It struck me as an odd coincidence that I would be addressing the same subject about driverless cars with a co-worker on the way into work this morning—first commiserating how the lanes and the concept of right-of-way kind of get tossed aside when people are in a rush, and then moving on to the feasibility of self-driving automobiles and the question of fault for misjudgment and malfunction.
Wednesday 18 March 2015
bell-hop or pole-position
catagories: ๐ฅธ, technology and innovation, transportation
shareholder value
Around a year and a half ago, while strolling through Frankfurt’s old warehouse district, I had the chance to see the new headquarters of the European Central Bank under-construction. Just now, regaled with protests to mark the occasion, the fancy and sleek building saw its grand-opening—or rather its christening, baptism with due remonstration since it’s not really an inviting place for the rabble—although I quite liked the old HQ, though I suppose it was too humble and retiring for this flag-ship role. Though the core thrust behind the Occupy and Blockupy movements is unchanged, it’s rather thought-provoking how the message has become more focused, not only targeting monumental disparities in wealth and opportunity but more specifically how this and other institutions have straitening outlays of austerity—which can translate into even greater, generational handicaps.
catagories: ๐ฉ๐ช, ๐ช๐บ, Hessen, labour, revolution
Tuesday 17 March 2015
five-by-five
swag: a gallery of uniquely-crafted cases for one’s cellular phone
aptitude: prospective employees of Thomas Edison were subjected to a grueling battery of questions
charlie magnetico: Jim Henson created cyborg muppets to lead seminars for Bell Telephone Systems
the dream sequence always rings twice: an unsettling short film where the protagonist is the subject of everyone’s nightmare
catagories: ๐ก, ๐, ๐ง , antiques, philosophy
mondknoten und nutation
Europe will be treated to a partial solar eclipse on Friday, 20 March, which is also the Spring Equinox—with some lucky souls on Svalbard and the Faroe Islands losing daylight to the Moon’s shadow completely.
Weather permitting, for one in the western part of Germany, the event will start at 09:24 (earlier for those more westerly and later for those more easterly), reaching totality at (some 80% in Germany and France) at 10:32 before going on the wane for the next hour. Researchers in Germany are interested, among other things, in observing the dip in photovoltaic power production. The southern hemisphere will be treated to a similar spectacle in September of this year.
catagories: ๐ฉ๐ช, ๐ณ๐ด, ๐, ๐, ๐ญ, environment, holidays and observances