Linkage ~ "BigDog"

I'm sure anyone's who as tapped into the Net as I am has seen this video already, but I couldn't help but give it some more attention. I've had it on the brain ever since I saw it. It reminds me of how wonderful the times we're living in are. Everything's changing so rapidly. Everything's evolving and advancing at such an incredible pace. It makes me wonder if the future is closer at hand than I ever realized. It makes me hope that I'll be around to see even more of this change. We're very much on the edge of something truly great.

So anyway, here's the video of Boston Dynamics' DARPA-funded quadruped robot, BigDog:



Watching the video, I can't help but wonder if most of the people watching it even realize the importance and significance of such an advancement in robotics. I've never seen a robot with this degree of balance. It's amazing! It's astounding! The machine is enough to marvel at as is, but I've also the mind to imagine what this hints at. These things only get better. So I keep imagining what this will ultimately lead to. Not just the machine, but every other technology working in concert. What that will lead to. What that change will bring. It's both beautiful and horrifying to contemplate. I'm more of an evangelist in this regard so my outlook's optimistic. I'm so excited to see things like these. To see such a leap forward is awe-inspiring. I've had my finger on the pulse of these things and always thought of how sad it was that I would never be alive to see something more refined and practical. They've always been bulky, tethered and impractical. This gets my mind racing. I don't think the tachikoma could be far off. :P ;)


DS333, optimistic.

Linkage ~ "A Lasting Impression"

I'm up against the wall since it's 3:14 a.m. right now and I've spent the better part of two days offline. I've made two posts tonight already and need one more to catch up and make everything square. I wanna make this one quick. I've had this one little tale floating around my head for some time now, in fact, ever since I've come across it. I guess it stirred in me this idea of... well memory is always something that strikes a chord with me. So maybe it's not so much the story itself that's lingering, but what it sparked. The story is about a teacher who leaves a lasting impression. They're few and far between, to be sure, but my hope is that we're all familiar with this type. The best kind of teachers and mentors. The ones who can change us and shape us, or refine us. They're something special. Something to be remembered. And this tale brought them to my mind. It's nothing mind-blowing. It might not change the world. But I somehow feel the better for having read it and I'd like to share that feeling if I could. ;) Enjoy the read: My Favorite Liar


DS333, much better.

Linkage ~ "Dreams"

My initial plan for Linkage was to link to a string of like-minded content. Nothing revolutionary, in fact it's old-school weblogging in my book. So I loved the way in which these three pieces fell together, but their discovery is not mine. Even still, I couldn't not link to the content and of course I'll give credit where it's due. These links were wrapped together in a nice little package at Ain'tItCoolNews (here), but why would you risk visiting that site given how horribly designed it is? It's an offense to the senses. :P

First thing up is a talk/lecture given at Carnegie Mellon University by Computer Science professor Randy Pausch who is currently fighting pancreatic cancer. This talk is a part of a long going series of Last Lectures and you really needn't know more than that to appreciate this brilliantly constructed and poignant presentation covering the whole of the professor's life. His exuberance and enthusiasm is of the most infectious order and one of the main reasons I enjoyed this video so much. It's a whopper, clocking in at well over an hour... but you just gotta give it a chance; you won't be disappointed. If you're feeling antsy, you should know that Randy's lecture doesn't begin until the 8:26 mark. Enjoy:







Next up, is another presentation from a very exuberant and enthusiastic man, J.J. Abrams. Abrams (of Alias and Lost fame) gave this talk at TED in March of last year in which he delved into his inner motivations for the work he's currently involved in. I never tire of an artist sharing their thoughts on their work, their process, their inspiration, etc. and Abrams definitely delivers in this regard. An entertaining musing on the concept of mystery. This is much shorter than the previous video, clocking in under 20 minutes. Enjoy, again:







Finally, bridging the two, is this awesome little blog post by Randy Pausch... I won't spoil the best of it, but here's an e-mail Randy received from J.J. Abrams to pique your curiosity:

JJ Abrams wrote:
> Dear Randy --
>
> Hi there -- I'm JJ Abrams, director of the new Star Trek movie.
>
> I read about you and your condition, and ALSO your affinity for things
> Trek.
>
> So, I just wanted to put the invitation out there -- that if you had
> any desire to be in the film (can't promise you role as CAPTAIN,
> but... we could do SOMETHING!), it would be my honor and pleasure.
>
> The last thing I want to do is intrude, so feel free not to reply --
> but I wanted to make sure you knew that, if you are willing and able,
> the door is wide open.
>
> I hope that your treatments are going well and that we get to meet one
> day.
>
> Best,
>
> JJ

You can check out the full post at Randy's blog, here. Unfortunately it's not the slickest platform so you'll have to scroll down to view it. It's titled Star Trek!!! and appears in between the December 1st and November 29th posts. Enjoy, yet again. ;)


DS333, inspired.

Linkage ~ "Wings, Faces And Eyes"

• I was captivated by this photo that Cory Doctorow posted to his Flickr account of some dismembered pigeon wings splayed out on the streets of London like an angel's. Apparently this isn't as rare an occurrence as I believed. Curious. Sociopathy makes for some interesting photo ops: Mysterious Pigeon Wings On The Pavelment...

• Artist Mark Story created a photography project consisting of portraits, mostly, of men and women who have lived in the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries. I'm in love with this project. I take particular interest in plates #2, 8, 30 and 33. Those subjects are all Navajo. They remind me of my grandparents and home. I've always been fascinated with the elderly. For many reasons. The physical transformation the most striking because it's just that, striking. It takes the mind through all these different pathways. I think of a line telling a story. I wonder what it means to weather the greatest of storms. And what toll that takes on the body and soul. What it means to only know through experience. I see strength in the old. It's something I value and covet. I'm at odds with this city and it's take on aging. It's so spiritually disconnected and immature. I crave this look for it's allusion. I love growing old: Living In Three Centuries: The Face Of Age

• Finally I wanted to throw this one out there for no other reason than I thought as many people should see this as possible. Rankin created this photography project of decontexualized irises called Eyescapes. Looking at them... well... it's funny how we see them everyday but only within this context that I realize their true beauty. I'm reminded of how powerful the prime image of the circle is. I'm haunted by the abyssal dark of the pupil. And it's there that I'm lost. I'm visualizing these eyes as cosmic eggs. From the void a battle was fought and won. Its power and beauty bled out into the light... spiraling, falling, floating, colliding, coagulating, forming, etc. I look at the detail in these eyes and wonder what informs them now and what informed their creation. I think of the physical as a manifestation of the metaphysical. These genes, all my own, creating something unique. Mine alone. Yours. These drops of the universal. All of us, universes unto ourselves. These voids wreathed in our genetic glory. Two parts. One, we all share. Reminding me of our bond, our connection. The second, what we keep to ourselves. Reminding me of our fear, our disconnection: Eyescapes

DS333, pensive.

Linkage ~ "URL Redirection"

I haven't made many Linkage posts, so I thought I'd fix that problem. Though, I wasn't sure what exactly I would link to. Then I figured I might try and pretend that I wasn't me. That I would try making suggestions to my virginized self about sites and web services he would absolutely need to know about.

Being the digital creature that I am, I'm pretty obsessed with micro-blogs like Twitter, Pownce and to a lesser extent, Jaiku. These services (save for Pownce) allow you to make short-form updates about things you're doing, etc. with the proviso that you limit your posts to 140 characters. Given that you've such a tight space to work within, linking to sites and videos can get a bit tricky since they often require pasting large URLs. The solution to this problem is to use proxies, or URL redirectors: simple web services that take lengthy URLs and create shorter URLs that forward to the original source. They're a lifesaver when trying to stay within your character quota. So I thought I'd offer up a few of these services whenever you find yourself in a micro-blog pinch. ;)

I'd say the most popular URL redirector has been and is TinyURL. It's tried & true and solid as hell.

My personal favorite is URLtea. I'm a sucker for puns and I think the site name is slick as all hell. URLtea, Earl Tea... c'mon... how can you not love that? :P The only problem here is that I've noticed the site's reliability to be a bit spotty in the last few weeks. That's a bit of a drag, but I'm listing it here in the hopes that they get back on track in the coming weeks, hopefully days.

Snurl is a service that one of my favorite tech bloggers, Xeni Jardin, uses quite frequently. If it's good enough for Xeni, it's good enough for me. ;) It's got some major geek cachet in my book.

Lastly, there's Metamark. I don't use it much, but it works as good as any of the rest. ;)

So go forth my fellow satellites. Spread your digital joy with greater efficiency. ;) :P


DS333, linking.

Linkage ~ "Fabjectory"

Another late post. I'm dead-tired right now. Family's coming over to our place for Thanksgiving "tomorrow". :D Unfortunately that means a lot of prep for us cats over here. For the better part of the day I was summoning the spirits of Mei & Satsuki Kusakabe. But it was cool, I forget how fun it could be to clean. ;)

In honor of all my obsessive Wii time this past week I thought I'd give a shout-out to Fabjectory. They're an online vendor that specializes in giving physical form to your virtual avatars. I've been in love with the idea of having my very own Mii statue ever since I visited their site. It seems affordable enough and I would've probably tried the service out by now but I don't have my own credit card. :| If you do though, and you're as geeky as I am maybe you'll wanna pick one up for yourself. ;)

DS333, Mii tired. :P

Linkage ~ "Abscess"

*sigh* I was hoping to link to two videos today from YouTube, but one of them got pulled down. :( I don't know why though. It was video of a couple of friends draining the abscess from some guy's back. Granted it was disgusting, but there are a ton of other videos like it on YouTube. I haven't checked them all out of course, but I wonder what made them pull that video. Hmmm...

Anyway, I'm not sure what to do with these posts. I haven't done one in forever, which made me think it was about time to get back to it. I'm thinking I need to create a collection of links around a certain theme. Or maybe I would post a thread of links... y'know like a group of links I happened upon during a random dive in the Net. A way to share an experience through a digital rabbit hole. Or... I don't know. Still thinking. ;)

An abscess is a collection of pus that has accumulated in a cavity formed by the tissue on the basis of an infectious process (usually caused by bacteria or parasites) or other foreign materials (e.g. splinters or bullet wounds). It is a defensive reaction of the tissue to prevent the spread of infectious materials to other parts of the body. (abscess, Wikipedia.org)

So my brother directed me to this horrifying article from The New York Times about Staph infections. It's a short, easy read and well worth the time: Drug-Resistant Staph

If you read through the article you'll be directed to a site about MRSA, which then directs you to three videos on YouTube that chronicles one abscess surgery. The best of the three being this one. Enjoy. ;) :P



DS333, *chills*.