Dear Mr Bentley;

Thank you so much for your email informing me that, as of the end of September, my utilities prices will be increasing by the tune of 42% for gas and 21% for electricity. Your considerate action in passing me this information has already given me a warm glow that will doubtless keep me cozy through the coming winter months, and it is on behalf of the elderly I would like to express particular gratitude, for they will surely benefit even more than myself.

I look forward to the follow-up email at the end of the present financial year which will inform me that your salary and bonuses have been decreased by a similar percentage; a mean value of the two should be about 30%, I would estimate. Please be forewarned that should I not receive such an email, or should I hear that, once again, your company has posted record profits for the year, you should look forward to a gift from me in the post in the form of a large packet of fresh Caribbean sea urchins. To derive full enjoyment from these, be sure to grasp the packet in both hands and squeeze as hard as possible.

Yours sincerely

Paul Graham Raven

Here’s another first at VCTB – the first time I’ve bothered reposting something I saw on YouTube.

Being an incorrigible science fiction reader, and leaning toward the harder end of the spectrum, I’ve heard plenty about nanofactories (or ‘replicators’, or ‘fabbers’ as they are sometimes called). But to actually see a visualisation of how one would work was pretty inspirational. Continue reading “A tour of a nanofactory”

Okay, looks like this evening I veer somewhat into politics by way of futurism, but this is an issue that I can’t avoid posting about. Continue reading “Why Tony Blair loves nuclear power”

You know how it is; you’re out cruising the town on your lowrider bike or skateboard or Segway or whatever, and your damn iPod runs out of juice. Continue reading “Solar-power denim jacket”

Thank whatever deities you choose to believe in that someone in this country talks sense, even if it’s not the politicians. Continue reading “UK scientists say ‘Solar, not nuclear’”

I love the library where I work, but to tell the truth it’s an ugly late sixties concrete monstrosity that’s about as eco-friendly as a petrol-powered breezeblock. Continue reading “Energy-efficient Library”

Nature.com reports on Rusi Taleyarkhan of Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, who is once again courting controversy with his claims for the efficacy of ultrasound to induce fusion in the form of collapsing bubbles in deuterium enriched acetone. Continue reading “Tabletop Fusion gets another crack of the whip”

Sterling D. Allan, in contrast to a lot of the more doom-laden 2006-prediction posts out there at the moment, has some encouraging insights into what the next year might hold as far as efficient and clean sources of energy are concerned. Continue reading “High hopes for clean energy sources”