Eighteen influential thinkers were recently gathered to identify the great technological challenges which face humanity today.
The list, which was announced at the meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science this weekend, consisted of fourteen points:
- Make solar energy affordable
- Provide energy from fusion
- Develop carbon sequestration
- Manage the nitrogen cycle
- Provide access to clean water
- Reverse engineer the brain
- Prevent nuclear terror
- Secure cyberspace
- Enhance virtual reality
- Improve urban infrastructure
- Advance health informatics
- Engineer better medicines
- Advance personalised learning
- Explore natural frontiers
One of these great thinkers, Ray Kurzweil, has also predicted that, by 2029, humans will be able to enhance characteristics such as their health, intelligence and memory using nanobots which interact with their biological neurons. Sounds like revision for exams is going to get a lot easier in the future!
(Found at BBC News)
18 February, 2008
18 January, 2008
Squishables
Squishables are cute giant balls of squishy love. They're incredibly soft, huggable, and cuddly.
Our squishable animals are made out of all new materials (100% polyester fiber) and are safe for children ages 3 and up...and also adults 150 and under.
Each squishable is about 15 inches tall. They squish down a bit smaller, and they stretch a bit bigger.
Spot wash 'em if they get dirty. Use 'em as a pillow. Throw them at people. Enjoy.
Couldn't write it better myself! Personally I want a penguin or tortoise, but it sounds like ordering from overseas could get expensive...
Our squishable animals are made out of all new materials (100% polyester fiber) and are safe for children ages 3 and up...and also adults 150 and under.
Each squishable is about 15 inches tall. They squish down a bit smaller, and they stretch a bit bigger.
Spot wash 'em if they get dirty. Use 'em as a pillow. Throw them at people. Enjoy.
Couldn't write it better myself! Personally I want a penguin or tortoise, but it sounds like ordering from overseas could get expensive...
11 January, 2008
Xbox 360 Games
Ok, so I haven't updated in a long time. This is mostly due to laziness as I prefer to use this as a more serious blogging space and, well, serious blogging takes a lot of thinking time to make sure everything has the right tone for how I perceive this blog to sound.
I have decided to return with this news: I'm enjoying games on the Xbox 360.
Not only am I managing to get some decent time in to play them, but I've managed to acquire a couple of games that are exactly the sort of thing I love and it's given me the bravery to try other games, too.
Around New Years, I completed the storyline for Overlord and felt surprisingly pleased with myself for managing to work out most of it all by myself and get to the end without crying! It also involved me persevering with one of the last bosses, which isn't normal for me as I normally get frustrated and leave it alone.
The game's a lot of fun. I've been describing it as "Pikmin, but evil", but for people who don't know Pikmin, this probably doesn't help very much. You play as an evil Overlord who is trying to restore his tower by collecting pieces with his Minions (little gobliny/imp creatures) with different skills, differentiated by their different colours. They will do anything you ask them to, including jumping into a smelter to be turned into powers for your armour and weapons!
I am now finding it embarrassingly hard to tear myself away from Viva Piñata. It's brightly coloured and you get to organise things and have to get X and Y to make Z happen, which is one type of game play I really enjoy... as long as I know how to make Z happen. I have found this website very useful for both finding out things that you don't get told in-game and as a quicker and less irritating encyclopedia of piñata, plants and other items. This is what I have been doing with my spare time most of this week and I'd recommend it to any big kid! Or, infact, little kid if you have the patience to explain it all to them, there is the option to sign in another controller and have an older person help out, but I've found that my 6 year old sister actually enjoys watching it quite a lot anyway :)
I mentioned earlier that it's given me the bravery to try other games and I discovered this yesterday when I went over to Skep's and asked to play Assassin's Creed. It struck me as sort of similar to Elder's Scrolls IV - Oblivion (don't ask...) and so I wanted to give it a try. I took over from my boyfriend, who enjoys encouraging me to waste my time like this, and went through the tutorial and got up to the first save point before feeling a little overwhelmed by all the different button combinations. This was partially due to my lack of knowledge of the controller and partially due to my inability to quickly decipher left and right when told, making the on-screen instructions useful as long as I have time to think... which isn't always possible when you're being attacked by angry guards... I'll be going back to it though, when I have the time, because I want to learn to play a load of different games and see how well I can do at them
Another game I've played recently is Guitar Hero 3. I suck at it, but I'm assured that it gets easier. I believe this, but it doesn't take away from the fact that I have a long way to go before I'll be much good and that's going to take even longer when I can't practice... it's simple enough to play, although I've never been keen on games that basically put down the worse player, but that's just me being too sensitive, I guess!
I have decided to return with this news: I'm enjoying games on the Xbox 360.
Not only am I managing to get some decent time in to play them, but I've managed to acquire a couple of games that are exactly the sort of thing I love and it's given me the bravery to try other games, too.
Around New Years, I completed the storyline for Overlord and felt surprisingly pleased with myself for managing to work out most of it all by myself and get to the end without crying! It also involved me persevering with one of the last bosses, which isn't normal for me as I normally get frustrated and leave it alone.
The game's a lot of fun. I've been describing it as "Pikmin, but evil", but for people who don't know Pikmin, this probably doesn't help very much. You play as an evil Overlord who is trying to restore his tower by collecting pieces with his Minions (little gobliny/imp creatures) with different skills, differentiated by their different colours. They will do anything you ask them to, including jumping into a smelter to be turned into powers for your armour and weapons!
I am now finding it embarrassingly hard to tear myself away from Viva Piñata. It's brightly coloured and you get to organise things and have to get X and Y to make Z happen, which is one type of game play I really enjoy... as long as I know how to make Z happen. I have found this website very useful for both finding out things that you don't get told in-game and as a quicker and less irritating encyclopedia of piñata, plants and other items. This is what I have been doing with my spare time most of this week and I'd recommend it to any big kid! Or, infact, little kid if you have the patience to explain it all to them, there is the option to sign in another controller and have an older person help out, but I've found that my 6 year old sister actually enjoys watching it quite a lot anyway :)
I mentioned earlier that it's given me the bravery to try other games and I discovered this yesterday when I went over to Skep's and asked to play Assassin's Creed. It struck me as sort of similar to Elder's Scrolls IV - Oblivion (don't ask...) and so I wanted to give it a try. I took over from my boyfriend, who enjoys encouraging me to waste my time like this, and went through the tutorial and got up to the first save point before feeling a little overwhelmed by all the different button combinations. This was partially due to my lack of knowledge of the controller and partially due to my inability to quickly decipher left and right when told, making the on-screen instructions useful as long as I have time to think... which isn't always possible when you're being attacked by angry guards... I'll be going back to it though, when I have the time, because I want to learn to play a load of different games and see how well I can do at them
Another game I've played recently is Guitar Hero 3. I suck at it, but I'm assured that it gets easier. I believe this, but it doesn't take away from the fact that I have a long way to go before I'll be much good and that's going to take even longer when I can't practice... it's simple enough to play, although I've never been keen on games that basically put down the worse player, but that's just me being too sensitive, I guess!
10 October, 2007
"Best Friends"
Who even invented the idea of being "best friends"? Why bother? I mean, there are a lot of different people out there, why not just be friends with a load of them and all get along? Why choose ONE person to always be friends with, of the same sex, who you designate as having to always be there and always agree with you and look after you more than the other friends you have?
Don't get me wrong, I have a lot of good friends that I have met over time and kept in contact with. One of them is my boyfriend, another I have known since I was about 4 and there are other in between who I keep in contact online and love talking to, but none of them can be called my "best friend". People are too different!
My housemates have had me thinking I was unfortunate for not making one of these "best friends" at University. I live with five other girls, four of which I lived with last year and I was friends with the year before that. One I even shared a room with in the first year! Despite all this I barely feel like a good friend to them. They have separated into their own little couples which have sort of stuck right up until this point... the fifth girl I've only really started to get to know so can't be ranted about (yet!)
So what do best friends do? Buy each other presents, go out shopping together, share food, talk about how their day went, have play fights, yell at each other, argue, slap, punch, pull hair, bite... ... did I lose you there? Well it's certainly how it seems sometimes...
Right now one of these couples is confusing me more than ever. Sure, girls are allowed to argue over things and have disagreements and fall out. That's fine. But when they feel so upset that as soon as the other 'half' appears their life feels miserable that would be the point at which you start thinking that maybe, just maybe, this isn't actually a good friendship. That you should take your focus elsewhere? Not for this girl.
Lisa told me when I came back early during the summer that she had a great holiday. Best time of her life and we had fun chatting and watching TV, but now that Stacey has come back everything's changed...
Just earlier today they argued about whether or not Stacey had been told about something. Stacey insisted she hadn't, but Lisa insisted just as strongly that she had. This continued for a while with me idly sipping a cup of tea. Lisa finally flailed a little and said;
"Okok, you win, ok?" I mean, seriously, is that really the sign of a strong friendship?
Then Stacey called her immature and Lisa muttered something about wanting to go home cos she hates this place and I was just left sat there shaking my head.
She's right, having to try to end an argument with a comment like that isn't the right way to go about it. Maybe an "Ok, I guess you didn't hear me" just to cool things down again, but making your point of feeling like you're made out to be wrong all the time in the middle of an argument is the wrong way to go about it... am I right about this? Am I just talking crazy?
In the mean time here I am. I live on the same floor as Lisa. I talk to her and give her hugs and check up on her when she's down. Does she bother talking to me or anything? No. She's polite, but doesn't seem all that keen about making better friends with me. Her loss. If no one care to keep in contact after Uni I won't be any worse off. I have my friends back at home to see if these guys turn out to be not much good! Just hope they don't kill each other any time soon, that's all...
Don't get me wrong, I have a lot of good friends that I have met over time and kept in contact with. One of them is my boyfriend, another I have known since I was about 4 and there are other in between who I keep in contact online and love talking to, but none of them can be called my "best friend". People are too different!
My housemates have had me thinking I was unfortunate for not making one of these "best friends" at University. I live with five other girls, four of which I lived with last year and I was friends with the year before that. One I even shared a room with in the first year! Despite all this I barely feel like a good friend to them. They have separated into their own little couples which have sort of stuck right up until this point... the fifth girl I've only really started to get to know so can't be ranted about (yet!)
So what do best friends do? Buy each other presents, go out shopping together, share food, talk about how their day went, have play fights, yell at each other, argue, slap, punch, pull hair, bite... ... did I lose you there? Well it's certainly how it seems sometimes...
Right now one of these couples is confusing me more than ever. Sure, girls are allowed to argue over things and have disagreements and fall out. That's fine. But when they feel so upset that as soon as the other 'half' appears their life feels miserable that would be the point at which you start thinking that maybe, just maybe, this isn't actually a good friendship. That you should take your focus elsewhere? Not for this girl.
Lisa told me when I came back early during the summer that she had a great holiday. Best time of her life and we had fun chatting and watching TV, but now that Stacey has come back everything's changed...
Just earlier today they argued about whether or not Stacey had been told about something. Stacey insisted she hadn't, but Lisa insisted just as strongly that she had. This continued for a while with me idly sipping a cup of tea. Lisa finally flailed a little and said;
"Okok, you win, ok?" I mean, seriously, is that really the sign of a strong friendship?
Then Stacey called her immature and Lisa muttered something about wanting to go home cos she hates this place and I was just left sat there shaking my head.
She's right, having to try to end an argument with a comment like that isn't the right way to go about it. Maybe an "Ok, I guess you didn't hear me" just to cool things down again, but making your point of feeling like you're made out to be wrong all the time in the middle of an argument is the wrong way to go about it... am I right about this? Am I just talking crazy?
In the mean time here I am. I live on the same floor as Lisa. I talk to her and give her hugs and check up on her when she's down. Does she bother talking to me or anything? No. She's polite, but doesn't seem all that keen about making better friends with me. Her loss. If no one care to keep in contact after Uni I won't be any worse off. I have my friends back at home to see if these guys turn out to be not much good! Just hope they don't kill each other any time soon, that's all...
03 May, 2007
Artist's Interpretation
Prompted by a visit to one of my forum-like websites, I visited this blog earlier today:
http://amazingfiltered.blogspot.com/2007/05/drawings-children-vs-artists-children.html
It has examples of artist's work where they have taken drawings by children made it into a more 'art-like' piece. The way they have stuck so riggedly to the line art yet created something so amazing just struck me, and since I'm failing at putting it onto Photogabble (I'm guessing due to all the changes going on?) it's going up here. I've been meaning to put up some more blogs recently, I just never get around to it, so once my assignments are in and exams resat I might get to the ranting - watch this space!
http://www.themonsterengine.com/art.html <-- a website for one of the artists featured in the above blog
http://amazingfiltered.blogspot.com/2007/05/drawings-children-vs-artists-children.html
It has examples of artist's work where they have taken drawings by children made it into a more 'art-like' piece. The way they have stuck so riggedly to the line art yet created something so amazing just struck me, and since I'm failing at putting it onto Photogabble (I'm guessing due to all the changes going on?) it's going up here. I've been meaning to put up some more blogs recently, I just never get around to it, so once my assignments are in and exams resat I might get to the ranting - watch this space!
http://www.themonsterengine.com/art.html <-- a website for one of the artists featured in the above blog
16 March, 2007
New Hard Drive
Well, this week has been interesting. The week itself wasn't anything special. I got convinced to go out when I didn't feel like it. Saved some frogs from the possibility of drying out or getting splatted on the road. Been continuing to force myself to go to the gym after lectures in a hope that I'll lose weight. I've watched the first thirteen episodes of Full Metal Alchemist (which is an awesome animé and I'd recommend it to anyone interested in the genre). Made to feel a little stupid because I'm not particularly good at maths. And handed out a load of CVs in hope that someone will want to take on this poor student for a part time or weekend job...
But, most importantly, I have been trying to sort out my laptop.
You see, a while ago I went out with friends and, as usual, left him on so that people could leave me messages on MSN and whatnot (cos people are generally too lazy to actually use e-mail so don't bother otherwise) However, instead of sitting there nicely for me when I got home, he was making funny noises. A huge amount of whirring, grinding noises. I try to just check what's going on onscreen and he's frozen, so restart him begrudgingly, only for the whirring and grinding to continue. I decided to leave him off overnight and took out the battery, thinking that would possibly help.
It didn't, and so I called my dad and he said to bring it to his place and he'll take a look. Of course, it seems that the two days rest made him feel a load better and therefore worked fine. Not even a squeak... and since then, he was pretty good. I'd turn him off overnight and he seemed quite happy...
But then, last weekend, he did the same thing. I got back after a party next door and he was whirring at me and I tried to talk to people on MSN but he'd frozen up again... and this time, when I tried to restart him he was flashing up that he couldn't find the OS :/ So I called dad the next morning and told him and this week I've been trying to work out what to do with him. Currently, I am booting off of an external hard drive which I have thanks to my (awesome) dad and so I am able to do Uni work, otherwise it'd be a real pain to get things done...
Anywho, I am mostly here to brag that, because of this, I was given two options:
Upgrade to a new Intel MacBook (which I said I wanted to postpone til I had finished Uni for many obscure reasons that I can't really explain)
OR
Get a new hard drive because that's the thing that seems to be causing trouble.
So I have chosen the latter and on Tuesday my baby will be having 160Gb installed! That's more than double my current disk space, he's gonna seem HUGE! So much music!
Meanwhile, I have an assignment on the considerations that need to be taken when starting up a boarding kennel in respect to preventing kennel cough to do for Monday! Adieu
But, most importantly, I have been trying to sort out my laptop.
You see, a while ago I went out with friends and, as usual, left him on so that people could leave me messages on MSN and whatnot (cos people are generally too lazy to actually use e-mail so don't bother otherwise) However, instead of sitting there nicely for me when I got home, he was making funny noises. A huge amount of whirring, grinding noises. I try to just check what's going on onscreen and he's frozen, so restart him begrudgingly, only for the whirring and grinding to continue. I decided to leave him off overnight and took out the battery, thinking that would possibly help.
It didn't, and so I called my dad and he said to bring it to his place and he'll take a look. Of course, it seems that the two days rest made him feel a load better and therefore worked fine. Not even a squeak... and since then, he was pretty good. I'd turn him off overnight and he seemed quite happy...
But then, last weekend, he did the same thing. I got back after a party next door and he was whirring at me and I tried to talk to people on MSN but he'd frozen up again... and this time, when I tried to restart him he was flashing up that he couldn't find the OS :/ So I called dad the next morning and told him and this week I've been trying to work out what to do with him. Currently, I am booting off of an external hard drive which I have thanks to my (awesome) dad and so I am able to do Uni work, otherwise it'd be a real pain to get things done...
Anywho, I am mostly here to brag that, because of this, I was given two options:
Upgrade to a new Intel MacBook (which I said I wanted to postpone til I had finished Uni for many obscure reasons that I can't really explain)
OR
Get a new hard drive because that's the thing that seems to be causing trouble.
So I have chosen the latter and on Tuesday my baby will be having 160Gb installed! That's more than double my current disk space, he's gonna seem HUGE! So much music!
Meanwhile, I have an assignment on the considerations that need to be taken when starting up a boarding kennel in respect to preventing kennel cough to do for Monday! Adieu
10 March, 2007
Things I Would Like To Do
Today, I had an interesting walk home. As I was taking myself from the gym, something sparked off a thought and I relaised that I want to bungie-jump and/or sky dive. Preferably with someone else to share the experience. And I'd liek to do it quite early in my life...
Now, this is all well and good, but it sparked off a train of thought about how I always consider myself to be a pretty boring person. I don't often care too much about what I do and I don't think about ambitions or anything that could make my life more interesting... but then I came up with this first list-
I would like to:
Bungie-jump
Sky dive
Swim with dolphins
Learn falconry
Learn to ride a horse
Learn archery
Learn to ride a motorbike (or at least know someone I was able to go on rides with a lot)
Go to somewhere on the equator to watch the sun rise and set (as it apparently goes REALLY fast)
Go to Africa to look after the orphaned animals for a month
Go on this road trip Skep talked about to the U.S., purely for the experience
And I realised that this was a pretty substantial list... then I thought about what else I would like to do... there's obviously the more sentimental things:
Having a home that I have decorated and created so that every morning I wake up and smile proudly
To have children who want to talk to me about problems and life for a large part of their lives
I'd like to teach someone something that they will never forget and hopefully pass on to someone else in a similar fashion
I'd like to own several different types of pet for their entire life period
I want to be able to own something that means so much to me that it can be passed down to my grandchildren
And of course I want a man who will be there to love me and make me feel special for the rest of my life and who I will be willing to do anything for to see him happy, in return
Which are all more ideals than attainable goals (although I'm sure everything there is doable...) And this bottom list? The more trivial, silly things that I've come up with after considering my top two lists:
Get a good tan
Make a snow angel
Be proud of my body
I would like to go out wearing pajamas
Own all the classic Disney films on DVD
Have a wardrobe full of dressing up outfits
Kiss a stranger, even if it's just on the cheek
Have a wardrobe with gorgeous clothes that I love
Match said clothes with shoes/boots/sandals/trainers of many different colours and styles
Receive a bouquet of lovingly, carefully chosen flowers with a note that makes me smile instantly
Have a photoshoot where someone does my make up and hair and I get to wear a beautiful dress and have the photos taken of me and be allowed to take away a few of the photos as well
Well... this is my thoughtful moment for the year, I guess... hope you appreciate me sharing it with you :)
Now, this is all well and good, but it sparked off a train of thought about how I always consider myself to be a pretty boring person. I don't often care too much about what I do and I don't think about ambitions or anything that could make my life more interesting... but then I came up with this first list-
I would like to:
Bungie-jump
Sky dive
Swim with dolphins
Learn falconry
Learn to ride a horse
Learn archery
Learn to ride a motorbike (or at least know someone I was able to go on rides with a lot)
Go to somewhere on the equator to watch the sun rise and set (as it apparently goes REALLY fast)
Go to Africa to look after the orphaned animals for a month
Go on this road trip Skep talked about to the U.S., purely for the experience
And I realised that this was a pretty substantial list... then I thought about what else I would like to do... there's obviously the more sentimental things:
Having a home that I have decorated and created so that every morning I wake up and smile proudly
To have children who want to talk to me about problems and life for a large part of their lives
I'd like to teach someone something that they will never forget and hopefully pass on to someone else in a similar fashion
I'd like to own several different types of pet for their entire life period
I want to be able to own something that means so much to me that it can be passed down to my grandchildren
And of course I want a man who will be there to love me and make me feel special for the rest of my life and who I will be willing to do anything for to see him happy, in return
Which are all more ideals than attainable goals (although I'm sure everything there is doable...) And this bottom list? The more trivial, silly things that I've come up with after considering my top two lists:
Get a good tan
Make a snow angel
Be proud of my body
I would like to go out wearing pajamas
Own all the classic Disney films on DVD
Have a wardrobe full of dressing up outfits
Kiss a stranger, even if it's just on the cheek
Have a wardrobe with gorgeous clothes that I love
Match said clothes with shoes/boots/sandals/trainers of many different colours and styles
Receive a bouquet of lovingly, carefully chosen flowers with a note that makes me smile instantly
Have a photoshoot where someone does my make up and hair and I get to wear a beautiful dress and have the photos taken of me and be allowed to take away a few of the photos as well
Well... this is my thoughtful moment for the year, I guess... hope you appreciate me sharing it with you :)
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