A tutorial for Tolkien's Elvish.
At least, <a target="_blank" href="http://www.sci.fi/~alboin/tengwartutorial.htm">how to write in Tengwar</a>. It's pretty cool, even though it <i>is</i> pretty technical. Still, if you're a Tolkien conlang freak, it's well worth the effort. And, I have to admit, this tutorial makes it pretty easy for the Nu-B, too.
Enjoy!
Hmm, seems like they're early...
Well, not really, but this is a fun companion to the story from yesterday. According to <a target="_blank" href="http://www.rferl.org/nca/features/2003/08/22082003162032.asp">this article on Radio Free Europe</a>, the Japanese have already sent a robot "ambasador" on a diplomatic mission. And, how fitting that they sent it to the Czech Republic, the homeland of Karel Capek who invented the word "robot". Anyway, a fun story!
Here's an interesting idea.
According to <a target="_blank" href="http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nn20030820b8.htm">th… article on the Japanese Times</a>, the Japanese government is going to sponsor a five-year plan to build a robot with the "functionality" of a five-year old.
First, this is a pretty big challenge. Not only do they have to overcome the <i>physical</i> problems, but the <i>mental and emotional</i> problems as well. I mean, robots that walk are relatively new and they mostly have to be guided. This robot would walk and be totally autonomous. There'll be a lot of processing power in that sucker. And, quite a bit of AI work will need to be done for it, too.
Second, there's the time-scale. Five years, in my opinion, is pretty aggressive for this kind of project. Especially considering the state of the world economy in general and Japan's economy in particular.
But, their thought is that this project would be like the US Apollo project. It was a <i>giant</i> challenge that cost a lot of money, but it also produced some amazing technologies that changed our world. Those new inventions, of course, changed the US economy tremendously. That change effected the world economy in ways that we're really still feeling.
I, for one, hope that they succeed. The spin-offs alone will be worth it!
I don't really think so...
<a target="_blank" href="http://www.rur.com/main.cgi?80">R.U.R.</a> was the play written by Karel Câpec that first mentioned "robots" and, ironically, it was in an industrial context. That's where most robots are today, of course, but, in <a target="_blank" href="http://marshallbrain.com/robotic-nation.htm">this article on his website</a>, Marshall Brain speculates that we'll see them in a lot more areas. The article says that he expects humanoid robots to take at least half of all jobs by the year 2050. Of course, people have been saying this for quite some time and it has yet to actually happen.
Personally, I don't think we'll ever get the necessary artificial intelligence stuff worked out so that such a scenario is possible. Though, I have to admit, computer technology advances at a ferocious rate. Still, the dream of a "robo-servant" has been around for literally decades and we're only now getting remote-controlled robots that look vaguely like a human.
Of course, science-fiction is a lot more interesting if Mr. Brain is right and I'm wrong!
I didn't even know they were oppresed already!
Here's a fun little <a target="_blank" href="http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0331/baard.php">article from The Village Voice</a> about the <a target="_blank" href="http://www.transhumanism.org/index.htm">World Transhumanist Association</a>. In reality, they're about a lot more than just cyborgs, but that's what we're closest to right now. But, should they get their say, bioengineered life and artificial intelligences would get similar protections. These folks are really forward thinking, in my opinion, since you'd have to define "cyborg" pretty loosely to even get close with current technology. And, as for AI or "genenginered" beings, well.... But, at least they make good fodder for science-fiction! Either way, enjoy the article.
Hmm, the missing link?
<a target="_blank" href="http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/science/08/08/coolsc.mysteryape/index.html… article on CNN</a> doesn't say it, but that's got to be what people are thinking. It's a larger than normal ape that seems to be aggressive and walk on two legs. Shades of Michael Crichton's Congo?
It <i>is</i> interesting, though. Especially because they seem to be so aggressive. Usually apes are thought of as peaceful, unless threatened. But natives call this huge ape 'lion eaters'. I wonder what they'll end up finding, if anything...
Here's a disturbing little thought for anyone who wants to create literature for a living...
It's one thing when songs are pirated, or movies, after all, we all know how much those artists make and waste, right? Well, okay, maybe they're harder up than a lot of us think. Still, <a target="_blank" href="http://slate.msn.com/id/2086800/">this article on Slate </a>about publishing piracy really disturbed me.
I've seen this trend coming, really, but it still scares me. As the economy gets tighter, more and more people can justify in their own minds taking advantage of the pirate networks. It started with the incredibly inflated prices of software, then music and movies, and, now, books. The problem is this: in each case, there is a smaller and smaller margin. For one thing, the print industry is even harder to break into than the music industry, which is pretty damn hard to crack. What's more, there's an even smaller market for printed material than for music. (Not in my house, but, then, I'm a geek who wants to be a full-time writer.) I know, first hand, just how little an individual author makes off a published work. Piracy cuts directly into that small percentage of revenue.
So, read the article, think about it, and "go forth and sin no more".
Something just seems wrong about that to me.
According to <a target="_blank" href="http://www.wired.com/news/medtech/0,1286,59924,00.html">this story on Wired News</a>, scientists have successfully cloned a horse and that <i>same horse carried the fetus to term.</i> So, in essence, the horse gave birth to its own sister. As I mentioned at the top of this entry, there's something about this that's unsettling to me. I really think we're going a bit far with this cloning technology. I admit that I really liked it when we were talking about bringing back extinct animals, but we get this kind of stuff along with the "good" stuff. It really makes me wonder where it will all end up.
Cloning, of course, has been a theme in science-fiction for quite some time. Both the good and bad aspects of it have been looked at in detail, but there's always room for more stories. Will we eventually clone soldiers so we don't have to send "real" humans into battle? Will we ever clone extinct animals, like dinosaurs and the marsupial wolf? Will we clone people to harvest the body parts for transplants? These are just some of the topics that have been covered, in varying detail, in science-fiction already. Mostly, these are cautionary tales and, <i>I</i> think that's a wise and telling statement from the writers.
The ultimate "green" vehicle!
Yep, you read right, it's a bicycle made out of bamboo. According to <a target="_blank" href="http://www.americanbamboo.org/GeneralInfoPages/BambooBicycle.html">this page on the American Bamboo Society's website</a>, there's a Brazillian in Christiana, which is in Copenhagen, who's making bicycles out of bamboo. And, according to the article, they seem quite popular, too!
Have fun with it.
Larry Niven, that is.
One of my favorite <a target="_blank" href="http://www.larryniven.org/nivenisms_in_the_news.htm">Niven creations is in the news</a>, after a fashion. Larry Niven, who resembles my father in law, incidentally, came up with the fascinating concept of "organ legging". What that means is, essential, a black market for bootleg organs brought about as a result of demand that got out of control.
Now, in <a target="_blank" href="http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=679&ncid=679&e=6&u=/usa… article on YahooNews</a>, they're talking about organ legging, without actually mentioning it, but in the sense of preventing it. Frankly, the mere fact that someone is concerned enough to consider it's prevention makes me shudder. That has to mean that someone has either tried it, or seriously considered it in a very real sense. Either way, it's pretty freaky!
Consider what the world would be like if such a thing came to pass? What are all the implications?