Manatee- Savior of Planet Earth

August 14, 2015 Ryan Bradley

Manatee - Savior of Planet Earth

Manatees Repopulate World Post-Global-Warming-Meltdown:

Manatee Mike

Today, I am issuing a pre-thanks to all the Manatees out there. We all know that one day, you will be the ones who we should bow down to and worship. For the uninitiated, here's the rundown on why you ought to be grateful for the bounty that will be presented after the manatees have their way with the world:

1. Manatees live off of sea grass that grows in the oceans.
2. Sea Grass grows best with lots of warm water and sunlight.
3. According to the "Experts," Earth's temperature & climate changes should lead to optimal sea-cow *cough er Manatee breeding conditions Any day now.

Watch this graceful grass-grazer as it trains for the inevitable end. Sorry, I couldn't get it to begin paused.

-via BBC Manatee Information | BBC Earth.com | BBC Earth Facebook (Original Source)

In this video, we also learn that the Manatee is the "elephant of the sea." That got me thinking... What if we helped Evolution AND Global Warming before things went south. I say we just toss elephants into the ocean (along with the plastic & garbage) in order to start their adaptation process early.

There is already a prime location in the North Pacific Gyre:

Yeah, we could try to save species (including our own) by taking better care of the planet, but... dumpsters.

And so, as stated earlier, I am preemptively extending my gratitude to Manatees. I am assured, and I have FAITH that all will be fine once these beauties of the sea regrow and refresh countries while mowing down great, bountiful grasslands under their murky, oil-slicked oceans.

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Mining, Aussies, Water, & YOU!

August 5, 2015 Ryan Bradley

Mining, Aussies, Water, & YOU!

Would YOU Swim in Battery-Acid Water?

These days, there are several types of "mining."
First, and MOST Importantly, there's Minecraft. This popular game, originally created by Mojang, was purchased by Microsoft for $2.5billiion at the end of 2014. Minecraft History

You may have also heard about Bitcoin Mining, with megaservers & computers that essentially do math problems all day to generate "money".

Dang, that guy really looks like he's doing some hard work! I wonder if he knows pick-axes don't play well with computers...

Lastly, there is the conventional, old, hum-drum kind of mining. This would be the kind where rocks are extracted from Earth to be used in production of goods & commodities.
Below, we have a beautifully Terraced Mine, with a bulldozer at peace in its natural environment:

We do need mining in our current society. It may not be pretty, but you couldn't read this very text without electronics & the mined resources needed to build them. There are "greener" alternatives being researched, as shown in yesterday's article Hot Solar Homes. However, they are more expensive, and require a stronger eco/environmentally-friendly consumer to popularize them.
Most mines appear to be run in a fairly responsible manner. In the USA, and abroad, there are industry-enforced policies & procedures, government-imposed regulations, and even local groups who have public say over mine operations. Unfortunately, there are also a number of mining locations that behave unethically, and cause significant harm to the environment and ecosystems around them.
Redbank copper mine creek sulphide residue This is Hanrahan's Creek stream bank near the Gulf of Carpentaria that runs past the Redbank Copper mining operation in the "Northern Territory" of Australia.
As is clearly evident, this spot has heavy contamination from leaks within the mining operation. Note that eerie green tint to the water & white mold-looking material on the rocks. Those are not photo-lens errors or filter effects. The Redbank mine actually shut-down 18 years ago, but has been leaking copper sulphide into the nearby creek & other water sources for years.
You know it's bad when signs such as these show up. Contaminated Water Of course, it is often the case that the danger has been present long before the sign goes up. And that's exactly the situation here in the Gulf of Carpentaria. Recall, the mine shut down nearly 2 decades ago. We can reasonably suspect that the leaking has been an issue for some period of time spanning 1yr-17.99years between shut-down & current events.
And current events are exactly what brings Redbank Copper back into the news. The oldest news article I can find on the issue dates to 2013, which seems to be when residents & government officials began to publicly confront the issue. History Search
It appears, according to North Territory Prosecution, that the entire situation will have legal procedings in the Magistrates Court this August 2015.

There are many sites that have similar issues. This one, the Redbank Copper mine, was allegedly improperly sealed upon shut-down. That allowed copper sulphide to leak ever since the original owners left the site. According to an earlier water-analysis of the Hanrahan Creek, the water has a PH level close to battery acid. Doesn't sound like something I would be interested in drinking/using.

What do you think?

Should mining companies need authorization to begin work/construction?
Or, should they have to talk with community leaders before starting to dig?
Or, is there another approach you would prefer?
Discussion Continues in Comments Below:
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Hot Solar Homes

August 4, 2015 Ryan Bradley

Hot Solar Homes

Baked Humans Included:

*Disregarding the blatant hippie-reference, this is really cool design + technology in architecture & construction.

+

*Click or Tap pictures & Hover to view caption notes as an overlay.

1. It can be notoriously difficult to get efficiency measures for alternative-housing systems.

2. In the Southern USA, I don't have huge use for heat, but I can certainly commiserate with the opposite: Paying out the nose for A/C to keep from suffocating.

Let's find out what % that 1700 is out of the total households of Germany, Switzerland, & Austria: Wiki Households by Nation

| Nation | Households |
| Germany | 40,076,000 |
| Switzerland | 3,362,073 |
| Austria | 3,566,489 |
| Total | 47,004,562 |

BUT, according to the article, 60% of heat demand is reduced in those 1700 households.

| 1700/47004562 | 3.616670228732266e-5 (...A REALLY small % of households researched) |

3. Ahh, the wonders of government stipulations. It's a good thing they wrote down that all buildings have to be "nearly zero-energy" from 2021 on. Now that it's on-paper, the humans will surely do it! By the way, I wonder just how close to 0 "nearly zero" is.
Relevant Google Images Search: 0=Zero Energy?

4. ONLY 9 Houses Monitored/Measured!? Time for even more math... 9/1700= | 0.005294117647058824 or 0.529% (LESS than 1% of the homes) 30 Homes would have provided a recording of 1.764% of the homes, and would at least fall within Minimum Recommended guidelines for most Scientific/Statistical analysis.

They've named the research the "Heizsolar" Project. "Heiz" is a short-form of "Heizen," which refers to heat/hotness Wiki 'Heiz'. I'll bet you get the "solar" part. What I don't get is if it seems repetitive in native Dutch/German.

Researchers get a little pat-on-the-back & got to work with buddies at a technical school.

I wonder what Mr. Stryi-Hipp's comment "over multiple heating periods" means: Is that several days? Weeks? Months? (I'm guessing days based on what follows...)
€1,500,000 in funding from a super-long-government-bureacracy-name-that-just-keeps-going-and-going-and-going, because... Federal Government YAY! /sarc

5. Oh, ok they built a model/simulation! They must have run a bunch of tests with a light-source to simulate the sun & see how to optimize the heating from... Wait... Reduce the tank? Increase the solar panels?
Increase the most expensive part? Like, the part that the article JUST stated was "expensive"? I guess it WOULD be good for grant money, home price inflation, and keeping those precious-mineral-miners in their miserable places.
*Palm-->Forehead
Hopefully they'll get cheap ones from ebay? ebay solar collector

6. Wow! I believe we may just have to hand out a Physics award. Heat radiates outward? Astounding! AND, you can direct it away from the house using a window?? Again, I gasp at the innovation.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I'm kind-of sorry for the snarky tone of this piece, but seriously... I got into this article thinking it would be inspiring, full of ideas to optimize housing. Instead, it turned out to be a weak attempt at research and even weaker resulting suggestions. The "Benefit Tomorrow" is to NOT be tricked by lame research. If you would like to see some revolutionary housing & building, I encourage you to take a look at these following links:

* Google "Sustainable Tiny Housing" pond house Landed

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Speedy Highs vs Slow & Low!

August 3, 2015 Ryan Bradley

Doing Drugs at Roller-Coaster Speed!

Analysis: "How fast and how often: The pharmacokinetics of drug use are decisive in addiction."

Faster & more intense "hits" lead to stronger addiction?

girl<em>needle</em>spoon<em>powder</em>table

*Click or Tap pictures & Hover to view caption notes as an overlay.

1. Duh. If you don't do it, you can't be addicted... Just like very few are addicted to jumping into volcanoes...2. "...Is also a mouthful for most people to pronounce" Did she really just go from the slang "joint" to scientific term, and then back … — 1. Duh. If you don't do it, you can't be addicted... Just like very few are addicted to jumping into volcanoes...
2. "...Is also a mouthful for most people to pronounce" Did she really just go from the slang "joint" to scientific term, and then back into slang/"magic"? Why not just call it "pot" or "marijuana" to be consistent? *It must have proven too difficult to change "joint" & "magic brownie" to more "sciencey" words. -The concentration/dose is higher or quicker-acting depending on the route of administration. Makes sense, given knowledge of drug-tolerance build-up.
3. This research is a Meta-analysis of "available literature" on drug dosage, frequency, etc... *Yeah, the Nicotine skin patch is 'Therapeutic...' That's why you slap on 5 of the suckers every morning!
4. Both intravenous & airborne (inhaled/smoked) products largely bypass the blood-brain-barrier, attributing to the more rapid increase in dose + decline via these methods. *Because of the peak-effect, users will feel a stronger withdrawal symptom (of sorts) & take more of the drug to "maintain" their level of effect. This leads to increasing & plateauing effects, causing the user to need more/stronger doses.
5. Absorption rate (into blood) from CRYSTALS/powder in lungs WILL be slower than if it is atomized (smoked) or diluted & used intravenously. Another duh-moment *ON the bright side, this is great info for speedsters/coke-heads who want their fix NOW! Why bother with snorting & nasal bleeding? Just go for straight-up lung cancer & those quicker highs!
6. Samaha, this is astounding! "...Using patches is not [addictive]". Pretty sure there are a bunch of people who use patches/gum for YEARS. They're not addicted though, right?
7. It Would be nice for cocaine addicts to have a step-down program, something where they could reduce their dose or spread it out over time... Oh, wait...
8. So, IF "drug use is the norm," that means 51%+ use drugs, and "15-30% will become addicted." Min-Max addiction = 7.65%-15.3%. If that's Actually the addiction rates (I doubt it) in Montreal, it's still not a "norm"/majority...
Take-Away: If you're going to do drugs, CONSIDER the effects & rapidity that you desire & the route of administration you will pursue! "Live Long & Prosper!" Or, just go chill on the couch while your dealer hooks you up to an IV Machine. Just don't forget the nicotine patches.
*IF you or a loved one are suffering from addiction, seek a professional.

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Boost Solar Photovoltaic Cells by ~30%+ with Laser-Light (Infrared)

July 28, 2015 Ryan Bradley

Today, we take a look at new technology in the Solar Photovoltaic Industry. Two Chemistry Professors (Bardeen & Tang) have used an innovative mixture of organic & inorganic materials to improve solar cells, equipping them with the ability to absorb infrared light.

*Comment #'s correspond with each paragraph. Click/Tap & Hover mouse to expand & see caption overlay.

1. Why not just "Stack" the solar panels? Instead of "coaxing" them. Or, in addition to using the hybrid panels, you could "stack/layer" them vertically to cut down on land-costs.2. At least it's in Cali., where they have an abundance of sunny-days.… — 1. Why not just "Stack" the solar panels? Instead of "coaxing" them. Or, in addition to using the hybrid panels, you could "stack/layer" them vertically to cut down on land-costs.

2. At least it's in Cali., where they have an abundance of sunny-days.
-Achieved by combining inorganic Nanocrystals with organic molecules (probably from plants) to increase & transform the wavelengths/type of light that is captured.
3. Normally, infrared isn't captured by PV Cells. This new mixed/hybrid solar cell captures 2 infrared photons, combines them, and then allows the PV cell to absorb the energy.
4. Using new infrared spectrum upconversion could yield 30% boost to current absorption of PV cells.
5. Inorganic materials:
. Cadmium Selenide (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cadmium_selenide)- A highly luminescent crystallized material.
. Lead Selenide - (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/lead_selenide) - Infrared Detector "one of the first materials sensitive to the infrared radiation used for military applications"

Organic Compounds:
. Diphenylanthracene (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diphenylanthracene) - Used to produce Blue light in glow-sticks
. Rubrene (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubrene) - A Yellow light source in lightsticks. Also known as tetraphenyltetracene, making it another derivative of the Phenyl Group (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phenyl_group)
6. 980-Nanometer Infrared upconverted to 550-Nanometer light (nearly 2x the infrared photon energy). Compared to the 0% that was originally being captured, even though it's not a 1:1 ratio, this is impressive.

7. Quotes about the technical details already covered above. TLDR= "The inorganics in the composite material take light in; the organics get light out." (Bardeen)8. (Didn't highlight this paragraph) Potential applications & uses for the inf… — 7. Quotes about the technical details already covered above.
TLDR= "The inorganics in the composite material take light in; the organics get light out." (Bardeen)
8. (Didn't highlight this paragraph) Potential applications & uses for the infrared-sensitive materials = Medical, Data Storage & LED's.
9. Converting/Transmuting of light to different wavelengths can have an impact on any technology that uses photons as inputs or outputs.
10. Research was partially funded (grant money) by US Army= Night-vision use cases? Or, it could be about using this technology in data storage/transmission/reconnaissance.

Story Source:

The above post is reprinted from materials provided by University of California - Riverside.
Highlights & analysis written & produced by @bradleysci

Journal Reference:

Zhiyuan Huang, Xin Li, Melika Mahboub, Kerry M. Hanson, Valerie M. Nichols, Hoang Le, Ming L. Tang, Christopher J. Bardeen. Hybrid Molecule–Nanocrystal Photon Upconversion Across the Visible and Near-Infrared. Nano Letters, 2015; 150714103344001 DOI: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.5b02130

Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/...

Battle of the Bots!

July 22, 2015 Ryan Bradley

Battlebots airs on ABC on weekends. Link here: http://abc.go.com/shows/battlebots

Flames shoot forth from the yellow-bodied beast! "Stinger" moves in swiftly, trying to melt the wheels off his opponent. But, the silver "Bronco" has few tricks of his own on-board. Well, ok maybe just one trick, and it's basically to flip opponents into the air. Such as when he did this:

**"Bronco" Flipping "Stinger" OVER the wall, near the audience (while flamethrower was still active)**

"Bronco" wins the match, the crowd goes wild, the owners rush in to perform robo-surgery, and... Commercials time! Yep, I had received the requisite ~5 minutes of quality TV programming, and was now... Getting programmed? We'll leave the commercials alone since, most of the time, they are muted anyway.

Plus, when we get back to the show there will be a lot more action in the next match. I bet they will drop right into the battle. ...Yeah right! Since when would we abandon such a meaty subject as Televised messaging to entrap the minds of viewers... Especially if we can just stare:

**Oops, did you lose your brain back there with our advertisers? Oh, you're fine. Just cast your gaze upon this glowing screen. I mean, just look at those... teeth.**

**Here, we have questions tossed to the MEN, who are clearly the only sex capable of discussing "technical details." So much for supporting more girls/women in STEM...**

So, about that whole "Sex-appeal" dynamic... I have a few questions, but doubt they'll ever be answered:

WHO Chose this dynamic & staging? Was it the Producer who said "2 guys who look like they're serious + 1 ditzy-style blonde bombshell will sell the show!" Or, was it higher-up in ABC that this schema formed?
WHY Do they think you NEED this set-up? Is the idea really just to draw in as many of the masses as possible? "We've already got the nerds with Robots & Flamethrowers. Let's toss in some eye-candy to get the rest of the world!"
WILL YOU be manipulated in this manner? Look around your workspace, house, neighborhood, etc... and you will find tons of similar advertising & messaging.

Have a Great Day, Enjoy the Show, and Keep Aware

Samsung S6 Edge Headphones Replacement

July 21, 2015 Ryan Bradley

So... I've had my S6 Edge since it was released back in April. It's a great phone (aside from small battery issues) that has performed far above my previous Moto X 2013 (?2012?).

Unfortunately, the left headphone just stopped working yesterday. I was listening to a podcast while driving over to a friend's house, and noticed it right away when the sound cut out.

The culprit #Samsung #Headphones with dead left headphone

Today, I'm going to get my favorite headphones replaced! We'll see how smoothly that goes, and then discuss some of the common components of headphones that can experience failures or break.

----- (After Returning from store)

It looks like this is going to be more of a hassle than I expected. After going to the store where I bought it, I was told that I will have to either get in touch with Samsung directly or take apart the headphones and then find where the malfunction is. My hope is that when I call Samsung tomorrow, I'll be greeted with a pleasant surprise and a 1 to 2 weeks turnaround for replaced headphones. Otherwise, I'll have to do something similar to the video below:

http://www.tested.com/tech/accessories/5796-how-to-fix-a-pair-of-broken-headphones/

This is will. Will fixes headphones.

@willsmith https://twitter.com/willsmith?s=09

*If I do end up having to fix my headphones by hand, I'll be sure to film it & hope to live up to his level of fix-it-ability.

@bradleysci Twitter.com/Bradleysci