Finally Friday September 18 th 2009

Segway inventor takes aim at thirst with Slingshot Fri September 11, 2009 MANCHESTER, New Hampshire (CNN) -- If you listen to inventor Dean Kamen, the biggest health problem facing the world today is not AIDS, obesity or malnutrition. It's a shortage of water. Dean Kamen hopes to tackle the world's fresh water shortage with the Slingshot, a water purifying device. Water is the most abundant resource on the planet, yet less than one percent of the Earth's freshwater supply is readily available to drink, according to the World Health Organization. Lack of accessible or clean drinking water, exacerbated by drought, is crippling communities in many developing countries. "In your lifetime, my lifetime, we will see water be a really scarce, valuable commodity," Kamen says. Those are scary words from the man whose creations include the Segway personal motorized scooter and the Luke (as in Skywalker) prosthetic arm. But the forward-thinking inventor and his team at DEKA Research in Manchester, New Hampshire, aren't sitting around waiting for the world's wells to dry up. They've been working on an invention they say can tap into 97 percent of the world's undrinkable water. It's called the Slingshot, and it's a portable, low energy machine that is designed to purify water in remote villages where there's not a Wal-Mart in sight. The device takes its name from a well-known story. "We believe the world needs a slingshot to take care of its Goliath of a problem in water," Kamen says. "So we decided to build a small machine and give it to the little Davids." Perhaps you've heard about the Slingshot, which Kamen has been working on for more than 10 years. Over that time it has turned dirty river water, ocean water and even raw sewage into pure drinking water. Kamen says it can turn anything that looks wet, or has water in it, into the "stuff of life." The magic behind the Slingshot is a "vapor compression distiller" that stands between what looks like two empty fish tanks connected by a couple of hoses. One tank contains the contaminated liquid, the other is for the newly clean water. Watch Kamen demonstrate the Slingshot »

The Slingshot boils, distills and vaporizes the polluted source, in turn delivering nothing but clean water to the other side. And it does it all on less electricity than it takes to run a hair dryer. In summer 2006, Kamen delivered two Slingshots to the small community of Lerida in Honduras. They were used for a month and Kamen says everything ran as planned. "The machine worked very well down there, taking virtually any water that the people from that village brought to us," he says. "All the water that we got from the machine was absolutely pure water." But there's a problem. Kamen says each Slingshot costs his company several hundred thousand dollars to build. He's looking to partner with companies and organizations to distribute Slingshots around the world, but says a little more engineering work needs to be done in order to lower the production costs. Kamen says the company would like to get the price down to about $2,000 per machine. "The biggest challenge right now between this being a dream and a reality is getting committed people that really care about the state of the world's health to get involved," Kamen says. The world's population is quickly approaching 7 billion, making access to clean water that much more important. According to the World Health Organization and UNICEF, more than 3.5 million people die every year from water-related diseases and almost 900 million don't have access to a safe water supply. Kamen says people in developing regions of the world need the Slingshot as soon as possible. He also thinks the problem with polluted water will spread beyond small villages. He says one Slingshot machine can supply about 250 gallons of water a day, which is enough for 100 people. That's a lot of Davids. "It is literally like turning lead into gold," he says. "But I believe it's more important, because you can't drink lead or gold."

Sunday, Sept. 13, 2009 NATURAL SELECTIONS Sex in space could be the key to the survival of humans As British physicist Stephen Hawking said in a talk to NASA last year: "Spreading out into space will completely change the future of the human race and maybe determine whether we have any future at all." Hawking recommended that we get off-planet within the next 200-500 years to have any hope that the human species will survive long-term. That's not to say we shouldn't bother trying to protect Earth from the terrible devastation we are wreaking upon it — we should, and fast — but in the long term, most species go extinct. That's just the way it goes. To guarantee the survival of humanity, we need to colonize other planets. And it's not a straightforward matter. Newton's third law gets in the way — that's the one that says every action has an equal and opposite reaction. Floating in microgravity might be fun, in other words, but it might make sex more tricky. And incidentally, the size of a man's penis is said to decrease slightly in microgravity due to the decrease in his blood pressure in space. But more serious is the fact that fertilization and embryo implantation has evolved here on Earth: Getting it to work in space is a major problem. Several research projects are already underway to work out just how we will be able to reproduce in the special, unnatural conditions of space — and some of the projects are based in Japan. Sayaka Wakayama at RIKEN's Laboratory for Genomic Reprogramming in Kobe is involved in one such project. Wakayama and colleagues are investigating how fertilization and embryo development occur in microgravity.

We already know that mammals have had sex in space — though we're talking rat sex, not people sex. (There are lots of rumors, especially about the Endeavour shuttle mission in 1992, on which a married couple flew, but NASA denies that any of its astronauts have had sex on a mission.) In 1979, the Cosmos 1129 space mission, also known as Bion 5, was a joint collaboration between the United States and the Soviet Union. It was primarily a biomedical program, and on this particular mission male and female rats were sent into space and allowed to do what comes naturally. Whatever problems there might be with having sex in microgravity, floating in space, the rats managed it. I'm not surprised really. If you've ever dissected a male rat in biology class you'll have noted the size of their testicles: I'm sure that given a sniff of a female, even a rat floating in orbit round our planet would try to get it on. Two other species were on board Bion 5, by the way: the Japanese quail, and some carrots. But my concern here is with the rats. When they returned to Earth, the female rats were examined. Two had become pregnant, but they did not give birth. Apparently the space-embryos were reabsorbed. Ever since then, an important question has remained unsolved: is it possible for mammals to reproduce in space, and if so, what are the particular concerns? It is this that Wakayama's team is investigating.

2009-09-07 - Weird News - AHN Brad Pitt Spends More Than $80K On His Kids' Gerbils London, England (AHN) -- Brad Pitt has spent $82,000 on a home for his children's gerbils. The "Fight Club" actor - who raises six kids, Maddox, eight, Pax, five, Zahara, four, Shiloh, three, and 13-month-old twins Knox and Vivienne, with partner Angelina Jolie - oversaw the construction and design of the project, which boasts tunnels, platforms, seesaws and mazes. A source told Britain's The Sun newspaper: "Brad pores over architectural journals like other people pore over newspapers. He had so much fun putting the run together with his kids Maddox, Zahara, Shiloh and Pax." "It's incredibly complex and cost a lot but Brad's more than happy with any activity that can combine his two passions - his kids and architecture." The rodents - who will live at the family's mansion in the South of France - were chosen by Maddox and Pax after their parents took them to a local pet store last week. An onlooker said: "The boys were really keen to get the gerbils and it was Angelina who reached into the cage to pet them before a store worker got them out."

Cigarettes, Cancer and Money 11.09.2009 Source: Pravda.Ru According to the American Cancer Society, about 5.5 million people died in the world last year over smoking-related diseases and ailments. The number may increase to 6 million during the current year. Many of those, who were killed by smoking, were natives of developing states, but it does not mean that developed states may turn a blind eye on the problem. The latest report from the American Cancer Society was not a confession. The scandals connected with the activities of tobacco corporations continue to occur on a regular basis. Tobacco kings gathered for a summit in 1988 in Florida and approved a program of actions to neutralize anti-smoking activities of the World Health Organization. As a result, tobacco kings began holding active advertising campaigns in third world countries to compensate the declining profit in the countries of the golden billion as many people prefer to quit smoking there. The number of tobacco-addicts in developed countries has been growing steadily against the background of the decreasing number of smokers in the West. China is the leading country at this point. There are up to 65 percent of smokers in Asia’s largest nation. China is the golden mine for tobacco corporations: the country consumes 37 percent of the world’s tobacco production. There are incidents when clerks of some of China’s provinces are forced to purchase a certain amount of cigarettes every month.

“ Perky Jerky caffeinated beef jerky is the world’s first performance enhancing meat snack . Put simply, we’ve combined the most tender and flavorful beef jerky, with an extra dose of energy (caffeine, from the Guarana we add) to provide a jerky experience you won’t find anywhere else.”

September 2, 2009 1000 MPH or Bust: Behind the Scenes With Supersonic Car Tech A series of successful rocket tests in the Mojave desert recently marks another step in the development of a car built to reach 1000 mph. The British team Bloodhound Supersonic Car (SSC) is comprised of some legendary land speed experience. Richard Noble was the man behind the Thrust SSC—the car that set the current land speed record. And the man that will slide behind the wheel of the Bloodhound is Andy Green, the former fighter pilot who holds the land speed record for the fastest diesel vehicle in the world (just over 350 mph, back in 2006 ). We met with the team recently to get a sense of the scope of the Bloodhound project and the challenges that lie ahead on the road to 1000 mph.

Environmentally Green Sex Toy September 11, 2009 “ Environmentally conscious women are getting a buzz out of a new hand-cranked vibrator that makers say could help save the planet . The eco-sex toy – dubbed the Earth Angel – uses a small wind-up handle to power up rechargeable batteries inside the casing. It had originally been planned as a sex aid for the Third World where batteries and electricity supplies are unreliable.”

Here's a bargain. Parents try to sell their baby for $30. September 13, 2009 07:00 AM Look what $30 can buy. A baby. Robert G. Ellingson, 23, approached two people in a Pensacola PetSmart parking lot over the weekend and offered them a beer. When they refused, he offered to sell his child for $30. "At first they thought it was a joke," sheriff's spokesman Glenn Austin told the Pensacola News Journal. "But then the mother yelled to the group that they were trying to sell the baby. And one of them called us," reports Authorities said the couple also tried to sell their baby in a bank parking lot a few blocks away an hour earlier. No takers, evidently. Authorities say the two-month-old is now in care of The Division of Children and Families. Not a moment too soon. News4Jax.com.

Women stripped to rescue fisherman Monday, September 14, 2009, 09:34 TWO women stripped down to their underwear and jumped into the River Plym to rescue a late night fisherman. The passersby, in their early 20s, jumped into the water at Laira Bridge to help the man, after he got into difficulty at around 11.10pm on Sunday. Fire crews from Plymstock and Greenbank, as well as police and the ambulance service were called to the scene at Prince Rock. “When we got there the man was almost crouching in the water, it was knee deep,” said Plymstock fire station Watch Commander Steve Hill. “Two women had stripped to their underwear and were in the water looking after him. It was an unusual sight.” The crews used a triple extension ladder and dry suits to rescue the fisherman, who was in his 50s, from the river. Nobody was injured in the incident. “The two women did a great job to go in there,” said Watch Commander Hill. “They could’ve stood on the side but they got in and helped him out. It was quite a heroic action.”

Mick's daughter Georgia Jagger paints it red, white and blue in provocative photoshoot 15th September 2009 Mick Jagger's youngest daughter Georgia May is clearly no shrinking violet. In newly released photos from her ad campaign for U.S. denim label Hudson, the 17-year-old who still lives at home with her mother, Jerry Hall, is seen lying on her back splattered in red, white and blue paint wearing just a bra and a black pair of jeans. Semi-bare naked lady: The 17-year-old bares a lot of skin in the campaign which will be seen in magazines and on billboards across the U.S. Georgia is seen in a series of photos, and in most is dressed in nothing but a pair of tight black jeans, as the third child of Sir Mick and Jerry Hall pouts provocatively at the camera. Another picture shows her with her arms crossed over her naked breasts while a further image shows her getting close with boyfriend Django James, 18, the son of rock star Dave Stewart.

Volkswagen’s Diesel-Hybrid L1 Concept Gets 170 MPG, Available by 2013 September 14th, 2009 Volkswagen will display an updated version of its 1-Liter concept this week at the 2009 Frankfurt Motor Show. The diesel-hybrid car which only weighs around 800 lbs gets an jaw-dropping 170 MPG.

Oceanic DataMask HUD Oceanic will soon have a new diving mask DataMask HUD ($1,500 July 24th 2007) on the market that's equipped with an onboard, air-integrated diving computer and miniature LCD screen. The company claims that military special forces won't dive without this type of mask which now is going to be available to the general public as the DataMask HUD. The LCD will can show quite a lot of data including: current depth, elapsed dive time, cylinder pressure, and dive time remaining. The DataMask HUD can operate in four modes of Air, Nitrox, Gauge and Free Dive and has many other features like automatic water activation, audible alarms, safety stop prompts, the batteries can be hot-swapped while retaining values, time to fly and desaturation countdowns and about 20 others very handy features.[ via ] Price: $1,500 | BUY |

McLaren reveals the MP4-12C supercar 09 Sep 2009 These are the first pictures of McLaren's new supercar, the MP4-12C, which goes on sale in early 2011 with a price tag of about £150,000. Telegraph Motoring viewed the car at McLaren Automotive's headquarters in Woking last week and was briefed on the plans for a range of sports cars from the new company, headed by former F1 McLaren boss, Ron Dennis. The 12C follows the McLaren F1 supercar, which had a top speed of 240mph in the mid-Nineties, and the Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren, which ended production earlier this year. A McLaren spokesman said this week: "The rules in the sports car world are about to be rewritten."

Tourists no longer welcome in cannabis-selling coffee shops 9 September 2009 The Dutch government wants to maintain its tolerant policy towards cannabis and keep so-called coffee shops open, but they should no longer be tourist attractions, Dutch ministers wrote in a letter that was leaked to the press on Tuesday. Only registered members will be able to buy soft drugs from coffee shops. The ministers of justice, home affairs and health wrote that reducing the number of coffee shops and keeping foreigners out should make it easier to reduce crime and other nuisances the coffee shops are now causing. A government memorandum on altering the coffee shop policy and other drug-related issues is expected this fall, but the letter already shows where the ministers now stand. They want to implement a members-only system to keep tourists out. Herds of tourist who buy their drugs in border towns near Belgium and Germany have become a pest in several places and neighbouring countries have expressed their dissatisfaction with the Dutch system. The Netherlands has been tolerant about the use and sale of weed and hash for three decades. Cultivation and wholesale of the drug are prohibited however. This discrepancy has become known as the 'gedoogbeleid' (tolerance policy). An advisory committee said in July that the policy has gotten out of control in the past 15 years and needs to go back to small, private shops for local users.

Samurai Umbrella September 14, 2009 Samurai Umbrella – $29.95 The rain is no match for the Samurai Umbrella – this heavy duty umbrella has a fun samurai sword-style handle. The heavy duty yet light weight umbrella comes complete with a nylon scabbard so you can sling it across your shoulder just like you would a real samurai sword.

The Man With Half-A-Head September 11, 2009 “A young man who was left with half-a-head after being attacked must now face the prospect of no one being convicted after the Crown Prosecution Service this week revealed it had dropped the case. Forklift driver Steve Gator, 26, Farnham Road Harold Hill was left brain damaged and with a grotesquely disfigured half-skull after he was attacked on his way home from work earlier this year . But the young man, who now suffers seizures, has difficulty communicating and remembering, and has lost parts of his personality, will never see his attackers face court after the CPS decided “there was insufficient evidence to provide a realistic prospect of conviction.”

Ruling delayed in penis-chopping case Reuters 11/09/2009 A Turkish woman accused of cutting off her lover's penis must wait 18 months for a verdict and sentencing while a court determines whether his re-attached penis still functions. The criminal court in the Black Sea town of Trabzon will wait for a medical report assessing whether the 28-year-old victim has regained full use of his organ or if he is permanently disabled, an official involved in the trial said. "To determine which crime was committed, we first need the report," the source said. "We'll continue holding hearings in the trial from time to time until we receive the report." The 39-year-old defendant faces between one and three years in prison if her former lover recovers, Haber Turk newspaper said. She will be jailed for at least eight years if he does not. The woman told the court he had broken his promise to marry her and forced her into prostitution and beat her. Surgeons worked for 11 hours to re-attach the penis in an operation which they described as successful, and said full sexual function should return within six months, Hurriyet said. The defendant, who has not been jailed during the trial, told the court she cut off her former lover's penis and threw it onto the roof of a neighbouring building while he was drunk, the newspaper quoted her as saying.