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#2351 |
Chaos Technician
Join Date: Apr 2001
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![]() http://www.greatnewsnetwork.org/inde...ts/?source=rss
Macedonia plants three million trees to revive forests Apr 02, 11 | Comment "There is no better feeling than when you plant a tree and after some time come and see it growing," - opera singer and UNESCO Artist for Peace Boris Trajanov Thousands of Macedonians took a day off work on Thursday to plant three million trees to revive the nation's forests after fires ravaged an estimated 35,000 hectares (86,000 acres) of greenery. Trajanov launched the initiative three years ago, gaining wide support from the government, local authorities, non-governmental organisations, foreign representatives and businesses. Around 30 million trees have previously been planted on more than 8,500 hectares. "This has become a nice tradition that is not only increasing the awareness among citizens about need for protection of the environment, but is making Macedonia more green and more clean," the Interior Minister Gordana Jankuloska said as she planted a tree near the capital Skopje. Continue reading on Terra Daily article opens in new window |
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#2352 |
Chaos Technician
Join Date: Apr 2001
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Posts: 43,368
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![]() http://www.realitysandwich.com/contesting_abundance
Contesting Abundance: Shared for the Common Good or Monopolized for Private Profit? |
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#2353 |
Chaos Technician
Join Date: Apr 2001
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Posts: 43,368
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#2354 | |
Chaos Technician
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: 4th dimension
Posts: 43,368
Adopt-a-Bronco: Eris |
![]() http://www.dangerousminds.net/commen...hedelize_utah/
Hare Krishnas psychedelicize Utah ![]() Quote:
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#2355 |
Chaos Technician
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: 4th dimension
Posts: 43,368
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![]() http://www.gizmag.com/michelin-prote...-closed/18333/
New Michelin bike inner tube squeezes punctures closed Bicycle inner tubes that contain a small-puncture-sealing slimy liquid may not be a new development in and of themselves, but Michelin has released a product that takes the concept a step further. The company's Protek Max tube not only contains a sealant, but is designed to compress when punctured to assist the self-sealing process. The two things you'll notice about the Protek is that it has a square cross-section, and funny little bumps on its surface. The square shape helps align it within the tire casing and against the rim well, which Michelin says eases mounting and eliminates the twisting problems that can occur with traditional sausage-shaped tubes. When the tube is fully inflated within the tire, its textured surface causes the rubber to compress instead of expand when under pressure. This means that the internal air pressure actually closes holes off, giving the sealant a better chance at taking care of them for good. The tubes also are claimed to hold air longer – when tested against Michelin's self-sealing AIRSTOP tube, the Protek was said to maintain proper pressure for twice the amount of time. Commuters and mountain bikers, but not road racers, can get a Protek Max to fit their tire. It is available in sizes of 700 x 35-47c (200 grams) and 26 x 1.4-2.125 inches (260 grams), with Presta or Shrader valves, for a suggested retail price of US$8.99. |
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#2356 |
Chaos Technician
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: 4th dimension
Posts: 43,368
Adopt-a-Bronco: Eris |
![]() http://hackaday.com/2011/04/06/every...8Hack+a+Day%29
If you work with electronics at any skill level you need juice. [Jon] has a great, and clearly worded tutorial about with pretty much everything you need to know about those little black boxes hanging off of your outlets. The whole thing starts off with the basics like transformers, rectification smoothing and regulation, then moves on to the different basic types, dedicating a page to linear, regulated and switching types, giving output performance charts under different situations. Also included is a run-down of DC barrel jack structure so you get the right plug every time, wall wart type identification, a random sample comparison test, and a good selection of formulas to even keep the old hats reading along. Although you might want to set aside a little time at 9 pages and some Q/A in the comments, it might take a moment to read. |
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#2357 |
Chaos Technician
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: 4th dimension
Posts: 43,368
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![]() http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/la/o...ain+%28Main%29
![]() We talk a lot about simplifying our lives, usually starting with clearing out the physical clutter in our homes and sometimes involving incorporating cleaner, more streamlined modern furniture that fits a certain simple aesthetic. But what about not just buying furniture for aesthetic desires, but to alter your habits to fit a lifestyle you want to achieve? Two examples immediately come to mind. Urbancase, a small design company in Seattle, has two pieces: their Ledge is reminiscent of the old-fashioned writing desk—updated for electrical needs—and created to encourage simple, undistracted correspondence. Their Emergency Cocktail Station was designed because urbancase founder Darin Montgomery wants to see more pre-dinner socialization and less veg-out-in-front-of-the-TV-after-work habits. Dean Heckler’s One Less Desk fits this idea, too. Designed to help folks shake off the old way we used to work—with giant desks to hold all our giant tech things—One Less Desk isn’t just about creating a desk with a slim profile. By taking away more surface area, it forces you to avoid stacks and clutter, perhaps slowly helping you achieve a more organized state of living (or at the very least desk working). |
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#2358 |
Chaos Technician
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: 4th dimension
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![]() http://www.engadget.com/2011/04/06/d...hugs-it-hippi/
Dell to trial mushroom-based packaging on servers, hugs IT hippies We've already seen Dell embracing the bamboo woods to package its products, so what's next for Round Rock's green fingers? Mushrooms, apparently. Unveiled at the Fortune Brainstorm Green conference yesterday is a biodegradable cushioning tray, which is grown -- yes, grown -- out of a mold stuffed with old cotton hulls, mushroom spawn, and nutritious agricultural waste. While it does take about five to ten days for the mycelium (aka mushroom root) to form the desired shape, the merit of such process is that all the energy required for the manufacture is provided by the recycled waste, thus reducing other energy dependencies. What's more, this fungal packaging has already passed Dell's extensive lab tests "like a champ," and it'll soon be trialed on Multipack packaging shipments for the PowerEdge R710 servers. If you want to thank Michael, he'll be in his usual tree house. |
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#2359 | |
Chaos Technician
Join Date: Apr 2001
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![]() http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/06/sc...icle.html?_r=2
At Particle Lab, a Tantalizing Glimpse Has Physicists Holding Their Breaths By DENNIS OVERBYE Published: April 5, 2011 Physicists at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory are planning to announce Wednesday that they have found a suspicious bump in their data that could be evidence of a new elementary particle or even, some say, a new force of nature. Quote:
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#2360 | |
Chaos Technician
Join Date: Apr 2001
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![]() http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-04-...good-news.html
Overturned scientific explanation may be good news for nuclear fusion Quote:
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#2361 |
Chaos Technician
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![]() Stem cells coaxed into forming partial eyeball
![]() Mouse stem cells have been coaxed into forming a partial eyeball, and the method may one day lead to retina transplants. Yoshiki Sasai at the RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology in Kobe, Japan, and colleagues encouraged embryonic stem cells to develop into retinal cells, and then grew them alongside a protein matrix to promote the formation of tissue. Over 12 days, the retinal cells formed a vesicle which subsequently transformed into a cup-like structure. Within this "optic cup", six major types of retinal cells were identified. They had spontaneously arranged themselves into six different layers, mimicking those seen in the adult retina. While it is not yet possible to generate a fully formed eye – including a lens, sclera and cornea – Sasai says it may be feasible to use human stem cells with minor modifications to generate retinal tissues large enough for human transplantation in the next few years. "The retina is severely impaired in genetic diseases such as retinitis pigmentosa. This replacement therapy would become practical once human retina tissue is available by our method," says Sasai. |
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#2362 | |
Chaos Technician
Join Date: Apr 2001
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![]() http://www.krqe.com/dpp/news/botanis...us-plant-in-nm
Quote:
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#2363 | |
Chaos Technician
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: 4th dimension
Posts: 43,368
Adopt-a-Bronco: Eris |
![]() http://www.gizmag.com/solar-thermal-cell/18346/
New solar-thermal device harnesses heat and light ![]() Quote:
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#2364 | |
Chaos Technician
Join Date: Apr 2001
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![]() Blurring the distinction between a particle and its mirror image
![]() Quote:
The physicists experimentally produced motional coherence by a single spontaneous emission event close to a mirror surface. By placing atoms close to the mirror’s surface, they demonstrated that there are two possible paths for any photon traveling to an observer: one emitted directly in the direction of the observer, and a second traveling in the opposite direction and reflected in the mirror. They showed that if there is no way of distinguishing between these two paths, the motion of the atom is indeterminate and the atom moves in a superposition of both paths. The atom paradoxically moves towards the mirror and away from the mirror at the same time. The research extends Einstein’s recoiling slit experiment, in which a particle hits a plate with two slits and passes through both slits simultaneously, due to its wave-like quantum mechanical properties. Ref.: Jörg Schmiedmayer & Markus K. Oberthaler et al., Single spontaneous photon as a coherent beamsplitter for an atomic matter-wave, Nature Physics, April 3, 2011 |
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#2365 |
Chaos Technician
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: 4th dimension
Posts: 43,368
Adopt-a-Bronco: Eris |
![]() This is how I am. I'm usually in bed at 2a, and up at 6-7a.
http://www.disinfo.com/2011/04/the-elite-dont-sleep/ For a small group of people—perhaps just 1% to 3% of the population—sleep is a waste of time. Natural “short sleepers,” as they’re officially known, are night owls and early birds simultaneously. They typically turn in well after midnight, then get up just a few hours later and barrel through the day without needing to take naps or load up on caffeine. They are also energetic, outgoing, optimistic and ambitious, according to the few researchers who have studied them. The pattern sometimes starts in childhood and often runs in families. While it’s unclear if all short sleepers are high achievers, they do have more time in the day to do things, and keep finding more interesting things to do than sleep, often doing several things at once. Nobody knows how many natural short sleepers are out there. “There aren’t nearly as many as there are people who think they’re short sleepers,” says Daniel J. Buysse, a psychiatrist at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and a past president of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, a professional group. Out of every 100 people who believe they only need five or six hours of sleep a night, only about five people really do, Dr. Buysse says. The rest end up chronically sleep deprived, part of the one-third of U.S. adults who get less than the recommended seven hours of sleep per night, according to a report last month by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention… [continues in the Wall Street Journal] |
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#2366 |
Chaos Technician
Join Date: Apr 2001
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Posts: 43,368
Adopt-a-Bronco: Eris |
![]() Score! Thanks Rev.
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#2367 |
Chaos Technician
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: 4th dimension
Posts: 43,368
Adopt-a-Bronco: Eris |
![]() Hmmm, i'll have to spend some time there.
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#2368 | |
Chaos Technician
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: 4th dimension
Posts: 43,368
Adopt-a-Bronco: Eris |
![]() http://www.sacred-texts.com/cfu/artwar.txt
II. Waging War Quote:
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#2369 |
Chaos Technician
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: 4th dimension
Posts: 43,368
Adopt-a-Bronco: Eris |
![]() http://inhabitat.com/ge-will-build-t...united-states/
GE Will Build the United States’ Largest Solar Panel Factory by Rebecca Paul, 04/07/11 filed under: Renewable Energy,Solar Power solar panel factory, GE, General Electric, General Electric solar panel factory, thin-film solar, First Solar, solar power, renewable energy, primestar, primestar solar GE has just announced their plans to build the largest solar panel factory in the U.S. The company will spend 600 million dollars on the new factory and their goal is to produce of 400 megawatts of thin-film solar annually, by the time they open for business in 2013. GE’s solar panels with be composed of the same thin layers of cadmium telluride currently used by their largest competetor First Solar, but for nearly less than a third of the cost. GE has become one of the world’s primary manufacturers of wind turbines, and according to Victor Abate, Vice President of GE’s renewable energy business, the company will continue to actively invest in high-tech solar products to advance their position in the renewable energy industry.GE’s first step toward building their new factory has included the recent acquisition of PrimeStar Solar located in Arvada, Colorado. Abate relays, “The biggest challenge for solar is the cost of energy. For every point you can move [higher] in efficiency, you reduce the cost of the system by 10%.” To counter this issue PrimeStar Solar is seen as a major asset to GE. The company has been able to produce a CdTe thin-film panel with a record-breaking efficiency of 12.8%. The cadmium telluride thin-film also proves to be cost efficient, reducing production costs from $1.20 a watt (the cost of traditional silicon solar panels) to just $.80 a watt. GE has stated that worldwide demand for solar products is expected to grow by 75 gigawatts over the next five years. With these focused investments GE is hoping to capitalize on the growth. Thus far they already have 100 megawatts worth of orders from utility-scale solar customers in the U.S. Via Forbes Read more: GE Will Build the Largest Solar Panel Factory in the United States | Inhabitat - Green Design Will Save the World |
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#2370 |
Chaos Technician
Join Date: Apr 2001
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#2371 |
Chaos Technician
Join Date: Apr 2001
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![]() http://www.kurzweilai.net/huge-aster...th-in-november
![]() The Asteroid 2005 YU55, about 1,300 feet in diameter, will approach Earth within 0.85 lunar distances in early November 2011. Discovered on December 28, 2005, “the close Earth approach of 2005 YU55 on November 8 is unusual since it is close and big. On average, one wouldn’t expect an object this big to pass this close but every 30 years,” says Don Yeomans, manager of NASA’s Near-Earth Object Program Office and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California. “This flyby will be the closest by any near-Earth asteroid with an absolute magnitude this bright since 1976 and until 2028,” says Lance Benner, a research scientist at JPL. Initially the asteroid will be too faint for telescopes. But late in the day (UTC) on November 8, the solar elongation will grow sufficiently to see it. |
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#2372 |
Chaos Technician
Join Date: Apr 2001
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![]() I wonder when/if google will buy GE?
http://inhabitat.com/google-invests-...er-5000-homes/ Google announced that they are putting an investment of $5 million USD — or $3.5 million euros — into one of Germany’s largest solar power plants. The investment is their first renewable energy investment in Europe and though the plans still need approval from the German government, when it is finished it will power about 5,000 homes in the area. The project is slated to be built on land that was once used as training grounds for the Russian military. After Google created their own energy subsidiary the company began investing heavily in wind power projects in the United States — including the massive Atlantic Wind Connection that will bring wind power up and down the East Coast. The announcement of the investment in Germany by Google comes at a time when Germany is wrestling with the future of their renewable energy systems. Following the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear emergency in Japan, German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced a moratorium on all pending nuclear projects and turned away from her promise to keep Germany’s 17 reactors operating into the future. She’s now promising a move away from nuclear and toward other forms of renewable energy. With the momentum of Germany’s energy ideas at the moment, we’re thinking this new solar project will get off the ground pretty quickly and Google will soon be part owner of Germany’s clean energy future. Via PhysOrg Read more: Google Invests in German Solar Power Plant That will Power 5,000 Homes | Inhabitat - Green Design Will Save the World |
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#2373 |
Chaos Technician
Join Date: Apr 2001
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![]() http://cryptogon.com/?p=21636
Via: Forbes: Sunny Saudi Arabia plans to shift most of its domestic energy use to solar and nuclear power, diverting more oil to exports, a Saudi official said yesterday at the Third Saudi Solar Energy Forum in Riyadh. “The use of alternative sustainable and reliable resources reduces dependency on hydrocarbons and keeps them as a [...] What does this tell you via a business perspective? Last edited by alkemical; 04-08-2011 at 05:47 AM.. Reason: ? |
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#2374 |
Chaos Technician
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![]() Psychedelic drug cuts brain blood flow and connections
from New Scientist - Online News Rather than expand the mind, the active ingredient of magic mushrooms decreases blood flow and connectivity |
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#2375 |
Chaos Technician
Join Date: Apr 2001
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![]() Again, for those of you who like this thread - but don't want to be tied to the OM for it - I do have a google reader feed and twitter. I've been a little lax with it - but i've been a little busy these days.
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