[NMCAVER] Amazing Bats
Check out this article on bats. Very interesting! Lee Stevens http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/04/science/04angi.html?_r=1ref=scienceoref=sloginhttp://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/04/science/04angi.html?_r=1ref=scienceoref=slogin___ NMCAVER mailing list nmca...@caver.net http://caver.net/mailman/listinfo/nmcaver_caver.net
RE: [Texascavers] Age Dating of Cave Minerals Demonstrate that Grand Canyon Older Than Previously Thought
The article also appeared in the San Antonio Express News the morning and referenced Carol Hill, noted mineralogist and also Tim Atkinson from the UK. I assume that this is the same Tim Atkinson that is the karst hydrologist. Interesting article. Geary -Original Message- From: Minton, Mark [mailto:mmin...@nmhu.edu] Sent: Friday, March 07, 2008 8:56 AM To: texas cavers; gvks Subject: [Texascavers] Age Dating of Cave Minerals Demonstrate that Grand Canyon Older Than Previously Thought Forwarded from NMcaver. The articles appear in both Science and The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/06/science/06cnd-canyon.html?ex=12054708 00en=3ba76f65c95f858fei=5070 Mark Minton
RE: [Texascavers] CBS News Bat Clip
Did anyone else have problems getting the clips to start. Saw half-a-dozen commercials before I finally got the clip to start up. Really great story, though. List-Post: texascavers@texascavers.com Date: Thu, 6 Mar 2008 21:29:18 -0500From: cavescom@gmail.comTo: texascavers@texascavers.comSubject: [Texascavers] CBS News Bat Clip Here is the 3 min. clip from tonights CBS News Story...Where Have All the Bats Gone? http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/i_video/main500251.shtml?id=3915838n or http://tinyurl.com/38vre4 Mark Passerby, Cavediggers.com
[ot_caving] solar green fuel
I think the part below of 'eliminate waste' is where the wood pellets and the fat comes from as it is to be thrown away. Also they do want not to be dependent on Russia and others for the delivery of fuel - or the cut off of the fuel. The fat would be burned or oil- the wood or oil and it is there. They are way ahead of us in Hyrdogen (one recent news story said it had 450 mil EU funding on one project) and solar. I know Germany was talked about and I think they are the most solar country. The entire Danish Crown plant has been redesigned with an eye to saving energy, part of a thirty-year Danish effort to eliminate waste, conserve energy, and reduce consumption of fossil fuels, as The Wall Street Journal reports. 07.09.01 | 2:00 AM FREIBURG, Germany -- Germany is not necessarily known as the sunniest spot in Europe. But nowhere else do so many people climb on their roofs to install solar panels. Since the introduction of the Renewable Energies Laws (EEG) in April last year, Germany has been experiencing a remarkable boom in solar energy. When my cab driver gives me a lecture about solar technologies, I know I am back home, raved Rian van Staden, executive director of the International Solar Energy Society (ISES) about Freiburg, the sunniest city in Germany and host to the InterSolar conference July 6-8. The little university town in southwest Germany, about 40 miles away from the French and Swiss borders, is Germany's Solar Valley. A gigantic solar panel at the train station greets visitors to Freiburg. The city also boasts the new Zero Emissions Hotel Victoria, which is the first European hotel to run completely on alternative energy sources. Even Freiburg's premier league soccer stadium is solar powered. More than 450 environmentally oriented companies and institutions take advantage of the favorable weather, research, networking opportunities and progressive political climate in Freiburg, which makes even Berkeley -- its soul mate in the San Francisco Bay Area -- look comparatively conservative. Washington Post Foreign Service Saturday, May 5, 2007; Page A01 ESPENHAIN, Germany -- When it opened here in 2004 on a reclaimed mining dump, the Geosol solar plant was the biggest of its kind in the world. It is so clean and green that it produces zero emissions and so easy to operate that it has only three regular workers: plant manager Hans-Joerg Koch and his two security guards, sheepdogs Pushkin and Adi. The plant is part of a building boom that has made gloomy-skied Germany the unlikely global leader in solar-generated electricity. Last year, about half of the world's solar electricity was produced in the country. Of the 20 biggest photovoltaic plants, 15 are in Germany, even though it has only half as many sunny days as countries such as Portugal. The reason is not a breakthrough in the economics or technology of solar power but a law adopted in 2000. It requires the country's huge old-line utility companies to subsidize the solar upstarts by buying their electricity at marked-up rates that make it easy for the newcomers to turn a profit. Their cleanly created power enters the utilities' grids for sale to consumers. The law was part of a broader measure adopted by the German government to boost production of renewable energy sources, including wind power and biofuels. As the world's sixth-biggest producer of carbon-dioxide emissions, Germany is trying to slash its output of greenhouse gases and wants renewable sources to supply a quarter of its energy needs by 2020. Since the Geosol plant was built, it has been eclipsed in size by six other German solar plants, including the new world's-largest, the Solarpark Gut Erlasee in Bavaria, which has more than double the capacity. Last month, construction began on yet another monster solar plant on an old military base in Brandis, about 12 miles north of Espenhain. Once completed, it will generate 40 megawatts, or enough to power about 10,000 homes. German officials readily acknowledged that they are embracing solar technology not just for its environmental benefits. German firms that manufacture photovoltaic panels and other components have prospered under the new energy act and now employ 40,000 people. An additional 15,000 people work for companies in the solar-thermal business, which make heating systems for homes and businesses. For now, the technology remains expensive and barely registers as a fraction of total energy production -- less than 0.5 percent. The government hopes to increase that figure to 3 percent by 2020. Industry supporters, however, say there are other factors that favor solar production in the long term. The stuff below was from 2001 German solar companies sold 75,000 solar systems in 2000 in addition to 360,000 solar systems installed previously, and photovoltaic installations increased fourfold from 1999. Solar power means big business in Germany:
RE: [Texascavers] Age Dating of Cave Minerals Demonstrate that Grand Canyon Older Than Previously Th
As I write, Ira Flatow is interviewing Victor Polyak about this very subject on Science Friday on NPR. Check out his site for some pics of the caves in the Canyon. http://www.sciencefriday.com/program/archives/200803073Louise From: mminton@nmhu.eduTo: texascavers@texascavers.com; gvkarstsurvey@googlegroups.comDate: Fri, 7 Mar 2008 09:55:43 -0500Subject: [Texascavers] Age Dating of Cave Minerals Demonstrate that Grand Canyon Older Than Previously Thought Forwarded from NMcaver. The articles appear in both Science and The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/06/science/06cnd-canyon.html?ex=1205470800en=3ba76f65c95f858fei=5070 Mark Minton
RE: [ot_caving] Re: oil prices
I know nothing about this subject except that a minority of skeptics don't believe that there is global warming and a depletion of our ozone layer or that humans are in large part responsible. Assuming that GW and ozone depletion are fact, does burning these renewable resources such as wood pellets and pig fat for heat exacerbate these problems? An inquiring but uninformed mind wants to know. Fritz _ From: qui...@clearwire.net [mailto:qui...@clearwire.net] Sent: Thursday, March 06, 2008 4:56 PM To: o...@texascavers.com; Fritz Holt Subject: Re: [ot_caving] Re: oil prices I recalled info heard on BBC not long back about Scandanavia and found this info on green fuel. The EU has pushed green fuel. The proportion of oil-heated homes in Sweden has fallen to 8 percent, as many neighborhoods use hot water from central plants that burn biofuels, often wood-based pellets. Since the beginning of 2006, householders have been paid to replace oil-burning furnaces with environmentally friendly heating systems. Such financial incentives already were available to libraries, pools, and hospitals that wanted to switch to more efficient renewable energy. Sweden is not alone. The Danish Crown slaughterhouse uses the fat of 50,000 pigs a week to generate biogas. The entire Danish Crown plant has been redesigned with an eye to saving energy, part of a thirty-year Danish effort to eliminate waste, conserve energy, and reduce consumption of fossil fuels, as The Wall Street Journal reports. Surplus heat from Danish power plants is delivered to nearby homes, via insulated pipes. Large parts of Denmark have undergone a nearly total makeover of basic energy infrastructure. The new system now heats almost two-thirds of Danish homes. Power plants have been radically reduced in size and built closer to people's homes and offices to reduce power loss during transmission. In the mid-1980s, Denmark had fifteen large power plants; it now has several hundred small ones Danish building codes enacted in 1979 (and tightened several times since) also require thick home insulation and tightly sealed windows. Between 1975 and 2001, Denmark's national heating bill fell 20 percent, even as the amount of heated space increased by 30 percent. Denmark's gross domestic product has doubled on stable energy usage during the last thirty years. The average Dane now uses 6,600 kilowatt hours of electricity a year, less than half of the U.S. average, according to The Wall Street Journal. Denmark has become a world leader in wind-turbine technology. Turbines generate electricity that competes in price with oil, coal, and nuclear power, and they provide several thousand jobs. Some wind turbines now have blades almost 300 feet wide--the length of a football field. During January, a very stormy month, Denmark harvested 36 percent of its electricity from wind, almost double the usual. In the United States, the comparable figure is one-quarter of 1 percent. Many Danish companies offer indoor bike parking, as well as locker rooms. Employees ride company-owned bikes to off-site meetings. People tote children on extra bike seats. Members of parliament ride to work, as do CEOs of some major companies. Lars Rebien Sorensen, head of the pharmaceutical firm Novo Nordisk, even conducts media interviews from his bike saddle. http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-166187067.html Sweden and Norway have some of the highest liquor taxes in the world, provoking large-scale smuggling from Denmark. Until recently, gold-and-blue-capped Swedish Customs officers poured the contraband booze down the drain. These days, however, a million illicit bottles a year are trucked to a sparkling new high-tech plant about eighty miles from Stockholm that manufactures biogas fuel. Every busted booze smuggler has been drafted into Sweden's war against oil dependence and greenhouse gases. Hydrogen fuels will be on the road in 2012 Norway, Sweden and Denmark. http://www.fuelcellsworks.com/Supppage5494.html Source - NGV Global Tuesday, 21 August 2007 FuelMaker Corporation of Canada has appointed Gasum, of Helsinki, Finland as its latest new dealer. Gasum will market, sell and service FuelMaker's line of products including Vehicle Refueling Appliances (VRA) and Phill, the home refueling appliance. Gasum is a full service supplier of natural gas in Finland. Since 2004 changes in alternative fuel taxation practices have made the use of natural gas vehicles (NGVs) a much more attractive option in the country. Gasum has built 6 refueling stations and plans to increase infrastructure by building 25 more by 2010. Gasum plans to complement this station infrastructure by using FuelMaker VRAs and Phill where larger stations are not feasible. The company will start first with commercial applications, focusing on areas that already have a natural gas network and are serviced by public transit. This will include replacing their own private fleet with
Re: [ot_caving] Re: oil prices
I doubt that what works in Scandanavia will work along the Texas Gulf Coast, especially in a metropolitan are like Harris County. Some have forecasted that there will be 10 million people living between Huntsville and Galveston in about 20 years, and many will be commuting to the Houston area. This areas long term energy goals are ( in my opinion ) are unbelieveably unrealistic. People are more concerned with whether the Texans or the Rockets are going to have a winning season.Nobody wants to talk about the realities of life here. I don't hear a single political candidate talking about their plan, but just a bunch of political rhetoric. Solar Energy will never make a huge impact here because it is often cloudy. Wind energy will have little effect here, because the wind is not that strong. What we need here is a Humid Energy Converter - something that will take the humidity and convert it to electricity. Another thing that would work is to have some kind of giant treadmill, with a 1000 people on it exercising and creating energy at the same time. And there is no hydro-electric potential here, nor is there a geo-thermal source. Wave Energy could help a little, but the environment impacts are unknown. Slowing down the Gulf Current could accelerate global warming. Nuclear energy has potential here, but everybody knows the risk there. Nobody wants a nuclear plant within 50 miles of their house. Bicycling will never catch on here. Most Houstonians don't venture far from an air-conditioner. I think we are eventually going to need giant living quarters that house 1000's of people in an efficient manner. Inside this dome like structure would be businesses, stores, hospital, restaurants, condos.Everyone would travel by Segways, or electric Golf Carts. Something like the movie - Logan's Run. I believe the Astrodome could be used as an experimental prototype, but nobody down at city hall is going to listen to a realist. They will just say it is a crazy pessimistic vision. David Locklear
RE: [ot_caving] Re: oil prices
David, some of your thoughts and ideas are really good. Fritz _ From: David [mailto:dlocklea...@gmail.com] Sent: Friday, March 07, 2008 12:20 PM To: o...@texascavers.com Subject: Re: [ot_caving] Re: oil prices I doubt that what works in Scandanavia will work along the Texas Gulf Coast, especially in a metropolitan are like Harris County. Some have forecasted that there will be 10 million people living between Huntsville and Galveston in about 20 years, and many will be commuting to the Houston area. This areas long term energy goals are ( in my opinion ) are unbelieveably unrealistic. People are more concerned with whether the Texans or the Rockets are going to have a winning season.Nobody wants to talk about the realities of life here. I don't hear a single political candidate talking about their plan, but just a bunch of political rhetoric. Solar Energy will never make a huge impact here because it is often cloudy. Wind energy will have little effect here, because the wind is not that strong. What we need here is a Humid Energy Converter - something that will take the humidity and convert it to electricity. Another thing that would work is to have some kind of giant treadmill, with a 1000 people on it exercising and creating energy at the same time. And there is no hydro-electric potential here, nor is there a geo-thermal source. Wave Energy could help a little, but the environment impacts are unknown. Slowing down the Gulf Current could accelerate global warming. Nuclear energy has potential here, but everybody knows the risk there. Nobody wants a nuclear plant within 50 miles of their house. Bicycling will never catch on here. Most Houstonians don't venture far from an air-conditioner. I think we are eventually going to need giant living quarters that house 1000's of people in an efficient manner. Inside this dome like structure would be businesses, stores, hospital, restaurants, condos.Everyone would travel by Segways, or electric Golf Carts. Something like the movie - Logan's Run. I believe the Astrodome could be used as an experimental prototype, but nobody down at city hall is going to listen to a realist. They will just say it is a crazy pessimistic vision. David Locklear
Re: [ot_caving] Re: oil prices
I am certain that someone once said, If they had a nickel for all their ideas, they would be rich. Mark Twain ??, Benjamin Franklin ?? Bart Simpson?? David - Give this to a friend: ot-subscr...@texascavers.com To unsubscribe, e-mail: ot-unsubscr...@texascavers.com For additional commands, e-mail: ot-h...@texascavers.com
RE: [ot_caving] Re: oil prices
Or maybe Leonardo Divinci, George Washington Carver or Alexander Graham Bell. Geezer -Original Message- From: David [mailto:dlocklea...@gmail.com] Sent: Friday, March 07, 2008 2:52 PM To: o...@texascavers.com Subject: Re: [ot_caving] Re: oil prices I am certain that someone once said, If they had a nickel for all their ideas, they would be rich. Mark Twain ??, Benjamin Franklin ?? Bart Simpson?? David - Give this to a friend: ot-subscr...@texascavers.com To unsubscribe, e-mail: ot-unsubscr...@texascavers.com For additional commands, e-mail: ot-h...@texascavers.com - Give this to a friend: ot-subscr...@texascavers.com To unsubscribe, e-mail: ot-unsubscr...@texascavers.com For additional commands, e-mail: ot-h...@texascavers.com
[ot_caving] way off topic
Fritz suggested I had some ideas. One of my ideas, is to re-engineer the typewriter; namely, the Smith Corona PWP 6000. http://images.craigslist.org/0102010104000116112008030434ded608c423d8ddd100bd72.jpg The idea is to replace the ribbon with a color laser-jet system. Then replace the cathode ray tube with a modern flat panel, but mounted vertically to resemble a sheet of paper. Replace the keys with a soft-touch keyboard. And then to use a simple Linux operating system to make a simple type-writer. It wouldn't do any of the things a lap-top does. It would certainly not have Windows, so it would not have Word. It would use OpenOffice, instead of MicroSoft Office. It might play Solitaire. But other than that, the only function would be to type letters. It would only have 2 gigs of permanent memory. It might have a screensaver that you could add personal photos to, and a calendar and other things that a receptionist might be interested in. It would cost under $ 300. Since most of the next generation will be computer literate, this idea will most likely never pan out. David Locklear - Give this to a friend: ot-subscr...@texascavers.com To unsubscribe, e-mail: ot-unsubscr...@texascavers.com For additional commands, e-mail: ot-h...@texascavers.com
[Texascavers] Christmas Mountains
I notice that Christmas Mountains have gotten a reprieve: http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Issue/story?oid=oid%3A589145 I read several stories in which the highest bidder was going to withdraw his bid to give NPS a chance to buy it. Ultimately, both high bidders lost out due to a technicality and now the Lands Board has given NPS 90 days to pick up the option. I hope they don't take their own sweet governmental time and lose this one. Louise
[Texascavers] crazy Brit
In a report on an underwater digging project in Sike Gill Rising (resurgence) in Yorkshire that appears in the Cave Diving Group (Great Britain) Newsletter number 166, R. P. Skorupka comments that his trip in October was his 180th dive at this site. Sure hope this pays off before he's committed -- Mixon -- You may reply to the address this message came from, but for long-term use, save: Personal: bmi...@alumni.uchicago.edu AMCS: edi...@amcs-pubs.org or sa...@amcs-pubs.org - Visit our website: http://texascavers.com To unsubscribe, e-mail: texascavers-unsubscr...@texascavers.com For additional commands, e-mail: texascavers-h...@texascavers.com
[Texascavers] Government Canyon
This is a reminder that next weekend, the 15th and 16th, is the next Government Canyon Karst Project. We will be surveying, digging, and ridgewalking. We will meet in the parking area of the Volunteer/Research Station as described below at 9:00 and head out about 9:30. Directions to the gate of GCSNA. Find the intersection of U.S. 16 and Loop 1604 in northwest Bexar County (clearly shown on any state highway map). Drive 2 miles north on U.S. 16 to the third traffic light and turn left onto FM 1560 (there is a Shell station on the corner). Follow 1560 for 3 miles till you see the sign for GCSNA. Follow the arrow to the right and drive 2 more miles to the sharp left turn in the road. The gate to GCSNA is straight ahead. Enter at the gate and then take the first right. There is an unlocked gate that will need to be opened and then closed behind you. Continue to the Volunteer/Research Station, where we will meet. Marvin Miller (830) 885-5631
[NMCAVER] The age of the Grand Canyon using Caves
Hi All, Here is the link to today's NPR Science Friday piece on Dr. Victor Polyak's interview on the age of the Grand Canyon using cave speleothem dating. Since Victor is a long time member of the Sandia Grotto and the funding came from the National Science Foundation, it has relevence. The piece takes about ten minutes. Ray http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=87984356 ___ NMCAVER mailing list nmca...@caver.net http://caver.net/mailman/listinfo/nmcaver_caver.net
[Texascavers] Who was that caver?
Tonight on Brodie Lane heading south - I found myself driving behind a Silver Honda CRV with a both a yellow and ACMS bat sticker (both just above the license plate). Anyone know who it was? I don't think they recognized me. I couldn't see them very well. They probably wondered why the guy in the white Saturn looked like he was trying to talk to them -WaVy
