tech
Curious tech and technology from the realm of science and science fiction.
Alex The Inventor-Chapter 12 (Pt.2)
Chapters 1 - 12 can be found at: Deep Sky Stories Chapter 12 (Part 2) The Secret Nobility of Miss Vee... "Dart...oh, Dart", Alex breathed and his heart went out to the poor injured creature. Dart stopped where he was and cocked his head up at Alex as if to say, "I've got a little problem here, do you think you can help me out, kid?"Alex knelt down and patted his ever-present companion on his soccer-ball head which now had a horrible black burn mark slashing up and down on one side and some damage to his right eye. Part of his right foreleg was missing too and his usually bright chrome skin was pock-marked with the black soot of laser burns. The long, elegant rainbow wings had sustained several holes and tears as well and Dart looked like an over-sized moth that had flown too close to a fire. The pounding he took to defend Alex back at his house must have been terrible.
By G.F. Brynn9 years ago in Futurism
How Can We Defend Against Ransomware?
Hi folks, A couple of articles came across my desk on the 2nd of May. They reminded me how many dangers lurk on the Internet, and got me wondering how we can protect ourselves from what is becoming an increasingly looming threat. The articles I'm referring to talked specifically about a piece of ransomware called Cerber which is currently in its 6th version and still evolving.
By Jared Rimer9 years ago in Futurism
A Primer for Symbiote
One of the most powerful, technologically and biologically advanced super weapons has been stolen from a secure research station and tracked to a third rate, backwater world at the edge of explored space overrun by bloodthirsty savages. If this news were to escape to the general public, the repercussions could be just as disastrous as the enemy getting a hold of the weapon. A select group of specially trained elite is chosen to find and return the weapon, before it’s too late. The fate of the galaxy, its very future, rests squarely at the feet of these five teachers, what could go wrong?
By daniel morris9 years ago in Futurism
Alex The Inventor-Chapter 12
Read Chapters 1 - 11 at: Deep Sky Stories Chapter 12 (Part 1) - Belated Truth and Secret Nobility It was an educational time for Alex during the half hour he spent in Rainah's, "Resting Room", as she liked to call it. It was also a time for healing. Miss Vee gently immersed Alex's burned hands in a basin filled with a cool, healing gel compound. After only a few minutes soaking in the gel, Alex withdrew his hands to discover that the throbbing pain had subsided considerably. Bandages were then wrapped around each hand to prevent infection.After the shock and strangeness wore off, seeing Rainah put her prosthetic legs on was quite fascinating. As Miss Vee put it, "Any challenge or hardship in life can be overcome with a determined mind and a little ingenuity."The legs were very interesting because they not only performed perfectly as replacements for the ones that were lost during her hibernation, they also provided Rainah with several distinct advantages. The first and most obvious was that she could literally run the legs off anybody and barely break a sweat. The legs, which had ‘Fluid-Motion High-Speed Servo-Motors’, were powered by high-powered, rechargeable ‘Tritium-Cell’ Batteries, and had ‘Endo-Nerve Ganglia’ sensors which amplified her normal nervous system's electrical impulses.The resulting normalized feedback from her brain mirrored all the proper movements and reactions that any biological legs would have. But because of the nerve amplification and the extreme power output that Tritium-Cell batteries allowed, short bursts of higher than normal strength and speed were possible. But there was more, much more than Miss Vee or John Faraway had expected when they gave Rainah new life with the new legs. Because of the thinner atmosphere on Mars, Rainah's people not only adapted to it, they also learned telepathy because of it. This eliminated the need to waste precious energy (and breath) talking. Because of the two-way biofeedback connection with her nervous system, the new artificial nerves amplified not only Rainah's physical but also her telepathic abilities. A mind could not just be spoken to, she could also read it like a book.Under ideal conditions, such as a mental exercise (like a geography test) Rainah could even find and mentally pull the appropriate memories to the forefront of a person's mind. It was like opening a facet wide and letting the information spill out of the person so fast, that they would have no comprehension of what was happening until it was finished.The first time it happened, Miss Vee was in her kitchen, trying to remember an old cookie recipe that her mother had taught her years ago. She wanted to make enough for both Rainah and Alex, since she was caring for both of them at that time. Before she knew what was happening, ten minutes had elapsed and a fresh batch of oatmeal-chocolate chip cookies was baking in the oven. Miss Vee was completely befuddled and Rainah had a secretive, mischievous grin on her face. The legs had one more distinction: they grew in perfect unison with Rainah‘s natural growth.With the aid of ‘Omni-Balanced Molecular Silicate Growth Plastics’ the bionic legs constantly mirrored their own growth with Rainah's. They were, for all purposes and appearances, her legs. The only time she had to take them off was during the night or any time she needed some rest in her little room. Her prosthetics were then placed into a specially designed recharging container attached to her bed. All Rainah had to do was shuffle over, drop down onto them and then walk away after opening the small container doors.During their time together, the mood in the little Resting Room had soon changed to an upbeat and happier one. And so, after Rainah had had a short rest to allow her prosthetic legs to recharge, Miss Vee called a brief but serious meeting with both of them. During that time, she discussed important matters with Rainah about the Biosphere. A particular issue they focused on regarded the routine operations in the habitat and how well each successive crop was growing in the artificial Martian environment over the past twelve years.Soon, however, the topic began to shift back to a familiar worry that was always on their minds: how much longer they could remain hidden from the Others. Alex soon was forced to realize that there very little time left at all. But out from that ominous train of discussion flowed another topic from Rainah which immediately captured his attention and left him wanting to know much more. Yet, it was how she said it, how she turned to the subject, as though on cue from previously scripted lines that gave Alex his first hint that all was not quite as it should be.
By G.F. Brynn9 years ago in Futurism
Symbiote Chapter 2
Nighttime at Kittery naval ship yard was always a pain, but even more so when one drew the mid-watch. At night nothing happened. The silence was so deafening many had gone mad. This night, not even a breeze wished to stir. The ever present 10 pound seagulls had long since retired for the evening, their source of food, scraps from shipyard workers, never worked past sundown. The birds just nested in the cranes or floated sound asleep on the water.
By daniel morris9 years ago in Futurism
Star Quest
Fly me to the moon, let me play among the stars, let me see what spring is like on Jupiter and Mars in other words, let's reach our true destiny. A take on Frank Sinatra's hit. But, that movie "Interstellar" points out some very real possibilities that could play out in reality sooner than we think. When Tsiolokovsky, the pioneering Russian scientist, remarked that Earth is the cradle of mankind but one cannot live in the cradle forever he understood the vital importance that man must seek out new life forms and to literally go where no man has go before. Now, as the summer winds of the worlds discontent fast approach aided by the prolific findings of Stephen Hawking about the fate of mankind we really need to put our house in order and look to the stars if we have any hope of saving the human race. And, we better do it quick. Mankind has always wondered could there actually be a better world out there? We'd have better hope so.
By Dr. Williams9 years ago in Futurism
The Energy Equation
In a year that has already seen it's share of misfortunes not only for countless millions of Americans but millions more the world over along comes pre-summer inflationary trends in the price we pay for just about everything we buy. We have already seen staggering increases in the price of food from dairy to beef and now we are facing more pain at the pump just to get to the store to pay those inflated prices. When is comes to the price of milk lately it would be cheaper to buy a cow. Now, as we are approaching the summer months as usual the price of gas always increases. That old saying that supply and demand dictates the price, well today it is not really the supply and demand rational so much that has set the price of gas soaring it really is corporate greed. In just the past two months the price we pay at the pump has jumped and in most places around the country many are paying more than $4.00 per gallon. Many don't realize that the price we pay at the pump does dictate the price of everything else and that includes food.
By Dr. Williams9 years ago in Futurism
