Oil, and the price, supply, and demand thereof, is all in the news today, thanks mainly to Bush's declaration that the US should lift its moratorium on outer shelf drilling. This has led to a groundswell of talk about oil and gasoline prices, American dependence on foreign oil (note polling methodology used), alternative fuels, and all sorts of other things.

The problem is that virtually all of this talk is rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic. Unless you're one of those crazy people who believes in the abiogenic theory of oil origin (which asserts that the Earth contains secret, unlimited supplies of hydrocarbons if you just drill deep enough; while it may be the case that some subcrustal hydrocarbons are of nonbiological origin, that fact will not somehow make their supply limitless), there's no way of escaping the fact that the amount of available oil on the planet is either fixed or increasing very slowly, and that we're drawing down that finite supply at an alarming rate. A 2007 report puts world reserves of crude oil at between 1119 and 1317 billion barrels. Meanwhile, the world consumption of oil (per OPEC in 2006) was 78.3 million barrels a day, or 28.6 billion barrels a year. That means we have between 39 and 46 years of oil left at our current consumption rate, after which we will be out.

Nonbovine Ruminations: Oil: How will we ever do without it?

Michael Staton says:

“I’d say if you can’t bother to build it yourself, get potential customers lined up, build revenue on an easier offshoot, or convince someone else to build it in their spare time, then you should reevaluate whether you are an entrepreneur.”

Luca says:

“The idea is the easy part. If you are a first-time entrepreneur, try scaling down your concept to something whose value you can prove with friends & family money, then go to professional investors. If your idea does not lend itself to such an approach, try your hand first with something you can bootstrap.”

Ben says:

“An idea has a dollar value of $0. If you don’t believe in the idea enough to commit your cash/sweat equity to build it or a version of it to show it can work, why should friends, fools and family?”

Venture Hacks — Ideas need not apply

INTRODUCTION

Any time you picture a body of water larger than a puddle, one of the first things that comes to mind are the rolling waves, or the surf lapping at the shore. Well, at least that's what happens with me... But waves are much more than tranquil anomalies, they can be dangerous and destructive to any vessel in almost any body of water. Understanding how waves are made, how they normally behave, and how to predict their response to weather can make the difference between a smooth, comforting time on the water and a bumpy, frightening experience.

The first rule of waves, especially in the open ocean, is that there are no rules. Kind of a hypocritical statement considering the intent behind this article, but it is a hard, cold fact. There are simple physical factors that makeup the "normal" wave, but within the forces of nature, there a myriad of other factors that need be considered into the equation. Regardless, an understanding of what makes a "textbook" wave can be of considerable merit to the sailor. What we will examine here are the laboratory examples of wave creation. How, in a perfect world, waves would behave. In reality, alternating weather patterns, varying water depths, opposing currents, fetch obstruction and a multitude of other factors may change the way waves in a particular area react.

Anatomy of a Wave - by Jay Holben

Atlanta, March 1915. Mrs. Dora Stainers, 562� Decatur St. 39 years old. Began spinning in an Atlanta mill at 7 years, and is in this mill for 32 years. Only 4 days of schooling in her life. Began at 20 cents a day. The most she ever made was $1.75 a day & now she is earning $1 a day when she works. Her little girl Lillie is the same age she was when she started work, but the mother says, "I ain't goin to put her to work if I can help it. I'm goin' to give her as much education as I can so she can do better than I did." Mrs. Stainers is a woman of exceptional ability considering her training.

Atlanta: 1915 | Shorpy :: History in HD

meteorology

Why does it seem like the west coasts of the seven continents have bigger and more consistent surf than the east coasts?
asked by Mike Kassak

Answer

Surfline's very own tag team of Adam Wright and Marcus Sanders take a stab at it:

Well, Mike, you're pretty right on: west coasts do get better surf than east coasts, the world over. By "better" we mean west coasts are given to long-interval groomed groundswells over reefs, rather than scrappy, short-interval windswells.

And no, it's not just luck. It's actually pretty simple. In order to get serious groundswell -- that is, a swell with an interval of more than say, 14 seconds between wave crests, which can translate to corduroy-like lines and pinwheeling spokes along a pointbreaks such as Rincon -- you need a large area of water for wind to blow across for an extended period of time. This is called fetch, and along with wind duration and wind speed, it's one Sean Collins' three Golden Rules of surf creation:

"Wave generation requires three variables: wind velocity, wind duration and wind fetch. The harder the wind blows, the longer the time it blows and the greater the distance it blows, the bigger the waves. Limitation of any one of these variables will severely restrict the development of wave heights and the transfer of energy into the water."

OK, so you need a bunch of water for wind to blow across. Big deal. How can France see 12-foot grinding Guethary -- with 10 wave sets, evenly spaced out -- while New Jersey is shoulder-high and breaking all over the place? Same ocean, right? Well, yeah, but here's the kicker: due to the fact that the earth is spinning (duh), almost every single significant frontal storm, in both hemispheres, tracks from west to east.

Why do west coasts get better surf | Surfline | Who the F&*K Knows

Why is a groundswell called a "ground" swell? Isn't it just a strong windswell from farther away?
asked by Larry

Answer

Leading surfing meteorologist and Surfline forecaster Sean Collins responds:

Well, you're pretty close Larry, but it's slightly more complicated than just a simple naming convention.

Windswells are swells that are generated by local winds within a few hundred miles of the coast. As a result, the swell periods are short (four to 10 seconds between crests) and the waves tend to stack up on each other with very consistent sets. Also, a windswell's energy doesn't extend very deep -- maybe only 100 feet or so -- so it can only travel a few hundred miles before dissipating because most of the wave energy is concentrated closer to the ocean surface.

Groundswells are swells that are usually generated by winds much farther away. These swells are created by strong winds over long distances -- we refer to this distance as the "fetch" -- and over longer periods of time. As a result, more energy is transferred into the water during the generation of the waves, which create longer swell periods. Waves with longer swell periods can travel great distances without losing the swell energy like windswells do. Furthermore, swell energy in groundswells can also extend down to around 1,000 feet deep. This allows greater interaction with the ocean floor when the groundswells move into shallow water. For example, this process of refraction will allow groundswells to wrap into a spot -- up to 180 degrees or more -- while windswells wrap very little if at all.

What is a ground swell? | Surfline | Who the F&*K Knows

How to nap - Boston.com

Welcome to Rose

Rose is a set of Perl modules focused on web application development. The modules that make up Rose include a DBI abstraction layer, an object-relational mapper (ORM), an HTML widget toolkit, and (eventually) an MVC-style web application framework.

Rose, I have mixed feelings about you.

rose - Google Code - Perl webage

Ever had the desire to display your digital pictures in a frame without going through the hassle of printing them and re-framing? My inspiration came from the write up on Applefritter and I decided to take the plunge and destroy a hand-me-down IBM Thinkpad 560X in the name of science ;)

Over the space of a couple of days, I disassembled the laptop and carefully assembled only the bare minimum required parts on the back side of a wooden picture frame. I’m quite pleased with the result if I say so myself :)

Find the pictorial here

http://awooga.nl/gallery/modding/projectbling

Laptop Picture Frame - Project Bling - Awooga!!!

A great way to teach your children God’s word.

Now you can bring the teachings of the Bible to life for your children, one character at a time. The Talking Tales of Glory Jesus Doll recites easy-to-memorize verses from the Books of John, Mark, Psalms, Luke and Exodus for your children to learn and remember for the rest of their life.
Share a connection to Jesus and the scriptures with your child.

The Talking Jesus Doll is a religious treasure that recites key verses from the Bible aloud. Just press the button and the Talking Jesus Doll speaks to your child. It’s a great way to create a personal connection between God’s word and your child.

Talking Jesus Doll – Messenger of Faith Talking Bible Doll – One2Believe Toys