Scribd: Document viewing stats

Wow, Scribd is fantastic. Not only do you get to embed the document in your own blog or webpage, but you get to view statistics on where people have viewed the document, and receive readers' comments (when they make them).

What a great five-star service from the people at Scribd.

I discovered today that 93 people have viewed my Dying of Thirst document, a sample:

93. Fri Jun 15 21:18:30 CDT 2007 : Melbourne, 07 (Australia)
92. Fri Jun 15 13:07:41 CDT 2007 : Abu Dhabi, 01 (United Arab Emirates)
91. Fri Jun 15 04:30:34 CDT 2007 : S?o Gon?alo, 21 (Brazil)
90. Thu Jun 14 01:53:20 CDT 2007 : Phoenix, AZ (USA)
89. Wed Jun 13 08:41:09 CDT 2007 : Fort Myers, FL (USA)
87. Sun Jun 10 23:26:36 CDT 2007 : Greensted, F6 (Great Britain)
86. Fri Jun 08 19:32:38 CDT 2007 : Wilmington, DE (USA)
85. Fri Jun 08 14:10:08 CDT 2007 : Mairhof, 07 (Austria)
84. Tue Jun 05 19:36:01 CDT 2007 : Sydney, 02 (Australia)
81. Sun Jun 03 21:57:37 CDT 2007 : Nagpur, 16 (India)
80. Sun Jun 03 21:54:25 CDT 2007 : Nagpur, 16 (India)
79. Sat Jun 02 03:45:59 CDT 2007 : Wanilla, 05 (Australia)
76. Fri Jun 01 03:24:56 CDT 2007 : Forestville, 02 (Australia)
74. Thu May 31 18:57:14 CDT 2007 : Bronx, NY (USA)
63. Fri May 25 19:17:42 CDT 2007 : Barajas, 29 (Spain)
38. Fri May 18 01:34:15 CDT 2007 : Trezzano Sul Naviglio, 09 (Italy)
31. Wed May 16 00:56:40 CDT 2007 : Ogbourne Saint George, N9 (Great Britain)
29. Tue May 15 13:40:57 CDT 2007 : Essen, 07 (Germany)
28. Tue May 15 06:57:58 CDT 2007 : Managua, 10 (Nicaragua)
23. Mon May 14 12:45:16 CDT 2007 : Taipei, 03 (Taiwan)
16. Sun May 13 11:12:25 CDT 2007 : Bangalore, 19 (India)
13. Sun May 13 06:20:19 CDT 2007 : Prilesje, 20 (Croatia)
3. Sat May 12 09:19:10 CDT 2007 : Kawasaki, 19 (Japan)

Reader Comment to Herald Sun

In case my reader comment ends up unpublished here is a copy of my comment:

Big Picture - there are several types of desalination processes:
1. Reverse osmosis - salt water is pumped at high pressure through a membrane/filter to get fresh water. High energy costs and the water is not distillated (risk of virus transmission).
2. Thermal process - salt water is boiled and the distillate is clean sterile fresh water.
(more can be learned about the different types of desalination processes from articles listed at [my previous post])

I have proposed a thermal desalination plant to be colocated with the Portland Aluminium Smelter - the idea is to capture the heat byproduct from the smelter process to save on energy. Also using geothermal resources to reduce operating costs.

Others have commented on our "Clever Country" status - coincidentally that is the theme of a blog [Are we the Clever Country?] that discusses our need for developing new sources of fresh water.

Find out more on desalination...

Introduction to Water Desalination, by Hari J Krishna - This pdf paper provides a basic overview of the desalination process that can be used to get fresh water out of the ocean.


Distillation Plant Development and Cost Update, by Neil M Wade - This pdf paper provides a detailed analysis of costs associated with each desalination process.

Water Race

Today's Herald Sun headline: WATER RACE. Ashley Gardiner and Ellen Whinnett report that a French company (linked with Connex) has declared an interest in building either a desalination or recycling plant in Victoria. This company is already building a reverse osmosis desalination plant in Queensland. Apparently Multiplex and John Holland (local construction companies) are also interested.

Because of the high energy levels required for reverse osmosis desalination; I would encourage any company in the race to produce water for Victoria to consider developing a thermal distillation plant using recycled heat from any high-energy, high-heat-producing industrial process (like Portland Aluminium).