How do you monitor water pollution levels in harbours around the world in an affordable, non-invasive, thorough, and sustainable manner?  How about by using a robotic carp?

Professor Huosheng Hu and his students at the University of Essex have developed a 150cm metal carp designed to patrol marine environments detecting pollution, especially point sources such as leaks in ships or pipelines.  Says the lab website: “Instead of the conventional rotary propeller used in ship or underwater vehicles, the undulation movement provides the main energy of a robotic fish. The observation on a real fish shows that this kind of propulsion is more noiseless, effective, and manoeuvrable than the propeller-based propulsion. The aim of our project is to design and build autonomous robotic fishes that are able to reactive to the environment and navigate toward the charging station. In other words, they should have the features such as fish-swimming behaviour, autonomously navigating ability, cartoon-like appearance that is not-existed in the real world.” With a swimming speed of around 1m/s and a battery life of around 8 hours before autonomously returning to the recharge station, these robots can cover a lot of ground.

Says the prof, “We are designing these fish very carefully to ensure that they will be able to detect changes in environmental conditions in the port and pick up on early signs of pollution spreading, for example by locating a small leak in a vessel.  The hope is that this will prevent potentially hazardous discharges at sea, as the leak would undoubtedly get worse over time if not located.”

Though the pilot project is limited to Gijon, Spain, I can easily see these fish being used in shipping hubs around the world.   Though the cost of 20,000 GBP ($36,000 CDN) per fish is steep for a university project funded primarily by an aquarium (the London Aquarium has chipped in around $275,000 CDN), with mass production (relatively) of these robots combined with the crazy budgets of governments and for-profit harbours, deploying them worldwide doesn’t seem to me like it would be much of a problem.  And if they can find oil leaks on ships that are docked and get them fixed before the ship heads out, there should be some real benefits to oceans everywhere.

Awesome YouTube of the fish swimming - CHECK THIS

Via:

Practical Fishkeeping
BMT Group

From thestar.com

“Authorities in Ohio say a man has been charged with drunken driving after crashing his motorized bar stool.  Police in Newark say when they responded to a report of a crash on March 4, they found a man who had wrecked a bar stool powered by a lawn mower.  Kile Wygle, 28, was taken to hospital and treated for minor injuries.  Police say he was charged with operating a vehicle while intoxicated after he told an officer that he had consumed at least 15 beers.  Wygle, who was travelling at about 30 km/h when he crashed, told police his motorized bar stool has a top speed of about 60 km/h.  Wygle was also charged with driving on a suspended licence. He has pleaded not guilty and has requested a jury trial.”

Come on jury trial!  I’ll bet 100 bucks this guy will get off… there’s no way I’d convict him anyway.

Check this story from Wired out - TorrentFreak has introduced a Firefox add-on that places a “Download 4 Free” button on Amazon.com pages selling music.  This button provides a link to the leading The Pirate Bay torrent for that album, and I can personally say that it works very well.  While the website that originally launched the app, Pirates-of-the-Amazon.com, is a school project website that has removed the offending file due to legal threats from Amazon, the add-on is still available from TorrentFreak.  While it may not be all that useful, this IS slick, and quite funny.  Try it out.

While my time in Bujumbura, Burundi has not exactly been a mindblowing thrill ride, it has certainly given me plenty of time to chill out and read. Books are hard to come by in much of East Africa, and so I decided that having burned through one of the books I brought already, I would borrow Obama’s latest book from a friend here to see what all the fuss is about.

In a sentence, this book is pretty much exactly what you would expect from an ambitious then-Senator. It’s eminently readable, with an easy, conversational, but intelligent style, and Obama writes with the same charisma that he demonstrates as an orator. Releasing it was immensely politically savvy, giving him an opportunity to describe (only beating us over the head with it a little bit) his character, values, and vision. It’s also cloyingly patriotic, and some of his policy recommendations land somewhere in the category of ‘glittering generality,’ but these, too, are undoubtedly intentional - this is by no means a book for policy wonks, and is a bestseller because of it.

From a policy point of view, many of the suggestions for reform that he makes come across almost as obvious (from a Canadian perspective, anyway), but they are at least thoughtfully constructed, and well-defended, if not overly detailed. In his perspective on the overall political landscape, this wide-angle lens is helpful, as well, and he is apt at providing clear and concise views of the history and context that has shaped the modern political environment in the US. The book held the most interest for me in his descriptions of political behind-the-scenes, and the sorts of situations that turn politicians into politicians (as spat out by the layman, with a roll of the eyes). The campaign process, especially when it comes to fundraising, lobbies, and media, are apparently somewhat poisonous to people with integrity who hope to maintain any sort of real connection with the average person, and his frank descriptions of the mechanism by which that transformation into politicians can occur are interesting. While the writing certainly entails some cringe-worthy language (for cynical, international readers like me), it has definitely given me greater respect for his character - the sense of morality that seems to guide his approach is grounded and nuanced (and while there is an entire section on ‘faith,’ it is by no means a default morality, in his eyes).

Assuming the ruinous environment of the current economy doesn’t completely shatter any attempts at reform, I’m quietly optimistic about the slow turn that the US may be taking. Having cautiously surrounded himself with experienced staff (including Clinton), I think he’s aware that any Change will take time, especially given his inexperience. Despite it, though, as an inspiring leader, I can’t think of many better choices for the country.

And he certainly beats Harper.

I don’t know why I’m posting this instead of Andrew, as he’s the one who christened our new site, travels.pulltheskydown.com, but anyways, here I am.  Both Andrew and I have a lot of travelling in our near futures, so we decided to start up our own travel blog.  Yaaay!  We’re so original.  Anyways, if you’re one of our friends (and if you’re on this site you probably are), you might want to check it out.  Andrew already has some sweet stuff about his time in Burundi online… go.. read…

Stephen Harper is a cock munching asshole.  There.  I said it.  How many people do you know who voted Green (or NDP, or other party that clearly was not going to win) because “I just want them to get my two dollars so they can *maybe* get somewhere next time”?  Hopefully you actually know some of these people - I personally know plenty.  Anyway, Harper’s new “economic update” proposes scrapping all this funding, pissing off all three opposition parties.  The NDP, Liberals, and Bloc have actually agreed to bring down the government 6 weeks after an election if this funding cut goes ahead.  On the bright side however, apparently we might not go back to the polls if this happens.  The Liberals and NDP are finally doing what they should have done all along - apparently talks are underway to figure out the logistics of a coalition government.  Even those French assholes, the Bloc, have signalled support.

For some reason, I am incredibly enthusiastic about this turn of events.  It has always seemed to me that a Lib-NDP coalition would be the best of both worlds (progressive politics without handing the country over to unions), and if it happens this way, I just love how badly Harper is getting fucked over.  He is already whining to anyone who will listen that this is undemocratic, blah, blah, because the “Canadian people elected myself over Dion”, forgetting that we don’t have some stupid two party system up here.  In fact, the Canadian people voted overwhelmingly (63%) AGAINST Harper.. and considering virtually every other popular party leans left, it seems like Canadians voted for a left leaning coalition.  So fuck you Stevie, you fucking lose.

Toronto city council is now actively looking for a way to do something about all the fast food waste (mainly coffee cups) that we’re so happy to produce.  Strategies proposed so far include a tax, a deposit system, or an outright ban on the garbage.

It seems to me that the only good solution of those three is the ban.  While a tax may make the city some cash, paying an extra dime or so for a cup of coffee is not going to encourage people to bring reusable mugs - it will just enrage people and get them mad at environmentalism I think.  A deposit system would probably be better at keeping the streets clean, thanks to our enterprising hordes of homeless folk, but also doesn’t really help tackle the core issue.  We make too much garbage.  However, I can’t really imagine the logistics of a ban - do you always have to have a mug with you?  I try my best to carry one around, but getting a bite/a drink is often an impulse decision, and if we want to encourage people walking/cycling around instead of driving, it doesn’t seem reasonable to demand people carry around all this extra “what if” shit.  I don’t know if this would work that well.

The University of Guelph has also tried to find a solution to this problem, and I quite like it.  It almost falls into the tax category, but instead of charging you more to get a disposable cup, all the coffee outlets charge the price of a small coffee to fill a mug, which are usually bigger than the large sizes.  And there, a ridiculously large number of people carry reusable mugs.

Blah.  That wasn’t supposed to be what this rant was about.  When tackling any big problem (i.e. environmental degradation), it only makes sense to grab the low hanging fruit first - solve the easy problems that would have the biggest impact to start, and then work towards the more complicated solutions.  The city of Toronto seems eager to be a leader in the sustainability movement, but I often wonder if our priorities are a bit out of whack.  Is spending what will probably be months of council’s time debating ways to reduce the amount of coffee garbage we produce really giving us the best bang for our buck?  Wouldn’t it make more sense to tackle to big issues that will have a huge impact?  What about building new subways, streetcar lanes, or bike paths?  Toronto promised a measly 50km of new bike paths this year.  They’re not going to come anywhere close to that laughable goal even.  This coffee cup issue, while definitely legit, seems like a bit of a distraction from much bigger problems with solutions not hanging much further up the tree.

What the hell was Jack Layton thinking when he announced his intentions to keep Elizabeth May (leader of the Greens) from participating in the leaders’ debates this current Canadian election cycle? This is the man who claims to be the voice for the little guy in Ottawa, leader of the party that constantly talks as if it supports democracy and equality for Canadians. Incidentally, the NDP also tend to claim to be the party most supportive of environmental stewardship. Why then is the NDP leader seeking to block the Green Party from the democratic process? While admittedly the televised leaders debates no longer carry the meaning they used to, what with the constant politiking now permitted by the internet and 24 hour news networks, the symbolic meaning is still enormous. Real parties are allowed to participate, while fringe parties are kept out. Why then is Mr. Layton refusing to acknowledge the arrival of the Greens on the political stage - especially now that they finally have a member of parliament?

“We have someone who wants to participate who supports another member in the debate…”

I guess that’s the reason, then. The Greens and the Liberals both agree that climate change is a pressing issue, and that implementing financial incentives for reducing greenhouse gas emissions might work. I thought the NDP was also “committed” to fighting climate change. Maybe they have a slightly different strategy in mind, but shouldn’t they be excited to have an open forum to discuss ways to reduce our environmental impact? Shouldn’t Jack Layton be especially excited about the possibility of having another leader aching to turn the focus of the debate to global warming? No… it seems that Layton is just another bullshit politician, rehashing the same old shit about working together and finding real solutions, while letting his actions show that all he really cares about is preventing the Greens from stealing too many NDP votes. Fuck you Jack Layton, and shame on you.

The plight of the gorilla has been well known in biology/conservation circles (and to a lesser extent known to the general public - can someone please tell me how the sea turtle situation became so well publicized?) for decades, and the reports that have been coming out year after year have been increasingly bleak. In the 1980s, it was thought that there were maybe 100,000 gorillas across Africa, and this estimate had been slashed to half that in recent years. However, a team of scientists from the Congo and the Wildlife Conservation Society have just completed the most thorough census ever, and the news is good. One of the highlights of this new effort was expanding the search for gorillas into the swamps of central Africa - swamps that take days and days of trekking on foot to get to, over a hundred kilometers from the nearest road. And in these swamps, scientists found the highest density of gorillas ever reported, up to eight individuals per square kilometer. The new estimate for African gorillas is over 125,000. This makes me happy, although I fear it may weaken the motivation to establish more reserves for these awesome beasts. For now though, they remain listed as critically endangered, and that probably won’t change.

Tensions are rising in the Middle East in the aftermath of Iran’s ballistic missile testing. Israel has been undertaking major military exercises in the past months, which some have seen as a lead-up to an air strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities (nevermind that they can’t actually produce nuclear weapons). The concern is that when Iran receives its new Russian anti-aircraft weapons systems, it could neuter the effectiveness of a pre-emptive Israeli strike. As with all arms races, this has created a frighteningly real impetus for action in the short term.

Of late, Iran has renewed its threats to respond to any military action by closing the Strait of Hormuz, a shipping lane through which 20% of the world’s oil supply travels. While this is nothing new - Iran’s geography and influence on the oil trade is its main strategic advantage in a conflict between it and the West - it still represents a serious threat to the oil trade.

So should war break out with Iran, and the Strait of Hormuz closes, where does that leave us? An instant spike in the price of oil up to $200+ per barrel would be a huge hit to the economy, driving explosive inflation in the price of food, consumer goods, and transportation; the perfect trigger for a recession.

The price of diesel fuel has already nearly tripled in the past year - while this has been painful for the trucking industry, it’s also shown up in the price of nearly everything we buy, as a result. While the price of jet fuel has ‘only’ doubled in that same period, airlines are folding at a rate of one every week - on some routes, the price of fuel now represents more than half of the total ticket price. Oil prices (and the present misplaced emphasis on food-crop biofuels to compensate) have played a huge role in the global food crisis, and a further spike in prices could have devastating effects on the developing world.

But maybe its exactly what we need. I’m loathe to put a price on lives, but dramatic short-term pain may be the only way to bring the severity of the global energy crisis (and climate change, by association), into clear focus. Despite complaints from SUV drivers, the average person in the U.S. has largely been able to tread water with $150/bbl oil. At $200/bbl, the prognosis changes. The entire world, developed and developing, would need to take notice, and a short-term crunch today could alleviate catastrophic suffering in the distant future, at a time when we may no longer be able to address it.

This situation is not without precedent. The 1973 oil crisis spurred rapid and widespread societal change in America. Government policies were instituted to promote conservation (some of which were silly and ineffective, such as daylight saving time), including, for the first time, vehicle fuel economy standards. Buyers abandoned large gas-guzzlers in droves, embracing tiny, poorly-built (but efficient!) imports, heralding the slow decline of the American auto industry. Brazil began its highly effective sugar-cane ethanol program, which today supplies 40% of the fuel for Brazil’s transportation fleet. Alternative energy in the form of solar and wind power experienced a nascent boom, despite immature technology.

In today’s world, I expect the impacts would be at least as stark. Automotive efficiency is already under serious scrutiny by industry and buyers alike. At current prices, commuters from the GTA into Toronto spend nearly $10,000/year on gasoline alone. If prices increase another 30-50%, the suburbs will die, or they will collapse in on themselves, becoming self-sustaining communities, rather than mere dormitories. Commercial electric vehicles, mass-transportation systems, and thoughtful urban planning will become imperative. Already this summer, gas prices have led to a surge in urban commuters who walk, ride, or take the TTC, rather than drive. On the utility front, at $200/bbl, the economic incentive for pursuing renewable electricity and storage becomes impossible to ignore. High gas prices would be more than enough to sustain the solar industry over the hump in 2010, when a huge increase in supply is expected to depress growth (from its current triple-digits down to a more modest 20%, perhaps). And while it is wishful thinking from a veggie, the price of food may even nudge people into changing their eating habits - while the government heavily subsidizes meat prices, the costs stand to grow exponentially with the price of grain. Even now, chicken is supplanting beef due to its healthful image - with the useful byproduct of a significantly reduced environmental footprint.

From my bubble of privilege, I say bring on the blockades, Iran. Let’s shake things up.