Obama wants to send American Industry to China..!

Today, I saw a clip of Pres. Obama saying how he wants to do with American Industry what was done with GM Chrysler.  Well, what was done with GM?  Well, GM received millions and millions of tax payers dollars in an illegal bail out for one.  What did American Citizens get out of this?  GM has sent much of its manufacturing plants to China, including their R&D department.  This means that China is getting the manufacturing capability as well as access to the new technologies being developed by GM..!

The GM Chrysler company is getting into bed with China, even going so far as to provide funding for a movie in China that glorified communism.  Is this the sort of things we can expect for the rest of our industries if Obama has his way??

What else has China gotten that the U.S. tax payers have paid for..?  Well for one, recently, China bought the patent for an Ion Lithium Car Battery that was paid for by American citizens through Federal funding, and when the maker went south, China was there to buy up the patent for cheap.  That's just a recent example, but certainly not the only one...

Where will it end?  What will we do about it?  You'll have to decide that for yourself...

Nikola Tesla: Do you know who he was? Or why you should care?

It is nothing short of a tragedy that one of greatest minds of the early 20th century has been at best ignored, or at worst deliberately omitted.  Who invented the radio?  When I was in school they were claiming it was Marconi.  Well, that is WRONG.  When you mention electricity, many people immediately think of Edison, but in fact, Edison was an OPPONENT of the current AC electrical system in use today.  Well, who did invent the modern electrical system in use?  The answer to both questions, is Nikola Tesla.

It was in fact, Tesla who invented the modern AC electrical system in use today, as well as the AC motors used in virtually every household and industrial appliance today.  While Marconi was the first to market radio, he was NOT its inventor.  That achievement belongs to Nikola Tesla as well.  In addition to these things, Tesla also invented the first remote control, and remotely controlled robotic device, as well as the Neon and Fluorescent light bulbs, NOT to be confused with Edison's Incandescent light bulb, which is falling out of use in favor of Fluorescent and other types of bulbs today.  Tesla also developed the basis for many technologies used today such as RADAR, and microwaves too.  Of course Tesla invented the 'Tesla Coils' which bear his name.  The Tesla Coils recently wowed audiences in the movie, the Sorceror's Apprentice with their amazing electrical arc displays.  Nikola was predicting the broadcast of sound and images all over the world at the turn of the century predicting the changes of the 1900's from the 1800's.  At the time everyone thought he was nuts, and today, it is just common knowledge.

Every technology using electricity and radio that affects our daily lives, owes its existence to Nikola Tesla.  When you wake up in the morning and turn on the light, Tesla made that possible.  When you turned on the TV to catch the latest news or entertainment, Tesla made that possible.  When you made your cup of coffee with the electrical appliance this morning, Tesla made that possible.  When you washed and dried your clothes in the machines, Tesla mad that possible.  When you used your blender for a meal, Tesla made that possible.  When you called your friend or family member on your cell phone, Tesla made that possible.  I could go on and on, but I won't.

How tragic is it, that many, if not most people on the street or even in school have no idea who Tesla was?  Tesla virtually created the modern world we live in, almost by himself.  He could have been the first Billionaire, but he didn't really care about money, other than it being able to provide him with a means to work and develop his ideas.  His lack of interest in business was in fact his downfall, leaving him at the mercy of others that would only support him as long as they had something to gain.  In Tesla's last years of active work, J. P. Morgan financed him, but once he discovered the true intentions of Tesla's aims he withdrew.  Since then Edison supporters (Edison was vehemently opposed to Tesla) have tried to stifle Tesla's reputation and education concerning him.  His true aim was nothing short of unlimited free wireless energy to the whole world.  He made other claims of technological possibilities that even today people are saying are impossible and nothing but quack ideas.  However, similar accusations had been made about things Tesla proved by demonstration, and are now considered common knowledge.  Had Tesla been able to complete his work, we might be living in a very different sort of world.

There is a great deal more to learn about Nikola Tesla's extraordinary life and accomplishments that you can learn about, but mainly I just wanted to answer those questions in the title.  Who was Tesla?  And why should we care?  He was nothing short of the father of the modern technological world, and simple gratitude and acknowledgement, should compel us to care.  Please support the inclusion of Tesla in the public education system, where he is routinely being ignored, and his achievement misrepresented as the work of others.

SOPA and PIPA... the names may sound silly, but they're actually kinda scary.

First off, I've neglected this blog for the last year, and I really shouldn't have, but water down the gutter and all that...  Anyways, I've felt the need to write about some things, and I'm doing so.  Thus...

I won't go into the minutiae of every detail about the bills, as there are plenty of blogs, articles, and other material that will cover it if you want a point by point analysis of them.  I know, because I've read and watched much of said material myself.  I want people to be aware of these bills, because they will NOT actually stop piracy or copyright infringement.  What they WILL do is stifle online communities, and make the last 'free' domain a thing of the past.  Virtually any community website where a user can upload digital material of just about any sort will be in danger.  This blog, entertainment fan sites, youtube, facebook, flicker, and literally thousands of other websites could be targeted by these bills, if passed.  Any forum you visit on the internet could be taken out, fan websites where entertainment enthusiast gather could be a thing of the past, and sites like facebook that allow friends and family to stay connected could be gone.

Just some harsh truths to consider.  I'm a Stargate fan, and currently MGM is doing nothing with the franchise, at all.  During the height of popularity, MGM did have a fan community site, but it has since been taken down because they no longer were interested in keeping the stargate community running.  On the other hand, fan created websites, such as gateworld.net are still alive and kicking because the fans are STILL interested enough to keep it alive, even though the francise owner currently has no plans to produce more Stargate TV or movies.  Such sites give those fans a continued place to rub shoulders, discuss topics related to the show or not, and to find others with similar interests and views.  Well such sites often have pictures, video clips, and other things that MGM or even other non-stargate related companies could point at with SOPA and/or PIPA and have them shut down, essentially ignoring the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998, allowing reasonable usage of such materials.  In fact, MGM itself encouraged fans to make fan videos and other things using said materials..!  Why?  They felt it was in their best interest to allow fans to express their love for the show.  With these bills however, a company exec only worried about money and copyright laws could easily shut down fan sites because they were using stills and clips from a currently defunct franchise.  I'm not saying they WOULD, but they COULD.

The reality is that fan sites actually generate interests in entertainment materials, ultimately generating revenue for the creators, more than they lose.  However, not all entertainment producers are so enlightened.  Fans were creating and streaming subbed anime long before the industry caught up, and simply began to do it themselves, because they realized they had a large following overseas, and that by offering the shows for free themselves, they were only helping themselves when they finally got around to distributing it on DVD for sale.  They realized that by allowing a fan base to grow, they would have more consumers of hard copies of the materials in the form of DVD sales and other products, such as toys and clothing.

Truly, if Hollywood is so worried about their copyrights, why don't they just offer to stream new movies into people homes with their OWN websites, for a price, such as Netflix, and other such sites.  They could charge more for newer movies, and even have a library of films they've produced to be streamed at a price, so that they continue to generate income on their older movies, outside of DVD sales.   Many people download movies and such because they simply have no other access to it, because they live in conditions that  don't allow acquisition any other way.  Some because of where they live, and others because of conditions that prohibit visits to a movie theater.  True, that isn't all the cases, at all, but those cases are part of it.  The point being, that the movie industry (and other) are using the government to protect their investments instead of better business practices, that reflect the state of technology and the times.  It really is NO different than companies begging Congress for a bail out for their own bad business choices.  Except in this case, it gives them MORE power, and hurts a lot of innocent people. Why don't they just try enforcing laws that are already on the books, instead of creating new laws that still won't get the job done, and create problems besides.

Having said that, I hope you let your Senator and Congressman know how you feel about it.