Homerisms i.e. from The Simpsons
Like "I don't have to be careful, I've got a gun!"
Monday, November 05, 2007
Proposed Turtle airships -- solar-powered VTOL with jet engine supplement
Lifted by helium and flying on sunlight. Backed up with Ethanol/Bio-diesel JET engines; 200 mph; able to fly as fast as small airplanes. Able to fly indefinitely, anywhere in the world, without stopping or refueling. Able to hover like a helicopter, and to land straight up or down onto any surface... grass, an airport runway... or on water. Land on lakes, on wide rivers, in harbors... land in the middle of the ocean.
Carry 400 passengers. Carry 300 tonnes of cargo.
Hydrogen fuel much less efficient than batteries
... dismal overall power-grid-to-wheels efficiency of less than 25%.Batteries can get 85%+.
Game theory analysis for business and politics
Most recently "to offer approaches for handling the growing nuclear crisis with Iran.:
The main reason that the model does this better than experts is that it "strips ideological blindfolds, cultural prejudice, and normative commitments that very often color the view of experts."
Hycrete -- waterproof, recyclable concrete
... a water based admixture that acts as waterproofing and corrosion protection when added to regular concrete. It does this by sealing the capillaries within the concrete and making the resultant product completely waterproof.
Pirate Bay sees future without bitTorrent
They're working on some protocol which will be backwards compatible, and the bigger sites have agreed to. Next year for rollout.
How far gone is Buffalo?
I have a soft spot for Buffalo for all the TV it provided in my youth. I agree that it needs to join spheres of relative prosperity like Kitchener-Waterloo or Toronto and provide complementary goods or services.
Safer gene therapy for neurological diseases
Researchers at the Board of Governors Gene Therapeutics Research Institute at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center have shown for the first time that it is possible to sustain therapeutic gene expression in the central nervous system for up to a year, even in the presence of an anti-viral immune response mechanism that is normally present in humans.
Jacket with a GPS tracker
Eighteen hour charge for a $700 adult jacket, and it's still $20 per month for the service.
Sunday, November 04, 2007
Optimism circuit found in brain
... imagining a positive future event – such as winning an award or receiving a large sum of cash – activates two brain areas known as the amygdala and the rostral anterior cingulated cortex (rACC). The finding lends weight to earlier studies that suggested these brain regions malfunction in depression and hint at new ways of diagnosing the disorder.
Russia's new ballistic missile submarine
The Borei class has about half the displacement of the Typhoon, but carries about sixteen missiles, maybe twenty in future versions. Has some propulsion system known as pump jet.
65 not so old
The current practice of measuring age as years-since-birth, both in common practice and in the law, rather than alternative measures reflecting a person's stage in the lifecycle distorts important behavior such as retirement, saving, and the discussion of dependency ratios.
Gene therapy with JX-963 for colon cancer stimulates white blood cells
The chemical that the virus secretes, granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor, or GM-CSF, is a protein that stimulates the production of white blood cells. The scientists must be careful, however, not to overstimulate the immune system so that it kills the virus before it has a chance to attack the cancer.
Paradoxically, the answer might lie in temporarily suppressing the immune system with drugs to allow the virus to spread rapidly. Then, after the virus has destroyed most of the tumor, GM-CSF stimulates an elevated immune system response.
Quantum cascade laser nanoantenna -- imaging molecules
By combining Quantum Cascade Lasers with optical antenna nanotechnology we have created for the first time an extremely compact device that will enable the realization of new ultrahigh spatial resolution microscopes for chemical imaging on a nanometric scale of a wide range of materials and biological specimens...
... applications... including pollution monitoring, chemical sensing, medical diagnostics such as breath analysis, and homeland security.
Major airline tips
Hadn't heard of this:
Rule 240, which states “that if an airline [can’t] get you to your destination on time, it [is] required to put you on a competitor’s flight if it would get you there faster than your original airline’s next flight.Also, the pendulum seems to be moving away again from going directly to airlines.
Italian Mafia in decline
... shot in the foot by its own loudmouth members, bloodied by scores of convictions, and crippled by a loss of veteran leaders and a dearth of capable replacements.
Device driver updates deactivating Vista
How bad is deactivation?
... your copy of Windows will stop working with very little notice (three days) and your PC will go into "reduced functionality" mode, where you can't do anything but use the web browser for half an hour.
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