Tuesday morning link roundup

• Berkeley wants the Marines out - not surprising given their history. We're in the age when everyone delights in acting according to stereotype.
  
• More biofuel scams
• This looks cool
• I'll be attempting somethign like this soon
• Multiple video chat
• A brilliantly simple image stabilizer

Sunday morning links

Sorry for the light blogging work, getting the condo ready for sale is taking up quite some time. Here are some links for everyone

• From the Agitator - Sheriff: SWAT Team Necessary Because Man Is a "Self-Proclaimed Constitutionalist"
• I'm feeling a strong urge to install this in my library
• This is interesting (new alt energy that could conceivably work)
  
• Why must the media not do their homework on plug in hybrids? If you're getting some some of the energy from gasoline, and some from the power grid, then miles per gallon is a bad measure of energy efficiency. Nonetheless, check out this CNN piece. FYI - CalCars has been doing this for years.
• Top Giuliani staffers go without pay, a lame thing to do.
  

Solar power makes a step

The much touted Nano Solar corporation, seems to be ready to actually ship it's first product. Supposedly it makes it cost competitive with coal. A welcome development.

Wednesday rapid fire

• Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer!
• I had an idea similar to this a while back actually
• Edison vs Tesla
• Free mind mapping software
  

A cool solar thermal video

From CNNFN.

Double weirdness

• The quest for alternative energy seems to have caused an earthquake. In Switzerland no less. Overall it's cool though.
• The dirty car art gallery - a guy actually does fine artwork on dirty cars. See to believe.
  

Starting somewhere

I came across an interesting article on AJC.com about a couple in Grant Park trying to erect a windmill on their own property. For those who don't know, Grant Park is a tony neighborhood near the center of Atlanta that prides itself on diversity. Like most areas that pride themselves on diversity, it's composed largely of childless college-educated types who overwhelmingly vote for the Democratic party.

Needless to say the neighbors are contesting the windmill. While they're organized enough to put together a website, they don't seem to be organized enough to utilize the Coase Theorem. Needless to say, I'm for them erecting the windmill on their own property.

Before anyone asks, wind power is usually much more efficient (per dollar) than solar energy, and also has a much lower starting price. Also, modern windmills are geared to prevent fast rotation which protects birds.

Quick Friday roundup while uploading

• Cool new wind turbines
• A good article on insanity and Angela Yates
• Oil from Algae!
• 15 year old performs surgery in India
• The art of the doable to do list
• The greatest sidewalk artist ever
  

The good side of ethanol

It would seem that the viability of ethanol is finally being questioned in the environmental movement. About time too.

Monday link roundup

• An in-depth examination on how to build an energy efficient house
• Robot snipers in Israel
• Strobist begins Lighting 102
• No one thinks seriously about alternative energy. Check out this post from TreeHugger "New Battery Pushed Prius to 125 MPG". It's a great idea and invention, but it's a plug-in hybrid. The motion is coming from the power grid. Granted electricity is usually more efficient than gasoline, but that's like saying that a diesel engine gets infinite mileage because it doesn't burn any gasoline at all.
  

Monday link roundup

• A useful post from CodingHorror.com on interface friction
• Al Gore, like Ann Coulter, seems to be a mac person
• A blog for women! And one of the editors might be someone I went to high school with.
• Kuler! The Adobe web color harmony tool - via this site
• Co-Mapping (mind mapping software) looks cool
• Properly bashing ethanol
• HiddenUnities and PurposeSlog have posts on the Wire and 24. I helpfully added the Shield in the comments. All excellent programs, though 24 is basically a commercial for the cell phone industry, not torture.
  

Worm gears and motors and robot, oh my!

As my mad scientist phase continues, I've come across a few cool supply sites (some from Mark)

• Robot Objects
• Surplus Robot Parts
  

In other news, I just ordered 3 sets of brass robot gears for ten bucks from E-Bay. They should arrive soon.

Wind Power in Popular Mechanics

Popular Mechanics has an interesting article on Wind Power on their site. Sadly, it makes it seem unworkable on any kind of large scale. It would be quite handy on a small to medium scale though.

A cool idea

ThinkCycle.org - an open source community for machines.

A mad scientist period

For some reason I'm going through a mad scientist phase right now. My current idea is pair a passive solar heater with a Stirling engine and see how much power is actually generated. Hopefully I'll have time to work on it in a few weeks.

The tin can Stirling engine

I came across simple plans for a tin can Stirling Engine on the interweb, I think I'm going to build one. I've had some thoughts on how to pair one up with a solar chimney that might actually work. I'll keep everyone posted.

Manhattan project for energy independence

Some ideas never go away; to wit, in what way does the statement, said by many "we need a Manhattan project for energy independence differ from Soviet industrial policy? It's quite different from the original Manhattan project in that it's quite wide in scope and chases an ill defined goal, whereas the original Manhattan project was quite specific in both method and destination.

Benchmarks of seriousness

I was taking an advanced economic history class during the Republican "Revolution" of 94. Someone asked the professor if there was any historical precedent for radical change following a big party switch in Congress alone. He cited many near examples I don't remember but then said "We'll know if they're serious about cutting spending if they get rid of farm subsidies.". It's now more than twelve years later and farm subsidies are going strong.

I was reading this interview with George Schulz and he, talking about oil dependence, had the line

I won’t believe we’re serious about it until we’re willing to remove the tariff on import of ethanol. And take quotas off sugar and a few things like that.

which is a fine benchmark to tell if anyone really cares about oil dependence. Support for nuclear power is a good one too.

For some technical background; American ethanol production is one of the least efficient efforts in the world, largely because we make it from corn (which we have a lot of) which is a poor source material. Sugar (of which we grow very little) is a far better source material. The American climate is not well suited to grow sugar, but it is well suited to grow corn. Both the corn and sugar lobbies are well organized and powerful and benefit greatly from subsidies and tariffs.

Friday Rapid Fire

• European Solar Power - with an array of mirrors instead of photo voltaic panels
• CogMap - an online organization chart maker, pretty cool, very Ajax-ey
• SilverLight - Microsoft's Next Big Thing has it's first (that I've seen) user generated application. And I just learned Ajax...
  

Passive solar power

Via TreeHugger.com, I came across this interesting how-to article on passive solar power. An expanded article can be found on Instructables.com.

Quick Wednesday link splash

• Backyard wind-power - not cheap, but not horribly pricey either. I imagine this would work much better in the country.
• The Aral Sea - on Wikipedia
• An interview with Michael Crichton
• Hand Cranked Cell phone charger - sadly available only in Japan. One would think it would be more popular here. Oh well.
• More hydrogen economy
  

Quick Thursday round up

• An interesting profile of Robert Levy, who spearheaded the successful DC gun ban lawsuit. I met him several years ago when I was interning at Cato. A very smart and nice guy.
• More future of the automobile, this time from CNN. The big three American automakers and their Japanese counterparts seem to be hopelessly stuck in the past and burdened with vast wastelands of legacy costs and outdated equipment. I still have hope for American cottage industry to fill some of the gap, but I expect most of the "new" ideas to come from China. My reasoning is: The single largest unrealized opportunity for efficient cars is not the propulsion, it's in the weight of the car itself. With new advances in carbon fiber and plastics (to replace the body, windshield, axels, and so on) you can lighten the vehicle considerably while keeping safety and performance constant. Lighter vehicle=greater fuel efficiency (by whatever measure). I think the existing players have too much invested in the current scheme and will get whupped by Chinese auto manufacturers when China reaches the necessary level of industrial sophistication (my prediction, 2015).
• Microsoft is giving away a new accounting program. I'll have a field review in a few days.
• A pretty cool homemade fuel cell system. Not commercially viable (yet), but a good start at the grass roots.
• I just got John Boyd's biography.
  

Quick Thursday round up

• Interesting solar thermal plant in Nevada.
• George Eastman - founder of Kodak, and the originator of two of my favorite quotes. He named his company Kodak because he thought the letter K was "a strong, incisive sort of letter". His suicide note was "My work is done. Why wait?".
• Tech Recipes - Vista Tips
• A good bio of Albert Jay Nock.
  

A good read on hydrogen

Check out this article on New Atlantis, they do the numbers on what it would take for hydrogen to work. It doesn't seem likely.

Monday rapid fire

• An interesting John Robb post - check out the map
• Solar powered home fueling station
• "I'm proud to pay taxes in America, but I could be just as proud for about half the money." by Arthur Godfrey
  

Thursday rapid fire

• Hitchens reviews Stein - personally I don't think the demographic argument carries much weight - look at the performance of Japan vs China and Germany vs Russia in WWII. A productive culture beats a backward one in a life or death struggle. It's an interesting read though. To clarify - the reason that Japan and Germany lost was American material and military support. While they could die bravely, that doesn't lead to many wins.
• Toddler's Temper Ousts Family From Plane -

  She was removed because "she was climbing under the seat and hitting the parents and wouldn't get in her seat" during boarding, Graham-Weaver said.

• Police in Tijuana Issued Sling Shots -

  The police department has issued about 60 slingshots to officers in the violent border city of Tijuana, where soldiers confiscated police weapons two weeks ago on allegations of collusion with drug traffickers.

  Yet the war on drugs continues. This time for sure!
  
• Battery Breakthrough - Well worth reading. If true, this changes American society for the better in ten years or less. Sadly, most scientific breakthroughs tend to be either false or meaningless
• Diane Feinstein and conflicts of interest
• Winning the battle for freedom - RTWT - from the founder of Whole Foods no less.
  

Monday round up

• GM has built a plug-in hybrid
• I like this guy

  Indian Hill lawyer and former congressional candidate Paul Hackett -- armed with a loaded assault rifle -- chased down three men in a car after it crashed into a fence at his home in the early morning hours of Nov. 19.

• I'm going to order this and this
• Tamara de Lempicka made some beautiful art deco paintings
  

Quick Wednsday rapid fire

• Free Fusion Razors
• Folk Alley seems cool
• Photoshop Tutorials
• Microsoft launches an html editor called Expressions. I'm quite curious.
• Republican uses animals, mariachi band to critique border security
• Google goes solar
  
• Crunching the Numbers on Hydrogen
  

The Church of Global Warming

I've had these pages open in FireFox forever

• Average temperature of water near top of Earth's oceans has significantly cooled - Global warming 'speed bump'? see also
  Dramatic climate changes during dinosaur-dominated Mesozoic Era - Relevant to current climate change discussion
• Money and Environmental problems
• Nature Does Not Exist by Mathew Parris

The Parris essay is superb, and summarizes my feelings on everything perfectly. I've held off doing anything with the links until I can come up a more detailed ranting of my thoughts, but Parris says it much better than I could. Plus it doubles as my general thoughts on community based views of religion.

Quick Monday rapid fire

• HomeSite meets C#
• Warlords of Afghanistan - not quite a fansite, but I think it's safe to say the internet is complete.
• Windmills on Amazon
• Google invests in Plug-in Hybrids - Cal Cars curiously unmentioned.
• Martial arts and motion capture
• The quest for 100 mpg cars - doable but not pretty
• A really cool bike steady-cam I'll probably be building soon.
• I wound up building (so to speak) this camera mount this weekend.
  

Tuesday rapid fire

I'm back from Kentucky, I'll have a recap of that soon, in the meantime, here are some interesting links

• Harry Anderson and New Orleans
• An underappreciated man of all time
• Ranking Blogs as newspapers
• Radio Shack fires 400 people by email
• Offshore wind mills - seems pretty cool
• Man Lives to 112 Despite Junk-Food Diet
• This was the funniest SNL skit of all time, surprisingly it's not on YouTube
• Another good skit is, specifically, Seinfeld meets Oz.
• A seemingly major oil discovery. Probably not as big a deal as everyone thinks it is, but then again, maybe not.
  

Monday rapid fire

• The best use of graphic thumbnails I've seen
• Calculate your Body Mass Index. This seems a tad unrealistic, and if this is what people are using to measure America's obesity "Epidemic" I'm much less impressed. It seems over broad and crappy. For instance, my ideal weight range is between 137 and 183, a difference of 46 pounds.
• Stirling Engines!
• Kurdistan, the other Iraq, it's where all of the American troops will be should a full fledged civil war break out. Described my Michael Totten as "a Muslim Utah". Shoul Iraq break up, this will be the country we subsidize most, besides Israel.
  
• $10 Panoramic Tripod Head - I need one of these.
  
• Apex Predators
• How much is inside....
• Cheap Handlebar mounts - something else I need.
• Milton Friedman TV!
  

Interesting

A very good post on GeoThermal energy by Malcolm Gladwell. For a simple explanation as to what it is

Geothermal heating and cooling is based on one simple fact: that 6 feet down in the ground the temperature is the same—between 50˚F and 60˚F- the whole year round. This means that it is relatively cool in the summer, and relatively warm in the winter.
...
For geothermal cooling, all one needs to do is to circulate water in a pipe through the ground to cool it, and use this cool water to cool the air pumped through the house in the heating ducts.

Heating is done much the same way. The numbers seem quite plausible, I wonder why it's not more popular.

Yet more reasons to hate environmentalists

I just saw the creator of "Who Killed the Electric Car" on the Daily show. He did not address the problems raised by David Friedman (mainly cost), or any of the range argument. Instead it was the usual anti-corporate spiel.

That's to be expected. What I found reprehensible was his not mentioning the new vehicle by Tesla Motors, or plug in hybrids from CalCars. Too many people in the alt-energy environmental front prefer a great excuse to a modest accomplishment and the director was no exception.

I suppose that's why Solar Towers (CNN article here, WikiPedia here) don't actually exist yet.

Quick round up

• The great migration period
• Interview with the 37 Signals Founder
• Free Visual Studio stuff
• Free technical tutorials stuff
• The Alternative Energy Store
• More electric cars
• Carbon fiber - seems cool

Tesla Motors seems way cool

The official unveiling of the Tesla Roadster is tomorrow, but Wired has photos and an article. It looks very cool.

Judging from the specs (I haven't seen any independent reviews) it seems like a plausible model. 0-60 in four seconds, 250 mile range for an electric car, standard batteries (i.e. laptop batteries) fairly quick recharge time. It could work.

Science Tuesday

In further effort to drive the biking in darkness post farther down the page I bring you Popular Mechanics interesting article comparing alternative fuels, as well as their article on souping up the human body.

I've been meaning to write about this for a while

But I haven't had the time. Here is a very good article on alternative liquid fuels. Not wholly convincing, but interesting nonetheless.

Saturday rapid fire

1. Forests paying the price for biofuels - not that surprising really. Everything has a cost.
2. Good and bad procrastination
   

   That's the sense in which the most impressive people I know are all procrastinators. They're type-C procrastinators: they put off working on small stuff to work on big stuff.
   
   What's "small stuff?" Roughly, work that has zero chance of being mentioned in your obituary.

Wednesday rapid fire

• Driving with Mr T.
• Poorly written and misleading article in Newsweek about poverty. To quote:

  The picture is clearest when you look at the number and fate of the world's middle- class countries (rather than middle-class individuals, although the story there is not so terrific, either).

  and

  The absolute income levels of the poorest may be creeping up. But with the notable exceptions of India and China and a few others
  

  Why is there no critical thinking anymore?
• Michael Jackson uses ladies room in Dubai
• Woman to marry man who shot her
• More on modded hybrid cars
• Solar power and Sterling Engines make the best chance for meaningful solar power I've seen so far.
  

More on the magic car

Asymetrical Information has an average post (which for them is of high quality) on the article on hybrid cars I mentioned yesterday. However the really interesting part is in the comments. That site really does have the best and most reasoned commenters.

One thing the blogosphere has left unsaid so far is: What changes can we expect with a year or two of gasoline at $2.50 a gallon? Presumably it won't stay that high for much longer, but if it did, how much more bottom-up innovation becomes feasible?

Cool and needed

I came across an interesting article on Fox News

Experimental Hybrid Cars Get Up to 250 Mpg

It looks like a typical Toyota Prius hybrid (search), but in the trunk sits an 80-miles-per-gallon secret — a stack of 18 brick-sized batteries that boosts the car's high mileage with an extra electrical charge so it can burn even less fuel.

Gremban, an electrical engineer and committed environmentalist, spent several months and $3,000 tinkering with his car.

Like all hybrids, his Prius increases fuel efficiency (search) by harnessing small amounts of electricity generated during braking and coasting. The extra batteries let him store extra power by plugging the car into a wall outlet at his home in this San Francisco suburb — all for about a quarter.

He's part of a small but growing movement. "Plug-in" hybrids aren't yet cost-efficient, but some of the dozen known experimental models have gotten up to 250 mpg.

...

University of California, Davis engineering professor Andy Frank built a plug-in hybrid from the ground up in 1972 and has since built seven others, one of which gets up to 250 mpg. They were converted from non-hybrids, including a Ford Taurus and Chevrolet Suburban.

Frank has spent $150,000 to $250,000 in research costs on each car, but believes automakers could mass-produce them by adding just $6,000 to each vehicle's price tag.

Instead, Frank said, automakers promise hydrogen-powered vehicles hailed by President Bush and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, even though hydrogen's backers acknowledge the cars won't be widely available for years and would require a vast infrastructure of new fueling stations.

"They'd rather work on something that won't be in their lifetime, and that's this hydrogen economy stuff," Frank said. "They pick this kind of target to get the public off their back, essentially."

Curiously missing from this article is any mention of a break-even point. Namely that at some price per gallon a $3,000 add-on is well worth the expense. Granted, it comes on top of an already high hybrid price, but a back of the envelop calculation would be welcome.

It sounds very intresting, though I am a bit dubious about the "quarters worth of electricity" bit. If true, that is just staggering.

Google Maps just keeps on getting better

Now they have Area 51 from the satellite view.

And in another Defense Tech link, is this article on installing windmills in Guantanamo Bay, which is really cool when you think about it. I suppose we're reaching the point at which some alternative energy sources are actually viable, though that oil prices will stay this high for too long.