Orange and Yellow Jelly Beans

I don't mean yo abuse your inbox...

2009-06-20T13:25:00.001-04:00

But this is awesome!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/macchiato1/3534790964/

This is my Charity

2009-06-08T12:23:00.000-04:00

Literally, all you have to do is click the link above and Intel (the MOST awesome computer chip maker) will give 25 cents to Kiva.org (the MOST awesome micro-financing website)

Thought for the Day

2009-06-07T02:57:00.000-04:00

To gain that worth having, it may be necessary to lose everything else. - Bernadette Devlin

Amidabuddha.org

Drinking water from the air (sorta like how it works today...)

2009-06-06T12:41:00.001-04:00

Imagine that the most important material for you living came floating down from the air, and you could collect it, and use it. Without electricity or anything else...sounds like a great idea? Sounds like rain and snow filling rivers and flowing down to our front doors. I like that idea.

Now a days though, we have stressed that system to the point where the term "water wars" has become quite popular in the communities that think about wars long before they occur. With the climate of the Earth continually changing and our population growing, certain areas of the world are going to work less efficiently without the proper resources. Water is a resource of the utmost importance.

The scientists at Fraunhofer have created an engineering marvel that can take water directly from the air, and more importantly, do it in places with no infrastructure for energy. Its a great idea - go to places where the river doesn't go, but where there is still enough water in the air to support life, and live.

I spoke with a former jet engine engineer recently, and the biggest thing I heard and held onto was that he didn't believe there was any way we could ever support ourselves with solar power, and other engineering solutions. I asked him if he believed in agriculture, he said yes. I asked him if he believed in architecture, he said yes. I asked him if he believed in using fire, rocks, and spears to eat, and again he said yes. I then laughed and said he should believe that we have the ability to engineer whatever we need... patience must exist, because the human species won't be leaving this universe for a long time.

Scientists are building a Brain!

2009-06-05T09:09:00.001-04:00

I remember reading a story about a group of students and Richard Feynman trying to build a one million processor computer back in the day and the amazing challenges they ran into. How do you interconnect one million processors with each other? Imagine one million wires coming from each processor.

Well, this group of scientists is trying to build a brain, and I have read of a few others who are trying the same feat. I like the idea of building something like this - but we already have one. In a sense of course...the internet. And all of these relate computers doing all that amazing work - SETI, Folding@Home, and many others are out there. Of course a computer system distributed across the world - as of yet - cannot compete with the ultra compact and near-instant reaction time of a brain.

And who knows what really makes our brain special, and unique (if there is a specialness or uniqueness to it at all). I have always thought that the constant shifting of chemical composition of ourselves leads to some of our insights as the path of thoughts are constantly varied inside the imperfectly construction that we are. But maybe these insights of ours are actually the perfectly logical string of thoughts that we simply didn't recognize because we were too worried about fooling around with the researcher next to us...

Your viewpoint on life physically affects your field of view

2009-06-04T23:13:00.002-04:00

How much of a stretch is it to assume that your mood affects what you pay attention to? How about, that your general outlook on life not only affects what you pay attention to - but what your eyes take in due to physiological changes?

"Under positive moods, people may process a greater number of objects in their environment, which sounds like a good thing, but it also can result in distraction," says Taylor Schmitz, a graduate student of Anderson's and lead author of the study. "Good moods enhance the literal size of the window through which we see the world. The upside of this is that we can see things from a more global, or integrative perspective. The downside is that this can lead to distraction on critical tasks that require narrow focus, such as operating dangerous machinery or airport screening of passenger baggage. Bad moods, on the other hand, may keep us more narrowly focused, preventing us from integrating information outside of our direct attentional focus."

EurekAlert. com

I haven't sent one of these out in a while...but "Scientists" are now saying ---

2009-06-01T20:30:00.001-04:00

It's Better To Drink Beer After Exercise Than Water

OHHH YEAHHH BABY!!!

Thought for Wed, 29 Apr 2009

2009-04-29T09:31:00.001-04:00

Sent to you via Google Reader
Thought for Wed, 29 Apr 2009
However many holy words you read, however many you speak, what good will they do you if you do not act on upon them? - Buddha ...

I guess this means...no matter how much crap I talk, it means nothing without real action.

JFW

The Economics of Being Vindictive

2009-03-29T10:33:00.003-04:00

A few days back I said I believed people were naturally good because I thought that the basic tenets of what is generally ascribed to being good, was in fact the most efficient way of living. Now, it might be that we have come to assume that these things are good because of their benefits - why else would we assume that giving is good, when logically having the most you can makes a lot of sense.

I had a conversation with my grandmother about lying. I said I wasn't a good liar in general - I think too much and I would then have to create all new realities around that lie. And it was then that I was then reminded how inefficient a lie is. The truth, when compounded over time, is of far greater value than a lie (unless of course you can completely get away with it and benefit from it significantly...sigh). Lies will limit the potential paths that can be taken in the future (in the short term a lie might create more potential paths, but this pattern will not continue over the long term - though, see Bernie Madoff as an example of a really long lasting lie - did he gain more than he will lose?). Maybe I am not all that great a human being for not lying all the time, maybe I am just thrifty.

The reason for this post is a recent scientific study of vindictiveness. An eye for an eye has such a certain logical value. The Golden Rule almost speaks of the virtue vindictiveness - unto others, as yourself (but not really). Why not act in the exact fashion that someone acted toward you? It is a great deterrent and is an easy equation to figure.

The articles says, vindictive people don't make as much money, have fewer friends, and aren't as happy (and probably live shorter lives as well). What do you mean? Getting back at someone doesn't make the most of my time in the long term?

The issue is that the equation is a bit more complicated than simply if A (someone steals from me), then B (I steal from them) and as a result C (we are both happy and the world goes on - which might be pushed simply as A+B=C=O - meaning no harm in the end). It is more complicated, for instance the real equation involves time, because we will live on after the event. We cannot consider that the event will live in a vacuum (though our patterns of voting for members of Congress make me question that sometimes).

There is another part of the equation that isn't considered. Any event that occurs causes changes - negative and positive. Those changes - those consequences for our actions - shape our responses. If I see that an individual who works hard to build something but fails - and is allowed to fail and lose everything, but is able to figure something something else out without being killed off (imagine the small bird who is aspirational and flies into the large open skies of a hungry hawk), I am going to be motivated to try and build something as well - understanding I may lose it all, but I'll still be alive. I think that is an important factor of our risk taking society and allof the things we have created as humans.

We see more hard working people succeed than cheaters, and because of this we know that taking a little risk, doing it right, giving slack to those who hurt is, actually benefits us in the long term because of the general society that arises around it. And, once again, we human are social creatures that exist in this world and not one of our philosophical fantasy lands.

In the end, being vindictive is inefficient. It doesn't allow us to focus on what matters. And, most importantly, it limits the potential of mass good among the people, which limits trust, and creates very expensive transaction costs (see financial crises 2007-Present), limiting everything's ability to grow.

Now, if only I could be this wonderful person.

The Daily Thought

2009-03-29T10:25:00.000-04:00

He who finds a thought that enables him to obtain a slightly deeper glimpse into the eternal secrets of nature has been given great grace. - Albert Einstein

found on Amida Buddha

Light Breakfast Reading: Modern Engineering

2009-03-23T08:04:00.004-04:00

Super Cop Car

When you hear an individual wax poetically about how hosing out the back seat is useful, you begin to think a little more practically. And if there were ever a job that was practical, this being a superbly designed police vehicle makes sense.

Why I Believe We Are Naturally Good

2009-03-19T23:55:00.003-04:00

It is evolutionarily chosen for.

How do I get that sort of idea from something like a scientific study of business groups (the article says nothing of biology directly)? Why are we - you and I - human beings - so amazingly successful? Because you and I, are part of a grand "we."

At first it may have just been a small we, say just a you and I. Say you and I had another (notice I didn't say "decided"). Suddenly, there would be reason for you and I and the "soon to be" to become a "we." We had to. The world is hard and we take a long time to mature. Several of our neighbors come together and the process begins toward this great society that we are all part of, even with all of its ills - it is S O V E R Y G R A N D (click each letter).

So it is society that makes us humans so amazing. Of course, within this huge community of successful individuals there will always freeloaders and people who choose to bug the system - this has been part of us since we were bacteria. And that is fine - because from these attacks on our system - we learn more, we evolve more, we get smarter, and we keep fighting (I think if we ever did lose that fighting spirit we would all slump over and die - right there - just like in a cool cartoon movie I saw once).

But now that we have come to live within a society in which we are all trying our best to get ahead in - what do we feel is the best way to get ahead? Well, our ancestors found that befriending others and being good to those close to you was a good thing. Back in the day, when the world was much larger, it was much harder to be a fake good person - we humans are damn good and picking up on things! And back then your world of people was much smaller (of course I have no idea when back then was). So to be a good person was to have a stronger family and a stronger clan and a better existence.

It seems like so many other things, our basic human instinct at goodness, is still there. It is beneficial because the cliche, "It's better to be feared, than loved," is wrong. In the long term, goodness wins out. If you are good you will distribute the spoils better which enable people to be happier (to a point of course). If you are good you will listen and care on levels that engender that closer, emotional tie to you and with that - you are tapping into our ancient selves - our naturally good cores.

It is best to be a good person because that particular set of qualities - cooperation, empathy, hard work, honesty - are qualities that best coordinate the movements of groups of human beings.

I appreciate it

2009-02-21T10:23:00.003-05:00

Link NYTimes.com

“The president prefers to tell the truth,” he said, “rather than make the numbers look better by pretending.”

There will be good and bad that come from this President. I personally believe in a smaller government and the concept of a bailout frightens me on some levels. However, we happen to exist in reality and pragmatism is much more important.

If Obama, during his years, can open my government to analysis and make it more efficient and cut the BS and maybe - just maybe - some corruption, I would be happy. This is an interesting step in that direction.

Supervillian

2009-02-16T20:33:00.002-05:00

Sent to me by a friend...

Aspirations

2009-02-13T16:07:00.004-05:00

He was a man all right...

We will survive. Human beings adapt. In our article today AaRussian man, said to be part of an old crime family that was sent into the far east of Russia by Joseph Stalin, hunted a town for years - and probably decades. Local police and a sniper kill him. Play by play follows.

The hermit, who carried two shotguns and a home-made pistol, ambushed them and wounded two. He then set alight a swathe of forest as a diversion, tracked behind the men and was apparently preparing to start firing on them again. But a police sniper managed to shoot him in the head, killing him instantly.

An individual human can do amazing things, good or bad - and maybe in this case - good and bad. I once read or was told a quote - I am always surprised at how people overestimate what they can do in a year, but underestimate what they can do in ten. It's kinda like compounding interest - expect applied to labor instead of your 401k.

This is the first time we, the human race, have ever done this. First time there has been a United States, first time there has been a you or I. I like to believe I am the end of a long line solid human beings - just like all of you. I trace my multi-cellular lineage back maybe 600 million years or so to an algae. And before then I am thinking a few billion years with cyanobacteria or something. That is something to be proud of.

I believe we will go a few million into the future as well. We have some serious challenges ahead of us and some significant knowledge we must gain. There will be times, like in the past, where the knowledge we acquire might destroy us - and it will probably happen more often as we delve deeper into the fundamentals of our existence. But to see a person survive - against the odds, represents to me, our survival. And that comforts me.

Satellites Collide in Space

2009-02-11T21:16:00.002-05:00

For the first time, two satellites have collided in space. One satellite was an older Russian satellite that was spinning out of control. The second was an in use satellite from the Iridium satellite phone network. Hundreds of parts are already floating around. There is an expectation of thousands of smaller, untraceable parts.

In order to stay in low earth orbit you need to move around 17,000 miles per hour. These satellites are about 300 miles out so their speeds are slower, but you still have thousands of pieces of who knows what circling the planet in their orbit and slowly filtering down toward the earth into the orbits of other satellites.

The Chinese blew up a satellite a year ago with a missile, and the US responded shortly afterwards blowing up a satellite with "hazardous" cargo. Russia, Iran, India, Israel, America, Japan, China, France, Britian, and the Ukraine have all launched satellites into space on their own. Recently, SpaceX - a private company - became the first private company in space.

It is getting crowded. The money is huge. And the consequences are bigger.

Space baby!

Evolving Education II

2009-02-11T19:23:00.000-05:00

Have you ever wondered about the best way to learn something? You hear people say they learn one way better than an other way. There are different types of school - for instance, the standard high school style and something like a Montessori schoo. There are different types of degrees that lead into the professional world - Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Sciences. There is a school that I know of that gives every student the exact same degree and all courses are taught as if a history course with the education progressing as knowledge was gained coming forward in history.

An article I posted several days ago spoke about the idea of a free degree earned via an online university. This time I am pointing out an article where a professor at a Canadian school is bearing consequences of educational experimentation. The first thing this professor did was eliminate grades for his students, and then he began to alter the course material. Most recently he told all students in a 4th year physics course that they each had a guaranteed A+ in the class. The university didn't like that and now the professor isn't teaching.

This individual sees that there could be changes to how we teach each other. What other theories or ideas of teaching people are out there? How else can we gain knowledge? Of course there is the tried and true experience method - you practice and practice until you become an expert. There is the reading or watching others do it methods. There is lecture method that we get in school. One day there may be "The Matrix" upload method. Are there ancient unknown teaching methods that are spoke about in dark education circles that we dare not unleash on the world?

I once read that the modern western educational system is based upon a Prussian from the 1800s who designed their educational system to create a population that was controllable and believed what they were "supposed" to believe. A tool of the government this educational system was!

Communication of knowledge - culture - is the most important thing human beings have. If we had no ability to communicate our knowledge we would be monkeys - smart monkeys - but that's it. What secrets to teaching are there?

if

2009-02-10T13:13:00.002-05:00

by rudyard kipling

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream - and not make dreams your master,
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!

State of New Jersey Installing $730 M of Solar Energy Statewide

2009-02-10T12:42:00.001-05:00

And really, the only thing from the article that is absolutely must read is the last statement of the article made by Upendra J. Chivukula, the chairman of the Telecommunications and Utilities Committee in the State Assembly.

“This type of investment is long term, so you’re not going to see the benefits right away, but if you don’t do it now, you’re never going to become energy independent.”

Straightforward and clean. I am hopeful the numbers have been run and this turns out to be a good investment. I do believe that solar power collectors distributed over vast areas of the urban landscape will create significant energy in the future, I am just not sure whether it will be 90% of the worlds energy needs or 30%. Either way - the future is...I have no idea. :-)

Because I Can, We Will

2009-02-08T10:19:00.004-05:00

Small ideas build upon each other. Small advances become more significant as they are multiplied.

Proteins that could build up and hold stable structures eventually allowed for mitochondria which could produce significant amounts of energy. Those mitochondria eventually found it could work with other organisms and more efficiently find material to produce energy - and they became a cell. At some point, maybe it was an algae relative, cells gathering together in a good feeding spot began to alter the environment with their presence. A small group within this mass of cells altered their living patterns in order to take advantage of the change that they created (kinda like using the brake pads in a car to create electricity from heat). This tiny group became a unique organ(ism) within the gathering of cells and benefited the whole group. These new multi-cellular organisms thrived and took over the planet.

At some point, a group of these organisms were all in the same area - again a great feeding spot - and one of those organisms began to help another one of those organisms. Those two. working together. were able to find more product for energy creation than if either worked alone - and society was born. These organisms began to dominate the planet - super organisms they were later called.

Societies merged and melted. We loved, fought and died. Eventually we began to form civilizations. Some lived and some died, but all changed. Societies merged and grew. The planet we live on became smaller. The people were represented first by families, then villages, later cities, and even countries. Today - we merge into continents and have even tried to bind the whole planet.

Now we work to make the planet evolve. We started small. Over time our changes were larger. Now, the changes look to make the planet speak - through the air, under the seas, and far out into space.

Because you can. And because I can. We will.

Dr. Jack Kevorkian - Freedom of Individuals

2009-02-05T21:45:00.004-05:00

Tonight at 7 PM I sat down at Nova University to listen to Dr. Jack Kevorkian speak. I expected a talk about Assisted Suicide, except Dr. Kevorkian isn't allowed to talk about it because of his parole (it ends in June I hear). Instead Jack (we go back) talked about freedom, individual freedoms, and what they mean to him.

From Jack's perspective, the tyrant, the man in power, is controlling too much and we, the people who are supposed to be running the government, not being run by the government, we are listening too much. Visibly upset, and outraged to his bones, he spoke strongly on the Constitution and how all humans have all rights and until we let the government take those rights - in exchange for freedoms - all of those rights belong to us. Jack Kevorkian is a die hard libertarian - maybe because he has always been that way or maybe because he has found his calling and what he wants to stand up for.

In the end, Jack asked all of us how far we would go to protect how freedoms? The question Jack posed was this, "I have an American flag, and that American flag I have altered. I have removed all of the stars and replaced it with a swastika. What do you have to say now?"

The crowd didn't react too strongly. One cameraman got very upset and yelled at Kevorkian. A few other people communicated their distaste.

I support Mr. Kevorkian. The reason we exist in this country is because we can show a flag like that. The police didn't care about the flag, they cared about protect Dr. Kevorkian.

Interesting night...

The Democratic President thinks the Government is to Far-Reaching

2009-02-05T14:21:00.004-05:00

I know the article that I am using to make this argument happens to be related to marijuana, and our many problems in this country go far beyond recreational drugs, however, the major sentence of the third paragraph means a lot.

“The president believes that federal resources should not be used to circumvent state laws, and as he continues to appoint senior leadership to fill out the ranks of the federal government, he expects them to review their policies with that in mind," White House spokesman Nick Shapiro said.

The president believes that state laws should not be circumvented by the federal government. The president believes state laws should be given more respect by the federal government. Couple this announcement with the previous communication from the president to the EPA, that the EPA should review allowing states to regulate auto emissions on their own and you can see the potential for power to tilt toward the state.

During the last couple of years I have heard Arnold Schwarzenegger give credence to states having more power than the federal government. I saw a few years ago that the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the state of Utah versus the federal government in a medical case.

After the Civil War state's rights significantly decreased. The Federal Reserve was a big hit to individual and state rights when it was created in 1913. The federal government expanded significantly during the Great Depression and has never shrunk back in size. The Civil Rights movements of the 50's-70's expanded the size of the federal government's reach again. At the time, we needed a sound minded central government to cover up regional biases and weaknesses. And today, it is our over sized federal government that is slowing the country down.

Maybe we have gotten to a point where we can pull back some of those federal government controls and allow states to more efficiently take care of themselves. I know I am pulling a lot of hope from a couple of small sentences and actions, but if these actions are a true belief of the president, then maybe we will move in a good direction.

Of course, this is at the same time we are considering a $900 billion "stimulus package." Blech...

The World is a Happy Place

2009-02-03T08:49:00.001-05:00

And we are happy people.

A short movie called Signs.

One reason not to get too drunk...

2009-01-31T16:26:00.002-05:00

A University Without A Campus

2009-01-30T08:00:00.000-05:00

I used to work for Kaplan College, they are an online university. I was an Admission Advisor (salesperson truly). I talked to people about going to school and why going to an online school might benefit them. I saw working at a digital college as a step forward for humans. The ability to acquire knowledge in a more efficient manner by people located wherever they might be. This is a significant concept because, truly, what are human beings (as opposed to homo sapien sapien) other than our culture? Let one of us grow up with wolves, and we will be a wolf.

Shai Reshef wants to take the online education a bit farther by making a university degree free. My monkey-brained capitalist tendencies ask why would someone give something away for free? But then my human-brained capitalist tendencies look far beyond the single man whose ideas these are and recognizes that a distribution of knowledge the world around on a level like this benefits you, I, Shai, and all of the future so much more.

The Internet, like libraries before them, are in effect free universities that don't give out an official piece of paper at the end of the process. They disperse knowledge, culture, experience, and more of the basic tools to live in this world. Of course giving knowledge to people isn't new - it started when we told tales around the fire, it evolved when we began to write things down, it exploded when we learned about the printing press, and we have continued to speed the dispersion of knowledge through the world with other technologies.

In my mind, the whole idea of needing a piece of paper to represent your knowledge is simply a shortcoming of our ability to communicate who we are and track what we know. If we had the ability to catalog and communicate our skills, knowledge, perceptions, and all else then having a university degree would be meaningless. What would matter is what we have learned in life. Of course, progress is slow and those who make money from the industry are going to fight.

But progress will happen. And you are I are part of it.