Random Thoughts of Mine...

A friend of mine asked me to do this post. I've seen stories in the news about scientists working on cloaking devices, similar to the ones we see on Star Trek. I saw an episode of That's Impossible on TV about the work being done on achieving a real cloaking device. Of course the military is interested in this technology, for obvious reasons. They have been helping with some of the funding into the research presently being done around the world. Here are 3 articles that you might find interesting:

British Army tests 'invisible' tank, ala James Bond style
Quite reminding you of Q or David Copperfield, the Ministry of Defense has unveiled a new technology that can make tanks invisible. They carried out secret trials recently and have stated that the invisible tank would be ready for service by 2012. The technology involves using cameras and projectors to beam images of the surrounding landscape onto a tank. As a result, anyone looking in the direction of the vehicle only sees what is beyond it and not the tank itself. According to a soldier present at the trial, "This technology is incredible. If I hadn't been present I wouldn't have believed it. I looked across the fields and just saw grass and trees - but in reality I was staring down the barrel of a tank gun."

Read the rest of the article here.

New Steps Towards A Real Invisibility Cloak
Invisibility technology: no longer just for rarefied parts of the spectrum

Ouch, Harry Potter. Your new movie doesn't premiere for two months, yet real scientists are already one-upping you

Researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Cornell University both said last week they've designed invisibility cloaks that work in the visible-light spectrum. OK, so they're not big enough to cover a budding young wizard sneaking around at night, but hey, it's a step.

Two teams, led by Michal Lipson at Cornell University and Xiang Zhang at the University of California Berkeley, said their nano-scale invisibility cloaks allow light to flow around a hidden object as water flows around a rock. The cloaks contain a mirrored edge with a bulge that appears as though it's flat.

The feat solves an age-old problem faced by children huddling under blankets: You'd still see the cloak, but now you would have no idea what lies beneath.

Read the rest of the article here.

New Metamaterials Could Produce Sonar Cloaking Device
Acoustic metamaterial bends sound waves to hide ships from sonar, effectively rendering them sonically invisible

A new material created by researchers can refocus sound around certain objects and effectively render them sonically invisible to sonar. No natural material can do this, so man-made “metamaterials” must be created in order to toy with the laws of physics to essentially bend sound back on itself. Mind blown yet?

The technique, which bends light well beyond its natural tendencies, has been used for years in lenses used ultra-high-resolution imaging and has also been applied to real visible-light cloaking devices. The same theory is in use here, making a sort of acoustic lens, a material covered by a set of cavities which, when filled with water, work together to resonate with each other and refract the sound.

Read the rest of the article here.


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I've tried multiple times to do this post, but MyOpera kept crashing on me.

Anyways, about 2 weeks ago I was in New York City with Kerstin. I picked her up from JFK Airport on Sunday, the 18th. It was windy, about 50F (10C) and drizzling that day. She wanted to go into Manhattan, so we hopped on the subway. We took the train to the World Trade Center. This was my 1st time being there since 9/11. We then walked along the Hudson River down Battery Park City to Battery Park. We were cold by that time, so we took the subway up to Times Square. Times Square is a bustling area. I remember growing up how different the area had been, especially 42nd St. between 7th and 8th Ave. The area was more rundown, but now it has been revitalized. The Times Square Information Center was not around when I was growing up. We went there and Kerstin did this quick post from there. We ended up in Times Square and Starbucks everyday Kerstin was there.

The next day we took the subway to Grand Central on our way to the United Nations. It had been years since I had been to the UN. They were doing construction so the Security Council building was off limits to the tours, which lasted about 45 minutes. We took the subway down to the Brooklyn Bridge, which is near City Hall. The weather was warmer that day & sunny. We walked halfway across the bridge taking pictures. Then we went to Chinatown, Little Italy and Greenwich Village. We ended up at the Apple Store on 14th St. that one of my cousins had mentioned. This one was 3 stories, thus being the largest Apple store I've ever been in. It's larger than the one outside of FAO Schwartz that we went to later in the vacation. It's no secret that Kerstin is an Apple fan, so we went to the store almost everyday too.

Later, we went to the 86th Floor Observation Deck of the Empire State Building. There are actually 2 observatories: the outdoor 86th floor one, and the enclosed 102nd floor. I've never been in the 102nd floor observatory, but it does seem quite small from the 86th floor. That day was sunny but, it was a bit smoggy out so you couldn't see as far as you would on a very clear day. You could still see pretty far though as you can see in one of her pictures. Kerstin & I got some good pictures from up there. We went to Central Park, FAO Schwartz, the Apple Store, Louis Vitton, and Rockefeller Center. The Ripley's Believe It or Not exhibit used to be in the basement of the Empire State Building, but is now expanded on 42nd St. That was a pretty interesting place to see.

The day we went to both Ellis & Liberty Islands, the weather was 70F (21C), sunny with a slight breeze blowing. I was very happy with it. Too bad the next day, it dropped 20 degrees. Anyways, I'm glad that they opened up the Statue of Liberty again. It had been closed for a number of years after 9/11. Now you have to get there early if you want some of the limited tickets to get access into the Statue. We had missed it by the time we got there, but getting to walk around both islands was well worth the trip. When we went to the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in Harlem, we happened to arrive when the Brooklyn Philharmonic Orchestra was practicing there. Neither of us had any idea that would happen, so we got treated to a free, relaxing concert that day. We then hopped back on the subway to walk through Central Park and see the Great Lawn near the Metropolitan Museum.

It was another cold, wet and windy day when I took Kerstin back to the airport. I can honestly say that I had a great time with her in my city. I'm very glad that we met here on MyOpera and became friends. It was great to have been able to finally meet her in person. Maybe next time, I'll have to visit her in Sweden, which sounds great since I love to travel. Also, here is my NYC photo album of the trip.


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Last night (Friday) I went to the 2315 (11:15pm) showing of Star Trek at the local IMAX theatre. It has been a while since I last saw a movie at that theatre. A movie buff I know recommended seeing Star Trek at the IMAX, so I took his advice.

Star Trek stars Leonard Nimoy (the original Spock) as Spock Prime, Chris Pine as James Kirk, Zachary Quinto (from TV's Heroes) as Spock, Karl Urban as Leonard "Bones" McCoy, Zoe Saldana as Nyota Uhura, John Cho as Hikaru Sulu, Anton Yelchin as Pavel Chekov, Simon Pegg as Montgomery Scott, and Eric Bana as Nero.

This is the first Trek movie since 2002's Star Trek: Nemesis, a drought of 7 years. The average time between movies had been around 3 years before. This movie heads back to the 23rd century that we know from the original TV series. In this movie though, things get changed around a lot from what many Trekkies are familiar with. In the late 24th century, the Romulans aboard the Narada go back in time to exact revenge on Spock for something that he does in the 24th century. Spock Prime also gets pulled back in time with them to 23rd century. The movie begins with the Narada emerging in a space lighning storm near the USS Kelvin, which the Romulans quickly attack. They order the captain to come aboard their ship. He puts his first officer, George Kirk, in command while he is gone. George and his pregnant wife, Winona are onboard the Kelvin and she is in labor. The Romulans kill the captain and continue their attack on the USS Kelvin. George fights back while he orders everyone to abandon ship. The Kelvin is destroyed, but not before Winona and newborn James survive. This creates an alternate universe since orginally James Kirk grows up with both parents. James grows up into a rebellious youth since only his mother raises him. Meanwhile, as Spock grows up on the planet Vulcan, he is teased because he is the product of a Vulcan father, Sarek, and a human mother, Amanda. This is considered a disability since he's not considered a true Vulcan. Eventually their lives will intersect and the Federation is attacked by Nero.

I've been a Trekkie for a long time and was looking forward to seeing this movie. Usually the odd-numbered Trek films are not as good as the even-numbered ones. Since this is the 11th film in the franchise, I was worried about this happening again. Those fears were put to rest with this movie. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan was my favorite Trek film until this one. This movie rocks. The characters are well developed here and the action sequences are good. The new cast portraying the familiar characters are well cast. For instance, Zachary Quinto is excellent as young Spock. Seeing this movie on an IMAX screen really enhances the experience. Especially during the space battle scenes, they really look awesome in IMAX. This is the last weekend that they are showing Star Trek in IMAX here, so I am really happy that I saw it before it was too late. If you get to see it in an IMAX theatre, then take it before it is too late. Even if you don't see it on IMAX, then I highly recommend that you go see this movie on the big screen. It will be well worth your ticket price. Below are some clips from the Star Trek movie:


What Gives You the Right?


Enlist in Starfleet


Space Jump



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These are 2 poems that were written by a friend of mine named Rayn. She sent them to me, so I asked for her permission to publish them here in this blog too. Which she has given me earlier today, so here they are below.

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This past weekend I went to a Christmas party that some friends of mine were throwing. I couldn't remember where the place that the party was going to be, so I called one person and he knew the address. I went and picked him up and a friend of his also came along. I had a fun time at the party, and the friends that planned that party are also talking about having another party in the Spring.

My PC suffered the dreaded Blue Screen of Death too. I had installed a flight sim game on the computer and downloaded a patch for the game. I played with the game a little to make sure it was running fine, which it was. Also downloaded the latest patches for Windows too and had to reboot the PC for the installation to finish. I rebooted the computer and that's when the BSoD struck! I called Dell tech support and we ran this test and that test. We even repaired Windows, all to no avail. So I had to reinstall Windows and call back when it was finished. While on the phone with them, the mouse & keyboard stopped working. We ran more tests which were passed but still didn't solve the problem. I had to reinstall Windows again in order to fix it. When I tried to reinstall my DSL, I had forgotten the password, but I guess I exceeded the times so that locked up on me too. Had to call the phone company and reset the account in order to get the DSL working again.

I was surfing the Internet a little earlier today when I saw the follwing article online:

'Throw shoes at Bush' games appear online
Therapeutic, great fun

THROWING SHOES at US President George W. Bush has suddenly become a very popular online game. Or games, actually, because at least two have turned up on the Internet so far.

Iraqi journalist Muntadar al-Zeidi punctuated a press briefing in Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone by throwing his shoes at US President George W. Bush last Sunday, December 14th. Bush successfully ducked the flying footwear, but the moment was captured on video.

Facing the soles of your shoes toward anyone's face, striking them with your shoe soles, or throwing your shoes at them are considered to be grave insults in Arabic cultures. All Arabs regard streets and, by extension, shoe soles as unclean, and view being struck by shoe soles as a form of extreme disrespect. Iraqi al-Zeidi's action was thus an act of outraged protest.

He shouted at Bush, "Here is the farewell kiss you DOG! This is from Widows and Orphans and those killed in Irag! YOU are responsible for the Deaths of THOUSANDS of Iraqis!"

Read the rest of the story and play the games here. The video clips in that story only show a small portion of the press conference that the shoe throwing incident took place at. You can view the whole 9 minute video here.


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