A.C. Flory's Blog, page 125

New disruptive tech – aircraft

Just had to share an article about the D-Dalus [a play on words from Daedalus] that appeared on Gizmag, my new, favourite, future-tech site:

http://www.gizmag.com/d-dalus-uav-design/18972/pictures

The D-Dalus could become one of those ‘why did no one think of this before’ type  of innovations that influence future tech for decades to come.

cheers

Meeks

 

Filed under: Technology Tagged: aircraft, D-Dalus, disruptive, future, innovation, tech

Is it really Christians who are under attack? The story of a prolonged aggression.

A ‘short’ history of discrimination against LGBT people since just 1977. I’m shocked, truly shocked.

Just Merveilleux

This isn’t a post I expect anyone to read from beginning to end. It’s more than anything else, an exercise, an illustration.

In 2005 the SPLC published a timeline of the history of the anti-gay movement in America. Using that as a basis I’ve created an alternate, more detailed, international and up to date version spanning from 1977 to 2016. As I was born in 1978 it more or less covers my life. I’ve done this to try to give people who aren’t LGB or T an idea of what we’re confronted with in life. Just scroll, browse through it, see if anything catches your eye. Maybe go to a year that was important to you for one reason or another. By the time you get to the bottom ask yourself who’s really the aggressor in this “culture war” and who fabricated it?

Bryant posing in front of posters that say…

View original post 2,192 more words

Filed under: Uncategorized

unFeminism and the sticky lock

I don’t consider myself to be a feminist – for a whole host of reasons – but sometimes my unfeminist heart does beat a little faster, and this morning was one of those times. I’d rung a local locksmith to fix my screen door, and who should arrive bright and early but a lady locksmith!

If I sound surprised, it’s not because I think women are incapable of competing with men in traditionally male dominated areas. Far from it. I’ve always known we could do it, I just despaired of ever seeing it.

But change is happening as attitudes amongst women themselves change. Not only was this lady locksmith polite, friendly and very efficient, she was also young and pretty but with a no-nonsense air that said ‘why shouldn’t I be a locksmith if I want to be one?’ And these days, she is not alone. Another young lady doing a blokey job and doing it well is a long time family friend called Holly. After completing a university degree, Holly found her passion in stone, becoming one of a rare few female stone masons here in Melbourne.

I hope that by the time I hit 90 there will be as many female tradies as men because I believe it’s people who matter, not gender. Gender is only one part of what makes up a human being. Important, yes, but not the most important part of what makes us human. To me there are only two types of human beings – those with compassion and those without.

-hugs-

Meeks

 

Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: attitudes, compassion, feminism, Humanism, locksmith, mason, tradies

#fairness video with #dogs

I couldn’t resist following up some of the information in the previous videos, so here’s one about testing whether dogs are capable of:

recognizing that something is unfair and,
reacting accordingly

Unfortunately, only the first two minutes of this video are in English, but the experiment looks pretty conclusive to me:

This next video is a TED talk presented by Frans de Waal [thanks Hariod!]. It goes for approximately 16 minutes but is really interesting in terms of the parallels between human and [certain] animal behaviour:

Meeks

Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: animal, behaviour, dogs, elephants, experiment, fairness, Frans-de-Waal, TED, videos

#JohnOliver and #Ladybucks, with a little help from some monkeys

Yesterday I posted about Capuchin monkeys understanding the difference between cucumbers and grapes. Today, thanks to Mr Merveilleux [a.k.a. Pinky] I thought I’d share my new discovery – English comedian [?] John Oliver. Oh, and the solution to the gender pay gap – Ladybucks. Enjoy!

Meeks

Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: cucumbers, fairness, gender, grapes, John Oliver, Lady-Bucks, monkeys, Obama, pay-gap, video

The #fairness study with Capuchin #monkeys

Watch this video [from a TED talk] and tell me that ‘fairness’ is not hardwired in all of us:

My thanks to the Offspring for telling me about this.[image error]

cheers

Meeks

Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: Capuchin, cucumber, experiment, fairness, grape, monkeys, TED, video

Green energy and #wavepower

Baseload is a word that’s bandied around a lot when proponents of fossil fuel energy plants talk about green energy. Essentially, the argument states that modern, technological states require reliable energy to thrive. This, they say, cannot be provided by green energy sources such as solar and wind because neither is available all the time.

There is some truth to that argument, and until reliable green energy storage becomes available – e.g. massive batteries of some kind – we will need some form of regular energy production. But…that regular energy production need not be from coal or nuclear. Geothermal has been around for a while but while it’s reliable, it isn’t necessarily cheap. This is where wave power could provide the magic bullet that finally weans us away from fossil fuels.

Wave power technology harnesses the constant rise and fall of ocean waves to turn the generators that actually create the energy we need. The technology is not free, but once in place, the driving force behind it is. Better still, that driving force – ocean waves – is constant. Some days may see more energy generation than others, but the waves never completely stop. And that’s important because that minimum level of power generation can be calculated and used.

The new wavepower plant built in Gibraltar [read the Gizmag article for full details] may be small, but it’s cost effective now and can be added to in the future.

Wavepower in Gibraltar

Congratulations to Gibraltar for taking a small step towards greening the planet. Hopefully one day, all countries with access to an ocean will harness wavepower for their own energy needs.

Filed under: Climate Change Tagged: 2016, Eco Wave Power, energy, Gibraltar, Gizmag, Green, ocean, power-station, Wave

This is a bus? New technology from #China

As a science fiction writer, I’m always on the lookout for unusual and innovative technology, and this ‘straddling bus’ ticks both of those boxes for me. Sadly,…it may not be sci-fi for very much longer.[image error]

 

Happy Sunday,

Meeks

Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: bus, cars, China, electric, Song, technology, underneath, video

The new, improved #BBQShapes – YUCK!

The name on the pack says ‘Arnotts’, but that venerable Australian biscuit maker was bought out by Campbells some years ago. At first, nothing seemed to change, and flavours such as BBQ Shapes remained a family favourite, at least in this family. Then the little flavour sprinkles on the shapes became thinner on the biscuit, making each Shape taste blander.

Cost cutting?

XX number of flavour sprinkles less per biscuit probably did add up to a dollar saving over squillions of biscuits…

-sigh- We grumbled a little but continued to buy BBQ Shapes because less of a much loved flavour was still better than no flavour at all.

And now this…

In the interests of my own breakfast, I took a screenshot of this VINE instead of displaying the original* [he really does throw up, not pretty]. Sadly, the point he makes is all too true – the new, improved BBQ Shapes are revolting. I know because I bought and tried them yesterday.

So what’s so very wrong with them? Two things:

savoury biscuits should not taste sweet – the new BBQ Shapes do. I know Americans are used to having everything much sweeter than we do here in Australia – I remember being shocked at the sweet aftertaste of scrambled eggs during a visit many years ago – but why would Campbells buy out a highly successful Australian company only to homogenize the product to something the original customers will hate?
the new flavour plastered over the back and front of the biscuit is like…I don’t know, those horrible Maggi instant noodles? I can’t quite put my finger on the flavour but it overpowers the ‘proper’ flavour with a really unpleasant aftertaste. To me, the flavour tastes like something concocted in a test tube – chemical and…horrible.

And the biscuits now look disgusting too. Okay, I know that makes three things not two, but who’s counting? The new, improved Shapes look as if they’ve been sprinkled with kacky brown ‘dirt’.

I was going to show a before and after shot of the BBQ Shapes, but in searching online for a ‘before’ pic, I discovered that THEY have brought back the original flavour – obviously in response to public outrage. Unfortunately, I don’t know where the new stocks have gone because at the moment, my local Coles only stocks this disgusting rubbish.

Anyway, whilst it’s nice to know that Campbells has bowed to public demand, I’m still outraged at having to go through all this in the first place. One box of Shapes may not cost much, but I buy very little processed food so I may never buy another box – even if the ‘original’ does come back.

-grump-

Meeks

 

*If anyone is desperate to see the entire thing, Google ‘Christian Hull’ or ‘#bbqshapes VINE’.

 

Filed under: Food glorious food Tagged: Arnotts, BBQ-Shapes, Campbells, flavour, horrible, new

The photographer I wish I were….

Way back at the start of the millenium, I used to lurk on the edges of a wonderful geek forum called Guru3D. I learned a lot about computer hardware from Guru3D, I also made friends with some wonderful geeks, two of whom have remained online friends ever since.

One of those old friends is George Panayiotou. George is a talented photographer and graphic designer who pops into this blog every now and then. He also uses Maya, the same top end graphics package the Offspring uses. The thing I envy the most though, is George’s ability to see, and capture, the breathtaking in the ordinary. Here are some favourites from amongst his older photos:

And here’s one I had on my desktop for a long time:

You can see some of George’s more recent work, including another stunning photo, here:

http://ready-aim-click.blogspot.com.au/

-sigh- I think I’ll just stick to words.

cheers

Meeks

 

 

Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: George-Panayiotou, graphic-design, guru3D, landscapes, photography