The Next Revolution

The next revolution will be in energy, but I don't think it will be in the way people think.  Many of the current revolutions have come things that were commodities and were innovated in the off-commodity market to create a new product.  Phones and Internet are great examples.

With energy, you have two issues.  One is storage, and the other is creation.  Both need answered.  With current energy creation methods, you create way more than you need, and force it down the path (the electrical grid).  In 99% of cases, all the energy isn't used and it just burns off somewhere.  Where?  I haven't a clue.  In that 1% case where you don't have enough energy going down the path, you have brownouts.  So you want to avoid the brownouts by forcing too much energy down the path that will never get used.

So, that comes to the second problem: storage.  If you have too much energy coming down the path and you don't just dissipate it into the air, then why not store it?  Storage could easily come in the form of individual homes and municipality wide storage.

Now the problem has been explained.  What are you going to do with all that new energy?  The better question is: what can't I do now that new energy is going to solve?   Almost anything.

Giant mechanical robots?  Need new energy.  Space ships that are worth a darn?  New energy.  Flying cars?  New energy.  Laser blasters?  New energy.

Because the big problem with most of these technologies is the ability to produce sufficient energy to make it work.  A giant robot is easy, just so long as you leave a tether on it.  But who wants a giant robot that is tethered to a cable?  Diesel engines are nice, but they are incredibly inefficient and need to be exceptionally huge to produce the kind of energy you need.  And after creating that huge engine, you need a place to put all that fuel.  Where is all that going to go?

And I have a distinct feeling that an institution is not going to create this new form of energy.  It's probably going to be someone pissed at paying their electric bill, trying to deal with the next fuel crisis.  Because solving rocketing heating costs by building a new technology is very likely.  Revolution usually happens when the issues with the existing system become so onerous that someone starts looking for an answer.

If it's going to be American, then the cost of fuel prices will necessarily have to skyrocket to create a sufficient pinch.  When gas prices were jumping towards $5 a gallon, people talked constantly about 100 mile per gallon cars. At $1.25 a gallon, people don't even think about it.  So the issue is likely to be solved by someone from Africa.  It's that need issue.  When you don't have a power grid, you don't have the issue of dealing with regulation.  And if you can create power in Africa, then you can solve lots of issues.

It's that lack of alternative that causes such amazing growth.  When there is no other option, a new option must be created.

And I have no faith that government is going to fund or create the next energy revolution.  They think wrong.  And you have to solve the thinking issue before you start solving any other issue.

Which leads in to why I think people should get out of debt and get on Thrive.  More energy to solve your issues and more money to experiment to create the world you want.

 

Wayne Hose Assignments in Base 39

So POP discount wouldn't work.  And POP discount is something the company wants working.  We were dealing with a Commander, running a base 39 application.   Verifone had told me I needed to set everything up for Wayne auto configuration.  My pumps are all 3+1. In layman's terms, that means I have two physical hoses on the pump.  One hose distributes 3 grades of fuel.  A 2nd hose distributes another grade of fuel.  In this case, the 3 represents Nolead, Plus, and Super.  The +1 represents Diesel.  Nolead and Super are pure grades, and Plus is a 60/40 blend.

Wayne says you should set up a 3+1 as Diesel, none, none, Super, Plus, Nolead.  Fuel assignments worked great, but POP discount didn't work

A short discussion on acronyms.  POP can either mean Point of Presence, or Point of Payment.  One refers to a gas pump.  The other refers to a pin pad.  At one point, I knew the story of who created two same lettered acryonyms in the Verifone world.

Anyways, the answer.  Or maybe not.

I asked a person who went to VASC school, taught by Verifone itself, back in December. Dude aced the test.  He had no idea what Wayne auto configuration was.

So, Verifone told me the hose assignment should be set up as Gilbarco normally set them up.  Gilbarco setups up their hose assignments on a 3+1 as Nolead, Plus, Super, none, none, Diesel.  Now, Verifone told me to use the "Gilbarco" method to assign hoses, but don't skip positions.  Great, so we just missed true Gilbarco setup.

So, the new hose assignment is Nolead, Plus, Super, Diesel.  I go check pumps.  And everything has hose assignments, but it's not right.

In the midst of the drive back to the town, I figure out the answer, and its back to SFC days.

SFC is the Smart Fuel Controller.  Imagine a box that is way too small fitting way too many wires and is a bit too complicated.

So...  Change the hose assignments to (and here's the real answer)....

Diesel, Super, Plus, Nolead, none, none, none, none

So...

That's it.  

The Not So Monday Post

I know it says the "not so Monday post", even though it is still technically Monday while I'm writing this.  Monday evening to be exact.  Which is a bit different than Monday morning, though not by much.  I didn't watch the Super Bowl, so anything I say can't be blamed on the greatness (or failure) of something I am completely unaware of.  Strangely enough, I didn't even know who was playing until some point in to the game.  My wife was Facebooking ,while I was doing something else.

I couldn't really tell you what I was doing at the specific time of the game, seeing as how I didn't watch the game.  What I can tell you is that I got back to teaching my kids math and reading.  I know I've been spending a lot of time thinking about how best to teach children.  I also know I've been thinking about how best to automate a good deal of the process.

The problem is I need to start teaching now.  My kids aren't learning what they need to learn while I try to figure out the entire equation before I begin.  That would be great if I could.  But it doesn't look like its going happen for the first two kids.  I've got two more years before my youngest starts school.  Hopefully, I'll have it figured out by then.  If not, then I think I'll still be okay.  At the very least, I'll have started and produced something.

I'm currently using Saxon Math for home school.  The scripting seems to work for me, as I'm not terribly sure what I should be teaching.  I guess I don't realize how much I know without any sort of background of when I started knowing it.  Sure I can read a calendar.  And a map.  And I can navigate using a compass.  Do I remember when I learned those things?  I can't narrow down the basics of compass navigation, but I can remember when I learned the final refinement.  I know it because it was relatively recently.  Reading a calendar?  That has to have been 30 years ago.

My current reading book is also script based, though my kids have gone decently off script.  It's Teach your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons.  I'm currently on lesson 45, and my kids can site read most of the material.  So no need to completely follow the script.

I think the bigger part of all this discussion is that in the beginning, you must start somewhere.  Start with scripts, start with anything.  Just start.

And get some Thrive so you can make it through that teaching session after 12 hours of work.

The Monday Post

It's Monday, so I suppose it's time to post something.

I shouldn't have that feeling, but I do.  Anyways.   I am on Thrive.  It's pretty awesome.  You should go check it out.  After a week, I've cut my coffee intake to about 1/3 of a cup per day from 1 cup per day.  And I actually gained weight.  I'm not as incredibly scrawny as I was.

So that's definite progress.

After reading something on LinkedIn, I started reviewing my goals twice daily.  I don't think I was spending enough time on them, and really they weren't even in the forefront of my brain during the day.  How can you possibly achieve your goals if you aren't focused on them?  When was the last time you looked at your goals?   I'm guessing it has been a while.  Probably right after you made them.

I did this with an Outlook calendar event.  I'm not sure this is the best way to do it, but it is definitely the most portable.  It is also the version that is likely to be with me at any given time.

Running out of time this morning, so...   I'll be back.

Content Production

A while ago, I was thinking about content creation.  And I was thinking that the ratio should probably be better than a 2:1 ratio of production versus consumption.  It was just some number that randomly popped into my head.  And the number sounded good, but that's...  quite unrealistic.

A production of that level would mean for every 2 pages you write, you would read 1 page.  Which sounds like a great idea, but I consume a page at about every 2-3 minutes.  Production of a page can take upwards of an hour.  So the time comparisons aren't really comparable.

And then you deal with esoteric subjects like measuring production of non-text info.  What about drawings?  Or 3D models?  You don't really consume 3D models.  You could consume drawings in the form of comics and cartoons.  But how do you measure progress on those things?  It's a good question.

So, rather than use absolute measures of production/consumption, I think the measure should be time spent.  I'm still convinced you should maintain a 2:1 ratio, but it's two hours to one hour.  Two hours of content production can produce different levels based on the media, but it still produces.  It also causes long term progress towards goals.

One hour of consumption allows you to get a more absolute measure.  Because really, it's all opportunity taxes.  An hour spent consuming is quite literally an hour you will never get back.  An hour spent producing is also, paradoxically, an hour you will never get back.  But it makes you feel a lot better to spend an hour working on something that will lead you to accomplish your goals.

Finding Problems

Based on some ideas I heard on a podcast, I’ve started writing down things that annoy me.  I’ve got two plans on this.  One, I want to know whether I’m focusing on issues that are important or issues that are completely out of my control.  But second, and most important, was that it provides a list of potential opportunities that can be fixed.

So to do this, you simply need to write down three annoyances a day.  You do this every day for 30 days.  After those 30 days, then you have a list of problems that you have the potential to solve.  What I’ve found is that I’ve trained myself to not complain.  And I’ve been trying to start this project for several days. 

But I drive around, and I work, and I run into things that annoy me.  And they piss me off for about 3 seconds.  And then I’m off again, without any remembrance of what made me mad.  So I’ve had to take special effort to both remember what pissed me off.  And I also have to take special notice to write down those things that piss me off.

 

Funny thing is… once you’ve trained yourself to not be so critical of the world, it’s hard to go back to be critical.  But those observations are just what you need to find opportunity.

Breakfast thoughts

As a person who is chronically scrawny, I find the weight gain segment of the market heavily under served.  Though the solutions to both weight loss and weight gain are simple, it seems like ten thousand books have been written on weight loss, and only 1 or 2 on weight gain.  I guess people see it as a non-problem.

I've been reading The Black Swan by Nassim Nicholas Taleb.  It's quite an interesting jaunt into the world of the highly improbable.  I've made it through chapter 5, and I'm beginning to agree with most of what he has written.  I'm guessing it's very easy to underestimate the importance of things the can scale.

The thought I had while sitting in church was fairly simple.  Maybe it's the one I should be paying attention to.

Are you working on a solution that scales?  If it doesn't, stop.  

Scaling is the only hope of financial explosion. 

Which, that fits correctly with everything else I've read.  It ties in nicely with Robert Kyosaki, and countless others.  The problem is a simple one: the employer only gets paid for the work they do.  If you want to get paid more, you have to put in more time.

The entrepreneur creates one thing that can be sold to many people.  The thing is created once, and then you sell it for as many as you can possibly make money on.  Because of scaling, your idea went from one to millions in a short period.  Your financial situation was thrown for a loop.  Why?  Because you realized a profit on your idea that scaled.

Anyways... the day is calling.

Time to go think of things that scale.