Words that do some good

I love playing with words and expanding my vocabulary. Here is a good way to do both for a good cause. My efforts today got to four bowls (400) before I started getting stumped; how well will you do?

Free Rice

How to play

• Click on the answer that best defines the word.
• If you get it right, you get a harder word. If wrong, you get an easier word.
• For each word you get right, we donate 20 grains of rice to the United Nations World Food Program.

WARNING: This game may make you smarter. It may improve your speaking, writing, thinking, grades, job performance... (more)

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Moon Over Pigeon Point Lighthouse

This spectacular sky is mostly human-made. Once a year, the Light Station at Pigeon Point near San Francisco, California, USA is lit as it was over 100 years ago. During this time, light generated by five kerosene lamps pours through 24 rotating Fresnel lenses, warning approaching ships to stay away. Early last week, light emanating from the Pigeon Point Lighthouse was particularly picturesque because of a thin fog, also blurring the distant Moon. During the latter 1970s, the lighthouse was guarded by an 800 pound pig named Lester. In modern times, the light house is still active but has been supplied with a more efficient flashing aerobeacon.

Something to consider

Concrete, asphault and flooding seem to be keeping pace with each other as Boone gets covered by more and more pavement. A nursing home was forced to relocate because the evacuation had become an accepted measure of the severity of the flooding, perhaps a Stage Three (significant) event; 'have they moved them out of the home?'. Flooding of the mall parking was Stage One (common).

I doubt they will move the mall.

Permeable Pavement
Pavement system that allows water to seep through the surface, permitting natural filtration

Just as drinking water can be filtered to remove impurities, the soil particles filters rainwater percolating through soil on its way to surface waters and to groundwater aquifers, This important step in the natural process of water purification is bypassed when rainwater falls on impermeable pavement surfaces or roofs and is carried directly through storm drainage systems into waterways. Since engineered curb and gutter storm drainage systems are costly to design and build, use of permeable pavement systems can also result in a reduction of construction costs for developers or municipalities. Pervious pavements are also denoted as porous or open-graded pavement.

Pollution carried in rainwater runoff is another concern, especially in urban areas. Storm water flowing across streets and sidewalks picks up contaminants associated with air pollution particles, spilled oil, detergents, solvents, de-icing salts during freezing conditions , dead leaves, pesticides, fertilizer, and bacteria from pet waste. Natural filtration of water through soil is the simplest way to control these pollutants, and is a direct advantage of permeable pavement.

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Keeper

This is a keeper. I filed it under 'Politics'.

My favorite is from March 17, 2003:

With little international support, the U.S., Britain and Spain officially scrap the quest to obtain a new U.N. resolution on Iraq. Four and a half months have passed since U.N. Resolution 1441, and a new resolution would signal the world's belief that Iraq had failed the terms of that resolution and now faced the consequences. The 'Coalition of the Willing' announces it will enforce the U.N. resolution without the U.N.'s approval.

Lie by Lie: The Mother Jones Iraq War Timeline (8/1/90 - 6/21/03)

In this timeline, we've assembled the history of the Iraq War to create a resource we hope will help resolve open questions of the Bush era. What did our leaders know and when did they know it? And, perhaps just as important, what red flags did we miss, and how could we have missed them? This is the second installment of the timeline, with a focus on how the war was lost in the first 100 days.

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Back in action

Forces have an impact on environments. This is seen as we try to fathom global warming other challenges loom on the horizon.

Watch Out for Flying Moondust

Nov. 23, 2007: At Cape Canaveral, not far from the launch pad where the space shuttle lifts off, there's a ragged hole in a chain link fence. Its message: Watch out for flying boulders.

"The powerful exhaust of the shuttle's solid rocket boosters blasts concrete out of the flame trench below the engines," explains physicist Phil Metzger of the Kennedy Space Center (KSC). "On some launches, boulders of concrete up to a half meter wide are blown out as far as a half a kilometer away, traveling fast enough to shatter concrete light poles and punch through chain link fences."

This is no problem as long as people and equipment are kept at a safe distance, easily done. But, Metzger wonders, what if all this was happening on the Moon?

NASA is returning to the Moon in the next decade with plans to establish a durable outpost. There will be habitats, rovers, supply depots and mining equipment. Ships will be coming and going, landing and blasting off--and kicking up debris that might fly a lot farther than boulders at Cape Canaveral. Metzger is researching this problem as part of his work at KSC's Granular Mechanics and Surface Systems Lab.

"Boulders are no concern," he says. Lunar spacecraft will be far less massive than the space shuttle and they won't need such a powerful kick to escape lunar gravity. Movies made by six Apollo spacecraft of their landings and takeoffs showed nothing larger than gravel being rolled away by exhaust gases from the landing rockets.

Instead, Metzger is sweating the really small stuff--"moondust."

//snip//

Now, Metzger is helping other teams of NASA engineers figure out how to mitigate the effects of lunar landings and takeoffs. One strategy might be to locate spaceports in places where mountains and hills serve as natural dust blockers. Artificial berms or other ingenious structures might offer a solution, too.

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Blatant homerism Pt. 3

It was interesting a couple of years ago when a group of parents started activating for a new high school. The way things have gone lately, they may not have gained the victory they did.

Commissioners Approve Recommendation To Seek LEED Certification for High School
Story by Kathleen McFadden

At their regular meeting Monday morning, the Watauga County Board of Commissioners approved a recommendation from the high school subcommittee to seek LEED certification for the new Watauga County High School. Commissioners John Cooper and Winston Kinsey were not present at the meeting, but Jim Deal, Billy Ralph Winkler and Mary Moretz voted unanimously in favor of the proposal.

LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design and is a green building rating system—the nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction and operation of high-performance green buildings.

LEED certification requires independent, third-party verification that a building meets the highest green building and performance measures and promotes a whole-building approach by recognizing performance in five key areas of human and environmental health: sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection and indoor environmental quality.

According to information from the U.S. Green Building Council, LEED certification offers a number of environmental and financial benefits:

• Lowers operating costs and increases asset value

• Reduces waste sent to landfills

• Conserves energy and water

• Provides a healthier and safer environment

• Reduces harmful greenhouse gas emissions

• Qualifies for tax rebates, zoning allowances and other incentives in hundreds of cities

Since the commissioners decided to construct a new school rather than try to renovate the existing facility, they have consistently voiced their intention to incorporate as many energy-saving and sustainable features into the school as possible.

At Monday’s meeting, County Manager Rocky Nelson mentioned several of those features: daylighting, rainwater capture and reuse, high-efficiency lighting, geothermal heating and cooling, computerized control systems and environmentally friendly materials.

LEED offers four certification levels: certified (the minimum level), silver, gold and platinum. Project architect Jennifer Sisak has proposed obtaining silver level certification for the new school.

Cost is involved, not only for the application fee and inspection, but also for the architect’s services in overseeing the process. The estimated cost to the county for the certification is $50,000 to $65,000, an amount that does not include engineering fees. However, the board of commissioners has approached LEED-certified faculty at Appalachian State University to provide those engineering services at no charge in exchange for permitting their students to participate in the process and obtain hands-on experience with the certification process.

“I personally believe LEED-certified facilities will be eligible for grants that non-LEED buildings won’t,” said Board Chair Jim Deal. “There is some cost up front, but the potential long-term savings are far greater. If we get LEED certification, we will be the only [such certified school] in this corner of the state.”

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Blatant homerism Pt. 2

And yes, we have a ski season.

One of the more significant losses which have resulted from being afflicted by MS is that I can no longer ski. Once I got turned onto the sport, around '81, I found a way to get as much time on the snow as possible. It started as being a 'rental rat' at Sugar Mountain to get an employee pass but eventually included a stint as the friendly lift attendant who made sure you knew you were remembered. This photo, if I am not mistaken, shows the lift house at the base of the 'to the top of the mountain' yellow lift which was my station.

Frigid fall opens ski slope early

From left, Sugar Mountain Ski Patrol members Todd Bolyea, Dirk Krause and Brad Blackwell prepare to tie tower padding to risky slopeside areas. Sugar Mountain began making snow on Tuesday morning and officially opened the slopes on Wednesday — its earliest ever. Brad Moretz of Appalachian Ski Mountain said the staff would test the slope’s new double-capacity pumping system Thursday and hopes to begin making snow immediately. “We are shooting to open by Friday [Nov.] 16,” he said.