2011 - The Year of the Megasoid

It is the year 2011 -- the earth has survived the onslaught of invading alien creatures during the 1980s, and mankind is beginning to cautiously move ahead in a post-apocalyptic world. This is the vision of the 1965 televisions show "The Outer Limits". The time it sets is now, but it is interesting to see how the culture is different. For example, everyone has ditched their iPhones for the old rotary desk models with the coiled wire hand set. Cars have their classic styling and chrome bumpers back. In an interesting twist, it wasn't unusual for gangster types to have clones made of themselves, and send them on suicidal hit missions. And in the midst of it all lurks the monstrous Megasoid.

You can re-live 2011 again in this Outer Limits episode courtesy of hulu.com

Tim Hunkin and The Secret Life of Machines

Since Tim Hunkin's TV series on "The Secret Life of Machines", I've always been fascinated by his work. He has taken mechanical devices to an artistic expressive level, and even beyond that, to make witty cultural statements. You can view or download videos of this TV series at --

http://www.exploratorium.edu/ronh/SLOM/

http://sciencezero.4hv.org/tslom.htm or

http://www.techno-fandom.org/slom.shtml

Nowadays, one of his ongoing projects has been arcade game amusements at a beach pier in southern England, called Under The Pier.

His most recent arcade game is the Personal Nuclear Reactor -- also at Under The Pier.

The World's Most Famous Crosswalk

I just found a Live Web Cam focused on the crosswalk in front of EMI Abbey Road Studio in London. Even today, there is a constant struggle between pedestrians and motorists at that location. I managed to catch this webcam at night, and even at late hours there are groups of tourists there trying to get a reconstructed Beatles album cover photo, in the midst of passing headlights.

Last February, there was a news scare that EMI was offering to sell the world famous recording studios, but a week later the offer was withdrawn. Abbey Road Studios (center of top photo) started out in November of 1931. It is most noted for the recordings of The Beatles and Pink Floyd.

A Chorus Line of Lost In Space Robots

What's more scary than a life size Lost In Space robot? Ten of them! There is an actual company that makes quality life size replicas of the TV robot, for only $24,500 each. They talk, move their heads, bodies, flash lights, and take soil samples. To deactivate, simply pull his power pack.

I am now a Blogger (or a Monkey with a Typewriter).

For my birthday, I am starting a blog. It's a bigger step than my webpage, because now I have an online journal that can easily be added to. I've been trying iWeb, and it's a bit of a chore to get into and update, with text formatting, moving pictures around etc. But with a blog, I do not need to do a new page layout just to add an entry. So I am hoping that this will make me more productive, and possibly I can get an audience with it.

Of course, with the proliferation of personal blogs on the internet, one cannot help but draw the analogy to thousands of monkeys with typewriters (one of which will accidentally write a classic blog).