Cloaking Spray

Man has been fascinated with invisibility since ancient times. 

In Greek mythology, Perseus used a cloak of invisibility to slay the Gorgon Medusa. Back in the era of alchemists before modern science, the quest for invisibility was almost as important as the formula to trans-mutate lead into gold.

Let's just propose for a moment that the information in the video below is true. That fictional characters are describing a real project...currently in development. The industrious (fictional) engineers at the University of Michigan have moved one step closer to achieving that goal. They developed a cloaking spray that once dry, renders any object its sprayed upon almost invisible to the naked eye. Light moves in the size of Nanometres. Once engineers began working on the Nanoparticle scale they could directly interact with light.

These engineers have created a cloaking spray composed of a liquid Nanoparticle solution that bends light. There have been several inventions that bend light to give the illusion of invisibility. Yet none have achieved the level of success as the engineers in Michigan. Their cloaking spray is unique in it's versatility. It can be sprayed, coated, or painted on any surface and make that object... disappear.

This may be science fiction, but it describes advanced nanotechnology...and it's awesome. Curved objects like spheres and bottles work better than straight edged forms, like squares or triangles. When shapes with straight edges are coated with the cloaking spray the edges are visible when it drys. Although this is a minor setback, the team have already successfully coated gloves, clothing, fruit and numerous other objects and materials with success.

The military is funding the project (of course) so they have funding to overcome any problems that may arise. Plans for invisible drones, and reconnaissance vehicles are already on the way. The engineers hope to begin human testing in the next few years. The whole idea makes me think of the movie Hollow Man...imagine that. 

For more information on the cloaking spray (prank...or project in development) and the science behind it, check out the video below. 

Animanga: Kingdom

There's not many historical manga stories that hold my attention. Most of the stories are to much like reading a history book with pictures.

The Animanga: Kingdom is a whole different story. I started off by watching a few episodes of the anime...on a recommendation. I liked it after the third. From there I went and read the manga...all 378 chapters of it (binge reading). I can some up the rest of this post with four words "The story is dope!".

Kingdom follows the life of a young peasant boy named Shin as he aspires to become a great general in warring ancient china. The story takes place 245 BC (Before Christ) at a time when western china was broken in to 7 major countries. The lands of Qin, Chu, Zhou, Han, Yan, Wei, and Qi are all battling for domination.

Shin and his best friend Sin Hyo lived in the country of Qin. They planned to enter the army and become generals. Sin Hyo, turned out to be an identical double of the king of Qin. He was taken to the palace and used as a body double for the king. Sin was killed by assassins.

Shin discovers the details of Sins murder from the real king. His name was Sai and his dream was to unify all of western China. To due this he had to conquer all the other countries and Shin decided to help him achieve his goal. Sin died protecting the king and to honor his memory Shin took up his duty.

Aside from being a historical piece it's great action sequences, writing and character development. It reminds me of the writing style of Death Note crossed with One Piece. Where the writing and plot make you feel for the character. The battle scenes are well drawn with incredible detail. The characters fight with classic weapons from their time period. Sword, mace, ax, lance, bow and arrow...etcetera. The weapons aren't high tech but how the characters use them makes them look superhuman.

Each battle moves the story forward as Shin builds his private army the Hi Shin Unit composed of elite fighters and strategist.  At the same time his victories and failures along with the other generals of Qin propel Sai's dream of unifying China forward. If you read battle type manga like Berserk then I definitely recommend Kingdom.

The anime is on the final episode of the second season. There's no doubt in my mind that there will be a third due to its popularity. Below is a snippet from the battle between Shin and a general from the land of Wei named Rinko. Check it out.

Big Brother is Watching

The ARGUS-IS (Autonomous Real-Time Ground Ubiquitous Surveillance Imaging System). is the next step in high imaging surveillance. It’s a 1.8 Gigapixel (which translates into 1.8 billion pixels), super camera created for complete surveillance in an area the size of a city. It’s the world’s most advanced high resolution camera.

The Argus is carried by a UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) and performs whats called “wide area persistent stare”. This surveillance is the equivalent to having 100 predator UAV’s survey an area the size of a mid-sized city at once. It’s so precise it can clearly show the details of a vehicle license plate or a person’s facial features from 17,500 feet.

What makes the Argus so incredible isn’t the high image resolution pictures...it's what they can do with the video footage. Watch the video below to learn more about the Argus and its surveillance capabilities…because big brother IS watching. 

Resurrecting the Dead

Tupac Shakur dead in 1995. His legacy is in the music which has endured and gained more popularity over the last 17 years. Recently at the 2012 Coachella festival a 3D (3 dimensional) hologram of Tupac was debuted performing along side west coast legend Snoop Dogg. The image was like a scene out of science fiction films. The hologram was so realistic it had viewers questioning if Tupac had been resurrected from the dead like Lazarus or was alive and had faked his death like Machiavelli.

The hologram costs a reported 10 million U.S. dollars to create. It was designed by a company out of London which uses a state of the art high definition camera to broadcast a 3D holographic image on stage. The hologram gives the illusion of a real person and is created from scratch. Which means they don't use revamped archive footage or old video. Instead they create the entire image and performance from scratch. 

This technology opens the door for artists and government delegates to give performances or speeches from a remote location while viewers believe they're seeing the real thing. The military applications for this type of technology are to numerous to count and not part of this post. But I'm sure if you watch the videos below you can come up with a few on your own. Check it out. 

Wiki Leaks

For those of you who haven't been following the news. Wikileaks and its founder Julian Assange have been under global attack. WikiLeaks is a non-profit media organization dedicated to bringing important news and information to the public. They provide an innovative, secure and anonymous way for independent sources around the world to leak information to journalists. 

They publish material of ethical, political and historical significance while keeping the identity of the sources anonymous, thus providing a universal way for revealing suppressed and censored social injustice.

WikiLeaks released a classified US military video depicting the indiscriminate slaying of over a dozen people in the Iraqi suburb of New Baghdad -- including two Reuters news staff. Reuters has been trying to obtain the video through the Freedom of Information Act, without success since the time of the attack. 

The video, shot from an Apache helicopter gun-sight, clearly shows the unprovoked slaying of a wounded Reuters employee and his rescuers. Two young children involved in the rescue were also seriously wounded.

This video and the Wikileak of the Afghanistan War Logs over the summer has made the US contact its ally countries and attempt to shutdown and block the website. Here is a link to the video on youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rXPrfnU3G0  do to its sensitive nature I can't post it below. 

Read more about Wikileaks and what YOU can do to insure information stays free by clicking on the link and taking action.