The Rosetta Project is a global collaboration of language specialists and native speakers working to develop a contemporary version of the historic Rosetta Stone.

Prahlad Jani claims that he has not eaten anything for decades now. Doctors are baffled as they kept him under close observation for 10 days during which he did not eat or drink anything at all. Most people can stay without food for several weeks during which period the body draws from the fat and protein stores, but it is impossible to survive without water for more than 3-4 days.

Lore Sjöberg notes Science According to Google.  "By averaging the Web's consensus, we can state unequivocally that Jupiter has 15.7075 moons."  I love it!

[Via: Critical Section]

From Sudhakar:

Append ".mirror.sytes.org" to any URL and watch the fun! Awesome :) :)

"MSNBC's Alan Boyle takes a look at seven futuristic dreams for the past that never managed to materialize into anything substantial.

[Via: Slashdot]

Could the entire universe be a hologram?  This Scientific American article considers the question.  [ via Xeni Jardin, who titled her post "hack the universe" and concluded "If the universe is a vast two-dimensional plane of information -- then it can be hacked." ]

Business 2.0 has an interesting list: 10 Technologies to watch in 2004.  (I copied it to my site because of their paywall).  Unlike many of these lists, I agree with this one.  The one thing I'd add: "video-on demand becomes real".

[Via: Critical Section]

Business 2.0 on The Card Sharks from Silicon Valley.  "An unlikely collection of computer jocks and math whizzes have been coming up aces in high-stakes tournament poker, the hottest new spectacle in televised sports."  I actually can't imagine watching poker on TV, but whatever, to each their own.  I guess it beats the reality shows with silly "boys meeting girls" themes.

[Via: Critical Section]

"Indian women currently bear an average of just under three children — a steep drop from the six of 50 years ago, but still above the 2.1 that would stabilize a population that already exceeds a billion people"

The NYTimes reports States in India Take New Steps to Limit Births; an interesting twist to Unnatural Selection.  "A new reckoning is under way in India over how best to stabilize a population that is set to surpass China's as the world's biggest by midcentury...  At least six [states] have laws mandating a two-child norm for members of village councils, and some are extending it to civil servants as well."  I suppose the leaders have to set the example, but of course it is not the leaders who have the high birth rate in the first place.  [ thanks, Gary ]

[Via: Critical Section]

Cool !! Next time i go back home !! :D

[Via: Artima Developer Buzz]

[Via: Tao of the machine]

Your Brain Usage Profile

Auditory : 35%
Visual : 64%
Left : 44%
Right : 55%

Nishith Prabhakar, you possess an interesting balance of hemispheric and sensory characteristics, with a slight right-brain dominance and a slight preference for visual processing.

Since neither of these is completely centered, you lack the indecision and second-guessing associated with other patterns. You have a distinct preference for creativity and intuition with seemingly sufficient verbal skills to be able to translate in any meaningful way to yourself and others.

You tend to see things in "wholes" without surrendering the ability to attend to details. You can give them sufficient notice to be able to utitlize and incorporate them as part of an overall pattern.

In the same way, while you are active and process information simultaneously, you demonstrate a capacity for sequencing as well as reflection which allows for some "inner dialogue."

All in all, you are likely to be quite content with yourself and your style although at times it will not necessarily be appreciated by others. You have sufficient confidence to not second-guess yourself, but rather to use your critical faculties in a way that enhances, rather than limits, your creativity.

You can learn in either mode although far more efficiently within the visual mode. It is likely that in listening to conversations or lecture materials you simultaneously translate into pictures which enhance and elaborate on the meaning.

It is most likely that you will gravitate towards those endeavors which are predominantly visual but include some logic or structuring. You may either work particularly hard at cultivating your auditory skills or risk "missing out" on being able to efficiently process what you learn. Your own intuitive skills will at times interfere with your capacity to listen to others, which is something else you may need to take into account.

I like this word :)

Main Entry: syz·y·gy
Pronunciation: 'si-z&-jE
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural -gies
Etymology: Late Latin syzygia conjunction, from Greek, from syzygos yoked together, from syn- + zygon yoke -- more at YOKE
Date: circa 1847
: the nearly straight-line configuration of three celestial bodies (as the sun, moon, and earth during a solar or lunar eclipse) in a gravitational system

Nikon has been holding this competition for quite some time now. Some really amazing images of the small world. Check out all the top prize winners. Also the past year galleries. The Molecular Expressions site has links to more galleries like this one.

Don Box on presentations and talks:

1. Everything you know about network protocols applies. How do you know people got it? You need an ACK. What happens if you transmit too much data too fast? Buffer overflow. How do you ensure successful reception in the absence of ACKs? Forward error correction via redundant transmission.
   
2. Preparation is a lifestyle. I never rehearse talks - I want to have a genuine experience when I talk and rehearsals always feel contrived. That said, I try to only speak on topics I'm focused on in my daily life, so hopefully I have tons of relevant data in L0 cache. I also try to avoid staying up late the night before - being rested is far more important than any benefits you may get from cramming the night before.
   
3. Less is more. This applies on many fronts. Smaller/minimal code examples (preferably coded up on the fly) are preferable to opening up a huge sample app and highlighting 7 lines of code. Less content in PowerPoint is preferable to 200+ word slides (damn that auto-font-downsizing feature). At most, PowerPoint should give you visual cues as to the flow of the talk and give attendees visual reinforcement.  A little PowerPoint goes an awfully long way - don't let it ruin your talk.
   
4. It's all about attention span management. It's your responsibility to keep attendees focused no matter what. There are countless tricks you can use to snap people back on track. My favorite example was a United Airlines flight back in 2000. The flight attendant decided she wanted people to pay attention to the safety lecture - so out of the loudspeaker came the following:
   
   Your seatbelts are useless [pause] unless they are buckled low and tight across your lap with your belongings stowed…
   
   The entire cabin snapped to attention. It was quite stunning and I now think of that experience every time I fly.
   
5. Contrast is your friend. If you normally speak fast, occasionally slow it down. If you've had PPT in the foreground for 15 minutes, Alt-Tab to something else fast. If you've been sitting for 30 minutes - stand up and walk around.
   
6. Just the facts ma'am…not! Facts are great. Concepts are much better. Your job is to convey concepts and/or demonstrate techniques - facts are at most a means to an end. Also, don't underestimate the importance of motivation - this is both the "why is this this way" as well as "why should you care."
   
7. Selecting text looks like crap using the default settings for Windows. OK, this one may not sound very profound but you have no idea how important it is. By default, Windows displays selected text using white text on a black background. On most projection equipment, this means that when you highlight some text, what you just selected is virtually unreadable (which is the opposite of the effect you were hoping for).   To deal with this, I set the selected text colors to black text on a Cyan (light blue) background. That makes selection look much more like running a highlighter over the text.

ISerializable on a research about how the spelling doesn't matter ...

aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at an Elingsh uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht frist and lsat ltteer is at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae we do not raed ervey lteter by it slef but the wrod as a wlohe.

Matthew Reynolds points to Joel Spolsky's Bionic Office. Something to learn from when we expand and move our own office. Matthews post is here.

If you had run into him a dozen years ago, it might have been in a bus station somewhere between Halifax, Nova Scotia and Miami Beach, on the road with his father, a silversmith and glassblower whose only degree was from Medford High School.

And yet, there he was on Friday, lecturing a roomful of scientists on his obscure specialty: computational origami. Demaine, at 20, arrived in the fall at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with the rank of assistant professor - one of the youngest the university has ever hired.

From a hippie lifestyle to being one of the youngest professors in MIT