bariswheel.net

23AndMe Global Similarity Graph

2009-06-12T01:08:00.000-07:00

"Europe's prehistory was shaped by the advancement and retreat of ice sheets during the Last Ice Age, which reached its peak 18,000 years ago. Humans had entered Europe about 20,000 years earlier, but the advancing ice sheets meant that only the southern fringes of Europe were inhabitable. Places like the Iberian and Italian Peninsulas, as well as parts of the Balkans, served as refugia, where humans survived for thousands of years, weathering the storm. But when the ice began to retreat about 15,000 years ago, the ancestors of many present-day northern Europeans moved northward. A few thousand years later, humans from the Near East began to expand into Europe as well, some of them bringing new languages and new lifestyles, including agriculture.

We consider Europe to be bounded to the west and north by the Atlantic Ocean, to the south by the Mediterranean Sea, and to the east by the Caucasus Mountains of western Russia. Our database reflects some of the genetic diversity of northern Europe prior to the era of intercontinental travel that began roughly 500 years ago." - 23andme

Google I/O (Good things are happening)

2009-06-10T16:48:00.000-07:00

Revolution is coming to the browser space. See for yourself! At least watch the intro...

Brian Cox: What went wrong at the LHC

2009-05-24T14:17:00.000-07:00

June/July can't come soon enough.

Sunday Ride

2009-04-05T13:25:00.001-07:00

View Larger Map

Musicians at Google

2008-12-08T00:48:00.000-08:00

Steady as she goes...

2008-10-05T02:18:00.000-07:00

A Culture of Short Attention Spans

2008-09-27T20:17:00.001-07:00

Poorly transcribed; excuse the mistakes: 'Several thousand years ago, during an era pretty similar to what we're living in now, all of the literate, rational people were rounded up and hoarded into a system of monastic communities; these are coed monasteries. But they're not allowed to reproduce. The only way to get new people into this new system is by a process called "collecting" - if you're living on the outside and you're one of those kids who's frequently seen curled up into a corner reading a book, you'll be picked up and dropped off at the nearest monastery.

The people on the inside own nothing, except a piece of cloth that they wrap around their body as a garment. They sit around and read and write books and think about philosophy and mathematics and science, and they do other kinds of scholarly activities. The landscape on the outside is - coast to coast, oceans to oceans - walmarts, casinos, big box retail stores. Over the Millenia, dark ages, renaissance, world wars, have come and gone and so on, but it doesn't affect the people in the inside. It turns out that the two cultures have found out to get along pretty happily.

The people on the outside have pretty darn short attention spans. They can't tear themselves away from their cell phone-like devices. The people on the inside look upon them with a certain amount of horror, and simply can't understand how anybody could live that way. If you're interested in these topics, you could do worse than picking up this book as maybe an entry point for thinking about those kinds of issues, and carrying that conversation forward.'

- Neal Stephenson, @ Google on September 12th 2008, Mountain View, CA

What Will the LHC Find?

2008-09-10T03:02:00.001-07:00

"Something that Has Never Been Predicted: 50%. Here is my favorite thing to root for. Particle theorists have been coming up with new models for so long without being surprised by new experimental results, some of them have forgotten what it’s like. Nature has a way of throwing us curve balls — which is not only something to be anticipated, it’s something to be very grateful for. Surprises are how we learn things."

http://cosmicvariance.com/2008/08/04/what-will-the-lhc-find/#more-1830

Sarah Palin

2008-09-05T01:32:00.000-07:00

"I'm a 66 year old man. I have a disabled child. He has cerebral palsy. When he was born I changed my life entirely to be near him and to help take care of him. I quit a high powered job and started a small business close to home. I have spent the last 40 years helping my wife to care for our son. He is my best friend and we will be pals forever. I think Sarah Palin should have said in her speech, "I would love to accept the nomination as Vice President, but I can't. I owe it to my newborn disabled child and my other children to stay close to home and work with my husband to take care of them. So I respectfully decline the nomination as Vice-President." This is not a sexist comment. It takes two committed parents to take proper care of a disabled child. She is not a decent role model for those of us who have disabled kids. She is never going to be able to fulfill her obligations to her child and be a decent Vice-President. She knew this child was coming. I did not know that ours was disabled until he was 9 months old. She is absolutely unqualified to be President. She is not pro-family values. The odds that McCain will not survive 8 years are pretty high, so realize that you are really voting for President Sarah Palin. Does that send chills up your spine. We don't need a pit bull, we need a grown-up. The world is watching. Lets not screw it up again!" - jugglerforpeace, http://digg.com/2008_us_elections/A_Palin_Convert

Google Chrome Announcement.

2008-09-04T01:32:00.000-07:00

How much time do you spend inside an internet browser? Should a browser be self-important? Should we make you forget that you are using a browser? Is there a story to tell about all this?

We Have Found Water on Mars.

2008-08-01T22:49:00.001-07:00

"We have water," said William Boynton of the University of Arizona, lead scientist for the Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer, or TEGA. "We've seen evidence for this water ice before in observations by the Mars Odyssey orbiter and in disappearing chunks observed by Phoenix last month, but this is the first time Martian water has been touched and tasted." This is incredible. That is all, I have nothing else to say at this point. Here is the full excerpt from Nasa.gov

Dan Ariely, Predictably Irrational @ MIT

2008-07-10T10:16:00.000-07:00

3 Minutes on Refrigeration without Electricity

2008-06-29T22:16:00.000-07:00

"Adam Grosser talks about a project to build a refrigerator that works without electricity -- to bring the vital tool to villages and clinics worldwide. Tweaking some old technology, he's come up with a system that works."

Good evening Sir, my name is Steve.

2008-06-20T03:02:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine sent me a link today off of Jeremy Zawodny's blog. Apparently a comment I made on Reddit made his blog. This made me laugh so hard I am compelled to share. Here's the full size snapshot. I wonder if that movie will ever get old. I wonder if people will ever scratch the surface of the genius that is Mike Judge. Back up in your ass with the resurrection, bitches.

Popping Corn with Cell Phones

2008-06-07T12:55:00.001-07:00

Upping the creativity bar a tad...

Human Energy Distribution

2008-05-18T19:47:00.001-07:00

What if you were told that time was overrated? Have you given much thought to your energy distribution, giving the concept of time a break?

What's Wrong with What We Eat?

2008-05-16T03:02:00.000-07:00

The Effort Some Spend On Writing Music

2008-04-24T01:42:00.000-07:00

In this eclectic world we live in, there are musicians out there who incorporate the Fibonacci Sequence whilst composing their songs. (Don't worry if you don't know what that is, the video will explain it.) Couple that with the vocal range of this singer, and you have yourself a pretty intense, thought provoking, clever music video. Take a listen, spiral out, keep going, spiral out, keep going...

Will Climate Change Personally Affect me in 10 Years?

2008-04-14T01:22:00.000-07:00

"The north polar ice cap is exactly the same size of the US minus the size roughly the area of the state of Arizona."
"The amount of ice remaining in the polar ice caps will most likely be gone in the next 5 years. Some of it might come back, but will come back as thin ice."

How much trash do you generate? How long are your daily showers? How much gas do you burn? Do you use halogen light bulbs, or the old school, rob-you-out-of-your-beer-money kind? Have you looked into solar panels to power your house and make money by providing energy back into the grid? Is your house insulated properly? What exactly is the correlation between buying and consuming animal based protein (meat, eggs, dairy) and the impact of cow grazing, domestication, breeding, etc.. on our atmosphere? How much flying do you do? What the hell is a carbon footprint and what does it have to do with our planet eventually looking like Venus (same size as earth, same amount of CO2) where the average temperature is enough to kill you in minutes?
How much do you know about climate change and what effects it will have on your children and the rest of us? If I made you think, this video will make you think some more.

Elephant Paints Self Portrait

2008-04-12T02:46:00.000-07:00

Let them keep their husks...seriously.

Tariffing Brazilian Ethanol, all the while Cherishing Saudi OPEC >$100-a-barrel petroleum. Why...?

2008-03-26T07:28:00.000-07:00

This is quite possibly one of the most important questions to be addressed for the 21st century. Why are we so hell bent on spending half of our defense budget and hand it over to OPEC when we don't have to? When trillions of dollars are being transferred from the US to a Saudi conglomerate such as OPEC for a natural resource that doesn't operate under a free market, are we then not indirectly supporting totalitarian regimes and transferring absolute power away from the US into the hands of countries such as Saudi Arabia who still practice barbaric acts against their own citizens and denigrate free speech? Are we then indirectly doing everything BUT spreading democracy? When such high volumes of capital exchange takes place, are we talking about money or transfer of absolute power?

Why don't we use most of this OPEC money towards third world agricultural sector ethanol production to fuel our cars? Why don't we have Congress mandate that every car sold in the US be flex fueled cars so they can run on ethanol as well as petroleum, hence creating a world standard and creating a tremendous win for world development? This would also make it much easier to lift international trade barriers, and fund tractors for low income families instead of helping Saudi princes buy stake in American Media.

Dr. Robert Zubrin argues the points above in his new book, and offers quite an intriguing solution.

Energy Victory: Winning the War on Terror by Breaking Free Of Oil.

Jill's Stroke of Insight

2008-03-22T03:06:00.000-07:00

Have you seen a real human brain held up close? The next 18 minutes will be a jaw-dropping experience for you if you decide to go ahead and watch this TED talk.

Most impressive walking robot I've seen as of yet...

2008-03-18T10:04:00.000-07:00

A Positive Outlook Into the Future

2008-02-27T18:24:00.001-08:00

In layman's terms, we refer to nanotechnology as being the field of science and research that involves tinkering with things as small as 1 billionth the size of 1 meter (1 meter = 1*10^-9 nanometers). This is engineering at the atomic and molecular scale. It's hard to visualize this, but you should be getting goosebumps.

Once we reach a tipping point in applied nanotechnology, to the point where your average joe can pick up a nanoelectric device as they would now an iPhone, this world will look a whole lot different. Touring the new nanotech research labs in UC Santa Barbara, I was mesmerized and humbled as to what's being worked on, and at the scale that is being worked on. 10,000 transistors capable of fitting into a SINGLE FLY hair? Nanograss capable of harvesting sun's energy? Buildings completely encapsulated by nanosolar cells to harvest solar energy? Needless to say, this doesn't mean we needn't watch our carbon footprint and pollute carelessly, yet it goes to show that it's becoming extremely challenging to predict the future reasonably. As Kurzweil argues, the rate of change of technology growth is increasing; technology builds upon itself. The result is an exponential curve.

I implore you to take all future predictions [by political pundits, news 'analysts', etc..] with a massive grain of salt. Not every author is an expert, and not all experts write bestsellers. Support your representatives and presidential candidates who are not afraid to take generous steps to support scientific research to the best of their capabilities. Most breakthroughs happen by accident, but it's up to us to foster that kind of environment where these noble accidents can take place. This quote fits nicely within this context: "undergrads think they know everything, graduates know they know nothing and phds know everyone else knows nothing." Let's not believe everything we think.

Tool's Maynard James Keenan (rare interview)

2008-02-18T08:01:00.001-08:00

Maynard prefers to be out the limelight most of the time. You won't see him on talk shows, or on TV. Though I did recently come across this video, which does a good job of summarizing their music and its purpose, and the inspiration behind the process. Tool is one of those bands you'd very much miss out on if you're a judge-a-book-by-its-cover kind of person.

David Russell on Preserving Enthusiasm

2008-02-09T03:11:00.000-08:00

Wise words from a wise man. Russell addresses issues that most musicians have to deal with on a frequent basis.

David Russell plays Barrios

2008-02-09T03:06:00.000-08:00

One of the most profound guitar players of all time and one of my personal favorites plays "El Ultimo Cancion" by Barrios. He usually performs once every few years at the Herbst Theatre in San Fran. Enjoy.

Google's Official Statement on the Microsoft Bid for Yahoo

2008-02-04T01:38:00.001-08:00

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/02/yahoo-and-future-of-internet.html

"2/03/2008 11:45:00 AM
Posted by David Drummond, Senior Vice President, Corporate Development and Chief Legal Officer

The openness of the Internet is what made Google -- and Yahoo! -- possible. A good idea that users find useful spreads quickly. Businesses can be created around the idea. Users benefit from constant innovation. It's what makes the Internet such an exciting place.

So Microsoft's hostile bid for Yahoo! raises troubling questions. This is about more than simply a financial transaction, one company taking over another. It's about preserving the underlying principles of the Internet: openness and innovation.

Could Microsoft now attempt to exert the same sort of inappropriate and illegal influence over the Internet that it did with the PC? While the Internet rewards competitive innovation, Microsoft has frequently sought to establish proprietary monopolies -- and then leverage its dominance into new, adjacent markets.

Could the acquisition of Yahoo! allow Microsoft -- despite its legacy of serious legal and regulatory offenses -- to extend unfair practices from browsers and operating systems to the Internet? In addition, Microsoft plus Yahoo! equals an overwhelming share of instant messaging and web email accounts. And between them, the two companies operate the two most heavily trafficked portals on the Internet. Could a combination of the two take advantage of a PC software monopoly to unfairly limit the ability of consumers to freely access competitors' email, IM, and web-based services? Policymakers around the world need to ask these questions -- and consumers deserve satisfying answers.

This hostile bid was announced on Friday, so there is plenty of time for these questions to be thoroughly addressed. We take Internet openness, choice and innovation seriously. They are the core of our culture. We believe that the interests of Internet users come first -- and should come first -- as the merits of this proposed acquisition are examined and alternatives explored."

Eric Schmidt at NASA 50th Anniversary Lecture Series

2008-02-03T08:56:00.000-08:00

Eric Schmidt gives a speech at NASA's 50th Anniversary Lecture Series, demonstrating Google Street View, Google Earth, along with touching up on a slew of other topics. A good watch.

Dr. Zubrin Paying Us a Visit

2008-02-01T23:13:00.001-08:00

I'll be hosting a tech talk with Dr. Robert Zubrin (Founder of the Mars Society) coming up in the next few weeks. It's an honor to have him visit us, and frankly I'm very much looking forward to it. I'll post the Authors@Google link when it's ready. Happy groundhog's day.

"Insightful" Comments

2008-01-07T20:28:00.001-08:00

Just recently I came across a rather comprehensive paper, a Cost Analysis, rather, of Windows Vista content protection. I didn't have time to read the entire paper, but noticed some comments from high ranking Microsoft systems architects, research scientists, and engineers on the bottom:

“No amount of coordination will be successful unless it's designed with the needs of the customer in mind. Microsoft believes that a good user experience is a requirement for adoption” — Microsoft.

“The PC industry is committed to providing content protection on the PC, but nothing comes for free. These costs are passed on to the consumer” — ATI.

“How do I put all these companies in a position where, regardless of what they see is in their best interest, they have to adopt your technology? […] I realized that a major part of my job was to figure out how to use technology control to create economic force, or leverage, such that money and business flowed in Microsoft's direction” — Alex St.John, father of DirectX.

“I'm not sure how the company lost sight of what matters to our customers, both business and home, the most, but in my view we lost our way. I think our teams lost sight of what bug-free means, what resilience means, what full scenarios mean, what security means, what performance means, how important current applications are, and really understanding what the most important problems our customers face are” — Jim Allchin, Platform Products and Services Group, Microsoft.

Banff Mountain Film Festival Winners Announced

2008-01-03T21:33:00.000-08:00

"The 32nd annual Banff Mountain Film Festival, presented by National Geographic and New Balance, brings you the world’s best mountain films and speakers. Experience the adventure of climbing, mountain expeditions, remote cultures, and the world’s last great wild places — all brought to life on the big screen.

Films are at the heart of the festival. From the over 300 films entered into competition, the top 50 or so are screened throughout the festival. Competition winners are[were] announced on Sunday evening."

Back in Santa Barbara, Campbell Hall is usually packed, every year, with UCSB students and other zealous outdoorsy free-spirited types to watch the 3-4 hour Banff Award winning movies. Some of the best outdoors footage you'll see before your eyes are shown in the festival. I'll be going again next year... Tuesday & Wednesday 27th, 28th of February, in Campbell Hall, Santa Barbara, CA. Well worth your $12. Here's the trailer; buckle up...

A plastic 'garbage island' twice the size of Britain, floating in the Pacific Ocean?

2007-12-30T13:25:00.000-08:00

When we throw things away, we must ask ourselves “where is away?” The clip below, will give you an idea of where at least one of these ‘away’ locations.

From the Sydney Morning Herald: "In one of the few places on Earth where people can rarely be found, the human race has well and truly made its mark. In the middle of the Pacific Ocean lies a floating garbage patch twice the size of Britain. A place where the water is filled with six times as much plastic as plankton. This plastic-plankton soup is entering the food chain and heading for your dinner table."

The solution is to move away from non-biodegradable plastic. As soon as we can.

Happy Belated 90th, Sir Arthur C. Clarke

2007-12-17T21:18:00.000-08:00

Beloved author of 2001: A Space Oddysey has recently turned 90. He goes over his 3 wishes, as well as touching up on many other historic events. Give it a listen, pay your respects.

The Good Doctor Breaks Fundraising World Record

2007-12-17T19:01:00.002-08:00

On December 16th, tens of thousands helped make history. 234 years after the anniversary of the Boston Tea Party, Dr. Ron Paul brought in over $6 Million of donations from people like you and me, beating the single-day presidential primary fundraising record of John Kerry's $5.7 million in 2004. I'd like to collectively congratulate everyone and commend the donors for fulfilling their civic responsibilities. With 17 days left until the Iowa caucus, I am cautiously optimistic the media will have no choice but to give Ron Paul the airtime he deserves and abandon their bias and misrepresented poll data.

We are at $18.3 Million. Become part of this historic fundraising success here.

A Talk Not To Be Missed.

2007-12-01T05:51:00.000-08:00

We had the honor and privilege to hear Craig Venter talk On Nov 12th. He is an ex surfer turned scientist and a Vietnam war veteran. He began his academic career at a community college, after enlisting in the U.S. Navy and serving a tour of duty during the Vietnam War. He contemplated suicide at one point by swimming out into the sea, but was persuaded to return upon encountering a shark.

He's also the mastermind behind the Human Genome Project.

In a recent interview with New Scientist when asked 'Assuming you can make synthetic bacteria, what will you do with them?' Venter replied

'Over the next 20 years, synthetic genomics is going to become the standard for making anything. The chemical industry will depend on it. Hopefully, a large part of the energy industry will depend on it. We really need to find an alternative to taking carbon out of the ground, burning it, and putting it into the atmosphere. That is the single biggest contribution I could make.'
The article suggests that one of the main purposes for creating synthetic bacteria would be to reduce the dependence on fossil fuels. (Source: New Scientist Issue 2626 Pg 57.)

This will be one of the most important talks I will post here.

Fly away with Google Earth Flight Simulator

2007-11-29T03:31:00.000-08:00

1. Go to google.com/earth, download, install, and run the app.
2. Press Ctrl+Alt+A
3. ????
4. Explore and have fun!

Speed up and down with Pgup, Pgdn.
Use your flaps w/ [ and ].
Toggle your gear with G.
Use your mouse to fly around.

Classical Music added to the Genome Project: Pandora.com

2007-11-21T04:28:00.000-08:00

Pandora has finally added classical music to its genome project. And yes, there is some GREAT classical guitar. Torroba, Tarrega, Bach, whatever you want, all there. This'll get you started. Type in the name of the composer if you want to get a bit more technical.

* Symphonic, Classical Period:
http://dbm.pandora.com/t?ctl=168E43A:F5E758FB492411C8EE2D6B3BB7924EA9050542759970026E
* Symphonic, Romantic Period:
http://dbm.pandora.com/t?ctl=168E436:F5E758FB492411C8EE2D6B3BB7924EA9050542759970026E
* Piano Concerti, Classical Period:
http://dbm.pandora.com/t?ctl=168E439:F5E758FB492411C8EE2D6B3BB7924EA9050542759970026E
* Opera, Romantic Period:
http://dbm.pandora.com/t?ctl=168E438:F5E758FB492411C8EE2D6B3BB7924EA9050542759970026E
* Chamber, Baroque Period:
http://dbm.pandora.com/t?ctl=168E437:F5E758FB492411C8EE2D6B3BB7924EA9050542759970026E

100-Year History of Classical Music in 1 Minute.

2007-11-10T15:51:00.000-08:00

It is very difficult in the end to make distinctions on differentiating types of music. I hope this video will show you how wrong you are about pidgeonholing and painting what you call 'classical music' with a very broad brush. 'You' being the average Joe; sorry, within this context I have to generalize.

Presidential Candidates, on The Issues

2007-11-09T22:38:00.000-08:00

Need a quick reference guide to what each presidential candidates supports? Make sure to visit ontheissues.org. You might not had known that
- Ron Paul strongly opposes replacing oil & coal with alternatives
- Barack Obama isn't planning to get US out of Iraq until 2013
- You tell me!

Larry Lessig: How creativity is being strangled by the law

2007-11-08T00:23:00.000-08:00

Dr. Lessig ponders and ruminates on how our RW (read-write) culture is being transformed into a RO (read-only) culture. How do we turn it around? How do we create economic incentives so that corporations stop bottling up innovation behind patents? Where do you fit in?

Pictures from Iran

2007-11-06T00:35:00.001-08:00

I've come across some incredible pictures taken in Iran. Brace yourselves folks, this is some intense stuff.

Really Achieving your Childhood Dreams

2007-10-20T05:16:00.000-07:00

Carnegie Mellon computer science professor Randy Pausch is terminally ill; he's been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and was told he would have 3 to 6 months to live, this past September, 2007. This is his last lecture, about really achieving your childhood dreams. An important and inspiring life lesson in and of itself.

John Doerr: Seeking Salvation and Profit in greentech

2007-10-19T03:15:00.000-07:00

"I don't think we're going to make it," John Doerr proclaims, in an emotional talk about climate change and investment. Spurred on by his daughter, who demanded he fix the mess the world is heading for, he and his partners at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers embarked on a greentech world tour -- surveying the state of the art, from the ethanol revolution in Brazil to Wal-mart's (!) eco-concept store in Bentonville, Arkansas. KPCB is investing $200 million in green technologies to save the planet and make a profit to boot. But, Doerr fears, it may not be enough.

What do 16,000 People do at Google?

2007-10-19T01:59:00.000-07:00

I wish I could say more, but alas, I can only send you a link.

Enjoy :-D

Charlie Rose' 1 hour chat with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

2007-10-16T03:15:00.000-07:00

A rather involved & comprehensive interview w/ the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Many topics are discussed, their reasoning behind supporting Hamas, building 50 centrifuges, their views on the people of Palestine, the speech given at Columbia University, and much more. If you prefer to get your information straight from the horses mouth, here's your water....I see what I did there ;-) Then again there's always good ol' Fox 'News', CNN, MSNBC, and other conglomerates, your decision.

Libraries

2007-09-10T22:32:00.000-07:00

With the onset of living online wikis, the importance of Libraries are coming to a head once again. Libraries are book repositories, an old-fashioned medium, a dead-tree form of storing information. More importantly, it's a pilgrimage to a place where people gather and exchange information, build communities, and get in touch with each other. Sure all this can be done using a computer, but we're far from replacing the commune of living, walking, organic matter; we're far from replacing ourselves, I sure hope. Some impressive libraries for you all to enjoy.

Extended Overseas Traveling (Is not a big deal)

2007-08-26T23:45:00.000-07:00

I'll be taking a few weeks off to do face time with family in Turkey, and possibly make a pit stop at Switzerland to visit more family. Just recently we had Rolf Potts visit us and give a talk about his experiences traveling the world. A little bit on Rolf; he's a self-proclaimed vagabond who has traveled at lengths of up to 8 years. The idea that traveling is ideal for the wealthy non-white is gracefully put to rest by Rolf. He reinforces the idea that scrubbing toilets for a few months provides enough capital to take you quite far for a long while. So skip an hour from your overpriced cable TV and enjoy this talk. Feel free to leave any comments.

http://www.rolfpotts.com/

Keeping Death in Perspective

2007-08-19T06:46:00.000-07:00

Once in a while, I'm urged to inform the average citizen with some relevant facts. Considering the current state of our media outlets, I feel this is becoming more important every passing day. Allow me to highlight a few excerpts from an LA times article written by Meghan Daum, 8/19/07

"On any given day, an average of 148,000 people will die. That means over a million people have died in the last week. Nearly 5 million have died since around this time last month, which, incidentally, was exactly when we were briefly bombarded with the news that 199 people were killed in a Brazilian airliner crash."

"Based on estimates from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, there were about 3,500 automobile-related deaths during that monthlong period. U.S. cancer deaths hover around 42,000 a month. As for heart disease, the American Heart Assn. tells us that someone dies of cardiovascular disease every 36 seconds. And that's just in this country."

"As staggering as these numbers are, they don't seem to scare or interest us nearly as much as things like plane crashes, mountain lion attacks, deadly roller coaster mishaps or avian flu. And because the news media is savvy about (and complicit in) our fears and fascinations, we are fed an endless supply of death news that has little to do with how most people actually die."

That's all I'll quote from the article; that should be enough in guiding us to draw our own conclusions.

Have a graceful summer Sunday.

Bach - Bwv1068 Orchestral Suite - 02 - Air

2007-08-18T04:36:00.001-07:00

A Classic piece. For the record, I need to post this.

The History of Oil - Robert Newman

2007-07-23T06:14:00.000-07:00

Robert Newman's History of Oil is a humorous summary of the political history of oil in the middle east and how it has lead to the current war in Iraq.

Enjoy :-D

On Getting Creative Ideas, Murray Gell-Mann

2007-07-23T05:48:00.000-07:00

Murray Gell-Mann is one of the largest living legends in physics. He's also been described as The Man With Five Brains, and it's no puzzle why: He was admitted to Yale at 15, got his PhD from MIT at 21, and is an international advisor on the environment. He speaks 13 languages fluently (at last count), and has expertise in such far-ranging fields as natural history, historical linguistics, archaeology, bird-watching, depth psychology, and the theory of complex adaptive systems.

Oh yeah - he also coined the term "quark," after developing key aspects of the modern theory of quantum physics... for which he earned an unshared Nobel prize in physics in 1969. His ideas revolutionized the world's thinking on elementary particles. In this talk, he gives his thoughts "on getting creative ideas."

Cockraches can survive a nuclear holocaust

2006-12-08T23:54:00.000-08:00

But they won't survive in a glass of Coke.

Taken From an article I read on http://healthbolt.net on the 8th of December...

Have you ever wondered why Coke comes with a smile? It’s because it gets you high. They took the cocaine out almost a hundred years ago. You know why? It was redundant.

In The First 10 minutes: 10 teaspoons of sugar hit your system. (100% of your recommended daily intake.) You don’t immediately vomit from the overwhelming sweetness because phosphoric acid cuts the flavor allowing you to keep it down.
20 minutes: Your blood sugar spikes, causing an insulin burst. Your liver responds to this by turning any sugar it can get it’s hands on into fat. (There’s plenty of that at this particular moment)
40 minutes: Caffeine absorption is complete. Your pupils dialate, your blood pressure rises, as a response your livers dumps more sugar into your bloodstream. The adenosine receptors in your brain are now blocked preventing drowsiness.
45 minutes: Your body ups your dopamine production stimulating the pleasure centers of your brain. This is physically the same way heroin works, by the way.
>60 minutes: The phosphoric acid binds calcium, magnesium and zinc in your lower intestine, providing a further boost in metabolism. This is compounded by high doses of sugar and artificial sweeteners also increasing the urinary excretion of calcium.
>60 Minutes: The caffeine’s diuretic properties come into play. (It makes you have to pee.) It is now assured that you’ll evacuate the bonded calcium, magnesium and zinc that was headed to your bones as well as sodium, electrolyte and water.
>60 minutes: As the rave inside of you dies down you’ll start to have a sugar crash. You may become irritable and/or sluggish. You’ve also now, literally, pissed away all the water that was in the Coke. But not before infusing it with valuable nutrients your body could have used for things like even having the ability to hydrate your system or build strong bones and teeth.

This will all be followed by a caffeine crash in the next few hours. (As little as two if you’re a smoker.) But, hey, have another Coke, it’ll make you feel better.

Moved to the bay, but not quite settled

2006-08-07T18:28:00.000-07:00

I had the pleasure of meeting many other celebs at the Googleplex. It is a great place to be. The acclimation process takes a long time, but I'm in it for the long haul. Keeping the world posted, one snippet at a time. -b

Lobbyists and Congress : Net Neutrality Amendment Rejected

2006-06-30T01:21:00.000-07:00

It doesn't seem to me like Congress knows what they're doing anymore . I wish they would just stop listening to lobbyists...that would be a great start. The telco lobbyists pulled it off. They duped our Congress. The Senate Commerce Committee approved on Wednesday an all-encompassing telecommunications reform bill with a bi-partisan vote of 15-7, and achieved their goal of having the Senate Committee rejecting the Net Neutrality Amendment.

The telcos have great incentive to go forth with pushing Congress towards this direction mainly due to their interests in holding their monopoly and stunting the growth of any competition with the advent of voice over ip. As Cringely clearly points out, voip is useless with too much latency.

Now that this stupid charade has started, where does it stop? I wonder when they're going to start rigging cars to go faster in certain highways...will we see Japanese versus American car manufacturer lobbyists in Congress next? They might as well, and hurry before Congress realizes what they've done. They've proved how amazingly gullible they can be. This makes absolutely no sense to me and it goes against the very foundation of our constitution.

Some Big Names Working at Google

2006-06-19T03:29:00.000-07:00

Snippets I'm borrowing from this article.

Guido Van Rossum - The inventor of Python.

Ben Goodger - Firefox Lead Developer

Vint Cerf - THE "Internet Architect." Cerf, who co-designed TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol), was hired to help Google develop architectures and standards for next-generation applications, the company said at the time. He is also working on a new set of communication protocols meant to be used in deep space for NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory aimed at creating an Internet communications connection between planets.

Dr. Larry Brilliant. Yes that's his last name. He will be executive director of Google.org, the philanthropic arm of the company that is investing more than $7 million on issues related to global poverty, health, energy and the environment. Brilliant is an award-winning physician, friend of '60s icon Wavy Gravy, and an epidemiologist who spent more than a decade in India and, by the way, was also co-founder of the pioneering online community known as The Well.

Andy Hertzfeld, who worked on Apple Computer's original Macintosh development team and was hired by Google in August 2005, said the potential for changing the world is what attracted him to the Mountain View, Calif., company.

Adam Bosworth, who left his job as BEA Systems chief architect to be a vice president of engineering at Google in July 2004. Before that, he was a senior manager at Microsoft where he worked on XML and Microsoft Access PC Database.

Cheap Drinking Water from the Ocean

2006-06-13T20:23:00.000-07:00

An MIT Tech Review Article writes: t "Carbon nanotube-based membranes will dramatically cut the cost of desalination." A water desalination system using carbon nanotube-based membranes could significantly reduce the cost of purifying water from the ocean. The technology could potentially provide a solution to water shortages both in the United States, where populations are expected to soar in areas with few freshwater sources, and worldwide, where a lack of clean water is a major cause of disease.

Despite all the bad news we get fed from the major media sources, I believe the good times are ahead.

Philanthropic Manipulation

2006-06-12T04:00:00.000-07:00

You want to get your friends into sushi, a non-fiction book, soccer, feta cheese or anything else that is a hard sell, i.e. a non-mainstream product/service in this country - Something that you think no one should miss out on. Where to start? Well, simply put, should you accept the mission, you have now become a salesman.

You have to sell it to them. And if you're lucky enough to be the first person who is exposing them to whatever it is that you're exposing them to, you are about to take up some important civic responsibility. Presentation is crucial. The criteria can be summed in a few words: order of presentation, conviction, empathy, and energy.

Let's take a simple example: I've turned one of my friends that really wasn't into tomatoes, into a tomato fan. The problems was that he was exposed to tomatoes through ones that suck, i.e. tomatoes you find in MCburgers, standard Albertson's 'bargain' tomatoes, etc. I gave him a few slices of campari tomatoes (very small tomatoes on the vine) along with some sea salt on them. Yep - an instant 180.

Everyone uses a different lens to look at things. If one is not fond of something, it's probably because they're looking at the 'something' with a crappy lens and hence see a crappy picture. The art comes in where you find the perfect lens for the person/group in question.

Get a game plan together. Put yourself in their shoes. Use analogies to break down complex concepts if there are any. Even better, use analogies that are relative to the subject/group of people you are presenting to. Most of the time you only get one chance to convince somebody - especially older people. Once older people make up their minds, their ego will stop at nothing to change the mind, however reasonable "flip-flopping" may well be.

Moving to Mountain View

2006-06-09T00:01:00.000-07:00

I have accepted a job offer at Google and will be moving to Mountain View in the very near future. I am saddened to leave Santa Barbara, but equally excited about what's to come ahead, which hopefully will consist of challenging and good times. If anyone has any advice on good neighborhoods, places to live, feel free to post.

Carpe Diem

Windows Vista Beta 2, Free to Download and Use

2006-06-08T23:47:00.000-07:00

Windows Vista Beta 2 is officially free to download and use. This is a smart move on Microsoft's part. Vista has bugs. As people start using their new operating system, error reports will be submitted to Microsoft. A big user base is priceless during beta testing. Way to go common sense. Another word on common sense - it appears that the Windows server farms are being overloaded because everyone is trying to download the new OS. Well, a few people who do have common sense put up this website, which is a torrent of the Vista Beta 2 ISO. Sigh.

New Games, Old Games, Imagination

2006-06-05T19:08:00.000-07:00

I have always been a fan of game playability/fun factor/games that make you use your imagination - similar to a book. IMHO complicated graphics, sound, and movies inside games seem like they tend to take away from the fun of the game. If I wanted to play a game that looked absolutely like real life, I guess I woulnd't use a game console and go play real tennis. The 256 colors and the 8-bit sound had a magic to it.

There used to be a game by Lucasfilms called Indiana Jones 3, Last crusade, on the PC, around 1990 or so, in the game you could go anywhere you wanted, and solve puzzles not necessarily in the order that they need to be solved. Graphics were VGA, 256 colors, but now that I think about it, the fact that I used my imagination more might have made the game a bit more fun; the fact that the boss didn't look picture perfect helped him out a bit, similar to reading a book and visualizing the characters.

It's hard to pin down what I'm really trying to say here, but I loved the Sierra games of the 80s, but maybe it's beause I'm older, but today's games just don't do it for me anymore. The other day I played mario kart and super mario world (is that what it was called) on the super nintendo, and had tons of fun, despite how old it is. Seems like the Wii is trying appeal to this kind of demand.

The Devolution of 'Cell Phones'

2006-05-15T22:31:00.000-07:00

I accidentally deleted a very important voicemail tonight. I was deleting one completely redundant voicemail (don't get me started on redundant unnecessary 'call me back' messages,) and pressed '7' one too many times, and deleted a message I never got to listen to. It was from an important recruiter.

I called Cingular and asked them whether they had a service for 'presshappy' people like myself to 'undelete' a voicemail in case of an emergency, and was brutally told that once a message is erased it's irretrievable. I kindly asked him to escalate my suggestion of having this capability so that Cingular would separate itself from the boys.

Needless to say, this incident was entirely my fault. But it brought up another issue I've been wrestling with for the last few months and I thought to share:

Today's cell phone technology seems to take away from the fundamental functions and add resource-hog features we don't use on a daily basis. These features drain the battery life dry and qualifies the 'cell phone' to an entity equivalent to a high maintenance girlfriend. How about making a cell phone that retains its battery life as long as possible, can store perhaps 50 phone numbers, has the best signal that that kind of a phone can provide, has a super-fast snappy interface, can easily slip in and out from my pocket jeans without me having to stand up, and still works despite all the abuse a device gets from being carried around with you all day? How about a cell phone you can tap on thrice with the tip of your finger while it's in your pocket to shut it up while sitting in a lecture? Maybe I haven't done my research, but if you find something that fits all that, let me know. I will buy you a beer. I will then buy you another beer. I'm talking Guinness.

My behemoth of a Motorola cell phone can pull these these cute numbers:

play mp3s
interface via bluetooth with other devices
play movies
download ringtones, like green days' latest song
take 640*480 pictures, high quality vga pictures and send them to others
provide me capability to play poker with other people on some proprietary network, along with being able to download other j2me games.

Why did I get such a phone? Amazon gave me $160 cash money (ok it was a rebate) and a free activation plan. Websites like phonescoop and cnet also gave it a rating of 8/10 or better. Maybe I didn't check the right websites. Maybe I didn't spend the extra 6 hours looking for a practical phone.

When are these Telcos going to get it? Or is some potential startup company sitting on a gold mine?

One day, here's hoping that I will have a cell phone that doesn't decide to change its ring style to silent while it sits in my pocket, here's hoping one day we don't have to listen to 40 second prevoicemail messages before leaving a voicemail. Here's hoping we will be able to buy a practical 'cell phone,' and this middle-of-the-road phase will indeed phase away like a bad fart.

baris

I'm a douchebag.

2006-05-15T06:24:00.000-07:00

Just woke up a few minutes ago from the longest nap I've ever taken in my history of living...I went to lie down around 5:30 last night, guess I was pretty tired and didn't wake up until 6 am this morning. Didn't call the parents on mother's day. I'm going to hell. Hell could be at Google, but life sucks right now.... more. ran.

Cringely and Critics

2006-05-14T15:29:00.000-07:00

Posted an article on Slashdot today called Google's Love for Small Businesses. Most comments to the article were insightful, I would expect nothing else from Slashdot. Slashdot is no Digg. Then this one stood out: "Please stop posting Cringely's articles. They're nothing but flamebait and don't deserve to make slashdot's front page." I told him one of the reasons I like Slashdot is to see the battles/conversations/discussions take place. Yes, perhaps Cringely's opinions can get a bit far fetched, but it stimulates discussion and discourse, and that's a good thing. I get a feeling I'm way past the average age of slashdotters. Perhaps it's time to retire.

My first post. How cute you say.

2006-05-13T23:54:00.000-07:00

What can I say - I'm proud to hop on the blogging bandwagon. From me to you, no middleman. CNN and FOX can eat their hearts out.

Blogging surely looks like the the hip thing to do nowadays, AND it's free, so hey the least that can happen is I'll get some cathartic therapy out of it. Writing always seems to make that work somehow.

I remember one of my close friends saying 'no self-respecting sys admin should ever have a blog' a few years ago. I then found out he started one just recently. Reconsideration always makes a funny appearance when you least expect it.

So why not. I'll start a blog. What to write about you say...well I never wrote a blog. Let's give it a shot. What's am I thinking now...?

It's saturday night, something bothers me but I cannot seem to remember. Ah that's right...my nvidia driver doesn't seem to want to play nice with my TV when I'm on 1050*15680 resolution 2005fpw (they're both connected to my box), and I've been wanting to watch this HP documentary all day. My tv is on, but it's on mute because it's waiting for me to something. Usually there would be a documentary, an interview, or something of that sort in the background, but the hum of the fridge shows its ugly face in lieu of all that.

I also downloaded a free documentary on internet piracy today, which I'll be looking forward to watching as well. One of my favorite sites, mvgroup is down. That never happens, so I wonder what's up. So much to process, so little time. Until next time....same bat time, same bat channel.
Baris