Bidatzi writes here

I’ve always argued that a modern fleet of buses is a superior public transport solution for a city than a surface tram network. Underground is a completely different story, but on the surface? I think there’s no contest. If your city already had a tram network then fine, use it, update it, make the most of it. But building new tram networks from scratch? that’s just nuts, sorry.

Electric or hybrid buses can co-exist with private traffic better than trams, which entail enormous disruptions for car traffic. Some cynics may view this as a feature, not a bug. I don’t; I think that efficient use of infrastructure is always more important than anyone’s pet cause du-jour.

Buses can be rerouted when necessary, you can add capacity or redistribute it much more easily than with trams.

Another advantage is that metropolitan public transport presents the ideal conditions for the development and validation of alternative fuels and energy storage systems. The whole fleet is always at a controlled distance from the recharging station so there’s no need to have a network of fancy refueling stations before you can deploy hybrid, electric, NG or hydrogen fueled buses. We can use public transport fleets to jump-start many innovations that will later extend to the whole road-going transportation ecosystem.

And regarding automation and control, nothing precludes modern buses from having the same stuff that is available on modern trains. Rails? why don’t we just paint them on the road?

So, I’m naturally very happy to learn about Fraunhofer’s AutoTram, a prototype that goes exactly in this direction.

Science Magazine established the Science Price for Online Resources in Education (SPORE)

To encourage innovation and excellence in education as well as to encourage the use of high-quality on-line resources by students, teachers and the public.

The price has been awarded to MIT’s OpenCourseWare, one of my favorite places on the Internet.

At OCW you can find an astonishing amount of quality scientific and technical education materials available for free to anyone interested. Many many courses from MIT have their whole contents (including video lectures) freely published in OCW.

This really underlines a feeling that often presses me: if you don’t go to bed everyday having learned a boatload of interesting stuff it’s all you own damn fault, because the resources to do it are readily available, just waiting for you to take the plunge and read :-)

Rado Centrix: High tech ceramics and classic subdued style. I’m in love.

Here’s a list of big company executives that I admire the most (in no particular order):

• Allan Mulally: CEO at Ford and former executive vicepresident at Boeing. In my mind, he’s saved two American industrial icons and inspired a lot of other American business in an era of uncertainty and chaos.
• Tim Cook: COO at Apple and the actual show runner over there. Jobs inspires, sets the path and markets. Cooks is in charge of running one of the most impressive business operations in the world.
• Jeff Bezos: Chairman and CEO at Amazon.com. He is one of the most gifted visionaries of our time. He will be reverently studied a century from now like we study Henry Ford now. And, in my opinion, more deservedly so. Ford got most of “his” revolutionary concepts from the warehouses of Sears Roebuck and Chicago industrial slaughterhouses.
• David Sokol: CEO at Netjets and Chairman at MidAmerican Energy. One probable successor to Warren Buffet at Berkshire Hathaway (at least for the CEO job, CIO is another matter -most probably going to either Ajit Jain or Li Lu) Sokol is one of the most versatile business managers in corporate America. He runs all kinds of different businesses with proficiency, has proven his ability to grow a company from a small local affair to a national behemoth and has a very good eye for time-sensitive bargain opportunities. 

Fantastic conversation, as usual, between Charlie Rose and Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com.

Bezos is among the best businessmen of our time and a sharp thinker for whose intellect I have a great deal of admiration.

Like Steve Jobs, he has the courage of following his convictions against the conventional wisdom and prevailing opinions. Unlike Jobs, though, he is not an insufferable jerk :-)

You can watch the whole interview here.

If you’re interested in Jeff Bezos, please go read this graduation speech that he gave at Princeton two months ago.

By the way, Charlie Rose is one of my favorite TV programs. If only we could have something of that caliber here in Spain…sigh.

I just learned that I’ve passed the Cambridge Certificate of Proficiency in English with an A!!

Wooooooooohooooooooo. The exam was very hard and demanding but I managed to pass!!