Quonset huts

Yep. That's what I wanted to emulate. Instead of corrugated steel, I used plastic tarps.

Good idea, but bad execution.

Mixed reviews for this video

A short survey of the comments reveals a dislike of this video.

Personally, I didn't like the use of gasoline for the eventual use of it for gardening.

Also, there may be a problem with heavy rains overloading the system.

Anyway, if you have a lots of time to waste, why not watch it?

Heh. I mean, I DID.

Easiest Way to Make Biochar (No Barrel or Drum!)

The final product is used in gardens, it says.   Therefore, it can be used to raise food.

Log House Time-lapse Construction

Not your great-grandpappy loghouse here.

Graphene finally delivering on its promise?

 

Lightweight and strong supermaterails in sight? If so, the applications are numerous, and the potential is through the roof.

Cannot embed, so it will have to be a link-only...

Link

Off world data centers --- it's a trap!

 She knocks a big hole in the notion of off-world data centers.

Rockwall Texas

 The "rock wall" found there has raised a question: Is it natural or man-made? The answer doesn't seem quite satisfying.

Why not? Because it appears to be along straight lines that line up with the seasons. Strong indication of man-made, but the results say natural. Not quite satisfied with that answer...

What Elon Musk Just Said "Changes Everything"

Brief comment:

It is a rather over-used phrase there. Does it really "change everything"? You decide!

Something of value, which can be overlooked

 The system will tell you that you cannot do this. You may be told that you cannot, or should not. If you do it, and others find out; they will try to take it from you. But it isn't gold. It's better than gold. It's freedom.

What the hay?

 

  Here's a repost from the main blog.

  I'd forgotten about it until I watched several videos today.

  Here's that video that reminded me of a series of posts written over a decade ago.

  The point is that people took what was a nuisance and turned it into a resource.

  Perhaps a lesson can be learned from it, eh?

The original post follows:


This truck, which was hauling hay, gave me an idea for a post. It made me wonder if raising hay for biochar and methanol would be worth it.

The process would be as follows:  after collecting the hay, pyrolyze it into syngas and biochar.  Using the syngas, synthesize methanol.  Ship the methanol to the final end purchasing site where it is reformed into hydrogen for fuel cells.

The biochar would be used for improving soils and could also serve as a carbon sink.  Since the entire process doesn't use fossil fuels, it is actually carbon negative.  Some of the carbon goes into the soil, the rest is recycled back into the atmosphere where it can be harvested again some day.

You would obtain the necessary platinum from mining asteroids. If the price of platinum can be brought down low enough, the final end result could be a cleaner source of energy at a reduced cost. How could you lose?

How much fuel could you get out of this much hay?

Update:

Only three posts in this series, but I wrote extensively on the subject of using seaweed in the Dead Zone of Gulf of Mexico to clean it up and make biofuel out of it.

Part 2
Part 3

Many of the posts for this could be found in the category labels that are at the end of this post or others in the first two parts may give leads to finding more reading.