Hakwerk Blog
http://blog.hakwerk.com/index.php
The Bathtub Test
http://blog.hakwerk.com/index.php?entry=entry061129-123921
"Well," said the Director, "we fill up a bathtub, then we offer a teaspoon, a teacup and a bucket to the patient and ask him or her to empty the bathtub."
"Oh, I understand," said the visitor. "A normal person would use the bucket because it's bigger than the spoon or the teacup."
"No." said the Director, "A normal person would pull the plug. Do you want a bed near the window?" ]]>Top Ten Things That Math and Sex Have in Common
http://blog.hakwerk.com/index.php?entry=entry061125-084743
9. Historically, men have been in control, but there are now efforts to get women more involved. 8. There are many joint results. 7. Both are prominent on college campuses, and are usually practiced indoors. 6. Most people wish they knew more about both subjects. 5. Both involve long and hard problems, and can produce interesting topology and geometry. 4. Both merit undivided attention, but mathematicians are prone to think about one while doing the other. 3. Saint Augustine was hostile to both, and Alan Turing took an unusual approach to both. 2. Both typically begin with a lot of hard work and end with a great but brief reward. 1. Professionals are generally viewed with suspicion, and most do not earn high pay.
More Math humor]]>Internet Censorship
http://blog.hakwerk.com/index.php?entry=entry061118-060312
The spectrum of internet censorship ranged from transparent to utterly murky. Perhaps the country with the most accessible filtering system was Saudi Arabia. On their website, they have all the information of why they block and what they block. And they invite contributions (of other sites to be blocked) from the public.
Sometimes a censoring government tries to conceal its filtering behind spoofed web-browser error messages. Tunisia, for instance, masks filtered pages by serving a mockup of Internet Explorer's 404 error page. Rather than getting a page that says 'This page has been blocked,' you get a page saying 'Page not found,' designed to look exactly like the Internet Explorer 404 page. These supposed error pages stand out when you're not using IE....
Source: Wired ]]>13 Internet Enemies
http://blog.hakwerk.com/index.php?entry=entry061116-031536
Reporters Without Borders have updated their list of internet enemies. Three countries - Nepal, Maldives and Libya - have been removed from the annual list. But many bloggers were harassed and imprisoned this year in Egypt, so it has been added to the roll of shame reserved for countries that systematically violate online free expression. ]]>irrepressible.info
http://blog.hakwerk.com/index.php?entry=entry061113-152808
var irr_lang = 'en';
I have signed the pledge on Internet freedom from Amnesty International:
I believe the Internet should be a force for political freedom, not repression. People have the right to seek and receive information and to express their peaceful beliefs online without fear or interference.
I call on governments to stop the unwarranted restriction of freedom of expression on the Internet – and on companies to stop helping them do it.
More info: irrepressible.info]]>Drawing that came alive
http://blog.hakwerk.com/index.php?entry=entry061112-161808
]]>Frog
http://blog.hakwerk.com/index.php?entry=entry060826-092046
The guy picks the frog up and puts it in his pocket. The frog starts shouting, "Hey! Didn't you hear me? I'm a Princess. Just kiss me and I will be yours."
The guy takes the frog out of his pocket and smiles at it and puts it back. The frog is really frustrated. "I don't get it. Why won't you kiss me? I will turn into a beautiful princess and do anything you ask."
The guy says, "Look, I'm a computer geek. I don't have time for women. But a talking frog is very cool!" ]]>Management Lessons
http://blog.hakwerk.com/index.php?entry=entry060824-155552
Lesson 1: A crow was sitting on a tree, doing nothing all day. A small rabbit saw the crow, and asked him, "Can I also sit like you and do nothing all day long?" The crow answered: "Sure, why not." So the rabbit sat on the ground below the crow, and rested. All of a sudden, a fox appeared, jumped on the rabbit and ate it.
Management Lesson: To be sitting and doing nothing, you must be sitting very, very high up.
Lesson 2: A turkey was chatting with a bull. "I would love to be able to get to the top of that tree," sighed the turkey, "but I haven't got the energy."
"Well, why don't you nibble on some of my droppings?" replied the bull. "They're packed with nutrients."
The turkey pecked at a lump of dung and found that it actually gave him enough strength to reach the first branch of the tree.
The next day, after eating some more dung, he reached the second branch. Finally, after a forenight, there he was proudly perched at the top of the tree. Soon he was promptly spotted by a farmer, who shot the turkey out of the tree.
Management Lesson: Bullshit might get you to the top, but it won't keep you there.
Lesson 3: A little bird was flying South for the winter. It was so cold, the bird froze and fell to the ground in a large field. While it was lying there, a cow came by and dropped some dung on it. As the frozen bird lay there in the pile of dung, it began to realize how warm it was. The dung was actually thawing him out! He lay there all warm and happy and soon began to sing for joy.
A passing cat heard the bird singing and came to investigate. Following the sound, the cat discovered the bird under the pile of cow dung and promptly dug him out and ate him!
Management Lessons: 1) Not everyone who drops shit on you is your enemy. 2) Not everyone who gets you out of shit is your friend. 3) And when you're in deep shit, keep your mouth shut. ]]>Battlefield 2
http://blog.hakwerk.com/index.php?entry=entry050821-114601
Battlefield 2, and can get really into the game. But this is even a little bit overdone for me :)
]]>Thumb Drive
http://blog.hakwerk.com/index.php?entry=entry050622-142508
sells a USB pen in the shape of a thumb. Makes for a change in the office :)
And there is more where that came from. ]]>Stress?
http://blog.hakwerk.com/index.php?entry=entry050613-215118
]]>Atomic Clock Turns 50
http://blog.hakwerk.com/index.php?entry=entry050605-113111
reports that the atomic clock, the time-keeping device that governs all aspects of our lives, is celebrating its 50th year. The first accurate caesium atomic clock was developed at the NPL in 1955 by Dr Louis Essen.
Atomic clocks form the standard for Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), which governs legal time-keeping globally. The clocks are vital for rafts of technologies, such as global satellite navigation (GPS), coordinating packets of data which are transferred across the internet, and mobile telephony. Even London's Big Ben relies on atomic clocks to keep it right.
Using a beam of caesium-133 atoms, generated from a special type of oven, the best present-day atomic clocks are able to keep time to within a 10th of a billionth of a second a day. They do this by counting time based on the way cooled-down caesium atoms jump back and forth between different energy levels. This occurs at microwave frequencies, with nearly 9.2 billion jumps making up the interval of time known as the second.
And here is an page on the history of atomic clocks at NIST (US National Institute of Standards and Technology). ]]>Not so famous last words
http://blog.hakwerk.com/index.php?entry=entry050603-202303
* I agree with you! * Don't you just love it? * It only exists between your ears! * Do you want to talk about it? * Excuse me? * Let's agree that we disagree * This is a win-win situation * Aren't you a sweet little animal? * Your right or mine?