Day: July 6, 2019

Environmental Thoughts For A Saturday

The weekend begins and we Southerners are praying for some rain…..we had a wet Spring but so far this Summer nothing….which is odd considering where I live has water on three sides…even the heat of the day does not generate a shower or two.

I have always been an activist for the environment….I recycle, do not litter, plant trees, etc etc……so recently with the new coal industry ad that compares a coal burning plant to a tree got my attention…..it shows a tree which captures CO2 as does the new plant…..making it seem that it is totally clean….the problem trees give off O2 as a by-product something a coal burning plant cannot do…..so the comparison is silly.

But there is something simple that can be used to help eliminate the CO2 emissions…..

Carbon capture and storage is a hot topic among researchers striving to save the planet from climate change. Scientists are constantly trying to develop and improve materials which can capture carbon dioxide (CO₂) from the atmosphere. At the Energy Safety Research Institute (ESRI) at Swansea University, we’ve developed a promising new material from a liquid amine – a chemical which is known for its ability to react with CO₂, but in liquid form can’t do so effectively.

By adding just enough glue to make the liquid amine fluff up into a solid, the resulting new material is capable of capturing one-fifth of its own weight in CO₂. The glue is a type of epoxy resin – used everywhere in paints, varnishes and flooring. Our work shows that epoxy resins can be a key ingredient in making effective carbon capture materials – and they have been staring us in the face for more than 70 years.

Since huge advances are being made in renewable energy – and the UK’s reliance on fossil fuels has reduced – is carbon capture technology becoming redundant? Unfortunately not. There remains about 1.5 times the concentration of CO₂ in the atmosphere that there was in pre-industrial times. If we are to limit global warming to 1.5°C to avert the worst consequences of climate change, atmospheric CO₂ will have to be captured on an industrial scale, and either made into useful new chemicals or buried deep underground in depleted oil reservoirs.

https://theconversation.com/glue-could-be-the-magic-ingredient-for-cheap-and-efficient-co-capture-119441

Time to use any method available to capture CO2 emissions…..it can only help the climate and planet heal.

The day is done for me…..trying to stay cool in a 100 degree day…..not an easy task…LOL

Lust In Space

Not a remake of the 60s adventure series for that has already been done by Netflix….no this is about sex in space….not joking…..and not some pitch for a porn movie…..if it is something strange then It is the weekend and I try to give my readers news that they would probably miss during the week……in other words stuff no one gives a crap about but me.

It’s a Saturday so let’s have fun.

Does anyone remember Lisa Nowak?

Let me help…..

Quick recap: Nowak was seeing fellow astronaut William Oefelein until he dumped her to date another colleague, Air Force engineer Colleen Shipman. Plotting revenge, Nowak drove 900 miles from Houston to Orlando in a car packed with an odd, incriminating assortment of items: latex gloves, wig, BB pistol, pepper spray, hammer, gloves, rubber tubing, garbage bags, knife and diapers. (Nowak disputes the claim that she was wearing a diaper while driving.) Nowak eventually found Shipman, discharged pepper spray through her car window, and was arrested on charges of attempted kidnapping and battery.

Just a short reminder…….

We may never know exactly what was in Lisa Marie Nowak’s heart—what she thought, felt, believed, or dreamed. How desperately she loved or how compulsively she hated. Or why she would do something, entirely of her own free will, that was guaranteed to ruin the extraordinary life she had spent 43 years meticulously crafting. Maybe someday she’ll write a memoir or, sunk in shame and isolation, sell her story to Hollywood and offer up her social and professional suicide for money and another kind of fame. As time passes, there may be little else for her to do.

Until then, we are left to construct our own dossier, composed solely of the hard, objective facts of the narrative. We begin with the most basic of these: Lisa was an astronaut. For more than a decade she was part of that cold-blooded, nerveless band of overachievers that the rest of the world looks upon as the embodiment of human perfection. She flew a single mission on the space shuttle, in the summer of 2006. She is a mom. She is quite thin—five feet four inches tall and 110 pounds—with light-brown shoulder-length hair and bangs; with makeup on and her hair done, she can look pretty in a homespun, American sort of way. Although she is quiet and, as you will soon see, compartmentalized, the personality she showed to the world was one that everyone liked and admired: cheerful, diligent, smart, caring, nice, brave.

https://www.texasmonthly.com/articles/lust-in-space/

A little forgotten history to make your Saturday.