BYBS: The Aquatic Species Program

According to the US Dept of Energy, it's possible to grow fuel like farmers grow rice.

From the late 70's to mid 90's, a study called "The Aquatic Species Program" was conducted to investigate and optimize growing fuels. The outcome was that you could use algae and ponds to grow all the fuel you need.

The basic problem with the approach was that, at the time, it was twice as expensive as buying oil. Now mind you, this was back in the mid 90's - ten plus years ago. As the report noted, the price of oil had been decreasing for the last 20 years. Now that we are in the first decade of 2000, with the economies of China and India heating up, it looks like the price for oil is going to be increasing for the foreseeable future.

The good news is that this will reduce, though not eliminate, the problem of global warming from greenhouse gasses. Furthermore, it can be hoped that some of the poorer countries of the world now have something that they can trade with the richer countries - biofuel. The kinds of "farms" that the DOE came up with are what amount to great big rice paddies.

What's more, these farms do not need pure or even fresh water. Indeed, one of the potential applications for this approach was water treatment, since at the time of the report, it did not look like the fuel aspect was going to pan out.

The various countries that have large oil resources from fossil fuels can be balanced by countries that have large agricultural spaces. If the oil countries cut production, the agricultural countries can increase production.

BYBS: Borrowing the Will of the Ball

The 1990 movie "Awakenings," is about the experiences that Dr. Oliver Sacks has with people suffering from a rare type of catatonia. He discovers that they are able of responding to their environments in rather odd ways. For example, if he holds a tennis ball in front of their eyes and drops it, the catatonic patient will catch it before it hits the ground.

He describes this behavior as "borrowing the will of the ball."

In Alcoholics Anonymous, the members talk about a "Higher Power." They admit that they have no power over alcohol; how it is stronger then they are. They try and try, but are unable to avoid drinking; and when they do, they usually keep drinking until they pass out.

An alcoholic who manages to stay sober presents something of a mystery. Since the alcoholic admits that they do not have the willpower to stay sober, something else must be responsible. AA members refer to this as the person's "Higher Power." A Higher Power is often regarded as God or similar agency.

I thought about all this when I noticed that this week I had managed to stick to my gnome-inspired diet for the whole week. At the same time, I exercised every day. Most days for 60 minutes. 60 wonderful, joyous, happy minutes. As I will admit to anyone within earshot, I do not have the willpower to do this. But if I don't, then what is responsible?

In my habit of coining phrases for the mundane, I've decided to call this "borrowing the will of the ball;" thus paying homage back to Dr. Sacks. I have to admit that calling it a Higher Power sounds much cooler, but I'm afraid that AA members will beat me up if I do. Some of them are probably gnomez too.

My blessing for the week is the will… at least until I lose my fear of gnomez. Crafty little buggers…and they're always smiling.

BYBS: Silly Achievement

Recently, I finally released a piece-of-crap application that I've been working on for a while. The name, what it does, etc. is not really important. What is important is that it involves gnomez…female gnomez…hehe, hehehe, hehehehehehe.

What am I saying?!!

I was trying to communicate that it's nice to have finally created a release. While it's not the world's greatest achievement or even that interesting an application, it is something that I've wanted to do for a while.

Furthermore, it provides an example of a milestone. Ever since I read the Blue Panther BYBS post on milestones, I've been unable to comment on his blog because I couldn't think of any milestone in my life that did not involve a sign like "abandon hope all ye who enter here."

Of course now that I've completed this Major Life Goal™ it means that I have no excuse for not cleaning up the basement. I guess you have to try and focus on the good aspects…

So break out the champagne! Jump up and down! Hug a gnome! Alright, the gnome is probably going too far, but it's still worth writing about :-)

BYBS: Learning

In a previous post, I mentioned that exams were an experience in pain. I guess that is a specific example of the maxim: "With pain comes suffering." Hmm… that doesn't seem quite right. I know! It was actually "With suffering comes resentment!" No…that's not quite right either. Perhaps it was "The ends justify the means?" "Sometimes to save something you have to destroy it?"

OK, it was "With pain comes growth." Yes, that was it. Or more specifically, I have found with learning comes growth. Often times pain as well, but that's not exactly what I'm writing this entry about.

The ability to learn, to understand something I could not understand before, or do something I could not do before is an ability I regard as near-miraculous. It is one of the things that mark living creatures. It is one of the things that I think of as necessary for intelligence.

For someone like me, it is a big part of spirituality.

In particular the ability to learn from mistakes is an important aspect of spiritual growth. It is often times hard for me to admit mistakes. "I was wrong" is something I do not like to say, even to myself. This is partially because it seems to happen a lot, and partially because it is not something that I hear from a lot of people.

But being able to do something that I could not do before opens up a whole new world. The person I thought I was may not be correct; limitations I thought I had may no longer apply; other possibilities that I thought were closed may now be open. That part is a truly wonderful experience.

I am not a real big fan of effort or pain. But I have to admit, the cost of effort and pain are temporary. The opportunities of learning are…

BYBS: Respect for the Beast

A long time friend of mine had a cat named "La Bete" which he said was French for "the Beast."

Many years ago, he and I found a sick bird. We put it in a shoebox and attempted to nurse it back to health. At least until the cat found it.

"Why did it kill the bird?! I mean it has all the food it wants, but nonetheless it killed the poor thing!"

In retrospect, I could have rephrased the question: "What else would you expect the cat to do?"

As I'm fond of telling people, cats are obligate predators: their teeth and digestive tracts are not set up for plants. The cells of a cat are able to directly use protein for energy in more ways that those of an omnivore. When fed largely carbohydrates (i.e., dry cat food), they have a tendency to develop diabetes.

With an animal like that, hunting is not a matter of choice - it is "hard wired."

To coin a phrase, a cat is a beast.

Realizing this and planning around it gives me a measure of control. I can rage about how the cat should not kill a bird I found…or I can ask the next door neighbor to take care of it. I can lecture the cat about how it should moderate how much food it eats…but it would probably work better if I feed it wet cat food.

Understanding and planning around the nature of a cat is what I mean by "respecting the beast." What I find remarkable is that I can be rational about a cat, but I still find myself trying to change what I cannot in other situations.

"Why don't I exercise more?!!" Well, I've tried to change all my life by "reasoning" with myself with no success. On the other hand, putting on a good movie or DVD only when I exercise actually seems to work.

"I really should not buy junk food when I go to the supermarket!!" I tell myself that a lot, but making sure that I don't go shopping when I'm hungry has actually resulted in lost weight.

Looking around, I see a lot of other situations where this logic applies…

BYBS: Roles & the Internet

More specifically, I'm referring to taking on a persona or playing a role on the internet or a computer game. This also applies to things like discussion groups, chat rooms, etc.

Social Psychology/Sociology has quite a few studies and theories regarding roles. What I think the internet and computer games brought to the table is the notion of a "virtual role." Things like "massively multi-player online role-playing games" are social in nature with real (or real enough) people using them. In this context, people can take on a role and then walk away from it.

This aspect has interesting ramifications in that people can therefore act like total freaks, fools, saints, devils, etc. in short, they can attempt to take on whatever role they want to. This allows one to experiment with different roles in social contexts without real danger, though there are social consequences in the online world too.

The ability to experiment with roles is not itself new, but the ability to do so in a situation where one's physical aspects may not be the same as those of the role is at least newish. Someone who thinks that they are unattractive can play the role of an attractive person. Someone who is physically weak can play the role of a strong person. Someone with a stutter can speak perfectly.

With these blessings, however, come several curses. In the case of taking on roles in this setting, you have hecklers, rabble rousers, etc. Furthermore there are the people who want to stay with their online role instead of making real-world changes.

I regard the ability of being able to experiment with negative roles to be valuable as well. How do people really react to what amounts to a criminal? Do these bad guys always get punished? Are there benefits to being "good?"

I'm usually in favor of knowledge, so I come down on the "blessing" side of the equation. What do you think?

BYBS: Experience with Finals

Being the outstanding student that I am not, one of the things that featured largely in my thought was the notion of final exams. To be more precise the fear of final exams.

I was never sure what other people's excuses were regarding studying, but I seemed to have a neurotic tendency to avoid doing it. I really don't understand why: was it fear of failure? Laziness? The only thing I know for sure is that I would not do the work and instead lived in a state of permanent fear regarding the tests.

The tests themselves were usually an exercise in pain. Each would consist of an hour or two that demonstrated my lack of knowledge and laziness. Once complete, the dread of having to take one was replaced by the dread of what sort of grade I had gotten. Usually, by some miracle, I managed to do OK, which meant that I would graduate onto the next layer of pain.

Now I face yet another final. Unlike the previous ones, I have no fear of it. Before I needed to prepare for the exam; this time there is no preparation required. It used to be that you actually had to arrive at the place of torture to perform the test. With this one, the test comes to you. Previous tests required a clear state of mind to be successful; this test has no such requirement.

The only strange thing about this test is that, unlike previous exams, the people around me are terrified whereas I am almost looking forward to it.

One of the benefits of having gone through a lot of tests I suppose.

BYBS: Cyrano De Bergerac

copyright (c) Caméra One, D.D. Productions, Films Antenne 2*

If you haven't seen this movie (1990, directed by Jean-Paul Rappeneau), then beg/borrow/steal a copy. A warning: the original dialog is French with English subtitles. I don't speak or understand French (at all), so no idea what the English dialog may be like.

It is a superb and very entertaining movie. To my untrained eye, the sets are very much in keeping with the period, the characters appropriately foppish or serious as the situation requires, Roxanne is beautiful and Cyrano's nose truly epic.

The movie has the themes of love, desire, longing and regret, but it also has heroism and redemption. Furthermore it has the theme of compassion, especially in the way that Cyrano deals with situations in which he is put. For example, a mortally wounded Christian (the man that Roxanne thinks is writing all those wonderful letters) believes that Roxanne does not love her because he did not write the letters. As he is passing, Cyrano tells him "I have told her all and it is you she loves."

Be warned that it is a tragedy (I guess the bit above sort of gives it away), so no Hollywood-esque ending for this movie, but I find it much more satisfying than what another movie from around the same time. I'm referring to "Roxanne" with Steve Martin. Roxanne is a comedy/romance that takes the same plot and brings it into a more contemporary setting. Roxanne is not so much "bad" as just seeing it next to Cyrano highlights how "good" the French version is.

Anyhow, movies like that, to which my blackened and cynical spirit respond, are truly blessings to me. It reminds me that yes there is love, even if it is an ideal.

= = = = = = = =

* = Finding the copyright holder for the poster was ridiculously difficult. Even sites that displayed it did not indicate who said holder is. What I listed is my best guess, but if anyone actually knows, please drop me a line.

BYBS: Loss

I was reading through some other people's blogs and I was struck by the sadness that I saw expressed there over loss. I was trying to think of how loss could be a blessing, and I had a hard time coming up with anything.

So my thoughts naturally turned to something that people everywhere think about at this time of year.

Taxes

OK, so only the people in the USA associate taxes with this time of the year. These other people can contemplate how their lack of taxes is a blessing.

Personally, I'm counting my lack of having to deal with any more forms, publications, instructions, statements, more forms, designations, specifications, and all the stuff in between.

Yes, it is a great loss, having to see all these fiends go…er…I meant friends, yes, that's what I meant to say. At any rate, such things are a great loss. To know that all those people who might have been thinking of me, will now turn to other things.

But then I know that, when this time of year comes around again, that my friends will once again think of me.

And once again, I will look forwards to my loss.

BYBS: Glorfindel

After reading CyberCelt's BYBS posting, I felt inspired enough to write up my BYBS for the week. Here is my friend, Glorfindel:

I wish I could claim credit for the pic, but it was taken by a friend named Jim.

At any rate, this was taken when Glor was still alive. Unfortunately, he passed away quite a few years ago (sharp eyed people may notice the World Trade Center in the background).

He was a very good friend in times both good and bad. He also had some strange habits like putting his cat food in his water, bounding up to scratching posts from across the room and sleeping in my underwear drawer.

Like most cats, he showed a great deal of latitude towards humans, and was willing to deal with them on either his terms, or what he wanted. He also had quite sharp claws, so it paid to be flexible when working with him as well :-)

I miss him a great deal, but as a previous post pointed out, one cannot keep tomorrow from coming by trying to hang onto today. Instead I'm just glad he was willing to accept my company for a time.

BYBS: The Raw Power of Ignorance

Last week, in addition to making a cryptic statement about what "living in the now" means, I made an uncharacteristically sound decision: I waited, I contemplated and I researched instead of taking action immediately. As it turned out, this was a good move.

I won't bore you with the details but, assuming the USA does not completely dissolve in this latest "financial crisis," it involves the world of low finance. Basically I'm trying to ensure that, when it comes time to retire, I have a nice cardboard box to call my own and some reasonable tasting cat food to eat.

So this guy was trying to get me to buy into some whack-a-doodle mutual fund and left a few key details like "yeah there's this little fee you pay when you get into it that (gosh) you don't have to pay if you invest with anyone else." And "sure this compares well to some index, but for some strange reason the usual standard for comparison is left out of the analysis."

Being the highly informed, well-education person that I am, I had no clue. At all.

But with the power of the phrase "I am clueless!" comes the freedom to learn something. So off to the internet I went and researched the stuff. For several tedious hours. I asked around and proclaimed my ill-informed state to anyone that would listen. And then I listened. And I learned.

I wont claim that I have turned over a new leaf, or that this is the opening of a new chapter in my life…mostly because I doubt I would get away with it. But I did learn something this week. Thanks to being clueless.

BYBS: Today

Yesterday I realized something about today: I wasn't living it.

While I might value today, or the past, if I don't let it go, I cannot experience today.

This was of course, yesterday. Which makes tomorrow today. That sort of sounds confusing, but, oh well.

At any rate, I decided to let today be today and let yesterday be yesterday. So here I am. Today.

BYBS: Science News

Science News is a weekly publication about (wait for it) news in the scientific community! I'm a fan of this sort of thing because it's usually good news. So much of the news I hear is about very bad things: how people are being killed in places like Iraq or Darfur, how the US leads the developed world in infant mortality, our elected officials have approved yet another abomination, etc. News about a scientific development, even when it's about something like global warming, demonstrates that we're smart, that we can work together, how there's hope.

I like Science News in particular because it's short, timely and approachable. Unlike Scientific American, the thing is about 15 pages long. If we're only counting article pages, then it's down to 8 to 10 page. If you read every single page in an issue it would probably take 2 hours, tops. If you're like me, and just read the stuff that sounds interesting, it takes less than an hour.

Science News is also about recent developments. Its articles are about stuff that's happening now, as opposed to things that happened a year ago. The articles are written for a general audience. Everyone's work is gibberish to most other people, so the writers make no assumptions about the reader.

The icing on the cake is that, as a not for profit, many of the articles are available for free on the web. www.sciencenews.org is where you can take a look if you are interested.

I tells ya, life doesn't get much better than this :-)

Notes:

• The above image is © 2008 by Science News (www.sciencenews.org). It is the cover for the February 16th issue.

BYBS: Sanity

For a good part of my life I was convinced I was going to die in a nuclear war. The US and the USSR had thousands of weapons pointed at each other. One misstep, one mistake could cause the end of the world.

To me, this was humanity's ultimate demonstration of stupidity, paranoia and insanity. It was what was wrong with us. Why we deserved to become extinct.

But then something happened. More specifically nothing happened. Even more specifically, the US and the USSR did not obliterate each other.

I'm not sure how this affected anyone else, but for me, it was a life changing event. I was so used to being cynical, so set in the belief that there was no hope, that nothing could be changed. The knowledge that we as a race could avoid the choice of destruction for any reason was an option that simply did not exist in my world.

This was something whose benefits I still feel today. The more obvious is that I'm alive, but the more subtle is that now I'm not quite so cynical about people. I give them the benefit of the doubt. I have hope.

BYBS: Luck

Most of the time, I don't consider myself to be very lucky, but compared to some people I'm familiar with I've hit the lottery, made it big, retired, etc. For all my bitching and moaning, I've been incredibly fortunate.

I have a friend who is a single mother. She's in her early twenties, has a crappy job, etc. She was recently injured and is in great deal of pain when she moves. The web is filled with blogs about people whose situations are similar.

It's when I read about stuff like that and meet the people behind them that the reality sets in for me. I'm living in a fantasy, they are living in reality. The reality where you are 4 flat tires away from bankruptcy. The reality where you'd better not loose your job or you could literally be on the street.

While I can take credit for some of my situation, the fact of the matter is that I got lucky. I got lucky in that I was born into a family who were doing well financially, and who cared about me. I got lucky in the opportunities of my life. I got incredibly lucky when I found my wife.

I don't believe that this is a result of having been good in a previous life and I don't believe that I'm chosen by some super natural being. There are simply too many examples of people suffering due to nature, circumstances, etc. for me to accept that.

I do believe that I've been lucky.

Runaway Story

I try to be short and to the point, I really do, but this story is getting away from me. Currently, I'm looking at 16 to 30 pages plus 8 to 16 more that I haven't edited and there's still a lot of stuff I need to write. My goal is to keep the story below 30 pages.

It's times like this that I look back fondly on the days when I had writer's block.

I would sit there, literally all night, write out a sentence, decided it sucked, throw it away, and start over again. If I was lucky, I managed to write one page, but usually I ended up with nothing.

These days I plop down in the chair and force myself to write about a page, and then reward myself with some quality time on World of Warcraft. I realize that it still probably stinks, but hey, I still get to play WoW. After about a month and a half of this I have 30 to 45 pages to work with.

Then the dreaded editing process starts.

The goal is to shrink the story down 30 pages or less. Cut out all the fluff and drivel (well most of it anyways), so that what's left is just the essentials.

At least that's the theory.

The reality is that I'm faced with 30 to 45 pages of drivel that I can try to splice together into something comprehensible. This prospect alone is enough to get me to shuffle off and spend lots of quality time with WoW in order to avoid it.

So, the good news is that I don't have anywhere near the problem with writer's block that I used to. The bad news is that now I have editor's block.

BYBS: Exercise

A device that bears a striking resemblance to a to torture rack.

This posting is about how much I love exercise!

Lies.

The fact is that I think exercise sucks. It's boring. It's difficult to get my lazy butt to do it. At times it can be painful. I pretty much hate exercise.

As the picture above shows, this is about that wonderful, exciting thing called "Cardio-Vascular" exercise. The stuff where you plod, plod, plod and sweat, sweat, sweat in order to get in 30min or whatever your goal is.

But wait – there's more! An extra blessing you can get is a heart rate monitor. This gadget will monitor your heart rate and inform you when you are cheating and not working hard enough.

That way you can work harder. Isn't that nice?

I do like the benefits though:

• Weight control – you burn calories while exercising and but also when not exercising. This is due to increased muscle mass. Honest. For Sure.
• Cardio – your heart is in much better shape than if you don't exercise. You'll live longer. In fact, all the extra time you'll live will be spent exercising.
• Overall health – exercise is associated with all kinds of other aspects of health, from a better immune system to improved mental outlook. I know I feel much better after I exercise...dammit.

On the last point I think that the improved mental outlook comes from realizing that any moment you spend not exercising is a good one. If you see someone smiling in a meeting, it's probably because they think "Yes, this meeting is a boring waste of time, but it could be worse…I could be exercising!"

BYBS: Thoughtspace

Stop for a moment and think.

Take a piece of paper and draw a triangle on it. Think about it for a sec – are the sides of equal length, does it form a right angle, etc.

Now crumple up, shred, etc. the paper.

Does the triangle still exist?

My answer is "yes." You can draw it again, you can describe it to another person – the notion of a triangle exists in my mind after destroying any artifact of its existence.

Now consider this: at some point you or I first became aware of this concept. What came before that?

In other words, you did not always know what a triangle was, so did it exist before that? Well yes, other people knew about it they could teach each other, etc. so it existed long before you or I knew about it.

Now consider this: did it exist before the first human being?

Regardless of your beliefs, there is some point of time before human beings existed. There could be no people teaching each other about triangles because there were no people. Did triangles exist?

My answer is yes. The notion of a closed polygon in 2D space with 3 segments does not need anyone thinking about it to exist – it is a concept.

I always thought that this was a cool idea – that there is a whole universe that touches ours. It has no concept of time in that all ideas that have ever been thought or ever will be thought exist there at the same time. There is no space in that it is everywhere and nowhere.

The only really analogous property is being aware of some concept or thought. You can tell someone about triangles or what have you that they didn't know about before. They can then go to that "place".

An idea like this of course requires a cool name. So I give you readers Thoughtspace.

Less is More

When it comes to writing, I think less really is more.

In the case of editing a story, I think trying to limit the length results in a better story. It forces me to cut out scenes, dialog, etc. that are superfluous in favor of those that are absolutely necessary. The scenes that are left end up getting picked over to make them more efficient.

The result is a story without a lot of filler. It gets to the point quickly and takes less time for my readers (both of them) to get through.

I've heard this sort of thing from a couple of my favorite authors. Roger Zelazny and Larry Niven both had several short stories that they turned into novellas or novels – in a couple of these cases I recall reading that they preferred the short story because it was "tighter" or that it tried to communicate fewer ideas.

I have to say that as a reader, I agree with them.

BYBS: W. Edwards Deming & SPC

Deming was an American statistician who is somewhat famous for teaching the Japanese statistical process control (SPC) after World War 2. The Japanese used tools such as this to great effect after WW2 in fields such as automobile manufacturing, electronics and semiconductors (computer chips).

The basic ideas that I associated with Deming are:

1. Statistical process control (SPC) can increase quality and reduce costs at the same time.
2. The tools of SPC are not a panacea.

The notion of higher quality/lower cost is illustrated by observing that a product you have to throw out because of defects costs the same to make as one that you can sell. If you make fewer defective products, then the cost of making them goes down because, for the same cost, you produce more.

SPC allows you to optimize production, but it does not tell you what to produce. For example, you can make the best, most inexpensive video tape player in the world and still go out of business because everyone now uses DVDs.

I always like it when "geek ideas" end up changing the world.