Print Yourself or Your Unborn Child in 3D
Technology helps to shape the future of humanity and nowhere more than the Far East, or so it seems. Cell phones are acquired almost at birth and Internet access is pretty much universal (not to mention faster than it is here in the states). In many cases, this technology leads to great money-making opportunities, and Japanese businessmen are starting up a trend that, despite its seeming oddity, is destined to take hold across the world. They are offering to make 3D prints of your child while it is still in the womb.
Another interesting market for 3D printers is in making replicas of people - little figurines that look like you and cost about $200 bucks each. It’s only natural that they should progress this idea to expecting mothers. Through the use of an MRI the fetus can be scanned and then translated into a language that the printer speaks so that it can put together the miniature 3D image. It’s really a very simple process when it comes right down to it, which is why it’s so bloody genius.
The biggest issue is that the cost of both having an MRI and creating something from the 3D printer is rather high, running around $1200 for something that is only a few inches in height. This means that not everyone will be getting one, although those that can afford it will no doubt prefer it over keeping a simple sonogram in a scrapbook. A 3D fetus can be placed conveniently on your mantelpiece, after all, right next to pictures of the rest of the family.
Some have expressed being “weirded out” by this Japanese innovative use of the new technology, but ultimately it will catch on. People can’t pass up on their child’s early years, and how much better would it be when you can say to your son or daughter “This was you when you were minus five months old”? So say what you will about it being creepy, this is one Japanese trend that is here to stay. At least until someone invents something even better, that is.
NASA’s Building a Fence for Space
Some of you may have read an earlier post of mine talking about the problems that NASA and other space agencies are having because of the massive amounts of debris circling the planet. Well, it looks like they’ve got a solution together and may be able to at least track it, if not get rid of it altogether. It’s called a “Space Fence” and it’s designed to monitor tens-of-thousands of pieces of debris and thus warn satellites and space stations when they might be in trouble.
The proposed project would be put together in Kwajalein Atoll and would have the capability to track more than 150,000 individual pieces of debris - even small pieces - as they make their way through low-Earth orbit. This would potentially prevent the possibility of satellites and space stations getting smashed by this fast moving and very threatening obstacle.
It’s not a cheap project though. Even with competing contracts, the estimated cost looks to be $2 billion minimum with some estimates ranging as high as $4 billion. And this is just to set the thing up. Operation costs over the years would add even more to that number. But the savings in launch costs and replacing satellites could make up for that in no time, especially considering that more debris ends up in orbit every year.
The current system being used is run by the U.S. Air Force and was built way back in 1961, so we’re about due for an upgrade. The new version is estimated to be at least 10 times more efficient than the old one, using the latest technology. It will, however, take until around 2020 before it’s up and running, so space-bound craft will have to watch their step until then. Still, it’s a good start until scientists can figure out a way to get that rubble out of our orbit for good. And, of course, it is likely to end in even more technologies being developed that may help in other areas of space exploration.
Even as we mess things up, we find ways to remedy the problems we cause. Nothing will keep us from getting to the stars and I personally am glad I live in the era I do, able to watch it all taking place before my eyes.
The Great American House
When it comes to restoring an older home, the challenge is to retain the home’s natural classical appearance while making it a comfortable place for people to live in the present. Blending a home’s historical character with the modern lifestyle is not easy. The goal of Gil Schafer‘s The Great American House is to teach readers how to do this, or more specifically, the author’s take on how to do it.
One area in which older home-design often conflicts with modern needs is in the area of kitchens. The author points out that houses used to be built with tiny kitchens but immense living-rooms because kitchens were solely for the servants. Servant-less modern homeowners, however, may want more spacious kitchens but without losing any of the home’s historical charm.
Author Schafer is an architect with a love of older homes. He states this in his introduction to the book and points out that his love for older homes was started in his childhood. Schafer‘s childhood allowed him to view multiple home-designs and helped to forge his tastes in architecture as an adult. He stated that it was in his childhood that learned the value of such aspects of a house as landscaping and interior decoration.
Schafer covers the elements that make for a great house, these include an update that melds perfectly with the home’s character. The author describes work that his firm has done such as utilizing outdated parts of a home like servants’ quarters and eliminating dining rooms to make for larger living rooms. He has used both long passageways (“enfilades”) and stairways to remove the disconnect between the formal front parts of a house and the informal back areas.
Overall, the book is a guide for those with larger, older homes to renovate them for modern use; it comes with lots of photographs to provide inspiration.
Is My Child Gifted?
Every parent when their child is a baby thinks they are going to be the next Einstein. As they grow, we find they have strengths and weaknesses just like everyone else. There is a small portion of children that are considered naturally gifted.
They may have a knack for picking things up quickly or a staggering vocabulary for a young child. The question is how do you know if your child is gifted? The basic definition of a gifted child is someone who has a natural ability for one or many disciplines.
For example, a child can have a perfectly normal academic career, but be a piano virtuoso or a Rembrandt level artist. He could have mathematical ability far beyond his years or just be good at everything.
If you child seems to be more comfortable talking to and being around adults rather then children his own age, then he night be gifted. They tend to be more mature and the chaotic rambunctiousness of his classmates may be distracting and annoying.
If you think your child is gifted and want to have it verified, then there are experts out there that can give them specially designed IQ tests. The question you as a parent has to ask is: what do you do with a gifted child?
Do you let him go through your local school system with his friends and peers? Do you pull him out and put him in a special school for gifted children? This is something you should discuss with the child. Gifted or not they are still children and deserve to have a good and rewarding childhood. Find out that the child wants and go from there.
Fringe: Bye Bye Old Peter
We all knew that when the tech was implanted in Peter's head that bad things were going to happen. It's inevitable. You can't put future tech in your head from a bald future seeing species of human and expect it not to screw with you.
We saw the good parts in the episode before when he want all Neo on the Observers, saw how they see and then even teleported. In this episode, we saw the consequences of it. The usually emotional Peter seemed far to detached from the beginning.
He was using his new found powers t predict the future paths of a group of the Observers. Meanwhile, Walter is beginning to feel like his original self important God complex self and it's scaring him. As the episode goes on, Peter begins to bleed from his ear and has a severe headache. After that, it was all down hill.
The emotions drained and he began to talk like them. In the final scenes with Olivia, Peter is talking in the exact cadence of the Observers. It's obvious that he's turning into one and now that Olivia knows can she keep her Peter from being overwhelmed.
In the last scene, Peter pulls out a clump of his hair and we know that the transformation is picking up pace. He's still on our side and bent on destroying Windmark, but who knows how long that will last. If the preview from the next episode is any example, it's going to be one hell of a fight.
Reading Horror With A E-Reader
For me, reading has always been a visceral experience. Horror was always the choice for me because fear is a powerful emotion and I loved being scared as I became caught up in the story. There was something about the way it felt to hold a book and I couldn't wait to get to the next page.
Recently, I purchased an e-reader so I could read many of the books and stories sent to me by other writers. No one even bothers sending real books anymore. I will admit that the feeling I get when reading from an electronic device is far different than holding a book in my hand.
Books are tactile and the smell of the pages is intoxicating. I love it. I can squeeze the pages tighter as I become more engrossed in the book and at the end of the night, I can gauge my progress by looking at how much of the book is left.
I can't get that from an e-reader. The soft glow of the screen means I don't need to have the light on and if I need to I can check my e-mail without getting up from my seat. I can flip the digital pages and it even has the page turning sound, but it isn't the same. Maybe because its the alien feel of the e-reader or my own fear of change, but I can't get as engrossed as I used to.
No amount of gore or adjective laden prose can move me the way it had when I held a book in my hand. I know the world is becoming more digital and in 20 years there won't be a book on a shielf anywhere, but this is on advancement that I wish we could take back.
Working with the Bank
Odds are when you got your loan whether it was a cat or a home loan, there were certain expectations not only of your job, but also the economy. You loan payment was set based on your current condition and sometimes that changes.
Maybe you lost your job or you added a few more mouths to the family, but the monthly payments you negotiated at the beginning have become too much for you to handle. Instead, you've been making partial payments or no payments at all and the bank is starting to take notice.
The truth is that the bank doesn't want to take your home or your car. It's an expensive process and they may not get back what is owed to them. They only go the repossession route if you haven't contacted them and they can't contact you.
It's their last resort. If the payments start to be too much, then contact the bank before you get too far behind and see about restructuring the loan. Tell them how things have changed and that you need a lower monthly payment.
They will most likely be Ok with it because that means the loan term is longer, which means more interest for them to collect. Banks are not the bad guys even though I pretty much hate them. It's a business and you're just a number in a file to them. They'll restructure especially if it means getting more money in the long run.
Getting the Money Upfront
One of the hardest things for a writer to do is recover a payment from a client. If you accept a job, then don't get paid for it, there isn't much you can do. Many times the jobs are Internet based and all interaction is done by e-mail.
The client can be in another state or even another country and you're not going to spend money on a lawyer or collection agency especially if the fee $100 or less. This used to happen to me occasionally and just considered it the cost of doing business.
In fact, many times beginning writers feel like they have no recourse for clients that don't pay except to say you won't work for them anymore. (I have quite a list.) A while back I started requiring a 50-percent deposit from first-time clients.
This served several purposes. It showed them that I was serious about writing and that I'm not to be trifled with. If they send the money, then they have a financial investment in the project and if they don't pay, I at least have half the money.
If they balk, then they probably weren't going to pay me to begin with, so screw them and good luck with another writer. There are some writers that required full payment upfront, but I'm not comfortable with that.
Ultimately, it's your choice, but one way or the other get something upfront. Short projects or long projects doesn't matter. You deserve to have something up front as a good faith payment. It's standard business.
Halo 4 is Finally Here
People have been using Master Chief to battle the Covenant for years and it seemed at the end of Halo 3 that the war was over. The Covenant was defeated and Master Chief and his A.I. Cortana were thought to be lost or dead.
Of course, in the videogame world that's never true, so Master Chief and is A.I are back to face both new and old foes. I could go into the plot of the game about The Flood Composer, etc., but I'll leave that to you. Halo has always been heavy on the emotional impact and storyline and this game is no different.
I can guarantee you, the ending will move you to tears no matter how much of a manly man you think you are. The guts of this game is the fighting. Master Chief has his traditional array of weapons at his disposal as well as a host of new ones.
Anyone familiar with Halo: Reach will be familiar with the mechanics of this game. Lets face it, they are all basically the same types of gameplay just different plots. Let me just say that I loved this game. I never got into the Halo games until I played Halo Reach and this far better than that game.
It contains not only the primary storyline mission, but also a host of co-op options as well. The game has a huge replay value because of the co-op play and I am sure there's going to be tons of downloadable content.
Dad blogging at Christmas
It's that time of year again where everyone starts going gaga over gift guides. Christmas is a very important time for dad bloggers because it's the best time of year to get free stuff.
Everyone wants a review or contest for their product and they send these out in droves hoping the masses will read and buy for their kids or significant other. Toys and other items are given away for the sake of Christmas spirit.
As a dad blogger, you can wait for them to come to you or you can be proactive and go after them. Odds are if you're a blogger of any means, then you're going to be contacted by at least a few people. You need to decide how big a part of your blog Christmas giveaways and gift guides are going to be. I know bloggers who have multiple posts nearly every day promoting a new contest or gift guide.
If you want it to be a big part of your Christmas, then you're going to need to go on the offensive. You should start in September or early November to allow the items to be shipped to you in time to write the review. E-mail the public relations officers of the individual companies and give them your pertinent information.
Name, niche, various scores and why you want their product. Keep in mind the big guys are going to be hit up by hundreds if not thousands of people to don't forget to ask plenty of mom and pop and lesser known places in case the big guys don't respond.