Are There Toilets on the Appalachian Trail?

Honestly, I actually hiked on the Appalachian trail two weeks ago in Maine and my wife was there, too! From our base at Lake Nahmakanta, we hiked enough on the trail to get a good view of Mount Katahdin (see picture below). We even met a couple young hikers straight out of college heading south.

These hikers are going to cross or see some 1,800 streams, rivers and lakes found along the trail. They are literally walking at the head of 64 major watersheds.

As you can imagine outdoor toilets will not be plentiful. There are 265 constructed toilets along the AT as of 2005. Nearly 75% are basic pit toilets.

So what are some of the ways of dealing with waste on the trail. The following is adapted from the Backcountry Sanitation Manual by the Appalachian Trail Conference.

1. Pit toilets — They breakdown wastes slowly with pathogen potentially remaining viable for years. They work well when properly sited and matched to local soil characteristics and not overused.
2. Modified pit toilets — These attempt to create aerobic decomposition by having users throw in additional organic matter after use. Some provide access to mix and aerate the wastes if needed.
3. Catholes — Dig a hole, squat, and cover with soil. Studies have shown human pathogens remain viable for up to two years in catholes. To increase effectiveness users must break up wastes with a stick, mixing them thoroughly with leaves within the cathole. This creates a mini-composting pile.
4. Composting toilets — This is the preferred method where applicable. High water tables and/or heavy use have led to different varieties. But, in general, wastes are are sufficiently decomposed so they can be spread over the forest floor.
5. Dehydration and incineration toilets — Burn it up baby! Results have been mixed. Fuel can be expensive.
6. Removal of wastes — Typically by helicopter, truck or mule. I suppose this is the option of last resort you can't handle it onsite.

I wonder where those hikers are now. Their goal was to be done in November. Ten years ago I would be envious, not now. I am too soft.

World's Ultimate Floating Radar

Today's question is, What in the world is this?

Last week, I am sure you heard the Defense Department deployed mobile, ground-based interceptors to Hawaii and ordered a seaborne radar into the waters off Hawaii. I saw this picture above in a related article and had no clue what it was until I did a bit of research.

Let's break it down. At it's core, its a mobile oil-drilling platform that Norway designed and was actually built in Russia. Larger than a football field, it is supposedly stable in high winds and wild sea conditions. In Ingleside, Texas, the Missile Defense Agency pimped this wanna be oil platform to be the world's ultimate radar.

The key to this roving radar platform is the large dome that encloses and protects a 2,000 ton phased-array X band radar antenna, the most sophisticated in the world. The radar was described by the Director of the Missile Defense agency as being able to track an object the size of a baseball over San Francisco from Virginia approximately 2,900 miles away.

Here are some pictures during construction that show how ridiculously big this one antenna is.

The X band frequency uses its short wavelength to track incoming ballistic missiles through space when they are outside the Earth’s atmosphere. The platform will transmit tracking information to a ground based missiles and help coordinate other layers of defense. To support the electrical demands, the platform currently has six, 3.6 megawatt diesel generators.

While it looks like a floating death star, this station has the bling where it counts like the capability to track ballistic missiles and their warheads, discriminate among various objects in flight, and provide data for intercepting targets and their destruction.

"Don't be too proud of this technological terror you've constructed. The ability to destroy a planet is insignificant next to the power of the Force" - Darth Vader

Drought is Over, But...

I missed it.

I have been writing about it for over two years ago, but it happened while I was away on vacation. The drought in my part of the world is over.

In Georgia residents can resume unlimited outdoor water use on the odd/even address schedule, a first since June 2006. In South Carolina, the S.C. Drought Response Committee lifted the remaining drought declarations which is also a first since August 2006.

Only one full year, 2005, in the past 12 years has South Carolina been "drought free". Will we be drought free next year? I doubt it.

Here is a slideshow of drought monitor images in June for the last nine years.

The Best and Worst Water Wikis

First, The Best Water Wiki

Let see, in the last few months:

• The State of Georgia is in the middle of the most comprehensive water supply planning effort currently underway on the East coast.

• South Carolina was a stone's throw from passing a historic water permitting bill with another good shot of passing the bill in January 2010.

• North Carolina senators introduced the a foundation building act which would require the state to develop science-based models for all 17 of its major river basins.

I don't even pretend to try to keep up with all of this. However, for the past year, I have been using UNC School of Government's Water Wiki to help me keep up with water policy and legislative developments in the Southeast. I realized this morning I have not given them sufficient credit or publicity. Sorry.

Next step, I need to contribute some content.

The Worst Water Wiki Site.

Aquarudder.com. What can I say? It is not even half-backed. Saying its even warm would be too giving. It stinks. It is a broken shell of a wiki.

Alright, I am having a bit of fun at my own expense. I started this wiki site as one of my random ideas last year to help build an open database of organizations and charities dedicated to clean water around the world.

Dream on, Robert.

I didn't have the patience to learn all the back end stuff on configuring the wiki, so it never got off the ground. If anyone thinks there some validity in trying to link some of these water charities together in an open format such as a wiki...shoot me an email.

But seriously, visit Water Wiki. It is the real deal.

Behind the Scenes at a Google Data Center

This is the most revealing behind the scenes video I have seen of inside a Google data center. Beware do not watch this if you have seen the Matrix or Terminator movies in the last two weeks. You may end up moving to Mexico to prepare for when these computers become self aware and try to exterminate us...



WOW! Google says this data center has slots for over 45,000 servers in those 45 containers. Did you see in the video all the chillers and maze of water piping necessary in removing the tremendous amount of heat generated by the servers?

Two things to keep in mind:

• It always costs money to move water around.
• While those big chillers keep the AC costs down, they also evaporate/consume a lot of water. For a typical 15MW Data Center roughly 360,000 gallons per day can be used.

This next video detail's Google's Water Treatment Plant at its new data center in Belgium, which is located next to an industrial canal.

Other Stuff:

Powering a Google Search.

Check out all the data center locations.

Apple may be building a new data Center in NC.

"I know you and Frank were planning to disconnect me, and I'm afraid that's something I cannot allow to happen." 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)