Plantagenet Penguinista

When designing (RAPS) remote area power systems (which gains new importance when considering a US financial expert’s recent advice on LateLine: “Now is the time to get a farm & a gun.”), the single biggest load is invariably refrigeration (often more than half of the entire demand). UK researchers have discovered new properties of magnetic refrigeration cores which are typically 20-30% more efficient than traditional adiabatic methods. On top of this, the development of a “ spin battery, ” which captures energy using Magnetic Tunnel Junction devices — which can be built precisely enough to potentially replace computer hard drives — may have decimated the single most expensive & difficult-to-manage (& heaviest) component of a RAPS. There are a number of other developments in wind-power systems (particularly the rotors, implying that these improvements require no changes to or replacement of generators or towers) which hint that a distributed (“community”) apporach to energy

After discovering that ADRs cost more to treat than the original medications, that they are the prime cause of malpractice suits, & the 4 th most common cause of death, I ran across this David Gerrold statement: Life is hard. Then you die. Then they throw dirt in your face. Then the worms eat you. Be grateful it happens in that order. ( A dverse D rug R eactions)