Thursday, October 31, 2013

Those Satanic 1980's Toys

A good Halloween post... Do you remember the satanic panic of the 1980's? Dungeons and Dragons, heavy metal, Lord of the Rings and anything that even smacked of the fantasy genre was automatically associated with Satanism. This video shows how it was taken to the level of complete absurdity on evangelical talk shows.

Sunday, October 27, 2013

Climate Name Change

This video is really funny... Very well done.

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

High Density Vertical Algae BioReactor

I hadn't heard of this process. This sounds like an interesting alternative to fossil fuels in the cases of powering large vehicles such as trucks and airliners where wind, solar and electric are not feasible alternatives.

The Holy Grail in the renewable energy sector has been to create a clean, green process which uses only light, water and air to create fuel. Valcent's HDVB algae-to-biofuel technology mass produces algae, vegetable oil which is suitable for refining into a cost-effective, non-polluting biodiesel. The algae derived fuel will be an energy efficient replacement for fossil fuels and can be used in any diesel powered vehicle or machinery. In addition, 90% by weight of the algae is captured carbon dioxide, which is "sequestered" by this process and so contributes significantly to the reduction of greenhouse gases. Valcent has commissioned the world's first commercial-scale bioreactor pilot project at its test facility in El Paso, Texas.
 Here is another video on an algae bioreactor that is hooked up to to the smokestack of a fossil fuel power plant and not only captures 80% of the smokestack's CO2 emissions, the algae actually use that CO2 as food to grow and the result can then be refined into clean-burning biofuel... Unbelievable.

Giant Bubble Explosions in Slow Motion

Monday, October 7, 2013

India’s Well of Death Riders

People say they're heroes, but I'm calling them stupid.

Sunday, October 6, 2013

Gregory Crewdson: Brief Encounters Trailer

I'm adding this to my Netflix queue right now. Gregory Crewdson is arguably the most famous living American photographer today. His work is both dreamlike and hyper-real in a very unsettling way. Every tiny detail in his photographs has been fussed over and, behind the scenes, the sets for his photographs often look like the film sets for major motion pictures.
Gregory Crewdson: Brief Encounters Trailer from Benjamin Shapiro on Vimeo.

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Elizabeth Warren Schools a Restaurant CEO on the Actual Effects of a Minimum Wage Hike

I haven't seen a takedown like this in a congressional hearing in a very long time. She breaks down the basic mathematics of the situation and makes it painfully clear that the actual increases in food prices at restaurants would be almost zero compared to the doomsday scenarios put forward by CEO's like this one who don't want to see any increase in the minimum wage.