The Geek Church

If you’re a registered voter in your local city and state, then it’s likely that you believe in the power of the ballot. Of course, voters want to make their voices heard concerning the changing and passing of old and new laws and the election of politicians looking to take office in local, state and federal government. However, voting is more difficult for U.S. citizens who don’t regularly live in the States due to their current residency in a foreign country for a professional career, military service or other personal reasons. So, the idea of internet voting is being put into effect as a solution for these Americans living over seas.

At this time, thirty-three states are planning to provide the service of online ballots for U.S. citizens who are living in other countries. The purpose of this internet service is to ensure that these people don’t lose their right to vote just because they’re not currently in the United States. Furthermore, internet voting will begin with the upcoming November election later this year. A number of trial programs are being used to develop the best way of casting votes. However, no information about these programs or the selected method of voting is currently available.

So, it seems that the Internet is being used as a “cure-all” device to solve all sorts of problems in society, including voting access for U.S. citizens over seas. Nevertheless, using the information superhighway might not be the best answer for American voters outside of the country. Security will always be a serious issue due to the easy availability of the Internet and the ability of hackers to crack systems for the stealing and manipulating of information. Since no website is completely secure and no security system is perfect, internet voting could turn out to be a method that causes more problems than it can solve. Unfortunately, not everyone with internet access is trustworthy and misusing the Worldwide Web is all too easy.

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This past Sunday, President Obama made time in his busy schedule to serve as a key-note speaker at a graduation ceremony for Hampton University. Of course, he gave a speech to congratulate the college graduates on their accomplishment, encourage them about their potential and inspire them to embrace their future with passion and vision. However, his commencement address to the students took a very bizarre turn when he chose to identify certain game consoles and mobile tech products as detriments of our society.

In his speech, Obama specifically mentioned the X-Box, Playstation, iPod and iPad and described them as devices that devalue and weaken the power of information. According to the U.S. President, information is supposed to be a tool of empowerment for people in our society, especially the nation’s youth. Furthermore, his argument is that personal electronic devices of entertainment only turn knowledge into a distraction or diversion. Apparently, Obama believes that the impact of these game consoles and mobile tech products is a threat to the future of this generation’s youth, our country’s future and even our system of democracy. You might be interested to know that the President previously bashed the X-Box last year during a speech to the NAACP as well. In that speech, he argued that parents have to be involved in their children’s education and must remove the game console as a distraction.

Nonetheless, it is important to note that Obama also admitted his own lack of knowledge and experience with these devices since he has never used them. Personally, I find it amusing that the U.S. President is openly criticizing products of entertainment, communication and internet access even though he’s never tried them before. This argument in his speech about the devaluing of information in society seems to be a basic ploy to score public relation points with parents and graduating students who shun these devices. Politicians are certainly known for targeting popular products in our culture for open contempt to gain public favor during their speeches. Sadly, this commonly leads to poorly-conceived arguments and statements that only come back to hurt the reputation of these politicians after public and media reactions have fully set in. Indeed, this may also apply to Obama’s attack on game consoles and mobile tech products as well.

At least his recent statement didn’t include the Wii. Nintendo, you can still breathe easy for now but watch your back.

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In the pursuit of energy conservation and protecting the environment, researchers to explore the possibilities of safe, renewable sources of power. Of course, well-known options of clean, potentially plentiful energy include solar, wind and hydro power. But what about harvesting the power of underwater tides as another possibility for safe, renewable energy? Well, a company from Sweden called Minestro has found a way to make this concept possible.

They developed a new turbine called Deep Green and it was designed to function as an “underwater kite”. It works by staying underwater, tied to the seabed and generates energy derived from the motion of the ocean itself. The Deep Green turbine is relatively small in its size, which is measured at twelve meters across and it’s capable of generating five hundred watts of energy when it’s in active use.

Minestro recently receiving 2.5 million dollars in funding to begin testing of their underwater kite next year. If this project is successful, we’ll be using electricity generated from the oceans in the near future. However, I can’t help noticing that this underwater kite looks like a smaller version of the Enterprise spaceship from Star Trek. So, we could be entering a new and perhaps final frontier of energy usage.

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In this age of modern warfare, research and development of new weapons technology is constantly in motion. Scientists, researchers and inventors continue to conceive designs for better weapons to make soldiers more effective on the battlefield. You might be familiar with the concept of an advanced gun with programmable, adaptive ammunition for handling a variety of situations. Well, technology has finally come far enough for the military to bring this concept into the real world.

A new weapon called the XM-25 Individual Airburst Weapon has been developed for military personnel. This gun actually fires a 25-millimeter “smart round” that can be pre-programmed to detonate at a specific distance chosen by the shooter. Not only is the XM-25 is capable of spreading shrapnel in all directions when firing explosive rounds, but it is also equipped with a rangefinder that allows a soldier to determine the actual range of a current target and manually adjust the gun’s bullets to detonate accordingly under the current circumstances of a situation. The main purpose of the XM-25 is to give soldiers the ability to attack entrenched targets around corners and in buildings with greater ease.

Currently, the XM-25 Individual Airburst Weapon is being tested at the Aberdeen Test Center in Maryland. It seems that this smart gun is meant to be the ideal weapon for giving soldiers versatility and a tactical advantage for various types of threats in combat. This new firearm could serve as an example of new weapons technology inspired by the imaginary technology we often see in science fiction. However, I hope this weapon was also designed with safeguards against misfiring rounds. On the battlefield, a soldier’s worst enemy may not be hostile combatants but a “yet-to-be-proven”, heavy-looking, experimental gun with explosive ammo.

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The search for a perfect human society. Scientists, philosophers and architects have all studied and explored the possibilities of achieving it. Furthermore, we also see depictions of this concept in the form of futuristic civilizations from science fiction in film and television. Now an Alabama-based company called Forrest Fulton Architecture has developed their own vision for an ideal utopia.

They call their concept Lace Hill and the city of Yerevan in Armenia was chosen as the setting for the design project. Forrest Fulton Architecture’s idea is to create a 900,000 square foot biomorphic spatial surface that connects the adjacent city and the landscape. Lace Hill would be a truncated hill along the natural amphitheater of the Yerevan and this model could support a “holistic, ultra-green lifestyle” with overlapping natural and urban phenomenon. Lace Hill is an artificial hill, clothed in native plants irrigated with a recycled gray water system to create outside seats for viewing the Yerevan and Mt. Ararat. It was designed to consist of exterior perforations based on the intricate details of traditional Armenian lace needlework and their purpose to serve as outdoor space to provide amazing views. Next, a series of tower-voids would function as cooling towers that allow light to completely fill the interior while cooling that space at the same time. Then northern winds passing over the tower-voids’ ponds would serve to generate a giant evaporative cooling mechanism for the semi-arid city.

Forrest Fulton Architecture also intends to use eco-friendly techniques in the development of this project. Surfaces on Lace Hill would be painted to absorb solar heat, filter air and water-borne toxins and support insect and animal life while recycled gray water serves for irrigation of agriculture and plants on the hill. Lastly, the use of sunlight is meant to play a key role in the activities and events that take place on Lace Hill. Living spaces would be located on the long south face of the hill to maximize direct sunlight for views while offices are on the north face of the hill, using indirect light. A narrow office floor plate stepping down toward the south will provide adequate, diffuse daylight. Then retail, restaurants, exhibition halls, a cinema, and a health center line the promenade at the first level. Now, that’s quite a vision for a new, human utopia to revolutionize civilization as we know it. However, I wonder how much it would cost to actually create this ideal utopia and whether or not it could truly function effectively in the real world.

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If you grew up watching classic television shows like The Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman or even heard of them, then you should be familiar with the concept of using bionic prosthesis to make a human stronger and faster. On television, actors Lee Majors and Lindsay Wagner portrayed characters who became superhuman when they received surgical bionic implants after their bodies were crippled in terrible accidents. As a result of their surgeries, these TV characters gained superhuman strength, speed and agility. Of course, prosthesis does exist in real-life for replacing limbs on victims of tragic accidents but those artificial limbs can’t make people superhuman. But now a company called Touch Bionics has made bionic prosthesis a reality in the real world.

They recently developed a new model of their original bionic creation the i-Limb Hand and it’s called the i-Limb Pulse. The i-Limb Pulse features controllable grip strength, miniaturized components and rugged aluminum construction that make it capable of lifting and carrying loads up to 200 pounds. This bionic hand was designed with high-frequency electronic pulses to drive each digit motor to gradually tighten its grip on objects such as shoelaces or belts and provide better control over intricate grasping motions. Bluetooth-enabled software called MyBioSim is also used to allow people to control preset digit and grip postures, like pointing an index finger for example and this software is used in Touch Bionics’ finger product ProDigits as well. Furthermore, the users of the i-Limb Pulse can also link it to a home computer and choose the grip patterns they want to use most, thus making visits to a prosthesis doctors obsolete. Both the i-Limb Hand and Pulse use faint signals on the surface of human skin called myoelectric impulses, which remain from surviving arm muscles. Then these sensations are utilized to drive the individually powered digits in the bionic hands and patients are trained to generate impulses for prompting the hands to produce specific finger actions like button pushing. The i-Limb Pulse will also be available in two different sizes for men and women.

Touch Bionics has scheduled a presentation of the i-Limb Pulse at Orthopaedie + Reha-Technik 2010 in Leipzig, Germany next week. Another new product in bionic prosthesis called the BeBionic hand will also be introduced at Reha-Technik 2010 by a company named RSLSteeper. BeBionic features powered wrist rotation and “flexion/extension,” as well as lifelike silicone skin covering available in 19 shades. Touch Bionics is now accepting orders for the i-Limb Pulse, their products are currently used by 1,200 people all over the world and shipping for i-Limb Pulse starts on June 1. However, the company has given no information about cost, which will be affected by factors such as socket design, artificial skin covering, and rehab. So, bionic prosthesis now exist for increasing your strength. Perhaps that brings us a step closer to creating superhumans in real life as well.

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Riding a bicycle to get from one place to another in a neighborhood, community or city has a number of benefits. By using a bike, you save money on gas and can go through areas that aren’t accessible by car. You also get more exercise through cycling and it’s a cheaper form of transportation than automobiles overall. But what if you want to enjoy these benefits of bicycling without having to spend up to a hundred dollars or more on a bike of your own? Well, the bicycle company Trek is ready to help you with their new bike sharing system.

They call this bike sharing system B-cycle and it’s currently making its grand debut in the city of Denver. Trek has set up a series of B-cycle stations all over Denver. In order to use this bike sharing system, you first have to start your own account. Then you can use a bike from any B-cycle station and drop it off at the station nearest to you after using it. Each B-cycle bike is equipped with a GPS unit that tracks your route when you ride it. Having a GPS inside these bicycles also allows you to check one of them out online after you’ve set up your B-cycle account.

Furthermore, the daily cost for using B-cycle is only $5 while a year’s worth of service is also available for $65. These service costs seem to be quite affordable and offer a nice alternative to consumers who want to use a bicycle without owning one. Trek is currently working to install their bike sharing system in a bunch of other cities but no information about these cities is available at this time. However, you do have the option of going online to vote on bringing B-cycle to your city at the Trek website if you don’t live in Denver. According to sources, the support of many grassroots organizations and enough public interest is required in order to bring this bike sharing system to New York City. Perhaps you can get B-cycle too if you get enough people in your city go online and rock the vote.

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If you were to ask an adult gamer who grew up through various generations of console systems about Nintendo’s first true effort in 3D gaming, he’d probably say it was the Virtual Boy console. However, you might be interested to know that Nintendo developed a 3D device that predates the Virtual Boy, which was released over a decade ago in 1995. This device was actually made during the era of the original Famicom from Japan.

In those days, Nintendo created a 3D accessory that was compatible with the Famicom console. It was called the Famicom 3D. It consisted of a pair of LCD shutter glasses hooked up to the console and it would sync with both the left and right eye to make images on the screen a credible 3D gaming experience. However, only a few games were actually developed with Famicom 3D compatibility since the device never gained popularity in Japan.

As a result, Nintendo didn’t risk bringing this accessory to the United States after its unsuccessful run in the land of the rising sun. Furthermore, gamers who actually used the Famicom 3D complained about motion sickness and headaches, which served to make the product’s failure certain in the gaming world. Well, there’s your dose of gaming history for the day, dear readers. Let’s see if Nintendo has learned anything from the failure of the Famicom 3D and the Virtual Boy flop when they launch the upcoming 3DS in the near future.

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There are less conventional methods of eating foods than using kitchen utensils like knifes, forks and spoons. Of course, there was various types of foods that you can eat with your hands. Furthermore, culinary creations made in a blender can be enjoyed through a straw if there’s enough liquid in it and the mixture isn’t too thick. But what about eating food shot directly at your face by a cannon? Apparently, Tyler B. Robinson thought this was a good idea and actually created a cannon that shoots cupcukes. This certainly gives the expression “Playing with your food” a whole new meaning.

Robinson’s cannon is capable of firing cupcukes with 120 pounds of force per square inch. This creation seems to be a personal invention, so it might not be available for purchase at a store or through special order and there’s no current information about price. However, such a device may serve many different real-life appliances if it was ever mass produced. It could start out as a personal entertainment tool in food fights, then become a device for carnival or circus games and finally lead to the development of non-lethal weaponry with food as the ammunition of choice. Nonetheless, with this cupcuke cannon, you can finally shoot your cake and eat it too.

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Great disasters in nature are an unfortunate part of life on Earth and various relief efforts are made by governments, organizations and individuals to help those in need. Of course, New Orleans is still feeling long-term effects since Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Furthermore, there are also the recent earthquakes in Haiti and Chile earlier this year and relief efforts are currently in progress to help survivors of these tragic events. Now, engineers from BP are proposing a possible solution to stop the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Their idea is to construct an enormous, underwater dome that would be placed over the spill to stop the further spread of oil and provide an opportunity for the spilled oil to be sucked up later. According to the Wall Street Journal, BP hopes to have this dome built and put in place within two weeks. However, a similar attempt to stop an oil spill with an underwater dome was made in 1979 after the great spill at the Ixtoc well off the coast of Mexico. Unfortunately, this effort ended in failure because the dome couldn’t withstand the damage inflicted by rough seas and the project was inevitably discontinued.

Nonetheless, smaller oil spills have been handled through the use of an underwater dome, though the builders of those domes weren’t facing a underwater depth of five thousand feet like the BP engineers are confronted with now. Sadly, time may be running out in this situation. Even if these engineers succeed in executing their plan, it might not be in time to stop the spread of oil to the coast, which is predicted to occur in a matter of days. So, actually stopping this oil spill entirely would be nothing short of a miracle. Personally, I hope the BP engineers or someone else can find a way.

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