One technology I’ve been keeping an eye out for is that of the “localizer”, as described in the novel A Deepness In The Sky, by Vernor Vinge. In “Deepness”, localizers are miniscule devices capable of distributed data processing, inter- and extra-device communication, movement, and environmental sensing. These devices play a key role in the development of societies towards a space-faring culture. Two articles on current research regarding this tech: Berkeley’s Wireless Research Center’s picoradio project, and their smart dust project.

In time for the holidays, it’s ASCII Cow Art!

In case you get abducted by crazed Inuit beach raiders who drug you, steal your molars, and leave you for dead on the beaches of a foreign country, you can use the power of the Internet to translate the word “cow” into over 539 different languages!

Find songs featuring your favorite musical instrument: the cowbell.

Woohoo! Get your 17-year-old cow ice cream here!

monkeyphonecall.com.

Enough Said…

Beth wrote to tell me that since she and her family are moving away from bucolic town of Boaz, Alabama, to greener, more urban pastures, they need to find a good home for their family cow, Sally. If you’re within driving distance, have a cattle trailer, and you have a good home for Sally [this means you won’t turn her into hamburger], please let Beth know.

After just a few hours playing with my iBook, Rod and Megan have converted to the Mac side: they’re the proud parents of a brand new baby 600Mhz iBook.

I’ve found that Apple’s “Sherlock” tool is rather bloated and annoying when trying to use as a “file find” utility. Rather than using Sherlock, check out the freeware Locator, which is a wrapper for the UNIX ‘find’ and ‘locate’ commands.

How to cut and paste in X11. In case you ever wanted to know.