Press Clipping(s): Friendship when peace may seem far

A recent article in Washington Post reminded me so much of my dear friend O, who also was my room mate for several years in grad school. I remember him because as a Jewish Israeli (albeit a rather secular moderate), he certainly stood out among my other friends (many of whom happen to be Arab and/or Muslim). I met him in my first year of grad school and to date we stay as close friends. There were many nights when we had heated political discussions, but there were more nights when we would just watch movies, have friends over for parties, or grab food in the Cambridge, MA neighborhood.

Through him (and a few other Israeli friends), I got to know the peaceful, moderate side of the Israeli society — and also how Israeli men love cooking food to impress their dates! – and I hope through me, he learnt that while many of us are passionate about the issue of Palestinian identity and freedom, we also hope for peace and tranquility for the Jewish people. I don’t want to romanticize this friendship because through him I also realized how different and obliquely slanted the common Israeli perspective on the conflict is from what I believe to be the historical truthbut nevertheless we agreed that humanity needed to triumph in the face of adversity. My single most important lesson learnt in his friendship was the realization that even when politics were depressing, and made me angry from within, our friendship and our respect for each other would enable us to triumph over all the negative feelings. When our guards were down, we were (and are) just two people who are happy to know each other and keep each others’ company….In the case of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, perhaps the two sides will never agree to a common perspective on what and who carried a greater responsibility for the 6+ decades long tragedy, but maybe I can look forward to when the two nations will learn to live side by side, next door to each other, just like O and I. And if they have to share a common living space (ahem… Jerusalem!) they can also learn about that from us. Hey O - if you are reading: thanks for all those invites to that Cambridge Pub  (Phoenix Landing) :). I still love you despite refusing to join you.

This article by Susan Kinzie in the Washington Post describes an interesting class co-taught at the University of Maryland by Palestinian and Israeli professors. Read the original article here.

Every detail had to be negotiated when an Israeli and a Palestinian started team-teaching a class on the Middle East. They haggled over the syllabus, the readings, the maps, even the words used: Was 1948, when Israel was formed, the War of Liberation — or the Catastrophe?

Kaufman, a longtime professor at Hebrew University, lectures on the Israeli version of events. Then Hassassian tells the Palestinian side. Both speak as scholars, analyzing the official rhetoric; both are moderates.

Still, the first summer was tense and adversarial, Hassassian said, as each tried to score points in class.

Hassassian is angry. Kaufman is worried.

If a cease-fire doesn’t happen soon, “the hatred that is mounting among these people will continue forever,” Hassassian said. It’s essential to ensure that people in the United States hear all sides, he said.

“It’s very tough. You lose your hope sometimes,” Kaufman said. The class is worth it, “but it is such a small drop in the ocean, it is really frustrating.”

After class late that night, they drove home to cook dinner. Lisa Kaufman was peeling squash. Edy Kaufman sliced onions. Hassassian brought ice to the table, and they sat down to a family dinner, passing the couscous from hand to hand, telling stories.

A small thing. But there it is: a peaceful coexistence.

NEWS: Israel has just halted aerial attacks on Lebanon after the killing of 60 civilians in the Lebanese Village of Qana, where Israeli bombing killed 106 people in 1996 as well. Maybe there is a ray of hope that this craziness will end and sanity will prevail a bit more?

Press Clipping(s): Scorpions to the rescue — killing the brain tumors

The picture included here is not captured from the web. I really took this photograph at my lunch one day when we visited China last year for GEO2 work. To our surprise (and horror), we were served fried scorpions as a local delicacy. Luckily for R and I, J took one for the team and dived in to try one of them. R and I got away smiling and shaking our head while he muched away at the Scorpion tail :). Chinese lunch and dinner engagements are considered absolutely necessary for developing confidence with Chinese partners, and are generally considered the Chinese equivalent of a hand-shake agreement. So the next time you are given the opportunity to do business development in China, you should boldly look forward to gourmet meals like this….and a drink called Mau Tai which I am told tastes like Kerosene.

A related news item that I wanted to highlight is the following: Scorpions are not just food…venom of the Giant Yellow Isreali scorpion is now being used to treat brain tumors…

Source: Earth Times 

Now scorpion venom to treat brain tumors
Author : Ryan Jones
New age therapy for brain tumors may now include an ingredient in the venom of the Giant Yellow Isreali scorpion. This substance holds promise to attach itself to cancerous cells, slowing the growth of the tumor. The study which compiled these results involved 18 patients who first had surgical removal of malignant gliomas – the deadliest form of brain tumor. However, certain gliomas are always left behind after a tumor in the brain is surgically removed and they are known to resist treatment.Researchers then inserted a synthetic form of the scorpion venom protein called TM-601 on the 18 patients in the first phase, and found that it could deliver radio-active iodine through the blood barrier to gliomas. In order to maintain safety, researchers used low doses of TM-601 and the radiation levels were also kept below therapeutic standards.Results showed that in spite of these measures, two of the patients reached total radiologic responses and MRI scans showed that no tumors existed. Although average survival for the patients was 27 weeks, these patients were alive even three years after the treatment.Another positive finding was the whatever the level of dosage, no side effects were noticed. Also, the effects of radioactivity seemed to recede after 24 hours. The little activity was noticed after this seemed to cluster around the tumor bed, suggesting that the TM-601 was selectively attaching itself to the glioma cells.Dr. Adam Mamelak of the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center’s Dunitz Neurosurgical Institute in Los Angeles who led the study, pointed out that though this was in no way miraculous, it is a breakthrough and provides hope for illnesses which earlier had no cure. He further added that after more research is carried out, this technique might also be used in combination with other treatments like chemotherapy. This study is due for publication in the August issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

Capping Greenhouse gas emissions: a global domino effect starting in California?

As the old saying goes, a butterfly flapping its wings in China can lead to a hurricane in America. Well, what would you say if something small happening in a US state had the potential to overturn the very ‘engine’ the modern world was built on? A recent article in the Mercury News advocating a bill that could profoundly influence global efforts to cap greenhouse gasses, by Ray Lane, a venture capitalist with Silicon Valley’s Kleiner Perkins, suggests exactly that.

Using the government’s brilliant strategy adopted in the 1980’s to fight the acid rain problem as an example, i.e. introducing a cap and trade regime in sulfur emissions, the author argues that the same thing can be done today for greenhouse gases. Silicon Beat writes that “[i]f California passes the Pavley-Nunez Global Warming Solutions Act (AB32), Lane argues a series of dominos will fall — leading to a solution for the planet. The key to it all is the free-market component”.

For the entire article, please visit Mercury News. The op-ed piece was co-authored by Rod A. Beckstrom, who is CEO of Carbon Investmetns in Palo Alto. It is interesting to see how prominent a position an established VC General Partner (e.g. Ray Lane of Kleiner Perkins) is taking on the environmental side of the equation. I am not complaining since honest evangelists are most welcome. Until recently, most VCs involved in the clean-tech sector were small and relatively inexperienced ones. The big guys have entered the field  with much more experience and knowledge, but they are still missing track record in the sector.

Here are some excerpts from the article:

Regarding the Cap and Trade mechanism:

Dudek proposed a system which “capped” the industry-wide level of sulfur dioxide emissions and then reduced emissions by 50 percent from 1980 levels in 10 years. Companies that could not achieve those aggressive goals could “trade” — buying an equal amount of reductions from a company that reduced more than required.

This simple “cap and trade” solution allowed markets to find the most entrepreneurial, efficient solutions for cleaning up acid rain. It worked beyond anyone’s wildest dreams. Unlike government subsidies or regulations, the cap and trade solution created an open market.

Regarding the 4 dominoes that may lead to a global domino-effect?:

As the nation’s leading environmental innovation state, California needs to approve AB 32, which would cap emissions across key sectors of the economy. If state regulators add flexibility for emitters in implementing a cap, a market can emerge.

As this domino falls, it will put pressure on the federal government to act. The United States needs to approve the bipartisan McCain-Lieberman Climate Stewardship Act or some other legislation that achieves the goals of capping emissions and putting markets to work.

This will push the third domino — China — to fall. Largely because of Dudek’s work, China has gone the way of cap and trade, coupling emissions trading with its sulfur dioxide cap as its national acid rain control policy. Environmental innovation in California will spur China in the same direction.

When the China domino falls, it will trigger India and the rest of the major developing countries, the last remaining domino, to join the global market. At that point, binding pollution limits will finally be in force in all major markets, and greenhouse gas emissions can begin to drop.

But the chain reaction will not start until the first domino — California — falls. It literally means the world.

Apple ipods built to last only 4 years?

I was given an an Apple ipod video as a gift for my last b-day (Thanks, L). With a large memory for all the video files I might store on it in addition to the music (I was recently offered to inherit a large number of business books in MP3 format — yay!!!), it was an expensive gift. As with other digital equipment that I own, I expected it to last a long time - until someone decided to replace it with a newer gizmo for me to play with. Well, Apple spokesperson recently announced (and it seems she did so by mistake and to much chagrin of Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO) that the ipod systems are built to last for 4 years. She thought she was helping Apple with that answer, but Steve doesn’t seem to think so. He is known for keeping a real tight lid on inside affairs…and if you step outside the line, the whip comes down faster than you can imagine.

Regardless, I am interested in what you think? Does your perception change about the product (and its price point in the market) given that this is the spokesperson giving this life-time and these guys are paid to paint a positive picture? Is 3-4 yrs enough to justify a $300-$400 expense when you could buy a non-Apple MP3 player with same memory for 20% of the cost? I remember vividly the controversy regarding Ipod nanos, where the screens were getting scratched within a few months of use! Apple is sure making a killing in this market - no wonder Microsoft says it is coming up with an ipod-killer.

 

Source: Apple Insider Thursday, July 27, 2006

Apple: iPods built to last 4 years

By Katie Marsal

Apple Computer says its iPod digital music players are built to last four years and have a failure rate that is lower than other consumer electronics devices.

Although there have been several accounts in which the iconic music players have been called faulty devices, Apple spokeswoman Natalie Kerris recently told the Chicago Tribune that iPods have a failure rate of less than 5 percent, which she said is “fairly low” compared with other consumer electronics.

“The vast majority of our customers are extremely happy with their iPods,”Kerris said, adding that Apple builds the players to last four years.

However, a survey conducted by Macintouch last year found that out of nearly 9,000 iPods owned by more than 4,000 respondents, more than 1,400 of the players had failed. The survey concluded that the failure rate was 13.7 percent, stemming from an equal mix of hard drive and battery related issues.

Apple’s fairly recent decision to embrace solid-state NAND flash memory at the core of its most popular iPod models, rather than hard disk drives, is likely to improve failure rates. Flash memory lacks the moveable parts contained inside hard disks, making the storage medium significantly more durable.

According to the Macintouch survey, flash-based iPod shuffles and iPod nanos indeed sport a much lower failure rate than their hard disk drive-based counterparts.

Apple’s iPod turns five years old this October.

Picture(s) of the day: Map of places bombed in Lebanon

I just got this via e-mail. I am sure many of us are following the horrific attacks on Lebanon but I found this map illuminating the extent of the Israeli campaign. This crazy war doesn’t seem to have an end in sight. Hizbollah is continuing to shell civilians in Haifa without a regard for human life on either side of the border, and Israel’s army is going mad given their lack of success in rooting out Hizbolllah. They have even bombed a UN post (using precision guided missiles), despite those sending 10 messages to the Israeli military over a hour period leading to their deaths to ask for stopping of the bombing. It is pitiful to see the lack of international interest in a cease-fire. We should all remember that today it is the Lebanese, tomorrow it could be us. What goes around, comes around…and if we don’t speak up for the innocent civilians in Lebanon today, tomorrow when we are in trouble, nobody will speak out for us as well.

Zidane song

I just saw this funny video on the in-famous Zidane head-butting episode. Watch and enjoy! As I predicted, people will be talking abou the Zidane issue for quite some time to come. When he came out with his speech (saying his mother and sister were abused), more people seemed to have tuned ot listen to him in France than the French President’s Bastille Day speech….Thank you to Tbleuer Videos for bringing this to my attention.
zidane le clip , le tube de l’été ?

Later edit: Translation of the song, thanks to Etienne Marcel: Lyrics for the “Coup de Boule” Zidane song, by La Plage Records.

Coup de Boule
Attention c’est la danse du Coup de Boule!
(Coup de boule, coup de boule)
Coup de boule à droite
(Coup de boule, coup de boule)
Coup de boule à gauche
(Coup de boule, coup de boule)

Allez les bleus!
Allez,
Zidane il a frappé, Zidane il a tapé (Coup de boule!)* 4x

Le rital, il a eu mal
Zidane il a frappé
l’Italien ne va pas bien
Zidane il a tapé
L’arbitre l’a vu à la télé
Zidane il a frappé
Mais la coupe on l’a ratée
On a quand même bien rigolé

Zidane il a frappé, Zidane il a tapé (Coup de boule!) 4x

Trezeguet n’a pas joué
Quand il a joué il a raté
Il a tout fait capoté
La coupe on l’a ratée
Barthez n’a rien arreté
C’est pourtant pas compliqué
Les sponseurs sont tous fâchés
Mais Chirac a bien parlé

Zidane il a frappé, Zidane il a tapé (Coup de boule!) 4x

Attention c’est la danse du Coup de Boule!
(Coup de boule, coup de boule)
Coup de boule à droite
(Coup de boule, coup de boule)
Coup de boule à gauche
(Coup de boule, coup de boule)
Coup de boule avant
(Coup de boule, coup de boule)
Coup de boule arrière
(Coup de boule, coup de boule)

Et maintenant penalty
Attention il va tirer
un, deux, trois…c’est raté!

Zidane il a frappé, Zidane il a tapé (4x)

On a quand meme bien rigolé
Zidane et Trezeguet
La coupe on l’a ratée
Zidane et Trezeguet (2x)
Et Trezeguet…et Trezeguet…et Trezeguet guet guet
Trezeguet
(Coup de boule, coup de boule)
et Trezeguet
(Coup de boule, coup de boule)
et Trezeguet
(Coup de boule, coup de boule)
et Trezeguet
(Coup de boule, coup de boule)
Trezeguet

Etienne’s Translation of “Coup de Boule” lyrics:
Watch out, it’s the headbutt dance!
(Headbutt, headbutt)
Headbutt to the right
(Headbutt, headbutt)
Headbutt to the left
(Headbutt, headbutt)

Go Blues!
Go,
Zidane, he hit [him], Zidane, he slapped [him] (Headbutt!)* 4x

The guido, he was hurt
Zidane hit [him]
The Italian’s not doing well
Zidane slapped [him]
The ref saw it on the TV
Zidane hit [him]
But we lost the World Cup
We had a good laugh anyways

Zidane, he hit [him], Zidane, he slapped [him] (Headbutt!) 4x

Trezeguet didn’t play
When he played he sucked
He screwed up everything
We lost the World Cup
Barthez didn’t stop anything
And it’s not even complicated
The sponsers are all angry
But Chirac was eloquent

Zidane, he hit [him], Zidane, he slapped [him] (Headbutt!) 4x

Watch out, it’s the headbutt dance!
(Headbutt, headbutt)
Headbutt to the right
(Headbutt, headbutt)
Headbutt to the left
(Headbutt, headbutt)
Headbutt to the front
(Headbutt, headbutt)
Headbutt to the back
(Headbutt, headbutt)

And now it’s the penalty
Attention please, he’s gonna shoot
One, two, three…he missed!

Zidane, he hit [him], Zidane, he slapped [him] (4x)

We had a good laugh anyways
Zidane and Trezeguet
We lost the World Cup
Zidane and Trezeguet (2x)

And Trezeguet…and Trezeguet…and Trezeguet-guet-guet
Trezeguet
(Headbutt, headbutt)
and Trezeguet
(Headbutt, headbutt)
and Trezeguet
(Headbutt, headbutt)
and Trezeguet
(Headbutt, headbutt)

Tesla: the Silicon Valley electric sports car

In the 1990s, thanks to a Zero Emissions Vehicle (ZEV) mandate by the CARB mandate, the major automakers introduced several thousand electric cars. These cars, as ZEV would ordain, had no tailpipe emissions, and hence, were purely electric cars. The most popular among them was now famous EV-1 from GM which reports suggest cost over $1 billion to develop. I was myself surprised to visit a vacation resort in Desert Springs and see a long line of electric car re-charge stations in the main parking lot. Well, that was then. While those cars attracted a small but devoted following, they didn’t get much traction in the marketplace because of limited miles it could be driven without a recharge. The lobbyists went to work quickly and as history has it, the ZEV kind of dissolved and PZEV (Partial zero Emissions Vehicle) was born - the birth of the hybrid! And what happened to all the electric cars? Watch the documentary “Who Killed the Electric Car?” to learn how car companies that created them, marketed them with a furor, and sold them to loyal customers, then recalled and literally destroyed them.But that is not the subject of this article. I want to highlight Tesla, a new purely electric sports cars designed by Tesla Motors. It is a re-invention of the electric car by a few silicon valley enthusiasts (and investors with deep pockets), that a few of us have been reading about for a few months now. The concept is simple: use electricity to drive a gorgeous looking chic car that runs as fast as a Porsche or a Ferrari.

Tesla’s founding has its roots in the same ideas that are driving growth in interest in the overall clean-tech sector: reduce dependence on Middle East oil, help the environment, and solve the engineering problems fast to make lots of money in the start-up world. I hope the surprise that the car is being developed in San Carlos, CA (just outside San Francisco), is not lost on you - that place is FAR from Detroit, Michigan. But the reality is that Detroit for the time being has no interest in real innovation - and they are happy to put marketing gimmicks (and style, at best) to work to recover their companies from drowning in debts and losses. Well, the Detroit executives are doing what is best for their companies at this stage. But Tesla Motors, and a few other silicon valley start-ups with similar ideas, such as Wrightspeed Inc., and Li-on Cells, have realized that this job requires engineering and fast innovation - exactly what silicon valley start-ups are good at. and guess who is funding them? Tesla, for example, has raised over $60 million from investors like PayPal cofounder Elon Musk, Google’s Larry Page and Sergey Brin, and ex-eBay chief Jeff Skoll. Yes - those guys who have too much money to spend elsewhere, and who are getting bored of controversies around their jumbo private jets, have found a new love for chic, environment-friendly automobiles. They are targeting the high profile, sports-car enthusiast market which is valued at over $3 billion worldwide. It might take a while for the Tesla to become affordable for lowly start-up guys like myself, but trust me there are plenty who will dole out the cash if their ride is the hottest thing in town - and yes, Telsa promises to be a hot rod. If they allow me a test-ride, I am ready to fly out tomorrow.

Some specs from Tesla’s web-site:
# 100% electric
# 0 to 60 in about 4 seconds
# Top speed: more than 130mph
# 135 mpg equivalent
# 250 miles to recharge
# about 1c per mile recurring cost

And how does Tesla do it: Tesla is powered by nearly 7000 rechargeable lithium-ion batteries (Li-on in the company mentioned above stands for Lithium Ion as well) - the same kind that power my IBM T43 Thinkpad laptop. They store nearly 250 miles worth of driving in the sleek, stylish looking concept car. [I read this morning inChemical and Engineering News that Li-ion batteries are soon to become better as tiny amounts of Magnesium & Cobalt are introduced into the lattice structure, allowing for more layered structure , which leads to faster recharges --OK I am in nerdville now!]. There are no moving parts besides the rotor that is spun by a magnetic field. An on-board computer provides traction control, and, since the motor is not limited by the complexity of pistons moving up and down, it can spin much faster. Typical combustion engines max out at 7000rpm, while Tesla can go up to 13,500 rpms, enabling it to go 70 mph in first gear. And what’s more fun: it has no acceleration jumps at gear shifts (there are only 2 gears), and has NO noise, whatsoever. That kinds sucks - well, no. Inventors seem to suggest that they can record whatever engine sound you like better (Porsche, Ferrari, or even the sound of horse hooves) can be recorded into the MP3 player and played back to give you that nostalgic feeling.

Sources:
Tesla Motors
Wired Magazine - Battery-Fueled Car Will Smoke You
Newsweek - Reincarnation
The Mercury News - Silicon Valley Entrepreneurs Race for Electric Car Market

Press Clipping(s): Fastest donkey in town!

Karachiites know donkey cart races well. I have myself witnessed them on many different streets in the city, from Sharah-e-Faisal to the main Univeristy Road. Amin Gulgee has even erected a monument to celebrate the city’s interesting pastime. Donkey carts, with their single riders guiding them masterfully on Karachi streets and making noise from pebble-filled cans, may be deemed dangerous by some residents of the city, but they are a unique Karachi thing and demonstrate the vibrance present in the local communities (in this case it is the coastal Makrani community who are typically given the credit for inventing donkey cart racing in Karachi). These cart races are organized on a different street each week and specially bred donkeys travel long distances to participate in them. Believe me, if you haven’t seen them before, you are missing a stirring sight. Even our President Musharraf has remarked in the past that “Donkey cart race reminded me of Ben Hur movie”. The following news post in The News caught my attention. Its great to see some attention being given to our local sports and customs.

Braying for the Chief Secretary Cup
Race today to decide the fastest donkey in town

By Farooq Baloch

KARACHI: The city’s top donkey cart riders can once again be seen battling for the honour of the Chief Secretary Cup and a prize of Rs15,000 as they participate in a thrilling donkey cart race today. … The organizers have also involved the local association of the donkey carts and it has sent its seasoned riders to make sure that there should be a tough contest. Standards have been defined for the racing carts and violating them will lead to disqualification from the race. Referees will closely check to see if any of the riders are found involved in pushing or hindering others. Such activity will lead to immediate disqualification.

Only the city’s best kept donkey carts would be allowed to participate in the race. Those with worn out tyres or unfit carts would not be allowed. The participants of the race will be accompanied by police mobiles and traffic police motorcycles to clear any kind of obstructions. These mobiles will also carry referees and judges who will decide the winner of the contest.

The winner will get Rs15,000, runner up Rs10,000 and third position will get a reward of Rs5000, said one organizer who added that there will be about 50 to 60 participants in the race and each will get Rs500 for their participation. Governor Sindh Dr. Ishrat-ul-Ebad and the Chief Secretary Sindh Fazal-ur-Rehman will be the guests of honour and will also address the participants after distributing the award money.

Talking to The News, Zohaib Hasan, Advisor to Governor Sindh, said, “The President gave a directive to the Sindh Government to promote activities that represent the vibrancy of Sindh.” He added: “The government wants to re-establish the tradition of donkey cart race as people are preferring foreign sports over their own and this race is one of the identities of the province and city and the public should be involved in it.”

According to the organizers, the government is trying to make it a routine event of the city and the idea was to launch three or four small cups and then invite the winners to big contests like the one due today. After the Chief Secretary Cup, the participants will be invited to the Governor Cup which is one of the main events of the Sindh Sea Festival to be held in November.

Cleantech hype and Vinod Khosla debunked?

According to data released today, investments in the clean tech space have tripled over the past year. This comes as no surprise (in fact the surprise is that the number released is 3-4x lower than the $513 million number for 2006 Q1 clean tech investments released by the CleanTech Venture Network). This multiple fold increase in clean tech funding is starting to worry a few people about a bubble forming in the space (for more on this you can read this recent article by Dan Gross). I am not buying into the bubble theory as yet, mostly because I still see great technologies getting funded at reasonable valuations, but I do worry that a few people are placing (a) too many bets simultaneously because their business models depend on the multiplication phenomenon, (b) are trying to legislate their way to success, and (c) everybody is trying to find a short-cut to a clean world when there might be none.

Let me explain my thoughts a bit:

(a) Some VCs, in this case I am thinking of the likes of Vinod Khosla and Khosla Ventures, have developed their investment models around investing in a large number of companies in a particular space after identifying that if the sector takes off, at least a few of their well placed bets will bring the rainfall. It is in line with this business model (and its not a bad model if you have tons of money to invest)that Khosla et al have placed a large number of bets on a lot of companies, including many in the ethanol space. When news hit stands about yet another investment in ethanol or related companies, the average less-sophisticated investor starts to feel he/she might be missing the boat, and before you know it, anything with ethanol in the name starts to get funded. Those of us who followed VC investments 5-10 years ago remember this well with the nano-tech bubble, if you allow me to call it that.

(b) Secondly, again some people like Vinod, who I think mean well for this economy, and truly believe in the power of ‘growing your way into energy independence’, have become lobbyists as well with vested interests due to thier investment portfolio - and yet are not really playing by the rules to be upfront about their biases and to be clear about their vested interests when taking political positions. In technology space this is especially dangerous because the average person cannot be expected to understand all the complexity that resides in the devilish details…As smart as Vinod might be, and I have high respects for him, he is not a scientist or an engineer with qualifications to settle this debate on long term energy sources and on ethanol’s net positive energy balance. He is a smart man, and has has made tremendous investment decisions in the past based on his understanding of the facts, but I believe he may be going a bit too far in becoming the God-sent messiah to redeem this nation from its dependence on oil. Is he now addicting them to ethanol? I only ask for some moderation on the craze so we don’t have to invent phrases liek “irrational exuberance” again. As I say this, I stand to be corrected if this is not entirely his own doing and others around him, probably not with his acknowledgment, are creating a hype on this issue and setting him up for this. I still respect the way he boldly came out against Nanosys IPO, and hence am willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.

(c) Finally, I feel a lot of people may be trying to fool the other (or themselves) in this discussion about biofuels that somehow there might a miracle shortcut to energy independence. No. Ethanol is not a renewable fuel and the debate is still on if end to end analysis of the ethanol life-cycle results in a net positive energy balance or not. using ethanol fuel still pollutes as a result of the inefficiencies of the internal combustion engine, and it still adds to global warming via CO2 emissions. I cannot stress enough that GM’s “Live Green. Go Yellow” slogans should not be taken for too much more than aspects of a brilliant marketing campaign, and the yellow gas caps do not suddenly turn your car into a green vehicle. At the end of the day, while we work on solving geopolitical crises related to oil, we have to still work on truly renewable energy sources: solar, wind, water, etc. There is a long way to go and we must not lose sight on the real long-term sustainable technologies.

There is an interesting article that just published trying to debate Vinod Khosla’s assertions about ethanol, and I thought I would link to it here so those interested in the topic can read themselves and make up their own mind. I have posted anything pro-Khosla here, not because I am biased, but because if you just do a quick google search, you will find tons about him - mostly praising him. You can find more info on the investment focus of the Khosla Ventures here. Vinod also maintains a blog and here he issues a HUGE challenge to all the big oil companies.

Later edit: Here is an article by somebody who obviously disagrees with Khosla.

Vinod Khosla debunked: ethanol is NOT the answer
by Robert Rapier

Let’s focus on some specific claims that Khosla made in his presentation, and see if they hold up to scrutiny. If they don’t, then I want to ask why anyone takes his claims seriously, and why we are allowing him to influence energy policy. I want to ask those who encounter him to vigorously challenge him on his exuberant claims (and make sure he knows about the debate challenge). Because if he is wrong, and political leaders are betting that he is correct, we will be throwing good money away and wasting time while we could be going after real solutions.

During the video presentation, at the 3:50 mark Khosla makes the following claim:

Vinod Khosla: Brazil has replaced 40% of their petroleum use with ethanol already.

So, is this true? No. As I documented in the article on ethanol that I wrote for Financial Sense:

According to BP’s recently released “Statistical Review of World Energy 2006”, Brazil consumed 664 million barrels of oil in 2005. In 2005, Brazil produced 4.8 billion gallons of ethanol, or 114 million barrels. However, a barrel of ethanol contains approximately 3.5 million BTUs, and a barrel of oil contains approximately 6 million BTUs. Therefore, 114 million barrels of ethanol only displaced 67 million barrels of oil, around 10% of Brazil’s oil consumption. In other words, Brazil’s energy independence miracle was 10% ethanol and 90% domestic crude oil production.

Therefore this claim, despite being constantly repeated, is false. It presents a very misleading picture of Brazil committing to ethanol, and then farming their way to energy independence. In fact, they drilled their way to energy independence. It also doesn’t hurt that they use 1/7th of the per capita energy that the U.S. uses.

…

At the 34:10 mark, Khosla brings up another old canard:

Vinod Khosla: Corn ethanol has 1.2 to 1.8 the energy compared to the energy in. By the way, petroleum is 0.8, so ethanol is about twice as good as petroleum. Because they always forget to mention that petroleum doesn’t produce a unit of energy out for every unit in. There’s transportation, there’s refining, there’s all those costs.

If Khosla’s credibility wasn’t already in tatters, then it should be now. The energy balance of corn ethanol is significantly worse than for gasoline. The 1.2 for ethanol versus 0.8 for petroleum is comparing apples and oranges. They are looking at an efficiency in the case of petroleum, but an EROEI in the case of ethanol. If you want to compare apples to apples, the EROEI for petroleum, even in a poor field, is 10/1 or better. Throw in the refining step, which is also 10/1, and you have an EROEI of 5/1 or better for gasoline, compared to 1.2 or so for corn ethanol. On the other hand, the efficiency of corn ethanol is 20-30% (versus the 80% he mentions for petroleum). If you doubt this, do a simple experiment. Let’s say you have 1 BTU of energy to invest. Tell me how many BTUs you will end up with if you invest into ethanol, versus investing into petroleum. Work the problem out, and you will see why Khosla’s claim, repeated by ethanol proponents everywhere, is completely bogus.

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My Position [Editor: My=Rapier]

I am a staunch advocate for energy independence. But the core problem is that we use far too much energy. We can legislate and mandate E85 all we want, but we can’t mandate it into existence. Forcing nation-wide adoption of ethanol makes about as much sense as mandating that all 50 states grow mangoes: Yeah, it could be done, but at what price? And is it sustainable?…I strongly support heavily funding research into cellulosic ethanol. It has the potential, with some technological breakthroughs, of making a contribution toward energy independence. However, counting on it to deliver, while more viable options are pushed to the background, is incredibly foolish energy policy. This is too serious an issue to allow someone like Khosla, who is clearly misinformed (and has a vested financial interest), to dominate the debate. I will not quietly allow that to happen. None of us can afford to.

Original article found here

Arna’s Children. Palestinian lives and their struggles.

L, R and I got together last night to watch Arna’s Children. It was not long before we lost any interest in the popcorn or the chocolates around us. We sat silent through most of the movie, in shock, as reality from Jenin (and the rest of Palestine) played out before us on the screen. This is the most real and up close footage that I have seen from Occupied Palestine and the effect was chilling, indeed. There were several moments in the movie when tears almost bubbled to the surface for me, but in the company of two Palestinian females I somehow managed to suppress them.

The film is made by Juliano Mer Khamis, the son of Arna Mer Khamis, who is a legend from the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank. Arna, a Jewish woman who initially celebrates the founding of Israel in 1948, and later marries a Palestinian Muslim comrade from the communist party and founds a theatre education group in the Jenin refugee camp, is the central character of the movie - but not really - soon one realizes that the Palestinian children whom she had taught to express their anger through theatre and music are really the central characters.

Arna started the theatre group on a the top floor of a house, space donated to them by the family of one of the boys who joins the theatre. The theatre was established with the money Arna received for her Alternative Nobel prize by the Swedish parliament, and taught young children born and living in the middle of a terrifying conflict to express their anger, frustrations and beliefs actively via theatre. The movie is about children in that theatre, a recollection of short movie clips made in the history of several children over a period of 8+ years, who join Arna’s theatre to deal with their grief and emotions, and later, after Arna dies, get caught up in the tragedy during the Jenin massacre of 2002 (by Israeli armed forces). It is a reflection on what young men in Palestine go through every day. And what griefs and emotions Palestinians have to overcome just to want to live.

The movie is real, it is a real life story, and is made with real life video footage taped by courageous people who were interested in documenting the lives of kids that Arna had so loved and held close. Arna’s son Juliano, director of this film, was also one of the directors of Jenin’s theatre. With his camera, he filmed the children during rehearsal periods from 1989 to 1996, and then he goes back after the massacre of 2002 to see what happened to those kids that he had taught and helped learn about dealing with life. We learn about Youssef, Nidal, Ashraf, Alla and others. Ashraf Abu-elhaje, shown here in the childrens’ theatre of the Jenin refugee camp in 1996, was its most impressive student. At the time he dreamed of a future as the Palestinian Romeo! Six years later Ashraf led a large group of fighters in the battle of Jenin. He was killed by a rocket fired from a helicopter….I won’t describe the story here in detail, but I will just ask you to watch it (you can get it on Netflix). The Palestinian life, the struggles of their youth to find some pride and dignity, and the story of the Jenin tragedy will become known to you.

For more info:
http://www.arna.info/Arna/movie.php
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/arnas_children/
http://www.un.org/peace/jenin/