Invisibility Cloaks: From Science Fiction to Reality

   The idea of invisibility cloaks is no longer a stretch of the human imagination, rather it has become another mere problem for man to solve. If we can.
   According to Alasdair Wilkins, a reporter for io9.com, there is, in theory, an "invisibility cloak that works in both space and time, shielding whole events from history itself."
   The latest development in 'invisibility technology' if you will, is what nationalgeographic.com calls a Space-Time Invisibility Cloak. "According to new research by British physicists, it's theoretically possible to create a material that can hide an entire bank heist from human eyes and surveillance cameras" (nationalgeographic.com).
   Excuse me!? Yes, you heard that right. Not only would the person committing the robbery be invisible, but both the robber and the entire criminal event would almost completely be erased from time and history itself. Almost.
   To realize the 'almost' part of the equation one must first understand how this cloak aims to render its preached invisibility.
   The concept is simple actually. We see our brain's interpretation of visible light coming through our eyes. Before the light reaches our eyes it hits the objects, people, and places we see and then hits our eyeballs at approximately 186,282 miles per SECOND. So, we actually see a slightly delayed image of our world.
   It is this delay that the cloak seeks to exploit. Basically, this cloak or material will slow down the light headed toward the observer, essentially delaying the images of whatever is to be hidden. Yes, the speed of light is constant, but it can slow down depending on the material that it passes through. In fact, researchers have slowed light down to a snail's crawl of 38mph.
   But the slowing of light must be carefully controlled to manipulate the time delay. Alasdair Wilkins describes the theoretical process well:

   "Let's say you're standing a mile away from an observer. You start slowly decreasing the speed of the light traveling towards the observer so that it's only traveling at 60 miles per hour, or a mile per minute. Since you're slowing the light down gradually, the observer won't be able to perceive the change. Once the light has reached 60 miles per hour, the observer is now seeing you as you were one minute ago. You've now created a one minute spacetime corridor. You've now got a minute to do whatever you want without the observer having any idea what you're up to."

   "Once your minute is up, you switch off the machine slowing down the light, it speeds back up, and the observer now sees you again as you are right now - or at least as you were a nanosecond ago. That minute is a temporally compressed blip that the observer cannot perceive."

   So cool right? I think so. Just the very thought of compressing a minute's worth of actions into an undetectable segment of time and virtually erasing it from history is absolutely mind blowing. But, wouldn't that history be your own memory therefore making it actual history? Maybe it would actually compress history, which is difficult to think about too. Now the question is how to make the 'invisibility machine' invisible, because it's no use if you wheel a heavy hunk of 'light-slowing' material in front of the security cameras before you disappear. Hmm...

Sources:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/07/110711-invisibility-cloak-events-space-time-bank-robbery-science/

http://io9.com/5691060/spacetime-invisibility-cloaks-can-hide-entire-events-inside-temporal-voids

Thank You Subscribers, Enjoy GOOGLE+

    A big THANK YOU goes out to all our subscribers following food for thought. Your support and participation with the blog and its postings is more than we could ask for. We hope that you all received your invitation to test GOOGLE+ and are exploring its new features as we write this. If you find it worth it, we ask that you spread the word and ask if anyone else you know is hungry for brain food.

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GOOGLE+: What Is It? And Is It Good?

   Following life's usual ironic fashion, Google's latest attempt in social networking seems to be blowing up Facebook, leaving some people scratching their noggins and wondering what the %@#! it is. As you may already know its called GOOGLE+. But, what you may have not known is that GOOGLE+ is projected to have the potential to "topple" Facebook. Will history prove consistent? Or will it be "third time's a charm" for Google after their last two major failures, Wave and Buzz (heard of them?)?
   According to Google's Official Blog: "Today, the connections between people increasingly happen online. Yet the subtlety and substance of real-world interactions are lost in the rigidness of our online tools."In this basic, human way, online sharing is awkward. Even broken. And we aim to fix it."
   In a sense both sites will be similar because GOOGLE+ is also basing its other features off a primary news feed, only they are labeling theirs the Stream. From there, the other four core elements will be called Huddles, Hangouts, Circles, and Sparks.

What Sparks may look like.

   Sparks is one feature that could be kind of cool. It's similar to StumbleUpon in that you can choose from a variety of interests, then receive videos, articles, pictures, etc. within that interest range. Obviously the option to share these interest will be easily accessible. However, there is always the risk that it could just become annoying spam.
   Now to the first, and maybe the coolest of the social elements, a Huddle. Huddles are usually meant to be short and quick meetings to convey some sort of information to several people, and that's essentially what these 'Huddles' are. They are group chats, in which all participants in the 'Huddle' can see what every other participant is saying. This could prove to be useful, when arranging an outing, party, vacation, you name it. It surely will be easier than juggling multiple friends over multiple text conversations. Okay, now from Huddles to Hangouts we go.
  Hangouts are about, well, hanging out with your friends. According to Google's demo, "Until teleportation arrives, it's the next best thing." Its basically a big group video chat in which everyone participating can see everyone else's live video; as if everyone is sitting in one big room. It seems like its just basic video calling. The difference is that you can have more than two calls in each chat, which apparently not all major services offer. We will see how that works.
  Now on to Circles. What are they? Well, they basically give you the ability to separate your friends into groups such as 'Band Mates' or 'Relatives'. " For example, you might want to catch up with your pals about your drunken Saturday night out, but you don't necessarily want your parents in your chat. You can keep your conversations separate by putting your contacts into 'circles' such as 'Work crew', 'Unimates' (www.pocket-lint.com). A simple click and drag is all you need to do to separate your friends into your specific 'Circles'.

What the 'Circles' page may look like

   GOOGLE+ also has some new privacy controls and is prepared for the mobile generation. "Supported by the Chrome, IE, Firefox and Safari browsers, Google+ will also be available on mobile devices - a vital element for any social networking platform"(www.pocket-lint.com). Learn more here.
   As of right now GOOGLE+ is currently testing the product with a soft launch, and only some are being invited to try it. To register for an early trial you can go to Google's sign-up page.
   So, what do you think (thanks for reading this far)? Are you going to give it a try? Upon review, it does seem to have some new features that could be pretty handy for our cyber generation. Circles, Hangouts, and especially Huddles could all have their own social niche they satisfy. Sparks could be really entertaining as long as it stays away from ads and things. However, it may be good to give it a second look considering it would most likely involve giving your information to Google, the world's #1 search engine and an information giant that is strapped with the power of the dollar. Besides, is it worth all the time waiting for your friends and contacts to slowly make the transition, if they even do? Is Facebook too far rooted in our time for any major change in social media sites?

ATTENTION: if you subscribe by email you will get your SNEAK PEEK AT THE NEW GOOGLE+ at the end of the day (can't just throw it online you know?). You will be able to start your account before the actual release. I will personally send the link to every new subscriber on the list. thanks for reading :)


   Source: http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/40785/what-is-google-android-iphone-apps
  

Yao Ming Cuts It Short

 After a recent past riddled with injury Yao Ming , Houston Rockets center and face of NBA basketball in China, has decided to call it quits. Yes, he is one of the tallest to ever play the game, but he has decided to cut his career short according to Yahoo.com.

"He's going to retire now, according to Yahoo! Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski. The feet couldn't handle the man. What pair of feet ever could?"
Yao Ming was more than a hunk of flesh in the paint, he had skills, a solid low post game, and footwork better than half his country had on Dance Dance Revolution. He was big, his game was big, and so was his influence.
 Yao Ming's international status helped expand the popularity of American sports and the NBA further around the world. Though his jersey isn't even the number one NBA seller in China, he has undoubtedly brought American athletics to the doors of many.
 Unfortunately his body may have been more of a burden than a help, as the close to his career was dominated by chronic injury -- mainly dealing with ankles and feet --, which some say forced his hand on his recent decisions.
 "That frame was never worth it. Three initial seasons of playing over 80 games a year led to an average of 41 games a season between 2005 and 2011. A 77-game run in 2008-09 led to broken hearts amongst every basketball fan, as they watched him pull up lame on basic cable television on a Friday night, working as best he could to defeat the Lakers in the second round of the playoffs."

 He finally gets to move on.
 Yao was born on September 12, 1980 in Shanghai, China and would grow to become the first over-all pick in the 2002 NBA Draft.
The Houston Rockets picked him up and it is there he stayed until his decision. Through out his career in Houston, he averaged 19ppg and just over 9 rebounds/game, and certainly would have averaged more if his body held up.
  While the league and its other fans may not, I know I will sure miss one of the few asians in the league. 

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/blog/ball_dont_lie/post/Yao-Ming-is-retiring?urn=nba-wp6200