Category Archives: Food

Food, Security

Biometric Surveillance Proven on Penguins

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Uniqueness and patterns in penguin breast feathers have been used by a video surveillance system to monitor tens of thousands of the birds, according to the BBC:

Professor Barham said: “We set a camera up in a location where the penguins will regularly walk past on their way to or from the sea.

“Every image that the camera processes is then sent back to a computer.”

The software has been trained to recognise if there are any penguins in the camera’s field of vision. If there are, it looks at the spot patterns to determine whether it is a bird that it recognises or new penguin. It then records and ID number and the date, time and location of the sighting.

How do the scientists prove uniqueness? Naturally the system will be soon discussed in terms of leopards, zebras, cheetahs and other patterned animals. Even if humans do not have uniquely patterned feathers or fur, it seems to me this technology will eventually make its way into correlation engines that can track a suspect with certain features and provide a single storyline across multiple cameras. On the other end of the spectrum, pun not intended, humans are getting more savvy at using infrared LED to completely disguise themselves from night-vision surveillance. This defensive maneuver might prevent identification of the person, but a pattern-matching system perhaps would still be able to track and report on that person’s movements.

While the privacy debate continues around video surveillance, the BBC also reports that audio surveillance has started to be integrated into camera systems:

Dr David Brown, from the University of Portsmouth, said: “The visual-recognition software will be able to identify visual patterns but for the next stage we want to get the camera to pivot if it hears a certain type of sound.

“So, if in a car park someone smashes a window, the camera would turn to look at them and the camera operator would be alerted.

This seems a reduction of usefulness, in some ways, as sounds are often a distraction more than an aid. If you read the article you will find some optimism for pattern-matching technology. For example, the researchers plan to be able to detect breaking glass versus other sounds. They do not mention if someone throwing a bottle would actually be a simple defensive measure to divert the camera. And what if you throw the bottle at the same time that you break a window?

I would love to test these systems.

Food, History, Security

St. Louis voted best tasting tap water

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What’s the name of that guy in Dr. Strangelove with the obsession about rainwater? General Jack D. Ripper?

A station in St. Louis, KWMU, has alerted America to a water quality and anti-bottle campaign called “Think Outside the Bottle”. No, this is not just a marketing campaign for babies:

“It’s really a great idea on a few fronts: one, it’s saving taxpayer dollars; two, we have the best-tasting water in the country, and we’re encouraging our city employees, city citizens and citizens from around the region and visitors to use our tap water,” [St. Louis mayor’s environmental aide] Embree said.

During the 2007 U.S. Conference of Mayors St. Louis’ tap water was voted the best tasting.

They forgot to mention the war on terror. What modern politician could forget the war on terror as a reason to take action? Save the environment? Save taxpayer dollars? Do it for the taste or your health? What kind of Communists, oops I mean terrorists, are we dealing with here? Ol’ Ripper said it like this:

A foreign substance is introduced into our precious bodily fluids without the knowledge of the individual. Certainly without any choice. That’s the way your hard-core Commie works.

Today it would be terrorists. Those terrorist bottle companies leeching foreign substances…someone needs to launch an air-strike and protect America from “the most monstrously conceived and dangerous [terrorist] plot we have ever had to face”.

Wait, isn’t there already a Homeland Security alert on bottles?

Food, History, Poetry, Security

Senator opposes sale of Budweiser (manuf) to foreigners

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This is a classic Onion comment:

Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) has vowed to stop the sale of Budweiser manufacturer Anheuser-Busch to Belgian-Brazilian company ImBev. What do you think?

“Might I suggest that Sen. McCaskill actually try drinking a Budweiser before making any rash decisions? That’s what I usually do.”

Heh, too clever. Apparently she has already done that.

What’s the brew-ha ha over the sale of this company to a foreign one? I think first they should consider admitting formally to the original Budweiser manufacturer in Europe that they stole the name…then we can talk about the risk of European ownership.

Energy, Food, Security

Honda fuel cell…yawn

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I know, I should be excited about fuel cells. The Governor of California says it is important, but I honestly do not see them playing any significant role for many decades to come. The AP has posted a story that includes the bad news with the good:

The biggest obstacles standing in the way of wider adoption of fuel cell vehicles are cost and the dearth of hydrogen fuel stations. For the Clarity’s release in California, Honda said it received 50,000 applications through its website but could only consider those living near stations in Torrance, Santa Monica and Irvine.

Initially, however, the Clarity will go only to a chosen few starting July and then launch in Japan this fall.

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has called for a statewide network of hydrogen stations, but progress has been slow.

No kidding. He might as well have called for statewide adoption of unicorns. Where are these expensive hydrogen stations going to come from? Big oil? Energy companies? Ha.

The state has also recently relaxed a mandate for the number of zero-emission cars it aims to have on roads. By 2014, automakers must now sell 7,500 electric and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, a reduction of 70 percent.

Talk is cheap, obviously. Why reduce the pressure for demand? Hydrogen is a pipe dream since it requires a massive investment in infrastructure technology that does not even exist yet. Diesel, on the other hand, could achieve similar results with technology that is present today and does not require a change of heart for the oligopoly of big energy companies. Perhaps I should say oil-gopoly?

The US energy department paints a pessimistic picture for hydrogen fueling stations:

If hydrogen were priced to provide cost parity with conventional vehicles, most hydrogen infrastructure stakeholders could turn a profit in the long run, but break-even would not be achieved for many years.

Unconventional approaches are needed to improve capacity factors and reduce the capital cost of the hydrogen infrastructure, especially in the early years of infrastructure development.

Here is a real shocker, for example:

Utilizing existing excess hydrogen capacity can result in significant capital investment reductions in the early years. These cost reductions need to be examined on a regional basis, for example, in the Midwest, 50 percent of the population is within 100 miles of an existing hydrogen plant.

If you want the fuel, you will have to live in low-value industrial regions like those favored by giant chemical plants (e.g. ammonia). Sound like a good trade-off to you? Do you want to live next to an oil refinery to get petroleum into your car? No, of course not. Again, diesel needs only natural sources of oil such as plants, animals and minerals nearby. Imagine living near a forest, or restaurants, or a coast-line with algae, or even a desert with algae for that matter. I see the hydrogen generation/transportation problems many decades away from being solved, or presenting a suitable model.