Evolutionary computer algorithms are good at solving a relatively common set of problems through trial and error - the set of problems that we know of with a large number of equally valid possible solutions, of which some subset of those are faster or more efficient. The only way to see which of these solutions will do what you want is to try one and mess around with it for a while, and then try a slightly different approach. In other words, by tinkering, tweaking, and hacking around, which is great on a small scale but when you're looking at a …
Geneticist Craig Venter of San Diego, California has made a significant breakthrough in genetics and bioengineering after it's been verified by the scientific community (I have to throw that disclaimer for reasons that'll be made clear in a moment)... he's built a chromosome out of raw materials in vitro.
Yeah. Not only did Venter's team, lead by Nobel Prize winner Dr. Hamilton O. Smith hooked synthetic nucleotides together one by one into a strand of DNA 580,000 base pairs in length, coding for 381 distinct genes, and then got the DNA to coil up into a chromosome. The synthetic …
On my way to the office this morning I was sitting in the car thinking about nothing in particular, and in my pre-caffeinated state my thoughts wandered in the direction of why blogging engines like Pivot and Wordpress make me uneasy in weird, peripheral ways, and why I find them so difficult to use, insofar as writing text is concerned. The reason is that they imply a sense of immediacy upon the user writing where sometimes there shouldn't be one.
Let me start off by saying that I'm not trying to bash blogging in general or any one blogging engine …
This post assumes that you've worked enough with Linux to know about the existence of software RAID in the Linux v2.6 kernel series, though not necessarily much about it.
If you're not familiar with it, RAID (Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks) is a set of techniques that replicate data across multiple hard drives on the assumption that, at some point, a drive is going to fail. If the data can be found in some form on another drive, the data is still available. Otherwise you're out of luck unless you made backups, and if you're really unfortunate, your machine …
Fire fighters in central London were called out in full hazmat gear when they received a report that a) something was on fire, and b) it was causing knocking down everyone that was within range of the cloud. Knocking down as in, "couldn't breathe, couldn't see, in lots of pain."
At 1900 local time they had pinpointed the location (the Thai Cottage Restaurant) and the source of the noxious smoke: A cooking pot containing about nine pounds of nam prik pao, which is a Thai dipping sauce made up of super-hot chili peppers that are fried until they are burned …
George W. Bush has vetoed only four bills during his terms in office, which is unheard of for any President of the United States. The first three involved two bills that would have expanded stem cell research and withdrawing troops from Iraq. Unfortunately, the latest bill that he's shot down was SCHIP, the State Children's Health Insurance Program, which would have renewed and expanded mandates that would made it possible for families that aren't poor enough to get Medicaid but can't afford health insurance to get coverage for their children. The bill would have added an additional $35bus of funding …
Exoteric life being what it is, I've been waiting for the right time to post about Pretend to be a Time Traveler Day on 8 December 2007. The day is just what it sounds like - it's a Saturday where you wander around someplace pretending to be a time traveler, ideally kitted out in costume and in character but not actually telling anyone what you're doing. The original thread on the Koala Wallop forums goes on to describe a couple of possible schticks that you and your friends can try, such as "We came from a Utopian future but we don't …
