tintedpane.com

I know I know, more fodder about Google. It’s still quite fascinating stuff though.

This time it’s about a translation engine in the works that is taking a different approach from the norm. Instead of brute force translation that’s done word for word, they are using a statistical modeling technique that pores over existing translated texts. Their basis? 200 billion plus words from United Nations translations. What they’re doing is to see how diffent word phrases can be translated different ways and keeping track of those patterns. Or what this article calls the Rossetta Stone way.

It’s a short read that you should find pretty interesting. Maybe in the near future I’ll be able to communicate w/ my relatives just by IM’ing them in english and they’ll respond in their own language, with google doing the translation transparently in the background. This does have some scary implications though, in that google would be the backbone of global communication/translation.

August 5th, 2005. I think there should be considerable interest.

http://www.texasmotorplex.com/usn/schedule.php

8:00pm -> 2:00am

bq. All motorcycle riders are required to wear a full face helmet meeting above Specs, leather jacket, leather boots/shoes above the ankle, and leather gloves. Full all leathers or SFI Spec 40.1/2 suit is mandatory on all motorcycles running 120 mph or faster.

I just took a look at my webstats and it seems my hit count has been declining in the past month. My posts must be getting boringer and boringer (sic). Let’s see…how to spice things up… eh, too much effort. Maybe I’ll come back later w/ some pics or whatnot. Until then, hope you enjoyed this pointless entri.

A “Read the Bills Act of 2005″ that would mandate legislators read the bills they vote on.

DownSizeDC.org

Here’s another excerpt about RealID:
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Since the main body of the bill was for emergency war funds, the damn thing passed 100-0. Anyone know the history of tacking stupid bills onto larger ones so they go through congress? This rider bill had nothing to do with war spending. Why allow non-pertinent bills to be attached?

For those who aren’t aware, Real-ID is a bill mandating a national driver’s license and centralized database.

Along the same vein, weren’t SS #’s supposed to be temporary? I don’t want no stinking numbers to keep track of me.

I see this as another threat to our liberty. More government
discussion on slashdot
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Just read a review on a new Fujifilm digital compact which finally has some one of the features I’ve been waiting for on a pocketable camera, a usable high ISO setting. In this case, up to ISO1600. It bodes well that at 1600, the F10 has noise levels near that of most point and shoots at ISO400. And at ISO800, it’s pretty close to no comparison. Couple that with the ability to utilize all 6MP that the sensor provides (a new version of the Super CCD), it can produce shots with more image detail and measurable resolution than the 7MP Canon SD500.

Unfortunately, it has a sucky UI. And only a 3 frame continuous shot buffer.

Now I hope Canon can come back with something similar. Here’s my wishlist:

* High ISO, up to 1600 like the F10, with similar noise levels
* Better image quality, no softening at the edges
* at least 4x zoom
* an aperture priority mode (PLEASE!)
* maybe a RAW output mode?

Couple all those features w/ Canon’s tried and true UI and an SD300/400 form factor and you’ve got a winner.

Oh and please have better battery life too. The F10 can take around 500, compared to well under 200 for the SD’s.

Update:

I just found out the F10 doesn’t have a histogram. That’s a big bummer. You can read about the importance of histograms here. I think I’ll still go check the camera out but that’s a big feature to leave out.

Game 7. What a game. Record 40 pt margin. Team effort. I gained great respect for Van Gundy, McGrady. Still think Yao is/was overrated.

Looking forward to Phoenix. It’s gonna be interesting.