Jerry Macala | Consulting Chemist

THE MANAGER OF THE SOUTH POLE

Posted Sun, 04/25/2010 - 12:39 by admin

I was interviewed by Dick Gordon of American Public Media's "The Story" about my year managing the South Pole Station and the efforts to "Save The Dome". Follow the link below for the complete podcast of the show, which starts with about 15 minutes of a story about the earthquake in Haiti before heading South to the Land of Ice and Snow.

Jerry Macala

"No sunsets or sun rises. Twenty below zero is the average summer temp. No leaving in the winter, unless it’s an emergency. That’s all in a day’s work for the employees in Antarctica. Jerry Macala did a stint at the South Pole from 2001 to 2002. He says his time there was life changing. Now, he’s trying to save a piece of South Pole history: he’s trying to salvage a giant dome that’s being decommissioned. Dick talks with Jerry about what it’s like to work in Antarctica."

from: http://thestory.org/archive/the_story_949_Haiti.mp3/view
podcast: http://thestory.org/archive/the_story_949_Haiti.mp3

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New! MakerBot Cyclops 3D Scanner Kit! - MakerBot Industries

Posted Sun, 10/24/2010 - 14:10 by admin

New! MakerBot Cyclops 3D Scanner Kit!
Sep 14, 2010

Cyclops_800

Introducing The MakerBot Cyclops 3D Scanner! The MakerBot Cyclops 3D Scanner is a cheap, structured light scanner to turn real things into digital designs. It%u2019s a 3D scanner!

Created by our summer engineer Taylor Goodman, the MakerBot Cyclops 3D Scanner builds on the 3D scanning technology created by Kyle McDonald.

It%u2019s a cute little scanner kit with lots of depth- just assemble the laser cut parts we supply, and add your Optoma EP-PK-101 PICO Projector, your PlayStation Eye or a Microsoft LifeCam, and an iPod touch or iPhone, (or alternate VGA video source) and you%u2019ve got a small format, low cost 3D Scanner!

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Wines and Times - US Winery hours, special events, maps and directions - Winery Mashup

Posted Sun, 10/24/2010 - 14:02 by admin

See, sleep and grub

Many Google Maps mashups are geared towards sightseers, and let you know what to see, where to stay and what to eat.

In a sign of the power of Google Maps mashups, the government of New York City has embraced them on its nycgo.com Web site. In a guest entry on Google's official blog last year, Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced this Big Apple navigation guide for looking up entertainment, restaurants and hotels.

Some cool examples out there include the Wines and Times mashup lets people plan their own winery tours throughout the U.S., with over 3,200 vineyards and wineries clickable on the map.

Another neat one is Gruvr, a mashup lets music fans type in a band name and see where on the map upcoming shows will be.

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Matt Taibbi on the Tea Party | Rolling Stone Politics

Posted Sun, 10/24/2010 - 12:11 by admin

This is an article from the October 15, 2010 issue of Rolling Stone.

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Is Stuxnet the 'best' malware ever?

Posted Mon, 10/04/2010 - 03:06 by admin

Is Stuxnet the 'best' malware ever?
'Groundbreaking' worm points to a state-backed effort, say experts
Gregg Keizer

September 16, 2010 (Computerworld)

The Stuxnet worm is a "groundbreaking" piece of malware so devious in its use of unpatched vulnerabilities, so sophisticated in its multipronged approach, that the security researchers who tore it apart believe it may be the work of state-backed professionals.

"It's amazing, really, the resources that went into this worm," said Liam O Murchu, manager of operations with Symantec's security response team.

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Independence Days past - Los Angeles Times

Posted Mon, 07/12/2010 - 20:18 by admin

The Los Angeles Times has been publishing tributes to Independence Day on its editorial pages for more than 120 years. Mostly these have taken the form of paeans to the founding fathers or the Declaration of Independence, but in some years editorialists past strayed to other topics, such as fireworks, war weariness and, in at least one instance, a public appeal: On July 4, 1943, The Times urged Angelenos to buy war bonds to fund a warship named after the city. The cruiser Los Angeles was in fact commissioned two years later, though that was too late for service in World War II; it did see significant action in the Korean War.

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Santa Ynez Valley Journal | ESPRESSO MAKER LOSES NO STEAM DURING MOVE

Posted Thu, 05/27/2010 - 21:57 by admin

After setting up shop in the Valley more than a decade ago, espresso machine maker Salvatore Cisaria is still moving full steam ahead. The last couple weeks have been exhausting for this master craftsman, who has just moved his business to 1210 Mission Drive. But watching Salvatore ply his trade in the main workshop of his new location, you wouldn’t know it.

Midway through building a new machine, he extends his hand and flashes an affable smile. Draped in a black apron and centering his glasses on his nose, he points out the unit’s steel frame, which will eventually be finished with copper and brass.

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Face to Facebook with the past - Los Angeles Times

Posted Thu, 05/27/2010 - 21:46 by admin

For those who write memoirs, memory is not a mere recollection of facts; it is a ragbag we pick through, salvaging scraps to craft into literature. We take half-remembered events and stitch them together to form a larger story that will, we hope, resonate with others and help them make sense of their own scraps.

At least that's what we used to do. Today, technology is wreaking havoc on the stories we are trying to tell.

I started writing "Unsupervised," a memoir of my high school years, three years ago. In it, I intended to tell my version of a story that involves a number of people I had long ago lost touch with.

Then I joined Facebook.

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Critics target recipients of six-figure public pensions - Los Angeles Times

Posted Thu, 05/27/2010 - 21:24 by admin

Some Californians, angry that taxes have just gone up, IOUs are being issued and the state may be on its way over a cliff, find few things more infuriating than a big benefits package enjoyed by a government worker.

So some of the 5,100 state and local government retirees who draw more than $100,000 annually are trying to lie low, preferring that the details of their receipts be kept private. And they have asked the courts for help.

They have been prodded by the labors of an advocacy group that has made it a mission to inform the public of every dollar the retirees are paid. The organization, the California Foundation for Fiscal Responsibility, has an online database that includes the name and annual payout of every retiree in the six-figure club.

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Professor's comparison of Israelis to Nazis stirs furor - Los Angeles Times

Posted Thu, 05/27/2010 - 21:15 by admin

Controversy has erupted at UC Santa Barbara over a professor's decision to send his students an e-mail in which he compared graphic images of Jews in the Holocaust to pictures of Palestinians caught up in Israel's recent Gaza offensive.

The e-mail by tenured sociology professor William I. Robinson has triggered a campus investigation and drawn accusations of anti-Semitism from two national Jewish groups, even as many students and faculty members have voiced support for him.

The uproar began in January when Robinson sent his message -- titled "parallel images of Nazis and Israelis" -- to the 80 students in his sociology of globalization class.

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