Reason Magazine - Brother, Can You Spare 22 Terawatts?

An interesting article on how daunting it may be to meet the energy demands of a fully developed world. I think the analysis is good, but flawed in assuming no improvements to efficiency or other technologies.

Nocera calculates that if 9 billion people in 2050 used energy at the rate that Americans do today that the world would have to generate 102.2 TW of power—more than seven times current production. If people adopted the energy lifestyle of Western Europe, power production would need to rise to 45.5 terawatts.

Reason Magazine - Brother, Can You Spare 22 Terawatts?

Boehner, Blunt re-elected as House leaders | Top News | Reuters.com

Not really major news, I just think the headline is really funny.

Boehner, Blunt re-elected as House leaders | Top News | Reuters.com: "Boehner, Blunt re-elected as House leaders"

Private Texas spaceport launches test rocket - CNN.com

Looks like the ever mysterious Blue Origin is testing rockets out in Texas:

HOUSTON, Texas (AP) -- A remote West Texas spaceport being built and bankrolled by Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos launched a test rocket Monday for the first time.

"There was a launch, a one- or two-minute event," Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Roland Herwig said from the agency's office in Oklahoma City. He had no details.

The exact nature of the 6:30 a.m. launch or the type of spacecraft was not immediately known.

A Houston-based spokesman for Blue Origin, the Bezos-owned firm developing the private commercial space venture, did not immediately respond to a telephone inquiry from The Associated Press.

Private Texas spaceport launches test rocket - CNN.com

Private Texas spaceport launches test rocket - CNN.com

Looks like the ever mysterious Blue Origin is testing rockets out in Texas:

HOUSTON, Texas (AP) -- A remote West Texas spaceport being built and bankrolled by Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos launched a test rocket Monday for the first time.

"There was a launch, a one- or two-minute event," Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Roland Herwig said from the agency's office in Oklahoma City. He had no details.

The exact nature of the 6:30 a.m. launch or the type of spacecraft was not immediately known.

A Houston-based spokesman for Blue Origin, the Bezos-owned firm developing the private commercial space venture, did not immediately respond to a telephone inquiry from The Associated Press.

Private Texas spaceport launches test rocket - CNN.com

SPACE.com -- Freak One-Eyed Monster Storm Spotted on Saturn

A freaky storm two-thirds the diameter of Earth and unlike anything ever seen has been spotted on Saturn.

The tempest, some 5,000 miles wide (8,000 kilometers), has an oddly human-looking hurricane-like eye [image]. But it is very different from a terrestrial hurricane, scientists said today.

NASA's Cassini spacecraft photographed the huge storm. It swirls with 350 mph winds at the ringed planet's south pole. It has a remarkably well-defined eye ringed by clouds that soar 20 to 45 miles high (30 to 75 kilometers), or up to five times taller than hurricane clouds on Earth.

SPACE.com -- Freak One-Eyed Monster Storm Spotted on Saturn

An MIT physicist sees future of tech: personal fabricators - November 13, 2006

An interesting article on the coming revolution in on demand personal manufacturing:

According to MIT's Neil Gershenfeld, the digital revolution is over, and the good guys won. The next big change will be about manufacturing. Anyone with a PC will be able to build anything just by hitting 'print.'

An MIT physicist sees future of tech: personal fabricators - November 13, 2006