The NEW iphone

AT&T released a list of upcoming iPhone softwares updates coming in
the future. I found this one most impressive,

"While at work, he continued, the iPhone will orchestrate a conference
call with two potential clients in the Far East. You speak English,
they speak Japanese. That's not a problem, however, because the iPhone
will handle the automatic translations in real time."

Gotta love Apple (AT&T is only cool by association)

Full text: http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/08/11/07/att_chief_lays_out_futuristic_vision_for_the_iphone.html

And people wonder why I don't like professional sports...

Professional sports are bad... but apparently college sports are not a
whole lot better:

My Review of Marmot Zeus Down Jacket - Men's

Originally submitted at REI

The slim Zeus jacket from Marmot offers highly compressible, down-filled warmth.

Marmot Zeus Down Jacket - Men's

Nice... if your fat

By Jerry the Rocket Scientist from Houghton, MI on 10/14/2008

 

2out of 5

Gift: No

Fit: Feels too big

Sleeve Length: Feels too long

Chest Size: Feels too big

Pros: Breathable, Lightweight, Comfortable, Warm, Durable

Cons: Not an Athletic Fit

Best Uses: Casual Wear, Hiking and Camping, Cold Weather

Describe Yourself: Avid Adventurer

This jacket is nearly identical to the Patagonia Down Sweater, which I tried on, but I order the Zeus online because it was a better value. The major difference is that the Patagonia jacket is an athletic cut, whereas the Marmot is a Beer Gut cut. There is considerable amount of extra fabric around the stomach. Walking around, I feel like Santa Clause. When you sit down, the jacket creates a large fold in front of you due to the extra material. I've never seen anything like it before. It is not made for a healthy/normal shaped male. I am 6' 180 lbs. I am returning it.

Marmot Zeus with Extra Poof

Tags: Made with Product, Using Product, Picture of Product

(legalese)

Liquid Telescope on the Moon

Fascinating stuff. If you spin a container shallowly filled with
water the surface will become parabolic. The exact optical shape
necessary for telescopes. These liquid lenses can be expanded to a
nearly limitless diameter. See this article http://spacefellowship.com/News/?p=6927

The Price of a Life

The age old question: How much is a Life worth.  Clearly such a value exists since the military offers up their soldiers for sacrifice on a daily basis.  But there in lies the illusion.  It's not a sacrifice if there is the possibility of survival.  it's a probability game, and the US puts an extraordinary weight behind even a sliver of hope of survival.  In other words, 1 kamikaze bomber is unacceptable to us, but 16 fully manned bombers sent on a Doolittle Raid is perfectly acceptable.  It seems that "we" can't handle the idea of certain death.  There has to be some probability of survival, no matter how remote.  I would argue that we spend more lives than necessary because of this.  "Leave no man behind!"  ... perfect, lets go back and get him and make sure we add 3 other bodies right next to him..

Why "we" operate under these guidelines is the first question.  The second is: who is "we"?  Is it our country, our religion, our western culture?  Which facet of our lives has the insurmountable distaste for suicide missions?  Did you know that we could put a man on mars right now!  Could launch tomorrow (well thats a slight exaggeration) but the point is that there are dozens of astronauts that would sign up for that one-way flight in a heartbeat.  To have that opportunity to be among the first men/women on mars.  So why haven't we launched?  Because we haven't figured out how to make it a TWO-way mission.  We can get them there, but we can't get them back.  And although the astronauts themselves consider the trade MORE than adequate, the american populace has determined it to be morally unjust.