Take Off! My Life and Times in Toronto
My life and work in Toronto, Canada.
My life and work in Toronto, Canada.
Japan had a near perfect deployment of a solar sail today. The solar sail is the only deployable version of a zero-fuel space vehicle (i.e. no internal power supply limiting the range of the vehicle and vastly increasing it's mass), and Japan has launched the only one to date.
Their first sail is a clover shaped 7.5um thick mylar device (shown above) and the second sail is a fan shaped device of the same material.
Solar sails could, in theory, traverse the solar system riding gravity "highways" (discovered by mathematical analysis of the interactions of planets) through the planets and providing something resembling a real transport system for large cargos of non-living objects, all without any pesky fuel tanks. The ultimate "hybrids".
I had this idea quite a long time ago, back when I (too) read Sagan's Contact. Why not hide a message (or program) in the DNA of early life on Earth, that said "Kilroy was here!"? It's a clever way to make sure the message survives long enough to literally be discovered ... by the same life forms that carry it.
Put yourself in the situation of the aliens, out there somewhere in the galaxy. They surmise that Earth looks promising for the emergence of intelligent life one day, but they have no idea when. There would be little point in beaming radio messages in this direction for eons in the vague hope that one day radio technology would be developed here and someone would decide to tune in.A better plan would be to leave a message for us to find when we are ready. The trouble with this set-and-forget strategy is the time factor. Life takes billions of years to evolve intelligence. Even if ETs figured there was animal life on Earth, they could be faced with a wait of tens of millions of years. That is a long time for an artefact to survive.
Putting the text inside a large metal object and plonking it on the Earth's surface is expensive in transportation costs, and risky. Our restless planet leaves nothing untouched for long. The artifact could easily end up buried or drowned or eroded to scrap.
The ideal solution would be to encode the message inside a large number of self-replicating, self-repairing microscopic machines programmed to multiply and adapt to changing conditions.
Fortunately such machines already exist: they are called living cells. The cells in our bodies, for example, contain genetic messages written by Mother Nature billions of years ago.
DNA, the molecule that contains the script of life, encodes its data in a four-letter alphabet. This would be an ideal medium for storing a cosmic calling card. In many organisms, humans included, genes make up only a tiny fraction of their DNA. Much of the rest seems to be biological gobbledygook, often called "junk DNA". There is plenty of room there for ET to etch a molecular message without damaging any vital genetic functions.
How long would such a message survive? Mutations continually scramble sequences of DNA, especially the junk part. Recently, however, scientists in the United States have discovered whole chunks of human and mouse junk DNA that seem to have remained virtually unchanged for tens of millions of years. That would be a good place to store a message.
The beauty of this scheme is that ET wouldn't have to visit Earth to implant the message. A lot of junk DNA consists of genomic fragments inserted by viruses over the course of evolution. An alien civilisation could, for negligible cost, dispatch tiny packages across the galaxy, loaded with customised viral DNA. The cargo would be designed to infect, without harm, any DNA-based life it encountered.
How would we know if there was a message in our genomes? Presumably ET would make it easy for us to spot. Some sort of in-your-face pattern would be best, something that stood out from the random scatter of genetic letters.
A good way to do this would be to use the letters to represent pixels on a screen tracing out a shape like a circle - an idea mooted in a different context by the late Carl Sagan in his novel Contact. That way, the artificial nature of the pattern would still be apparent even if a few pixels got scrambled.
The arresting pattern would serve to flag the message itself, which would otherwise be overlooked as a meaningless jumble. The message would then need to be decoded with the help of a computer. What would ET have to say to us? Most likely, any message in the genome would be rather basic, like people waving between mountain tops.
I've said, for some time now, that this century's greatest breakthroughs will be:
Clearly genomic SETI could answer the last point and possibly the first, too. If we have a "message" embedded in our cells, what does that tell us about telology? Does it warp religion's out of shape? (BTW, the first bullet has all but been accomplished, so you might as well consider it done.) If we are "made in God's image" then maybe there's a copyright notice in our DNA ...
Apparently, Issac Newton is all the rage in geek circles.
I've been reading Neal Stephenson's System of the World trilogy (only the first two books, Quicksilver and The Confusion are actually published), which is essentially about the creation of the world's financial system and the staggering intellectual battle between Sir Issac Newton and Wilhelm Gotfried Leibnitz, the two men who created The Calculus. So, as a result, I'm already reading more about Newton than I would normally have cared for, mostly because he was the Bill Gates of his era: a maniacal genius who changed the world but did immense distruction on the way. Newton's attacks against Leibnitz were legendary, and became intangled in several major conflicts including wars of Europe. Well, ok maybe Gates hasn't started any shooting wars, but his battle against Linux will be the epic conflict of our times.
None the less, Newton was a singular genius and this website of his works reveals that he was also a loonie. Dig in and be surprised.
I traded in the Golf this week for a much cooler car ... the Lotus Seven that Patrick McGoohan drove in The Prisoner.
Just Kidding, Anne!
A fellow at ATI owns this replica of the Lotus. It's a custom build car, and only weighs around 800 Kg so it's very, very sporty. It's got a 1.6l Toyota four-banger under the hood, but it's insanely peppy. And uncomfortable. I had to struggle to get into this critter. Here's the car and owner from a road-kill's perspective:
When I was a kid living in California (yes, there was a time ...) there were four kid's shows that I watched religiously.
Kimba the White Lion
Speed Racer
Johnny Quest
Thunderbirds
All are on DVD and I've bought most of them (I snagged all of Speed Racer two A-Kons ago). Many moons ago, Hollywood toyed with the idea of a live action Speed Racer, but the deal fell through. Fast forward to today and Thunderbirds are GO! To my utter astonishment, Hollywood made a live action film based on the supermarionation series.
I can't be more thrilled! Back in the 1960's watching the model Thunderbirds flying around on strings was fun and it excited my imagination, but this new film has all the advantages of thirty years of special effects improvements, and it looks awesome. Seeing the Thunderbirds flying around real scenes, looking as real as a Boeing 747, brought tears (yes, real tears) to my eyes. It's like finding out the Enterprise is real.
Jumping Jesus. This film is directed by ST:TNG's own "Number One" Jonathan Frakes, and features Anthony "Revenge of the Nerds" Edwards as "Brains". It's got geek creed in its veins!
Sure, sure, it's a kid's film. And I wish I could take Leo to it ... alas I won't be back in Dallas (most likely) for a month or more after it opens. But I know he'll enjoy it as much as I did as a kid. It looks very faithful to the original series, it's absurd premise, and the cheeky nobility of billionaire superheros.
Where are the billionaire superheroes today?
Joe Bob sez "Thunderbirds are GO!"
Ok, I know this is lame, but I can't contain myself.
Ken Jennings, a Mormon software engineer from (where else?) Salt Lake City UT, just won his 31st game of Jeopardy with a total winnings of $1,022,000 and change. He correctly answer the question about who penned the Confederate Constitution (who knew they had one?), but he only added $300 to his $17,200 daily total.
He was the headline on USA Today.
CNN is reporting that James Doohan (Star Trek's Mr. Scott) has been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.
Doohan, 84, was diagnosed with Alzheimer's "within the last couple months," agent Steven Stevens told The Associated Press.He said Doohan is in the beginning stages of the disease, a progressive neurological disorder that afflicted former President Ronald Reagan, who died June 5.
Doohan's career spans more than 50 years, but he's best known for his role as the USS Enterprise's affable chief engineer, Lt. Cmdr. Montgomery "Scotty" Scott, in the original 1966-69 "Star Trek" TV series.
He's also appeared in several "Star Trek" movies.
Doohan has lived in Redmond for almost a dozen years with his wife, Wende. They have a 4-year-old daughter and two older sons, and Doohan has four children from a previous marriage, Stevens said.
Doohan is scheduled to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame August 31.
He plans to attend a three-day "Star Trek" farewell convention, August 28-30, in Hollywood, Stevens said. All surviving members of the original Enterprise crew are scheduled to attend, including William Shatner, who played Capt. James T. Kirk, and Leonard Nimoy, who was Mr. Spock.
No wonder his last Trek appearance is this coming August. We wish him well.
Every year a group of MIT alumni get together in the Catskills and hang out over the 4th of July weekend. This event is billed Dershstock in honor of the host, Adam Dershowitz and his wife Hanna.
My friend Charles Forsythe invited me to this year's Dershstock. He's attended every one since they started in 1994, and was looking forward to my being there (well, he seemed pretty excited about it). He arrived via Albany, NY (apparently he and his girlfriend were the only folks arriving from Albany), and met up with Adam in Kingston for the caravan to Sam's Club for the weekend. I didn't understand why until I arrived myself -- you don't make several trips to the grocery store from this remote location.
The compound (what else can I call it?) consists of a comfortable resort-like cabin and a larger main house.
The home has a distinctly bauhaus design. The interior is very tastefully appointed with spectacular views from all the windows.
Behind the main house is a large area enclosed with a rock hemisphere which is remarkable to see in person. I was told it was once a quarry. In front of the rock cliff is a swimming pool.
Behind the main house is a deck and a pond surrounded by forest and a nearby hill.
I took this photo of the rock amphitheater and pool the first night I arrived.
Accomodations are not plentiful during Dershstock so guests are encouraged to camp, sleep on sofas, or the guest cabin. Charles and his girlfriend were staying in the cabin Friday night (which is before Dershstock actually starts). I shared the cabin bedroom (sleeping in the single bed while Charles and Janet slept on the double bed) with them. Saturday morning I had to activate many of the modern features of the cabin (e.g. turn on the water heater, remove the bugs from the bathroom, turn on the heaters) and yet I still had to take the coldest shower I've had in a long, long time. It's surprising how cold the Catskills are in July.
Of course, the real star of the location is the Catskills Mountains themselves. This is the view looking north up the Woodland Valley towards Phoenicia, NY and Hunter Mountain.
This is the view looking west from the back of the main house.
By mid-afternoon on Saturday, I was starting to feel really under the weather with some painful stomach cramps. It turns out I was having some kind of intestinal problem (I don't need to go into details) and I thought I was coming down with a stomach virus. Since I was going to stay with the Kraus' that night in Schenectady, I thought I had best be on my way before I gave anyone at Dershstock some bit of nastiness (I wasn't sure if I was going to be bringing something to the Krauses, but until some more time passed -- and other things -- I wouldn't know for certain). I said my good byes, thanked my hosts for their hospitality, and headed down the private dirt road to Phoenicia.
 | When I got to the end of the private road, a car pulled up intent on proceeding up to the cabin. I stepped out of my car to tell the driver of the other car to restring the rope gate across the entrance, when he said, "Steve Staton?" I peered into the car and leaped back when I realized I was staring at Roger Hagen, a friend of Charles' whom I worked with at Micrografx back in 1991. I explained to him why I was leaving, and took his photo before moving on. |
| Adam's uncle is noted Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz. His latest book, America On Trial, is dedicated to Adam's daughter Zara Columbia (seen here with a Dershstock friend). I've seen a lot of babies (being a parent and all) and I have to say this child is genuinely beautiful. She has a captivating smile and is a real cutie. |  |
I had a hard time "just showing up" for Dershstock. I was uncomfortable with Charles inviting me without first asking Adam; I thought Charles was overstepping his welcome even though he's been to all ten Dershstocks and has a "charter membership". I'm glad I spoke with Adam on the phone when I was at the Fort Erie Duty Free (picking up some gin and icewine for the party), it gave me some feedback from someone other than Charles that I'd be welcome. Adam was obviously not at all put out by the invite, and the entire time I was there he and his wife were a friendly face in the crowd.
After I arrived, I tried (hard) to mingle, chat and befriend other people there. I don't think I had a lot of success, however. Some people were stand-offish (I think) because they had issues with Charles and since I was his guest, the animosity extended to me. Others just had their own cliques to hang with and I wasn't in any of them. In the end, I didn't know anyone there and that always makes me uncomfortable.
To some extent, Charles exacerbated things by being very nocturnal. I didn't see him for the bulk of the time I was there, and when he was around, I felt self conscious about following him around like a puppy dog. He obviously went out of his way (when awake) to keep me feeling welcome and engaged, but he really wanted to spend time with his old friends and his girlfriend, too. The one thing we did do together was a huge social faux pas: playing a computer game. Some of the folks there were really annoyed by our doing this. On the other hand, I was going bats being away from the Internet!
I'd love to come to another Dershstock to spend some time at the beautiful home and surroundings, but I'd like to do more preparation (like making a reservation at a local inn instead of crashing in the guest cabin or on the floor in the main house) and I'd really like to bring my wife Anne. Even if we don't know many people at Dershstock, the area is so gorgeous and the Dershowitz's home is so interesting we'd make our own entertainment ("if you know what I mean, and I think you do...") I doubt I'll be in the area again for the next gathering in 2005, but who knows.
I took this shot near the West Mall. The juxtaposition of the grid and the nearly purple sky caught my eye. Alanna -- this is photography as "art". (Oh boy, here come the reviews). Ultor, for the unintiated, is the God of High Voltage.
CNN has a story about a Ben Folds and William Shatner collaboration album coming out next year.
"It is a great record and it is really worth going out and doing some shows in major cities," Folds told Billboard.com. "(Shatner) is not a musician at all -- he's not rapping or singing -- but he is still part of the music. I've never heard a record quite like it." Shatner previously guested on Folds'1998 solo album "Fear of Pop, Vol.1"Shatner's album was produced and written mostly by Folds and includes cameos by Henry Rollins, Aimee Mann and Joe Jackson, who duets with Shatner on Pulp's "Common People." Author Nick Hornby ("High Fidelity") also co-wrote a song with Folds for the project.
Check out this T-Shirt:
Now that I think about it, it's not so much funny as ironic.
According to SciFi Wire, J. Michael Straczynski may be working on a completely new Star Trek series with Dark Skies creator Bryce Zabel.
Straczynski added that Paramount called him last year to accept an executive producer position on the currrent Trek series, Enterprise, in its upcoming fourth season, but that he declined. "The series I mentioned has nothing to do with any current series," he added. "It's a new show."
Folks, I'm "gobstopped". Paramount flat out stole the idea of Babylon 5 when they rolled out Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. This could be really, really weird.
I can't pass up this magnificent bit of science. The NASA probe Cassini has imaged Saturn's very odd moon Phoebe.
Read the article for more information about this fantastic bit of robotic astronomy!
This weekend I took Alanna to A-Kon 15, held at the Adam's Mark Hotel in downtown Dallas.
For those not "in the know", this is the largest anime convention in Dallas, and likely Texas. Anime, for those really not in the know, is Japanese animation. What used to be Astro Boy and Speed Racer is now a full ecology of media spanning all ages, tastes and desires. Everything from goofy school girl cartoons to, well, sexy school girl cartoons.
Anyway, I have taken Alanna to A-Kon for three years running, and it's now her official birthday convention. I missed A-Kon #2 because it was on her birthday (you know, the one in 1991). She's quite the genre fan, and this year she even went in costume as one of her favorite characters: Edward Wong Hau Pepelu Tivrusky 4th
Alanna stayed over night at the hotel with Anne's friend Cynthia Amaya and her two daughters, Shelby and Erica Reis. Erica is an art student at Savannah College of Art Design who just got a book deal based on her short comic called Utopia Device. Erica had a booth at A-Kon offering her comic and private drawings.
One of the funnier costumes was Pocky Man, a fellow dressed up as a box of the Japanese confectionary.
The convention was enormous, crowded, and utterly disorganized, which is too bad because it's a great gathering otherwise.
 | Fantagraphics Books is publishing Vaughn Bode's son's The Lizard of Oz according to The New York Times this month. This should be quite an accomplishment. Fans of Bode's father's underground comix will greatly appreciate the work while the rest of you will scratch your heads in bewilderment.
Mark Bode (pronounced BO-dee), also a cartoonist, recently completed his father's interrupted work "The Lizard of Oz," a raunchy departure on the "Wizard of Oz" that features the older Bode's premier creation, Cheech Wizard. Fantagraphics Books of Seattle will publish the book next month.I look forward to this as much as the next Niven Ringworld novel which hits the stores Tuesday. No, really! |
Before I left this morning, I was AIM chatting with Bosney. He casually asked me if I was going to see the Telsa statue on Goat Island, NY (at the Falls). I hadn't heard of any Tesla statue, so I immediately looked it up on Google. To my horror, I discovered that all three times I've been to the American falls, I missed it!
So, on the drive from Waterloo to Niagara Falls, I mentioned it to Brian. He agreed we had to cross into the U.S. and see this monument to Ultor's prophet.
The government of Yugoslavia (yes, Tesla was a Serb) gave the U.S. this statue in honor of his invention of essentially all the components of alternating current generation, transmission and usage (e.g. motors). Why was it here, on Goat Island? Because this was the home of Niagara-Mohawk, the first hydro-electric power generation facility in the United States, if not the world.
After much undignified behavior, I was able to climb to the statue's base and pose for this shot. The statue shows signs of many a tourists' visit to his lap (I want a shot of Leo and Alanna in his lap now).
Remember, to EEs this statue is like Jim Morrison's grave to groupies. "Nay-nu, nay-nu!"
How did I miss it three times in a row? Because from the parking lot, you see this.
Brian and I spotted this on the highway to Niagara ...
I think it speaks for itself. Kudos to Brian for taking the photo at the last second, just before I cut off an SUV at 120 KPH.
I noticed that Castle Computers, formerly of Latham, NY, has moved to Niskayuna, NY on Route 7. And they're still an Apple dealer. I bought my first Mac from them twenty years ago.
If you visit them, tell 'em Russ sent you.
Stumbling around Slashdot I noticed a story about a web site offering advice on Installing Linux on a Dead Badger. Now, I'm pretty badger saavy for an American, having heard about Badger Watch on the BBC and all, but this was a new twist on the whole mounted animal nature trail concept.
Don't take my word for it ... Joe Bob sez check it out.
Larry Niven's seminal Ringworld is one of the SciFi Channel's upcoming minseries, according to Cinescape. I'm thrilled to hear this ... the technology to render the story is finally available. I only hope the staggering scales of the artifact and the story can be conveyed accurately.
Anyone remember this gem?
Props to Bill C (Bosney) for preserving my rendering of Opus from 1984 when I was in Geneva with an original Mac. Here is the Macintosh I used at Petroconsultants:
Ironically, Opus is back in the papers, and I'm in a foreign country again. This time, however, I don't have to use Telex, snail mail or dreadfully expensive overseas long distance to communicate -- I have the weblog, AIM and five cents/minute phone cards. Likewise, my current computer is 150 times faster and has 675,000 times more disc storage and 4,000 times more core memory which runs 8,333 times faster than the Macintosh 128K. And yet it still takes five minutes to boot to a graphic screen with a mouse. Ah ... progress.
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Wacky Packages are coming back! Anyone in my generation will remember the stickers featuring gross and disgusting parodies of popular household products from the late '60s and early '70s. These were the treasured collectables of many a boy in that era. Ironically, the sample given on the Topps page is all too apropriate for me! |
One of the coolest things at LunaCon 2004 was Thomas Farrell's Moog Etherwave Theremin.
Left to right: LunaCon Writer GOH Storm Constantine and Thomas Farrell.
Thomas is a theremin aficionado who brought his instrument to the Rye Brook Hilton and set it up in the entrance lobby of the main ballroom. He let anyone who was interested "play" the instrument. Some folks were quite adept at producing interesting sounds, but many (myself included) were not very artistic in what we got out of it. Still, it's the first time I've seen one live and certainly the first one I've tried to play.
For those who don't know, the Theremin is an early analog electronic instrument used by Hollywood in the 50's to create the eerie sounds (with lots of vibrato) in early science-fiction and horror films (the best example being The Day the Earth Stood Still) and the Beach Boy's Good Vibrations.
One of the panels I sat in was titled The Year In Computing. Obstensibly it was about milestones in computers this year, but with Eric Raymond on the panel, it turned into The Year in Linux. The last time I saw Raymond was at The Millennium PhilCon at a room party. He was blotto at the time, surly and looked awful. At this panel, he was relatively cleaned up and quite lucid.
Eric is on the left, and Seth Breidbart is on the right.
Towards the end of the Linux pep rally, I asked Eric if he had anything to say about "those three dirty letters: S - C and O." I expected a rant, at the very least. He surprised me by speaking calmly and at length about the latest revelations behind Microsoft's efforts to fund SCO's lawsuit (the Halloween 10 memo, he called it). It was a great panel.