Pantelis Elinas, PhD » Pantelis

Gmail Motion has arrived

Pantelis — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 06:58:12 +0000

Another revolutionary product from Google has been released. Gmail Motion allows users to interact with their email client using body language. Who would have thought! I’ve been testing it myself and so far it is flawless and I love it!

Below is the official video explaining how this works. You can learn more from Google here.

PS:

Get off Facebook video

Pantelis — Sat, 08 Jan 2011 04:23:35 +0000

It is another new year (happy new year everybody!) and most people have already made many new year resolutions. Watching the news the last couple of weeks, most people in the new year hope to lose weight, get a better job, or just make more money. On the other hand, Ross Gardiner is encouraging people to get off Facebook as he has done for the last 5 months.

I never had a Facebook account and I don’t plan on opening one any time soon but I know many people who do and they are wasting an enormous amount of time on there obsessing over the number of “friends” they have, updating their status or keeping up with the status updates in friend stream. I just don’t find any of these activities particularly exciting and since I can always keep in touch with my good (and actual not just online) friends over email and telephone, I cannot imagine a need for me to give up all my personal information to yet another online service.

At any rate, I think Ross makes some excellent points as to why people should get off Facebook. Make it your new year resolution because if nothing else, this one is easy to keep.

The sudo command: It’s powerful

Pantelis — Sat, 27 Nov 2010 05:53:17 +0000

Unix users everywhere take note. Your skills have an actual use in real life.

Warning: Do not try this at home!

James Randi debunks homeopathy and psychics

Pantelis — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 09:38:12 +0000

In this 2007 TED talk, magician and renowned skeptic James Randi exposes the bunk of homeopathy and the deceptive activities of mediums and psychics. In his own unique and straightforward way, Randi demonstrates how easily people make assumptions and how snake oil salesmen take advantage of gullible people who believe that psychics can talk to the dead. He also shows how incredibly stupid homeopathy is as he overdoses on some homeopathic sleeping pills. This is one entertaining presentation and if you ever wanted to see James Randi posing as a Grecian warrior fighting on the side of Agamemnon, then you are in for a pleasant surprise.

Enjoy!

Douglas Adams on the creation of the universe

Pantelis — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 08:47:49 +0000

This is a great Douglas Adams poster.

In the beginning, the universe was created. This made a lot of people very angry and has been widely regarded as a bad move.

The economic argument against pseudoscience and magical thinking

Pantelis — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 07:26:58 +0000

A very nice comic from xkcd which makes an interesting point against pseudoscience and magical thinking. It may oversimplify the actual issues but it is good enough to at least get people thinking.

It comes with the following disclaimer,

Not to be confused with “making money selling this stuff to OTHER people who think it work”, which corporate accountants and actuaries have zero problems with.

Carl Sagan: Pale Blue Dot

Pantelis — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 11:29:14 +0000

Sydney to Hobart yacht race on boxing day

Pantelis — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 11:13:31 +0000

As I learned recently, one of the largest sporting events at the end of the year in Sydney is the Sydney to Hobart ocean yacht race which always kicks off on boxing day at the Sydney harbor. So, since I was in town for the holidays, I went down to Watson’s Bay to see the event that is enjoyed by thousands of other Australians. I have to admit, that in the 8 months that I have lived here, I had never seen so much traffic in the harbor. Other than the 100 yachts taking part in the race, there were also hundreds of spectator boats fully loaded waiting in anticipation for the start of the race. When the race started, it was pandemonium with all the boats racing out of the harbor and on their way to Tasmania.

The two largest yachts participating are the Wild Oats XI and Skandia which took an early lead way ahead of the pack. These 30-meter boats were moving much faster than all the others and so it is no surprise that they are way ahead of everyone else almost 1.5 days into the 628-mile race. I took a short video of the two yachts leading the race out of the harbor. The video is below.

Octapodi

Pantelis — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 02:55:41 +0000

I was reading an article about the Octopus Otto who is causing havoc at the Sea Star Aquarium in Coburg, Germany, (read Otto the octopus wreaks havoc) and I remembered the funny video Octapodi seen below.

Better think twice before messing with an octopus.

7 x 13 = 28

Pantelis — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 09:52:33 +0000

Lol! Abbott and Costello know the real mathematics the rest of us never learned in school.