Brad Hankins

Find Your Passion

Brad Hankins — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 13:36:43 +0000

Diversify Your Interests

Brad Hankins — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 13:35:58 +0000

Learn How to Learn

Brad Hankins — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 13:34:50 +0000

Information is the most fundamental of all components. The gaze from child to parent is dense with information. Beneath interstellar mechanics there is a wealth of information. The swing of an electron around it’s nucleus is defined by information. No matter the scale, no matter the example… information is behind it all.

The greatest thinkers and innovators realize that there is far too much information out there to learn in one lifetime. Instead, they learn how to learn. For many, learning is second nature, for others it is a punctuated struggle. But for all who want to be successful, learning is the first step.

I try to visualize learning as two machines. Outside of your brain, there is a vast universe that is built like a clock with a near infinite number of cogs and sprockets. Inside your brain, you collect memories about what you see in the world. Throughout the course of human history, we have gradually been learning the functions of the various pieces and recording all of this information in a structure we call “science”.

I think that when people learn how to learn in the correct way.. you essentially are forced into viewing things through the scientific worldview.

Here’s why.

In a sense, we are all scientists. We observe the world, remember what we see, and formulate models of how things are supposed to work. We then go on to interact with the world through a lens of what we remember.

Throughout the course of evolution, our ancestors gradually learned how to fend for themselves in the wild. They developed methods of hunting, and gathering. Then later cultivation. As language developed, we began an oral history of these things we learned. Once we developed writing, our oral histories became a more concrete and reliable source for all of this information.

The reason for the added reliability is because with writing there has to be an agreement between authors that the information is correct. If the information is recorded in two separate places, humans as readers can compare and contrast those ideas and decide on the correct answer.

Nanoparticle electrode for batteries could make large-scale power storage possible

Brad Hankins — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 18:43:47 +0000

The sun doesn’t always shine and the breeze doesn’t always blow and therein lie perhaps the biggest hurdles to making wind and solar power usable on a grand scale. If only there were an efficient, durable, high-power, rechargeable battery we could use to store large quantities of excess power generated on windy or sunny days until we needed it. And as long as we’re fantasizing, let’s imagine the battery is cheap to build, too. – Louis Bergeron

http://news.stanford.edu/news/2011/november/longlife-power-storage-112311.html

Wolly mammoth to be reconstructed from bone marrow

Brad Hankins — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 18:42:12 +0000

Scientists in Japan & Russia have found a frozen bone they think is preserved well enough to reconstruct and clone a mammoth via elephant implantation.

http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-12-japan-russia-chance-clone-mammoth.html

Water Changes Everything

Brad Hankins — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 18:41:15 +0000

Almost a billion people live without clean drinking water. We call this the water crisis. It’s a crisis because it only starts with water — but water affects everything in life.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCHhwxvQqxg

Income Inequality Across the UN

Brad Hankins — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 18:39:31 +0000

This is an infographic that demostrates income inequality across various countries in the world. The data used to generate it was gathered from the CIA Factbook.

http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/visualizations/what-are-wallst-protestors-angry-about/

Debtris

Brad Hankins — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 18:39:04 +0000

Brilliant video by Information is Beautiful concerning the state of American economics:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7Pahd2X-eE

The Wall Street Pentagon Papers

Brad Hankins — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 18:37:39 +0000

Data release reveals “emergency lending programs” that doled out $12.3 TRILLION in taxpayer money – $3.3 trillion in liquidity, $9 trillion in “other financial arrangements.”
-David DeGraw

http://pubrecord.org/nation/8622/pentagon-papers-wall-street/