Thursday, March 25, 2010

Two Completely Unrelated Topics

This evening was interesting. The county Republican caucus is Saturday, so it was time to finish calling all the delegates to see if they had any questions for me. That is one of the things you get to do when you are running for a partisan office. L joined me in calling the ~150 delegates over the last two evenings. The hard part for me is not to talk too long: most people enjoy talking. I suspect a lot of that is because we all know each other out here in the rural west. That makes it just neighborly to ask how the wife and kids are doing and if the fields are looking good and ...

On a completely different topic, I saw an article on the skinput system today and cannot decide whether the idea is brilliant or just plain spooky. For those too lazy to read the article (and/or too spooked to watch the video therein), the basic idea is to use a body mounted projector and the sounds produced by tapping on your skin to turn your body into the latest version of the touch screen. As a physicist I was intrigued by the applied science of using longitudinal and transverse propagation of waves in and on the surface of the body to deduce the point of tap. Amazing.

So what is your opinion? I still much prefer the direct skull electrode readers, but then I am a closet fan of Frankenstein too.

My idol!

8 comments:

  1. I don't know about you but I think the whole idea of the skinput system sounds a bit troublesome to use. But then again, I also thought the same thing about the iPod touch and now I'm a slave to one. Now the direct skull electrode readers, that might sound like it'll be interesting...A bit scary too though.

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  2. The science behind it is fascinating, but I agree with Jen C. in that it doesn't seem terribly easy to use.

    Wow - that's a lot of phone calls to make. Talking on the phone makes me itchy, so I would have a hard time with that. Nice job!

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  3. No thank you to the skinput. That's just not good for me at all!

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  4. The skinput thing is just way too creepy for me AND what if someone bumps into me accidentally and pulls up something really personal? No thanks.

    Hey, I'm still saddened that letter writing is becoming a lost art because of email.

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  5. To high-tech for me. Sounds like the mark of the Beast.

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  6. I'm a little scared of the skinput thing..just sayin..

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  7. I love the skinput thing!
    I don't really, I just wanted to be different. But I do think it's really interesting. I'm all for electrodes to the brain...of other people.
    Good luck on all of the calls. I do well to call my mother once a week.

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  8. Wow. I think I know why I'll never run for office (or at least reason number 654). I don't think I could call and talk to that many people. I just flat out don't have the patience.

    And on behalf of all of us who are both too lazy and too freaked out, thank you!

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You know you want to ... so just do it!!!

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