Who killed the electric car

This is an great documentary on electric cars. Some interesting facts:

• The GM EV1 was a leased vehicle and when GM stopped making the cars they refused to sell any of the cars to their owners. All the cars were scrapped.
• Major oil companies are proponents of hydrogen cars even though they will not be on the market for a decade. Electric cars work now and continue to improve as batteries improve.
• Chevron Oil owns the patents on Nickel Metal Hydride batteries.

While this doesn't point to a smoking gun, it sure makes you think about fair markets, big business, and the development of disruptive technology.

Charlie Rose Episodes

All of the Charlie Rose episodes seem to be free and available on Google Video. Here are some of my recent favorites:

Science Series Part Two (Human Genome)
Robert Rubin
Science Series Part One
Muhammad Yunus, Founder of The Grameen Bank
E.O. Wilson & James Watson on Charles Darwin
Charlie Rose returns to the show
MacArthur Fellowship recipients
John F. Burns of The New York Times

Unexpected

In a moment of boredom I took aim at the refrigerator with a ball of sticky poster adhesive, hoping to make it stick, but I missed. Upon extracting the little traveler from behind the fridge, I discovered its fuzzy additions.

Cognitive Dissonance

Cognitive dissonance is a odd thing to consider. It states that someone accepts something as true not by analyzing evidence available in a logical manner but instead by the degree that it conflicts with their own existing view of reality. Even if something is air tight provably true some people will not accept it. They will even makup some unverifyable theory to explain away the conflicting fact. What is interesting about this is that it illustrates how the mind is a learning machine that has no direct connection to the truth. If the environment that the mind finds itself in is different from reality then the mind will be different from reality as well. If someone never comes face to face with their own fallibility they will find it very easy to disregard any information that would make them fallible. To me this is a dismal realization, that so many people could be locked in to skewed realities that they would be willing to fight to preserve.

Edwin H. Land Quotes

• The bottom line is in heaven.
• The essential part of creativity is not being afraid to fail.
• Creativity is the sudden cessation of stupidity.
• Politeness is the slow poison of collaboration.

Fun with Photo Booth on a Mac

Fallibility

Watching a Charlie Rose interview with George Soros about his book “The Age of Fallibility” , I heard something I have believed so strongly since my escape from fundamentalist religion, and that is that we are incapable of knowing reality and must always be in a constant state of listening to the world and humbly changing our minds in the face of new information. The opposite of this philosophy is arrogantly believing that one knows the way the world works (or should work), and actively resist information that is contradictory to your view, especially when it is negative for you. Over and over between the peace makers and the instigators of conflict this idea emerges.

The Sun

Every second four million tons of matter disapears from the Sun, converted into energy via fusion and E=mc^2 and radiated out as light. Only one part in two billion shines on the Earth and fuels plants and plants fuel us and the thoughts we have about the Sun and everything else. Surely it must be possible to tap this system and never worry about energy again.

Elections

As someone who lives and solves problems with computers everyday, every time I hear about political parties gearing up for the next election I am under whelmed. I hear things like get out the vote campaigns, fund raising for tv ads, political consultants that tailor a message to “the base” or “the center”, and hot-button issues that motivate people to vote. I am under whelmed by a politician who when asked a complex question repeats a laundry list of strategically and linguistically crafted talking points designed to influence someone with a uninterested and short attention span. I also see the other world behind the public image, where a candidate’s true constituency is glimpsed and it is never a nice picture. And it could all be so easy.

1. Vote online.
2. Maintain a Wikipedia style neutral public record on issues, politicians, voting records, scandals, and contributors.
3. Increase communication between politicians and the people they represent, through polls, and direct emails.
4. Connect people who know how to solve an issue with people who have the resources to solve it.

With voting taking 5 min from any computer, an informed electorate, and representatives held accountable to their constituents, all of the issue obscuring bag of tricks goes away.

Valvano's Three Rules of Software Development

I got these three rules from a class I had at the University of Texas. The professor was Jonathan W Valvano.

1. Choose reliability over more features.
   
2. Don't make excuses to a customer for what is broke. Make a plan of how to fix it.
3. Design for the future.

As a developer in a small startup, these three ideas have returned to significance.

Choices Present Past and Future

I stumbled on this very obvious yet profound idea. (copied from wikipedia)

Karma (Sanskrit: कर्म from the root kṛ, "to do", [meaning deed] meaning action, effect, destiny) means "(the result of) action", generally taken as a term that comprises the entire cycle of cause and effect. Karma is a sum of all that an individual has done, is currently doing and will do. Individuals go through certain processes and accompanying experiences throughout their lives which they have chosen, and those would be based on the results of their own creations: "karma". Karma is not about retribution, vengeance, punishment or reward. Karma simply deals with what is. The effects of all deeds actively create past, present and future experiences, thus making one responsible for one's own life, and the pain and joy brought to others.

Failure And Success

I found this article on delicious popular. It hits a core idea that I would put at the top of the list of my life experience. Most peoples sense of what is possible and what is important is often wrong. Often it takes a traumatic event to pop the illusion and force someone to look at what is really there, what is really important. What emerges from that experience is a life that is a little wiser and in line with reality. The trick is to never pass by an opportunity to question what is real, what is important, or what is possible.