The Endless Belt Trains for Futuristic Cities described in the November, 1932 ish of Modern Mechanix is one of my all-time favorite tomorrows of yesterday -- a world run on rails, rising high above the city, slicing through it with arrow-straight, improbable lines:
Passengers board the first local train at any point, and it stops every 50 seconds for a period of 10 seconds. When the doors close, a gong sounds and the local platform starts moving. Now there is another signal and gates open for a second platform, or express, on which the passenger takes the major part of his trip. After ten seconds the gates close and the local slows down for another stop, while the express picks up to a 22 m.p.h. speed.
Noise of the system is at a minimum, and passengers are delivered at no more than 300 feet from their streets. All stations are controlled from one central point, all elements being so timed that there can be no hitches.
Link
Source:
Boing Boing | 10 Jan 2008 | 9:09 am
Amy sez,
The University of San Francisco School of Law, Intellectual Property Law Bulletin is sponsoring "The Toll Roads: The Legal and Political Debate Over Network Neutrality," a symposium to increase awareness about network neutrality, bringing together lawyers, academics, economists, and technologists for a balanced debate on the issue. Panelists include Timothy Wu, Richard Clarke, Lawrence Spiwak, and an attorney from the Electronic Frontier Foundation, among many others. There's also a chance some surprise political figures may make an appearance...
When: January 26th, 2008 8 AM - 7 PM
Where: Fromm Institute on the University of San Francisco main campus
Web: http://www.netneutrality2008.org
Cost: Professionals (6.0 Units MCLE Credit): $100
Non-professionals: Free - $75 (see registration page for details)
Register: http://www.netneutrality2008.org/Registration.html
Link
Source:
Boing Boing | 10 Jan 2008 | 8:22 am
Last week on CBC Radio's national science program, Quirks and Quarks, they broadcast a recording of a fascinating panel discussion on "The Physics of Information: What the Universe Doesn't Want You to Know," held at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo, Ontario. In this wide-ranging discussion a panel of distinguished and likable physicists run down such subjects as the universe as a computer, quantum teleportation, the fundamentals of information science, The panelists were in a state of near-hilarity through much of the the event, and that only made the subject better. Included on the panel were: Dr. Leonard Susskind (Stanford), Dr. Seth Lloyd (MIT), Dr. Christopher Fuchs (UNM), Sir Anthony Leggett (Urbana-Champaign), and the moderator, Bob McDonald, host of Quirks and Quarks.
The Physics of Information was the topic of a recent public forum, sponsored by Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo, Ontario, and moderated by Bob McDonald. And Quirks was there to record the event. Do ideas about information and reality inspire fruitful new approaches to the hardest problems of modern physics? What can we learn about the paradoxes of quantum mechanics, the beginning of the universe and our understanding of black holes, by thinking about the very essence of information? Those are some of the questions our panel tackled.
Link,
Link to MP3,
Link to podcast feed
Source:
Boing Boing | 10 Jan 2008 | 8:20 am
Ryan sez, "Dave Cournoyer, a University of Alberta student and popular Alberta blogger, is being threatened with a lawsuit by Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach regarding the registration of the domain edstelmach.ca. The Premier had failed to register the domain even four months after taking office."
The letter requests that I:
(a) make arrangements with my service provider by December 21, 2007, to ensure that the Website no longer forwards to the blog; and
(b) make arrangements to with my service provider and/or registrar to have the Website registered in their client's name.
(c) govern myself accordingly (I added this one).
If I chose not comply by their imposed deadline, the letter states that they “have been instructed by our client to commence litigation.”
As someone who has never shied away from criticizing the 36-year old Progressive Conservative government, I have always faced harsh criticism from those who don’t appreciate the views espoused on this blog or agree with my political beliefs. I accept this reality.
Link
(
Thanks, Ryan!)
Source:
Boing Boing | 10 Jan 2008 | 6:36 am
A five-year-old boy was taken into custody and thoroughly searched at Sea-Tac because his name is similar to a possible terrorist alias. As the Consumerist reports, "When his mother went to pick him up and hug him and comfort him during the proceedings, she was told not to touch him because he was a national security risk. They also had to frisk her again to make sure the little Dillinger hadn't passed anything dangerous weapons or materials to his mother when she hugged him."
It's a case of a mistaken identity for a 5-year-old boy from Normandy Park. He had trouble boarding a plane because someone with the same name is wanted by the federal government. Mimi Jung reports from Sea-Tac Airport.
You know, if you wanted to systematically discredit the idea of a Department of Homeland Security, if you wanted to make an utter mockery of aviation safety, you could
not do a better job than this.
Link
(
via Consumerist)
Source:
Boing Boing | 10 Jan 2008 | 6:35 am
Today in my ongoing series of photos from my travels: this nighttime shot of Berlin's "Check Point Curry," a currywurst-stand situated at the site of the notorious
Checkpoint Charlie on the Berlin Wall.
Link
Source:
Boing Boing | 10 Jan 2008 | 6:33 am
The wonderful folks at Evil Mad Scientist Labs have figured out how to make
edible googly eyes (snip the ed of a gelatin pill capsule pop in a round cake-sprinkle and affix it to half a Whopper; they demonstrate the technique with this excellent edible Flying Spaghetti Monster effigy!
While the gelatin capsules have a dome on each end, they have a lot of space in between that we really don't need. The photo above illustrates how much of each end we want to keep: the domed part plus a few millimeters. As it turns out, you cannot use the scissors to actually cut it there-- it will crack or suffer permanent creases, making it useless for our application...
Next, we're going to need rolling pupils for our eyes, and these fit the bill perfectly. These are Wilton Jumbo Rainbow Nonpareils, one brand of *giant* round sprinkles a couple of millimeters across. Our big surprise: these actually taste pretty good-- they're flavored candy. The downside is that we only really want dark pupils, so there's some fishing around to find them in the assortment..
Link
(
via Neatorama)
Source:
Boing Boing | 10 Jan 2008 | 6:29 am
jd writes "Fossilized skin from a dinosaur in China is allowing paleontologists a better understanding of what dinosaur skin was like. A tear, caused by a predator, shows that below the scales of the Psittacosaurus was a thick hide comprised of 25 layers of collagen. Other than the multitude of layers, this is very similar in nature to modern shark skin. The gash caused by a predator allowed the skin and the soft interior to be fossilized along with the bones. This is not the same dinosaur that had been reported previously on Slashdot, which was found in South Dakota, although the process and extent of fossilization is very similar."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source:
Slashdot | 10 Jan 2008 | 6:27 am
Yesterday, I picked up "The Dirty Canon," Marseille Figs's first album on the advice of a friend. I've barely listened to anything since. My pal called them a "three piece big band" who trade instruments around a lot and change up on every track. That's a great explanation -- they sound like a cross between Violent Femmes and Tom Waits, with some Squirrel Nut Zippers and even a little Louis Jordan tossed in for good measure, a rich stew of every music style overlaid with funny and soulful lyrics. Mostly uptempo, it put me in an instant good mood. What's more, it's just plain
lovely -- there's a current of something delicate and wistful swirling through all twelve tracks. Check out the free downloads on the site and see what you think.
Link to Marseille Figs's site,
Link to The Dirty Canon on Amazon UK
(
Thanks, Stef!)
Source:
Boing Boing | 10 Jan 2008 | 6:25 am
theodp writes "US corporations and shoppers spent more than $54M last year on credits toward tree planting, wind farms, solar plants and other projects, prompting the FTC to question whether carbon-offset money is well spent. 'There's a heightened potential for deception,' said FTC Chairwoman Deborah Platt Majoras of the green-sounding offers that seem to be confronting consumers at every turn."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source:
Slashdot | 10 Jan 2008 | 3:35 am
After suffering bumps in the road to development, Apple's iPhone takes the wireless industry by storm, and turns a power structure between carriers and manufacturers on its head in the process.
Source:
Wired: Top Stories | 10 Jan 2008 | 2:00 am
We take a look back at how companies try to convince an incurious public to buy computers or videogames during times when TV audiences weren't as tech savvy as they are today, and find some comic results.
Source:
Wired: Top Stories | 10 Jan 2008 | 2:00 am
Why Bruce Schneier runs an open network -- and you should, too.
Source:
Wired: Top Stories | 10 Jan 2008 | 2:00 am
The 45 rpm record makes its bow, and a coming legion of rock 'n' roll fans can hit their knees and give thanks.
Source:
Wired: Top Stories | 10 Jan 2008 | 2:00 am
Ron Paul probably won't be the next president of the United States. But the internet gave him more traction than an extremist candidate should expect to receive. Commentary by Tony Long.
Source:
Wired: Top Stories | 10 Jan 2008 | 2:00 am
Check out Wired's picks for standouts at CES 2008. Some are more pleasant on the eyes than others.
Source:
Wired: Top Stories | 10 Jan 2008 | 2:00 am
After suffering bumps in the road to development, Apple's iPhone takes the wireless industry by storm, and turns a power structure between carriers and manufacturers on its head in the process.
Source:
Wired: Gadgets | 10 Jan 2008 | 2:00 am
Check out Wired's picks for standouts at CES 2008. Some are more pleasant on the eyes than others.
Source:
Wired: Gadgets | 10 Jan 2008 | 2:00 am
We take a look back at how companies try to convince an incurious public to buy computers or videogames during times when TV audiences weren't as tech savvy as they are today, and find some comic results.
Source:
Wired: Gadgets | 10 Jan 2008 | 2:00 am
An anonymous reader writes "According to James Bullen of NXT, 'The UK ministry of defense was experimenting with a way to dampen the sound in helicopters and developed a honeycombed material that did the opposite — conducted sound.' Cambridge-based NXT christened it "SurfaceSound" and arranged for it to be crafted into Toyota cars, Gateway computers, Hallmark greeting cards and more. NXT is working on ways to put the technology to use in touch screens that promise to be part of a new rage in 'natural interfaces' for computers, mobile telephones, televisions and other electronic devices. Toyota has SurfaceSound in the head liners of four of its car models. NXT recently made a deal with greeting card giant Hallmark to use the technology in 'big cards with big sound' when opened, Bullen said."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source:
Slashdot | 10 Jan 2008 | 1:59 am
coondoggie writes "Looking to save $1 million, 20 tons of paper, or close to 500 trees, the White House said today President Bush's 2009 Federal Budget will for the first time be posted online. The E-Budget will be available for downloading at the Office of Management and Budget Web site on Feb. 4. Typically the White House has paper-bombed congress and anyone else who wanted to read the budget with a tome which can reach 3,000 pages and weighed multiple pounds each."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source:
Slashdot | 10 Jan 2008 | 12:49 am
mattnyc99 writes "With top geeks saying photovoltaic cells are still four years away from costing as much as the grid, and the first U.S. thermal power plant just getting into production, there's plenty of solar hype without any practical solution that's efficient enough. Until Lonnie Johnson came along. The man who invented the Super Soaker water gun turns out to be a nuclear engineer who's developed a solid-state heat engine that converts the sun's heat to electricity at 60-percent efficiency—double the rate of the next most successful solar process. And his innovation, called the Johnson Thermoelectric Energy Conversion (JTEC) system, is getting funding from the National Science Foundation, so this is no toy. From the article: 'If it proves feasible, drastically reducing the cost of solar power would only be a start. JTEC could potentially harvest waste heat from internal combustion engines and combustion turbines, perhaps even the human body. And no moving parts means no friction and fewer mechanical failures.'"
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source:
Slashdot | 9 Jan 2008 | 11:32 pm
Warning: include(/var/chroot/home/content/r/a/m/ramnem/html../footer.txt) [
function.include]: failed to open stream: No such file or directory in
/home/content/r/a/m/ramnem/html/archives/200801/20080110_world_technology.php on line
168
Warning: include() [
function.include]: Failed opening '/var/chroot/home/content/r/a/m/ramnem/html../footer.txt' for inclusion (include_path='.') in
/home/content/r/a/m/ramnem/html/archives/200801/20080110_world_technology.php on line
168
