Technology, Books and Other Neat Stuff

A while back I posted a link to the How Much Information 2003 study, and used it as a hook for a Guardian article. One of the comments in the study that I found interesting was a statement that 5 exabytes was the sum total of every word spoken by every human being.

Well, that may not be the case. This blog posting, in Language Log, suggests that we're actually dealing with a zettascale problem, and that 5 exabytes is actually about 8,000 times too small...

Interesting math. I think there may be a slight flaw in the assumptions on both sides of the argument. For one thing there doesn't appear to be a source for the original 5 exabytes statement, beyond this "Data Power Of Ten" fact sheet, which is something I should have tried to track down at the time. For another, the author of Language Log doesn't seem to be aware of the techniques used to encode speech for telephony. I'd be amazed if you couldn't shave more than a couple of orders of magnitude off his calculations if we used an 8-bit μ-law encoder at 8KHz.

Certainly his 16 KHz 16-bit linear single-channel audio, at 32KB per second is overkill for voice storage. My digital voice recorder can put more than 2846 minutes of voice on a 128MB memory stick, and that's using an LPEC codec at 16KHz, and telephony codecs are much more efficient, especially those used over satellite circuits...

And then there's the lossy codecs, like GSM, running 13kbit/sec...

(link originally found on Boing Boing)

(Well, all right then, CASSEROLE)

First take three large piece of Steve Rawlings' excellent Dexter beef braising steak, and cut into chunks. Remove excess fat.

Place the meat in a large casserole dish (I prefer Le Creuset), and begin browning in a little olive oil. While it's cooking, chop 3 or 4 medium sized red onions and add to the mix. Leave to brown while you peel and slice 5 or 6 carrots into thick slices. Grind on a little fresh black pepper, and add a touch of sea salt.

When the meat looks sealed, add the carrots and pour on enough red wine to cover. Keep the rest of the bottle to hand. Place in an oven at about 190°C.

After an hour or so, top up the liquid with the rest of the wine.

After a further 30 minutes, add a handful of thickly sliced sliced mushrooms. Top up with the liquid with water if necessary.

Leave in the oven for a further 30 minutes to an hour.

When ready, serve with new potatoes that have been part roasted/part baked in olive oil and fresh sea salt (and fresh rosemary if you have it). You might also want to add a little purple sprouting brocolli or similar.

Enjoy.