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This afternoon I attended Ray Jayawardhana 's lecture at the University of Toronto, New Worlds in the Making: Origins of Planets and Brown Dwarfs . The lecture is part of the Royal Canadian Institute for the Advancement of Science free Sunday Science Lectures -- and was co-sponsored by the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada . The abstract of Jayawardhana's lecture is as follows: Until recently, we knew of only one planetary system, our own. During the past decade, astronomers have detected nearly 150 planets around other Sun-like stars, ending centuries of speculation. Over the same period, they have also discovered hundreds more of so called "brown dwarfs", which are too puny to light up as stars but which do not fit the traditional definition of planets either. Intriguingly, some brown dwarfs themselves may harbor planetary companions around them. The apparent ubiquity of both planets and brown dwarfs poses the question of their origins. I will report on how a

I saw Alien Abduction last night, and what a piece of crap it is. The acting is bad, the characters are all unlikeable, the actors uninspired, the effects worse than B-movie grade, and the aliens are just plain crap. Then there is the screaming. Every now and again, the actresses seem to remember that they have to scream -- and scream they do. Even when there is no context. The entire movie is crap, crap, crap. Which is disappointing, considering the story actually had potential. It concerns a group of vacationing friends that are abducted by the aliens. We see them being butchered by the aliens, then the lead character, Jean, played by Megan Lee Etheridge, wakes up in a hospital or insane asylum. She's told she's an alien abduction victim, and she's being taken care of in the hospital before release back to her life. She can't remember a thing, and just wants out. It turns out that the hospital is more than it appears to be. Jean has been kidnapped, but sh

Last night I attended the last of the 2005 Massey Lectures. This year, Stephen Lewis was the lecturer -- his series bore the title of his latest book: Race Against Time . If the series could have a tagline, it would be this quote from Lewis: "I have spent the last four years watching people die." Lewis' topic was the plight of Africa under the HIV/AIDS pandemic. There are many who may not remember Lewis -- or simply never knew him, although he was named as one of the 100 most influential people in the world by TIME magazine in 2005, listed under their "heroes and icons" section. Lewis, soon to be 68, started his public career early -- he was elected as a member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario at age 26, while still attending school at the University of Toronto. From there, he moved on to leading the provincial NDP party, then to being a journalist, before being appointed in 1984 to be Canada's ambassador to the UN. From there, he joined the U

The Clock of the Long Now was first brought to my attention by Future Boy when he returned from his Futurist Conference . I just didn't get it, which of course is no fault of mine. Future Boy bears all the burden for not being able to articulate the concept well enough to someone like me, who regards the future as tomorrow's problem. Since death is in my future, I avoid thinking of it all costs. After reading the Discover magazine article, Time Machine , I may start thinking of the future as more than just an impending nightmare. The Long Now proposes to put our frame of thinking, 10,000 years into the future. Imagine if we could all collectively focus on such a future -- suddenly a lot of our problems in the here and now may take on a new perspective. From ethnic discrimination, wars, the environment -- humanity's future -- all become different, or so we would hope, when viewed from the perspective of the Long Now. The Clock of the Long Now proposes to give us jus

Before the Big Bang gained prominence as the theory , it was just one theory that explained how the universe came to be -- or more accurately, where all the hydrogen and helium came from. The was another theory, the steady state theory -- or view -- of the universe. With the discovery of the cosmic microwave background radiation, predicted by the Big Bang theorists, steady state theory went to the grave -- or as mentioned in the Discover magazine article, Two Against the Big Bang , still on that journey to the grave. There are still two die-hard supporters of the steady state view of the universe -- and knowing who they are, it is hard to believe they are so easily dismissed by their fellow scientists. Margaret Barbidge and Geoffrey Barbidge are in their 80s, and are still practicing astronomers who don't believe the Big Bang theory has answered all of the questions. The Burbidges claim to fame is pretty significant. They (along with contributor William Fowler ; but Fred H

The Oculas -- imagine working in this cubicle at work ... the Oculas is a private "lounging oasis" that allows you to shut out the world, secluded in a perfect lighting, seating, audio and visual environment. You'll get a computer, video screen, internet access, built in speakers and a nice comfy chair that massages you. Price: $45KUS. Land Walker -- Sakakibara Kikai has made a kick-ass mobile office. Literally. The Land Walker is a bipedal exoskeleton that is pretty much a working version of the exoskeleton used in the Mech Warrior games. An added option on the Land Walker is machine guns. For those difficult days in the office. Omodern -- Have a good laugh at the yesteryears. Check out some of the worst interior designs from the 70s. Lawnmower Museum -- Why anyone would want to document the history of the lawnmower is beyond me ... but it has been done, proving yet again, that there is some weird shit on the internet. Leisure Town -- A wacky online comi

Let a Thousand Brands Bloom -- the Chinese consumer is changing, and multinationals are responding with their offerings. From different brand offerings, to different products catering to the needs of different market segments. Business is simple -- customers of all incomes have money, and can be enticed to part with it. It Sure Ain't Old Navy -- Getting the above 35-years-old women into their stores isn't working for Gap. They continue to be perceived to be a brand for the younger generation. What's Gap to do? Open a new chain that caters specifically to older women: Forth & Towne. Forth & Towne is being designed around an experience. It's supposed to be a place where women want to hang out and spend their spare time -- and dollars. Will the gamble work? And Now, the Chief Endurance Officer -- Here's one to inspire you. Think the fat cats at the top really are fat? Apparently not. And they're not leaving their staff behind either. Makes

Genpets -- Adam Brandejs , from London, Ontario, is the father of this piece of weirdness. Genpets purports to be genetically engineered pets that are in a state of hibernation until taken home, then they come alive to be your pet for 1 or maybe 3 years. What is it really? It's Brandejs overactive imagination as an art student at the OCAD. Quite cool, and not bad at all. Shovel Head -- Yasuhito Udagawa is one cool artist. He works on mechanical sculptures, and was recently featured in Wired for creating two sculptures out of bicycle parts for cycle manufacturer SRAM . Way cool! Death Wishes -- A bit of afterlife weirdness I picked up from the latest issue of Wired as well. Seems like there a few non-traditional ways to keep on going after your Energizer has been drained. Promessa Organic intends to send you on your way ecologically. There's a huge ecological cost for a typical burial or cremation -- everything from the land taken up for burial, to the fuel needed t

This past Friday, I attended the last of the Cosmic Frontiers series that celebrated the centennial of Astronomy at the University of Toronto. For this lecture, the organizers chose UofT's very own, Professor Bob Abraham. Abraham's lecture was titled, In Search of the Cosmic Dawn , and is summarized by the following abstract: Our Universe was born in fantastic energy at the instant of the Big Bang, yet the first product of this moment of creation was a fairly drab Universe resembling a nearly featureless cloud of gas. This early Universe contained none of the richness and complexity that marks the present Cosmos: it was devoid of galaxies, devoid of stars, devoid of planets, devoid of even the basic chemistry that makes any of these things possible, and certainly devoid of life. This cosmic Dark Age was brought to an abrupt end by the onset of First Light, a sort-of cosmic Renaissance initiated by the formation of the first luminous objects in the Universe. The talk will de

I must confess, I've never really read a Man-Thing comic from Marvel -- I've read more of Swamp Thing (DC), although there too, I wasn't really a follower of the series. With the number of recent adaptations of Marvel comics to the big screen, I expected Man-Thing to get the full treatment, however, since it gone a straight to DVD release, I was expecting crap. To be fair, the movie wasn't total crap, though there was the hint of stench in the air -- fitting I suppose, since the movie was set in a swamp, in the Louisiana hick-ville of a town, Bywater. The plot was fairly simple, with no surprises. The local bigwig of Bywater, one oil tycoon named Schist (Jack Thompson), is drilling in the swamp. He's bought and murdered his way into getting the natives to give up their land, and his enterprise continue to commit sins -- only this time it's not just sins against people, but also against nature. Within the swamp, there is a place called "dark water&quo

This piece of alternative weirdness comes from the roving field reporter, DH, as "another sign of the apocalypse." Yes, the horsemen are actually riding. Alex Chiu has discovered the secrets of immortality. He claims if you wear his magnetic rings or magnetic foot bracelets while you sleep, you will achieve immortality. What piece of weirdness is this you think? Apparently, the USPTO doesn't think it so weird. They've granted Alex Chiu a patent for his ring.

I've got this idea ... and it will take a few months to execute based on my current rate of accomplishing things. I need to redo this site. I'm thinking of it as the version 2.0 release of the site. The changes will focus primarily on the template I use for the blog, and a major update will be made to the gallery section that has been languishing in disrepair ever since this current release of the site. I need to have a gallery section that is easier to update. Currently I don't update it because it takes too much time. So, while I go through the painful step of building a new template for the blog -- which will also be used for the gallery section -- I've done gone and created the blog for the gallery. It's currently being hosted on blogspot , but will move to this domain when I'm ready. So, for my latest photographs, check out floccipics .

Today I was out with my wife, fulfilling our weekend duty of errands and grocery shopping. One of our stops was the local Costco for a few items. The place was packed, as it usually is during the weekends -- and maybe it was the rain and the crowd that got me going -- but I couldn't help but notice all the little pigs. You know who they are ... they're the ones that go grunting and snarfling from one trough to the next in grocery stores. They are willing to snarf down whatever samples are proffered by stores to entice shoppers to buy some new offering. Only these pigs aren't there for the "sample and buy" ritual. Oh no. They don't stand on ceremonies. They're there for the weekend's guttural communion. They flounder from trough to trough, with total disregard for other shoppers. Just grunt, snarfle and oink- oink! I hate pigs!

Two weekends ago -- the Thanksgiving Weekend -- the family drove up to Quebéc City . It was probably an insane thing to do, as the amount of driving was just crazy -- but so is the VIA Rail prices, so I opted for driving. The entire weekend was overcast, with a little drizzle every now and again -- just to maintain the threat of down pour in case any hapless tourist got complacent. I was complacent. It was my trip to Quebéc City -- my first -- and I was going to be a tourist. For my first time in the city, I thought it best that we paid for the overprice hotel to stay in the old city. We stayed at the Auberge Saint Pierre, which wasn't even a hop-skip-and-a-jump -- just a hop -- away from the Musée de la Civilisation (which btw, is not the same as the Canadian Museum of Civilization ). We managed to avoid the museum. Staying in the old city however did afford us a chance to walk around the first night we were there. So we went up Côte de la Montagne and walked along rue P

Occupational Hazards is running an article on a recent presentation at the Second International Symposium on Nanotechnology and Occupational Health, which suggested that asbestos has a lot to teach about the potential toxicity of nanotechnology. Asbestos was initially thought to be a miracle -- benign, and quite useful. Yet, it turned out to be not so miraculous, when it was found that asbestos, once in the air, made its way into the body and played havoc with organic tissue. Like asbestos, nanotechnology has the potential for widespread application -- a day doesn't seem to go by without another news announcement of some other application of nanotechnology -- and widespread application means the stuff will make it into the air whether we like it or not. Will it pose the same danger as asbestos? Truth is, no one really knows. Nanoparticles fill our biosphere, and we breathe them in with every breath. Some are probably harmful, some not. One thing for sure, evolution has bro

That the UK has a ban in place , preventing the use of public money to fund sending astronauts into space is new to me. It is true however. England does not fund training and sending astronauts into space -- even via its commitment to ESA. A recent report by the Royal Astronomical Society however, suggests that the UK risks being left behind in the new push for human space exploration, unless it starts participating. The report suggests that while machines will continue to play a large role in space exploration, there's inherent value in having human participation that far outweighs the risks. Not sure I entirely agree with that take on things -- but let's face, it's more fun to have people landing on other planetary bodies than just robots.

Opening last night for Professor Clifford Will's lecture, Was Einstein Right? , was the Borealis String Quartet . I have no idea why the organizers of the lecture -- and the previous lectures I've been to recently -- feel the need to indulge us in some tortuous "music." Last night the Borealis String Quartet played two selections: Mozart's String Quartet in F major, K 590, and From Water to Ice , a piece written by Aaron Hryciw , a doctorate physics student of the University of Alberta. Apparently, From Water to Ice was written in recognition of the World Year of Physics. This piece was supposed to represent "water, freezing and ice" -- the different phases and the transition. Yeah, OK. I didn't get it. It sounded more like a piece of music written for a horror movie. That's not to say it was bad -- it was actually good -- just more fitting for a horror movie. I enjoyed it. I don't get the need for a musical introduction to the lect

Tonight I attended a lecture sponsored by the Perimeter Institute, the Canadian Association of Physicists and the University of Toronto: Was Einstein Right? with Professor Clifford M. Will of Washington University. Will is a theoretical physicist, who was born in Hamilton, Ontario, and got his math and physics undergrad degree from McMaster. He's held posts at various universities in the US, and is also a recognized "expert" on Albert Einstein. I have no idea what that means, but that's the claim his brief bio made on tonight's programme. Will is a pretty good speaker, who managed to bring the last one hundred years of Astronomy, from the perspective of Einstein's theories of general and special relativity, down the general audience level, without alienating too many of the science buffs in his audience. He cracked some real yawns, and had a wit that would only make a physicist laugh. His lecture didn't seek to answer the title's question -- ra

Most companies -- especially larger companies -- have non-discrimination policies. You know -- where they state that they don't care about your religion, age, gender, sexual preference, etc. -- really, they just care about increasing shareholder value. Whether the management staff -- at all levels -- live those commandments or not is a different story. Some habits are hard to change, and some discriminate, not even knowing that they do. Regardless, add to the list of things that companies should not be looking at when hiring, promoting and rewarding, is genetics. Genetics will become more and more a larger shroud hanging over society in this new century. IBM has taken the step of adding to their non-discrimination policy the stipulation that they will not discriminate using genetics either. It doesn't take much foresight to add the word genetics to the list -- yet, why aren't there many others doing the same? Probably because of ambivalence. Companies don't th

DrinkBoy -- Adventures in Cocktails. Many, many ways of just getting totally phished! www Marketing Phrase Generator -- marketing phrases that mean absolutely nothing ... by design. Kittiwat Unarrom -- call him Evil Bread Boy ... cause what else would you call a 28-year-old Thai art student, who makes break that looks like human body parts? Mom must be proud.( Click here for more pictures.) Sidewalk Chalk Guy -- I've posted about this dude before. Here's some more art that's really remarkable. Speedy Gonzalez (R-rated) -- whatever happened to Speedy Gonzalez? (And you can check out other toons that have slid from the public eye here .)

Last night I saw the disturbing horror movie, The Brood , from David Cronenberg. Filmed in 1979, the movie remains one very creepy film. The movie stars Oliver Reed as Dr. Raglan, Samantha Eggar as Nola, Art Hindle as Frank and Cindy Hinds as Candice. Cronenberg is very effective in being creepy -- he uses the music and tension of the film to scare, without having to show the actual "brood." The Brood itself isn't frightening -- Cronenberg's use of them however, is. He pulls you in, building up the tension to such a degree that it becomes difficult to watch at times. The cinematography, music, acting -- everything about this film was just great. It's a classic, a masterpiece. In the film, Frank is growing distant from his institutionalized wife, Nola, who is undergoing psychiatric treatment by Dr. Raglan -- a psychiatrist who employs some unconventional techniques that makes patients relive and confront their emotions. Nola has visitation rights at Raglan

I read a Harvard Business Review article while on the subway today: Moments of Greatness -- Entering the Fundamental State of Leadership . It's written by Robert E. Quinn of the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business -- who suggests that perhaps those great leaders out there are not really great all time -- mostly, they're like us, but every now and again, they have the capacity to enter into that fundamental state, where they truly lead. Quinn's conjecture is that great leaders are truly great because when they do go into that fundamental state, they do so not by emulating anyone, but "instead, they draw on their own fundamental values and capabilities -- operating in a frame of mind that is true to them." This fundamental state of leadership is one that is temporary. We all spend most of our time in what he labels the normal state -- the state of comfort, where we go with the flow, make compromises and allow ourselves to be led by external for

DJ BallmerFresh -- Let's start off with something way too funny. Check out this remix engine of Steve Ballmer's quotes set to hip hop beats. You do the mixing, Steve does the howling. From the Axis of Stevil site. What Really Pisses Me Off -- here's a bit of a rant from IT Architect magazine. I'll quote you a bit of what pisses Michel Labelle off: "... the vendor community is really starting to piss me off. I'm not talking about the stupid marketing claims they make. You know all those flyers that come in the mail that my mailroom guy thankfully recycles before they reach my desk--or worse, my boss' desk. I'm also not talking about the sleazy salespeople who clog my phone trying to sell me the latest widget for a problem I never knew existed. It's the consultants, implementation teams, and their project managers--but especially their self-imposed, underqualified, arrogant, self-righteous, know-nothing project managers." I love it!

I attended the 3rd Cosmic Frontiers lecture last Friday -- a series of University of Toronto lectures celebrating a century of Astronomy at the university. This lecture was by Professor Debra Fischer of San Francisco State University, and was titled, Quest for Other Worlds and Prospects for Life . The full abstract as provided by UofT, describes the talk as follows: After a century of searching, the first planets outside our solar system were discovered 10 years ago. With a census of more than 150, these new worlds offer us some surprising insights into our own solar system. In this lecture, you'll learn: how these extrasolar planets were discovered whether astronomers now think that all stars host planetary systems how these other solar systems compare with our own about the implications for the existence of life in the galaxy Most of the known extrasolar planets are similar to Jupiter and Saturn, the big planets in our solar system. But, the race to discover Earthlike p

Cheap, exploitive crap -- the stuff Jess Franco is all about. Bloody Moon is an Italian movie, that's dubbed really, really badly, in English, with an annoying soundtrack. That really matters little however, because it's all about about the cheap thrills -- a good deal of nudity and great deal of screams and bloody gore. The plot -- a horribly scarred heir to a fortune is released from psychiatric treatment after committing a murder five years previous. He is released to his sister's custody at an all-girls Spanish school. Then the killing starts. The brother appears to be up to his old tricks, as one by one, the girls perish in some gruesome ways. I'll spare the details. Franco is true to form with Bloody Moon. There are screams -- people running around for no reason -- and an absolute lack of common sense in the characters. The one redeeming quality in the plot however, is the end. It turns out that just about everybody is a killer, and there are the usua

Mars and Earth have been getting closer to each other since the summer, and be the closest to each other for the next 13-years on Oct. 30th. You can find Mars in the night sky, after 8PM, in the east. It will appear as the brightest star in the sky. You won't need a telescope to find it -- and it should be visible from most cities. NASA is taking advantage of this close encounter, and has sent the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter to the planet. On board, it's carrying the HiRISE camera -- a 1200 megapixel camera that will be taking some of the most detailed pictures of Mars ever! (Let's just hope no one made a mistake that will send the ship careening off into the Sun.) On Oct. 17th, the Hunter's Moon -- will be partially eclipsed for those living on the Pacific. For some excellent animation, check out the Shadow & Substance website. China's Fei Junlong and Nie Haisheng continue to float around in the Shenzhou 6 spacecraft in Earth's orbit. The duo a

Wired is carrying the story of the failed life -- so far anyway -- of Randy Guthrie . Guthrie was born into a privileged life, and is by all indications, extremely smart, and incredibly stupid. He was arrested in China for DVD piracy and is now serving a sentence in Chinese prison -- once he's out, he will be deported to the US, where he will have to suffer more of the same. As the article points out, Guthrie is being used as an example, and in many ways a bad one. He was a two-bit player in the DVD piracy game -- and his arrest will not even lead to a dip in the piracy of DVDs. Guthrie was buying DVDs from a Chinese licensed store in Shanghai, and shipping them to customers who ordered online from him. He was stupid enough to think that no one cared enough to do anything about it. And truth be told, only the US cares. The Chinese don't. He was arrested by the Chinese authorities who wanted to throw their American counterparts a little bone. The chose Guthrie because

This one comes via Excreta . Apparently, Buddhist monks need protection in southern Thailand, where the population is predominantly Muslim. A non-violent religion, requiring protection from one that is violent.

Creature ... a bad, bad movie. Soon as it started, it was predictable. On a mission to Titan, some aliens are discovered in what looks like escape pods. There is only skeletal remains ... or ... yup ... one of them may actually be alive. Next thing we know, everybody dies. So, a crew is sent to find out what was discovered, claim it and return samples home. (How they knew something was discovered from the first ill-fated mission is movie magic.) The crew that is sent to Titan is from one of two competing companies racing to Titan to find whatever it is and bring it back -- one German, the other US. Corny lines started the mission ... Girl: "There's something about this trip. It's creepy." Boy: "It's fear of the unknown, it's natural." Girl: "No. I'm not coming back. Make love to me." With that, you just know she deserves the death coming. Especially when the camera stays too long on her, and she finds ... the dead bodies

The July-August issue of the Harvard Business Review carries a great article by Robert Simons: Designing High-Performance Jobs . (You may remember Robert Simons as the guy of the Levers of Control .) The idea of the article is really simple. "For your business to achieve its potential, each employee's supply of organizational resources should equal his or her demand for them, and the same supply-and-demand balance must apply to every function, every business unit, and the entire company." To understand the supply-and-demand perspective of a high-performance job, Simons suggests the need to know the four spans of job design, and how to apply them to a particular job to be successful. These spans of job design can be used as levers, to be moved in order to generate the desired result. There isn't a correct setting, as it all depends on what the required outcome is and the culture of the organization. To apply the spans, you really have to know your organization,

The latest Wired magazine carries a cover article heralding the big screen release of Peter Jackson's remake of King Kong , in December. Many are expecting Jackson to surpass the miracle he performed with LOTR. He has full creative reigns on KK; lots of money; and is doing it his way -- way, way, down under. What I didn't know before this article, is that Jackson is not being secretive about the making of KK. Which is quite the reverse of LOTR, when the studio kept a lid on absolutely everything. With this film however, Jackson is keeping an online journal , opening the entire filming process to the world -- for those who want to see what he's doing. It's not like there's any secret to KK. We all know the story, and all know what to expect. Estimates suggest that Jackson may amass more film for the making of the film than he will have for the film itself. Which I suppose is really cool for the hardcore film buffs and students.

Just finished watching Cypher . The movie is supposed to be a spy thriller ... sort of ... and it did have me going. It follows the convoluted tale of Morgan Sullivan, who is recruited by one organization (A) to become a spy against another (B). In reality, he's being brainwashed to become someone else, so he can perfectly infiltrate, B, the company he's spying against. Problem however, is that B has chosen him to be a double agent -- and they proceed to deprogram him, and turn him against A. If that's not all complicated, Rita Foster is introduced as this mysterious woman, sent to help him, by some unknown benefactor. Things become so complicated, that Sullivan no longer knows who is who, who he is, and which side anybody is on. More and more it's becoming clear to him that he's a pawn of everyone, and there appears to be no one on his side -- even the mysterious Foster, who he's falling for. It was a great premise -- and Jeremy Northam wasn't too b