2008.05.30
NYT:
Mounting Costs Slow the Push for Clean Coal.
"Plans to combat global warming generally assume
that continued use of coal for power plants is
unavoidable for at least several decades.
Therefore, starting as early as 2020, forecasters
assume that carbon dioxide emitted by new power
plants will have to be captured and stored
underground, to cut down on the amount of
global-warming gases in the atmosphere.
"Yet, simple as the idea may sound, considerable
research is still needed to be certain the
technique would be safe, effective and affordable."
Art. Lebedev Studio:
Defendius door chain.
"Defendius door chain guard helps you to protect your home against unauthorized entry."
> ... and keeps you in when you're too inebriated to go out.
2008.05.21
Slate:
Gasoline Is Cheap.
"American gasoline is also dirt-cheap compared with
gas in other countries. British motorists are
currently paying about $8.38 per gallon for
gasoline.... In 2007, out of the 32 industrialized
countries surveyed by the International Energy
Agency, only one (Mexico) had cheaper gasoline than
the United States."
USA Today:
Bill for taxpayers swells by trillions.
"The federal government's long-term financial
obligations grew by $2.5 trillion last year, a
reflection of the mushrooming cost of Medicare and
Social Security benefits as more baby boomers reach
retirement.... The $2.5 trillion in federal
liabilities dwarfs the $162 billion the government
officially announced as last year's deficit, down
from $248 billion a year earlier.
"‘We're running deficits in the trillions of dollars, not the hundreds of billions of dollars we're being told,’ says Sheila Weinberg, chief executive of the Institute for Truth in Accounting of Chicago."
2008.05.18
Science News:
Galaxy's Youngest Supernova.
"Hidden behind a thick veil of gas and dust toward
the center of the galaxy, the supernova wasn't
visible to observers back in the 1860s. But
researchers report that they have detected radio
waves and X-rays, which can penetrate the veil,
from the remnant of the supernova, dubbed
G1.9+0.3."
Things of Interest:
An Admin Password For The Universe.
"‘You remember last year when I found a second layer of reality below this one?’"
2008.05.11
Science News:
Flooring the cosmic accelerator.
"If cosmologist Will Percival of the University of
Portsmouth in England is right, the universe will
end about 60 billion years from now, when every
molecule and atom will be torn asunder by a
mysterious entity that opposes gravity's pull and
turns it into a cosmic push."
> The redesign of the Science News website is a huge improvement.
> I'm having trouble getting used to the reformat of the physical magazine, though. I've been reading Science News for over 30 years, so in this case, change is hard.
Sonny Radio:
When Helmets Make No Sense.
Living World:
The Milky Way galaxy suspended in a glass cube.
> 80,000 yen.
