Pointless Yammering: April 2007

Monday, April 23, 2007

Definition of a BAD idea

Build an underwater tunnel using America funding and Russian technology/know-how.

this is BAD.

$65 billion dollar tunnel to be built between Russia and Alaska

Posted in Random by Derek at 1:30 pm | Share This

$65 billion dollars to build a tunnel under the Bering Strait between Russia and Alaska. Could you image traveling through a tunnel underwater for 64 straight miles?

Russia plans to build the world's longest tunnel, a transport and pipeline link under the Bering Strait to Alaska, as part of a $65 billion project to supply the U.S. with oil, natural gas and electricity from Siberia.

The project, which Russia is coordinating with the U.S. and Canada, would take 10 to 15 years to complete, Viktor Razbegin, deputy head of industrial research at the Russian Economy Ministry, told reporters in Moscow today. State organizations and private companies in partnership would build and control the route, known as TKM-World Link, he said.

A 6,000-kilometer (3,700-mile) transport corridor from Siberia into the U.S. will feed into the tunnel, which at 64 miles 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.

In the 10-15 years it will have taken to complete this project, that $65 billion will have surely risen. I've always found underwater tunnels interesting - the construction. If anyone has interesting links, feel free to share in the comments.

http://tinyurl.com/2bxyl9

Friday, April 20, 2007

More on Coffee

West Coast Roasting Company Coffee

CULTURE | DRINKS |

If you're a true fan of coffee, you might as well drink the best you can find. The West Coast Coffee Company offers some great brews, such as the Costa Rica La Minita ($16/lb.), the 100% Estate Kona ($33/lb.), the Kenya Karogoto ($15/lb.), and the Colombia Reserva del Patron ($13/lb.). If freshness matters to you (and it should), every batch is roasted after you place your order, and sent out 2-Day Priority Air to ensure your beans are as fresh as possible.

I like this: answer to my laziness

DoMyStuff - Lazy people get assistance online

Posted in Stupid by Derek at 9:43 am | Share This

Web 2.0 meets pure laziness with the latest service provided by DoMyStuff [via]. Think of the service as kind of a Craigslist with rounded corners and more attractive colors.

DoMyStuff.com is an online community where busy people can quickly find Assistants to complete their chores.

The Assistants you'll find on DoMyStuff.com are individuals and businesses located near you who compete by bidding to run your errands. This bidding system ensures that you find the best people to do your stuff at the lowest price.

The tasks you post can range from the mundane, such as mowing the lawn or picking up dry cleaning, to the extraordinary, such as arranging dinner with a celebrity or chartering a private jet. Don't limit yourself. Post anything you need done, and get back to living your life!

Maybe someone will be nice enough to do your homework? Mow the lawn? Walk your dog? Who exactly is going to be trolling the message boards to do someone else's work?

http://tinyurl.com/2p4sls

Gift Ideas: For The Artist

FROM COOL HUNTING:

Agelio Batle: Graphite Sculptures by Evan Orensten

Agelio Battle is an artist living in San Francisco. His sculpture tries to "find epiphany in mundane materials" such as maps, newspaper, dictionaries and pencil lead.

The latter has found its way into an expanding series of accessible sculptures that are not only works of art, but also functional drawing tools.

The objects he chooses are often organic and geometric shapes and are inspired by his background in biology and passion for the outdoors. They are then cast using carbonaceous graphite, which sets smudge-free. The entire sculpture can be used like a pencil, as its entire surface is graphite.

Each sculpture is produced in a limited series. Prices start around $45 and are available at Agelio Batle's ABS Workshop.

http://tinyurl.com/387wrv

COFFEE

New coffee house in NYC, looks really nice and the coffee sounds good:

http://www.roastingplant.com/home.html

81 Orchard Street

unfortunately the site is all flash making it hard to grab text and
pics.... oh well.

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

A Discussion on Energy in the USA

From

www.TheOilDrum.com

Some Congressional Action on Energy? Posted by Heading Out on April 16, 2007 - 10:48am Topic: Policy/Politics Tags: arpa, darpa, HR 364, NSF, SBIR, US Congress Sometimes it is hard to grasp the size of the problem that is now facing the world. One way is, perhaps, to relate it to time. A hundred thousand seconds is just under 28 hours; a million seconds is eleven and a half days, and both are graspable numbers. A billion seconds is, however, 31.7 years, which is almost half a lifetime, and on a different scale of perception. So it is with the world energy supply, it is easy to talk about the necessary changes in individual lifestyle, or to debate whether a single power station/wind farm should or should not be built. Those issues are relatively easy to appreciate and debate. But trying to convey the problems when crude oil and natural gas supplies will drop by over a billion barrels of oil equivalent in a year carries the debate beyond the numbers that are as easy to grasp or assimilate.

This past week I was asked (outside this forum) to give an opinion on H.R. 364, a bill in the US Congress "to provide for the establishment of the Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy." This seems to follow the earlier H.R. 507 "Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the United States, in collaboration with other international allies, should establish an energy project with the magnitude, creativity, and sense of urgency that was incorporated in the "Man on the Moon" project to address the inevitable challenges of "Peak Oil". This was developed by Congressman Bartlett, who began by making speeches on the floor about Peak Oil, and who joined with Congressman Udall to found the Congressional "Peak Oil" Caucus and to co-sponsor the resolution. Congressman Bartlett is a co-sponsor of H.R. 364.So I am going to seize this opportunity to give some thoughts on research funding in general, and some possible political realities. But let me start by saying that I think that the bill is a very good idea.

http://tinyurl.com/yrtusp

Wednesday, April 11, 2007

Google 411, Science Experiments, TV

GOOG-411 is free and fancy Google has launched a service providing free directory assistance calls, and the features offered will spur some serious competition in the 411 market. Goog-411 is accessible via a phone call to, unsurprisingly, 1-800-GOOG-411 (1-800-466-4411 or 1-877-466-4411). The system currently only handles Yellow Pages style business lookups, and it's entirely automated. There are no operators standing by to assist, but the experimental voice prompts are working pretty well. Besides being a free service that automatically makes the connection to the listing; the beauty of Goog-411 is the added features that the system offers. Call up and say "47591, Pizza" and the system will read off listings of pizza parlors in Vincennes, IN. Say "Detail" while hearing the listings and you'll get the address of a specific parlor, but say "Text Message" and you'll instantly receive a text message with the business name, address, and phone number! Read the Goog-411 FAQ to get all the commands from the cheat sheet. Thanks to Google all the cellular providers will need to offer this great feature in the future to stay competitive. If you prefer your free 411 calls to be staffed by a live operator in case of problems there's always the ad supported 1-800-FREE-411 (800-373-3411). I've been using their service for the last year, and it comes in very handy. There's no excuse beyond profiteering for phone providers to charge us outrageous rates for directory assistance calls (anywhere from $1.00 to $3.00 each), but there are all kinds of new businesses rising up to provide free information access via phone call or SMS. Try out Zypsy, 411SMS, or GylleSMS. ;-)

Update: As a lark this morning I sent a message to the Zypsy mentioned above. "What's the average rainfall in the Amazon Basin?" and I just received this reply via SMS:

Average rainfall across the whole Amazon basin is approximately 2300 mm (or ~7.5') annually. In some areas the rainfall could be double this number. Information from (projectamazonas.com)

Those kids at Zypsy aren't kidding when they say that they'll do the searching for you. It may take a couple of hours for a reply, but I can't argue with their execution. Good job, guys!

http://tinyurl.com/yo8fy3

Top 10 Science Experiments

These aren't the normal experiments being conducted in labs, but rather ones conducted outside the lab and in some cases, with everyday things.

http://tinyurl.com/27h6d7

Watch all of your tv shows online at alluc.org

Earlier today we posted about the benefits of ditching the TV. If you're like me, you can never not have a TV (pardon the double negative) — I just love my TV shows too much! However, alluc.org is a website that allows you to watch most popular television shows online. The selection is surprisingly great and I think the reason for this is the sites that alluc.org links to are not legally hosting the content. Regardless, if you miss the most recent episode of your show and it's not streamed online, head over to alluc.org and I bet you'll find it. Thanks, Eric!

http://tinyurl.com/29wbdh

Cool Stuff From UnCrate

Eva Solo Tea Brewer Set

You can brew tea a number of different ways, but not often can you do it in just one brewer. The Eva Solo Tea Brewer Set ($90) lets you brew your tea loose and then filter it, or put your tea in the filter and pour. A plunger in the top keeps your tea in the brewer while a flip-top lid lets your beverage out and a neoprene cover keeps your tea warm. Two matching tumblers make the set perfect for impromptu tea, anywhere, anytime.

http://tinyurl.com/29ddsj

AND

Remote Controlled Pirate Ship

Strap on your pirate hat and grab a bottle of rum as you set sail with this fiberglass-hulled Remote Controlled Pirate Ship ($330). You'll be humming a few bars of your favorite pirate song while remotely piloting this ship which sports sails that hoist, a retractable plank and 12 cannons. The remote, which can control the ship up to 500 feet away, uses regular AA batteries or a rechargeable battery. Wench and pirate eye patch not included.

http://tinyurl.com/2s7u98

Pointless Yammering