Tweets of the month

German people are so much nicer than we thought. So much for stereotypes... 3:29 PM Aug 31st

Düsseldorf is an amazing city! And the hosts are great also! Isis included... 11:23 PM Aug 29th

My first SMS tweet1:21 PM Aug 28th from txt

Even happier because there is one more Raquel in the world! I guess today is a good day to be born :-) 7:25 PM Aug 27th

Just ordered some performance and scalability books from Amazon 7:24 PM Aug 27th

RT @a_verdade #progPSD disponível no site Política de Verdade em html http://bit.ly/pns9N e PDF http://bit.ly/14KUAo 7:17 PM Aug 27th

RT @joanappardal A Filipinha é o máximo (e a Clarinha também)! Parabéns aos pais pelas duas princesas! 5:50 PM Aug 27th

Still awake... Helping Joana finish something important 3:07 AM Aug 27th

Happy because there is one more Filipa in the world, sad because Sporting lost the game :-) Congratulations Ricardo, Ana, and Clara! 9:54 PM Aug 26th

Hoping the best for Sporting Portugal in the match against Fiorentina 6:39 PM Aug 26th

Having fun listening to Deolinda http://sparrowflights.blogs... 7:55 PM Aug 25th

IMHO Mac OS Leopard and Windows Vista share many annoying end-use glitches... Will Snow Leopard restore the Mac's superiority? 11:44 AM Aug 25th

Just pre-ordered Pearl Jam Backspacer! 11:37 AM Aug 25th

RT @PearlJam The Fixer video and Backspacer now available for pre-order on iTunes. Visit: http://www.itunes.com/backs... 11:32 AM Aug 25th

Helping some friends prepare a proceedings PDF 11:27 PM Aug 24th

Back to work handling unfinished business 12:07 PM Aug 24th

Preparing a trip 8:07 PM Aug 23rd

Back to work! 3:33 PM Aug 19th

The weekend starts now! 9:07 PM Aug 14th

Working on the STEP Framework 5:05 PM Aug 14th

Just had a great sushi lunch at Tomo! http://twitpic.com/dpxsp 2:28 PM Aug 13th

Prepare for more expensive gas in the Fall http://bit.ly/SwTNB 3:38 PM Aug 12th

Wouldn't it be nice to rest on weekends and also on weekmiddle? ;-) More rest, better work. 3:07 PM Aug 12th

"B Humble! B Smart! B Brave!"2:26 PM Aug 9th

Back to work. 4:41 PM Aug 7th

How about a swim? http://bit.ly/GfAK9 4:56 PM Aug 5th

Nice Sporting moment http://bit.ly/18HL8p 2:44 PM Aug 5th

Amazed by GIMP's Transform-Perspective tool! Wow! 6:11 PM Aug 4th

Just updated my profile photo! 5:25 PM Aug 3rd

Just updated my blog http://sparrowflights.blogs... 3:35 PM Aug 3rd

Idea Factory quote

Let's make a list of the things we know for sure, and then go from there.

The Idea Factory, Learning to think at MIT

CRFID - Computational RFID tags

Because they rely on external power, CRFIDs need a way to back up their computations frequently so they don't have to start again from scratch if the power is lost. That requires flash memory unaffected by power outages, like that used in memory cards – but the memory systems in such cards are power-hungry, taking the CRFID designers back to square one.

Fu and his colleagues have developed a strategy to sidestep flash memory. They have shown it can be less energy-intensive to back up a computation by sending it back to a reader for storage, even when extra work must be done to encrypt the data first.

The technique "enables long-running computations to make progress despite continual power interruptions", the researchers explain.

New Scientist story, Usenix Paper

The current RFID tag manufacturing and technology tradeoffs allow the choice of 2 of these 3 features: cost, range and functionality. It would be interesting to known how much do these CRFID tags would cost and what would be the requirements for the Reader, so we can see which kinds of application they can be used on.

The Day Without Yesterday

The Day Without Yesterday by John Farrell


Have you ever heard of Georges Lemaître? No. And if I tell you he is the inventor of the Big Bang theory?

This book is a good read and can help you get into the early developments of Einstein's relativity theory.

You can also watch a short author interview.

Deolinda

Deolinda



Portuguese music. Very funny, in a peculiar way... In a word: "castiço"!

You can watch my favorite song. It's about a strong urge to do something important right now - the strong voice - but postponing it for lots of small and trivial reasons - the weak voice. Enjoy!

How to quickly clean old GMails

Do a search for "before:2009/01/01", then select all results, and delete.
The deleted messages will be kept in the trash for 30 days. After that, they are deleted and the storage space is reclaimed.

Source: Web Worker Daily

Idea Factory quote

Not the quarry but the chase; not the laurel but the race" (Burgess, 1885)

The Idea Factory, Learning to think at MIT

Up

Up

Carl Fredricksen: Do you want to play a game? It's called See Who Can Go the Longest Without Saying Anything.
Russell: Cool! My mom loves that game!

Idea Factory quote

Not only was I inventor, researcher, production line worker, and cost accountant; I was a microeconomist trading time - i.e. , labor (i.e., my sleep) - for capital, i.e., ready-made goods.

The Idea Factory, Learning to think at MIT

An Inconvenient Truth

An Inconvenient Truth

We have everything, save perhaps political will. But in America, I believe political will is a renewable resource.

I don't really consider this a political issue, I consider it to be a moral issue.

Al Gore

3 years late, but I finally saw Al Gore's movie. The situation still hasn't improved significantly, I think. We have to find the smart win-win balances between the Economy and the Environment. And move our research focus to the real problems we face.

Cloud computing defined

I see two unrelated concepts called cloud computing.

The first one is related to grid computing, where parallelizable tasks are distributed to independent computing nodes and then aggregated to a consistent result. Frameworks like Hadoop, map-reduce algorithms, are an example of this approach.

The other paradigm is a virtual, private or public, data-computing center with an accessible API. You can model the environment in drag-and-drop-like fashion or, even more importantly, control it directly through a programmable API. You can, of course, run the grids in public or private clouds.

These paradigms also differ in their usage models. Grid computing is intended to be used by a few power users who need a considerable amount of computing power. On the other hand, in cloud computing, significantly more users access the machines with relatively low resource utilization.

While these two models are conceptually opposite, the underlying technology could be very similar. The first is often called platform as a service, and the latter, infrastructure as a service.

Adam Bien - Java Champion

NYPriest.com

Source: NYPriest.com

Indulgences explained

By Cardinal Seán:

I want to mention something about indulgences, which are often misunderstood. Indulgences are not forgiveness for sin but forgiveness for temporal punishment due to sin.

I like to explain it to people with the following story:

As a child, once I came home very late for dinner. My mother was very upset, and seeing how upset she was, I felt very repentant and I told her that it would never happen again. She told me she forgave me, but as my punishment I would have to do the dishes.

So there was repentance and forgiveness, but there was still punishment.

17 again

17 again

Mike O' Donnell: When you're young everything feels like the end of the world. But it's not; it's just the beginning. You might have to meet a few more jerks, but one day you're gonna meet a boy who treats you the way you deserve to be treated. Like the sun rises and sets with you.

Idea Factory quote

The point is, you could spend 2 hours on this project, make a catapult, and put a weight up on the scale, or you could spend 2 years on it, and put the effort of the space program into it. We're trying to teach you to make decisions based on limited time and resources. That's what the real world is like all the time.

The Idea Factory, Learning to think at MIT

Runaway Bride

Runaway Bride

Ike Graham/Maggie Carpenter: Look, I guarantee there'll be tough times. I guarantee that at some point, one or both of us is gonna want to get out of this thing. But I also guarantee that if I don't ask you to be mine, I'll regret it for the rest of my life, because I know, in my heart, you're the only one for me.

Social Web Guidelines for Employers and Employees

Quoted from O'Reilly Insights - A Corporate Guide For Social Media

Social Web Guiding Principles for Employers

-- Lead by example.
-- Build your policies around job performance, not fuzzy concerns about productivity.
-- Encourage responsible use.
-- Grant Equal Access.
-- Provide Training.
-- Begin from a Position of Trust.

Social Web Guiding Principles for Employees

-- Listen before you talk.
-- Say who you are.
-- Show your personality.
-- Respond to ideas not to people.
-- Know your facts and cite your sources.
-- Stay on the record.
-- If you respond to a problem, you own it.

Applications to turn tech around

John C. Dvorak suggests that the following "killer" applications could turn the information technology industry around:

-- (Multi)Core development
-- Robots
-- The talking and listening computer
-- Machine translation
-- Handwriting recognition

Read more the full article: Fix Our Industry, Please!

Best and worst practices for mentoring

Quoted from Katy Dickinson's blog:

Best Practices

The Fine Art of Effective Listening
--- Two ears, one mouth... (from Epictetus: "We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak")
--- Patience: problems can be more complex than you think
--- Sounding board, not “bored”
--- When remote, acknowledge frequently (paraphrase, clarify)

Advise and Catalyze
--- Not just one answer: It's recognizing and weighing options
--- Share problem-solving skills and let the mentee find the solution
--- Discuss the impacts of taking various actions

Flexibility (the Mentoring Asana)
--- Respect mentee's choice to do what's right for their situation
--- Accommodate changes in topics and goals
--- Life happens – reschedule, don't disengage (deadlines, holidays, illnesses)

Objective Support
--- Provide timely constructive feedback as a disinterested third party
--- Be a safe harbor for venting; be a trustworthy confidant
--- Evaluate progress and adjust goals
--- Encourage getting outside comfort zone (reward risk-taking; learn thru failure)

Share Yourself, Be Committed
--- Meet regularly – It's not mentoring if it doesn't actually happen
--- Meet in person whenever possible
--- Have an open door
--- Provide the connect between their goals and the company's goals
--- Connect mentee with your network, engage in theirs
--- Share your passion and have a passion for sharing

Worst Practices

No time, no time...
--- Cancel at the last minute because something really important comes up
--- Come late, leave early
--- Oops, I forgot
--- Why bother to schedule meetings

Did you say something?
--- I'm the ME in MENTOR
--- When I want your opinion, I'll ask for it
--- If it worked for me, it'll work for you

Everything you do is wrong
--- Why in the world did you do that?
--- Well, if you can't explain it, I can't help you
--- Just do what I say and don't ask questions

No explanations necessary
--- Surely you can learn by osmosis
--- No need to share this since it was sent to an email group
--- If everyone knew about these resources, who'd need me?

So as I told your manager...
--- Confidentiality, what confidentiality?
--- I didn't think you'd mind my sharing...

Did you want to get something out of this?
--- Goals? goals? we don't need no stinkin' goals...
--- Did I say I'd do that?
--- Your satisfaction is not my problem

The meaning of things

The meaning of things lies not in the things themselves, but in our attitude towards them.

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Data Powers of Ten

Click the picture to enlarge it and see examples of data quantities or, even better, visit NetWorld at the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry exhibit :-).

The Christian's greatness / A grandeza do Cristão

It often happens that the value of a thing lies in the fact that it belongs to someone; something ordinary acquires a new value by being owned by a famous person.
In any museum we find ordinary pieces - clothes, a walking stick, a pen, furniture - that have value only because they belonged to someone important.
It is the membership that gives them value.
It is the same with the Christian.
The Christian is a regular person that acquires a value, a dignity and a new magnitude because belongs he/she to God.
The greatness of the Christian is that he is God's.

William Barkley, The letters of James and Peter

/ This post is bilingual: English (U.S.) and Portuguese (Portugal) /

Acontece frequentemente que o valor de uma coisa reside no facto de ter pertencido a alguém; algo absolutamente vulgar adquire um novo valor por ter sido possuído por uma pessoa famosa.
Em qualquer museu encontramos peças vulgaríssimas - roupas, uma bengala, uma caneta, mobília - que apenas têm valor por terem pertencido a alguém importante.
É a pertença que lhes atribui valor.
É assim com o cristão.
O cristão é uma pessoa normalíssima, mas adquire um valor, uma dignidade e uma grandeza novos porque pertence a Deus.
A grandeza do cristão reside no facto de que ele é de Deus.

William Barkley, The letters of James and Peter

La strada

La strada

The Fool: I am ignorant, but I read books. You won't believe it, everything is useful... this pebble for instance.
Gelsomina: Which one?
The Fool: Anyone. It is useful.
Gelsomina: What for?
The Fool: For... I don't know. If I knew I'd be the Almighty, who knows all. When you are born and when you die... Who knows? I don't know for what this pebble is useful but it must be useful. For if its useless, everything is useless. So are the stars!

The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning

The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning

Swifty: Do you promise to jump, jive, wail, groove, rock steady, and at all times lend a helping hand to your fellow music lovers?

Bad Company

Bad Company

Roland Yates: So, what are our chances?
Gaylord Oaks: Oh, I'd say somewhere between... nil and zero.
Roland Yates: Why?
Gaylord Oaks: Oh, I grant you the kid's got potential. He's pretty street-smart. Give me six months, he could probably fool Kevin's own parents. But eight days? Come on, you gotta be kidding me. He'll probably get himself killed, and everyone who goes along with him.