The ABC has an article on a project that could be very good news: World-first pilot plant to turn carbon dioxide into rock

A research pilot plant in Newcastle will trial world-first technology that turns carbon emissions into bricks and pavers for the construction industry.

The mineral carbonation technology copies and accelerates the earth’s own way of sinking carbon.

The University of Newcastle, chemical giant Orica and carbon innovation company GreenMag Group have spent six years researching how to permanently and safely dispose of carbon dioxide.

This would reduce greenhouse gases in two ways – by directly pulling it out of the exhaust of power plants, and eliminating what would have been generated making bricks and paving stones. Because it would produce a useful product that can be sold to cover costs, it would give an incentive to power companies to act more responsibly.

There’s a lot of research still to go, but the effort seems to be in right direction.

I have located a replacement for the medical alert system. The 5Star is a small, cellular device that amounts to a single number cell phone with GPS tracking. They only charge $15/month for the monitoring service which is one third of what my Mother was paying for the landline system. The GPS locator is used to direct assistance to your location. It isn’t a full-featured cell phone, like the Snapfon, but it works in this area.

The Consumer Cellular system will also work, if The Phone Company ever gives up my Mother’s telephone number. That’s all I’m waiting for on that front.

The extra handset for her wireless system arrived, and getting it recognized by the base was not the simple procedure that the included manual indicated it would be. I finally worked it out after a visit to the Panasonic web site. It really is a great system, but there are so many options that it is difficult to figure out how to do things.