I remember in high school and college when I would cringe when the teacher would ask for a 1,500 words essay. I thoughts I’d never find enough material to fulfil those requirements.

Flash forward to today and I have to pare down my posts so they don’t exceed 1,500 words.

I seldom read long blog posts myself, so how can I expect others to do read my longposts?

I will rethink my writing style to make posts more concice. Go for bullet points with links to other pages within this site where more background is offered to those who wish to better understand the “behind tehs scenes” of my reasoning.

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• Global warming, Copenhagen, and risk management The Copenhagen Summit is happening right now. In view of the controversy over whether or not human activity is responsible for global warming, or if they're is in fact a global warming, both controversies having been raised by scare tactics orchestrated the conservatives, I thought it would be a good......
• Copenhagen and bad journalism I found an interesting story on what good journalism should be instead of what we have been served lately.It concerns Al Gore and Copenhagen, Cop15, sure turned out differently than what I expected.There was more talk about prostitutes and protesters being arrested.Al Gore just got some bashing concerning predictions about......
• Food import export and the Asian diet In a recent visit to China and South Korea, Canadian Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, of course discussed many topics. One topic was Canadian beef import to South Korea. Following the mad cow disease situation, South Korea has banned the import of Canadian beef for past six years. Currently, Asia has......

• SavetheInternet.com Wants to Do the Opposite We never thought we would see such a brazen effort in the US to deceive ordinary folks in an effort to steal their rights and subject them to control. You come to expect that in dictatorships and totalitarian regimes, but not in the freest country on earth. Communists are masters......
• Career Tip - How to Write For a Living Learning how to write for a living can be tough, especially if you are new to the field. The demands of living expenses, social expectations and finding your way in the world of writing can be quite challenging for a beginner.There are, however, ways you can actually write for......
• Optimizing Flash Files For The Search Engines What's a Flash Movie? A flash movie, or shock wave file (SWF), is the file format printed when a Flash movie is exported. A SWF file will also be exported by many different Macromedia or Adobe Products. The SWF is usually an animation, dynamic menu, or highly interactive net-based application......

Last week the barrel of oil had its highest one-day increase ever. Every time that I hear news concerning oil prices, that always makes me realize how dependent we are on oil.

I try to imagine how we could get out of that dependency. The thing is, even if the governments of the seven or eight largest economies in the world were to buy back all of the cars and trucks in order to replace them with vehicles using alternate fuels, there would still be a lot of industry and processes requiring oil.

Besides, it would cost a fortune to buy back all those cars. And then, what to do with those cars? How could we recycle all of them?

An alternative would be to make the necessary changes to adapt those cars to run on alternative fuels such as ethanol, methanol, gasohol,  alcohol and even hydrogen.

The problem is that to produce those alternative fuels requires huge amounts of energy. Oil, on the other hand, is already there, all we have to do is pump it. But ethanol has to be grown as corn, then harvested, and then processed into fuel. The growing and harvesting is very energy consuming.

So the question is how can we make all of that energy to grow that alternative fuel? Fossil fuel again? You see, even replacing all the cars by electric cars, there’s still the question of how do we make all of that electricity?

In the United States only a small percentage of electricity is made by way of either hydroelectric power, nuclear power, and alternative sources of energy such as wind geothermal and solar energy. The bulk of the energy made into United States uses oil, gas, and coal.

For decades, environmentalists have been crying out for more use of solar energy. There are even some highly elaborate systems that would involve building huge solar arrays in outer space. These large arrays of solar cells would convert solar energy into electricity and transmit electricity, by way of microwaves, wirelessly down to earth to various locations around the globe, wherein  huge microwave collectors would collect the electricity being beamed down to earth and distribute it.

Of course, there are concerns that the strong beam of microwaves could create some sort of a health hazard because microwaves are what cook food, so any stray planes or even migratory birds passing through the beam would be cooked within seconds. Then again, it would be fairly easy to forbid air traffic to fly in those very  narrowly focused zones. Also, it is a relatively easy to map out migratory birds paths which are fairly consistent and build those collectors away from those paths.

Of course the occasional stray birds would have a problem but it is so likely that the bird would feel the microwave and fly out of the zone before any harm is done.  Although the beam is fairly focused there is always a little gray area of weaker signal surrounding the area of strong focused beam. So, entering a beam zone would occur gradually enough for a stray bird to fly out of it. The same would apply to land animals as well. The beam is limited as far as ground penetration is concerned. Besides, most of its strength is taken up by the collector, so the ground underneath would only have minimal stray radiation.

These are the primary concerns, healthwise. I am not aware of any other health concerns if the can arrange for a humans and animals alike to the avoid being in the direct path of the beam.

Another concern has to do with possible casting of shadows on the Earth’s surface when the huge arrays would pass between the sun and the earth. Given that the distance of a geostationary satellite would be about 22,000 miles above the earth, it would be fairly easy to position these arrays so that they would not cast a shadow on the earth.

There is always the question of cost and who would pay for that and so on and so forth. Then again, what costs results from us totally wiping out life from the surface of the earth?

Another way of generating electricity is to focus on multiple small sources of power generations. Recently, some engineering firms have proposed high-rise buildings that would capture wind so as to actuate wind chargers that would presumably produce more power than they would consume, so that they could actually sell excess electricity to surrounding residences.

It is very important to find ecologically friendly and cheap sources of electrical power that would help reduce the costs of producing alternative fuel because right now, the only form of fuel that doesn’t cost anything s biomass, which usually contain stuff that we want to get rid of anyway.

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• How clean is clean coal ? Clean coal, Carbon Sequestration, these are expressions we hear quite often when dealing with the production of electricity using fossil fuel other than oil. About twice a week, a new coal plant opens in China.I came across a blog post on the topic of patents and innovations and the possible......
• Masdar to be the first zero polluton city The city of Masdar near Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirate wl be the first city to produce its energy entirely by way of renewable energy such as solar and wind energy. They wil also recycle all their waste and as such, have a "zero carbon" footprint. Of course,......
• China's low carbon and sustainability problems I came across an interesting article about the low carbon emissions and sustainability problems facing China as the country moves increasingly towards urbanization. It is predicted that china will have 75 percent of urbanization by 2050, which means much more energy consumption and green house gas emission. China currently lacks......

• Top 10 Scientific Achievements We Are Waiting For [/caption] Science has grown exponentially over the past few centuries, making things possible that were once absolutely considered completely impossible. Science has done a lot to cure many of our worldly troubles, but one thing about science is that it isn’t perfect, and never will be. The reason for this......
• Solar Energy Is Not Just The Alternative Anymore by Allen Anderson Did you know that the suns energy is the most abundant form of energy on earth? The sun is capable of giving us more than heat and light. The sun is practically our life's resource as without it the earth wouldn't be habitable. If we can all......
• Bookmark at del.icio.usnSubmit to digg.nntechnorati tags:alternative fuel car los angeles" title="The Good Human" title="Bookmark at del.icio.us" target="_blank">Bookmark at del.icio.usnSubmit to digg.nntechnorati tags:alternative fuel car los angeles" border=0>Alternative Car Expo this weekend in Santa Monica, CA For those of you in the Los Angeles area, this weekend could be the weekend where you learn everything there is to know about alternative fuel cars! At the Santa Monica Airport Barker Hangar, they are having the Alt Car Expo on both Saturday and Sunday. And its free to......

Let me put some perspective on things first.

Nobody knows how a new technology will lead us. Heck often times, the darn thing is invented without a specific purpose in mind. It just is. When Arthur Fry the Post-It (TM), he had to distribute massive amounts of them to coworkers, friends and family so that they would find uses for it!

Every time something new comes along,

the only point of reference is what came before it.

When Bell invented the telephone, he thought it would be a great way for people to listen to music at home. The phone as a one way device. When radio was invented, decades later, they saw it as a wireless telephone and, except for the army, emergency services and HAM radio geeks, radio ended up pretty much the way Bell envisioned his telephone — as a device that allows people to listen to music at home.

Every time something new comes along, the only point of reference is what came before it. Why do you think they coined the term “Motion Pictures”? Because at first, movies were nothing more than photographs – pictures — shown in rapid succession so as to give them the illusion of motion.

When a means of communications finds its own language,

then it can become an art form.

For a while, like it was the case for photography, movies were basically used mainly for showing news events and travel scenes. Some thought that maybe they could be used to record classic stage plays. Then, film makers found that they could use moving cameras, framing, cutting, camera angles to create a unique language impossible to reproduce by any other form of communication. When “cinema” found its language that made it achieve what nothing else could, that is what made it transcend into being more than just a series of still pictures set in motion.

What goes for the forms of communication, such as dance; literature; music, also goes for medium of communication, such as newspapers; telephone; radio; or television. Each medium must find its own specific “thing” that makes it unique, the “thing” that makes it transcend above and beyond whatever came before it.

Then came teh Internet

The newspaper became a fast and efficient way of spreading information. Much faster than books that took weeks or months to print. When radio came along, news events could be broadcast as they happened and to a very large audience. The simple action of being instantaneous, of being able to hear the voice — with all the subtleties of the tonality — of the people at the microphone brought that medium above what could be achieved by print alone. When television came along, people were already used to seeing the weekly newsreels while going to the movies. Television was nothing more than radio combined with movie newsreels.

Then, came the Internet. The Internet, more particularly the World Wide Web part of it, combines all of what a newspaper, a magazine, a reference book can offer. Moreover, it does all of what radio can do. All of what television can do. On top of that, it can be used as a phone, a fax, a telegraph. That is fantastic. Sure combining all those features into one single application is convenient but it does not produce synergy. As of yet, the Internet is not more than the sum of all of its parts. It has yet to find its ” thing”.

When it comes to using the power of that amazing tool, we have barely scratched the surface of what it can do. We are just like Bell, seeing one use when in fact there may be something totally different waiting around the corner. We are like the early motion picture pioneers, just happy to see moving images of a landscape passing by as the train the camera is on moves across the valley.

Marketing is a two headed beast

Scientists and engineers are already talking about Web 3.0, which promises a more extensive use of 3D, semantics, virtual reality, and artificial intelligence. It’s in the labs ready for its first commercial applications.

But what will we do with it?

What will be the social implications of such a technology?

Let me hazard a guess here:

To know what we could do with that upcoming toolbox, we have to look at those who have consistently made the most use out of all of what Web technology had to offer. Those who consistently push the envelope. Those who strive to communicate a message, grab the attention, raise awareness onto the most people they can reach.

In case you haven’t figured it out yet, I am referring to marketers who use the Internet. They are the ones most likely to seek out new technologies to better connect with their target market.

Marketers always see new opportunities to use innovative ways of communicating and changing the rules. By trying to “game” search engines, marketers forced Google to build better algorithms so that only quality, relevant content shows up at the top of its search results.

Marketing is a two headed beast: It can push bad products and services just as well as good ones. In the wrong hands, marketing becomes propaganda, r even worse, brainwashing. The messages communicated can enlighten us, inform us or just overwhelm us with useless drivel.

Walk a mile . . .

What the best marketers, the most enlightened, the most ethical amongst them should do is to push towards what the true promise of the Internet will be. The “thing” that will bring synergy to it.

There is an old well known Chinese proverb “Walk a mile in another man’s shoe . . .” –Or walk a thousand miles, depending on the source, your mileage may vary

Well, guess what, that is the promise of the Internet.

With all this technology, with that virtual reality, that instantaneous global communication accessible to all, for the first time, in human history, it will be possible for one human being to transfer to a second human being enough information so that the second human will be able to live the reality of that one human being.

Let’s pause for a second and ponder at the implications: Let’s just imagine two very different cultures, at odds, being able to understand, — truly understand — the other culture’s point of view.

Let us just imagine how fast and easy it would be to resolve conflicts. From global conflicts all the way down to conflicts between spouses, business partners, various individuals.

Could that be?

Surely, marketers would be the first to jump at the chance of being able to influence their potential clients. A powerful tool indeed.

When Edward Murrow made his famous speech in October of 1958 about the then new tool that was television, he said:

“This instrument can teach, it can illuminate; yes, and it can even inspire. But it can do so only to the extent that humans are determined to use it to those ends. Otherwise it is merely wires and lights in a box. There is a great and perhaps decisive battle to be fought against ignorance, intolerance and indifference. This weapon of television could be useful.”

Unfortunately, for the most part, since then, television has become the cesspool of human creativity, and a propaganda tool for large corporations.

As an excuse, we can say that the world of the 1950s was comparatively primitive: There was still segregation in the southern United States, France and Britain were letting go of their last colonies, “women’s lib” was a yet uncoined expression.

Now, as we move towards the second decade of the 21^st century, we are enlightened — Aren’t we?

We have all those high profile Gurus preaching high ethics and moral values, popular books such as “A new earth”, movies like “The secret” and the upcoming “The shift”.

It is the responsibility of those who will be the first to use those new technologies to balance financial and selfish gains with ethical and selfless (charitable) pursuits.

The responsibility is huge.

We have messed up in the past. We have got one more chance to make it right. Do we, as a society, as a “civilized species”, have the maturity and wisdom to pull it off or will we just make more realistic porn, and better mind control tools for political gains?

Could progressive marketers help show the rest of us how to use the new tools and as such bring about an enlightened society less likely to pollute itself out of existence?

P.S.  Total immersive virtual reality for the Web will be available within the next five years.

P.P.S. The choice is ours, let’s not mess this one up.

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• Copenhagen Summit -- controversial for all the wrong reasons Last June, a group of scientists met up in Copenhagen as part of the preparation for the December summit. They hinted at some bad prognosis in regards to climate change. At the time, I thought that this would be the focus of the December summit: Forcing industrialized nations to put......
• How much is your house worth ? Foreclosures, mortgage industry collapse, bank collapse. With all those bad housing industry news, one wonders who sets the prices on a house. The old real estate adage is well known: To succeed in real estate, there are three things you have to know: Location, location, location. A house in Beverly......
• The only problem with politics is the politicians Politicians make me sick. In a recent post, I commented on my disagreement with Cap and Trade, and why it wouldn’t resolve any issues.  All the hoopla and controversy around the upcoming Copenhagen Summit has to do with politicians not agreeing on political issues.  The United States has yet to......

• Affiliate Marketing - What Are Keywords and Why Do You Need Them to Sell Your Affiliate Products What is a keyword?A keyword is a word that describes your product, service or web page you are trying to market. For example this article could have the keywords: "Keywords", "Affiliate", Internet", "Products" etc. The main use for these keywords is describe what is found in the product or......
• United States Internet Speed is on the Decline [/caption] According to Akamai’s Q3 State of the Internet report, the United States’ internet speed did not qualify for a place in the top ten list of countries with the fastest internet in the world, and its average overall speed has actually decreased by 2.4% year-over-year from 2008 to 2009.......
• How to Choose a Small Business Phone System One of the necessities of every business organization is a phone system integrated in the office. Transactions can be made in the office without the person having to materialize right in front of the owner. This is why you need a very reliable small business phone system. You would......

The other day, I watched the movie “Pleasantville” (1998, starring Tobey McGuire). Briefly, the story revolves around two 1990’s teenagers being “magically” transposed in a 1950’s sitcom where their influence begins to profoundly change that complacent world.

To me, this film shows two things very well:

1) The implications of refusing change.

2) The consequences that a small change has. Some call it the “butterfly effect”.

The modern teenagers can’t help but bring about changes into that placid world of the fifties. The population is forever changed and cannot go back to the way they were.

Predicting the impact of the use of certain technologies in a psycho-social context is a tricky business. In future posts, strategies to foresee the future will be alaborated.

This should prove to be a lot of fun. Stay tuned . . .

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• Copenhagen and Third World nations By being just a little smarter and with just a bit more foresight, it could be advantage of Third World. Third World nations feel that first world nations had it good for 200 years and that it gave them an advantage that they are now denied. In fact, it's quite......
• The Cost of Oil Last week the barrel of oil had its highest one-day increase ever. Every time that I hear news concerning oil prices, that always makes me realize how dependent we are on oil. I try to imagine how we could get out of that dependency. The thing is, even if the......
• Copenhagen and low-carbon investments A little quote from the BusinessGreen website "The potential impact on low-carbon investments of failing to deliver a meaningful deal at the forthcoming Copenhagen Summit was underlined last week with the news that analyst firm Point Carbon is downgrading its long-term price forecasts, primarily as a result of growing uncertainty......

• Business PBX Phone Systems Business PBX phone systems help establish a big business image for start-up businesses and small businesses in a cost-effective manner. The advanced calling features and associated benefits improve business productivity. The hosted PBX, integrated with VoIP technology, can be connected to your existing business number directly.Some of the main......
• Retirement Income Predictions from Your 401(k) Many 401(k) plan sponsors and participants seem to forget or overlook that 401(k) plans were intended to get people to retirement but not necessarily through retirement. Consequently, most of the focus has been on accumulation - the size of the account - with too little attention paid to the retirement......
• How to turn S.E.O into W.F.O Come again?    W.F.O as in Web-Friendly-Optimization; it is not: World Football Organization, Weather Forecast Office or Work for Others (among other definitions) You work hard on SEO Friendliness and you need those spiders to be happy and visit your site more often, so hard in fact that you might forget......

Whether you think that 1,849 is the number of projects that I have or that project 1,849 itself contains 1,849 projects, either way, you are right.

Project 1849 is about the sharing and the dissemination of ideas, information, knowledge.

Over the coming months, I will present a multitude of topics and, in bringing the future closer to the now, I will try to see how new technologies will affect the way that we live.

Topic discussion is of course welcomed and, depending on where you are in your understanding, some topics will be easy to swallow, while others will require a shift in mindset in order to accept.

Since we will all spend the rest of our lives in the future, we better get to know as much as we can and as early as we can.

So, stay tuned for the official opening of this blog, coming up soon.

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• Who else wants more 2009 predictions ? I am notoriously bad at predicting a year ahead because my predictions occur 5 to 20 years later.With the speed of progress, I'd say that whatever I write here shold happen within the next 3-5 years.  Enjoy: Cell phones: on the cover of PC Magazine it says that "PC is......
• organic food - How green is my valley? Most people still have a bucolic view of agriculture. In fact, modern agriculture is far from green. It is in fact, one of the largest contributor to green house gas. Unfortunately, organic farming is not as productive. In fact, it is said that today's yield is bout 10 times......
• The only problem with politics is the politicians Politicians make me sick. In a recent post, I commented on my disagreement with Cap and Trade, and why it wouldn’t resolve any issues.  All the hoopla and controversy around the upcoming Copenhagen Summit has to do with politicians not agreeing on political issues.  The United States has yet to......

• The Key to a Successful Blog In the last post, regarding keys to a strong blog, we talked about some of the keys to successful blogging. This is part two in the series about finding your niche and repeating the formula to create successful blogging. We last left you with a list of your best blog......
• Mindful money I believe that you get more of what you focus on. If you're focused on what you don't have, you'll see more lack. If you're focused on what you do have, you'll see more abundance. This certainly applies to money. I don't mean to say that we should spend our......
• Work History: Web Publisher This is the first in a series of posts wherein I will talk about my work experience and goals, for the benefit of potential employers. Question: What do you want to do? Short Answer: I want to be a professional online magazine publisher. Long Answer: The main project that has......