Birthday Benoit Mandelbrot

Yesterday was the birthday of Benoit Mandelbrot.  He is the father of modern fractal geometry.  The picture shown is the initial view of the Mandelbrot set.

Fractal Geometry has been taken on the seemingly daughnting task of calculating natural phenomena.  Natural fractals include mountains, coastlines, river basins, plans, blood vessels, lungs, the clustering of galaxies, music, painting, and stock market prices.

Remember earlier in this blog, science fiction writer and mathmetician Rudy Rucker refers to these complex, non-repeating computations as "gnarly".  

Clouds are not spheres, mountains are not cones, coastlines are not circles, and bark is not smooth, nor does lightning travel in a straight line.  --Mandelbrot, Introduction to The Fractal Geometry of Nature

Games: Lots of JavaScript Games

This site has a ton of JavaScript Games.  Although it is not possible to see this while playing, JavaScript runs directly on your browser without ever having to go to a server (Much more difficult to write, but faster running than Flash games).  

The games here are especially impressive given these set of conditions.

Lincoln on YouTube

I wish I would have found this powerful video of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address on Veteran's Day.  Great words to remember.

...this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

DIY: Three-Penny Radio

This looks like a cool Thanksgiving week project.  It gives instructions on how to build an AM radio.  It looks like the pennies just act as a soldering base, but they make a nice decoration.

Happy Love Day!

A beautiful song for my beautiful Lover. I love you with all my heart, all my mind, and all my soul. You are my soul mate and you fill me with happiness every day. Thank you for sharing your love, your life, your family, and your dreams with me. Your love and your friendship make me a better person and for this (and so much more!)I am so grateful and honored to be your wife.
I will love you forever Amor. Happy Anniversary.



"Well open up your mind and see like me...
Open up your plans and damn you're free...
Look into your heart and you'll find love love love love...
Listen to the music of the moment people dance and sing...
We're just one big family And It's our God-forsaken right to be loved love loved love loved...
So I won't hesitate no more, no more It cannot wait I'm sure
There's no need to complicate..
Our time is short... This is our fate, I'm yours...."
- Jason Mraz lyrics

Besitos - Denise

YouTube: Aurora Borealis From Space

Astronaut Don Pettit created this video using a sequence of still images he shot of the aurora borealis from the International Space Station.

Happy Anniversary To My Love

One day early, but I wanted to express my love and devotion to my lover on our second wedding anniversary.

The day at the Chapel Dulcinea still seems bright in our minds.  Perhaps we can go for a love hike again there soon!

We love the Pablo Neruda poetry, because of his method of expressing passion.

Here is the poem which graced the cover of our wedding invitations.

I do not love you as if you were a salt rose, or topaz
or the arrow of carnations the fire shoots off.
I love you as certain dark things are to be loved,
in secret, between the shadow and the soul.

I love you as the plant that never blooms
but carries in itself the light of hidden flowers;
thanks to your love a certain solid fragrance,
risen from the earth, lives darkly in my body.

I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where.
I love you straightforwardly, without complexities or pride;
So I love you because I know no other way

than this: where I does not exist, nor you,
so close that your hand on my chest is my hand,
so close that your eyes close as I fall asleep.

Design Process

I posted this in my software blog, but think it has applications generally also.

Great article in the Make blog regarding the design process. Notice the loop in re-design and test/evaluate phase. In my opinion, this iteration will consume the vast majority of development time. We often refer to it as the refactoring stage.

This refactoring iteration is also the step which many project planners fail to allocate enough time for in their planning.

Games

A new site with popular Flash Games.

Untried Javascript Drum Machines, looks like some downloading of components might be necessary.  Some may only be development tools, unsure so far.

• JS-909
  
• Hobnox
  
• SoundManager
  

East Austin Studio Tour: 11/23

Looks like an interesting event in Austin on Sunday, November 23.  Could be a fun walk.

Typing Test

Curious what you guys get on this typing test.  I scored 62 wpm with 9 mistakes on the first try.  I bet Mom and Grandma are much faster.

The idea came from this article mentioning that programmers should be typist first and programmers second.

How Lightsabers Work

Interesting article in HowStuffWorks regarding how a lightsaber would work.  There's even a safety tip included.

Taekwondo: Isaac's Poom Belt Test

After much hard work and perseverance, Isaac passed the exam to receive his Poom belt in Taekwondo.  This belt is half red and half black, and is the step before receiving the black belt.  Here's the picture set.  (We must give credit to Isaac's Mom for taking these pictures, and thanks to Dad for forwarding them to us).

In other news, Isaac had more spectacular results this weekend.

His flag football team played in the league's championship game.  While the Texans didn't get the victory, Isaac played extremely well.  

This was certainly a break out year for him in football.  Because of his great defensive play, the man we sat next to during the games started calling Isaac the "Missile".  Isaac lived up to this intimidating nick-name by practicing his Taekwondo forms before the games.

Additionally, we got a call later last night learning that Isaac had lost a tooth.  Like I told you, he's definately "en fuego."

A Little Sickly

We all find ourselves a little bit sickly this week.  However, we're still curious.

Online Guitar Tuner

I had to change the strings the other day, and still don't think I have them in the correct tune.  Maybe this will help.

Oh look here's one I can embed into the site. It's basically a little flash movie.  Very Cool!

Games: Flash Tetris Game

Here's a new flash game for the kids.  99 Bricks looks like the anti-Tetris.  You try to build towers instead of deleting rows.  Isn't that a positive way to look at the problem.

I figured out how to post a screen shot from my browser so Isaac will know which posts to look for.  He doesn't seem to be as interested in the quotes just yet.

Want to Learn French

This little girl's story, while quite gruesome at times, proves that everybody loves a happy ending.  It also will make you want to learn French.

Once upon a time... from Capucha on Vimeo.

Wireless Camera SD Card

Must checkout this SD card which connects to your wireless network to transfer pictures from your phone to your computer.  cool!

Crowd Pleaser

Originally posted at Neatorama.

Great Time at the Reunion

We had a fantastic time at the reunion meeting all of our long lost cousins and playing tirelessly with the one's we knew about, playing basketball, and canasta.  Isaac told us about his promise to Carol to keep practicing canasta, what great fun!  Thanks Mom.

Oh yes, and pinatas!

Happy Veteran's Day

Happy Veteran's Day to all of our family who has served our country.  It is a fantastic country to live in.  Thank You.

New Oxford American Dictionary Word of the Year: Hypermiling

Remarkably, I've heard this term used in a perfectly understandable sentence earlier this year.  "In order to save our precious oil resources, I was hypermiling on the way to Corpus as the family slept peacefully in the back of the van."  Sound familiar?

Also posted on Neatorma.  The presumed originator of the phrase is Wayne Gerdes.

Quotes of the Day: Nonsense

I really enjoy these two quotes together today.  My favorite bit of Buckminster's theory, "There are no straight lines."  It seems to take a lifetime to work the 'straight line' mentality, taught in elementary school, out of the problem solving process.

Everything you've learned in school as "obvious" becomes less and less obvious as you begin to study the universe.  For example, there are no solids in the universe.  There's not even a suggestion of a solid.  There are no absolute continuums.  There are no surfaces.  There are no straight lines.  R. Buckminster Fuller

A little nonsense now and then, is relished by the wisest men.  Anonymous

Election Results Via Cartogram

Here's an article which describes the recent 2008 presidential election map using a cartogram.  The cartogram resizes the states in proportion to their population, instead of their acreage.

Quote: Barack Obama

It took a lot of blood, sweat and tears to get to where we are today, but we have just begun.  Today we begin in earnest the work of making sure that the world we leave our children is just a little bit better than the one we inhabit today.  Barack Obama

My favorite part of this great speech, is the man's look of determination.  He does not seem caught up in the celebration, but rather ready to go to work.

IMHO, We also saw the best speech of Senator McCain's candidacy last night.

Finally, in an interesting twist from working in a politically lead organization, I also find myself with a new boss this morning.  A&M graduate who seems to support technology.  Sounds OK to me.

A Cappella: We Love Star Wars

Another amazing a cappella video in YouTube. The singer performs a Star Wars recap to various John Williams' movie themes.

Games: Another Online Physics Game

Splitter is another physics game similar to the Crayon Physics.  This one however, is online.  Looks promising.