Chan's Personal Blog

Saw this interesting article on Forbes.com today entitled, "Path to the Truth May Lead to the Stomach." Some 16 year old high school student in the United States came up with a lie detector which monitors your stomach activity as a way to gauge your stress/lying. Apparently this device is more accurate than today's polygraph machines which are 90% accurate. (Perhaps my fellow criminologists and crime fighters can share some insight about lie detectors.)

Today I was doing some coding at UVic's Engineering Lab Wing. When I was using the men's washroom, I noticed that one of the faucets didn't look like the other faucets in the building. There was a little sign on the washroom mirror stating that this was a solar powered faucet. That's kind of neat.

You can see a picture and a description of this faucet at the Sloan Valve Company. The faucet has a solar cell on top and it is powered by ambient light from the washroom's lights. That's kind of smart idea to save energy. In addition, there's a motion sensor that activates the faucet when you put your hands under it, so it's completely hands-free. The company also touts that there's no moving parts in this faucet, so it should be maintenance free.

It looks like this faucet costs about $490 which is a tad expensive. The concept is rather neat, but I must say, the aesthetic design of it isn't very pleasing.

[Updated]Tyrone has corrected me, biodiesel only works in cars with diesel engines.[/Updated]

Today's subject comes from an article I read from Wired Magazine entitled, "Green Berets Prefer Biodiesel." For those who are unfamiliar, biodiesel is a renewable fuel that is derived from soybeans or other vegetable oils. Diesel car engines can run on this renewable fuel without any modifications. Read on to see why the U.S. Marines are now America's largest users of biodiesel, and what the strategical implications are surrounding biodiesel.
 

Updated - Please notice the changes in time of the Battlestar Galactica premier below. It turns out it's a two part premier spread across two days.

I have waited, and waited some more. It has finally come. I am of course speaking of the new remade version of Battlestar Galactica which is premiering this weekend on TV! May I be so bold to declare that it is the BEST science fiction show on TV right now. Wired magazine seems to think so, as they have an article entitled, "Galactica: Best Sci-Fi TV Ever." (Partial spoiler warning) (Note: This is a remade 2003-2004 version of Battlestar Galactica, not the cheezy version from the 1970s that they've been airing this week.)

From the article:

I have to put into perspective just how good Battlestar Galactica is. I was a faithful follower of Star Trek: Enterprise. During the last season of Enterprise, I accidentally stumbled upon season one of Battlestar Galactica which blew me away. When they announced that Enterprise was getting canceled, I honestly didn't shed a tear. Galactica was so good that I didn't care about Enterprise anymore.

It's a great show because while it is sci-fi, it is very accessible to non-geeks. For example, I managed to get everyone in my office hooked on Battlestar Galactica. One of my co-workers isn't a geek at all, and she LOVES the show. The show doesn't use special effects to make up for bad acting or bad story line. The actors are great, and the story lines are very complex and they span through the entire season. None of the episodes tie up nicely, they always leave you with more questions and wonder.

Here's a few reasons why Battlestar Galactica is so great:

• Far more realistic than Star Trek. For example, in Star Trek, any problem can be cured by the end of the episode by an amazing doctor who happens to be in the right place at the right time. This just doesn't happen in this show.
• Amazing sound track. The sound track is so good that I used parts of it for multimedia presentations that I do.
• You can relate to it. There's not a lot of high tech things that you can't really recognize. They use guns, nuclear weapons, missiles, jet fighters, etc. Nothing too out of this world. The Galactica feels a lot like a military aircraft carrier.
• Gritty and sad. The show starts with a genocide against the human race. The mood really feels like it's the end of the world. It feels very desperate, and it has a 9/11 atmosphere almost (ie a surprise sneak attack on humanity). It's definitely not a universe where all is well, and everyone wears pajama uniforms on a ship like Star Trek. Very refreshing.
• Realistic physics. This one's for the geeks. The fighter planes they use for combat in space actually follow real physics rules. For example, ships will actually drift because of momentum. Most of the space combat has no sound (for realism again), and I think it makes it much more dramatic.

The other thing that I really like about Battlestar Galactica is that it does a very good job of creating a very immersive environment. They cover aspects of the political system which is VERY rare in science fiction. Usually the genre concentrates on technology and such. The show also covers many contemporary issues that we are facing right now such as individual freedoms and liberties during wartime, science versus religion, fighting terrorism against an invisible enemy (ie enemies that are among us), military rule versus democractic rule, etc.

Anyways, here's the times that Battlestar Galactica will be on:


So there's a 2 hour premier of Battlestar Galactica which was the mini-series. Then we jump right into season one which consists of 13 episodes.

The U.S. is currently showing season two of Battlestar Galactica, so be careful of spoilers on the web.