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

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

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...

A Positive Outlook Into the Future

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)

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

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

David Russell plays Barrios

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

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

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

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

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

"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?

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

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!