Nutation

washingtonpost.com: In the Bible Belt, Acceptance Is Hard-Won

2004-09-27T17:20:00.000-07:00

washingtonpost.com: In the Bible Belt, Acceptance Is Hard-Won: "In the Bible Belt, Acceptance Is Hard-Won

By Anne Hull
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, September 26, 2004; Page A01

Part I

Michael Shackelford slides under his 1988 Chevy Cheyenne. Ratchet in hand, he peers into the truck's dark cavern, tapping his boot to Merle Haggard's 'Silver Wings' drifting from the garage.

Flat on his back, staring into the cylinders and bearings, Michael fixes his truck like he wishes he could fix himself.

'I wake up and I try so hard to look at a girl,' he says. 'I tell myself I'm gonna be different. It doesn't work.'

Michael is 17 and gay, though his mother still cries and asks, 'Are you sure?' He's pretty sure. It's just that he doesn't exactly know how to be gay in rural Oklahoma. He bought some Cher CDs. He tried a body spray from Wal-Mart called Bod. He drove 22 miles to the Barnes & Noble in Tulsa, where the gay books are discreetly kept in the back of the store on a shelf labeled 'Sociology.'

While the rest of the country is debating same-sex marriage, Michael's America is still dealing with the basics. There are no rainbow flags here. No openly gay teacher at the high school. There is just the wind knifing down the plains, and people praying over their lunches in the yellow booths at Subway. Michael loves this place, but can it still be home? What if the preachers and the country music songs are right?

'Being gay, you'll never have that true love like a man and a woman,' Michael says, standing against his truck as Merle Haggard mixes with the backyard whippoorwills. 'Hearing all the songs about a man coming home from work to his wife's loving arms, you never hear of gay couples like that.'

He sets his ratchet down. 'Do you?'

The gay revolution hit the buckle of the Bible Belt with a clang. The sweeping changes of 2003 -- the U.S. Supreme Court decriminalizing homosexual acts between consenting adults and the Mas"

Europeans To Monitor American Voters

2004-09-27T02:13:00.000-07:00

Slashdot: News for nerds, stuff that matters: "The United States is known as being the world's most stable democracy. But since the Florida 2000 fiasco, things have changed. Europe's famous Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) will now be monitoring the U.S. elections. The institution normally monitors elections in third world countries in transition, and in crisis areas or regions where civil wars have destabilized the political process. In november, the OSCE will be monitoring local and state elections in Kazakhstan, Skopje, Eastern Congo, Ouagadougou and... the United States. As the BBC reports, for some Americans this comes as a humiliation; others see it as a necessity, since they have lost trust in the American election process."

When Good Refrigerators Go Bad

2004-06-08T22:29:00.000-07:00

You know, the reason people shouldn't use Windows 9x as an embedded operating system is because when it crashes -- and god bless its heart, it's going to crash -- your appliance, be it jetliner, roller coaster harness controller, or LG Electronics Internet Refrigerator (seen here in prototype form at the August CSPOT event) is going to need to be rebooted. And if it's a jetliner or a roller coaster, it's not such a big deal. Somebody is going to notice, Hey, we're dying here, and give it the three-finger salute. But when the chicken salad has a unhandled exception when you're at the office, there's going to be smell to pay.

Poor LG. This refrigerator wasn't even an early unit -- reader George Mantaring snapped this picture on the floor of Fry's with his Treo 600.

Related:

If LG Electronics is really trying to make a name for themselves in the American and European markets, I'd say this refrigerator with a built-in 13-inch LCD TV is a pretty good way to do it. It also has a built-in radio function, and uses 'bio silver' -- tiny particles of silver, which is naturally anti-bacterial -- to, uhm, kill bacteria (like those people who use colloidal silver generators to clean everything, sort of). The release doesn't say what sort of inputs the TV has -- it'd be great if you could use this as a monitor for a networked PC. It even has a 'Carbon Nano Ball' to help deodorize, which is probably just made up of nano-scale carbon pieces, known as 'molecules.'

From Gizmodo here, here and here

The first church of the pixelated christ

2004-06-07T13:54:00.000-07:00

Just as the miracle of the Eucharist transforms a piece of tasteless unleavened cracker into a bloody hunk of godflesh, so does the gluing-on of an obnoxious plastic crucifix transfigure a simple USB flash memory drive into the storeplace of your personal holy of holies. Simply purchase and download a copy of Pocket Chapel, a virtual altar in which to place virtual idols holy objects, light eCandles, and place flowers across the feet of a pixelated virgin Mary. "See it," they say, "as a sign of god on your Computer, which remembers you, that we all are a part of a bigger thing." Pocket Chapel is available on Pocket PC for only 12 pieces of dollars (USB Altar Drives sold separately). (Thanks, Robert!)

from Gizmodo

D R O O L . . .

2004-06-03T23:20:00.000-07:00

At Computex Taipei today Pretec demonstrated a new 2 GB card which conforms to the new MMC 4 standard and which Pretec are calling the 'World's Fastest Flash Memory Card'. Thanks to the fact that MMC 4 allows for transfer of 4-bits of data in parallel this new card has a quoted write speed of around 18 MB/sec (120X) and a read speed of around 22.5 MB/sec (150X). If verified this card would indeed be far faster than any current flash memory card. The new card is also backwardly compatible with standard SD / MMC devices.

Press Release:

World's Fastest Flash Memory Card

Pretec Demonstrates MMC 4.0

Taipei, Taiwan, June 1, 2004 - Pretec Electronics Corp., the 2nd company in the world offering CompactFlash memory card (CF) card since 1995, is demonstrating the world's first MMC 4.0 flash memory card with Read speed about 150X (22.5MB/s) and Write speed greater than 120X (18MB/s), which is the highest speed small form factor flash memory card in the world today, at COMPUTEX TAIPEI Pretec Booth Hall 4, # 101A here at World Trade Center.

Compatible with most Secure Digital (SD) slots used by mobile phones, digital cameras, and other portable digital devices, MMC (MultiMediaCard) is one of the most popular memory cards in the world today. Version 4.0 is the most recent release of MMCA (http://www.mmca.org/), with maximum transfer speed up to 20 times of today's MMC, and 4 times faster than today's SD card without any royalties for the high-speed interface. The speed of Pretec MMC 4.0 is about 200% faster than the fastest SD card available in the market and about 800% faster than Pretec MMC (V3.2) 1GB, which is the fastest and highest capacity in the market today.

Support dual-voltage operation of 3V/1.8V, Pretec MMC 4.0 is the lowest power consumption flash memory card in the world when operated at 1.8V. Pretec also offers Reduced-Size (RS) MMC 4.0, measured at only 18mmX24mmX1.4mm, which is 44% smaller area than SD card and 62% smaller volume than SD card, Pretec RS-MMC 4.0 is one of the smallest flash memory card in the world.

From dpreview.com via Slashdot

Screw the robotic vacuum - this kicks ass!

2004-06-01T00:19:00.000-07:00

While everyone has been debating the abilities of new robotic vacuum cleaners and their varying price tags, Siemens has quietly announced they have developed a 'Dressman' robot that will iron your clothes! (my least favorite household chore). Rumoured to be priced at $1700 it seems expensive for an iron. But it appears that the Roomba's best work might be that it is ushering in a new era of innovation in home products.

Dressman - the ironing robot

The main objective of the Dressman robot is to dry and press shirts. On placing a damp shirt on the ironing figure, this dummy inflates with hot air in its interior, and thus puffs the shirt up, removing creases drying the garment (it has to be previously wet and undergone a spin-dry in a washing machine).

The device has a heater box inside with a number of different resistance elements. While we are placing the shirt on it, this box stores up heat in such a way that, when the garment is positioned and we press the start button, the whole ironing dummy fills with hot air which presses and dries the shirt. Moreover, the device has an air filter which prevents dirt entering the ironing dummy.

The time for the ironing process is selected by the user. The temperature of the resistance elements is not, only the cycle time, which lasts from 4 to 15 minutes, depending on the type of cloth in the shirt being ironed (a normal cotton shirt usually takes 7-8 minutes). These times are selected on a rotary selector that is on the device itself.

When the ironing process has finished the device blows cold air for 1 minute in order to stabilise the cloth and thus prolong the effect of the ironing.

The size of the dummy adjusts perfectly to that of the garment, allowing the pressing of all kinds of shirts, including short-sleeved ones. Moreover, we can use the apparatus for all kinds of cloth, except for elastic ones, as the air pressure will make the garment.

Apart from the ironing cycles with the rotary selector, we can select a cycle where only cold air is blown simply in order to ventilate shirts and jackets.

The ironing dummy is made up of three different types of cloth, each with a distinct permeability and, thus, allowing more or less hot air to the exterior. The reason for this is that more hot air flow is needed in some areas of the shirt than in others because the cloth thickness is greater or there is a double layer of cloth (for example in the pocket zone or at the cuffs. What is more, ironing dummy can be washed in the washing machine.

One of the advantages of this device is that, while the frame of the iron can get to very high temperatures, the temperature of the dummy never gets to damage the garment. Moreover, the base of a conventional iron crushes the cloth, in such a way that it loses its pristine look after a few ironings. However, with this ironing robot system, the cloth is maintained undamaged for longer periods and the shiny patches that appear on certain materials with conventional irons.

Some numerical data:

* The device measures 173 x 36.5 x 45 cm when in the upright position and, when folded, the height is 119 cm.
* Its weight is 28 kg. It has wheels and a handle by which it can be easily moved from place to place.
* It consumes about 3300 W or 2150 W. The user has the choice, by pressing a button combination, of having the machine work with 2150 W and, thus, consume less energy.

from innovations-report.com via Slashdot.org

Instant penthouse just add roof !

2004-05-31T00:01:00.000-07:00

This is something I came across recently. This company builds custom prefabricated penthouses for the London area. The prefabricated pieces are designed and manufactured in a factory in Sweden and then placed upon a London rooftop in under a day. The finished penthouse is almost indistinguishable from the original building and is amazing on the inside.

From the companies website ...

First Penthouse are specialist rooftop developers who add value to existing property holdings - both residential and commercial, without disturbance.

The unique First Penthouse modular construction system is similar to that of producing custom cars. Handcrafted to precision in a controlled factory environment with rigorous testing ensures a quality result.

Off-site construction and scheduled one day installation results mean First Penthouse can offer construction without disruption

The First Penthouse system also has the unique advantage of allowing purchasers who pre-buy, to design their own layout, have their penthouse completed under perfect factory conditions and to inspect it all before shipping from the factory.

More information and pictures on their website:
http://www.firstpenthouse.co.uk

Transamerica Pyramid:

2004-05-29T15:27:00.000-07:00

From corporate emblem to city landmark.

It's not really a pyramid, and it's not owned by Transamerica

Inside the spire atop San Francisco's tallest building, the wind whips in between the evenly spaced girders so the air almost fizzes with kinetic energy amid a constant low-pitched whistle that changes to an eerie keen during fiercer gusts. Overhead, banks of movie-set-like lights are ready to illuminate the spire at night, while flights of scissor-stairs zigzag toward the top, where the "crown jewel," a lighthouse-like beacon, sends out a broad beam that can be seen from all over the Bay Area at night.

At the very tip, 853 feet above terra firma, one starts to feel a sense of mal de mer.

"It's moving 6 to 8 inches in each direction up here," said Rafael Ramirez, a utility engineer with the building.

This is the Transamerica Pyramid as few ever see it. Despite being an icon of the city, as much as the cable cars or the Golden Gate Bridge, the Transamerica in many ways is decidedly private.

Its jaw-dropping panoramic views can be savored only by the 1,500 or so fortunate bankers, insurers and brokers who work inside. It hasn't offered a viewing platform for the public since 1993, when the one on the 27th floor was closed; lobby access was ended two years ago in the aftermath of post Sept. 11 security concerns.

The stunning vistas from the top are captured on two live video feeds on television screens that can be viewed by pedestrians on the Washington Street side; KRON-4 TV also gets a live feed from cameras mounted atop the spire.

The average person experiences the building only by glimpsing the distinctive silhouette from vantage points around the city and bay, as a backdrop in countless movies and television shows set in San Francisco, and, of course, in ubiquitous tourist postcards and picture books. The public also is welcome in Redwood Park, next door to the pyramid.

The building is an anomaly in many ways other than its unique architecture.

For one thing, it's neither a pyramid nor owned by Transamerica.

For another, despite boasting a 100 percent occupancy rate at a premium price, its owners are asking San Francisco officials to slash the building's assessed value in half on the premise that its value has plunged.

The structure is so elongated that it's actually an obelisk. No self- respecting pharaoh would be caught dead in a pyramid this skinny; ancient Egyptians went for pyramids whose four triangular sides were at a 45-degree angle to the ground.

As for Transamerica, it was acquired in 1999 by Dutch conglomerate Aegon NV, which now owns the Pyramid Center -- the three office buildings on the block bounded by Washington, Sansome, Montgomery and Clay streets.

For a major multinational corporation, Aegon keeps a remarkably low profile; the only sign of its presence is a corporate flag fluttering outside on Washington Street next to the California and U.S. flags. Transamerica still exists as a subsidiary of Aegon, concentrating on financial services and insurance, but has only a handful of people based in the pyramid. Aegon itself has less than a dozen people there. Most of the 2,500 Transamerica employees are scattered around the United States; its headquarters is in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

To sum up, by rights, it should be called the Aegon obelisk.

In fact, that's another of the building's ironies: It was built as a showplace to establish a brand for Transamerica, but the name and the structure have outlived the original intention, so much so that even people who work right around the pyramid have no idea what the name signifies.

"Yesterday, I swear I was thinking about what it means, Transamerica," said Firyal Abu-Hijab, who sells flowers outside the tower. "Honestly, I should know."

Transamerica was started in 1928 by A.P. Giannini as a holding company for his Bank of America and other enterprises. It grew by buying more banks, insurers and real estate foreclosure firms. Regulators eventually forced it to divest its BofA holdings; the company also sold its banks to focus on insurance.

(In yet another irony, Transamerica the building now has a rivalry going with the BofA tower. "We argue with BofA about who's taller," said Jeanine Layland, senior property manager of the Pyramid Center. "They have 55 stories and a penthouse and are built on higher ground. We have 48 stories and a 12- story spire.")

During the 1960s, "Transamerica diversified indiscriminately," according to Hoovers.com. In addition to its insurance and financial services business, it owned motion-picture company United Artists, Budget Rent-A-Car, Lyon Van & Storage, Trans International Airlines, De Laval Turbine, Western Firm Service and others.

But Transamerica had a problem: Nobody had ever heard of it.

John Beckett, the chairman of Transamerica, appeared in an ad campaign bemoaning his firm's anonymity: "We're bigger than 90 percent of the companies on the Big Board, but nobody knows us from Adam. Some pizza parlors are better known."

That's why Transamerica was keen to erect a trophy headquarters in San Francisco, one so stylish that it would sear the company's brand into public consciousness. It chose architect William Pereira, who had engineered the burning of Atlanta scene for "Gone With the Wind," won an Oscar for staging an underwater squid fight in "Reap the Wild Wind," and gone on to found a Los Angeles architecture firm known for "a certain leaning to science-fiction futurism," as Paul Goldberger wrote in the New York Times Review in 1977.

Pereira, in consultation with Transamerica, decided upon a pyramid, both for its identifiable shape and to admit more light and air onto streets below.

From the moment the building plans were announced in January 1969, the Transamerica was a lightning rod for criticism.

San Francisco's planning director, Allan Jacobs, said at the time that the "inhuman building" in its pivotal location at the beginning of Columbus Avenue, the nexus between downtown and North Beach, would have a "devastating effect ... on the fabric of the city."

There were fears it would cast a shadow that could "shroud the surrounding area in Stygian darkness," as an overwrought Chronicle article from 1969 put it. Many hated the look; some called it a dunce cap.

Others accused Transamerica of ducking tax obligations: It had hastened to break ground to take advantage of a soon-to-expire tax loophole. Lawsuits were filed to block construction, but the city's mayor, Joseph Alioto, was solidly behind the pyramid. At Alioto's urging, the Board of Supervisors voted to let Transamerica buy and close a block of Merchant Street to make room for the pyramid.

The controversy continued during construction.

In 1971, the Los Angeles Times architecture critic John Pastier called the building "the world's largest architectural folly." Pastier accused Transamerica of "blatantly attempting to put its 'brand' on the city. This is antisocial architecture at its worst; a form of disruption and anarchy as serious as anything that has occurred across the bay in Berkeley or Oakland."

Responding in The Chronicle, the building's architects tartly wrote: "If every new building were obliged to conform, in scale and style, to its immediate neighbors, our cities would still be aggregations of mud huts."

The Transamerica Pyramid opened in 1972 and was lavished with praise, hailed as an architectural masterpiece.

"This is the building that makes San Francisco look like Oz," Mitchell Schwarzer wrote in his 1998 book, "Architecture and Design in San Francisco."

Today, the building enjoys a rare 100 percent occupancy rate, according to Layland, the property manager. It commands an average annual rate of $50 per square foot. By contrast, Class A office buildings in the Financial District average $30.50 per square foot and had an occupancy rate of 79.9 percent in the first quarter, according to CB Richard Ellis.

Despite its impressive occupancy, the building's owner wants the city to cut its assessed value in half because of changed market conditions. The value was set at about $190 million in 1999 when Aegon bought the building, according to San Francisco Assessor Mabel Teng. Under Proposition 13, the value for both commercial and residential real estate can rise by only 2 percent a year.

"Transamerica is asking us to drop the assessed value from $197 million to $97 million in 2002, and they are asking to further drop the assessment in 2003 to $88 million," Teng said. "So the city potentially may lose $2.3 million in taxes for the two years."

The case has been postponed pending the outcome of similar petitions by owners of the Bank of America tower and Embarcadero Center to reduce their assessed values.

Teng's office determines value by looking at comparable buildings and by weighing occupancy, rents, capitalization rates and capital improvements. (The building managers spent about $6 million in the past couple of years for improved security and a lobby upgrade.)

The pyramid's owner isn't alone: Owners of 105 major commercial buildings want to have their valuations reduced. San Francisco would lose $62 million in taxes if they succeed.

"We are asking to have the property reassessed to bring it in line with current market values," said Nancy Green, a spokeswoman for Transamerica. "This is a very normal course of action in the real estate business."

"It is a huge percentage," Teng said of the request. "How could the value have gone down that much? It's a great building; it will retain its trophy status; everyone wants to be there. It's a premium address."

Alfred Hitchcock famously used San Francisco as a setting for many of his films, but on viewing a classic like 1958's "Vertigo," there's a sense that something is missing: The skyline consists only of plain vanilla boxes, no elegantly tapering spire jutting into the air.

"The pyramid is clean and sleek and beautiful like San Francisco," said Jo Schuman Silver, the producer of "Beach Blanket Babylon," which features the Transamerica as the focal point of Val Diamond's San Francisco skyline hat. "It's become a symbol of the city."
Transamerica Pyramid

Owner: Aegon NV

Height: 853 feet (Mount Davidson is 925 feet; Bank of America tower is 778 feet)

Opened: 1972

Construction cost: $32 million

Space: 499,000 square feet Class A offices in 48 stories, topped by 12- story spire

from SF Gate

They really said it ...

2004-05-25T21:33:00.000-07:00

"Scientists say the movie isn't realistic because the ice age happens so quickly. But you know, it's not a documentary - I only have two hours."

-- ROLAND EMMERICH, director of "The Day After Tomorrow," in which New York gets frozen over, quoted in the New York Daily News.

Waste-To-Oil Company Selling Oil Commercially

2004-05-20T23:51:00.000-07:00

There is a story out about the first Waste-to-Oil plant going online, and selling the oil commercially. Using TCP (Thermal Conversion Process), the plant is producing 100-200 barrels of No. 4 oil per day utilizing waist from an adjacent animal processing facility. It has the capacity to produce up to 500 barrels per day and with the amount of agricultural waste in the U.S. this just might be start to reduce our need for foreign oil.

Waste-To-Oil Company Selling Oil Commercially
Wednesday May 19, 6:33 pm ET

CARTHAGE, Mo., May 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Renewable Environmental Solutions LLC (RES) today announced that its first commercial plant is selling an equivalent of crude oil No. 4, produced from agricultural waste products. The Carthage, Missouri, plant is currently producing 100-200 barrels of oil per day utilizing by-products from an adjacent turkey processing facility.

RES is a joint venture of Changing World Technologies, Inc. and ConAgra Foods, Inc. established in 2000 as the exclusive vehicle for processing agricultural waste material utilizing CWT's Thermal Conversion Process technology, throughout the world.

TCP is the first commercially viable method of reforming organic waste into a high-value energy resource. The oil being produced by RES is being sold to a local oil blender and to customers who will use it as a heat source for their operations.

Because TCP utilizes above-ground organic waste streams to produce a new energy source, it also has the potential to arrest global warming by reducing the use of fossil fuels, and to create a means of energy independence by reducing U.S. reliance on imported oil. At peak capacity, expected to be achieved by the end of this year, the first-out plant will produce 500 barrels of oil per day, as well as natural gas, liquid and solid fertilizer, and solid carbon.

"Until now our focus has been on completing commissioning of the plant, but now that we are selling oil commercially, our focus is shifting to what we can do with the TCP technology in the bigger global picture," says P.J. Samson, President of RES.

"TCP is based on simple science, and is the only proven solution to our mounting environmental and energy problems," said Brian Appel, Chairman and CEO of CWT.

Cornerstone Technology

TCP succeeds in breaking down long chains of organic polymers into their smallest units and reforming them into new combinations to produce clean solid, liquid and gaseous alternative fuels and specialty chemicals.

The process emulates the earth's natural geothermal activity, whereby organic material is converted into fossil fuel under conditions of extreme heat and pressure over millions of years. It mimics the earth's system by using pipes and controlling temperature and pressure to reduce the bio- remediation process from millions of years to mere hours.

The process entails five steps:
(1) Pulping and slurrying the organic feed with water.
(2) Heating the slurry under pressure to the desired temperature.
(3) Flashing the slurry to a lower pressure to separate the mixture.
(4) Heating the slurry again (coking) to drive off water and produce light hydrocarbons.
(5) Separating the end products.

TCP is more than 80% energy efficient. In addition, it generates its own energy to power the plant, and uses the steam naturally created by the process to heat incoming feedstock, In addition, TCP produces no emissions and no secondary hazardous waste streams.

For more information, log onto www.res-energy.com.

First 3.2 Megapixel Cameraphone

2004-05-18T17:10:00.000-07:00

Casio Announces World's First 3.2 Megapixel Cameraphone. Wireless Watch Japan brings word of the world's first 3.2-megapixel cameraphone (from Casio of all people), called, inventively, the A5406CA. Equipped with automatic focus and multiple image modes (like 'twilight' and 'food'), the A5406CA can also take video, claiming to squeeze 60 minutes of video into the 12MB of on-board storage. Obviously, that video isn't being recorded at the 2048x1536 image quality of the camera.

From Gizmodo via Wireless Watch

Designer Virus Stalks HIV

2004-05-13T15:48:00.000-07:00

Wired News is reporting that Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory may have developed a virus that fights the HIV virus.According to the article, 'It took Adam Arkin and David Schaffer just$200,000 and a grad student to develop a potential treatment for AIDS. And that scares them.'"

BERKELEY, California -- It took Adam Arkin and David Schaffer just $200,000 and a grad student to develop a potential treatment for AIDS. And that scares them.

That's because the therapy itself is a virus. The Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory assistant professors created a virus altered to latch onto HIV and mute its ability to become AIDS. They've tested the theory in a computer model and in cells in a dish. The results have been promising, and if they continue in that vein, the researchers could begin animal testing by the end of this year.

Arkin said this week at the International Biotech Summit at the University of California at Berkeley that it was almost too easy for him and his colleagues (Schaffer and then-grad student Leor Weinberger) to build the anti-HIV virus.

"If I can do it, anyone can do it," Arkin said. "That's going to be a problem."

Well, maybe not anyone. After all, Arkin and Schaffer are not your run-of-the-mill lab jockeys.

Still, bad guys can be brilliant, too, which is even more reason for the good guys to understand new biotechnologies as thoroughly as possible.

"The genie is out of the bottle, so we might as well study these things in earnest," Arkin said in an interview.

Plus, the potential good could outweigh the bad. By using a computer model of what happens to the immune system when it's infected with HIV, Arkin and his colleagues have designed a potential AIDS treatment that would remain with the patient as long as he or she has HIV, meaning it would prevent AIDS from arising even in patients who otherwise would have developed the disease after a decade of latency. They also predict HIV would not become resistant to the virus.

The treatment is made of a gutted HIV virus. The harmful parts of the virus are removed, and in their place the researchers have inserted a DNA cargo that inhibits HIV's ability to kill immune cells. It latches onto the natural HIV and spreads along with it, even from person to person.

If this process sounds familiar, it's because it is essentially gene therapy, albeit a transmissible gene therapy. But the term "gene therapy" has fallen out of favor because of a handful of fatalities in clinical trials and, after nearly three decades of research, no gene therapy method has been proven to work consistently.

So Arkin and Schaffer are instead calling the process "synthetic biology." Despite appearances, it's not an arbitrary term: The researchers are synthesizing biological elements into machines to do their bidding.

"An artificial virus is one such product, since it is designed and constructed using molecular biology tools for a specific therapeutic application," Schaffer said. "As another example, Jay Keasling in our department engineers bacteria to produce small-molecule pharmaceutical drugs."

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, MIT and other institutions have established departments and courses dedicated to this manipulation of human molecules.

"All the capabilities are found in nature, just not in the right order to do what we want to do," Arkin said. "It's like changing the computer language. (Cells) perform amazing engineering feats under the control of complex cellular networks. We didn't design it, evolution did."

Computer modeling is key to figuring out what bacteria or viruses might do in a given situation. The computer model Arkin and Schaffer used showed that their therapy won't likely eliminate all HIV cells in a patient. But if the treatment inhibits HIV too much, the good virus won't be able to propogate.

"Maximal inhibition actually causes the therapy to extinguish itself," Schaffer said in an e-mail.

Without the computer model to guide them, the researchers may not have detected such subtleties. However, other labs like Virxsys (researchers there published work that gave Arkin et al. a foundation for their own work) are further along in developing a similar therapy (although the Berkeley researchers' method is unique in its piggyback effect) without the benefit of a computer model. Scientists there are already testing their treatment for safety in humans, and hope to test for efficacy by the end of this year, said Boro Dropulic, the company's founder and chief scientific officer.

Arkin and Schaffer's computer model will also help them foresee potential problems, which are plentiful when trying to treat a deadly disease with a manufactured virus. This is a virus that can be spread by having sex, just like HIV (although if it works, that could be a good thing). It's also possible that HIV and the therapeutic virus could mutate around each other and recombine to make an altogether new virus.

"I can't say now it won't make it worse," Arkin said.

From Wired via Slashdot

RFID Implants for Spanish Revelers

2004-05-12T16:27:00.000-07:00

USA Today reports that clubbers in Barcelona are getting drunk and being implanted on site with RFID chips in order to pay their bills without carrying around bulky items such as credit cards.

Get chipped, then charge without plastic -- you are the card
By Kevin Maney

We are becoming 1974.

Like, there's this inflation thing. Suddenly, inflation is a huge fear, and we apparently need to break out our Whip Inflation Now buttons from the Gerald Ford days. Do you realize who came up with W.I.N. in 1974? Alan Greenspan! And you thought you were stuck in a going-nowhere job.

In 1974, Emerson Lake & Palmer released Welcome Back My Friends to the Show that Never Ends, a tone-deaf song that was resurrected last week on one of the Friends specials.

And in 1974, The Six Million Dollar Man made its debut. Not that anybody has built a bionic person who can run in slow motion to a strange clicking sound. But a number of things have been popping up that begin to meld humans and machines, blurring distinctions between the two.

For instance, there's the important and deeply scientific experiment being conducted among the barely clothed patrons of Baja Beach Club in Barcelona. They're getting electronic credit cards implanted under their skin.

Beautiful club-goers have a problem: If you're going to wear a halter top and micro-skirt, there's not much of anywhere to put a wallet. And who wants to carry a purse when you're there to dance? Luckily, a company called VeriChip this year unveiled a solution based on radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology.

It's a slender glass capsule about as long as a dime is wide. Inside sits a computer chip, which stores a unique code that can identify an individual -- sort of an electronic Social Security number. The capsule also holds a tiny antenna, which can radio that code to a receiver many feet away.

At the Baja Beach Club, Tuesdays are VeriChip implantation days. Stop in and a ''nurse'' -- the club's word -- uses a syringe to inject a VeriChip capsule under your skin. There don't seem to be any rules about where on the body it has to be placed. If you think this sounds like something you'd never do, then you're not the kind of person who goes to clubs wearing your bestest nose ring.

Once implanted, you become your own credit card. Need to pay for a drink? Wave your implant near a reader, and you're done. VeriChip has dreams of going global with its ''human implantable ID technology'' -- once implanted, you could wave a body part to pay for a burger at Wendy's, a beer at a baseball game, or whatever.

There are a few kinks to be worked out, like the fact that you can't turn the chip off. Privacy groups are going to dog-pile on that one.

Another company is taking the idea of implanted radio-enabled chips to a different level. Cyberkinetics of Foxborough, Mass., calls itself ''a leader in the rapidly emerging field of brain computer interfaces.'' The company makes BrainGate -- which, despite the 1974 analogies here, is not a reference to a scandal involving someone's brain.

When implanted in a person's brain, the device can allow that person to control a computer just by thinking. It is essentially a mouse moved by brain waves. Last month, the company got federal approval to implant the chips in five paralyzed people as a test.

While the first uses of BrainGate would be to help the paralyzed, certainly such devices could eventually be implanted in healthy people. The military has visions of pilots flying planes by thought. Imagine what the porn industry -- always on tech's cutting edge -- could do with hands-free computing.

Another recent development suggests that people might someday be able to see in the dark. Earlier this year, Raytheon announced its Thermal-Eye 2600AS technology. This allows thermal-imaging cameras -- the kind that lets people see at night or through smoke -- to be small enough to be built into a firefighter's helmet. Instead of a bulky camera, thermal imaging can become almost a part of a firefighter.

The company says the technology can keep getting smaller and better. Someday perhaps it could make regular eyeglasses into night-vision glasses, or even contact lenses. All those promises my mother made about eating carrots might finally come true.

Progress in bionics isn't just about putting electronics into humans. In some cases, it's about putting humanness into electronics. Like when a group of researchers and drama students recently turned on Valerie, who sits behind a desk at Carnegie Mellon University and has the title of ''roboceptionist.''

Valerie looks like a 21st century scarecrow. Her head is a flat computer screen that projects her animated face and head. The screen sits on top of an industrial mobile robot that is always dressed in real clothes -- the kind you'd see on your typical corporate receptionist. She is equipped with a laser scanner that can detect and track people in the room.

All this is driven by a computer programmed by the scientists at CMU's Robotics Institute and -- in the most interesting twist -- by the school's drama department, which was charged with giving Valerie character.

To ask her a question, you have to type on her keyboard, but she'll answer in a computer-generated voice. If you take a seat in the waiting area, you'll hear Valerie talk on the phone to her friends or her ''motherboard'' about all her problems, including how she hates to date vacuum cleaners.

It might seem whimsical, but Valerie pushes at the boundary between machines and humans -- a step toward the Robot on Lost in Space, the most likable character on the show.

There will be a lot more news about the merging of machines and humans. University labs are doing research. Companies are being started.

Meanwhile, hopefully 2004 in no other way echoes 1974. I really don't want to have to wear Brut and tube socks again.

US Today via Slashdot
The club's website describes the program (link in spanish)

The Google Terrrorist

2004-05-10T22:55:00.001-07:00

It was the lead item on the government's daily threat matrix one day last April. Don Emilio Fulci described by an FBI tipster as a reclusive but evil millionaire, had formed a terrorist group that was planning chemical attacks against London and Washington, D.C. That day even FBI director Robert Mueller was briefed on the Fulci matter. But as the day went on without incident, a White House staffer had a brainstorm: He Googled Fulci. His findings: Fulci is the crime boss in the popular video game Headhunter. "Stand down," came the order from embarrassed national security types. No word on exactly which sources and methods came up with this gem, but word in the E Ring is that Fulci had issued the cryptic warning, "You have no chance to survive make your time"

From US News via Slashdot

Got Wood ?

2004-05-09T23:03:00.000-07:00

Swedish company making wood computer peripherals

With ash, mahogany or beech, the flat-panel LCD stands out more than it would were it a solid black, says Swedx general manager Jan Salloum.

SOLLENTUNA, Sweden (AP) — Computer users tired of black or beige plastic now have a more natural choice.

Swedx, a maker of computer peripherals, sells custom-designed monitors, keyboards and mice encased in timber culled from Chinese forests.

The company is appealing to buyers who wants something distinguished from the plastic boxes sold in stores and online and may be concerned about the environmental dangers that tossed-out computer casings cause.

With ash, mahogany or beech, that flat-panel LCD stands out on any desk more than it would were it a solid black, says Swedx general manager Jan Salloum. He says the devices are more human because they combine technology with an old-world feel.

The wood isn't glued onto a plastic frame. Rather, the frame is custom-made in a deal Swedx has with Samsung.

Swedx produces its own circuit boards for the keyboard and mice, while Samsung supplies it with the circuitry and LCD panel to fit the monitor's wooden housings.

Swedx monitors range in size from 17 inches ($675) to 19 inches ($1,175). Keyboards retail for around $60. Optical, USB and wireless mice, made from a single block of wood, go for about $40.

Not for sale, however, are cases for CPUs.

"We have not decided yet, but we are cooperating with one company and working to do some samples," he said. "It depends on the response, but many customers ask us about PCs."

The company has sold thousands of the peripherals since it introduced them in 2002 and expects U.S. demand and sales to increase after CeBit America, scheduled for May 25-27 in New York.

US Today 5/6/2004 1:09 PM

Finally a real robotic vac !

2004-05-08T13:44:00.000-07:00

Although it's "currently on home trial," (so it probably wont be out too soon) this Dyson DC06 robotic vacuum cleaner looks like it will kickass on all the Roombas and Electrolux robots currently out there. Dyson currently makes one of the best (most expensive) vacuum cleaners already eating up cat hair with its 'Dual-Cyclone' action. I'm not quite sure why the robot has a "mood indicator light" and I don't think I would want to make it angry.

I for one welcome our new robotic vacuum cleaner overlords.

Dyson's Website

Jesus Christ Action Figure - As seen on TV!

2004-05-05T01:45:00.000-07:00

Jesus Christ Action Figure with walk-on-water action!
"It's like Mel Gibson's PASSION without all the hassle..."

Check out the video at:
http://www.jesus-action-figure.com

You can also buy it on Ebay This is the only existing Jesus Action Figure created by hand for use in the TV spot as seen on tv and the internet.

(and as homer would say .... MMMmmmm *drool* Sacralishous)

Hi wer thru :-( - fkn yur sistr !

2004-05-04T18:46:00.000-07:00

Almost one in 10 Britons has ended relationship by text

LONDON (AP) -- Dear John. We're thru :-( Nine percent of Britons admit to dumping a partner by sending an SMS text message on a cell phone -- possibly signalling the beginning of the end for the "Dear John" letter -- according to a new survey.

Among those aged 15 to 24, the figure rises to 20 percent.

The mobile phone has also become a magnet of infidelity testing.

Forty-five percent of women owned up to secretly checking the text messages on their partner's phone, compared to 31 percent of men.

Philippa O'Sullivan, 15, from near Basingstoke, in southern England, said using text messages to finish relationships was common among teen-agers, many of whom "find it easier to talk by text."

"I've heard of lots of people, including a couple of my friends, being dumped that way," O'Sullivan said.

The poll, by market research firm NOP for Sicap, a messaging services provider based in Bern, Switzerland, also found that 44 percent had used text messages to flirt; among the 14 to 24-year-olds, the figure rose to 75 percent.

Some 31 percent of adults said they had sent a love letter by text -- even among the over-65s, nine percent had done so -- and 30 percent said they had argued via SMS, or Short Message Service.

Two percent say they have used text messages to quit a job.

In March alone, according to Britain's Mobile Data Association, Britons sent 2.1 billion text messages, a 25 percent increase from the same month last year.

NOP questioned 771 people aged 15 and over from April 23 to 25 for the poll. No margin of error was given, but on a sample of this size it is likely to be around 3 percentage points either way.

Tuesday, May 4, 2004 (05-04) 09:11 PDT
sfgate.com

Would you like the chicken, fish, or frog salad?

2004-05-03T21:47:00.000-07:00

Frog stows away in in-flight salad

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (Reuters) -- An airline passenger was given a nasty fright when a frog with a taste for adventure stowed away in her in-flight salad, New Zealand authorities said on Tuesday.

The passenger discovered the airborne amphibian perched on a slice of cucumber while on a Qantas flight from Melbourne to Wellington in February.

"Naturally there was a bit of consternation by the passenger who called back the attendant," Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry quarantine general manager Fergus Small said.

The flight attendant removed the salad and the 4 cm (1.6 inch) whistling tree frog, which was killed by quarantine staff when the aircraft landed.

While frogs had been known to hitch rides in the cargo holds of aircraft, it was the first time the Quarantine Service was aware of one being found in a meal, Small said.

Qantas was not immediately available for comment but a spokesman told The New Zealand Herald newspaper the airline had since changed its lettuce supplier and introduced "additional procedures into the salad supply process."

Monday, May 3, 2004 Posted: 9:59 PM EDT (0159 GMT)
http://www.cnn.com/

Dream House

2004-05-01T22:18:00.000-07:00

This has to be one of the coolest houses ever!

Robert Bruno is both owner and sculptor of a "back-to-the-future" home near Lubbock, Texas. For 24 years, Bruno has transformed rusted steel into an edifice that rests on the rim of Ransom Canyon.

On four supporting legs that slim as they reach the ground, the structure appears to consist mainly of three cylindrical parts that bend toward the center, with each cylinder presenting an opening that will eventually become a window. Having spent less than $30,000, Bruno admits the house has been an aesthetic, almost spiritual experience rather than a practical concern. He has worked full-time on this, his favorite sculpture, and has had an assistant only in the last several years. Nearby, he and his family live in a conventional ranch-style house, furnished with Bruno's uniquely curved tables, chairs and bookshelves sculpted from dark, exotic wood.

Inside what will be 100 tons of steel and 3,000 square feet of living quarters upon completion, all the spaces connect. With only a few partitions, one can almost always see into the next room, thereby fostering the illusion that the house contains more than its actual space. Like the exterior, nearly all of the interior will be exposed steel. Bruno will use leaded glass for windows and clear glass for views of the lake below. A glass elevator with a glass ceiling will soon run up the middle of the house, treating its occupants to a 45-foot upward view. Plans include two bedrooms, a living room, a dining room, multiple bathrooms and numerous closets.

More at:
robertbruno.com
hgtv.com
dallasartsrevue.com

w00t gmail !

2004-04-30T16:10:00.000-07:00

Well thanks to Seth I now have a gmail acount !

*feels special*

Scientist believes Atlantis found off Cyprus

2004-04-30T13:31:00.000-07:00

(cue StarGate Promo)

The quest to find the lost city of Atlantis has begun in earnest off Cyprus's southern shores.

A US-led team of explorers claims the ancient city lies on the seabed between Cyprus and Syria.

With the aid of unique underwater maps, a US researcher claims to have assembled evidence to prove the mythological island of Atlantis really existed.

Using sophisticated sonar technology, California-based Robert Salmas says he has not only been able to pinpoint Atlantis to a sunken land mass off Cyprus's southern coast, but even discern its geographical features as described by Plato.

The alleged discovery has been greeted with barely concealed mirth by the Mediterranean island's tourism office.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s1098162.htm

more at:
http://www.guardian.co.uk
http://www.reuters.com

Just in time for:

http://www.stargateatlantis.com/

Attack of the Giant Snails

2004-04-29T18:21:00.000-07:00

Giant African snails seized from schools
Tuesday, April 27, 2004 Posted: 9:12 AM EDT (1312 GMT) MILWAUKEE, Wisconsin (AP) --

Federal health officials have seized several dangerous pests called Giant African Land Snails from Wisconsin classrooms and have started a national search for the creatures, which reproduce rapidly, destroy plants and can transmit meningitis.

The snails, which are illegal to have in the United States, were used in classrooms by unwitting school officials, said Willie Harris, eastern regional director of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Safeguarding, Intervention and Trade Compliance Program.

Snails have been seized in the past month from Wisconsin cities including Big Bend, Menasha and Milwaukee. Officials so far have not found any others elsewhere.

They are concerned the snails, about the size of a person's hand, could be transported to states with warmer climates, where they can rapidly reproduce and destroy plants.

In 1966, a Miami boy smuggled three Giant African Land Snails into the country. His grandmother eventually released them into a garden, and in seven years there were more than 18,000 of them. The eradication program took 10 years, according to the USDA.

Five of the snails donated to Nicolet Elementary School in Menasha by a parent were seized after teachers learned they were illegal, said the school's principal, Linda Joosten.

"They were very cool creatures," Joosten said.

The snails, native to Africa but also found in parts of Asia, are known to consume as many as 500 different plants and their mucous can transmit meningitis.

Snail smugglers can face fines of up to $1,000 per charge. Harris said people who have the snails without knowing they are illegal will not face punishment.

cnn.com

It's a barbecue, but not as we know it.

2004-04-26T17:34:00.000-07:00

Looking like a cross between the Starship Enterprise and a jet engine, the Q BBQ can be carried around like a briefcase, but opens up Transformer-style to become a stylish, stand-alone, gas-powered grill. Crafted in durable steel, the Q uses inexpensive little propane tanks that fit right inside the grill. You'll get hours of cooking time from just one tank! It also has dual gas controls with a full range of temperatures, so you can sear burgers on one side of the grill and gently toast buns on the other, just by adjusting the flame.

You won't need to faff around with matches or lighters as the Q features handy built-in igniters. There’s even a built-in light, so you can see what you’re cooking in the dark. The chic but sturdy Q utilises high grade gas jets, giving you uniform heat for perfect grilling every time. And, unlike rival grills, the Q BBQ boasts 105 square inches of non-stick, dishwasher safe cooking surface – more than enough for a flame-grilled feast.

Perfect for the beach, balcony, patio or park, this revolutionary triumph of form and function is a doddle to use and ideal for "can't barbecue, won't barbecue" tong-dodgers and expert chefs alike. Flamin' brilliant!

You can get one here: http://www.youcansave.com/qgrill.asp

Have it your way !

2004-04-26T12:16:00.000-07:00

Check out the Subservient Chicken. He will do anything you tell him to.

The garter-clad subservient chicken can be prompted to do one's bidding in response to a variety of keywords. Some of the more amusing entries to try are:

die
strip
dance
lay egg
sing
eat
elephant
read
fly
clean room

full list of commands here

http://www.subservientchicken.com/

Google IPO ?

2004-04-25T14:41:00.000-07:00

It seems that there is a lot of speculation that Google will be announcing (finally) their IPO launch on Monday. In other Google news Gmail Goes Into Beta for Blogger Users.

Google float details to be announced next week
By James Daley 24 April 2004

Google, The search engine giant, is expected to announce plans next week for a flotation on the US market, which could value the company at as much as $25bn (£14.1bn).

The float could raise as much as $4bn for the company, which founded only six years ago by Sergey Brin and Larry Page, shortly after they graduated from Stanford University. They are expected to make as much as $1bn each from the flotation.

Disclosure of the group's plans is believed to have been forced by a US Securities and Exchange Commission rule which says that privately owned companies with more than 500 shareholders and $10m of assets must report in public additional details about their firm. US corporate lawyers said such disclosures can often be accompanied by the announcement of flotation plans.

Google declined to comment on its plans, with further details of the initial public offering (IPO) - such as the extent to which individual investors will be able to participate - yet to be revealed. However, it is believed Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley have already been hired to advise Google on the IPO. It is also thought Google may consider a Dutch auction, where the number of shares to be sold is fixed, but not the price. Typically, this sees the price start unrealistically high, and is lowered until the entire issue is sold.

Mr Brin hinted last August that any cash raised from a flotation would be used to fund acquisitions.

The IPO would allow the company's venture capital investors to recoup some of their investment in the firm. Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, and Sequoia Capital, put up $25m five years ago for stakes in the company of an undisclosed size.

Google's IPO has been anticipated widely this year, providing another quoted rival for the likes of Yahoo! - the world's second most popular search engine, valued at around $38bn - and Microsoft. Other internet-based quoted giants include Amazon, at about $20bn, and ebay, about $54bn.

independent.co.uk

And now for something different ...

2004-04-23T13:53:00.000-07:00

The latest hot Swedish export these days is the five-piece party rock combo, The Sounds, who rocked Toronto's Horseshoe Tavern recently.

I had a chance to see them on Carson Daly the other night and they are great. I suggest checking them out

There is some audio/video at:
http://www.scratchie.com/bands/thesounds.htm

Ciel de Pluie

2004-04-20T19:07:00.000-07:00

Rain-like shower head.

Ciel de Pluie is a square, flat 2mm metal plate showerhead that can be flush mounted in the ceiling of a shower space. Unlike traditional showers with jets of water, Ciel de Pluie creates a more organic “falling rain” effect. Available in two sizes, 48cm and 65cm, and several finishes including polished inox, gold, and cobalt blue.

MANUFACTURER: mingorifrance.com

mocoloco.com

SEC rule may force a Google IPO by April 30

2004-04-19T23:32:00.000-07:00

SEC rule may force a Google IPO by April 30
Rule may compel Google to open books
PROVISION MAY PROMPT IT TO FILE FOR IPO
By Michael Bazeley
Mercury News

Rampant speculation about a possible public stock offering has turned Google into the most closely watched technology company in the world.

Now the Mountain View Internet company may be forced to show its hand.

Privately held Google appears to have triggered a provision of the 1934 Securities and Exchange Act that requires it to disclose closely guarded financial details by the end of the month.

The filing, with the Securities and Exchange Commission, would reveal so much about the secretive firm that many experts believe Google might take the next logical step and file for an initial stock offering, reaping the financial rewards that go along with having to open its books.

``It's a terrible place to be in because you get all the disadvantages of being a public company and none of the advantages,'' said Scott Spector, an attorney with Fenwick & West in Palo Alto. ``I can't imagine the company wanting to be in that situation.''

Google officials have been tight-lipped about the reporting requirement and possible plans for an IPO, and they declined to comment for this story.

But many observers believe that Google has triggered the requirements to become a ``publicly reporting'' company.

Companies must report financial results to the SEC once they have at least $10 million in assets and more than 500 shareholders of record, including employees who hold stock options. Google's profits are thought to be $100 million or more. And the assumption -- reinforced by Google's Web site, which touts ``pre-IPO stock options'' to prospective employees -- is that the company has granted stock options to most of its more than 1,000 employees.

If those assumptions are true, then Google should have to start making quarterly filings to the SEC by April 30, which is 120 days after the close of its fiscal year.

Reporting companies must disclose the same information to federal regulators as publicly traded companies, including assets, liabilities, operating expenses and partnerships. But they do not trade their shares on the Nasdaq or New York stock exchanges.

``The notion is that once you have 500 shareholders, you are a public company,'' said Peter M. Astiz, a securities attorney with the Gray Cary law firm in East Palo Alto. ``The effect is you become public. They have to report all the same numbers.''

Most companies view this middle ground with disdain because they spend millions to comply with government regulations and get nothing in return.

In fact, filing this paperwork can come with disadvantages. In some circumstances, employees or investor shareholders can start selling their shares on the over-the-counter bulletin board. Companies typically prefer to control when and how their shares are traded.

Companies that grow big enough to hit the filing requirement typically opt to become a publicly traded company first, attorneys said. That's because public stock offerings can enrich employees and investors, and they give the company access to cash that it can use to innovate or acquire other companies.

Google executives have appeared in no hurry to become a public company, in part because it would begin to lift the veil of secrecy under which they seem to enjoy working. What is more, the company's revenue stream appears strong, and it may not need the money that an offering of public stock would generate.

Also, Google may not want to undergo the cultural shift that takes place in companies when they have to meet analyst and shareholder expectations every quarter. Google may turn out to be the rare company that willingly files public financial reports but doesn't publicly trade its stock.

Levi Strauss is one company that does this. Its stock is privately held -- mostly by descendants of the Strauss family -- but the company files quarterly reports with the SEC.

Another option is for Google to dodge the public reporting requirement. In 2001, the SEC detailed how companies can do so: by disclosing their financial information only to shareholders.

``You've got to give them the same information that you would otherwise give if you were public,'' Spector said.

Preparing the financial information is costly, and companies run the risk of the information leaking to outsiders. But several companies have picked this option.

``I would think Google would move mountains to not go public this way,'' said Kip Weissman, attorney with the Luse Gorman Pomerenk & Schick law firm in Washington, D.C.

Google could also buy back its shares from employees and investors, but few experts said they believed that was likely to happen.

http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/8461735.htm
http://www.google.com/

No one here but us galliformes!

2004-04-19T01:15:00.000-07:00

This makes me really want to get some pet chickens!

Chic coops to house urban chickens

Amy Iggulden
The Guardian

An iMac-shaped invention destined for city gardens across Britain may look a little futuristic next to the water feature, but it pops out enough old-fashioned Easter eggs to feed a family of four.
Dreamed up by a team of students at the Royal College of Art, the Eglu is a chicken coop for urban dwellers who yearn for the simple life and prefer their eggs chocolate-free.

The recyclable pod - available in bright red, yellow or "keep-it-subtle green" - comes with two chickens and an all-weather shade to keep downpours off their chic abode.

"It's the healthy alternative to modern Easter eggs," said Johannes Paul, one of the four Eglu inventors and RCA graduates who set up industrial design firm Omlet.

"You get a lasting benefit rather than the quick hit you get from chocolate. The response has been fantastic and I don't think it's just because it's Easter, the idea has really caught people's imaginations."

He said each of their organically-reared chicken breeds - "feisty Miss Pepperpot", "chic Madame Bluebell" and "the inquisitive Gingernut Ranger" - will lay six eggs a week, which can be collected from a "egg-port" in the side of the coop.

The pen, which costs £325, has been tested for the past six months by several households in Oxfordshire, where the firm is based.

Helen Hewlett, one of the testers, is impressed. "My two year old just loves them, and the cat has been no problem," she said.

"We have been blowing the eggs from our chickens ready for Easter painting and I'm making a quiche with them as well.

"I've always wanted to keep chickens but because we live in the city I thought it was a dream that would never be realised."

Omlet is confident that families won't be driven to pop the chickens in the pot.

"They become just like pets, they'll jump on your shoulder when you open the door and always rush up to say hello," said Mr Paul, who claims the chickens are "easier to look after than a goldfish and more fun than a dog".

"When you catch sight of them pulling at a worm through the kitchen window, it's just lovely."

Eglu will be officially unveiled at the Urban Gardens Show at Olympia in west London on May 6.

more at http://www.omlet.co.uk/

Golden Ears

2004-03-18T17:07:00.000-08:00

This is really an awsome idea!

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

CONCEPCIÓN, CHILE - He can't quite make money grow from trees, but a New Zealand scientist has devised a way to harvest gold from plants.

The idea: Use common crops to soak up contaminants in soil from gold-mining sites and return the areas to productive agriculture. The gold harvested from the process pays for the cleanup - with money left over for training in sustainable agriculture.

"We get the plants to do the hard work, and then we basically harvest the plants and extract the metal," says Christopher Anderson, an environmental geologist from Massey University in Palmerston North, New Zealand. "So we farm mercury and gold."

Aimed at small-scale mines, such a program could prove especially beneficial to Latin America, where some 1 million artisanal miners ply their trade, according to estimates by the International Labor Organization. The bulk of them are in Brazil.

Dr. Anderson has already run successful field tests last year in an Amazonian gold mine near Bahía, Brazil. In a few months, he plans to begin a larger project, most likely in Serra Pelada, about 1,800 miles northwest of Bahía.

Small gold mines are especially troublesome for the environment. In the fragile Amazon River basin, for example, there are hundreds of artisanal mines where workers pour mercury, cyanide, and other chemicals onto gold-rich areas to extract the metal. Once the mine is exhausted, they abandon it and move on, leaving behind a toxic soup of contaminants.

Mercury, for example, is one of the most toxic contaminants for humans and animals, and one of the most difficult and costly to clean up. But using regular corn and canola plants, Anderson has found that this can be done at almost no cost, and with benefits to the environment and local community.

The process is called phyto- remediation. First, he treats the contaminated soil with chemicals that break the gold down into water-soluble particles. Then he introduces the crops.

"Basically a plant will take up anything that's in the soil," he says. Corn and canola have a natural ability to take up huge amounts of metal.

Of course, the crops aren't eaten because they're full of toxic metals.

Instead, Anderson harvests them for their minerals as they begin to die. He estimates he can recover 1 kilogram of gold per hectare (14 ounces an acre) and about half as much mercury through this process. Then the gold is used to pay for the cleanup and to educate locals about sustainable agriculture.

During the metal-harvesting, his team trains local people in farming techniques, so once the land is clean, they can reclaim it and use it for subsistence farming. "It's turning waste into a resource," says Anderson. "We're looking to create an alternative lifestyle for these artisanal miners to help them escape the poverty."

Anderson's research has won attention from the international community. Iain Gillespie, director of the biotechnology unit for the OECD, says Anderson is using a proven process to clean mining sites, but adapting it to benefit communities. "I can think of few, if any, better examples of putting the triple bottom line of sustainability into practice - delivering environmental and economic benefit directly to local communities," says Mr. Gillespie.

Anderson's process also has more widespread applications. Plants could be used to stop contaminants from leaching out of mine sites and waste dumps.

Anderson's field trials also yielded an unexpected and potentially profitable byproduct. The plants he harvested had purple leaves because they contained gold nanoparticles, which are purple, not yellow. These nanoparticles melt at one tenth the temperature of regular gold - which makes them highly sought after for industrial processes, such as cleaning up carbon monoxide in fuel cells.

Anderson doesn't yet know how easily the nanoparticles can be processed for industrial use, but the potential is there.

http://csmonitor.com/2004/0415/p17s02-sten.html