Author Archives: Jonathan Soroko

About Jonathan Soroko

Revived from the dead, 18-July-2013

16,000 panel/2 mile solar rail tunnel completed in Belgium.

Paul Ridden at Gizmag.com report that a two-mile stretch of the Belgian high-speed rail system has been fitted with solar panels:

07:27 June 10, 2011

8 Comments

7 Pictures

About 4,000 trains per year – or the equivalent of a full day’s worth of Belgian rail traf…

The roof of a two mile stretch of tunnel over Belgium’s high speed rail line has been fitted out with 16,000 solar panels to provide power for trains running through Antwerp Central Station and the surrounding railway infrastructure. Solar solution provider Enfinity says that about 4,000 trains per year – or the equivalent of a full day’s worth of Belgian rail traffic – will be able to run entirely on solar power generated by the installation

via Solar Powered.

Europe’s largest ecological catamaran sets sail

X-51A Waverider fails to reach full power in second hypersonic test flight

FishEyes rod and reel shows you the fish before you catch them

Boeing 747-8 Freighter to make first biofuel-powered transatlantic flight

PolyZion project developing zinc-plastic battery

China building world’s biggest radio telescope

The inspired Platypus Electric Underwater Exploration Craft

By Mike Hanlon

08:04 April 6, 2011

4 Comments

19 Pictures

Platypus

The French-designed Platypus is a new and immensely practical two-person electric underwater exploration concept designed to travel for eight hours above the water at 10-12 knots (18.5-22.2 km/h), or below the water at 3-4 knots (5.5-7.5 km/h). Most importantly, it offers a safe and stable below-water platform that requires no operating equipment to be worn by the pilot or passenger other than masks because the pontoons contain an integrated compressor which supplies air via hoses. The Platypus requires no license, produces no local emissions, is completely silent and offers plenty of storage space and a stable platform for many applications including diving, photography, bird watching and eco tourism. Read More

via On the Water.

On the Water

StrongArm helps load boats onto cars

By Ben Coxworth

09:02 March 29, 2011

2 Comments

The StrongArm Kayak Loader levers a user’s canoe or kayak onto the roof of their vehicle (…

Sea kayaks are quite possibly one of the finest things ever created by mankind, but they can be rather difficult to load onto the top of one’s car – this is particularly true for people who are trying to do the job single-handed, or who have a tall vehicle. Australia’s Steve Scott identified this problem as an opportunity, and invented the StrongArm Kayak Loader. Read More

via On the Water.

Engadget/Brian Heater – $1K drop on Chevy Volt Price

Brian Heater at Engadget reports (here) a $1,000 (USD) drop in the list price of the electric plug-in Chevrolet Volt. It’s roughly a two to three percent drop. What’s more likely to get sales going, economies of scale working, and prices down are large private and government fleet orders – or sharp increases in petroleum prices, or accurate news and information. We, at Popular Logistics think higher gasoline prices are inevitable.

“Chevy wants to know what it can do to get you into one of its plug-in hybrids today. A $1,000 price drop? You got it. The carmaker announced this week that the 2012 Volt base price will come in a grand lower than its predecessor, thanks to the sorts of additional configurations that come with increased availability. The 2011 version was available in seven states and the District of Columbia and came in three configurations — 2012’s Volt is available nationwide in seven different packages, ranging from $39,995 to $46,265. And keep in mind that those prices don’t factor in potential tax credits. The latest version of the plug-in vehicle is available now for order and offers up features like MyLink media streaming, OnStar driving directions, and passive locking though the new base model does strip away a couple of features found in its predecessor. Also there’s the whole lessening your dependence on gasoline, if you’re into that sort of thing.”

via Engadget.

2011 Invention Awards: From Waste To Water | Popular Science

Bjorn Carey, writing in Popular Science (print and on-line), describes a waste disposal system which relies in large part on existing boat engine heat to reduce human waste to water vapor and carbon dioxide. From 2011 Invention Awards: From Waste To Water:

The exhaust of an idling engine is at least 550°F, which is hot enough to flash evaporate the waste and thermally oxidize the organic materials. Quite simply, the device can break down anything organic that’s put into it. The process eliminates all odors, Nassef says, and the main by-products are carbon dioxide and clean water vapor.How It Works: Zero Liquid Discharge: Waste flows from the boat’s toilet to an equalization tank, which breaks it into small pieces. The material next moves into the homogenizer, a container where it gets chopped into particles. The injector pump pressurizes the material and sprays it through a nozzle into the engine’s exhaust system, where the heat cleans it. Blanddesigns.co.ukNassef built a ZLD prototype in 2004 from washing-machine parts and a five-gallon paint bucket. The current version, his 11th update, uses only as much energy as ten 100-watt lightbulbs, sterilizes waste without any of the harsh chemicals of other portable toilet-waste-disposal systems, and can be scaled up or down. In 2007 it earned a certificate of approval from the U.S. Coast Guard for marine sanitation devices.Nassef is starting with boats, but the ZLD has the potential to work in just about any vehicle with hot-enough exhaust and a toilet. He’s drawn interest from RV manufacturers and the U.S. military, which often resorts to burning waste with jet fuel at a total cost of $400 per gallon at its forward operating bases. Another promising market is airlines, which could plug the ZLD into existing toilets, allowing some planes to shed up to 500 pounds of wastewater weight over the course of a flight.

via 2011 Invention Awards: From Waste To Water | Popular Science.

Not only is the development itself remarkable – but approval by the Coast Guard in three years seems pretty prompt.

BBC – E. Coli outbreak waning

According to the BBC, the European E. Coli episode is winding down:

Germany’s health minister says new E. coli infections from a deadly outbreak are dropping significantly and the worst of the illness is over. Daniel Bahr said he was cautiously optimistic the outbreak had peaked, but warned that more deaths were expected as new cases emerged each day.

The outbreak has so far left 24 dead, infected 2,400 and left hundreds with a complication that attacks the kidneys. Earlier, the EU proposed 150m euros (£134m) of compensation for farmers.But agriculture ministers said they wanted much more and that their producers of fruit and vegetables should be compensated for the full amount of their losses, estimated at up to 417m euros (£372m) a week.

The outbreak was wrongly blamed on Spanish cucumbers last week by the health authorities in northern Germany, the centre of the outbreak. Investigators are still trying to find the real origin of the new strain of enterohaemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC). New cases are still being reported every day, including 94 in Germany on Tuesday.

For further reference, see the World Health Organization’s Enterohaemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) Fact Sheet, and the relevant Wikipedia entry,Escherichia_coli_O157:H7.

Risk Assessment of Energy Infrastructure: Renewables Lower Risk

UN Panel: “Renewables could supply 80% of the world’s energy by 2050”

Energy Policy and Game Theory

The International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) ((an organization staffed by two distinct United Nations organizations, the World Meteorological Organization and the World Heath Organization)), has issued a report estimating that 80% of the world’s energy needs could be met by renewable sources by 2050. Link to Report, including video (0:3:37) of Ottmar Ettenhafer, chair of the IPCC, regarding the report.

We believe that barriers are not ultimately economic or technical, but political, social, and attitudinal. Since we’d prefer to think that most people don’t wish the ill effects of climate change on their grandchildren – or would take that bet with any bookmaker (what our British cousins call a “turf accountant”), putting the lives of those they know will outlive them at risk, we prefer to think that it’s some form of social acquiescence – less politely, “groupthink,” rather than avarice, which leads to dismissal of concerns about global warming. Viz this excerpt from a post we found on the Peak Energy blog. This is from a column by Paddy Manning, business columnist at the Sydney Morning Herald:

From Corporate leaders in a climate of disbelief

Scepticism hung heavy in the air. At a packed Australian Institute of Company Directors lunch on climate change, the institute’s former chief executive, Ian Dunlop – a petroleum engineer who was a Shell executive and now is the deputy convener of the Association for the Study of Peak Oil – rose to put a question to keynote speaker, David Mortimer, the chairman of Leighton Holdings, the world’s biggest contract coalminer.

In full, Dunlop’s question ran for three minutes: ”The temperature increase we’ve seen so far is about 0.8 degrees Celsius. We’ve already seen a clear trend in extreme weather events related to just that increase. We probably have locked in already a temperature increase of around 2.4 degrees. If we were to follow the path that you’re suggesting in terms of continued fossil fuel usage to 2030, the likely outcome will be a temperature increase somewhere between 4 and 6 degrees. That probably means world population drops to a carrying capacity of somewhere around a billion people (you can argue 1 to 2 billion).

We recommend reading Manning’s excellent reporting on Dunlop’s presentation. But we’d like to put the question another way, strictly as a thought exercise in two parts.

Part 1: A Wager on Climate Change

A 1% probability that serious consequences will be the result of continuing our current energy policies;
If – on the 1% probability that the “alarmists” are right – in which case this isn’t something rapidly reversible ;
Would you take a 1% bet – even if it paid 5,000 to 1 – if the loss meant the death or impoverishment of your grandchildren?
How much does your moral calculus change if it someone else’s children -someone else you don’t know and will never know?

Part 2: Who Gets To Play?

We’re all making this wager with our actions – but certain groups of us – people with the most to gain with the continued use of non-renewables
If this is, in effect, a multiplayer version of the Prisoner’s Dilemma ((See Wikipedia’s excellent introduction to the Prisoner’s Dilemma, one of the fundamental problems in game theory)) we’re already making this bet – but we’re pooling the risk onto a set of most or all “children” or “grandchildren.”

What if we were to decide the risk was unacceptable, and apply the Precautionary Principle? Moving to a renewable-focused energy policy would inevitably have certain effects, some of them bad for small groups of people, no doubt – the others pretty good for most of us:

Energy would be more expensive in the short run, while capital investment is made;
The investment in new infrastructure will stimulate the economy, unemployment will decrease, wages and wealth will increase, GPI, Genuine Progress Indicator, will increase.
Energy would become more efficient, i.e. less energy for the same amount of economic activity. Except for energy producers, transporters and resellers, this is in effect a lowering of overhead costs without general deflation.
The unquestioned risks of certain energy uses (air quality, water quality, the risks inherent in extracting, refining, transporting, and storing various energy types) and associated safety and health costs would be reduced.

This assessment gives most of us at least a short-term interest opposed to parties with economic interests in the current system. It also gives us a long term interest in investing in renewables. And it makes the current unsustainable paradigm a bet against future generations.

BBC News: Man attempts to hijack Alitalia flight wih nail clipper

From the BBC:

A man has been overpowered by cabin crew on an Alitalia flight from Paris to Rome, after he drew out a small knife and demanded the plane divert to the Libyan capital, Tripoli.

A female flight attendant was slightly injured as the man was subdued.

The suspect, from Kazakhstan, was handed over to police and arrested after flight AZ329 landed at Rome’s Fiumicino airport at 2005 GMT.

He was “clearly agitated”, according to a statement from Alitalia.

There were 131 people on board.

The man was overpowered by four crew and passengers, and given a sedative by a doctor who was travelling on the flight.

Italian police named the man as Valery Tolmachev, aged 48. He is reportedly a member of the Kazakh delegation at Unesco in Paris.

Italian media say the man brandished a nail-clipper in the assault. He had no previous criminal record, nor any links with militants, the reports said.

The motive for the attack is not yet clear.

via BBC News – Man attempts to hijack Alitalia Paris-Rome flight.

U.S. and Japanese troops cooperate on rescue effort

Reports from multiple sources indicate that United States military personnel are aiding Japanese military and civilian personnel in search-and-rescue efforts:

Thousands of Japanese and American military personnel joined together Friday in a final three-day sweep to search for those still missing from last month’s massive earthquake and tsunami.

The operation involves 120 aircraft and 65 ships and will cover the three prefectures hit hardest by the March 11 disaster. More than 11,000 people are confirmed dead, with more than 16,500 still missing. But the search teams will stay out of a 30-kilometer zone around the radiation-leaking Fukushima nuclear plant.

Workers have been struggling since the quake to bring the damaged plant under control. Chief government spokesman Yukio Edano said Friday that current circumstances meant that it would be a “reasonably long” period of time before those evacuated from the nuclear-threat zone would be allowed back to their homes.

US, Japanese Forces Search for Missing Tsunami Victims (Voice of America)

A generation or two ago – depending on how one counts, we were engaged in mortal combat with the Japanese. About one generation back, we sold them most of the nuclear reactors which recently ran aground. (We’ve got a bunch of the same reactors in operation in the United States, sold to the Japanese at a time when nuclear power’s risks were less apparent to the people of both countries). We do better, and will in future do better, as allies than as enemies. As sad, and frightening as events in Japan have been, we think it right and fitting that U.S. troops are assisting the Japanese. We wish them all good luck and freedom from mishap in these efforts, which are not without risk.

"Cantenna" – improvised antenna

A “Cantenna”: improvised antenna, reused materials, can extend transmission and reception of a variety of radio devices – a paint or other metal can, plus copper wire or brass rod, brass tubing – can extend the range of radios, cell phones, wireless networks. Here’s one example from Wikipedia’s entry Cantenna:

Indonesian Terror Networks decentralize, vary methods of attack

Mail Bomb from collection of National Postal Museum, courtesy Wikipedia Entry "Letter Bomb"

Indonesian terrorists are decentraling networks, scaling down cells, and varying modes of attack. From the Jakarta Post:

The International Crisis Group (ICG) said in its latest report issued on Tuesday that Indonesian law enforcers’ aggressive clamping down on terrorism had driven terrorists to act in smaller groups independent of larger organizations.

“The suicide bombing inside a police station mosque on April 15, 2011, and a spate of letter bombs delivered in Jakarta in mid-March are emblematic of the shift,” the group said.

Dynno Chressbon, intelligence expert and director of the Study Center for Intelligence and National Security said Wednesday that the shift meant acts of terrorism would likely be harder to monitor.

“[These acts] will be harder to detect because the database the police have is limited to the old terrorist networks. New players from smaller groups will be difficult to detect until post-bombing,” he added.

Another terrorism expert, Noor Huda Ismail, told The Jakarta Post that smaller terror groups meant bomb attacks would be conducted on a minor scale with a smaller explosion impact but more sporadically.

“Terrorists today are ‘just-do-it’ terrorists,” he said.

Dynno said the change in terrorist movements in Indonesia started as early as 2008, and as terrorists shift to act in smaller groups, they cut the usual long chain of command.

“It was decided in a consolidation in 2008, followed by [the military-style] training of Jamaah Anshorut Tauhid [JAT] in Aceh, that there was no longer a need to have a long chain of command. Now small groups can act on their own to launch executions,” he said.

Their targets were clear: law enforcers and Muslims whose ideology differed from theirs, or in short, secular Muslims, Dynno added.

The ICG said while police still top the list of targets in attacks conducted by small-scale terror groups, it also pointed out there were other new targets in such attacks.

Terror groups get smaller, harder to detect (21 April, 2011, The Jakarta Post)

Cool Tools "Everyday Carry" (EDC) contest

Everyday Carry Contest on Kevin Kelly’s Cool Tools. This is what we might refer to as “”A” gear (always with you), even more critical than what you might keep in a “go-bag,” particularly if you don’t drive everywhere.

The tools you have with you are the ones that are going to get used, and so it is with great pleasure that we are announcing our newest contest seeking the best everyday carry (EDC) tools. The diversity of tools that people carry with them whether on keychains, in pockets and/or bags never ceases to astonish. From Moleskines to Leathermen, and flashlights to Buffs, the shear number of tools we have to choose from is overwhelming. That’s where you come in. Send us reviews of your everyday carry tools, and explain why they have made the cut. There is no limit to how many you can include, and feel free to submit EDC tools from specific situations like camping or biking. Just remember every tool should be reviewed with the following five parts in mind: 1) a succinct description of what the tool is, 2) how it changed your behavior, 3) why Cool Tools should run the item, 4) why it is superior to other things, and 5) why we should believe you. Submissions will be accepted until Tuesday, April 19th. As usual, the author of the most publishable review gets to select a prize from the Prize Pool and will be published the following week. So tell us all about the tools you have with you when it counts! via Cool Tools.

We note that “EDC” is a new term for us – we’re used to the U.S. military “A” gear (never left out of arm’s reach during operations), which “EDC” sounds close to – and of course the “go-bag,” A/K//A the Bug-Out Bag, the “Diddi Mau” bag (Vietnamese for, in effect, “leave without delay,”) and other synonyms.

FAA official forced to resign; nexus between his conduct and five incidents of air controllers falling asleep not readily apparent

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But apparently a public humiliation and the end of a career is the vestige of older traditions incorporating human sacrifice. The sleep-deprivation/asleep at work/understaffed air traffic control centers issue is serious. This ritual suggests that person or persons higher on the food chain believe the public sufficiently credulous, enraged, afraid or overwhelmed that this will derail any requests for an accounting of what happened and how to prevent it – whether or not it fits neatly into a “Blame [insert name here]” template. From FAA head of air traffic resigns, byAshley Halsey III at WaPo:

The head of the Air Traffic Organization at the Federal Aviation Administration resigned Thursday morning amid recent reports of several controllers sleeping on the job. Hank Krakowski submitted his resignation Thursday morning to FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt, who said he accepted it, federal officials said. Krawkoski joined the FAA in 2007. Prior to that he spent about 30 years at United Air Lines in senior management positions, including as vice president of flight operations. “Hank is a dedicated aviation professional and I thank him for his service,” Babbitt said in a statement. “Starting today, I have asked David Grizzle, FAA’s chief counsel, to assume the role of acting ATO chief operating officer while we conduct a nationwide search to permanently fill the position.” Babbitt said recent reports of “unprofessional conduct on the part of a few individuals have rightly caused the traveling public to question our ability to ensure their safety.” On Wednesday federal officials ended the practice of leaving one controller on duty in airport towers during overnight shifts. The FAA also revealed that a Nevada air traffic controller allegedly fell asleep Wednesday morning as a medical flight carrying a patient tried to land.The plane landed safely at Reno-Tahoe International Airport with the help of a radar controller based in California, the FAA said. The controller was suspended and the incident is under investigation. However, the incident Wednesday was the fifth time this year that a controller apparently slept while on duty, including at Reagan National Airport, where a controller supervisor was suspended last month after he admitted to napping in the tower . The FAA plans to conduct a “top to bottom review” of the nation’s air traffic control system, Babbitt said. Babbitt announced last month that he was revamping air traffic control guidelines. He ordered radar controllers who guide planes as they descend from cruising altitude to confirm that controllers in airport towers are prepared to handle incoming flights before handing them off. Babbitt also said he would instruct controllers to offer the pilots an option to land elsewhere if a control tower is unresponsive for any reason.

Let’s hope that some reasonable and substantive change comes out of this.

Pakistani diplomat shot in Nepal; earlier attack involved attempt to kill Pakistani diplomat with knives while on motorcycles

CNN via BBC, Pakistani diplomat shot in Nepal

Kathmandu, Nepal (CNN) — Two people on motorcycles shot and wounded a Pakistani diplomatic official in Kathmandu, Nepal, on Thursday morning, authorities said. Mehboob Asif, a visa assistant at the Pakistan embassy, was hit by eight to 10 bullets while he was riding a motorcycle to work, according to police. A Pakistan embassy official who did not want to be named said Asif was taken to the hospital and is now out of danger. He said authorities didn’t know a motive for the attack. “The Embassy of Pakistan is confident that the Government of Nepal would undertake investigations at appropriate levels to bring the criminals to justice,” Pakistan’s Embassy said in a statement. Although no arrests have been made, around 150 people have been rounded up for questioning, Kathmandu police chief Pushkar Karki said. The attack happened three days after a newly-appointed Minister for Energy Gokarna Bista was attacked with knives by two persons on motorcycles on Monday evening.

It’s hard to square “hit by eight to ten bullets” with “out of danger,” but this might make more sense with more detail. The use of handguns on motorcycles is familiar; the two-assailant attack from motorcycles using knives seems rather amateurish.