CNN: The no-budget diners’ guide.
“Crickets and grasshoppers: First, pluck off the barbed legs, because they can chafe your digestive tract. Then, roast the body for a snack that’s both crunchy and nutritious.” Also, don’t miss the tips on munching your shoes.
SF New Mexican: Prospects good for 2010 spring runoff.
”The New Mexico portion of the Rio Grande Basin sports the fifth-best snowpack in 16 years, said Wayne Sleep, snow surveyor for the federal Natural Resources Conservation Service.” And that is excellent news for all of us with water tables served by snowmelt. Hallelujah!
NewWest.Net: Sage Grouse Listing Denied.
Rather than chicken out, I’d grouse too.
NY Times: Study Says Undersea Release of Methane Is Under Way.
“Natalia Shakhova, a scientist at the university and a leader of the study, said it was too soon to say whether the findings suggest that a dangerous release of methane looms. In a telephone news conference, she said researchers are only beginning to track the movement of this methane into the atmosphere as the undersea permafrost that traps it degrades.”
Wired Science: Backpack Hydroelectric Plant Gives You 500 Watts on the Move.
30 pounds. Not bad, all in all. Plenty of year-round mountain streams around here to tap.
CommonDreams.org: Cracking Down on Fracking.
“There is virtually no federal oversight of fracking, leaving the budget-strapped states to do the job with a patchwork of disparate regulations. They are no match for the major, multinational drilling and energy companies that are exploiting the political goal of ‘energy independence.’” Demand real Federal oversight of fracking fluids. Otherwise you’ll be able to light up your tap water, too. Thanks, Linda!
Wired: U.S. Team Hopes to Bring Steam Car Record Home.
Slate: The environmental impact of pet food.
“… the emotional attachment you feel to your dog or cat isn’t a free pass to ignore its contribution to your family’s overall consumption patterns. Maybe it means you make some personal trade-offs to balance out your choice of animal companion — like riding your bike instead of driving, for example.” Or ask your dog to become a vegetarian (also suggested in this article).
NY Times: In the West, Opposition to New National Monuments.
“If they do things in an open and transparent way and involve everyone, then there’s no need for yelling and screaming.”
New Scientist: ‘Climategate’ scientist attacks bloggers.
“Jones said he might submit a correction to Nature. But he nonetheless attacked bloggers and other critics for ‘hijacking the peer-review process ... Why don’t they do their own [temperature] reconstructions? If they want to criticise, they should write their own papers,’ he said.” Read the comments.
Discover: Listening to Rush Limbaugh Kills Beetles’ Appetite and Libido.
Stop playing John Denver’s “Rocky Mountain High” in the mountain states, and trade it for Limbaugh ... perhaps via this delivery method? I could love the smell of dead beetles in the morning.
TheCoolist: Porsche revs up 911 hybrid.
“It’ll be fast, and it’ll be green. High-performance automaker Porsche plans to unveil a hybrid version of its 911 GT3 R race car at the Geneva Motor Show in March — and then enter it in the 24 Hours of Nurburgring race this May.” And it’ll be so heavy as to be uncompetitive with non-hybrids, one presumes.
Discover: Forget Putting CO2 Under Rock—Let’s Turn It *Into* Rock. | Earth Science
“The concept of storing carbon in rock — known as geologic carbon sequestration — has been dogged by concerns about cost, stability, and environmental impact. But recent findings suggest that it could be an effective way to clean up the carbon mess.”
ENR: Contractor Takes the Keys To World’s First ‘Hybrid’ Dozer.
Y’know, I hadn’t thought about hybrid construction equipment.
SF New Mexican: Bill takes aim at state’s oil, gas rules.
“The legislation also says the pit rules have ‘no scientific basis, provide no environmental benefit and were adopted without legislative approval.’” Wow, that’s a bold statement. Here’s a past item on why NM put the pit rule in place. I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again - if there’s money to drill, there’s money to clean up the mess. We taxpayers have even less interest during these economically stressed times in supporting an industry that leaves us to finance the cleanup of Superfund sites years down the road. Much as we’d love the State to have more revenue, we won’t do it by mortgaging the health of our children and grandchildren. Via NMELC on Twitter.
SF New Mexican: Surveyors hope above-average snowpack will lead to good runoff.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. It’s that season again ... worrying about spring runoff. Look at NOAA; we’re up for more snow almost this entire week. Certainly we could use more on the higher slopes; we’re only at six feet of depth. Shoot it up to ten, the worriers will calm down.
CNet: Turn your office expense reports into toilet paper.
That’s one way to wipe out your expenses. /*rimshot*/
Discover Magazine: Will Genetically Modified Eucalyptus Trees Transform Southern Forests?
Discover Magazine: Engineered E. Coli Bacteria Produces Road-Ready Diesel.
“The bacteria can work on any type of biomass, including wood chip, switchgrass, and the plant parts that are left behind after a harvest–all contain cellulose, a structural material that comprises much of a plant’s mass. Study coauthor Jay Keasling and his colleagues report engineering E. coli bacteria to synthesize and excrete the enzyme hemicellulase, which breaks down cellulose into sugars. The bacteria can then convert those sugars into a variety of chemicals – diesel fuel among them. The final products are excreted by the bacteria and then float to the top of the fermentation vat before being siphoned off.” Knew I should have bought that VW Jetta TDI.
NPR: Atmospheric Dry Spell Eases Global Warming.
“It turns out that starting in the year 2000, a narrow layer of the stratosphere dried out quite rapidly. And water in the atmosphere traps heat, like glass in a greenhouse. So less stratospheric water means less warming.” As scientists find more mitigating factors, factors they did not know of when they declared the globe warming, one wonders how all these new pieces fit into the ‘story’ of climate change. Is there a current ‘overview’ site of some kind?
Yahoo! News: Happy 50th Birthday …
bubble wrap. Would that you were more widely recycled.
The Coolist: “Hey, you need to water your bling.”
Times Online.UK: Grants for bogus climate change claims.
UN climate panel blunders again over Himalayan glaciers. The backlash over this is going to be terrible, I think. Thanks, Emmett.
BBC News: More than anyone thinks.
Venezuela oil ‘may double Saudi Arabia’. If so, I suppose we’ll find Chavez even more inconvenient.
