John K. Davis, Independent Distributor, SendOutCards

In Michigan

It was cold and a bit slippery when we landed in Chicago. Our plane fishtailed down the runway as the pilot struggled to keep us on the tarmac. First serious thought about Thanksgiving—I’m glad to be alive. We got our rental car, stopped for a late-morning coffee at a Starbucks on our way out of town and had a safe trip to Holland despite the inclement weather.

We arrived to find the Ray household looking a lot like a medical clinic. Jamison, Sydney and Clinton all had the flu. Steph was soon among the ailing. Janet and I spent three days nursing everyone through the virus.

Fortunately, we were all in good shape by Thanksgiving Day. We had a wonderful meal and enjoyed the day. By evening it was my turn to be ill and I was sleeping restlessly for many hours before others retired for the night.

I felt better the next day, so I was able to watch the kids while Steph and Clinton went to work and Janet spent the day in bed feeling miserable. I took Stephanie and her family out to dinner and to do a little shopping while Janet languished in solitude wrapped in blankets.

It is early morning now. I find myself having a hard time sleeping, so I thought I’d share the details of our misery with you instead of laying in bed trying to breathe (a stuffy nose seems to be the lingering symptom of the virus that has wreaked havoc around here).

Despite the facts, I have enjoyed our time here. Jamison and I spent a delightful three hours together—just the two of us—at a local park. Here are a few snapshots I took with my camera phone:

Home Network

I just completed a fun project. Good friends decided to upgrade their computer recently (see the prior article on Support Blogger). After the new workstation was working, we set up a small local area network (LAN). Well, it was only a few hours later that I got a call from my friends No one wanted to use the old computer, so they wanted to buy another new computer exactly like the one we just purchased.

Five days later the second new computer arrived and we had it up, on the network and all of the essential software configured and ready for use an hour after we opened the carton. We had transferred all of the data from the old computer a few days before, so both systems had access to the archive of files they saved over the years. I left my friends giggling as they forwarded email messages to one another from across the small room where the system was set up.

Networking has many advantages. Instead of sharing a computer and competing for CPU cycles, everyone has their own workstation. Sharing files, printers and a broadband Internet connection gives all users a consistent and convenient user experience. And you may be surprised how often you use email to communicate with the person who sits a few feet away.

Creating a small LAN is a simple process. Most systems require only one piece of additional hardware, a router, and a little CAT 5 or 6 cabling. The hardware can easily be acquired for less than $100. If you are going wireless, you will need a wireless transceiver for those workstations that are not hardwired into the LAN. The wireless access point can be easily integrated into the router at minimal additional cost. A wireless network for two computers will cost about $200. Cables or wireless, a small LAN can save money by sharing components, services and files while expanding the ways those who are networked communicate with one another.

Traveling

I’m at 32,000 feet, flying to Chicago with Janet on our way to visit Stephanie and her family. I am looking forward to seeing her. It will also be good to meet Sydney—Janet was there at her birth, but this will be my first time with our newest granddaughter.

I will be using my wireless camera phone a lot during our trip to post photos here as soon as they are taken. By the way, if you did not catch the article at Gadget Blogger regarding T-Mobile’s great deal on the Sony Ericsson T610 phone, you really should take a quick look. Now that phone numbers can be easily transferred to a new service, it is a perfect time to take advantage of the offer.

Custom Pets

Today's New York Times announced availability of the first genetically engineered pets: Gene-Altering Revolution Nears the Pet Store: Glow-in-the-Dark Fish

The GloFish, as it is called, is a zebra fish containing a gene from a sea coral that makes the fish bright red under normal light and fluorescent under ultraviolet light. Zebra fish, about an inch and a half long, are normally silver and black.

The company selling the fish, Yorktown Technologies, of Austin, calls the fish "a miracle of science" and said sales would begin Jan. 5 through pet stores.

Death

I have discussed transhumanist ideas with a few UU ministers. The TUUN blog gives me an opportunity to share some of the discussion publicly. This email message, as far as I can tell, is the first time I raised the subject with a UU minister:

Rent My Chest!

Chris Pirillo has been blogging forever and he is earning a very nice living doing so. Chris is a model of how to do well as a full-time blgger. It is with this in mind that I am considering one of Chris' new ideas; Rent My Chest! He says:

85 people have done this already - so, what are you waiting for?! COMING SOON: Rent My Ass!

I am interested in your feedback on this. Would you like to rent a picture of some body part of mine with your message written on it?

Try Scopeware

The Operation Gadget | Thinking About Trying Microsoft OneNote 2003 article begs the question: Why not use Scopeware, or Vision if you are not on a LAN? Specifically, when talking about OneNote Dave Aiello says:

The problem with this approach is the serial nature of each planning pad. If I try to go back to something I did last year, it helps to first remember the approximate date that I did something. If I can't do that, I have to grab my pads off the shelf and start browsing through them.

As I have said before, OneNote is great as far as it goes. But if the goal is to find what you are looking for, nothing works better than Scopeware.

Nanomedicine

"Nanomedicine is the preservation and improvement of human health using molecular tools and molecular knowledge of the human body." The quintessential Nanomedicine Website has been online for a few months and has rapidly expanded into an awesome resource. The site details the work and interests of Robert A. Freitas Jr.

The Nanomedicine Book Site is the key resource offered by Mr. Freitas. The technical book series will be published in four Volumes over the course of several years. The website is the first commercial Internet domain exclusively devoted to nanomedicine and is also the permanent online home of the Nanomedicine book series. Volume I was published by Landes Bioscience in October 1999. Volume IIA was published by Landes Bioscience in October 2003. Volume IIB and Volume III will be published in future years.

Molecular nanotechnology has been defined as the three-dimensional positional control of molecular structure to create materials and devices to molecular precision. The human body is comprised of molecules; hence the availability of molecular nanotechnology will permit dramatic progress in human medical services. More than just an extension of "molecular medicine," nanomedicine will employ molecular machine systems to address medical problems, and will use molecular knowledge to maintain and improve human health at the molecular scale. Nanomedicine will have extraordinary and far-reaching implications for the medical profession, for the definition of disease, for the diagnosis and treatment of medical conditions including aging, and ultimately for the improvement and extension of natural human biological structure and function.

What A Deal!

I often praise my Sony Ericsson T610 wireless phone with built-in camera. Now T-Mobile is offering it for FREE to new customers. That's right, the phone is FREE! And, they are also throwing in a Jabbra Bluetooth headset for FREE! Click on the image of the phone for details about this awesome offer.

The deal is especially good when you look at T-Mobile's service plans.

Humanist Legacy

In an article published in the most recent edition of UU World, William F. Schulz provides a perspective about the history of religious humanism within Unitarian Universalism. In the essay entitled Our Humanist Legacy he says:

Perhaps in no denomination but Unitarianism, with its aversion to creeds and dogmas, could such a frankly nontheistic movement as religious humanism have arisen without provoking a schism, and even Unitarianism found itself hard pressed to encompass the new thought. For more than a decade, from 1916--when Dietrich and another Unitarian colleague, the Rev. Curtis Reese, began preaching “humanism” to their congregations--through the 1920s, Unitarians debated the merits of a strictly human centered, scientifically minded, ethically focused religion. The “humanist-theist controversy” that exercised the American Unitarian Association had largely abated by 1933, when a group of philosophers, Unitarian ministers, and other religious liberals issued “A Humanist Manifesto” to articulate a coherent statement of humanist principles.

So, now a few UUs are bringing the transhumanist movement to the denomination and again there is resistance to the new thought.

I have been speaking to church leaders and people who have expressed interest about starting a Transhumanist Unitarian Universalist Network (TUUN) church affiliated organization. It is going well. Some have admitted being a little "freaked" about transhumanism, but so far most seem to have an open mind.

The next formal event I am planning is a meeting of those who want to learn more about transhumanism. I am in the process of submitting an application to facilitate an Adult Religious Education class at the First Unitarian Universalist Church of San Diego. I'm hoping that the formation of a TUUN group at the church will occur soon thereafter.

Some of the people interested are from UU congregations across the continent; so interest is not limited to me and people here in San Diego. In this context I am also working to create a UUA affiliated TUUN group and hope to arrange for an organizational meeting and a panel presentation at General Assembly in Long Beach this coming June.