A friend of mine sent me the following quote:

Most existing monitoring tools are ugly plugs with lame LCD screens and while some companies, namely Tendril (http://www.tendrilinc.com/) and Greenbox (http://www.getgreenbox.com/) are taking a more integrated and systematic approach.

This is an interesting area in the transition from electron based power systems to future alternatives. One of the most interesting alternatives to me is the concept of bio energy or bio replacements. For example, instead of burning a filment using electrons to create light, why not use a bioluminescence process that proceeses human waste and carbon dioxide into carbon waste…

Outside of the fact that the machine itself with top installed RAM, CPU, and hard drive specifications simply can not run Vista, it suffers from a cheapness, poor quality, and unthoughtfulness. I am writing this on a MacBook AIR that cost literally half as much money and is vastly superior in every way. Leaving the OS aside, the AIR is actually small, versus the clunky “brick factory” design of the X61. The keyboard on the AIR is backlit, versus no lighting of any kind on the X61 keyboard. The touchscreen and tablet functions are “cool,” but they rarely can keep pace with the painfully slow Vista OS that performs as if it calculating the future polar ice climate models even when idle. To change the orientation of the X61 screen when you move the device around takes 30-90 seconds with each adjustment, backlogging switches as you move the device.

The very fact that a top of the line device left a factory floor with such poor standards is a testament that nobody is leading the company anymore. It is only worsened by the fact that my X61 broke shorlty after arrival, and it took a whopping SIX MONTHS to be repaired, versus walking into an Apple store and getting a new machine with all of my data backed up in 6 hours. I sent it to a central repair depot twice, and then they actually sent two seperate people onsite without necessary parts. Need I say more.

Avoid Lenovo. Avoid ThinkPad. It was a difficult $3,000 lesson for me to learn. Buy a cheap computer for a cheap amount of money instead…

While camping deep in “gold” country this weekend, we learned about the practice of hydraulic mining in the mid 1800’s. Large water pathways were carved through the land, and water was funneled into smaller and smaller tubes until the stream became a powerful jet that washed away mountains in the quest for gold. A good read about the practice is available here.

They found a lot of gold, killed a lot of people, and completed wiped out hundreds of miles of habitat. Over 320 million wheelbarrels of material were moved by one hydraulic operation that I visited.

While traveling around the country by Jeep, I spent a little time
listening to Trucker Radio. The current diesel costs and the impact on
the economy were hot topics of discussion. I had a bit of revelation
that there are probably 1000s of business models that are only viable
due to cheap fuel. The interesting thing about fuel is that the costs
compound for every material/ingredient in a consumer good or
manufactured food.

Some questions that are stuck in my head is… How expensive does fuel
have to become before locally produced goods become competitive? Will
there be a return of the “family farm”? Could local micro-factories
inspired by web economics and sustainable practices be profitable?

The tools that I’m missing are ones that help me as a entrepreneur
identify niche goods and markets that are ready to be brought home.
How do we identify the commonality of goods and services in our
everyday lives? Can we use modern concepts of software engineering
like DRY and YAGNI to identify potential business ideas?

If we could analyze incoming goods and their contents like data
packets, we should be able to perform some interesting compression.

Just some thoughts…

There are also those among us whose greatness lingers behind the scenes, shining in the dark corners of our world. Their greatness peers through the challenges of life to surprise and to inspire us.

Those who stand up for what they believe in.
Those who are curious about the world around them.
Those who raise their hand to help a friend.
Those who contribute without an expectation of return.

Cal was one of those people, a great person, a great mind, and a great friend.

Cal forged a life of friendship in the face adversity. He built a world where his friends were his family. He had our back. He gave selflessly. He inspired us. He is an original.

I will always have your back, my friend. I know where you have gone.

Welcome home.
Welcome back.
Rest in peace.

Another warrior has fallen, and your time has come too early for this world.

The Memorial Program

09:00 - 10:00 > The Casket of Memories Ceremony
10:00 - 10:05 > Welcome
10:05 - 10:35 > Friend Eulogies (2 minutes each)
10:35 - 11:15 > JMorton will DJ
11:13 - 12:00 > Hungry March Band
12:00 - 12:05 > Toast
12:05 - 12:15 > Hungry March Band (”Taps”)
12:15 - 01:00 > DJ Orion
01:00 - 02:00 > DJ Conrad

At 3:00 AM in a lounge while listening to live music on July 31st, 2008, my friend, Pierre, leaned over and said: “I have some bad news. JudgeCal is dead.”

In shock, and asked what happened, and I learned that he had been found dead in his apartment. A terrible sinking feeling came over me that he was alone, and I ran downstairs and hopped in a cab. After getting home, I called the morgue, which was closed, and then called the police precinct near his house.

“There are no reports, sir, of a Mark Chamberlain being brought in since July 20th anywhere in the city,” the officer said. Mark was the name that he had given up as a 15-year old kid on the street. JudgeCal matched his Judge Dredd tatoo and image as judge, jury, and executioner.

Of course, I was now hoping that this was all some type of bad hoax or new show. Awaking fully clothed and in shock the next morning sprawled on the bed, I grabbed some coffee and called the morgue. It was finally open, and I got transferred around a couple times as I asked for Mark Chamberlain.

“Nobody by that name has come in.”

I was about to hang up with the morgue when she asked, “maybe he was unidentified. Can you describe him?” I responded that he had a lot of tatoos on his arms and blond hair. She said, “platinum blond?”

A lot of people contribute to who you are, some in big ways, some in small ways, and some in other ways. Cal, as I liked to call him, was an “other way” contributor for me. He opened my mind. He helped me get back into gadgets and technology by showing his favorite video games or his radio frequency scanner. He always told the truth, and he always had your back. My first ride on the Nautilus at Burning Man was with Cal, just like my first all night video game deathmatch.

Across the thousands of people that come through my life, I have many great memories with JudgeCal. We were friends for just under 15 years, and I regret not having seen him in about a year.

IN MEMORY OF =JUDGECAL=

Born April 21, 1968. Passed July 25, 2008. =JUDGECAL’S= mission and GREAT WORK has been to awaken the sleeper in all of us. It is time to take up THE cause and BE responsible for our collective actions in an individual way.

FOR ANYONE THAT WANTS TO ATTEND FUNERAL SERVICES, PLEASE JOIN THIS MAILING LIST.