Betelgeuse to become a neutron star or possibly a black hole....an interesting excerpt from Wikipedia article

Nobel Laureate Charles Townes announced evidence that 15 consecutive years of stellar contraction has been observed by UC Berkeley's Infrared Spatial Interferometer (ISI) atop Mt. Wilson Observatory in Southern California. Reported on June 9, 2009, the star has shrunk 15% since 1993 with an increasing rate. The average speed at which the radius of the star is shrinking over the last 15 years is approximately 470-490 miles per hour.[23]

According to the university, Betelgeuse's radius is about 5.5 A.U.s, and the star's radius has shrunk by a distance equal to half an astronomical unit, or about the orbit of Venus.[24] Some theorists[who?] have speculated that this behavior is expected for a star at the beginning of the gravitational collapse at the end of its life.[citation needed] The mass of Betelgeuse puts it in range to become a neutron star or possibly a black hole.

GE confirms that wind turbine supply is getting worse | Green Tech blog - CNET News.com

GE confirms that wind turbine supply is getting worse | Green Tech blog - CNET News.com:
"Posted by Michael Kanellos

The wind turbine shortage is growing, General Electric has confirmed.

The industrial conglomerate said in its conference call with analysts last Friday that the backlog of wind turbines--i.e. orders that have booked but can't ship--has grown to $12 billion. That's up from $11 billion in the fourth quarter and more than twice the size of the backlog in the first quarter a year ago."

TED | Talks | List

TED | Talks | List


some of the best talks / seminars you'll ever see or hear

A GOOD SOURCE OF PROTEIN...

the planet called Earth has always been a good source of DNA ; a reliable area for organ harvests.... and of course ... abundantly supplied with those multi-purpose hominids...


however ; the scientific/nutritional value is far outweighed by the superb entertainment and scenario testing opportunities.....

...the planet must be protected from the excesses of inhabitant hominids and isolated from any transforming energies that may bring about further gains in evolution/consciousness or self awareness.

Strange lights spotted in Lincolnshire's skies may have been a warning of the earthquake

DID 'UFO LIGHTS' HERALD LINCOLNSHIRE EARTHQUAKE?

: "Several sightings of lights appearing in the sky were reported in the days leading up to the quake, which had its epicentre near Market Rasen when it struck early on February 27.

And some believe that these could be 'earthquake lights' - caused by changes in the electrical properties of the ground before a quake occurs.

There have been many similar reports of 'earthquake lights' throughout history.

The most well known case was in Lincoln's twin town, Tangshan, in China in 1976, before a massive quake that killed 240,000 people across the country."

China overtakes U.S. as largest Internet market

China overtakes U.S. as largest Internet market

China is now the world's largest Internet market, surpassing the United States in the number of users, research firm BDA reported.

BDA cited data from the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC), which placed the total number of users in China at 210 million at the end of 2007; and data from Nielsen/NetRatings, which put the U.S. Internet population for the same period at 216 million.

"Based on these sources and the assumption that these markets have continued to grow in 2008 to date at the same rates that they grew in 2007, we can conclude that China has by now comfortably surpassed the United States as the world's largest Internet population," said Bin Liu, BDA's Beijing-based principal analyst for new media.

"A buoyant economy, massive investments in broadband infrastructure and strong consumer demand for applications including online games, instant messaging and online-music and online-video sharing are fuelling China's rapid Internet growth," said Duncan Clark, BDA chairman.

BDA estimates 2007 revenues from China's online games sector at $1.88 billion. This estimate exceeds the combined estimated revenues from online brand advertising ($930 million) and search ($395 million), according to BDA.

The research firm placed the number of online game players in China at 50.4 million at the end of 2007. On the other hand, the "QQ" instant messaging client from Shenzhen-based Tencent reportedly had 280 million active users by Q3 07.

Campbell has no mandate for carbon tax

Campbell has no mandate for carbon tax:

"here in B.C. we can expect to pay about $8.2 million to mail out the $100 cheques. If you are homeless, or for some other reason not on the CRA's list, you won't be getting any Gord Bucks.

So, by just how much is the carbon tax expected to reduce emissions? By about three million tonnes from where they would have been in 2020. Three million tonnes is 0.01 per cent of global and 5.5 per cent of B.C.'s current carbon emissions.

This three-million-tonne reduction is only 7.5 per cent of the 40 million tonnes the Campbell government is forcing British Columbians, through legislation, to reduce carbon emissions by.

The B.C. government has no mandate to implement a carbon tax and spend billions on climate change policies that will have a negligible effect. Let's keep in mind that B.C. accounts for less than one per cent of the world's and only nine per cent of Canada's carbon emissions.

This policy will hurt B.C.'s economy, make people poorer through higher energy costs, and ultimately reduce people's ability to make environmentally friendly decisions.

Maureen Bader is the B.C. director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.


The Vancouver Sun 2008"

reportonbusiness.com: It's time for provinces to follow B.C. on greenhouse gas emissions

reportonbusiness.com: It's time for provinces to follow B.C. on greenhouse gas emissions:

"old mindsets change slowly. Based on what we know about climate change today, artificially reducing electricity prices is the single worst policy you could advocate if you want to conserve energy. Governments spent 20 years hoping that voluntary measures would get the job done. And during that time, they made promises they could not keep - making the carbon tax taboo, for example. It is now clear to everyone that voluntarism doesn't work, while economic incentives do.

Premier Gordon Campbell has done the other provinces a favour. He made the carbon tax look like a winning proposition. Now it's their turn to get serious about greenhouse gas emissions. That means getting the price signals right and setting emission standards that give heavy industries clear targets to meet."

Angry Chinese woman sets 400 phones on fire - Engadget

Angry Chinese woman sets 400 phones on fire - Engadget:

"it's a crazy, mixed-up world we live in. If we aren't worrying about global warming or peace in the middle east, we have to be on the lookout for scorned women setting large quantities of mobile devices on fire."

emerging economies together would exceed overall annual emissions.....iGovernment

iGovernment: "Oslo: Rapid economic growth in emerging economies particularly Brazil, Russia, India and China together would exceed the overall annual emissions of 30 OECD countries by 2030."