Sunday, September 12, 2004

Flow Everything flows; nothing remains. One cannot step twice into the same river. - Heraclitus 6:36:13 PM

Planet Beyond the Solar System? Likely First Photo of Planet Beyond the Solar System. Space.com - A group of European-led astronomers has made a photograph of what appears to be a planet orbiting another star. If so, it would be the first confirmed picture of a world beyond our solar system. "Although it is surely much bigger than a terrestrial-size object [like Earth], it is a strange feeling that it may indeed be the first planetary system beyond our own ever imaged," said Christophe Dumas, an astronomer at the European Southern Observatory. [bTang reBlog] 6:25:28 PM

Fleet Footed Messenger, A Cratered Inferno Mercury: A Cratered Inferno (2004 September 12) [Astronomy Picture of The Day] 6:20:03 PM

Please Take the Quick Cinema Minima Survey How did you get here?. Dear Cinema Minima Reader: Please tell how you get Cinema Minima (on the Web, via e-mail, or by RSS news feed?) Your answer will shape the plans for the future of this publication — Thanks! [Take the survey now] [Cinema Minima] 5:02:00 PM

Short Story of the Week [15] Short Story of the week [15]. [The Cartoonist] 9:25:09 AM

Renewable Electricity Renewing America's Economy: The Union on Concerned Scientists modelled the results of a national renewable electricity standard (RES) with a gradually increase in US renewable energy from about 2.5 percent today to 20 percent by 2020, with net benefits of $49B in that period. [Ken Novak: Future energy] 9:22:17 AM

Energetech Wave Energy Energetech: Another wave energy company, based in Australia with one plant there and another planned in Rhode Island. [Ken Novak: Future energy] 9:16:16 AM

Cutting Greenhouse Gas Emissions Technology already exists to stabilize global warming: Article published in Science identifies portfolio of options to cut emissions now.  They refer to a stabilization triangle composed of emission reduction wedges:  "Keeping emissions flat for 50 years will require trimming projected carbon output by roughly 7 billion tons per year by 2054, keeping a total of ~175 billion tons of carbon from entering the atmosphere [graphed as a triangle]. We refer to this carbon savings as the "stabilization triangle." To keep pace with global energy needs at the same time, the world must find energy technologies that emit little to no carbon, plus develop the capacity for carbon storage. Many strategies available today can be scaled up to reduce emissions by at least 1 billion tons of carbon per year by 2054. We call this reduction a "wedge" of the triangle. By embarking on several of these wedge strategies now, the world can take a big bite out of the carbon problem instead of passing the whole job on to future generations. " [Ken Novak: Future energy] 9:13:56 AM

Geothermal Cooling For Toronto Geothermal cooling for Toronto: "One of the world's largest green heat systems has been commissioned in Canada's largest city.  Enwave?s Deep Lake Water Cooling system can provide cooling for 130 office towers in the downtown core. The system pumps water of 4°C temperature from a depth of 83 m below Lake Ontario, which is used to chill Enwave's cooling plant before it is distributed to customers for air conditioning. The earth energy system is used in cooling mode only, after which it is distributed for potable water consumption throughout the city. The project produces enough air conditioning for 20 million square feet of office space, and initial customers include the Air Canada Centre, Metro Toronto Convention Centre, Royal Bank Plaza, TD Centre and Steam Whistle Brewing. .. Compared with traditional space cooling, the system reduces electricity use by 75% and will eliminate 40,000 tonnes of CO2, equal to taking 8,000 cars off of the streets. It also frees 59 MW from the Ontario electrical grid." [Ken Novak: Future energy] 9:09:38 AM

Planning Postcards Away. I'm off to Brussels again. The picture is taken from the fabulous Planning Postcards website. Great. See you next weekend. [The Cartoonist] 9:04:59 AM

Rod Serling on DVD Refresher post, On Mediaburn: Serling, Heilman et al. You have entered. . . the Serling zone. Rod Serling's legacy lives on in two recently released DVD box sets, both of which merit a look even if they do routinely get a rap for paling by comparison. It's admittedly a little odd to see Serling stroll onscreen in color in "Night Gallery": The Complete First Season (1970), his "Twilight Zone" follow-up. But if anything, stronger production values ... [Boston Globe -- Living / Arts News] 8:39:31 AM