Project 10 to the 100th; Those who help the most win!

This is a project / contest being put forward by Google where anybody that wants to can submit an idea that they feel will help lots of people. The idea that is judged to be the best will get funded by Google!

I LOVE to help people! It's a huge motivator for me... My mind is practically paralyzed with excitement right now! Why didn't I think of this contest??! (And have billions of dollars to throw at it...)

Does Google ever stop thinking of cool stuff? More info at this link.

(Thanks for the tip, Erin K.!)

Our Salty Economy

With all that is happening with the US financial sector these days, and with talk of a possible $700 Billion bailout of Wall Street, I thought I might be able to depress you all a little more by re-posting this earlier blog post I did about the scale of large numbers.

But first, on a personal note, I wholeheartedly urge any Americans reading this post to do a little studying and understand what is about to happen in our country. The "Wall Street Bailout Plan" being proposed by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson is extremely frightening to me for these five reasons:

1. It's being rushed through the Congress by the Bush Administration.
2. It has a section (8) that rejects any legal or administrative oversight. (No joke; that's the language it uses!)
3. It does not limit the amount of compensation or "bonuses" for Wall Street Execs. (Why should they be getting any bonuses after they've run things into the ground??)
4. It does not include relief for struggling homeowners.
   
5. Paulson is too close to Wall Street. (He was previously CEO of Golman Sachs)

But don't take my word for it, read up on it yourself! This is no time for Americans to be either lazy or ignorant about our politics.

And if you don't like reading you can watch this surprisingly entertaining 5 minute video from C-Span where Ohio Representative Marcy Kaptur sums it up:


But enough about my fears for American life as we know it, here's my original post about visualizing large numbers (like 700 billion). Enjoy!

--------
April 29, 2008

What do you think of when you think of a million? How about a billion? What picture pops into your head when someone complains about the US National Debt being over $9 trillion? How can a person even wrap their head around numbers that big?

I can't. And it got me thinking about how I could go about forming a better perspective for these mathematical concepts. The idea I came up with was to put the numbers into a smaller scale that I could more easily visualize. So I started counting grains of salt.

Sound boring? Oh, it was, I assure you. But I found the results to be very helpful, and surprising:

1 Hundred grains of salt is about how many come out of a salt shaker if you shake it once (if the shaker in question is not very generous). It's a very small pile.

1 Thousand grains of salt is about how many you get if you take a really generous pinch of salt. This is still a pretty unimpressive pile as piles of salt go.

1 Million grains of salt is slightly less than what fits in a 1/2 cup measuring cup. Still not a whole lot, but quite a bit bigger than 1,000.

1 Billion grains of salt is equal to 25 gallons. If you can picture a 50 gallon drum filled half way with salt, that's about a billion grains. That's a lot more than the million that fit in the 1/2 cup!

1 Trillion grains of salt is equal to 25,000 gallons, or 3,342 cubic feet. That will completely fill a 21x20x8 foot room, roughly the size of a small classroom or a large living room. That is a lot bigger than that half of a drum that the billion fit into, and a whole lot bigger than the 1/2 cup that the million grains fit into. At that rate, would you even notice if a few million were added or subtracted?

1 Quadrillion grains of salt is equal to 25 million gallons, or roughly 3.3 million cubic feet. If you took a football field, including the end zones, and piled salt onto it, all the way to the edges, 60 feet deep, you would have roughly one quadrillion grains of salt! Or, if that's a little hard to visualize, imagine 10 football fields all covered 6 feet deep with salt... The perspective kind of breaks down again, doesn't it? (Author's note: Please don't try this at home; the grass on those football fields will never grow back again.)

Not wanting to wax political here, but thinking back to the question about the national debt being roughly $9 trillion... In salt-grain terms, that's 9 small classrooms filled with salt. Except each grain costs $1. The US Population is about 304 million, which means that each person in the US would have to pay roughly $30,000 to pay it off.

But before you get too worked up about the $30,000 you owe, realize that it only represents about a half of a teaspoon of salt. And that's barely enough to make cookies with.

[Postscript: My good friend Taylor gave me the idea to do this same exercise using seconds. Here are the results using lengths of time!]

You can check my math and my methodology here at this Google Spreadsheet.

Potty Panic

Kristi went on a two week work-related trip to Japan in October last year. This is the email I sent to her after I dropped her off at the airport, reprinted here by request:


Sunday, October 14, 2007 11:17 PM
From: Brian Bowker
T0: Kristi Bowker
Subject: Potty Panic

Dear Kristi,

I miss you already. Here's one of the many reasons why:

So today when we left to go to the airport I kinda had to go to the bathroom, but I expected it to be a pretty quick run to the Bellingham terminal. When your flight was canceled I got distracted and we started off driving to SeaTac in a hurry (as you remember). But no worries: I'm pretty good at holding it and it wasn't an emergency yet.

By the time I dropped you off at SeaTac I definitely needed to go, but instead of having to pay for parking and fight my way through the airport I figured I would just find someplace for lunch on the way home and go there. Nuvi to the rescue; I found a sandwich shop that sounded good and off I went, gritting my teeth ever so slightly.

The GPS started telling me that the exit was coming up, and there was a fair amount of traffic so I started merging to the right in preparation. But it turns out the exit was on the left so I missed it! I cried out a little bit as I went by, now really needing to go!

I quickly picked a new Deli and headed to the next exit, a few miles down the freeway. This time I made the exit, but then missed a turn and was on a road that didn't have a way to turn around. I think I used a mild swear word at that point.

So now I was getting desperate, and decided to pick the closest restaurant on the way, which was about 1.5 miles down the road. I found the street, parked around the corner and hustled my way towards where the GPS had assured me would be a diner. After I walked about two blocks along a very busy road I came to realize that there was, in fact, no diner on that street! Now in pain, I ran back to the car, cursing under my breath all the way.

When I got back to the car I quickly put in the next closest place, which was a teriyaki place another 1.8 miles away, and when I got there it was CLOSED! Now in accute pain I cursed the very ground I was driving on!

A little ways further was a filling station... SALVATION! I screeched the tires on my way into the lot and ran into the mini-mart. I asked the lady behind the register if they had a restroom and she said no. NO!?? "Well," she says, "we do have one but there is already someone else using it. Oh wait - he's coming out; you can use it now."

My heart about jumped through my throat! A flood of emotions rushed through me; I would finally get to pee!

But wait - there were TWO GUYS ALREADY IN LINE FOR THE BATHROOM! There are NEVER lines in front of mens rooms!! THE UNIVERSE HATES ME!

Disgusted and agitated, I tell her I'll find somewhere else and storm out of the parking lot, determined that there should be another filling station in the vicinity. But no - there wasn't. I was deep in the middle of some industrial park in the middle of north SeaTac where there were no public restrooms.

It might as well have been Hell.

Somewhere around this point I started praying in earnest for the salvation of my bladder. Tears were starting to form in my eyes as I desperately selected the next nearest restaurant, which turned out to be, coincidentally, a sandwich shop. I was speeding as I drove towards it!

The sandwich shop was inside a business park where nothing was open, NOT EVEN THE SANDWICH SHOP! I parked the car in front not knowing what to do but knowing that I could not drive any further. My teeth were no longer just "floating" but starting to feel as if they might start leaking out of my mouth! At this point I was about 3 hours overdue to go to the bathroom and I was actually starting to get tunnel vision!

I was in a bad way.

But then I noticed that the sandwich shop had converted a few of their parking spots in front into an outdoor dining area. There were even trees planted around three sides of it...

Now, it's important to me that you understand that I was not in control of my actions at this point. I was quite mad from the pain and frustration and I'm certain that I had foam beginning to form in the corners of my mouth.

And so I peed. Behind a groomed shrubbery, alarmingly close to a table where someone would someday sit and eat their sandwich, I peed. I peed with such relief that waves of dizziness coursed through my body. I peed for all the times I had ever needed to pee ever before in all of my childhood. I peed for what seemed like an eternity.

And when I was finished I couldn't even move. I just stood there in a daze, with my mouth agape, my trousers open, holding my penis, in front of a sandwich shop somewhere in north SeaTac.

And so this is how I came to commit the crime of public urination. Less than 45 minutes after you had left and I could not even find a bathroom on my own! The next two weeks with out you are looking pretty grim.

I love you and I miss you. If you get the opportunity while you're in Japan, please come home.

-Brian

How T-Mobile Can Gain Ground -OR- My Predictions for the Google Android Launch

I don't like to make a lot of predictions (I like my data to be accurate!). But I'm so excited about the upcoming launch of the first Google Android powered phone by T-Mobile that I want to get some of my thoughts down in black and white.

For those of you that might not have heard yet (where have you been hiding??) T-Mobile is about to be the first cellular carrier to release a phone based on the new, open source Android operating system, pioneered primarily by Google. This new "mobile operating system" is expected to be an industry changing development. The handset hardware is being made by HTC and is called either the Dream or the G1. T-Mobile has called a press conference for Sept. 23rd to release the specifics, and everyone and their dog is speculating about what those specifics will be. And I am no different.

But I think I see some gaps in the general conjecture, some possibilities that are being missed. So here's a few strategies that I hope T-Mobile will use in the coming weeks to make the most of their big announcement and start to move up from being the 4th place US wireless provider:

Make the Dream a "Hotspot" enabled phone.
T-Mobile took a big risk and showed some real boldness when they announced their new "Hotspot" enabled phones a few years ago. Basically this allows Wi-fi capable handsets to make and receive calls over an available Wi-fi network with out using up a person's minutes. T-mobile charges a flat rate (about $10/month) on top of a regular plan and allows the user to make unlimited calls over Wi-fi.

This idea terrifies the other three big carriers because it means that people will pay for less "overage" minutes and will purchase smaller calling plan packages. But it's tremendously good for the customer for these same exact reasons.

With this service already in place, and the HTC Dream being a Wi-Fi enabled phone, it's pretty much a no-brainer that T-Mobile will do this. But strangely I haven't heard anyone out on the net getting excited about this probability. What if you could pay for a minimal plan but have unlimited calls on your iPhone? If AT&T announced that it would be a huge deal!

Announce the roll out of a 3G network.
This is also a fairly easy prediction to make since it's been rumored that T-Mobile will do this for the last couple weeks. But that doesn't diminish the fact that T-Mobile really needs to come through on this to keep from getting dinged in the press for not having it (like what happened to the original iPhone). If T-Mobile doesn't do this I'll be pretty disappointed in them. Not because I necessarily need 3G speeds on a phone, but because I think it's virtually a strategic necessity at this point in the game.

[Update: 9/19/2008 T-Mobile has now announced that they are indeed rolling out a 3G network across 27 major metropolitan areas, which will include Seattle by mid October. I've also heard rumors that the phone won't actually be available for purchase until Oct. 17th, which would line up with this time line. One prediction in the bag!]

Offer contract free calling plans.
Now this one I haven't heard anyone talking about, but I think it would be a killer feature for T-Mobile's forward strategy. US cellular consumers are becoming more and more disgruntled with the two year contracts and high "opt-out" fees that carriers charge these days, and for what? So you can over-pay for a phone that you get slightly cheaper up front? The time for mandatory two year cellular contracts is coming to an end, and I believe the first carrier to take steps away from them will reap great rewards for it in the press.

I think T-Mobile would do best to offer the Android phone via two options: $199 with a two year contract, or full price ($599?) with out a contract. This would protect them on both fronts: It would compete directly with the iPhone's $199 price point, but also give forward thinking customers a stress-free option that doesn't tie you down. The irony is that I believe customers would stay with a carrier longer if they weren't obligated to do so ("if you love something set it free...").

And for Google's part:
Roll out a new, improved Grand Central service.
A few years ago Google bought a telephony company called Grand Central that basically allows you to consolidate your many phone numbers into a single, intelligently controlled contact point. You sign up for the service and receive a single, local phone number and then link it to ring multiple other phone numbers depending on who's calling you.

For instance, you might want your wife to be able to reach you at your desk, at your cell, or at home (if she's at work) so you can set her caller ID info to ring all those locations when she calls your Grand Central number. But you might want your Boss to only ring you at your office and your cell. Or you might have someone that you want to go directly to voicemail with out ever ringing any of your phones. Or maybe they can ring you at home, but only after 5pm... You can accomplish all of this with Grand Central.

It also serves as a central hub for your voicemail, and will email MP3 recordings of your voicemails to any email address you like, so you don't even have to call in to listen to them.

The major downfall of Grand Central so far has been the lack of support for SMS text messaging. This means that your "single number" doesn't work when someone wants to send you a quick text message.

Since Google bought Grand Central there's been very little written about it,and they haven't really developed it any further. Which is why I believe this could be the perfect time for Google to release an updated version of the service and create some synergy along with T-Mobile's announcements.

If they add SMS text messaging support, and possibly also offer a service that will translate your voicemails into text (so you don't even have to listen to them) this would be a killer program for Android integration. I see no reason why Google wouldn't want to take this opportunity to create a bigger splash for the Android pool.

In conclusion, the new Android-running Dream is going to be put on a very hot seat when it comes out as it will be compared ruthlessly to the iPhone. T-Mobile and Google need to do everything they can to wow the community with a stellar roll out. Frankly, although I think the new Dream will be a spectacular phone, I don't think it's going to be able to stand up to the already mature iPhone on hardware and software alone. I think they are going to need to think about the value added services that make it not just a cool phone, but an undeniably beneficial complete package.

T-Mobile is the 4th place provider in an industry that only has 4 big players in the US, and they won't have exclusive dibs on the Android OS for very long. I believe their best strategy will be to play on the negative feelings that many consumers have towards the other carriers and offer services that are uncharacteristically good for the customer. I hope they do and I hope it changes the industry for ever.

They have very little to loose, but everything to gain. Go get 'em, T-Mobile!

Slam Dunk Your Trunk: Episode #2

HEY FRIENDS!

Last time on Slam Dunk Your Trunk we spent a little time on the often forgotten muscle groups of the face! That was so much fun that we decided to dedicate this entire episode to working on some even more forgotten body parts like the Lungs, Kidneys, Colon and Pancreas!

Crazy Golden THC Buddha will explain:



Thanks Chris P!

This Post Could Save Your Life

With all the natural disasters happening lately, and being reminded that we live in an earthquake prone area where scientists have been predicting "The Big One" for more than 20 years, Kristi and I decided to update our emergency supplies (which I think we last looked into just before Y2K). I came across a concept in emergency preparedness that I think is worth sharing:

The Bug Out Bag

The basic idea of a Bug Out Bag is to put all of your emergency supplies together in a portable container and keep it near your door. This way if you have to leave your house in a hurry (say for a house fire) you can grab it quickly on the way out and know that you have basic supplies for your family.

Most Bug Out Bag "experts" agree that it should be in a backpack so that it can be carried long distances if necessary. A scenario that might necessitate this could be a large earthquake that closes roads, collapses many buildings, ruptures gas lines and burns down your house. That, in my mind, would be a pretty bad day.

A Bug Out Bag can also be used at home if it's a lesser disaster, like if the power were to go out for several days, or a snow storm traps you inside.

Another advantage of the Bug Out Bag is that if a disaster strikes while you're not at home, like a large earthquake, things can often turn into a huge mess. The Bug Out Bag will keep your basic emergency supplies contained together so you don't have to spend a lot of time searching for a lot of scattered, separate stuff in a potentially dangerous pile of debris.

In any case, the standard rule is to be prepared with the minimal supplies necessary for you and your family to survive for three days.

To that end, I've compiled a list of items that most experts agree should be in the bag. I've also broken it down into categories, and added notes explaining the reasoning behind most of the items.

I hope we never have to use it. I hope you never need to have one either.

Breaking News: Mutual Grooming!

We figure that cuddling / sleeping together is the next step in their budding sibling relationship!



Edison also licked Scooter a little later on (when we didn't have the camera ready).



There might have been a little biting in that last photo...