B Rad of the W

This company called XP is going to be pumping out inflatable cars next year. First off, what a shitty name “XP”. It really makes the Mac user in me cringe before I even know what it is all about. The article a friend send to me claims the car will sell for like $10,000. The company web site however claims the car will sell for $20,000. At 10K I may be interested but at 20K you can keep the inflatable bastard.

So they claim the thing is super safe as it should be. It is of course electric and that is smart because that is where things are going to go I think. I mean after all you are riding in one big air bag! The plan is to ship the car to your house and then you just inflate it in two hours and drive. It is made of the same crap as the mars landing balloons and other hightech crap so not to worry Timmy it will not deflate like your little doll from a friction burn.

I like the idea and can not wait till they get their act cleaned up so I can see what this thing might really become.

I am just blown away by the fact that HP is the first major computer maker to have a home use, affordable, touch screen computer on the market. HP’s touch screen computer beat Apple… Totally shocked! I am an Apple fan and I thought for sure, without a doubt Apple would be the first one to the table with this. I have been thinking for quite a few years, what we really need it a touch screen Mac. I do graphic design so I drag, drop and open more pallets in a day than most. I knew the day would come and I was always waiting for the magic. When I saw the iPhone come out with it’s fancy touch screen and multi touch ability I knew a desktop touch screen Mac could not be far away.

Well I still firmly believe Apple is working on a touch screen machine for us hard working, mad clicking graphic designers. I am just not sure when it will appear. Even though HP beat Apple to the punch on this one, I think Apple is going to stomp them with their version of the same. HP does have a useful touch screen desktop computer but the touch screen part is an application that runs on top of the OS and I don’t think the machine has the coolness that is Apple’s multi touch with gestures. I would bet my life savings, (so $5) that Apple’s touch screen desktop machine will not only be multi touch, but the touchyness will be part of the OS.

The only fear I have left is that Apple will release this goodness on a laptop before a desktop machine. I have no use for a laptop and I NEED touch screen on a desktop… Apple, I am waiting. Can they hear me?

It almost makes me sick to post a video that is not of an Apple machine.

I just read this article from New Scientist on living forever and how it may soon be possible. You could write a whole book on the pros and cons of such a thing and indeed many novels have explored this idea already. The article talks of slicing the brain and scanning it into a computer where you then merge human with machine. I supposed you then get a robocop or terminator type body to live in. The video below talks about managing the damage to the human body so you can keep the flesh alive and functioning the way you keep old cars going down he road. My personal choice is keep the flesh. I don’t mind if the flesh has some chips and wires in it but I do not personally want to be all wires and plastic.

Of course in the comments of this article are the bible bangers stating that you need to die it is all part of the process. I partially (just a sliver) agree with this. Not because I know God wants to play chess with me but because after a while I would think you would just get bored. Once you get bored you will start to do stupid shit which will keep getting crazier and crazier until you end your life. Some people get bored very easy and this is why we have jigsaw puzzles and base jumping. No amount of repair will stop you from ending it all with a face plant into pavement. Seriously who is so god damn bored that they are sitting around putting puzzles together? I bought 1 puzzle in my life eight years ago and I have never broken the seal on the box! I don’t have time for that shit. I think I would be good for a 500 year run before I got so bored I would have to strap a rocket to my back to see how fast I could go, or put a puzzle together.

They of course mention the social dilemma of over population. Before we have these “Transhumans” as they are called we will have this whole Mars thing figured out and people can start jumping off this marble onto that one. The video talks about controlling the population and I am not voting for that option. You need young people especially kids. Younger generations allow you to look back and reflect, perhaps even look at things in a new light. If we have people living to be hundreds of years old I think this would be even more important. I am not saying everyone needs to have 12 kids but that may end up happening anyway if you live to be 700 years old. So space travel and interstellar migration is the key.

There are a lot of other hot issues and views but basically my take is we humans have brains that are now too powerful for our bodies and we need to fix it. Our bodies break down before out minds have done enough to make us feel well used. For some they have accomplished everything they ever will by the time they reach 40 and are just sitting around waiting for a heart attack. For others they leave far too soon and before they are ever able to reach their full potential, accomplish everything they want to do or spread their unique light far enough to matter. So we need bodies that last a lot longer.

So what is the best age to live forever at? When I was 18 I thought that was the best age to stay at forever. When I was 25 I was sure that is where one would want to spend hundreds of years. Now that I am 34 I think the age is 30 so it must be right because I have started going backwards? How about marriage? Can you be married to and spend 500 years with the same person? I can barely imagine anyone wanting to spend more than a month with me. 10-20 years is a lot. 30-40 years would involve medication. 50-70 years might mean they are mildly retarded and anything beyond that is just plain lunacy!

The article made it sound like this technology may be possible in several decades. I would buy into that idea based on how much technology has progressed in the last decades and the speed at which things keep increasing. Sign me up! A 50 - 75 year life is not long enough for me. The first generation of transhumans will probably be machines and I am not a big fan of that so I will have to see how I feel in a couple decades. If however they figure out how to maintain the human flesh machine indefinitely I am most certainly on board.

Also check out the World Transhumanist Association if you are interested in more.

So this guy says “screw it”. Then he travels around the would dancing poorly. Now he gives lectures on his travel. Again I ask… Where the hell was my guidance counselor on this one? I want to travel around the world and then give lectures about making movies where I dance bad. Damn!

Matt’s web site is here. His YouTube page is here. Below is the famous video.

We will look back on this video of a four legged robot with loath in the future when we humans are nothing more than robot toys. We will say “we could have stopped it then”.

It is rather creepy the way this thing moves and can catch it’s balance. The fly like buzzing noise is going to haunt my dreams.

I found out today that I was unlimited. I am not sure what it means but it sounds very important.

I was enjoying some kava tea from Yogi Tea this morning and it said right there on the tea bag “you are unlimited”.

Oh am I excited. The golden nectar know as mead is making a come back! Well at least Slate says so in this story. I love mead. I have a friend from high school that brews it from time to time. He has made some nasty funk but in general it is sweetness from heavens door. When the planets align just so he makes a batch that will not only make the taste buds dance with delight but you will be picking those taste buds up off the floor after a few tankards because it can pack one hell of a kick.

The Slate article claims it may never hit main stream like wine because of its bad image at renaissance festivals and the fact that it is hard to align it with a meal like beer and wine. Well they are cracked. Give me a bonfire and a semi cold mug of mead and I could care less if you think it does not go with chicken or kangaroo.

I have never seen mead in a store but then again I live a little in the trees so the liquor selection is dominated by some swill they call Budweiser. I am sure store mead will not delight me the way the home brew does but it would be nice to be able to pick up a pint from time to time. some day I will venture into the brewing hobby but as of yet this has not happen.

I have an uncle that brews wine as well. From time to time he creates a little magic but none of it compares to a well crafted mead. I am convinced he brews just to torture others. If he sees a recipe that is a little off the wall he jumps on it and then makes every victim… I mean guest try a glass. Lets just say that banana or potato and onion wine are as terrible as they sound. I guess you can make wine out of anything, I am just not sure you should.