Fly cars are NOW!

Step by step, the future is coming closer. All those concerned about your flying cars, I got them for you, right here. For those of you I know who don't usually follow my links, please please please follow this one. The video that is hosted here is fantastic! Sure, it's all CGI, but this item is sceduled for its first flight test next month. AND should it survive, it is slated to start hitting showroom floors in 18 months. 18 months people! At $200,000, that's a hefty price tag, but for an airplane car, totally worth it, especially if it runs off of unleaded fuel and fits in your garage. One step closer to the Jetson's puter-pod. I so can't wait to wait in line for one of these!

So I wasn't initially sure as to what I was gonna post today, at first. It was a big day for science as several articles on black holes popped up, and then there was the dig at Stonehenge to finally try to figure it out.

But in the end, I had to go another direction. Back to technology. I love it. I love watching the direction our society is moving in with regards to advanced technology. This next beauty is from the Boys and Girls from MIT. Her name is GLaDOS and she would love to share some cake with you. Just kidding! Her name is Nexi. Nexi is the latest plaything from those wacky MIT guys. This one is hoped to be able to sit and interact with humans to figure out how best to integrate. She is Mobile, Dexterous and Social. I'll tell you what, I really wouldn't mind being in the test group for this project. I can sit the Nexi right next to my Apuripoko. But I digress. This is truly one of the most expressive robots I've ever seen. It makes me wonder though. Ever read I, Robot? The original, not the book based on the movie based on the book. Whatever happened to the square headed, clearly not human, robots that were supposed to come first? Looks like we are wanting to hope straight to human-like, right out the gate, when we get a real working humanoid. However... I'm still waiting for Synthetic rights. It's coming and you all know it.

Thoughts! Go!

As a passing thought, if anyone out there wants to get their favorite, hatted blogger a gift, this little cutie will do the trick. Or this convenient solar paneled recliner, I mean generator.

Eye know eye want one

I know, I know. I am late posting for yesterday. Life things happen sometimes. However, if things go right, I should be able to have multiple posts today.

First on todays agenda, though, time to go back to the future! No, they aren't making another movie in the wake of all the other movies from the 80's trying to make a profit off a sudden, late, 4th installment. Nope, the future, my friends, is now.
There are two items I discovered yesterday in my march through massive information intake that caught my attention for this post. Kevin Warwick, a cybernetics professor at the University of Reading, has wired the nerves from his forearm into a computer and was able to make a cybernetic arm across the country respond in the the same manner as he moved his arm. Now granted, this news is somewhat old in that it was 2002 when this experiment took place, but read the article. Warwick is nothing if not dedicated to his idea to march us right into the cybernetic age. I don't know what sort of advancements this man has made, but I know I'll be keeping my eyes open for his next upgrade.

And speaking of upgrades, this is what I'm talking about! An eye. A freaking cybernetic eye! Where does the line start?

So, a gnomeling walks into a bar...

Hey everyone, so this is sort of a cop out post. I'll admit it when it happens. But I'll also give my reasons.
First of all, I've recently added new content that I read everyday. I'm expanding my global view. This is pushing my daily news post count up into the mid to high 400's. Second, for some reason this weekend either my computer or my internet connection (or both) was moving at a snail's pace and I was not able to keep up with the 2000+ news articles that came in over this weekend while I was busy with a LAN and D&D.
So, I have a quick few items to pass along, but for the most part, my news went unread. So, I issue a challenge to any of you who actually read my blog. What did I miss this weekend? Fill me in on some news. Go to the comments section and fill a guy in on what went on in the world while he had his head buried in different ones.

As for what I have to pass on. First off, some presidential candidates show their mental prowess in the field of science this week. McCain passes on the gem of wisdom that injections cause autism. Obama, alternately, takes loftier subjects and aims for the stars, impressing a knowledge of the benefits of encouraging a space program, instead of suffocating it.

And finally, in exciting news, I'll get my glasses soon!

Prophetic pictures and plumber parties

So, I just could wait to get this information out to you, my tea party guests.

First off, continuing to prove that Warren Ellis is a prophet, I bring you this picture. Read the comic. It should look familiar.

Second, this has to be the coolest cocktail party idea ever. Mario is my drinking buddy!

In celestial news this week, it appears that there will be a nice lunar eclipse to view on Wednesday. Really a fun event if there is anyone who has not witnessed one before, and it will be the last time we get to see one until 2010.

La LA la la la laa, la lala la laa. That, for those of you who cannot hear music from words written on a screen, is the theme to that classic childhood cartoon, The Smurfs. Now, regardless of your views on the origin of this cartoon, this preview for the upcoming movie looks promising. I know I'll be lining up to watch. However, the idea was passed around at how funny a live action attempt would be at this. Discussed was how David Cross would make an excellent Gargamel, and how Vin Diesel should be Handy Smurf.

And finally today, in keeping with my past rants about the future, I bring you two different articles concerning artificial intelligence. From the BBC network comes the bold claim that Artificial intelligence should be able to reach human level by 2029. A bold claim indeed. They go so far as to imply that this simulated intellegence will be able to also imitate our emotional intelligence. Just imagine chatting with someone online and not being sure if you are speaking with a person, or a machine...
Which leads me in to the second article brought from Scientific America in which David Levy discusses the, not just possibility, but probability of sex, love and even marriage to robots by mid-century. Intruiging. Reading the article, I find that David follows a wholly pragmatic view of the whole situation. I will grant him that many humans to react positively to any sort of attention, I fear that his love for technology has blinded him to the unpleasentries of humanity. What we would have is entities that have all the capability of a human, being used (and I don't use that word lightly) in any number of ways, simply by minor adjustment to programming. And then the question of robot rights comes up. Are they just machines? They will have the intelligence and emotional capabilities of humans, so do we give them rights like humans? How far do we go? While I applaude science and what it can achieve, I'm afraid that in this little chunk of the future brought closer and closer to us, I will watch with a cynical eye.

Even though I started the last paragraph with "finally", I will have the real finality here. Giant, bowling-ball sized, prehistoric frog with fangs and armor. Beelzebufo... Devil Frog.

When do I get the glasses

Have I mentioned that I love Transmetropolitan? 'Cause if I haven't, I need to say that I love Transmetropolitan.
In any event, there is a class of citizens that is frequently seen in this gripping story, known as The Listeners. What does a Listener do? Simply. They put on their surveillance vests and walk around The City, watching... listening. Letting their suits get a live feed from the people and things going around the world and dumping it right into the media feed. This is awesome. A brilliant idea... if done correctly. And once again, we are one step closer to that future, thanks to these little numbers. Screw covert ops, get these things on field reporters, junior columnists, high school students, anyone who'll take one. Get them OUT there, seeing, hearing, feeding. I wonder how the world would cope with an available network that just shows you the REAL real life every second, of everyday.
Microphone and camera. And GPS. It's like Christmas. Imagine. It's 2 am in the morning. Your falling low on your Mountain Dew fuel and you're getting ready to actually sleep. Suddenly, you want to know exactly what is happening in Tunisia right now. You go to The Listener's web site, put in the coordinates you want, and *POP*, up jumps a list of 13 Listeners in Tunisia. You decide you want to see what akz1-255 is up to. You click. Instant, streaming video and sound of the live streets. If you think you might also find this intriguing and would like to see this possibility become real, contact me. I'll let you know what I've found.

In other, unrelated news, I just found the confirmation of a conversation I had a few months back. A few years ago, we got all excited in the car industry over alternative fuel sources. Hoorah, suddenly an option to not have to rely on crude oil and the Oil Companies. However, and interesting point was brought up to me. These fuels are really new. We don't know much about them. Sure the vehicle industry is accepting them so quickly. Just picture, 10 years from now they release a study that says ethanol fumes kill migratory birds, or something like that. Suddenly, the oil and car companies are coming back saying "Look at that! Just look how great gas and oil are! We MUST go back to the old ways. They were already so environmentally friendly!" Well, it's no eulogy to Woodstock, but lo and behold...
Hmmm. Didn't see that one coming, now did we?

Next we'll be told that Electric cars are the cause to Global warming and hunger.

One step closer

So, I've already referenced it once. I'll do it again.
Because we are one step closer.

I remember this great film from the late '90s called Gattaca. And such a clever name. Especially when held in context of the movie. It was all about DNA. And for those of you who know anything about DNA, there are 4 enzimes that make two pars, each designated by a letter: G, A, T, and C. As you can see, the name of the film employs only those letters.

Today, that name would no longer be possible. As of today, we may be able to write that list as: G, A, T, C, d5SICS, dMMO2. Go read.

I'm curious about reactions to this. Hopeful? Terrified? Already fantasizing about real Catgirl?

I'm already imagining a world where I can fly to work if I feel like it that day... on my own wings. A world where we can finally get rid of that stupid joke.

The state of the theater

When the hell did politics become such a stage show? I mean REALLY PEOPLE! What the hell is this? I know, old news, but I have a lot of blogging to catch up with.
Now first off, I don't want anyone to think that I am targeting Hilary or any of the candidates specifically. This was just the easiest incident to focus on. First off, I'd like to say that I've been in theater since middle school... and I've seen middle schoolers with more convincing performances. And it doesn't stop there.
You want to know why so many people are apathetic when it comes to politics? Because it never matters. Now, I'm sure that someone is going to want to throw out some statistic about some election that was SO CLOSE. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about the fact that no matter who we get in the office, it's all crap. Why do I say that? Everyone remember how grading worked in school? Let me give you a refresher course. An A was usually the 100-90 range. A B was between 89 and 80. C's, and let me stress here AVERAGE, was awarded to those who received a 79-70. Those needing improvement, garnering a D, fell between 69 and 60. And what was 59 and below. FAILURE. Now, a C was considered a passing grade, barely, in most schools. Some allowed to eek by with a D, but we'll ignore those for now, because they are the reason American is so poorly educated... and this is not an education blog. So, with that in mind, who was our LAST passing president? That statistic is popular opinion. That is, the number of people in the States that actually think the President is moving us in the right direction. Most of them are falling in the below average range and many fail miserably. Not sure you trust what your fellow Americans believe is the right direction for our country? Well how about checking the historical rankings? Using the same scale as school again, those who have a ranking of 70% would have to have an average ranking, on a scale of 1-42, of 12.6 or better. When was the last time we had one of those?
So, who do I blame? Not the politicians, the voters. Your apathy put the people into power in such away as to collectively bend the country over, grease our ass, and ask for more. Get off you lazy ass and do something about it! That is not just your right but your responsibility as an American. Or perhaps you have already reserved yourself to a different future? God I hope not. And if you have, let me be your Spider.

One last thing people, remember this, when our country was founded is was "For the people, by the people." The PEOPLE are supposed to have the power. So next time YOUR politician is getting a failing grade, let's not reward them by pushing them on through to the next level. Let's put someone in office who will really work for that A.