Fear, Greed and the Human Condition

Best Alternative Energy source I can remember seeing

This just might knock high-altitude-wind energy off its’ pedestal in my mind.

I don’t know how I haven’t heard of this technology until now, but the EnviroMission Solar Tower is just amazing.

(image source)

It is basically a huge tube that creates a barrier between hot air close to the ground and cold air high up in the sky, and uses the temperature differential to “create wind” through some turbines that they have conveniently placed in the way!

This looks like a front runner for sustainable energy, even when you account for the energy to create it.  They just signed a 30 year PPA with Southern California to build a 200MW (!!!) one in Arizona.  Their CEO claims that the simple ROI is 11 years, with an 80 year expected life.  I really don’t see a reason why we shouldn’t be putting these things up everywhere!

Besides ingesting the occasional cow, and the crazy amount of dirt they must suck in, I am having a hard time playing the contrarian on this one.

Original Link via HN

Your brain: practice makes perfect

Want to be smarter?  Don’t read this list; go out and use your brain more!  But if you insist, here it is…

1. Seek Novelty

2. Challenge Yourself

3. Think Creatively

4. Do Things The Hard Way

5. Network

From a great article on Scientific American.  For “Do Things The Hard Way” the author is spot-on that GPS makes your sense of direction worse.  I try to leave it off most of the time* since I noticed the same thing.  It also sums up what I love about San Francisco.  It feels refreshing living among such a great number of smart and driven people!  It’s actually hard to go out and engage in a conversation without learning something novel!

*I need it when I’m on my cell phone, which is terrible

Hyundai on the same level as a Mercedes Benz?

I was walking to a restaurant to meet a friend on Saturday and couldn’t help notice that the valet’s for the swanky French bistro Cafe de Amis on Union Street had parked a new Hyundai sedan out front, right in front of a new Mercedes Benz S550!

I have seen many Porsche’s and Bentley’s in the two valet guarded spots they have out front (and a few Ferrari’s and Lamborghini’s) but never a Hyundai before.

When I tell my friends that Hyundai is taking over the car world they all think I’m an idiot, so this is great validation!  They have good looking cars, the random people who drive them like their build quality, and they consistently match the performance and specifications of the current leaders for way less money.

This car was their new flagship the Equus, which is what the President of South Korea rolls around in, but nobody in the US has any idea it exists.  Hell, I looked through their whole website last year reading about this beast but I can’t even pick them out on the highway; they just blend in.  But it’s nice to see it getting a little recognition, even if everyone on the street did look at me strange when I was trying to get a picture of it.

Did you know that Hyundai’s had reclining rear seats?  Seriously?

Essential Bay 2 Breakers resource…

Guide to all the Liquor Stores along the race course!

http://exercisingwhileintoxicated.com/2010/05/14/bay-to-breakers-liquor-store-map-2010/

A friend sent me an email discussing B2B which had a link from Joe Kukura in it, who used to write for SFist.com and now has an interesting blog Exercising While Intoxicated.  He put together this awesome map last year, and I’m sure it will come in handy for the 55,000+ B2B runners this year.