I was thinking about redwoods, and how these giant 2,000-year old trees manage to live in an environment with only 1/3 the annual rainfall required to sustain them. Not only that, but as time has gone by, rainfall has not increased at all, but every generation of redwoods have gotten taller and taller and millinia pass.
The reason they are able to survive without rainfall is because of what happens at night — fog. A low cloud cover drops over the forest canopy at night, and the tallest trees are just inside the clouds. Water from the air condenses all over their needles, which then absorb it, as well as drenching the forest floor below them. These trees literally harvest water from the air and keep those around them alive.
So I've been drawing these giant condensation structures… I've got a few porus clay ideas, where an immensely spindley “harvester” is jacked up into the sky at night, and then brought down into a condensor nest to extract the water during the day… I was also thinking about these tall, cactus-like structures covered in “hair” made of copper half-tubes, so at night water would pool and run down the centre. It's just so 21 balloons…
Other than that, I see Bush admitted to telling his intel people to find a link between Iraq and al Qaeda (more), the US has scrapped its idea for democracy in Iraq and will “assign” a dictator instead (more), and they're shutting down the free press in Iraq (more). While the White House tries to slander Clarke, he calls for his own terrorism testimony to be made public (more), while Rice refuses to talk in public or under oath (more). That must feel like quite the burning ship right now…
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