grey hair and pimples: Archive

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Interesting Forest data from NASA →

Hopefully they’ll come up with a map of different types of land (arable, forest, desert, etc.) as they further along their research.

Oct 21st

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Solving Global Warming... with Startups?

So, here’s one suggestion on how to solve global warming using existing tech. First, the facts: each ton of CO2 causes $21 of economic damage. This means that: A tax of $0.21 per gallon on fossil-fuels will be enough to pay for the amount of CO2 produced. This would raise the price of e.g. gasoline by 6% (at $3.50/gallon). A tax of $0.022 per kWh of coal-produced electricity will be enough...

Oct 7th

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An armchair engineer's plan to solve global...

Recently, I needed something to distract me from work that needed to be done. So I calculated how many trees each person would need to plant to offset our carbon emissions. For the whole world, the average is ~200 trees. For the American, it comes out to ~1200 trees per person (per lifetime of the tree, which can be roughly compared to a human lifetime). Currently, one can have trees planted for a...

Sep 8th

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Farm Fish in Your Backyard: DIY Aquaponic System... →

Saw this video in a couple of articles…

Sep 8th

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Localize It: PodPonics Grows High-Tech Organic... →

Another startup solving the food problem… artificial lights is the wrong way to go, in my opinion. Anyways, kudos to them!

Aug 21st

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What is AutoMicroFarm?

AutoMicroFarm is like solar panels, but for your food. What if you could grow 90% of the food essentials that your family needs—vegetables, fruits, fish, nuts, and beans—in an area the size of a two-car garage? What if that food kept you healthy and skinny? What if the time to maintain it took no more than going to the farmer’s market each week? What if the ongoing cost for this was 90%...

Aug 19th

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TED talk on aquaponics

Wow… this guy presents a vision very closely aligned with what I had imagined. The other two resources that I had in mind are: Beekeeping: have an embedded wall unit that houses a beehive (think window AC), enabling them to fly both outside and inside the greenhouse to pollinate the plants, and provide honey. Freshwater clams/mollusks to further also filter the water and provide food...

Jun 6th

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Starting the AutoMicroFarm MVP

Thanks to my wife’s support, I’ve decided to start the AutoMicroFarm MVP in the late summer/early fall. To do so, I’ll buy the following for less than $500, hopefully: greenhouse on craigslist materials for an aquaponics setup garduino, arduarium The biggest hurdle to making this work is the yield per square foot, in my opinion. If I can achieve at least 10 lbs yield per...

May 21st

New recipe: Fried Celery and Other Vegetables

I threw a few random chopped-up vegetables into the skillet and it came out pretty delicious, so I’m recording it here to try and repeat it again at a future date: Ingredients 2 tablespoons rice (or other) vinegar 1/2 teaspoon vegetable oil 1 medium onion 2 cloves of garlic 2 stalks of celery 1/4 bell pepper 5 Portobello mushrooms dash of ground pepper or other seasonings ...

Mar 13th

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AutoMicroFarm Minimum Viable Product

I am thinking the MVP for the AutoMicroFarm would be between 4 and 24 square feet of growing space; this would require between 30 and 180 gallons for the fish tank. I have two options in mind for the MVP: Take it indoors; this adds light requirements [1]. In essence, it become an aquaponics kit such as this one, but with lights. Advantages: don’t need to worry about heating/cooling;...

Feb 6th

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3½ months into the ETL Diet

Yesterday marked 3½ months since I’ve started the ETL diet. I’ve lost exactly 40 pounds during this period. Unfortunately, I’ve fallen a bit off the wagon in the last few weeks with the season’s holidays and accompanying food. I’ve only lost 1.5 pounds during that time, instead of the 3-4 I was hoping/planning to lose. Overall, I am very pleased with my progress,...

Jan 2nd

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Phase I of the ETL diet completed: 24 pounds lost...

Today marks the completion of the six-week Phase I of the ETL diet. I lost a total of 24 pounds and about 4” in waist size in these six weeks. Overall, I was pleasantly surprised, and on some level, underwhelmed by how quickly my life became normal with the new diet. Aside from a period of initial adjustment I blogged about here, I can’t really point out any one thing that changed for...

Nov 1st

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My Top Idea Refined: A Greenhouse in a...

I’ve been continuing to think about how to implement the automated microfarm idea I first blogged about here. What has spurred me to think this idea is feasible is the Eat to Live diet that I have been following for five weeks now (to great results, with more to report soon.) According to the diet, an adult optimally needs 2lbs of vegetables daily, 1 lb of fruit, 0.3 lbs beans/legumes,...

Oct 24th

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Week One of the ETL diet: I lost 7 pounds in 7...

So I read the book “Eat to Live” a few weeks ago and knew I had to go on this diet (or rather, lifestyle change). I finally started the diet last Monday. After a week, I lost seven pounds. Here are my observations: The Good I lost seven pounds! I did not feel hungry, except some days about an hour before lunch or dinner. I feel light even when I am full. The Bad I have this...

Sep 27th

Cary Park Tour Fall 2010

My wife and I have been discussing the idea of doing a “tour” of parks in and near Cary. Here are the parks we have visited and liked: These parks have playground(s) for kids, as well as paths for walking. There are 22 parks, according to the Cary website, so we’ve got a ton of exploration left. We would like to make a schedule and invite all who are interested (i.e. YOU) to...

Sep 7th

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My Top Idea

Recently, Paul Graham wrote an essay exploring the concept of a Top Idea: I think most people have one top idea in their mind at any given time. That’s the idea their thoughts will drift toward when they’re allowed to drift freely. And this idea will thus tend to get all the benefit of that type of thinking, while others are starved of it. This has prompted me to share my top idea...

Aug 6th

Jul 10th

Australian design team unveils Robotic Kitchen →

Jun 1st

Stuff that I've been thinking about...

http://www.naturemill.com http://www.refarmthecity.org

Apr 18th

Empire #2

Только Ты Mark, the winner! Три Друга, made up Не Я, made up Кто Я, made up Я папа Dina, guessed by Mark Поле Чудес Marina, guessed by Mark Барак Обама Vasya, guessed by Marina Папа Валера dad, guessed by Dina Леша Поповичь Kristina, guessed by Mark Молодежная Спевка Anna, guessed by Marina Оранжевые Опилки Ilya, guessed by Dina Хорошая Чипичка Vica, guessed by Mark

Dec 6th

Empire

Не я а ты Dina, winner! True Love made up Red Baron made up White Tooth Anna, guessed by Kristina Grey Hose Mark, guessed by Dina Yellow Submarine Ilya, guessed by Kristina Белый Лошадь Dad, guessed by Kristina Solitary Confinement Marina, guessed by Vica Missing Fluff Vica, guessed by Kristina Roly Poly Kristina, guessed by Dina

Dec 6th

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Chapter 1...

Alan is a web developer with a degree in music composition. His wife, Katherine, is a neuroscientist researching computer-brain interfaces. During his free time, Alan dabbles in computer-generated music: he writes progressively higher-abstraction algorithms that generate symphonies. With time, his music tends towards algorithms with more symmetry and recursion that generate ever-more beautiful...

Aug 7th

Flax Bread Recipe →

Jun 10th

May 29th

Building Integrated Agriculture →

May 22nd

Carpe Diem - Why you should build your... →

May 18th

Roger Dean →

May 15th

More Other Homes and Garbage: Designs for... →

Adding this book to read later

May 11th

May 7th

WattzOn →

Apr 9th

Apr 8th

Total US Vehicle-Miles Traveled →

This is the latest (about 3-4 months behind realtime). Just hack the url to get later months.

Mar 17th

Listen

Mar 16th

Feb 9th

Jan 27th

Jan 23rd

ROWE →

Oct 23rd

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idea: a machine that eats dirt and prints roads

The machine would be remote-controlled or robotic guided by GPS and/or other wireless technologies the machine would “eat” the dirt in front of it Use the ~13,000C plasma process to turn it into a glassy/concrete/asphalty substance (another great article about plasma converters here) Print out the road behind it. Edit: more links in the comments

Sep 2nd

Разговор Авелии

Aug 29th

“Antipsalm 23 I’m on my own. No one looks out for me or protects...”

Aug 29th

Aug 25th

What will be the next disruptive platform(s)?

Currently, the top news.yc story is Mitch Kapor speaking at a YC dinner. The main topic was catching the next wave, a disruptive platform. This set in motion a chain of random thoughts I’ve been having about the next disruptive platform, one of many possible: the personal 3D printer. Specifically, I am talking about the RepRap project and its “forks”, to borrow a software term. ...

Aug 9th

Aug 8th

Reply to ezLearnz critique on y4j

Knownasilya writes, “First of all, love that your using ruby/rails.. great stuff. I would suggest using a 2 color scheme.. white on white doesnt work very well.. either have the background darker or the foreground. Also lose the shadow and the rounded corners.. their not necessary. The icons are big but thats not the main problem. most people are used to certain icons and plus there are...

Jul 31st

Green entrepreneurs are helping America's... →

Jul 30th

Is it possible to combine entrepreneurship and...

Anna and I heard another great sermon today at our church, The Summit. We had a guest speaker today: Dr. Akin, the president of Southeastern Baptist Seminary, who preached about missions. However, the ideas that went through my mind had to do with my passions of entrepreneurship and missions. Is it possible to combine the two succesfully? Here are my thoughts: Have a network of companies whose...

Jun 29th

“But as the student programmer once said, “I get the feeling that the...”

– Overcoming bias

Jun 26th

Is the universe actually made of math? →

Jun 17th

“about as agile as a 16-wheeler with no gas in the tank and 12 flat tires”

– Tamerlin @ news.yc

Jun 11th

I failed my first CAPCHA today...

Am I a bot?

Jun 3rd