Rusted Sky

Ain't shut down yet - new company (same job, same pay, busier), some household remodeling, incommunicado on a vacation for a week...

Lots of stuff in the news. What would you like to talk about? Consider this an open thread...

You might want to check out Podiobooks.Com - they've got a WIDE selection of audiobooks for your listening pleasure.

I'd suggest Nathan Lowell's 'Golden Age of the Solar Clipper' series. 7 books, well over 100+ hours of audio, and it's a lot of fun...

Lot of other genres - everything from Alternative History, to SF, Steampunk, erotica, historical fantasy and fiction... (Hmmm. Just noticed - no 'westerns' as such. Strange.)

That might keep you occupied until I start blogging regularly again...

J.

Steve Jobs.

I believe that he, more than anyone else in the world, was the instigator of the machines we all use. He took the concept of a personal computer and changed it from a science fictional/hideously expensive device that required a degree to operate into something that pretty much everyone can afford, and use easily thanks to the GUI (Graphical User Interface) that he popularized. All the other little bits of the Apple Empire were an outgrowth of those two innovations.

If he hadn't - maybe someone else would have come along and done it. But - HE was the one who did, and the world is grateful.

(Heck, I'm grateful. If it hadn't been for computers, I'd have had to have found a real job like shoving boxes in a warehouse almost three decades ago...)

Thank you, Mr. Jobs, and may you rest in peace. You done real, real good.

J.

Found this...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=y3z-0hof1aY

And on a related theme - this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILiLaRXHUr0

Although actually, it's more of a ... well, you can figure it out. It's not what the label implies...

J.

A uniform is a uniform because it's uniform. Headscarves don't figure into the mix.

Even in JROTC. You're not being discriminated against (the hijab isn't mandatory) - if you want to play the game you just need to wear the uniform like everyone else.

(Sigh.)

J.

It's not as much of a problem as was thought?

Radiation's Big Lie.

The supposition has been for decades that there's no safe level of radiation exposure. (Of course there's fatal - certainly no one's arguing that there's not. But... there was nothing seen as a safe lower limit.)

Apparently, that might have been a false assumption... if not an outright lie.

Next up - Chocolate actually cures acne? One can only hope!

J.

I always wondered if XBox games with the Kinect were ever going to be looked at for their theraputic effects - and it looks like they have been.

Fight parkinsons through a video game?

Some of those games we've gotten require a fair amount of activity - and that's good at any age. (And part of it's just plain fun. Fruit Ninja, for example... who would have thought up a program like THAT for research?)

Ah, technology. I love living in the future...

J.

Dance Your PhD.

My favorites are...

Cross-Contamination of Chocolate with Hazelnuts

Microstructure-Property Relationships in Ti2448 Components Produced by Selective Laser Melting.

and...

DNA Aptamers as a Tool for Studying Mental Health Disease

Make of them what you will... and enjoy!

J.

The horse race is starting early, Florida's jockying with Iowa for a starting place... and I'm sick of it already. You have the usual suspects that I'd be leery of trusting my wallet with, a couple of good possibilities, and a couple of stellar ones. (At least in my opinion.)

My best possible combo? Cain and Palin.

Second best? Cain and Gingrich.

Third? Cain and Perry.

Then Gingrich w/Perry or Palin, then Perry with any of the above three.

Gingrich doesn't have a chance, honestly.

Romney? No, don't think so.

The media's going to push Romney hard, but the actual elections will tell the tale. Do your own research, make up your own mind. If you think Obama's done a good job, vote for him. If not - then choose who you think is the best qualified candidate and support them.

Because we're in deep trouble at this point - and the thinking inside the Beltway that's got us to this point isn't going to change as long as the same folks are in charge.

Got this on Cain. So far, I've seen no reason to NOT vote for him.

J.

A 1 MW steam plant - powered by hydrogen and nickel, in what might be a cold (well, relatively) fusion process. (Which hasn't been unambiguously demonstrated in a smaller package, BTW.)

The demonstration's tomorrow.

It's either one heck of a scam, or it won't work (scam subset...) or it'll work - which would be incredible... or it's going to blow.

So,,, this will either be great viewing, a train wreck, the ignition of an energy revolution, or it'll be an interesting industrial accident.

I'd love to see option 3, personally, but fear it'll be either 2 or 4.

J.

Update - A link? Dang, I knew I was forgetting something...

E-Cat News here.

Dissection here. (Just keep going - or start at the beginning. This can't possibly work, says they... except it seems to.

More news and dissection here.

Test results here, and speculation on how it could work.

If it works - I don't much care about the theory behind it. IF it works. And - it seems to. Further testing is required, of course... but I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

J.