Article: Why Does Time Seem to Speed Up with Age?

This explains why the last three years of travel seem longer than the five before it.

1. Why Does Time Seem to Speed Up with Age? (Scientific America)

"The reason? Our brain encodes new experiences, but not familiar ones, into memory, and our retrospective judgment of time is based on how many new memories we create over a certain period. In other words, the more new memories we build on a weekend getaway, the longer that trip will seem in hindsight."

3 neat tech-related creations you may have missed

1.  Japan’s Automated Underground Bike Storage.  In extremely crowded cities, even bike parking is hard to come by or takes up a lot of street-level space. This huge underground cylinder stores and retrieves bikes much like a Redbox or vending machine. The above link has a great video demonstration.

2. Programmable fountain: Using a technology similar to inkjet printing, this waterfall creates pictures and tells time through drops of water and the absence of those drops.

Woman Has Baby!: Why it shouldn't matter that the Royal Family doesn't matter

I'm a few days late on this one, but it's been a busy week!

Monday, I was in the vicinity of a television airing the "breaking coverage" of Prince George's birth and realized that I've moved beyond not caring. I no longer even care about not caring.

I'm not trying to make a competition out of how apathetic I can be about the royal family. I've just realized that maybe this is a way to stop the onslaught of coverage. Think about it. The reason these types of stories get so much coverage isn't only because a lot of people care. It's because a lot of people enjoy pointing out the ridiculousness of the people who do care. 

If you look closely, many stories have an underpinning of mockery as they show the candles, cakes, and roadside vigils. The newspaper here in Chicago featured a second generation royal family devotee who was congratulated on Facebook as if she was the one who gave birth. How many people watching the news identify with people like this woman, and how many just want to feel superior by realizing how silly and hollow this type of behavior is? I'd wager most, especially in America, feel the latter. Either way, it's great for the news channels who can cover the story ambiguously and appeal to both camps.

There are always going to be people who care deeply about things things that lack the importance for widespread coverage or debate. There are always going to be people who care if the royal baby's first car seat was improperly secured. Let them. There is an American Girl Doll store by us on Michigan Ave. I've walked by and seen adult woman carrying their dolls into the store to buy new

Good News: Google blimps in Africa, companies fight spying, NYC domain names

Because all news isn't depressing.

1. Google blimps will carry wireless signal across Africa (Wired)

"Search giant Google is intending to build huge wireless networks across Africa and Asia, using high-altitude balloons and blimps. The company is intending to finance, build and help operate networks from sub-Saharan Africa to Southeast Asia, with the aim of connecting around a billion people to the web."

2. Line Up Now for Your .NYC Domain Names (The Atlantic)

"New York City announced Tuesday afternoon that it has officially been approved for its own top-level domain – the obvious suffix .nyc – making it one of the first cities in the world to stake out space in the new and expanding frontier of online real estate. By the end of this year, and for an unspecified amount, local businesses and residents with a "bona fide presence" in the city will be able to start registering for new web addresses like divebar.nyc or walkingtours.nyc."

3. This Plan To End Government Spying Has Grown So Big It Might Actually Work (Business Insider)

"For the most part, it's hard to get too enthusiastic about various Internet campaigns that try to right the wrongs of this world, particularly the ones working on online privacy. But a new one started two weeks ago is really worth watching. It's called, ironically enough, Stop Watching Us. This one is special because:

It has big, powerful players including Mozilla, the creators of the Firefox browser, and Tim Berners-Lee, the guy that invented the World Wide Web...."

First Good News post here: Doctors protest high drug prices and Johnson City Community Cafe

Interesting: Ted Talks, NSA

Great TEDTalk for anyone who sometimes views technology and our current relationship with it pessimistically (Think NSA, job-loss to machines). Brynjolfsson doesn't ignore the reality. He points out that many people are racing the machines and losing and despite productivity being at an all time high, income is stagnant. However, what we are experiencing now, according to Brynjolfsson, is growing pains. He compares our current situation to the second industrial revolution where factories took many years to restructure after electrifying. Everything is currently being reinvented as production separates from income in what he refers to as the "great decoupling".

I'm not as optimistic as Brynjolfsson appears, but it's healthy and inspiring to look at things positively. He also makes the point that technology itself is not the future, people are. We define our destiny. Through the use of technology for good, everything can be, and is being, restructured. It may be painful, but change often is.

New York City projects of interest

Some projects of interest currently underway in New York City:

1. Someone should tell Dallas to enjoy the country's largest ferris wheel while it lasts. NY is building one much bigger.

2. New York's High line is old news, but take a look if you're not familiar with the elevated rail turned park.

3. Estimated at over 17 billion, the Second Avenue Subway Project is still underway. Deep beneath the streets, workers freeze the ground to keep nearby buildings from collapse. [Pictures Here]

4. World Trade Center One is nearing completion with plans for a late 2013 or early 2014 finish date.

Good News: Doctors protest high drug prices and Johnson City Community Cafe

Because all news isn't depressing.

1. Doctors Denounce Cancer Drug Prices of $100,000 a Year (NY Times)

"Prices for cancer drugs have been part of the debate over health care costs for several years — and recently led to a public protest from doctors at a major cancer center in New York. But the decision by so many specialists, from more than 15 countries on five continents, to join the effort is a sign that doctors, who are on the front lines of caring for patients, are now taking a more active role in resisting high prices. In this case, some of the specialists even include researchers with close ties to the pharmaceutical industry."

2. UK-based firm stops selling phenobarbital drug to Arkansas (BBC News) 

"A UK-based pharmaceutical company has stopped selling a drug to Arkansas because the US state planned to use it to execute prisoners on death row... Phenobarbital is used to treat epileptic seizures. But lawyers for six prisoners on death row in Arkansas say it is untested for use in execution and risks leaving permanent injuries or causing a lingering and inhumane death, said the BBC's Caroline Hawley." 

3. One for my friends in TN. One Acre Cafe makes progress (Johnson City Press)

"Work to open the nonprofit One Acre Cafe is off and running. Since signing a five-year lease on the former Desert Rose Mexican restaurant building, at 603 W. Walnut St., in early April, the cafe’s board of directors have met twice and approved plans for the building’s renovation and interior design."

Knowledge: Digital wisdom, guide to introverts, and simple lessons from scientists

1. The unaided human mind (i.e., the mind without our rapidly growing technological enhancements) is increasingly limited. It cannot deal with trillions of data points or extreme complexity. It is subject to unconscious biases. It works relatively slowly. It forgets a great deal. In the past, these limitations were not necessarily constraints... today our unenhanced minds come up against more barriers in dealing with many of today’s challenges, from space travel, to proteomics to surviving in an interconnected world. So we are busy extending, enhancing, and amplifying our minds by combining them, symbiotically, with 21st century technology. Why We Need Digital Wisdom (Spark Salon)

2. If you only had a single statement to pass on to others summarizing the most vital lesson to be drawn from your work, what would it be? Seed asked eleven scientists this question. These are their answers: Single Most Vital Lessons from Scientists (Seed Magazine).

3. Because [their] energy is a limited resource, they tend to see extroverts as obnoxious predators out to steal their sweet, sweet energy juices. That's why they have the hamster ball of personal space. A Guide to understanding introverts (picture).

If you only had a single statement to pass on to others summarizing the most vital lesson to be drawn from your work, what would it be? Seed asked eleven scientists this question. These are their answers. - See more at: http://seedmagazine.com/content/article/starting_over/#sthash.iWW4WhA7.dpuf

If you only had a single statement to pass on to others summarizing the most vital lesson to be drawn from your work, what would it be? Seed asked eleven scientists this question. These are their answers. - See more at: http://seedmagazine.com/content/article/starting_over/#sthash.iWW4WhA7.dpuf

News: Internet freedom, cloud pirates, and Google speaks

Current international news:
Google Warns UN Treaty Could End Free And Open Internet
The Real Threat to Internet Freedom Isn't the United Nations
Internet freedom remains US priority at UN conference

Older stories of interest:
President Obama to Reddit: ‘Internet freedom’ will be part of 2012 Democratic platform
What Obama's Re-Election Means for Internet Freedom
If feds can bust Megaupload, why bother with anti-piracy bills?
Pirate Bay Moves to The Cloud, Becomes Raid-Proof

News: Social stratification and decreasing economic mobility

As computers and more efficient practices reduce and eliminate jobs, it takes more than a good work-ethic to remain competitive. Articles on the change:

1. Americans love to believe that anyone can get ahead, that they can build a better life than their parents had, simply by working hard enough. The evidence suggests, however, that this is less and less the case. Just working hard will no longer suffice, especially for Americans who haven't been born with wealth or particular talents. More and more, education has become the key to moving up--from poverty into the middle class, from the middle class into affluence--or to holding onto the middle-class lifestyle in which one was raised.

I'm working really hard but not getting ahead  (The Atlantic).

2. The future of affluence is not what it used to be. Americans have long believed—it’s part of our national character—that our economic well-being will constantly increase. We see ourselves as a striving, inventive, and pragmatic people destined for higher living standards. History is a continuum of progress, from Robert Fulton’s steamboat to Henry Ford’s assembly line to Bill Gates’ software. Every generation will live better than its predecessors. Well, maybe no.

The Withering of the Affluent Society (The Wilson Quarterly)

3. For many economists, the most troubling statistics were those on income inequality underscoring the middle-class squeeze. Census: Middle class shrinks to an all-time low (Washington Post)

4. 30 Statistics That Show That The Middle Class Is Dying... (Business Insider)

December 2012: Movie a week

It's December, and that means snow, cold weather, and shorter days. I'll be at the theater weekly heralding in each new release.

Week 1: Life of Pi
Comment: Yes, it came out in November but I haven't seen it yet!

 

Week 2: The Hobbit
Comment: 48 fps, a first in film technology (LA Times Article).

Week 3: Django Unchained
Comment: About time, Tarantino.

Louis C.K. and superstorm Sandy response

I recently wrote about developments in the moral guidance of mainstream comedy, lauding Louis C. K.'s progressive stance and method of deilvery. Here are sources addressing his response to Hurricane Sandy on SNL.

1. SNL: God Bless Louis C.K. (TV.com)

2. SNL host Louis C.K. makes New Yorkers laugh again (Daily News)

 

Thoughts inspired by Larry Wachowsky's sex change

By Tyler Samien
As posted on WhenFallsTheColiseum

Recently, I saw a post on Facebook from someone who had learned of Osama Bin Laden’s assassination an entire year after it happened. As a well informed American, he was shocked that he had initially missed the story.  I’ve never missed news as big as Bin Laden’s death (as far as I know), but I can relate. I was just as shocked when I learned recently from a New Yorker article on the upcoming Cloud Atlas Movie  that the Wachowski Brothers are now the Wachowski Siblings and Larry is now Lana.

What concerned me on learning about the “siblings” was not the news (who really cares?), it was the thought that I may be out of touch.  Supposedly, the big news on Lana was in 2008, I was way behind. I was forced to justify my ignorance by either (1) convincing myself that I should be proud of my chosen news sources for withholding such frivolity or (2) convincing myself that the daily proliferation of ever-changing information means everyone (you included) will eventually miss something important. I chose the latter.

Hopefully you don’t choose the day Osama Bin Laden is killed to go overnight camping in a wilderness without cell service and spend the week after in a self-loathing pit of media avoidance and drunkenness due to a breakup, but it could happen. As a child, you could miss the bus the morning you were supposed to learn what a BJ is and decades later, be mocked for your ignorance at work.

How does it feel to know that there are probably obvious things you don’t know that everyone else does? That these things may be waiting to surprise you when you least expect it? Depending on your personality, the thought can be scary or fun. It reminds of something that happened to my sister recently.  [Read More]

Stewart vs. O'Reilly live this Saturday -- clips to hold you over

Stewart vs. O'Reilly this Saturday! Here are the details: $4.95 for streaming, 8pm at Rumble2012. The live event has sold out and tickets are being scalped away for as much as $1,200. Click "read more" at the end of the post to see the videos.

News: Smartphones for babies wanting to look at old web pages

1. "The smartphone’s role as constant companion, helper, coach, and guardian has only just begun...

Understanding that the crib is where the baby sleeps, the SmartPhone activates its sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) application and uses its built-in microphone, accelerometers, and other sensors to monitor little Tommy’s heartbeat and respiration. The “Baby Position” app analyzes the live video stream to ensure that Tommy does not flip over onto his stomach—a position that the medical journals still report contributes to SIDS. Of course, best practices in child rearing seem to change quickly, but Tom and Sara aren’t too worried about that because the NewBorn application suite updates itself with the latest medical findings. To lull Tommy to sleep, the SmartPhone 20.0 plays music, testing out a variety of selections and learning by observation which music is most soothing for this particular infant." [more]

Generation Smartphone 

2. "Technology and society: Amid the explosive growth of digital content on the internet, little thought has been given to preserving things for posterity. Will historians of the future wish that web pages had been preserved more carefully?" [more]

Lost in cyberspace

Know: Hackers from Disneyland miss their books

Articles of interest:

1. The Bookless Library

"They are, in their very different ways, monuments of American civilization. The first is a building: a grand, beautiful Beaux-Arts structure of marble and stone occupying two blocks’ worth of Fifth Avenue in midtown Manhattan. The second is a delicate concoction of metal, plastic, and glass, just four and a half inches long, barely a third of an inch thick, and weighing five ounces. The first is the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, the main branch of the New York Public Library (NYPL). The second is an iPhone."

2. Hackers: Special report

A whole collection of interesting articles and info on real world hacking. I'm still reading this myself.

3. The Secret World of Disneyland

"Disneyland may look like a straightforward theme park. But there’s a secret world hidden behind the balloons, castles and cotton candy – a place where wild cats roam the park at midnight, Mickey Mouse hides in the wallpaper, and movie stars sip martinis behind closed doors."

Subway offering vegan options in limited markets

With the exception of Taco Bell, which hasn't been the same since I quit eating animals, I rarely eat at the big fast food chains. I don't like sticky floors. The people depress me. The food makes me nauseous. I was glad, however, to see that Subway is testing vegan options in the Washington D.C. area. It means the vegetarian market is growing. Other restaurants may follow along. People may try some of the of the soy or black bean sandwiches and like them.

I'm hoping to stop by and try one soon.

Vegan Subway: Sandwich Chain To Introduce Three New Vegan-Friendly Subs In Beltway Locations 

Fake Meat Never Tasted So Good: We Taste-Test Subway's New Vegan Subs, and Like Them

News: Community for tech entrepreneurs at sea

"Blueseed is a Sunnyvale, California-based startup company and a seasteading project to create a startup community located on a vessel moored in international waters near the coast of Silicon Valley in the United States. The promoters believe that the location would enable non-U.S. startup entrepreneurs to work on their ventures without the need for a US work visa." -Wikipedia


Blueseed concept vessels and Home Page



Blueseed startup ship of dreams has hundreds knocking at its door

News: L.A. Police and sidewalk chalk clash

L.A. Times:
LAPD officers, Occupy L.A. protesters clash during ArtWalk downtown
Occupy L.A.'s chalk protests prompt melee, free-speech debate

OccupyLossAngeles.com:
Violent arrests, less lethal rounds, and teargas, in response to sidewalk chalk!

Good thing the L.A. police weren't around when my younger sisters did the following to the house when we were little:

Know: Lightest Material Invented and Enjoy your Beer

Scientists Invent Lightest Material on Earth

How to Enjoy Your Beer (Salon)