Botanical Communication

Ok, this has to be one of the coolest things ever! It’s called, “Botanicalls,” and it’s a project aiming to save plants’ lives by notifying humans of their health status via phone calls. I love it! I have a hard enough time trying to keep track of my (not real life) plants on Final Fantasy XI… let alone what real life plants I’ve had. This is definitely something I would invest in! You should check out the audio samples of the phone calls on the site too… it cracks me up! In thinking about this, my brain waves start to fire up. What if they… or someone… could develop this technology further to where a device, or a set of devices could monitor plant health details such as mineral/food /water, etc… and would be able to upload that information via Wifi to a website listing up to the minute stats on all selected plants. And then one could work to connect a watering/feeding system up to a Linux server. I could really get into that. Hrm… a good idea for a programming project. LOL. I can see it now… future jobs posted for Botanical Systems Administrators… “I need to update that cron job to water those plants more frequently this month…” Or, “I need to modify that Perl script to start adding minerals to the feeding process…”

Red Hat High 2007

I so wish that I were a kid in Raleigh, NC and could have gone to Red Hat High 2007. Red Hat is so incredible. What better than to have a bunch of kids hang out at the Red Hat headquarters and teach them about the benefits of Open Source software and let them use a live lab where they can be as creative as possible and have as much fun as they can without having to worry about licensing fees. Or in my case, back in the day… use (ahem)… cracked software and feel guilty about it. Of course, the price (or, the lack thereof) isn’t the only benefit to Open Source software… but that’s getting into another focused topic all together.

Update: New article posted of the week’s summary of events here: Red Hat High 2007 Update. Also, be sure to browse through all the great photos taken during the week here: Red Hat High 2007 Photos.

Special thanks to Bascha and Greg for commenting on my post! It’s truly an honor to get comments from real people at Red Hat! I’m not sure how either of you found my blog, but your comments really made my day!

Transmitting Data Via Human Bones

Link: Bones Could Allow Data Swaps Via Handshake

Conversation With an Atheist

After resolving a computer problem for someone at work who claims to be an atheist, I received the following complimentary message:
> “YAY BOB! YOU ARE A COMPUTER GOD!”
To which I humorously replied,
> “Hrm… So is this your way of telling me that you don’t believe in me?“
And she answered back,
> “TOUCHE, BOB!”

Trust Issues

I spent part of my afternoon down at Rembrandt’s reading The Art Of Deception by Kevin Mitnick. As I was reading, it was difficult not to overhear a conversation between two college-age girls next to me.

Apparently, one of them has been paying for psychological counseling and was told that she needed to “open up” and “learn to start trusting people.” What struck me as being so ironic was that I had just finished reading this: “In a perfect world we would implicitly trust others, confident that the people we encounter are going to be honest and trustworthy. But we do not live in a perfect world, and so we have to exercise a standard of vigilance to repel the deceptive efforts of our adversaries.“

Serenity: Perfect Liberation

TEACHER: “…With all the social and medical advancements we can bring to the independents, why would they fight so hard against us?”

RIVER: “We meddle… People don’t like to be meddled with. We tell them what to do, what to think, don’t run, don’t walk… We’re in their homes and in their heads and we haven’t the right. We’re meddlesome.”

This is taken from the beginning of one of the most incredible films I have ever seen, Serenity. The story basically takes place after the end of a massive Civil War where the Independents fought the totalitarian Alliance to be free from wretched governmental control. Unfortunately, the Independents (aka, The Brown Coats) lost the war, but they still continue to fight in small ways as they can. The concept is very reminiscent of America’s Civil War between the States. The story reveals a crew aboard a ship called Serenity. They find work by transporting cargo for pay, but along the way obtain a new passenger named River, who has been rescued by her brother, the ship’s doctor. They hide River from the Alliance, which seeks to get her back since she is a product of confidential government information. The crew also discovers critical data that if exposed, could radically change the Universe. I’d love to say more about this fantastic film, but it’s difficult to discuss much without giving anything away. The story has been written very well and features a great plot. It’s loaded with incredible character depth, excellent imagery, graphics, great action, and moments of humor. It’s also very unique and original in it’s approach and styling. It’s futuristic Science Fiction, much like Star Wars or Star Trek, but at times acts and looks a bit like a Western/Cowboy movie instead. The political aspects of this film lay right in line with other great films that seek out to warn us of impending statist and fascist threats brought on by the government and those in power. We must embrace our own personal freedom and fight to preserve it in hopes that everyone may be free to live as they see fit for themselves. Long live the Brown Coats!

I also highly recommend watching the TV series that provides the framework for this movie called, Firefly. More time is spent on the development of the characters, story, and philosophy behind Serenity.