informal discussions on complexity

[Nick Thompson]

Wow.  Have they captured the parana's, drained the moat and chained the
dobermans, also?  
Why do the good things always happen AFTER my sabbatical.

Nick

Nicholas Thompson
nickthompson at earthlink.net
http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson

> [Original Message]
> From: <Friam-request at redfish.com>
> To: <Friam at redfish.com>
> Date: 1/9/2006 12:00:21 PM
> Subject: Friam Digest, Vol 31, Issue 7
>
> Send Friam mailing list submissions to
> Friam at redfish.com
>
> To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit
> http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com
> or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to
> Friam-request at redfish.com
>
> You can reach the person managing the list at
> Friam-owner at redfish.com
>
> When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific
> than "Re: Contents of Friam digest..."
>
>
> Today's Topics:
>
>    1. Re: Web, Email, Textediting: < 2lb & reasonable display.
>       (Roger Critchlow)
>    2. Fwd:  Visions of a nuclear future (Owen Densmore)
>    3. Re: Slashdot | Negroponte's Talk at Emerging Technology
>       Conference (John Pfersich)
>    4. Informal discussion seminars "Ingredients of Complexity"
>       (Owen Densmore)
>    5. Re: Informal discussion seminars "Ingredients of Complexity"
>       (Douglas Roberts)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Sun, 8 Jan 2006 12:40:49 -0700
> From: Roger Critchlow <rec at elf.org>
> Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Web, Email, Textediting: < 2lb & reasonable
> display.
> To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group
> <Friam at redfish.com>
> Message-ID:
> <66d1c98f0601081140k17d93f05if96c3578365a289d at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
>
> I've decided to resurrect this because the Nokia 770 just turned up on
> slashdot.  What do you think:  $359.99, Linux, WiFi, widescreen
> hiresolution display, onscreen keyboard, tiny, light, and it's sold
> out.  Orders placed before 12/17/2005 are expected to ship by
> 1/20/2006 but Nokia is increasing its production.  Oh, and there's an
> open source development site at http://www.maemo.org/.
>
> Go ahead, Owen, give yourself a late christmas present and bring it to
> Friam next month so we can see how it works.
>
> http://europe.nokia.com/nokia/0,1522,,00.html?orig=/770
>
> -- rec --
>
> On 12/5/05, Owen Densmore <owen at backspaces.net> wrote:
> > I've noticed an interesting phenomenon lately: the *really* tiny
> > laptop market seems to have dried up.  I used two really small
> > laptops a couple of years back: the Toshiba Libretto, and a 2 lb
> > version of the early Toshiba Portege.
> >
> > I think the reason is that Laptops have become the primary computer
> > for many of us, thus typically comes in a fairly complete form
> > factor.  Even the Mac 12" powerbook is > 4lb and a bit bulky compared
> > to the two above.
> >
> > So I have been looking around for a good "pocket book" sort of
> > computer .. at least 800x600 screen with enough guts to become a
> > carry-everywhere web, email and editing critter.  .. and something
> > that a laptop owner would still find an interesting adjunct to their
> > computing world.
> >
> > Anyone know of such a critter?  I was hoping the PSP or some sort of
> > large hand-held would fill the bill but I haven't found one
> > googling.  My phone (Treo) does all this but too poorly for anything
> > but emergencies.
> >
> >      -- Owen
> >
> > Owen Densmore
> > http://backspaces.net - http://redfish.com - http://friam.org
> >
> >
> >
> > ============================================================
> > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
> > Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at Mission Cafe
> > lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
> >
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 2
> Date: Sun, 8 Jan 2006 19:25:20 -0700
> From: Owen Densmore <owen at backspaces.net>
> Subject: [FRIAM] Fwd:  Visions of a nuclear future
> To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Friam <friam at redfish.com>
> Message-ID: <39822E56-60EA-4348-94D5-D49133E9AF21 at backspaces.net>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; delsp=yes; format=flowed
>
> Reading this morning's paper, I stumbled across yet another  
> discussion of nuclear power and the conflict between clean, efficient  
> power it provides and the fear of its dangers.  I recalled an article  
> Belinda sent out a while back and thought it worth forwarding,  
> below.  (The original URL was no longer valid but http://tinyurl.com/ 
> 7kxj5 points to one that works .. and I've attached Belinda's original)
>
> I'm curious if we have more recent information within the group.  For  
> example, do we know any of the presenters at the
>      Second Annual Workshop on Accelerator-Driven Subcritical System
>      http://iac.isu.edu/workshops/ADSS2004_3.html
> Or do we know if the initial ADS research has been found flawed?
>
> This sub-critical reactor technology seems almost impossibly sweet --  
> even consuming existing nuclear wastes and potentially having fewer  
> and shorter lived waste.
>    http://www.nupecc.org/iai2001/pdf/ADS.pdf
>    http://j-parc.jp/Transmutation/ja/asiaadspdf/06-zhao.pdf
>    http://j-parc.jp/Transmutation/ws/pdfen/4-1_Oigawa.pdf
>
> I find it depressing that the US has blown decades of research  
> because of the unfortunate reaction to Political Correctness.
>
>      -- Owen
>
> Owen Densmore
> http://backspaces.net - http://redfish.com - http://friam.org
>
>
> Visions of a nuclear future
>
> Financial Times, 16 July 2004 - How do you turn a Green bright red?  
> Just mention nuclear power, judging by the response of  
> environmentalists to the growing use of the N-word in debates about  
> future energy sources.
>
> Last week, Tony Blair told a committee of senior parliamentarians  
> that America was pressing Britain to re-examine the case for building  
> a new generation of nuclear power stations and that nuclear power  
> could not be removed from the agenda.
>
> Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, South Africa's minerals and energy minister,  
> last month incurred the wrath of environmental campaigners for  
> suggesting that nuclear power might give her nation greater energy  
> diversity and security of supply.
>
> A few weeks earlier, Professor James Lovelock, the British  
> environmental guru, had provoked outrage with his apparent apostasy  
> in calling for huge investment in nuclear power to help combat global  
> warming.
>
> Sir Crispin Tickell, a leading British environmentalist, has even  
> managed to annoy both eco-activists and ministers by accusing the UK  
> government of failing to make the case for nuclear power in tackling  
> global warming.
>
> At first sight, it is hard not to share the frustration of  
> environmentalists at being presented with a bleak choice between  
> climatic disaster or reliance on the technology that gave us Three  
> Mile Island, the Chernobyl disaster and thousands of tonnes of  
> radioactive waste.
>
> Yet it is a false dichotomy, based on a view of nuclear technology as  
> outdated as the cold war. Whisper it quietly, but experiments are  
> about to begin on a new form of nuclear power that even eco-warriors  
> might tolerate, if not welcome.
>
> It is radically different from the traditional reactor designs that  
> prompt fear and loathing: for one thing, its safety is underwritten  
> by the laws of physics, rather than human ingenuity.
>
> Better still, it can use a range of different fuels - including some  
> that would minimise the risk of weapons production by "rogue"  
> nations. But best of all, this new form of reactor can incinerate  
> waste from other reactors, turning today's noxious stockpiles into  
> energy.
>
> Such are the prospects held out by the new reactor, the Accelerator-
> Driven Subcritical (ADS) system. First proposed in the 1990s by  
> scientists at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, New Mexico, and  
> Carlo Rubbia, the Italian Nobel prize-winning physicist, the idea  
> behind ADS is more elegant than its name.
>
> Conventional nuclear power exploits the energy released by the  
> splitting - "fission" - of uranium atoms. Along with energy, this  
> fission process releases neutrons capable of splitting further  
> uranium atoms, triggering a chain reaction.
>
> If the numbers of neutrons are just sufficient to keep the reaction  
> in balance, the result is a "critical" reactor - and a steady flow of  
> power that today provides about 17 per cent of the world's  
> electricity demand.
>
> But if the chain reaction runs out of control, the reactor could  
> explode as an atomic bomb does. This has compelled designers to  
> devise measures to prevent a disaster - yet these are no guarantee of  
> safety. The ADS system adopts a different approach to nuclear safety  
> - one that even Homer Simpson could not undermine.
>
> As its name implies, the ADS reactor is "sub-critical" - that is, its  
> fuel simply does not generate enough neutrons to sustain a chain  
> reaction. Instead, the reactor is fed with neutrons created by a  
> particle accelerator.
>
> Cut off this supply of neutrons - deliberately or accidentally - and  
> the reactor reverts to its natural, somnolent state. An explosive  
> chain reaction is not just unlikely: it is prevented by the laws of  
> physics.
>
> Moreover, as chain reaction stability no longer depends on the type  
> of fuel used, the ADS system is a nuclear omnivore, able to work with  
> fuels that are wholly unsuited to weapons production. To cap it all,  
> an ADS reactor can even consume radioactive waste from conventional  
> reactors.
>
> This holy trinity of advantages has made the ADS the subject of  
> intense theoretical research for more than a decade. Now the theory  
> is to be tested in experiments by an international team of scientists  
> at Italy's Casaccia Research Centre, near Rome.
>
> A small research reactor at the centre has been modified to make it  
> sub-critical, and a particle accelerator is to be built to feed the  
> reactor with neutrons knocked out of a tantalum target.
>
> The first experiments, expected to start within two years, will focus  
> simply on gaining experience in the art of feeding neutrons to a  
> reactor.
>
> Once these are completed, the team plans to use a more powerful  
> reactor and accelerator system to create an ADS system capable of  
> waste incineration. A pilot plant could be completed within five years.
>
> That is the plan. In reality, the ADS approach may still harbour an  
> unexpected problem that stops it realising its potential. Most  
> concern surrounds the creation of the neutrons needed to feed the  
> reactor.
>
> A commercial power station consuming substantial amounts of waste  
> will require an accelerator substantially more powerful than any now  
> available.
>
> However, the biggest cloud hanging over the project is the same one  
> that has dogged nuclear power for decades: economics. No matter what  
> its benefits, if the electricity ADS generates costs too much, it  
> will have no role to play in future energy policy.
>
> With the public rightly chary of the return of old-style nuclear  
> power, but a growing belief even among some environmentalists that  
> renewables alone are not enough, a lot is riding on the success of  
> those experiments near Rome.
>
> Copyright 2004 The Financial Times Limited
> Financial Times (London, England)
>
> Copyright ? 2004 LexisNexis, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All  
> rights reserved.
> Terms and Conditions Privacy Policy
>
>
>
>
>
>      -- Owen
>
> Owen Densmore
> http://backspaces.net - http://redfish.com - http://friam.org
>
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 3
> Date: Sun, 08 Jan 2006 23:16:25 -0700
> From: John Pfersich <jp1660 at att.net>
> Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Slashdot | Negroponte's Talk at Emerging
> Technology Conference
> To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group
> <Friam at redfish.com>
> Message-ID:
> <5.2.0.9.0.20060106232140.01b77398 at ipostoffice.worldnet.att.net>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed
>
> At 06:54 PM 12/30/2005 -0700, you wrote:
> >Well, I'm certainly impressed!
> >    http://politics.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/12/30/1957201
> >
> >Listen/watch the MIT talk .. the details are fascinating!
>
> Not very news-worthy, the video's from September, and in the Squeak

world,

> it was known about before the conference.
>
> >I bet terrorists will absolutely LOVE them too, alas, just like cell
> >phones .. but its worth it.
> >
> >Some tech from video:
> >    - Linux .. tiny version .. and naturally open source
> >    - Non-profit status helps a LOT politically and other ways.
> >    - Windup power
> >    - Great design: laptop/ebook/tablet, power-chord = carrying
> >strap, ... wow!
> >    - Great educational, not tech, goals: primary students only
>
> and secondary too, no tertiary (i.e. college)
>
> >    - Great folks involved Seymour Papert, Alan Kay, Mitchel Resnick
> >      .. all the tech poster folk
>
> All are involved in educational research...
>
> >    - Mesh networking all the way
> >    - Smalltalk lives! (Squeak and friends)
>
> Smalltalk's always been there, it's just ignored by the great unwashed.
> Squeak was developed by Alan Kay, Dan Ingalls and co. to be an

educational
> tool, so using on a machine with a light weight *nix is not only
feasible,

> but it's already been done a few times. The friends (Scratch, etc.) are
> just Squeak applications. Mitch is involved wth StarLogo, another
> educational tool (which I think is far less interesting than Squeak).
>
> >Sure would be a hit here in NM.
> >
> >      -- Owen
> >
> >Owen Densmore
> >http://backspaces.net - http://redfish.com - http://friam.org
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 4
> Date: Mon, 9 Jan 2006 09:36:27 -0700
> From: Owen Densmore <owen at backspaces.net>
> Subject: [FRIAM] Informal discussion seminars "Ingredients of
> Complexity"
> To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Friam <friam at redfish.com>
> Message-ID: <BEB3887B-6437-4D61-AE1F-27334C7BCB4C at backspaces.net>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; delsp=yes; format=flowed
>
> Looks interesting:
>
>      -- Owen
>
> http://backspaces.net - http://redfish.com - http://friam.org
>
>
> Begin forwarded message:
>
> > From: Della Ulibarri <dlu at santafe.edu>
> > Date: January 9, 2006 9:31:02 AM MST
> > To: activities-announce at santafe.edu, inhouse at cyprus.santafe.edu
> > Subject: [Activities-announce] Informal discussion seminars  
> > "Ingredients of Complexity"
> >
> > Dear All,
> >
> > One year ago, we had, at SFI, a stimulating series of informal  
> > discussion seminars on "Power Laws", --- the seminars, not yet the  
> > Power Laws!  :) --- led by Doyne, Geoffrey, and myself.  Depending  
> > on other engagements, we occasionally had Murray' s participation  
> > as well.
> >
> > I thought I would start, this year, another such series of informal  
> > discussion seminars on the following subject:
> >
> > "TYPICAL INGREDIENTS OF COMPLEXITY - Long-range interactions, long  
> > memory, edge of chaos, thermostatistical nonextensivity, power-
> > laws, aging, networks, anomalous diffusion, anomalous central limit  
> > theorems..."
> >
> > The first meeting will be this Wednesday 11 Jan from 3:30 to (say)  
> > 5:00 PM at the Medium Lecture Room.  In that occasion, we would  
> > also roughly determine successive speakers, and, if necessary or  
> > convenient, some other time schedule.
> >
> > Murray and Geoffrey will occasionally participate as well,  
> > depending on various engagements.
> >
> > Everybody is invited to participate!
> >
> >
> > Constantino Tsallis (tsallis at santafe.edu)
> > by way of Della Ulibarri
> >
> >
> > PS In order to organize things just a little bit, those who might  
> > be interested in participating, may send me an e-mail. Or just  
> > simply show up.
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Activities-announce mailing list
> > Activities-announce at santafe.edu
> > http://www.santafe.edu/mailman/listinfo/activities-announce
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 5
> Date: Mon, 9 Jan 2006 09:39:51 -0700
> From: Douglas Roberts <doug at parrot-farm.net>
> Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Informal discussion seminars "Ingredients of
> Complexity"
> To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group
> <Friam at redfish.com>
> Message-ID:
> <f16528920601090839t4a8ed329nc735ada21ebd28d9 at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>
> It does look interesting, thanks for passing it on.  I am considering
> attending.
>
> --Doug
>
> On 1/9/06, Owen Densmore <owen at backspaces.net> wrote:
> >
> > Looks interesting:
> >
> >      -- Owen
> >
> > http://backspaces.net - http://redfish.com - http://friam.org
> >
> >
> > Begin forwarded message:
> >
> > > From: Della Ulibarri <dlu at santafe.edu>
> > > Date: January 9, 2006 9:31:02 AM MST
> > > To: activities-announce at santafe.edu, inhouse at cyprus.santafe.edu
> > > Subject: [Activities-announce] Informal discussion seminars
> > > "Ingredients of Complexity"
> > >
> > > Dear All,
> > >
> > > One year ago, we had, at SFI, a stimulating series of informal
> > > discussion seminars on "Power Laws", --- the seminars, not yet the
> > > Power Laws!  :) --- led by Doyne, Geoffrey, and myself.  Depending
> > > on other engagements, we occasionally had Murray' s participation
> > > as well.
> > >
> > > I thought I would start, this year, another such series of informal
> > > discussion seminars on the following subject:
> > >
> > > "TYPICAL INGREDIENTS OF COMPLEXITY - Long-range interactions, long
> > > memory, edge of chaos, thermostatistical nonextensivity, power-
> > > laws, aging, networks, anomalous diffusion, anomalous central limit
> > > theorems..."
> > >
> > > The first meeting will be this Wednesday 11 Jan from 3:30 to (say)
> > > 5:00 PM at the Medium Lecture Room.  In that occasion, we would
> > > also roughly determine successive speakers, and, if necessary or
> > > convenient, some other time schedule.
> > >
> > > Murray and Geoffrey will occasionally participate as well,
> > > depending on various engagements.
> > >
> > > Everybody is invited to participate!
> > >
> > >
> > > Constantino Tsallis (tsallis at santafe.edu)
> > > by way of Della Ulibarri
> > >
> > >
> > > PS In order to organize things just a little bit, those who might
> > > be interested in participating, may send me an e-mail. Or just
> > > simply show up.
> > >
> > >
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > Activities-announce mailing list
> > > Activities-announce at santafe.edu
> > > http://www.santafe.edu/mailman/listinfo/activities-announce
> >
> >
> > ============================================================
> > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
> > Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at Mission Cafe
> > lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
> >
>
>
>
> --
> Doug Roberts
> 505-455-7333 - Office
> 505-670-8195 - Cell
> -------------- next part --------------
> An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
> URL:

http://redfish.com/pipermail/friam_redfish.com/attachments/20060109/d0db2fa3
/attachment-0001.htm

>
> ------------------------------
>
> _______________________________________________
> Friam mailing list
> Friam at redfish.com
> http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com
>
>
> End of Friam Digest, Vol 31, Issue 7
> ************************************