"I See the Light!"

If you were asked to think of people relating to certain words, who would you think of from the word 'electricity'? How about 'light bulb'. Chances are that you think of Thomas Edison. Chances are that you were taught that it was Edison who invented the light bulb. In reality, that is not true. Preposterous you say? I think not. It turns out that the light bulb was already around 50 years before Edison got his patent for his bulb in 1879. The history of the bulb is almost too long for me to write down, but here is a Wiki article on the light bulb, which gives a nice timeline. Really, all Edison "invented" was a long lasting light bulb. This I wouldn't really consider an invention, but more of an improvement.
Now, I ask, why do schools teach that Edison was the "inventor of the light bulb"? This just isn't true, and I'm not saying that as if I'm a conspiracy theorist or something (I'm not). It's true, Edison didn't invent the bulb (as stated before). It would be nice if the schools wouldn't go around portray Edison as the only person involved. How hard would it be to simply make even little notes to acknowledge the few other people involved?
As for electricity, someone much more involved in it, and, frankly, what he did was a lot more interesting, was a man by the name of Nikola Tesla. I can't list all of the things that he did here, because it would take up way to much room. But that link gives an excellent account of his life and what he did. He often criticized Edison's work, saying something to the point of Edison wasting his time by trying something many times before getting it right (remember that little saying? Edision failed hundreds of times before getting his light bulb right?). Tesla was a man who did not want to fail. He would mathematically figure out a problem, until he was sure of it, and then test it out, and usually get it right, or close the first time. (See, maybe failure shouldn't always be regarded as a good thing, and the chance that it could be done better with less failure is always there).
Another small known fact about him is that he was the inventor of the radio. It is rather sad though, that after his death, his entire house and possessions were seized by the US government, in spite of the fact that he was a US citizen (the 4th Amendment might I remind you says that you should be safe from seizures). This is another example of what kind of things Tesla did; the government was almost afraid that an invention of his might be stolen and sold to another country (he did deal with "weapons").
Even though Tesla basically created the modern world through his knowledge and research in electricity, I never once heard his name through high school, or even before that.
What do you think about this?

STS-117

Wishing a safe and successful trip to the crew of the space shuttle Atlantis. It lifted off today at 7:38EST and is scheduled to be in space for 11 days and complete 3 space walks. For more official information you can check out NASA shuttle website, and if you want to see where the shuttle is in real-time as well as possible sightings, check out THIS website.

Touch Sense-ational

Not really something on my mind, but something that I'm finding pretty amazing. It's the new Microsoft Surface. Utilizing a 30" display on a "coffee table", it allows the user to fully interact with it in every way imaginable. Have some pictures on your digital camera you want to share, but don't want to have to use your computer or show them on the small screen? Just place your camera on Surface and, voila, all your pictures are instantly transfered to the "table". Then you can place your wireless cell phone on the table and drag any pictures to the phone and have them copied to it. Quite amazing. And that's only scratching the Surface (you really wouldn't want to scratch it. Price estimates are between $5000 and $10000). Unfortunately, the initially steep price tag will have most people without a place to put anything on. It's estimated for a Winter 2007 release. Here are some links with more information and videos of it in action (links will open in a new window).

www.microsoft.com/surface
http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/industry/4217348.html

A Different Look on Life

First off let me say that I am not trying to say that anyone's beliefs are right or wrong. That may be what it sounds like, but it is not my intention.

This is something that has been on my mind for a long time, but I've never written it down or talked to anyone about it.

I grew up in a very religious household. All my family members on both sides of my family are Christians (Mennonite) and I've had friends of many different religions. After numerous years though, I've always thought "what makes this religion 'correct'"? There are millions of Christians that think that Christianity is the only religion, and it is the "correct" religion. But what about the Islamists, or the Hindus, or the Buddhists (yes, they all exist in America)? Each has millions, even billions of people worldwide that follow each faith. Why can't they be "correct"? The Dali Lama, or the thousands of Hindu and Buddhists monks all live very spiritual lives, but they aren't Christians. Does that mean that they are going to be damned to hell, regardless of the fact that they devoted their lives to a religion that they thought to be true?
My sister, who is also a Christian, has a friend who is Mormon. She asked that friend to tell her about Mormonism, which she did. When that friend told some other fellow Mormons at her church about the little lesson, they seemed delighted and asked when she was going to convert. Even this shocked her a little bit.
That example was not meant to say that Mormons are bad people, because they aren't. I simply used it to show that some people only believe there is one way. Now I'm not trying to suggest that there is a one and only true religion. Perhaps there is and perhaps there isn't. But what if what makes you happy, is "correct"?
What do you think?

Google Opens A Window Into Your Personal Life

I just read some news articles questioning the newly added "Street View" to Google Maps. Some people are asking whether it makes public what most people would consider private. Now what do I have to say about this? First, the pictures are taken in public, so everything in them is public, not private. People are whining that the pictures let you see into people's houses, and people's actions on the streets, and other "private" things, such as license plate numbers, etc. Now if you don't want people looking at this stuff you can request that it be taken off by simply asking Google. Or you could simply close your blinds, or not do stupid things in public, like pick your nose. Who cares if they are pictures. I could walk through San Francisco or New York and see into people's houses or people picking there noses or scratching their butts. Are pictures really worse than in person? As for the license plates, those have never been public. I could just as soon pick a license plate number while driving and see who it belongs to as I could pick a license plate from a picture and do the same; anyone could. People don't really ever think about what really is public, until it is made "public". What's your take on this so-called "invasion of privacy"?