Fun writing Knowledge Base articles (KB261186):

Computer Randomly Plays Classical Music

I had always thought it would be exciting to be in an earthquake, but I was just in my first earthquake (ever) and it wasn’t that fun. Put me in the “sissies” column:

• 5.6 Bay Area Earthquake Near San Jose Scares Sissies, Speeds Up Slow News Day
• Whew, That Was Fun
• 5.6 quake in San Jose rattles Bay Area

We were watching TV when Patrika suddenly just froze, and assumed an attitude like she always does when she’s unsure whether or not the phone or her pager or my cellphone is ringing. I paused the TV, then the house started shaking. It felt like a heavy truck or the subway was going by, except many times worse. The normal vibration one experiences from heavy traffic was made worse by the sensation of the floor moving back and forth sideways. Things on our shelves were rattling, although nothing fell off (this distinction is actually requested on various online earthquake reporting forms, so I guess things could have been much worse).

The whole thing lasted a very long 5 seconds, during which we were unsure whether to leave the house, or do nothing. And now I realize I don’t know what one is supposed to do in an earthquake. Do we stay inside under doorframes and such (and risk getting crushed by my refrigerator), or do we run outside screaming to escape the refrigerator, only to be electrocuted by falling power lines, or swallowed by holes opening up to the depths of hell?

As far as my first ‘quake goes, I had always thought that quakes were a San Francisco thing, with the ‘burbs of San Jose being relatively safe.

The Google-ification continues.

What was once known as the “Links” category will most likely become defunct, in favor of my Google Reader Shared Items list (see right; its feed is here). Clicking the “share” button from the Reader is just too simple (for me), and besides, who has time these days to blog about a simple link?

The latest shared item links to a pretty cool demo video about the Jawbone Bluetooth headset.

My friend gets engaged, and now the wedding jokes start coming out of my webcomics woodwork:

This is a timely article, because I just started reading Robert Heinlein’s Starship Troopers (yes, the book that inspired the movies).

• Citizenship classes try out newer, harder test
• Current test questions
• Pilot test questions

I first read about Desktop Tower Defense on TechCrunch and have resisted checking it out … until now.

I think the best way to describe the game is as a sort of “reverse-Lemmings” game. Instead of helping an army of assorted lemmings overcome obstacles to reach the other side of the maze, you set up a maze and weapons to stop an army of “creeps” from reaching the other side of the maze. The appeal is the same – you get to “program” the weapons and obstacles in a certain way to stop the creeps.

In the New York Times:

Roland G. Fryer, a 30-year-old Harvard economist known for his study of racial inequality in schools, is back in New York to again promote a big idea: Pay students cash for high scores on standardized tests and their performance might improve. And he has captured the attention of Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein and Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg.

Across the country, educators have been experimenting with cash incentives. A program in Chelsea, Mass., gave children $25 for perfect attendance. Some Dallas schools pay children $2 for each book they read.

Little kids with glasses currently targeted for their lunch money can now wear another, bigger, bulls-eye target for their test-score money.

The original article (by way of Freakonomics):

Finger Length Predicts SAT Performance

The cliff notes:

• In utero testosterone promotes development of the areas of the brain responsible for spatial and mathematical skills. It also makes your ringer finger longer than your index finger.
• In utero estrogen does the same for verbal skills, and makes your index finger longer than your ring finger.

Thus, the ratio of ring-finger-length to index-finger-length is supposed to be a predictor of the relative math/verbal SAT scores.

Even if you are home schooled, it may be a good idea to take the SATs when you begin applying to colleges. To find some other standardized tests you may consider taking you should read some free home school resources. One of the cons of homeschooling is that potential colleges don’t have as many records about a students performance as a public school will have.