from console remotes to fast cars...

Posted by klee on VWvortex (a VW enthusiast site)

 

I got this idea after seeing some physics class use the wiimote in some kinda pendulum experiment.

Why not use the wiimote's built in 3-axis accelerometers to measue g-forces, acceleration and even calculate my own 0-60mph times!

So I did. I wrote a script to dump all the g-force readings from the wiimote to a comma separated value file, then did some post processing in MS Excel, and voila, I can see every bump, every curve, my acceleration and braking, and even calculated my current speed using high school physics (v=a*t)

http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=3362586

SOF says:  absolute genius.

quote

THIS is what I think of it...   (man, that has been so hard to explain)

 

 

Ning!!

Ning! MySpace is dead. Long live social networking.

Posted by Christopher Dawson @ 3:13 am

I stumbled across Ning a few weeks ago as I was looking for some end-of-year activities for restless students. Ning is a free service that actually lets you create your own social network. While this turned out to be an interesting exercise for my students, particularly once they understood that they weren’t creating mere web pages but actually building social networks, Ning (and other services like it) could prove to be an invaluable tool for schools and educators.

Here’s how it works:

1. Create a Ning account.
2. Create a social network
3. Create your own set of pages that will be your home in your social network
4. Invite people to join your social network
5. Manage users, friends, etc., on your social network

Students were a bit confused by the process at first until they realized that they weren’t just creating a MySpace. They were creating MySpace! Once you create a social network, others can join your network, just as they would join MySpace or Facebook, and create their own set of pages, have their own friends, etc. Every student in a class, for example, could be a member of a teacher’s network. The teacher would be like Tom of MySpace fame. All of the students could create their own pages and the teacher would be a friend to all of the students, enabling easy communication. Similarly, a school-wide Ning could have both teachers and students join the network, but with different user privileges, again enabling simple communication between staff and students in a way that kids understand all too well.

Google's $4.6 billion plan for an open wireless Internet

originally posted 2007.07.20 • 12:54 EST

Would that all kings were so benevolent. Google announced today it would set aside at least $4.6 billion to purchase a slice of the public airwaves in an upcoming government auction of radio spectrum. The company is imposing one condition on its money: It will only participate, it says, if the Federal Communications Commission requires that all bidders for the radio waves be forced to adhere to principles of Internet "openness."

http://machinist.salon.com/blog/2007/07/20/google_fcc/index.html

Xinhua - English

Xinhua News - English

Study: restless legs syndrome linked to genes

www.chinaview.cn 2007-07-19 09:02:54

BEIJING, July 19 (Xinhuanet) -- Scientists have discovered certain genes linked to restless legs syndrome (RLS) -- an uncomfortable and sleep-robbing neurological disorder characterized by repeated movement of the legs, media reported Thursday.

The discovery, published simultaneously in the New England Journal of Medicine and in the online edition of Nature Genetics, suggested the twitching condition is biologically based and not an imaginary disorder.

The new studies are the first to identify specific genes responsible for restless legs syndrome symptoms.

Journal

I know that for the most part I have been using this thing to capture notes and links for myself, which probably makes it relatively boring most of the time. Still, I haven't quite figured out the reasoning for the whole thing... I mean, why blog at all? Are people really interested in your personal thoughts? If you had a strong opinion on something, wouldn't that be better expressed in a group or forum where multiple people could have a discussion?

But I'm still doing it - notes and images and videos that I like, the occasional journal entry, etc... I guess eventually I'll figure it out or someone will say that 'one thing' that trips it over in my head.

So - journal: wife is out of town visiting friends. This is her first time seeing the ocean and getting to play on the beach, which I think is great. She sends me pictures throughout the day, and has seen dolphins and ridden ferries, etc. I think that today or tomorrow she is coming back.

I was just going to hang out this weekend, maybe hit the gym or mow the lawn, but I hurt my back on Saturday so I spent most of the time she was gone just chillin on the couch and gettin caught up on my SciFi (she survivies it, but it isn't on the top of her list).

Haven't received word back from the advertising company downtown that was looking for contract webwork, so no extra money coming in right now. I think that I am going to shut down my website and web server... I just don't care much about that part of the industry anymore. I don't have the time or energy for sales, and support is a waste of my brain. I have four or five application designs floating in my head, and I think that I would rather go that direction that try to build another website that doesn't really go anywhere. (anyone want to buy WichitaBandScene.com?)

Fireblade

quote

 

Every now and then go away, have a little relaxation, for when you come back to your work your judgment will be surer. Go some distance away because then the work appears smaller and more of it can be taken in at a glance and a lack of harmony and proportion is more readily seen.

- Leonardo da Vinci

Prince of Persia movie script reviewed

More than a year and a half after it acquired an early draft of the Halo movie script, Latinoreview.com has apparently scored another game-film coup. This week, reviewer "El Mayimbe" recapped the script for the forthcoming film adaptation of Ubisoft's Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time.

After writing at length about his days as a gamer, El Mayimbe reveals some plot details about the film, which he describes as a "9th Century Indiana Jones." Without revealing any of the spoilers in the review, it confirms the movie will stick close to the game's plot. It also reveals that the script superficially calls for the use of parkour, the gravity-defying street gymnastics used in Casino Royale's opening chase scene. Overall, El Mayimbe loves the script and forsees it becoming a major film franchise.

Announced at DICE in 2004, the Prince of Persia movie is being produced by Jerry Bruckheimer (Pirates of the Caribbean) for Walt Disney Pictures, with Transformers director Michael Bay reportedly attached to the project. Its script is being written by Jordan Mechner, creator of the original Prince of Persia game, and The Day After Tomorrow screenplay scribe Jeffrey Nachmanoff.

Category: Bulletin

Posted by thorsen-ink, Jun 1, 2007 6:58 pm GMT

GameSpot Video: Killzone: Liberation E3 2006 Stage-Show Demonstration

You have GOT to check out this video... Killzone: Liberation is a wicked game for the PSP. Just the demo managed to get the three of us addicted, especially since they allow multiplayer in the demo. (good sales technique!)

http://www.gamespot.com/video/931635/6150706/killzone-liberation-e3-2006-sta
ge-show-demonstration