Factlesstag:blog.mctaylor.com,2008://12008-12-31T20:34:45Zthoughts, and news clippings by M Taylor about computing, technology, security, and cryptography.Movable Type 3.35The War on Science and Knowledgetag:blog.mctaylor.com,2008://1.482008-12-31T20:05:37Z2008-12-31T20:34:45ZI'm embarrassed to be a Canadian, after the news story of 18-year-old University of Saskatchewan chemistry student Lewis Casey be arrested and charged in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan with trumped up charges in a blatant political attempt to save face after mistakenly...mctaylorhttp://www.mctaylor.com/
Lewis Casey be arrested and charged in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan with trumped up charges in a blatant political attempt to save face after mistakenly raiding and arresting Mr. Casey on suspicion of producing crystal meth (methamphetamine). Okay, mistakes happen when investigating possible leads, but what appears to be potentially crass political manoeuvring of charging Lewis Casey on explosive related charges, when it is not clear that any illegal explosives were actually found.
Original article: Clandestine lab discovered Thursday not meth lab: police, The Star Phoenix December 20, re-edited December 28, 2008]]>
Man faces explosives charge, The Star Phoenix, December 22, 2008
Latest report Student held on explosives charge released, article in The Star Phoenix newspaper, December 26, 2008, by Lori Coolican
Blogs which covered the story (and how I became aware of the situation):
When they criminalize chemistry, all chemists are criminals, Pharyngula by PZ Myers.December 28, 2008
Teen with Home Chemistry Lab Arrested for Meth, Bombs, Crimes Of The Future by Annalee Newitz, Dec 27 2008
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The social traveties that poverty, illiteracy can lead totag:blog.mctaylor.com,2008://1.472008-11-28T15:55:48Z2008-12-01T19:38:51ZThe 'Witch-Children' of Akwa Ibom By Reuben Abati, Friday, November 28, 2008 from the Guardian (Nigerian newspaper) original editorial...mctaylorhttp://www.mctaylor.com/
The 'Witch-Children' of Akwa Ibom
By Reuben Abati, Friday, November 28, 2008
from the Guardian (Nigerian newspaper)
original editorial]]>
Chemistry, the illegal science?tag:blog.mctaylor.com,2008://1.462008-11-13T02:48:49Z2008-11-13T03:58:52ZAfter reading yet another story about home / amateur chemistry becoming less than welcome from government officials I have to admit I am more than mildly annoyed....mctaylorhttp://www.mctaylor.com/
ess than welcome from government officials I have to admit I am more than mildly annoyed.
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Underground Science: Chemistry hobbyists face a labyrinth of local and state regulations (Chemical & Engineering News November 10, 2008 Volume 86, Number 45 pp. 38-40)
APC Forum - Amateur Pyrotechnics & Chemistry forums
References (for amateur/ beginner chemists):
Readily Available Chemicals - affordable (typically) and readily available sources of chemicals, ~50% of this can be found in either grocery or a hardware store
Concise Chemitry - Prof. Krasnic's chemistry textbooks, chemistry references (contains redundant recommendations, i.e. you don't necessarily need multiple chemistry dictionaries), and chemistry books recommendations are useful for considering when looking to build your personal library but take with a grain of salt.
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classic articles by Jim Williamstag:blog.mctaylor.com,2008://1.452008-11-04T03:16:01Z2008-11-04T03:30:55ZI believe I have linked to Shop Class as Soulcraft in The New Atlantis web-zine before, but I keep running across in various venues, and it is too good to miss. Anyhow, what I really wanted to mention was a...mctaylorhttp://www.mctaylor.com/
Shop Class as Soulcraft in The New Atlantis web-zine before, but I keep running across in various venues, and it is too good to miss.
Anyhow, what I really wanted to mention was a couple of very readable articles written by Jim WIlliams, a famous analog (electronics) designer at Linear Technologies, the first of which you don't need to be an electrical engineer or a geek to understand. Try fixing it yourself is as much philosophy as electronics, and I think anyone can appreciate the lesson Jim is trying to share. The second is "Tripping the light fantastic: a case study in circuit design" which although more technical is still an insightful essay on process (the good kind) and is a wonderful description of what engineering really is. You can browse more of Jim's writings at EDN, including Somthing from nothing.]]>
Tales From The Cube column which is second to reading Bob Pease's column, Pease Porridge in EDN.
Enjoy.]]>
Algorithm Ink (playing with Javascript)tag:blog.mctaylor.com,2008://1.442008-10-15T00:12:29Z2008-10-15T00:25:20ZAza Raskin ported Chris Coyne's Context Free to Javascript / Canvas. The result, Algorithm Ink is dangerously fun. It uses a simple scripting language or design grammar called CFDG. It can use recursion and (pseudo-) random numbers to implement IFS...mctaylorhttp://www.mctaylor.com/
Aza Raskin ported Chris Coyne's Context Free to Javascript / Canvas.
The result, Algorithm Ink is dangerously fun. It uses a simple scripting language or design grammar called CFDG. It can use recursion and (pseudo-) random numbers to implement IFS fractal or fractal-like images.
Caveat: Canvas is (currently) only supported in Firefox 3 (Mozilla), Safari, and Opera. Sorry for anyone using Google Chrome or MS Internet Explorer.]]>
Imbibe tag:blog.mctaylor.com,2008://1.432008-08-09T19:45:35Z2008-08-09T20:31:59ZFirst off, I just found out that Greene King IPA (India Pale Ale, you know like Keith's) is available the LCBO in Ontario. Sweet. The Green Dragon pub around the corner from my place in Cambridge was a Greene King...mctaylorhttp://www.mctaylor.com/
IPA (India Pale Ale, you know like Keith's) is available the LCBO in Ontario. Sweet. The Green Dragon pub around the corner from my place in Cambridge was a Greene King pub, so I'm familiar and fond of their IPA. It's on sale even, fifty cents off a bottle. So that's today's mission.
Lately I've been trying to learn a bit about cocktails, which is funny in so far as I drink very little lately. Anyhow, my latest "lesions" was learning the difference between various American and Canadian whiskey / whisky's. From Bourbon, rye, Canadian rye, Tennessee, Scotch and Irish, and terms like sour mash, sweet mash, malt, wort, and 'bottled in bond'.
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Drink Boy, Art of Drink, and Gremolata.
For mixing cocktails, one ingredients I am not familiar with is bitters, the most common of which is Angostura bitters which can be found in many grocery stores in Canada. Another less common one is Peychaud's Bitters, originally from New Orleans, but moved due to ownership changes. It is available from Buffalo Trace's gift shop. There are also several orange flavoured bitters such as from the Fee Brothers, and Regan's Orange No. 6 bitters which is also available from Buffalo Trace's gift shop.
Because there are two films now out about wine tasting, Bottle Shock and Judgment of Paris based upon true events at the Paris Wine Tasting of 1976 (Globe and Mail article / review). I think Art of Drink's presentation on Sensory Perception is worth reading for anyone interested in mixology.
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Soy hype?tag:blog.mctaylor.com,2008://1.422008-08-09T19:15:23Z2008-08-09T19:45:24ZI have to admit I didn't expect this, Lorette Luzajic's article at Gremolata, Spilling the beans, about soybeans, and how there may be a lot of popular misconceptions about their ultra-healthiness and traditionalism in Asian culture. Oops. It turns out...mctaylorhttp://www.mctaylor.com/
Spilling the beans, about soybeans, and how there may be a lot of popular misconceptions about their ultra-healthiness and traditionalism in Asian culture. Oops.
It turns out that Soybeans are Goitrogen, they suppress the function of the thyroid gland by interfering with iodine uptake, which may cause hypothyroidism. :-(
One of the early advocates of soybeans in North America was Dr. Earl Mindell's 1994 book, Soy Miracle. Dr. Mindell is no stranger to being associated with questionable advocacy of "natural health food" products, in some cases he was found to be have a vest interest (personal financial gain) in what he was promoting as healthy. (Reference: CBC Marketplace, originally aired on January 24, 2007 "Getting Juiced")
Too much hype is generally a sign of somebody working to create a perception. At least in my opinion, but I don't work in media / corporate relations or the Ministry of Truth.]]>
Parallel programming, getting startedtag:blog.mctaylor.com,2008://1.412008-07-16T14:13:41Z2008-07-16T22:21:11ZTwo suggested resources for getting started in parallel programming, which a suitable degree of abstraction to allow you to focus on algorithms and programming rather than implementation details are open source projects, Intel's Threading Building Blocks and OpenMP. Something to...mctaylorhttp://www.mctaylor.com/
Threading Building Blocks and OpenMP.
Something to investigate at some time in the future.]]>
Programmers need to know about hardwaretag:blog.mctaylor.com,2008://1.402008-07-16T13:43:55Z2008-07-16T22:21:17ZOne of the biggest differences, after raw talent, to a programmer's abilities is writing appropriate code with suitable data structures and algorithms, which in the real world means having a practical understanding of the computer system's underlying hardware, which are...mctaylorhttp://www.mctaylor.com/
Herb Sutter, noted C++ book author and ISO C++ committee member, entitled, "Machine Architecture: Things Your Programming Language Never Told You."
A useful resource is Randy Hydes' Write Great Code series of books. As well as classic computer organization and architecture textbooks like Structured Computer Organization by Tanenbaum, and Computer Architecture: A Quantitative Approach by Hennessy and Patterson.]]>
raw talent (hard to measure)
knowledge of data structures and algorithms (i.e. education, often formal)
knowledge of computer architecture and organization (i.e. hardware)
real self-confidence, not shallow vanity, but comfortable with one's own abilities to withstand constructive criticism
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Programming languagestag:blog.mctaylor.com,2008://1.392008-07-07T03:06:43Z2008-07-07T03:19:32ZI have wanted to spend to some time looking at some of the increasingly popular programming languages, particularly Python and Ruby, although languages like Scheme (in case lambda is more than a logo in a video game) and Haskell are...mctaylorhttp://www.mctaylor.com/
Python and Ruby, although languages like Scheme (in case lambda is more than a logo in a video game) and Haskell are also on my radar.
I thought this tour de babel by Steve Yegge was an interesting view. Steve's pontifications or verbiage is generally worth reading, both his old (while at amazon) and new (now at Google) blogs.
Another gem from Steve is Get That Job at Goggle on interview tips for software developers. Apparently some companies like programmers who remember some of their CS class content, rather than merely their Java prowess or line count.
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Help send RobotGrrl to Stanfordtag:blog.mctaylor.com,2008://1.382008-06-07T17:40:27Z2008-07-07T02:08:55ZErin , aka RobotGrrl was accepted to Stanford's Education Program for Gifted Youth (EPGY)'s Summer program (she was accepted in Artificial Intelligence) for high school students. Erin was awarded a scholarship, but needs to find another $1200 to attend. She...mctaylorhttp://www.mctaylor.com/
RobotGrrl was accepted to Stanford's Education Program for Gifted Youth (EPGY)'s Summer program (she was accepted in Artificial Intelligence) for high school students. Erin was awarded a scholarship, but needs to find another $1200 to attend. She has been receiving support from individuals, and I hope can raise all the necessary money to attend the program.
[Edit: Update: Erin did raise enough money to go.]
Please help if you are able to. You can make a donation via PayPal at her website or buy a cute handmade Styrobot from her via Etsy.
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Canadian Nematodes - As much fun as a pack of sea monkeystag:blog.mctaylor.com,2008://1.372008-05-30T02:24:57Z2008-05-30T16:12:32ZThat's right kids, they're tiny, but they can be an organic effective pest-control of some grass killing bugs. It looks like I have grubs eating the roots of my grass, I had mistakenly thought it was fungus damage before, but...mctaylorhttp://www.mctaylor.com/
pest-control of some grass killing bugs.
It looks like I have grubs eating the roots of my grass, I had mistakenly thought it was fungus damage before, but my neighbour has grubs, so I'm going to go with Occam's Razor and suspect that I have the same cause of the same problem since we're in the same area.
I bought Lawn Guardian from NIC which contains 10 million (various package sizes available from 1 million up) nematodes. In particular the little critters are J3 stage Steinernema carpocapsae and Heterorhabditis bacteriophora.
So hopefully I will get my lawn back. Having a mini-desert (root-less grass doesn't like dry weather) is not fun. ]]>
Pyrex -- No, it ain't like it use to be.tag:blog.mctaylor.com,2008://1.362008-05-30T02:00:44Z2008-05-30T02:24:48ZYou see since 1998 when Corning Glass spun off the Pyrex kitchenware division to World Kitchen company which no longer uses borosilicate glass, which is what gave Pyrex its thermal shock resistance. This thermal shock resistance is one of the...mctaylorhttp://www.mctaylor.com/
Corning Glass spun off the Pyrex kitchenware division to World Kitchen company which no longer uses borosilicate glass, which is what gave Pyrex its thermal shock resistance.
This thermal shock resistance is one of the biggest factors the Pyrex brand became famous and synonymous with quality glassware, in both the lab and the kitchen.
Now World Kitchen uses regular soda-lime glass that is tempered for increased strength in their kitchenware glass products, which is not as shock resistant, as my father strikingly demonstrated for me the last time I was home to visit.
So, yet again another case of they don't make it like they use to. For the worst, as far as the customer or cook is concerned.
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http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1063574/000101540204001267/0001015402-04-001267.txt
http://www.pyrexware.com/thetruthaboutpyrex/index.htmhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrexhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borosilicate_glasshttp://www.pyrexlove.com/
Barbara E. Mauzy - Pyrex: The Unauthorized Collectors Guide (ISBN-10: 0764319078, ISBN-13: 978-0764319075)
Rogove and Steinhauer - Pyrex by Corning : A Collectors Guide (ISBN-10: 091541094X, ISBN-13: 978-0915410941)
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My next office mugtag:blog.mctaylor.com,2008://1.352008-04-28T23:37:13Z2008-04-28T23:51:41ZWhat I want for my next office mug, Foogo. Maybe I do need to get out more......mctaylorhttp://www.mctaylor.com/
Foogo.
Maybe I do need to get out more...]]>
The Second Comingtag:blog.mctaylor.com,2008://1.342008-04-26T02:41:51Z2008-04-26T02:51:28Z Turning and turning in the widening gyre The falcon cannot hear the falconer; Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere The ceremony of innocence is...mctaylorhttp://www.mctaylor.com/
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
William Butler Yeats (written in 1919 after the Great War, published in 1920)]]>
Maybe I do need to get out more...]]>