The Book I’m Most Anticipating For 2010 | The Intersection

Vanessa Woods is not only one of my dearest friends, she’s also an extremely gifted writer. Currently at Duke University, she studies the cognitive development of chimpanzees and bonobos at sanctuaries in the Republic of Congo and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Next June, Vanessa’s latest book, Bonobo Handshake, will be published–and I can’t wait…

Check out this video and read the description below:

Bonobo Handshake

In 2005, Vanessa Woods accepted a marriage proposal from a man she barely knew and agreed to join him on a research trip to the war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo. Settling in at a bonobo sanctuary in Congo’s capital, Vanessa and her fiancé entered the world of a rare ape with whom we share 98.7% of our DNA. Vanessa soon discovered that bonobos live in a peaceful society in which females are in charge, war is nonexistent, and sex is as common and friendly as a handshake.

A fascinating memoir of hope and adventure, Bonobo Handshake traces Vanessa’s self-discovery as she finds herself falling deeply in love with her husband, the apes, and her new surroundings. Courageous and extraordinary, Almost French meets The Poisonwood Bible in this true story of revelation and transformation in a fragile corner of Africa.


Reconditioning Cutters

I am trying to find a way to recondition cutters that we use in production. We have about 70 people right now and growing. Everyone has there own cutters "mostly this style" and at $50-60 a pop we cant just buy new ones every time they get dull so we have been grinding them in-house.

We have tr

Global Warming Could Make the Ocean a Noisier Place to Live | 80beats

dolphinsChalk up another unexpected consequence of pumping too much carbon dioxide into the air: According to a new study, the excess CO2 that ends up in seawater is gradually making the oceans noisier.

The changing chemistry of the ocean is one of the major impacts of CO2 emissions. The dissolved gas is changing the pH of the water by making it more acidic, which makes life harder for corals and marine critters with calcium carbonate shells that are corroded by the acidic water. But the new study, published in Nature Geoscience, found that changing the pH of the oceans also reduces the levels of chemicals that absorb sound, like magnesium sulphate and boric acid.

Low-frequency sound in the ocean is produced by natural phenomena such as rain, waves and marine life, and by human activities such as sonar systems, shipping and construction. The sound is absorbed mainly through the viscosity of the water and the presence of certain dissolved chemicals…. But the concentration of chemicals that absorb sound in the oceans has declined as a result of ocean acidification [AFP]. The study found that sound absorption could fall by some 60 percent in high latitudes and deep waters by 2100.

The pH change is only affecting sounds in the lower frequency range, and it’s not yet clear how that will impact marine mammals like dolphins and whales that use acoustics to find food and mates. Says study coauthor Richard Zeebe: “If the noise level increases, it can distract species,” he said. “If they’re trying to identify certain sounds in the ocean important for them for reproduction, feeding or something, and if the background noise is increasing, it could essentially cover certain sounds they depend on. This is a possibility” [Honolulu Star-Bulletin].

Related Content:
80beats: Prepare for a Lobster-Full Future: Acidic Oceans Could Help Some Critters
80beats: Ocean Acidification: Worse Than the Big Problem We Thought It Was
80beats: Oil and Gas Exploration Forces Whales to Speak Up
80beats: Sonar Damage to Dolphins’ Hearing Is Akin to the “Rock-Concert Effect”
80beats: Cacophony in the Oceans May Confuse Whales and Drown Out Their Songs

Image: flickr / jurvetson


Joining PVC and XLPE Cables

can I join cables made of PVC and XLPE ( of same cross section, say 300 mmsq Aluminum) ? Old cable is of PVC and new one is XLPE. Both cables are armoured. Service voltage is 415VAC. If service voltage is 3.3 KV any additionel precautions are required?

Thanks

Classic Snow Vehicles

In the wake of the recent massive snowfall along the U.S. East Coast, we bring you a few wintry links today. First, there's the circa 1926 photo of a Model T snowmobile, which was spotted among the National Postal Museum's collection on Flickr. Next, there's the video of the Armstead Snow Motors c

Free IEC Publications?

Good day.

I wonder if some of you people could direct me to some free sources of IEC publications

Happens that I am interested in develop a electric vehicle , and need some IEC regulations with relevance to it. Have not enough coin to pay for those.

And I am wr

VHS to CD

Is there a way to copy info from a VHS tape to a CD without a major investment in

equipment? I have a vhs player and a computer capable of burning cd's.

oilcan13

The Control Knob: CO2 in Earth's Climate History

Richard B. Alley explained the role of CO2 in Earth's climate history at the AGU Fall Metting in San Francisco December 14-18, 2009 here. Fair warning: the video lasts one hour. In the presentation, he dicussed ocean acidification, ocean CO2 absorption, volcanic activity, ice cores, earth cores, oce

My Cameo in the “ClimateGate” Emails | The Intersection

It has been brought to my attention that I am mentioned, once, in the “ClimateGate” email stash. If you go here and search for my name, you find this, an email from Tom Wigley of NCAR, who I have interviewed for various stories:

From: Tom Wigley <wigley@xxxxxxxxx.xxx>
To: santer1@xxxxxxxxx.xxx
Subject: Re: [Fwd: [Fwd: FW: Press Release from The Science & Environmental Policy Project]]
Date: Mon, 10 Dec 2007 17:17:14 -0700
Cc: carl mears <mears@xxxxxxxxx.xxx>, Frank Wentz <frank.wentz@xxxxxxxxx.xxx>, Tom Wigley <wigley@xxxxxxxxx.xxx>, Steven Sherwood <Steven.Sherwood@xxxxxxxxx.xxx>, John Lanzante <John.Lanzante@xxxxxxxxx.xxx>, “‘Dian J. Seidel’” <dian.seidel@xxxxxxxxx.xxx>, Melissa Free <Melissa.Free@xxxxxxxxx.xxx>, Karl Taylor <taylor13@xxxxxxxxx.xxx>, Steve Klein <klein21@xxxxxxxxx.xxx>, Leopold Haimberger <leopold.haimberger@xxxxxxxxx.xxx>, “Thorne, Peter” <peter.thorne@xxxxxxxxx.xxx>, “‘Philip D. Jones’” <p.jones@xxxxxxxxx.xxx>

Dear all,

I think the scientific fraud committed by Douglass needs to
be exposed. His co-authors may be innocent bystanders, but
I doubt it.

In normal circumstances, what Douglass has done would cause
him to lose his job — a parallel is the South Korean cloning
fraud case.

I have suggested that someone like Chris Mooney should be
told about this.

Tom.

In searching my emails, I was never told about this, and certainly never wrote anything about the situation, which I am not familiar with. As a journalist, though, I certainly do want to receive tips of things to write about, and I frequently do from a wide variety of folks. With only the most rare of exceptions, I never get around to writing anything; but in this case, I wasn’t even tipped.

Still, I can see why scientists concerned about global warming, and accepting of the scientific consensus, would want me to cover the topic, including its political side. By 2007 I already had a track record for exposing the misinformation campaign to mislead the public about climate change, something I continue to do today. And given that there is such a misinformation campaign–with “ClimateGate” being the latest and perhaps the most severe example–we need scientists and journalists alike striving to set the record straight.

I guess that that’s my way of saying that, as with virtually all of the “ClimateGate” emails that I have seen, the single one mentioning my name is not very surprising–especially as it regards me, who never even heard of this until now.


A sun pillar gooses the sky | Bad Astronomy

Regular readers know I’m fascinated with sky phenomena. On December 26, 2009, around 4:30 p.m. local time, I happened to look out my office window and saw a gorgeous beam of orange light shooting straight up into the sky out of the sunset. I rushed outside with my camera and got this shot of it:

[Click to embiggen.]

Isn’t that pretty? I think it’s a sun pillar, a vertical column of light caused by the setting sun’s light being reflected off of the flat surfaces of hexagonal ice crystals in the air. Given that it was several degrees below freezing when I shot this, ice crystals in the air isn’t a totally crazy idea.

However, I can’t be sure this isn’t just a run-of-the-mill crepuscular ray, just those normal beams of light you see coming from the setting Sun as it’s broken up by clouds near the horizon. But it’s rare to see a single ray like that, and much rarer to see it beaming straight up like that.

As I was taking this shot, I heard honking coming from the north that I instantly knew was coming from geese. I waited a moment, and then hundreds of geese in formation flew right into the shot! Awesome, and very scenic. I was able to get some pictures, but had to stop down the camera to get the geese, and that introduced noise (the speckly grainy look in digital images) into the sky. I fiddled with the contrast a bit to show the geese, and the picture still looks a little "grainy" but cool:

There were several V-formations of geese this size going by over the course of a minute or two, and during that time the pillar faded, as you can see in this shot. Still, what a sight!

This is the kind of thing you see when you open your eyes and look up. If we could take every human on the planet one at a time, hold their hand, and simply show them this, then I just bet this world would be a better place.

Life is beautiful. You just have to notice it.


Replacing a Rotork Actuator

Hi

We face some problem when we proceed to replace the existing Actuator , rotork IQ20 F14 B drawing NO 200-520-01 with IQ20 F14 A DRWAING No 300-500-04, as you knew both of them are dual Channel

All configuration parameter done ,from local control conducting open

Solar Power after Dark

Solar power after the sun goes down is possible and usable if the power can be stored.   This is being described as a game-changer for the solar industry.

An artist's rendering by SolarReserve

“The two farms being planned by SolarReserve of Santa Monica, Calif., would store the sun’s energy in molten salt, releasing the heat at night when it could be used to drive a turbine and generate electricity. Two utilities, NV Energy in Nevada and Pacific Gas and Electric, Northern California’s biggest utility, would buy the power.

The sun’s intermittent nature has made large-scale solar farms most useful as so-called peaker plants that supply electricity when demand spikes, typically in the late afternoon on hot days. But the ability of SolarReserve to store the sun’s energy for use at night would be a step forward in technology.”

These plants can hold between 7 and 12 hours of power storage.  It works with salt, but I wish they had discussed more in detail how it works.  (See the link below.)

“The solar farm features a 538-foot-tall concrete tower topped by a 100-foot receiver that contains millions of gallons of molten salt. The Rocketdyne division of United Technologies developed the molten salt technology and has licensed it to SolarReserve.

Huge fields of mirrors called heliostats focus the sun on the receiver, which heats the salt to 1,050 degrees. The liquefied salt flows through a steam-generating system to drive the turbine and is returned to the receiver to be heated again.”

Molten salt storage is discussed here.

Read more here

Trading Sewage for Carp

Libertarians are fond of noting that government projects can have unintended consequences; here's an example:

The reversal of the Chicago River a century ago, to send the city's sewage to the Mississippi River instead of into Lake Michigan, was hailed as an engineering marvel. Now Michigan is suing Illinois to potentially re-reverse the river to prevent the movement of voracious, invasive Asian carp into the lake.

Perhaps the right action now is to re-reverse the river, but perhaps that will have its own unintended consequences.  Any thoughts?

Besides, aren't carp good eating?   My grandmother made wicked-good smoked carp (using carp spear-gunned in Lake Erie by a neighbor at my grandparents' cottage).  Carp is a delicacy in Europe and Asia.

Think I'm kidding? Check out these carp recipes.

Al-Shabaab Militants in Somalia seize 5 Islands: Advance on Kenyan Border

by Eric Dondero:

Islamic Militarism is on the rise throughout Sub-Saharan Africa. Muslim insurgents are pushing further and further southward on all fronts. Nigeria, home to Flight 253 Terrorist Bomber Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab , has become almost entirely Muslim-dominated, except for the City of Lagos, and surrounding suburbs.

The eastern part of the Continent is also suffering under an increasing Islamic onslaught. And the center for the Muslim insurgency is Somalia.

Strict Sharia Law being imposed

Al-Shabaab, the Al-Qaeda linked Militant Islamic group out of Somalia, has now taken full control of all southern provinces from government troops. Witin the last few days they have seized 5 islands off the Kenyan coast.

In areas controlled they are quickly imposing Sharia Law in the strictest sense.

Speaking from one of the islands seized - Raskamboni Island - an Al-Shabaab spokesmansaid (via NewstimeAfrica.com):

"We arrived here to implement the Islamic law, and this is kind of extending our rule into more lands in Somalia. The Mujahideens have realized their grip on all southern regions in Somalia and in the near future we hope to govern all Somalia under the holy Quran rule."

Meanwhile, Kenya has reacted by sealing off their border completely.

From AllAfrica.com:

Nairobi — The government has stepped up security along the Kenya-Somalia border to ward off security threats posed by militias that have taken control of most of the war ravaged country.

Administration Police commandant Kinuthia Mbugua said on Wednesday that Kenya's border with Somalia was now under intense security following these threats, including specialized team operations patrolling the Indian Ocean.

"There was the initial threat posed by piracy but extremist groups in Somalia have now compounded the security problem at our border with the country and we have imposed heavy security border patrols," he said.

Kenya falling to Islam: Threats from within and without

Kenya for decades has been viewed as a model Western-style democracy. Now Kenya is under threat of Muslim domination. The Eastern Africa Nation is suffering through an increasing amount of ethnic violence, between Muslim-dominated Tribes and members of the Kikuya Tribe. Two years ago, the ruling Christian party was forced into a power-sharing arrangement by Luo Tribe leader Raila Odinga.

From the Washington Post, Dec. 23:

Odinga accused Kibaki, who is Kikuyu, of stealing the 2007 presidential election. What followed has been described by investigations as a well-planned bloodbath...

Odinga's supporters then "burned houses and farms and otherwise drove Kikuyus out of the Rift Valley with bows, arrows and machetes." In one village they surrounded a church and burned alive 600 parishioners. When the violence subsided by some accounts over 3,000 Christians and non-Muslim secular Tribesmen, had been killed.

Today the situation is threatening to flare up yet again. Compounding the problem, Al-Shabaab, rumored to be aligned with some Kenyan Muslim factions, are threatening cross-border incursions.

Continuing from WaPo:

Despite a power-sharing deal and a reform agenda intended to rescue this nation from collapse, the situation remains dangerously volatile...

With Kenya's eastern neighbor, Somalia, at war with al-Qaeda-linked rebels and its northwestern neighbor, Sudan, sliding toward civil war, U.S. officials say a stable Kenya is more crucial than ever.

But the coalition government of President Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader turned prime minister Raila Odinga has remained entrenched in the divisive tribal politics that led to the ethnic violence.

Director of the Kenyan group Centre for Human Righs and Democracy, Ken Wafula said:

"Unless something is done, we are waiting for an explosion that would be very disastrous."

Key - Map highlights increasing encroachment of Islam through Sub-Saharan Africa. Areas in Green are Muslim-dominated. Shaded Green areas are new areas of Muslim influence.