasn't - get used to it.
Kids in the Hall are Back, with a new production on CBC, so I had to get my fix today. Still a great sound. Hope you enjoyed it.
Shadowy Men signed with independent label "K Records" out of Olympia, Washington, says blog FeelNumb.com ...
..co-founded, owned, and operated by Calvin Johnson. The K motto is “exploding the teenage underground into passionate revolt against the corporate ogre since 1982.” The label has been so influential in anti-corporate independent music and underground DIY punk culture, particularly in the Olympia music scene, that it was the subject of a documentary directed by Heather Rose Dominic entitled The Shield Around the K, with a tagline of “Do It Yourself”.
(my emphasis)
That pretty well sums up what I've been doing around here. Doesn't work though; unless the parents are with the kids - then you stop wars and stuff.
Apparently Kurt Cobain tattooed a small shield with a K inside on his arm that referenced the label. I want one to go beside my Hunter S. Thompson icon in the side bar. I will go get that now.
* Go to Sport Distance Calculator, make a map of your favourite route… (save is above the map) * Then post the URL of the map in Twitter (there's a button for that), and add #BikeRouteWiki to the end of your Tweet
I will monitor the Twitter list – when a new map comes in I will take a picture of it to use as thumbnail and publish it in FilterBlogs – with a link back to the original Sport Distance Calculator user generated map. The original map is secured with a pass word and only the creator can make changes to it.
(If you do change your map – please re-post in the Twitter list – so I’ll be aware of it – changes may effect the search label it gets.)
All Bicycle Route Mapping Wiki Project maps are posted in Twitter at List: '#BikeRouteWiki'.
* Go to Sport Distance Calculator, make a map of your favourite route… (save is above the map) * Then post the URL of the map in Twitter (there's a button for that), and add #BikeRouteWiki to the end of your Tweet
I will monitor the Twitter list – when a new map comes in I will take a picture of it to use as thumbnail and publish it HERE and in FilterBlogs – with a link back to the original Sport Distance Calculator user generated map. The original map is secured with a pass word and only the creator can make changes to it.
(If you do change your map – please re-post in the Twitter list – so I’ll be aware of it – changes may effect the search label it gets.)
All Bicycle Route Mapping Wiki Project maps are posted in Twitter at List: '#BikeRouteWiki'.
Everyones familiar with Bar Codes, they're read by an ultra violet scanner. If you've ever used the Self Check Out at your local Supermarket, you've used one. They're finicky, sometimes you have to try again, and again to get the scanner to read the code.
Well the solution to that for high speed applications like production lines, where parts are speeding past an eye on an assembly line, is this QR Code, it can be read by visible light sensors, like your camera phone!
I could imagine 'Secret Agents' embedding information in all kinds of visual media with this technology; like in a photograph in a magazine or even in a video stream!
