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Thursday, January 23, 2003 |
According to UN University research:
So what are the environmental impacts of producing and using a 32-megabyte DRAM computer chip that weighs a mere 2 grams? The UNU team found that to make every one of the millions manufactured each year requires 32 kg of water, 1.6 kg of fossil fuels, 700 grams of elemental gases (mainly nitrogen), and 72 grams of chemicals (hundreds are used, including lethal arsine gas and corrosive hydrogen fluoride).
To make matters worse, Williams believes his findings are conservative. "We think the real numbers may be twice that."
Secondary materials used in production [of microchips] total 630 times the mass of the final product. An automobile requires only about twice its weight in fossil fuels to produce.
There could be a better way...
[Japan Times]
5:52:50 PM 
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I hadn't encountered the American Dialect Society's annual Words of the Year list before. Since blog is one of the 2002 finalists, and the "winner" in the most likely to succeed category, it will undoubtedly get huge coverage in the blogosphere. But the phrase on the 2002 that most impressed me was walking pinata, "a person subject to relentless criticism, most recently Trent Lott". I have to find an occasion to work that one into my conversation. [Davos Newbies]
4:17:53 PM
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 Condoleezza Rice: "Countries that decide to disarm lead inspectors to weapons and production sites, answer questions before they are asked, state publicly and often the intention to disarm and urge their citizens to cooperate." [Scripting News]
3:29:24 PM
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Daniel Ellsberg answers questions on Iraq for Metall (Germany Metalworkers Union newspaper) and Freitag
"What threat does Iraq now pose or could pose in the future to essential US objectives in the Middle East or globally?"
No threat at all, so long as Saddam is not faced with overthrow or death by attack or invasion. Saddam has been weakened by a decade of sanctions, contained and deterred by the readiness and even strong desire of the US to attack Iraq on any excuse. Unattacked, he poses no threat at all to his neighbors or the US. To call him "the number one danger to US security and interests" is not just questionable, it's absurd. On any reasonable list of outstanding dangers, he isn't on the list.
3:26:59 PM
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A few notes, while multi-tasking, from her interview this morning on KQED/Forum:
We _are_ nature. Part of our problem is that we've been thinking otherwise.
Looking for a mentor: "We don't necessarily think to look to the organisms that have done something well. All I needed to do was look at the pond, not go on the internet."
Is it possible? The existence proof is right outside.
Maybe the question isn't: "how do we formulate a better, more environmentally sound paint?" but rather "how do we create color?" A biologist can tell you there's two kinds of color: pigment and structural, like peacocks [which are actually BROWN] and tropical butterflies. Iridigm is working on computer displays based on this.
Shallow biomimicry can get us intro more trouble....
Read the book!
10:18:32 AM
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Forum host Michael Krasny talks to science writer Janine Benyus about biomimicry, a new science that studies nature's models and then imitates or takes inspiration from these designs and processes to solve human problems.
Today, 10am, http://www.kqed.org
10:00:56 AM
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[Fast Company] The world is full of boring stuff -- brown cows -- which is why so few people pay attention. Remarkable marketing is the art of building things worth noticing right into your product or service.
7:42:30 AM
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© Copyright 2006 Gil Friend.
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