Month: November 2012

The Future Is Here: Oakley Airwave Goggles!

Remember Project Glass, the Google glasses that featured a heads-up-display and the option for augmented reality? Yeah, that was quite the big ticket news item for fans of cyberpunk and people who felt smartphones were becoming a little passe. Well, it seems that the world of sporting goods doesn’t want to be left out of the loop either!

They are known as the Oakley Airwave goggles, a set of eye wear that allows skiers to to consult stats on a heads-up-display while they are on the sloped. Amongst the information that skiers can project into their field of view are such stats as distance, temperature, speed and altitude. In addition, the goggles have a wireless connection feature which will keep the user apprised of their incoming calls and text messages. No word yet if emails will be included, but one thing at a time I guess 😉

I can remember my father telling me that you could tell if a person was important based on whether or not they carried a cell phone. According to him, unimportant people carried cell phones to look important; whereas important people didn’t need them because people waited on them. Having one only meant that you were on call wherever you were. And I don’t know about you, but the slopes is one place I don’t want to be reached! That’s why I go there in the first place!

Still, it’s a cool concept as far as hands free communication and networking are concerned. Coupled with Project Glass and other such products, this new wave of devices is paving the way for a future in which cell phones are obsolete. I imagine Apple and Blackberry are going to have something to say about this, or possibly an even more revolutionary product in mind. Only time will tell…

Check out this video of the goggles in action:

Source: news.cnet.com

Revengers Mission #2

Good evening, Revengers. Captain Smackdown here, hope you all had a relaxing weekend, because it seems were back in the thick of it. No sooner had we resolved our little problem with the Councilman and Joey “The Stare” Keithly, that I got another report from one of our field assets.

Our superhero Judgement, aka. Rami Ungar, discovered a link between a dirty business tychoon and a certain woman in the DA’s office. Asked to investigate, alongside Veiled Tsunami, to determine if there was a case for corruption or blackmail, he had this to say:

This is Judgement. I’m not going to mince words, so here we go: when we got to the DA’s office, the businessman was dead and the DA had OD’d. At first, I thought it was a lover’s quarrel gone wrong. But then I found something in the businessman’s shoe: a piece of paper with 3 words: “Princess” and “the Oracle”.

Those words have meaning to me. I’ll have to check in with some friends and see if there’s anything to worry about.

Not good news. Could we have some competition in town? Might this be the work of another crime-fighting superhero squad, one with a looser code of conduct? Or did the DA’s office seek to cover its tracks by eliminating a potential leak? Or was the businessman and the DA’s clerk just the tip of the iceberg?

We need to investigate. Which means putting more souls on this, the moment we have a break in this case. All hands, press your sources for info on the names “Princess” and “Oracle”. Whoever, or whatever, these things are, they are now the only leads we have in a double murder case. Meanwhile, I will get on my sources at the good ol’ PD and see if anyone has turned up anything…

Revengers out!

Revengers Mission #1: The Exciting Conclusion!

Welcome back for the third and final installment in our Revenger Mission One series! Last time, our heroes Atrum Auditor, Erotica Girl and Styka arrived on scene at the city docks to witness a meeting taking place between Councilman Jeff Harlan and crime syndicate boss Joe “The Stare” Keithly. It was meant to be a simple surveillance and capture operation, but it soon went south.

First, Keithly showed up with some hired muscle, ex-military men who had been enhanced to give them telekinetic powers! Then, the team noticed a psychic presence in the area, which appeared to be coming from someone other than the men under surveillance. Something was seriously wrong…

And then, Captain Smackdown and Panacea, fresh from another mission, arrived on the scene hoping to break the tension with a little distraction ploy. Panacea was ready to fly, and the Captain ready to lay a smackdown with his heavy artillery. Everything seemed to be ready to go, until another unexpected surprise happened…

*               *               *

“Ready?” Smackdown said. Panacea opened her door and looked at the ground, speeding precariously fast. “Go!”

Without hesitation, she stepped from the cabin and took to the air. Her arms outstretched, her legs trailing behind her, her body picked up flight and she soared to within fifteen meters of the ground. The entire docks became visible to her as she ascended above the roofs of every warehouse in the area, spotting all the commotion which was taking place around them.

And that’s when she noticed another vehicle coming in from their flank. A hardtop roadster with a lot of pickup, and filled with several armed men from the look of it.

“Captain!” she said into her link. “We’ve got company!”

“More?” he cried. “Where are they coming from?”

“From the north. They look like they’re moving to intercept you.”

The GT slowed and began to arc right on the gravely surface. Small stones were kicked up and the wheels began sliding sideways. The other car was drawing nearer, but was a good few hundred meters away from intercepting Smackdown. She spotted a junction where she could intercept them herself.

“Captain, you keep going for the docks. I’ll take care of these men.”

“You sure?” he said back, but already he was straightening his wheels and proceeding on course to the rallying point.

“Trust me,” she said, echoing his earlier statement. “They won’t know what hit them.”

The Captain hit the gas and the GT flew off. Panacea aimed herself towards the warehouse junction and added a little speed of her own. The cold, wet air whooshed by her ears, and in no time, she was directly above her landing zone. The car was speeding along towards her, the drivers unaware of the person floating above.

She plummeted downward and nailed the three point landing. She had just enough time to see the look on the driver’s face as the headlights reflected off the blue and gold of her uniform. Everyone in the car yelled, but their screams came to an abrupt halt when Panacea’s hands landed on their hood and stopped their car dead in its tracks.

She gave them a few seconds to recover, the driver shoving the airbag out of his face and seeing that she was still there, her hands now fixed under the bumper of the car. The passenger was quicker to respond, stabbing the air bag with a switchblade and bringing his submachinegun forward.

“You boys play nice!” She said, tossing the car up and down a few times to get their attention. They hollered as one, the ones in the back bouncing up and down in their seats. The driver began to scream for her to put them down; but unfortunately for him, the passenger still hadn’t learnt his lesson.

“I’ll kill you bitch!” he yelled, taking aim with his HK. Panacea frowned and tossed the entire car over. Their screams pitched as the car went up, paused in midair as the rear bumper landed on the ground, and then came crashing down, roof first. Glass exploded and flew in all directions, the screams subsiding and becoming a dull moan.

She was sure to check on them before carrying on.

“You boys okay?” she said, looking in the driver’s side window. All were hanging from their seat belts, the concussive force having knocked all air and sense out of them. But they were alive, and unbroken…

“Good! Now if you’ll excuse me, we still have your friends to deal with.” She put her finger to her link and signaled the Captain. “All clear, Captain. See you at the docks.”

The GT’s lights picked up the two cars parked in the distance. He was less than fifty meters from them now, and the locals weren’t taking too well to the disturbance. Kiethly and ran to the other side of the vehicle while his men took up positions around him, the Council doing the same with his car. None of them seemed willing to attack until they knew who they were dealing with though…

Slamming on the brakes and bringing the vehicle in for a tight turn, Smackdown exited the vehicle and placed his weapon on the roof. He aimed for the first of Keithly’s men. They had lost the element of surprise, and they couldn’t hope to take “The Stare” down seperately, but they still had one card to play…

“Evening gents! Sorry to interrupt, but the Councilor wasn’t counting on you showing up heavy.”

From behind the car he was using as a shield, Keithly stood and looked at Smackdown incredulously. He then sent that same look over to the Councilman.

“Who the hell is this, Councilor?”

Harlan looked just as confused as Keithly, though in place of anger, his face carried a sudden sense of fear.

“I don’t know… Who the hell are you?”

“It’s alright, Harlan, we don’t need to pretend anymore. We’ve got this goon and his men surrounded. Just let us take them down and be done with it.”

“Who-the-hell-“

“What? You didn’t think the honorable Harlan was going to cowtow to your interests forever, did you?”

Smackdown smiled at Harlan and gave him a wink. The Councilor’s face began to go white just as Keithly’s face turned a bright shade of red.

So far, so good, Smackdown thought. He had them right there he needed them to be, which was turning on each other rather than working together against a common threat.

“Harlaaaan! What the hell are you trying to pull?!” yelled Keithly.

The Councilman began stuttering a long string of denials and incomprehensible babble. He looked very much like a deer caught in the headlights, suddenly frozen and very much afraid for his life. A shootout looked about ready to happen, but Smackdown had other plans in mind…

He placed his finger to his ear and issued the go order.

“Atrum, NOW!”

Keithly’s thugs all reached for their temples and began to scream at the same time. Between Auditor, Erotica and Styka, they had been hit with a psionic wave powerful enough to stun a an army of ex-military goons. Smackdown used the time to put some bullets in their direction.

The first fell as the bullet struck him clean in the forehead, breaking the skin but leaving his skull and brain matter unharmed. He took aim for the next, but the goon quickly recovered. The bullet had left its chamber but stopped in midair, the man at the other end smiling devilishly.

“What the-?”

“Captain!” Auditor yelled through the link. “We’ve lost control. That other mind we sensed, he’s still here and he’s jamming us!”

“Shit!” Smackdown cried. “Okay, we do this the old fashioned way! Atrum, Styka, Erotica Girl, take out those two goons!”

A series of boots hit the ground on the other side of Keithly’s car. He spotted the three superheroes arrayed in front of him and shoved his goons in their direction. The men drew combat knives and assumed an ready stance, knives at the ready and their minds poised to stop anything our heroes threw.

Erotica, Styka and Atrum all looked at each and smiled. The men charged with their knives, and hit nothing but air.

“What the-?” said the one, and then was caught by a boot to the side of the head. The second began to back off, but was hit from the other side an elbow to the jaw. Both fell to the ground and looked up to see two women standing above them. The one was dressed in her usual smockery of a vest and tank, and placed her thick-soled boot into the man’s face.

The other looked up and spotted a woman dressed in some sensual leather. For a moment, he thought he might be dreaming, and smiled to reveal his bloody teeth.

“Keep dreaming,” Erotica girl said, and lept onto his chest to deliver a boot smack to his skull.

Seeing all this unfold, Keithly broke and tried to make a run for it. He made it to the edge of the nearest warehouse before Auditor, the only one who had yet to reappear, did so in front of him.

“Going somewhere, Mr. Stare?”

Keithly cried out and tried to dash in a different direction, only to be stopped in his steps yet again. He doubled back and dashed again, but found the same face standing in front of him once more. Again and again, he tried to run in a different direction, only to be stopped short by the man dark hat with the shit-eating grin.

“You can’t run, you can’t hide. Give yourself up.”

Keithly didn’t listen and continued to dash around in panic. Auditor sighed and continued to block his path, again and again, until finally he threw his fist up and close-lined the mob boss, sending him to the ground. Stunned, he looked up in time to see Auditor stare down into his eyes to issue some final words…

“You’re secret is out, Stare. And now the world will know all about you…”

Keithly’s eyes drifted shut and his head fell sideways.

Looking up from his spot behind the car door, Smackdown surveyed the scene and nodded approvingly. All hostiles were down. Except the Councilman…

He looked to Harlan’s car and saw no trace of him. He cursed as he realized the SOB had slipped away in the confusion. His finger quickly went to the link in his ear.

“Panacea! Are your airborne. I need you to get eyes on the Councilman and take him down. Bring him back, Panacea! You hear me?”

“Already here!” she announced, though not through the comlink. Landing just meters away, she held the Councilman in her hands. The man looked especially disheveled, having been plucked from the ground while running and carried through the air. His hair a mess and his eyes as big and white as dinner plates, he looked very much prepared to listen to reason…

“Ah, good job,” he said to Panacea. She smiled and nodded in return, and let go of Harlan. His knees buckled and he fell to the ground, though he remained very much conscious.

Auditor, Erotica and Styka joined them next to the Councilman’s huddled body. Smackdown turned to them, casting a quick look in the distance.

“Any sign of that mind you made contact with?”

Auditor closed his eyes and reached out. He shook his head. “No. Whoever it was, he or she is gone now.”

“How about you?” he asked the girls. Both did similar sweeps with their minds and found nothing. “Damn. I guess our friends here brought in more muscle than we could see.”

“They can’t have gone far,” said Styka. “I’m sure we could find them.”

Smackdown looked to Harlan and shook his head. “Nah, they’ll be another time. Right now, we still need to get Mr. Right Honorable to start talking. And I think I know just the way…”

Stepping up next to him, Smackdown kneeled to address him as the others took up positions around him. On one side, Erotica girl and Styka stood over him, their ensembles and bloody boots quickly drawing his eye and producing mixed emotions. He was used to beautiful women standing over him, but not like this.

The sight of Panacea and Auditor on the other side was equally confusing, awe and fear mixing in the same instant. And to make matters worse, Smackdown was now mere inches from his face, his gun smoking in front of him.

“Now, Mr. Councilman… what shall we talk about? Shall we start with your history of working with the mob, or shall we skip ahead to all that’s gone down here tonight?” Harlan frowned and tried to summon up a response, but couldn’t find the words or the clarity of mind to do so. Smackdown continued…

“On the one hand, Keithly and his goons here are out cold. But on the other, we can expect his lawyers to have him out of jail while he awaits trial, where he will surely try to even the score with you. Thanks to me, he thinks you arranged this whole thing, and nothing you could say would convince him otherwise.”

Harlan began to pant heavily and closed his eyes. Tears began to form there, followed by low moans and sobs. Smackdown cleared his throat and looked away. The sight of a grown man crying, in public no less, was not something he was comfortable with.

“So… really, you’ve got only one choice. You announce that your stepping down for health reasons, you go into witness protection, and you tell the DA, the FBI, and anyone else who wants a piece of Kiethly everything you know about him. You take a deal, you spend the rest of your life in another state, another country; wherever. I think you’ll agree, it’s better than the alternative…”

Harlan looked up at Smackdown in time to catch the hangman’s gesture he was doing. Everyone knew Keithly’s favorite way of punishing snitches was to leave them hanging from a meat hook, usually in the vicinity of the docks. Harlan quickly nodded and dropped his head again. In the distance, the sirens began to get closer…

“Ah good, that’d be the cleanup crew waiting to come get you,” Smackdown said, standing. “You be sure to tell them exactly what I told you. Because trust me, even if you could find a way to protect yourself from Keithly, there’s no way you could stay clear of us.”

Smackdown turned to leave, the rest of the squad doing the same. Harlan finally found his voice and issued in their direction.

“Who are you?”

They stopped. Smackdown and the rest turned as one.

“We’re the Revengers,” he said. “Tell your friends about us.”

News From Mars!

An interesting slew of news has been coming from NASA recently, courtesy of the Curiosity Rover and its mission to Mars. First, there was the announcement by John Grotzinger on NPR radio that Curiosity’s science team had discovered something potentially “earth-shattering” on the Red Planet, which came just two days ago. Since then, researchers over at NASA have been keeping a tight lip on what that might be, though it seems to be taking an extraodinary effort to do so. One can only imagine what they’re dying to tell us…

But it seems more stories are coming in the wake of this. First, there was the revelation by the Curiosity Rover that Mars radiation levels, once thought to be problematic for life, are actually safe for humans. According to Don Hassler, the principal investigator on Curiosity’s Radiation Assessment Detector instrument (RAD), Curiosity determined that “the Mars atmosphere is acting as a shield for the radiation on the surface and as the atmosphere gets thicker, that provides more of a shield and therefore we see a dip in our radiation dose.”

Apparently, the levels are equal to what astronauts deal with on the International Space Station, which means people in suits will be able to walk on the Red Planet safely once a manned mission is mounted. Knowing that they can conduct surveys on the surface without additional radiation shields should prove to be a boon for colonization as well. More settlers will certainly be drawn to Mars now that they know they can settle in without having to worry about little things like radiation sickness or mutations!

Third, there was the news that in the wake of making its “one for the history books” discovery, that Curiosity has finished collecting and analyzing soil samples and is preparing to move on. The final checks and preps were made amidst ethereal whirlwinds and twisters, which are characteristic of the region known as the “Gale Crater”, where it has been conducting its research for the past month. The rover is now being prepared to move on in search of suitable targets for a compact rock drill, the final major sample acquisition system to be tested.

Ashwin Vasavada, the deputy project scientist for the Mars Science Laboratory rover at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif, had this to say on the next phase of the mission: “We still would like to get a little further into this Glenelg region where we see this diversity of rocks and layered rocks and other really interesting terrain. And then we still have a goal in the next month or two of doing the big U-turn and heading up to Mount Sharp.”

Mount Sharp is a 3-mile-high mound of layered terrain that sits in the center of the Gale Crater, where Curiosity is expected to spend the bulk of its planned two-year mission. In the meantime, the research team needs to go over all the information Curiosity has sent back, including an ongoing analysis of the martian weather.

On top of all that, there’s still the matter of that “earth shaking news”. How about it NASA? You too, Grotzinger? We’re ready and waiting… how much more time do your researchers need before they’re sure and are free to break the news they are so clearly dying to share? I still say its organic molecules, but what do I know?

Source: news.cnet.com

Brazil to Clone Endangered Animals

Countless species of wildlife are on the endangered list today, as a result of ongoing urbanization, deforestation, and pollution. Compared to these combined destructive forces, all attempts at wildlife enhancement and preservation – especially in the developing and underdeveloped parts of the world – seem ill-suited or limited in scope. However, scientists in Brazil have announced a new and startling plan which might just be the difference because success and failure.

The groundbreaking initiative is being carried out as a partnership between the Brasilia Zoological Garden and the Brazilian government’s agricultural research agency, aka. EMBRAPA. Thus far, their efforts include such species as the jaguar, the maned wolf, and the black lion, as well as numerous others that are on the Red List of Threatened Species, as compiled by the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (ICMBio) and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Currently, the initiative is in phase two of development. Phase one involved the collection of samples of genetic material, or germplasm, in the form of blood, sperm, somatic cells and umbilical cord cells, which were gathered over the course of two years. The researchers harvested the genetic material primarily from dead specimens of animals native to the Cerrado, the vast tropical savannah biome that stretches across central Brazil. The next phase will be the training of researchers at the zoo.

According to Carlos Frederico Martins, an EMBRAPA researcher, their organization has already been responsible for the cloning of cows. This began in 2001 with birth of a calf named Vitória, and has since gone on to include over 100 specimens made up largely of cows and horses. They hope to transfer the knowledge gained from these experiments to the staff over at Brasilia Zoological Gardens so the techniques can be adapted to wildlife. Currently, the plan is reserved to increasing the number of captive specimens of endangered animals, but that they are prepared to release these cloned animals into the wild if need be.

Countries like the US and South Korea are also working on similar plans to rehabilitate endangered species of wild animals. In there cases, as well as Brazil’s, the lack of prior knowledge is cited as an potential obstacle to success. As such it may be many years yet before animals such as wild tigers, jaguars, the Gray Brocket Deer, Bison and even simians are successfully cloned in captivity. In the meantime, here’s hoping other conservation efforts fare better than they have in the past! As well all know, humans aren’t the only ones in danger of suffering from Climate Change!

Source: Inter Press Service News Agency

 

“Earthshaking” News From the Red Planet?

In an interview with NPR earlier today, John Grotzinger – the Principal Investigator for NASA’s Mars Science Labs – said a recent soil sample test with the SAM instrument (Sample Analysis at Mars) shows something”‘earthshaking.” Like any good scientist (or a terrible tease), Grotzinger and his team are awaiting confirmation before announcing just what it is they’ve found. Nevertheless, the announcement of a potential discovery which could be “one for the history books” has fueled speculation and put many on the edge of their seats.

Thus far, the smart money has been on the discovery of organic molecules in the Martian soil, which is precisely what Curiosity has been up to for the past few months. This is because the very purpose of the SAM instrument to examine the chemical and isotopic composition of the Martian atmosphere and soil, specifically to determine if anything organic is capable of living there. If so, it will end the age-old argument of whether or not life can exist on the surface Mars, even if it doesn’t currently.

It will also prove to be a boon for those who are seriously looking ahead, and plotting manned missions to the Red Planet with the intent of making it habitable for humans. As I’m sure all people are aware of by now, there are plenty of people who are monitoring Curiosity’s findings and hoping they will help determine whether or not terraforming can be carried on the the planet, with the long-term goal of creating a “Green Mars” where terrestrial species can live and thrive, crops can grow, and oceans and rivers can once again exist.

I think I speak for them and myself when I say, “Grotzinger, best of luck to you, and this better not be some kind of media stunt!” Oh, I can’t wait to hear what they find!

Source: Universe Today

Revenger Mission #1 Update!

Welcome back Revengers, Captain Smackdown here! We’ve had a crucial update from our agents in the field, who at this moment are in crisis dealing with our very first mission. Based on Atrum Auditors report, what began as a simple surveillance mission escalated when the target – mobster Joe “The Stare” Kiethly – showed up with some unusual muscle. Enhance ex-military men who were given telekinetic powers!

On top of that, reports from the field emphasized that there was another there, a mind that was searching and making contact with Atrum Auditor, Erotica Girl and Styka. A telepathic presence in the region is most disturbing. Either Kiethly’s men are more than they appear, or there’s someone else watching the show. In either case, your Captain is proceeding to the scene with reinforcements! Here’s how it went down…

*                     *                    *

The GT’s engine reached a crescendo of noise. From the passenger seat, Panacea looked anxiously at the Captain.

Strange, he thought. Weren’t immortals the ones who had the least to fear from death? And yet, she looked more nervous than he felt.

They reached their turn and the Captain spun the wheel, bringing them into a slight slide that almost put them up against the nearby brick wall. Panacea grunted as they took the corner and decided to say something as soon as they straightened out again.

“Is there a game plan?” she asked. “I mean, other than to go charging in?”

“Of course there is,” Smackdown replied. “I just haven’t thought of it yet.”

“Oh…” she said. “Lovely.”

Another hard turn. The smell of the docks began to pour in through their open windows. Tar, brine, and the undeniable smell of rot and decay. They were on a long stretch now that passed lengthwise between two red brick warehouses. Smackdown used the opportunity to fetch his weapon from the backseat, which had been resting on the floor until this point.

“Do me a favor…?” he said to Panacea and handed it to her. “Grab that drum on the backseat and load it for me.”

Panacea was momentarily stunned by the appearance of the weapon. The membership agreement stipulated that it lethal force was out of bounds, but the weapon she was now holding seemed to contradict that piece of fine print. Still, she did as she was told and fished around on the backseat until the spherical magazine presented itself. Grabbing it and bringing it forward, she stared at the two pieces and asked for help.

“Um, how am I…?”

“Just slap the drum into the bottom and pull that lever on the side,” said the Captain. Panacea obliged, and then held it up in her hand. Heavy, by normal standards, and grissly looking. She looked sideways at Smackdown. He noticed and flashed a defensive frown.

“Rubber bullets… I swear!”

“Alright…” she said warily, then placed it in the backseat.

The engine revved harder. Smackdown looked ahead and yelled a word of warning. “Bit of a bump up ahead. Hang on!”

She looked just in time to see the pile of lobster traps and loading crates. Her yell came too late to stop him. They hit it with a hard thud and picked up some air. The landing was even harder. They came to skidding halt on the other side.

“Sorry. GPS didn’t mention that obstruction.”

Panacea looked at the dashboard. Did this vehicle even have a GPS, or was that some kind of dry witticism on the Captains part? Either way, she wasn’t any happier about it.

Smackdown placed his finger to his earpiece.

“Atrum? Can you hear me?”

Auditor voice came in in low, hushed whispers. “Read you, Captain. What’s your position?”

“We’re less than a minute away. Has anything changed on the scene?”

“Well, we still haven’t found the source of the psychic presence. But it doesn’t seem to be coming from our guests or their hired muscle. Keithly’s goons are holding their spots and letting the him and Councilman talk.”

Smackdown nodded. That sounded like good news, but it pointed towards something more frightening. He removed his finger from his ear and began to look precariously out his side window.

“What’s wrong?” Panacea asked.

“I think we got more company than we think,” he replied. He placed his finger back to his ear. “Hold your position. We’ll be coming in hot. As soon as we arrive on scene, I figure we’ll have a second or two before those goons try to turn their powers on us. Then I want you and the girls to start jamming them, and let’s pray they don’t have psychic defenses we don’t know about.”

“You got it,” Auditor replied.

“So… we got a plan?” Panacea asked.

“Yeah…” Smackdown looked at her outfit. “You’re CV said you could fly, that still true?”

“Yes,” she said irately. Superpowers didn’t exactly have an expiry date.

“Good. Cuz when we get to the scene, I want you to jump out that door and get in the air. I’ll provide covering fire for you. Our friends on scene should take care of the rest. Okay?”

“Okay!”

“Good. Now hand me that gun.”

She grabbed it and passed it to him, warily as always. He noticed the way she was looking at it, like she had a serious issue with firearms. He repeated his earlier assurance.

“I swear!”

*                    *                    *

Tune in tomorrow for the exciting conclusion to the Revengers first mission!

Future Timeline

This has been sitting in my box of ideas for quite some time, a website that produces videos dedicated to predicting future trends. Awhile back, I came across it while searching on the subject of the Technological Singularity, and was pretty intrigued by what I saw. Not only was this website dedicated to predicting major technological developments in the near future, the ones that would culminate in the Singularity, but was even considering humanity’s prospects as a species in the far, far future. After taking a look around I thought to myself: “truly, this is the stuff of speculative science-fiction.”

To get a breakdown of what the makers of this site predict, check out the videos posted below, as compiled by HayenMill at Youtube. A self-professed amateur historian and futurist, HayenMill took the liberty of combining the Future Timeline predictions, year by year, covering the three decades that will take us from the beginning of 2010 to 2040, by which time all the current trends of the world will reach a full, fevered pitch. These include the problems of overpopulation, climate change, the shift of economic power from the US to Asia, and the growth of information, medical, and bio technology, as well as the development of AI and commercial spaceflight.

Check them out, and for a more detailed breakdown of future events, go to futuretimeline.net. Trust me when I say that the group’s predictions range far and wide, but which are also highly detailed, at least when pertaining to this century! You can take me at my word when I say that I will be doing my best to incorporate as many of these ideas as possible into my own writing!

 

 

Sickness, Weariness, and more Rejection

Weariness_by_Eireen

Wow, that title line sounds depressing. But that’s kind of my state right now, dealing with a worsening cold, some serious commitments that leave me strung out, and another form letter telling me my work is “not a good fit”. Yes, it seems that this past week has been the week from hell, or at least my own limited version of it. I have heard some people describe a week which could set your teeth on edge, so mine is really just a whiner’s approximation. Still, I think it’s been pretty sucky and I intend to complain. So consider yourself warned!

Oh, and my apologies to all those who read my site and have been taking part in the superhero challenge, or who are waiting on edits from me and have noticed delays. The events of the past week have been preventing me from being my usual verbose self, not that I’m making excuses. I’ve written and edited sick before, but things have been different lately. That should change soon, but until such time, let me tell what’s been occupying the past few days..

It all started around Wednesday, when I felt the onset of sickness that was characterized by bad headaches, general congestion and stuffiness, and a lack of energy. I figured twenty-four hours would be all I needed to kick it, so when I got a call asking me to fill in for an EA at the school where I work, I accepted it.

There’s a reason they call it “dog tired”

That night, I slept about five hours, worrying I wouldn’t be any better. Somehow, knowing you have to sleep to make the following day work always gives me parasomnia. By morning, I felt like crap and figured there was no way I was making it in. However, the lady who called me and asked me to fill in had already left town – her daughter was having a baby! So instead, I went into school, grabbed the sub list, and began calling everyone on it to see if anyone could take my place. No one was available, except one lady who was also sick but willing to soldier on. That clinched it for me! People were having babies and willing to work sick, so why was I trying to duck out? I decided at that point to officially to suck it up, slug some coffee, and do my damn job!

Well, that didn’t go so well. For starters, I was in the Kindergarten room with the woman I like to call the “micromanager”. She’s nice, but the tendency to explain simple tasks in minute detail, which annoys me! However, silver lining, she was impressed with the way I knew how to use the fancy functions on the printer and gave me a ton of administrative work to do. I like this stuff, so I spent much of the afternoon getting her lessons prepared for the coming weeks.

But of course, there were downsides. For one, it took me three cups of coffee just to keep from passing out. Two, the main child I was responsible for needed to be changed at the end of the day. This was the first time I changed a dirty diaper in my life, and it was one of the most icky experiences I’ve ever had! You don’t put a grown man and a child in a closed room together, as a rule, especially when it involves changing their clothes and cleaning them up. But I got through it and was kind of honored they trusted me enough to do something so sensitive.  Ah, and then came downside number three, which was me being given bus supervision at the end of the day. And clearly, the children picked this day to be extra hyper and constantly be out of their seats and making messes with food and drink (which they are not supposed to have on the damn bus)!

But alas, it all ended and I went home to pass out. My wife was a real sweetheart and took the bus home too, and made dinner so I could rest. I made the mistake of sucking down some beer so I could feel better, which didn’t do me any favors since the next day, the cold was back with a vengeance. And I knew that we had to get up early and go help her brother move the next day, so I tried to get some rest and recoup. Needless to say, Saturday was a real trial! All day we spent cleaning out his cottage, vacuuming up cobwebs, dealing with black mold, and trying to erase ten years of continuous habitation. My feet got soaked from the muddy grounds outside, and once again my head was throbbing and my body aching and sore.

Oh, and when I opened my email to see what I’d missed, I found a letter from the latest magazine I submitted my work to, telling me that Domicile 4.5 was not a “good fit” with their work. They didn’t even mention the numerous articles I sent them, but I assumed their opinions on those were the same. It didn’t help that the message was clearly a form email letter with the field for the title of the submission being left open. That made what was already a hard day even harder! But at least we had some hot pizza and some sack time to compensate.

Today, we go back to help out some more. The moving is largely done, but there’s still some odds and ends to pack up. Then, silver lining again, we will get to see my wife’s family and see the new puppy her mother got! She looks so cute and furry from the photos, so I imagine the day will improve. Ah, but then the weekend is over, and I’m committed to go up north to house sit my parent’s house this Wednesday, their eight cats and my grandmother during mid-week. Sounds like a mini-vacation, but we already did that this past summer; and believe me, it was not a vacation!

As I griped to my wife about last night, when am I supposed to get better here? Unless I don’t get worse today (again), and Monday and Tuesday prove to be restful and incident-free, I’ll be going north a veritable corpse, in danger of infected my grandma. Dammit body, get better! However, I anticipate a third silver lining, as the days up in Comox with little to do but housesit, catsit, and make sure my Grandma is attended to will give me plenty of time to recoup and catch up on all my writing and editing duties. I’m hoping I will be better come Wednesday, and the trip north won’t be like this weekend, feeling half-dead in the midst of highway driving!

Like I said, full of complaints and whininess. In the grand scheme, I got nothing to complain about. I just really need this week to be over, know what I’m saying?