I've been a little slack

So I've been a little slack in my posts. Instead of doing a post on news from two weeks ago and another for last week, I'm gonna go ahead and write two blogs on a medley of several stories I've encountered in the last two weeks. For this first post, I want to talk about some really cool inventions that are getting some hype.





The First cool bit of technology comes from Houston, Texas. It's a website called PimpThisBum.com and its goal is to raise money to help a local homless person get back on his feet.





Sean Dolan and his father set up the website as a marketing tool to support Timothy Edwards, who had been living under a busy overpass for the last four years. Surprisingly, this idea actually workd and in two months the site rasied over $50 thousand! Interestingly, the site allows you to donate more than money; you can donate ham sandwitches, even a college education. A company in Seattle donated a alcohol rehabilitation course which Edwards is currently well on his way to completing.





Many critics of this site say that it isn't helping Edwards, but exploiting him. However, other than the name, PimpThisBum.com has consistently similar goals to HelpTheHomeless.org. While the name can come off as offensive to some, I think this is a great idea. I would never in a million years give money to a homeless person on the street. How would I know my money wasn't going to drugs or alcohol? And the cliches of donating to good will sites grow tiring. This new name, however, is designed to insult my sincerity and therefore compels me to donate.





This is a very good program that is expanding to other cities in Texas and I think it would be great to see it in other parts of the country as well. Through sites like this, we can pimp all of the bums, one at a time.



The second really cool peice of technology comes from England, but is seeing growing attention in the US. It's a virtual hospital that medical students can use to grow accostumed to hospital protocal. It runs through a program called second life, a virtual world that allows users to interact with each other in almost limitless ways. From this hospital, to buying and selling property, even buying prostitutes, almost anything is possible.

The cool thing about this program and how these medical students are using it is the game based learning it provides. For example, if a student forgets to wash his hands before seeing a patient, he won't be able to continue with his assignment. This really helps in getting students in the habit of following hospital protocol well.

While this is a really cool program, it doesn't take the place of traditional learning. Instead, it provides a refreshing break from mundane readings and other "less fun" assignments.

I think this is really neat and would love to see this in other fields. Perhaps as part of job training programs for mechanics, food service workers, or anything else that requires the ability to repetively go through a process. It would take a lot of the labor of training new employees off of the business which would make it more productive.

The third peice of technology, and my favorite so far, also comes from England, but would have huge implications here. It's something called the bionic eye (a prosthetic eye containing a tiny camera that records video that he can used to study how it intersects with humanity). While the device wouldn't actually restore his sight, it's big leap on an already existing technology found in California. There, researches have been able to restore limited sight to 21 blind people by implanting electrodes into the damaged retina and using special glasses to recieve the light.

This reminds me of The Terminator, but much cooler. The impact this would have on the US would be astounding. Especially for the wounded soldiers coming from Iraq--many of which suffer from eye damages. All in all, this a really cool peice of technology that will hopefully see further development in the years to come.