Net worth

How much of people's net assets is payment for their effort compared with inheritance and gifts, and return on investments?

Hate

I should not hate people, because there is always a reason they are the way they are; but I can hate life, because there is no reason at all

Harry Potter and the deathly hallows

Being the model of escapist fiction, it ignores the mundane, and counterbalances woe with a sense of purpose and acheivement. The only bad thing was leaving it to return to reality.

Serenity

Doing everything in a calm and measured way can instill calmness in the soul. I just wish I could remember to do it in the hustle and bustle of daily life.

Being special

Don't let your wonder at your own existence lead you into thinking that you are special.

Solar power

I have read that solar cells are fairly inefficient at converting the sun's rays to electricity. I am aware of solar power stations that focus the sun's rays using mirrors to heat water and hence turn turbines like a normal power station. I am wondering whether a lo-tech mechanical method of using the sun's rays is possible. Picture an airtight box with water inside. One half of the box is transparent with black matting on the floor, heating up the water, causing evaporation. The other end of the box is sheltered from the sun and has a surface that seeds condensation. The water condensing here drops down a small hole turning a turbine, generating electricity. Possible? I expect so. Energy efficient? Haven't got a clue.

Keeping on a short leash

It occurs to me that the combination of three technologies may solve the problem of dogs that go walkabout. The technologies: Global Positioning System (GPS), mobile phones and ultrasound; the idea: put a GPS reader, mobile phone and ultrasound emitter into a dog collar. The collar is then programmed (remotely of course) to emit the ultrasound, which is uncomfortable to dogs, when the dog moves outside the range of a certain GPS coordinate. The ultrasound would be emitted at increasing volume as the dog moved further from the coordinate, encouraging it to stay within the perimeter. The GPS coordinate can be either a fixed one, such as your house, or a mobile one, i.e. your GPS/Mobile dog tracking device that you take walking with you. The walker-held device would having a direction/distance meter to help find the wandering dog. As GPS is being implemented in many mobile phones, the walker-end device could just be software that utilises the mobile and GPS technology on the phone.