Researcher hopes to put fuel cells on the fast track

Haile’s research, which initially began several years ago with fuel cell researchers at JPL, has led to breakthroughs in more “consumer-ready” fuel cell technology. She’s developed fuel cell systems that strike a balance between power and manageability –- perfect, she says, for standalone residential generators. Her team has worked hard to reduce the amount of platinum needed for each system.

Haile thinks that the verdict is still out on whether hydrogen “makes sense” as the fuel of the future. “When most people hear ‘fuel cells,’ they think hydrogen,” says Haile. “That’s a common misperception -- fuel cells aren’t necessarily restricted to hydrogen.”

RIAA's Request For Appeal Denied In Thomas Case

The RIAA's request for permission to appeal from the decision setting aside its $222,000 jury verdict has been denied by District Court Judge Michael J. Davis. In a brief, 6-page decision (PDF) the Judge dismissed the RIAA's arguments that there is a 'substantial ground for a difference of opinion' on the question of law presented, whether the Judge had erred in accepting the RIAA's proposed jury instruction that merely 'making files available' could constitute an infringement of the plaintiffs' distribution rights.

He likewise dismissed their argument that granting permission for the appeal would 'materially advance the ultimate termination of the litigation,' since (a) depending on the outcome of the trial, plaintiffs might not wish to appeal from the judgment, and (b) no matter how the appeals court rules on the 'making available' issue, the case will still have to continue in the lower court, since even if the RIAA wins on the 'making available' issue, the Court will still have to address the constitutionality of the large jury verdict, which may result in a new trial.

Sending Text Messages Cheaper Than You Think

TEXT messaging is a wonderful business to be in: about 2.5 trillion messages will have been sent from cellphones worldwide this year. The public assumes that the wireless carriers’ costs are far higher than they actually are, and profit margins are concealed by a heavy curtain.....

Perhaps the costs for the wireless portion at either end are high — spectrum is finite, after all, and carriers pay dearly for the rights to use it. But text messages are not just tiny; they are also free riders, tucked into what’s called a control channel, space reserved for operation of the wireless network.

That’s why a message is so limited in length: it must not exceed the length of the message used for internal communication between tower and handset to set up a call. The channel uses space whether or not a text message is inserted.

Srinivasan Keshav, a professor of computer science at the University of Waterloo, in Ontario, said: “Messages are small. Even though a trillion seems like a lot to carry, it isn’t.”

HD DVD cracks - Digg Riot

The Riot on Digg last night was amazing to watch unfold. A submission on Digg which contained the recently uncovered encryption key for HD DVD discs was removed yesterday by the site's admins after the site was served with a DMCA takedown notice, according to Digg CEO Jay Adelson. Such takedown notices are not uncommon. The AACS LA has issued them far and wide in an attempt to give the crack as low a profile as possible—Boing Boing blogger Cory Doctorow was the recent recipient of just such a notice after students of a class on copyright he was teaching at the University of Southern California posted the key and a link to the infamous Doom9 forum where AACS cracks have been openly discussed.

The futility of the AACS' actions was demonstrated last night when Digg was hit with a barrage of submissions containing the forbidden key. For a few hours, Digg's front page consisted of little more than a succession of links to the hexadecimal HD DVD key. After several hours, Digg cofounder Kevin Rose said that the site had received the message loud and clear, pledging that Digg would no longer kill stories and comments containing the key.

While the shenanigans at Digg were fascinating to watch as they unfolded, in the grand scheme of DRM it serves mostly as a reminder that the Internet holds no secrets. Like it or not for the AACS LA, DVD Forum (which backs HD DVD), and the Blu-ray Disc Association, Pandora's Box is opened wide. Not only is the key out in the open, but perhaps more damagingly to the HD lobby, public awareness of DRM and its cracks has been raised. How will HD DVD, Blu-ray, and AACS LA respond? We don't know, and chances are that they don't either. more

Congress Attacks Rural Broadband Program

Members of a House committee charged yesterday that a five-year, $1.2 billion program to expand broadband Internet services to rural communities has missed many unserved areas while channeling hundreds of millions of dollars in subsidized loans to companies in places where service already exists.

The Post reported that since 2001 more than half the money has gone to metropolitan regions or communities within easy commutes of a mid-size city. An Internet provider in Houston got $23 million in loans to wire affluent subdivisions, including one that boasts million-dollar houses and an equestrian center. more

Rapid-fire brings Sandia closer to fusion goal

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — An electrical circuit that should carry enough power to produce the long-sought goal of controlled high-yield nuclear fusion and, equally important, do it every 10 seconds, has undergone extensive preliminary experiments and computer simulations at Sandia National Laboratories’ Z machine facility.

Z, when it fires, is already the largest producer of X-rays on Earth and has been used to produce fusion neutrons. But rapid bursts are necessary for future generating plants to produce electrical power from sea water. This had not been thought achievable till now. more

Fox Canceled Drive

Fox Broadcasting has canceled Drive. The newest hit show that was set to air on Monday Evenings. This is the second time that Fox has screwed actor Nathan Fillion and has had a show thrown away by Fox. The last show was Firefly back in 2002. If I were this guy I would step back and take a serious look about working for Fox again. There is another story over at Variety. And I found this post in the forum of xgoth. The only thing that I can find on Fox's Drive site is a message saying that the Final 2 episodes will air sometime this summer.

Despite decent reviews, "Drive" quickly stalled, averaging just a 2.3 rating and 6 share among adults 18-49, and 5.6 million viewers overall.

Monday night's "Drive" didn't help matters, coming in fifth place for the hour (1.5/5) and driving "24" to record lows, dropping Fox to fourth for the night.

Extreme Tattoos

Need I say more...

Vermont Senate: Impeach the President

Vermont Senate Adopts Resolution Seeking Impeachment of Bush, Cheney MONTPELIER, Vt. Apr 20, 2007 (AP)— Vermont senators voted Friday to call for the impeachment of President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, saying their actions have raised "serious questions of constitutionality."

Game Industry Cash?

Gamers are snapping up the new generation of games consoles - Microsoft's Xbox 360, Nintendo's Wii, and Sony's Playstation 3 [PS3], but at huge cost to the industry.

Hardware makers are losing hundreds of dollars on every console sold, and games publishers face an "increasingly difficult environment, as rising development costs and small user bases [mean] that return on investment in next generation games development is unlikely to be achieved before 2008," according to media analysts Screen Digest. More importantly, though, the video games publishers are facing a revolution of their business model...more

War In Iraq Unpublished Pictures

I found these images while browsing. The site is in spanish but the pictures are there.

Find Open Source Alternatives to commercial software

Find open source alternatives to your favourite commercial products. Browse through the software categories and compare pros and cons of both commercial products as well as open source software.

US Marijuana Party Official Website - Who We Are

The United States Marijuana Party
Is a motivated group of Americans who are tired of living in fear of their government because of marijuana prohibition. We are fed up with the intrusion into our personal lives, with urine testing at work and at school, with armed home invasions, and with the possibility of prison because of a plant. We are Americans and we do not piss in a cup for anyone but our doctor!"

The Smoldering Ruins of Centralia

In 1962, workers set a heap of trash ablaze in an abandoned mine pit which was used as the borough's landfill. The burning of excess trash was a common practice, yet at that particular time and place there existed a dangerous condition: an exposed vein of anthracite coal. The highly flammable mineral was unexpectedly ignited by the trash fire, prompting a quick effort to put it out. The flames on the surface were successfully extinguished, but unbeknownst to the fire fighters, the coal continued to burn underground.


Related Links:
Centralia Images On Flickr

Read more at www.damninteresting.com...

London 'under water by 2100' as Antarctica crumbles

DOZENS of the world’s cities, including London and New York, could be flooded by the end of the century, according to research which suggests that global warming will increase sea levels more rapidly than was previously thought.

Complete story at TimesOnline

Read more at www.timesonline.co.uk/a...

A Day Without Latinos

About 30,000 protesters on Thursday marched into downtown Milwaukee as part of a demonstration titled "A Day Without Latinos" in which Latinos were encouraged to take time from their jobs to march, according to Voces de la Frontera, which organized the event. A police spokesman said the crowd was between 10,000 and 15,000. More at CNN

Read more at www.cnn.com/2006/US/03/...

Child support shift stirs animosity

I found this story about Mens Rights and Child Support in several locations.
The one that caught my attention was a complete posting of the text found at ajc.com

I doubt that it will be there for long, (they want money) I had to find it searching like this
(Search Link to ajc.com)

The other was in a News Group. You can view it at Google Groups Here

This article was written on 3/16/2006 by Craig Schneider

Read more at www.ajc.com/search/cont...

U.S. National Debt

$8,276,962,479,801

Interesting Figures here...

Thanks GW you friggin idiot...
People should not be afraid of the govenrment...
Government should be afraid of the people!!...

It's Our Duty to stand up to these assholes that want to control every aspect of our lives, from censorship of our Television (FCC Google News Search) to National ID Cards (Google News).

The time is past, there are no longer Red States and Blue States that are divided on issues that have to do with some "prick" whom has more money and can bullshit better than his opponent, or some "Big Money Corporation" that has nothing but "greed" in mind.

If you are an American Citizen, then Wake The Fuck Up...

Read more at www.brillig.com/debt_cl...

Push for Net neutrality mandate grows

The American Association of Retired Persons, better known as the AARP, may be more famous for its lobbying muscle on pension plans and Medicare, but now it's taking up a new platform: keeping the Internet free and open for the age 50-plus set.The 35 million member group is among a growing list of companies and organizations that signed a new letter Thursday urging senators to require Net neutrality principles by law. Also called network neutrality, it's the idea that the companies that own the broadband pipes should not be able to configure their networks in a way that plays favorites--allowing them, for example, to transmit their own services at faster speeds, or to charge Net content and application companies a fee for similar fast delivery.

Thanks to CNETNews.com

Read more at news.com.com/2100-1028_...

YOU CAN CLICK BUT YOU CAN´T HIDE

What happens when a site is shut down by the MPAA?

Read more at www.gvu.de/de/hinweis/c...