Monthly archives: April 2005

It's only the future, no need to worry the voters with it

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Greenpeace has attacked the three main parties for leaving the environment out of their election campaigns. I heard a bit about this on Today this morning and they kept coming back to the meme that the “average voter” didn’t want to hear about having to reduce their living standards in order to tackle environmental problems.

There’s a simple answer to that. Don’t tell them they’ll have to reduce their living standards. Because they won’t have to, if the issue is tackled properly. Of course, when 50% of people think that saving energy is going to cost them money- because they have a stupidly short sighted outlook and can’t calculate long term savings against upfront cost, it’s going to be a hard sell. But that’s one of the things I set up this blog for.

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Not just for winter any more

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Scientists believe thay have found a way to induce hibernation in mammals. Slowing the metabolism and the body’s reliance on oxygen could help save accident victims, make complicated operations safer and reduce the risk of chemo- or radio-therapy.

And, of course, it ushers in that great sci-fi staple of deepsleep for stellar exploration.

Hydrogen sulphide is a type of chemical known as an oxygen mimetic. These compounds are similar to oxygen at the molecular level and so bind to many of the same receptors. As a result, they compete for and interfere with the body’s ability to use oxygen for energy production. Prof Roth believes that this interference with normal bodily functions is what caused the mice to hibernate.

“The cool thing about this gas we’re using, hydrogen sulphide, is that it isn’t something manufactured that we’re taking down from a shelf,” said Prof Roth. “It’s simply an agent that all of us make in our bodies all the time to buffer our metabolic flexibility. It’s what allows our core temperature to stay at 37C, regardless of whether we’re in Alaska or Tahiti.”

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Shrinkage

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A comprehensive study of the Antarctic Peninsula, using aerial photographs dating back to the 1940s and more recent satellite images, shows that most of the area’s glaciers have been steadily retreating for the last 50 years. The rate of retreat has increased since the millennium. It can’t all be explained by global warming, and some glaciers have grown (32, compared to the 212 that have shrunk), but man made effects have exacerbated natural climate variations.

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Ducks and swans

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One of the joys of car modelling is coming up with vehicles that are rare or non-existent in the real world. But sometimes the real world produces oddities that look like they came from someone’s parts box after a little too long breathing glue fumes. Inspiration for your next project-

101 things to do with a 2CV.

Big block Chevy powered Ferrari.

True beauty- a hot rod inspired by board track racing.

All via Jalopnik

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Electric Dream Machine

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The perfect solution for medium length commutes (between 10 and 20 miles as far as I’m concerned)- an electric scooter with added solar panels so it can recharge during the day. The owner reckons the solar cells generate enough charge over the 9 hours he’s in the office to half top up the batteries.

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If you happen to be on Fulton Street

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No website for this, so, from the press release–

In an effort to promote environmental consciousness among NYC businesses, Habana Outpost is pioneering the use of solar panels as a primary energy source, and green products whenever possible (everything from eco-friendly detergents to environmental wood alternative wood benches).

(PRWEB) April 21, 2005 — Cafe Habana is opening an outpost and new location on saturday, May 21, 2005 and run to Halloween from 12-8pm. Located at 755-757 Fulton Street in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, the Outpost will include indoor and outdoor spaces.

The launch of Habana Outpost: Brooklyn, a new venture by entrepreneur/restauranteur, Sean Meenan (owner of Nolita’s Cafe Habana), the Outpost’s patented and famous grilled corn and other Cuban favorites, will be served to you from the Habana food truck. You have your choice to eat inside, or on the spacious patio. In an effort to promote environmental consciousness among NYC businesses, Habana Outpost is pioneering the use of solar panels as a primary energy source, and green products whenever possible. Everything from eco-friendly detergents to environmental wood alternative wood benches.

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Polysilicon

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One knock on effect of the dot-com bust was an oversupply of polycrystalline silicon. The low prices gave a boost to the photovoltaic industry and increased margins and profits even as unit prices came down. Now, however, the price is on the way up again. The industry has two factors protecting it, the fact that a great deal of solar power installation is legislated for or subsidised and the increase in efficiency and systems that use no silicon at all.

Because of all the reselling, reprocessing, and recycling in the silicon industry, silicon producers don’t keep track of what happens to the silicon once they sell it, he said. “No one on the planet understands what is happening with the silicon supply,” [Rogol] said.

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Going Postal

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This has to be the 300th Discworld book, and Terry Pratchett is still managing to come at his creation from different angles. Moist von Lipwig was a conman on the top of his game, until he was caught by the Ankh-Morpork watch. Sentenced to hang, he is offered redemption by an angel, albeit an angel in the unlikely shape of tyrannical patrician Lord Vetinari. In return for his restored life, Moist is to become the new Postmaster of Ankh Morpork.

Of course, the Post Office isn’t in the best of conditions. The grand chandeliers have gone from the main office and every available spare space is filled with letters that were never delivered. And it’s been that way for over twenty years, ever since the workload became too much and they brought in Bloody Stupid Johnson and his Pie to speed up the sorting. As if that wasn’t enough, the clacks signalling system, the Post’s main competition, has been subject to an unfriendly, and very sneaky, takeover and will use any underhand means necessary to stay ahead.

Moist must enlist the help of golems, many strange postmen- including one young man raised by peas- and the Smoking Gnu in his quest to redeem himself and get out of town alive and, if possible, in profit. Along the way he shall discover the joy of pins, invent philately, deal with the Ghost in the Overhead and maybe get a date.

As with any Pratchett the joy is as much in getting there as arriving at the conclusion. He plays games with pop culture and history, has a dig at corporations and public utilities alike and throws in some simple silliness. Highly recommended, just like all the other Discworld books.

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Southland Tales

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This sounds interesting. The writer/ director of Donnie Darko is set to make his second film, Southland Tales, starring The Rock, Buffy and Stiffler. It’s set in 2008 and promises to be “a strange hybrid of the sensibilities of Andy Warhol and Philip K. Dick.”

And it gets better, the film is going to have one of the largest, most complicated movie websites to date, and there will be six graphic novels released in the run up to its premiere.

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Polysilicon

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One knock on effect of the dot-com bust was an oversupply of polycrystalline silicon. The low prices gave a boost to the photovoltaic industry and increased margins and profits even as unit prices came down. Now, however, the price is on the way up again. The industry has two factors protecting it, the fact that a great deal of solar power installation is legislated for or subsidised and the increase in efficiency and systems that use no silicon at all.

Because of all the reselling, reprocessing, and recycling in the silicon industry, silicon producers don’t keep track of what happens to the silicon once they sell it, he said. “No one on the planet understands what is happening with the silicon supply,” [Rogol] said.

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Stock ticker

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I admit it, I’m a statistics junkie, even if sometimes it’s easy to get drowned in them. I’m also a Firefox convert, which means I had to install the Adsense Notifier extension. No it sits there at the bottom right of the browser window, updating every 20 minutes to tell me how well (or not) my AdSense ads are doing. Now I just need ones for all the other numbers I obsessively check.

via Problogger

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