16 Aug 2006
The Greatest Software Ever

I can pretty much go along with this. Here's the list they came up with:

  1. Unix
  2. IBM's System R
  3. gene-sequencing software at the Institute for Genomic Research
  4. IBM System 360 OS
  5. Java language
  6. Mosaic browser
  7. Sabre system
  8. Macintosh OS
  9. Excel spreadsheet
  10. Apollo guidance system
  11. Google search rank
  12. The Morris worm

About the only changes I'd make would be to toss Java and replace it with C/C++ and to replace Excel with VisiCalc, which was the originator of the spreadsheet idea and which started the whole spreadsheet craze that Excel and Lotus rode in on. I'd probably toss the Mac OS, too, and replace it with either the original from Xerox PARC or X-Windows from MIT, which together formed the conceptual basis for both M$ Windows and the Mac OS.

Information Week has an piece on the 12 greatest pieces of software ever. It also notes some that didn't make the cut and why. Their weblog covers 5 others that didn't make the cut.

(link) [Slashdot]

07:39 /Technology | 2 comments | permanent link

Ranchers: Wolves scaring sheep skinny

Not sure what to think about this ... some years my sheep are dogged by coyotes on a daily basis, and some years they aren't, and I've not noticed any difference in overall flock weight gains. But then again we raise primitive breeds, which tend to stick together much tighter than modern breeds anyway, and also to be a bit smaller and "tougher" (they're horned, and can do a pretty good job of taking care of themselves once they reach a certain age).

But the one thing about this piece I must not let pass is the category than CNN placed it in on their site. Apparently raising America's food supply is considered "Offbeat"...

Since wolves returned to roaming the Northern Rockies more than a decade ago, ranchers say they've observed a disturbing trend: Fear of the predators is causing sheep and cattle to be scared skinny.

(link) [CNN.com - Offbeat]

07:28 /Agriculture | 4 comments | permanent link

Time to Grow a Brain

Backwards Clock Oh, gimme a break! Here's some news and no mistake: there is no more daylight on any given day than there ever has been. Changing clocks did not reset the Sun or the rotation of the earth...

I'm in Boone County, now officially on EDT. I'm also a poultry producer, and can assure you that my flock still rises at dawn and roosts at sunset - same thing they did last year. Or the year before that. Moving a mechanical hand on a wall clock, or adding bits to a digital alarm, does nothing but that: it moves the hands or the counters in a clock. Nature cheerfully ignores clocks.

I despise DST and I wish we'd never made the switch. I deal with it by simply not changing the clock: I'm perfectly capable of adding 1 hour to the time shown on my pocket watch for appointments, etc. I keep the same schedule personally that I've always kept: it hasn't bothered me a bit, except for the fact that ice cream shops now close at 8 pm when there's still an hour and a half of daylight left. It'd bother me a lot more if I had to show up at work earlier - but then hey, I get up with the chickens these days anyway!

A better illustration of why folks want to be on Central Daylight Time (or no daylight time at all) is simple: tonight's sunset here will occur at 8:43 PM EDT, with nautical twilight (when the chickens roost) at 9:47 PM EDT. In New York those same numbers are 7:53 PM EDT and 8:57 PM EDT - a difference of fifty minutes. In Chicago actual sunset is at 7:51 PM CDT, and nautical twilight at 8:58 PM CDT. Subtracting an hour from those figures to account for the difference between central and eastern time zones give virtually no difference whatsoever.

In fact, Indianapolis has the latest by the clock sunset of nearly any major American city, except Louisville, KY. In Los Angles, sunset is at 7:40 PM PDT, in Denver it's at 7:56 PM MDT and in Atlanta it's 8:24 PM EDT.

Arguing that changing clocks makes daylight magically appear or disappear does the opposition to DST no good whatsoever - the whole scheme is insane, and should be repealed, but the fact remains that changing clocks doesn't extend days or shrink nights. It just changes clocks, and because of our geographic position and "choice" of time zones makes everything an hour later than it should be here. Argue that, and there's a chance we'll regain our senses.

The longer days during the summer heat brought on by Eastern Daylight Time could have a significant negative impact on the health of Dubois County’s poultry producers and also the health of the poultry flocks...

(Dubois County Petition to the USDOT)

via Masson's Blog

00:22 /Politics | 2 comments | permanent link