Recently I wrote an blog entry on Firefox, and a commenter indicated that Firefox was an incredible tool in which Microsoft's IE 7 was a tool that made things harder to do.
Well, here is a concrete example of the difference between IE 7 and FireFox.
When you are on a web page and hit control-F to find text on that page what happens?
In IE 7 (and previous versions, this functionality appears to have avoided update) a small dialog window pops up over your page covering some of the text you are going to search. You type in what you want to search for and the page scrolls to the text and moves your search window down. It highlights the text, but it isn't entirely what I want in a search tool. You can close the search tool as necessary to stop it from blocking the text, but to start up the search again you have to control-F to bring it back up.
Firefox will perform actions that at first you might think are similar to the IE 7 way of handling searches.
Firefox will open an extended status bar, with an entry box for your search text. You type in to it what you are looking for and hit next. It scrolls the web page as necessary and highlights the text. You can hit the next or previous button as necessary to continue your search of go back to a previous search hit. The search bar on the browser does not block any text. It stays at the bottom of the screen waiting if you need it again - it need not go away for you to read a paragraph of text.
It is a vital difference (to me) in blocking or not blocking text when I'm performing a search on a web page. Why? Because I fully expect to read the paragraph where the hit happened to determine if what was found is what I need or if I have to search again. On the IE 7 model (or just IE for the past 10 years...) this involves more actions on my part to clear up the text to read what I'm looking for - either moving the dialog window or closing it completely. This works out to be a huge annoyance when what I was reading turns out to not be what I'm looking for and I have to re-open the search dialog.
So, definitely, score 5 points to Firefox for the previously mentioned session recovery capability. Score another 2 points to Firefox for making text searches of web pages easier.
Score: Firefox 2 - 7 , IE 7 - 0 .
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
Wii Scary
I own a Nintendo Wii. Unlike many people, I didn't spend hours in line waiting for it. I was lucky. I went to the local target that I knew was going to get 70 Wii machines and waited an hour before opening to ensure that I got my machine.
There is little doubt that Nintendo is making money on the console itself, unlike Microsoft and Sony. Even if Nintendo was not making money on the console itself, they would have made money on the number of games alone that I have purchased for the device.
1) Wii Play
2) Rayman's Raving Rabbids
3) Zelda
4) Sonic and the Secret of the Rings
5) Excite Truck (which I use as an MP3 player sometimes)
Virtual Console Games
1) Mario 64
2) Sonic the Hedgehog
Accessories:
1) Nunchuck Controller
2) 1GB SD card (not nintendo)
Perhaps that isn't enough, but a number of titles upcoming and out already are on my list of games I want to get. There is a FPS (First Person Shooter) that comes in Rayman's Raving Rabbids that has totally turned me on to the idea of a FPS for the Wii - a full one. Rayman's only let's you control where you fire like some arcade shooters, where I am from the Castle Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, Doom 2 generation - and yearn for full control of motion.
Soon, I'll have my choice of an Alien Syndrome FPS and Metroid Prime Hunters for Wii will be coming out soon.
Not to mention that I've gone totally Japanese and own three Nintendo DS devices - one for me, my wife and my 4 year-old son. My favorite game has to be Big Brain Acadamy. It is hard though, to neglect Elite Beat Agents and New Super Mario Brothers.
So, for the Wii, I can't wait for Big Brain Acadamy. I'm even thinking of getting a Pokemon game or two - as long as there is a way to inter-operate between the Wii and the DS. I think, with a little work, a motion sensor and WiFi connection, the Nintendo DS could even be used as a controller for the Wii.
This would be a combination of two great worlds. Motion sensing controlling and touch sensing. I could imagine a game where you are playing by waving your DS around (hopefully with a strap of some sort) and then quickly struggling to scribble on its screen or do something on the DS screen.
Anyway, my thoughts for the moment on the Nintendo. I think they will do well against their competitors.
There is little doubt that Nintendo is making money on the console itself, unlike Microsoft and Sony. Even if Nintendo was not making money on the console itself, they would have made money on the number of games alone that I have purchased for the device.
1) Wii Play
2) Rayman's Raving Rabbids
3) Zelda
4) Sonic and the Secret of the Rings
5) Excite Truck (which I use as an MP3 player sometimes)
Virtual Console Games
1) Mario 64
2) Sonic the Hedgehog
Accessories:
1) Nunchuck Controller
2) 1GB SD card (not nintendo)
Perhaps that isn't enough, but a number of titles upcoming and out already are on my list of games I want to get. There is a FPS (First Person Shooter) that comes in Rayman's Raving Rabbids that has totally turned me on to the idea of a FPS for the Wii - a full one. Rayman's only let's you control where you fire like some arcade shooters, where I am from the Castle Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, Doom 2 generation - and yearn for full control of motion.
Soon, I'll have my choice of an Alien Syndrome FPS and Metroid Prime Hunters for Wii will be coming out soon.
Not to mention that I've gone totally Japanese and own three Nintendo DS devices - one for me, my wife and my 4 year-old son. My favorite game has to be Big Brain Acadamy. It is hard though, to neglect Elite Beat Agents and New Super Mario Brothers.
So, for the Wii, I can't wait for Big Brain Acadamy. I'm even thinking of getting a Pokemon game or two - as long as there is a way to inter-operate between the Wii and the DS. I think, with a little work, a motion sensor and WiFi connection, the Nintendo DS could even be used as a controller for the Wii.
This would be a combination of two great worlds. Motion sensing controlling and touch sensing. I could imagine a game where you are playing by waving your DS around (hopefully with a strap of some sort) and then quickly struggling to scribble on its screen or do something on the DS screen.
Anyway, my thoughts for the moment on the Nintendo. I think they will do well against their competitors.
Tuesday, May 08, 2007
Illigal Immigrants and Terrorism
Fully 1/2 of the alleged attackers planning to attack Fort Dix were illegal immigrants to the US.
Illegal immigration is a very complex topic; however, it should be noted that while these guys were in the country, they were illegal (inherently breaking the law), they drove cars with no license, drove cars with no registration, car insurance or even a basic training course.
Of course, in New Jersey where property tax is a hot topic - all three illegals went to high school here and cost their neighbors money for their free ride in school.
And what do they do with their free ride through school? They try to kill us...
So, a definite connection is made now between illegal immigrants and terrorism. I don't want it to be impossible for people who want to be here to come here. But our system right now doesn't do anything on a local level to enforce immigration laws. That's a problem.
Illegal immigration is a very complex topic; however, it should be noted that while these guys were in the country, they were illegal (inherently breaking the law), they drove cars with no license, drove cars with no registration, car insurance or even a basic training course.
Of course, in New Jersey where property tax is a hot topic - all three illegals went to high school here and cost their neighbors money for their free ride in school.
And what do they do with their free ride through school? They try to kill us...
So, a definite connection is made now between illegal immigrants and terrorism. I don't want it to be impossible for people who want to be here to come here. But our system right now doesn't do anything on a local level to enforce immigration laws. That's a problem.
Fort Dix Terror Plot
I live here in New Jersey. Currently I live close enough to the World Trade Centers to see the smoke in the aftermath.
But most of my life I lived in Howell, New Jersey and for a number of years I was a member of the New Jersey Air National Guard ad McGuire AFB.
I knew Big Blue when it was Big Blue and not what it is today, Big Beige. I was around to know the guys and talk to them about a certain club on base that used to be a stripper club.
So, headlines about a proposed attack on Fort Dix which shares boundaries with McGuire AFB certainly brings in my attention.
I've seen some pictures lately of the base in a lot of the articles and I'm happy to note that Fort Dix is now a closed base. When I was over there the Air Force Base was a closed base (meaning it had guarded gates) and Fort Dix was wide open. I even remember getting kind of lost leaving from a drill weekend and wandering around in Fort Dix.
Perhaps it is a result of 9/11 that the army bases are closed bases now, but it is a good thing in general for security. In a world with so many people in it, and a country like the USA with a large population as well, it would be difficult to imagine that there aren't people who don't wish us all well.
How we react to that fact will determine what kind of people we are.
Even with the newer gates on Fort Dix, I find that the gates themselves are targets. People commute in to the bases on daily basis. The gates themselves in these circumstances have a lot of people at them (in cars waiting to get in plus the soldiers running the gate).
It would be foolish to think that the gate itself wouldn't be a target. Our roads in the US are designed to be long and straight where a suicide bomber in a large truck could build up momentum. So, I think that a general (not a frantic and scared) review of the entrances of the military bases and their defensibility from suicide attacks should be in order.
Some recommendations would be:
1) More gates or gates that allow more cars to pass through at a time (meaning we'd have to have more people to man the gates to certify vehicles as they go through the gates as well).
2) No straight roads moving in to the bases.
3) Speed bumps of significant size to impede high speed vehicles.
4) Watch towers manned or unmanned and remotely controlled with weaponry.
There was a base in Germany that I heard about (a US base) in which the gate was armed with a system that would push the cement (and the car on it) up and away from the gate if someone attempted a breach.
Now, that would be neat. It was unfortunately, in the story told to me, used on a normal person coming through the gate. The guard asked for ID and didn't see it, even though it was offered (which can happen) and got nervous and fired the mechanism.
I wasn't told of anyone being hurt. But it does show that every day use of a gate needs to be weighed against over-the-top security.
Anyway, I'm glad these guys were caught and that no-one was hurt.
But most of my life I lived in Howell, New Jersey and for a number of years I was a member of the New Jersey Air National Guard ad McGuire AFB.
I knew Big Blue when it was Big Blue and not what it is today, Big Beige. I was around to know the guys and talk to them about a certain club on base that used to be a stripper club.
So, headlines about a proposed attack on Fort Dix which shares boundaries with McGuire AFB certainly brings in my attention.
I've seen some pictures lately of the base in a lot of the articles and I'm happy to note that Fort Dix is now a closed base. When I was over there the Air Force Base was a closed base (meaning it had guarded gates) and Fort Dix was wide open. I even remember getting kind of lost leaving from a drill weekend and wandering around in Fort Dix.
Perhaps it is a result of 9/11 that the army bases are closed bases now, but it is a good thing in general for security. In a world with so many people in it, and a country like the USA with a large population as well, it would be difficult to imagine that there aren't people who don't wish us all well.
How we react to that fact will determine what kind of people we are.
Even with the newer gates on Fort Dix, I find that the gates themselves are targets. People commute in to the bases on daily basis. The gates themselves in these circumstances have a lot of people at them (in cars waiting to get in plus the soldiers running the gate).
It would be foolish to think that the gate itself wouldn't be a target. Our roads in the US are designed to be long and straight where a suicide bomber in a large truck could build up momentum. So, I think that a general (not a frantic and scared) review of the entrances of the military bases and their defensibility from suicide attacks should be in order.
Some recommendations would be:
1) More gates or gates that allow more cars to pass through at a time (meaning we'd have to have more people to man the gates to certify vehicles as they go through the gates as well).
2) No straight roads moving in to the bases.
3) Speed bumps of significant size to impede high speed vehicles.
4) Watch towers manned or unmanned and remotely controlled with weaponry.
There was a base in Germany that I heard about (a US base) in which the gate was armed with a system that would push the cement (and the car on it) up and away from the gate if someone attempted a breach.
Now, that would be neat. It was unfortunately, in the story told to me, used on a normal person coming through the gate. The guard asked for ID and didn't see it, even though it was offered (which can happen) and got nervous and fired the mechanism.
I wasn't told of anyone being hurt. But it does show that every day use of a gate needs to be weighed against over-the-top security.
Anyway, I'm glad these guys were caught and that no-one was hurt.
Shaving Cream Cans
You know sometimes I wonder at the mental faculties of large companies.
There is a problem with shaving cream cans - at least with the metal ones.
They are made of a metal that rusts. That rust is encouraged by the high amount of water vapor present in a bathroom, where the shaving cream can will reside.
So, this isn't nuclear science. They have a couple of options:
1) Don't make the shaving cream can out of a metal that rusts.
2) Make the shaving cream can as usual, but coat it in a substance on the bottom so it will not rust.
3) Make the bottom of the shaving cream can out of something that doesn't rust
Not only is it a waste to use such a good amount of metal for a stupid shaving cream can, but it rusts wherever it is placed in my bathroom. Then, that rust is never easy to remove. Somehow it appears to bind itself to the surface making extraordinary effort in scrubbing to remove the offending rust.
What, do the people that work at these places and create the packaging not use the products? Do they enjoy removing the rust in their bathroom?
Do they think I might enjoy a little rust on my bathtub so my kids can rub their hands in it and then stick it in to their mouth? (Nevermind that they really shouldn't be doing that, kids do whatever they want to no mater what you tell them. Currently, my 4-year-old is in a state of - let me do exactly the opposite of what daddy asks me to and see if he gets pissed off.)
There is a problem with shaving cream cans - at least with the metal ones.
They are made of a metal that rusts. That rust is encouraged by the high amount of water vapor present in a bathroom, where the shaving cream can will reside.
So, this isn't nuclear science. They have a couple of options:
1) Don't make the shaving cream can out of a metal that rusts.
2) Make the shaving cream can as usual, but coat it in a substance on the bottom so it will not rust.
3) Make the bottom of the shaving cream can out of something that doesn't rust
Not only is it a waste to use such a good amount of metal for a stupid shaving cream can, but it rusts wherever it is placed in my bathroom. Then, that rust is never easy to remove. Somehow it appears to bind itself to the surface making extraordinary effort in scrubbing to remove the offending rust.
What, do the people that work at these places and create the packaging not use the products? Do they enjoy removing the rust in their bathroom?
Do they think I might enjoy a little rust on my bathtub so my kids can rub their hands in it and then stick it in to their mouth? (Nevermind that they really shouldn't be doing that, kids do whatever they want to no mater what you tell them. Currently, my 4-year-old is in a state of - let me do exactly the opposite of what daddy asks me to and see if he gets pissed off.)
Camera Storage Capacity to Detail Captured
I recently purchased a new still camera, the Fujifilm S700 or S5700.* This is a 7 Mega pixel camera with a 10X optical zoom.
Our current camera (and we are keeping it) is a 6 MP Fujifilm E550. Part of the reason we purchased the S700, was because it was really cheap for getting a new camera that was newer and better than our old camera.
So, we bought the camer, - it was $220 at BJ's, with a $20 rebate and then we purchased $28 - 3GB SD card to go in it.
2 GB! I hear there are people working on an 8 GB SD card, if it isn't out there already.
So, where is the problem, you say?
Well, technically, there isn't a problem. So far as I can tell, the S700 is a better camera in every way than our E550, with the exception that they are different camera types and the E550 is a slimmer model.
No, the problem is one of perception. I have a SD card, that is 2GB's in size and it will hold something like almost 900 pictures.
Now, I like taking picture, especially of my kids, but the chances of me using 900 picturs in a single setting are pretty slim. The chances of the camera even being able to take 900 pictures on a single charge are also, pretty slim.
So, the problem is this, I think that digital cameras in general, should be able to utilize the storage space they can potentially have. To me that means that cameras should have huge sensors that capture an array of the current sensors data. If you had an array of 4 sensors the same size as the current sensor you would be able to capture a lot more data (and need a lot more lens) and still you wouldn't fill up the SD card with 100 pictures (which is what I take on average)!
These MP monsters would be so detailed that it would be an incredible feats for eyes.
Anyway, overall the camera is really good. I'll probably talk about it more later. Like I said, it handily beats my E550 in every way except for physical size. The photo quality, to my non-professional eye - is great. Very few blurry auto-focus missed shots except when I do a sequence of pictures in a row (an experiment I admit) and the video quality appears to be very good.
*The nomenclature was about as clear as mud. At BJ's it was a S700 on the tag, S5700 on the box. There I was wondering if I had the correct camera. Then, even in the box and documentation there are some discrepancies as to the name of the camera. Good thing it is a good camera or I'd be confused and pissed off, right now I'm just confused.
Our current camera (and we are keeping it) is a 6 MP Fujifilm E550. Part of the reason we purchased the S700, was because it was really cheap for getting a new camera that was newer and better than our old camera.
So, we bought the camer, - it was $220 at BJ's, with a $20 rebate and then we purchased $28 - 3GB SD card to go in it.
2 GB! I hear there are people working on an 8 GB SD card, if it isn't out there already.
So, where is the problem, you say?
Well, technically, there isn't a problem. So far as I can tell, the S700 is a better camera in every way than our E550, with the exception that they are different camera types and the E550 is a slimmer model.
No, the problem is one of perception. I have a SD card, that is 2GB's in size and it will hold something like almost 900 pictures.
Now, I like taking picture, especially of my kids, but the chances of me using 900 picturs in a single setting are pretty slim. The chances of the camera even being able to take 900 pictures on a single charge are also, pretty slim.
So, the problem is this, I think that digital cameras in general, should be able to utilize the storage space they can potentially have. To me that means that cameras should have huge sensors that capture an array of the current sensors data. If you had an array of 4 sensors the same size as the current sensor you would be able to capture a lot more data (and need a lot more lens) and still you wouldn't fill up the SD card with 100 pictures (which is what I take on average)!
These MP monsters would be so detailed that it would be an incredible feats for eyes.
Anyway, overall the camera is really good. I'll probably talk about it more later. Like I said, it handily beats my E550 in every way except for physical size. The photo quality, to my non-professional eye - is great. Very few blurry auto-focus missed shots except when I do a sequence of pictures in a row (an experiment I admit) and the video quality appears to be very good.
*The nomenclature was about as clear as mud. At BJ's it was a S700 on the tag, S5700 on the box. There I was wondering if I had the correct camera. Then, even in the box and documentation there are some discrepancies as to the name of the camera. Good thing it is a good camera or I'd be confused and pissed off, right now I'm just confused.
Firefox Browser - Continued Innovation - vs IE 7
I first wrote about the FireFox browser in March of 2005. Since then I typically install it on all of my Windows PCs (but not the Macs, Safari is good enough in that realm).
There are still some disturbing problems with the browser. Most of these problems, I suspect come from web pages that support IE only. Since IE added multiple tab browsing the scales have tilted back towards Microsoft's IE 7 if it weren't for one very special attribute of FireFox.
I've been having some trouble with one of my PC's. It needs a bios update, but it has Pheonix Bios, and you just can't download any update, it has to be one for your specific motherboard and I don't remember what it is. I'll take a look at it sometime and see if I can figure it out.
The end result is that this machine crashes, typically in multimedia operations. No blue screen, no - hey you might want to save before the ship goes down, just down and bounce in a reboot instantly.
FireFox, which I've been using for the most part, has a way to recover sessions. The best part of it is that all you have to do after starting FireFox in order to recover your previous session is click a button.
This is particularly handy in that even in cases where I've been writing in a text box in a tab, this information will be saved (not in every case, though). It remembers your cookies, and even if you were logged in to Comcast e-mail.
This is powerful stuff. I think there is even a setting for it to remember your session even when you just close the program. I'll think about that one, there could be benefits and detractions to it.
But in terms of saving the information as I was writing an entry on IIDB forum, boy it saved me a lot of anger and frustration. Saving frustration is important to me. IE7, doesn't do this, or at least not yet.
I noticed when IE 7 came out that Microsoft employed a neat way to close the tabs. FireFox, you had to move your mouse all the way to the right edge of the screen to close a tab. Microsoft had it right on the tab. Shortly afterwards, FireFox fixed this. It certainly seems a lot like one-upsmanship, but FireFox really did something useful with the session recovery.
Good job guys, it is nice to see programmers to go, since I am at least in part a programmer.
There are still some disturbing problems with the browser. Most of these problems, I suspect come from web pages that support IE only. Since IE added multiple tab browsing the scales have tilted back towards Microsoft's IE 7 if it weren't for one very special attribute of FireFox.
I've been having some trouble with one of my PC's. It needs a bios update, but it has Pheonix Bios, and you just can't download any update, it has to be one for your specific motherboard and I don't remember what it is. I'll take a look at it sometime and see if I can figure it out.
The end result is that this machine crashes, typically in multimedia operations. No blue screen, no - hey you might want to save before the ship goes down, just down and bounce in a reboot instantly.
FireFox, which I've been using for the most part, has a way to recover sessions. The best part of it is that all you have to do after starting FireFox in order to recover your previous session is click a button.
This is particularly handy in that even in cases where I've been writing in a text box in a tab, this information will be saved (not in every case, though). It remembers your cookies, and even if you were logged in to Comcast e-mail.
This is powerful stuff. I think there is even a setting for it to remember your session even when you just close the program. I'll think about that one, there could be benefits and detractions to it.
But in terms of saving the information as I was writing an entry on IIDB forum, boy it saved me a lot of anger and frustration. Saving frustration is important to me. IE7, doesn't do this, or at least not yet.
I noticed when IE 7 came out that Microsoft employed a neat way to close the tabs. FireFox, you had to move your mouse all the way to the right edge of the screen to close a tab. Microsoft had it right on the tab. Shortly afterwards, FireFox fixed this. It certainly seems a lot like one-upsmanship, but FireFox really did something useful with the session recovery.
Good job guys, it is nice to see programmers to go, since I am at least in part a programmer.
Angelic Layer and Science
It might not have come out yet in this blog, but my wife and I are huge anime fans. I've been watching just about anything that I can from shows on cartoon network, Adult Swim, Netflix rentals, YouTube (Japanese recordings with English Text) and even a fan site BleachPortal.net to get in my fix of anime.
I search for anime shows that my son can watch. I'll let him watch stuff that is much more violent than most parents - I don't believe that what people watch on TV leads to what people do in reality. If this were the case then it would be quite clear that Japanese culture should be far more violent than United States Culture - and this is directly opposite to available information.
To the topic of this particular post: Angelic Layer is a low-violence and low-person violence anime that my son likes to watch. Young children control dolls on a field called the Angelic Layer where those dolls become capable of following the user's mind commands to do things on the layer. There is a lot more to this show, like a slight sexual tension between the main character and one of the male characters that so far in two disks hasn't resulted in anything more than a he likes her - and the guy getting all embarrassed. The main story line follows the main character as her doll battles other dolls on the Angelic Layer and she becomes a competition player. So, the violence that does happen in the show are dolls fighting dolls, no blood, still a little violence; however, it is clear on the show that the fighters are not people - even though they look like people.
Recently there have been articles like this one - depicting a game system with an add-on device that allows the user to use their mind to control the actions of their character inside of a console game. This immediately brought to my mind the idea of Angelic Layer. The art of moving things in the real world is far more difficult (especially given the activities of the dolls in Angelic Layer) than moving pixels in a game.
On the other hand, we are increasingly becoming more capable in the robotic arena. If this is the direction we are going with in gaming, there isn't a reason why we couldn't in ten years create something very much like Angelic Layer.
I search for anime shows that my son can watch. I'll let him watch stuff that is much more violent than most parents - I don't believe that what people watch on TV leads to what people do in reality. If this were the case then it would be quite clear that Japanese culture should be far more violent than United States Culture - and this is directly opposite to available information.
To the topic of this particular post: Angelic Layer is a low-violence and low-person violence anime that my son likes to watch. Young children control dolls on a field called the Angelic Layer where those dolls become capable of following the user's mind commands to do things on the layer. There is a lot more to this show, like a slight sexual tension between the main character and one of the male characters that so far in two disks hasn't resulted in anything more than a he likes her - and the guy getting all embarrassed. The main story line follows the main character as her doll battles other dolls on the Angelic Layer and she becomes a competition player. So, the violence that does happen in the show are dolls fighting dolls, no blood, still a little violence; however, it is clear on the show that the fighters are not people - even though they look like people.
Recently there have been articles like this one - depicting a game system with an add-on device that allows the user to use their mind to control the actions of their character inside of a console game. This immediately brought to my mind the idea of Angelic Layer. The art of moving things in the real world is far more difficult (especially given the activities of the dolls in Angelic Layer) than moving pixels in a game.
On the other hand, we are increasingly becoming more capable in the robotic arena. If this is the direction we are going with in gaming, there isn't a reason why we couldn't in ten years create something very much like Angelic Layer.
Monday, May 07, 2007
Bioethics of biology used to destroy
In an article: Fire ants may have met their match on CNN they discuss a very important finding. The use of a virus that naturally occurs within fire ants to destroy them.
Is it ethical to use a virus to deliberately kill insects? I think it is. The fire ants in question do not naturally occur in the Northern United States of America and have no natural predators in this region. The article briefly talks about importing another species in to the US that is a natural predator to the ants. I think that this would not be an optimal solution. Introducing a second species even if successful still leaves you with now two introduces species competing with local species for limited resources.
The question is if the implementation of the virus to destroy as many fire ants as possible will be ethically done - and not to the ants, I mean to other species, the ecology and to humanity.
Whatever pathogen is generated to go after the fire ants will need to be significantly tested against all species of insects that are rungs in our ecology. Imagine if they don't do such testing and ants that we need are also killed? This would be a bigger disaster.
I think appropriate testing can be done. I hope the testing will be done. Currently there is no legislation forcing companies using biological agents to perform such testing. The FDA doesn't hold any authority in this scope, as the product does not impact (directly) food eaten by humans.
So, here's to hoping everyone does the due diligence and tests any solution in development appropriately.
Is it ethical to use a virus to deliberately kill insects? I think it is. The fire ants in question do not naturally occur in the Northern United States of America and have no natural predators in this region. The article briefly talks about importing another species in to the US that is a natural predator to the ants. I think that this would not be an optimal solution. Introducing a second species even if successful still leaves you with now two introduces species competing with local species for limited resources.
The question is if the implementation of the virus to destroy as many fire ants as possible will be ethically done - and not to the ants, I mean to other species, the ecology and to humanity.
Whatever pathogen is generated to go after the fire ants will need to be significantly tested against all species of insects that are rungs in our ecology. Imagine if they don't do such testing and ants that we need are also killed? This would be a bigger disaster.
I think appropriate testing can be done. I hope the testing will be done. Currently there is no legislation forcing companies using biological agents to perform such testing. The FDA doesn't hold any authority in this scope, as the product does not impact (directly) food eaten by humans.
So, here's to hoping everyone does the due diligence and tests any solution in development appropriately.
Childhood Horror
Ages ago (at least it seems that way) I used to have a recurrent nightmare/waking dream. The idea was very simple, that there were spiders in my ears (or some other insect).
So, a CNN video shows a kid that has lived through it. Apparently, two spiders crawled in to his ears while he was sleeping in the top bunk of his bed. Perhaps, being closer to the ceiling the spiders thought it was an inviting place to live.
His parents took him to the doctor, and flushed 1 living and 1 dead spider out of his ears. Let's hope they didn't lay any eggs.
I think, I've gotten over the horror of what it would be like to have insects burrowing under my skin or in my ears or attempting to eat me. I understand now that this kind of thing happens although infrequently here in the USA.
In Africa many predatory insects eat portions of the human body. Worms burrow in through the skin on the feet and things like that. Heck, there are of course worms that can take up residence inside your intestines. Knowing about the thousands of mites and things like that living in the bed, eating your dead skin, spiders crawling around your bed and accidentally falling in to your mouth at night. I mean, insects are simply something we need to live with, and on a close proximity despite the fact that we aren't really aware how close they are on a daily basis.
So, anyway, have pleasant dreams.
So, a CNN video shows a kid that has lived through it. Apparently, two spiders crawled in to his ears while he was sleeping in the top bunk of his bed. Perhaps, being closer to the ceiling the spiders thought it was an inviting place to live.
His parents took him to the doctor, and flushed 1 living and 1 dead spider out of his ears. Let's hope they didn't lay any eggs.
I think, I've gotten over the horror of what it would be like to have insects burrowing under my skin or in my ears or attempting to eat me. I understand now that this kind of thing happens although infrequently here in the USA.
In Africa many predatory insects eat portions of the human body. Worms burrow in through the skin on the feet and things like that. Heck, there are of course worms that can take up residence inside your intestines. Knowing about the thousands of mites and things like that living in the bed, eating your dead skin, spiders crawling around your bed and accidentally falling in to your mouth at night. I mean, insects are simply something we need to live with, and on a close proximity despite the fact that we aren't really aware how close they are on a daily basis.
So, anyway, have pleasant dreams.
Thursday, May 03, 2007
Mac Mini Update
Well, we finally took the Mac Mini and the LCD monitor that it doesn't work with over to the Mac Store in the Mall.
They tried a few things and in the end the guy at the store said, "Maybe try a different monitor."
I know for a fact that there isn't anything wrong with the monitor. We get the grey opening screen for the startup of the Mac and that is it.
I also know, that when I installed Windows Vista on the machine that used that monitor, I experience the same issues.
So, what did OS writers forget about monitors with their next generation OS?
Bleh, so I want my father-in-law to have a larger monitor than that 5 year olf 15" CRT. I guess I'll have to buy something, but I'll be wondering when I buy it - will this work with the Mac Mini?
They tried a few things and in the end the guy at the store said, "Maybe try a different monitor."
I know for a fact that there isn't anything wrong with the monitor. We get the grey opening screen for the startup of the Mac and that is it.
I also know, that when I installed Windows Vista on the machine that used that monitor, I experience the same issues.
So, what did OS writers forget about monitors with their next generation OS?
Bleh, so I want my father-in-law to have a larger monitor than that 5 year olf 15" CRT. I guess I'll have to buy something, but I'll be wondering when I buy it - will this work with the Mac Mini?
Wednesday, May 02, 2007
Censorship and Digg
Censorship is abhorrent to people even if the removal of that knowledge would be beneficial. There are many TV shows, Anime and movies about people who don't remember their past (or parts of it) and the show is the journey to learning the truth about the past.
So, encryption algorithms were 'smuggled' out of the country in a book - the source code and keys a long time ago. This was when the US government was passionate about keeping the highest level of encryption only in the US. I know, it was a really stupid idea on the US part.
I mean really. All they did was prevent US software security firms from competing on a global level. Now other businesses have that business. The economics for these companies in the US to have multiple versions of the software just to have lower power security on the stuff they ship out of the US - foolishness.
Especially in the age of the internet when this book with the source code probably wasn't the first way that source code left the US.
So, now we have a problem with encryption again. We are not a culture that believes in censorship (as a whole) and yet we let a law pass that basically states that if you have any discourse on the security of multimedia products, you are liable.
And this blew up on Digg. Digg was told to remove content because the articles contained an encryption key to secure new style media. The users revolted.
It isn't that all their users are interested in ripping HD-DVD content. It is the fact that they are being told they cannot read material.
The media companies have made their own problems. Unfortunately for the, by not allowing discussion on the weaknesses of their encryption - their encryption is breakable - and it appears that it is relatively easy to do.
I'm glad Digg changed their mind. If they face a lawsuit I think it will be a first amendment battle to end all battles. Copyright vs Freedom of Expression. If we go in order of precedence in our government documents - 1st amendment should outrank copyright protection. They really need to amend the constitution to mandate censorship - and they should be forced to do so if they want to limit public discourse.
So, encryption algorithms were 'smuggled' out of the country in a book - the source code and keys a long time ago. This was when the US government was passionate about keeping the highest level of encryption only in the US. I know, it was a really stupid idea on the US part.
I mean really. All they did was prevent US software security firms from competing on a global level. Now other businesses have that business. The economics for these companies in the US to have multiple versions of the software just to have lower power security on the stuff they ship out of the US - foolishness.
Especially in the age of the internet when this book with the source code probably wasn't the first way that source code left the US.
So, now we have a problem with encryption again. We are not a culture that believes in censorship (as a whole) and yet we let a law pass that basically states that if you have any discourse on the security of multimedia products, you are liable.
And this blew up on Digg. Digg was told to remove content because the articles contained an encryption key to secure new style media. The users revolted.
It isn't that all their users are interested in ripping HD-DVD content. It is the fact that they are being told they cannot read material.
The media companies have made their own problems. Unfortunately for the, by not allowing discussion on the weaknesses of their encryption - their encryption is breakable - and it appears that it is relatively easy to do.
I'm glad Digg changed their mind. If they face a lawsuit I think it will be a first amendment battle to end all battles. Copyright vs Freedom of Expression. If we go in order of precedence in our government documents - 1st amendment should outrank copyright protection. They really need to amend the constitution to mandate censorship - and they should be forced to do so if they want to limit public discourse.
Gene Therapy for the Blind
As a parent of two children when I read about some of the horrible diseases out there that can affect children and on in to adulthood I find that the world sometimes can be a scary place.
So it is nice to read an article on a horrible disease that scientists are working to cure or at least alleviate the problems of this disease.
The disease is Leber's congenital amaurosis. Basically as a child gets older their eyesight degenerates and will be blind by their 20s. I couldn't imagine if my children had this disease.
Here is the article that first brought this science exploration to my attention through Google News.
The treatment involves gene modification. Years ago there were a lot of debates on the ethics of gene modification therapy. It was noted in other places that this kind of debate ceased in the popular media when the procedures yielded results that will actually cure children's diseases.
There are dangers with this treatment. It is a technology that is still in its infancy. There is an incident mentioned in this article about two children who underwent a similar surgery being infected by the carrier virus and developing cancer. One hopes they are using a different carrier virus and that this is in fact the cause of the cancer.
Right now, modeling the human body well enough for computer simulations to map out how these operations will affect the human body are not possible. Until then human trials will be necessary to determine the efficacy of a procedure.
One can only hope that the scientists need a minimum of iterations to determine the correct methodology.
Here are some additional articles on this subject in the news:
Docs Perform Gene Therapy Operations
Hope in Sight
eCanadaNow
This is my 100th blog entry.
So it is nice to read an article on a horrible disease that scientists are working to cure or at least alleviate the problems of this disease.
The disease is Leber's congenital amaurosis. Basically as a child gets older their eyesight degenerates and will be blind by their 20s. I couldn't imagine if my children had this disease.
Here is the article that first brought this science exploration to my attention through Google News.
The treatment involves gene modification. Years ago there were a lot of debates on the ethics of gene modification therapy. It was noted in other places that this kind of debate ceased in the popular media when the procedures yielded results that will actually cure children's diseases.
There are dangers with this treatment. It is a technology that is still in its infancy. There is an incident mentioned in this article about two children who underwent a similar surgery being infected by the carrier virus and developing cancer. One hopes they are using a different carrier virus and that this is in fact the cause of the cancer.
Right now, modeling the human body well enough for computer simulations to map out how these operations will affect the human body are not possible. Until then human trials will be necessary to determine the efficacy of a procedure.
One can only hope that the scientists need a minimum of iterations to determine the correct methodology.
Here are some additional articles on this subject in the news:
Docs Perform Gene Therapy Operations
Hope in Sight
eCanadaNow
This is my 100th blog entry.
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
WWYD
There are lots of battles about the existence of Jesus. Some are scholarly battles, some are emotional battles and some are simply two entrenched sides that simply cannot communicate.
I humbly offer my thoughtful argument about the existence of Jesus.
What would you do (WWYD) if you had Jesus capabilities?
Make a list.
Then compare it to what Jesus did.
Decide if you could have been a better Jesus than Jesus was. If you think you could have been a better Jesus, then perhaps, the all-powerful, all-knowing Jesus did not exist. Clearly if you can conceive of what you would do as Jesus and Jesus didn't accomplish those goals, he either didn't exist, wasn't as powerful or knowledgeable as people claim.
So, I've come up with my own list.
1) I'd create a series of books containing the knowledge of science that can be attained with a human mentality. These books would be written in all the existing languages of the time and all future languages, because as the son of god, I'd be able to do that.
2) I'd write many stories showing the commonality of human existence and that tolerance of others is really tolerance for yourself.
3) I'd live for as long as possible to ensure that my healing abilities and wisdom would be available for as long as possible. Consider, that since Jesus was the son of god he should be able to live as long as Methuselah, Noah, or Adam. So, Jesus should be able to live for hundreds to a thousand years with no problem. In fact, Jesus should be able to live longer since he's the son of god and not just your ordinary human.
4) I would be able to change the minds of the leaders of humans whenever they were going down the 'wrong' path. By wrong, I basically mean the path for fighting over resources, ideology, etc. This power is demonstrated by god against Pharaoh, so it should be no problem. Even if, as Jesus, I wouldn't have complete control over the country's leader's mind, at least highly influence would help prevent some death and destruction.
5) I would note in any common calendar form (of the present or the future) the time and place of natural disasters that would result in massive loss of life. This way, people would have full knowledge of their decisions in terms of Earthquakes, hurricanes, meteor hits or any other natural disaster that foreknowledge would result in saved lives.
6) I'd have lots of children. Since Jesus is 1/2 god, then his children would in turn, be 1/4 god. That presumably would be more god than the rest of us have. The children of Jesus, I should think, would have better capabilities than ordinary humans and could serve to fill the Earth with people who are healers, can read and write, have knowledge beyond the knowledge of the average person and can act as judges in conflicts to preserve the existence of humanity and the improvement of humanity on in to the future.
7) I would take the time to educate people personally and found institutions for learning. Further, I'd bless or aid the graduating students who have learned a lot with good luck (better than the normal person) so that they too, could be a path to helping other humans.
8) I'd teach about and in turn have others teach about basic hygiene. God might not want me to prevent disease totally but paradoxically allow me to treat disease; however, I can do what I can to prevent disease from spreading. If I could I'd have a powwow with god and request that diseases not be of the lethal variety.
So, did you have any good ideas on what you would do if you were Jesus (WWYD)? Better than my ideas or in addition to my ideas? I'd love to hear about them.
But the critical questions should be asked. Why didn't Jesus do them? Why did he foolishly waste his life when his living for hundreds of years was more than possible and the amount of people he could have helped directly could have been many times greater than committing suicide by governmental execution? Having a line of Jesus descendants through time helping humanity - is there some reason this would be a bad idea? If there was one person that needed to have a few hundred kids over his lifetime, it would be Jesus.
If he offered proof of his existence to the people of his time and they did not need faith, his existence on through time wouldn't have affected people being able to go to heaven (if in fact anybody gets to go to heaven) so why not choose to live?
I humbly offer my thoughtful argument about the existence of Jesus.
What would you do (WWYD) if you had Jesus capabilities?
Make a list.
Then compare it to what Jesus did.
Decide if you could have been a better Jesus than Jesus was. If you think you could have been a better Jesus, then perhaps, the all-powerful, all-knowing Jesus did not exist. Clearly if you can conceive of what you would do as Jesus and Jesus didn't accomplish those goals, he either didn't exist, wasn't as powerful or knowledgeable as people claim.
So, I've come up with my own list.
1) I'd create a series of books containing the knowledge of science that can be attained with a human mentality. These books would be written in all the existing languages of the time and all future languages, because as the son of god, I'd be able to do that.
2) I'd write many stories showing the commonality of human existence and that tolerance of others is really tolerance for yourself.
3) I'd live for as long as possible to ensure that my healing abilities and wisdom would be available for as long as possible. Consider, that since Jesus was the son of god he should be able to live as long as Methuselah, Noah, or Adam. So, Jesus should be able to live for hundreds to a thousand years with no problem. In fact, Jesus should be able to live longer since he's the son of god and not just your ordinary human.
4) I would be able to change the minds of the leaders of humans whenever they were going down the 'wrong' path. By wrong, I basically mean the path for fighting over resources, ideology, etc. This power is demonstrated by god against Pharaoh, so it should be no problem. Even if, as Jesus, I wouldn't have complete control over the country's leader's mind, at least highly influence would help prevent some death and destruction.
5) I would note in any common calendar form (of the present or the future) the time and place of natural disasters that would result in massive loss of life. This way, people would have full knowledge of their decisions in terms of Earthquakes, hurricanes, meteor hits or any other natural disaster that foreknowledge would result in saved lives.
6) I'd have lots of children. Since Jesus is 1/2 god, then his children would in turn, be 1/4 god. That presumably would be more god than the rest of us have. The children of Jesus, I should think, would have better capabilities than ordinary humans and could serve to fill the Earth with people who are healers, can read and write, have knowledge beyond the knowledge of the average person and can act as judges in conflicts to preserve the existence of humanity and the improvement of humanity on in to the future.
7) I would take the time to educate people personally and found institutions for learning. Further, I'd bless or aid the graduating students who have learned a lot with good luck (better than the normal person) so that they too, could be a path to helping other humans.
8) I'd teach about and in turn have others teach about basic hygiene. God might not want me to prevent disease totally but paradoxically allow me to treat disease; however, I can do what I can to prevent disease from spreading. If I could I'd have a powwow with god and request that diseases not be of the lethal variety.
So, did you have any good ideas on what you would do if you were Jesus (WWYD)? Better than my ideas or in addition to my ideas? I'd love to hear about them.
But the critical questions should be asked. Why didn't Jesus do them? Why did he foolishly waste his life when his living for hundreds of years was more than possible and the amount of people he could have helped directly could have been many times greater than committing suicide by governmental execution? Having a line of Jesus descendants through time helping humanity - is there some reason this would be a bad idea? If there was one person that needed to have a few hundred kids over his lifetime, it would be Jesus.
If he offered proof of his existence to the people of his time and they did not need faith, his existence on through time wouldn't have affected people being able to go to heaven (if in fact anybody gets to go to heaven) so why not choose to live?
Monday, April 30, 2007
Elite Beat Agents - Nintendo DS Game
There are some games that are produced for Nintendo gaming systems that are incredible.
Elite Beat Agents is a fun game for anyone that enjoys music. You really can't tell from the package just how much fun it is to play this game.
You might have to get over the cheesy story lines that go with each mini music game, but they are so cheesy that you can't help but laugh sometimes.
In essence, there are destination where you need to dance with your Nintendo stylus with the music and the beats in the measure that the game shows you on the screen. There are a few variations to what you need to do to hit the bit (or up-beat) or dance with a long section of music.
Hey, and you can't knock a game too much that has Men at Work's YMCA on it!!!
But I do have some problems with game play, the opening tutorial and content.
The opening training/tutorial section doesn't take you through the experience very well, in fact the only thing you'll really know how to do is the spinning you do for bonus points.
Game play is great! If you have a really good sense of timing. There are two levels of game play, but I think they get things a bit wrong on the lower level of game play. Specifically, they reduce the number of times you have to tap the screen to the beats, but this doesn't necessarily make it easier.
I suspect the answer to both of my points is to have a tutorial mode, where you are hitting on the beat for the most part, like we do when we're just bopping around to music or something to get in to the habit or style of playing and listening to the music.
Please NOTE! The game asks you to listen to it, I suggest you do what it says! If you play the game watching the circles closing in on the circles, you are sure to miss a lot of beats.
My 4 year-old son loves this game, but he can't play it. There is no child mode which would be incredible to have. I'm sure he'd be in to this for hours trying to get everything just right. Now he just gets frustrated and wants to watch me play it.
I'm hoping that they get more titles like this - perhaps Elite Beat Agents 2, 3, 4 or different themes and music. Once they have the primary engine down (and they do, game play works flawlessly) it should be a simple matter to port more music over and the comic art intros and action shouldn't take too long to create.
It is an opportunity for a lot of rich content that shouldn't cost a lot to make, but that I think people would be willing to pay for.
At least I would be willing to pay for it.
Elite Beat Agents is a fun game for anyone that enjoys music. You really can't tell from the package just how much fun it is to play this game.
You might have to get over the cheesy story lines that go with each mini music game, but they are so cheesy that you can't help but laugh sometimes.
In essence, there are destination where you need to dance with your Nintendo stylus with the music and the beats in the measure that the game shows you on the screen. There are a few variations to what you need to do to hit the bit (or up-beat) or dance with a long section of music.
Hey, and you can't knock a game too much that has Men at Work's YMCA on it!!!
But I do have some problems with game play, the opening tutorial and content.
The opening training/tutorial section doesn't take you through the experience very well, in fact the only thing you'll really know how to do is the spinning you do for bonus points.
Game play is great! If you have a really good sense of timing. There are two levels of game play, but I think they get things a bit wrong on the lower level of game play. Specifically, they reduce the number of times you have to tap the screen to the beats, but this doesn't necessarily make it easier.
I suspect the answer to both of my points is to have a tutorial mode, where you are hitting on the beat for the most part, like we do when we're just bopping around to music or something to get in to the habit or style of playing and listening to the music.
Please NOTE! The game asks you to listen to it, I suggest you do what it says! If you play the game watching the circles closing in on the circles, you are sure to miss a lot of beats.
My 4 year-old son loves this game, but he can't play it. There is no child mode which would be incredible to have. I'm sure he'd be in to this for hours trying to get everything just right. Now he just gets frustrated and wants to watch me play it.
I'm hoping that they get more titles like this - perhaps Elite Beat Agents 2, 3, 4 or different themes and music. Once they have the primary engine down (and they do, game play works flawlessly) it should be a simple matter to port more music over and the comic art intros and action shouldn't take too long to create.
It is an opportunity for a lot of rich content that shouldn't cost a lot to make, but that I think people would be willing to pay for.
At least I would be willing to pay for it.
Brutal Supidity
A woman is killed in an accident by a roller coaster at a Lego-Land amusement park.
This might be good enough for a Darwin award. It isn't that it was something not in her range to control. She wasn't a customer. She was the ride operator. A ride takes several operators. At least 2 people, if not usually 3 people. One to operate the controls, one to make sure the people are on the ride and give all clear and one to make sure everyone got off the ride and give the all-clear.
Well, this woman was probably one of the people helping people on or off the ride and giving all clear. I've been a ride operator at Six Flags Great Adventure. I remember the training. If her training was anything like what I received, they probably send something like 'Never get on the tracks. If someone losses something, you have to call maintenance and they may get it.'
So, some guy says to her (and this guy is the epitome of stupidity as well) that he lost his wallet and that it fell on the tracks. Who in their right mind would ask someone to get their wallet from the tracks of a running ride? At most, he should have said that please, I hope that when the ride isn't running there is a way to get my wallet back.
Certainly not go jump down there and get my wallet please.
Or maybe, I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and he mentioned it to her and she took it in to her own head to go down there and get the wallet.
The net result of all of this is that this woman is dead. It is a sad thing when people die for stupid reasons. My heart goes out to her relatives, her parents and her friends.
Blame also goes to all of these people. You have to have appropriate decision making abilities to work a ride or do just about anything in life. Somebody didn't teach her those decision making skills well enough to be doing what she was doing.
She was 21 years old. So, she wasn't some little girl. She should have known and valued her life enough to tell this guy to bugger off.
I'm sure there will be major lawsuits against the park and the ride manufacturer and that everything about what a person does in the process over there will be reviewed by legal people.
Really, though, what it comes down to in this case is a person having the sense not to jump on tracks of an operating ride. The same kind of sense that involves not walking on railroad tracks of an operating railroad or not walking in front of moving cars.
This might be good enough for a Darwin award. It isn't that it was something not in her range to control. She wasn't a customer. She was the ride operator. A ride takes several operators. At least 2 people, if not usually 3 people. One to operate the controls, one to make sure the people are on the ride and give all clear and one to make sure everyone got off the ride and give the all-clear.
Well, this woman was probably one of the people helping people on or off the ride and giving all clear. I've been a ride operator at Six Flags Great Adventure. I remember the training. If her training was anything like what I received, they probably send something like 'Never get on the tracks. If someone losses something, you have to call maintenance and they may get it.'
So, some guy says to her (and this guy is the epitome of stupidity as well) that he lost his wallet and that it fell on the tracks. Who in their right mind would ask someone to get their wallet from the tracks of a running ride? At most, he should have said that please, I hope that when the ride isn't running there is a way to get my wallet back.
Certainly not go jump down there and get my wallet please.
Or maybe, I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and he mentioned it to her and she took it in to her own head to go down there and get the wallet.
The net result of all of this is that this woman is dead. It is a sad thing when people die for stupid reasons. My heart goes out to her relatives, her parents and her friends.
Blame also goes to all of these people. You have to have appropriate decision making abilities to work a ride or do just about anything in life. Somebody didn't teach her those decision making skills well enough to be doing what she was doing.
She was 21 years old. So, she wasn't some little girl. She should have known and valued her life enough to tell this guy to bugger off.
I'm sure there will be major lawsuits against the park and the ride manufacturer and that everything about what a person does in the process over there will be reviewed by legal people.
Really, though, what it comes down to in this case is a person having the sense not to jump on tracks of an operating ride. The same kind of sense that involves not walking on railroad tracks of an operating railroad or not walking in front of moving cars.
Fragile Infrastructure Logic
A recent road accident in California raises attention nationwide, mostly because it is on CNN's front page.
This accident involves a tanker truck filled with gasoline. Involved in a single vehicle accident in the early morning hours today it is fortunate that no person was killed.
However, the massive amount of fuel spilled and then burning on the road destroyed a major commuting artery in the San Francisco area. This in turn will cause major problems for months in the San Francisco area. This in turn will cause major economic losses to businesses and people in the local region.
I've worked up in this area and taken flights to San Francisco and drive up to a client C&H Sugar. Everything comes to a pinch point at the bridge out there. So, perhaps you want to blame the people in California for making such a fragile system? This would be incorrect to do. Most major metropolitan areas come down to pinch points. Thinking of the tens of thousands of commuters that drive in to New York City from New Jersey on any given day and a similar accident on the George Washington Bridge??? That would be all bad.
You could blame the infrastructure in terms of roads and bridge conditions as San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom does, but this too would be incorrect. Think about it for a minute. You have thousands of gallons of volatile liquid being spilled and then combusted on the roadway. This fuel gains its potency from burning hot when combined with Oxygen which is all around us. Any time a tanker truck spills its load on to the road and burns you are going to have major damage. If that particular roadway is an overpass or a bridge you can expect the metal components to come under stress.
There was a similar incident over in New Jersey on Route 80; however, it wasn't a bridge and just damaged the road to make it impassable. This was fixed relatively easily.
However, these tanker trucks drive millions of miles every year and for every mile drive it increases the chance of there being an accident or a sever accident. Each one of these tanker trucks represents a ticking time bomb to local economies.
There will be losses of fuel as people have to spend more time or more miles to get to their employment because of this accident.
It will take additional funds of unknown source to fix this roadway. It will cost more to fix because there will be lots of pressure inside and outside of the government to get this fixed as soon as possible.
Prices of local goods will go up (temporarily one hopes) and cost residents more money.
Major businesses that transport goods through the area will be heavily impacted.
Now, if we worked on a way to eliminate roads this wouldn't be a big issue. We can do this and reduce our risk as a society. This is only a preview of accidents to come. If this happened on the George Washington Bridge, it would affect me directly. It would most certainly affect millions of people as well.
At some point we need to stop the onward rush to do things and think and plan how our future will look and how secure it will be. All we are doing now as a society is madly rushing around like a chicken with its head cut off fixing the problem of today and not concentrating on the future.
There is a problem when almost all major road construction has to take place in the off-hours because on-hour construction would create traffic snarls that would damage the economy. Moving the time of construction treats a symptom, much like cough medicine, but does nothing to alleviate the underlying problem.
Adding more roads will help alleviate the symptom as well, but when I watched a show on the addition of infrastructure in the New Jersey area, it indicated that the new road will help in the short term - the next 6 months, but then the new roadway will also be running at over 100% capacity.
This appeared to be an affect of people wanting to go to places where it was easier to drive and get to. The new roadway offers this until there is no more capacity left. Then matters are as bad or worse than they were before.
This accident involves a tanker truck filled with gasoline. Involved in a single vehicle accident in the early morning hours today it is fortunate that no person was killed.
However, the massive amount of fuel spilled and then burning on the road destroyed a major commuting artery in the San Francisco area. This in turn will cause major problems for months in the San Francisco area. This in turn will cause major economic losses to businesses and people in the local region.
I've worked up in this area and taken flights to San Francisco and drive up to a client C&H Sugar. Everything comes to a pinch point at the bridge out there. So, perhaps you want to blame the people in California for making such a fragile system? This would be incorrect to do. Most major metropolitan areas come down to pinch points. Thinking of the tens of thousands of commuters that drive in to New York City from New Jersey on any given day and a similar accident on the George Washington Bridge??? That would be all bad.
You could blame the infrastructure in terms of roads and bridge conditions as San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom does, but this too would be incorrect. Think about it for a minute. You have thousands of gallons of volatile liquid being spilled and then combusted on the roadway. This fuel gains its potency from burning hot when combined with Oxygen which is all around us. Any time a tanker truck spills its load on to the road and burns you are going to have major damage. If that particular roadway is an overpass or a bridge you can expect the metal components to come under stress.
There was a similar incident over in New Jersey on Route 80; however, it wasn't a bridge and just damaged the road to make it impassable. This was fixed relatively easily.
However, these tanker trucks drive millions of miles every year and for every mile drive it increases the chance of there being an accident or a sever accident. Each one of these tanker trucks represents a ticking time bomb to local economies.
There will be losses of fuel as people have to spend more time or more miles to get to their employment because of this accident.
It will take additional funds of unknown source to fix this roadway. It will cost more to fix because there will be lots of pressure inside and outside of the government to get this fixed as soon as possible.
Prices of local goods will go up (temporarily one hopes) and cost residents more money.
Major businesses that transport goods through the area will be heavily impacted.
Now, if we worked on a way to eliminate roads this wouldn't be a big issue. We can do this and reduce our risk as a society. This is only a preview of accidents to come. If this happened on the George Washington Bridge, it would affect me directly. It would most certainly affect millions of people as well.
At some point we need to stop the onward rush to do things and think and plan how our future will look and how secure it will be. All we are doing now as a society is madly rushing around like a chicken with its head cut off fixing the problem of today and not concentrating on the future.
There is a problem when almost all major road construction has to take place in the off-hours because on-hour construction would create traffic snarls that would damage the economy. Moving the time of construction treats a symptom, much like cough medicine, but does nothing to alleviate the underlying problem.
Adding more roads will help alleviate the symptom as well, but when I watched a show on the addition of infrastructure in the New Jersey area, it indicated that the new road will help in the short term - the next 6 months, but then the new roadway will also be running at over 100% capacity.
This appeared to be an affect of people wanting to go to places where it was easier to drive and get to. The new roadway offers this until there is no more capacity left. Then matters are as bad or worse than they were before.
Friday, April 27, 2007
Geodesic Dome Home
Many years ago when I was a teenager I was an avid reader of Popular Science Magazine. I still am a avid reader of that magazine. It was there in the back of that magazine that I fell in love with an idea. The idea of a geodesic dome to live in as my house.
There are so many advantages to a geodesic dome compared to a standard one that I find it hard to imagine that people even want the traditional home. In this age, the era of conservation of resources, a home that takes less material to build, consume less energy on the day to day basis and offers more space is more in harmony with world-wide trends.
It seems likely that I may get the opportunity to build a geodesic dome. As long as the local governments do not frustrate me with regulations I plan on gowing forward with this idea. I can't be totally sure of when.
This opportunity offers a lot of elegance as well. An elegant idea to build a geodesic dome as an addition to my wife's grandmother's house - which in turn was built by my wife's grandfather who has long since past away.
It would be a blend of the old and the new. It would offer, with its additional strength, safety in this times of an unknown climate.
It still won't help the fact that we count as a coastal population and that if the seas rise an extraordinary amount it may well be an underwater dome; however, it seems at the moment unlikely that the climate will crash that much.
Super powered hurricanes? Yeah, probably, despite the current idea circulating about wind shearing and the prevention of the formation of hurricanes.
Extremes of weather at odd points in time. Yep, already experiencing that. We'll see how it goes.
Anyway, there are quite a few manufacturers of geodesic domes. Currently, we are investigating Timberline domes (the one of two manufacturers of geodesic domes that still advertises in the back of Popular Science.)
There are so many advantages to a geodesic dome compared to a standard one that I find it hard to imagine that people even want the traditional home. In this age, the era of conservation of resources, a home that takes less material to build, consume less energy on the day to day basis and offers more space is more in harmony with world-wide trends.
It seems likely that I may get the opportunity to build a geodesic dome. As long as the local governments do not frustrate me with regulations I plan on gowing forward with this idea. I can't be totally sure of when.
This opportunity offers a lot of elegance as well. An elegant idea to build a geodesic dome as an addition to my wife's grandmother's house - which in turn was built by my wife's grandfather who has long since past away.
It would be a blend of the old and the new. It would offer, with its additional strength, safety in this times of an unknown climate.
It still won't help the fact that we count as a coastal population and that if the seas rise an extraordinary amount it may well be an underwater dome; however, it seems at the moment unlikely that the climate will crash that much.
Super powered hurricanes? Yeah, probably, despite the current idea circulating about wind shearing and the prevention of the formation of hurricanes.
Extremes of weather at odd points in time. Yep, already experiencing that. We'll see how it goes.
Anyway, there are quite a few manufacturers of geodesic domes. Currently, we are investigating Timberline domes (the one of two manufacturers of geodesic domes that still advertises in the back of Popular Science.)
Heaven and Justice
Not too long ago in the debates on Internet Infidels Forum there was a debate in regard to justice.
It seems like a ritual that religious people come to IIDB and challenge us on what we believe and usually approach us with the attitude of I'm superior because of my faith.
The core of this person's argument hinged on Hitler. Basically, he indicated that there can't be justice in the world if there isn't a hell to punish people like Hitler.
In fact, I recall reading an article about a religious person in college opening up the debate with atheists or non-religious people with asking 'where do you think Hitler is now?'
The first thought in regard to justice and hell is that in the bible it is indicated by Jesus that few people get in to heaven. Let that sink in and unless you feel you are a paragon of virtue, please put yourself in the hell column - right next to me.
The second thought is that many people go to hell for many very different reasons. Hitler is in this mythological hell because he unjustly killed millions of people. I'll go to hell because I deny the existence of god. Nearly half of the people in the USA get divorced and who knows if the big 'g' man agrees that divorce is legitimate. Who knows, maybe 54 percent of our country that are divorced people and re-married will simply be regarded as adulterers. And as previously indicated unless you are a paragon of virtue you will end up in hell. Maybe you'll end up in hell because there are witches or wiccans in your area and you allow them to live. In any case the point of my second thought is that there are no different levels of hell. Sure, in Dante's inferno, a fictional work there are levels of hell. But nothing in the bible supports this idea. So, if you are in hell because you got divorced you suffer the same level of torment as Hitler. There is no justice in this idea. There is nothing to prevent a person from realizing, "Hey, I'm going to go to hell for killing one person, why not kill as many as I can?" After all, once in hell, it can't get much worse.
My third thought is that even Hitler or Stalin doesn't deserve an eternity or infinity of torment. Place yourself in the shoes of god. You receive Hitler's soul and need to decide what to do with it. Well, you tally up all the pain he caused and you make him experience it. You take him through all the lives that will never be because he killed their ancestors or parents. Maybe you multiply the pain by a factor of 10 and you punish him for 10,000 years or more of horror. Maybe a million years. Or maybe until you can tell in his soul that he has changed in fundamental ways and more than just understand what he did was wrong, but has internalized in his thought process that he would actively figt against such a thing. Regardless of what you do to Hitler, something less than the infinite amount of time available at hand has passed and he has completed whatever, you as god, have determined as his punishment. He's done, then. That's all. Same thing with Stalin or any other genocidal idiot.
The fourth thought for now on this topic is that god ultimately is responsible for our behavior. It really doesn't matter about free will or anything like that. God, contains all the knowledge of everything (allegedly) and as such knows the outcome of all this including any fudge factor of free will religious people want to throw in there. There is the old idea of "If you could travel through time and kill Hitler, would you do it?" Well, god is all powerful. He looked at that problem and for whatever reason decided that it was a good idea that Hitler order all those people killed and that his followers were believers in him enough to go ahead and do it and not step up and say "You know, I think this isn't a good idea, I'd like to go home or go on vacation in Hawaii for a few weeks instead of kill all these people, see ya."
So, the question in the fourth thought is can god hold Hitler, Stalin, Pharaoh or Judas responsible for things in essence god is doing through them? Pharaoh didn't even have a chance. God went on in to his head and made him cold hearted so he could try out his new toy - the kill the first born of everyone without goats blood on their doors toy.
With all these thoughts I cannot see how a world with heaven and hell is any more just than a world without them. In fact, I think heaven and hell make matters far worse for justice. The real world has a lot of problems and good people don't always win (or even live) and bad people do bad things and don't always get their karmic justice. So, what? That is life.
We do what we can and we catch the bad people we can and punish them within reason. All those thousands of people who steal cars don't deserve to fry in hell infinitely. They deserve (but may not always get) to be caught, tried by a jury and placed in jail for an appropriate time. They should also apologize to the people they stole from and once they get out of jail they should pay those people back for their financial loss.
It wouldn't be perfect, but you know it isn't horrible either.
It seems like a ritual that religious people come to IIDB and challenge us on what we believe and usually approach us with the attitude of I'm superior because of my faith.
The core of this person's argument hinged on Hitler. Basically, he indicated that there can't be justice in the world if there isn't a hell to punish people like Hitler.
In fact, I recall reading an article about a religious person in college opening up the debate with atheists or non-religious people with asking 'where do you think Hitler is now?'
The first thought in regard to justice and hell is that in the bible it is indicated by Jesus that few people get in to heaven. Let that sink in and unless you feel you are a paragon of virtue, please put yourself in the hell column - right next to me.
The second thought is that many people go to hell for many very different reasons. Hitler is in this mythological hell because he unjustly killed millions of people. I'll go to hell because I deny the existence of god. Nearly half of the people in the USA get divorced and who knows if the big 'g' man agrees that divorce is legitimate. Who knows, maybe 54 percent of our country that are divorced people and re-married will simply be regarded as adulterers. And as previously indicated unless you are a paragon of virtue you will end up in hell. Maybe you'll end up in hell because there are witches or wiccans in your area and you allow them to live. In any case the point of my second thought is that there are no different levels of hell. Sure, in Dante's inferno, a fictional work there are levels of hell. But nothing in the bible supports this idea. So, if you are in hell because you got divorced you suffer the same level of torment as Hitler. There is no justice in this idea. There is nothing to prevent a person from realizing, "Hey, I'm going to go to hell for killing one person, why not kill as many as I can?" After all, once in hell, it can't get much worse.
My third thought is that even Hitler or Stalin doesn't deserve an eternity or infinity of torment. Place yourself in the shoes of god. You receive Hitler's soul and need to decide what to do with it. Well, you tally up all the pain he caused and you make him experience it. You take him through all the lives that will never be because he killed their ancestors or parents. Maybe you multiply the pain by a factor of 10 and you punish him for 10,000 years or more of horror. Maybe a million years. Or maybe until you can tell in his soul that he has changed in fundamental ways and more than just understand what he did was wrong, but has internalized in his thought process that he would actively figt against such a thing. Regardless of what you do to Hitler, something less than the infinite amount of time available at hand has passed and he has completed whatever, you as god, have determined as his punishment. He's done, then. That's all. Same thing with Stalin or any other genocidal idiot.
The fourth thought for now on this topic is that god ultimately is responsible for our behavior. It really doesn't matter about free will or anything like that. God, contains all the knowledge of everything (allegedly) and as such knows the outcome of all this including any fudge factor of free will religious people want to throw in there. There is the old idea of "If you could travel through time and kill Hitler, would you do it?" Well, god is all powerful. He looked at that problem and for whatever reason decided that it was a good idea that Hitler order all those people killed and that his followers were believers in him enough to go ahead and do it and not step up and say "You know, I think this isn't a good idea, I'd like to go home or go on vacation in Hawaii for a few weeks instead of kill all these people, see ya."
So, the question in the fourth thought is can god hold Hitler, Stalin, Pharaoh or Judas responsible for things in essence god is doing through them? Pharaoh didn't even have a chance. God went on in to his head and made him cold hearted so he could try out his new toy - the kill the first born of everyone without goats blood on their doors toy.
With all these thoughts I cannot see how a world with heaven and hell is any more just than a world without them. In fact, I think heaven and hell make matters far worse for justice. The real world has a lot of problems and good people don't always win (or even live) and bad people do bad things and don't always get their karmic justice. So, what? That is life.
We do what we can and we catch the bad people we can and punish them within reason. All those thousands of people who steal cars don't deserve to fry in hell infinitely. They deserve (but may not always get) to be caught, tried by a jury and placed in jail for an appropriate time. They should also apologize to the people they stole from and once they get out of jail they should pay those people back for their financial loss.
It wouldn't be perfect, but you know it isn't horrible either.
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
The Government Wants You Dead
Periodically, a new story comes out how an aging person is being denied benefits because they have in some way shape or form been reported as dead.
Now I understand that government is a group of very complex processes; however, the governments knowledge of you being alive or dead should be very clear and easy to understand.
Either the responsible agency has an official death certificate for the person or they do not. In the absence of such a document or legal copy they cannot and must not assume for any reason that a person is dead.
Insult is added to injury when a person is reported dead and no one reaches out to that person or their family on the phone to make the official determination. The government is acting on unknown and false data or hearsay to make an official action.
Not to mention that they may be hurting the people who need the monetary and medical help the most and people who have lived long lives as good citizens of our country in the absence of evidence!
What a person is 95 years old do they assume they are dead? Would you want this to happen to you?
In a world where many people live long lives and the average life expectancy is in the 70's - the government needs to step in and say that in the absence of evidence a person is alive. If they investigate and they find the person has died, that's different.
But all too often the government is taking actions not in accordance with its directives.
Now I understand that government is a group of very complex processes; however, the governments knowledge of you being alive or dead should be very clear and easy to understand.
Either the responsible agency has an official death certificate for the person or they do not. In the absence of such a document or legal copy they cannot and must not assume for any reason that a person is dead.
Insult is added to injury when a person is reported dead and no one reaches out to that person or their family on the phone to make the official determination. The government is acting on unknown and false data or hearsay to make an official action.
Not to mention that they may be hurting the people who need the monetary and medical help the most and people who have lived long lives as good citizens of our country in the absence of evidence!
What a person is 95 years old do they assume they are dead? Would you want this to happen to you?
In a world where many people live long lives and the average life expectancy is in the 70's - the government needs to step in and say that in the absence of evidence a person is alive. If they investigate and they find the person has died, that's different.
But all too often the government is taking actions not in accordance with its directives.
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