Comment EyeWriter (Score 1) 552
I just sat in on a lecture last week by the inventor of this low-cost communications device for people suffering from similar conditions. It looks like it might be what you're looking for:
Star Cluster Ejected From Galaxy At 2,000,000 MPH 133
William Robinson writes: "According to a new report, a globular cluster of several thousand stars (compressed into a space just a few dozen light-years apart) is being thrown out of galaxy M87. The cluster, named HVGC-1, is traveling at a rate of 2 million miles per hour. The discovery was made by Nelson Caldwell of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and his team while studying the space around the supergiant elliptical galaxy M87. Caldwell and colleagues think M87 might have two supermassive black holes at its center. The star cluster wandered too close to the pair, which picked off many of the cluster's outer stars while the inner core remained intact. The black holes then acted like a slingshot, flinging the cluster away at a tremendous speed."
Comment Re:Demanding "safe" vaccines (Score 1) 588
This article neatly describes why there are "unsafe" ingredients in vaccines:
Skeptoid.com: Vaccine ingredients
Skeptoid.com: Vaccine ingredients
Fuel Rod Removal Operation Begins At Tsunami-hit Fukushima 101
rtoz writes "TEPCO (Tokyo Electric Power Company) has started removing fuel rods from a storage pond at the Unit 4 reactor building of Tsunami-hit Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear power station in Japan. The first of the fuel-rod assemblies at the plant's No. 4 reactor building was transferred from an underwater rack on the fifth floor to a portable cask. This step is an early milestone in decommissioning the facility amid doubts about whether the rods had been damaged and posed a radiation risk. 22 unused fuels will be moved to the cask a task which is planned to be completed by November 19. After being filled with fuel, the cask will be closed with a lid, and following decontamination, will be taken down to ground level and transported to the common spent fuel pool on a trailer. It is planned to take approximately one week from placing the fuel into the cask at the spent fuel pool to storing it in the common pool. The entire removal of all fuel inside the Unit 4 spent fuel pool is planned to take until the end of 2014."
Hotel Tycoon Seeks Property Rights On the Moon 248
SonicSpike writes "The founder of Bigelow Aerospace, Robert Bigelow, made a fortune in the hotel and real estate businesses, and he's pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into an enterprise that will create inflatable habitats designed for life beyond Earth. He entered into an agreement with NASA to provide a report on how ventures like his could help NASA get back to the moon, and even Mars, faster and cheaper. Bigelow is applying to the Federal Aviation Administration's Office of Commercial Space Transportation to amend a 1967 international agreement on the moon so that a system of private property rights can be established there. 'When there isn't law and order,' he said, 'there's chaos.' Bigelow said he believes the right to own what one discovers on the moon is the incentive needed for private enterprise to commit massive amounts of capital and risk lives. 'It provides a foundational security to investors,' he said. Bigelow does not feel that any one nation should own the moon. 'No one anything should own the moon,' he said. 'But, yes, multiple entities, groups, individuals, yes, they should have the opportunity to own the moon.'"
Comment Helping out people who lack healthy skepticism (Score 1) 386
What have you found is the most effective way to deal with friends, loved ones, or co-workers that latch on to something that is obviously pseudo-scientific nonsense? For example, my boss is obsessed with the healing properties of his high-priced alkaline water filter, while a cousin is certain that vaccines are the source of all health problems. Confronting them seems mean, and could damage the relationship, while leaving them to fall prey to hucksters also seems wrong. What can a kind-but-rational person do?
Comment Re:If true, low-level warplanes just became obsole (Score 1) 338
It wouldn't do much against artillery shells or naval gunfire.
Actually, it's already been done....
On November 4, 2002, THEL shot down an incoming artillery shell. A mobile version completed successful testing. During a test conducted on August 24, 2004 the system successfully shot down multiple mortar rounds. The test represented actual mortar threat scenarios. Targets were intercepted by the THEL testbed and destroyed. Both single mortar rounds and salvo were tested.
Robot Snakes To Fight Cancer Via Natural Orifice Surgery 73
Hugh Pickens writes writes "BBC reports that on a robot snake that, guided by a skilled surgeon and designed to get to places doctors are unable to reach without opening a patient up, could help spot and remove tumors more effectively. Robot snakes could be as minimally invasive using body orifices or local incisions as points of entry. 'Surgery is a cornerstone treatment for cancer so new technologies making it even more precise and effective are crucial,' says Safia Danovi from Cancer Research UK. 'Thanks to research, innovations such as keyhole surgery and robotics are transforming the treatment landscape for cancer patients and this trend needs to continue.' Robot snakes could complement a robotic surgical system that has been used for the past decade — the Da Vinci surgical system — that is controlled by a surgeon sitting in a nearby chair and looking at a screen displaying the area of the body where the surgery is taking place. The surgeon manipulates the robot by pressing pedals and moving levers. Natural orifice surgery (warning: pictures of the inside of a person) has the potential to revolutionize surgery in the same way that laparoscopic surgery replaced open surgery. The objective is to enter the abdomen through an internal organ rather than through the skin — e.g. access via the mouth, esophagus and stomach, and then through the stomach wall. 'We are at the earliest stage of establishing the problems and proposing solutions,' says Rob Buckingham of OC Robotics, developer of the robot snake (video). 'Our prototype signals a direction of travel and is a milestone towards exploring a new surgical paradigm.'"
Comment Use what most of the world's militaries use (Score 1) 126
A Pelican case, and you're protected from just about anything that you could survive.
http://www.pelicancases.com/1055CC-p/1055cc.htm
Comment Re:Because they'll explode in their faces (Score 1) 381
I have had an E engine explode right after ignition, however, 1) no one was hurt, since the rocket is constructed of lightweight materials, and b) it was a great lesson in why solid propellents should be handled carefully to avoid cracking. Failure is often an important part of learning, and shouldn't be seen as an unacceptable outcome (at least in hobby activities).
Journal Journal: Reminiscing. 1
I spent some time today visiting some old haunts. Obviously,
setiathome.berkeley.edu/
www.userfriendly.org/
www.cnet.com
www.sfgate.com/
www.thinkgeek.com/
I miss Leo and Kate... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Screen_Savers
And the never aging: Ensign Wesley Crusher...
www.wilwheaton.net/ (http://wilwheaton.typepad.com/)
Yeah, I guess some where along the way I got busy and forgot my geeks roots...
Submission + - U.S. gov't sides against Microsoft in patent case (networkworld.com) 1
Julie188 writes: "In the ongoing patent infringement case between i4i and Microsoft, i4i has won a powerful ally: the U.S. government itself. The U.S. solicitor general, which represents the federal government in the Supreme Court, on Friday filed an amicus brief in support of i4i, saying that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office should not be second-guessed by a jury. i4i, which won a $290 million patent judgment against Microsoft, has now accrued 22 amicus briefs in its corner, representing more than 100 companies, organizations and individuals, including venture capitalists, individuals from the military and now, The U.S. government. Meanwhile, Microsoft has so far lined up 20 amicus briefs, representing about 60 companies and individuals, including Google, Apple, Cisco, Intel, Red Hat, the Electronic Frontier Foundation and 37 law and economics professors. At issue is how much evidence is required to invalidate a patent."
Submission + - Willis Tower to Become Vertical Solar Farm (inhabitat.com)
An anonymous reader writes: The tallest tower in the United States is set to become a soaring vertical solar farm as Pythagoras Solar just launched a project to emblazon the building's glass façade with transparent photovoltaic panels. The new windows, dubbed high power density photovoltaic glass units (PVGU), are a clever hybrid technology that lays typical monocrystalline silicon solar cell horizontally between two layers of glass to form an individual tile. An internal plastic reflective prism directs angled sunlight onto the solar cells but allows diffuse daylight and horizontal light through. The high-profile project will begin on the south side of the 56th floor and could grow up to 2 MW in size — which is comparable to a 10 acre field of solar panels.
Submission + - Best Seller Refuses $500k; Self-Publishes Instead (techdirt.com) 1
An anonymous reader writes: Barry Eisler, a NY Times best-selling author of various thriller novels, has just turned down a $500,000 book contract in order to self-publish his latest work. In a conversation with self-publishing afficianado Joe Konrath, Eisler talks about why this makes sense and how the publishing industry is responding in all the wrong ways to the rise of ebooks. He also explains the math by which it makes a lot more sense to retain 70% of your earnings on ebooks priced cheaply, rather than 14.9% on expensive books put out by publishers.
Comment Netlogo (Score 1) 709
Since no one else seems to have mentioned it, I'd like to add a vote for the Netlogo agent-based simulation system as an excellent tool for teaching kids programming. It's not open source, but is free and available for most platforms, has excellent graphics, an easy UI builder, and can be extended with Java code if more advanced functionality is required. I use it off and on to prototype simulations for work, and have found it excellent for many purposes. Last summer, my son expressed an interest in learning programming, so I pointed him to the Netlogo site. Soon he was happily working through the hundreds of examples included with the package, and has since developed some pretty fancy simulations for his school science classes. Netlogo encourages such experimentation, and unlike more powerful languages, allows kids to quickly build useful programs that include fancy stuff like graphical displays, charts and graphs, and complex GUIs without having to do a lot of low-level programming. Take a look....this is NOT the simple logo we all remember from decades ago.
