Alex on June 13th, 2009

One simple thing that the US Patent agency could do that would save
corporations millions of dollars is use first to file, instead of first
to invent. The entire concept of the patent office is to give people an
incentive (a temporary monopoly) in exchange of sharing information
(their patented ides.) To me, it seems unjust to reward someone who
invests something and doesn’t share that knowledge with society.

By using first to file, bona fide research and development companies
wouldn’t need to squander man hours signing and countersigning
notebooks for fear of losing a patent. These R&D companies would
have more pressure to file quickly and disclose to society new and
improved information. There would be a lower chance of companies
sitting on documented ideas, hoping that they will become part of
industry standards and focusing on increased licensing revenue.

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Alex on May 30th, 2009

One of the largest casualties of Prohibition was the local microbrewery. While the larger breweries were able to weather the drought, smaller US microbreweries were forced to close. Fortunately today they are making a great comeback. Even Kurt Vonnegut’s maternal grandfather lost his fortune when the microbrewery that he managed was closed.

One of the largest casualties of the Industrial Revolution was the apprenticeship system. Instead it’s been replaced the public education system. Which is adequate in general, but certainly not as efficient nor as effective as the apprenticeship model. Even in Academia, you can see it with the PhD program where there is generally a tiered system, where professors teach post docs, post docs teach PhD students, etc. This is where much in depth knowledge and critical thinking is learned.

The inefficiency of the public education system has been tolerable because there has been a wealth of middle class jobs available. These jobs didn’t demand the best thinkers, reasoners, nor communicators. Now that the world is flat, these jobs are starting to disappear and disappear fast. The question now is how educate people for jobs that currently don’t exist. Much like the Wizard of Oz, I believe the answer is in a system we’ve have all along.

Although I’ve never been part of an apprenticeship program, I’ve been fortunate to be part of mentorships. In college, Brian R. although he is younger than me, he had programmed a lot more than I had. He taught me how to build a computer, about void pointers, etc. We also built a Beowulf cluster at USU. Pik, Erikrj, Zach, Nafai, and RBM mentored me to some degree as well. I had three great professors who went the extra mile to help me out and give me great advice. Alex Boldyrev who hired me to work in his lab and helped secure funding for the Beowulf cluster continues to help me. John Hubbard is a great personal mentor, he still introduces me to great music to this day and has all kinds of great suggestions. I would never have graduated without the help and mentorship of Steve Allan.

At Merck, I had the privilege of being mentored by Ira Hoffman, the kid’s a genius. He helped me learn about HTS informatics, something completely new to me. Rick P. helped mentor me along with the scientists there, Aqua, Jason, Erica, Becky, Stacey and surprisingly Kevin H. I’m still using the information that I learned there in my professional life.

Last but not least my current card carrying mentor is Martin Leach. He has helped me out in numerous ways. Putting me in contact with the right people at the right time, giving me great advice even if I didn’t want to hear it, and sharing his insight to the future of scientific computing. He has even suggested some of my favorite books.

related links
www.ted.com/index.php/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html

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Alex on May 24th, 2009

This is a spoof of Lipinski’s rule of five, however this is focused on weightloss. These are just observations that I’ve made while losing over 50 lbs. They are:

  1. Run at least 5K a day or at least 5 days a week (Running is the only exercise that helps me to lose weight);
  2. Eat at least 5 times a day (try to eat ~300 calories per meal/protein bar);
  3. Eat at least 5 cooked, egg whites a day (focus on protein and building muscle); and
  4. Eat yogurt 5 times a week (focus on culturing good bacteria).

Oh yeah, the usual disclaimer please talk to your doctor before reading this post and/or trying any of my advice.

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Alex on March 8th, 2009

I recently decided to use skype instead of my vonage system. It’s a little more portable when I’m on the road in my cell phone-less existence. My major gripes about skype are these:

1) Making calls from to a phone number, which is one of the few ways skype makes money; therefore, this interface should be intuitive. Yet, there’s no apparent way to save a real phone number as a contact. The best way I’ve found to deal with this is to enter the event history and click on the number.

2) I couldn’t tell an easy way to define a default country. I’m currently in the USA so I’m usually calling numbers here, as opposed to when I was in Brazil. The worst case for using a default country is to have to change the country, which is the best case of not having a default country.

Alex on November 26th, 2008
Lesson 1:
A man is getting into the shower just as his wife is finishing up her shower, when the doorbell rings.  The wife quickly wraps herself in a towel and runs downstairs…  When she opens the door, there stands Bob, the next-door neighbor.  Before she says a word, Bob says, ‘I’ll give you $800 to drop that towel.’  After thinking for a moment, the woman drops her towel and stands naked in front of Bob, after a few seconds, Bob hands her $800 and leaves.  The woman wraps back up in the towel and goes back upstairs.  When she gets to the bathroom, her husband asks, ‘Who was that?  ”It was Bob the next door neighbor,’ she replies.  ‘Great,’ the husband says, ‘did he say anything about the $800 he owes me?’
Moral of the story: If you share critical information pertaining to credit and risk with your shareholders in time, you may be in a position to prevent avoidable exposure.
Lesson 2:
A priest offered a Nun a lift.  She got in and crossed her legs, forcing her gown to reveal a leg.  The priest nearly had an accident. After controlling the car, he stealthily slid his hand up her leg. The nun said, ‘Father, remember Psalm 129?’  The priest removed his hand.  But, changing gears, he let his hand slide up her leg again.  The nun once again said, ’Father, remember Psalm 129?’  The priest apologized ‘Sorry sister but the flesh is weak.’  Arriving at the convent, the nun sighed heavily and went on her way.  On his arrival at the church, the priest rushed to look up Psalm 129.  It said, ‘Go forth and seek, further up, you will find glory.’
Moral of the story: If you are not well informed in your job, you might miss a great opportunity.
Lesson 3:
A sales rep, an administration clerk, and the manager are walking to lunch when they find an antique oil lamp.  They rub it and a Genie comes out.  The Genie says, ‘I’ll give each of you just one wish. ”Me first! Me first!’ says the admin clerk. ‘I want to be in the  Bahamas , driving a speedboat, without a care in the world. ’Puff! She’s gone. ’Me next! Me next!’ says the sales rep. ‘I want to be in Hawaii , relaxing on the beach with my personal masseuse, an endless supply of Pina Coladas and the love of my life. ’Puff! He’s gone. ’OK, you’re up,’ the Genie says to the manager.  The manager says, ‘I want those two back in the office after lunch.’
Moral of the story: Always let your boss have the first say.
Lesson 4:
An eagle was sitting on a tree resting, doing nothing.  A small rabbit saw the eagle and asked him, ‘Can I also sit like you and do nothing?’  The eagle answered: ‘Sure, why not.’ So, the rabbit sat on the ground below the eagle and rested.  All of a sudden, a fox appeared, jumped on the rabbit and ate it.
Moral of the story: To be sitting and doing nothing, you must be sitting very, very high up.
Lesson 5:
A turkey was chatting with a bull.  ’I would love to be able to get to the top of that tree’ sighed the turkey, ‘but I haven’t got the energy.  ”Well, why don’t you nibble on some of my droppings?’ replied the bull.  They’re packed with nutrients.  ’The turkey pecked at a lump of dung, and found it actually gave him enough strength to reach the lowest branch of the tree.  The next day, after eating some more dung, he reached the second branch.  Finally after a fourth night, the turkey was proudly perched at the top of the tree.  He was promptly spotted by a farmer, who shot him out of the tree.
Moral of the story:  Bull Shit might get you to the top, but it won’t keep you there.
Lesson 6:
A little bird was flying south for the winter.  It was so cold the bird froze and fell to the ground into a large field.  While he was lying there, a cow came by and dropped some dung on him.  As the frozen bird lay there in the pile of cow dung, he began to realize how warm he was.  The dung was actually thawing him out!  He lay there all warm and happy, and soon began to sing for joy.  A passing cat heard the bird singing and came to investigate.  Following the sound, the cat discovered the bird under the pile of cow dung, and promptly dug him out and ate him.
Moral of the story:
(1) Not everyone who shits on you is your enemy.
(2) Not everyone who gets you out of shit is your friend.
(3) And when you’re in deep shit, it’s best to keep your mouth shut.
Alex on November 17th, 2008

I’m not sure how the Milwaukee Brewers plan on winning:

“It sounds like they’re overbidding,” [Brewer General Manager] Melvin told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “If the speculation is true that we’ve offered CC $100 million, why would you offer $140 million? Why wouldn’t you offer $110 million?”

I have many sins, however, being a Yankees fan (who is not from NY) is not one of them. I definitely respect them and their desire to win. That said, the 00’s have been great to baseball fans.

Alex on November 15th, 2008

Are you as paranoid as with passwords as me? Do you ever feel like cybercafes are just like public toilets? If not, congratulations… but with me I dream of Google allowing people to use One-Use Passwords. That would make logging in public places a lot more sanitary.

Alex on November 7th, 2008

cerveja, piada

Alex on October 18th, 2008

Dear American: I need to ask you to support an urgent secret business relationship with a transfer of funds of great magnitude.

I am Ministry of the Treasury of the Republic of America. My country has had crisis that has caused the need for large transfer of funds of 800 billion dollars US. If you would assist me in this transfer, it would be most profitable to you.

I am working with Mr. Phil Gram, lobbyist for UBS, who will be my replacement as Ministry of the Treasury in January. As a Senator, you may know him as the leader of the American banking deregulation movement in the 1990s. This transactin is 100% safe.

This is a matter of great urgency. We need a blank check. We need the funds as quickly as possible. We cannot directly transfer these funds in the names of our close friends because we are constantly under surveillance. My family lawyer advised me that I should look for a reliable and trustworthy person who will act as a next of kin so the funds can be transferred.

Please reply with all of your bank account, IRA and college fund account numbers and those of your children and grandchildren to wallstreetbailout@treasury.gov so that we may transfer your commission for this transaction. After I receive that information, I will respond with detailed information about safeguards that will be used to protect the funds.

Yours Faithfully Minister of Treasury Paulson

Alex on October 18th, 2008

http://www.greenlightcommunity.com an amazing resource for building a better life. Keith Ferrazzi, the author of Never Eat Alone, has started this community and it’s truly wonderful. This is simply the best online resource for learning the ins and outs of networking that I’ve found.

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