Category: not Sci-Fi
JFK Moon Speech & Elon Mars Plans and the House grills SpaceX
You know i like the fact i am not a monkey but a part of space faring species. I really like people and things with balls. What i think makes us not monkey is the fact that monkeys just chill and chew which is probably enough even for some people.. but i like to think we can do better, and we do in fact make the world better, we are creators.
This is so crazy and Elon goes so matter of factly about it – it is awesome!
And finally – the U.S. House Armed Services Committee grills SpaceX – it is gold!
If they use the word “certification” one more time – I’ll throw my mac at this tree down in the garden. Also, when people say “ho-when” as opposed to “when” – the person is from Ohio, guaranteed.
I used to work for the Army and DoD – and things are usually slow in the Army but then i applied for a job to work as an artist on a base in Alabama, a Colonel called me and said i have to do an art test. And I said okay – sure. He said you have 48 hours starting now and hung up. There went my Army career.
Elon Musk’s Space Dream:
Electro – a great looking walking and talking robot with a bad habit
http://www.npr.org/2012/04/02/149850779/americas-first-celebrity-robot-is-staging-a-comeback
.
.
1939 ELEKTRO the Smoking Robot!!! New York World’s Fair
Westinghouse – Chapter 31 – Elektro and the Time Capsule
Jupiter Down Under
Everything I ever dreamed of as a kid, all the Isaac Asimov novels with all the wonders of the universe in them. We need to know how great it feels to be explorers – because it feels so much better than setting up wars isn’t it. I dream of a time in the future when even the gloomiest schmuck of a politician will get up in the morning and the first thought in their brain would be something good, something grand and something far away.
All our dreams are becoming a reality, today in our solar system but who knows what tomorrow will bring. I’d imagine once a new propulsion is invented we’ll be hopping planets the way we do continents today. All the new dreams will, by necessity, replace the old needs for greed, violence and war.
Remember when Asimov talked about silly machines that answer questions in every home. I have a weird dream where overnight all purses become little models of space ships, all Ikea stores wake up as independence day like huge alien crafts just awoken from slumber – when they start rising and shaking – all kinds of particle board furniture starts falling off into big heaps… and humanity wakes up to a future without a need for furniture.
..
Jupiter’s North Pole Unlike Anything Encountered in Solar System:
http://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/jupiter-s-north-pole-unlike-anything-encountered-in-solar-system
Jupiter Down Under:
http://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/jpl/pia21032/jupiter-down-under
BE A MARTIAN!
Distractions in Space
When you are a creator – you are in control
Steve Jobs once said that the computer is going to be like a bicycle for the mind, Joseph Campbell called the inside of a PC a hierarchy of angels.
This is an insight into the meaning of tools and technology in our lives from an Indian teacher. He says machines are Yantras, deities that enhance what we already are, we are an enhanced beings:
.
So what is the problem with technology? People often complain and the media propagates this spiritless image of humans mindlessly staring down into phones and devices. We are bored already after a playlist or two, and surely fatigued with pictures of french fries stacked against stadiums..
But can you imagine Steve Jobs (rip) or Elon Musk scratching themselves on the back of their heads with their phones, bored out of their minds? That is what it means to be a creator, to use technology to be in control. You are only in the driver’s seat when you create, when you generate output. It is a one-way street, it is a drainpipe with one-way flow – you are either on the intake or you produce.
I had the privilege of teaching very little and very bright kids recently, and when kids are super bright there’s no hiding, all is reduced to a string of truths. I tell them that no matter what software they learn or what sort of science they master – they need to be aware of the fact that the only true power in the world is the power to create. When you are a creator – you are in control.
When you are mere consumer you are at the mercy of what has been generated for you. When you are the creator, whether you create objects of the mind or make cakes – you are in charge of the content and the process. You can use your faculties to get better at either. Software is just a tool, the computer is just a tool, once you have learned how to use couple of different software products – you get clarity on the principle and you can quickly grasp any other.
To be a creator requires a lot of mental and physical energy, it is a lifestyle and it can’t be done just a little bit. I remember Lessig’s AMA on Reddit where he said he wanted to be a part-time president… Can you imagine being 50 percent in control 50 percent of the time of the most powerful nation? How about being 50 percent in control 50 percent of the time of the most powerful intelligence on earth?
Recently had to put together a little awning for the top floor of my house, the old one was reduced to rags by strong winds, and had to find something quickly as guests were coming to stay in a few days. I have a great Brother machine back in the States and have only used it to make some canvas pieces and wearables for my installations. Sewing is otherwise boring and repetitive and I can’t stay with it for longer than the quick completion of a project.
At the house there is this absolutely incredible piece of German engineering – my grandma’s 1904 Singer sewing machine. Naturally, the machine manual was online and someone had already figured out how to thread it on youtube. I found a large piece of fabric and also some lost stretches of ethernet cable laying around.. It took 10 minutes of youtubing and 50 minutes of trial and error and these magical devices came together on my green drawing table to help me make a little wobbly but otherwise perfectly reasonable awning.
Yeah, it was a lot more fun than shopping, it was probably more time consuming as it took me awhile to put together the awning with lots of bobbin winding and battles with seas of fabric late at night. I affirmed the usefulness of a forgotten tool which later served me for more projects around the house, I saved tons of cash, I learned german engineers from 110 years ago knew more about ergonomics than I would have thought. This incredible piece of technology that is grandma’s Singer worked out of the box without a hitch.. knowing that no one had probably touched it in 20 years. High five to the creator who perfected it!
Oops! And how can I possibly forget about zip ties, such a simple thing but imagine trying to tie down my awning with rope?! It will take several experienced sailors! The short version, for those who are just browsing to kill some time at work and don’t really care is this: someone realized that it would be useful, and they invented it.
.
.
