climate change – SOLVED

On March 14, 2013 By Rick McIn economics, education, food, good news, government, things getting betterLeave a comment

I’m a “global warming” skeptic.

The climate is changing as it always has. Ice ages come and go.

I’m skeptical that the Earth is warming mainly due to fossil fuels. And I hope I’m right. Because there is almost NO chance that the world is going to reduce the use of fossil fuels anytime soon.

Here’s the best solution I’ve yet heard. Allan Savory’s explains how we can improve the world’s climate in a cost efficient way. AND feed millions of the poorest of the poor at the same time.

Click PLAY or watch it on TED.

“Desertification is a fancy word for land that is turning to desert,” begins Allan Savory in this quietly powerful talk. And it’s happening to about two-thirds of the world’s grasslands, accelerating climate change and causing traditional grazing societies to descend into social chaos. Savory has devoted his life to stopping it.

He now believes — and his work so far shows — that a surprising factor can protect grasslands and even reclaim degraded land that was once desert.

Allan Savory: Grassland ecosystem pioneer

Thanks for the link, Ron.

Getting Things Done – The Secret Weapon

On November 16, 2012November 16, 2012 By Rick McIn internet, product endorsements, things getting better2 Comments

Have I dreamed of the PERFECT to-do list and workflow?

YES I HAVE.

So have the good folks at Brain Toniq:

If you dreamed of the “perfect system” what attributes would it have? We think it would:

Keep everything in one system (versus one way for one kind of to-dos and another method for other types of to-dos).

Allow you to group items in different ways, so that you’re not staring at all 80 to-dos that you’ve written down. Instead, you can look only at “Downtown” to-dos, or “My daughter” to-dos. You can sort by priority, where, who, what.

Allow you to remove emails out of the Inbox and into your to-do system …

Be where you are, up to date, when you need it.

Allow you to approach what to do next from different points of view, “wearing different hats” and organize and view those items accordingly.

Have a way to capture ideas and to-do items when you think of them, getting ALL of them out of your head.

Keep you in control and not overwhelmed even if you have a TON of things to do.
We have created exactly this. Because of the impact it’s having on our lives and businesses, we call it The Secret Weapon, or TSW for short. …

If interested, start here — Secret Weapon Manifesto – The Issue

I spent a few hours getting up-to-speed, and am now trying to use the incredibly powerful Evernote for my to-do list.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

I’m keen to capture audio notes … and visual notes with my iPhone. (VIDEO)

Yesterday I updated to Evernote 5 for Mac, a significantly different interface. So far, I like it better.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

biggest winner last night – Nate Silver

On November 7, 2012 By Rick McIn blogs, ethics, government, product endorsements, things getting betterLeave a comment

… Silver runs a blog called FiveThirtyEight, which is licensed by the Times. In 2008 he called the presidential election with incredible accuracy, getting 49 out of 50 states right.

But this year he rolled a perfect score, 50 out of 50, even nailing the margins in many cases. His uncanny accuracy on this year’s election represents what Rowinski calls a victory of “logic over punditry.”

… What does it mean when some punk kid baseball nerd can just wade into politics and start kicking butt on all these long-time “experts” who have spent their entire lives covering politics?

It means something big is happening.

… The age of voodoo is over. The era of talking about something as a “dark art” is done. In a world with big computers and big data, there are no dark arts. …

Read Write Web – Why Nate Silver Won, And Why It Matters

The fact check sites have helped. But what we really need are the facts.

It’s time to take down bloviating pundits in the USA, Dick Morris often being listed as WORST.

It’s Moneyball time. 🙂

Salman Khan Academy – online

On September 29, 2012 By Rick McIn education, product endorsements, things getting betterLeave a comment

Warren had myself and his parents watch an excellent TED talk on a super successful distance learning model. All free and open source.

Salman Amin ‘Sal’ Khan, born October 11, 1976, is a Bangladeshi American educator and the founder of the Khan Academy, a free online education platform and nonprofit organization. From a small office in his home, Khan has produced over 3000 videos elucidating a wide spectrum of academic subjects, mainly focusing on mathematics and the sciences.

As of September 2012, the Khan Academy channel on YouTube has attracted nearly 400,000 subscribers.

… In 2010, Google provided $2 million to support the creation of more courses and to enable the Khan Academy to translate its core library into the world’s most widely spoken languages. …

In March 2011, Salman Khan was invited to speak at TED by Bill Gates who says he uses the Khan Academy Exercise Software to teach his own children. …

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

khanacademy.org

Bill Gates – reinventing the toilet

On August 16, 2012August 16, 2012 By Rick McIn good news, health & fitness, things getting betterLeave a comment

My personal priorities include anti-smoking, education of girls & women, and clean water.

Bill Gates:

This week in Seattle, the foundation is holding a Reinvent the Toilet Fair.

Today I awarded prizes to three universities who responded to our challenge a year ago to come up with solutions for capturing and processing human waste and transforming it into useful resources. The winners included: first place to California Institute of Technology in the United States for designing a solar-powered toilet that generates hydrogen and electricity, second place to Loughborough University in the United Kingdom for a toilet that produces biological charcoal, minerals, and clean water, and third place to University of Toronto in Canada for a toilet that sanitizes feces and urine and recovers resources and clean water.

A special recognition was awarded to Eawag (Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology) and EOOS for their outstanding design of a toilet user-interface.

And the Winners of the Reinvent the Toilet Challenge Awards are…?

Click PLAY or watch the winning design on YouTube.

(source)

Obviously, that’s too complicated for the developing world. A simple, foolproof design is needed.

But kudos to Bill Gates for pushing this forward.

I first got interested in this topic when visiting Gandhi’s toilet museum in India.

dry your hands with a paper towel … efficiently

On May 3, 2012May 1, 2012 By Rick McIn things getting betterLeave a comment

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

how to get rid of pennies

On April 4, 2012April 3, 2012 By Rick McIn economics, things getting betterLeave a comment

EASY …

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

(via Kottke)

campaign against warlord Joseph KONY

On March 7, 2012March 7, 2012 By Rick McIn things getting betterLeave a comment

#Kony2012

This must be the best organized VIRAL VIDEO campaign I’ve ever seen. Regular folks rallying to help the kids of Africa.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Joseph Kony (born 1961 in Odek, Uganda) is a Ugandan guerrilla group leader, head of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), a group engaged in a violent campaign to establish theocratic government based on the Ten Commandments …

… (the LRA) has abducted and forced an estimated 66,000 children to fight for them, and has also forced the internal displacement of over 2,000,000 people since its rebellion began in 1986. As a result, in 2005 Kony was indicted for war crimes by the International Criminal Court at the Hague, but has succeeded in evading capture since. …

Campaign webpage

animated history of aviation

On February 24, 2012February 21, 2012 By Rick McIn things getting betterLeave a comment

… a brief history … in 3D animation.

While there are many contributions … that could not be included, this video shows many of the substantial advancements that propelled aviation to what it has become today. …

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.