Archive for December 10th, 2007

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Holiday Light-emitting Diodes (LEDs)

Monday, December 10th, 2007
LED Holiday Tree at Port Discover
LED Holiday Tree at Port Discover

LEDs are the future of light, and may soon overtake Compact Fluorescent bulbs as the best choice for efficient home lighting. LEDs don’t have filaments, the part that easily burns out in ordinary bulbs, and they do not product heat like incandescent bulbs.

LEDs also last far longer than standard bulbs, usually 50,000 hours, but sometimes up to 100,000 hours (that’s 30 to 40 years in normal service), compared to Compact Florescent bulbs’ 3,000 to 10,000 hours. Unlike Compact Florescent bulbs, LEDs do not contain mercury, and therefore do not pose as much of an environmental problem in disposal.

The Light Up the World Foundation is using the energy efficient nature of LEDs to bring reading light to Third World Countries all over the world. With the energy it takes to power a single 100-watt Incandescent Bulb, they are lighting up 100 LEDs using the solar, wind, or pedal power.

See Also: Blue Marble’s article Deck the Halls with LEDs

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Science Etcetera Mooday, 20071210

Monday, December 10th, 2007
  • Dammit! Dammit! DAMMIT! DAMMIT!!! That #$%&ing fuel sensor has prevented the shuttle from launching again!!! Now it won’t launch until January, meaning we won’t make the four launches hoped for this year. I’m gonna go pout in the corner after blogging this.
  • Glucoboy

    Glucoboy

  • This is awesome. Glucoboy is a blood glucose meter for kids and is integrated with games to reward kids for maintaining healthy blood-sugar levels. It requires a drop of blood per test, which might scare many kids away, but I think more kids would get over the needle fear.
  • Microsoft has taken down its online A.I. Santa Claus for talking lewdly to children when badgered too much.
  • Surprise. Surprise. Saudi Arabian and Oil Industry stooge George Bush still won’t commit to greenhouse gas caps at the conference in Bali. 406 days left and counting.
  • “Dickens appropriated many of the elements of evolutionary theory into his work,” is a quote from the interesting article, Of Dickens and Darwin, which explores the crossbreeding of ideas between literature and science.
  • My video game playing days are over, but the trailer for Afrika really piques my interest:


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