Published August 3rd, 2007
in news.
It was with great horror that I learned of the bridge collapse in Minnesota. A rush of thoughts steamrolled through my mind. What a devastating loss! For as long as I can remember, anytime I’d cross a bridge a fleeting fear of just this sort of incident would register in the back of my mind. Why did the structure fail? Were appropriate preventive maintenance measures performed? How many people were hurt…or worse?
That last thought made me pause and come back to the first thought. It then occurred to me. The time to reflect can come later.
Real people, for doing nothing more than getting from one place to another, lost their lives. Countless others who did survive will undoubtedly have this event imprinted in their minds for the rest of their lives.
Before the finger pointing starts, before the lessons are learned, before the political grandstanding gets nauseating, let us take a moment to remember the victims.
My heart goes out to those who were on the bridge at that fateful moment. My thoughts are with their families. The City of Minnesota is in my prayers.
Popularity: 53% [?]
Published July 30th, 2007
in news.
Realizing that daily updates from those I follow on Twitter outnumber my total number of updates, I logged in and glanced over at the public timeline. Someone mentioned how saddened she was to hear about Ingmar Bergman. Saddened? Did Bergman die? Sure enough, a couple of clicks later I found that Ingmar Bergman did indeed die earlier today.
Bergman is considered to be one of the most influential film directors of the 20th century. Before being drawn to computer science, I used to want to make my mark in the world as a film maker. I can still remember first mentioning my film making aspirations to a mentor and being referred to Ingmar Bergman’s movies. The Seventh Seal and Through A Glass Darkly quickly made it to my own list of movie recommendations. Using creative outlets to explore dark themes has always been something I’ve been drawn to, and the works of art I admire most seem to reflect the most tormented of souls as creators.
Now Berman is dead. With all the different methods of news delivery methods, I heard about this event through Twitter. Not newspaper. Not CNN. Not the streaming news ticker at the bottom of my local news channel. Definitely not radio. Not from my RSS reader. Not even one of the Twitter members whose updates I follow. I first heard about this through the Twitter public timeline, which refreshes regularly and shows the updates of all Twitter members who elect to keep their updates public.
This got me to thinking about how often I now first hear of something through a social networking site. Obviously, some of the more personal (i.e., not newsmedia-worthy) events are better suited for sharing via Facebook or MySpace. But other happenings which do get covered by more traditional forms of journalism are slowly gaining my attention more effectively through new channels of communication. A bulletin may ask me to sign a petition in support of a Congressional bill and this is what alerts me to a particular debate. A link to results of a study in a scientific study could be shared. Someone running from a steam pipe explosion in New York can provide me with instant firsthand accounts.
Of course, I don’t consider MySpace or Twitter to be credible news sources. When I saw mention of Bergman’s death on Twitter the first thing I did was check another source. I also still rarely see news for the first time on a social networking site. Major news outlets certainly shouldn’t worry about being supplanted by these sites. News obtained through these new avenues of communication don’t happen often enough to change the news industry, but just a handful of occurrences would be enough to get noticed.
Will the news industry one day have to adapt?
Popularity: 64% [?]
Published May 22nd, 2007
in news.
The Jersey Journal reports that ambitious plans for a potential park got a big boost as Hudson County Executive Tom DeGise said his administration is recommending spending $3.2 million from the Open Space Trust to acquire the last 5.6 acres needed for the 13.6-acre Bergen-Lafayette tract.
If this project moves forward it would be the largest park to be developed in Jersey City in a century. There are still quite a few issues which need to be worked out before that can happen, though. I am hopeful that the remaining obstacles can be overcome. More open space is always welcome in an urban area.
Big park for Bergen-Lafayette [via The Jersey Journal]
Popularity: 33% [?]
Published May 7th, 2007
in music.
Have you, like the vast majority of other music listeners, grown tired of mainstream broadcast radio? Internet radio sites, such as last.fm and Pandora, offer a wonderful alternative to broadcast radio with a wealth of listening features. I know I’ve personally discovered a plethora of new music that I actually enjoy through these sites. These webcasters are completely legal and offer a way for those whose tastes have evolved beyond standards available on broadcast radio to discover new music without resorting to risky piracy.
I abhor piracy and strive to support artists I like. Internet radio allows music lovers like me to better determine who should receive my support.
However, if the Copyright Royalty Board and RIAA lobbyists get their way, Internet radio will be silenced. New fee structures would effectively raise rates for webcasters by 300 to 1,200 percent. Interestingly, these increases would only affect Internet radio. AM and FM broadcast radio would be left alone. The new fees are supposed to go into effect July 15, 2007.
I sincerely hope you join me and prevent this from happening. Savenetradio.org closely watches this situation and will allow you to get involved. Stay tuned as I plan on sharing updates and action items to help save net radio.
Popularity: 39% [?]
Published May 6th, 2007
in news.
The American Lung Association has released its State of the Air 2007 report. In short, the report finds that more than 136 million Americans are living in communities where they are exposed to unhealthful levels of air pollution. Polluted air hurts us all, but most especially children, the elderly, and those living with chronic lung diseases like asthma, emphysema, or who have diabetes and cardiovascular disease. From the link, you can check on the quality of the air in your area either by typing in your zip code or selecting your state from the map.
State of the Air 2007 report
Popularity: 35% [?]
Published April 27th, 2007
in news.
The Congressman Frank J. Guarini Library located on the New Jersey City University campus has begun its first blog. They’ve already added a few posts and plan on using the blog to keep you updated on library events and resources and to share stories about libraries and librarians.
I’ve been to the blog and already like the frequent updates and the clean design of a layout which validates. It’s been added to my RSS reader and perhaps you’ll find it useful enough to add to yours as well.
Libraries sometimes get negatively associated with being outdated. “Who needs books when we have the Internet?” some may say. I disagree completely. Libraries are perfect examples of utilizing the best of yesterday’s, today’s, and tomorrow’s technologies. Do you like to carefully turn the old, worn but original pages of a great novel? Do you marvel at the speed of database catalog queries? Is there so much information that you simply need a human being to guide you in the right direction? Would you rather quickly access multitudes of REPUTABLE content libraries on your own? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you will find that the best place to find any of these things is at a library.
NJCU’s Guarini Library has entered the blogging world. Once again, a new vehicle of communication is being utilized and a wider audience can benefit. I welcome this library into the blogosphere.
Popularity: 43% [?]
Published March 30th, 2007
in technology.
Unfortunately, concerns regarding the decline in undergraduate computer science enrollment are already being realized.
InformationWeek summarized the report released by the AeA as stating that the United States has lost its competitive edge just as other countries are becoming more aggressive in technological pursuits. But the 32 page report is not all doom and gloom. It includes both immediate and ongoing recommendations to alleviate this crisis.
Some more good news is that is seems like federal legislators want to make technology more of a priority. Hopefully it is not too late to regain that competitive edge.
Popularity: 30% [?]
Published March 25th, 2007
in technology.
An article by InformationWeek asks “Where are the Programmers?” The future of computer science in the United States is in peril as indicated by a sharp decline since 2001 in college undergraduates choosing computer science as a major. Furthermore, this decline comes just as a new challenge of programming tomorrow’s multicore processors arrives. As a degree holder in computer science, I feel a personal concern at the prospect of a skill vacuum in my industry.
InformationWeek quotes Rick Rashid, senior vice president of Microsoft Research:
We are at a low point of interest in computer science. Jobs will go begging in the next few years because we don’t have the people willing to take on the field.
Researchers and large technology corporations are looking for tomorrow’s talent. This shows a marked difference from just a couple of years ago when I earned my bachelor’s degree and entered a saturated market. During my undergraduate academic career I regularly became concerned about the prospect of encountering difficulties finding a job once I graduated. (Luckily, these fears were not realized.) In a future post I will divulge a little more about why I chose a path in computer science. For now suffice it to say that technology has been an interest of mine since receiving a personal computer as a gift for my seventh birthday.
But I happened to declare my major at the peak of computer science undergraduate enrollment. Dot com hype had not yet given way to dot bomb fallout. Indeed, there were quite a few classmates who unabashedly proclaimed they were only studying CS for the money. These “insincere” techies of course were the least successful. But in addition to diluting the talent of the workforce, those money grubbers may have also contributed to the watered down image of computer science as a viable industry. Barely muddling their way through programming classes and not bothering to learn the fundamentals of the subject matter, they concentrated instead of finding ways to pass their classes. They then emerged into the workforce lacking fundamental computer knowledge. One stands out in my mind as not knowing how to access the volume controls on her computer and needing help with her sound problems.
Is it any wonder that computer scientists are viewed by the general public more as technical support operators than as research scientists? I may be more interested in discovering how Noam Chomsky’s theories in linguistics apply to programming languages, but others see a degree in computer science as a help ticket in setting up a wireless network.
An undergraduate major in computer science no longer means a guaranteed comfortable paycheck upon graduation. The fluff is gone. So are the unskilled tech wannabes who are only interested in making an easy buck. For me this trend is a good thing. Highlighting the enrollment decline can be seen as stripping away the veneer and exposing an underlying problem. That problem is an overall public ignorance of what computer science is. Until that image is made more clear the aforementioned “insincere” techies won’t be the only ones staying away. If the genuinely talented youngsters out there are unaware of the challenges offered in computer science, they will continue to stay away as well.
Popularity: 28% [?]
Published March 3rd, 2007
in news.
Bluffton University’s baseball team was involved in a bus accident yesterday morning. The bus drove off of an overpass and came crashing down onto the highway below. Four players, the bus driver, and the bus driver’s wife were killed. My prayers go out to the victims and their families.
As a former high school softball team captain, I remember how tight-knit the team was. Some of my closest friends today include members of that high school team. Hearing news of any young person’s untimely death saddens me. This news hit home because of the closeness I felt and still feel with my teammates. It really is like being part of an extended family. I can only imagine the devastation felt by Bluffton’s baseball team. The university is small with even fewer students than at my high school. So the entire university community is probably more deeply affected than if it happened at a larger university. I’m not saying that this makes the news more tragic, but I am saying that everyone at Bluffton probably knew these victims, and probably knew them well.
Hopefully the shared pain and struggle to come to terms with this grief will strengthen the Bluffton University community and they will emerge even closer than ever.
Popularity: 28% [?]
Published March 3rd, 2007
in news.
Thank heavens for newsreaders! With such a wealth of information online it can be easy to miss something you find relevant. While skimming through my news feeds I came across an article highlighting today’s total lunar eclipse. If not for RSS feeds, I may have not heard about it until it was too late. Hey, with so much tech-related news to keep up with, some current events just don’t make it onto my radar.
According to Robert Massey of the UK Royal Astronomical Society,
It is like Mars suddenly coming a thousand times closer and just hanging there in the sky above you.
Astronomers are also looking forward to the event as potentially being the best in years. Mid-eclipse occurs at 6:21 p.m. EST according to NASA and the total eclipse should begin at 5:44 p.m.
Resources:
Popularity: 21% [?]
