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Monday, January 20, 2003
![[Item Permalink]](http://radio.weblogs.com/0112083/images/ur_bullet.gif){kind=small} -- Comment()
Scientists Giddy About the Grid: "For years, connecting university and research-center supercomputers so they could share resources simply wasn't feasible. New standards are changing that and opening the door to new research possibilities. Randy Dotinga reports from San Diego." [Wired News]
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When Software Bugs Bite Consumer Products -- Comment()
When Software Bugs Bite: "Auto industry expert Dennis Virag, president of the Automotive Consulting Group Inc., says the problem is not customer ignorance, but industry carelessness. In the race to add glitzy amenities like navigation, Virag says, auto manufacturers are contracting out the development of immature and faulty software."
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Future of innovation -- Comment()
Will Innovation Flourish in the Future? "MIT physics professor Jerome I. Friedman writes that the future of basic research, which forms the basis of innovation that significantly impacts society and the quality of life, may be in doubt."
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-- Comment()
Stones Self-Organize into Circles: "It sounds like the stuff of science fiction: stones arranging themselves into perfect circles or elaborate labyrinths. But the forces behind these mysterious patterns, which are commonly found in many polar and high alpine environments..:" [Google Technology News]
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Fifteen years ago: Forestry of the Future -- Comment()
Fifteen years ago, in 1987, I was in the army doing my service. However, early in 1987 I noticed an announcement for an international writing competition 'Forestry of the Future'. I started writing short pieces of text on evenings, when there was some free time after the military exercises. I polished the resulting text on a weekend leave at home, and sent it in. I didn't expect much of the text, because it was done in bits and pieces, and my writing skills did not get much practise in the army. However, it turned out that I was the national winner of the competition. I even got a one-day leave from the army to attend the award ceremony. It turned out that the other price-winners were studying forestry, and my background was quite different (physics and mathematics). In any case, I got the price, which was a little bit of money and a paid trip to meet the other winners at the UN building in Geneva, Switzerland. I have good memories of the trip to Geneva, even though time has managed to erode a lot of the details. I remember us poor students in an exclusive watch shop in Geneva, looking at watches with starting prices around 1000 dollars. We were the only customers at the shop, sitting on armchairs with only a couple of watches on display at a time. The service was excellent, even when we finally said that we didn't quite find what we were looking for.
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