tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post112317916276654138..comments2024-03-29T06:22:47.638-07:00Comments on CONTRARY BRIN: Misc news about tech advancesDavid Brinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-1123223800391866652005-08-04T23:36:00.000-07:002005-08-04T23:36:00.000-07:006. Enabling the development of space... another li...6. Enabling the development of space<BR/><BR/>... another link of note is the <A HREF="http://www.liftport.com" REL="nofollow">LiftPort Group</A>, who appear to be <I>seriously</I> intent on getting a space elevator operating by April 12, 2018(!)<BR/><BR/>(This one's also courtesy of Worldchanging)Tony Fiskhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14578160528746657971noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-1123222048213927462005-08-04T23:07:00.000-07:002005-08-04T23:07:00.000-07:00Coincidentally, I'm watching Stewart right now cri...Coincidentally, I'm watching Stewart <I>right now</I> criticize the media's egregious use of "miracle" when describing the evacuation of that French jet liner. Wonderfully pointed.<BR/><BR/>StefanAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-1123215484074466652005-08-04T21:18:00.000-07:002005-08-04T21:18:00.000-07:00Thanks for the links and all...'good stuff.Aside f...Thanks for the links and all...'good stuff.<BR/>Aside from the technological side, there is hope to be found, I believe, in some pop culture outlets. The one that popped in my mind while reading the above, is the Daily Show with John Stewart on Comedy Central. Granted the show goes all out for the joke, but many of the ideas expressed by not only John, but the talented posse of senior news specialists that back him up, are progresive, modernist, and are deliciously subervisive towards authority, in the captial and in the media. <BR/><BR/>The enlightment has a strong tool for reaching the masses through entertainment.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-1123214605287169342005-08-04T21:03:00.000-07:002005-08-04T21:03:00.000-07:00Thanks fpoole, I knew there was a way to display t...Thanks fpoole, I knew there was a way to display those w/o processing but I wrote that post while taking a break from . . . well, writing code in an iffy port of Perl that made calls to a nonstandard shell, and took the easy way out rather than strain my brain further with another context switch. :-)<BR/><BR/>* * *<BR/><BR/>It is very interesting reading presidential science advisor John Marburger spin and weave around Bush's pronouncement about Intelligent Design. He bluntly declared that "intelligent design is not a scientific concept" and that "evolution is the cornerstone of modern biology."<BR/><BR/>Marburger was the president of my undergrad school. He was a supporter of the school SF convention and I met him a couple of times. He was hired in summer 2001 in an attempt to balance the cabinet politically. After 9/11 he essentially disappeared from public view. I'm astonished that he's hung around so long. I'd really thought around the time of the election that he would Decide to Spend More Time With His Family to be replaced by, I dunno, the Dean of Phlogistonics from Bob Jones University, or Exxon-Mobil's chief geologist.<BR/><BR/>StefanAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-1123196905288754022005-08-04T16:08:00.000-07:002005-08-04T16:08:00.000-07:00Show, don't just tell, Mark!A clickable link looks...Show, don't just tell, Mark!<BR/><BR/>A clickable link looks like this, only with angle brackets ("greater than / less than") rather than square brackers:<BR/><BR/>[A Href="http://www.worldchanging.com"]Text you want clickable[/A].<BR/><BR/>The gadget Steve links lead to a hot discussion on World Changing and was followed by this story: <A HREF="http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/002738.html" REL="nofollow">A really cheap no-power required water filter for poor countries</A>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-1123191846902084552005-08-04T14:44:00.000-07:002005-08-04T14:44:00.000-07:00David,Great links, great blog, and so on, but you ...David,<BR/><BR/>Great links, great blog, and so on, but you really need to learn how to create links you can actually click on. Just use href in the <A HREF="http://www.w3schools.com/tags/tag_a.asp" REL="nofollow">a tag</A>.Xactiphynhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08254344563346437079noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-1123184628593239982005-08-04T12:43:00.000-07:002005-08-04T12:43:00.000-07:00For some other advances that could benefit humanit...For some other advances that could benefit humanity:<BR/><BR/><A HREF="http://www.discover.com/issues/aug-05/departments/reviews/?page=2" REL="nofollow">Device that condenses water from air - a clean source for poor countries?</A><BR/><BR/><A HREF="http://my.webmd.com/content/Article/109/109309.htm" REL="nofollow">Carbon nanotubes kill cancer in vitro</A>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-1123180457773973102005-08-04T11:34:00.000-07:002005-08-04T11:34:00.000-07:00A good place to keep up on advances like these:htt...A good place to keep up on advances like these:<BR/><BR/><A HREF="http://www.worldchanging.com/" REL="nofollow">http://www.worldchanging.com/</A><BR/><BR/>It covers an amazing variety of subjects, from space travel to terraforming to technologies for enabling Third World nations to "leap frog" to high-tech prosperity.<BR/><BR/>The weekly report on alternative-fuel vehicles alone is worth the visit.<BR/><BR/>StefanAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com