Television vs. Live

Indeed an eventful weekend so far, and it realistically hasn't even started yet. My brother and I took off for NYC to see two Yankees playoff/ALDS games. One today, Friday 9/30, at 8:37pm. One tomorrow, Saturday 10/1, at 8:37pm. Both games against Detroit Tigers. Of course, like many games this baseball season, it started to rain. It got to be raining hard enough that after the top of the 2nd inning, the tarps were pulled over the infield. About a half hour later, the rain let up and the grounds crew pulled the tarp to the outfield so the lines could be repainted and the infield prepped to start play again. YAY! No... it began to POUR again, this time much harder. Already soaked, I remained under the stairway, trying to dry a bit. After waiting about another hour, the game was suspended. The walk to the car? Several blocks in the pouring rain... awesome. I just got over a cold. I hope I don't get another one. If I do, though, it is all for my Yankees.
Anyway, this game will resume tomorrow at 8:37pm, and tomorrows game is moved to Sunday at 3pm. My question, why was it announced suspended on television before we found out at the stadium?

News Relating to Last Blog Entry

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Supermarkets-start-bagging-apf-1866082873.html?x=0

click the above link to view the news story.

It was really weird... after I wrote my last blog about self-checkout registers, this article was posted on yahoo news. Really ironic to me that after I was backing up the technology to this man, that a news story would be released about many corporations getting rid of them.

It says wait for the cashier...?

I had a conversation with one of my members at work the other day. Like so many before them, it was about the self-checkout registers.
It started out with him throwing things on the belt, through the sensors... in turn annoying me before even going over to fix it.
I did, several times, with him complaining the whole time. My issue was, we had our normal three self-checkouts and three other registers open with human cashiers, 2 of which had no lines, no waiting... and he chose the self-checkout.
When he was finally done, he snatched his receipt from the printer, threw his items into his cart and approached me again. He strongly pointed behind him at the self-checkout and said, "Those are pieces of s**t. They take jobs away from real people."
Oh... how many times I've heard that. I said, "Sir, I'm sorry they give you trouble. However, those machines give me a job. They can be finicky at times, but it's not just the machine that messes up. They really are simple machines with pretty intelligent technology."
He still wouldn't believe me. And so, he left.
A few days later he came in the store again. He asked me to go over to the self-checkout with him "just in case." I usually don't, since I had other things I needed to get done, but he didn't have many items. I said, "just don't rush things, put things in the middle of the belt, and listen to what it says." He sighed a sigh like the one you give as you roll your eyes. I gave a silent sigh of my own, and he started the checkout. Surprising to me, he did as I advised, and had no issues. "That went better than last time. Must be lucky today." I replied with a little chuckle, "Sure, we'll call it that."

Cruel and Unusual? Comparison Assignment

And so the forever old debate continues... is the death penalty justified or is it cruel and unusual punishment?


Troy Davis was convicted of murdering a police officer in Savannah, Georgia in 1989. Only some of us were alive during this event, but on August 21, 2011, he was executed by lethal injection after petitions for his release, and a couple of set execution dates that had been pushed back pending legal appeal.
Previously, however, Davis was accused of shooting a man in a passing car in 1989. Allegedly, he continued on his way and assaulted a homeless man. Policeman Mark MacPhail was working as a security guard at the time and was shot while trying to intervene in the attack. He died of the wounds. In 1990, Davis pleaded not guilty to 3 charges, resulting in a trial. He was found guilty of murder by a trial after just two hours of deliberation. Sentencing consisted of seven hours of deliberation, resulting in a recommendation of the death penalty by the jury, which was granted by the presiding judge.
Execution date number one was July 17, 2007. The day before the execution was to take place, the Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles postponed the execution to evaluate evidence again. The date was moved to September 23, 2008. Minutes before the execution, the Supreme Court halted the motion. Due to arguments between legal council, the date was moved again to October 27, 2008. On October 21, 2008, a habeas petition with almost 150,000 signatures was filed. This meant that citizens were calling for Troy Davis to appear in front of a judge to secure his release unless there were legal grounds for him to be held in prison. The petition was denied. Davis then filed his own petition on May 19, 2009, again to be denied. Various other arguments pushed the execution back a few more times until it was decided that date would be slated September 21, 2011. Scheduled at 7 p.m, the execution was postponed again due to a request from Davis to halt the execution, which was denied by Superior Court, denied by the Supreme Court, reviewed by the Supreme Court, and officially denied. Almost four hours after the slated execution time, the procedure began. Regardless of protestors rallying against the death of Troy Davis, he was pronounced dead shortly after 11:00 p.m.


The coverage of this case was very public, and very vast in nature. Print media seemed to sum up the details of the case quickly. The USA Today specifically didn't include as many case details as other forms of news media. Online news sources such as CNN covered it in much more detail. Because the stories continued to come out with more information, it was published again quickly with the same background details without an issue. For print media, however, the space is very limited, and the more space an article takes up, the more it takes to print. The CBS Evening News coverage was similar to that of the online source. Although there is limited time for information to be delivered, they were able to give background information on the case as well as new developments. I think I got more out of the online sources than any of the others because new stories and new developments within the same story could be published quickly with the most information.


As a matter of fact, is life in prison cruel and unusual punishment? That is yet to really be argued publicly. Most of the motions regarding punishment are about abortion and the death penalty.

DoubleTwist

http://gadgetbox.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/09/17/7783441-how-to-get-an-itunes-like-experience-on-android
click the link above to read the article


It's kind of a pain to carry around and iPod and my phone. I have thought in the past how useful it would be to have an app on my phone that I could sync with iTunes. Well, now there is. Sort of.
Android now has an app that is being called "the iTunes for Android". The free app for Mac and Windows lets you manage music, playlists, podcasts, photo and videos, and apps on your Android device. It doubles as a media player, along with an easy to use media management app. You can use the desktop app with or without the Android app, but of course, they work best together, according to the developers.
I may just have to take advantage of this!

Technological Advancement in Leukemia Treatments

It is kind of ironic on the timing of this article for me. About five years ago, my uncle was diagnosed with chronic leukemia at stage 0. With lots of prayers over the years, and close monitoring by blood testing, it stayed at stage 0... until a week ago. He had his test, and his white cell count had doubled, spleen and lymph nodes enlarged. With the type of leukemia he has, 10%-12% have the risk of developing Rickter's Formation, which is a very aggressive lymphoma. Luckily, the removed lymph nodes tested negative for the formation. Even though he will have to undergo chemotherapy, it will be a fairly light treatment compared to normal chemo treatments.
The leukemia treatment in this article is still new medical science and technology, but it could still be a huge advancement in the near future. A single shot, "made the most common type of leukemia completely disappear in two of the patients and reduced it by 70 percent in the third. In each of the patients as much as five pounds of cancerous tissue completely melted away in a few weeks, and a year later it is still gone."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44090512/ns/health-cancer/t/new-leukemia-treatment-exceeds-wildest-expectations/?fb_ref=.TnFBwqBfcst.like&fb_source=home_oneline#.TnFCBBx55pK
Click on the above link to read the article

Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire?

When you tell a little white lie or one a little bigger than that, what do you feel within yourself because of the lie? Do you feel your palms start to sweat? Your heart race? Your breathing quicken? Your face heat up? Well now, if your face heats up, you could be in trouble.
New technology in England is being perfected in lie detection.
Until now, lie detection involved monitoring the breathing and the pulse. This was a pretty good way to detect lie over truth. However, I am sure there were plenty of ways to fool that system. I can't think of a way to fool that detection, unless you are a professional liar and can keep your body from heating up under pressure.
Pretty interesting if you ask me.


http://www.cnn.com/2011/TECH/innovation/09/13/lie.detector.thermal.imaging/index.html
Click the above link to read the article

My thoughts about 9/11/11

I honestly had a sinking feeling about the anniversary of 9/11. I felt like something was going to happen, whether security was increased or not. Granted, every anniversary of that date made me a little uneasy, but with all of the ceremonies going on, there were a lot of people out and around the areas of the original attacks. On 9/10, there was a news story about 14,000 rounds of ammunition being missing from Fort Bragg, NC. It was unnerving, especially with the timing. It could have been  catastrophe, in sync with the anniversary of another. I reluctantly kept checking the news on my smartphone, in the hopes that no new story would be devastating. Thankfully, another attack on our nation didn't occur. My fear now is that our guard is going to go down and enable an attack to occur under our noses.


Total number killed in attacks (official figure as of 9/5/02): 2,819
Number of firefighters and paramedics killed: 343
Number of NYPD officers: 23
Number of Port Authority police officers: 37
Number of funerals attended by Rudy Giuliani in 2001: 200
Number of FDNY vehicles destroyed: 98
Tons of debris removed from site: 1,506,124
Days fires continued to burn after the attack: 99
Bodies found "intact": 289
Body parts found: 19,858
Number of families who got no remains: 1,717
Estimated units of blood donated to the New York Blood Center: 36,000
Total units of donated blood actually used: 258
Number of people who lost a spouse or partner in the attacks: 1,609
Estimated number of children who lost a parent: 3,051
% of Americans who knew someone hurt or killed in the attacks: 20
Number of nations whose citizens were killed in attacks: 115
Number of employees who died in Tower One: 1,402
Number of employees who died in Tower Two: 614

Estimated cost of cleanup: $600 million


And I'm proud to be an American, where at least I know I'm free. And I won't forget the men who died, who gave that right to me. And I'd gladly stand up next to you and defend her still today. 'Cause there ain't no doubt, I love this land. God bless the USA!

No Pulse

http://www.mnn.com/health/fitness-well-being/stories/new-artificial-heart-keeps-you-alive-without-a-pulse
click the link above to read the article


Artificial heart technology that keeps the carrier alive without a heartbeat or a pulse? Freaky... It does the same job as a heart would, using blades that circulate and push the blood forward steadily. Because of the steady flow, there is no pulse. The test subject was a young calf. Apparently, if she was hooked up to an EKG monitor, she would produce a flat line, but she was alive with no impairment.
A 55-year old man was the first trial. He had been given 12 hours to live  due to amyloidosis before the technology was inserted. He lived another month before the disease compromised his other organs. With more tweaking and testing, this could be a lifesaver in the medical industry.

Dependant...

I spent 7 hours in front of a computer screen today alone. That doesn't take into account the powerpoint slides my professor used in class today for an hour. The reliance on technology is huge, and you don't really realize it until you take a step back and look at the technology we use. Right now, I am blogging from my smartphone, my laptop is taking a breather from working so hard for the entire afternoon and evening, my iPod is blasting music in my ears... it is unbelievable to me. I remember working a project a couple of semesters ago. I had my Macbook on my lap, my netbook on the arm of the couch, my smartphone in my hand and the desktop processing in the next room over. How would I have completed the project without 4 "computers"? I have no idea.

iPad Textbooks

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44384057/ns/technology_and_science-tech_and_gadgets/#.TmPOZByXEuw
click the above link to read news story

Ok... I remember in Junior High and High School how my classes were all over the school. One class in this corner of the building, next class in the complete opposite corner. Just 3 minutes between bells in junior high, 4 minutes in high school. Of course, my locker never seemed to be in the optimal location. I couldn't go to my locker in between every class period to put one set of books away and grab the next. I remember how my arms would hurt because I had to carry so many textbooks with me all the time. I also remember how my hand would cramp up from taking so many notes for extended times. Is that an issue in schools still? Probably... except for one. A school in Hartford, Connecticut is starting to cut out the textbooks and hand-written notes by integrating iPads with the texts loaded on them. Me? Jealous? Absolutely. Now, I wouldn't wish to go back to High School in any way. I didn't like high school. But I think that would be an awesome thing to take advantage of.

Think to Move

http://www.cnn.com/2011/TECH/innovation/09/01/prosthetic.limb.thought.control/index.html
click on the link above for the news story


How many times have you seen news stories about cancer victims, cancer survivors, military personnel, even the everyday human being, that have lost limbs. Most of the time, these news stories are about the struggle of getting used to a prosthetic limb... the recovery, the rehabilitation, the training.
Imagine if you will... a robotic prosthesis that is powered by thoughts alone. U.S researchers are working on this new technology that, if it is successful, will allow the wearer to operate their prosthetic limb by thinking about what they are trying to do, as if it were their natural appendage.
Beginning in October 2011, researchers at Johns Hopkins University and the University of Pittsburgh will start testing this technology. The test patients will be spinal cord injury patients whose brains have been implanted with a 2mm by 2mm electrode array. It amazes me that something that is 2 square millimeters will possibly be able to give someone a sense of normalcy... whatever that may be.
The Modular Prosthetic Limb or MPL weighs in at about 9 pounds, which apparently is about the weight of a normal arm.
I'm sure there will be bugs to figure out with the technology.  but the mere idea of something like this possibly becoming available to the medical industry is spectacular.
A couple of years ago, I remember reading something about researchers in Japan working on a similar technology. They developed a wheelchair that is powered by electrical signals from the brain.
It is so saddening to me that, in relation to other things, how little is spent on medical research. This project was a part of a $100m program run by DARPA for prosthetics, while the U.S. is trillions of dollars in debt.