phyllostachys 60: Minute Tech 45 show notes

45 - What is Tobogganing?

Good morning, this is Alex Landefeld with episode 45 of the Minute Tech podcast -

coming to you for Thursday, December 6th, 2007

On this tech podcast about the broader meanings of technology, we'll mention:

- Intel's Penryn and ESA's Columbus make debuts;
- What is Tobogganing?
- Listening to my earlier shows...for enjoyment.

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Minute Tech podcast is brought to you in part by:

Larry Tolbert's Sunday Morning Taiji - learning tai chi and qi gong 9:30 am every Sunday morning at the Dunamis Baptist Church, in Wilkinsburg, PA. "Move with the motion of the planet - move with Taiji" - e-mail leonardtolbert-[at]-hotmail-[dot]-com for more info.

And:

Ravelings, by Carol. Pittsburgh-region classes in needle-craft - encompassing crochet, embroidery, knitting, & tatting, as well as an associated lace collection. For more information, contact Carol at carolb207-[at]-alltel-[dot]-net.

Tech News:

Intel's Penryn Chip, which has entered production at Intel's Chandler, Arizona fab facility, may make it's debut at the Consumer Electronics Show and/or MacWorld in upcoming January 2008. Writers and bloggers have been speculating for months that the next device to make it out of Santa Job's Cupertino workshop will be a subnotebook with solid-state Flash RAM drive, meaning no spinning disk, allowing for immediate boot up of the notebook computer. That could be cool...though my notebook is immediate bootup now: Apple has the sleep mode which works extremely well - I seldom actually shut the machine down. The subnotebook rumors, by the way, include thoughts about a potential iTouch device, which, similar to the iTouch iPod and iPhone, but larger, would be a true Star Trek-like handheld computing device.

The San Francisco Chronicle reports that Steve Jobs was inducted into the California Hall of Fame last night by Gov Schwarzenegger last night, along with 12 other "visionaries and trailblazers". There's a web cast of the induction event in Sacramento, at a link here in the show notes: http://www.gov.ca.gov/multimedia . Interestingly, Jobs shares the spotlight with such luminaries as Elizabeth Taylor, Tiger Woods, Milton Berle and Dr. Jonas Salk. Hmmm, I though that Pittsburgh claimed Jonas Salk? I guess ya gotta glom onto famous names wherever and whenever you can.

Finally, as reported in an earlier show, Space Shuttle Atlantis is lifting off later today to deliver a science experiments module from the European Space Agency. The 11-day mission will allow astronauts to attach the module & deliver French astronaut Leopold Eyharts, who will inaugurate experiments on the Christopher Columbus module. The ESA's module was originally slated for a 2003 launch, which was long delayed by the re-entry disintegration of the Columbia space shuttle. In 2008, an ESA robotic spacecraft is set to dock with the ISS, as well as two Japanese modules, which will be delivered by space shuttle flights.


Tech Question:

What is toboganning? Interestingly, wikipedia's entry focuses on sled & sleigh variants which my mental image does not show as toboggan's. In my childhood memories, a toboggan was 100% the wooden or plastic sled which curls up in front, allowing for multiple people to sit together for a nearly uncontrollable ride down a snow hillside. In fact, as wikipedia does describe, the toboggan would be wooden slats fastened together, perhaps 10 or 12 2-inch slats, with a steam-bent front, curled in a J-shape, with a rope fastened to the front to allow both for basic steering, but primarily for pulling the Toboggan back up the hill. In Cleveland, where I grew up, we'd go to Shaker Height's Thornton Park, which had the highest sledding hill in the immediate vicinity. Very awesome, very icy, very steep, very cold, very fun.

I suppose this type of device for developing break-neck speed down a snowy slope might fall into the sledda-non-grata category for safety-conscious parents...but it sure is a vastly fun experience for all involved.

According to wikipedia, the Olympic bobsled is a type of Toboggan...but I'd think that it is more akin to a dog sled or horse-drawn sleigh, in that it has four rails under the body, allowing for traction on snowy or icy terrain...which in the case of the bobsled is an artificial course set up for the purpose of producing a harrowing race against the clock. My palms sweat at the mere thought of hurtling down such a course....though it is in essence a very controlled experience. :-)


Podcasting - Blogging News:

Do you remember the admonitions to Killashandra Ree, in Anne McCaffrey's Crystalsinger to record memories, as the very long life of a crystalsinger causes memories of past life to fade quickly? My podcasts are seeming to be a great way to record not only past tech news, but also how I thought about those things, interpretted them and put them into words. I've been enjoying going back and listening to my past Minute Tech podcast shows, which I've burned to CD for easy listening anywhere, partially to see what I didn't talk about in great enough depth and partially to see how I may not have had the right information, so that I can elaborate in another show. For instance, I mentioned Asberger's (sp?) syndrome, as referenced on the Infinite Mind radio show...I need to elaborate on that, since I gave absolutely no information on that particular podcast.

This is a great reason to blog, podcast or vidcast. Current generations complain that previous generations did not document their lives, giving the younger ones a sense of history, of where they came from, of what their forebears thought about the world. Now with these forms of expression they'll be inundated, for good or ill, with these vast amounts of artistic output. How will they catalog it all...how will it all be assimilated by future generations?


Thats all for today on Minute Tech podcast.
you can reach me at minutetech@gmail.com -
and my blog is at minutetech.blogspot.com

"Move with the motion of the planet - move with Taiji"

- Intel's Penryn and ESA's Columbus make debuts;
- What is Tobogganing?
- Listening to my earlier shows...for enjoyment.

Go to the Minute Tech iWeb page to subscribe or listen to this podcast: Minute Tech.