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.