Links from the Gregg Zone

1) Starting off with another of those stories that give a little hope for solving some of our pollution, and congestion problems. When it comes to the inter-cities cars really do not make much sense. I read somewhere that the average speed for a car in London is about the same as walking speed. Just the cost of parking in most downtown areas of larger cities should prove a major deterrent, but people just put up with it. This is a really nice solution for cities with decent weather, and to a lesser degree on a seasonal basis for other areas. A zip car concept using bicycles, has just been unveiled in Vancouver, really looks like a good idea, story here complete with video. http://www.paulhillsdon.com
2) Here is a discussion of an idea for launching cargo in to space, much cheaper, and more environmentally friendly than our current procedures. Think Alaska, a very big gun with a barrel over a mile long buried into a mountain. Now all you need is a viable alternative to gun powder. The three discussed here to power an Orbital Gun Launching System; Light gas power, Ram Accelerator, and Nuclear Cannon. This sounds like a workable idea to me, the major cost of space development is launch cost, while this will never be for people, due to the G-force, water cost 10,000 dollars a gallon, and satellites cost mega-millions. For cargo to build stuff like hotels, space stations, even interplanetary spacecraft not requiring spec’s capable of launch stresses, it sounds perfect. Technical but a good read, and food for thought check it out here http://nextbigfuture.com/
3) I was looking at a site referring a project called Sietch Nevada, basically building an underground city, based on the concept from the novel Dune. Anyway, it got me to thinking about a link I put up a year or two back about vertical farming. Thought I would check in and see if anything new was going on there, just because I think it is such a great idea. Putting up the site again, at least I think it is the same one. If you are not familiar with this check it out, this will be our future food source for vegetables, just a matter of time. I was happy to see that there is still a lot of interest, recent news stories and interest. If you are into the subject and would like to learn just how important it is, be sure to read the essay’s from Columbia University. http://www.verticalfarm.com
4) One more ecology article here, for those who thought my talking about investing a few bucks into the emerging fields of green technology for the last three years (wow has it been that long, almost), check out this article about the Eco Barons. There was another article that the top ten wealthiest in China are into green tech. Good read, encouraging http://business.timesonline.co.uk
5) Had to throw in something for Halloween real Quick. http://www.guidespot.com
6) For tech link this week a new search tool for Google in case you somehow missed it, Firefox has a new goody to combine a Google search with Wolfram Alpha. Looks pretty cool to me, but then I am easily impressed. http://www.howtogeek.com