BLOGS

All Posts (6400)

Sort by

Snowzilla...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on January 25, 2016 at 7:00am
Image source: Slate.com - Bad Astronomy


Topics: Climate Change, Global Warming, Weather


I'm grateful for the many who called or text messaged to see how my wife and I were doing. We've learned from Texas to New York the fine art of "hunkering down," whether tornado or winter storm.

I'm loathe to express every weather event as climate change. However, the point of making a fuss about it - climate scientists, the Department of Defense et al - is the time to engage is not when the Earth has become the Sahara Desert: the next step at that point is illustrated quite well by Venus.

The following is a Scientific American article written in future tense for the then pending storm. Thankfully, it didn't quite impact upstate New York like it did say, Yonkers. The full term technical is Anthropogenic Climate Disruption, meaning don't expect to get what you've grown used to.

In case you haven’t heard, Washington, D.C., and other parts of the Mid-Atlantic region, are about to get walloped by a major storm that could bury the city in a record-breaking amount of snow.

The storm is expected to bring snows that could top 2 feet in the D.C. area and has already resulted in thousands of cancelled flights. While snows may not be quite as impressive further north, the storm’s fierce winds could whip up significant coastal flooding.

Part of the reason this Snowzilla storm is expected to dump so much snow is because it is pulling abundant moisture. As the planet warms because of excess heat trapped by human-emitted greenhouse gases, the atmosphere can hold more moisture. Scientists already expect heavy downpours to increase because of that. But there’s been little research into what that means for “epic blizzards” like this one.

Scientific American: The Future of Epic Blizzards in a Warming World
Andrea Thompson

Read more…

Finally got a new blog post!

Posted by Brandon Hill on January 24, 2016 at 7:53pm

So, yeah. I finally got off my tuckus and finished a new blog post in preparation for my next YouTube book review.  What makes me happy about this one is that the author featured in it actually liked it.  :) So, for those who are interested, you can find a link here:  

My Thoughts on the Saga of the Skolian Empire by Catherine Asaro

Happy reading!  

-Brandon

Read more…

Utopia...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on January 22, 2016 at 7:00am
Image source: Utopia, Loyalty Books (audio book)


Topic: Existentialism, Philosophy


We just passed the anniversary two Thursdays ago of what would become the first terrorist attack in Paris on Charlie Hebdo. Many cries went out "Juis Suis Charlie," which prompted this post by me.

Six months earlier, I posted this, seeing common cause in the movements around the world authoritarian, rigid, disdaining of change and fairly apocalyptic; in many cases racist and xenophobic.

Utopia: entered into our lexicon by Sir Thomas More (1516) in a book by the same name. Before that, humans used a similar words: heaven; nirvana, paradise. Benjamin Sisko used the term in an episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine in reference to Earth in the 24th Century. In his mind, there was no better picture of perfection*.

* Captain Sisko: I don't get much time to spend on Earth. And it is so pleasant here, with a Starfleet officer on every corner. Paradise has never seemed so well armed.

Star Trek is incredibly Utopian Science Fiction, the majority currently Dystopian have us as a species hanging on by our nails over a cliff festooned with deserts and cannibals that used to be our neighbors. Trek gave us warp drive, time scales we could live with to explore the stars and green exotic alien women for nerds to fantasize themselves with (as Captain James T. Kirk, of course).

We seem to reach for this perfection that we have no evidence of ever existing. Humanity is noble and cruel; wondrous and petty. We're both enamored with some past perfection that never was, and a future for which its Calculus is myriad, cloudy, or to put it in biblical terms: "in a mirror, darkly." That has never stopped the inane practice of end-of-the-world "predictions" that has a long track record of missed proclamations.

We thus map this desired perfection on our leaders; we give them a script they must parrot to comfort us and sooth our dissonance - cognitive and fearful - with empty rhetoric and faux flourish. Facts, reason or truth are all unnecessary.

Many have recently taken arms and sewed the seeds of sedition. In inner cities they are gangs; abroad terrorists and in bird sanctuaries: militants. Each expressing a kind of "aggrieved fundamentalism" (There were links too numerous popped up in a Google search. They could be applied to enlighten or insult; I chose not to do the latter.)

In this American election silly season, we are quaintly "looking for [a] Jesus" purity; an Avatar - when like humanity, democratic republics are simultaneously noble and cruel; wondrous and petty. Perhaps the most suitable definition for utopia need not lead us down a dark path of an undesirable Dystopian future, but summed up such that we no longer buy the snake oil sold by our politicians professing themselves as the "purist" of their respective bunches; taking responsibility for an ever-coming future in our hands we have yet to make, and realize our vaunted dreams of utopia for what they are, to:

"Nowhere place."
Read more…

Fukushima Robot...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on January 21, 2016 at 6:19am
A previous incarnation on Geek.com, taken offline apparently.


Topics: Fukushima Daiichi, Robotics, Nuclear Power


TECHNOLOGY REVIEW: When an earthquake and tsunami devastated Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in 2011, causing a catastrophic meltdown and radiation leak, plans to use robots to perform much-needed repairs were quickly dashed. The environment simply proved too complex and unstable for any normal robot to venture into.

The Japan Times now reports that Toshiba, which manufactured the worst-hit reactor and is helping with the cleanup, has made a two-armed submersible robot that will float into reactor 3 to try to remove debris and retrieve some of the reactor’s fuel rods. The effort shows that, in contrast to all the fancy robots tested at the DARPA challenge, a simple, custom-made machine is sometimes the best solution for a given task.

Technology Review: The Underwater Robot That Will Repair Fukushima, Will Knight

Read more…

Caveat Emptor...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on January 20, 2016 at 7:12am
Technology Review: Project Loon


Topics: Commentary, Economy, Futurism, Jobs, STEM


The expansion of Internet access is motivated largely by profit motives: i.e. the more consumers online, the more products sold, the Internet of Things, etc. I will say I don't think with Amazon Prime, Hulu and Netflix, cable television has much breath left in it. However, the unintended consequences of extended opportunity online seems to be the expansion of inequality, or the "Information Superhighway 2.0." This without the impact of net neutrality.

On page 18 of a very extensive report by the World Bank:

So, the internet can be an effective force for development. But as the Report documents, the benefits too often are not realized, and the internet sometime makes persistent problems worse. Why? The key insight is that for complex occupations, business activities, or public services, the internet usually can make only a portion of tasks cheaper, more efficient, or more convenient through automation. Another portion still requires capabilities that humans possess in abundance but computers do not. Many traditional tasks of an accountant or bank teller are now automated, such as making calculations or processing withdrawals. Others require complex reasoning or socioemotional skills, such as designing tax strategies or advising clients. Likewise, many public services involving provision of information or routine permissions can be automated. But others, such as teaching or policing, need a high degree of human discretion, tacit knowledge, and judgment.

Many problems and failures of the internet surface when digital technology is introduced but the important analog complements remain inadequate. What are these complements? The main ones are regulations that ensure a high degree of competition, skills that leverage technology, and institutions that are accountable (figure O.13).

• When the internet delivers scale economies for firms but the business environment inhibits competition, the outcome could be excessive concentration of market power and rise of monopolies, inhibiting future innovation.

• When the internet automates many tasks but workers do not possess the skills that technology augments, the outcome will be greater inequality, rather than greater efficiency.

• When the internet helps overcome information barriers that impede service delivery but governments remain unaccountable, the outcome will be greater control, rather than greater empowerment and inclusion.

I said so much in Luddites. There is a societal powder keg we've lit, and the fuse is burning.

Technology Review:
Sadly, the Internet Isn’t Making the World a Better Place, Will Knight
Who Will Own the Robots? David Rotman

Read more…

Backseat Driver...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on January 19, 2016 at 7:02am
Image Source: Figure 4 System Overview in paper


Topics: Computer Science, Mechanical Engineering, Robotics


TECHNOLOGY REVIEW: Buy a new car these days and the chances are that it will be fitted with an array of driver-assistance technologies. These can match the speed of a car ahead, manage lane changing safely, and even apply the brakes to help prevent a collision. So an interesting question is how much better these safety systems can become before the inevitable occurs and the car takes over completely.

Today we get a partial answer thanks to the work of Ashesh Jain at Cornell University and a few pals, who have developed a system that can predict a human driver’s next maneuver some three seconds before he or she makes it. This information, they say, can then be used to identify and prevent potential accidents.

The approach is straightforward in theory. Jain and co point out that a comprehensive knowledge of the driving environment, both inside and outside the car, can be used to make a pretty good guess at the driver’s immediate intentions. For example, drivers usually check the lanes next to them before making lane changes. So monitoring driver head movements helps predict whether the driver intends to change lanes in the next few seconds.

Physics arXiv:
Brain4Cars: Car That Knows Before You Do via Sensory-Fusion Deep Learning Architecture
Ashesh Jain, Hema S Koppula, Shane Soh, Bharad Raghavan, Avi Singh, Ashutosh Saxena

Read more…

Plasmon Laser...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on January 18, 2016 at 6:50am
Schematic of the tunable terahertz laser, which is built upon a semiconductor substrate (thick grey slab). The salmon-pink region is the waveguide that is topped by a layer of gold and then graphene. The slits in the gold are shown as a red glow. The graphene is topped with an electrolyte (also shown in gold). (Courtesy: University of Manchester)

Topics: Graphene, Laser, Optical Physics, Quantum Mechanics, Semiconductor Technology

A new type of semiconductor laser has been created using the unique electronic properties of graphene. Designed in the UK by researchers at the University of Manchester, the prototype operates in the terahertz band and can be easily tuned to output radiation at specific wavelengths. The team says that its research could lead to the development of compact devices for a variety of different applications, from security scanning to medical imaging.

Coherent terahertz radiation can be created using quantum-cascade lasers, which were invented in 1994. These devices contain multiple quantum wells with energy bands that are split into subbands and minibands. When a bias voltage is applied to the laser, a periodic cascade of intersubband transitions is established. The population inversion necessary for terahertz lasing is then achieved through electrical injection.

Physics World: Plasmons call the tune in new graphene-based terahertz laser
Tim Wogan

Read more…

How do we fix the comic book world?

Posted by KENNETH E JAMES on January 17, 2016 at 4:56pm

We need to stick to our guns and work together no matter what. We all know that Marvel or DC wont do it. And what they have been doing is straight up embarrassing to see. The ethnic characters have all gotten the same treatment being relegated to the back of the bus and made it into lame second rate heroes. So what would happen if we did it right? What do you think?

Read more…

What now?

Posted by KENNETH E JAMES on January 17, 2016 at 4:38pm

Where have you been and what are you up to now? It's a question i have been asked too many times to count lately. What have i been up to writing my heart out and loosing my imagination and soon i will unleash it all for everyone to read. I hope everyone enjoys it as well as spreads the news of it coming. I made the decision after a long time to build an entire world of the books i wrote. This blossomed into a company and a philosophy behind the story as well. Soon life happend as it does with everyone and things slid to a grinding halt. Cancer sucks my wife was diagnosed and it made me mad. This is our dream together this publishing company we are building and about to put in motion. In time i am going to invite others to join in on the movement to change the face of comics forever by not only supporting each other but taking it further than that. Our first book will be a TPB and a novel. I am going to go at it from all angles and i will be using every thing at my disposal to make it work. You are going to love this just wait for the next couple of months to come I plan to shake up the world so hop on board when you see the train coming!!!

Read more…

Indie Author Interview Series

Posted by Rasheedah Prioleau on January 16, 2016 at 5:52pm

Hello Everyone!

I hope 2016 is treating you well so far.

I have been thinking about starting a new interview series for my blog at www.rasheedahprioleau.com and I want to invite you all to participate. I would like to collect a series of interview with the Indie Speculative Fiction Authors. I will send you interview questions, you have to answer them on camera in a setting that is dark and mysterious, the more theatrical the better.

For example you could set up a bathroom situation where you stand in the dark in front of a mirror with a flashlight under your face and answer the questions amid bump in the night noises... Have fun with it.

The interview would be between 3-5mins long. I would like to do one every week. So there is plenty of room!

- R. Prioleau

Reply below or inbox/PM me with your e-mail address and I will be in touch.

Read more…

the temple cat

Posted by Arnold L. Johnson on January 16, 2016 at 1:56pm

There was a big commotion about the king who took f-o-r-e-v-e-r to die. His friends and relatives gathered in the divvy of his stuff including his prized temple cat. It, the cat, fell to his only niece, Ona. The cat didn't have a real name the king called him 'Cat' and all the household referred to him as "the Cat". He was hairless, temperamental and on his best day looked like he missed the bus on a rainy day. Ona was pissed at everything and was doubly so at her kind uncle for leaving her only "the Cat". She had her eye on a car or the resort cabin on the lake, but the cat. He wasn't even a good cat she said every time you pet him he'd run off to a corner and hack up a hairball. "What kind of no brain talent is that?"

Her uncle told her every pet has a talent else why keep it. Ona's heart matched how the cat appeared to her just to let you know. The cat was a comfort to her uncle. He'd pet him especially when troubled or angry until he felt better. The cat would then run off and hack. When he was a younger man the cat delivered formidable cleanup challenges. As they aged less and less so. He told his fussy niece, "be patient, learn to discipline yourself, you'll overload the cat and he'll make a mess you'll need help with".

She took the cat back to her suite, still fuming inside. "You damn cat, what good are you?" Her hand jutted out and like instinctual magic the cat's back caressed her fingers. Ona screamed, aaagh!, withdrew her hand, sat on the edge of her chair so hard the legs creaked. The cat casually licked himself, walked off to the corner and hacked on que. The silence was imposed upon as the jettisoned hairball became a shadowy mass. It grew and loomed and stunk and called Ona's name, "you made me, come live with me, we are one!" A housekeeper came to the door with a message and left, didn't see the ugly form or hear the voice. Ona still in fear's grip learned all uncle's cautions in one hard swallow. "I am sorry I am not grateful or appreciative for all you've done for me uncle, I'm sorry." The thing shrunk to a little skuzzy hairball again. The Cat became a close pet for Ona, no one but her handles him and the hairballs are small.

What, lame story? I have six cats, I........better stop listening to them. 

Read more…

Umbilical Cord...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on January 15, 2016 at 6:39am
NUNNOVATION: Renewable energy can help create jobs


Topics: Alternative Energy, Green Energy, Green Tech, Nuclear Fusion, Nuclear Power


Gas prices are falling ($1.95 in New York), and has nothing to do with the current president or any of the 43 previous. Prognostications of $6/gallon have been highly exaggerated.

However, there are more than a few financial posts regarding how lower prices at the pump are hurting, not helping the economy (albeit a biased opinion). There are obvious ties to war and retail grocery prices, for example. In a global economy where the manufacturing jobs of yesteryear have been outsourced to other countries, solar has outpaced coal in employees. Employment is a good way to stabilize a society.

It makes it quite obvious that as a species, we're not ready to let go of the umbilical cord to fossil fuels. Our economy is the numerator; dead dinosaurs its denominator. Old money has been created pretty much by Jed Clampett's "black gold"; "Texas tea."

There will sadly, be as legion a resistance to nuclear fusion once it is possible as there has been against solar power. I hope the decision of how we proceed centers on survival rather than "trickled-up" profits. Personifying the economy as a tree: If the trunk burns, usually the canopy will inexorably  follow.

Investopedia: How Gas Prices Affect The Economy, Jean Folger
National Funding: How Gas Prices Affect Small Business and the Economy
Wall Street Journal: The Effects of Lower Oil Prices

Read more…

Making Waves...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on January 14, 2016 at 7:45am

Topics: Einstein, General Relativity, Gravitational Waves


Rumors are rippling through the science world that physicists may have detected gravitational waves, a key element of Einstein's theory which if confirmed would be one of the biggest discoveries of our time.

There has been no announcement, no peer review or publication of the findings -- all typically important steps in the process of releasing reliable and verifiable scientific research.

Instead, a message on Twitter from an Arizona State University cosmologist, Lawrence Krauss, has sparked a firestorm of speculation and excitement.

LIGO: Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (MIT)
Space Daily: Gravitational wave rumors ripple through science world
Wired: Astrophysicists May Have Found Gravitational Waves. Or Not, Sarah Scoles

Read more…

Entanglement Ion Trap...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on January 13, 2016 at 9:33pm
The ion trap used by Dave Wineland and colleagues at NIST to entangle two different kinds of ions. The gold-on-alumina trap can be seen in the oval window at the centre of the photograph. The oval window is about 2 cm across. (Courtesy: Blakestad/NIST)


Topics: NIST, Quantum Computer, Quantum Mechanics


Quantum entanglement has been created and measured between pairs of two different kinds of nuclei for the first time. Carried out by two independent research groups, the work is a key step towards the creation of ion-based quantum computers, in which different nuclei perform different functions. One of the groups is based at the University of Oxford in the UK and the other at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in Boulder, Colorado.

Information in a quantum computer is stored and transmitted in quantum bits (qubits), which can be entities such as photons or ions. Qubits will quickly lose their quantum nature when in contact with the outside world, which is a challenge for those designing quantum computers. Individual qubits must interact with each other for a quantum calculation to proceed, and so cannot be completely isolated from the outside world.

Physics World: Physicists take entanglement beyond identical ions, Hamish Johnston

Read more…

C-3PO Was Almost from the Bronx

Posted by Gotham Parks in the City of NY on January 12, 2016 at 4:00pm

In the press for the latest installment of Star Wars, we came to find out that George Lucas originally intended for C-3PO to have a “Bronx accent.” So I imagined C-3PO as a hardscrabble droid coming up in the South Bronx from the late 1970s onward. These verses are the result.

Read the poem over at gothamparks.nyc. Watch the video presentation below or click here (youtube). Let me know what you think!

Read more…

Phase V Hydrogen...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on January 12, 2016 at 9:50am
Planetary scientists think the interior of Jupiter is largely made of phase V hydrogen.
NASA Voyager


Topics: Astrophysics, Chemistry, Materials Science, Planetary Science


By crushing Earth's lightest element with mind-boggling pressures, scientists have revealed an entirely new state of matter: phase V hydrogen.

The squished hydrogen is a precursor to a state of matter first proposed in the 1930s, called atomic solid metallic hydrogen. When cooled to low enough temperatures, hydrogen (which on Earth is usually found as a gas) can become a solid; at high enough pressures, when the element solidifies, it turns into a metal. Planetary scientists think the interior of Jupiter is largely made of the stuff.

And so, in crushing hydrogen at such high pressures, the physicists also got a glimpse of the inner atmosphere of a gas giant, where pressures reach millions of (Earth) atmospheres. [Elementary, My Dear: 8 Elements You've Never Heard Of]

Scientific American: Strange New State of Hydrogen Created, Jesse Emspak, Live Science

Read more…

back at the airplane graveyard.

Posted by Arnold L. Johnson on January 12, 2016 at 12:42am

Revisited the airplane graveyard, they were exiled there. A group of guys who were accused of welding junkers into things not suited for urban living. The latest project was mega wind machines. No not wind mills, but.........wind harvesters.

They found cargo plane fuselages, cut them into sections and welded them in a torus configuration. Then they mounted the huge steel doughnut on landing gear trucks. They could drive the thing in any direction. In the middle, the doughnut hole, they built an oversize turbine/generator. Then there were anchor pods which fired anchors into the earth. I said they were nuts during the demo. They mapped a tornadoes path, raced to a level site along the storms trek. The storm wasn't that big but still had the funnel. Adjustments were made in tracking, the darn thing latched onto the tornado. The turbine leaped into action sucking the storm to a wimper. We followed the funnel as long as the ground was level. Then fired the anchor pods, jerking to a stop. The batteries were full and the guys busting with that insane laughter that got them in trouble in the first place. I had to go when they said the words remote deployment.

Read more…

CSI...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on January 11, 2016 at 6:47am


NIST chemist Tom Bruno, who invented a method for recovering trace chemicals such as environmental pollutants and forensic evidence, uses a portable version of the instrument to sample vapor inside an old paint can. The underlying technique is called PLOT-cryoadsorption, or PLOT-cryo - short for porous layer open tubular cryogenic adsorption.

Photo credit: Courtesy NIST/ Photo by Dave Neligh

Topics: Chemistry, Environment, Forensics, NIST, Research


A chemist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has developed a portable version of his method for recovering trace chemicals such as environmental pollutants and forensic evidence including secret graves and arson fire debris.

If successfully commercialized by industry, the briefcase-sized kit could enable detectives, field inspectors and others to carry with them a convenient version of NIST’s “headspace analysis” technique, which identifies solid or liquid compounds based on the makeup of vapors released into nearby air.

The underlying technique is PLOT-cryoadsorption, or PLOT-cryo—short for porous layer open tubular cryogenic adsorption. PLOT-cryo is sensitive, quantitative and more broadly useful than many competing techniques. It can identify compounds that don’t readily evaporate and is not limited to samples dissolved in water, for example. The method recovers vapors by suction or by sweeping a gas across the air above a sample of interest. The laboratory version of the technique has been used to find traces of explosives, spoiled food, residues in arson debris and gravesoil.

NIST: Portable NIST Kit Can Recover Traces of Chemical Evidence, Laura Ost

Read more…

ONLI STUDIOS

Posted by Turtel Onli on January 10, 2016 at 11:30am

2016:  Welcome to the Rhythmic-Zone!!!  Whatz in your collection?

ONLI STUDIOS, LLC is an indie publisher and production operation with a large and expanding foot-print! We do Rhythmistic Graphic Novels, Fine Art, video and more.

We are growing our international markets! Our info site averages over 300,000 views a month worldwide!

Our blogs reach over 10,000 viewers monthly.

Our long term clients included Johnson Publishing Company, PLAYBOY,  the DuSable Musueum of African American History, the Chicago Children's Museum, Harold Washington Library, which is the nation's largest public municipal library, The South Side Community Art Center,  Graham Crackers, Quimpy's,and the African American Cultural Center of the University of Illinois at Chicago.

We rock with consulting master animator Philo Barnhart, formerly of Disney, as in The Little Mermaid and Mulan, to direct our growth toward 2D Animation. We network regularly with Yumy Odom of ECBACC, Prof. John Jennings, Damian Duffy, Joe Currie, Jerry Craft, Andre Batts, Joseph Wheeler III, and the folks at Black Science Fiction Society..


GOAL: Domination matters!

OBJECTIVES:  Selling our products to you in serious appreciation for your time and participation!

Creativity, Culture and Commerce!

Expect more products, events and the next wave of professional  Rhythmistic creative bad assess.

PRODUCTS and SERVICES:

Current titles: NOG, Nubian of Greatness, The Protector of the Pyramides, Malcolm-10, Punkin's Imagination, Sustah-Girl Queen of the Black Age, Button-Heads, Future Funk, Team BLANGA, Going Green In Your City, East West Zodiac, Sasa, and The Legend of the Azaniac.

Rhythmistic graphic novels, educational curriculum workshops,

animation, wearable art, and broadcast music, & video productions.

Founded in 1981 by Prof. Turtel Onli. M.A.A.T.

Professor of Art at the Harold Washington College of Chicago.

Former Major Market Free lance Illustrator, ( former clients included: PLAYBOY, WGN, Ebony Jr. Capital Records, Motown, The Paris Metro, Mode Avant Garde and Holt, Rhinehart & Winston) and retired as a Chicago Public School Educator.


Address: 1448 East 52nd Street #468

Chicago IL 60615 USA

www.onlistudios.com

Read more…