links for 2009-07-30

  • There's really nothing not to like about this.
  • In ordering the release of the boy—held captive in a cage under the hot Cuban sun since the age of 12, who "confessed" after being tortured—she described the federal government's case against him as "an outrage" that's "riddled with holes."
    (tags: terrorism bush)
  • Plot your weight now and your desired weight on a chart, with time on the X axis. Draw a line between the two. Weigh yourself every day. If that point on the graph is below the line, eat anything you want. If it's above the line, it's a diet-eating day for you.
    (tags: health)
  • David Pogue is sick and tired of telcos’ "here's how to use voicemail" instructions that precede the beep (it's 2009, for god's sake), so he's starting a campaign to convince the phone companies to get rid of them.
    (tags: telephone)
  • People are finally figuring out that, in much of the country, having a black roof is just dumb. (A black *asphalt* roof doubly so. On the next really hot day, try walking across the sidewalk barefoot, then try taking a few steps on asphalt. Your feet will make the difference clear.) Paint your roof white—or make it out of shiny metal—and you'll reduce your cooling bills enormously.
    (tags: energy)
  • Kris Amundson and Chris Saxman—both retiring this year—look back on what they learned in their time in the General Assembly.
    (tags: legislature)

Published by Waldo Jaquith

Waldo Jaquith (JAKE-with) is an open government technologist who lives near Char­lottes­­ville, VA, USA. more »

5 replies on “links for 2009-07-30”

  1. I still wonder how effective a white roof would be for me. I pay more to heat my home and use more therms of natural gas than electricity. Plus, if you have attic insulation of R40 or greater is it going to make a big difference? Seems to me a hot roof is just heating the air inside the attic, but if you have good insulation much of that heat transfer is reduced between the conditioned and unconditioned space. And if you have a cooler roof in Winter, how does that affect snow and ice accumulation on your roof? Maybe they can make one that will change colors by the season.

  2. I pay more to heat my home, too, but I think you and are I exceptions from the Virginia norm. (My [rental] house is only insulated in one room, strangely.) Having recently participated in the drawn-out process of designing our new house, I’ve learned that most attics are not well sealed-off from the rest of the house, meaning that having a cooler (or hotter) attic can really make a difference. Even serious attic insulation, though, is far from perfect—hence the current trend of conditioning the attic space, including that in the house’s envelope—so helping to keep it cooler is bound to help.

    There’s a lot to be said for the notion of a color changing roof. I’d want a chameleon-like one, turning black in cold and white in heat. At 72° it might be a flat gray, at 50° black, and at 90° white. Man, if somebody could develop one of those out of a long-lasting, nanomechanical material, that’d be a real boon to this country’s energy usage.

  3. There’s a lot to be said for the notion of a color changing roof.

    Good idea! I’d love to have a roof that changes color by the season, at least.

    I’d want a chameleon-like one, turning black in cold and white in heat. At 72° it might be a flat gray, at 50° black, and at 90° white.

    Probably feasible, but I question the pragmatics. Wouldn’t it have a negative feedback loop that would keep it from being very effective? If the ambient temperature is cold, the material turns black and absorbs sunlight, growing hot—and then it turns lighter. :-/

  4. “negative feedback loop”

    Just have the “thermostat” or “thermometer” somewhere apart from the roof, thereby negating the ambient temperature?

  5. @Meri: That would only work if the material’s thermal absorptivity could be controlled by an extrinsic mechanism, perhaps an electrical current. Waldo’s imagined substance responds directly to heat, which is where the problem lies.

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