Living the Liminal

I mean, we all know where this is heading:
Craig Venter, the controversial DNA researcher involved in the race to decipher the human genetic code, has built a synthetic chromosome out of laboratory chemicals and is poised to announce the creation of the first new artificial life form on Earth.
Of course, that’s not really the problem, [...]

I find it ironic that the whole brouhaha over drastic price cuts on the iPhone has occurred on the heels of Labor Day. In all the whining and grumbling about consumer rights, and that consumers can no longer trust a company (as if companies care about their customers as people rather than as perpetual consumers), [...]

We are such an incredibly resourceful and damn smart species. Self-centered and greedy and cruel as well, but reading things like the Ars Technica article about early research on using inkjet printers for creating replacement body parts makes me smile at our species intelligence.
Link
Bet the replacement cartridges for this kind of printer would be a [...]

This story was printed about 12 years ago, but it’s the first I’d heard of it and is fascinating (definitely a play or a film script in the making):“The Great Ivy League Nude Posture Photo Scandal”
(via Boing Boing)
As Tom Merrit from CNET points out, when the scientists say “don’t worry,” it’s usually time to head [...]

Very cool new tech/power possibilities:
A Crowd Farm in Boston’s South
Station railway terminal would work like this: A responsive
sub-flooring system made up of blocks that depress slightly under the
force of human steps would be installed beneath the station’s main
lobby. The slippage of the blocks against one another as people walked
would generate power through the principle [...]

I have never played Second Life, and have not had any real desire to do so. After this article, I have even less incentive . . .
My adventures in Second Life02/19/07 by toothpaste
. . . My character came pre-loaded as a “cybergoth”. Most people I saw in the
game, jerkily wandering around, also had fantasy-ass names. [...]