NYTimes: More Sun for Less: Solar Panels Drop in Price

According to this article, prices have dropped and incentives increased for installing solar panels. Some municipalities or companies will even cough up the initial cost and be repaid with the utility rebates you earn over time.

More Sun for Less: Solar Panels Drop in Price

More factories that make the material used in solar panels have
opened, and the global demand for them has fallen.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/27/business/energy-environment/27solar.html

NYTimes: $300 a Night? Yes, but Haying’s Free

Take a "haycation" - sounds like fun.

$300 a Night? Yes, but Haying's Free

A small number of farms in the United States have begun to offer
vacationers a chance to camp in a tent, milk goats and pick vegetables.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/26/dining/26farms.html

Get The New York Times on your iPhone for free by visiting http://itunes.com/apps/nytimes

Sent from my iPhone

NYTimes: Prolonging the Life of Berries

Dipping berries in 145-degree water prevents mold growth.

THE CURIOUS COOK: Prolonging the Life of Berries

Thermotherapy, a very hot fruit bath, is an effective way to stave off
mold growth on berries.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/26/dining/26curi.html

Get The New York Times on your iPhone for free by visiting http://itunes.com/apps/nytimes

Sent from my iPhone

Geoglyphs on Google Earth

A quick tour of the globe with some man-made art visible from space.



This one shows the coordinates of a few -

Time lapse satellite weather

Yesterday I flew out of an airport just minutes before it closed in the path of a passing hurricane, and the cloudscape was beautiful as we rose through circulating pillars of cloud. I wondered how that pattern moves with time, and found some interesting time-lapse videos of weather:

Here are a few people who have waaaaay too much time on their hands. I don't expect you to watch the whole thing, but the ballet of cloud movements has a compelling beauty all its own.

Time lapse of visible clouds

Time lapse of radar images

...of water vapor

...of infrared

...and of arctic sea ice over 20 years

...and of a hurricane's eye

...and just because it's related, flying the eye of a hurricane

Experiencing Life, Briefly, Inside a Nursing Home

A novel program places medical students in nursing homes for a few weeks, to experience elderly life firsthand. Their glasses are smeared with vaseline and ears plugged with cotton wool to simulate being old.
"friendships ... in a nursing home, where there is nothing to do but talk, are forged quickly and deeply"

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/24/health/24nursing.html?em