Earth calling: Turn off the lights!

From hp Labs...

"HP Labs is developing a network of tiny, cheap, tough and exquisitely sensitive detectors that will make life more convenient and safer today while laying the groundwork for worldwide awareness tomorrow."

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HP Invents a "Central Nervous System for Earth" and Joins the Smarter Planet Sweepstakes

From Fast Company...

"HP Labs researcher Peter Hartwell holds a prototype vibration and movement sensor, a super-sensitive inertial accelerometer. The first to be deployed as part of HP Labs' Central Nervous System for Earth (CeNSE), it is about 1,000 times more sensitive than today's mass-produced devices."

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Rajendra Pachauri and the IPCC: A time for introspection

From The Economist...

"Increasing scrutiny of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and, in particular, its chairman, should lead to reforms"

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Climate-change legislation buried under record snowfall in capital

From thehill.com

"Record snowfall has buried Washington — and along with it, buried the chances of passing global warming legislation this year. Cars are stranded in banks of snow along the streets of the federal capital, and in the corridors of Congress, climate legislation also has been put on ice."

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A trip through the Mandelbrot set

Although it doesn't have much to do with wind on the surface, this video is a bit of a tribute to the randomness/order of mathematics. Here's a brief description:

"The final magnification is e.214. Want some perspective? A magnification of e.12 would increase the size of a particle to the same as the earths orbit! e.21 would make a particle look the same size as the milky way and e.42 would be equal to the universe. This zoom smashes all of them all away. If you were "actually" travelling into the fractal your speed would be faster than the speed of light."

The video is 10 minutes long, if your eyes can take it. The more interesting bit of the journey happens at the end! Although it may seem like we live in a world of chaos, sometimes a bit of order underlies much of what we see.

Thirty Knots, With the Wind at Your Wings

From the New York Times...

"USA-17, the challenger for the America’s Cup, and Alinghi 5, the defender, may be stripped-down, lean racing machines, built purely for speed. But both are fully loaded. Loaded, that is, with compressive and tensile stresses in an exquisitely choreographed dance of struts, spars and cables. Made almost entirely of carbon fiber, the enormous multihulls — USA-17 has three hulls, Alinghi 5 two — are about as delicate as a house of cards. If a big enough element were to break, the whole thing could fall apart."

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World's Tallest Tower Lookout Suddenly Shuttered

From ABC News...

"The Burj Khalifa's owner said Monday the observation deck of the world's tallest tower has been unexpectedly shut down, potentially disappointing thousands of tourists and marring the spire's image just a month after it opened."

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Finding a Parking Space Could Soon Get Easier

From Technology Review published by MIT...

"Anyone who's driven in a crowded downtown knows that parking can mean almost endless circling in the hunt for a space close to your destination. Now engineers at Rutgers University in New Jersey have combined simple ultrasonic sensors, GPS receivers, and cellular data networks to create a low-cost, highly effective way to find the nearest available parking space."

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A Faster Yacht, Trading Sails For a Wing

From Popular Science...

"This year, the rules have all but disappeared for competitors in the world’s oldest international trophy competition, the America’s Cup sailing race. Motorized sails are fine, the single-hull rule is out, and in the case of the BMW Oracle Racing team’s boat, even sails are optional. Instead, the largest wing ever constructed could catch enough wind to make the yacht the fastest yet."

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"Melting" Drywall Keeps Rooms Cool

From Technology Review published by MIT...

"Developers think these phase-change materials could reduce the need for air-conditioning. Building materials that absorb heat during the day and release it at night, eliminating the need for air-conditioning in some climates, will soon be on the market in the United States."

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