Hear Shakespeare's words in his own accent

Sounds like Irish to me.

A University of Kansas theatre professor has pieced together the bones of a form of English that has never been heard in North America in modern times — the original pronunciation of Shakespeare.

Cheap Diesel-Powered Fuel Cells

May be available for $1,000 per kilowatt.

A Norwegian company is developing silent diesel generators based on a new kind of fuel cell. Nordic Power Systems, which is making the generators for that country's military, has successfully tested a 250-watt solid-acid fuel cell developed by SAFCell, a spinoff from Caltech. The companies are now working on a 1.2-kilowatt system.

The new generators work by producing hydrogen gas from diesel in a process called reforming (the fuel is heated, but not combusted, and mixed with air and steam). The hydrogen is then fed into the fuel cell to make electricity. Unlike the fuel cells that have been tested in cars, the new ones can tolerate impurities, such as carbon monoxide, that are present in hydrogen made from diesel.

Maps: How people see Europe ?

In the kaleidoscope of cultures that is Europe, no matter from where you look at it, you're always surrounded by 'the Other'.

A stronger Sun actually cools the Earth

Nice to see that the Sun may have goosed some of the temperatures on Earth from 2004 to 2007. More study is needed to figure out what this means.

An increase in solar activity from the Sun actually cools the Earth, suggests new research that will renew the debate over the science behind climate change.

There are some with a vested interest in discounting Solar activity and exaggerating human influence on climate. Who knows what the real causes are? Further research and a proper scientific method will help to illuminate all the factors that go into our climate over time.

Nothing Wrong With Our Graph

Global averaging. Still no sign of warming.

The GWPF’s graph, displayed on the GWPF's homepage masthead, showing that the global average annual temperature hasn’t changed this century, drawn against a nice blue backdrop, is making a few people see red. Why this is I don’t exactly know as their logic, in contrast to their anger, isn’t entirely clear. Perhaps it is because it neatly summarises the uncertainties in climate science as well as common misconceptions (as was the intention) that some commentators find too uncomfortable to address, instead becoming deniers of basic scientific data. It certainly seems a difficult fact for some, but inconvenience is one thing, facts are another.

The Light Bulb That Is Changing The World

Traditionally about 19% of residential electrical consumption was used by incandescent light bulbs. A switch to LED light bulbs would reduce that to 2% with a use savings on 17% and since about the same amount of energy is lost to transmission line loses, the production energy savings would be approaching 34% of the energy currently used in home electrical use.

Great savings and over time these will have a huge adoption rate.
Fewer power plants will be needed and more capacity will be available for
peak load.

Some distributed solar production in homes and LED lights could reduce home electrical needs 40% from current (pun intended) levels.

Tiny tiny houses

Some very interesting ideas for houses of every size at the Tiny houses blog