Homely Scientist

I know, I know. Let me have it. I said I would do my best to write for HomelyScientist and what did I do? I promptly went a got a new job, moved 1000 miles east and basically changed every single aspect of my life that a person can possibly change.
During the last month or two, it’s taken every spare nanosecond to keep relatively currently on AstronomyBuff, and even then I came up short for a few posts. As a result, I’ve had to lower the priority of writing on this blog.
Well, no more. Things …read more

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If you’re teaching science at home and need excellent curriculum resources, you need to know about The Teaching Company. So far I have ordered three courses from them:

Dark Matter, Dark Energy: The Dark Side of the Universe
Biology and Human Behavior: The Neurological Origins of Individuality
Understanding the Universe: An Introduction to Astronomy

Every single one of these has been excellent and I plan to order many more. They have courses on history, philosophy and a few math courses as well.
For those parents who have a particularly difficult time with teaching science at home, and especially if your kid is …read more

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Illustration Credit: NSIDC
The National Snow and Ice Data Center here in Boulder has collected data from the 2007 melting season and discovered:
At the end of the melt season, September 2007 sea ice was 39 percent below the long-term average from 1979 to 2000 (Full Press Release).
These guys watch the ice from all over the planet using satellites with microwave radiometers along with meteorological satellites to get an idea of how much ice there is. Then, as the year progresses, measure how much of it is melting or growing.
In the northern hemisphere, as fall begins, the melting season ends …read more

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Okay, now that my initial feelings of weirdness have passed and I’m feeling a little more comfortable in someone else’s house, I guess I should introduce myself.
My name is Tony Darnell and I’m going to be your new blogger. As you may or may not know, Tris has moved on to other opportunities and I’ve offered to carry on this blog.
I’ve been blogging on AstronomyBuff since January, and one of the reasons I decided to blog for b5Media was I really enjoyed this blog. I felt like it was well-written and cared for, and it had a theme …read more

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<Knock on door>
“Hello?”
<Tentatively crack open door and press my face between the door and the frame>
“Hello? Is anyone home? I’m Tony, the new blogger, I’m just gonna put my stuff in this corner, OK?”
<Open door all the way and walk in>
This is so strange.
I mean it, this is weird. Logging into and then posting on someone else’s blog that has been cared for and written on for years…
Well, the only thing I can tell you is that I feel like I’m wearing a pair of pants that I knew someone just died in.
Tris is fine, of course, that’s …read more

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 Yes I know that driving your car isn’t the best thing to do for the environment–or your wallet.  I was passed a link to a Sympatico article with 10 easy things to do to save both fuel and money.  This really easy stuff.  Air pressure in your tires, oil changes, not speeding, keeping a constant speed.  Easy.  I also like using cruise control as much as I can.  Cruise let the engine get into a good steady cruising mode, and by not changing speed you aren’t forcing the engine to rev up and down.
Read the tips and try putting at these …read more

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In case you weren’t aware, The Bay of Fundy has some of the largest tidal variations in the world.  The amount of energy that passes through there is absolutely tremendous.  Having seen the tidal bore–as standing wave of rising tide that is the only true “tidal wave”–first hand, well yeah, it’s freakin’ impressive.  A turbine is being planned for testing in a couple years:
According to local legend in Atlantic Canada, a giant whale in ancient times made such a splash with his mighty tail that the water in the Bay of Fundy sloshes back and forth to this day.
Getting power …read more

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Ever wonder if your computer and your Net connection could do more for the world than saving on stamps and paper?  Well, yes it can.  While donating your “spare” CPU cycles is actually not really doing what you think it is–the computer can’t switch into a low-power state with minimal CPU resources with those screensavers going–there are other ways to use your computer and the net for good.  This list of seven things is a great place to start.

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 Hydrogen is often held up as the fuel of the future, but there are some problems with good old H-2.  First, it’s explosive.  Second, as the lightest element, Earth’s gravity isn’t even strong enough to keep it here.  Third, given one and two, rather hard to safely contain and if that isn’t enough, fourth … it isn’t that easy to generate.  Yes, I did the electrolysis experiment in school using a battery to split water into oxygen and hydrogen, but the reality is that the amount of energy required to get the hydrogen out, exceeds the amount of energy the …read more

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 You know what they say about the best laid plans…  Well a massive tide-power plan is already behind.  You know, from all the sources I’ve read it’s not really clear as to why.  I’m just going to guess it’s going to be the standard reasons.
Does this douse all similar projects?  Is tidal power like holding back the tide with a paper cup?  No, of course not.  Really this seems to be a pretty logical and feasible project.  For all those concerned, the props as seen on the right, spin too slowly to harm ocean life.
from Engadget
Technorati Tags: tidal power

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