New Ventures Society

  Spaceship for the Common Man

Members  10,000,000
Initial    $10 billion
expansion  $20,000 billion
upgrade     $6,000 billion

Our objective would be to design and build the first true spaceship. It would be a cross between a B2 bomber, a C5 cargo plane, and the Space Shuttle. It would load up to 100 tons of cargo (or 100 passengers), take off from any airport, fly to 45,000 feet, start the rocket motor, achieve Low Earth Orbit, unload, return to Earth, and prepare to launch again the next day. A prototype design capable of lifting 1 ton to orbit would also be considered.

The first thing in any aerospace design is to develop the propulsion plant.

Currently the only way to reach orbit is with a "disintegrating totem pole" (multi stage rocket). These are very inefficient!!, but they are the only things available.

The energy of an object in orbit is worth about $1 / kg if expressed in terms of energy that it would cost your electric company to produce.
So a 100 kg man would cost $100 to send to orbit.                       $   100
Except he would need 1000 kg of environmental support               1,000
                    10000 kg of structural support (@ $500 /kg)        5,000,000   (thrown away in flight)
                  100,000 kg of fuel                                                    1,000,000

or just ask the Russians if you can hitch a ride (going fee $ 5,000,000 )
going rate for a satellite is about $ 10,000 / kg

There are efforts to improve this currently in development that hope to reduce to cost to $1,000 /kg

(there are technologies [rotating skyhook, Bifrost bridge] based on the Beanstalk that have potential to drop it to $10 / kg but they have problems either with requiring massive existing orbital infrastructure or reliability )

This project aims to reduce costs to about $100 /kg or roughly the price to fly to Australia.

First (pedantic mode on) let it be said that no one is hiring Rocket Scientists. -- the last one we had (Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky)  lived in Russia about 100 years ago and developed all the equations related to space flight and conceived of all the modes. single stage, multi stage as well as the beanstalk and this project -- beamed power.
What NASA, the Russians, the Japanese, the Chinese, and the rest use are ROCKET ENGINEERS

All rockets depend on throwing propellant out the rear end. How well they work depends on the momentum of the exhaust which varies with the square root of the Temperature and inversely with the square root of the molecular weight of the exhaust.

So kerosene and liquid oxygen burns at 1600 C giving an Isp of around 3.5  not enough to get to orbit.
Shifting to liquid hydrogen and oxygen burns at 2800 C giving an Isp around 5.5 but has a drawback in that it requires massive insulation and better structural mass which negates most of the Isp increase. So we can make it to orbit with multi stages but just barely. If the Earth was just 25% larger no chemical rocket could get to orbit.

To get better performance we have to cheat. Leave our energy source behind, just carry the propellant and beam the power we need through the air.

Some interesting facts.
We beamed microwave power in tests to a rectenna ( converting back to electricity) as part of the solar power satellite program back in the 1970s
Boeing designed and tested a power plant for jet engines that relied on laser beams from orbit heating a heat exchanger back in the 1970s
My Chemistry lab at Rice built a vortex stabilized plasma torch (25,000 C )(pressurized N2 / O2) (experiment for cheaper nitrates) back in 1962
In 2014 a company demonstrated a microwave powered heat exchanger using He achieving ~ 5.5 Isp (then abandoned the work because of funding)
Ammonia (NH3) will decompose at 1000 C to H2 and N2 (it requires 1000 C and 14,000 psi to form)
Water ( H2O ) will decompose at 2800 C to H2 and O2 (the same temperature as for equilibrium formation)
H2 and O2 will decompose to the monomolecular forms around 4000 C
High temperature ceramics melt in the range 3500 C to 4500 C, mullite  (what was used in heat exchanger test) melts at 2200 C.
Sub millimeter microwave systems (~300 GHz) exist and are several orders of magnitude cheaper than lasers.

If we take an array of microwave emitters scattered over an area several miles in diameter we effectively create a tracking phased array radar set that can focus on a spot 10 meters in diameter at orbital heights. Because of absorption by water we need to install this array on mountain tops or in high deserts.

A 1 GW power array will create an intense heat on a ceramic heat exchanger at the focus of the beam. This should result in a temperature around 3000 C . If we pass ammonia through this heat exchanger we will heat the exhaust gasses ( N2 and H2) to 3000 C, far hotter than conventional chemical exhausts. Isp estimated 6.0

If instead of directly heating the propellant, we convert the energy of the microwave beam into electricity and then power a plasma torch we have a spectacular increase. The exhaust gasses ( monomolecular H and O ) come off at 25,000 C  (5 times the temperature of the surface of the sun) resulting in 3 times the Isp (9 times the temperature) plus 1.4 times the ISP for the monomolecular form with low molecular weight. . Thus roughly an Isp of 25.

Because of the much higher Isp we could probably use 1/4 the propellant, substituting 10 times the payload.
The operational mode would be as follows.
The spaceship would operate out of an ordinary airport.
Takeoff would be using ordinary jet engines
At around 45,000 feet the spaceship would enter the beam path and switch to the rocket motor.
The spaceship would climb and accelerate along the roughly 400 mile range of a given beam, switching to the next one if necessary.
At low Earth orbit the spaceship would discharge its cargo, then decelerate and use normal braking to return to lower altitudes and speeds.
Landing would be at an airport by jet engine and the craft would turn around, refueling and loading for another flight the next day.

The spaceship would still have the same cost ( ~ $500 / kg) but with continuous use the amortization of the hull will be a small value.

So there is a lot of room to improve


Who we are:

Roux St. James is a small-batch niche perfumery located in Austin, TX specializing in creating alluring and mysterious blends made from the highest quality natural and organic ingredients.  Our essences are carefully hand-bottled and packaged to evoke a decadent experience filled with romance, charm and reverence that reflects our hand-crafted artisanal values.


Category Archives: games

Introducing the puzzle

Hands-on skyscrapers

Skyscrapers in the classroom

  • What you’ll do if students give up easily.

[1] Source:

Redux: #NoticeWonder and #PrimeClimb

Using Tiny Polka Dots for visible random groupings

Different-sized grids for Prime Climb

Playing Prime Climb to ‘make thinking visible’

Further exploration

#NoticeWonder and Rational Tangles

Here is what they noticed.

Group A

  • They are trying to untangle the ropes.
  • They rotate 90 degrees clockwise.
  • There is a plastic bag.

Group B

  • Four people holding two ropes.
  • Same person holding the same end for the whole activity.
  • There was some pattern they kept repeating.
  • There was a bag.

And here is what they wondered.

Group A

  • What’s the deal with the plastic bag?
  • What’s the deal with the teacher?
  • How tangled was the rope?

Group B

  • Does the bag have something to do with the tangling?
  • Is it a proper knot? Or just a tangle?
  • What is the teacher doing?

Counting in unexpected ways

It was a delight to recently spend five days working with students and teachers in Alice Springs at the invitation of MTANT, the Mathematics Teachers Association of the Northern Territory. I then spent a week in bed with the flu, which is one reason I’ve recently lost my voice (both physically and online).

The main purpose of the visit was to join the 8th Annual Maths Enrichment Camp at Ti Tree School, in a small remote town 200 km north of Alice Springs. Students travelled from all over Central Australia, some from as far as the Aboriginal community of Hermannsburg, 320 km south (that’s a short distance in the Northern Territory!). The camp runs Friday night to Sunday morning, and is full of fun activities (mathematical and non-mathematical) for kids, and teachers, to engage with. This was my first Maths Camp, and I was thrilled to be invited; thanks @matt_skoss!

This year the Ti Tree Maths Camp attracted around 35 students from Years 4 to 10. Students were divided into three groups and on Saturday rotated through four activities, called ‘Worlds’. Thus, these activities needed to accommodate a broad range of mathematical expertise. To add extra challenge, I rarely work with students in the lower years, so I relied on a couple of trusted friends to help determine whether my planned modifications would be appropriate.

In this post I briefly describe how younger students responded to two of my favourite activities, which I’ve previously written about: The Game of SET and Domino Circles. I doubt that this is going to be revelationary to most teachers, but I am always learning how students make sense of mathematics (younger students, in particular), so I want to record my observations for the future.

Counting Dominoes

I worked on this problem with a combined group of Years 5 and 6 girls from Bradshaw Primary School and Araluen Christian College in Alice Springs.

Display this image. What do you notice? What do you wonder?

Responses include:

  • I notice: that there different numbers of dots on a domino.
  • I notice: that there are two groups of dots on each domino.
  • I notice: that the dots are different colours.
  • I wonder: what is the highest number of dots on a domino? (A fascinating side discussion commenced as we had to resolve whether we meant in total or on one half of the domino. We decided that in a Double 6 set, the highest number is six. What do you notice and wonder now?)
  • I wonder: what is the lowest number of dots on a domino? (Zero.)
  • I wonder: how many dominoes are there in the set? (My response is usually ‘Good question! I wonder if we can work that out?’ :))
  • I wonder: can a domino have more than one instance of the same number of dots? (Yes — I show a ‘double domino’, like 2|2.)
  • I wonder: is there exactly one of every combination of numbers of dots? (Yes.)

Usually my next question is to ask students to calculate how many dominoes there will be in a set. Some students start by drawing them all out. For this students I might show an image of a Double 18 set—too many to draw, right? This encourages students to find, and then explain, a formula for the number of dominoes in a Double ‘n’ set.

However, for younger students that I hadn’t met before, I was concerned that this question might be too challenging. Instead, I handed out sets of dominoes and asked students to have a look at them. Then I revealed that each set was missing a domino. Could they work out which domino was missing?

As you might expect, students needed to find a way to organise their dominoes so that they could identify the missing one. Several groups made arrangements like this. It’s easy to spot the missing domino now, right? How else could you have arranged the dominoes to make this discovery?

I gave one large group two sets of dominoes (one paper, one physical) in case they wanted to work in smaller groups. I was delighted to find that they instead used both sets of dominoes in tandem. It looked something like I’ve reproduced in the photo below. Can you spot the missing domino from each set?

There was an interesting moment in the middle of this activity as we discovered that some sets had more than one domino missing, and some sets had duplicates. (Guess who didn’t double-check the domino sets before starting the activity? <blush>) This could have been a disaster, but I took it as a true problem-solving experience for the group. We sorted out our sets eventually!

The rest of the session was largely spent exploring this question:

Once you’ve experimented with a set of dominoes in which the highest number is six, explore whether it is possible for sets of dominoes where the highest number is different.

You can read more about this problem here.

We finished with a quick ‘Notice and Wonder’ with this short promotional video by Cadbury, in which they set up blocks of chocolate in a suburban street, and knocked them over like dominoes. I wish I could remember all the rich wonderings the students had — they were fabulous!

Counting SET cards

My chosen activity for my ‘World’ at the Ti Tree Maths Camp was The Game of SET. I’ll briefly recap the game, before talking about how students counted their set cards.

SET is a card game. Three of the cards are shown below. What do you notice?

SET Cards 01

Students eventually identify a number of attributes of the cards. Sometimes (but not often) they generate more than we need for the game. I acknowledge them and ask if we can focus on four particular attributes: number, shape, colour and shading. We notice that each attribute has three different values that it can take. For example, shape can be ‘oval’, diamond’ or ‘the squiggly thing’.

I confirm that these are all the possibilities of values of attributes. When I work with students in higher grades, my next question is usually as follows.

If a SET deck contains exactly one card of every possible combination of attributes, how many cards are in a deck?

To adapt this question to lower years, I did something similar to what I did with counting dominoes. But instead of removing a card, I asked them to find a way to be sure that they had exactly one card for every possible combination of attributes in their deck.

Their natural ability to group by features that were the same, and to organise in a systematic way, was not unexpected. But I enjoyed seeing the varied ways they went about this.

For example, these two girls made three rows (shown vertically in the photo). Each row corresponds to a colour. Within each row, they grouped first by shape. For example, all the red diamonds, then all the red squiggles, then all the red ovals. Within each shape they grouped by shading. Within each shading they organised by number. One explanation was that, for a particular colour, they knew that there were nine cards for a particular shape. There were three different shapes. So there were 27 cards in one row. There were three rows of different colours. So there were 27 × 3 = 81 cards.

Some students started grouping by colour, but in a different way. In this grid, each row corresponds to one particular shape. Each column corresponds to one particular shading. Each ‘entry’ in the grid contains three cards, grouped by number. There were two other grids like this, each for a particular colour. One explanation was that, for a particular colour, we get a 3 × 3 grid where each entry contains 3 cards. So, each grid has 27 cards. There are three different grids, each corresponding to a different colour. So there are 27 × 3 = 81 cards.

There are four different ways of organising shown in the photo below. In the left bottom half, a student is organising in a way similar to the grid method. Focus on the larger cards in the far right. These girls have nine columns. Each column corresponds to a particular colour and shading combination. For example, the far left column are cards that have purple shapes that are completely filled in. Within each column, they organised the cards in groups of three. The three groups are organised first by shape. Within each group the cards are organised by number. Their explanation is that there are nine columns, each with nine cards. So they have 9 × 9 = 81 cards.

I loved all these ways — and more not described — that students found to count the number of cards they had in their deck. After students had completed their work, we congregated together and went on a tour of the room. Each smaller group explained to the whole group how they had organised their cards and confirmed that there were 81 cards in the deck.

An unexpected advantage of this approach is that students discovered for themselves how to make a SET, because of the natural ways that they grouped cards. In the game, a SET is a group of three cards where, for each of the four attributes, the features are the same across all three cards or different across all three cards. For example, the three cards below are a SET because shape is all-same, fill is all-same, number is all-different, colour is all-different.

SET Cards 02

Once students understood how to make a SET, we made a new discovery within their work. Consider again the top cards of the 3 × 3 grid shown below. Each row, column and diagonal forms a SET. It’s like a magic square. A magic SET square.

Meanwhile, the students who organised their cards into a 9 × 9 grid decided to keep their columns the same, but rearrange it so that each row corresponded to a particular number and shading combination. I’ve reproduced it below. With a little bit of prompting from me, they discovered that they had a kind of super magic SET square. Can you see what I mean? So cool!

SET cards

The rest of the session was spent playing the game, and talking over some of our SET-finding and problem-solving strategies. A rough description is here.

What struck me is that these students’ understanding of how to form a SET was much more solid, and developed so much quicker, than many other older students I work with. This is because usually I explain, rather than have them explore. At Maths Camp I was reminded — again — that even in an activity full of moments for discovery, there are still more opportunities to slow down and let students construct knowledge for themselves.

Ramsey’s party problem

I love games that require no special equipment because they can be played at a moment’s notice. This is one of my favourite pen-and-paper games. It is played on the complete graph K6. In other words, a board with six dots where each dot is connected to every other dot by a line.

Although the game-board can be drawn up for each game, I like to have pre-printed boards which can be put inside plastic sleeves for use with erasable marker pens.

To play, two players each choose a different colour. They take turns colouring any uncoloured lines between two dots. The first player to complete a triangle made solely of their colour loses.

A natural question to ask when playing games is whether or not there will always be a winner (or loser), or if the game can end in a draw. (We are also often interested in whether there is an advantage in being the first (or second) player.) Play a few times. What do you think?

What I like about this game is that the reasoning required to determine if there will always be a winner is accessible by many children and adults, but it is also the entry point into a rich area of mathematics called Ramsey theory.

Warning: the rest of this post contains mathematical spoilers.

The game described earlier is called Sim, after the mathematician Gustavus Simmons who was the first to propose it. It is also equivalent to a puzzle posed in The American Mathematical Monthly in 1958. ‘Prove that at a gathering of any six people, some three of them are either mutual acquaintances or complete strangers to each other.’ That is, we can represent the six people by six dots. We can colour the lines between two acquaintances in red and the lines between two strangers in blue. The problem now is to prove that no matter how the lines are coloured, we can not avoid producing either a red triangle (between three acquaintances) or a blue triangle (between three strangers).

So, if we can prove that we cannot avoid producing a triangle of either colour, then we have proven that the game can never end in a draw. (In fact, computer search has verified that the second player can win with perfect play.)

Consider the diagram below. There are five edges leaving node A. In a completed game, they will be coloured red or blue. At least three of them must be of the same colour, say red. Now, in triangle ABC, edge BC must be blue (else we have a red triangle). Similarly, in triangle ABD, edge BD must be blue. And, in triangle ACD, edge CD must be blue. But, we have just formed a blue triangle: BCD!

We could have posed this question in reverse, that is, what is the minimum number of guests that must be invited to a party so that at least three guests will be acquaintances or at least three guests will be strangers.

The game of Sim shows that it is possible to invite six people to a party and have either at least three guests as acquaintances or at at least three guests as strangers. We can show that this is the minimum number of guests by considering a party with five people and showing that it is possible to have no triangle of the same colour between any three people.

Sim is a demonstration of the Ramsey number R(3,3) = 6. In the language of parties, the Ramsey number R(m,n) = p says that p is the minimum number of guests required at a party so that at least m guests are acquaintances or at least n guests are strangers.

There is a lot written about Ramsey numbers; I’ve barely scratched the surface here. (I first read about them in Martin Gardner’s Colossal Book of Mathematics.) Finding Ramsey numbers is an active area of mathematical research, partly because they are fiendishly hard to calculate. At present, only a handful are known. The last word is for Paul Erdös, the great Hungarian mathematician. (The extract is from The Australian newspaper on Wednesday 21 April 1993 when Australian mathematician Brendan McKay and American colleague Stanislaw Radziszowski found R(4,5)=25).

If an evil demon threatened to destroy the Earth in two years unless we could tell him the value of R(5,5), our correct response, said Erdös, should be to devote all mankind’s resources to the problem — we could probably solve it in two years. But if the demon instead asked us to tell him the value of R(6,6) — then, said Erdös, we should devote all our resources to finding a way to kill the demon.

The Joy of SET

Just over a week ago I shared one of my favourite mathematical puzzles. Today I’m sharing my favourite mathematical game, SET. There is something in this game for young children to mathematics professors. I give SET workshops each year, for Year 8 students up. My slides are here, along with some notes I wrote several years ago. I suggest at least 90 minutes. A brief outline, along with some interesting questions, is below.

SET is a card game. There are four attributes of a SET card. The three cards below show all possible values of the attributes.

SET Cards 01

A SET is a group of three cards where, for each of the four attributes, the features are the same across all three cards or different across all three cards. The three cards below are a SET because shape is all-same, fill is all-same, number is all-different, colour is all-different.

SET Cards 02

If two cards are selected at random from the deck, how many cards, if any, can be paired with the first two to complete the SET?

How many SETs are possible (including those where a card is used in more than one SET) among all cards in the deck?

To play SET with others, lay twelve cards out on the table. The first person to find a SET calls ‘SET’, shows it to the rest of the players. The empty spaces are then replenished from the deck. If the players agree that there is no SET on the table, three more cards are dealt. At the end of the game, the person with the most SETs wins.

Many interesting questions arise when playing a game of SET, for example:

  1. Which types of SETs are most likely in a deck? (And how can you use this to your advantage when playing?)
  2. Can only three cards be left at the end of the game?
  3. How many cards is it possible for there to be on the table with no SETs present?

There are more interesting questions at the end of my slides, in an article1 from the Mathematics Teacher, and in multiple resources on the web. Constructing magic squares with SET cards is also fun!

To investigate the types of SETs most likely in a deck, I suggest letting students first play a game and then have them analyse how many of the different SET types they found (for example, three attributes all-same, one attribute all-different; two all-same, two different). Allow at least 30 minutes for this. Collating and comparing results between groups of students leads to a rich discussion.

Mathematicians have used the theory of vector spaces to prove that it is possible to find 20 cards without a SET — termed a maximal cap for four attributes. Exhaustive computer search also shows that every collection of 21 cards contains a SET. But the vector space theory isn’t very accessible for most. I’m interested in what progress someone with a few problem-solving skills but no advanced mathematics can discover.

For three attributes, it is possible for students with some careful reasoning to find the maximal cap of nine cards without a SET. Four attributes is more difficult; I’ve not yet managed it. Yet, I’ve had three students (one high-school, two pre-service maths teachers) prepared to tackle this project. Hearing about strategies they’ve devised — and the patterns they’ve discovered that come only from deep thinking and research on a problem — has possibly been the most fascinating part of this game.

At same stage I’ll tell you how to play Quarto with SET cards — but that’s another post.

Have you or your students played SET? How have you introduced it into the classroom? What mathematical questions do you and your students have? I’d love to extend my investigations into this game by hearing about your ideas.

[1] Anne Larson Quinn, Robert M. Koca Jr, Frederick Weening, ‘Developing Mathematical Reasoning Using Attribute Games’, Mathematics Teacher, 92 (9), 1999, pg 768-775.


Music of the Victorian Era By Sara vanderford

Music in the Victorian Era played an important role in many peoples lives and impacted them in many ways. Music was created as a distraction to keep people entertained and to give songwriters and chance to make it big before their career ends.

Music of the Victorian Era was made to create harmony in peoples lives. It was meant to help relax people and take their minds off of things. Instrumental tunes embraced the ideas of simplicity, diversity, and seriousness. The type of music was essentially contemporary and humorous in nature.

The writers of the music of the Victorian Era played a huge role in the upbringing of music. To be a writer in the Victorian Era, you had to know what you were doing and be prepared for the time of your life. Songwriters had to have the potential to hold a crowds attention and keep things interesting.

The music in the Victorian Era was strictly instrumental, therefor, their music relied dominantly on instruments. There were three main instruments at the time which were the piano, harpsichord, and the organ. The instruments of the Victorian Era have influenced the instruments songwriters use today.

The Victorian Era was a time for new beginnings and changes. It played a big role in many peoples lives and gave them a way to enjoy life and create a sense of sanity and simplicity. Music helped people become who they are and gave them a way to pursuit their dreams in life. Victorian Era music impacted people and the way they felt and had a long lasting impression on their lives.

Created By
Sara Vanderford

Created with images by STA82 - "piano key ivory" • maudco - "rococo harp castle" • kpr2 - "synthesizer music musical instrument" • jayneandd - "Sheet Music" • aitoff - "organ pipes church" • Andrew J. Sutherland - "Many a good tune"

Made with Adobe Slate

Make your words and images move.

Get Slate

Report Abuse


Jyn Erso: So Much Potential, But…

I watched Rogue One again two weekends ago.  I really wish I could say that I came away from it better satisfied than the first viewing, and while there were parts that did not irk me as much (such as Darth Vader on Mustafar), I found that I still had major issues with Jyn.

The problems I have are not so much with her, but more with Disney and how they decided to create her character.  I read an article a few years ago when the Hunger Games first came out – critics, especially female critics, were using the Hunger Games as an example of how movies with female leads can crush the box office, despite the fact that Hollywood bigwigs thought that men in leading roles would do better (i.e. make more money).  Hunger Games really broke the mold when it came to the leading female in an action movie and I think we have seen a good amount of movies since then that also prove that.

But this line in one of the articles has stuck with me ever since.  The author said something along the lines of,

Do not write strong female characters.  Instead write characters for women. The strong aspect will fall into place if it’s necessary.

I wish I could remember the article and link back to it, but alas, that was five years ago.

The author was saying that if you focus too much on creating a physically strong character, that character will lack the depth that makes people attracted to movies to begin with.  When we look at Katniss, whom her article was based off of, we see a young woman whose strength comes out of necessity to keep her family safe.  She taught herself how to hunt with a bow and arrow so that she could sell her food on the black market and feed her family.  Her love for her sister is what pushes her to join the Hunger Games.  Her feelings for Peeta is what forces her to turn the games on its head at the last minute and best President Snow.  By creating these driving forces within her, a strong character was created.

This is my first problem with Jyn.  We don’t see any character to her.  And you guys can all preach to me as much as you want that there are more in the books, but if a movie is to be good, you shouldn’t need to read a book.

We know Jyn saw her mother die and her father taken hostage.  We eventually learn that she was raised by Saw.  But because she has no character depth, I don’t understand her motivations.  When she figures out that Cassian had orders to kill her father, she is upset.  She rages at Cassian.  This all makes sense…though Jyn lacks character, anyone can relate to losing a parent; especially in her situation where the loss was not ideal (is it ever an ideal situation?).  Yet within a few minutes, she has joined the Rebellion and trying to convince them to find the Death Star plans on Scarif.

What?  You want to join the team that blatantly lied to your face about killing your father?  They said he would be unharmed but then Cassian was going to kill him?  You know Cassian didn’t think of that on his own, he pretty much implied he was under orders.  So let’s hold hands with the Rebellion and let bygones be bygones, right?  Phssshhhhh.

Those are my first problems in a nutshell.  I can’t understand Jyn’s motivations and she doesn’t seem to have much of a personality.  And of course I could read the book!  I know!  But if you think that, you’re missing the point.

Now we are onto the second, larger problem I have with Jyn and Disney’s writing of her/the movie.

Disney goes out to make this strong leading heroine (yay!)…but this strong, supposedly capable woman always gets rescued.

Okay read that again.

She. Always. Gets. Rescued.

I’m not sure why I missed this the first time I saw it in theaters.  But watching it again, I can count on my hand three major times that she gets rescued.

The first time is when she meets up with her old foster father, Saw.  He shows her the hologram of her father, Galen Erso, and she is spellbound.  She hasn’t seen her father in years and he’s all of a sudden there calling her by her nickname “Stardust” and telling her about plans to destroy the Death Star.  Meanwhile, the Empire decided to use that exact moment to blow up NiJedha/Holy City. She falls to her knees in shock as the cave begins to crumble…and who comes running around the corner?  Cassian.  Because Cassian got himself out of a cell on his own and ran to get her.  If not for Cassian, Jyn would have been dust and pieces just like Saw Gerrera.  I don’t remember Jyn getting herself out of a cell or handcuffs.  NiJedha/Holy City is exploding, the ceilings are caving in, and Jyn sits there looking at a blank hologram until Cassian forces her to move.

The second time, again, has to do with her father, Galen.  Galen is blown up/shot on Eadu where Jyn had been watching everything, hidden.  She runs to his side, to possibly save him if she can, while trying to hear his last words.  Meanwhile, Rebellion X-wings and TIE fighters are having a full on battle and she’s sitting on the most obvious place (a platform that awkwardly juts out) any X-wing would want to shoot down.

Oh and while she’s sitting there crying over her father, who comes to extract her from this dangerous situation?  I remember – Cassian!  That guy who always seems to be most helpful in these situations where Jyn has high odds of dying.

And then finally, the third time, which is sadly the most unforgiveable.  Jyn and Krennic are face-to-face on the top of the tower at Scarif.  He has a gun.  It’s pointed at her.  How in the world will she get out of this situation?  Hmmm…why not use her brains and figure a way out?  Or not.  Remember that guy Cassian I keep talking about?  He somehow regained consciousness from when he fell, climbed all the way up a tower, just in time to shoot Director Krennic so that Jyn can upload the plans.

If Jyn had managed to get herself out of other situations before, this last rescue would not be so challenging in my eyes.  But she didn’t and never will.

Here’s where I pick my other gripe with Disney.  This would not be as big of a problem if they did not surround Jyn with an all-male cast.  If Jyn was consistently rescued by another women, not only would it show amazing teamwork within females (I think Hollywood likes to pit us females against each other in a petty fashion a bit too much), it would show us that girls can get out of situations on their own.  I’m not saying the entire surrounding cast has to be women, but it would have been helpful to have Cassian be played by a woman.  His character is easily interchangeable with a female lead.

In my point of view, this is why Rey succeeded so well in The Force Awakens and why Jyn’s character was such a failure in Rogue One.  They made Rey a young woman that could fight, cry, laugh, and empathize with others.  They made a character who turned about to be strong.  With Jyn, we get almost the same character throughout the movie and who does not seem to be able to get herself out of tense situations.  She constantly needs to be rescued which does not look good for a female lead, especially one they are hyping up to be battle hardened and tough.  This time, Disney made a strong female without any character.

Do you agree or disagree with my rant?  Am I too narrow minded and missing something important that would change my entire argument?

Third Times the Charm

(Please, please, please…if you have been reading all the spoilers on the internet – do not write about them here!  These are all my own theories and I want to be happily correct or incorrect WHEN I SEE THE MOVIE and not beforehand.  Thanks.)

Okay.  So.  This:

This happened last night.

These are my thoughts in no particular order and I am spoiler-free so these are all just MY theories:

  • The most obvious question on everyone’s mind is…where’s Luke?  He was not on the trailer poster released Sunday.  He had a voiceover in the 2nd trailer but it was revealed at Celebration that he recorded that later, so it may not be in the movie.  My theory is that Luke is missing or he’s locked himself away for some reason and the plot revolves around finding him.  I do not think he plays a large part in this movie.
  • Rey is crying and it looks like she’s crying over a body (possibly dead?).  I believe she’s crying because Han dies.  I’ve believed from day one that Han will die in this movie only because it took a lot of convincing, and money, to get Ford to come back to Star Wars.  I think for that reason alone, his dragging feet, he will be written out of the story line.
  • L. Palmer refers to Poe Dameron giving Finn a “bro slap” when he goes off to his x-wing…but I kind of interpreted it differently.  I’m not sure that looks friendly to me, nor do I think Finn thinks it’s friendly.  He looks a little thoughtful and definitely not happy after Dameron walks away.  It could just be that they’re heading into battle so everything is serious, but I’m curious.
  • And speaking of Dameron…dude what are you doing hanging out with Kylo?  What is that all about?  There has been so much speculation since character names were announced that Poe is evil because of his name but I’m not seeing any evidence of that – until now when he’s chilling with Kylo.  Okay, he looks like he’s in a lot of stress and may be getting tortured, but he’s still with him.  finn gif tfa
  • Rey’s accent is English, Finn’s is American.  I was sure, and still am leaning towards, that Rey is the daughter of Han and Leia.  I also have this wild theory that Kylo and Rey are siblings (maybe twins) and she’s hiding from him on Jakku (which I believe is actually Tatooine, but renamed after the Empire fell because it’s WAY too similar to Tatooine and we go to Tatooine in the first movie of both trilogies).  That could be why she’s trying to be “no one”.  Maybe she doesn’t want Kylo to know where she is.  Not sure how all this ties into my theory of her being Han and Leia’s daughter unless she got hidden at birth (like some other twins we know!!).
  • Kylo Ren wants to finish what Vader started.  What the heck did he start?
  • Nice juxtaposition in the trailer of Finn being aimless versus Kylo who seems to have a very clear direction.
  • Kylo will whoop Finn’s butt in the lightsaber battle at the end.  Finn looks nervous and not confident at all.  Maybe this is where Luke comes in and saves the day?  That would be awesome.
  • How does Finn get the lightsaber?  It sounds like, from all the trailers and the title, that the Force can “awaken” in you if you know how to let it in or let it emerge.  So does this get rid of the notion from the Prequels that you are either born with the Force or not born with the Force?  That’s a lot to erase from something that is officially canon…
  • Not sure if anyone has noticed over the trailers and the cool San Diego Comic Con clip that was released – Finn and Dameron share/switch jackets.  To me, it looks like the jacket belonged to Dameron, maybe Finn helped rescue him, and gets the jacket from him?  I only say this because of that brief, split second clip from SDCC when we see Poe being hurtled off in Starkiller Base (or a Star Destroyer) by two stormtroopers and he’s wearing the leather jacket.  Perhaps Finn is one of the troopers leading him away?
  • I think it might be Lupita/Maz doing the majority of the voiceover in this trailer.  “Who are you?…The Force…it’s calling to you.  Just let it in.”
  • It’s kind of cool to see how Han did a 180 from ANH to this trailer.  Now he believes in Jedi vs. telling Obi-Wan to shut up on his nonsense.
  • Lots of other Kylo Ren peeps standing around Kylo Ren…probably the Knights of Ren we’ve been hearing about.  But why don’t they get lightsabers?
  • Anyone see the cool Mandalorian skull on the flags around that temple?  Also, a droid!  JJ is not completely ignoring the Prequels!  It definitely looks more Prequel than OT.
  • Did you notice BB-8 is all over the place?  He’s with Rey, Finn, and Poe during this trailer.  Which makes me think that maybe he doesn’t really “belong” to anyone, or he plays a more pivotal role that any of us suspect.
  • I hate the name Captain Phasma, but she’s starting to grow on me because she looks BAD ASS.  Bring it.
  • Another trench on Starkiller Base.  Another blowing up of a gigantic battle station?  Please no.  Let’s try to be more original.

And finally, here is what I think the timeline of events is based on the trailers:

Dameron gets captured by the First Order.  Finn is a stormtrooper, has a change of heart, rescues him. Gets in trouble, rey the force awakens with bb8escapes via TIE and the Star Destroyer shoots it down.  He ends up on Jakkooine (my friend’s and I term for Jakku) and meets Rey. He’s a wanted man so they escape on the Falcon (still hazy on how she ends up with the Falcon other than she has been repairing it in her junkyard? Maybe?) to the Resistance.  Somehow they have to go find Luke because Kylo and his Knights of Ren are being talked about.  Finn and Han go to find Luke.  End up at a temple where maybe Maz or Luke is.  Finn gets a lightsaber.  No idea what happens to Rey.  There is a climatic battle at the end where Finn ends up facing Kylo, Han dies, Poe blows up battle station (boo).

As you can see, lots of holes!  But that’s my basic prediction…and I’ve got less than two months until I find out!

I got 7:00pm Imax tickets for December 17th.  Woot.  Excited.

Final Analysis on the The Force Awakens Teaser Trailer

So we all watched it last week and had a great discussion about what the heck is possibly going on in The Force Awakens.

I thought that since it’s been a week, now is a good time to organize my thoughts, excitement, and speculations and write everything down.  It will be fun to come back in a year-ish and see which of my predictions were right, and which were wrong.

Overall, I liked the trailer.  I’ve heard complaints that people wanted to see the original cast back, but I’ve said from the beginning that I really wanted them to focus on the new cast and give a fresh look to Star Wars.  They did that with the trailer and I’m happy about that.

I was also happy at just how much of a tease it was.  So many questions left unanswered and so many theories now in place.

This is a looooooooooooong blog post, mostly for my own reference next year, but if you’re a die-hard Star Wars fan, then plow ahead.  (Oh wait, that’s all of you)

Trailer fades in and all we hear is,

There has been an awakening.  Have you felt it?

I spent a long time trying to figure out the voice.  My first thought was Andy Serkis, and then I completely wiped that from my mind and I swore it was Benedict Cumberbatch, despite his denial that he’s in VII.  I thought maybe he wasn’t appearing in VII, but his voice was there…mysterious and elusive and he will appear in person in VIII and IX.  I was completely wrong (but originally right) because Andy Serkis confirmed he’s the voice.

THEN BAM!  Up pops John Boyega in a stormtrooper outfit on a desert planet.

john boyega

Boyega: My first gut reaction is that he’s on Tatooine.  I still believe that because it would be a nice way to tie all the trilogies together.  We visit Tatooine in the first movie of each trilogy (ANH and TPM) so I think it would be appropriate to also see it in TFA.  Will the main star come from Tatooine like Anakin and Luke did?

Most interesting is that Boyega is in the stormtrooper outfit with his helmet off.  When have we ever seen that with a stormtrooper?  Never.  We’ve seen it with clonetroopers, but not stormtroopers.  He also looks paranoid, frightened, and is definitely out of breath.  Why the urgency?  What’s going on here?

Is there significance with the way he pops up after the voice over mentions “the awakening”?  Could Boyega’s character randomly have the Force awakened in him?  We’ve thought that the Force is with someone from their birth and it doesn’t awaken out of the blue.  In a sense, it awakened with Luke when Obi-Wan began his training, so perhaps that is the case with Boyega’s character, though the voice over suggests otherwise.

ezra and zare

Ezra and Zare

My final thought on this shot is my grand revelation I had last Friday that Boyega is actually the stormtrooper that Ezra met in the Star Wars Rebels episode “Breaking Ranks”.  If so, his character name would be Zare Leonis and he infiltrated the Imperial Academy in search of his missing sister.  When Ezra escapes, Zare decides to stay to continue his personal mission.  Disney and LFL said that they wanted to start tying the canon together more with the books, shows, and movies.  If my theory is correct, this could be step in the right direction.  Perhaps we will never see Zare again in SWR, but his storyline will be revealed in TFA.  It could also explain why perhaps he’s on the run in this episode.  Maybe he’s escaping the Empire (finally).

On top of that, what if his sister is played by Lupita Nyong’o?  We don’t see her character at all in this trailer, but they gave Zare’s sister a name in SWR (Dhara) and why do that with no intention of ever bringing the storyline back?

It might be a bit of a stretch though, since Boyega himself is 22 years old.  But Nyong’o is 31 so it could work…maybe…?

As we transition to the next scene, you can faintly hear a probe droid, so it reaffirms the fact that he could be on the run.

Soccer ball droid: Your guess is as good as mine.  No idea how that droid would function, what it was there for, or if it was even important.  I checked through the Prequels trailers and they did have some random shots of ships that really had no real bearing on the story.  So maybe that was the case with soccer ball droid, or maybe it does mean something.  The only thing I saw of significance was the junk it was rolling past.  Looks a lot like podracers to me…

soccer ball droid

Empire:  Stormtroopers in garish, flashing light.  Oh, and isn’t one a little short for a stormtrooper?  Could that be John Boyega again?  So we know stormtroopers = Empire, so it brings us to the question…did the Rebellion not destroy the Empire in ROTJ?  Is it still alive and well?  And look at the helmets!  Different, but similar.

stormtroopers tfa

There are also rumblings online that they could be in an Imperial Troop Transport.  Apparently Kenner released a toy of them but no one has actually seen them on film (It was in SWR though).  So is that true and it’s making it’s first movie appearance?  If you see the quick shot, it also looks like the stormtroopers have new-ish blasters as well.

And then we see their feet and it looks like they are about to descend into the night.  But where?  What planet?  There are lights, not natural lights, when you look into the night as the ship opens.  The dots of white and red make me think it’s some kind of civilization where they may be going to attack.

Ridley: Daisy Ridley!  Wooo.  She jumps on some sort of speeder, that kind of looks like a cross between an AA-9 Coruscant Freighter and podracer, but different.  And yet, did anyone else feel like it was eerily similar?  Like I had seen it before?

But let me just say this was my FAVORITE scene.  It was so reminiscent of Leia on Endor that my heart sang.  The outfit was even similar to what the Rebels wore on Endor with the over-the-shoulders slouch look.

There has been a lot of speculation on the fact that she had some sort of spear and/or lightsaber right next to her when she jumped on, but then it wasn’t there when she was flying away.  I also noticed that.  Look:

The hilt definitely looks like a lightsaber, but the blade somehow encased or contained?  Why is it missing in the next scene?  Honestly, I think it was a mistake by the editors.  They aren’t even close to done with the film and they probably have a bunch of different shots, some with that lightsaber thing and some without.  Abrams probably didn’t want us seeing it and getting too much information so he didn’t want it in the scene.  You know what…I have no idea, but I really think it was a mistake.

And she, like Boyega, looks like she is running from something and is slightly nervous.  As she speeds off into the distance, we see her going towards something that looks almost like the junk we saw in the background of the soccer ball droid.  Is it the same place?

X-Wings: Woooo!  X-Wings are back and Oscar Isaac is at the helm.  And notice guys…notice….the Rebel Insignia!!!  I had had moments of fear that they would completely change it and then my tattoo would be a remnant of a lost time, but nope.  Loud and proud on his helmet AND his fighter uniform.  Also, remember how I mentioned a year ago that most of the Insignia’s were actually a dark blue, not the red we always place with them?  Looks like Abrams remembers that too since the one on his uniform is the dark blue, though the one on the helmet is red.

oscar isaacs x wing

But of course that brings up the recurring question AGAIN…are we still fighting the Empire?  Still?  WHAT DOES THIS ALL MEAN?

xwings over waterThe X-wings fly over the water, which I actually could not figure out was water at first, silly me.  Just from the lighting, I thought it was actually Hoth again and they were flying over ice the first two times I watched it.  Beautiful shots though, right?  I love the artistry so far.  However…this scene actually makes me think it might be a closing scene of the movie.  Something about the lighting and the way there are three going into battle.  Will it be a final battle over the water?  THAT would be different!

Sith:  Okay, the big question.  All over the internet and TV, I’ve seen people dissecting this blade and the big question, “Who is that?”

First, we’ll talk about the blade.  I kind of like it.   The pulsing, unclean cut to it makes me think of something new sith crossguard lightsaberunfinished.  Perhaps due to the Sith (supposedly) being wiped out, this person had to create a lightsaber based on what they researched.  And this is what it is?

But what about those little blades coming out and making it seem like a cross guard?  I’ve read so much from people who think it’s stupid (what if your hand slips?) to people who think it’s practical as it will stop another lightsaber from chopping off your hand (that happens a lot, it seems).  I think…meh.  Don’t really like it actually.  I like the unfinished look of the blade, just not the cross guards.

As for who it is – I really, really want it to be Gwendoline Christie.  Really badly.  I’d love to think that the fact they were hiding the person was because we are finally, FINALLY get a female Sith.

Logic is pointing to Adam Driver because ever since he was cast he has been attached with the Sith rumor.  Some fans believe it could even be Luke due to the fact that they think this person’s right hand/arm is thicker than the other so perhaps it’s a bionic hand in there.  I disagree.  The gait of the villain (if it is a villain) seemed to be of a younger person.  And a very tall person at that.  Christie and Driver come in at 6’3” and Hamill comes in at 5’9”.

The voice returns.

The dark side.

And the light.

And then YAY IT’S THE FALCON.  Who got goosebumps then?  I certainly did.  The effect of it turning around and we’re following it upside down at this crazy angle and then there are TIE Fighters coming at you…MAGIC.  Loved it.  Second favorite moment for me, for sure.  And with the theme blaring in the background.  Happiness.  Pure happiness.

Falcon and TIEs

Again though, why the TIEs?  The Empire is somehow back in this movie.  Another desert planet, but this whole time we have not seen any sign of twin suns so we can’t confirm it’s Tatooine.   The Falcon also has a rectangular dish on it, no longer a circular one because if you remember, it got knocked off on the second Death Star run.

The only question left for me at the end, on which I have no real theories on, is the voice.  Serkis’ overarching voice gave us a narrative that seems most unusual for Star Wars.  What character is that?  It seemed a little too neutral to me.  Are they good or bad?  Do they play a big role or are they, like my original theory on Cumberbatch, elusive for the first movie?

Time will tell, but for now, I’m pumped, excited, and can’t wait for the next trailer, much less the actual movie a year from now.

Scene it on Friday – ANH Scene #72

Scene it on Friday – ANH Scene #72

I digress yet again.

Princess leia war room ANH

Grand Moff Tarkin casts a sinister eye at the computer screen.

The horizon twists as Wedge begins to pull out.

WEDGE: Right with you, boss.

LUKE: It’ll be just like Beggar’s Canyon back home.

Luke’s lifelong friend struggles with his controls.

BIGGS: We’ll stay back far enough to cover you.

Flak and laserbolts flash outside Luke’s cockpit window.

The Death Star laser cannon slowly rotates as it shoots laserbolts.

LUKE: Watch yourself! Increase speed full throttle!

Wedge looks excitedly about for any sign of the TIE fighters.

WEDGE: What about the tower?

Luke’s X-wing streaks through the trench, firing lasers.

Two laser cannons are firing on the Rebel fighters.

Wedge looks up and sees the TIE ships.

Luke’s targeting device marks off the distance to the target.

Vader and his wingmen zoom closer.

Leia and the others are grouped around the computer board.

LUKE: (over speaker) Get clear, Wedge.

LUKE: You can’t do any more good back there!

WEDGE: Sorry!

Vader watches the escape but issues a command to his wingmen.

VADER: Let him go! Stay on the leader!

Biggs looks around at the TIE fighters. He is worried.

Luke looks back anxiously at little Artoo.

LUKE: Artoo, try and increase the power!

Stealthily, the TIE formation creeps closer.

Vader adjusts his control stick.

Biggs looks around at the TIE fighters.

BIGGS: (over headset) Hurry up, Luke!

Biggs sees the TIE fighter aiming at him.

BIGGS: Wait!

Vader squeezes the fire button on his controls.

Biggs’ cockpit explodes around him, lighting him in red.

Leia and the others stare at the computer board.


Learn More
Diabetes increases the risk of Alzheimer's disease (AD). The pathological hallmarks for AD brains are extracellular amyloid plaques formed by β-amyloid peptide (Aβ) and intracellular neurofibrillary tangles consisting of hyperphosphorylated tau protein. This study was designed to determine AD-like brain changes in mice modeling for type 2 diabetes. The(More)
Application of isoflurane, a volatile anesthetic, after brain ischemia can reduce ischemic brain injury in rodents (isoflurane postconditioning). This study is designed to determine whether isoflurane postconditioning improves long-term neurological outcome after focal brain ischemia and whether this protection is mediated by attenuating neuroinflammation.(More)
The neuroprotective properties for certain medical gases have been observed for decades, leading to extensive research that has been widely reported and continues to garner interest. Common gases including oxygen, hydrogen, carbon dioxide and nitric oxide, volatile anesthetics such as isoflurane, sevoflurane, halothane, enflurane and desflurane,(More)
Petal colour is one of the major characteristics that determine the ornamental value of lotus. To assess the contribution of different flavonoids to this character, composition and content of anthocyanins, flavones and flavonols were analysed through high performance liquid chromatography coupled with photodiode array detection tandem electrospray(More)
BACKGROUND The protective effect of sevoflurane preconditioning against spinal cord ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) is unclear. We designed this study to investigate whether sevoflurane preconditioning could induce rapid ischemic tolerance to the spinal cord in a rabbit model of transient spinal cord ischemia and how the role of extracellular signal-regulated(More)
Gastrodin (GAS), an active constituent of the Chinese herbal medicine Tianma, has anti-oxidant and anti-inflammation activities but its protective effect to the prevention of neurotoxicity induced by ischemic stroke is unclear. In the present study, middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) was used to establish a mice ischemic stroke model. Infarct volume(More)
A pre-exposure to isoflurane reduces ischemic brain injury in rodents (isoflurane preconditioning). This neuroprotection has acute and delayed phases. Our previous in vitro studies suggest that the acute phase may involve excitatory amino acid transporters (EAATs). We determine whether this protection involves EAAT3, the major neuronal EAAT. Adult male(More)
Objective Aims to delineate the distribution profile of three isoforms of vesicular glutamate transporter (VGluT), viz. VGluT1-3, and their cellular localization within vestibular nuclear complex (VNC). Methods Brain sections from normal Sprague-Dawley rats were processed immunohistochemically for VGluT detection, employing avidin-biotinylated peroxidase(More)
Chainmail for catalysts: a catalyst with iron nanoparticles confined inside pea-pod-like carbon nanotubes exhibits a high activity and remarkable stability as a cathode catalyst in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFC), even in presence of SO(2). The approach offers a new route to electro- and heterogeneous catalysts for harsh conditions.
Besides its important significance in plant taxonomy and phylogeny, sacred lotus (Nelumbo nucifera Gaertn.) might also hold the key to the secrets of aging, which attracts crescent attentions from researchers all over the world. The genetic or molecular studies on this species depend on its genome information. In 2013, two publications reported the(More)


IBM Solution Architect - IoT & AI in TORONTO, Ontario

By 2020, there will be 30 Billion connected devices and Internet of things will generate 40% of all data. Beyond connectivity, IoT value will be driven by a revolution in Artificial intelligence—delivered through advanced analytics and cognitive capabilities.

IBM Watson IoT team is a global leader in helping clients re-invent their businesses with IoT by enhancing efficiencies in operation, manufacturing, asset optimization, financial services, and supply chain management. Visit our website to get an overview of the IBM Watson IoT Platform and solutions,

This position is for our team based in Downtown Toronto, but responsible for bringing IoT & AI solutions for cross industry Canadian business clients.

We expect Solution Architects to lead translating a client's business strategy and requirements into cognitive & analytics solutions and AI applications in an agile and scalable way. You will be the consulting architect on many accounts, leading the selling process, proposal development, estimation and statements of work. You’ll also provide technical leadership on application delivery projects, leveraging your solution knowledge to guide the development team.

As a Solution Architect for our IoT & AI project, you will lead our sales and delivery teams in these technology domains:

  • Develop Cloud native architecture to connect IoT devices for sensor, biometric, wearable, and image/video data processing

  • Integrate IoT data with structured and unstructured data from other sources using micro services and hybrid cloud/on-prem architecture

  • Lead team to develop AI solutions to gain insights from information using real-time, predictive and cognitive analytics

  • Deploy embedded computing and edge analytics to IoT systems

  • Secure IoT data with Blockchain

  • Develop custom Dashboard to showcase AI analytics

Are you eager to harness the IoT potential by collecting and securing data to gain real time actionable insight and implement AI solutions? Are you that person who sees opportunity everywhere for digital technology to improve experiences? We want your skills and experience.Whether you want to build smarter cities or smarter buildings, you like the potential of predictive modelling to optimize operations, or you want to lead next generation of product development with AI - if you like the idea of working on first of a kind solutions to solve real world problems, you will like our team.

At least 3 years experience as an Solutions ArchitectEnglish: Fluent

Global Services


Custom Search

Thursday, June 30, 2011

SIM Card

SIM Card
The SIM card is a small microchip called a Subscriber Identity Module or SIM Card, GSM mobile phones require it to function. The SIM card is approximately the size of a small postage stamp and is usually placed underneath the battery in the rear of the unit. The SIM securely stores the service-subscriber key (IMSI) used to identify a subscriber on mobile telephony devices (such as mobile phones and computers). The SIM card allows users to change phones by simply removing the SIM card from one mobile phone and inserting it into another mobile phone or broadband telephony device.

Source : Wikipedia

" SIM Card " !

Monday, June 20, 2011

Frequency Modulation

As you have seen, modulation is the process of varying a parameter of a carrier signal with an information signal. Recall that in amplitude modulation the parameter of amplitude is varied. In frequency modulation (FM), the frequency of a carrier is varied above and below its normal or at-rest value by a modulating signal. This section provides a further look into FM and discusses the differences between an AM and an FM receiver.

        In a frequency-modulated (FM) signal, the carrier frequency is increased or decreased according to the modulating signal. The amount of deviation above or

 below the carrier frequency depends on the amplitude of the modulating signal. The rate at which the frequency deviation occurs depends on the frequency of the modulating signal.

          A Basic Frequency Modulator
         Frequency modulation is achieved by varying the frequency of an oscillator with the modulation signal. A voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) is typically used for this purpose, as illustrated in figure 5.14.

Frequency modulation by a voltage-controlled oscillator
Figure 5.14  Frequency modulation by a voltage-controlled oscillator.

           Generally, a variable-reactance type of voltage-controlled oscillator is used in FM applications. The variable-reactance VCO uses the varactor diode as a voltage-variable capacitance, as illustrated in figure 5.15, where the capacitance is varied with the modulation voltage, Vm.

Basic variable reactance VCO
" Frequency Modulation " !

The Superheterodyne AM Receiver

A block diagram of a superheterodyne AM receiver is shown in figure 5.12. The receiver shown consists of an antenna, an RF (radio frequency) amplifier, a mixer, a local oscillator (LO), an IF (intermediate frequency) amplifier, a detector, an audio amplifier, a power amplifier, and a speaker.

A block diagram of a superheterodyne AM receiver

    The antenna picks up all radiated signals and feeds them into the RF amplifier. These signals are very small (usually only a few microvolts).

    RF Amplifier
     This circuit can be adjusted (tuned) to select and amplify any carrier frequency within the AM broadcast band. Only the selected frequency and its two side bands pass through the amplifier. (Some AM receivers don't have a separate RF amplifier stage.)

    Local Oscillator
   This circuit generates a steady sine wave at a frequency 455 KHz above the selected RF frequency.

    This circuit accepts two inputs, the amplitude modulated RF signal from the output of the RF amplifier (or the antenna when there is no RF amplifier) and the sinusoidal output of the local oscillator (LO). These two signals are then "mixed" by a nonlinear process called heterodyning to produce sum and difference frequencies. For example, if the RF carrier has a frequency of 1000 KHz, the LO frequency is 1455 KHz and the sum and difference frequencies out of the mixer are 2455 KHz and 455 KHz, respectively. The difference frequency is always 455 KHz no matter what the RF carrier frequency.

    IF Amplifier
    The input to the If amplifier is the 455 KHz AM signal, a replica of the original AM carrier signal except that the frequency has been lowered to 455 KHz, The IF amplifier significantly increases the level of this signal.

   This circuit recovers the modulating signal (audio signal) from the 455 KHz IF. At this point the IF is no longer needed, so the output of the detector consists of only the audio signal.

    Audio and Power Amplifiers
   This circuit amplifies the detected audio signal and drives the speaker to produce sound.

Signal flow through an AM receiver

" The Superheterodyne AM Receiver " !

Signal Quantization

Consider an analog signal whose values from 0 to +10.let us assume that we whish to convert this signal to digital form and that the required output is a 4-bit digital signal .we know that a 4-bit binary number can represent 16 different values, 0 to15: it follows that the resolution of our conversion will be 10V/15=2/3V.thus an analog signal of 0V will be represented by 0000.2/3V will be represented by 0001, 6V will be represented by 1001, and 10V will be represented by 1111.
All these sample numbers are multiples of the basic increment (2/3V).A question now arises regarding the conversion of numbers that fall between these successive incremental levels. For instance, consider the case of a 6.2-V analog level. This process is called quantization. Obviously errors are inherent in this process; such errors are called quantization errors. Using more bits to represent(encode or, simply, errors code) an analog signal reduces quantization  errors but requires more complex circuitry.
" Signal Quantization " !

Friday, June 10, 2011

Amplitude Demodulation

The linear multiplier can be used to demodulated or detect and AM signal. Demodulation can be thought of as reverse modulation. The purpose is to get back the original modulating signal (sound in the case of standard AM receivers). The detector in the AM receiver can be implemented using a multiplier, although another method using peak envelope detection is common

     The Basic AM Demodulator
An AM demodulator can be implemented with a linear multiplier followed by a low pass filter, as shown in figure 5.7 The critical frequency of the filter is the highest audio frequency that is required for a given application (15 KHz, for example)
Basic AM demodulator
Figure 5.7 Basic AM demodulator.

      Operation in Terms of the Frequency Spectra
Let's assume a carrier modulated by a signal tone with a frequency of 10 KHz is received and converted to a modulated intermediate frequency of 455 KHz, as indicated by the frequency spectra in figure 5.8. Notice that the upper side and lower side frequencies are separated from both the carrier and the IF by 10 KHz.

AM signal converted to IF
Figure 5.8 An AM signal converted to IF
When the modulated output of the IF amplifier is applied to the demodulator along with the IF. Sum and difference frequencies for each input frequency are produced as shown in figure 5.9. Only the 10 kHz audio frequency is passed by the filter.  A draw back to this type of AM detection is that a pure IF must be produced to mix with the modulated IF.
Example of demodulation
Figure 5.9 Example of demodulation.

         IF and Audio Amplifiers

     The basic function of the IF Amplifier
 The IF amplifier in a receiver is a tuned amplifier with a   specified bandwidth operating at a center frequency of 455 KHz for AM and 10.7MHz for FM. The IF amplifier is one of the key features of a super heterodyne receiver because it is set to operate at a signal resonant frequency that remains the same over the entire band of carrier frequency that can be receiver. Figure 5.10 illustrates the basic function of an IF amplifier in terms of the frequency spectra.
          Assume, for example. That the received carrier frequency of     ƒc=1MHz is modulated by an audio signal with a maximum frequency of ƒm=5 KHz indicated in the following figure.
IF Amplifier in AM Receiver

By the frequency spectrum on the input to the mixer for this frequency, the local oscillator is at frequency of

                         ƒo = 1MHz + 455KHz = 1.455MHz

The mixer produces the following sum and difference frequencies as indicated in the previous figure.

                ƒo + ƒc = 1.455MHz + 1MHz = 2.455MHz
                ƒo – ƒc = 1.455MHz – 1MHz = 455KHz
      ƒo + (ƒc + ƒc) = 1.455MHz + 1.005MHz = 2.46MHz
      ƒo + (ƒc – ƒc) = 1.455MHz + 0.995MHz = 2.45MHz
      ƒo – (ƒc + ƒc) = 1.455MHz – 1.005MHz = 450KHz
     ƒo – (ƒc – ƒc) = 1.455MHz – 0.995MHz = 460KHz

Since the IF amplifier is a frequency-selective circuit, it responds only to 455 KHz and any side frequencies lying in the 10 KHz band centered at 455 KHz. So, all of frequencies out of the mixer are rejected except the 455KHz IF, all lower-side frequencies  down to 450 KHz, and all upper-side frequencies up to 460 KHz. This frequency spectrum is the audio modulated IF.
The audio amplifier in a receiver system
Figure 5.11 The audio amplifier in a receiver system.
" Amplitude Demodulation " !

Modulation/Demodulation Circuits

The purpose of a communication system is to transmit information-bearing signals through a communication channel separating the transmitter from the receiver. Information-bearing signals are also referred to as baseband signals. The term baseband is used to designate the band of frequencies representing the original signal as delivered by a source of information. The proper use of the communication channel requires a shift of the range of baseband frequencies into other frequency ranges suitable for transmission, and a corresponding shift back to the original frequency range after reception.

For example, a radio system must operate with frequencies of 30 KHz and upward, whereas the base band signal usually contains frequencies in the audio frequency range, and so some form of frequency band shifting must be used for the system to operate satisfactorily. A shift of the range of frequencies in a signal is accomplished by using modulation, which is defined as the process by which some characteristic of a carrier is varied in accordance with a modulating wave (signal). A common form of the carrier is a sinusoidal wave, in which case we speak of a continuous-wave modulation process. The baseband signal is referred to as the modulating wave, and the result of the modulation process is referred to as the modulated wave. Modulation is performed at the transmitting end of the communication system. At the receiving end of the system, we usually require the original baseband signal to be restored. This is accomplished by using a process known as demodulation, which is the reverse of the modulation process.

         In basic signal-processing terms, we thus find that the transmitter of an analog communication system consists of a modulator and the receiver consists of a demodulator, as depicted in figure 5.1, In addition to the signal received from the transmitter, the receiver input includes channel noise. The degradation in receiver performance due to channel noise is determined by the type of modulation used.

Modulator and Demodulator
In this chapter we study two families of continuous-wave (CW) modulation systems, namely, amplitude modulation and angle modulation. In amplitude modulation, the amplitude of the sinusoidal carrier wave is varied in accordance with the baseband signal. In angle modulation, the angle of the sinusoidal carrier wave is varied in accordance with the baseband signal.

" Modulation/Demodulation Circuits " !

The A/D and D/A Converters as Functional Blocks

Fig 4.3 depicts the functional block representations of A/D and D/A converters. As indicated, the A/D converter (also called an ADC) accepts an analog sample VA and produces an N-bit digital word. Conversely, the D/A converter (also called a DAC) accepts an N-bit digital word and produces an analog sample. The output samples of the D/A converters are often fed to a sample-and-hold circuit. At the output of the S/H circuit a staircase waveform, such as that in Fig 4.4, is obtained. The staircase waveform can then be smoothed by a low-pass filter, giving rise to the smooth curve shown in the next figure. In this way an analog output signal is reconstructed. Finally, note that the quantization error of an A/D converter is equivalent to +/- 1/2 least significant bit (bs).

Converters Circuit Block

Fig 4.4 The analog samples at the output of a D/A converter are usually fed to a sample-and-hold circuit to obtain the staircase waveform shown. This waveform can then be filtered to obtain the smooth waveform. The time delay usually introduced by the filter is not shown.

" The A/D and D/A Converters as Functional Blocks " !

Why Data Converters?

        Our environment is full of analog signals, such as sound, light, temperature, voltage, current, and electromagnetic waves. By the use of sensors, these signals are usually converted to electrical quantities, voltage or current, and processed to extract useful information. The processing can be carried out in analog or digital domain. During the last two decades, digital signal processing has become immensely powerful. Advances in technology of Integrated Circuits (IC) made it possible to implement digital signal processors with a reasonable amount of silicon wafer area, low power consumption, and affordable price for different applications. Digital signal processors (DSP) can easily be programmed for different algorithms. Many functions of analog circuits have been replaced by equivalent algorithms in DSPs. Another major advantage of DSP algorithms is that functionality is not subjected to fluctuations and variations with respect to time and temperature.

 In addition, there are some functions that can be performed by DSP, but are difficult to implement with analog circuits. One such function is a linear phase filter. The main advantages of DSP over analog processing are programmability, repeatability, stability, and flexibility.
         Although an increasing amount of signal processing is performed in digital domain, the interface between analog and digital domain will remain a fundamentally necessary element. The gates of DSPs to analog signals are Analog-to-digital (A/D) and Digital-to-Analog (D/A) converters. For example, an echo cancellation in an amphitheater makes use of a microphone that generates a voltage in the range of a few microvolts to a couple of milivolts. This analog voltage should be amplified and converted to a digital signal for extensive processing by DSP. After echo cancellation, it is converted to an analog signal, which can be applied to a power amplifier.

Fig 4.1

" Why Data Converters? " !

Data Converter

Analog-to-digital (A/D) and digital-to-analog (D/A) converters are needed in all digital signal processing (DSP) applications and act as the interface between the analog and digital signal. As DSP continues to gain ground over analog signal processing, the importance of these converters increases correspondingly. The high-speed and high-resolution A/D converters are required in numerous applications, such as wireless communications, asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL), and very high-speed DSL (VDSL) systems.
       Sampling rate and precision or bit resolution greatly controls the performance of the data converters. In general case, we deal with a trade-off between these criteria. Different types of converter architectures offer system designers a wide range of choice in speed and resolution for optimal use in their applications. Among the choices in A/D architectures are flash, pipeline, successive-approximation register (SAR), and sigma-delta converters. D/A architectures include resistor-string converters, current-mode converters, and sigma-delta converters. Among these, sigma-delta converters are widely used in high-resolution applications.

         In addition, the test of the data converters is becoming even more important issue in mixed signal applications. The test of A/D and D/A converters can be carried out by using a DSP unit. In each case, some practical DSP solutions for the state-of-the-art-applications are given by using Texas Instruments (TI) data converters and DSP products.
" Data Converter " !

Amplitude Modulation ( AM )

Amplitude modulation is used since the first days of the 20th century mainly for transmitting voice and signals through the conventional broadcast band like the long-, medium- and short wave bands because of its easy and cheap way of realisation.
Besides the consumption of bandwidth in comparison to usual FM is relatively small and the receivers could be made up very simple.

AM Signal

Standard AM system
Standard AM system

AM is an important method for transmitting information. We shall state the circuits used in the modulation and demodulation of the AM signals.

" Amplitude Modulation ( AM ) " !

The realization of a two-input CMOS NOR gate is shown Fig 4.4. For the  NOR gate, The output should be low when either input A or input B is high. Thus the NMOS portion of the gate is identical to that of the NMOS NOR gate. However, in the CMOS gate, we must ensure that a static current path does not exist through the logic gate, and this requires the use of two PMOS transistors in series in the PMOS transistor network.

CMOS NOR circuit diagram
Fig 3.4. NOR circuit diagram.

The complementary nature of the conducting paths can be seen in Table 3.3.A conducting path exists through the NMOS network for V1 = 1 or V2 =1 However, a path exists through the PMOS network only when both V1 = 0 and V2 = 0 (no conducting path through the NMOS network).

Fig 3.5. NOR input output voltages. (a) Input voltage (v1) (b)  Input voltage (V2)
        (c)  Output voltage (Vout)
Table 3.3   CMOS NOR Gate Truth Table and Transistor States

CMOS NOR Gate Truth Table and Transistor States
CMOS NOR Gate Truth Table and Transistor States

" CMOS NOR gate " !

Circuits Used in the Amplitude Modulation

Amplitude and Balanced Modulation

Amplitude modulation is a technique which uses a low-frequency signal to control the amplitude of a high- frequency signal. A simple modulator can be constructed using a multiplier as shown in figure 5.2.

Figure 5.2 A simple amplitude modulator circuit.

One input is the high-frequency or carrier signal, and the other input is the modulating signal. A sinusoidal source at a frequency of 10 kHz is used to represent the carrier signal and a second source at a frequency of 1 kHz is used to represent the modulating signal. Notice that the peak amplitude for the carrier is set to 1 volt using the parameter VcarrierPK. The modulating index is the ratio of the peak of the modulating signal to the peak of the carrier. Here, the index is set to 0.8 or 80% modulation. A typical broadcast AM signal includes the carrier as well as the sidebands in the transmission. To get such a double sideband transmitted carrier signal (DSB-TC) we must bias or offset the modulating signal by a value equal to the carrier's peak voltage. The amplitude modulated signal and the modulating signal from this simulation are shown in figure 5.3.
Figure 5.3 An amplitude modulator output signal.

      A balanced modulator produces a double sideband suppressed carrier signal (DSB-SC). By setting the offset of the modulating signal to be zero in the above circuit, we will suppress the carrier. Notice, the output of this modulator shown in figure 5.4; the shape of its upper A balanced modulator output signal envelope resembles a full-wave rectified AC source.
Figure 5.4 A balanced modulator output signal

     By using a specific OTA
    ( Operational transconductance amplifier )
      The LM13700 is a typical OTA and serves as a representative device. The LM13700 is a dual-device package containing two OTAs and buffer circuits. Figure 5.5 shows the pin configuration using a single OTA in the package. The maximum dc supply voltages are +18v and  -18v .
 For an LM13700, the bias current is determined by the following formula:

The 1.4 v is due to the internal circuit where a base-emitter junction and a diode connect the external Rbias with the negative supply voltage (-V). The positive bias voltage, +Vbias, may be obtained from the positive supply voltage, +V.

 Fig. 5.5
    Two OTA Applications
Amplitude modulator…….Figure 5.6 illustrates an OTA connected as an amplitude modulator. The voltage gain is varied by applying a modulation voltage to the bias input. When a constant-amplitude input signal is applied, the amplitude of the output signal will vary according to the modulation voltage on the bias input. The gain is dependent on bias current, and bias current is related to the modulation voltage by the following relationship:

This modulating action is shown in fig 5.6 for a higher-frequency sinusoidal input voltage and a lower-frequency sinusoidal modulating voltage.

The OTA as an amplitude modulator

Figure 5.6 The OTA as an amplitude modulator.
" Circuits Used in the Amplitude Modulation " !

How to Convert Analog Signal Into Digital One

In order to make analog to digital conversion we should convert the analog signal into digital by sampling and quantization processes ( Pulse Code Modulation) .

         Sampling of Analog Signals
       The principle underlying digital signal processing is that of sampling the analog signal Fig 4.2 illustrates in a conceptual form the process of obtaining samples of an analog signal. The switch shown closes periodically under the control of a periodic pulse signal (clock). The closure time of the switch, τ, is relatively short, and the samples obtained are stored (held) on the capacitor. The circuit of the following figure is known as a sample-and-hold (S/H) Circuit. As indicated, the S/H circuit consists of an analog switch that can be implemented by a MOSFET transmission gate. A storage capacitor, and (not shown) a buffer amplifier.
Between the sampling intervals-that is, during the hold intervals-the voltage level on the capacitor represents the signal sample we are after. Each of these voltage levels is then fed to the input of an A/D converter, which provides an N-bit binary number proportional to the value of signal sample. The fact that we can do our processing on a limited number of samples of an analog signal while ignoring the analog-signal details between samples is based on the shannon’s sampling theorem

Fig 4.2  The process of periodically sampling an analog signal (a) Sample-and-hold (S/H) circuit The switch closes for a small part of time of every clock period (T). (b) Input signal waveform. (c) Sampling signal (control signal for the switch). (d) Out put signal (to be fed to A/D converter).

" How to Convert Analog Signal Into Digital One " !


Retinol: A Multi-Faceted, Crucial Nutrient for Skin Health

Although all vitamins and minerals are important nutrients for promoting optimal health, some garner more attention from the media and health-conscious individuals than others. In some cases, this is because such nutrients are found in many common foods and individuals are not likely to be deficient in them. In other cases, this is because the nutrient in question can be easily made by one's body. Because Retinol does not fit into either of these categories, it is a hot topic of conversation among professionals in the world of health care as well as casual consumers simply trying to live the healthiest lives they can. Understanding why this nutrient is the source of such attention is not difficult once you get an understanding of the roles it plays.

Retinol is a versatile nutrient that is involved in the promotion of a number of distinct bodily functions. Outside of health, beauty and fitness applications, Retinol is not often referred to by name, as this form of vitamin A is usually simply called 'vitamin A.' However, all forms of vitamin A have slightly different functions, and Retinol is no different. This distinct form of vitamin A is most often cited for its benefits in eye care. Extensive medical research has linked adequate intake of this nutrient and healthy vision, which is why some foods, such as carrots, are said to be good for eyesight - this is due to the Retinol content in such foods. And while this nutritional benefit is one of the utmost importance, improvement in eyesight is far from the only benefit to be derived from this form of vitamin A.

In addition to the vision benefits, this form of vitamin A is also quite important for maintaining skin health. This nutrient is essential for the optimal functioning of your epithelial cells, which line the exterior and interior parts of your skin. These cells are your body's first line of defense, as they can help prevent contaminants from entering your body. Additionally, the epithelial cells also secrete substances that promote optimal health and are regulate what substances are absorbed by your body. It's important to take in adequate levels of this vitamin A form because consuming too little can lead to xerosis cutis, otherwise known as dry skin. For this reason, vitamin A-enhanced skin creams and ointments are among the most effective products. Although coloring agents and other ingredients can be helpful, it's important to have science-based, nutritionally justified cosmetic product formulas for optimal effects.

Forms of vitamin A such as Retinol are also vital for proper growth and development. In addition to providing the nutrition necessary ensuring healthy skin and vision, this form of vitamin A is involved in the production of human growth hormone. Although this hormone is often the center of cheating scandals for professional athletes, human growth hormone is not something that needs to be feared or used only by elite athletes. In fact, everyone naturally produces human growth hormone, so vitamin A is healthy for all.

Article Source:


Weekly Roundup

Neutrinos are a really hot topic. Even sterile ones.

No need for Paleo Diet gurus; just check Neanderthal poop.

Can Machines Think Yet? A Brief History of the Turing Test

Last week headlines announced that a computer, known as Eugene Goostman, had passed the Turing Test at a competition at the Royal Society of London by University of Reading researchers. It was heralded as a milestone in artificial intelligence (by one of the competition organizers) and implied that a computer program had shown some significant amount of intelligence and fooled people into believing it was human after a robust interrogation. Turing originally predicted that in the year 2000 a computer might be able to hold up in a conversational test as well as a human for five minutes in 30 percent of trials. Which added a sense of officialness to the claim that Eugene passed. Quickly critics appeared to call into question whether Eugene would really have fooled anyone in a normal conversation.

Eugene managed to fool the judges in the competition about a third of the time. However this was achieved by Eugene presenting the persona of a Ukranian 13 year old with imperfect English, the competition was a speed test with only five minutes to evaluate multiple potential humans or machines at once via computer relayed chat (you can see examples here). Critics pointed out this means the program shows no real intellectual achievement and rather relies on convincing the judges that the agent is confused and that a longer time to take the test would be more informative.

A statue of Alan Turing in Manchester UK.
A statue of Alan Turing in Manchester UK.

In the 1950 paper “Computing Machinery and Intelligence” Alan Turing asked the question “Can machines think?” He then declares the definition of the terms of the question (machine and think) too vague to admit of a good answer and changed it to ask whether some digital computer could successfully play the imitation game. The imitation game imagined was one where two participants hid from the view of the third and conversed by passed notes or some other intermediary device, one of the two hidden participants would imitated a woman, the other would in fact be a woman and the third participant would have to guess which was which after conversing with them for some time. Turing imagined the computer in place of the man. It is ambiguous how exactly the game would be modified with the change and some have argued that it makes a difference which way we take the game to be played. Since Turing does not precisely define his tests all subsequent uses are in a sense their own version of a Turing Test. Modern versions of the Turing Test tend to assume that judges will converse with multiple participants some of whom are computers and others are humans and they will have to guess which is which. In any case the point of the redefinition of the question was as Turing put it to “drawing a fairly sharp line between the physical and the intellectual capacities of a man”. Turing imagined the discussions ranging from physical appearance through, mathematics, chess, and poetry writing, every imaginable skill or piece of knowledge might be called upon by the participants. Although put in terms of “thought” the original question seems to have been meant in the spirit of “can machines possess intelligence” or “can machines engage in intelligent behaviour”. It seems as though Turing was trying to demonstrate to his incredulous audience what he thought an intelligent machine would look like by example more than trying to define thought or intelligence as such.

In some ways Turing anticipated that a machine might succeed at the imitation without showing any intelligence. He notes “the best strategy for the machine may possibly be something other than imitation of the behaviour of a man”, but he thought it unlikely, outside the scope of the essay, and stipulated that for the purposes of the essay we should assume that the best strategy was really that of imitating a man’s behaviour. This illustrates that Turing was more concerned with illustrating how future machines might earn the appellation of thinking or intelligent rather than devising a strict test for success.

Despite these ambiguities Turing’s paper is widely cited and created an interest among both academic AI researchers and a wider public in the idea of a computer convincing humans that it was human as a test of its intellectual ability. A google search finds a first instance of “Turing’s Test” in 1959, and in 1962 it is noted that “Turing’s Test” has become standard nomenclature in the computer field and I find an instance of shortening the name to “Turing Test” in 1964. Over the years, in the popular imagination some have transformed the Turing Test with the idea that a computer that can pass the test is an autonomous intellect on par with a human person. Competitions like the one that crowned Eugene have been going on for some time, such as the Loebner Prize an annual competition since 1991.

The diversity of things covered by the name Turing Test is best illustrated by the most ubiquitous example of a Turing Test. CAPTCHA stands for Completely Automated Public Turing Test To Tell Computers and Humans Apart and the term was invented in 2000 by Luis von Ahn, Manuel Blum, Nicholas Hopper and John Langford of Carnegie Mellon University. Here the idea is to find a simple one question test administered by a computer that distinguishes humans from currently available computers by taking advantage of a specific skill (such as recognizing distorted text) that humans are good at but current computers find impossible. A computer passing this test would not require the variety of abilities Turing imagined, but it serves to deter computer programs that might otherwise spread unwanted advertising in internet forums or do other dubious or nefarious work.

The question of whether machines can think actually has an older pedigree than Turing or the modern computer. An example of this is a 1939 essay in Astounding Science Fiction “Tools for Brains” which begins with the line: “CAN machines think? The question keeps coming up every time a new kind of calculating machine is invented…” However Turing’s imitation game has left an indelible mark on the question.…

Weekly Roundup

Here’s how cities say “stay out” with anti-homeless design, part of the wider phenomenon of hostile architecture.

If it walks like eugenics and quacks like eugenics… Dozens of female inmates were sterilized without consent in California, and a Virginia man’s plea bargain included a promise to get a vasectomy.

Up to 75 CDC researchers may have been exposed to live anthrax.

The first description of fellatio in male bears has been published. The study attributes the behaviour (observed in captive bears) to an absence of maternal suckling, but its claim that mammals rarely engage in non-copulative sexual behaviours suggests that their lit review was incomplete.

Scientists weigh in on the commonly misused terms that drive them crazy. Bonus: the pseudoscientific claims that drive us crazy. And speaking of pseudoscience, Dr. Oz admitted before a senate committee that the weight-loss ingredients he endorses aren’t miraculous, but he defended his right to employ “flowery language.”

Some of Wyoming’s math & science professors, as well as some of its churches, support reformed educational standards that include climate change and evolution, while others criticize them for requiring “a materialistic explanation for any phenomenon addressed by science” or for leading to negative economic consequences for the energy-exporting state if global warming is taught in schools. [via i09]

“Suicidal thoughts” warnings on antidepressants may have indirectly led to increased suicide attempts.

Whooping cough, a vaccine-preventable bacterial infection that can be fatal in infants, is now an epidemic in California. At least one sufferer of last year’s outbreak thinks she knows who to blame.…

Weekly Roundup

Never judge someone before you walk a mile in their pyjamas: thanks to “enclothed cognition” it turns out that clothes affect our perception [podcast].

The FIFA World Cup has begun. Here’s Scientific American’s rundown of soccer science, old and new. Open wide!

Be careful what you say around the cooler; Gwyneth Paltrow reminds us that water has feelings too.

Rare diseases often lack clinical attention, public awareness, and fundraising campaigns; many are undocumented, unnamed, or have no known cause or treatment. FORGE (Finding of Rare Disease Genes in Canada), a massive coordinated study, has identified the genetic mutations associated with 146 rare childhood diseases, thanks to high-speed sequencing technologies. 67 of the genes hadn’t been linked to a disease before.

It turns out economics is for chimps.

Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea virus (PEDv), a livestock epidemic of uncertain origin affecting pigs in the US, has spread to over 30 states, wiped out nearly 10% of the American pig population, and increased the price of bacon.

Headlines far and wide proclaimed that a computer program has “passed the Turing test.” What they really mean is that by pretending to be Eugene Goostman, a teenager from the Ukraine with a poor grasp of English, the program won a University of Reading contest by convincing 1 in 3 judges that it was a human being, satisfying Turing’s predictions for the capabilities of artificial intelligence for the year 2000. So perhaps the resulting skepticism is warranted.…

The Ultimate Filter Bubble

As if we needed reasons to be more worried about Google taking over the world, a new study suggests that it could have an enormous impact on elections merely by manipulating search results. Researchers Robert Epstein and Ronald Robertson of the American Institute of Behavioral Research and Technology found that they could “sway the voting preferences of undecided voters by 15% or more” merely by biasing search results presented to research subjects. This is interesting—and scary—in its own respect, but it also has connections to some of my earlier posts about Internet filter bubbles and what I’ve called the “Internet Observer Effect“.…

Weekly Roundup

LEGO has announced that it has approved one of the finalists in its Ideas product competition: a trio of female scientists based on Ellen Kooijman (aka Alatriel Elensar)’s Female Minifigure Set. It will be marketed as the LEGO Research Institute, and will be eventually available in stores.

Here are anonymous comments made by “muzzled” Canadian government scientists about the state of science under the Harper Government. Yikes! On a related note, Stephen Harper urged Canadians to “listen to the scientific evidence” when it comes to vaccinating children.

How many polar bears are there? It turns out that’s a tricky question.

Solar roadways have made a big splash with a successful Indiegogo campaign and flashy video. The husband-and-wife team of Scott and Julie Brusaw want to replace asphalt roads, sidewalks, and parking lots with durable, LED-programmable, and replaceable hexagonal panels that would generate electricity, with additional benefits including warning drivers of obstacles or animal crossings, responding to parking lot conditions, and providing infrastructure for buried power, phone, and internet lines. Unfortunately, critics figure that the project’s estimated $56 trillion price tag will be an impediment to scalability, as will problems such as keeping the glass layers clean and preventing traffic hacking.

The Chemical Blog describes the chemical composition of tattoo ink, which is surprisingly unregulated.

There is more fructose in many soft drinks and sweetened juices than their labels disclose, according to a new study in Nutrition. This is a problem for the Corn Refiners Association, who claim that High-Fructose Corn Syrup (or “corn sugar,” as we learn in this helpful video) is practically equivalent to sucrose (table sugar; glucose-fructose in a 1:1 ratio).

The FDA’s cost-benefit analysis for new e-cigarette regulations includes a “lost pleasure” factor which accounts for the expected decrease in lifetime pleasure for those who quit.

Sometimes all you need is a good headline: Researchers Develop Robot That Lets Them Feel Softness of Virtual Breasts.…