A TRULY SMART CAR

This story caught my eye today:

"German scientists have unveiled the latest in self-driving car technology:- an autonomous vehicle named "MadeInGermany" (MIG), which passengers can even call for a lift.

Computer scientist Raul Rojas and his team at Berlin's Free University (FU) have developed the experimental car which they hope will revolutionize the future of driving.  Passengers can phone their MIG using an iPad or smartphone and the Global Positioning System integrated into these devices reveals the caller's location to the car, which then works out the best route and tells the passenger how long it will take it to get there.  The car's designers say their invention will support environmentally friendly developments by making car-sharing more practical -- if several people are traveling in the same direction, one unmanned taxi can pick them all up.

Optimal use of the technology could see the number of cars in Berlin reduced to one-fifth of their current number, they say."

Wouldn't that be neat?  I can imagine plenty of Moebius persons who would enjoy it...starting with me.

A MESS OF TEXTING

How do they find the time?:

"The average 13- to 17-year-old sends and receives a whopping 3,339 text messages a month, and adults' use of text messaging is starting to climb -- although to nowhere near the levels of American teens.  The Nielsen Co. analyzed cell phone bills of 60,000 subscribers at the request of The Wall Street Journal. Nielsen's study contrasts with another done recently that finds text messaging to be on the rise, but not to the same degree.  Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project, in its research, said that teen texting averages 50 messages a day -- compared to the 100 a day average cited by Nielsen....No matter whose numbers you consider, they're impressive for teens -- well, maybe not if you're a teen or a parent.  Last January, the Kaiser Family Foundation said that 7th- to 12th-graders spend an average of an hour and 35 minutes a day sending or receiving texts."

Do Moebius teens, or other teens with facial differences, text that much?  Maybe.  I don't know.  It would be interesting to find out.  Sure seems like, whoever's doing it, it sucks up a lot of one's time...

LOVE IS THE ANSWER

And really, when you think about it, this shouldn't surprise us:

"Love really can be a drug, according to new research that shows feelings of intense love can relieve pain.

Researchers from Stanford University studied the link between love and pain by scanning the brains of 15 college students who all professed to being deeply in love. The eight women and seven men were placed in brain scanners that tracked their body’s response to pain — in this case a heated probe placed on the palm of the hand....Then the researchers studied the brain’s pain response under three different conditions. In one scenario, the study subject looked at a picture of an acquaintance. In another, the student looked at a picture of his or her beloved. And because other research has shown distraction also can relieve pain, the student was given a distracting word task — in this case, they were asked to name sports that don’t use balls.
Looking at a picture of a loved one reduced moderate pain by about 40 percent and eased severe pain by about 10 to 15 percent, compared to viewing the picture of an acquaintance."

"It isn't silly...it isn't silly...Love isn't silly at all."---Paul and Linda McCartney, "The Silly Love Song", 1976.