I flew down to Las Vegas to do some work that I'll talk about here later. But while I was in town, I took two days to document Media Day and Shot Show 2010 for a number of sources including Wired, The Firearm Blog and other resources. There was some interesting new technology including a new pistol from Armatix that uses RF signals to disable the sidearm if it is too far from the wristwatch the accompanies it. Also new ballistics computers that are mounted on rifles are discussed.

New JonesBlog update(s). Shot Show 2010 Media Day

Shot Show 2010. The Actual Shot Show

and a little after party. AAC Big Bang Party

I have this bottle of isopropyl alcohol sitting in front of me. $5 for about a liter. It tempts me.

I went on the net to find its toxicity data. And... ...God the misconceptions.

1) Isopropanol is not wood alcohol. Methanol is. This is an entirely different substance.
2) Isopropanol doesn't kill in 15g dose. First symptoms of intoxication may appear then.
3) Ethanol is not the only alcohol we can metabolize. We can perfectly well metabolize Glycerin and it is pretty much neutral, goes without effects - it is used as sweetener for high-quality vodkas instead of sugar.
4) Isopropanol produces acetone in your liver. OMG THIS WILL KILL YOU! So does Ethanol.

It seems it is slightly stronger than ethanol but pretty much the same in effects. What I am afraid is that it might be denaturated and contain 3rd party poison additives. *shrug* gonna try some some day maybe...

I've lurked at /. without posting for ages, mostly because I just don't have the time to interact like I used to.

But I've been clicking through the old RSS feed more and more lately, and when I saw the PAX Plague thread today, I came over to comment, since I'm kind of affected by the whole damn thing. I thought I'd take a look around since I haven't been here in awhile, and I saw that there are freaking ACHIEVEMENTS associated with our accounts. It's silly, and I'm sure it's been here forever, but I thought it was awesome and I was delighted when I read it.

I didn't realize how much I missed Slashdot until I spent some time here today, and I bet that anyone who joined in the last 2 years doesn't even give a shit about my stupid comments or anything, but it felt good to come back here, and feel safely among my people again.

New JonesBlog update. Bionic implants

The device seen in these images is called the Utah Electrode Array (WARNING: potentially graphic image after the jump of an implant in a human brain). The Utah Electrode Array is a brain implant technology developed here at the University of Utah by Richard Normann. The purpose of this device, built by currently built for us by Blackrock Microsystems is to transduce signals from external devices to deliver to the brain for interpretation. Alternatively, the device can record impulses generated in the brain for delivery of neural signals to external devices. Our potential interests in this approach are manifold, but real use and implementation of these devices is some years away still.

New JonesBlog update. Bonneville Speed Week 2009

New JonesBlog update. Its spelt F-L-Y

New JonesBlog update. USS Toledo SSN-769

If you've known /. for a while, you've certainly noticed all the recent changes. The front page articles auto-load-extend (presumably through AJAX code), the link to get to your own page has moved twice, and now there are two (that both look alike - your username - but work differently), and checking if anyone has replied to your comments has been a two-click journey instead of the old one-click for a while now.

Then there's the annoying inline popup (so it's not caught by popup blockers) that tells you that "Firehose is paused due to inactivity". Whatever that means, it doesn't seem nearly important enough to interrupt my reading.

Quite frankly, from a user interface design standpoint, the "new" slashdot sucks. Badly. Maybe I'll try disabling all javascript for slashdot.org and check if that improves the experience.

New JonesBlog update. A Computational Framework for Ultrastructural Mapping of Neural Circuitry

We have just published a manuscript in PLoS Biology where we describe how to build a complete and accurate neural network. This of course is one of the long standing holy grails in neuroscience. So, this effort meets two goals: 1) It meets the goals of building a complete neural connectome (we'll be finished collecting all of the data with cell identity, physiologic response and all synaptic connectivity in approximately six days) and 2) It defines a workflow whereby investigators from around the planet can download and use the tools we are providing to build their own connectome projects using existing infrastructure. We are making those tools available here to enable other groups to assemble, browse and annotate the terabyte sized datasets required of connectome level projects.

New JonesBlog update. Desire...

New JonesBlog update. Urban Deer

New JonesBlog update. Photowalking Utah Hill AFB Museum

New JonesBlog update. Happy Holidays 2008

New JonesBlog update. Full Moon

New JonesBlog entry on a visit to the Korean DMZ here.

This is a glimpse at an environment that hopefully will be rapidly changing, but with North Korea going through a spasm of Communist retrenching and the uncertainty of Kim Jong Il's health (or even if he is still alive), things in the DMZ appear to be just as tense as they have been for years.