social studies or class and cohort

Wanting to assess the quality of maternity care just after the war, a steering committee was established in Britain in 1946, headed by Doctor James Douglas, which took a snap-shot of all the births in that country during the first week of March—the front wave of the Baby Boom generation.
Although the original mission was to improve conditions for expectant mothers and infants, the researchers quickly realised in the days before computerised data-bases what a unique trove of demographic figures they had and expanded scope and have sustained the project and have continued to follow five-thousand of these Douglas Babies. While the subjects of the National Survey does not represent the longest running scientific studies—that honour probably belongs to the pitch-drop experiment or those eternal light bulbs, it is the most intimate and extensive research into lifelong social studies with constant contact among participants and cements a legacy of preventative measures and proactive health. Hearty birthday wishes and many happy returns go out to the thousands of Douglas Babies who’ve reached this milestone this week.

the ship of theseus or the trouble with tribbles

As visionary as Star Trek was and continues to be, I wonder if the creators could have guessed at the metaphysical implications of the teleporter, which was dreamed up as a cost-saving measure. The natural consequence of faster than light travel might be transporters, as replicators were to follow, but like the Ship of Theseus—which begs the question how much of a vessel can be replaced before it’s no longer the same or asking whether one can step in the same stream twice (or even once) beaming one’s molecules may not be as straightforward as other forms of telegraphy.
Courtesy Miss Cellania, here’s an interesting primer that explores these quandaries as well as feeling out the technological boundaries and hurdles. When one considers the unsettling fact that this hypothetical technology is probably less magic and more a process of disintegration and reintegration, Doctor McCoy’s grave reluctance to subject to having his atoms scrambled. If only information is relayed, regardless of how flawlessly, and not matter, is an individual still the same person—when moulded from the dander and detritus of one’s new location? What if there’s insufficient or the wrong type of stuff at the target site to remake a whole away-team? Our bodies are far from permanent fixtures and large portions of them are refreshed in short order, though we don’t feel transported for it. Would one die only to be resurrected an instant later in some other place? What about the soul? This is all very disorientating. A functioning transporter might be a factory-psychomanteum for the mechanised production of disembodied spirits. What do you think?

nostromo

Boing Boing directs our attention to the Nigerian graphic design student named Bolaiji Badejo who was cast as H R Giger’s aggressive Alien after being spotted in a public house in London by one of the film’s scouts. Visit Boing Boing for the full interview and more about this accidental actor, including a rather surreal screen test for director Ridley Scott, whose uncelebrated and one-off performance launched a franchise and left an iconic legacy.

33⅓

The brilliance that is Dangerous Minds invites us to indulge what has to be one of the most convoluted and esoteric 9/11 conspiracy theories out there, holding that the a cabal of the masonic orders used the album cover art of Supertramp’s 1979 release of “Breakfast in America” to reveal and prepare society for an engineered event that would take place twenty two years later.
Such “predictive programming” is the mainstay of the puppet-masters who’ll leave devious clues (that are only woefully apparent in hind-sight) to outline their forward-planning. Studying the cover, it becomes painfully obvious how the view from the airplane window with the mysterious reversal of the band’s name is to be a subliminal message—a nine and an eleven, and Libby the Waitress posing as the Statue of Liberty suddenly turns sinister. Check out the link above for more intriguing details and an addled entreaty from the original truth-seekers.

warp pipes

When I got stuck in Saint Louis during a blizzard years and years ago, I remember inquiring at one of the ticket counters where I might arrange a taxi ride into town to do some exploring until the inclement weather let up.
They discouraged me taking a taxi and told me to just take the “Rapid” or “Raptor” (not hearing properly) and pointed me to the terminal. I figured out this was a light rail metro quickly, but was not sure what to expect, perhaps that flying pterodactyl airliner that the Flintstones had. These delightful mass transit maps of American and Canadian cities by Dave Delisle re-imagined as the levels of Super Mario Brothers 2 reminded me of that introduction to Saint Louis (although being just a straight line from the airport and the suburbs into downtown, probably would not be conducive to the same treatment but who knows, perhaps Yoshi could shuttle visitors and commuters down that path).  Check out more maps at the link above, via Neatorama.

linnaean gardens

Though there a lot of bootstrap applications and gadgets that are quite clever ideas and things we would hope worked as advertised, I suspect there’s no small measure of magical-thinking bundled in with some of the magic wands in our quiver.
We’ve forgotten what “as seen on t.v.” or “sold in Europe for years” means nowadays. This one platform, featured on Mental Floss, however, shows promise to deliver: an application that helps budding botanists and landscapers identify a plant by taking a picture of its flowers or leaves. A consortium of French research institutions have put facial recognition algorithms to a more benign and beknighted use and even invites users to improve their results with feedback and further field work. One can find this free app and more information at the top link above.

snakes and ladders

In 1971, a company decided it might be a good idea to release a Monopoly-style board game knock-off called Beat the Border, reports Dangerous Minds. The objective of trafficking in the game was far less fraught with danger and intrigues—and less rewarding, although one’s friendly neighbourhood pusher was careful to put out the disclaimer that it was all in good fun and reinforce the message that drugs are bad and the “dope” peddled was left up to imagination—though handy conversion charts were included. In these times, rather than exploring one’s hidden fantasies of being the head of a Mexican drug cartel—which does not strike me as particularly wholesome family-fun for the 1970s, in the same rather vicious spirit, I detect “Run for the Border” to be a new gladiatorial reality television franchise for the presidential-pretender.

vertical monopoly or bad robot

As with the footage showing the reaction of a robotic dog’s encounter with a biological one, we tend to cheer for the underdog and focus on the abusive human obstacle.
What strikes me, however, with a tinge of anxiety is how the machine adapts to warehouse architecture and shows promise for acquiring a new skill faster than its creators could anticipate. While we look to distribution centres as employment boons for the communities that courted them with tax-breaks and other incentives, I think a lot of workers could quickly be made redundant with tireless, unwhinging sentries patrolling the corridors (or even redesigning them totally in more efficient configurations that we can’t understand) and filling orders. Many jurisdictions are counting on such job-security.  What do you think? No matter what one’s job is, I think the economic effects would creep upwards. Would a warehouse android be potentially as disruptive as having a fleet of driverless trucks for the livelihoods of families or are we being neo-luddites with our trepidation?