FREEDOM SHIP!!!!

M.S. Freedom Ship - A Floating City Ship concept put forward by Freedom Ship International.

The passenger ocean liner is, without question, the greatest of all man-made construction, especially as exhibited at the peak of its development from the 1930s onwards. They were as large then as any skyscraper or any of the world’s greatest railway stations. But unlike these edifices, locked to the earth, static upon their foundations, the passenger ocean liners, fitted with machinery as large as that of any power station, were powerful, mobile monuments of man’s engineering prowess. Cleaving the waves at anything up to 30 knots, they were the leviathans and monarchs of the oceans, and truly were floating cities.In the 19th and 20th century the ocean liner and their scheduled routes were a means of travel between countries. They enabled people for the first time to travel long distances between countries and continents on a regular basis. By the 1960s and 70s this role of the ocean liner had declined due to the advent of air travel. As a result in the late 20th century the ocean liner adapted for cruising and became the cruise liner. Now rather than being a means of travel cruise liners are a destination in themselves and have become floating resorts. In turn the ocean liner and cruise liners have sown the seed of the floating city concept. In the early 21st century we have seen the emergence of the first residential condominium ships. Thus marking the next stage in the continued evolution of the ocean passenger ship.

The ocean passenger liner has come a long way since the 19th century when its scheduled ocean services were a vital means of travel. In the 20th century the ocean liner evolved into the cruise liner and became a floating resort, and today in the early 21st century there is the new and exciting development of the residential condominium ship. We may yet be a long way from seeing the floating city ship concept becoming reality. But one thing is certain the ocean passenger ship that had its origins in the ocean liners of the 19th and 20th centuries will continue to evolve and doubtless there will be many more exciting developments in the future.

RoBoTs !!! :-)

USA Today is running a story about the emergence of robots in common aspects of life in Japan. Many simple yet social jobs are being filled by robots of increasing sophistication. The article suggests that Japanese culture is more open to such interaction than the majority of other cultures. Quoting: "For Japan, the robotics revolution is an imperative. With more than a fifth of the population 65 or older, the country is banking on robots to replenish the workforce and care for the elderly. The government estimates the industry could surge from about $5.2 billion in 2006 to $26 billion in 2010 and nearly $70 billion by 2025. Besides financial and technological power, the robot wave is favored by the Japanese mind-set as well. Robots have long been portrayed as friendly helpers in Japanese popular culture, a far cry from the often rebellious and violent machines that often inhabit Western science fiction."
source: http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?no_d2=1&sid=08/03/02/156229

SMART ARMOUR FOR SOLDIERS!!!

" The U.S. Army wants to turn G.I. Joes and Janes into superheroes right out of Hollywood. In the 1987 film Predator, Arnold Schwarzenegger played an Army commando battling an alien in a suit that rendered it invisible. The film got mixed reviews, but the Army hopes its so-called Future Warrior outfit will be a smash on the battlefield. "With a uniform like Predator's, our soldiers would really have a lopsided advantage," says Jean-Louis "Dutch" De Gay, a systems engineer at the Army's Soldier Systems Center in Natick, Mass." by http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/03_30/b3843083.htm

SPACE ELEVATOR :-)

Animated introduction presentation to space elevator (tether) concept envisioned by ISR. The Space Elevator, tethered to a platform in geosynchronous orbit, has been evaluated from a scientific and engineering perspective and determined to be feasible with existing and anticipated near-term technology. With the continued development of high-strength materials made from carbon nanotubes formed into composite threads, a space elevator could enhance the long-term sustainability of the NASA Space Exploration Vision. A space elevator system would provide a safe and inexpensive means of delivering a large mass of payload to earth orbit and to the Moon and Mars, and enable many new types of commercial ventures in space.