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Welcome to my universe.. where there is Peace University. As Fine Scientist, PhD, I write about my interest in various fields, from energy to space, chemistry, mathematics, plants, paleontology... Read More »

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Dinosound revival is no kidding to me. I was at the foothills of tall snow-capped mountains by the sea when this happened. A very loud sound filled the meadows and startled my senses like a dinosaur call! Well, it happened again, the next day about the same time, just before the sunset and for several minutes. I had to inquire swiftly for a local answer.







Come on, did you just accept that we know the sounds of an animal that lived long before even a woman was on the world scene? I mean, did the dinosaurs bark or tweet, scream, hiss, roar, coo, neigh or sing?


"Ted" calls his name
Service is his fame
Turner turned World News
Into a 24-7 game!



As the world turns
So Ted's passion burns
Humanity loves him such
His charity widely churns.



Ted must love hilarity
Color B&W to clarity
Why to fuss here
Over a man o'Rarity?



In fields of snow
Ted's buffalo herds know
Free to roam large
While praising Turner's bow.



Since first, Fine Scientist
Said Ted's the greatest
"Man with a heart"
Helped humanity the Bravest.



Seventy is a perfection
Arrives at Ted's station
2008's only a warm-up
For 150's in transaction.



Look people, in deed

You might say I am fond of Sweden and its Nobel Prizes. Now that the Mars500 shortlist includes also a Swede, there implies another delight: The Swedish Biogas might save the day for men and women in space missions.

Biogas for Mars?  Biogas is simply a biofuel that is obtained when organic matter is decomposed biologically in the absence of oxygen. A typical biogas has the following composition in percentages:

Methane:  50-75
Carbon Dioxide:  25-50
Nitrogen:  0-10
Hydogen Sulfide:  0-3
Oxygen:  0-2
Hydrogen:  0-1






Record-breaking accomplishments confuse people about durability. In facing the frailty of humans and their machines, a 'sea of safety' is a comforting notion. Failures remind us safety can be improved. Take the Phoenix Mars Lander, our machine to touch water on another planet. Its operations came to an end on recent days in the arctic plains when sunlight became insufficient. The machine simply stopped working outside its operating parameters. 
Two observations are remarkable today about ozone-hole measurements. Both have been in the books for a while. First, the peak of 2008 is larger than 2007's. Second, NOAA is getting ready for a new environmental satellite. I will also make a prediction for the next year.




Shrinkage is a good thing when you want it to happen. Energy consumption in buildings is a great candidate for shrinkage.  Do you have a building in mind?

Two reports (1-2) were published recently to show how to achieve 50% energy savings over the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) Standard 90.1-2004 in medium-sized retail buildings and grocery stores. They represent the first technical support documents for commercial retail buildings under the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Net-Zero Energy Commercial Building Initiative.

In all cases studied, these design measures were recommended to achieve a 50% reduction in energy consumption: