Prophets of Doom will need to find a new date as archaeologists find proof that Mayan Calendar DOES NOT END this year

There’s some recent news about the Mayan Calendar that is going to set some doomsayers back on their heels in shock.

The world is not ending this year…at least according to the Mayans who planned on existing well beyond Baktun 13. With this discovery, a lot of debate about the so-called doomsday date in 2012 can come to an end: 

“Archaeologists have found a stunning array of 1,200-year-old Maya paintings in a room that appears to have been a workshop for calendar scribes and priests, with numerical markings on the wall that denote intervals of time well beyond the controversial cycle that runs out this December.

For years, prophets of doom have been saying that we're in for an apocalypse on Dec. 21, 2012, because that marks the end of the Maya "Long Count" calendar, which was based on a cycle of 13 intervals known as "baktuns," each lasting 144,000 days. But the researchers behind the latest find, detailed in the journal Science and an upcoming issue of National Geographic, say the writing on the wall runs counter to that bogus belief.

"It's very clear that the 2012 date, while important as Baktun 13, was turning the page," David Stuart, an expert on Maya hieroglyphs at the University of Texas at Austin, told reporters today. "Baktun 14 was going to be coming, and Baktun 15 and Baktun 16. ... The Maya calendar is going to keep going, and keep going for billions, trillions, octillions of years into the future." Read the rest here.

PHOTO: Boston University archaeologist William Saturno carefully uncovers art and writings left by the Maya some 1,200 years ago. The art and other symbols on the walls may have been records kept by a scribe, Saturno theorizes. Saturno's excavation and documentation of the house were supported by the National Geographic Society. -  photo by Tyrone Turner / National Geographic

Parents acting badly: children suffer humilation and drunken disregard for their safety

                Good Day Humboldt County!

Raising a child right is one of the most important things a parent can do. They need to be flexible, compassionate, fair at all times, but in charge until that magic age of 18 arrives. Above all they need to demonstrate love through their actions.

A child is raw material waiting to be molded and taught between right and wrong. Good parents protect their children. Sadly, there are too many examples in the news every day of parents acting badly towards their offspring.

In the news:  

“Police say a Minnesota mother and her husband shaved the head of her 12-year-old daughter, then forced the girl to run around in a diaper in public as punishment for a failing grade on her report card.”

Parental discipline is one thing, but intentional humiliation of a child is abuse no matter what.

“The child’s 38-year-old mother and the woman’s 34-year-old husband were charged on Wednesday with malicious punishment of a child, a gross misdemeanor, according to Lt. Mike Monsrud with the Fridley Police Department. The offense is punishable up to a year in jail and or a $3,000 fine. Msnbc.com is not identifying the family.

What is perhaps the most disturbing is that all the way up to the jail, the couple was laughing and joking, not believing they were involved in anything inappropriate," Monsrud said. "They questioned police involvement. They believed it was their decision as parents to discipline the girl." Monsrud said the girl and three other children in the family have been placed in foster care.” (News source)

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From the Long Island Press

“Riding around in your dad’s car with the windows down is fun. Being tied to the hood of your father’s car while he drives home from the liquor store, not so fun.

An Indiana man, Aaron Stefanski, reportedly believed his children were enjoying being strapped to the top of his vehicle while he was driving home from the liquor store, according to the Journal Gazette.”

Stefanski, 29, tied down his 4 and 5-year-old sons, his 6-year-old daughter and Jessica Clark’s 7-year-old daughter to the hood by using a tow strap, police said. Stefanski and his children, Clark and her daughter, were all riding together in the vehicle when the adults decided to make a pit stop at Belmont Beverage.

One of the liquor store workers called 911 when he noticed Stefanski strapping down four kids to the hood of a large white vehicle. Luckily for the children a U.S. Marshal was in the area and heard the dispatch. After spotting Stefanski’s car, the U.S. Marshal reportedly pulled him over.

Authorities who arrived at the scene alleged they smelt alcohol on Stefanski’s breath. They determined his blood alcohol content was above the legal limit, the Journal Gazette reported. The father of three was arrested and charged with neglect of a dependent, driving while intoxicated and criminal recklessness. Clark, 29, who is the mother of the oldest child involved in the incident, later told police that Stefanski might have not used the best judgment. She was also arrested and charged with neglect of a dependent.”

Not a news day passes without stories like this and much worse where children are killed by parents. Parenting is a challenge for adults and children. I think there’s more good parents than bad ones. I sure hope so.

Time for me to walk on down the road…

Mickey packing heat but TSA saves the day…or something like that

Here’s a good parting shot for this day. Talk about odd, TSA authorities allowed a man and a 4-year old boy to continue their travel to Detroit after concluding the man didn't pose a risk despite carrying stuffed toys with a loaded gun in them!

“Gun components and ammunition were found hidden inside three stuffed animals carried by a passenger at Rhode Island's T.F. Green Airport on Tuesday, federal transportation officials said.

                  Read the whole story here.

Obama first president to support gay marriage–‘same sex couples should be allowed to marry’

Okay…I’m really surprised. Sooooooo surprised…

After waffling on the subject of gay marriage for three and a half years, president Obama suddenly came out in support of it today.

Forgive my suspicious nature, but it looks to me like he’s really worried about losing the election and plans on doing some things he promised to do the first time around. For example, this 11th Hour decision to support gay marriage.

I also will be soooooo surprised if Obama’s next announcement is that he’s calling off the DEA dogs and will stop the senseless attacks against medical marijuana and the states that have legalized it.

Don’t you just love presidential campaigns? They’re full of surprises… 

New Era of Medicine: Robots study how humans think and then gives them drugs to treat disorders

                              Good Day Humboldt County!

What wonders the future holds. I recently read about a robotic eye that gives the once sightless vision! I’ve always had my reservations about robots – see my column - Workplace Reality: more robots, fewer humans – but it hasn’t dampened my curiosity about them.

Do you remember Robby the Robot a fictional character who made a number of appearances in science fiction movies and television programs after his first appearance in the 1956 MGM science fiction film Forbidden Planet?  Robby is the root of my interest in “artificial intelligence.” And walking talking tin cans.

Robby the Robot made several appearances in other movies and TV shows over the next few decades, including episodes of The Thin Man and The Addams Family. While Robby's appearance was generally consistent, there were notable exceptions, such as the 1962 Twilight Zone episode "Uncle Simon", where he was given a slightly more human "face."

So, it’s no surprise that I bring you the latest in robotics. Enjoy…

“Brain scientists have built a robot that can find and record information from individual neurons in the living brains of mice. Yes, robots are becoming real-world brain scientists.

In the future, these same robots could be studying how humans think and even deliver targeted drugs to the brain – to treat disorders such as schizophrenia, Parkinson’s, autism or epilepsy. The robotic procedure automates the well-known, albeit time consuming, difficult and mind-numbing, task for human neuroscientists known as whole-cell patch clamping.

The technique involves bringing a tiny, hollow glass pipette in contact with the cell membrane of a neuron, then opening up a small pore in the membrane to record the electrical activity within the cell, explains MIT.The skill took graduate student Suhasa Kodandaramaiah four months to learn.

“When I got reasonably good at it, I could sense that even though it is an art form, it can be reduced to a set of stereotyped tasks and decisions that could be executed by a robot,” he said in a news release. And so, that’s what he and his colleagues did – building a robotic arm that lowers a glass pipette into an anesthetized mouse with more superior precision and speed than humans.

Their procedure is described in the May 6 issue of Nature Methods. The same technique can be used to determine the shape of the cell and they are working on a way to extract a cell’s contents to read its genetic profile.

According to the MIT news release, this is a new era for robotics:

The researchers are now working on scaling up the number of electrodes so they can record from multiple neurons at a time, potentially allowing them to determine how different parts of the brain are connected.

They are also working with collaborators to start classifying the thousands of types of neurons found in the brain. This “parts list” for the brain would identify neurons not only by their shape — which is the most common means of classification — but also by their electrical activity and genetic profile.

“If you really want to know what a neuron is, you can look at the shape, and you can look at how it fires. Then, if you pull out the genetic information, you can really know what’s going on,” [team member Craig Forest at Georgia Tech] says. “Now you know everything. That’s the whole picture.”

--Via MIT

Time for me to walk on down the road…

There’s no such thing as a routine day – it’s the first day of the rest of your life

              Good Day Humboldt County!

For those of you who actually read this blog daily you’ll notice I didn’t post something new on Monday. I took a blog break. Went to Oregon. On the way home, my wife and I stopped in Crescent City to watch one of our grandson’s first musical recital (he plays the trumpet – think Satchmo someday I told him… and he looked at me like I was crazy!)

Moments like that are fleeting and you can’t count on them. They are precious moments when you connect at some level with loved ones. Each day brings promise, or grief, depending on your current path in life. You can expect the unexpected with assurance. It’s going to happen. Good or bad. Every day. It’s best to live each day like it was your last.

         Recent examples in the news:

 FAMILY TRAGEDY IN TENNESSE - Jo Ann Bain and her daughters, Adrienne, 14, Alexandria, 12, and Kyliyah, 8, are believed to have been abducted by a family friend, Adam Mayes. Police believe the two younger girls are still with Mayes.

A Tennessee medical examiner identified two bodies Monday as those of Jo Ann Bain and her eldest daughter, Adrienne, 14, who are believed to have been abducted from their home in Whiteville,Tenn. on April 27, 2012----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

                              Community Comes Together To Fulfill Fallen Soldier’s Final Wish

Bruce Hays was a member of the Wyoming Army National Guard and had been in Afghanistan for less than a month when he was killed

via Daily Mail |

It took more than a village to help bring the last wish of a fallen soldier to come true, but ten months and the help of strangers led to its completion.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------   

Is this something that interests you?

Jennifer Pahlka: Coding a better government

via TED |

Can government be run like the Internet, wide open and no rules? Coder and activist Jennifer Pahlka believes it can.

Jennifer said that apps, built quickly and cheaply, are a powerful new way to connect citizens to their governments -- and their neighbors.

 

 

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Everyone loves to hear about people beating the odds.

 

Svante Myrick, Ithaca’s Youngest-Ever Mayor, Grew Up Homeless

via MSNBC |

Svante Myrick, Ithaca's newly-elected 24-year-old mayor has an incredible story to tell.

Not only is he the town's youngest mayor in history, he also surmounted huge odds to get there.

 

Time for me to walk on down the road…

AS IT STANDS: Holy Hackcalypse Batman! What should we do?

                                 

           By Dave Stancliff/For The Times-Standard
  Beware of the coming Hackcalypse!
A worldwide reckoning among competing hackers is coming sooner than you think. Future generations will refer to this monumental Clash of the Nerds as the day we went back to the Stone Age.
 We know governments have hired hackers for years to steal state secrets, scientific advances, and to sabotage other country’s networks, causing internal chaos. Hackers prank the FBI and break into credit card networks to steal people’s personal information.
   Some hackers claim to be for the common man and attack corporations they don’t like for political reasons. Others have no problem going onto social websites and creating havoc there. ESingles has been relentlessly mocked, both by LulzSec Reborn and other hackers who have compared the stolen data with what's on the site.

  LulzSec Reborn broke into ESingle’s  database and stole passwords, email addresses, and other information from nearly 171,000 accounts, according to several security experts on the case.
   Hackers hack because they can. For every one that gets caught, ten more are laughing safely behind numerous firewalls and other people’s IP addresses. A hacker can be 12 years old or 89 years old. There are no age requirements.
   Hackers hang with con artists and scammers and often help them rip off unsuspecting victims by setting cyber traps.
   The US has a high powered cyber team fighting 24 hours a day against thousands of attacks from around the world seeking to break into sensitive government, military, and corporate websites. There’s never a time out.

  China, Russia, and the Ukraine currently have the worst reputation when it comes to using state sponsored hackers to attack American interests. A recent article in Data Protection - Ukraine seen as a growing 'haven for hackers' - by Taylor Armerding, talks about Ukraine's would-be major crackdown on cyber crime.
  The article suggests that the government’s efforts increasingly look futile.
In the view of analysts, including some Ukrainian security officials, the country is becoming a haven for hackers.
   Taras Kuzio, editor of Ukraine Analyst, quoted extensively from a 2011 book by former Guardian Moscow correspondent Luke Harding titled, "Mafia State: How one reporter became an enemy of the brutal new Russia." Harding says organized crime hackers have close ties to senior leaders of both countries.

   Most recently, Chinese hackers have been linked to a cyber-espionage campaign that planted data-gathering malware in a total of 233 computers of Tibetan activists and military and industrial entities in Japan and India.
   According to security vendor Trend Micro, the so-called "Luckycat" campaign has been active since at least June 2011 and has been linked to 90 attacks that use malware tailored for each victim.
   Here comes the scary part. You may want to sit down while you read this. There is not a thing we can do about hackers! That’s right. It’s virtually impossible to stop people from hacking. For every new security patch that comes up, a new malware attack, or virus, is created. Cyber security is a huge business, and so far there’s enough good Nerds to keep providing remedies to buy time. Still, our days are numbered.

   There’s no fix that will stop hackers from growing more sophisticated. We have a desperate race in cyberspace trying to hold off the growing power of very smart hackers. At some point, vital infrastructures worldwide (from power grids to water supplies) will be sabotaged.
  Governments everywhere will be crippled. Totally unable to function for the good of the people. Almost like right now, but they won’t be able to make the hackers pay taxes!

  With no power, automatic doors and vaults on timers won’t open. Gas pumps won’t work. Hot tubs won’t heat. The bright lights in cities and homes will dim and die. The ensuring panic will outdo any disaster movie ever made.
    Those who somehow survive this final hackcalypse will find themselves in a new Stone Age. Now, the good news: there will be no more hackers! Problem solved. Amid the smoking debris of crashed computers littering the planet, the survivors can start over.
    As It Stands, is my apocalypse scenario any stranger than some people’s concerns about an ancient Mayan calendar predicting the earth’s end in December?

Have you heard of Methane Hydrates? It’s a new fuel source that could provide energy security for USA

Could the future of cleaner fossil fuel really be frozen crystals now trapped in ocean sediments and under permafrost?

Backed by an oil industry giant, the Obama administration recently tested a drilling technique in Alaska's Arctic that it says might eventually unlock "a vast, entirely untapped resource that holds enormous potential for U.S. economic and energy security." Some experts believe the reserves could provide domestic fuel for hundreds of years to come.

Those crystals, known as methane hydrates, contain natural gas but so far releasing that fuel has been an expensive proposition.

The drilling has its environmental critics, but there’s also a climate bonus: The technique requires injecting carbon dioxide into the ground, thereby creating a new way to remove the warming gas from the atmosphere. (Read story here)

Another State Signs Law Legalizing Medical Marijuana – Connecticut Joins 16 Other States and the District of Columbia

As the feds continue their senseless war on marijuana, another state has given it’s voters what they want – legal medical marijuana.

Connecticut's State Senate approved a bill legalizing medical marijuana early this morning morning. The final vote was tallied just after 2:30 a.m. Saturday after nearly 10 hours of contentious debate. Sen. Toni Boucher, R-Wilton, a staunch opponent to the measure, spoke for close to five hours before she began introducing amendments to the bill. 48 amendments were filed by Boucher and other Republican opponents trying to delay the vote.

Governor Dannel Malloy commended the General Assembly for passing the bill.  He said he will sign it into law. When he does, Connecticut will join 16 other states and the District of Columbia where medical marijuana is legal.

Every time another state signs a bill legalizing medical marijuana another crack appears in the feds feeble justification for criminalizing it. Numerous polls have shown over 50 percent of Americans want marijuana to be legalized. One of these days the feds are just going to have to back off and go after real crimes like Mexican cartels invading the USA.

Today is National FREE COMIC BOOK DAY–what do you think about that?

        Good Day Humboldt County!

       Happy Free Comic Book Day (FCBD).

Do you like reading comics? Collect them? Curious about what’s out there these days?   Today is the day for folks like you to get a great sampling of more than 40 free titles offered at participating stores (For Humboldt County residents you can go to *NORTH COAST ROLE PLAYING -1846 Broadway, Eureka, CA, 95501 (707) 444-2288).

Titles from Marvel and DC,  to independents like Red 5 Comics, and Boom Entertainment will be available. Not coincidentally, FCBD comes at the start of summer movie blockbuster season, and the much-anticipated opening of “The Avengers” this weekend only adds to the air of four-color festivity.

And this year there are more comics than ever to discover: More than 2 million copies will be given away Saturday, featuring such iconic figures as Spidey, Superman and even Elvis, as well as newcomers like the Incredible Rockhead (a put-upon schoolkid whose head turns into a giant rock) and Jurassic Strike Force (a squad of mutated dinosaur soldiers).

* Disclaimer – I don’t know anyone at North Coast Role Playing and am in no way being compensated for mentioning the business. Frankly, they are the only location I could find on the north coast that was a participant in this national event.

Time for me to walk on down the road…

Just What Do You Think You’re Doing, Dave?

I was immediately reminded of Hal 9000 and his memorable voice addressing Dave Bowman in 2001: A Space Odyssey.

I won’t talk about how great this movie really was, and how it marked the whole era, I’d rather see what you think of the illusion. Creepy or what?

Lightning strikes below the belt (yep right there) of unlucky Spaniard…ouch!

There’s a guy in Spain right now fervently hoping that the old adage about lightning not striking twice in the same place is true.

“Lightning struck a 53-year-old man's scrotum and then exited his body through one of his feet in Madrid, Spain. The good news: he survived. The bad news: his testicles were burned. A lucky man. Or maybe not.

The man was walking on Avenida de La Ilustración—a street in Madrid's suburb Tres Cantos—when the lightning struck his scrotum through his pants, travelled down one of his legs and went to the sidewalk through his foot. He fell unconscious.

His son called the emergency services, who treated the burns on his scrotum and feet. They moved him to the Hospital de la Paz, where he got under several tests. Luckily, his heart and brain were not affected by the lightning, said the doctors.” (source)

Actually, the guy was lucky getting off with just roasted nuts and feet. Talk about a shock of a lifetime. I can just see the poor guy grabbing his crotch every time there’s lightning in the skies. He might want to invest in a shock-proof jock!

Somewhere there’s an ex-Secret Service Agent who really wishes he wouldn’t have been so cheap

                        Good Day Humboldt County!

I have a high school buddy that use to be in the Secret Service. He’s retired from that now, and doing something else for the Department of Homeland Security. I can’t tell you what, because I don’t know. And I don’t want to know.

This latest scandal about a Secret Service agent who was too cheap to pay the full price for a working girl, made me think about that friend. I wonder if he come out of retirement? You wouldn’t believe how cheap he is. There was this time in high school…wait a moment! Maybe I ought to keep my trap shut? Just kidding buddy!!!!

Here’s some news links and some humor for your entertainment: 

1) Secret Service closes ranks in sordid scandal 2) 3 Secret Service Agents Refuse Polygraph In Prostitution Scandal

Looking for a job? There are lots of new openings at the Secret Service. They provide the sunglasses and foreign travel, but you have to pay for your own hookers (in full).

Secret Service Man
[ Secret Agent Man ]

Time for me to walk on down the road…

Top 10 Countries That Read This Blog for Whatever Reason… and Why Do the Bulgarians Like Me?

 Looking over my visitor lists for April I was struck by how Bulgaria has been contributing more and more readers every month.

I have relatives in The United States, United Kingdom, and Canada, but none that I know of in Bulgaria. It just strikes me odd that my blog is becoming popular in Bulgaria. (That even sounds funny doesn’t it?)

             Readership -Top Four Countries 

United States -24,247; United Kingdom - 6,038; Bulgaria - 4,309; Canada - 3,154 - The Remaining Six: India –1,745; Germany – 1,628; Australia – 1,012; Russia – 856; France – 748; and the Philippines – 596. A Total of 40,0679 visitors for April.

After nearly four years of blogging, I still can’t predict what posts will be the most popular. One reader demographic that has stayed steady throughout my blogging has been from public schools, and colleges. Students of all ages seem to find it amusing. Don’t ask me why. I have no idea. I know I get a lot of new traffic on Sundays when my newspaper column comes out because I listed my blog URL on my tagline. The majority comes from the Internet Explorer search browser, followed by Chrome, Firefox, and Safari. In other words…randomly.

Thank you all for stopping by in April. I hope you find May as interesting.

What Not To Do After Breaking Up With Someone Part 1: Don’t Keep Them As Your Dentist

Have you ever looked into someone’s eyes and realized the hamster wheel wasn’t turning? I’ve heard of some pretty stupid breakup stunts in the name of vengeance, but this guy has to be at least four bottles short of a six-pack!

The bar for break-up revenge stories has just been raised. Anna Mackowiak, 34, a dentist in Wroclaw, Poland, is facing jail time after pulling out all of her ex-boyfriend's teeth in a calculated fit of rage.

While this is obviously unacceptable behavior, 45-year-old Marek Olszewski's head is clearly missing more than just teeth, if he thought he could walk into his ex's office without hesitation only days after dumping her for another woman and ask her to work on a toothache!

Mr. Olszewski will have many lonely nights to ponder his actions. His new girlfriend was not cool with the toothless look and has left him. (source)

Money Free: Man Lives Without Using Money and Finds Happiness…

    Good Day Humboldt County!

We all have unique paths to travel in this world. Some of us go to greater extents to explore different lifestyles, or by embracing different ways of looking at life or odd ball philosophies. 

  I really like the idea of living without money, but I doubt I could ever go to the extremes Daniel Suelo has. He’s the subject of a new book "The Man Who Quit Money," by Mark Sundeen.

I’m not exactly a social butterfly, but I admit I like seeing and talking with people on a daily basis. I’m sure Mr. Suelo sees people, from time-to-time, but there can’t be too much foot traffic where he lives. In a cave.

Has Suelo discovered the key to a happy life? I don’t think I’d go that far. He’s on a private spiritual quest that involves living off of charity, the generosity of strangers, and foraging in the hills. Not exactly Shangri La or Atlantis. Still, he’s seeking enlightenment and I respect him for that. What he’s doing is reminiscent of the Native American practice of vision quests – where one sets out alone to discover themselves and their place in the natural world. The only difference I see is Suelo doesn’t look like he’s going back to “civilization,” unlike Native Americas who eventually went back to their tribe.

Time for me to walk on down the road…

 

 

Man Sues BMW After Motorcycle Gives Him An Erection That Won’t Go Away

While an extended state of arousal after a motorcycle ride might sound like typical rhetoric of the two wheel crowd, one man is now suing BMW Motorrad USA and the maker of an aftermarket seat after a motorcycle ride left him with an erection that wouldn't go away.

The California man is claiming that a BMW motorcycle and a dealer installed custom seat are responsible for causing priapism. Clearly the Beemer owner doesn't find this issue to be a laughing matter, the suit filed in the Superior Court of San Francisco County this past week seeks damages for lost wages, personal injury, medical expenses, product liability, and negligent infliction of emotional distress.

Rather than make tasteless jokes at the expense of this BMW owner I’ll include an excerpt of the complaint and leave the rest to you:

"Plaintiff was riding his 1993 BMW motorcycle equipped with a Corbin-Pacific seat. The ride lasted approximately two hours each way to plaintiff's destination, after which plaintiff developed a severe case of priapism (a persistent, lasting erection). Plaintiff alleges that this condition was caused by the ridge-like seat on his motorcycle, negligently designed, manufactured and/or installed by defendants.

"Plaintiff now suffers from priapism (a long lasting erection), and has been experiencing continuing problems since his motorcycle ride. He is now unable to engage in sexual activity, which is causing him substantial emotional and mental anguish. Plaintiff is distraught and distressed because of this. Defendants, and each of them, are liable to plaintiff due [to] their negligent design, manufacture and/or installation of the seat on plaintiff's motorcycle."

(News source)

Back To The 50s: Do You Remember The Really Cool ‘Mold-A-Rama’?

The Mold-A-Rama machine was invented in the mid-fifties. You could watch as the machine used injection molding to create a plastic figurine in the shape of an animal, submarine, plane, monster, train and so many more designs. These were the usual cheap souvenirs of your visit of course, but with these objects you could actually observe the manufacturing process. These machines were mostly located at theme parks, zoos, museums and sometimes at special events - everything about Mold-A-Rama here:

 

images via 1, 2, 3, 4)
There is a whole Flickr pool devoted to these cool machines...

Futuristic Prediction: Is this what San Francisco is going to look like in 2018?

                   Good Day Humboldt County!

  Growing up I didn’t think much about what future cities would look like. The one time I did think about it was while on a trip to Disneyland and it’s “World of Tomorrow” exhibit sponsored by Monsanto.

Yep, that Monsanto. The infamous chemical corporation that brought us Agent Orange, and a whole slew of deadly pesticides and herbicides.

Back in 1957 when I went, Monsanto’s sneaky practices hadn’t been exposed, and they were considered “good guys.” Good enough to bring Mom, Dad’s, and their kids, visions of life in the future. About all I can clearly remember ( I was six at the time) was pictures of flying cars on murals showing weird shaped buildings.

So here I am today, still wondering about what future cities may look like and I read about what the future may hold for the City of San Francisco.

It’s going to make an interesting skyline complete with technologies like algae harvesting towers, fog catchers, and geothermal energy mushrooms. It’s called the Hydro net project. Link below

Hydro-Net Project of San Francisco Futuristic City in 2018!

Basically its a network that will connect water with other distribution systems across a city. The design also uses carbon nanotube walls in the walls of the network.

In recent times the concept has won $10,000 grand prize for the entry of Future Competition which was organized by History Channel.

The futuristic world with lot of green is possible with these kinds of technologies.

 Inspired

 Time for me to walk on down the road…

Art Comes in Many Mediums: Like These Magic Angle Shadow Sculptures

Shadow art is nothing particularly new, but the way John V. Muntean sculpts his creations to form three distinct images with their shadows, is something worth checking. When his wooden creations are placed on a skewer, held up from one side by a plastic column, and then lit from above, the light cast produces different shadow every time the skewer is rotated for 54.7 degrees.

Perhaps one of the most enjoyable things about this artwork is the way his creations all seem to relate one to another. For example, his dog/cat/fish piece shows three pets known to harass one another. On the other hand, John’s man/woman/heart sculpture seems to depict the three things necessary to create a standard romance story. You may think of this as Shigeo Fukuda’s Encore art installation, except this one includes a third view! Go to his website it’s definitely worth a visit. You get to play with one of his sculptures in virtual space!