1) - The Physics of Crystals 2) - History of the EV Gray Motor 3) - Browns Gas Water Torch Research & Applications 4) - Getting there and Saving on Gas Costs

$4 gas by Spring? and the latest Land of $5.40 gas - How to Increase Mileage and Decrease Fuel Costs for $15 - includes water to hydrogen electrolyzer and vapor cleaner construction details and much more. - Read about it HERE

08/11/08 - 106 mpg 'air car' creates buzz, questions
The technology has been the focus of MDI, a European company founded in 1991 by a French inventor and former race car engineer. New York-based Zero Pollution Motors is the first firm to obtain a license from MDI to produce the cars in the United States, pledging to deliver the first models in 2010 at a price tag of less than $18,000. The concept is similar to how a locomotive works, except compressed air -- not steam -- moves the engine's pistons, said Shiva Vencat, vice president of MDI and CEO of Zero Pollution Motors. The six-seater planned for the U.S. market would be able to reach speeds of more than 90 mph and have a range of more than 800 miles thanks to a dual energy engine, Vencat said. The design calls for one or more tanks of compressed air under the car's floor, as well as a tank holding at least 8 gallons of fuel. Whether the engine uses just air or both air and fuel would depend on how fast the car is going. It would run purely on compressed air at speeds less than 35 mph, Vencat said. Since the car could only go a short distance when using just air, fuel is needed to get the full range, he explained. "Above 35 mph, there is an external combustion system, which is basically a heater that uses a little bit of gasoline or biofuel or ethanol or vegetable oil that will heat the air," Vencat said. "Heating the air increases its volume, and by increasing its volume, it increases [the car's] range. That's why with one gallon of gasoline or its equivalent we are able to make over 100 mpg." - Source

08/11/08 - Volt buzz electrifies environmentalists
Current hybrids like the Prius use a small electric motor for low speed driving and a regular gas engine for faster speeds. The Volt will run only on its battery-powered electric motor, with a small gas engine acting only as a generator to keep the battery charged. The Volt can drive at least 40 miles on the electricity stored up from charging overnight. After that, the gas engine kicks in to generate electricity, for an overall range of about 400 miles on six to seven gallons of gas. "It's a 30-mile round trip from my house in Flint to go cross-country skiing in Holly. I could make that trip in a Volt and never use any gas at all," said Keeler. "That's fantastic. If it can hold my cross-country skis and I can strap a bike to the back, that's the car I'm looking for." According to GM, the Volt would save the typical driver 500 gallons of fuel a year while adding about $300 to the annual home electric bill. It would also cut the 4.4 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions produced by a traditional car in a year. More crucial, Hoff said, is the Volt's potential to free us from dependence on foreign oil. - Source

08/11/08 - A World Split Apart
On Thursday, June 8, 1978 the Russian writer and dissident Alexander Solzhenitsyn, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1970, delivered the following address to a Harvard graduation. The split in today's world is perceptible even to a hasty glance. Any of our contemporaries readily identifies two world powers, each of them already capable of entirely destroying the other. However, understanding of the split often is limited to this political conception, to the illusion that danger may be abolished through successful diplomatic negotiations or by achieving a balance of armed forces. The truth is that the split is a much profounder and a more alienating one, that the rifts are more than one can see at first glance. This deep manifold split bears the danger of manifold disaster for all of us, in accordance with the ancient truth that a Kingdom -- in this case, our Earth -- divided against itself, cannot stand. When the modern Western States were created, the following principle was proclaimed: governments are meant to serve man and man lives to be free to pursue happiness. (See, for example, the American Declaration). Now at last during past decades, technical and social progress has permitted the realization of such aspirations: the welfare state. Every citizen has been granted the desired freedom and material goods in such quantity and of such quality as to guarantee in theory the achievement of happiness, in the morally inferior sense which has come into being during those same decades. In the process, however, one psychological detail has been overlooked: the constant desire to have still more things and a still better life and the struggle to obtain them imprints many Western faces with worry and even depression, though it is customary to conceal such feelings. Active and tense competition permeates all human thoughts without opening a way to free spiritual development. - Source

08/11/08 - Clean water, generate electricity with Slingshot machine
This one has been making the rounds for a little while now (including a recent appearance on The Colbert Report, viewable after the break), but it hasn't received anything near Segway-like coverage, which is all the more curious given that it's potentially a far more important device. Dubbed the Slingshot, Dean Kamen's latest creation promises to do nothing short of producing clean water from virtually any liquid source (without filters) and generate enough electricity to power about 70 energy efficient light bulbs. What's more, Kamen estimates that the machines would cost between $1,000 and $2,000... - Source

08/11/08 - A three-pronged approach to getting off oil for transportation
Oil is not "evil," it's an undervalued resource that has been squandered on tasks that could be much more efficiently achieved through the use of electric drive transport. Electricity can be generated via a number of different methods, some of which are sustainable and have low or zero emissions. Electrified rail and roadways. Plug-in hybrids / extended range electric vehicles. Battery electric vehicles/battery exchange and quick charge infrastructure. - Source

08/11/08 - Mental Mysteries (May, 1938)
Why do Diving Rods, Psychic Motors, Ouija Boards, Gold Finding Bobs, Sex Detectors and similar pieces of apparatus function with remarkable results in the hands of some operatives, yet science has proven that these things are fakes? FOR hundreds of years, people have purchased all sorts of mystic devices for the purpose of foretelling their futures, or jim-cracks intended for the location of oil, water and precious metals. A common form of mystic locating device is a forked witch-hazel twig, commonly called a devining rod which, in the hands of an operator generally called a “bowser,” has been used for centuries for the location of water. In later years its operatives encompassed wider fields and used the divining rod for locating oil, precious minerals, lost articles, lost airplanes, and even the bodies of people drowned in lakes. The divining rod makes an interesting parlor game and creates as much thrill and excitement as the Ouija board. Everyone is familiar with the mystic board which spells out words, sentences, foretells the future and explains the past. The usual form of this board is illustrated in Fig. 1. Upon it will be found the letters of the alphabet and the numbers from one to zero, also the two words “yes” and “no.” Generally, the board is placed on the . laps of two sitters. A small triangular or heart-shaped wooden piece mounted on three legs is the indicating device. The fingers are lightly touched to this small table, a question is asked and if the operatives believe in its virtue the small table darts across the surface of the board stopping at various letters and spelling out the answer to the question. - Source

08/11/08 - Space could be filled with Bacteria
This once-controversial notion holds that the universe is filled with the ingredients of microbial life, and that earthly life first came from the skies as comet dust or meteorites salted with hardy bacteria. "Studies have shown that microbes can survive the shock levels of being launched into space," said Charles Cockell, a microbiologist at the Open University. "And as more and more organisms are discovered under extreme conditions, it's become more plausible that things could survive in space for the time it takes to go from one planet to another." Not long ago, Cockell's claims would have been greeted with scientific derision. But as scientists learn more about Earth and space, the theory, which goes by the grandiose name of "galactic panspermia," seems less far-fetched. Bacteria, recent discoveries have shown, thrive in Earth's most extreme locales, from Antarctic ice to the interiors of volcanoes and nuclear reactors, and have even survived in space. Meanwhile, astronomers seem to find Earth-like planets wherever they train their telescopes; comets have proven unexpectedly rich in organic material... - Source

08/11/08 - Solar GPS Cow Hats Let Cowboys Stay Indoors
The U.S. Department of Agriculture and MIT are co-developing special cow hats that enable cowboys to stay indoors and track and HERD COWS USING A PC. The headsets power themselves with solar panels, and built in GPS units and communications electronics track and relay each cow's location back to a central server. If cows wander beyond a pre-determined area, sounds played by speakers in the device coaxes them back. If that doesn't work, electric shocks do. Mouse-wielding cow-pokes can also manually control herds by pointing and clicking. The first trials of the system will happen later this month. - Source

08/11/08 - DK Finder Does Lightning Fast Desktop Search
Windows only: Free utility DK Finder is a resource-light desktop search application that indexes your hard drive for fast searching. Obviously there are plenty of desktop search applications out there, most notably Google Desktop, but DK Finder sets itself apart with a tiny footprint (around 3MB running, 1MB in the system tray), advanced filtering options, and file operations (like batch copying and moving files). Like any desktop search app, the initial index will take some time. Once DK Finder finishes indexing your drive, it provides nearly instantaneous results. DK Finder is a free download for Windows only. - Source

08/11/08 - Medical Consultations With Webcams Extremely Successful
"Doctors are far from being early adopters, so they have just gotten around to publishing a report that webcams help immensely with making the right decision when someone shows up to a rural emergency room suffering from a stroke. Using clot-destroying medications like alteplase is really risky, and it should only be given in acute cases. In a study of 222 patients, rural ER doctors consulted with faraway stroke specialists. They made the right decision 98 percent of the time when the expert examined the patient with a webcam, and only 82 percent of the time when they just talked to each other on the phone. Perhaps this report will finally convince the medical community that telemedicine is important." - Source

08/11/08 - Why Microsoft and Intel tried to kill the XO $100 laptop
Nicholas Negroponte had a vision: to build a $100 laptop and give away millions to educate the world’s poorest children. And then the fat-cat multinationals got scared and broke it... Microsoft, makers of most of the computer software in the world, tried to kill it with words, and Intel, maker of most computer chips, tried to kill it with dirty tricks. Of course, they don’t admit to being attempted murderers. Yet, 3½ years later, the laptop is clinging on to life. It costs around $190 rather than $100 and it is called the XO. It is no longer like a tent, but it can still be solar-powered. It is a technological triumph. But only 370,000 are in use and another 250,000 ordered. One Laptop Per Child (OLPC), the company formed to run the project, is still driven by the same old idealism, geekery and technical brilliance. But Negroponte and his young staff are older and wiser. They were stunned by the savagery of the competition they faced - competition plainly intended to destroy a philanthropic idea. “I had wildly underestimated,” says Negroponte, “the degree to which commercial entities will go to disrupt a humanitarian project.” - (Thanks to Infolink for this link. - JWD) - Source

08/11/08 - Researchers Pave Way For Compressor-Free Refrigeration
Penn State have developed a new method for heat-transfer that may replace the common compressor-based system used in household appliances. Quoting: "Zhang's approach uses the change from disorganized to organized that occurs in some polarpolymers when placed in an electric field. The natural state of these materials is disorganized with the various molecules randomly positioned. When electricity is applied, the molecules become highly ordered and the material gives off heat and becomes colder. When the electricity is turned off, the material reverts to its disordered state and absorbs heat. The researchers report a change in temperature for the material of about 22.6 degrees Fahrenheit... Repeated randomizing and ordering of the material combined with an appropriate heat exchanger could provide a wide range of heating and cooling temperatures." - Source

08/11/08 - Researchers Crack Medeco Locks With Plastic Keys
Life takes Visa, says the credit card company's catchy and ubiquitous TV ads. And now, according to a group of security researchers speaking at the DefCon hacker conference Friday in Las Vegas, Medeco high-security locks take Visa, too. As well as MasterCard, American Express and Discover cards. To be more precise, the researchers say that plastic used in all of these credit cards can be easily fashioned into simulated keys that open three kinds of M3 high-security locks made by the Virginia-based Medeco Security Locks company -- locks that are used to secure sensitive facilities in places such as the White House, the Pentagon, embassies and other buildings. "Virtually all conventional pin-tumbler locks are vulnerable to this method of attack, and frankly nobody has really considered it or looked at it before," says Marc Weber Tobias, one of the researchers. - Source and Shrinky Dinks As a Threat To National Security - "What do Shrinky Dinks, credit cards and paperclips have in common? They can all be used to duplicate the keys to Medeco 'high-security' locks that protect the White House, the Pentagon, embassies, and many other sensitive locations. The attack was demonstrated at Defcon by Marc Weber Tobias and involves getting a picture of the key, then printing it out and cutting plastic to match — both credit cards and Shrinky Dinks plastic are recommended. The paperclip then pushes aside a slider deep in the keyway, while the plastic cut-out lifts the pins. They were able to open an example lock in about six seconds. The only solution seems to be to ensure that your security systems are layered, so that attackers are stopped by other means even if they manage to duplicate your keys." - Source

08/11/08 - How should I go about saving the child of my atheist neighbor?
He is 12 years old and DOES NOT BELIEVE IN JESUS! I have tried inviting him to church but he makes excuses as to why he can't go. I think his atheist parents are coercing him to stay away from God... (Read the Comments!) - Source

08/11/08 - The mollusc that knows when you are about to become ill
The piddock is a two-inch clam-like creature that lives around the British coast and burrows into soft rock. It glows in the dark when it comes in contact with chemicals produced by human white blood cells. These cells protect the body against disease and raised levels indicate the body is primed for action. Dr Robert Knight and his wife Dr Jan are farming the molluscs in Plymouth and extracting the protein that causes the bluey-green glow. When the protein is mixed with blood the white blood cell activity can be measured by how much light is produced. 'We can tell if people are training too hard, because their white cells get hectic," Dr Robert said. - Source

08/09/08 - Perpetual Power with self-regenerating Hydrogen Reactor
Scott Mitchell and Terry Cavender are trying to cut the ties to oil and coal by turning to hydrogen. "Scientists will say it can't be done and yet they are the same people to tell you to think outside the box," says Mitchell, who e-mailed Tampa Bay's 10 about an invention that uses a low voltage charge to separate hydrogen from water. Once that process starts, he says the hydrogen will continue to power the electricity, thus creating a continuum. Scientist Sesha Srinivasan at the University of South Florida says one of the major problems with harnessing hydrogen has been storage. Mitchell and Cavender say their invention uses the hydrogen as it produces it. "It can be done, because it doesn't break any laws. Right off the bat the skeptics are going to say 'you can't get something for nothing,' but you're not. You are using one to create another to create the other and back and forth," said Mitchell. The inventors say it will take more time and money to develop their device. "The time is now to do something about our environment while we still can," said Cavender. "We need a clean source of energy and this is certainly a way of going about it." - Source

08/09/08 - Electric cars offer glimpse of different automotive future
Pihsiang Machinery Manufacturing Co., Ltd.--one of the world's three largest manufacturers of mobility scooters and power wheelchairs--appears set to change all that. In an announcement June 24, PMMC said it would release a pure battery-powered electric car onto the European market by the end of this year. Developed in association with two European partners (who PMMC declined to name for reasons of commercial confidentiality), the company's Greenrunner electric vehicle is powered by a state-of-the-art lithium-ion battery--which uses lithium iron phosphate as a cathode material--made by subsidiary Pihsiang Energy Technology Co., Ltd. According to PMMC, its EV models will use a standard 120 amp-hour battery, although a range of batteries with different capacities will be available. The EV's standard battery can be charged in 4.5 hours by plugging it into a standard 110-volt outlet. By using a 230-volt outlet, this is reduced to 1.5 hours. The four-passenger EV, which will be demonstrated at major global auto shows later this year, has a range of between 100 kilometers and 220 kilometers, depending on which battery is fitted. Road tests carried out by PMMC indicate that with power supplied by the higher capacity battery, the electric car can travel up to 152 kilometers at a speed of 80 kilometers per hour. The company said the new car would be priced reasonably so as to appeal to a wider segment of the market. Nevertheless, the new batteries do have some drawbacks. "The capacity and size ratio of the battery is somewhat lower than that of a lithium battery. For example, if a lithium-ion cell produces a voltage of 3.6 volts, one of the new batteries of a comparable voltage will only generate up to 3.2 volts," the manager explained. "That means while 100 lithium batteries can power an electric scooter, 110 of the new versions are needed to drive the same vehicle," Lin added. Countering concerns that the company's EV could come to a sudden stop on the road if its batteries malfunctioned, Wu said the vehicle employs a tolerance safety pack that ensures the system will never shut down. - Source

08/09/08 - Replacing Gasoline with Hydrogen from Water as the only Fuel
Sri Lanka’s Sinhala language newspaper, The Divaina, said Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickramanayaka invited to his office the inventor who claimed that a miracle hydrogen generator making use of water he made is capable of running an internal combustion engine replacing gasoline. The newspaper published a photograph that showed the young inventor Thushara Edirisinghe showing the new apparatus that he claimed having the capability of producing hydrogen from water that could be installed into a car to convert the vehicle from a gasoline run car to a water run car. Earlier newspaper reports said how the inventor ran cars with water after borrowing cars from others since he did not have his own car to convert and test drive. The reports said how the owners always wanted him to return their vehicles. Thushara Edirisinghe, reportedly told the Prime Minister that his converter could run a car for 80 kilometers (49.7 miles) from one liter of water. (4 liters is 1.056 gallons, so using his method would let you drive almost 200 miles per gallon of water. - JWD) If Thushara Edirisinghe’s invention is true, that could also provide a solution for another problem, the global warming created by burning fossil fuels like petroleum , which are hydrocarbons made from ancient animals died in a catastrophe. - Source

08/09/08 - $240,000 Funding for Éocycle Generator
A manufacturer of direct drive generators that convert the mechanical energy produced by wind turbines into electrical energy, Éocycle Technologies Inc. also designs power electronics converters that transform electricity into energy adapted to everyday needs. The firm's invention is based on the innovative adaptation of a transverse flux configuration and the use of permanent magnets in the generator assembly. This patented technology's very high low-speed torque eliminates the need for a gearbox on the wind turbine. The Transverse Flux Permanent Magnet (TFPM) generator developed by Éocycle Technologies Inc. is lightweight, maintenance free and stands up to even the most extreme climates. Historically, wind turbines have relied on an assembly composed of a gearbox and a high-speed induction generator to convert the mechanical energy from the low-speed wind turbine rotor into electrical energy. The gearbox is constantly under high stress and its failure is often at the origin of wind turbine breakdown. Éocycle’s answer to the gearbox problem is the combination of a high-torque permanent magnet and a power electronics converter. Its line of generators uses an innovative adaptation of a transverse flux configuration. A specially designed power electronics converter is matched to the generator to benefit from the superior efficiency of variable speed wind turbines. - Source

08/09/08 - Driving Farther on Water
All Mike Schattenkerk needs to increase a car’s gas mileage is simple chemistry. And electrodes, distilled water, a sturdy container and some wiring to deliver it. The device itself is basic enough. Inside a hard plastic one-quart container filled with distilled water, Schattenkerk inserts two steel electrodes. Wiring connects the electrodes to a ground on the car’s frame and a positive charge within the fuse box, which activates only when the ignition is turned on. The positively charged electrode sends water molecules into a frenzy. The electrolysis separates hydrogen and oxygen from each other in a vacuum and they return to gas, which is then sucked into the fuel mixture via plastic tubing and the engine’s intake manifold. The hydrogen works as a fuel additive, Schattenkerk says. When it is burned both the hydrogen and the oxygen return to water. However, water production is minimal — no more than what the engine may produce on a humid day — and stainless steel valves are not necessary, he added. A pinch of baking soda works as a catalyst for the electrolysis. But too much can blow a fuse. When Schattenkerk first hooked the hydrogen generator to his wife’s 1998 Saturn, the mid-size car improved its mileage from 28 miles per gallon to 35. As for maintenance, he said the device should be checked once about every 1,000 miles and water added as needed. It’s important that it’s distilled water since regular tap water holds minerals and other impurities that can cause corrosion. When the water turns brick red, Schattenkerk says it’s time to rinse out the container and add new water. - Source

08/09/08 - MIT turns to photosynthesis for unlimited solar power
Daniel Nocera and Matthew Kanan, a postdoctoral fellow in Nocera's lab developed a process that will allow the sun's energy to be used to split water into hydrogen and oxygen gases, which later may be recombined inside a fuel cell, creating carbon-free electricity to power houses or electric cars, day or night. The key component in the process is a catalyst - cobalt metal, phosphate and an electrode, placed in water - that produces oxygen gas from water (pictured), while another catalyst produces hydrogen gas. When electricity - whether from a photovoltaic cell, a wind turbine or any other source - runs through the electrode, the cobalt and phosphate form a thin film on the electrode, and oxygen gas is produced, the researchers explained. Combined with another catalyst, such as platinum, that can produce hydrogen gas from water, the system can duplicate the water splitting reaction that occurs during photosynthesis. The new catalyst works at room temperature, in neutral pH water, and is easy to set up, Nocera said. "That's why I know this is going to work. It's so easy to implement," he said. - Source

08/09/08 - Inly student wins third straight state science far
Inly School student Ricky Housley created a means by which text messages can turn on and off electrical outlets. And he won the science fair prize for the third time in three years. Housley’s invention, a cell phone connected through a computer to a set of four 120-volt electrical outlets, would give a user the ability to turn on and off an appliance even while not at home. Homeowners could turn on the air conditioner, or a crock pot, with a text message on the way home from the office. It could be used by someone who normally keeps an air conditioning unit on all day to instead turn the unit on just before coming home. Housley also noted that the technology could be used to turn off outlets attached to items that often appear to be turned off but are actually burning energy on standby, such as phone chargers, cable boxes and Xboxes. - Source

08/09/08 - Plug and Fly: The Battery-Powered Plane Makes Its Debut
The plane, which received its airworthiness certificate in April, features a 5.6 kWh lithium battery with a projected life cycle (the number of times it can be depleted and recharged) of 1,000 cycles. The battery has a max weight of 78 pounds and can be custom-built to fit the available space in an airplane. It provides juice for a motor driving a 45-inch superlight PowerFin propeller made of a foam core surrounded by an outer shell of carbon fiber and glass fabric. Once in the air, the ElectraFlyer C cruises at 70 miles per hour. Top speed is 90 mph and the stall speed is 45. The plane can fly for 90 to 120 minutes before the battery needs recharging. When the battery winds down, just plug it into a 110V outlet -- your house is full of them -- and you're good to go in just more than six hours. Bump the voltage to 220 and you're flying again in two hours. The motor is nearly silent, which means no earplugs for pilots, and brings the potential for flying into new sites. And then there's the a dramatic improvement in what the company calls "neighbor relations" -- no droning engines to drive them nuts. Electric motors don't produce a lot of soot or pollution, and overhauls are a snap. And by combining this motor with the ElectraFlyer's slow turning propeller, you've got a flight that is practically vibration free. But the most compelling sell is an economic one: The company estimates that "refueling" the plane with a full charge of the battery will cost, on average, a whopping sixty cents. - Source

08/09/08 - Sleep on It: How Snoozing Makes You Smarter
In 1865 Friedrich August Kekulé woke up from a strange dream: he imagined a snake forming a circle and biting its own tail. Like many organic chemists of the time, Kekulé had been working feverishly to describe the true chemical structure of benzene, a problem that continually eluded understanding. But Kekulé’s dream of a snake swallowing its tail, so the story goes, helped him to accurately realize that benzene’s structure formed a ring. This insight paved the way for a new understanding of organic chemistry and earned Kekulé a title of nobility in Germany. Although most of us have not been ennobled, there is something undeniably familiar about Kekulé’s problem-solving method. Whether deciding to go to a particular college, accept a challenging job offer or propose to a future spouse, “sleeping on it” seems to provide the clarity we need to piece together life’s puzzles. But how does slumber present us with answers? - Source

08/09/08 - Dutch town tests 'air-purifying' concrete
A road in the small Dutch town of Hengelo is to be paved with air-purifying concrete in a trial that could lead to a breakthrough in the fight against rising pollution, scientists said Wednesday. Experts from the University of Twente developed and tested the concrete paving stones which contain a titanium dioxide-based additive. - Source

08/09/08 - RSS feed translates into 24 Languages
Mloovi is a tool which will translate RSS newsfeeds into 24 languages using Google Translate. How good are the translations? They are certainly not perfect like you would get from a professional translator but in our testing we have found that most of the time it is possible to understand what the posts are about. Remember, you are reading a blog not some legal document that is going to change your life (at least I hope you're not, don't do it, get a proper translator!) - Source

08/09/08 - Cloud seeding clears the air
Scientists have long wanted to manipulate the weather. The most common idea is that clouds can be "seeded" to produce rain in areas of drought, but an equally important goal is to clear fog around airports and other areas where visibility is impaired. - Source

08/09/08 - 100 Free Security Tools That Will Save Your Online Privacy
The Internet can be an easy place to shop for gifts, pay your bills, keep in touch with family and manage your bank accounts. Of course, with this convenience also comes risk with transmitting so much personal information over the net where those with nefarious intentions can be waiting to steal your credit card numbers or personal details. You can make the net a friendlier place, however, by employing a suite of security tools that will protect you and ensure your computer stays secure. Here are 100 such tools that won’t cost you a thing to try out. - Source

08/09/08 - Teacher finds new cosmic object
Hanny Van Arkel, 25, came across the strange gaseous blob while using the Galaxy Zoo website to help classify galaxies in telescope images. Astronomers subsequently confirmed that the object was one-of-a-kind. Researchers think this green blob got its energy from light emitted by a quasar (a powerful radiation source powered by a supermassive black hole) that has since gone dim. They think the quasar was hosted in a nearby spiral galaxy called IC 2497. It was so bright that, if the quasar was still active, it would be visible from Earth with binoculars. - Source

08/09/08 - Contagious cancer
Tasmanian devils in captivity were known to be quite susceptible to cancer, at least in some circumstances, possibly involving exposure to carcinogens. But the idea that the cancer itself was contagious seemed beyond the realm of possibility. And yet, during the following year, Menna Jones charted the spread of the problem across northern Tasmania. Nick Mooney, meanwhile, had done some further trapping himself. At a site in the northern midlands, he captured twenty-three devils, seven of which had horrible tumors. Shocked and puzzled, he remembered the Baars photos from years earlier. Further trapping (more than a hundred animals, of which 15 percent were infected) showed Mooney what Jones had also seen: that the tumors were consistently localized on faces, filling eye sockets, distending cheeks, making it difficult for the animals to see or to eat. Why faces? Maybe because devils suffer many facial and mouth injuries—from chewing on brittle bones, from fighting with one another over food and breeding rights, from the rough interactions between male and female when they mate. The bigger tumors were crumbly, like feta cheese. Could it be that tumor cells, broken off one animal, fell into the wounds of another, took hold there, and grew? This prospect seemed outlandish, but the evidence was leading inexorably to a strange and frightening new hypothesis: the cancer itself had somehow become contagious... - Source

08/09/08 - Phisher credit card info and a new DNS cache poisoning trick
Nitesh Dhanjani and Billy Rios (the speakers) showed us how phishers create sites, share info and code, and basically are lazy. I will definitely be blogging on this subject in more detail in the coming days but the highlights were that Phishers are storing their stolen data (credit card numbers, SSNs, ATM cards with Pins, etc) on websites that they have hacked into or on sites like guestbooks. And even worse they are not protecting their stolen data at all from access. No passwords, no encryption, no hardening of the compromised server they are using to store this on, Nothing! This means that all one need do to find this info for themselves is reverse engineer a real phisher’s website, look at their php script, and find out where they are storing the data. Then simply go there and grab the stolen data. Anyone can find an active phishing site by visiting http://www.phishtank.com, a well known site that hosts info on known bad phishing sites, similar to a URL blacklist site. To sell things like credit cards, they showed a site called vipdump where you can buy a stolen US credit card number for $20 each. Vipdump is just one of hundreds of such sites, all of which use some form of anonymous payment system like egold or WU... - Source

08/09/08 - We Can Cut Fuel Consumption 50 Percent in 25 Years
The United States consumes 390 million gallons of gasoline a day. Even if you believe climate change is the greatest hoax since Orson Wells convinced the country it was under Martian attack, we can't sustain that kind of consumption because the supply of oil is dwindling and what remains can't be pumped much faster. By embracing small, lightweight cars with hyper-efficient engines, alternative fuels and hybrids we can cut our fuel consumption 30 to 50 percent by 2035, say researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Critics argue the auto industry is dragging its heels and we need these cars tomorrow. But if super-efficient vehicles appeared in every showroom tomorrow, it still would take two decades or more for them to have a significant impact. Cars have a lifespan of about 15 years, and "fleet fuel use responds with a lag time of some 10 years to changes in the new vehicle market," the researchers say. - Source

DVD - the Physics of Crystals, Pyramids and Tetrahedrons
This is a wonderful 2 hour DVD which presents one man's lifelong study of pyramids, crystals and their effects. Several of his original and very creative experiments are explained and diagramed out for experimenters. These experiments include; 1) transmutation of zinc to lower elements using a tetrahedron, 2) energy extraction from a pyramid, 3) determining mathematic ratios of nature in a simple experiment, 4) accelerating the growth of food, 5) increasing the abundance of food, 6) how crystals amplify, focus and defocus energy, 7) using crystals to assist natural healing, 8) how the universe uses spirals and vortexes to produce free energy and MORE... - $20 DVD + S&H / Source to Buy and Youtube Clip

08/06/08 - Energy Invention: Keeping an Open Mind
Solar, wind, ocean, geothermal energy: All good stuff, but it’s likely that there are still more clean energy possibilities out there yet to be discovered and even further from being commercialized. We have to keep an open mind on those possibilities, not close it up. The human race is not done inventing quite yet. The 65kW HelioFocus Solar Concentrator technology focuses enough solar energy to provide an equivalent amount of combustion heat as a gaseous or liquid fuel to drive the microturbine. Hyperion Power Generation thinks a new solution to nuclear power is to build small nuclear powerplants - really small, about the size of a hot tub - and bury them underground for power in remote locations. The Hyperion Power Module (HPM), which was conceived at the Los Alamos National Laboratory and licensed to New Mexico-based Hyperion, would be powerful enough to energize a good-sized community. Each module would be under 24/7 armed guard for security, and when the uranium fuel is spent the module would be dug up, sent back to the company for its fuel to be recycled. Each unit would generate 70 megawatts of thermal (heat) energy, or 27 megawatts of electricity via steam turbine providing enough energy for 20,000 average American-style homes. Cost would be $20 - 30 million each. Philip Hardcastle, a geophysicist and electrical engineer from Australia has one. He thinks a prototype Rotating Thermionic Generator (RTG) should be built using government funds with the resulting technology freely dispersed for the good of the world. Common theory in thermionics says that two metals must be used, one very hot, one cold for electric current to flow. Hardcastle offers a different twist to the science, however. He thinks that high temperature heat and a temperature differential aren’t needed to induce electrons to depart from a metal surface to make a flow of current. With his hypothesis electrons will fling off a disk spinning in a vacuum. In this concept centrifugal force causes electrons from the outer rim of a metal doughnut-shaped spinning disk to be flung off, then be sucked back into the hollow center core. Once back in the disk the electrons move back through it to replace those spun off. One of the more useful properties of metals is the loose atomic bonding of electrons. If they can be flung off easily by centrifugal force with less energy than needed to supply that force, then he’s on to something. Hardcastle says they can a Rotating Thermionic Generator would make more useful energy than it would take to run it, but it is not a perpetual motion machine. Key to the operation of the RTG is a continuing flow of low level heat; ambient room temperature heat would be enough. Ambient energy is free, of course; we get it from the Sun all day long. - Source

08/06/08 - New Homes are Earth-friendly - and affordable
More than 50 residents and local officials braved Saturday's 95-degree heat to see the Brentwood neighborhood's latest addition: seven Earth-friendly houses that boast monthly electric bills of around $35. At Saturday's open house ceremony, initiative chief executive officer Abdul Sm Rasheed said the seven houses, which cost between $95,000 and $104,000, are for people who want the best for themselves. The frames of the houses are made of recycled steel called Enviro-Steel - much of which was produced by Carolina Steel in Durham. Each new house in the Brentwood neighborhood contains about six cars' worth of the material. Builder Kim Godon, president of Godon Construction in Sanford, said steel frames mean a stronger house that can withstand winds of more than 140 miles per hour - a definite perk in areas prone to hurricanes. They also mean no corrosion, termites or mold. And if the house is ever torn down, the steel can be melted down and reused again. While those in attendance felt the sweat-triggering wrath of the Saturday afternoon heat, the new houses were busy absorbing solar energy to use once the temperature dropped. Vast windows- nearly as large as a whole side of the house - face southward to attract afternoon rays that are stored by bricks inside the house and released at night, when the air is cooler. The entire house is cloaked in thermal wrap to retain interior temperatures - and it works. One structure's thermostat said it was 72 degrees inside despite being set to 76. Windows are designed to open against the wind currents specific to the region, thus making the most air circulation possible inside the building. - Source

08/06/08 - Free Oil and Clean Water
Peak Oil is real and it’s not in the future, it was actually in May of 2005 but you won’t hear much about it in the MSM. If we had truth in reporting laws, the Main Stream Media would have to be renamed the Main Stream Propaganda; it bears no resemblance to news or truth. Alas, we passed world peak oil production over three years ago. Production was less in 2006, even lower in 2007 and still lower in 2008. Prices are high because demand exceeds supply. When you pump oil from the ground, most of the time you are also pumping 4-20 barrels of water as well. The water is contaminated with both oil and solids (basically sand). The oilfield operator needs to do two things. He wants to recover as much oil as possible and he wants to get rid of the water the easiest and cheapest way. The water remediation unit produced and patented by Wescorp is simple in theory. You feed ultra tiny bubbles of natural gas or nitrogen through a tank of contaminated water. I think the 2000 bpd unit I saw had a green 12-foot upright tank. I was told the bubbles are so tiny that they take 28 minutes to travel from the bottom of the tank to the top. Oil is lighter than water so they collect the now free oil at the top of the tank and the solids from the bottom of the tank. New fluids are constantly fed into the tank so a 220-liter tank can process 2000 bpd of fluids. It’s very important to understand that the contaminated water cannot simply be fed back into the existing well. It is contaminated with sands and solids and would soon clog up the entire reservoir so no oil would be produced. So every field has exhausted wells where contaminated water can be pumped. Wescorp has the best water remediation unit by an order of magnitude. I was told that up to 3% more oil could be produced from the tar sands just recovering the oil from the contaminated water. That’s giant. The magic for investors isn’t just in this being such an environmentally friendly process. It’s going to make a lot of money for Wescorp. I saw the first unit put into production in April and I was very impressed. All the numbers worked. For $1400 a day, the operator was saving $4,000-$6,000 per day in expenses for filters, trucking and contaminating wells. - Source

08/06/08 - Fishtail Drive PROPELS BOATS and MODEL PLANES (Oct, 1939)
FOR ten years, Arthur D. Hill, Jr., a California commercial fisherman, has been observing and studying how the vibrating tails of fish enable them to dart through the water at great speeds. He also noted that birds, with their flapping wings, were still more efficient in flight than the most modern of airplanes with fixed wings. Puzzling out the principles involved, Hill determined to combine the methods of bird and fish, and he has finally developed an odd fishtail drive for Propelling model airplanes, and boats ranging from toy craft up to vessels thirty-five feet in length. On tiny boats having a single rudder, Hill’s fishtail mechanism is vibrated back and forth by means of an ordinary door-bell buzzer, powered by two dry-cell batteries. By reversing the rudder, the flutterings cause the craft to move backward. Dry-cell batteries also power the vibrating wings of Hill’s model airplane, shown in the photograph above. When suspended from the ceiling on a string, the little ship whirls around a circular course, its wings whirring so rapidly that they become invisible. For rowboat and canoe use, the inventor connects his fishtail propellers to handles, which the operator pumps up and down. This is said to drive the boat forward three feet for every foot the power device moves. On small toy boats and planes, such as shown in the accompanying illustrations, the fishtail drives are made of wood and silk, while for the larger craft airplane linen covered with creosote is used. - Source

08/06/08 - DPX Drive Systems use Rechargeable Power Tools w/many Videos
Specializing in developing power assisted drive units that are adaptable to numerous cordless rechargeable power tools. A revolutionary product that is changing the face of the cordless power tool industry. Not all of the products shown are for sale. Only the ones that show "Sale Item" or have a price listed are for sale. Others are examples of Prototypes or other products tested, but not yet for sale. - Source

08/06/08 - Virtual Personal Assistants w/video
At Tasks Everyday, we understand the importance of your time, that is why our Virtual Assistants executes your non-core activities and free up your time to concentrate on higher value tasks, and this results in better efficiency and higher personal gains for you! We have a team of 250+ staff and we can do all that you can ever think of outsourcing! Contact us for Instant Help....Where else will you get a dedicated and Exclusive Virtual Assistant for $558 per month? - Source

08/06/08 - Make a Note - Don't miss October Esquire
In celebration of there 75th year, Esquire magazine's October issue will feature an e-paper cover. The display will be about 3mm thick flexible paper with four shades of gray and some animated text and images. The backside will also have a display featuring a Ford ad for the new Flex. The Ford ad is essentially subsidizing this whole production. The cover isn't finalized yet, but Boing Boing Gadgets was able to get a few more details about it from deputy editor [Peter Griffin]. The battery isn't anything exotic and they fully expect people to break the device open and do what they want with it. It will unfortunately still require you building your own controller, but at least you get two revolutionary displays to play with for the cost of a magazine. - Source

08/06/08 - Effective Optical Disc Repair?
"I have an extensive music collection on original CD media. While most of it is in impeccable condition, I have a few discs that have suffered extensive scratching through listening to the disc either via a portable disc player, or in a car CD stacker. I've long since learned the error of my old ways and don't listen to discs in those devices any more, but those discs are irreplaceable in many cases. I would very much like to be able to repair them or have them repaired to original condition, or at least well enough that I can pull the tracks off once and archive the track data. I have heard really uncomplimentary things about devices like the Skip Doctor; ranging from it not helping to it making things worse. I've heard great things about JFJ devices that are seen on the counters of most Hollywood and BlockBuster video stores, but even their consumer devices start at $250. I would appreciate any other suggestions for devices that people have had personal experience with that won't break the bank." (check link for many useful comments and answers) - Source

08/06/08 - Top 5 Plants that Inspire New Technology
There’s a lot of hype out there about new technologies that will “change everything”. Sometimes it’s nice to sit back and “smell the roses”. In that spirit, here are five plants with surprising super powers - they have provided a boost to technological innovation or invention, often with a green lining. Algae and Biofuel / Guayule and Latex / Corn and Plastic / Cockleburs and Velcro and Lotus Plant and Nanotechnology. - Source

08/06/08 - DIY kidney machine saves girl
When the tool you need doesn't exist, you must make one. That's exactly what [Dr. Malcolm Coulthard] and kidney nurse [Jean Crosier] from Newcastle's Royal Victoria Infirmary did two years ago. When a baby too small for the regular dialysis machine (similar to the one pictured above) needed help after her kidneys failed, the kind doctor designed and built a smaller version of the machine in his garage, then used it to save six-pound baby Millie Kelly's life. Since then the machine has continued to be used in similar emergency situations. - Source

08/06/08 - Better Batteries Charge Up
A Texas startup says that it has taken a big step toward high-volume production of an ultracapacitor-based energy-storage system that, if claims hold true, would far outperform the best lithium-ion batteries on the market. EEStor claims that its system, called an electrical energy storage unit (EESU), will have more than three times the energy density of the top lithium-ion batteries today. The company also says that the solid-state device will be safer and longer lasting, and will have the ability to recharge in less than five minutes. Toronto-based ZENN Motor, an EEStor investor and customer, says that it's developing an EESU-powered car with a top speed of 80 miles per hour and a 250-mile range. It hopes to launch the vehicle, which the company says will be inexpensive, in the fall of 2009. But skepticism in the research community is high. At the EESU's core is a ceramic material consisting of a barium titanate powder that is coated with aluminum oxide and a type of glass material. - Source

08/06/08 - Knights Templar heirs in legal battle with the Pope
The Association of the Sovereign Order of the Temple of Christ, whose members claim to be descended from the legendary crusaders, have filed a lawsuit against Benedict XVI calling for him to recognise the seizure of assets worth 100 billion euros (£79 billion). They claim that when the order was dissolved by his predecessor Pope Clement V in 1307, more than 9,000 properties as well as countless pastures, mills and other commercial ventures belonging to the knights were appropriated by the church. They amassed enormous wealth and helped to finance wars waged by European monarchs, but spectacularly fell from grace after the Muslims reconquered the Holy Land in 1244 and rumours surfaced of their heretic practices. The Knights were accused of denying Jesus, worshipping icons of the devil in secret initiation ceremonies, and practising sodomy. Over the centuries, various groups have claimed to be descended from the Templars and legend abounds over hidden treasures, secret rituals, and their rumoured guardianship of the Holy Grail. - Source

08/06/08 - RepairPal.com - Car Repair Price Estimates
RepairPal gives you independent and unbiased repair estimates, user ratings and reviews, plus advice you can't get anywhere else. - Source

08/06/08 - Get the location of car or dog by sending SMS
The Zoombak is a GPS locator for tracking your car, dog or just about anything via an online map. Today the company rolled out a new service called Mobile Location Request, which lets you send a text message from your cell phone, and get back the location of the Zoombak. The Zoombak comes in three versions, with associated monthly service fees: Car & Family Locator, Dog Locator and Universal Locator. The Car & Family version costs $249.99, plus a monthly service fee of between $9.99 and $34.89. The other two versions cost $199.99 each, plus the same range of monthly service fees. The Zoombak system combines GPS and cell phone electronics for respective location and communication purposes. - Source

08/06/08 - Houston doctors say they may have found a way to destroy HIV w/video
“We have found an innovative way to kill the virus by finding this small region of HIV that is unchangeable,” Dr. Sudhir Paul of the University of Texas Medical School at Houston said. Dr. Paul and Dr. Miguel Escobar aren’t talking about just suppressing HIV – they’re talking about destroying it permanently by arming the immune system with a new weapon lab tests have shown to be effective. Paul and his team have zeroed in on a section of a key protein in HIV’s structure that does not mutate. “The virus needs at least one constant region, and that is the essence of calling it the Achilles heel,” Paul said. Basically, their idea could be used to control the disease for people who already have it and prevent infection for those at risk. The theory has held up in lab and animal testing. The next step is human trials. - Source

08/06/08 - Video Demo - Online Animation Creator > GoAnimate
GoAnimate can do loads of stuff! While we do our best to make it easy to use, it is always hard to pack so many features onto a computer screen and make it easy for say a chiwawa (sic) with its legs attached behind its back to use. Whether you have trouble creating animations or you want to learn about the more advanced features of the application, this page is the place to be! - Source

08/06/08 - Nissan ECO pedal promises to push back against aggressive drivers
While Nissan hasn't quite cut drivers out of the equation all together, it is making some considerable progress in controlling just how they drive, including preventing folks from driving drunk and, now with its new ECO pedal, preventing people from driving inefficiently. To do that, the pedal simply pushes back against the driver's foot when it detects wasteful acceleration, which Nissan says could improve fuel efficiency by as much as five to ten percent. Of course, the system can be switched off, and it likely won't be making an appearance in all Nissan vehicles right off the bat, although the company says it'll be showing up in at least some of them as early as next year. - Source

08/06/08 - Magnetic Card Spoofer w/video
After building a USB magnetic stripe reader, [David Cranor] has found a way to fool a magnetic stripe reader using a hand-wound electromagnet and an iPod. The data on a card is read and stored on a computer, then encoded as a WAV file using a C++ program. The iPod plays the WAV file with the data through a single-stage opamp amplifier connected to the headphone jack. The amplifier is used to drive the electromagnet. Video embedded after the jump. By no means is this a new idea. There have been a lot of magnetic stripe projects and software. This project in particular references the 1992 Phrack article "A Day in the Life of a Flux reversal" by [Count Zero]. Don't get your hopes up just yet on strolling through high security installations using this little device. It can only replay the data from a card that has been recorded. If you don't have a known working card, it won't get you very far. - Source

08/06/08 - Prostate Cancer for Men over 75
New advice that men over 75 should not be screened for prostate cancer won't quell the long-standing controversy over the usefulness of the blood test for the disease, cancer experts said Tuesday. The task force found that screening can detect some cases of prostate cancer, but the benefits of treatment in men over 75 "are small to none." Treatment often causes "moderate-to-substantial harms," including impotence and bladder control and bowel problems, the task force said, without evidence it saves the lives of these elderly men. The panel did not recommend for or against prostate screening of men under 75 but suggested that doctors discuss the potential benefits and harms of the test with their patients. - Source

08/04/08 - New Gearing for 40kmph Bicycle
An innovation by a senior administrator at IIT-Kharagpur is helping him ride the humble bicycle at 40 km an hour and pedalling past motor vehicles on busy roads without much effort. And you could be next - cycle manufacturers are planning to launch these hot wheels commercially, very soon. Manoj Mondal is the inventor of the crank pedal-he successfully tweaked the pedal of a bicycle to an extent that it generates almost double the torque (force multiplied by the distance from the centre) than in normal circumstances . In other words, the speed of the bicycle increases from, say, 20 km/hr to 40 km/hr. There’s more. “Tweaking the pedal to generate more torque can create 700 watts of electricity per unit,” says Mondal. Now that’s enough to light up 10 neons. Next, he’s working on a prototype where pedalling on a stationary cycle has the potential to dig a bore deep enough to make a drain. Mondal’s invention is slated to benefit rickshaw-pullers as the Centre for Rural Development has shown keenness to convert 10,000 rickshaws into the crank pedal mode this year. Though power companies haven’t lined up yet, bicycle makers seem to have grasped the next wave. “I’m awaiting the final prototype (from Mondal) and then intend to take it to the dealers en route the market,” says R K Kapur, chief general manager of technology at Atlas Cycles. As for Mondal, he’s onto his 10th prototype and exudes rock-solid confidence about doubling the torque. Though 14 patents exist on claims of increasing the torque, Mondal’s pedal cranks up a whole new business proposition for marketers. Up to speed, the soft-spoken professor from IIT now lets the torque do the talking. - Source

08/04/08 - Is Aging an Accident of Evolution?
Prevailing theory of aging challenged by Stanford University Medical School researchers. Their discovery contradicts the prevailing theory that aging is a buildup of tissue damage similar to rust. The Stanford findings suggest specific genetic instructions drive the process. If they are right, science might one day find ways of switching the signals off and halting or even reversing aging. "We were really surprised," said Stuart Kim, who is the senior author of the research. "Everyone has assumed we age by rust. But how do you explain animals that don't age? Some tortoises lay eggs at the age of 100, there are whales that live to be 200 and clams that make it past 400 years." The question of what causes aging has spawned competing schools, with one side claiming that inborn genetic programs make organisms grow old. This theory has had trouble gaining traction because it implies that aging evolved, that natural selection pushed older organisms down a path of deterioration. However, natural selection works by favoring genes that help organisms produce lots of offspring. After reproduction ends, genes are beyond natural selection’s reach, so scientists argued that aging couldn’t be genetically programmed. The alternate, competing theory holds that aging is an inevitable consequence of accumulated wear and tear: toxins, free-radical molecules, DNA-damaging radiation, disease and stress ravage the body to the point it can’t rebound. So far, this theory has dominated aging research. - Source

14 Ways to Save Money on Fuel Costs
This eBook is the result of years of research into various methods to increase mileage, reduce pollution and most importantly, reduce overall fuel costs. It starts out with the simplest methods and offers progressively more detailed technologies that have been shown to reduce fuel costs. As a bonus to readers, I have salted the pages with free interesting BONUS items that correlate to the relevant page. Just filling up with one tank of gas using this or other methods explained here will pay for this eBook. Of course, many more methods are out there but I provided only the ones which I think are practical and can be studied by the average person who is looking for a way to immediately reduce their fuel costs. I am currently using two of the easier methods in my own vehicle which normally gets 18-22 mpg and now gets between 28 and 32 mpg depending on driving conditions. A tank of gas for my 1996 Ford Ranger costs about $45.00 here so I am saving around $15-$20 PER TANK, without hurting my engine and with 'greener' emissions due to a cleaner burn! The techniques provided in this ebook begin with simple things you can do NOW to improve your mileage and lower your gas costs. - $15 eBook Download / Source to Buy

08/04/08 - Top 10 Quirkiest Early Flying Machines
This topic is a dream for lovers of lists because there are so many hilarious and quirky attempts at flight that have been documented through history. After wading through hundreds of choices I have picked the 10 quirkiest - you are sure to love them! #6 - Charles Ritchel's Flying Machine - Charles Ritchel’s flying machine was first demonstrated publicly during May and June of 1878. The framework was constructed of brass tubing and it held a gas bag of rubberized fabric. Mabel Harrington was the first to fly this hand-cranked machine though Mark Quinlan is believed to have made the majority of the future demonstration flights, including two lasting over one hour each. Eventually Ritchel would go on to build and sell five of these machines. Ritchel had plans for a trans-contentinental airline comprising aircraft hand-cranked by 11 men each. This was not to eventuate. Not satisfied with just aviation, Ritchel was actually a prolific inventor - with his most famous invention being the funhouse mirror. He also invented a mechanical money box in which a coin is placed in a monkey’s hand which then tilts the coin back in to a hole in its stomach. Some people attribute the invention of roller skates to Ritchel. Ritchel died in poverty. - Source

08/04/08 - Local inventor sees answer to U.S. energy problem in ocean
When Tom Windle and his wife took their 25th wedding anniversary trip to Hawaii nearly 30 years ago, the powerful beach waves caught his eyes. In the rising and falling of the ocean swells, Windle saw the potential to generate electricity as well as provide inexpensive hydrogen. “I knew that the bigger the waves, the more powerful they get. And they never stop. There are always waves,” says Windle. Determined to turn his ideas into action, Windle sketched out a hydrogen fuel pump model that would produce wave energy while still on his island vacation. When he returned home to Bartlesville, he used the sketch as a model to create a floating platform that he tested at several area lakes. He explains that the floating platform works like a large car engine. When the ocean rises and falls, it pushes pistons that pump water through a turbine-generator, resulting in electricity. By the mid-1980s, Windle was experimenting with his model on the Texas coastal shore lines, often working closely with oceanography professors at Texas A&M. “We were making electricity at Galveston in ’87. It was a pretty big thing back then. But it didn’t really catch on because energy was still cheap, especially compared to today’s standards,” he says. Windle also points out that salt water is more conductive to electricity, which in turn is quite favorable to making hydrogen. As part of his answer to the energy crisis, he believes that an efficient way to produce hydrogen is through utilizing existing offshore oil and gas platforms. “By using the platforms that are already there, it’s making use of resources that are already there,” he says. “It’s a simple solution and very cost-effective.” - Source

08/04/08 - There's water in dem dar clouds! w/video
With seawater covering seventy-one per cent of the Earth’s surface, at an average depth of four kilometers, and another 1,000,000,000,000,000 liters of water in the first kilometer alone of the earth' atmosphere, water could hardly be described as a rare element. Its more a case of 'water water everywhere and not a drop to drink'. Perth Australia has now established one of the largest desalination plants outside of the Middle East and set up a wind farm to power it. Electricity for the desalination plant, which has an overall 24MW requirement, comes from the new 80MW Emu Downs Wind Farm, located 30km east of the town of Cervantes. Speaking of windmills, another Australian, Max Whisson, an energetic septuagenarian inventor, believes he can solve the current water crisis with his Water Windmill invention, a unique technology to extract moisture from the atmosphere. The concept is to use windmills to cool air and extract water directly from the air and was partly inspired from an African beetle, Stenocara, who manages to be completely water sufficient by standing on his head in the desert and using cooling plates on his body to extract water vapor from the air. Another technology being developed by the New Mexico State University uses low grade heat and a vacuum to run a distillation process. The system can convert saltwater to pure drinking water on a round-the-clock basis – and its energy needs are so low it could be powered by the waste heat of an air conditioning system. At the risk of losing you, here’s the 101 of how it works. The system consists of two 30-foot vertical tubes – one rising from a tank of saline water and the other from a tank of pure water – which are connected by a horizontal tube. The natural effect of gravity creates a vacuum in the air space above the water column. The lower pressure in the headspace causes water to evaporate at a lower temperature, (this is why water boils at lower temperatures on top of a mountain). Then they use waste heat, for example from an air conditioning system, to heat up the saline water (e.g. seawater or brackish groundwater) to 10 -150 C more than the freshwater. Water vapor from the salt water column travels across the horizontal bridge and condenses in the freshwater column. - Source

08/04/08 - ET Briefing at White House
The White House has been alerted by NASA about plans to make an announcement soon on major new Phoenix lander discoveries concerning the "potential for life" on Mars, scientists tell Aviation Week & Space Technology. Sources say the new data do not indicate the discovery of existing or past life on Mars. Rather the data relate to habitability--the "potential" for Mars to support life--at the Phoenix arctic landing site, sources say. The data are much more complex than results related NASA's July 31 announcement that Phoenix has confirmed the presence of water ice at the site. International news media trumpeted the water ice confirmation, which was not a surprise to any of the Phoenix researchers. "They have discovered water on Mars for the third or fourth time," one senior Mars scientists joked about the hubbub around the water ice announcement. The other data not discussed openly yet are far more "provocative," Phoenix officials say. - Source

08/04/08 - Scotty Lost but not in Space
Unfortunately for Space X, the loss of another rocket was the third unsuccessful attempt with the Falcon 1, a liquid fueled (oxygen and kerosene) two-stage launch vehicle that will form the basis of its model line up. Space X hasn't just lost a rocket, though. The flight was carrying a trio of small satellites belonging to NASA and the DoD. Perhaps less seriously, but probably more newsworthy, the ashes of over 200 people were also on board, including a pair of rather well known astronauts, one actual, one fictional. They were Gordon Cooper, one of the original Mercury 7, and "Scotty" himself, James Doohan. Falcon 1 flight 3 was lost during the attempted separation of the second stage. The previous attempts were stymied by a fuel leak (flight 1) and a loss of control following second stage separation (flight 2). - Source

08/04/08 - Inflation and the Human Spirit
The attached letter was sent to an Australian online newspaper (Crikey.com) by a correspondent living in Harare. I have nothing significant to say about it. At first I thought it was a joke, but now I am afraid that it is all too true. This was the African country with the best farmland and prospects for a high standard of living - before the colonial masters were forced out. Independence is a wonderful thing. We stopped hearing about Zimbabwe after the failed election, but life goes on. I just wanted to share it because it shows how lucky we are in the USA, even though many of us are in dispair about our economy and our government. I wonder how many of us could cope as well as they seem to be doing. - Dear Friends, ''We have survived the worst week yet -- no water since 12th of this month & still no water, power came on briefly on Sunday and then again yesterday morning, after being off for seven days. Associated with power-out is the lack of telephone. Now also total lack of food and money. We are allowed to draw only 100 billion dollars per day from our bank accounts. This is currently worth less than 20 UK pence or 40 US cents or two South African Rand. It is a criminally cruel policy which is causing extreme suffering and costing huge unnecessary transport costs to get to the bank daily & then stand in the queue for hours... - Source

08/04/08 - A Cool Fuel Cell
A new electrolyte for solid-oxide fuel cells, made by researchers in Spain, operates at temperatures hundreds of degrees lower than those of conventional electrolytes, which could help make such fuel cells more practical. The electrolyte used in the fuel cell is a solid material--typically only conducting ions at high temperatures. Santamaria, drawing on earlier work by other researchers, found that the ionic conductivity at low temperatures could be greatly improved by combining layers of the standard electrolyte materials with 10-nanometer-thick layers of strontium titanate. He found that, because of the differences in the crystal structures of the materials, a large number of oxygen vacancies--places within the crystalline structures of the materials that would ordinarily host an oxygen atom--formed where these two materials meet. These vacancies form pathways that allow the oxygen ions to move through the material, improving the conductivity of the materials at room temperature by a factor of 100 million. The material is still some way from being incorporated into commercial fuel cells. - Source

08/04/08 - "Mobile Plate Hunter" Cameras Raise Questions
The Washington Post has a story on "Minority Report"-style license-plate scanners that mount on police cars. They are the size of softballs, cost $25K, and can scan and run thousands of plates a day through the local Motor Vehicle Administration database. The easy mission creep these devices encourage is summarized in the article: "Initially purchased to find stolen cars, a handful of so-called tag readers are in use across the Washington region to catch not just car thieves, but also drivers who neglected or failed their emissions inspections or let their insurance policies lapse. The District and Prince George's County use them to enforce parking rules... 'I just think it makes us a lot more effective and a lot more efficient in how our time is being used,' [a senior detective] said." The article doesn't mention what happens to the data on legal plates. Suppose the DHS decides it wants a permanent archive of who was where, when? - Source

08/04/08 - Experts clash over viability of biofuels, alternative energy
Depending on who you listen to, it will either take food for 36 billion people just to make enough ethanol for all of America's cars, or plants growing on just 1% of the earth's surface can supply the entire world. - Source

08/04/08 - Video - How to Pick a Lock with a Bump Key
From the "use this for good, not evil" files comes a fascinating instructional video on how to pick a lock with a "bump key"-a key modified to fit and open any lock. Like the instructor in the video says, thieves have been using this technique for a long time now-so it's interesting (in the "knowledge is power" kind of way) to see how it's done. Before you start making evil plans, keep in mind that most states in the U.S. consider a bump key a burglary tool so don't go getting yourself arrested. / (I have locked myself out of my house on several occasions and here there is only one locksmith so it is hard to track him down. This is something I've got to try or else just leave spare keys hidden somewhere outside. - JWD) - Source

08/04/08 - Oxygen Bar - Oxygen Facts of Interest
How much oxygen is in the air we normally breathe? About 19%-21% / Medical oxygen is 100% pure oxygen and you must have a license to dispense and a prescription to receive. An oxygen bar dispenses industrial oxygen, which is between 87% to 95% pure oxygen. / FACTS - Less than 200 years ago the earth's atmosphere comprised of 40% oxygen; today we breathe only 21%. - Lack of oxygen in our universe is due to pollution, burning of fossil fuels and overall destruction of the ozone layer. - Everyday we breathe 20,000 times. - Research has demonstrated that our vital lung capacity decreases 5% with every decade of life. This lung elasticity means less oxygen. - Blood is the liquid carrier of oxygen that fuels all systems, stimulates chemical reactions and cleans itself of waste and toxins. - By mass, oxygen makes up 90% of the water molecule; water makes up 65%-75% of the human body. - The brain, which makes up 2% of our total mass, and requires 20% of the body's oxygen needs. - Almost all cancerous beginnings are due to lack of cell oxygenation. - Cancer attacks every organ in our body, except the heart because of its abnormal supply of oxygen. / Benefits - Heightens concentration, alertness and memory - Oxygen gives you energy! 90% of our energy comes from oxygen, and only 10% from food and water - Oxygen is vital to your immune system, memory, thinking and sight - Promotes healing and counters aging - Strengthens your heart, reducing the risk of heart attacks. - Source

08/04/08 - Introducing the Media Chair for Geeks
It features a 19? flat screen, 2.1 speaker system, integrated cables for computer and an ergonomic wireless keyboard and mouse so you can play games, check your e-mail, relax or watch a movie all while comfortably reclining on this ergonomic chair with knee-top board and a grain-filled cushion bottom that forms to the shape of your knees as accessory. You can order one for you from the BeeB web-shop. The price is available on order. - Source

08/02/08 - MIT develops way to bank solar energy at home
A U.S. scientist has developed a new way of powering fuel cells that could make it practical for home owners to store solar energy and produce electricity to run lights and appliances at night. A new catalyst produces the oxygen and hydrogen that fuel cells use to generate electricity, while using far less energy than current methods. Nocera's catalyst is made from cobalt, phosphate and an electrode that produces oxygen from water by using 90 percent less electricity than current methods, which use the costly metal platinum. The system still relies on platinum to produce hydrogen -- the other element that makes up water. "On the hydrogen side, platinum works well," Nocera said. "On the oxygen side ... it doesn't work well and you have to put way more energy in than needed to get the (oxygen) out." "It's cheap, it's efficient, it's highly manufacturable, it's incredibly tolerant of impurity and it's from earth-abundant stuff," Nocera explained. (Thanks to Ken H. for this headsup. - JWD) - Source

08/02/08 - 24 Pounds of Coal for 1 Gallon of Gas (Feb. 1934)
British motorists may now enjoy the novelty of buying gasoline made from coal, which has just been placed on public sale. The event marks the beginning of a great chemical industry by which England hopes to put 65,000 men to work and to end her dependence upon imported petroleum. A monster plant now rising at Billingham-on-Tees will transform 1,000 tons of coal daily into the synthetic fuel, using a process already in successful operation in a smaller experimental plant at the same site. In this process, known as hydrogenation, powdered coal is mixed with heavy oil and the resulting paste is fed, with hydrogen gas, to a converter. The mixture undergoes a chemical transformation under tremendous heat and pressure, yielding a mixture of hydrocarbons from which pure gasoline is recovered by distillation. Another of the products is Diesel oil, which may also be changed into gasoline by an additional conversion treatment with hydrogen. Both the hydrogen and heavy oil used in the process are obtained in the course of producing the gasoline, leaving coal as the chief raw material required. Results of production indicate that approximately a gallon of gasoline may be obtained from twenty-four pounds of coal, and the large-scale plant under construction should show an output of 80,000 gallons of gasoline a day. - Source

08/02/08 - Capture Anything with Snagit - July 27th, 2008
SnagIt is a Windows program that lets you capture anything you see on the computer screen, including video clips, even if they have been protected against copying. The program comes with some of the best teaching videos we’ve seen. (Just click “help” and go to “tour.”) The videos walk you through everything, step by step. After a while you get the hang of it. If you are used to using graphics programs, nearly all the commands, like grouping objects, will be familiar. Among the new features is the ability to work with multiple images at once, laying them out like scenes in a film strip. So you don’t lose track of what you’ve captured, screens can be given tag words, so that later they can be brought together into one folder. You can drop and drag them the separate captures onto a main screen to lay out the kind of presentation you want. When you get the look and sound you like you can click on the “send” tab to email the result or post it to the web or send to another program, like Photoshop Elements, for special effects or masking. An old feature that is made more visible in the current version is “hot spot.” You can designate any point in any captured screen as a hot spot that will bring up another image, text, or even a whole sequence. You’ve seen this effect many times in programs and web sites: when your mouse pointer hovers over a point, another image or instruction pops up. Profiles make it easy. SnagIt comes with eleven preset buttons that make screen capture a cinch! Capture a region of your screen, text from a window, the contents of a tall page that scrolls, all the images on a Web page, (active window for video), you get the idea. Using SnagIt, you can do this too. SnagIt 9 is $50 from SnagIt.com and there’s a 30-day trial version for free. There is a free, much-lighter version of SnagIt for PCs and Macs at JingProject.com. - Source

08/02/08 - Video - The Story of the Sign
With a stroke of the pen, a stranger transforms the afternoon for another man in this emotionally stirring short film by Alonso Alvarez. / (Not normally something I'd post on KeelyNet, but it's a feel good thing for the weekend. Thanks to Ken H. for sharing it. - JWD) - Source

08/02/08 - Big Bee-hive Gets Water From Air (Jul, 1934)
AN ODD “drinking water fountain” in Europe acts as a giant artificial spring, condensing the moisture of the air. The thick brick walls keep the inside of the stone structure at a lower temperature than the outside, so that moisture condenses on the thousands of stone slates. - Source and the modern version Atmospheric water generator - An AWG operates in a manner very similar to that of a refrigerated dehumidifier: air is passed through a cooled coil, causing water to condense. The amount of water that can be produced depends on the humidity, the volume of air passing through the coils, and the size of the machine. The device is very useful for locations where pure drinking water is difficult to obtain, such as in areas with heavy ground pollution, and the air is humid.

08/02/08 - Top 10 Command Line Tools
When you need something done quickly, efficiently, and without any software overhead, the command line is where it's at. It was the first way humans told computers what to do, but as graphics became increasingly important, the command line, or terminal, became an insiders' secret weapon. But with the right commands and a little bit of know-how, anyone can get things done from a text-only interface. Let's take a look at 10 commands and tricks that make the terminal more accessible, and more powerful, on any system. - Source

08/02/08 - Homemade Biodiesel Explosion
A Northamptonshire man destroyed his garage and badly injured himself at the weekend while attempting to make biodiesel from used cooking oil. A devastating explosion levelled the makeshift reprocessing plant on Saturday afternoon, when sparks from an electric drill being used to mix ingredients ignited explosive vapours. Firemen hastened to deal with the smoking wreckage, in Middleton Cheney, and the unnamed thrifty motorist was airlifted to hospital with 20 per cent burns. The injured biodiesel fancier reportedly made motor fuel from used cooking oil obtained from his local Chinese takeaway. Such oil can often be used in diesel vehicles without preparation, but this will typically knacker the engine in short order. It is normal to treat the oil with alcohol and other ingredients before use, and this process was apparently underway when the mishap occurred. The explosion would most probably have been caused initially by alcohol fumes building up in the garage, a process likely enhanced by the hot weather this weekend. Open-air - or at least better-ventilated - biodiesel manufacture might have been wiser. - Source

08/02/08 - 3D Printing For Everyone
"Technology Review has up an article about Shapeways, a new online rapid-prototyping service that allows users to upload digital designs which are then printed on 3-D printers and shipped back. A spinoff from Philips Research, the service gives small businesses, designers, artists, and hobbyists access to prototyping tools that were once available only to the largest corporations. The fee for a typical printed object is $50-$150. Their video shows the steps behind the process." - Source

08/02/08 - Solar Bath Apparatus Helps Cure Diseases of the Head (Jan, 1933)
NO, THE peculiar looking device in the photo at left is not a camera, nor even a telescope, although partially resembling both. It is a new solar bath apparatus for the head and has made a great hit with the medical fraternity of Germany. The main purpose of the device is to cure sicknesses of the head, like catarrh of the nose and throat or of the ears. It reposes on a stationary upright and has an opening in under side for a patient’s head. Affected person sits in a chair while taking treatments. An ultra-violet ray machine within throws artificial sunlight upon all parts of the head. Eventually, when fully tested and improved, it is expected to cure many of the illnesses of the head. - Source

08/02/08 - A Photo That Can Steal Your Online Credentials?
"InfoWorld reports on a new potential ploy for stealing Web user's private information: Researcher has found that by placing a new type of hybrid file on Web sites that let users upload their own images, they can circumvent security systems and take over Web surfers' accounts. 'They call this type of file a GIFAR, a contraction of GIF (graphics interchange format) and JAR (Java Archive), the two file-types that are mixed. At Black Hat, researchers will show attendees how to create the GIFAR while omitting a few key details to prevent it from being used immediately in any widespread attack.'" - Source

08/02/08 - China's Gas Guzzlers
Less than 4 percent of the country's 1.3 billion people have already bought one. That's where the United States was in 1915. But... Car ownership in China is exploding, and it's not only cars but also sport-utility vehicles, pickup trucks and other gas-guzzling rides. Elsewhere in the world, the popularity of these vehicles has tumbled as the cost of oil has soared. But in China, the number of SUVs sold rose 43 percent in May compared with the previous year, and full-size sedans were up 15 percent. Indeed, China's demand for gas is much of the reason for the dramatic run-up in global oil prices. - Source

08/02/08 - Panel on Electric Vehicles Draws Huge Crowd At AirVenture
The development of electrically powered aircraft will happen", said Craig Willen, "and will change the way we move through the environment. It could be the greatest challenge in aviation history." EAA's Craig Willen announced a significant advocacy measure by EAA, a request to the FAA for regulatory exemptions that would allow the use of electric motors in ultralight and light-sport aircraft. "Our goal", said Craig, "is to engage as many EAA members [as possible] in workshops and competitions. The ultimate goal described as having tens of thousands of electrically powered aircraft..." David Palombo was asked about the state of the art in an electric aircraft power plant and described what was essentially a very simple 40HP engine that weighed an impressively light 18 pounds and had essentially 1 moving part. In his (and other panelists') estimation, electric engines are three-times more efficient than an internal combustion engine. "The bigger challenge, said Palombo, "is having to rethink the aircraft structure and essentially design the airframe around the engine." John Monnett of Sonex, commented that "the integration of the electrical system was realistically years away". He estimated that to power an LSA, an electric motor in excess of 55KW would need to be developed. "There are currently 12 electrically powered aircraft", said Dr. Martin Grosser, "so it is possible that in less than 5 years the industry will have a scalable model, using the technology that already exists today." - Source

08/02/08 - Freebies
If you go to PCWorld.com and type “Freebies” in the search field, you can look at their annual lists of “101 Fantastic Freebies.” These are free downloads you can get either from the magazine’s own web site or by clicking on a link. Many are both interesting and useful. For example, you can go to 4Shared.com and get five gigabytes of free storage for files which can be kept private or shared with anyone you want. You can download a number of programs for sending instant messages combined with voice and video. You’ll find the excellent “Spybot Search and Destroy” here and the free version of AVG AntiVirus... - Source

08/02/08 - U.S. agents can seize travelers' laptops
U.S. federal agents have been given new powers to seize travelers' laptops and other electronic devices at the border and hold them for unspecified periods the Washington Post reported on Friday. Agents are empowered to share the contents of seized computers with other agencies and private entities for data decryption and other reasons, the newspaper said. DHS officials said the policies applied to anyone entering the country, including U.S. citizens, and were needed to prevent terrorism. The policies cover hard drives, flash drives, cell phones, iPods, pagers, beepers, and video and audio tapes -- as well as books, pamphlets and other written materials, the report said. - Source and from lifehacker.com, check out Avoid Laptop Seizure - CNET recommends encrypting your data before you leave the house, but we're not so sure. Wouldn't that make your laptop appear more suspect? Wouldn't they just have you just unlock the drive by typing in your password anyway? We're not lawyers, so we won't even touch on the legality of this, but here's our recommendation. Do what you can to leave your laptop home. That's what I wished I'd done after my trip to Thailand. Instead, load up a thumb drive with the apps and files you need—and encrypt it, if you'd like—and you'll travel lighter, worry less about your notebook, and avoid the possibility of having your entire hard drive scanned by Customs. If it's a business trip, make your files accessible remotely, and grab 'em at your destination instead of bringing them with you through airport security.

08/02/08 - 15 Incredible Do-It-Yourself Gadgets You Wish You Made
For those of you who are DIY fans out there, we’ve got a special treat for you this week! Ordered from least to most difficult projects to undertake, this list of hot DIY gadgets is going to blow your mind! The most notable is the Vertipod DIY One-Man Hoverflyer and most resourceful is the Laser Listening device. The coolest and most retro one is the Plasma Arc Speakers that have been around since the 80s. / The Vertipod resembles an inverted, one-man helicopter. With a propeller at its base and a platform with back support built on top. The user controls it via a stick at waist level. It’s moderately sized 440cc engine runs on gasoline or ethanol and is activated like a lawn mower - by pull-start. The flying machine is capable of flying 5 to 15 feet above ground at up to 40 mph. It will be sold in kit form for $10,000 with an assembly time of just a weekend. - Source

08/02/08 - Couch Mouse to Mr. Mighty by Pills Alone
Can you enjoy the benefits of exercise without the pain of exertion? The answer may one day be yes - just take a pill that tricks the muscles into thinking they have been working out furiously. Researchers at the Salk Institute report they have found two drugs that do wonders for the athletic endurance of couch potato mice. One drug, known as Aicar, increased the mice’s endurance on a treadmill by 44 percent after just four weeks of treatment. A second drug, GW1516, supercharged the mice to a 75 percent increase in endurance but had to be combined with exercise to have any effect. - Source

08/02/08 - Liberate the Skeeters!
The odd-looking, multicolored contraptions the Fairfax County Health Department sets each summer to lure mosquitoes have recently attracted other nuisances: vandals and thieves. Since the mosquito-monitoring program began in May, the county has found dozens of damaged traps, with water tubs tipped, ammonia-laden lures ripped off, ropes cut and batteries smashed or stolen. One trap appeared to have been blown up with a cherry bomb. "There have been other instances where people open the holding container to liberate the mosquitoes," Mike Andrews, a Health Department spokesman, said yesterday. "It's like the 'Free Willy' movie, you know -- liberate the mosquitoes." - Source

08/02/08 - Video - Seeing is Believing? - 9/11 video tampering in 1963
Most people assume the famous "Zapruder film" showing the moment John F. Kennedy was shot is an accurate portrayal of what happened. What many don't know is that even before digital video it was possible to alter moving picture images. And the Zapruder films shows extensive signs of having been doctored. Manipulation of moving pictures is another similarity between the Kennedy assassination and the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center. Raises many questions when Secret Service stops the car for a clear shot, yet the video has the stop cut out. (Thanks to Ken H. for this, we can't believe anything we see as proof. - JWD) - Source

08/02/08 - NYPD calls on citizens for amateur video evidence
New Yorkers can soon take a bite out of city crime by uploading video or photo evidence directly to the New York Police Department, in a move welcomed on Thursday by civil rights groups. Soon citizen sleuths can transmit evidence of criminal activity directly to the police and 911, including evidence of police misconduct, such as the recent video of a police officer shoving a bicyclist to the ground in Times Square. - Source

$5 Alt Science MP3s to listen while working/driving/jogging
No time to sit back and watch videos? Here are 15 interesting presentations you can download for just $5 each and listen to while driving, working, jogging, etc. An easy way to learn some fascinating new things that you will find of use. Easy, cheap and simple, better than eBooks or Videos. Roughly 50MB per MP3. - Source

15 New Alternative Science DVDs & 15 MP3s
An assortment of alternative science videos that provide many insights and inside information from various experimenters. Also MP3s extracted from these DVDs that you can listen to while working or driving. Reference links for these lectures and workshops by Bill Beaty of Amateur Science on the Dark Side of Amateur Science, Peter Lindemann on the World of Free Energy, Norman Wootan on the History of the EV Gray motor, Dan Davidson on Shape Power and Gravity Wave Phenomena, Lee Crock on a Method for Stimulating Energy, Doug Konzen on the Konzen Pulse Motor, George Wiseman on the Water Torch and Jerry Decker on Aether, ZPE and Dielectric Nano Arrays. Your purchase of these products helps support KeelyNet, thanks! - Source to Buy

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