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Ocean Power Catches a Wave

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 11:36:55 GMT

clipped by: wildcat

Europe and New Zealand to install commercial generators; U.S. lags

Sea Monster: A Portuguese utility plans to install wave-power generators like these.

The first commercial ocean energy project is scheduled to launch this summer off the coast of Portugal. Three snakelike wave-power generators built by Edinburgh's Pelamis Wave Power will deliver 2.25 megawatts through an undersea cable to the Portuguese coastal town of Aguçadoura. Within a year, another 28 generators should come online there, boosting the capacity to 22.5 MW. That may be a trickle of power, but the project represents a new push into wave and tidal power as governments eye the oceans as a way to meet their renewable energy targets.

Engineers have come up with a variety of schemes to harness the power of waves, the flow of currents, and the motion of the tides. The Pelamis generators, part of a class of wave-energy converters called linear absorbers, each comprise three long canisters that look like giant oxygen tanks

Tags: ocean power, wave

This Day in History-July 21 'Infamous Monkey Trial'

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 12:28:56 GMT

clipped by: righthand
clipper's remarks: "To show up fundamentalism,""to prevent bigots and ignoramuses from controlling the educational system of the United States." said Darrow.

So what has changed after 80 years of intellectual backwardness?! Would this case be out of place in Bush's America - in the land of the 'free and home of the brave', mired in debt and death of its own making?

Where now is the shinning beacon of liberty? What country has made 'democracy' a dirty word. What county elects an AWOL drunk as commander-in-chief, TWICE? Where is the KKK a white sheet away from power and the noose? What country is still loved even by it pseudo enemies?

Clip Source: www.peacebuttons.info

July 21, 1925

The so-called "Monkey Trial" ended in Dayton, Tennessee, with high school teacher John T. Scopes convicted of violating a state law against teaching Darwin's theory of evolution. It was considered to contradict the Bible’s description of creation in Genesis

Scopes

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The trial pitted two of America’s leading advocates as the opposing lawyers: William Jennings Bryan, thrice the Democratic presidential candidate (1896, 1900, 1908), the state’s prosecutor; and Clarence Darrow, a lawyer famous for representing the underdog, for the defense. Referred to as “the trial of the century” even before it began, it was the first trial ever broadcast (on radio). Bryan became ill and died shortly after the trial’s end; the conviction was later overturned by Tennessee’s Supreme Court.

The Verdict:
Thou Shall Not Think

"What is the meaning of this harangue?"

"To show up fundamentalism,"

Darrow, "to prevent bigots and ignoramuses from controlling the educational system of the United States."

Clip Source: en.wikipedia.org

Scopes

Tags: usa, social, history

Male lust is blind, research suggests

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 02:28:58 GMT

clipped by: Socratoad

Clip Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

Male lust is blind, research suggests

Men have long been accused of judging women on looks alone, but even the plainest Jane can get their hormones raging, a study has found.

Research involving a group of male students found that their levels of the hormone testosterone increased to the same extent whether they were talking to a young woman they found attractive – or to one they didn't fancy much at all.

After 300 seconds alone in the same room as a woman they had never met before, and in some cases did not find particularly attractive, the men's testosterone levels of the hormone had shot up by an average of around eight per cent.

The study's authors believe the rise in testosterone may be an automatic and unconscious reaction that has evolved in man when faced with a woman, to prepare him for possible mating opportunities.

All Wet? Astronomers Claim Discovery of Earth-like Planet

Sun, 20 Jul 2008 21:54:27 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: I volunteer for an exploration mission...

Clip Source: www.sciam.com

A team of astronomers announced they have discovered the smallest and potentially most Earth-like extrasolar planet yet. Five times as massive as Earth, it orbits a relatively cool star at a distance that would provide earthly temperatures as well, signaling the possibility of liquid water.

"The separation between the planet and its star is just right for having liquid water at its surface," says astronomer and team spokesperson Stephane Udry of the Observatory of Geneva in Versoix, Switzerland. "That's why we are a bit excited."

But researchers do not yet know if the planet contains water, if it is truly rocky like Earth, which might make it hospitable to life as we know it, or whether it is blanketed by a thick atmosphere.

The smaller of the new planets, dubbed Gliese 581 c, orbits at one fourteenth the distance between Earth and the sun. But the red dwarf is 50 times cooler than the sun. The group estimates that the planet would experience temperatures in the zero-to-40-degree-Celsius

Tags: space, earth like planets

Welcome To The Real World

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 22:12:01 GMT

clipped by: debbyski
clipper's remarks: "Government is instituted for the common good; for the protection, safety, prosperity, and happiness of the people; and not for profit, honor, or private interest of any one man, family, or class of men; therefore, the people alone have an incontestable, unalienable, and indefeasible right to institute government; and to reform, alter, or totally change the same, when their protection, safety, prosperity, and happiness require it."
-John Adams, Thoughts on Government, 1776

Clip Source: www.opednews.com

ndividually we find that we are powerless against corporate media or Big Oil or Washington. Our choices are limited. Our effectiveness diminished. This is not by accident. Unions, social gatherings, clubs that all flourished before the 1960s have all been destroyed by those who find you & me to be a threat.

Today people will tell you that protest are ineffective. And they are. But real change does not come from the ballot box. Great social change like the eight hour work day, child labor laws, a woman's right to vote, civil rights, etc., etc. all came about through blood & sweat & great effort.

Yet what you need is not marches, demonstrations, rallies or wide associations; all of them are important. What you need is direct action. The sooner people understand that, the sooner we'll begin to change things. --Arthur Scargill

Kindness Is Strength Or Weakness?

Sun, 20 Jul 2008 16:47:51 GMT

clipped by: debbyski

Clip Source: onemancan.ca

Flirt till your blue in the Facebook, Triumph over opponents, share iThink opinions, and many others. Many of these Apps involve assessing your ‘friends’ on Facebook. This week, a Weakness was noted for being Too Kind, and it caused a pause of humorous delightful wonder.

I was delighted and wondered why so many feel being Kind is a Weakness? Being kind requires vulnerability. Does that make ‘being vulnerable’ a weakness too?

Vulnerability is quite the opposite of weakness and requires tremendous strength and courage. I know. I’ve taken the journey. It isn’t easy to stay open that way with everyone, at least not in the beginning.

With perseverance and experience, the truth of vulnerability reveals something deeper about human capacity and capability, as well as where it’s source originates.

Remember, it is only cowards that hide behind their own fear. Fear drives the worst kind of behaviour in humanity. You are the light - Remove the fear.

Greek Mythology

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 03:11:15 GMT

clipped by: Socratoad

Clip Source: www.greekmythology.com

Olympian Gods Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, Hestia, Hera, Aris, Athena, Apollo, Aphrodite, Hermes, Artemis, Hephaestus

Titans Gaea, Uranus, Cronus, Rhea, Oceanus, Tethys, Hyperion, Mnemosyne, Themis, Iapetus, Coeus, Crius, Phoebe, Thea, Prometheus, Epimetheus, Atlas, Metis

Other Gods Demeter, Persephone, Dionysus, Eros, Hebe, Eris, Helios, Thanatos, Pan, Nemesis, The Graces, The Muses, The Erinnyes, The Fates

Myths The Creation, The Creation II, Creation of Man by Prometheus, Zeus's Lovers, Birth of Athena, The Wanderings of Dionysus, Theseus Adventures

Creatures Cyclopes, Hecatoncheires, Giants, Ash Tree Nymphs, Typhoeus, Cerberus, Sirens, Centaur, Medusa, Argus Panoptes, Chimaera, Echidna, Gorgons, Pegasus, Chrysaor

Online Books Bulfinch's Mythology, The Odyssey, The Iliad, Argonautica,
Hesiod Theogony

Heroes Perseus, Theseus, Bellerophon, Atlanta, Heracles, Meleager

Places Mount Olympus, The Underworld, Tartarus

What the World Eats (2)

Sat, 19 Jul 2008 11:55:26 GMT

clipped by: einbar
clipper's remarks: What's on family dinner tables in fifteen different homes around the globe?
from the book "Hungry Planet"

Clip Source: www.time.com

What the World Eats

Poland: The Sobczynscy family of Konstancin-Jeziorna

Food expenditure for one week: 582.48 Zlotys or $151.27
Family recipe: Pig's knuckles with carrots, celery and parsnips

Clip Source: www.time.com

Egypt: The Ahmed family of Cairo

Food expenditure for one week: 387.85 Egyptian Pounds or $68.53
Family recipe: Okra and mutton

Clip Source: www.time.com

Mongolia: The Batsuuri family of Ulaanbaatar

Food expenditure for one week: 41,985.85 togrogs or $40.02
Family recipe: Mutton dumplings

Clip Source: www.time.com

Mexico: The Casales family of Cuernavaca

Food expenditure for one week: 1,862.78 Mexican Pesos or $189.09
Favorite foods: pizza, crab, pasta, chicken

Clip Source: www.time.com

China

Food expenditure for one week: 1,233.76 Yuan or $155.06
Favorite foods: fried shredded pork with sweet and sour sauce

Clip Source: www.time.com

Great Britain

Food expenditure for one week: 155.54 British Pounds or $253.15
Favorite foods: avocado, mayonnaise sandwich, prawn cocktail, chocolate fudge cake with cream

Artists make jewlery from Human Breast Milk

Sun, 20 Jul 2008 18:31:47 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: This verges on the bizarre....

Clip Source: www.app.com

A group of French artists, commissioned for an exhibit to examine the early relationship between mother and infant, have designed a line of jewelry made out of … breast milk.

The jewelry is made by boiling human milk mixed with vinegar.

The process causes the casein protein in the milk to harden into plastic, which then can be molded and painted.

The “milk pearl” necklaces, bracelets and other objects created by the design collective Duende will go on display later this year in Paris.

The collective say it envisions the day when all mothers will be able to send a bottle of their milk to a laboratory to obtain a permanent memento of their pregnancy.

Tags: design, jewelry

Archaeologists google an ancient find

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 08:44:10 GMT

clipped by: pokkets
clipper's remarks: Some things are much easier to see from the air. It would be better than flying a plane over Afghanistan.

Clip Source: www.abc.net.au

Dani Cooper

Indiana Jones's next adventure may well be in front of a computer if Hollywood scriptwriters decide to embrace a new approach to archaeological research in war-torn zones.

A satellite image of the Bust citadel in Afghanistan (Source: Google Earth)

David Thomas, a PhD student in La Trobe University's archaeological program in Melbourne, has used Google Earth to safely uncover historic sites in a remote part of war-torn Afghanistan.

Using the free internet resource, Thomas found up to 450 possible archaeological sites in Registan, which borders Helmand and Kandahar provinces in southern Afghanistan.

The decision to use Google Earth was "partly born out of adversity", Thomas says when a planned field trip was cancelled because of security concerns.

Google Earth allows archaeologists to overcome the perils of war zones.

Thomas's approach has reaped a huge bounty of new details about known archaeological sites, and uncovered hundreds of previously unknown sites in the country.

5 easy ways to access your bookmarks anywhere

Sat, 19 Jul 2008 21:30:42 GMT

clipped by: Mohir

Clip Source: en.onsoftware.com

Having full access to your bookmarks wherever you are is now something that most users take for granted. Not so long ago, the only way to really ensure you had your bookmarks with you was to crudely send them to your e-mail account and access them from there. Nowadays, you’re almost spoiled for choice meaning it’s easy than ever to work on the move or check your favorite RSS feeds during a spare moment away from the home or office. And having a way to access your bookmarks from any location is a great way to avoid disaster if your hard drive fails and you lose everything. For desktop PC users, here are 5 of the best:

Foxmarks - The undisputed king for Firefox users - works seamlessly 24/7

Bookmarks Unifier - Export bookmarks to hard copy for Firefox, Internet Explorer and Opera

Mozmarks - An early predecessor to Foxmarks but with less synchronisation

Chipmark - Browser bookmarks plugin for both Internet Explorer and Firefox

Blinklist - Gives you access anywhere

Tags: internet, bookmarks