350 Is The Upper Limit "If humanity wishes to preserve a planet similar to that on which civilization developed and to which life on earth is adapted... CO2 will need to be reduced from its current 385 ppm to at most 350 ppm." Jim Hansen, NASA
Here’s a couple of great places to spend 10 minutes when you’re looking for something new on the net. Science, history and just plain fun are only a click away.
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A Little History, Loads Of Fun
I’ve been spending a little time over at the National Science Foundation’s website, and I found a interactive piece called ‘NSF and the Birth of the Internet’. With images and some well-written text, it allows you to trace the history of of what we now call the web, from the initial questions about connecting two computers together, to researching the next generation of the internet. Definitely worth taking a few minutes to check out.
I was especially interested in the second photo in the 70s section. That’s a Cray 1 supercomputer. (That’s it over on the right.) At the time it was about the fastest thing on the planet. Looking at it’s specs shows that most of us have more power than this on our desktops, and some of us have more on our phones. I liked it because it had a built-in couch. From their website:
The first Cray-1™ system was installed at Los Alamos National Laboratory in 1976 for $8.8 million. It boasted a world-record speed of 160 million floating-point operations per second (160 megaflops) and an 8 megabyte (1 million word) main memory. The Cray-1’s architecture reflected its designer’s penchant for bridging technical hurdles with revolutionary ideas. In order to increase the speed of this system, the Cray-1 had a unique “C” shape which enabled integrated circuits to be closer together. No wire in the system was more than four feet long. To handle the intense heat generated by the computer, Cray developed an innovative refrigeration system using Freon.
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Playcrafter
Another cool site I found (through GigaOm) is Playcrafter, where you can build your own games…
I started to write a short thing about how to use their site, but they’ve already done a much better job by creating this really short (less than 2 mins) video.
According to CBS4 in Denver, at least 4 people have been arrested in connection to a possible assassination attempt at the Democratic National Convention. From that report:
CBS4 Investigator Brian Maass reported one of the suspects told authorities they were “going to shoot Obama from a high vantage point using a … rifle … sighted at 750 yards.”
Law enforcement sources tell Maass that one of the suspects “was directly asked if they had come to Denver to kill Obama. He responded in the affirmative.”
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“It’s premature to say that it was a valid threat or that these folks have the ability to carry it out,” said a U.S. government official familiar with the investigation. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing.
U.S. Attorney Troy Eid said the case was under investigation.
“We’re absolutely confident there is no credible threat to the candidate, the Democratic National Convention, or the people of Colorado,” Eid said in a prepared statement.
The entire story of how these guys were discovered is quite interesting. Click the link above to read it for yourself.
Remember T Bone Pickens(sic)? Yeah, the old fart with the new plan to build wind farms across the middle of the US for electricity, and then use his natural gas to power American cars. Remember those TV commercials? He seemed to come across as a man who really cared, huh?
Well, take a gander at his 2nd commercial promoting his “Pickens Plan” for energy independence. Seems he’s decided to “Drill Drill Drill”…
If Only I Were Bugs…
What a way to wimp out. What a douche. What a waste. He doesn’t even deserve an exclamation mark at the end of these ‘What a’s. If you read my piece on his plan last month, you already know that I expected this guy to be nothing more than a profiteer, just another wounded lion looking for a thorn-puller. Still, even with this new ‘drill drill drill’ mantra he’s spouting, I hope he builds out those wind farms he keeps talking about.
But he should know, with certainty, that we’ll never convert our passenger vehicles to run on natural gas. He says in this latest commercial that other technologies are not available. That is a very bold and ignorant lie. Just google for ‘electric vehicles in the USA’ to find out how wrong he really is. You’ll find, after searching around just a little teeny bit, that our buddy T-Bone Pickens is not telling the truth.
So don’t fall for it. He’s just another oil-addicted idiot, just a fossil-fuel pusher trying to keep you addicted and take your money. I say, let him try. The 1st part of his plan is truly ‘Green’ and would benefit all of us. As for the rest of it… well, like I said, let him try. I don’t think we’re that stupid.
Oh, and concerning his statement about ‘the largest transfer of wealth in the history on mankind’: I suggest he (and you) research as much as you can about the current ‘credit crunch’ and the ‘mortgage meltdown’. He (and you) will find that the largest transfer of wealth in the history of mankind involves around 36 trillion dollars, and is already currently underway. He (and you) will find that it is not OPEC who’s taking all your wealth. A good place to start looking at that is HERE. (You think all that mess hasn’t affected you, because you weren’t involved? I suggest you check on your investments. I personally know people who did not buy into that mortgage mess, who held various investments in ’safe’ equities, and who have lost 20% of their ‘wealth’ since January due to those ’safe’ investments losing their values. Do the words ‘Fannie Mae’ or ‘Feddie Mac’ ring a bell? Well, it’s tolling for thee.)
I am Jon, and personally, I want an Aptera electric vehicle. But if you buy me a ZENN, I won’t complain.
Image via Wikipedia 
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