Civilian Space Travel

With the announcement this week that three companies including Space X have won money from NASA I decided to discuss the subject of civilian travel itself. While the technology and science behind space travel has been around a long time, it's not until the last five years that civilian space travel has become a reality. I can remember sitting at home and watching the take off of discover and Columbia and the launching of the international space station. I remember the joy and amazement I felt seeing a live image of the Earth in real time for the first time in my life. It was different from seeing it in videos and photos growing up because it felt like for me that I was actually there experiencing it with the astronauts themselves. I had wanted to be a marine biologist growing up, but because math was never my strong suit I learned very quickly entering college that it wasn't something I could do. Still you don't need a degree or even to be good at math to appreciate the wonder of the world and I think each time we all see a new piece of technology or science makes a new discovery that we all go back to being like kids again, staring in wonder at the world around us. That's never a bad thing of course, because its what makes the new things we learn exciting.

You can image the reaction I had when the space program was grounded. Neil Degrasse Tyson put it best in his plea to congress that the moment we stop wanting to discover, the moment we stop holding the Earth with such wonder is the moment we lose it's importance to us and our future. When you look up at the stars in the sky in wonder you can almost feel what other cultures felt many years ago as they stood in wonder at the beauty of the universe that was created in front of them. Space travel isn't just a way of discovering the universe, but its also a way of discovering just how important and unique the planet we live on is. I know people won't completely agree with how I feel on the subject, but that's fine with me. I think that when civilian space travel is possible for not just a few people to experience, but the world that we will all be able to hold a new found appreciation, not just of science and technology, but the beautiful world that we live in. We'll know for the very first time what it was like looking down on the Earth from so far and seeing it and then realizing that we need to better protect it, not just for ourselves, but for those who come after us. There are risk and I understand that, but it's just like any job any firemen takes or police officer takes, the list goes on. They do it because they love their job and they understand the risk. Civilian space travel is a way in which for the very first time a larger amount of our generation can experience it up close and in a sense it may be a way for people to find a new found appreciation for it, rather then take for granted what we have. I'm not saying people don't appreciate it now, I just want every generation that comes after me to get the chance to hold the world in as much wonder as I have.

So, tell me if civilian space travel becomes affordable would you go into space and if so what would you do?

Own your very own Mech

Japanese company Suidobashi has designed a Mech for the masses called Kuratas, which features dual gatling cannons that operate with a smile. They aren't real gatling cannons of course, but they do have the ability to shoot a large barrage of harmless bb's at your opponent and of course they only fire when you smile. It brings me back to the days of playing mech warrior, except mine had deploy-able rockets and lasers, but hey whose counting, its still a mech that I can pilot. Well one that I wish I could pilot anyway as it comes with an almost two million dollar price tag I don't think I will have the chance to pilot it anytime soon. The mech itself is only thirteen foot tall, but can you image how much easier trimming trees would be with this thing? All joking aside its amazing how far technology has come in the last ten years. I can remember playing Halo and seeing the touch screens with the holographic keyboards and thought that was light years away from what we have and the next thing I know they make a holographic keyboard you can type with and a projection screen.

Having the ability to drive the mech around as well as enter a cockpit that is nothing short of something out of science fiction with its touch screens, gps, and heads up display is nothing short of amazing. Don't worry, they also have an add-on for a rocket pod which launches water powered bottle rockets. Can you imagine a large group of people traveling to work in these things and just parking them outside, it would be a pretty amazing sight to behold for sure. It seems like the move time that passes, the things that we saw as science fiction as kids are becoming more and more like reality.

Nike Creates Sensory Sunglasses

Nike, in an effort to attract more athletes to its brand has developed the very first sensory sunglasses called Strobe-Light. What do these new sunglasses do exactly? Well they work with a persons vision to limit their peripheral as well as frontal vision. The reason for this is that our reactions depend a lot on what we can see both in front of us and around us. If your vision is decreased then you move your eyes faster to see around you quicker as you also are forced to turn your head and focus more with your limited vision to complete task. Catching a football may seem simple enough, but when you limit a person's vision they have to rely more on their ability to catch it and their ability to react and focus on the football.

While this could in fact increase reaction as well as eye focus I have my concerns about the negative effects that it could have on your overall peripheral vision. After all when we start driving it takes some practice to gain better peripheral vision because we are used to the freedom of constantly turning to gather information with our eyes rather then our peripheral vision to see our side mirrors. If the technology works just like its demonstrated there could be many new uses for the technology field in an effort to help to strengthen the focus of the eyes of patients who have otherwise lost the ability or had a weakening of their eye muscles.

Australian wants dinosaurs down under

You heard right folks, an entrepreneur from Australia wants to create an amusement park for kids that contains dinosaurs. While the glaring problem here is that cloning is no where near where it needs to be in order for something like this to actually happen. Never mind the fact that in every dinosaur movie apart from the land before time, yes I watched the land before time as a kid it was a good movie, the humans have never had a good experience. Now I am not saying that we couldn't get along with dinosaurs, but something tells me it wouldn't go the way we planed it.

As cool as it would be for cloning technology to bring dinosaurs back to life so we could test all the theories about them, I think we shouldn't push are luck on something like this. Considering the fact that he would have to wait a long time for something like this to be actually possible, maybe he would be better off investing in dinosaur robots instead, you know like the ones they used in the Jurassic Park movies for example. Say what you will about a robot dinosaur park, but think back to watching that movie as a kid, they seemed pretty real life and scary then didn't they? Knowing actual dinosaur behavior would be cool and all, but lets play it safe for now. Besides with all the increase in CGI and robotics, I am sure he could make it as close to real as possible.

Nintendo's New Handheld is Here

It was long awaited, but ladies and gentlemen it is finally here. That's right the new and improved Nintendo 3DS XL and yes, I do mean improved. Its amazing how much Game Boy's have changed in such a sort time as I think back to the times as a kid playing on my Pokemon themed Game Boy color. Yeah I know, I liked Pokemon, but I am pretty sure almost every kid did ten years ago, hard to believe speaking of which that its still as popular with kids as it was back then.

I'll admit from the beginning before getting my hands on the Nintendo 3DS XL I had my doubts and honestly I thought with the overall increase in size that there would be a lot more problems with the new handheld over its predecessor then there actually was. I would have to say that all things consider I was pleasantly surprised by what Nintendo came up with. I'm going to go over a few key areas with really set the Nintendo 3DS XL apart from its predecessor.

The Nintendo 3DS XL has a price tag of right around two hundred dollars while its predecessor still cost one hundred and seventy dollars. This may not seem like a lot of difference at first, but when you really think about it you are paying for a complete upgrade in almost every aspect from the original 3DS while only paying right around thirty dollars more after taxes. 

The Nintendo 3DS XL not only sells for a great price, but it also gives the buyer an increase in screen size of over ninety percent, yes that's right, ninety percent. If that wasn't enough to convince you that this purchase is truly worth it in the end you should also consider that Nintendo listened to the complaints about glare with the prior model and has installed an anti-glare screen into the device to prevent this.

When we look at the weight distribution between both of the units you would expect due to an increase in size that the Nintendo 3DS would weight more, but you will be, as I was pleasantly surprised that this is in fact no where near the case. The 3DS XL is not lighter then the 3DS, but it is by no means considerably heavier then the 3DS.

 As is the case with many handheld devices we tend to worry about the battery life a lot. You need not worry with Nintendo's new installment as it can last for upwards of six hours of playing time, so we can all play Mario Cart to our hearts content. As for the new stylus that comes with the XL, I am more then pleased with it as it is easier to hold and very user friendly. Oh, and I shouldn't forget to mention you get a camera upgrade and a nice and healthy 2 GB upgrade to your old 3DS. There is probably a lot more I should mention, but I can't spoil all the fun, hears to hoping you have as much fun with your Nintendo 3DS XL as I did, trying it out was a blast.

A gaming mouse with a twist

Being an avid gamer I pay close attention to anything and everything that has to do with the gaming world, but every so often something catches my eye that is totally out of this world. Technology in the world of gaming is constantly changing and companies continue to try to find ways to keep buyers interested and that's just where this next product fits in.

Ttesports has developed a mouse that has a miniature fan as its attachment. That's right folks, forget about all those extra complicated and programmable buttons and make way for a mouse with a completely operational fan. While playing in a gaming competition sure can be a nervous experience, I don't think to many gamers will be sweating enough to make this next invention worth it. I applaud their enthusiasm and their ability to think outside the box when it comes to new products, but this may be pushing the gaming market to far. The next thing you know they will be developing small hot plates to cook your pizza bites on, not that I would be completely against that or anything. The fact that a company did go so far outside the box on this one shows that companies are no longer afraid to take risk and I hope for the future of a better video gaming experience and improvement in technology in general that more companies begin to think outside the box.