And Slaters Go Plop

I see that Apple are deigning to release the new iPhone in New Zealand soon. I’ve had an iMate Jam for almost three years now and only use it as a phone and an MP3 player (since moving to Linux I’ve been unable to sync my calendar and emails). I’m not going to be rushing out to get the new iPhone either. Why? Because I already know what I want in a device and I just know I’m going to be deeply dissatisfied with anything for the next ten or twenty years.

Here’s my specs for the ultimate device:

• Small enough to be worn on the wrist (perhaps twice the size of a watch but more fitted)
• An in-built or pull-out screen that suffices and has a minimum 800×600 resolution
• A universal docking port.
• Open source software AND hardware
• Phone
• Good quality camera (~4 megapixels + optical zoom)
• Audio and Video playback
• Desktop-equivalent processor + 4gb ram (to replace current PC but can be hotplugged into screen, keyboard, mouse and other devices wherever I happen to be)
• At least 160GB storage.
• Bottle opener
• Assorted knives, saws, scissors and picky things (air travel issues here)
• GPS
• Heart rate and other physiological monitors
• IR and radio remote control and key control for car, TV and house
• Credit card built in
• Solar panel on the back in case I can’t get near a power point
• Emergency beacon
• Tape measure
• Minesweeper and solitaire (isn’t that obligatory?)
• Total lockdown of sensitive information

And that’s all I can think of right now. Anything less is just not going to blow my socks off.

When my iMate finally dies I’m probably going to go back to my trusty Nokia 8210 which pretty much does everything I currently need a phone to do.

Just picked mine up today. Gotta love Nintendo’s innovation eh? You Xboxers and PS3ers can have your gun-thumbs; I’m going to start training for the Auckland Half Marathon in my lounge!

(and, no, that’s not me with the bowl haircut although I once sported a monstrosity similar to that but that was the 70s and it was, like, far out and almost choice)

In any given group of people, how many people do you think there need to be in order for there to be a 50% chance of at least two people sharing the same birthday?

365 / 2 = ~183 people?

Nope. Think again. This is not a trick question, just plain old mathematical probability.

The answer, which I found very counter-intuitive at first, is 23. It’s called the Birthday Paradox. The mistake I was making (and that most people would probably make) is that I was picking a single birthday and thinking of the probability of any given birthday matching it rather than moving on and testing for every other birthday possibility in the group.

I still struggle with it however, when I think back to school days where there should have been a 100% chance of two kids sharing a birthday in any two classes. I can’t remember anyone sharing a birthday at all.

(Or have I done the math wrong here by assuming that two classes of 23 students will give a 100% chance? Perhaps this equates to 75% instead or remains at 50%? Gaaah! I knew I should have listened in school!).

Jack, if you are reading this perhaps you could test this to see if it really works in a class situation?

(From chick.com)

A couple of weeks ago I purchased Carl Sagan’s 1979 TV series, Cosmos on DVD. Actually, it aired in 1980 but was filmed in 1979 and 1979 sounds way cooler than 1980.

It totally rocks!

Sure, he’s wearing beige and, sure, there has been progress in astronomy since the series was produced but I found myself learning plenty of new stuff with every episode. (Did you know that Eratosthenes calculated the earth’s circumference to within a margin of 5-10% back in 240BCE?).

What I love about the scientific method is that when done properly you present the facts as best you know them but remain open to future discoveries and you also disclose known weaknesses. In this series at the end of many of the episodes Sagan appears (looking greyer) with a “10 years later update” and very little of the original content needed revision. The only bit that stands out is that in one of the episodes he presents some of the experiments showing the creation of organic molecules in the laboratory and 10 years later added that they now believe it’s likely that the organic molecules may have formed in the icy bodies of comets.

Also, this was produced at a very uncertain time when the threat of all-out nuclear war seemed quite possible and many of his comments about the future of the human race are bracketed with “if we don’t destroy ourselves first”.

This series is a brilliant way to get an excellent perspective on our place in history and in the universe. It’s factual, balanced and remarkably well-produced. They even managed to avoid the temptation to use the snazzy synthesised music of the era (or is that ‘error’?) and instead opted for tasteful classical music.

Sagan had a very broad understanding of our universe and had a knack for presenting it in an extremely digestible way. With that understanding came an enthusiasm that remains contagious even after his death.

If you come across this series in your video store or for sale in a shop I’d encourage you to do yourself a favour and pick it up. And if you know me (this includes Dale, Ken, Frank and Jack), give me a yell if you want to borrow it and I’ll get it to you.

Goodbye and thank you.

Here’s a message from him from last December after his 90th birthday:

Ever since I was young my mind reeled when I tried to comprehend the vastness of our universe and all that is in it. I’ve since realised that it is impossible to truly comprehend these things and that this is a limitation of the bodies and minds we find ourselves in.

However if you, like me, are fascinated by the night sky and you want to get a better understanding of “not only what we know but how we know what we know” then you won’t find a better podcast than the Astronomy Cast.

If I were an alien I’d give it three thumbs up. Check it out.

My favourite TV presenter of all time is Sir David Attenborough - I own almost all of his documentaries on DVD.

He’s just released Life in Cold Blood (a series on reptiles) which he says will be his final ‘on-site’ documentary. Understandable really; he has been doing this most of his life and, at 81, gallivanting around the Amazon or the Sahara is no small thing.

I’m looking forward to purchasing his final ‘Life’ series and, David, if you ever get to read this I want you to know that the work you’ve been involved in has extended my world’s horizons more than any other person. And for that I’m eternally grateful.

Here’s what Nancy Bank-Smith (a TV critic) has to say about his career:

David Attenborough was chasing a giant anteater on the South American savannah. It jinked and sprinted, showing, for a hefty beast, a nifty turn of speed. He followed like a schoolboy in shorts, helpless with laughter. It was the blissful spring of television. Zoo Quest was the first programme to show wild animals in the wild and the oxygenating joy of that moment I shall always remember. I remembered it when I saw, with a sympathetic twinge, how stiffly he walked at 81 in Life in Cold Blood. We are stiffer and wiser than we were. Today he would sit down beside a giant anteater and ask, in that mimicable murmur, how it was feeling. And it would reply: “Endangered.”

And here’s a snippet of what a British TV audience voted as the number 1 moment:

Last night we saw Ween play at the Powerstation in Auckland. Wow. Just wow. Dean is by far the best guitarist I’ve ever seen live and live is definitely what they do best.

They played songs from all of their albums. Chocolate and Cheese got a lot of coverage and their second song was an excellent rock reinterpretation of Spinal Meningitis which normally has the feel of creeping through a hospital ward.

Dean got plenty of solos in (unlike their latest album) and there were mammoth solos pulled off by the keyboardist (Glenn McClelland?) and the drummer, Claude Coleman. Toward the end of Claude’s solo he dropped the sticks (hardly surprising - he must have been knackered) and continued on with his hands which must have hurt.

Toward the end (almost three hours!) half of the crowd had this we’re-sore-and-we-want-to-go-home worried look in their eyes while the other half were bawling for more. Ween, in my opinion, are the essence of what rock is all about.

Was anyone else there? What did you think?