“so, what now God?”

he asked, as the numbness from his recent retrenchment wore off and brutal reality came to bear.

WMD

Extract from Times Online: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/science/article5908535.ece

Mosquito laser gun offers new hope on malaria

AMERICAN scientists are making a ray gun to kill mosquitoes. Using technology developed under the Star Wars anti-missile programme, the zapper is being built in Seattle where astrophysicists have created a laser that locks onto airborne insects.

Scientists have speculated for years that lasers might be used against mosquitoes, which kill nearly 1m people a year through malaria.

The laser – dubbed a weapon of mosquito destruction (WMD) – has been designed with the help of Lowell Wood, one of the astrophysicists who worked on the original Star Wars plan to shield America from nuclear attack.

“We like to think back then we made some contribution to the ending of the cold war,” Dr Jordin Kare, another astrophysicist, told The Wall Street Journal. “Now we’re just trying to make a dent in a war that’s claimed a lot more lives.” The WMD laser works by detecting the audio frequency created by the beating of mosquito wings. A computer triggers the laser beam, the mosquito’s wings are burnt off and its smoking carcass falls to the ground. The research is backed by Bill Gates, the Microsoft billionaire.
Related Links

It is speculated that lasers could shield villages or be fired at swarming insects from patrolling drone aircraft. “You could kill billions of mosquitoes a night,” said one expert.

pew pew

mimicry

Extract from article “How to control a herd of Humans”, New Scientist Online: http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20126945.300-how-to-control-a-herd-of-humans.html?full=true&print=true

Neurological evidence seems to back this idea. Vasily Klucharev, at the Donders Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, found that the brain releases more of the reward chemical dopamine when we fall in line with the group consensus (Neuron, vol 61, p 140). His team asked 24 women to rate more than 200 women for attractiveness. If a participant discovered their ratings did not tally with that of the others, they tended to readjust their scores. When a woman realised her differing opinion, fMRI scans revealed that her brain generated what the team dubbed an “error signal”. This has a conditioning effect, says Klucharev: it’s how we learn to follow the crowd.

–

We are a race of mimics. Our evident mimicry in our infancy does not disappear as we inevitably age, but merely disguises itself in a myriad of different forms. It is no surprise that our stereotypical view of success is derived from the same instinct. In our enlightened meritocracy, we strive, like everyone else around us, for the material success that we’ve been trained to covet. Is this wrong? We, after all, are a race of mimics.

This mimicry extends to all aspects of our lives, be it in our political beliefs, our ideas, or even our “faith”. Trained to parrot, we can regurgitate an ocean of recycled opinion in a heartbeat. Even our piousness can be born out of fear of being labeled a non-conformist. Truly, we can have a form of godliness, but deny its power. Is secondhand godliness wrong? After all, we are a race of mimics.

So what does this mean? That we can be excused for exhibiting materialistic covetousness because everyone around us hold the same forsaken view? That we can be excused for exhibiting increasingly godless behavior in this secular world because we have a hardwired proclivity to be mimics? Clearly we are beings that can and do exercise free will, not mere numbers on a statistic. Just because 99% of the population does X does not mean that you have to follow in their foolishness. Does your non-conformism make you an anomaly? In our statistic-driven world – in our statistic-driven nation – sure, it does. Does it matter? It’s up to you.

Don’t live your life conforming to what the majority say or do. Make your decisions based on your own rationale, your own convictions. An overrated poet once wrote: “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I — I took the one less travelled by, and that has made all the difference.” Don’t take the road less travelled by just because it is different, do it because you have come to the conclusion that you really wanted to take that road, and that will make all the difference.

jacked

It all started with a faulty Iphone jack.

Try as I may, all earphones would not fit into the jack, rendering all music produced a muffled cacophony of bass beats and backing vocals.

Annoyance gave way to grudging acceptance, and soon, I was reveling in the uniqueness of every bass beat, every hidden nuance I had not noticed before.

There is truth behind the noise.

mosquito stunts

Extract from RedOrbit.com: http://www.redorbit.com/news/health/1634899/bill_gates_mosquito_stunt_raises_malaria_awareness/index.html

Bill Gates’ Mosquito Stunt Raises Malaria Awareness

Posted on: Thursday, 5 February 2009, 14:15 CST

Microsoft founder Bill Gates released a jar of live mosquitoes at an elite Technology Entertainment Design (TED) Conference as a reference to the world’s battle against malaria, the American Free Press reported.

Gates told the audience of technology kings, politicians, and Hollywood stars that mosquitoes spread malaria before proceeding to release a jar of them onstage.

“There is no reason only poor people should be infected,” he joked, before assuring the audience that the liberated insects were malaria-free.

The stunt was Gates’ attempt to hammer home the importance of malaria prevention throughout the world.

TED curator Chris Anderson jokingly suggested that the headline for the video of his talk be posted online at Ted.com as “Gates releases more bugs into the world.”

The TED conferences organizers called it an “amazing moment” that provided the audience with food for thought.

Gates told the audience about the numerous strides made in dealing with malaria in affluent countries and the need to fight the disease in impoverished nations.

He also said there is more money put into baldness drugs than into malaria.

“Now, baldness is a terrible thing and rich men are afflicted. That is why that priority has been set.”

He further called for more aggressive distribution of insect netting and other gear that helps protect people from the disease-transmitting insects.

An experimental new malaria vaccine backed by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is set to start Phase Three testing in a few months and Gates spoke of his optimism for the new treatment.

“The market does not drive scientists, thinkers, or governments to do the right things. Only by paying attention and making people care can we make as much progress as we need to.”

Gates also spoke about the gloomy feeling he sensed last month during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

“I think it is good that the mood in Davos was bleak,” Gates said.

“It was a great meeting where people really had to say ‘Hi, how is your economy falling apart … Gee that is different than how mine is … What is your solution?'”

With new technologies playing vital roles, Gates said he is confident the economy will recover, but added that the financial meltdown was “a great checkpoint” compelling people to think realistically about money and business.

Gates said his time at Davos was a chance to make sure aid for the poorest countries doesn’t get cut.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation plans to increase annual spending this year to 3.8 billion dollars despite its investment portfolio’s value sinking.

Gates also called for a vast improvement in the quality of teachers at U.S. schools because it will take “brilliant people” to solve the world’s woes.

Malaria is one of the biggest killers in the developing world. Most deaths occur in sub-Saharan Africa, where the most deadly strain of malaria is prevalent.

Malaria is caused by a parasite transmitted by certain types of mosquitoes. Symptoms usually begin with a high fever, neck and back pain and progress to shivering, vomiting and convulsions. Children are particularly vulnerable.

Gates told the audience that the market does not drive scientists, thinkers, or governments to do the right things.

“Only by paying attention and making people care can we make as much progress as we need to.”

Extreme measures to spread the message. Must it be limited to Malaria?”

did you ever

“Did you ever feel like time is standing still?”, she said, as the constellations gathered in silent contemplation.

“Did I ever?”, he replied.

“Life is a constant rush from one point to the other, achievements that don’t matter, the susurrous bubble of opinions, the friends that aren’t”, she mused, crumpling her face into a wistful frown.

She continued, “Sometimes I just wish I could stay here and watch the stars all the night, and feel time grind to a halt, just stay amazed at the beauty of creation.”

“Why not?”, he replied.

She was silent, and for a moment, time stopped. Then the world returned, and the magic was lost.

..

“Did you ever feel like time is standing still?”, she said, as the constellations gathered in silent contemplation.

“Did I ever?”, he replied.

“Life is a constant rush from one point to the other, achievements that don’t matter, the susurrous bubble of opinions, the friends that aren’t”, she mused, crumpling her face into a wistful frown.

She continued, “Sometimes I just wish I could stay here and watch the stars all the night, and feel time grind to a halt, just stay amazed at the beauty of creation.”

“Why do you need to?” he replied.

“The whiff of a rose in a flower stall on a spring morning on the first day of work, the ephemeral smile of that special girl, the morning sun’s rays that filter through a window and illuminate a little patch of tired floor with the radiance of rebirth.”

“The beauty of creation is in all these things and more!”, he exclaimed.

“Maybe I’ve just been too tired to see these things”, she replied.

“Maybe.”

She was silent, and for a moment, time stopped. Then the world returned, and the magic was lost.

hope

Splashes of technicolour painted the night sky red, blue and gold. The effervescence of hopes and innocence slowly evanesced into the silent horde of observing constellations, each ephemeral hope called by name and sealed with friendships that bind.

He saw all this and recalled a time long past where hope sprung eternal. And as he reminisced, a flicker of hope like a newborn baby sprang to life behind his brown eyes. Alas, it was stillborn – and the darkness returned to envelop him like an old friend.

lady

Lady sing the blues so well
As if she mean it
As if it’s hell down here
In the smoke-filled world
Where the jokes are cold
They don’t laugh at jokes
They laugh at tragedies

Corner street societies
But they believe her
They never leave her
While she sings she make them feel things
She says, i can sing this song so blue
That you will cry in spite of you
Little wet tears on your baby’s shoulder
Little wet tears on your baby’s shoulder

And I have walked these streets so long
There ain’t nothing right, there ain’t nothing wrong
But the little wet tears on my baby’s shoulder
The little wet tears on your baby’s shoulder

Lady lights a cigarette, puffs away, no regret
Takes a look around, no regrets, no regrets
Stretches out like branches of a poplar tree
She says, i’m free
Sings so soft as if she’ll break, says
I can sing this song so blue
That you will cry in spite of you
Little wet tears on your baby’s shoulder
Little wet tears on your baby’s shoulder

I have walked these streets so long
There ain’t nothing right, nothing wrong
But the little wet tears on my baby’s shoulder
The little wet tears on your baby’s shoulder

But on this stage
I’ve learned to fly
Learned to sing
And learned to cry
Little wet tears on my baby’s shoulder
Little wet tears on my baby’s shoulder

But now it’s time
To say goodbye
Some might laugh
But I will surely cry
Little wet tears on my baby’s shoulder
Little wet tears on my baby’s shoulder

Lady lights a cigarette
Puffs away, and winter comes
And she forgets

Lady, Regina Spektor

wind-up bird #18

full of questions it began and full of questions it ended.

caring not for chronology, in allegory it meandered.

when all was said and done, it was like a magician’s mechanisms revealed,

and that sense of wonder never

returned.

wind-up bird

That night, in our darkened bedroom, I lay beside Kumiko, staring at the ceiling and asking myself just how much I really knew about this woman. The clock said 2:00 a.m. She was sound asleep. In the dark, I thought about blue tissues and patterned toilet paper and beef and green peppers. I had lived with her all this time, unaware how much she hated those things. In themselves they were trivial. Stupid. Something to laugh off, not make a big issue out of. We’d had a little tiff and would have forgotten about it in a couple of days.

But this was different. It was bothering me in a strange new way, digging at me like a little fish bone caught in the throat. Maybe — just maybe — it was more crucial than it had seemed. Maybe this was it: the fatal blow. Or maybe it was just the beginning of what would be the fatal blow. I might be standing in the entrance of something big, and inside lay a world that belong to Kumiko alone, a vast world that I had never known. I saw it as a big, dark room. I was standing there holding a cigarette lighter, its tiny flame showing me only the smallest part of the room.

Would I ever see the rest? Or would I grow old and die without ever really knowing her? If that was all that lay in store for me, then what was the point of this married life I was leading? What was the point of my life at all if I was spending it in bed with an unknown companion?

Extract from The Wind-Up Bird Chonicle , Haruki Murakami

We live our lives in bubbles of solitude, living, loving and dying without truly knowing the people that we spend our days around and with. Our lives, long since bleached, beg for life.