Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Space News

Interesting article on the Pioneer anomaly. Two space probes currently exiting our solar system are slowing down for reasons no one can fully explain. The article goes through some of the latest thinking and research as to why this is happening.

Update on developing liquid mirror telescopes on the moon. There’s been some very intriguing developments here that make this very plausible in the next 10-15 years.

Bigelow Aerospace will (hopefully) launch Genesis II tomorrow. This is their second inflatable space module design (the third is already in the works). The first was inflated successfully, sent back some cool pictures and demonstrated the feasibility of inflatable modules for spacecraft design. More information is at the Bigelow website, including some proposals for human-capable modules.

Op-Ed from UK’s Independent on the dangers of attempting to contact alien civilizations (via Speculist. Considering my previous concerns, I’m glad more people starting to ask questions about whether it is a good idea to brazenly announce our existence to the galaxy at large. It’s not that I think we should hide. What disturbs and worries me is that this decision is being made by a few idealistic scientists without any larger deliberation or say-so from the rest of humanity. One of Western civilizations greatest features is our debating of controversial issues and ideas. This act could change human civilization but the decision is being made for us without an appropriate level of debate.

My goodness, these are interesting times, aren’t they?

Link to full post.

Monday, June 25, 2007

What I Did With My Weekend pt 2

(the not-computer related stuff)

1) “John Tucker Must Die” Watched this last night after computer drama. I really needed a laugh and this movie delivered. Very funny with several laugh out loud moments. The title character was portrayed interestingly. He was a very effective combination of charming and ridiculous. I mean, while his treatment of the three girls was horrible, you could see exactly why they were all so taken with him. Definitely an enjoyable way to spend 90 minutes. However, it was jarring to watch Jenny McCarthy play the mother of a sixteen year old.

2) Read Yevgeny Zamyatin’s "WE" over the weekend. Apparently, this book was an inspiration for Orwell in writing 1984. You can see some plot similarities but the presentation of "WE" is very different. It’s written as a diary of an engineer in a communist future, which makes for disjointed, rambling and thought-provoking reading. What’s really interesting is that the author took great pains to show how this man viewed, intepreted and interacted with the world in mathematical and scientific terms. The fact that the greatest literary work of this society is a Time Chart gave me flashbacks to Harlan Ellision’s "Repent, Harlequin! Said the Ticktock Man". It makes for stimulating and horrifying reading. There’s one passage in particular that made me just stop for a moment:

“But in the thirty-fifth year before the founding on the One State, our modern petroleum-based food was invented. True, only 0.2 percent of the population of the earthly sphere survived. But in exchange for all that - the cleansing of thousand-year filth - how glistening the face of the earth has become!“
Yikes.

3) Ok, this is a bit old but I had to share. When I saw this in the grocery store:

My first thought was, when did Yoda start a chocolate company? (Yes, I know it’s not spelled right.)

Link to full post.

Ubuntu Install – Not quite so simple

I spent most of the weekend preparing to install Ubuntu via Wubi and attempting to do so. Needless to say, my install did not work. I attempted 3 times to install using Wubi but each time the process locks up at the same point (fairly far along in the installation process).

But all is not lost. One on the great things about Ubuntu is the help community. I posted a request for help at the Wubi help forum, and got some feed back. My problem is that I run out of memory during the swap.disk creation, likely due to my small RAM size. Honestly, I should have checked out the RAM requirements more throughly before trying Wubi.

Tonight, I plan to install Xubuntu which is a lower performance version of Ubuntu. If that doesn’t work, than I’m going to have to something complicated to make this work (which is a bit scary, but hey, that’s why I’m here). If there’s no progress by the end of this week, it may be time for plan B.

If anyone is considering using Wubi to test drive Ubuntu, here’s some tips from my weekend experience:

1) Defragment your hard drive before downloading Wubi. This can minimize some of the more common memory errors. It also helps if you clean up your hard drive before defragmenting by deleting unused programs, files, etc.

2) Know your computer components and settings. Aside from the obvious reasons for doing this, there are some configurations which have trouble with Wubi so there may be some extras things you need to check out before deciding to install.

3) Have a digital camera ready. If the computer gets stuck, you can take a picture to post on the help forum. Also, it helps to get a picture of the log files (Alt+F4) during the install process. There are several examples in the help forum, which reminds me...

4) READ THE WUBI HELP FORUM. This lets you know what the common problems are and the limitations of the Wubi install. Also, the previously covered errors give a lot of good advice of how to detect and identify problems. This proved especially helpful for me in sorting through my issue. And, most importantly, you learn how to communicate problems if you have them (ie - what info do you to include for a clear response).

5) Wubi is not intended to be a permanent install. It should be used to determine if you want to permanantly install Ubuntu on your computer. So, please read up on eventually converting to Ubuntu to get an idea of what you’re in for if you like what you see.

Even with my difficulties, I consider this a relatively positive experience. I’ve learned several things during this process, some of which I expect will continue to be useful. I’m considering doing a post on the random tricks that I found in my reading. There wouldn’t be anything wow-worthy but for the newbie-user (such as myself), it might be interesting.

Link to full post.

Thursday, June 21, 2007

Linux Switch – Sources And Info

As per my personal enrichment goals, here’s the first of hopefully many posts on switching to a Linux-based system.

With Dell’s recent decision to provide computers loaded with Linux, there’s a great deal of hype out there. There are also some very good sources for determining if this is a change worth making. Obviously, sites run by Linux users aren’t objective BUT their enthusiasm is catching. The better ones do a very good job detailing what criteria are helpful in determining if you want to switch. And, of course, what’s necessary to switch.

Most of the sources I looked out focused on Ubuntu Linux distributions. I wanted something that had a great deal of easy-to-find documentation associated with it. I found the most information on this particular distribution and, most importantly, what I found was informative, clearly-written and interested me.

Ubuntu Home Page - The definitive source for ubuntu and how-to switch. Links to the ubuntu.wiki and ubuntu help forums. Reading the forums for “absolute beginners” was a big help for me because it gave me an idea of what the common problems were and how to handle them.

Ubuntu Geek – Good weblog with lots of specific and interesting information. I have a feeling after I install Ubuntu, I will be returning here often.

Weblog of Marcel Gagne - Weblog for author of many how-to Ubuntu & Linux books. I read his “Moving to Ubuntu” (free on-line version). I’d recommend it for anyone considering a switch.

Wubi - the Ubuntu installer for Dummies (ie – what I plan to use). It creates a virtual hard drive partition automatically so you can run both Windows & Ubuntu. The same group is also working on a way to convert from this virtual partition to a real one. Just a warning: Wubi is in beta. I recommend reading the help forum and associated guides before installing.

Coming Up - Report Card on Installing Ubuntu using Wubi, Possibly also on initial post-install steps

Link to full post.

Auto News & CO2 Emissions

More interesting auto news from my Company-supplied e-zines:

Alliance partners Renault SA and Nissan Motor Co. are conducting a feasibility study for the potential of a $3,000 car for the Indian Market...Last week a French newspaper reported that Renault already was developing such a vehicle and plans to open a new technical center in India with 1,000 engineers to support the program.”
“Ghosn [head of Renault and Nissan] didn’t confirm that report. But he did vow that Nissan and Renault would be key players in the next wave of low-cost vehicles...
“…Ghosn notes that India’s low-cost engineering and manufacturing base – and growing number of local suppliers – makes the country well-suited for the program...

Ok, cheap cars for India are great. These cars represent continued upward mobility in the world’s largest democracy. And the mention of the suppliers shows there’s a solid reason for expecting long-term growth. Considering the market for cheaper cars in India is HUGE, this is a good investment for Nissan. But, articles like this one point out the futility of the following (also from industry e-zine):

[US] lawmakers are considering a compromise on fuel economy standards as dissent over the issue threatens to derail the U.S. Senate’s plans to vote on a new energy bill this week...
...The compromise would still raise average fuel economy requirements for cars and trucks to 35 miles per gallon by 2020...But it would eliminate 4% annual increases after that, which would have raised the standard to 52mpg by 2030 – a level automakers have declared impossible.

With India and China comprising an increasing % of the global car market, what good do tightened US car regulations do for bringing down world-wide emissions?

Answer: Not much, except continue to highlight the attitudes of those who think the US and Europe are solely responsible for environmental problems. And those same people who give the rest of the world a free pass.

In a more humorous excerpt, the e-zine had this TRW* advertisement:

Is it just me or does he look like an Asian version of Mike Myers’ Dieter persona?
See? See? Apparently, nothing says safety like a grim-faced men in black turtlenecks.

*Bias alert! I work for a competing automotive safety company. But I would totally make fun of our ads if given the opportunity.

Link to full post.

Thursday's Occurances of Note

1) Flemming Rose of Mohammed cartoons fame now has a blog with Pajamas Media. His first few posts cover everything from Sir Salman Rushdie, women’s lib for immigrants in Denmark and worldwide demographic trends. It definitely leaves me eager for more.

2) CA company develops lasers without heat. And it’s being tested for various commercial applications right now.

3) The latest weapon in the War on Terror – Cyborg Moths. The US military plans to use chip-implanted moths to find, track and eavesdrop on terrorist enclaves.

4) China surpasses US as No.1 in CO2 emissions. I eagerly await condemnation from environmental organizations.

Link to full post.

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Great Article, Bad Attitude

Via Instapundit, I read this article on a key development in stem-cell research. A Japanese researcher has managed to get mouse adult cells to transform into stem cells. If successfully duplicated for humans, this is a breakthrough of astonishing magnitude. However, two quotes caught my eye.

First of all:

The previous head of the International Society for Stem Cell Research, Lawrence S. B. Goldstein, had even dismissed reprogramming as quixotic. "If there are scientists who morally oppose [embryonic] stem cell research and want to devote their energies to uncovering alternatives, that's fine," said Goldstein. "But in no way, shape, or form should we ask the scientific community and patient community to wait to see if these new alternatives will work."

Note the dismissive tone. “Alternate views are ok, except that we're going to proceed like they don't exist.” In my opinion, this highlights the problem of depending on expert consensus to inform public opinion. For things like research, experts are there to provide grounding in seperating pie-in-the-sky from good science. They are successfull when they can read the trends of ongoing research and understand how to build upon it further. But, this ability could degrade in situations where something peturbs the trends. But pertubations, unforseen twists occur ALL THE TIME. Why is this a big deal? Here’s the second quote:
Two years ago, Dr Janet D. Rowley, an Australian working in the US who is an implacable foe of the Bush Administration's policy, dismissed ethical solutions like Yamanaka's. "We have extremely limited research dollars, and to use them to study these alternatives is wrong," she declared. "That money should be available for actual research."

Ah, the real reason for deriding alternate views. If scientists depend on money for research, then the stakes aren’t about truth anymore. The stakes are about who gets the biggest cut of the pie. So, the scientific community (which helps determine where the money goes) gets together and says “this is right, this is not”. They control the dialogue AND the pocketbook by advising the politicians (most of whom wouldn’t know pluripotency from pyromania).

What I find especially interesting is the tone. Some scientists and intellectuals often bemoan American’s anti-intellectual leanings. But it's not entirely undeserved on their part. Even as an engineer, I wonder how they can blame ordinary people for dismissing them when they do the same if it doesn't serve their interests. For a profession (theoretically) dedicated to objective thought, there are some who rarely bother with the effort. Note the utter lack of respect for someone who considers theraputic cloning to be morally wrong. Personally, I don't know if I agree with that but I also don’t walk around wholly dimissing such concerns.

Compare Dr. Rowley's response with, you know, a scientist actually peforming stem cell research.
Even the Australian doyen of therapeutic cloning, Alan Trounson, of Monash University, is enthusiastic. "It would change the way we see things quite dramatically," he says. He plans to start experiments "tomorrow".

Note he is not concerned about funding or speed. He's actually concerned about (wait for it) the science.

Everytime I hear someone like Dr. Rowley speak in this manner, I remember an episode of “Babylon 5” called “Deathwalker”. A former war criminal discovers a chemical treatment for immortality but the serum requires people die to make it. The human government offers the war criminal safe harbor in exchange for her formula. This Faustian pact is only avoided when another alien race intervenes.

Dimissing ethical concerns puts scientists in a position of dismissing those that would use, judge and determine the human utility of scientific research: everyday people. And this is no minor danger. As previously pointed out, with humanity headed toward potential transformation, the best bet for human permance is empowering individuals to make more intelligent decisions.

In this case, politicized science is a clear and present danger to our future because they inform our ability to assess risks and rewards. They compromise this ability by degrading the public's critical thinking skills as well as their own. As representatives of science, this orthodoxy is who advises those that make, enforce and interpret our laws. Meaning, the more we are dependent on experts then more we are subject to their will, their personal dogmas and their fallability.

Link to full post.

10 years of Stargate:SG-1



In mere days, the very last episode of "Stargate: SG-1" will air in the US. To commemorate this deeply sad occurance, here is a summary of all that is great and wonderful about Stargate fandom. Everyone talks about the show and deservedly no show = no fans. However, Stargate fandom is the first I got really sucked into with episode boards, meta-commentary, fanfiction, the works. It's been a blast the whole way. So, I got to give credit where its due because I wouldn't love the show quite so much without some of the people cited below.

Disclaimer: All items are linked to sources, no credit is claimed for anything but putting it all on one page. All pictures are from TWOP Motivational Poster thread (go here) except the last one whose source I do not know.



I. Actors Who Rock

2) The MacGyver prank. Amanda Tapping in action.

1) Michael Shanks and his snarky comment at GateCon. When asked for some insight into the show, something we fans don’t know, he said, "Daniel’s actually a night-time ninja. He fights crime in the streets of Colorado Springs. When everyone thinks he’s up late studying stuff, he’s actually fighting crime on the streets. There's a little tidbit for you fan fiction writers." And the writers ran with it, check out the Ninjafic Series here, here and here.

II. Fan Commentary

Stargate has some very creative fans. And not just for fanfiction. Here's some of my favorites.

3) Lost City Spoof by sgeureka: A fanvid made parodying the season 7 finale. All sound and dialogue is taken from the DVD commentaries. I can't imagine how long this took.

2) Stargate Sg-1 Cartoons by Leah Rosenthal Comic: Parodies the show. Other good Stargate comics are here.

1) Everybody's crazy about a Sharp Dressed Man by niamaea: Part 1 of 5. A picture essay discussing Dr. Jackson's clothes through the years. Because on a show about aliens, world-in-peril and the future of humanity, everyone stresses about the clothes. Or the hair.



III. Fanfiction
Stargate is my favorite place for fanfiction. This fandom has the most gems, the most variety in types of stories and the most of my favorites. You wouldn't know it, but this is the short list.

1) “$14.95 plus tax” & it’s sequel “Shipping & Handling” by martyfan: SG-1 reacts to their action figures after disclosure.

2)“Teal’c’s Five Favorite Board Games” by paian: There's a whole sub-genre of 5 things stories. This is one of the best.

3) “The Towers on the Heights…” by minervacat: Technically this is a Stargate:Atlantis story but there’s some crossover characters. Plus it’s about sports in the Stargate universe something I never thought necessary or interesting until I read this.



4) "Look to the Heavens and Number the Stars” and “The Silent Language of the Star” by minervacat: The trials and terrors of being the SGC’s librarian.

5) "Flying Fists, Crouching Archeologist” by Recognizing Orion: Sam teaching Daniel self-defense, set in the first season.

6) “The Harry Situation” by Neuropsych: SG-1 attends a Harry Potter conventions to convince Teal’c the books aren’t real. It really doesn’t go as planned.

7) “Certified” and “Certainly” by Tallulah Rasa: SG-1 and psychiatric evaluations, set in season 2 and 7, respectively.



8) “How Being on SG-1 Isn’t All Space Babes and High Adventure” by kellifer_fic: Lt. Col. Cameron Mitchell adjusts to leading SG-1.

9) “Scotoma” by rydra_wrong: Alternate Universe. What if Daniel’s wife had been saved after he died?

10) "Of Belonging to Another” by pellucid: Former Goa'uld hosts support group.

11) “Unforgotten” by cofax: Teal’c’s son joins the SGC with a question on his mind.

12) "Folsom Prison Blues” by Eve11: SG-1 are in jail. Again.



13) "Performance Reviews" and "Training Exercises" by redbyrd_sgfic: SG-3 and Dr. Jackson get de-briefed and forced to participate in training exercises after allowing their space-ship to be hijacked.

14) “The Barista” by dietcokechic: The improbable friendship between SG-1 and a coffee shop employee as told from the barista’s perspective. SG-1 fanfic writers do very good outsider POV pieces but this is one of the best (and longest).

15) “A Million Years Into the Sky” by niamaea: One possible future for SG-1.



(sniff)

Link to full post.

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

One Small Step...

NASA Signs Commercial Space Transportation Agreements. Another commercialization milestone for NASA. Here’s the key bit:

"...said Scott Horowitz, NASA associate administrator for Exploration Systems. 'First there were two, and now there are a total of five private companies cooperating with NASA by dedicating entirely private funding to help establish a robust commercial space transportation industry.' "

NASA provides design requirements but the private sector provides the design and not on the taxpayers’ dime. Hopefully, if this works we can expect more such ventures in the future.

Link to full post.

A Weird Combination of Unrelated Events

1) Robot ‘Minister’ Performs Wedding – And of course it's in Korea.

2) Squirrel Attack Injures Three Poeple - Filthy Tree Rats. At least they killed this one. But there are many more out there, just waiting for their chance.

3) Ok, I may get struck by lightening for this but, LAMEST SUPERHERO EVER! (forwarded by a co-worker)

4) In an effort to combat the shallow offerings of YouTube, this Wall Street Journal writer composed a list of more edifying sources of on-line videos.

Link to full post.

Monday, June 18, 2007

Misogyny in Britain

An absolutely horrifying account of honor killings & forced marriages in Britain. I can’t imagine what some of these women must be going through. The very idea of someone telling me what to wear much less who to marry makes me what “to take arms against a sea of troubles and by opposing end them.” Preferably with something explosive and painful.

Link to full post.

Monday Morning FYI

1) Ok, this is like a week old but it's too neat not to link to. A team at MIT has develop a means of wireless power transfer with magnetically coupled resonators. Via Futurepundit.

2) The Speculist has some interesting thoughts on masculinity in the age of virtual and optional gender.

3) Shadow sculptures, an art form that both never occurred to me and totally impresses. Although, it does give “Allegory of the Cave” flashbacks.

Link to full post.

Sunday, June 17, 2007

Personal Enrichment

At the beginning of 2007, I started a To-Do list. This is not a leap for me. I’m a To-Do list fiend. But, this list was not about chores, errands, work or bills. The prompt was “What would I like to improve about myself?” Here are some of the items on my list:

1) Do Volunteer Work: I’ll donate $$ without blinking an eye but give up my precious weekends? Ha!

2) Switch to Linux: More like develop dual-boot capability. I figure learning more computer stuff is never useless. Research stage is complete. I’m in the backing up & cleaning up my computer stage. Toward the end of July, I will be partitioning my hard drive and installing Ubuntu (gulp).

3) Take A Self-Defense Course: I signed up for a Krav Maga class but I had to go out-of-town for work a lot so I missed most of the sessions. Need to re-sign up.

4) Unclutter Apartment: Have given away old clothes, thrown away old boxes / stuff-I-saved-for-reasons-that-elude-me-now, re-organized my personal files and been cleaning my apartment more often. Still need to re-sell some books/DVDs, give away some more clothes, re-organize entry closet / under my bed storage and dust my baseboards (my mother has repeatedly insisted this is necessary).

5) Start a weblog: (ahem) Now I just have to keep up with it.

6) Be More Sociable: To accomplish this I thought, join something that requires actual interaction with actual people. I’ve been looking & I’m a bit torn between the local Astronomy club, a shooting club, or a gardening club.

7) Take 1-2 Classes: Can be on any topic. I signed up for a First Aid course but missed it because of travel for work. Perhaps a language class to go with it?

8) Re-plant my patio garden: I let this get into dis-repair over the last winter so it’s good to see green & flowers out there again. Apartment patios are terribly bleak without something growing in them.

9) Improve Photography Skills: I’m terrible! Lately, I’ve been taking more pictures but there’s a lot of room for improvement here.

There are a few other items, but they’re smaller, more like preparations for next year’s list.

I think I’m going to start 1 or 2 regular features on this blog to further some of these goals. Here's some ideas:
- Updates on PE Goals: Monthly summary of status of above.
- Off the Beaten Path: Texas: Review some of the smaller, less well-known Texas attractions. Examples: Central Texas Antique Car Musuem or The Menil Collection in Houston. I’m thinking one every couple of months.
- Switching to Linux: This is the biggest computer-related anything I’ve ever attempted. I kinda want to record it and, if possible, help anyone out considering the same change.

Right now, I think the most good I can do is in improving myself, getting better at blogging and paying attention to the world around me. As far as further work goes, I’m going to keep an eye on the building of Ejectia. According to Mr. Whittle, version 1.0 will be up and running around July 4th. I have a feeling, next year’s personal enrichment list will be a great deal more interesting than this year’s.

Link to full post.

Friday, June 15, 2007

TGI Miscellaneous

1) Did you ever wonder how your cursor arrow worked? Mystery solved! Drag your cursor over the magnifying glass to see.

2) Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky BobbyHILARIOUS. When Will Ferrell is on, he is on-fire. Everyone in the supporting cast managed to be over-the-top and sincere. The only drawback is the second act drags a bit but it picks up again. How can you not love a movie with a gay French stock car driver as the antagonist? Although he had great lines, this is my favorite:

“If we wanted wusses, we would have named them ‘Dr. Quinn’ and ‘Medicine Woman!’ “ – Carly, referring to her two sons, Walker and Texas Ranger

3) One of the perks about working for a Japanese company is the exposure to new and interesting experiences, especially those of a culinary nature. Sometimes, these experiences are unpleasant (shrimp-flavored Cheetos = blech) but every so often, you find something delightful. Today is a latter example:

Chocolate Oreo-like outside + creamy banana filling = YUM

4) In conclusion, zucchini!

Link to full post.

Thursday, June 14, 2007

GO! SPURS! GO! (part deux)

In honor of the Spurs sweep of the NBA finals, I give you the fans:

Children love them....


Pets too....



Hell, even the French like them (b/c of Tony Parker)


The most important thing is to get them young...

This is an earlier picture of one of the newest San Antonians.

More pictures can be found here.

Link to full post.

Go to BBspot More Often

Because all three were found there....

1) Digital Camera memory card with wi-fi (“Look Ma No Hands!”) – I don’t know about the $100 target price but once that drops down to about $50, I’ll be on that bandwagon.

2) Launch Ubuntu in your browser. I’m thinking of switching to this system so it’s a hassle-free chance for me to play around with it. Cool.

3) HOLY MOLY. The largest digging machine on the planet. Or maybe it was an erector set exposed to that same weird radiation that made Them? I have a sudden and inexplicable urge to buy a wrench.

Link to full post.

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

A Wandering, Wondering Mind

*WARNING: The following post is a bit rambling. The gears in my head are making too much noise for me to think straight. I'm undergoing something of a paradigm shift. Historically, those can be messy.

In re-reading my review of Radical Evolution, I got to thinking.....The Future is a whole industry nowadays. People with differing visions of where we are going, where we should go, are all competing with one another for our attention and presumably, our allegiance. These are the visionaries, the trendsetters. They are necessary and powerful, but that last part has always been true, hasn’t it? What distinguishes this time & place, is that the masses have the ability to respond back in kind through weblogs, on-line communities and message boards. While the bigwigs debate policy, trying to determine what’s best for us, is standing around listening really carefully the best we’re capable of? Are we to use all this hard-earned technology to become nothing more than a peanut gallery with a megaphone?

Instead of trying to prevent the bad effects of technologically empowered individuals through oppressive control schemes modeled after historical failures at suppression, shouldn’t we instead be focused on making ourselves better able to handle, wield and make use of that power? To modify our systems to be better able to counter and react to the threat posed by malicious or short-sighted individuals? Having read science-fiction my whole life, having read about the history of science & technology, having read weblogs since around 9/11/2001, I wonder, does Bill Whittle have the right idea?

Because Mr. Whittle calls them, The Remnant. Those average everyday people who, when a crisis arises, they appear out of the woodwork, do “the right thing” and then, they return to being average everyday people. Or, rather, they continue to be the people they have always been, only they continue to do it when no one is looks or cares anymore. Currently, people like Bill Joy worry about what crazy individuals empowered by technology could do. It occurs to me that reading “Radical Evolution” & Mr. Whittle’s essay one right after the other, stirred something up in my head. Drew a line between two things that I would not ordinarily put together. Maybe, in order for the Prevail scenario to work what we need to do is empower and strengthen the Remnant?

You know, use random individuals with sound judgement and situational expertise to counter randomly dangerous individuals with malicious intent? Fight fire with fire.

Whittle recommended creating something called “Ejectia” which although it sounds like a bad sci-fi movie is instead a proposed community to link up people, to spread knowledge & know-how, to prepare them. And from reading the follow-up posts, from seeing the enthusiasm of his readers, this will actually happen. Perhaps, by dedicating ourselves to self-improvement before a crisis we can each be ready to do our part when the time comes? Hmmmm…..Isn’t it interesting when an old idea becomes new again?

In the comments to his essay, people have been posting what they could bring to this venture. There’s person after person who opens with “Well, I don’t really know much” and then lists 8 skills or talents that blow me away. People who’ve built their own houses, home-schooled their children, had 4-5 careers, know five languages or served in the military. These people make me feel deeply lazy, make me want to tidy up my computer desk or something. And they make me want to learn…..

Reading the comments to Mr. Whittle’s essay reminded me of something I came across a few weeks ago. It was a rant by one my favorite authors in which he responds to reviewers who find some of his characters unbelievable. The punchline is that the characters in question were modeled after people the author in fact knew quite well.

We now live in a society that does not question superpowers, alien invasion or wild conspiracy theories on the basis of ridiculous conjecture, BUT what stops people in their tracks, what brings them out of a story is that people, with no superpowers/alienDNA/handwavium, can be capable, competent and able to defend the planet because of it. That is unacceptable if we are to Prevail.

I have no idea what kind of contribution I could make to Whittle's grand experiment but too often in the past, I’ve let that type of thinking stop me. This blog was created to help me get over such tendencies. To provide me a place to record, to organize and (in some instances) to correct. Because it is not enough for me to say “Prevail sounds Lovely this time of year”.

There are some who say nothing can be done, that it has gone beyond even the abilities of the powerful to control. There are some who say, that it is not our place, that there are others, “experts” who will determine the future. Both of these groups believe, that in a crisis, this Remnant is hopelessly outclassed. If the experts cannot respond effectively, then these people surely cannot. Both of these groups are, in my opinion, utterly wrong. Now, (somehow) Bill Whittle and many others (including me) have to prove it.

…More to follow.

Link to full post.

Why I Love History: Example 1,369,274

The following is a passage from "Albion’s Seed: Four British Folkways in America" by David Hackett Fischer:

“Sussex Puritans made heavy use of hortatory names such as Be-courteous Cole (in the Parish of Pevensey), Safely-on-high Snat (Uckfield), Fight-the-good-fight-of-faith White (Ewhurst), Small-hope Biggs (Rye), Humiliation Scratcher (Westham), Kill-sin Pemble (also Westham), and Mortifie Hicks (Hailsham). A classic example was an unfortunate woman named Ffly Fornication Bull, of Hailsham, Sussex, who was made pregnant in the shop of a yeoman improbably called Goodman Woodman.” *

It took me about five minutes to stop giggling enough to continue reading.

*Note: Weird spellings are directly from the book. Spelling in the 1600's required a bit more creativity than nowadays.

Link to full post.

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Smorgasboard

1) Due to the presence of Fiesta Texas, Sea World and the nearby Schlitterbahn, residents of San Antonio take theme parks & their rides quite seriously. So, reading this story, can I just say “Yikes!”. The picture is completely disturbing:

I’m really glad the company picnic isn’t at Sea World again this year. Suddenly, a nice, sedate dinner and some bingo for prizes sounds delightful.

2) Crossword Puzzles! Watch out though, it gets hard after 1 or 2 rounds.

3) For tonight’s NBA final, I give you Spurs fans gone wrong…

OR Don’t make banners while drunk. (Thanks to my co-worker for the pic)

Link to full post.

Monday, June 11, 2007

Why How Novel!

Our office subscribes to several automotive industry e-zines to keep us informed about markets & technologies. In today’s edition, the following article appeared:

Ford Idea: Give Engineers More Time to Engineer : Ford Motor Co. is giving its engineers two days per week free of meetings and distractions to devote entirely to engineering work, says The Detroit News.
“Obvious? Sure, but it’s still revolutionary at the famously bureaucratic Ford, according to the newspaper. Ford head of global product development Derrick Kuzak, who is behind the move, says each engineering team can choose which two days are meeting-free. The idea is to help shorten Ford’s product development cycle.”


Speaking from experience, you can get to the point where all of your regular hours are spent in various meetings and you don’t actually sit down to work until the end of the day after everyone leaves. There have been occasional weeks where I’m in this very situation although, thankfully, they aren’t that frequent for me.

But aren’t you in trouble when the company has to specifically delinate time to actually work as opposed to merely talking about work?

Link to full post.

What I Did With My Weekend

Watched a heck of a lot of TV......

“Starter Wife” on USA: Every now & again I force myself to watch a non-sci-fi show just to spread my wings a little. This is how I discovered “Bones”*, and the now deservedly defunct “Veronica Mars”. Occasionally, I’m left highly unimpressed (I’m looking at you “Grey’s Anatomy”!). The “Starter Wife” is in the middle ground between those two. The two-hour pilot had some very funny, touching and scathingly cynical moments. Debra Messing plays the main character understated but quite well as a woman who both knows exactly what’s going on and is completely baffled by it. In a fine use of both overseas and sci-fi talent, it has both Miranda Otto & Gigi Edgley in the supporting cast. You may remember them from the last two “LOTR” movies and “Farscape”, respectively.

Also viewed this weekend:
“My Super Ex-Girlfriend” : Pretty funny movie. I’m surprised it didn’t do better in its original release. Fast-paced, good action sequences (best use of stunt shark since "Jaws"). Uma Thurman was outrageously funny in this. Luke Wilson played the regular Joe love-interest in a very likable way. Also, any movie with Eddie Izzard playing a super-nemesis is must-see.

“The Devil Wears Prada” : Excellent. I never read the book but there were many things I liked about this movie. It manages to walk a fine line between critique and show-casing. The characters Nigel, Emily & even the Dragon-Lady herself all convey (completely correctly I think) the actual, valid work of creating modern fashion. This contrasts well with Anne Hatheway’s character who is not very likable in the beginning or middle of the movie. In the beginning she’s very condescending (although that is reciprocated wholly) and in the middle she’s hypocritical and self-righteous. But, the pay-off’s worth it. For nothing else, you need to see this movie for Meryl Streep’s performance as Miranda Priestley. I do not usually like her work but here, completely mesmerizing. Best almost two hours I’ve spent in a long time.

Spurs Game Last Night: MY JINX IS BROKEN! I went over to a friend's to watch the game and they actually ended up winning. Discovered Watermelon Martinis in the process.

*I only provide links to shows/movies that do not currently suck.

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Sunday, June 10, 2007

Book Review: Radical Evolution

Heaven, Hell, Prevail & Transcend. These are the four scenarios discussed within Joel Garreau’s “Radical Evolution”. The scenarios are possibilities for our future based on the promise & peril of the emerging GRIN technologies: Genetic engineering, Robotics, Information and Nanotechnology. The author presented each scenario with very even-hand and was especially balanced in comparing both the different scenarios & the personalities advocating each. He also managed a truly rare feat, to make his opinions clear without hijacking the argument to advocate his take on the whole thing. At each of the chapter breaks there was a short synopsis, including some broad guidelines for determining which scenario is beginning to appear.

Overall, this book is exactly the kind of thoughtful and balanced review of technological change that I’d been hoping for when I bought it. You come away with a desire to learn more and a heightened awareness of technology in your own life. The author makes excellent use of both academic citations, widely-published references, statistics and anecdotal evidence. In one of the most telling signs of my enjoyment, I read the notes & suggested reading sections. Indeed my “To-Read” list has several new entries today. This is one of those bibliographies that you keep score on: Books I already own or have read = 4, Books on my To-Read List Already = 10.

What made the book so enjoyable for me, was my own reaction to it. This reaction was not surprising, given my personal & political beliefs. Neither Heaven nor Hell appealed. I was equally disturbed reading both sections. The “Heaven” scenario struck me as bland and uninspiring, almost horrifying in its reductionism. The Hell scenario, while all-too-plausible, renders humanity into a mob to be controlled, dictated to and ultimately, robbed of possible enlightenment in the name of precaution. Both mind-sets express a similar arrogance, that individuated humanity can be reduced to extreme futures of uniform salvation or damnation.

But, such extreme prophesizing reminds me of an old quote (which I believe is originally Greek), “Nothing in Excess”. In the balance between optimism & pessimism, Prevail & Transcend options are so more intuitively-reasonable to me. Both readily acknowledge the complex individuality of volitional human nature. These scenarios and their followers demonstrate a greater comfort with that which they cannot control, know or predict. And, especially appealing to me, both tie moral development to humanity’s future. In creating this future, we will be morally and ethically challenged to be better, not “just” making ourselves smarter, faster or healthier.

Both the Heaven & Hell scenarios, as presented in the book, ignore this aspect of the problem. The Heaven scenario acts as if as we become more machine such questions will cease to apply. The Hell scenario assumes humanity must be bound, restricted and held down for our own good because the consequences of bad moral judgment are too high to bear.

Needless to say, this book made me think while also being hugely entertaining. I will definitely be turning the ideas presented over in my head for some time to come.

Link to full post.

Friday, June 8, 2007

GO! SPURS! GO!

Prayers have been answered. I give you the Salesian Sisters of Mary Immaculate Province.



Awesome. Before moving to SA, the only sports events I had ever followed with regularity were my little brother’s soccer games. But it’s hard to ignore Spurs fans; they’re just so darn sincere. Not to mention the team which for the most part has an excellent sense of sportsmanship and good graces. Listening to these guys is the cure for anyone tired of the spoilt, pampered brats that pass for athletes nowadays.

Unfortunately, my latent superpower is jinxing the Spurs. If I tune into a Spurs game for even 30 seconds, they will immediately begin to lose. But, highlight reel can be very exciting, so I cheer then.

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Thursday, June 7, 2007

Stone + Brick = NO

With all the construction going on in San Antonio, my morning commute involves scenic views of many a new-born subdivision. Most of the time, I like to stare & daydream...Except this one place.

There's tons of limestone in this area so it's not uncommon to see older houses done in stone or, in the nicer new neighborhoods, homes with stone accents. But in these places, usually, it's stone OR brick NOT both. This subdivision is therefore an exception, a visually overdone and tacky exception.

For example:
1)
Every time I drive by this place, I see this house and other just like it. I always wonder if they just couldn't get enough of one material or the other so decided to use both*. It's gaudy and overdone, both of which are things you don't usually see in San Antonio. Houston, however...

2)
This looks slightly better. At least the brick chosen compliments the stone better. But, when you compare it with this:


This is an unfinished house with only the stone put in. The house is a world of better looking than the other two (and of course facing away from the main road) It's composed and classy. Everything you see goes together and has an understated but confident appeal.

After years of houses that look like wooden replicas of pillboxes, I'm glad builders in this area are offering some greater variety & quality options like the stone-work. Indeed, a great deal of the older buildings in this area are stone. But, I will be marking down the name of this builder and, when I buy a house, they're off the list.

*It is possible. My parents, when building their house last year, ran into a similar problem & had to choose different brick when the supplier of their original choice got audited by the EPA (no joke). Apparently, the materials used to color the bricks were "hazardous" and they had to be regularly checked out to ensure the bad dust is handled properly before it goes into bricks for people's homes.

Link to full post.

The Future is Now

Via, The Speculist, go check out this video of new tabletop computers. They look fantastic and like they would be quite fun to use. I especially like how easy it is to transfer files between devices. Right now, I have to carry around a variable size memory card drive & a USB cable in my purse to accomplish that at work and home.

PS - The Speculist has had a number of good posts recently. It's always worth taking the time to read.

Link to full post.

Wednesday, June 6, 2007

Things I Learned on Wednesday

1) Scientists discover 24 new species, including this pretty little amphibian:


2) Season 4 will be Battlestar Galactica’s last, but at least it sounds like the producers decided to go out with a bang. I’m glad I don’t have to wait quite as long for a new episode (2hr “Razor” in November 2007).

3) The Planetary Society has some pictures up of entrants into the Lunar Regolith Challenge to design an automated digging machine that could work on the Moon or Mars. The pictures include everything from the super simple to the weirdly complex. It sounds like the technology’s there; a couple of the current entrants made progress but did not meet the criteria necessary to win the challenge. I am really glad NASA seems to be doing more challenges and the like.

There are several other open challenges. From the NASA Centennial Challenges website, the following are all underway:


4) This day in history: D-Day. I'm a little ashamed to admit I almost forgot about this. Interesting information & background here. The comments include some excellent stuff as well such as musings on the leftovers from WWII still present on the British coast and that fact the allies made ginormous floating ports to supply the troops after the invasion.

Link to full post.

Don't Mess With Old People: Redux

While I’m always happy to know our nation’s elderly continuing to be productive & useful members of society, this quote is disheartening:

"I had looked around the plane for help, and all the younger guys had averted their eyes. When I asked the guy next to me if he was up to it, all he said was, 'Retired captain. USMC.' I said, 'You'll do,' " Hayden recalled. "So, basically, a couple of grandfathers took care of the situation." (emphasis mine)

Young men of America (or at least the Minneapolis-Boston corridor), you’re not looking good here.

The wife of the retired cop also had an absolutely awesome attitude:

"The woman sitting in front of us was very upset and asked me how I could just sit there reading," Katie Hayden said. "Bob's been shot at. He's been stabbed. He's taken knives away. He knows how to handle those situations. I figured he would go up there and step on somebody's neck, and that would be the end of it. I knew how that situation would end. I didn't know how the book would end."

I can only hope that if I am ever in a similar situation, there’s plenty of retired military around to talk me through it. Since I live in San Antonio with it's plethora of military bases, that’s probably a good bet.

Link to full post.

Monday, June 4, 2007

Monday Stuff

Putin Threatens Europe : In one of the most un-surprising events of the weekend, Russia’s thuggish former-spy-in-chief acts like, well, a thug. There are so many things wrong with what he’s saying, I just don’t know where to begin. I bet a lot of Eastern European countries are feeling very justified about joining in the missile defense shield right now. Is Putin an untrustworthy bastard or what?

“Fearless” starring Jet Li. I did not watch this when it first came out due the anti-western nature of the trailer. However, the actual movie does not focus on that at all. Jet Li does an excellent job playing a character that’s not always likeable and as usual, has wonderfully emotive facial expressions. He really is underappreciated in that regard. The film is well-paced, fights are nicely spaced out and just when the drama/angst gets boring, well, time for another smack-down. The movie does focus on a time unpleasant for China but it does not make the foreigners faceless bad guys. Some are good guys, some are not. Some aspects of western civilization are shown without criticism and some are shown in their historically accurate unfavorable light. I especially liked the relationship between Jet Li’s character & the Japanese fighter, Tanaka.

Hilarious Item of the Day: While catching up at the Motivational Poster thread on Television without Pity, I found this. Scroll down three-quarters of the page to Notorious JMG’s entry.
Three words: Daleks, kittens and…..self-fulfillment.

Coming up this week Book review/essay (I don’t quite know which yet) and, possibly, a music post

Link to full post.

Fanfiction & Censorship

I read a lot of fanfiction in various fandoms and enjoy it greatly. In the last year or so, I have discovered LJ or LiveJournal. Although it is populated with, by my tastes, strange & weird people who write about some topics I’m not always comfortable with, I love it because occasionally I come across a story or a recommendation for something that really blows my mind, changes how I re-read the book, watch the TV show or experience a movie. This is everything great about fan-created works and part of that greatness is the weird, outlandish, wonderfully stream-of-consciousness, anything-goes attitude.

In light of LiveJournal’s recent crackdown, one person decided to get a little bit of their own back….by writing anthropomorphic porn. Ladies & Gentlemen, I give you “Making Up Is Hard To Do (Fandom/LJ, NC-17)” by china_shop. Here’s a quote:

“Look, just get out of my face for a while, okay? I’m so mad at you, I could— I could—”

“What?” LJ eyed her warily. An angry Fandom was unpredictable and quite possibly dangerous.

Fandom’s lips curled bitterly. “If I say ‘kill you’, will you suspend me for death threats?”


Hehehe. I love the internet soooo much.

Link to full post.

Sunday, June 3, 2007

Hilarious Spoof of 9/11 Conspriacy Theorists

Wow, 2 posts in one day...This is a first.

I saw this youtube video over at Conservative Jedi. It's hilarious! I don't know what show it is from but this is the best counter to those ridiculous theories I've seen yet!

My favorite part:
Host: "You're saying fire melts steel?"
LL: (deadpan) "Yes, that's how they make steel."
Host: (shocked & skeptical) "They make steel?"

HA! If there's one thing I love, it's humiliating the technologically ignorant.

Link to full post.

Updated Blogroll

See Right Column. Updated to more accurately reflect reading habits.

Changed “Daily Reads” to “Favorites” and added the following:
David Brin’s Website – Website & blog of, in my opinion, one of the more innovative modern sci-fi writers and an absolutely brilliant futurist/essayist.
Baen Books – The pinnacle of modern Military Sci-Fi. Offers books free on-line after 3-6 months of paperback publishing. Start with the 1632 or Honor Harrington series for the best of the best.

Link to full post.

Friday, June 1, 2007

NASA Report on Asteroid Deflection

Ok, based on my previous post, I decided to read the NASA report on asteroid deflection (warning: link is to a large .pdf file). Previously, I had commented that there could be some relationship between setting up a space-SOSUS network & asteroid tracking. My purpose in reading this report was to determine if I was right.

The short, short, short version (original report was 271 pages):

Facts & Terms I did not know:
1) Atens & IEOs – neither type of asteroid is easy to find because they either never cross Earth’s orbit (IEO are Inner-Earth Orbits, always inside Earth’s orbit, so detecting them in the presence of the sun is difficult) or they criss-cross it relatively quickly (have very eccentric orbits, like a stretched out oval).

2) Radar has a limited range of 0.3 AU (~45 million miles, which sounds like a lot until you realize the Solar System is 100+ AU across) so it can’t be very useful to find asteroids and can only be helpful for characterizing asteroids if they approach close to Earth (where the best radar detection equipment is).
3) Precovery – When an asteroid is discovered, astronomers go back to scan old data to see if it was recorded but not identified before. The interesting part is that amateur astronomers most often perform this service thanks to several shared databases.

Good News:
We can theoretically stop most types of potential impacts. The report studied 4 scenarios & performed analysis using the variety of impact prevention (called “mitigation”) techniques. The results demonstrated that is it physically possible & technically feasible for us to stop most impacts (see “Terrifying News” for exception). The catch is getting enough warning to design & deploy the mitigation equipment/material in a timely manner.

Once this survey is complete, we should be able to predict asteroid orbits for up to a century barring interaction with other bodies. This means two things (1) if an asteroid is a danger we had more time to do something about it and (2) if something happens to change orbit of a NEO, we will be able to identify it quicker. In terms of solar system surveillance, this is a step in the right direction.

The most effective means of asteroid deflection require the least information about the asteroid. Without question, nuclear explosives were the most effective means of asteroid deflection (as in orders of magnitude more effective). This is good news because this is the technology we have the most experience in and considering, we may only get one shot at deflection, reliability & development time are big factors in success. It also means we don’t need to do too much characterization (ie – send probes to find out info about possible threat). Once we know the target’s size & mass, mitigation is possible. More info is good & could help reduce the need for multiple mitigation attempts but it is not strictly necessary.

Not-so-Good News:
Some of the results, including the feasibility analysis, are dependent on hardware not currently in use such as the proposed Ares V rocket. There are also several mentions of in-orbit assembly of systems beyond the lift capacity of even the Ares. Unfortunately, NASA has a bad habit of counting on equipment or processes that either don’t get built or don’t perform as well as they planned (see Space Shuttle). I don’t particularly like the idea that the fate of the planet could depend on NASA’s sluggish & over-constrained design processes.

Bad News:
We need a lot more mission reliability in order to pull off mitigation for all but easiest scenarios. Most of the 4 scenarios mention multiple mitigation attempts as a worst-case (ie – things don’t work as we expect them, always a good bet in space travel). There is a very real possibility that initial mitigation attempts will not be successful. Currently, interplanetary missions have a 10% failure rate. In order to be competent at mitigation (ie – be able to deflect all different types of threats), we need a <1% failure rate. Very little is mentioned about how to go about getting from point A to B.

Terrifying News:
We can’t do anything about long-period (LP) comets. Now, don’t panic. They are pretty rare. Unfortunately, they are also nature’s own “worst-case scenario”. The reason they are difficult to mitigate is that long-period have unpredictable (long-period means they rarely show up in the inner solar system) routes, fast velocities (longer to “fall” into the gravity well) and, most dangerously, are difficult to detect because the volatiles on the surface would not render the comet visible until it was a mere 9-24 months from impact. The only slightly good thing here is that LP comets are a tiny fraction of all possible impact scenarios. But again, they are also likely to be among the worst situations: little warning, large size & speed (meaning more required to change its course), the effect of composition more important to mitigation (more likely to fragment and/or require multiple, complicated mitigation strategies).

Interesting / Thought-Provoking News:
Appendix O: Cross-Over potential with DoD. This appendix was apparently written by DoD personnel as a classified report. They did this for the appendix on nuclear explosive design as well. I didn’t even know this was an option although in retrospect I’m not surprised. The resulting consensus from the DoD states that there is not much cross-over potential between DoD plans & asteroid survey/mitigation due to different constraints imposed by the different agencies. Obviously, they didn’t go into too much detail. But the opinion does not lead much credence to my relating asteroid detection to a possible space-SOSUS.

After the NEO survey is complete, the improved tracking assets could be re-tasked to find Kuiper Belt Objects (KBOs). One particularly compelling estimate states that if just 10% of the “Dedicated LSST” survey option is re-tasked to search for KBOs, they predict it could find up to 100,000! I don’t know how to judge that number but the report lists several reasons why studying the Kuiper belt could be useful, most of these sound worthwhile.


The Bottom Line:
Space-SOSUS is a LOOONNGG way off which is not really a big surprise. However, this report did clarify for me as to why. Constraints are everything in a design. If we have nowhere near enough even for situations like asteroid detection and deflection that we are able to define and quantify well than designing a system to detect possible alien contact it not currently feasible (damn, it really sounds weird when I say it like that). The technical issues revolving around these missions predict future and more complex problems with space-SOSUS. Also, the budgetary issues are significant. Generally speaking, the less specific you are, the most your design will cost. I still consider preparing & countering asteroid impacts a good “test” run for multiple reasons but the pay-off is far in the future. Until there is a justification, will remain nothing more than a potential for future good.

The results of the study clearly show what people on sci-fi space battle sites have long theorized. Nothing is as effective or versatile against space targets, in this case asteroids & comets, as nuclear explosives. However, deploying said explosives to prevent an impact could be a violation of the current UN Space treaties or possibly the Nuclear Test Ban treaties. Not to mention the issues involved in testing such devices. This report explicitly points this out in several places. How that situation gets resolved on a policy level will probably be a very interesting learning experience all-round.

Also, although the long-period comets remain a fairly hopeless situation, the work we do surveying & mitigating other threats will greatly increase our ability to do something about this particular scenario. While this will always be worst-case for impacts, in time, I believe we can be more ready for it.

Looking at it though, I honestly cannot see the US* spending the kind of money needed to create this system without at least credible evidence of a threat first. The original SOSUS network was only created after Soviet & American nuclear submarines were around for several years. And, the Soviets had achieved enough technical prowess with nuclear submarines for them to be a credible threat to NATO. If such a system would ever be worth the money & effort of creating it, there would have to be significantly more justification than is currently available.

*Why not anyone else? Well, who built the original SOSUS? Who spends the most on Defense research? Who has the largest space-military infrastructure? If it’s done at all, it’ll be by the US, US plus allies or nobody.

Link to full post.