MetaFilter posts tagged with water

Lester Brown's Plan B 3.0

stbalbach — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 06:43:58 -0800

In Lester R. Brown's new book Plan B 3.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization (2008, full-text)) - an update to Plan B 2.0: Rescuing a Planet Under Stress and a Civilization in Trouble (2006, full-text) - he calls for a war-time mobilization (ch.13) to save global civilization (already showing Early Signs of Decline (ch.6)) from Deteriorating Oil and Food Security (ch.2), Rising Temperatures and Rising Seas (ch.3), Emerging Water Shortages (ch.4), and Natural Systems Under Stress (ch.5)

Harshing your mellow

serazin — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 12:39:16 -0800

The environmental cost of large-scale pot farming

Celebrating digital film culture

sour cream — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 14:17:10 -0800

Our wonderful nature is a hilarious 5-minute animation about the mating rituals of the water shrew. The action starts at around 1:30. Other gems found at the bitfilm 08 Digital Film Festival include "The post-it note prison".

Beasties Boy Made Good

Cochise — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 08:54:31 -0800

Beastie Boy Adam Yauch (that's MCA to you) says you got to fight for your right... to make movies? Yauch has finally stepped out of Nathaniel Hornblower's shadow and started making movies for himself.

Next up, the Perpetual Motion Machine

never used baby shoes — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 13:11:16 -0800

Last week, Genepax Co demonstrated a car that it says runs on water. Video of the demonstration is here. The claim is not without its detractors, and Genepax has not yet released any information about how the system works; most of their website (beyond press releases and general information) seems to be under construction

'There is no such thing as polywater because if there were, there would also be an animal which didn't need to eat food. It would just drink water and excrete polywater' - Richard Feynman

Large Marge — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 22:34:51 -0800

If you were doing research in the 60s, You might've heard of Polywater, A form of water that exhibited wide variety of interesting characteristics and existed under identical conditions to that of normal water. Eventually debunked, none the less is a fascinating story. Naturally one draws parallels to Vonnegut's ice nine, but did you know there actually is an ice nine? In fact, there's twelve to sixteen types of ice, depending on your opinion. More recently, computer simulations have indicated water may structure itself into icosahedra, which, incredibly, is the platonic solid (described over 2000 years ago!) representing the element water! And if you don't know what an icosahedron is, I bet you've used one before. One of the most ubiquitous, and arguably most important, substances in our lives, our understanding of water is far from complete.

it is important that you wear underpants

madamjujujive — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 19:40:29 -0800

Six Masai warriors will face cultural challenges when they run in the Flora London Marathon to raise money for clean water for their village. Meet the runners (video clip) Think about making a small donation in their time of trouble because when we had problems here in the US, they were most generous to us. Masai are joyous dancers and singers, 3, 4 Masia bride Masai portraits Maasi pool

Water water everywhere, now with more drops to drink

mullingitover — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 13:14:41 -0800

Not content to rest on his laurels after creations like the portable kidney dialysis machine, the IBOT robotic wheelchair, the Segway, and the innovative cyborg replacement limbs, DEKA Research President Dean Kamen demonstrates his new vapor compression distiller on The Colbert Report. Mentioned previously.

KITTY!!!!!!

Rev. Syung Myung Me — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 08:32:23 -0800

Nyanko The Movie 2. I've been thinking about ordering this, but I'm afraid it'd be my own personal Infinite Jest. It's a movie about cats. The synopsis from the page:

Fuji TV's hit program Mezamashi Doyobi ("Wake Up Saturday") presents Nyanko the Movie 2. Like the previous entry in the series, this cute and fuzzy title places the feline center stage. The film is divided into three segments, with music provided by popular indie artist S.E.N.S. In addition to the lead kitten featured in the first film, viewers will get to see even more cats, an island full of them to be exact. On a fishing island where felines outnumber people, the cats live like gods, as dogs are forbidden entry and the residents lavish love on them. Little do the cats know, a storm is about to come sweeping in.

Here is a very, very short trailer for the first movie (click the third one from the left on the pane of the flash window). And the site for the second, and a longer trailer. I like the fat kitty that claws the lady's hand then takes the food she's offering. He's a jerk! There's also apparently a puppy version called Wanko. snerk

Water, water, anywhere?

Guy_Inamonkeysuit — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 06:25:58 -0800

We're making another effort to find water on the moon. Beginning in 1964 with the Ranger spacecraft, we've been lobbing things at poor old Luna. Lately we've been trying to find water there so that future explorers don't have to haul the stuff up the gravity well from Earth. Water just is not compressible, you see, and we haven’t figured out how to dehydrate it, so we have to bring it with us where we go, reclycling endlessly, or rely on local supplies. The Clementine mission in 1996 gave us reason to think that substantial amounts of H2O exists locked up in ice at the bottom of craters at the lunar South Pole, where the sun doesn't reach. We tried to find it with the 1998 Lunar Prospector, with inconclusive results. We're gonna do our best to find out this summer with another lunar smackdown. If water-ice is there a new era of lunar exploration will commence. Maybe then Google can find that damn monolith.