Friday, February 09, 2007

Steorn Brands Free Energy Technology

Steorn, the company that claims it has an engine that produces free energy through magnetic field interactions, has branded its technology. They call it Orbo and I don’t know why.

On the surface the company’s claim seems valid and possible except as I pointed out in a previous post, it violates one of the fundamental principles of physics, which is that energy is never created or destroyed it is simply converted from one form to another. The net energy in the universe is constant.

As a digression, the inflation model of the universe claims that dark energy is making the universe expand. Expand into what? That's where my feeble mind melts into a pile of steaming gunk. You can talk about rising dough and raisins all you want but to create more space means more stuff and that means more energy is created. Why do I say that? Well, maybe I am wrong but there is no true vacuum. That means no true nothing exists in the universe. Even the spaces between the spaces are a froth of quantum energy where virtual particles are created and destroyed at a frantic rate. So there is no peace anywhere in the universe. No wonder I'm so anxious all the time with all that quantum foam percolating around me.

As the universe expands, the quantum foam expands which may be the dark energy that is causing the universe to expand exponentially faster instead of shrink like Einstein’s gravitational equations predict.

Maybe energy is created out of nothing after all. As the universe expands the energy within this universe gets larger forcing the process of expansion to grow.

In the end, Steorn may be just contributing to the expansion of the universe.

Maybe not.

From the Steorn Website:

“Our Claim
Orbo produces free, clean and constant energy - that is our claim. By free we mean that the energy produced is done so without recourse to external source. By clean we that during operation the technology produces no emissions. By constant we mean that with the exception of mechanical failure the technology will continue to operate indefinitely.
The sum of these claims for our Orbo technology is a violation of the principle of conservation of energy, perhaps the most fundamental of scientific principles. The principle of the conservation of energy states that energy can neither be created or destroyed, it can only change form.
Because of the revolutionary nature of our claim, not only to the world of science but to the world in general, Steorn issued a challenge to the scientific community in August 2006 to test our technology and report their findings. The process of validation that has resulted from this challenge is currently underway, with results expect by the end of 2007.”

See for yourself.

Thursday, February 08, 2007

Astronaut charged with attempted murder

ORLANDO, Fla. - She was the Robochick. He was Billy-O. According to police, her obsession with him led her to drive 900 miles from Houston to Orlando, bringing with her a trenchcoat and wig, armed with a BB gun and pepper spray, and wearing a diaper to avoid bathroom breaks on the arduous drive.



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Life 2.0, Part 4

Take it another step and we have total integration of the Internet into all our devices. Broadband cable and WiFi in every part of the home, why not? It’s just about possible now. There really is no reason my set top box, DVD player, Computer, and even my refrigerator can’t be all networked on a WiFi so that I can access information about everyone of them on a LAN or out to the World Wide Web. And why not?

I want the smart house. I want my refrigerator to send me an email when the filter in the water dispenser is low. Better yet, I want to set the preferences on my refrigerator to order me a new filter when it needs to be replaced and then email me an alert to expect the filter to arrive in the mail by UPS and by the way here’s the tracking number and here is where that package is in transit right now. Same for the air filters in my forced hot air system. What about my light bulbs in my recessed lighting?

I ask this question of myself all the time: Why do I have to stick my DVD into my computer to access the web content? With WiFi technology and a simple operating system loaded with a browser interface, my DVD player can show me the content right after I watch the movie. (Advertisers are you listening because then you know exactly my tastes by what DVD I was watching and can target those banner ads accordingly.)

Here’s another question I ask myself: Why can’t my stove give me access to the latest recipes when I am feeling inspired to cook like Emeril while watching the show on TV? I can tell my stove to access one of many websites where I can find recipes and then get a list of ingredients emailed to me or better yet WiFi the information to the printer directly. That way I can run out and get exactly what I need. There’s probably a thousand brands out there who would love to be the exclusive sponsor so when my list prints it doesn’t simply say to buy butter but Land O’ Lakes butter.

Some say this is evil. It’s like movie product placement but in your real life. And when is it too much networking? Does my lamp or my cheese grater really need a WiFi connection? Probably not. But there are major appliances that are missing an opportunity here. And the advertising reduces the cost of the actual item then so be it. Already we are getting immune to ads blasting at us on billboards, phone ads, commercials on radio and television, free websites and Google Ad Sense is everywhere, even your Aunt Tilly’s blog. But this kind of thing allows it to be free to blog, share photos and upload videos of teenagers blowing up Coke bottles.

In the next step, the web will not only be pervasive but invisible. We know it is beginning when our phones and our computers and our iPods all are coming together. When telephones and televisions started invading our homes the world became smaller and more connected. The Internet increased that networking of people across countries. Someday we’ll be talking worlds or stations in space or on the moon. If you think I am being grandiose just remember that as little as twenty years ago CDs were an extremely expensive option to cassette tape and people still bought 45RPM singles.

Some of you knew I was going to get to this eventually: The Singularity.

If anyone has been reading or listening to the theoretical talk in technology lately you might have heard of a concept called the Singularity. This idea is explained, as the time in the future when the exponential increase of technology is so fast we cannot imagine it. In Moore’s Law, the processing speed of computers will keep expanding exponentially. In the future, Artificial Intelligence, because of this infinite increase in technology, will be smarter than humans. Either the collective of computers networked throughout the world (or solar system!) will surpassed the collective human intelligence or AI will be the only way to capture this increase of technological computing power in any meaningful way. Some profess that this is the natural evolution of the universe, from organic to artificial intelligence. Of course we can also rely of biological enhancements to our own intelligence, the seeds of which we see in medical science today.

Personally I do not have that sense of impending doom regarding the advance of technology. It does make humans more dependant and somewhat lazy but it has so much going for it. I think the major debate is: What is life? Will computers and machinery ever live? Will they question their own existence? Will they have wants, needs and desires like us? Will they love? Hate?

Even if the computers can process so quickly they can network together and imitate life, the beauty of life (biological, life as we know it) is that each of us, you and me encompass a whole host of emotions, ideas, potential that I think a machine can't have. It can't grow like us. Growing, struggling, surviving despite all odds, that is what makes a being eligible to be considered alive.

Each of us in our journey from birth to death grows and learns so much that we are different from each other as can be. My universe is not your universe even though we live together. Even though we share the same space. Machines cannot live if they merely download the information they've learned from generation to generation. We have to learn it all in a unique and personal way every time, except the most basic biological functions.

In life, we must earn our way. Life is precious. Life is tragic. How concerned can I be with a machine whose whole existence is backed up on a server? You and I are not "backed up." We exist once and then as unfair as it seems, in a brief time we disappear, never to exist again. Never to occupy the same space again. Never to "be" again. That is the essence of life. It only happens once and it is beautiful and fragile. It is not a series of codes that can be copied from drive to drive. That is just data back up.

Vernor Vinge and Ray Kurzweil promote the Singularity concept, derived from the Singularity in Physics where Gravity is so strong that it verges on infinite strength. In Kurzweil’s Law of Accelerating Returns he describes exponential growth much like Moore’s Law but applies it generally to include technology from before the computing circuit.

Some have debated the idea that our technology may surpass us and lead to us becoming less and less necessary in the paradigm. Can machines overtake their maker and become the dominant intelligence force in the universe? Is that progress? If that happens will we be in a better position where the machines will strive for our well-being and general comfort like a direct intervention from a deity? Or will they adopt our power corrupting ideals, enslaving or eliminating us from the equation. Science Fiction has made much hay of this concept.

Can we avoid our own destruction not by War or Disease or Famine but by the very thing we have relied on so much to make life more and more comfortable, accessible and safe: Technology.

I think we will continue to reach to that future time as we come closer to the event horizon of the technological singularity and try to understand its implications but like the unfathomable idea of the physical singularity the singularity of the computing world may just be a possibility, ever out of reach of true understanding and conception.

In the meantime, I’m going to watch that video of a monkey peeing off a branch on YouTube again.

End.

Wednesday, February 07, 2007

Charles Darwin the 'True Source of Terror'...

Tens of thousands of French schools and universities have received copies of a Turkish book refuting Darwin's theory of evolution and describing it as "the true source of terrorism." Turkish author Harun Yahya wrote the "The Atlas of Creation," the 770-page book. Good thing for guys like this in the world or we'd run out of stupid and dangerous people with horribly distorted opinions. Glad to see that in modern times we have a guy who can write, finance, publish and distribute this type of stuff. Of course, I'm sure George W. Bush might agree with some of the book, not all, but some. I mean, we're not terrorists but that whole Evolution theory, I mean, it is just a "Theory" right?If you can't tell the sarcasm because you can hear my voice or see my face that was it up there. A theory is not a guess but the best possible explanation of the evidence at hand. People who don't know the difference use the word theory as if it means a guess or an option but theory is not that at all. A scientific theory is the sum of all the facts. Theories change only when the facts supporting the theory change. It's testable and true as far as what knowledge and evidence we posses can tell. There can be competing theories but they all must come from the facts. You can't say Intelligent Design is a theory based on the same facts as Evolution because it was not. Evolution has a long history of testable evidence that can be replicated. It has a whole host of support in the chain of the findings. Intelligent Design is a belief system. As a scientific theory it is pretty weak if not outrageously ridiculous and plain wrong.Oh and of you have to sent thousands of your books to a school unrequested, you are definately either a nutjob, promoting an unpopular hateful agenda, a cultist, or so wrong that no one would take you seriously.That's for the Scientologists. I think I see the Mothership!L.S.C.



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Charles Darwin the 'True Source of Terror'...

Tens of thousands of French schools and universities have received copies of a Turkish book refuting Darwin's theory of evolution and describing it as "the true source of terrorism." Turkish author Harun Yahya wrote the "The Atlas of Creation," the 770-page book. Good thing for guys like this in the world or we'd run out of stupid and dangerous people with horribly distorted opinions. Glad to see that in modern times we have a guy who can write, finance, publish and distribute this type of stuff. Of course, I'm sure George W. Bush might agree with some of the book, not all, but some. I mean, we're not terrorists but that whole Evolution theory, I mean, it is just a "Theory" right?If you can't tell the sarcasm because you can hear my voice or see my face that was it up there. A theory is not a guess but the best possible explanation of the evidence at hand. People who don't know the difference use the word theory as if it means a guess or an option but theory is not that at all. A scientific theory is the sum of all the facts. Theories change only when the facts supporting the theory change. It's testable and true as far as what knowledge and evidence we posses can tell. There can be competing theories but they all must come from the facts. You can't say Intelligent Design is a theory based on the same facts as Evolution because it was not. Evolution has a long history of testable evidence that can be replicated. It has a whole host of support in the chain of the findings. Intelligent Design is a belief system. As a scientific theory it is pretty weak if not outrageously ridiculous and plain wrong.Oh and of you have to sent thousands of your books to a school unrequested, you are definately either a nutjob, promoting an unpopular hateful agenda, a cultist, or so wrong that no one would take you seriously.That's for the Scientologists. I think I see the Mothership!L.S.C.



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J. K. Rowling says good bye to Harry Potter

Rowling says the last book in the series, 'Deathly Hallows' is her favourite, and that she is simultaneously heartbroken and euphoric. I say that it's about time. To be honest, the stories are not very good and the movies are long and boring. The only good thing I can say about the whole series is that it inspired a whole generation of children to put down their video games and pick up a 700 page book and read it in two days. I have to applaud her for that. Of course they went right back to the Harry Potter movies and video games, but that's besides the point.



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