Fuel cells →

Published October 7, 2013  ·  All posts on Oct 7

Two leading fuel cell manufacturers, Massachusetts-based Nuvera and Albany, N.Y.-based Plug Power Inc., will each receive $650,000 from DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. The companies will provide matching funds and labor of their own. A PNNL team led by Brooks will oversee and evaluate the two-year program.

Industry officials estimate that approximately 300,000 refrigerated trucks with auxiliary power units are on the road in the United States. By replacing the small diesel engines with the more efficient fuel cell, users will see fuel savings of approximately 10 gallons a day per unit, in addition to reduced emission of pollutants and significantly quieter operation.

~ Phys.org from, Refrigerated trucks to keep their cool thanks to fuel cell technology

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New avatar →

Published October 5, 2013  ·  All posts on Oct 5

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Extracting periodicities from message arrival times →

Published October 4, 2013  ·  All posts on Oct 4

algorithm – Extracting periodicities from message arrival timestamps – Stack Overflow

StackOverflow question of mine, any math or programming peeps have any ideas?

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People need to travel →

Published October 3, 2013  ·  All posts on Oct 3  ·  

Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.

~ Mark Twain

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1953 Ford Jubilee tractor →

Published October 2, 2013  ·  All posts on Oct 2

1953 Ford Jubilee: Anyone interested in a tractor? Good condition, running and everything works, 3-point lift, brush hog, scraper/snow blade… fully working, but it is also a collector’s item if you’re into antique tractors.

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Getting to space is easy. Staying in space is hard. →

Published September 29, 2013  ·  All posts on Sep 29

The reason it’s hard to get to orbit isn’t that space is high up. It’s hard to get to orbit because you have to go so fast.

…

The speed you need to stay in orbit is about 8 kilometers per second. Only a fraction of a rocket’s energy is used to lift up out of the atmosphere; the vast majority of it is used to gain orbital (sideways) speed.

~ Randall Munroe from, Orbital Speed

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Once you start down the path to the dark side →

Published September 27, 2013  ·  All posts on Sep 27  ·  

Parkour is about taking the road less travelled by, and choosing the harder path every time. It’s about understanding that excellence does not arise from simply doing what is convenient or what pays well or what advances your personal career. The Olympic Games are sponsored by Coca-Cola and McDonalds. That’s not right.

Have principles. Stick to them. Because if you don’t stand for something you’ll fall for anything.

~ Dan Edwards from, The Business of Parkour: A Question of Principle (or How to Resist the Red-Bullion) – Dan Edwardes

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In struggle there is magic →

Published September 25, 2013  ·  All posts on Sep 25  ·  ,

Western culture has things a little backwards right now. We think that if we had every comfort available to us, we’d be happy. We equate comfort with happiness. And now we’re so comfortable we’re miserable. There’s no struggle in our lives. No sense of adventure. We get in a car, we get in an elevator, it all comes easy. What I’ve found is that I’m never more alive than when I’m pushing and I’m in pain, and I’m struggling for high achievement, and in that struggle I think there’s a magic.

~ Dean Karnazes

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Astronomy Stack Exchange site →

Published September 24, 2013  ·  All posts on Sep 24

http://astronomy.stackexchange.com/

The Astronomy Stack Exchange site has just graduated into private beta! You need an invitation to participate in private beta. If anyone would like an invitation, please contact me, I’ll need your email address to send you an invite.

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Ever notice how drinking’s like war? →

Published September 23, 2013  ·  All posts on Sep 23  ·  ,

Ever notice how drinking’s like war?
Cup o troops oe’r the guns
Til the end of our health
A campaign ‘gainst myself
Armed with bourbons and scotches and rums

~ Moxy Früvous, from The Drinking Song

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