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19 Awesome Things for the 19th of December in No Particular Order
By Neil Ransom | December 20, 2007
- My submission to present at the Utah Conference of Undergraduate Research was accepted and so now I get to present my senior thesis research the 29th of February at UVSC. I am very excited.
- The Rocky Mountain Institute is a great organization started by Amory B. Lovins (I am sure you have never heard of him). Anyway this organization is a giant think tank that focuses on solving environmental problems through advising car manufacturers, businesses, and the government organizations into adopting ultra efficient methods that save them money and the world pollution.
- The passing of the new energy bill by congress that requires car manufacturers to maintain a fleet wide MPG average of 35 MPG (the first increase in national fuel economy in 32 years), make the 100 watt incandescent light bulb illegal, and increases the efficiency of household appliances.
- Perceptive Pixel is an awesome new technology that allows full touch interaction with a computer. Very cool product and as you will see in #5 is already being used in consume products this winter.
- Today Kate and I ate free Red Iguana leftovers from the Youth Link’s lunch-in (a NGO housed in the same building as Kate’s NGO, the ESLCenter.
- Although I dislike Microsoft because they are a monopoly, their new product, Surface, is awesome awesome awesome. It will revolutionize computer use and is finally a product that can even turn Apple’s eye.
- I found my lost cellphone today. By lost, I mean it fell out of my pocket into my boss’s car when I got a ride with her to a meeting on Tuesday and she found it this morning when someone from the office tried to call me. At least I have it back and can now participate in conference calls with my brother and his finance (which did happen today).
- Fab@Home is a 3D printer; that’s right, a 3D printer. So just like a regular printer you plug it into your computer, prepare your document, and then click print. Except this time the Fab@Home is going to print your 3D object out of the hundreds of materials it is able to use. You will be able to print circuit boards, cellphone covers, even batteries and eventually, they say, you will be able to design your very own cellphone and then print the entire product out in your own home. Amazing!
- The Humdinger Windbelt is a new, inexpensive, very customizable wind mill that may make wind energy even more affordable and viable. You better just look at the site for an explanation how it works, I’m not going to do it justice.
- Some MIT students have created an amazing solar system out of regular old car parts that will create electricity, heat water or air, and refrigerate. What this means is that one simple inexpensive easily repaired setup can create and manage all the utility needs of a small dwelling or home, carbon free and off the grid. This article is really great, I recommend it.
- After a week without toiletpaper, Kate and I have finally purchased some.
- In passing my boss said something about a Christmas present of bonus. I’m not keeping my hopes up, but here’s to dreaming.
- NASA’s Chandra x-ray telescope captured the most interesting of celestial phenomenon. Recent data collected by said telescope shows cosmic radiation being shot from a black hole into a neighboring galaxy.
- Kate and I had Ethiopian food with Jesse, my brother, and his finance, Laura. Man I love Ethiopian food…and the African Restaurant and Mini Mart.
- A new giant rat was discovered in Indonesia.
- Most exciting Firefox is testing a new 3.0 release. I want to take my hat off to Firefox to really implementing some great tools that have made internet browsing fun, creative, and easy. You can download the beta version here.
- Wal-Mart, via Sam’s Club, is selling an all electric versions of the Mini Cooper converted by the company, Hybrid Technologies.
- Kate and I were given traditional Karen (a Burmese ethnic group) shirts from three of my refugee clients today. They are awesome and we will post a picture soon.
- I am done with this blog entry and can now go to bed.
Tagged with: energy_bill • Environment • Karen • refugees • rocky_mountain_institute • senior_thesis_research • world_pollution
December 20th, 2007 at 12:04 pm
That’s awesome about the UCUR paper, man. Good job.
December 20th, 2007 at 3:52 pm
Man that microsoft surface looks awesome!! It looks like a giant Ipod Touch….I bet it costs 1 million dollars though. Great job on the paper ~
December 20th, 2007 at 6:44 pm
It is just too bad the Microsoft thing looks like a mini fridge on its side. I am baffled why they didn’t make it thin.
And Jer, thanks I hope you can come to the presentation.
December 21st, 2007 at 11:33 am
OK - I haven’t read the paper for today, but does the Headline read: “HELL FREEZES OVER” ?
This is one for the reecord books: Neil Ransom says something positive about Walmart!!! (See Item #17)
December 27th, 2007 at 4:11 am
Cool day!
I have been hearing about those 3-D printers for a while. The debate is they are either going to move civalization to the next level or destroy it. (Basically… Well too long of a story. I vote for the first one.)
Good luck to both of you with school. Where is Neil applying and what kind of programs?
Seems like that company you presented for has some good ideas. I think that environmental progress in the future should be voluntary rather than through government intervention, because it turns out that most of the most successfull changes have been that way and have rendered expensive restrictive legislation obsolete by moving faster and more efficiently. Same thing with civil rights. It is much easier to build consensus and build on it than go to war between opposing sides.
Oh, mainly I was just posting on some random sites of people’s because we are excited about our new addition to the family:
http://realmorganfamily.blogspot.com/2007/12/meet-our-new-christmas-laziness.html
Very little politico-type content on our family blog so it is safe!
March 13th, 2008 at 6:41 pm
[...] so last week I presented my senior thesis research at BYU’s Inquiry Conference (mentioned in a previous post). Everyone said I did well, although I feel I did better the week before when I presented at the [...]