I find it interesting that we are so advanced with visuals, but computer voices are still way behind. So at least voice actors in Hollywood will have jobs for a while.
Category Archives: Technology and Society
Doing Well By Doing Good
Coming up with a new way to do blood tests has made this woman, a college drop out, a billionaire.
Interstellar
The latest trailer:
Telomerase
The Salk Institute seems to have found an on/off switch for cell aging.
Faster, please.
Martine Rothblatt
As Glenn notes, I’m old enough to have known her decades ago when she was Martin. I saw her for the first time since the sex change a year ago at the New Space conference in San Jose. Anyway, a fascinating profile of her.
[Update a few minutes later]
D’oh! Now it makes sense. Gabriel Rothblatt is Martin’s/Martine’s son. He’s running for Bill Posey’s seat in Florida (at the Cape) on a space platform, and he was at this year’s conference. Unfortunately, he’s a Democrat.
The Blue Origin Engine
There’s a good report on the Bezos/Bruno announcement over at The Space Review.
Elon Musk And Mars
Diamond Nanothreads
I haven’t read the article yet, but this looks like a big breakthrough, space elevators or not.
Babying Mars
Is it time to stop worrying about contaminating it?
As I’ve often said, wannabe Mars colonists’ biggest fear should be the discovery of indigenous life there.
Neil Tyson’s Latest
“Hey, you just have to trust me on all that stuff I made up“:
Eyewitnesses are a good thing. And if you believe Neil deGrasse Tyson is your lord and savior, his eyewitness testimony is of course sufficient for verifying, for instance, that George W. Bush quote.
But what about those of us who are not in the Tyson faith-based community? Are we “anti-intellectuals” to not trust in his unverified claims? I suppose that will be the continued approach by many in the media, some folks in the Wikipedia community (whose trust in Tyson puts the most devout religious piety to absolute shame), and the other fanboys.
I’ve never been as impressed with him as those who consider themselves my intellectual superiors have been demanding, but wow, he really is a piece of work.
[Update a while later]
Tyson finally admits that he botched the Bush quote:
Tyson claims to be a man of science who follows the evidence where it leads. The evidence here clearly shows Tyson screwed up. Whether knowingly or not, he regularly repeated a false account in order to cast aspersions on another public figure. The only proper thing to do is recant and apologize. That is what a person of integrity does.
I won’t be holding my breath.