• Virgin is testing the use of babassu oil and coconut oil blended with regular jet fuel in commercial flights [1]. They have flown with 20% bio-fuel and tests indicate that they could use up to 40%. This is a difficult problem to solve as most bio-fuels either have problems with vaporising at low pressures or becoming too viscous at low temperatures, it’s good to see some progress on this.
• Interesting Rolling Stone article about the US government encouraging idiot “terrorists” [2].
• Cory Doctorow predicts a poor future for hardware e-book readers [3]. For my personal use a laptop is better for reading. In most cases when I’m going to do some reading I’m likely to want to write notes or be in a situation where I need my laptop for other purposes. So a laptop plus an e-book reader would be more weight and more battery problems than having just a laptop.
• On page 2 of this article about what might happen if the source code to Windows was released freely [4] I am quoted. One thing I should note is that I have nothing against OpenSolaris, it’s merely one large project for which I could inspect the source if I didn’t have legal advice to the contrary. The situation of OpenSolaris may have changed in recent times, but I have not felt the need to seek further legal advice as there seems no real benefit in viewing the source. There is no shortage of GPL source that I would like to read if I had the time…
• Location Independent – a blog about working from no fixed address and how to live on the move [5]. Should be of interest to all the people who seem fascinated by my living in hotels for ~18 months.
• Martin Luther King Jr’s letter from a Birmingham jail [6]. Inspirational and it is also relevant when considering the positions that churches take today on moral issues. I found the link from The Reid Report blog [7] which is an interesting analysis of US politics.
• Scientific American has an article about high altitude destroying brain cells [8], apparently this can happen even when there is no noticable injury and it is permanent. It seems that it would be a good idea to try and locate conferences to minimise air travel by delegates and speakers…

• [1] http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/news/travel/coconut-jet-fuel-thats-nuts/2008/02/25/1203788223183.html
• [2] http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/18137343/the_fear_factory
• [3] http://www.locusmag.com/Features/2008/03/cory-doctorow-put-not-your-faith-in.html
• [4] http://www.itwire.com/content/view/17132/1090/1/0/
• [5] http://locationindependent.com/blog/
• [6] http://www.africa.upenn.edu/Articles_Gen/Letter_Birmingham.html
• [7] http://blog.reidreport.com/
• [8] http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=brain-cells-into-thin-air

Dan Bernstein wrote an interesting paper about the security of Qmail [1]. Of particular interest to me are the sections about things that might do differently if he was to do it again and the mentions of language features for security. Bruce Schneier has some interesting comments about this [2].

Interesting paper by Jessica Walpaw Reyes about the link between lead in petrol and crime [3]. The research indicates that “the reduction in childhood lead exposure in the late 1970s and early 1980s is responsible for significant declines in violent crime in the 1990s, and may cause further declines into the future“. It makes me wonder about what other health measures could be used to reduce crime.

Paul Wayper writes about a wax that is used in both floor and car polish as well as food [4].

The Australia Institute [5] has some interesting papers. Here’s a PDF about over-consumption in Australia [6]. It states that 46% of people who have household incomes greater than $70,000 say that they can’t buy everything that they really need. It uses the term affluenza to describe the tendency of middle-class people to try and emulate the life-styles of the rich. I wonder whether Gear Acquisition Syndrome [7] is related to this.

The site Unbelief.org – exposing the religious “right” in Australia [8] has some interesting information. I didn’t realise that the problem was so bad here.

• [1] http://cr.yp.to/qmail/qmailsec-20071101.pdf
• [2] http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2007/11/thoughts_on_the.html
• [3] http://www.amherst.edu/~jwreyes/papers/LeadCrimeNBERWP13097.pdf
• [4] http://www.mabula.net/tbfw/blosxom.cgi/2008/03/02#2008-03-02-floor-wax-dessert-topping-etc
• [5] http://www.tai.org.au/
• [6] http://www.tai.org.au/documents/dp_fulltext/DP49.pdf
• [7] http://etbe.coker.com.au/2007/09/10/gear-acquisition-syndrome/
• [8] http://unbelief.org/