Herman: July 2009 Archives

Gapminder is a non-profit venture promoting sustainable global development and achievement of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals by increased use and understanding of statistics and other information about social, economic and environmental development at local, national and global levels. We are a modern "museum" that helps making the world understandable, using the Internet.

Wir möchten nach britischem und fransösischem Vorbild Rechtsverletzungen effektiv unterbinden, indem die Vermittler von Internetzugängen Rechtsverletzer verwarnen und nötigenfalls ihre Zugänge sperren.

Es ist eine gemeinsame Aufgabe von Politik und Verlagen, verstärkt das Bewusstsein für den Wert und die Relevanz von Zeitungen und Zeitschriften in der Gesellschaft als Kulturgut zu verankern. Im Online-Bereich dürfen die Verlage nicht schlechter gestellt werden als andere so genannte Werkvermittler. Falls erforderlich werden wir ein eigenes Leistungsschutzrecht für Verlage zum Schutz der Presseprodukte im Internet schaffen.

The Antares DLR-H2 is based on the Antares 20E motor glider with a wingspan of 20 metres, constructed by Lange Aviation, a company based in the Rhineland-Palatinate region of Germany. With its fuel cell propulsion system, Antares has a cruising range of 750 kilometres, achieved in a flying time of five hours. In order to accommodate the fuel cell and the hydrogen supply on board the aircraft, two additional external load carriers were slung under the specially reinforced wings.

The current propulsion system permits maximum flying speeds of approximately 170 kilometres per hour.

The total efficiency of the drive system from tank to powertrain, including the propeller, is in the region of 44 percent, making it about twice as efficient as conventional propulsion technologies based on combustion processes. Systems powered by kerosene or diesel only contribute about 18 to 25 percent of their energy to propulsion.

Botte says the idea came to her several years ago at a conference on fuel cells, where they were discussing how to turn clean water into clean power. 'I wondered how we could do this better,' she adds - so started looking at waste streams as a better source of molecules from which to produce hydrogen.
Urine's major constituent is urea, which incorporates four hydrogen atoms per molecule - importantly, less tightly bonded than the hydrogen atoms in water molecules. Botte used electrolysis to break the molecule apart, developing an inexpensive new nickel-based electrode to selectively and efficiently oxidise the urea. To break the molecule down, a voltage of 0.37V needs to be applied across the cell - much less than the 1.23V needed to split water. 

The new SunCatcher is about 5,000 pounds lighter than the original, is round instead of rectangular to allow for more efficient use of steel, has improved optics, and consists of 60 percent fewer engine parts. The revised design also has fewer mirrors -- 40 instead of 80. The reflective mirrors are formed into a parabolic shape using stamped sheet metal similar to the hood of a car. The mirrors are made by using automobile manufacturing techniques. The improvements will result in high-volume production, cost reductions, and easier maintenance.

2008 was the first year that new power generation investment in renewables was greater than investments in fossil-fueled technologies.

But what if I were killed or incapacitated before I managed to hand the passphrase over to an executor or solicitor who could use them to unlock all this stuff that will be critical to winding down my affairs - or keeping them going, in the event that I'm incapacitated? I don't want to simply hand the passphrase over to my wife, or my lawyer. Partly that's because the secrecy of a passphrase known only to one person and never written down is vastly superior to the secrecy of a passphrase that has been written down and stored in more than one place. Further, many countries's laws make it difficult or impossible for a court to order you to turn over your keys; once the passphrase is known by a third party, its security from legal attack is greatly undermined, as the law generally protects your knowledge of someone else's keys to a lesser extent than it protects your own.