BlogOfTheMoon

Tuesday, April 26, 2005

Hydrogen and other gases

On the assumption that nuclear fusion and fuel cells will become very important sources of energy over the course of the next century, a major question becomes where we get the hydrogen to power this stuff from? Ironically, the most common element in the universe is a bit of a bugger to extract in large quantities. However, it seems that a potential new source has become available – bacteria working on biomatter, which could be quite useful, although it seems that carbon dioxide is a byproduct, which is a potential drawback.

I've been rather quiet about the upcoming general election over the past few weeks. This is mainly because I don't really have an awful lot to say about it. I'm watching it closely, I'm making an attempt to read the manifestos (I've already read the Lib Dems' one) and I will vote on 5th May. Nothing that the Labour or Conservative parties have said have made me even consider for a moment voting for them at the moment, and I'm already resigned to my vote making absolutely no difference at all in the very safe Labour seat of Glasgow North West (at least, it was safe when it was Glasgow Anniesland).

Sunday, April 03, 2005

First and second thoughts on the new Doctor Who

Having had two episodes and a week to reflect, the Wee Man from Strabane, he say Yes :-). Although there is dissent on the iO forum, I think that the new Who is shaping up to be fantastic, with both Billie Piper and Christoper Eccleston being excellent leads. In particular, Eccleston's ability to move from manic to nasty to portentous in a believably 'alien' way marks him out as a potentially great Doctor. This makes it all the more depressing that he's leaving after just a single season in the TARDIS. Billie Piper, on the other hand is staying, and I'm actually finding myself glad of that, since she's turning out to be a great companion. She's believably human, mostly sensible and not nearly as annoying as I feared.

In other news, the Pope is dead. I don't have any particular views on this. He was pope for my whole life, so I don't really have anyone to compare him to. I've heard it said that he was a very spiritual man. This may be the case, but he was also an arch-conservative and had an attitude to women in the church, contraception and other things that was incomprehensible to me. Maybe his successor will change things, but somehow, I can't see it.

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