Shower Parties and E.T.

We just got back from our customary family vacation in the Missouri Ozarks…

The downside—a Copperhead Surprise in front of our cabin AND coming far too close to a Cottonmouth in the river. Nothing quite like watching a snake slither on water.

The upside—being somewhere so far away from city lights, at night you can see a trail of white haze across the sky and you’re actually gazing into the milky way galaxy (from our location at the edge). This year we were there during the Perseids meteor shower. Watching that many meteors burn across the sky got me wondering…

…if all these meteors are entering our atmosphere, how much ET is reaching earth and what’s in there?

According to Dr. Nelson at Tulane University,
an estimated 107 to 109 kg/year, mainly in the form of dust.

If this much ET mass is reaching earth, how much of it is carrying life’s building blocks or, more fascinating, some alternate building blocks of ET life?

We already know meteors have carried extra terrestrial amino acids to Earth. The 1969 Murchison meteorite that fell in Australia was carrying common and rare amino acids. I wonder what else has fallen on land or ocean--or what we are breathing in--that is even more mind-blowing than these amino acid building blocks of proteins.

By the way, you've heard of the WOW Signal, right? If not, check it out.

Barry Eisler and Cenk Uygur

I met Barry Eisler in a bar at Thrillerfest years ago, and maybe at Love is Murder in Chicago. I had read a few books in his Rain series. Eisler is an great writer with an original protagonist. Seems like a good guy, too.

Two weeks ago I watched him on The Young Turks. He was eloquent, knowledgeable, humble, and funny while he expressed a few modest opinions on government bureaucracy and media propaganda. Sometimes I'm turned off when writers blog or interview on their political opinions, but Eisler nailed his interview and intrigued me so much that I'm going to buy his new book.

What is it about this interview that's so fresh and appealing?
Is it because Eisler worked for the CIA?
Is it his modesty?
His humor?
His eloquence?
Does it have anything to do with the interviewing skills of Cenk Uygur?

Michael Crichton and The New Zoo

MC’s new and final novel is just around the corner (Fall 2010, if that’s what HarperCollins is still going with), and all I’ve been able to dredge up is that in some lecture Crichton maybe implied his next book explored the environment.

With the preachers of Global Warming sitting on our shoulders since Gore’s Inconvenient Truth, what else might you ask could be remotely interesting about our environment?

Try Enriquez’s Ted Talk, On Genomics and Our Future. Since 2001 when Venter’s company versus, I mean, and the NIH and DOE-funded HGP sequenced the first human genome, plant genome, and a ton of other firsts, they found some strange organisms inhabiting this planet with us…like an amoeba with a genome 200 times larger than a human’s. Maybe the best way to storage is not the microchip? And Deinococcus radiodurans can be blasted with 5000 Gray of ionizing radiation no problem (10 Gray kills a human), blowing apart its genome, then within 12 to 24 hours, it reassembles. Imagine that. Seriously.

Try Venter’s Ted Talk (also SALT seminar) on the biodiversity of the ocean. Ever swallow ocean water? Each milliliter contains one million bacteria and 10 million viruses. YUM. Venter’s global expedition (via his 95 foot sailboat) found 50,000 new species of bacteria per barrel of sea water, and contrary to logical assumption, the ocean is not homogenous. Completely different batches of species were found at different sample sites. And the Sargasso Sea, a place previously presumed inhospitable to life turns out to be teeming with it.

Ira Flatow’s got a NPR episode, Is There Anything Else Out There? (4/2009), that addresses some fascinating questions like, What microscopic life have we left in outer space and, more interesting, what have we brought back? Is there some life form that could exist under our noses, in our noses, that we haven’t discovered because it is not DNA or RNA-based so we haven’t recognized it as life?

The environment theme is loaded, and Crichton was a brilliant shot.

I am a character-loving reader and writer. I prefer Lehane to Crichton. Plot falls to the background with me. I just don’t always need it (Money by Amis, She’s Come Undone by Lamb). Still, I can’t wait to read what the master of majestic science-based plotting started to cook up, and can’t wait to read what the co-writer will do with it! michaelcrichton.net

Anyone have any info on MC’s novel?? Seems we should have heard more by now.

I've Been Discovered!

Google’s bots have found me!

I have been twiddling my thumbs the past month, waiting for the bots. Sure, you can submit a query for Google to recognize you. Done. What more can you do? (The notion of calling seems laughable.)

One of Google’s founders, Larry Page, said he wanted Google's index updated in real time.

http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/larry_page_on_real_time_google_we_have_to_do_it.php

Took the bots 30 days to find my site. 30 days. MSN and Bing found me in 20. So what gives? What did I do to rub them all the wrong way? Where to send the alcohol and chocolate so they don't turn on me?

Strange to be at the mercy of software.

Have you had an unusual romp with search results?

Hyperconnectivity of Youth

You've got the basic meat and potatoes of inspiration for every writer—

1. Family, friends, and strangers spawn great dialogue and poignant gestures.

2. Intoxicating music sets a character’s mood and provokes honesty and a primitive element to prose. (I have probably watched The Killers Dustyland Fairytale performance, Letterman, 5/09, two dozen times. Brandon Flowers bares his soul in that performance.)

3. Compelling novels/paragraphs/sentences are like brilliant teachers that dare us to enrich our own prose.

—and then you've got garnishes…a pineapple and red pepper kabob or carrot and raisin salad that make the feast invigorating or simply unexpected.

To experience a new point of view, to encounter innovation, I go to YouTube and Podcasts. There is nothing that makes me feel more on top of my game then to listen to a lecture by someone who actually is on top of their game. It’s cold here in Chicago, I’m hibernating in my house, and to tap into that keg of creativity warms up my soul, feeds my brain, and somehow makes me feel part of a community. And by the way, how long will it be before a kid’s resume lacks a college degree and instead lists the lectures they’ve heard? In some fields a college degree has become little more than a formality, a paper that begets trust and says, See, I really did pay attention.

You can go to www.podcastawards.com to see what most people watch. I list some of my favorites here with a concentration on science ‘cause that’s just the way I roll.

1 Futures in Biotech. The BEST Podcast to give you a feel for what's ahead.

2 Ted Talks. Twenty minutes of my time, and I always learn something new.

www.ted.com

3 Powers of 10. Put out by IBM decades ago, but still humbling.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2cmlhfdxuY

4 Mark Pesce lectures. These lectures are dated, but Pesce is so forward-thinking that listening to them even at this point in time is useful. Mark didn’t coin the term Hyperconnectivity, but I first heard it from him. Love that word.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxCoCTc3T5Q

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63Hd4oqNxeI&feature=related

5 Flash Mobs. Ok, these are not science-related, but they just make me happy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EYAUazLI9k

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkYZ6rbPU2M

6 Technocalapse. Sensationalized, yes, yet still fascinating.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnQMHl8P5jA&feature=PlayList&p=CD1BC61EA968D503&index=0

7 This American Life. Hands down one of the most fun, most well-produced, thought-provoking podcasts. Great material for writers. Most of the people who appear on this show are so eloquent, concise, and hilarious—they should all be best-selling authors.

8 Craig Venter talks with The Long Now Foundation. Venter is such a hard ass, you got to love him. After most lecturers I’m left with the thought, Tell me something I don’t know. Never with Venture.

http://fora.tv/2008/02/25/Joining_3_5_Billion_Years_of_Microbial_Invention

So I’m wondering, what Podcasts/lectures/videos feed your intellect or stir your soul? What else makes you feel hyperconnected?