The Science of Over the Edge: Hoverbikes Coming Soon to a Dealer Near You

In Over the Edge, characters drive hovercars and light duty trucks and remotely operate "robo eyes" or release autonomous "robo eyes" or "snooper robos" which are essentially drones. These robotic devices are used to gather information, dispense medicine, triage patients, complete basic medical physicals and conduct blood, urine, breath and skin sampling and testing. They can also defend their users from attack or attack assigned targets. Snooper robos are used for spying and forensic purposes.

Robo eyes or snooper robos are spherical and covered entirely by video projectors and cameras. The video cameras not only gather visual information, but transmit what they "see" to projectors making the devices practically invisible to all but the most experienced observers. They can operate autonomously or be remotely controlled via mind control or computer interface.

Lexus, more commonly known for automobile manufacturing, has recently announced that it has developed a magnetic hoverboard prototype. A short teaser video can be found elsewhere on the web, unfortunately, doesn't show anybody demonstrating its use or I would post the video here. However, a UK company has developed a hoverbike which the US military will soon purchase and employ in a variety of situations. (Videos posted below.)

In Over the Edge, hover passenger vehicles and light-duty trucks navigate either by computer control or by user control in hover lanes above already traveled ground lanes--layered travel lanes. Urban hove vehicles are limited, by law, to designated hover areas (laws are made to be broken, right?).

Hoverbikes featured in the video below and for use here on earth employ the same kind of rider/machine control as a motorcycle. The rider leans to one side or the other to effect a turn. While hovercycles also exist in Over the Edge, hovercars are similar to vehicles found in earth's 21st century in their appearance and seating capabilities, most are outfitted to double as ground automobiles.(Yes, the back-end of two horses is the galactic standard width for cars, trucks and all hovercraft just as it is here on earth for everything from buggies, to Conestoga wagons to automobiles and trucks to NASA's spacecraft.)



Click this link for more: The Telegraph reports: US Soldiers Could Soon Use UK Developed Hoverbikes

Science of Over the Edge: Brain to Computer Melding

In Over the Edge and related novels, Lendar Marl, Captains Reeser Peland, Anwic Dzula and Ystem Aver are fitted with a device called a Kaldesope. While Lendar Marl uses his Kaldescope to become a component of his Cadillac Escalade, the other characters' Kaldescopes cause them to become intimate components of their ships. Using mind power alone, they are able to employ the Escalade or ships' computers, manage their functions etc. via their Kaldescopes. Through their Kaldescopes characters access information files saved on data bases aboard their ships or other vehicles and throughout linked computer networks using only their minds. Though Lendar is not fitted with the full-blown Kaldescope, the Captains' Kaldescopes make it possible for them to record the audio and visual information they gather through their own senses, save it to their ship's data bases and then review it at will, like watching a movie, either in private within their own minds or projected on screens anywhere they have access and the proper equipment. Through their Kaldescopes Captains can spy on passengers, check on cargo and observe activity outside the ship via the ship's data gathering systems--cameras, sensors and so forth. Lendar can drive his Escalade or change any setting remotely; the other characters can also change settings and fly their ships remotely. While the Kaldescope is functioning, the characters essentially become one with their ships, the over-brain and the heart of their vessels.

A company called BrainGate (click here to visit the company website) is working to develop interfaces between human brains and computers and/or robots. Their work is based on research that began in the late 1800's when Hans Berger began researching how the brain communicates and developed the EEG, the electroencephalogram, to record brain waves. He was the first to demonstrate that our neurons talk to one another using electrical pulses. His findings were published in 1929. His work was largely ignored until 1969 when biophysicist, Eberhard Fetz, wondered if, since our brains communicate using electricity, perhaps we can control electronic devices through thought control. His test subjects were Rhesus monkeys who learned to manipulate readings on a meter using only their brains. With the advent of the computerized age, BrainGate can now implant silicon chips in human brains and allows an individual to control a robotic arm or access the internet using mind control alone. This is potentially great advance for disabled people and remote operations. While the BrainGate plug-in is bulky and intrusive, the Kaldescope is barely visible and requires no intrusive brain surgery (of course, the Kaldescope is fictitious, but so were satellites in geosynchronous orbit at one time--nod to Arthur C. Clarke for inventing those).

Check out: The Coming Merge of Human and Machine Intelligence for more.

Atheism is a Delusion

John Lennox speaks about the evidence Christians have for their belief in Jesus as Lord...

Theology and Over the Edge

"When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as he was praying, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: "You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased," Luke 3:21 & 22

Jesus went to the river to be baptized. During a Jewish baptism, the person being baptized enters on one side of the river or baptismal tank, dips into the water until completely covered to symbolize cleansing and repentance and then stands up and steps out, leaving behind the old way and exiting on the opposite side. When Jesus came out the Holy Spirit, looking like a Dove, landed on Him. Doves are easily startled and will fly off at the slightest provocation. Can you imagine walking around with a dove on your shoulder? How carefully you would move?

And God announced, "You are my Son, whom I love; with You I am well pleased." This is the last thing we are told that God said to Jesus before He was led by the Spirit to go into the wilderness and fast forty days and do battle with the devil. When He emerged triumphant from his duel, Luke tells us that Jesus returned to Galilee "in the power of the Spirit," verse 14. Jesus wasn't feeling tired or run down, He was feeling invigorated and on fire. The Holy Spirit had gone from resting on Him to residing within Him. And He created a stir just by walking past someone because Luke tells us that the news about Jesus spread throughout the land. Jesus had entered into His destiny.

The great overarching theme of the Over the Edge science fiction novels is the human quest to find God, to find meaning and to enter the joy and exhilaration of unity with God in thought and purpose. Many of the characters are representatives of Jesus or types of Jesus. This should not surprise any believer for becoming part of the Body of Christ, living as His representative in the earth is the calling every Christian has on his or her life. Human beings were created to be God's Image Bearers in the earth, to one another, to our families and to the public at large. And Jesus' life, death and resurrection makes this possible again after it was lost during Adam's fall. To be God's Image Bearer is what it means to be "created in the Image of God," Genesis 1:27.

When a person becomes a believer in Jesus as Lord, he goes through a baptism, which the physical ceremony is meant to portray in the material world. He leaves behind his old self, his old way of thinking, his old life and is immersed in Jesus and His death to emerge on the other side in Jesus' resurrection power and live a new life in fellowship and unity with the Lord, Ephesians 4:24. The heroes of Over the Edge portray what this might look like when applied to the situations in which they find themselves. Advanced science and technology might shape how the challenge may look or what means the character has available for dealing with the challenge, but these accoutrements do not change the charge God has given every being created in His Image: be My Image Bearers.

As soon as we begin pursuing our destiny, what Stephen Pressfield calls, "Resistance," or what Christians call, the destroyer or the accuser, will come and test us. Resistance is a fitting name. The first thing Jesus faced after He enjoyed the mountain top experience with God at the river was Resistance. The entire satanic challenge was more than a tempting to turn stones into bread or gain notoriety by flinging Himself off the temple wing, it was a challenge to God's statement, "You are my beloved Son and I am pleased with You." Adam faced this same challenge in the Garden of Eden--will you remember God loves you and is pleased with you, Mr. Adam? Or will you doubt His generosity and goodness as I, ha Satan, the Challenger do? Where Adam failed, Jesus super-abounded in success. He remembered God loved Him, He remembered who He was and came out of the contest invigorated, confirmed and seated in His destiny. Challenges come and are intended to be tools we use in co-operation with God to confirm and seat us, the combatants, in the realization and fullness of the dreams God has set before us, to confirm and fix us in our destiny and in His Grace. Remember that when Resistance comes--and it will come, just as soon as you make even the smallest step toward your destiny and calling.

Believers in Christ--be encouraged. The Holy Spirit, the Power that made Jesus a force to be contended with while He resided here and a Person who transformed the entire fabric of the individuals who encountered Him, the Holy Spirit who empowered Jesus who has changed world systems, this same Holy Spirit has settled on you like a Dove and would reside within you transforming you into a powerhouse for good and glory for God. As Image Bearers of the Most High God, we are called to represent Jesus to everyone around us. Take up the charge and go forward. Failure only means you have an opportunity to learn how to do it better. Victory is assured if you do not forget who you are in Christ, if you do not forget who He is and that this One who created the entire universe and sustains it by His Word, this One loves you and finds you pleasing. He can do this because He has not only died for you, but as you; He not only was raised for you, but was raised as you and has seated you with Him in Heavenly realms. You are His sibling, a joint-heir to all He possess. Do not fear. He loves you more than you can imagine.

It is my hope that you, dear reader, will find inspiration in the Over the Edge stories to stir you up to take on your calling with new vigor. Let's conquer whatever territory lies before us for the Kingdom of God and claim it for Him.

Science of Over the Edge: Forcefields

In the Over the Edge universe, spaceships use gravtational and electro-magnetic fields to protect the ship from random particles and debris. Recently, Boeing patented a device that will detect an explosion and use lasers to create a plasma field that will deflect the bomb's shockwaves.

Boeing Just Patented an Actual Force Field Right Out of Science Fiction

 

Four Big Bangs Needed--Can LIfe Get There Without God?

An atheist does the research...

Living Fully Functional in Your Divine Purpose by Lance Wallnau

Once the pastor finishes his business with the congregation and introduction, Lance Wallnau gives an uplifting and empowering talk on living fully functional....

Science of Over the Edge: Marsupials See Ultraviolet Light

Some of the characters in the Over the Edge series and the related romance series are marsupial humanoids. Not only do marsupials have two unified brain hemispheres and weird sexual apparatus, but they also see into the ultraviolet spectrum. What does that look like? It's quite difficult for us to imagine, harder for some of us than others because we don't all see the same colors within the narrow and of colors humans can see. Men are more likely to be unable to see certain colors and a few women might be able to see more colors than everyone else. The beast with the best color vision in the world is a particularly viscous shrimp--the mantis shrimp, who is sufficiently violent it can crack an ordinary aquarium wall.

For my own sanity's sake I've ignored the reality about marsupial vision and treated my characters as if they were capable of seeing all the colors I see. I'm an artist and happen to believe I have pretty good color vision, though I've never taken a formal test to discover how good (or bad) it really is. After listening to the podcast (link shared below) I kind of wish I had enough grasp on the ultraviolet vision concept to describe what it would be like to see the universe in from an enhanced, ultraviolet way. Like I said, for my own sanity's sake I've ignored that reality about marsupial vision.

The podcast is by RadioLab and is pretty interesting. If you've got an hour, give it a listen, if you don't right now, come back and listen when you do have the time. Enjoy. Colors by RadioLab

About Over the Edge...

The over-arching theme of Over the Edge is the quest for God. Within that is the search for meaning, for unconditional love, for truth, for connection and for redemption.

The first book in the series came out in 2004, Over the Edge: The Beginning. The bottom line: the book wasn't ready--I wasn't a sufficiently good enough writer to pull it off. You can find copies on Amazon and elsewhere--used copies. The book is now out of print, but I'm rewriting it.

Meanwhile, Give Her the Stars was released in 2012. Give Her the Stars is the first in a series written in the Over the Edge universe featuring characters from the series and are stand-alone novels. However these stand-alone novels will add to the reader's understanding of the Over the Edge world. Ostensibly, Give Her the Stars is a romance, and, yes, it is a romance, but more, it is a young woman's story of giving up worry.

Love From the Stars is coming in 2015. It's the story of a young woman who must give up her boyfriend and rent-to-buy home to move in with her demented mother in a far away city to care for her. In the course of her sufferings, Violet is also forced to give up her self-righteous hypocrisy and in so doing, finds Grace and Love. It's also the story of Causey Lindo, a libertine, who finds he's tired of the wastrel lifestyle. Already full of the awareness that he is nothing and can do nothing but sin, he finds Jesus and is transformed. He lives in Romans 5:20 and II Corinthians 12:9-10.

Look for Love From the Stars in 2015!

Science of Over the Edge: The Surveillance State

In Over the Edge surveillance technology exists and is carefully regulated, but in early 2015 we haven't gotten to that point--we don't yet have all the little niggling entry points where corporations and government can gain access to our lives blocked or controlled. We're in danger of finding ourselves living in a country where liberty is paid only lip service, meanwhile corporations and government control us.

In this video Dark Journalist, Daniel Liszt, discusses the hazards of RFID tags, smart phones and the surveillance state:

Science of Over the Edge: Nano-tech Inside the Body

In Over the Edge characters use nanobots to clean and gather forensic evidence. In one scene, nanobots are used to create what will appear to be a heart attack, kill a man and leave his body. Google plans to use nano-technology for a much less nefarious purpose:

Review "Give Her the Stars" and rate the book!

What the future can look like, if we take charge...

The Universe is Finely Tuned for Life

Gerald Schroeder has several books dealing with this topic, my favorite is The Science of God. In that book he explores the evidence supporting the view that God created the universe and uses the Hebrew Scripture to help support his thesis. I recommend that book for anybody serious about the question of whether or not God created the all that there is.

Meanwhile, here's a fine video approaching the question from a simple, logical point of view employing science to back up the thesis:

Science of Over the Edge: Drinking Hot Beverages in the Summer

In Give Her the Stars, Elise, the heroine, like to drink hot tea in the summer. This practice actually has benefits, provided certain conditions are met.

1) all your sweat will evaporate

2) it's not humid

If you drink a hot beverage on a hot day your stomach's thermo-sensors become overactive and send signals to the hypothalamus that you're hot, causing that organ to trigger sweating. So, if it can all evaporate, you'll lose more heat than you took in when you drank the hot drink.

If it's humid and/or you're already soggy with sweat, choose something cold.

Why Your Weird Friends are Drinking Hot Coffee in the Summer...

Warp Drive, Gravity and Passenger Spaceships

If you can create a warp drive that rides a wave of bent time/space, how do you jump start it and more importantly, how do you turn it off? The leading edge of the wave is not in your time. The proposed design places passengers in a time bubble within a large ring. The time bubble operates on home time while the ring rides a wave of space/time. For more, read the article below:

NASA's interplanetary space ship design

photo credit: sploid.gizmodo.com

 In the Over the Edge series Candan Rubeek is the primary inventor of the gravitational drive, a system that employs gravity to propel ships to near light speeds. Admittedly this author has no idea, at this time, precisely how that might work except to say that it pushes against and pulls depending on the chosen direction--like a magnet pushing and pulling against another magnet. If you've ever played with super strong magnets you know you can get quite a bounce when you force the magnets resisting ends toward one another.

Though we can say a lot of things about gravity, we still don't understand it. In this video we come right to the edge of the answer to the big question, "What is gravity?", and then veer back into known territory again. Why? Because we don't know what gravity is! Check it out, it is worth the watch:



Virgin Galactic is the front leader in the creation of passenger spaceships. The most interesting bit of information for me in the clip featured below is how the ships are constructed without rivets or welds:

An insider's look at Virgin Galactic's passenger space ship

Your Jet Pack Coming Soon

I'll admit it. I'm super tired and I don't want to write even an opening paragraph. Just go to the website and read what these guys have to say, it's easier and faster for both of us: The Martin Jetpack

And while we're on the subject, if you don't want to go to the website, here's a video of the Martin Jetpack, but if you're going to ride this thing, you're going to want hearing protectors:

Measuring Time

Recipes From the "Over the Edge" Universe

In the Over the Edge series characters drink wines, "cofaynee," Ephonian "Blizzards" and this Celian drink reformulated for Earthlings by Chris Colman of Las Vegas, Nevada:

Electric Blue Freeze

Hurricane Glass (ice to top of glass)

1 oz Malibu Rum

1 oz Grey Goose Vodka

½ oz Blue Curacao

Almost fill with Sweet & Sour

Splash of 7-up

Blended

"Lagrangian Real Estate: Places in Space," by J.C. Conway

photo credit: J.C. Conway's blog post

In Over the Edge planets establish space ports where trade and passenger traffic can make connections with the too-large-to-land on the planet surface. Mr. Conway has written a blog post about this potentially valuable space real estate. "Lagrangian Real Estate: Places in Space," by J.C. Conway