Freedom Ain't Free

I don't know if you guys are at all familiar with Brother Ali. He's a lyricist, and is quite fantastic in my opinion. Here's some stuff from a song, "Freedom Ain't Free."

One half of all the two on the scene are too timid to dream
Cos failure is far too depressing it would seem
So they take whats given
Thats your decison, I just don't consider that living
If I'm to die whether or not I try
I might as well let the dice fly
See what I see and know that freedom ain't free


Hmmmm.

Feeling Blue? This Robot Knows It.

I found this online, and it ties in pretty well to all this talk about Deep Blue...

Science fiction often depicts robots of the future as machines that look like people and feel, or at least hanker after the ability to feel, human emotions. A team at Vanderbilt University is turning this notion on its head by developing a robotic assistant whose goal is not to develop emotions, but rather respond to the moods of its human master. By processing information sent from physiological sensors the human counterpart wears, the Vanderbilt robot can detect when its master is having a bad day and approach with the query: "I sense that you are anxious. Is there anything I can do to help?" But do people really want a machine sensing their anxiety and offering assistance? If that's all the Vanderbilt robot was intended to do, it wouldn't have much shelf life. But the research team has a specific kind of service in mind for its mechanical assistant. Researchers envision the emotion-sensing robot serving military personnel on the battlefield.

"The human commander may get into trouble but be unable to ask for help," said Nilanjan Sarkar, team member and assistant professor of Vanderbilt University's Department of Mechanical Engineering.

"In cases like these his robot assistant will be able to detect his stress and either communicate the need for assistance or assist in some way itself."

The robot's sensors consist of an electrocardiogram to record heartbeat, a skin sensor that can detect tiny changes in sweat production, an electromyography sensor that detects minute muscle activity in the jaw and brow, a blood-volume pressure sensor that measures the constriction on the arteries and a temperature sensor.

"The robot uses algorithms to translate the information it gets from the sensors into a format it can understand," Sarkar said. "One of our most important claims is that the robot can process this information in real time."

What do you guys think of this? Helpful or just ridiculous?

All the Knowns!

Donald Rumsfeld said this and it made me laugh... it sounds ridiculous but if you follow it makes perfect sense...

"As we know, there are known knowns. There are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns. That is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns, the ones we don't know we don't know."

What you watch, what you read...

So I don't know how familiar all of you guys are with John Butler, but he is an amazingggg musician, and I really appreciate his music because not only is his music pleasing to the ear, but it also sends really interesting messages. It's a little late, but on the whole issue of media and knowledge, here are the lyrics to his one song "Media." If you get a chance, youtube it or download it.

What you watch, what you read
What you perceive is to be truth
It is all so subjective
So what you believe is up to you

But what are we to believe in
Between the lies and the truth?
Media has vested interest
So what you believe is up to you.

But how are we to make sense of these turbulent times
When all they do is censor our minds
Only telling what they want us to know
Only half of the story told

So what is wrong? What is right?
No truth can there be seen
Well it's all there in your new religion
Just turn on your TV screen

Watch the sex and drugs and all that violence
Look what they are feeding you
Propaganda yes indeed its,
its all there to confuse

And if the truth can't be found
I'll find my own underground
And if the truth is never to be seen
I'll find my own in between

Don't believe the lies, read between the lines,
Don't believe the lies, critically analyze.

Is It Good to Die?

You never realize how much death is a part of life until you lose someone. This past May I actually lost my Grandmother who lived with my family for 7 years. Being extremely close to her made her loss a very difficult one. But rather than crying for days after her death, I looked at things from a much different perspective. She was suffering, and regardless of how bad I wanted to keep her around, she was in pain and I couldn't let my own selfishness get in the way.

Coming from a very religious family and having a good family friend as a priest, he delivered a beautiful sermon for her. He explained her death as such: She is not dead. She is not gone. She is everywhere around us. See what happened was is that God came to Pauline's (my grandmother) house and asked her to go on a walk. They had walked so far that in the end, she was closer to his house than hers, and so she went to his home. Religious or not, this made me think. Life is short not doubt. And do I miss her? Absolutely. Everyday. But would I bring her back if I could? Absolutely not. For whatever reason that God wanted to take her, he did. And maybe it is because of my faith that I believe that she has an inmaterial soul that is with me, but I can almost feel her presence. Weird, I know. But silly things keep occurring that don't normally happen in my everyday life and I have no explanation for them. I believe she lived a long, happy life and death is merely but a part of life. And regardless of how much her loved ones miss her, we know that it is good to die and that if physical human beings were capable of living forever, life would not be nearly as precious as it is.