Tuesday Two: Shingles Thermometer

Tuesday Two

Dow will soon make a roof shingle that generates solar power. It's called DOW POWERHOUSE Solar Shingle. Home and business owners will soon have more options to help power their homes, businesses and occasional gazebo. Viva Sol!

CorTemp Ingestible Core Body Thermometer Pill isn't just a mouthful of words, it's actually a thermometer that you swallow! Once the pill is ingested, a quartz crystal sensor vibrates at a frequency that is relative to the body's temperature. This creates a low-level signal that can be detected outside of the body.

Tuesday Two

Exatec, LLC has developed a glazed polycarbonate material as a lightweight alternative to glass which promises to revolutionize automotive roofs and other exteriors. The material is known as Lexan GLX PC resin.

AED's have saved many lives since 1985. There is a myth that the FDA would not approve AED's because the device had to be used on an unconscious patience, which violated a rule that required patience consent. Fortunately, this is nonsense. An AED was actually approved for home use by the FDA in 2004.

Epoch-Fail

The M80 Stilletto is a high speed ship designed for special ops. It has reached over 50 knots during early tests. It represents possible leading technology in future wars. It is also under consideration by the U.S. armed services. Sounds impressive. The problem? It's being advertized. The fact that the makers of the M80 Stilletto are promoting it as a product in a public venue shows that it might not be a military game changer. If this was a serious option for the military, I'm doubtful most of us would have known about it for at least a decade.

Bode's Law

Bode's Law, or Titus-Bode Law, is a now refuted law governing planet location with our Solar System. It presumes a relationship between all of the planets in their distances from the Sun.

Formulation

The Law relates the semi-major axis, a, of each planet outward from the sun in units such that the Earth's semi-major axis = 10, with

a = n + 4

where n = 0, 3, 6, 12, 24, 48 ..., with each value of n > 3 twice the previous value. The resulting values can be divided by 10 to convert them into astronomical units (AU), which would result in the expression

a = 0.4 + 0.3 · 2 ^m

for m = − , 0, 1, 2,...^[1]

For the outer planets, each planet is 'predicted' to be roughly twice as far away from the Sun as the next inner object.

Origin

It's name comes from the fact that it was promoted by Johann Elert Bode when in 1768, he wrote the second edition of his astronomical compendium Anleitung zur Kenntniss des gestirnten Himmels, which states the following.

Let the distance from the Sun to Saturn be taken as 100, then Mercury is separated by 4 such parts from the Sun. Venus is 4+3=7. The Earth 4+6=10. Mars 4+12=16. Now comes a gap in this so orderly progression. After Mars there follows a space of 4+24=28 parts, in which no planet has yet been seen. Can one believe that the Founder of the universe had left this space empty? Certainly not. From here we come to the distance of Jupiter by 4+48=52 parts, and finally to that of Saturn by 4+96=100 parts.

History

At the time, Saturn was the farthest known planet. Bode's Law gained credibility when Uranus and then Ceres where discovered. These bodies happened to fall in line with predictions made by the formula. However, this Law become refuted when Neptune was discovered at a location from the Sun that was no where near its predicted location.

Also, to further refute Bode's Law is the fact that other systems exist in our Solar System which do not follow its formula. Although the moons around Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus do follow some sort of pattern, they do not follow Bode's Law; nor do they share patterns with each other.

Status

The discovery of Pluto and more recently other Kuiper Belt objects have proven Bode's Law to be false. It appears that Bode's Law was a misguided attempt to explain an observation that did not have enough data. Given what is known now, it seems that perhaps there is some sort of rule that applies to naturally formed orbiting body systems, but there is no formula that can predict the arraignment of such. Perhaps Bode's Law can be useful in the future, not to predict planet placement in other extrasolar systems, but maybe to point us in the direction to understand planet formation and resonance. We can see there is some sort of resonance. We can also see that a particular resonance is not shared between different systems, and only applies in a limited fashion. It is not useful for anything else. Although it really cannot be called pseudo-science, since it was based on observation and did make some predictions that panned out, it is really not useful science today. Further complicating the issue is that the definition of planet has changed. Ceres and Pluto are no longer considered planets. This means that any use of Bode's Law in the context of what is now known can be called pseudo-science.

Planet Distances from the Sun (from Wikipedia.org)

Mercury factor: 0
Bode’s Law: 0.4, Actual: 0.39

Venus factor: 1
Bode’s Law: 0.7, Actual: 0.72

Earth factor: 2
Bode’s Law: 1.0, Actual: 1.0

Mars factor: 4
Bode’s Law: 1.6, Actual: 1.52

Ceres factor: 8
Bode’s Law: 2.8, Actual: 2.77

Jupiter factor: 16
Bode’s Law: 5.2, Actual: 5.2

Saturn factor: 32
Bode’s Law: 10, Actual: 9.54

Uranus factor: 64
Bode’s Law: 19.6, Actual: 19.2

Neptune factor: 128
Bode’s Law: 38.8, Actual: 30.06

Pluto factor: 256
Bode’s Law: 77.2, Actual: 39.44

Are Aliens Really Alien?

A question I've asked myself is that what if the beings we call aliens (visitors from other planets) are really not aliens at all, but inhabitants of our own planet. There are several ways for this to be true. The idea of ultraterrestrials and metaterrestrials is not new. However, there , is one more possibility that seems just as likely from a particular perspective.

There is a possibility that we are being visited by beings from the future. This is based on two assumptions. First, the human species will continue to evolve throughout time. Second, time travel is a technology that we will eventually obtain. If these two assumptions are true, then the most likely source of "alien" encounters is actually future evolved human-descended visitors that come back in time to observe their primitive past. They would come back to study us or to see us out of curiosity.

This would be that two major class of visitations would occur: site-seeing and scientific, or tourists and scientists. Almost on a lark to describe this possibility, I coined the term Future Evolved Terrestrial Tourists and Scientists (FETTS).

This would mean that some beings either come back to observe ancients times much in the same way we visit the pyramids or other ancients sites. In fact, there are stories that every president of the U.S. in modern times has seen U.F.O.'s at some point in their life. President Carter himself is even on the record as being a person who has seen one.

This also means that some other beings comes back to experiment on their primitive ancestors, much in the same way that we modern humans experiment on great apes, including climps.

This explanation is actually more likely than others if time travel proves to be easier than space travel. According to current understanding of the Universe, there is no reason as to why time travel shouldn't be allowed; though General Relativity does demonstrate that faster-than-light travel impossible. With this fact, assuming visitations from beyond are real, it seems most likely that these visitations are from our own world.

Silent Craft Overhead

A friend of my family once told me that he had spotted dark aircraft at night flying down along the Salinas Valley. This was a couple of decades ago. He associated his sitings with military aircraft flying to and from various military bases in California. One story he told me struck me as most memorable. One night, a silent aircraft hovered a couple hundred feet from the ground over his neighborhood. He saw the aircraft beaming down a search light pointed at various places as it quietly moved overhead his location. It couldn't have been a helicopter because he would've heard and even felt it at that distance. He associated this experience with secret U.S. military aircraft. I don't know what he saw, but given my limited knowledge about aircraft, I don't know of any now or then that could hover nearly in place without making some sort of loud noise. He took this experience as evidence that UFO sightings where spotted secret military planes.

Tuesday Two: Quantum Motions

Tuesday Two

Here's motion control that doesn't require bright lights, tons of balls, or expensive high speed cameras. Instead, it uses a relatively inexpensive pulsating projector with sensors that record movement patterns at 500 times a second.

Keep those rubidium atoms separated in your quantum computer by using polarized light! Your qubits won't be the same! No longer will they interfere with each other, causing screwy quantum calculations. Quantumfy with assurance!

Epoch-Fail

Apple has had fairly high representation in the as of yet short life of the Epoch-Fail awards. Do I hate Apple? Not at all. They just make themselves such an easy target. Epoch-Fail award again goes to the iPhone 3GS for having what some claim to be broken encryption that will not be able to protect sensitive data.

My Grandfather's UFO encounter

For a time, my Grandfather was a truck driver on runs that would extend well into the night. He related to me his UFO encounter during his time as a trucker on one such night. Now, my Grandfather was man that was quick to anger, and not one to believe something unless he saw it for himself. His temperament and nature made his story all the weirder. The last person I would've expected to tell me about aliens and UFO's was him. He didn't read books and didn't seem to ever show any interest in paranormal or New Age concepts.

The year is unknown, but likely in the 1950's or 60's. The place was some lonely highway in the middle of nowhere; I don't remember which state. My Grandfather related to me that he was driving when he saw these bright lights in front of him, off in the distance. As he drove closer, he discovered it to be a gigantic UFO hovering close to ground. He described it as a huge cube that was a mile across with many lights, and glowing from underneath. Without approaching it too closely, he stopped his truck and got out to look. It was right there in front of him, blocking his way. That's when he saw them. He said he saw the aliens. Hundreds of them. When he related this story to me, his expressed his adamance to my contrarian and doubtful questions. "You didn't really see aliens!?" I asked. His emphatic response, "You better believe it! I saw them with my own eyes right there in front of me!" He described them in more detail than I can remember. I do remember him saying they where short, green and naked. I felt like that if he had the opportunity, he would've gone up and punched one of them. However, I think wisdom won the day. He never told me what they where doing or if they noticed him. Only that he decided to get the hell out of there. He drove off in a hurry. When he finally got the nerve to look back, he saw the UFO take off.

Possibilities Regarding Zeta Reticuli

A recent book that has come to my attention on the topic of aliens and Zeta Reticuli is FROM ZETA RETICULI TO EARTH. TIME, SPACE, AND THE UFO TECHNOLOGY : Scientific Frontiers of Alien Space Crafts. It's a long name for a book that is so far well reviewed by its readers. According to the publisher, it takes an objective view regarding topics ranging from time travel and UFO phenomena. It should be interesting to see what the author Maximillien De Lafayette has to say about this subject.

Tuesday Two: City bruizin'

Tuesday Two

The eco-friendly Gocycle is a hybrid electric bike that weighs a mere 16.2 kg due to its special composite material. This folding bike is designed for city living. It converts from human power (peddle power!) to electric with the push of a button. Will it save the world from eventual doom? Only time will tell.

I know whenever I here the word "Nanotube", my ears perk up. Imagine how excited I am to see a recent article about vibrated nanotubes used to filter water so well that anything larger than a water molecule is removed! Imagine how fresh and tasty such pure water would be. Wait...technically, humans cannot taste water, right?

Epoch-Fail

So far, Epoch-Fail awards have gone to particular unsuccessful ventures. Today, I'm handing an Epoch-Fail award to something that does seem to be successful. Why? Because I dislike the trend. This week's Epoch-Fail award goes to every city council that is banning plastic bags from the grocery stores! Aren't we destroying enough trees? Need we bring back the stone age paper bag and pretend it is from a renewable resource; when the reality is that the resource is not being renewed? Sure, plastic clog our bogs, and choke our rivers, but hey, they are more reusable than paper bags! And what of reusable canvas bags? Heh. Guess what. You have to buy them. They get very unsanitary very quickly. Wanna guess how many patrons are not washing them regularly? There are reasons behind our strict food handling guidelines, and canvas bags now represent a very weak link in food safety.

Tuesday Two: Zit zapping

Tuesday Two

Use NASA technology to zap your zits away with the new Zeno family of devices.(available discounted on Amazon.com) The iPod look-alike contains a heating element that is resistant to human oils and acids. With clinical trials showing 90% success rates, this may end teenage embarrassment one zit zapping at a time. No word on if there are plans to make a version that plays MP3s. There is an artificial intelligence that involves integrated planning. This allows an operator (human or fellow robot) to establish a telepresence that may be able to control remote units (for example, another robot) at great distances (another planet) to provide feedback (suggestions) about the instructions it is receiving. Who's controlling who?

Epoch-Fail

The Northeast Passage opens (backup link) because our planet is slowly getting hotter. But trade routes won't come easy if shippers want to travel across the Arctic Ocean. The planet hasn't thawed enough to sail north of Russia without the need for ice-breaker class ships along with a fleet of support ships to break up the ice that's still there. Pesky environment keeps getting in the way of progress!