This is a very cool little toy, and as it was designed to do,
it evoked a sense of total gadget lust in me as soon as I saw
it. However, common sense soon got hold of me as soon as I saw
that these little tech darlings consume fossil fuels.
Given the Wheelman's tiny mass, it likely gets far better fuel
economy than a car, scooter, or motorcycle, and requires fewer
resources to manufacture. So inasmuch is it it subsitutes for
those vehicles, it reduces net resource consumption.
Near the end of the article there's a brief mention of adding
and removing individual objects from the scene. So EyeVision very
likely works by reconciling all the 2D views into a 3D model,
which is then re-rendered from a new viewpoint.
This goes by the name of "image-based modeling and rendering,"
and one of the the pioneers of the field developed the technique that was used for the notorious
bullet-time shot. Another group demonstrated their realtime IBMR-from-video process at Siggraph 2000.
Ginger/IT = compact personal flying machine?
on
What is 'IT'?
·
· Score: 1
Given:
- the inventor's history of transpo-oriented patents like Stirling
engines and off-road wheelchairs,
-that the inventor is an avid aviator who commutes via a helicopter,
- the talk of running afoul of regulations and of re-architecting
cities
- Ginger will "have a big, broad impact not only on social institutions
but some billion-dollar old-line companies" [quotation here]
- it is a mass-market alternative to a "dirty, expensive, dangerous"
item
.. I guess that Ginger is a compact personal flying machine meant
to replace cars.
But where this movie really shines is it's fresh take on the future;
The future is not a dark place--it is sterile, bright, cheery.
Bright-and-cheery is in fact the old-fashioned view of the future.
With the exception of the postapocalyptic subgenre, visual SF
movies most often portrayed the future as shiny and upbeat. Think
of Amazing Stories covers by Frank R Paul; the polished look of The Day the Earth Stood Still; the perfectly pristine appearance of everything in 2001: A Space Odyssey.
StarWars in 1977 first popularized grimy spaceships, and the hugely
influential BladeRunner in 1982 gave us claustrophobic, murky
cityscapes -- surprisingly, only because Ridley Scott had
a small budget and needed to hide the smallness of his set with
rain, fog, and darkness. Since then, noir future has been a trope.
Curiously, there is a clear example of noir SF from 1926: Metropolis.
There is no known natrual, non-biological process on Earth that
can produce an asymmetric molecule.
To clarify: many assymetric molecules arise through nonbiological
processes. However, such processes produce equal amounts of the
dextro- and levo-rotary molecules mixed together.
Biological processes, by contrast, are able to output molecules
that all have the same handedness.
Re:Ummm, I've got a radical idea...
on
Golden Rice
·
· Score: 1
[Dumping excess USA grain in poor countries] wouldn't be as nice
as it sounds. Doing that, you ruin the local economy there.
Lords of Poverty is a fascinating look at the sorry state of international aid
to developing countries. It explains in detail how the sudden
appearance in a poor country of cheap, abundant foreign food aid
can destroy the market for locally grown crops. This puts local
farmers out of business, so the following year there is again no
crop, and famine is exacerbated.
At current launch prices, a day's worth of water for the four-person
crew costs more than 300,000 dollars.
According to page 16 of this 28 MB document from NASA, an astronaut is allocated 5 lb of water
per day for drinking and hygiene combined. $300000 / (5 lb *
4 astronauts) = $15,000 / lb.
A.k.a. "noble metals" because of their high resistance to oxidation and corrosion. Rare, costly, and mainly used in catalysts, electronics and jewelry
From the article:
In the first category are gold and the platinum-group metals, which include platinum, palladium, iridium, osmium, rhodium, and ruthenium. These rare elements are in tremendous demand. They are essential to the miniature fuel cell technology that promises efficient, nonpolluting energy. They are also used widely in the electronics industry, for things like high-capacity disk drives and sophisticated capacitors, and as catalysts in pollution control devices.
This flexible keyboard is strongly reminiscent of the flat, roll-up-able piano owned by Picard's lady friend on a Next Generation episode. I wonder if that was partly the inspiration for the Flexboard?
It's true: international food aid is frequently far less effective than it appears. Lords of Poverty, written by former UN worker Graham Hancock, multiplies example upon example of misappropriation and waste. A UN aid worker friend of mine vouches for its accuracy.
Most surprising are explanations or how aid can be harmful. For example, the appearance of cheap, abundant foreign grain in a distressed country depresses prices for local farmers and forces them out of business; the following year there is no domestic crop at all.
Hanock offers the verdict that much foreign aid is well-intentioned but very badly implemented; he suggests a corrective emphasis on grassroots community and church-based groups.
There are weatherproofed internet kiosks scattered around the Netherlands, often alongside phone booths and near the VVV (tourist info) offices. They run a generic web browser on an x86 processor, and eat prepaid telephone cards; I found them a great help when I was on a trip to Overijssel in March.
Slashdot Mirror
You might like to investigate Unreal's network architecture for ideas.
Given the Wheelman's tiny mass, it likely gets far better fuel economy than a car, scooter, or motorcycle, and requires fewer resources to manufacture. So inasmuch is it it subsitutes for those vehicles, it reduces net resource consumption.
This goes by the name of "image-based modeling and rendering," and one of the the pioneers of the field developed the technique that was used for the notorious bullet-time shot. Another group demonstrated their realtime IBMR-from-video process at Siggraph 2000.
Given:
.. I guess that Ginger is a compact personal flying machine meant
to replace cars.
- the inventor's history of transpo-oriented patents like Stirling engines and off-road wheelchairs,
-that the inventor is an avid aviator who commutes via a helicopter,
- the talk of running afoul of regulations and of re-architecting cities
- Ginger will "have a big, broad impact not only on social institutions but some billion-dollar old-line companies" [quotation here]
- it is a mass-market alternative to a "dirty, expensive, dangerous" item
-Lloyd
Bright-and-cheery is in fact the old-fashioned view of the future. With the exception of the postapocalyptic subgenre, visual SF movies most often portrayed the future as shiny and upbeat. Think of Amazing Stories covers by Frank R Paul; the polished look of The Day the Earth Stood Still; the perfectly pristine appearance of everything in 2001: A Space Odyssey.
StarWars in 1977 first popularized grimy spaceships, and the hugely influential BladeRunner in 1982 gave us claustrophobic, murky cityscapes -- surprisingly, only because Ridley Scott had a small budget and needed to hide the smallness of his set with rain, fog, and darkness. Since then, noir future has been a trope.
Curiously, there is a clear example of noir SF from 1926: Metropolis.
Computer Generated Imagery.
To clarify: many assymetric molecules arise through nonbiological processes. However, such processes produce equal amounts of the dextro- and levo-rotary molecules mixed together.
Biological processes, by contrast, are able to output molecules that all have the same handedness.
Lords of Poverty is a fascinating look at the sorry state of international aid to developing countries. It explains in detail how the sudden appearance in a poor country of cheap, abundant foreign food aid can destroy the market for locally grown crops. This puts local farmers out of business, so the following year there is again no crop, and famine is exacerbated.
If the article's figure are correct, assuming two pounds of water costs about $300,000 to launch we get something over $9000 per ounce to launch
The article actually said:
At current launch prices, a day's worth of water for the four-person crew costs more than 300,000 dollars.
According to page 16 of this 28 MB document from NASA, an astronaut is allocated 5 lb of water per day for drinking and hygiene combined. $300000 / (5 lb * 4 astronauts) = $15,000 / lb.
A.k.a. "noble metals" because of their high resistance to oxidation and corrosion. Rare, costly, and mainly used in catalysts, electronics and jewelry
From the article:
In the first category are gold and the platinum-group metals, which include platinum, palladium, iridium, osmium, rhodium, and ruthenium. These rare elements are in tremendous demand. They are essential to the miniature fuel cell technology that promises efficient, nonpolluting energy. They are also used widely in the electronics industry, for things like high-capacity disk drives and sophisticated capacitors, and as catalysts in pollution control devices.
This flexible keyboard is strongly reminiscent of the flat, roll-up-able piano owned by Picard's lady friend on a Next Generation episode. I wonder if that was partly the inspiration for the Flexboard?
Most surprising are explanations or how aid can be harmful. For example, the appearance of cheap, abundant foreign grain in a distressed country depresses prices for local farmers and forces them out of business; the following year there is no domestic crop at all.
Hanock offers the verdict that much foreign aid is well-intentioned but very badly implemented; he suggests a corrective emphasis on grassroots community and church-based groups.
While I'm impressed with the production values of the Digiscents site, two things come to mind:
- nobody has every come up with a more than a rudimentary way to taxonomize odors, and
- their scent hardware is named, incredibly, the iSmell.
Is it a hoax?
There are weatherproofed internet kiosks scattered around the Netherlands, often alongside phone booths and near the VVV (tourist info) offices. They run a generic web browser on an x86 processor, and eat prepaid telephone cards; I found them a great help when I was on a trip to Overijssel in March.
The manufacturer has a picture of a kiosk here.