Monthly Archives: May 2007

Can science save us?

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Although it may seem as if we’re doing our communal best to kill our planet, breakthroughs in the fight against climate change are getting closer and closer.

A team from Columbia University is developing a gadget that can strip carbon dioxide — the leading cause of atmospheric warming — from the air, trapping it. Huzzah! Study leader Klaus Lackner says the process is 1,000 times faster than that which occurs in trees. He predicts it’ll be a commercially viable technology within a few years.

The only problem is this seemingly anonymous device won’t work on the sources of carbon emissions, but rather have an impact on the CO2 that’s already in the atmosphere. Also, removing the carbon dioxide from the device’s filters is likely to be quite expensive. In all likelihood the contraption would have a permanent base combining carbon stripping and storage. Depleted oil and gas fields have long been touted as places where carbon could be pumped and kept.

But, if it works, it’ll be feckin fantastic. Not that it would solve things overnight. However, it would be a way to tackle emissions. And it’s not the only possibility.

Alongside the by now almost passé wind, wave and geothermal energies, more exotic options include trapping carbon dioxide in the oceans, running cars on vegetable oil, hydrogen power (my personal favourite, probably because of Star Trek) and introducing carbon-loving bacteria into power plants in a bid to reduce CO2 at the source. We shall, for now, leave the likes of zero-point energy, nanoscrubbers and planetary core-tapping to the realm of science fiction.

Things are going to get worse before they get better. The IPCC is predicting a 2C increase in the average global temperature, and that’s in a best case scenario. But in the 1980s it was predicted that the nightmare scenario envisaged for 20 years’ time would be happening now. We’re in trouble, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to stay that way.

I love technology. I make no apologies for that. I believe it can address many of our problems, including global warming. We haven’t even begun to fully explore the possibilities.

But I am just one technophile with faith in the future. What do you think? Are we doomed, or can we survive? Can science save us?

Hero or villain?

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People will go to any lengths to keep their finances secret and avoid paying taxes — even handing their cash over to a man running a bank out of his house.

According to court records, Robert Arant, from Des Moines, Washington, ran a so-called “warehouse bank” named Olympic Business Systems which had hundreds of customers. The IRS has filed a civil case alleging he promoted abusive tax shelters and unlawfully interfered with revenue laws.

The documents claim he took customers’ cash and pooled it in various accounts with legitimate banks. He would then pay customers’ bills from said accounts, charging $75 annually for the service plus assorted maintenance fees (such as for wire transfers). IRS agent Susan Killingsworth said Arant’s clients could buy debit cards for $30 with which they could access their money.

He apparently advertised his company as being for people “who would rather not deal directly with the banking system”. He doesn’t seem all that put out by the impending civil case.

“It’ll be me against the beast,” he said, before adding the US Government is “a beast with no teeth”.

So I ask you digital reader, is this man a hero or a villain? Should we respect him for defying the state and system, or revile him for transgressing said system?

Read the full story at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

French, gorgeous and reads the news

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I’m not lying! Mélissa Theuriau has been an internet sensation since a YouTube video was posted of her doing her thing on French television. It’s had more than 1.2 million views since June 2006, and she’s made such an impact she was voted 88th sexiest woman in the world in a recent FHM poll.

Of course, it is unfair to judge a lady on her looks alone. My French is merde so I can’t assess her delivery or the quality of her newscasts. Nor do I have any idea how much input she has into writing news reports or choosing content for broadcast.

But this is the society we live in; looks garner more attention than talent. Although I hold ability in far higher esteem than physical appearance, I do fall into the pretty culture trap on occasion. Would that the world was a meritocracy! Or perhaps it is and I just haven’t realised it yet. For now, though, let us all watch Mlle Theuriau.

Does this post make me a bad person?

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1G-3laJJP0]

Loltrek

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The rise of kitty pidgin has been speedy and loltastic, with my favourite examples nestling online at I Can Has Cheezburger? Better known as lolcats or cat macros, they’re basically pictures of cats with witty captions often written in garbled English or txt spk. Here are a couple of examples, as found on ICHC:

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Sometimes mutts get to join the fun:

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But pets aren’t the only ones who get the macro treatment — and here you’ll find that some magnificent (or should that be misplaced?) genius has redone the classic Star Trek episode The Trouble With Tribbles as a series of stills with pidgin captions. And there you have it folks… loltrek.

Sweet Zombie Jesus

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I’m not even going to attempt to rewrite this. Here it is in all its Reuters glory:

Reading mascot Kingsley — a giant lion who wears the club’s blue and white hooped shirt — was sent off by the referee in their Premier League match against Newcastle United on Monday because he was confusing him.

“I can see where the referee was getting confused, you know he does look like so many of my players,” manager Steve Coppell told Sky Sports with a grin.

The mascot’s dismissal from the side of the pitch before halftime did not appear to hurt the team’s luck as they still won 1-0.

It was unclear whether he would miss the next match through suspension.

Sometimes, guys and gals, I just don’t know what to think.

But while we’re on the subject of oddness, Mars is warming at a faster rate than our blue ball. The temperature has increased 0.5C since the 1970s and the planet may lose the carbon dioxide ice at its south pole if the heating continues.

Writing in the journal Nature, researcher Lori Fenton advances her theory that the Martian winds whip up vast dust storms, which trap heat and subsequently raise the planet’s temperature. She points to maps made of the surface during the Viking mission in the 1970s compared to those compiled by the Mars Global Surveyor. The recent images show more darker areas, which absorb heat and then leak it back into the atmosphere (light areas reflect heat back into space).

I knew I was right

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Coffee, that (occasionally) sweet nectar of the gods, goddesses and their little babies, is good for you.

Admittedly I’m a touch biased. I love quality coffee and at thus stage should probably own shares in Gusto’s little subsidiary cafe outside the Examiner’s offices. But now I have science to back up my claims of caffeinated magnificence!

An experimental conference in Washington DC has heard claims that coffee can help ward off type-2 diabetes and even cut the risk of certain cancers.

That’s according to Dr Rob van Dam of the Harvard School of Public Health (not to be confused with the Whole F’N Show), who stresses “it’s not like we’re promoting coffee as the new health food and asking people who don’t like coffee to drink coffee for their health”.

Another delegate, Dr Lenore Arab of the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, said there’s evidence coffee may protect against colon, rectal and liver cancer. However, there’s evidence it may increase the risk of leukemia and stomach cancer.

More research is needed, although about 400 studies have been carried out on the substance, with more than 20 on the diabetes-preventing effects alone.

Dr van Dam, incidentally, has largely ruled out caffeine as the wonder element, as both regular and decaf seem to have the same great effects.

Is it wrong that I have a hankering for a mocha right about now?