Lofty Matters

It seems like everywhere I look these days, people are toting around their cute little netbooks. At the library, at the gym, at the dance academy…they whip them out and open ‘em up and go to it. Me…I just got a new touchscreen smartphone that seems to be able to satisfy all of my mobile needs at this point. I really like something small enough to fit easily in my pocket too.

If you have a netbook…what is your favorite feature?

Make war on consumption – yep…we’re talking all of those office supplies, paper plates, napkins, appliances…even electricity. Solar panels are the way to heat your home, cool your home, heat your water, and run your appliances. Solar technology has made huge gains recently and is easier than ever to install and use in your home. Approximately 85 percent of the at-home renewable energy-producing systems installed today are solar panels.

How’s this for insurance marketing…

Have you bought a cell phone lately? It can be a stressful experience. When you are almost finished they levy the insurance question on you. If you are buying an iPhone, BlackBerry or Palm Pres, it makes sense to consider insurance. Be careful though, and ask questions.

There are other companies like Safeware, SquareTrade and Best Buy that offer insurance and warranty policies independently. In addition, some home and auto insurance companies let customers add smartphones to existing policies.

Search your insurance options first and read the terms and conditions of the insurance policy through the carrier. Don’t just sign papers…ask questions and then make the most prudent decision for your situation.

Do cows eat rice husks? I don’t know if they do or not so perhaps rice husks are not a common ingredient in cattle supplies…but here is a mighty interesting use for rice husks.

A new way of processing rice husks to make concrete may create a boom in new green construction. Rice husks surround edible kernels of rice and are high in silicon dioxide. This is an essential ingredient in concrete. Scientists have determined that rice husks may be a viable option for building material but past attempts to burn it created an ash too contaminated with carbon to be useful as a cement substitute.

If this new method proves successful, scientists will begin construction on an full-sized furnace capable of producing 15,000 tons of rice husk ash annually. If production is scaled up to use all of the rice husks produced in the US, 2.1 million tons of ash could be produced each year.

Astronomers have discovered more than 300 planets that orbit stars other than our sun. Most of these are gas giants like Jupiter. Powerful new space telescopes will make it easier to spot much smaller rocky extrasolar planets that are more similar to Earth. A team of astronomers and astrobiologists has devised a technique to tell whether these planets have liquid water. This could tell whether it might be able to support life.

It will be years before the launch of space telescopes capable of making similar observations for Earth-sized exoplanets. Creating this technique now could guide the construction of those instruments, however. These planets will be much farther away but the techniques will be similar. Imagine the bathroom faucets! ha!

A new formula that could be used to give advance warning of where a tsunami is likely to hit and how destructive it will be has been discovered by scientists at Newcastle University.

This research was spurred by the 2004 disaster which devastated coastal communities in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India and Thailand.

In this tsunami, an earthquake in the depths of the ocean triggered a huge wave that resulted in six massive wave fronts in succession.

It was the third wave that caused the most devastation. It was this wave that lifted a train from its tracks and killed almost 1,000 people aboard.

The number and height of the tsunami waves hitting the shoreline depends on the shape of the initial surface wave in deep water.

From this information it is possible to work out whether a ‘trough’ or a ‘peak’ is the front wave. If it’s a trough there will be a warning of the tsunami. If it’s a peak, there will be no warning.

Automatic sensors have been in the Pacific Ocean for years and sensors have now been placed in the Indian Ocean.

The number of peaks and troughs in the initial disturbance will dictate the number of wave fronts that will steepen and eventually produce tsunami waves.

By calculating the number of waves that will join together as the faster ones catch up the slower ones, it is possible to predict how many and how big and fast the final waves hitting the shoreline will be.

What an incredible potential for life saving this research is!

Caffeine is a legal performance enhancer. Can you believe it? Studies now show that caffeine effects the brain’s sensation of exhaustion and releases calcium that is stored in the muscle giving you more endurance.

Exercise physiologists have studied the effects of caffeine extensively. Will it help sprinters? Marathon runners? Cyclists? Rowers? Swimmers? Caffeine seems to enhance them all.

Now we need to know how it exerts its effects and how little is needed to get an effect.

Caffeine increases the power output of muscles by releasing calcium stored in muscle. This enables athletes to keep going longer or to go faster in the same length of time. Caffeine also diminishes the brain’s sensation of exhaustion so it improves endurance.

I’d say this definitely is another winning mark for caffeine. Not only can it wipe away the cobwebs early in the morning, act as an appetite suppressant, but now it is a legal performance enhancer! Woot!

Scientists have found evidence supporting the belief that water has likely played a significant role in shaping the Martian landscape.

There seems to be multiple wet and/or icy climate cycles that have shaped the planet’s large craters.

Scientists surveyed the geologic features in two sets of mid-latitude craters. Each set included about 100 craters, with the first set in the Arabia Terra region of the northern hemisphere and the second set in an area east of Hellas basin in the southern hemisphere.

My kids love hearing about these new developments in space exploration. They pulled me away from my explorations of Hansgrohe faucets to tell me about this! Thought I would share.

Here is something interesting that may appeal to some readers.

How about having an opportunity to win $500 and gain some exposure to your website? Sound good? I think most people would say so.

All you have to do is create a short Scour Commercial starring you or your friends or your family. This could be a very effective and simple way to attract both visitors and readers to a blog. Not only would you increase your traffic, but if you win, your commercial will be featured on the Scour site and you’ll receive the grand prize of a $500 Visa gift card!

I had never heard of Scour before, but now that I’ve looked around on their site, I have to say that I am intrigued. You can earn points for searching that can be redeemed as gift cards, you can utilize your own preferred search engines while earning these points, and you can even connect with other Scour users with similar interests as your own.

I think I may have to give Scour a try and see if it is as good as it looks. Very interesting!

Solar energy may be expensive to purchase and install, but the good news is that after the initial expense there is very little cost associated with use. This definitely makes this an attractive source of energy as we watch energy costs continue to rise.

In addition, advances in technology are making solar energy more affordable as time goes on. Expect more and more people to turn to the use of technology like solar energy just out of basic necessity.

Solar energy systems are self-contained to provide the power requirements of the individual user. There will be no monthly electric bills and the system may actually end up transfering excess electricity to the power grid. There is nothing to purchase because unit runs itself.

Not only is this good for the environment because there are no fossil fuels being consumed there are also no CO2 emissions with the use of solar power!