Big Brother Wants to Watch

If this doesn't scare you, then you are already a prisoner of the system. 
Here, take 1/3 of my income as taxes and use it to monitor my movements???  BULL...SHEET.

I can't say anymore about this topic due to it's content raising my blood pressure. 


http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2011/04/scotus-gps-monitoring/

What's that shiny thing in the sky?

 Humans around the planet have a rare opportunity to view the International Space Station (ISS) from right here on Terra-Firma.... and yes, it is STILL in space.   Orbital coincidences have provided us with the chance to see the ISS orbiting the earth via it's reflection of the sun's rays.  To the naked eye, the ISS will be visible as a VERY bright object in the sky, diminishing even the moon's luminescence.  The link below provides the optimal viewing times and locations for the area of Whitewater, with many other selectable locations available at the Nasa website.  Take time to notice the little things.... they often turn out to be the things you remember the most.


http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/sightings/cities/view.cgi?country=United_States&region=Wisconsin&city=Janesville


http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/04/space-station-flyover/

Website MOCK

http://students.uww.edu/sippykp04/270/midterm_console_welcome.html

Suckin' Good Websites

I think that Facebook.com is a good website.  It has all the key components of a well-designed site.  It has the home logo in the top left, a search box with navigation bar in the header, and contact information at the bottom.  The content is arranged in a 3-column wireframe format, and it is designed with a minimalistic approach with no background colors (white) or images.   Although the design is simplistic, it engages the user because the purpose of the site is to connect people socially, and it accomplishes this task fully.  It would be interesting to do a study to ascertain just how much time people spend interacting with facebook on a daily basis..... the results would surely indicate that the proof is in the pudding.

I think that the Wired.com website design sucks monkey nuts.  The organization of the site seems like everything was shaken-up in a bingo-ball mixer and then tossed onto a table.   I find it VERY difficult to navigate to content that I am actually looking for because the navigation bar is not across the top of the page, it is 1/4 of the way down the page.  This is confusing and doesn't follow W3C conventions.  The homepage functions as expected, but it is not located in the top left of the page, making it seem 'out of place'.  I like the content of the site immensely, but the overall design needs further development.  Even if the designer's intention was to purposely place these items outside of convention in order to make their site 'standout' from other sites on the web.... it STILL isn't enjoyable to navigate there.

No, you aren't trippin.

A robotics student at UC Berkeley named Aaron Hoover has built a working model of a Mobius gear, an object that was thought to be a work of fiction until Hoover unveiled it recently to the world.  The model seems to be impossible, but the student has shown that when you truly put your mind to something, the impossible becomes the achievable.  There is only 1 side/plane to a mobius strip, and that scientific fact is enough to cause geniuses brain-aches from over-contemplation, let alone the common layperson.  It just doesn't make sense that your eyes are seeing a three-dimensional object in front of you (mobius strip), yet it physically only has ONE side/plane.  I can't even begin to try to explain HOW science supports this, because my brain still can't process the photo....  I can't wait to see when the structure is put to use in other real-world applications..... Could this be the precursor to re-inventing the wheel??  Or perhaps just a cool addition to your four-wheel drive transmission? 

http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2011/04/real-mobius-gear-will-melt-your-mind/

This is one DEF deaf.

Terry Garrett has taught himself how to play videogames using sounds alone.  Blinded at age 10, he has learned to subtle nuances of the underlying sounds in Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee, and can complete the game without the use of vision.  He learned to recognize what the different sounds meant in the game, in order to paint a mental picture of the game and ultimately control the avatar flawlessly.  This clarifies just how important sound design is in a game--- it is imperative to have good sound in order to fully immerse the senses of the gamer into believing they are 'in' the game.  Terry has also learned to play Zelda: Ocarina of Time through auditory response as well.  I can barely complete some titles with the use of sight, and this person has learned to play by sound alone.  Now THAT is overcoming adversity. 

http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2011/04/blind-gamer-plays-zelda-by-ear/

At-Ats prefer Doggy-Style

Legoland is unveiling a new exhibit at the end of this month as part of their 'miniland' attraction in California.  The amusement park will be introducing a miniland of 7 different scenes from the "Star Wars" franchise of movies, ranging from the cantina on Mos Eisley to the snow-covered planet of Hoth.  Model builders united to create all the miniature facsimiles of vehicles, characters, and locations out of LEGO bricks.  The completed scenes will become a permanent installation at the theme park.   The exact number of interlocking lego bricks used in construction of the exhibit is still under debate;  early estimates of 1.5 million bricks was a gross under-estimation in relation to the completed scenes.



http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2011/03/geekdad-gets-the-first-look-at-legolands-new-star-wars-miniland/

Escaping The Junk Belt of Earth.

Forty-plus years of space travel has made the orbit of earth a dangerous place.  Objects discarded during space missions have collected in a developing belt of junk around the earth.  Some of the objects naturally decay in orbit and fall to earth, but much of the debris remains, leading to the stockpile of scraps amassed in earth's low-orbit.  The U.S. military actually monitors twenty-thousand pieces of debris in orbit.  This developing belt is making it more dangerous for space travel, as the stray debris causes a critical threat of collision.  Nasa scientists have proposed using robots similar to those used in auto-manufacturing to 'shoot' the debris with low-grade laser lite in order to 'nudge' the debris out of collision courses.... Really.  I wasn't aware that you could push something with light until reading this article.    I think that every entity that has a satellite or has a space program should unite together to collaborate on removing this belt together.  The earth is ours collectively, and we will ALL suffer together if the earth actually has a HALO of JUNK.


http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/03/lasering-space-junk/

TSA can see your organs but not your bomb.

'Nude' body scanners being used in U.S. airports are under scrutiny again.  A lawsuit has been filed, declaring the scanners as a health-hazard.  The most interesting thing I found about the article is that research has been conducted leading to results that question the feasibility of the scanners to begin with.  The research indicates that the body scanners are less-than reliable in locating/recognizing potential threats such as a gun or explosive hidden on a terrorist.   Test results have shown that a gun or explosive can be concealed on the human body without detection by the body scanner, leading me to the question:  Why the hell are these things being used if they are essentially worthless for locating weapons on terrorists?  If a machine is designed to locate weaponry or explosives, it should do just that---- otherwise, what is the point of taking off your shoes to walk through the detector if it can't see the 9mm strapped to your thigh anyways?!??  

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2011/03/scanners-part3/

Trailer Trash-Talkin'

Deep Silver released a forty-five minute playable demo of 'Dead Island', a highly anticipated game following the release of it's counterpoint trailer.  The game allows the player to choose from 4 different characters to play as, each with their own specific style of fighting and dialogue.   The reviewer said that the gameplay is in the first person shooter genre, with many many up close and personal encounters with zombies from the island.  A good selling point for the game is the drop-in, drop-out multi-player option.  A player can join their friends to play and assist at any point in a campaign.  I have been waiting for games like 'Halo' to include this multiplayer option for several years now--- finally a developer has added the feature.  The game has a few similarities to already-released games, but left the reviewer wanting for more.

http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2011/03/dead-island-preview/

G-Men like the Backdoor.

The FBI is putting stress on electronic media companies (cellphone carriers and skype) to have their programmers code a backdoor into their system that would allow law-enforcement to perform wiretaps at their own discretion. 

Let me get this straight… the government wants to force e-media companies to create backdoors in their security systems for the sole purpose of eavesdropping?  WHOA.  This is sounding awfully similar to an Orwell novel.  Do we really need to make it easier for ‘big brother’ to invade our privacy?  History has shown us repeatedly that power doth corrupt, and that almost every instrument of power eventually ends up in the bad-guy’s hands.  If the code can be written to create security, then code can be written to break that security.  Think of what an identity-thief could do with a direct line to your life… or worse yet--- a STALKER.

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/09/fbi-backdoors/

Merv Griffin is rolling in his grave.

History is being written this week on the set of Jeopardy.  Not since Deep Blue defeated Kasparov has a human versus machine been so widely publicized.  IBM has developed 'Watson'; an artificial intelligence capable of competing on the trivia gameshow against HUMAN opponents.   The opposition???  Watson is competing against Jeopardy's all-time champions, Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter.   IBM's R&D team have programmed Watson to listen to trivia answers and then query it's onboard database to choose the most relevant 'question'.  I watched the first episode of three episodes, and the computer is definitely holding it's own against the human brain... or vice-versa.   Rutter was tied with Watson leading into final Jeopardy. 

http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2011/02/watson-wrong-answer-trebek/

Google Art Project

This is a great tool for those who can't physically get to a museum to view the art in person.  Sometimes this is due to geographic location, sometimes it is due to money or a person's health making it impossible for them to journey around the world to see a Rembrandt.  It is also a fantastic tool for children to investigate the original masterpieces as they appear in the museum.   That said, I was a little let-down by the site...Only because I have been to several of the museums in real-life that are on the list.  And a computer in 2 dimensions doesn't even compare (yet!?) to what the art looks like in person.  

http://www.googleartproject.com/

Sony Witch Hunt

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2011/02/sony-lawsuit-factory/

     Last month George Hotz (a 21 year old hacker from Jersey), posted a how-to video on youtube containing the jailbreak coding for the PS3, allowing the console to play homebrewed games and 'illegally copied' software.  SONY is tightening the thumbscrews on the hacker by filing suit ordering surrender of all his hard drives and other devices directly to Sony.  Sony has also made it clear that they will actively pursue and prosecute anyone hosting or distributing the video and code.  The company is also pursuing 6 other people from the hacker group called 'fail0verflow', demanding that Google/TWITTER divulge the identities of the the hackers to SONY. 

     This reminds me alot of a huge tidal wave of controversy a few years ago regarding copyrights on music and mp3s, napster, pirated cd's, etc.   Basically it boils down to a company foreseeing lost profits due to less game sales.  Why pay for something you can get for free, right? Sony was part of the music industry crusade against pirated music too.  I think game console companies are going to have to learn  that jailbreaking and computer hackers are here to stay, and to collaborate with them to generate truly magnificent consoles and games.