Archive for May, 2006
The Political Wrong
Why do some conservatives have such an easy time lying to the public and even themselves? I’m not saying liberals are always right, but the level of deceit on one side is overwhelming.
Take, for example, the perpetual Al Gore retort, half-jokingly spouted whenever anyone says anything good about the man. "But Al Gore said he [...]
The Thing about Science Fiction
First of all, a big congratulation to Lauren McLaughlin for her story "The Perfect Man" appearing in Salon today. Lauren is probably the most successful of our little writing group here in NYC, Altered Fluid, and the kudos are well deserved.
The thing about Salon is that it’s a much broader audience than the standard [...]
The God Gene
Geneticist claims to have found a ‘God gene’ in humans (The Washington Times). I personally doubt there’s a single such gene, but it’s certainly plausible that a combination of several genes either acting or not acting in unison predisposes us to belief in a supernatural being that answers all our desperately unanswered questions. From the [...]
Read More..>>Local TV News For Sale — For Free!
UPDATE 5/29/06: I’m pleased to relay that the FCC has actually started an investigation of the widespread and undisclosed use of VNRs in many American media outlets, not that you’d ever hear about it from them. This follows a clear FCC warning given in spring ‘05 and a detailed independent report (see article below for [...]
Read More..>>Brain/Machine Interfaces for the Masses
A while back, I promised to venture boldly into the realm of Brain/Machine interfaces. It’s bold, because it’s a bit outside of my normal expertise. But that never stopped me before. And, as it happens, my wife is a neuroscientist. So this first post will be speculative on my part, drawing on things I’ve read [...]
Read More..>>Intelligence Czar Can Waive SEC Rules
Here’s an interesting development (MSNBC/BusinessWeek) El Presidente has decreed that our intelligence overlord, Mr. Negroponte, can let public companies off the hook for not telling their shareholders they’re involved in [possibly illegal] activities relating to national security.
From the article:
The timing of Bush’s move is intriguing. On the same day the President signed the memo, [...]
Invisibility
Following a slew of breathy clueless press articles on the announcement this week of a breakthrough in cloaking technology, here’s one that actually manages to explain the details. Technology Review: Emerging Technologies and their Impact.
The key point is that light has to exit the cloaking object (which surrounds the thing you’re trying to hide) exactly [...]
Urinals with Attitude
Pub urinals on Long Island warn drunk drivers. I suppose if you’re that drunk, having a urinal talk to you is no big deal. Now, if the urinal could reach into your pocket and take your keys, that would be a neat trick. Better yet, if the urinal could dianose that burning sensation as an [...]
Read More..>>On Immortality
Who wants to live forever?
Queen ably sung the question in the movie Highlander about a man who could not die. People like Aubrey de Gray and Ray Kurzweil continually prod the skeptics with "why not live forever?" And even a relative unknown like me has fictionally asked the question from the point of view [...]
The 260,604,567th President
If there’s one thing that inspires me about George W. Bush, it’s the idea that anyone can grow up to become President. Hell, you don’t even need to get elected anymore. If enough people believe it, it’s therefore true. And once you’re President, no one can tell you otherwise. America. What a country?
So as of [...]