Kroger system redeems coupons from cell phones

I saw this headline over at the Detroit News this morning. My shopping preferences came to mind. I tend to do more shopping at Costco and Sam's Club than anywhere else. I do so for the cost. Sam's Club is the place I go for meat (I eat at least a pound of lean beef and two pounds of chicken breast daily). Chicken breast for $1.88/lb. 90% lean beef for $2.88/lb. I go to Costco for about everything else. Including my broccoli, which they sell for $4.55 for a 3-lb bag of florets (I eat almost a pound each day). One thing I've noticed about the broc is that sometimes I will see the bags ready to expire the very next day. At $4.55. I always wondered what they did with it once it expired, so I asked a stockboy one day. His answer: "we throw it away." Throw it away! My question, which I didn't ask the stockboy, was why not mark it down dramatically before it expires, so that Costco at least get part of something, rather than all of nothing? Which leads me to Kroger.

Probably in the last 6 months or so, something changed in the store. Almost overnight, there were 'clearance items;' items close to expiration that were marked down dramatically. Gallon milk to expire in a few days? $0.99. 32oz yogurt ready to go bad? $0.50. My kids tend to go through a gallon or so of milk daily, so I have found myself going to Kroger whenever I pass by, just to see if there are any clearance items around. This has to be a win-win for Kroger. They get something for food that they would have had to throw away, plus more visits from this customer making it more likely that I would pick up other goods as well. I thought this to be innovative. So it's nice to see Kroger trying to keep up with technology and offering the e-coupon option now. Could better days be ahead for Kroger? With such innovation, I would think so.

Young inventors

Sometimes, stories like these make me feel like Antonio Salieri at the beginning of the movie Amadeus. While Salieri was playing with the neighborhood kids, Mozart was composing symphonies. In 8th grade, I sure wasn't doing anything like this. I was more worried about what the girls at school thought, etc. Every now and again, stories like these crop up. i am always curious as to what becomes of these little inventors. (HT:CG)

Elevating ourselves into outer space!

Being a sci-fi fan, long before I became a scientist, I have been fascinated with space travel since a small child. I was definitely one of those "I want to be an astronaut" kind of kids. Even though my field of research is in the fluid/thermal sciences, I keep track of technological developments especially in the area of space travel.

One of the best ideas out there, IMO, is the "space elevator." In essence, it's like swinging a ball overhead on a string, just on a planetary level. The centrifugal forces in the spinning counteract the gravity force that will invariably pull down the object. The centrifugal force, as a result of centripetal acceleration, is related to the velocity. That is why stuff in space orbiting the Earth have to fly around at tremendous speeds (17,000 mph+). In any case, if we could put a large object in geosynchronous orbit, and then run a strand of lightweight wire down to the surface of the Earth, and then another, and then another, etc. until we have a very solid cord tethered between the surface and the object in space, we can then use the cord to elevate objects into space just like a conventional elevator. Of course, because of the scale, the manufacture of this material might likely have to be in space, not on Earth. So there's that too.

Here's a video that breaks it down for you:

Now for the problem: we have nothing that's nearly strong enough and at the same time light enough. So I read an interesting article on FoxNews today: "Engineering Breakthrough May Make Possible 'Space Elevator.' " Could the dream be closer to reality than I thought? Possibly. If this material could be produced, it will have to be done so on a massive scale. And the elevator will be by far the largest (and most expensive) structure ever built by man. If the investment can be made (hey - the U.S. government is about to dump $1 trillion to maybe stimulate the economy), then we will have vastly cheaper access into space. The shuttle will no longer be launched from the surface of the Earth, which is too expensive. We will go to Mars. Heck - we might be taking vacations in space stations!

For another good viewing of the concept, check out Star Trek: Voyager (episode named "Rise"), Episode 19, Season 3. I can't remember exactly what the episode was about, but I sure do remember the space elevators!

Tapping the Detroit River for Alternative Energy

From the pages of the Ivory Tower: "U-M to tap Detroit River's current to create energy." "This is VIVACE, a device to harness energy in slow-moving water currents across the globe and turn it into electricity. VIVACE, which mimics the way fish swim in currents, is to debut next year in the Detroit River, powering the light for a new wharf between Hart Plaza and the Renaissance Center." "...It's one of a handful of new techniques -- the first in more than 100 years -- to use water to create clean, renewable energy." (emphasis mine)

My take on this: All of these people need to let the public know the truth - "clean" energy is a myth. There is cleaner energy, but nothing is 100% clean (the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics forbids it). As nice as this idea sounds on paper, these devices will have to be manufactured, which itself is inherently non-clean, non-green. So there's that. Why do these reports always ignore the energy and materials it takes to build these devices? Why not look at the big picture - the entire life cycle of the device? How much energy do we get out versus how much energy (and chemicals, materials, waste, etc.) went in? And then look at the ratio.

Now onto the technique here (you can see a picture of the cylinder array here), which is a novel one where upright cylinders in water sway back and forth in a slow-moving current (due to vortex shedding on the sides of the cylinders such as happens in air. You can see a computer-simulated visual here. This shedding induced vibrations, or the swaying back-and-forth of the cylinder). However, when I think of anything swaying back and forth in a repetetive, oscillatory manner, fatigue failure comes to mind. How long will these devices last? They will need maintenance, as the article indicates. Plus there's the biofouling factor in the Detroit river (versus clean laboratory water - albeit I'm sure the researchers took this into account). I doubt the claim in the article that they will be cheaper than wind power (solar maybe). In any case, it will be interesting to see the results from the initial trial, especially on the economic feasibility front.

Sony Webbie HD Camera

Via instapundit: "Kind of like an HD version of the Flip Video camera, only from Sony, and still under 200 bucks. The proliferation of these cheap cameras can only be a good thing for the blogosphere." I've been looking to replace my Canon GL1 prosumer camcorder. Never used it as much as I thought I would. HD camcorders have been around for a little bit, but finding one that does 1080p is tough. This one does it. With 16 and 32GB cards available, you can film many hours. The only downside is the picture quality. MP4 isn't exactly mpeg-2 (dvd quality). But you really can't beat what you get for the price.