Today it is difficult to believe that around the turn of the 20th century people in our government were considering doing away with the patent office because "Everything that could be invented has already been invented".
That was a silly supposition. Since then even an avid reader finds it impossible to keep up with what's being invented in all areas of our culture. The daily newspaper doesn't even cover much that is newsworthy. Let's look at just a few intriguing items as examples.
FASHION STATEMENT: Elizabeth Esponnette, an assistant professor of product design at the University of Oregon, has made a jacket out of sprouted chia seeds and muslin, a filmy gown from hot glue and water and a cocktail dress composed of alum salt crystals, which actually grew into form. In explanation she stated, "By calling on nature, and making clothing that will biodegrade and become something else, I'm trying to allude to the need for a circular process in manufacturing, instead of a linear process that ends with things being thrown out."
She envisions a completely different world where clothing could be made to order on a 3-D printer building items straight from yarn, with no waste. She has proved the technology works, even though she has no products yet. Further, she is working with 3-D printers to come up with ways that a person's bodily measurements could be transferred directly to the printer, ensuring excellent fit and no-seams strength.
(Story courtesy of Oregon Quarterly, winter 2016 issue, written by Rosemary Howe Camozzi.)
FUTURE NEIGHBORHOODS: Residents of the soon-to-be ReGen Village in Amsterdam's outskirts will live in a self-sufficiency closed-loop system, meeting most of its needs, like energy, food and waste management - from within. It will include glass greenhouses for growing its own food, for instance. The project mastermind is California developer James Ehrlich.
When Copenhagen entrepreneur Kim Loudrup couldn't find affordable student housing for his son, he (along with Danish architect Bjarke Ingels) built a 15-apartment complex on a floating base in the harbor, made from modular shipping containers. They rent for $600 each.
One of New York City's most popular parks has been built on an abandoned elevated train track. Now James Ramsey and Dan Barasch are spearheading a project to build a $10 million, 60,000 square foot, plant-packed public park 20 feet below the city's traffic-clogged streets. Aluminum and glass super conductors will harness and redirect sunlight to a distribution point via fibre-optic cables, then a "solar canopy" of aluminum panels will distributes the sun's rays.
(Stories in Fast Company Magazine, Feb. 2017.)
HOMELIKE HOSPITALITY: Innovations can be quite simple, like Airbnb. Brian Chesky took the idea that people would like to stay in private homes during their travels in foreign countries and those homeowners would like the money this would bring them. The company, in ten years, has more than 2 million listings and a valuation of $25.5 billion, making it the largest "hotel" chain in the world. Airbnb collects 15% from every booking from guests and hosts. Chesky is 35 years old and reportedly worth over $3 billion!
PATENTED MOUSE: The oncomouse made both scientific and legal history when it became the first transgenic mammal to be granted a U.S. patent. It helps meet a need for animal models to study cancer - how it forms and spreads in living tissue - in intact organisms rather than cell lines in petri dishes. Patent #
CROWD CAPITALISM: Inventors and innovators since 2009 have had a huge advantage over those in earlier generations: crowd funding. That's where an idea for a product or business is floated by an online crowdfunding app and people who are interested in seeing it realized, and perhaps sharing hoped-for largesse, contribute funds. Early apps included Indiegogo, Kickstarter, Rockethub and Quirky.
Saturday, July 29, 2017
R. Loeffelbeinn's Whatachma Column: "Debunking Triskaidekaphobia"
Virgilius Ferm, in a little book titled 'A Brief Dictionary of American Superstitions" published way back in 1965, took it upon himself to debunk a raft of superstitions and "old wives tales" that had been in the American culture for years.
Probably the most widely spread superstition concerned Friday the 13th, as a sure day for misfortune. People would refrain from undertaking anything of importance, even businesses would postpone concluding deals, others would be suspicious of foods, especially in restaurants, and brides would avoid it as a wedding day.
Ferm reports that a group met on a Friday the 13th sometime around 1946 in a mortuary and, in the spirit of fun, sat around an open coffin upon which stood 13 candles, the purpose being to evidence disregard for the superstition surrounding that specific recurring date.
A later report, on Friday, June 13, 1958, reported that 100 men, and their guests, met in the Chicago Athletic Club to actively defy superstitions associated with Friday the 13ths.The Chicago Daily Tribune duly reported next day that, under the leadership of Ben Regan, the Anti-Superstition Society, composed of "aldermen, judges and leaders of the business and industrial community", including 13 vice-presidents, defied bad luck spells by breaking mirrors, walking under ladders, opening umbrellas inside and fondling black cats.
Actually, the black cat crossing one's path bringing bad luck is only half of that superstition. The second part seems to have been lost, bit it originally stated, "Having a strange black cat make its home with one brings GOOD luck!"
Fridays, in general, have not fared well in the arena of superstition. At one time the day brides selected for their weddings were listed in this order: "Monday for wealth, Tuesday for health, Wednesday the best day of all, Thursday for crosses, FRIDAY FOR LOSSES, and Saturday no luck at all."
There even existed a listing of best days to cut one's fingernails, and Friday was listed under "Cut them with woe".
Likewise, the superstition in northern Wisconsin at one time foretold disaster for anyone starting a new task or starting a journey on a Friday.
And, of course, woe to anyone born on Friday the 13th!
Probably the most widely spread superstition concerned Friday the 13th, as a sure day for misfortune. People would refrain from undertaking anything of importance, even businesses would postpone concluding deals, others would be suspicious of foods, especially in restaurants, and brides would avoid it as a wedding day.
Ferm reports that a group met on a Friday the 13th sometime around 1946 in a mortuary and, in the spirit of fun, sat around an open coffin upon which stood 13 candles, the purpose being to evidence disregard for the superstition surrounding that specific recurring date.
A later report, on Friday, June 13, 1958, reported that 100 men, and their guests, met in the Chicago Athletic Club to actively defy superstitions associated with Friday the 13ths.The Chicago Daily Tribune duly reported next day that, under the leadership of Ben Regan, the Anti-Superstition Society, composed of "aldermen, judges and leaders of the business and industrial community", including 13 vice-presidents, defied bad luck spells by breaking mirrors, walking under ladders, opening umbrellas inside and fondling black cats.
Actually, the black cat crossing one's path bringing bad luck is only half of that superstition. The second part seems to have been lost, bit it originally stated, "Having a strange black cat make its home with one brings GOOD luck!"
Fridays, in general, have not fared well in the arena of superstition. At one time the day brides selected for their weddings were listed in this order: "Monday for wealth, Tuesday for health, Wednesday the best day of all, Thursday for crosses, FRIDAY FOR LOSSES, and Saturday no luck at all."
There even existed a listing of best days to cut one's fingernails, and Friday was listed under "Cut them with woe".
Likewise, the superstition in northern Wisconsin at one time foretold disaster for anyone starting a new task or starting a journey on a Friday.
And, of course, woe to anyone born on Friday the 13th!
Friday, July 14, 2017
R. Loeffelbein's WHATCHAMA COLUMN: "Surprising What You Can Find Exploring the Web!
Did you know Google processes more than 100 billion search requests worldwide each month, including queries on PCs? And that was a news tidbit from the Associated Press news bureau May 2015, so I don't know what it might be by now.
Another newsy item, from the Daily Mail, reports on a survey of technology consumption in 30 nations. The average viewer, it is reported, spends six hours and 50 minutes a day in front of various devices like smartphones, tablets, TVs and PC monitors. The ten countries with the most consumption are Indonesia, at 9 hours viewing per day, followed by the Philippines, China, Brazil, Vietnam, United States (sixth place at 7.4 hours), Nigeria, Colombia, Thailand and Saudi Arabia.
Personally, I love the surprises I find when I take a few idle moments to search out unusual web sites I hear or read about. Here are some for-instances I thought might also intrigue you readers that I've checked out lately:
Feetz, the first company to offer customized, fully 3-D printed shoes for everyday wear, is set to start selling early next year. According to innovator Lucy Beard the company app will translate photos of customers' feet into virtual 3-D fits. Users then select color and style from among five offerings. Cost? Between $200 and $300 per pair.
These I won't explain. I'll just let you look them up for yourself: 1) Heartless Bitches International (at heartlessbitches.com), 2) The Institute of Official Cheer (at lileks.com/institutel) and The Official Ninja Webpage: Real Ultimate Power (at realultimatepower.net).
Want to organize a village of your own? The Village to Village Network offers guidance at vtvnetwork.org).
If you fear "jumping" tarantulas or "venomous" daddy longlegs spiders, put those myths behind you and upgrade your knowledge by visiting Washington.edu/burkemuseum/spidermyths/index.html.
If a site dedicated to artistic photography of drops, splashes and other liquid action interests you look up http:/www. liquid sculpture.com/index.htm. It even includes a segment titled "Pournography".
The Annals of Improbable Research (www.improbable.com) each year includes staff-selected IgNobel Prizes for those scientists who seem to have plumbed innocuous, or worse, projects.
Which brings us to some of the sites that may be even more useless, like 1) www.manhole.cu/index.php (the history and pictures of manhole covers of the world), 2) Things My Girlfriend and I Have Argued About (homepage.ntlworld.com/mil.millington/things.html) and the strangest site of all at yil.com/strange.
Another newsy item, from the Daily Mail, reports on a survey of technology consumption in 30 nations. The average viewer, it is reported, spends six hours and 50 minutes a day in front of various devices like smartphones, tablets, TVs and PC monitors. The ten countries with the most consumption are Indonesia, at 9 hours viewing per day, followed by the Philippines, China, Brazil, Vietnam, United States (sixth place at 7.4 hours), Nigeria, Colombia, Thailand and Saudi Arabia.
Personally, I love the surprises I find when I take a few idle moments to search out unusual web sites I hear or read about. Here are some for-instances I thought might also intrigue you readers that I've checked out lately:
Feetz, the first company to offer customized, fully 3-D printed shoes for everyday wear, is set to start selling early next year. According to innovator Lucy Beard the company app will translate photos of customers' feet into virtual 3-D fits. Users then select color and style from among five offerings. Cost? Between $200 and $300 per pair.
These I won't explain. I'll just let you look them up for yourself: 1) Heartless Bitches International (at heartlessbitches.com), 2) The Institute of Official Cheer (at lileks.com/institutel) and The Official Ninja Webpage: Real Ultimate Power (at realultimatepower.net).
Want to organize a village of your own? The Village to Village Network offers guidance at vtvnetwork.org).
If you fear "jumping" tarantulas or "venomous" daddy longlegs spiders, put those myths behind you and upgrade your knowledge by visiting Washington.edu/burkemuseum/spidermyths/index.html.
If a site dedicated to artistic photography of drops, splashes and other liquid action interests you look up http:/www. liquid sculpture.com/index.htm. It even includes a segment titled "Pournography".
The Annals of Improbable Research (www.improbable.com) each year includes staff-selected IgNobel Prizes for those scientists who seem to have plumbed innocuous, or worse, projects.
Which brings us to some of the sites that may be even more useless, like 1) www.manhole.cu/index.php (the history and pictures of manhole covers of the world), 2) Things My Girlfriend and I Have Argued About (homepage.ntlworld.com/mil.millington/things.html) and the strangest site of all at yil.com/strange.
R. Loeffelbein's Whatchama Column: "Best Jokes I've Heard This Month"
I really can't explain why I selected these particular five from the many I've heard recently, but each one brings a smile to my face every time I read it. Maybe it's because each has a tie-in to actuality in my life. Anyhow, judge them for yourself.
(My sister and I have never gotten along. That's probably why I liked this one. I'll play her third husband in this story.)
Satan appeared during church service where I was attending and everyone started screaming and running for the exits, trampling each other in their haste to vacate the premises. When everyone was gone I alone remained, gazing speculatively at the gate crasher.
Satan made a surprised face and floated across the room to stand menacingly over me. "Don't you know who I am?" he demanded in his windows-shaking voice.
"Sure do," I admitted.
"And you aren't afraid of me," he asked, obviously not understanding this first for him.
"You forget, I've been married to your sister for ten years," I reminded him.
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(When I read this one it brought back slapstick visions of the broom "the sorcerer's apprentice" put a spell on in the Mickey Mouse film so-titled. You have to have seen it to really appreciate this joke.)
Two unacquainted brooms being worked in unison to clean up a large spill in a restaurant look appraisingly at each other and one says, " We do good work. Why don't we get married and go into business for ourselves?"
They agree, but at the marriage ceremony the bride broom says to the groom broom, "I think I'm going to have a whisk!"
The groom broom, in askance, asks, "How can that be? We haven't even swept together yet."
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(Anyone who has traveled in New Mexico, or any other state where Indian reservations are prominent along the roadways, will understand this one, especially if you are an Easterner who still thinks the West is wild and wooly.)
Back home in an Eastern city this person was relating his harrowing vacation experience in the wild, wild West.to a neighbor. "There were Indians to the right of me, Indians to the left, and all closing in on me. I couldn't get away. It was terrible."
"So what did you do to escape? asks the enthralled neighbor.
"What else could I do? I bought a blanket."
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(I've always loved and kept dogs; my sister has always had a cat or two. I've never understood what she sees in cats. So this is an odd story for me to be telling, I guess. But it still tickles my fancy.)
This man hated his wife's cat, so, fed up with it, one day, he drove it to a large park and left it there. When he returned home, however, the cat walked up the driveway to greet him.
The next day he drove the cat to another town a few miles distant and again sped away without it. Arriving home, though, he found the cat asleep in his easy chair.
In exasperation, he drove the cat 20 miles, down some barely perceptible roadways, over a mountain, into a valley with a thick brush and tree cover and dumped the cat again.
Hours later his wife answered his phone call.
"Is your cat there?" he asked.
"Yes. Why?" she wanted to know.
"I'm lost. And I need the cat to give me directions home!"
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(With the advent of summer and mass college graduations a whole new flock of young people have started looking for jobs. Their expectations often aren't realized. There is even humor in that.)
The human resources officer, reaching the end of a job interview with a young "engineer", queries the young graduate: "And what starting salary are you looking for?"
"In the region of $125,000 a year, depending on the benefits package," the young man replies.
"Well, what would you say to a package of five weeks vacation, 14 paid holidays, full dental and medical, company matching retirement fund to 50% of salary, and a company car leased every two years, say a red Corvette?" was his surprising rejoinder.
With wide eyes and a big smile, the young would-be engineer exclaims, "Wow! Are you kidding?"
To which the interviewer replies, "Of course. But you started it."\
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