April Snow

New Jersey was under an official state of emergency earlier this week due to snow, ice, flooding, downed trees and broken electric wires. It was a new record for a late snow.
The lady in the cartoon assumes that since unseasonable coldness is a trait of global warming, then unseasonable heat would have to be associated with global cooling.

An Inconvenient Spring?

Went for a walk in Pennsylvania yesterday (1/6/07). It was 70 degrees. There was nothing inconvenient about that, except perhaps for the swarming insects and the fact that I could not take the normal shortcut across the frozen pond. I photographed some Cherry and Witch Hazel trees in bloom. I never saw that in early January, then again, I never looked before. Is it “growing” evidence of global warming? I must say that many of the other trees looked completely normal for this time of year. I imagine that if we have a big blizzard in a couple of weeks it will be evidence that a new ice age is coming. This post shows that I am one of those people who have no clue as to what is happening, if anything, with our climate. There are people on both sides of the global warming issue that are totally sure of their point of view. How convenient truth is for such people, and how inconvenient the future might be for those who follow them. - Korba

Virginaught or Not

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You may have noticed the brief flurry of articles in the terrestrial news about Virgin Galactic after Richard Branson unveiled the mock-up of SpaceShipTwo at Wired Magazine’s NextFest a few weeks ago.
It’s hard to know how to take this news. Is it a small step for publicity, or is it a giant leap mankind? Well either way, I was one of the lucky few who walked around the interior cabin of the SpaceShipTwo concept model at NextFest. The cabin design is exactly what I used to think the future should look like. Now that I’m finally in that future, I’m not disappointed.
Walking around the cabin concept model is probably the closest I’ll ever get to going in space. Although, in the year 2020, I would like to book passage to the moon with one of the many private space companies that will be offering Lunar Vacations. I would like to be there to welcome the crew of NASA’s Project Orion when they finally make their next landing. I’m sure that will be quite a party.
In addition to the seeing the cabin concept, another highlight of NextFest was attending the "Virgin Galactic, Cleared for Take-off" panel discussion. It was moderated by Adam Rogers from Wired, with Will Whitehorn, President of Virgin Galactic, Stephen Attenborough, Head of Astronaut Relations for Virgin Galactic, Alex Tai, the VP of Operations for Virgin Galactic, and Brian Binnie, the pilot of SpaceShipOne who won the X Prize, and earned his seat in the Miller Lite, "Man Laws" commercials.
Brian Binnie kicked off the discussion by describing his remarkable flight experience with SpaceShipOne. Unfortunately, they couldn't get the video part of his presentation to work. With all of the thousands of parts and components that must perform flawlessly during a space flight, I hope none of critical components will involve video.
One of the key Virgin Galactic Executives (right now everyone in that company is a key executive) said that Virgin Galactic will be able to translate the incredible flight experience that Brian Binnie described during his presentation into a commercial offering. Virgin Galactic will provide a "full spectrum experience from fear to fun". For me the fear part would surely start when the pre-launch video that prepares you for take off fails, and would only end once I returned safely to earth. I like the fact that the Virgin Space Program is designed to maximize the customer experience. Where else can you, in 4 minutes of zero G, tumble past large round windows enjoying the full majesty of the Earth? So far, over 200 people have already booked their passage, and many more have expressed an interest.
As a further example of out-of-the-oblate-spheroid thinking, Branson is preparing to launch "Astronaut Idol" with the BBC and ITV (it’s that dangerous mix of video and rockets again). Assuming the show takes off, you too can apply for a chance to become the next Galactic Space Idol, and win the rocket ride of your life. If you don’t have the new and improved right stuff to be a reality astronaut, then there are still plenty of other routes into space. For example, you can cash in 2 million Virgin frequent flyer miles for a flight, or if you don’t want to spend all your miles on one small vacation, Neiman Marcus is offering a 6 person space trip charter package for $1,764,000.00.
The Neiman Marcus offering would be great opportunity for you to document your pioneering space flight for all of history. All you would have to do is purchase a ticket for a web cartoonist, as part of your 6 person crew, to document your adventure.
With the Astronaut Idol and all the other high profile publicity seeking gimmicks, it is easy to disregard the Virgin Galactic venture. However, I learned at NextFest, that Virgin Galactic and associated companies like Burt Rutan's Scaled Composites are making a considerable investment in developing new lightweight composite materials and innovative spacecraft designs. Also, Branson is working to develop highly efficient fuel technologies, and has just contributed $3 billion for this effort. These contributions should lead to low cost space missions with significantly reduced environmental impacts. Many of these technologies may be scalable to larger and longer missions. I was told at the Virgin exhibit booth that governments won’t develop these technologies. It will ultimately be up to private industry to do so. Perhaps Branson is the right guy, at the right time, with the right vision, and the right mix of PT Barnum and Christopher Columbus to make this happen. Perhaps the market will grow to the point where "there’s a Virginaut born every minute … and two to fly ‘em’".
The future of commercial space missions will go one of two ways. Either low cost access to space will open up to large numbers of us, or it will remain highly restricted. The way the world is going it might be a good idea to book early and become a Virginaut while you can, and don’t forget, bring me along. – korba.

In the Picture:


Row 1:
NextFext Banner inside the Javits Center
Row 2:
"Virgin Galactic, Cleared for Take-off" panel discussion moderated by Adam Rogers of Wired, with Adam Rogers from Wired, with Will Whitehorn, President of Virgin Galactic, Stephen Attenborough, Head of Astronaut Relations for Virgin Galactic, Brian Binnie, the pilot of SpaceShipOne who won the X Prize, and Alex Tai the VP of Operations for Virgin Galactic.

Brian Binnie, Alex Tai
Row 3:
Interior shots of SpaceCraftTwo Cabin Concept Model
Row 4:
SpaceCraftOne and SpaceCraftTwo Cabin Concept Model at the Virgin Galactic Booth
Row 5:
SpaceCraftTwo Concept

The Uncanny Horizon

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Wired Magazine’s NextFest was like a magical lens that let me peer over the spatiotemporal horizon into the future. Of course, horizons are sometimes populated by mirages of shimmering cities, and the entrance to NextFest was though a shimmering misty holoscreen.

One of the first citizens that I encountered in that mystical futuristic land of NextFest was Jules. They call Jules an “androdgenoid” because its face was made from a composite of the 3D face scans of thousands of men and women. I was surprised at how pleasant looking that average was, so I had my own face scanned at the show. That alone should be enough to end the age of pleasant looking robots.

In the right light, and at the right distance, and with the desire for it to be so, I was amazed at how human looking Jules skin appeared. Jules face went through an amazing range of emotions, many more than I am capable of expressing. The expressions were realistic enough to be believable. For entire milliseconds, the illusion that Jules is human holds. However, that spark of life flickers off as fast as it starts and you’re left looking at something very creepy like an animated dead person. In fact that effect has a name. It is called the Uncanny Valley, and I was standing in it.

NextFest let me envision a world populated by both humans and autonomous human like robots. There may come a day when that hard working boss of yours, that sets the tone at work, might really be a robot, and you’ll never know, as you work ever harder just to keep up.

However, right now these human like special effects are largely preprogrammed. Many of these robots seem to be little more than very large, multimillion dollar Tickle Me Elmo toys. That’s not to understate the great achievement in getting to this point, but the next level of meaningful changes will be a lot harder to achieve, and will no doubt take a lot longer. Perhaps none of us alive today will live to see them. Then again, we might be surprised by sudden breakthroughs. Let’s hope so/not.

After attending the “Robots Almost Human” panel discussion, I ordered a drink at the Robobar from a robotic bartender that used to build cars back in the days when there was a robust auto building industry. I quickly tired of listening to its endless litany of the same jokes as it spoke with each customer in the same way. I turned my attention one last time to the Kokoro Actroid and watched her dance a traditional Japanese dance. I raised my glass, filled with a drink the RoboBar calls “sparkling sunshine” and gave a toast to the future as seen over Wired Magazine’s uncanny horizon. - Korba

In the Picture (click on photo to enlarge):

Row1:

NextFext Banner outside the Javits Center,
“Robots Almost Human” panel discussion moderated by Adam Rogers of Wired, with David Hanson, Hanson Robotics, Takehashi Mita, Kokoro; Dr. Jun-Ho Oh, KAIST.

Row 2:

Robonaut with Centaur Base, NASA,
Partner Ballroom Dance Robots from Tohoku University, Nomura Unison, Troiso (with Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipOne in the background)
Future Force Warrior, US Army Natick Soldier Center

Row 3:

Jules by Hanson Robotics
Alex Hubo, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology
Actroid Der, Kokoro
RoboBar by Motoman

The Spinach Ban

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The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) lifted its ban on most fresh spinach after the source of the E. Coli outbreak was identified.

The panic around spinach was interesting to watch. Supermarkets, and restaurants were very quick to remove spinach from sale. The fast food restaurants were among the fastest to drop the dangerous goods. Yet, products made from Trans Fatty Acids from partially hydrogenated oils tend to stay on the menu. Are the risks faced by a regular consumer of foods loaded with trans fatty acids in line with someone who has a high risk life style of eating lots of raw spinach? If E. Coli laced spinach made donuts taste better would it be as slow in coming off the menu as products laced with trans fatty acids?

The Laughing Tree

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I am fascinated by Simulacra and the meaning we ascribe to them. This week the Drudge Report had a link to an article about a betel nut tree with a frond resembling a Pacific Island ritual mask. They call it The Ghost Tree.

As you might imagine, this event is causing quite a stir in its local community. Some are even selling photos of it for 2 ringgit (under $1.00). That’s cheap compared to the religious image in the grilled cheese sandwich that sold on eBay for $28,000. This shows that the more specific a simulacrum, the more valuable it is. This is too bad, because I saw a cloud this morning that looked just like Abe Lincoln.

The Laughing Tree grows in the neighboring woods near our home. It’s a much better simulacrum than the tree that received all that international attention because it looks just like one of those trees from the “Wizard of Oz”. Finding trees with simulacrum is easy because we have many neurons dedicated to face recognition. The search gives them something to do on their time off. Using these abilities is a great way to supplement our income because there are always plenty of people willing to pay for good simulacra on eBay. As for The Laughing Tree, I’ll just let it grow. I won’t sell it on eBay, and I won’t issue a press release to bring in the crowds (especially if it somehow got linked to the local legendary Jersey Devil).

By the way, I wonder what The Laughing Tree finds so funny. - Korba

Thoughts on the 5th Anniversary of September 11th (09/11/2006)

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The below is an extract from my Journal the week of September 11, 2001. It is exactly as I entered it into the Handspring Visor I had at that time.

"12:42 pm: Liberty State Park – across the river from Ground Zero

We get out of our car and walk through a circle of American flags flying at half-mast. We walk along the causeway towards Ellis Island. It is very dramatic to see the Statue of Liberty standing in that smoke plume that is being blown across the river. Through the smoke, the gold torch is burning so bright in reflected sunlight.

The smoke descends on us as we look through a telescope at the mountain of broken glass and masonry. The sadness of knowing there may be thousands of people trapped under that debris is beyond all belief. Our throats are hurting from breathing the smoke. There is a nearby car playing “America” through a bullhorn on the roof. It is an overwhelming moment.

When I watched the news on September 11th, it just did not seem real. That is why I came here. I came here to connect to it so I could understand it. What I learned from this visit is that it is just too far removed from what can be comprehended."

Five years later, I still feel that I can’t connect to it. What I do know is that we need to remember. We need to remember those who perished in the 3 locations. We need to remember their families and loved ones. We need to never forget those first responders who freely risked their lives and health.

The world seems to have become a much worse place than it was before September 11, 2001. In spite of this, it is my hope and my belief that when this century ends, the world will be at peace. I hope I am not being too naive.

I didn't bring my camera on that day because I thought it would be obscene to take pictures. I ended up taking a few photographs using a disposable camera that I bought in the area. I still have mixed feelings about having done so. Those pictures are posted at the top of this post.

One of the photos is of the Katyn Forest Monument. The statue is at Exchange Place in Jersey City. It sits directly across the river from Ground Zero. The monument shows a man with a bayonet in his back. In spite of being stabbed in the back, he is still standing. I thought that this scene with the smoke filled Ground Zero in the background was very poignant. - Korba