well, if it's not one thing it's another. harper, our loveable, if not just a weee bit high-strung, german short-haired pointer has epilepsy. he's had at least three grand mal seizures in the past 24 hours and hindsight leads us to believe that he's has a few more during the previous week. we went to the vet this morning and he said, unfortunately, that there's not much we can do in the short-term other than keep a detailed diary of the incidents. he had blood taken and will get a panel to rule out any severe metabolic disorders, but in all other respects he appears to be a happy, healthy and vigorous 2 year-old pointer, so i doubt it will point to anything obvious. it's impossible to determine how frequent the seizures will be in the future. some dogs have clusters of seizures over a few days and won't have another one for years. other dogs could have them every day. at this point it's watch and wait. if they are frequent, we'll have to consider medication.
mauja really doesn't know what to make of the situation. he wants out of the house - fast - during the seizures, but doesn't seem overly threatened or aggressive with the situation. the dogs are best friends and i'd be surprised if either would get aggressive, but you never know. the vet said that some dogs will get aggressive in the post-seizure phase, but harper hasn't shown any signs of abnormal behavior in that respect.
given the fact that we've already had to deal with a severe case of early onset hip dysplasia with our malmute, mauja, you have to wonder how we got such bad canine mojo. harper came from a reputable, local breeder and we go to the same vet. we called the breeder this morning and there haven't been any other epileptics from the litter.
i haven't witnessed an actual seizure yet. and i'm not looking forward to it. kris witnessed one this morning and was disturbed to say the least.
cam posted some great information on personal knowledge management which i'm going to pitch into my personal knowledge manager.
Personal Knowledge Management : Who, What, Why, When, Where, How?
posted by e3
7:20:31 PM
Personal Knowledge Management : Who, What, Why, When, Where, How?
"Our students, who will spend most of their working lives in the 21st century, will need to see the computer and related technologies as an extension of themselves, as a tool as important as the pencil or quill pen was for the last several hundred years. Fifteen years ago, few people knew what a personal computer was. Now personal computers are ubiquitous. With the proliferation of personal computers and linked computer networks, there has been an increase in the amount of information produced, as well as new avenues of finding the information. Personal Knowledge Management (PKM) attempts to utilize the computer to help the individual manage the information explosion in a meaningful way."What is PKM?
"Personal Knowledge Management should be viewed as a set a problem-solving skills that have both a logical or conceptual as well as physical or hands-on component. These are skills that will be required for successful knowledge work in the twenty-first century. These skills should be interwoven into programs of university general education and into academic major programs; both general purpose (such as MS Office) and more specialized (such as disciplinary) tools can facilitate the practice of Personal Knowledge Management. Teaching PKM entails teaching both intelligent practices that guide the use of tools as well as intelligent and efficient use of the tools themselves.What is MindModel?
The seven PKM skills are: (1) retrieving information; (2) evaluating/assessing information; (3) organizing information; (4) analyzing information; (5) presenting information; (6) securing information; and (7) collaborating around information."
"MindModel is PC software that lets you collect and view any information in new and powerful ways.PERSONAL KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT
Not only can you see the facts, you can also discover relationships among them.
Friends, co-workers, skills, likes and dislikes, work history, sports, activities, web sites...
MindModel brings it all together."
"The personal knowledge management process must be seen as part and parcel of the research process, for example academic research (for an example see the "Research Methods Knowledge Base ") or intelligence research. Information in all of its formats (data, facts, information, knowledge etc) can be seen as both the raw material and main product of research."
you smell that? that's the smell of a growing web services backlash:
posted by e3
10:20:55 PM
"A new magazine practically jumped out at me the other day when I went into a Borders bookstore: Web Services Journal. Since when do Web services rate their own magazine? I thought they were still just a dream being chased by software vendors."
Taxonomy Software to the Rescue:
posted by e3
9:19:29 PM
"Frappino observes, "While not usually thought of as a 'search' tool, categorization practice and technology is the foundation for an effective information retrieval experience in a data-rich environment, [the] basis for transforming searching into finding because it helps users navigate within collections of documents that are related through hierarchical categories to the specific destination they seek. Once located, users must understand how the information is differentiated and contextualized -- they must find what they need.""
dean lets loose some good-old-fashioned criticism:
posted by e3
9:03:49 PM
"I swear to god if I see one more self-styled bolshevik of the user experience whose grasp of the arrangement of matter in space, of elegance, structure, the curiosity of the eye, focused meaning in wide context, narrative, vital writing, potent imagery, the vast expanse of quietude, the rush of chaos, all that is brought about through compression, speed, clarity, neurosis, grace and the sounds humans make in and out of love is clouded, so clouded; if I see one more would-be guru..."
The
Value-Complexity Matrix:
posted by e3
7:13:46 PM
"I like to think of projects as a journey from the abstract to the concrete. Here's a simple path: Do business strategy / user research | Make a list of features | Create features | Code features. Somewhere in that 'list of features' step is a big transition from mushy research to getting down to work. Once I know what the features are, the list is prioritized. The feature prioritization is based on the user research and the business strategy, along with the initial technology estimates. I like doing this prioritization exercise in person with all the stakeholders so all viewpoints can be factored in. It's a seminal meeting and the results guide the rest of the project."[ via noisebetweenthestations ]
from the unsolicited-plug-of-the-day-dept. it's nice to see that kumo is back from a break. i began to fear that i was going to lose one of my favorite sources of information.
posted by e3
10:14:30 PM
nice. a.l.i.c.e won the loebner prize for the second year in a row:
posted by e3
11:31:34 AM
"In another unusual aspect of the contest, Hugh Loebner himself served as one of the judges. The programs and confederates were ranked on a scale of 0-25. Each judge could assign five points to each person or robot. One judge, in fact, ranked A.L.I.C.E. higher than one of the humans."there's lots to like with a.l.i.c.e, including aiml and its utility in voice and chat interfaces.
just in time for summer - look snazzy and support the site at the same time by buying some snowdeal schwag!
“The stranger has been a fundamental touchstone of cultures at least since Abraham and Sarah invited weary road travelers into their tent only to find out that they were angels in disguise. The Odyssey, too, is a meditation on strangers and hospitality: Odysseus experiences different ways of being a stranger on his way home while the suitors abuse every rule of hospitality in his own house. It's easy to see why strangers are so important: a culture's attitude towards them expresses its understanding of its position in the world of social groups. In our culture, we're suspicious of strangers. They're a threat. They lurk in shadows. On the Web, however, strangers are the source of everything worthwhile. Strangers and their utterances are the stuff of the Web.”
the hyperlinked metaphysics of the web
ev / cam / rc3 / dave / dangerousmeta / boing boing / keeptrying / textism / anil / sylloge / caterina / haughey / genehack / megnut / kottke / kalsey / splorp / john robb / paracelsus / nick denton / eatonweb / /usr/bin/girl / commonme / torrez / overstated / C:\PIRILLO.EXE / gulker / mcgee / delacour / webcrumbs / dane carlson / soapbox / vielmetti /
doc / satn / joho / egr / rushkoff / scoble / kevin werbach / amy wohl / tim o'reilly / dan bricklin /
langreiter / glish / morelikethis / hack the planet / raelity bytes / aaronland / burningbird / decafbad / tesugen / netcrucible / skippingdotnet / aaron swartz / flangy / salad with steve / w3future / jy / a frog in the valley / kumo / diveintomark / voidstar / too much news / dan sheridan / lawrence's notebook / joel / scott andrew / brent ashley / eric freeman / dithered / youngpup / loudthinking / jon udell / ringnalda /
shifted librarian / libtech / handheldlib / jessamyn / researchbuzz /
802.11b / sifry / reiter / mostly harmless / dailywireless / 802.11 planet /
qmacro / stpeter / dizzyd / durand /
blogzilla / mike's blog / mpt / hyatt / asa / blake ross / chris nelson /
simon fell / sam ruby /
webvoice / saltire / websense / bblog / poelog / bizquick /
forwarding address:osx /
bekkers / burkhardt / pope / hugh /
zeldman / rosenfeld / peterme / xblog / soapbox / design weenie / antenna / blackbeltjones / cognitive architects / arts and farces / noisebetweenstations / eleganthack / brad lauster / brushstroke / webword / signals vs. noise / uxblog / iaslash / nooface / lucdesk /
dan gillmor / glennf / onlinejournalism / deborah branscum / jd lasica / paul andrews / ken layne / talking points /
metafilter / metatalk / alterslash / spinsanity / adequacy / plastic /
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