Graham Glass, etc.

Stem Cell Research: Remarkable Video

It's one thing to read about the wonders of stem cells, but it's another thing entirely to see a movie that demonstrates their power. This video shows two mice, each with a spinal cord injury. The first mouse was untreated, and drags its feet around pathetically. The second mouse was given stem cell treatment and miraculously hops around. Amazing stuff, and this is just the beginning.

Laser Eye Surgery: Update

I spent the last two weeks wearing glasses in preparation for laser eye surgery this Thursday. At the final examination yesterday, I was told that since I wear toric soft lenses, I need to wear glasses for three weeks, not two. In addition, they recommended that I don't travel for at least two weeks after surgery just in case some adjustments need to be made. Unfortunately, because of my travel schedule, I need to reschedule the surgery for sometime in summer. Bummer!

Walking Robots

This CNN article describes a new kind of robot that is able to walk like a human. It walks on stilts instead of feet, thus requiring a superior kind of balancing ability compared with previous robot designs.

Review: Sahara

I'm a huge Clive Cussler fan, so in spite of some of the negative reviews, I felt compelled to see Sahara. Overall, it was quite entertaining, but fairly different from the way that I imagined the story while reading it.

For example, Dirk Pitt is described as being tall with black hair and a thin nose. Simiarly, Al Giordino is described as short, dark, barrel-chested with a wild mane of curly black hair. Neither of the cast characters matches that well with these descriptions. Matthew McConaughey as Dirk isn't too bad, but Steve Zahn as Al is not even close.

If I hadn't read any Dirk Pitt books, I'd have enjoyed the movie more. I wish that the producers had done a better job of casting. It will be interesting to see if any more Clive Cussler books are turned into movies, and if so, whether the casting remains the same.

Laser Eye Surgery: Pre-Op

As I mentioned in the last part of this series, I recently decided to have laser eye surgery. Before the surgery could be scheduled, I had to have a pre-operative exam to make sure that my eyes are suitable for the treatment. Because contact lenses subtlely change the shape of your eyes, I had to wear glasses for a week prior to the examination. The exam went great, and my surgery is scheduled for next Thursday. I will of course blog my experience and the final result.

Review: Hackers and Painters

I just finished reading "Hackers and Painters" by Paul Graham. The book is a collection of essays around the common theme of software technology. Paul writes with insight and eloquence about a wide variety of topics, including nerds, clear thinking, how to make money, how to start a company, computer languages and software design. If you're a techie, especially one with an interest in software startups, then I highly recommend it.

Apollo Panoramas

When I was four, I had a "Boys Book of Knowledge" and read the chapter about space travel every evening for at least a year. Since then, I've always been fascinated by the idea of humans in space. So I was particularly happy to stumble across the Panoramas site which includes some awesome panoramic views from the Apollo program. My favorite is this view from Apollo 11.

Geocaching: First Cache

I've been interested in the rapidly growing sport of geocaching for a while. So last weekend, my friend Pilar and I hid our first cache. The entry for our "Sunny Breezy Cache #1" is located here at geocaching.com.

The cache was made from a Rubbermaid container, a camera, a notepad, trinkets, plastic bags to keep things dry, and a travel bug wrapped around a cuddly cow called Florence. Then we traveled to a local park in Maryland, found a promising area in a wood close to a lake, hid the cache, and measured its GPS coordinate using a handheld device. Later, I uploaded  information about the cache and the travel bug to the geocaching.com web site.

It was great fun to receive an email just a couple of days later from someone who had found the cache and taken Florence the cow on the next step of her adventure. Geocaching is great fun and I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to try something a little different.

Humans in Space

There was an interesting article on Slashdot today that listed the top three reasons for humans in space. They were:

1. To Survive
2. To Live
3. To Work

The reason for #1 is that nasty things periodically happen to the Earth, such as being hit by a big asteroid or ravaged by a plague, and if we want humanity to survive, it's a good idea to make sure there are humans elsewhere in the galaxy. One of the my favorite quotes from the article is:

Dinosaurs died because they didn't have a Space Program

This sounds funny, but is also profoundly true.

Personally, I think the #1 reason for humans in space is "to have fun". Humans are the most curious animal on the planet, and we should be very proud of wanting to do adventurous things for pleasure. However, this doesn't normally go over very well to the general taxpayer, so we invent other reasons such as "good for long term security" or "important to fuel our economy" so that people can nod their heads wisely and buy into the plan.

I'd love it if the US President said to the American people:

Years ago, our founding fathers made the bold decision to set sail across the ocean and start a new colony in a place that is now known as the United States of America. Now is the time for us, their children, to start another colony, not across the waters of the ocean, but across the vacuum of space. This great adventure will test our resolve, challenge our wits, and bring out the best of humanity. And most of all, it will leave a legacy that our children will be proud of.

Mr. Schwarzenegger, are you listening?

Luxury Treehouses

A few weeks ago, my friend Pilar asked visitors to her blog for a description of their dream home; mine is here. So I thought I'd point out a related MSN article about luxury treehouses. Apparently many wealthy people have built them, including Sting who has a treehouse in his Tuscan estate. The appeal of treehouses is clear: they're fun and bring out the child in all of us. More information about the awesome treehouse in the article is here.