This book is the THE source for information on virtual worlds, covering every aspect of this intriguing and fast-changing social practice and the technologies upon which it rests. Virtual Lives: A Reference Handbook describes the history, development, and role of virtual worlds, also known as virtual environments and immersive virtual environments. It provides detailed background about virtual worlds and their societal impact, from early precursors and inspirations to the latest trends and developments. Specifics on user demographics are included, as are descriptions of virtual worlds' functions, discussion of societal concerns and opportunities, and information about relevant research data and key persons and organizations. Although virtual worlds in their current form are a relatively new phenomenon, other online social environments have served as precursors for decades and literary inspirations go back even further. This handbook therefore covers some early developments dating back to the mid-20th century. Its primary focus, however, is on developments since the mid-1990s and especially on the current state and social impact of virtual worlds, including their impact both in the United States and around the world. A detailed chronology detailing inspirations, precursors, developments, and controversies related to virtual worlds Tables of data about users of virtual worlds An annotated list of private, nonprofit, and government organizations pertinent to virtual worlds Biographical sketches of authors, developers, researchers, policymakers, and notable virtual world users A glossary of scores of relevant terms related to virtual worlds' function and use A bibliography of additional resources readers can consult to learn even more about virtual worlds

Systems Ultra explores how we experience complex systems: the mesh of things, people, and ideas interacting to produce their own patterns and behaviours.

What does it mean when a car which runs on code drives dangerously? What does massmarket graphics software tell us about the workplace politics of architects? And, in these human-made systems, which phenomena are designed, and which are emergent? In a world of networked technologies, global supply chains, and supranational regulations, there are growing calls for a new kind of literacy around systems and their ramifications. At the same time, we are often told these systems are impossible to fully comprehend and are far beyond our control.

Drawing on field research and artistic practice around the industrial settings of ports, air traffic control, architectural software, payment platforms in adult entertainment, and car crash testing, Georgina Voss argues that complex systems can be approached as sites of revelation around scale, time, materiality, deviance, and breakages. With humour and guile, she tells the story of what ‘systems’ have come to mean, how they have been sold to us, and the real-world consequences of the power that flows through them.

Systems Ultra goes beyond narratives of technological exceptionalism to explore how we experience the complex systems which influence our lives, how to understand them more clearly, and, perhaps, how to change them.

The annual collections in the History of Technology series look at the history of technological discovery and change, exploring the relationship of technology to other aspects of life and showing how technological development is affected by the society in which it occurred.

This book is about all the information Kyle learned over his 31 years of interest in solar power. This includes all the information you need to become 100% utility independent. The possibilities of sun electricity (solar power), rain, radiant heat, geothermal, battery banks, inverters, ac-dc lighting, water storage-recycling-filtration, water heating, wire sizing, refrigeration, cooking, fuses, conservation, photovoltaic solar panel positioning/placement, grid-tie, parallel, standalone systems, as well as an overview of how we got here through the inventions of Tesla, Franklin, Einstein, and Edison all are mentioned in this manual.

He and his team are sent to Cairo in 1979 to plan the modernization of Egypt's phone service. Phone service at that point is bad. Most of the time there is no dial tone. They think their work can be accomplished in about nine months, but Willis Culpepper of USAID tells them "Schedules don't mean a thang here in Egypt." They learn that ARENTO wants technology transfer, plus system redesign, so the nine months will stretch to a year or two. Working with the Egyptians, they see the sorry state of the telephone system, first in Cairo, then in Alexandria. Underground cables failed because of water seeping into the insulation. In between they visit Cairo's Souk, Khan El Khalili, and El Alemein. He takes morning runs beside the Pyramids, sometimes enraging the rabid mongrel desert dogs. Bitten, he requires rabies injections. There are no good maps of the cities. His team consults with USAID, and gets the Air Force to do aerial photography of Cairo, and Alexandria. An accelerated course on ESS is given to six Egyptian engineers, and the planning stage is finished at last. Construction contractors are selected through a formal bidding process, and final construction of the upgrade is completed in 1983. Egypt gets the most modern telephone system at the time, but scam artists are still at work at cut-over.

The technical problems confronting different societies and periods and the measures are taken to solve them form the concern of this annual collection of essays. It deals with the history of technical discovery and change and explores the relationship of technology to other aspects of life - social, cultural and economic - and shows how technological development has shaped, and been shaped by, the society in which it occurred. Volume 27 includes a special issue on "The Professional Identity of Engineers: Historical and Contemporary Issues".

This is the abbreviated life story of William C. Weaver, aka Wa Dok, who was an aquatic toxicologist. One day his mother took him to the kitchen and turned on the tap water, grabbed a glass and said, "Billy, most of the people in the world cannot do what I just did. They get their water the hard way, from a river, or hand-drawn well, and many times that water is dirty, and it can make them sick or even kill them. We are so lucky to have water right out of the tap that won't harm us or kill us."

Sixty years later, this is still true. Measured by our water supply, as compared to most of the world, we look pretty good. Water is the most basic need for life to exist on earth. As we use our water, and fail to clean it up, the use of dirty water to keep our bodies hydrated, and our crops growing, will surely come home to roost. This is especially true as we let our children ingest all sorts of hidden poisons, assuming, as we are likely to do, that our water is safe and clean. In The Road Ends in Water, Weaver relates the many adventures his testing experiences provided.