End the War on Freedom

Valcent press release - a new method of growing vegetables promises to make food productiion and biofuels much more efficient. If their numbers are correct, it looks to me like this could solve the world's food and energy problems for a good long time. See photo galleries for their High Density Vertical Growth System and High Density Vertical Bioreactor.

CTV.ca - Dr. Zheng Cui, an associate professor of pathology at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center in North Carolina, has discovered that transfuse specific white blood cells, called granulocytes, from young mice into mice with cancer, cures the cancer, 100%. They plan to begin a human trial soon. Hope it works.

Tyler Hamilton at Technology Review - a Hollywood-based startup, Sunrgi Solar Energy Systems, has created a concentrated photovoltaic module that they expect to be able to produce electricity at a price competitive with fossil-fuel generation. Hope it works. [gsc]

C. Crane is selling an 800 lumen LED light bulb, that uses 8 watts of power and lasts for 30,000 hours. $120. Out of stock until mid-May. 800 lumens is equivalent to a 55 watt light bulb. That's 100 lumens per watt, and 250 hours per dollar. Still quite a bit more expensive than compact fluorescents, which get 1600 lumens (95 watt incandescent) from 23 watts (70 lumens per watt) and glow for 12,000 hours for $4.75 (2526 hours per dollar). I predict that the end of the compact fluorescent is nigh. Long live the LED!

Glenn Roberts at Motorcycle Mojo - 18-year-old Ben J. Poss Gulak has invented a cross between a motorcycle and the Segway. The Uno, with two side-by-side wheels and a seat for one, foot pegs, and handle-bars, has only one user control, an on-off switch for the electronics. To go forward, you lean forward. To slow down, or go backwards, you lean back. Very cool. Lots of photo links at the bottom of the article. [gizmodo]

Robin Harris at ZDNet - eight years in the making, InPhase Technologies announced at NAB2008 that they will ship in May the world's first holographic disk drive. 300 gigabytes per write-once cartridge (Blu-Ray disks hold 25 gigs). 20 megabytes/second transfer rate. 50-year media life. $18,000 for the drive. $180 for media. Less expensive versions coming. Plans for 1.6 terabytes at 120 MB/s. Rewritable products under development. "Data at the speed of light."

Jennifer Laloup at Wired - John Kanzius has invented a Radiofrequency Cancer Treatment that may soon allow many cancers to be completely eradicated with few or no side affects. Gold nano-particles are attached to targeting molecules, which attach to the cancer cells. Then radio waves are passed through the body, which causes the nano-particles to heat up and fry the attached cancer cells. Human trials may be only three years away. The story was on 60 Minutes last night.

Satoshi Ookubo at Nikkei Electronics - A new compact flourescent light bulb, with the coiled tube hidden inside a conventional globe. Three spectra mixes available: warm white (810 lumens), day white (780 lumens), and daylight (730 lumens). 12,000 hour life, 10 watts power consumption. Available in July. Price not yet set. [gizmodo]

Stephanie Nano at Wired - if an adult collapses and stops breathing, The American Heart Association now recommends skipping the mouth-to-mouth breathing and focusing entirely on pressing the center of the chest, 100 times a minute. For children, however, it's usually a breathing problem, not a heart attack, so mouth-to-mouth is still recommended.

Unless she's hot. ;)

Bill Sardi at LewRockwell.com - a report in the New England Journal of Medicine has concluded what I've thought for a long time: cholesterol scores are not a good predictor of heart attack risk. Nope. It's calcification in the major arteries that serve the heart, something that happens more in countries that ingest lots of milk and milk products. Remember, cows' milk is for baby cows. [lew]

Wyatt Andrews at CBS News - thanks to a powder his brother gave him, Lee Spievack grew back the tip of a finger he sliced off in the propeller of a hobby shop airplane. Soon, this technology may provide brand new internal organs, grown from your own cells. [gizmodo]

Philips is shipping technology that could save your life.

One of my high school buddies had a heart attack last Sunday. Fortunately, he was at a friend's house. While his friend was getting him on the floor to start CPR, his friend's wife was dialing 911. A cop and two firemen showed up, who were fortunately nearby at the time, and their portable defibrillator saved his life; the CPR didn't start him up. The doctors couldn't find any blocked arteries or any other reason for it, so they diagnosed it as Sudden Cardiac Death, aka Cardiac Arrest. He's had an automatic defibrillator implanted, and expects to be released from the hospital today. Whew!

Had the cop and firemen not been nearby, or had they not had a portable defibrillator, I would likely have lost a friend. That's where Philips' machine comes in. It's automatic, hence very easy to use. $1,299, payable in 1, 5, or 10 interest-free monthly installments, or 12, 18, or 24 months with 18% interest. Prescription required.

Serf City - the 2008 International Conference on Climate Change took place in New York City this week, but there were very few members of the press in attendence. This conference wasn't a cheering section for Algore's hoax. It was attended by real scientists with real questions about the so-called "consensus" theory on global warming.

I took a couple of photos of tonight's total eclipse, using the image stabilization mode of my camera. Didn't have a tripod. Not much light, but you can see it. The left photo was about 20 minutes earlier than the right.

Here's one more, when the moon was just beginning to reappear.

zonk at Slashdot - on Wednesday, February 20, from 8:45 until 11pm eastern time, there will be a total eclipse of the moon. More details here.

BBC News - Savas Tay and colleagues at the University of Arizona, Tucson, have discovered a material in which holograms can be created in minutes. Also, it can be erased and rewritten over and over. Article includes a link to a video (WMV or Real).

Dave J. Gingery Publishing - a series of inexpensive books showing how to make a foundry, metal lathe, shaper, drill press, milling machine, sheet metal brake, and accessories from scrap. Cool.

Somebody followed Mr. Gingery's foundry instructions, took pictures and notes, and posted them here.

The Honda FCX Clarity, a hydrogen-powered fuel cell electric car, will be leased in three California towns in the summer of 2008. They're limiting availability due to a limited supply of hydrogen refueling stations. Their current long-term plans are Plug Power natural-gas-to-hydrogen fueling stations in the home. Initial price: $600/month for three years. Toyota, General Motors, Ford, and likely others are also working on fuel cell cars, but it appears that Honda will be the first to market. Yay!

John Brignell at Number Watch - some facts about the element of life, Carbon, and the "benign gas" that we breathe out and that plants recycle, using solar energy, into oxygen and food: carbon dioxide. Algore's religious crusade has turned these wonders into demons, for one and only one purpose, to enslave the masses and steal their money. [root]

iMacPr0n.com - an open letter to Steve Jobs imploring him to open up the iPhone to custom applications.