Meebo Rooms

Meebo has introduced chatrooms, in which multiple people can use a web interface instant messaging (IM) client to communicate with each other. This is a combination of IRC and IM, along with a web interface. (Unfortunately, this is not fully integrated with MSN, Jabber or other existing IM systems, and the chat must take place within the meebo system).

In addition, the Meebo Rooms are video-enabled, such that sending a message that contains a URL of a video (e.g. YouTube) will result in that video appearing in a video window inside the Meebo chatroom. This makes it more convenient to share videos with a group and have a discussion about it in real-time.

Here is my meebo room, which is most likely empty.

The History of Oil

I have started reading The Prize by Daniel Yergin, which is an epic whirlwind tale of the history of oil.

Like others, I found it interesting to read about the early risk takers and power brokers who seized upon new opportunities in the exploration, production, refining, distribution and consumption of oil and gas, starting first in the U.S. (Pennsylvania, Texas, Oklahoma) and then spreading throughout the world. It was also eye-opening to see how much national politics and strategic influence have played a role since the beginning. A century ago, the predecessors of companies such as Exxon/Mobil (nee Standard Oil), Shell and British Petroleum (nee Anglo-Persian) competed for oil in the Iraq, Iran, Russia, Venezuela and Mexico. Understanding that Mosul and Kirkuk were (already) the object of intense Western attention a century ago puts today's news in some historical perspective...

Reading The Prize reminds me of a video by Robert Newman on the History of Oil, which presents a humorous but also deadly serious monologue on oil and its past context, and in particular mentions that World War I was not only about Europe but also involved a parallel struggle for the oil in the Middle East.

(Robert Newman also discusses how the current U.S. dollar is propped up by its use as the currency for purchasing oil (a.k.a. "petrodollar"), and gives an analogy in the form of an anecdote about Salvador Dali, who would draw sketches on the back of his personal checks to guarantee that they would not be cashed.)

Essays on software and startups

Recently, I have read through two excellent essay collections on software and startups: Joel on Software and Paul Graham.

These essays have been very insightful in terms of understanding the mindset of an entrepreneur, and also provide handy straightforward advice. What I find impressive is how they take ideas which might be present in nascent form in many people's minds, and analyze them in full length essays that go far beyond the usual depth of a blog entry. These essays cover topics such as the divergent incentives of VCs and employees, bad reasons to not start a startup, the sociology of nerddom, and why software talent matters.

Finite Simple Group of Order Two

Apologies in advance for the high nerdiness content of this post.

Someone forwarded me this video, which brought back memories of my years studying math...



Some people find something in adolescence that engages them, gives them order and saves them from the banality of the world (and from themselves). For me, it was mathematics. I attended math camp for a summer during high school, and became enamored with number theory, where powerful proofs followed from simple axioms. We were taught to think deeply about simple things, as we explored the world created by Euclid, Fermat, Gauss, Galois,...

I studied math in college and then continued to math "boot camp" (the first year graduate program) at the University of Chicago. It was a small but highly academic and cohesive program. One of the highlights of the U. of C. math program was a tradition in which second-year graduate students put on "beer skits", a collection of skits and musical parodies. One song I remember was a parody of "Simple Gifts" called "Simple Groups":

There are groups that are simple,
There are groups that are free,
There are groups that have order exactly thirty-three

For the non-math majors: In group theory, groups have ordinary-sounding mathematical properties such as being "simple" and "free" and having "order".

Bonus: Here are "New Math" and assorted math songs by Tom Lehrer.

Happy Year of the Pig!

Piled Higher and Deeper

My years at Stanford are captured in this insightful comic strip by Jorge Cham on graduate student life (housing, advisors, the thesis, etc)... "Piled Higher and Deeper"

FLOWmarket

When I was in Taipei, I went to the Museum of Tomorrow, which is a new exhibition space near 光華商場 (which has been dismantled and moved to a new building).

The main exhibit was FLOWmarket, which consists of plain white packaging of various shapes and sizes, similar to those found in an ordinary supermarket. Each item has a somewhat abstract phrase printed on it, such as "clean air", "collective consciousness", "a feeling of safety", "sustainable innovation", "balance"... By placing these concepts into a commercial package, the piece raises questions of our commercial society --- what can and cannot be bought.

What's interesting is that each of the items is actually for sale too at the exhibit!

Above the exhibit, there is a large banner with a quote from Marshall McLuhan: "There are no passengers on spaceship earth. We are all crew."