the Cluetrain Manifesto

Online Markets... Networked markets are beginning to self-organize faster than the companies that have traditionally served them. Thanks to the web, markets are becoming better informed, smarter, and more demanding of qualities missing from most business organizations.	...People of Earth The sky is open to the stars. Clouds roll over us night and day. Oceans rise and fall. Whatever you may have heard, this is our world, our place to be. Whatever you've been told, our flags fly free. Our heart goes on forever. People of Earth, remember.

Friday’s Fact

Who coined the phrase “knowledge is Power”?

Last weeks fact centered around the National Geographic's Genographic Project

SOET Hierarchy

Earlier this evening while giving two short presentations regarding this blog at the Technology Center, I was asked about the structure of the School of Engineering and Technology. Apparently, there is some confusion about the hierarchy from the student’s point of view and I was asked to clarify.

National University currently has six schools:

School of Education

School of Business and Management

College of Letters and Sciences

School of Engineering and Technology

School of Media and Communication

School of Health and Human Services

The School of Engineering and Technology is run by Dr. Howard Evans who is the schools Dean. The school has two Chairs or Dept. Heads:

The Department of Applied Engineering is run by Dr. Shekar Viswanathan.

The Department of Computer Science and Information Systems is run by Mr. John Bugado.

I believe as of last count the School of Engineering and Technology has 12 full time faculty and over 100 adjuncts.

Hope this helps.

Camtasia Studio

Recently I produced a short ‘ad’ for a school contest that received good reviews. Several people asked what program was used for the clip and my answer was Camtasia Studio by TechSmith.

“Camtasia Studio records real, full-motion video of anything on your screen - no assembly required. With Camtasia Studio's exclusive screen recording codec, you get both perfect quality screen recordings and small file sizes.”

I personally found the program very intuitive, flexible, generating small file sizes and a pleasure to work with.

Got Freedom?

On first blush National University sells education but what does it really sell? My answer is Freedom! Obtaining a degree brings many things and depending on your individual viewpoint it may bring status, advancement, job mobility, more money, more time, more life, more happiness, more responsibility or whatever else you can attribute to the achievement. National is not like a standard university that has classes in the daytime. National provides an education either on-line or in a classroom at night which frees up your days for work or whatever else you want to occupy your time with. Attending National is Freedom.

FierceWireless

This is a great free site that keeps you up-to-date on wireless space. This is part of today's headlines.

Marconi has agreed to sell its name and telecom equipment assets to Ericsson for £1.2 billion ($2.1 billion). The UK company will retain its service business under the name Telent. Ericsson claims growing demand for mobile and fixed broadband convergence is driving the deal. An estimated 6,670 Marconi staff will move to Ericsson, but the company expects to lay off some 1,000 workers, especially those at Marconi's UK sites and overseas.

Ericsson agreed to acquire all of Marconi's telecom equipment assets, including DSL, softswitch and optical businesses. Ericsson will also be buying Marconi's data networking assets, but not some of Marconi's UK and German operations, even though the company was previously rumored to be doing the opposite. Analysts at Ovum say Marconi's former position as a major player in the optical systems market will complement Ericsson's UMTS network. Marconi's DSL/MSAN assets could provide the necessary backhaul technology for Ericsson's mobile networks.

Genographic Project: A Landmark Study of the Human Journey (Friday's Fact)

Did you know that according to innovative DNA studies your first ancestor was possibly an African who lived approximately 60,000 years ago? You too can map your genetic history by supplying National Geographic's Genographic Project with a sample cheek swab of your DNA and see how far back in time and from where you came from. The tests are performed anonymously and point to your ancient genetic lineage. The test will not provide specific information on genetic defects or what your great granddad looked like but it will help unmask some of your past. I know one person who has taken the test and determined that his genes go back to over 10,000 years to Russian heritage. Have any of you taken the test?

Last weeks fact is Libya. The flag is simply green.

AeA High Tech Awards

Chancellor Lee generously purchased a table at the 12^th annual AeA High Tech Awards held today at the Hilton Torrey Pines. The awards were presented to companies in the categories of Software, Internet/Web Commerce, Computers, Communications Products, Technology/ IT Services, Semiconductor/Instrumentation, Medical Device, and Emerging Growth. Congratulations to the winning company’s.

Claritas, Inc. Best Software

Websense, Inc. Best Internet/Web Commerce

Verari Systems Best Computers

ViaSat, Inc. Best Communications

ID Analytics Best Technology/IT Services

Entropic Communications Best Semiconductors

Cardio Dynamics Best Medical Device

Akonix Systems, Inc. Best Emerging Growth

Innovative Energy Sources – What is the next step?

Do you realize that while your reading this post, tech savvy people in India and China are buying American products…networked products; and using these products to communicate more efficiently they are building large economies that rely on massive energy consumption? The next logical step is that they will no longer need us. Unless we as a nation remain the most tech savvy country, by applying ourselves individually to an on-going reeducation program, we will end up picking up the crumbs. The beauty of it is that we can. But will we? We cannot expect to stay on top by grumbling about jobs going overseas or the price of gas skyrocketing. We will stay on top by getting back to the basics of math, science, and engineering in our feeder school systems. The result is an innovative core grounded in science at the university level and innovation in business. President Kennedy proposed putting a man on the moon. The result was the technology behind the computer today. We need to embrace a new vision; one that will catapult us into the next series of technical breakthroughs. A natural proposal is developing new energy sources and the ramifications will be astounding as that goal is reached.

NANOSILVER Kills Viruses, Study Finds

Tuesday, October 18, 2005 - FreeMarketNews.com

In a groundbreaking study, the Journal of Nanotechnology has published a study that found silver nanoparticles kills HIV-1 and is likely to kill virtually any other virus. The study, which was conducted by the University of Texas and Mexico University, is the first medical study to ever explore the benefits of silver nanoparticles, according to Physorg.

more

Transparent Armor

From Air Force Link

Engineers here are testing a new kind of transparent armor -- stronger and lighter than traditional materials -- that could stop armor-piercing weapons from penetrating vehicle windows.

The Air Force Research Laboratory's materials and manufacturing directorate is testing aluminum oxynitride -- ALONtm -- as a replacement for the traditional multi-layered glass transparencies now used in existing ground and air armored vehicles.

The test are being done in conjunction with the Army Research Laboratory at Aberdeen Proving Grounds, Md., and University of Dayton Research Institute, Ohio.

ALONtm is a ceramic compound with a high compressive strength and durability. When polished, it is the premier transparent armor for use in armored vehicles, said. 1st Lt. Joseph La Monica, transparent armor sub-direction lead

"The substance itself is light years ahead of glass," he said, adding that it offers "higher performance and lighter weight."

Battle of the Blogs

I just lost a painful battle against Lefty. Congratulations and thank you to those who voted. This blog needs some help. Any ideas how to make it more appealing?

In Time

I often wondered how ‘matter’ scattered around the universe at such great distances in the same ‘timeframe’ that it takes ‘light’ billions of years to arrive here while at the same time the universe is supposed to be only 13 billion years old. Then I saw this and realized that the galaxies are NOT MOVING per se but that the geometry of space is dynamic and changes in time. In other words the galaxies don’t move farther apart they just BECOME farther apart. This movie shows that the cosmological ‘redshift’ is due to the geometry of space being dependant on time.

Ring Tone Violation

Are you in violation of a protected ring-tone each time you dial your own phone? This company claims it may have the rights to your special ring-tone. Check it out.

Friday's Fact

What country has the simplest Flag? In other words what flag requires the least amount of effort to produce? Flags have various colors, patterns and images but one flag has the most basic design.

Last week’s fact is: The most recent expenditures found in this report show that the U.S. government spent $2.338 trillion dollars in 2004 or about a billion dollars every 4 hours.

The Engine of Reason, The Seat of the Soul

This morning I enjoyed being a guest in Dr. Paul Churchland’s Philosophy class at UCSD. Today’s topic was on sentiment-based morality and the views of Hume, Rousseau and Kant. Thank you Paul!

Harriet Miers

The president's nomination of longtime friend and personal attorney Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court may be another stroke of genius. Harriet has a blog, is funny, can’t spell or punctuate but maybe just what the Supreme Court needs; a real life.

Outrageous Entertainment

The following excerpt from Ayn Rand’s, The Fountainhead, shows a fictional yet accurate example of how modern general public views science. It is an unfortunate truth that has trickled down to the American youth who shuns math, science, and engineering while the youth in China and India embrace these topics. Wynand, Rand’s media mogul character, understood the mindset of the public and gave them the outrageous entertainment they craved. Unfortunately, we experience a similar mindset today when we see Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and Jerry Yang are stars in China and India while the youth in America idolize rap artists.

The first campaign of the Banner was an appeal for money for a charitable cause. Displayed side by side, with an equal amount of space, the Banner ran two stories: one about a struggling young scientist, starving in a garret, working on a great invention; the other about a chambermaid, the sweetheart of an executed murderer, awaiting the birth of her illegitimate child. One story was illustrated with scientific diagrams; the other – with the picture of a loose-mouth girl wearing a traffic expression and disarranged clothes. The Banner asked its readers to help both these unfortunates. It received nine dollars and forty-five cents for the young scientist; it received one thousand and seventy-seven dollars for the unwed mother. Gail Wynand called a meeting of his staff. He put down on the table the paper carrying both stories and the money collected for both funds. “Is there anyone here who doesn’t understand?” he asked. No one answered. He said: “Now you all know the kind of paper the Banner is to be.”

Now you know where future innovation will take place, that is unless something is done about it.

Friday's Fact

Today's Fact Courtesy of Dr. Evans.

A Billion is a lot. The next time you hear a politician use the word “billion,” casually, think about whether you want that politician spending your tax dollars. A billion is a difficult number to comprehend so here is some help.

A billion seconds ago it was 1973 and a lot of you reading this hadn’t been born yet.

A billion minutes ago was around the time of the birth of Christianity.

A billion hours ago our ancestors were living in the Stone Age.

A billion days ago nothing walked on two feet on earth.

A billion dimes (the thinnest coin in the U.S. mint) stacked one on top of the other would be over 4 million feet tall. To put that into perspective, the Taipei 101 building is currently the world tallest building, standing 1,670 feet and it would take 2495 of them standing on top of each other to equal a billion stacked dimes.

Now the scary part…

A billion dollars ago, at the rate our government spends it was how long ago?

Last weeks fact is “math.” (Yes I know ‘math’ was included in the question, but all answers are in the question if you know where to look.) Anyway, this is based on The Pyramid of Science, first postulated by Frederick Turner, a University of Texas humanist and referenced by Leon Lederman in his book, The God Particle, where I found it. “There exists,” Turner said, “a science pyramid. The base of the pyramid is mathematics, not because math is more abstract or more groovy, but because mathematics does not rest upon or need any of the other disciplines, whereas physics, the next layer of the pyramid, relies on mathematics. Above physics sits chemistry, which requires the discipline of physics; in this admittedly simplistic separation, physics in not concerned with how atoms combine to form molecules and how molecules behave when in close proximity. The forces between atoms are complex, but ultimately they have to do with the law of attraction and repulsion of electrically charged particles – in other words, physics. Then comes biology, which rests on an understanding of both chemistry and physics. The upper tiers of the pyramid become increasingly blurred and less definable: as we reach physiology, medicine, psychology, the pristine hierarchy becomes confused. At the interfaces are the hyphenated or compound subjects: mathematical physics, physical chemistry, biophysics.”

The pyramid may be disrespectfully summed up by an old saying: the physicists defer only to the mathematicians, and the mathematicians defer only to God (though you may be hard pressed to find a mathematician that modest, I’m married to one).

Rudy took the only swing by answering “logic.” Thanks Rudy.

Haloscan is Up.

Well they must have heard me. Haloscan is functioning again. Anyone else have a problem with Haloscan?

Haloscan is Down

Haloscan, a commenting and trackback program used on this blog has been down all morning and I don’t know why. The site cannot even be located and you cannot comment.

Competitiveness, Truth, and Universities

Bob Evans, Editorial Director at CMP, wrote an article in the October 3, 2005 issue of Information Week, entitled, “Competitiveness, Truth, and Universities,” that holds universities directly accountable for the lack of student interest in vital areas such as engineering, computer science, math, and physics. Also referenced in the article are some lectures delivered by Bill Gates to several universities, including prestigious Carnegie Mellon, where a student asked if Microsoft planned to outsource? The answer has an interesting twist. The faculty, administrators, and students at NU should read this article and in doing so become encouraged by the fact that NU does keep in touch with the technical requirements of business, but we can do more to encourage the pursuit of technical degrees. NU is in such a unique position because we influence and educate the current workforce.

About Nothing

As scientists try to understand the basic building blocks of the universe they keep delving into nothing…here are some thoughts on Nothing.

We shape clay into a pot, but it is the emptiness inside that holds what we want.

--Tao-Te Ching

Nothing is too wonderful to be true.

-- Michael Faraday

It could be that the real universe….is perhaps what has been started by some disastrous experiment performed some twenty billion years ago by a post-graduate student in order to test the structure of a vacuum of another universe.

-- Johann Rafelski and Berndt Muller

Anybody who knows all about nothing knows everything.

-- Leonard Susskind, Physicist, Stanford University

The zero is something that must be there in order to say that nothing is there.

-- Karl Menninger

Every craftsman searches for what’s not there to practice his craft.

-- thirteenth-century poet Rumi, Work and Emptiness

Although atoms are way more than 99.99 percent empty space, I have a real problem in walking through a wall.

-- Leon Lederman, The God Particle

The idea of a void – of emptiness, nothingness, spacelessness, placelessness, all such “lessness” – is at once abhorrent and inconceivable; and yet it haunts us in the strangest, most paradoxical way: “Nothing is more real than nothing.”

-- Oliver Sacks, The Oxford Companion to the Mind

There is still a difference between something and nothing, but it is purely geometrical and there is nothing behind the geometry.

-- Martin Gardner, The Mathematical Magic Show

One of the most surprising recent advances in cosmology is that 75% of the Universe seems to be made of nothing.

-- Charles Lineweaver

There is a deeper message here: Your own body is a phantom, one that your brain has temporarily constructed purely for convenience.

-- V. S. Ramachandran

Nothingness lies coiled in the heart of being – like a worm.

-- Jean-Paul Sartre

Nothing matters.

-- J. C. Thomas