What I Learnt Today

Elon Musk has replaced Steve Jobs as the Internet’s ‘raddest’ man.

While he was an undergraduate at University, Musk asked himself “What will most affect the future of humanity?”.
He came up with five answers:

• the internet;
• sustainable energy;
• space exploration, in particular the permanent extension of life beyond Earth;
• artificial intelligence;
• and reprogramming the human genetic code.

Why work on small problems when there are big ones to solve?

Musk started with the Internet. He founded PayPal, and later sold it for a not-so-small fortune. Rather then retiring to a tax haven in the Caribbean, he moved onto the next two tougher problems.

SpaceX

Musk believes that if we are to ensure mankind’s survival, we need to be able to leave Earth and travel to other planets.

In 2002 he started ‘one of the most unthinkable and ill-advised ventures of all time’, a rocket company called SpaceX. ‘The aim of SpaceX is to revolutionize space technology, with the ultimate goal of enabling people to live on other planets.’

Against all predictions, SpaceX has been a tremendously successful company. It has flown cargo to and from the space shuttle, and now has a $1.6 billion contract with NASA to fly numerous cargo resupply missions. It is developing the capacity to transport astronauts.

Tesla Automobiles

While SpaceX was still in its infancy, Mush started working on his next problem – ‘sustainable energy’. Musk says of fossil fuels – “Given that at some point they’ll run out anyway, why run this crazy experiment to see how bad it’ll be?”

As Tom Urban writes

In 2004 Musk decided to multi-task by launching the second-most unthinkable and ill-advised venture of all time: an electric car company called Tesla, whose stated purpose was to revolutionize the worldwide car industry by significantly accelerating the advent of a mostly-electric-car world—in order to bring humanity on a huge leap toward a sustainable energy future”

Musk has a secret master plan.

• Build a sports car (Roadster, 2006) √
• Use that money to build an affordable car (Model S, 2012) √
• Use that money to build an even more affordable car (2017)
• While doing above, also provide zero emission electric power generation options

The Tesla Roadster was Tesla automobiles has now launched the very successful Model S fully electric car, aimed at the luxury end of the market. The all-wheel Model Sdrive version has a top speed of 250 kph and can go from 0-100kph in 3.3 seconds. It has the highest ever Consumer Reports rating of 99/100. It received 5/5 in the Australian ANCAP safety rating. It has a range of about 500km, and Tesla has built a network of charging stations across the USA if you need to go further (or you can plug into any power point).

The Model S starts in Australia at $106,000. So I’ll wait for the widely anticipated Model 3, slated for release March 2016 and for sale early 2017. It is aimed to be very affordable ($35,000) and it is tipped that it will disrupt the automobile market.

SolarCity

As a spin off, Musk’s company SolarCity is the largest installer of Solar panels in the USA . Musk is also building the largest battery factory in the world.The Tesla Powerwall home battery (to be released later this year) will revolutionise the way we use energy at home, allowing the power generated from the sun by day to be stored and used at night (perhaps to charge our Tesla car).

As Richard Branson says

It’s a paradox that Elon is working to improve our planet at the same time he’s building spacecraft to help us leave it.

Wait, But Why?

Tom Urban writes about Mush and Tesla in his blog Wait, But Why?. This is my new favourite blog.

Urban explores each topic he writes on with enormous depth – digging deeper and deeper whenenever there is a concept that requires clarification. He likes to ‘get to the very bottom of things.

He describes it like this

The way I approach a post like that is I’ll start with the surface of the topic and ask myself what I don’t fully get—I look for those foggy spots in the story where when someone mentions it or it comes up in an article I’m reading, my mind kind of glazes over with a combination of “ugh it’s that icky term again nah go away” and “ew the adults are saying that adult thing again and I’m seven so I don’t actually understand what they’re talking about.” Then I’ll get reading about those foggy spots—but as I clear away fog from the surface, I often find more fog underneath. So then I research that new fog, and again, often come across other fog even further down. My perfectionism kicks in and I end up refusing to stop going down the rabbit hole until I hit the floor.

So the ‘Wait But Why?’ column on Tesla starts with Elon Musk, moves through the politics of energy, looks for the truth around climate change, delves into the science of combustion, and takes us right back to the ferns that became the fossils that became the coal that provide us with energy today. It deals with the issue of ‘the long tailpipe’ – are electric cars no better environmentally than petrol cars as coal generates the electicity that charges them? It is a very entertaining ‘long read’.

But don’t start reading the Wait But Why? story of Elon Musk, the Worlds Raddest Man, or Part 2, How Tesla will Change the World? unless you are ready to go and buy a Tesla.

You won’t have any choice afterwards.

What I Learnt On 14th June in other years

14th June 2021 Quokka Selfies

14th June 2012 Ten Bets You Will Always Win

14th June 2011 Voice Controlling your iPhone

Cook Straight runs North-South, not East-West

The South Island is not immediately below the North Island – in fact the two islands overlap.

To travel from Nelson (on the South Island) to Wellington (on the North Island) you travel east and a bit south.

The Maori arrived in New Zealand relatively recently.

New Zealand was first settled by polynesians people who travelled there by canoe about 700 years ago, about 500 years before the Pakeha (Europeans) arrived.

New Zealand has no native land mammals

When the Maori first arrived in New Zealand, there were no native land mammals. Perhaps this is why their birds are flightless. There are lots of Weka birds (pictured), but most Kiwis have never seen a Kiwi in the wild.  There are now many introduced species, including 39 million sheep, 6.4 million dairy cows,  and NZ’s favourite import, the possum.

New Zealand may have been completely submerged 23 Million Years Ago

The islands of New Zealand are part of a continental fragment (Zealandia) that broke off from Australia about 70 million years ago. Many people believe that it was completely submerged 23 million years ago. 93% of the land mass of Zealandia remains submerged.

New Zealand has more earthquakes than I thought

About 20,000 earthquakes are recorded in New Zealand each year, of which 200  are strong enough to be felt.

Wellington in particular is prone to earthquakes.

Fatalities are generally uncommon – the two earthquakes that stand out are Napier in 1931, in which 256 people died, and the Christchurch earthquake of 2011, in which 185 people died. I think I’d rather have snakes.

What I Learnt On 16th February in other years

16th February 2016 See all five visible planets together tomorrow morning

16th February 2013 Are You Smarter than a Chimpanzee?

16th February 2011 siseneG – Arthur C Clarke’s shortest short story

‘Oi’ would call it a cracker. PE would say it was a hoot.

English poet Simon Armitage has a new collection of poems called Paper Aeroplane Poems, 1989-2014

Unfortunately, the poem after which the book was named was completed too late to be included!

Books and Arts Daily recently featured Simon reading ‘Paper Aeroplane’.

Here is the audio clip, introduced by the host Michael Cathcart. It’s a hoot of a cracker.

What I Learnt On 11th September in other years

11th September 2011 Board Game Remix: Colonel Mustard in Old Kent Road with a Triple Letter Score

Mailbox is an innovative mail client for iOS that had an enormous impact when it was released last year.

I remember being 500,000th in line for an invitation to be a beta tester.

Mailbox makes it easier to achieve Inbox Zero – that sweet spot where your inbox is empty of all messages. This doesn’t happen often, but if you use your Inbox as a To Do list it is wonderful to achieve.

Mailbox allows you to snooze your incoming messages, and have them pop back into your Inbox when they are needed. This is a feature I use all the time. For example, you can have flight and meeting details arrive back in your Inbox on the day that you will need them. 

I have had a flirtation with Mail Pilot. It also has the snooze function, and takes the ‘Inbox as To Do List’ to another level. It has a gorgeous interface, and is now available for Mac, iPhone and iPad. However, I have become frustrated by its frequent crashes and slow upgrade program. 

I switched to Airplane, which has excellent integration with three of my other must-have apps Evernote, Fantastic and Things. However, it is Mac only, and lacked the ability to send messages into the future

Mailbox has been purchased by DropBox, and has very recently been released in a Mac version. This is good timing for me.

Mailbox for Mac incorporates the Snooze features found in the  iOS version. I think it is terrific and I am now a Mailbox on all devices advocate. I’ll be happier when it integrates with my other apps a bit better.

You can download a beta version of Mailbox for Mac here. You will need a special token to use them – and I have three that I am happy to send to the first readers to contact me in the  comments below.

What I Learnt On 8th September in other years

8th September 2011 Before you criticize someone….

We know that Google employees are encouraged to spend 20% of their time on private projects.

Here are five Google features that have been developed under this program.

1. Do a Google Image search on “Atari Breakout”

2. Do a You Tube Search on “Beam Me Up Scotty” and “Do the Harlem Shake”

3. Google “2 minute timer”

4. Google nGrams searches millions of books to see how often a word or phrase has been used over time.

5. How do you read the number 12,367,893,125? To find out Google “112,367,893,125=english”

Just because a product has a social mission doesn’t mean the product is great. Everyone Deserves Great Design says it is time to put an end to useless products designed for people in crummy situations.
Useless products are widespread in the developing world because of the wrong mindset. Non-profits generate income by designing products that appeal to their donors. The problem arises when user desires are completely ignored.

Good Intentions + Wrong Mindset = Bad Design

Examples of crummy design that have raised millions by appealing to donors rather than users include

• the Socket Ball that generates electricity, but always breaks within a few weeks
• the PlayPump water system, intended to use children’s play to pump water
• the Free Wheechair Mission, which produces wheelchairs out of old chairs

The shining example of good design that meets the needs of users is the WATERisLIFE Straw, the straw that saves lives.

The WATERisLIFE Straw is a small, portable filtration device that provides pure, clean drinking water whenever it is immersed into a water source (just like a normal straw). This Straw, however, saves lives on a daily basis by filtering out waterborne diseases – which accounts for over 6,500 deaths every day – 5,000 of those being children.

This revolutionary Straw has proven to be effective against waterborne diseases such as typhoid, cholera, dysentery, guinea worm, and diarrhea, and removes particles as small as fifteen microns.

WATERisLIFE continues to work with organizations and partners to provide straw filters to those in need. Each Straw costs only $10 and provides a year’s worth of clean water for one person.

At ‘Water is Life’, the commitment to good design extends to their advertising.

First World Problems are not Problems
“I hate it when my house is so big I need two wireless routers.”

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