This week's panel
Gary Bukowski / Jenette Forager / Spiff Whitfield / CathyWyo1 Haystack -
Quotes
“Great minds have purpose, others have wishes.” -Washington Irving
"Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind." — Dr. Seuss
"Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened." — Dr. Seuss
Word-UP of the week - “Purgadigatory” - that dark place where your avatar gets stuck when you tp..somewhere between where you were and where you wanted to teleport to -CathyWyo1 Haystack -
"Freepurposing": The act of freeing any system, device or content from its intended purpose, and re-applying ? it for a completely unintended purpose which is usually much more fun. Example: Rick Astley.-Gary Bukowski -
Audience Quote of the week“I’m not flirting with you; I’m just recharging my laptop”-Tomkin Euler
Questions
For the answers go to The 1st Question blog at treet.tv
1) We said iPad last week, and indeed that was the name – though the observation that there were no women in the room during the naming session was obvious. At least they didn’t call it MyPad. However, a Japanese technology firm and a Swiss semiconductor company both have trademarks for iPad. These kinds of naming conflicts have not stopped Apple before. In 2007, on the eve of the introduction of the iPhone, another technology giant pointed out that it already sold an Internet handset called the iPhone. Steven Jobs, , led the negotiation for the name, calling executives at all hours of the night finally persuading them to surrender the trademark with a vague promise to market their products jointly — a partnership that never materialized. What company gave jobs the rights to iPhone?
2) The Sound Reactive Nightgown uses a shape-memory alloy that when you yell, speak or make noises in the vicinity of this dainty garment, it starts lifting up provocatively. Keep talking might have a whole new meaning with sound activated clothing. Wires are in it which are made up of a shape memory alloy that returns back to its original form when stimulated. Dynalloy, Inc. manufactures these nickel titanium wires under this trade name to differentiate them from other ones which do not have these same properties. What is this shape shifting alloy called?
3) Panopticlick is a unique website that pulls information you didn't know you had about your computer that all websites can see, and then displays it for you, giving a uniqueness score — letting you see how easily identifiable you might be as you surf the web "Panopticlick" appears to be the mating of Panopticon and "mouse click". The Panopticon was designed by English philosopher Jeremy Bentham in 1785; what is it?
4) Concrete is the world's third-largest source of man-made carbon dioxide. I A few companies are now using different technologies that not only make concrete carbon-neutral, they actually make it carbon-negative. One company in California is converting the carbon in industrial flue emissions into concrete and asphalt by running them through pH-adjusted seawater. Then solidifying the minerals to be used as cement plus neutralizing other pollutants such as mercury. The company is Calera what pilot project is tying out this process?
5) You are out pushing the stroller and let’s face it you have to check your email or send a tweet- what is a mother to do? Well now you can, easily as this product has been created. It’s a phone-holder that clips to your stroller’s handle bar and makes it easier for you to text or email while you're out and about - but please wait until the stroller is stationary before using. It can fit almost any device that has a handle bar, such as a bike, exercise equipment and even a shopping trolley. What is this product, sure to increase communication but possibly not personal safety, called?
6) When you are at the Olympics, things get highly competitive, and the gain of seconds in time means the difference between gold and coal. This company has completely redesigned its athletic wear for Vancouver. They use d3o whose molecules flow under normal movement, but lock together on impact to spread the force. They refined the surface texture to shave off precious hundredths of seconds from racers’ times, a margin by which many ski races are won and lost. And moved padding to reduce the amount of thread, seams and needle holes on the outside fabric, all of which can contribute to wind friction. What company is going for the win with their new Speed Suits?
7) Energy-harvesting rubber sheets that are implanted in the body may power pacemakers and even mobile phones. The material, composed of ceramic nanoribbons embedded onto silicone rubber sheets, generates electricity when flexed and is highly efficient at converting mechanical to electrical energy. Shoes made of the material may one day harvest the pounding of walking and running. Placed against the lungs, sheets of the material could use breathing motions for power . What is the term for that which generates an electrical voltage when pressure is applied to it?
8) Recent research with this compound has been shown to enhance learning abilities and memory in rats. Yes just what we need smarter rats for smarter rat neurons to power smarter robots. But I digress. This is an essential element and health professionals say people who get less than 400mg a day are risking allergies, asthma and more “Half the population of industrialized countries have a deficit in this, which only increases with aging. If normal or even higher levels can be maintained, age-related loss of cognitive function can be slowed. A new compound might help increase plasticity in connections among neurons. What kind of compound found in spinach will this be?
9) Leading to neurology-inspired computers, as well as provide a means for connecting artificial devices to existing biological tissue, researchers in this country have created what they claim is the first transistor to mimic the connections in the human brain. The team, from its national science and atomic energy commissions called a nanoparticle organic memory field-effect transistor “NOMFET". A biological synapse transforms a voltage spike into a discharge of chemical neurotransmitters that are then detected. What country is responsible for this next very significant leap in the artificial brain sweepstakes?
10) Righteous Fur, a New Orleans-based grassroots movement, is hoping that its marketing efforts can raise awareness of a problem. A little hungry herbivore introduced from Argentina back in the 1930s, weighing about 12 pounds each, have chomped their way through some 100,000 acres of coastal wetlands since 1998. And while trappers earn a $5 bounty for each one they destroy, the pelts are often discarded. If a market for the fur for these little varmints can be created the wetlands will be saved! And positioning fur as environmentally correct isn't novel –"Fur is renewable, sustainable, and biodegradable," What is the animal that Righteous Fur hopes to make its poster child?
11) This alarm will wake you up with a very distinctive smell and has been in development for two years. Tested on sleeping people with normal or no hearing at all the device woke nearly all subjects up within two and a half minutes after the stench hit their nostrils. The alarm is not big and works on a room that's roughly 50 square feet. It was launched in 2009 by a Kobe-based fire extinguisher company. What is the basis of this odoriferous alarm?
12) In The Fifth Element, a hovering Chinese junk comes right to your high-rise apartment window to serve you a fresh meal. Well ironworkers on the new Freedom Tower will not have Chinese but they will have lunch delivered. This restaurant made of shipping containers will move up it’s side as it is being constructed, providing food. They'll be stacked on a hydraulically powered platform. The resulting three-level structure will house the restaurant complete with kitchen for fresh baked bread. As the tower grows, it will "jump" to the next new floor. What restaurant chain is delivering on high?
Thursday, 4 February 2010
Thursday, 28 January 2010
The First Question - 26 Jan 2010
Ahoy all – with a new year and new website upon us, yes please check out the new Treet.tv website, We are going to name the episodes by their dates only!
A NEW DAWN
This week's panel
Kurt Karsin / Scarlett Niven / LANCE Rembrandt / Gary Broono
Quotes:
“Give thanks for what you are now, and keep fighting for what you want to be tomorrow.”
~Fernanda Miramontes-Landeros
“Anyone can carry his burden, however hard, until nightfall. Anyone can do his work, however hard, for one day. Anyone can live sweetly, patiently, lovingly, purely, till the sun goes down. And this is all life really means.”
~Robert Louis Stevenson
Word-UP of the week – “Legibrawl” Ok, every now and then you see some you tube video or some story on CNN with a bunch of people in the parliament of some foreign country duking it out in the middle of a session. I call this a Legi-brawl, using the words and Legislative and Brawl. Used in a sentence: The members of the British house of commons got into a Legibrawl.
~Gary Broono
Audience Quote of the week
“You are obviously using the banana wrong”
~Crap Mariner
Questions:
For the answers go to The 1st Question blog at treet.tv
1) Internet access from outer space – yes it has happened – Hello Twitterverse!” he wrote. “We r now LIVE tweeting from the International Space Station — the 1st live tweet from Space! :) More soon, send your ?s” Before, orbiting astronauts had to send such Twitter updates by e-mail to Mission Control . This direct ability will help alleviate the astronauts’ profound sense of isolation. Give us each day our daily Tweets. Who is the Space station resident who was able to establish Internet access from his orbital post ever since he moved in last month?
2) Apple’s announcement of its tablet computer tomorrow will without doubt be the most eagerly anticipated tech news of 2010. Odds on what the name will be have been on offer at Irish bookmaker Paddy Power this week and when the Economist ran a story on what it might be, the odds on this name shortened from 7/4 to 1/3 in a few hours. Obviously there are hundreds, if not thousands of people across the world who know it already, because they have been involved in manufacturing, or creating promotional collateral. It’s not exactly insider trading – but making book on what name seems a good idea?
3) An ionospheric research facility it is jointly funded by the US Air Force, Navy, the University of Alaska, and DARPA) for communications and surveillance purposes. The facility currently operates a VHF and UHF radar, a fluxgate magnetometer, and a digisonde. It became the subject of controversy in the mid-1990s, following claims that it’s antennas could be used as weapons. It has been called "the Moby Dick of conspiracy theories" and has been blamed for much. Variously described as a missile defense shield, a death ray, a tool of the Antichrist, a worldwide communications jammer, an apparatus that can cause the Earth to spin out of control, and was also blamed for the recent earthquake in Haiti. What is it?
4) An autonomous surveillance platform that was developed in Afghanistan, it will soon fly over the UK for routine monitoring of antisocial motorists, protesters, and anyone else the Home Office deems in need of watching. Police authorities hope to have them approved and ready for the 2012 Olympics. A national drone plan with BAE, documents obtained by the Guardian under the Freedom of Information Act, shows use could span a range of police activity – and officers have even talked about selling the surveillance data to private companies. What is the name of this drone?
5) It is building a mind-reading scanner that can tell if a given traveler is a potential danger - without the subject's knowledge - using biometric sensors. The system ... projects images onto airport screens symbols only a would-be terrorist would recognize. The logic is that people can't help reacting,, to familiar images that suddenly appear in unfamiliar places. The reaction could be a darting of the eyes, an increased heartbeat, a nervous twitch or faster breathing. This system would rely mostly on hidden cameras or sensors that can detect a slight rise in body temperature and heart rate. What is the technology company called behind this?
6) It is traditionally used to treat phobias like fear of heights or flying. Now it will be tried on soldiers returning from Iraq who are suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Recreating 360-degree, interactive computer-generated environments, it will expose the patients back into the environment and experience where the trauma occurred. It is hoped this will help reduce anxiety as it’s designed to promote a multi-sensory emotional connection to the memory, Behavioral health providers have treatment options for Soldiers but what is this now receiving a lot of attention?
7) SF writer William Gibson included the idea of synthespians in his 1996 novel Idoru: as we have mentioned in a previous show . James Cameron, director of Avatar, has been quoted as saying that the same technology that animated the Na'vis from Pandora could also be used to bring beloved actors back to the screen. Remember Max Headroom? He was Matt Frewer in makeup to represent a CG character. And he was a spoof of this President of the synthetic actors’ guild who promised that humans in makeup will no longer take work away from synthetic actors."The word "synthespian" was coined by Jeff Kleiser. Kleiser and Diana Walczak created the first digital actor for their 1988 short film- What was it?
8) Space divers are risk takers - and one will attempt a parachute jump from a balloon suspended 121,000 feet over the surface of the Earth later this year. After floating up for roughly three hours, Felix Baumgartner will step off, potentially breaking records for the highest parachute jump, as well as the fastest and longest freefall. He will face extreme peril. He should reach supersonic speeds 35 seconds after he jumps, and the atmospheric pressure is so low that fluids begin to boil. "If he opens up his face mask or the suit, all the gases in the body go out of suspension, so he would literally turn into a giant fizzy, oozing fluid from his eyes and mouth, like something out of a horror film, and it’s just seconds until death. Felix will attempt to break a fifty year-old record set by which US Air Force Captain who jumped out of a balloon at an altitude of 104,000 feet?
9) It is a space-cannon proposed by a Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory physicist. This 3,600-foot gun could make deliveries to an orbiting space station for just $250 per pound - compared to $5,000 per pound costs for delivery by rocket. Note to Felix Baumgartner - don’t expect to ride this thing: The gun produces 5,000 Gs, so it’s only for fuel tanks and ruggedized satellites. “A person shot out of it would probably get compressed to half their size so it’d be over real quick.” Hot hydrogen would boost the payload exiting the mouth of the gun at 13.000 mph. What is this called?
10) Mahru-Z is a walking robot maid with a rotating head containing a 3-dimensional sensor so it can figure out what work you need it to do. It can pick up your house, dump clothes into the washer and heat meals in the microwave. It is a bipedal, humanoid robot a little over 4feet tall; and weighs just 121 pounds. The most distinctive strength of Mahru-Z is its visual ability to observe objects, recognize the tasks needed to be completed, and execute them. Robotic maids have been depicted before - what was the name of the robot maid in the Jetsons cartoon show?
11). The dress has its own nervous system, which allows the wearer to control the emotional wellbeing of the garments. The approach to fashion design introduces the living garment. A micro pump represents the ‘heart’, micro tubes represent the ‘veins and arteries’ and various biosensors mimic the senses. Fragrances are actively 'pulsed' electronically through a micro cabling system in the fabric web. The fabric emits a selection of scents to eventually replace the traditional perfume bottle. What is this called and/or who is behind it?
12) The Wrap 920AR glasses prototype features cameras mounted to lenses that project real world images onto LCD’s inside the glasses, seamlessly mixing real-world and computer generated imagery. The glasses have a camera on each lens that captures video which can also be viewed in stereoscopic 3D. The cameras project real-world imagery giving the effect of watching a 67” display from ten feet away. And can be overlaid with CGI effectively creating an augmented reality. How about being on SL while you walk down an actual street? Not yet but it will be great for education. Who is making these new glasses for roughly $880USD?
A NEW DAWN
This week's panel
Kurt Karsin / Scarlett Niven / LANCE Rembrandt / Gary Broono
Quotes:
“Give thanks for what you are now, and keep fighting for what you want to be tomorrow.”
~Fernanda Miramontes-Landeros
“Anyone can carry his burden, however hard, until nightfall. Anyone can do his work, however hard, for one day. Anyone can live sweetly, patiently, lovingly, purely, till the sun goes down. And this is all life really means.”
~Robert Louis Stevenson
Word-UP of the week – “Legibrawl” Ok, every now and then you see some you tube video or some story on CNN with a bunch of people in the parliament of some foreign country duking it out in the middle of a session. I call this a Legi-brawl, using the words and Legislative and Brawl. Used in a sentence: The members of the British house of commons got into a Legibrawl.
~Gary Broono
Audience Quote of the week
“You are obviously using the banana wrong”
~Crap Mariner
Questions:
For the answers go to The 1st Question blog at treet.tv
1) Internet access from outer space – yes it has happened – Hello Twitterverse!” he wrote. “We r now LIVE tweeting from the International Space Station — the 1st live tweet from Space! :) More soon, send your ?s” Before, orbiting astronauts had to send such Twitter updates by e-mail to Mission Control . This direct ability will help alleviate the astronauts’ profound sense of isolation. Give us each day our daily Tweets. Who is the Space station resident who was able to establish Internet access from his orbital post ever since he moved in last month?
2) Apple’s announcement of its tablet computer tomorrow will without doubt be the most eagerly anticipated tech news of 2010. Odds on what the name will be have been on offer at Irish bookmaker Paddy Power this week and when the Economist ran a story on what it might be, the odds on this name shortened from 7/4 to 1/3 in a few hours. Obviously there are hundreds, if not thousands of people across the world who know it already, because they have been involved in manufacturing, or creating promotional collateral. It’s not exactly insider trading – but making book on what name seems a good idea?
3) An ionospheric research facility it is jointly funded by the US Air Force, Navy, the University of Alaska, and DARPA) for communications and surveillance purposes. The facility currently operates a VHF and UHF radar, a fluxgate magnetometer, and a digisonde. It became the subject of controversy in the mid-1990s, following claims that it’s antennas could be used as weapons. It has been called "the Moby Dick of conspiracy theories" and has been blamed for much. Variously described as a missile defense shield, a death ray, a tool of the Antichrist, a worldwide communications jammer, an apparatus that can cause the Earth to spin out of control, and was also blamed for the recent earthquake in Haiti. What is it?
4) An autonomous surveillance platform that was developed in Afghanistan, it will soon fly over the UK for routine monitoring of antisocial motorists, protesters, and anyone else the Home Office deems in need of watching. Police authorities hope to have them approved and ready for the 2012 Olympics. A national drone plan with BAE, documents obtained by the Guardian under the Freedom of Information Act, shows use could span a range of police activity – and officers have even talked about selling the surveillance data to private companies. What is the name of this drone?
5) It is building a mind-reading scanner that can tell if a given traveler is a potential danger - without the subject's knowledge - using biometric sensors. The system ... projects images onto airport screens symbols only a would-be terrorist would recognize. The logic is that people can't help reacting,, to familiar images that suddenly appear in unfamiliar places. The reaction could be a darting of the eyes, an increased heartbeat, a nervous twitch or faster breathing. This system would rely mostly on hidden cameras or sensors that can detect a slight rise in body temperature and heart rate. What is the technology company called behind this?
6) It is traditionally used to treat phobias like fear of heights or flying. Now it will be tried on soldiers returning from Iraq who are suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Recreating 360-degree, interactive computer-generated environments, it will expose the patients back into the environment and experience where the trauma occurred. It is hoped this will help reduce anxiety as it’s designed to promote a multi-sensory emotional connection to the memory, Behavioral health providers have treatment options for Soldiers but what is this now receiving a lot of attention?
7) SF writer William Gibson included the idea of synthespians in his 1996 novel Idoru: as we have mentioned in a previous show . James Cameron, director of Avatar, has been quoted as saying that the same technology that animated the Na'vis from Pandora could also be used to bring beloved actors back to the screen. Remember Max Headroom? He was Matt Frewer in makeup to represent a CG character. And he was a spoof of this President of the synthetic actors’ guild who promised that humans in makeup will no longer take work away from synthetic actors."The word "synthespian" was coined by Jeff Kleiser. Kleiser and Diana Walczak created the first digital actor for their 1988 short film- What was it?
8) Space divers are risk takers - and one will attempt a parachute jump from a balloon suspended 121,000 feet over the surface of the Earth later this year. After floating up for roughly three hours, Felix Baumgartner will step off, potentially breaking records for the highest parachute jump, as well as the fastest and longest freefall. He will face extreme peril. He should reach supersonic speeds 35 seconds after he jumps, and the atmospheric pressure is so low that fluids begin to boil. "If he opens up his face mask or the suit, all the gases in the body go out of suspension, so he would literally turn into a giant fizzy, oozing fluid from his eyes and mouth, like something out of a horror film, and it’s just seconds until death. Felix will attempt to break a fifty year-old record set by which US Air Force Captain who jumped out of a balloon at an altitude of 104,000 feet?
9) It is a space-cannon proposed by a Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory physicist. This 3,600-foot gun could make deliveries to an orbiting space station for just $250 per pound - compared to $5,000 per pound costs for delivery by rocket. Note to Felix Baumgartner - don’t expect to ride this thing: The gun produces 5,000 Gs, so it’s only for fuel tanks and ruggedized satellites. “A person shot out of it would probably get compressed to half their size so it’d be over real quick.” Hot hydrogen would boost the payload exiting the mouth of the gun at 13.000 mph. What is this called?
10) Mahru-Z is a walking robot maid with a rotating head containing a 3-dimensional sensor so it can figure out what work you need it to do. It can pick up your house, dump clothes into the washer and heat meals in the microwave. It is a bipedal, humanoid robot a little over 4feet tall; and weighs just 121 pounds. The most distinctive strength of Mahru-Z is its visual ability to observe objects, recognize the tasks needed to be completed, and execute them. Robotic maids have been depicted before - what was the name of the robot maid in the Jetsons cartoon show?
11). The dress has its own nervous system, which allows the wearer to control the emotional wellbeing of the garments. The approach to fashion design introduces the living garment. A micro pump represents the ‘heart’, micro tubes represent the ‘veins and arteries’ and various biosensors mimic the senses. Fragrances are actively 'pulsed' electronically through a micro cabling system in the fabric web. The fabric emits a selection of scents to eventually replace the traditional perfume bottle. What is this called and/or who is behind it?
12) The Wrap 920AR glasses prototype features cameras mounted to lenses that project real world images onto LCD’s inside the glasses, seamlessly mixing real-world and computer generated imagery. The glasses have a camera on each lens that captures video which can also be viewed in stereoscopic 3D. The cameras project real-world imagery giving the effect of watching a 67” display from ten feet away. And can be overlaid with CGI effectively creating an augmented reality. How about being on SL while you walk down an actual street? Not yet but it will be great for education. Who is making these new glasses for roughly $880USD?
Saturday, 9 January 2010
The 1st Question 78 - 5 Jan 10
Living La Vida Ava
Quotes
“A fact is a simple statement that everyone believes. It is innocent, unless found guilty. A hypothesis is a novel suggestion that no one wants to believe. It is guilty, until found effective. “-Edward Teller
"Man never made any material as resilient as the human spirit."-Bern Williams
Word-UP of the week – Taitalium, ( tie-tail-ee-um) the hairiest element known to science, named for our Chow Chow, Tai Shan [Peace Mountain in Chinese]- Squiffy Rogozarski
Questions
For the answers go to The 1st Question blog at treet.tv
1) It has developed a prototype remote control that allows users to operate electronic devices telepathically -- simply willing the television channel to change or the air-conditioning to turn on The brain signals are sent by optical fiber to a remote control, which is prompted by significant brain activity to beam infrared signals. Blood flow increases considerably with mental activity.. The technology for such a device had existed for some time, but this weighs about 2.2 pounds, while other such systems are the size of a refrigerator, and difficult to wear on your head- which company is in charge of this?
2) This will establish the largest free trade area in the world in terms of population and the third largest in terms of volume – aptly coming into effect new years day for the dawn of a decade very likely to see this segment of the world rise up to prominence. The initial framework agreement was signed in 2002 in Phnom Penh, with the intent on establishing a free trade area now in existence among eleven nations in this region. What is it called?
P:3)This was one of the robots that debuted as the robotic bartender most likely handle the second coming. It performs the miracle of transubstantiation, using the energy which flows through its circuitry to convert water into wine. Drinkers are invited to place their grail below its wound spigot and then pour pure water into its holy funnel (located on the upper left shoulder), while repeating the following prayer: O Roomba, O microwave,I forsake thee!Gloria in anthropos deus.In Nomine Asimov, et ASIMOet Robosapien,Amen! What is this Miraculous robot called?
4) Fantastic dress that would be right at home on the grid – for the NYU Winter Show, Elisabeth Fuller designed the fully programmable "Life Dress". . So you can wear it with the pattern or message of your choice writ large by the LEDs embedded in it. It is made up of silicon tiles each infused with it’s own LED light –The unlit squares are also a bit translucent, which in the right (or wrong) places could send the strongest message, but nude is the new black this season. What kind of skin covers it's silicon tiles?
5) We are not as cool as we might think certainly under pressure. And our behavior might give us away especially when we are planning a large scale attack upon crowded places. How can the authorities capitalize on our significant stress? With a next-generation device able to autonomously identify and track individuals that act suspiciously in crowded public spaces. Using algorithms that profile behavior in public, it identifies 'typical' behavior to single out the suspicious. It can even follow a target as they move in a crowd. What is this human tracking device called?
6) On New Years Eve, this man pulled off the world's longest car jump at the Red Bull: New Year. No Limits Party in California. He set a new world record of 269 feet, extending it by 43%. He has also been the first to achieve a front flip on a motorcycle, the first to achieve a double backflip, not to mention being the first person to jump out of a plane without a parachute, jump into the Grand Canyon off a motorcycle and the first (and quite possibly the only) person to ever backflip a kid's tricycle. Who is the man you want to invite to your backyard BBQ when you unveil your new trampoline?
7) Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies will release a small home hydrogen refueling and storage solution at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas later this week that could begin our transition to a hydrogen-based economy. The HYDROFILL is a small desktop device that plugs into the power supply, a solar panel or a small wind turbine, and automatically extracts hydrogen from its water tank and stores it in a solid form in small refillable cartridges. The cartridges contain metallic alloys that absorb hydrogen into their crystalline structure, a storage method which the company claims offers the highest volumetric energy density of any form of hydrogen storage, even higher than liquid hydrogen. From what country is HYDROFILL leading us?
H:8) It’s a new facebook app and its going for socialized blogs via a virtual online global community with an option to switch to a 2.5D habbo style environment & Simple enough graphics for widespread use. It allows for Avatar creation (Think anime adorable) and of course your choice of rooms. Once that's done you can explore real-life locales as you chat friend and share blogs. What intends to launch on Facebook this spring with privacy concerns high on the list?
9) We are possibly not involved enough emotionally with our day to day objects so says a contribution to the 13 visions of the future for the French Alliance's La Fin Du Design exhibition . Haptic, thermal and olfactory sensations are all involved while playing games, watching movies and shopping online as a hand sheath will stimulate nerve receptors recreating the pressure, temperature, roughness, etc of an object being viewed on what it has been wirelessly linked to. It will also feature six flavor cartridges & features micro emanators reproducing different types of smell. What is this called, that might out do the feelies? (The Sense concept)
10) A leading figure in late 19th- and early 20th-century Britain, he was instrumental in the foundation of the Labour Party. his publication of Civilization, Its Cause and Cure proposed that civilization is a form of disease that human societies pass through. A strong advocate of sexual freedom, he lived openly gay. The last twenty years of his life were marked by his persistent involvement in progressive issues; He argued passionately that the source of war and discontent in western society was class-monopoly and social inequality. A true radical in his own lifetime, who was he?
11) Powering a low energy device by using a wind-up mechanism has of course been around for centuries. But for a new decade a very green alternate to power consumption for one of the most widely used devices of the modern age, The computer mouse Rather than drawing energy from a computer or batteries. You would need to remove a key from below the Sustail mouse and wind it up before being able to use it. It is hoped that this would also encourage users to take regular breaks and have a more responsible attitude towards power consumption.. What company’s department is currently testing the wind up mouse for feasibility?
12) This company has made another important step toward creating faster, higher-efficiency "3D" processors stacking their cores vertically. We are entering the time where more and more processing power will be needed. Single core will be giving way to multi core and use of the z-axis is being explored. Power consumption, memory usage and parallelism all are reasons to stack up. Working on this technique can ensure data transfer rates ten times higher than ever before. Which company is working with the Swiss on this?
13) Connected every moment of everyday – it is a wonder that headsets wont soon be implanted directly into the brain – well that’s next. You might already have it on your iPhone, PSP, or desk phone, but 2010 looks to be the year of this -enabled in the pipeline for a Spring release on your HDTV. These HDTVs will feature a built-in 720p webcam and a microphone designed to ensure you don't have to move to be heard. HD video functionality has been added in – What will be on your HDTV soon?
14). We like our words electronic and we want them now. At just over a quarter-inch in overall height, the device is the thinnest e-reader announced to date. It features the largest and highest-resolution electronic-paper display too . . The device weighs just over one pound and lasts over a week of average use between charges. It is the first consumer product to feature the next-generation of e-paper display – one based on a thin, flexible sheet of stainless-steel foil. This contrast with the fragile glass that is the foundation of almost every electronic screen What is it called?
15) During an experiment with whipped cream canisters and funnel cake — don’t ask—a better idea was stumbled upon: putting pancake mix in pressurized cans. Through word of mouth, social networking and publicity stunts — rallying a team to cook 76,382 pancakes in eight hours to set a Guinness World Record — Sean O’Connor has gotten this new food product into Costco and Whole Foods stores. 20 million in revenue later - what is this breakfast in a can called?
Quotes
“A fact is a simple statement that everyone believes. It is innocent, unless found guilty. A hypothesis is a novel suggestion that no one wants to believe. It is guilty, until found effective. “-Edward Teller
"Man never made any material as resilient as the human spirit."-Bern Williams
Word-UP of the week – Taitalium, ( tie-tail-ee-um) the hairiest element known to science, named for our Chow Chow, Tai Shan [Peace Mountain in Chinese]- Squiffy Rogozarski
Questions
For the answers go to The 1st Question blog at treet.tv
1) It has developed a prototype remote control that allows users to operate electronic devices telepathically -- simply willing the television channel to change or the air-conditioning to turn on The brain signals are sent by optical fiber to a remote control, which is prompted by significant brain activity to beam infrared signals. Blood flow increases considerably with mental activity.. The technology for such a device had existed for some time, but this weighs about 2.2 pounds, while other such systems are the size of a refrigerator, and difficult to wear on your head- which company is in charge of this?
2) This will establish the largest free trade area in the world in terms of population and the third largest in terms of volume – aptly coming into effect new years day for the dawn of a decade very likely to see this segment of the world rise up to prominence. The initial framework agreement was signed in 2002 in Phnom Penh, with the intent on establishing a free trade area now in existence among eleven nations in this region. What is it called?
P:3)This was one of the robots that debuted as the robotic bartender most likely handle the second coming. It performs the miracle of transubstantiation, using the energy which flows through its circuitry to convert water into wine. Drinkers are invited to place their grail below its wound spigot and then pour pure water into its holy funnel (located on the upper left shoulder), while repeating the following prayer: O Roomba, O microwave,I forsake thee!Gloria in anthropos deus.In Nomine Asimov, et ASIMOet Robosapien,Amen! What is this Miraculous robot called?
4) Fantastic dress that would be right at home on the grid – for the NYU Winter Show, Elisabeth Fuller designed the fully programmable "Life Dress". . So you can wear it with the pattern or message of your choice writ large by the LEDs embedded in it. It is made up of silicon tiles each infused with it’s own LED light –The unlit squares are also a bit translucent, which in the right (or wrong) places could send the strongest message, but nude is the new black this season. What kind of skin covers it's silicon tiles?
5) We are not as cool as we might think certainly under pressure. And our behavior might give us away especially when we are planning a large scale attack upon crowded places. How can the authorities capitalize on our significant stress? With a next-generation device able to autonomously identify and track individuals that act suspiciously in crowded public spaces. Using algorithms that profile behavior in public, it identifies 'typical' behavior to single out the suspicious. It can even follow a target as they move in a crowd. What is this human tracking device called?
6) On New Years Eve, this man pulled off the world's longest car jump at the Red Bull: New Year. No Limits Party in California. He set a new world record of 269 feet, extending it by 43%. He has also been the first to achieve a front flip on a motorcycle, the first to achieve a double backflip, not to mention being the first person to jump out of a plane without a parachute, jump into the Grand Canyon off a motorcycle and the first (and quite possibly the only) person to ever backflip a kid's tricycle. Who is the man you want to invite to your backyard BBQ when you unveil your new trampoline?
7) Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies will release a small home hydrogen refueling and storage solution at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas later this week that could begin our transition to a hydrogen-based economy. The HYDROFILL is a small desktop device that plugs into the power supply, a solar panel or a small wind turbine, and automatically extracts hydrogen from its water tank and stores it in a solid form in small refillable cartridges. The cartridges contain metallic alloys that absorb hydrogen into their crystalline structure, a storage method which the company claims offers the highest volumetric energy density of any form of hydrogen storage, even higher than liquid hydrogen. From what country is HYDROFILL leading us?
H:8) It’s a new facebook app and its going for socialized blogs via a virtual online global community with an option to switch to a 2.5D habbo style environment & Simple enough graphics for widespread use. It allows for Avatar creation (Think anime adorable) and of course your choice of rooms. Once that's done you can explore real-life locales as you chat friend and share blogs. What intends to launch on Facebook this spring with privacy concerns high on the list?
9) We are possibly not involved enough emotionally with our day to day objects so says a contribution to the 13 visions of the future for the French Alliance's La Fin Du Design exhibition . Haptic, thermal and olfactory sensations are all involved while playing games, watching movies and shopping online as a hand sheath will stimulate nerve receptors recreating the pressure, temperature, roughness, etc of an object being viewed on what it has been wirelessly linked to. It will also feature six flavor cartridges & features micro emanators reproducing different types of smell. What is this called, that might out do the feelies? (The Sense concept)
10) A leading figure in late 19th- and early 20th-century Britain, he was instrumental in the foundation of the Labour Party. his publication of Civilization, Its Cause and Cure proposed that civilization is a form of disease that human societies pass through. A strong advocate of sexual freedom, he lived openly gay. The last twenty years of his life were marked by his persistent involvement in progressive issues; He argued passionately that the source of war and discontent in western society was class-monopoly and social inequality. A true radical in his own lifetime, who was he?
11) Powering a low energy device by using a wind-up mechanism has of course been around for centuries. But for a new decade a very green alternate to power consumption for one of the most widely used devices of the modern age, The computer mouse Rather than drawing energy from a computer or batteries. You would need to remove a key from below the Sustail mouse and wind it up before being able to use it. It is hoped that this would also encourage users to take regular breaks and have a more responsible attitude towards power consumption.. What company’s department is currently testing the wind up mouse for feasibility?
12) This company has made another important step toward creating faster, higher-efficiency "3D" processors stacking their cores vertically. We are entering the time where more and more processing power will be needed. Single core will be giving way to multi core and use of the z-axis is being explored. Power consumption, memory usage and parallelism all are reasons to stack up. Working on this technique can ensure data transfer rates ten times higher than ever before. Which company is working with the Swiss on this?
13) Connected every moment of everyday – it is a wonder that headsets wont soon be implanted directly into the brain – well that’s next. You might already have it on your iPhone, PSP, or desk phone, but 2010 looks to be the year of this -enabled in the pipeline for a Spring release on your HDTV. These HDTVs will feature a built-in 720p webcam and a microphone designed to ensure you don't have to move to be heard. HD video functionality has been added in – What will be on your HDTV soon?
14). We like our words electronic and we want them now. At just over a quarter-inch in overall height, the device is the thinnest e-reader announced to date. It features the largest and highest-resolution electronic-paper display too . . The device weighs just over one pound and lasts over a week of average use between charges. It is the first consumer product to feature the next-generation of e-paper display – one based on a thin, flexible sheet of stainless-steel foil. This contrast with the fragile glass that is the foundation of almost every electronic screen What is it called?
15) During an experiment with whipped cream canisters and funnel cake — don’t ask—a better idea was stumbled upon: putting pancake mix in pressurized cans. Through word of mouth, social networking and publicity stunts — rallying a team to cook 76,382 pancakes in eight hours to set a Guinness World Record — Sean O’Connor has gotten this new food product into Costco and Whole Foods stores. 20 million in revenue later - what is this breakfast in a can called?
Friday, 18 December 2009
The 1st Question 76 - 15 Dec 09
This week's panel
Mo Hax, Jianna Zerbino, Jessica Qin, Tomkin Euler
Quotes
(Special Kudos to Gary Broono is is rapidly becoming our new King of Quotes! He got both this week.)
The mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be kindled.
Plutarch
The best way to make your dreams come true is to wake up.
Paul Valery
Word-UP of the week – A TIE! “Idslexia “ - Misreading a headline but realizing your subconscious mind is actually giving you the real story. Ex: it says "APD starts new anti-drug program" but you read "APD starts new anti-drug pogrom" -- or "President flies to summit committee" but you read it as "President lies to summit committee". Jessica Qin
“Chatatonic” - The appearance of your avatar when someone walks up to you in SL, tries to engage you in chat, bumps into you, but you're lost in 3 separate IM conversations, you're trying to find something in your inventory, and you have a couple tabs open in your web browser... then your antivirus software starts an update...-Tomkin Euler
Audience Quote of the week –“ You shoulda heard me cursive when I stubbed my toe”-MenuBar Memorial
Questions:
For the answers go to The 1st Question blog at treet.tv
1) When a baby plays with this, their actions are associated through gizmos on their first dashboard, a modified Fischer-Price toy which has been souped up with electronics. Yes, it will send an email when baby is looking at a picture of you- & if more than one baby is hooked up to it the baby can join a social net and activate the flashing lights on their peers machines too – sort of a virtual playgroup. What is this device called?
2) Faster and faster as a new unified wireless specification will provides data transmission rates of up to 7 gigabits per second – more than ten times that of current Wi-Fi. It will only work over short distances, so it's better as the perfect way to wirelessly connect home media devices. 30 companies including Dell, Microsoft, Intel and Samsung are members. It's aiming towards a single wireless industry for the first quarter of 2010 – What is this alliance called? A new speed for a new decade?
P3): Its on the Surface of Mars, and isn’t going away- Of interest to astrobiologists because organisms release much of this on Earth's through their digestion of nutrients, Scientists think there may be microorganisms living far below the planet's surface where liquid water may exist & Extraterrestrial life itself may be producing this. Scientists have shown that the level of it on the Red Planet can't be explained by meteorites in the atmosphere. What is it that NASA and ESA scientists who are planning a joint mission to the red planet in 2018 to search for?
4) A Top salesman for IBM he filled his year's sales quota in two weeks, founded Electronic Data Systems in 1962- and became the biggest individual loser ever on the New York Stock Exchange" when his shares dropped $450 million in a single day . He supported the Environmental Protection Agency and wanted to enact electronic direct democracy when he ran for president. But withdrew-We might never know the whole story but he remained in the public eye after the election and championed opposition to NAFTA, urging voters to listen for the "giant sucking sound" of American jobs heading south. He has dropped out of political debate but he does blog. Who is he?
5) This is a Robotic Weapon Designed for law enforcement situations like riot control or other hostile or covert situations, or when you can’t stand to see fear in the eyes of your victims. It boasts of affordable, remotely-operated, electric vehicles designed to go where it is difficult, dangerous, hazardous, lethal, toxic or just too messy for humans to go”, and has a wireless control range of around 700ft. For the next insurgency, what will be attacking the front lines, remotely driven and gushing out pepper spray, for a start, following up with rubber bullets?
6) Recently MIT found that this substances impurities could be manipulated for atomic scale magnetic fields, leading the way in spintronics - What is now being used to generate magnetic fields strong enough to consistently manipulate nitrogen defects in this crystal in just under one nanosecond, by purely electrical means opening the way to mass production of a true general purpose quantum computer?
7) Gender, was thought to be caused by environmental factors, such as passion of sex, nutrition and temperature. These theories had their roots in Aristotle over 2000 years ago. One of the first American women to be recognized for her contribution to science. Her discovery based on insect observation was the first of its kind linked to gender. Basically, sex dependency is signaled by the presence or absence of the Y chromosome. She did not start her research until her thirties and completed her PhD in 1903. Who was this early American geneticist?
8) The citrus grows on a shrub or small tree with long, irregular branches covered in thorns. The fruit has a thick peel, only a small amount of acidic flesh (if any) and is juiceless and sometimes seedless. It is very fragrant and is used predominantly by the Chinese and Japanese for perfuming rooms and personal items, such as clothing. It has fingers which open are like a goblin’ fingers another name for it, and which closed resemble hands in prayer. The fruit may be given as a religious offeringn its origin traced back to Northeastern India or China. What Deity is it named after?
9) It is an artificial intelligence program that autonomously seeks working equations to describe
data from experiments. The program begins by examining the data for numbers that appear to be connected, and then suggests equations that fit the connections. Of the proposed equations most fail, but some are less wrong than others, and these are selected and modified and then repeatedly re-tested again. It was able to calculate in hours equations that Newton took years to find, and hopes it can do the same for the interactions between proteins, genomes and cell signals, which are so complicated that describing them mathematically has so far been impossible. What is it called?
10) As the United States raced to build its first atomic bombs near the end of World War II, scientists wanted to know more about the hazards of this. Testing began on April 10, 1945 with injections into the victim of a car accident in Oak Ridge, Tenn., to see how quickly the human body rid itself of the radioactive substance. That was just the first of over 400 human radiation experiments. Common studies included seeing the biological effects of radiation with various doses, and testing experimental treatments for cancer. Records of this research became public in 1995, after the U.S. Department of Energy published them. What were the injections of?
11) It is a moldable silicone modeling clay that sets tough and is flexible allowing users to modify or repair just about anything. Coming in a range of colors this Play-Doh-like material boasts the potential to be used to modify and fix. it is self-adhesive, waterproof, flexible, dishwasher-proof and is highly temperature resistant. Its creators say this can help decrease your carbon footprint on the world by countering the disposable society and letting you repair things that previously would have ended up discarded. What is this new miracle clay called?
12) A five-foot-wide pipeline with an intake hundreds of feet below the sea will pull in cold water, which will circulate through air-conditioning units around this city. A $240 million project, will expect its technology to cut air conditioning electricity usage by up to 75 percent while slashing carbon emissions and the use of ozone-depleting refrigerants. Cold deep-sea water will be used to cool buildings where?
13) The Neurostar Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation system is a nonsurgical device that uses a magnetic coil in a headpiece to stimulate the left prefrontal cortex....the mood center...with electromagnetic waves using short pulses to stimulate nerve cells in this area. The treatments stimulate the production of dopamine. It seems to work in clinical trials. It's the first of its kind to recieve FDA approval. And will run you $6000 for a full course of treatment. Ren and Stimpy first brought us the concept in the 90’s What was their original cartoon concept called?
14) The U.S. Navy wanted to boost sailors' night vision so they could spot infrared signal lights during World War II. However, infrared wavelengths are normally beyond the sensitivity of human eyes. Scientists knew this contained part of a specialized light-sensitive molecule in the eye's receptors, and wondered if an alternate form of it could promote different light sensitivity in the eye. They fed volunteers supplements made from the livers of walleyed pikes, and the volunteers' vision began changing over several months to extend into the infrared region. Such early success went down the drain after other researchers developed an electronic snooperscope to see infrared, and the human study was abandoned. Other nations also played with it during World War II. What was fed to Japanese pilots as well improving their night vision by 100 percent in some cases?
15) He was a passionate smoker, and a martial arts fighter, themes that ran through his science fiction novels for which he won the Nebula award three times –Part of The New Wave that included Philip Dick, he was Ohio – born. He also worked the lost, god-like father theme. He was a member of Swordsmen and Sorcerers' Guild of America (SAGA), a loose-knit group of Heroic Fantasy authors founded in the 1960s.. His crisp, minimalistic dialogue also seems to be somewhat influenced by wisecracking hardboiled crime authors, such as Chandler or Hammett. This tension between the ancient and the modern, surreal and familiar was what drove most of his work. Who wrote the Amber series?
Mo Hax, Jianna Zerbino, Jessica Qin, Tomkin Euler
Quotes
(Special Kudos to Gary Broono is is rapidly becoming our new King of Quotes! He got both this week.)
The mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be kindled.
Plutarch
The best way to make your dreams come true is to wake up.
Paul Valery
Word-UP of the week – A TIE! “Idslexia “ - Misreading a headline but realizing your subconscious mind is actually giving you the real story. Ex: it says "APD starts new anti-drug program" but you read "APD starts new anti-drug pogrom" -- or "President flies to summit committee" but you read it as "President lies to summit committee". Jessica Qin
“Chatatonic” - The appearance of your avatar when someone walks up to you in SL, tries to engage you in chat, bumps into you, but you're lost in 3 separate IM conversations, you're trying to find something in your inventory, and you have a couple tabs open in your web browser... then your antivirus software starts an update...-Tomkin Euler
Audience Quote of the week –“ You shoulda heard me cursive when I stubbed my toe”-MenuBar Memorial
Questions:
For the answers go to The 1st Question blog at treet.tv
1) When a baby plays with this, their actions are associated through gizmos on their first dashboard, a modified Fischer-Price toy which has been souped up with electronics. Yes, it will send an email when baby is looking at a picture of you- & if more than one baby is hooked up to it the baby can join a social net and activate the flashing lights on their peers machines too – sort of a virtual playgroup. What is this device called?
2) Faster and faster as a new unified wireless specification will provides data transmission rates of up to 7 gigabits per second – more than ten times that of current Wi-Fi. It will only work over short distances, so it's better as the perfect way to wirelessly connect home media devices. 30 companies including Dell, Microsoft, Intel and Samsung are members. It's aiming towards a single wireless industry for the first quarter of 2010 – What is this alliance called? A new speed for a new decade?
P3): Its on the Surface of Mars, and isn’t going away- Of interest to astrobiologists because organisms release much of this on Earth's through their digestion of nutrients, Scientists think there may be microorganisms living far below the planet's surface where liquid water may exist & Extraterrestrial life itself may be producing this. Scientists have shown that the level of it on the Red Planet can't be explained by meteorites in the atmosphere. What is it that NASA and ESA scientists who are planning a joint mission to the red planet in 2018 to search for?
4) A Top salesman for IBM he filled his year's sales quota in two weeks, founded Electronic Data Systems in 1962- and became the biggest individual loser ever on the New York Stock Exchange" when his shares dropped $450 million in a single day . He supported the Environmental Protection Agency and wanted to enact electronic direct democracy when he ran for president. But withdrew-We might never know the whole story but he remained in the public eye after the election and championed opposition to NAFTA, urging voters to listen for the "giant sucking sound" of American jobs heading south. He has dropped out of political debate but he does blog. Who is he?
5) This is a Robotic Weapon Designed for law enforcement situations like riot control or other hostile or covert situations, or when you can’t stand to see fear in the eyes of your victims. It boasts of affordable, remotely-operated, electric vehicles designed to go where it is difficult, dangerous, hazardous, lethal, toxic or just too messy for humans to go”, and has a wireless control range of around 700ft. For the next insurgency, what will be attacking the front lines, remotely driven and gushing out pepper spray, for a start, following up with rubber bullets?
6) Recently MIT found that this substances impurities could be manipulated for atomic scale magnetic fields, leading the way in spintronics - What is now being used to generate magnetic fields strong enough to consistently manipulate nitrogen defects in this crystal in just under one nanosecond, by purely electrical means opening the way to mass production of a true general purpose quantum computer?
7) Gender, was thought to be caused by environmental factors, such as passion of sex, nutrition and temperature. These theories had their roots in Aristotle over 2000 years ago. One of the first American women to be recognized for her contribution to science. Her discovery based on insect observation was the first of its kind linked to gender. Basically, sex dependency is signaled by the presence or absence of the Y chromosome. She did not start her research until her thirties and completed her PhD in 1903. Who was this early American geneticist?
8) The citrus grows on a shrub or small tree with long, irregular branches covered in thorns. The fruit has a thick peel, only a small amount of acidic flesh (if any) and is juiceless and sometimes seedless. It is very fragrant and is used predominantly by the Chinese and Japanese for perfuming rooms and personal items, such as clothing. It has fingers which open are like a goblin’ fingers another name for it, and which closed resemble hands in prayer. The fruit may be given as a religious offeringn its origin traced back to Northeastern India or China. What Deity is it named after?
9) It is an artificial intelligence program that autonomously seeks working equations to describe
data from experiments. The program begins by examining the data for numbers that appear to be connected, and then suggests equations that fit the connections. Of the proposed equations most fail, but some are less wrong than others, and these are selected and modified and then repeatedly re-tested again. It was able to calculate in hours equations that Newton took years to find, and hopes it can do the same for the interactions between proteins, genomes and cell signals, which are so complicated that describing them mathematically has so far been impossible. What is it called?
10) As the United States raced to build its first atomic bombs near the end of World War II, scientists wanted to know more about the hazards of this. Testing began on April 10, 1945 with injections into the victim of a car accident in Oak Ridge, Tenn., to see how quickly the human body rid itself of the radioactive substance. That was just the first of over 400 human radiation experiments. Common studies included seeing the biological effects of radiation with various doses, and testing experimental treatments for cancer. Records of this research became public in 1995, after the U.S. Department of Energy published them. What were the injections of?
11) It is a moldable silicone modeling clay that sets tough and is flexible allowing users to modify or repair just about anything. Coming in a range of colors this Play-Doh-like material boasts the potential to be used to modify and fix. it is self-adhesive, waterproof, flexible, dishwasher-proof and is highly temperature resistant. Its creators say this can help decrease your carbon footprint on the world by countering the disposable society and letting you repair things that previously would have ended up discarded. What is this new miracle clay called?
12) A five-foot-wide pipeline with an intake hundreds of feet below the sea will pull in cold water, which will circulate through air-conditioning units around this city. A $240 million project, will expect its technology to cut air conditioning electricity usage by up to 75 percent while slashing carbon emissions and the use of ozone-depleting refrigerants. Cold deep-sea water will be used to cool buildings where?
13) The Neurostar Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation system is a nonsurgical device that uses a magnetic coil in a headpiece to stimulate the left prefrontal cortex....the mood center...with electromagnetic waves using short pulses to stimulate nerve cells in this area. The treatments stimulate the production of dopamine. It seems to work in clinical trials. It's the first of its kind to recieve FDA approval. And will run you $6000 for a full course of treatment. Ren and Stimpy first brought us the concept in the 90’s What was their original cartoon concept called?
14) The U.S. Navy wanted to boost sailors' night vision so they could spot infrared signal lights during World War II. However, infrared wavelengths are normally beyond the sensitivity of human eyes. Scientists knew this contained part of a specialized light-sensitive molecule in the eye's receptors, and wondered if an alternate form of it could promote different light sensitivity in the eye. They fed volunteers supplements made from the livers of walleyed pikes, and the volunteers' vision began changing over several months to extend into the infrared region. Such early success went down the drain after other researchers developed an electronic snooperscope to see infrared, and the human study was abandoned. Other nations also played with it during World War II. What was fed to Japanese pilots as well improving their night vision by 100 percent in some cases?
15) He was a passionate smoker, and a martial arts fighter, themes that ran through his science fiction novels for which he won the Nebula award three times –Part of The New Wave that included Philip Dick, he was Ohio – born. He also worked the lost, god-like father theme. He was a member of Swordsmen and Sorcerers' Guild of America (SAGA), a loose-knit group of Heroic Fantasy authors founded in the 1960s.. His crisp, minimalistic dialogue also seems to be somewhat influenced by wisecracking hardboiled crime authors, such as Chandler or Hammett. This tension between the ancient and the modern, surreal and familiar was what drove most of his work. Who wrote the Amber series?
Monday, 14 December 2009
The 1st Question 75 - 8 Dec 09
This week's panel
Onder Skall, Doctor Rodenberger, Paolo Rousselot and AmericanActionHero Janick
Quotes
All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better.
-Ralph Waldo Emerson
Every man dies. Not every man really lives.
-William Wallace
Word-UP of the week – “Transfixia” – The feeling after you come out of a really really intense movie, when you walk outside and you still feel that you are in the movie.
-Doctor Rodenberger
Audience Quote(s) of the week
“There were people in South America before 20,000 yrs ago”
-Delia Lake
“Let me ask my dad, he might know, he's real old”
-Gary Broono
Questions:
For the answers go to The 1st Question blog at treet.tv
1) Today a new game to raise energy awareness among young people has just been launched. Called Facebooks first serious game, EnerCities just went beta. However, the fastest growing social game in history, is a real-time simulation. It allows members of Facebook to manage a virtual farm by planting, growing and harvesting virtual crops, trees, and livestock. Created by Zynga, and not without controvesy, what is it called?
2) True to California’s goal of increasing its reliance on a diverse supply of renewable energy at reasonable costs and risks to ratepayers, Pacific Gas & Electric is agreeing to buy power generated from the first-of-its-kind project. A Space-based solar power has been researched in the U.S. for several decades. The experimental technology uses orbiting satellites equipped with solar cells to convert the sun's energy into electricity and converts that into radio frequency energy that can be transmitted to a local receiver station. Which California-based company is actually faced with the task of getting the out-of-this-world project up in the air, to provide 1,700 gigawatt-hours of energy per year?
3) Cory Doctorow is a Canadian blogger, journalist, and science fiction author who serves as co-editor of the blog Boing Boing. He dropped out of four universities without attaining a degree.. He was named a Fellow of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. And recently became the first Independent Studies Scholar in Virtual Residence at the University of Waterloo. Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom, Doctorow's first novel, was published in 2003, and was the first novel released under one of the Creative Commons licenses. The original “Down & Out in “novel was written by a genius of Science Fiction, his first novel too. It is a story in two parts on the theme of poverty in two cities.- what is the full name of that title from 1933 and who wrote it?
4) It could one day be used as a lightweight battery to power devices now enabling the printed word to be eclipsed by e-mail, e-books and online news. Scientists at Stanford reported last week they have successfully turned this substance coated with ink made of silver and carbon nanomaterials into a battery that holds promise for new types of lightweight, high-performance energy storage. This type of battery could even be useful in powering electric or hybrid vehicles, would make electronics lighter weight and longer lasting, which has been an obstacle to commercial viability. What is this new battery made out of?
5) When transforming thermal into mechanical, the efficiency of a heat engine is the percentage that is transformed into work. That heat emanating from your computer as you are watching this show is wasted energy. More than half of the energy consumed worldwide is wasted, most of it in the form of excess heat. In experiments involving new technology, an MIT research team has been able to demonstrate much higher efficiency ultimately in waste-energy harvesting in everything from computer processors to car engines to electric powerplants. What It is the 19th century principle, the basis of the second law of thermodynamics, which sets a limit on the maximum amount of efficiency any possible engine can obtain?
6) Interactive telecommunications researchers have designed a soil-moisture sensor device that can allow a house plant to communicate with its owner. The device can send short messages to a mobile phone or even Twitter. The messages can range from reminders to water, a thank you or a warning. To communicate, probes in the soil emit electric waves. A voltage level based on the moisture content is sent through two wires to a circuit board. A local network receives this data and allows the plant to send a message. What is this little micro-controller hooked up to your plant named?
7) Stationed at the European Marine Energy Center Billia Croo site near Stromness, it was installed this year and is, at present, the world’s only hydro-electric wave energy device which is producing power. Pumping high pressure water to its onshore hydro-electric turbine which feeds into the national grid to power homes. There are minimal moving parts and all electrical components are onshore, making it robust enough to withstand the rigors of Scotland’s harsh seas whose waters hold around ten percent of Europe’s wave power and as much as a quarter of its tidal power potential. Marine energy might meet up to 20 per cent of the UK's energy demands producing sustainable zero-emission electricity to power homes. What is the world’s largest working hydro-electric wave energy device called?
8) Citrus waste is usually a complete write-off in the compost game because it contains an antibacterial substance which slows its breakdown, but a team in Sweden has discovered that these acidic skins have more uses than they receive credit for. Limon, an antibacterial agent, pectin, a gelling agent, biogas, and ethanol, can be produced from new patents. Florida is also developing plans to build a commercial plant that will convert orange and grapefruit waste into ethanol that will be sold to Florida motorists at gasoline pumps. The plant is expected to produce about how many gallons of ethanol a year?
9) This versatile humanoid robot can see (via two cameras), will react to touch, can surf the Web and can interact with others of his kind. He can speak (in English or French, so far) by reading out any file stored locally or from a RSS flow. The bot is fitted with an accelerometer and gyrometer so he won't fall down.. His software even lets you recover photos and video stream of his vision. Let us not even go into his hardware. He can interpret his surroundings & detect faces and shapes, even recognizing the person talking to him. Who is he?
10) As art museums go, it has a very small collection. Literally. Presented by the Institute for the Promotion of the Less than One Millimetre, it is an online “portrait” collection of mini- and micro-organisms photographed through a microscope. Inside the virtual museum’s halls you can find a zooplankton family portrait next to the glowing image of a mother copepod posing with her children (Okay, her children are actually egg packages). Each collection features an array of exhibits with titles such as “The Hall of Arthropods”or the “Water Flea Circus”. All of the tiny subjects were photographed alive. What is this museum called?
11) Solar Impulse's HB-SIA solar-powered airplane was runway tested last week. The prototype aircraft is made of lightweight materials, weighing only 3,500 pounds and it has a wingspan of 210 feet. It is powered entirely by the 11,000 solar cells covering its wings. It is intended to fly at only 28 miles per hour to keep energy consumption low. It will store solar energy for night flight The Founder of Solar Impulse is a former astronaut and the first man to circle the world nonstop in a balloon. He hopes to perform the same feet in a solar-powered plane-Who is he?
12) Neuroscientists have demonstrated how brain waves can be used to type alphanumerical characters on a computer screen. By merely focusing on the "q" in a matrix of letters, for example, that "q" appears on the monitor. A mind-machine interface from electrodes placed directly on the brain are much more specific than data collected from EEG, in which electrodes are placed on the scalp. At what clinic are brain waves telling us the secret letter?
13) This power plant guides sea water and fresh water into separate chambers, which are divided by an artificial membrane. Salt molecules pull the fresh water through it, increasing the pressure which is then utilized in a power generating turbine. Statkraft claims this has the global potential to generate clean, renewable energy equivalent to China's total electricity consumption or half of the EU's total power production. In theory, such power plants could be located wherever sea water and fresh water meet, such as the mouth of a river. They run without producing noise pollution or polluting emission, what is the principle behind this membrane technology?
Onder Skall, Doctor Rodenberger, Paolo Rousselot and AmericanActionHero Janick
Quotes
All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better.
-Ralph Waldo Emerson
Every man dies. Not every man really lives.
-William Wallace
Word-UP of the week – “Transfixia” – The feeling after you come out of a really really intense movie, when you walk outside and you still feel that you are in the movie.
-Doctor Rodenberger
Audience Quote(s) of the week
“There were people in South America before 20,000 yrs ago”
-Delia Lake
“Let me ask my dad, he might know, he's real old”
-Gary Broono
Questions:
For the answers go to The 1st Question blog at treet.tv
1) Today a new game to raise energy awareness among young people has just been launched. Called Facebooks first serious game, EnerCities just went beta. However, the fastest growing social game in history, is a real-time simulation. It allows members of Facebook to manage a virtual farm by planting, growing and harvesting virtual crops, trees, and livestock. Created by Zynga, and not without controvesy, what is it called?
2) True to California’s goal of increasing its reliance on a diverse supply of renewable energy at reasonable costs and risks to ratepayers, Pacific Gas & Electric is agreeing to buy power generated from the first-of-its-kind project. A Space-based solar power has been researched in the U.S. for several decades. The experimental technology uses orbiting satellites equipped with solar cells to convert the sun's energy into electricity and converts that into radio frequency energy that can be transmitted to a local receiver station. Which California-based company is actually faced with the task of getting the out-of-this-world project up in the air, to provide 1,700 gigawatt-hours of energy per year?
3) Cory Doctorow is a Canadian blogger, journalist, and science fiction author who serves as co-editor of the blog Boing Boing. He dropped out of four universities without attaining a degree.. He was named a Fellow of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. And recently became the first Independent Studies Scholar in Virtual Residence at the University of Waterloo. Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom, Doctorow's first novel, was published in 2003, and was the first novel released under one of the Creative Commons licenses. The original “Down & Out in “novel was written by a genius of Science Fiction, his first novel too. It is a story in two parts on the theme of poverty in two cities.- what is the full name of that title from 1933 and who wrote it?
4) It could one day be used as a lightweight battery to power devices now enabling the printed word to be eclipsed by e-mail, e-books and online news. Scientists at Stanford reported last week they have successfully turned this substance coated with ink made of silver and carbon nanomaterials into a battery that holds promise for new types of lightweight, high-performance energy storage. This type of battery could even be useful in powering electric or hybrid vehicles, would make electronics lighter weight and longer lasting, which has been an obstacle to commercial viability. What is this new battery made out of?
5) When transforming thermal into mechanical, the efficiency of a heat engine is the percentage that is transformed into work. That heat emanating from your computer as you are watching this show is wasted energy. More than half of the energy consumed worldwide is wasted, most of it in the form of excess heat. In experiments involving new technology, an MIT research team has been able to demonstrate much higher efficiency ultimately in waste-energy harvesting in everything from computer processors to car engines to electric powerplants. What It is the 19th century principle, the basis of the second law of thermodynamics, which sets a limit on the maximum amount of efficiency any possible engine can obtain?
6) Interactive telecommunications researchers have designed a soil-moisture sensor device that can allow a house plant to communicate with its owner. The device can send short messages to a mobile phone or even Twitter. The messages can range from reminders to water, a thank you or a warning. To communicate, probes in the soil emit electric waves. A voltage level based on the moisture content is sent through two wires to a circuit board. A local network receives this data and allows the plant to send a message. What is this little micro-controller hooked up to your plant named?
7) Stationed at the European Marine Energy Center Billia Croo site near Stromness, it was installed this year and is, at present, the world’s only hydro-electric wave energy device which is producing power. Pumping high pressure water to its onshore hydro-electric turbine which feeds into the national grid to power homes. There are minimal moving parts and all electrical components are onshore, making it robust enough to withstand the rigors of Scotland’s harsh seas whose waters hold around ten percent of Europe’s wave power and as much as a quarter of its tidal power potential. Marine energy might meet up to 20 per cent of the UK's energy demands producing sustainable zero-emission electricity to power homes. What is the world’s largest working hydro-electric wave energy device called?
8) Citrus waste is usually a complete write-off in the compost game because it contains an antibacterial substance which slows its breakdown, but a team in Sweden has discovered that these acidic skins have more uses than they receive credit for. Limon, an antibacterial agent, pectin, a gelling agent, biogas, and ethanol, can be produced from new patents. Florida is also developing plans to build a commercial plant that will convert orange and grapefruit waste into ethanol that will be sold to Florida motorists at gasoline pumps. The plant is expected to produce about how many gallons of ethanol a year?
9) This versatile humanoid robot can see (via two cameras), will react to touch, can surf the Web and can interact with others of his kind. He can speak (in English or French, so far) by reading out any file stored locally or from a RSS flow. The bot is fitted with an accelerometer and gyrometer so he won't fall down.. His software even lets you recover photos and video stream of his vision. Let us not even go into his hardware. He can interpret his surroundings & detect faces and shapes, even recognizing the person talking to him. Who is he?
10) As art museums go, it has a very small collection. Literally. Presented by the Institute for the Promotion of the Less than One Millimetre, it is an online “portrait” collection of mini- and micro-organisms photographed through a microscope. Inside the virtual museum’s halls you can find a zooplankton family portrait next to the glowing image of a mother copepod posing with her children (Okay, her children are actually egg packages). Each collection features an array of exhibits with titles such as “The Hall of Arthropods”or the “Water Flea Circus”. All of the tiny subjects were photographed alive. What is this museum called?
11) Solar Impulse's HB-SIA solar-powered airplane was runway tested last week. The prototype aircraft is made of lightweight materials, weighing only 3,500 pounds and it has a wingspan of 210 feet. It is powered entirely by the 11,000 solar cells covering its wings. It is intended to fly at only 28 miles per hour to keep energy consumption low. It will store solar energy for night flight The Founder of Solar Impulse is a former astronaut and the first man to circle the world nonstop in a balloon. He hopes to perform the same feet in a solar-powered plane-Who is he?
12) Neuroscientists have demonstrated how brain waves can be used to type alphanumerical characters on a computer screen. By merely focusing on the "q" in a matrix of letters, for example, that "q" appears on the monitor. A mind-machine interface from electrodes placed directly on the brain are much more specific than data collected from EEG, in which electrodes are placed on the scalp. At what clinic are brain waves telling us the secret letter?
13) This power plant guides sea water and fresh water into separate chambers, which are divided by an artificial membrane. Salt molecules pull the fresh water through it, increasing the pressure which is then utilized in a power generating turbine. Statkraft claims this has the global potential to generate clean, renewable energy equivalent to China's total electricity consumption or half of the EU's total power production. In theory, such power plants could be located wherever sea water and fresh water meet, such as the mouth of a river. They run without producing noise pollution or polluting emission, what is the principle behind this membrane technology?
Thursday, 19 November 2009
The 1st Question 73 - 17 Nov 09
This week's panel
Chris Ebi, Hiro Pendragon, Christopher Express, Wiz Norderg
Quotes:
“The cure for boredom is curiosity; there is no cure for curiosity”
- Dorothy Parker
The secret we should never let the gamemasters know is that they don't need any rules.
- Gary Gygax
Word-UP of the week – A Tie!
“Smeet” verb - To meet someone in real life that you've known online. (Smeet = Second / Meet contracted together) Origin: SLCC 1, 2005, New York Law School. Hiro: There needs to be a word for when you meet someone you've already known. Like meeting for the second time.
Philip Rosedale: Smeet?
Hiro: Yeah!
-Hiro Pendragon
“Treadulous” adj. - 1. A discussion or topic which has been discussed many times before, especially when it involves tedious discourse repeated ad nauseum. 2. A person who often engages in such discussions.
-Wiz Nordberg
Audience Quote of the week – “I'm creating my own show for idiots like me.. It will be called "the next question, please"
-Gary Broono
Questions:
For the answers go to The 1st Question blog at treet.tv
1) Silicon could soon be replaced- with low-cost printable electronics. This process will offer manufacturers an inexpensive way to add “intelligence” or computing power to a wide range of surfaces like electronic clothing. Integrated circuits are currently manufactured in costly silicon chip factories. The difficult challenge of developing conductive electronic inks that work in an ordinary, everyday environment has been solved by Xerox developing what substance for printing plastic circuits?
2) Ant colonies aren't called superorganisms for nothing. The original Borg, millions of individuals can act as a single entity. Over 200 different species are called "Army Ants", no surprise that these mechanisms have been used for the basis of new software that helps troops to define the best path within a battle field. At what university has the "ant colony optimization algorithm (ACO)" been developed for maximum speed and minimum casualties.
3)Manny Pacquiao, who has done politics, acting, filmmaking, and music recording is really a professional boxer, and the only boxer to win seven world titles in seven different weight divisions . A first and the equivilent of a pugilistic polymath. He has held or holds the champion title for junior welterweight, Lightweight, super featherweight, Featherweight, Super bantamweight, Flyweight and one other class. He is rated by Ring Magazine as the #1 pound-for-pound boxer in the world. Although in these weight categories I might say ounce for ounce. In What division does Manny currently fight in to win?
4) Smart contact lenses with virtual reality graphics and information just got a step closer. Adding a power harvesting antenna to contact lenses with microcircuits, this harvests radio waves to power a LED and pave the way for a new kind of display. The University of Washington is behind this project & tested the lens on what animal?
5) Ever been stuck in an airport with no where to sleep? Looking similar to a white desktop computer’s tower, people will be able to rent the facility in terminals for between 15 minutes and several hours. It uses soundproofing to keep the noises of the airport out. Bed sheets are automatically changed via the winding of one roller to another akin to a conveyor belt, and it comes equipped with an LCD display, Wi-Fi access, luggage space and loads of power outlets for charging laptops and mobile phones. What is this called from Russia with Snores?
6) The Air Force is looking to harness advances in bio-science so they can “degrade enemy performance and artificially overwhelm enemy cognitive abilities.” By analyzing the biochemical brain pathways of troops who are cool under pressure, the Air Force wants an “external stimulant” that can act as a synthetic version of optimal cognitive stress response and keep airmen operating at top level, then reverse it on the enemy. In the 1970s and 80s, a small group of special operations soldiers at Ft. Bragg supposedly tried to teach themselves how to kill with psychic power – This forms the basis of what movie out now?
7) Using a computer, engineers draw a three-dimensional object. The drawing is sliced into layers which a beam traces. Meanwhile, metal wire, such as aluminum or titanium, is fed into the beam to build the layers. Heat from the beam reaching 3,000 degrees — briefly liquefying the metals before they settle into the desired shape. Astronauts could use the beam to create tools and spacecraft parts thereby avoiding the cost of sending extra supplies into space. It cost $2.5 million- what is it?
8) Tattooing dates back to at least Neolithic times but this is not your great great great grandaddy’s tattoo. Today it’s possible to get ink that glows under UV light, but a new technology could see tattoos that emit their own light & pave the way for embedded LED tattoos. For futuristic illuminated designs that can be animated to move across a person’s body, or for medical applications. On what will these tattoos be imprinted, then implanted into your body completely dissolving harmlessly?
9) It is a humanoid robot used for testing chemical protection clothing for the US Army & does lots of things that soldiers will be expected to do while wearing them. Essential in simulating how a soldier stresses fatigues under realistic conditions. The robot will have the shape and size of a standard human, making it the first anthropomorphic robot that moves dynamically like a real person. What is his affectionate sounding acronym?
10) A blood-orange blob the size of a small refrigerator emerged from the dark waters, its venomous tentacles trapped in a fishing net. Within minutes, hundreds more were being hauled up. These giants weighing up to 450 pounds, up to 6 feet in diameter are swimming rampant costing Japan over $330 million dollars a year in damages. .These gelatinous seaborne creatures are blamed for decimating fishing industries, forcing the shutdown of seaside power and desalination plants in Japan, the Middle East and Africa, and terrorizing beachgoers worldwide. Scientists believe climate change — the warming of oceans has allowed it to spread and thrive – what is the name for the world’s largest jellyfish?
11) It came from beneath the climate change - The United Nations Climate Change Conference (Cop15) will take place this year in Copenhagen from December 7th through the 18th, and willhave a significant presence in SL too. - A patent for interactive TV that could allow viewers to participate in the events on the screen has been filed relying on a type of interactive overlay , perhaps generated by a video game console. Typically passive TV watchers will then use avatars to interact on-screen as the action plays out behind them. For example, racing real drivers in real races from the comfort of your couch, tossing virtual tomatoes or giving B-movie actors a swift kick in the pants. Extreme interaction includes adding "shootable" virtual characters on top of a war or action movie. But when they go down, will they stay down? What company has filed a patent for this?
Chris Ebi, Hiro Pendragon, Christopher Express, Wiz Norderg
Quotes:
“The cure for boredom is curiosity; there is no cure for curiosity”
- Dorothy Parker
The secret we should never let the gamemasters know is that they don't need any rules.
- Gary Gygax
Word-UP of the week – A Tie!
“Smeet” verb - To meet someone in real life that you've known online. (Smeet = Second / Meet contracted together) Origin: SLCC 1, 2005, New York Law School. Hiro: There needs to be a word for when you meet someone you've already known. Like meeting for the second time.
Philip Rosedale: Smeet?
Hiro: Yeah!
-Hiro Pendragon
“Treadulous” adj. - 1. A discussion or topic which has been discussed many times before, especially when it involves tedious discourse repeated ad nauseum. 2. A person who often engages in such discussions.
-Wiz Nordberg
Audience Quote of the week – “I'm creating my own show for idiots like me.. It will be called "the next question, please"
-Gary Broono
Questions:
For the answers go to The 1st Question blog at treet.tv
1) Silicon could soon be replaced- with low-cost printable electronics. This process will offer manufacturers an inexpensive way to add “intelligence” or computing power to a wide range of surfaces like electronic clothing. Integrated circuits are currently manufactured in costly silicon chip factories. The difficult challenge of developing conductive electronic inks that work in an ordinary, everyday environment has been solved by Xerox developing what substance for printing plastic circuits?
2) Ant colonies aren't called superorganisms for nothing. The original Borg, millions of individuals can act as a single entity. Over 200 different species are called "Army Ants", no surprise that these mechanisms have been used for the basis of new software that helps troops to define the best path within a battle field. At what university has the "ant colony optimization algorithm (ACO)" been developed for maximum speed and minimum casualties.
3)Manny Pacquiao, who has done politics, acting, filmmaking, and music recording is really a professional boxer, and the only boxer to win seven world titles in seven different weight divisions . A first and the equivilent of a pugilistic polymath. He has held or holds the champion title for junior welterweight, Lightweight, super featherweight, Featherweight, Super bantamweight, Flyweight and one other class. He is rated by Ring Magazine as the #1 pound-for-pound boxer in the world. Although in these weight categories I might say ounce for ounce. In What division does Manny currently fight in to win?
4) Smart contact lenses with virtual reality graphics and information just got a step closer. Adding a power harvesting antenna to contact lenses with microcircuits, this harvests radio waves to power a LED and pave the way for a new kind of display. The University of Washington is behind this project & tested the lens on what animal?
5) Ever been stuck in an airport with no where to sleep? Looking similar to a white desktop computer’s tower, people will be able to rent the facility in terminals for between 15 minutes and several hours. It uses soundproofing to keep the noises of the airport out. Bed sheets are automatically changed via the winding of one roller to another akin to a conveyor belt, and it comes equipped with an LCD display, Wi-Fi access, luggage space and loads of power outlets for charging laptops and mobile phones. What is this called from Russia with Snores?
6) The Air Force is looking to harness advances in bio-science so they can “degrade enemy performance and artificially overwhelm enemy cognitive abilities.” By analyzing the biochemical brain pathways of troops who are cool under pressure, the Air Force wants an “external stimulant” that can act as a synthetic version of optimal cognitive stress response and keep airmen operating at top level, then reverse it on the enemy. In the 1970s and 80s, a small group of special operations soldiers at Ft. Bragg supposedly tried to teach themselves how to kill with psychic power – This forms the basis of what movie out now?
7) Using a computer, engineers draw a three-dimensional object. The drawing is sliced into layers which a beam traces. Meanwhile, metal wire, such as aluminum or titanium, is fed into the beam to build the layers. Heat from the beam reaching 3,000 degrees — briefly liquefying the metals before they settle into the desired shape. Astronauts could use the beam to create tools and spacecraft parts thereby avoiding the cost of sending extra supplies into space. It cost $2.5 million- what is it?
8) Tattooing dates back to at least Neolithic times but this is not your great great great grandaddy’s tattoo. Today it’s possible to get ink that glows under UV light, but a new technology could see tattoos that emit their own light & pave the way for embedded LED tattoos. For futuristic illuminated designs that can be animated to move across a person’s body, or for medical applications. On what will these tattoos be imprinted, then implanted into your body completely dissolving harmlessly?
9) It is a humanoid robot used for testing chemical protection clothing for the US Army & does lots of things that soldiers will be expected to do while wearing them. Essential in simulating how a soldier stresses fatigues under realistic conditions. The robot will have the shape and size of a standard human, making it the first anthropomorphic robot that moves dynamically like a real person. What is his affectionate sounding acronym?
10) A blood-orange blob the size of a small refrigerator emerged from the dark waters, its venomous tentacles trapped in a fishing net. Within minutes, hundreds more were being hauled up. These giants weighing up to 450 pounds, up to 6 feet in diameter are swimming rampant costing Japan over $330 million dollars a year in damages. .These gelatinous seaborne creatures are blamed for decimating fishing industries, forcing the shutdown of seaside power and desalination plants in Japan, the Middle East and Africa, and terrorizing beachgoers worldwide. Scientists believe climate change — the warming of oceans has allowed it to spread and thrive – what is the name for the world’s largest jellyfish?
11) It came from beneath the climate change - The United Nations Climate Change Conference (Cop15) will take place this year in Copenhagen from December 7th through the 18th, and willhave a significant presence in SL too. - A patent for interactive TV that could allow viewers to participate in the events on the screen has been filed relying on a type of interactive overlay , perhaps generated by a video game console. Typically passive TV watchers will then use avatars to interact on-screen as the action plays out behind them. For example, racing real drivers in real races from the comfort of your couch, tossing virtual tomatoes or giving B-movie actors a swift kick in the pants. Extreme interaction includes adding "shootable" virtual characters on top of a war or action movie. But when they go down, will they stay down? What company has filed a patent for this?
Tuesday, 17 November 2009
The 1st Question 72 - 10 Nov 09
This week's panel
In Kenzo / Clint Peccable / Kate McLaglen / Eyebeams Electricteeth
Quotes
Freedom of the press is guaranteed only to those who own one.
-A. J. Liebling
The world will never have lasting peace so long as men reserve for war the finest human qualities. Peace, no less than war, requires idealism and self-sacrifice and a righteous and dynamic faith.
-John Foster Dulles
The most important political office is that of the private citizen.
-Louis D. Brandeis
Word-UP of the week – “Wheelbarrowism” - Sticking to the theory that the universe is just a large wheelbarow at the bottom of a supreme beings garden
-Clint Peccable
Audience Quote of the week –
You actually have to do something in the future
-Hiro Pendragon
Questions
For the answers go to The 1st Question blog at treet.tv
1) It is an international organization that brings together scholars and public figures working to reduce the danger of armed conflict. Founded in 1957, it followed the release of the Russell-Einstein Manifesto which called for a conference of scientists to assess the dangers of weapons of mass destruction It’s first fifteen years coincided with many international crises so it played a useful role in opening communication channels during a time of otherwise-strained relations, In 1995, fifty years after the bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima, it was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize jointly with its founder Joseph Rotblatt who said "Remember your humanity" great words, in what mission do they lie?
2) Commercial flies, tiny insects that carry advertiser messages, are science fiction; everybody knows that. Philip K. Dick wrote about this idea in his 1966 novel The Simulacra: Apparently, nobody told THIS German publisher, which released hundreds of houseflies with TINY ultralight banner ads glued to their hind ends WITH A BIT OF SEALING WAX to promote their table at the Frankfurt Book Festival. Somehow I don’t think this would go over as well with an American crowd. Which book publisher let the flies out?
3) It is an European space mission, expected to be launched in the Spring of 2012, and will be operated to compile a catalogue of approximately one billion stars creating an extremely precise three-dimensional map of our Milky Way galaxy and beyond, creating a kind of universal positioning system (I would use UPS but that has been taken) This massive stellar census will provide the basic observational data to tackle origins, structure, and evolution of our Galaxy. What is the name of this mission that seeks to unlock the positions of the stars?
4) ) An Australian physicist and humanitarian played a fundamental role in nuclear fusion and the development of the atomic bomb, the first to discover heavy hydrogen nuclei could react. This fusion reaction is the basis of a hydrogen bomb, and it's discovery purely, coincidental. In November 1943, he moved to work on the Manhattan Project as part of the British delegation. but it made him uneasy and he preferred to concentrate on uranium-235. He became a harsh critic of nuclear weapons and a member of Pugwash . Who was right from the beginning, worried by the existence of nuclear weapons and very much against their use?
5) She was a French playwright and political activist whose feminist and abolitionist writings reached a large audience and led unfortunately to the guillotine for attacking the regime of Robespierre, during the Reign of Terror. She is best known as an early feminist -In her Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen- Article 10 contains the famous phrase: “La femme a le droit de monter l'échafaudage; elle doit tout aussi avoir le droit de monter l'estrade.” If women have the right to be executed, they should have the right to speak. She was alarmed that the constitution, which was to promote equal suffrage, did not address—nor even consider—women’s suffrage. Who was she?
6) Australians were the first to use this to educate isolated children often miles away from the nearest school. The Royal Flying Doctor Service begun in 1928 established a large pedal powered radio network across the outback, . An influential Adelaide schoolteacher, made the proposal for this to be set up through the radio network and in 1950 the first lesson was broadcast. Now 12 Schools and 1000 students take part and teachers still use high frequency radio to provide lessons to their students with newer technologies such as email, computer links, video and the Internet. What is this school called?
7) I know you all can’t believe this kind of thing exists but Love Plus is a new Japanese dating simulation for the Nintendo DS that requires a fair amount of interaction between you and your simulated date. There is this part where you can hold hands on the touchscreen, if you touch your dates hand with the stylus. And then there's the part where you can kiss by putting your fingers to their lips. This scifi writer popularized the idea of a relationship with a virtual person in his 1996 novel Idoru, in which a virtual person seems so real. He wrote of personality-constructs & synthespians (great word) Who was it?
8) When European Union officials first discussed the idea of a massive solar power plant to provide power to all of Europe, many people took it as a plan that was far too outlandish to ever come to pass. But now a consortium is dedicated to pushing the project ahead. The Desertec Industrial Initiative aims to provide 15% of Europe’s electricity by 2050 or earlier. They will need evidence that the project won’t suffer due to local political instability or terrorism threats. Where will this $400 billion project, using new high voltage direct current cables to bring the power to Europe be built?
9) A small dashboard robot created by MIT’s Media Lab reads the driver's mood from facial expression and other cues. It responds in a socially appropriate and informative way. When it merges knowledge with an understanding of the driver’s priorities it will have figured out your home and work locations helping you achieve more energy efficiency and safer behavior.” Not a backseat driver, but a friendly dashboard assistant, you could actually chuck out the window if it became too irritating. What is it called?
10) One of the first physicists to be publicly troubled by the philosophical interpretations of quantum mechanics was Einstein. In 1935, he co-authored a paper which was intended to show that Quantum Mechanics could not be a complete theory of nature. That something else would have to be invoked. What challenged long-held ideas about the relation between the observed values and those accounted for by a physical theory, we are looking for the name of the paradox or argument?
11) In an astonishingly productive career, he invented many devices, but never once applied for a patent. He wrote in 1893, ” Excellence will always defy competition." He was also a passionate believer in scientific communication as a key to furthering progress. Open Source science we would call it today. He is credited with the First powered flight in 1894- and built the world's first box-kite, hitched four together, added an engine and flew it five meters. Modest, unassuming and unselfish, he was only anxious that he might succeed in adding to the sum of human knowledge. Who was he?
12) Frederick Pohl was a member of the all-male literary banqueting club the Trap Door Spiders, which served as the basis of Isaac Asimov's fictional group - Black Widowers. He collaborated on a dystopian satire of a world ruled by advertising agencies, called The Space Merchants. But in this excellent tongue-in-cheek story he pillories the “Consumer Society.” So many goods are produced that people are obligated to consume - and in doing so you could graduate to higher levels of society, where you might actually have fewer things and more time to yourself. And to achieve this, you could get robots to do your consumption for you…. In what book is the measure of wealth how FEW goods you are force-fed?
13)The 2009 Global Green Challenge, has a winner, After covering almost 1800 miles in four days across Australia's baking red center, This team's run was nearly flawless, reporting only a single flat tire and the win breaks a string of four consecutive victories by the Dutch Nuon team. A total of 32 solar vehicles from 16 countries made the start about 10 days ago. This car covered in solar panels, placed fourth in qualifying but took the lead on day one and extended its advantage all the way to the finish line. Which country took the victory; it’s first from this nation since 1993?
In Kenzo / Clint Peccable / Kate McLaglen / Eyebeams Electricteeth
Quotes
Freedom of the press is guaranteed only to those who own one.
-A. J. Liebling
The world will never have lasting peace so long as men reserve for war the finest human qualities. Peace, no less than war, requires idealism and self-sacrifice and a righteous and dynamic faith.
-John Foster Dulles
The most important political office is that of the private citizen.
-Louis D. Brandeis
Word-UP of the week – “Wheelbarrowism” - Sticking to the theory that the universe is just a large wheelbarow at the bottom of a supreme beings garden
-Clint Peccable
Audience Quote of the week –
You actually have to do something in the future
-Hiro Pendragon
Questions
For the answers go to The 1st Question blog at treet.tv
1) It is an international organization that brings together scholars and public figures working to reduce the danger of armed conflict. Founded in 1957, it followed the release of the Russell-Einstein Manifesto which called for a conference of scientists to assess the dangers of weapons of mass destruction It’s first fifteen years coincided with many international crises so it played a useful role in opening communication channels during a time of otherwise-strained relations, In 1995, fifty years after the bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima, it was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize jointly with its founder Joseph Rotblatt who said "Remember your humanity" great words, in what mission do they lie?
2) Commercial flies, tiny insects that carry advertiser messages, are science fiction; everybody knows that. Philip K. Dick wrote about this idea in his 1966 novel The Simulacra: Apparently, nobody told THIS German publisher, which released hundreds of houseflies with TINY ultralight banner ads glued to their hind ends WITH A BIT OF SEALING WAX to promote their table at the Frankfurt Book Festival. Somehow I don’t think this would go over as well with an American crowd. Which book publisher let the flies out?
3) It is an European space mission, expected to be launched in the Spring of 2012, and will be operated to compile a catalogue of approximately one billion stars creating an extremely precise three-dimensional map of our Milky Way galaxy and beyond, creating a kind of universal positioning system (I would use UPS but that has been taken) This massive stellar census will provide the basic observational data to tackle origins, structure, and evolution of our Galaxy. What is the name of this mission that seeks to unlock the positions of the stars?
4) ) An Australian physicist and humanitarian played a fundamental role in nuclear fusion and the development of the atomic bomb, the first to discover heavy hydrogen nuclei could react. This fusion reaction is the basis of a hydrogen bomb, and it's discovery purely, coincidental. In November 1943, he moved to work on the Manhattan Project as part of the British delegation. but it made him uneasy and he preferred to concentrate on uranium-235. He became a harsh critic of nuclear weapons and a member of Pugwash . Who was right from the beginning, worried by the existence of nuclear weapons and very much against their use?
5) She was a French playwright and political activist whose feminist and abolitionist writings reached a large audience and led unfortunately to the guillotine for attacking the regime of Robespierre, during the Reign of Terror. She is best known as an early feminist -In her Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen- Article 10 contains the famous phrase: “La femme a le droit de monter l'échafaudage; elle doit tout aussi avoir le droit de monter l'estrade.” If women have the right to be executed, they should have the right to speak. She was alarmed that the constitution, which was to promote equal suffrage, did not address—nor even consider—women’s suffrage. Who was she?
6) Australians were the first to use this to educate isolated children often miles away from the nearest school. The Royal Flying Doctor Service begun in 1928 established a large pedal powered radio network across the outback, . An influential Adelaide schoolteacher, made the proposal for this to be set up through the radio network and in 1950 the first lesson was broadcast. Now 12 Schools and 1000 students take part and teachers still use high frequency radio to provide lessons to their students with newer technologies such as email, computer links, video and the Internet. What is this school called?
7) I know you all can’t believe this kind of thing exists but Love Plus is a new Japanese dating simulation for the Nintendo DS that requires a fair amount of interaction between you and your simulated date. There is this part where you can hold hands on the touchscreen, if you touch your dates hand with the stylus. And then there's the part where you can kiss by putting your fingers to their lips. This scifi writer popularized the idea of a relationship with a virtual person in his 1996 novel Idoru, in which a virtual person seems so real. He wrote of personality-constructs & synthespians (great word) Who was it?
8) When European Union officials first discussed the idea of a massive solar power plant to provide power to all of Europe, many people took it as a plan that was far too outlandish to ever come to pass. But now a consortium is dedicated to pushing the project ahead. The Desertec Industrial Initiative aims to provide 15% of Europe’s electricity by 2050 or earlier. They will need evidence that the project won’t suffer due to local political instability or terrorism threats. Where will this $400 billion project, using new high voltage direct current cables to bring the power to Europe be built?
9) A small dashboard robot created by MIT’s Media Lab reads the driver's mood from facial expression and other cues. It responds in a socially appropriate and informative way. When it merges knowledge with an understanding of the driver’s priorities it will have figured out your home and work locations helping you achieve more energy efficiency and safer behavior.” Not a backseat driver, but a friendly dashboard assistant, you could actually chuck out the window if it became too irritating. What is it called?
10) One of the first physicists to be publicly troubled by the philosophical interpretations of quantum mechanics was Einstein. In 1935, he co-authored a paper which was intended to show that Quantum Mechanics could not be a complete theory of nature. That something else would have to be invoked. What challenged long-held ideas about the relation between the observed values and those accounted for by a physical theory, we are looking for the name of the paradox or argument?
11) In an astonishingly productive career, he invented many devices, but never once applied for a patent. He wrote in 1893, ” Excellence will always defy competition." He was also a passionate believer in scientific communication as a key to furthering progress. Open Source science we would call it today. He is credited with the First powered flight in 1894- and built the world's first box-kite, hitched four together, added an engine and flew it five meters. Modest, unassuming and unselfish, he was only anxious that he might succeed in adding to the sum of human knowledge. Who was he?
12) Frederick Pohl was a member of the all-male literary banqueting club the Trap Door Spiders, which served as the basis of Isaac Asimov's fictional group - Black Widowers. He collaborated on a dystopian satire of a world ruled by advertising agencies, called The Space Merchants. But in this excellent tongue-in-cheek story he pillories the “Consumer Society.” So many goods are produced that people are obligated to consume - and in doing so you could graduate to higher levels of society, where you might actually have fewer things and more time to yourself. And to achieve this, you could get robots to do your consumption for you…. In what book is the measure of wealth how FEW goods you are force-fed?
13)The 2009 Global Green Challenge, has a winner, After covering almost 1800 miles in four days across Australia's baking red center, This team's run was nearly flawless, reporting only a single flat tire and the win breaks a string of four consecutive victories by the Dutch Nuon team. A total of 32 solar vehicles from 16 countries made the start about 10 days ago. This car covered in solar panels, placed fourth in qualifying but took the lead on day one and extended its advantage all the way to the finish line. Which country took the victory; it’s first from this nation since 1993?
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