San José, California
Geographic coordinates : latitude 37°18′15″N, longitude 121°52′22″W
Time zone :
UTC-8
Sunrise and sunset
Vernal and autumnal
equinoxes :
sunrise: due east
sunset: due west
maximum elevation at noon: 53 degrees in the southern sky.
Summer
solstice :
sunrise (05:47 PDT): east-northeast (
azimuth 60 degrees)
sunset (20:31 PDT): west-northwest (azimuth 300 degrees)
maximum elevation at noon: 76 degrees above the southern horizon.
Winter solstice :
sunrise (07:18 PST): about 30 degrees south of due east
sunset (16:54 PST): about 30 degrees south of due west
maximum elevation at noon: 30 degrees above the southern horizon.
Sources:
[1]
[2] 20060906.
Cost of Gasoline
Approximate figures (reference -- Arizona 2004):
Crude Oil cost: 37%
Refining cost: 32%
State and federal taxes: 27%
Dealer costs: 5%
Source:
[3] Archive dated 20041206
Cost of Books
Breaking down the textbook dollar:
Author 11.6¢
11.6¢ - Author's royalty
Publisher 64.3¢
32.1¢ - Printing and editorial costs 15.3¢ - Marketing & promotion 9.9¢ - Publisher's administrative costs 7.0¢ - Publisher's income
Freight 1.7¢
1.7¢ - Freight expenses
Bookstore 22.4¢
10.8¢ - Bookstore personnel 7.2¢ - Bookstore overhead 4.4¢ - Bookstore income
Source:
NACS 2007 Accessed 20070904
American Lifestyle
Mobility
Mail addresses in the U.S.A. change at a rate of 17% per year.
[4]
In the
USPS databases, there are approximately 40 million records of permanent address changes every year.
[5] (Sources accessed 20070711)
Waste
"As of 2005, individuals, businesses and institutions in the United States produced more than 245 million tons of municipal solid waste, according to the E.P.A. That means about 4.5 pounds per person per day." -- New York Times, article
"Not Buying It" , published 20070621 (login required).
See also:
Generation Length
Studies on human
generation length:
Cross-cultural: Male 31-32; Female 25-28; Autosomal 28-30. (Fenner 2005)
Icelandic database: Male 31.93; Female 28.72. (Helgason 2003)
Quebec study: Male 35.0; Female 28.7; Average 31.7. (Temblay 2000)
Anedoctal evidence:
Ancestry.com: Male ~34; Female 29 (Devine 2005)
Sources: Fenner
[6]
[7] ;
Helgason, Temblay, Devine
[8] ;
accessed 20080704.
Mean radius: 6,371.0 km (equatorial radius: 6,378.1 km; polar radius: 6,356.8 km)
Surface area: 510,065,600 km²
Land: 148,939,100 km² (29.2 %)
Water: 361,126,400 km² (70.8 %)
Mean
height of continents: 686 m
Mean
depth of oceans: 3,794 m
Mass of the oceans: ca. 1.35× 10 18 metric tons (about 1/4400 of the total mass of the Earth)
Volume of the oceans: 1.386× 10 9 km³
Carbon Cycle
Data:
Concentration of CO2 in atmosphere:
380ppm by volume in 2006 (350ppm in 1987; 315ppm in 1958).
Note: The Keeling curve is expressed on a H2 O-free basis
[9]
(about 5,000 trillion metric tons, or 1/1,200,000 the mass of Earth).
Mean mass of water vapor: estimated as 1.27× 10 16 kg
Dry air mass: estimated as 5.1352 ±0.0003× 10 18 kg
[11]
Calculations:
Concentration of CO2 by mass: 380 ppm × (44/28.97) = 577 ppm by mass
Mass of CO2 in atmosphere: 5.1352× 10 18 kg × 577 ppm = 2.964× 10 15 kg of CO2
Mass of carbon in atmosphere: 5.1352× 10 18 kg × 577 ppm × (12/44) = 8.083× 10 14 kg of C
Average yearly increase of C in atmosphere: 2.880× 10 12 kg of C = 1.056× 10 13 kg CO2 (1958 to 2006)
Average world population (1958-2006): 4,663,426,855
[12]
Share
per capita of annual increase of atmospheric carbon (1958-2006): 617.6 kg C =2264.4 kg CO2
which translates to 1.69 kg C or 6.20 kg CO2 per day per person
which is equivalent to the carbon in 0.70 gallons of gasoline (1 gallon contains 2421 g C)
[13]
See also:
Sources accessed: 20071012
Mercury Numbers
Elemental mercury:
Vapor pressure at 37 C: 0.005mg of mercury
Absorption: 75% of inhaled mercury; 0.1% to 10% of ingested mercury
WHO's recommended limit (
industrial threshold ): 25 μg/m3 of Hg vapor in the air (40h/week)
NOAEL for general public: 5 μg/m3 (continuous exposure); for children and pregnant women: 1 μg/m3
[14]
File:CFL bulb mercury use environment.svg The impact of the use of CFL's on mercury emissions.
Mercury content:
Sources accessed: 20080416
TV Channels
VHF Channels (30-300 MHz)
[17]
55-72 and 77-88 MHZ – TV channels 2 - 6 ("Band I" = 48-88 MHz)
Channel 1 (44-50 MHz in 1946-1948): band reassigned to fixed and mobile services
Channel 2 = 54-60 MHz
Channel 3 = 60-66 MHz
Channel 4 = 66-72 MHz
Channel 5 = 76-82 MHz
Channel 6 = 82-88 MHz
87.5-108 MHz – FM radio ( = "Band II")
175-216 MHZ – TV channels 7 - 13 ("Band III" = 174 to 230 MHz)
Channel 7 = 174-180 MHz
Channel 8 = 180-186 MHz
Channel 9 = 186-192 MHz
Channel 10 = 192-198 MHz
Channel 11 = 198-204 MHz
Channel 12 = 204-210 MHz
Channel 13 = 210-216 MHz
UHF Channels (300-3000 MHz)
[18]
470–512 MHz: TV channels 14–20
512–698 MHz: TV channels 21–51
*Channel 34 used sometimes for radar
*Channel 37 used for radio astronomy
698–806 MHz: TV channels 52–69 (auctioned in March 2008; for use in digital TV by February 2009)
806–824 MHz: TV channels 70–72 => Pagers
824–849 MHz: TV channels 73–77 => AMPS A & B franchises, terminal (mobile phone)
849–869 MHz: TV channels 77–80 => Public safety 2-way (fire, police, ambulance)
869–894 MHz: TV channels 80–83 => AMPS A & B franchises, base station
*One translator is still in use on channel 83.
DTV Channels
Digital television uses
virtual channel numbers, which differs from the actual (physical)
radio frequency (RF) channel number used, through remapping. Since DTV can carry multiple programs simultaneously, virtual channels may also map out subchannels (e.g. 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, etc., for channel 7).
Channels 1-99: program channels
Channels 100-999: data channels
Channels T-7 – T-14: 7-53 MHz
Lowband: Channels 1-6: 55-90 MHz (same as broadcast television)
Midband: Channels 95-99: 91-120 MHz (same frequencies as FM radio)
Midband: Channels 14-22: 121-174 MHz
Highband: Channels 7-13: 175-216 MHz (same as broadcast television)
Superband: Channels 23-36: 217-300 MHz
Hyperband: Channels 37-64: 301-468 MHz
Ultraband: Channels 65-94: 469-648 MHz
Jumboband: Channels 100-158: 649-1002 MHz
Note: Digital cable channels are often numbered starting at 100 or 200, but these are virtual channel numbers and do not correspond to used frequencies.