First Nancy Pelosi decided to shut down NASA because they prefer to speak English. As of now, HR 3737, funding supporting SETI, is effectively dead. With David Obey on the oversight committee, we can expect a whole lot more of science getting axed if it has nothing to do with proving global warming exists.
Thanks Phil. This is what we get when the science community is completely blinded by partisan politics and rhetoric.
Check out the location of this visitor:
If you zoom in, repeatedly, there is still nothing there but a bunch of water. No matter what map I look at, there’s nothing there. All that leads me to wonder if it’s not someone on a boat with GPS or something. That’s not really how the internet works, so I pretty much had to dismisss the Gilligan’s Island scenario where I was going to have to rush off and save Mary Ann. At this point, I’m totally clueless. That’s a heck of a place to be right now.
All this would not have struck as being sooooo weird if it weren’t for the fact the only thing they were interested in was the Jeff Peckman alien video. I sorta get the feeling someone out there is concerned about that video outing them?
( In all seriousness, where IS that? )
That is a typical underwater volcano. I love to watch them. Something eerie looking, kinda alien. So, I finally found a story that gives me the opportunity to show at least a picture of one. Here’s today’s story:
Which, I read with special interest since CNN ran a poll about the story of the polar ice caps melting entirely this summer. There has been quite a bit of media interest and speculation as to why the polar ice caps are melting. Now, we had been through this scenario before. Everythign was melting in Greenland, and it was all man’s fault. Until, that is, they figured out there was a large volcano underneath Greenland heating everything up. Once they figured that out, Greenland hasn’t been mentioned since in the global warming debate and the polar ice caps immediately started melting. Not one person thought to see if the same thing was happening at the North Pole as it was in Greenland. Well, now that they have found that the same thing IS happening at the North Pole, this is what they figured out:
“We don’t believe the volcanoes had much effect on the overlying ice,” Reeves-Sohn told LiveScience, “but they seem to have had a major impact on the overlying water column.”
Now, I’m inclined to believe they don’t want to believe it has any effect on the overlying ice. My limited science background does tell me that heat rises. And, it also tells me volcanoes are very hot. Now, granted these volcanoes are under a lot of water, that heat still has to go somewhere. It just bugs me that although “scientists” are more than willing to research the connection of gases moving from continental US and photosynthesizing over the Arctic, thereby trapping the sun’s rays closer to earth and slightly warming the atmosphere by less than five degrees and thereby causing all of the ice at the North Pole to melt, they are unwilling apparently to explore the concept that a volcano releasing lava at 1,250 degrees directly below the ice would melt it.
Maybe it’s just me, but I would hope anyone reading these articles will scratch their heads as well.
My bet, in the not too distant future, someone is going to hypothesize that the extreme heat of those underwter volcanoes is contributing to the melting ice directly above them.
Duh.
I have been running a poll for a while asking people what they think the future of energy is. So far, biomass is coming in dead last at 9% or so. Quite frankly, I tended to be one of those that felt like biomass was the least likely. The efforts in biomass so far have yielded some pretty nasty, and pretty useless results. However, check this out:
SwiftFuel’sgeneral aviation SwiftFuel© is less expensive, more fuel-efficient and significantly environmentally friendlier. Unlike current biomass fuels, SwiftFuel© is comprised of synthetic hydrocarbons derived from biomass yet meets or exceeds the standards for aviation fuel as verified by nationally recognized laboratories…..
The general aviation industry each year uses nearly 570 million gallons of 100LL aviation fuel, which is toxic, increasingly expensive and non-renewable. In contrast, testing has shown SwiftFuel© is 15 percent to 20 percent more fuel efficient, has no sulfur emissions, requires no stabilizers; has a 30-degree lower freezing point, introduces no new carbon emissions, and is lead-free. In addition, the components of this fuel can be formulated into a replacement for jet/turbine fuels.
Now, the kicker to me is biomass is basically anything that rots
Special Hat Tip to Jeff!
Here is Volkswagon’s vision of the future:
Now, this is pretty cool. More along the lines of appearing pretty normal. Now, according to Cnet, Volkswagon is expecting a consumer version of this car in 7 to 10 years. What they are waiting on is for some semblence of a hydrogen infrastructure to be in place.
I don’t think that’s going to happen in 7 to 10 years. The logic is pretty simple. Several companies have already pondered the infrastructure situation and potential and are looking at more efficient electrical use. I’ve written about the Volt, it runs on batteries. Now, my guess is in 7 to 10 years, once batteries become more of a staple of transportation and are being sold by the millions, that technology will only improve. Particularly, I see a focus on the ability to re-charge in a timely manner. Possibly, you’ll see stations carrying replacement batteries so a person in a hurry could in theory just drop a new battery in and leave their old battery there, for a fee of course.
What I really don’t see is a mass conversion of mom and pop gas stations across America spending the money it would take to set up hydrogen refueling stations in hopes that some day a bunch of people will be driving cars using that hydrogen. It just doesn’t make any sense for the gas station owner. Especially when you consider the fact that cars running on electricity only now are getting 300 miles and more on a single charge.
Now, at this time, Volkswagon’s Hymotion is a electric-gas hybrid. MY suggestion to Volkswagon is to go the electric route and get these cars on the road now. If they don’t, and sit around waiting for hydrogen to pop up, they’ll probably wind up way behind the wheel when everyone is driving electric.
Watch out GM, there’s a new competitor in the hybrid market:
Actually, that’s the rear of the Aptera. Pretty spacey lookin huh? Might explain some of the UFO sightings in California of late. Now, on a more serious note, this things gets something like 230 miles per gallon.
That’s the front of the Typ-1. Looks like a plane with the wings chopped off to me. And, for all intents, it is. Keep the aerodynamics and run it on electricity and you’ve got a low drag vehicle that doesn’t take a whole lot to get moving. Toss in some pretty space-age digital only displays and you’ve really got something to play with. Price it at less than $30,000 and you’ve actually got the potential to sell some of them as well.
Now, imagine the shape the US would be in if everyone were getting, at worst, 230 miles per gallon. Figured it this way, that $200 a month on gasoline would be reduced to about $16.
What I do like about this thing is the outrageous mpg if you go that route ( they have an electric only option as well ). What I don’t like is the rather spare interior. It’s small, so you’re going to be right on top of everything inside. More color, more flash, more gadgets are needed. I hate white interiors. Secondly, although I’m sure it’s an option not shown, flashier exterior paint jobs would be a boon as well. This thing is a one trick pony, it can easily be a lot more appealing. Other than that. I’m hopped up about this.
I’ll bet GM is too. They are promoting their Volt will be ready in a couple of years for mass markets. Aptera is claiming they are right now.
A while back I did a little piece on the future of cars. Namely I was writing about the Chevy Volt. Well, actually it was more than a little while back. It was actually January 2007. Eighteen months later I see these headlines:
Now, I guess I should be thrilled they’re following my suggestion. However, I just gotta wonder exactly how many Prious were sold in those same eighteen months?
I also gotta wonder why CNN refers to the Volt as “a so-called plug-in hybrid”? Seems kinda snide for no reason at all to me. If a person doesn’t have to go more than 40 or so miles between charges, it uses no gasoline at all. In case of emergency, that electrical boost/back-up is there. It is, in the truest sense, a hybrid. Now, to put it complete perspective, a truly electric only car is NOT a hybrid. It just strikes me these days that in order to make sure everyone knows CNN is a bunch of biased idiots, they go the extra mile.
I haven’t seen a Volt yet. But, as I said eighteen months ago, make it cheap and I’m all over it!
Jeff Peckman wants Denver to form an extra-terrestrial affairs committee. The reason is he has a video that proves aliens exist. They apparently are about four feet tall. He apparently got this video of the alien peeping through a window at night on infra-red ( night vision ) camera. Of course, his main point is this proves a government cover-up.
Now, this is where it gets predictable.
Peckman’s former efforts in dealing with the council included a proposed ballot for “safety through peace” and most recently, a device to reduce the chaos of electromagnetic fields.
In support(?) of Peckman, a group of local high school students showed up at the meeting wearing, you guessed it, tin foil hats.
This just keeps getting better every day.
This is very cool:
The picture is of Phoenix landing on Mars and was taken by the Mars Orbiter. Hard to imagine that there is so much stuff flying around and on Mars that they can now take pictures of each other.
I’m watching the streaming broadcast of Mission Control handling the Phoenix landing on Mars. This is very cool!