Bert found out that one of my favorite writers Scott McCloud is on TEDtalks.
You can get TEDtalks for free via iTunes podcasts, and in HD too, which might be worthwhile since many of them are quite visual.
McClouds book Understanding Comics is groundbreaking, and goes well beyond that people normally understand as "comics".
McCloud shows this one, that might be something that might get me interested in comics on the screen. The ability to zoom in and out makes all the differ.
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Another good one: skycars. By pioneed Moller, who for decades has invested amazing amounts of time and money in this field which won't give any returns in the foreseeable future. I hope it pays off in his lifetime, he deserves it. I'd loooove a skycar. (Especially if it's fully automated like he says.) Maybe a problem is, I hear they're pretty noisy, I don't like that aspect.
Update: he says you drive it to a local place where it's OK to take off. Once you're in the air, you're a passenger.
The stabilization system mustn't fail... "nothing comes down faster than a VTOL craft upside-down."
10 comments:
Here's the main website URL for TED:-
http://www.ted.com/
This sky car has a lot of moving parts and looks like it would cost far more than most people could afford.
Usually simple is best. This looks like it has potential.
http://www.parajet.com/index.php?id=138
I don't think I'd like to be around, when people are doing their maiden voyage...and their first landing! Yikes!
I first heard of Moller back in about '91 or '92 in an issue of Popular Science. I was pretty excited but it still doesn't look like it's going to be a reality any time soon.
I know. The NASA guy saying there'll be significant use within ten years... no way.
In the introduction of new paradigms, such as the flying car, timing is probably the single most important factor. It has to come at the right time, or it won't fly (excuse the pun).
I believe that, at the current evolution rate of communications technology (i.e. the Internet), people will be able to move out of cities without the need to commute at lot sooner than the flying car will become a reality.
In fact, it may very well be that this will be necessary, in order to alleviate traffic, before personal flying vehicles can become a reality. A traffic jam in mid-air is not something I would want to be caught in.
" (i.e. the Internet), people will be able to move out of cities without the need to commute"
That's what I've been saying for over ten years, but it ain't happening!
"A traffic jam in mid-air is not something I would want to be caught in."
That ain't happening either, due to no curbs up there, and the third dimension.
Moller points out that if you put all the cars in the US into the air, there'd be 70 miles between each.
The "exodus" will happen, simply will take time. Effective, low-cost tele-presence not quite there yet, but coming fast.
Mind you, the bean counters also have short-circuited the first part of the process. As soon as they realized that some employees could work from home, they went and hired Philippinos instead... bah.
As for the 90km between cars thing, only one who never witnessed a large office building at the end of the workday could believe that. Now, picture all those people leaving downtown all at once, each in his own flying car! Or a stadium at the end of the game, etc.
Moller clearly (and rightfully!) mentions the need for proper automation and infrastructures. Those are likely to create "aerial roadways" in dense traffic areas, in order to remain manageable (think of The Fifth Element's opening scenes, as an extreme). That will require the ability to sustain unavoidable delays, not to mention the noise issue.
Well, you still have *way* more space.
"Mind you, the bean counters also have short-circuited the first part of the process. As soon as they realized that some employees could work from home, they went and hired Philippinos instead.."
Ah yes! LOL, didn't think of that. Well, that sticks a stick in the bike wheel for sure. It'll be a while before the world runs out of cheap third-world labor. But of course that's simply market forces for ya.
When the computers and software and inter-car communications become good enough, there'll be no need for special air corridors.
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