Research advisor genealogy

My Ph.D. thesis (1996 Chicago) adviser was John A. Simpson (1943 NYU) whose adviser was Serge Korff (1931 Princeton) whose adviser was John Quincy Stuart (1919 Princeton). He was a student of H. L. Cook and Karl Taylor Compton (1912 Princeton), the latter of whom studied under John Whitmore.

Da word

On hiking with seven ten year olds

Man, they have a lot of energy! We did part four (or maybe five) of the twins' birthday party with a picnic, games, and a hike at Hoffman Hills State Park in Wisconsin. We hit all of the high points: raging fire, two different cakes, hot dogs, jalapeno slices, and a climb to the top of the observation tower. Some of the gals gave the big people a lesson in fieldcraft when they successfully hid, let us pass, and then shadowed us on the trail back from the tower.

On race and pets

So, my next door neighbor got a little white yappy dog early this Spring. It's sometimes tied out in the yard during the day making little yap sounds and snarling ineffectively when someone walks near. A couple of weeks ago, I was outside when the owner was there along with the dog. I asked the name of the dog and reached over to pet it. "Whitey" was the answer and "the dog bites." I've noticed that the owner frequently kicks the dog and throws things at it as well. Today I heard her calling to the dog, not "whitey" but "honkie." I burst out laughing, but am still annoyed with her treatment of the dog.

City and the City review in the WSJ

WSJ review. Pretty offbeat for them to review. See also my review on Amazon...

Possible origin of RNA found

Quite an interesting article.

Comments are mostly living on the Facebook end of things

The postings are cross-listed.

Vintage geek collectibles

Probably not toys though at those wacky prices.

My folks still have the TRS-80 and the daisy wheel printer in a box... I had an LED four function calculator as well.

Telling old whiskey from new whiskey

By measuring the excess Carbon-14 from above-ground nuclear testing...

Analyzing the Flickr location tags...

I just ran across this article in New Scientist, but have been thinking a lot about the use of geotagged photos and some possible expansions to it. With just location, it's interesting to view a set of photos, just what are people taking pictures of at the Apple Store in Manhattan? It's the fifth most photographed (and geotagged) place on Earth. Is it the facade? Inside? Most of the GPS-based automatic image tagging devices wouldn't work inside the store. And although there's a lot of interesting data here, it can't really be used for an immersive experience since there's no pointing information at all. Let's think of the Washington Monument, some photos are outside, classic tourist shots of the monument, some are facing away from it, catching other aspects of DC, and some are from the top looking around. Image if each image had orientation data associated with it, a fluxgate compass as well as the GPS location, then you could tie a large number of images into, say, Google Maps, and move around in a collage of photos. Okay, this still doesn't work inside too well, but for outside it would pretty spectacular. You could walk 42nd Street in photos at Christmas-time last year, or watch the parade go by.

The next step after that would either be computer detection of the horizon-line in the image (I didn't bother to Google the efforts that must be going on in that direction) or tilt sensors in the camera. With focal length data, position, pointing, and tip/tilt, each photograph would be a capture of a well-defined piece of the world at that time. A 3-D immersive virtual reality of collected photos, might be a nifty thing?

So, hardware-wise, what does this look like? Well, GPS, 3-axis magnetometer, and 2 absolute angle sensors are just a couple of chips and some MEMS. Might be able to add in a low-power inertial navigation unit using fiber optic gyroscopes in version two. That should keep the position information good within a walk through a building letting you get your tagged full-orientation photos of the inside of the Sistine Chapel and the Louvre.

China Mieville's new book, The City & The City

I just posted a review for it on amazon. The book will be out late in May, and it's pretty darned good. The City & The City. I've become a big fan after reading Perdido Street Station a few years back, and returning to it last year and then devouring his other books. China Mieville books on Amazon.

The Cosmic Ray Deflection Society

I just noticed the news on Slashdot that Yahoo is closing down Geocities. Yeah, I know that means the end of many horribly structured websites, many of them contenders in the bad design competitions, but it also means that the Cosmic Ray Deflection Society will need to move its website. Maybe they know that, but aren't completely transitioned yet. My research was in cosmic rays (and neutrinos) and I was proud to feature photos from the CRDS (as I acronymed them, used to acronyming many things for NASA TLA purposes).

Any local Minneapolis people out there? Interested in a cosmic-ray-deflecting-hat making party? Maybe in time for the May Day parade?

The greatest drinking game

"Bunnies" from Tiki Bar TV.

Speaking of Amazon...

I have a good number of online lists, mostly of weird items. My Amazon lists. Though there are always new and interesting amazon oddities that I have missed.

My cosmic ray research monograph is still in print it appears

It was a rushed business, and one that I'm not completely happy with. And the publisher isn't so good about royalties...

Everyone watch out for GAY BANDS!

Yep, the folks at Love God's Way are giving us a fair warning. There are Gay Bands out there and they're recruiting children via internet mp3 piracy. Oh the horror of it all!

We have such gems as: Ted Nugent (loincloth), George Michael (texan), and the brilliant pairing of Michael Jackson with the Boredoms. (Brilliant and loud Japanese noise musicians for the philistines out there.)

My favorite part is where they call for parents to burn the CDs in front of their impressionable off-spring. Which would what? Teach children about toxic gases emitted from burning plastics?

If you're up for it, their listing of safe bands is nearly as funny. Cyndi Lauper, Blondie, and the Dresden Dolls?

NPR on the history of the Ghetto Blaster

Bye, bye boom box.

It's time for monster bunny rabbits

To save the starving North Koreans no less.

Harvestore silo challenge

Okay, here's a pesky question that shows up whenever driving through farm country. So you know the bright blue Harvestore (oxygen-limiting) silos that are relatively common. Some of them have large US flag decals up near the tops of them. In the Jane Smiley novel A Thousand Acres, it's mentioned that the Harvestore dealer puts that flag up on the silo when it's paid off. I've heard that version elsewhere as well, but there does not seem to be any justification for that story on the web.

Normally I have the Google-Fu but on this one, no luck in my searches. So here's the challenge, can you find if that story is true using only the Internet. (Sure, you could call Jane Smiley or the local Harvestore dealer, but let's stay online for this one.)

It's also interesting to note that lots of farmers are selling off their silos and the Harvestores are mostly headed to Scandanavia.

Interconnects for Dr. DuVernois's online life

My web pages are up and running at duvernois.org. This blog is in addition to my ramblings on Facebook (current) and Myspace (previous) as well as my professional personae on LinkedIn. Oi! It's complicated.