The now infamous Gulf of Mexico oil spill has triggered development of new weapons in the containment fight. One of the most recent introductions: the plastic water bottle. Floating Island Environmental Solutions has just donated 1,000 ft of mats to shield Grande Isle, LA. The mats, made from recycl
Is Nano-based Food Really Food?
First, there was genetically altered food. Now, nanotechnology has introduced the potential for nanoparticles in the food supply. The public has a mixed reaction when it comes to the safety of nano-based products, so how will they perceive nano-based food? As food scientists turn to nanotechnology t
Uncle Sam Wants You!
To update its National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI), the United State White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) is soliciting information on everything from research priorities to partnerships and policy. Visit the 2007 NNI Strategic Plan and then respond to the Request for Info
Electric Motor/Capacitor Specs and Connection
Hi everyone, I was wondering if anyone could help me with this problem. I'm actually thinking on making my own wood lathe with this motor that was in a washing machine; problem is that I have 3 cables going out of the motor, red, black and blue. I am guessing that 2 of them are for the live wiring a
Energy Meter MF Calculation
how to calculate multipling factor for energy meter
my meter ct ratio is -/5 and field ct ratio is 200/5 so how to calculate mf for tham.
Wabimax
can you use stainless steel rods to weld mild steel together
Square Root Extraction
What pressure results for a flow transmitter of range 0- 180t/h in the dcs and 0-301mbar in the field using square root extraction. Kindly also suggest formulae for the percentages 0,25,50,75,100?
Dance of the Oil Well Caps
The lower estimates of the leak so far.
Radio show host Thom Hartmann spoke with John Wathen last week about the Gulf Oil leak.  John Wathen is a photographer, activist, and videographer from Waterkeeper.org.
What is going on in the Gulf? On Saturday, BP removed the cap from the gushing oil well in order to get ready for the installation of a new, better cap (so they say). The old cap will be swapped with a new cap that might even capture all the oil — if we lived in a perfect universe. According to BP, this one should fit better and things are expected to go well because the weather in the Gulf is finally cooperating.  There is now real hope that they can install this better cap and stop the leak within the next 2-3 weeks. According to the Washington Post:
For a day or two, the damaged wellhead will gush anew — with the estimated 15,000 barrels of oil a day that had been captured by the old cap now flowing freely. But if all goes well, said BP senior vice president Kent Wells, additional ships and a sturdier cap with a tighter seal will be in place in four to seven days.
“Things going well” is not what has happened so far. Maybe things are about to change? Meanwhile, BP continues to spew dispersants into the Gulf of Mexico, causing incredible health risks to every one who lives down there. More on that below.
John Wathen has been making videos showing the devastation from the oil leak. His video of whales and dolphins dying was broadcast on cable news channels two weeks ago. In his interivew with Hartmann, Wathen stated that the oil leak is a “disaster of epic proportions.” He said it’s something that you can’t describe in words or video, no matter how dramatic those videos are. He said they flew for several hours and never flew over clean water.
Hartmann complained about the media not covering this topic enough, but I disagree with that. CNN has been parked in the Gulf for several weeks and so have other media, even mainstream media. The media has done a decent job reporting this so far, which surprises me, but I could feel their interest waning a bit in the last few days.
Wathen said the oil spill, what we are seeing now, is mild in comparison with what’s coming. He said all that we are really seeing is the light sheen around the outer edges of the main slick. There are 100 miles of oil still coming out there if they stop it today. They are not going to stop it period, he said. When asked why, he said “This thing has way too much pressure on it. I don’t think that there is technology available that can actually put a plug in this thing and make it stay.”
When BP filed for the original permit for this oil field, the Macondo, they estimated that the [...]
Waste Liquid Collection System
i need your inputs or help for resources in designing an effective 'waste liquid collection system'
AHU Cooling Coil
What is the Maximum and Minimum pressure/Temperature diiffrence in AHU cooling coil across Inlet and Outlet?
Electrical Component – Defy Washing Machine
I have a Defy Automaid washing machine that has decided all by itself to trip the earth leakage. What was (is) confusing to me is that it does this when plugged in, but not switched on or running.
On plugging it in, all motors etc function correctly. After about 10 minutes it trips the eart
PWM Signal
In VVVF drive how PWM acts and give me the working principle.
off-track backpacking
In 2005, while backpacking through Europe, Tanya and Nara met. In the “blink of a cosmic eye”, they became instant friends and now both contribute to off-track backpacking. Their site is a journal of their travels, both together and separately. The entries and two distinctively different writing styles definitely make this blog worthwhile.
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Greyhound day 2
We boarded our new buses at 1am and headed north to Idaho arriving in Boise about 730. Luckily while in the terminal I found a normal person who was just as weirded out as I was and we had decided to sit together. He was a 19 yr old guy moving from the Jersey Shore to Portland. It was easy to tell he came from a good family and didn't have any major social problems.We didn't talk much durin
New France
As I wrote in my paperandpen diary Take heed cashstrapped travellers Quebec City could be a town in France and you don't have to leave Canada to reach it. I thoroughly enjoyed my three nights in the provincial capital of Quebec. It was a picturesque city of cobblestone streets cafes with terraces busy squares and verdant parks. After five weeks in tiny Jonquiere it was wonderful to b
The Wheels on the Bus….
Yesterday when Val and I came out of Victoria's Restaurant a place that looks like it was a bordello during the gold rush days there was a small blue and white bus right outside. We had planned to go to the Raptor Center and needed to take a taxi because it was outside of downtown Sitka. We asked the driver if the bus went out there and he said No this is the Blue Line. You need the Re
Vietnam birthday celebrations
We celebrated Phillipa's birthday properly and went to a health spa. We went all out and got the full package which began with a giant mud bath. All of us sat in a huge bath tub together filled with watery mud. Someone is obviously making alot of money out of this because it literally was watered down mud. It was fun to sit there and splash about and we were silky smooth afterwards. We then shower
Heading to Hoi An
We had the worst experience possible on our 2nd overnight train. It was from Nha Trang to Danang and we realised how spoilt we'd been with the previous VIP class train.The cabin wasn't that much smaller but if it was any smaller it would be called a rabbit hutch. At first it was dimly lit with a lamp and although this was quite annoying because we couldn't see it was better than when we finally f
Day 24 July 9 2010 Toad River RV Park
Traveled on to Toad River. One thing I have noticed each small community such as Toad River has their own electricity generator to power the small community. Got to the park early short pull today as the last two days have been in excess of 450 miles and need a little rest. Got settled in had dinner of Hamburger Helper biscuits and baby lima beans prepared by Aleta and Jack. Park has free
Day 10 070210
Today was work day for everyone. Shelby and I blogged the first part of the day and the Leta and Barbara did the wash and cleaned. That afternoon Shelby and I cooked on the grill for the travel days ahead of us. We grilled two whole chickens a rack of ribs to be eaten on the 4th because you have to have ribs on the 4th pork roast to be made into pulled pork Johnsonville Brats and cheeseb