These 10 Safety Tips Will Give You Some Peace Of Mind This Halloween

Are you ready for Halloween? It's a contentious issue, but some have claimed spikes in crime rates on Halloween, while other news sources state the converse. Nevertheless, while it's a night that's considered fun for families, there are a number of safety considerations you should keep in mind and prepare for.

1. Choose make-up instead of mask: For children, masks can block peripheral vision, making it super dangerous along dark streets. Make-up thus a much safer option. 

2. Flashlights: Whether you're letting your child go out alone, or you're accompanying them, it's good to carry a flashlight with you, especially for those areas of the streets that aren't well lit. You can buy small LED flashlights that go on a key chain from Canadian Tire and elsewhere for under $20. 

3. Visit well-lit houses: Some houses have a definite weird-factor on Halloween night. Rule of thumb: if you get a bad vibe from a place, move on to the next house. And always choose well-lit houses if you have children. 

4. Don't enter homes of people you don't know: Let's get real--it's Halloween, not Christmas morning. Weird stuff can happen on Halloween night. Talk to your kids about safety, and prohibit them from entering a stranger's house. Teach them about how to get a gut-read on situations and avoid those that trigger anxiety or fear. 

5. The 10 Rule: Children under 10 should be accompanied by an adult.

6. The rule of 3: Children should be in groups no less than 3--this raises the odds of one of them having some sense to avoid trouble or unsettling situations.

7. Curfew: If your kids are a bit older, equip them with a mobile phone, and set a timer or alarm that tells them when to be home. You don't want your children wandering the streets late at night.

8. Reflective: No, I'm not talking about your kids walking around with journals in their hands. If you're hand sewing costumes, make sure you've sewn in some reflective material. Reflective tape on shoes and bags and costumes will be important for ensuring your child is seen by motorists, etc. 

9. No snacking till home time: Give your kids a rule that their candy must be checked by you before they partake. Inform them of the dangers of strangely wrapped candy, and the importance of having the candy inspected. 

10. Make place: Sweep your walkway, remove wet leaves, and anything else that might create hazards for visitors. If you're not home, you can either just leave our lights off, or place a bowl or two of candy with a note for visitors inviting them to some candy. 

Say Hello To My Little Friend! 5 Serious Questions About Toyota's New Little Robot

Do you commute a lot? Are you lonely much of the time? Drive a Toyota? 

If you answered 'yes' to these questions, you may be in the market for one of Toyota's new innovations: a robot driving companion. Wondering how you'd get a bit AI up into the passenger side of your vehicle? Worry no more, for Toyota's innovation would be a miniature cup-holder size version of the larger Kirobo Robot: an AI that can talk to you and read your emotional responses. According to Computer World:

The robot, which could be installed in future Toyota vehicles, would not only be aimed at keeping drivers alert and calm but could collect information about driving habits that engineers could potentially use to build better features for future cars.

But there's another aspect to the innovation than providing merely companionship: data. As we remain in the Information Age, 'Big Data' is extremely valuable to businesses. Here's a quote from the Toyota website:

With people spending an average of 4.3 years of our lives in our cars, which equates to traveling to the moon and back three times, Toyota believes that much can be learned about our behavior and emotion while driving. Imagine how driving would change if Kirobo Mini's technology was integrated into Toyota vehicles: We could assimilate hours of data to better the everyday lives of drivers all over the world, informing future innovations and developing transport that's in tune with the driver's mood, suggesting places to visit, routes to travel and music to listen to.

Toyota built the first Kirobo robot, which was sent out into space where it spoke its first words, thus trailblazing human-AI contact aboard a space vessel. 

There are several questions I have pertaining to this project:

1. Do we want more meta-data? Between our iPhones, Google, and the black boxes now being installed in cars, are we not overstretched already with data collection? Are we not already being put under so many devices and backdoors to data on our lives that we're just not going to take it anymore? Nope--probably not. 

2. How honest will the dialogue with Kirobo be? Knowing that Toyota is gathering data on us through the cute little robot in a cup, how much dialogue will we really be having with this AI? Am I going to pour my heart out to it? And what if there's an emotional issue one is having after work one day? Will the robot attempt to intervene, making a 'judgment call' on the matter? 

3. Can Toyota vehicles now at all times ride the HOV? If the robot is intelligent, does it count as a passenger thus permitting the vehicle to drive in the HOV lanes? If so, that would be a bonus that could be a good trade-off for data collection. Of course, the deal would have to be that the robot is indeed turned on and thus gathering data while the driver is absconding along.

4. What is the state of the world and humanity? This is more of a meta-question, nevertheless important: What is the state of this world when we spend such lengthy periods of time in vehicles that we need robots to keep us company and prevent us from slacking into despondency? Is this really the good life? According to the numbers above, we spend 4.3 years of our lives in a vehicle commuting somewhere, which is the same distance as to the moon and back three times! Perhaps the question shouldn't be how can we best entertain ourselves in the vehicle, but 'how can I position my life in a way that reduces my commuting time?' 

5. Is is more cultural programming? A weird question perhaps, I know; but this could be seen as a way for humans to become more familiar and open to the idea of artificial intelligence venturing into every aspect of our lives, bringing myriad benefits not the least of which is companionship. The more exposed we are to the technology, the more accepting we will be of it until they are in every facet and aspect of our lives. However, unlike many humans, they continue to evolve at lightening speed intellectually and socially, giving them great power over time, as we've talked about in other posts. 

It all sounds very cute and accommodating; but with the information gathering and the weird promise of near-fetishistic companionship, this innovation by Toyota veers off into the absurd than remaining on the straight and narrow. Time will tell...

Why the first 1000 year old person is alive today

Are we entering a period in human history just on the cusp of immortality? Is such a question even considerable, or merely the stuff of science fiction fantasies? 

While the majority of people would claim the latter, there are very serious scientists, technologists, futurists, and scholars in other fields who believe beyond doubt that we are on the cusp of such a period--or at least a time at which human life spans will reach the quadruple digits. 

Here's why:

1. Exponential growth of technology: This is the Moore's Law adapted and made popular by inventor and futurist, Ray Kurzweil. Quite simply, technology doesn't develop merely linearly, but emerges in spikes as different technological breakthroughs happen at the same time. Technology builds on itself to create ever-greater technologies.

2. Exponential growth applied to the body: Our bodies are becoming more technologized--even in ways we don't notice: information about best diets, supplement innovation, exercise technique innovation; and these are just the basics. We are seeing now the growth of DNA screening and the advancement of the human genome project. As technology becomes more powerful, DNA screening will become cheaper and more common, which will create spikes in longevity. 

3. A global design challenge: Over the past year competitions have been created for scientists and technologists to 'solve aging', such as the Palo Alto Longevity Prize, Google's Calico (the California Life Company), and Human Longevity Inc. And this is just the beginning of innovative groups and organizations that are right now collaborating on ways to solve this design challenge.

Palo Alto Longevity Prize

4. Most people want it: Death terrifies most people; hence anything that promises to reduce the risk of death, to turn back the clock of aging, to extend people's lives will be backed by not only star-technologists and scientists, but also ordinary people and governments. Who doesn't want the fountain of youth? As such, there will continue to be overwhelming support of initiatives that seek to enhance longevity, including money and changes to government policy. 

Immortologist, Aubrey de Grey on Stopping Ageing

But what should you do about it? 

Longevity is a brilliant subject of research, experimentation, and even just plain conversation. However, regardless of the development of these technologies and solutions that will enhance longevity, we still need to deal with our own lives as they are happening right now. In fact, you don't have to venture too deeply into psychotherapy to know that distracting from the present with either the past or the future is one way of becoming more depressed, agitated, and dissatisfied. Many use talk of the future to escape their present rather than really trying to look at it, understand what's going on, and finding strategies to cope. 

Regardless of how long we may live, we will still have to deal with ourselves--and while we may be changing elements of ourselves to advance to new levels of longevity, we will still be the same on the inside. Like the saying goes, the problem with holidays is that I brought myself along. We'll be bringing ourselves to the future, regardless of how far out our lifespans take us--and that should give us pause. 

For all these technologies are directed at the biological aspects of who we are, but what is being done with the inside--with the self itself? Who are we going to be at 130? Will we be better, the same, or worse off personally, emotionally, and spiritually than we are now? This, to me, is the deeper question...

8 Ways You Can Tell You're Burned Out And What You Can Do About It

Are you feeling burned out? Coming home from work or school exhausted, depressed, tired? Can't wait for the weekend, only to get to Sunday evening and you're feeling more tired than you did Friday evening?

Understanding what burn out is will help you either spot it in your own or your friend/loved one's life, and obtain the tools to overcome it. 

Burn out is something that hits many people of different ages and professions; however, one common characteristics seems to be a high-achievement orientation to the world, and a proneness to overwork and pushing oneself beyond the efforts of the 'average' person. 

For such people who feel they can do everything, according to Psychology Today, burn out can creep up unnoticed. And because many high-achievers tend to be passionate about what they do, they often do not realize how many extra hours they're putting into their work, and the extra projects they're taking on. 

In a study by the Sloan Work and Family Research Network of Boston College, those who overwork tend to fit the following profile:

1. People between the ages of 30 and 49

2. Parents of teenagers tend to work longer hours than parents of younger children; and those who are in elder care situations tend to be more overworked than employees without such responsibilities

3. Over the past 25 years, dual wage-earners combined work hours per week increased from 80 to 91 hours on average.

4. Workers of the Baby Boom generation tend to feel more overworked than those of other generations.

5. The largest number of people in work situations of mandatory longer hours are those in executive and administrative occupations

6. Small business owners work the most hours (paid unpaid) at their main or only job with 38% working more than 50 hours per week.

Psychology Today outlines the following symptoms of burn out:

1. Chronic fatigue: In the early stages, you may feel a lack energy and feel tired most days. In the latter stages, you feel physically and emotionally exhausted, drained, and depleted, and you may feel a sense of dread for what lies ahead on any given day.

2. Insomnia. In the early stages, you may have trouble falling asleep or staying asleep one or two nights a week. In the latter stages, insomnia may turn into a persistent, nightly ordeal; as exhausted as you are, you can't sleep.

2. Forgetfulness/impaired concentration and attention: Lack of focus and mild forgetfulness are early signs. Later, the problems may get to the point where you can't get your work done and everything begins to pile up.

3. Physical symptoms: Physical symptoms may include chest pain, heart palpitations, shortness of breath, gastrointestinal pain, dizziness, fainting, and/or headaches (all of which should be medically assessed).

4. Increased illness: Because your body is depleted, your immune system becomes weakened, making you more vulnerable to infections, colds, flu, and other immune-related medical problems.

5. Loss of appetite: In the early stages, you may not feel hungry and may skip a few meals. In the latter stages, you may lose your appetite all together and begin to lose a significant amount of weight.

6. Anxiety: Early on, you may experience mild symptoms of tension, worry, and edginess. As you move closer to burnout, the anxiety may become so serious that it interferes in your ability to work productively and may cause problems in your personal life.

7. Depression: In the early stages, you may feel mildly sad, occasionally hopeless, and you may experience feelings of guilt and worthlessness as a result. At its worst, you may feel trapped, severely depressed, and think the world would be better off without you. (If your depression is to this point, you should seek professional help immediately.)

8. Anger: At first, this may present as interpersonal tension and irritability. In the latter stages, this may turn into angry outbursts and serious arguments at home and in the workplace. (If anger gets to the point where it turns to thoughts or acts of violence toward family or coworkers, seek immediate professional assistance.)

If you're facing burn out, don't give up--you can get back on your feet and to the level of performance that you are capable of; however, it will take some time and discipline. Here are some ways you can work to overcome burn out, according to Psychology Today:

1. Take an Inventory: List all the things that are causing you stress and anxiety right now. Take your time to make the list--don't rush through it. If new things come to mind in 24 hours, write them down.

2. Itemize: Next to each item, jot down ways that you can change those situations so that they don't feel as stressful--little strategies to get around them and reduce the stress. Again, this is a process, not a race--take your time. If you can't find strategies for some--or all--of them, don't worry; just keep working through them.

3. Just say no: It's good to say no to people and situations if you don't want to do them or you feel obligated to do them. Saying no is a way of gaining back a sense of who you are. Some people prescribe saying no for an entire week, even to things you might want to do, just to get in the habit. 

4. Delegate: You don't have to do everything. Get in the habit of delegating to others, even if they won't do it as well or fast as you. Releasing the burdens will start to take the weight off your shoulders, and help you recover.

5. Take breaks between big projects: Often we are tempted to rush from one project to the next, especially if it promises monetary reward, promotions, or just keeping your position as Alpha Dog. But taking breaks are an important way of regaining your stamina and having the time and space to reflect on your successes and prepare body and mind to move on.

6. Turn off devices: It is not implausible that our devices are the reason for a surge in burn out. We are no longer really in control of our lives--our devices control us, through which we are always on call, always expected to be available, always multi-tasking. Turning off your device gives you adequate time and space to reflect on your actions.

7. Socialize outside of work: If your only source of relationships are work colleagues, then you are ever-mired by the issues and toxins of your workplace. Getting out from under that and hanging out with people of different interests and backgrounds can be very healthy.

8. Avoid bringing work home: Resist the urge to bring work home; you can get everything you need done at the office--the rest is either not that important, or a way of bolstering your ego. We are often validated based on our work, so we do it all the time. Your recovery will require you to rethink your work habits.

9. Effort, not outcome: Be more engaged in process, not product. Enjoy the work, get into its flow; and let the outcome emerge from the joy of the process itself. 

10. Consider a support group: This is a common problem, and there are therapists and communities that can help you rethink and re-prioritize. 

Why Tesla And Apple Are Poised To Become The Coke And Pepsi Of The Auto Industry

Apple's Tim Cook made a contentious statement yesterday that the car industry is poised for a massive change--and... Well, there was nothing much said after that. 

We know, however, that Apple is poised to be the change they want to see... well, you know how that one goes. In a breaking story on MacRumors on August 21, 2015, "Apple recently hired a senior engineer from Tesla Motors, presumably to work on its secret car project," as originally broken by Reuters which, along with Jamie Carleson of Tesla, added other engineers to the story from such companies as Volkswagen and academic institutions as Carnegie Melon. The poaching of Carleson by Apple drew the ire of Tesla CEO, Elon Musk, who made such claims as "Apple is the graveyard where engineers go to die," and, in a recent column in MarketWatch, he was quoted as stating that Apple is hiring engineers that Tesla has fired. 

“Important engineers? They have hired people we’ve fired. We always jokingly call Apple the ‘Tesla Graveyard.’ If you don’t make it at Tesla, you go work at Apple. I’m not kidding.”

- Elon Musk

However, while Musk has mud-slung Apple for some time, he did state that the car would be the next logical move for Apple.

Now Tesla is facing a drop in share-value, given Consumer Report's withdrawing its recommendation of Tesla's Model S, albeit contentiously. Will Tesla and Apple become the Coke and Pepsi of the automobile industry? We'll see. It could be the case that Tesla provides the momentum that Apple steals and takes what Tesla has worked desperately hard to accomplish well beyond it. Not an unlikely scenario.

This blog has been reporting on the emergence of the Apple car and its position to completely demolish the auto industry. The Tesla graveyard remains a place that could swallow up the likes of Volkswagen, BMW, Mercedes, and others. We have to see; but the change is coming, and no company can disrupt as brilliantly as Apple.

These 7 Cities Are Going Car-Free--Should They Be Celebrated Or Shunned?

There's a death-warrant out on cars--no seriously. In fact, between the climate change argument against them and the carte blanche decision of most urban designers who believe cars don't make sense in cities, we may be hard-pressed to find a car in any city within the next 5-10 years. Sure there may be the odd autonomous vehicle carting people around who are willing to pay the big bucks to have them, but for the most part, cities will be places for people--not cars.

The following are 7 cities that are moving toward the carless:

1. Madrid

2. Paris

3. Chengdu (China)

4. Hamburg

5. Helsinki

6. Milan

7. Copenhagen

While these cities are not (yet) banning cars completely, they will most certainly deter automobiles from their centres, whether through designing the city to be walkable to any destination within 15 minutes (Chengdu) or creating a network of green spaces and parks all connected around the city through which bikes and pedestrians can travel but not automobiles (Hamburg). 

The issue remains how people are expected to get out of the city in the event of a disaster or attack. By shutting down the autonomy of the automobile, the individual is veritably shut into the city. What if the city imposed a lock-down and there was no way out? Suppose you had to get out during a pandemic, but couldn't because there was no other way besides transit which either a) was on lock-down, or b) was full of infected people? 

And how would people be able to get into the city? Say you had a family member while an attack was immanent, such as an elderly person, whom you wanted to get out of the city, but couldn't drive into it to pick him or her up? 

There is most certainly a minimalistic aesthetic to this kind of automobile-free urban design that I resonate with; however, if the beauty is supposed to follow the functionality, then there is a major flaw to outlawing vehicles. If you are in a city on lock-down, there's no way to get out--period. And while that may be good for those who are infected with a deadly virus, one's ability to flee such a pandemic is also impeded. 

Without a vehicle, you are under the caprice of the city transit system. Your bike can only get you so far so fast. There is something democratic about having a vehicle; however, it seems that a condition for living in the city of the future will be to relinquish that facile method for human transportation. 

In the headlong journey to green, we need to pause and determine if those policies and plans are in fact in our best interests. Don't think that all will be relinquishing their vehicles: those with the money and political clout will have them. It's those everyday folk who won't--and that should be a concern.

Jose Bautista's Bat Flip Struck The Hearts Of Many--Here's Why

Jose Bautista's bat flip has drawn so much attention it's staggering. What's been all the fuss about? There is something we all resonate with in this act; something nebulous, but very much a part of who we are. Sports athletes are models of our ideal selves; they have the characteristics we envy, which turns marvel into adoration. 

One of the greatest bat flips of all time...

So what did Bautista embody with the bat flip. Well, here's a crack at a few things:

1. The Underdog: No, he is by no means an under-dog in our world (of course being one of the most exciting players in baseball right now), but he played the role of the underdog with his at bat: bottom of the 7th, down by a run, and having to truly step up. 

We all face the underdog role at times in our lives; and we wonder if we can muster up the courage to step into the challenge. Bautista showed us how it's done, and with it exemplified what winning is.

2. Admiring the Accomplishment: With the crack of the bat, he knew it was a home run. Instead of running to the base, he stood and took a moment to admire his accomplishment. 

This is an important learning: when you step up as underdog and perform smashingly under duress, it's important to take a moment, step back, and admire your accomplishment. We don't do this enough: we skip our graduations, sit at home on our birthdays, miss our anniversaries, forgetting that those are the moments of our lives that need celebrating. We celebrated Batista's home run and bat flip because deep down we yearn for celebrating our own accomplishments.

3. The Milestone: What was that gesture anyway? Was it to communicate, "In your face Texas!" or something else? It was a moment of ecstasy; a moment of pure elation; a moment when all the hard work, sweat, pain, anxiety, and white knuckling your way through all the hurdles leading up that moment pay off. 

It's the milestone you've just reached. It's a point at which you've made it farther than ever before; and with that bat flip, Bautista set his flag in the ground, made his mark, said, "Here on this ground I have reached a pinnacle of my career. Are there others on the horizon? Most certainly. But right here, right now, I have made it!" It had nothing to do with Texas, but rather, as a true competitor understanding that he is his greatest opponent, had all to do with his own accomplishment, reaching that milestone. 

We valourized the bat flip as something we all want in our own lives. We all have those places in which we yearn to post our flag in the ground, mark the milestone, flip the bat to the heavens--all of us. We celebrated Bautista because his bat flip became all of ours; his overcoming himself became our own self-overcoming; his celebration of the milestone became our perennial celebration. 

But here's the kicker: that was then, this is now. The bat flip lasts for that one moment, but then life goes on: challenges arise; new milestones are perceived; we dawn the bat of the underdog, scuff the dirt with our feet getting the best hold possible, we pine tar the bat, stare hard at the pitcher, and wait for the throw. 

We move on--we must; all of us...

Right Now Tesla Drivers Are Downloading "Autopilot"--The Advent Of The Autonomous Car Is Here.

Tesla is way too cool--seriously. Is it a flagship for human autonomy? No. Is its innovations going to phase out human driving completely within the next 5-10 years? Most likely. Will our children and grandchildren know what it's like to white knuckle it through the Muskokas at midnight as a result of this technology? No. 

Nevertheless, Tesla is spectacular. Right now, all Tesla Model S drivers are downloading a new upgrade to their vehicles called, aptly enough (pun intended), "Autopilot." 

Now, before I go into the details of "Autopilot," let's just pause for a moment and get our heads around what's happening here: Tesla drivers are downloading this upgrade into their vehicles main computer system. They're not taking the car to a mechanic; they're not having to drop into a Tesla dealer nearest them--they are downloading this upgrade like you would a new OS X on your Apple. Talk about revolutionary! This, to me, is what makes Tesla way too cool. 

What are the features of this downloadable upgrade?

1. Tesla S can steer, change lanes, and drive at highway speeds with little to no help from a human

2. Parallel park itself

3. Slow to a stop if driver happens to fall asleep

4. The next upgrade may even be able to wake itself from its parking space and pick up its driver

According to Musk, the technology is only going to get better, with one objective being that the car can pull in and put itself to sleep in the garage. 

Moreover, this upgrade, according to Tesla, is set to reduce 33,000 U.S. highway vehicle deaths per year. The driver still must keep his/her hands on the wheel ever several seconds under highway laws; and the technology is really for highway use, kicking into functionality once the vehicle hits 18 mph and above. 

Such innovation is incredible when you really think about it--not only the functionality of the vehicle itself, and that we're in the advent of the driverless car, but also how the user simply downloads the upgrade to the vehicles computer. Let your imagination run wild on this one and there is no limit to the kinds of apps a vehicle will one day be downloading to its computer system. 

Leonardo DiCaprio Set to Produce Movie On Volkswagen Scandal

Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Davisson are set to produce Paramount's movie about the Volkswagen clean diesel scandal, according to Variety. The movie will be based on Jack Ewing's upcoming book that surveys the great scandal that rocked Volkswagen and the world just over a week ago. Volkswagen has been exposed as having fitted its 'clean diesel' vehicles with illegal software that set off a 'cheat switch' during emission testing that would falsely meet the EPA standards. As a result, Volkswagen is facing up to $18 billion dollars in fines from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 

DiCaprio, while being renowned for roles from Titanic to the over-the-top The Wolf of Wall Street is also a well-known environmentalist, having been appointed last year as a UN representative on climate change, while rolling with a host of high-profile political figures from Al Gore to Vladimir Putin. 

Meantime, we don't know how deep the Volkswagen scandal will go. In the UK, the British boss of Volkswagen, Paul Willis, has come under scrutiny by the Transportation Committee of the British Government to which he gave an apology. And a China watchdog organization has expressed concerns about the emissions software in Volkswagen's diesel cars, stating the issue must be addressed immediately. 

As the evidence continues to mount against the dethroned German car maker, and DiCaprio remains poised to create the movie, we may, once all is said and done, have no less than a blockbuster on our hands.

6 Easy Ways You're Going To Detect When Your Tires Need Replacing.

With winter coming up in a few months, it's a good idea to give your tires a good check to see if they need to be replaced, especially if you are not planning to have winter ones put on. But how do you know when it's time to replace them? 

Here are some tips that will help you:

1. Measure thickness of tread: The tread on your tires should never fall below 1/16 of an inch (or 1.6 millimetres). For proper traction on the roads, it is best to have at least double that. To check, you can buy a tread meter that will give you an accurate reading, or you can use the penny method: Take a Canadian penny, and place it in the main groove of the tread with the Queen's crown facing down. If you can see the top of the crown, you need to replace your tires. Refer to the chart below for further information.

Tread Depth Action Chart:

6/32"               Your tires have sufficient tread depth

5/32"               Consider replacing tires if wet road conditions a concern

4/32-3/32"       Monitor or consider replacing

2/32"               Your tires are legally bald and need to be replaced.

Graph from Canadian Tire

2. Check the tread wear indicators: Most tires today have tread wear indicators, which are flat rubber bars that run horizontally across the tread of the tire. When the tires are new, the indicators are not visible; however, they become visible when the tires start to wear down. If one or two of these indicators begin to show, then your tires are beginning to ear down.

Tread wear indicators, as seen blocked off by the red squares.

4. Look for any uneven tread wear: Uneven tread wear can indicate issues apart from simple tire wear, such as alignment. If you spot this on your tires, have a mechanic do a series of checks to determine what underlying issue is causing the uneven tread wear before you have new one's installed.

5. Check the sidewalls: It's important to check the sidewalls of your tires for any bulges, cracks, or bubbles. If there is such damage, your tires need replacing--and you should have that taken care off sooner rather than later. Such damage can be caused by having driven through a pothole, driving with low air pressure, or other issues. Whatever the cause, driving with cracks or bulges in the sidewalls is dangerous.

6. Minimum every 6 Years: The minimum time to replace your tires is ever six years, with the maximum ten years. Check your owners manual for specific requirements and recommendations, and always lean to the side of caution and overall safety for you and your passengers.

Experts Claim A Robot War Is Inevitable And Little Is Being Done To Stop It

This is a mega-issue; and yet it is one that many may think either way off in the future, or, quite crudely, the stuff of Terminator fantasies. 

The UN General Assembly in New York has been approached by a number of countries and lobbyists to speed up the preemptive ban on autonomous weapons. The problem is, the UN is taking its time--a position these groups claim will tacitly abet the development and deployment of the very weapons being contested and admonished about. That if these deliberations go on for several years, it will simply be too late to stop them: the weapons will already be funded, developed, and those invested will want a return, according to the Guardian.  

The fear is that autonomous weapons, when grouped together, have the ability to swarm, and in that swarming can reach an emergent collective intelligence. The US, UK, and France all claim there is nothing to worry about, given that robots will always be controlled by a human. And yet we have seen in other articles on this blog and abroad that machines are on an exponential growth curve, widely known as Moore's Law. And as such, robots can reach unfathomable spikes of advancement that to control them would be impossible. This is the fear of Elon Musk and Stephen Hawking and Bill Joy and many others: that we are creating technologies now under completely deregulatory conditions--and that's a startling thing!

This is an alarming issue of our times; and those developing these weapons are on a mission to build, and thus be, gods. The problem is, their creations will end up turning on and devouring them. What kind of logic is that? 

Why You Should Be Concerned About The State of the World And The Global Economy

There have been a number of high-profile authors claiming that something grave would happen in September: that there would be some kind of economy crashing, chaos wielding, earth shattering, armageddon causing, CERN crushing crisis that would swallow up the entire world. Well, that didn't quite happen: the blood moon--at least in Ontario--was covered in cloud, the Pope's visit to America ended in a whimper, CERN's Hadron Collider did not cause the earth to explode, and we woke up October 1st wondering why we're all still here on earth.  

But what has been happening? Well, more than we might think.

There are some financial analysts claiming that indeed the markets did get rocked in September, with a global stock loss of 11 trillion dollars, as a result of the simultaneous crashing of all major global economies over the past three months. This has taken place largely as a result of the following, according to Fortune:

The prolonged slump was due to low prices for commodities such as oil, instability in China's markets, and the anticipation that the U.S. Federal Reserve will soon raise interest rates.

The September dread scenarios seem to be taking longer to unfold, rather than a rapid smack-down of the earth. The recession seems to be more systematic, unfolding over a greater period of time, and impacting other countries that weren't part of the 2008/2009 crisis. 

On Max Keiser's Financial War reports, there is a general sense among people that we are living in a time of zero-growth among the lower and middle classes, with only the upper 10% of citizens reaping the benefits. But it's not just decline in buying power, but also "political power, control of one's work and income-producing assets." 

Accordingly, people in the middle and lower classes are more anxious, stressed-out, unhealthy, divorced, more unlikely to rise from state dependence to in-dependence, a decline in marriage, family, and independent households simply given the expense of doing so. As such, we are seeing the decline of values, hopes, and dreams, not only in North America but also other parts of the world.

In many conversations around the coffee bar or water cooler, at least one person is talking about the ills of the world and the times of conflict we're in. We don't know if we should buy gold, silver, both, and how much; if we should keep our money in the banks or pull it and invest it elsewhere; we saw what happened in Greece, at how the banks closed their doors and a definitive limit was placed on how much one could withdraw, and wonder not if but when that will happen in North America. 

Many have also been following the Federal Reserve Bank proceedings, wondering if they will raise interest rates; for if they do, and they realize this, it will set off widespread bankruptcies, simply because of the extent to which businesses and individuals are over leveraged in debt. Incidentally, in Brazil and other parts of the world, governments are planning to offer 100-150 year bonds. 

And the derivative market that was the target of the 700 Billion dollar bailout has not receded, rather there are even more of the junk investment packages in the marketplace than ever before--$1.5 Quadrillion! Derivatives are basically bets on other things: real estate, other stocks, etc. Some claim the global derivative market is 20 times greater than the global economy. And because it's unregulated, there's no way of tracking or controlling it--in spite of the rigmarole of the bailout hearings in 2009. Warren Buffet has called derivatives "weapons of mass destruction." The problem is, when that bubble bursts, there won't be enough money in the market to bail the issue out.

No, we may have made it out of September in one piece, but what we are in the midst of, and the experts are way ahead of us on these issues, is a systematic erosion of our society: economically, vocationally, morally, and psychologically/emotionally. 

We all need to be vigilant and prepare accordingly. The links provided above are good places to begin. This is not a violent destruction we're in the midst of, but a gradual unfolding erosion of the lower and middle-class and the world at large. 

Wearable Tech Tracks Your Carbon Footprint--A Good Thing Or Not?

Design is often about making things simpler, more beautiful, more efficient. In the words of the late Massimo Vignelli, designers are in a fight against ugliness. 

But there is another kind of design that makes things worse and more complex. The designers who take part in this may mean well, have good intentions, or are simply able to marry a cool design idea with a seemingly hot issue. But this is where things get very tricky, if not undermining of the very humans design seeks to facilitate. 

In the uber-stylish Dezeen Magazine, a wearable-tech design is featured that tracks one's carbon footprint. Sounds like a good idea right? I mean, who wouldn't want a wearable that looks like something out of a sci-fi film crossed with Prada? And, who in the eco-conscious world of the 21st Century wouldn't want something that tracks one's carbon consumption? Wouldn't you want to be more eco-responsible? 

The Worldbeing Wearable.

Under the moniker "World Being," which sounds like something out of Aliens, this wrist band will map out your consumption and connect that information up to your mobile device. The vision isn't small, in spite of the actual size of the device: 

Worldbeing is a wearable and app supported by the Carbon Trust that tracks energy usage, empowering you to make better decisions to help halt climate change. We have envisioned a tool with the potential to enable a community of likeminded users to inspire a movement and transform the world.

Again, sounds really cool and hip and relevant--right? 

Well....

Tracks carbon footprint on your mobile device.

One way we can look at this is as part of a world of transparency; a world in which your moves are tracked by third parties and governments and businesses. We are already aware of the relaying of our personal data to the National Security Agency of the United States, and more is being leaked about similar ways in which our personal data isn't safe, especially through our mobile technology. 

Enter now a really cool designer bracelet that tracks your 'carbon consumption': what will follow? Will you get a bill in the mail for carbon consumption? Will you see your home taxes increase as a result of the information you are sending out? What other activities is this bracelet going to track as your comings and goings are being mapped out? 

These are simple questions we need to ask ourselves as technology is becoming more seductive and tied to third party interests in our personal information.