Texas Oilman Bets on Wind

T. Boone Pickens, a billionaire Texas oilman, thinks that the U.S. needs to reduce its dependence on oil. That's why he's putting billions of dollars of his own money into building down in Texas what will be the largest wind farm in the world.

Pickens is starting with 600 wind turbines from GE which will be capable of producing a gigawatt of energy. This is the first stage of a massive project to build a four gigawatt network of wind turbines by 2015.

In some areas, people object to wind turbines because they think they are ugly and detract from the natural beauty. Personally, I like them, as I see them as a sign of progress and advancement. For the local farmers down in Texas, though, Pickens plan brings something better... money. Each wind turbine that a farmer puts on his or her land brings in approximately $20,000 per year in royalties.

My favorite part of this CNN story is the last paragraph, where Pickens says, "But we are going to have to do something different in America. You can't keep paying out $600 billion a year for oil."

It's clear to me that this Texas oilman gets it.

Boeing Fires High-Energy Chemical Laser

According to a report from the New Mexico Business Weekly, Boeing has for the first time fired its high-energy laser weapon from a C-130H aircraft, demonstrating its ability to precisely hit targets on the ground with minimal collateral damage.

I haven't seen any video footage of the event, but that's okay. I saw the movie a long time ago. One has to wonder if they went through extra precautions to make sure that Val Kilmer was nowhere near the site of their test....

Are You Sure That Avatar You're Talking to in Second Life is a Person?

From the Associated Press comes an article yesterday about how researchers at Rensselaer Polytech have created an artificial intelligence that can operate a Second Life avatar. The avatar even has a name, Edd Hifeng.

Edd has a limited ability to converse, but what really makes this AI entity interesting is its ability to make inferences. In one example, Edd witnessed a different avatar switching a gun from one briefcase to another. Edd was able to infer that another avatar not currently in the room would believe the gun to still be in the first briefcase.

It may seem fairly simple to you and me, but this ability to make inferences has long been a weakness of artificial intelligence. Bridging this gap is a big step toward creating artificially intelligent entities.

I'm all in favor of this type of research into artificial intelligence, as long as it can be done responsibly. As a software developer myself, I do have some concerns about the days when computers become smarter than us. The Matrix and the Terminator are entertaining (but not very realistic) scenarios about what could happen if our creations decide that we have become obsolete. So while this type of research is continuing to advance, I'm going to be paying close attention to it and stopping by occasionally to check out how the Lifeboat Foundation's AIShield project is coming along.

Obesity Promotes Global Warming...?

As if those of us who are overweight needed another reason to feel bad about that fact, it seems that we're also helping cause global warming. How?

According to an article quoted by John Tierney over at the New York Times the obese population consumes 18% more calories than the general population. And because we weigh more, it takes more energy to transport us in vehicles. Thus global warming.

That's all I'm going to write about that for now. I have to go do some sit-ups....

Vitamin D Deficiency Linked to Breast Cancer Risk

From the L.A. Times and Mount Sinai Hospital comes a report that breast cancer patients who had below-normal levels of vitamin D when diagnosed were a staggering 94% more likely to have their cancer metastasize, and 73% more likely to die within 10 years of diagnosis.

These results are preliminary and it is far too early for doctors to begin advising women to take vitamin D to help combat cancer. That said, striving for 100% of the daily recommended amount would be wise anyway. Vitamin D has a number of beneficial effects on the body, although taking too much can also cause problems. The best form of vitamin D, D₃, is produced naturally in the body due to exposure to sunlight, and is considered the most useful form.

So spending more time in the sunlight may have beneficial effects for helping fight breast cancer or preventing its spread. But be careful not to get skin cancer from over-exposure!

Robotic Exoskeletons

From CNN comes news of a robotic exoskeleton being developed for the military. This isn't the first time I've seen reports about the military's plans for this sort of thing, but it is the first time I've seen an advanced demonstration and up-to-date information.

Technology like this could go a long way toward keeping our soldiers alive in dangerous situations, but it could also do more. Imagine if a group of a hundred or a thousand relief workers equipped with this technology could be deployed following a major disaster, such as the recent earthquake in China. Combing through the rubble in a powered exoskeleton would be much faster, and could save a large number of lives by getting to trapped people sooner.

Happy Birthday, Laser

Forty-eight years ago today, Theodore Maiman used a synthetic ruby to create the world's first laser. Maiman didn't invent the theory, but he did build the first working laser.

A number of brilliant minds have worked on laser technology over the past half-century, and without them we wouldn't have such things as DVD players, laser eye surgery, laser range-finders, laser welding, or optical computer mice. Sometimes it still amazes me how a single scientific or technological advance can lead to such great advances in our understanding of the universe and our quality of life.