While I was generating anagrams, look what I find. NICE. :)
Internet Anagram Server : Anagrams for Fecarotta: "Thought of the Moment:
In a time of drastic change it is the learners who inherit the future. The learned usually find themselves equipped to live in a world that no longer exists. -Eric Hoffer, philosopher and author (1902-1983)"
Monday, December 29, 2008
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Monday, August 18, 2008
Lifelike animation heralds new era for computer games - Times Online
A new level of realism has been attained for Computer graphics. It looks like they FINALLY got the eyes right!
Awesome job guys over at Image Metrics. This is Emily, which is significantly more impressive than any video I've seen, even from their website. I'm convinced that in my lifetime these will be standard in every digital experience, and even perhaps change how work occurs. What if its easier bandwidth wise to do this: 1. Video my face in standard lighting with HD. Then 2. Send just the coordinates of change over the pipe. The screen renders in realtime. Way easier than piping HD video over the Net. AND my appearance would be consistent without me doing any real work on it :)
Lifelike animation heralds new era for computer games - Times Online
Awesome job guys over at Image Metrics. This is Emily, which is significantly more impressive than any video I've seen, even from their website. I'm convinced that in my lifetime these will be standard in every digital experience, and even perhaps change how work occurs. What if its easier bandwidth wise to do this: 1. Video my face in standard lighting with HD. Then 2. Send just the coordinates of change over the pipe. The screen renders in realtime. Way easier than piping HD video over the Net. AND my appearance would be consistent without me doing any real work on it :)
Lifelike animation heralds new era for computer games - Times Online
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Computer Reads Minds
Another one of these Transhuman things......popping up all over the place.
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Computer trained to "read" mind images of words
Thu May 29, 2008 4:32pm EDT
By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A computer has been trained to "read" people's minds by looking at scans of their brains as they thought about specific words, researchers said on Thursday.
They hope their study, published in the journal Science, might lead to better understanding of how and where the brain stores information.
This might lead to better treatments for language disorders and learning disabilities, said Tom Mitchell of the Machine Learning Department at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, who helped lead the study.
"The question we are trying to get at is one people have been thinking about for centuries, which is: How does the brain organize knowledge?" Mitchell said in a telephone interview.
"It is only in the last 10 or 15 years that we have this way that we can study this question."
Mitchell's team used functional magnetic resonance imaging, a type of brain scan that can see real-time brain activity.
They calibrated the computer by having nine student volunteers think of 58 different words, while imaging their brain activity.
"We gave instructions to people where we would tell them, 'We are going to show you words and we would like you, when you see this word, to think about its properties,'" Mitchell said.
They imaged each of the nine people thinking about the 58 different words, to create a kind of "average" image of a word.
"If I show you the brain images for two words, the main thing you notice is that they look pretty much alike. If you look at them for a while you might see subtle differences," Mitchell said.
"We have the program calculate the mean brain activity over all of the words that somebody has looked at. That gives us the average when somebody thinks about a word, and then we subtract that average out from all those images," Mitchell added.
Then the test came.
"After we train on the other 58 words, we can say 'Here are two new words you have not seen, celery and airplane.'" The computer was asked to choose which brain image corresponded with which word.
The computer passed the test, predicting when a brain image was taken when a person thought about the word "celery" and when the assigned word was "airplane."
The next step is to study brain activity for phrases.
"If I say 'rabbit' or 'fast rabbit' or 'cuddly rabbit', those are very different ideas," Mitchell said.
"I want to basically use that as a kind of scaffolding for studying language processing in the brain."
Mitchell was surprised at how similar brain activity was among the nine volunteers, although the work was painstaking. For an MRI to work well, the patient must sit or lie very still for several minutes.
"It can be hard to focus," Mitchell said. "Somewhere in the middle of that their stomach growls. And all of sudden they think, 'I'm hungry -- oops.' It's not a controllable experiment."
(Editing by Eric Walsh)
------
Computer trained to "read" mind images of words
Thu May 29, 2008 4:32pm EDT
By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A computer has been trained to "read" people's minds by looking at scans of their brains as they thought about specific words, researchers said on Thursday.
They hope their study, published in the journal Science, might lead to better understanding of how and where the brain stores information.
This might lead to better treatments for language disorders and learning disabilities, said Tom Mitchell of the Machine Learning Department at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, who helped lead the study.
"The question we are trying to get at is one people have been thinking about for centuries, which is: How does the brain organize knowledge?" Mitchell said in a telephone interview.
"It is only in the last 10 or 15 years that we have this way that we can study this question."
Mitchell's team used functional magnetic resonance imaging, a type of brain scan that can see real-time brain activity.
They calibrated the computer by having nine student volunteers think of 58 different words, while imaging their brain activity.
"We gave instructions to people where we would tell them, 'We are going to show you words and we would like you, when you see this word, to think about its properties,'" Mitchell said.
They imaged each of the nine people thinking about the 58 different words, to create a kind of "average" image of a word.
"If I show you the brain images for two words, the main thing you notice is that they look pretty much alike. If you look at them for a while you might see subtle differences," Mitchell said.
"We have the program calculate the mean brain activity over all of the words that somebody has looked at. That gives us the average when somebody thinks about a word, and then we subtract that average out from all those images," Mitchell added.
Then the test came.
"After we train on the other 58 words, we can say 'Here are two new words you have not seen, celery and airplane.'" The computer was asked to choose which brain image corresponded with which word.
The computer passed the test, predicting when a brain image was taken when a person thought about the word "celery" and when the assigned word was "airplane."
The next step is to study brain activity for phrases.
"If I say 'rabbit' or 'fast rabbit' or 'cuddly rabbit', those are very different ideas," Mitchell said.
"I want to basically use that as a kind of scaffolding for studying language processing in the brain."
Mitchell was surprised at how similar brain activity was among the nine volunteers, although the work was painstaking. For an MRI to work well, the patient must sit or lie very still for several minutes.
"It can be hard to focus," Mitchell said. "Somewhere in the middle of that their stomach growls. And all of sudden they think, 'I'm hungry -- oops.' It's not a controllable experiment."
(Editing by Eric Walsh)
Monday, April 07, 2008
Liang Qichao on Love - Quotation - MSN Encarta
Liang Qichao on Love - Quotation - MSN Encarta: "Where there is dynamism there is interpenetration; where there is interpenetration there is universal love, so all mutually sympathetic things cannot remain apart."
Liang Qichao (1873 - 1929)
Liang Qichao (1873 - 1929)
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Government
"A government that is big enough to give you all you want is big enough to take it all away." -- Barry Goldwater
Well, that says it all.
Had a great birthday recently. We stayed home, rather than the traditional going out to eat, we cracked open the video cases and watched videos from my kid's childhood. It was awesome and I recommend it to everyone who has kids, or just old videos. Its simply wonderful to go back and recollect those moments. It compresses your timeline, it makes the past feel like the present, and it helps gather your thoughts in how the 11 year old in front of you was such a little muffin not so long ago.
Well, that says it all.
Had a great birthday recently. We stayed home, rather than the traditional going out to eat, we cracked open the video cases and watched videos from my kid's childhood. It was awesome and I recommend it to everyone who has kids, or just old videos. Its simply wonderful to go back and recollect those moments. It compresses your timeline, it makes the past feel like the present, and it helps gather your thoughts in how the 11 year old in front of you was such a little muffin not so long ago.
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Delta Funding -- out
Did I tell this wonderful blog audience that my previous employer, Delta Funding, is no more? They folded a few months ago. I avoided the axe once again. I have a knack at seeing the axe coming, thus my streak of zero unemployment since I was 18 ( save college, which was intentional.)
Its interesting to think what would have happened had I stayed. I'd be commuting to the city everyday, part of possibility the worst grind in the world. I'm fairly certain my life would be orders of magnitude worse. Virtual office, as my current employer allows, is a HUGE plus. It gives me freedom to work when I can, and get away when I need to, and still work effectively. Its huge. The commute? Nary 20 minutes. THere's NO Place in NY I could have that commute. The only option would have been to start my own gig.....which requires funds far beyond what I currently possess.
Playing a ton of Call Of Duty 4 on the PS3. With its easy online features, extraordinary graphics, and great titles, I just don't see PC gaming getting out of this decade as a big player. The consoles rule the world.
Its interesting to think what would have happened had I stayed. I'd be commuting to the city everyday, part of possibility the worst grind in the world. I'm fairly certain my life would be orders of magnitude worse. Virtual office, as my current employer allows, is a HUGE plus. It gives me freedom to work when I can, and get away when I need to, and still work effectively. Its huge. The commute? Nary 20 minutes. THere's NO Place in NY I could have that commute. The only option would have been to start my own gig.....which requires funds far beyond what I currently possess.
Playing a ton of Call Of Duty 4 on the PS3. With its easy online features, extraordinary graphics, and great titles, I just don't see PC gaming getting out of this decade as a big player. The consoles rule the world.
Saturday, February 16, 2008
TopGun scored!
Went to my son, TopGun, basketball game this Saturday, and it was AWESOME. He shot, and scored, saving the game from certain defeat! It was a lot of fun. The team really needs to learn how to pass the ball, but the play is aggressive and fun to watch.
Other things...we're getting ready for a little trip up to the mountains next month to take advantage of the epic snow up there this year.
Chubbie has found computers! He's relentless about them.....every day playing this or that....miniclip.com or battlefield, which he is dangerously good at for a 3 year old.
ShortStuff, my 11 year old girl, made us breakfast today for the first time. Dressed Eggs....I really liked them. Nutmeg, eggs, and alot of butter. Awesome.
Work is busy and good....need a break. Went to Internet Retailer conference. lots of learning. Love lost....its great this year. House was great with Mira Sorvinio ( sp).
Tax time....paying down car loan. Require freedom!
Wife got a killer hair cut. Blonde.....ooooohhh... :)
Other things...we're getting ready for a little trip up to the mountains next month to take advantage of the epic snow up there this year.
Chubbie has found computers! He's relentless about them.....every day playing this or that....miniclip.com or battlefield, which he is dangerously good at for a 3 year old.
ShortStuff, my 11 year old girl, made us breakfast today for the first time. Dressed Eggs....I really liked them. Nutmeg, eggs, and alot of butter. Awesome.
Work is busy and good....need a break. Went to Internet Retailer conference. lots of learning. Love lost....its great this year. House was great with Mira Sorvinio ( sp).
Tax time....paying down car loan. Require freedom!
Wife got a killer hair cut. Blonde.....ooooohhh... :)
Monday, February 04, 2008
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Stephen Hawking's Quotations
Hawking's wonderful. I especially enjoy 10 and 2...
10. "Einstein was wrong when he said "God does not play dice". Consideration of black holes suggests, not only that God does play dice, but that He sometimes confuses us by throwing them where they can't be seen."
9. "I have noticed even people who claim everything is predestined, and that we can do nothing to change it, look before they cross the road."
8. "My goal is simple. It is a complete understanding of the universe, why it is as it is and why it exists at all."
7. "I find that American & Scandinavian accents work better with women." In response to a question about the American accent of his synthesiser.
6. "Someone told me that each equation I included in the book would halve the sales. In the end, however, I did put in one equation, Einstein's famous equation, E = mc2. I hope that this will not scare off half of my potential readers."
5. "My expectations were reduced to zero when I was 21. Everything since then has been a bonus."
4. "To show this diagram properly, I would really need a four dimensional screen. However, because of government cuts, we could manage to provide only a two dimensional screen."
3. "Life would be tragic if it weren't funny."
2. "The whole history of science has been the gradual realization that events do not happen in an arbitrary manner, but that they reflect a certain underlying order, which may or may not be divinely inspired."
1. "Eternity is a very long time, especially towards the end."
10. "Einstein was wrong when he said "God does not play dice". Consideration of black holes suggests, not only that God does play dice, but that He sometimes confuses us by throwing them where they can't be seen."
9. "I have noticed even people who claim everything is predestined, and that we can do nothing to change it, look before they cross the road."
8. "My goal is simple. It is a complete understanding of the universe, why it is as it is and why it exists at all."
7. "I find that American & Scandinavian accents work better with women." In response to a question about the American accent of his synthesiser.
6. "Someone told me that each equation I included in the book would halve the sales. In the end, however, I did put in one equation, Einstein's famous equation, E = mc2. I hope that this will not scare off half of my potential readers."
5. "My expectations were reduced to zero when I was 21. Everything since then has been a bonus."
4. "To show this diagram properly, I would really need a four dimensional screen. However, because of government cuts, we could manage to provide only a two dimensional screen."
3. "Life would be tragic if it weren't funny."
2. "The whole history of science has been the gradual realization that events do not happen in an arbitrary manner, but that they reflect a certain underlying order, which may or may not be divinely inspired."
1. "Eternity is a very long time, especially towards the end."
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