Quantum Electrodynamic Threshold

Wikipedia: Quantum Electrodynamic Threshold

Whether this is real or not is immaterial to my purposes. What I really want to know is, if one were to be fixed in place about a meter from the edge of one of these things--unaffected by the massive magnetic field--then 1) what would the region look like, and 2) what would happen to matter entering the region assuming the magnetics don't immediately pull it to the center. Also, what does it look like from the inside--looking deeper in, to the side, and out.

Ninja Planet

16:55:24

You're standing in the wasteland of the planet Ninja.

The desolate land that stretches out before you is scattered with knobbly trees, swaying lightly in the breeze. Twisted mountain peaks occlude the horizon, silhouetted by the setting sun behind them, and casting shadows that claw their way towards you. The whole landscape radiates a level malovence that should be impossible for mere nature.

You knew the moment you entered the atmosphere in you exploration lander than even coming near this planet was a horrible mistake, but here you are, 3 feet from the ladder back into the craft, standing, frozen in place, and attempting to plan out your escape.

The breeze picks up slightly, pushing a light cloud of dirt off the vacant landscape and into the air. Your eyes catch on the swirls in the ominously blood-red dust. Are they simple vortexes, or perhaps, something else..? A small twig or rock bounces lightly off your right thigh. You don't dare move to see which.

Timing drifts through your head. Approximately five seconds to get to the airlock, two to key it open and another to step through and hit the 30 second cycle sequence. One long minute to run through the abbreviated emergency checklist. 8 minutes to orbit.

Nine minutes and thirty eight seconds. Five hundred and seventy eight ways to die.

This is planet Ninja. In front of you? Well over a thousand ninjas... probably. You imagine them watching; Waiting for weakness. You hope it's your imagination.

16:55:25

You discover your legs won't move. One second of thought, one more way to die, though this one more unanticipated than the rest. Your hand brushes over a small pin stuck to your right thigh.

Inaction has consequences too.

Mapping Shipment Tracking

You know when you buy something online and the retailer gives you a number that lets you check on it's progress as it makes it's way to the destination? They generally give you a list events--checked in, checked out, in transit, out for delivery, etc.--along with times.

Sometimes, when I have nothing better to do, I take the locations its been and string them together in Google Maps (guessing because the locations don't usually have addresses, but I can guess pretty well with satellite view.)

But the shipper knows exactly where those locations are, and moreover, the route the truck is actually scheduled to take, though this matters more for delivery than shipment. So here's what you do:

1. Plot the anticipated route on Google Maps. I know you can, you don't run a shipment company for years without some way to predict the likely path any given package will take.
2. Plot the actual route as updates come in. Revise the anticipated route if needed.
3. Plot events as pins. Stack multiple events in one pin with timestamps, no need for pin forests at an overnight stay at a warehouse.
4. If you have a way to determine the location of the truck, consider plotting that on the map. Perhaps in real time.

Now your customers can not only read where it is, but can look on a map and see how far away it is.

Better, Google already detects tracking numbers people search for and forwards them to the appropriate page. Leave the mapping data open and get Google to add to the "Forward to Tracking" page a "View tracking in Google Maps" link.

Duck Typing

So, in Python there's this concept of Duck Typing. First time I read about it (shortly after getting into Python,) I passed it off as a curiosity. No idea how to take advantage of the concept.

So now I'm taking a Java class (mostly because the Uni doesn't offer Python classes.)

import university

class Python:
    pass

university.CompSci.add(Python)

No not that kind of class!

Well, apparently in Java when you have a function that could just as easily work on int arrays as String arrays as float arrays, you need one copy of that function for each type. Which means in certain situations you have two otherwise identical functions (and I mean character-for-character identical, as in Ctrl-C, Ctrl-V identical, aside from the function signature.

So I'm just staring at this pair of functions now, and I really ought to be wrapping up the assignment, but I can't shake the feeling that this is wrong.

Open Letter to all webcomic artists

And those with any other periodically updating website, and especially if it doesn't get updated on a regular basis.

Use RSS or Atom feeds on your website. If you have a webcomic, make a new entry for each new comic. Link directly to the comic. If possible and practical, inline the image directly into the entry.

Now, you don't have to roll a custom RSS feed. You could simply open a blog somewhere (Blogspot, Wordpress whatever floats your boat,) and drop a new post in when you update the comic. Hell, even Twitter would work

Now, why do I emphasize those sites that update infrequently? Nothing kills the mood like hovering over a bookmark and wondering to yourself "Is this even updated? Am I just wasting my time?" There are comics I read that update like clockwork and have no RSS feed. Glance at the clock and at a certain time chances of the site having been updated increases greatly. But there are others that post new pages seemingly at random. These comics actually have a special tag in my bookmarks: Sporadic. It exists especially for comics that are floating in the purgatory between irregular updates (which I check on Sundays) and comics that have been placed on Hiatus (which I check about every 6 months, and leave a note in the bookmark the last date/comic number I read.) I check this grouping of sporadic comics sporadically. A lot of them probably have more updates by now, but I can't remember where I left off. Shame really, since many are good.

Remember, with RSS feeds you subscribe and leave them alone, because they tell you when there is new content. You never have to look at an RSS feed and wonder if there's anything new (unless your feed is broken. Yeah, I'm looking at you Altermeta, your RSS updates, but something is wrong, new posts get inserted halfway down with bad publish dates.)

So there. Keep your readers. Bring them back regularly to bask in your stunning artistic prowess (and possibly some adverts,) build an RSS or Atom feed for your comic today.