Last year I posted about a script I wrote for recording WTUL (Tulane University’s radio station). Since Katrina, they’ve been running a different stream, rebroadcast by Stanford. It’s in the open-source OGG format, and it only took a small modification of the script to adapt to it. I’ve posted the new script. All of the directions are otherwise the same (and are on the script page). You still need mplayer and so on.
Category Archives: Tech
Using Retinal Imaging to Screen for Systemic Diseases
Found via Slashdot, an article on how images of the retina can be used to screen for common diseases, including heart disease and hypertension:
LiveScience.com – Window to the Heart: New Eye Exam Spots Disease Risk
Tien Wong of the Center for Eye Research Australia at the University of Melbourne has shown in several large-scale studies that abnormalities of the blood vessels in the retina can be used to predict patients’ risk for diabetes, hypertension (or high blood pressure), stroke and heart disease.
As the article notes but doesn’t focus on, this could become a major aspect of diagnosis and triaging, since retinal photographs are cheap, fast, and easy to acquire.
My New Home Network
In the last week or so I’ve finished setting up my home network. It includes
- A Linksys WRT54GL
- A Linksys NSLU2
- A LaCie 500GB external disk
- A Motorola SurfBoard cable modem
The WRT54GL is running a custom Linux firmware (DD-WRT), which allows me to tweak all kinds of settings (including radio power), log in with SSH, and if I solder an SD card onto the motherboard, load all sorts of additional software. The management software is much nicer than what it comes with.
The NSLU2 is also running a custom linux firmware (OpenSlug). It’s somewhat Debian-like. I added a 1GB memory stick to one of its USB ports, and hooked up the LaCie 500GB external disk to the other. The operating system resides on the 1GB memory stick, while I serve files, run backups, and serve iTunes music (with mt-daapd) from the 500GB drive. The iTunes music shows up as a shared library on the macs, available for streaming. The custom firmware also allows the use of a usb hub. Once I get one, I’m probably going to hook the printer up to it, and use it for print serving as well.
The cable modem doesn’t do much. It just hooks us up to the ‘net. Here’s a picture of the set-up. Notice the penguin in a slug suit on the NSLU2 (because the devices are referred to as slugs).
EFF files class-action lawsuit against AT&T
They have a pretty cool graphic to go with the campaign:
It’s interesting how easily the Death Star melds with the AT&T logo. Go read about the case. Then join the EFF — because as we’ve all seen, nothing counts more in Washington than how much you pay lobbyists.
Workstation RAM Upgrade
My lab workstation (a PowerBook G4 17″) was upgraded yesterday with 2GB of RAM. Observe!
