look closely

take a second look...

I'm only using the aven as specific background; I am actually more curious to apply the concept to another site. the material would be about 40% transparent but also reflective, hence the image...

cheers,

tis the season...

although it may be early, in case you forgot, there are some sites out there dealing with voting reform...

a brief list:

http://www.nationalpopularvote.com/pages/explanation.php

and,

http://instantrunoff.com/

in Washington: http://www.irvwa.org/

finance:

http://www.washclean.org/

nationally: http://www.publicampaign.org/fact-sheets

happy voting!

cheers,

for those who deny peak oil...

a very good posting at Econbrowser:

"Northern Ghawar is in decline

If you end up being surprised by the big story of the next decade, you can't say, "nobody told us." Instead you'll have to say, "we didn't listen."

Stuart Staniford (Ph.D. in physics) has been conducting a very careful and detailed investigation of all that is publicly known about Ghawar in Saudi Arabia, which is by far the world's largest and most important oil field. This field has been managed by injecting water below the oil, which causes the remaining oil to rise toward the top of the reservoir where it can be more readily pumped out. "

and

"If Stuart's analysis is correct, it seems very likely that production from the northern part of Ghawar must have already entered a period of sharp and irreversible decline, which would account for the otherwise unexplained drops in Saudi Arabian oil production over the last two years."

read more here.

its good that this is being reported, as for sure it may not get into mainstream for a bit...

cheers,

news from lake wobegone...

pretty interesting counterpoint to our wide but specific range of information:

"Today, a universe of choice offers anyone of any political stripe the opportunity to get information from outlets that will reinforce their opinions and biases. Don't like the way CNN delivers the news? Try Fox. Think your local newspaper is in the thrall of its advertisers or slavishly serving some overarching ideology? Head for the blogo-sphere.

But that universe of information is becoming so vast that everything seems destined to orbit an absent sun. There's no centering gravitational pull, and the people on the different philosophical planets have lost the ability or the will to talk to each other anymore.

One of the things arts can do - the performing arts in particular - is to hold a group of people captive for a period of time, exposing them to ideas that might be foreign or unpleasant, and then allow time and space for conversation. This - and overpriced chardonnay - is why theater lobbies and intermissions were invented. "

read more here: http://www.twincities.com/stage/ci_5865014?nclick_check=1

cheers,

wiki wonders

some rather relevant criticism of wikipedia...

"The problem is that Wikipedia forces its contributors to come to a consensus, and building consensus with a crank is a fool's errand. "

read more here, the comments are rather interesting as well...

bio thermoforming

for those interested in non-petroleum based plastic that can be used in thermoforming applications as well as a variety of others check out http://www.cereplast.com/ce/

they are doing some great things with bio-starch derived plastics that are completely biodegradable but can also withstand the temperatures in thermoforming. actually, the resins require less energy to fabricate as well as manipulate, thus further resulting in lower eco-impact.

cheers,