It’s an interesting theory. The basis of it is that the brain is an associative memory machine, and most importantly it uses those memories to make predictions about its future inputs. Whenever these inputs deviate from the brain circuit’s prediction, a new lesson is learned. Other notable claims he makes are that there should be a simple algorithm all brain circuits use, that when scaled up makes intelligence. There’s no need for a complex algorithm with completely different behavior in different parts of the brain, etc.

My main complaint is that he doesn’t provide enough details to implement his ideas in a computer, or for a programmer to even get a feel for how the algorithm might work in low level detail.

It’s an inexpensive book, so if you have any interest in the workings of the brain, or intelligence in general, you ought to pick up a copy.

Here’s my review of the Carlson Laboratories Super Omega-3 Fish Oils pills (1000 mg, softgels) which is my favorite brand.

One important factor is that they’re very cheap (way cheaper than you’ll find a store). Also the text on the packaging lists lots of impressive sounding testing to prove they are mercury free.  I also find they have higher amounts of DHA than most brands and they’re easy to digest. You still want to make sure you take them after meals though.

Make sure you buy the package that has 130 pills, that is the cheapest one.

Superconductivity Ginzburg, V. L. (Vitalii Lazarevich)

1. Very good concise introduction explaining most of quantum mechanical principles behind it as of date published.
2. Cooper pairs are formed by electrons following each other through the material via electronic interaction with atomic nulcia via phonons. Cooper pairs become something 1 instead of normal electrons 1/2 so they don’t feel resistance for some reason.

QED : the strange theory of light and matter Feynman, Richard Phillips:

1. Makes QM more understandable, actually a light read, though doesn’t inspire much wonder at Physics.

A fire upon the deep Vinge, Vernor:

1. Entities made of multiple dogs communicating thoughts via ultrasound, laws of physics change the farther away from center of galaxy you go. Related to gravity?

Genomes Brown, T. A. (Terence A.):

1. Inspires wonder at cell, but otherwise a very dry read. Probably horribly out of date.

This book was very fascinating. It’s a painless way to learn some Renaissance history, and learn about Renaissance artists. You’ll impress all your friends when you start randomly mentioning parts of Michelangelo’s life during conversations. The book makes him out to be an amazing person who loved carving marble more than life itself. Yet he was able to take on multi-year painting projects and invent whole new types of painting.

I now find myself wanting to visit Florence and see some of his works for myself.

I think it would have been handy if this book had someone included pictures of his works. I found myself continually stopping reading and going to Wikipedia while reading.

I highly recommend this book. You can buy it from Amazon now.

Captain Tom and his dog, Bailey, greeted us at 9:15 am for our 9:30 am cruise. It was a beautiful day and we were excited to get on the boat.  They only let 6 people on the boat at a time, and that was the best part.  Everyone was so friendly and comfortable, sitting on great couch like seats.  Captain Tom told us all about the island, the wildlife, and the story of the ponies.

After spotting some dolphins, he sped the boat up until we were directly next to them.  We got amazing pictures and it was great to be that close.  Captain Tom said they don’t always get to see the dolphins, and it was a very nice treat for us!  He took each couples picture in front of the Lighthouse.  Then we saw some of the famous ponies and even a Bald Eagle.  He got us really close to the Bald Eagle and it was a beautiful picture shot.  Because we had some time left (the cruise is a full two hours), he parked the boat on a sand bar and let us walk around.  It was a really neat experience to be standing in the middle of all this water on a sand bar.

I highly recommend Daisey’s Dockside Scenic Cruises to anyone who is visiting the Chincoteague area.  We are still talking about it!

http://www.daiseyscruises.com/

Address:

757-336-5556

Couple of things to be aware of:

-The owner does smoke inside the office.  Some reviews online complained about the smell in their rooms, but we didn’t have a problem with the room smell.  With our air condition on, we were fine.

-The free breakfast is at a restaurant that’s about 1 mile away.  Beverages are not included.  And you must be at breakfast between 7 am – 9 am.  We only made it there that early one day (we like to sleep in) and it really wasn’t even that good.  French toast, potatoes, bacon…..just okay.

-The ponies on site – two ponies in a little pen.  You can’t pet them.

Overall, we are pretty easy going and didn’t mind our stay at all.  It was quiet the week we were there and it wasn’t too crowded.  Everything in our room was clean and the bathroom was upgraded (we paid for the Deluxe room – but didn’t see the Standard room to compare it with).  The air conditioning was great and the bed wasn’t too bad (just a little low to the ground).  We liked being closer to Assateague and not directly on the Main Street.  If we went back, I’m not sure if we would stay there again, but it’s surely an option.  And the cost was the best part!  I know it was cheaper than the Best Western that’s across the street.

Blue Heron Inn

7020 Maddox Boulevard

Chincoteague Island, VA  23336

I was not very impressed with this book. I thought I would get some new insights into potential ways to create force fields, and levitation devices. But the author simply rehashes the same ideas any reader of science magazines like Scientific American has already heard of.

I also felt that too much of this book was the same material from all of Michio Kaku’s other books such as “Hyperspace” and “Visions”.

If you’ve never read any of his other books, or aren’t very familiar with the science behind science fiction type technologies, I’d still recommend this book. You can buy it now at Amazon.

This book is a great way to learn about how one of the richest men in the world thinks about investing, accounting, and economics.

I think I picked up a lot of insight into how Mr. Buffet thinks. I big theme throughout the essays is whether the efficient market hypothesis is true. The efficient market hypothesis basically states that all available information about a company is already priced into its stock, and any short-term movement in the stock price is a random walk. Mr. Buffet tends to disagree with this.

He introduces the concept of Mr. Market. Mr. Market is your bipolar business partner who will approach you each day offering a price to buy your share of the business from you, or sell you more shares of the business. Every day this price will be different depending on his mood even though nothing about the underlying business has changed. This behavior presents you with great opportunities for making money.

My big take away from the book was to be very wary of investing in stocks. This book gives the impression that most publicly traded companies out there are not looking out for the shareholder’s best interest and employ many tricks and questionable practices to take advantage of the shareholder.

Once Warren Buffet convinces you that owning a share of stock is buying an interest in a business and that you should think like a partner in the business, you really get frustrated seeing all of a these companies employing your capital on questionable ventures and engaging in poorly planned mergers, etc. I do recommend reading it. Buy it from Amazon now.

This book purports to give you instructions on how to find a “muse”, a small business that only requires a few hours of your time each week yet provides you with ample income to live on, giving you the time, and money to travel and do all of the other things Timothy Ferriss recommends you spend your time on.

It is good for getting you motivated, and making you like your job less…  The ideas recommended in the book  do sound plausible, but to actually achieve them I still think will take some luck and lot of upfront time.

For example, inspired by this book, I tried to start selling some software I made for myself.  I made a test page to find out how much demand there would be.  I bought $100 of Google adwords, created some clever ads and pointed them to the new page.  However only a few percent of people viewing the ads clicked on them, and no one filled out the form on the landing page.  So I was dissapointed.

I talked to a few people who had successfully done this, and it sounded like my “muse” might be workable however it would require constantly changing the page design around to achieve the best sales, and possibly investing money upfront for better landing page copy, etc.  So it was hard to say if all that effort would be worth it.

I guess my main point is that this book’s advice could be workable but it’s going to take a lot of effort and possibly a few failed attempts before you achieve anything.  It’s not going to be anywhere as easy as the book seems to imply.  You may be better off just having a part time job or something.

It’s still worth a read though, and it does have some practical tips on topics like outsourcing your life.  Go ahead and buy it at Amazon now if it sounds interesting to you.

After reviewing many bad reviews, I was hesitant about using their service, but I decided to give them a try.  I did Shuttle reservations online two days before the trip and pre-paid with a credit card.  It was $20 for a one-way trip ticket or $33 for a round-trip ticket.

After landing at the Orlando International Airport, I proceeded to get my luggage at luggage claim and then go downstairs to the Mears counter.  I was a little nervous, since we had landed an hour late because of lightning delay.  However, they gave me a boarding pass and sent me outside to where all the buses/shuttles were located.  I then spoke to another lady at a counter who gave me a pager and asked me to have a seat to wait for the shuttle.  I waited for about 15 minutes before the shuttle arrived.

Most of the passengers on my shuttle were also going to the dolphin.  There was only three people who were staying at one other hotel who needed to be dropped off.  This didn’t take too long.  We soon arrived at our hotel and were ready to check in!

On the way back to the airport, they insist that you book your shuttle for THREE hours in advance of your flight.  This allows time for stops at several other hotels to pick up passengers, as well as time to drop off passengers at different parts of the airport (depending on what airline they are flying).

The shuttle arrived at exactly the correct time as my reservation.  We only had one other stop to make and it was a close by hotel.  They dropped me off right at the Southwest gate and I walked in to check my luggage.  I didn’t mind being there two hours and fifteen minutes early since the line for checking luggage and the security lines were very long.

Review Summary

Pros:

Cheapest mode of transportation to/from airport

Cons:

None

Potential Problems:

Waiting time for pick up- I’m guessing the wait for a shuttle may be more than 15 minutes.

Travel time – Depending on how many stops the shuttle must make, your ride could get pretty long.

Space – they do put up to 10 people in a shuttle van.

Early pickup time – arriving at the airport 2-2.5 hours in advance may cause problems for early flyers or families with impatient children

Conclusion:

If you are looking for a cheap transportation to and from the airport AND you have the time to be flexible, Mears is a great choice for you!

Links:

http://www.mearstransportation.com/

Address:

Mears Transportation Group
324 West Gore Street
Orlando, FL 32806