Leaf by Niggle

Wow.  That is a good short story.  Really makes you think.  In twenty pages Tolkien is able to cram soo much meaning.  Definitely worth re-reading.  It is amazing that Tolkien was able to move from publishing such massive work as the hobbit to publishing such a small work as Leaf by Niggle.  I think it shows his mastery as… Continue reading Leaf by Niggle

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Builder Broker DIFM

So, one of my old ideas of the automating the contracting of building buildings is starting to seem more of like a good idea.  I just read an article on TechCrunch about the Do It For Me (DIFM) company is actually something that is a viable startup idea.  However, I believe that with the DIFM model… Continue reading Builder Broker DIFM

Botball 2015

A bunch of us from GMU were Botball mentors for middle schools in the DC area.  I helped out at Fred Lynn middle school with Kevin, David, Joseph and Anna.  Our school was big enough that we had two teams that entered the competition.  Thanks to David who interpreted the results pdf, last Saturday’s Botball… Continue reading Botball 2015

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Automatic Auction Design

Ahh patents…  I found a patent from 2001 that basically describes one of my ideas about automating the creation of auctions.  They call it automated decision support for auctions.  Why would you patent this?!  Research sure, but a patent?

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Speed up stevedoring

According to Container Tech a 40ft standard shipping container can have a max gross (container + contents) weight of 67,200 lb (or 30481.407 kg or 33.6 tons or an Adult North Pacific Right Whale).  So, what is the quickest, easiest, safest and most energy efficient way to move such containers?  According to current tech in the container moving industry… Continue reading Speed up stevedoring

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Power grid for shipping containers

Shocks in shipping containers that would charge batteries that would allow for gps tracking of all of the containers.  Also, when stacked they could essentially distribute the electricity.  Harvesting the energy from the force of tons of pressure would be interesting.  Also, they could be very safe batteries!! You could use Lightsail storage.  Then it would be… Continue reading Power grid for shipping containers

TurboJpeg to get yuyv images

This uses the turboJpeg library to do a decoding of a compressed jpeg to yuyv.  TurboJpeg already converts the jpeg image to YUYV which is YUV 4:2:2 which is totally awesome since that is what we want!! Can get libjpeg which comes with turboJpeg here and then do: sudo dpkg -i libjpeg-turbo-official_1.4.1_i386.deb To compile your stuff check… Continue reading TurboJpeg to get yuyv images

Passwords

So yahoo has a new authentication system where it sends you a password to your device.  This seems to be less secure than 2-factor authentication, however it certainly is a lot less of a hassle than having to make and change your password.  The main issue is of course losing your phone.  So, I guess it… Continue reading Passwords

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