POOH CORNER - An Oasis of...?

Hard not to pass, er, comment: Manchester's manure to fill gas grid from 2011

Nice one, our kids!

Car-go cult

It runs. But on what?

As an LPG driver, and one pretty happy with the experience to date (a forthcoming summer EU camping tour will be a real test), I have a letter into VW UK having read this, to ask if it is going to be available here.

Though as I still have a perfectly good R-reg Golf even the scrappage* lure is unlikely.

And speaking of Golfing...

Meanwhile, back at the world of petals wafting from exhaust pipes, and energy conjured up from pixie dust:

Hydrogen-powered car makes debut

I actually like the idea of H2, but it's the 'Oh?!' of where it comes from that still concerns me.

*Addendum:

Just stumbled across this:

I don't know what percentage of the 60,000 new cars ordered so far under the Government's scrappage scheme were manufactured in the UK. I would guess quite a small one. We could equally ask who would have repaired and maintained the 60,000 old cars to be scrapped in exchange, had they instead been kept on the road. The answer is small businesses employing skilled mechanics up and down the country. Perhaps the Government is content for us to be a nation of car salesmen and credit brokers.

New directions. Older problems.

Encouraged by helpful support from fellow bloggers, I feel more confident with the odd 'off piste' post.

Though not quite out of the woods yet (meetings with finance guys, trying to let her cottage, etc), with my dear old Mum now in a nursing home I hope to see my focus on work options returning more soon.

Not before time.

The extended competition deadline is already half gone, and I have not promoted it anywhere yet. Plus the newsletter is two weeks overdue...

Anyway, there is also the not so small matter of what to do with an aspect of my life I have not really had access to for nearly a decade. And that is my career and, more specifically, one that pays the bills.

With Mum in a home, a lot of money that stayed within the family is now redirected and, on top, requiring serious monthly supplements. Her cottage, for instance, might just generate enough rental for 5 days fees in the home.

I had always thought that, as a writer, I had skills that were relatively saleable no matter what. And as this body of work might attest, plus all that has been generated for and by Junkk.com, the spirit of creativity is still alive and well, if perhaps not of late in the cause of soap powders or sports cars.

But there have been a few reality checks, and not entirely welcome ones.

I have dabbled for a while with getting back in the ad game, but have put down any lack of interviews to not being exactly clear on my availability. Fair enough.

However, last week a forum post set me afire. It was for a job nearby and for which I was... am well qualified. It was also urgent, and encouraged the prompt submission of a CV. And hence I responded.

I even waited a day, and then called just to ask if they could confirm all had arrived safe and sound (firewalls and spam filters can prove regular spoilers). The person in question was busy, and the receptionist said they'd call right back. That was a few days ago. I do plan to chase, but it's not looking encouraging.

On a day that I read the football world is allowed to be ageist (with some justification - I don't see me dribbling round Ronaldo very effectively, at least not with a ball), I rather suspect yet more toothless, overhyped, box-ticking, 'may look good but by golly doesn't do any good' legislation (a bit like most in the world of 'green') will make much dent on an industry where you are lucky to still be employed, much less hired, if you are over 40.

Here's hoping RE:tie's patents pay off soon!

Addenda: Mind you, I could be worse, I guess....

Times - Recession threatens to create a beaten generation

Indy - You surely can't expect people to work for free

Making the most of wind

I have in the past expressed doubts in the past on wind as a decent enviROI+ energy source.

I still have them.

However, there seems to be no doubt that this renewable option is here to stay, and likely to get a lot more prevalent.

Hence I am always prepared to see how best to make the most of this. And I reprint this letter from the Indy as a consequence:

Sadly, the past few days have demonstrated why policy action is required to help address a major dilemma facing such [green] technologies.

The UK recently enjoyed a burst of high pressure with three hot and sunny days and temperatures averaging about 80F. This has led to the first surge of high summer energy demand, because people have deployed fans and air conditioners in the workplace as well as other cooling systems. During this period of high energy demand the country's 2,500 wind turbines have been almost motionless. During the three days, wind's share of UK electricity supply was 0.2%, 0.1% and 0.0% respectively.

We must begin to recoup our vast investment in intermittent renewables such as wind. A recent written answer in the House of Lords highlighted the cost of subsidies for renewable energies at over £30bn between now and 2020, at today's prices.

The answer lies in fitting electrolysers to wind turbines and solar panels to allow them to generate hydrogen which can be used later. Intermittent renewables should now be treated and viewed as a secondary energy source, with huge energy storage potential. The hydrogen they produce can then be used in hydrogen-adapted vehicles, gas-fired power plants, zero-carbon homes and the chemicals industry.

British companies are leaders in the development of the hydrogen economy and should be supported. When hydrogen is used in a combustion engine the only by-product is water vapour.

By supporting renewables as back-up suppliers with the ability to store energy, wind and solar can become regarded as more important and reliable renewables.

Now, I don't know if hydrogen is the best way to capture energy generated above demand from sources that only deliver at the whim of nature, but I certainly feel the principle of such systems should be assessed and, if feasible, embraced as a matter of urgency.

Two blog, or not two blog... THAT is the question

Let it never be said that, if there is a bad pun to be found, I will find it, chew it up and make it even worse.

Still trying to get my head around how what I write here ends up automatically elsewhere (like twitter), and also in spiffy truncated URL form.

Plus, where it doesn't.. yet... as it should... could.

In the course of discussions with the various IT gooroos helping make Junkk.com and this blog better integrated and more useful, an issue has arisen that, ironically, involves potential greater diversification.

There is a lot of debate about what a blog is, and/or should be. And as much opinion in turn on what 'people' want. Or don't. Frankly I think there are probably as many preferences as there opinions, and of those, well, at least one per reader.

However, it is clear that this blog is at the very least a tad schizophrenic.

On the one hand there are such as the growing number of, and ever-evolving Categories. Usually these are pretty factual and objective, mostly limited to the addition of a NEW url and possibly a line of my thoughts on it. I find them useful reference sources, and great at spotting trends by virtue of tracking the chronology (last posted at end, though I am thinking of reversing that as some get a tad long to scroll to the fresh meat), and hope you do, too.

Then there are the topic-specific eco-opinion pieces, usually inspired by an article. And thanks to the Labels facility on Blogger, these can easily be tied to a Category for archive research purposes.

And finally there are the more personal blogs. I've hived off onto other blogs those that have no real bearing on matters green, but these can also not really address these either, being more concerned with matters arising from things that happen in the course of running Junkk.com, and lately RE:tie, including matters of IT.

I am just wondering if, to most readers, these latter add or detract from the value of the blog. If so I'll keep on doing them; just elsewhere.

Or might it be that (as I understand it might) folk appreciate the more personal ups and and downs of running the business, written from the heart, and certainly not farmed out as just another 'aspect of the marketing mix'.

NEWS/LOCAL - UK - SL area - RE:warding News

After a bit of a downer stretch, I'm happy to track down a positive.

Alerted by a Local Government story in one of my daily gazillion newsletters, I am happy to bring you this via The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead Council website:

RecycleBank - Rewarding You for Recycling

Taking some key points from the blurb:

Working in partnership with Veolia Environmental Services and RecycleBank, the Council will be the first in the UK to trial Rewards for recycling - an initiative that has already been successful in the United States where it has helped to boost recycling rates significantly.

It works by weighing the amount of recycling materials produced by participating households, using special equipment in the collection lorries. Households are set up with a unique RecycleBank Rewards Account, which means the more you recycle the more Points you accumulate to use in local and national outlets or for donations to charity.

The Council has underlined that the reward scheme is NOT a forerunner to any kind of penalty system. The Royal Borough believes in rewarding residents for recycling, not imposing penalties, and will not introduce 'pay-as-you-throw' or any similar scheme.

As it's a first, and only in that area, I could not access any more details or sign up, but I have asked to be kept informed and will share as and when I am.

But, looking at that last para alone, what's not to like?

PROF'S POSER - Of mice and mending

Actually, this is more of a (and inspires another acronym in the process...) 'WIBNI'.

That's 'Wouldn't It Be Nice If..'

Today my trusty wireless keyboard conked. And being a Mac user, going to back-up (never throwing anything away has its uses) is proving a trail, as I really miss the scroll wheel and especially the right click button.

Anyway, a bunch of surfing and a chat with their tech guys suggests it has gone to the great WEEE pile in the sky, especially as its several years post warranty.

The WIBNI bit is that while the keyboard is no more, the mouse and all the charger/wireless gubbins is not.

It just seems a pity that I could not find a soul that has a dead mouse but still pukka keyboard and come to an arrangement. Even if it is just a central place to pool our respective working bits to recombine one operational unit.

Though I guess the frequencies would need to be matched.

A sort of 'Join 'Em Up JunkkYard' or 'Fix it FreeCycle'

enviROI again; this time on Tetrapaks

There are many good blogs in the green field.

One such is My Zero Waste run, appropriately, by a Mrs. Green.

Her interest is, as the blog name suggests, Zero Waste. A laudable aim to be sure, though I tend to wonder if it is a tad idealistic, and hence can compromise the overall very worthy intentions by working to an extreme many consumers might not accept and I doubt business or government could hope to satisfy.

But one area, amongst many, she is very good at is finding folk in places of responsibility, and getting them to talk. Better yet, to answer questions in public forum. And good on them in turn for agreeing.

Hence I was interested that a Tetrapak rep was on board, following a previous peice that elicted answers from a council (Cornwall) that seemed to me pretty technically comprehensive...

Recycling officer, Jenny Walden, from Tetrapak answers your recycling questions

All good stuff. however, some that was shared rather cranked an eyebrow or two (the piece rather smacked of being a carefully-constructed PR piece from a website), more for what was not said than what was, and prompted me to write in hoep of clarification...

I wonder if you could amplify that final Q&A on Transport with a few more facts beyond entirely laudable dedication, belief and passion.

I would like the technical details, and if life cycle analysis (what I equate to the 'enviROI' ) is the best tool to gauge the environmental impact so be it, though in this field I have found that science can be used to blind.

Is there anything objective, substantive and, most importantly, easy for the layperson to understand that you might direct me/us to in this regard?

I am lucky to have a carton recycling skip right nearby (though I am actually keeping all mine to see what reuse options might present first), and have pondered the heavy gauge steel container that requires a large diesel truck to get it and what is a large amount of fresh air to a place that might well compact more effectively, but then sends it all on still further.

Frankly I am just keen to be reassured I am not just getting boxes ticked but actually contributing to a scheme that might be sending even more Co2 skywards (a priority to reduce surely?) due to the lack of local alternatives that may appear less attractive, and only exist through policy failings, but for now are on balance perhaps better on a pure GHG emission basis.

I'd also be interested in how all this applies to the costs and processes involved in posting an empty carton in a Jiffy bag.

ADDENDUM -

I have had a reply, or at least a sort of one, which is already to be commended as too often awkward questions go to the naughty corner.

I am very happy to say that a very thorough, independent, peer reviewed study has been done to show just how justified it is for you to continue to recycle your cartons in the UK, despite all these caveats you have highlighted.
Unfortunately, we are still awaiting the publication of this Life Cycle Study by a government agency for me to point you to this. We have asked the agency for special exemption so that we might show you this particular element of the study, but until we secure their permission, I am limited as to what I can communicate beyond this.

Hmn, so having alluded to all sorts of stuff initially, it is not, as such ready yet. And as you will soon gather, by eyebrow is already acquiver at who this all seeing, all-knowing and hence all to be believed government agency is.

It also sets me again to pondering what or why such 'officers' actually do or are. What is their job function, their mission, and what qualifications are the expected to, or do they have. There are an awful lot, in companies, LAs, quangos and schools, etc.

But many times they seem to be sweet young things who disseminate information from on high and 'respond', as here.

It is hard to imagine that most are in any way involved in strategy, discussing the science or setting policy. And so, too often IMHO, they really are no more than press officers with a green sticker pasted on.

Hence any reply to mine will be interesting...

Thank you for responding. I will await this information being made available with anticipation and interest.
In the meantime, might you be able to point to the others you alluded to?: ‘across numerous studies recycling has been shown to be environmentally preferable.’
Also, might I ask which government agency the latest is/will be with? Not WRAP perchance?
This is a quango whose ever-growing board gets bonusses on meeting targets, and it is my experience ticking a tonnage box does not often meet the same enviROI criteria that I tend to feel are better to hold some initiatives to account for improving my kids’ futures.
So I tend to crank an eyebrow at their objectivity.

As many here will know, I am not so convinced that the consumer side of WRAP at least (the industrial seems much more focused) is worth its salt. Quangos at best seem cursed by being vehicles of fudge and compromise, with lack of accountability at their core. It's the worst of business where explaining ROI is usually lost in jargon, and the same governments who use our money to pay them to do their dirty work use them as a firewall if...when things go wrong. Only they keep the pay and pensions as they were only obeying orders.

If it is WRAP, let us not forget this is the same entity who gave £250k of our money to Heinz to 'see how' they could lightweight their cans and save a honking great cost on raw materials.

TetraPak, by my memory, is not short of a bob or two. Now I accept that private, commercial entities should not be expected to fund ever-evolving government policy, that changes goalposts, without a fight, but one giving the other taxpayers' money to help resolve the CSR shortfalls of the policies and systems of both is hardly the solution I favour either.

POOH CORNER - Careful not to leave the carbons in

I think this possibly addresses one problem but creates more...

Office Paper Recycling Machine Turns Trash Into Toilet Paper

...but at least it shows some folk are thinking about the issues. What amazes me is that such a honking great thing actually got made... for sale. And is soooo inefficient, never mind the costs.

Certainly I have had more than a few office memos that were good for only one thing.

But... are we not meant to go...paperless?

Might lead to some nasty images on the copier come the Xmas party (sorry).

GOOD PACK, BAD PACK - positives and negatives

Oh, dear, another less than positive observation.

I must still be in a bad mood. Or there really is not much to be positive about (I have press releases from the Guv and WRAP about food waste, labelling and/or energy from waste in my pending box, so here's hoping I'll find a gem or two).

Anyway, in my ongoing gallivanting I needed to get some batteries, and as I did not have several quids or access to my rechargeable stash was left with little option.

Even the stand looked odd, but when I got back and looked at the packs, a few things rather struck me:

1) Why is there a need for the 50% extra top section if they are in a custom stand? Presuming this is for other, dangly uses on top of the need to self-promo... and...

2) Why do the 8 AAA's get to squeeze in side by side, but the AA's go two by two, with all that extra spacing?

Normal service will be resumed as soon as possible

There is much to commend about home working.

The freedom to work on what you want, when you want.

The freedom to wear shorts (or nothing at all, though that can scare the postman) if it is hot.

And much more.

I am lucky. As a writer primarily, and a net based one at that, I don't 'need' to be at an office to do what I do.

That all said, it is not a role many take to. And, frankly, not a first choice for me. I am a social creature and enjoy human contact. At my agency I would be at my desk 30 minutes but then off checking and chatting with my creative guys the next.

The main reason for me to be doing this is circumstance, and this situation has allowed me to balance looking after my aging Mum and her deteriorating mental and physical conditions at the same time. A bank of screens and sensors put me a few seconds away when needed, if I was not also popping over with daily cuppas, meals, TV channel changes, etc.

Sadly, as such things do, things have started to deteriorate, and faster and faster of late.

A bad month turned into a nightmare of a week, and she is now in the hospital I ended up having to resort to very bad behaviour to get her into, in the face of a box-ticking, target-concerned, bean-counter-driven medical system (nice one , Mr. 'getting on doing the job' - there a Gordon acronym there if I work on it).

And it looks like I will now be a tad distracted getting her out of there and into something I hadn't even thought about, not having realised 'residential' homes (which I had been planning and scoped out) are not the same as 'nursing' homes (which are much fewer, and farther away).

So, the day job is taking a second seat still, and a while longer.

And, I must say, I kinda miss having colleagues and bosses (or partners) who cover for you or let you scoot off on pay to handle such duties.

And I know it won't be easy, because we made the mistake of saving for just such a rainy day, and the system only really gets interested or helps if you have nothing to your name and no one to call on. Sadly, Mum has both, so I am still pretty much on my own, or in the hands of the truly inept, a while longer.

Pity it is while I am in the thick of the competition, the next newsletter in complement, and some big decisions and strategic efforts on behalf of RE:tie.

But, while still not ideal, I see a glimmer of stability at least soon, and then I can get back to helping save the planet a bit. But family comes first.

The end that is end of the world...averted

A planet-friendly diet for cows?

It's old news, but I just loved the coy last line.

Though he is quite right, that is the more dangerous end of the herbivorous meat tube's digestive system.

Every little less helps

It started as my Bernstein/Woodward moment.

However, I think fame, glory and Pulitzer Prizes may still elude me.

But a question still remains.

As some may know, I throw nothing out that might one day find a use.

This can raise many issues, and storage (out of missus' gaze) is high on the list. However, it is surprising just how much can slot together and actually see a ton of stuff end up in a very small space.

Sadly, yoghurt pots are not one. For years I have been only able to squeeze the end of one about 20% into the top of the next (there is a glimmer of a plan as a consequence, so where a door closes and all that...).

However, t'other day as I was stacking away, one pot just dropped straight in. What's more, there was a good 2mm gap between its exterior and and the interior of the more 'usual' ones. It is only 'proud' in the picture as I popped in a bottle cap to show it up.

'Hah.. Gotcha!' I thought. Clear tweaking to sell less at the same price. But... Peter... who I work with, had a gander and noticed the smaller pack had a different batching code, and reckons it's just another supplier. And that there was no way they'd pull a stunt like that...surely.

But we are talking one on several hundred, and why would a plastic mould, one presumes specified by the brand, differ?

And, in any case, if you can get the same legal amount of product into a smaller pack...self-evidently... why would you not anyway? Less plastic and all that...:)

I reckon the plot, like the product, may yet thicken.

A lesson in laying out policy at voting time...

Labour's real action on climate change

Or, possibly, not.

This being the Guardian, a once safe haven, the comments are telling.

I am getting a tad ticked off with the choice of only two sets of pols at the moment: those that are clearly deluded and will say anything, and those that are clearly scared of being nailed on anything substantive, and hence say nothing.

Doesn't make one's voting choice tomorrow (and, it looks, next month, if only to try and find a fully-stocked Cabinet to lead us) too easy, but I am at least working to a course if only by a process of elimination.

Addendum

Helped, at the post, by another pol set that doesn't float my boat: if you haven't got anything good to say, say something bad about someone else. Nice one (and I don't just mean the ex's claims). Makes things easier by the moment.

How green is the Labour government?

What a waste. Who was going to decide between Labour and Green on eco issues?

GOOD PACK, BAD PACK - Damp squib?

Maybe more a sense of disappointment.

Interested as I am in reuse, and more specifically how things can be joined together in ways unheard of to make new stuff, I was attracted by an offer in my local Argos.

That it was for a water pistol, and the temp was heading for 25 degrees did not hurt. I still claimed it was 'for the kids' mind.

What appealed was that the majority of the plastic in such jobbies has, until now, been shipped all the way from China as part of the structure, namely the water reservoir, with all packaging enhanced to accommodate.

With this, however, the crafty part is to make the reservoir out of old pop bottles. Neat or what? And on so many levels.

Having got it I can testify that it is every bit as clever as made out, and my... er kids... reckon it's a top summer squirter.

But why, oh, why, was it necessary to come, to full length with card backing and plastic wrapping, with a custom bottle attached? Especially one whose plastic is so thick, it can't crumple (lack of pressure release vale being a design fault).

I'd have given it 5 J-stars, but this drops it to a 4.

Well, he did ask.

Ethical Man on twitter:

What's up? Disappointing response on blog http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/... not interested in the future of the world?
about 20 hours ago from web

Leads to:

Has Obama lost his bottle on climate?

I fear that the replies so far might not be quite what was wished for by the author. On any measure. So far, not even ten, in reply to a challenge made by a national broadcaster who has spent and is spending a lot (both money and carbon) to push matters in ways that I frankly don't think the majority of the public are either interested in an or buying. That... is poor enviROI at best... wasteful, elitist vanity programming at worst. Here's my reply:

Prompted by the 'disappointing response' (quantity? quality? Or level of support?) challenge in twitter, I can assure you I care very much about the future of my kids on this planet.

However, I do have some concerns about how well it is being served by those who have either appointed themselves or are in privileged positions to help share information in such a way so free thinking folk can make their minds up in an objective atmosphere. And hence, while the message can often have value, I tend to view the messengers, from individual to corporate, quite critically. Especially when 'they' claim to speak for 'me and mine'.

So, taking that last line of the piece, speaking of using less energy....

I fear I had to crank my eyebrow quite early at the notion of using a helicopter for a few seconds' shot 'to picture the scale' of the gently turning wind farm blades.

Like the Hummer-driving-engineer, it seems that many industries - even green-supportive media - can't seem to 'do their jobs' without breezily excusing away certain compromises that are not often accorded lesser mortals struggling to make a crust. This can create a sense of them vs. us situation, often erring on 'do as we say, not as we still like doing because we're creating 'awareness' between which an empathetic bridge is hard to forge.

I was also a bit intrigued about the priorities that can come across, which seemed to me to be;

1) Making money
2) Reduction in GHGs (not clear if that is to 'target' and hence often subsidy-supported, which often is not quite the same as doing right by the planet) and....
3) Production of enviROI+ energy

I would have thought that, beyond reducing at any viable, reasonable, practical point, the generation of energy in a form that produces the lowest 'harmful' by-products should be the main aim, and any advocacy challenged to prove they are so.

And while gimmicks can have a place, especially to help entertain to encourage education and hence information, they can distract. Hence I'd still like a lot more science, and if issues are not clear-cut, well debated by professional scientists and engineers, and not a gaggle of usual suspect interest groups that may make for good TV or meet agendas, but hardly help me arrive at a view on worthy initiatives to support.

For instance there was one point mentioned that I would have liked delved into a lot more. And that was the fact that this vast wind farm was actually located near a town of just 10,000 folk. Now, maybe that's because it's where the wind is. But how does it stack up against, say solar, on a cradle to grave basis (with subsidies stripped away to get a true cost/benefit comparison. It looked pretty darn sunny there. And, just as I subscribe to the notion of wearing a jummie to crank the thermostat down here in winter, I'd probably suggest a suit and tie might lead to the a/c getting cranked up more than it need be where the sun do shine).

And this in turn leads to further questions on massive generation vs. microgeneration, as surely remote locations at distance from consumption do mean compromises to efficiency of delivery.

These are key points that often get glossed over when the discussion seems mainly to be dominated by interest groups, pols and those involved with money on the line. Even academics can be tainted by dubious associations and hence motivations. Hence contentious areas really require more than a couple a views, preferably around the same table, and moderated by chairperson(s) qualified to keep hyperbole in check and call questionable claims to account.

Not something I see or here very often throughout the MSM, and oddly so considering the criticality of the topic and passions that can be aroused in debate.

Hence the decisions made, not made and bottling of by our currently less than stellar political classes become very hard to call.

ps: Did T Boone's people strap you/Justin to the chair for that interview? You/He looks terrified. Can't think why, Mr. Pickens seems a guy well worth listening to?

'Doom and gloom' or 'doom and boom'?!

Yet another 'top scientist' group has concluded that climate change is a major challenge facing the human race.

Reported in the Telegraph, this summit (including 20 Nobel Laureates [plus Prince Charles? - perhaps someone spelled it as Noble?]) concludes that climate change poses as great a threat to mankind as "the threat posed to civilisation by the advent of thermonuclear weapons".

"the best chance of stopping catastrophic climate change is to keep the predicted temperature rise at or below 2 degrees C (3.6 degrees F).........Without action, they envisaged three times that temperature rise, which would mean global warming would cause a huge rise in sea levels, and swamp the cities of London, Paris and Copenhagen."

Hmmm, I wonder if our MP's will be allowed to claim expenses for scuba gear and for living in a house-boat, or maybe a second submarine?

Take with a pinch of salt and come back in the morning

See how this gets shoe-horned into twitter!

I am still trying to get used to the opportunities and/or constraints of writing for multi-platform publication. Frankly I don't think I can effectively compose a 'one size fits all' and might not even try. This blog is still the main source, and with luck the others will serve well enough to feed back, though I must try and bear in mind the first sentence as a 'lure'.

Anyway, to the point.

About 35 years ago I was very sick. Sparing the grim details, it turned out I had lost a lot of blood internally from my stomach lining. The culprit was deemed to be Aspirin, and I have kept away from it ever since. No biggie in the headache stakes, as there are plenty of alternatives.

However, as I hit my hypochondriac dotage, it has irked that I cannot be spared the simple heart attack preventative that it represented/represents. Hardly a day went by without its miraculous benefits being advocated.

Or... er... have I dodged a (magic) bullet here?

I must say I always wondered how what is evidently an aggressive drug could be safely advocated for regular, endless use.

Because over the weekend I heard a massive cautionary story. Trying to Google for more was... an eye-opener.

No doubt we'll be continue to be treated to a bunch of major scares with extremes on both sides.

But it has to be wondered how well we are served by science by the 'establishment', from researchers to quangos to ministers to media.

Quantum leaps

There's no feeling quite as satisfying.

You take an age shuffling the chequers around the board, and then with one final move... whammo... a veritable hop, skip and jump over a bunch of obstacles that propels you to the next level.

This is how I feel today... now... having spent a long, exhausting, but ultimately hugely rewarding day with IT specialist James from the West Midlands National B2B Centre initiative looking at every aspect of the Junkk.com site and this blog, with a view to not just improving each in its own right, but then integrating them to make more than a simple sum of the parts.

Yet even despite this marathon, we barely scratched much of what the agenda had planned, and so here's hoping for another, equally rewarding session soon.

So what did we achieve? Well, let me count the ways...

Oh, Blogger, How Art Thou?

With all due deference to Larry and Sergey, Google may have some nifty kit, but they don't make it easy to use it all. Especially for an IT padawan like me, so it was almost reassuring to find James struggling on occasion, too. It was almost ironic, if reassuring, that he had to use Google to find forums that explained stuff waaaay better than Google Help or Forums did.

Several Easy Pieces

But persevering was worth it, as we managed to effect several, and better yet automated links between this blog on Blogger, my new Twitter feed, and also FaceBook.

With luck, and a fair wind, posting this will result in a version on both.. no hands!

At the moment it looks like it might be going to my personal Facebook rather than the Group, but James is sussing out a fix on that.

Doing 'Da Biz

Of course we are not just looking at the civvy end of the street, but also the B2B one, too. So now we have also created a complementary Linkedin Group: 'Here's One I RE:made Earlier'. This I am hoping to complement the networking I need to do with the business community with Junkk.com and RE:tie, as the others serve the public audience. Top of the list for working on tomorrow!

And I am hoping it is a happy coincidence rather than potential for clashes, that another B2B network I'm on, Plaxo, has now hooked up with LinkedIn, too.

So in theory, so long as I keep the content useful, informative and entertaining, there is a good chance of reaching out, capturing and growing audiences via greater blog outreach too.

Direct To A Screen Near You

Speaking of which, it's now even easier to opt to get these various pearls of wisdom delivered fresh and toasty via either a feed or emails... your choice. Just check the new icons top right.

And, Finally, What A Site!

We even got cracking a bit on some additional functionality on the main Junkk.com site, too, though there's no way round what is a rather venerable, and hence creaking back-end system.

Most immediately, I have discovered how at least attach blog hyperlinks on some key areas, so readers who think that not much has happened since Emma sadly moved up in the world a few years ago might discover a veritable cornucopia of info has continued on since in complement here on Blogger ever since. And, with luck, the new activity this creates will help web crawlers log more activity. Try this. Mind you... memo to self... a link back to the site page!

And as computer guru David of sound-i, who inherited our system and keeps trying to coax another web 3.0 app out of a web 1.0 skeleton, has just failed to say no (though his 'Yeeeess' did seem to have a slightly furrowed brow attached), it seems there may also be functionality we can soon add to install better updated feeds, plus.... customisable ad management.

This latter will be a real plus if it can be done, enabling us to truly prove the flexibility of the ad system, especially in complement to the postcode location facility.

Hence we may soon realise my dream of being able to offer, say, an Autogas national brand ad on the LPG master category page, but then see individual postcode specific 'classifieds' for local converters appear as the viewer surfs on and is immersed in all the site can offer.

Exciting.

Upon reflection

I crank an eyebrow...

Obama's climate guru: Paint your roof white!

As a potential, simple, 'why not?', as this comes from the new President of the US's Secretary of Energy it has to be given a full and fair hearing.

However, I do wonder whether a full ground back to ground enviROI analysis for such a proposal has been carried out. Ignoring the aesthetics issues, the correct paint needs to be produced, applied... and maintained. Looking at an exterior wall to my property, after just a few years the paint is flaking, being subject to aggressive seasonable weather conditions.

So I, or blokes I hire, are to invest in regular multi-litre purchases of paint (what is its manufacture consequences?) to cover a pretty hefty area, on a regular lifetime basis? That's a lot of raw materials and man-hours.

I am also not so sure how many traditional tile materials will take to retroactive application of an alternative coating for which they were not designed.

What may be more productive is with built-in planning, whereby reflective tiles are manufactured and required to installed with new-builds and renovations.

Equally, as they seem to dig our road up four times a year, maybe the various authorities who get excited about such box-ticking efforts might like to ponder light(er) tarmac too?

And all farmers could be required to grow only year-round, light-foliage crops? Is an all rape diet practical?

Telegraph - Obama's green guru calls for white roofs

Guardian - White roofs and 'cool' cars - Obama's US energy secretary gives Prince Charles tips on tackling climate change

One thing I do note in all this is that the press release on this 'gathering' of 'great minds' has been pretty much run as is by most of the MSM. Not too encouraging on the calibre of science reporting and scrutiny in this arena.