That Reminds me

With the release of the Edgar Rice Burroughs inspired movie of John Carter (based on the John Carter on Mars series of books) I have been reminded of how much I really enjoyed these books as a kid. Well having been re-informed about them I intend to make time to reacquaint myself with them - well Just as soon as I have finished reading Stewart Lees book about his time as a stand-up comic. If you haven't watched Stewart Lee let me suggest you search him out.

Here's a link to John Carter trailer and another for Stewart Lee

Power the world

I have recently been reading about microbial fuel cells (MFC's), a really interesting concept that can use microbial activity to degrade many types of substrate such as waste water, sewage sludge etc ad in the process produce electricity.

Although this technology is in its early stages, many of the reports seemed fairly confident that within the next ten years these MFC's can be used to replace some battery applications, or provide small scale plant works with electricity.

I wonder if these systems could be adapted to work from food waste?

More Gallery

I have put a few more paintings in the gallery, probably the last for a while. There will be more when I have finished those that I've recently started. I'm learning to paint with a different type of paint and this requires different techniques so it will be interesting to see what I get.

Recent learning

I have just finished watching

Ri Discourse: Jon Butterworth - 

Electroweak Symmetry Breaking

and LHC on the Royal Institution Youtube site. Although I do have

 an understanding of the theories this video advanced my knowledge.

And just as a counterpoint to this high brow stuff have a look at this.

More soon

Climate change; what do you think?

Just read a recent article titled

Climate consensus 

cracking open - 

or not

It made interesting reading, especially if you believe, as I do, that science will be our saviour through logical reasonable investigation and argument. It was also a little worrying and seriously so if you read some of the comments from people clearly ignorant of any facts and who see everything as a big conspiracy.

To read the article click here

Royal Institution

Nothing much to say of late. I have written about quite a few things but not published them, don't know why. Perhaps it's because I have many other things going on at the moment (too many other worries).

I am in the process of becoming a member of the Royal Institution, which should be good - promotes science and the use of thinking.

Demon haunted world

I have just started reading this book (sub-title : science as a candle in the dark). All I can say is if you have ever wondered why science works, read this. It does not pretend that science has all the answers, but it does explain why it is our best option for reasoned enlightenment.

Why Carl Sagan never became more highly regarded outside the world of science is beyond my comprehension.


As an aside to this point I am doing my bit for charity by joining the mobro initiative, whereby you grow a mo (moustache) during November and use it to raise funds.