Author Archives: sbrandt

Armadillocon

I recently attended Armadillocon in Auston TX. This CON was focused on the literary aspects of sci-fi and fantasy, so there were very few people who attended in costumes. I met a number of authors: Julie Kenner (demon hunter soccer-mom … Continue reading

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BabelCon 2007

We just finished visiting the local Fantasy/Sci-Fi convention BabelCon. The things I had most fun with were: The talk by Randal Scott from The Duelists. He discussed medieval weapons and fighting, the errors you commonly see in movies, and the … Continue reading

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HPC Boot Camp

Recently I was involved in an effort, sponsored by CCT at LSU to teach high school kids about supercomputing. Five local high schools were involved, each of which sent a teacher and about four specially picked students. Each school’s team … Continue reading

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Returning to Earth After the Rapture

Many popular books, movies and websites have told us, based on 1 Thess 4:16-17: 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 (King James Version) King James Version (KJV) Public Domain [A Public Domain Bible] [KJV at Zondervan] [Zondervan] 16 For the Lord himself shall … Continue reading

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Thursday Thirteen: Wonders from the Past

My previous Thursday 13 was a list of technology predictions. I thought I’d follow up by a collection of 13 fairly unrelated ancient things that I found interesting/amusing. I give you my list of “wonders from the past”….. Lost DaVinci … Continue reading

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Functional Programming

Many people bemoan the difficulties of programming in the multi-core era. What many programmers do not realize is that a way out of deadlock/race condition hell is known — it’s name is “Functional Programming.” This term should not be contrasted … Continue reading

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Thursday Thirteen: Tech predictions for 2040 AD

We are heading for a brave new tech world. Most of these predictions are things that could probably happen in ten years, but I’m giving them a little extra room to be on the safe side. Some of these predictions … Continue reading

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‘Junior’ the Self-Driving Car

Stanford’s entry into the Darpa Urban Challenge is a car named “Junior”. It is capable of reading road signs, reflective markers on the road, and avoiding other cars. This suggests to me that we are on-track for self-driving cars in … Continue reading

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Thursday Thirteen: Forgotten Superheroes

My adopted son is black, and is five years old. He is currently interested in superheroes. Recently he picked up a book in the bookstore with a picture of Superman, Batman, and Spiderman on the cover. He said, “They’re all … Continue reading

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Thursday Thirteen: The Amazing Cathouse

My sister and brother-in-law have two indoor cats who love a chance to escape and get outside. To give them a taste of this freedom, my brother-in-law built an elaborate system of tunnels and rooms from chicken wire outside their … Continue reading

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