I recently received this sad “humor” forwarded by a very old friend from our high school and young-adult days.  (In spite of it, she’s actually a very nice lady – a retired nurse – normally caring, gentle, compassionate.  But she lives in Florida, and I can’t help but think she’s just fallen-in with a bad [...]

The Phi hopes to do for radio what Apple I did for computing—spark innovation. by Timothy B. Lee - July 5 2012, 9:00pm EDT Published by Arstechnica   In 1976, two shaggy-haired college dropouts founded a company called Apple to manufacture personal computers. The company’s prospects looked so poor that the third co-founder relinquished his 10 percent stake in [...]

First published by the Pittsburg Post Gazette April 8, 2012 5:47 pm By Michael Cudahy and Jock Gill If ever there was a moment for Americans to pay attention to the state of their democracy — or what is left of it — that time is now. As this country staggers out of the worst [...]

Forget peak oil. The population of the finite earth has now passed peak natural resources of ALL kinds. The destructive negative feedback loop powered by fear, greed, and power grabs, that is currently bedeviling much of the planet, is strong evidence that this condition is well known, even if none dare speak of it. As [...]

If you are interested in any of: > grass energy > cook stoves that do not pollute the air with lots of particulate matter, especially carbon black soot > Haiti > soil stabilization and restoration > biochar > reforestation Then this video is very encouraging. The cookies look delicious. Congratulations to Mike Mahowald and the [...]

Tags: Biochar, cooking, energy, environment, stoves, vetiver

By: Farooq Hassan January 24th, 2012 “The Supreme Court (SC) heard Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani in response to a notice for contempt on January 19, who told the seven-member bench that while he had the highest regard for it, but could not comply with its wishes. The PM said that he had not intended [...]

Tags: constitution, money laudering, Pakistan, president, supreme court

This is a co-creation project that is both open source and open knowledge.  It is based on work first done by Amanda Ravenhill & Hugh McLaughlin at CHAB Camp in 2010. In terms of the quality and quantity of biochar, and the cleanliness of the stack gases, this design is yielding the best balanced results [...]

Description: This is an interdisciplinary activity for grades 9 – 12, revolving around use of biochar to mitigate climate change and promote sustainable agriculture / horticulture.  It involves climate science, plant science, and chemistry.  Advanced students will also encounter some elementary combustion science and thermodynamics, soil science, and botany.  The activity includes hands-on construction and [...]

Explained here.

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