Archive for September, 2007

Ontario Votes on Voting

Thursday, September 13th, 2007

On October 10, Ontarians will be voting for a new government, and also for a new voting procedure: if enough people say 'yes', we will shift to a Mixed Member Proportional system. The details are on the web, but basically this gives everyone two votes: one for a (geographic) riding ...

Win Stuff at Idee’s Visual Search Lab

Wednesday, September 12th, 2007

Leila's post has the details: best five entries win an iPod Shuffle.

Jon Udell has the Best Job in the World

Wednesday, September 12th, 2007

Just look at the evidence: A conversation with Timo Hannay at Nature about scientific publishing on the web. (Note: I need to buy an iPod so I can listen to these on the streetcar.) Sketchcasting: recording a whiteboard session with voiceover. Thoughts on the transmission of tacit knowledge. And then of course there's CoScripter, ...

Russian and Korean

Monday, September 10th, 2007

O'Reilly has now sold the rights for both Russian and Korean translations of Beautiful Code. W00t! Later: Chinese and Japanese translation are in the works as well, to be released in late 2007 and February 2008 respectively. Given how frequently AI criticizes China for human rights abuses, I'll be very interested ...

“Ferocious Beauty” Coming to Toronto

Monday, September 10th, 2007

"Ferocious Beauty" is a multimedia dance piece which explores genetic research and its impact on society. (Yes, I know, it sounds a little odd, but friends who have seen it have said it's great.) The announcement is below; see these two posters for more details. The Ontario ...

Randy Pausch

Monday, September 10th, 2007

Prof. Randy Pausch, of Carnegie-Mellon University, has been diagnosed with terminal cancer. He's going to give a talk (probably his last) on Tuesday, Sept 18, at 4:30 pm, titled "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams". It will be webcast (details to follow). Blurb is below; hope you'll be able ...

Winter Is Coming…

Sunday, September 9th, 2007

...and StreetKnit could use your help.

Free Food!

Thursday, September 6th, 2007

Thanks to generous sponsorship from TUCOWS, the Toronto Geek Girls dinner series has spots for up to 25 female students (graduate or undergraduate) to attend the next dinner and talk on September 19.  Space is limited, so sign up now!

Openness and (the promise of) XML

Wednesday, September 5th, 2007

Over at O'Reilly, people are gloating about ISO's decision not to ratify Microsoft's OOXML document "standard".  At the same time, Jon Udell is saying much more interesting things about what smart document formats could do for the sciences.  To quote him quoting Clifford Lynch, "Scientific literature that is computed upon, ...

O’Reilly “Women of Tech” Series

Tuesday, September 4th, 2007

Tatiana Apandi at O'Reilly has organized a series of "Women in Tech" articles, the first of which is now up on the web. The blurb says: The timely new series reveals the challenges, rewards, and, sometimes, frustrations of being a woman in an industry still dominated by men. "Each day, we'll ...