From Wired Top Stories:
A brief project takes many months, but the results last many hours, so the technology lasts for more than a century.
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Largest Cell Phone Study Finds No Cancer Risk
From PhysOrg.com - latest science and technology news stories:
Danish researchers can offer some reassurance if you're concerned about your cellphone: Don't worry. Your device is probably safe.
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Nissan Plans Supercharged Hybrid
Last night on the way home on the I-90, I saw an otherwise-stock-looking Altima with color-change paint. Interesting, but who even does that? Here's something cooler: Nissan is coming out with a legit Altima hybrid (as opposed to the previously-aborted Altima hybrid) which will get the guts
EU to Launch First Two Galileo Satellites Today, as Sat-Nav System Lurches Forward
From Engadget:
The EU's Galileo satellite navigation system has been beset by delays and budget overruns in recent months, but its future is looking slightly brighter, now that its first two satellites are primed for launch.
Read the whole article
Virgin dedicates its Spaceport America terminal
Sir Richard Branson, dangling from the top of Spaceport America's new terminal building, dedicates the building with a bottle of champagne. (credit: J. Foust)
It was the biggest line of the day—and Sir Richard Branson flubbed it.
Branson was dangling from the balcony Spaceport America’s new terminal building, halfway down the building’s glass wall. He and his son and daughter had joined a dance company, Project Bandaloop, for their performance on the building’s wall. After the dancers and Branson’s children rappelled down to the ground, Branson remained in place, and then had an oversized champagne bottle lowered to him so he could formally dedicate, and name, the building. “And, the name is, whoa!” he said as he uncorked the bottle, “Virgin Galactic Galactic.” And then, after a six-second pause, “Gateway to Space!”
While there was laughter and cheers from the several hundred people in attendance (“more than 800″, according to Virgin), some were left scratching their heads. “What did he say the name was?” one person in the media section asked. “Something about a gateway to space, I think,” said another. The building’s name, in fact, is now officially the “Virgin Galactic Gateway to Space.”
That, though, was a minor glitch in an event designed primarily to show off the spaceport and demonstrate Virgin’s continued commitment to flying SpaceShipTwo from the spaceport in the near future. The new name for the terminal building was one of the few new developments from the event. Virgin did announce some new research customers, including the Challenger Center (whose founder, June Scobee Rodgers, was in attendance). Virgin also announced its first hire for a new group of commercial pilots who will fly WK2 and SS2: Keith Colmer, an Air Force pilot who had previously applied to NASA’s astronaut corps but just missed the cut.
WhiteKnightTwo and SpaceShipTwo take off from Spaceport America's runway on a brief captive carry flight over the spaceport. (credit: J. Foust)
At a “press conference” during the event (which, despite the name, did not allow any questions from the media), Virgin Galactic officials played up the progress they’ve made in the last year and sought to set themselves apart from the competition. “There is no other company that is as close to flying people to space as Galactic,” said Virgin Galactic president and CEO George Whitesides. “There is no one else test flying vehicles that can take you and me into space. And there is no one whose vehicles are based on a design that has already been safely to space to people,” a reference to SS2′s precursor, SpaceShipOne.
WK2 and SS2 soar over Spaceport America's new terminal building. (credit: J. Foust)
New Mexico officials at the event, including Governor Susana Martinez and Congressman Steve Pearce, focused on the economic benefits of the spaceport, including both the jobs created during the spaceport’s construction and those that will be created when the spaceport begins operations. Martinez in particular saw the spaceport as both a way to inspire the state’s youth to study science and engineering, as well as a source of high-tech jobs. “As a young child, what could be more exciting than space travel?” she asked. “We want these new jobs to be created right here so that young New Mexicans don’t have to leave the state to find fulfilling work.”
Martinez, who past comments suggested she was at least somewhat skeptical about the $200-million investment in the spaceport, sounded a little excited herself about the spaceport. “I look forward to strengthening the partnership between the state and Virgin Galactic,” she said. Turning to Branson, she added, “And Richard, today I may have to add it to my bucket list.”
Virgin didn’t offer any new clues yesterday on when it will begin flights from Spaceport America. “Our contractors are working hard now to get the system ready for the first powered flights next year,” Whitesides said, a timeline similar to what he said early this month. He did add that another full-scale ground test of SpaceShipTwo’s rocket motor is planned “very soon”.
Virgin Galactic Gateway to Space, the new terminal building at Spaceport America. (credit: J. Foust)
The fact that Virgin is still some time from beginning flights at Spaceport America is perhaps a relief to New Mexico, since the “Virgin Galactic Gateway to Space”, while formally dedicated yesterday, isn’t quite done. Walk up to that distinctive glass wall—which, in the bright sunlight, acts like a mirror—and peer inside, and you see that the interior rooms that will host Virgin Galactic’s operations, astronaut lounge, and other facilities, are still unfurnished, with the walls and floors completely bare. In one case, a door leading into the building was still lacking a handle. However, the building can already serve one its primary purposes: serving as a hangar for WK2 and SS2, which is where they vehicles were housed Sunday when spaceport executive director Christine Anderson saw them for the first time. “It was so awesome to see that,” she said. “Then I thought, ‘Wow, it fits in the hangar. Super!’”
Virgin appeared very pleased with the building and its unique design, as well as its environmentally-friendly characteristics that won it a LEED Gold rating. “Simply put,” Branson said, “it is a 21st century building for a 21st century business.”
WK2/SS2 flyover at Spaceport America
Below is a brief video I shot of WhiteKnightTwo and SpaceShipTwo flying over the “Virgin Galactic Gateway to Space” terminal building at Spaceport America on Monday. You’ll see it coming in from the right in the distance, they going over the terminal building and almost straight overhead.
What happened on SpaceShipTwo’s last glide flight?
SpaceShipTwo is nestled between the twin fuselages of WhiteKnightTwo during a flyby at Spaceport America in New Mexico on October 17.
On September 29th, SpaceShipTwo made its 16th glide flight, and first in three months, in the skies above Mojave Air and Space Port in California. The SpaceShipTwo test flight log at Scaled Composites indicates that the flight did not go exactly as planned:
Test card called for releasing the Spaceship from WhiteKnightTwo and immediately entering a rapid descent. Upon release, the Spaceship experienced a downward pitch rate that caused a stall of the tails. The crew followed procedure, selecting the feather mode to revert to a benign condition. The crew then defeathered and had a nominal return to base. Great flying by the team and good demo of feather system.
Earlier this week, SPACE.com’s Leonard David provided a little more information about that glide test. That discussion makes the flight sound a little more harrowing than the writeup in the official log, with one observer claiming that the vehicle “dropped like a rock and went straight down”.
Scott Ostrem, chief engineer at The Spaceship Company, the Scaled-Virgin Galactic joint venture that will be manufacturing SpaceShipTwo and WhiteKnightTwo, offered an explanation at the International Symposium for Personal and Commercial Spaceflight (ISPCS) in Las Cruces, New Mexico, on Wednesday. “You come off the WhiteKnight and quickly going into a pitch-down attitude by design,” he said. “We pitched down a little too steeply on that flight and experienced a tail stall.”
There are several options to recover from such a stall, he said, one of them being using the vehicle’s unique feathering mechanism, designed to provide stability during reentry. “Our pilot chose to feather it. It’s an incredible testament to the feather design: instantly the vehicle stabilized at about 20, 30,000 feet,” Ostrem said. “We just then de-feathered and glided back down safely. It was a unique opportunity for us to prove out the feather design ata point where we weren’t necessarily intending to do it.”
That, however, has not stopped a series of rumors, whispered during breaks at the ISPCS and on the Internet, that the incident was more serious than what the companies have reported. Those include rumors that they were testing a maneuver in order to perform a drop test at the Spaceport America terminal dedication event held Monday. No such drop test took place, of course, but whatever happened did not prevent Virgin and Scaled from ferrying SpaceShipTwo from Mojave to the spaceport for the event.
Solar power vents attics benefits
Solar powered attic vents can be used to control heat and moisture. Today there are alternatives to roof louvers that are smart and effective. The solar varieties work of the principle of solar energy. These collect the energy from the rays of the sun during your day when your attic is at its warmest. Using this energy, it generates electricity. This electricity is used to operate an extremely high energy efficient motor that is placed inside the power vent. So what does this mean to you? You are generating free electricity and getting free power! You are not only reducing the total usage of electricity in your house but you are also using a source of energy that is renewable and works without leaving waste.
There are many types. The roof mounted is one of them. This has a durable high quality two piece construction. This utilizes a solar panel that will collect the rays from the sun and convert it into electricity. This unit will be used to operate a 24 volt DC motor that is housed in the inside of the power vent. These units are rust resistant and a have a steel dome that is galvanized. These are pretty low profile too. The solar panels are usually located in a separated location from the dome or the roof. There is no separate electrical outlet or installation that is required. Also this will work from sunrise to sunset without costing you any money.
The next type is the gable mounted type. This type is used in conjunction with the solar gable attic fans. The best part about these solar vents & spray foam insulation is that the installation of them is really simple. There is no electrical hookup required. This will save you all the trouble from finding a low priced electrician because there are no complicated wirings that you would have to deal with. All that you need to do is secure the solar panel and the fan. After they are secure, all that is required is the connection of a simple plug from one to another. These systems can be conveniently mounted on your home’s gable and hidden behind a decorative shutter. Also the solar panel will come with brackets. You can use these brackets to mount it on the roof easily. The solar panels will absorb the incoming rays of the sun and convert it into electricity.
The main advantage of using solar vents is that you can save tons on the electricity that you would otherwise use on cooling or heating your home. You are not only conserving energy but also you are making use of a renewable source of energy that does not leave any waste behind. Also these will help to prevent moisture damage to your attic. Normally moisture would enter your attic through daily activities like laundry cooking or bathing. This moisture would get into your attic and cause damage. Using such a setup would prevent such damage by preventing them moisture to accumulate in the first place.
Source: To know more details About Attic Ventilation For commercial Buildings &
spray foam insulation visit http://www.aaffordableinsulators.com/spray-foam.php
Todd Kuiken: A prosthetic arm that "feels" | TED
Surgeon and engineer Todd Kuiken is building a prosthetic arm that connects with the human nervous system -- improving motion, control and even feeling. In this TED talk, Kuiken brings patient Amanda Kitts onstage to help demonstrate this next-gen robotic arm.
Careful now, you may be the 1%
The Occupy Wall Street chant of, "We are the 99%" got me thinking: Where do I stand in terms of wealth from a global perspective? Thankfully, I found an online calculator, the Global Rich List, that helped me find the answer.
To my surprise, I am firmly placed within the top 1% as far as global salaries go--and chances are you are, too. If you make more than USD$47,500 per year, then you are the top 1%. Going down from there, you are in the top 5% if your annual salary is $35,000, and within the top 10% if it's at at least $25,000. This is what happens when you have a planet of 6.8 billion people and 80% of them live on less than $10 a day.
So just keep that in mind when you smugly proclaim that you're one of the have-nots.
Taking a more local perspective, and considering just the United States alone (I unfortunately do not have figures for elsewhere), if your salary is $87,000 you are within the top 10%. You're in the top 5% if you make at least $120,000. Median salary in the U.S. is around $25,000. Further breakdowns are available here.
Doctors warming to Paleo diet
A growing number of scientists, medical doctors and nutritionists have argued that a Stone Age lifestyle could benefit human health and even cure chronic diseases. Check out this surprisingly good video series that was recently put together by CBS:
Propaganda 2.0 and the rise of ‘narrative networks’
DARPA, the Pentagon's advanced concepts think-tank, is looking to take propaganda to the next level and they're hoping to do so by controlling the very way their targets perceive and interpret the flow of incoming information. The Pentagon believes that by engaging in 'narrative control' they can alter an individual's grasp on reality and the way in which they evaluate current events. Simply put, DARPA is looking to shape minds with stories.
Now, this isn't an entirely new concept. The notion of narrative control, or narrative networks, has been bunted around for a few years now.
It's been said that history books are written by the victors. Well, these days hopeful victors are trying to write current events. State actors are increasingly disclosing information in a way that constructs a kind of story. It's through the careful construction of desirable narratives that state actors are hoping to control the beliefs and actions of targeted audiences. It's a classic case of the pen being mightier than the sword -- but in this case it's a pen that digs deep into the very psyche of the individual.
The United States has been engaging in narrative control for quite some time now. Most recently, during the Arab Spring, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton weaved a tale that suggested a certain level of inevitability to the events unfolding in the Middle East. One by one, she contended, authoritarian and fundamentalist nations were being overthrown by angry and forward-looking populaces. It'll only be a matter of time, Clinton argued, before the entire Middle East goes through a transformation that sees all its countries embrace democracy, secular institutions, and unprecedented freedoms.
Now I'm not suggesting that this isn't a valid interpretation of events. It very well may be. But what's important to understand here is that the U.S. is presenting this narrative in a very overt and calculated way. For many of those in the Middle East, the story is most certainly compelling and potentially inspiring. And for those sitting on the fence or considering radical action, this story of apparent inevitability may compel them to join the "winning team." It's through this kind of narrative control and reality building that the U.S. hopes to fight terrorism and the spread of radical Islam.
But now DARPA wants to take this further and make it more scientific and systematic. They recently put out a request for research proposals in the areas of:
- Quantitative analysis of narratives
- Understanding the effects narratives have on human psychology and its affiliated neurobiology
- Modeling, simulating, and sensing-especially in stand-off modalities-these narrative influences
DARPA would like to revolutionize the study of narrative influence by "advancing narrative analysis and neuroscience so as to create new narrative influence sensors, doubling status quo capacity to forecast narrative influence."
This is pretty heavy stuff. They're asking scientists to "take narratives and make them quantitatively analyzable in a rigorous, transparent and repeatable fashion." Once such a system is put into place, the Pentagon will be able to detect terrorists or other non-state actors who have been indoctrinated with a particular ideology or worldview, and then respond with a counter-message of its own. As Dawn Lim notes in Wired, "They can also target groups vulnerable to terrorists’ recruiting tactics with their own counter-messaging."
Lim describes how the project will unfold:
In the first 18-month phase of the program, the Pentagon wants researchers to study how stories infiltrate social networks and alter our brain circuits. One of the stipulated research goals: to “explore the function narratives serve in the process of political radicalization and how they can influence a person or group’s choice of means (such as indiscriminate violence) to achieve political ends.”
Once scientists have perfected the science of how stories affect our neurochemistry, they will develop tools to “detect narrative influence.” These tools will enable “prevention of negative behavioral outcomes … and generation of positive behavioral outcomes, such as building trust.” In other words, the tools will be used to detect who’s been controlled by subversive ideologies, better allowing the military to drown out that message and win people onto their side.
“The government is already trying to control the message, so why not have the science to do it in a systematic way?” said the researcher familiar with the project.
When the project enters into a second 18-month phase, it’ll use the research gathered to build “optimized prototype technologies in the form of documents, software, hardware and devices.” What will these be? Existing technology can carry out micro-facial feature analysis, and measure the dilation of blood vessels and eye pupils. MRI machines can determine which parts of your brain is lighting up when it responds to stories. Darpa wants to do even better.
DARPA is even calling for devices that detect the influence of stories in unseen ways: “Efforts that rely solely on standoff/non-invasive/non-detectable sensors are highly encouraged."
"Stories are important in security contexts," DARPA argues, "[stories] change the course of insurgencies, frame negotiations, play a role in political radicalization, influence the methods and goals of violent social movements." Indeed, they've been thinking a lot about this recently, as indicated by their April workshop to discuss the neurobiology of narratives.
When it comes to security, little consideration is given to ethics. Now, while I'm somewhat partial to this approach on account of its bloodlessness, I have to admit that the potential for abuse is astonishing. Once these narrative networks reach full maturity they could be used to indoctrinate not just enemy populations, but more familiar ones as well. The very ways in which domestic affairs are perceived could be colored by a security department hoping to create a docile and abiding population.
That said, the efficacy of narrative networks has yet to be determined. The Internet and other communications networks may serve as a kind of prophylactic against narrow bands of information. Moreover, populations may become primed against such efforts in the same way current societies are (relatively) immune to traditional and obvious methods of propaganda.
As a final word, this topic interests me greatly as it relates to memetics, memetic engineering, and the whole concept of cultural health. In this context, the struggle against religious fundamentalism is a struggle against the onset and dissemination of bad memes. Fundamentalist memeplexes can be interpreted as information viruses that are running amok in the human population. Perhaps it's not too outrageous to suggest that we should counter bad ideas with good ideas -- or at least better ideas that lead to more rational thinking, criticality and independent thought.
The best defense against religious extremism is a mind primed to reject those ideas in the first place.
The Sentient Developments podcast is back!
It's been three years since my last podcast, but I'm back in the saddle and looking to produce a steady stream of new episodes. Those of you on iTunes can subscribe here. Or you can just subscribe directly to the RSS. Or visit the podcast blog. And please help to get the word out!
A new episode was released yesterday and it can be downloaded here (mp3). I talk about the Technological Singularity (in honour of the recently concluded Singularity Summit 2011 in NYC) and the Occupy Wall Street movement.
Get started on the Paleo Diet with these resources
For those interested in getting started on Paleo, here are some good places to start:
- The Paleo Solution by Robb Wolf [book]
- The Paleo Diet: Lose Weight and Get Healthy by Eating the Foods You Were Designed to Eat by Loren Cordain [book]
- Latest in Paleo [podcast]
- Good list of blogs here
- Talks from the recent Ancestral Health Symposium
Shellenberg and Norhaus on ‘modernization theology’
From the article, "Evolve: A case for modernization as the road to salvation" by Michael Shellenberg and Ted Norhaus:
The question for humanity, then, is not whether humans and our civilizations will survive, but rather what kind of a planet we will inhabit. Would we like a planet with wild primates, old-growth forests, a living ocean, and modest rather than extreme temperature increases? Of course we would—virtually everybody would. Only continued modernization and technological innovation can make such a world possible.
Putting faith in modernization will require a new secular theology consistent with the reality of human creation and life on Earth, not with some imagined dystopia or utopia. It will require a worldview that sees technology as humane and sacred, rather than inhumane and profane. It will require replacing the antiquated notion that human development is antithetical to the preservation of nature with the view that modernization is the key to saving it. Let’s call this “modernization theology.”
Where ecotheology imagines that our ecological problems are the consequence of human violations of a separate “nature,” modernization theology views environmental problems as an inevitable part of life on Earth. Where the last generation of ecologists saw a natural harmony in Creation, the new ecologists see constant change. Where ecotheologians suggest that the unintended consequences of human development might be avoidable, proponents of modernization view them as inevitable, and positive as often as negative. And where the ecological elites see the powers of humankind as the enemy of Creation, the modernists acknowledge them as central to its salvation.
Modernization theology should thus be grounded in a sense of profound gratitude to Creation—human and nonhuman. It should celebrate, not desecrate, the technologies that led our prehuman ancestors to evolve. Our experience of transcendence in the outdoors should translate into the desire for all humans to benefit from the fruits of modernization and be able to experience similar transcendence. Our valorization of creativity should lead us to care for our cocreation of the planet.
Work by Crali for Sale (Oct. 25)
TULLIO CRALI (1910-2000)
OIL PAINTING ON BOARD
Squadron of aircraft caught in searchlight over a city
signed and dated (19) 33 lower left
21″ x 25 1/2″ (52.5cm x 64cm)
EST 10,000-15,000
Estimate: 10000-15000
Capes Dunn and Co of Manchester
Northern Artists 25th October 2011
Tullio Crali (1910 – 2000)
After the success of offering a painting by the famous Italian Futurist artist Gerardo Dottori that sold for £22,000 in August, Capes Dunn is offering another Futurist painting in its forthcoming Northern Artists sale on the 25th October, this time by Tullio Crali. Although a late comer to the movement, not joining until 1929 he was an important figure associated with Marinetti with whom he co-authored two manifestos and at his request exhibited in the Venice Biennale, the Rome Quadrennial and several other international exhibitions. In the 1930s Crali played a significant part in the Aeropitture of which this painting is seemingly affiliated. The oil on board of a squadron of aircraft caught in a searchlight over a city is signed and dated 1933. The vivid blue hues contrast with the bright yellow flashes of the searchlight and the disjoined and dizzying perspective of the piece in rambling curves and beams reflect an excellent example of his work.
It is offered in the Northern Artists Auction commencing at 7pm on Tuesday 25th October, for further information: Tel. 0161 273 1911 Email. capesdunn@gmail.com
Italian History conference in New York focuses on Fascism
New Directions in Italian and Italian-American History: A Conference in Honor of Philip Cannistraro
Saturday, November 5, 2011
9:00 am – 6:00 pm
John D. Calandra Italian-American Institute
25 West 43rd Street 17th Floor, New York City (212) 642-2094
Keynote
Emilio Gentile, University of Rome, La Sapienza
“Fabbrica del consenso o fabbrica del potere? Redefining Fascism and Totalitarianism”
New Directions in Italian-American History
Chair: Gerald Meyer, Hostos Community College, CUNY
Charles Killinger, University of Central Florida, “Italian Antifascist Exiles and the Italian-American Community: Renato Poggioli and Gaetano Salvemini as Case Studies”
Marcella Bencivenni, Hostos Community College, CUNY, “Re-examining Italian-American Radical History Through the Lens of Culture”
Peter Vellon, Queens College, CUNY, “‘The humiliation of being treated like Negroes’: The Italian-American Education in Matters of Race”
New Directions in Italian History, I
Chair: Emily Braun, Hunter College & The Graduate Center, CUNY
Paul Corner, University of Siena, “Factories and their Products: A Comment on Phil Cannistraro’s La fabbrica del consenso”
Ernest Ialongo, Hostos Community College, CUNY, “The Calculated Compromise: F.T. Marinetti and Fascism in the Twenties”
William Adams, Hunter College, CUNY, “The politica dei ponti in the Republic of Salò”
New Directions in Italian History, II
Chair: John Davis, University of Connecticut
Marta Petrusewicz, University of Calabria, “Fin-de-siècle Rome: A Republic of Collectors”
Stanislao Pugliese, Hofstra University, “Dancing on a Volcano: Attempting a Popular History of Naples”
David Aliano, College of Mount Saint Vincent, “Re-imagining the Nation: Italian National Narratives Abroad (1922-1945)”
Please RSVP at calandra@qc.edu
Four-Inch Long Amoebas Found in Mariana Trench [Science]
What're ten centimeters across, live 6 miles under water, and are incredibly toxic? The Xenophyophores of the Mariana Trench—the largest individual cells in existence More »
Amazon Sets the Record Straight on Silk’s Security [Amazon]
Silk, Amazon's new "cloud accelerated" browser, has already drawn the ire of security experts and politicians alike since it funnels most of the tablet's traffic through Amazon-controlled servers. Now, Amazon is providing additional details as to how Silk handles your data. More »
How the US Navy Is Making Its Virginia-Class Subs Even More Deadly [Military]
The US Navy's fleet of heavily-armed SSGN subs will run through their nuclear fuel supplies by 2026. At that point, they must be replaced at a cost of $8 billion apiece. Problem is, $8 billion is roughly half of the Navy's annual ship production budget. So what's the Navy to do? More »
