Seeing this post about using quantum dots to cover any surface with light reminds me of the vague notions of a colleague to create a sort of flexible lighting. And it makes me realize that at research laboratories such as Google Labs now, PARC in the past and IBM's Watson Research Center and HP Labs throughout, inventions are conversations. One person has an ill-formed idea, that another person clarifies. A third scientist hears of an idea and thinks of something else that a fourth researcher turns into something that winds up changing the world. But ideas these days rarely occur in vacuums. The grad student who found this white light material wasn't looking for them, but was studying quantum dots that wound up emitting them. Some professor's initial idea became something else. If you are a creative person, make sure you work where there are others you think are more creative than you. It could make all the difference.

Duncan Shepherd is the finest movie critic working in America for several reasons. First, he is the only critic I ever see mention the quality of the picture. Given how blatantly many critics rehash the plot to make word count, one would think the picture quality would be an obvious topic to mention. One realizes quickly that most American movie critics cannot see any difference between movies. Second, Shepherd has no problem rating the crappy 90% as crap. Dearest to my heart, Duncan actually knows how to write:

In that regard, the dominant theme of the current summer went by the name of The Slump: nineteen consecutive weeks (or longer than just this summer) when box-office receipts fell below those of the comparable weeks in the year past. The curse was finally broken by Wedding Crashers (I believe that was the one), yet the mood didn't lighten. My own response to The Slump, whenever I'd be reminded of it, is that it is of no matter whatsoever to the viewer of a movie, be he laid-back layman or note-scribbling critic. If it must be a subject at all, it is a subject for the business pages of the daily paper, cheek by jowl with car sales and hotel occupancy rates. To be watching a movie and wondering things like how much it cost to finance, whether it can possibly make back its investment, why it failed to get over the hump of The Slump, is tantamount to reading a novel (if you can imagine doing so) and wondering how long it took the author to write it, what his percentage would work out to in an hourly wage, why it failed to climb higher on the best-seller chart. Neither, respectively, has anything at all to do with the viewing or reading experience.

read Duncan Shepherd's full review here

Various news sources recounted difficulties that emergency personnel had coordinating during hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Several articles mentioned the chaos that ensued because even cell phone towers were out of commission. (Imagine a place so primitive it lacks cell phones. A place like the United States of America in 1980.) Fortunately, I have a great idea. If there were a company that made satellite phones, emergency personnel could use those regardless of the state of land lines, cell towers....even...WiFi access points. Of course, Iridium would have to do deals with the government for homeland security. I'm just thinking out loud here.