Twitter for Week of 27 July 2008
These are my annotated tweets for the week of 27 July 2008. Follow my microblog on Twitter at http://twitter.com/conrad_halling.
Differences in Nomenclature for Structures of GPCRs
2008-07-27: Last night I read two Nature papers about structures of GPCRs. Different nomenclature in the papers frustrates indexing and searching.
The authors of the two papers used different systems for naming the α-helices and β-strands in these homologous proteins. I hope to find the time to post about these papers soon.
Top 50 Science Fiction TV Shows
2008-07-27: The Boston Globe ranked the top 50 science fiction TV shows, but somehow omitted Star Trek Deep Space 9.
DS9 was not my favorite Star Trek series, but it was certainly better than some of the shows included in the top 50.
Photos of Jupiter
2008-07-28: There are spectacular photos of Jupiter on the Boston Globe’s web site.
Visio 2007 Training
2008-07-28: I spent yesterday and today learning Visio 2007 Professional in order to make flowcharts that map work processes. It was time well spent.
I’m still working on the computer-based training. Ultimately, I want to use Visio 2007 Pro for modeling databases.
Leo Laporte’s eBay Grudge
2008-07-29: PayPal should have refunded the $2200 Leo Laporte lost from an eBay ripoff scheme; his vocal complaints have caused them to lose business.
Leo Laporte is a podcaster, blogger, and twitterer, and I listen to many of his shows, including “This Week in Tech”, “MacBreak Weekly”, “Windows Weekly”, and “FLOSS Weekly”. Leo used PayPal instead of his credit card to pay for a $2200 purchase, but he never received his order. PayPal insurance covered only $200 of Leo’s purchase, so he was out $2000. Leo twittered about the problem (here, here, here, and here) and mentioned it on his podcasts for several weeks. I believe the end result was to increase mistrust of eBay and PayPal among Leo’s listeners, costing both companies much more than $2200 in business.
Added 2008-08-08: According to this tweet, eBay has given Leo a full refund for his camera.
cuil.com Search Engine
2008-07-29: I have tried cuil.com a few times since yesterday. It hasn’t found me or my web site; just lots of listserv posts from years ago.
The cuil search engine was released with much fanfare as an alternative to google, but so far the results are disappointing.
How Do Geeks Exercise?
2008-07-30: Slashdot thread “How do geeks exercise?” has ~1000 replies in less than 12 hours. I walk to work (2.75 mi each way).
I found this thread very amusing. There are now over 1700 posts in the thread. I’m just a geek who happens to run marathons, so I don’t worry about exercise.
This Week in Tech Podcast: Too Much Fluff
2008-07-30: This Week in Tech podcast gets a little longer every week, but with no additional real content. This week 114 minutes; 60 would be enough.
The podcast has increasing amounts of chit-chat and fluff. I want information.
Cool Tattoos
2008-07-31: For the first time in my life, I want a tattoo. http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/loom/science-tattoo-emporium/
Using Debian to Revive a PowerBook G4
This thread, the longest conversation I’ve had on Twitter, was prompted by a post from agbiotec, who twittered:
after getting debian with gnome in my 5-year old PowerBook I realized how lightweight and functional it is, the machine flies
I replied:
@agbiotec I’m interested in installing debian on a 3.5-yr old 1.5-GHz PowerBook G4. How’s wireless connectivity on yours?
agbiotec replied:
@conrad_halling wireless is perfect-Debian set up the card from the boot CD, and I was even able to do network install-very user friendly :-)
I responded:
@agbiotec Thanks for the PowerBook tip and the info. I will buy my wife a new MacBook Pro so I can install Debian on her old PowerBook.
agbiotec asked:
why don’t you install Debian on the new one too ? ;-)
I replied:
@agbiotec My wife is self-employed, so new laptop is deductible business expense, but she requires Word. I can recycle old laptop w/Debian.
My wife edits medical books as a freelancer. All the editing is performed using Microsoft Word, and the book publishers don’t care if she uses Word for Mac OS X or for Windows. So like all right-thinking persons, she uses Word for Mac OS X on a PowerBook. But her computer is more than three years old, so it’s time to buy her a new one, either a MacBook Pro or a MacBook Air, then recycle the PowerBook. I could use a Linux laptop, but only if the wireless works, hence my interest in agbiotec’s tweet.
Some Days, We Feel Like We Can’t Do Our Jobs
2008-08-01: Today, in my weekly meeting with my boss, he started with, “Some days, I feel like I can’t do my job.” That’s what *I* had wanted to say.
My manager is outstanding, and he does many things I could never do, so it’s discouraging that he has bad weeks, too.
Perl Threads on Stack Overflow
2008-08-02: @codinghorror Experienced Perl coders might not use Stack Overflow because we already have PerlMonks.
Stack Overflow, when it’s released, will be a web site for questions and answers about programming in various languages. I expect traffic from Perl coders will be low because we have well-established resources, including PerlMonks.
Learning Perl, 5th Edition
2008-08-02: I bought Learning Perl, 5th Edition, and I’m reading it in preparation for teaching a Perl class at work. 5th ed. covers new 5.10 features.
This is an excellent book that is completely up to date, unlike Programming Perl, 3rd Edition, which was published eight years ago. I plan to write a review when I’ve finished reading it.
August 03 2008 09:29 am | Microblog
