Wow. I just came across this site linking from an article I read on Slashdot. Sort of a place to post modern ideas on resource and energy efficiency. Just a couple of articles on inhabitat.com were awesome enough that I wanted to share the site immediately.
A pretty awesome eco-integrated concept building, I would love to see actually get built. Could we get some financing for projects that will reduce our energy footprint, and pay themselves back?
And this one about chemical sniffing phones is an awesome idea. What if everyone was just assigned random chemicals to have their phone sense? I think we could justify getting sensors for industrial waste, and other problem pollutants as well.
This story about paint on connected solar cells is pretty interesting too. They comment that it's not yet commercially proven, but a pretty awesome concept.
All posted today ?!?
Monday, April 12, 2010
Monday, April 5, 2010
Toyota Redux
OK. So we all knew SOME people were making shit up when they claimed their prius, or other toyota behaved strangely. Still you gotta figure SOME other people were telling the truth. Right?
I guess Toyota is looking at criminal negligence charges for not investigating the incidents, and writing them off as driver error. Then I read this, and if these stats are the naked truth. I am now suspicious:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
July 14th Update.
Preliminary results from DOT testing (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703834604575364871534435744.html)
indicates that the Toyota "acceleration" problem appears to be operator error, as backed up by the information presented early on above. It's almost depressing.
I guess Toyota is looking at criminal negligence charges for not investigating the incidents, and writing them off as driver error. Then I read this, and if these stats are the naked truth. I am now suspicious:
These incidents were highly correlated with three things: being elderly, being short, and parking (or leaving a parking space)Wow. So we all know old people can't drive. We (I know directly) also know that young people can't drive well. Yes there are exceptions to every rule. The point is now I think it was mostly a bunch of hype. I read a few articles saying Toyota was still denying that anything was wrong, and I believe it will stay as such until we have a root cause.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
July 14th Update.
Preliminary results from DOT testing (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703834604575364871534435744.html)
indicates that the Toyota "acceleration" problem appears to be operator error, as backed up by the information presented early on above. It's almost depressing.
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Climate Prediction Accuracy
It is the way of the world. The law of large numbers meets Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle. Small samples are hard to predict statistically, and large samples are easier. The more exactly you try to predict something, the harder it gets. The farther ahead you try to predict, the less accurate you become. Measuring, or producing something will ALWAYS have a tolerance built in. More accuracy or power means more expensive, more complicated, more time, more money.
If it's raining outside, I can accurately guess 99 out of 100 times that it will be raining in 5 minutes. OK, maybe not when it's on and off like right now in San Diego, but that's beside the point. 3 days ago when I checked weather.com it said there was a 30% chance of rain yesterday and today. It's been raining the whole time! The farther ahead we go, the more the law of unintended consequences takes root. Here in San Diego we're in the middle of a BUNCH of climates, near the ocean, have things like Santa Ana winds come in some times, and a lot of water dumping off the mountains to the North and East.
The point is that no number really means anything without context and accuracy being specified. So while I accept that there has been some warming of the climate, I also know it's happened before (geological evidence points to this) . When I read this physics blog posting about an increase in the predicted number of hurricanes, I became predictably annoyed. What does this really mean? Nothing. We have ZERO history prediction history. The blog even highlights that:
I'm calling for people to begin to post their historical accuracy with their predictions. Now that science and politics are so interrelated, we need quality control in science just like any other endeavor. I know hurricanes only happen yearly, but if your "model" is only historical, and you can't post how accurate you've been in the past, your just as good as the tarot card reader.
If it's raining outside, I can accurately guess 99 out of 100 times that it will be raining in 5 minutes. OK, maybe not when it's on and off like right now in San Diego, but that's beside the point. 3 days ago when I checked weather.com it said there was a 30% chance of rain yesterday and today. It's been raining the whole time! The farther ahead we go, the more the law of unintended consequences takes root. Here in San Diego we're in the middle of a BUNCH of climates, near the ocean, have things like Santa Ana winds come in some times, and a lot of water dumping off the mountains to the North and East.
The point is that no number really means anything without context and accuracy being specified. So while I accept that there has been some warming of the climate, I also know it's happened before (geological evidence points to this) . When I read this physics blog posting about an increase in the predicted number of hurricanes, I became predictably annoyed. What does this really mean? Nothing. We have ZERO history prediction history. The blog even highlights that:
That could help to solve an important climate change puzzle but before greater reliance can be placed on Ehrlich's, it needs to show its colours by accurately forecasting the numbers of hurricanes in the next few years. Its predictions do not make for pleasant reading.
I'm calling for people to begin to post their historical accuracy with their predictions. Now that science and politics are so interrelated, we need quality control in science just like any other endeavor. I know hurricanes only happen yearly, but if your "model" is only historical, and you can't post how accurate you've been in the past, your just as good as the tarot card reader.
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Exercise and The Brain. The Body-Mind Connection!
I have been doing endurance exercise as long as I can remember. When I was a kid I usually went on a day hike and weekend backpack every month with my scout troop. We usually did a week in the grand canyon and two weeks in the sierras every year. Think two weeks in the sierras is rough? I lived in Europe many summers with my grandparents, where you walked EVERYWHERE, and travelling with my parents involved a LOT of walking. And I swam. A few times a year, my whole life.
The last few years I have been on my triathlon Odyssey. To me it was all about the Mind-Body connection. The discipline required to train regularly, go to bed early, and so many other details that go into a successful race at any distance for most people. Also understanding how to periodize and stress your body in an effective way to prepare for an event gave me a similar feeling to the process of preparing and performing in piano competitions as a child. What I realized recently is that it works in the other direction as well. There is a VERY POWERFUL Body-Mind connection!
I have told people for years how the time I have swimming, biking, running help me think better, more peacefully, and in a more focused fashion. I sleep better, eat better, chill better, not TO exercise, but BECAUSE I exercise. I also think doing yoga for 13 years now as well as tai qi, and other martial arts have all crystallized into an amazing set of experiences to draw on to keep my (poor injured) self whole, and heal injuries effectively.
Last year I suffered a critical head injury that left me in a coma for several days. While I suffered for months, my recovery was truly miraculous, and surprised literally EVERY doctor I saw for 6 months. Still, the first month I head such bad headaches I was taking morphine twice a day. For months I could not handle loud noise, or bright lights, or do a LOT of things I used to take for granted.
I consider it lucky that the accident happened 2 weeks after wildflower when I was fit, AND particularly rested. When it comes to recovery however, literally the day I was off pain killers, I was back on the exercise bike. I did 2x2mi runs that week. MAN was it tough after literally 5 weeks of sitting or lying almost all the time. At the time my motivation was to take a chance and try to do Ironman Cozumel which I had signed up for over a year in advance. It never occurred to me it would help me heal. Make me whole.
I can't quantify how much it helped. My neurosurgeon gave me a drug called Namenda for Alzheimer's patients which may or may not have helped. My work was very warm in allowing me to come back to work part time the week after my accident (They still asked for a doctors note ALLOWING me to work :) ), and gradually ramp back to full time over the next 2-3 months, and I believe that getting back on the horse is the best way to get better after ANYTHING. I feel that my daily cardio 5 weeks out for 5 months was a BIG contributor to my rapid recovery.
I think this article in Men's Health sums up a lot of these things (for women as well), in an article I read recently. They cite a few interesting studies that quantify some of the benefits I've experienced and claimed. The top line 15% effectiveness improvement is a big deal. Imagine if EVERYONE started exercising regularly. Our health care costs would go down, and we would experience a MASSIVE productivity bump. Is a world where everyone is Healthy, Productive, and even Happy so well within our grasp?
A couple of really profound quotes from the article for the scientists out there:
The results of the electroencephalograph may explain the difference in brain activity. The data showed that the single 30-minute bout of cardio had two major effects on an electrical system of the brain called P3. First, the exercise session "decreased P3 latency," which means subjects were able to process information faster. Second, Hillman found that the cardio session "increased P3 amplitude," a measurement of brain activity related to memory and focus. So their aerobic exercise helped them concentrate better and recall information faster.
That's pretty low down. But they are saying your brain is faster, and stronger. What? Another study (admittedly subjective) said that:
Workers scored 15 percent higher in their ability to meet both time and output demands on the day they exercised. "What we found staggered us, and we were left wondering what companies might do otherwise to produce these 15 percent improvements," says Jim McKenna, Ph.D., the lead researcher.
and two quotes that back up my early comments on health, productivity, and even happiness as a byproduct of exercise:
Edward Hallowell, M.D., a Harvard-trained psychiatrist and coauthor of Delivered from Distraction, concurs with Giorgio's observations. "Cardio is one of the best treatments for ADD and poor mental focus, as well as for anxiety," he says. "It's like a wonder drug for the brain."
And shall we add "happiness" to the list, too? Duke University researchers found that performing moderate-intensity cardio three times a week was as effective as the antidepressant Zoloft at reducing major depression.
Pretty potent stuff. I welcome your comments.
A couple of other interesting articles I've written on triathlon:
A scientific coverage of the understanding of modern training methods, periodization, intervals, as well as some of my favorite training methodologies and coaching/writing resources out there.
The Art of Triathlon. My thoughts on how testing oneself leads to a better being.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
6/18/2010
Pretty Awesome NIH study about metabolites in our bodies after exercise. The evidence keeps on mounting!
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20505214
Also some NY Times Blog Coverage of the results.
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/16/phys-ed-a-workout-for-your-bloodstream/
They put it well:
" the experiment does reinforce the lesson, which we all know whether we heed it or not, that the human body needs to move."
Yeah! They also link to some articles with good quotes:
Exercise improves your grades.
"After controlling for such variables, the findings still showed that exercise made a sizable difference in a student’s G.P.A. On a 4.0 grade scale, students who exercised vigorously seven days a week had G.P.A.’s that were, on average, 0.4 points higher than those who didn’t exercise. "
Exercise keeps our cells young (As measured by size of telomeres).
And interesting mixed reports about exercise improving sleep quality. I think so but they put some doubts on it. Basically in this one it seems to be a subjective (i.e. placebo type effect on people's OPINIONS, not real effects).
The last few years I have been on my triathlon Odyssey. To me it was all about the Mind-Body connection. The discipline required to train regularly, go to bed early, and so many other details that go into a successful race at any distance for most people. Also understanding how to periodize and stress your body in an effective way to prepare for an event gave me a similar feeling to the process of preparing and performing in piano competitions as a child. What I realized recently is that it works in the other direction as well. There is a VERY POWERFUL Body-Mind connection!
I have told people for years how the time I have swimming, biking, running help me think better, more peacefully, and in a more focused fashion. I sleep better, eat better, chill better, not TO exercise, but BECAUSE I exercise. I also think doing yoga for 13 years now as well as tai qi, and other martial arts have all crystallized into an amazing set of experiences to draw on to keep my (poor injured) self whole, and heal injuries effectively.
Last year I suffered a critical head injury that left me in a coma for several days. While I suffered for months, my recovery was truly miraculous, and surprised literally EVERY doctor I saw for 6 months. Still, the first month I head such bad headaches I was taking morphine twice a day. For months I could not handle loud noise, or bright lights, or do a LOT of things I used to take for granted.
I consider it lucky that the accident happened 2 weeks after wildflower when I was fit, AND particularly rested. When it comes to recovery however, literally the day I was off pain killers, I was back on the exercise bike. I did 2x2mi runs that week. MAN was it tough after literally 5 weeks of sitting or lying almost all the time. At the time my motivation was to take a chance and try to do Ironman Cozumel which I had signed up for over a year in advance. It never occurred to me it would help me heal. Make me whole.
I can't quantify how much it helped. My neurosurgeon gave me a drug called Namenda for Alzheimer's patients which may or may not have helped. My work was very warm in allowing me to come back to work part time the week after my accident (They still asked for a doctors note ALLOWING me to work :) ), and gradually ramp back to full time over the next 2-3 months, and I believe that getting back on the horse is the best way to get better after ANYTHING. I feel that my daily cardio 5 weeks out for 5 months was a BIG contributor to my rapid recovery.
I think this article in Men's Health sums up a lot of these things (for women as well), in an article I read recently. They cite a few interesting studies that quantify some of the benefits I've experienced and claimed. The top line 15% effectiveness improvement is a big deal. Imagine if EVERYONE started exercising regularly. Our health care costs would go down, and we would experience a MASSIVE productivity bump. Is a world where everyone is Healthy, Productive, and even Happy so well within our grasp?
A couple of really profound quotes from the article for the scientists out there:
The results of the electroencephalograph may explain the difference in brain activity. The data showed that the single 30-minute bout of cardio had two major effects on an electrical system of the brain called P3. First, the exercise session "decreased P3 latency," which means subjects were able to process information faster. Second, Hillman found that the cardio session "increased P3 amplitude," a measurement of brain activity related to memory and focus. So their aerobic exercise helped them concentrate better and recall information faster.
That's pretty low down. But they are saying your brain is faster, and stronger. What? Another study (admittedly subjective) said that:
Workers scored 15 percent higher in their ability to meet both time and output demands on the day they exercised. "What we found staggered us, and we were left wondering what companies might do otherwise to produce these 15 percent improvements," says Jim McKenna, Ph.D., the lead researcher.
and two quotes that back up my early comments on health, productivity, and even happiness as a byproduct of exercise:
Edward Hallowell, M.D., a Harvard-trained psychiatrist and coauthor of Delivered from Distraction, concurs with Giorgio's observations. "Cardio is one of the best treatments for ADD and poor mental focus, as well as for anxiety," he says. "It's like a wonder drug for the brain."
And shall we add "happiness" to the list, too? Duke University researchers found that performing moderate-intensity cardio three times a week was as effective as the antidepressant Zoloft at reducing major depression.
Pretty potent stuff. I welcome your comments.
A couple of other interesting articles I've written on triathlon:
A scientific coverage of the understanding of modern training methods, periodization, intervals, as well as some of my favorite training methodologies and coaching/writing resources out there.
The Art of Triathlon. My thoughts on how testing oneself leads to a better being.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
6/18/2010
Pretty Awesome NIH study about metabolites in our bodies after exercise. The evidence keeps on mounting!
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20505214
Also some NY Times Blog Coverage of the results.
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/16/phys-ed-a-workout-for-your-bloodstream/
They put it well:
" the experiment does reinforce the lesson, which we all know whether we heed it or not, that the human body needs to move."
Yeah! They also link to some articles with good quotes:
Exercise improves your grades.
"After controlling for such variables, the findings still showed that exercise made a sizable difference in a student’s G.P.A. On a 4.0 grade scale, students who exercised vigorously seven days a week had G.P.A.’s that were, on average, 0.4 points higher than those who didn’t exercise. "
Exercise keeps our cells young (As measured by size of telomeres).
And interesting mixed reports about exercise improving sleep quality. I think so but they put some doubts on it. Basically in this one it seems to be a subjective (i.e. placebo type effect on people's OPINIONS, not real effects).
Saturday, February 20, 2010
The Compton Cookout, and Isadore Hall III: McCarthy's New Age Revival
Wow. Last night I first heard about this from my friend Dayna. Today Seph posted this news article on twitter. The headline reads "Lawmakers Outraged Over 'Compton Cookout' Party." And I'm thinking, this guy is an elected official and he has nothing better to do? You can see a whole video of the press conference he had here.
I personally found it pretty annoying that he said "racist and sexist" about 20 times. Clearly this guy didn't have much to say. From what I read, there was not a SINGLE incident of racial or sexist injustice perpetrated as a result of this party to which our state assembly is now "demanding full accountability for their actions." Continuing from Hall's website:
Which begs the question. Is Isadore Hall Anti-Racist? Has he criticized Dave Chappelle (Clayton Bigsby Skit), or Chris Rock (Black People -vs- Niggaz)? I don't think he should have. Actually I think that Dave Chapelle and Chris Rock were much more effective at dispelling racism through comedy than the showboat Isadore Hall ever will. What does this say about California? We don't tolerate same sex marriage, and we tolerate McCarthyist Assemblyman (and women)?
In his overridden veto of the McCarran Internal Security Act of 1950, President Truman wrote, "In a free country, we punish men for the crimes they commit, but never for the opinions they have."
criticizing the Eisenhower administration, he later said :"It is now evident that the present Administration has fully embraced, for political advantage, McCarthyism. I am not referring to the Senator from Wisconsin. He is only important in that his name has taken on the dictionary meaning of the word. It is the corruption of truth, the abandonment of the due process law. It is the use of the big lie and the unfounded accusation against any citizen in the name of Americanism or security. It is the rise to power of the demagogue who lives on untruth; it is the spreading of fear and the destruction of faith in every level of society."
Sounds right to me. This guy said nothing about a crime, or a trial, or due process, and still is demanding "suspension or expulsion" of students involved. I'm not intentionally racist, or sexist, yet I am still enlightened enough to know that EVERYONE has biases, opinions, and weaknesses. This kind of self gratifying, grandstanding behavior by politicians is the problem today, not the solution.
On June 1, 1950, Senator Margaret Chase Smith, a Maine Republican, delivered a speech to the Senate she called a "Declaration of Conscience". In a clear attack upon McCarthyism, she called for an end to "character assassinations" and named "some of the basic principles of Americanism: The right to criticize; The right to hold unpopular beliefs; The right to protest; The right of independent thought." She said "freedom of speech is not what it used to be in America," and decried "cancerous tentacles of 'know nothing, suspect everything' attitudes."[68] Six other Republican Senators—Wayne Morse, Irving M. Ives, Charles W. Tobey, Edward John Thye,George Aiken, and Robert C. Hendrickson—joined Smith in condemning the tactics of McCarthyism.
And now so am I. I 'm glad you have the right to speak your mind Isadore Hall. But racism is not a platform for your politics. California has enough problems, and considering that not a single of your constituents was maligned by this activity, it doesn't appear you're doing anything but filling the world with hot air.
I know this will be a contentious post. I welcome all comments, and invite discussion.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1 Addition. I tried to submit this for comment to Isadore's Site. He won't accept comments from outside his district, yet he sees fit to comment on issues outside his district. I now consider him a hypocrite.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
3/7/10 Update.
Since I wrote this, things seem to have escalated a bit. Somebody hung a noose on campus, and a kkk hood was also placed in an obvious public place. The NY Times has good coverage of the racial tension at the school. Even system wide they say that
Which to me actually seems pretty diverse. It may not be proportional to the population as a whole, but there's a LOT about UCSD, and the UC system for that matter that isn't representative of California. The numbers will equalize with time, of course, but to me it points more to providing resources at a younger age that make people ready for a place like the UC System.
Letting people in who will just fail out is a lame way to try to change this (i.e. affirmative action). I bet a more equal number of minorities would come to UCSD if they could get in because they learned a lot in high school and before. To me this means that we need to work to provide a better quality education to people who are raised in less privileged areas. It's a TOUGH environment, and somebody who wasn't exposed to academic challenges for years beforehand.
I personally found it pretty annoying that he said "racist and sexist" about 20 times. Clearly this guy didn't have much to say. From what I read, there was not a SINGLE incident of racial or sexist injustice perpetrated as a result of this party to which our state assembly is now "demanding full accountability for their actions." Continuing from Hall's website:
“Today, I call upon UC San Diego Chancellor Mary Anne Fox, UC President Mark Yudof and the UC Board of Regents to launch an immediate and thorough investigation of the ‘Compton Cookout’ event to determine the names of those responsible for planning and participating in this act of racism and sexism, what university affiliated organizations participated in the event and what if any public funds or resources were used to plan or carry out the event. At the conclusion of the investigation, university officials should act swiftly to sanction all responsible parties including the revocation of fraternity or sorority charters, the full repayment of any public funds used to support these organizations and the individual suspension or expulsion of any student found responsible for planning or participating in this act of hate.”
Which begs the question. Is Isadore Hall Anti-Racist? Has he criticized Dave Chappelle (Clayton Bigsby Skit), or Chris Rock (Black People -vs- Niggaz)? I don't think he should have. Actually I think that Dave Chapelle and Chris Rock were much more effective at dispelling racism through comedy than the showboat Isadore Hall ever will. What does this say about California? We don't tolerate same sex marriage, and we tolerate McCarthyist Assemblyman (and women)?
In his overridden veto of the McCarran Internal Security Act of 1950, President Truman wrote, "In a free country, we punish men for the crimes they commit, but never for the opinions they have."
criticizing the Eisenhower administration, he later said :"It is now evident that the present Administration has fully embraced, for political advantage, McCarthyism. I am not referring to the Senator from Wisconsin. He is only important in that his name has taken on the dictionary meaning of the word. It is the corruption of truth, the abandonment of the due process law. It is the use of the big lie and the unfounded accusation against any citizen in the name of Americanism or security. It is the rise to power of the demagogue who lives on untruth; it is the spreading of fear and the destruction of faith in every level of society."
Sounds right to me. This guy said nothing about a crime, or a trial, or due process, and still is demanding "suspension or expulsion" of students involved. I'm not intentionally racist, or sexist, yet I am still enlightened enough to know that EVERYONE has biases, opinions, and weaknesses. This kind of self gratifying, grandstanding behavior by politicians is the problem today, not the solution.
On June 1, 1950, Senator Margaret Chase Smith, a Maine Republican, delivered a speech to the Senate she called a "Declaration of Conscience". In a clear attack upon McCarthyism, she called for an end to "character assassinations" and named "some of the basic principles of Americanism: The right to criticize; The right to hold unpopular beliefs; The right to protest; The right of independent thought." She said "freedom of speech is not what it used to be in America," and decried "cancerous tentacles of 'know nothing, suspect everything' attitudes."[68] Six other Republican Senators—Wayne Morse, Irving M. Ives, Charles W. Tobey, Edward John Thye,George Aiken, and Robert C. Hendrickson—joined Smith in condemning the tactics of McCarthyism.
And now so am I. I 'm glad you have the right to speak your mind Isadore Hall. But racism is not a platform for your politics. California has enough problems, and considering that not a single of your constituents was maligned by this activity, it doesn't appear you're doing anything but filling the world with hot air.
I know this will be a contentious post. I welcome all comments, and invite discussion.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1 Addition. I tried to submit this for comment to Isadore's Site. He won't accept comments from outside his district, yet he sees fit to comment on issues outside his district. I now consider him a hypocrite.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
3/7/10 Update.
Since I wrote this, things seem to have escalated a bit. Somebody hung a noose on campus, and a kkk hood was also placed in an obvious public place. The NY Times has good coverage of the racial tension at the school. Even system wide they say that
although gains have been made in the numbers of minority students since then, the proportion of white (30.5 percent) and Asian (39.8 percent) students enrolled last year far exceeded that of blacks (3.8 percent) and Latinos (20.4 percent).
Which to me actually seems pretty diverse. It may not be proportional to the population as a whole, but there's a LOT about UCSD, and the UC system for that matter that isn't representative of California. The numbers will equalize with time, of course, but to me it points more to providing resources at a younger age that make people ready for a place like the UC System.
Letting people in who will just fail out is a lame way to try to change this (i.e. affirmative action). I bet a more equal number of minorities would come to UCSD if they could get in because they learned a lot in high school and before. To me this means that we need to work to provide a better quality education to people who are raised in less privileged areas. It's a TOUGH environment, and somebody who wasn't exposed to academic challenges for years beforehand.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Top 25 Programming Errors
The new list of top 25 programming errors was released. Mostly online application issues now. Cross Site Scripting, and OS Command injection are the ones I always think of at the network/web level. Then there's all the buffer overflow/range checking which is common in all forms of code. There are many other ones I have less of an opinion on. There are two I think are worth note:
22 Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling
That's lame. But does open up the risk of (D)Dos attacks very easyily. I think DDOS on the network level can typically be handled by network operators.
25 Race Condition
That's a big one. Right now there is not a single programmer out there who can right multi threaded code without ANY risk of race condition. The only answer is to alter the architecture of the way programming languages are structured, and interface with processors.
22 Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling
That's lame. But does open up the risk of (D)Dos attacks very easyily. I think DDOS on the network level can typically be handled by network operators.
25 Race Condition
That's a big one. Right now there is not a single programmer out there who can right multi threaded code without ANY risk of race condition. The only answer is to alter the architecture of the way programming languages are structured, and interface with processors.
Making Urban Farming Scalable with Fish
A friend who writes about sustainable and novel development linked to an interesting article in one of her blog posts. The blog she linked to talks about making urban farms with fish and vegetables interacting. I LOVE the concept and have wanted to do something similar, but a little more micro, and feature rich for a long time.
My buddy Justin at the Borevitz Lab, showed me a video a while ago that was based on mission to mars work. I don't remember the details but I remember also including solar panels to generate power for the system, as well as your home/office. I also figured you could absorb some water waste (say shower and liquid toilet waste) and using that in the whole system (I know I read this somewhere as well. Anyone got a link?) also capture the water as it evaporates from the plants to provide purified drinking water. Any overflow could be re-routed, and used for yard purposes, as it already is in many cities.
So not just vegetables, and fish, but power and clean water! I'd love to see this produced from modularized units allowing different scales to be built easily by stacking different units together. I also always thought this would be great for primo restaraunts to ALWAYS have fresh veggies and fish available. Some people may freak out having there poop and potatoes so literally close, despite the real circle of life reality, but that's not me.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Justin updated me with some links:
He does research with simulating day/light cycles, different conditions, and wavelengths of light:
http://borevitzlab.uchicago.edu/resources/growth-chambers
Also he reposted the mission to mars video from NASA:
http://borevitzlab.uchicago.edu/resources/growth-chambers/PlantLifeSupportSystem.wmv
My buddy Justin at the Borevitz Lab, showed me a video a while ago that was based on mission to mars work. I don't remember the details but I remember also including solar panels to generate power for the system, as well as your home/office. I also figured you could absorb some water waste (say shower and liquid toilet waste) and using that in the whole system (I know I read this somewhere as well. Anyone got a link?) also capture the water as it evaporates from the plants to provide purified drinking water. Any overflow could be re-routed, and used for yard purposes, as it already is in many cities.
So not just vegetables, and fish, but power and clean water! I'd love to see this produced from modularized units allowing different scales to be built easily by stacking different units together. I also always thought this would be great for primo restaraunts to ALWAYS have fresh veggies and fish available. Some people may freak out having there poop and potatoes so literally close, despite the real circle of life reality, but that's not me.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Justin updated me with some links:
He does research with simulating day/light cycles, different conditions, and wavelengths of light:
http://borevitzlab.uchicago.edu/resources/growth-chambers
Also he reposted the mission to mars video from NASA:
http://borevitzlab.uchicago.edu/resources/growth-chambers/PlantLifeSupportSystem.wmv
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