I just finished reading Park's book "Voodoo Science - The Road From Foolishness to Fraud" (ISBN 0-19-514710-3) - and a central theme throughout the book is his "annoyance" (ok, that is putting it kindly) with scientists and inventors who either get caught up in their experiments and go down a self-deception path (Pons/Fleishmann, Joseph Newmann) or those who outright deceive others for monetary gain.
The way this is sounding - it is sounding like so much "voodoo science", simply because of the irreproducibility of it (but, who knows? Maybe others will have success - may be too early to tell)...
From what I understand, this gun is basically the same thing as the "Newton's Pendulum" toy that clacks back and forth, but with the addition of magnets between the balls, and some distance, to cause the balls to all pick up speed so that the last one gets a lot of kinetic energy transferred to it.
Scaling it up would seem feasible, but the problem would be the shattering magnets, as well as to "reload" you would have to physically move each ball back to the starting point.
Here is where I wonder if this thing could be made "better". The problem is getting a magnet as strong as the ones used, but doesn't shatter - but I think it can be done...
Get a non-ferrous tube - an alluminium or piece of PVC pipe would do fine. Get it with an inside diameter just smaller than the ball you want to fire.
Now, wind up some "double ended" electromagnets - use very fine magnet wire, and do an excelllent job winding the magnets. Use a steel core, and wind them to the thickness of the inside diameter of the tubing. You need these electromagnets to be really strong.
Now, cut 1.5 or 2 inch lengths of the tube - put the magnet on one end, and a ball - secure the magnets extremely well. Then, "stack" the tubes together to make a long tube, so that there is a magnet and a ball between the two magnets.
One end (the "breech") leave a 3 inch piece of tube, and build some kind of "firing mechanism" (spring loaded or something to propel the ball against the first electromagnet). Do the same on the other end, but just the tube - no firing mechanism - you may want this end to be a little longer.
To load and fire:
Get a real big-ass current capacity power supply, and hook the magnets up to turn them on. Don't turn them on yet - tilt the tube up to cause all the other balls to fall to the magnets, then turn on the magnets. Load the ball on the front end (the firing chamber end), and a ball into the firing mechanism. Fire the ball - and, if everything goes right (and my back of the napkin calcs are correct - yeah right), it should do the same thing as the small version, only more powerful (maybe), and reloadable!
A revolution of the scale of 1776 is the _LAST_ thing I want to see.
What do I want to see? I want to see an informed populace making informed decisions. I want to see informed politicians making informed decisions representing their informed populace. I want to see representation. I want to honesty.
I don't want to see bloodshed.
I know now is nowhere near the time for things to be as bad as 1776. With all of the talk about the SSSCA and such, even though it is looking pretty bleak - I know that it isn't bleak enough for bloodshed - not by far.
But it is bleak enough that more people should notice. It is bleak enough that more people should care. However, it seems like nobody cares about themselves, their rights, or their neighbors.
How does one sanely live in a society knowing no one cares about themselves, let alone those around them?
Keep that feeling close to your heart, but don't let hate overtake you. Tell your friends, and urge them to tell their parents and others. Network - get the word out more.
I am sorry this is happening now - it makes me just as angry, and just as sad to see this kind of thing happen - but we must keeping fighting it.
IIRC, Boeing used (or tried out) an AR system several years back for the purpose of wiring the electrical systems of their planes. The wiring harnesses in the planes consist of several miles of wiring - all over the place.
From what I understood, the idea was to get the tech to the point where a worker could simply look at the connection points, and the AR system would show what wires went where, via an overlay. I suppose some kind of tracking system would have been needed, to position the overlay properly (and from what I have been following lately, that problem is still unsolved in general AR/VR applications - but getting there rapidly). The whole idea was to eliminate the need for a worker to stop what he is doing, exit the frame, pick up the book of diagrams, leaf through them, and figure out what goes where "abstractly". With such an AR system, production and install times would be lowered - I am sure it could be applied to a number of other areas as well (including repair after the plane is built).
Not sure where they went with it - if it was a limited trial, how well it worked, whether the equipment was up to task (I tend to think it wasn't), how workers liked it, etc. By the lack of talk on it, I tend to think it wasn't too successful - but the idea gives an example of what really can be done with AR.
What is funny about all of this is that the first "real" VR style system (ie, the "Sword of Damaecles" (sp) by Ivan Sutherland in the late 1960's) was an AR system, complete with see-through optics and "wire-frame" virtual objects...
Tomy is a strange company - they used to sell quite a few "neat" products here in the States back in the 80's (Omnibot robot line, Air Jammer vehicles) - but lately all you can find are "toddler" toys. It is interesting that they (if it is the same company - Tomica=Tomy?) are selling these small racers now.
What is more interesting is the fact that Tomy made, in a limited silver-plated edition, given only to top executives (or some other such), an "ultra-tiny" (like, about the diameter of a quarter and a couple of inches tall) programmable "omnibot" (it was of the Omnibot line - just not available to general public). Very, very few of these robots were made. I have only seen one come up for auction on Ebay - it went for several thousand dollars, IIRC. These robots were made and given out in the early-to-mid 1980's.
The tech behind all of this has a long history - it is by no means "new"...
I see this as clearly as you do - what you say makes as much sense as what I have said. The government controls the corps - the corps control the government - the people? They are almost totally out of the loop!
You are right about the blunders and the wastes that our government has perpetrated. But as demonstrated by many corporations, these same kind of blunders and wastes seem to affect them as well - they are just better at hinding it until the very end, when it really blows up.
I don't think corporations are becoming our government, not yet - but they control the strings quite well. In a way, they are commanding a broken puppet, trying to fix the strings and the tattered ness where they can, most of the time not too successfully.
I don't know why this oroborus of a relationship exists between government and corporations. Furthermore, I am not sure why such large entities act this way (when in the end, it is really detrimental to the individual parts - the people - that make up the corporations and governments, and the society they live in and upon). I am still trying to figure it out.
I feel that once it can be understood how corps and governments really operate (ie, understanding the "thought" of the whole from the viewpoint of a part), it might be possible to develop "cures" for/against these large entities. I am talking about the hacking emergent entities - I am not even sure it is possible. Furthermore, I am not sure if such actions, or the talk of such actions would be perceived as a threat by the larger entity - or what the repurcussions of such discussion would be...
We see and hear this crap every damn day here in America - Microsoft, Enron, AOL/TW, MPAA, RIAA, our own government, for cripes sake! - rolling over the people, to damn with the citizens, profits above all!
Nothing seems to stop the behemoths - we can't rely on our government: Not only do they pass the laws that give the corps power, and not only do the corps pay the people in government to pass those laws (let's quit pretending here - of course they do - this is not a fairy tale, and we know it!), but they also pass laws that hinder us, the people, from being able to do anything about those in government (ie, campaign finance reform, term limits, etc)!
Those few in government that support the people (and oh so few they are) can't possibly stay in place forever. Some might even be corrupted by being near and around such a tar pit - it takes a strong man or woman to resist such human baseness.
This is what I see:
I am two years shy of 30. I know things weren't all that different when I was born, versus today - but I do know that people had to care more. I remember when there was a complete uprising on the web over COPA - why don't we see that today with the DMCA, SSSCA, etc? It is there - a little - but at the same time it isn't.
I figure, if I am lucky, and barring any major affordable advance in medicine - that I have another 35-40 years left on this planet. The world I am seeing coming forth from decisions, manipulations, the greed, etc - from multinationals, corps, our government - the apathy of the people to do anything about it - while the world stands by, watching the implosion - some begging the people to do something! - while wars rage on, both physical and over ideas and ways of living (ie, "War on Terrorism", "War on Drugs")...
I see a furthering of the dystopia we now live in that makes the worlds of Bladerunner and Gibson seem peaceful and serene. Darker - closer to 1984 and Farenheit 451 mixed together. Perhaps even darker than that...
When will the people wake up...? Why can I see, you can see it, a lot of people can see it - but everyone else can't...?!
How I long to ignorant and in bliss like the masses. How I long to just do the things everyone else does! I would love to get a DVD player and lots of movies - but I can't justify supporting these idiots of the MPAA! I would love to buy CD's - but I dare not because of the RIAA!
What are we the people going to do - stand by and let this happen? If the corps can control the government a little now - can they control it a lot later? If the control the government, do they control the military?
The system of checks and balances seem to have succumbed to the power of the dollar! Nay, to greed itself! What is the point of Law in such a situation, then?
I don't want to find myself 30 years down the line with my kid asking me why I didn't do something. I write my letters to my congressmen, but it doesn't seem to do anything at all (indeed, I wrote them about Dmitri way back last summer - recently I got a reply about it! Such speed!).
WE MUST DO SOMETHING - TODAY.
You know about our light rail "initiative", right?
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ULTra Robo-Taxi
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Look at what we could have had, had our politicians not had their heads up their arses:
That's right! That was the competitor to what we got, which is a normal, everyday, light rail system (which is somehow supposed to sit adjacent in some fashion to I-17 in some manner, as well as along 19th Avenue - where they plan to find the space, is anybody's guess) - the dollar value of one car (of light rail) could have funded a lot of work on SkyTran - think about that come tax time.
Another thing to think about: Supposedly construction is supposed to start in 2003 - but I have yet to hear anything more on this boondoggle, which I think merely went to line corrupt politician pockets...
Think about society, cultures, businesses, governments, networking and people...
Think about interactions.
This comment here on/. makes the following statement:
Who knows maybe soon we will be running fiber from my house to my buds house just so that I can have a network where I dont have to be afraid.
Of all things, this is the ONE thing that has business and governments, worldwide, scared the most. Why?
There are a number of reasons - but the main reason lies in the networking, and the effects of that networking. All of a sudden, participants in the network are informed quickly, and can react to challenges much more quickly than "normal" networks (such as ordinary society) can, simply because the interconnections are greater and faster. Another reason is that such an online networked society has the capability of becoming a self-governing body - a virtual anarchal nation, of sorts. One that exists, but the pieces reside in meatspace nations - so who does the meatspace nations "attack" to remove this threat? The meatspace citizens? Each other?
With these P2P applications, we are seeing the beginnings of this - they don't know who to attack, yet. They are probably getting antsy over people setting up "freenets" using optical and wireless (as well as some wired) links. Because they know as these get larger, they will interconnect. The fear is that this new "internet" will resist corporate intrusion - and become a globe spanning truely "Free"-net. Free in speech, that is.
Of course, the next level scares them most: People will always barter, trade, sell, etc - but on this new net it won't likely be corporate to person, but rather person to person, P2P - we already see it happening on these P2P networks - I have something, trade you this for that. Info for other Info. But what happens when the info becomes the real currency?
Because really - dollars don't exist. There isn't a gold standard. Money is bits. The flow of the bits over current networks "creates" wealth - almost magically. We all "suspend reality" for a moment and pretend that those pieces of paper and shiny bits of metal are worth something - when in actuality they aren't worth jack. What happens when a networked society decides information, pure and raw, will be their new vehicle of wealth? Where a bit of info can get you real stuff (it is almost like this today with debit cards and credit cards - bits move over EFTs representing cash - and things arrive at your door)?
Because once this can happen over large user-created, P2P encrypted free-nets - governments and businesses become marginalized, and the People have a chance to become Free.
Of course, I might be talking out my ass, what do I know...?
I agree with you about real auctions - I have only been to the "country" style auctions where you have to have an "ear" to understand where the bidder is at - and it is fun to see people bid up the wazoo on an item that isn't worth a nickel...
Well, because I didn't have that much money, for one thing (it being around xmas time, plus I just don't have that much).
I bid what I could afford, someone outbid me, and I said "oh well" - then the bidder was kicked by ebay and the seller couldn't contact him, so he asked me. Sure, he could have relisted, but if the bidder who was scamming didn't bid - I would have won fairly...
Want to learn something interesting? Look up "voice to skull" technology. I have managed to find direct evidence (via government websites) of both the United States and Austrailia researching this technology. Patents exist, and can be looked up. The technology is real, as has been known about for a few decades.
It looks like the tin-foil hat kooks may be right.
Two systems exist:
1. Audio over ultrasonic carrier - essentially uses the skull to filter the ultrasonic carrier wave - at that point it is simple bone conduction. 2. Audio over microwave carrier - this one is more "advanced" - it uses frequencies in the microwave region as the carrier wave for the sound. These waves then stimulate the vestibular region of the brain, which filter out the carrier and leave the sound information behind for the brain directly to figure out - causes strangeness to the recipient - a "voice in the head" type sensation. This form of V2S was first noticed by microwave and radar engineers who would "sense" or "hear" (in their heads) "clicks", "pops" and "whine" type noises as the worked around unsheilded microwave equipment.
Both of these technologies are real, as far as I can figure. Neither is "high quality" - but voice quality only (in fact, the microwave V2S system is actually pretty poor quality - rendering the voices in a "growling" type tone - which could be interpreted as "demons talking"). Both have potential "sinister" applications - neither have the quality of use for anything else.
I wish I was making this up - I haven't found anything that says "impossible" yet - but if someone could look into this with me, and let me know that I am wrong, I would love to see the information...
I know. This is kinda where things get "funny" for me - I have another post on this same article, look for it - it is relevant to this discussion.
Anyhow, in that post I say how I don't mind making deals with someone if I am getting the better half of the bargain (ie, buying something cheap when they don't know what the item is worth) - but I have problems when they "mark it up".
Actually, I don't have a problem with mark-up, just gouging of customers - if the seller I note of sold that motor for a starting price of say $55.00 (to cover his cost and shipping, maybe plus a little profit), then let the auction take over and the market decide the fair "cost" - that is one thing - but he is deciding that the market deserves to bear a greater than 100% markup!
Of course, I suppose you could say the market is telling him "NO!", because I don't think he has ever gotten any bids on his items.
I understand what you are saying, and by logic it is how capitalism works. At some level though, to me, it feels wrong to "seemingly" gouge someone (I mean, because MECI is already taking their cut, and I bet they have a large markup too, being that they sell mostly surplus - I was seriously looking at their motors for a project I would working on - but in the end I bought my motor from a local surplus dealer).
I think I know where my attitude comes from - I got burned like this once. I once bought a few 12x12 digitizer tablets from someone I thought was a friend. I ended up paying close to a $100.00 for them, but I intended to resell them on Ebay (starting at what I paid for them, and letting people bid) - it turned out he bought them from another guy (who I also knew) who was in the next cubicle over and sold them to me for a little extra! I would have thought more highly of him had he said "yeah, I got this from so-and-so" - but instead he decided to profit off a supposed "friendship" - needless to say, he wasn't a friend anymore - and he pulled similar "scams" with my employer - and guess who still works here?
I can see your point, and in some cases refusing would be prudent.
But I will never give up a deal if it is to be had - you know, like where the SELLER doesn't know what he is selling, and you buy something worth $1500.00 for like, $100.00? Would YOU turn that down?
This happens to me a lot - and I never proxy more than I think it is worth - if they want to sell it to me for what I think it is worth - before or after the auction, so be it. It wasn't like they emailed me and said "Sorry, you lost - but we can sell you another one for your bid plus $20.00".
I see what you are getting at - but there are times when you see a deal, and you don't back out of it. Because the one thing I have learned in life is that you may not get a second chance at a first rate deal (and yes, I have gotten a deal of spending $100.00 on an item worth $1500.00 - even in used condition - you don't pass that kind of a deal up)...
I'll tell you something - if it were possible for me to do it, I would try to take the memory apart (actually, if you can find the manufacturer of the individual chips on the memory board, and can get ahold of a "sample" - and are real good at SMT work - you could fix it - a lot of ifs, though), all the way down to the "micro" level.
This is one thing that keeps me wishing and "excited" for nano-tech - the idea of "homebrew" nano-assembly. Now, the whole possibility of the "grey-goo" problem comes up, but the idea seems valid.
The thing with computer parts is that they have become very cheap commodity items - car parts have come close, but not as cheap - and car manufacturers INTENTIONALLY make certain parts so that you can't buy them at a local parts store - you MUST buy them from the dealer (you want fun on the pocketbook? Go try to find a TPS sensor for your car at a local Autozone - if they have it, cool - if they don't it is a dealer part - either way, find out the cost - I have seen it as high as $60.00 for the dealer part - guess what a TPS sensor generally is: throttle position sensor - tells the car computer how much the throttle body is open - guess what it typically is: a linear potentiometer - at most a $1.00 part, packaged in a custom plastic case and sold at EXHORIBANT profit).
Sometimes alternators burn out - in this case, I wouldn't suggest trying to get them rewound - but something tells me that in many cases rather than actually burning through the wiring, there actually may be a built in "fuse" in the housing of the alternator - what is to stop anyone from looking inside and replacing the fuse? Ignorance, as well as a bit of apathy and laziness. They don't want you to do this - they would rather have you take it in, trade it for a new one (core "value"), and buy the new one minus the "core" - they take the core and "fix" it (replace that fuse? replace the bearings?) - then resell it AGAIN!
This wouldn't be so bad if they were more up-front about it - but if people really knew what was going on, they would ULTRA UPSET...
Oooh - a two year old with a hammer - man, then YOU would be the one getting an education on how to "fix and repair" things... : )
Ok, so maybe a two year old is a little young to be doing this with, and it might be a Toys-R-Us experience for a little while - or does it?
I tell you something, one thing my wife has always told me, from her past experience baby-sitting, was that the best thing you can give a kid to keep it entertained was a cardboard box big enough for the kid to get inside of. Heck, even older kids find them fun (I remember building "forts" with refrigerator boxes and one time one of those thick watermelon boxes when I was a kid). Toilet paper tubes become "telescopes" (or worse, "megaphones" and "horns").
Another thing to get (or even better, make!) a small kid is "building blocks" - various shapes in the form of "columns", blocks, half-rounds, triangles, etc - become buildings and bridges for lots of creative fun. Find a co-worker or friend who has a jigsaw, and ask him to help you make some. A small piece of 1" x 12" pine board will easily make a ton of pieces (keep the pieces no smaller than 2" x 2" to prevent the kid from eating them or choking on them - and observe them while they play) - paint them with kid-safe non-toxic paint, or coat them with a simple vegetable-oil "stain". Homebrew "tinkertoys" and "lincoln logs" are a little more ambitious, but can be done in a home shop.
Other fun toys for younger kids - combine the blocks with "ramps" and marbles, and make ball "races" (I remember doing this with tape, scissors, cardboard, toilet-paper tubes, etc - to build wild and long "races").
As you kid gets older: Maybe build some "pinewood derby" cars - or simple balsa gliders. Maybe later work into "foamcore" planes...
But right now, for a two year old - stacking blocks is the best (and if you can find them - buy some "ABC" stacking blocks as well - several buckets worth)...
Actually, I hesitate to call these scams - but more on the level of "selling an article to a person that could be had cheaper somewhere else". Let me show you a perfect example:
Look up electric bicycle motor on Ebay. Now, I am going to pick an auction that doesn't "die" until the 28th so that others can see what I mean - I am picking the last one on that list - click here.
Now, look at that picture of the "dual motor" at the bottom - seems pretty cool, huh? Pretty professional, get a little kit and convert your bike to electric. Cost doesn't seem too bad (if you have priced EV bikes before) - heck, "Buy It Now" is only $1.00 over starting bid - so this motor combo, a cheap bike from WalMart or a garage sale, and a cheap gel-cel battery - and I can have my own electric bike for under $200.00!
The motor only cost $93.00...
Now - go here, and on the left hand side select Battlebot Parts - or click here to see them. Now, go down to the fourth item on that page - look familiar?
MECI sells the exact same thing for $40.00! Just above it is the battery you need (actually, you will need two of them for enough amps to go far enough - and really, this isn't the best motor system to use, but might be fun to play around with).
So, here is an example of an eBay seller using their own ignorance against them.
Unfortunately, this seems to be the "way" of our capitalistic society - middlemen, etc everywhere always scamming for a buck. You see this on Ebay a lot - cheesy CDs of "info found no where else" (yeah right, just everywhere on the internet) - these I would take more seriously if they were selling the CDs as "fruits of labor for scouring the Net" - at least then it could be seen as an internet information gathering service thing. You also see it in the multitude of "plans" showing how to build a 100" projection TV with a special lens (but, you do get the lens - nevermind the fact that plans are everywhere to do this, it uses nothing new, and the lens can be had cheaper at the local Walmart).
These guys aren't typically shut down because they do offer a real product, and actually sell it - and people love it!
Another "scam" - I have seen sellers of SDRAM bidding for memory on other auctions - sometimes within hours of their own auctions - for the same type of RAM - they buy the RAM cheap from another auction, then resell it the same day for a profit to other bidders (and typically, for much more money than they could find it for on Pricewatch).
Many times I have wondered if I could pull these same kind of "deals" off - and each time I stop thinking about it, because it just isn't in my "moral fabric" to rip people off - I would rather tell them where to get it cheaper.
I guess that is one reason why I will never own a business - I am too honest for my own "good"...
It has happenned to me a couple of times - in all instances though, the "top place" buyer either had a zero feedback rating (ie, possibly never intended to buy the product to begin with), or was booted off eBay soon after the auction ended.
In all cases, the seller contacted me a week or two after the auction ended, and asked if I still wanted it for my bid price. Sometimes I declined, having bought the item through another auction, or locally. Other times I accepted, and got the item a couple of weeks later.
I personally have no problem with this - if the seller seems sincere and has a good track record, and the product warrants it (by either being some kind of "dutch" auction, or by being a unique item - not liable to be seen again for many years), I will go for it.
But, as this story illustrates, sometimes good sellers (or what appear to be good sellers) "go bad" (sounds like a bad Fox show - heh).
The one thing I always keep in mind (since I learned about it) is to use an escrow service for pricey items - it is the safest method...
People fix cars by replacing parts, it's equivalent to reinstalling some piece of software.
But the nice thing about these parts is that you can take them further apart (I will concede that some are tough to "get into" - and sometimes things like the EMC are potted in epoxy), and see how they go together - something you can't do with most closed-source software.
Sure, replacing an alternator is essentially the same as reinstalling Word or something - but if I want to, I could tear down the alternator and fix it, instead of buying a new alternator (case in point, I have a 90 volt motor that I need new bearings in - so, I will replace the bearings - not spend $300.00 for something that is otherwise OK - I would do the same for a car alternator, if that was the problem). If I wanted to know how it worked, I could play with it and really observe it - or, because it should be pretty well documented on the inner workings - I could look it up somewhere (like bearings - these are TOUGH to get apart - but most of the time, why bother - there are plenty of documents that explain what bearings are, the different types, why they work, and what bearings are for what uses).
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I just finished reading Park's book "Voodoo Science - The Road From Foolishness to Fraud" (ISBN 0-19-514710-3) - and a central theme throughout the book is his "annoyance" (ok, that is putting it kindly) with scientists and inventors who either get caught up in their experiments and go down a self-deception path (Pons/Fleishmann, Joseph Newmann) or those who outright deceive others for monetary gain.
The way this is sounding - it is sounding like so much "voodoo science", simply because of the irreproducibility of it (but, who knows? Maybe others will have success - may be too early to tell)...
From what I understand, this gun is basically the same thing as the "Newton's Pendulum" toy that clacks back and forth, but with the addition of magnets between the balls, and some distance, to cause the balls to all pick up speed so that the last one gets a lot of kinetic energy transferred to it.
Scaling it up would seem feasible, but the problem would be the shattering magnets, as well as to "reload" you would have to physically move each ball back to the starting point.
Here is where I wonder if this thing could be made "better". The problem is getting a magnet as strong as the ones used, but doesn't shatter - but I think it can be done...
Get a non-ferrous tube - an alluminium or piece of PVC pipe would do fine. Get it with an inside diameter just smaller than the ball you want to fire.
Now, wind up some "double ended" electromagnets - use very fine magnet wire, and do an excelllent job winding the magnets. Use a steel core, and wind them to the thickness of the inside diameter of the tubing. You need these electromagnets to be really strong.
Now, cut 1.5 or 2 inch lengths of the tube - put the magnet on one end, and a ball - secure the magnets extremely well. Then, "stack" the tubes together to make a long tube, so that there is a magnet and a ball between the two magnets.
One end (the "breech") leave a 3 inch piece of tube, and build some kind of "firing mechanism" (spring loaded or something to propel the ball against the first electromagnet). Do the same on the other end, but just the tube - no firing mechanism - you may want this end to be a little longer.
To load and fire:
Get a real big-ass current capacity power supply, and hook the magnets up to turn them on. Don't turn them on yet - tilt the tube up to cause all the other balls to fall to the magnets, then turn on the magnets. Load the ball on the front end (the firing chamber end), and a ball into the firing mechanism. Fire the ball - and, if everything goes right (and my back of the napkin calcs are correct - yeah right), it should do the same thing as the small version, only more powerful (maybe), and reloadable!
A revolution of the scale of 1776 is the _LAST_ thing I want to see.
What do I want to see? I want to see an informed populace making informed decisions. I want to see informed politicians making informed decisions representing their informed populace. I want to see representation. I want to honesty.
I don't want to see bloodshed.
I know now is nowhere near the time for things to be as bad as 1776. With all of the talk about the SSSCA and such, even though it is looking pretty bleak - I know that it isn't bleak enough for bloodshed - not by far.
But it is bleak enough that more people should notice. It is bleak enough that more people should care. However, it seems like nobody cares about themselves, their rights, or their neighbors.
How does one sanely live in a society knowing no one cares about themselves, let alone those around them?
Apology accepted - thank you...
...for Nader.
Keep that feeling close to your heart, but don't let hate overtake you. Tell your friends, and urge them to tell their parents and others. Network - get the word out more.
I am sorry this is happening now - it makes me just as angry, and just as sad to see this kind of thing happen - but we must keeping fighting it.
Only when we give up do they win.
IIRC, Boeing used (or tried out) an AR system several years back for the purpose of wiring the electrical systems of their planes. The wiring harnesses in the planes consist of several miles of wiring - all over the place.
From what I understood, the idea was to get the tech to the point where a worker could simply look at the connection points, and the AR system would show what wires went where, via an overlay. I suppose some kind of tracking system would have been needed, to position the overlay properly (and from what I have been following lately, that problem is still unsolved in general AR/VR applications - but getting there rapidly). The whole idea was to eliminate the need for a worker to stop what he is doing, exit the frame, pick up the book of diagrams, leaf through them, and figure out what goes where "abstractly". With such an AR system, production and install times would be lowered - I am sure it could be applied to a number of other areas as well (including repair after the plane is built).
Not sure where they went with it - if it was a limited trial, how well it worked, whether the equipment was up to task (I tend to think it wasn't), how workers liked it, etc. By the lack of talk on it, I tend to think it wasn't too successful - but the idea gives an example of what really can be done with AR.
What is funny about all of this is that the first "real" VR style system (ie, the "Sword of Damaecles" (sp) by Ivan Sutherland in the late 1960's) was an AR system, complete with see-through optics and "wire-frame" virtual objects...
Tomy is a strange company - they used to sell quite a few "neat" products here in the States back in the 80's (Omnibot robot line, Air Jammer vehicles) - but lately all you can find are "toddler" toys. It is interesting that they (if it is the same company - Tomica=Tomy?) are selling these small racers now.
What is more interesting is the fact that Tomy made, in a limited silver-plated edition, given only to top executives (or some other such), an "ultra-tiny" (like, about the diameter of a quarter and a couple of inches tall) programmable "omnibot" (it was of the Omnibot line - just not available to general public). Very, very few of these robots were made. I have only seen one come up for auction on Ebay - it went for several thousand dollars, IIRC. These robots were made and given out in the early-to-mid 1980's.
The tech behind all of this has a long history - it is by no means "new"...
Too far, sorry - if it was somewhere in SoCal or Nevada, or New Mexico - that would be one thing - but Oregon is a little too far for me to drive.
Damn, but I would love to have the thing!
Are you located anywhere near Phoenix, AZ?
I see this as clearly as you do - what you say makes as much sense as what I have said. The government controls the corps - the corps control the government - the people? They are almost totally out of the loop!
You are right about the blunders and the wastes that our government has perpetrated. But as demonstrated by many corporations, these same kind of blunders and wastes seem to affect them as well - they are just better at hinding it until the very end, when it really blows up.
I don't think corporations are becoming our government, not yet - but they control the strings quite well. In a way, they are commanding a broken puppet, trying to fix the strings and the tattered ness where they can, most of the time not too successfully.
I don't know why this oroborus of a relationship exists between government and corporations. Furthermore, I am not sure why such large entities act this way (when in the end, it is really detrimental to the individual parts - the people - that make up the corporations and governments, and the society they live in and upon). I am still trying to figure it out.
I feel that once it can be understood how corps and governments really operate (ie, understanding the "thought" of the whole from the viewpoint of a part), it might be possible to develop "cures" for/against these large entities. I am talking about the hacking emergent entities - I am not even sure it is possible. Furthermore, I am not sure if such actions, or the talk of such actions would be perceived as a threat by the larger entity - or what the repurcussions of such discussion would be...
We see and hear this crap every damn day here in America - Microsoft, Enron, AOL/TW, MPAA, RIAA, our own government, for cripes sake! - rolling over the people, to damn with the citizens, profits above all!
Nothing seems to stop the behemoths - we can't rely on our government: Not only do they pass the laws that give the corps power, and not only do the corps pay the people in government to pass those laws (let's quit pretending here - of course they do - this is not a fairy tale, and we know it!), but they also pass laws that hinder us, the people, from being able to do anything about those in government (ie, campaign finance reform, term limits, etc)!
Those few in government that support the people (and oh so few they are) can't possibly stay in place forever. Some might even be corrupted by being near and around such a tar pit - it takes a strong man or woman to resist such human baseness.
This is what I see:
I am two years shy of 30. I know things weren't all that different when I was born, versus today - but I do know that people had to care more. I remember when there was a complete uprising on the web over COPA - why don't we see that today with the DMCA, SSSCA, etc? It is there - a little - but at the same time it isn't.
I figure, if I am lucky, and barring any major affordable advance in medicine - that I have another 35-40 years left on this planet. The world I am seeing coming forth from decisions, manipulations, the greed, etc - from multinationals, corps, our government - the apathy of the people to do anything about it - while the world stands by, watching the implosion - some begging the people to do something! - while wars rage on, both physical and over ideas and ways of living (ie, "War on Terrorism", "War on Drugs")...
I see a furthering of the dystopia we now live in that makes the worlds of Bladerunner and Gibson seem peaceful and serene. Darker - closer to 1984 and Farenheit 451 mixed together. Perhaps even darker than that...
When will the people wake up...? Why can I see, you can see it, a lot of people can see it - but everyone else can't...?!
How I long to ignorant and in bliss like the masses. How I long to just do the things everyone else does! I would love to get a DVD player and lots of movies - but I can't justify supporting these idiots of the MPAA! I would love to buy CD's - but I dare not because of the RIAA!
What are we the people going to do - stand by and let this happen? If the corps can control the government a little now - can they control it a lot later? If the control the government, do they control the military?
The system of checks and balances seem to have succumbed to the power of the dollar! Nay, to greed itself! What is the point of Law in such a situation, then?
I don't want to find myself 30 years down the line with my kid asking me why I didn't do something. I write my letters to my congressmen, but it doesn't seem to do anything at all (indeed, I wrote them about Dmitri way back last summer - recently I got a reply about it! Such speed!).
WE MUST DO SOMETHING - TODAY.
Look at what we could have had, had our politicians not had their heads up their arses:
Douglas J. Malewicki's SkyTran System
That's right! That was the competitor to what we got, which is a normal, everyday, light rail system (which is somehow supposed to sit adjacent in some fashion to I-17 in some manner, as well as along 19th Avenue - where they plan to find the space, is anybody's guess) - the dollar value of one car (of light rail) could have funded a lot of work on SkyTran - think about that come tax time.
Another thing to think about: Supposedly construction is supposed to start in 2003 - but I have yet to hear anything more on this boondoggle, which I think merely went to line corrupt politician pockets...
Think about this, think hard about this.
/. makes the following statement:
Think about society, cultures, businesses, governments, networking and people...
Think about interactions.
This comment here on
Who knows maybe soon we will be running fiber from my house to my buds house just so that I can have a network where I dont have to be afraid.
Of all things, this is the ONE thing that has business and governments, worldwide, scared the most. Why?
There are a number of reasons - but the main reason lies in the networking, and the effects of that networking. All of a sudden, participants in the network are informed quickly, and can react to challenges much more quickly than "normal" networks (such as ordinary society) can, simply because the interconnections are greater and faster. Another reason is that such an online networked society has the capability of becoming a
self-governing body - a virtual anarchal nation, of sorts. One that exists, but the pieces reside in meatspace nations - so who does the meatspace nations "attack" to remove this threat? The meatspace citizens? Each other?
With these P2P applications, we are seeing the beginnings of this - they don't know who to attack, yet. They are probably getting antsy over people setting up "freenets" using optical and wireless (as well as some wired) links. Because they know as these get larger, they will interconnect. The fear is that this new "internet" will resist corporate intrusion - and become a globe spanning truely "Free"-net. Free in speech, that is.
Of course, the next level scares them most: People will always barter, trade, sell, etc - but on this new net it won't likely be corporate to person, but rather person to person, P2P - we already see it happening on these P2P networks - I have something, trade you this for that. Info for other Info. But what happens when the info becomes the real currency?
Because really - dollars don't exist. There isn't a gold standard. Money is bits. The flow of the bits over current networks "creates" wealth - almost magically. We all "suspend reality" for a moment and pretend that those pieces of paper and shiny bits of metal are worth something - when in actuality they aren't worth jack. What happens when a networked society decides information, pure and raw, will be their new vehicle of wealth? Where a bit of info can get you real stuff (it is almost like this today with debit cards and credit cards - bits move over EFTs representing cash - and things arrive at your door)?
Because once this can happen over large user-created, P2P encrypted free-nets - governments and businesses become marginalized, and the People have a chance to become Free.
Of course, I might be talking out my ass, what do I know...?
You know, I like free software as much as the next guy, but I understand and respect the fact that companies have to make money.
Companies do not have to make money - they either will or they won't, according to free market forces.
Or at least that is the way it is supposed to work...
grumble.
I agree with you about real auctions - I have only been to the "country" style auctions where you have to have an "ear" to understand where the bidder is at - and it is fun to see people bid up the wazoo on an item that isn't worth a nickel...
Well, because I didn't have that much money, for one thing (it being around xmas time, plus I just don't have that much).
I bid what I could afford, someone outbid me, and I said "oh well" - then the bidder was kicked by ebay and the seller couldn't contact him, so he asked me. Sure, he could have relisted, but if the bidder who was scamming didn't bid - I would have won fairly...
Want to learn something interesting? Look up "voice to skull" technology. I have managed to find direct evidence (via government websites) of both the United States and Austrailia researching this technology. Patents exist, and can be looked up. The technology is real, as has been known about for a few decades.
It looks like the tin-foil hat kooks may be right.
Two systems exist:
1. Audio over ultrasonic carrier - essentially uses the skull to filter the ultrasonic carrier wave - at that point it is simple bone conduction.
2. Audio over microwave carrier - this one is more "advanced" - it uses frequencies in the microwave region as the carrier wave for the sound. These waves then stimulate the vestibular region of the brain, which filter out the carrier and leave the sound information behind for the brain directly to figure out - causes strangeness to the recipient - a "voice in the head" type sensation. This form of V2S was first noticed by microwave and radar engineers who would "sense" or "hear" (in their heads) "clicks", "pops" and "whine" type noises as the worked around unsheilded microwave equipment.
Both of these technologies are real, as far as I can figure. Neither is "high quality" - but voice quality only (in fact, the microwave V2S system is actually pretty poor quality - rendering the voices in a "growling" type tone - which could be interpreted as "demons talking"). Both have potential "sinister" applications - neither have the quality of use for anything else.
I wish I was making this up - I haven't found anything that says "impossible" yet - but if someone could look into this with me, and let me know that I am wrong, I would love to see the information...
I know. This is kinda where things get "funny" for me - I have another post on this same article, look for it - it is relevant to this discussion.
Anyhow, in that post I say how I don't mind making deals with someone if I am getting the better half of the bargain (ie, buying something cheap when they don't know what the item is worth) - but I have problems when they "mark it up".
Actually, I don't have a problem with mark-up, just gouging of customers - if the seller I note of sold that motor for a starting price of say $55.00 (to cover his cost and shipping, maybe plus a little profit), then let the auction take over and the market decide the fair "cost" - that is one thing - but he is deciding that the market deserves to bear a greater than 100% markup!
Of course, I suppose you could say the market is telling him "NO!", because I don't think he has ever gotten any bids on his items.
I understand what you are saying, and by logic it is how capitalism works. At some level though, to me, it feels wrong to "seemingly" gouge someone (I mean, because MECI is already taking their cut, and I bet they have a large markup too, being that they sell mostly surplus - I was seriously looking at their motors for a project I would working on - but in the end I bought my motor from a local surplus dealer).
I think I know where my attitude comes from - I got burned like this once. I once bought a few 12x12 digitizer tablets from someone I thought was a friend. I ended up paying close to a $100.00 for them, but I intended to resell them on Ebay (starting at what I paid for them, and letting people bid) - it turned out he bought them from another guy (who I also knew) who was in the next cubicle over and sold them to me for a little extra! I would have thought more highly of him had he said "yeah, I got this from so-and-so" - but instead he decided to profit off a supposed "friendship" - needless to say, he wasn't a friend anymore - and he pulled similar "scams" with my employer - and guess who still works here?
I can see your point, and in some cases refusing would be prudent.
But I will never give up a deal if it is to be had - you know, like where the SELLER doesn't know what he is selling, and you buy something worth $1500.00 for like, $100.00? Would YOU turn that down?
This happens to me a lot - and I never proxy more than I think it is worth - if they want to sell it to me for what I think it is worth - before or after the auction, so be it. It wasn't like they emailed me and said "Sorry, you lost - but we can sell you another one for your bid plus $20.00".
I see what you are getting at - but there are times when you see a deal, and you don't back out of it. Because the one thing I have learned in life is that you may not get a second chance at a first rate deal (and yes, I have gotten a deal of spending $100.00 on an item worth $1500.00 - even in used condition - you don't pass that kind of a deal up)...
I'll tell you something - if it were possible for me to do it, I would try to take the memory apart (actually, if you can find the manufacturer of the individual chips on the memory board, and can get ahold of a "sample" - and are real good at SMT work - you could fix it - a lot of ifs, though), all the way down to the "micro" level.
This is one thing that keeps me wishing and "excited" for nano-tech - the idea of "homebrew" nano-assembly. Now, the whole possibility of the "grey-goo" problem comes up, but the idea seems valid.
The thing with computer parts is that they have become very cheap commodity items - car parts have come close, but not as cheap - and car manufacturers INTENTIONALLY make certain parts so that you can't buy them at a local parts store - you MUST buy them from the dealer (you want fun on the pocketbook? Go try to find a TPS sensor for your car at a local Autozone - if they have it, cool - if they don't it is a dealer part - either way, find out the cost - I have seen it as high as $60.00 for the dealer part - guess what a TPS sensor generally is: throttle position sensor - tells the car computer how much the throttle body is open - guess what it typically is: a linear potentiometer - at most a $1.00 part, packaged in a custom plastic case and sold at EXHORIBANT profit).
Sometimes alternators burn out - in this case, I wouldn't suggest trying to get them rewound - but something tells me that in many cases rather than actually burning through the wiring, there actually may be a built in "fuse" in the housing of the alternator - what is to stop anyone from looking inside and replacing the fuse? Ignorance, as well as a bit of apathy and laziness. They don't want you to do this - they would rather have you take it in, trade it for a new one (core "value"), and buy the new one minus the "core" - they take the core and "fix" it (replace that fuse? replace the bearings?) - then resell it AGAIN!
This wouldn't be so bad if they were more up-front about it - but if people really knew what was going on, they would ULTRA UPSET...
Oooh - a two year old with a hammer - man, then YOU would be the one getting an education on how to "fix and repair" things... : )
Ok, so maybe a two year old is a little young to be doing this with, and it might be a Toys-R-Us experience for a little while - or does it?
I tell you something, one thing my wife has always told me, from her past experience baby-sitting, was that the best thing you can give a kid to keep it entertained was a cardboard box big enough for the kid to get inside of. Heck, even older kids find them fun (I remember building "forts" with refrigerator boxes and one time one of those thick watermelon boxes when I was a kid). Toilet paper tubes become "telescopes" (or worse, "megaphones" and "horns").
Another thing to get (or even better, make!) a small kid is "building blocks" - various shapes in the form of "columns", blocks, half-rounds, triangles, etc - become buildings and bridges for lots of creative fun. Find a co-worker or friend who has a jigsaw, and ask him to help you make some. A small piece of 1" x 12" pine board will easily make a ton of pieces (keep the pieces no smaller than 2" x 2" to prevent the kid from eating them or choking on them - and observe them while they play) - paint them with kid-safe non-toxic paint, or coat them with a simple vegetable-oil "stain". Homebrew "tinkertoys" and "lincoln logs" are a little more ambitious, but can be done in a home shop.
Other fun toys for younger kids - combine the blocks with "ramps" and marbles, and make ball "races" (I remember doing this with tape, scissors, cardboard, toilet-paper tubes, etc - to build wild and long "races").
As you kid gets older: Maybe build some "pinewood derby" cars - or simple balsa gliders. Maybe later work into "foamcore" planes...
But right now, for a two year old - stacking blocks is the best (and if you can find them - buy some "ABC" stacking blocks as well - several buckets worth)...
Actually, I hesitate to call these scams - but more on the level of "selling an article to a person that could be had cheaper somewhere else". Let me show you a perfect example:
Look up electric bicycle motor on Ebay. Now, I am going to pick an auction that doesn't "die" until the 28th so that others can see what I mean - I am picking the last one on that list - click here.
Now, look at that picture of the "dual motor" at the bottom - seems pretty cool, huh? Pretty professional, get a little kit and convert your bike to electric. Cost doesn't seem too bad (if you have priced EV bikes before) - heck, "Buy It Now" is only $1.00 over starting bid - so this motor combo, a cheap bike from WalMart or a garage sale, and a cheap gel-cel battery - and I can have my own electric bike for under $200.00!
The motor only cost $93.00...
Now - go here, and on the left hand side select Battlebot Parts - or click here to see them. Now, go down to the fourth item on that page - look familiar?
MECI sells the exact same thing for $40.00! Just above it is the battery you need (actually, you will need two of them for enough amps to go far enough - and really, this isn't the best motor system to use, but might be fun to play around with).
So, here is an example of an eBay seller using their own ignorance against them.
Unfortunately, this seems to be the "way" of our capitalistic society - middlemen, etc everywhere always scamming for a buck. You see this on Ebay a lot - cheesy CDs of "info found no where else" (yeah right, just everywhere on the internet) - these I would take more seriously if they were selling the CDs as "fruits of labor for scouring the Net" - at least then it could be seen as an internet information gathering service thing. You also see it in the multitude of "plans" showing how to build a 100" projection TV with a special lens (but, you do get the lens - nevermind the fact that plans are everywhere to do this, it uses nothing new, and the lens can be had cheaper at the local Walmart).
These guys aren't typically shut down because they do offer a real product, and actually sell it - and people love it!
Another "scam" - I have seen sellers of SDRAM bidding for memory on other auctions - sometimes within hours of their own auctions - for the same type of RAM - they buy the RAM cheap from another auction, then resell it the same day for a profit to other bidders (and typically, for much more money than they could find it for on Pricewatch).
Many times I have wondered if I could pull these same kind of "deals" off - and each time I stop thinking about it, because it just isn't in my "moral fabric" to rip people off - I would rather tell them where to get it cheaper.
I guess that is one reason why I will never own a business - I am too honest for my own "good"...
bleh.
It has happenned to me a couple of times - in all instances though, the "top place" buyer either had a zero feedback rating (ie, possibly never intended to buy the product to begin with), or was booted off eBay soon after the auction ended.
In all cases, the seller contacted me a week or two after the auction ended, and asked if I still wanted it for my bid price. Sometimes I declined, having bought the item through another auction, or locally. Other times I accepted, and got the item a couple of weeks later.
I personally have no problem with this - if the seller seems sincere and has a good track record, and the product warrants it (by either being some kind of "dutch" auction, or by being a unique item - not liable to be seen again for many years), I will go for it.
But, as this story illustrates, sometimes good sellers (or what appear to be good sellers) "go bad" (sounds like a bad Fox show - heh).
The one thing I always keep in mind (since I learned about it) is to use an escrow service for pricey items - it is the safest method...
People fix cars by replacing parts, it's equivalent to reinstalling some piece of software.
But the nice thing about these parts is that you can take them further apart (I will concede that some are tough to "get into" - and sometimes things like the EMC are potted in epoxy), and see how they go together - something you can't do with most closed-source software.
Sure, replacing an alternator is essentially the same as reinstalling Word or something - but if I want to, I could tear down the alternator and fix it, instead of buying a new alternator (case in point, I have a 90 volt motor that I need new bearings in - so, I will replace the bearings - not spend $300.00 for something that is otherwise OK - I would do the same for a car alternator, if that was the problem). If I wanted to know how it worked, I could play with it and really observe it - or, because it should be pretty well documented on the inner workings - I could look it up somewhere (like bearings - these are TOUGH to get apart - but most of the time, why bother - there are plenty of documents that explain what bearings are, the different types, why they work, and what bearings are for what uses).
I can't do that with Word...