Heat Capacity

The Israeli-Lebanese war has been a long history. It didn't just originate from the capturing of two Israeli soldiers. If ever, I would say that Israel is just reacting exaggeratedly. Imagine, for the justice of two lives Israel would sacrifice more Israeli lives? But, that's not how the story goes. This war is really getting the world's attention and its reaction as well. So, what do you say about it? What can you say about bombings and children dying? Or, children (as in CHILDREN) getting themselves involved in this senseless war?

Summer is the season for bathing suits, cheap designer sunglasses, perfect tan, white sand beaches, and fire accidents. According to the National Geographic Channel, forest fires happen during summer when the temperature is hottest. There are plants and stuff in the forest, like the cogon plant, that burst into flames easily due to the high temperature. In average households, overheat of electric appliances causes the fire. Therefore, people must consider that summer is also a season for devastating accidents.

So we've been reading some fire-prevention tips in different websites to know what we can do to be better prepared. "Is your home a safe house?" asks the Firegov website threateningly, as though every household in the State is a palace for Damien Thorn's ancestors. The fire page suggests, "do not smoke cigars in bed", but this is not a problem for us because nobody smokes in the family. Take precautionary action while inside the kitchen to avoid cooking accidents. "That's impossible," said Dwayne looking at me. "Moms cooking is always an accident."

Keep the keys for windows and doors in a box so you can find them easily. I know the importance of keys, but why do you need to put them in a "box"? "Maybe... because you're clueless where the keys are even when there's no fire and the pillars aren't falling down?" guessed Dwayne. The fire page says that you should take care when you're drunk or you're tired. I'm not sure if the author of the page was too tired or drunk when he wrote this.

My brother, Dwayne, has always been fascinated with animals. His interest with wild beasts gives me a creepy feeling that I'll be having a boa constrictor for a sister-in-law. But I think the boa got herself a rival. Dwayne's currently engrossed with an article about a thermal grease designed to preserve the coolness of personal computers. Between a boa or a grease in the family, I prefer to kill Dwayne.

"A thermal grease or paste is a compound that helps promote good conduction of heat between two surfaces," said Dwayne in his usual sleep-inducing voice. "These pastes are usually placed between the microprocessor and the heatsink. Some fast computer processors are curved and they have air gaps between them, which weakens the cooling performance of the heatsinks. You use the grease to close the gaps by applying it on both the heatsink and the microprocessors."

"Can you use the grease to cool one's head?" I asked out of curiosity.

Ever the geek, Dwayne explained that the grease comes in two types: the conductive and non-conductive. The conductive type contains silver, copper and aluminum, so it should be used carefully because it can cause electric shocks when applied to computers. On the other hand, the non-conductive type is composed of zinc and silicone so you can't use them for the human body.

If boredom is a huge guy that wears black-framed glasses, I think his name is Dwayne. Dwayne is my youngest brother who enjoys watching the Animal Planet. I know nothing's bad in watching those kind of shows, but a normal 21-year-old guy would rather watch the FIFA World Cup telecast than watch a documentary about meerkats. "Can meerkats play soccer?" I asked him.

"Nope, but they can dig deep holes," he mumbled, his eyes still focused on the merry animals playing a game of tug-of-war in the soil.

According to Dwayne, these desert animals are the smallest members of the mongoose family. Their appearance is very different from other mongooses because of their brown spots and stripes. They are commonly seen in South and Southwest Africa, however, there are also those that thrive near the Kalahari desert. They dig holes under the African land to keep away from the heat of the sun and avoid predators like hyenas, lions, venomous snakes, and wild boars. Meerkats are surprisingly sociable animals, but of course, you can't have them as pets. They live under the ground to form mobs and gangs and find food like bugs and insects. They don't need water that much because they get their moisture from the juicy insects that they eat.

My brother, Dwayne aside from watching the Animal Planet is also engross with the National Geographic Channel. On any given day, you'll find him sitting in front of our high definition television, eyes set on the intellectually-grueling channel. I often sit beside him with my book. I don't mind the nauseating voice of the narrator. I watch such shows like a goldfish watches TV. My brain processes geographic terms in the same way it processes credit card bills.

This time, my brother is watching a documentary about the Danakil desert in Africa. A man wearing a jungle outfit narrates, "This depression found in the northern Ethiopia is the hottest and lowest surface of the Earth." The TV is showing us men loading lots of huge, white blocks to their camels. "What's that they're digging?" I asked.

"Salt," mumbled Dwayne. Ever the nerd, my brother launched to a sleep-inducing explanation that Danakil, a vast, hot area is also a landscape full of salt. For the people who live there, salt mining is their main source of income. Temperatures in the place can reach as high as 50° C. Volcanic cones and deep cracks in the earth are common sights in the place. Instead of rain, hundreds of small earthquakes attack the place every year.

I love elephants especially those that live in the Namib desert. I like them when they're huge so I can use them as effective weapons for moron destruction. If you've seen the Lord of The Rings: The Return of the King, and some Xbox 360 games, you'll know what I mean. I know animal conservationists will think that I'm a cruel, vile, asshole to use elephants to destroy idiots. I know I am, so I'll murder those shitty conservationists too.

Elephants are more intelligent than humans. I'm amazed with their parenting skills because they know how to stomp on their kid's head when the nasty, little bastard put a toe out of line. They put their kids under the shade when the heat is too hazardous for their skin. They're smart enough to steal other animals' food and kick their asses if they refuse. Kicking ass is my favorite past time, so I guess elephants will really make good pets. I'll teach them tricks like using their massive tusks to bully people who annoy me.

Most of these monsters are found in the Atlantic Ocean Coast of Namibia. The Namib desert, considered as the oldest desert in the world is a home for almost 1,000 elephants. People said they're endangered, which makes them more interesting if they're my pets.

Have you ever heard of a place called desert botanical garden? I think those people who coined this name for a place are silly, twisted fools who eat cactus for breakfast. To me, it sounds like holy Josh Groban is singing Eminem's The Real Slim Shady.

Case in point: A desert is no longer a desert if it has a garden, either botanical or herbal.
According to Britannica.com, a desert is a wide, barren area with a thinly scattered vegetation. I must admit that plants can grow in deserts too, but those plants are mostly cacti and dried desert flowers. On the other hand, a botanical garden is a collection of living plants that depict relationships within plant groups. The only garden I know that exist in deserts are mostly cactus farms. See, they didn't call them cactus botanical farm, unless they want to confuse people who frequently visit the place.

I've read this term in a website about (sigh!), a beautiful garden in Arizona. There are deserts in Arizona, right, but I conclude that the garden is in the area where gardening conditions are quite normal. Anyway, I'll be visiting the place this weekend to prove my theory, and I'll be bringing my personal digital assistant to get photos as well.

Living in the desert does not always mean you have to suffer from the blazing heat of the sun and make yourself a roasted dinner for vultures and crows. As I've read books about fantastic animals that live particularly in deserts, I learned that not all of them stay in the sand surface that much. Most of them have special abilities to dig holes under the sand so they can keep themselves as cool as possible.

The golden mole is among the fantastic desert animals that I'm talking about. These golden moles are found in Africa, like in the Tanzanian tropical islands. They are nocturnal animals and they hunt for food such as termites, insects, and small lizards at night.

Desert heat is not a problem for them because like I said, they excavate deep into the sand to build their homes and rest during the day. Their eyes are covered with fur to protect it from the sand and their feet are paddle-like so that they can "swim" through the sand as quick as they can. Like dromedary camels and ostriches, these animals don't need to drink water that much, and they also have special kidneys. These mammals are classified as endangered due to the development of sand mining and population increase in different African deserts.

Due to boredom, I resorted to reading some old and battered copies of an informative magazine (let's not mention the name here) last weekend. There's a particular topic that striked my mind, and it's about the life story of an international supermodel ( again, let's protect people's privacy) who spent her childhood in the Somali deserts of Africa. I never knew there are still locals residing in barren areas like that, not until I've read this story.

Based on her story, the temperature in the place can't be considered as urban heat. Firstly because, a desert is totally not an urban area. Deserts in Somalia are characterized by barren landscapes, scorching weather with literally no water sources to match the very unideal condition. The daily diet of the people there are usually some fruits, as well as meat and milk from the goats or camels that they own.

What's alarming in this place is that fixed marriage is still present in their culture. The supermodel said that her father arranged a marriage for her when she was still thirteen years old with an old man in exchange for camels. Jeez, that's like a barter style of marketing, isn't it? But Somalia isn't exactly a poor place in Africa because there are few buildings mainly in the city proper.

I've been writing about heat pumps, heat capacity, heat transfer, and global warming for several weeks now that I feel the heat is already getting through my system. So to spice this blog more and eventually provide you factual and varied information, I decided to check how animals and plants survived even in the hottest weathers. Perhaps you've already noticed that in some of my previous entries.

We'll still be tackling about pumps and transferring heat, but for now, let me feed you with some interesting facts about different beasts that can possibly live through global warming. If I'll be stranded in a desert, there's one animal that I don't like to meet,--- viper. Why? Because firstly, vipers are very dangerous and their venom is potent enough to kill me.

Secondly, like chameleons, they can blend into the color of the sand so they can hide and ambush their preys like little animals, birds, and ignorant foreign travelers. They're no like Chinese Giant Panda and this type of serpent can live through the heat of the desert because it buries itself under the sand where the temperature is a lot more cooler. When it crosses the sand, only a small portion of its body touches the scorching area of the ground.

A desert is not a desert without this thick, upright trunk with rounded tip, and robust branches curving to a vertical like a candle holder. The branches are colored green to dark green with spikes and sometimes hair. Cactus and desert are two inseparable things just like the Sweet Valley High twins.

There are approximately 2,000 different breeds of cactus in the planet and most of them are found in America. A cactus can live without water for several months than any other green plants. When it rains, which usually happens only once a year, the plant take as much water as it can store. If you'll notice, these plants grow very sluggishly because they have to slowly use the water to build plant tissues while ensuring that it will last till the next rainfall.

According to a quick Internet search, these plants can live up to 200 years and grow up to 17 meters tall. If you'll get the chance to visit Arizona, you'll see wide cactus farms that you won't see in your dreams. The spikes and spines is its first line of defense against animals like the dromedary camels that eat its fruit. Meanwhile, the flower emits a good scent that attracts birds and nocturnal finches.

Have you ever seen an animal that looks like a goat, an antelope, and a ram combined in one body? Okay, perhaps you haven't seen it yet, but if you'll get the chance to visit the Sahara desert, please do ask the locals there for the Scimitar-horned oryx or the Sahara oryx. Before, these animals are found throughout the desert, but today, only few of them are seen in small areas of the northern part of Sahara.

These animals are really beautiful with their white gleaming coats in their entire body and their unique reddish neck and chest. Their sharp curved horn that grows up to 125 cm long looks like the scimitar sword used in Africa. Most of them are herbivores. They feed on grasses, leaves, and fruits.

Just like camels and ostriches, they can survive desert life without water for months. But unlike them, the oryx has this special kidney that enables it not to urinate that much. Their body temperature is so high, which is about 46ºC, that they only perspire if the weather gets so much hotter than 46ºC. I guess many animal conservationists will agree that oryx are the world's beloved endangered mammals. Oryx are becoming extinct unless the government and other international groups will develop measures to save them.

Contrary to the belief of other people, the world's largest bird is the Ostrich and not a monkey-eating eagle or a pterodactyl. These flightless birds reside primarily in the deserts of Africa, North America, and Southwest Asia. Ostriches, also called as "sparrow camels" are not ideal pets to be kept in a bird cage because they can grow up to 9 ft. tall and weigh 340 pounds.

They are distinguishable in their appearance with their slender necks and legs, small head, and large feathery body. Although these desert birds can't fly, they can sprint a hundred miles at topmost speed giving your racing horse a run for its money. And aside from that, nobody dares to touch their huge eggs aside from Ostrich experts because the birds can bring anyone to the nearest hospital with their Bruce Lee-inspired kick.

Based on a quick Internet search, these birds cannot leave the desert as their habitat. Most of them are seen burying their heads under the barren sand when eating. Sounds weird, but they don't have teeth so they need to swallow the sand and pebbles to help them chew their food. Dehydration is not a problem because like camels, they can embark on a long journey even without water.

I watch Harry Potter movies not because of Daniel Radcliffe of Michael Gambon. I like it because of the cute, tawny, pet owls that swoop down every breakfast time to deliver parchments, letters, gifts, parcels, and howlers. Harry's pet Hedwig is a female snowy owl whose real name is Gizmo, which is an entirely extinct breed. But I'm more fascinated with barn owls because they can survive in the extreme heat and high temperatures.

These kind of nocturnal, desert birds are commonly seen in Southwestern deserts and a huge population of the specie resides in California. In the movie, most of them are used to deliver mails even during winter and storms. But on the contrary to what the flick depicts, these owls love desert sands more than the snow. They eat frogs, rabbits, rodents, and sometimes small birds and other ground creatures that they can find in canyons, trees, and desert washes. They usually hunt at night and stay inactive throughout the day. Unlike other owls, they make loud, rasping hisses, instead of hoots that other birds make. They are among the beautiful owls I've ever seen with the heart-shaped facial white ruff and small, dark eyes. Animal conservationists were alarmed because the movie shows owls kept as pets inside a cage.

I don't know if we are already under the global warming phenomenon. But based on a quick Internet search, several countries like Indonesia and the Philippines might be experiencing volcanic eruptions sooner this year. On the other hand, some places like Taiwan, Republic of China, and Colombia are suffering from typhoon and hurricane attacks.

Florida is among the states in America that suffers from extreme weather conditions. Last week, the increase in temperature led to heat strokes and maximum use of air conditioners. This week, the state suffers from flood due to a typhoon-turned-hurricane Alberto. Florida Gas Transmission, provider of natural gas transportation services to customers in peninsular Florida announced a warning last week about the most violent temperature forecast in the area. Based on the alert, abnormal increase in the weather condition means increase in the consumption of electricity for air coolers. Therefore, an increase in the demand for power and gas was experienced in the place. The alert also reminds shippers to maintain the 25 percent average volume of the gas that they'll be shipping because an excess in the normal quantity will be dangerous. AccuWeather, a company that measures the humidity and heat in Florida said that residents should be expecting the temperature to increase up to 32.22 degrees Celsius.

There are only a number of plants and limited population of animals that can survive living in the desert. As for animals, we have camels, sand cobras, weasels, tortoise, and vultures. The desert is not a very ideal habitat for animals, if you ask me. A very harsh environment with few sources of food and scare water supply, plus the extreme high temperature will surely give everyone a heat stroke problem.

Aside from dromedary camels, a Jack Rabbit is another fascinating animal that can live and survive the difficult world in the desert. Jack Rabbits are desert dwellers and are commonly found in Chihuahuan and Sonoran deserts and other arid areas in the southwest. They are active at night because during the day they curl in the burrow that they make under grasses and weeds. These species are vegetarians feeding on a wide variety of herbs and plants.

Foxes, snakes, coyotes, barn owls and other predator birds are the usual enemies of these poor hares. But luckily, they can escape at top speed. Thus, it will be very difficult to chase them. Animal conservationists consider these animals extinct because of the sudden decrease in their population. Perhaps because of the uncontrollable desert heat and the prying eyes of nasty hunters.

As the looming threat of global warming approaches, the government and some concerned citizens are doing their best to promote measures to prevent the dreaded phenomenon. My sister, an environmentalist and a plant lover as well, started building her own rooftop garden. According to her, this is among the government's possible steps to lessen the production of greenhouse gases and to decrease the high temperature.

It's actually very easy to build a small nursery on top of your home. Aside from gardening materials, you'll be needing a passion for the greens in order for the plants to grow according to your will. There are ready-to-grow kits available in agriculture stores, markets, and online shops that you can buy to start your garden. Most of the plants in the kit are the ingredients to make a healthy vegetable salad.

If you'll make a quick Internet search, you'll notice that there are websites that offer online tutorials on how to start a healthy rooftop nursery. You'll get loads of stuff about the plants that you can add to your garden, the organic fertilizers, proper caring, and a whole lot more. I think aside from helping the community in its battle against the raging global warming issue, plants on our roof is a good way to keep us all healthy and happy.

My dad went to Saudi Arabia last week for a business trip and when he returned home, he showed us pictures that he took in the magical desert. One particular photo that I love is his picture with a dozen cream and brown camels for a background. I'm really curious about these fantastic beasts because they can live and stay in a place without enough source of water and the climate is terribly high. Dromedary camels with the scientific name Camelius dromedarius is the only animal I know that can live for half a month without drinking water.

Most of these beasts are found in arid lands of Africa, Saudi Arabia, and Eqypt. A quick Internet search told me that ninety percent of the planet's camels are dromedaries. But how can they live in a desert without sufficient food and water? My dad told me that the hump of the animals stores fat where they get sustenance because oxidation of the fat creates water. The hump can store thirty gallons of water at a time. These animals also serve as a means for transportation because they have webbed feet that do not sink in the sand and their eyelashes are doubled to prevent the sand from entering their eyes.

During our high school days or even in elementary years, we learned that greenhouse gases triggers
global warming, that is why many countries are doing their best to ditch pollution to clear up their streets. But recently weather experts or climatologists stated a report that it's the other way around, meaning global warming is the cause of existing harmful gases and this simply means that the only living planet can get more seething anytime. Separate European and Californian science experts lead to the same conclusion that the Earth was warmed before because of the solar energy leading to a myriad of greenhouses in the atmosphere. They said that currently the heating of the planet is happening quicker than the past decades and this is not the result of our fossil fuel scathing but because of the planet's natural cycle which us humans should learn to adjust. The planet emits methane and carbon dioxide naturally, aside from our utilization of fossil fuels. These gases form builds up in the ozone layer and traps the blaze of the sun resulting to holes in the protective layer in the atmosphere.

The experts said that the warming may increase up to fifteen to seventy eight percent on the following years compared to the recent evaluation. In line with these study, they are also having a campaign for the use of cleaner energy an transportation; since there was also the study linking global warming to hurricanes. The storm attacks last year led to a maelstrom of casualties amounting $300 billions of dollars.

I think even the government is threatened with the growing truth of the upcoming disastrous global phenomenon called global warming. If you watch the film The Day After Tomorrow, the U.S Vice president was deaf and numb on the appeal of the climatologist about the possibility of the hazardous effects that climate change can bring to mankind. But contrary to that, in real life, the former Vice President Al Gore, made a documentary film as sort of an awareness campaign about global warming entitled "An Inconvenient Truth".

The film is simply a two-hour PowerPoint presentation, filled with cyclic shots of Al in different emotions ranging from serious to dead serious. The documentary is a perfect mixture of nature disaster movies like The Day After Tomorrow, Twister, and Deep Impact, because of fierce prophesies and a multitude of frightful images about the fate of our poor planet if we will not ditch our so-called air polluting way of living. Members of the National Geographic Society even exclaimed that it was so far the longest campaign ad with a climate phenomenon for a theme. I think the docu-drama is sort of persuasive because it gave audience the trauma and phobia of the end of the world thing.

What I noticed about the film is that, it segued from fearful catastrophes such as tsunamis, hurricanes, tornadoes, and the great flood, to Gore life story. If we have Batman Begins movie, and Smallville TV series, then I guess this flick is Gore's version of my life as a hero thingy. It's astonishing because of the confusing transition from the campaign about the climate to his full biography as a child until he became the lost candidate in the recent election. Those who went to see the film thought that, perhaps he's planning to run again next year, and if this is his kind of an election campaign, I guess he'll have a fat chance of winning.