2008 September | Nerdlets

Email Alert: You missed the rapture…

Sep 112008

Since we all apparently survived the activation of the Large Hadron Collidor, it’s about time for another strangelet. So what if the world did end, and you (or those you love) didn’t know it? Well, the good people at “You’ve Been Left Behind” have a solution:

You’ve Been Left Behind gives you one last opportunity to reach your lost family and friends For Christ.

The problem is this: once you’ve been raptured, who will tell your friends and family where you’ve gone? Hey, this is a Web 2.0 world; there’s got to be a solution, right?

I have a team, of Christian couples, scattered around the U.S. 4 active couples and one alternate. One of each, of the active couples, are required to log into the system everyday. They are scattered to protect us from having the team wiped out by attack, natural disaster, or epidemic. They are couples in case one is sick, injured, killed, and to assure their walk with God. If they (3 out of 4) fail to log in for 3 days the system figures the Rapture has taken place. There are then notices sent out to each of us daily, for 3 more days, warning us we must log in to prevent the sending of documents. If, we do not, then the system sends out all of the stored data to all of the email addresses. There is one alternate team member to ready as a replacement for a lost teammate. Also one team member is located near enough to the server bank, with access, in case the net goes down, or malfunction.

Foolproof.

Online Document Syncing for Linux

Linux, Software, Webapps and Websites No Responses »

Sep 112008

Services like Mozy Home offer a free online backup solution for Windows and Mac users. But what about Linux? As usual, no Love for Linux.

Enter Dropbo x. While still in closed Beta (for Windows and Mac), Dropbox has enormous promise. It will offer 2gb of online storage space, syncs in the background, and according to this article by Lifehacker, now offers clients for Windows, Mac, and Linux.

Give the Linux client a try here.

My Very First Strangelet

Strangelets 1 Response »

Sep 102008

I’ve decided to introduce a new segment to an already crowded blog: the strangelet. Strangelets are like Nerdlets, but weird, wild, and, well, strange. The term “strangelet” derives from the controversy surrounding the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), which powered up today after a long and convoluted history (remember the Super Conductor Super Collider?)

In other words, it is appropriate that our first strangelet be about, well, the strangelet. Here is the definition from wikipedia:

A strangelet is a hypothetical object consisting of a bound state of roughly equal numbers of up, down, and strange quarks. The size would be a minimum of a few femtometers across (with the mass of a light nucleus). Once the size becomes macroscopic (on the order of meters across), such an object is usually called a quark star or “strange star” rather than a strangelet. An equivalent description is that a strangelet is a small fragment of strange matter. The term “strangelet” originates with E. Farhi and R. Jaffe. Strangelets have been suggested as a dark matter candidate.

So what’s the big deal? Well some believe that the strangelet, if it exists, could destroy the world. Don’t believe me? Well the BBC documentary End Day lists this as one of six possible doomsday scenarios.

For a more balanced perspective, and a history of the controversy, be sure to check out this story on NPR’s Talk of the Nation. And here is today’s news on the subject.

Assuming we are all still here tomorrow, I hope to have another wild and wacky post from the world of strange news. And, as luck would have it, it also deals with the end of the world…

Update: See the story by Ars Technica here.

ESV Firefox Plugin

Software No Responses »

Sep 102008

Mozilla, the good people behind Firefox, have recently introduced an experimental Firefox extension called Ubiquity, designed to help users interact with web data in a social world. Justin Taylor points out a new plugin from Crossway that takes advantage of this technology to make looking up (and interacting with) Bible verses easily. This is great news for bloggers, or other active Web 2.0 folks. Read about it here.

There is a more extensive description of Ubiquity here. Or you can try it out with these 15 commands for Ubiquity.

Some Free Alternatives for Popular Software

Software No Responses »

Sep 092008

Here is a list of some good alternatives to popular software for windows.

Web 2.0 and Teaching

Webapps and Websites No Responses »

Sep 092008

I have been thinking more and more lately about harnessing online tools for education and the classroom. I have grown disillusioned by “traditional” software; its usually cumbersome, has little if any social emphasis, and is expensive and not open-source.

In the course of searching for alternatives I came across this pos t, which has sparked my interest. Some of their recommendations can be implemented on the individual level–setting up a class blog, for example, or a google page. Others require institution support (I tried out Moodle on my server tonight, and while I was impressed, it was overkill for hosting one or two courses).

A Temporary Solution

My classroom needs are actually fairly limited; email announcements, reminders, a document repository, all easily accessible. It would be nice if it was cross-platform. It would be nice if it would provide email notifications. It would be nice if privacy could be easily managed. RSS feeds are probably a pipe-dream, but would be an excellent feature. Oh, and hosted on someone else’s server.

Turns out, drop.io (mentioned here) provides all of these features. It really is amazing how something so simple could be so incredibly powerful and versatile.

So here is my wish-list for drop.io. (1) Slightly more (free) space. (2) Sync to a local folder. (3) File overwrites (if you add a file that is already there, it overwrites that file).

The Second “Preview” Release of Zotero 1.5

Software No Responses »

Sep 052008

Zotero is releasing a second beta version of their upcoming 1.5 edition. The biggest enhancement for 1.5, introduced in the first preview release, is the ability to sync Zotero information between computers.

The second preview adds attached files to that functionality, but only if you have a WebDAV account (or server).Unless someone is providing you with a WebDAV service (iDisk, online storage, etc), WebDAV is not the easiest of protocols to set up.

Another, perhaps more important, new feature is the ability to automatically download (from Google Scholar, I think) PDF metadata. This is yet another way Zotero makes organizing and locating files easier. If you have a stack of PDFs on your computer, many of which probably have non-descriptive filenames, this feature is for you. You can see this feature in action here.

A more thorough list of features, and a download link, can be found here.

Greek Flash Cards

Biblical Greek, Software No Responses »

Sep 052008

Here is a post that reviews flashcard software for Greek and Hebrew. Some are free. some are not. I have recommended Bibleworks and Mounce to students before, but this post details some other options.

Drop.io Gets a Plugin

Software No Responses »

Sep 042008

I recently posted a description of the fabulous and easy-to-use drop.io. Well, it just better with a Firefox plugin. Check out their site here.

The Power of Firefox Extensions

Software No Responses »

Sep 042008

Not too long ago I posted about features available in Google’s Chrome that are not available in Firefox.

I stand corrected. All of the aforementioned features are available through Firefox’s extension system. This is another great example of the power of Firefox extensions, a power that is only possible through Open Source (API’s are just too limiting).

Chrome (which is also open source) will be getting extensions too, eventually.

After trying Chrome (which lacks Mac and Linux versions at the moment), I’m going to stick with Firefox (big surprise). Obviously this is primarily because Firefox is mature, and its extensions cannot be beat. But privacy concerns are also becoming something of an issue with Google, and I’d like to see how things settle out before tying even more of my online life to one company.