Leaking Air

NASA researchers close in on why Mars lost its atmosphere.

Climate Change: “Partner … Ally”

Obama had a message for the country’s governors on Tuesday:

Never Trust Air You Can’t See

The city motto of Los Angeles seems to be China’s national ethos as well, as the smog problem in Asia gets worse:
The brownish haze, sometimes in a layer more than a mile thick and clearly visible from airplanes, stretches from the Arabian Peninsula to the Yellow Sea. In the spring, it sweeps past North and South [...]

Sonar, Subs & Whales

Galrahn dives into the Supreme Court’s USN sonar decision. I haven’t read the opinion yet but respect G’s technical expertise. Start your research here. I will say I consider the opinion a good thing. You don’t want to go into ASW not knowing how to use active.

So Far, So Good

At least in New Orleans proper, Gustav seems to have let people off light. Keep checking with the Times-Picayune for details. There’s also some decent group-blogging of the storm going on at GustavBloggers.com.
One of my commenters felt I was a little quick overnight to pronounce this particular relief effort a failure. He reads too much [...]

Gustav: Botched Already?

Galrahn thinks the Navy might be late to the party:
The USS Bataan (LHD 5) deployment is coming a day late, and it is particularly noteworthy the Navy will have difficulty deploying more ships from the east coast if necessary. Hurricane Hanna will soon be influencing the lines of communication at sea off the east coast [...]

The Grid’s the Thing

The New York Times identifies a key barrier to exploiting renewable energy: the fractured state of America’s transmission grid. Eventually, Congress may have to invoke its power to regulate interstate commerce to sort things out:
Politicians in Washington have long known about the grid’s limitations but have made scant headway in solving them. They are reluctant [...]

Gustav Line

Via Galrahn, the Department of Defense at least is ready for Hurricane Gustav:
The command has activated four defense coordinating elements at the regional FEMA headquarters. The command provides unique DoD capabilities for disaster response. Rowe said three active-duty military installations have been designated as FEMA logistics points: Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala.; Columbus Air Force [...]

Sustain This

The Economist, talking about a controversy surrounding the development of tar sands in Canada, asks the right question about today’s most overused buzzword and comes up with the right answer:
Sustainability is a hopelessly subjective concept. The most widely accepted definition— “development which meets the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future [...]

Midasize It!

Someone needs a catalytic converter …