11.4.18

Summerton United Methodist Church - Yard, Plant and Bake Sale April 14, 2018

Summerton United Methodist Church is having a HUGE Yard, Plant and Bake Sale on Saturday, April 14, 2018, from 8:00 am to 1:00 pm.  There will be household goods, electronics, decorative items, pictures, books, music, linens, collectible glassware (Fenton and Lenox), a piano, an amplifier, children's items and holiday items, as well as plants, pots, baked and frozen foods, a truckload of furniture and two trucks for sale.  Church members are selling raffle tickets for a Clemson Tiger football signed by Dabo Swinney, a Carolina Gamecock football signed by Will Muschamp, and a beautiful hand carved Tupelo wooden bowl made by Dr. L. A. Robinson.  There are also several items in a silent auction. There is something for everyone!



Also, don't forget to walk over afterwards to Main Street to see other activities of the Summerton Super Saturday Event.

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10.4.18

Smart Gardening Technologies and Tools

This article is all about ‘smart’ gardening technologies and tools now available to the average homeowner. You might get a kick out of what is already out there.

Those of you who have read my previous posts on ‘Smart’ Hats, ‘Smart’Fishing Rods, ‘Smart’Kayaks, ‘Smart’Guns, and ‘Smart’Hiking Sticks - you already know I really often don’t know what I’m talking about. I’m just no longer a big outdoorsman. Instead of going outside to hike, kayak, fish, hunt, or garden, I much prefer to stay at home and interact with the many interconnected and entertaining ‘smart’ systems installed throughout my home.

However, I still know how to get up and go plant flowers, cut bushes, and mow the lawn if needed. Nowadays, whenever I get ready to go out to garden, I first ask my ‘smart’ assistant, Alexa, to start up the robotic lawn mower, my personal drone, and bring up the video feed and data from my lawn cameras, various plant and soil sensors, sprinkler system, ‘smart’ bird feeders, etc… and display the data on my big screen TV. That way I know what I will be facing. Then I grab my trusty ‘smart’ hat, ‘smart’ hiking stick, chair, and smartphone -- and head outdoors.

Definitions
  • Horticulture is the science and art of growing plants – e.g. fruits, vegetables, flowers. It covers the fields of plant conservation, landscape restoration, soil management, landscape, garden design, and more.
  • Gardening generally refers to the construction, cultivation, and maintenance of the gardens envisioned by a landscape artists. Gardening is heavily focused on the growing and cultivation of flowers and plants.
  • ‘Smart’ Gardening generally refers to the design, development, and maintenance of gardens using the latest in modern technologies and tools, e.g. artificial intelligence, robots, drones, apps...

Examples of ‘Smart’ Gardening Technologies & Solutions

Gardening today need not be like gardening back in your Mom’s day. Today, it’s all about ‘smart’ gardening. The following are some recent published articles about ‘smart’ gardening technologies and tools you might want to know more about:
The 1st generation of ‘smart’ technologies for homeowners and gardeners is now here – but imagine what technologies and capabilities the next generation of ‘smart’ solutions will include. For example – think augmented reality software, artificial intelligence (AI), self-driving vehicles, drones… and then onto your outdoor recreation ‘Smart’Fishing Rods, ‘Smart’Kayaks, ‘Smart’Guns, ‘Smart’Hiking Sticks ... Will the wonders never cease.

As I said before, whenever I go outside nowadays to play tennis, ride around in my boat, or watch a ballgame, do a little gardening… I now try to be ‘smart’ about it. What about you?



Other Selected Links

 * Don't forget to visit the Pink Dogwood Garden Club web site.

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11.3.18

Update on Telepathy and Brain-Computer Interface Technologies

There is growing interest and investments being made by industry in Telepathy or Brain Computer Interface (BCI) technologies. These emerging technologies currently include a variety of wearable and implantable solutions that are already being pilot tested.

Telepathy has long been considered an aspect of psychic phenomena or a super power. Telepathy has also commonly been defined as a sort of information transmission from one person to another without using any of our known sensory channels or physical interaction.

However, as a growing number of artificial intelligence and implantable technologies have started to become a reality, the idea of using emerging technologies to begin telling machines to do what we want simply by telepathically thinking about it – a form of synthetic telepathy – has suddenly begun to be plausible.

Such technology is starting to be being developed, tested, and marketed as a new way to control video games, for battlefield communications, interactions with medical prosthetic limbs, and interfaces to many other computerized devices as we move into the future.

The U.S. Army is dedicating millions of research dollars into building and testing helmets to allow soldiers to telepathically communicate with weapon systems, or with one another, on the battlefield. Read more at http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/349839#ixzz46l0Pja9e

  • Telepathy involves the purported transmission of information from one person to another without the appearance of using any of our known physical sensory channels.
  • Brain Computer Interface (BCI), mind-machine interface (MMI), or brain–machine interface (BMI), involves the direct communication between an augmented or 'wired' brain and some sort of external computer-driven device.

Selected Articles & Findings

The following are a selection of recently published articles on telepathy or brain computer interface (BCI) technologies that you might find interesting:

Issues

Researchers and critics of telepathy or brain computer interface (BCI) technologies have raised several key issues that need to be addressed well before we go to far down the road with this technology. For example:

  • Several individuals have warned that public sale of artificial telepathy technology would inevitably result in the theft of bank account numbers, PIN numbers, passwords, trade secrets, and other sensitive information that could then be used for a variety of nefarious purposes.
  • Much like we're seeing as use of drone technology has proliferated, new legislation and controls need to be developed and put into place well before this emerging technology ever rolls out across the public and private sector.

Conclusions & Recommendations

Some form of digital or synthetic telepathy solution will emerge in the next decade or so and begin to be commercialized. Obviously Mark Zuckerberg hopes his company, Facebook, will lead the way. The pilot testing of alternative technical solutions are already underway. How it will finally be packaged and used when the 1st generation of solutions emerge will be interesting to watch.

Fortunately, we still have some time to consider the implications and address the key issues of privacy, security, and legislative restrictions on its use – or abuse. But take note, just like drones, teleportation, internet of things (IoT), unmanned autonomous vehicles (UAV), commercialized space exploration, regenerative medicine, the technical singularity… it will become a reality of life over the next few decades.

Share any additional information you might have or any constructive insights about synthetic or digital telepathy with our readers.
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10.3.18

Teleportation Update: It will be achieved incrementally this Century

Several years ago, an ABC News article reported that 39% percent of U.S. adults believe scientists will make teleportation happen in the next 50 years - according to Pew Research. It turns out they may be right.

 Teleportation involves the transfer of matter or energy from one point to another without traversing the physical space between them. Many believe current technology provides no possibility of anything resembling the fictional form of teleportation we have seen portrayed in Star Trek movies.

 However, I prefer to listen to experts like physicist Michio Kaku. He has stated in a number of venues over time that he believes "It is physically possible to teleport an entire human being across the room or maybe onto Mars." See http://bigthink.com/videos/the-metaphysics-of-teleportation-2

Quantum teleportation is a process by which quantum information (e.g. the exact state of an atom or photon) can be transmitted from one location to another via classical communication between the sending and receiving location proceeding no faster than the speed of light.

With the advent of 3D printing, we can now essentially 'transport' inanimate things across space by simply sending the digitized information about an object to a 3D printer in another location anywhere in this world – even to other planets. When the information is received, the object can then be 'printed' out.

Now think about the recent advances in holography and virtual reality (VR) technologies. We will shortly be able to enter the world of virtual reality and 'visit' other parts of the world and our solar system from th comfort of our living rooms. Holography takes that yet another step forward. See Microsoft 'Holoportation' with Hololens

 Physically teleporting human beings is much more complex and is still many decades away. The solution that springs to mind, similar in concept to teleporting inanimate objects, may require us to do some profound thinking and to refine our definition of what exactly a human being is.

 For example, is the 'heart & soul' of human beings the collected information and knowledge we have acquired since our birth that is stored in our brains. In other words, is a human some form of complex 'information being'.

 If this is the case, can we be housed not only in our existing physical bodies, but could we also have the essence of our 'information being' digitized and teleported into a new synthetic 'body' of some sort (e.g. android, cyborg) at some remote location – anywhere in the world or across our solar system.

 This may be possible in several decades as a wide range of technologies continue to advance and converge towards a moment of singularity where biotechnology solutions emerge and make possible the scenario above.

Take a few minutes to check out these recent articles on Teleportation:


According to a series of articles in 'The Futurist', we are not far from breaking the barriers to exchanging medical information, drugs, medical equipment, or life itself through biological teleportation and the advances of 3-D printing.

As civilization on Earth makes the transition from a Stage 0 to a more advanced Stage 1 civilization, the need to be able to teleport inanimate objects and 'human beings' around our solar system will become necessary.  See my related blog on "Redefining Our Purpose as Civilization Keeps Evolving".

 The bottom line - teleportation is in fact possible right now and will progress incrementally over time, starting with inanimate objects in the immediate future and ultimately moving towards the teleportation of human beings.

 One final note, by further embracing the use of open access, open source, and open communities, that will only help speed the process of developing more sophisticated forms of teleportation over the coming decades that will be needed by the end of this century.



The following are several links to key teleportation research, organizations, studies, etc.


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8.3.18

56th Annual Elloree Trials in Santee Cooper Country, SC

It's that time again! Time for the 56th Annual Elloree Trials. This event provides another opportunity to showcase the town of Elloree in Orangeburg County, South Carolina. The festivities this year begin with 'Fillies and Follies' at the Elloree Museum and Heritage Center on Friday, March 23, 2018. Tickets are $40 per person, which features music, dancing and heavy hors d'oeuvres. For more information, visit www.elloreemuseum.org or you can call 803-897-2225.

 This year's Elloree Trials will be held on Saturday, March 24, 2018, at the Elloree Training Center on Racetrack Road. During the day, there will be races featuring both thoroughbreds and quarter horses – culminating in the running of the 56th Annual Elloree Cup. Gates open at 8 a.m., with races beginning at 1 p.m. and continuing until 6 p.m. Admission is $15 per person, and children under 12 are free. General parking is $5 and reserved parking is $50 to $110. For more information, contact the Elloree Training Center at 803-897-2616.




* For more information on equestrian events and horse riding around Santee Cooper Country, go to the Summerton SC: Nature & Outdoor Recreation web site.
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