CircleCount helps you better understand Google+

2013-06-12 06:13:28 (5 comments, 0 reshares, 10 +1s)

We're proud to be alongside fellow +Duke University alumni when we live broadcast from the +DukeGEN Angel Pitch event at the Google San Francisco Offices.  Join us tomorrow, June 12th, at 7pm PST (10pm EST) for a special preview of what our public launch will include.  See you tomorrow evening!

2013-02-26 17:16:33 (14 comments, 17 reshares, 29 +1s)

If you don't control the program, the program controls you.
Help support a mass-algorate society, in which everyone knows how to code, by signing your name at code.org.

“In the emerging, highly programmed landscape ahead, you will either create the software or you will be the software. It’s really that simple: Program, or be programmed. Choose the former, and you gain access to the control panel of civilization. Choose the latter, and it could be the last real choice you get to make.”
                                                                — +Douglas Rushkoff 

I've talked about the mass-algorate societies in the past [1], but this new non-profit foundation dedicated to growing computer programming education really shines with the support of +Mark Zuckerberg, +will.i.am, and +Eric Schmidt.  Take a look at thevideo and lend a hand in this endeavor!... more »

2013-02-19 16:35:25 (7 comments, 15 reshares, 22 +1s)

On the Ongoing Attacks between China, U.S., Russia, Israel, etc.…
The latest round of evidence of ongoing digital warfare between the superpowers is now being reported in the N.Y. Times [1] after an undeniably incriminating 60-page report on the Chinese attacks on the U.S. by security firm Mandiant [2].

“Either they are coming from inside Unit 61398, or the people who run the most-controlled, most-monitored Internet networks in the world are clueless about thousands of people generating attacks from this one neighborhood.”
                                                    — Kevin Mandia

The report goes on to track individual participants in the attack, tracing them back to the headquarters of P.L.A. Unit 61398.

Attacks from the Chinese have been ongoing for many years, notably back to Operation Titan Rain [3] in 2003, inwhich attackers gained access to ... more »

2012-11-28 02:55:46 (6 comments, 2 reshares, 27 +1s)

Don't forget to stop and admire the sunset every now and again.

Last week, I got the opportunity to stay in a cabin on a remote island and go surf fishing with my father and uncle.  We left at 3AM (the morning after Thanksgiving) to make the 7AM ferry, and were fortunate enough to have only light wind and warm sun for our short visit.  I captured this awesome sunset after casting my line at the end of the first day.

Even as a boy, this yearly tradition was something I'd look forward to all year.  Unfortunately as my schedule became increasingly busy over the past decade, I wasn't able to join in on the often week-long excursion.  Now that I'm older and caught up in the #startuplife , I have a new appreciation for the rejuvenating nature of this magical place.

This same island almost claimed my life when I was younger, when the tidal  currents atthe s... more »

2012-11-08 23:56:11 (7 comments, 28 reshares, 60 +1s)

In speech recognition breakthrough, Microsoft converts spoken English into spoken Mandarin, using the same voice.

Jump to 7:11 in the video for the speech demo. Quote below from Rick Rashid, Microsoft’s Chief Research Officer:

“Just over two years ago, researchers at Microsoft Research and the University of Toronto made another breakthrough. By using a technique called Deep Neural Networks, which is patterned after human brain behavior, researchers were able to train more discriminative and better speech recognizers than previous methods.

[...] We have been able to reduce the word error rate for speech by over 30% compared to previous methods. This means that rather than having one word in 4 or 5 incorrect, now the error rate is one word in 7 or 8.”
Sour... more »

2012-11-08 00:09:39 (5 comments, 16 reshares, 38 +1s)

“The reasonable man adapts himself to the world: the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.”
                                                                — George Bernard Shaw
 

2012-10-29 22:46:51 (9 comments, 38 reshares, 37 +1s)

Hurricane Sandy: Resources, Guides, and Information

With #HurricaneSandy  already flooding streets [1] and causing damage [2] in #NYC  due to the effects of the combined hurricane, western stormfront, and full-moon tides [3], I wanted to take just a quick moment to collect some resources related to the storm.  I have quite a few friends directly in the path of the storm (ahem, +Sharon Strandskov!) and I want to urge everyone to stay safe. Make no illusion, this storm is serious business: take a look at the attached photo to see a comparison to Hurricane Irene.

As always, preparedness is key.  If you're in the path of the storm and haven't yet found your battery-powered radio, it's strongly recommend that you do so now while you have the light, as both your Internet and cell signals are likely to be interrupted.  If you haven't stocked up onwate... more »

2012-10-16 19:43:14 (17 comments, 22 reshares, 50 +1s)

October 16th is Ada Lovelace Day, in which we celebrate women's achievements in science, technology, engineering, and math.

Ada Lovelace is heralded as the first computer programmer, writing programs (calculating Bernoulli Numbers) for Charles Babbage's Analytical Engine as early as 1843 [1].  One of the most prominent mathematicians at the time, August de Morgan, had impressive things to say about her abilities, “which would require all the strength of a man's constitution to bear” [2], and Babbage himself highlighted her prowess over other contemporaries to Faraday, the legendary English scientist, in a succinct personal correspondence [3].  I've included a transcription of her work [4], showing just how thorough and detailed she was.

It's important to take a moment to note some of the other women who have made significant contributions to theadvance... more »

2012-10-08 20:45:42 (3 comments, 0 reshares, 6 +1s)

Wow, the 28th episode of my weekly show, thank you guys for being so supportive of my weekly on air G+ variety show +That Show with Billy Wilson (TSBW). The show brings together some of the most interesting people you can find on G+ for a hangout! This week I'll have joining me Entrepreneur, Entertainer, and Geek +Chris Pirillo; Creator of the Uglydoll Brand +David Horvath; +Liz Krane of LearningNerd.com; Strategist +Gareth Kay; Linux System Admin +Liz Quilty; Engineer +Eric Martindale; and Special Musical Guest +Meri Amber ! You can talk with us and other people watching the show by commenting on this event once the show is live!

The episode will be live on this event and the recording will be available immediately afterwards. You can watch previous episodes here: http://goo.gl/ceHtH

2012-09-11 17:09:24 (9 comments, 8 reshares, 16 +1s)

Prediction: Global Riots One Year Away?

In 2011, researchers at the Complex Systems Institute (CSI) released a paper [1] presenting a model for understanding (and ultimately predicting) the social unrest that rocked countries such as Tunisia, Libya, and Egypt [2].  Of the data analyzed, the principal factor influencing said unrest was determined to be the food price index.

That's a pretty simple concept.  If one of your most basic needs was threatened, what would you do?  To quote the MIT Technology Review's explanation of the paper [3], “This isn't rocket science. It stands to reason that people become desperate when food is unobtainable. It's often said that any society is three square meals from anarchy.”

These models have other complex implications around the world, such as in the financial markets.  Another paper from 2010, titled“Predict... more »

2012-09-11 15:21:32 (25 comments, 5 reshares, 15 +1s)

Google is coming to #Raleigh  next week to talk about Google+ for business.

Google employee +Devin Buell is putting on the show at the Marbles Kids Museum in downtown Raleigh.  Interesting tidbit:

“Local "power users" will also share how they've successfully used Google+ to achieve business goals. Whether you're a new or experienced Google+ user, this is a rare opportunity to meet, greet, and learn from Google and some of North Carolina's savviest social professionals.”

If you're in the area, it might be a great opportunity to see what Google+ is able to offer to #local  businesses and engage with the local Google+ community. :)

Thanks for the heads up, +Derrick Minor!

2012-09-08 21:19:45 (0 comments, 2 reshares, 21 +1s)

“Try something that scares the hell out of you. It just might turn into something wonderful.”

Musician +Steve Streza with an incredible story of virality surrounding his first attempt at something new.  Well worth the read.

2012-06-15 05:57:16 (69 comments, 208 reshares, 345 +1s)

In June of 1971, just days before his 26-year-old son, Michael, got married, future-U.S. President Ronald Reagan sent him the following letter of advice.

Michael Reagan
Manhattan Beach, California
June 1971

Dear Mike:

Enclosed is the item I mentioned (with which goes a torn up IOU). I could stop here but I won't.

You've heard all the jokes that have been rousted around by all the "unhappy marrieds" and cynics. Now, in case no one has suggested it, there is another viewpoint. You have entered into the most meaningful relationship there is in all human life. It can be whatever you decide to make it.

Some men feel their masculinity can only be proven if they play out in their own life all the locker-room stories, smugly confident that what a wife doesn't know won't hurt her. The truth is, somehow, way down inside,... more »

2012-06-13 21:48:10 (13 comments, 13 reshares, 42 +1s)

When you get sad, stop being sad and be awesome instead. #LifeProTips

2012-06-09 06:03:12 (60 comments, 21 reshares, 56 +1s)

I generally stray from #politics , but this warrants attention. The United States Cyber Command ( #USCYBERCOM ) is far more capable than they have [until recently] been letting on. Bush ordered these unprecedentedly sophisticated attacks on #Iran , and Obama has accelerated them. #Stuxnet  was a complete and utter masterpiece, and #Flame  follows closely in its footsteps.

The implications of these actions are worrying at best -- escalating a soft war to these measures is pushing the boundaries of the modern legal system and I'm surprised there hasn't been a more formal declaration in light of the official news that the USA and Israel were responsible for the direct attacks on Iran's infrastructure.

2012-06-08 23:05:09 (25 comments, 0 reshares, 11 +1s)

When did you create your first Google Account?
During a conversation at the +LocalSense office today, I happened to go back and look for the oldest email I'd received in my Gmail account and it got me thinking about just how much data I've given Google over the years.  It's incredible to think about a sense of scale now, especially considering that I have [as of this moment] 134,530 messages in Gmail alone -- that doesn't even consider all of Google's other services now tied to my Google Account.

You can quantify some portion of how much Google knows about you through the "Google Dashboard" [1].  Google also allows you to download [some] of your data with their data liberation tool [2].  I recommend doing this regularly, and making an effort to be aware of the amount, and value, of your data.

I received the first two emails in myGma... more »

2012-06-03 17:45:32 (8 comments, 0 reshares, 15 +1s)

If you're not dancing right now, you should be.  Who wants to dance with me?

Smile.  Everything is going to be just fine. :)

2012-05-21 23:03:25 (9 comments, 6 reshares, 15 +1s)

I'm competing in this event, and I need your vote! We're nearing the final 24 hours of this competition, and my startup has fallen into fifth place. Go here and vote for LocalSense : http://vator.tv/competition/vator-splash-la-june-2012?for=localsense&vote=1#participants

LocalSense™ was founded by myself, +Robert Rice, +Daniel Barbour, and +John Finocchiaro at the end of last year after seeing an enormous gap between how businesses and consumers use social media. We've spent the past six months building an incredibly powerful geo-aware platform to help bridge this gap and are extremely excited to get it into your hands. While we're in private alpha right now, but we're aiming to open a public beta by mid-June -- and winning this contest will help us get there.

Please vote for LocalSense, and if you want to be a really big help -- share itw... more »

2012-04-30 22:25:02 (22 comments, 0 reshares, 27 +1s)

While hiring the first five engineers here at +LocalSense, we've never looked at someone's résumé. Not even once. One of the greatest things about the business world today compared to a decade ago (or even a couple years back!) is that you can directly qualify someone's past work through, at least for software engineers, tools such as GitHub [1]. The best measure of a potential hire's impact is going to be direct observation of their past work, and not a page or two of biography on the individual and their credentials.

Now, this approach remains difficult for more traditional careers in fields like academia and publishing, which simply don't have the agility necessary for something like GitHub or Dribbble [2] to make the impact they have. They have an existing [rigid] infrastructure that places the barrier to entry of any disruptive technology prohibitively high. Them... more »

2012-04-25 14:44:50 (16 comments, 4 reshares, 11 +1s)

Here's a cool idea; a camera that produces descriptive text instead of an image.

The build is pretty sweet, and there's a novel approach to making this work. Check it out!

2012-04-25 01:18:43 (9 comments, 5 reshares, 18 +1s)

“You want to be in the tech game, because in time it will be the only game in town.” — +Justin Kan

This is a spectacular article written from the perspective of recognizing the fundamental paradigm shift that the Internet has introduced to humanity.

2012-04-24 21:00:21 (3 comments, 1 reshares, 8 +1s)

My father had me read Hemingway's "The Old Man and the Sea" when I was young, and it's stuck with me ever since. This animation brought chills to my spine as I watched it, unlocking various #memories from each of the times I'd read the book. Truly great things just never stop giving.

2012-04-24 01:44:20 (11 comments, 9 reshares, 23 +1s)

The company I've co-founded, LocalSense, needs your vote. We're trying to win a contest for entrepreneurs, which will help us take a leap ahead in closing our first round of funding and getting to market ahead of schedule.

As you may already know, I've been hard at work building an incredible new product that empowers consumers by rewarding them for helping their friends save money. I've got big plans for helping out my friends here on Google+, but we've got to get there first.

Please vote for LocalSense in the 2012 Vator Splash competition, and help me spread the word if you're so inclined. The software we're building keeps track of how content is shared across networks, so we might just have a special reward for you. :)

2012-04-12 01:45:06 (31 comments, 1 reshares, 16 +1s)

Ouch. If you open a cover photo and create a post from the "Share" action, it removes the photo from your "cover photos" album and puts it into "Photos from posts" (thus breaking your cover photo).

If you subsequently edit your cover photo again, browse to the old picture and select it, it deletes any post associated with that photo, including +1s, comments, and reshares.

Thank you, #newgoogleplus . Ugh, and to think I used to be such a fan.

2012-04-04 16:19:39 (9 comments, 11 reshares, 32 +1s)

Google[x] is making their augmented reality glasses project public, and it looks like it's going to connect via Bluetooth to your Android device. Awesome.

It looks like their marketing video is a remake of an older augmented reality concept video by artist +Keiichi Matsuda [1]. What are your thoughts on their (both Google's and Keiichi's!) vision for how these glasses will be used?

Aside: I can now safely laugh and say, "I told you so."

[1]: http://vimeo.com/8569187

2012-03-28 20:25:59 (479 comments, 3169 reshares, 2472 +1s)

I'll post the answer in the comments within a few days. Don't spoil it for everyone else!

2012-06-17 11:09:49 (55 comments, 1 reshares, 38 +1s)

SXG+: The Road Trip
I'm now home and settled in after a whirlwind trip to +SXSW with +Superdave Houdini, and getting back to work on +LocalSense. We drove over 2,000 miles in total to +HIRL with amazing Google+ community members like +Carter Gibson, +Amanda Blain, and +Moritz Tolxdorff. It's over for me now, but the afterglow of meeting even more amazing people than I did at the #DCHIRL will linger with me for a while yet, and the impressions they've made upon me will be permanent.

It started in Raleigh, NC where I departed at around 6:30 PM to meet +Superdave Houdini in Valdosta, GA at around 2 AM. One Georgian speeding ticket later, I was #scheming with my soon-to-be roatrip partner (who'd just arrived from Miami, FL!) and +Raleigh Burke in a Google Hangout for an hour or two before hitting the road again.

We stopped in Tallahassee, FL for some... more »

2012-02-26 01:36:24 (4 comments, 0 reshares, 8 +1s)

I'm in #Atlanta for the weekend, and happen to have a bit of free time tonight! Is anyone in the area interested in +HIRL ing?

The awesome Atlanta #photography I've attached was taken by Don Brown, using a graduated neutral density filter from room 5508 of the Peachtree Westin Hotel, where +Mary Bedard is attending the Emerging Researchers National Conference in #STEM [1]. You can get more details of the shot on his Flickr post! [2]

[1]: http://www.emerging-researchers.org/
[2]: http://www.flickr.com/photos/gettheflick/6796852379/

2012-02-20 17:53:14 (21 comments, 3 reshares, 15 +1s)

So, remember Jeb Corliss " Grinding The Crack" , [1] that kick-ass #wingsuit / #basejumping video with Jeb Corliss to the tune of "Sail", by AWOLNATION? [2]

Jeb was filming at Table Mountain in South Africa [3] when he clipped a ridge. See attached video.

Edit: Jeb explains what happened on Facebook [4], and I found some further footage [5].

#musicmonday is relevant, because that song is epic.

[1]: Jeb Corliss " Grinding The Crack"
[2]: AWOLNATION - Sail
[3]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Table_Mountain
[4]: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=336828709693422&id=171260932916868
[5]: http://www.liveleak.com/e/d89_1326749423

2012-02-18 19:10:27 (4 comments, 0 reshares, 7 +1s)

SXSW Hangout in Real Life countdown

The next big +HIRL is coming closer and more and more people are getting excited about that. +Superdave Houdini Meralus is working hard on the lists and is setting up some stuff for us all. Get ready for this big event this March

Austin SXSW PhotoWalk
About 300 people have RSVPed!
- Details and RSVP here: http://goo.gl/LkaKO (no invite? click goo.gl/RoxQg )

Hangout In Real Life - 3 Steps to get involved
☞ Sign up using the form [ http://goo.gl/TCI8Z ]
☞ View the applicants [ http://goo.gl/8UiW7 ]
☞ Sit and wait as we get the plans underway!

#SXSW #SXG + #HIRL

2012-02-17 20:53:19 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

2012-02-13 21:40:18 (14 comments, 15 reshares, 13 +1s)

The Google+ Community on Kiva is 26% of the way to its first goal!

We're trying to raise funding for 250 distinct loans by March 1st. Fellow community members +Carmelyne Thompson and +Lucas Johnson helped me put this together at the end of last year, thinking it'd be a great way to help change the world for the better in 2012. We've raised $1,900 for 69 different loans so far, and hope you can do something to pitch in (with as little as $25)!

How to help:
1.) Sign up for Kiva.org and join the Google+ Team: http://goo.gl/Eaesy
2.) Browse loans, pick one that interests you: http://www.kiva.org/lend

I'm confident that as much as Google+ has grown in recent months, we can blow this goal out of the water and effectuate great things for the world. Let's see how far we can take it. :)

#philanthropy #microfinance ... more »

2012-02-10 00:18:49 (8 comments, 12 reshares, 21 +1s)

Alright, so MIT has this #physics professor named Walter Lewin [1]. He teaches (among other things) Classical Mechanics (lectures, slides, and notes all available on OCW [2]) and he appears to be a chalkboard wizard. ♪♫

Observe the #chalkboard #dubstep .

Hat tip to +Jonathan Langdale for leading me to this. :)

[1]: http://web.mit.edu/physics/people/faculty/lewin_walter.html
[2]: http://www.archive.org/details/MITclassical_mech

2012-02-09 20:56:13 (5 comments, 14 reshares, 18 +1s)

This post just went up on GitHub's blog, showing some action-steps they're taking to help us move towards a mass-algorate society. They're hosting a CoderDojo class for kids aged 7 to 18 in the San Francisco area. How cool is that? #education

“Sit back, close your eyes, and think about how good you are at coding. Man, you're awesome. When did you learn how to be so awesome? Now just think how awesome you would be if you had learned how to code when you were seven years old.”

How can we engage our children in learning how to program?

I can't find the author (Cameron Mcefee) or GitHub on Google+, so I can't tag them. Sadface.

2012-02-09 17:45:04 (4 comments, 4 reshares, 7 +1s)

I am drooling over WolframAlpha Pro: http://www.wolframalpha.com/pro/ [actual announcement attached]

"Computational knowledge engine" WolframAlpha [1] just announced a new offering aiming at power users of their already amazing data science toolkit. I'm very impressed with the features they've chosen to add, including image processing and 3D plot export. Maybe I'm just being a huge nerd, but I think this'll be great for generating assets for presentations and demos. :)

I already use WolframAlpha for quickly plotting relationships in certain algorithms, or referencing certain datasets. It's great for checking on specs like display densities [2], calculating a transfer time (while automatically cross-referencing network specs!) [3] or even looking for obscure computing metrics [4]. It can help you calculate chemical reactions [5],... more »

2012-02-04 16:03:27 (34 comments, 64 reshares, 36 +1s)

“Programming is, without a doubt, the most mentally rewarding thing I've ever done.”
-- +Randall Degges

You should learn to write code. It is the new language of this information age, in which our systems of commerce become increasingly focused on trading information, buying and selling it with ease thanks to our burgeoning ability to transmit and receive this information.

As with all increases in the available bandwidth of communication throughout human history, it is a time for change and innovation. Just as with the telegraph and Gutenberg's printing press before it, we are undergoing a revolution in the way we live, the way we work, and the way we love. You have two options; become literate and help shape the world, or stand by and be content with letting others define it for you.

2012-02-01 15:38:34 (0 comments, 4 reshares, 8 +1s)

Here's some cool technical details on why your images can appear differently in different browsers or applications, despite using the same display hardware. Worth the read if you edit photographs!

As it turns out, various applications (and the libraries they use) handle four-channel images differently, some even choosing to discard some of your image data entirely. It looks like even between Photoshop CS4 and CS5, the methods used to handle these layers are different!

#phtotography #photoshop #design #media

2012-01-31 05:25:50 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 4 +1s)

2012-01-28 18:30:06 (5 comments, 2 reshares, 13 +1s)

So here's a pretty awesome use of CV (computer vision): count the number of dishes in the sink, and fire off an alarm when they need to be washed.

Now that's a practical application if I've ever seen one. ;)

#nerdery #computervision

2012-01-18 21:55:06 (0 comments, 4 reshares, 21 +1s)

“Overprotecting intellectual property is as harmful as underprotecting it. Culture is impossible without a rich public domain. Nothing today, likely nothing since we tamed fire, is genuinely new: Culture, like science and technology, grows by accretion, each new creator building on the works of those who came before. Overprotection stifles the very creative forces it's supposed to nurture.”

-- Alex Kozinski, Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit

2012-01-18 20:31:48 (10 comments, 18 reshares, 52 +1s)

███ ██ █ ████ everything ███ █████ is █████ ████ ████ fine ████ ███ █ ██████ trust █████ ██████ ███ your █████ ████ government.

2012-01-06 18:29:13 (8 comments, 7 reshares, 25 +1s)

How are you changing the world in 2012?

One of my goals for 2012 is to permanently commit more of myself to philanthropy. Late last year, +Carmelyne Thompson, +Lucas Johnson, and myself started a lending group for the Google+ Community using Kiva.org, a way of using microfinance to help eliminate poverty around the world by enabling you to provide very small loans ( $25 ) to projects of your choice. I strongly encourage everyone to join our group and make at least one loan!

What other things can you come up with to help people in need, worldwide?

2012-01-01 22:11:36 (10 comments, 0 reshares, 12 +1s)

+Daria Musk , we're all blaming you. Just so you know.

+Amanda Blain +Brandi Bull +Carter Gibson +Patrick Shampine +Rory Swan +Stephanie Van Pelt +Dave Meralus +anthony feliciano and +Tiffany Henry . All of us.

2011-12-30 18:33:14 (9 comments, 0 reshares, 9 +1s)

+Dave Meralus is this acceptable for #WhiteGirlFridays?

2011-12-19 01:53:32 (1 comments, 3 reshares, 18 +1s)

#QOTD:

“One of many signs that the USA is fading: Our Super-conducting Supercollider, which was cancelled by Congress in the early 1990s, would have been 3X the energy of the current Large Hadron Collider at CERN. Now our particle physicists stand on the Atlantic shores, look across the ocean, and long for the frontier that was once theirs.”
— Neil deGrasse Tyson

2011-12-09 15:57:58 (8 comments, 8 reshares, 17 +1s)

My list of entrepreneurial shortcomings includes Mirascape, which aspired to be a ubiquitous augmented reality (AR) operating system for the real world. The problems we were solving (and our packaged solution) would have been the backbone for all of the [imagined] technology you see in this Samsung promo video for a new tech they're excited about, transparent and flexible OLED displays. [1]

If you're not familiar with augmented reality; it is the visual overlay of otherwise hidden information on the real world, as you observe it.

While you can ogle over ostentatious technologies like the embedded-display contact lenses the University of Washington is so proud of [2], it's exciting to see companies like TDK [3] and Laster Technologies [4] bring these kinds of stepping stone technology to bear. We can all download and install the awkward and barely applicable... more »

2011-12-08 08:59:00 (13 comments, 9 reshares, 31 +1s)

A favorite quote of mine from my favorite physicist, Richard Feynman, on the importance of play. Dr. Feynman was a Nobel Prize-winning physicist who was notorious for being multi-faceted, in both his personal hobbies and his grasp of science. He worked on the Manhattan Project with Einstein, was part of the panel that investigated the Challenger Disaster, and his work plays a major role in the modern understanding of quantum computing.

“Then I had another thought: Physics disgusts me a little bit now, but I used to enjoy doing physics. Why did I enjoy it? I used to play with it. I used to do whatever I felt like doing - it didn’t have to do with whether it was important for the development of nuclear physics, but whether it was interesting and amusing for me to play with. When I was in high school, I’d see water running out of a faucet growing narrower, and wonder if I couldfigur... more »

2011-12-08 07:38:34 (16 comments, 2 reshares, 68 +1s)

My beautiful younger sister +Amanda Conrad just gave birth a few hours ago to William Finn Conrad, a healthy 8 pound and 1 oz baby boy. I'm an uncle, guys!

2011-12-01 23:34:02 (5 comments, 43 reshares, 25 +1s)

Want to schedule a Hangout to start at a specific time? Look no further.

ScheduleHangout.com will help you settle on a date and time with your selected parties, and do most of the heavy lifting for you. Personality still required, of course. :)