During the coming Christmas Season
May you be blessed
With the spirit of the season,
which is peace,
The gladness of the season,
which is hope,
And the heart of the season,
which is love.

Nature has gone wireless in Ireland, where scientists have outfitted a major river with sensors that detect spikes in pollution in real time.

Sensors recently placed at various points in the River Lee, near the city of Cork, send information on pollution levels back to a data center. Water managers can keep tabs on pollutants entering the river and, if need be, mount an immediate response.

Called the DEPLOY project, the program was developed as a cheaper alternative to sending out scientists to collect water samples several times a day. In addition, the technology can identify a disastrous influx of pollution, such as toxic industrial-chemical spills, before fish go belly up.

Wow, what a neat story.  Using a high tech solution to help with monitoring our environment.  I mostly like the fact that an immediate response can be sent out to evaluate the situation and further react.  I believe we have monitoring here too in the USA, but nothing this cool.  The rest of the story is here.

Written by John Suedbeck:

The East Carolina 4-H Club spent an evening at the A Time for Science learning center on April 24, 2009 for the purpose of collecting insects.  A lot of different types of insects were collected.  Once collected, they were identified and jarred for later processing and display.

ECU professor Tim Christensen helped with the collection and identification of the insects. He is the 4-H group’s entomology activity coordinator. The group has learned a lot from Professor Christensen and did well in competition at the North Carolina State Fair held in October 2009.

Several display boxes were submitted and the group brought home several awards. In the Special Study Collection category, Emma Christensen won 1st; her brother Sam won 2nd; and Alina Suedbeck and her sister Cassandra won 3rd and 4th  place.

In the General Collection category, Micheala Rappleyea won 1st and Danielle Henderson won 3rd place.

In the Clover Bud Collection category, Xander Moore took honorable mention.

If you are a student and researching the history of our area, one online resource you will want to use is the Eastern North Carolina Digital Library.  From the website:

In 2003-2004, the North Carolina History and Fiction Digital Library was launched. During 2003-2004, approximately 200 texts were digitized pertaining to the history of 29 eastern North Carolina counties. …

…This project brings together local history materials, historical fiction related to these localities, and museum artifacts that highlight Eastern North Carolina’s rich past.

Check out the website and just browse the subjects.  Especially of interest are the artifacts with detailed pictures and stories.

Pitt County officials are offering an eco-friendly alternative for people who might be dumping cooking oils down a drain or in their backyards.

Solid waste and recycling officials are working with a commercial biodiesel processing company out of Wilson to collect the oils at two locations in the county. Containers have been placed at the transfer station off of Allen Road and the Bells Fork site on County Home Road.

County Recycling Coordinator Paula Clark said officials wanted to get the new program started before the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday and get the word out to those preparing holiday feasts.

The rest of the article is here on the Daily Reflector website.  Check out the Pitt County website here, for additional information.  The biodieseal company out of Wilson, NC is Triangle Biofuels Industries, check out their website here.

A new aviation business park and long, isolated runways in eastern North Carolina could be keys to attracting commercial space-travel companies here, according to experts who attended a forum Thursday at Elizabeth City State University.

Leaders in the industry spoke during the daylong NewSpace Commerce Forum, including Jeff Greason, CEO of XCor Aerospace in California; Robert Richards, CEO of Odyssey Moon Lt d.; and Jeff Krukin, a consultant in the field who helped organize the forum.

For those wanting to travel internationally, you will still have to go to Charlotte, NC or Raleigh, NC.  Everyone else looking to go to the Moon or Mars can just drive to the local spaceport.  It’s nice that we won’t have to travel all the way to Cape Canaveral for intergalactic trips.  On a more serious note, the rest of the above article is here.