The Garage
August 3, 2014 AUTHOR: zachary CATEGORIES: Journal

Neuromancer + 30 Years

Well, I didn’t read Neuromancer until the late 80’s, might have even been 1990, but it’s been an inspiration since. There’s nothing that I can add that so many haven’t said already. Great article over here at TheGauardian.com  The Man Who Saw Tomorrow.

On its release, Neuromancer won the “big three” for science fiction: the Nebula, Philip K Dick and Hugo awards. It sold more than 6m copies and launched an entire aesthetic: cyberpunk. In predicting this future, Gibson can be said to have helped shape our conception of the internet. Other novelists are held in higher esteem by literary critics, but few can claim to have had such a wide-ranging influence.

Congratulations Bill, it’s as good a read today as it was 30 years ago. That’s an amazing feat in science fiction.

This is a photo of my 1st Edition copy. Thanks Josh.

 

July 23, 2014 AUTHOR: zachary CATEGORIES: Journal

Forget GMO’s, Genetically Engineered Humans are Here

Screen Shot 2014-07-22 at 3.07.39 PM

The first strains of Genetic Engineering have taken hold.

In August 1996, at St. Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston, N.J., a 39-year-old mechanical engineer from Pittsburgh named Maureen Ott became pregnant. Ott had been trying for almost seven years to conceive a child through in vitro fertilization. Unwilling to give up, she submitted to an experimental procedure in which doctors extracted her eggs, slid a needle through their shiny coat and injected not only her husband’s sperm but also a small amount of cytoplasm from another woman’s egg…

Hat tip to @SilkyD67 from NYTIMES.com via TheVerge.com

 

Photograph from the New York Stem Cell Foundation.

March 18, 2013 AUTHOR: zachary CATEGORIES: Journal, Real World

Grinders and DIY Transhumanists

finger_implant
Cool article just came over the transom via Diana, from Slate.com

Choose Your Own Sixth Sense
DIY superpowers for the cyborg on a budget.

excerpt: Anonym described her first foray into grinding thusly: “I sat down in my kitchen with a vegetable peeler, I shit you not, and I decided to put things in my hands. … The first time I ever sat down, it went horribly, horribly wrong. The whole thing went septic, and I put myself in the hospital for two weeks.”

There are a couple other good articles linking out of the Slate article. Including this youtube clip of Anonym.

Flickr Photo Credit: quinnums

January 26, 2013 AUTHOR: zachary CATEGORIES: Journal, Technology Tags:

Healthy Faux Eggs

This appears to be where the seeds of PIM will originate for The Gatecrashers. In the Gatecrashers,Protein Infused Meal (PIM) is a state funded foodstuff which becomes the defacto diet of the entire city – or at least those that can’t afford to eat the real thing.

Check out this article in Bloomberg about Faux eggs and salt being created right now.

The founder of a startup called Sand Hill Foods, Patrick Brown, told NPR last year that his company wants to “produce stuff that will compete by being substantially cheaper and every bit as good and essentially indistinguishable to a consumer who loves meat or dairy.”

The venture capitalists behind these startups believe that climate change and the planet’s dwindling natural resources will put more pressure on the food chain and that the food industry will require sustainable alternatives. It sounds reasonable, though venture investors placed similar bets on failed clean- tech plays Solyndra LLC and Fisker Automotive Inc. The clean- food startups will face a different set of challenges, including the reluctance of consumers to give up familiar dietary fare.

July 17, 2012 AUTHOR: zachary CATEGORIES: Journal, Real World Tags: ,

Expired Drugs, a Way of Life

When paramedics ran out of a critical drug used to treat irregular heartbeats, the Bend Fire Department in Central Oregon dug into its stash of expired medications, loaded up the trucks and kept treating patients.

Paramedics reported asking some of those facing medical emergencies: “Is it OK if we use this expired drug?”

Emergency responders in various jurisdictions have reported turning to last resort practices as they struggle to deal with a shortage of drug supplies created by manufacturing delays and industry changes. Some are injecting expired medications or substituting alternatives. Others are simply going without.

Read more at katu.com

June 27, 2012 AUTHOR: zachary CATEGORIES: Journal Tags:

The Shard

This is how it happens. Read on at the Guardian.

The Shard

“Consider again the story of the Shard. This is a high-rise that has been imposed on London Bridge despite protests from residents, conservation groups and a warning from Unesco that it may compromise the world-heritage status of the nearby Tower of London. What’s more, its owners and occupiers will have very little to do with the area, which for all its centrality is also home to some of the worst deprivation and unemployment in the entire city. The building is 95% owned by the government of Qatar and its developer, Irvine Sellar, talks of it as a “virtual town”, comprising a five-star hotel and Michelin-starred restaurants.”

Visit:

Visit TheGatecrashers.com

Background Image

This background image is concept art for District 99, aka Rivertown. The artwork was done by Sutu, who created the award-winning web series NAWLZ.

Elsewhere