Coal Is Really Dirty

by LJFurman on July 2, 2009

Burn Coal – release arsenic, mercury, radioactive particles, and carbon – lots of carbon.  Here’s how the National Resources Defense Council, NRDC, describes it:  Coal is Dirty and Dangerous

Coal is America’s dirtiest energy source — and the country’s leading source of global warming pollution.

Coal mining destroys land, pollutes thousands of miles of streams and brings massive environmental damage to mountain communities.

… produces dirty air, acid rain and contaminated land and water … childhood asthma, birth defects and respiratory diseases that take nearly 25,000 lives each year.

“Coal is the single greatest threat to civilization and all life on our planet.” – James Hansen, NASA’s top climate scientistThere are far cleaner and cheaper ways to meet America’s energy needs. Yet industry apologists are spending millions of dollars to block clean energy solutions and persuade Americans that they can keep using coal without the consequences.

Green technologies and renewable fuels will create millions of good-paying jobs, … reduce dangerous pollution and help fight global warming.

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TouchTable video demonstration

by jonathansoroko on July 1, 2009

Our friend Bill Campbell – our resident guru on Skype and other comms technologies, and always ahead of the curve – sent me this link to a PBS video about the new TouchTable

It’s part of the PBS/Wired Wired Science series, which is new to me.

At current prices – in excess of $90K – it’s going to take some time and/or big orders to drive prices down – but it’s one impressive tool.

TouchTable.

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NATURAL CHICKEN – WITH SALT WATER

July 1, 2009

Chicken labeled “Natural” can contain salt, and lots of it: 200 to 400 mg sodium per four-ounce serving – almost as much as in French Fries. One third of all fresh chicken sold in the US is “plumped” with salt-water. Real natural chicken contains 45 to 60 mg sodium per serving. According to Melinda Beck [...]

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Waxman Markey ACES Is A Start

June 30, 2009

Popular Logistics is about Policy, not Politics. However, it takes success at politics in order to implement policy. In terms of Policy, Popular Logistics thinks that the United States could, and should, move to 100% clean energy in 10 years (click here, here, here, or here).  However, in a democracy, important policy is made by [...]

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TechCrunch reports significant problems with 9-1-1 systems

June 29, 2009

9-1-1 Should Never Give Me A Busy Signal. By  Jason Kincaid at  TechCrunch.
Last night I got word that my parents had witnessed a tragic accident while driving in Northern California. I won’t get into the details, but suffice to say one person was killed and others were left bleeding, in various states of unconsciousness. Thank [...]

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Brooklyn-based Sudia Lab’s outdoor PV table

June 28, 2009

The Sun Table – which has no moving parts, adjustable stainless-steel legs – and whose wooden frame is made of teak – comes with an inverter and internal battery. Four hours of direct sunlight, according to Sudia, will yield enough energy to use a laptop for hours via the battery. (Use the laptop at/on the [...]

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The False Assumptions of Neo-Conservatives

June 25, 2009

To paraphrase John Kennedy, “Ich bin ein Keynesian.”
Jude Wanniski coined the term “Supply Side Economics” in 1976 as a reaction to  Keynesian and monetarist thought.
In his book, The Way The World Works, Wanniski argues against taxes. “Working together three men can build three houses in three months. Working separately, they can build three houses [...]

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Iran and Britain expel diplomats after Iranian presidential election – Wikinews, the free news source

June 24, 2009

Via WikiNews:Iran and Britain expel diplomats after Iranian presidential election. We note that while attacks from President Obama’s political right have urged him to be more aggressive, in the UK David Cameron has reminded the P.M. that the “Iranian elections [are] an internal Iranian conflict, between Iranians and other Iranians.” If this ends with a [...]

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“How to Break Networks”

June 23, 2009

How to Break a Network – about the work of Lieutenant Colonel John Graham studying insurgent (and other networks), was published by David Axe in 2007 – it’s no less relevant now:
… this morning during presentations at the Association of the U.S. Army show in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, I was jolted out of a [...]

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Wired/Washington Post: “Construction Crew Severs Secret ‘Black Line’ “

June 22, 2009

Another reminder of how effective government can be once it’s decided to be vigilant:
A construction crew working on an office building in Virginia in 2000 severed a fiber optic cable that wasn’t on anyone’s map. Apparently it was a ‘black line’ used for carrying secret intelligence data, according to sources who spoke recently with the [...]

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Email traffic patterns may have predictive value

June 22, 2009

Many thanks to David Pescovitz of Boing Boing for spotting this, originally published in New Scientist – “Email patterns can predict impending doom”
The Boing-Boing post, Mining email traffic for bad omens, in its entirety:
Researchers examined Enron email logs during the 18 months before the shit really hit the fan. Amazingly, just analyzing the number of [...]

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Swine Flu (H1N1) update

June 22, 2009

- Four deaths reported in Argentina;
- Swine flu claims first UK victim;

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Ekahau: Heat Mapper – free app for visualizing wifi networks

June 20, 2009
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StatPacks Clearance Sale

June 19, 2009

StatPacks Clearance Sale: a wide selection of StatPacks paramedic and other responder bags – from the larger (largest?) Manager, marked down from $300 to $150 – down to smaller modules.
Good deals – and from what we’ve seen of StatPacks – for reasons not clear to us, other brands seem to dominate the market in New [...]

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8th grader builds four-passenger-plus cargo solar/human powered bicycle

June 19, 2009

If an eighth grader can do it – albeit an exceptional eighth grader – why can’t they be mass-produced at affordable prices?
8th Grader Builds Solar-Powered Bike With GPS, iPod Dock
The base vehicle used, and the priciest part of the project, was a Switzerland-built ZEM (Zero Emission Machine) 4cycle. It’s made out of an aluminum frame [...]

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