Recently, I commented on a comm. I shouldn't have. It was just another citation of yet another scientific theory that has been embraced with way, way too much enthusiasm by outlets beholdened to that sweet, sweet advertiser cash. And many if not most of those sponsors are somehow complicit in the carbon economy. The less this irritating ( Read more... )

This is a pile of frustration I've been saving up for a good weekend dumping. Therefore, as all good LJ posters should, I will now include ( an LJ cut. )

Many, many years ago I noted that the hyper-sanitary paradigm of health, the mantra that Cleaner is Always Better, might be making us sicker. Specifically, researchers have been doing things that totally trigger the Icky! factor in us, notably administering feces to patients as a cure for their conditions.

I first heard about this on the ( Read more... )

A digital microscopic camera for ten bucks?!? Even better, I've got the hardware laying about, so the cost for me is nothing, since the cat doesn't like chasing the laser.

If I didn't have a garage and attic to clean today. Oh, and if I had kids, I'd probably live with the dirty garage and attic. This is too cool to let lie unbuilt!

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Last February, NPR's Planet Money examined a unique strategy by Ecuador's government to preserve its Yasuni National Park, an isolated and wild place reached best by hours in a canoe. This is one of those places with amazing biodiversity, with more tree species in a hectare than most more northern countries have within their borders ( Read more... )

Just about every time I toured a church or cathedral in Europe years ago and saw beautifully carved pews, screens and other ecclesiastic detritus, I thought about how well such preserved structures sequestered carbon within the wood itself. The trouble, of course, is volume.


( Read more... )

All to often, people like to toss out the tired trope about how much energy a single Google search consumes. I say it's tired simply because the same tossers never seem to consider what energy uses a single Google search avoids. Seriously, think of a hard question to answer simply, ( like the wonky one I provide below this cut. )

Click here. Click demo. Make geared machines virtually go around.

Fun!

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Via Phil Plaitt the Bad Astronomer.

I haven't been following the news lately, but last I checked our atmosphere hit a milestone in human history by finally reaching the 400 parts per million concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide. In doing some preliminary research for this entry, I find that the number has since been revised downward . . . to 399.89 ppm.

Well, excuse us. ( Read more... )