Nobel Peace Prize Winner Muhammad Yunus talks to Owen Bennett-Jones during The Interview

Muhammad Yunus, economics professor, received a Noble Prize for creating an organization that would lend money to people in need. It is completely based on trust. Who would think that such an idea would bring him to the point where he is standing right now: after 30 years he is leading the Gremeen Bank with 6.7 million customers! He lends small amounts of money and develops a program for people to repay it.

Muhammad believes that the world can exist without poverty. He insists in the interview that it is not the fault of poor people that they are poor. It is the fault of the ones above them. So, they, people with better fortune, have to help them. He also brings up an interesting example of a plumber and CEO of some big company sitting at a table drinking whatever they like... and both of them are respecting each other, both of them are making the same amount of money.

I don't know whether this would work in North America, but it proved to be successful in the third world countries with a large population below the poverty level. Nevertheless, the idea reminds me of the Canadian system with a strong social support for the RF (regular folk), taxing harder the rich and providing cheaper services like medical assistance for everyone. There is a potential to slowly realize his ideas into life in the rest of the world, as long as the critical mass of supporters is out there.

Audio Interview: http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/programmes/the_interview.shtml

Wicked Online Organizer tool

That's the online tool I was looking for. Stikkit.com is an organizer, really easy and intuitive. Nothing needs to be installed, meaning you can use it anywhere where there's internet. What I found useful is the support for various email keywords. Forwarding your friend's email to your Stikkit account's address and adding a few words will automatically tag and format the note.

Trip planning demo

Nanotech: World's smallest book

Nanotech: New World record - SFU beats MIT's smallest book published in 2001
MIT: 5 x 5 mm
SFU: 0.07 x 0.1 mm

Cell phone hacking

http://www.break.com/index/cell_phone_hack.html

Canucks clinch Northwest Division title

Vancouver Canucks beat Sharks 4-3 to clinch Northwest Division title: cbc.ca and canada.com reports. I knew I moved to Vancouver at the right time : )

Canucks website: http://www.canucks.com/

Home Fusion Reactor - I thought it was a joke

I just came back from the club, partying it up with a some friends from work. A few pages were still open on my laptop that I was planning to shut down for the night. Being all myself, I didn't want to just close it, and gave it a few more minutes of attention. Here is what I came across.

Home made fusion reactor by a 17 year old. "Pumps, deuterium source, neutron bubble dosimeter? Check." http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2007/03/high_school_stu.html
Full report: http://discovermagazine.com/2007/mar/radioactive-boy-scout


...and if you need to get some deuteruim gas for your next fusion experiement ; ), check out "deuterium oxide" following this link: http://unitednuclear.com/chem.htm, from which you'll be able to get "pure deuterium gas" for just $10!