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Porn Robots Have taken over the site

Porn Robots will probably take over the world some day. Porn is always pushing technology. Porn Spam robots have succesfuly deposited so much porn commenting that i can''t be bothered to remove it. So read at your own risk!

Energy: North American Solar Challenge
Environment Stanford Solar Car

And they're off!


The North American Solar Challenge races solar cars from Austin to Calgary. This year's cars are Hot! The North American Solar Challenge is sponsored by the US DOE, Resources Canada, & NREL. The race is from July 17-27 2005.

Click "READ MORE" to see a pictorial of the Stanford Solar Car from it's unveiling May 7th, and more links.

Posted by john on Friday, July 22 @ 01:20:07 EDT (467 reads)
(Read More... | 1345 bytes more | comments? | Energy | Score: 5)

We are BACK ONLINE!!
Check it Out Anonymous writes "The Lab is back online! Our old server was hacked and the site was disabled. We have a new server, updated software, and a new look.

Look for new content coming soon. In the meantime, feel free to check out any articles you may have missed. If you have a story you think would be good for the site, please send it in! We could use some new material.

If you have any problems, please let me know john(at)macroscopic.org
"
Posted by john on Monday, July 18 @ 12:40:48 EDT (258 reads)
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How to Run your car on bio-fuels; Veggie oil or Biodiesel
BioDiesel and SVO
BioFuelBy John Humphrey

Here's some quick tips for running your car on bio-fuels. First, unless you live in Brazil where bio-ethanol is available, the bio-fuel options are Biodiesel or Straight Vegetable Oil (SVO). All you need is a vehicle with a diesel engine.

I won't go into too many technical details, there is a lot of info out there. If you really want to run your car on bio-fuels, a great start is to buy or borrow the book "From the Fryer to the Fuel Tank" by Joshua Tickell.

Common veggie cars are Volkwagens and Mercedes Benz, but any diesel car or truck is fine. Here are some pictures of cars powered by biodiesel, canola oil, and olive oil (biofuels)...
Posted by john on Monday, April 25 @ 01:44:21 EDT (1194 reads)
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Energy: The End of Oil
Sustainable Energy Anonymous writes " The End of Oil Is Closer Than You Think
By John Vidal
The Guardian UK

Thursday 21 April 2005

Oil production could peak next year, reports John Vidal. Just kiss your lifestyle goodbye.

The one thing that international bankers don't want to hear is that the second Great Depression may be round the corner. But last week, a group of ultra-conservative Swiss financiers asked a retired English petroleum geologist living in Ireland to tell them about the beginning of the end of the oil age.

They called Colin Campbell, who helped to found the London-based Oil Depletion Analysis Centre because he is an industry man through and through, has no financial agenda and has spent most of a lifetime on the front line of oil exploration on three continents. He was chief geologist for Amoco, a vice-president of Fina, and has worked for BP, Texaco, Shell, ChevronTexaco and Exxon in a dozen different countries.

"Don't worry about oil running out; it won't for very many years," the Oxford PhD told the bankers in a message that he will repeat to businessmen, academics and investment analysts at a conference in Edinburgh next week. "The issue is the long downward slope that opens on the other side of peak production. Oil and gas dominate our lives, and their decline will change the world in radical and unpredictable ways," he says.

Campbell reckons..."
Posted by john on Friday, April 22 @ 18:49:13 EDT (314 reads)
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Energy: Turning Garbage into Fuel
Recycling File Under Pretty Cool:

Here's a neat company that is taking landfill bound plastics and converting them into Fuel.

Ozmo Energy, a Hungarian company, has a system of liquefaction, pyrolysis, and the catalytic breakdown of the plastics to produce a high quality fuel.
Posted by john on Wednesday, March 02 @ 16:20:00 EST (1140 reads)
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Energy: New Solar Reports
Sustainable Energy (from the CLEAN EDGE mailing list)

Two New Reports Highlight Enormous Potential for Solar PV in the U.S.

Two reports released today, one by Clean Edge, Inc. and Co-op America's Solar Catalyst Group, and the other by the Energy Foundation and Navigant Consulting Inc., highlight the enormous potential for solar PV in the U.S. if government, industry, and investors cooperate to bring down installed solar photovoltaic (PV) pricing.
Posted by john on Tuesday, March 01 @ 19:50:09 EST (319 reads)
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Environment: Kyoto and Beyond
Environment by Felix Kramer

On February 16, 2005, the Kyoto Protocol on Climate Change goes into effect to begin a global rescue mission. It's a historic first step, but the U.S., the top greenhouse gas producer hasn't signed on. And developing countries, including China and India, are exempt.

Still, every country in the world meeting Kyoto's goals wouldn't save our children from the catastrophes a consensus of scientists predict. Meeting the Climate Challenge, a report from the International Climate Change Task Force, warns we're approaching a point of no return. If we don't act decisively, average global temperatures could over decades rise almost four degrees Fahrenheit above 1750's levels. They're already up over one degree. We'd face agricultural failures, diseases, droughts and floods. Some experts forecast a 10 degree jump, much higher sea levels and possible abrupt, runaway changes to ocean currents...

Continues...
Posted by john on Saturday, February 19 @ 16:20:00 EST (357 reads)
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Environment: ClimatePrediction.net Update!
Environment

Here is an update to an earlier story published on macroscopic. The first set of results are back from climateprediction.net, an experimental project that joins over 90,000 computers all over the world to create more processing power than the world's largets supercomputers, and they don't look good!

"Greenhouse gases could cause global temperatures to rise by more than double the maximum warming so far considered likely by the Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), according to results from the world's largest climate prediction experiment, published in the journal Nature this week."

Follow the "Read this story link to see a summary and links.

Posted by john on Saturday, February 19 @ 15:54:55 EST (404 reads)
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Jazz Funeral for Democracy
Democracy nolagreen writes "Today was the day that GW was re-sworn in as president of the United States. As thousands of his supporters were preparing for the evening's lavish festivities, there was a much more somber feeling to the city of New Orleans.

Over 1500 people followed a traditional jazz funeral procession from Congo Square in Louis Armstrong Park to the Mississippi River, mouring the death of democracy in the US. People from all walks of life, of all ages gathered together to vent their frustrations and to follow a horse-drawn carriage with coffin and two jazz bands.

People along N. Rampart and Canal Street, waiting for the bus and streetcar, shouted words of support, while the procession (most of which was dressed in black) passed.

The procession ended at the river, where the ashes of the Patriot Act were tossed into the Mississippi. Speakers in Jackson Square went on for over an hour, rallying people (a lot of which were unsuspecting tourists in the French Quarter). Noted historian, Howard Zinn, who was scheduled to speak, did not attend due to a family illness- but the crowd was inspired nontheless and continued down Decatur Street into the Marigny, where the day ended with several bands continuing to play in the street.....

"

Note: (Originally submitted January 20th but due to moving across the globe I have gotten behind on updates -john)
Posted by john on Saturday, February 19 @ 15:15:00 EST (400 reads)
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Energy: Practical Solar Transportation
Design I love solar vehicles. Of course my usual exposure is to high end vehicles like the Stanford Solar Car or the Nuna.

But what I realy like is people making their own solar cars, which is why this project is so neat. Here is an "open source" project devoted to sharing information and helping people build their own small solar vehicles...
Posted by john on Friday, December 10 @ 04:20:00 EST (413 reads)
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Energy: The Energy Challenge 2004 - Hydrogen
Sustainable Energy From Energy Pulse November 30, 2004.
Article Written by Murray Duffin

Much has been written about the hydrogen economy (HE), and much misunderstood. In fact the label itself is probably a misnomer. Many in the USA believe that the Administration's hydrogen initiative is just a way to postpone doing anything useful about energy for as long as possible. If so it has backfired. Widespread research on all aspects of hydrogen production, storage, transportation and use is evident, not just in the USA, but worldwide, and technological advances are appearing at a bewildering rate. The subject is so large that only a few highlights will be touched on here.
Posted by john on Thursday, December 09 @ 03:42:43 EST (398 reads)
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Politics: We're Sorry - We Forgive You
Music, People, Culture
Since the Election, two new sites have popped up and quickly became huge successes. One is a site of pictures of people apologizing to the rest of the world for the election of president Bush. The other site is pictures of people accepting the apologies.

It's an example of not only how the internet is re-shaping the way the world communicates, but how people are creating new ways to use the internet. It's also nice to see this kind of international dialogue. Read the story to see the URLs.
Posted by john on Tuesday, November 23 @ 10:15:54 EST (428 reads)
(Read More... | 830 bytes more | 11 comments | Politics | Score: 2.33)

Politics: Post Election Blues?
Democracy We can't just stop doing what we have all been doing leading up to the election. We have a lot of work to do if we want the country to move in the direction we think it needs to go. Slavery wasn't abolished by an election, and racial inequality is still a major problem. Women's rights took a lot of work to get where they are, and have a long way to go. The environmental movement that started in the 70's is re-gaining momentum and is as important as ever. There will always be struggles to make the world a better place, and there will always be disappointments.

I am copying a list of positive things that we can do as we move forward which was sent to me. We have to think positive. Feel free to add to the list and forward these around:

Posted by john on Thursday, November 04 @ 08:20:55 EST (425 reads)
(Read More... | 3558 bytes more | 8 comments | Politics | Score: 3)

Politics: Downloading for Democracy
Democracy While most people associate P2P file sharing networks with music and movie files, Thad Anderson, a second-year student at St. John's School of Law in Queens, New York is using the file sharing networks to make the American government more transparent and accountable by making public documents (such as those obtained through Freedom Of Information Act requests) more accessible to people.

Now you can use Soulseek, Kazaa, Limewire, and even BitTorrent to download such items as recent torture memos related to the Abu Ghraib prison scandal, a Senate Intelligence Committee report on what the government knew before it invaded Iraq and a document showing how the Bush administration suppressed information about the full cost of its Medicare plan until after Congress passed the plan.

There is also a copy of a no-bid contract obtained by a Halliburton subsidiary for work in Iraq and congressional testimony from former employees of the subsidiary showing how their company engaged in wasteful and costly conduct in Iraq (such as abandoning an $85,000 Mercedes truck after its tires went flat)...
Posted by john on Thursday, October 21 @ 08:43:55 EDT (455 reads)
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Energy: BMW Hydrogen Powered Car Breaks Speed Records
Design

BMW's Clean Energy program produced a formidable winner this weekend. The BMW H2R set nine international speed records for internal combustion powered vehicles using hydrogen as a fuel at the Miramas high-speed Proving Grounds in France. BMW has thus proven its conviction that hydrogen is able to replace conventional fuel without any compromises in terms of performance and emissions.
Posted by john on Tuesday, October 19 @ 00:00:00 EDT (614 reads)
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Energy: Managing Supply and Demand with Hydrogen
Sustainable Energy
An H2 molecule is made of two hydrogen atoms.Hydrogen has been called the energy technology of the future, but what exactly does that mean? Hydrogen is not an energy source. You can?t find huge deposits of hydrogen under the sand in the Middle East. Hydrogen is only a way to store energy. It is almost like a liquid version of a battery (although it isn?t always a liquid).

Water is the most abundant thing on Earth. Most of the planet, including our bodies, is made up of mainly water molecules...
Posted by john on Friday, October 15 @ 08:47:14 EDT (442 reads)
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Energy: New Models for Wind Prediction
Sustainable Energy

According to a recent article in Wired Magazine, new modelling software in the United States is allowing potential wind farm developers to analyze the energy potential for a site quickly and effectively, without having to wait and collect a year or more worth of wind data at the site.

Wind power development has been slow in the U.S. compared to the rest of the world for the last couple of decades. In the 80's, government incentives in California provided the industry with a huge boost, and for a while California was the world's largest market for wind turbines. But when Raegan became governer in the early 90's, the incentives disappeared, and wind power in the U.S. ground to a virtual standstill compared to other parts of the world such as Denmark, Germany, and Spain.

Things are picking up again...
Posted by john on Wednesday, September 22 @ 04:15:51 EDT (476 reads)
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Energy: Is Nuclear Power the best weapon against global warming?
Sustainable Energy James Lovelock is an independant scientist and the creator of the Gaia hypothesis of the Earth as a self-regulating organism.

In a recent opinion article for the UK Independent, he argues that nuclear power is our only option for tackling urgent climate change issues.


"We have no time to experiment with visionary energy sources; civilisation is in imminent danger"



Note: Although this is a controversial viewpoint, I tend to agree. Burning fossil fuels has arguably caused more damadge to society and the world than all the nuclear accidents and explosions put together. -john
Posted by john on Tuesday, September 14 @ 05:16:33 EDT (491 reads)
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Environment: Is Your Computer Bored?
Environment

" Climateprediction.net is the largest experiment to try and produce a forecast of the climate in the 21st century. To do this, we need people around the world to give us time on their computers - time when they have their computers switched on, but are not using them to their full capacity."

Note:

Editors note: I installed this a couple days ago. I had to restart after installing to get things running smoothly. Some of you may remember the SETI at home project that used a similar distributed computing system to analyze radio telescope data looking for Extra-Terrestrial life. Now SETI at home is running on BOINC. With climateprediction.net, you are actually running BOINC, which lets you connect your computer to a distributed computing project. climateprediction.net is one of these projects. You could also let your computer, for example, search for signals of intelligent life or predict the folding of proteins in the background after installing BOINC. -John

Posted by john on Saturday, August 28 @ 08:10:54 EDT (705 reads)
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the Lab: The 50,000 Rule
Check it Out
The world is a big place and there are a lot of people in it. If you look at numbers enough you realise that whatever you are doing, there are other people doing it too. As the old proverb says "Nothing is original anymore," you can easily assume that somewhere in the world 50,000 people are doing whatever you are doing.

It is also hard for anyone these days to say that...
Posted by john on Friday, August 27 @ 03:40:16 EDT (572 reads)
(Read More... | 1019 bytes more | 8 comments | the Lab | Score: 4)

Environment: macroscopic is an Eco-Award Winner!
Environment

Macroscopic.org has been selected to receive the Environmentally Friendly Website Award. The award is given by Naturally Home to "websites that show a high level commitment to helping the environment through providing knowledge, eco-friendly business practices or providing alternatives to businesses and consumers that will help save our planet."

Posted by john on Wednesday, August 25 @ 09:14:32 EDT (435 reads)
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Energy: We want it Hot, They want water!
Sustainable Energy ahmed writes "

We want it Hot, They want water!

???Cogeneration for water in hot climates

August 9, 2004
Ahmed El-Dorghamy

Waste heat from the power generation industry or any other heat generating process is being regarded today as a valuable resource of energy in cold-climate countries. Utilizing the heat for district (or space) heating optimizes the efficiency of the overall system and saves resources.

However, similar optimization is not an option in hot-climate countries ?it is not heat that they need; they need fresh water. Furthermore, the countries in most need of fresh water resources happen to fall in the warmest regions of the world, which also happen to contain the majority of the world population. Thus the global problem is defined; there is an immediate water threat in regions that are most abundant in (wasted) heat energy, whether solar, or from industrial processes. Clearly, the sustainable energy solution is cogeneration for fresh water ?water from waste heat.


Technically, Xzero?s solution of membrane distillation (MD) for cogeneration is the most flexible solution compared to the similar technologies today, and in some cases the only solution. The experimental studies made on the pilot MD plant in the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH)in Stockholm, Sweden, have demonstrated ..."
Posted by john on Monday, August 09 @ 13:01:36 EDT (447 reads)
(Read More... | 4504 bytes more | 4 comments | Energy | Score: 5)

Energy: Warming the World To Dry Our Socks
Sustainable Energy By Bill McKibben, Originally published by Alternet.

Bill McKibben Writes: "What can you do about our deadly dependence on foreign energy, our ever-rising utility bills, and the flood of carbon into the atmosphere? Buy 50 feet of clothesline.

Once, visiting a friend, I helped wash the dinner dishes. I soaped the plates and cups, and she rinsed them and stacked them in a dish rack. When we were finished, I asked where the dish towel was so I could dry. "Oh, don't bother with that," she said. "That's air's job."

This brings ...
Posted by john on Monday, July 19 @ 03:44:31 EDT (767 reads)
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What is Community Supported Agriculture and How Does it Work?
Environment nolagreen writes "

Food is a basic human need. Yet for most of us in the U.S., it is merely an inexpensive commodity that we take for granted. Issues surrounding how, where, or by whom it is grown are not generally the topic of conversation around the dinner table. Considering the current situation in agriculture, perhaps they should be. Food in the U.S. travels an average of 1,300 miles from the farm to the market shelf. Almost every state in the U.S. buys 85-90% of its food from some place else. In Massachusetts, for example, this food import imbalance translates to a $4 billion leak in the state economy on an annual basis. UMass studies have determined that Massachusetts could produce closer to 35% of its food supply. This 20% increase would contribute $1 billion annually to the Commonwealth.

Increased local food production would add..."
Posted by john on Monday, July 12 @ 04:56:23 EDT (710 reads)
(Read More... | 10255 bytes more | 4 comments | Score: 5)

the Lab: HEY YOU! Write for macroscopic
Check it Out Macroscopic is:
  • A den for information on sustainable lifestyles.
  • Journals of connected people around the world.
  • A place to publish helpful information for the world to use.
  • A place to share ideas and incubate our collective creativities.

    The main topics are:
  • Renewable Energy Technologies
  • Intelligent Design
  • Better Consumption Practices
  • Ideas towards global peace and justice.
  • Posted by john on Sunday, May 30 @ 11:56:21 EDT (1753 reads)
    (Read More... | 819 bytes more | 13 comments | the Lab | Score: 1)

    Energy: Solar Energy Guide - Intro To Photovoltaics
    Sustainable Energy Friday, May 28, 2004.
    Macroscopic labs founder John Humphrey presented a lecture at the Department of Heat and Power Technology at KTH, the Royal Institute of Technology.

    The lecture was titled:Photovoltaics, an Introduction to Solar Electric Power Systems.

    The slides from the presentation are available for download and a short summary is available by following the link below.
    Posted by john on Wednesday, May 26 @ 11:21:29 EDT (479 reads)
    (Read More... | 565 bytes more | 6 comments | Energy | Score: 0)

    Environment: Don't just REcycle, FREECYCLE!
    Recycling
    This is even better than eBay!

    People are networking all over the world to give things away. The gift network is growing and happening in cities all over the world.

    Look for yours here:
    Posted by john on Wednesday, May 19 @ 09:48:08 EDT (528 reads)
    (Read More... | 2649 bytes more | 12 comments | Environment | Score: 5)

    Politics: Bush vs. Greenpeace - NOT GUILTY
    Democracy


    GW Bush and John Ashcroft have lost. The Miami court ruled that they have been vindictive, using an 1872 law to prosecute Greenpeace. They were trying to stifle civil disobedience by shutting Greenpeace down. But justice has prevailed and the case has been DISMISSED!
    Posted by john on Saturday, May 15 @ 11:57:58 EDT (464 reads)
    (Read More... | 5902 bytes more | 15 comments | Politics | Score: 0)

    Sweden: More Pictures
    Check it Out


    I just added bunch of pictures to the image gallery. Sweden, Poland, Russia, Puerto Rico, New York, Switzerland.... here:http://macroscopic.org/gallery/
    Posted by john on Saturday, April 24 @ 09:00:08 EDT (1147 reads)
    (Read More... | 20 comments | Sweden | Score: 1)

    Consumption Manifesto
    Music, People, Culture Here's another great item from the Worldwatch Institute

    A Consumption Manifesto: The Top Ten Principles of Good Consumption

    Consumption is one of life's great pleasures. Buying things we crave, traveling to beautiful places, eating delectable food, owning every Stevie Wonder album: icing on the cake of life. But too often the effects of our blissful consumption make for a sad story. Giant cars exhaling dangerous exhaust, hog farms pumping out noxious pollutants, toxic trash heaps nudging into poor neighborhoods?none of this if there weren't something to sell.

    But there's no need to swap pleasure for guilt. With thoughtfulness and commitment, consumption can be a force for good. Too long have we consumers been a blushing bride overwhelmed by business suitors. It's time for the bride to assert herself. We've got the dowry; we have the purchasing power. We can require our suitors to comply with our vision of environmental stewardship?or we can close the door behind them on their way out. Through buying what we need, produced the way we want, we can create the world we'd like to live in....(Read More)
    Posted by john on Friday, February 20 @ 10:52:28 EST (690 reads)
    (Read More... | 3758 bytes more | 3 comments | Score: 0)

    Web Ring:


    e=mc^2

    Award Winner
    Environmentally Friendly Website Award
    Macroscopic.org has been selected to receive the Environmentally Friendly Website Award. The award is given by Naturally Home to "websites that show a high level commitment to helping the environment through providing knowledge, eco-friendly business practices or providing alternatives to businesses and consumers that will help save our planet."

    To find out more about the awards, go to the Naturally Home site. We really appreciate the award and hope to continue to provide useful information for responsible citizens around the globe. Keep reading, and join the dialogue. Send in Your story today!

    -John Humphrey
    Founder, Macroscopic Labs
    email: macroscopic_labs(at)yahoo(dot)com
    or john(at)macroscopic(dot)org



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