Can a little strip of tape on a 35-mile-per-hour speed limit sign cause a self-driving car to accelerate? Yes—and press attention, too. Researchers from security company McAfee wanted to see if they could dupe a Tesla car into thinking the speed limit was different than posted, and they succeeded.
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The National Transportation Safety Board says the driver of a Tesla SUV who died in a Silicon Valley crash two years ago was playing a video game on his smartphone while his vehicle was being controlled by a partially automated driving system.
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The effect that fossil fuels are having on the climate emergency is driving an international push to use low-carbon sources of energy. At the moment, the best options for producing low-carbon energy on a large scale are wind and solar power. But despite improvements over the last few years to both their performance and cost, a significant problem remains: the wind doesn’t always blow, and the sun doesn’t always shine. A power grid that relies on these fluctuating sources struggles to constantly match supply and demand, and so renewable energy sometimes goes to waste because it’s not produced when needed.
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Consumer confidence in the safety of self-driving cars continues to be a challenge for auto makers planning for an automated driving future, but add to that uneasiness over how well a self-driving car will manage in roads hit by bad weather conditions.
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For self-driving vehicles to become an everyday reality, they need to safely and flawlessly navigate one another without crashing or causing unnecessary traffic jams.
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In Stephen King’s new novel, Doctor Sleep, King brings back the character of Danny Torrence, the little boy in The Shining. In interviews King says that when fans ask about the fate of specific characters (the one’s that actually live through the horror), he’s been more interested in the those that question the fate of Danny. I think most people who have seen the movie remember the cute little boy on a tricycle with a bowl haircut racing down the empty corridors of The Overlook Hotel. Later to run from a mad “white knuckle alcoholic” who was his father.
Doctor Sleep is, in my opinion, semi autobiographical. Like Duma Key, which deals with the aftermath of a man who is in a horrendous accident (like King), Doctor Sleep deals with the reality of what it is like to be a recovering alcoholic. I didn’t know King was an alcoholic, but he has been in recovery for over twenty years. So he knows the depths to which one can plunge as well as the difficulties in trying to remain sober. In Doctor Sleep, Danny is an alcoholic like his father and a chain smoker like his mother (who, in the novel, has died of lung cancer). When writing the book, King’s son, Owen, told him that the “plunge” he had given Danny, now Dan, was not far enough to equal the plunge Dan’s father, Jack, had taken. King takes his advice. So, if you don’t want gross, speed read ahead. Dan, after having picked up a girl, gotten in a fight, spends all of his paycheck on cocaine, wakes up still drunk and has to go to the bathroom. “Another lurch from his unhappy gut… That released all of the puke triggers: the vinegar smell of hard cooked eggs in a big glass jar, the taste of barbecue-flavored pork rinds, the sight of french fries drowning in a ketchup nosebleed. All of that crammed into his mouth last night between shots. He was going to spew… ” And that he does in spectacular fashion. But that leads to the main reason for the scene… Dan’s plunge. As he’s leaving the bathroom, out of another room comes a toddler with a baggy diaper full of everything a baby discards, sees the coke on the table, runs to it crying, “canny, mama, canny!” Danny keeps him from getting the “canny” and the little boy falls asleep with his drunk mother. Danny notices bruises on the little boy’s body. While the mom is passed out, he goes through her wallet taking all of her money. Justifying this by saying she’d been the one who made him spend his paycheck on coke. The taking of the money haunts Dan. And the bruises on the little boy haunt Dan. This, to me, is the real crux of the novel. Dan can not get beyond the demons of his past, his murderous, alcoholic father, the dead but not dead people from The Overlook who visit him leaving behind pieces of their rotting, putrefying bodies and the mother with her bruised baby boy. Dan discovers “that memories are the real ghosts” and that, “you take yourself with you, wherever you go.”
Of course in every King novel there has to be some type of supernatural forces causing havoc. In this novel, King expands on the concept of “the shining”. It’s the ability to read other people’s minds, or move objects, or project out of one’s self. Dan has it and so does a young teenage girl named Abra. In Doctor Sleep, they have to battle a bunch of centuries old serial killers, the True Knot, disguised as RV driving pensioners who literally feed off the pain of others. They only feed on those with “the shining”, and they make their deaths particularly brutal. It makes for better “steam”. They get a big kick out of 9/11 and other tragedies. The leader of this group, a woman named Rose, has a tusk. In Doctor Sleep, Dan fights his past with much greater dread and sense of terror than he does the woman with the tusk. Dan does, through AA, “come to know a new freedom and new happiness.” He also comes to realize that he “will not regret the past nor wish to shut the door on it.” With this novel King, apparently, is not shutting the door on his past.
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Source by Linda M Caminiti
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As you know, we’re now well and truly in the
Information Age. It began about 10 years ago. In fact,
many economists say it began in 1989, with the Fall of
the Berlin Wall (and the start of the World Wide Web).
To understand who will become wealthy in the
Information Age, first we need to understand how the
Information Age differs from the Industrial Age (born
about 1860, died about 1989).
In fact, let’s get a complete overview and go back to
the Agrarian Age.
In the Agrarian Age, society was basically divided
into two classes: the landowners and the people who
worked on the land (the serfs). If you were a serf,
there wasn’t much you could do about it:
land-ownership passed down through families and you
were stuck with the status you were born into.
When the Industrial Age arrived, everything changed:
it was no longer agriculture that generated most of
the wealth, but manufacturing. Suddenly, land was no
longer the key to wealth. A factory occupied far less
land than a sheep farm or a wheat farm.
With the Industrial Age came a new kind of wealthy
person: the self-made businessman. Wealth no longer
depended on land-ownership and the family you were
born into. Business acumen and factories were creating
a new class of wealthy person. But it still required
enormous capital to build a factory and start a
business.
Then came the World Wide Web (in about 1989) and
globalization. Suddenly, everything changed again.
Factories (or real estate) were no longer necessary to
run a business. Anyone with a website could start a
business. The barriers to wealth that existed in the
Agrarian Age and the Industrial Age were completely
gone. People who could never have dreamed of owning
their own business were making millions from their
kitchen table.
Of course, the Information Revolution didn’t begin
in 1989.
It began in 1444 when Gutenberg invented the printing
press in Mainz, Germany.
But the printing press (newspapers, magazines,
paperbacks) belonged to the Industrial Age, not the
Information Age.
The printing press is a ‘one-to-many’ technology. The
Internet is a ‘many-to-many’ technology. And that was
what changed in 1989.
The Industrial Age was about centralization and
control. The Information Age is about
de-centralization and no control. No government and no
media magnate controls the Internet. This is the
crucial thing to understand about the Information Age.
As we moved from the Agrarian Age through the
Industrial Age to the Information Age, there’s been a
steady collapse of the barriers that kept one section of
society wealthy and the other section poor.
In the Information Age, literally anyone can become
wealthy.
So now that we have a clearer picture of how the
Information Age differs from the Industrial Age, let’s
ask that question again: ‘Who will become wealthy in
the Information Age?’:
(1) People Who are Self-Taught
To explain this better, let’s go back to the Agrarian
Age and the Industrial Age, and the Transmission of
Skills.
In the Agrarian Age, skills were passed on from father
to son. If you wanted to learn how to be a blacksmith
you had to be a blacksmith’s son. If you wanted to
learn to be a stone-mason, you had to be the son of a
stone-mason.
With the coming of the Industrial Age, all this
changed. You could go to University and learn whatever
skills you wanted. Knowledge was freely available.
But in the Information Age, the Transmission of Skills
is changing once again.
The skills necessary to succeed in the Information Age
are not being learnt from our parents (as in the
Agrarian Age), nor are they being learnt in schools
and colleges (as in the Industrial Age). Children are
teaching their parents computer skills. And many of
the entrepreneurs who start hi-tech Internet companies
have never been to college.
The millionaires (and billionaires) of tomorrow
probably won’t have a college education. They will be
high-school drop-outs, self-taught people.
(2) People with New Ideas.
Again, it’s the people who are able to think outside
of the existing structures who will become wealthy in
the Information Age. Often, it’s just a Simple Idea
that launches people to success in the Information
Age.
Take Sabhir Bhatia, for example – the man who invented
Hotmail. Bhatia was a computer engineer working in
Silicon Valley. He had no previous business
experience, whatsoever.
But one day, while he was driving back from work, a
friend called him on his cell phone and said that he
had an idea: What about starting a free, web-based
email service? Bhatia knew this was the idea he’d been
waiting for. He told his friend to hang up immediately
and ring him at home on a secure line.
Three years later he sold Hotmail to Microsoft for
$400 million.
(3) Writers
The third group who will become wealthy in the
Information Age are Writers.
In the Industrial Age, Writers depended on large
publishing Houses to get published (remember that the
printing press is an Industrial Age technology – it is
centralized and controlled). And the Publishing Houses
took the lion’s share of the profits.
In the Information Age, Writers are doing their own
publishing – and keeping most of the profits
themselves. Indeed, Writers are flourishing on the
Web – mainly through eBooks and Ezine Articles.
But even if you don’t write eBooks or Ezine Articles,
if you own a website, you are a Writer.
Why?
Because the Internet is basically a written medium. It
favors writers, people who are able to communicate
effectively through the written word. Remember, it’s
not the graphics on your website that sell, it’s the
words you use.
In the Information Age, we’re all Writers!
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How often have you either referred to or considered the expression, “Success is a journey and not a Destination?” Probably many times, yet often being in a hurry to get there, we forget that success is not an end unto itself, but is instead an ongoing process.
Though some people seem to have the Midas touch and easily turn everything to gold, most of us have to give our endeavors lots of time, effort and the sweat of our brow before seeing things come to fruition. The simple truth is that the majority of us are simply not born leaders, but become leaders by who we are and the actions we take. Consequently, whether or not you’re an established entrepreneur or just starting out on your journey, there are particular traits you’ll usually find operating within the exceptional entrepreneur. In fact there are 7 particular traits you’ll generally discover deeply embedded within the exceptional and successful businessperson.
If you’ve already taken the plunge as an entrepreneur, you know that it takes a great deal of planning, development and strategic marketing to succeed. At any given time, there are changes to be considered and new directions to examine. In which case, whether you’re the CEO, CFO, Chief Marketer or Chief Solutions Officer of your company, your journey to success is probably full of trials and tribulations.
To support you in your journey to success, be willing to open your mind and sense of reasoning as you consider whether these traits are part of your driving force. If they are not yet ingrained within you, I recommend that you give them some thought.
THE 7 TRAITS TO SUCCESS
1) Successful Entrepreneurs Gain the Respect of their Peers
One of the first and most obvious characteristics you’ll see operating in an exceptional entrepreneur is an equitable and unbiased disposition . Plain and simple the successful entrepreneur recognizes that no one is above or below. With an attitude of respect for others, the successful entrepreneur gains the respect from everyone they encounter. Strategies, attitudes and methods filter down to each person and reflect on all actions and activities. A successful entrepreneur gives everyone the space to be great. No matter how effective or beneficial your expertise, becoming a successful entrepreneur requires building up of your character muscles, traits and habits, which correspondingly make your dreams a reality.
2) Successful Entrepreneurs Believe and Trust in Themselves
The savvy entrepreneur is good at trusting his or her own ideas and instincts. Starting out as an entrepreneur requires persistence, determination and a high level of self-discipline. Continuing as a successful entrepreneur requires even more persistence, determination and self-discipline. The wise and successful entrepreneur knows this and works hard at developing their level of confidence. If you have a strong code of ethics and believe in yourself, then your ideas can work. Having the desire and passion are the first steps on your journey; getting there requires believing in yourself.
3) Successful Entrepreneurs Follow a Plan
The successful entrepreneur follows a plan. Haphazard or trial and error have no place for the triumphant entrepreneur, for no one gets to his or her destination without a map or a guide to follow. That doesn’t mean you won’t go off course if another road seems better, but it’s still more effective to have a plan in place. Most successful entrepreneurs start out by writing a basic business plan that acts as the impetus and guide for their endeavors. It doesn’t have to be fancy or lengthy but it should include marketing strategies, goals, intentions, ideas and why you can do better than your competition. A business plan should be reviewed and updated periodically for each new idea stirs and inspires other ideas.
4) Successful Entrepreneurs Think Creatively
Successful entrepreneurs are not afraid of thinking creatively. Whether a business idea has already been tried makes no difference to the exceptional entrepreneur. He or she sees better ways of doing things and knows that every idea can be expanded upon, made better, enhanced or broadened . The successful entrepreneur is willing to think outside or the proverbial box, which means using imagination, trying new things and expanding on a vision. The savvy entrepreneur pays careful attention as to whether a particular strategy is working. If after giving it his or her best shot the entrepreneur realizes the particular strategy isn’t working, they know there’s no point in continuing to invest energy, time and effort in the strategy. They move on to another approach and idea.
5)Successful Entrepreneurs Explore Their Exceptional Skills
Successful entrepreneurs realize that we each have our strengths and weaknesses as well as a multitude of skills and talents. Successful people ask themselves often what skills they have that no one shares in quite the same way. An exceptional and successful entrepreneur explores their particular skills until they find the ones that match most closely with their ideal. They don’t try to be and do everything. If the successful entrepreneur needs help, they’re willing to find someone who can do it better, and allows in the support. The successful entrepreneur stays open to change for they recognize that as they move forward, doors open in unexpected places that carry them to their next level of success.
6) Successful Entrepreneurs Envision Their Success
The successful entrepreneur gives time to envisioning how they want their business to look and how they want it to be. Intention is a powerful and dynamic tool. For those who are not inclined towards intention and visualization, talk to a successful athlete and you’ll discover that before each sporting event, the successful athlete envisions exactly how he or she wants things to turn out. Imagine what it will feel like when you’ve reached a particular set of goals. Get in touch with the feelings, you’d have as a successful entrepreneur. Practice and conceive of the sense of empowerment and the joy of having succeeded. The successful entrepreneur knows they have the power to live life the way they want, but to make it a reality, they know it has to be seen first.
7) Successful Entrepreneurs Never Give Up
Giving up is never in the vocabulary of the successful entrepreneur. Of course there may be days when a successful entrepreneur feels discouraged or disappointed, but giving up is not an option. Having faith, trust, confidence and determination are the qualities needed for the successful entrepreneur. To keep their focus on track, they seek out the support of those that know them, encourage them and bring out their natural enthusiasm. The smart and successful entrepreneur realizes that there will be good days and not so good days. Being a successful entrepreneur requires accepting the ebbs and flows of business for it is in fact what separates the exceptional and successful entrepreneur from the one who gives up far too soon.
© 2004
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Source by Robert Moment
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