How to be more of a Portlander

Sort of like a feature I did on another website I'm again high on caffo and I need to make a costume for the Night Ride tonight, just like before I decided to re-purpose some old clothes to make a Cast Away type outfit.

Using my same Benchmade (made in Oregon) knife to create the frayed edges that key to the effect.





Least this episode won't be lost in the ether!

Flying Spaghetti Monster

I don't know if y'all know who the Flying Spaghetti Monster is, but the monster is the deity for a parody religion. One of the things they talk about is how global warming is inversely related to the number of pirates. When the SEALs took out 3 Somali pirates I grew concerned and decided to figure out what this would mean for Somalia. I crunched a bunch of numbers to develop my Global Warming Potential(GWP) of Somalia. GWP is just a number given to different gasses relating to their potential to increase global warming by not allowing infrared radiation to escape Earth's atmosphere, also known at Radiative Forcing.

I found Somalia's CO2 production per year with data up to 1995, then added 100 metric tons per year. Their main economic production is farm animals, I assumed they had goats, who produce about 23 m3/yr of methane. Methane has a GWP of 12, CO2 has a GWP of 1. I found the area of Somalia and the percentage of the area that is wild pasture lands and cut it in half, assumed 5 goats per acre, and assumed a growth of 100 km2 of pasture land used for goat herding. The GWP of the country is contributed to more by their pastured animals than by the CO2 sources.

I don't know how many pirates are in Somalia, but a loss of 3 will probably be made up pretty quick.






This is the supporting chart that was originally sent to the Kansas Board of Education.













Sources:

http://www.inra.fr/productions-animales/spip.php?page=en-article&id_article=332
http://www.studentsoftheworld.info/country_information.php?Pays=SOM
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Somalia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somalia#Economy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somalia#Economy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_warming_potential
http://ipcc-wg1.ucar.edu/wg1/Report/AR4WG1_Print_Ch02.pdf

Go purple!

Reclaimed water is a new source of non-potable water that many water suppliers are offering to some users in both areas that typically experience water shortages (Contra Costa County) and those that typically wouldn't like in Happy Valley (OR). I think this is a great idea, it reduces the amount of effluent water typically sent to a river or other receiving water body, provides water that's non-potable (not drinkable) to users that don't need potable water such as: golf courses, construction sites, heating/cooling facilities, and other manufacturing processes. I'm not sure how clean (what level of treatment) the water has to be for use food crop production or livestock, I think those regulations are still being developed.

Here is the purple pipe developers are required to use. Notice the warning on the side. -I lost the photo somewhere, but it is purple/pink pipe with "CAUTION - RECLAIMED WATER" dot printed on the side. Found it!



Here is a standard hydrant installed by Contra Costa County, except this one has been modified with a 2 1/2 inch port versus the normal 3 inch connection for fire hoses. The County let's construction companies (typically) borrow a special meter assembly and they pay by calling in every month the amount of usage.

My version of the hydrant layout:


Other presentations on recycled water use.
http://www.watereuse.org/sections/california/northern-california/meeting/presentations