To Sleep, Perchance to Sleep

Much though I love living in the Old Port in Montreal, there are times when I really could do with being elsewhere. Last night was a classic example, as are most weekend nights in summer. The bar down the road had some loud bass music going till 3am, combined with drunken folk wandering outside to have a cigarette or head home Generally while shouting at their friends at what they think is a reasonable volume. This with eardrums happily ignorant of the true quiet they are disturbing due to aforementioned loud bass. The old port streets are narrow, surrounded by tall buildings and no trees – so noise travels a long way and echoes – possibly even amplifies. You can probably imagine the range of noises this projects.

I’ve come to expect not getting to sleep till 4am on weekends now, this normally being the time that the last of the drunken revelers happily shout themselves home or to their cars with much slamming of doors. Last week it was members of one of the under-21 football teams celebrating their victory with an impromptu game of footie on the street. Normally at 4am I can finally sink into a few blissful hours of sleep. I say ‘few’ as this morning my brief downtime was bookended by some bright sparks from the road works department digging up the road at 8am. On a frikkin’ Saturday! I think the mentality is; well we have to be up early on a Saturday, so let’s share the love. Argh!

So now it’s 10am. The drilling has stopped – all work finished (so surely they could have waited a few hours?) – but I’m wide awake and the tourists are now here enjoying the over-priced coach rides and blocking cars with loudly pumping bass coming from their open windows.

Ah, summer.

The Heroes’ Symbol

Before I left New York I got into Heroes, a new series about super-powers evolving and how it affects peoples’ lives. The conclusion was expertly driven from episode to episode, building to an emotional crescendo that while fantastic, was very believable.

Having only caught the last half of the series I’m currently catching up with the way it starts, which is filling in a pile of blanks. While watching an early episode that shows a DNA sequence on the screen I noticed a weird symbol built into the text (see image above). This was pretty subtle, but it turns out to be a repeating image across most of the show’s episodes.

I love stuff like this – it makes you pay extra attention to ensure you see all the subtle detail you might otherwise miss, and makes you feel like the series’ world is more substantial. Good job Kring & team.

Infinite Energy Eternally Delayed?

The Kinetica Museum, slated to be the site of the first demonstration of the Orbo perpetual energy device from Steorn, has now announced that the opening of this exhibit has been “postponed until further notice”...

Not only has Steorn failed to get their alleged invention working in the real world, but Kinetica themselves are now staying closed until this exhibition is working. Could be a long wait, and makes me feel that Kinetica has no viability as an entity outside of Steorn’s marketing.

The current full noticed from Kinetica’s site follows:

“KINETICA OPENING DELAYED: Due to technical difficulties the planned demonstration of Steorn’s ‘Orbo’ free energy technology has been postponed until further notice. As a consequence, Kinetica Museum will not be open to the public during this period. A technical assessment is currently underway and information regarding the rescheduling of this demonstration will be posted on the websites of Steorn and Kinetica as soon as it becomes available. We apologise for this delay and appreciate your patience.”

Apple’s Evolution

Edwin Tofslie has put together an amazing graphic depicting the evolution of Apple computers from their first desktop, literally made out of an old school desk it appears, to the iPhone. Very cool indeed, and a trip down memory lane as although I’ve been going on about my current defection to being a Mac user, it’s not the first time I’ve used Apple products...

My first exposure to Macs was with the Apple II, with its classic block graphics. A friend of mine had one on which we used to play text based adventure games. Then at school our forward thinking computer teacher, Mr Michael Bawtree – writer of The Student’s Calculator Book, fitted our computer room out with a selection of Macintosh Pluses, alongside the traditional BBC Micros. The Macs were generally used by the more literate students to publish their respective fanzines, and it was my first exposure to DTP (Desktop Publishing) which I would continue on my Atari ST at home.

At University we tended to use bog standard grey PCs, installed with Fortran and other Physics simulation related software. Then later during my MSc we had access to more advanced PCs with UNIX terminals to carry out more advanced C++ coding – not a Mac in sight. That was until I started work at Quidnunc in 1996, where Macs were quite common – we had a PowerBook 500, Newton and some LCs floating around from the early days when the original Quidnunc programmed the first Mac Email for Microsoft. Later, as we expanded our in house graphics capabilities, the more visually orientated employees used a mix of PowerBook G3s and PowerMac G3s for their desktops. Ah, the memories.

7/7/7 – the next door neighbour of the beast

Happy 7th July ’07 everyone! I’m a big fan of 7 related randomness, as it is part of my favourite number, but not so much as some folks who believe that getting married today is especially fortuitous.

In other daily news – the Live Earth concerts have already kicked off in Sydney, where it’s been Saturday for so long it’s almost Sunday already. These concerts, instigated by Al Gore (he who should have been President), will happen around the world until the end of the day. Exciting news for the environment everywhere.

Oh, and it’s also the 100th anniversary of Robert A Heinlein’s birth.

Orbo Free Energy Demo – Not Yet Working…

Today at the Kinetica Museum in London, Steorn are supposed to be demonstrating their new Orbo technology – a technology they claim offers free energy, or perpetual motion as it’s also known. As of now, July 5th 3pm BST, the demo is not working – with the following explanation:

“We are experiencing some technical difficulties with the demo unit in London. Our initial assessment indicates that this is probably due to the intense heat from the camera lighting. We have commenced a technical assessment and will provide an update later today. As a consequence, Kinetica will not be open to the public today (5th July). We apologise for this delay and appreciate your patience.”

Hmm.. Note the use of the word ‘assessment’ twice – is this th pseudo-scientific equivalent of multiple exclamation marks???

Yes, as someone with a Physics degree and aware of the laws of energy conservation & entropy, I’m highly sceptical of free energy – highly efficient maybe, free no. That said I’d love to be proved wrong, as would many people, and I suspect that’s why Steorn has so much hype.

[UPDATE: It’s now Saturday 7th July, and the opening of the Orbo ‘demonstration’ has been delayed indefinitely pending further investiations. Going directly to Orbo’s site gives a “Virtual Folder Unavailable” error, and Kinetica themselves have delayed their opening. Hmm. The plot thickens.]