Science & Technology News

From Treehugger:

Spain's Amazing Solar Powered House Rotates Roof to Catch Maximum Rays

Renderings courtesy of the University of Madrid

Every two years, the US Department of Energy gathers some of the best minds in science for its biannual Solar Decathlon in Washington DC. Teams from universities around the world compete to create the most advanced, most viable solar powered homes and cutting edge alternative energy solutions.

Last week, Team Spain (from the University of Madrid) invited TreeHugger to take a sneak peak at their stellar offering for this year's competition in October: the B&W House. It's a house fashioned with a roof that continually rotates to face the sun in order to capture maximum sunlight.

Article continues: Spain's Amazing Solar Powered House Rotates Roof to Catch Maximum Rays

Goose-icle!

Sheriff's divers have come to the rescue of a trapped goose that sat too long in frigid waters of a Detroit suburb.

Police responded Friday night after being told the goose was trapped in the Clinton River near Shadyside Park.

Divers and a marine officer first tried putting warm water around the goose, which was frozen in the ice.

Macomb County Sheriff's divers chipped away at the ice and within an hour freed the goose. The bird then waddled to a group of geese sitting in open water nearby.

Sgt. Dan Willis says it honked, then "swam away with the rest of the pack."

Lance says "Our snacks not part of recall"

Charlotte snack maker Lance's chief executive said tonight that the company makes all its own peanut butter, doesn't use any peanut supplies involved in the most recent recall and that none of its crackers and cookies have been recalled.

CEO Dave Singer also said that the company's big South Boulevard factory received a “clean bill of health” last week from the N.C. Department of Agriculture following an inspection prompted by the recall.

His comments followed a recall today by the company selling Little Debbie snacks because of a potential link to a deadly salmonella outbreak.

That voluntary recall came one day after the government advised consumers to avoid eating cookies, cakes, ice cream and other foods with peanut butter until health officials learn more about the contamination.

Our Readers

Today our readers have hailed from:

England, Saudi Arabia, India, Ireland, Turkey, Russia, Scotland, Korea, Singapore, Germany, Canada, Ukraine, New Zealand, France, Italy, Norway, Greece, Australia, Wales, Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, Mexico and the United States.

How to Use Your Character Strengths

The PsyBlog has a couple of posts up about character strengths.
The first one, “Discover You Character Strengths in 15 Minutes”, has a link to a 240 question quiz.
The second one focuses on “How to Use You Character Strengths”.

From Psyblog:

“You may like to have your character strengths survey results to hand while thinking about these questions. Head over to the VIA Survey website to recap your strengths, or take the test if you haven’t done so already. This previous post explains the background.

What can I do with my list of strengths?
One common exercise is a discussion of your signature strengths with another person. Talk with someone you trust about which strengths strike you as more authentically associated with yourself. One thing you might discuss or have a think about is:

How do I know when to use which strength?
Sometimes it’s possible to be too courageous, too curious or even too kind. The trick is determining when to use which strength. Try to think of situations in which you’ve used your strengths successfully and times when you’ve used them unsuccessfully. Is there any pattern? If there is, what is this telling you? Schwartz and Sharpe (2005) argue that practical wisdom can only be reached through practice. There’s no substitute for exercising your strengths in the right way, and understanding why.”

Take the Character Strength Quiz here.

"Minnie the Moocher"

Cab Calloway

Folks here's a story 'bout Minnie the Moocher;
she was a red hot hoochie coocher.
She was the roughest toughest frail;
but Minnie had a heart as big as a whale.

Hi de hi de hi de hi
Ho de ho de ho de ho
Hee de hee de hee de hee
Ho oo waooo waoooo

She messed around with a bloke named Smokey;
She loved him though he was kokey.
He took her down to Chinatown and showed her
how to kick the gong around.

Hi-de-hi-de-hi-de-hi
Ho-whooooaaaa-ahhhh-ohh
He-de-he-de-hee-de-he
Ho-oh-ho-oh

She had a dream about the king of Sweden;
he gave her things, that she was needin'.
He gave her a home built of gold and steel,
a diamond car, with the puh-latinum wheels.

Hi-de-hi-de-hi-de-hi-de-hi-de-hi-de-hi
Ho-de-ho-de-ho-de-ho-de-ho-de-oh
Skeedle-a-booka-diki biki skeedly beeka gookity woop!
A-booriki-booriki-booriki Hoy!

He gave her his town house and his racing horses;
each meal she ate was a dozen courses.
She had a million dollars in nickels and dimes;
she sat around and counted it all, a million times.

Hi-de-hi-de-hi-de-hi
Ho-oh-whoaa-oh-oh-whoa
He-de-he-de-hee-de-hee

Poor Min! Poor Min! Poo-oor Min

*****

And here is Betty Boop in "Minne the Moocher".

You got to love the classics!

Rain

The Beatles

Rain

If the rain comes
they run and hide their heads
They might as well be dead
If the rain comes
If the rain comes

When the sun shines
they slip into the shade
and sip their lemonade
When the sun shines
When the sun shines

Rain, I don't mind
Shine, the weather's fine

I can show you
that when it starts to rain
everything's the same
I can show you
I can show you

Rain, I don't mind
Shine, the weather's fine

Can you hear me
that when it rains and shines
it's just a state of mind
Can you hear me
Can you hear me

The "S" Word

They said it.
We got it.
What was it?
Snow!
All three flakes of it, around 10:30AM.
What a rip!

Soldier reunites with Rachet

Army Spc. Gwen Beberg has been reunited with Ratchet, the puppy she bonded with after saving him from a burning trash pile in Iraq.
Beberg returned to her Minneapolis home on Saturday after being stationed in Kentucky since she returned from Iraq.
She and another soldier rescued the then-4-week-old puppy in May and an animal rescue group arranged his trip to Minnesota in October.
The dog stayed with Beberg's parents until her return.
The soldier calls Ratchet her "fuzzy little love" that always lifts her spirits.
he U.S. military initially blocked the dog from leaving because it said American troops could not be responsible for its transportation.
The dog was put onto a charter flight instead.

Daily Horoscope

Today's horoscope says:

You love your friends, but don't let them talk you into poverty.

That's a Roger There, Good Buddy!