NOTE TO SELF: NO GRAVE SITUATION HERE
The next time you visit Spain, you might want to take a side-trip to the Santa Coloma de Gramnenet cemetary located outside Barcelona, especially the mausoleum section. Although one can visit the dearly departed if one feels so moved, the real attraction is up on the mausoleum roofs where 462 solar panels have been installed to catch the sun's rays.
The energy produced with the solar panels, equivalent to the yearly consumption of 60 homes, flows into the local energy grid. The entire project is the community's contribution toward fighting global warming. The graveyard was the only viable spot to proceed with its solar energy program.
Read the rest of the story and photos of the solar panels here: http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=6316047
Actually, this is not such a wild idea. Think about the possibilities of creating projects similar to this in mausoleums throughout the world. The concept might not appeal to all families of the deceased but it something to consider. Perhaps - just a thought - some type of wind power device could be utilized in a similar manner. Anyway, the citizens and the city council of the spanish town are congratulated for doing their part in becoming part of the solution to finding alternative energy sources.
Showing posts with label science. Show all posts
Showing posts with label science. Show all posts
Monday, November 24, 2008
Monday, December 17, 2007
Authorities worry about worm abuse
NOTE TO SELF: DON'T JUDGE A WORM BY ITS LOOKS
A New Zealand inventor of the "wormorator" has been forced to defend the use of worms in a composting toilet he has developed after officials became concerned that the creatures might become traumatised by the procedure. Coll Bell was told to get an expert's report on the mental impact on the tiger worms being used after an official became concerned during a site visit.He says the official felt that the worms were being unfairly treated, being expected to deal with human faeces, and that it could affect them in a psychological way.Mr Bell was told he had to get someone with the necessary qualifications to say the worms were happy. A vermiculture consultant was called in and she has found the worms are in excellent health and breeding happily.
In Bell's invention, a colony of worms filters solids from the toilet waste and the leftover water is filtered into underground trenches.
When you think about it and some would rather not and for sure some don't care one way or the other (most likely the latter), the mere fact that they are turning...you-know-what into rich loam could be an indication that they i.e. the worms, enjoy the process. Or...on the other hand and we don't really know since the worms, can't express their true inner feelings, their action and end result could be a result of the trauma of having to deal with human feces. I mean - it's totally understandable.
So my next question is: just where does one find somebody with the right qualifications or indeed any qualification to deal with worm trauma? Can the testimony of a vermiculturalist be believed? What does she/he do to test out her/his theory? Pull a worm out of the earth and have a conversation with it?
"Hello worm," she would probably say. "How 'ya doin' today? I'm fine! So...how d'ya like dealing with all that sh**?"
How could the vermiculturalist know the difference between an unhappy and happy worm? More to the point, does a worm know if its happy or unhappy? Do worms suffer from depression?
Also, in as far as hygeine is concerned, who would sit on this compost toilet?
The Auckland Regional Council's concerns went down the pan after vermiculture consultant Patricia Naidu found the worms in excellent health and breeding happily. I guess one has to take her word for it.
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/afp/071216/oddities/nzealand_animals_offbeat_worms
A New Zealand inventor of the "wormorator" has been forced to defend the use of worms in a composting toilet he has developed after officials became concerned that the creatures might become traumatised by the procedure. Coll Bell was told to get an expert's report on the mental impact on the tiger worms being used after an official became concerned during a site visit.He says the official felt that the worms were being unfairly treated, being expected to deal with human faeces, and that it could affect them in a psychological way.Mr Bell was told he had to get someone with the necessary qualifications to say the worms were happy. A vermiculture consultant was called in and she has found the worms are in excellent health and breeding happily.
In Bell's invention, a colony of worms filters solids from the toilet waste and the leftover water is filtered into underground trenches.
When you think about it and some would rather not and for sure some don't care one way or the other (most likely the latter), the mere fact that they are turning...you-know-what into rich loam could be an indication that they i.e. the worms, enjoy the process. Or...on the other hand and we don't really know since the worms, can't express their true inner feelings, their action and end result could be a result of the trauma of having to deal with human feces. I mean - it's totally understandable.
So my next question is: just where does one find somebody with the right qualifications or indeed any qualification to deal with worm trauma? Can the testimony of a vermiculturalist be believed? What does she/he do to test out her/his theory? Pull a worm out of the earth and have a conversation with it?
"Hello worm," she would probably say. "How 'ya doin' today? I'm fine! So...how d'ya like dealing with all that sh**?"
How could the vermiculturalist know the difference between an unhappy and happy worm? More to the point, does a worm know if its happy or unhappy? Do worms suffer from depression?
Also, in as far as hygeine is concerned, who would sit on this compost toilet?
The Auckland Regional Council's concerns went down the pan after vermiculture consultant Patricia Naidu found the worms in excellent health and breeding happily. I guess one has to take her word for it.
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/afp/071216/oddities/nzealand_animals_offbeat_worms
Thursday, July 19, 2007
A LITTLE RAIN MUST FALL...BUT NOT DURING THE CHINA OLYMPICS PLEASE!
NOTE TO SELF: One for the 'uh-oh' file
Now comes news that preparations are being made for the advent of bad weather during their Olympics to be held in China in 2008. In doing this Beijing weather people are proceeding with plans to fire rockets to disperse rain clouds in an attempt to get more sunshine. Predicting the weather as many weather forecasters will agree is not an exacting science to say the least.
Anybody see anything wrong with this idea?
According to Zheng Guoguang, head of China's Meterorological Administration, practice drills are ready. The drills are supposed to simulate what will happen when the Olympics begin on August 8, 2008 and this is the last opportunity for meteorologists to practice working out the kinks. When you think about it - it's not such a big deal if attendees get a little wet while watching athletes do their thing. It's all part of the experience... a little rain must fall and all that.
Course some people take the rain a little more seriously.
Chinese officials report that historical records indicate a 50% chance of rain for the opening ceremony and the same for the closing ceremony. Then there's the usual just-in-case-it-doesn't-work statement where the weather officials admitted that seeding cloud to produce rain and then shoo away rainmaking clouds is - um - immature technology.
We get the point, peeplz. Maybe it'll work...and then again, maybe it won't.
"Dispersal is more difficult than rainfall enhancement," Wang Yubin, assistant chief engineer with the Beijing Meteorological Bureau commented. "In rainfall dispersal, we are still in the experimental stage but we are continuing our efforts."
So people planning to travel to the China Olympics should bring along a raincoat and/or umbrella - just in case of course.
Now comes news that preparations are being made for the advent of bad weather during their Olympics to be held in China in 2008. In doing this Beijing weather people are proceeding with plans to fire rockets to disperse rain clouds in an attempt to get more sunshine. Predicting the weather as many weather forecasters will agree is not an exacting science to say the least.
Anybody see anything wrong with this idea?
According to Zheng Guoguang, head of China's Meterorological Administration, practice drills are ready. The drills are supposed to simulate what will happen when the Olympics begin on August 8, 2008 and this is the last opportunity for meteorologists to practice working out the kinks. When you think about it - it's not such a big deal if attendees get a little wet while watching athletes do their thing. It's all part of the experience... a little rain must fall and all that.
Course some people take the rain a little more seriously.
Chinese officials report that historical records indicate a 50% chance of rain for the opening ceremony and the same for the closing ceremony. Then there's the usual just-in-case-it-doesn't-work statement where the weather officials admitted that seeding cloud to produce rain and then shoo away rainmaking clouds is - um - immature technology.
We get the point, peeplz. Maybe it'll work...and then again, maybe it won't.
"Dispersal is more difficult than rainfall enhancement," Wang Yubin, assistant chief engineer with the Beijing Meteorological Bureau commented. "In rainfall dispersal, we are still in the experimental stage but we are continuing our efforts."
So people planning to travel to the China Olympics should bring along a raincoat and/or umbrella - just in case of course.
Saturday, May 19, 2007
BRAIN SCANNER SCANS YOUR INTENTIONS
NOTE TO SELF: Don't think too much
A new discovery by scientists could have a scary potential for human-kind.
World-leading neuroscientists have developed a technique allowing them to delve inside a person's brain to gauge their intentions before they act.
This is a scary proposition.
According to an article written in The Guardian in February, the research breaks new ground and raises controversial ethical questions as to how brain reading can or will be used in the future. High resolution brain scans were used to identify patterns of activity before translating them into thoughts.
It works whereby a computer learns unique patterns of brain activity or signatures to correspond to different thoughts. It scans the brain to look for these signatures and predicts what the person is thinking.
Still laughing at people who use foil on their head to stop the enemy from reading their thoughts?
Again, this is a very scary proposition when you think about it. It's one thing to think a thought so to speak, but entirely a whole other issue to actually act on it. For example and thinking down the line, if this type of technology was used by the various law enforcement agencies during questioning, how could interrogaters differentiate a random negative thought to doing an actual criminal act? Or to put it in simplistic terms, a dog barking may annoy neighbors causing them to think bad thoughts but that's as far as it goes for most people. It stops at the thought level and remains there.
Researchers are honing the technique to distinguish passing thoughts and intentions.
Pass the foil please.
Read more about this discovery and the technical aspects of how it works here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/frontpage/story/0,,2009229,00.html
A new discovery by scientists could have a scary potential for human-kind.
World-leading neuroscientists have developed a technique allowing them to delve inside a person's brain to gauge their intentions before they act.
This is a scary proposition.
According to an article written in The Guardian in February, the research breaks new ground and raises controversial ethical questions as to how brain reading can or will be used in the future. High resolution brain scans were used to identify patterns of activity before translating them into thoughts.
It works whereby a computer learns unique patterns of brain activity or signatures to correspond to different thoughts. It scans the brain to look for these signatures and predicts what the person is thinking.
Still laughing at people who use foil on their head to stop the enemy from reading their thoughts?
Again, this is a very scary proposition when you think about it. It's one thing to think a thought so to speak, but entirely a whole other issue to actually act on it. For example and thinking down the line, if this type of technology was used by the various law enforcement agencies during questioning, how could interrogaters differentiate a random negative thought to doing an actual criminal act? Or to put it in simplistic terms, a dog barking may annoy neighbors causing them to think bad thoughts but that's as far as it goes for most people. It stops at the thought level and remains there.
Researchers are honing the technique to distinguish passing thoughts and intentions.
Pass the foil please.
Read more about this discovery and the technical aspects of how it works here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/frontpage/story/0,,2009229,00.html
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