"If everything seems under control, you're not going fast enough"
- Mario Andretti
This past week was a decently exciting one in the world of news, technology, and weather. You may notice that positive stories outweighed negative ones more than 2:1 below, the cause may be that thinking happy thoughts was the only thing keeping me from freezing to the core during my -20something degree wind chill walks outside. Or more plausibly it could be that the media wants to divert our attention away from the plummeting economy, Obama's black eye (figuratively), or Gov. Blagojevich's record setting 17% approval rating (or 83% disapproval rating for you glass half full types)...But really, this was just the way the cookie crumbled. I got on a roll and there were just too many exciting things to share.
Some things that don't suck:
Do you like apples? Steve Jobs hit another home run for something like the 6th year in a row with a huge product debut during his annual keynote address. His first big announcement was delivered to him on stage in a standard size manella envelope, it was The MacAir, a 3.0 pound laptop about 3/4 of an inch thick at its highest point! Apples packed about as many features as it could into an impossibly small package which is cooler than cool. Then behind door number two was, Time Capsule , this little white box connects wirelessly (or wired) to your Apple computers, PCs, iPods, iPhones, or any other Wifi devices and backs them up automatically on its huge hard drive. If that wasn't enough, it can also act as a wireless router for your home network...how do ya' like them Apples??
Sleeping Bag Clothes, Wow...I am almost speechless...One part footed pajamas and one part Mummy Bag sleeping bags and you have got one of the sweetest innovations that I have ever seen in my life. You know how hard it is to get out of bed on a cold morning...Now you can just walk around with your bed one...Perfect!
Death and Taxes, is a large representational graph of the federal budget. The poster contains over 400 programs and departments and almost every program that receives over 200 million dollars annually. The data is straight from the president's 2008 budget request and will be debated, amended, and approved by Congress to begin the fiscal year. All of the item circles are proportional in size to their spending totals and the percentage change from 2007 is included to spot trends and disproportion. This is a handy little tool to hang on the wall to see where exactly our tax dollars are going.
Ipod Hub, a big complaint with the widespread popularity of the iPod and similar products is that they encourage solitude. Music once brought people together, either gathered up in a coffee shop or in someone's basement listening to records. But now people sit in their corners rocking out to their individualized play lists...that was at least until Belkin stepped in and came up with this hub that allows up to 5 other people to listen to your ipod at once. This idea is not a new one though, in fact we (the 2006 NCC XC team) rigged up something very similar--but far more primitive--to this with a couple of Y-splitters and a bunch of headphones during our 10 hour ride home from Nationals when Henry (the bus driver) wouldn't let us put in a movie (b/c we would be reaching over his head) while he was driving (most notably 1.5hrs in the wrong direction).
Riddle: what is "green", blue, and does 0 to 60 in 5.8 seconds? The Fisker Karma! This sexy hybrid sports sedan can travel over 50 miles on electricity alone, but can also reportedly get close to 100mpg with its gas or diesel engine. I know that "sexy hybrid" seems like a bit of an oxymoron, but it is far from that. Instead of this hybrid looking like a go kart with side skirts hiding its 13-inch rear wheels, the Fisker looks like a four-door Corvette with a Jaguar grill, and a price landing slightly between the two.
Want a Clone? Stem Cell research has been a red hot issue in politics, especially for the stubborn and ignorant. The one leg that the argument against great advancement in the treatment of cancer, Parkinson's disease, spinal cord injuries, and muscle damage stands on is that the current best source of stem cells is from a recently deceased fetus. All of that changed on Friday though, when researchers announced that they grew the first mature cloned human embryo from single skin cell taken from an adult. This does not mean that you can grow a perfect replica of yourself, all it means is that hopefully researchers can harvest stem cells from the embryos to grow replacement tissues which perfectly match your DNA.
Innovate or Die, Taking part in a contest sponsored by Specialized, the American bicycle company, and Google. One team came up with the most useful invention I have seen in a long time (sorry Segway). The Aquaduct is pedal powered vehicle that transports, filters, and stores water for the developing world. In places where water can be more than five miles away and sanitation doesn't exist, this bike offers an easy and efficient way for families to have a constant and safe source of water. Watch the video.
Some things that do:
Incest...kind of. Alright, we are literally all related to one African woman who lived about 70,000 years ago. Oh no, run and grab your bible and burn science book! Eve was black and Dinosaurs never happened...Hold on, I apologize, that was inappropriate and false. This in no way carries biblical significance. There was a study showing that near a low point in human population--near extinction levels actually--there were really only a couple of genetic family lines. Adding to that, everyone living on earth today can be traced back to one common ancestor who lived during those tough times. Cool. On a similar side note, Genghis Khan...never mind, this is better: The cigarette lighter was invented before the match....hmmmm...
Can you smell fear? Now you will...We have all heard of pheromones, they are chemicals released by animals through sweat as signals to their own kind: for sex, for territorial marking, and more. But apparently there are similar chemicals which trigger a sense of alarm, fear, terror, or even incite violence. Initial data was being collected by studying the sweat of a people right after a workout versus that same individual's sweat immediately after skydiving. We can already control the productivity and aggressiveness of bees in a lab with pheromones, just imagine what humans could do with a little 'hard work' cologne or 'hate the enemy and vote' cologne...I mean, next.
Our Votes Don't Count, in Illinois at least. Now there is some fact to this story, but take it with a grain of salt. The idea of a Representative Democracy (thats what we have) instead of a cold and hard Democracy (the ideal that we base things off) is that lets say people in New York have no idea what is going on in South Dakota or what might be the best way to govern the people there, so it makes sense that the voters in New York do not get to make decisions for the people of South Dakota. Enter the electoral college, these are the people that we believe are knowledgeable enough to make responsible decisions for New York--guided of course by public interest--with the understanding of how it could effect South Dakota.There are flaws though...the winners do not always win:
But the linked article suggests that it would be best to throw out the electoral college for a straight popular vote. And I for one think that is stupid too. The disassembly of the electoral college would change the current practice of listening to and then disregarding the interests of rural areas to completely ignoring them and throwing all campaigning efforts at large cities from the start. Now while cities are the most densely populated areas, they do not in general make decisions for the greater good, i.e. the reason why the Illinois river is brown not blue.
Until Next time,
-Chance Kelch
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