Smart Ink

For me tattoos have to have a meaning which is why I like to design my own. Over the years I've designed several of the twenty plus tattoos on my body. In between recording the album I've been working on a new chest piece. It's incomplete because I haven't found all the elements it needs. The other day while searching all spectrums of the artistic field for elements to add, I came across some interesting news.  

Tattoo culture as a whole goes back thousands of years. In modern times tattooing in some cultures is still taboo. While in most western countries tattoos are considered decorative pieces of body art. In the past the most functional a tattoo could be was as a map or a compass. Now thanks to some innovative minds there's smart ink that allows tattoos to be used in a variety of life improving ways. Researchers at Harvard, MIT, Google, Microsoft and several other private sectors have created smart ink using Nanotechnology. 

Smart ink tattoos are being developed that allow users to interact and control electronic devices. Some smart ink tattoos are designed to change color when body temperature fluctuates. Other can be used to monitor heart rate, sugar levels in diabetics, and many other body functions. The goal of the MIT researchers is to combine art and medicine. They want tattoos to overcome some of the difficult hurtles that effect the biomedical field in regards to monitoring devices. In place of wearing some bulky monitoring device which requires batteries, straps and cables. You just get a tattoo that effectively does the exact same function. This is especially useful for people with chronic conditions who may require years of monitoring. 

In the near future researcher will have ink that can interact with the skin in ways that allow for increased durability, sight, and reflexes. Basically, they're developing smart ink that can be applied to the body to make bullet proof skin. Super soldiers. Imagine a world where soldiers no longer wore bulletproof vests. Instead they wear normal clothes concealing their cool tattoos and can stop a bullet with their hands. Or someone being able to control a drone with the tattoos on their head. It may sound like sci-fi out of a low budget Hollywood movie but the fact is...the truth is stranger than fiction. The next decade of smart ink development is going to be very interesting. 

Until Next We Speak, Be Well

Tha One an Only 

Test-Tube Beef

There's been talk of famine and food shortages all over the world. Science has been pushing the boundaries on what can be considered food by creating meat from all sort of products. 

Recently a group of scientist in the Netherlands successfully grew beef from the stem cells of cow muscle tissue in a lab. The end result was a hamburger that cost $250,000 to create. The man who funded this project was none other than Google co-founder Sergey Brin. The ideal is simple...if we can grow beef from stem-cells at an affordable rate. It can reduce hunger problems around the world within a decade. 

The test-tube beef was served at an expensive restaurant in London. The people who tried the meat found it similar in consistency to beef but missing some of the flavor. Another problem was there was not enough fat in the meat to simulate the natural fat found in beef. These are issues that the scientist are still unraveling, but the initial results have proven successful. 

Beef grown in a lab isn't the worse way to get it. Awhile back I posted an article about a company in Japan that made burgers from human excrement. To learn more about research into test-tube beef read the article Scientists Cook Up Lab-Grown Beef by clicking the link. 

If you're curious about a burger made from human feces and food made from other peoples trash check out the article "Stew From Trash and Steaks From Feces…desperate Dining."

The Darkside of Facebook

Facebook is the most popular social media network on the planet. Everyone I know and probably all the people you know have a Facebook account.  It's a great way to network, chat with people in far away regions, and play an endless supply of games. 

This sounds innocent and the Facebook creators sound like humanitarians for bringing people together. The truth is much more sinister.  Facebook was conceived by a think tank of men who work for the C.I.A. (Central Intelligence Agency). This is a crazy rumor...that could be true.

The purpose of Facebook is online data collection and surveillance of the public. Intelligence agencies have had to sneak around and spy on people for years to gain access into their personal lives. On Facebook people volunteer the information without coercion. Satire site the Onion said "The department of Homeland Security reported Facebook has replaced virtually every other information collection program since it was launched in 2004." It's that effective.

Deputy C.I.A director Christopher Sartinsky reported "After years of secretly monitoring the public. We were astounded so many people would willingly publicize where they live, their religious and political views, an alphabetized list of their friends, email addresses, phone numbers, and hundreds of photos of themselves. Including status updates on what they were doing from moment to moment. It is truly a dream come true for the C.I.A."

So who is  Mark Zuckerberg co-creator of Facebook? He is an agency asset that was in charge of handling the daily operations of Facebook. He is a decorated agent and was recently awarded the prestigious "Medal of Intelligence" commendation for his work with the Facebook program. This is all thought provoking information which you can reference through Google or other Internet search engines.

I'm not saying to stop using Facebook. All I'm recommending is that you be more mentally conscious of what you post and not to share too much information. For more details on the subject and the news report describing what I listed above, watch the video below.

Self Driving Cars

Google isn't just a search engine anymore. Since buying youtube they have expanded into music, merchandising, advertising and now automobiles. In 2010 Google began a project that would create autonomous automobiles. In other words cars that would steer and drive themselves. The idea sounds like vehicles seen in science fiction movies like I, Robot and Blade Runner, but they're real.

The plan behind the project was designed to give blind and disabled people a safe means of travel (aside from public transportation). They also believe autonomous vehicles would make our roads and highways safer for everyone. Since introducing this smart vehicle in 2010 Google has steadily improved the vehicles response time and performance. Now in 2012 they've completed more than 200 hours of real driving on the roads and the vehicle seems almost ready for mass production. Below are videos showing some of the test runs for these self-driving cars...like it or not the technology now exists where science fiction has become reality.