Indeed Wil, let’s all start acting like insipid jerks this year so we can all have a little more money into our pockets. Why add value to the world when bringing attention to yourself is clearly the thing to do in 2012? < /irony >
[Via Reddit]
To Leonardo, With Love [Picture]
[Via tmntmaster]
Happy Birthday, Isaac Asimov!
Isaac Asimov was an American author and professor of biochemistry at Boston University, best known for his works of science fiction and for his popular science books. Asimov was one of the most prolific writers of all time, having written or edited more than 500 books and an estimated 90,000 letters and postcards. His works have been published in all ten major categories of the Dewey Decimal System (although his only work in the 100s—which covers philosophy and psychology—was a foreword for The Humanist Way).
What is your favorite Isaac Asimov book? Personally, I think that The Gods Themselves is his best novel, but what about you guys? Let us know in the comments section below!
Happy Birthday, Isaac Asimov!
New Year’s Resolutions [Pic]
[Source: Shoeboxblog]
HuffPo’s Best TV Lines of 2011
The Huffington Post put up a compilation video of the best lines from TV in 2011. So glad to see that Breaking Bad is on this list. That line is CHILLING.
via Warming Glow and Huffington Post
Andasol, the World’s Largest Solar Power Plant
Over at The Independent, Alasdair Fotheringham has written a lovely article on Andasol, the world’s largest solar power plant. Fotheringham delves into what makes the plant so productive:
…Part of the explanation for Andasol’s high output is that, rather than using the better-known photovoltaic solar energy system, which directly creates electrical current, its linear solar concentrators in the mirrors absorb the heat. The heat is then transferred and thermally stored in some 30,000 tons of salt – heat which can keep the electricity-producing steam turbines turning for up to eight hours after sunset.
He also writes about plans for new solar-powered operations:
In North Africa… an international venture called Desertec Industrial Initiative has recently announced plans for a Sahara-wide, €400bn solar energy project, starting in the region of Ouarzazzatte in Morocco in 2015….Desertec’s plans could produce 15 per cent of Europe’s electricity by 2050, managing director Paul van Son told the news agency Reuters last month. Space – vital for thermal solar plants which could dwarf even somewhere like Andasol – is hardly lacking in the Sahara, either. According to Desertec, it receives as much solar energy in six hours as the entire world uses in a year.
Well worth a look.
via The Independent
It’s Important to Forget
I take the saying “forgive and forget” to heart. I’m not a huge fan of conflict in general, so it’s easier to let things slide. According to Scientific American, this is the best way to handle bad situations. Their article on the subject is fascinating and well worth a read.
“11 New Species Discovered in 2011”
Neat list of newly discovered creatures. I like the Titi monkey. I wonder how much trouble this little guy got in for blowing their cover. “They know about us now…DO YOU REALIZE WHAT YOU’VE DONE???”