Running On Water: September’s Your Shot/travel

Published in the September issue of

Running on Water: September’s Your Shot/Travel

Backlink: http://intelligenttravel.nationalgeographic.com/2011/08/17/running-on-water-septembers-your-shottravel/

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Comment on MacBook Pro Rumors Point to Imminent Refresh by Cold Water

Light Peak sounds neat as a system interconnect, but who's got any direct or networked storage that can come close to saturating it?

Comment on MacBook Pro Rumors Point to Imminent Refresh by Cold Water

Backlink: http://gigaom.com/apple/macbook-pro-rumors-point-to-imminent-refresh/#comment-598137

Saving water

Saving water

Backlink: http://www.slideshare.net/PeninsulaNetwork/saving-water-6748756

Comment on CDMA-Compatible iPad Coming to Verizon by Cold Water

Why do we have to pay per-device for wireless data, anyway? It's not like tablets and netbooks tie up a modem line, or that you're using much data simultaneously with your phone, anyway.

Comment on CDMA-Compatible iPad Coming to Verizon by Cold Water

Backlink: http://gigaom.com/apple/cdma-compatible-ipad-coming-to-verizon/#comment-573669

Comment on iPad Closes on Kindle, Google Looms Over Both by Cold Water

Did it cross anyone's mind that Amazon has made a point of making Kindle software available on every platform and may not even care that much about hardware? We sure haven't heard much about iBooks in months…

Comment on iPad Closes on Kindle, Google Looms Over Both by Cold Water

Backlink: http://gigaom.com/apple/ipad-closes-on-kindle-google-looms-over-both/#comment-530750

Water Flow Through Ice Sheets Accelerates Effects of Warming

Meltwater that flows into the crevasses and fractures of ice sheets speeds up the warming of these ice sheets more rapidly than current models suggest, according to a new study. In fact, the movement of warmer water, as if through a network of pipes, can accelerate warming of massive ice formations like the Greenland Ice Sheet within decades rather than centuries, researchers at the University of Colorado at Boulder say.

While current thermal models typically consider the effects of air temperatures on the ice sheets, the researchers modeled the effects of warmer water flowing through so-called moulins - crevasses and cracks created when the sheets grind over bedrock - during the summer melt season. "We are finding that once such water flow is initiated through a new section of ice sheet, it can warm rather significantly and quickly, sometimes in just 10 years," said Thomas Phillips, a research scientist with the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences and co-author of the study, published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters. The seepage of meltwater into crevasses in Antarctica's Larsen B Ice Shelf was a key factor in its rapid disintegration in 2002. Photo by Thomas Kriese/flickr/Creative Commons Reprinted with permission from Yale Environment 360

Post originale: http://featured.matternetwork.com/2010/11/water-flow-through-ice-sheets.cfm

When The Water Ends: Africa's Climate Conflicts [VIDEO]

For thousands of years, nomadic herdsmen have roamed the harsh, semi-arid lowlands that stretch across 80 percent of Kenya and 60 percent of Ethiopia. Descendants of the oldest tribal societies in the world, they survive thanks to the animals they raise and the crops they grow, their travels determined by the search for water and grazing lands.

These herdsmen have long been accustomed to adapting to a changing environment. But in recent years, they have faced challenges unlike any in living memory: As temperatures in the region have risen and water supplies have dwindled, the pastoralists have had to range more widely in search of suitable water and land. That search has brought tribal groups in Ethiopia and Kenya in increasing conflict, as pastoral communities kill each other over water and grass. "When the Water Ends," a 16-minute video produced by Yale Environment 360 in collaboration with MediaStorm, tells the story of this conflict and of the increasingly dire drought conditions facing parts of East Africa. To report this video, Evan Abramson, a 32-year-old photographer and videographer, spent two months in the region early this year, living among the herding communities. He returned with a tale that many climate scientists say will be increasingly common in the 21st century and beyond - how worsening drought in parts of Africa, the Middle East, and elsewhere will pit group against group, nation against nation. As one UN official told Abramson, the clashes between Kenyan and Ethiopian pastoralists represent "some of the world's first climate-change conflicts." But the story recounted in "When the Water Ends" is not only about climate change. It's also about how deforestation and land degradation - due in large part to population pressures - are exacting a toll on impoverished farmers and nomads as the earth grows ever more barren. The video focuses on four groups of pastoralists - the Turkana of Kenya and the Dassanech, Nyangatom, and Mursi of Ethiopia - who are among the more than two dozen tribes whose lives and culture depend on the waters of the Omo River and the body of water into which it flows, Lake Turkana. For the past 40 years at least, Lake Turkana has steadily shrunk because of increased evaporation from higher temperatures and a steady reduction in the flow of the Omo due to less rainfall, increased diversion of water for irrigation, and upstream dam projects. As the lake has diminished, it has disappeared altogether from Ethiopian territory and retreated south into Kenya. The Dassanech people have followed the water, and in doing so have come into direct conflict with the Turkana of Kenya. The result has been cross-border raids in which members of both groups kill each other, raid livestock, and torch huts. Many people in both tribes have been left without their traditional livelihoods and survive thanks to food aid from nonprofit organizations and the UN. The future for the tribes of the Omo-Turkana basin looks bleak. Temperatures in the region have risen by about 2 degrees F since 1960. Droughts are occurring with a frequency and intensity not seen in recent memory. Areas once prone to drought every ten or eleven years are now experiencing a drought every two or three. Scientists say temperatures could well rise an additional 2 to 5 degrees F by 2060, which will almost certainly lead to even drier conditions in large parts of East Africa. In addition, the Ethiopian government is building a dam on the upper Omo River - the largest hydropower project in sub-Saharan Africa - that will hold back water and prevent the river's annual flood cycles, upon which more than 300,000 tribesmen in Ethiopia and 500,000 in Kenya depend for cultivation, grazing, and fishing. The herdsmen who speak in this video are caught up in forces over which they have no real control. Although they have done almost nothing to generate the greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming, they may already be among its first casualties. "I am really beaten by hunger," says one elderly, rail-thin Nyangatom tribesman. "There is famine - people are dying here. This happened since the Turkana and the Kenyans started fighting with us. We fight over grazing lands. There is no peace at all." Watch the video. Reprinted with permission from Yale Environment 360

Post originale: http://featured.matternetwork.com/2010/10/when-water-ends-africas-climate.cfm

Bureau of Meterology Launch Signals a �Significant Milestone� for Advancement of Water Information

The Bureau of Meterology launched Phase 1 of the Australian Hydrological Geospatial Fabric (Geofabric) product at the spatial@gov conference held in Canberra last week. The Geofabric offers the most comprehensive spatial view of hydrological data in Australia and is contributing to enhanced management of water resources in Australia.

The Bureau of Meteorology’s Director, Dr Greg Ayers, explained the launch of the product as a
“significant milestone in the advancement of high quality, integrated, water information in Australia”.

The Geofabric is a specialised Geographic Information System (GIS) that registers the spatial relationships between important hydrologic features such as rivers, dams, lakes and catchments.  The new product shows how water is stored, transported and used in the landscape, as Mr Ayers explained.

 “Users can now determine the area that a particular catchment gets its water from. The Geofabric enables them to visualise where the catchment for features of interest such as wetlands or water storages start and finish”.

“By detailing the spatial dimensions of these hydrofeatures and how they are connected, we are delighted to provide users a picture of where water is in the landscape and where it is flowing” he said.

The Bureau of Meteorology is tasked with the responsibility of compiling and delivering Australia's water information. That information is stored in the Australian Water Resources Information System (AWRIS) which delivers high quality water data, essential to managing our nation’s valuable water resources.

Tracking Thieves with 'DNA Spray' Water

Slashdot discusses a story named "UK-Developed 'DNA Spray' Marks Dutch Thieves With Trackable Water".

Their summary: "In Rotterdam, there's a new technology in place that dispenses a barely visible mist over those around it and alerts the police. The purpose? To tag robbers and link them back to the scene of the crime. From the article, 'The mist — visible only under ultraviolet light — carries DNA markers particular to the location, enabling the police to match the burglar with the place burgled. Now, a sign on the front door of the McDonald's prominently warns potential thieves of the spray's presence: "You Steal, You're Marked."' Developed in Britain, it's yet to nab a criminal but it will be interesting to see whether or not synthesized DNA will hold up as sufficient evidence in an actual court of law."

This obviously reminded me of that 2007 story about 'powder RFID chips' that can be sprayed on crowds for tracking individuals.

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Post originale: http://slashgeo.org/2010/10/20/Tracking-Thieves-DNA-Spray-Water

Slashgeo: Tracking Thieves with 'DNA Spray' Water

Slashdot discusses a story named "UK-Developed 'DNA Spray' Marks Dutch Thieves With Trackable Water".

lue lisää

Post originale: http://slashgeo.org/2010/10/20/Tracking-Thieves-DNA-Spray-Water