Visualizing data is like photography. Instead of starting with a blank canvas, you manipulate the lens used to present the data from a certain angle.

When the data is the social graph of 500 million people, there are a lot of lenses through which you can view it. One that piqued my curiosity was the locality of friendship. I was interested in seeing how geography and political borders affected where people lived relative to their friends. I wanted a visualization that would show which cities had a lot of friendships between them.

Read the rest of his Facebook note here, or take a look at the high-res version of that map here.

A lot can be written about how the internet is making geopolitical divisions irrelevant. Every arc over the ocean in that map is a new personal connection. Someday, they might become borders. And nations.

Apparently a very lucky man in Germany was cured of his HIV infection 3 years ago, following a bone marrow transplant operation. The science behind it (as far as they can tell) is that the donor cells were genetically defective in such a way that the HIV virus couldnrsquo;t implant itself in them, thus rendering it useless.

Itrsquo;s a very fortunate defect to have, but the applications are limited, since very few people will be a compatible transplant match with the original donor. Still, genes can be mapped and tested, and for all we know, these results might be reproducible in the future. A one-shot genetic modification cure to wipe out HIV? Sounds good to me.

MSNBC article: Cure for HIV claimed, but not yet proven

ldquo;If you are not satisfied with the purchase of the lu, Gucci Wallets  even store receipts or receipt is missing, as long as does not exceed the prescribed return period, consumers buy goods stores will be returned, the Gucci Bags money can be returned when the light at the lowest price of the goods returned . If the goods are returned deadline has passed, the business can not refund cash for consumers, but converted into consumption of the brand Gucci HandBags  of the chainrsquo;s cash card. consumers do not have the returned merchandise to a store that was originally purchased, as long as Select the nearest stores to the same brand. ldquo;

La toile srsquo;avérant une zone quasiment infini, jrsquo;ai perdu quelques heures à lrsquo;explorer pour découvrir des sites web originaux. Cette nuit mon attention a été attirée par Le Blog De Thomas dont jrsquo;ai fait la connaissance. Et cela a été plutôt une surprise agréable puisque je ne suis en aucun cas passionné de ça, mais alors pas du tout. Et malgré cela, ce blog est arrivé à me faire réagir au delà de toutes mes espérances. Et heureusement que ceci était intelligible immédiatement, puisque je ne suis pas du coeur à perdre des heures à tenter de rechercher ce que le créateur du site a essayé de faire passer ! Jrsquo;omettais presque de vous signaler que dans le cas où vous savez ce dont vous avez besoin, vous nrsquo;oublierez jamais Le Blog De Thomas, crsquo;est certain. Alors vous nrsquo;avez plus qursquo; à vous rendre sur ce site, je suis sûr et certain que vous y trouverez votre bonheur.

AaaHHH.....!

Today is the last day of this semester but it still feels like I’m in week nine.  I woke up one cold morning in August and then closed my eyes for a few seconds, then the next thing I know, its spring.  Between all of that came tons of assignments, readings, the famous “Hurdle task”, test and now, the exams are around the corner. And let’s not forget how fun waking up at 5 am is.

It was all good but now I need to get all that energy back and  focus it towards my exams by exercising!  Sure it looks like I’m flying out of the window (LOL ) but I was having a jolly good time.  Second semester has been hectic for everyone and now we all left with one final push.  This time of year takes me back a year ago when I was writing my finals. The one thing I do certainly like about the exam period is that I get to spend time with my books and give them undivided attention.

Wish me luck!!!

Ciao

The numbers are your Supply Count so when it reads 9 ndash; Pylon it means that when you have a Supply Count of 9, you build a pylon. Similarly, 12 ndash; Gateway means that when you have a Supply Count of 12, you build a Gateway.

ldquo;CBrdquo; stands for ldquo;Chrono Boostrdquo; which is something a Protoss Nexus is able to do. It costs 25 of the Nexusrsquo; energy and boosts the timer of whatever building you did it on, making it tech/spawn units/reset cooldowns faster (Can I have a whoop whoop?)

A general tactic (and a very good one) most people use is blocking off the ramp to their bases early to prevent your opponent from rushing your base. This will not be a problem in the starting (practice) games in multi-player because you have debris blocking some paths to your base but in normal MP you would like to do this, especially against Zerg. Most people use their barracks / Gateways to do this along with supply deporsquo;s / pylons. Learn this! It will put you in the game immediately!

Famous opening strategies for Protoss includehellip;

1. The four gate


2. The void ray rush


3. The Zealot rush


4. Early dark templar strat


5. Quick robotech


6. Nony’s Dual-Stargate Phoenix


7. The cannon rush (Similar to rolling wheels of cheddar over the battlefield. You get the same result)

Here are some links you can use to watch the strats on Youtube.

Opening #1 ndash; The Four Gate

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYURoBXkFeA

Opening #2 – The Void Ray Rush

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xaPfUx5ka0k

Opening #3 – The Zealot Rush

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7v601g5fhAE

(video shows a proxy Zealot rush, your call on the proxy)

Opening #5 – Quick Robotech

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LeLlzeecUsc

Opening #6 – Nony’s Dual-Stargate Phoenix

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=or2HN7K_0Ik

Opening #7 ndash; The Cannon Rush

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8Wmu4n6Ffc

I have tried some of these while practicing with friends and they work. The more familiar you become with these you will learn how to adjust the strategies to fit your gameplay.

En Taro Tassadar!!!

PolarfluKe: Factions will be a team based league run over the course of weeks. Teams will compete in 1v1 as well as 2v2 matches against each other on a weekly basis, so make sure you all start sharpening up on those social skills.

You can find more details here: http://polarfluke.co.za/?p=498

• Local Player Ranking ndash; along the lines of sc2ranks.com, but focused on local players only


• Replay Hosting ndash; upload and share sc2replay files


• Web-based IRC ndash; all manner of web-based IRC clients connected to the local Starcraft II IRC community


• Planet Starport ndash; Aggregation of all local Starcraft II-related blogs and other information sources

You can register an account at Starport so long, and while you canrsquo;t do anything with the profile yet, the data will come in handy to get the local player ranking service working.

If you have any feedback, let me know here, or directly via email at wogan.may@gmail.com.

These services are georestricted to South African IP addresses for the time being. If you are in South Africa and the system flags you as being non-ZA, please let me know.

(via sealust)

Every week I, Russell lsquo;Russrsquo; Groves (Mint Gaming General Manager), will be doing a Starcraft 2 Feature interview with the people that make the local Starcraft 2 blogs and tournaments tick. This week I am interviewing Sven ldquo;Shadowthiefrdquo; Paulsen, the gamer, the blogger and The Fists creator.

Read the full interview here: http://www.mintgaming.co.za/index.php?site=news_commentsamp;newsID=243

Svenrsquo;s responsible for Starcraft Pulse, possibly one of the first local videocasters dealing with the game (starting 2 months before the gamersquo;s release is good timing, haha). Hersquo;s expanding to cover all Blizzard games, and you can find his channel on Youtube here.

But games donrsquo;t have to get that far ndash; as in this video, where I Gateway rush a Zerg player. Yoursquo;ll be surprised how much a tactic like this works in the lower leagueshellip;

(Apologies for the lack of audio ndash; I blame the encoder)

To enter, bands had to partner with a reputable and registered South African production company and conceptualise a superior quality, creative music video concept for one of their as yet un-filmed tracks.

With a balance of both established artists and newcomers, the music videos are set to be world class. The top 10 are:

• Jack Parow, Tussen Stasies submitted by Ten10 Films


• Foto na Dans, Die Vloed submitted by Admit One Productions


• The Cavalier, Kiss and Tell submitted by Tough Sunday Productions


• Will Mono ft. Jax Panik, Ken My Nie submitted by Foml Films


• Thieve ft. Die Heuwels Fantasties, Way To Go submitted by The African Attachment


• MC, Earl amp; Algemi, Dakskroef submitted by Blixem Productions


• Heroes Wear Red, Bring Me Love submitted by Mannequin Productions


• Winterstasie, Los My submitted by The Magic Factory


• 4am, Steering Ships submitted by Unleashed


• CrashCarBurn, Long Live Tonight submitted by 7Films

The top 10 were chosen by a MK selection panel who considered elements such as the production company’s experience; the choice of artist and song; the creative concept and treatment of the music video; the budget and production value; how well the concept complemented the MK brand and the appeal for its viewers.

Says Victor Edward Eckard, Head of Content at MK: “MVP was created to recognise and expose the wealth of talent that the South African music industry has to offer. It aims to encourage collaboration, uplift the industry and offer both bands and production companies a platform through which to showcase their work. Year on year we hope to grow this project and if the quality of the pitches we received is anything to go by, we can look forward to some interesting and powerful collaborations and of course, exceptional content.”

Go to www.mktv.co.za/mvp for more info.

I mostly read at night into the early hours of the morning and sometimes I’d be in completely into the story that I’d dream about what I had read the previous night ( or morning ).Pug, the main character and Prince Arutha were my favorite characters. Pug is an orphan boy who becomes apprentice to a master magician and when his home land is invaded, he gets captured and made a slave. From apprentice to slave to master of his arts, I found the book fascinating and unique and it has what I call natural suspense. By natural suspense I mean the suspense just flows. Unlike other books that I’ve read, the suspense is predictable which kills the trill of the book. In the Magician I sometimes had to take take off my earphones and reread a paragraph just to make sure of what I had just read. Not to mention the countless times my POP out. Shu good times.

Now back to academics. My first week is over and I’m glad that the weekend is here.I’m more glad that I’ll have time to read and prep. for the following week. It sucks when you in class and everyone’s nodding to what the lecturers’ saying and your the only one that like huh…

It’s been good, until next time

Ciao

I made an honest attempt to finish a book  called How to alienation friends and family by Toby Young but as hard as I tried, I really didnrsquo;t enjoy the book that much and that resulted in me not reading the book finish. Plain and simple his story was depressing and I didnrsquo;t find his failure entertaining.

The book I did I  enjoy to the fullest was the Magician by Raymond E. Feist. I mostly read  at night into the early hours of the morning and sometimes Irsquo;d be in completely into the story that Irsquo;d dream about what I had read the previous night ( or morning ).Pug, the main character and Prince Arutha were my favorite characters.

Pug is an orphan boy who becomes apprentice to a master magician and when his home land is invaded, he gets captured and made a slave. From apprentice to slave to master of his arts, I found the book fascinating and unique and it has what I call natural suspense. By natural suspense I mean the suspense just flows. Unlike other books that Irsquo;ve read, the suspense is predictable which kills the trill of the book. In the Magician I sometimes had to take take off my earphones and reread a paragraph just to make sure of what I had just read. Not to mention the countless times my POP out.

Now back to academics.

My first week is over and Irsquo;m glad that the weekend is here.Irsquo;m more glad that Irsquo;ll have time to read and prep.  for the following week. It sucks when you in class and everyonersquo;s nodding to what the lecturersrsquo; saying and your the only one that like huhhellip;

Itrsquo;s been good, Ciao

Infinity Ward#039;s Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 is really a vivid demonstration of how computer gamers are being disrespected out of unique personal computer features. nbsp;Dedicated servers for instance, the uproar was first loud and virtually unanimous that they were disregarded. nbsp;Nerds all across the net were united and loud in decrying the ldquo;slap in the facerdquo; in which Infinity Ward seemed to be administering. nbsp;A group was put together to boycott the game, even though many kept faithful most would not and proceeded to go ahead and got the game.

nbsp;

Sales were huge for the game which may hint towards the simple fact this is just what pc gamers desired. nbsp;I take a look at it from a different perspective. nbsp;If you ask me it seems the game was brought in large numbers in spite these weak points basically for the reason that series is indeed largely well-known. nbsp;Modern Warfare 2 for the pc would have sold many more copies on pc if they did some more work towards giving pc gamers some unique content.

nbsp;

The PC gaming world comprises of so all kinds of men and women which makes sustaining almost any bona fide solidarity is quite simply hopeless. nbsp;Although if the voices areloud enough then the adage that the ldquo;squeaky wheel gets the greaserdquo; will hold exactly true and some changes will happen.

nbsp;

One other issue that was problem was just how the pc version of MW2 was fundamentally exactly like the console editions. nbsp;Infinity Ward regarded the Pc as a third gaming console . nbsp;Sure COD MW2 looks much better on PC but it#039;s like the xbox 360 version. nbsp;An inexcusable holdover coming from the XBOX 360 and the PS3 versions is the small multiplayer player limit. nbsp;I understand why you need to do something like that for the consoles, but not for the computer.

nbsp;

The only way to make any alterations in what pc gamers are getting is to stop buying what we are now being provided. nbsp;Each of our cash is what game suppliers such as Activision want, we should reprimand all of them when they#039;re bad, just like we would our children. nbsp;Whenever we continue to reward bad tendencies that#039;s precisely what we will end up with.

nbsp;

You can read some of Jim#039;s cott#039;s articles at full pc games. Also read about his favorite rts games

nbsp;

Loan Modification Agreement

Gmac Loan Modification

Loan Modification

For the last ldquo;TRACE THURSDAY” party on July 8, TRACE and SONY MUSIC will give away 2 tickets to attend the FIFA WORLD CUP FINAL

This gift demonstrates the new focus of TRACE in Sports entertainment with the soon to be launched TRACE Sports TV channel.

The party will also show surprise appearances from top footballers and some of the celebrity artists featured on “Hello Afrika”, a double CD released by SONY MUSIC with popular hit tracks by contemporary Superstar African Artists inspired by the 2010 FIFA WORLD CUP.

Find out more by visiting TRACE on: eng.trace.tv and www.tracesports.tv