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Saturday 31 December 2011
Gillmor Gang Live 12.29.11 (TCTV)
The Gillmor Gang ? Estaban Kolsky, John Taschek, and Steve Gillmor ? are recording live at 8am PT.Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/26O7gBY6bKA/
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Abortion Practitioner in New Mexico to Retire on Friday
Abortion Practitioner in New Mexico to Retire on Friday
?
Local prolife advocates in New Mexico have confirmed that abortion practitioner Bruce Ferguson is retiring on December 30 after doing abortions destroying the lives of women and unborn children for 30 years.
?
Source: http://smartgirlpolitics.ning.com/xn/detail/2488056%3ABlogPost%3A768688
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Friday 30 December 2011
bigbang_online: RT @estudiodecom: O papel dos blogs como ferramentas de marketing digital http://t.co/XNo1Sh6l (via @BlogDoEcommerce) #marketingdigital
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O papel dos blogs como ferramentas de marketing digital migre.me/7jXcC (via @BlogDoEcommerce) #marketingdigital 
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Poll: Are you going to pay Verizon?s new $2 convenience tax?
If you listened to Girls Gone Gadgets last night, you heard Ashley, Kim, and me debate Verizon’s new $2 convenience tax — where and when it’s actually applied and...
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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/tUpH-cUNJNY/story01.htm
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Thursday 29 December 2011
Study uncovers a molecular 'maturation clock' that modulates branching architecture in tomato plants
Study uncovers a molecular 'maturation clock' that modulates branching architecture in tomato plants
Tuesday, December 27, 2011The secret to pushing tomato plants to produce more fruit might not lie in an extra dose of Miracle-Gro. Instead, new research from Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) suggests that an increase in fruit yield might be achieved by manipulating a molecular timer or so-called "maturation clock" that determines the number of branches that make flowers, called inflorescences.
"We have found that a delay in this clock causes more branching to occur in the inflorescences, which in turn results in more flowers and ultimately, more fruits," says CSHL Assistant Professor Zach Lippman, who led the research team. The new study, which involved a high-resolution, genome-level comparison of the stem cell populations from three tomato varieties that each have different branching architectures, will appear online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences during the week of December 26.
When a plant is ready to flower, populations of stem cells, called shoot apical meristems, which are found in the growing tips, stop producing leaves and begin producing flowers by transforming into "inflorescence meristems." Depending on the tomato variety, inflorescences meristems can make just one branch with a few flowers arranged in the familiar, photogenic zigzag pattern (shown), or multiple branches with dozens of flowers, as seen in closely-related wild relatives of tomatoes, which are native to South America.
Although most domesticated varieties, which have been bred to produce edible, delicious fruit, produce a single inflorescence branch with just a few flowers, some varieties make dozens of branches bearing hundreds of flowers. "Although one might think that all this branching is good, too much branching is not a desirable trait, because the plant spends so much energy on making flowers on those branches that it ends up not having the resources to set those flowers into fruits," explains Lippman. "So there needs to be a balance, which the wild relatives of tomatoes seem to have achieved."
Previous studies hypothesized that extreme branching might be the result of a pause or a delay in the maturation of inflorescence meristems, causing them to sprout extra branches instead of ending their growth by making flowers. "Our previous work as well as those of others hinted at the existence of a timer or clock," Lippman notes. "We wanted to define this clock at the highest resolution, in terms of the genes that modulate the rate of meristem maturation, with the idea that finding the genes that define the clock would enable us to tweak it to get the desired level of branching."
Using a systems biology approach and next-generation sequencing technology to "capture" the transcriptome? the activity of all the genes in a genome ?of stem cells at five different stages of maturation, the team identified nearly 4000 genes that represent the clock. With help from CSHL associate professor and computational biologist Michael Schatz, the team, which included post-doctoral researchers Soon-ju Park and Ke Jiang, compared the clocks of a mutant variety that undergoes extreme branching and a wild relative from Peru that undergoes modest branching.
This analysis revealed that subtle differences in the activity of the clock's genes could alter branching architecture. "Our data showed that wild relatives of tomato have evolved to have a slight delay in maturation, which leads to just a few more branches and a doubling of the number of flowers and fruits compared to what is typically found on cultivated tomatoes grown for ketchup or in the home garden," explains Lippman, who is enthusiastic about the implications of this work and the next steps that his team will take. "We now have a master list of candidate genes that we can go after to manipulate the clock in order to make domesticated tomatoes produce a branching architecture that's similar to the wild variety," he says.
###
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory: http://www.cshl.org
Thanks to Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory for this article.
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Windows Marketplace reaches “important milestone” of 50,000 published apps
Microsoft's Windows Marketplace has reached 50,000 published applications, which has been called an "important milestone" by some, while others question any impact it may have on device sales.
The latest statistics, gathered by All About Windows Phone, show that Microsoft?s mobile application store, Windows Marketplace, has reached a total of 50,000 published apps. The store?s growth has been accelerating since the platform?s launch earlier in the year, increasing by 20,000 since the end of August, and making the jump from 40,000 to 50,000 apps in just 40 days.
Four categories account for 57% of the store?s content with the biggest being ?entertainment?, but perhaps surprisingly it?s ?books and reference? next, beating ?games? down into third place. In fourth place it?s ?tools and productivity?. These four are separated by less than 1,000 apps, so it could all change in the future.
The split between paid and free apps is similar to the Android Marketplace and the iTunes App Store, with 58% of WP7 apps available for free, and 29% being paid apps. The final 14% contains free trial apps.
Windows Marketplace continues to grow at an estimated rate of 265 apps per day, however in terms of sheer numbers of available apps, Microsoft is still a way behind Android and iOS.
On a similar note a former Microsoft executive, Charlie Kindel, has commented this week on why he thinks Windows Phone is still lagging behind the competition. Calling Windows Phone a ?superior product?, he blames network providers and device manufacturers for not pushing it in the same way they do Android.
End users, he says, ?just do what they?re told by advertisers and sales people,? but because networks chose the easy route of backing Android in their ads, WP7 hasn?t had the right level of exposure yet.
He also appeared to say that applications and developers are irrelevant to a platform?s success, but later clarified the statement by saying they were still important, just not to his argument.
Many disagree, with an analyst for Current Analysis summing up the general consensus by saying the 50,000 app barrier is ?an important milestone,? and that a large app store could help drive sales forward.
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/digitaltrends/~3/42VqCGdL1mU/
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Glam Slam: Makeup Mondays: New Year's Eve Sparkle (omg!)
Going all out for your New Year's celebration? "New Year's Eve is the time to shine and have fun being a girl!" says Celebrity Makeup Artist Carol Shaw, the Creator of LORAC Cosmetics. "It is the time to get dressed up and be more daring and dramatic. Amp up your look with sparkle on your eyes, shoulders and d?colletage (try LORAC 3D Liquid Lustre)! Use a lip gloss infused with sparkle for full, luscious, shimmering lips (try LORAC Multiplex 3D Lip Gloss)." Carol, who works with Rachel Bilson, Nicole Kidman, and Debra Messing, shares her three favorite Red Carpet looks that are perfect for New Year's Eve.
SMOKEY EYES WITH A LIGHT LIP You can create a smokey eye with any dark eye shadow shade. Charcoal gray and black look great on brunettes. Browns look good on blondes. Deep purple and eggplant are amazing on red heads. You can use a lipstick or gloss in peach, pink or nude to create a light lip, perfect with a smokey eye! (See Gwyneth Paltrow for inspiration)
PLAY IT NOW: Carson Daly Dishes On ?NBC?s New Year?s Eve? 2011 Show
BRONZE BOMBSHELL Sizzle this season in golds and bronzes on your eyes. Create a bronze glow from head to toe with a luminizing face bronzer (try LORAC TANtalizer Baked Bronzer) on your cheeks and a body bronzing luminizer anywhere on your body that you want a gorgeous, golden better-than-natural tan (try LORAC TANtalizer Body Bronzing Luminizer). Finish your look with a pearlescent bronze lip gloss. (Like J.Lo)
OLD HOLLYWOOD GLAMOUR Easily create this look with winged black eyeliner (try LORAC Front of the Line Pro Liquid Eyeliner), defined brows and ruby red lips! (Check out Taylor Swift)
VIEW THE PHOTOS: Glam Slam: Bobbi Brown?s Marvelous Makeup!
For more info, check out www.LORACCosmetics.com.
Copyright 2011 by NBC Universal, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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Wednesday 28 December 2011
Iran navy chief says closing Gulf "really easy" (Reuters)
TEHRAN (Reuters) ? Closing off the Gulf to oil tankers will be "easier than drinking a glass of water" for Iran if the Islamic state deems it necessary, state television reported on Wednesday, ratcheting up fears over the world's most important oil chokepoint.
"Closing the Strait of Hormuz for Iran's armed forces is really easy ... or as Iranians say it will be easier than drinking a glass of water," Iran's navy chief Habibollah Sayyari told Iran's English language Press TV.
"But right now, we don't need to shut it as we have the Sea of Oman under control and we can control the transit," said Sayyari, who is leading 10 days of exercises in the Strait.
Tension has increased between Iran and the West after EU foreign ministers decided three weeks ago to tighten sanctions on the world's No. 5 crude exporter over what the U.N. nuclear watchdog says is an attempt to design an atomic bomb, but left open the idea of an embargo on Iranian oil.
Iran, which says it is developing nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, warned on Tuesday it would stop the flow of oil through the Strait of Hormuz in the Gulf if sanctions were imposed on its crude exports.
The announcement over the possible closure of the only access channel for eight U.S.-aligned, Gulf Arab states to foreign markets, pushed up international oil prices on Tuesday although they slipped back on Wednesday in thin trade and as the market dismissed it as rhetoric.
"The threat by Iran to close the Strait of Hormuz supported the oil market yesterday, but the effect is fading today as it will probably be empty threats as they cannot stop the flow for a longer period due to the amount of U.S. hardware in the area," said Thorbjoern bak Jensen, an oil analyst with Global Risk Management.
"WILL NOT YIELD"
The Strait of Hormuz is "the world's most important oil chokepoint," according to the U.S. Department of Energy.
The State Department said there was an "element of bluster" in the threat, but underscored that the United States, whose warships patrol in the area, would support the free flow of oil.
It was not immediately clear what Sayyari meant by controlling the Sea of Oman, but the Iranian navy has been developing its presence in international waters since 2010 for counter-piracy operations and also to show off its naval power.
Iran's international isolation over its defiant nuclear stance is hurting the country's oil-dependent economy, but Iranian officials has shown no sign of willingness to compromise.
Iran dismisses the impact of these penalties, saying trade and other measures imposed since the 1979 Islamic revolution toppled the U.S.-backed shah have made the country stronger.
During a public speech in Iran's western province of Ilam on Wednesday, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad implied Tehran had no intention of changing course.
"We will not yield to pressure to abandon our rights ... The Iranian nation will not withdraw from its right (to nuclear technology) even one iota because of the pressures," said Ahmadinejad, whose firm nuclear stance has stoked many ordinary Iranians' sense of national dignity.
Some Iranian oil officials admitted have that foreign sanctions were hurting the key energy sector that was in desperate need of foreign investment.
Though four rounds of the U.N. sanctions do not forbid the purchase of Iranian oil, many international oil firms and trading companies have stopped trading with Iran.
"SHOWING TEETH"
So far, big trade partners of Tehran - Russia and China -have blocked a ban on Iran's oil exports at the United Nations.
Iran's arch-foes Israel and the United States have not ruled out military action if diplomacy and sanctions fail to rein in Iran's nuclear work.
The presence of U.S. naval forces in the Gulf to secure a free passage for oil has increased concerns over a possible military conflict if Iran tries to block the waterway.
Analysts say Tehran could retaliate against any military strike by launching hit-and-run attacks in the Gulf and by closing the Strait of Hormuz.
About 40 percent of all traded oil leaves the Gulf region through the strategic waterway.
An Iranian analyst who declined to be named said the leadership could not reach a compromise with the West over its nuclear activities as it "would harm its prestige among its core supporters."
"Iranian officials are showing their teeth to prevent a military strike," said the analyst.
"Closing off the Strait of Hormuz will harm Iran's economy that will be very dangerous for the establishment ahead of the parliamentary vote."
Iran will hold its parliamentary election in March, the first litmus test of the clerical establishment's popularity since the 2009 disputed presidential vote, that the opposition says was rigged to secure Ahmadinejad's re-election.
The vote was followed by eight months of anti-government street protests and created a deepening political rift among the hardline rulers.
With the opposition leaders under house arrest since February and the main reformist political parties banned since the vote, Iranian hardline rulers are concerned a low turnout would question the establishment's legitimacy.
Frustration is simmering among lower- and middle-class Iranians over Ahmadinejad's economic policies. Prices of most consumer goods have risen substantially and many Iranians struggle to make ends meet.
(Writing by Parisa Hafezi; Editing by Alison Williams)
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womentalksports: Fashion Experts Break Down Best & Worst College Football Uniforms http://t.co/jNKI2jm0 #WTSports
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Tuesday 27 December 2011
Oil from 2007 spill surprisingly toxic to fish, scientists report
Thick, tarry fuel oil disgorged into San Francisco Bay from a damaged cargo ship in 2007 was surprisingly toxic to fish embryos, devastating the herring population that feeds seabirds, whales and the bay's last commercial fishery, scientists reported Monday.
Although the bay's herring spawning grounds are now free of toxic oil, studies have found that the moderate-size spill of 54,000 gallons had an unexpectedly large and lethal effect.
The culprit, a common type of ship fuel called "bunker fuel," appears to be especially toxic to fish embryos, particularly when exposed to sunlight, according to a study published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
"That's the big lesson," said John Incardona, a toxicologist with the National Marine Fisheries Service. "This bunker oil is literally the dregs of the barrel, and it's much more toxic than crude oil."
The container ship Cosco Busan spilled low-grade bunker fuel after it sideswiped the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge on a foggy November morning four years ago. This type of sludge-like fuel is cheap and thus popular among operators of commercial shipping fleets that transport raw materials and goods around the globe.
Scientists have traditionally focused on larger crude oil spills, such as last year's Deepwater Horizon drilling rig blowout in the Gulf of Mexico or 1989's Exxon Valdez tanker disaster, in which 11 million gallons of oil were discharged into Alaska's Prince William Sound. The Exxon spill is suspected of wiping out the sound's herring fishery, which has never bounced back.
From studies in Alaska, scientists knew that oil could cause heart deformities to developing herring in their embryonic sacs.
But after examining herring embryos placed in cages in shallow waters near the Cosco Busan spill site, researchers were surprised to find that nearly all had died, and their tissues were deteriorating faster than expected in the bay's chilly water.
"We didn't think there was enough oil spilled to cause this much damage," said Gary Cherr, a study coauthor and director of the UC Davis Bodega Marine Laboratory. He described the total spill as similar in size to a large backyard swimming pool.
Oil and water don't mix. The fat-filled herring egg sacs can act like little sponges, soaking up the highly toxic compounds from the bunker fuel. Once exposed to sunlight during low tides, the oil compounds became even more lethal to developing fish.
"Bunker fuel is used worldwide and is spilled relatively often," Cherr said. "It is important to look at small spills in sensitive areas," he added, now that science understands the lethal potential of low concentrations.
The owners and operators of the Cosco Busan in September agreed to pay $44.4 million to cover government claims, the cost of the cleanup ? about half of the spilled oil was captured ? and bay restoration programs. Besides tarring about 30% of the bay's herring spawning grounds, the spill killed about 6,800 seabirds and closed beaches for months.
ken.weiss@latimes.com
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Cloud Gaming, is it here to stay? | N4G
[unable to retrieve full-text content]Cloud Gaming, is it here to stay? A discussion into cloud gaming with personal opinions and foresights into the future and the applications it provides. (Industry, iPad, iPhone, Mobile, Next-Gen, OnLive, PC, PS Vita, PS3, PSP, Tech, Wii, Wii U, ...
Source: http://n4g.com/news/911107/cloud-gaming-is-it-here-to-stay
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Monday 26 December 2011
VW Touareg Insurance for long time | Free Article Directory
A reputable company that offers VW Sharan Insurance One of the leading online VW Tiguan Insurance in the UK. Experts in VW Touareg Insurance industry for over 5 years and has thousands of satisfied customers.
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If you want to get VW Sharan Insurance for limited insurance so our company is able for this. To get just to contract with our company and tell that what kind of coverage you have need so our company specialists will shape a policy that is according to your demands and needs for VW Tiguan Insurance. In this way you will only pay for that policy so in this way you can save you money because you will only pay for your policy. If you get auto insurance so there is no need to go to any shape and than pay for is you can get online VW Sharan Insurance and also can get any kind of information into his regard.
Source: http://fatbikezreview.com/vw-touareg-insurance-for-long-time/
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Sunday 25 December 2011
Japan quake and tsunami propel charity focused on orphan care
SENDAI, Japan _ Japan's natural disaster in March was only hours old when the Tokyo-based charity got on the line to the old man.
He'd just arrived in Uganda, an exhausting trip for a 77-year-old whose knees are so weak he sometimes needs a wheelchair to get around.
"Come back," the charity implored its founder. "We need you."
Two days later, Yoshiomi Tamai not only returned to Japan, but he headed straight for this provincial city 190 miles north of Tokyo. The death toll from the earthquake and tsunami was rising into the thousands. Parents along the nation's northeast coast had been swept away by the surging water, leaving behind confused and vulnerable orphans.
After almost 45 years of aiding grieving children, the grandfatherly figure excels at responding to a crisis. Since he began helping children left parentless from Japanese traffic fatalities in 1967, his Ashinaga charity has supported more than 80,000 children worldwide who have lost one or both parents.
These include young ones left behind after New York's 2001 terrorist attack; Hurricane Katrina; earthquakes in Iran, Turkey and Kobe, Japan; wars in Iraq and Afghanistan; and famine and AIDS in Africa.
Ashinaga's strength lies in its speed. While Japanese government officials debated a belabored response that would take weeks to deliver, the charity was in motion within hours, providing food, clothing and emotional aid.
The group later published a study showing the depth of the social damage, including the fact that, because they had remained in the disaster area, barely a third of guardians for tsunami orphans had jobs to support their young charges. The government is using the study in its own long-term assessment of how to help tsunami orphans.
In Japan, many orphans are often cast into a life of hardship, raised by distant relatives who might as well be strangers. Tamai knows that such trauma scars the survivors. Like the teenage boy who watched his father drown and developed an extreme fear of the water. Or the grade-school girl forced to leave her trapped and mortally injured mother behind to save her own life.
"Even now I can't stop crying when I remember," she later wrote to workers at Ashinaga. "At the end, when I was leaving, I said to my mother 'Thank you' and 'I love you' again and again. Then I swam away."
Ashinaga's staff includes nearly two dozen older orphans who work as counselors and case workers. Tamai's theory: Orphans can best grasp the plight of other orphans.
"We've all received his help and have returned to pay it forward," said Yukichi Okazaki, the group's general director.
The name of Tamai's charity, Ashinaga, is the Japanese translation of "Daddy-Long-Legs," the title of the 1912 American novel by Jean Webster in which an orphaned girl is helped by a tall, mysterious stranger she sees only once.
True to the novel's spirit, the group relies on anonymous benefactors. Although it does not help place parentless children in homes, it assists with both their immediate and long-term needs.
Ashinaga runs short-term counseling centers known as Rainbow Houses, which feature a rubber-walled "volcano room," where orphans can hit punching bags to vent frustrations, and a "quiet room" to discuss their fears. It also operates an annual summer camp where orphans from around the world learn that being parentless is a problem without national borders.
For longer-term help, the group each year offers $22 million in no-interest loans for scholarships. More than 21,000 orphans have received vocational school and college degrees with Ashinaga's assistance.
Tamai, who lost his wife, Yumi, to cancer in 1989 and has no children, has spent most of his life listening to orphans. In 1966, soon after the death of his mother in a car crash, Tamai, then 32, took it upon himself to launch a crusade to change Japanese laws on compensating children whose parents had died in traffic accidents.
One of the first children who touched Tamai deeply was a 10-year-old boy who wrote a poem to his dead father. Sponsored by Tamai, the child recited the poem on live TV:
Please hold me one more time,
Play with me once more, my father,
Tell me, please, father, why you left us behind.
The boy then broke into tears, unable to go on. Tamai said. "And the rest of us, everyone in the studio that day, cried too."
The TV program was instrumental in prodding the government to provide greater assistance for young orphans. But Tamai soon saw a need beyond Japan, and he started expanding his work to children worldwide.
The idea for the Rainbow House centers came after the 1995 Kobe earthquake. Ashinaga encouraged orphans from that disaster to use art to describe their loss. One child painted what Tamai calls a black rainbow of pain, a work that inspired Tamai to open healing centers in Kobe, Tokyo and Uganda.
"We've tried to take that black rainbow and make it brighter," Tamai said.
(EDITORS: STORY CAN END HERE)
But the disaster in March has been the group's biggest challenge.
Tamai knew that a streamlined response was needed. Before leaving Uganda, he'd seen televised images of bereft children left without homes or even clothes.
Ashinaga quickly identified 1,800 orphans for cash assistance of $6,500 to $12,500 each, not a loan for some faraway college education, but immediate monetary help that would not have to be repaid.
After vetting applications, the group gives the money to the children's caretakers, who supervise the spending of the donation.
"Children know what they want right now, not tomorrow," Tamai said. "They've had their lives erased, so we're trying to give them an immediate lift to get some of it back."
(EDITORS: STORY CAN END HERE)
Now Tamai wants to build a permanent Rainbow House center in Sendai. This summer, Tamai led a group of orphans to tell their stories as a way to attract donations for the project. The group visited New York, Paris and China, and has plans to travel to Los Angeles and other cities early next year to help raise $20 million still needed for construction.
These days, in the Sendai office that Ashinaga opened a day after the March disaster, the telephone still rings constantly.
One recent caller, a childless single woman in her 40s who had taken custody of a 12-year-old nephew, needed parenting advice: The boy, orphaned in the tsunami, still cried at night. What should she do?
Then there was the mother of the boy who had witnessed his father's drowning. The woman called to say her 17-year-old had overcome his fear of water and used his assistance money to train to become an emergency response diver; he wants to shield others from the fate of watching a parent die.
The old man smiles when he hears such stories.
___
(c)2011 the Los Angeles Times
Visit the Los Angeles Times at www.latimes.com
Distributed by MCT Information Services
_____
PHOTO (from MCT Photo Service, 202-383-6099): JAPAN-ORPHANS
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Topics: t000037113,t000002533,t000139823
Source: http://www.wenatcheeworld.com/news/2011/dec/25/japan-quake-and-tsunami-propel-charity-focused-on/
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Design your own Boeing 787 Dreamliner... but good luck affording one
P.S. - Drop us a line in comments if you find a 'Buy Now' section that takes The Centurion Card.
Design your own Boeing 787 Dreamliner... but good luck affording one originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 22 Dec 2011 23:43:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Saturday 24 December 2011
Sportsgraphic: Highlights Of Ben Roethlisberger?s Wedding
Steelers quarterback Big Ben Roethlisberger will marry Ashley Harlan this Saturday in what is already being touted as Pittsburgh's royal wedding. Here's what to expect:
- Roethlisberger reads his vows off his wristband
- Bride's family gives witness statements to police outside the church
- All 500 guests are truly touched by the bride and groom and maid of honor?s first triple-kiss
- Speech from the maid of honor basically a last-ditch plea for rational thought
- First extramarital affair occurs two hours into the reception under table 17
- Best man speech bombs, as it is just a horrifying account of groom's previous assaults
- After the cake-cutting, everyone overhears Roethlisberger telling his new wife, ?I want to smear this all over your tits?
- An extremely awkward silence occurs when Steelers owner Dan Rooney insists there be at least one African-American woman in the crowd waiting to catch the bouquet
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/theonion/warforthewhitehouse/~3/52UscNZe91Q/
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Friday 23 December 2011
Microsoft billionaire launches new space venture
Stratolaunch Systems continues a trend for Paul Allen, who has funded several different spaceflight and astronomy efforts over the years.
Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen's new spaceflight venture shouldn't come as a big surprise, because the billionaire has set his sights on the heavens before.
Skip to next paragraphAllen announced on Dec. 13 that he is forming a new company called?Stratolaunch Systems, which plans to launch payloads to orbit from a huge plane at high altitude. Stratolaunch Systems continues a trend for Allen, who has funded several different spaceflight and astronomy efforts over the years.
These ventures are the natural outgrowths of a lifelong fascination with space, said Allen, who as a boy dreamed of becoming an astronaut.
"For me, the fascination with space never ended, and I never stopped dreaming about what might be possible," Allen said during a press conference in Seattle today. [Images: Paul Allen's Giant Airplane Launch Pad]
Following SpaceShipOne
The air-launch concept behind Stratolaunch Systems is similar to that of SpaceShipOne, which won the $10 million Ansari X Prize for suborbital spaceflight in 2004.
The design of SpaceShipOne and its mothership, the White Knight, later became the basis for?Virgin Galactic's commercial spaceliner?SpaceShipTwo, which may begin carrying tourists to suborbital space as early as next year.
The similarity between the two projects is no coicidence. SpaceShipOne was a joint venture between Allen ? who reportedly invested more than $20 million in the effort ? and Scaled Composites, a California firm headed by aerospace engineer Burt Rutan.
Now, Rutan will serve on the board for Stratolaunch Systems, and Scaled will develop the new company's gigantic airplane mothership.
The multistage rocket booster used by Stratolaunch will be built by the California-based company Space Exploration Technologies, better known as SpaceX, officials said.
Funding the SETI search
Allen has also advanced research in astronomy ? specifically, the hunt for intelligent alien life in the universe. His foundation helped fund the SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) Institute's?Allen Telescope Array?(ATA), a set of 42 radio antennas located about 300 miles (500 kilometers) northeast of San Francisco.
Since 2001, Allen's foundation has given about $29 million to develop and help build and operate the array, which researchers use to scan newly discovered?alien planets?for microwave signals that could indicate the presence of intelligent civilizations.
"Paul was brave enough to go out on a limb and fund all of our technology development work for three years, because this is a new kind of telescope that no one had built before," Jill Tarter, director of the Center for SETI Research at the SETI Institute, told SPACE.com. "He has been a very good partner."
The long-term plan is to expand the array to 350 telescopes. Allen never intended to fund this larger array all by himself; he wanted some partners to come in and help out, Tarter said. That hasn't happened yet, so the SETI Institute is pressing forward with the 42 telescopes for now.
Allen also established the Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame, which opened in Seattle in 2004. His scientific interests aren't limited to spaceflight and exploration, however; they're very broad, and Allen has helped fund major research efforts in genetics, medicine and neuroscience, among other fields.
"I'm a huge fan of anything that pushes forward the boundaries of what we can do in science and technology," Allen said. "That's my history. Those are my passions."
You can follow SPACE.com senior writer Mike Wall on Twitter:?@michaeldwall. Follow SPACE.com for the latest in space science and exploration news on Twitter?@Spacedotcom?and on?Facebook.
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Thursday 22 December 2011
Fitch reiterates warning on rising U.S. debt burden, AAA rating
"Federal debt will rise in the absence of expenditure and tax reforms that would address the challenges of rising health and social security spending as the population ages," Fitch said in a statement.
"The high and rising federal and general government debt burden is not consistent with the U.S. retaining its 'AAA' status despite its other fundamental sovereign credit strengths," the firm said.
(Reporting By Daniel Bases)
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Monday 19 December 2011
Sunday 18 December 2011
Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 rolls through the FCC packing Verizon-friendly LTE
Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 rolls through the FCC packing Verizon-friendly LTE originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 16 Dec 2011 17:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Witness: Reflecting on Iraq as U.S. troops withdraw (Reuters)
BAGHDAD (Reuters) ? "Three days after U.S. tanks rolled into Baghdad in April 2003, I had my first encounter with an American marine. I opened my door to find him crouched on the street and holding a pump action shot gun.
He wore full combat gear, with knee pads and a heavy pack. I couldn't see his eyes through his black glasses. But he looked nervous. I asked him if there was a problem.
"He looked at me and said: 'Sir, we are here to protect you. We are here to liberate you from Saddam's regime and bring you elections to choose your president freely.'"
Reuters Baghdad correspondent Ahmed Rasheed says it was just a day after that first meeting that he began to realize the price his country would have to pay for democracy.
"I saw a U.S. army humvee rushing by, carrying four Iraqi men blindfolded with their hands tied behind their backs. Nearby, looters were ransacking one of Saddam Hussein's palaces and the headquarters of the Mukhabarat, the deposed dictator's former intelligence service.
"Looking nine years back, I cannot think of an Iraqi who has not been touched in some way or one who does not still struggle to avoid bombs or attacks, especially those conducted by assassins using silenced weapons - called 'ghost bullets' by Iraqis.
"For me, my country is still in a distressing state. After all these years of suffering and hoping to see a peaceful Iraq, I still can't get into my car without looking underneath to check if a magnetic sticky bomb is attached."
*******************************************************
As the last U.S. troops prepare to leave their country, many Iraqis are remembering the U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein and wondering what the future holds for them after the soldiers go home.
Their government is still a fragile coalition of Sunni, Shi'ite and Kurdish parties which struggle to make power-sharing function. Violence has fallen sharply, but bombings, attacks and assassinations still occur almost daily.
Like many of their countrymen, Iraqi journalists working for Reuters have experienced turmoil, suffering and loss. Here some of them reflect on the events that marked the U.S. military presence for them.
*********************************************************
Saad Shalash, photographer:
"Since the first day of invasion I was optimistic about the change we thought would happen. I thought we would be able to travel, I thought we would free, that the Iraqi economy would get better. I was wrong. A massive bomb attack in 2004 changed everything for me.
I had seen other blasts, like an attack on the United Nations. But this was the biggest attack I had witnessed and the closest.
I was working as a Reuters driver at the time. We were in the southern city of Kerbala when one blast went off. Another bomb exploded behind us. We tried to get away. We had just got around a corner when a third blast exploded. It was very close to me. Shrapnel hit my arm. I didn't notice until someone told me I had blood on my shirt. We heard two more explosions further away. I thought I would die there on that day.
I thought 'That's it, Iraq will continue with these bombings'. I was right. Even now I feel that car bombs can happen. I don't like to take my family outside now. These bombings became a part of our daily life. I feel they will continue after the U.S. troops pull out.
It is out of the government's control. We see no improvements in the standard of living, the power shortages, the infrastructure which is still destroyed - all these problems will just get worse. All I think about is keeping myself and my family safe and offering them the simple needs in life like water and electricity."
Suadad al-Salhy, journalist in Baghdad:
"I have experienced all kinds of threats in this country from all sides after the 2003 U.S. invasion, but for some reason I cannot get rid of two memories related to the U.S. presence.
The first was in August 2008 when U.S. soldiers stormed my parents' house after midnight, blocked us all in our rooms and arrested my youngest brother, just three days after the arrest of my father. He was arrested after the Iraqi translator with the soldiers got offended because my father had asked him to stop shouting because he frightened the children.
The Americans released my brother after 10 or 12 hours. He was detained after they stopped him and all the youths aged between 15 and 20 years old in the area. They asked a masked young man, an informant, to point out suspects to arrest.
The second incident happened in January 2010 when I was working in Ramadi. I was with some colleagues working on a story covering the high rates of birth defects and the relationship with depleted uranium and phosphorus weapons used by the Americans in their fight against insurgents in Fallujah.
My husband called me asking if I was okay. He did not tell me anything but his voice was wobbly.
I called our office in Baghdad; they told me three large car bombs had hit well-known Baghdad hotels, killing at least 36 people and wounding another 71. One of the hotels housed my husband's office at that time. The first blast occurred near an entrance, just a few meters away from his office. The office ceiling totally collapsed and the walls, which were mostly made of glass, crashed. My five-year-old daughter was with her ??father at that moment, playing in his office.
I tried to contact staff who were with him, but communications were really bad. After an anxious 30 minutes I was told my daughter was okay after her father picked her up out of the debris. But no one could tell me if they were injured or not.
The distance between Baghdad and Ramadi is not more than 100 km (60 miles). But the Americans closed all roads leading to the capital that day. I had to spend the longest and worst five hours one can pass as a mother.
Exhausted, I finally returned to the house. I was not even aware of the glass from all the shattered windows. It made no difference to me then. I found my husband there waiting for me, I rushed to his arms and collapsed crying. I could not believe the day was over and thank God my daughter and husband were alive."
Aseel Kami, journalist in Baghdad:
"I consider myself lucky so far because I was not forced out of my home, I was not shot at, I did not receive any direct threat, I was not wounded or maimed by an explosion like many Iraqis who suffered during the nine years of U.S. presence.
But one of the distinguishing moments that still clings to my memory is a horrific day when a car bomb exploded near an Iraqi army checkpoint in 2006, meters away from my home.
It was the holy Muslim month of Ramadan when my mother, my son and I were gathered around the table to break our fasting when all of a sudden a huge sound erupted and the glass of the windows shredded in all directions.
Without realizing what had happened, we jumped from our chairs and ran to an inside corridor thinking it would be safer. I was shaking and holding my son. My mother was uttering some words from the Koran.
Minutes later, I thought I should go out to find out what had happened and what was the cause. I went out into our garden and I could not see anything because of the dust from the explosion, I only heard voices of people screaming.
Our neighbors told us a car bomb had exploded.
I remember this moment because only a few minutes before the explosion, my son, six years old at the time, had been playing with his friends in the road. I had called him back so he could wash his face and dirty hands before we had our meal.
One of his friends, who stayed there longer, was injured in his stomach and the other lost the sight in one of his eyes.
Security may be much better than six years ago but bombings still occur daily, and that makes me worried all the time, about myself, my son and my parents.
A few months ago a mortar round landed near my son's school near the Tigris river, just across the fortified Green Zone, home for the U.S. embassy and many Iraqi officials.
Another memory that stuck in my mind was the dark humor I used to share with our Baghdad stringer (freelance correspondent) to lighten a little the dark days of the sectarian violence in 2006-7.
Almost daily we used to report on dumped bodies found in Baghdad streets. One day we reported up to 60 bodies found bound, blindfolded and shot in the head and chest.
Our stringer I developed a code to describe those kind of corpses - he just used to say 'full option bodies'.
I know it is cruel to deal with these tragic events by making jokes but this is how we managed to pass these difficult days."
(Editing by Patrick Markey and Mark Trevelyan)
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Saturday 17 December 2011
'Dismal': 1 in 2 Americans are now poor, low income
Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images, file
Juan Morena sits on a Los Angeles, Calif., sidewalk as he waits for the St. Francis Center soup kitchen to open on Sept. 13.
?
By Associated Press
WASHINGTON - Squeezed by rising living costs, a record number of Americans ? nearly 1 in 2 ? have fallen into poverty or are scraping by on earnings that classify them as low income.
The latest census data depict a middle class that's shrinking as unemployment stays high and the government's safety net frays. The new numbers follow years of stagnating wages for the middle class that have hurt millions of workers and families.
"Safety net programs such as food stamps and tax credits kept poverty from rising even higher in 2010, but for many low-income families with work-related and medical expenses, they are considered too 'rich' to qualify," said Sheldon Danziger, a University of Michigan public policy professor who specializes in poverty.
"The reality is that prospects for the poor and the near poor are dismal," he said. "If Congress and the states make further cuts, we can expect the number of poor and low-income families to rise for the next several years."
Congressional Republicans and Democrats are sparring over legislation that would renew a Social Security payroll tax cut, part of a year-end political showdown over economic priorities that could also trim unemployment benefits, freeze federal pay and reduce entitlement spending.
Robert Rector, a senior research fellow at the conservative Heritage Foundation, questioned whether some people classified as poor or low-income actually suffer material hardship. He said that while safety-net programs have helped many Americans, they have gone too far, citing poor people who live in decent-size homes, drive cars and own wide-screen TVs.
With nearly 14 million Americans unemployed, a new child welfare study finds one in five children are living in poverty. Nearly one in three live in homes where no parent works full-time year-round. NBC's Chris Jansing reports.
"There's no doubt the recession has thrown a lot of people out of work and incomes have fallen," Rector said. "As we come out of recession, it will be important that these programs promote self-sufficiency rather than dependence and encourage people to look for work."
Mayors in 29 cities say more than 1 in 4 people needing emergency food assistance did not receive it. Many middle-class Americans are dropping below the low-income threshold ? roughly $45,000 for a family of four ? because of pay cuts, a forced reduction of work hours or a spouse losing a job. Housing and child-care costs are consuming up to half of a family's income.
States in the South and West had the highest shares of low-income families, including Arizona, New Mexico and South Carolina, which have scaled back or eliminated aid programs for the needy. By raw numbers, such families were most numerous in California and Texas, each with more than 1 million.
The struggling Americans include Zenobia Bechtol, 18, in Austin, Texas, who earns minimum wage as a part-time pizza delivery driver. Bechtol and her 7-month-old baby were recently evicted from their bedbug-infested apartment after her boyfriend, an electrician, lost his job in the sluggish economy.
After an 18-month job search, Bechtol's boyfriend now works as a waiter and the family of three is temporarily living with her mother.
"We're paying my mom $200 a month for rent, and after diapers and formula and gas for work, we barely have enough money to spend," said Bechtol, a high school graduate who wants to go to college. "If it weren't for food stamps and other government money for families who need help, we wouldn't have been able to survive."
About 97.3 million Americans fall into a low-income category, commonly defined as those earning between 100 and 199 percent of the poverty level, based on a new supplemental measure by the Census Bureau that is designed to provide a fuller picture of poverty. Together with the 49.1 million who fall below the poverty line and are counted as poor, they number 146.4 million, or 48 percent of the U.S. population. That's up by 4 million from 2009, the earliest numbers for the newly developed poverty measure.
The new measure of poverty takes into account medical, commuting and other living costs. Doing that helped push the number of people below 200 percent of the poverty level up from 104 million, or 1 in 3 Americans, that was officially reported in September.
Broken down by age, children were most likely to be poor or low-income ? about 57 percent ? followed by seniors over 65. By race and ethnicity, Hispanics topped the list at 73 percent, followed by blacks, Asians and non-Hispanic whites.
Even by traditional measures, many working families are hurting.
Following the recession that began in late 2007, the share of working families who are low income has risen for three straight years to 31.2 percent, or 10.2 million. That proportion is the highest in at least a decade, up from 27 percent in 2002, according to a new analysis by the Working Poor Families Project and the Population Reference Bureau, a nonprofit research group based in Washington.
Among low-income families, about one-third were considered poor while the remainder ? 6.9 million ? earned income just above the poverty line. Many states phase out eligibility for food stamps, Medicaid, tax credit and other government aid programs for low-income Americans as they approach 200 percent of the poverty level.
The majority of low-income families ? 62 percent ? spent more than one-third of their earnings on housing, surpassing a common guideline for what is considered affordable. By some census surveys, child-care costs consume close to another one-fifth.
Shrinking paychecks
Paychecks for low-income families are shrinking. The inflation-adjusted average earnings for the bottom 20 percent of families have fallen from $16,788 in 1979 to just under $15,000, and earnings for the next 20 percent have remained flat at $37,000. In contrast, higher-income brackets had significant wage growth since 1979, with earnings for the top 5 percent of families climbing 64 percent to more than $313,000.
A survey of 29 cities conducted by the U.S. Conference of Mayors being released Thursday points to a gloomy outlook for those on the lower end of the income scale.
Many mayors cited the challenges of meeting increased demands for food assistance, expressing particular concern about possible cuts to federal programs such as food stamps and WIC, which assists low-income pregnant women and mothers. Unemployment led the list of causes of hunger in cities, followed by poverty, low wages and high housing costs.
Across the 29 cities, about 27 percent of people needing emergency food aid did not receive it. Kansas City, Mo., Nashville, Tenn., Sacramento, Calif., and Trenton, N.J., were among the cities that pointed to increases in the cost of food and declining food donations, while Mayor Michael McGinn in Seattle cited an unexpected spike in food requests from immigrants and refugees, particularly from Somalia, Burma and Bhutan.
Among those requesting emergency food assistance, 51 percent were in families, 26 percent were employed, 19 percent were elderly and 11 percent were homeless.
"People who never thought they would need food are in need of help," said Mayor Sly James of Kansas City, Mo., who co-chairs a mayors' task force on hunger and homelessness.
Read more content from msnbc.com and NBC News:
? 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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Friday 16 December 2011
Google Makes Street View Images Of Post-Tsunami Japan Available On Custom Site
In July, Google announced that it would be sending its Street View cars through the areas of Japan stricken by the March earthquake and tsunami. Today the work of stitching and annotating is finished and the data is available to be browsed like any other Street View location on a special website they've called "Build the Memory," though it is also labeled as Memories for the Future. A little clicking around brought me to several affecting sights, for instance a tranquil playfield converted to an enormous debris dump near Sendai. The location they feature in the blog post also really allows you to see the devastation at close range.Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/lySB-Y-SfNk/
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Semitech Power Line Communications Used in Chinese Smart Grid ...
Using Semitech's GS18, LangFang Gao Shan Meters Provide China's Most Reliable AMI Deployment in Multiple Residential Sub Metering Installations SINGAPORE--(Marketwire - Dec 14, 2011) - Semitech Semiconductor, a provider of power line communications ...
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Wednesday 7 December 2011
Obama sets campaign theme: Middle class at stake (AP)
OSAWATOMIE, Kan. ? Declaring the American middle class in jeopardy, President Barack Obama on Tuesday outlined a populist economic vision that will drive his re-election bid, insisting the United States must reclaim its standing as a country in which everyone can prosper if provided "a fair shot and a fair share."
While never making an overt plea for a second term, Obama's offered his most comprehensive lines of attack against the candidates seeking to take his job, only a month before Republican voters begin choosing a presidential nominee. He also sought to inject some of the long-overshadowed hope that energized his 2008 campaign, saying: "I believe America is on its way up."
In small-town Osawatomie, in a high school gym where patriotic bunting lined the bleachers, Obama presented himself as the one fighting for shared sacrifice and success against those who would gut government and let people fend for themselves. He did so knowing the nation is riven over the question of whether economic opportunity for all is evaporating.
"Throughout the country, it's sparked protests and political movements, from the tea party to the people who've been occupying the streets of New York and other cities," Obama said.
"This is the defining issue of our time," he said in echoing President Theodore Roosevelt's famous speech here in 1910.
"This is a make-or-break moment for the middle class and all those who are fighting to get into the middle class," Obama said. "At stake is whether this will be a country where working people can earn enough to raise a family, build a modest savings, own a home and secure their retirement."
For Obama, saddled with a weak national economic recovery, the speech was a chance to break away from Washington's incremental battles and his own small-scale executive actions. He offered a sweeping indictment of economic inequality and unleashed his own brand of prairie populism.
He spoke for nearly an hour to a supportive audience, reselling his ideas under the framework of "building a nation where we're all better off."
Billed as an important address that would put today's economic debates in context, Obama's speech seemed a bit like two packaged into one.
The first was that of the campaigner, full of loft and reclamation of American values. The second was the governing Obama, who recited his familiar jobs agenda, his feud with Congress over extending a Social Security tax cut, even his fight to get his consumer watchdog confirmed.
Obama tied himself to Roosevelt, the president and reformer who came to this town in eastern Kansas and called for a "square deal" for regular Americans. Roosevelt said then the fight for progress was a conflict "between the men who possess more than they have earned and the men who have earned more than they possess."
It is a theme Obama is embracing in a mounting fight for re-election against Republicans who, regardless of the nominee, will attack his stewardship of the economy.
One of the leading contenders for the GOP nomination, Mitt Romney, ridiculed Obama for comparing himself to Roosevelt.
Obama "said that he is like Teddy Roosevelt," Romney said at a campaign event in Paradise Valley, Ariz. "And I thought, `In what way is he like Teddy Roosevelt?' Teddy Roosevelt of course founded the Bull Moose Party. One of those words applies."
Kirsten Kukowski, spokeswoman for the Republican National Committee, said, "Maybe instead of trying to be like other presidents, Obama should try being president."
Obama took aim at the Republicans, saying they would only return the same structures that led to America's economic downturn. "Their philosophy is simple: We are better off when everyone is left to fend for themselves and play by their own rules," Obama said. "I'm here to say they are wrong."
The president conceded that the country is in the midst of a consuming re-examination on his watch, prompting national movements against both government spending and an economy that many feel disproportionately favors the elite. Obama went on the offensive about income inequality, saying it distorts democracy and derails the American dream.
Responding to those who want to cut taxes and regulation in the belief success will trickle down, Obama said: "Here's the problem: It doesn't work. It's never worked."
Obama noted that Theodore Roosevelt was called a "radical, a socialist, even a communist" for putting forth ideas in his last campaign such as an eight-hour work day, a minimum wage for women, unemployment insurance and a progressive income tax.
Left unsaid: Roosevelt's Bull Moose campaign in 1912 failed to return him to the White House.
Obama attempted to sum up the pain and peril for a society where the middle class is struggling. But he also called for individual responsibility.
"In the end," he said, "rebuilding this economy based on fair play, a fair shot and a fair share will require all of us to see the stake we have in each other's success."
Obama also challenged the big banks that took bailouts from American taxpayers, pointing to "a deficit of trust between Main Street and Wall Street." He said banks that were bailed out had an obligation to work to close that trust deficit and should be doing more to help remedy past mortgage abuses and assist middle-class taxpayers.
___
Feller contributed from Washington. Associated Press writers Erica Werner and Kasie Hunt contributed to this report.
">dancing with the stars season 13 cast About Everlater">tay sachs What is Everlater -->">tay sachs How to use Everlater -->">watch the walking dead In the News">giuliana and bill Professional">giuliana and bill Testimonials">2012 camryScientist Makes Pitch for Massachusetts Cold Fusion Plant (LiveScience.com)
Italian scientist Andrea Rossi, who claims to have invented the world's first cold fusion machine, visited Massachusetts last week, meeting with a state senator and several scientists to explore the possibility of manufacturing cold fusion reactors in the state.
Despite heavy skepticism in the scientific community about his work, Rossi came stateside at the invitation of Massachusetts Senate minority leader Bruce Tarr, a Republican who has been active in pursuing alternative energy legislation. "My thought process was pretty simple: If it works, I want this technology to be developed and manufactured in Massachusetts," Tarr told The Boston Globe.
Rossi claims that his energy catalyzer, or "E-Cat," uses a small amount of input energy to trigger atoms of hydrogen and nickel to fuse together, giving off gobs of heat in the process. The excess heat, equivalent to more than 10 times the energy that was put in, can then be used to boil water to produce steam and ultimately generate electricity.
The process is an attractive energy solution for two reasons: Unlike in nuclear fission, cold fusion doesn't give off dangerous radiation. And unlike the fusion processes that take place in the sun, cold fusion doesn't require unachievably high temperatures.
However, in the two decades since experimentalists first claimed to have demonstrated the strange reaction, the line of research has largely been discredited. Most physicists think cold fusion is theoretically impossible, and devices that seem at first to demonstrate it generally fail to stand up to scrutiny. Today, the United States Department of Energy, academic journals and the U.S. Patent Office all consider cold fusion machines to be hoaxes.
Nonetheless, Rossi has heated up the cold fusion debate once again this year. He hasn't revealed much about the inner workings of his E-Cat machine, citing the fact that it isn't yet patent-protected, but a handful of scientists have attended demonstrations of the device in Bologna, Italy, and have given it a nod of approval, saying it produces too much excess energy to be utilizing a simple chemical reaction.
Rossi said he has sold 13 E-Cat units since a demo in October. [Italian Cold Fusion Machine Passes Another Test]
Along with Tarr, Rossi met with representatives from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Northeastern University and the University of Massachusetts on his recent trip. Those in attendance said the meeting was mainly spent discussing the logistics of setting up manufacturing of household cold fusion power generators in the state, rather than the validity of the science behind cold fusion.
"Knowing the reputation of cold fusion, I went in with a very healthy level of skepticism," said Robert Tamarin, dean of sciences at University of Massachusetts, Lowell. That said, he added, "If it?s successful, no wants to have to say later that we walked away from it."
Rossi said he plans to come back to Massachusetts soon, and hopes things will move quickly. "We are all hoping to get something started in a matter of weeks, not months," he said.
Follow Natalie Wolchover on Twitter @nattyover. Follow Life's Little Mysteries on Twitter @llmysteries, then join us on Facebook.
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