Steerable Humans?

By Alan

Remember the key plot to the Disney movie Ratatouille? The adorable, [and hygienic] rat turned an un-culinary young man into a virtual cooking platform, by mysterious means of grabbing his hair, and manipulating food, spices, cooking utensils, and even knives.

While this got a good chuckle out of the audiences everywhere, and most people thought, "how absurd!" there is actually some good scientific studies behind the idea of subtle adjustments to pressure on the head that will strangely compel people to follow those pressures to go follow directions. Mothers certainly know that grabbing the ear of a child will often get instant cooperation on following, even if considerable whining might accompany it.

No one is absolutely sure about how this works, but already someone at SIGGRAPH has started to exploit the idea using existing technology.

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Lock Down the Net

Updated on Monday, July 13, 2009 at 2:12PM by MAD21

By Alan

One of the advantages of the Internet is that everything is available at your fingertips. You can get information on explanations of quantum mechanics, recipes from Julia Child, instructions on battling flesh eating diseases, or even the oldest copy of the modern Bible online.

One of the disadvantages of the Internet is that everything is available at your children's fingertips. They could get access to web sites containing foul language, or different sex things, or even information on bomb making.

The best and easiest way to know what your children are looking at on the Internet is to participate WITH them. Don't have them viewing the net on their own. Many parental guides insist that best prevention of inappropriate viewing is by putting the computer in a shared family area and to be around when they are surfing.

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What Is Technology?

By Alan

This column tends towards talking about new technology, and as a result, tends to concentrate on computer, internet, or websites. But, what really is considered to be Technology?

One of the preeminent Internet personalities Leo Laporte has a weekend radio show called “The Tech Guy” that he broadcasts from his cottage in Petaluma, California. He opens his show with a definition of “Let's talk technology: computers, TVs, cellphones, anything with a chip in it.” But, he agrees that technology is much more than that. There's materials science, there's biotech (which may soon redefine what a “chip” is); there's optics, applied thermodynamics, nanotechnology and micromachines. Find the silicon chips in those things.

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Where to Find Facts

Updated on Tuesday, June 9, 2009 at 3:32PM by MAD21

By Alan

Many people talk about being able to find "the truth." They embark on great journeys of discovery across geographic distances. Many talk about the climb of Mount Everest to be a journey for truth. Often it's an attempt to find out about themselves, not about the world around them.

Answers aren't always the same as truth. And, facts aren't always enough of the truth. Anyone who has witnessed courtroom hearings or even viewed fictional court drama know it's possible to use facts selectively to mislead through innuendo, tone of voice, and even ridicule to generate a larger lie.

Where do you look to check on facts? How do you know if a fact you currently hold in your possession is actually true?

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Animation And Technology

By Alan

With Pixar's release of the movie “Up!” they continue the huge string of successful films they've crafted since 1995. These movies, produced by a group of individuals who felt that the future of animation was with computer animation, not by hand-drawn still images. Critics of the computer animation methodologies lack warmth or character. In fact, staying with the old school method of drawing was probably a great downfall of the Disney Studio's animation department. The acquisition of Pixar by Disney was a recognition that using computers as tools for animation is necessary to complete films on time and on budget with what Hollywood wants. Hollywood isn't really about making entertainment. Hollywood is about making money. Pixar had one shot with Toy Story, and if they hadn't pulled it off, they (and the computer animation methods) might have been set back by years.

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