While most articles here on Opinion Dump are rather somber and serious, sometimes you'll find one that's a bit more on the fun side. Well, fun if you're into technology.
There are any number of sites on the internet that talk about technology. Here are some gems that you may not have heard of.
1. A team at the New York University Media Research lab has come up with an interesting way to interact with a computer by using a large touch screen that permits you to use all ten fingers in a very natural way. No more mouse. They even have a way to use an on-screen keyboard (you get to use all ten fingers on the screen after all). There's a nice video showing exactly how it works.
2. There is an effort underway to create what boils down to a time-lapse video of the entire night sky. Imagine seeing the planets moving about, with comets and other celestial bodies streaking by, all in one vast video.
3. It's been around for a couple decades, but Aerogel is now starting to get some use as a practical material. Nicknamed "frozen smoke", it's odd stuff. It's incredibly light and an excellent insulator - among other things.
4. Likely in the "too good to be true" category, the company EEStor isn't saying much about its ultra-capacitor product (i.e. a battery) other than some claims about being able to provide a very short charge time and hold a huge amount of power. Nay-sayers suggest that it's unlikely to actually work.
5. Returning to the land of the real, Sony has a gadget that works like an electronic book. You carry the thing around with you like you would a book, and read a page at a time from its neato-whizbang screen. That screen is possible because of electronic paper, which is a thin sheet of stuff that can be electronically drawn to over and over again, unlike actual paper. It's not like a computer monitor because once it has been drawn onto, it keeps whatever was drawn even when the power is turned off. It really does work like paper.
6. Although fuel cells, electric cars and such are fascinating technologies that piles and piles of people are trying to get going, here's an alternative: a rather different take on the bicycle that is stable, safe and fast. It will actually get the rider up to 50 MPH. It's called the Hyperbike.
7. Thoroughly impactical and likely something you haven't heard about, NASA has a mission to Pluto well underway. The spaceship New Horizons will be passing Jupiter in the next month or two, and then it's on past the orbits of Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, ultimately zipping by what it now referred to as the Pluto System. That little guy has been sitting out there for a long time and we've never been able to look closely at it. Now the science books can have real pictures of the cold little ball.
There are countless more advances in genetics research, artificial limbs, direct brain-to-computer interfaces, spacecraft engines, understanding animal behavior, countless electronic gadgets, machine intelligence, fuel cells, stem cells, and many, many more areas besides. Mankind is pursuing seemingly every avenue of understanding that we can think of. It can be awe-inspiring to witness and follow.
Once upon a time, someone who made a new discovery was hailed for weeks, months or even years. These days, most inventors and discoverers receive recognition for only moments before the next invention or discovery is announced. When computers cease being tools and become the actual investigators, the pace of discovery will stun even the most ambitious visionary.
I wonder what we'll do with all our newfound powers.
Thursday, January 25, 2007
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Unique Fixer-Uppers
When a real estate agent has a house for sale that looks absolutely awful, but the fundamental structure of the building is solid, they consider it an opportunity for renovation by the buyer. They call these sales "fixer-uppers". When the owner obtains the property, they fix it.
What does it mean to fix something? Well, it's not taking something that is raw materials and turning it into something else. That's an act of creation. Fixing is similar, but fundamentally different because fixing something implies that you're returning it to its full potential.
When applied to people, newborns are raw materials, while everyone else is a kind of "fixer-upper" opportunity as we stumble, make mistakes and so on. Consider an adult who is so flawed that nobody even wants to go near them. Now THAT is a fixer-upper. But we can only view such a person as a fixer-upper because they are fundamentally sound. They are a glorious creation, a human being.
The wise buyer of homes looks to the foundation and structure of the home when considering it as a purchase. The wise man or woman looks to the foundation and structure of the person when considering a relationship with them. Not everyone is suited to stepping into a house that has been ravaged by time and poor care and renovating it back to its full potential. Similarly, not everyone is geared to stepping into the life of another person who has been similarly ravaged. It takes skill and a lot of affection. But the important point to remember is that every person has a rock solid foundation. Housing companies build homes, and they can vary considerably in fundamental issues of quality. But God created all the people, and while we see variation in the outward signs, the foundations are always rock solid.
Many don't believe in the idea that all people have rock solid foundations. They don't believe in themselves and they don't believe in others. There's no need to expect anyone to fix them up, nor should they be expected to fix anyone else up. They can relax into a casual attitude about human beings, making it easy to lie, cheat and steal, because they don't have a notion of the potential of the human being. They only see the surface. They see the shutters hanging off the windows, the peeling paint and the terrible odors.
Such a person feels free to throw rocks at the remnants of the glass windows, or to go stomping through the house, using it for whatever petty purposes they care to. The renovator, on the other hand, can see the house as it once was, or as it could be in the future. They have an image of wonderful possibilities, of new shutters and windows, freshly painted interiors, carpets and flooring, with a happy family and friends filling the rooms with laughter, good food and good times.
Some people simply lack the imagination to assign such wonders to old, dilapidated buildings. Others have never seen such things. They have only seen the broken windows and rooms in disrepair. So too is it with people. Some people have experienced the joys of life, of friends and family, but cannot use their imagination to place the unhealthy people around them into that universe. Other people simply have never witnessed or experienced a healthy home life or the companionship of good friends. These people are simply challenged to understand what can be.
The thing to consider here is what you will choose to do when you see an old shutter hanging by one hinge. Do you pull it down, reveling in your ability to confirm your cynicism about the world, that it is all doomed to destruction and pain? Or do you adjust it upright, confident in the knowledge that every little bit that you do to renovate the world around you is a step back towards goodness and, in fact, normalcy?
When someone cheats you, pity them. Theirs is a world of broken windows and ill-hung shutters, devoid of the ability to imagine anything better. When someone lies to you, mourn the fact that their view of humanity is bereft of a sense of glorious potential in every life that surrounds them. These are the viewpoints that let people treat other people as cattle, as machines, as objects. Such viewpoints are like a disease that moves from unsuspecting victim to victim.
Be strong for yourself and those that you love. Be the house on the street that everyone can admire and hope to emulate. Be the goal of their renovation projects.
What does it mean to fix something? Well, it's not taking something that is raw materials and turning it into something else. That's an act of creation. Fixing is similar, but fundamentally different because fixing something implies that you're returning it to its full potential.
When applied to people, newborns are raw materials, while everyone else is a kind of "fixer-upper" opportunity as we stumble, make mistakes and so on. Consider an adult who is so flawed that nobody even wants to go near them. Now THAT is a fixer-upper. But we can only view such a person as a fixer-upper because they are fundamentally sound. They are a glorious creation, a human being.
The wise buyer of homes looks to the foundation and structure of the home when considering it as a purchase. The wise man or woman looks to the foundation and structure of the person when considering a relationship with them. Not everyone is suited to stepping into a house that has been ravaged by time and poor care and renovating it back to its full potential. Similarly, not everyone is geared to stepping into the life of another person who has been similarly ravaged. It takes skill and a lot of affection. But the important point to remember is that every person has a rock solid foundation. Housing companies build homes, and they can vary considerably in fundamental issues of quality. But God created all the people, and while we see variation in the outward signs, the foundations are always rock solid.
Many don't believe in the idea that all people have rock solid foundations. They don't believe in themselves and they don't believe in others. There's no need to expect anyone to fix them up, nor should they be expected to fix anyone else up. They can relax into a casual attitude about human beings, making it easy to lie, cheat and steal, because they don't have a notion of the potential of the human being. They only see the surface. They see the shutters hanging off the windows, the peeling paint and the terrible odors.
Such a person feels free to throw rocks at the remnants of the glass windows, or to go stomping through the house, using it for whatever petty purposes they care to. The renovator, on the other hand, can see the house as it once was, or as it could be in the future. They have an image of wonderful possibilities, of new shutters and windows, freshly painted interiors, carpets and flooring, with a happy family and friends filling the rooms with laughter, good food and good times.
Some people simply lack the imagination to assign such wonders to old, dilapidated buildings. Others have never seen such things. They have only seen the broken windows and rooms in disrepair. So too is it with people. Some people have experienced the joys of life, of friends and family, but cannot use their imagination to place the unhealthy people around them into that universe. Other people simply have never witnessed or experienced a healthy home life or the companionship of good friends. These people are simply challenged to understand what can be.
The thing to consider here is what you will choose to do when you see an old shutter hanging by one hinge. Do you pull it down, reveling in your ability to confirm your cynicism about the world, that it is all doomed to destruction and pain? Or do you adjust it upright, confident in the knowledge that every little bit that you do to renovate the world around you is a step back towards goodness and, in fact, normalcy?
When someone cheats you, pity them. Theirs is a world of broken windows and ill-hung shutters, devoid of the ability to imagine anything better. When someone lies to you, mourn the fact that their view of humanity is bereft of a sense of glorious potential in every life that surrounds them. These are the viewpoints that let people treat other people as cattle, as machines, as objects. Such viewpoints are like a disease that moves from unsuspecting victim to victim.
Be strong for yourself and those that you love. Be the house on the street that everyone can admire and hope to emulate. Be the goal of their renovation projects.
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