Stale Thoughts and Broken Links

Old posts from my weblog.

(Click here for posts on geophysics and the energy industry.)


2007.04.25

Press Release: National Survey Reveals More than 70% of Americans Don't Know Plastic is Made from Oil.

"In fact, nearly 10 percent of U.S. oil consumption - approximately 2 million barrels a day - is used to make plastic."


AP: Idea for tunnel under the Bering Straight gets new push.

"‘It's time to the rewrite the old slogan, 'Workers of the world unite!'’ said Walter Hickel, a former Alaska governor and interior secretary under President Richard Nixon. ‘It's time to proclaim, 'Workers -- Unite the world!'’"


2007.04.23

Michael Bach: Motion Binding.


2007.04.22

I haven't done one of these in a long time. Cute kid story --

Youngest son: ... That was before I was mature. But now I'm mature.

Oldest son: You're not mature! You're only in first grade.

Me: Kenneth is a very mature first grader. He's probably the most mature a first grader has ever been!

Youngest son: I'm a very mature first grade boy. This is only average for a first grade girl.


The Onion: Study -- Alligators Dangerous No Matter How Drunk You Are.

"Louisiana State University researchers have concluded that people's drunkenness does not impair the ancient reptiles' ability to inflict enormous physical harm."


2007.04.18

Bloomberg: Russia Plans World's Longest Tunnel, a Link to Alaska.

"... at 64 miles [the tunnel] will be more than twice as long as the underwater section of the Channel Tunnel between the U.K. and France, according to the plan. The tunnel would run in three sections to link the two islands in the Bering Strait between Russia and the U.S."


Out of the Mouths of Babes.

"A penny saved is not much"


Slow down.


2007.04.12

The Economist: Corn-based ethanol not cheap, not green.

"It is not often that this newspaper agrees with Fidel Castro, Cuba's tottering Communist dictator. But when he roused himself from his sickbed last week to write an article criticizing George W. Bush's unhealthy enthusiasm for ethanol, he had a point."


The belt flip trick.


2007.04.07

LA Times: Earth faces a grim future if global warming isn't slowed, U.N. report says.

"‘Don't be poor in a hot country, don't live in hurricane alley, watch out about being on the coasts or in the Arctic, and it's a bad idea to be on a high mountain,’ said Stephen Schneider of Stanford University, one of the scientists who contributed to the report."


USA Today: Utilities -- Daylight saving time switch hasn't cut energy use.

"The move to turn the clocks forward by an hour on March 11 rather than the usual date in early April was mandated by the federal government as an energy-saving effort -- but the move appears to have had little effect on power usage."


2007.04.03

Slate: How the Florida Gators repeated as NCAA Tournament champs.

"The rest of college basketball is partying, too -- celebrating the end of Florida's two-year reign of terror."


2007.04.01

Slate: The April Fools' Day Defense Kit.


Museum of Hoaxes: The Top 10 Worst April Fool's Day Hoaxes Ever.

"Saddam Hussein and his sons may have been ruthless, power-hungry dictators, but that didn't stop them from trying to give the people of Iraq a good chuckle every April Fool's Day"


Walter Kessinger

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