Stanford just announced a $100 million energy institute.

Recognizing that energy is at the heart of many of the world's tribulations—economic, environmental and political—Stanford is establishing a $100 million research institute to focus intently on energy issues, President John Hennessy announced today. The $100 million in new funds will enable the hiring of additional faculty and support new graduate students, in addition to the more than $30 million in yearly funding now spent on energy research.

The new Precourt Institute for Energy will draw on deep scientific expertise from across the campus and around the world. From the minuscule—materials scientists prying loose more electricity from sunshine through more efficient photovoltaic cells—to the national effort to develop sustainable energy and the global search for ways to reduce atmospheric levels of carbon, the new institute will be at the forefront.

Why is this notable? Two reasons.

First, Stanford is doing the best possible thing to deal with our energy problems and global warming: come up with better energy sources than burning fossil fuels. Regardless of whether you think global warming is caused by people or a problem, new, efficient, clean energy sources are valuable and worthwhile.

Second, the guy who will be running it? My dad. From the NYTimes article:

The Precourt Institute for Energy will be headed by Lynn Orr, a professor of petroleum engineering who currently directs Stanford’s Global Climate and Energy Project, a research initiative that looks at ways to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions through technologies such as fuel cells or carbon capture and storage.

I like how in the press release is says Dad is a professor in "energy resources engineering", while the NYTimes article says it's "petroleum engineering". Both are right, actually -- the department of petroleum engineering, Dad's home since 1985, got renamed a couple of years ago. Partly for propaganda reasons, since petroleum is out, but also to reflect the broader scope of the department.

Anyway, good luck Dad. I look forward to my first car that runs on dilithium crystals.

My father has a 1968 Gibson Guitar that he bought while he was in college. He was in a folk band, which is amusing given his otherwise total lack of hippiness. But he loves his guitar.

He just took it in for some repairs. It needs the frets replaced and the action lowered, and maybe some other things. He was terrified to take it in, worried that something might happen to it, that it wouldn't be the same when it came back.

The guitar store repairman went over the guitar with him and found lots of work needed. It's fairly major surgery -- the neck has to come off and be sanded, and bridge and wood under it needs work, and so on. After the conversation, they had the following conversation:

Repairman: Did you buy this guitar new?
Dad: Yes. 1968 or '69, I forget which
Repairman: Do you have the receipt?
Dad: Of course not.
Repairman, looking at the serial number: 1968. Would you be willing to have an affidavit notarized that you were the original purchaser?
Dad: I guess so. Why?
Repairman: Because much of the work is covered by the warranty.

Now *that's* a good warranty.