It's Pronounced MEEM-PUNKS

This marks the official 100th post here at Memepunks! A few months ago this site was little more than one person's hesitant attempt to give blogging another try. And now the Memepunks adhocracy is charging headlong into the future. We've exceeded our expectations by leaps and bounds. That can happen when you set up shop on a little place called The Internet.

Our post on the space elevator grabbed the attention of the amazing folks at Liftport. We started people talking all over the Internet with our coverage of America's war on science. And our post on the possibility of a Google AI spread like wildfire, making the top spot on Reddit. It was linked to by author, and Boing Boing band manager Jon Battelle's Search Blog. Former Harvard Business Review executive editor and Rough Type creator Nicholas Carr even jumped into the fray. Tens of thousands of you stopped by to see what all the fuss was about. Many of you have stayed around for the duration. "Memepunks", a non existent word 4 months ago, now gets 30,500 hits on Google.

To our fans, commenters, and anyone that has taken the time to read one of our posts. Thank you, thank you all, from the bottom of our hearts. Memepunks isn't just us, it's you too. We would also like to thank all of those who contributed above and beyond the call of duty. Most especially B, who has warmed into being a full time contributor, editor, webmaster and member of the ad-hoc. Couldn't have done it without you bro... not by half. We would also like to thank (in no particular order) MJL, Don, Gynkoba, Micker, Minister, Cory, TheMadElf, Shadowhawck, Marty and the BBC, Scathatch and the crew at AVcorp, Smokey and the CSS master, KC and Natalie, Jonathan, Rook and family, Brent, Stella, Vince, and all the rest of our friends and families. If we forgot anyone, rather than apologize to you, just gmail us or comment. We'll try our hand at revisionist history and add you to the list.

Now, what's in store for the future? The proposed redesign of the site is still going strong and is only about a month behind schedule. We have a couple of extraordinary media events coming up, which we will announce soon. We are welcoming a guest blogger, who will bring an eye for trends, an ear for music, and matching X chromosomes to the mix. Look for MJL's inaugural post shortly. Memepunks will be attending the annual meetings of the Cryonics Institute and the Immortalist Society next month. And We'll be establishing a presence in Second Life, so we can start reporting on all the great things that go on there. Memepunks will also be revisiting some previous posts to see how some of these big future filled projects are progressing.

Look for more reviews of books, movies and music on the horizon. And of course we'll be putting up a torrent of posts on biotech, robots, web 2.0, space travel, nanotech, computers, AI, the IP wars, the Google revolution, cutting edge science, paradigm shifts and Internet weirdness. All in all, not a bad first 100 for a couple of computer techs from the suburbs of Detroit. Thank you again for making the first 100 possible. And here is to 1000 more! Onward and Upward.


“All this will not be finished in the first hundred days. Nor will it be finished in the first thousand days, nor in the life of this administration, nor even perhaps in our lifetime on this planet. But let us begin.” - John Fitzgerald Kennedy

Movie Review Snakes on a Plane

As if you didn't know, the most highly anticipated movie of the summer made its debut last weekend. Of course I'm talking about Hollywood blockbuster Snakes on a Plane! You wont find any shakespearean soliloquies or Oscar worthy material on board this 747. What you will find is a legion of deadly poisonous snakes. Originaly, Snakes on a Plane was off to a rocky start. With a so/so script, and a wishy washy studio going back and forth on changing the title to something "less campy" and more respectable, Snakes had the makings of a cinematic tour de turds. But it turns out this mid-budget fright fest had two power houses in it's corner. Samuel L. Jackson and the Internet.

When the studio big-wigs renamed the film Pacific Air Flight 121, Samuel L Jackson had some things to say about that. Namely... "Nobody wants to see Pacific Flight 121. That's like saying 'Boat To Heaven.' Bullshit! C'mon! People know what they want to see. People either want to see this movie, or they don't. So let 'em know, if you're coming to see this movie, you're going to see a plane full of deadly-ass snakes. That's what it should be called: Deadly Ass Snakes on a Plane" On March second, the studio caved, and thankfully returned the film title to it's former glory. Sam also wanted them to film the movie with an R rating in mind, rather than the watered down PG-13.

But the real driving force behind Snakes on a Plane arriving in it's final form at the box office was the mighty world wide web. Second only to Sam Jackson in it's ability to kick ass and take names, the Internet adopted Snakes on a Plane as its own long before it was a finished film. It started innocently enough a year ago with a single post by indy blogger Josh Friedman on his blog "I find your lack of faith disturbing". News of Snakes on a Plane quickly saturated the web. There were fake movie posters, Music Videos, movie contests, T-shirts, poster parodies, clips and comedy routines. And of course, millions upon millions of iterations of a made up line of dialog from the movie where Sam Jackson's character angrily refers to "motherfucking snakes on this motherfucking plane!" There were even rocky horror style movie participation groups passing a script around the web months before the movie was scheduled to open.

The Internet buzz eventually went mainstream, with appearances on the Daily Show and the Colbert Report among other places. Better late than never, the studio caught on. They went back and re shot five days worth of footage, cranking up the movie to an R rating to appeal to the growing online fan base. They also made sure to include Samuel L Jackson's "motherfucking snakes" line. They jumped onto the viral marketing bandwagon as well, organizing online fan contests, and adding a way to get personalized calls from SLJ himself to your friends via the web. So what did all of this do for the movie itself? What did we end up with when the house lights went down and the projector started rolling? We ended up with Snakes on a Plane.

Jackson is as bad a motherfucker as ever. Sam delivers his lines as only he can, and almost makes wading into a horde of poisonous snakes with only a tazer and an attitude believable. He stars as FBI agent Neville Flynn. He and his partner Agent sanders, played by Hong Kong veteran Mark Houghton, find them selves escorting a young extreme sportsman turned murder witness from Hawai'i to Los Angles to testify against a ruthless Asian mobster. The RedBull drinking, Kawasaki riding, surfer witness is portrayed aptly enough by Wolf Creek Alumni Nathan Phillips. Terry Chen swings for the fences as the villainous Chen Leong without chewing the scenery. ER's Julliana Margulies plays lead flight attendant and heroine Clair Miller.

The premise of the film is simple. To kill the witness on his way to testify, mob boss Chen arranges to have 400 deadly snakes unleashed on the plane. This is were the movie happily goes right over the top. Take a host of stereotypical passengers; a richdebutante with a dog in her purse, a stuck up brit CEO, an effeminate male flight attendant, an Asian kickboxer, a dirty minded co-pilot, a rap star complete with entourage, a pair of young children traveling alone for the first time, a mother with her new baby, a young couple in love. Then instantly add hundreds of slithering, biting, "deadly ass",poisonous snakes. That's when the fun begins. The violence comes at you fast and furious and much of it catches you by surprise. And it's not just snakes that kill people, the general chaos that ensues also results in a slew of fatalities.

Some shots of the snakes are arguably real animals. But most of the violent snake attacks come from computer generated reptiles. It doesn't quite mesh with the real backdrop and human actors, but it's close. More along the lines of Alone in the Dark than Jurrasic Park's raptors or WETA's Balrog. There are scenes shot from the snakes POV, in green hazy Snake-O-Vision. Which brings back fond memories of Predator and Wolfen. The survivors fight a losing battle against the rampaging snakes that puts the passengers of Tail Sting to shame. They use broken bottle spears, home made flame throwers, tazers, and everything else on the plane to repel the ophidian invaders. The movie just keeps building, at one point even introducing a 30 foot long man eating anaconda!

As the movie goes on, you do start to feel for some of the characters, even in this completely unbelievable situation. And Snakes goes out of its way to break the molds of the various stereo types it establishes at thebeginning. Away from the plane, we have a stalwart FBI administrator and a snake expert coordinating things on the ground. I wont give away scenes or reveal too much of how the movie closes. But suffice it to say, I got my popcorn chewing moneys worth. And to quote Josh, "What else do you need to know? How the snakes get on the plane, what the snakes do once they're on the plane, who puts the snakes on the plane, who is trying to get the snakes off the plane...This is not for you to ponder. There are snakes on the plane. End of fucking story."

Was Snakes on a Plane a success? With a budget of only 36 million, Snakes made almost half of that in it's opening weekend. Beating out Talladega nights as the top movie of the weekend. And although the studio calls the numbersdisappointing, wait until the DVD comes out.
Wired already appointed SoaP the Best Worst Movie of the Year. And Sam Jackson has gone on record, perhaps sarcastically, stating that Snakes will win MTV's Best Movie award.

But Snakes on a Plane isn't just a movie anymore, it's also a meme. And I give them both Four Motherfucking Memestars.

Robot Update 014

The pinnacle of many a technology is to be seamlessly integrated into our lives. Cellphones, ATM cards, automobiles, remote controls, etc... We don't really marvel at them any more, it's just the way things are. In order for new technologies to pervade our way of life, they either need a new infrastructure built to support them, or they must be able to thrive wholly within the existing one. This is why many roboticists and engineers have been chasing the grail of the humanoid robot. In theory, a robot with two arms and two legs can go anywhere we can; our offices, our homes, our schools, and our market places. A robot that shares our dimensions can use our doors, travel along our sidewalks, and share our public spaces.

But thus far, humanoid robots have been underachievers. Although they are near miracles of coordination and technology, they are inevitably slow, awkward and expensive. Even the most out of shape human can literally run circles around our most agile high tech humanoid robot. There is another approach now being studied that may allow for societally integrated robots, while the humanoids are still finding their stride. It's called Ballbot, and it is today's robot.

Ballbot is the fruit of the labors of Carnegie Mellon's Robotics Institute. Lead by Professor Ralph Hollis, the engineering team developed a robot that stands and travels by balancing itself on a single steel sphere. The robot was built to human dimensions, tall and thin by robot standards. It's 1.5 meters tall (four foot nine), is 400mm in diameter (16 inches), and ways 45 Kilograms (just under 100 pounds). Ballbot works on a principle similar to the old track balls and ball computer mice, but in reverse. Rollers powered by a drive motor spin against the single steel drive ball, and act to keep Ballbot upright and propel it in any direction, without the need to turn or corner.

The robot is basically a cylinder that consists of three aluminum channels that hold up a series of circular shelves, like a book shelf or layer cake. Each shelf contains a different component. One houses Ballbot's 200MHz Pentium brain and 802.11b Wifi link. Another holds the 48V lead acid battery that gives Ballbot a few hours of operating time. About halfway up the robot sits the IMU, an Inertial Measuring Unit that emulates a vertical gyroscope and provides Ballbot with his remarkable sense of balance and high center of gravity. Three "leg" pylons deploy when Ballbot is without power, preventing it from falling over in the event of a malfunction.

Due to Ballbots layered and modular construction, it can be reconfigured and modified without requiring a redesign. This also makes Ballbot inexpensive to build and maintain, another trick the humanoid robots have yet to master. The next incarnation of Ballbot will see the addition of a head with a variety of sensors, and a pair of articulated arms to the chassis. This will increase Ballbots ability to stay balanced, and also ad a whole new level of functionality to the Ballbot framework. In a combination of simplicity and genius, Professor Hollis and his team have created a machine that can travel effortlessly in spaces made specifically for humans, and do so without unnecessary complication or expense.

Professor Hollis has been building and designing robots since before robotics was even a recognized field of study. Have a look at the Microdynamics Physics Laboratory project page for the Ballbot to find additional information that the team has provided. This includes addition hi-rez pictures, white papers, and a couple of neat videos of Ballbot in action. Still there are miles to go before Professor Hollis and his team can sleep. "We want to make Ballbot much faster, more dynamic and graceful," he said. "But there are many hurdles to overcome, like responding to unplanned contact with its surroundings, planning motion in cluttered spaces and safety issues."

So before we finish, lets get the Dalek jokes out of the way. Certainly even the best designed robot which balances on a single sphere will be incapable of navigating stairs. This is something that true integration into our living and working spaces will require. But with the minor addition of more ramps and elevators in everyday locations, the world could easily accept a host of rolling Ballbots. It will have the added bonus of making the world a nicer place for Murderballers and the occasional legendary physicist too. [via Slashdot]


"Better learn balance. Balance is key. Balance good, karate good. Everything good. Balance bad, better pack up, go home. Understand?" - Miyagi Sensei

Those Who Ride the Lightning

Back in April I posted an earth day follow up and touched on how better hybrid car technology was on the horizon. Well as usual, the future has arrived ahead of schedule. We might be leapfrogging hybrids all together in favor of cars that are 100% electric. Historicaly, the problem with electric cars has been the technology. Due to battery constraints, inefficient motors and lack of research funding, the electric car has been relegated to novelty status. Most of them look like little more than glorified golf carts; short range, slow, and tiny. Concessions made to the technology took too much from both the form and the function of electrics, keeping them well outside the mainstream for most drivers.

There were exceptions of course, but never in enough numbers to impact the trillion dollar auto industry. At last, the technology is catching up with the visionaries. Electric cars are now being built that not only match their internal combustion counterparts for speed and power, but leave them in the dust. The most visible poster car for electric performance is the bright yellow Zooop. The Zooop tops out at 112 mph, with a range of 280 miles, all without needing a single drop of exorbitantly priced gas. It is the product of a Parisian fashion house of all things, Maison de Courrèges. The one unfortunate aspect of the Zooop (apart form it's name) is the cars appearance. It looks like the car Electra Woman and Dyna Girl would drive if they were still fighting crime. But the Zooop isn't built to be a production car, it's as much a work of art as it is a zero emissions sports car.

The real future of the automobile is being built at America's newest car company. On the opposite side of the country from the "Big 3" and the "Motor City", this automotive start up is based out of silicon valley. Tesla Motors recently revealed their spectacular new street machine, the Tesla Roadster. Named for the father of AC current, the roadster was unveiled on the 150th anniversary of Tesla's birth, July 10th 2006, the year of Tesla. Unlike the Cartoonish Zooop, the Tesla roadster is a full blooded sports car.

The unlikely mind behind the Tesla Roadster is Martin Eberhard, inventor of the Rocket E-book reader. An expert in portable electronics, Eberhard was the farthest thing from an automotive engineer. But after some big money investments from the founders of Paypal, Google, and Ebay, Martin has made his dream of a non oil dependent sports car a reality. Tesla Motors has partnered with Lotus for the final design and assembly of the Tesla Roadster.

The technical specifications of the Tesla are amazing. The car is capable of instant acceleration, 0-60 in less than four seconds. The top speed of the roadster is right around 130 mph, its range is 250 miles, generating 248 horsepower. The 2 speed 185Kw electric motor redlines at over 13,000 RPMs, has only one moving part, and is the size of a shoebox. That's another draw to this electric marvel. No oil changes, no belts or filters or spark plugs, no waiting for the engine to "warm up" the heater, none of the baggage that comes along with internal combustion. In fact, the only maintenance that Tesla Motors recommends in 100,000 miles is break and tire service.

The styling of the car oozes speed and performance, but that's no surprise coming from Lotus. There are things that may cause some gear heads to take a step back from the Tesla Roadster. For starters, the car is silent. No throaty Corvette roar, no Ferrari whine that suggests speed lives under the hood. And of course the Tesla must be plugged in periodically to charge the batteries, which is something sports car owners might take exception to. But at one penny per mile, and having the freedom to drive passed any and all gas stations at 130 mph, defying convention isn't an obstacle, it's a perk.

The Tesla Roadster may not be for all of us, with production models costing as much as $80,000. But Tesla Motors is also working on a sedan for everyday driving. And other conventional car companies like Mitsubishi are now announcing fully electric production vehicles that will hit the market in the next 1-5 years. With the stir that the Car 2.0 start up is creating, it's no surprise that many competitors are now working to steal Tesla's thunder. It remains to be seen if Tesla will become another Tucker or DeLorean. But just looking at the rolling wonder that is the Tesla Roadster, I am of the opinion that Martin Eberhard has caught lightning in a bottle. [inspired by Wired]


“Let the future tell the truth, and evaluate each one according to his work and accomplishments. The present is theirs; the future, for which I have really worked, is mine.” - Nikola Tesla

Robot Update 013

A while back, I talked about the mars rovers, and more recently SPHERE, NASA's floating helper bots. This weeks robot is a sort of hybrid of those two ideas, with some distributed computing, ad hoc networking, and colony intelligence thrown into the mix. They are called Microbots, and they may soon be bounding across the surface of an extraterrestrial planet near you.

Stephen Dubowsky, an engineer for MIT's field and space robotics laboratory is leading the project that will bring the microbots to life. The concept behind the little spherical exploration machines is a time honored one. Many hands make for light work. Each microbot will weigh less than 100 grams, or right around 3.5 ounces. They'll be baseball sized, constructed of light weight but very strong composite materials. Pound for pound, for the cost and effort of delivering one spirit or opportunity style rover to mars, you could instead send more than 1000 microbots. In it's life time, a single colony of 1000 of the little guys could explore more than 50 square kilometers of martian surface. That's an order of magnitude more area than any current ground based rover could cover.

Although the microbots design is simple, there is some pretty sophisticated technology at work under their tiny transparent hoods. microbots will get their power from miniature fuel cell technology. Conventinaly, something like this would run off the same sort of Lithium Ion battery that powers my laptop. But because of the microbots unique use of energy for motion, a fuel cell is ideal. Speaking of motion, that's one of the microbots coolest qualities. They will use artificial muscles called dielectric elastomer actuators. These alloys contract or expand in the presence of electricity. Meaning that a microbot will generate force in the same way we do, by flexing its muscles. The actuators will work to both change the orientation of the small robotic sphere as well as powering a mechanical "foot" concealed within it. Microbots will move by rolling, bouncing and hoping from place to place. MIT engineers estimate that any given microbot will be capable of making meter high jumps on a planet with mars like gravity.

Suites of spectrometers, cameras, and other measuring devices will be nested in the heart of a microbot explorer. And although each robot on it's own wont have much by way of memory, communications range, or processing power, together they will accomplish feats no rover can. For instance, to explore areas where long range communication back to the mother ship is impossible, a colony of microbots could link up like a string of pearls or trail of bread crumbs. Each one acting like a WiFi signal repeater, one robot could be talking to NASA from the open air of mars, while one member of the colony is deep under the surface recording and exploring. Also it would now be conceivable to sacrifice a microbot, or ten, or a hundred to explore interesting features that would be inescapable. Such as martian lava tubes or deep craters, where water might be abundant. After a handful of microbots took a one way trip down a lava tube and sent back their finding, the rest of the collective could go on exploring, losing very little of their effectiveness.

There are plenty of terrestrial uses for microbots as well. They could be deployed in disaster areas to search for survivors, sweep hot zones for IEDs, even be sent out to discover portions of our own planet we have yet to fully explore. The MIT team will be testing the first colony of microbots this fall. There is quite a future for hordes of well designed collectively intelligent highly mobile robot colonies. Perhaps they will be the harbingers of human landers and astronaut boots as we make our way across the solar system. Eventually, to explore new worlds, we'll just have to follow the bouncing ball. [Via Robots.net]