thoughts.bjsintay.com

The United Nations has released a report blaming the world’s cow herds as the single-most greatest cause of the depleting environmental conditions… global warming, acid rain, deforestation, reef destruction, and oceanic “dead zones” to name a few.  Al Gore, you can stop blaming the Republicans.  Approximately 18% of all greenhouse gases are blamed on cattle (cows).  This percentage is higher than that contributed by all of the world’s transportation mechanisms (cars, airplanes, ships) put together!

I had no idea that burping cows produced nearly 1/3 of all methane in the atmosphere.  Methane, as luck would have it, warms the earth 20 times faster than CO2!!!  And there are other factors: 2/3 of the world’s ammonia emissions come from cattle (causing acid rain); emissions from producing fertilizer and transporting meat total 9% of all CO2; deforestation from overgrazing is creating deserts in many areas; and cattle use a lot of water - 990 liters per liter of milk produced!

It gets worse, those little buggers don’t even say excuse me!  Meanwhile they are slowing destroying our planet with no end in sight.  I propose a compromise.

According to Colorado State University, one cow can belch more than 50 million metric tons of methane gas each year.  I say we find a way to capture this gas and use it to meet our fuel needs!  Methane cars, power plants, and even batteries.  Your neighborhood cow, Betsy, could be used to recharge your cell phone.  Now, where’s the number for my patent lawyer…

Sources:
http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a4_176.html
http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/article2062484.ece

Stuck out in the wilderness about to freeze to death?  Get some ice.

No, really.

Mythbusters ran an episode (#45) about using ice to make a fire.  The gist of the design is to shape extremely pure ice into a large lens a few inches thick and about the size of a small dinner plate.  The ice is then used to focus light from the sun to slowly create a fire.  You’ll need some extra dry tinder finely separated.  One guy on the net has laid out full instructions.

This is one of the more unique survival tips that I found interesting enough to write about.  If you try this out, let me know how it goes.

We’ve all seen those small spiders that can walk on water.  Some of us have even marveled at animals that can run across small, exotic ponds on the Discovery Channel.  The waterlily leaf beetle larva can’t do either.  Or can it?  With a strong arch of its back this little bug has figured out a little bit of mother nature’s physics.  It uses the deformation of the water surface to create lateral capillary forces which can shoot the insect up the slick slope of the meniscus of a plant or structure in the water.  If you tried to run up the meniscus, it would be like trying to ice skate up the side of a swimming pool made of smooth ice - nearly impossible because of the lack of friction between the surface and your feet.  Instead, as seen in the photo, this bug makes its own meniscus which is attracted by surface tension to the other meniscus, thereby generating all of the force needed to climb this slope to safety.

Now that’s pretty cool.  I wish getting out of bed was this easy.

More info at mit.edu