MarkBarker's blog

The Longest Night

Submitted by MarkBarker on 2009-Dec-22, 17·08

Yesterday was the longest night of the year in the northern hemisphere and one of the coldest so far this year in mid-New Hampshire. With the wind and its direction coming from the northwest, the temperature felt even colder. It was a time of remembrance of the homeless people who have died in years past.

Eco-driving or Why Drive Above 55?

Submitted by MarkBarker on 2008-Aug-09, 11·47

I live in a village on the outer edge of a small city in New England. Usually it's easier for me to drive into the city on the nearby Interstate/motorway. As a ‘holier than thou’ Toyota Prius driver, recently I've been setting my cruise control to 55 mph (88 kph) on the highway. I remembered from the 1973 oil crisis that the most fuel efficient speed for a vehicle is supposed to be 55 mph. Graph: Fuel economy vs speed for 1997 vehicles

Unfortunately, this seems to really annoy quite a few other drivers, who pass me even where the speed limit is 55 mph. I haven't tested it, but the fastest passers seem to be the big pickup trucks, SUVs, and 18-wheelers (juggernauts). What amazes me is how inconsistent this behaviour is with the complaints about fuel prices.

Political Spectra: Somewhere Over a Rainbow?

Submitted by MarkBarker on 2006-Nov-27, 00·27

Where the Rainbow Rises

David Cameron, the newish head of the Conservative Party in the UK, has a new slogan for the forthcoming local elections: "Vote blue, Go green". This is a bit more catchy than "Vote blue, Go right." The colour of the UK Labour Party is red, and the colour of the third party, the Liberal Democrats, is orange-yellow. Plotted against the visible colour spectrum (ROYGBiv), from left to right, those colours would nominally seem to fit.1

From Cloud Classifying to Climate Change Clustering

Submitted by MarkBarker on 2006-Nov-26, 23·57

Cloud Classes Last year, while browsing in the The Quaker Bookshop at Friends House on Euston Road in London, I happened across a copy of The Invention of Clouds : How an Amateur Meteorologist Forged the Language of the Skies¹ (Hardcover) by Richard Hamblyn. It's a biography of Luke Howard, a Quaker pharmacist and amateur meteorologist, who created the system of cloud classification² that we still use today³.

'Organised' Categorised

Submitted by MarkBarker on 2006-Nov-26, 23·51

On my Google 'Home Page' there's a list of various 'How Tos'. The other evening, I thought that I'd start to focus on 'How to get Organised', but there were so many that I had to start to organise the lists.

Reuse as Classification

Submitted by MarkBarker on 2006-Nov-26, 23·22

Just before my return home from a visit with family in Florida, I did a little shopping at Target, a discount superstore. I only noticed what was printed on their LDPE plastic bags as I was packing my suitcase: "10 ways to reuse your Target bag". Here are the "Usages" with their "Categories".

When Does a Bird become a Fish?

Submitted by MarkBarker on 2006-Nov-26, 23·04

Many have long enjoyed those imaginative images of M. C. Escher, such as "Sky and Water I" and "Reptiles". I accept that birds do not morph into fish in "Sky and Water I", but tessellated shapes do 'turn into' reptiles in "Reptiles".

Classification and Findability

Submitted by MarkBarker on 2006-Nov-26, 22·37

Just as precision is not the same as accuracy, classification is not the same as findability. For years, I believed that classifying something into a category would enable me to find once again in the future. Certainly, that was the primary motivation of my early involvement with classification schemes and systems. Often, that's the case, but it's not necessarily true.

The Soundscapes Around Us

Submitted by MarkBarker on 2006-Feb-20, 11·00

Last Saturday, I had to get up earlyish to move my car and avoid getting a parking ticket. As usual when I'm nervous, I awoke earlier than I needed to. So it was that I happened to hear a repeat of a programme that I'd heard on BBC Radio 4 sometime last year, "The Soundhunter". After listening to it in bed, I looked it up on DigiGuide [or myTVinfo in the United States], which describes the programme as

ENTERTAINMENT: The Soundhunter
Channel: BBC Radio Four 904
Date: Saturday 18th February 2006
Time: 05·45 to 06·00 (Already shown)
Duration: 15 minutes.
Isobel Clouter scours the planet in search of disappearing sounds. 2: 'The Nightingale Floor'. In Japan, some temple floors make birdlike tweeting noises at even the lightest of footsteps. (Repeat)

Spin by Degrees

Submitted by MarkBarker on 2006-Feb-01, 23·30

Key to modern theories of classification is the notion of 'family resemblances'. A thing or relationship is a member of a class by degrees; membership in a class is on a continuum. The key question is "What is the threshold value at which an attribute of a thing or relationship becomes a member of a class?"

Syndicate content