sleeping amazon
Bird balls prevent urban cancer water
LA’s Ivanhoe Reservoir contains millions of gallons of drinking water for LA residents. In the summer, however, problem presents itself: the water can potentially become contaminated with bromate (depending on daily outbound flow rates, one would presume), which is a natural reaction between solar light, chlorine (a treatment chemical) and naturally-occurring bromide.
Seeing how chlorine is a necessary treatment additive and the bromide is a natural element within the water, Ivanhoe officials got creative and decided to keep sunlight away from the water by dropping over 3 million black spheres (called bird balls) into the reservoir. This effectively created an opaque layer atop the water that serves as a solar shield, which eliminates the solar component of the reaction. Problem solved. Yay, right?
Check out a video of the action here.
But allow me to think out loud for a second: Ivanhoe is preventing the formation of a carcinogen by interrupting the photochemical reaction that forms bromate, the threat in question. But is anyone thinking about the potential toxicity of millions of plastic balls leeching into the drinking water supply, especially millions of black balls that take the beating of the LA sun all summer? To me, this seems like you could be trading one problem for another.
A bunch more photos at Curbed.
(via Unfiltered)
After Every Apple Keynote, We Get This
I know Apple memes go viral incredibly quickly and all, but can we just have one major Apple event without everyone speculating that Steve Jobs is sick?
In 2006 the same thing was speculated, and not just by one source. There were a few murmurs of it in 2007, and this year it’s back with a vengeance.
I know that tens of billions of market cap dollars rest on Steve’s position at the helm of Apple, but perhaps Steve has changed his diet? He seems, given what we all know about his lifestyle at a meta level, to be the sort of guy who would investigate a CR-based diet to extend his health and longevity. Or perhaps we’ve all forgotten what a lean person looks like. And let’s not forget the man is in his mid-50s, and there’s this thing called natural aging. Has anyone heard of it?
I know I’m adding to the meme with this very post, but to me, Steve didn’t look unhealthy, just thin.
Cancer Free Tobacco! (Sort of)
Philip Morris is funding research into engineering the carcinogens out of tobacco.
In large-scale field trials, they compared the levels of N-nitrosonornicotine, a chemical known as NNN, between GM tobacco plants and a control group. They found a six-fold decrease in NNN and a 50 percent overall drop in a whole class of nasty substances known as tobacco-specific nitrosamines.
