One thing is for sure, we can’t sustain the cheap availability of air travel for ever. Economists (and science fiction authors) have described futures where physical long distance travel will be either very rare and expensive, or done the slow way (by land or sea). Seems that NASA has clicked to this idea as well, with the launch of ‘Virtual Field Trip’, an immersive multimedia experience designed for students (but available to all) who want to explore remote parts of Australia in the company of scientists.

Or so argues Carlo Longino in his blog. In his formulation the distinction between old media and new media is primarily new media’s willingness to express an opinion about the material they’re presenting. In my opinion, he’s right.

I’m beginning to see a trend. Popular Mechanics has an article up taking a look at some alternative fuels research going on GE. Apparently, they’ve solved come close to solving the problems plaguing the commercialization of hydrogen power: namely, extremely high cost and the fact that it takes many times more energy to produce the hydrogen than will be released in its combustion. With this new technique, the folks at GE expect to produce hydrogen at a cost comparable with that of gasoline.

I’d love to think that a “movement” like Unity ’08 (which strives to nominate a Democrat and a Republican for President and Vice-President in 2008) could actually influence the course of American politics, but I can’t help but thinking its founders are indulging in magical thinking. American politics is in the sorry state it is not because Democrats and Republicans just don’t realize a lot of Americans are turned off by partisan politics, but because the current structure of American elections favors the party that does partisan politics best. Unity ’08 is not going to change the system by playing by the system’s rules — if they want to do that they need to come at it from outside the system.

That said, it would be cool to see an all online primary.

I read a lot of news about games, and have muddled through a number of diatribes on Are Games Art or Not? I am tired of most arguments, as they seem to miss the point that games are just another form of media, like TV or film or clay or canvas. As such, it is neat to see in Japan an installation where the games seem, for once, to inarguably BE ART.