Marshall asks:
What do you think of 3-D printers? Are you excited? Do you have plans? Or do you think, "Oh, man I don't even...that's for kids of kids to enjoy but I ain't got time to worry about it."
What a fantastic and unexpected question.
In 1999 I was working in a multimedia/ video production office and we were helping produce a video for a faculty going for an NSF grant. He was helping to develop a process that, at the time, was called "Solid Freeform Fabrication", I believe. I stood there and watched the process happen (well, watched it on the monitor), and couldn't understand how this was happening, how it was possible.
It was an amazing technology, watching parts within parts rise from a sea of dust on the power of lasers and engineering. It was like a special FX sequence but it was happening in front of me, just one of many terrific sci-fi as life moments that I experienced working in the College of Engineering (nuclear reactors, robots, super computers... it was always something new and bizarre). But I didn't really understand the implications until recent times when it seems that this technology will move out of corporate environments and could soon be consumer-grade stuff.
Like the distribution of media via electronic means or the coming change in education, I'm watching with bated breath. Self-produced manufactured goods is the next game changer. In fifteen years, kids will draw their ideas for toys into an app and print their own action figures. We won't go to the store to buy certain or, perhaps, many items... we'll just buy the design online based on ratings and print up that thing at home. We'll have access to things imagined by weird people who never wanted to be mechanical engineers, but they've had an idea and refined it and now it's just out there in the sea of ideas. Maybe you'll buy a portable battery device to make it work. It's the @#$%ing Diamond Age.
It's going to have us ready to similarly work with and feel comfortable with other technologies that enable us to generate and design technologies at home. 3D printing today, matter converters tomorrow. Making iPhone Apps is going to seem like rubbing two sticks together for a spark.
I was extremely ecstatic until someone mentioned that guy who was putting designs online for making guns, and suddenly I got a lot less excited. If you can print up a gun, what else are you going to print up? A drone to fly that gun into my living room?
None of this means I think we need to control 3D printers or have some sort of government oversight on printing, but it dissolves the supply chain that could be interrupted to keep some items out of the hands of folks who wouldn't normally be licensed to have military assault weapons. Between you and me, I don't want 13 year-olds printing up M-16s before their parents come home from work.
Let's them them print up nunchucks and shuriken, though, because every kid should have those.
So, yeah, stuff is going to get real complicated with this amazing new power we're giving ourselves.
For me... well, I lack imagination. I don't know what I'd print out immediately. A lifesize bust of our own Randy? A Theodore Roosevelt action/ adventure playset? I don't know.
But as these things become accessible and better, I look forward to how it will create opportunity for artists, for inventors, engineers, scientists, kids... all of us, I guess.
Film. Comics. Sci-Fi. Superheroes. Pulp. Noir. History. Superman. 20th Century Archaeology.
Monday, March 4, 2013
Happy Birthday, KareBear
Today is my mother's birthday.
In her honor, here is Neil Diamond singing "America". I welcome you to clap along slightly off beat with the song, knowing that, wherever she is, The KareBear will be doing the same.
and, because, it's her b-day, let us all enjoy the 1973 Hawaii performance of "Suspicious Minds" by King Elvis.
Dang, yo. There is nobody else like The King, is there?
Happy birthday, Ma! We love you.
In her honor, here is Neil Diamond singing "America". I welcome you to clap along slightly off beat with the song, knowing that, wherever she is, The KareBear will be doing the same.
and, because, it's her b-day, let us all enjoy the 1973 Hawaii performance of "Suspicious Minds" by King Elvis.
Dang, yo. There is nobody else like The King, is there?
Happy birthday, Ma! We love you.
Sunday, March 3, 2013
For Pope Benedict as he departs office
Apparently, in 2005, I welcomed Pope Benedict XVI to the job with this post...
So, so much has changed since 2005.
We lost Jackson, YouTube became a thing you could embed....
As Pope Ben leaves office, let's hear it one more time...
That's right, I've been blogging longer than a Pope's tenure in office.
So, so much has changed since 2005.
We lost Jackson, YouTube became a thing you could embed....
As Pope Ben leaves office, let's hear it one more time...
That's right, I've been blogging longer than a Pope's tenure in office.
Your Questions Answered: What's Up With All the Blogging?
Anonymous asks:
Why do you keep blogging after all these years? What keeps you going? Do you like the attention?
Wow, tough questions from the crowd.
At the end of this month, I will mark my ten year anniversary of my first blog post. In internet time, that's an eon.
What started me then is not why I'm doing it now, if I can even recall why I did it then. Truthfully, the original League of Melbotis blog was more or less about having a one-to-many communication tool for myself when I'd moved to a place where I was far from people I knew, and had nobody to talk to (aside from Jamie), and pestering people with email had gone about as far as it could go.
Back then, blogging hadn't really taken the shape it has now of routine columns on single topics. It was closer to journaling, in my opinion, but the public forum-ness of blogging meant a push and pull of having an audience that just writing for and to yourself won't ever have.
But why am I still doing it?
There are a lot of reasons.
I do believe writing continually has improved my ability to think critically.
I think.
Maybe.
Blogging routinely does mean I apply some thought to media and how that media is produced when I act as a consumer. If reading that pondering is useful for others (ie: you), well... I'm happy for you guys! But I did figure out years and years ago that this works best if I do this for myself first, and if its of benefit to other people, that's a very nice thing, but it can't be my primary concern.
I write with myself as my primary audience, assuming there are other The League's out there.
And, it turns out, there are other people out there who have found a reason to return, even if their own voices are very different. I do feel some responsibility to the great folks I've met or not met, who show up online and stick with me. That's an honor.
Why do you keep blogging after all these years? What keeps you going? Do you like the attention?
Wow, tough questions from the crowd.
At the end of this month, I will mark my ten year anniversary of my first blog post. In internet time, that's an eon.
What started me then is not why I'm doing it now, if I can even recall why I did it then. Truthfully, the original League of Melbotis blog was more or less about having a one-to-many communication tool for myself when I'd moved to a place where I was far from people I knew, and had nobody to talk to (aside from Jamie), and pestering people with email had gone about as far as it could go.
Back then, blogging hadn't really taken the shape it has now of routine columns on single topics. It was closer to journaling, in my opinion, but the public forum-ness of blogging meant a push and pull of having an audience that just writing for and to yourself won't ever have.
But why am I still doing it?
There are a lot of reasons.
I do believe writing continually has improved my ability to think critically.
I think.
Maybe.
Blogging routinely does mean I apply some thought to media and how that media is produced when I act as a consumer. If reading that pondering is useful for others (ie: you), well... I'm happy for you guys! But I did figure out years and years ago that this works best if I do this for myself first, and if its of benefit to other people, that's a very nice thing, but it can't be my primary concern.
I write with myself as my primary audience, assuming there are other The League's out there.
And, it turns out, there are other people out there who have found a reason to return, even if their own voices are very different. I do feel some responsibility to the great folks I've met or not met, who show up online and stick with me. That's an honor.
Your Questions Answered: Which Super Power?
CanadianSimon asks:
I know you've spent a lot of time thinking about this, all comic fans have, if you could have one super power what would it be? How would it be useful in the real world and what would the detriments be. Finally, do you think this absolute power would corrupt you?
For a long, long time I thought the power I'd want, and which I'd still want in a way, is: invulnerability
It sort of started with the idea, when I was living in a 14 story dorm, of getting tired of waiting for the elevator and thinking "man, if I could just pitch myself out the window and get up and walk away, I could save myself a lot of time." Yes, it would be alarming to everyone on the ground, but those elevators took forever.
Then I began extrapolating all the other stuff I could do even without other standard super powers, like flight or super strength.
Flight would be very cool, but its got limited application. It's basically a way of getting around that avoids traffic. Strength is great, but without invulnerability, it seems like you'd be in constant danger putting that strength into practice. What if you drop the bus on yourself?
But I think with invulnerability, you could actually be fairly useful. If human frailty were removed, the opportunities seem limitless for ways in which it could be applied, from deep sea explorer to space walker to fireman. And, if you don't need to worry about getting dinged up, you can also get a rocket pack or whatever, and flight can be an option.
The trick, of course, is that you'd lose empathy for other people who did bleed, and who had to worry about the basics of an existence where harm would end you. I don't know what it might mean for longevity if your physical shell was impervious to damage, so the problems of remaining healthy and whole while time marches on for everyone else could really take a mental toll. And, of course, using the power for means that served a benefit to the most people and not just as a party trick to get on TV, nor to be asked to use it for harm. And, I wouldn't want to wind up assigned permanently to standing next to the President on the off-hand someone starts lobbing bullets at him.
I know you've spent a lot of time thinking about this, all comic fans have, if you could have one super power what would it be? How would it be useful in the real world and what would the detriments be. Finally, do you think this absolute power would corrupt you?
For a long, long time I thought the power I'd want, and which I'd still want in a way, is: invulnerability
It sort of started with the idea, when I was living in a 14 story dorm, of getting tired of waiting for the elevator and thinking "man, if I could just pitch myself out the window and get up and walk away, I could save myself a lot of time." Yes, it would be alarming to everyone on the ground, but those elevators took forever.
Then I began extrapolating all the other stuff I could do even without other standard super powers, like flight or super strength.
Flight would be very cool, but its got limited application. It's basically a way of getting around that avoids traffic. Strength is great, but without invulnerability, it seems like you'd be in constant danger putting that strength into practice. What if you drop the bus on yourself?
But I think with invulnerability, you could actually be fairly useful. If human frailty were removed, the opportunities seem limitless for ways in which it could be applied, from deep sea explorer to space walker to fireman. And, if you don't need to worry about getting dinged up, you can also get a rocket pack or whatever, and flight can be an option.
The trick, of course, is that you'd lose empathy for other people who did bleed, and who had to worry about the basics of an existence where harm would end you. I don't know what it might mean for longevity if your physical shell was impervious to damage, so the problems of remaining healthy and whole while time marches on for everyone else could really take a mental toll. And, of course, using the power for means that served a benefit to the most people and not just as a party trick to get on TV, nor to be asked to use it for harm. And, I wouldn't want to wind up assigned permanently to standing next to the President on the off-hand someone starts lobbing bullets at him.
Saturday, March 2, 2013
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Texas Independence Day!
On March 2nd, 1836 Texas declared it's independence from Mexico, but we were already begun in the Texas War for Independence.
Basically, Texas was largely unsettled by Anglos and the entire swath of Tejas y Cohauila was sort of Mexican no-man's land with a few remote outposts like San Antonio. Circa 1821, a bunch of rowdies and reprobates made a deal with Mexico to settle in what's sort of Central Texas, but they had to become Mexican citizens and Catholic.
By 1835, the Mexican Government had changed and become more centrist. The local militias were now frowned upon and those shifty Anglos in North Mexico weren't playing ball with Antonio Lopez de Santa Ana's desire to disarm regional militias lest they decide they wanted to rabble rouse. If the past informs the present, you'd have to imagine if Obama suddenly said folks couldn't have guns, and people started acting kookie about how the government might take away their arms.
Wait a minute...
There were other issues, such as the forced Catholicism of the Mexican Government, that Texans really, really wanted to own slaves, and Mexico city just sort of sucked at paying attention to what was going on in Texas aside from the occasional decree that made no sense in context of living on a frontier.
President and General of Mexico, Santa Ana, had absolutely had it with the Texians (we used to have an "i" in our name) and marched an army up to, of all places, Gonzalez, where the Texians insisted on hanging onto a cannon.
 |
| one of the original Texas battle flags |
Yes, there was such a thing as a War for Texas Independence, non-Texans. That's what you're talking about when you discuss "The Alamo".
Basically, Texas was largely unsettled by Anglos and the entire swath of Tejas y Cohauila was sort of Mexican no-man's land with a few remote outposts like San Antonio. Circa 1821, a bunch of rowdies and reprobates made a deal with Mexico to settle in what's sort of Central Texas, but they had to become Mexican citizens and Catholic.
By 1835, the Mexican Government had changed and become more centrist. The local militias were now frowned upon and those shifty Anglos in North Mexico weren't playing ball with Antonio Lopez de Santa Ana's desire to disarm regional militias lest they decide they wanted to rabble rouse. If the past informs the present, you'd have to imagine if Obama suddenly said folks couldn't have guns, and people started acting kookie about how the government might take away their arms.
Wait a minute...
There were other issues, such as the forced Catholicism of the Mexican Government, that Texans really, really wanted to own slaves, and Mexico city just sort of sucked at paying attention to what was going on in Texas aside from the occasional decree that made no sense in context of living on a frontier.
President and General of Mexico, Santa Ana, had absolutely had it with the Texians (we used to have an "i" in our name) and marched an army up to, of all places, Gonzalez, where the Texians insisted on hanging onto a cannon.
Your Questions Answered: A Nice Piece of Meat
We're answering questions here at The Signal Watch.
Our own Fantomenos asked:
You're a Texan so:
What's the best cut of meat for casual grilling?
Again, these are advanced level questions with no simple answer.
What's throwing me here is the use of the word "casual". "Casual" can mean "I'm coming home from work, do you want me to grab some chicken on my way?" It can mean having over 20 people, but we're all in shorts. It can mean dinner with a few friends, or it can mean the assembly line at a summer camp.
So, let's ponder this a bit.
I'd break it down to:
While barbecue is sometimes served at weddings, political events, etc... and you can definitely find upscale barbecue in town (I recommend Lamberts), the barbecue that's considered most desirable is usually slow cooked and smoked to perfection. That, obviously, is not a "casual" task, even if it's one's hobby and you're doing it at home. Seriously, it's an all day affair.
Our own Fantomenos asked:
You're a Texan so:
What's the best cut of meat for casual grilling?
Again, these are advanced level questions with no simple answer.
What's throwing me here is the use of the word "casual". "Casual" can mean "I'm coming home from work, do you want me to grab some chicken on my way?" It can mean having over 20 people, but we're all in shorts. It can mean dinner with a few friends, or it can mean the assembly line at a summer camp.
So, let's ponder this a bit.
I'd break it down to:
- steaks and chicken
- BBQ
- hotdogs and hamburgers on the Weber on the back porch
While barbecue is sometimes served at weddings, political events, etc... and you can definitely find upscale barbecue in town (I recommend Lamberts), the barbecue that's considered most desirable is usually slow cooked and smoked to perfection. That, obviously, is not a "casual" task, even if it's one's hobby and you're doing it at home. Seriously, it's an all day affair.
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