Journalist and media professional currently based in Los Angeles, California. Focusing on science and technology.
Steve Jobs: Stanford University Commencement Speech
Category Archives: America
Quoting Steve Jobs
“Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure – these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.”
“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma, which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”
“No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because death is very likely the single best invention of life. It is life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new.”
“Design is not just what it looks like. Design is how it works.”
“Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t matter to me. Going to be bed at night saying we’ve done something wonderful, that’s what matters to me.”
“You can’t just ask customer what they want and then try to give that to them. By the time you get it built, they’ll want something new.”
“My model for business is The Beatles. They were four guys that kept each other’s negative tendencies in check. They balanced each other. And the total was greater than the sum of the parts.”
Journalist and media professional currently based in Los Angeles, California. Focusing on science and technology.
Steve Jobs, 1955 – 2011
Thank you, sir.
Journalist and media professional currently based in Los Angeles, California. Focusing on science and technology.
Visiting Mount Palomar
Last weekend I was part of a group making a visit to the Mount Palomar Observatory.
When I was in school (voraciously sucking up astronomy books), Mount Palomar seemed to me like a place of magic and wonder. From its opening in 1949, and until 1992/93, the giant 5.1 m (200 inch) Hale Telescope was the largest and most important telescope in the world. (Actually, there was a larger Soviet telescope of a later design, but it is often omitted because it never functioned quite well).
The compound on the Southern California mountaintop also encompasses several smaller telescopes. Together, they account for most of the groundbreaking discoveries in the entire history of astronomy.
Here are some pictures. (Click to enlarge).
In front of the Hale Telescope dome, Mount Palomar. From left to right: Jed Laderman, Dave Yantis, Robert Lozano, Reinhard Kargl.
Standing under the massive, 200 inch primary mirror of the Hale Telescope.
Looking up to the secondary mirror, toward the top of the dome. In the old days, this is where the observer would have sat in a cage all night long, handling photographic materials. Today, the instruments are photo-electronic. Human observers no longer ride the elevator to the top).
The old control panel, preserved in a perfect vintage look. Doesn't it seem like something from Star Trek? (Today, the telescope operator sits in a heated cabin, insulated from the dome interior. This being on a mountain top, it gets extremely cold in the winter).
View from the Hale dome's circular catwalk. In the distance is the dome of the historic 18 inch Schmidt telescope. Beginning in the 1930s, Fritz Zwicky did his first surveys of supernovae here. The dome is no longer in use today.
More on Fritz Zwicky and the 18 inch Schmidt telescope.
Journalist and media professional currently based in Los Angeles, California. Focusing on science and technology.
The Abandoned Railroad
I have a fascination with hidden, forgotten and deserted places. Sometimes, one can find them even in the busiest of places. Here is a picture of an abandoned railroad track in the middle of Los Angeles. I accidentally found this site by following some stray cats in a park. Not far from this place are residences, freeways and traffic jams.
Railroad Tracks. Photo: Reinhard Kargl, 2009. Click to enlarge.
Journalist and media professional currently based in Los Angeles, California. Focusing on science and technology.
Going For A Drive In Downtown Los Angeles
This stock footage was shot in the 1940s.
Journalist and media professional currently based in Los Angeles, California. Focusing on science and technology.
Magnificent Desolation
A book I am currently reading. Great insights into the man, the moon and one of mankind’s greatest journeys.
Journalist and media professional currently based in Los Angeles, California. Focusing on science and technology.
The Menace of Air Conditioning
America is suffering from a heat wave this summer. No wonder.
Americans are completely addicted to air conditioning. According to a 2010 piece in the Washington Post, the energy required to air-condition American homes and retail spaces has doubled since the 1990s. Stan Cox, the author of “Losing Our Cool: Uncomfortable Truths About Our Air-Conditioned World” and “Finding New Ways to Get Through the Summer” is offering interesting views on why this trend is harmful.
In much of the United States, air conditioning is one of the greatest power hogs. It needs so much electricity that every time there is a heat wave, utility companies and the power grid do not even manage to keep up with the demand. Power shutdowns, service reductions or full outages are frequent and make the situation even worse. Because in many buildings, it is not even possible to open the windows.
Utility companies are now asking (or forcing) Americans to “conserve power”. This reminds me of Third World countries. (In Pakistan, they even have a term for it: “Load shedding”. They do this at scheduled intervals — and I suspect, more frequently in the poor areas where only “unimportant” people live).
The greatest problem with air conditioning is that is has enabled poor planning, wasteful policies, speculation with otherwise worthless land and dreadful architecture. Many areas in the American Southwest (such as Las Vegas or the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles) would never have grown to their unsustainable size, had it not been for air conditioning. Insult to injury: the power consumption of these places is subsidized by utility rate payers who live in more temperate areas.
The continuing idiocy in urban planning is hard to fathom. Knowing what this has led to — why are still allowing developers to erect massive housing projects in areas way too hot and too dry for human comfort? And why do we continue to allow gigantic hotels, retail- and office projects without opening windows, balconies, patios and natural air circulation?
Yet at the same time, we are good at window dressing. We are forbidding incandescent light bulbs, which consume only a tiny fraction of residential power. And when consumers save energy, some developer builds another air conditioned outlet malls in the desert. Or adds another megahotel in Las Vegas.
As long as this is rampant, power conservation by consumers makes little sense.
Journalist and media professional currently based in Los Angeles, California. Focusing on science and technology.
Please Don’t Ruin The Anthem!
Dear Americans:
It gives me the creeps when you shamelessly violate and mangle the national anthem. Yes, going over one and a half octaves, it is a challenging song to sing. But it is the national anthem, and creative interpretations of its written notes are uncalled for. Altering it is as offensive as abusing the national flag to make a personal statement.
So here is a tutorial, inspired by bass violinist Jenny Hersch.
[Land of the] free is exactly the same note as [rock-ets’ red] glare! Look at the sheet, if you don’t believe it!
And both these words are about the same length! So for God’s sake, it’s not “freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee”! No, no, no!!!! It’s simply “free”!
And one more thing: the lowest note is right at the beginning: [oh] say [can you see]. And it is the same note as gleam-ing and stream-ing and [whose broad] stripes [and bright stars].
If you are like me (not tone deaf but at the same time incapable of singing in tune) just do what I do: Stand with pride — but shut up.
In the name of those equipped with good ears but lacking a singing voice, I thank you.
Journalist and media professional currently based in Los Angeles, California. Focusing on science and technology.
Pit Stops
Yesterday was the 100th anniversary of the Indy 500 auto race. I followed it on TV and was astounded by the many mishaps in the pits. They were all caused by the driver taking off before the crewmen had completed their tasks. This is how races are lost. Sometimes, lives are put in jeopardy as wheels and other parts turn into projectiles, or racing fuel catches fire.
One question bugs me: why is there no “lollipop man” — like in Formula 1? This is a crew member whose sole job consists of monitoring the pit crew to make sure everyone is done. While they work, he holds a “stop” (or “brake”) sign on a long stick (the “lollipop”) in front of the driver’s eyes. Once all crew members signal “clear”, the lollipop man turns the “stop” sign to “go” and jumps out of the way as the driver guns the engine.
This would be a simple solution to an old problem. I can’t figure out why Indy 500 teams are not employing it. Overall, it seems to me that pit stops in Indy racing are by far not as sophisticated compared to what happens in Formula 1.
Watch this clip from a BBC documentary:
Journalist and media professional currently based in Los Angeles, California. Focusing on science and technology.