In the last week, I have been focusing on settling a number of matters before I go east for a few days for the Horatio Alger ceremony. I’ve been working on my speech, which will contain lessons learned during my lifetime and which are important for the attendees to hear directly from my mouth. There will be a group of Horatio Alger student scholars who will also attend these events, and I will try to make my presentation meaningful to them as well. In addition, since I don’t travel much, we’ll be packing over the next few days so we don’t forget anything. I’ll give you a full report when I return.

I heard Craig Venter talk again last Thursday, a week ago, at the Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences at UCSD. I constantly learn a great deal about the potential power of genome sequencing from his talks. For example, it’s Craig’s feeling that eventually we will — with the right genetic environment — be able to develop methods for creating new synthetic fuels biologically. In the long term, this will lessen our dependence on oil, particularly foreign oil.

– Bob