Technolotics #34 – Chindogu

Technolotics - An antique show about technology

[audio https://garethstack.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/34_technolotics.mp3]

Listen: Episode 34
Watch: Youtube

Notes

Evil Broadcast Treaty stopped

Podcasters saved from new broadcast copyright – for now
WIPO – Broadcast treaty
Seeks to give copyright rights to the first person to transmit something – even if they have no role in creating it
Creators would have to seek permission from the first body to broadcast a work to show it on any other channel
Even public domain and fair use clips would be included!
For now the web has been excluded – due to the opposition of every country in the world other than the United States
Still affects podcasters – e.g.: under the treaty the portion of our show clipped on blizzard of odd – could never be shown on any television station world wide again – without RTE’s permission!!!
The broadcast treaty is a work of monsterous greed which shows US copyright and patent laws – and the ‘international body’ created to inforse them for what they are – property rights for communication and ideas
Have no fear – webcasting will be added in due course.

Is Bebo Dangerous

Irish Blogger Red Mum has hopped into the debate on the dangers of bebo Is bebo a haven for nefarious pedorasts?

Yes and know

Yes

Kids do post too much personal information Kids befriend individuals they don’t know personally Kids use their own names

No

This is no different to IRC, Yahoo chats, or any of hundreads of kinds and millions of examples of internet communications tool We can either wrap our children in cotton wool, or teach them appropriate care One thing is certain – very soon it will be effectively impossible to restrict omnipresent internet access Kids in fact meet strangers from online – very rarely – without either their friends present or a real world contact in the group Parents are understandably worried – but in the real world, abusers are much more likely to be carers – whether relatives, educators or care home staff

[3]

Wall marts Wikipedia war

Two years ago the wikipedia page was highly critcal of Wall Mart, however lobbyists have gradually been changing the page to present Wall Mart more positively, eg no mention of disputes over unions.
No one knows whether these people are being employeed by Wall Mart.
Up a dozen edits a day, those speaking up against NPOV are threatened

Universe(s) May be a Trillion years old

Small value of the cosmological constant which goes against the value predicted by particle physics theories.
This has long been a problem for cosmologists.
New theory proposes a cyclic universe.
Theory by: Paul Steinhardt at Princeton University, in New Jersey, US, and Neil Turok at Cambridge University in the UK
Universe goes through a series of big bangs and big crunches.
At each step the universe is essentially reset.
Cosmological constant drops after each reset.
The length of each cycle is thought to be about a trillion years.
This may indicate that the universe is many trillions of years old.
The theory does not explain why the size of the cosmological constant is so similar to the density of matter in the universe today.

[5]

Short Stories

A copy-right controlled museum is a crime against humanity

[6]

Museums are starting to restrict photography claiming that it violates copyright, despite that fact the most exhibits aren’t copyrighted, or have expired years ago.
They want to maintain a monopoly a postcards and images of the exhibits.
High resolution scans of Michelangelo’s David were only allowed to be taken by Stanford provided the resulting 3d images were DRMed, Italy wants to copyright the countryside of Tuscany to prevent companies taking advantage of images of the scenery. [7]
Do the curators really ‘own’ images of their exhibits? The purpose of museum is to spread knowledge.

Bad Science

[8]

Misconceptions spread by K6 textbooks
SCIENTISTS USE THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD? not quite.
THERE ARE SEVEN COLORS IN THE RAINBOW?
FRICTION IS CAUSED BY SURFACE ROUGHNESS? no one knows, chemical bonds are involved as well

Archaeoacoustics

[9]

Recovery of sounds from objects made before the invention of recording.
1969 Woodbridge experiments were able to recover the sound of a potter wheel from a pot using a hand-held crystal cartridge.
Was also able to recover words spoken while painting from a canvas.
There have been excellent april fools on this theme in the past [10]
X-Files also feature the word of god being recorded in clay – in the episode Hollywood AD

Chindogu

Intentionally useless devices
Chindogu means “a tool that exists on the edge of reason”
Essay by John Lienhard describes them as:

can’t be intended for real use, but it must be meant for everyday life.
It must actually exist.
Its purpose cannot be humor, propaganda, or vulgarity, nor can it serve any religious or ethnic prejudice.

Remaining guiding principles are:

Chindogu must reveal the spirit of anarchy
It must challenge, and I quote, the suffocating historical dominance of conservative utility.
Chindogu must represent freedom from true purpose.

Examples include

t-shirt with grid on the back so that a friend can be told which grid square to scratch.
Butter stick, like a chapstick but with butter for easy spreading on bread.
My personal favourite is the ten in 1 gardening tool.. it’s like a giant swiss army garden knife.

[11]

Slashdot Redesigns

Some cool entries from the slashdot redesign contest

[12] [13]

Ultra High Definition TV Invented

So sharp it makes you naucious
6 times the resolution of standard tv
this new experimental UHDV used 4*HD recordeds to store 3.5 terabtyes
Projected onto a 4 * 7 metre screen

[14]

The School with no Rules

Conceived by an assortment of parents who had taught their children at home and others in search of educational alternatives, Fairhaven opened in 1998 with 33 students.
No timetables, compulsory classes, set cirriculum. Students study what ever interests them.
To graduate students must write and defend a thesis saying why they can be considered adults. However their diploma is offically recognised.
Danny Mydlack spend two years there filming a documentary, a preview is available on you tube. He came to conclude that how the kids learn is more important then what they learn.
[15]

Now you see me

Another stab at a cloaking device [16]
This weeks new cloaking technology
Scientists at Utah and Sydney University
Using superlenses to make light travel backwards
Might make objects transparent or semi-invisible
Even invisibility over some wavelengths would be useful for stealth craft

Media Pimp

Gareth

Behold the Banana – The athiest nightmare [17]
The New Metrosexual superman [18]
Colbert Burns Bush – The complete videos [19]

Francis

The Raconteurs [20]
Web 2.0. Mashup Matrix [21]