vandoo- Yes, any of the bio-fuels that are so "hot" these days would require a LOT of land be devoted to their production. Some of them (like corn for ethanol) are a lot worse than others, though. These are complete dead-ends and aren't worth wasting time, effort, and $ on. The problem with government tinkering in the form of subsidies and tariffs is that it sends people off working on losers. If free market forces are left to their own, the best solution(s) will win.
And that is what I was getting at with regard to vehicle mass. The gov't has imposed so many regulations that cars have gotten very heavy which KILLS fuel economy. People should be free to choose whatever car they want. A cheap, light fuel sipping one or a large, heavy, crashproof one that sucks gas like mad. Let the market decide.
And no, diesels are not a savior, but the fuel efficiency advantage of the Diesel Cycle over the Otto Cycle is undisputed. It's time for the U.S. gov't (and California which has their own standards and largely drives the boat) to end their bias against diesels. For large fuel chugging vehicles like SUVs and Pickups, the availability of common rail diesel powertrains would be an awesome option.
Yeah, they are called "solar stills". As kids, we were big into trying out stuff we read about in Survival manuals purchased out of Soldier of Fortune Magazine. The solar still was one of the those. They don't exactly put out a lot of water and the effectiveness depends on weather conditions: nice hot days (to aid evaporation) and cool clear nights (to aid condensation) work best. N.B. In areas without a supply of saltwater, it is *possible* to erect one over urine-soaked ground to "recycle" the water. heh heh... I guess if you are thirsty, you do what works.
I have to laugh (grimly) about one thing ... the two previous posters alluded to "shrinking water supplies". This is a farce! Yes, water is scarce in parts of the world and notably parts of the US. But these places are called deserts AND PEOPLE AREN'T SUPPOSED TO LIVE THERE! It is absurd that the U.S. Federal government does all kinds of kooky things and spends tons of money bringing water to Las Vegas, Phoenix, LA, and other places that really aren't suited to supporting enormous populations. Meanwhile, people with plenty of water (like those of us in the Great Lakes area) pay taxes to finance the folly and make do with 1.6 gal/flush toilets that don't work. Stupid, stupid stupid.
GMail is pretty neat (nearly 3 GB of mail space!) and the price is sure right. Just be advised that there are a lot of known security issues with it. By default, it uses an unencrypted connection to retrieve user data. There is a way around that, but it's an extra step. Also, Gmail automatically scans (i.e. reads!) all incoming and outgoing mail (even from non-subscribers) and has the ability to cross reference and store things it finds to establish a dossier on you, even combining this information with your web search history. They won't confirm or deny what they store on you, for how long, and for what purposes, but they've got more computing power and capability than the NSA in this area. Finally, another "issue" people have raised with Gmail is that Google is very sketchy about how long they retain user-deleted emails and to what extent these are really ever purged or restricted from prying eyes. So yeah, it is convenient, but there are a whole lot of things that privacy experts are quite worried about and Google refuses to address. Caveat emptor.
Indeed as almost anyone really "into" old houses knows, the story of glass "flowing over time" is complete hogwash. Materials scientists and engineers have studied up one side and down the other on 100, 200, 400, and 1000 year old installed glass and it's completely bogus! The supposed flow lines are an artifact of the manufacturing process. In former times, the glass was handblown into large cylinders, which were then cut lengthwise and allowed to cool flat upon a polished flat piece of stone. The glass didn't dry perfectly flat though, so usually there would be very minor flow lines. These can go horizontlly (suggesting flow over time maybe) or just as easily vertically -- it just depends on how the glass was cut!
In my own 1836 house, I've got lots of original wavy glass windows and the wave patern varies from pane to pane. I've had to replace a couple small panes and always do so with salvage glass from that same period. If I couldn't find it, though, there is a supplier that makes new glass via the old method: http://www.restorationglass.com/glasstype.html
If I needed a lot of it, this would be the way to go. For a pane here or there, I can usually find some salvage stuff. There are plenty of morons who think vinyl looks OK on an old house.
Kudos to Beki ... her comments are caustic, yet fitting.
Bio-fuels are frequently touted as being "the answer". As others have alluded, you really need to look at the efficiency of production, the amount of land (and chemical fertililer, tractor/truck fuel, &c.) they require, and the impact on the rest of the economy. Corn IS a stupid thing to burn. It's a lot better suited for eating, but the U.S. production of Ethanol is both virtually mandated (in the form of a rules on fuel oxygenate %), lots of stupid subsidies, and import tariffs on sugar. Corn based fuel is a loser, but is politically popular because of political influence of argribusiness giants like ADM and the corn lobby. Anything that can't compete on its own is a costly diversion.
So what is better? Well, maybe some things like cellulosic ethanol produced from switchgrass and other fast regrow, low input crops. But that depends on the development of (cheap) enzymnes that can convert the "mash" quickly. Time will tell, but government intervention is not the answer.
Personally, I'd like to see bio-fuel research aim at diesel substitutes. The compression-ignition (i.e. Diesel) cycle is a lot more thermodynamically efficient to begin with. At least these jatropha seeds are using the right combustion cycle... Can't comment more on them yet...
What else can be done? Well, the goverments of the world can stop ratcheting up ridiculous safety standards. Cars today weigh FAR more than they should and 80% of that is because governments and the insurance lobby expect them to be crashproof tanks. It's absurd. My little 2005 Subaru Impreza weighs 4200 lb (2000 kg) ! That's almost double what it should! Get cars on a diet and fuel ecomony will go way up. In teh words of Colin Chapman (Lotus founder) " Add lightness! "
One more thing on a technical note... Catalytic converters do NOTHING to reduce CO2!!! Catalytic converters convert hydrocarbon, carbon MONOXIDE, and the varied oxides of nitrogen (NOx) into water vapor and carbon DIOXIDE. The better the catalyst, the closer the combustion products are to pure CO2 and H2O. If you believe CO2 makes the climate warmer, you need to burn less fuel, not have a better catalyst! I'll restate it for "jc" -- that 20 year old car that got 35 mpg is a WHOLE LOT BETTER for global warming (assuming you believe in it) than your super duper low emission new 25 mpg one. Greenies need to learn their facts before talking silliness.
"Currently all molding is done in the company's main headquarters in Denmark."
They put the word "currently" in there because its already been announced that they are moving their operations from Denmark, the US, and Switzerland to Mexico & The Czech Republic. So, if your kids find that the new bricks don't fit together quite as nicely as the old ones did, you'll know why. www.iht.com/articles/2006/06/21/business/lego.php
These bread bag clips make wonderful "mini-shuriken" as well!
If you break one of the 2 "claws" off, you can then hook the remaining claw on the tip of your middle finger. Then, by flicking your middle finger with your thumb, you'll send the clip spinning through the air fast (REALLY fast) and far. It's a great cheap toy, but a bit dangerous -- it's *really* easy to nail somebody in the eye as they travel quite fast and are difficult to see coming. Be warned... any kid you show this too will be quite a menance.
Yes, any of the bio-fuels that are so "hot" these days would require a LOT of land be devoted to their production. Some of them (like corn for ethanol) are a lot worse than others, though. These are complete dead-ends and aren't worth wasting time, effort, and $ on. The problem with government tinkering in the form of subsidies and tariffs is that it sends people off working on losers. If free market forces are left to their own, the best solution(s) will win.
And that is what I was getting at with regard to vehicle mass. The gov't has imposed so many regulations that cars have gotten very heavy which KILLS fuel economy. People should be free to choose whatever car they want. A cheap, light fuel sipping one or a large, heavy, crashproof one that sucks gas like mad. Let the market decide.
And no, diesels are not a savior, but the fuel efficiency advantage of the Diesel Cycle over the Otto Cycle is undisputed. It's time for the U.S. gov't (and California which has their own standards and largely drives the boat) to end their bias against diesels. For large fuel chugging vehicles like SUVs and Pickups, the availability of common rail diesel powertrains would be an awesome option.
Pax teum.
I have to laugh (grimly) about one thing ... the two previous posters alluded to "shrinking water supplies". This is a farce! Yes, water is scarce in parts of the world and notably parts of the US. But these places are called deserts AND PEOPLE AREN'T SUPPOSED TO LIVE THERE! It is absurd that the U.S. Federal government does all kinds of kooky things and spends tons of money bringing water to Las Vegas, Phoenix, LA, and other places that really aren't suited to supporting enormous populations. Meanwhile, people with plenty of water (like those of us in the Great Lakes area) pay taxes to finance the folly and make do with 1.6 gal/flush toilets that don't work. Stupid, stupid stupid.
Straight talk from Sid.
Does he leave the inevitable chicken krap on the paper or pick it off?
In my own 1836 house, I've got lots of original wavy glass windows and the wave patern varies from pane to pane. I've had to replace a couple small panes and always do so with salvage glass from that same period. If I couldn't find it, though, there is a supplier that makes new glass via the old method: http://www.restorationglass.com/glasstype.html
If I needed a lot of it, this would be the way to go. For a pane here or there, I can usually find some salvage stuff. There are plenty of morons who think vinyl looks OK on an old house.
Straight talk from Sid.
Bio-fuels are frequently touted as being "the answer". As others have alluded, you really need to look at the efficiency of production, the amount of land (and chemical fertililer, tractor/truck fuel, &c.) they require, and the impact on the rest of the economy. Corn IS a stupid thing to burn. It's a lot better suited for eating, but the U.S. production of Ethanol is both virtually mandated (in the form of a rules on fuel oxygenate %), lots of stupid subsidies, and import tariffs on sugar. Corn based fuel is a loser, but is politically popular because of political influence of argribusiness giants like ADM and the corn lobby. Anything that can't compete on its own is a costly diversion.
So what is better? Well, maybe some things like cellulosic ethanol produced from switchgrass and other fast regrow, low input crops. But that depends on the development of (cheap) enzymnes that can convert the "mash" quickly. Time will tell, but government intervention is not the answer.
Personally, I'd like to see bio-fuel research aim at diesel substitutes. The compression-ignition (i.e. Diesel) cycle is a lot more thermodynamically efficient to begin with. At least these jatropha seeds are using the right combustion cycle... Can't comment more on them yet...
What else can be done? Well, the goverments of the world can stop ratcheting up ridiculous safety standards. Cars today weigh FAR more than they should and 80% of that is because governments and the insurance lobby expect them to be crashproof tanks. It's absurd. My little 2005 Subaru Impreza weighs 4200 lb (2000 kg) ! That's almost double what it should! Get cars on a diet and fuel ecomony will go way up. In teh words of Colin Chapman (Lotus founder) " Add lightness! "
One more thing on a technical note... Catalytic converters do NOTHING to reduce CO2!!! Catalytic converters convert hydrocarbon, carbon MONOXIDE, and the varied oxides of nitrogen (NOx) into water vapor and carbon DIOXIDE. The better the catalyst, the closer the combustion products are to pure CO2 and H2O. If you believe CO2 makes the climate warmer, you need to burn less fuel, not have a better catalyst! I'll restate it for "jc" -- that 20 year old car that got 35 mpg is a WHOLE LOT BETTER for global warming (assuming you believe in it) than your super duper low emission new 25 mpg one. Greenies need to learn their facts before talking silliness.
Straight talk from Sid.
They put the word "currently" in there because its already been announced that they are moving their operations from Denmark, the US, and Switzerland to Mexico & The Czech Republic. So, if your kids find that the new bricks don't fit together quite as nicely as the old ones did, you'll know why.
www.iht.com/articles/2006/06/21/business/lego.php
If you break one of the 2 "claws" off, you can then hook the remaining claw on the tip of your middle finger. Then, by flicking your middle finger with your thumb, you'll send the clip spinning through the air fast (REALLY fast) and far. It's a great cheap toy, but a bit dangerous -- it's *really* easy to nail somebody in the eye as they travel quite fast and are difficult to see coming. Be warned... any kid you show this too will be quite a menance.