Map Room Archive: Shows 46 - 60 From Sundown Lounge No. 60 From rain.org: DIY Solar Generator I found a few ten-year old webpages that laid out how to make your own one panel solar power generator. Using a 16 volt solar panel and parts easily available from your local stores, you can make a generator for $250 to $300 (1996 dollars). More details on this page. Techniques to optimize your solar panels. Inflatable Home Theater Do you hate to choose between lounging in the pool and watching the big game indoors on a nice, sunny day? You don't have to make that tough decision any more. The Inflatable Backyard Theater w/Speakers brings the entertainment to the back yard. This full-size screen comes with a pair of 100-watt amplified speakers and inflates to its 96-inch viewing area in minutes, thanks to the included air pump. This home theater is dual-use front and rear projection capable (projector sold separately), and its bright white vinyl screen is suited for your favorite HD programming. The screen is even trimmed in black for a true cinema-style picture. Connect to your home theater with the included 30-foot stereo RCA audio cables. There's an 8-foot and a 12-foot model, on sale at smarthome.com. From Wired News: Cutting Global Warming With Sulfur? By Elizabeth Svoboda In the infamous “Who Shot Mr. Burns?” episode of The Simpsons, Mr. Burns designs a giant sun-blocking disc to ensure the town's dependence on nuclear power. A Nobel laureate has proposed a similar strategy with a nobler purpose: stopping global warming. Paul Crutzen, a director at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Germany, has a very different idea: He recommends injecting massive amounts of sulfur into the upper atmosphere so less sun will penetrate it. Stanford ecologist Ken Caldeira, who has investigated similar climate-modification strategies, thinks Crutzen's clout will drive this seemingly off-the-wall project forward. Efforts to manipulate the environment fall under a category known as geoengineering, which "lived in a shadowy netherworld, just beyond what was considered politically acceptable," Caldeira said. "Crutzen's paper is important because it shines a light on geoengineering, bringing it out of that netherworld." When sulfur particles are released into the Earth's atmosphere, they reflect solar radiation back into space much as large ice sheets in the Arctic do. Crutzen envisions lofting sulfur into the stratosphere on small balloon crafts, which will use artillery guns to release their smelly payload. Crutzen's idea might sound surreal, but it was inspired by a natural event. When Mt. Pinatubo in the Philippines erupted in 1991, it sprayed millions of tons of sulfur into the atmosphere. Much to scientists' surprise, the sulfur reflected so much sun that the Earth’s surface cooled by almost one full degree Fahrenheit in the year following the eruption. "It's a short-term fix to a long-term problem," said Stephen Schwartz, an atmospheric scientist at Brookhaven National Laboratory. "Our entire energy economy is dependent on burning fossil fuel, and that's not going to stop anytime soon. We need a stopgap solution." The sulfur solution would not be permanent, since the element lingers in the atmosphere for only a couple of years. Carbon dioxide, on the other hand, stays around for more than a century. In addition, says John Latham, an atmospheric scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, the ecological domino effect of shooting sulfur into the stratosphere is unpredictable. "Many species of plants, for instance, depend on specific amounts of sunlight to complete their normal growth cycles," he said. "If sulfur clouds blot this light out, even slightly, the ecosystems these plants belong to could be irrevocably altered." From Geeknotes: Waide Riddle, writer and actor, in "The House of Bernarda Alba" by by Frederico Garcia Lorca. The Underground Theatre 1312 North Wilton Pl. Hollywood, Ca. 90028 (Between Fountain & Sunset Bl.) Friday- Sunday 8:00 pm August 25- September 10 Please contact Reservations at: 323-467-0036 Always include my name in your message to them. TELEPOETICS AT 2006 AFRICAN MARKETPLACE! Come visit Telepoetics on the Literary Walk of African Marketplace & Cultural Faire 2006, yours truly holding down the fort for the books & authors we currently publish. All our titles will be available at African Marketplace. Telepoetics publishes eight authors and seven titles--five books of poetry by Morse Donaldson (Cosmic Gangsta vs. The Reptilians: Galactic Hip Hop Poetry), Keith Antar Mason (From Hip-Hop to Hittite and Other Poetic Healing Rituals for Young Black Men: A Retrospective), Merilene M. Murphy (Under Peace Rising: Poems in English, Spanish & French), A.L. Sutton & Mark A. Holman (Windows: Navigating City Life - Prose & Poems), Jaha Zainabu (The Science of Chocolate: Poems), a book of plays with a screenplay based on one of the one-acts published in the same volume by Sheri Bailey (Summers in Suffolk: Six One Act Plays with Bonus-Summer Dreams-A Screenplay), and a contemporary science fiction high action novel by Hannibal Tabu (The Crown: Ascension). FOR MORE INFORMATION ONLINE: African Marketplace & Cultural Faire 2006 - http://www.africanmarketplace.org/ Telepoetics BookPlus - http://www.telepoetics.com/booksplus/ Hellicane Live on Katrina Anniversary next Tuesday, August 29, is the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina's landfall. In observation of the beginning of that nightmarish storm, I'm launching the first episode of the Hellicane BlogShow on that day from 7-8 p.m. Pacific Standard Time. A BlogShow is a talk show hosted live online, with live callers, interview guests, readings & discussion of Hellicane poems - before an unlimited number of listeners who can hear the show over the Internet or phone. There's no other talk show like it on the Internet (or the airwaves) - poets around the world, including many Hurricane Katrina survivors, taking stock & vanquishing pain with verse a year after Katrina rolled ashore. Hellicane -- the Internet's most popular hurricane relief poetry site From Sundown Lounge No. 59 From livescience.com: Hot Dogs May Cause Genetic Mutations By Charles Q. Choi Everyone knows hot dogs aren't exactly healthy for you, but in a new study chemists find they may contain DNA-mutating compounds that might boost one's risk for cancer. Scientists note there is an up to 240-fold variation in levels of these chemicals across different brands. "One could try and find out what the difference in manufacturing techniques are between the brands, and if it's decided these things are a hazard, one could change the manufacturing methods," researcher Sidney Mirvish, a chemist at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, told LiveScience. Mirvish and his colleagues examined hot dogs because past research had linked them with colon cancer. Hot dogs are preserved with sodium nitrite, which can help form chemicals known as N-nitroso compounds, most of which cause cancer in lab animals. Extracts from hot dogs bought from the supermarket, when mixed with nitrites, resulted in what appeared to be these DNA-mutating compounds. When added to Salmonella bacteria, hot dog extracts treated with nitrites doubled to quadrupled their normal DNA mutation levels. Triggering DNA mutations in the gut might boost the risk for colon cancer, the researchers explained. "I won't say you shouldn't eat hot dogs," Mirvish said. Future research will feed hot dog meat to mice to see if they develop colon cancer or precancerous conditions, he explained. James Hodges, president of the American Meat Institute Foundation in Washington, noted this study is "a preliminary report that the author concedes requires further investigation. The carcinogenic risk to humans of the compounds studied has not been determined." The possible hazard presented here is not just limited to hot dogs. Salted dried fish and seasonings such as soy sauce may contain similar levels of these chemicals, Mirvish said. Mirvish and his colleagues reported their findings in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. Blacklight Tattoos UV ink tattoos are a relatively new phenomenon. The Wired.com article focuses on a cat named Richie, at The American Tattoo Society in Canon City, Colorado (719-276-1050). He also travels to Electric Soul Tattoo in Lancaster, Ca. (661-945-2111) from time to time to do work in California. Here are additional links to the blacklight ink page at www.tattooartists.org, and Richie's gallery page. From Livescience.com: Cars that Can't Crash: V2V By Preston Lerner There are lots of reasons why car crashes are America's leading cause of accidental death. And one way that most accidents could be prevented: with cars that predict a coming collision—and take action to stop it. The key to the crash-free future is vehicle-to-vehicle communication, or V2V. Some advances that would make V2V possible are already on the way. Increasingly sophisticated GPS will soon allow you to pinpoint your vehicle's precise location at any given moment, and stability-control systems that track your car's speed and direction are even now feeding such information to onboard computers. The primary remaining challenge is finding the means to communicate that data to cars in your projected path. To encourage the development of V2V, the Federal Communications Commission has cleared the 5.9-gigahertz band for dedicated short-range communications (DSRC) among cars, other cars, and roadside transceivers. Volkswagen's Electronics Research Laboratory—which helped build the autonomous VW Touareg that won last year's Darpa Grand Challenge robotic race—recently fitted two Jettas and two Audi A3s with DSRC units and used V2V to successfully run them, platoon-style, through San Francisco. "The technology is doable right now," says Carsten Bergmann, a VW lab manager. (Of course, getting the right data to the right car at the right time calls for fiendishly complicated threat-detection algorithms that are far easier with four cars than with hundreds of them.) General Motors has gone one better than VW with a demonstration DSRC-equipped Cadillac CTS that stops itself to avoid accidents. Its enhanced stability-control system predicts where it's headed—like, into the rear end of another DSRC car stopped in the middle of the road—and prompts the onboard computer to apply the brakes without any input from the driver. The effect is very cool. It's also a little spooky, and many doubt that live-free-or-die Americans will ever sign off on fully autonomous vehicles. Luckily, engineer Tomiji Sugimoto and his team at Honda R&D are working on a human-machine interface that will keep drivers in the loop. Head-up displays are a no-brainer. But Honda is also developing what's called haptic feedback, such as shaking steering wheels and pedals that vibrate. "We're talking about a system that acts like a backseat driver," Sugimoto says. Except it's a backseat driver that's always right. From Geeknotes: The Chicago Sun-Times new book editor has hired a poetry reviewer: Cheryl Reed Book editor Chicago Sun-Times 350 N. Orleans Chicago, Ill. 60654 Here's the cool bio on Led Man OTIS Spoken Word from Montreal, Quebec, Canada Decided it was time to step out from behind the scenes and create my own sound. Spoken words, spoken simply, spoken directly, spoken honestly. Members - Mike Czuba: Lead Vocals Artist URL - http://www.garageband.com/artist/otis http://www.grooovystuff.com Sambo Foohy OK, here's the Foohy trademark monkey character... And here are a few sambo caricatures I found in just a couple minutes of google searching. The center pic is from a now-banned Disney cartoon... - - Judge for yourself. From Sundown Lounge No. 58 From Wired.com: Recovering The Archimedes Palimpsest SAN FRANCISCO -- Previously hidden writings of the ancient Greek mathematician Archimedes are being uncovered with powerful X-ray beams nearly 800 years after a Christian monk scrubbed off the text and wrote over it with prayers. Over the past week, researchers at Stanford University's Linear Accelerator Center in Menlo Park have been using X-rays to decipher a fragile 10th century manuscript that contains the only copies of some of Archimedes' most important works. The X-rays are generated by a particle accelerator. They cause tiny amounts of iron left by the original ink to glow without harming the delicate goatskin parchment. "We are gaining new insights into one of the founding fathers of western science," said William Noel, curator of manuscripts at Baltimore's Walters Art Museum, which organized the effort. "It is the most difficult imaging challenge on any medieval document because the book is in such terrible condition..." From NASA: International Space Station Status Report: SS06-036 Space station crewmen Jeff Williams and Thomas Reiter worked quickly through scheduled spacewalk tasks Thursday, then completed three get-ahead jobs, or extra tasks, and were ready for more. Mission Control assigned two more jobs, which the astronauts also completed... From Impact Lab: Top 10 Reasons Why People Quit Their Jobs Gregory P. Smith: There are many reasons why good employees quit, most are preventable. From my years of experience as a consultant, I’ve identified a “Top Ten” list of reasons why people leave jobs: 1. Management demands that one person do the jobs of two or more people, resulting in longer days and weekend work. 2. Management cuts back on administrative help, forcing professional workers to use their time copying, stapling, collating, filing and other clerical duties. 3. Management puts a freeze on raises and promotions, when an employee can easily find a job earning 20-30 percent more somewhere else. 4. Management doesn’t allow the rank and file to make decisions or allow them pride of ownership. A visitor to my website E-mailed me a message that said, “Forget about the “professional” decisions—how about when you can’t even select the company’s holiday card without the President rejecting it for one of his own taste?” 5. Management constantly reorganizes, shuffles people around, and changes direction constantly. 6. Management doesn’t have or take the time to clarify goals and decisions. Therefore, it rejects work after it was completed, damaging the morale and esteem of those who prepared it. 7. Management shows favoritism and gives some workers better offices, trips to conferences, etc. 8. Management relocates the offices to another location, forcing employees to quit or double their commute. 9. Management promotes someone who lacks training and/or necessary experience to supervisor, alienating staff and driving away good employees. 10. Management creates a rigid structure and then allows departments to compete against each other while at the same time preaching teamwork and cooperation. Interesting, isn’t it — that all ten factors begin with the phrase “Management….” Interesting, too, just how many of these high-turnover factors are preventable? My retention survey confirmed the truth of the saying, “Employees don’t quit their companies, they quit their bosses.” Thirty five percent of the respondents answered yes to the question, Was the attitude of your direct supervisor/manager the primary factor in your quitting a previous job? Soft management skills—people skills—are the critical element in battling high turnover and creating a high-retention workforce or what I call, “retentionship.” Evolution Reversed In Mice US researchers have taken a mouse back in time some 500 million years by reversing the process of evolution. By engineering its genetic blueprint, they have rebuilt a gene that was present in primitive animals. The ancient gene later mutated and split, giving rise to a pair of genes that play a key role in brain development in modern mammals. The scientists say the experiments shed light on how evolution works and could lead to new gene therapy techniques. "We are first to reconstruct an ancient gene," said co-researcher Petr Tvrdik of the University of Utah. "We have proven that from two specialised modern genes, we can reconstruct the ancient gene they split off from. "It illuminates the mechanisms and processes that evolution uses, and tells us more about how Mother Nature engineers life." From Geeknotes: Daiki and Little Wings - an acoustic soul band that plays in the clubs around Tokyo, Yokohama and Kansai. Daiki - Song writer, Soulful vocalism & playing funky acoustic guitar. Yuki Yamauchi - Playing jazzy piano and organ. Ryouhei Doi - Playing fat & real grooving bass. Sachi Nakasaki - Funky female drummer. http://daiki-soulcafe.blogspot.com John Keenan - http://www.tidbitmusic.com/johnkeenan.html As you listen to John Keenan’s music, you learn about the man. He writes and sings with a stark honesty that is as refreshing as it is heartrending. Perhaps very few would guess who was one of his most prevalent influences during his early years. ‘My love of singing came about from being drip-fed Sinatra? Victoria Mosley and The Sublimes - http://www.wolfstudio.co.uk Brethes Dominique: Composer (Producer) Victoria Mosley: Songwriter (Vocals) Genre: Pop Rock (Alternative Pop/Rock/Poetry) Hometown: London, England, United Kingdom Victoria's book of poetry"Crazy Love" is available from Savage Publishers: http://www.savagepublishers.com Lost Cat Records sent this in... From Sundown Lounge No. 57 From Impact Lab: Chronic Pain Off-Switch U.S. researchers say they've identified a protein in nerve cells that acts as a kind of gatekeeper for chronic pain. This enzyme, called protein kinase G (PKG), is turned on and activated in response to injury or inflammation. Once activated, PKG triggers other processes that generate pain messages that are sent to the brain. As long as PKG is switched on, pain persists. Turning PKG off relieves pain. "We're very optimistic that this discovery and our continued research will ultimately lead to a novel approach to pain relief for the millions suffering from chronic pain," researcher Richard Ambron, professor of cell biology at Columbia University Medical Center in New York City, said in a prepared statement. The study was published online in the journal Neuroscience and was expected to be in the August print issue. Ambron and his colleague Ying-Ju Sung, an assistant professor of cell biology, have applied for a patent for the pathway that turns on PKG, as well as several molecules that inhibit it. They hope to develop a new class of drugs that target PKG in order to treat chronic pain. From Impact Lab: The Air Conditioned Shirt Japanese technician Hiroshi Ichigaya has invented what he calls the world's first air-conditioned shirt. While most shirts trap an individual's sweat -- keeping it from evaporating -- Ichigaya's invention creates circulating air to enhance evaporation through the use of two small battery-operated fans, the Mail on Sunday said. All electrical parts of the shirt can be removed to allow for washing, and the shirt can even be powered by plugging it into a computer through a USB cord. The shirt reportedly offers the wearer a pleasant breeze with one drawback -- when it's running, the shirt partially inflates. "It's true the shirts make you look like a 'Michelin Man' but on factory floors people are more worried about being able to do their jobs in comfort," said Ichigaya -- referring to an advertising icon whose body is made up of auto tires. From Scientific American: I.D. is Bad Science on Its Own Terms In the comment thread of a previous post, one Intelligent Design advocate protested that I.D. is misunderstood and frequently misrepresented by defenders of evolution, and he offered this pithy definition: ID is the claim that there exist patterns in nature that are best explained by intelligent agency. ID doesn't claim to be a default explanation. It is claimed to be a legitimate hypothesis, supported by a large body of evidence, that deserves consideration without being rejected on principle because of a preconceived metaphysical bias. Many other IDists have staked out that general position, including William Dembski, and to my mind this particular definition is one that I think most proponents of that cause would accept as a reasonable one (no doubt they will tell me if I am wrong). It occurred to me while responding to this that it might offer a good opportunity to criticize I.D. on its own terms, without the rancor and philosophical prejudices that IDists seem to feel prevents them from getting a fair hearing. (I don't for a minute believe that any of this will change the minds of hardcore believers in I.D., but I don't mind going through the exercise anyway for the sake of any genuinely open-minded newcomers to this whole controversy who might benefit from it.) Let's go through the claims for I.D. one by one. ID is the claim that there exist patterns in nature that are best explained by intelligent agency. In that comment thread, various readers picked on this use of the word "best" as reflecting an inappropriate value judgment, but I would let the writer off the hook by suggesting that the term he wanted was probably "most parsimonious" or "most elegant"--meaning that it is the simplest or most straightforward answer. Why hypothesize a complicated system of naturalistic mechanisms that could produce the semblance of a designed system when one could simply hypothesize an intelligence that genuinely designed the system? (Do readers agree that I'm fairly stating the I.D. claim?) But there are several problems with that idea, and they go right to the heart of why I.D. is bad science. First, the basic contention is that it's intellectually superior to posit the one designing intelligence as explanation rather than an open-ended number of naturalistic factors and mechanisms as explanation. That might be so by the narrowest, most literal interpretation of the Occam's razor principle ("minimize the number of necessary elements involved in an explanation"). Yet the naturalistic factors already demonstrably exist independently of the phenomenon to be explained; the unspecified intelligence does not. So I.D. is invoking at least one more factor than naturalistic ones, and it's one whose existence is at least questionable. I think one would also have to grant that the hypothesized designing intelligence would have to be an amazingly sophisticated, complex thing in its own right--so introducing that for an explanation is no minor matter. A further problem with that definition of I.D. is that it doesn't work well as a scientific explanation--and not just for reasons of methodological naturalism. When kids ask, "Why is the sky blue?", they would have good reason to be annoyed at being told, "Because the sky has a property of blueness." If a chemist wonders, "What causes proteins to fold as they do?", he would be crazy to be satisfied with, "There is a protein-folding force that folds proteins, and its parameters fold proteins into the forms that we see." Those aren't explanations, they're just ways of parroting the question. Scientific explanations have to be... explanatory.... From Geeknotes: BZoO Homegrown Radio Airplay Schedule: (BZoO is based in Louisville, KY, so the big program schedule is in Eastern time. I've added Pacific and Greenwich time also...) Greenwich Time: Sat. 1am, Sun. midnight, Mon. & Tues. 7pm Eastern Time: Fri. 9pm, Sun. 8pm, Mon. & Tues. 4pm Pacific Time: Fri. 6pm, Sun. 5pm, Mon. & Tues. 1pm Congrats to Mike McGee, winner of SlamIdol Contest no. 12. I came in a very close second... This note came in from Boston: Nate Horney here...some of you might remember me from my days with acclaimed Boston outfit, Amun Ra, and some of you might recall my work with the Poison tribute band, Poisoned. Hell, i'm quite sure that some of you have no idea, and could care less. Either way, do I have news for you...(editor's note: the band 'Poisoned' does not exist) *- New Band Alert - New Band Alert - New Band Alert -* That's right, I have a new band! We are called BAd JAMiE, and we play a refreshing blend of rock and scuzz-pop. I would like to invite you all out to one of our first Boston shows next Friday, Aug. 4th at Great Scott's. I can assure you that a good time will be had by all, and dancing/ bobbing will occur, beer will be drank, and all of your wildest dreams will come true. Mark your calendars, I promise that you will not be dissapointed. Ok? that's: BAd JAMiE The Pill @ Great Scott Friday Aug. 4th 10:30 PM 21+ 7$ :look sharp: www.myspace.com/badjamiemusic From Sundown Lounge No. 56 From Bad Astronomy, By Phil Plait: The Wealth of Science I was reading an essay recently, and the author distinguishes between money and wealth. I suppose I never thought about it, but he’s right, of course. Wealth is when you have something you need or want. Someone who is not wealthy does not have what they need or want. Money is a medium, a way of transferring wealth. It’s not even the only way, but it’s the one people think of. Then the author said something that literally startled me: Scientists, till recently at least, effectively donated the wealth they created. He’s absolutely right. Again, wealth is not the same as money. Scientists take a relatively small amount of money (compared to, say, the cost of an attack helicopter or the building of a bridge) and turn it into wealth. Knowledge. Understanding. A brief moment of awe in the public when they grasp a little bit more of the Universe. That is wealth, mental wealth. We humans are curious, and science both sates and drives that curiosity... From Impact Lab: Sex In Space, The Reality... While sex in space is now a front and center topic of talk in public space travel circles, it may be far more complex and foreboding than once thought. More research is needed in the role of gravity and its impact on the human body, said James Logan, a veteran NASA space physician speaking at the gathering - but voicing his personal views. “Sex in micro-g might be a little underwhelming. That is, the fantasy might be vastly superior to the reality. It’s a pretty messy environment…for every action there’s an equal and opposite reaction,” Logan told an attentive audience over the weekend at the NewSpace 2006 meeting in Las Vegas, Nevada, sponsored by the Space Frontier Foundation. Sex in zero-g is going to have to be more or less choreographed, “otherwise it’s just going to be a wild fling,” Logan advised. But for those looking forward to space migration and setting up self-perpetuating civilizations off-Earth, the space physician raised several warning flags... From Impact Lab: Sharing a Bed May Cost You A man's brainpower, scientists say, can be damaged by sharing a bed. When they spend the night with a partner, their sleep patterns are disturbed, whether they make love or not. This leads to poorer mental agility the next day. Women do not suffer from the same problem. They have disturbed sleep if they share a bed, but tend to get better quality rest when they do drop off and their brain power remains undiminished. The findings suggest if a man has an important day ahead he would be best to head off to the spare room rather than share the marital bed. The research, featured in New Scientist magazine, was presented to the Forum of European Neurosciences in Vienna last week... The Stowaway Guitar The standard Stow-Away(TM) model features traditional styling with a double cut-away, solid alder wood body, three single coil pickups mounted in a 3-ply white pickguard, a headless 25 & 1/2" scale maple neck with rosewood fingerboard, 22 medium frets, Graph Tech saddles, and a linear tuning system. Standard colors include: black, red, dark blue metallic, and two color sunburst, all with gloss polyester finish. As with all Stewart guitars, the Clip-Joint(TM) neck connection system allows easy assembly and disassembly. When disassembled, the neck of the Stow-Away(TM) can be stored in a diagonal storage cavity in the back of the guitar body. (See photo below right.) The Stow-Away(TM) can then be discretely stored and in a standard 3 X 13 X 18 inch briefcase (not included) or a well padded carrying case (included). The Stow-Away(TM) provides the look and feel of traditional guitars and allows guitar players of every skill level to play or practice wherever they choose. From Impact Lab: The Science of Implanting False Memories Implanting false memories of a bad experience with alcohol could prevent people abusing alcohol later, a Canadian researcher has said. Dan Bernstein from Kwantlen University College, showed if people are led to believe they once drank themselves sick, it can affect their taste for a particular drink. He presented the research, conducted at the International Conference on Memory in Sydney. In the study, 142 people aged 18-20 were told they had had a bad past experience with alcoholic drinks. "We wanted to know if there were consequences to false memory and we looked at whether we could increase people's confidence that they got sick drinking rum some time in their past," Bernstein said. "What we find is that if you've increased your confidence that you've got sick drinking rum, you now give rum less preference..." From Geeknotes: Update! ChicagoPoetry.com is pleased to announce the publication of its new online anthology, American Open Mike Volume 2. Out of nearly 100 submissions ChicagoPoetry.com has chosen thirty poets to represent the "New American Voice" with the spirit of the poetry open mike in mind. To read the anthology, go here or simply here: http://AmericanOpenMike.com The print version of this anthology will also be available soon. -- http://chicagopoetry.com The Annual Southern California Ifa Odun Festival Held in San Bernardino California August 25-26, 2006 The Event is free Food is free Individual performers, Vendors, Dance groups, Music performers should contact Ile Orunmila Communications to confirm participation Come and Celebrate danicing for Orisa This is a Family Affair Contact: Oloye FAMA: (909-886-6023) Baba Ifabowale Sohma Somadhi: (909-684-4752) UPCOMING! SUNDAY AUGUST 13, 2006 THE WORLD STAGE JAZZ FESTIVAL is coming on Sunday August 13th from noon to 7:00pm. The festival will be held at the overflow parking lot at the corner of 43rd St. and Degnan in Leimert Park Village. This year we pay tribute to two giants of the jazz and latin jazz idioms - Dexter Gordon and Al McKibbon. Performers include: The World Stage workshops - Drums, Vocal and Jazz Ensemble Charles McPherson Taumbu Latin Jazz Ensemble The Bass Choir featuring John Heard Roberto Miranda Trevor Ware Edwin Livingston Bobby Matos Afro-Latin Ensemble The Saxophone Section Herman Riley Rickey Woodard Azar Lawrence George Harper The festival is free of charge to the public and family participation is encouraged. From Sundown Lounge No. 55 From Wired.com, By David Cohn: Artificial Intelligence at 50 Artificial intelligence is 50 years old this summer, and while computers can beat the world's best chess players, we still can't get them to think like a 4-year-old. This week in Boston, some of the field's leading practitioners are gathering to examine this most ambitious of computer research fields, which at once has managed to exceed, and fall short of, our grandest expectations. "Artificial intelligence has accomplished more than people realize," said futurist Ray Kurzweil. "It permeates our economic infrastructure. Every time you place a cell phone call, send an e-mail, AI programs are directing information." When the term "artificial intelligence" was coined at a Dartmouth workshop, the idea was to explore human-level intelligence as computation. But it was the term itself that quickly captured the public's imagination, recalled John McCarthy, a professor emeritus of computer science at Stanford University who helped organize the AI workshop in 1956. "I would have thought that the workshop would have been known for the results that it produced," McCarthy said. "It in fact did become known to a significant extent simply because it popularized the term 'artificial intelligence...'" From Impact Lab, July 11th Students Fly Battery-powered Plane Japanese students succeeded in making a manned flight in a plane powered only by household batteries. The group from the Tokyo Institute of Technology flew the plane a distance of 391 metres (1,283ft) at an airfield north of the capital, in what was the first such battery-powered flight, said a spokesman for Matsushita Electric Industrial, the project's sponsors. The plane, with a 31-metre wing span but weighing just 44kg, was piloted by a 63kg student for the trip, which lasted about one minute. The power was provided by 160 AA batteries. "I didn't think it would fly so beautifully," said one of the students involved. More photos here From Impact Lab: Unusual Things to Teach Your Body Here are a few of the 18 tricks mentioned in the article: 1. If your throat tickles, scratch your ear. When you were 9, playing your armpit was a cool trick. Now, as an adult, you can still appreciate a good body-based feat, but you're more discriminating. Take that tickle in your throat; it's not worth gagging over. Here's a better way to scratch your itch: "When the nerves in the ear are stimulated, it creates a reflex in the throat that can cause a muscle spasm," says Scott Schaffer, M.D., president of an ear, nose and throat specialty center in Gibbsboro, New Jersey. "This spasm relieves the tickle." 2. Experience supersonic hearing! If you're stuck chatting up a mumbler at a cocktail party, lean in with your right ear. It's better than your left at following the rapid rhythms of speech, according to researchers at the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine. If, on the other hand, you're trying to identify that song playing softly in the elevator, turn your left ear toward the sound. The left ear is better at picking up music tones. 3. Overcome your most primal urge! Need to pee? No bathroom nearby? Fantasize about Jessica Simpson. Thinking about sex preoccupies your brain, so you won't feel as much discomfort, says Larry Lipshultz, M.D., chief of male reproductive medicine at the Baylor College of Medicine. For best results, try Simpson's "These Boots Are Made for Walking" video. 4. Feel no pain! German researchers have discovered that coughing during an injection can lessen the pain of the needle stick. According to Taras Usichenko, author of a study on the phenomenon, the trick causes a sudden, temporary rise in pressure in the chest and spinal canal, inhibiting the pain-conducting structures of the spinal cord. 5. Clear your stuffed nose! Forget Sudafed. An easier, quicker, and cheaper way to relieve sinus pressure is by alternately thrusting your tongue against the roof of your mouth, then pressing between your eyebrows with one finger. This causes the vomer bone, which runs through the nasal passages to the mouth, to rock back and forth, says Lisa DeStefano, D.O., an assistant professor at the Michigan State University college of osteopathic medicine. The motion loosens congestion; after 20 seconds, you'll feel your sinuses start to drain. From Geeknotes: :: The World Stage Newsletter :: 07.17.2006 :: UPCOMING! WEDNESDAY JULY 19, 2006! ANANSI WRITERS WORKSHOP presents JASPAL KAUR SINGH [ http://www.theworldstage.org/popwe2006.html#071906 ] ANANSI WRITERS WORKSHOP is facilitated by JAWANZA DUMISANI Wednesdays (7:30-10:30pm) | Workshop at 7:30-8:30pm | Features at 8:30-9:00pm | Open Mic at 9:05pm $5 donation No one turned away for lack of funds UPCOMING! CONCERT SERIES with CORNEL FAULER presents 07.21.2006 DHAZHEM DATAMUNTU & NU NOVA COMPOUND W/ Poet WILL ALEXANDER SUN CHIP ON DRUMS ONAJI ON VIBES AMBROSE ON TRUMPET NATE MORGAN ON PIANO 07.29.2006 RAMO DREW QUARTET The World Stage Concert Series Weekly Concerts 9:30 PM & 11:00 PM (*unless otherwise noted) $10/set donation Intimate shows by virtuosos at community prices. Cornel Fauler, Booking Coordinator UPCOMING! Leimert Park Village Jazz Festival in August!!! Stay tuned!! The World Stage Performance Gallery 4344 Degnan Blvd., LA 90008 323.293.2451 /InfoLine http://www.theworldstage.org East of Crenshaw, North of Vernon Free or cheap & ample parking All kinds of quick nosh eateries & shops within walking distance THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING THE ARTS IN LEIMERT PARK! From Sundown Lounge No. 54 From 2Physics, May 17th: Beyond The Big Bang - The Quantum Bounce The universe started with a bang about 15 billion years back and went on expanding since then. Classical theories like Einstein's general theory of relativity can hope to explain the beginning upto a time very close to the actual 'bang' at which not only matter but space-time itself was born. The process of this understanding has been underway for many years now with the aid of careful observation of light and other kinds of electromagnetic radiation coming from deep sky and by devising clever theories to explain those observations. But classical theories offer no clues about existence before that moment. Recently a research team at Penn State led by Prof. Abhay Ashtekar (Holder of the Eberly Family Chair in Physics and Director of the Institute for Gravitational Physics and Geometry at Penn State) has used quantum gravitational calculations to find threads that lead to an earlier time. The team showed that, prior to the Big Bang, there was a contracting universe with space-time geometry that otherwise is similar to that of our current expanding universe. Using quantum modifications of Einstein's cosmological equations, they have shown that as gravitational forces pulled this previous universe inward, it reached a point at which the quantum properties of space-time caused gravity to become repulsive, rather than attractive and instead of a sudden classical 'big bang', a 'quantum bounce' took place... From Impact Lab, July 11th The Line Between Plagiarism and Research Is Blurring The online line between studying and copying may be blurring. CBS found that 90% of US teenagers use the web to research school assignments, and 57% of them say they do so frequently. Hot on the heels of last week's survey on teen Internet use from BurstMedia, comes a new CBSNews.com poll showing that the Internet has become an integral part of teen study habits. On the downside of studying online, the survey found that 20% of US teens admit to having used the Internet to plagiarize material for school assignments. Asked if they had cheated at least once, 24% of the boys and 14% of the girls owned up. But CBS researchers believe those figures may be low. "Survey respondents sometimes find it difficult to admit to an interviewer they've done things that are illegal or unethical. While teenagers might be less susceptible than adults to this, there's a good chance the actual percentage might be higher," said Kathleen Frankovic of CBS. In addition, the poll confirmed many commonly held beliefs about teen Internet use. About two-thirds of them e-mail and more than half go online to download music. However, asking the question two different ways, the two polls found that the Internet was not quite as important to teens as might be expected... From Wired.com, By Daniel H. Pink What Kind of Genius Are You? A new theory suggests that creativity comes in two distinct types – quick and dramatic, or careful and quiet. In the fall of 1972, when David Galenson was a senior economics major at Harvard, he took what he describes as a “gut” course in 17th-century Dutch art. On the first day of class, the professor displayed a stunning image of a Renaissance Madonna and child. “Pablo Picasso did this copy of a Raphael drawing when he was 17 years old,” the professor told the students. “What have you people done lately?” It’s a question we all ask ourselves. What have we done lately? It rattles us each birthday. It surfaces whenever an upstart twentysomething pens a game-changing novel or a 30-year-old tech entrepreneur becomes a billionaire. The question nagged at Galenson for years. In graduate school, he watched brash colleagues write dissertations that earned them quick acclaim and instant tenure, while he sat in the library meticulously tabulating 17th- and 18th-century indentured-servitude records. He eventually found a spot on the University of Chicago’s Nobelist-studded economics faculty, but not as a big-name theorist. He was a colonial economic historian – a utility infielder on a team of Hall of Famers. Now, however, Galenson might have done something at last, something that could provide hope for legions of late bloomers everywhere. Beavering away in his sunny second-floor office on campus, he has scoured the records of art auctions, counted entries in poetry anthologies, tallied images in art history textbooks – and then sliced and diced the numbers with his econometric ginsu knife. Applying the fiercely analytic, quantitative tools of modern economics, he has reverse engineered ingenuity to reveal the source code of the creative mind. What he has found is that genius – whether in art or architecture or even business – is not the sole province of 17-year-old Picassos and 22-year-old Andreessens. Instead, it comes in two very different forms, embodied by two very different types of people. “Conceptual innovators,” as Galenson calls them, make bold, dramatic leaps in their disciplines. They do their breakthrough work when they are young. Think Edvard Munch, Herman Melville, and Orson Welles. They make the rest of us feel like also-rans. Then there’s a second character type, someone who’s just as significant but trudging by comparison. Galenson calls this group “experimental innovators.” Geniuses like Auguste Rodin, Mark Twain, and Alfred Hitchcock proceed by a lifetime of trial and error and thus do their important work much later in their careers. Galenson maintains that this duality – conceptualists are from Mars, experimentalists are from Venus – is the core of the creative process. And it applies to virtually every field of intellectual endeavor, from painters and poets to economists... From Geeknotes: The Association of Poetry Podcasting was named the "Culture Vulture Site of the Week" by The Guardian... By Michelle Pauli Podcasting has been a gift to poetry and there's a wealth of lyrical shows available at iTunes, from the Easy French Poetry podcast (does what it says on the tin) to Little Red's Writing Hood (which doesn't, but is worth a listen). But how to sort the verse from the worse? Some of the early adopters of the medium are troubled that the cream of the crop is getting lost in the iTunes listings as the service offers no guidance on the quality of the podcasts it promotes. Their solution is the rather grand-sounding Association of Poetry Podcasting, which aims to "make it easier to get an earful". The website lists member podcasters and gives a brief description of their offerings. Most of the podders featured at the moment are US-based, but one of the founder members - the splendid Slam Idol Podcast - is British and more will surely follow. Would-be members must fulfil criteria for admission that act as a quality control mechanism. There is also a forum on which poetry podcasters and fans can discuss their favourite shows and poets. Vote for Brother Love! Help nominate Brother Love's podcast for a Podcast Award Nominations must be submitted by July 15th Here's the informative profile on Tony McAulay this week's Venue Verite pinch hitter... From Sundown Lounge No. 53 From Scientific American: Protein A Key To Autoimmune Disorders by Jeneen Interlandi As a medical student in Germany, Stefan Feske studied two Turkish brothers born with severe combined immunodeficiency syndrome, or SCIDS, a rare, life-threatening genetic disease characterized by a seriously debilitated immune system. Because the boys' T cells could not take up calcium, their immune systems would not work. These siblings provided Feske and his collaborators with a unique opportunity to track down a key protein involved in this process by studying human cells in which it was already dysfunctional. "You cannot do this for every gene hunt," says Feske, now an assistant professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School. That search ended recently with the discovery by Feske and his Harvard collaborators, Anjana Rao and Yousang Gwack, of Orai 1, a protein that may be part of the ion channel that admits calcium into T cells, a step required to set the body's immune response in motion. The group's endeavors, reported in the May 11 issue of Nature, represent several years of investigations that were part of a larger 20-year effort to track down this critical cog in immune functioning... Brazilian Trees May Harbor Unidentified Species of Bacteria By Tracy Staedter The Atlantic forest of Brazil, which in the past 400 years has been reduced to less than 8 percent of its original size, could contain as many as 13 million unidentified species of bacteria, a new study has found. Not only do the results point to an abundance of life still remaining the forest, but they indicate a potentially untapped resource for drug development. "Besides the importance of these bacteria in ecosystem stability, they can also be sources of biochemical compounds for the pharmaceutical industry and agriculture," says Marcio Lambais of the University of Sao Paulo in Brazil, whose team published their results in today's issue of Science... etsy.com - DIY eBay Looking for a Mister Cutie Bear iPod cozy? How about a Mario Guevera T-shirt? Head to Etsy.com, a DIY eBay where you can commission an artist to make custom jewelry, stuffed animals, furniture – almost anything you can imagine. Post a request (“I want a macrame owl”) and members respond with bids. Pick the one with the right price and turnaround time; the maker pays Etsy 3.5 percent of the sale price. To test the service, we let Etsy’s more than 12,000 artisans know that we were looking for handicrafts in any medium featuring our favorite flightless waterfowl, the Linux penguin. Check out the treasures we had made... From Geeknotes: Daize Shayne is featured in the latest FHM, along with two other gorgeous pro surfers... Next Brother Love gig: SLATE 54 West 21st Street, NYC Wednesday, July 12th SHOW at 9:15, OPEN BAR from 8:00 to 9:30 Lost Cat Records had a press release for the band Additional Moog... No Map Room for Sundown Lounge No. 52: It's the 4th of July! From Sundown Lounge No. 51 From Impact Lab: Web 2.0 One of the more influential technology conferences of the year took place two weeks ago in Silicon Valley, but you saw hardly a word about it in the mainstream media. Perhaps that’s because it lacked the sizzle of newly-rich entrepreneurs and venture capitalist king-makers — but what it lacked in glitter it made up for in world-changing potential. NetSquared was a gathering of some 370 philanthropists, nonprofit and non-governmental organizations, humanitarian services and charities—along with technology companies and assorted digerati — discussing how the much-touted Web 2.0 technology could be harnessed for social change. Web 2.0 is the term Web maven Tim O’Reilly gave to the collection of user-oriented technologies (tagging, ranking, pointing, self-publishing and so on) that have spawned sites like MySpace, Digg, YouTube and countless competitors. Yet even as some of these sites grow enormous, doubts have emerged in the venture capital community as to whether many of these ideas can actually turn into long-term, profitable businesses. Compounding the difficulty is that building a Web 2.0 site is both easy and cheap, reducing the “barriers to entry” that usually keep competitors away. Some VCs now say that using Web 2.0 in your funding pitch is the quickest way to get thrown out of the office... Prototype Pollution-Free Power Plant In fierce bidding reminiscent of efforts two decades ago to win the superconducting super collider, seven states are aggressively trying to land a billion-dollar power plant prototype that's virtually pollution free. Home to a third of the dozen sites chasing FutureGen, Illinois has up to $80 million in incentives on the table, from grants to low-interest loans. Ohio is offering twice that, while Texas has passed a law making it responsible for any legal entanglements stemming from the coal-fired plant's carbon dioxide emissions. Wyoming is offering incentives worth about $31 million and points out its coal to fuel the plant is cheaper than eastern coal. "One of these sites ultimately will become known worldwide as the place where a new generation of zero-emission energy plants made its debut," Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said recently after the 12 candidate sites were announced. The finalists will be tapped this summer, with the winner to be announced next year — five years before the plant is expected to be running. Touted as the power plant of tomorrow, FutureGen involves technology that converts coal into highly enriched hydrogen gas that burns cleaner than coal. Plans call for the 275-megawatt plant to capture most of its emissions of carbon dioxide _ a "greenhouse" gas widely blamed for global warming _ and inject them permanently into underground reservoirs, a process called sequestration. A FutureGen alliance made up of a handful of coal and electric companies, including St. Louis-based Peabody Energy Corp., has committed more than $250 million to the project. The U.S. government is putting up about $700 million. Brain Tissue Fused to Computer Chip German researchers say they've implanted a computer chip into a rat's brain, reportedly moving science a step closer to helping paraplegics. The line between living organisms and machines has just become a whole lot blurrier. European researchers have developed "neuro-chips" in which living brain cells and silicon circuits are coupled together. The achievement could one day enable the creation of sophisticated neural prostheses to treat neurological disorders, or the development of organic computers that crunch numbers using living neurons. To create the neuro-chip, researchers squeezed more than 16,000 electronic transistors and hundreds of capacitors onto a silicon chip just 1 millimeter square in size. A neuron from a rat brain sprawls They used special proteins found inover a linear array of transistors. The cell's ionic current interacts with the electronic current in the silicon. the brain to glue brain cells, called neurons, onto the chip. However, the proteins acted as more than just a simple adhesive. "They also provided the link between ionic channels of the neurons and semiconductor material in a way that neural electrical signals could be passed to the silicon chip," said study team member Stefano Vassanelli from the University of Padua in Italy. The proteins allowed the neuro-chip's electronic components and its living cells to communicate with each other. Electrical signals from neurons were recorded using the chip's transistors, while the chip's capacitors were used to stimulate the neurons... From Wired.com: iPod Slaves? Apple is investigating a newspaper report that staff in some of its Chinese iPod factories work long hours for low pay and in "slave" conditions. The article in the Mail on Sunday alleged that workers received as little as £27 a month, doing 15-hour shifts making the iconic mp3 player. Employees at the factory lived in dormitories housing 100 people and outsiders were banned, the paper said. Apple said it did not tolerate its supplier code of conduct being broken. In a statement the firm said: "Apple is committed to ensuring that working conditions in our supply chain are safe, workers are treated with respect and dignity, and manufacturing processes are environmentally responsible." The company added it was "currently investigating the allegations regarding working conditions in the iPod manufacturing plant in China". The report said that at a different factory, in Suzhou near Shanghai, which makes the iPod shuffle, workers were paid £54 per month - but that half of that went on accommodation and food within the factory complex. According to the Mail on Sunday, women rather than men were employed on the production line. Apple is one of thousands of companies that has outsourced manufacturing to China where labour costs are low. IPods carry the text: "Designed in California, Made in China". From Geeknotes: My buddy CJ Laity at Chicagopoetry.com has lots of summer stuff going on. .. Podchick new Vidshow is here. The site is www.SKYDIVERGIRLS.com. The Media That Matters Film Festival press release... From Sundown Lounge No. 50 Weapons from the Pentagon's Circular File The US military investigated building a "gay bomb", which would make enemy soldiers "sexually irresistible" to each other, government papers say. Like the plan for a so-called "love bomb," an aphrodisiac chemical that would provoke widespread homosexual behaviour among troops, causing what the military called a "distasteful but completely non-lethal" blow to morale. Captain Dan McSweeney of the Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Directorate at the Pentagon said the defence department receives "literally hundreds" of project ideas like this, where they are carefully considered, then properly filed. Or so they say... Jet-Powered Beetle Where do you go if you want to build a jet-powered car? Well, this guy figured it out on his own. Great photos. Ron Patrick is approaching the age of 50, a time when many men begin thinking about minutiae like pensions and second homes and third cars. But Patrick is far more interested in telling you why it is that he has stuck a big jet engine in the back of a prosaic silver Volkswagen. Here's his story: This is a my street-legal jet car on full afterburner. The car has two engines: the production gasoline engine in the front driving the front wheels and the jet engine in the back. The idea is that you drive around legally on the gasoline engine and when you want to have some fun, you spin up the jet and get on the burner (you can start the jet while driving along on the gasoline engine). The car was built because I wanted the wildest street-legal ride possible. With this project, I was able to use some stuff I learned while getting my fancy engineering degree (I have a PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University) to design the car without the distraction of how other people have done it in the past - because no one has. I don't know how fast the car will go and probably never will. The car was built to thrill me, not kill me. That doesn't stop me from the occasional blast on the highway though... The Master Gene Located The key gene that keeps embryonic stem cells in a state of youthful immortality has been discovered. The breakthrough may one day contribute to turning ordinary adult cells into those with the properties of human ESCs. This would end the need to destroy embryos to harvest the cells for new medical treatments. ESCs are unique as they are "pluripotent" - capable of differentiating into the different cells in the body - and hold great potential for treating damaged or diseased organs. But until now scientists did not know how a stem cell renews itself or develops into an new kind of cell. The gene found in mouse ESCs and some human equivalents appears to be the "master gene", co-ordinating other genes to allow stem cells to multiply limitlessly while still retaining their ability to differentiate. It has been christened Nanog after the land in Celtic myth called Tir nan Og, whose inhabitants remain forever young... From Sundown Lounge No. 49 AIDS and Sex - 25 Years Later At first, AIDS appeared to be a disease of gay men. But by the time the virus responsible, HIV, had been identified a few years later, fear that sex, whether gay or straight, would kill millions of Americans shadowed every discussion of the topic. America’s sex life seemed poised for a dramatic change. But 25 years later, AIDS' true impact on the American sexual landscape has been muted, and, experts say, the changes that did occur were not always the ones we expected. Perception of what the sexual atmosphere was like before AIDS often relies on a convenient metaphor, like, say, Studio 54. Fueled by sex, drugs and disco, the New York nightclub had a debauched three-year run as a hangout for movie stars, sports heroes and the fashion crowd before its two founders, Steve Rubell and Ian Schrager, were thrown in jail in 1980 for tax evasion. The next year, AIDS arrived (Rubell eventually died of it). But the story — first we partied, then we paid — is too tidy. While Studio 54 achieved a kind of infamy, the vast majority of Americans could never pass beyond the velvet ropes. The vast majority were not having anonymous sex in nightspots, nor going to gay bathhouses, nor swinging in suburbia. But AIDS, or, more accurately, talk about AIDS, was everywhere from national magazine covers to school board meetings in rural towns. Just 17 years before the first American AIDS patients checked into hospitals, comedian Lenny Bruce was prosecuted for referring in his stand-up routine to things that now appeared on nightly newscasts. So the conversation about sex did change, at least for a while. Couples took sexual histories over second-date cocktails. Going to a medical lab for testing became a dating ritual. Condoms turned into fashion accessories. The most important change in the conversation occurred in the nation’s schools. “Before AIDS we were debating whether to teach about sex,” recalls Martha Kempner, the vice president of education for the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS).” AIDS won that argument. Scooter Powered By Air This could sound like a load of hot air, but a mechanic in Rajasthan, India has created a scooter that runs on air. Hari Narayan Prajapati, 35, astonished people here recently when he drove his scooter using air as fuel. He covered a distance of half a kilometre with a total of 150 pounds of air in a special fuel cylinder attached to the vehicle. Prajapati, who lives in Bhanpur Kurdh village of Ramgarh tehsil, has been working on this project for the last four years. "If my technique is properly channelised people will certainly get relief from the regular hikes in petrol and diesel prices," said Prajapati, who sounded enthusiastic about his innovation. The scooter devised by Prajapati runs at a speed of 20 km per hour and can accommodate only one person. The vehicle is like a regular scooter and starts with a kick. However, the accelerator wire of the scooter is directly connected to the air fuel tank. "I have spent about Rs.150,000 on my project. Though it was a huge amount, what made it worthwhile was that I succeeded," said Prajapati. He said he initially started experimenting on his father's eight-year-old scooter because he did not have the money to buy a new one. "I have braved financial and mental hardships to come out with this exclusive machine. My decision was very risky as we had only one scooter in the house," he said. Emboldened by his success, Prajapati is now working on a special generator for his scooter. "I have already started working on the generator which will not only run the scooter but would also generate high air pressure to ensure a regular supply of air to the scooter," he said. Prajapati estimated that he would need about Rs.350,000 for his research and rued the fact that he had not been able to arrange any funding. "I have written to Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam and the district collector but no one has evinced any interest in my scooter," he said remorsefully. Top 10 Cellphones For Radiation Level For anyone who puts much stock in those reports of cellphone radiation causing cancer, we recommend you set down your Moto and slowly back away. Turns out Motorola managed to score the top eight spots in a list by CNET of phones with the highest radiation levels -- as tested by the FCC. According to the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association (CTIA), SAR or specific absorption rate is "a way of measuring the quantity of radiofrequency (RF) energy that is absorbed by the body." For a phone to pass FCC certification, that phone's maximum SAR level must be less than 1.6W/kg (watts per kilogram). In Europe, the level is capped at 2W/kg. The SAR level listed in our chart represents the maximum SAR level with the phone next to the ear, a level obtained through required FCC tests. It's important to note that in publishing this list are we in no way implying that cell phone use is or isn't harmful to your health. While research abounds and some tests have shown that cell phone radiofrequency (RF) could accelerate cancer in laboratory animals, the studies have not been replicated. Cell phones can affect internal pacemakers, but there is not conclusive or demonstrated evidence that they cause adverse health affects in humans. So in short, the jury is still out, research is ongoing, and we will continue to monitor its results. Top 10 Highest Radiation Phones Manufacturer and model SAR level (digital) 1. Motorola Slvr L6 1.58 2a. Motorola V120c 1.55 2b. Motorola V265 1.55 4. Motorola V70 1.54 5a. Motorola C290 1.53 5b. Motorola P8767 1.53 5c. Motorola ST7868 1.53 5d. Motorola ST7868W 1.53 9a. Motorola A845 1.51 9c. Palm Treo 650 GSM 1.51 9b. Panasonic Allure 1.51 Top 10 Lowest Radiation Phones Manufacturer and model SAR level (digital) 1. Audiovox PPC66001 0.12 2. Motorola MPx200 0.2 3. Motorola Timeport L7089 0.22 4. Qualcomm pdQ-1900 0.2634 5. T-Mobile Sidekick 0.276 6a. Samsung SGH-S100 0.296 6b. Samsung SGH-S105 0.296 8. Sony Ericsson Z600 0.31 9. Mitsubishi G360 0.32 10. Siemens S40 0.33 Hugo Chavez, Movie Producer Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has opened a film studio in the country aimed at curbing the cultural influence of the US in Latin America. "It's a Hollywood dictatorship. They inoculate us with messages that don't belong to our traditions," he said. The government is giving $11m (£5.8m) to the project which will fund local and South American films. Mr Chavez has been a staunch critic of President George W Bush and often attacks free-market policies. The president toured film sets, costume rooms and sat in the director's chair on his visit to the Film Villa Foundation on the outskirts of the Venezuelan capital, Caracas. One of the first projects is a series about Francisco de Miranda, who fought for Venezuela's independence from Spain in the 19th Century and one of Mr Chavez's heroes. He has also accused Hollywood of portraying Latin Americans as violent criminals and drug traffickers, and urged children to turn away from superheroes such as Superman. The Venezuelan government is the main investor in Telesur, a Latin American TV news station seen as an alternative to US networks such as CNN. Some US politicians have branded Telesur, which began broadcasting last year, as a "propaganda tool" for Mr Chavez. From Open Mic Stage: From Sundown Lounge No. 48 Cancer Foils the Immune System Seattle scientists have shown that tumors can manipulate the immune system to stop it from attacking cancer cells, said a study published in Nature Immunology. Tumors produce abnormal proteins that cause normally helpful immune cells to inhibit attempts by the immune system to attack the cancer, instead of aiding the mobilization of the immune systems defenses. The study by Seattle's Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center found one of these proteins changes the role of otherwise helpful immune cells, called T helper cells, which in the early stages of the disease play a key role in the body's efforts to destroy cancer cells. In response to the tumor-derived soluble form of the protein, the cells divide and take on a suppressor role, reducing the anti-cancer potency of the immune system, the report said, but exactly how the T helper cells become suppressor cells is not yet known. Lead researcher Dr. Thomas Spies said, If one could prevent a tumor from producing the soluble protein it could be beneficial in terms of helping sustain the immune system's normal capacity to mount an anti-tumor response, the BBC reported Monday. Extracting Oxygen from Lunar Soil Scientists have paved the way for the first permanently manned base on the Moon by developing a way to 'squeeze' oxygen out of lunar soil. Nasa experts say the technique will allow astronauts of the future to create their own supplies of the gas instead of transporting it all from Earth. The space agency plans to take its extraction system to the Moon in 2011 as part of its Robotic Lunar Exploration Program, which will test a range of equipment designed to support human life. If the technique is successful, it could lead to a permanent station like Moon-base Alpha from the popular Seventies series Space: 1999. To extract oxygen from lunar soil, scientists used a lens-like structure to focus sunlight on to it, heating it to 2,500C. In Nasa's latest tests, a 12ft-wide dish was used to concentrate the sun's rays on to 100g of a substance similar to Moon soil. After a few hours, one fifth of the substance had turned into oxygen. The soil is kept in a vacuum during the process to help suck out the oxygen. Lunar soil brought back to Earth is in short supply and highly prized, so Nasa researchers have been using matter with the same composition for its tests. Crackdown on Amateur Scientists Garage chemistry used to be a rite of passage for geeky kids. But in their search for terrorist cells and meth labs, authorities are making a federal case out of DIY science. The first startling thing Joy White saw out of her bedroom window was a man running toward her door with an M16. White’s husband, a physicist named Bob Lazar, was already outside, awakened by their barking dogs. Suddenly police officers and men in camouflage swarmed up the path, hoisting a battering ram. “Come out with your hands up immediately, Miss White!” one of them yelled through a megaphone, while another handcuffed the physicist in his underwear. Recalling that June morning in 2003, Lazar says, “If they were expecting to find Osama bin Laden, they brought along enough guys.” The target of this operation, which involved more than two dozen police officers and federal agents, was not an international terrorist ring but the couple’s home business, United Nuclear Scientific Supplies, a mail-order outfit that serves amateur scientists, students, teachers, and law enforcement professionals. From the outside, company headquarters – at the end of a dirt road high in the Sandia Mountains east of Albuquerque – looks like any other ranch house in New Mexico, with three dogs, a barbecue, and an SUV in the driveway. But not every suburban household boasts its own particle accelerator. A stroll through the backyard reveals what looks like a giant Van de Graaff generator with a pipe spiraling out of it, marked with CAUTION: RADIATION signs. A sticker on the SUV reads POWERED BY HYDROGEN, while another sign by the front gate warns, TRESPASSERS WILL BE USED FOR SCIENCE EXPERIMENTS. Science experiments are United Nuclear’s business. The chemicals available on the company’s Web site range from ammonium dichromate (the main ingredient in the classic science-fair volcano) to zinc oxide powder (which absorbs UV light). Lazar and White also sell elements like sodium and mercury, radioactive minerals, and geeky curiosities like aerogel, an ultralightweight foam developed by NASA to capture comet dust. The Department of Homeland Security buys the company’s powerful infrared flashlights by the case; the Mythbusters guys on the Discovery Channel recently picked up 10 superstrong neodymium magnets. (These come with the sobering caveat: “Beware – you must think ahead when moving these magnets … Loose metallic objects and other magnets may become airborne and fly considerable distances.”) Fire departments in Nevada and California send for United Nuclear’s Geiger counters and uranium ore to train hazmat crews. From Geeknotes: Daize's music videos are now up on MSN Video!!!!! Here are the links: Missing You Naughty Girl Moving On 2005 Tour Frank Edward Nora is the guy who maintains the directory page New Time Radio. He discovered my podcast and was kind enough to add me to the listing. He also produces the daily podcast "The Overnightscape." Very cool. From Sundown Lounge No. 47 Pre-Paid Computers Microsoft has developed technology for people to pay by the hour to use a computer in their own homes, similar to the way many people use pre-paid cards for cellphones. The technology, called FlexGo, will be used as part of efforts to sell computers to lower-income consumers in developing countries, where Microsoft is eager to find new money-making opportunities but is battling software piracy and other barriers. Redmond-based Microsoft, working with computer maker Lenovo Group Ltd. and others, plans to launch a second trial of the FlexGo plan in Brazil beginning Monday. In the next 90 days, it will launch in Mexico, China, Russia and India... Stress-Relief Sunglasses Marketed as NeuView, the glasses direct light at an angle to the optic nerve. The result is said to activate the more rational left side of the brain to balance the emotional right brain that is inflamed during stressful moments. They’re called lateral glasses, and the idea was researched and developed for psychotherapy by Fredric Schiffer of the Harvard Medical School. Veteran psychotherapist Robert Buck, in Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y., modified the glasses and obtained a patent. Buck compares the process to turning on the light in a dark room so that you can see the entire room. When a man whose car had been towed came to his office several days after the incident threatening to flatten tires where he was parked, Buck gave him the glasses. Within seconds, he was able to say, “I don’t have to do that.” Mona Lisa's Voice... Even though she won't reveal the secret behind her enigmatic smile, people now have a chance to actually hear Mona Lisa's voice which, thanks to the wonders of modern science, has been brought to life. Scientists at the Japan Acoustic Laboratory in Tokyo made Mona Lisa talk. “Knowing her bone frame,” says Dr. Matsumi Suzuki, “I can make her voice. What I believe to be very close to her real voice.” Measuring her fingers give them a guess at her height...about 5-feet-6 inches. Using the painting they determined the structure of the skull. Finally, they turned it all over to a computer with a data base of 150-thousand voices…and a special program by Microsoft…and out it came... [Note: I tried numerous times to actually hear the damn thing, but the Japanese site that had the only available sound file wasn't delivering. Either the site crashed from access overload, or the player on their end went down...Ed.] The Poverty Gene Scottish scientists have discovered a "poverty gene" which causes people from deprived areas to age rapidly, pass on health problems to the next generation and might even explain negative attitudes to employment. Research in Glasgow has established that deprivation can lead to an overactive immune system which quickly uses up the body's supply of spare cells needed to keep ageing at bay. It means a typical 55-year-old from the city's East End might have a "biological age" closer to 70. Centuries of natural selection among poor communities mean those with highly active immune systems are more likely to pass their genes on, condemning the next generation to grow old before their time. Most astonishing of all, it is suspected that a hyperactive immune system floods the brain with a cocktail of chemicals which suppress the natural desire for self-advancement. Marshall McLuhan Marshall McLuhan was a professor of English Lit. and Poetry at the Univ. of Toronto, who coined the phrase "the medium is the message." I found a very refreshing interview of sorts, a 1970 appearance on the Dick Cavett show, sharing the sofa with Truman Capote. I found this over at Ubuweb, a source of podsafe audio, free for non-commercial use. It's 20 min. long, but less than 10 megs. Click the pic for the interview and discussion... From Geeknotes: Brother Love sent in a promo for the show, and you can download his pdf plugger here From Sundown Lounge No. 46 Power Up With Magnetic Bacteria, By Stephen Leahy A 16-year-old high school student has invented a new way of producing electricity by harnessing the brawny power of bacteria. Kartik Madiraju, an 11th-grader from Montreal, was able to generate about half the voltage of a normal AA battery with a fifth of an ounce of naturally occurring magnetic bacteria. And the bacteria kept pumping current for 48 hours nonstop. "No one has ever used magnetic bacteria to produce an electrical current before," Madiraju said. The experiment is being presented this week at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair, an über-science geek competition in which the chipmaker annually hands out $4 million in prize money to students. Winners will be announced Friday. Magnetotactic or magnetic bacteria have extremely small crystals of magnetite inside their bodies. Only discovered in 1975, these aquatic bacteria are quite common and found in fresh water and saltwater around the world. A bit of a science whiz kid, Madiraju was browsing through the science journal Nature and happened to see something about magnetic bacteria while trying to think of a project to benefit the environment. "I knew that spinning windmills use a magnetic generator to produce electricity and wondered if I got the magnetic bacteria spinning they might generate a current and be a clean, alternative energy source," he said. Madiraju put the free-floating bacteria, which are essentially tiny magnets, into plastic boxes less than a fifth of a cubic inch. Metal strips on two sides act as electrodes and get them spinning, generating a magnetic field and an electric current. Current and power were sustained at 25 microamps and 5.5 microwatts, respectively, beyond 48 hours at a resistance of 10 kohms. "I thought the idea was outlandish originally and was one of the most surprised when it worked the very first time," said John Sheppard, a professor in the Department of Bioresource Engineering at Montreal's McGill University. "I'm optimistic about the practical applications; he's developed the technology quite a bit just working on weekends," said Sheppard. Madiraju envisions clean-running underwater power plants in the developing world. "The latter is long-term of course, but not too far-fetched," he said. Micro-energy sources in nanotechnology or biosensors would be easier to do and are more likely uses, said Sheppard, who was Madiraju's mentor under the strict conditions of two big science contests, the Intel competition and Canada's Sanofi-Aventis Biotech Challenge. Madiraju has won in various categories previously and on May 10, his magnetic bacteria battery demonstration placed third in the Canadian competition. Results aside, as a science fair project, inventing a new clean and green source of electricity sure tops the old papier-mâché volcano. Here's a second short article on magnetic microbes by Sandi Clement from the site for the Digital Learning Center for Microbial Ecology. A Future Without Bananas? Imagine a future with no bananas. The world's most popular fruit and the fourth most important food crop is in deep trouble as its genetic base - the wild bananas and traditional varieties cultivated in India, has collapsed, scientists have warned. Virtually all bananas traded internationally are of a single variety - the Cavendish - the genetic roots of which lie in India. The Cavendish crop has been threatened by pandemics of diseases such as that caused by the black sigatoka fungus, the New Scientist reported in its latest issue... The 8,000 MPG Car The world's most fuel-efficient vehicle has been unveiled by its British inventor. Andy Green, 45, from the University of Bath, believes his three-wheel TeamGreen car is capable of doing 8,000 miles to the gallon. While it's not quite a Lexus, it is a start. His budget eco-motor cost just £2,000 to build and will be the sole British contender for the title of the world's most fuel-economic car in a global competition being later this month. The car, which weighs less than 5 stone - the average weight of a nine-year-old boy - made its debut at the Somerset university campus. It will compete against 250 teams from around the world for the Shell Eco-Marathon championships in France from May 19. Human Genome Completed Scientists have reached a landmark point in one of the world's most important scientific projects by sequencing the last chromosome in the Human Genome, the so-called "book of life." Chromosome 1 contains nearly twice as many genes as the average chromosome and makes up eight percent of the human genetic code. It is packed with 3,141 genes and linked to 350 illnesses including cancer, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. "This achievement effectively closes the book on an important volume of the Human Genome Project," said Dr Simon Gregory who headed the sequencing project at the Sanger Institute in England. The Table Grill Cook your own dinner while at the table with the Cook-N-Dine table-grill. The center heats up to 430 degrees Fahrenheit and serves as a cooking pit for your meat and veggies. Your forearms are safe as the outer edges of the table are kept at room temperature. Practice your knife juggling as your and your family can have your own Benihana's at home today! From Geeknotes: Puppy Linux is a free, fast and small LiveCD Linux distro (distribution). It is an operating system you can use in place of Windows. For developer news, free download and CD purchase please visit pupweb.org which is maintained by Barry Kauler, the developer of Puppy Linux. You can download his pdf plugger here

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