Eric Logan

Name an industry that can produce 1 million new, high-paying jobs over the next three years. You can't, because there isn't one. And that's the problem. America needs good jobs, soon. We need 6.7 million just to replace losses from the current recession, then an additional 10 million to keep up with population growth and to spark demand over the next decade. In the 1990s the U.S. economy created a net 22 million jobs, or 2.2 million a year. But from 2000 to the end of 2007, the rate plunged to 900,000 a year. The pipeline is dry because the U.S. business model is broken. Our growth engine has run out of a key fuel—basic research. The U.S. infrastructure for scientific innovation has historically consisted of a loose public-private partnership. It included legendary institutions such as Bell Labs, RCA Labs, Xerox (XRX) PARC, and the research operations of IBM (IBM), along with NASA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), and others. In each of these organizations,... more... - Eric Logan from Bookmarklet

Meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli President Shimon Peres at the recent Israeli Presidential Conference: Facing Tomorrow 2009, Ray Kurzweil proposed several innovations for dealing with the coming energy shortages and bolstering Israel's growing economy. He also proposed an "Entrepreneurial Peace Fund" -- a collaborative technology incubator between Israel and Palestine. The proposal was widely met with enthusiasm and support in both public and private sessions. In a speech to the conference, Netanyahu credited Kurzweil with the insight and inspiration for the Prime Minister's new National Commission for Renewable Energy initiative, with the goal of replacing fossil fuels with renewable technologies within ten years. "Yesterday, Ray Kurzweil…said that the efficiency of solar energy doubles every two years; you said that within a very brief generation it will become the energy of the proximate future," said Netanyahu. "Well, if that's the case we're in... more... - Eric Logan from Bookmarklet

Uhm someone tell them to use a flash player? :( - Alexander Kruel

Postion papers have been prepared by researchers from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, as background material for the discussions that will take place at the 2009 Israeli Presidential Conference. - Eric Logan from Bookmarklet

David Elieser Deutsch FRS (born 1953 in Haifa, Israel) is a physicist at the University of Oxford. He is a non-stipendiary Visiting Professor in the Department of Atomic and Laser Physics at the Centre for Quantum Computation, Clarendon Laboratory. He pioneered the field of quantum computers by being the first person to formulate a specifically quantum computational algorithm[1], and is a proponent of the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics. - Eric Logan from Bookmarklet

The Delay-Tolerant Networking (DTN) protocol emerged from work first started in 1998 in partnership with Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The initial goal was to modify the ubiquitous Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) to facilitate robust communications between celestial bodies and satellites. However most people don't have a need for regular satellite communication (well, our columnist Warren Ellis has that death ray of his), but Cerf sees his robust protocol having more down-to-Earth applications. Mobile networks, for example, must regularly cope with long periods of delay or loss – a train tunnel rudely interrupting a YouTube stream, for example. Perhaps looking to gain an edge on its competitors, Google has already integrated DTN into Android's networking stack. Using Android from an asteroid? It's only a matter of time. - Eric Logan from Bookmarklet

@Houston Uh, we have a problem...still getting Twitter fail whale. Moving to Friendfeed. Also, Heroes is 78% done torrenting. #lifeinavacuum - Josh Haley

System-Wide-Web? sww.wongranch.mars - Slippy "Threadsbane" Lane

That success is in the eye of the unsuccessful would seem to be the great unspoken dilemma dogging critics asked to consider the work of the rich and famous author and inspirational speaker Malcolm Gladwell. No matter how well intentioned or intellectually honest their attempts to assess his ideas, the subtext of Gladwell's perceived success, and its implications for their own aspirations in the competitive thought-generation business, obscures their judgment and sinks their morale. Nearly a decade has passed since the New York Times dryly summarized Gladwell's first book, The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference (2000), as "a study of social epidemics, otherwise known as fads," and yet, each Sunday, it still taunts perusers of the paperback nonfiction rankings, where it currently sits in sixth place. Gladwell may be merely "a slickster trickster" who "markets marketing" (as James Wolcott put it), or a "clever idea packager" who "cannot conceal the fatuousness of... more... - Eric Logan from Bookmarklet

In the beginning, Dennis Baron reminds us in his new book, A Better Pencil, there was the word—the spoken word, that is. Oral tradition, the passing of knowledge through stories and lectures, was the primary method of instruction and learning throughout early human civilization. But then a few innovative souls decided to start writing everything down on stones and clay. Almost as soon as they did, a great debate began on the impact of new communications technology on culture and education. And it rages on today, with a new generation of optimists and skeptics battling over the impact that computing, the Internet, and digital technologies have on our lives and on how we learn about the world. Baron, a professor of English and linguistics at the University of Illinois, begins his splendid history of these debates with the well-known tale from Plato’s Phaedrus about the dangers of the written word. The Egyptian god Theuth boasts to King Thamus about how his invention of writing will... more... - Eric Logan from Bookmarklet

In the beginning, Dennis Baron reminds us in his new book, A Better Pencil, there was the word—the spoken word, that is. Oral tradition, the passing of knowledge through stories and lectures, was the primary method of instruction and learning throughout early human civilization. But then a few innovative souls decided to start writing everything down on stones and clay. Almost as soon... more... - Eric Logan

The backlash against computers and digitization began while the Internet was still in its cradle, with the 1992 publication of Neil Postman’s anti-technology screed, Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology. Postman’s intellectual descendants include Internet critics such as Lee Siegel, Andrew Keen, and Mark Helprin, whose works drip with disdain for all things digital. They... more... - Eric Logan

Saudi Arabia sent fighter jets and artillery bombardments across the border into northern Yemen Thursday in a military incursion apparently aimed at helping its troubled southern neighbor control an escalating Shiite rebellion, Arab diplomats and the rebels said. The Saudis _ owners of a sophisticated air force they rarely use _ have been increasingly worried that extremism and instability in Yemen could spill over to their country, the world's largest oil exporter. The offensive came two days after the killing of a Saudi soldier, blamed on the rebels. Yemen denied any military action by Saudi Arabia inside its borders. But Yemen's president is a key ally of the Saudis, making it highly unlikely the kingdom would have launched the offensive without tacit Yemeni agreement. A U.S. government official said the Yemenis were not involved militarily in the fighting. The official spoke anonymously because he was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly. The offensive immediately raised... more... - Eric Logan from Bookmarklet

Thanks, Mohomed. I will have to read more. Comparative religious studies have always been interesting to me. Book suggestions on these topics gratefully accepted. - Eric Logan

Cuba may be headed toward more open engagement with the United States, but uncertainty about a cable linking the two countries and hard-fisted site blocks are reminders that little happens as planned ninety miles south of Key West, Florida. Kirk Laughlin reports. A 40-year-old embargo imposed on Cuba by the US is showing signs of softening, but the implications on telecom policy remain hard to predict even with the prospect of significant economic benefits for Cuban citizens. The Obama administration recently moved to ease travel restrictions to the island nation (note: US citizens are still “barred” from visiting, but the law is routinely broken), and it also began permitting US telecom firms to provide services into the country. On the heels of the announcement, Florida-based TeleCuba – which has been devising plans to build a 110-mile submarine cable into the country for the last ten years – came out publicly with its intentions to establish connectivity by Q2 2011. There’s just... more... - Eric Logan from Bookmarklet

Google's announcement last week that it would offer free turn-by-turn navigation software prompted a nosedive in the stocks of Garmin and other navigation device makers. The jolt was just the latest such disruption caused by Google since its founding in 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin. During that time the company has grown into a $22 billion behemoth—yet, remarkably, it is still in the early stages of a long growth phase. Eric Schmidt, Google's chairman and chief executive, expects that one day it will be a $100 billion enterprise. Being the gatekeeper for the world's information turns out to be a lucrative business, especially without the expense of creating any of it. In "Googled," New Yorker writer Ken Auletta tells the familiar story of the company's rapid transformation from Silicon Valley start-up to global corporation. As expected, we hear about the young Rollerblading employees at Google's Mountain View, Calif., headquarters, with its massage rooms, pool tables and free... more... - Eric Logan from Bookmarklet

I believe government has already inserted itself too far into our lives and too far into the operations of America’s businesses. We certainly don’t need government regulating the Internet and broadband communications too. But that’s what FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski and his Democratic colleagues are pushing. They believe the Internet is a failed market in which neither entrepreneurs nor consumers are treated fairly. Last week Senator Orrin Hatch and I published an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal where we provided a counter argument to Mr. Genachowski. We believe the Internet is growing and sprouting new industry and businesses because it is one of the only aspects of our economy free from government regulation. - Eric Logan from Bookmarklet

Can the U.S. continue to thrive as a center of innovation if it can’t manufacture the products it invents? In "Restoring American Competitiveness," a recent article in the Harvard Business Review, Gary P. Pisano and Willy C. Shih, contend that that answer is no and warn that outsourcing has undermined the country’s high tech sector. Is high tech in trouble? Does it matter if R&D and manufacturing capabilities have migrated to Asia? What should business and government leaders do to ensure that the U.S. retains its competitive edge? As the U.S. tries to remake its auto companies, become a player in emerging industries, and revive its ailing economy, few issues are more important. For the next several weeks, an impressive roster of experts will discuss these questions in the HBR online symposium: “Is the U.S. Killing Its Innovation Machine?” I encourage you to read what they have to say and to offer your own ideas. - Eric Logan from Bookmarklet

ridiculous. This article points out a flaw to our way of thinking over the past decade. Just because we don't have manufacturing in America does not mean we lose our ability to innovate and prosper. It also doesn't mean we turn into a service/consumer based economy. Google, Apple, Microsoft, and Vizio are prime examples of the value of our economy. Let them ship the "dumb" jobs oversees... more... - Bob Blunk

I agree that fear of change is a delimiter. I do not think it ridiculous however to recognize that if we cannot capture the value of high tech manufacturing that results from American innovation. We will have lost one of the primary drivers of our middle class the article on the Kindle encapsulates the problems with this approach. How much will this affect our ability to be the... more... - Eric Logan

Big Web companies and start-ups alike are scrambling to create the best applications to allow users to search for surrounding businesses and events from a mobile phone. Loopt, a service that lets people find their friends on the go, is now entering the crowded field. On Tuesday, Loopt will introduce a new search service, Pulse, on its Web site. An updated application for Apple’s iPhone will be available soon. Mainstream search engines from Google and Microsoft already offer local business listings, and the popular user review sites Yelp and Citysearch have mobile phone applications. Smaller sites like NearbyNow and Metromix are also jumping into mobile search, which uses the GPS capability in many cellphones to figure out where a person is and show ads for nearby businesses. - Eric Logan from Bookmarklet

GPS is pinpoint, but a lot of mobile apps like this use data no more precise than a zipcode. I will concede that the potential is there, however. - Brad Greer

One of the most widely discussed contemporary arguments for the existence of God is the kalam cosmological argument, which derives its name from the Arabic term meaning “speech.” The origins of this argument date back to medieval thinkers who formulated it in opposition to Aristotle’s doctrine of the eternality of the universe. Islamic theologians such as al-Ghazali (1058-1111) were the first to develop it into an argument for the existence of God. William Lane Craig is perhaps the KCA’s most vocal and prolific contemporary defender. Other proponents include J.P. Moreland, Stuart C. Hackett, and Mark Nowacki. The KCA is formulated as follows: Whatever begins to exist has a cause The universe began to exist Therefore, the universe has a cause. - Eric Logan from Bookmarklet

Paul, in part that is true, logic alone as we understand what is around us from purely the lens of science does not answer everything nor does it explain everything by its own terminology. In that sense, while helpful,science limits us. Science at one point in history did allow for art as a "blazing opposite of itself whereby the two could blaze together"...and it was stronger for it.... more... - Melanie Reed

significant shower is expected this year when Earth crosses the 1466-dust and 1533-dust ejecta of comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle. According to J. Vaubaillon, the narrow (about 1-hr) shower is expected to peak on November 17, 2009. - Eric Logan from Bookmarklet

Love these. I saw my first meteors in one of these storms. Magical. - Kamilah Gill

Supposed to be a busy than normal year. They have not updated the Fluximator applet yet apparently. http://leonid.arc.nasa.gov/estimat... - Eric Logan

Sales at GM, which emerged from bankruptcy protection earlier this year, rose 4 per cent from last October, the company’s first year-on-year increase since January 2008. Sales were lifted by aggressive incentives as GM looks to shed 2009 inventory, said Mr Anwyl, chief executive of Edmunds.com. Chrysler, the smallest of the big three, continued to struggle after emerging from bankruptcy. Although sales were up 6 per cent from September, they were down 30 per cent from the year-ago level, reflecting a lack of new models. “Consumers need to have confidence in the brands that they’re buying,” said Jack Plunkett of Plunkett Research and industry analysis firm. “Chrysler is the biggest challenge.” Overall, October US auto sales fell 2.8 per cent from the year before to10.3m, according to Bloomberg. But they remain sharply above their September levels, when they fell 23 per cent from the previous month as the government ended ”cash for clunkers”. - Eric Logan from Bookmarklet

A journalist’s penetrating look at the untold story of Christian fundamentalism’s most elite organization, a self-described “invisible” network dedicated to a distortion of Christianity they call “Jesus plus nothing”— a religion of power for the powerful They are the Family—fundamentalism’s avant-garde, waging spiritual war in the halls of American power and around the globe. They consider themselves the “new chosen,” congressmen, generals, and foreign dictators who meet in confidential cells, to pray and plan for a “leadership led by God,” to be won not by force but through what they call quiet diplomacy. Their headquarters is a leafy estate overlooking the Potomac in Arlington, Virginia, and Jeff Sharlet is the only journalist to have written from inside its walls. The Family is about the other half of American fundamentalist power—not its angry masses, but its sophisticated elites. Sharlet follows the story back to Abraham Vereide, an itinerant preacher who in 1935 organized a... more... - Eric Logan from Bookmarklet

Armies of robotic drones may be just around the corner. Taking a cue from The Terminator films, the U.S. Navy is developing unmanned fighting vehicles that network together and operate in "swarms." The U.S. military's unmanned drone planes have proven one of the most effective — and most controversial — weapons in the arsenal in recent years. American officials credit the use of Predator aircraft, which are armed with guided missiles, with eliminating a growing number of senior terrorist leaders who were beyond the reach of ground forces in Afghanistan and Pakistan. And now, these unmanned aircraft are talking to each other. Up until now, each drone has been controlled remotely by a human over a satellite link, but the vehicles have been unable to communicate with each other or share intelligence. But in a demonstration last week, the U.S. Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) linked unmanned drones, including air and ground vehicles, into unmanned squadrons with a single person helming all six vehicles. Via http://friendfeed.com/johnrod - Eric Logan from Bookmarklet

How much time before they start looking for that Connor girl? - MVB (Curmudgeon of FF) from iPod

LOL Yes, makes me wonder. The links to the defense contractor building these are interesting. Swarming algorithms and the first rudimentary AI brains on UAV's - Eric Logan

I'd love to have one. ana12321 at gmail dot com Thanks! - Ana P

Many thanks! How do the invites arrive? Do they come from gmail or from your address? Just want to make sure the spam filter does not intercept it. - Rich Puskarich

Russian Gen. Nikolai Makarov traveled to Cuba in September and met with Cuban President Raul Castro. He said the Russian military would help train Cuban military personnel and would help repair Soviet military equipment. He was quoted as saying: During the Soviet era we delivered a large number of military equipment to Cuba, and after all these years most of this weaponry has become obsolete and needs repairs. We inspected the condition of this equipment, and outlined the measures to be taken to maintain the defense capability of this country...I think a lot of work needs to be done in this respect, and I hope we will be able to accomplish this task. - Eric Logan from Bookmarklet

Meanwhile. we're occupied with the swineflu, and our i pods and phones ... did I mention that the Pledge Fabric Sweeper for pet hair works wonder on my upholstery.? - Kittyburgers

Last week, American news sources reported on the recently published book, “My Brothers Fidel and Raul”, written by Juanita Castro, 76. Let us briefly review the content of these reports. Each article essentially relates the following information: Juanita Castro—who currently resides in the U.S. and is one of Fidel Castro’s sisters—writes in her book that she initially supported Fidel’s 1959 revolution. Most Cubans shared her sentiments, at that time. And it was not difficult to do so. Cuba had been ruled, for years, by the dictator Fulgencio Batista, and Fidel’s revolutionary movement was seen as the force though which Cuba could emancipate herself from Batista’s oppression. The revolution succeeded. Batista fled the island. Yet after Fidel assumed power, perspectives changed—including Juanita Castro’s. Fidel proved to be an authoritarian dictator, in fact using many of Batista’s own tactics to secure control over the island. Disillusioned with such a turn, Juanita Castro was... more... - Eric Logan from Bookmarklet