Vincent Lam. Bloodletting & Miraculous Cures. Random House, 2005.
I remember my anatomy group… We had a communication problem. Men are odd about penises. They don’t want to talk about them but they secretly believe them to be very important, perhaps sacred. So we got to the penis on our cadaver, and the men wanted to skip it. ‘We’ll look at the book,’ they said. ‘No way,’ I said, ‘we need to see the inside of the penis.’ Corpus spongiosum, all that jazz. Besides, the poor guy’s body was lying there. A big man, powerful, and it would have been a shame just to let it go to waste. What did we do? We talked. We talked like professionals, and I saw that it was this one guy’s turn to dissect, and there was no way that this man was going to cut up a penis. So I said, ‘What if I do it?’ and I did it, and I think we all understood the issue better.
>_<
About halfway through the novel. A very fun, light-hearted, most insightful read so far.
Bears and Bulls come and go. I bet many of us are seeing our RRSP’s or 401k’s withering. These two songs have been circulating in recent weeks (Canto w/ subtitles): 放得太遲 by 東加豆 (原曲: 古巨基-愛得太遲 [For the Leo fans out there]) and 熊日 by 東加豆 (原曲: 李克勤-紅日). In a sad way, they capture the emotions of many players in HK financial markets these days.
I guess everything IS a document for another time.
Upon our return from Secteur Rocher, we took the bus up to Jardin Exotique de Monaco. The botanical garden was opened in 1933 and features a wide variety of cactuses. Before I get to the garden itself, one of the most impressive features is the spectacular views of Monaco the garden offers. You can see a good, almost aerial-like view, of Monaco. In the following photo, you see Beau Rivage, as well as the chicane and tunnel exit from the Formula 1 course!
Here's a shot of Secteur Rocher, with the Prince’s Palace featured prominently. We were just standing right on that rock an hour ago watching the race. :)
Jardin Exotique de Monaco is situated on the north-western cliff (what in Monaco isn’t on a hillside), consisting of several levels almost like a giant staircase. As you progress through the garden, you descend onto lower levels until you reach a cave at the very bottom.
I have never seen so many different cactuses concentrated in one place. Given the moderate climate of the region, they are not the type of plants I would have expected to find at a botanic garden here. I guess they are some of the most resilient plants in the world.
The variety of succulents on display was very impressive – ranging from tall and skinny cactuses to the round and fat ones. The latter totally reminded me of the spinning leevers from Zelda; I had to resist from taking out my great sword and performing a spin attack to slash them. :)
The landscaping of the garden was equally impressive. A complex interlock of pathways and bridges, there were multiple ways to get to the same spot. Some of the stairwells appeared to be carved out of the rock face. Some of the bridges were made of wood, but instead of normal wooden well-sawed planks and beams, the railing was sculpted to be curvy and twisty. No real pattern, except it looked like how a natural tree root or branch might grow. Quite the attention to details.
The other highlight of the garden was the observatory cave. We had to wait a bit for a guide (who only spoke in French) to take us down into the depths of Moria. The official site claims that the cave features many fine specimen of stalactites, stalagmites, curtains, columns, spaghetti-like helictites. You can google those terms yourselves to find out what they mean.
I decided to go with my 50mm f/1.8 lens for this cave. Given the low lighting, I needed as wide aperture as possible. Unfortunately, I had major difficulty with the narrower DOF. I still had to bump up the ISO, and sorely missed my 18mm and VR. There’s only so much room for you to manoeuvre in the narrow pathways within the caverns.
So yeah, they have nice metal railings that were elevated above the cavern floors. The walk starts of with a bunch of steps down. Near the entrance, we saw some excavation of animals, which proved that prehistoric humans were using the caves as a base station for their hunting. More steps leading down; overall, the descent was about 60m. Too bad not even my HCx could pick up the satellites to track the elevation changes. It would have been pretty cool to get a 3D mapping of our cavern exploration route.
So yeah, I didn’t really understand what our guide was saying; it took too much effort to try to translate, and after a while, I just decided to shoot photos and enjoy the sights. BlueOrca translated bits and pieces of the funny parts to us.
We got to touch some of the stalagmites that were close to the path. The texture was a glossy, hard (much more than I expected) and very smooth, though if you tap your fingers on it, they do feel a bit brittle. It’s really amazing that these things are continuing to grow. My favourites were when some of the columns – they appeared like a stalactite fused with a stalagmite.
After the approximately one hour tour, we returned above ground. I needed to retrieve my tripod, which had been confiscated earlier. :( We grabbed some gaufres by a vendor near the bus-stop. The guy only had two left, so we had to split the waffles. Nutella. mmmm :)
The bus came and we were off to the Top of Monaco. Till next time!
Monaco introduced me to Formula 1. Since then, I have been diligently getting up every other weekend to catch the Grand Prix. My TV would be tuned into either TSN or Speed TV, while my computer would be connected to the official Live Timings. And what a thrilling season this has been!
I always wondered what about a sport that makes people interested. For example, what is it that kick started my passion for hockey all those years back? I guess I can be considered a mini Formula 1 fan now. :)
Monaco Grand Prix – Learned of a “Lewis Hamilton”.
Canadian Grand Prix – Saw Lewis Hamilton run into the back of Kimi Raikonnen when exiting the pit lane. What a noob mistake! I like this guy. lol.
French Grand Prix – Missed this race, but saw the highlights afterwards. Hamilton got docked with a 10 place and later a drive through. Miserable outing.
British Grand Prix – Silverstone. A lot of build up to see how local hero Lewis Hamilton would respond. He totally dominated the wet race. I think this race was a turning point in my transformation. With all the hype on Hamilton, I was rooting for him to win too.
German Grand Prix – Hockenheim. I got up for the race, only to find that TSN was showing the British Open instead. WTF. Saw the latter half of the race again while at a pub, and Hamilton showcased his death touch on the brakes with two breathtaking passes on the hairpin. Hamilton was my man!
Hungarian Grand Prix – Hungaroring. McLaren 1-2 on the grid. Massa passes Hamilton on turn 1. Hamilton tyre puncture, drops down to 12th!!! Massa seems to be cruising to victory when his engine blows with 3 laps to go! “The home straight, with 3 laps to go, is never a good place to park!” My favourite quote all season.
I’ve started to research more and more into Formula 1. Found out that I can put up a good conversation with other Formula 1 addicts at work. :)
European Grand Prix – Valencia. New course, breathtaking marina and bridge. Quite a boring race. Massa/ Hamilton / Kubica finished as they started.
Belgium Grand Prix – SPA! One of the most impressive races of the entire season. My recap (Note: Lewis = Hamilton = Lewis Hamilton)
Hamilton started in pole, and got off to a good start. However right at the end of the first lap, Lewis spins on La Source, Kimi Raikonnen of Ferrari (past 3 times winner), passes Hamilton to take the lead. For the next 41 laps, it was Kimi, Hamilton, Massa. Kimi had built up a 6 s lead at one point, but once Hamilton came out from his 2nd pit w/ hard tyres, he started chasing. However, the rain (as predicted) finally came with TWO laps to go. Most cars had their their hard dry tyres on, so they started slipping and sliding.
So, Lewis caught up to Kimi and was right being Kimi's gearbox with 2 laps to go. Lewis tries to go outside to pass Kimi, but was forced to cut off the track across the corner to avoid a collision. By cutting the corner, he came out in front of Kimi. He let Kimi go back in front of him (as required). However, that didn't matter as Hamilton got around Kimi again to take the lead soon afterwards. Then all of a sudden, Lewis goes wide on one of the corners. Kimi goes ahead. Then Kimi spins... Lewis jumps in front again. Cars were sliding everywhere. Then all of a sudden, Kimi spins out and crashes into the wall. It was CRAZY to watch.. my fist were pumping. :D
Some cars pitted to switch tyres. Lewis and Massa stayed out. It was one of the slowest and least glorious final lap of a Grand Prix. But man, Lewis just take it easy. lol. Those last 3 laps had me on the edge of my seat. :DDD
Lewis takes the chequered. Ferrari is protesting that turn where Lewis cut the track corner. The race stewards are investigating.
A few hours after I had sent that out, I saw the news:
OMG.
SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS, Belgium - Ferrari's Felipe Massa has been declared the winner of the Belgian Grand Prix after McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton was given a 25-second penalty for an illegal manoeuvre.
Hamilton had finished first Sunday after dramatically overtaking Ferrari's Kimi Raikonnen, but race stewards said he had cut across a chicane to gain an advantage before passing the defending world champion.
There was endless controversy regarding what has become known as the Bus-stop Gate.
Italian Grand Prix – Monza. Vettel of Torro Rosso won. Learned that there is no formation lap when race starts under safety car. Hamilton screwed up qualifying, so started at position 15 on grid. Hamilton did some massive overtaking and finished 7th. He almost had a chance of finishing on the podium had it rained.
This race taught me some of the intricate strategy that is involved in Formula 1. They had mathematicians calculating everything to the narrowest of margins to maximum the probability of winning. Dang.
Singapore Grand Prix – First night race ever!!! City circuit through downtown Singapore. Quite a super duper facility, and a lot of hype on how the race would turn out. Highlight was Massa taking the fuelling hose with him when leaving the pits!!!!
Japan Grand Prix – Fuji. Watched this race with BlueOrca and Kungfucius on a horrible internet stream. Massa cheated and took Hamilton out on a chicane. Race to forget.
Chinese Grand Prix – Shanghai. Race at 3am in the morning!!! BlueOrca got up to watch the race too, despite being a bit under the weather. Quite a dedication! Hamilton owned the race from start to finish. Best overtake was Massa on Raikonnen. XD
Brazilian Grand Prix - Hamilton brings a 7 point lead over Massa (hometown favourite) into the race.
Hamilton will be champion if:
- He finishes fifth or higher
- He finishes sixth and Massa is second or lower
- He finishes seventh and Massa is second or lower
- He finishes eighth and Massa is third or lower
- He fails to score and Massa is third or lower
Hamilton started 4th on the grid and Massa first. Massa jumped off to a good start and never really looked back. Race started with a 10 minute delay due to a heavy downpour right when the race was suppose to start. Hamilton had to overtake Fisichella at one point to regain 5th, and fight off some pressure from Glock and Vettel.
With about 7 laps to go, Hamilton was carefully nursing a 4th place with Vettel right behind him. Remember, Hamilton only needed fifth or better to win. Rain was reported to be coming imminently.
Hamilton and Vettel both pitted with 5 laps to go to switch to intermediate tyres. When they came back out, they slotted behind Timo Glock, who didn’t switch tyres and had jumped up to 5th. Hamilton now either had to keep Vettel behind him or pass Glock.
With 3 laps to go, Glock was still posting awesome times with his dry tyres. The unthinkable happens. Hamilton runs wide on a turn, and Vettel passes him. Hamilton was in 6th – a position that will cost him the championship!!
The McLaren just did not have the pace today. Hamilton could not get a good slipstream on Vettel. Every time he got close to the Torro Rosso’s gearbox, Vettel will just speed away. It felt like the last 30 seconds of the Stanley Cup finals, the opposition just scored and you are down by a goal. Despite all the desperation and do-or-die mentality, you just cannot seem to get out of your own end!! The agony!
Massa had already cross the finish line to take the chequered flag. Glock had posted a decent time in the first sector of the final lap. The camera returned to Hamilton chasing Vettel for that 5th position in the last few corners of the Grand Prix. That stupid blinking light of Vettel's seemed so close and yet horribly far. I was all but resigned to seeing the championship slip away. This was not how it was suppose to be. There is no worse way to lose a championship than this. As Vettel and Hamilton came around the final corner, what do they find? None other than a white Toyota struggling to stay on the track in his dry tyres! Is that Glock?!? It is!!! It is Glock!!!! It took a few seconds for my mind to register what just happened. Lewis passed Glock. Lewis was back in 5th!!!! OMG!!!
Glock had lost all the 18 seconds lead he gained by not stopping for intermediates. He was doing all his might to stay on the track, while Hamilton shot pass him to reclaim the fifth place he so desperately needed to take the championship. The Ferrari boys were celebrating, the McLaren boys were too. But Ferrari was wrong and they soon realized that.
McLaren F1 Car £Millions | Yellow Race Helmet - £1,000 | Seeing Ferrari Pit Crew Celebrate A Title They Didn't Win - Priceless.
Wow. This race had it all. Rain in the first few minutes, rain in the last few minutes. The greatest of anticipations for most of the race. The horror when everything seemed to be falling apart. The despair at watching the entire race and championship slip away. The shock at the miracle that just transpired. The jubilation of a LEWIS HAMILTON VICTA!!!! My heart has not pumped that fast in ages - the race was INTENSE.
I do not think I will ever watch an event as heart-stopping as this. The roller coaster of emotions was an experience of a lifetime. I am so fortunate to have been able to watch this event unfold live. Imagine, if I had not been at Monaco for the Grand Prix this past May, I would have been totally ignorant of this awesome awesome sporting spectacle. Actually, I cannot imagine that.
Hamilton wins the World Driver’s Championship by a single point. What an amazing finish to my premier Formula 1 season experience. I have learned so much about the sport, about the host cities and countries, about the people and cultures.
Every now and then, everyone needs a boost of inspiration. I was fortunate to land a $500 ticket to the Changing The World conference at University of Toronto.
Changing the World brings together the world's greatest visionaries to
inspire young people to innovate and better our world. The topics covered
include: technology, science, design, entrepreneurship, philanthropy,
and the arts. Among this year's speakers are:1 Nobel Peace Prize winner (for stopping nuclear war)
1 Star designer
1 Architect designing Asia's tallest building
12 Entrepreneurs
1 Giller prize winning author
2 Internet millionaires
1 Engineer who creates $100 laptops for developping nations
1 Girl who was curing Alzheimer's at age 15
1 Girl who gave British young people the power to vote
1 Scientist who stops human aging
1 Guy who created Mac OS X
9 Technologists
1 Futurist creating blob computers
... and more.
15 speakers is each given 18 minutes to deliver their epic talk. TED style in rapid-fire succession. Some recaps, highlights, and thoughts from each talk. My apologies if some of my notes do not make much sense. I hope that the talks were recorded and made available online later. There were a few I would highly recommend.
Live Longer. Create the world.
Aubrey de Grey -- world's leading aging scientist, believes that we can live to 1000
- Long beard, as you would expect.
- Shameless Plug. His book is available on Amazon for $17.79. lol.
- The fact of living is what makes us dying.
- Metabolism –- (Geronotology)—> Damage –-(Geriatrics)--> Pathology.
- Metabolism is big unknown, which makes Gerontology very difficult.
- Geriatrics is losing battle. You can never get better, only prolong.
- Solution? Same thing that lets keeps as many VW Beetle (regular car) on the road after 50 years as Landrovers (built to last) ==> Maintenance.
- We understand damage (cancer, etc) – 7 deadly things: Junk in, Junk out,
- Claim: innovations in progress to “undo” or “repair” some of the damage => 25 years of research should yield techniques to prolong life by 30 years.
- Claim: hand wavy arguments about history of rapid developments in technology after initial breakthrough. Airplane: Wright Brothers (1913) to Concorde (1979)
- Longevity escape velocity.
- My thoughts: "Interesting ideas. Would be nice if they were to come into fruition. A lot of BS and hand waving though. Dependent on research that he is not even involved in! Ran way overtime!!”
Eva Vertes -- cancer scientist, made an Alzheimer's breakthrough at age 15
- Book at age 9 started her on medical path.
- Key to success is to step out of conventional thinking.
- Cancer – mutation causes out of control body repairs, which leads to tumors.
- Conventional Treatments – chemo and radiation – both KILL those “external” bad cells.
- Body interacts with cancer cells though. Why need to kill? Perhaps treatments can target these interaction.
- Idea: Cancer starts with a “wound” – initial mutations that cause out of control behaviour. Killing the tumour (final product) will not heal the “wound”. Treat the wound instead.
- Idea: Tumors need blood vessels. Strong opposition from medical community for many years. Now an accepted truth.
- My thoughts: “Brought deep medical concepts into layman’s terms. Main messages, Step outside the box and asks the question WHY?”
Vincent Lam -- author, 2006 Giller Prize winner for Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures
- Cover of book. Initially, bag of blood dripping. Not appealing. Second idea. A soiled bandage. Eeew. Finally settled on heart. His book is also available on Amazon. lol.
- Chinese heritage: When a kid at family dinners, friends and family asked him “What do you want to be when you grow up?” “I want to be a doctor and writer.” All they hear is “Doctor and blah blah blah. Wow!! Doctor!!”
- Accomplished Doctor and Writer. Two seemingly disjoint fields, but in reality, are the same thing : Story-telling.
- “While modern medicine is aided by a dazzling array of technologies, like high-resolution MRI scans and pinpoint DNA analysis, language is still the bedrock of clinical practice.” – Jerome Groopman ‘How Doctors Think’
- “Would you want your doctor to tell you this story?” Medical Students will ROFL when seeing this joke. Non-medical audiences will give a light nervous laughter (like we did today). LOL.
- Before “science” and “medical study”, doctors were still around. They were known as the magic healers or the shamans. They excelled at managing stories.
- “The shaman is also a magician and medicine man; he is believed to cure, like all doctors, and to perform miracles… But beyond that, he may also be priest, mystic, and poet… (and) appears to be the guardian of religious and popular traditions, preserver of legends several centuries old.” – Mircea Eliade, Shamanism
- A Patient’s story…
- I have a problem…
- Someone cared for me.
- Someone used their special knowledge and tools to help me.
- Someone told me what was going to happen next.
- So as a doctor, you must understand the patient’s story, and help them move it forward.
- “The practice of medicine is an art, not a trade; a calling, not a business; a calling in which your heart will be exercised equally with your head. Often the best part of your work will have nothing to do with potions and powders.” – Sir William Osler
- My thoughts: “Wish I had recorded this talk!!!! One of the best of the day. Really brought a new perspective on how I view medical care and the power/importance of language and communication. That common theme is what surrounds us and penetrates different ideas and things. It’s what binds the galaxy together. :P 5-star inspirational.”
Karim Rashid -- industrial designer, in 14 museums worldwide, created over 2500 products
- Famous “rock star” designer. Comes on stage in all white attaire and shiny silver shoes.
- Slideshow of a lot of his very beautifully designed products running in the back. 2500+ products. Everything from the Issey Miyake perfume bottle to the new Mastercard.
- On average, a person interacts with 640 different objects a day. Why are most of it so mudane?!?
- Everyone is creative. As kids, we draw on everything. Our parents would appreciate our art and hang them on the fridge. So why are we so conforming?
- If 9 out of 10 people say a thing is beautiful, what exactly is beauty? Beauty is the substance that conveys an idea.
- Stylists vs Designers. Fashion designers in Italian translate to “Stylists”. They study previous generation’s fashions and “reinvent” ideas from the past. “Designers” create things of the present.
- Example: Project to build a building, for use under these parameters. I can design something to fit that. However, if you want some part of it to be Baroque-style, I’m no longer designing, but styling.
- Example: Mastercard. Redesign it. First thing he wanted to do was scrunch it and change its shape. Not possible, as over 16 billion cards are made by the same process every year. Not a lot of room to innovate. He went to grab some money, and the idea hit him. Why do you have to insert it a specific way? Why can’t you put the magnetic strip on all 4 sides, and hide them with a cool graphic design?
- No one knows the future. Artists and Designers work in the present. Everyone else is living and interacting with the past. Live in the present!
- “This stage needs to be redesigned!” lolol.
- My thoughts: “Most visually impressive talk of the day. His art is so beautiful that combined with the passion in his speech, the talk was one of the most inspirational of the day. Message is design something for the present that will change the world!”
- Got my very own Karim-signed GARBINO!!!!! AP, WH and me.
Hani Rashid -- architect, principal of Asymptote, designing what will be the tallest building in Asia
- Brother of Karim. Super successful architect.
- As an architect, he doesn’t change the world. He convinces his clients to change the world.
- Designed for the long term vision. Not short term goals or “whims”, like environment-friendly ideas which are popular nowadays, but may not be 10 years down the road.
- Proposal for Gutenberg museum in Mexico. Large pavilion to embody the vision natural already established with the 160m cliffs beside the museum. Escalator takes patrons into the belly above the pavilion to make it an organic, natural feel.
- World Business Center, Busan, South Korea – Tallest building in Asia.
- Penang Global City Center, Malaysia – Fusion of Islam and Buddhism.
- Strata Tower - Abu Dhabi, UAE
- Cool Garage idea. Everyone who lives here have fancy cars. You drive into a glass encased garage. You step out of the car and outside the glass garage room. Smoke will fill the garage, your car will be lowered and an empty platform will be raised again before the smoke clears out. LOLOL. That idea got nixed very quickly.
- Helicopter pad. Practically every skyscraper in Abu Dhabi has a helipad. So, for Strata Tower, one was designed on the roof top terrace too. One feedback they didn’t expect was when a sheikh told them, the one thing he hates the most is when he’s coming by helicopter, another chopper is already occupying the helipad!! lololol. They had to go back to the drawing board to make the landing pad support multiple helicopters, so these guys can fly in, have their coffee in the penthouse lounge, and talk about their next big project.
- Failed proposal for UAE “Eiffel Tower” project.
- Four towers (foot of the Eiffel) supporting a suspended building.
- Video projectors at the top of the building onto the sky, broadcasting prayer announcements and race results. :P
- Architect for the YAS MARINA CIRCUIT HOTEL!!!!
- Special requirement from customers. The building must look good from the ground and from a blimp.
- Hotel “dome” made up of 6400 unique pieces of glass ($$$) LED enabled.
- Circuit laps around and through hotel. Most rooms have view of the circuit.
- Bridge across the track must be completed 3 months before race, so that Mr. Schumacher, Mr. Montoya, and Mr. Hamilton can practice on the track. XD
- My thoughts: “Man, art really runs in his family! It’s so amazing the boldness and creativeness that goes into the designs of these landmarks of the future. Made me think of his brother’s message. Design for the present, so that it becomes the “past” benchmarks of the future. Hearing about his visions for the Abu Dhabi hotel was a special bonus.”
Our technology - the best of our future.
Anand Agarawala -- creator of Bumptop, a revolutionary 3D interface
- Created Bumptop as Masters Thesis project. Instant YouTube hit.
- Disorganized physical desktop conveys information to people that regular OS desktops do not. Example, if you had to sort a bunch of pictures – you’re not sure of the categories beforehand. In real world, you’ll start going through the photos and "toss” them into separate piles. How do you do that easily on the desktop? Create folders? Create tags? It’s very cumbersome.
- Gestures and fluidity very important. Life is not point and click.
- Unreal 3 physics engine.
- Love the default “Sticky Notes”. Take a Nap. Maintain good hygiene! lol.
- Secret email to sign up for private beta faster: mrbump@bumptop.com
- TED attendees and speakers gets LOTS of goodies (suitcases full of goodies).
- Cameron Diaz smiled at him, mingled with Bill Clinton. lol.
- My thoughts: “Very cool concept!! As a mouse gesture lover, I cannot wait to try this desktop out. Main message: take a step back and break away from the conventional ideas.”
Mike Beltzner -- head of User Interface design at Mozilla
- Firefox success was not in its browser technology, but the way it was developed.
- Change the world starts with changing the way we think about solving problems.
- Mozilla recognized issues with Web direction. Netscape and IE were going on divergent paths. IE was using ActiveX. Netscape was doing their own thing. Web pages were falling apart. Main problem is the code is proprietary. Someone wanting to “steal” a web implementation, you run into ActiveX embedded object brick wall. No stealing allowed and that’s it.
- Mozilla had to change the way they thought. Netscape begat the Mozilla Project. The Mozilla Project begat a community. The community participated for the web.
- Tremendous passion and feedback from community. Strong management and chain in place to filter out good ideas from bad.
- November 2004. NYT ad paid for by community for Firefox. The community bets on the web.
- Jackpot came when web started sharing. Example: Google Maps came out in 2005. MapQuest guys woke up one morning, turned on their computers and SHIIITTT! Google Maps API enabled sharing, collaboration, openness and building together.
- Participatory approach is the way of the future. Various degrees in this approach, but the benefits are many.
- My thoughts: “Essentially a why-open-source-is-good talk. Fairly strong points. It’s your technology, it’s your future. Embrace it.”
Don Lindsay -- creator and designer of Mac OS X at Apple, now Design Director at Microsoft Live Labs
- Design + Technology are both key. IPhone basic design is very similar to Orbiter, a 1991 prototype that failed to make it to market. Design was there, technology was not. 2G (data) networks were available until 1992. SMS wasn’t available until 1993.
- Worked on Mac OS X, fluidity was key. Great design, no technology. Took 2 years for them to build the visualizer engine to provide the technology. IPhone is also leveraging the same engine now.
- M$ Live Labs help bring design, incubate technology, so future technology can be delivered earlier.
- Photosynth talk about rendering 3D from 2D visual analysis. Again, strong community is necessary to embrace this.
- Most important benefit is the information they get from places all around the world, submitted by users. M$ does not have to visit those places to get information.
- My thoughts: “I was looking forward to this presentation. Unfortunately, no live demo of Photosynth, so the technology wasn’t conveyed very well. He reiterated similar themes as Mike Beltzner of Mozilla, amassing wealth of information, except he did not emphasize on the sharing part, which I think is kind of important.”
Roel Vertegaal -- technologist, pioneer of Organic User Interfaces
- Human Media Lab at Queens University
- A physical object like a sheet of paper is organic. If we don’t care about it, we can move it easily out of our peripheral vision. It’s hard to do the same thing with a computer.
- How to make a computer more organic? Make them smaller, make them more versatile, make them more robust. ==> Merge them into their surroundings.
- E-Ink technology. Example: Computer "Settlers of Catan” hex discs. If you want to move your boat, you physically lift the disc, and the ship will slide (as if on water), over to the adjacent hex disc. The images are updated automatically. COOL!!
- 3D Craytronics at CMU. Similar idea applied to 3d Modelling that allows collaboration.
- My thoughts: “This guy came off a bit self-centred. He discounted a lot of cool technologies of present day as if they were nothing (i.e. iPhone, especially with Don sitting right in the first row!! Anyway, he showed some cool stuff that allows true integration of “computer” technology in every day world. Pretty much a world where everything you touch (i.e. Coke can) has a computer. Interesting ideas.”
How can we change the world?
Patrick Lor -- founder of iStockPhoto -- acquired by Getty Images for USD $50 million
- Humble beginnings – family made “sacrifice” moving to Canada. Parents always reminded him of that.
- Photos come from a story. Story captures the imagination.
- However, great business success requires fans. They need to talk about you and spread the world.
- Three things you want from your audience: wallet, mind and heart.
- How do you speak to audience? Many go for wallet, minds, hearts. You never get around hearts.
- Your story needs to be heart, minds, wallet. We are going to change the world (heart). Here’s how we are going to do it (minds). We need a little money (wallet).
- iStockPhotos photographers were passion about art. It was not about the royalities or money. It was seeing their work being used.
- Key turning points for iStockPhoto: Canon Rebel – increased quality and quantity. Alexa Top 500 - significant achievement for websites.
- Get the community, fan base involved. They will spread the word.
- iStockPhoto kept to a “rebel” theme – had a rebel CEO with lots of tatoos. The fanbase accepted and embraced it. Selling something that was unique.
- 1. Create Passion 2. Hang out with smart people 3. Use cheap or free tools 4. Seek advice 5. Live like a student (no GP’s).
- Dude retired after acquisition.
- My thoughts: “Great speaker! Really inspirational when he talks about the fundamentals, the grassroots engagement, as being most important for any successful start-up. I actually recorded most of the presentation cause I thought GBO might enjoy this one. The video ended up being 1.4GB, so yeah, that’s not going to be uploaded anywhere.”
Andre Charoo -- co-founder of prospectlinker, an online recruiting tool that connects companies to students
- Mentorship – Finding those influential sponsors.
- Have other take ownership of your ideas.
- Take Risk, Think Big, Be Confident, Push Limits, Smart People, Be Uncomfortable, Reputation is key, Compare to the Best, Have others take credit for your success.
- Mentorship is the way to full potential.
- ProspectLink is creating mentorship between students and individuals within companies, so that students can find more about the companies, while companies can find more prospective students.
- My thoughts: “Basic fundamental talk on the value of mentorship. Not very inspirating though (compared to the other talks). I hope his start-up succeeds though.”
Chamath Palihapitiya -- VP of Growth, Mobile and International at Facebook
- Change is social. Social opinion drives changes.
- Facebook and technology enables you to build awareness.
- Easy to organize and find people with common ideas and thoughts.
- You have a voice. Create a facebook group. Gather support. Make an impact.
- Students rally against HSBC student fees in UK with facebook page. HSBC changed their policy.
- US elections. Obama reaching out with Facebook.
- South America. Students rally against the FARC terrorist group. Worldwide support.
- A single voice can start an avalanche. Can you be that voice?
- Ended with the following YouTube clip of Obama’s VA speech the night before the election. Witness the power of what a single voice, and a single phrase can inspire 2.5 years later. I bet Catnipped can recite the entire speech. lol.
- My thoughts: “I had been looking forward to Chamath’s talk all day, since he’s one of the most successful venture capitalist and an inspiration to many entrepreneurs. His point didn’t disappoint. Talks about the collective power that Facebook can enable. A true driver of change. The final Obama speech was super effective.”
Matthew Hockenberry -- leading contributor of One Laptop Per Child
- Something about building the common web.
- Most traffic on the web flows between North America and Europe. Africa, South America, much of Asia (except Japan) are untapped.
- My thoughts: “Wow, what was up with his presentation. His points doesn’t make any sense. I tried, but couldn’t connect the dots.”
- OLPC laptop – got a chance to play with this much talked about toy.
- OS is rather elementary. I could barely use it.
- The antenna ears are super cool. The XO is so cute too.
- First thing I did was touch the screen, expecting it to be a touch screen.
- The mouse pad doesn’t register tappings.
- keyboard feels like those calculators of old, rubber mesh overtop.
Eric Chivian -- Nobel Peace Prize winner for his work on stopping nuclear war. Among this year's Time 100 for his work on global environmental protection.
- 1985 Nobel Peace Prize winner
- Started with the following joke. Bush and Palin went to Alaska to go hunting. They headed to some nearby mountains and …
- To change the world, we need to first save the world. It is not a choice we have. It’s something we must do.
- Nature’s biodiversity is at risk. Lots of potential cures and medicines are lost.
- Showed picture of Polar Bears, an endangered species. (Without any Cola-Cola bottles)
- Bears hibernate for 5-7 months (laying in near stasis) in a year. Yet, they do not lose bone density, whereas humans would. If process is understood, a possible breakthrough against osteoporosis.
- Bears in hibernation do not urinate or poop. Humans with such a condition would require liver transplants or other drastic surgery. $25 billion health issue in US.
- Frogs
- Skin is highly permeable to both gas and liquid. Yet, they have very little bacterial infections. Research has lead to development of new antibiotics with no tolerance effects.
- Toad frog has excretes this glue like substance to capture and protect against insects. This super glue has been used successfully to repair damage cartilage.
- Two species of Frogs that reproduce by mom frog swallowing egg. Tadpole develops in stomach and the mom frog regurgitates when baby frog is developed. Nature has come up with a way to protect the tadpole from the corrosive acids that break down the food particles in the stomach. This could lead to better solutions to ease acid stomach. Too bad the two species are now extinct. Nature’s million years solution to this problem is forever gone. As Master Wilson would say, “too bad so sad”.
- Lyme disease distribution maps almost directly to the blue states in 2004 election! Causal effect? More blue states in 2008 signify lyme disease spreading?
- Actually, Lyme disease spreading in areas with less biodiversity. Lack of terminal carriers and predators against Lyme carriers.
- My thoughts: “Interesting talk. A very well versed speaker. Very professor like. Learned a lot of neat facts about bears. lol. Definitely made me more concerned about maintaining our biodiversity. Not as much an inspirational speech as a the world is ending speech.”
Melody Hossaini -- founder of UK Youth Parliament, youth leader of Al Gore's Climate Project
- “I’m a movement by myself… but I’m a force when we’re together.”
- “Courage is not the absence of fear, but the realisation that something else is more important”
- Asked Al Gore what drives him on this Climate fight: “Imagine you are walking along the beach and you find a message in a bottle, saying you must do something – and since you are the only person with the Message, you feel a sense of responsibility… I had a similar experience…”
- Working with kids in 3rd world countries. They need to steal in order to get money. Then they have to make a choice to use the money to buy food for their families or provide shelter for another week. These kids had to go through more tough decisions than anyone else in the civilized world.
- These kids would be speaking in swear words all the time, but when they were provided with an opportunity to improve and change, they embraced it.
- Desmond Tutu – 3 qualities you need to change the world. Sexy Legs. Big Nose. An easy name like Tutu. lol.
- What inspires you?
- My thoughts: “A most inspiring talk from a person our age… yet she has done SO MUCH for the world already. She draws her inspiration from the people she’s helping. A single person can drive a movement. Together, we change the world. Great final speaker of the day.”
Well, after these talks, I really felt re-energized and motivated. I’m fired up! Ready to go! XD