Monthly archives: May 2005

New Clear

This entry was posted in Solar Power on by

I can see, in the simplistic way that politicians have of viewing things, how nuclear power is an answer to CO2 emissions, but I can also see how it should be a long, long way down the list of things they can do. Government, and far too many activists and lobbyists, take a blinkered view of the problem. They can only think in terms of National Grid level generation. The first step toward cutting CO2 generation is making sure we use less. I don’t have the figures in front of me, but I can confidently say that for the price of one nuclear power station we could install enough lagging, double glazing and low energy bulbs to save more electricity than the plant would generate. Hell, we could probably do it with the amount that’s going to be wasted on the PR nightmare of selling nuclear power to the masses.

So here’s my plan, if there are any politicians reading- increase the minimum insulation requirements for all new builds; give every new house a full set of low energy bulbs; offer the same for existing houses, and actually sell it rather than having it hidden in the documentary equivalent of a sullen mumble; expand the grants system for installing solar systems; and show you’re committed by getting those Greenpeace blokes back on top of Prescott’s palace to wire up the solar panels.

The plan will need finessing, of course, and it could be a hard sell. But think of it like this, if you can be the MP who saved householders hundreds or even thousands of pounds a year you know you’re going to get re-elected. Leave the nuclear dreams to people with no imagination.

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And Adam Knew Eve

This entry was posted in Dictionary sex on by

A dictionary of sex in the Bible

The purpose of And Adam Knew Eve is to inform as well as hopefully to entertain, by gathering from the biblical text all sexually related stories, concepts, and laws, and presenting them, concisely but with attention to context, in convenient dictionary form. Sexually related material comprises overall such a significant portion of scripture that some knowledge of it is essential both in appreciating the Bible as a whole and in understanding the difference in attitude toward sex to be found between the Old and New Testaments.

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Whitehaven

This entry was posted in Model Railway on by


Click for larger image

The room formerly known as my bedroom is now home to a model railway layout. It’s still in the early stages of building, but when it’s done it will represent Whitehaven station in the 40s/50s. This is Dad’s big modelling project and I’m going to invite him to join the blog to provide regular updates and better pictures as the scenery goes down and he starts placing the buildings.

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Greeblies

This entry was posted in Uncategorized on by

A greeblie is-

1. Any item that, when added to a construct, transforms it into something that appears to belong in a sci-fi setting
2. A weird looking sci-fi creature used to promote one’s own web site

Greeblies.com sells accessories to help the sci-fi modeller create the ship they want from “that mass of styrene sheets, ping-pong balls, VCR bits, blood, sweat, and maybe even a few tears” that’s lying around begging to be kitbashed.

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Backyard Biodiversity

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Wild About Gardens is a scheme to track the wildlife resident in Great Britain’s 15 million gardens.

We’d like to build up a source of local knowledge about wildlife in gardens, and this is where we need YOU. You can provide us with valuable information about the wild creatures and plants in your garden. All you need to do is register and join our conversation.

via WorldChanging

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Love is…..

This entry was posted in Comics Warren Ellis on by

I’d buy the collected version of this-

The good people syndicating ‘Love Is..’ comics recently ran a contest where fans of the long-running strip could submit their own takes on this time-honored classic. This was taken by some to mean that there was an interest in changing or at least shifting the sensibility of the comic, one of the great one-panel strips in cartooning history.

This notion was mistaken. In fact, contained herein are some stabs that very narrowly skirted legal action.

via Warren Ellis

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The biodiesel lorry is coming

This entry was posted in Biodiesel on by

Cambridge University has mounted a biodiesel refining plant on the back of a lorry so it can go to farms and convert rape oil to fuel at source. The portable refinery is the first in the world that can continuously produce fuel, rather than having to be emptied and cleaned after every batch.

A little bit at the end, however, has me pondering the mathematics of commercial biodiesel-

The government has made this market profitable by giving a tax rebate of 20p on every litre sold compared with commercial diesel. Tesco has begun selling a form of bio-diesel in some garages. It contains 5% bio-diesel and costs 2p a litre more than the 100% petrol version giving Tesco a substantial profit on each litre.

Unless I’ve read that wrong, or it’s badly phrased, Tesco are taking advantage of a rebate and buyers’ goodwill to gouge a profit whilst looking green. Surely they could make it a win-win by selling 5% biodiesel for a couple of pennies less and still make more per litre because of the rebate.

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Brightening

This entry was posted in Uncategorized on by

The results of a ten year study show that, in some parts of the world, a greater amount of sunlight is reaching the Earth’s surface. This could be a sign that global dimming is being reversed due to stricter pollution controls and the collapse of the Soviet Union’s dirty industries.

Of course, there isn’t enough data to tell how this is going to affect global warming. I’m trying not to take the pessimistic view.

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Schneider '49

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This is the sort of project that interests me. IPMS Seattle set a theme for a special show competition- The Schneider Trophy, a famous race for seaplanes, was last run in 1931. What if it had been resurrected in 1949. Though some models didn’t get finished in time for the show, other modellers managed to enter several planes. Other entries included a Supermarine plane harking back to the grand old days of Scheider, a Hungarian entrant and a bodged together “Possum plane”.

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