Habitats and Humanity
jfiore | November 13, 2008There is some confusion as to precisely how a setback thermostat saves energy. In fact, because of misunderstandings I have heard a number of people proclaim that a setback doesn't save energy. There are two common arguments:
1. Although you save energy as the house is initially cooling during the setback period, the furnace has to work overtime to make up this loss once the setback period is over. This "overtime" counteracts the initial savings for no net savings.
2. If the house is set for, say, 68F, when it cools a degree to 67F the furnace will turn on. It takes just as much energy to…
bushwells | August 31, 2008The Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission (DRJTBC) recently announced the arrival of a peregrine falcon chick. The proud parents nested in the steelwork under the I-95 Scudders Falls Bridge. I traverse that bridge once a week when I'm attending my little class o' regulatory dabbling at Temple U.
It's a heavily trafficked span, but apparently that didn't bother the peregrines. The article notes that the presence of the raptors is symbolic of the environmental rebirth of the "dirty Delaware." The river valley north of the bridge is quite attractive with bike paths along the canals…
jfiore | August 22, 2008A very entertaining article in The Times today regarding Olympians and sex. The author, former Olympian Matthew Syed, discusses just what goes on behind closed doors (and sometimes on rooftops) at the Olympic village. He offers the usual bag of "reasons why" (testosterone, being away from home, etc.) but it's presented in a light and humorous manner, a good read. Consider the opener:
I am often asked if the Olympic village - the vast restaurant and housing conglomeration that hosts the world's top athletes for the duration of the Games - is the sex-fest it is cracked up to be. My answer is…
jfiore | June 5, 2008What could've been the national symbol of the USA if Ben Franklin had his way, the wild turkey (meleagris gallopavo) is having a bit of a resurgence as of late. In our neck of the woods (central New York state) they have become a common sight and small bands of them are often seen crossing the country roads during the day.
But we had a lovely surprise these past few weeks. Recently, I had begun clearing some trails through the woods behind our house. This project included building three bridges across a couple of small creeks (the construction of which may be the topic of a future blog post…
jfiore | May 28, 2008You gotta love Glenn Beck. This guy knows how to bring the crazy. On last night's show he had a segment on hydrogen-powered cars. You can find a transcript here, about 2/3rds in (you'll probably want to avoid the first section featuring Ben Stein unless you have vomit buckets handy). So Glenn checks out the car and we come to...
BECK: Yeah, it's a great car. However, I saw the filling station, and there is giant power grid, you know, sitting there. You're using all this electricity. How are you going to -- how are you not just using electricity, and how are you not going to have…
bushwells | April 23, 2008Old folks tend to repeat themselves, so bear with me if this is redundant. A cursory search of Science Blogs turned up a comment in response to Razib's post in Gene Expression that calls attention to the video of Sean B. Carroll's 2005 HHMI Holiday Lecture on Charles Darwin and the development of the theory of evolution. Carroll is an excellent speaker. He aims the topic toward high school students in this accessible and enjoyable seminar. The video (below the fold) is ~ 1 hour in duration, but well worth the time.
ETA: Thanks to commenter Chris for pointing out that DVDs for a number…
bushwells | March 6, 2008A conversation with a fellow raptor fan and Kevin's recent entry pertaining to the injured bald eagle congealed and triggered a few of my geriatric neurons, prompting the following nostalgic reverie about a former pet: an American kestrel.
I think I have mentioned that I grew up on a farm in east central Illinois, not far from Champaign-Urbana. Our yard consisted of an acre of land with a variety of mature trees - sugar, Norway and silver maples, American basswood, shingle oak, flowering crab apples, sweetgum and a few specimen trees - plus open areas where we set up the croquet set, the…
jfiore | November 21, 2007In early October I posted a series of pics regarding the low water level at Hinckley Reservoir in upstate NY. The combination of low rainfall and demand had reduced the lake some 35 feet below spill level. I had hoped to post some pics in Spring 2008 to contrast these to normal levels. That won't be necessary. Over the past several weeks we have had considerable rain. Also, the major draw off of the reservoir, the NY state canal corporation, reduced their demand and planned to close the canal early. (At present, the canal is nicely topped off.) The result is that the lake is now just a few…
jfiore | October 2, 2007Here in the upper Mohawk Valley of central NY, we are accustomed to an abundance of water. Heck, the city of Utica typically receives around 100 inches of snow per year and that's nothing compared to the Tug Hill Plateau just north. The summer of 2007 has been notable for a lack of rainfall, though, with some areas seeing only 10 percent of their normal rainfall during September. In fact, some areas are now on water restriction (no washing your car, watering the lawn, or stuff like that).
About 15 minutes north of town is the Hinckley Reservoir (known locally as Hinckley Lake) which was…
jfiore | August 6, 2007Is walking to the store "greener" than riding there in your car? Here's an interesting article from The Times UK arguing for the car. The upfront argument is specious. Consider:
"Driving a typical UK car for 3 miles [4.8km] adds about 0.9 kg [2lb] of CO2 to the atmosphere," he said, a calculation based on the Government's official fuel emission figures. "If you walked instead, it would use about 180 calories. You'd need about 100g of beef to replace those calories, resulting in 3.6kg of emissions, or four times as much as driving.
This is damning information regarding beef production, but…
jfiore | June 5, 2007The 2005 Energy Policy Act is known by some as being written by the energy lobby and by others as containing things down right goofy. One provision creates what are known as energy transmission corridors. Supposedly, the idea is to lower energy costs and increase security (is there anything that's done by the government these days that doesn't have the word security thrown in?) Here is a map of the draft Mid-Atlantic corridor. You will note that most of New York State is within the corridor with the exception of the southwestern portion and a chunk of the Adirondack Mountains.
Now I'm all…
jfiore | May 23, 2007I caught a portion of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works hearing regarding the California CO2 Waiver on CSPAN last night. You can read Senator Boxer's (majority) opening comments here and Senator Inhofe's (minority) opening comments here.
It's bad enough when Inhofe says things like this:
"When it comes to the issue of whether climate fluctuations are natural or caused by man, you all know my view that the cycles we are now experiencing - and have experienced for thousands and even millions of years - are natural."
but then he compounds it with this:
"...over the last…
jfiore | February 20, 2007I've already mentioned the amazing amount of snow that's hit places like Redfield, NY, some 40 miles from us. For Utica, this winter is proving to be one of bizarre extremes. January turned out to be the warmest on record and over 4 degrees warmer than usual. In fact, I was running comfortably outside in shorts in the early-mid part of the month. Then, it turned bitterly cold and February greeted us with amazing amounts of snow. Barely two weeks into the month, Utica smashed the all-time monthly snow fall record, set in January 1890 at 59 inches, with a total of 63.1 inches. The 30 days up to…
jfiore | February 14, 2007I mentioned the intense amount of snowfall in Redfield, NY the other day (131" record breaker event, and enough for the Colbert Report to quip that there was so much snow that identical flakes were beginning to fall). Well, we're all getting pelted again (like the rest of the Northeast), but when you already have so much on the ground, a storm of this magnitude is just, well, goofy.
Consider some of the following links. Here's a list of closings in my town. The list does not include schools and similar public buildings (every single one is shut down). Kinda funny that so many churches are…
jfiore | February 11, 2007After what was a mild and low-snow start of the winter, the past few weeks in upstate New York have been nothing short of blanketing. The town of Redfield has just broken the all-time accumulation record for a lake effect snow event. They beat the old record of 127 inches recorded at Montague in 2001 with a total of 131 inches, or nearly 11 feet of snow. The event in question is perhaps better termed as non-stop lake effect ribbons of snow over the course of days. In the past few days these bands have been scarcely more than 20 miles wide, but they haven't moved much. Redfield is probably no…
jfiore | December 27, 2006Living in central New York, and only a few miles from the Utica Marsh, the honking and flying V's (not this) of the Canada goose are a common sight in the Fall, and perhaps it's only a mild exaggeration to say they're more common than red or yellow maple leaves. Early on Saturday mornings I can be found with a few friends doing our weekly long run along a canal trail that borders the marsh. It is nothing for us to see several hundred or a thousand of these honkers, not to mention numerous ducks and the random great blue heron. Once, two years ago, we came across a group of perhaps two hundred…
bushwells | July 12, 2006Remember the Burma Shave ads which once lined the bygone US highways? The signs with such catchy poetry as...
It has a tingle
And a tang
That starts
The day off
With a bang.
Apparently the Champaign County Rifle Association is all in favor of starting the day off with a bang. While in Illinois last week, I spotted the CCRA's "public awareness" campaign, Guns Save Life, which gives a nod to Burma Shave's gimmick. This...
Dialed 9-1-1
And I'm on hold
Sure wish I had
That gun I sold
...just doesn't evoke the same sense of warm fuzzy nostalgia. Regardless of the morass that is gun…