Amsterdam to build an underground city!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1578139/New-underground-city-planned-for-Amsterdam.html

Amsterdam's city council has approved the construction of an underground city to begin in 2018.
Overcrowding and soaring property prices within the city acted as a catalyst for this 7.4 billion sterling pound project. The new city is to have one million square feet of leisure centers, retail outlets and parking lots. Dutch architects from 'Zwarts and Jansma' have decided to build underneath the clay of the famous city canals. Along with construction company 'Strukton', project 'Amfora' is proving to be a huge engineering feat. This futuristic project is quite remarkable and it is very interesting to see how it will turn out. We've already built gigantic skyscrapers above sea level, will we soon see similiar buildings underground ?

Studying brain activity.

http://www.pantopicon.be/blog/

An interesting article on the 'pantopican blog' dealt with examining our brains' activities when we perform certain actions or feel certain emotions. Neuroscientist Christopher deCharms and his company Omneuron use advanced fMRI technologies to look at the happenings inside our brain in real time, in 3D! This huge advancement in technology opens up a many possibilities for discovery and treatment research. With deCharms' fMRI scans a patient can look inside their head on a LIVE screen. This technology makes it possible for a patient suffering pain (eg. a burn) to look at what area in the brain is making them feel the pain, then they can concentrate on trying to reduce the brain activity in that specific area ,which theoretically would reduce the pain. Here is a link to a speech which deCharms gives explaining his company's research:

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/christopher_decharms_scans_the_brain_in_real_time.html

I found this article very interesting and pallable. I agree with deCharms ideas and think that his research will become very important to controlling the activities of the brain,besides haven't monks being doing it for centuries allready??

Human Genome

http://www.pantopicon.be/blog/2008/05/20/100-genome-sequencing-within-5-years/

This blog was about the human genome becoming the next form of 'blood test' or 'urine sample', the next upgrade to our already advanced technology. It was interesting to read the predictions of the cost changes in this technology, reaching a mere $100 by 2012. Obviousely the information received by such a process is far more detailed than today's blood tests. The result will show complete hereditary sequences and gene allocations. We would be able to see why we have certain traits (eg. brown eyes, long fingers) ect, but would this be too much information for the average human? I have no definate answer for this, some people are already paranoid about their appearance. What would they do if they knew exactly why they look that way?On the other hand the genome could be used to identify susceptibility to diseases and develop preventative treatment! There are many medical advantages to studying the human genome, but should it be made public to the massses?

Blog review from Sethgodin-Can you bully someone into a sale?

Mr. Godin talks about 'Sales Bullies' and the ethics of pressuring people into purchasing excess/unnecessary products. He's accurate in some of his findings, for example when he states that if 'bullying' is a salesman's best attribute then he best focus on customers that respond well to it. However I disagree with another of Godin's statements , because he failed to include all social classes in his remark.The latter half of the statement claimed that 'Bullying' doesn't work on loyal customers or long term partners-this is generally true. What he stated at the beginning was 'The people you most want to sell to wont respond to this'. From experience as a salesperson I have seen many large sales $5,000-$10,000 result from slight 'bullying' of wealthy people and they have appreciated 'buying the best' without taking it negatively as salesman greed.