Friday, August 22, 2003
Park Me, Baby
The Japanese have made a car that uses a video camera and a software package to park itself.
Will it kiss the girl for me, too?
Park It
Fiber Optics From the Sea
Scientists at Bell Labs say they've identified an ocean sponge capable of
growing thin glass fibers that transmit light "at least as well as
industrial fiber optic cables used for telecommunication" and are much
more flexible than man-made fiber optic cable.
One researcher: "You can actually tie a knot in these natural biological fibers and they will not
break -- it's really quite amazing." The sponge, nicknamed the "Venus
flower basket," can apparently grow the fiber at cold temperatures using
natural materials and can also accept additives such as sodium that
increase the ability of the fibers to conduct light.
A materials scientist commenting on the news: "It's such a wonderful example of how exquisite
nature is as a designer and builder of complex systems... We can draw it
on paper and think about engineering it but we're in the stone age
compared to nature."
Optic Sponge
Thursday, August 07, 2003
Fortune Cookies on Mars?
Weirdly shaped Martian dunes in the Space pic of the day. Yeah, don't tell me those things are aliens.
I wonder what the tabloids will make of this?
Wednesday, August 06, 2003
Blue Origins: Rich Men Funding Private Space Programs
Jeff Bezos of Amazon.com founded Blue Origins, yet another privately funded space program. What's this all about and will it eventually lead to private orbital space programs? The British newspaper The Independent doubts it.
Blue Origins
Tuesday, August 05, 2003
Transhumanist Convention
Once out of nature I shall never take
My bodily form from any natural thing,
But such a form as Grecian goldsmiths make
Of hammered gold and gold enamelling
William Butler Yeats
Eric Baard in the Village Voice quotes these lines from Yeats to sum up the attitude of attendees at the Transhumanist Convention at Yale in June (2003). Here's his report on those breathlessly awaiting breathless existence when their minds are uploaded to computers.
Transhumanist Convention
Monday, August 04, 2003
Minimovies As Commercials
Ads everywhere department: the way TV stations plaster their irritating logos over movies and ads for forthecoming programming with increasingly intrusive and annoying graphics that play during climatic scenes are getting another aid to our billboard culture: minimovies during commercial time intended to keep you from skipping past the bill-paying message.
The ads everywhere era is here and the scenarios of Spielberg's take on Phil Dick's "Minority Report," are not far off. My guess is that some cable stations may actually be training people to mentally block out their logos and ignore their increasingly irritating intrusions. There's a sci-fi idea here somewhere: a generation with selective attention? Oh, hell, maybe I should just trade in the rubber brick I throw at the TV screen for a real one.
Minimoives (may require registration)
Ads everywhere department: the way TV stations plaster their irritating logos over movies and ads for forthecoming programming with increasingly intrusive and annoying graphics that play during climatic scenes are getting another aid to our billboard culture: minimovies during commercial time intended to keep you from skipping past the bill-paying message.
The ads everywhere era is here and the scenarios of Spielberg's take on Phil Dick's "Minority Report," are not far off. My guess is that some cable stations may actually be training people to mentally block out their logos and ignore their increasingly irritating intrusions. There's a sci-fi idea here somewhere: a generation with selective attention? Oh, hell, maybe I should just trade in the rubber brick I throw at the TV screen for a real one.
Minimoives (may require registration)
Disney's Rocket Ride Like the Real Thing, Says Astronaut
If you want to know what it feels like to ride a rocket to the space station, but don't have the $20 million or so it costs for a tourist seat these days, an astronaut says the Disney simulation is close to the real thing.
Rocket Ride
If you want to know what it feels like to ride a rocket to the space station, but don't have the $20 million or so it costs for a tourist seat these days, an astronaut says the Disney simulation is close to the real thing.
Rocket Ride
Who's Who?
A new actor takes on the venerable Dr. Who role. The actor playing Doctor is Richard E. Grant (WITHNAIL & I, HUDSON HAWK), a familiar face to fans of Brit cinema. Grant's take on the Doctor: "Sherlock Holmes in space".
The new DR. WHO will be an animated adventure this time and not life action as previous outings have been.
New WHO
Matrix Reloaded in Japan, Very Weird
The Japanese know how to do sci-fi weird better than anyone else.
For some reason, these oddly funny and disturbing pix also remind me of Men In Black.
But I'm not sure who the aliens are.
MatrixMarch
