Philips hue Lighting System

The Philips hue is a lighting system which provides control of the brightness and color of your lighting through an iPad or iPhone.  With hue you can create various mood lighting themes, control & monitor lights remotely through your smart phone or tablet, set timers to help with routines (for example, lights turn red when you are about to be late for work), or have the lights gradually brighten as you wake up in the morning.

For $200 you get three bulbs and a controller. Additional bulbs will cost about $60.

 

The As If Principle

A short video from Richard Wiseman to promote his new book Rip It Up on the 'As If' principle or what is more commonly known through the phrase "Fake it till you make it"

High tech warfare: Boeing tests CHAMP missile

Militaries, like the rest of the world, have become ever more reliant upon computerized systems to carryout their goals.  It is no wonder then that there has been increased research into methods which could disrupt or destroy such systems.  Recently, Boeing and the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) successfully tested such a weapon named CHAMP (Counter-electronics High-powered Advanced Missile Project).

CHAMP is essentially a missile which, when fired over a target, can shoot bursts of microwaves which incapacitate or damage electronic systems.  It has a narrow targeting system which allows it to effect electronics within one building while leaving systems in nearby buildings unaffected.

Here is a video discussing the technology and demonstrating it's use.

The Known Universe

Wow, what an amazing journey!

The go anywhere vehicle:Scamander ATV

I'm not much of a car guy but this video of the amphibious Scamander ATV is impressive. The Scamander was the brainchild of Peter Wheeler, former owner of TVR automotive. Wheeler started the project in 2003 but sadly died in 2009 before it was finished. Fortunately his wife and a team of engineers were able to complete the project resulting in this amazing vehicle which is seemingly able to traverse difficult terrain as well as smoothly navigate across the water.

Tax Loopholes

It seems to me that there has been an overuse of the word loophole lately.  In terms of taxation, a loophole is an unintentional ambiguity or omission in the law that allows people to reduce their taxes.  The key word here is unintentional.  If the government creates a tax deduction, it is intentionally expressing that it's citizens are allowed to take the deduction.  The same is true for the different tax rates that the government established for ordinary income, capital gains, section 1231 property, etc.

So basically what I'm getting at is that deductions for charitable donations, mortgage interest, state/local taxes paid, employee contributions to retirement accounts, accelerated depreciation, and the domestic production deduction are not tax loopholes.  The exclusion from taxable income of employer contributions to retirement accounts and exclusion of employer provided health insurance are not loopholes.  The lower rate on capital gains are not loopholes. These are all things I have seen in various articles referred to as loopholes.  By definition they are not.

Now I'm not saying that all of these things are sacred cows.  I'm only suggesting that we have an honest discussion about such things without all the psychological trickery.

Sonja Hinrichsen's Snow Circles

Snow art created by San Francisco based artist Sonja Hinrichsen (and a number of volunteers) while visiting Rabbit Ear Pass, Colorado earlier this year.

Brain Sensing Headband

Remember how the mouse dramatically changed the way we interacted with our computers?  Now the hip new interface is the touchscreen which can be found on our tablets, phones, music players, etc.  Makes you wonder what the next big innovation might be.

Well a company called InteraXon would like it to be a headband which would allow us to use our thoughts to control our computers.  Currently the company is trying to raise $150,000 on indiegogo for a sci-fi looking product called Muse.  There is not much information on exactly what you will be able to do with Muse, but it seems at this point they are promoting more the idea of using it as a self help tool (say to improve concentration, lower stress, etc.) as opposed to controlling gadgets.  I'm sure this is due to current limitations of such technology but I think it is probably only a matter of time before such devices will be fully developed and in widespread use.