Delayed, Denounced

This afternoon as I was leaving the lab with some of the newest reports, I received a cell phone call from a tech for our image processing service. More great news - ugh.

He told me the entire set of diagnostic images specially prepared for the EVA core alignment has been misplaced. He's having replacement sent from their headquarters but they won't arrive for another 2 weeks.

Yeah I know, 2 weeks - I could order a print the size of a house through Walgreen's and get it sooner - but this is very specific material, prepared for very exacting work.

And I realize the additional overhead is likely the security required by URI in explicit agreements with partners such as these. No doubt they've provided armed guards to escort the EVA core we sent them for test calibrations. The 16 hours that TI had access to the core was like a space mission, every moment choreographed, timed, inspected and re-inspected.

In fact I have to admit: Their constant scrutiny, combined with these endless complications, are beginning to take their toll on me. Not all at once. Just slowly chipping-away at me a piece at a time.

I retreat back into the work.

Some days it feels like all I have left of myself.

Aging Disgracefully

Well it's official, I've gone and gotten old on you all.

I've been using a new eMac for project data analysis (the graphics are just incredible) so I put I-Tunes to work.

It didn't take me long to find a station or two, but I was disappointed to find all the music I like is now "classic".

Punk 45 Radio: "Streaming Punk Rock & New Wave Classics"

So this is how it happens, I just become a "classic" overnight?

I think I'll go to the record store tonight - get up-to-date, you know?

They, uh - they still have those, right?

Wishing you were there

I took note of the observations of Dr. John Suler of Rider University in his "The Two Paths of Virtual Reality". On this point of human visceral involvement in these 'virtualizations' of reality we are in complete agreement.

Psychology of Cyberspace - The Two Paths of Virtual Reality: "The amplification of physical vigor and the minimizing of discomfort is more fantasy than reality. It doesn't live up to the definition of 'virtual.' People who WANT the exertion, the thumping heart, the sweat, the feel of the branches in their grip, will be disappointed. It ain't nuthin like the real thing, baby."

By the way the entire article is excellent. I'd recommend it to anyone interested in the complexities of human virtualization and extended avatarism.

The limitations of virtualization were precisely the impetus behind the Extended Virtual Agent architecture. In order to achieve any true virtual existentialism, a much lower-level interface is called for.

The EVA is the answer to this dilemma.

Unfortunately implementation brings with it a host of its own issues, but I was always taught that all puzzles have answers - if one is willing to look carefully.

And in the right places.