Operative B doesn’t have too many bad ideas, but this is a doozy. Don’t get Ghettoputer started on freedom of speech, and don’t get GorT going on the technical aspects of this. Actually, that’s probably why B wrote to the … Continue reading →
Nothing is random, you know. Not even randomness: computers are pretty good at generating random numbers, but in fact, the computer uses rules to generate random numbers. Once you understand how that works, you can get pretty good at detecting … Continue reading →
The Castle IT Department received this odd nutter last night: Your Imperial Majesty, Prince of DuPage, Emir of Eau Claire, Czar of Muscovy, Begging Your Cruelty’s pardon, but I’ve only recently noticed that Firefox displays the site’s contributor list as … Continue reading →
We tried a castle-mother for a few weeks…now it’s all Dat Ho GorT has been up to his eyeballs in a variety of things – mostly work and helping the family get back into the swing of school and fall … Continue reading →
Hold on to the handrails, folks, GorT is fired up. It’s been one of those weeks. You know the ones – craptastic service from Comcast at GorT’s place of business causing us to be without internet access for almost 2 … Continue reading →
Island Dweller writes in to clarify an earlier point he made: I was referring to the great Detroit riot of 1967, in which 43 people were shot dead, a few by the DPD; the rest of the shooters were fellow … Continue reading →
Borepatch put us onto this one, and it sounds like a bunch of hooey. According to something called (really) HotHardware.com, Verizon has developed a technology that, when put into a cable television receiver, can eavesdrop on your conversations while you … Continue reading →
Didja know that President Obama and Mitt Romney already had their first debate? Yes, it was a science debate, which candidates responded to in writing. The Czar heard the Mitt Romney thumped the President pretty hard, so he went to … Continue reading →
Seen this story from Gizmodo that the TSA is rolling out a secret new scanner that can completely detail everything about you from 164 feet away??!!!Eleven+y one111?? Not coming soon to every airport or street corner you can think of. … Continue reading →
If it all possible, protect your data by putting a physical lock on it and a little bit of loose chain as pictured. That keeps just about everybody out, unless they simply lift up the lock and move it to … Continue reading →
I came across this OpEd in the NYT this morning by David Brooks and it illustrates the current economic problems we’re facing pretty well. Brooks allocates two sides to the economic debate. The first he refers to as the cyclicalists … Continue reading →
If you can put up with annoying ads and popups, Forbes posted an article by Eric Jackson called “Here’s Why Google and Facebook Might Completely Disappear in the Next 5 Years.” Mr. Jackson’s premise is that companies like Google and … Continue reading →
Yesterday was another historic day in the demise of the American space program. The space shuttle Discovery was transported atop a modified 747 and flown from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida to the Washington, D.C. airspace finally landing at … Continue reading →
As a time-traveling robot, this demonstration of what one can do with HTML5 is very impressive. Give it a whirl. There are some really, really tiny things on the timeline that you won’t know they are there until it zooms … Continue reading →
Your Gormogons, being the global puppetmasters we are, like to give you the heads up on events or items of interest before they become interesting to the main-stream media or even much of the conservative blogosphere. Indeed The Czar likened … Continue reading →
This video is making the rounds on the hi-tech forums and sites. You’ve possibly seen it already. If not, the work these guys did is outstanding and amazing. GorT did a sciene fair project involving robotics (in essence) back in … Continue reading →
We’ve been a bit remiss talking about the big SOPA swirl over the last few days. So let me give you the short summary and then a bit more of a detailed explanation: Summary: Congressmen do stupid stuff. Always have … Continue reading →
Various media sites, blogs and news programs like to wrap up the year with some sort of top whatever lists of 2011. Usually it is a retrospective on the year and sometimes it is combined with a look forward into … Continue reading →
As you know, Dr. J. & Mrs. Dr. J. are the proud owners of new iPhone 4S’s. The Siri technology is a cool feature. Dr. J. had to run home before going to work this morning, on the way to … Continue reading →
It has been estimated that yesterday, the human population on Earth (we have a standing army of two million myrmidonstraining on the ice plains of Ganymede in preparation for Operation Globalwarmingzombiepocalypse, but never mind that) hit the seven billion mark. … Continue reading →
Let’s say you need heart surgery, typically what we do is put you on a heart/lung machine (aka cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB)) to keep the rest of you alive while we are operating. We then stop the heart by putting it … Continue reading →
Gentle readers, Dr. J. lost his iPhone last Thursday. Given that it was an AT&T iPhone 3G, it was old, slow and with spotty coverage, especially at work. New Atlantis Ivory Tower Medical Center has a deal with Sprint, anyway, … Continue reading →
The picture on the left is called a QR Code – short for a Quick Response code. You’ve probably started to see more and more of these around town. Largely as part of some advertising campaign – maybe in the … Continue reading →
This list barely scratches the surface: The Internet Spread spectrum wireless communications Digital photography GPS Forward-looking infrared Zodiac boats Night-vision cameras Telemedicine Velcro RADAR Heads-up displays Data encryption Nuclear reactors SONAR Flat panel displays Robotic prosthetics Indeed, this list is … Continue reading →
Keep in mind that this discussion will only get more complicated. Back in 2006, scientists were able to grow a bladder replacement with limited ability (nerve control and other details were still being worked). The bladder is a simple organ as far … Continue reading →
Over at Big Hollywood, there is a curious essay about the failure of Blu-Ray technology to make a profit when working with Hollywood’s classic films. Not really a surprise, though. When you watch an action-packed, many-things-at-once modern Hollywood film in … Continue reading →
I did notice that the “M” (Math) was missing in the PSA. I did find it interesting because Math is at the core of sciences, technology and engineering. Personally, I’ve seen an improvement in the math curriculum at my own … Continue reading →
ElJay, who must never be teased, touched, or messed with, wrote in to GorT and the Czar to say: Most vainglorious Gormogons (or words to that effect)! Remember back in ancient history (several years ago) when STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, … Continue reading →
The Czar is completely behind the message, but is a little bemused that we have an actress, who is not scientist or engineer, telling kids to become scientists and engineers, and using Iron Man, about a fictional engineer using non-existent … Continue reading →
Yes, it’s a pet interest to me so I’ll take a second and put this up: GorTGorT is an eight-foot-tall robot from the 51ˢᵗ Century who routinely time-travels to steal expensive technology from the future and return it to the … Continue reading →
I’ve mentioned this before and pointed out that while Apple is a very innovative company and does user interfaces really well, the closed nature of their business model is damaging to their success. Henry Blodget over at the Business Insider … Continue reading →
If you haven’t heard, current projections have the address space for internet addresses (version 4 – IPv4) being exhausted in the next year (current “X-day” as they’re calling it is January 20th, 2011). The IPv4 address format is 4 octets … Continue reading →
There are a few hot stories in the tech industry that I’d like to touch on today: First, Apple’s monster quarter. Apple did an amazing job – even during a period where consumers were more cautious in spending, they were … Continue reading →
Courtesy of Dr. J we have this report. Generally I think this is a bunch of speak-think from the White House. President Obama is putting plans in motion to give the Commerce Department authority to create an Internet ID for … Continue reading →
There is an article in the Tech section of the WaPo yesterday that points out that only 4-11% of the federal government allocated R&D funds are being applied towards individual agencies’ R&D efforts. This is yet another prime example of … Continue reading →
The Czar is not certain what the author’s actual point is, but it can’t be a good one. Wired’s David Axe is reporting on the remarkably interesting X-37B spaceplane, which the United States Air Force is currently testing. One of … Continue reading →
Background here. Thanks, Mike Russell. Confucius, Œc. Vol.Don’t ask impertinent questions like that jackass Adept Lu. www.gormogons.com
Continue reading →Operative GD writes in (quickly, but we know our loyal operatives wait with baited breath for the next missive from the Castle) with some observations about the intel business: I think another significant issue with our current intel effort is … Continue reading →
Prodded by this post from Friend of the Gormogons J.V. Last and this post on Gamma Squad, we feel it necessary to discuss the Antikythera* Device (pictured at right). “What’s the Antikythera Device,” you ask, “and will it keep the … Continue reading →
Instapundit links to this bit of University of Tennessee news. UT claims to have developed the fourth supercomputer (and first academic supercomputer) to break the petascale barrier. ‘Puer doesn’t know from technology, but GorT and the Mandarin assure ‘Puter this … Continue reading →
Extremely ineffectively. Confucius, Œc. Vol.Don’t ask impertinent questions like that jackass Adept Lu. www.gormogons.com
Continue reading →Here’s a photo of Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport this morning, which shows a small portion of the United Airlines fleet grounded until further notice. The cause? A computer system that handles operations is completely rampant, and systems are only now … Continue reading →
The Mandarin says it’s like trying to nail jello to a tree. One assumes he may have done such a thing. The Czar has not, but agrees in theory: the more the Iranian government tries to suppress access to the … Continue reading →
…activated! I’m assuming whole flotillas of white-clad naval officers are descending upon Champaign to talk to Dr. Fang about this technology. Hope he gets a big, fat royalty if this ends up being the Navy’s hull of the future. Confucius, … Continue reading →
Apparently using his magic crystal ball, Secretary of Energy, Steven Chu has decided that fuel-cell vehicles will not pan out in the next 10 to 20 years and will eliminate government funding for research programs in this field. At the … Continue reading →
Ok, ok, my fellow Gormogons have subtly prompted me to post something, anything related to Star Trek. So let’s start with this tidbit. Over on SPACE.com, there is this article reporting on some scientists’ belief that faster than light (FTL) … Continue reading →
Interesting reading here – if for no other reason than to have the word “stretchier” used. This has some promising uses like swinging from some unknown skyward structure as one glides down the main streets of your local metropolis. Spiderman…spiderman.. … Continue reading →
The Czar has argued here that Republicans, and Conservatives in general, should be the stauncher supporters of science and technology, rather than let the Democrats invent the internet and the Liberals lead the charge against Creationist nonsense. In short, promotion … Continue reading →
Maybe another reason why the contender from the GorT region should have won. This could really revolutionize all electronics and cars with the possibility of a 2nd industrial revolution. GorTGorT is an eight-foot-tall robot from the 51ˢᵗ Century who routinely … Continue reading →
Watch this video below now. First, he’s spot on. Second, he takes some nice shots at Congress, lawyers, etc. Third, he presents the case for innovation being key to our future in a much more eloquent and humorous way than … Continue reading →
So I sit here in my wife’s office (a few minutes down the road from our house) on New Years’ Eve as we are currently without power thanks to the high winds hitting our area. I would spend some time … Continue reading →
Two specific examples, then a general example, of the dehumanizing effects of anonymous technological interactions. First, morons egged on a teenager to kill himself as they watched via a webcam. Sadly, the teen succeeded. Second, a woman, her assistant and … Continue reading →
He’s a smart guy regardless of how polarizing he may be. He was able to get things done in Congress back with the “Contract for America”. In fact, it may be the last time a Congress was actually effective. A … Continue reading →
