Innovation is a necessary and very interesting thing. I've had the good fortune to witness innovation through both my personal, as my wife is an innovator - a mechanical engineer specializing in biomatierals. I've also been fortunate to observe the power of innovation.
In my wife's case, I've seen her at work. She sometimes takes a safe, tried and true approach to innovation, taking existing materials, existing solutions, and applied those things to different problems. It's a simple idea - "Hey, the nature of that problem is similiar this other problem that we resolved this way. Perhaps we can apply that solution to this problem." Yes, that may not strike anyone as an importantinnovation, but in some cases it can be a life-saver.
Consider kidney stones and gall stones. Today, we take an idea such as sound frequency matching, seen by many folks my age in old Memorex commercials where a recording of Ella Fitzgerald's voice shatters a wine glass, and apply it to shattering stones that form inside the human body.
Other types of innovation is subtle, a variation on an accepted way of doing things. In the history of the high jump, when you go back to the 40's and 50's, a person either did a barrel-roll or a scissor-kick to achieve the highest jump. One scissor-kick jumper started leading with his inside arm, leaning over with his torso first, then eventually going over the bar backwards in a fashion never before seen, and in doing something amazing - Dick Fosbury discovered a way to high jump that allowed his center of gravity to never go over the bar.
More later... but if anyone reads this, I'd love to hear your thoughts on the nature and source of the inspiration that leads to innovation
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Monday, June 2, 2008
Bird flu and the Olympics
H5N1 is a dangerous form of flu and you can get your facts about avian or bird flu from this CDC site. There have been multiple reports of this flu in China... and that scares the crap out of me, because there will be representatives from just about every country on the face of the planet inBeijing later this summer for the Olympics. Could the Beijing Olympics provide a catalyst for a world-wide influenza epidemic?
Thursday, May 22, 2008
That's how you earn a scholarship!
The most exciting environmental news I've seen today comes out of Canada. A 16-year-old high school student has isolated a microbe that digests plastic.
Kid got a scholly and an award out of it. I hope he gets rich off his research as well. The young man has done a great thing for the environment.
Bravo!
Kid got a scholly and an award out of it. I hope he gets rich off his research as well. The young man has done a great thing for the environment.
Bravo!
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Oil: Abiotic or Not?
One of the more interesting ongoing debates in energy circles is whether or not the crude oil that we pump out of the ground and refine into diesel, gas and a myriad of other petroleum-based products is a finite resource (created from fossilized forests that existed eons ago) or whether the Earth creates it, making it a renewable resource.
The arguments for can be found in a few spots - including FromtheWilderness.Com and EnergyBulletin.net.
It's an interesting argument, but I think what we must do is take a closer look at the groups promoting the idea of abiotic oil - it's the oil companies, gang. Think about it - if we start focusing heavily on alternatives to oil for our energy supplies, who is going to get hurt the most? The companies that rely on the sale of oil. who, for the most part, control a huge sector of our economy and our government (see George W. Bush and Dick Cheney).
Even if oil is an abiotic fuel, what is the rate of creation? Are we using up oil at a rate faster than the earth is creating it?
Wikipedia has an interesting entry on this debate, and time will tell, but what I believe will happen in the future - if the oil powers start getting nervous, there will be an increase in stories promoting the abiotic theory in the news. More blame will be placed on the environmental activists, and they'll be blamed for the lack of new refineries and exploration. As is the nature of politics and power, the problem never lies with us, it's always them.
The arguments for can be found in a few spots - including FromtheWilderness.Com and EnergyBulletin.net.
It's an interesting argument, but I think what we must do is take a closer look at the groups promoting the idea of abiotic oil - it's the oil companies, gang. Think about it - if we start focusing heavily on alternatives to oil for our energy supplies, who is going to get hurt the most? The companies that rely on the sale of oil. who, for the most part, control a huge sector of our economy and our government (see George W. Bush and Dick Cheney).
Even if oil is an abiotic fuel, what is the rate of creation? Are we using up oil at a rate faster than the earth is creating it?
Wikipedia has an interesting entry on this debate, and time will tell, but what I believe will happen in the future - if the oil powers start getting nervous, there will be an increase in stories promoting the abiotic theory in the news. More blame will be placed on the environmental activists, and they'll be blamed for the lack of new refineries and exploration. As is the nature of politics and power, the problem never lies with us, it's always them.
A quote from the linked story:
The president says part of the answer is greater domestic production, and he is criticizing opposition Democrats for not allowing companies to drill for oil in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge. He also wants more offshore drilling, more nuclear power and more U.S. refineries.
Meanwhile, the president's and vice president's friends in the energy sector pull down record profits with a depressed dollar. When the dollar goes back up, their windfall's will be magnified accordingly.Friday, May 16, 2008
Improving Your Gas Mileage
Like many people in the United States, I have to commute to my work, and as someone who lives in the prairie, there aren't alot of opportunities to take advantage of mass transit - you either have to drive to get to work, or you better find something local.
Local really isn't an option for me. I am a technical trainer, and, granted, I could probably find a technical job here in Lawrence, Kansas, but it wouldn't pay nearly as much as a technical training position in Kansas City. I live in a college town, and to say there's a glut of talnet would be an understatement. Commute, I must.
There are some things that a person can do to maximize their MPG, however, as I recently discovered through a website addessing and promoting the concept of hypermiling.
Hypermiling.com provides some basic tips for improving one's gas mileage. Some tips I'd offer:
1. Slow down. The NASCAR-training grounds called K-10 are great for hauling butt at 80 MPH. The local highpatrol pads out 10 MPH, so the posted limit of 70 means you can go 79.9 before they flag you. The reality is you can save some serious loot by slowing down and driving the speed limit, or five miles under if you aren't in a big hurry.
2. Keep the tachometer under 2K. Wow, this has really helped me as well. Seems that your fuel consumption really goes up once you break that 2k barrier when you're accelerating. You can get to your desired speed, slowly but surely, and the savings makes it worth it.
3. Accelerate on the downslope. It's alot easier to keep under 2K and still reach your desired speed by letting gravity be your friend.
4. Don't be "that guy". Aggressive driving kills your performance, and it doesn't help your driving attitude much either. Choose the mellow. You'll conserve fuel, and you can save your own soul at the same time.
5. Coast! What's the point of staying at speed rolling up to a red light? Look ahead and if you see the light turning red, tap the brake and coast for as long as you can. If you hit it right, the light will turn green a moment before you get there and you can resume acceleration to get back where you want. "Stopping" hurts too, as it takes more to move an object out of a dead stop.
Like these tips? I'd love to here more from you as to how you're dealing with the crunch. Remember, the oil companies don't care about your pocketbook, just their own. You need to watch out for #1, and for all of us, that's a subjective truth.
Local really isn't an option for me. I am a technical trainer, and, granted, I could probably find a technical job here in Lawrence, Kansas, but it wouldn't pay nearly as much as a technical training position in Kansas City. I live in a college town, and to say there's a glut of talnet would be an understatement. Commute, I must.
There are some things that a person can do to maximize their MPG, however, as I recently discovered through a website addessing and promoting the concept of hypermiling.
Hypermiling.com provides some basic tips for improving one's gas mileage. Some tips I'd offer:
1. Slow down. The NASCAR-training grounds called K-10 are great for hauling butt at 80 MPH. The local highpatrol pads out 10 MPH, so the posted limit of 70 means you can go 79.9 before they flag you. The reality is you can save some serious loot by slowing down and driving the speed limit, or five miles under if you aren't in a big hurry.
2. Keep the tachometer under 2K. Wow, this has really helped me as well. Seems that your fuel consumption really goes up once you break that 2k barrier when you're accelerating. You can get to your desired speed, slowly but surely, and the savings makes it worth it.
3. Accelerate on the downslope. It's alot easier to keep under 2K and still reach your desired speed by letting gravity be your friend.
4. Don't be "that guy". Aggressive driving kills your performance, and it doesn't help your driving attitude much either. Choose the mellow. You'll conserve fuel, and you can save your own soul at the same time.
5. Coast! What's the point of staying at speed rolling up to a red light? Look ahead and if you see the light turning red, tap the brake and coast for as long as you can. If you hit it right, the light will turn green a moment before you get there and you can resume acceleration to get back where you want. "Stopping" hurts too, as it takes more to move an object out of a dead stop.
Like these tips? I'd love to here more from you as to how you're dealing with the crunch. Remember, the oil companies don't care about your pocketbook, just their own. You need to watch out for #1, and for all of us, that's a subjective truth.
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Science Groupie!
Part of my goal in creating this blog is to discuss where things are going. I'm not a scientist per se, but I am a fan of the research that scientists are engaged in. Some are more popular than others, and some are a bit on the fringe, due to the "off the beaten path" nature of their research.
1. Dr. Michio Kaku . This guy rocks. If you watch the Science Channel, you may have seen him on any number of shows discussing cosmology or astrophysics. He does a great job explaining the outrageous nature of our universe.
2. Dr. Stanton Friedman. Trained as a nuclear physicist, Dr. Friedman turned his attention to the study of the UFO phenomenon when the market fell out of the nuclear physics market. Yeah, he's a controversial character, without a doubt, but his work as a ufologist has done more to legitimize interest in this area than any other researcher, advancing the research of the original ufologist, J. Allen Hynek. I include him on this list because he created the beaten path for all that have an interest in UFOs. I believe in UFOs - there is without a doubt in my mind flying objects that have not been identified. I'm not saying that there's a bunch of alien aircraft out there, but there are some that defy classification.
3. Stephen Hawking. The dean of the school. Anyone interested in astrophysics should familiarize themselves with Professor Hawking's work.
4. Neil deGrasse Tyson . Like Dr. Kaku, Mr. Tyson is one of the most visible astrophysicists on the face of the planet, and is widely seen on PBS as host of NOVAScience Now. I've seen some of his lectures on television, and he has a knack for explaining complex topics in a fashion all should be able to understand. I'd love to take my kids to one of his lectures.
5. Dr. Alexei Filippenko . Another high-profile astrophysicist. I've enjoyed some of his explanations as well.
There are any number of other scientists I'd love to write about, folks like Jeff Marcy, and the folks working with the Large Hadron Collider, as well as the experiemental fusion reactor in Los Alamos... but if I don't stop somewhere, I'll be writing until the Milky Way galaxy collides with Andromeda...
1. Dr. Michio Kaku . This guy rocks. If you watch the Science Channel, you may have seen him on any number of shows discussing cosmology or astrophysics. He does a great job explaining the outrageous nature of our universe.
2. Dr. Stanton Friedman. Trained as a nuclear physicist, Dr. Friedman turned his attention to the study of the UFO phenomenon when the market fell out of the nuclear physics market. Yeah, he's a controversial character, without a doubt, but his work as a ufologist has done more to legitimize interest in this area than any other researcher, advancing the research of the original ufologist, J. Allen Hynek. I include him on this list because he created the beaten path for all that have an interest in UFOs. I believe in UFOs - there is without a doubt in my mind flying objects that have not been identified. I'm not saying that there's a bunch of alien aircraft out there, but there are some that defy classification.
3. Stephen Hawking. The dean of the school. Anyone interested in astrophysics should familiarize themselves with Professor Hawking's work.
4. Neil deGrasse Tyson . Like Dr. Kaku, Mr. Tyson is one of the most visible astrophysicists on the face of the planet, and is widely seen on PBS as host of NOVAScience Now. I've seen some of his lectures on television, and he has a knack for explaining complex topics in a fashion all should be able to understand. I'd love to take my kids to one of his lectures.
5. Dr. Alexei Filippenko . Another high-profile astrophysicist. I've enjoyed some of his explanations as well.
There are any number of other scientists I'd love to write about, folks like Jeff Marcy, and the folks working with the Large Hadron Collider, as well as the experiemental fusion reactor in Los Alamos... but if I don't stop somewhere, I'll be writing until the Milky Way galaxy collides with Andromeda...
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