Archive for November, 2007
Feeling Chatty
November 30th, 2007Everyone knows people speak differently in online chat than they do in person, or even in emails. (Except for those people who say stuff like “LOL” in person. I’m afraid there’s no hope for y’all.) The question is, how much do we speak differently in chat?
A quick Google search of mine didn’t turn up much. I mostly found stuff about what chat acronyms mean and search engine optimization and the like. (Try getting anything meaningful out of a search for “ROFL”. Go ahead, I dare you.) I did have another source of data …
Happy Thanksgiving
November 22nd, 2007Well. since today’s post falls directly on Thanksgiving and things have been really crazy this week (getting tubes shoved up my nose and a transmitter implanted in my esophagus is no fun), The Data Mine Shaft will be on hiatus this week. Instead, check out this great BLS spolight on statistics, with a Thanksgiving theme. Happy Thanksgiving everybody and see you next week!
Three Face Reading Tips
November 15th, 2007(This post is part 2 in my series about the Facial Action Coding System (FACS), a system for classifying facial movements. Here is part 1, for those who missed it.)
Quick overview: FACS is a system developed by psychologists Paul Ekman and Wally Friesen, using the notion of individual Action Units (AUs) to identify and classify someone’s facial motions. The technique can be applied to both film and photographs, though photographs are usually much easier to code, for obvious reasons. People training in FACS use both media in training, as well as trying to make all the AUs …
A Dvorak Diversion
November 8th, 2007I’ve been using computers ever since I was a little kid. But it wasn’t until about a decade ago that I learned to “touch-type”, or type without looking at the keys; I’ve probably “point and pecked” longer than most chickens. Learning to touch-type was no mean feat, but it only took me a month or so of practice to churn out a brisk 70 words per minute. Not too shabby.
With an increase in typing skill, however, came an increase in typing. When I was a senior in college (years after I’d learned to touch-type) the flurry …
Fasten Your Seat Belts
November 2nd, 2007Today’s post is about the humble paper clip. (Hey, I can’t write about weighty topics every week, right?) Sure, it’s a great fastener, but the Wikipedia link talks about using paper clips in many diverse applications, from outward signs of government solidarity to lock picks. I have my own unconventional use for them: as a bookmark. (Sorry guys, I’m not McGuyver here.)
My problem is that when I handle or lend books to others, the normal bookmarks I put in the book inevitably fall out, a problem which paper clips fortunately don’t have. Though I’m surely …