Sunday 15 July 2007

Ice Cool Buildings

System Relies on Ice to Chill Buildings
Saturday July 14, 3:45 PM EDT
NEW YORK (AP) — As the summer swelters on, skyscrapers and apartments around the city will be cranking up the air conditioning and pushing the city's power grid to the limit.
But some office towers and buildings have found a way to stay cool while keeping the AC to a minimum — by using an energy-saving system that relies on blocks of ice to pump chilly air through buildings.
The systems save companies money and reduce strain on the electrical grid in New York, where the city consumes more power on hot summer days than the entire nation of Chile." (AAP: Excite Money & Investing)
[Like about 100 years ago, except they're not storing ice from winter. Maybe they'll get onto that later?]

Sunday 1 July 2007

Kamikaze dolphins (from 2000)

Iran buys kamikaze dolphins
Dolphins and other aquatic mammals were trained by Russian experts to attack warships and enemy frogmen, but when funding for the project ceased, many were moved to a private dolphinarium to perform for tourists.
Their chief trainer, both in military and civilian life, was Boris Zhurid, who began his career as a submariner before graduating from a medical academy. "But I cannot bear to see my animals starve ... We're out of medicine, which costs thousands of dollars, and have no more fish or food supplements."
In total, 27 animals, including walruses, sea lions, seals, 3 cormorants, and a white beluga whale, were loaded with the dolphins into a Russian transport aircraft for the journey from Sevastopol, on the Crimean peninsula, in the Black Sea, to the Persian Gulf.
Four of the dolphins and the white whale underwent training with Mr Zhurid at a Pacific naval base, before being transferred to Crimea in 1991. (Told to the BBC by Arkady Volondyn, Komsomolskaya Pravda)
City of Sevastopol
Dolphin Institute
Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society
I wonder how this went on? The date of the story is 8 March, 2000 | BBC News | MIDDLE EAST.

Currently in headless chicken mode, not necessarily getting much actually done.