Monday Links: February 4th, 2008

Welcome to February, and another week here at Tropophilia. Be sure to check out new posts (including a great guest post by Bruce) from the weekend; here are your morning links:

• Fast Company gives us The Top 10 Websites You Never Heard Of. My personal favorite? Newsmap, “an amazing graphical representation of the constantly-changing headlines on Google News.”
• Following up on last week’s link about green jobs, Sustainablog describes various “green employment benefits” eco-conscious companies are offering to employees both to lure new employees and to reflect their sustainability values throughout their corporate operations. Some examples include public transportation commuting subsidies, natural light buildings, local/organic food in company cafeterias, and company outings to national parks. Where do I sign up?
• If you’ve read Tropophilia for a while, you know that I’m all aflutter about algae as fuelstock. Well, treehugger highlights exciting news of an agreement between Chevron and Solazyme (an alternative energy start-up) to ramp up testing of the green goo. What makes this particularly exciting are the particulars of Solazyme’s process (emphasis mine):

“Algae usually rely on photosynthesis for energy to consume CO2 and produce oils. Biodiesel can be harvested from the algae, which can be composed of up to 50% oily matter. But getting sunlight to the algae in industrial-scale processes is difficult. So how does Solazyme solve the problem? By growing a special strain of algae in the dark.”

• Via lifehacker comes 10 Tips to Retain More of What You Read Online. Tip #11: comment on Tropophilia posts to continue the conversation.
• Following up on my post a few weeks ago about Kiva.org: Sean at Tactical Philanthropy explores the challenges Kiva faces with an overwhelming supply of willing donors and a limited supply of projects. He makes a number of excellent suggestions, including some creative solutions the site could use to ensure willing donors are able to direct their funds to good causes–even if not through Kiva itself.
• And finally, in celebration of everyone’s favorite resource, Mental Floss points out 4 Great Wikipedia Variations. Try using Wookiepedia (exactly what it sounds like….arrrrrrrrgggggggggg) on your next assignment.

That’s all for now. I’ll be traveling for work until next week, but I have faith my co-conspirators contributors will keep the wheels churning with new material. Have a great week!