A team of chemists from the University of New Hampshire has synthesized the first-ever stable derivative of nonacene, creating a compound that holds significant promise in the manufacture of flexible organic electronics such as large displays, solar cells and radio frequency identification tags.
Monthly Archives: February 2010
Single-step technique produces both p-type and n-type doping for future graphene devices
A simple one-step process that produces both n-type and p-type doping of large-area graphene surfaces could facilitate use of the promising material for future electronic devices. The doping technique can also be used to increase conductivity in graphene nanoribbons used for interconnects.
Edison Best New Product Awards Taps Quantum Light Optic from QD Vision as 2010 Finalist
The Quantum Light Optic from QD Vision was named a finalist in the 2010 Edison Best New Product Awards today, the 163rd birthday of renowned inventor Thomas Alva Edison, at a press conference at the legendary Friars Club in New York City.
First universal DNA reader to advance faster, cheaper sequencing efforts
Arizona State University scientists have come up with a new twist in their efforts to develop a faster and cheaper way to read the DNA genetic code. They have developed the first, versatile DNA reader that can discriminate between DNA's four core chemical components - the key to unlocking the vital code behind human heredity and health.
IBM Sets World Record by Creating High-Efficiency Solar Cell Made from Earth-Abundant Materials
Breakthrough holds potential to deliver more energy at a fraction of the cost.
iTunes Store Nearing 10 Billion Song Downloads, Apple Giving Away $10K Gift Card [Apple]
The iTunes Store is close to hitting 10 billion song downloads and to celebrate Apple is giving a lucky boy or gal a $10,000 iTunes Gift Card. Of course, no purchase is necessary to be entered into the drawing.
To throw your name into the hat, you can either purchase a song from the iTunes store or fill out this form anytime between today and whenever the 10 billionth song is downloaded. The important part is that:
The prize will be awarded for the entry (either through a song download or through the non-purchase online entry) sent immediately following the download of the 9,999,999,999th song.
I just wonder what the winning song will be (assuming that it's a purchase-based entry that wins). [Apple]
Another critical special election coming up for Congress – Florida CD 11
Tea Party GOPer Ed Lynch can win Democrat seat
by Stephen Maloney
Conservative Republican Ed Lynch is running for Congress in a critical special election against a liberal Democrat who vows to rubber-stamp all of Obama's radical agenda.
Frankly, we dont need more "Obama-bots" in Congress . . . Pelosi-types sucking the life out of our country.
A contractor who builds cell towers, Ed Lynch is working hard to build an upset victory in FL's 19th CD, which includes Palm Beach and Broward counties.
Ed Lynch can win -- if he "nationalizes" his campaign, as Scott Brown did. "Nationalize" means to get volunteer help -- and critical financial support -- from people like you. The Special election will take place on April 13 . . . and it will be a very big deal that day on national television.
A staunch fiscal conservative
From the Sun-Sentinel, Feb. 9:
West Boca - In their first faceoff since winning their party nominations in last week's primary, Democrat Ted Deutch and Republican Ed Lynch offered dramatically different approaches Tuesday for fixing the nation's economy.
Lynch said he wants to see a variety of deep tax cuts, primarily for business.
Lynch said he wants a two-year moratorium on all corporate taxes, a moratorium on the employer and employer shares of payroll taxes, and a four-year moratorium on capital gains taxes. "We need bold steps because we are in a situation where our economy is crumbling and we have to bring it back."
A month ago, the pundits would have said Ed had only a slim chance to win in a traditionally left-leaning district. And then, along came a man named Scott,Brown, who had "no chance" to win in liberal Massachusetts.
Ed Lynch has secret weapons, including massive support from the Tea Party and 9/12 movements. His "ground game" will be powerful.
Lynch quoted in the Sun-Sentinel:
"This campaign is going to be won with the grassroots. Special elections typically have very low voter turnout. And it’s the grassroots people, of which I am one. I am a tea party guy, a DC Works For Us guy, a 9-12-er.”
Deisel repower
What are the emission rules in California for repowering a pre 97 gasoline powered vehicle with a deisel engine
DFRC’s New Role in Commercial Space
Keith's note: According to Lori Garver's comments at today's FAA commerical space meeting, NASA DFRC will now take the lead on flightworthiness evaluations for suborbital vehicles that will fly NASA crew or payloads. This is somewhat of a shift from what people might have otherwise expected given that COTS and CCDev were being handled out of JSC - and that crew issues have always been the province of JSC. DFRC is where X vehicle work has been done for decades. Is NASA now going to treat commercial vehicles like X-vehicles? Stay tuned.
The Future vs. the Past
NASA and Space - The Future vs. the Past, John K. Strickland
"Under Admiral Craig Steidle starting early in 2004, the VSE was a forward looking program that was open to new ideas and the development of fundamentally new, innovative technology. Griffin shut the door firmly on most of those new ideas in 2005. Instead, he looked backward at what had been stolen away from him and the space community by politics 40 years ago - a continuation of the Apollo Program, and tried to re-create it as "Apollo on Steroids".
NASA Scientists to Approach Girl By 2018 [Humor]
An Onion News Network piece that makes fun of NASA and awkward flirtation all at once? Be still my laughing heart. Seriously, though: it's good to have an eight-year plan.
Bad Valentine is our own special take on the beauty—and awkwardness—of geek love. [The Onion]
BlackBerry Stops a Bullet and Saves a Relationship [BlackBerry]
Anthony Holtvogt was careless enough to accidentally fire his gun in a restaurant, but thankfully his girlfriend must've bought her BlackBerry from Superman. It's the only explanation I've got for the fact that the phone stopped a bullet.
Ok, so maybe it was simply a matter of the BlackBerry being in just the right spot and the bullet hitting it in just the right way. And it's entirely possible that Anthony got dumped after accidentally shooting his own girlfriend.
I just like to think that it really was Superman's BlackBerry and that it really did save a relationship. [WDTN via GottaBeMobile—Thanks, Matthew!]
Google Buzz Turns Less Creepy After Some Improvements [Google]
It feels like all of the nine million Google Buzz posts and comments flooded your inbox this week. And as if that wasn't enough, suddenly that creepy ex started "following" you. Google has a fix for one of those issues.
As a result of user feedback, Google has made these little changes to turn Buzz into something slightly less creepy without having to resort to elaborate workarounds:
- More visible option to not show followers/people you follow on your public profile
- Ability to block anyone who starts following you
- More clarity on which of your followers/people you follow can appear on your public profile
Now if only they could make the whole thing less annoying. [Gmail Blog]
material of backhoe loader
Hi I have a request on the backhoe loader( 4CX) JCB or CASE (580M) , I have a project to design a backhoe loader by using a solidworks simulation. i really do appreciate if anyone may provide me with the MATERIALS that been used to design the backhoe loaders, especially for the arms,booms,bucket,
A history of pretty much everything | Bad Astronomy
Well, that’s what this art student calls his flipbook animation of almost pretty much everything. And if by "everything" you mean everything that’s violent with stabbing and blowing up stuff and shooting and things. But it’s pretty funny.
Love the ending.
Tip o’ the timeline to Geekologie.
Snow is Weather, and Climate Change Continues
Brendan Smialowski / Getty
Climate change means there will be bigger and more intense storms all over the world. That’s why the big snowstorm of 2010, “Snowpocalypse” which only affected a very tiny portion of the planet, does not disprove global warming. In fact, it does more to show it’s progressing. The additional moisture in the air, combined with the increase power caused by increased heat in the oceans, will lead to stronger storms, including snowstorms.
As the meteorologist Jeff Masters points out in his excellent blog at Weather Underground, the two major storms that hit Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington, D.C., this winter — in December and during the first weekend of February — are already among the 10 heaviest snowfalls those cities have ever recorded. The chance of that happening in the same winter is incredibly unlikely.
But there have been hints that it was coming. The 2009 U.S. Climate Impacts Report found that large-scale cold-weather storm systems have gradually tracked to the north in the U.S. over the past 50 years. While the frequency of storms in the middle latitudes has decreased as the climate has warmed, the intensity of those storms has increased.
From Time. For a more scientific source, see this:
“In a warmer future climate…Models project increased summer dryness and winter wetness in most parts of the northern middle and high latitudes. Summer dryness indicates a greater risk of drought. Along with the risk of drying, there is an increased chance of intense precipitation and flooding due to the greater water-holding capacity of a warmer atmosphere. This has already been observed and is projected to continue because in a warmer world, precipitation tends to be concentrated into more intense events, with longer periods of little precipitation in between. Therefore, intense and heavy downpours would be interspersed with longer relatively dry periods.
Source: IPCC AR4 WGI FAQ 10.1
From The Skeptic:
The 30 major droughts of the 20th century were likely natural in all respects; and, hence, they are “indicative of what could also happen in the future,” as Narisma et al. state in their concluding paragraph. And happen they will. Consequently, the next time a serious drought takes hold of some part of the world and the likes of Al Gore blame it on the “carbon footprints” of you and your family, ask them why just the opposite of what their hypothesis suggests actually occurred over the course of the 20th century, i.e., why, when the earth warmed – and at a rate and to a degree that they claim was unprecedented over thousands of years – the rate-of-occurrence of severe regional droughts actually declined. (source: CO2 Science)
There is growing empirical evidence that warming temperatures cause more intense hurricanes, heavier rainfalls and flooding, increased conditions for wildfires and dangerous heat waves.
And finally, written by James Hansen in his latest book, Storms of my Grandchildren:
“But an increase in maximum storm strength and an expansion of [...]
Its Time To Stream All NAC Meetings Live
NASA Advisory Council Education and Public Outreach Subcommittee Meeting (17 Feb 2010)
Agenda:
"- Associate Administrator for Public Affairs Briefing.
- Discussion of Social Media Opportunities and Challenges.
- Associate Administrator for Education Briefing.
- Discussion of Opportunities and Challenges to Reach K-12 Students.
- Discussion of how to Organize the Committee Work Plan."
Keith's note: All of these NAC committee and subcommittee meetings are almost always held in a windowless conference room inside NASA HQ. If you can get to them then you can sit and listen - if you happen to read the Federal Register or NASA Watch and even know that they are happening. Otherwise, you are out of luck since NASA never records them for later viewing by taxpayers. Given the tremendous changes that have been proposed for the agency, employees and the public have a vested interest in these discussions - now more than at any time in recent years.
The NASA people who supported the Augustine Committee's activities set a new standard for how social media can be used to relay policy information to the public. Indeed, they often had things online before the media covering these events did. There is no reason why that standard of quality should not be applied to all public meetings concerning NASA policy.
Given that the Obama Administration is all about openness, transparency and all that good public participation stuff - and that this meeting is about "Education and Public Outreach" perhaps PAO AA Morrie Goodman (a scheduled speaker) can start with this subcommittee and provide a live webcast of this event on NASA's USTREAM.TV account. The webcast can be archived for later viewing.
It is very easy to do. All it takes is a laptop, a webcam, and an Internet connection. I have done these things on an EVDO modem live at Desert RATS from the middle of an Arizona desert, from the basement of Rayburn House Office Building, and from Everest Base Camp in Nepal at 17,500 feet over a satellite phone.
Photo: Keith addressing a session at a broadcasters convention in Atlanta in April 2009 via laptop webcam live over a BGAN satellite phone from a field outside the monastery in Tengboche, Nepal. Note the very, very dense fog - yaks lurked in the mist a few feet away. Larger image
The Ekokook Kitchen Actually Makes Me Want To Cook [Concept]
Somehow it's just not fun to work in a messy or unorganized kitchen—or at least that's my excuse. The Ekokook kitchen concept is neither though. It's organized, clean, eco-friendly, and oh-so-gorgeous.
Ekokook's entire layout appears to have been very well thought out with fresh vegetable storage, water conservation, container gardening, waste sorting, recycling, and composting. And it really doesn't hurt that the design itself seems to promote neatness.
I can already imagine leaving a plate of freshly baked cookies sitting on that counter. [Inhabitat]
Philly Pub Owner Brian Haughton to run for Congress on GOP ticket
Says jobs come through small business expansion, not government stimulus
by Eric Dondero
The owner of the SmokeEaters Pub in Philadelphia is seeking the Republican nomination for Congress in Pennsylvania District 13. The seat is currently held by Democrat Rep. Allyson Schwartz.
Haughton is a retired Philadelphia Firefighter, and a former officer in the US Air Force.
Haughton takes a blue collar, regular guy common sense approach to the issues. His basic credo:
He believes people should be trusted to make their own decisions, not the government. And he believes that the United States should not apologize for being the best country in the world.
Specific policies from his campaign website:
Politicians must stop expanding the role of government into areas best left to hard working people of the Small business community and the working man of our country. Bailouts, borrowing, pork barrel “stimulus,” ownership of businesses (auto companies, banks, AIG) and expensive government programs will only lead to greater government control, erosion of our liberties, higher taxes, crippling debt...
From Philly.com:
He also backs an effort by the state legislature to add table games to slot machine parlors.
"That would create a substantial amount of jobs," he said.
Hauhgton opposes the Obama stimulus, which he sees as a waste of money and not providing any real jobs. Continuing:
The candidate said small businesses need tax breaks and incentives to grow.
"Name something, and we get taxed for it," he said.
Autotune the Steve Jobs iPad Keynote, Please [Autotune]
What bothers me about most videos using autotune is that they go overboard with the effect. A bit of subtlety works so much better. Take this short clip of the iPad keynote for example. It's definitely worthy of imitation.
Up, down, sideways. Up, down, si—damn it. Someone please make a new video so that I can get this sentence out of my head. [ArsTech]
