Have you ever considered what a Think Tank is and what it is that the Think Tank Members spend their time thinking about? Well, you are not alone, in fact, nearly everyday someone applies to join the Online Think Tank and ask that very question. So, perhaps it is time we answered it.
Below is a list of topics we considered today and each has been taken from the Thoughts of the Day. Each day we consider anywhere from 40-50 topics spanning many different industry sectors and areas of the human endeavor – we have chosen a few of today’s for your information and to help you understand the answer to the question; what does a Think Tank think about? After each topic will be a brief thought and quick summary:
1. Are our regulatory bodies giving ideas to our trading partners of how to manipulate trade competition?
Note that AMD, The Federal Trade Commission and the American Anti-Trust Institute are ganging up on Intel and citing actions against Intel from Japan and the EU. But why is Japan and the EU after Intel? Competition. You see many companies in those nations want Intel’s secrets and market share and therefore they are using the guise of regulation to help their companies get a leg up on Intel, even help them steal trade secrets. Who showed these foreign regulators how to do this? Well, we did, and Adam Smith told us how this could happen in Capitalistic Markets.
The Japan Fair Trade Commission now has ruled against Intel – and the AMD company has filed a lawsuit as well in Delaware. Of course, AMD has been growing and attaining market share fine, without regulatory help and they are even building several new manufacturing plants. Why are we attacking market winners like Intel and Microsoft? And do we realize that the foreign nations regulatory bodies are now attacking the same US companies and hurting trade deficits?
2. “The Cyclist’s Training Manual – Fitness and Skills for Every Rider” by Guy Andrews and Simon Doughty. 2007.
Almost anyone can ride a bike, and yet in many cities in the US with larger SUVs now on the road it is unsafe to ride a bike. This means many people will not end up exercising and that does not sound good for the obesity issues in America. Meanwhile, the DOT is making statements that bicycles are not primary transportation and creating bike lanes takes away monies for things like repairing bridges. Of course, if there were more bike lanes more people would use their bikes more often to get around, so this is indeed a catch-22. As a long-distance cyclist, I can tell you it can get very dangerous out there at times.
3. Magazine Article: New ScientistTech – Plant genes switched on by sound waves – 30 August 2007.
It appears that sound can change the DNA of plants which makes sense since organic cells respond to vibrational energy. It also means we can figure out the best frequencies and help plants grow faster and better. This could mean higher crop yields, better immune systems against bugs and agriculture that will produce like crazy. Maybe we really can feed the world after all, even with the Bee Colony collapses. Maybe we can make trees faster to replenish the rain forests allowing them to soak up more CO2. Think on this as there are some ominous applications for such discoveries:
Mi-Jeong Jeong of the National Institute of Agricultural Biotechnology in Suwon, South Korea, and colleagues claim to have identified two genes in rice that respond to sound waves. They also say that the promoter of one of the sound-sensitive genes could be attached to other genes to make them respond to sound too.
4. Spider Working together make advancements in web designs – Social spiders work together.
It makes sense that a complex biological system like a spider and considering its daily intake of protein that indeed it has the capacity to work with other spiders. When they found the huge webs in Texas that are sometimes 20 feet wide and go on for the length of a football field, it shows that the social spiders are indeed, king of their domain. We can learn a lot from spiders this way and perhaps this might assist us in making new materials for manufacturing? Consider that one for a moment. The spiders might also be used to secure our borders as well or get rid of mosquitoes near soccer parks that may have West Nile Virus.
5. Blogging goes main stream according to surveys. This piece from Slashdot.org:
The blogosphere has hit the mainstream, according to a new survey, which reveals that 80% of Americans know what a blog is, 50% regularly visit blogs, and 8% publish their own blog. The survey also reveals that more women than men are bloggers, with 20% of American women who have visited blogs having their own versus 14% of men.
Indeed, Blogging has come a long way, and what has often been seen as an ego-centric online diary has now turned into a communication device used by Corporations, Artists, Small Business People, teens and has created a completely new phenomena of social networking all online. The implications have also been seen with a drop in TV viewing. Even Grandma has a blog now, do you? What are you missing by not having a Blog?
6. Solar Powered WiFi – is it feasible, this excerpt from Slashdot.org also:
A small US startup has announced it has created a system for running WiFi routers in remote places using only the power of the sun. Among the first round of products from Solis Energy is the Solar Power Plant, touted as being capable of supplying 12, 24 and 48 Volts DC for use in stand-alone applications such as surveillance cameras and outdoor Wi-Fi.
Does this mean with one small satellite dish per village and WiFi that the One Laptop Per Child OLPC program may actually correct the issues concerning the “Digital Divide” perhaps it will indeed. Could it work for Rural Honduras, The Congo, Outback or Rural China? Sure it can, it is just a matter of will, time, volunteers and resources you see.. mobile app development company dubai