Geoengineering

The following article was written by my uncle, John Brock, who is a Geo-engineer from Tulsa, Oklahoma. It’s a very succinct argument against Global Warming. Pretty convincing. I don’t feel so bad about not trading in my Clunker now!

I was attracted to the recent Tulsa World Readers Forum article, “Geoengineering: Is it the Solution?” by Law Professor Rex Zedalis because I’ve been practicing Geoengineering for 56 years. The article recapped Geoengineering ideas of how to reduce energy from the sun (and thereby reduce global warming) by various schemes of shielding the earth by using mirrors or clouds of small particles in outer space, etc. This would be the equivalent of having Atlas hold an umbrella between the earth and the sun and just as likely. His intuitive conclusion was correct. DON’T DO IT! Professor Zedalis has lived long enough to suspect an unworkable idea when he sees it. He apparently made his decision based on his experience and his gut feel about the proposals. It would be wonderful if all laymen would do the same without the influence of those infamous witch doctors Michael Moore and Al Gore. Continue reading

Awsome Smart Car

The Smart Car has taken America by storm. It’s a great little car, except for the fact that it doesn’t look very cool. I like cool or classic cars or both. The Smart Car gives me neither. It’s not even that unique anymore.

However, this Smart Car is different. They made these for a few years but cancelled production after too many warranty claims. It was never distributed in the US. Why, God? Why???

Classic YouTube Video

Drunk guy buying beer.  My favorite part is when he grabs the bowl at the end.

Evanston Review

My job at Mather LifeWays was announced in the Evanston Review.

Protein Bars

I’m in search of a tasty Protein Bar. I’ve tried quite a few. Here are some of my thoughts:

Organic Food Bar- “Protein” Flavor- 22 grams of Protein

• Brown, no coating
• Tastes chalky, kind of nasty

Nitro-Tech Hardcore- Strawberry Cheesecake- 30 grams of Protein

• White chocolate coating
• Nice taste, slightly sour aftertaste
• Bigger than most, a bit too big
• Expensive, almost $3.00

Nitro-Tech Hardcore- Pumpkin Pie- 30 grams of Protein

• Barf

Balance Bar- Yogurt Honey Peanut- 15 grams of Protein

• White chocolate coating
• Nice taste, but peanut chucks make me think my teeth are chipping
• Smaller than most
• Less expensive, a box of six cost around $5-$6 at Target

PowerBar Protein Plus- Vanilla Yogurt- 23 grams of Protein

Best taste so far, smooth, kind of creamy

• White chocolate coating
• Good size, filling
• Hard to find sometimes
• Expensive, about $2.75 each

Cliff Builder’s Bar- Peanut Butter 20 grams of Protein

• Chocolate coated
• Kind of dry
• Getting tired of the taste

Honest Food Bar– Almond Trail Mix

• I forgot how much protein
• Delicious!
• Expensive, $2.50 each
• Good Web site

Fishing

I bought some kid fishing poles on Woot.com. I’m thinking of getting some gear together and going fishing. Here is a link to the Illinois Fishing Guide. Skokie Lagoons are near my house.

The Founders’ Pie Calculator

I’m always on the lookout for good tools for entrepreneurs. Frank Demmler from Carnegie Mellon has developed a  simple model for allocating equity in a start-up company called the Founders’ Pie Calculator.

Frank’s concept is on the right track. It attempts to allocate equity based on the individual contributions from participants. It does not account for financial inputs, intellectual property, relationships, resources, etc. Also, founders have to plan different phases in advance, which seems kind of subjective.

Since I first came across this model in 2009 I’ve developed my own model which is much easier to implement. It’s called Slicing Pie. Click the book below for more information.

Google Sidewiki- Aaaaaargh!

Several years ago I came up with an idea to allow anyone to add comments to any site (I was pretty proud of myself). It would be a sidebar plugin that users could annoymously post comments to when they were on a particular site. When others, who had the plugin, looked at the same page the comments would appear.

I joined forces with a programmer named Marc Van Houwelingen (also wrote www.Calculatem.com) to develop the site. It’s called BlipNut.com and it’s cool.

Today I noticed that Google has come out with the same concept. It’s called Google Sidewiki and it does the same thing as BlipNut.com. The interface is a cooler, but it’s the same general idea. Too bad Google didn’t give us one of those big Google checks that they hand out to innovative companies to buy their technology. It would have been nice to be another Craigslist.com or YouTube.com. I guess I got in the wrong line.

Anywhoo. I can at least claim that one of my ideas was good enough for Google before Google even knew it!

AllerTees.com

My sister, Robin Chung, came up with the idea to make cool t-shirts for kids with allergies (like my son, Anson, and her son, Ty). She thought of the name “Allertees.com” and wanted me to draw the pictures. So I did. You can visit Allertees.com and buy the shirts. It’s a Cafe Press site.

Anne’s Birthday

Hooray for Anne!