Bend in the Vltava River wallpaper
The Vltava is the longest river in the Czech Republic at 435km in length and empties into the Elbe River
Air Power vs. Wind Power: World’s Mightiest Flying Force Rendered Impotent by Green Energy
The United States military has been blocking installations of wind-powered electrical generators in the Mojave Desert and elsewhere, the New York Times reports, because our $50 million warplanes get confused by them.
The military says that the thousands of existing turbines in the gusty Tehachapi Mountains, to the west of the R-2508 military complex in the Mojave Desert, have already limited its abilities to test airborne radar used for target detection in F/A-18s and other aircraft.
.Which might sound like a good argument against wind power, but as that blogger notes much of our radar system is based on processing systems from the 1950s. One would imagine that a moving jet would not be confused with a stationary wind tower. So why isn’t the military more concerned with getting its computer/radar processing abilities up to the processing power that many of you are using right now on your laptops, rather than fighting the installation of wind towers.
Unmanned airship from Northrop Grumman to stay aloft for 21 days
Northrop Grumman engineers are in the process of creating for the U.S. Army a persistent surveillance unmanned airship that can stay aloft for three weeks — and are producing it in 18 months. Delivery of the Long-Endurance Multi-Int Vehicle (LEMV) is scheduled for December of 2012, the contract was awarded this summer.
The LEMV will be unique because it is untethered and provides persistent intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) for 21 straight days for an estimated total fuel cost of $15,000, much cheaper than manned or other unmanned aircraft, says Liz DelGrosso, business development representative for Northrop Grumman in Melbourne, Fla.
….The airship will be a hybrid air vehicle, that can be unmanned or manned, depending on the mission, DelGrosso continues. If it is a manned mission the cockpit will be configured so a human can live up there for 21 days, she adds.
LEMV
The LEMV is about as long as a football field,is 17 stories high and capable of maintaining elevations of 20,000 feet(6km or 3.8 miles). It will be filled with helium with thrust provided by diesel engines and is estimated to be able to travel at 30 – 80 knots. The LEMV is also capable of carrying 2500 lbs of payload. That kind of payload isn’t practical for commercial transport in the way modern sea going super tankers are, but it does make one wonder if a fleet of hybrid helium craft couldn’t be developed which would be more efficient than tankers or at least more efficient than the large tractor trailers used to move commercial freight cross-country. Imagine how much less traffic we’d have – plus less highway maintenance – if we could cut transport truck use by 30 or 40 percent.
Crab migration uncovered by Bangor and Bristol teams
It is one of earth’s most spectacular migrations and is often hailed as one of the wonders of the natural world.
Now scientists from Bangor and Bristol universities have helped uncover the reason why tens of millions of crabs on Christmas Island are able to travel several kilometres to breed each year.
During the monsoon season, the red crabs scurry simultaneously through rainforests to the Indian Ocean.
Scientists say a hormone is key to the usually sedentary species’ sudden move.
They dig burrows in almost every square metre of available soil or live in deep crevices in rock outcrops. For most of the year, a crab will settle in one place, living in their burrow.
But during the monsoon season, in late November or early December the crabs – officially called gecarcoidea natalis – simultaneously undergo a breeding migration.
They travel several kilometres over a few days, through the rainforest, to eventually reach the sea where they mate and spawn.
The hormone – called crustacean hyperglycaemic hormone helps the gecarcoidea natalis make the most efficient use of glycogen and its conversion to glucose.
tangledwing 
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