Hey, if we can drill for oil, we can drill for heat. (Photo: Getty Images, Roustabouts at Spindletop)
In a recent post on ground source heat pumps, I purposely used a photo of a geothermal installation in Iceland to make the point that geothermal energy was a very different thing. Many complained that I obviously didn’t know what I was talking about (“The big clue starts with the picture at the top which is NOT a geothermal heat pump system.”) Well, duh — that was the whole point. Geothermal power is a very different thing and a very important source of renewable energy.
With true geothermal energy systems, the heat of the Earth’s interior is used to make steam, which drives turbines, just like coal or nuclear plants do. This heat is close enough to tap at geologic faults, so the hot spots are along the Pacific rim and Iceland, the geothermal capital of the world. Almost every building in Iceland is heated by hot water, and all the country’s electricity is made using geothermal steam. There is so much of it that there is talk of building a multibillion dollar submarine cable to Scotland. Meanwhile, the United States has 3,500 megawatts of installed geothermal electrical power, about 30 percent of the world’s supply. It could have a lot more.
And thanks to the drop in the price of oil, now might be a good time to drill, baby, drill for geothermal energy. According to Bloomberg, drillers are parking rigs as oil prices collapse and have laid off thousands of workers. According to Reuters, “Oil drilling in the United States will continue to fall in the first half of this year, and could even halve, according to major oil service companies looking to past slowdowns as a guide.”
North of the border in Alberta, Canada’s oil powerhouse, they are trying to put those drills and workers to work on geothermal. According to Corporate Knights, it’s a big opportunity, a silver lining for the geothermal industry. The head of the Canadian Geothermal Energy Association (CanGEA), Alison Thompson, is teaching drillers how to adapt oil technology to geothermal drilling.
“These drilling rig operators are selling their services right now at half the price,” said Thompson. “So this is a prime opportunity for us to be more cost-competitive, but to also get out-of-work people back to work.”
Tyler Hamilton of Corporate Knights notes that it’s tough to find drillers when the times are good in the oil patch; that’s where the big money is. However it’s a very different market right now.
“It’s just such a wonderful opportunity to have some cost decreases in our own industry,” Thompson said. “Now, when they find themselves out of work, we’re welcoming them with open arms.”
Tech transfer from the oil industry is actually happening in the geothermal world; Norway’s Statoil is drilling for geothermal in Iceland, and Chevron is a big player in geothermal, although it recently pulled back because, well, nothing is as profitable as oil, or at least wasn’t last year.
Red is hot, hot hot! (Photo: U.S. Energy information agency)
Geothermal energy from EGS represents a large, indigenous resource that can provide base-load electric power and heat at a level that can have a major impact on the United States, while incurring minimal environmental impacts. With a reasonable investment in R&D, EGS could provide 100 GWe or more of costcompetitive generating capacity in the next 50 years. Further, EGS provides a secure source of power for the long term that would help protect America against economic instabilities resulting from fuel price fluctuations or supply disruptions.
Stanford economist Paul Romer noted in 2004 that “a crisis is a terrible thing to waste.” The oil drilling industry and its workers are certainly having a crisis right now. Why not put them to work on the real geothermal energy right now?
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I once had a problem ( sounds like an old Beatles song ) and had to fix my old pc, the hard way. It took me two weeks of looking up information and calling various computer geeks and manufacturers. None of these folks would help me unless I was willing to shell out a pile of bucks.
To find out what’s causing the blue screen / programming conflict, you’ll have to : Turn off the computer.
Press the start button and immediately press the F8 key ( several times ) until you get one of the ADVANCED BOOT MENU screens.
Follow all prompts to get to Safe-Mode.
In Safe-Mode open all of the programs you normally use, including all of the programs in your start-up folder. ( Some programs will not open in Safe-Mode ) If the problem that caused the blue screen hasn’t showed up, you can figure the default settings for the operating system are all fine.
Safe-Mode doesn’t run all of the programs on your system, ( only enough to run Windows ) so if the problem isn’t found in Safe-Mode, you’ll have to go through all of the programs on your system.
In Safe-Mode you can check out what is in your computer in the way of programs and the processes involved with them.
Safe-Mode does not let you connect to the Internet, so I had no idea the problem I was having was with a conflict between the wireless devices. I kept trying to start my computer in different modes and removing unwanted programs and apps.
Had I really recognized what was happening when I tried to start the system, I could have saved myself tons of messing around. The trick is to turn on the system and watch the computer come to life. As each start-up program comes to life, an icon in the tray displays that it is ready and then the next one comes up. ( There may be as many as 50 or 60 processes trying to start ) I saw the Netgear program try to start, and then the blue screen, but it was one of the last programs to load up. I should have watched the start-up closely from the beginning and paid attention to what was trying to load up.
Once the conflict has been eliminated your system should act just fine again. If you’ve removed programs and decided they weren’t the problem after all, try to re-install them, but make a log on what changes you are making. That will help if the blue screen comes back! Keeping a log of the changes you make to your system and the reasons for it, can make a real difference as to how your system operates. Just as you’re always told to back up your work, meaning make back ups, you should create a log of all changes to your computer, and refer to it when something doesn’t work the way is should.
The human species is great, but its tendency to claim superiority may be its affliction. View these photos and challenge your perspective.
The human race has an affliction of assumed superiority. Apparently with the advent of fire, the Homo erectus brain swelled to a proportion that allowed the capability to learn and develop language, fiddle with technology, and form meaningful relationships with others.
What didn’t happen with this ‘so-called’ jump in evolution, however, was the capability to live from a space of compassion, commune with nature, and respect (or easily perceive) the innate force that ties all together.
While human beings continue to transcend previous levels of innovation, intellect, and comprehension in self and the ‘Spirit’ of life, as a collective their air of superiority still reins supreme.
Which is why we suggest everyone take a good, long look at the photos gathered by diply below and really size up their existence in proportion to the majesty which exists in the rest of the universe.
FIRST, LET’S START OFF WITH YOU.
AT 30,000 FEET, THIS IS WHAT YOU LOOK LIKE:
AT 100,000 FEET, THIS IS YOU:
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Credit: Wikipedia
AND FROM 127,852 FEET (WITH FELIX BAUMGARTNER JUMPING OUT A CAPSULE IN THE STRATOSPHERE), TAKE A GOOD LOOK…
230,000 MILES AWAY, YOU’RE PRETTY SMALL, RIGHT?
WOW – IN COMPARISON TO THE SUN, YOU’RE TINY!
IN THE MILKY WAY GALAXY, EARTH ISN’T EVEN IN THE SCALE PHOTO.
DON’T FRET. HOW ABOUT SOME MORE CONTRAST?
THIS IS ROSETTA’S COMET. A PROBE WAS RECENTLY LANDED ON IT, AND THIS IS HOW BIG IT IS IN COMPARISON TO LOS ANGELES:
TIME FOR A SELFIE! THIS IS EARTH IN SPACE. GORGEOUS, HUH?
AND IF YOU’RE NOT VISUAL, MATH CAN BREAK IT DOWN:
LET’S INTRODUCE SOME PERSPECTIVE:
HUMBLED YET?
50 MILLION LIGHT YEARS AWAY…
AND FINALLY, THE GRAND SCHEME:
THIS IS THE MILKY WAY. IT BOASTS OVER A BILLION STARS:
…BUT WAIT. YOU STILL MATTER.
Just because the Universe is mighty, doesn’t diminish the importance of a single life or the beauty that exists on plant Earth. We’re just hoping some perspective might introduce some well-needed humility to the human race.
Dog owners know it. And now its backed by science. A group of German, Swedish, and Austrian researchers analyzed nearly 70 studies on dogs and came to some pretty amazing conclusions. Bottom line: dogs make life better.
1. People perceive dog owners as more trustworthy and friendly.
2. Women are more likely to give their phone number to a stranger with a dog.
3. People are more likely to give money to a homeless person with a dog.
4. People with a dog can expect more smiles from strangers.
5. Petting a dog improves your mood, reduces stress, and makes you less likely to be depressed. It also reduces blood pressure more effectively than other activities such as chatting or reading.
Sorry, I have a free site, and don’t have the tools to do anything about this. Just click the link.
“Skeleton of Giant” Is Internet Photo Hoax
James Owen
for National Geographic News
December 14, 2007
The National Geographic Society has not discovered ancient giant humans, despite rampant reports and pictures.
The hoax began with a doctored photo and later found a receptive online audience—thanks perhaps to the image’s unintended religious connotations.
GIANT HUMAN SKELETONS discovered at 7 separate gravesites!
A digitally altered photograph created in 2002 shows a reclining giant surrounded by a wooden platform—with a shovel-wielding archaeologist thrown in for scale.
By 2004 the “discovery” was being blogged and emailed all over the world—”Giant Skeleton Unearthed!”—and it’s been enjoying a revival in 2007.
The photo fakery might be obvious to most people. But the tall tale refuses to lie down even five years later, if a continuing flow of emails to National Geographic News are any indication. (The National Geographic Society owns National Geographic News.)
The messages come from around the globe—Portugal, India, El Salvador, Malaysia, Africa, the Dominican Republic, Greece, Egypt, South Africa, Kenya. But they all ask the same question: Is it true?
Perpetuating the Myth
Helping to fuel the story’s recent resurgence are a smattering of media outlets that have reported the find as fact.
An often cited March 2007 article in India’s Hindu Voice monthly, for example, claimed that a National Geographic Society team, in collaboration with the Indian Army, had dug up a giant human skeleton in India.
“Recent exploration activity in the northern region of India uncovered a skeletal remains of a human of phenomenal size,” the report read.
The story went on to say the discovery was made by a “National Geographic Team (India Division) with support from the Indian Army since the area comes under jurisdiction of the Army.”
The account added that the team also found tablets with inscriptions that suggest the giant belonged to a race of superhumans that are mentioned in the Mahabharata, a Hindu epic poem from about 200 B.C.
“They were very tall, big and very powerful, such that they could put their arms around a tree trunk and uproot it,” the report said, repeating claims that initially appeared in 2004.
Voice editor P. Deivamuthu admitted to National Geographic News that his publication was taken in by the fake reports.
The monthly, which is based in Mumbai (Bombay), published a retraction after readers alerted Deivamuthu to the hoax, he said.
“We are against spreading lies and canards,” Deivamuthu added. “Moreover, our readers are a highly intellectual class and will not brook any nonsense.”
Other blog entries—such as a May 2007 posting on a site called Srini’s Weblog—cite a report supposedly published in the Times of India on April 22, 2004. But a search of that newspaper’s archive revealed no such article.
Arabian Giant
Variations of the giant photo hoax include alleged discovery of a 60- to 80-foot long (18- to 24-meter) human skeleton in Saudi Arabia. In one popular take, which likewise first surfaced in 2004, an oil-exploration team is said to have made the find.
Here the skeleton is held up as evidence of giants mentioned in Islamic, rather than Hindu, scriptures.
The Debunkers
Web sites dedicated to debunking urban legends and “netlore” picked up on the various giant hoaxes soon after they first appeared.
California-based Snopes.com, for example, noted that the skeleton image had been lifted from Worth1000, which hosts photo-manipulation competitions.
Titled “Giants,” the skeleton-and-shoveler picture had won third place in a 2002 contest called “Archaeological Anomalies 2.”
The image’s creator—an illustrator from Canada who goes by the screen name IronKite—told National Geographic News via email that he had had nothing to do with the subsequent hoax.
He added that he wants to remain anonymous because some forums that debated whether the giant was genuine or not “were turning their entire argument into a religious one.” It was argued, for instance, that the Saudi Arabian find was entirely consistent with the teachings of the Koran.
“This was about the same time that death threats and cash bounties were being issued against cartoonists and other industry professionals for doing things like depicting the Prophet Mohammed,” IronKite wrote.
How the Image Was Made
IronKite started with an aerial photo of a mastodon excavation in Hyde Park, New York, in 2000. He then digitally superimposed a human skeleton over the beast’s remains.
The later addition of a digging man presented the biggest technical challenge.
“If you look, he’s holding a yellow-handled shovel, but there’s nothing on the end,” IronKite said.
“Originally, the spade end was there. But [it] looked like it was occupying the exact same space as the skeleton’s temple, making the whole thing look fake.
“Now it looks like he’s just holding a stick, and people don’t notice. It’s funny.”
IronKite also altered the color of the man’s clothing to create a “uniform tie-in” with the white-shirted observer peering down from the wooden platform.
The two figures work to exaggerate the scale of the skeleton, he added.
(Related: “Shark ‘Photo of the Year’ Is E-Mail Hoax” [March 8, 2005].)
IronKite said he’s tickled that the picture—which took only about an hour and a half to create—has generated so much Internet attention.
“I laugh myself silly when some guy claims to know someone who was there, or even goes so far as to claim that he or she was there when they found the skeleton and took the picture,” IronKite said.
“Sometimes people seem so desperate to believe in something that they lie to themselves, or exaggerate in order to make their own argument stronger.”
Wanting to Believe
David Mikkelson of Snopes.com said such hoaxes succeed when they seem to confirm something people are already inclined to believe, such as a prejudice, political viewpoint, or religious belief.
A hoax also needs to be presented “in a framework that has the appearance of credibility,” he said in an email.
The “ancient giant” has both elements, according to Mikkelson.
“It appeals to both a religious and a secular vision of the world as different and more fantastic than mere science would lead us to believe,” he said.
“Proof,” Mikkelson added, “comes in the form of a fairly convincing image.”
For anyone who may have knowingly propagated the myth, Mikkelson added, the motivation “probably wasn’t any different than the motivation for engaging in a game of ringing someone’s doorbell and running away—because it’s an easy way to have a laugh at someone else’s expense.”
Alex Boese, “curator” of the virtual Museum of Hoaxes, said fake giants have a long history going back to the at least the 1700s.
The recent hoax is reminiscent of the once famous Cardiff Giant myth, involving a ten-foot-tall (three-meter) stone figure dug up in 1869 in Cardiff, New York, Boese said.
Many people believed the figure was a petrified man and claimed he was one of the giants mentioned in the Bible’s Book of Genesis: “There were giants in the Earth in those days.”
Likewise, Boese said, the recent giant hoax “taps into people’s desire for mystery and their desire to see concrete confirmation of religious legends.”
National Geographic News photo editor Sebastian John contributed to this report.
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SOURCES AND RELATED WEB SITES
Hindu Voice
Worth1000
Snopes.com
IronKite’s Home
Museum of Hoaxes
Electric Vehicle Company
1899-1907 the new name of the Electric Carriage and Wagon Co.
The Electric Vehicle Company was founded founded by Henry G. Morris and Pedro G. Salom in 1899 by the merger of Pope Manufacturing Company and two smaller firms. The company pioneered the use of pressed steel for wheels, and its cars featured front-wheel drive and brakes, and rear-wheel steering.
Electric Cabs in NYC
In 1899, ninety percent of the cabs in New York City were electric and Jacob German was the first man to be arrested for speeding. He was a New York taxi driver who was arrested after being caught doing 12 mph on Lexington Avenue. By 1900, the Electric Vehicle Company had put hundreds of its electric Hansom cabs, modeled after the design of its horse-drawn predecessors, on the streets of the metropolis. The Hansoms eliminated the need for a differential by providing a separate motor and axle for each rear wheel.
Beginning in 1901, the Electric Vehicle Company produced both gasoline-powered and electric automobiles.
In 1904, the Electric Vehicle Company built 2000 taxicabs, trucks, and buses, and set up subsidiary cab and car rental companies from New York to Chicago.
In 1907 Electric Vehicle went into the receivership.
Born in Scotland Morrison arrived in Des Moines in 1880 as a chemist. In 1887 he made an unsuccessful attempt to build a car but the center-pivot steering didn’t work. He then commissioned a fringe top surrey from the Des Moines Buggy Company, that he electrified in September of 1890, to demonstrate his new battery (patented 1891 with L. Schmidt). It may have been the first land vehicle steered with a wheel, and featured his patented rack and pinion steering gear (Immisch may have done both a year earlier). Watchmaker Dr. Lew Arntz did the mechanical modifications. Powered by 24 of his lead-acid storage cells (48 volts) with 112 Ampere-hours capacity it weighed two tons. A spur gear on a four horse-power Siemens trolley-car motor, that Morrison rewound to work at a lower voltage more practical for battery application (about 15% of trolley car voltage), this drove a large ring gear on the right rear wheel. This car became very influential when the American Battery Company of Chicago purchased it for $3,600 to demonstrate their commercial version of the Morrison battery at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exhibition. At the fair almost everyone who would be influential in early motoring history saw the carriage.
1894 The Electrobat was the first successful electric automobile. It was designed and built by mechanical engineer Henry G. Morris and chemist Pedro G. Salom in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Both had backgrounds in battery streetcars and, as the battery streetcar business was fading, they teamed up to make battery road vehicles. Their effort was patented on August 31, 1894. Built like a small version of a battery streetcar, it was a slow (it ran at 15 mph), heavy, impractical vehicle with steel tires to support the immense weight of its large lead battery. It entered production in 1895. Later they redesigned the Electrobat (with some help from Walter Baker’s axles and bearings) first as a racecar then as an electric hansom cab.
Woods Motor Vehicle Company was a manufacturer of electric automobiles in Chicago, Illinois between 1899 and 1916. The company was started by Clinton Edgar Woods who wrote the first book on electric vehicles.
The 1904 Woods Stanhope was a Stanhope model. It could seat 2 passengers and sold for US$1800. Twin electric motors, situated at the rear of the car, produced 2.5 hp (1.9 kW) each. The car weighed 2650 lb (1202 kg) with a 40 cell battery.
The 1904 Woods Victoria was a carriage-styled model. It could seat 2 passengers and sold for US$1900. The same twin electric motors as the Stanhope were used, though a 4-speed transmission was fitted. The car weighed 2,700 pounds (1,200 kg). 40 batteries were also used, with an 18 mph (29 km/h) top speed.
Early hybrid
At $2,700, The Dual Power Model 44 Coupe had a 4 cylinder internal combustion engine as well as electric power. Below 15 mph (24 km/h) the car was electric-powered and above it the conventional engine took over to take the vehicle to a maximum of around 35 mph (56 km/h). It is today considered a historic hybrid electric vehicle.
These 1920s Pictures of a Frozen Massachusetts Town Are Epic
FLASHBACK, GALLERIES, LIFE
February 12, 2015
by Olga Martinez | Epoch Times
In January 2015, Winter Storm Juno created havoc in New England. Flooding, gusting winds, and freezing temperatures covered Massachusetts’ coastal towns with a blanket of ice. But the Northeast region has had a long history of destructive storms.
In the 1920’s Boston photographer Leslie Jones captured the frozen beauty of Winthrop, a small Massachusetts seaside town. We see rows of streets covered in snow, ice, and sleet, and one wonders how did anyone manage to inhabit the houses?
A 100% ice-covered house, Shore Drive, Winthrop, Mass., February 1927
Children after a sleet storm posing in front of ice-covered houses, Shore Drive, Winthrop, Mass., February 1927
Young women posing on an ice-covered porch, Shore Drive, Winthrop, Mass., February 1927
Fishermen in Boston are battling with ice.
Fishing boat covered in ice, Fish Pier, Boston, 1930’s
Ice-covered fishing boat, Fish Pier, Boston, 1930’s
A trawler covered in ice, Fish Pier, Boston, 1930’s
Leslie Jones also captured brave firemen fighting fire with ice-covered fire engines and equipment.
Fire engine covered in ice, Boston, Mass., 1930’s
Firemen fighting a fire with ice-covered fire engines, North End, Boston, Mass., 1930’s
Ice-covered Explanade, Boston, Mass., 1930’s
Leslie Jones took tens of thousands of photographs, all of which can be viewed at theBoston Library Archives.
As world temperatures soar, public outcry has focused on the threat to polar ice sheets and sea ice. Yet there is another impact of global warming—one much closer to home—that spells trouble for Americans: the extinction of alpine glaciers in the Rocky Mountains. The epicenter of the crisis is Glacier National Park, Montana, whose peaks once held one-hundred-and-fifty glaciers. Only twenty-five survive. The Park provides a window into the future of climate impacts for mountain ranges around the globe.
Alpine glaciers have already begun to disappear worldwide: The Alps, Andes, Cascades, Rockies, and Himalayas are suffering staggering losses. Glaciers provide more than fifty percent of our freshwater needs worldwide—for drinking, irrigation, and hydroelectric power. What’s more, alpine ice feeds innumerable watersheds that harbor ecosystems crucial to fish and wildlife. Nowhere is this truer than in the mountains of Montana.
Here is another video to keep everyone entertained. I know my last post wouldn’t blow anyone’s skirts up.
I love the sciences. Learning has always been fun to me. You tube has enabled me to show all kinds of interesting posts that I never thought I would have access to.
Out Of Place Artifacts According To The Theory Of Evolution forbidden Archeology