A year ago this month, I purchased new eyeglasses frames from the Earth Conscious Optics line by MODO. They are made completely of recycled plastic. I could also chosen frames that were made from recycled metals. They have been awesome so far, although they don’t sit quite evenly on my nose, but that just might be because my nose is a little uneven!

Here’s what they look like:

They are also doing an interesting promotion where they plant a tree for every pair of frames purchased. Check out their website: ECO Optics

Hopefully I’ll be able to used these frames for several more years to get as much mileage out of them as I can.

This makes me wonder, what other cool upcycled things are out there? Know of any?

Today I started reading news in Google Reader, and came across 2 topics that I wish could just find a way to meet up. They have to do with getting widespread behavior and mentality change to happen and funding for political campaigns/issues. That may not sound like they can be connected, but just read on!

The first article is titled “Misperceived Paths to Energy Savings” from the Dot Earth blog on the New York Times. It that talks about a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). The researchers surveyed regular people and found that they generally do not have the right idea about what the most effective ways to save energy are, when compared to what is recommended by experts. The best ways to increase energy savings, according to this study, are efficiency improvements, rather than usage curtailment. (Though both may be necessary, in my opinion.)

I think what they are trying to stress here is that people have the idea in their heads that if they just turn the lights off when not in use or drive a little less, that that will be enough to make a major difference, that they can “do their part” in these small ways. While these behavioral changes are good and great, there really isn’t much of a change in mentality or understanding of the deeper issues. There is still a self-centered approach to those activities, whereas more significant action would take more significant effort (i.e. buying more efficient light bulbs, appliances, water heaters, cars, etc.; insulating your home).

The NY Times journalist suggests that this study is a sign that the US needs to invest more in energy literacy in order to make a dent in the wasted energy and avoidable carbon emissions related to energy use.

The next article I would like to bring into this discussion is about Proposition 23 in California. You can find the second article here at Grist. Prop 23 opposes the climate change legislation in California, and is supported by big oil companies from other states such as Texas. The campaign against Prop 23 also has big backers, such as environmental groups, tech companies in Silicon Valley, and other companies. All in all, there are several millions of dollars going into the campaigns on both sides.

I won’t get started on how unrestricted lobbying could possibly be one of the big reasons why our local and federal governments continue to fail on important fronts, because that would be too much of a tangent. But I couldn’t help thinking, what if they took those millions of dollars going into campaigning and actually put it into informative programs on the ground to address issues like energy efficiency? Maybe it wouldn’t even take that much seed money to get something going, because apparently home energy efficiency is a booming business.

Now, I’m not actually suggesting to take the money out of the No on Prop 23 campaign, but what if every group that invested in the campaign matched with an investment into an energy literacy program? Rather than only putting money into TV and radio ad campaigns that may not increase the general public’s understanding of climate change legislation but confuse people more?

I do not wish to resign to the idea that people are mindless and believe whichever campaign had the most funding and was therefore more prominent. Maybe I don’t understand enough about what is going on. I admit that I sometimes do not understand why people are such adamant deniers of climate change.

In any case, the point is that there really isn’t enough effort or funding going into informing the masses and this could potentially be an innovative way to raise funds and awareness. I would really like to see a lot of things become part of general knowledge, like climate change and evolution, which really deserved to be a part of general knowledge decades ago.

This entry has a common thread that everything is about different, thought-provoking visual stimuli.

The Denver Post posted this gallery by photographers from the Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information. These color slides were recovered from the 1939-1943 and show glimpses into what life was like for Americans during harsh times.

The data nerd in me really loves the blog Information is Beautiful for its use of data to create visualizations that are beautiful and interesting.

The science nerd in me loves the website The Fun Theory for the psychological experimentation it is conducting.

On May 18th, I went to a talk by Dr. Iain Couzin, hosted by the Secret Science Club at the Bell House in Brooklyn.

Couzin’s lab at Princeton investigates collective animal behavior, some of which include fish schools, bird flocks, and locust swarms.

This video shows predator and the prey swarms interacting. When the video shows it in slow motion, notice how the prey individuals can avoid the predator by keeping a cushion of space between them. Couzin talked about how they measure these movements in his lab’s research and what they hope to be able to model and measure in the future, like behavior and movement.

They are also using some really amazing tracking software to calculate the orientation and movement of fish using video taken from above the tanks. They have even started using this technology to track movements of people walking around and as part of an escape-route experiment.

I couldn’t find any videos from this section, but there was a video that Couzin showed from an experiment where they had a large group of people in a circular room. Only a few people were told which “emergency exit” was the safest exit. These people had to move towards that door and get others to follow without communication.

The most incredible thing I took away from the talk was from the discussion of locust swarms and their research on what drives the movement of these swarms.

Here is Iain Couzin giving a short talk about swarm movement:

With a slew of recent releases of gadgets that serve as ebook readers (Barnes and Noble Nook, iPad, and all the ones announced at the Consumer Electronics Show), I thought I would take some time to look back on the experience I’ve had with my Sony PRS-505 Reader and why I love it and e-ink technology. (Mine is dark blue, not like the one shown here!)

First of all, I got the Reader a little over 2 years ago in Fall of 2007. I bought it somewhat as an impulse buy, but I justified it as a long term investment. Since then, I read at least 4x more books than I would have otherwise. This is the biggest reason why I’m thankful that I decided to buy the Reader.

Here are the other main reasons why I bought it:

1. I don’t have space at home for all the books that I want to read, and I don’t do well with library books (see #3)
2. I don’t have the money to buy all the books I want to read (ebooks are usually cheaper, and many you might be able to find for free)
3. I’m allergic to old books and dust (I get itchy all over), so I won’t be able to enjoy re-reading any of the physical books, bringing their value down over time

Here are the reasons why I love my reader now:

1. It is way lighter and smaller to carry around than a book
2. I like being able to immediately start reading another book once I’ve finished one
3. The e-ink screen is nice on my eyes, as compared to a lit LCD screen (I get enough of that from staring at my laptop!)

I’m also happy that I chose the Sony Reader over the Amazon Kindle because any of the content that I buy from the Sony store is not locked to my device (i.e. anything bought for the Kindle only works on the Kindle, there are tons of stories if you Google “Kindle DRM”).

I don’t buy books very often, but when I do it is in a format that is more useful and open (usually ePub). The Kindle uses its own proprietary format. Also, I’m not so interested in the wireless download function of the Kindle so that does not bother me.

There was also that incident where Amazon deleted George Orwell books from all Kindles. That type of control is not something I am a fan of. Even though it was for valid reasons and they said they were changing their practices so it wouldn’t happen again, the fact that they have the ability to go into each device and perform that function irks me.

So, while I did have to shell out $280 for my Sony PRS-505, I’ve read enough books to make it worth it and I’m sure that I will be using my Reader for at least 4-5 more years.

Do you have a reader? Would you consider buying a reading device like this? I hope my comments have been helpful!

Image credit: Flickr user cloudsoup

Last night, on the eve of what might be the most exciting Apple announcement this year, I wondered what a Mac slate or tablet could mean for scientists, researchers, and people in the field. Now with the iPad announced and the details of it released, here are some of my thoughts.

The increased mobility of a small device designed to be used with specialized apps and software could boost overall productivity. Functionality, combined with mobility can be incredibly useful for scientists.

For example, Wired has this list of 22 iPhone apps for science geeks that include a genetic decoder, anatomy flash cards, food information database, and a scientific calculator. These could be useful on the iPad too, since the iPad can run any apps in the store.

Increased mobile connectedness to the web can be super powerful. We are already seeing mobile technology being helpful for relief efforts in Haiti and a larger, more powerful, yet still portable, device could enhance what can be done and create new possibilities for these purposes and others.

As for ideas of specific uses of the iPad, I can imagine that a scientist could take this device into their study areas to help record data, look at maps, read reference books, and plot trails and data.

This could possibly help scientists forgo the hours and hours usually spent on data entry!!! Especially since Numbers has a function that creates a form for data entry!

I’ve also read about iPod Touches being used in classrooms to supplement math, science, language and other lessons, so the iPad might eventually make it’s way into the classroom too (but that might take a while because of cost!).

It is cool to see something like this come into being. While the iPad might not end up doing a ton for scientists, I’m still excited to see what will happen with the functionality this new tool!

When you train your dog to bring you the morning paper, that is a neat trick. When you train your computer to bring you news you want to read, that is an RSS feed.

I never fully appreciated RSS feeds for what they can do until I started reading the book We the Media by Dan Gillmor. The underlying idea is that you don’t need to search the Internet for the things that interest you but that they come to you through your RSS subscriptions and preferences.

This is useful for you when you want to be kept up to date on certain topics. Anytime there is an article, your RSS feed is updated to show it. I currently use Google Reader to keep track of blogs, job postings, and news.

Gillmor discusses another way to use RSS, which is to follow what is being said about yourself. This is a good way for popular bloggers and organizations to know what is going on in their realm and connects with their readers on a different level.

Honestly, I haven’t used RSS feeds enough in the past but I’m starting to really appreciate what they do. It could particularly be very helpful for my current job search!

The buzz on Google Wave has slowed down considerably, considering that Google had big news that was announced 2 days ago. I’m not sure how the Google Phone will compare with Google Wave, but I hope we can say that the impact of both still are or will be quite interesting.

Image Credit: Flickr user niallkennedy
During the holiday season, Google gave out thousands of invites to users who already had Wave so that they may invite friends to use the service. How many do I still have left? 18! I’m not sure if there just isn’t enough interest or people simply don’t care to find out what exactly Google Wave is, at least not enough to seek out an invite from a friend (i.e. that everyone who would want it or would be open to trying it already does have it).

So far, I’ve used Google Wave with friends and family to:

1. Participated in a poll on how many people think Rain (the Korean hip hop star in the movie Ninja Assassin) is cool
2. Load copies of my statement of purpose for my friend to proofread and give suggestions on
3. Post pictures for my sister to access and use for her painting project
4. Say hello, all at once, to the people in the academic department I was in for graduate school
5. Play Sudoku with others
6. Invite others to Google Wave

Number 2 on that list was particularly better than using email because I ended up making several edits between the time I posted it and the time when he was free to read it. I would simply go back and delete the old copy and post the new one. I could have waited until he had time to read it to send an email, but I like this way of doing things. Later, I would post other things for him to read and I have peace of mind knowing that they are waiting for him in the Wave whenever he would like to find them. Same thing with number 3.



Overall, I think I could really enjoy using Google Wave, but the limiting factor still seems to be that not enough people are using it, or even know how they can use it to make their life easier. I have a feeling that a large majority of people who have it still ignore it or possibly never even tried using it.


Bottom line, I think Google Wave is a great tool. It may not replace email, but it could easily supplement and work with it. Also, I want to get more people on Wave, but I’m not sure who wants these invites that I have.


If you want one or know of someone who does, post a comment and I can send it!

Every LEED project needs to fulfill all prerequisites and Minimum Program Requirements. These do not get the project any points towards certification. To get points, the project must include many different strategies in the different categories to add up to the threshold number of points. Read through this website for details on the process: GBCI.

Here are the different certification levels:

• LEED certified – 40-49 points
• LEED Silver – 50-59 points
• LEED Gold – 60-79 points
• LEED Platinum – 80+ points

Strategies that are used to fulfill credits are very diverse. The LEED project should be using more strategies than needed so that if some are not awarded points, then others that do get points will still count towards making it to the certification threshold.


USGBC is very careful to NOT condone specific products for LEED buildings, but instead they promote overall strategies such as low-flow showerheads and faucets. Therefore, there is nearly never a case where a product or material can be for-sure used on a LEED project to gain points. The only exception is that, as things are now, Forestry Stewardship Council (FSC) certified wood is approved for LEED (there is some controversy over this and there is talk of USGBC making their own label for wood products).


For example, the new Nintendo building will be building a green roof and including composting bins towards gaining points for LEED Silver certification. Strategies may contribute towards credits in more than one category (i.e. Energy & Atmosphere in addition to Materials & Resources).

Other strategies might include:

• Bicycle and shower facilities
• Light shelves in windows and shell
• Natural ventilation
• Constructed wetlands

For previous posts on this topic, Part 1 and more advanced notes.
For a more in-depth look at LEED in action, check out the blog Real Life LEED.

This entry will focus on how the LEED rating systems are set up and the basic categories of credits. For a basic introduction to LEED, check this website.

The LEED Rating Systems are the sets of credits and categories that a LEED project team is aiming for. They are specific for the type of construction, like a new building would go for LEED for new construction, a school would go for LEED for Schools, a home would go for LEED for Homes.

Every rating system has the same set of categories, though the credits within them may be different.
The categories are:

• Sustainable Sites
• Water Efficiency
• Energy & Atmosphere
• Materials & Resources
• Indoor Environmental Quality
• Locations and Linkages
• Awareness & Education
• Innovation in Design
• Regional Priority

The different credits in each category may be weighted to be worth more points than other credits. Some credits allow for incremental points to be earned by how much is accomplished by the building. For example, a certain percentage decrease in water usage could result in 1 point, but by decreasing water usage by then next threshold percentage could result in 2 points.

The Energy & Atmosphere category’s credits have the most potential points to be earned.

That’s it for now. I’ll be posting more on this since I’m almost done with graduate school applications, but for more advanced notes, see my previous post.