For you futurists, geeks and of course, you greenies……… look at this!

Supercomputers Break Petaflop Barrier, Transforming Science By Betsy Mason
A new crop of supercomputers is breaking down the petaflop speed barrier, pushing
high-performance computing into a new realm that could change science more profoundl
than at any time since Galileo, leading researchers say.

When the Top 500 list of the world’s fastest supercomputers was announced at the
international supercomputing conference in Austin, Texas, on Monday, IBM had barely
managed to cling to the top spot, fending off a challenge from Cray. But both competitors
broke petaflop speeds, performing 1.105 and 1.059 quadrillion floating-point calculations (more…)

We Americans plug in, text, log on, tune in (tv) and tune out (music). We use
13 times the power than just 60 years ago. Electricity is truly the life blood
of the U.S. Economy. Back in 2003, New York and surrounding areas really realized
how important electricity is. 50 million folks lost their power in minutes.

Building a national grid may be on top of President Obama’s list of things to
do. One idea is a power network, modeled like the interstate road system
that was thought up by President Eisenhower. Some folks feel that moving
power the same way could help out in the long run. This system would supercede
the 200,000 miles of power lines and 500 different owners.

Wind farms that have been cropping up everywhere need to have transmission lines
to the surrounding cities, towns, and villages. The same is true for solar, (more…)

The Global Seed Vault, opened this year on the far-northern Norwegian island of Spitsbergen, is a backup for the backups. It’s badly needed as around half the seed banks in developing countries are at risk from natural disasters or general instability.

Superman had it right: if you want to keep something safe, build a mountain fortress above the Arctic Circle. That’s the thinking — more or less — behind the Svalbard Global Seed Vault. Almost every nation keeps collections of native seeds so local crops can be replanted in case of an agricultural disaster. The Global Seed Vault, opened this year on the far-northern Norwegian island of Spitsbergen, is a backup for the backups. It’s badly needed — as many as half the seed banks in developing (more…)

I’M STILL STANDING, YEAH, YEAH, YEAH!

I would like to let you all know that I am still standing after IKE
came to town.

Ike started hitting us during the early morning hours.  Around 8:20
a.m. lost electricity.  Then the winds and rains started gearing up
for a rockin and rollin day. (more…)

Up until the middle of the twentieth century, people utilized root cellars
to keep food supplies cool and avoid spoilage in the summer and prevent
freezing in the winter. Not just root crops like potatoes, turnips, carrots,
and beets, root cellars stored the autumn harvest of families vegetable
gardens and seeds for the spring plantings. Along with the canned/pickled/
preserved vegetables, meats, and fruit, also the salt preserved fish and
meats, and last but not least the alcoholic beverages.

It was used on a daily basis for milk, butter, cream and bread to allow these
items to be used more than once. Before the dawn of electricity, it was quite
literally the home’s food pantry and refrigerator. (more…)

What is the purpose of termites?…

Those incredibly destructive little creatures have the potential to benefit
humans in the production of biofuels. Or more precisely, the bacteria in
their stomachs. Termites process the wood they ingest in a series of stomachs,
each with a distinct set of bacteria.  Those bugs within bugs release enzymes
that break down cellulose, the sugar chains in wood, into acetate, a fatty
acid that provides the termite’s energy. Scientists with the Joint Genome
Institute at the U.S. Department of Energy, hope to develop a process to
harness the power of these bacteria on an industrial scale to break cellulose
down into ethanol and provide biofuel without using food crops as a source. (more…)