Photography: charting the coral fields

Google's Ocean Street Views give you a good idea of what the Seaview SVII underwater camera can do. If you want to know why the Catlin Seaview team is doing it, here's an article by Bryan Walsh at Time Magazine, titled "The Last Coral Reefs."

In addition to Ocean Street Views, Google sponsors the Google Cultural Institute which presents art, culture, wonders of the world, and more.  Here's a view of the Great Barrier Reef:

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Heron Bommie, Heron Island, Catlin Seaview Survey, Google Cultural Institute

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Below are two scenes from Ocean Street Views.  These are just still shots, taken by screen capture.  To see a full 3D panorama--looking up, down, and rotating 360 degrees laterally--mosey on over to the link above. 
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Emily's Pinnacles, Google's Ocean Street View

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Mary Celeste Wreck, Google's Ocean Street View

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And, Google Earth is available online, in case you didn't know.  You can "go anywhere, on any device for free."

-- Marge

Bake fail equivalent

A bake fail in Second Life may seem trivial but it could be where we're headed in real life -- a point where what we know as real no longer resolves into what we see as real and vice versa. 

The term being applied to this moment is technological singularity and it seems to be fast approaching:

The technological singularity, or simply the singularity, is a theoretical moment in time when artificial intelligence will have progressed to the point of a greater-than-human intelligence, radically changing civilization, and perhaps human nature. Since the capabilities of such an intelligence may be difficult for a human to comprehend, the technological singularity is often seen as an occurrence (akin to a gravitational singularity) beyond which the future course of human history is unpredictable or even unfathomable.

Mathematician John von Neumann (1903-1957) may have said it best.  He was the first to postulate singularity, calling it accelerating change. Stanislaw Ulam reports:

One conversation centered on the ever accelerating progress of technology and changes in the mode of human life, which gives the appearance of approaching some essential singularity in the history of the race beyond which human affairs, as we know them, could not continue.

Ray Kurzweil -- author, inventor, futurist, a director of engineering at Google, and another supporter of the singularity theory -- wrote the book The Singularity Is Near, which is part fiction, part non-fiction.  In it he interviews 20 big thinkers like Marvin Minsky.

So far the references have been artificial intelligence and software, but hardware is also fast approaching a point of singularity, as exhibited by Moore's Law.

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Benzirpi, Microprocessor Transistor Counts & Moore's Law, Wikipedia

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Concerns about society being overwhelmed by rampant artificial intelligence (think SkyNet) are being addressed by such organizations as the Machine Intelligence Research Institute (MIRI).

Personally, I wonder if our effectively living in virtual worlds, such as Second Life or your favorite MMORPG, is really preparing us for a completely virtual life.  Others are looking at the possibility, too.  Futurist Thomas Frey asks "Are We Destined to Merge With Our Avatars?"  And columnist James Wagner Au reports in New World Notes, "Scientists Testing to See if First Life is Really Second Life."  He, in turn is quoting an article in the Huffington Post:

The theory basically goes that any civilisation which could evolve to a 'post-human' stage would almost certainly learn to run simulations on the scale of a universe. And that given the size of reality - billions of worlds, around billions of suns - it is fairly likely that if this is possible, it has already happened.

Which in turn reminds me of the old, old theory, jokingly made, that our world is only a molecule in a frying pan.

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Mike, Technological Singularity, demotivationalposters.net

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-- Marge

DIY troubleshooting the troublesome

The other day my repair guy installed a new cartridge in the kitchen faucet because it was dripping.  Unfortunately, when he was done, the hot and cold streams were reversed.  He was mystified; I said I'll check it on the web.  Apparently the problem is not unusual.  After typing in "moen faucet hot cold reversed" and selecting the Google search result that seemed to most apply, I landed at the terrylove.com DIY forum.  There one person said "Pull the cartridge out and reverse it 180 degrees." (In other words turn it over.)  Another said "Just remove the handle and turn the stem 180 degrees."  The moderator said that reversing the cartridge won't work.  So repair guy rotated the stem 180 and -- voila!  Now I don't have to doublethink where hot and cold are.  Sweet.

This brings me to troubleshooting using the web.  There's an article at Wikipedia giving techniques for troubleshooting.  On the web it sometimes takes a few tries to get the search terms that will zero in on the information you want.  For example, to troubleshoot Firefox, try "troubleshoot Firefox <space>" and see what Google suggests.  Check some of the suggestions to see if you're getting close to the problem you have in mind, then rephrase the search as needed.  (Note that Firefox may be a poor example because there is excellent tech support at Mozilla support.)
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AHA! jokes

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Techsoup.org has an excellent page on troubleshooting your desktop.  They also have a page on troubleshooting software.
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posted by fahd0321, MemeCenter

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While looking around I found the Circuit Detective's page on home electrical troubleshooting.  You might find it helpful/interesting.  Help Larry out with a donation if you can.

Well, back to nursing my aging home.

--Marge

Farmer panda

By Manyman (Own work) via Wikimedia Commons

I'm guessing that most people are aware of how popular and useful Google's search engine is simply by the fact that a new verb has been coined -- google it.  According to the article linked, the American Dialect Society chose it as the "most useful word of 2002."  In the past we had to hang out in libraries to get the information we can find instantly at our computers/tablets/phones today.

Behind the scenes, linked to the workings of Google's engine, is a process called SEO (Search Engine Optimization).  This is a

...process of affecting the visibility of a website or a web page in a search engine's "natural" or un-paid ("organic") search results. In general, the earlier (or higher ranked on the search results page), and more frequently a site appears in the search results list, the more visitors it will receive from the search engine's users.

There are companies whose reason for existence is to advise other companies on how to use this process to market on the internet.

By Vishraval (Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

In 2011 Google introduced Panda:

...a change to Google's search results ranking algorithm that was first released in February 2011. The change aimed to lower the rank of "low-quality sites" or "thin sites", and return higher-quality sites near the top of the search results. CNET reported a surge in the rankings of news websites and social networking sites, and a drop in rankings for sites containing large amounts of advertising. This change reportedly affected the rankings of almost 12 percent of all search results.  --Wikipedia

According to an article at Search Engine Land, titled Google Panda Two Year Later: Losers Still Losing and One Real Recovery, "Google sent shockwaves through not only the SEO industry, but also through online publishing in general." (For information on assessing how Google Panda affected your site -- if you don't already know -- check out this article, published in March 2011, at The Moz Blog.)

Some of the sites deeply affected are wiseGEEK, Suite101 (suspended publishing in March this year), and ArticlesBase, which lost 94% of its traffic when Panda was launched.  More sites were affected; these were chosen at random.

I guess my point is not all improvements are completely for the best, something is often lost. I, for one, will miss Suite101.

-- Marge

April Fools' pranks 2013

Now that the air has cleared, and the infamous day is over, here are some of the "15 Best April Fools Pranks From Around The Web 2013." They were identified by We Know Memes, a meme generator.   Here goes --

Google's latest product:

A treasure hunt in San Francisco from Google Maps:

Twitter's new service(s):

Deviant Art's DeviantHeart:

Reddit's new acquisition:

If you notice, one of Reddit's comments cites BBC's 2012 April Fools' prank as a favorite.  Since the article is no longer available at BBC (because it never existed there), here's Gothamist's update on it.  The original article is titled "The Earth has exploded, killing everyone."

What would Grandma say?

-- Marge

Checking out Sketchup

SketchUp, a program previously offered by Google but now run by Trimble, is used for 3D modeling and has a number of different types of products.  Follow the Wikipedia link above to get an idea of its capabilities.  The basic program is free; there is a Pro version available.  Look here for the program's hardware requirements.  A Google account is required for some of the functions described below.

Assuming that most of us will be trying/using the free version, that's what I downloaded and installed.  Not having given it a real try, I'm hesitant to make a judgment on its overall usefulness for modeling.  There are some nice features like a tape measure and a protractor.  It took me a while to figure out that I had to tab when creating a line to enter the line length.  Curious thing, no sphere is available as a primitive, you have to build one (tricky) or download one from the 3D Warehouse.

Speaking of the 3D Warehouse, it's the features available through Sketchup that I find more intriguing.

For an example there's Building Maker (accessed through an icon on the upper task bar).  Google describes it thus:

Building Maker is a 3D modeling tool for adding buildings to Google Earth. It's fun to use, and an easy way to get on the 3D map. Here's how it works:

• Select a city from around the world.
• Make a building with photos we provide.
• Save your building and it will be reviewed.
• See your 3D building in Google Earth!

And there's SketchUp Island, a blog where contests and challenges for SketchUp are featured.

You can preview your model in Google Earth by clicking the Google Earth icon, also in the upper task bar.  A word of warning -- I didn't have a place set so my model showed up in Boulder, Colorado; in fact, it always shows up in Boulder, Colorado. Hmmm....

An image of an area you find in Google Earth is available by clicking on the "Add more imagery..." icon in the upper task bar.  It can become the terrain for your model.

If you tire of trying to build your own model, you can download models built and uploaded by other users by clicking on the cardboard box with a down arrow next to the Google Earth icon.  Then you can adapt them (not all are adaptable).  Some require unlocking, some have the unlock function disabled. Upload your own finished model by using the cardboard box with the up arrow.

What I've listed here are just some of the features in SketchUp and I've only touched on how to use them.

Take a look for yourself -- it's free.

-- Marge

Google's Art Project

Looking around Google's Art Project, all I can say is, Wow!

According to the FAQ about Art Project:

The Art Project is a collaboration between Google and 151 acclaimed art partners from across 40 countries. Using a combination of various Google technologies and expert information provided by our museum partners, we have created a unique online art experience. Users can explore a wide range of artworks at brushstroke level detail, take a virtual tour of a museum and even build their own collections to share. With a team of Googlers working across many product areas we are able to harness the best of Google to power the Art Project experience. Few people will ever be lucky enough to be able to visit every museum or see every work of art they’re interested in but now many more can enjoy over 30 000 works of art from sculpture to architecture and drawings and explore over 150 collections from 40 countries, all in one place. We’re also lucky at Google to have the technology to make this kind of project a reality.

The FAQs explain how to use the site and seem to me recommended reading.

Using the various features available, you can:

• get much better look at the details than you would even get in the gallery,
• easily compare overall view with detail view, instead of walking forward and backing up repeatedly,
• read a short background of the artist and the work (click on Details),
• take a virtual trip to the gallery where the work is being shown, using something much like Google Earth technology.

 As an example, here are snips of "Professional Way, Babylon:"

One of the lions with detail control panel

Detail: one tile (could even get closer)

For a gallery view of "Processional Way, Babylon," follow this link.

While poking around the Art Project I came across this video about visualizing images that Van Gogh painted over when recycling his canvasses.

Good hunting.

-- Marge