No natural harmony of interest in society, or, you’re less free than your granpa.

WendyMcElroy.com: No natural harmony of interest in society
Well I’m sure not every single one of us is lee=ss free than our grandparents (or great grandparents), but this short blog post from Wendy McElroy brings up the point that human civilization has tended toward more freedom, and the guarantee of our basic equal human rights, throughout history–until the 20th century, where rights are no longer guaranteed, but legal walls have been put up to separate classes of people–by race sex, what have you–and rights have been replace by state-imposed privilege, and entitlement.
I think that we’re definitely in Heinlein’s “Crazy Years”, he nailed that one just about right.

We’ve Got Big Balls

An interesting article from Natural History magazine, about perfect stone balls found in Costa Rica, in the 1950’s. The article is by an archeologist’s wife, and details the discovery, and explorations of these objects. I like that the article is from a non-scientist’s point of view, which gives us more insight into the process, than we may have had otherwise.
I’d like to know if anything else has been discovered about these in the intervening years.

Algae Power

Algae Balloons
A different approach to powering your home, than my previous nuclear battery one, over at Geoff Manaugh’sBLDGBLOG. Growing algae in balloons, in a way that makes it produce mucho H2. Some beautiful renderings of the project (it’s an urban design project in Iceland), and some commentary from Geoff about how depressing it is that we go to these lengths to, basically, just keep on doing what we’re already doing, instead of trying to change the fundamentals of our society.
Growing algae to produce power is an interesting concept, but really it’s useless without designing communities that use less energy. People just don’t seem to believe in frugality any more, and that’s what we need to return to.
And, no I’m not a hippy, preaching back to the land, and such, because, damnit, I love my tech, and my Schtufff, but with 6 billion people (is that right) on this planet, we really need to figure something out, don’t we?

Your very own Nuclear battery

Actually it only comes in a size that will power 25,000 homes, but hey, in Maine it would only take 20, or 30 to power the whole state. The manufacturer calls it a “battery” and not a reactor, since there’s no moving parts, and it doesn’t require an operator.
Nuke to the Future for the article about it. Here’s the website for Hyperion, the manufacturer.