Category: Random

The Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search continues. Mersenne 8,797,639 is not prime. So says my computer, the slowest computer in the world.

Is it being unamerican when I totally forget that it’s September 11th? Raise your hand if you’re with me. Without the Sunday morning news programs, I’m not sure I would have remembered.

The NY Times has an article today concerning Maine Lobster booms and busts off of Maine and Cape Cod, respectively.

Ever wonder what day of the week a particular date falls on?

Of course you have; it’s not just me.

Here is a handy MS Excel download for determining which of the 28 Gregorian calendar arrangements is the one you need.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=disney+biometric

Without ado, I refer you to the Google search for “Disney” and “Biometric”. In order to access the park right now, you must submit to a finger scan. Harmless? Probably. Potentially useful to the Department of Homeland Security? Maybe. You read and find out.

One of the links there says that if you object to the process the security guards will take a photo of you instead. I did not try that out.

Yesterday, I watched attentively as Tiger Woods and Peter Hedblom teed off on the last round of the 2005 US Open Golf Tournament. Dad and I paid attention until about the third hole and then we left to go to a Father’s Day dinner. This was immediately after Retief Goosen, the leader at -3 teed off.

After dinner, I got back into my car and traveled home from Birmingham to Marietta, which takes about 2.5 hours. I was curious how the tournament was proceeding, so I found a CBS affiliate on the AM dial and listened as I drove.

Golf by radio is fascinatingly tense! I found myself all hunched up over the wheel, breathless as Tiger tried to make his par on 16. I groaned with the gallery when he missed. I thought, when I turned on the radio, that I’d just find out the leaderboard and then go back to my Killers CD, but I was hooked and listened until Michael Campbell missed penultimate putt (to a soft groan) and then sank his 2.5 foot bogie putt to win the Open.

It was strangely fascinating.

There is an AP article today concerning the possible cause of death of Jesus of Nazareth. (acutal title Jesus may have died of a blood clot in his lungs, Israeli doctor says By GAVIN RABINOWITZ, Associated Press, Published on: 06/09/05 )

The gist of this article is that Jesus may not have died from asphyxiation and blood loss, but instead from a pulmonary embolism. The article goes into more detail.

As the husband of an academic, I’m aware of the need to find things to publish, and as a card-carrying geek, I’m additionally aware of the occasional desire to investigate something odd, but in this case I have to ask, “Who really cares?” This was almost 2,000 years ago, and the historical evidence is sketchy at best, when it comes to medically significant details (and, of course, there are those who argue that there are no historical data at all, merely the Bible).

It just goes to show that there are some strange things people will argue about.

This CNN story shows that geographic information systems (GIS) are reaching deeper into the populace.

Having some experience using GIS for transportation planning and just generally screwing around with maps, this latest trend is specatacular! Many feliciations to Google and Google Maps for coming out with a beautiful map interface.

Of course, the linked CNN story doesn’t quite come out and say that the technical ability to take a list of addresses and turn them into a geocoded graphical layer (i.e. stick them on the map) is not exactly plug-and-play. But it’s getting better!

My job provides me with access to ESRI ArcGIS which is the most powerful GIS program available. Unfortunately, it’s also the most expensive, unaffordable by persons who want to merely tinker. The trend of smaller GIS products coming to the market will make it easier for people to know and understand the power of maps. (it will also teach them how easy it is to manipulate data to represent what you want, with a map. NEVER trust a map on TV)