Scan Your Food

 

Imagine if you were out getting lunch and you open your wrapper to bite into that hamburger for your first bite... So good right? Well do you ever think about all the bacteria on your food and how clean the kitchen was where it came from? How about at work and sharing in on a co-worker's homemade cooking? Do you ever think that you are eating food that is covered by someone else's bacteria? Let's face it bacteria and germs are everywhere. Bacteria are apart of everyday life for us humans and we fight a daily battle with them in many aspects of our life. But often times we don't think about how clean our food is. I mean think about it most of the time we are on the go when we are eating our food right? Or maybe just in general it's an almost an inconvenience to worry about bacteria in our food. It's almost like we have come to expect the best quality in our foods.

Maybe sometime in the near future we will be able to scan our food with a device that attaches to your cell phone. This prototype device attaches to a typical cell phone camera and uses fluorescence imaging to detect the bacteria. Engineers at UCLA combined quantum dots, a type of tiny semiconductor, with capillaries containing antibodies. When the capillaries contain an E. coli sample, they emit light. The cell phone attachment thereby works like a fluorescent microscope, illuminating the presence of the n m for a multitude of applications.

It's not clear whether this food scanner will ever reach the market, but it shows the potential, especially for portable technology.

You can find more about this at: E. Coli Scanner

Future of internet? "Google Glasses"

The future is here and It's reminds me of a scene from Terminator with these new "Google Glasses" that will be hitting the open market soon. I also remember a scene in Back to the Future Part 2 where Marty McFly has on glasses that appear to display information in front of his eyes.  Google glasses which may be released as a "beta" product could put smartphone capabilities such as GPS maps, weather, time, Web streaming and more inches from your eyeball.

They will reportedly overlay graphics, ads and images into your field of view. They should feature some level voice control, while navigation around the tiny screens could also come from a tilt of your head. And while Google's electronically endowed glasses may not be fashionable at first, they could eventually change the way we all see the world.

Imagine a facial recognition program in your glasses discreetly reminding you of the name and title of an acquaintance.  How will you feel when somebody is starring at you with these glasses on? How you will know what they are "accessing" about you? We as a society seem to allow intrusive technology into our lives and the corporations behind the technology to have the more access to our data and personal lives. If it provides a benefit or convience then perhaps you feel that it is perfectly safe and harmless? These are several questions that come across my mind when I think about this new technology that is about to be available. Sure I am excited because in many ways I feel that new and better technology demonstrates progress in society. But does it? Why do I think that way? Is that what we are trained to think? Regardless of what we think soon will we have the world wide web right in front of our eyes, literally!

Nervous Teeth: Dedication to Rod. Oh Yes...

I wanted to write this regarding a friend and a great inspiration to me who has recently passed on. His name is Rod Rodriguez and he was a host on a para-political and alternative news podcast called "Nervous Teeth" that was hosted by Gareth Davies. Though the show was much more than that on the surface. It wasn't just the topics or news that caught my attention, initially it was the people on the show talking on these subjects and Rod brought a certain element to it with his character and personality that was unmatched. I felt I could relate to him in many ways and the things he would talk about were the issues that I myself was going through or questioning and in fact still am. So many times I would hear other shows that were similar in nature and the people talking on the broadcasts I could never relate with and they just didn't motivate me to question anything at all In fact most of the shows sounded cookie cutter and commercialized or "typical".

Nervous Teeth changed everything for me when I heard it. It was different and I could relate to the hosts, Gareth and Rod. They were down to Earth and when you listened to them talking you just felt like you were there listening to a couple of friends talking and it was such a casual way to lead into these heavy controversial topics. Rod I felt appealed to whole other level of audience. Perhaps people like myself who aren't always so serious and like to have a sense of humor about life. I won't sugarcoat it, I thought he was funny as hell! Yet was engaging to listen to when he spoke about more serious topics but always had a humours spin on them. I really liked how he questioned the system and reality. The more I listened the more I began to wake up and question reality myself. He inspired me to keep digging and to keep an open mind.

I won't go into the details here, but along the way Nervous Teeth ended production and I lost touch with Gareth and Rod. A few years have passed since Nervous Teeth and at some point Gareth took his online blog "Mind Set Central" which dealt with many of the same topics and issues and turned it into an extension of Nervous Teeth in many ways and is now called "The Mind Set" Podcast which you can find at www.MindsetCentral.com and it is hosted by Gareth Davies. Other co-hosts have joined the show over some time and the show has evolved into what it is now. I personally feel the podcast is an evolution of what was or used to be Nervous Teeth. 

Gareth recently gave me an opportunity to be apart of Mind Set Central crew and the podcast. What an honor an that is and I am thankful for what Rod contributed previously because that has motivated me as a co-host on Mind Set Central to perhaps inspire and enlighten others lives as Rod did for me. I can honestly say that without hearing him on Nervous Teeth that I highly doubt it that I would be into podcasting right now and talking about these topics that we do on Mind Set Central. I want to do my best to show my appreciation by helping to carry on his legacy in my own way but knowing that he is an instrumental part of who I am today in regards to podcasting and in the way I question and view reality. Gareth has turned out to be a great lifelong friend for me and inspiration as well and I am thankful to he is apart of my life now. When I look back and reflect on when I listen to Nervous Teeth initially little did I know I'd be here today writing this and contributing to the same cause that is Mind Set Central. It truly shows me that I am on this path for a reason and who we meet and who touches us plays a big part in what we become.

Rod I hope is at peace now and now has some answers to the questions that has always burdened him. I'm sure even in the afterlife he is questioning and joking about things just in another reality, his soul carries on and I don't think he realized how many lives he touched here in this world but I know for sure that he touched mine. Rod rest in peace, I'll never forget you friend. Wherever you are give em' hell!