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Fair trade energy
Check out this article on Popular Mechanics about using excess CO2 and algae to create biofuels. It’s an elegant solution, using one problem (excess CO2) to solve the other (the need for energy).
If I were Bill Gates, or at least in some position of power in his charity, I would subsidize the creation of these things in the third world. Doing that would create industry in the (mostly) quite hot third world countries where it has never been. Unlike the traditional oil regimes though, this industry would not be easily stolen as capital and expertise could be moved fairly easily.
I’ll have more ruminations on the “Curse of oil” and capital flight eventually.
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Quote of the moment
I’m watching Elia Kazan’s “A Face in the Crowd“. Andy Griffith plays a Southern lowlife who stumbles into a major media role, sort of a cross between Elvis and Oprah, with the personality and accent of John Edwards on PCP.
The quote is “Well, he’s got the courage of his ignorance, I’ll give him that.”
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Friday night round up
- Hansellman on graphing – the data “wants” to be presented in a certain way
- Hansellman on a family backup strategy – for all of those of us who give out free tech support to family and friends
- Perceptions of America and Iran in der Spiegel
- Der Spiegel again – Muslim integration into Europe
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The Watchmen movie!
To be made by the director of 300! And the plot is supposedly unchanged, and still happening in 1985. My cup runneth over.
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Needed technological advances
In keeping with Instapundit’s list of needed technological advances, here are four of mine
- Cheaper Carbon Fiber materials – Much lighter and much stronger than metal, but at the moment, much more expensive. If this cost could be brought down many other technologies become economical, electric cars, prefabbed buildings, small scale wind generation, etc.
- Smart traffic lights – while these do exist at the moment, they are not in wide use. I live in a traffic-light heavy part of the city. I also do most of my car travel at non-peak hours. I still stop at most of the lights for no reason whatsoever. Smart lights (these exist already) would sense if there is a car that needs to get by and turn green (assuming there was no competing traffic) and then snap back to it’s existing cycle.
- Decentralized electric power – To my knowledge, the main power grid has not been modernized, ever.
- Cheap wholesale medical testing – imagine just having a machine in your home that could analyze your blood or urine every day or week and test it for the top 50 detectable problems. If all of these problems are caught at the first opportunity, how many lives could be saved?
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Quick Wednesday link splash
- Backyard wind-power – not cheap, but not horribly pricey either. I imagine this would work much better in the country.
- The Aral Sea – on Wikipedia
- An interview with Michael Crichton
- Hand Cranked Cell phone charger – sadly available only in Japan. One would think it would be more popular here. Oh well.
- More hydrogen economy
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Scenic views wanted
Does anyone know of any great views of the city? I’ll soon be doing another installment of the fiddler photo series and I’m looking for some good places to shoot. All suggestions welcome.
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The best marriage proposal ever
belongs to uber-mathematician John von Neumann
“You and I might be able to have some fun together, seeing as how we both like to drink.”
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The next South Park
Will feature Hillary Clinton in some way.
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Your tax dollars at work
After being hyped for years, the label “The Imperial Presidency” seems to be coming true.
A Justice Department official will refuse to answer questions during a Senate committee hearing on the firing of eight U.S. attorneys, citing her Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate herself, her lawyer said Monday.
All of this hubbub for something that the president has the explicit power to do (fire US attorneys), he just can’t look statesmanlike in doing so. Proving once again that the genius of the American political system lies in impeding the politicians, not empowering them.