Ethanol: Myths and Realities
What Business Week fails to mention is the high energy cost of making the fertilizer required to produce the corn. THe fertilizer comes primarily from natural gas, which of course is a non-renewable energy source. Further, too much nitrogen is being used. It runs off and kills streams, rivers, lakes, and the ocean ...
Sunday, May 21, 2006
Sunday, May 14, 2006
The Edinburgh Festivals are on their way � The Edinburgh Blog
The Edinburgh Festivals are on their way � The Edinburgh Blog
Nice summary of upcoming events in Edinburgh. A great reminder why Edinburgh is such a great city to call home.
Nice summary of upcoming events in Edinburgh. A great reminder why Edinburgh is such a great city to call home.
Thursday, May 11, 2006
Excel User Tip: Creating a database table from a summary table
Excel User Tip: Creating a database table from a summary table
When Microsoft first included Pivot Tables in Microsoft Excel (early 1990's as I recall), it took me a little bit of time to get my head around what they were and what they were good for. Once in head, I recognised how powerful they are.
The next step was to be able to do "reverse Pivot Tables" on data presented in summary Pivot Table format. That seemed impossible without doing coding in VBA or something.
This web site explains how to do it from with Excel without coding. First time I ever saw this. Perhaps this capabilty included in Excel when Pivot Tables entered into Excel. I don't know. But this is good stuff.
When Microsoft first included Pivot Tables in Microsoft Excel (early 1990's as I recall), it took me a little bit of time to get my head around what they were and what they were good for. Once in head, I recognised how powerful they are.
The next step was to be able to do "reverse Pivot Tables" on data presented in summary Pivot Table format. That seemed impossible without doing coding in VBA or something.
This web site explains how to do it from with Excel without coding. First time I ever saw this. Perhaps this capabilty included in Excel when Pivot Tables entered into Excel. I don't know. But this is good stuff.
Tuesday, May 09, 2006
Foreign Policy: The List: The Five Top Global Choke Points
Foreign Policy: The List: The Five Top Global Choke Points
I like thinking about world-class risk analysis and management processes. It doesn't get any more world-class than considering these.
I like thinking about world-class risk analysis and management processes. It doesn't get any more world-class than considering these.
Airline Pilot Central - FedEx arrivals during Thunderstorms
Airline Pilot Central - FedEx arrivals during Thunderstorms
Look at this time-lapse representation of FedEx planes arriving in Memphis while thunder storms approach go over, then pass the airport. Notice how the planes seem to "scatter" when the thunderstorms are over the airport. Fascinating.
Look at this time-lapse representation of FedEx planes arriving in Memphis while thunder storms approach go over, then pass the airport. Notice how the planes seem to "scatter" when the thunderstorms are over the airport. Fascinating.
Saturday, May 06, 2006
NASA - Stellar Rubble May Be Planetary Building Blocks
NASA - Stellar Rubble May Be Planetary Building Blocks
When I was a kid I consumed "NASA Facts", a public relations newspaper sent out to promote NASA and their achievements. For nostalgia reasons, I wish I hadn't thrown them all away. Meantime, NASA now has computers and the internet to do the same things. See this link where there is a supurb animation of an exploding star (with a poor planet near by), resulting in a pulsar with a surrounding disk of rubble. The Hubble telescope has seen these same structures.
When I was a kid I consumed "NASA Facts", a public relations newspaper sent out to promote NASA and their achievements. For nostalgia reasons, I wish I hadn't thrown them all away. Meantime, NASA now has computers and the internet to do the same things. See this link where there is a supurb animation of an exploding star (with a poor planet near by), resulting in a pulsar with a surrounding disk of rubble. The Hubble telescope has seen these same structures.
Monday, May 01, 2006
Foreign Affairs - Saddam's Delusions: The View From the Inside - Kevin Woods, James Lacey, and Williamson Murray
Foreign Affairs - Saddam's Delusions: The View From the Inside - Kevin Woods, James Lacey, and Williamson Murray
I just blogged about how I have too much to read. Yet, this article, from the May/June 2006 issues of Foreign Affairs, has just moved to the top of the stack.
I just blogged about how I have too much to read. Yet, this article, from the May/June 2006 issues of Foreign Affairs, has just moved to the top of the stack.
EDITOR'S NOTE: The fall of Baghdad in April 2003 opened one of the most secretive and brutal governments in history to outside scrutiny. For the first time since the end of World War II, American analysts did not have to guess what had happened on the other side of a conflict but could actually read the defeated enemy's documents and interrogate its leading figures. To make the most of this unique opportunity, the U.S. Joint Forces Command (USJFCOM) commissioned a comprehensive study of the inner workings and behavior of Saddam Hussein's regime based on previously inaccessible primary sources. Drawing on interviews with dozens of captured senior Iraqi military and political leaders and hundreds of thousands of official Iraqi documents (hundreds of them fully translated), this two-year project has changed our understanding of the war from the ground up. The study was partially declassified in late February; its key findings are presented here.
Creating Passionate Users: The myth of "keeping up"
Creating Passionate Users: The myth of "keeping up"
This article surely rings bells. You ought to see the stack of to-be-read books and magazines in my home office. At least I have a holiday in a few months where some of the stack will be dealt with ...
This article surely rings bells. You ought to see the stack of to-be-read books and magazines in my home office. At least I have a holiday in a few months where some of the stack will be dealt with ...
Friday, April 28, 2006
CERIAS Weblogs » Security Myths and Passwords
CERIAS Weblogs » Security Myths and Passwords
Written by a professor of mine from University days, boy is this going to burst some bubbles!
Written by a professor of mine from University days, boy is this going to burst some bubbles!
Business 2.0: The best-kept secrets - Mar. 23, 2006
Business 2.0: The best-kept secrets - Mar. 23, 2006
From the magazine "Business 2.0", they present "5 tricks of the trade for everything from finding great employees to sparking creativity and even knowing when to pass on a deal." There's not an idea on the list that I don't like. And gee, that succinct presentation style of a photo with a couple of paragraphs is terrific.
From the magazine "Business 2.0", they present "5 tricks of the trade for everything from finding great employees to sparking creativity and even knowing when to pass on a deal." There's not an idea on the list that I don't like. And gee, that succinct presentation style of a photo with a couple of paragraphs is terrific.
Monday, April 17, 2006
Going Nuclear
Going Nuclear
Patrick Moore, co-founder of Greenpeace, writes in the Washington Post on why he supports nuclear power.
Also, read James Lovelock's "The Revenge of Gaia: Why the Earth Is Fighting Back".
Patrick Moore, co-founder of Greenpeace, writes in the Washington Post on why he supports nuclear power.
In the early 1970s when I helped found Greenpeace, I believed that nuclear energy was synonymous with nuclear holocaust, as did most of my compatriots. That's the conviction that inspired Greenpeace's first voyage up the spectacular rocky northwest coast to protest the testing of U.S. hydrogen bombs in Alaska's Aleutian Islands. Thirty years on, my views have changed, and the rest of the environmental movement needs to update its views, too, because nuclear energy may just be the energy source that can save our planet from another possible disaster: catastrophic climate change.
Also, read James Lovelock's "The Revenge of Gaia: Why the Earth Is Fighting Back".
Friday, April 14, 2006
How I Work: Bill Gates - Apr. 7, 2006
How I Work: Bill Gates - Apr. 7, 2006
Intersting article on CNN on how Bill Gates works, including using SharePoint. In my efforts to move us out of the 20th Century and into the 21st Century using collaboration tools, it's enlightening that Bill works this way. More importantly, he allows (and expects) his organisation to work this way.
In my world, using SharePoint is "beneath" most executives, managers, and other leaders. That's what PA's and secretaries are for. Thus the organisation is not "allowed", empowered, or enabled to move into the 21st century. We end up with an organisation whose information needs are driven by databases in PowerPoint.
Intersting article on CNN on how Bill Gates works, including using SharePoint. In my efforts to move us out of the 20th Century and into the 21st Century using collaboration tools, it's enlightening that Bill works this way. More importantly, he allows (and expects) his organisation to work this way.
In my world, using SharePoint is "beneath" most executives, managers, and other leaders. That's what PA's and secretaries are for. Thus the organisation is not "allowed", empowered, or enabled to move into the 21st century. We end up with an organisation whose information needs are driven by databases in PowerPoint.
Wednesday, March 22, 2006
These Guys Do What For a Living? And How the NY Times Sees It ...
Winds of Change.Net: These Guys Do What For a Living?
Mining is a dangerous business. Death is a possibility of every person entering a mine. Just a hunch, but I suspect there are considerably more deaths per year for mining for coal than any other energy manufacturing business.
Be that as it may, the New York Times, in an editorial also published at http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/21/opinion/21tue3.html?ex=1300597200&en=1bbd6bc4e75e970f&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss chose to severely critize the Bush Admininstration for "packing mine safety agencies with pro-management appointees -- which has produced a marked decline in major fines for negligent companies."
Did the Times consider that mine safety agencies are not the main control of reducing death in a mine? Did the Times consider that maybe companies are not naturally as negligent as they assume?
Did the Times look a the trends in mine safety, as measured in deaths per year? See http://www.msha.gov/MSHAINFO/FactSheets/MSHAFCT2.HTM where these stats are published:
Fatalities and Injuries for All Mining (Coal & Noncoal)
Year Average Annual
Deaths Average Annual
Injuries
1936-1940 1,546 81,342
1941-1945 1,592 82,825
1946-1950 1,054 63,367
1951-1955 690 38,510
1956-1960 550 28,805
1961-1965 449 23,204
1966-1970 426 22,435
1971-1975 322 33,963
1976-1980 254 41,220
1981-1985 174 24,290
1986-1990 122 27,524
1991-1999 93 21,351
There have been 24 mine deaths so far this year. Assuming this trend continues, this will be approximately the same as the average of the previous decade. If you want to politicize that statment, it's about the same as achieved in the Clinton admininstration. I'd say the Coal Mining Industry and the Government (starting a long time ago) has made great progress. Surely they can do more. I would prefer that they had gone faster, but the facts speak for themselves when comparing current performance vs. longer term trends. Further, to try to make a political statement just doesn't cut mustard.
Mining is a dangerous business. Death is a possibility of every person entering a mine. Just a hunch, but I suspect there are considerably more deaths per year for mining for coal than any other energy manufacturing business.
Be that as it may, the New York Times, in an editorial also published at http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/21/opinion/21tue3.html?ex=1300597200&en=1bbd6bc4e75e970f&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss chose to severely critize the Bush Admininstration for "packing mine safety agencies with pro-management appointees -- which has produced a marked decline in major fines for negligent companies."
Did the Times consider that mine safety agencies are not the main control of reducing death in a mine? Did the Times consider that maybe companies are not naturally as negligent as they assume?
Did the Times look a the trends in mine safety, as measured in deaths per year? See http://www.msha.gov/MSHAINFO/FactSheets/MSHAFCT2.HTM where these stats are published:
Fatalities and Injuries for All Mining (Coal & Noncoal)
Year Average Annual
Deaths Average Annual
Injuries
1936-1940 1,546 81,342
1941-1945 1,592 82,825
1946-1950 1,054 63,367
1951-1955 690 38,510
1956-1960 550 28,805
1961-1965 449 23,204
1966-1970 426 22,435
1971-1975 322 33,963
1976-1980 254 41,220
1981-1985 174 24,290
1986-1990 122 27,524
1991-1999 93 21,351
There have been 24 mine deaths so far this year. Assuming this trend continues, this will be approximately the same as the average of the previous decade. If you want to politicize that statment, it's about the same as achieved in the Clinton admininstration. I'd say the Coal Mining Industry and the Government (starting a long time ago) has made great progress. Surely they can do more. I would prefer that they had gone faster, but the facts speak for themselves when comparing current performance vs. longer term trends. Further, to try to make a political statement just doesn't cut mustard.
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