Lab Gab

The Top 10 In-Demand Jobs of 2010 ... did not exist in 2004! Technology is changing - are you ready for this?

2010-02-27T18:22:00.006-05:00

Technology is always pushing the limits. This video above gives some insight into the world of today's education of students ... and how quickly the technologies are changing.

After having watched the video,

EXTRA CREDIT
Answer the following questions in complete sentences handwritten ON A SHEET OF PAPER for EXTRA CREDIT!!

1) Which country has more HONORS kids than America HAS kids?

2) The U.S. Department of Labor estimates that today's learner
will have 10-14 Jobs by WHAT (young) AGE?

3) IF MySpace were a country (with its current number of users as population), it
would be the ______ largest country in the world!

4) Which country is ranked #1 in Broadband Internet Penetration
(broadband internet users)? Where does the United States rank?

5) How many words are there in the English language? How many times more words are
there now than there were during Shakespeare's time?

6) By which year will we have a supercomputer that will exceed the computational
capabilities of the human brain?

7) According to predictions, by which year will a $1,000 computer exceed the
computational capabilities of the ENTIRE HUMAN SPECIES?

8) It is estimated that a week's worth of The New York Times contains more
information than a person was likely to come across in a lifetime in the 18th
century. How could this be possible?

Here are 5 of the hottest NEW Technologies
that will change EVERYTHING!

3D LCD TVs That Don't Require Glasses Coming Soon

The PC in 2019: This PC Is Just a Decade Away

PC World Predictions -- Some were right on the money, others ... well....

25 Years of Predictions:

Greatest Hits

1983 What we said: "The mouse will bask in the computer world limelight... Like the joystick before it, though, the mouse will fade someday into familiarity."

We hit that one out of the park. Mice are so commonplace that they're practically disposable.

1984 What we said: "Microsoft Windows should have a lasting effect on the entire personal computer industry."

"Lasting" was an understatement. Windows has now amassed for Microsoft total revenues in the tens of billions of dollars and is so ubiquitous and influential that it has been almost perpetually embroiled in one lawsuit or another, usually involving charges of monopoly or of trademark and patent infringements.

1988 What we said:"In the future you'll have this little box containing all your files and programs... It's very likely that eventually people will always carry their data with them."

For most people, that little box is now also their MP3 player or cell phone.

And Biggest Misses

1987 What we said: "When you walk into an office in 1998, the PC will sense your presence, switch itself on, and promptly deliver your overnight e-mail, sorted in order of importance."

When we arrive in our office, the computer ignores us, slowly delivers the overnight e-mail, and puts all the spam on top.

1994 What we said: "Within five years... batteries that last a year, like watch batteries today, will power [PDAs]."

Perhaps our biggest whiff of all time. Not only do these superbatteries not exist (nor are they even remotely in sight), but PDAs are pretty much dead too.

2000 What we said: We wrote about future "computers that pay attention to you, sensing where you are, what you're doing, and even what your vital signs are... Products incorporating this kind of technology...could hit the market within a year."

While many devices now feature location-sensing hardware, such a PC has yet to come to pass. And frankly, we'd be glad to be wrong about this one.

www.johnstipek.com

Are we alone in the universe?

2010-02-27T15:32:00.002-05:00

Structureless Space Telescope Could Look For Life Around Other Stars

Could life exist on Jupiter's Moon?

New Technique helps search for another Earth

Ingredients for life EXIST on Saturn's Moon Enceladus

Why do we persist in finding "life on other planets?" Search that term in Google to pull up over 2.2 million web links devoted to that topic.

Have you ever wanted to help out in the search? My next door neighbor always left his computer ON 24/7 and his family only used it perhaps 4 hours each day. So, who used it the remaining 20 hours of the day? Why, SETI, of course! What is SETI? It is the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (or life outside of Earth's).

If you are interested in using the resources you have (computer speed and internet speed) to help locate extraterrestrial life - (with your parental guardians' permission) head on over to : http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/ and SETI will use your computing power and internet speed to aid the process of sending and (possibly, one day?) receiving more signals to and from outer space!!

Here is how it works:

Download, install and run the BOINC software used by SETI@home. When prompted, enter the URL: http://setiathome.berkeley.edu

Have questions or need help? Contact a volunteer using BOINC online help.

IF your computer gives the most amount of computing time and aids SETI a great deal, you can earn a Top Spot for aid and be listed on their TOP HOSTS list!
http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/top_hosts.php

SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) is a scientific area whose goal is to detect intelligent life outside Earth. One approach, known as radio SETI, uses radio telescopes to listen for narrow-bandwidth radio signals from space. Such signals are not known to occur naturally, so a detection would provide evidence of extraterrestrial technology.

Radio telescope signals consist primarily of noise (from celestial sources and the receiver's electronics) and man-made signals such as TV stations, radar, and satellites. Modern radio SETI projects analyze the data digitally. More computing power enables searches to cover greater frequency ranges with more sensitivity. Radio SETI, therefore, has an insatiable appetite for computing power.

Previous radio SETI projects have used special-purpose supercomputers, located at the telescope, to do the bulk of the data analysis. In 1995, David Gedye proposed doing radio SETI using a virtual supercomputer composed of large numbers of Internet-connected computers, and he organized the SETI@home project to explore this idea. SETI@home was originally launched in May 1999.

EXTRA CREDIT
Answer the following questions in complete sentences handwritten ON A SHEET OF PAPER for EXTRA CREDIT!!

1) Why do you believe people hope to find life on other planets?

2) Where do you think is the most likely place we will find extraterrestrial life and why? OR, if you don't believe we will find life, explain why life could not take place anywhere else except on Earth.

3) List the basic ingredients necessary for life (as we know it) to survive.

4) Could life forms from Earth survive on other planets? Why or why not?

5) Assuming that Earth life forms could survive and thrive on other planets, should we "seed" life from Earth onto other planets like Mars or Saturn? Why or why not?

6) Would you want to work for SETI... why or why not?

7) There is only ONE life form on Earth that could survive a trip on a meteorite through outer space because it has a high resistance to temperature changes and can survive solely off of inorganic compounds such as sulfur or ammonia, with no need for sunlight. Name this life form and explain how and when we discovered it.

www.johnstipek.com

Space Travelers To Live in Mars' Lava Tubes?

2009-07-31T10:14:00.002-04:00

Lava tubes could become the favorite home for space travelers when man-made trips to Mars occur. Similarly, if man were to live on the Moon, a lava tube would be an ideal house!

So, just what is a "lava tube?"

http://www.goodearthgraphics.com/virtual_tube/skylight1.mov

A lava tube is a geological feature associated with volcanoes. Scientists have thought that astronauts may want to live inside lava tubes on Mars and the moon if we can find them.

Check out this website:

http://www.asi.org/adb/06/09/03/02/100/12-questions.html
EXTRA CREDIT

Answer the following questions in complete sentences handwritten ON A SHEET OF PAPER for EXTRA CREDIT!!

1. How is a lava tube formed?

2. Where are they found on Earth?

3. Are lava tubes likely to be on the moon?

4. Are lava tubes on the moon safe or are they likely to collapse? Why?

5. List three reasons why we might want to use lava tubes to live in on the moon.

6. How much space is probably in the lava tubes, if there are any, on the moon?

7. Where else in the solar system are we likely to discover lava tubes?

www.johnstipek.com

International Space Hotel In Full Flight

2009-07-08T19:23:00.000-04:00

While the recession may be putting a damper on vacations around the world, companies such as Virgin Galactic are talking seriously about taking vacations out of this world!

And while the price tag ($200,000 a seat) may be out of reach for the cash-strapped general public, Virgin Galactic and the National Space Society have teamed up to offer a FREE ticket if you enter and win yourself a seat aboard the spaceship.

Visit https://www.spaceambassadors.com to sign up.

Whenever you travel you will be in need of a place to stay. British students at the Imperial College London have taken the next step and designed a space hotel. Be sure to step on board if your current Virgin Galactic housing is not to your liking.

EXTRA CREDIT
Answer the following questions in complete sentences handwritten ON A SHEET OF PAPER for EXTRA CREDIT!!

Think of eight difficulties that a space traveler could experience when dealing with Zero gravity, or any other issues that space causes as well as eight solutions. For example, it would making sleeping difficult unless harnessed in uncomfortably. And what could you eat that contains no moisture - freeze-dried beans? How could you shower in zero gravity without the water floating away in globules? These students came up with some solutions (come up with your own and compare):

http://www.imperial.ac.uk/imedia/vid/index.php?vid=315

www.johnstipek.com

Would you trade great life experiences for money and material possessions?

2009-02-17T21:23:00.000-05:00

Memories of your HDTV or your lakeside vacation - which do you prefer?

How about hiking a mountain and whitewater-rafting with your loved ones?
Or you could have a few hundred dollars in cash and an expensive lamp.

Which provides the real "light" in your life?

"People still believe that more money will make them happy, even though 35 years of research has suggested the opposite," Howell said. "Maybe this belief has held because money is making some people happy some of the time, at least when they spend it on life experiences."

While your HDTV may satisfy your need for entertainment, your possessions are not going to provide you with the greatest sense of well-being.

A recent study by San Francisco State University shows that buying experiences result in increased well-being because they fulfill much higher order needs than getting that new BluRay DVD or a new couch.

The need for social connectedness and vitality - being alive - trumps the need for more stuff in the house.

OR

Those participating in the study had been asked to write down reflections and answer questions regarding any recent purchases. The subjects noted that experiential purchases represented money better spent as well as greater happiness for both themselves and others. These findings also show that experiences produce more happiness regardless of the amount of money spent or the income of the consumer.

In the long-term, experiences still outweigh material possessions. "Purchased experiences provide memory capital," Howell said. "We don't tend to get bored of happy memories like we do with a material object."

So, just remember that "money can't buy happiness." Life goes by quickly and you can either choose to spend your time collecting items to surround yourself with at home or spend your time with friends and family experiencing life moments which will live within you always. Just know that the person inside you truly yearns for life experiences, not a new gadget. And your memory knows the difference.

www.johnstipek.com

Source:
San Francisco State University. "Buying Experiences, Not Possessions, Leads To Greater Happiness." ScienceDaily 17 February 2009. 17 February 2009 /releases/2009/02/090207150518.htm>.

What's your favorite planet?

2009-01-19T23:40:00.001-05:00

.Without looking at the picture below, which planet would give you the most room to stretch out on? Earth is actually one of the smallest planets in our solar system.

When asked which planet is your favorite, many will respond with an exotic answer like Neptune or Jupiter. Can these planets sustain life as we know it? Theoretically, no. But we weren't asked what's our favorite hospitable planet, were we?

Just like living in South Florida, where many people in the world would consider its beaches and palm trees a paradise, the locals consider it plain and ordinary.

At least, those of us that grew up here see it as ordinary. We know very little of any other places like North Carolina where it gets down to 10 degrees F in the winter or lower. Not the most hospitable environment but to people who grew up in South Florida, that's paradise!

Mountains, streams, log cabins, snow, and towns with a history other than previously being swampland - these are the things we consider a paradise because they are exotic to us. Beaches seem commonplace to us because they are.

Obviously, looking at the picture we can see that Jupiter dwarfs all the other planets easily, with Saturn running a close second. Earth is practically the size of a hood ornament on a Jupiter car comparatively.

Lab Gab's next installment coming soon...
STAY TUNED!
www.johnstipek.com