Happy Thanksgiving
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
Here’s something really cool I just found. Lick Observatory Webcams. Pretty cool! Check it out.
If you’re an avid photographer or a designer who uses the Adobe line of products such as Photoshop and Illustrator then be sure to get the new Camera Raw Plugin. This iteration, 3.6, supports new cameras including the Canon XTi and Nikon D80 as well as improves functionality of the plugin.
Adobe: “The camera raw functionality in Adobe© Photoshop© software provides fast and easy access within Photoshop to the “raw” image formats produced by many leading professional and midrange digital cameras. By working with these “digital negatives,” you can achieve the results you want with greater artistic control and flexibility while still maintaining the original “raw” files.”
A New Jersey assemblyman is asking the state legislature of New Jersey to look into a possible link between sonograms and autism. The Assemblyman cites a recent study that showed sonograms have the ability to move certain brain cells that are commonly associated with the disorder.
Daily Record: “Assemblyman Joe Pennacchio, R-Montville, introduced legislation Monday that would direct the state Department of Health to investigate the possible relationship of sonograms to the increased incidences of autism. Pennacchio’s bill, A-3669 also directs the Commissioner of Health to work in conjunction with various medical groups to begin to develop a protocol for the usage of sonograms on expectant mothers.The Assemblyman cited various scientific, published studies that show a displacement of brain cells associated with autistic children and the ability of sonograms to displace those cells. Two neuroscientists, Dr. Philip A. DeFina, and Dr. Sandlin Lowe, both of the New York University School of Medicine’s Brain Research Laboratories and the International Brain Research Foundation, have been working closely with the Assemblyman on this issue.
‘The evidence that these doctors have presented to me shows that the unwarranted effects of sonogram use and its possible link to autism certainly warrants further investigation,’ said Pennacchio.”
Purchasing music online through Apple’s iTunes Music store is as easy as going to the grocery store but when the checkout clerk rings up an item too many times you point it out to them so they can correct the problem. But what about the iTunes store? What if you get double-charged, can’t download, or a gifted title doesn’t go through? What do you do then? Well visit the iTunes Store Support page of course.
The iTunes Store Support page offers articles and assistance with all your purchases made in iTunes. Wondering how to back up your purchases? Visit iTunes Store Support for answers. Need help resetting your password or with other account information? Visit iTunes Store Support. It’s all there.
A senior executive at Microsoft announced Windows Vista would finally be available to consumers on January 30th 2007.
: “Jim Allchin, co-president of Microsoft’s platforms and services division, said it expects consumers to make a ‘fast and immediate’ switch to the new Windows.
‘On January 30, you will be hard pressed to find a machine that doesn’t have Windows Vista available,’ said Allchin in a conference call with reporters and analysts.”
I’m not sure who Allchin thinks he’s kidding. All good IT folks won’t even be thinking about buying Vista for atleast 90 days or until most of the major bugs are worked out. The idea of letting a marginally untested OS out into the wild, especially one that’s been plagued by delays and setback after setback like Vista is mind boggling.
As my dad like to say, “If it isn’t broke, why fix it?”
In some very exciting news for Java devlopers (where I happened to cut my teeth oh so long ago), Ubuntu is partnering up with Java Enterprise Application Server. It’s kind of like peanut buttter and chocolate. Two great tastes that go great together.
eWeek: “Sun and Canonical, a two-year-old U.K.-based commercial sponsor of the fast-growing Ubuntu, revealed Nov. 8 that the open-source Java Enterprise Edition 5 application server (specifically, the GlassFish Community reference implementation) is now certified and available to run on Ubuntu Server Edition, which was released on June 1.”
Ask Yahoo! posted a question today from reader Terri in California, “How can I form my own political party?” Interestingly enough we were discussing our disdain with the current two parties that have dominance over dinner last night listening to the barrage of political solicitations every 2 minutes on the answering machine. Here is the answer from Yahoo:
Yahoo: “FirstGov.gov, explains that ‘nearly all practical matters related to American elections are handled on the State level, including the formation of parties.’ We headed over to California’s Department of Elections to see how it’s done in your home state.
Apparently the process of qualifying as a recognized third party is designed to test your resolve as well as gauge the public’s interest in your platform. To qualify a new party by registration requires that one percent of last election’s voters complete an ‘affidavit of registration, on which they have written in the proposed party name as the party they affiliate with.’ To qualify a new political party by petition requires that 10 percent of last election’s voters ’sign a petition seeking the inclusion of the proposed party in the party nominating process.’”
I guess the real answer is “it’s pretty much impossible to form a new political party.”
Being the father of a child with autism I’m always on my guard against potential hazards, maybe more-so than normal parents. Here’s an article from over at the Science Blog that gives parents a new reason to worry, small magnets.
Evidently the magnets can come from any number of household items and toys may cause perforations in the bowel, intestine, and stomach.
Science Blog: “Swallowing foreign objects is a common occurrence among children, primarily between the ages of 6 months and 3 years. Approximately 80 percent of the objects that reach the stomach will pass through the gastrointestinal tract on their own. However, up to 20 percent will need to be removed surgically. While a single swallowed magnet may pass, in many instances, multiple magnets will become lodged in the intestines.
Dr. Oestreich wrote the letter to Radiology after a 12-year-old autistic boy was admitted to CCHMC with abdominal pain. Abdominal x-rays revealed multiple objects with metallic density throughout the small intestine and possibly the large intestine. The next day, surgeons removed a large number of small magnets that had been part of a toy. The magnets caused several areas of small bowel necrosis and local perforation.”
Wow! That’s enough to scare any parent. Everyone grab all those little plastic letters your kids love to stick all over the refrigerator and throw them in the trash.
With everyones apparent addiction to iTunes it was only a matter of time until some started venturing forth seeking the “holy grail” (play on the Davinci Code) that would tie all the music services together. In this case the “sangraal” appears to be Songbird.
Songbirdnest: Songbird™ is a desktop Web player, a digital jukebox and Web browser mash-up. Like Winamp, it supports extensions and skins feathers. Like Firefox®, it is built from Mozilla®, cross-platform and open source.
You may remember that I played with Songbird some months back and had only good things to say. This latest version is spectacular and does what it’s intended to do very well. There is one slight problem that I can’t figure out how to get it to burn to disk (option is grayed out for me) but that may be something coming in later versions or possibly I’m just an idiot (no surprise there).
Songbird is still in developer preview but definitely check it out. Visit songbirdnest.com or get the download directly here.