Tooth Fairy visits again, Olympic BSOD/computers, gas

Mary lost another tooth yesterday, it was her top right front tooth. This tooth had been loose for quite some time, it finally came out last night. The tooth fairy visited overnight and Mary had $5 in her tooth fairy pillow pocket this morning. Mary's smile is really something to see now, since she also recently lost two front bottom teeth. We'll try to get a picture of her smile up asap.

Most people who know me know that I'm a free software person, I've been using the linux operating system since 1995. I'm a big fan of free open source software (such as the firefox web browser), and I'm not a big fan of Microsoft. I presently use ubuntu linux (ubuntu 8.04.1) at both home and work. Debby and the kids also use linux. We have been Microsoft free for about ten years. We don't pay for software, we don't pay for virus protection for buggy software, our computer does not get corrupted with viruses, malware, spyware, adware, etc. Our computers just work.

I also use google mail and google apps extensively but I'll save that for another post.

So, during the opening ceremony at the Olympics in Beijing they used computers to display images around the top of the "bird nest" stadium as a man jogged around the top while suspended about 70m in the air. Many people noticed that one of the images was the famous blue screen of death (bsod) which appears when microsoft windows crashes and needs to be rebooted. Here's a link to the story.

Gas price update: yesterday I filled up and regular gas was $3.50/gallon. I read yesterday that Americans drove 10+ billion fewer miles in June 2008 than in June 2007. I wonder if the energy prices and the change in consumer habits could be having positive effects on weather or air quality, something that could be measured. After the attacks on 9/11 there was no air travel for three days and I believe that scientists were able to observe an effect on weather, but that was just a brief three day window. With sustained high energy prices leading to sustained changes in people's habits it might be possible to measure the effect with less uncertainty.

While on the topic, we are all for clean air and clean water. This should be a big priority. Locally, North Carolina is suing TVA because it believes that pollution produced by TVA power plants is making it's way into NC and hurting the environment and making people sick. I don't know if this is true but I hope in a way that NC prevails and the power plants are required to clean up their act.

Back in Beijing, the Chinese are in the middle of an interesting experiment to reduce emissions and clean the air for the Olympics. Scientists are using the opportunity to study the situation, the results should be interesting.

At work last week there was an announcement that ORNL will replace it's natural gas and oil fueled steam plant with one that runs on biomass, wood waste. This will be accomplished using $90 million in private funding and is projected to have the effect of removing 2.1 million cars from our roads.

Another project underway at work:
"A new solar panel—one of the largest and most efficient in the state—is the cause behind the recent construction at the intersection of Fifth Street and Bethel Valley Road. The big solar panel will be 288 feet long by 10 feet wide and will generate 51.25 kilowatts at peak power.

In fact, it will generate enough electricity to help power an entire ORNL office building: the already Energy Star-rated Building 3147, which will combine waste-heat recovery and energy-efficiency techniques with the solar panel to become a zero-energy building".

Good stuff.