Various amusing or interesting topics, or things that shock and appall me. Kind of a miscellaneous bin.
Here’s a 3D-printing application I really didn’t foresee. It looks interesting, but at those prices, it’s going to be a long time before it catches on. Now, when someone invents a machine that scans your mouth and produces one of these in a few minutes for $10 or less, and puts it in Wal-Mart stores …
Continue reading ‘“3D-printed toothbrush scrubs chompers in 6 seconds”’ »
I’ve often wondered what the future would look like if someone did create a true artificial intelligence, and it was simple enough that anyone could do it once they knew how. I’ve often thought that most of today’s intellectual jobs would just vanish, the way that so many blue-collar jobs did when automation started replacing …
Continue reading ‘“I, for one, welcome our robotic communist jobless future”’ »
It is with great sadness that I have to agree with this article. When I was growing up, we were taught that the US was the greatest nation on Earth. There was even some evidence that objectively supported it — the Manhattan project (and the fact that we were so collectively horrified at the fates …
Continue reading ‘“NSA Prism: Why I’m boycotting US cloud tech – and you should too”’ »
What are “grups,” you might ask? It’s from the original Star Trek: “Grups” is a nerdy reference to an old Star Trek episode in which Kirk and crew land on a planet run entirely by kids, who call grown-ups “grups.” All the adults have been killed off by a terrible virus, which also slows the …
Continue reading ‘“Up With Grups: The Ascendant Breed of Grown-Ups Who Are Redefining Adulthood”’ »
I’ve mentioned a couple times before that machines just seem to like me. Apparently I’m not alone: The one thing I do have in my favour is fairy dust: I have the innate ability to correct computer problems, especially software issues, by magic. Allow me to explain. Have you read in the more fantastical papers …
In which the villains finally get their come-uppance. Remember the scammers I talked about several times last year? They didn’t stop, I just stopped reporting on them. We’ve been averaging a call from them every couple weeks since then, all from the “Windows Support Department” or “Windows Technical Service Department” (of what company, they never …
On a recent visit to our local Big City, I saw this spray-painted onto an overpass: “ I’m not a big fan of graffiti, but this is geek graffiti, and both amusing and intellectual. It might be tolerable in this particular instance. 😉
While roaming the Internet, I stumbled across this article. It’s from 2007, but its contents are still very relevant: […] Through much of the 20th century, lead in U.S. paint and gasoline fumes poisoned toddlers as they put contaminated hands in their mouths. The consequences on crime, Nevin found, occurred when poisoning victims became adolescents. …
Continue reading ‘“Research Links Lead Exposure, Criminal Activity”’ »
(sigh) When I left the office last night, it looked like I was just one step from releasing the first Windows beta of our new product. This afternoon I sat down, wrote up an installer script, built the installer, and proudly handed it over to GoddessJ for final Quality Assurance testing. In less than ten …
This looks like the fulfillment of every six-year-old boy’s dreams. Just watch the video! Even knowing it’s possible (assuming it’s not a hoax — doesn’t look like it to me) stirs my childhood fantasies.