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Niue (I had to look it up, too) will become the first country to launch the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) initiative. The goal is to be the first country in the world for every child, all 6 of them?, to have a laptop. The population of the whole island is less than 1,700.

In truth, there are about 500 students in both Niue primary and high schools. The laptops are the students for life and are their library to the world said Jimmie Rodgers, the director general of the Secretariat of the Pacific Community.

The laptops cost about $200 and 5,000 of them have been ear marked for the Pacific. Education is a good thing. For a child to have access to the world’s information is a grand thing … until they ask, “What’s McDonald’s?” And want to know other such things Western as might spoil their paradise in the south Pacific.

Of course, education is not just having access to info but being able to discern which info is credible and relevant to the learner. No?

Dang it! These animal Olympic events weren’t on my TV sked and I am afraid I missed them. How come all the good stuff gets by me? Okay, how come most everything gets by me?

There is the Bear High Bar Gymnastic Event.

Pygmy Loris Climbing

Elephant Soccer

Goat Riding

What do you think about using animals for entertainment purposes? Maybe the animals could get a kick out of watching us perform.

Question – What did the one alligator say to the other after eating a missionary?

Answer – I love these people. They are soft on the outside and crunchy on the inside.

What was the coolest year, in the last 5 years? The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has the answer and apparently 2008 is. Even though we’re above historical averages after the first 6 months, the forecast is clear and temperatures will be the coolest of the past five years.

I don’t think this is something encouraging, because the Earth is still globally warming. The recent lower figures are attributed to La Nina (“the little girl” in Spannish) which followed the warmer El Nino. However, Climate scientists caution that La Nina is weakening and the second part of the year could become much warmer than expected.

Greenhouse gas emissions are still there and causing global warming so we shouldn’t celebrate as the past decade was the hottest of all times (or at least since 1850 when they started recording).

How is/was the weather in your part of the world?

Image courtesy of robertoriccobelli

Bus shelters are already useful because they keep people safe against rain or wind, but the guys at Fuel Miami, LLC decided, there’s room for improvement. So they did! The first 600 solar bus shelters will be delivered in Miami and will allow the company to show their clients’ ads without the need of being connected to the grid.

Saving about 2 tones a day of CO2, this may not be the big step in fighting global warming we’ve all been expecting, but we all know it takes babies steps to grow big. What can these solar bus shelters change? They could start with the advertisers to making them more eco-friendly or eco-conscious.

Don’t think the cost is a problem, but I’m more interested in knowing if the vandals would see it as a magnet or not. What happens when those photovoltaic cells broke, who’s going to pay for the repairs? Is that sustainable and at the same time, profitable?

via Ecolocalizer (Image courtesy of Tony Worrall)

We always salute those that build something thinking about the way it affects the environment we live in. However, the big surprise is that the Chinese are doing it close to Shanghai.

In a 100-meter deep quarry the guys at Atkins designed the eco-luxury Songjiang Hotel that will use geothermal technology to generate electricity and hot water.

The great advantage is that no land had to be leveled or destroyed and the quarry itself is going to act as a natural shelter against natural forces and elements. Aside from its stunning design, it’s going to be located in a lovely scenery surrounded by water that includes waterfalls and an amazing underwater aquarium.

Do you think the Songjiang Hotel, will soon become (when completely built) one of the best in China? Could be!

So, I wonder. How many points does Google want for throwing pocket change at an alternate fuel technology? The giant search engine machine pledged “10 million U.S. dollars in Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS) technology, as part of its Renewable Energy Cheaper than Coal initiative. ”

Two geothermal tech start-ups and a university will benefit from the grant. “EGS expands the potential of traditional geothermal energy by orders of magnitude,” said Google.org. EGS has the potential to provide clean renewable electricity 24/7, at a cost cheaper than coal.

AltaRock (cool name will get you money) Energy will get $6.25 million and Potter Drilling will get $4.25 million. SMU will get a grant of $489,521 (nice round number). Australia, Germany and the European Union are the technology leaders.  All 50 states have thermal resources accessible by EGS. Just gotta dig down and plug in. Or we can Iceland and/or Mitsubishi to see how they do it.

But, $10 million from a company that makes a profit of over $1 billion quarterly. That’s like a man with $4,000 to do go with giving away just $10 and hoping to make a difference.

Ever wonder what a polar bear has for dessert? Wonder no more. This polar bear at Osaka’s Tennoji Zoo is getting a summer retreat and a reprieve from the summer heat.

I had an apple for breakfast this morning. Thank goodness my wife didn’t stick it in an ice cube, an ice cube the size of a freezer at that!

So, how’s this fellow going to get this treat I wonder? Wait for global warming to set in. Chomp at it, belly it down to size? Is this maltreatment of animals? Or are we having fun? What do you think?

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Sure enough, if Batman had a cat it would likely be this little fellow. Or, if a cat wanted to hang out with Batman … then … wait!! Is that you Catwoman?

Apparently, the woman in the pic found this little feline being passed around in a Chicago bar and decided to take him home. Is she Catwoman?

Yoda is the cat’s name and HE has four ears, two of them Batman like and all of them Catwoman like. Angelia Jolie has been hanging out with porn star Tera Patrick, to learn lessons on how to be Catwoman. Maybe, just maybe, what Angelina needs is a Catman. And, maybe this little fellow is the dude she needs.

Batman!!! Are you reading this?

Nils Olav is a penguin. But not just any penguin. Everything started in 1972 at the Edinburgh Zoo in Scotland during the Edinburgh Military Tattoo, the annual military music festival, when the penguin became a mascot of the King’s Guard.

The name, he got it from lieutenant Nils Egelien who declared him an honorary member of the military and after Olav V., king at the date. Even though the penguin died, every time he was replaced and kept the name, the notoriety and the rank. The Nils Olav of today is the third penguin which in 2005 got promoted from regimental sergeant major to honorary colonel-in-chief of the elite Norwegian King’s Guard.

After lots of medals for good conduct and long service, Nils Olav became the most royal of all penguin on Friday after a knighthood ceremony at the Zoo. With a fanfare behind and escorted by the King’s Guard Color Detachment, he inspected the troops and stopped to crane his neck at every little detail before moving forward. He was thorough.

On behalf of Norway’s King Harald V, British Maj. Gen. Euan Loudon took care of taking off the colonel-in-chief badge and wrap the new one to its flipper. Nils Olav will be a SIR now.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zr4VLMAEZ-E[/youtube]

Aye aye sir!

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The Goddard Space Flight Center under NASA has concluded that declines in rainfall on the eastern seaboard countries of Africa – Ethiopia, Malawi, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe, happened because of irregularities in the transport of moisture between the ocean and land.

Computer models and observations over a half century were analyzed and the result – eastern Africa rainfall has declined by 15% since the 1980s. Rainfall and temperature increases over the ocean were also linked to a rainfall decline.

“We can be quite certain that the decline in rainfall has been substantial and will continue to be,” said a co-researcher, ” This 15-percent decrease every 20-25 years is likely to continue.”

He’s not only a climatologists (fancy word for weather guesser) he is also a prophet. Tell me, how can a weatherman who cannot predict the temps next week know what the weather will be like in 20-25 years? He can’t do it.

Meanwhile, East African umbrella making companies are hoping for a second opinion.

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