ME, Inc. by Gene Simmons

The book, Me, Inc.: Build an Army of One, Unleash Your Inner Rock God, Win in Life and Business by Gene Simmons offers a brief biography of his early life.  It describes how his early life circumstances contributed to his growth as an entrepreneur.

Through out his life he has made specific decisions to change who he is to be successful in business.  When he arrived in America from Israel he spoke no English.  Because of his poor grasp of English he was asked, "What are you stupid?" He used this information as motivation to become fluent in English learning perfect diction from television newscasters.  He was a voracious reader and spent as much time as he could in the local library nearly completing the Encyclopaedia Britannica.

He learned how to type and used this to pay for part of his education in college as he typed papers for other students.  He worked for Vogue magazine and as a teacher.  For most of the jobs and businesses he has worked in his experience level when he started was zero. 

He suggest it is fine to celebrate your culture at home but to be successful in business you need to dress, speak and act in ways that model other successful people.  He changed his Jewish name to Gene Simmons for that reason.  He did not want his name to be an impediment to his success.

He recommends seting up many different businesses.  He describes this as many different boats (busineses) loosely attached to one another.  If one of the boats sinks it is not a problem as the others are not affected.

He advocates conservative money management keeping costs low when starting out a business keeping spending well within your means.  He does not advocate drinking, smoking or drug abuse.

The book contains practical information for someone wanting to create their own persona and embrace the spirit of an entrepreneur.

 

Me Inc with Wendy Williams - 12 minutes

  

Me Inc - summary -  1 minutes

Gulp by Mary Roach

The book,Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal, by Mary Roach focuses what we eat and why we eat it. She takes us to a pet food taste testing lab where the pet's social interactions are factored into their ability to select pet food.  Chemicals such as putrescine and cadaverine in the right proportion attract dogs to food manufactured to be palatable and nutritious.

She explores the question: "Why do people in America not like organ meats?"  The organ meats have much more nutritional value than the commonly ingested muscle meats.  As a teenager, I gave a demonstration on the nutritional benefits of liver.  Aside from the elevated cholesterol and the toxic levels of vitamin A - if you eat polar bear liver - it is very healthy.

The final chapter of her book is devoted to the terminal end of the digestive tract including a long section devoted to the death of Elvis Presley.  Mary also highlights the fecal transplant research conducted at the University of Minnesota to effectively treat Clostridium difficile infections.  Patients who have lost their normal intestinal microflora usually due to heavy antibiotic treatment are often colonized by Clostridium difficile.  They suffer from chronic diarrhea with thousands of fatalities annually.   The research is now expanding to treat metabolic syndrome and improve tolerance to insulin in diabetics.
 

Saliva collection and other topics - 5 min. 

Brief summary of Gulp - 2 min.

Mayo Clinic C.difficile treatment - 5 min.

A Bridge to the Future - Understanding Nanotechnology - Deborah Gibbs Sauder

The lecture, Understanding nanotechnology a bridge to the future by Professor Deborah G. Sauder provides an introduction to the broad field of nanotechnology.  The content is geared toward non scientists and she explains many of the concepts by anchoring the description to common everyday objects.

Nanotechnology is currently being used to for packaging material keep food fresh longer allowing ethylene and other food spoilage gases to leak out and increase the shelf life of food.  Medical researchers are using it for the delivery of medicines and possibly in the design of nano machines to do nano surgery. 

Liquid armor - 10 minutes

Mixing polyethylene glycol with silica nano particles produces an non-Newtonian fluid that is flexible when moving slowly but firm like a ceramic solid when force is applied.  Combining this with Kevlar produces a flexible relatively lightweight material that is resistant penetration by sharp objects.  Applications include protective vests for law enforcement and protective gloves for hospital and sanitation workers. Commercially a product known as D-30 is also being used for this purpose and to protect cell phones.

Red dye corn starch plus water produces a non-Newtonian fluid.  4 min. Slow Mo Guys

Tesla - A man out of time by Margaret Cheney

The book,Tesla: Man Out of Time by Margaret Cheney offers an intimate biography of the complex man who helped design and promote the world of alternating current.  He combined the qualities of a driven focused scientist with the theatricality of a magician.

His early partnership with Thomas Edison soured as Tesla and Westinghouse battled Edison over the benefits of DC vs AC current.  AC eventually won out as it allowed for more efficient transmission of electricity over long distances.

Tesla was not a traditional scientist and more of an engineer.  He did not publish papers in scientific journals but worked to gain support from companies and wealthy patrons to support his research and to patent his ideas.  He was definitely a celebrity during his time.

Tesla's friend, Mark Twain, would visit his lab to keep up to date on Tesla's latest research.  Tesla claimed that Mark Twain's writing cured his illness.  Twain claimed that one of Tesla's inventions cured one of his maladies.  Rumors persist that Twain based the main character of a Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's court on Tesla. 

Mark Twain and Tesla - It's OK to Be Smart Blog

 

Top 10 Tesla inventions - 10 min.