Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Project BLT @ One Hungry Chef

Project BLT @ One Hungry Chef

This is how you do it from scratch. He starts with seawater to make the salt. These are good skills to know.

But there are a lot of things he didn't have to make: the hardware. That is rather hard. There is a lot of hope still.

Saturday, September 26, 2009

Howard Jacobson: It doesn't matter if there's a recession or not, because Armageddon is on its way - Howard Jacobson, Commentators - The I

Howard Jacobson: It doesn't matter if there's a recession or not, because Armageddon is on its way -
Howard Jacobson, Commentators - The Independent
: "More than a whiff of Armageddon in the air these last few days, what with Sydney Harbour turning blood red and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad repeating his Holocaust-was-a-lie libel at the United Nations, a denial carrying in its coat-tails the threat that it won't be a lie the next time."
I still don't think we are all going to end up eating each other in a Mad Max scenario, but perhaps a quick descent into Dark AGes 2.0. A major war, some global cooling and a deadly pandemic could do that quickly.

Thursday, September 24, 2009

The Volokh Conspiracy - Should Laws Be Simple or Complicated? A Dialogue:

The Volokh Conspiracy - Should Laws Be Simple or Complicated? A Dialogue:: "The exchange below between Eric Posner and Jonathan Adler brings up the classic tension between simple laws and more complicated ones,"

Oh bother, I though laws should be clear and judges existed to do the interpreting not the lawyers or the lawmakers or even the laws themselves.

It looks like something is pushing the legal system off balance.

US Scientific Literacy doubles - rises to only pathetic

The literature of truth | Free Newsletter: "According to Dr. Jon D. Miller, Director of the Center for Biomedical Communications, the number of scientifically literate adults in the U.S. has doubled over the past 20 years.

The bad news? That only gets us up to 20 percent.

Only 48 percent of Americans know that humans didn’t live at the same time as dinosaurs. Less than half know that electrons are smaller than atoms. And few know what DNA is or can define a molecule."

How can that be? Public schools have been pushing science hard since Sputnik. Since then we've been to the Moon, and have built a few space stations.
I hardly expect your average person to MacGyver a radio out household junk but come on.

There is something deeply wrong with the public schools if this is the case. And you wonder why I am worried about another Dark Age.

Monday, September 21, 2009

Popular Mechanics

Popular Mechanics: "“You’re not making heat, you’re moving heat,” Colorado geothermal installer Jim Lynch says. Installations like Lynch’s tap into the earth below the frost line—which always stays around 50 degrees Fahrenheit—to reduce a home’s heating and cooling loads. All HVAC systems require energy-intensive heat movement, a task responsible for over half of the average house’s total energy demand. Geothermal works more efficiently because the system’s mild starting point creates an efficient shortcut to the target temperature. Imagine a 100-degree Florida day or a 0-degree Michigan night: Spot the system 50 degrees, and it doesn’t work so hard to get the house comfortable."

That 50 degrees makes a big difference. That's why lots of people use their basements as an air conditioned zone in the summer time.

We have an awful lot of things we can do to reduce and otherwise streamline out energy usage. We can really reduce the amount of energy we use by doing fairly simple things to our homes.

The oddest thing is the first question people ask is, "What's the payback?"
That is one of those totally insane questions that seems to exist only to stop you from doing something. Like "What about their socialization?" like the most important part of your child's education is their socialization, surrounded by other unsocialized children with just one enlightened teacher in the room, where they have to sit down and be quiet.

A solar power system for your home costs about as much as an SUV and no one ever asks about the payback on that. Hint: there isn't one.

There trouble is that they don;t have a good financing system for these alternative energy systems. It isn't that they can't do it. Look at Town & Country Foods, you can buy food and a freezer on a 6 month payment plan. You would think it would be possible to create a 36 month payment plan for an energy system that is worth incredible amounts when the utilities fail. Some politician may be needed to do this but it isn't very sexy or shovel-ready. Oh, well.

Friday, September 18, 2009

'Mechanics of Materials' Textbook Published Online, Available for Free

'Mechanics of Materials' Textbook Published Online, Available for Free: "There are at least two good reasons to check out Madhukar Vable’s undergraduate textbook 'Mechanics of Materials.'"

This looks useful.

Are You Saving Enough For Retirement? Use These 4 Simple Rules Of Thumb And Find Out Now.

Are You Saving Enough For Retirement? Use These 4 Simple Rules Of Thumb And Find Out Now.: "How do you know if you are saving enough so you can afford to retire? And more importantly, are you saving enough to retire with confidence so that you can support your present lifestyle without running out of money early?"

Okay, this is something I need to work on.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Gregg Easterbrook: The Man Who Defused the ‘Population Bomb’ - WSJ.com

Gregg Easterbrook: The Man Who Defused the ‘Population Bomb’ - WSJ.com: "Often it is said America lacks heroes who can provide constructive examples to the young. Here was such a hero. Yet though streets and buildings are named for Norman Borlaug throughout the developing world, most Americans don't even know his name."

A good question, a very good question.

It reminds me of someone else, a little further back in history, who did something similar, George Washington Carver. He saved Southern agriculture. But you can't get a school or even a street named after him.

We have plenty of heros but they are never heard from, I wonder why.

Fun with Oxygen

The Fastest (and Most Dangerous) Way to Light a Grill | Popular Science: "About a year ago, when resident mad scientist Theo Gray pitched me a Gray Matter column on liquid oxygen, an extremely energetic form of the element, he first proposed showing how to use it to light a grill nearly instantaneously"

The first video I saw on the internet in about 1997 was this guy lighting up a grill and dumping LOX on it. Wow fun stuff.

The comments are hilarious, yeah school science has some issues, but that is a political not a teaching issue.

185 things you can make with a pig

Pig 05049: Change Observer: Design Observer: "Christien Meindertsma traced what happened to the body parts of a specific commercially raised pig, she discovered a lot more than packaged meat"

Cool.

ht kottke

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Hit & Run > Norman Borlaug: The Man Who Saved More Human Lives Than Any Other Has Died - Reason Magazine

Hit & Run > Norman Borlaug: The Man Who Saved More Human Lives Than Any Other Has Died - Reason Magazine: "Norman Borlaug, the man who saved more human lives than anyone else in history, has died at age 95. Borlaug was the Father of the Green Revolution, the dramatic improvement in agricultural productivity that swept the globe in the 1960s. For spearheading this achievement, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970."

Of course no one has heard of him, he doesn't fit the narrative. He singlehandedly saved the world from Malthus. The progressives hated that and they seem to be in control of the history books right now.

Remember the power of just one man, woman or child.

Friday, September 11, 2009

Eliza Gray: Samuel Johnson and the Virtue of Capitalism - WSJ.com

Eliza Gray: Samuel Johnson and the Virtue of Capitalism - WSJ.com: "It was the ultimate gathering of statesmen, thinkers and artists, the likes of which aren't likely to be found in Davos or at any Renaissance Weekend. 'The Club,' as it was simply known, was founded in 1764 by the moralist and polymath Samuel Johnson, and included the likes of political philosopher Edmund Burke, painter Joshua Reynolds, naturalist Joseph Banks, historian Edward Gibbon and economist Adam Smith."

I think we need something like this again. TED is a different take on the question.

ht

Remember

I remember hearing the news on the radio to work that a small plane had hit the Twin towers and wondered what the weather was like because a B17 had hit the Empire State building after WWII.
I remember being frustrated about not getting the news because the Internet was clogged and we had no other way to get news into the office.
I remember sadness seeing the towers fall.
I remember anger at those who did this.
I remember determination to never let it happen again.


I remember.

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Scandinavia's Small Towns | Scandinavia and Iceland

Scandinavia's Small Towns | Scandinavia and Iceland: "Town planners and government officials may think in terms of economic rationality and viability. But as more people move to the cities, perhaps we should raise our caps to those who stick it out in their small towns. They might be waging a losing battle, perhaps, and also costing taxpayers a bit more money, but they sure make the world a more interesting and diverse place. And if, in the future, hordes of Somalis and Iraqis, Philippinos and Thais, are all residing out in the sticks in Scandinavia’s far-flung regions, then all the better I say."

The logic shown by the different sides of this article is unexpected. Something to watch for maybe.

Day of the Gaucho Waning in Argentina - washingtonpost.com

Day of the Gaucho Waning in Argentina - washingtonpost.com: "Indeed, all over the pampa, ranchland that was home to Angus and Hereford cows has in recent years been replaced by fields of soybeans, corn and wheat as commodity prices skyrocketed by more than 300 percent. This year, a third of the 15 million animals expected to go to slaughter will fatten up in the now-ubiquitous feedlots, three times as many as in 2001."

Economic effects are changing the taste of beef.

Monday, September 7, 2009

E-Books Directory - Categorized Books, Short Reviews, Free Downloads

E-Books Directory - Categorized Books, Short Reviews, Free Downloads: "E-Books Directory
Welcome! We have exactly 2323 free e-books in 397 categories."

Cool. Knowledge is power.

American Thinker: By the Book: How Democracies Perish

American Thinker: By the Book: How Democracies Perish: "While visiting a used bookstore a few weeks later, I found another Revel book, How Democracies Perish. In its pages, I found a chilling examination of the methodologies used to undermine and destroy free market democracies. Written within the context of the cold war, Revel dissected democracies external and internal conflicts, those arising from the totalitarian impulses of socialism. He identified democracies fifth column, the political insurgents that fight against prosperity and success, deluded by utopian ideologies and filled with the monumental arrogance that defines the left."

Worth finding. I think. It's got at least one great quote.

Thursday, September 3, 2009

Telegraphs Ran on Electric Air in Crazy 1859 Magnetic Storm | Wired Science | Wired.com

Telegraphs Ran on Electric Air in Crazy 1859 Magnetic Storm | Wired Science | Wired.com: "On Sept. 2, 1859, at the telegraph office at No. 31 State Street in Boston at 9:30 a.m., the operators’ lines were overflowing with current, so they unplugged the batteries connected to their machines, and kept working using just the electricity coursing through the air."

Cool. That could be a problem today. This would be very similar to an EMP event or a blackout from a big ice storm, it could take a while to recover from.

ht Instapundit

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

HealthMap App Will Tell You How Diseased Your Neighborhood Is - Healthmap app - Gizmodo

HealthMap App Will Tell You How Diseased Your Neighborhood Is - Healthmap app - Gizmodo: "Ever wondered if someone in your neighborhood has a case of Swine Flu, African Horse Sickness, Chicken Pox, or other infectious diseases? Today's your lucky day: the HealthMap app will show you up-to-date reports and even send push alerts."

Very useful.

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

The Volokh Conspiracy - How Much Did Crop Diversity Decline in the 20th Century?

The Volokh Conspiracy - How Much Did Crop Diversity Decline in the 20th Century?: "According to the conventional wisdom, the twentieth century was a disaster of monumental proportions for vegetable crop diversity. The conventional wisdom is wrong."

That's good, I am worried enough about of food supply.