Despite an unusually cool summer in southern California there has been a drastic upturn in the average number of very hot days during the past few years with more to come.

Microwaves can be used to turn bio waste like wood chips into charcoal, effectively sequestering their carbon. The charcoal can be used as fertilizer and for filtering. Burning it would just release all the carbon- yes, those of us who prefer charcoal grilling are dumping carbon straight into the atmosphere!

Sarah Palin apparently believes dinosaurs and men co-existed on earth at the same time: She has seen pictures of man’s footprints in dinosaur fossils. Sarah, there’s this thing called Photoshop…

Yes, that is a cheeseburger in a can- and it sure as hell doesn’t look like that one in front.

Hat tip to Gizmodo and William Gibson.

Giant Tree-Powered Energy Machine in Madrid.

Don’t know what to say…

“Our Claim:
Orbo produces free, clean and constant energy – that is our claim. By free we mean that the energy produced is done so without recourse to external source. By clean we mean that during operation the technology produces no emissions. By constant we mean that with the exception of mechanical failure the technology will continue to operate indefinitely.
The sum of these claims for our Orbo technology is a violation of the principle of conservation of energy, perhaps the most fundamental of scientific principles. The principle of the conservation of energy states that energy can neither be created or destroyed, it can only change form.
Because of the revolutionary nature of our claim, not only to the world of science but to the world in general, Steorn issued a challenge to the scientific community in August 2006 to test our technology and report their findings. The process of validation that has resulted from this challenge is currently underway, with results expected by the end of 2007.”

Steorn today announced a ten day public demonstration of its free energy generation technology (branded as Orbo) that does not require any energy source or fuel. Because these claims smack of a perpetual motion machine the energy and science communities scoffed at the concept last year when it was announced as an accidental discovery. As I covered back then, Steorn issued an open challenge to the scientific and engineering community to debunk their claims, a challenge which was apparently taken up by several hundred people.
Now they claim that they will openly demonstrate the technology in London in a completely transparent test and will release licenses to it under a modified general public license. The test will be available live on the web tonight with four cameras streaming the device in action. The license will be widely available at a nominal fee to encourage widespread adoption.

It is hard to dismiss the scam factor in claims such as this, however if there was the slightest chance that this was legit it would be an earthshaking breakthrough offering free energy worldwide without emissions. Crazy but interesting to watch the story unfold.
Stay tuned.
Update: Due to ‘technical difficulties’ they are not launching the demo until tomorrow. The blogosphere is on the case: Free energy tracker.

This should be the best post-iPhone story this week unless it’s all bullsh*t…

Update #2: Not happening today (7/5/07) possibly because of the ‘heat from the video lighting’…ha!

Final Update: Demo cancelled indefinitely. If these guys used a PR firm they should be fired immediately. If not they should get one ASAP because this comes under the category of PR disaster- as in international laughingstock…