Daily Archives: 28 March 2007
Quick and Easy Math the Reuters Way!
More cool math from Reuters. Today’s example comes from this article on the captured British seamen. Reporting on the “effects” of the “tension” on commodities markets, we get: With the United States conducting naval exercises in the Gulf, the rising tension rattled global markets. Oil prices jumped by $5 overnight to more than $68 a barrel before they settled back to around $64. Gold jumped to a four-week high on safe-haven buying before prices eased. Let’s consider what these figures mean. Oil jumps $5 to some vague figure of $68 plus alpha – and then sinks “to around $64.” If
A Dumb Invention
I predict that this doesn’t end up selling very well. It’s a cellphone that doubles as a cigarette case – for sale in China (where cigarette smokers are rumored to still exist).
What I Want for Christmas
What I want for Christmas is definitely this. It’s some sort of sketching tool that has the potential to be the Coolest Whiteboard Ever. Basically, you draw on it, and it converts what you draw into computer representations of objects in an environment – so that the objects can interact with each other, etc. , Rube Goldberg style. For classroom technology, this would be absolutely brilliant. See, one thing you can do with it is draw a line around part of something. If your circle connects back in on itself, the board highlights the region in red, and you can
Can I Call ‘em or What?
Can I call ‘em or what? The dreaded budget vote happened yesterday in Commons, and the government survived with support from the Bloc. The NDP joined the Liberals in opposing the budget (I declined to call that one), but it passed 176-119. Harper will stay in power for at least a few more months, and there will be no spring election. Of course, the press is still predicting that Harper will engineer a confidence vote to take advantage of his boost in popularity in the wake of the budget. It’s true that his position is a bit precarious. With the
