Blue
Commentia: Various opinions on the events of Alpha Complex. And, y'know, the rest of the world.
How...Reseunesque
Apr 25, 2009
US Army trying to keep its soldiers younger and more highly functional for longer periods of time. One of the writeups specifically notes that this mitochondrial serum (which I'm calling rejuv, a term used by C J Cherryh in her Alliance-Union novels) would be sold to "warfighters", and that significant civilian interest in the product is also expected.
Since I'm a big fan of C J Cherryh and Robert J. Sawyer and others who have written stories about societies dealing with artificial life prolongation, I would have a few questions about any such drug:
- Would warfighters (translation: soldiers actively engaged in combat operations) have to pay for rejuv out of their military paychecks, or would this drug be provided to them like their vehicles, their ammunition and weaponry, their uniforms, and to a large extent their food?
- What medical support would be provided to soldiers who suddenly go off of this drug? One assumes that with the sudden cessation of rejuv, the body would essentially "crash". Whether this crash would be a hard crash or a softer crash has to be seen; but the aging process, which had been held off, would suddenly be turned back on. Depending on how long one was on rejuv, the adjustments could be quite severe - especially if one went from the mental and physical acuity of a 30-year-old to that of a 60-year-old with the beginnings of dementia. That's rough on anyone when it happens over a period of decades, let alone if it happens over a period of years.
- Once soldiers began taking rejuv, would they be entitled to purchase the drug at a discount once they left the service (assuming that they were honorably discharged)?
- If the cost of the drug was such that the civilian population was indeed split into the well-off with longer active lifespans - and thus increased attractiveness/productivity in the workforce/earning power - and the less moneyed who only had the typical productive "workforce" lifespan of 50-60 years, would there be an increasing divide of wealth distribution in society in general? Or, flip that, would workers who were on rejuv be paid less since they would effectively be expected to be gainfully employable for longer periods of time?
- I can already see enterprising legal folks drooling over the prospects of all those age- and inheritance-related wrinkles that would crop up.
No conclusions drawn, just questions asked. Hey, the weather's kind of nice, I'm going out and enjoying it while I can.
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and then rolls it right up
Apr 24, 2009
Wow. There goes a bit of history.
Aside from the incredibly rudimentary text-only pages and fingerfiles on my college’s Unix system (and one Santa Cruz geekhaus), my first real web sites were on Geocities. I helped out by volunteering as a community leader, I ran a few “groups”, and I had web rings (back when that particular entity was run by Sage Weil.) I left Geocities in 1998, shortly after Yahoo first partnered with Geocities and tried a stealth-rewrite of its Terms of Service. I stopped using Webring (or joining any webrings) when Geocities bought *that* in 1998. Still…it’s kind of sad to note the complete demise of Geocities.
I tried most of the first (1993-1996) free-webpage hosting services: Tripod. Angelfire. Xoom. I had a free graphics gallery, a database of support and recovery resources online, a primitive choose-your-own adventure game that was always more idea than actual game. (Trying to come up with, and keep track of, all those forking story ideas was a bit labor-intensive.)
I’ve since moved on quite a bit, running my own hosting business (minus any popup ads). But I still remember the Geocities culture, its general structure, its community. Geocities died a long time ago. Yahoo’s just been using the corpse to try and attract the occasional customer who decides to pay for premium service. (I’ve gotten a few of those clients who’ve found out that Yahoo’s idea of ‘premium’...isn’t very.)
Hearing this news is a bit like hearing that the playground you loved as a child…the playground you hadn’t thought about in a decade and hadn’t visited for a bit longer…is finally being demolished.
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Equal is equal. Anything else is a sham.
Nov 15, 2008
When people want to commit to each other to live together, work together, build a life, build a family, that should not be tolerated. It should be celebrated. When people work together, society gets more stable, gets stronger. So why are people so dead-set against equal rights for any adults who want to be married to another adult, to marry?
Join the Impact
Big demonstrations are today, in cities across the nation. Little demonstrations can and should happen continuously.
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The (relatively few) things I love talking about
Nov 04, 2008
I'm not much of a chatterbox. Well, at least not with people I don't know. Even with groups of my friends, I prefer to be the listener than the talker. I am not a big conversationalist. Still...there are certain subjects where I will put my oar in the water. (Sometimes uninvited. But that's another story...)
- Anthropological or sociological science fiction
- Mythological themes
- My hosting business
- The hosting or internet industry, in general
- Civil rights
- Philosophy
- My cats
- (currently) Projects for my new house
- Colors and color theory
- (again, currently) mineral makeup
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Two back-to-back quarters of recordbreaking profits for oil corporation Exxon.
Oct 30, 2008
I honestly don’t know whether to laugh, cry, or scream.
Exxon said net income jumped nearly 58 percent to $2.86 a share in the July-September period. That compares with $9.41 billion, or $1.70 a share, a year ago.
The previous record for U.S. corporate profit was set in the last quarter, when Exxon Mobil earned $11.68 billion.
Revenue rose 35 percent to $137.7 billion.
Their portfolio is diversified, one contributing factor towards their high profits was due to them finally paying off the Valdez cleanup costs, and any company that’s doing well in this economy…yay. Less of a drain on the system.
But at the same time…these folks really cheese me off. Two back-to-back quarters of recordbreakingly high profits? With gas prices as high as they were? Yeah, I’ll just bet they made good money.
(My new house has natural gas and radiant heat - so I’ll be giving these folks as little money as possible. But still…in which direction do I throw the rotten vegetables?)
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...preceded by happytalk.
Oct 17, 2008
After the week I’ve had, I need a meme. Associative thinking sometimes helps clear out my brainpan…and it’s kind of fun. I found this over at Pseudotherapy, where she’d ganked it from Karl’s place, Secondhand Tryphtophan.
- Where is your cell phone? What?
- Your significant other? None
- Your hair? Long
- Your mother? Dreams
- Your father? Plans
- Your favorite thing? Freedom
- Your dream last night? Anxious
- Your favorite drink? Cider
- Your dream/goal? Contentment
- The room you’re in? Office
- Your hobby? Teaching
- Your fear? Dementia
- Where do you want to be in six years? Growing
- What you’re not? Overzealous
- Muffins? Blueberry
- One of your wish list items? Glee
- Where you grew up? Earth
- The last thing you did? Househunt
- What are you wearing? Purple
- Favorite gadget? None
- Your pets? Overlords
- Your computer? Tool
- Your mood? Turbulent
- Missing someone? Minutely
- Your car? Twee
- Something you’re not wearing? Stilettos
- Favorite store? Books
- Like someone? Yep
- Your favorite color? Interference
- When is the last time you laughed? Today
- Last time you cried? Yesterday
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