Answer: [[It's a "wireless remote streetlight switch" used by a local amateur astronomer as an amusement (but, of course, never, EVER to actually use!). Apparently, streetlights have a photosensor, and if one has a small laser, a nice spotting telescope, and sufficiently rigid mount, one could (but never, EVER actually …
more ...A good article holding that "Why wasn't I consulted?" is the fundamental mindset on the Web: The Web Is a Customer Service Medium (Ftrain.com).
more ...This MSR paper describes an HTML/CSS/JS platform that seems to tie in with Microsoft's recent conspicuously-not-mentioning-.NET talk of Windows 8. This paper is still in a conference proceedings, so it wouldn't seem on the verge of productization, but there are so many questions raised by Microsoft's recent …
more ...I haven't used this, but I talked briefly with the Code Bubbles developers about 18 months ago and thought that debugging would be the perfect fit. Seems like someone at MSR agreed:
Debugger Canvas - Microsoft Research.
more ...Taking my own 15 Exercises to Know A Programming Language as a starting point for my exploration of Scala...
The first set of exercises are right up the alley of a language with pattern-matching and list-processing:
more ...Write a program that takes as its first argument one of the words ‘sum …
[caption id="" align="alignright" width="422" caption="Photo: US Fish & Wildlife Service"]
[/caption]
Raising Islands--Hawai'i science and environment: First Hawaiian "golden gooney" chick to fly soon.
How often do you get good environmental news?
I'm a bird geek. Or actually more of a romantic -- I shed a tear when I …
more ...Robot with corkscrew legs travels over rough terrain
Australia is considering a plan to make all cigarette packaging generic -- no branding or design on the cigarettes or packages, just the name in a generic font. The cigarette companies are freaking out, obviously.
A study seems to show "we …
more ...HMS Friday – The Most Valuable Ballast : The Scuttlefish.
I wonder if Neil Stephenson's Cryptonomicon was partially influenced by this true story...
more ...
