Wednesday, April 17, 2002

At a recent Job Interview I said basically the same thing.  He was a Java guy and didn't see it my way but at least others do!   One of the most concise statements on SOAP that's been written. One of the most concise statements on SOAP that's been written This is probably the best description of SOAP for mere mortals that I've seen anywhere. And one of the smartest sites I've ever seen. Period. disenchanted.com: "It might be poetic justice, then, that a better alternative to Java (for writing programs that can be used from anywhere) has been invented in a partnership that included Microsoft. It's called SOAP, and instead of trying to make a program run on any computer, it's meant to make it easier for a program to talk to any computer across the Internet and make that computer behave like a component. In the past, if you built a word processor and wanted to add a spell-checker you'd have to buy that part, include it with every copy of the word processor that you shipped, and plan on hiring an employee to keep the dictionary updated with new words. SOAP means you don't have to; you just have your program talk to an online dictionary hosted somewhere else. The program you ship loses the fat, reduced to a bundle of signal genes, because all the libraries are stored elsewhere and maintained by someone else." [disenchanted.com] [www.davidwatson.org] 6:32:36 PM    comment []

Scoville. Scoville. When you accidentally chew one of those strange red things that P.F. Chang's mixes into their Kung Pao Chicken and your mouth turns into an electric superkiln of volcanic fire, you can say “Oh wow, that musta been 200,000 scovilles!” (right after you've finished the fifth glass of water) and it's all because of Wilbur Scoville: a chemist who invented a way of measuring just how hot a pepper can get, way back in 1912. Scoville's method to determine the heat of a pepper is based on dilution. You grind up the pepper into a paste, then dilute it in a gallon of water. Then you keep adding sugar to the solution until a panel of about 5 taste testers don't burn their tongues anymore. The amount of sugar you had to add will be used to calculate the pepper's Scoville rating. Namby-pamby Tabasco sauce is a paltry 2,140 scovilles, while the hottest naturally occurring pepper is the Red Savina Habanero, which clocks about 577,000. That's baby food. A food additive called “Chet's Gone Mad” registers 1.5 million scovilles and, when added to your chili, shall put Grandma in the hospital. But that's only for beginners and amateurs, because Blair's 5am Reserve—of which only 999 bottles were made—makes the sun jealous at 5.5 million scovilles. Should one obtain the permits and necessary safety equipment to handle it, it should be disclosed that pure capsaicin, the chemical in peppers that makes them hot, marks the top of the scale at 16 million scovilles. Put a teaspoon of this in a gallon of barbeque sauce and you'll be incarcerated under the terms of the comprehensive test-ban treaty. [Disenchanted Dictionary] [www.davidwatson.org] 6:27:09 PM    comment []

One World Computing has released Workout Wizard (4/8/2002) PocketPCWire article [update] One World Computing has released version 1.6 of Workout Wizard, which is used to manage workouts of any kind. From aerobics to weights, you can enter your workout goals before the workout starts and update your progress after completing each exercise. The latest version has been updated to list workouts in chronological order. $14.95 7:54:03 AM    comment []

Magnets See the Light A 'plastic' magnet that responds to light could lead to new ways of storing and reading large amounts of computer data. Light would be used to store information in cheap, fast and high-capacity 'magneto-optic' memories. The light-switchable magnet is the first to be made from organic (carbon-based) molecules. www.nature.com article 7:48:28 AM    comment []

New Era of Plant-Based Plastics and Fibers a Reality Minneapolis-based Cargill Dow LLC announced today the grand opening of the world¹s first global-scale manufacturing facility capable of making commercial-grade plastic resins from annually renewable resources such as ordinary field corn. eWire article (Source: E-Wire News) Also see BFI's Trimtab article ŚThe Carbohydrate Economy¹ at www.bfi.org 7:46:05 AM    comment []