I'm BAAACCKK...
Nov. 1st, 2005 03:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lyore*Stands triumphantly on top of pile of massacred assessment, yodeling 'We Are The Champions'*
Yes, folks, Lyore is officially back. Handed in my last piece of assessment this morning. Last Ever Piece of Undergraduate Assessment (excluding exams - touch wood).
Though, failing would be good from the point of view of having another year of high speed internet access and the uni network. Unfortunately, failing would be bad due to the slightly more hazardous fact that my parents would shoot me before I could use my high speed internet access. *sigh*
Hmm, Makybe Diva just won the Melbourne Cup, AKA 'The-race-that-stops-a-nation-except-for-Lyore's-semiconductor-tute' *growls*. I like watching it, even when I haven't backed anyone. AND this year I picked the winner - well, me and the rest of the country. I think I can hear the screams of anguish from the Bookies now.
Other random things which have landed in my inbox and I thought I might share
From yahoo.news, via HPFFbyWW list
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20051028/film_nm/potter_dc_2
-------
LONDON (Reuters) - The "flying" Ford Anglia used in the Harry Potter films has been stolen from a film studio lot, police said on Friday.
"For those who have not seen the Harry Potter films, this is the car that flies in the movies and is very well known," a police spokesman said.
The blue Anglia went missing from South West Film Studios at St Agnes in the southwestern English county of Cornwall.
"The film prop was being stored under a tarpaulin. It was not in good condition and could not have been driven away under its own steam," the police spokesman said.
-------
You know, just cause the car couldn't be DRIVEN away...
----
Also via the HPFFbyWW list
Remote Control Device 'Controls' Humans
Oct 27 9:08 PM US/Eastern
http://www.breitbart.com/news/2005/10/27/D8DGNKD82.html
By YURI KAGEYAMA AP Business Writer ATSUGI, Japan
We wield remote controls to turn things on and off, make them advance, make them halt. Ground-bound pilots use remotes to fly drone airplanes, soldiers to maneuver battlefield robots.
But manipulating humans?
Prepare to be remotely controlled. I was.
Just imagine being rendered the rough equivalent of a radio-controlled toy car.
Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp., Japans top telephone company, says it is developing the technology to perhaps make video games more realistic. But more sinister applications also come to mind.
I can envision it being added to militaries' arsenals of so-called "non-lethal" weapons.
A special headset was placed on my cranium by my hosts during a recent demonstration at an NTT research center. It sent a very low voltage electric current from the back of my ears through my head _ either from left to right or right to left, depending on which way the joystick on a remote-control was moved.
I found the experience unnerving and exhausting: I sought to step straight ahead but kept careening from side to side. Those alternating currents literally threw me off.
The technology is called galvanic vestibular stimulation _ essentially, electricity messes with the delicate nerves inside the ear that help maintain balance.
I felt a mysterious, irresistible urge to start walking to the right whenever the researcher turned the switch to the right. I was convinced _ mistakenly_ that this was the only way to maintain my balance.
The phenomenon is painless but dramatic. Your feet start to move before you know it. I could even remote-control myself by taking the switch into my own hands.
There's no proven-beyond-a-doubt explanation yet as to why people start veering when electricity hits their ear. But NTT researchers say they were able to make a person walk along a route in the shape of a giant pretzel using this technique.
It's a mesmerizing sensation similar to being drunk or melting into sleep under the influence of anesthesia. But it's more definitive, as though an invisible hand were reaching inside your brain.
NTT says the feature may be used in video games and amusement park rides, although there are no plans so far for a commercial product.
Some people really enjoy the experience, researchers said while acknowledging that others feel uncomfortable.
I watched a simple racing-car game demonstration on a large screen while wearing a device programmed to synchronize the curves with galvanic vestibular stimulation. It accentuated the swaying as an imaginary racing car zipped through a virtual course, making me wobbly.
Another program had the electric current timed to music. My head was pulsating against my will, getting jerked around on my neck. I became so dizzy I could barely stand. I had to turn it off.
NTT researchers suggested this may be a reflection of my lack of musical abilities. People in tune with freely expressing themselves love the sensation, they said.
"We call this a virtual dance experience although some people have mentioned it's more like a virtual drug experience," said Taro Maeda, senior research scientist at NTT. "I'm really hopeful Apple Computer will be interested in this technology to offer it in their iPod."
Research on using electricity to affect human balance has been going on around the world for some time.
James Collins, professor of biomedical engineering at Boston University, has studied using the technology to prevent the elderly from falling and to help people with an impaired sense of balance. But he also believes the effect is suited for games and other entertainment.
"I suspect they'll probably get a kick out of the illusions that can be created to give them a more total immersion experience as part of virtual reality," Collins said.
The very low level of electricity required for the effect is unlikely to cause any health damage, Collins said. Still, NTT required me to sign a consent form, saying I was trying the device at my own risk.
And risk definitely comes to mind when playing around with this technology.
Timothy Hullar, assistant professor at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Mo., believes finding the right way to deliver an electromagnetic field to the ear at a distance could turn the technology into a weapon for situations where "killing isn't the best solution."
"This would be the most logical situation for a nonlethal weapon that presumably would make your opponent dizzy," he said via e-mail. "If you find just the right frequency, energy, duration of application, you would hope to find something that doesn't permanently injure someone but would allow you to make someone temporarily off-balance."
Indeed, a small defense contractor in Texas, Invocon Inc., is exploring whether precisely tuned electromagnetic pulses could be safely fired into people's ears to temporarily subdue them.
NTT has friendlier uses in mind.
If the sensation of movement can be captured for playback, then people can better understand what a ballet dancer or an Olympian gymnast is doing, and that could come handy in teaching such skills.
And it may also help people dodge oncoming cars or direct a rescue worker in a dark tunnel, NTT researchers say. They maintain that the point is not to control people against their will.
If you're determined to fight the suggestive orders from the electric currents by clinging to a fence or just lying on your back, you simply won't move.
But from my experience, if the currents persist, you'd probably be persuaded to follow their orders. And I didn't like that sensation. At all.
------
That's so wrong. What's worse is that I could kinda get behind the whole defense ideas - subduing someone temporarily is infinitely preferable to shooting them, IMO. But something which can actually control your actions? No thanks. *glares suspiciously at iPod*
Revenge of the Sith is released here tomorrow, but I will... not... buy... it... *closes eyes and thinks of Boxsets. Expensive, entire saga Boxsets* Someone grab one of those mind control thingys and steer me AWAY from the DVD stores, please.
Random Observation of the Day - In regards to the 'pick the horse with the interesting colours' system of betting, this was moderately successful - red and white checks plus the southern cross. Not too bad. You know, someone should find out if horses with two names do better in the Melbourne cup than horses with one (Makybe Diva, Phar Lap... )
Over the last 20 years, the race has been won 9 times by horses with one name, 13 time by horses with 2 (the last three were Makybe Diva, BTW). On the other hand, over the whole history, things are more in favour of horses with one name. Then again, in the 60s the cup was won by 2-name horses 9 times, 70's 6 times, and 80's 5 times. Oh, and horses with 3 names just suck - winning twice in the last 20 years. Here ends the lesson on the joys of selective sampling :-)
Why do I have a feeling that all this is due more to the frequencies of naming horses with single and multiple names than anything else? : ) Still, if you were travelling back in time to between the 1860 and 1900, I'd recommend backing a horse with one name. Just a thought. (And then, you know, putting the winnings in nice, long term investments - who wouldn't want 150 years of interest?!)
EDIT again - to fix MDs colours and to let you all know - in NSW, people bet $59 million on the TAB alone for the Melbourne cup. Wow.
Yes, folks, Lyore is officially back. Handed in my last piece of assessment this morning. Last Ever Piece of Undergraduate Assessment (excluding exams - touch wood).
Though, failing would be good from the point of view of having another year of high speed internet access and the uni network. Unfortunately, failing would be bad due to the slightly more hazardous fact that my parents would shoot me before I could use my high speed internet access. *sigh*
Hmm, Makybe Diva just won the Melbourne Cup, AKA 'The-race-that-stops-a-nation-except-for-Lyore's-semiconductor-tute' *growls*. I like watching it, even when I haven't backed anyone. AND this year I picked the winner - well, me and the rest of the country. I think I can hear the screams of anguish from the Bookies now.
Other random things which have landed in my inbox and I thought I might share
From yahoo.news, via HPFFbyWW list
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20051028/film_nm/potter_dc_2
-------
LONDON (Reuters) - The "flying" Ford Anglia used in the Harry Potter films has been stolen from a film studio lot, police said on Friday.
"For those who have not seen the Harry Potter films, this is the car that flies in the movies and is very well known," a police spokesman said.
The blue Anglia went missing from South West Film Studios at St Agnes in the southwestern English county of Cornwall.
"The film prop was being stored under a tarpaulin. It was not in good condition and could not have been driven away under its own steam," the police spokesman said.
-------
You know, just cause the car couldn't be DRIVEN away...
----
Also via the HPFFbyWW list
Remote Control Device 'Controls' Humans
Oct 27 9:08 PM US/Eastern
http://www.breitbart.com/news/2005/10/27/D8DGNKD82.html
By YURI KAGEYAMA AP Business Writer ATSUGI, Japan
We wield remote controls to turn things on and off, make them advance, make them halt. Ground-bound pilots use remotes to fly drone airplanes, soldiers to maneuver battlefield robots.
But manipulating humans?
Prepare to be remotely controlled. I was.
Just imagine being rendered the rough equivalent of a radio-controlled toy car.
Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp., Japans top telephone company, says it is developing the technology to perhaps make video games more realistic. But more sinister applications also come to mind.
I can envision it being added to militaries' arsenals of so-called "non-lethal" weapons.
A special headset was placed on my cranium by my hosts during a recent demonstration at an NTT research center. It sent a very low voltage electric current from the back of my ears through my head _ either from left to right or right to left, depending on which way the joystick on a remote-control was moved.
I found the experience unnerving and exhausting: I sought to step straight ahead but kept careening from side to side. Those alternating currents literally threw me off.
The technology is called galvanic vestibular stimulation _ essentially, electricity messes with the delicate nerves inside the ear that help maintain balance.
I felt a mysterious, irresistible urge to start walking to the right whenever the researcher turned the switch to the right. I was convinced _ mistakenly_ that this was the only way to maintain my balance.
The phenomenon is painless but dramatic. Your feet start to move before you know it. I could even remote-control myself by taking the switch into my own hands.
There's no proven-beyond-a-doubt explanation yet as to why people start veering when electricity hits their ear. But NTT researchers say they were able to make a person walk along a route in the shape of a giant pretzel using this technique.
It's a mesmerizing sensation similar to being drunk or melting into sleep under the influence of anesthesia. But it's more definitive, as though an invisible hand were reaching inside your brain.
NTT says the feature may be used in video games and amusement park rides, although there are no plans so far for a commercial product.
Some people really enjoy the experience, researchers said while acknowledging that others feel uncomfortable.
I watched a simple racing-car game demonstration on a large screen while wearing a device programmed to synchronize the curves with galvanic vestibular stimulation. It accentuated the swaying as an imaginary racing car zipped through a virtual course, making me wobbly.
Another program had the electric current timed to music. My head was pulsating against my will, getting jerked around on my neck. I became so dizzy I could barely stand. I had to turn it off.
NTT researchers suggested this may be a reflection of my lack of musical abilities. People in tune with freely expressing themselves love the sensation, they said.
"We call this a virtual dance experience although some people have mentioned it's more like a virtual drug experience," said Taro Maeda, senior research scientist at NTT. "I'm really hopeful Apple Computer will be interested in this technology to offer it in their iPod."
Research on using electricity to affect human balance has been going on around the world for some time.
James Collins, professor of biomedical engineering at Boston University, has studied using the technology to prevent the elderly from falling and to help people with an impaired sense of balance. But he also believes the effect is suited for games and other entertainment.
"I suspect they'll probably get a kick out of the illusions that can be created to give them a more total immersion experience as part of virtual reality," Collins said.
The very low level of electricity required for the effect is unlikely to cause any health damage, Collins said. Still, NTT required me to sign a consent form, saying I was trying the device at my own risk.
And risk definitely comes to mind when playing around with this technology.
Timothy Hullar, assistant professor at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Mo., believes finding the right way to deliver an electromagnetic field to the ear at a distance could turn the technology into a weapon for situations where "killing isn't the best solution."
"This would be the most logical situation for a nonlethal weapon that presumably would make your opponent dizzy," he said via e-mail. "If you find just the right frequency, energy, duration of application, you would hope to find something that doesn't permanently injure someone but would allow you to make someone temporarily off-balance."
Indeed, a small defense contractor in Texas, Invocon Inc., is exploring whether precisely tuned electromagnetic pulses could be safely fired into people's ears to temporarily subdue them.
NTT has friendlier uses in mind.
If the sensation of movement can be captured for playback, then people can better understand what a ballet dancer or an Olympian gymnast is doing, and that could come handy in teaching such skills.
And it may also help people dodge oncoming cars or direct a rescue worker in a dark tunnel, NTT researchers say. They maintain that the point is not to control people against their will.
If you're determined to fight the suggestive orders from the electric currents by clinging to a fence or just lying on your back, you simply won't move.
But from my experience, if the currents persist, you'd probably be persuaded to follow their orders. And I didn't like that sensation. At all.
------
That's so wrong. What's worse is that I could kinda get behind the whole defense ideas - subduing someone temporarily is infinitely preferable to shooting them, IMO. But something which can actually control your actions? No thanks. *glares suspiciously at iPod*
Revenge of the Sith is released here tomorrow, but I will... not... buy... it... *closes eyes and thinks of Boxsets. Expensive, entire saga Boxsets* Someone grab one of those mind control thingys and steer me AWAY from the DVD stores, please.
Random Observation of the Day - In regards to the 'pick the horse with the interesting colours' system of betting, this was moderately successful - red and white checks plus the southern cross. Not too bad. You know, someone should find out if horses with two names do better in the Melbourne cup than horses with one (Makybe Diva, Phar Lap... )
Over the last 20 years, the race has been won 9 times by horses with one name, 13 time by horses with 2 (the last three were Makybe Diva, BTW). On the other hand, over the whole history, things are more in favour of horses with one name. Then again, in the 60s the cup was won by 2-name horses 9 times, 70's 6 times, and 80's 5 times. Oh, and horses with 3 names just suck - winning twice in the last 20 years. Here ends the lesson on the joys of selective sampling :-)
Why do I have a feeling that all this is due more to the frequencies of naming horses with single and multiple names than anything else? : ) Still, if you were travelling back in time to between the 1860 and 1900, I'd recommend backing a horse with one name. Just a thought. (And then, you know, putting the winnings in nice, long term investments - who wouldn't want 150 years of interest?!)
EDIT again - to fix MDs colours and to let you all know - in NSW, people bet $59 million on the TAB alone for the Melbourne cup. Wow.
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Date: 2005-11-01 05:24 am (UTC):-)
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