ENGINEERING: Almost all of our infrastructure has this corrosion problem

Thursday, May 29, 2025

https://news.mit.edu/2025/allium-engineering-enables-100-year-bridges-corrosion-resistant-steel-0520?utm_source=join1440&utm_medium=email&utm_placement=newsletter&user_id=66c4b9c55d78644b3a882a4d

Startup enables 100-year bridges with corrosion-resistant steel

  • Allium Engineering, founded by two MIT alumni, has developed a process for improving steel rebar to triple the lifetime of bridges and other infrastructure.

Zach Winn, MIT News

Publication Date: May 21, 2025 

*** begin quote ***

Now Allium Engineering, founded by two MIT PhDs, is tripling the lifetime of bridges and other structures with a new technology that uses a stainless steel cladding to make rebar resilient to corrosion. By eliminating corrosion, infrastructure lasts much longer, fewer repairs are required, and carbon emissions are reduced. The company’s technology is easily integrated into existing steelmaking processes to make America’s infrastructure more resilient, affordable, and sustainable over the next century.

*** and ***

Allium is also experimenting with other cladding materials and composites. Down the line, Jepeal sees Allium’s tech being used for things beyond rebar like train tracks, steel beams, and pipes. But he stresses the company’s focus on rebar will keep it busy for the foreseeable future.

“Almost all of our infrastructure has this corrosion problem, so it’s the biggest problem we could imagine solving with our set of skills,” Jepeal says. “Tunnels, bridges, roads, industrial buildings, power plants, chemical factories — all of them have this problem.”

*** end quote ***

Considering that the Gooferment is up to “its elbows” in bridge construction, it’s no wonder that the bridges are falling down.  If an entrepreneur was “selling bridges”, then we would have bridges that would last virtually forever.  But politicians and bureaucrats have no incentive to solve the problems of the world. 

Argh!

—30—

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TECHNOLOGY: Could everyone get access to the better data?

Tuesday, December 10, 2024

https://interestingengineering.com/innovation/robot-balloons-capture-nyc-sized-areas

12-pound US robot balloons capture NYC-sized areas in jaw-dropping details

  • These autonomous balloons operate at altitudes ranging from 60,000 to 85,000 feet.

Updated: Nov 28, 2024 07:36 AM EST
Mrigakshi Dixit

*** begin quote ***

As per Space.com, a single balloon can capture the same amount of data as 800,000 drones in a single flight.

Moreover, the balloons can map large disaster zones in detail within hours, rather than weeks.

“Many insurance companies are still relying on aerial data collection methods from the 1950s to assess 2024’s climate risks,” said Rema Matevosyan, CEO of Near Space Labs. 

“When you consider that only six percent of the $250 billion in losses from Hurricane Helene may be covered by insurance, it becomes clear that outdated risk assessment methods are creating a domino effect: poor data leads to inadequate policy pricing, which leads to carrier losses, which ultimately forces insurers to abandon entire markets—leaving homeowners stranded and unable to secure mortgages,” Matevosyan added. 

*** end quote ***

While I don’t pity the “poor” insurance companies, it makes sense that better data can help EVERYONE properly assess risk.

My personal experience with “federal flood insurance” is dismal.  

In the case of shore house, I carried the required policy even after the mortgage was paid off.  When there was a flood, I wasn’t covered because it wasn’t my primary residence.  So why did I pay those premiums for all those years?  “You made a mistake” was their response.  Luckily, all I lost was an outside hot water heater; my neighbor’s house, which was 4 inches lower than mine, had a ¼ of a million dollars in repairs.  It literally killed him when he was ripped off by contractors.

In the case of my primary residence, I paid flood insurance for decades.  When the flood hit, my neignborhood was three feet ABOVE the high water mark.  Asking about that was another exercise in stupidity.  “You’re in the flood plain.”  Revise the map.  “No, it’s set by the Federal Government.”  Argh!

So maybe if  had access to better topology, some politicians and bureaucrats could accurately assess my risk,

Argh!  Sure as soon as pigs fly.

—30—

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VOCABULARY: “Bottleneckers” use the Gooferment to limit choice?

Saturday, April 30, 2022

https://youtu.be/p4yb9SA_z20

Eye Test Innovators vs The Bottleneckers
36,978 views Apr 19, 2022
John Stossel
651K subscribers

*** begin quote ***

Need glasses? Going to an optometrist can be a pain and waste the better part of a day. So a company, Opternative, invented an at-home test.

It’s cheaper and more convenient than traditional eye exams. You just need a cell phone and a computer.
————
To make sure you see the new weekly video from Stossel TV, sign up here: https://www.johnstossel.com/#subscribe
————
But the American Optometric Association wants it banned. They say “it poses significant health risks to consumers” because “it relies on new, self-administered tests” rather than “assessment by an eye care professional.”

Is this new eye test dangerous? Or is it a cheap and efficient eye care alternative?

*** end quote ***

Well, when first I heard of it, I thought about my last eye exam.  It was done by an ophthalmologist; not an optometrist.  He scanned my retina. Reminded me to stay on my RX for high blood pressure that he’d detected more than a decade ago.  As well as, noting that my cataracts had not progressed any further. 

So there is a fine point on this.  Although I’m not sure what an “assessment by an eye care professional” would mean if that “professional” is an optometrist?

YMMV, I recommend seeing an ophthalmologist for your annual exam.  It may cost more but it could save your sight and even your life.

—30—

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INTERESTING: Medicine is morphing due to the inet

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

http://lewrockwell.com/north/north1132.html

Health and Free Trade
by Gary North
Tea Party Economist

*** begin quote ***

Will there be better living through chemistry? Count on it.

Will there be long waits in local doctors’ offices – doctors who still serve Medicare patients? Yes.

Will thousands of physicians cease to take new patients because too many new patients will be on Medicare? Yes.

Start making plans to shift to the medicine of the future. It will be cross-border medicine. That is where the savings will be. That is where the innovation will be. That is where the FDA won’t be.

*** end quote ***

One can only hope.

Having “lost” Frau Reinke to an know blood disorder, during which some very smart and dedicated people gave her their best effort, “medicine” is still at best and art. At worst, it’s a corrupt system where no one cares.

I attribute that to the lack of “greed”. Remember “Greed is good” as a meme because it get that species, which is characterized by its usual uncooperativeness and irritability, to work together to satisfy as many needs and wants has possible. 

Perfect?

Not by any means. But the minute “we” stray away from that essential motivation, “we” get sub-par results. You can count on it!

Argh!

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TECHNOLOGY: “Low” tech? I’d call it “essential”

Monday, September 12, 2011

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tom-vander-ark/education-innovation-_b_938991.html

Tom Vander ArkCEO, Open Education Solutions
18 Low-Tech Learning Innovations
Posted: 8/28/11 01:00 PM ET

Education Reform , Google , Teachers , Education Innovation , Education Idea , Education Innovation America , Innovation , Learning Innovations , Learning Low-Tech , Teacher Innovations , Education News

*** begin quote ***

I frequently write about new learning technologies, but there are lots of low tech learning innovations (i.e., produce better outcomes and potentially cost less). Here’s a lit of 18. I bet you can add two to the list to make it an even 20. At this point, some aren’t really innovations, they are demonstrated best practices but they exist in so few places they are worth mentioning.

1. High expectations and future focus. In the first minute of visiting an Aspire elementary school you see, feel, and hear about the college going focus — a unique and powerful combination of high expectations and future orientation.

*** end quote ***

Seems like this is a “universal” low tech list. Never saw an enterprise use this approach.

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INSPIRATIONAL: Chinese should embarrass us into action

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

http://news.slashdot.org/story/10/08/29/135221/China-Plans-To-Mine-the-Yellow-Sea-Floor

News: China Plans To Mine the Yellow Sea Floor on Sunday August 29, @09:33AM
Posted by timothy on Sunday August 29, @09:33AM

*** begin quote ***

eldavojohn writes “Details are limited but state media is reporting on $75 million being put into a new research facility in Qingdao, Shandong Province that will conduct research into mining the sea floor. From the article: ‘Scientists believe sea beds at a depth of 4,000 to 6,000 meters hold abundant deposits of rare metals and methane hydrate, a solidified form of natural gas bound into ice that can serve as a new energy source.’ The research center’s first goal is to do surveying and exploration with a new submersible named ‘Jiaolong’ (a mythical aquatic Chinese dragon). Hopefully these quests yield energy resources to meet growing demand for resources like liquefied coal in China.”

*** end quote ***

So, why should this be “inspirational”?

It should be inspirational, because we should be embarrassed that we are so far behind. And, out of touch with reality.

Why aren’t we DOING the big things?

Venial leaders, lazy people, and an economy that is suppressed by the Gooferment!

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SERVICE: Google Voice for ICE

Friday, August 13, 2010

http://lifehacker.com/5603492/create-a-better-emergency-contact-number-with-google-voice

Create a Better Emergency Contact Number with Google Voice

*** begin quote ***

A lot of us have more than one Google account (in fact, Google just launched a new feature specifically for multiple account owners), so the idea would be that you set up one of your non-primary accounts with Google Voice, then make that number, when called, ring everyone you’d consider an emergency contact—maybe your significant other, your parents, your sister.

*** end quote ***

I’ll try it.

My samsung phone displays “ice calling” when any of the three people I have listed call or texts me. It’s confusing.

We’ll see it it works.

I have a “spare” GV#. So what I’ll have to do is to schedule the authentication with my four ice (f,p,m,w) contacts and my four home (mc, ec, h, s). So, when some one call ICE it’ll ring all of them. That’s a real E!

First limit. You can only forward to six phones. And, each of the numbers has to be validated.

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MONEY: The Pope should lead the way to “honest money”

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/vatican-coin-now-in-circulation/

Vatican coin now in circulation

*** begin quote ***

Vatican City, Jul 23, 2010 / 05:02 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Coins bearing the image of Pope Benedict XVI are now in open circulation within Vatican walls. As of this month, Vatican visitors will find that 50 cent pieces are being given as change at places such as the gas station, pharmacy and post office.

*** end quote ***

Imagine the impact on the world if the Pope led the way to “honest money”?

Hard to imagine.

Gooferments, around the world, steal the people’s wealth by inflation. They claim the “King’s right”, the “Soverign’s duty”, or the “Tyrant’s Treasure Chest” to produce “honest coins” or “money”. (Like the marketplace could not figure out what “money” was “honest” on its own. Gresham’s Law http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gresham%27s_law would demonstrate whats good and what’s not, without any “inspectors”. The Gooferment steals the wealth by printing more paper money, called “fiat currency”. Fiat because it has value because the Gooferment says it has value. No conflict of interest there.

Now here’s why the Pope should care. Inflation, the printing of “extra” money, impoverishes the poor, middle class, savers, and old age pensioners. That’s why he should care.

Inflation results in higher prices in the marketplace. Wages lag inflation. If they rise at all, it won’t be proportional. Investment, similarly, never “catch up”. So pensioners get hit with a triple whammy: their pensions are usually fixed and so don’t go as far as they used to, their savings are eroded, and prices go up.

So that’s why the Pope should act.

The Church has always been the traditional refuge for the serf from the abuses of the King. (I’ve seen enough Robin Hood and Zorro movies to know that.) It’s time for that to happen again.

Imagine if the Pope ordered all Vatican coinage to be in gold or silver?

First impact, that they’d be selling like hot cakes to the tourists. Then would come the folks overseas. As an example of “honest money”. The Vatican could even show a profit; much more than what they rip off coin collectors for meaningless proof sets.

And the little people would have money that could not be stolen silently by the King’s printing press.

Even the most illiterate dumber-than-a-rock parishioner could see the benefit of using the Pope’s money for savings.

It would be the ultimate control on the power of the King — the Gooferment.

IMHO one of the reasons, or possibly THE reason that Old Sadam got knocked off his horse was NOT wmd; the tyrant had the audacity to suggest that he wanted to be paid for his oil in gold. Rumor was that he was months away from starting an oil exchange denominated in gold. Remember the “Gold Dinar”? Not that he had a religious bone in his tuckus, he was pushing the religious aspect too. Hey, he realized that the FED was going to “tax” him on his dollar holdings. Silently. With no muss ‘n’ fuss, as the printing presses kept rolling out dollars.

So, Holy Father, the little people of the world would like you to end the tyranny of the King, who steals their little bit of wealth, give us honest money. If you truly believe in the workman being worth his wage, then make sure he get it in something that is worth something. Honest money is Godly money. And, slapping on a few saint’s pictures on the coins wouldn’t hurt morality either.

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SERVICE: Citations and bibliography

Monday, July 19, 2010

http://www.freedownloadaday.com/2010/07/17/format-citations-and-build-a-bibliography-with-easybib/

Format citations and build a bibliography with EasyBib
July 17th, 2010

*** begin quote ***

It’s one thing to thoroughly research and write your paper, thesis, dissertation, or even letter to the City Council; it’s another thing to get all the citations right. After all, unless you’re only compiling your own data, you are no doubt depending on the work of others. And we all know that we need to give credit where credit is due, meaning you need to cite those sources. But how do you correctly and accurately give your sources? And what format should you use?

*** end quote ***

http://www.easybib.com

# – # – #

So of course I had to try it. :-)

Reinke, Ferdinand J. “RANT: Bailouts Are Welfare and Theft Is Just Theft « Reinke Faces Life.” Reinke Faces Life. WordPress, 19 July 2010. Web. 19 July 2010. <https://reinkefaceslife.com/2010/07/19/rant-bailouts-are-welfare-and-theft-is-just-theft/&gt;.

Seems to work nicely.

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TECHNOLOGY: Google’s OCR needs work

Saturday, July 17, 2010

<Broken Link>

Google’s OCR translated that into:

*** begin quote ***

Sister Mary Virgilius O’Brien, RSM

at Maria Regina in Seaford. In Brook-

lyn, her school as- sígnments included Holy

as Aquinas, St. Brigid’s and the Convent of Mercy, and in she St; 1 Gerard Majella in Hollis and

School in Astoria. In 1955 she graduated from Manhattan College with a B.A. in Latín. In 1967, she earned a master’s degree from Seton Hall University. Sister Virgilius worked in food management at Visíta-

tion Residence here (1980-83), before retiring to the Convent of Mercy in 1993, and then moving to Maria Regina Residence in Brentwood. She is survived by one sister, Sister of Mercy Kathleen O’Brien

*** end quote ***

That’s not even close. But it was “free”! Argh! Unusable, but free.

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JOBSEARCH: Form for free may be just the thing for thee

Monday, July 5, 2010

http://blogs.jobdig.com/wwds/2010/06/22/networking-tool-for-everyone-free

Networking Tool For Everyone (free)

Posted in June 22nd, 2010

*** begin quote ***

Instead, imagine that you have completed a BUILDING MY NETWORK form in advance of the meeting. The form lists the companies you are interested in, the contact people, the issues confronting the business and the department where you want to work. This way your contact has something to react to, and to refer to later.

*** end quote ***

Any free advise is good.

I like McKay66 and I like Lucht’s structured networking meeting.

But this is a good idea to have an ice breaker of targets.

If I have a gripe with it, it would be that in might get you down in the weeds BEFORE you’ve established what “field” you should be working in. Part of the structured networking is to listen to what the target has to say about your situation.

Sometimes that is something “strategic” that you never considered.

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INTERESTING: Doing impressive scary stuff for its own sake

Saturday, July 3, 2010

FROM ONE OF MY HIGH SCHOOL CHUMS

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=RobaJKGMMiE (N.B. ten minutes, SFW, in German)

*** begin quote ***

The following was produced as a commercial for a German heavy equipment manufacturer. You don’t want to be in the same marketplace with competitors like this.

The operator isn’t exactly a slouch either.

They didn’t tell us how they got it down

*** end quote ***

Very entertaining.

We, in the USA, have lost that “competitive feeling”.

Why did these guys do it? Who cares they did it.

I think it has to do with the feminization of our culture. Women’s rights has emasculated us. No one does big scary shit just for the sake of the adrenalin rush. Still still, be polite, don’t offend anyone, political correctness, graft, laziness, and corruption are the values praised today.

Argh!

We should have rebuilt the WTC in record time with three towers, the middle one being a little taller.

We should throw out all these “leaders” an get some Pattons, some Jesse Venturas, some Reagans. To inspire us.

We have a temporary advantage while the Arab countries fight with one hand behind their back (i.e., they suppress their women).

We need to eliminate the welfare / warfare state and throw open the borders to anyone who wants to come here to work. We need the energy.

Drill, nukes, as well as conservation and new technology.

We need honest money to make this all possible.

Most of all we need to take back our birthright as “not females”!

Argh!

# – # – #

<Yes, dear, put down the computer and finish the housework.>

Argh! Squared!

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TECHNOLOGY: Amazing cars you probably didn’t know about

Monday, March 15, 2010

http://www.techradar.com/news/world-of-tech/car-tech/10-high-tech-cars-to-tear-up-the-tarmac-675005

Car tech News
10 high tech cars to tear up the tarmac
Our pick of the world’s most advanced street autos
By John Brandon
Friday at 15:20 GMT

*** begin quote ***

Car technology is advancing quickly – partly to save the auto industry from imminent collapse, but also because tech innovations can help save lives on the road.

*** end quote ***

Not sure if I need it to tell me that there are people in front of me. Maybe in a decade or two.

I probably could use it to remember the last speed sign we passed. Or remind where I see the radar traps.

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INTERESTING: A screw job

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

http://www.impactlab.com/2010/02/14/a-screw-in-coffin/screw-coffin2/

February 14th, 2010 at 10:54 am
A Screw-In Coffin
in: Great New Product, New Inventions, Science & Technology News

*** begin quote ***

A series of burial containers having means by which they can be pressed, agitated, screwed and or self bored into a receiving material, provide low cost interment methods with hermetic sealing, security locking, plaque and memorial markers and built in flower and flag receptacles. They greatly excavation labor and burial costs while providing the respectful funeral services currently practiced. They also decrease the land space required for each burial and provide for burials in normally unused areas within the cemetary, greatly increasing the number of burials possible in each cemetary. The apparatus and methods can be used for all sizes of humans and pets as well as for undergound storage of equipment. supplies, food, water, fuel or other such material as may be reaquired to be made.

*** end quote ***

Most interesting.

Seems like it could be a cemetary space saver. Or a way to cache “contraband”!

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TECHNOLOGY: Lost camera

Sunday, January 3, 2010

Recently I lost my camera. Argh!

Fell out of my pocket in cab.

My fault.

But it had no way to identify itself to a finder who might be interested in returning it.

The product design should have a place for a name or phone number. Maybe it should have a sensor to alert me that it was “leaving”. Or the ability to “phone home”?

Argh!

# # # # #

John Edward OConnor

or maybe just use one of those address labels every charity ion the world sends you trying to guilt you into a donation?

Do you really need a technical solution where glue and paper will work? :)

# – # – #

No good place on the old or new camera to put one. And, they wipe off over time. (I’ve tried it on other things. Like cars and toys.) Same the maker doesn’t do serial number registration and retrieval services. Give a token to the finder; modest recovery fee to the owner? Like an extended warranty against loss?

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INITIALISMS: Car name map to fun

Thursday, December 24, 2009

On a recent trip to AC, I heard a comic do initialisms of car companies that was fast, cute, and funny.

The only one I remember was:

FIAT = “Fix It Again Tony”

Any one know others?

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FUN: Score one for the placebo

Sunday, December 20, 2009

http://www.impactlab.com/2009/12/16/weird-and-wacky-medical-findings-of-2009/

December 16th, 2009 at 8:53 am
Weird and Wacky Medical Findings of 2009

*** begin quote ***

– A testosterone patch designed to pep up a woman’s sex drive received the thumbs down in a study published in the UK’s Drugs and Therapeutics Bulletin. The side effects included acne, excess hair, breast pain, weight gain, insomnia, voice deepening and migraine. “Significant numbers” of women placed on a placebo patch reported an increase in sex drive.

*** end quote ***

Hmmm, maybe we could do a “sham wow” type tv campaign selling women the placebo?

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TECHNOLOGY: Driverless cars

Saturday, November 21, 2009

http://www.impactlab.com/2009/11/19/audi-autonomous-tts-driverless-sports-car/

November 19th, 2009 at 7:19 am
Audi Autonomous TTS – Driverless Sports Car

*** begin quote ***

It could also help with the more mundane aspects of driving. With the Autonomous TTS, you could let your car go find its own parking space in the garage. “The technology could return time to the cars’ owners by taking care of routine driving chores, such as winding through a parking garage to an assigned spot each morning,” Audi says.  

*** end quote ***

Neat!

Perfect for Iowa driving.

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INTERSTING: Training crows

Friday, October 30, 2009

http://www.crowboxunleashed.com/

*** begin quote ***

At the time, I taught some captive crows, remotely, through basic operant conditioning, to feed coins into a vending machine so they could get peanuts. The idea is that a group of wild crows would teach other crows, including their offspring, to find the coins and put them into the vending machine to get peanuts. For this experiment, I received coverage all over the globe – from the New York Times, TED.com, Gizmodo and even Oprah covered the experiment! But now – it’s your turn. The crowbox experiment is open source and this site exists to let the whole world know how to make a crow machine and then share the results.

*** end quote ***

Fascinating idea?

Wonder if it could be done and show an roi?

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SERVICE: Meme – Yahoo’s Twitter

Thursday, October 29, 2009

http://meme.yahoo.com/home/

Meme – Yahoo’s Improvement on Twitter

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I don’t care for the name. Meme, like gene, is supposed to represent a defining concept. Paradigm is perception. Meme is the mental construction that we can share. (A meme can be “wrong” like government. But it’s something (an idea) we can exchange and understand. I think Yahoo has muddled the pond. IMHO!

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TECHNOLOGY: QIPIT down

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Thanks for signing up for the Qipit online service, the company that specializes in high quality mobile copy solutions. We are making a change in the focus of the company toward the development of smart phone applications and technology for the enterprise. In fact, our first application Qipit White, is available now for the iPhone, with more applications and platforms to follow. Starting this past Wednesday (October 21, 2009), the Qipit online mobile copy service stopped accepting new user registrations.

What this means to you?

As an existing user, you can still use the service as normal until November 9, 2009, at which time the ability to create new copies (using Web upload, our facebook applications, Shozu, copy@qipit.com, and color@qipit.com) and to share (by sending faxes and emails) will be discontinued. On December 6, 2009, the service will be completely taken offline. We encourage users to download all of the information you would like to keep, prior to this date. After the service is taken offline, your information will no longer be available.

As we say goodbye to Qipit the online service, Qipit will live on in a series of smart phone applications and as a technology for the enterprise. Back in September we launched our first smart phone application, Qipit White, for the iPhone, it shares much of the same functionality of the online service, but works much faster! We will continue to support Qipit White and future applications based on the technology behind Qipit for the iPhone, Android and other smart phone platforms. Be sure to keep an eye on http://www.qipit.com and the Qipit Blog for the latest news on new applications.

You can read more about the changes at Qipit at our blog. Please feel free to share your thoughts and farewells to the Qipit online service.

Many thanks,

~ the Qipit team

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INTERESTING: Pain of suicide

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20091015/cm_csm/ynashweb_1

*** begin quote ***

For Japanese couples forbidden to marry, leaping from Mount Fuji used to be a common place to end their lives, but when the government erected a sign about the pain it was causing survivors, the suicide rate plummeted. Posting on Facebook could have a similar effect.

*** end quote ***

I had a boss who committed suicide. It was said that the technology changing scared him. I hope that’s not right. He could have asked for help. THere were a lot of people who liked him for his caring and could have helped ease the transition worries. Maybe life would have been different if he had. Or if we’d known. We’ll never know.

Requiescat In Pacem, Bob, boss in my youth

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INTERESTING: Political quiz

Friday, October 16, 2009

http://pewresearch.org/politicalquiz/quiz/index.php

200910160746.jpg

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I’m not surprised. I’m a wonk! It wasn’t very hard.

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TECHNOLOGY: Use exclsion to sharpen writing

Saturday, October 10, 2009

http://www.dailyblogtips.com/spellchecker-drives-a-stake-through-vampire-words/

Spellchecker Drives a Stake Through Vampire Words
from Daily Blog Tips
by Mike Marshall

*** begin quote ***

3. Use Exclusion Dictionaries to Mark Them

My favorite solution, although it requires a little more energy, is to establish an “Exclusion Dictionary”. This dictionary lists words that you want to exclude from the basic spelling dictionary within MS-Word. When the word is added to the exclusion dictionary, the spell checker will no longer perceive it as a correctly spelled word, and will flag it as an error. When configured to check spelling as you type, this prevents these nasty words from creeping into your text by immediately marking them as issues.

To create an exclusion list, you need only add the word to your exclusion dictionary (a text file) under your MS-WORD application data. Each vampire word is entered on a single line in this file, and from that point forward is considered a misspelled word and highlighted by the spell checker.

What makes this method so nice is that you can consider the word’s real value, and tell the spellchecker to ignore its use, if desired.

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Here’s a great suggestion!

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TECHNOLOGY: Cheap books everywhere when needed

Saturday, September 26, 2009

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/0c1302e2-a3eb-11de-9fed-00144feabdc0.html

Google to offer hard copies of books
Financial Times [UK]

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“After five years of scanning books electronically, Google is finally entering the print publishing business for the first time. Through an arrangement with a printing company announced yesterday, Google will offer 2m out-of-copyright books that can be picked up or shipped from libraries, universities and other spots around the world. It has struck the deal with On Demand Books, makers of the Espresso Book Machine, which can print a 300-page book in less than five minutes, complete with a cover and a bound edge.” (09/17/09)

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As I know, Print On Demand makes it possible for ANYONE to publish a book!

We are truly entering the age of enlightenment.

It’s hard to imagine what this will mean to the third world countries. 8 bucks is a lot of money. But, it’s astounding to think what’s possible.

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PRODUCTIVITY: Copyrights hinder wisdom

Thursday, September 10, 2009

http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2009/10/death-of-a-president200910?printable=true

A Clash of Camelots

Within months of J.F.K.’s death, the president’s widow asked William Manchester to write the authorized account of the assassination. He felt he couldn’t refuse her. Two years later, nearly broken by the task, Manchester found himself fighting a bitter, headline-making battle with Jackie and Bobby Kennedy over the finished book. The author chronicles the toll Manchester’s 1967 best-seller, The Death of a President, exacted—physically, emotionally, and financially—before it all but disappeared.

By Sam Kashner

October 2009

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By virtue of their original agreement with Harper & Row, the Kennedys continue to control the fate of The Death of a President. Even now, after William Manchester’s original manuscript has come home to Wesleyan, where it is held under a kind of house arrest—heavily censored, and subject to extremely restricted use—the Kennedy family has allowed the book to go out of print, according to John Manchester. Sitting in the bar at the Four Seasons Hotel in sight of Boston Common, where his father had first met Kennedy, when both men were newly home from the war, he says, “The Death of a President helped build that library, but if you go there today, there’s no mention of it or him anywhere. He was written out of their history.”

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Interesting. Copyright law was intended to allow ideas to spread. Shouldn’t books that are “out of print” go into the public domain? With vendors like Lulu Print On Demand, there should NEVER be a reason for books to go “out of print”!

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