The photo on this page was taken from the space station in July of 2013. The rings of fire are from the islands of La Reunion (population +800,000) and Mauritius (population 1,322,238). Above that is the constellation of the Seven Sisters (Pleiades). Other than past President George Bush Jr., Sarah Palin, and their ilk, who can look at this image and think that all the genies mankind has been freeing from so many lamps for so many years does not affect our precious and vulnerable living earth?
Communities of like-minded individuals can make a difference.
Astronaut Karen Nyberg tweeted a photo of the Seven Sisters (Pleiades) overlooking Reunion and Mauritius islands in the Indian Ocean, taken aboard the International Space Station. Photo dated August 25, 2013. Credit: Karen L. Nyberg (via Twitter as @AstroKarenN)
No long-term studies have ever been done on humans, but when you look at the studies that have been done on animals, it’s pretty appalling,” Goldberg said. “You’re talking about liver damage and kidney damage and when they fed it to hamsters, the third generation of hamsters weren’t able to produce babies, so there’s real safety issues.”
As mentioned, a 2007 study published in the journal Archives of Environmental Contamination and Technology showed that rats fed Monsanto’s MON863 corn for more than 90 days began to show “signs of toxicity” in the liver and kidneys.
In 2010, Russian biologist Alexey V. Surov released the results of a study testing the effects of Monsanto’s genetically modified soy on hamsters. After monitoring three generations over a two year period, third generation hamsters not only lost the ability to reproduce, but even began growing hair inside their mouths.
“The real big issue in our country Carol, is that genetically modified food’s are not labeled, so people do not know that they are eating genetically modified foods. Over 60 countries around the world require GMOs to be labeled but the US does not,” Goldberg added. “And why is that? According to the Food & Water Watch, the Ag-Bio tech industry, which owns all these GMOs, has spent $572 million on campaign contributions and lobbying to make sure that they don’t get labeled.”
This is a terrific article illustrating rivers and streams in New York and elsewhere which have been moved out of the way for construction.
I don’t know how anyone could have thought that burying the veins and arteries of the earth, evolved from natural processes starting at the end of the last ice age, would be a good idea.
This is a Blue Screen of Death (BSD) from my sister’s machine.
Not that these things don’t happen with Apple products…
Then again coincident with the time I switched platforms, I haven’t seen a screen or message like this in almost ten years.
A quick on-line search and I found out that the ubiquitous circuit board had its start in 1903 thanks to German inventor, Albert Hanson.
It looks as though a hundred and ten years later the technology might be catching up with our desktops:
The process uses an inkjet printer whose hacked cartridges lay out an ink of conductive silver (for the time being). As a side note, a recent field trip to NYU’s Advanced Media Services revealed that one of the rapid prototyping machines uses HP inkjet cartridges to print rock-hard objects using what may have been gypsum as the binder.
In the same way that the hand-drafting of printable wiring diagrams was replaced by CAD, this printable technology would be welcomed by anyone who has ever had to figure out how to best dispose of the toxic sludge which always results from the chemical milling of copper-clad circuit boards.
The possibilities for rapid prototyping technologies (based on the successful execution of repetitive tasks with suprahuman accuracy) for the service of mankind were recently fodder for science fiction writers and the lunatic fringe.
In Sam Rami’s 1990 production of Darkman, Liam Neeson plays a mad scientist who 3d prints synthetic flesh:
Computer Numeric Control (CNC) has matured from punch card to paper tape, from the tool room floor to dispensing increasingly complex organic compounds serving the most intimate of human needs, an unimagined future is unfolding: proof that reality is far more unpredictable than any fantasy.
A Stratasys promotional video features their technology used in a Parisian fashion show. Given the success of the technology (and the money spent on producing original work) useless frivolity is forgiven:
http://youtu.be/QqAgMaMQNgo
Bright, shiny things aside, I am much more impressed by the use of the 3D printing technology to build a hand for a child:
and what this still developing technology might mean to a lot of other human beings.
Printed facial prostheses
A once burgeoning technology is finally trickling down to children with birth defects, veterans, accident victims, and cancer survivors.
In no small part aided by President George (“The Decider”) Bush’s positively medieval comprehension of science, technology, and bereft of any concept of “tomorrow” (too involved with rapturous fantasies?), scientists in China have successfully 3D printed living kidneys.
While entrepreneurs have been quick to commercialize this technology, we would have been nearly a decade further along with this – and related stem cell research – had President Bush had not placed a misguided moratorium on this research.
As mentioned in an earlier post, thanks to Professor Rosenthal, I have learned to use photographic equipment in a manner outside of my experience. Here are some results using a 50mm, 1.4 lens including an image of the setup.
Some things haven’t changed that much in twenty years. Parts produced using stereolithographic techniques are still crumbly, yet possess amazing resolution. Powder deposition machining/sintering has become incredibly refined, as has the Stratasys photo-polymer rapid prototyping technology.
In addition to the incredible detail and off-the-machine surface finish of parts, there has been the addition of colors and the ability for some machines to actually blend polymers used in fabrication to print parts possessing different Shore properties than discrete compounds. This means that you can have parts as floppy as a rubber band to “rock” hard within the same 3D printed part.
The addition of optional conductive materials is the burgeoning technology. When these are introduced, it will be possible to print multilayer and three-dimensional circuit artwork (non-boards), wiring harnesses, electrical connects, and resistor networks as part of the rapid prototyping operation. Add a pick-and-place rotary head and entire finished functional electrically operated models will be able to be manufactured.
As the technology stands of this writing, flexible tubing may be integrated into an articulating object, with both being printed during the same operation.
When I first spoke about the technologies of CAD and CAM more often than not I was rewarded with looks reserved for the parents of challenged children. An exception to this was the reception by Bruce Wands, (then chair of the BFA Computer Art program, now chair MFA Computer Art Program) at New York City’s School of Visual Arts. Bruce funded the first classes in CAD CAM for artists in New York City which we called Digital Sculpture We had several seats of AutoCAD and were able to run .dxf drawings on a 2.5 D machine. Our CNC machine was kept in a utility closet where hands-on classes were held. Our end of the hallway, next to the fire escape, didn’t have heat. Hah! Those were the days!
Shelly J. Smith and Bill of AMS
Professor Eric Hagan with his class
Zhenzhen Qi, Shelly and Bill
This articulating structure multi-part structure was created as one assembled model
Detail of articulating model
Color printing
Scanned and printed
Printed clear lens array
AMS’s laser.
Some 3D parts require secondary operations to remove support structures put in place during printing.
Cabinet for blast cleaning.
Fun things to do with a laser. Mouse ears have probably already been made.
With the patience of a saint, Bill answered every question.
Bill explaining parts
Bill explaining the $300,000 Stratasys
Stratasys in action
Bill discuses water-tigtht models
Photopolymerization with multiple Shore properties.
Stereolithography bed
Detail of monochromatic STL part
Polychromatic model detail
Polychromatic model detail
Polychromatic model detail
Student work stations with Maker Bots and 3D scanners
Peter Terezakis
ITP Master’s Candidate
Tisch School of the Arts
http://www.itpme.info http://www.terezakis.com
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