The People Pros

Suprachiasmatic nucleus expialidocious

2009-02-25T02:00:42Z

Here's some practical science. In every person's brain, there is a region called the suprachiasmatic nucleus (or SCN). The name isn't important, but the SCN is our internal clock that tries to keep our bodies and minds on a daily schedule. You may have learned at some point that the brain naturally gravitates toward a 24-25 hour day when you take away the factors of sunlight and such. I've always been aware of circadian rhythms, but I've never really known what they're all about. Here's how it generally breaks down...

6:00am - Morning

6:45 - Sharpest rise in blood pressure

7:30 - Melatonin secretion stops

8:30 - Bowel movement most likely

9:00 - Highest testosterone secretion

10:00 - High alertness

12:00pm - Noon

2:30 - Best coordination

3:30 - Fastest reaction time

5:00 - Greatest cardiovascular efficiency and muscle strength

6:00pm - Evening

7:30 - Highest blood pressure

8:00 - Highest body temperature

10:00 - Melatonin secretion starts

11:30 - Bowel movements suppressed

12:00am - Midnight

2:00 - Deepest sleep

4:30 - Lowest body temperature

Rinse and repeat.

Climb aboard the dream weaver train

2009-02-19T03:54:52Z

In an effort to keep my brain moving outside of work and school, I'm spending a few precious moments per day reading some pages in this wonderful book called Your Brain: The Missing Manual. The title might sound a little hokey, but the book is engaging, research-based, and totally not dumbed down.

I'm currently in the chapter about sleep. Like we all know about REM sleep, right? It's when our brains are practically in a state of awakeness and we do the most lucid dreaming. It's a pretty amazing phenomenon, especially considering that we still don't fully know what its function is for our brain or body. It's always seemed to me like a manifestation of our brains trying to make sense of random snippets of information that we take in throughout the day. But REM dreaming might actually primarily be a kind of brain-trainer. We first really saw this in action from a study that was done back in the 50s, when the neurons that cause paralysis during REM sleep (yup, we're actually physically paralyzed during our most lucid dreams) were cut in the brains of a few cats; while the cats were asleep, they got up and did things like clean themselves, pretend to stalk and fight, and go through the motions of attacks and retreats. (I totally want to see a video of this in action.)

If television has taught me anything, it's that when humans break their sleep paralysis, they sleepwalk down to the kitchen and make a sandwich. (Although I personally don't remember ever making lunch in my dreams.) In reality, I guess it's all about what we're especially focused on. One study arranged for people to play Tetris before going to sleep, and the subjects reported having Tetris-playing dreams; even a few amnesiacs dreamt of columns of drifting blocks, despite having no idea why! So it's like the brain tries to determine what's important at any given point in time and then tries to train itself during unconsciousness. Much to the disappointment of Gary Wright, your worries of today are probably not too likely to be taken away on the dream weaver train.

(What I want to know is: why do our brains insist on training us how to handle the situation of showing up to a test naked and unprepared?)

In conclusion, the take-away point of my lecture today is that sleep is good, and I should get more of it. Personally, I don't think I get enough REM sleep; I'd bet that a few too many others are in the same boat.

This actually is making me kind of sleepy right now. Great. I shouldn't have done this before finishing my dissertation work for the night. And what if I start sleepwalking tonight while I'm dreaming about sleepwalking? Man, this is getting heavy...

Procrastination

2009-01-03T04:03:20Z

[Sorry, metaprocrastination.com is more or less down. Maybe it'll be back up eventually]

We all struggle with procrastination from time to time. At its worst, it can make you feel helpless and even hopeless. It can be extremely hard to "just do it," and even though there are things you can do, the problem is that we often don't know what they are. There is a new site dedicated to this at metaprocrastination.com, where you can start to find some good information about how to put off that procrastination until later.

And yes, these two sites are related in terms of who maintains them. No reason to hide that, I suppose!

How to get Windows for free (Legally!)

2008-12-24T17:13:28Z

Are you looking to put a home-made computer together on the cheap? Or do you want to run Windows on your Mac but don't want to plop down more than $100 for a license?

Well, answer me this: are you enrolled in a high school, college, or university?

Then, my friends, you are entitled to your very own gratis (yes, FREE) copy of Windows Server 2008! I know, that doesn't sound like "XP" or "Vista," but it actually is Vista on steroids. Read on to learn more.

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So how is this possible? Well, Microsoft decided not too long ago that it would be beneficial for them to allow motivated yet financially devoid young people to begin practicing the art of computer programming on the cheap. Following this, they made available some amazing bundles of software for absolutely no cost to college students (and has since expanded the program to high school students as long as their schools sign up for the program). They called it DreamSpark and made everything available online for download.

While software sets like Visual Studio 2008 may be no more than a curiosity to those who have no interest in software development, a full operating system like Windows Server 2008 may perk up more than a few ears. The operating system is indeed designed to be used in a server/development environment, but it can be easily tweaked to function just like any normal desktop or laptop workstation. Below are the steps that should get you up and running in relatively little time.

Step 1: Go to dreamspark.com and verify your student status

Click here to see directions for college/graduate students

Click here to see directions for high school students

Step 2: Download Windows Server 2008 here.

Step 3: At the bottom of the download page, click on "Get Key" (write it down, but you can always retrieve it again later)

Step 4: Burn the resulting disk image to a DVD disk (There are lots of software packages available for this. On a Mac, the program called "Disk Utility" is in the Utilities folder within your Applications folder; open the disk image with Disk Utility and simply click on the "Burn" icon)

Step 5: Install Windows Server 2008 as you would install any other operating system, whether it be on a computer or a virtual machine through VirtualPC, VMWare Fusion, or Parallels (This is generally a very straight-forward process, but I apologize if you get stuck; there's unfortunately not enough time or space to go through that whole process here)

Step 6: When the system has completed its installation, you may find that you cannot successfully activate Windows with Microsoft. Don't fret -- you just need to enter the activation key that you got from DreamSpark: While in Windows, click the Start button, then right-click on Computer, then click on Properties. Look for where it says "Windows activation" in the following screen; you can change your product key there. Replace the key that is there with your new personal key that you copied down earlier.

Step 7: Now for the tweaking! Someone else has already gone through all the trouble, so rather than reinvent the wheel, I invite you to visit his simple yet comprehensive instructions at win2008workstation.com. I know that "simple" is extremely relative in the computer world, but this is pretty doable as far as these types of things go.

Any questions or thoughts? Leave a comment below!

Back up your Mac wirelessly with Time Machine

2008-12-18T01:37:05Z

With version 10.5 of the Mac OS X operating system (colloquially named "Leopard"), Apple introduced an incredibly easy way to back up your entire computer automatically. They named their software Time Machine, and designed it so that it keeps a constant running backup of your computer's files, from everyday documents, to e-mail inboxes, to crucial system files. If your system goes down in flames (figuratively...or literally, for those very unlucky few), your external backup hard drive will save the day. Whether you had to replace the inner storage of your computer or purchase an entirely new machine, you will be able to restore every single one of your files in one fell swoop via your trusty Time Machine.

Of course, in the cases where an entire system restore is not necessary, it's a cinch to pick and choose, whether it be a version of that book chapter that you regretfully hacked to pieces a week ago, or that folder of beloved photos from Cousin Merl's barbecue that your angel of a nephew not-so-innocently trashed yesterday.

When you plug in a new external drive to your Mac, you should be automatically asked whether you want to dedicate that hard drive to Time Machine. Easy enough. But what if you want to back up a Mac that isn't always physically connected to that drive? Like a laptop, for instance? Apple will tell you to purchase Time Capsule, which is a wireless router and hard drive combination that is designed to backup multiple computers over a home network. However, if you already have a wireless connection and an external hard drive, purchasing Time Capsule may seem a bit frivolous. Fortunately, Apple has built in the capability to use a regular ol' external hard drive for network backups -- they're just not going out of their way to tell you! Continue below to see the steps necessary set it up in almost no time at all...

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On the computer that you want to set up for backups (for simplicity's sake, "Mac2"), go to the "Go" menu from the Finder and choose "Network." In the screen that follows, double-click on your Mac1, and then double-click on the backup drive that should show up next. This will connect ("mount") the drive to Mac2.

Okay, now let's get to the meat of the matter. On Mac2, open the System Preferences and click on "Time Machine." This is what you should see:

If you predict that the next step is to click on "Choose Backup Disk...," you will be correct. This will bring you to a window showing all of the storage devices available to you. In the picture below, "Mr. Plow" is a network drive that is already being used for Time Machine backups. See the "Use for Backup" button? Go ahead and click on it.

(FYI, the "Set Up Time Capsule" button is used only if you purchased the Time Capsule hardware that was mentioned earlier.)

This will throw you back to the original Time Machine setup window, but now things are a little busier! If it looks something like the picture below, then you have successfully set up your very own backup network. Congratulations! From here on out, your computer will go through the backup process whenever it sees that your network drive is available. If you're not on your network, then it will just wait until later.

Any questions or corrections? Throw in a comment and let us know what you think!

How to be a pro when shopping for a computer

2008-10-17T00:37:19Z

In the computer world, it can be hard for the average person to know exactly what he or she wants to purchase. Sure, you may think you know what you want, but once you're in the store and talking to the salepeople, it's too easy for all of that to fly right out the window.

For those who don't feel like they're fully "in the know," here are some terms that you should know about before heading into the computer store...

]]> Operating System (OS) - The "brain" of the computer. The operating system is what gives your computer its personality and ability to run programs. There are many different systems out there, but the most popular today are Apple's OS X (pronounced "Oh-Es Ten") and Microsoft Windows.

Windows is the most commonly-used operating system, but OS X has a very strong user-base. Another one that is a favorite of many of the techies out there is called Linux (pronounced "LIN-ux"), which has recently been seeing quite a bit of use in the niche market of netbooks.
If you are not forced to use Windows, I recommend giving a strong consideration to OS X. With considerable power, speed, and security, it also has a smaller learning curve than Windows and is generally easier to use. One huge benefit is that there are no viruses or other uglies that infect OS X. Note that if you want to use OS X, you have to buy an Apple computer (e.g., iMac, MacBook, or MacBook Pro).

Processor - The "heart" of the computer.

Generally, the faster the processor is, the faster the computer is.

The most popular brand of processors right now is Intel, and you'll find that brand in the majority of PCs and in all Macs. The second most popular brand on the consumer market is AMD, and there will always be arguments as to which is better. For most folks, it doesn't matter which kind you have.
Nowadays, all but the lowest-end processors are at least "dual core." This means that there is one processor that has two channels for data to move through, almost as if there were actually two processors. There are also "quad-core" and "8-core" for the more higher-end users.
On the Intel side, look for the words "Core 2." Be careful if you don't see that number "2" because it's likely an older and slower processor!

Hard drive - The "long term memory" of the computer.

The bigger the hard drive, the more things you can store in it (like programs, music, movies, word processing documents, etc.)

Hard drives today are measured in gigabytes (GB) and terabytes (TB). One terabyte is equal to 1024 gigabytes, and one gigabyte is equal to 1024 megabytes (MB). To give some perspective, you can fit over 70,000 floppy disks worth of data into a 100 GB hard drive!
When buying, don't skimp, but don't go overboard. If you're going to be using your computer for web browsing and word processing, you don't need 1 TB of space! Unless someone is planning on storing oodles of music and movies on their computer, 250 to 320 GB will be more than enough space. For reference, a full standard-definition movie can consume up to 4 gigabytes of space, and high-definition movies can be around 10 GB
If it so happens that you need more space in the future, most computers can be upgraded internally. If you don't want to mess with anything inside your computer, you're still in luck: adding an external hard drive is as easy as plugging in a couple cables.

Memory (RAM) - The "short term memory" of the computer.

This allows the programs on your computer to run. The bigger and more complicated a program is, the more RAM it typically needs.

More RAM helps the computer's programs run efficiently and allows you to have more program open at the same time. If you don't have enough, your computer is going to run slowly even if your processor is fast!
Having insufficient RAM in your computer is like trying to fill a water bucket with a teaspoon: no matter how fast you work, you're still going to spend a lot of time getting the job done. Make sure your new computer has at least 2 GB of RAM, and it should ideally be expandable to higher amounts if your needs increase.

Video card - The "eyes" of the computer (kind of).

The video card is what allows the computer to display things on the screen. Better video cards provide better support complicated things such as 3D animation.

If you don't need to play complex games, edit lots of movies, or do heavy graphics work, you may want to consider computers with integrated video cards. These are generally less expensive than the computers with dedicated video cards, and you won't be paying for something you likely won't use. However, good video cards are becoming cheaper over time, and integrated cards are becoming increasingly relegated to the smallest of portable computers.

Pro Tips!

You probably don't need the biggest hard drive, the fastest processor, and the most RAM available. If a salesman tries to push the best of the best onto you, he's not to be trusted; take your business elsewhere. If you really do need the best of the best, you'll probably already know it! That said, you probably shouldn't penny-pinch on the cheapest available model either.
Many stores really want to make a sale. If you find a great deal online or in an ad, you can probably bargain your local store down a few dollars.
Regardless of how much confidence they exude, salespeople don't know all there is to know about computers, much less what you need in a computer. If they try to sell you something expensive without asking questions first, get outta there!

Sofa Control

2008-10-16T04:07:33Z

Many people who bought a Mac recently have found that a remote control comes with it. It's a great little device to have if you're watching a DVD or listening to music, but it doesn't work with much else on the computer. This is where an ingenious little program called Sofa Control comes into play. It adds functionality to the remote so that it can be greatly more useful. It does cost money (about $15), but if you ever want to be able to give presentations or control your Mac from a distance, it's very well worth it.

We'll be back soon

2008-10-16T04:07:33Z

Yes, this site broke down, but rest assured that we are working hard to fix it. Check back again soon!