In Classic Math Riddle, DNA Gives a Satisfying Answer. Scientists make strides with the DNA computer, theoretically capable of performing trillions of calculations in seconds. By George Johnson. [New York Times: Science]

"We've shown by these computations that biological molecules can be used for distinctly nonbiological purposes," Dr. Adleman said. "They are miraculous little machines.

I'm thinking Kevin Kelly and Out of Control: The New Biology of Machines, Social Systems and the Economic World.

The future of machines is biology.

Read it online at http://www.kk.org/outofcontrol/index.html - good stuff!

  8:48:47 PM    

Stephen Jay Gould Wants an Evolution Revolution. In "The Structure of Evolutionary Theory," Stephen Jay Gould argues for a new understanding of natural selection. By Mark Ridley.[New York Times: Books]

I'm adding this one to my to-read list and hoping that it may be available on CD at some point.  From Ridley's review I hearing evolutionary emergent behaivors and I'm totally fascinated by emergent intelligence.

  7:44:51 PM    

Test posting to MT from Radio.  Cross your fingers and hope for GOLD.  And no funny stuff either :-) http://www.alink.com

OK *long sigh* I can now succesfully post from News Is Free to any BloggerAPI compliant system.  Most imprtant being my Movable Type blog.  No neutered characters thanks to the new MT version 2.0

Radio also posts beautifally to MT as well.  I'm now completely satisfied...at least for th moment.

  7:02:26 PM    

markpasc.blog: 18 March 2002: "On feed lists Jenny Levine writes on various Radio subscription scripts. The one everyone uses is Jon Udell's; Jenny points out Jeff Cheney's (via Eric Maynard), which looks complicated. I have my own, of course, with the code as part of Kit."  My Kit feed list is here.

Marc has many great Radio utils as well - Kit is interesting for variety of tools and specifically the ability to customize the NewsAggregrator to some extent (i confess i haven't taken that plunge...yet) and although I admit I'm not certain how I'll this use yet - Category Index Pages for those categories not rendered in HTML.

  11:23:15 AM    

"This collection of fiction and nonfiction MP3 audio books is financed with brief commercials between book chapters. Children’s books carry no advertising. Browse for desired books by author, title, and genre or use the search engine with filter settings for strong language, duration, author, and adult content. Registration required to download." [Swift Current Comprehensive High School's Educational Links]

>>> If you want to get a free taste of what audio ebooks are like. The filters are particularly interesting because in general, we need more of these types of search parameters in our catalogs. <<< [via The Shifted Librarian]

Interesting... not a whole lot of titles at the moment, but hopefully that will change in the future.  The question is will this go the way of other advertising supported efforts on the Net?

  7:52:48 AM    

>>> Dvorak gets flushed from TechTV! Hey John, maybe you should have embraced the weblogging community. After all, we're the ones who watch TechTV the most. We're geeks with Web browsers!

Instead of feeling sorry for him and starting a campaign to bring him back, I'm glad to see him go. I'm sure many webloggers feel the same way. Hasta la vista! <<< [via Scobleizer Radio Weblog]

I'm going take the opposing view.  Don't know anything of the circumstances invlolved with his departure (and frankly I don't care), but I did enjoy watching for his viewpoints and counter viewpoints to many of todays tech issues even if he didn't embrace weblogging.  Isn't that the spirit of 'blogin anyways - sharing POV?

  7:39:04 AM    

Something broke in my Radio again.  No Weblogs.com updates being processed and posting from the aggregator doesn't work proper. *sigh*

I guess it's something of a testament to how much a person is commited to something when they're willing to endure all kinds of setbacks and challenges to keep it moving forward. ;-)

  7:22:06 AM    

Bryce's Radio Experiments: "SmartPhone-like devices are the next step. Syncronization with Outlook is the "Killer App." If the vendors (or a thid-party) provide an Avantgo-like system like I described, in which phones will automatically retrieve and update the sorts of Internet-based information that users want, allowing for instant access, they will have fulfilled the promise of WAP while side-stepping it's primary failure. Imagine stock quotes, weather, and movie times at your fingertips, without the wait, and without trying to type URLs on a numeric keypad. Americans will use that, and so will everyone else."

I think Bryce make a good point here.  Give the user complete control over what they want to see on their phones and don't tie our hands with ridiculous requirement of typing in a bunch information on the handset. 

Oh yeah...silly me.  Then the Telecos wouldn't be able to squeeze money out of their 'partners' whose URLs are harcoded into the menu on the device.

  7:13:24 AM    

The Wild Blue: The Men and Boys Who Flew the B-24s over Germany [UNABRIDGED] - Just finished this one yesterday.  Good, semi-light reading for WWII history buffs out there.  But if you're a Stephen E. Ambrose fan, don't expect another Eisenhower or (from what I've heard) Undaunted Courage as this book just doesn't even begin to match up with those.

Still, I did learn a great deal about America's role in defeating NAZI Germany with strategic bombing.  The book gave me a glimpse of what the B-24 meant to the men flying the machines delivering that blow as well as some perspective of those on the other side of the bombs.

ADDENDUM: In the book, Stephen dicusses the fate of *the* one remaining B-24 that is flying still.  It belongs to a historical preservation group that maintains the plane and makes rounds to airfields across the country along with a restored B-17.

A number of years ago, this pair flew into our local county airstrip which was just barely long enough to accommodate the planes.  There my daughter, who was four at the time, and I got to experience the two planes up close and as luck would have it, an inside tour of the B-17. I was totally struck by how small the plane was internally and how there were absolutely no efforts made comfort wise for the crews flying them.

I'm one the those mentioned in the book as 'glamorizing' the B-17, which was in many ways an inferior aircraft to the Liberator, but that day in '95 changed all that.  As I watched the B-24 warm up it's engines and prepare to taxi for takeoff and a fly-by of the airstrip, I was awestruck by the power of the prop wash and the smell of the burning fuel in the air.  And as it roared down the runway, something clicked metally and I realized that this 'glamorous' beast was an instrument of war.

  12:01:39 AM