Can't be right all the time

My dad sent this to me awhile ago and I really enjoyed it. So I'm posting it to my blog so others can enjoy it as well.

GREAT PREDICTIONS BY WISE MINDS.....!

"Man will never reach the moon regardless of all future scientific advances." -- Dr. Lee DeForest,"Father of Radio & Grandfather of Television.

"The bomb will never go off. I speak as an expert in explosives." -- Admiral William Leahy, US Atomic Bomb Project.

"There is no likelihood man can ever tap the power of the atom." -- Robert Millikan, Nobel Prize in Physics, 1923.

"Computers in the future may weigh no more than 1.5 tons." -- Popular Mechanics, forecasting the relentless march of science, 1949.

"I think there is a world market for maybe five computers ." -- Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943.

"I have traveled the length and breadth of this country and talked with the best people, and I can assure you that data processing is a fad that won't last out the year." -- The editor in charge of business books for Prentice Hall, 1957.

"But what is it good for?" -- Engineer at the Advanced Computing Systems Division of IBM, 1968, commenting on the microchip.

"640K ought to be enough for anybody." -- Bill Gates,1981

"This 'telephone' has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us," --Western Union internal memo, 1876.

"The wireless music box has no imaginable commercial value. Who would pay for a message sent to nobody inparticular?" -- David Sarnoff's associates in response to his urgings for investment in the radio in the1920s.

"The concept is interesting and well-formed, but in order to earn better than a 'C,' the idea must be feasible," -- A Yale University management professor in response to Fred Smith's paper proposing reliable overnight delivery service. (Smith went on to found Federal Express Corp.)

"I'm just glad it'll be Clark Gable who's falling on his face and not Gary Cooper," -- Gary Cooper on his decision not to take the leading role in "Gone With The Wind."

"A cookie store is a bad idea. Besides, the market research reports say America likes crispy cookies, not soft and chewy cookies like you make," -- Response to Debbi Fields' idea of starting Mrs. Fields' Cookies.

"We don't like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out," -- Decca Recording Co. rejecting the Beatles, 1962.

"Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible," --Lord Kelvin, president, Royal Society, 1895.

"If I had thought about it, I wouldn't have done the experiment. The literature was full of examples that said you can't do this," -- Spencer Silver on the work that led to the unique adhesives for 3-M "Post-It" Notepads.

"Drill for oil? You mean drill into the ground to try and find oil? You're crazy," -- Drillers who Edwin L. Drake tried to enlist to his project to drill for oil in 1859.

"Stocks have reached what looks like a permanently high plateau." -- Irving Fisher, Professor of Economics, Yale University, 1929.

"Airplanes are interesting toys but of no military value," -- Marechal Ferdinand Foch, Professor of Strategy, Ecole Superieure de Guerre, France.

"Everything that can be invented has been invented,"-- Charles H. Duell, Commissioner, US Office of Patents, 1899.

"The super computer is technologically impossible. It would take all of the water that flows over Niagara Falls to cool the heat generated by the number of vacuum tubes required." -- Professor of Electrical Engineering, New York University.

"I don't know what use any one could find for a machine that would make copies of documents. It certainly couldn't be a feasible business by itself."-- the head of IBM, refusing to back the idea, forcing the inventor to found Xerox.

"Louis Pasteur's theory of germs is ridiculous fiction." -- Pierre Pachet, Professor of Physiology at Toulouse, 1872 .

"The abdomen, the chest, and the brain will forever be shut from the intrusion of the wise and humane surgeon," -- Sir John Eric Ericksen, British surgeon, appointed Surgeon-Extraordinary to Queen Victoria 1873.

And last but not least...
"There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home." -- Ken Olson, president, chairman and founder of Digital Equipment Corp., 1977.

So much for the "Wise Minds"......

Tenth wedding anniversary

This weekend, my wife and I had the opportunity to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary. Our anniversary itself isn't for another two weeks but my parents are in town and agreed to take the kids for 48 hours so we could get away and celebrate (THANKS!). We certainly took full advantage of the opportunity and piled a lot of different activities into two days. On Saturday, we checked in at the Clift Hotel and did some shopping before dinner at Asia de Cuba. Then we headed next door for Jersey Boys at the Curran Theatre. The show was awesome and I definitely recommend it to anyone in the Bay Area or NYC.

On Sunday morning, we worked out at the hotel fitness center, got some breakfast, and did a little more shopping. Then we headed over to Mill Valley (north of the Golden Gate Bridge). Had a nice lunch and did a little shopping before having a massage for two at the Tea Garden Springs. It was the Heaven's Door room and you get a jacuzzi for two for 30 minutes before having side-by-side one-hour massages. Then it was off to the Mountain Home Inn - a quaint inn near Muir Woods. That night, we had a quiet dinner at the inn and setup a fire in our fireplace. We also attempted to watch a movie on my laptop (no TVs) but fell asleep in the middle.

The following morning, my wife used the jacuzzi in our room for a bit and then we had a nice breakfast. Then we did a 3.5 mile hike (roundtrip) from the inn to the East Peak of Mount Tamalpais. The view from the top is supposed to be the best in the Bay Area. We could see around for at least a 50 mile radius - including San Francisco, East Bay, and the Pacific Ocean. Definitely recommend it - even if you drive directly to the top. Afterwards, we did a hike from the inn through Muir Woods (roughly another 4 miles roundtrip). So we certainly got a lot of exercise yesterday morning but we also had lots of time to talk. It also reminded us of a lot of the walks we did during our honeymoon through Acadia National Park during our honeymoon.

All in all, I couldn't have asked for a more perfect anniversary celebration. Thanks again to my parents for making it possible! And thanks to my wife for ten awesome years of marriage - with many more to come.

Did you know? Part 5.

A friend of mine asked me this question: "“how many days of US energy consumption could we replace if we liposuctioned all body-fat over 10% for men and 18% from women in the US?" I'm sure you've all been asking yourself the same question so here's my attempt at an answer. This article says that “By 2002, average weight for men was almost 191 pounds; for women, average weight was 163 pounds”. And this page says that “The average adult body fat is closer to 15%-18% for men and 22%-25% for women”. So let’s assume 16.5% for men and 23.5% for women. That would mean the average man is 31.5 pounds of fat and 159.5 pounds of muscle; 38.3 pounds of fat and 124.7 pounds of muscle for women. So, if men got down to 10% body fat, they’d keep their 159.5 pounds of muscle but only have 17.7 pounds of fat (a reduction of 13.8 pounds of fat). For women, to get to 18% body fat, they’d keep their 124.7 pounds of muscle and have only 27.4 pounds of fat (a 10.9 pound reduction). According to Wikipedia, there are 105.74 million adult men and 112.81 million adult women in the US. So, if each one of those men had 13.8 pounds of fat liposuctioned out and each woman had 10.9 pounds removed, that would be a total of 2,688.84 million pounds of liposuction fat. Per the numbers in my earlier post, the density of liposuction fat is 7.66 pounds per gallon. So 2,688.84 pounds of fat would be 351.02 million gallons. One gallon of fat yields 0.867 gallons of biodiesel. So 351.02 million gallons of fat would become 304.22 million gallons of biodiesel. Biodiesel has about 10% less energy content than regular diesel so 304.22 million gallons of biodiesel would offset the use of 273.8 million gallons of diesel. And, according to EIA, the US uses 64 billion gallons of diesel per year. So 273.8 million gallons would be 0.428% of that or about 1.56 days or about 37.5 hours. Now, note that diesel usage accounts for only 20.4% of overall petroleum usage in the US. And petroleum only accounts for 39.8% of overall energy consumption in the US (source). So, the real answer to your this question is 0.127 days or about 3 hours. Not much of a renewable energy source. The more interesting question from my perspective is "if people in the US consumed less food such that they were at their ideal weight and body fat percentage, how much energy would be saved in terms of farming, packaging, transportation, preparation, etc and how much biofuel could be generated from the equivalent amount of farm land without triggering all these food vs fuel debates?" Don't have time to try to figure that one out but perhaps someone else can take up the challenge. =)

A stairway to heaven?

A friend of mine sent me this article from the Economist. It's about a scientist at UCLA who has an idea about how to transport large amounts of CO2 out of the atmosphere into outer space. Hopefully he'll submit the idea to the Virgin Earth Challenge and win the $25 million to do this for real (assuming the science is actually sound). Regardless, reading stuff like this does give me hope that we'll find solutions for global warming if we have enough really smart people work on the problem.

You there?

A friend of mine sent me an email yesterday afternoon saying "Are you around? You’ve been quiet and I wanted to see how you were doing?" I appreciate the interest and concern. I've been meaning to post more but just can't seem to find the time. Recently, I've been spending a lot of time trying to work out and lose weight. I need to lose another 2 pounds or so in the next two weeks or I'll need to donate $1,000 to Heifer.org (see prior post). My target weight is 195 pounds and, as of Saturday morning, I was around 197 pounds. We're also way ahead of schedule at work science-wise so things are heating up for me on the business side. More soon...

Did you know? Part 4.

In this mini-series of fun facts, we’ve looked at the fuel efficiencies of chickens, liposuction fat, and coffee beans. But what about cow farts and cow manure? I’m sure that topic’s been on everyone’s mind so let me address it. As everyone may or may not know, cows produce a lot of methane gas and many believe they’re a major contributor to global warming (especially since methane is a much stronger greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide). In fact, cow flatulence produces about 90 kilograms of methane per cow per year (source). Methane has an energy density of about 52.75 MJ per kg (source) so that’s 4,748 MJ of methane per cow per year or 13 MJ of methane per cow per day. One way to convert methane into diesel fuel is a process called Gas-to-Liquid (GTL). That process requires 10.5 GJ of natural gas (mostly methane) to produce 42 gallons (1 barrel) of fuel (source) – so 250 MJ of natural gas for 1 gallon of diesel. If a cow produces 13 MJ of methane per day and 250 MJ are required for 1 gallon of diesel, you can get 0.052 gallons of diesel per cow per day. Assuming a diesel engine has a fuel efficiency of 30 miles per gallon, you’d be able to drive 1.56 miles per day of cow farts. Stats on bovine flatulence frequency are hard to come by but this source would indicate that cows pass gas every 40-90 seconds. Assuming they do that 24 hours a day (btw, humans fart in their sleep so let’s assume cows do too), that would be about 1,329 farts/belches per day so you can drive only 0.0012 miles per cow fart. [As an aside, while the typical person farts about 14 times a day (source), human farts are much lower in methane content and therefore not nearly as useful for producing diesel fuel via GTL]

At this point, you’re probably asking yourself one of two questions: (a) “what about the methane in cow manure?” or (b) “why am I still reading this crap?” (no pun intended). I’ll assume you’re asking yourself the former question and do my best to answer. This press release says that a herd of 150,000 cattle generate a total 2,500 tons of manure a day. One (short ton) is 907.18474 kilograms so 2,500 tons would be 2,267,962 kilograms of manure for the entire herd – or 15.12 kilograms of manure per cow per day. From this page, we find out that cow dung gas is 55-65% methane. The source doesn’t specify but I’ll assume this is by weight and that all the dung can be converted to cow dung gas. So 15.12 kilograms of manure per cow per day would be about 9.1 kilograms of methane per cow per day. Following the same math as above, that would translate into 1.91 gallons of diesel per cow per day. At 30 miles per gallon, that’s a whopping 57.42 miles per day of cow manure. According to this site, cows poop 11 to 12 times each day. So we can get a very respectable 4.8 miles per cow dump.

With that, I think it’s likely time for a new hobby since I’ve probably taken this one as far as I can. =)

Did you know? Part 3.

I’m sure this post will provoke a couple of “don’t you have better things to do with your time” but, hey, we all need our hobbies and mine appears to be random biodiesel calculations at the moment. =) New fun fact regarding the fuel efficiency of coffee.

There was an announcement last week about a researcher in Brazil working on turning low quality coffee beans into biodiesel. In the press release, it says that “every 100 kilograms of coffee will produce roughly 9 kilograms of oil” and “a liter of biodiesel requires about 15% of a liter of ethanol”. So, what does that mean in terms of fuel efficiency of coffee bean biodiesel? Well, if you consult the always-handy Biodiesel Handbook and the always-handy Google, you find that the fatty acid profiles of coffee bean oil and cottonseed oil are pretty similar (source for coffee bean oil). Using Google again, we find that the density of cottonseed oil is 0.92 g/cm3 or 0.92 g/ml (source). So coffee bean oil has a density of about 7.67 lbs/gallon or 3.49 kg/gal. If 100 kilograms of coffee yields 9 kilograms of oil, that means 100 kilograms of coffee yields 2.58 gallons of coffee oil. And, if ethanol is 15% of the biodiesel by volume, you end up with 3.03 gallons of biodiesel from 100 kilograms of coffee. Now, from before, we know an average diesel engine gets about 30 miles to the gallon but biodiesel has about 10% worse fuel efficiency. So, 3.03 gallons of biodiesel takes you 81.9 miles (3.03 x 27). So, 100 kilograms of coffee gets you 81.9 miles and a diesel engine has a fuel efficiency of 0.82 miles per kilogram of coffee beans or 0.37 miles per pound of coffee beans (about 8x less than liposuction fat).

Now, if we take this one step further, 1 pound of coffee beans yields 10.8 pots of brewed coffee (source). So, another way to think about this is that a diesel engine has a fuel efficiency of 0.034 miles per pot of coffee.

Enjoy … and feel free to make fun of my hobby. =)

Praying in Color

It's been awhile since I've read something good on ExploreFaith.org. But this article caught my attention. Here's an excerpt from the beginning of the page:

How do you pray when words become barriers rather than possibilities? When thinking in sentences is too linear to express a rainbow of emotions.

The rest of the article was a bit of a disappointment but I suppose they didn't want to give up too much of the real meat since they want you to buy the book. Regardless, the doodling concept is an interesting one. It's also a good reminder that there are a lot of ways to commune with God beyond formal prayers.

Did you know? Part 2.

Last night, I got to use this factoid at a dinner. Upon hearing that diesel vehicles have a fuel efficiency of 1 mile per chicken, people immediately wanted to know what the fuel efficiency is in terms of human fat. Last December, I read that a company in Norway struck a deal with a hospital in Miami to supply it with 3,000 gallons a week of liposuction fat for conversion into biodiesel. In the article, it says that 3,000 gallons of liposuction fat is enough to make 2,600 gallons of biodiesel. The average diesel engine gets about 30 miles to the gallon of #2 diesel. But biodiesel (in pure form) gets 10% lower fuel efficiency relative to traditional diesel fuel (source). So, an average diesel engine will get say 27 miles to the gallon of pure biodiesel. 3,000 gallons of liposuction fat = 2,600 gallons of biodiesel = 70,200 miles driven. So, 23.4 miles per gallon of liposuction fat.

But that's per gallon, not per pound. Body fat has a density of 0.918 grams per cubic centimeter (source). There are 453.59 grams in a pound and there are 3,785.41 cubic centimeters in a gallon. Thus, a gallon of liposuction fat would weigh 7.66 pounds. And 23.4 miles per gallon would translate into 3.05 miles per pound.

As an additional sanity-check here, diesel fuel typically has an energy density of 40.9 MJ/L (source). There are 3.785 liters in a gallon so 40.9 MJ/L equals 154.8 MJ/gal. If a diesel engine gets 30 miles to the gallon, it takes 154.8 MJ to go 30 miles. A pound of human fat contains 3,500 kcal (source). A kcal contains 4.184 kJ of energy so 3,500 kcal would equal 14,644 kJ or 14.644 MJ. If 154.8 MJ goes 30 miles, 14.644 MJ would only get you 9.46% of that distance - or 2.84 miles.

In terms of the difference between 2.84 miles per pound of liposuction fat vs 3.05 miles per pound, one thing to keep in mind is that some of the energy content of biodiesel comes from the alcohol component of its production (typically methanol). So the 2.84 figure is probably more accurate than 3.05.

Regardless, that’s too much detail for casual conversation. The short answer is that the fuel efficiency of a diesel engine is about 1 mile per chicken or 3 miles per pound of liposuction fat. Use that factoid at your next cocktail party and let me know how it goes. =)

If you really want to impress your guests, you could also mention that according to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS), 325,000 of liposuction operations were carried out last year to remove fat from various parts of the body - particularly the thighs, abdomen and buttocks – and that the average woman sheds an average of 20 pounds of abdominal fat by liposuction (source). So, 325,000 operations x 20 pounds per operation = 6.5 million pounds of liposuction fat. At 3 miles per pound, 6.5 million pounds of liposuction fat would get you 19.5 million miles. And, at 30 miles per gallon, that would offset 650,000 gallons of diesel fuel. Unfortunately, the US consumes about 64 billion gallons of diesel a year - 100,000x the amount you could get from liposuction fat. But every little bit helps and Americans get fatter by the year so perhaps this will make more of a dent over time. =)

Sacrifice

My sister-in-law HG sent me this quote by Joseph Smith regarding sacrifice: “A religion that does not require the sacrifice of all things never has power sufficient to produce the faith necessary unto life and salvation." It's a high standard and it should be. But it's also what keeps me from affiliated myself with a specific belief system and organization - at least for the time-being. There are a variety of mostly little things that I'm just not willing to sacrifice. Taken individually, my objections would likely seem petty but taken together they're currently a big barrier for me to overcome.

Did you know?

Today, ConocoPhillips and Tyson Foods announced a partnership to make "renewable diesel" fuel from animals fats. In a WSJ article about the partnership, it says:

Tyson produces about 300 million gallons of beef, pork and chicken fat each year … Producing one 42-gallon barrel of renewable diesel requires about one barrel of animal fat. And each barrel requires, on average, two steers, or 16 hogs or 1,300 chickens, Tyson officials say.

So, it takes 1,300 chickens to get one barrel of diesel fuel (via their proprietary process). One barrel is 42 gallons. So that’s 31 chickens to generate one gallon. At around 30 mpg fuel efficiency, that’s one chicken per mile.

So, your “did you know” fact of the day is: you can drive one mile on the fat of a chicken. Therefore, diesel vehicles have a fuel efficiency of 1 mpc (1 mile per chicken). Go ahead and use that at your next cocktail party as an icebreaker. =)

Disposable income

My 5-year old JD made his first major purchase recently - a Razor scooter. He spent $30 that he saved up across various birthdays and holidays. It's amazing that he's old enough to start making decisions like this. So far, he hasn't pulled the trigger on the credit card offers he's received in the mail. =)

Fireworks

I'm down in Orlando at the moment for a biotech conference. I'm staying at the Walt Disney Swan and Dolphin Resort over by Epcot. I have a balcony room that faces a man-made lake. As I was getting back from a conference reception, there were fireworks outside my window (see video in 3GP format, taken on my Treo). It was a nice little treat since I'm a fan of fireworks and don't get to see them that often - especially up close. A little piece of Disney magic.

Sky

I'm not really a "stop and smell the roses" kind of a guy. But on my way home from work the other day, I looked up at the sky and stopped to admire its beauty. Might seem like a "so what" occurance for others but it was unique for me.

The Language of God

I just finished reading an excellent book called The Language of God (also see this interview in the SF Chronicle). The author was the head of the Human Genome Project and attempts in his book to reconcile science and religion. In particular, he focuses mainly on the debate around Darwin's theories of evolution. Collins supports a position called theistic evolution (or what he calls BioLogos). Specifically, a typical version of this worldview rests upon the following premises:

1. The universe came into being out of nothingness, approximately 14 billion years ago.
2. Despite massive improbabilities, the properties of the universe appear to have been precisely tuned for life.
3. While the precise mechanism of the origin of life on earth remains unknown, once life arose, the process of evolution and natural selection permitted the development of biological diversity and complexity over very long periods of time.
4. Once evolution got under way, no special supernatural intervention was required.
5. Humans are part of this process, sharing a common ancestor with the great apes.
6. But humans are also unique in ways that defy evolutionary explanation and point to our spiritual nature. This includes the existence of the Moral Law (the knowledge of right and wrong) and the search for God that characterizes all human cultures throughout history.

Collins goes on to say:

If one accepts these six premises, then an entirely plausible, intellectually satisfying, and logically consistent synthesis emerges: God, who is not limited in space or time, created the universe and established natural laws that govern it. Seeking to populate this otherwise sterile universe with living creatures, God chose the elegant mechanism of evolution to create microbes, plants, and animals of all sorts. Most remarkably, God intentionally chose the same mechanism to give rise to special creatures who would have intelligence, a knowledge of right and wrong, free will, and a desire to seek fellowship with Him. He also knew these creatures would ultimately chose to disobey the Moral Law.

This view is entirely compatible with everything that science teaches us about the natural world. It is also entirely compatible with the great monotheistic religions of the world. The theistic evolution perspective cannot, of course, prove that God is real, as no logical argument can fully achieve that. Belief in God will always require a leap of faith. But this synthesis has provided for legions of scientist-believers a satisfying, consistent, enriching perspective that allows both the scientific and spiritual worldviews to coexist happily within us. This perspective makes it possible for the scientist-believer to be intellectually fulfilled and spiritually alive, both worshipping God and using the tools of science to uncover some of the awesome mysteries of His creation.

In the course of making his case for BioLogos, the author also provides descriptions and counter-arguments to atheism, creationism, and intelligent design. Earlier in the book, he also covers topics like the Big Bang and the origin of the universe.

It would take too much time to summarize all of the author's points here - and I'm probably not doing justice to them with the limited excerpts above. But I found this book really interesting and I would highly recommend it to others who have ever tried to reconcile whether science and religion are compatible with one another. I certainly believe that they are and reading this book helped bring a number of those views into tighter focus.

Conversations with God

Over Christmas and New Years, I stumbled onto a book on my brother-in-law's book shelf called Conversations with God. An ex-girlfriend had given it to him so his wife didn't mind me taking it. =) Anyway, it was a pretty interesting read. The basic premise of the book is that the author was an unemployed homeless man who was looking for answers. One day, he was essentially writing in a journal when God took over his hand/pen and began writing responses to his questions. Thus began an unexpected "conversation" that turned into a best-selling book.

It's interesting to see the range of reactions to this book on Amazon.com. Some people really love the book. Others write off the author as a delusional heretic. I think a lot of your reaction to the book hinges on whether you believe Walsch had a genuine conversation with God or not. On that count, I can't quite decide. I certainly think that such a dialogue is possible. Religions like the Church of Latter-Day Saints believe in modern-day prophets - and I personally find it unlikely that God would speak through Jesus, Muhammad, etc. and then suddenly stop to send other messagers to spread his message. So I don't reject the possibility that Walsch genuinely communicated with God and that his message is inspired in that way. But I also wouldn't go so far as to say that I then automatically accept everything he says in his book as literally the word of God.

At least from the reviews I read, it seems that most people who disliked the book took most issue with the moral relativism that is espouses - there is no absolute right or wrong, no should or should nots, etc. The book also makes the proacative statement that there is no hell and that Hitler is therefore in heaven. If you take a lot of the book at surface-value, it would be easy to take away the message that what we do in this world doesn't matter and therefore we shouldn't go out of our way to do the right things in our lives. But I really don't think that's the message that the author (or God if you believe the responses are genuine) are trying to make. There was a much more subtle message there - but you have to really work to parse through all the philosophical double-talk. What I believe the message was is that all people are born with an innate knowledge of right and wrong along with a desire to do the right thing (what C.S. Lewis would refer to as the Moral Law). So, if people simply listened to their innate sense of right and wrong, there wouldn't be any needs for laws, etc. Unfortunately, many people abdicate their responsibility in this regard and, therefore, civil and moral laws are required.

There are a lot of other things the book discusses but I won't get into them here for lack of time. Interesting book, though. Makes you think - whether you accept the author's ideas or not.

Snap circuits

My son JD just celebrated his fifth birthday. One of his friends (who wasn't able to attend his birthday party last weekend) gave him a present after the fact. It was a Snap Circuits SC-300 set. So cool! It's designed for 8+ year olds to teach them about electricity and circuit design but from JD's reaction (and some of the reviews on Amazon), it seems accessible to younger kids as well. We've made about 6 ot 7 things so far including a working AM radio (displayed on the cover of the box).

As an aside, I remember having a Radio Shack kit like this when I was a kid. This one is so much nicer - especially the snap design. It's so much easier and faster to construct the circuits.

I wouldn't have bought this set for JD. Makes me wonder what else JD (and AJ) would be interested in. All in good time. No rush. I'll leave it to others to buy stuff like this for the time-being. =)

Religion's Generation Gap

There was an article in the Wall Street Journal this past weekend regarding "Religion's Generation Gap". It was interesting to see that some teens are now "rebelling" by becoming strongly devout (rather than drinking, taking drugs, etc). Apparently it's causing problems in some families - especially if the kids are much more committed to a religion than their parents are. I worry about that a little with my kids (since I'm not active in a religion) but hopefully they can keep an open mind even if they decide to get deeply involved with their religion.

Keeping up with the Joneses

I found out about this image from the Business Explained blog. It does a great job of illustrating the challenge of keeping up with the Joneses. Especially here in Silicon Valley, it's hard not to get caught up in this phenomenon. I think my wife and I are doing a pretty good job of it but I do worry a little about the kids - especially if all their friends have over-the-top toys, houses, cars, etc.

Kind of

We all have our "filler words" - little phrases or words that we fall back on when we're not quite sure what to say but we want to avoid silence. "Umm", "like", "so". My latest is "kind of" although I also use "so" a lot and used to be a heavy user of "like". It's amazing how easily these words enter my speech without me noticing. Periodically, someone like my wife or a co-worker will point it out to me. They're worried about whether others will perceive me as "junior" given these speech patterns. As long as I don't rush (and I pay attention), I'm fine. But if I get a bit flustered, all bets are off. I guess it just takes practice. One more thing to be cognizant of (and worry about).

Adam Smith turns green

I just read an essay in VentureBeat that accurately describes my rationale for moving into the cleantech world. Thought I'd quickly share it in case others are interested.

The Proof of God

I came across a 1955 article from Time magazine the other day entitled "The Proof of God". It said:

No less than 96% of U.S. citizens polled believe in God, according to a survey by George Gallup. Pollsters also asked the 96% what they thought was the most convincing argument for God's existence. The replies, in order of their frequency: 1) The order and majesty of the world around us, 2) There must be a Creator to explain the origin of man and the world, 3) There is proof of God in the Bible (or other church authority), 4) Past experiences in life give me faith that there is a God, 5) Believing in God gives me much comfort...

Outside the world and inside his head, logic ruled. St. Thomas Aquinas formulated his five famed proofs of God's existence with a respect for logic that is not commonly part of modern man's mental furniture. Aquinas rates the proof derived from order last—the other four: 1) motion—the passing from power to act—implies an unmoved Mover; 2) similarly, there must be an uncaused First Cause that possesses in itself the reason for its existence; 3) the existence of beings whose nonexistence is possible implies the existence of a necessary Being; 4) the scale of perfections evident in the universe implies the existence of an absolute standard, a perfect Being.

A friend of mine mentioned the "proof" by St. Thomas Aquinas the day. In the course of looking for it, I came across the Time article.

In my opinion, there is no proof for the existence of God other than personal experience. Logic can be a contributing factor but it can't get you there one way or the other on this topic. In terms of the personal beliefs I've arrived at, see here and here.

The ride

In response to my post "Facing Darkness", my friend also sent me the following observation by Jenkins Lloyd Jones (as quoted by President Gordon B. Hinckley of the LDS Church):

Anyone who imagines that bliss is normal is going to waste a lot of time running around shouting that he has been robbed.

[The fact is] most putts don’t drop. Most beef is tough. Most children grow up to be just people. Most successful marriages require a high degree of mutual toleration. Most jobs are more often dull than otherwise …

Life is like an old-time rail journey—delays, sidetracks, smoke, dust, cinders and jolts, interspersed only occasionally by beautiful vistas and thrilling bursts of speed.

The trick is to thank the Lord for letting you have the ride.

I sometimes lament the fact that life (or at least my life) isn't more exciting. There is certainly the occasional beautiful vista or thrilling burst of speed, but on a whole they don't occur as frequently as I would like. Perhaps I need to reset my expectations and simply be thankful for the ride.

Not fitting in

In my last post, I made the comment that I've never felt that I fit into this world. In response, a friend of mine sent me a quote from the book Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis:

Most of us find it very difficult to want "Heaven" at all- except in so far as "Heaven" means meeting again our friends who have died. One reason for this difficulty is that we have not been trained: our whole education tends to fix our minds on this world. Another reason is that when the real want for Heaven is present in us, we do not recognise it Most people, if they had really learned to look into their own hearts, would know that they do want, and want acutely, something that cannot be had in this world. There are all sorts of things in this world that offer to give it to you, but they never quite keep their promise. The longings which arise in us when we first fall in love, or first think of some foreign country, or first take up some subject that excites us, are longings which no marriage, no travel, no learning, can really satisfy. I am not now speaking of what would be ordinarily called unsuccessful marriages, or holidays, or learned careers. I am speaking of the best possible ones. There was something we grasped at, in that first moment of longing, which just fades away in the reality. I think everyone knows what I mean. The wife may be a good wife, and the hotels and scenery may have been excellent, and chemistry may be a very interesting job: but something has evaded us. Now there are two wrong ways of dealing with this fact, and one right one.

(1) The Fool's Way.- He puts the blame on the things themselves. He goes on all his life thinking that if only he tried another woman, or went for a more expensive holiday, or whatever it is, then, this time, he really would catch the mysterious something we are all after. Most of the bored, discontented, rich people in the world are of this type. They spend their whole lives trotting from woman to woman (through the divorce courts), from
continent to continent, from hobby to hobby, always thinking that the latest is "the Real Thing" at last, and always disappointed.

(2) The Way of the Disillusioned "Sensible Man."- He soon decides that the whole thing was moonshine. "Of course," he says, "one feels like that when one's young. But by the time you get to my age you've given up chasing the rainbow's end." And so he settles down and learns not to expect too much and represses the part of himself which used, as he would say, "to cry for the moon." This is, of course, a much better way than the first, and makes a man much happier, and less of a nuisance to society. It tends to make him a prig (he is apt to be rather superior towards what he calls "adolescents"), but, on the whole, he rubs along fairly comfortably. It would be the best line we could take if man did not live for ever. But supposing infinite happiness really is there, waiting for us? Supposing one really can reach the rainbow's end? In that case it would be a pity to find out too late (a moment after death) that by our supposed "common sense" we had stifled in ourselves the faculty of enjoying it.

(3) The Christian Way.- The Christian says, "Creatures are not born with desires unless satisfaction for those desires exists. A baby feels hunger well, there is such a thing as food. A duckling wants to swim: well, there is such a thing as water. Men feel sexual desire: well, there is such a thing as sex. If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world. If none of my earthly pleasures satisfy it, that does not prove that the universe is a fraud. Probably earthly pleasures were never meant to satisfy it, but only to arouse it, to suggest the real thing. If that is so, I must take care, on the one hand, never to despise, or be unthankful for, these earthly blessings, and on the other, never to mistake them for the something else of which they are only a kind of copy, or echo, or mirage. I must keep alive in myself the desire for my true country, which I shall not find till after death; I must never let it get snowed under or turned aside; I must make it the main object of life to press on to that other country and to help others to do the same."

She commented that "I just think I feel like I don't belong because I DON'T. I don't know if this is a comforting thought to you or not, but I really think this life is so temporary and vaporous, and really sub-par compared to the world we experienced before and after this life." I would tend to agree. When I was listening to The Purpose-Driven Life awhile ago, the author said that God doesn't want us to get too attached to this world since it's not our real home. He made the analogy to an ambassador in a foreign land. So perhaps none of us fit into this world and I've just come to that realization fairly early in life. Hard to say.

Facing Darkness

It's interesting to see how certain topics suddenly get popular in the press. In the last week, I've seen two articles on men and depression. The first was in Men's Health, entitled "Exercising Your Demons", and the second was in Newsweek, entitled "Facing Darkness". Both articles pointed out that depression in men has classicly been misdiagnosed and that men are very reluctant to admit to the problem. Rather, men exhibit tendencies towards alcoholism, violence, extreme exercise, hard work, and suicide. Men also tend to fly off the handle about little things like bad service or some other seemingly minor incident.

A couple of excerpts from the Men's Health article:

"It's understandable that women are three times more likely than men to be treated for depression; our culture has put a feminine face on the disease, so women give themselves permission to feel it and to seek help for it. Polluck puts it this way: 'We have in our society a feminized view of depression, coming out of a model of hysteria that dates back to Freud.' Terrance Real, author of I Don't Want to Talk About It, and a marriage and family therapist in Massachusetts, wrote, 'There is a terrible collusion in our society, a cultural cover-up about depression in men.' And part of the cultural influence involves the way men are taught from early childhood to be strong, silent, independent, and resistant to suffering. As Real puts it, 'Men have about a millisecond's tolerance for feeling [this type of] pain, and then they spring into action. A flight from shame into grandiosity lies at the heart of male covert depression.'"

"The social conditioning that leads to men's response to depression begins in infancy. Male babies receive less of every type of nurturing, including speech, touch, and comfort when they cry. And that is only the beginning of what will be, to one degree or another, a brutal upbringing for boys. In the 1960s, the crusading social psychologist Jeanne Block and her colleagues explored how differently parents treat boys and girls. For instance, moms and dads encourage boys to be competitive and to achieve. They don't like them to show their emotions. They encourage them to be less dependent; mothers push them away. They punish them more than they punish girls. And they are unaware that they treat boys and girls differently."

"But there is not much in our cultural definition of what it means to be a man that is inherent to maleness. Children start off surprisingly alike, whether they're boys or girls. If there's a difference, it's the opposite of what the culture seems to expect: Boys are more sensitive. They give expression to their emotions more readily than girls. They affiliate with others in the same way as girls. Then someone tells them it's not okay to be that way. If you act like that, you're a pussy. As Real and others have explained, it is through this process of denial that men are primed for depression. And it is the cultural necessity of carrying out and carrying on this process that makes it so difficult for them to recognize and admit to depression when it comes. They not only don't acknowledge it to themselves, they often don't display the symptoms that psychotherapists use to diagnose depression. The cultural training that lays the groundwork for depression in men and for their denial of it later in life involves social isolation. That means telling people the truth about yourself and trusting that they'll do the same, a concept that seems terrifying to many men."

The Newsweek article has a sidebar called "The Sad Legacy of Depressed Parents". The most interesting excerpt was:

In one recent study at Columbia University, researchers found that rates of anxiety disorders and depression were three times as high among the adult children of depressed parents as they were among people whose parents were not depressed. Adult children of depressed parents also reported about five times the rate of cardiovascular disease—a sign that emotional disorders affect more than mood. Even kids who manage to succeed socially often struggle at home to care for their parents or younger siblings. "Depression has an entire family dynamic," says Myrna Weissman, the lead researcher in the Columbia study.

Both articles had little quizes men could take to determine whether they suffer from depression. I failed (or passed, depending on your perspective) both quizes. But it wasn't a surprise. After an initial period of excitement with my new job, the stress (mostly self-imposed) has really gotten to me over the last three months. I've always had a disposition towards working hard. I've also increasingly been getting really upset (and staying upset) about really minor, stupid stuff. And I've been having trouble getting to sleep and staying asleep - so then I'm tired a lot. It's definitely a viscous cycle I'm in. I've never really felt like I fit in the world. I'm feeling that way now. Perhaps I don't fit; perhaps it's depression; probably the latter. I've also noticed other negative patterns of behavior reemerging so it's time to take action.

Not sure how to break out of this. I've seen a therapist for the last 5 years but I need to work out some issues with my current health insurance before I can see her again. In the meantime, I guess I'll lean on my wife (not that I don't lean on her enough as it is). I should start exercising more regularly as well. Baby steps but positive steps.

Useless men

About two and half months ago, I read an interesting article regarding peak oil and its implications for society. The gist of the article was that men in this generation don't have the fundamental skills required to survive (and provide for their families) in a society without cheap energy.

Over the last few weeks I have been doing oral history interviews with older people ... of their memories of the 30s, 40s and 50s. They remember working with horses on the farms, raising children with gas lamps, candles, home grown vegetables and home made clothes. This is less than 2 generations ago. What emerges is an innate sense, in the generation that made it through World War Two, of what constitutes enough, of an instinctive sense of self-reliance and an almost universal ability to turn one’s hand to anything.

A couple of years ago I went to London to a peak oil conference, and the evening before it I went to the pre-event social. I was struck by the fact that everyone there (with one exception) was male, aged 25-40, and, as far as I could tell, worked in IT. They were all very pleasant, intelligent, well read on the whole peak oil issue, and as able as anyone to argue that the peak is imminent and we need to act. There were however, almost no women, no gardeners, no builders, no foresters in the room, nor at the subsequent conference as far as I can tell.

Writers such as Shepherd Bliss and Carolyn Baker have questioned why it is that women are less prominent in the peak oil community. I have a nagging suspicion that it is because what we are seeing is, in part, a generation of men awakening to the fact that they are completely ill-prepared for life beyond oil. Almost all of the peak oil writers, and the vast majority of peak oil website writers and bloggers, are men. When I have organised peak oil-related events, finding female speakers on the subject is very tricky.

From the oral history interviews I have been doing, I have seen how older men are less concerned about “going back” to the kind of lifestyles of the 40s and 50s because they still remember how to do things. They often say “well it’s not a problem, I still know how to do all that stuff”. Something happened around the 1960s and the passing-on of that knowledge just stopped. Perhaps mens’ natural instinct is to protect and to provide, and at a time when we feel on some level the need to be doing so again, we are realising that our education has left us completely incapable of doing either. The oil-based economic system has basically said “don’t worry about that, we’ll take care of that for you” for that last 50 years, but that system is now starting to look very shaky, and we realise we have been taught the wrong skills.

The skills one needs to work in the service industry, in sales, in IT, in the insurance industry, in a call centre, are of very little use when one starts thinking about what might follow that in a more localised near-future. What those of 2 generations ago had that we have lost was a practical attitude. They knew how to use the various tools around them, and had a confidence that they could turn their hands to most things. They had the core skills they would need to get through most challenges. Dig for Victory was possible because most people still knew how to garden.

It is interesting to me how specialized professions have become and how much we take for granted in terms of food supply, transportation, etc. If you begin to unravel that support infrastructure, many other aspects of society (including specialized careers) no longer make sense. Need to get going on teaching the kids some basic skills.

Nothing New Here

I read this article in the Washington Post about two months ago. It's about a group of people in San Francisco that decided they weren't going to buy anything new (aside from necessities like food) for a year. It's a little extreme but they set a good example for the rest of us. Reducing consumption is definitely key to helping solve a number of the world's challenges. The most interesting quote from the article (at least for me) was: ""I go on talk radio shows, and I'm amazed by the anger of some people, the Chamber of Commerce president who calls up and says, 'You're trying to ruin the economy' ... I think it upsets people because it seems like we're making a value judgment about them. When we're simply trying to bring less . . . into our house." During the holidays, I gave some of my in-laws checks for $10 to buy energy-efficient light bulbs for their homes. It definitely wasn't a value judgment; just trying to make a contribution to reducing electricity consumption.

Ten Axioms to Guide Your Life

There was a good article in the February 2007 issue of Ensign magazine. It's a talk that Elder Robert D. Hales of the LDS Quorum of the Twelve Apostles gave at a commencement address at Brigham Young University on August 14, 2003. During his life, he distilled the following ten axioms to guide his life:

1. It’s not the obstacle that counts, but how you overcome it.
2. Pursue your goals with all your heart, might, mind, and strength. You are doomed to failure if you pursue them in a vacillating manner.
3. From a tiny spark can come a large fire.
4. Our greatest strengths can become our greatest weaknesses.
5. Failure is one of the greatest teachers if we have the faith to learn from it.
6. It is not how you start the race or where you are during the race. It is how you cross the finish line that matters.
7. “If you wish to get rich, save what you get. A fool can earn money; but it takes a wise man to save and dispose of it to his own advantage.”
8. You cannot learn the Lord’s will without exercising your agency and becoming accountable for your decisions.
9. The more things change, the more they stay the same.
10. The temple of God is the greatest university.

One interesting excerpt from the conclusion of the article is:

We can share the gospel only to the extent we live it. During my life at college, in the military as an adjutant and fighter pilot, in graduate school, or in my professional career in sales and marketing, as president of a division, or as a group vice president at corporate headquarters—I was never required to compromise my values or beliefs.

Was it easy? I don’t know. I wasn’t looking for easy.

Was it hard? I wasn’t looking for hard either. That is just the way it was.

Were there men and women who challenged me on my beliefs at times? Certainly.

When I held to my beliefs, did they respect and honor the commitment I had made to live the gospel? In every instance.

If you will remember who you are and act accordingly; if you will return with honor from every calling, task, and assignment; if you will be true to the Savior’s name and worthy of His eternal blessings, you will always have the light of the Holy Ghost to be with you, to lead you, to guide you, and to buoy you up. You will never want for what to say or how to act. It will be given you.

I think it's very important to hold true to your convictions, whatever they are.

Two-wheeler

JD had a big accomplishment today. He rode his bike for the first time without training wheels. I wasn't there but apparently he was either (a) a natural or (b) ready a long time ago. Regardless, he was off to the races from the very beginning. It's cool to see him progressing like this and doing age-appropriate things. He's getting so old. At the same time, I try not to get too worked up about this stuff. They are his accomplishments, not mine. But I'm certainly excited for him. He seems quite proud of himself.

Companion

I just took a spirituality survey on ExploreFaith.org. Based on the ten questions, it concluded that I'm a "companion". Here's the description provided:

Companions are people who naturally connect with the Holy One through their relationships with others. They believe that God is present in everyone and look for the spark of that presence when they are with others. They look to others to help them make sense of their own faith, and trust that God will speak to them and lead them through the words, actions, and holiness of other godly people. They relate best with God through shared interaction. They tend to spend more time praying and worshipping with others than by themselves. If they were to meet God face to face, they would want to have those they love with them.

In the Bible, Ruth was a good example of a companion. After her father-in-law, brother-in-law, and husband died she became a companion to Naomi, her mother-in-law, even though it meant leaving behind all that, for her, was familiar and expected. Through Naomi’s personal faith and the faith of Naomi’s people, Ruth felt the touch of the Holy One and discovered a new way of living and being. She allowed her new faith community to be the primary source of her spiritual transformation.

I don't really view myself this way but perhaps there's something to it.

Keeping romance alive

I just read a good article on ParentCenter about different things that married couples do to keep romance alive after they have kids. It's definitely a tough thing to do but it's also really important. Most of the articles on ParentCenter are pretty poor in my opinion but there are some good ideas in this particular article.

Photo cross-section of NYC

I'm trying to get a Web site together for my new company so I've been taking a number of photos for the site. I've never really been into photography but the field has always intrigued me. This photo project of New Yorkers at the turnstiles is interesting. Thought I'd share with others.

Marriage Partnership

For Christmas, I bought my wife a subscription to Marriage Partnership. In the first issue we received, there was a good article about "couples devotional":

No amount of being religious can replace the time a couple spends in shared prayer. Research shows that couples who frequently pray together are twice as likely as those who pray less often to describe their marriages as being highly romantic. And couples who pray together are 90 percent more likely to report higher satisfaction with sex than couples who don't pray together. Because of the vulnerability it demands, prayer draws a couple closer.

If prayer is so good for marriage, why don't more couples do it? Because it's not easy and the price of that vulnerability can seem too high ... We've become convinced that the most desperate need in many marriages is not for more excitement or activity, but for depth. Try sojourning together toward communion with God. Then your aching urge to be connected - soul to soul - will be satisfied.

There was also a good quote from Trent Dilfer, quarterback of the Cleveland Browns. He said, "People are often enamored with my Super Bowl ring. But it's my wedding ring that I'm most proud of. Having a good marriage takes even more work than winning a Super Bowl."

Periodic Table of Visualization Methods

My brother sent this page to me and it's totally cool. Well ... maybe only cool if you're into analytics and data visualization. In some situations, the right visualization can make all the difference. Enjoy.

Cool Christmas present

For Christmas, my brother bought me a ton of CO2 emissions through NativeEnergy. Specifically, NativeEnergy will use the money to build new wind power projects that reduce one ton of CO2 emissions (about a third of a car's annual emissions). What a thoughtful gift. Thanks! For Christmas, I gave some of my in-laws $10 each towards the purchase of compact flourescent lightbulbs (or some other energy efficiency project of their choice). It was one way to remember the environment (a gift to humanity) this holiday season.

The Science of Happiness

I just read an article in the January-February issue of Harvard Magazine called "The Science of Happiness". Apparently "positive psychology" is a new and fast-growing field, although some like Daniel Gilbert (author of Stumbling on Happiness) "don't think psychology needs a movement ... probably 85% of the ideas are worthless, but that's true everywhere in science." As I was reading through the article, I marked three passages that I thought were interesting:

Environs, too, affect mood. Settings that combine “prospect and refuge,” for example, seem to support a sense of well-being. “People like to be on a hill, where they can see a landscape. And they like somewhere to go where they can not be seen themselves,” Etcoff explains. “That’s a place desirable to a predator who wants to avoid becoming prey.” Other attractive features include a source of water (streams for beauty and slaking thirst), low-canopy trees (shade, protection), and animals (proof of habitability). “Humans prefer this to deserts or man-made environments,” Etcoff says. “Building windowless, nature-less, isolated offices full of cubicles ignores what people actually want. A study of patients hospitalized for gall-bladder surgery compared those whose rooms looked out on a park with those facing a brick wall. The park-view patients used less pain medication, had shorter stays, and complained less to their nurses. We ignore our nature at our own peril.”

“We evolved in a much different world, with much less choice and no sedentary people,” Etcoff continues. “We didn’t evolve for happiness, we evolved for survival and reproduction.” For this reason, we are sensitive to danger. “Pleasure and the positive-reward system is for opportunity and gain,” Etcoff explains. “And pleasure involves risk, taking a chance that can override some of your fear at that moment.”

Happiness activates the sympathetic nervous system (which stimulates the “flight or fight” response), whereas joy stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system (controlling “rest and digest” functions). “We can laugh from either joy or happiness,” Vaillant said. “We weep only from grief or joy.” Happiness displaces pain, but joy embraces it: “Without the pain of farewell, there is no joy of reunion,” he asserted. “Without the pain of captivity, we don’t experience the joy of freedom.”

I've seen a couple of authors make the distinction between happiness and joy before. I've also heard authors argue that we can't appreciate what's good in our lives within having some bad stuff for contrast.

There was one other passage from Daniel Gilbert that was thought-provoking:

The reason is that humans hold fast to a number of wrong ideas about what will make them happy. Ironically, these misconceptions may be evolutionary necessities. “Imagine a species that figured out that children don’t make you happy,” says Gilbert. “We have a word for that species: extinct. There is a conspiracy between genes and culture to keep us in the dark about the real sources of happiness. If a society realized that money would not make people happy, its economy would grind to a halt.”

That last sentence is pretty interesting. If people weren't interested in making more than a bare minimum amount of money, would capitalism still be able to operate or would it fall apart?

I wonder where all this research will take us - or whether it will be a passing fad with not much to show for itself 10-20 years from now.

How to raise a spiritual child

I'm glad that my kids have religion in thier lives. I read this article from Parent Center on "how to raise a spiritual child". There is nothing too earth-shattering in there but it was reassuring to see that we're doing many of the things they suggest. I ultimately don't care which religion (if any) my kids select. But I do hope that they understand that there is something larger in the world than themselves and that they have an on-going dialogue with God.

GreenDimes

A friend of mine pointed me to GreenDimes.com. The $3/month subscription service helps get you off (and keep you off) of junk-mail lists - which saves paper, eliminates clutter in your home, and reduces the chances of identity theft. The company also plants a tree for you every month. I just signed up so I can't vouch for the service yet. But it seems intriguing and potentially quite valuable.

Save the polar bear

The Bush Administration is considering adding the polar bear to the endangered species list (see this article). If it does so, there may be a ripple effect on the government's stance and policies on global climate change since federal agencies would then have a regulatory obligation to protect the polar bear (whose main threat right now is habitat loss due to global warming). Given the adminstration's past stance on climate change, it would be ironic is polar bears could accomplish what scientists have not - get the adminstration to take greenhouse gas emissions seriously.

New blog functionality

Blogger just upgraded its service to include some new functionality (including the ability to "label" or categorize posts). They also "upgraded" their templates. I'm still getting used to the new template and don't really like everything about it (i.e., some of the formatting and spacing). Also, it's going to take a little while to go back and label all my prior posts. So there will be a little turmoil with the blog while I'll work through all these issues. In the meantime, I'll also try to get some new content up. So stick with me through this transition.

Climate change videos

The University of Arizona put together a seminar series on climate change this past fall. There were seven talks by different U of A professors, covering almost all important aspects of the "climate change problem." I have not had a chance to watch them myself but I hear that the talks are quite good.

The One Sentence Challenge

One of the blogs I read issued the following challenge:

Physicist Richard Feynman once said that if all knowledge about physics was about to expire the one sentence he would tell the future is that "Everything is made of atoms." What one sentence would you tell the future about your own area, whether it's entrepreneurship, hedge funds, venture capital, or something else? Examples: An economist might say that "People respond to incentives." I had an engineering professor years ago who said all of that field could be reduced to "F=MA and you can't push on a rope." A couple of other good ones come immediately to mind: the GBN motto, "the future is uncertain, and yet we must act;" Bruce Sterling's "the future is a process, not a destination;" Yogi Berra's "prediction is very hard, especially about the future."

In my case, I'd probably say "everything happens for a reason" (see this post). Perhaps I suffer from confirmation bias, but I keep seeing more and more evidence in my life that it's true.

So, what would your one sentence be?

Blue skies

There was a brief AskMarilyn in today's PARADE magazine asking "My daughter, who lives near Palm Springs, California, says her sky is bluer than my sky in Portland, Oregan. Can that be?" The answer is:

Yes: Sky color - or "sky transparency" - depends on many factors, among which is humidity. And you know that Portand is a teensy bit more humid than Palm Springs! Consider the brilliant blue sky of a cold, dry winter day compared to the whitish look of the sky on a muggy day in summer. Residents of Palm Springs enjoy a great many low-humidity, sunny days.

So, I suppose while the grass may not be greener on the other side, the sky may indeed be bluer in California compared to where you live. =)

Complete failure

Awhile ago, I set a goal for myself to weigh 190 pounds by Christmas (see this post). With Christmas only a couple of days ago, I can confidently say I won't achieve my goal. I won't even come close. Despite a post three months ago regarding convictions, I weigh more now than I did then. It's pathetic and the exact opposite example to set for my kids.

So, what to do? I'm going to put my money where my mouth is. It's a self-bet. If I weigh less than 195 pounds on my next birthday (in June), I'll put $1,000 into my kids' college savings account. Otherwise, I'll donate $1,000 to Heifer.org for a heifer, two goats, and a water buffalo. Basically, I'm putting $1,000 at risk. If I succeed, the money will go toward something that I care about deeply. If I fail, I forfeit the money to something I don't care about (but at least it will do some good in the world).

It's unfortunate I have to resort to tactics like this but such is life. There are consequences for all of our actions and inactions. This just extends those consequences into the physical world and makes them more tangible for me.

My life is my message

I came across a great quote by Mahatma Gandhi the other day. When asked by a reporter “what is your message,” he responded “my life is my message.” That is a valuable perspective and one that I've tried to take to heart - see, for example, this post. I haven't gone through this "my life is my message" questionnaire but it might be a valuable exercise at some point. The questionnaire includes another interesting quote by William Ellery Channing - "may your life preach more loudly than your words.”

Biofuel crash course

For any of you interested in learning more about biofuels, Grist just posted a special two-week series on biofuels. Looks like a good cross-section of relevant topics.

Gapminder

I'm a big data guy and Gapminder is one of the coolest things I've seen in a long time. If you have twenty minutes, definitely check out this video from the TED 2006 conference. It's a fascinating talk by Hans Rosling on human development trends over the last 40 years. The speaker (and the software) does an amazing job of bringing the data alive. I've never seen anything quite like it. I'd love to give a talk like that sometime. So cool!

Goal setting

I'm reading a new book by Michael Neill called You Can Have What You Want. Here is one interesting excerpt regarding goal setting:

I once asked one of my most financially successful clients, a multimillionaire "super salesman," whether or not he set goals. He told me that he did, and in fact always had, but not in the way that most people do. Traditional goal setting encourages us to think big and reach for the stars, but also to keep our target constant while we do whatever it takes to achieve it. My client didn't do any of that. He would sit down once or twice a year over a good meal and a nice glass of wine and ask himself, "What would be fun and exciting to make my life about over the next year?" He would then take as long as he wanted to write down his ideas until he had a list that totally inspired him. As the year unfolded, he would check in with his "goals" every now and then and adjust them up or down depending on how things were going in his life.

When he saw how horrified I looked (didn't anyone ever tell him you're not allowed to change your goals once you've written them down?), he told me something I have never forgotten: "The only real purpose of a goal is to inspire you to fall more deeply in love with your life."

There's another good quote regarding goal setting at the beginning of that section of the book. Michelangelo said, "The great danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it."

Thankful

Seeing as it's Thanksgiving, I thought it would be fitting to see a post regarding what I am thankful for this year. There are so many blessings in my life. I am quite lucky compared to most. I have a wonderful, supportive wife; two sweet, energetic sons; a brother and a sister-in-law near-by who are great supports to me and my family; loving parents and in-laws; a new job that I'm excited about; and good friends. I also have many material comforts that I too often take for granted (warm home, plenty of food to eat, financial security, etc). I couldn't really ask for more ... well, maybe instant knowledge of everything I need to learn for work. =) This is a really good part of my life and I am very thankful for that.

Borat

I went to see the new Borat movie yesterday afternoon. I thought I'd take advantage of the brief time off before I officially start my new job. Everyone who had seen the movie described it as both (a) "extremely funny" and (b) "very offensive" and/or "very disturbing" . I can confirm that's all true. I think I found the most interesting about the movie is how willing Sacha Baron Cohen (Borat) is to put himself out there and do ridiculous stuff. Sometimes I wish I was more like that. I was a bit during the talent show that I mc'd awhile ago. But not nearly to Borat's level. When I first started in marketing five years ago, my manager would always encourage us to be in "the bozo zone" when we presented. The idea was that you should push yourself way out of your comfort zone ("the bozo zone") because, to the audience, it would only appear that you were being energetic or passionate about what you were saying. Having seen this movie, perhaps I'll rename that being in "the Borat zone".

Speaking of putting yourself out there and overcoming fear, Michael Neill has a new book out called You Can Have What You Want. In a newsletter that I subscribe to, Neill suggests that people try the following experiment:

For the next week, live as if fear is completely unnecessary. Don't worry about it if you feel it - a lifetime of conditioning tends not to disappear overnight. Just notice when you are about to do something if it is coming from fear or 'not-fear', and if it's from fear, don't do it. Any time you aren't sure what to do, ask yourself what you would do if you were not afraid and do that.

Be kind to yourself along the way - the path of not-fear is not always easy, especially at first. But after you've been on it for awhile, you may find it difficult to go back to living the other kind of life.

If that's a scary thought for you, ponder these words of Aung San Suu Kyi, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize and the president of Burma who has lived under house arrest for many years:

"Fear is a habit. I am not afraid."

Between presenting at a board meeting on Friday and starting my new job officially on Monday (see post regarding how much I need to learn), I'll have plenty of opportunities to conduct this experiment over the next week or so.

How Beauty is Made

My wife pointed me to this video the other day. I've heard about how makeup and Photoshop can enhance the beauty of a model but the transformation which is possible is pretty dramatic. At the end of the video, it comments "no wonder how perception of beauty is so distorted" - and that's true. Someone should make one of these videos for Playboy too. I hear that many (if not all) of the photos in that magazine are "enhanced". Would be interesting to see a before and after.

Veterans Day

Quick funny story. Last weekend, we drove down to Fresno to visit my wife's aunt and uncle. Her uncle (GH) is recovering from two strokes. All things considered, he's doing quite well and will hopefully continue to make strong progress in his recovery. While we were visiting, GH and I decided to go to a movie. He is a big movie fan and can't get out the movies as easily anymore. We decided to see Flags of Our Fathers, the new Clint Eastwood movie about raising the flag at Iwo Jima. Given the strokes, GH needs a walker to get around. As we were coming out the movie, a woman came up to GH and said "I bet you're a veteran". Apparently every "disabled" person who goes to a WWII movie must be a veteran. Turns out that GH was in the Air Force and the woman was happy to discover that. She shook GH's hand, thanked him for his service, and commented that he must be excited that Veterans Day was coming up. Then she went on her way. I commented to GH that I hadn't known he had been in the Air Force for two years but left it at that.

After we got out of the theater, I had to run and get the car. We had forgetten the handicapped tag for the car so I had dropped off GH and then parked in the main lot. As I returned with the car, I found GH talking to a man and his family. They had actually sat directly behind us during the movie. Like the first woman, the man was thanking GH for his service to our country and shaking his hand. Then he turned to me, shook my hand, and told me how lucky I am to have GH (which I am), and went on his way. More intrigued, I asked GH if he had seen combat - to which he replied "I was a dentist in the Air Force for two years to serve out my ROTC commitment" (and it was during the Vietnam War, not WWII). I just love the conclusions that people jump to.

To be clear, we should honor our veterans (including GH). Their sacrifice is so often forgotten. We owe them a debt of gratitude that is not easily repaid. Thank you! [For those interested in videos, see also this tribute or this commercial.] We should also remember the service and sacrifice of others - both big and small. Whether it is caring for a veteran, a patient, or someone in need, the everyday service of so many people goes unnoticed and underappreciated. Thank you! We can all learn from your example.

Today is Veterans Day. Enjoy your big day, GH!

Divine Nobodies

In the ExploreFaith.org newsletter, I came across a book excerpt from Divine Nobodies: Shedding Religion to Find God by Jim Palmer. The author describes the moment he realized that God's love is not contigent on anything we can do for him. As Palmer puts it:

What if there isn't anything I can do for God? What if he just wants me to lean against his face and receive his love? What if this phantom Christian I have been chasing is just a big distraction from resting in what God wants to really give? What if my value and worth to God are not contingent on what I do? Maybe this is why I am so tired inside. My soul has only so much energy, and the bulk of mine is being drained through striving to earn God's love and acceptance. What would it be like to truly know there isn't one more thing I ever have to do for God in order for him to be pleased with me?

I certainly believe that God wants us to live our lives by certain standards (e.g, the Ten Commandments). I also believe that God wants us to live with purpose and find our unique way to contribute to the world. But God's love isn't contingent on these things.

Startup-land

Yesterday was my last day at my old job. I don't officially start my new job until Monday, November 20. But I've already started unofficially. There is a board-of-directors meeting on Friday, November 17. Originally, I was just going to be attending the BOD meeting (to listen and learn). Now I'm presenting some stuff as well. To set expectations correctly, I think the first words out of my mouth will be "hi, I start on Monday, but here are some thoughts". I figure things can only go up from there.

I decided to go into the office today to work on slides for the meeting. Two startup moments from the "unofficial first day". About an hour after I got there, the head of R&D (who is effectively the day-to-day CEO) asks me if I could put together letterhead and business cards for the company. So I spent an hour or so playing graphic designer. Then, later in the day, I was having trouble connecting to the wireless network. I spoke with our bioinformatics expert (who doubles as the IT guy) and he said that the wireless network's a little unreliable and needs to be reset about once a day by unplugging the wireless router and then plugging it back in. So he ran off and did that and then everything worked just fine. Welcome to the world of 11-person startups. =)

Marriage in decline?

My father-in-law sent me this editorial from the Salt Lake Tribune entitled "Marriage faces inevitable decline in face of 'me' generation". It's a fairly interesting piece - a little too extreme relative to my own position on some of these topics but still thought-provoking. I was a little surprised that married couples are the minority in America today. Certainly more and more people are waiting in life to both get married and have kids - and having less kids than in the past. From a sustainability perspective, having less kids (or no kids) is potentially a good thing. It puts less pressure on the Earth's resources and our environment. On the other hand, it places a greater economic burden on the newer generation since there are less of them to support the ever-growing needs of older, longer-living generations at-or-near retirement.

Here's an interesting question. Is it better to have lots of people rush into marriage but have a 50% divorce rate? Or is it better for people to wait, potentially have sex outside of marriage, and get married once they're ready (if ever)? No easy answers here.

Road to Balance

The other day at work, a woman came in to talk about the "road to balance" (see her handouts). Given the fact that I'm about to join a small startup company, this is a particularly timely topic and one that I need to take very seriously. Relative to where I was a couple of years ago, I feel like I am more grounded and disciplined with respect to the importance of balance. But there is a high risk of this getting out of control in a hurry if I'm not careful about it - especially all the new things I need to learn for my new position (see this post). I'm really going to need to rely on my wife and the rest of my family to keep me honest here. It's not easy to tell someone that they have their priorities out of whack but I'm glad I have people in my life who care enough to do so.

Lots to learn

I'm starting to get ready for my new job. There's definitely no lack of new things to learn. And, what fun would it be if I didn't make the challenge extra-hard? Given the fact that Newco is focused on biofuels, I thought it might be interesting to learn more about conventional fuel production. So I looked at a book called Petroleum Refining: Technology and Economics. The very first sentence of the introduction is: "Modern refinery operations are very complex and, to a person unfamiliar with the industry, it seems to be an impossible task to reduce the complexity to a coordinated group of understandable processes." Wow ... and I thought it would be easy to get up to speed on this stuff. Well, perhaps the science side of things will be easier. Just ordered Organic Chemistry I for Dummies. The first sentence of the book description is: "Organic chemistry is rated among the most difficult courses that students take and is frequently the cause of washout among pre-med, medical, and nursing students." Hmm ... perhaps that won't be any easier. But, if freshmen and sophomores in college can tackle organic chemistry, I don't see why I can't too. My theory going into my career search was that there isn't any subject I can't learn. It's time to put that theory to the test.

The Lord's Prayer

ExploreFaith.org has an eight-part series exploring the meaning of the Lord's Prayer line-by-line. I won't have the chance to read through it anytime soon but others might be interested. When I was growing up, I had the Lord's Prayer hanging on my wall - although I must admit I never really paid attention to it.

Got hobbies?

I don't have any hobbies. I aspire to having hobbies but I really don't have any. A while ago, I created a list with my wife of hobbies I might want to take up at some point - including swimming, basketball, golf, biking, tennis, fine arts performances, sporting events, volunteer work, learning a musical instrument (piano), and getting into fantasy football. No progress on any of those fronts but it's a good list nonetheless.

I also created a list of things I wanted to learn more about - including statistics, game theory, complexity theory, auto maintenance, the environment, energy/alternative energy, culture of obesity, sleep patterns, and open source software. Some progress here - especially related to the environment and alternative energy (but there's plenty more to learn).

And one more list for good measure. At one point, I was thinking about taking a 3-6 month sabbatical from work. Some of the ideas I had for activities were visiting NYC, going to a fitness camp, taking a bike tour, getting some personal training, getting into yoga, going to India, going to Boston and Nantucket, doing some volunteer work, getting more into religion, and catching up with people. With the new job, I guess the sabbatical will need to wait a couple more years.

Since I found the lists, figured I'd share ... but the level of progress is a little depressing.

Lose Yourself

I was going through old papers this afternoon and came across a sign I created for myself when I did fat2phat originally. It contained an excerpt by an Eninem song called "Lose Yourself" (from the movie 8 Mile):

If you had one shot, one opportunity, to seize everything you ever wanted in one moment, would you capture it or just let it slip?
...
Success is my only option, failure is not.

Seems oddly appropriate given my jump into the biofuels space (see previous post).

Newco

Some of you may be wondering why I haven't posted a new entry in so long. Others may not have noticed. Regardless, there is a good reason why I haven't posted recently. Specifically, over the last two weeks, I met and decided to join a small (9-person) startup. They're in stealth mode so no website or other information at the moment. Current investors include Khosla Ventures and Flagship Ventures. On the Flagship site, they describe Newco as "designing microbial factories to produce energy related products". So very different than what I've been doing in the past but certainly well-aligned with my desire to help fight global warming (since biofuels are carbon-neutral since the feedstock for the biofuel is plant-based and takes an equivalent amount of CO2 out of the air as cars put into it).

I'll be the "business entrepreneur" (officially "Senior Director of Business Development") - basically the first full-time business person. Everyone else in the company is a scientist-type. Should be interesting. Certainly an opportunity for me to shine ... or fall flat on my face. Hopefully it will be the former. =)

I'm actually writing this from the Advancing Renewable Energy conference in St. Louis. Even though I won't officially begin my new position for about a month, I'm here "drinking from the firehose" to learn about this new space. President Bush will actually be speaking at the conference tomorrow but, unfortunately, I'll miss his speech since I need to catch a flight and couldn't get onto a later plane (darn!). It's not everyday that you get a chance to see the President of the United States in person.

I have to admit that I'm very curious to see how I do in this new role. If nothing else, there is going to be a massive learning curve associated with both the technology involved (biochemistry and synthetic biology) and the market for the technology (biofuels). I basically have zero domain knowledge/experience with either and will be relying upon (a) being smart, (b) learning quickly, (c) being a strong overall "business athlete" with diverse functional experience, and (d) leveraging the experience of others wherever possible. We'll see if that's enough to be successful .

I'm both excited and scared about what's to come. But I take a lot of comfort from knowing that I have so many people in my corner. Let the new adventure begin.