Cat Meets Dog ~ Hazards of Trans-Species Play;-)

This is no doubt morally wrong according to some theology...

Bridging MENACA & EU ~ Trans-Med Initiatives...

The Economist writes The Med’s moment comes: Globalisation is bringing a wave of money to the Mediterranean. This is an exciting development connecting the Old Europe-centric EU to the blossoming emerging markets of the MENACA region from Morocco to the Middle East and beyond... Curiously, this begins to finally return us to the common market and connected community of the Romans some two thousand years ago...

If I Ran Iran, I Wouldn't Fake This Photo ;-)

The idiots in charge of propaganda in the Islamic Republic of Iran tried to pull a fast-one on the world media by photoshopping their rocket launch to make it look more doomly. Check out the expose on Geekologie and in the NYTimes and on BBC...

Nol Browne of Fraunhofer-MIT on HighTechFever

I interviewed MIT Sloan alumnus and MIT Energy Conference Founder Nolan Browne on my HighTechFever TV show tonight, discussing his latest role as Managing Director of the emergent Fraunhofer Center for Sustainable Energy Systems with MIT. The glorious potential of all things Solar & Sustainable should be enough to inspire us here, but I personally am especially motivated by the key faculty, researchers, and other talent in this sector at the Institute. Among the exciting things the Center are up to include: Creating best-of-breed energy-efficient structures and building technologies, reducing the installed cost of solar by one-third, creating a rapid-prototyping laboratory to accelerate research, development and commercialization of energy efficient devices.

Alex d'Arbeloff ~ R.I.P.

Alex d'Arbeloff, MIT alumnus, co-founder of Teradyne, high-tech venture investor, and former Chairman of the MIT Corporation, just passed away. I'm very sad to say we have lost a giant of generosity. I got to know Alex mostly from our work creating and running the MIT Chairman's Salon (with Dianne Goldin, Robert Wickham, et al) and also through his active engagement in so many aspects of Entrepreneurship @ MIT. Alex and Brit, his MIT alumna (and fellow entrepreneur) wife, have been extraordinarily philanthropic supporters of key things at the Institute, from professorships to special initiative funds to physical campus developments. May his venturesome spirit endure through these great gifts and through the dozens -- indeed hundreds -- of entrepreneurs he personally inspired, financed, and otherwise empowered!

The Human Mirror !-)

Yet another delighter spotted by GeekPress impresario Paul Hsieh on Neatorama: the Human Mirror! Improv Everywhere orchestrated a dozen twins to converge and parallel one another on the NYC subway and cause a scene...

Slum Life in Sierra Leone ~ Another Entry in the Kroo Bay Diary

The BBC today published the latest entry in the diary compiled by the nurses and staff (pictured) at a clinic in Kroo Bay, a slum area of Freetown, Sierra Leone. The photo gallery gives further evidence of local life and their exceedingly challenging circumstances. We urgently need to accelerate prosperity so as to render all such scenes and slums everywhere a thing of the past. And let's also celebrate and revere the dedication and vitality of people -- such as these courageous clinicians -- who persevere beyond the problems of the present while caring for and aiding their fellow citizens.

Augustine's Laws ~ Concentration of Productivity

Engineer-businessman Norman Augustine's book Augustine's Laws is one of the greatest compilations of business wisdom ever. My favorite, perhaps, is this delighter where he visualizes the disproportionate impact of a few producers on overall output...

News from the 'Tute!

Couple MIT stories of note...MIT Architecture Professor Larry Sass Puts up a prefab at MoMA as "one of five architects featured in a major show this summer at the Museum of Modern Art titled "Home Delivery: Fabricating the Modern Dwelling," which focuses on the importance of prefabricated and sustainable housing." I've spotlighted Larry before because his ideas can transform the enormous construction sector dramatically.

CNN's Lara Farrar writes Snails inspire design for state-of-the-art robots about MIT Mech E Professor Anette Hosoi's research into the slimey crawlers who can traverse the most remarkable surfaces and orientations. (See also this video of Stanford's StickyBot!-)

MIT alumnus, head of the Venture Mentoring Service, and BOSE Corporation co-founder Sherwin Greenblatt has been tapped as interim CEO of the Alumni Association following Beth Garvin's move to RISD.

Recommended Readings... 080706

A few interesting items...

• Harvard Professor Edward Glaeser writes in the Globe reflecting on how the US began as a Revolution of urban rebels, a notable theme dating back to the Athenian polis.
• Two examples of NIMBY anti-liberty action groups in the news: Victoria Cheng writes in the Globe Moving in, moving out about redevelopment in Chinatown. Finally this blighted part of Boston is getting ever-more much-needed investment. But there's pushback from "community members" who want "development decisions back in the hands of those most affected" as opposed to the property owners, I suppose. Second, Sudbury homeowners protest a bike trail, writes Sarah Schweitzer in Suburban peace vs. pedal power, who quotes neighborhood watchdog Carole Wolfe, "Instead of solitude, you'd be having people." Shock! People would clearly be worse than the trains which previously used the right-of-way. Both of these are examples of democracy-gone-wrong with rich and poor people alike believing their opinion alone entitles them to unfettered influence over the property rights of others.
• Martin Fackler writes in the NYTimes that Japan Sees a Chance to Promote Its Energy Frugal Ways, pointing out that "Japan rushed to embrace these technologies back in the 1980s. Now the rest of the world is finally catching up."
• Christopher Shea in the Globe Brainiac Ideas Blog summarizes the skepticism surrounding Bill Gates's "Creative Capitalism".
• The WSJ delights again with a center-column article by Jane Spencer about Ahmed Ibrahim, the matchmaking cabbie!
• Two more stories about anti-Liberty policies in the US: Steve Hanke and Stephen Walters in the WSJ Blame Taxes for Baltimore's Rot. And Eric Uhlfelder in Barron's writes that prominent global companies have bolted the NYSE and are Taking the Over-the-Counter Route to U.S. because of the onerous burden and unfunded mandate (a.k.a. tax) of Sarbanes-Oxley.
• Patricia Cohen in the NYTimes writes that On Campus, the '60s Begin to Fade as Liberal Professors Retire.
• Bloomberg reports that iRobot is seeking to expand beyond consumer and military markets and is exploring an oil-industry robot building on their MicroRig collaboration with Halliburton.
• Andrew Downie in the NYTimes writes Wanted: Skilled Workers for a Growing Economy in Brazil, about the sizzling growth prospects for this Latin giant which is finally blossoming economically.
• Joe Leahy in the FT writes in A passage through India that "the struggle is on to upgrade roads, rail and ports" and that "inadequate transport infrastructure and power capacity are increasingly limiting the country's economic potential."
• Two curious sex stories in TIME, one by Michiko Toyama entitled Where older dogs are learning new tricks, about the booming "elder porn" genre in Japan. Apparently not to be outdone, David Van Biema writes And God Said, "Just Do It." about churches urging spouses "to have hot sex -- and lots of it."
• Finally, several pieces on emerging happenings in China: Jake Hooker in the NYTimes writes that Quake Revealed Deficiences of China's Military, lamenting that "Chinese troops were eager, but they were unprepared to save lives." Jamil Anderlini in the FT writes that China tries to muzzle quake victim parents who are outraged by the corrupt Communist Party officialdom which allowed shoddy school buildings which disproportionately collapsed, killing kids during the recent quake. Juliet Ye and Geoffrey Fowler write in the WSJ that Chinese Bloggers Scale the 'Great Firewall' in Riot's Aftermath about citizen attempts to spread news despite official censorship. But all is not uniformly dismal and anti-Liberty in China, as Edward Cody writes in the Washington Post, A pioneering Chinese city eyes political reform: Seeks more open, softer socialism. Good.
  

GSM World Coverage

Use your GSM phone on one of the 800-plus networks in some 200 countries worldwide...

Vintage Olympian ~ The Phenomenal Dara Torres!

Olympians are already on a different plane by virtue of their intensity, endurance, and otherwise fanatical and laser focus on premier performance! They occupy a world-apart, a realm most of us cannot probably imagine and certainly not likely approach. There are a number of compelling outlier individuals in the arena of Olympus, but none so inspiring as the American star swimmer Dara Torres, now a five-time Olympic aquarian! This beautiful 41-year old sportswoman supermom (portrayed here with daughter Tessa) has just qualified for and will compete at Beijing 2008!

Accelerating Progress ~ Global Evidence

Emeka Okafor -- crafter of Africa Unchained -- spotlights this glorious graphic about accelerating industrialization...

Liberty ~ The Ceaseless Struggle Continues

On the 4th of July Americans celebrate the Declaration of Independence, a remarkable pact by citizen-statesmen rebelling against a domineering imperialist power! But it is worth remembering that the struggle for Liberty is never-ending both here in the US and worldwide. And that governments which at one point might be reasonably good can too easily become bloated, corrupt, oppressive, and violent, run by pandering partisan politicos, despots and republicrats alike, including those who misrule under the rubric of "democracy" by appealing to the vices of those allowed to vote, who tax-and-spend, redistribute what is not theirs, serve up bread & circuses, and who fundamentally fail to execute on basic civic duties -- e.g. protection of sacrosanct individual rights, security from crime and kidnapping, defense from invasion and oppression, rule-of-law, working courts, anti-corruption, transparency, fiscal frugality, etc.

John Hancock and his fellow 55 signers of the Declaration fought for inalienable individual rights and limited government and against government-imposed limits on personal action, taxation without representation, military adventurism, limits on immigration, illegal seizures of persons and property, and more -- each mentioned by line-item in the Declaration itself. We should remember that these righteous 56 suffered terribly for their boldness and always keep in mind the core principles which their actions bequeathed us. Because the regrettable facts are that today the USA...

• Has a vast array of anti-liberty laws against personal choice -- e.g. zoning laws, licensing laws, rent-controls, employment and labor laws, anti-discrimination ordinances, marriage-limits laws, endless prohibitions on the production, distribution, and/or consumption of alcohol, tobacco, drugs, porn, prostitution, nudity, swear-words, most of the personal "sins", etc.
• Taxes people onerously at all levels, including endless stealth taxes on non-voting corporations, hidden fees, unfunded mandates, impenetrable tax codes, extortionist enforcements, sin taxes, property taxes, death taxes, income taxes, asset taxes, production taxes, consumption taxes, "excess-profit" taxes, etc.
• Engages in outrageously expensive foreign wars either illegally or incompetently or both.
• Prevents free in-migration and open movement of people through barbaric walls and quotas and constraints.
• Seizes property and/or children of people deemed immoral-illegal or merely in the way -- e.g. Waco, Zion Ranch, DC property owners, etc -- and worse. The list, I'm afraid, just goes on and on.

The saddest thing is that while all these pernicious practices show how far this country has strayed away from the glorious freedom-philosophy of Jefferson, Washington, Franklin, Hancock, and other founding fathers, most other countries in the world today are even worse! There is a lot of work to be done. The cause of Liberty globally is great, but the struggle for it must never cease and surrender is not an option!

P.S. One recent small but heartwarming victory in the worldwide fight for Liberty is Operation Jaque, the daring and audacious rescue by Colombian forces of Íngrid Betancourt and 14 others kidnapped and long held hostage by the vicious FARC, a band of Marxist-Leninist guerrilla-terrorist rabble. See the as-it-happened video on BBC!

Singularity Economics ~ Hanson on the Transformations of Humanity

Sam Koritz of Progress Daily spotted this remarkable World Product vs Time chart (below) by Bradford DeLong in a recent IEEE Spectrum article by Robin Hanson entitled Economics of the Singularity, all about societal discontinuities, transformative technologies, revolutionary speedups in economic growth, and more. Highly recommended.

Maps of War ~ 5,000 Years of Fighting...

Ovidiu Bujorean of MIT Sloan & Rudyard Partners on HighTechFever

I interviewed Ovidiu Bujorean on my HighTechFever TV show tonight. Ovi's worn many hats over the years, from his collegiate leadership experiences back in Romania, to more recent scholarly roles at Harvard's KSG and MIT Sloan School of Management (where he served as TA to my Nuts & Bolts of Business Plans course with Joe Hadzima and Yonald Chery), to co-founding Neuron Global, to advising and serving as board member of iCube, the Romanian innovation incubator. Most recently he's joined Rudyard Partners in a consumer technology venture investment capacity. I was especially pleased to solicit his advice on how to maximally build up a network of advisors, mentors, financiers and other supporters in business. This guy is the consumate connector!

Ghonsla ~ Insulating Everyone!

David Chandler spotlights another excellent instance of MIT-in-the-World with an article entitled Simple insulation could combat heat, cold and noise about Ghonsla, a new startup venture born from our Developmental Entrepreneurship efforts at the Institute. MIT graduate student Zehra Ali partnered with Harvard graduate students Emmanuel Arnaud of the Kennedy School of Government and Monica Le of the Harvard School of Public Health (and MIT alumna Mubarik Imam) and honed in on a simple but rugged locally-based materials scheme -- with the help of key MIT architecture and constructions faculty -- for the roughly One Billion mostly rural dwellers who need building insulation but don't yet have it. This is a very compelling emergent opportunity!

Health Percentographs ~ Impacts vs Age Cohorts

Man On Wire ~ New Documentary of Twin Towers Tightrope Performance

The BBC has a lovely little video interview with the key players in and behind the new documentary of Twin Towers tightrope walker Philippe Petit entitled Man On Wire. Says Philippe: "Everyone knows the end of the towers, but this is a celebration of their life!" And the planning and scheming required to pull it off is an MIT-style hack of epic proportions! More from Philippe: "When I see three oranges, I juggle; when I see two towers, I walk." Glorious!

P.S. The incomparable Scott Kirsner weighs in with his own commentary about Petit and Marsh and the documentarians. He also recommends this Sundance snippet...