Applied Indifference

the Space Shuttle Challenger (STS-51) exploded? So asks a Slashdot poll today.

19 years ago. 28 January, 1986. Junior year of high school. I remember staying home to watch the launch. When they announced they were delaying, I went to school. Then I heard some of the kids talking in the cafeteria about how the shuttle had exploded, and I told them that it hadn’t launched that morning. I don’t clearly remember if there was an announcement over the PA, or if the teachers told us in the next class. I was in a fog the rest of the day. I do remember going home and calling information to get the number for NASA because I didn’t actually believe any of it was real. The operator assured me that the unimaginable had really happened.

I sat in front of the television for hours, just watching it explode, over and over again.

I remember yelling at the cads who told all the jokes. I still don’t think they’re funny.

We should always honor and never forget those who risk everything for the purpose of advancing our knowledge of the universe around us.
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Tags: Technology by Brian Corbino
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Go on, get your screams of “Luddite!” and whatever else you want out of your system now. I’ll wait.

Ok, feel better? Good.

Here’s the deal. I look at the debates over human cloning and stem-cell research, and I see a unique opportunity. This may be the first time where we have the technological ability to pursue something that has tremendous moral and ethical impact &emdash; and we know at least some of the moral and ethical issues that need resolving up front.

This was not the case at the dawn of the nuclear age. I know that nobody stopped to consider the moral implications of what they were doing. The attitude was “It’s science, it’s morally neutral”. We now know that was not the case.

So too with the concepts of cloning, and to a much lesser extent, stem-cell research. I’ll admit, I’m not up on what the state of the art is in stem-cell research. I know that there have been limited trials in animals, but if there are any major successes or breakthroughs, I’ve not heard of them.

I’d like to see, for once, science take a break from progress to really analyze the impact of what they are studying. Simply saying “well, someone else will do it if we don’t” is not sufficient to absolve the scientific community of moral and ethical responsiblity. That we can do something does not imply that we must, or even should do it.

Tags: Technology by Brian Corbino
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I swear to you the dog has some psychic connection with my Tivo. No matter what I watch — live, recorded, whatever — she can somehow sense when there are 5 minutes of program left, and she gets up, stands in front of the TV and whines to go out.

Amazing. I’m gonna test a theory - I’m gonna watch 4 or 5 shows in a row and see if she needs to go out every 40 minutes.

Tags: Technology by Brian Corbino
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Almost had another vehicle destroyed today by an ancient in a Buick. This schmendrick decides to turn — across traffic into… NOTHING. He proceeds to drive over the curb to get to a parking lot on the other side.

And who happens to be headed right for him as he pulls this stunt? Your humble correspondent (that’s me, for those of you in Rio Linda). So, how do you make a car decelerate and steer on wet pavement so as to avoid eating Buick for lunch?

Bosch, that’s how. Anti-lock brakes. To paraphrase P. J. O’Rourke - “I don’t know how it happened, the car did it.” I was setting myself up to get in the left lane at the upcoming intersection. So, I let off the gas, and HOLY SHIT A CAR! Instantly both clutch and brakes are pressed with all the might I can muster as I negotiate my way around the back end of the intruder, while simultaneously making sure that I don’t bite the nose off the nice big TRUCK that this Buick was trying to weave around.

Like I said - the car did it. I was just along for the ride. This proves that I was right to insist that I wanted 4 wheel anti-lock disc brakes.

Tags: Technology by Brian Corbino
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You knew this was going to happen sooner or later.

Here’s what I don’t get - A few of the labels are actually lowering the price of first-run CDs, Sony is releasing more and more stuff on hybrid SACD (which kicks total ass, by the way) at the old CD prices, and the online places are selling the same album, without a CD, without liner notes, without any extras, at lower audio quality, and with restrictions on what you can do with the music besides.

They’ve had a measure of success between the jack-booted thug stylings of the RIAA lawsuits, some educational measures, and decent on-line services at killing off the file-sharing networks of pirated music. And now, after they got on the digital distribution bandwagon 5 years after it left, they want to kill the goose after it’s laid a brass egg?

I’ll never understand some industries.

Tags: Technology by Brian Corbino
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Jakob Nielsen’s Alertbox (Thanks: Slashdot) talks about a study done to determine why Mobile Phones are annoying. Of course, since they are studying something subjective, no hard answers are available, but a few things seem to get ruled out. I would suggest an additional control for further study - add a pay telephone (not in an enclosed booth) to the test subjects, and see where that rates.

I don’t know if it is Jakob’s conclusion, or the study authors’ conclusion, but they seem to feel that the one-sided conversation might be the annoyance factor. Controlling for pay-phone versus mobile would sort that out.

My personal conjecture (for what it’s worth) is this: It is not the one-sided conversation, the ring tone or the volume. It is a lower-level emotional response. I think it is either jealousy (he’s got something I don’t) or a reaction to percieved arrogance (he’s so important that his conversation couldn’t wait).

Anyhow, interesting stuff. And an interesting study methodology. If the subjects of the study actually knew they were being asked about the impact of a conversation on them, they are going to focus like a lens on that conversation, and notice nothing else around them.

Tags: Technology by Brian Corbino
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