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Submission + - Linux-Powered Christmas Display Puts Rudolph to Sh (komar.org)

Submitted by
xmas2003
xmas2003 writes: "Over at Linux.com, Zonker writes about Alek's Controllable Christmas Lights for Celiac Disease. This annual Internet tradition uses a hi/low-tech combo of LAMP'ed Redhat Web Servers, a 7+ year old Thinkpad running Unbuntu for the X10 control, and an old-school webpage design that could be politely described as Web 0.0 — wait until you see the animated cursor — D'OH! The site is free (and totally fun) as it also raises awareness and donations for Celiac Disease — over $70,000 to the University of Maryland.

Nifty pictures of the crazy christmas display can be seen on the Christmas Blog (notice Clifford Stoll's "The Cuckoo's Egg" in post #220) plus watch videos of it in action with comedic history. Nothing quite says Christmas like a giant HULK inflatable wearing a Santa Hat ... along with three wise men of Elmo, SpongeBob, and Homer Simpson — D'OH! The Slashdot Effect of turning 21,000 Christmas lights ON & OFF this evening should provide quite a Christmas Eve show to Alek's neighbors ... and also the International Space Station."

Comment Re:Optical illusion (Score 1) 2

by xmas2003 (#37571512) Attached to: Able to see Ultraviolet Light after Cataract Surge
First, congrats on your success with your Cataract Surgery - the Crystalens IOL is designed more for distance/intermediate with most people needing readers for close-up since it's rare that people get the type of accommodation you are seeing. Near vision is often expressed via the Jaeger scale, so if you are seeing J1 (especially in normal reading light), that's very, very impressive.

I'm pretty sure I'm seeing in the UV ... even comparing to young kids (who's lens haven't yellowed too much to filter UV), I see a dramatically different view of that Black light ... and it's a GE Flourescent Bulb with peak emission at 368nm - so I believe there isn't much output in the visible spectrum. An Eye Surgeon reported that 3% of his patients had a blue/purple color change ... and I bet if he tested 'em for UV sensitivity, that would account for it.

Submission + - Able to see Ultraviolet Light after Cataract Surge (komar.org) 2

Submitted by
xmas2003
xmas2003 writes: "I recently had Cataract Surgery with a Crystalens implant. With my cloudy yellowing (UV-filtering) natural lens removed, I see the world in a new light (more on that in a moment) as everything is brighter and colors are more vivid ... plus in focus. As a typical /. reader, I've been myopic since childhood, so it's wonderful not to have to wear glasses/contacts for distance.

One interesting oddity is that I can now see Ultraviolet light — it seems that there are a few people who have photoreceptors sensitive below 400nm into the UV spectrum. I've done some testing with a Black Light and UV filter to confirm this but would love to do more conclusive testing such as using a Monochromator — anyone in the Boulder, Colorado area have access to one? And any suggestions from /. readers on how I can further explore this phenomena?

So while "I can't see dead people", I guess I have a "superpower" ... although I'm not sure a middle-aged suburbanite Dad should don purple tights and cape to become a crime-fighter! ;-)"
User Journal

Journal Journal: Interesting people on Youtube

Journal by GargamelSpaceman

Chris Hedges & George Carlin ( listen to George talk about 'The owners of America' then Chris Hedges. Chris Hedges also has some interesting things to say about Christian Reconstructionists and Dominionists etc )
Michael Scheuer ( I haven't heard him say anything I disagree with yet ) Ex CIA talks about Arab Spring. Why the hell are we in Lybia, are we STOOPID???

Submission + - Cataract Surgery: Research & Firsthand Experie (komar.org)

Submitted by xmas2003
xmas2003 writes: As a long-time reader of News for Nerds, I fit the "profile" in a number of ways — including being myopic since childhood ... but fortunately for me, this was correctable with glasses or contacts. Around age 40, it started becoming more difficult to do close-up tasks (such as using vi to edit Perl code ;-) as Presbyopia showed up right "on time" — I'm sure many older /. readers can relate.

But at age 46, a cataract started to obscure my vision which was no longer correctable — bummer to have this happen a few decades early. After extensive research on the various options (mono focal, multi-focal, accommodating, etc.), I opted for Cataract Surgery with a Crystalens implant.

Millions of Cataract Surgeries are done annually, so I figured my (overly analytical) writeup plus visual examples might be of interest to some /. readers who may (or will) be dealing with the same issue. Plus I'm sure many have gone through this process and can chime in with their experience/recommendations.

I had the first eye done last Monday and have been updating the web page — so far, so good. The eye doctor will "poke a hole" in my second eye this Monday — wish me luck! ;-)
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Submission + - Nobody pushing the Google +1 Button?

Submitted by xmas2003
xmas2003 writes: A few months ago, Google announced their +1 button which was their response to the Facebook Like button, Twitter Tweet button, Stumble Badge and other misc. social networking tools.

I have some nifty pictures of baby hummingbirds that seem popular since several hundred people look at it every day. So a little while ago, I added the Google +1 button in-line with the buttons from Facebook (2,452 likes), Stumble (35,000 views), and Twitter (147 tweets) ... and so far, the big "G's" button has been pushed ZERO times.

Are web surfers just not used to seeing the latest web button, or is this a sign that Google is a little late to the social networking craze?

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