Among GM’s 30 plants, the biggest success was the Silao Transmission Plant in Guanajuato, Mexico, which saw a 51.3 percent improvement in energy efficiency.
On the other hand, it's true that we are doomed. Our planet and everything on it won't last.
Physician and blogger Harriet Hall, MD, once coined an exceptionally apt phrase to describe research in many alternative medicine modalities - "Tooth Fairy Science"; it refers to research undertakings into a phenomenon whose existence is yet to be established.
Definitely worth reading, especially if you think acupuncture works.
Airlines will now be subject to the Emissions Trading System (ETS), used to charge industries such as oil refineries, power stations and steel works for CO2 emissions, as part of Europe's efforts to combat climate change.
Sounds like a good idea to me. Extra tax means paying more to fly in the EU but as long as the rules apply equally to all airlines I don't see how this could be deemed unfair or anti-competitive.
Three years ago when the Large Hadron Collider was switched on at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (Cern), few people outside his field had heard of Peter Higgs.
I don't think I had heard of Prof. Higgs or his boson before the LHC was switched on but the BBC's profile and the linked Q&A seem to be reasonable introductions for the layman. For more technical details, Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Higgs_mechanism) is probably a good starting point.
For many years I loved Marcin Kasprzak very much. But after his horrific attack upon me my feelings towards him have turned to hatred.
If I was tasered and buried alive by my fiance I think I might be similarly aggrieved. Brave woman.
At the 35 sites in the field trial, the authors of the Lit Up report calculated that the LED fittings saved more than three million kilowatt hours (kWh) each year when compared with the previous lighting.
Brighter light, better living environment, happier tenants and lower running costs. What's not to like about LED lighting?
MISSLE SILO-Home Built on Former Missile Base (19.20 Acres) Offering Underground Living & Access to Missile Silo NEW LIST PRICE $750,000
This product and the accompanying video are an object lesson in design and marketing.
At this time of year it's easy to forget the true meaning of Christianity - the lies, the corruption, the abuse.
Entertaining.
Measles kills around 164,000 unvaccinated children per year. Between 2000 and 2008 an aggressive vaccination campaign in poor countries cut deaths by 80 per cent globally, and by a massive 92 per cent in Africa.
"the practice of slaughtering animals without prior stunning is unacceptable under any circumstances"
BlackBerry maker Research in Motion announced that it will take a $485 million write-down in relation to its PlayBook tablet.
Global temperatures could be less sensitive to changing atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) levels than previously thought, a study suggests.
Climatologist Andrey Ganopolski, from Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Germany, said (amongst other things reported by the BBC):
"One should be very careful about using cold climates to [construct] the future".
Should the National Health Service be tending to our spiritual health and if so, how far should it go?No. Spending money on unproven interventions is a bad idea. More here: http://tessera2009.blogspot.com/2011/11/save-our-souls-on-nhs.html
Creationism and ‘intelligent design’ are not scientific theories, but they are portrayed as scientific theories by some religious fundamentalists who attempt to have their views promoted in publicly-funded schools. There should be enforceable statutory guidance that they may not be presented as scientific theories in any publicly-funded school of whatever type.
Juniper says there has been a 472% rise in Android malware samples since July 2011.
"In 2008, 4,000 people died in London from air pollution and 30,000 died across the whole of the UK."
Ingredients2 ice cubesvodka, double shot½ lemon, juice only6 dashes Worcestershire sauce3 dashes Tabasco sauce150ml/5fl oz tomato juicepinch salt and freshly ground black pepper
Thurso
2 oz The Macallan 12
1 demarara sugar cube
3/4 oz cinnamon syrup
2 dashes Jerry Thomas' bitters
3 dashes Jamaican jerk bitters
Stir/strain over Highland Springs ball/shaved nutmeg
The News of the World (NoW) hired an ex-police officer early last year to carry out surveillance on two prominent lawyers representing victims of phone hacking, BBC Newsnight has learned.
I can't help feeling that there might be something seriously wrong at News International.
It simply shows that if you allow yourself to use the non-scientific process of picking your starting point in order to get the result you want, you can do that.
Once the soup is prepared, and before it can be served, tip the revolting substance down the drain and rinse the pan with an industrial cleaning agent.
It was $4.99. Most entire apps (including mine) cost $4.99 or less, once, and this magazine is $4.99 for just one issue. Ignoring what content and apps “should” cost, and despite knowing that this is a very good magazine, this feltexpensive.
As I was flipping through it, when I saw the first of many full-page ads, I was offended. I thought, “I paid good money for this and it’s full of ads?”
China will not allow its carbon dioxide emissions per person to reach levels seen in the US, according to the minister in charge of climate policy.
Xie Zhenhua, vice chair of the National Development and Reform Commission, said that to let emissions rise that high would be a "disaster for the world".
Politician's often say things they don't mean but sometimes just saying them is a big step forward. This probably isn't the first time that China has made this sort of comment but it's certainly the first I can recall. The report isn't exclusively good news but it's an awful lot better than it could have been - at least the Chinese aren't denying the science and ignoring the problem, unlike many western "leaders".
When a Microsoft Windows machine gets infected by viruses/malware it does so mainly because users forget to update the Java JRE, Adobe Reader/Acrobat and Adobe Flash.
I don't really like the idea of standing at my desk so this article, which says that standing desks are a waste of time, nicely reinforces my existing prejudices.
http://ergo.human.cornell.edu/CUESitStand.html
Simply standing is insufficient. Movement is important to get blood circulation through the muscles. Research shows that you don’t need to do vigorous exercise (e.g. jumping jacks) to get the benefits, just walking around is sufficient.
(via Instapaper)
Plans to improve the "jungle of signs" on Britain's roads following the biggest review in 40 years have been announced by the government.
Not before time. I hadn't realised that central Government had so much involvement in local road signs but maybe that's why our signage is so consistent across the country. Keep the consistency, reduce the number of signs, cut the bureaucracy; everyone wins.
And no, it's not because I'm a fanboy, compelled by some terrible spell to purchase every product Apple makes (I'm discounting any evidence to the contrary that you might think you've seen). I’ve spent the last few days thinking about it and this morning I placed my order. but now I have made my decision; I have ordered an iPhone 4S from Apple. Would you like to know why?
Firstly, the hardware is quite an improvement over the iPhone 4. A dual-core processor, improved graphics performance, better battery life, completely redesigned antenna (for better signal strength and greater download speeds), 8MP camera with new optics and Bluetooth 4.0. Everything’s changed but the case, which I like.
Secondly, the new Siri assistant sounds like a fantastic bit of software. If it works as advertised - and I don’t think Apple would have launched it unless they were happy with it - it may well be The Next Big Thing and I want to play with it as soon as possible.
Thirdly, by recycling my iPhone 4 (O2’s website offers £266.50 for my 16Gb model) and upgrading to the next iPhone when it is launched (so that I can also recycle the 4S, hopefully for a similar amount) I’ll cover most of the purchase cost of a 32Gb 4S (£599). I say “most” because there are bound to be other expenses (like the cost of the iPhone 6, or whatever it’s called) but I’m glossing over those to help me make the case for the 4S.
Finally, when it comes right dow to it, I want a new toy and the iPhone 4S looks like a pretty good one to try. Updates to follow.
The iPhone 4S has a much faster CPU, a much faster GPU, a much better camera, a highly advanced voice-AI system like nobody has ever seen, better battery life, an improved antenna, international GSM roaming ability on CDMA-locked phones, a 64 GB option, and better carrier availability. It is extremely likely to become the best-selling smartphone in the world.
That says it all, really.
Apparently Theresa May wants to scrap the Human Rights Act because it often restricts the Home Office's ability to take action. Good job too - it would be a pretty useless act if it allowed the Home Office to do anything they liked, regardless of the rights of the individuals involved.
Theresa May might not like the HRA but its purpose is to protect individuals from abuse by Government and other agencies. The fact that she wants to get rid of it suggests it may be working.
"Rumours suggesting that the BlackBerry PlayBook is being discontinued are pure fiction. RIM remains highly committed to the tablet market and the future of QNX in its platform."The key part is "RIM remains highly committed…". If the PlayBook was selling well they would have said "The PlayBook is selling well and is on course to take x% of the market in 2011", or something along those lines. I suspect that PlayBook is dead and RIM are just waiting for it to stop twitching before they give it a decent burial. PlayBook hasn't taken anything from iPad and anyone wanting a smaller form factor will almost certainly now buy Amazon's new Kindle Fire. I give PlayBook about six weeks.
Large and mostly empty, it turned out that almost everyone in the building was queuing to check-in for the flight to Singapore.
"Jesus Christ is your saviour"
According to the BMJ this has happened yet again – this time the international homeopathy producer, Boiron, is threatening a lone Italian blogger because he dared to criticize their product, Oscillococcinum.
Given the way homeopathy "works", I wonder if Boiron would find a diluted legal team to be more effective.
It isn't clear where the BBC got their price data for this chart (why do they not link to their sources?) but assuming that they have the right information, isn't it surprising how cheap nuclear power is? I wonder if these figures include decommissioning (of all plants, because at some point they will all need to be dismantled)?
Just 15 minutes of exercise a day can boost life expectancy by three years and cut death risk by 14%, research from Taiwan suggests.
15 minutes might improve your health but it isn't going to "cut death risk" at all (everybody dies - the risk is always 100%). Sloppy reporting from the BBC - they need to clarify the time frame for the 14% reduction, without which the information is utterly worthless.
Google have announced today that they are acquiring Motorola Mobility Holdings, the division of Motorola that makes mobile phones (amongst other things). This deal gets them two major things:
Despite the published opinions of other manufacturers of Android phones I can't see this move being particularly popular with Samsung, LG and HTC. As well as Apple, they now have to compete with their operating system vendor for Android sales and they're always going to be at a disadvantage; no matter what Google say, will anyone believe that Motorola aren't getting early access Andoird builds or significant influence over design priorities?
It's particularly bad for Samsung. Not ony are they being squeezed, both legally and competitively, by Apple (who are currently Samsung's biggest customer), they also have a new, cash-rich competitor to worry about in the Android marketplace. They now have to work harder to sell Android phones just as Apple are, it is rumoured, planning to move their business elsewhere, taking a huge chunk of cash with them.
So basically it's all going to get a bit interesting over the next six months. The deal looks good for Motorola, neutral for Apple, possibly good for Nokia/Microsoft and pretty awful for the other Android manufacturers.
