tingilinde

cheap v good stuff

Which makes more sense - something good that will last, or something cheap that you discard and replace every few years?  It turns out many issues are involved - Salon comments on Cheap, the High Cost of a Discount Culture, by Ellen Ruppel Shell.

snip:

"Cheap" is hardly a finger-waggling book. This isn't a screed designed to make us feel guilty for unknowingly benefiting from the hardships of workers in other parts of the world. And Shell -- who writes regularly for the Atlantic -- isn't talking about the shallowness of consumerism here; she makes it clear that she, like most of us, enjoys the hunt for a good deal. "Cheap" really is about us,meaning not just Americans, but citizens of the world, and about what we stand to lose in a global economic environment that threatens the very nature of meaningful work, work we can take pride in and build a career on -- or even at which we can just make a living.

Discount chains pretend to be the most democratic of enterprises, willing and able to fill our every need at a price we can afford: Ingenious slogans like "Design for All" (Target) and "Save money. Live Better" (Wal-Mart) make that point pretty well. Shell asserts that an excess of cheap goods -- and the drive to make and sell them ever more cheaply -- is putting a deadly squeeze on workers worldwide. Most liberal-leaning citizens are aware of the profit-making schemes of Wal-Mart and, even if we actually shop there, find them distasteful (although Shell notes that among economists, the chain has its defenders).

But Shell asserts that even outlet malls and seemingly benign, friendly, progressive stores like IKEA are part of the problem; along with more obvious bad guys like Wal-Mart, they perpetuate a cycle that, far from nurturing creativity and innovation in the marketplace, ultimately benefits a relative few at the very top of the economic chain. Shell notes that before retiring in February 2009, "Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott Jr. took home in his biweekly paycheck what his average employee earned in a lifetime." You might say that, for Scott, the good news is that everybody can afford to shop at Wal-Mart; the better news is that he himself doesn't have to.

"easy" and inexpensive solutions that will never work

If burning less oil, emitting less carbon dioxide and becoming healthier were really important.. 

There are times when I think we need $10 a gallon gasoline

John Pucher of Rutgers has done extensive research on what it takes to transition to much greater bicycle and foot traffic (sometimes called active transportation) for short trips.  There are enormous benefits, but cars are too comfortable and inexpensive to use for many of us. 

Here is his keynote from the 2009 Fit City Conference in June.

tennis elbow?

perhaps a useful announcement:

American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine 

Easy strength training exercise may help treat tennis elbow, study shows

KEYSTONE, CO – People with pain in the elbow or forearm from playing sports or just from common everyday activities, might be able to use a simple bar and strengthening exercise to alleviate pain, say researchers who are presenting their study results at the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine's Annual Meeting in Keystone, Colorado, July 9th-12th.
Tennis elbow or lateral epicondylitis is a common condition effecting nearly three percent of the general population, not just those who play tennis. "Our study illustrated that a novel exercise, using an inexpensive rubber bar, may provide a practical and effective means of adding isolated wrist strengthening exercises to a treatment plan," said lead author Timothy F. Tyler, PT, ATC, Clinical Research Associate, of the Nicholas Institute of Sports Medicine and Athletic Trauma in New York City.

The study randomized 21 patients with tennis elbow into two groups. Both received the wrist extensor stretching, ultrasound, cross-friction massage, heat and ice for treatment. The eccentric training group performed isolated eccentric wrist extensor strengthening using the rubber bar (Flexbar, Akron OH) while the standard treatment group performed isotonic wrist strengthening exercises. Three sets of 15 repetitions were performed daily as part of a home program with intensity increased progressively during the treatment period. A variety of pain and movement scales were utilized to determine progress. Patients using the rubber bar had vastly better results on all scales, especially related to strength. In fact, given the consistently poor outcomes for patients in the standard treatment group, it was deemed appropriate to terminate the randomization with 21 of the intended 30 patients having already completed the study.

"Compared to other treatments for tennis elbow such as cortisone injections or topical nitric oxide which require direct medical supervision and often side effects, this treatment is not only cost effective but dosage is not limited by the patient having to come to a clinic," said Tyler.

###

The American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine (AOSSM) is a world leader in sports medicine education, research, communication and fellowship, and includes national and international orthopaedic sports medicine leaders. The Society works closely with many other sports medicine specialists, including athletic trainers, physical therapists, family physicians, and others to improve the identification, prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation of sports injuries. For more information, please contact AOSSM Director of Communications, Lisa Weisenberger, or call the Society office at 847-292-4900. Additional information and press releases can be viewed in the AOSSM newsroom atwww.sportsmed.org

magic in the shadow of the moon

One of the beauties of physics is the cleverness used to measure something.  Cosmic Variance points out a new idea (pdf) for sorting out the nature of cosmic rays

Observation of shadowing of the cosmic electrons and positrons by the Moon with IACT

P. Colin, D. Borla Tridon, D. Britzger, E. Lorenz, R. Mirzoyan, T. Schweizer, M. Teshima, for the MAGIC Collaboration

(Submitted on 6 Jul 2009)

Recent measurements of the cosmic-ray electron (e-) and positron (e+) fluxes show apparent excesses compared to the spectra expected by standard cosmic-ray (CR) propagation models in our galaxy. These excesses may be related to particle acceleration in local astrophysical objects, or to dark matter annihilation/decay. The e+/e- ratio (measured up to ~100 GeV) increases unexpectedly above 10 GeV and this may be connected to the excess measured in all-electron flux at 300-800 GeV. Measurement of this ratio at higher energies is a key parameter to understand the origin of these spectral anomalies. Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes (IACT) detect electromagnetic air showers above 100 GeV, but, with this technique, the discrimination between primary e-, e+ and diffuse gamma-rays is almost impossible. However, the Moon and the geomagnetic field provide an incredible opportunity to separate these 3 components. Indeed, the Moon produces a 0.5deg-diameter hole in the isotropic CR flux, which is shifted by the Earth magnetosphere depending on the momentum and charge of the particles. Below few TeV, the e+ and e- shadows are shifted at >0.5deg each side of the Moon and the e+, e- and gamma-ray shadows are spatially separated. IACT can observe the e+ and e- shadows without direct moonlight in the field of view, but the scattered moonlight induces a very high background level. Operating at the highest altitude (2200m), with the largest telescopes (17m) of the current IACT, MAGIC is the best candidate to reach a low energy threshold in these peculiar conditions. Here we discuss the feasibility of such observations.

This is mostly for physics and astrophysics types, but such a neat idea.  I don't have a good sense of how well it would work from the paper - they feel it is possible, but it looks tricky as they need about 50 hours of observation time to extract a signal and the alignment of the Earth and Moon is such that gathering the data might take years.  Still - it is a nice trick that should be tried.

The CERN Courier recently had a piece on MAGIC.  The neat factoid from the article (and a nice problem to give to a particle physics student) is Cherenkov radiation from cosmic ray showers is about 0.1% of the light in the night sky.

modular parking garage for bikes

A bike is, in theory, a great way to commute to work if you are within ten miles.  In reality there are a large number of obstacles ranging from a safe route to dealing with parking and sweat when you arrive at work.

Some enlightened companies offer showers and bike parking for employees, but that is rare.  

From Australia comes the Green Pod - a modular bike garage that holds ten bikes, ten lockers as well as a change room and shower.  It probably isn't cheap, but is probably much less expensive than providing a parking garage for ten cars.

Of course in the US we pursue "green" parking garages for cars - something of an oxymoron.

how shiny is chrome?

Google hasn't said a great deal on Chrome OS, so it is difficult to comment.  There are clearly many issues and we are probably looking at something that won't realize its potential for some time.  I'm not terribly impressed at the robustness and security of the Internet at this point to trust very much in a client-server (or is it client-services?) relationship.  But we will see ..

John Gruber has some thoughts at Daring Fireball.

converting youtube files to something else

cute and free

impressive sr71 model

thanks for the link Bob!

finding your inner bat

Humans can develop echolocation skills.

snip

"In certain circumstances, we humans could rival bats in our echolocation or biosonar capacity", Juan Antonio Martínez, lead author of the study and a researcher at the Superior Polytechnic School of the UAH, tells SINC. The team led by this scientist has started a series of tests, the first of their kind in the world, to make use of human beings' under-exploited echolocation skills.

In the first study, published in the journal Acta Acustica united with Acustica, the team analyses the physical properties of various sounds, and proposes the most effective of these for use in echolocation. "The almost ideal sound is the 'palate click, a click made by placing the tip of the tongue on the palate, just behind the teeth, and moving it quickly backwards, although it is often done downwards, which is wrong", Martínez explains.

The researcher says that palate clicks "are very similar to the sounds made by dolphins, although on a different scale, as these animals have specially-adapted organs and can produce 200 clicks per second, while we can only produce three or four". By using echolocation, "which is three-dimensional, and makes it possible to 'see' through materials that are opaque to visible radiation" it is possible to measure the distance of an object based on the time that elapses between the emission of a sound wave and an echo being received of this wave as it is reflected from the object.

In order to learn how to emit, receive and interpret sounds, the scientists are developing a method that uses a series of protocols. This first step is for the individual to know how to make and identify his or her own sounds (they are different for each person), and later to know how to use them to distinguish between objects according to their geometrical properties "as is done by ships' sonar".

Some blind people had previously taught themselves how to use echolocation "by trial and error". The best-known cases of these are the Americans Daniel Kish, the only blind person to have been awarded a certificate to act as a guide for other blind people, and Ben Underwood, who was considered to be the world's best "echolocator" until he died at the start of 2009.

However, no special physical skills are required in order to develop this skill. "Two hours per day for a couple of weeks are enough to distinguish whether you have an object in front of you, and within another two weeks you can tell the difference between trees and a pavement", Martínez tells SINC.

The scientist recommends trying with the typical "sh" sound used to make someone be quiet. Moving a pen in front of the mouth can be noticed straightaway. This is a similar phenomenon to that when travelling in a car with the windows down, which makes it possible to "hear" gaps in the verge of the road.

The next level is to learn how to master the "palate clicks". To make sure echoes from the tongue clicks are properly interpreted, the researchers are working with a laser pointer, which shows the part of an object at which the sound should be aimed.

There are other ways to push your senses - I did a lot of night walking on very dark nights as a kid using averted vision.  You can train yourself to dramatically increased your sensitivity to low light levels, but you give up color and detail.

fueling your body for exercise

I'm no athlete, but an hour on the rowing machine can be grim is food and water is mismanaged.

Here are a few tips that appeared in the NY Times.

mirrors without the smoke

A nice forth of July demonstration that eSolar can point each mirror in this concentrating solar power plant in California.

CSP has some nice characteristics and power can be offered for hours after sunset (the number of hours depends on plant design).  There are issues with cooling water for the heat engines, but air cooled designs are emerging which make them more practical in arid locations.

pedal pushing

An announcement from Colleen

She is all leg and arm and  happens to be too tall* for a normal bike, so Trek has agreed to  design and fabricate  something that will be a perfect match for her frame and needs. 

Getting a bike that fits your frame and your transportation needs is important.  This one will haul her stuff including a few volleyballs or a carrier for her rat terriers Daisy-Mae and Zula.

This is great for her as there is nothing like a practical bike that actually fits.  It will be great for Trek as she gets a lot of attention and will be promoting their products and the idea of getting fitted for the right bike.  It is neat seeing someone other than a bike racer promoting bikes as a practical way of getting around.

If you are looking into a new bike remember to get something optimized for your needs - a multi-thousand dollar racer probably doesn't make sense if you are riding to the store and commuting to work.  Once you have figured out what type of bike you need you should visit a competent bicycle shop to be fitted.  

Two people of the same height can have very different requirements in frame size and type and seat and handlebar types and positions - for starters.  If you walk into Target or WalMart you can find a bike that sort of fits, but getting a good fit may be difficult.

We've dealt with Trek's fitting process and were impressed.

It is very unlikely you will require a custom design like Colleen, but watching the project unfold in her blog will be interesting.  

___

* The  Coney Island clown's finger is at forty six inches in this photo.  At over six feet six inches tall, she turns out to be tall enough for all of their rides.

maximum oil yields for algae based biofuels and pathways to the future

There are a lot of guesstimates for amount of oil that can be extracted from solar based algae production.  One of the reasons for going to algae is the photosynthetic efficiencies can be much higher than the plants that are used to make ethanol or biodiesel today.

Kristina M. Weyer, Daniel R. Bush, Al Darzins and Bryan D. Willson of Colorado State have published Theoretical Maximum Algal Oil Production - a very conservative theoretical upper limit to production.  Any realistic scheme is likely to be only a fraction of this estimate, but it gives a nice look into the components of the calculation and a means for back of the envelope comparisons to other schemes.

Their limit is 38,000 gallons of unrefined oil per acre per year.  Soybeans are in the neighborhood of 70 gallons per acre per year and algae schemes are generally quoted in the low thousands of gallons per year, although these are mostly experimental and the numbers vary by huge amounts.

Back of the envelope calculations show a well sited concentrating solar power plant can currently produce several times times the energy of the theoretical maximum for algal biofuels.  Of course oil is extremely useful as its energy density is much higher than the best theoretical batteries. Biofuels are probably well suited for aviation and some types of long range ground transportation as we consider powering the whole fleet of vehicles.  

The long term transportation future is probably some mix of algae biofuels and solar and wind produced electricity (unless nuclear power suddenly becomes extremely inexpensive - also wind energy arguably is solar energy).

In the short and medium term adding biofuels to displace coal, petroleum and natural gas makes sense where the carbon costs for producing the biofuels is low enough.

A great deal of work needs to be done optimizing the transportation system and making it more efficient.  This means minimizing travel where large amounts of green house gases are emitted per passenger-mile. A lot of this can be done now at no cost (car pooling, trip combining, shifting to walking or biking for short trips) and it can be encouraged at low cost with minimal investment - making human powered transport more practical.  Waiting to buy the "right" car and not changing behavior is unacceptable.

Colleen and I were recently talking about road trips.  She is very good at minimizing short range car use and hopes to make next year's road trip in a low gram CO₂/mile vehicle.  Further out in time she will probably be using an electric/algal-biodiesel hybrid for medium and long term trips and her feet and bike for anything less than ten miles.  Combine this with her energy conservation at home and she is on a great path.  Follow her lead and start your own soon.

happy birthday corinne!

Happy Birthday to my favorite sister!

true religion

Homemade ice cream

One of the real joys of the Summer.  Make some timing the batch to be ready just before the fireflies start around dusk and forget about the heat and any serious cares.  Act your shoe size for awhile.

We did it last night. The photo is one of the guilty parties making absolutely sure blueberry ice cream was properly cleaned from the ice cream freezer's dasher.  

Two batches were performed, blueberry and raspberry, with freshly picked berries from a local NJ farm.

Steve, Jim, Nancy, Jeff, Norm  ...  the ball is in your court.  

Here is roughly what we did for the blueberry:

(all ingredients should be very fresh)

2 large pasteurized eggs (if you can't find pasteurized eggs, find a no-egg or a cooked egg recipe)
1.25 c white sugar (if the berries are extra sweet, cut the sugar a bit)
2 c blueberries
juice of 1/2 lemon
2 c heavy cream
1 c whole milk

• toss blueberries, lemon juice, 1/2 c sugar in a small bowl, cover and refrigerate for a few hours tossing every half hour or so

• wisk eggs until fluffy, wisk in the sugar a bit at a time and then blend in the cream and milk

• mash the berry mix by hand and mix with dairy mixture

• churn freeze