Look out CFLs!

By Dan Saelinger (popsci.com)

Never mind that twisty compact fluorescent. The new energy-efficient way to light your home is with LEDs. An upcoming crop of bulbs draw 12 watts or less, edging out a typical fluorescent, and they have a more conventional shape, contain no mercury, and last at least 25,000 hours, three times as long.
Read more here:
http://www.popsci.com/gadgets/article/2010-07/updating-edison
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Dan, you had me at “no mercury.” But don’t expect to get them on-the-cheap … at $60 each, I think I’ll wait a while (remember when hand-held calculators were a hundred bucks?) If the demand is there, they will become less expensive.

From Toys to Technology

What do Etch-a-Sketch, Shrinky Dinks, Legos, and balloons have in common? Other than being popular toys, they have also inspired some significant technological advances. Find out here: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=toy-box-tech

German fishing boat flies giant kite to save fuel

Germany's largest fishing vessel is towed by a giant kite harnessing trade winds that will help cut its fuel consumption by up to a third.

The 15,000 ton 'Maartje Theadora' is the first fishing vessel to use the system, in which a 160 square metre blue and white kite similar to a paraglider pulls the ship on a 300 metre rope, assisting its main engine."

The SkySails system is expected to cut Maartje Theadora's fuel consumption by about 10 per cent in the first phase of the pilot project, supported by about 780,000 euros ($1.16 million) of funding from the European Union and Germany.

The kite, which can be used at wind speeds 18 knots and above, can add 1,000 kilowatts (kW) of power to the ship's 8,000 kW engine. SkySails hopes to eventually double the system's power.

Over the next two years Diederik Parlevliet, head of fishing firm Parlevliet & Van der Plas, operator of the ship, expects fuel savings will increase up to 30 per cent, and greenhouse gas emissions will be significantly reduced.

A NEW DIRECTION

There are those who have objected to some of my recent posts, indicating a preference for more uplifting and informative fare. I have vowed that I will attempt to move in that direction, so that no offense is taken and no disparagement is inferred.

My thanks to all of you who read these posts. Please continue to send your questions, comments and suggestions.

Robert Pattinson is allergic to ... what?

It's either a very bizarre PR stunt, or Robert Pattinson is trying to kill his publicist. In an age when young, hot movie guys are supposed to be super studs, he may have just handed his movie career a death sentence ...

Huh? What? ... Oh, I get it, now ... Ha! It's a joke, an English joke! Ha ... you see, when you're allergic to something you tend to ... swell up ... Ha, ha ... ahem. (I am so embarrassed!)

Just ignore that first paragraph. I didn't mean to mislead.

Bye now.

Politicians

What America wants from Obama