Friday Donuts

Dear Members and Constituents, How much does a character typed on an e-mail contribute to global warming? Until recently, I had taken it for granted that electronic communications were "clean", with zero impact on the environment. I started having second thoughts when I read 1.5% of the world's electric supply is consumed by server farms (and growing at a fairly substantial rate). Rather than go on faith alone, I figured I'd do the math... Before we go on, here are the disclaimers on my analysis: (a) it is based on the top results of my Google searches, (b) the math was not double-checked, (c) sources were not scrubbed for reliability and (d) they are not cited. Therefore, (e) these findings should be interpreted as directional. If we consider there are approximately 150 billion e-mails being sent every day and the average number of words per e-mail is about 110 -with an average word length (in the English language) of 5.1 characters, then we have approximately 30 qua...

Dear members and constituents, Today, I would like to talk about Carbon. Sure, with only six electrons you might not think much of it, however I find this particular element fascinating. It is, after all, the primary building block of life (sure it gets a little help from Hydrogen, Oxygen and Nitrogen). Carbon is also making a bad reputation for itself as a member of the greenhouse gas gang (again with some help from his buddy Oxygen) -- not to mention the workhorse fuel that has gotten civilization where it is today. It is this double life Carbon has been leading lately that captivates me. You could think of Carbon as the Dr. Jekyll (and Mr. Hyde) of the periodic table of elements. Carbon makes life possible, yet is a big part of the reason for global warming (which can make life impossible). One might say you can't live with it and you can't live without it. I must admit I find some of the terminology used somewhat amusing ("carbon diets" to reduce your "carbon...