The opposite to glass

Glass does two things, or rather, it does one thing and not another: it allows the passage of the, but not the passage of air.

But what of the opposite of glass, something that allows air, but not light?

Such a material would have to be super-absorbent and be designed in such a way as to allow air through. The diagram below shows a cross-section of a simple shape that would achieve this (on the left) and more complex 3D shape (on the right). I envisage that a panel of such tubes would interlock to give a window (to air, but not light).


Hopefully then, I won't get woken up by those early sunrises, but can still enjor the cool morning breeze!

Stress as a tool

Stress is a tool we use for motivation. It works, but too much has the opposite effect.

The soul

The soul is like a pool of water: if you search too hard you disturb the silt and obscure the bottom.

The arrogance of ideas

Is an ambition to have ideas and implement not arrogant, as it presuposes that ones ideas are better than other peoples?

The willingness of intelligent robots

Will robots intelligent enough to do our menial job be too intelligent to want to do them?

Onlinification

If you've taken a look around the web these days, you'll have seen its doing everything: office packages; communications; games; etc. The web desktop has arrived.

But what of all the old software that was written for this soon-to-be-obsolete Windows platform. Those old applications (particularly games) that we want to go back to every once in a while?

Well, why not put them online too. Without one shred of technical knowledge, I don't see why this isn't possible. The application is installed on and runs on a server computer, but is accessed and controlled through a web browser like the online applications.

A company could charge a hosting fee and have a database of all old software that people could run through their browser. Obviously files generated would be saved server-side, but could be shared between users.

Positive mental attitude

The unrealistic optimist says "I am going to do this", the slightly more realistic optimist says "I am going to do my best", the realistic optimist says "I am going to do what I can".