Our local charity shop, Rainbow’s End, which raises money for community groups in Burngreave, is about to celebrate it’s first anniversary. It’s run by volunteers, many of them from Christchurch Pitsmoor.

I’ve just updated the front page of the site at www.rainbows-end.org with an advert for the party on the 5th December – if you’re local to Sheffield, do come along…

Since returning from Florida 2 weeks ago, I’ve been at a loss as to what my next blog entry should be. Tonight I came across a video on YouTube that took me back 26 years to a simpler time when I was single and young and naive and romantic … terribly, terribly romantic.

Sergio Mendez had a knack for repeatedly penetrating the North American market when other artists from outside America considered themselves lucky if they could have one run at the ever elusive U.S. music market. Part of the charm with Mendez was the music … well structured, rhythmic, interesting. It was just different enough to catch your ear but not so different that it was foreign to the listener’s ears.

Sometimes you can listen to a song from your younger days and it sounds so dated after so much time has passed. With Mendez’s music only the arrangements sound dated with a Fender Rhodes piano as the lead instrument in such songs as “Rainbow’s End” and “Never Gonna Let You Go.”

The songs are as true now as they were back then. The lyrics speak of universal truths that strike at the heart of all who have ever dared to love and run the risk of losing it all with only a broken heart to show for one’s efforts.

In “Rainbow’s End” the singer asks:

Who’s playin’ cards from midnight ’til dawn?
Lives in a wasteland yesterday’s gone forever?
He’s made up his mind to leave it all behind.
So he says to himself as he folds up his hand,
“Who are my friends will understand where I’m going –
To find my own way; I won’t turn back again.

There was always hope in Mendez’s songs … the hope of a future that might change everything. No matter how the lyrics spoke of love gone wrong, they always held out the promise of love returned or love revisited or new love.

As this song says, “I have a dream that I hold in my heart and I won’t let go. Welcome tomorrow – I’m on my way so goodbye yesterday.”

So hold on to your dreams, allow yourself to be a wild romantic and believe in tomorrows that set everything right between you and your love. It may never happen but what have you got to lose by believing that it could happen?

8/21/09

Yesterday evening when we were out looking at some land for sale, the colors in the sky changed and it took on an aura of warning. The wind blew increasingly. Soon drops were falling. We were in the car before the real rain hit. Driving back to our casita, we saw two huge concentric rainbows arching across the whole sky, and we could see both ends meeting the ground. Was that a sign that we should buy that land? Don’t know. Anyway, we could see the rainbows all the way home, but of course the “ends” of the rainbow kept moving as we drove, so we never got to the pot of gold.

8/31/09

The summer monsoons have not come as abundantly as the inhabitants of southeastern Arizona hoped. We have had only a few days with rain. Yesterday in the early afternoon there was not a cloudburst but a cloud letting. Later when I walked out to some land we may buy, I saw two rainbow fragments. Could they have been a hint that it is a magical place?

September update: We are buying that land.

October update: The land is ours as of Oct. 1^st.

Is it wrong to not be enjoying Vernor Vinge’s sci-fi novel, Rainbows End, winner of the 2007 Hugo award? I’m listening to it as an audio book, am about half way through it and finding it hard going.

I can see why it might have gone down well with the Hugo award judges.  It has some very strong ideas about a potential near future where day to day human experience, especially visual experience, is enhanced by wearable gadgetry.  It takes the idea of virtual reality and projects it onto day to day life.  People wear contact lenses packed with tiny electronics which modify perceived reality by overlaying computer-generated views of objects and people.

The system is called “Epiphany”, and users can select between multiple parallel virtual views of the world.  Some of the virtual views are vast and very elaborate.  They are maintained by millions of contributors (forming “belief circles”), who could be enthusiasts or doing it for commercial purposes.  In the story, San Diego recreated as a Terry Pratchett world is so popular that Pratchett’s wealth has skyrocketed and he now owns most of Scotland.

All this is terribly clever and inventive, but it grates.  It has something of a cyberpunk feel about it, the way it glorifies technology for low-lifes mixed with a new attendant vocabulary for the reader to have to decipher on the fly.  It’s like the most irritating bits of Neal Stephenson’s Snow Crash grinding on and on without respite.

The reader’s voice does not help.  His gruff “old man” voice for the dour, mean-spirited Robert Gu, the main protagonist, particularly gets on my nerves.

I suppose I’ll stick with it.  Only another 7 hours of my life that I won’t get back.

Hace algunos días varios blogs hablaban sobre unos lentes de contacto de realidad aumentada. Inmediatamente viene a la mente la novela Rainbows End (Al Final del Arcoiris) -premio Hugo 2007- de Vernor Vinge. Esta se ubica en un futuro relativamente cercano y trata sobre un genio poeta y enfermo por varios años de Alzheimer llamado Robert Gu cuya enfermedad logra ser curada completamente, pero entonces Robert tendrá que aprender a vivir de nuevo en un mundo hiperconectado. En este mundo la internet literalmente se viste y se ve precisamente a través de unos lentes de contacto. Si a esto le sumamos una IA (inteligencia artificial) con personalidad algo sicópata y los problemas personales del protagonista obtenemos una notable y entretenida novela.

Si creías que vivir las 24 hrs. del día pendiente de la Blackberry o el iPhone era mucho, espera a ver la idea de Vinge.

At 20 years old, Rainbows End in Manakau, Auckland is probably not targeted at me but along I went with three younger brothers, a brother’s friend and my two parents. Yes it’s way cooler when you’re eight, no it hasn’t really changed in ten years but would I go again? Heck yea!

Auckland pales in comparison to theme parks across the ditch – Movie World, Sea World, Dream World, Aussie World (actually maybe not that last one). But even though Rainbows End will never top them, it’s the best we’ve got. And it’s no wonder there isn’t another one, their website says if it was built today from scratch, it would cost $40 million! But spending a whole day there from 10am to 5pm was never boring at any time.

We got up early as one of our party thought it opened at 9am. So we arrived at 9.30am and had to queue for half an hour, but it all adds to the suspense! Anyway first ride was the motion master. This time was a Spongebob Squarepants 3D theme but it was very short and the chairs didn’t move much. I suspect this was to get younger kids on the ride and my eight year old brother loved it.

He loved all the rides he went on. To be honest, even though I think I know exactly how the Log Flume, rollercoaster and Gold Rush go, I’m still surprised each time. Racing the cars are always great fun, as are soaking strangers on the Bumper Boats.

But I do have one regret – the Power Surge. Looking at this ferris wheel with spinning chairs made me queasy originally, but as 15 year old brother, who I always has to persuade to go on the roller coaster, went to line up I decided to take up the challenge. As we got the queue we were immediately let onto the ride as it wasn’t super popular. I clipped myself in and heard a boy boast how this was his 16th time.  Must be great fun I thought. I was then lifted upside down and round for the next ten minutes, well not actually that long but it felt it… and came off wanting to vomit. My brothers all went and got candy floss which made it worse.

So anyway, the verdict? Rainbows End is definitely not just for kiddies. There are heaps they’ll enjoy but the cars, fear fall, roller coaster and power surge are all there for teens and adults. I had an awesome day and will def go back next year! The rides don’t change much, but I like it that way – childhood memories of visits are rekindled each time.

I have a ‘bad’ habit of reading 3-6 different books at the same time, cycling between different ones, depending on my mood. I refer to it as bad as I would probably finish each one sooner if I only focused on a single volume; however, I enjoy the juxtaposition of many different characters, plots, and ideas. Tonight, I started reading Rainbows End by Vernor Vinge, the Hugo award winning novel from 2007. Although I am reading the analog version (I still prefer paper books), the author has posted the entire text on the book on his personal website. 

To give you a little flavor, this is the non-traditional dedication at the beginning of the book: To the Internet-based cognitive tools that are changing our lives — Wikipedia, Google, and the others of their kind, now and in the future.

Vinge’s fiction is high-throughput as it often focuses on the concepts of artificial intelligence and the technology singularity (a hypothetical point in the future when humanity creates an ever-growing, self-improving, and hyper-evolving intelligence) and their impact. As a prologue to his fictional universes, in 1993, Vinge wrote an essay which began with the following words ”Within thirty years, we will have the technological means to create superhuman intelligence. Shortly after, the human era will be ended.” This is a good starting point for considering his fiction. So far, I’m enjoying the book very much.

Goal 58: Ed Regis writes great popular science books that center on research and ideas near the fringe. I think Great Mambo Chicken & The Transhuman Condition is still by far his best book title. However, this morning, I read the first chapter of his new book entitled What Is Life? 
This very question has been debated by philosophers, scientists, and laymen for centuries and I do not believe Regis is attempting to provide a definitive answer. Instead, he is exploring the insights of various cutting-edge thinkers within fields such as synthetic biology. The first chapter explorered the ‘race’ between various research labs, both public and private, to develop ‘protocells’ which would be the first synthetic life form. This is a slim volume and I hope to finish it in the next few days. 

Nevertheless, reading these two book simultaneously should be a feast for an infovore like me.

So that's why it is so green

We went to Somerset to get away from it all after Easter. The green, misty views were refreshing (for which read ‘unbroken rain’!) and a bright spot of the trip was going to the “Rainbow’s End” cafe in Glastonbury, a fantastic vegetarian cafe. It gave me lots of inspiration to cook fantastic recipes with our vegetables this year.

Rainbow's End

Now we are back, it feels as if all the allotment tasks have hit at once.

Both our allotments have cultivation notices. The main problem seems to stem from the bleak midwinter timing of the inspection, plus our lack of concern about size of yield. Although we are cultivating all our space, it is combining a grass lawn with flowers, a herb patch with lavender, a strawberry patch with a wendy house. Really it is a productive garden to us, not a farm.

It seems this is not really enough for the inspectors, so we had better dig up some more of the space I suppose. We are keeping the place tidy to our eyes, but maybe others have higher standards?

It is so depressing to have looked forward to crops that take a couple of years to establish, only to be told that is not enough. The council’s own guide says we should be toleratnt of people’s own use of the land, be it a garden or a children’s play area, but times seem to be a changing….

Rainbow's End Wristband

On Sat 21st Feb we went to Rainbow’s End for my sisters birthday.

I went on a lot of the rides.  The Dodgem Cars was my favourite because I steered the car.  It was my first ride on a rollercoaster too.

It was a really awesome day.

by GatMic

The more I think about automation, the more it makes sense to me. Robotics is the same. Of course the two are rather hard to distinguish between. For years I’ve been looking forward to having my own personal robot. But as the technology advances, a general consensus is forming that personal robotics won’t consist of a single “do it all” machine. There will be a plethora of devices that will operate invisibly aound you, and appear only when you seek it out.

Think about it. Today we’re at the point where a lot of automation is going on in the background of our everyday lives. Not a lot of big, noticeable machines. Rather, dozens of inconspicuous single function devices. Possibly several dozen in your workplace alone. Off the top of my head, where I work, there are roughly fifteen automatic procedures, and “set it and forget it” items. Or to use the term the manager does, “bots”. I blogged about that before. In the average home there are clothes washers & dryers, dish washers, programmable thermostats for fuel efficent furnaces, and most recently, “smart” kitchen ovens and ranges. Refrigerators will be next. The trick there will be the home network.

In the wider world, here in the UP of MI, traffic flow is regulated by simple sensors embedded in the roads. “Auto”-mobiles are getting smarter all the time. Sensors in the keyrings will ID who you are. From there, a crapload of functions happen. Did your spouse or kid drive the car last? Either pressing the “unlock” button on the palm- sized remote, or even placing the key into the lock will instantly readjust the driver’s seat to your preferences. Put the key into the ignition, and the GPS will ask “where to today?” They e-mail you now to let you know of service needed. And eventually they will be able to drive themselves, using GPS, and following the lines painted in the road. In Vernor Vinge’s book, Rainbows End, autos simply line up and wait for passengers. You don’t need a car? Surprise, the roads are clear for pedestrian traffic. But look for one, and within just a few minutes a car is waiting on you! Cars will perhaps be the closest to personal robotics that was predicted decades ago. That, and children’s toys.

Toys will be hugely automated. Pick a favorite character: Elmo. Have you seen the Elmo live toy, yet? How about the Golden Retriever? No? Well, then, there is a hobby horse that does pretty much the same thing. Everythng responds to touch sensors. Remember Furby? Toys WILL be the “go fetch me a drink” item. Nothing taller than three feet. And of course everything connected to your home net. “Robotoy, I want a beer.” the home net hears your request to the toy, and as the small bot waddles to the kitchen, the fridge scans its contents, asks via an active speaker, either the TV, Stereo, PC, or cellphone, “Bud or Miller?” Depending on how much the toy waddles, you might want to wait a few minutes for the can to settle before opening it.

On the horizon is a really cool technology called “augmented reality“. There are several applications for it already. But the one that is gonna break wide open is interactive characters. Japan has already put its foot in the door with an item called ARis:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCCx7zANsGE

http://geishatokyo.com/jp/ar-figure/

From this point, computing tech will do a paradigm shift. Complete emphasis on the cloud. And wearable hardware. That’s when AI will really come into its own. And I’ve always believed that AI is hardware independent. Intelligent robotics. Which kind of brings me full circle for this blog.

It’s not a singularity if you are riding the curve. And I intend to ride the curve.

From the Singularity Summit, courtesy of dw2-0. I think I can agree that the singularity will go mainstream in that businessmen will increasingly need to start planning around the possibility that society will begin undergoing frequent, relatively massive changes (from an investing environment view), similar to what was happening in Rainbows End. Even if we don’t have any of the big breakthroughs that people normally think of when discussing the singularity.

Publisher’s description:

This is a story about a paradise lost. . . . About an African dream that began with a murder . . .

In 1978, in the final, bloodiest phase of the Rhodesian civil war, eleven-year-old Lauren St John moves with her family to Rainbow’s End, a wild, beautiful farm and game reserve set on the banks of a slowflowing river. The house has been the scene of a horrific attack by guerrillas, and when Lauren’s family settles there, a chain of events is set in motion that will change her life irrevocably.

Rainbow’s End captures the overwhelming beauty and extraordinary danger of life in the African bush. Lauren’s childhood reads like a girl’s own adventure story. At the height of the war, Lauren rides through the wilderness on her horse, Morning Star, encountering lions, crocodiles, snakes, vicious ostriches, and mad cows. Many of the animals are pets, including Miss Piggy and Bacon and an elegant giraffe named Jenny. The constant threat of ruthless guerrillas prowling the land underscores everything, making each day more dangerous, vivid, and prized than the last.

After Independence, Lauren comes to the bitter realization that she’d been on the wrong side of the civil war. While she and her family believed that they were fighting for democracy over Communism, others saw the war as black against white. And when Robert Mugabe comes into power, he oversees the torture and persecution of thousands of members of an opposing tribe and goes on to become one of Africa’s legendary dictators. The ending of this beautiful memoir is a fist to the stomach as Lauren realizes that she can be British or American, but she cannot be African. She can love it — be willing to die for it — butshe cannot claim Africa because she is white.

Review and Grade: B+

I’m in the middle of proctoring an exam and I just finished Rainbow’s End. As I was reading it, I couldn’t figure out how I felt about it and now that I’m done, I’m more ambivalent than ever.

There is something to be said for Lauren St. John’s vivid descriptions about a world that is entirely foreign to me. I was able to picture and understand everything as though she was speaking in a very human language that appeals to us all. She was also able to portray the complexity and evolution of the many relationships more clearly than I would have thought possible. I realized when I finished that book that I could think back over earlier experiences as if they were memories with a new perspecitve as the reader grew up along with her.

I think my only problem is that the war didn’t have the drama that I expected. I never fully felt the constant fear, which I suppose she meant to do because she mentioned how accostomed to the terror they had become. I understand that the book was more about the relationships between St. John and her family, her country and her understanding of her sef. In that regard, it was very good. I think I just got bogged down in the middle because I couldn’t see where it was going. She would mention the height of the war and I was so nonplussed by it that I had trouble committing to finishing the book.

Basically, I was hooked initialy by the tragedy described that occured at Rainbow’s End. I was interested in the beginning by the fascinating descriptions of Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). I hated the middle because I couldn’t see a point or direction, thus any purpose to continue reading. However, I loved the final portrayal of her dissillusionment and rapid maturation as a result that is so real and universal and described by St. John in a moving way that few authors have accomplished.

Correlation of Environmental Education and Computer Games

The patterns and norms of conventional education have undergone a major metamorphosis in the last few years. There has been a dramatic change in the category of courses as well as the medium of instruction in which the knowledge regarding these courses might be imparted.Computers have taken over the way in which education is imparted in the modern times. From mere notebooks and paperwork, education is now conducted through the medium of technology to a major extent. Read More  Environmental Education Computer Games

I began reading Rainbows End ready to be amazed.

The story is set in 2025 San Diego. We follow
the famous poet Robert Gu.
Now cured of Alzheimers, but missing all
recent changes in technology.
Which we are now introduced to
through Robert’s experience.
So far so good.

We learn that everyone is plugged into the net on a constant basis
via wearable computers with contact lenses for output display.
Through your contact lenses you can “google” in midair.
There is a complete visual overlay on the “real” world,
allowing everyone to effectively “live” in whatever fantasy world they desire.
And the DHS – departmentment of Homeland security – logic
is deeply embedded in all hardware.
Athletes are on drugs …etc.

Its all very neat and all very likely,
but not very exciting, and not very amazing,
actually. This is more
like today than 17 years out in the future ….
I wanted to be excited about this book -
but in the end I was not. I am afraid.

-Simon

Over at Brad Templeton’s page is a collection of essays on what self-driving vehicles could offer society, and what we need to enable the technologies. While I think he’s a little unrealistic about how well self piloted vehicles will achieve all of these benefits, I do think that they will at least partially succeed in these goals, to the benefit of us all. I wonder how much taxi and delivery drivers will protest these technologies and try and get them regulated out of existence?

The neat thing about all of this is that I don’t think any real breakthroughs are needed for this technology. It’s one of the things I think is almost certain about our future, ala Rainbows End.

The last few years have been a particularly good time to be a fan of hard s.f.  The latest crop of writers have been the strongest to hit the scene since the Golden Age, and the most prolific of these writers by far is Charles Stross.

Stross’ early works put him at the forefront of Singularity (the rapture of the geeks) stories and set him apart as a writer of incredible ambition.  Accelerando in particular was a novel with some lofty goals, which was doomed to failure.  The story is a generational saga that begins in a future that is at the outer reaches of human comprehension and then leaps forward from there, making it nearly impossible to read although worth the effort of trying.

His more recent novels have been far more controlled, and all the better for it.  Glasshouse, which was up for the Hugo last year but lost to Rainbow’s End, was one of the most enjoyable and imaginative reads I’ve encountered in years, combining the Singularity with Desperate Housewives and game theory.

In addition, Stross is also notable in that his stories tend to be focused largely on the economic aspects of the worlds he creates.  He’s not unique in this regard (Cory Doctorow’s Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom springs to mind), but he may be the first major s.f. writer to make it such a reoccuring theme of nearly all his novels.  Besides the economics 2.0 of Accelerando he’s also written of a bank heist in a virtual world (Halting State) and an entire series on Mercantilism (The Merchant Princes), all of which are well worth reading.

Stross has become a key part of any modern s.f. collection, and he’s only getting better.

Slashdot has two posts relating to singularity/Vernor Vinge type concepts. One is wondering weather we really need ubiquitious computers, and wearable systems. Yes.

Second, life recordings! At last! (or in the near future)

Oh, and I won’t settle for any wearable system that’s less than the full ensemble, complete with ensemble coding and epiphany.