Save the Data

13 April 2011

Welcome to my own version of NIMBYism (Not In My Back Yard-ism).
Yes, I know the US federal budget needs to be cut, but not my programs.
Seriously. :)
The Sunlight Foundation writes:

Some of the most important technology programs that keep Washington accountable are in danger of being eliminated. Data.gov, USASpending.gov, the IT Dashboard and [...]

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Being a Google Autocompleter

4 April 2011

Can you type 34,000 words a minute? Are you psychic?
If so, you may wish to apply for a job with Google as an Autocompleter. The video below details some of the requirements of the position.

Yes, this is another one of Google’s jokes for April Fools’ Day 2011.
Happy Monday!
[Via TechCrunch.]

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GMail Motion and the Top 5 Viral Pictures of 1911

1 April 2011

Google writes: “Now you can control Gmail with your body. Learn more at http://gmail.com/motion“.

YouTube writes: “One hundred years ago on April 1, these moving pictures were the finest in the land. Hooray!”

Happy April Fools’ Day 2011!

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Shoutout to TamingData Readers/Gratitude

31 March 2011
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I would like to thank the readers of this blog for your time and comments.
This month, TamingData received almost 4,000 “page impressions“. That is an almost 189% increase over February 2011 (if I did that math correctly). Yes, I went from slightly under 2,000 page impressions in February to over 3,800 page impressions in March! [...]

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Data Access and Reuse Entropy

28 March 2011

What if you have access to all kinds of personal data, yet you just can’t bring yourself to Be Evil with it?

Happy Monday!
I hope you have a great week.

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Aisles of Library Shelves on Something the Size of a Dime

25 March 2011

Happy Friday!

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Tsunami — Animation of Cause and Effect

24 March 2011
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The great Indian Ocean tsunami that struck 11 countries on 26 December 2004 killed an estimated 150,000 people and left millions homeless. The epicenter of that 9.0 quake was near the west coast of Sumatra, underneath the Indian Ocean.
On March 11, 2011, the Honshu Tsunami, caused by a 9.0 earthquake with its epicenter off of [...]

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Clueless Discovery / Asking the “Right” Questions

22 March 2011
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A large part of life and research involves figuring out what questions to ask. Still, how do you know what questions to ask? How do you know when to keep exploring vs. accepting that what you’ve found so far is “good enough”?
I have no idea.
And neither, apparently, does this guy, whose failure to “get [...]

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Earthquakes — Animation of Cause and Effect

18 March 2011
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What causes an earthquake?
We are told by the media in the aftermath of an earthquake that the ground moved and major “faults” shifted and collided because the earth’s “plates” are adjusting.
But what does that mean in layman’s terms?
Podders79 created this “Animation-Earthquake Guide” based on BBC archives to explain the how and what behind [...]

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NOAA Maps Shows Honshu Tsunami Wave Heights Around the Globe

15 March 2011
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How can you display wave height in a meaningful way, particularly when a tsunami strikes after a major earthquake?
NOAA researchers and staff took the maximum predicted wave heights from buoys positioned in the Pacific as the Honshu Tsunami spread across the Pacific on March 11, 2011. Using that data, they created the dramatic images [...]

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