Life in space

I came across another interesting article and wanted to share it with you. John Moore, a UF anthropologist, suggests that deep-space travel be best conducted by families. The idea is that families have the proper authoritative structure and ability to take on a variety of tasks that are required in long term space-travel. Moore said "A starting population of 150 to 180 would best sustain itself at the same rate over six to eight generations, while fitting into the geometric contours of a spacecraft.". However, this situation could create several problems.
To begin, each generation would need to come to terms with the fact that they will live their entire lives on a spacecraft. The only contact with Earth being via media. I wonder if children would rebel against their parents for making this decision for them. But, parents make many decisions every-day which affect their children's lives. And children would not have much choice about their situation in either case.
Furthermore, many freedoms which we take for granted on Earth (or at least America) would need to be governed. Limits on how many children a couple can have, what sex children should be, who can marry, and equal allocation of resources are all key to a succesfull mission.
Another complication which is brought up in the column is how morals are maintained. If someone decided to become king and enslave the rest of the spacecraft it would be impossible for people back on Earth to do anything about it. Would the interdependence on each other for survival help keep order or would a very strict military like order need to be maintained? Could any system be maintained over several generations to successfully complete the mission?

Virtual robbery

Phil sent me an interesting piece of news today. It explains how people dubbed 'cyber-criminals' are attacking players of online role-playing games with gangs of 'bots'. 'Bots' are computer programs created to simulate human actions in online games. These programs can play much better than the humans and are impossible to defeat. They are being used to attack players and steal their possesions including magical items, weapons and other items. If you're not familiar with online games these days then you might wonder "What's the point?". Recently some online games have created virtual assets which may be purchased for real money. These assets can be sold in online auctions. The criminals who cheat in the game and steal assets are then able to make money from their virtual plunder.

This article points out how much these virtual assets are really worth. An island in a virtual game called Project Entropia was sold for the equivalent of $26K. The new owner will use the island to make money by selling lots and harvesting resources. He thinks of his new purchase as an investment.

It's interesting to think about online assets in virtual worlds. Currently, the real value of the virtual currency in any cyber-world is governed by the company which creates the game. The company is responsible for limiting the risk of loss by its players but turns to the judicial system when computer hackers take advantage of weaknesses in the system to steal virtual assets. I think it's crazy to believe that court-systems have to govern the behavior of online characters in virtual worlds. However, without this intervention the virtual assets of the players could be worth nothing. For more investigation of virtual worlds and their relation to real life visit the TerraNova site.

Back from the wilderness

Last weekend I made a last minute trip (aren't they all) to Prince George. It's a city smack dab in the middle of BC, Canada with a population of 78000. My mom and dad moved there in 1977 and shortly thereafter I was born. We moved to Nanaimo only 1.5 years later but my uncle Steve and Grandparents still live there. When I was a kid we'd take the family up to Purden lake to visit my uncle's cabin. This was the first time I'd returned in almost 10 years and it was great.

I flew from Vancouver to PG on Friday and arrived to celebrate my dads birthday. Happy "47th" dad. ;) We headed up to the cabin that night. Purden Lake is a 45 minute drive towards McBride from PG. The cabin has no internet, power, cellular signal or bathroom. So it's pretty off the grid. There are however propane lanterns, a wood fireplace, propane stove, out-house and room for 12 to sleep. It was great to wake up in the morning and jump into the lake off the dock. Nobody out on the lake yet and calm, clear water.

While out there I paddled across the lake in a kayak and remembered to do eskimo rolls. My dad and I also did some canoeing, mountain biking, and lots of swimming. Saturday night we had a party for 3 birthdays out at the lake. My grandparents both made it out and we BBQ'd for over a dozen people. Shawn even showed up since he was camping up in his birthplace: Salmon Valley.

Sunday we returned and I spent that night and Monday hanging out with family and touring around PG. The flight home was beautiful as we went over the Coastal Mountain range and came down over the North Shore of Vancouver. It's weird to get back to civilization after being out there but I am happy to have luxuries like a shower and internet again.

Go Team

This week has been mostly business with some time to enjoy the sun. Monday was the most exciting part with dodgeball and ultimate games back-to-back. We creamed the other team with 2 wins in a row in dodgeball. Yep, in case you didn't know the Proclub (gym next to Microsoft) offers dodgeball leagues based on the movie. It's pretty fun to SMASH your opponent from point blank with foam balls. Ultimate was also great. Until this week my team was winless. Not for a lack of trying but we usually come close and lose in the last few points. Not Monday. With no subs we came back from 9-11 to win 13-11! Winning's not everything but it sure is fun!

Wednesday I raced up to Canada late at night (10:30pm-3am) to pickup Amanda. She's really stressed out from working and taking psycology/english distance classes from Pierce College. Last night after work I went to the Dental Hygiene 'get to know the school/students' meeting in Tacoma. She's going to have a lot of tough and exciting times ahead. For the next 2 years dental hygiene will be her life. I'm going to to help out wherever I can because it's a very busy schedule. Especially commuting from Kirkland. Luckily her 2nd year partner (Carie) is really nice and lives in Kirkland too. I'm glad to know she's got some peer-support.

I'm looking forward to tonight. Some friends have chartered a house-boat to cruise around on Lake Union/Washington. Here's the link to the charter. Here are some pics from a trip on the boat last year.

Break stuff

Wow I'm bad luck. In the past week everything has been breaking. The shower started leaking and destroyed the ceiling of the laundry room downstairs. A rock hit my BMW's windshield and is being replaced tomorrow (luckily insurance covers this). My DELL GX270 office computer blew some circuits (literally popped the top right off them and squirted orange stuff all over the inside of the case). The server that got coffee dumped into it will cost $3700 for us to replace the gig-chips of memory and motherboard so we're looking into cheaper options or just buying a new one. And Wednesday I'm taking my R6 into the shop since I just can't get the head-bolt to stay tight (even with lock-tite).

What's next? At least my body is staying in tact. I should knock on wood because tonight I'm playing dodge-ball at 6:20 and ultimate frisbee at 7:15. It's going to be a long haul. Go teams!