One of the possible characters can be played in the RPG Eclipse Phase is an uplifted octopus; of course, when you bring tentacles into the equation I go off in weird (and safe for work) directions. In the shared universe Orion's Arm there is an uplifted species called the bitenic squid, originally written by the gifted and talented Anders Sandberg.
An outfit called In-Q-Tel in Arlington, Virginia, founded in 1999, is known to be a semi-independent but private aspect of the US intelligence community which invests in tech companies that do things deemed strategically useful. Practically all of those things are on the cutting edge of commercial technology for the time. They say as much on their website, in case you're wondering if I've been listening to a little too much Coast to Coast AM lately. Their latest investment project is a most interesting one, a company called Visible Technologies which develop software to monitor social activities on the global …
As you may or may not be aware, insurance companies have some pretty manichean arbitrary criteria to decide whether or not a particular procedure, treatment, or medication are covered, or to what extent. To give you an idea of how they operate, I discovered the hard way a few months ago that my insurance company (no names or they'll probably turn around and drop Lyssa and I like a bad habit, knowing those fuckers) informed me that a particular treatment "should not" cost $190us, but "should," in fact, only cost $71us. They then informed me that they would pay only …
A man named Howard Pounds was considered by some in Australia to be a master horologist, or watchmaker. Possessing a surgeon's touch and the patience of the mountains he was one of the rare few knowledgeable enough to repair ladies' watch movements. His talent with clockwork mechanisms was so sought after that he was not permitted to fight in World War II because the Toowoomba Foundry required his abilities far more. Sadly, this master of the most arcane of mechanical arts went beyond in the year 2005. Four years after his passing, Howard's grandson Paul constructed a fitting tribute: a …
I know this is kind of late in coming, but real life came first.
The science of botany has, over the years, produced many families of roses: red, white, yellow, orange, pink, and a host of shades and combinations thereof. Only two kinds have yet to be grown in any fashion: blue and black. Which is kind of fitting when you think about it, but I digress.
The number of roses which have not yet been grown has fallen by one. The Suntory company of Japan has done what used to be considered impossible: they've grown blue roses. In nature …
I'm still alive, but with everything going on at work and at home I'm pretty ragged right now. I've been working on an essay or two that I wanted to post but it takes an act of will right now to string together a single paragraph. I'm also hoping to track down some unusual glitches on the back end of my website with the help of PivotX's lead developer, but that'll have to happen after I get a good night's sleep.
Frankly, I don't trust myself to not write something impressively stupid while feeling like my head is stuffed …
Lyssa's home from the hospital and recovering in the next room.
Her surgery was scheduled for 1400 EST5EDT today at a surgicenter just down the street from the specialist she went to yesterday. There was a bit of a mishap on the way to the car this afternoon because our apartment complex is berift of accessibility features for the handicapped. Lyssa fell again on the sidewalk, though it seemed that the thermoplastic fitted splint took the brunt of the shock. All things considered, however, the surgery itself took a little over two hours. Grant and I spent some time with …
