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seamountie

The Environment

House Passes Landmark Greenhouse Gas Bill

By Stuart Fox Posted on 7.1.2009 31 Comments
Now that every scientist who isn't part of the lunatic fringe agrees that human greenhouse gas emissions significantly alter the world's climate, the debate on Capitol Hill has shifted from science to policy. And that debate has proved even more complex than Congressional fights over the stimulus package, car company bailouts, and the decision to invade Iraq. On Friday, the House of Representatives passed HR 2454, the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009, by a margin of 219 to 212, with three abstentions. The bill is the first legislative attempt to regulate carbon emissions, and the first bill to directly finger humans as the cause of climate change.

8.14.2009 at 11:01am - Comment by seamountie

There is a major problem with the Antarctic ice core samples. They show no change in pre 1880 atmospheric CO2. That is none, zero, zilch. We know from other sources and investigations that there were periods in our Earth's past when there were variations in atmospheric CO2, and these are not reflected in the ice core samples. Either we are incorrect in our other studies (multiple sources, multiple scientists - so unlikely) or there is an unknown mechanism evening out the CO2 readings in the cores. Occam's Razor dictates that we concider the ice core study to be flawed. Damn....another great piece of evidence bits the dust. remember: Good judgment comes from experience; experience comes from bad judgement.
The Environment

Windpower Could Provide 40 Times Earth's Power Needs

By Posted on 7.16.2009 13 Comments
A team at Harvard decided to reinvestigate the potential for windpower around the globe, and found their new results to be significantly different than previous studies. According to the new study, we're capable of someday producing 40 times more power via wind than we currently consume overall.

8.14.2009 at 10:31am - Comment by seamountie

Ike R..let me see... we have screwed up our forests and still need more energy, so let's screw up our deserts as well. TINSTAAFL (There Is No Such Thing As A Free Lunch) The Law of Conservation of Energy states that in a closed system (like our Earth), Energy may be neither created nor destroyed, but may be changed from one form to another. Before we plunge willy-nilly into stealing huge quantities of the energy that powers the climate of our Earth, (sun and wind) lets at least have a go at predicting what will happen when we do. It may turn out to have a negligible effect - bonus..lets go! But past history of our power harvesting endeavours suggests that it is more likely we will jump from the frying pan to the fire. Come On.....let us at least practice some due diligence. Let us use these marvellous and apperantly highly accurate climate models from the IPCC to try and predict what will happen when we steal this energy from the climate. Let us show our children's children that their ancestors COULD learn from their own mistakes. Richard@Rivers remember: Good judgment comes from experience; experience comes from bad judgement.
The Environment

The Future of Energy: A Realist's Roadmap to 2050

By Posted on 6.22.2009 32 Comments
This December, when representatives from 170 countries meet at the United Nations climate talks in Copenhagen to replace the expiring Kyoto climate treaty, the smart money predicts unprecedented collaboration. American political change coupled with spiking carbon dioxide levels could inspire a communal project on a scale not seen since World War II. A consensus, backed by science, is emerging among the international community that by 2050 we need to reduce emissions of C02, methane and other greenhouse gases to approximately 80 percent lower than they were in 1990. It will mean a wholesale reinvention of the global energy economy; anything less could result in catastrophe. Here's how we'll get there.

6.19.2009 at 10:39am - Comment by seamountie

What frightens me about this rush to these other energy sources is that we are repeating mistakes we have made before. We know we have a problem - too much CO2 - so we go blazing off to divert energy from other sources to our use, and have absolutely no idea about the long term effect of this diversion. We know from our small, nay minuscule, forays into this diversion that any of the mentioned technologies has the potential to supply all our power for a lot of years. But what is going to happen when we start harvesting this energy in massive amounts? Has anyone thought to apply our climate models to this? What happens long term when we are diverting petawatts of sun energy away from the earth with our solar farms? What happens when our geothermal energy harvesting cools the earth's mantle a degree or two? What happens when we harvest 10% of our ocean's energy? All these things can't happen? That's what the consensus was back when we started to pour crap into our oceans and atmosphere - everything we knew at that time was that these systems were self healing. And they were until we overwhelmed them. But, you say, we have a climate emergency. Lets deal with that, then we can consider the long term effect of the cure. Really? If you are in a burning boat, you better consider how much water you are using to deal with your problem before the boat sinks. Good judgment comes from experience; experience comes from bad judgement.
Science

Rage From the Machine: Robot Attacks Swedish Industrial Worker

By Amber Sasse Posted on 4.29.2009 10 Comments
The robot uprising has begun! Seriously, stock up on pipe bombs. Or at least avoid European factories for a while. Last June, a Swedish industrial worker was attacked by a defective machine just outside of Stockholm.

5.2.2009 at 12:30pm - Comment by seamountie

Now, let me see if I have this straight. A worker gets hurt servicing a machine - this is comedy. A rioter gets hurt by police - this is a tragedy? Regardless of whether this is a 'Darwinian Incident' or 'Company Negligence', there is a person, another person's parent/sibling/child that was nearly killed. This incident needs a lot less flippancy in its reporting. Good judgment comes from experience; experience comes from bad judgement.
Science

iRobot Arms Bomb-Inspector 'Bots With Tasers

By Posted on 1.22.2008 5 Comments
One law down, two to go? iRobot, manufacturer of the Roomba vacuum, has teamed up with Taser to arm its Packbot robots with stun guns. But its hard to say whether this is actually a violation of the first of science fiction author Isaac Asimovs Three Laws of Robotics: A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. Clearly, arming a robot with a stun gun is the first step towards breaking that rule. But the Packbots, currently used as bomb inspectors in Iraq, are remote-controlled. If theres a human operator standing at a distance with his finger on the Taser trigger, is it really the robot thats doing the harm? Yeah, probably. But please discuss.—Gregory Mone

5.2.2009 at 12:06pm - Comment by seamountie

I am sorry, to me the machines mentioned in the article are as much a robot as a table saw. The machine is totally and directly controlled by a human, so it is not a robot. The Roomba, another iRobot product, is, however, a true, albeit stupid, robot. It does its job without intervention by a human (mostly). Mostly or completely autonomous = robot. Mostly or completely dependent on human direction = machine (I realize that by definition a robot is a machine. I just didn't come up with a better word, other than non-robot machine....HEY!...nRmachine...you heard it here first) Good judgment comes from experience; experience comes from bad judgement.
Gadgets

I Rent, Therefore I Am

By Tom Conlon Posted on 4.17.2009 8 Comments
As I sit down to write this week's Grouse column, I find myself having to work through one of those rather dull and annoying headaches, which, I'm almost certain, is from repeatedly slapping myself in the forehead over the course of the last few days. It's not that I'm a masochist -- I'm just upset with myself for not being the first to think of a Netflix-style site for books and book lovers.

4.19.2009 at 01:29am - Comment by seamountie

Actually, out here on the Left Coast of Canada we have a Netflix like program from the Vancouver Island Regional Library - its called Books By Mail (and includes DVDs too). You can join by email, they have a website to pick the books and they pay the postage to & from. You can have up to 10 books, 30 days. They won't ship any new books if even one is overdue, but no fines. The only glitch is you have live here. Good judgment comes from experience; experience comes from bad judgement.
Entertainment & Gaming

Desktop Linux – Will It Ever Stick?

By Tom Conlon Posted on 4.2.2009 33 Comments
About seven years ago, I tried to free myself from the oppression and misery of running Windows ME by installing Linux on my PC. Ever installed the Linux operating system? It’s not for the faint of heart. So, when it was recently reported that Linux-based netbooks are being returned at a rate four-times higher than their Windows-based brethren, I can’t say I was surprised.

11.9.2008 at 01:53am - Comment by seamountie

OK, I completely agree with this article. First, you cannot equate Linux with a specific release of Windows (or Mac OS), you have to specify the 'distro' that you are using. I have tried Ubuntu on my computer, loading it so the machine was dual boot. Yes, easy intall, very easy. But it has at least as many updates as my Vista. And after all was loaded and running I timed it. It was only about 3 seconds faster to boot. And the software had some missing features that I had come to rely on. Then I wanted to change to a wireless 'N' adapter. Can you spell death knell? No hope unless I started fooling around with command line stuff and doing hours of research to get the right one. I read a line from a linux fanboy. "Real men code by hand". Me, I'm just a panty waist who wants a computer to do what I ask of it, when I ask it. And the OS that allows that sure ain't Ubuntu...for now.
Science

Extreme Engineering

By Bob Parks Posted on 8.19.2008 7 Comments
The Lions Gate Bridge carries some 70,000 cars almost a mile across the entrance to Vancouver’s harbor every day. In a city polishing itself up for the 2010 Winter Olympics, the bridge is prime postcard fodder.

11.2.2008 at 11:48am - Comment by seamountie

This was an interesting article, but either the editor or the author (or both) need to have their typing fingers rapped. Only in one place in this article did the author get the name of the bridge right. Not every suspention bridge in the world is called Golden Gate. The bridge in the article is the LIONS GATE BRIDGE. To get such a basic fact messed up not only throws the article but the whole site/magazine into disrepute. Not good for an journal that avers the title 'Scientific'.
DIY

How Do I Sync My E-Mail Between Multiple PCs?

By Posted on 4.7.2008 3 Comments
Its a common problem: You have Microsoft Outlook at work, a different e-mail program at home, and a smartphone in your pocket, all with independent inboxes and outboxes. Ideally, all your devices should communicate, so that when you receive or reply to a message on one, its reflected on all of them. But they dont do that.

4.12.2008 at 11:21pm - Comment by seamountie

Milkweed110 Try this Set up an email account for each computer + a general email account. Have each email client (or webmail account) pull in the general account and its own account, then auto-forward anything from the general account to the other computers. Example: You have 3 computers 1,2 & 3, plus a general email account of 0. Computer 1 pulls in email from 0 & 1 and auto-forwards any email coming in on 0 to accounts 2 & 3. Computer 2 then pulls in email from 0 & 2. It gets all the previous email in on account 2, and any email coming in on 0 is auto-forwarded to 1 &3 ditto for Computer 3, except it forwards to 1 & 2. This is easy to set up in the Mac equivalent of Message Rules in you email client. All computers get all the mail from the general account. R Good judgment comes from experience; experience comes from bad judgment.