Nomad Workers

The concept of 'nomad' workers is nothing entirely new to freelancers and contractors. The main difference is going to be the collapse of society. Shopping centers around the nation are closing, and even in the best areas where society has flourished over the past eight years of economic depression and political disruption.

What the future may very well hold is a world in which having the paperwork from a university will no longer be the golden ticket into the big job market. Social engineering isn't prepared for the upcoming emergence of nomad workers. Companies will simply collide and collapse in an ongoing battle to maintain elite status in the world of corporatism.

The companies that will survive will be those which embrace the out-of-the-box thinker, and the adaptable and ever-ready, eternal student of technology. The upside to this is that age and sex will no longer be a bar to gainful employment. There won't be employment--At least, not in the way we once knew it.

Contractors, freelancers, and as-needed workers will find that the world is full of new opportunities. Schools which embrace computer learning, robotics, artificial intelligence, and new means of learning (the things I tweeted about with my elite followers eight years ago) will flourish in an internationally enriched atmosphere.

For those who find it difficult to accept the color or race of others, well you are going to have a hard time. Having an open mind, and a commitment to establishing meaningful relationships with people who are different from ourselves is what is necessary to build a better world.

The schools will change. They have to. Else, schools will close. I've seen it happen while overseas. More to the point, the Japanese are already including programming language classes for children. (Make no mistake, if you are not learning, you will be behind!). It is important that we adopt from others what works. Prejudice and pride prevents us from learning from others. I've seen this as well, and no country is guilt free entirely (Although, the problem can be more significant in particular areas of the world).

Embrace this new era. Learn a new language. Make some new friends who share your interests. Welcome to the new international world of technology. A better planet awaits those who are willing to embrace the greatness of this technology.

Farm Bots

September 19, 2009 Saturday, Japan.

Purpose:
Farming robots (farm bots) is a concept I began considering to address a specific problem. While in Japan I realized that space for farming was rather complicated. The land is hilly, mountainous, and certain crops need more or less water, and at different times. A drip line would not solve this problem of watering variety of crops, because even with a drip control like Rain Bird's drip line w/ an insert in the tubing (I know, because I wrote Rain Bird's assembly and CPanel instructions in 2005 or so) the water to specific crops cannot be entirely controlled--At least not in the particularly mountainous area of Japan where I resided.

Thus, my invention (along with my idea to build spherical portable shelters for tsunamis[I lost this idea when my gmail had a problem]) was a series of wire tubes acting as conveyors for watering orbs, mounted with sensors. The entire grid is controlled by computer programming. When crops are moved and rearranged, so, too, must the farm bot system be reset to the new arrangement. The orbs will travel along the wire tubing, and distribute water in the perfect amount for each crop.

Moreover, the spray from the orbs would be programmed to hit the crop at the correct angle. Some crops, by the way, do not like to be watered directly over the leaves. 

My idea started when I was thinking about creating a water catcher, windmill, and solar power for our farms.

Originally, I had thought of creating small independent robots to farm. This is troublesome in design and functionality.

I came up instead with the idea of creating one robot... I thought of a tower, a pole like a windmill, but with vast arms capable of covering a long distance of farm in a 360 degree circumference. The top of the tower is envisioned as having a solar panel crest. Arms rotate all around the tower. These arms are envisioned as being able to plant seeds, pull crops, trim the brush and carry harvest.

Additionally, the arms can water the entire farm. The farm would be made in to a circular pattern.

Most of my robotics ideas are different from the designs by engineers, in that I look at robotics the same way ancient priests looked at the martial arts--I look to nature for understanding, even in my philosophies. Human robots, for example, I mean androids, should have equilibrium in order to properly walk. I'd just place liquid/ fluids in the cranium of the robot along with the necessary sensors for sensing and maintaining ballast.

Farming Robotics Concept

Robots are used in factories, for exploration, and even invite visitors in to some stores. Why not use robots for gardening and farming crops in your backyard? The problem might be that the concept for robots. Consider for a moment if robots need to be mobile in order to accomplish the task of gardening or harvesting crops. This concept you're about to see might change your thinking about how robots could be used in your own backyard.

I tend to look at robots the same way that ancient monks viewed the martial arts--I look to nature for inspiration. However, when I considered the possibility of creating an independent robot for gardening and farming, the idea of insect like robots flew out the window. The problem is that independent robots wheeling around in a farm is a bit complicated and only creates more work for the owner to maintain. At the time I was considering building a windmill. Instantly, I thought of a tree in the center of the field. I also envisioned the circular motion made by a windmill, similar to the circular motion associated with Kung-fu.

Then I came up with the idea of changing the landscape into a circular form, and planting a tower like robot in the center of it. As the sun rises, a solar panel at the crest of the robot picks up the rays of the sun. In a short while, the robot goes to work.

The sensor on the water/ shower head detects moisture levels in the air. A second robotic arm has extensors mounted on it. The extensors can be made to drop seed or trim the plant. One difficulty in this idea is making the ex tensors delicate enough to harvest fruits and vegetables.

Surrounding the garden or farm is a line of bar code. This is just an idea I was toying with to find a way of programming the extensor arm in recognizing what kind of plant life is in which area on the ground (or possibly a starting and stopping point for the water head).

Water is fed into the robot through a water tank. The water tank stores water running from underground.


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All Genius is the Same Child Wonder

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What is the difference between an obsession and an addiction? Well, don’t bother to answer, really. These terms are relative, as everything is a variation of the All. It is like the frequency variations envisioned by Nicola Tesla, where the philosophy of an electrical universe may be invariably applied to all manner of considerable dualities, albeit, trinities. Consider the minds of two great thinkers, namely Nicola Tesla and H. P. Lovecraft. What is the difference between the two geniuses? No, wait. Do not answer too quickly, for such is a rather vague and broad question. More precisely, we should examine the message of the minds we are drawing comparisons from. Let us consider H. P. Lovecraft first.

Mr. Lovecraft focused on the idea that humanity was a joke left behind by the gods, or the Great Old Ones. In the author’s own words--albeit these are words of fiction, but let us borrow the general philosophy here—he describes mankind as living on a placid island of ignorance in a sea of infinity (never ending darkness). This is a message of horror and terror, but in its heart, in the very core of this fictitious fabrication of the truth, there is the child-like wonder of the cosmos.

Now, considering Nicola Tesla we have the same child-like wonder, a man who as a boy was fascinated by lightning and thunderstorms, and who created toys powered by insects when he was but a child. Tesla’s greatest message may have been that he wanted mankind to be able to understand and make the attempt to comprehend the universe. In Tesla’s own words he describes the universe as energy, frequency, and vibration. Moreover, Tesla wanted to provide free energy to the entire planet, and provide a means to prevent invasion of nations by arming all nations with the one weapon to bring down planes or sink ships (His infamous death ray). And while Tesla was vilified for his death ray, most people overlook the fact that Einstein’s idea of an atomic bomb is far more destructive, and is generally adverse to the environment—albeit, disruptive to the life energy of the planet. And we are seeing the results for this disastrous energy source today (Fukushima, and before that Chernobyl, and so on).

Returning our attention to the question (What is the difference between Tesla and Lovecraft?), one must address the purpose of such a question before answering it in full. Before we enter into the pursuit of drawing comparisons, first accept the fact that we are already concluding that the two are similar (part of the All). No one draws comparisons between things that are completely different, say apples and sports cars, for example. This wouldn’t interest us. And so, we can understand our minds a bit more by looking at how we draw comparisons (Consider the presidential elections when you wish to understand this).

In truth, these two geniuses are part of the infinite All, the great truth that, nothing in the universe is completely isolated or detached. All things are manifest of the All. And the All is One. Tesla’s story is really the one story that Lovecraft was writing or dreaming of in his own mind. We could bring Einstein into the consideration as well, and say that the wonders of all three of these men are the same. Rather, all such geniuses embark on a venture, whether internally driven or externally drawn. The difference is in the delivery of the message. Lovecraft, while in love with a rather Gothic or macabre wonderland, delivered a message of despairing horror. Yet, his attempt to horrify has not shunned his readers away. Why is this? (I’ve read nearly everything written by Lovecraft, and I’ve listened to a number of his audio books before sleeping, and yet I’m not tormented in my dreams nor am I horrified). I believe the answer is simple: Child-like wonder.

The same truth is applicable to Nicola Tesla. Yet, Tesla delivered a message of hope. Tesla was a child of light, as his mother had said he would be during a lightning storm (Tesla’s mother believed her son would be born a child of light, while others had taken the lightning as a bad omen).

We are all of us centers of consciousness, and within us (deeper down and more obscured in some people) is that wondering and dreaming mystic. In pursuit of this genius within one must first have that child-like wonder.

  

The Future of the Industrial Age or the Zombie Apocalypse?

Welcome to the next industrial age - the third industrial revolution, to be precise. And where are we at with this transition, you may very well ask? Apparently in the doldrums as far as the Western world is concerned. Well, at least on the larger scale things do not look very good. But, yes, of course there are few here and there who are doing quite well for themselves; That is, until the hordes of zombies come battering down the glass doors where you work, and before you know it the place is shoulder-to-shoulder with the stench of the restless, stretching from the lobby to the elevator corridor. As you peer down from your bird’s eye view of the city streets below, you feel a trembling in the foundations of your once tranquil executive suite. Think that’s too far off from the truth? Take a better look at the major cities in the U.S.A., and think again.

Where are we really headed?

As far as the technology buffs are concerned, we are headed toward a new world order backed by a superior and technologically savvy generation. But, is this really true? And if it is true, can you quantify for us the division between those who are with the technocracy and those who are left behind? While you are at it, factor in those who simply will not and cannot merge with such fast changing powers.

Now, all negatives aside there are certainly some serious benefits from the emerging new industrial revolution which will bring back (or at least have the potential to return key assets to the United States infrastructure) the business of building products in the homeland. For one, we know that the costs of storage and shipping will disappear over time with new methods of practice, such as the growing technology of additive manufacturing or three-dimensional printing (Similarly to the paperless office concept, and the transition from paperbacks to e-books, the additive manufacturing process will evolve the way we do business, and the way we live our lives in general).

As a technical writer (Or at least when I was actively working as a technical writer) the emerging additive manufacturing technology is a golden opportunity to sink my teeth into. I love the prospects and the potential for such power! The very notion that robotics will drive our freight and cargo ships remotely one day as a standard practice, coupled with the onboard fabrication laboratory, is outstanding in the area of engineering. I believe these kinds of technology will save lives as much as they will destroy them. While an island somewhere has just been devastated by a super typhoon or high category hurricane, these robotic cargo ships will one day dock alongside the island in distress, and begin drawing in washed up materials from the devastated island, and go to work remaking the post offices, the houses, the cars, the food, the medicines, and everything else needed by use of onboard fabrication laboratories.

However, the darker side to this transition from the old industrial methods to the new digitally delivered manufacturing technology will ensure many layoffs. Perhaps, this is even an understatement. Consider how terribly destroyed Detroit, Michigan is today. Some buildings are rumored to have been up for sale for literally a dollar. That’s one dollar, folks! Shear devastation.

But, now, go ahead and ask yourself why anyone who wasn’t directly disturbed by this disaster in economics should be bothered by the losses of others. I have an answer, which is rather simple. Those people who cannot move forward with the new process/ procedures of a technological advancement will turn to crime if not only despair. This is the zombie apocalypse television has so glorified for many Americans still able to afford cable or satellite television. As for the others who cannot afford to enjoy the same entertainment, they’re struggling in tent cities, and they’re very hungry, and very, very angry.

So, what can be done about these issues in a transition of such magnitude?

For one, we can start by reestablishing our structure of education in the United States. My concept of refurbishing the old system for a newer one began when I was a little boy. Of course, those in the industry at the time were not interested in my experiences at the time. However, today’s software and I.T. techs are listening to what I’ve been writing about for the past eight years. And it goes something like this… I didn’t like to read when I was a six year old. I couldn’t stand reading little words without the pictures. Yet, when I encountered my first role-playing game, and later my Commodore 64 computer’s text-based games, I began to take on reading and looking up new words as a serious hobby of interest.

What I’d propose is that we get rid of the outrageous tuition fees and overpriced textbooks (Thank you, Bernie Sanders!), and then establish an as-needed or need-to-know learning based system. Such a system can be implemented by the genius computer geeks today! Not tomorrow! Today!!! It can be done. It should be done.

Let us look at the areas where such a system would save lives.

Well, we already know that the prerequisite classes in a typical community college require the reading of much unneeded or irrelevant information. True as well, that while some teachers provide a certain gift of insight, there others who do not offer very good practice in the profession. For example, I had a history teacher who told me that Henry David Thoreau was a vile man, and then she went on to say that we would instead study America’s most fashionable woman in the White House for a better understanding of American History. Ugh. Agenda, agenda, agenda. And you know that even some of the best intentions can go awry. For instance, the entire white guilt trip was said to be necessary to create a program for minorities. The truth is, there are many minorities who have done just fine without the social engineering or political tinkering. Computers, my dear friends, can do it all for us. We don’t need the old and outdated educational system.

So, here’s what we’d do if someone who was once a dice cutter operator or a mill worker… We’d give these people access to zero money down classes through a series of highly interactive computer programs, which would teach the new job trade to the former industrial worker.

While this idea for reforming education might not apply to all people who have been made poor and unemployed, it does answer for many more than what we are currently doing about the problem—which is ‘nothing’. As yourself this… If we are gifted with intelligence, an ounce of guts, a pinch of intuition, then are we not somehow in demand to fix some of the worst issues our society is facing? So, why are we not getting this done? You tell me. I can understand that there are certain factors which bar a society from taking action. For instance, in the East there is the factor of tradition. Tradition does indeed slow down change. In the West, however, the factors are money and greed, and a general insincerity to make actual change.

We need people looking at these problems from all angles.

Conduct and Practices in the Translations Industry

The scope of this article
As we all move towards a globalized world, the documentation of technology and scientific research needs to address an international audience. Why should this be? And what is the best way to find a technical translator?

Do we need to translate scientific research and technical reports to languages other than English?
This is a question to which the answer depends on the business's relationship to the rest of the world. It is well known to most professionals in the engineering/ manufacturing industry that people in other parts of the world study English for this very purpose. But what about the other way around? Does a western company benefit by having their technical documentation translated to other languages?

In general, it is true that the majority of technical documentation is read in plain English. However, there are times when it can be strategic to translate a company's technical research into another language. For that purpose, it is necessary to work with translators who are not only qualified and technically competent, but who also have some means of proving their integrity. This selection process is made easier through an organization called the American Translators Association (ATA).

Finding a professional translator with high morale and integrity is a challenge not to be taken without a globally recognized organization. The ATA demands high standards of professional conduct and business practice from all of its members.

What does it take to become an ATA member?
In order to meet the business and professional requirements of ATA membership, the applicant must acknowledge mastery of the target language to the same degree as that of an educated native speaker. In other words, the translator is truly multilingual, and absolutely proficient in the target language.

Among other requirements, the honest translation/ interpretation company will always require their contractors to have up-to-date knowledge of the subject material and the terminology in the languages they specialize in.

Furthermore, the honest translations professional will never accept any assignments for which he or she is not qualified to undertake. If, however, a difficulty arises in the middle of translation assignment, the translator will be required to notify you, and subsequently seek arbitration.

For more details on how to select a translator (or to earn certification as a translator yourself), visit the A.T.A website.

Research Financial Terms

Financial terms are like a foreign language to anyone who is not financially literate. To make matters more difficult, companies will list unusual terms on their balance sheets (serving only to confuse the unseasoned investor).

If you're writing documentation on the technical terminology of finances, please see the following resources:

• Financial terminology
• Calculating dividend yields
• Balance sheet for beginning investors

Broad Range of Science Journals on the Internet

Subject: Online scientific journals and search engines

Finding the right search engine for scientific research is a daunting task on today's internet. Advertisements flood the screen. Search results return with irrelevant leads to far off places, the likes of which can be summed up in only three words--What is this?

Aside from the continuous after-effects of reading something on the internet (numbing of the brain), the Internet remains a powerful tool of communication... and somewhere back in the corner of the web you suspect the possibility of research (And perhaps a journal or two that might be free of charge).

Below is a list of research journals and engines for simple scientific research. (Stay tuned for more complex research tools). Each address is included should the links fail to direct you to the appropriate web site:

• A legitimate journal search is guaranteed with Sage. (http://online.sagepub.com)
• For a broad scope of science journals online, try OJOSE (http://www.ojose.com)
• A big scientific search engine is Scirus. (http://scirus.com) There are two difficulties, for which there are two solutions. One difficulty is the advertisements. The other difficulty is the search results not displaying relevant information. The first difficulty is overcome by scrolling down until you find the results page. The second difficulty is overcome by making use of the "Advanced search" and "Preferences" options on the home page.
• BBC (http://www.bbc.co.uk/sn) is a good site to pick up current stories on natural sciences and technology. Select a category from the left hand side of the web page. Topics are displayed in the center, and include lots of pictures.