http://neil.fraser.name/ Log of Neil Fraser's thoughts and activities. http://backend.userland.com/rss 86400 http://neil.fraser.name/news/2012/04/19/ Thu, 19 Apr 2012 12:00:00 GMT The Mars Exploration Rovers are amazing robots. Designed for 90 days[?], one of them has lasted eight years and is still driving around on Mars. To put its travels in perspective, here's a plot of Opportunity's ... http://neil.fraser.name/news/2012/02/27/ Mon, 27 Feb 2012 12:00:00 GMT When a reporter quotes a source, is it permissible for the reporter to change the quote? In some cases, absolutely. For instance cleaning up the language is perfectly acceptable. Consider this quote: "I ... http://neil.fraser.name/news/2012/02/13/ Mon, 13 Feb 2012 12:00:00 GMT Today is the 320th anniversary of the Massacre of Glencoe.[?] The short version of the story is that soldiers from the Campbell clan requested lodging with the MacDonald clan. Scottish tradition requires ... http://neil.fraser.name/news/2012/01/24/ Tue, 24 Jan 2012 12:00:00 GMT Last week MIT hosted a meeting with the developers of several different graphical programming languages. The discussion was extremely interesting and raised some great questions about these languages. ... http://neil.fraser.name/news/2011/12/28/ Wed, 28 Dec 2011 12:00:00 GMT While walking to work I saw a young man running out of a CVS drug store. Moments later the manager came running out. I informed the manager that the individual he was chasing had just turned the corner, ... http://neil.fraser.name/news/2011/12/23/ Fri, 23 Dec 2011 12:00:00 GMT Last week I ported my Diff Match Patch library[?] to Dart[?]. (Although the port is complete, it won't get released until after the holidays due to all my code reviewers being with their families.) One ... http://neil.fraser.name/news/2011/12/16/ Fri, 16 Dec 2011 12:00:00 GMT Our team at Google got the opportunity to fly in a Zeppelin yesterday. This is the first Zeppelin to fly in the US since the Hindenburg. I had been looking forward to this flight for several years. The ... http://neil.fraser.name/news/2011/12/10/ Sat, 10 Dec 2011 12:00:00 GMT One year ago I was working to get a man out of jail. This year I'm working to get a man into jail. While walking home from work a couple of weeks ago I hear a woman screaming behind me. This is San Francisco. ... http://neil.fraser.name/news/2011/11/23/ Wed, 23 Nov 2011 12:00:00 GMT My pet rat died on Sunday. Pixel had been rescued by the Humane Society and I'd adopted her two years ago. She had been declining both mentally and physically for some time, so her passing was expected. ... http://neil.fraser.name/news/2011/11/12/ Sat, 12 Nov 2011 12:00:00 GMT Trying to nail down what the "Occupy" protests are about is a bit like nailing Jello to the wall. Fox News is fanatically negative, CNN seems to be more neutral, and Reddit is fanatically positive. To ... http://neil.fraser.name/news/2011/11/05/ Sat, 5 Nov 2011 12:00:00 GMT The Department of Motor Vehicles are notorious for taking bad photos. Mine was no exception. They managed to catch me mid-blink, giving me the appearance of Down's Syndrome. Joy. Obtaining a driver's license ... http://neil.fraser.name/news/2011/10/29/ Sat, 29 Oct 2011 12:00:00 GMT Halloween is of course my favorite holiday, so I usually do something special. This year I made a Street View costume. As with any good Halloween costume, it starts with a sheet over one's head. The sheet ... http://neil.fraser.name/news/2011/10/22/ Sat, 22 Oct 2011 12:00:00 GMT These are my notes from the four-day SVG Open 2011 conference in Cambridge, Massachusetts. What follows are my own thoughts on selected talks. This does not attempt to be an objective record by any means. ... http://neil.fraser.name/news/2011/10/14/ Fri, 14 Oct 2011 12:00:00 GMT I'm fine, it's just a sprained wrist. While cycling to work on Wednesday an oncoming Muni bus unexpectedly turned across my path. I had to brake hard to come to a stop. But I didn't have the presence of ... http://neil.fraser.name/news/2011/10/06/ Thu, 6 Oct 2011 12:00:00 GMT Four days, 77 people, 27 talks, 18 demos, 6 workshops. After two years of preparation DocEng 2011 is finally complete. This was the first major conference I've organized. Next time I do something like ... http://neil.fraser.name/news/2011/09/17/ Sat, 17 Sep 2011 12:00:00 GMT Four years ago I did the 150 mile cycle trip for Multiple Sclerosis. This weekend I did it again. The two-day route goes from San Francisco, up the coast and into Napa Valley. According to my cycle computer ... http://neil.fraser.name/news/2011/09/08/ Thu, 8 Sep 2011 12:00:00 GMT Having successfully created hydrophone recordings of San Francisco Bay, the next logical step was to experiment with active sonar. The idea was program a cell phone to emit 4000 Hz pulses once a second ... http://neil.fraser.name/news/2011/08/08/ Mon, 8 Aug 2011 12:00:00 GMT The surface of water forms an acoustic barrier; sounds in the air aren't heard underwater and sounds underwater aren't heard in the air. To find out more about what is happening underwater, I built a hydrophone. ... http://neil.fraser.name/news/2011/07/16/ Sat, 16 Jul 2011 12:00:00 GMT Recently I had the privilege of teaching and mentoring at Google's Computer Science Summer Institute[?]. Thirty high school graduates are given intensive lessons by Googlers for three weeks. It's wonderful ... http://neil.fraser.name/news/2011/07/08/ Fri, 8 Jul 2011 12:00:00 GMT The final Space Shuttle flight took off this morning. A large group of of us watched it at Google. Most of us were born after Apollo, so the Space Shuttle is the only NASA manned launch system we've ever ...