McCain and the Blackberry - Treason?

Thursday, September 18th, 2008

By now of course you’ve already heard that a McCain staffer claimed John McCain invented the Blackberry. Asked why he thought, McCain was qualified to lead America out of this economic crisis, Douglas Holtz-Eakin, a senior McCain policy advisor, held up his Blackberry and said:

“He did this. The premier innovation in the past 15 years comes right from the commerce committee. So, you’re looking at the miracle that John McCain helped create.” - Holtz-Eakin (Source)

Blackberry, a Canadian company, had no comment on this revelation. However every American needs to ask themself, “If John McCain is a true American, why did he invent the Blackberry in Canada?” I’m not going to suggest, as some might, that such a thing borders on treason, just let every American make up his or her own mind on the subject.

Just consider this, in 2007 Blackberry generated $1.37 Billion in revenue for parent company RIM, a Canadian company! (Source) That’s enough money to pay for almost 2 days of the Iraq war! (Source)

Tags: Blackberry, Humor, McCain
Posted in Crime, Environment, Humor, Politics, Science, news | 11 Comments »

US Military Develops Mind Reading Computer! Really!

Monday, August 18th, 2008

Straight out of the Twilight Zone is the news that the US Military has been pouring money into a computer program that can literally read minds. If that sounds too fantastic to be true, but then let me remind you of the CIA’s MK Ultra, and “Star Gate“.

Armed with a $4 million grant from the Army, scientists are studying brain signals to try to decipher what a person is thinking and to whom the person wants to direct the message. - Source

Seems like the military might find use for this sort of thing in interrogations. Just pray the IRS doesn’t get hold of this technology.

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Tags: ESP, Military, Psychic
Posted in Science, Weird | No Comments »

The Slowsky’s Win - US 15th in Internet Speeds

Thursday, August 14th, 2008

The country that invented the internet is losing the online race - big time. Download speeds for US customers are now 15th in the world and falling like a stone. Imagine the US Olympic Basketball Team coming in 15th at this years games in Beijing - that’s what’s happening to the US internet capability.

NewsFactor.net is reporting:

A Communications Workers of America report has found that the U.S. has dropped to 15th worldwide in Internet speed and continues to fall behind. The CWA’s Speed Matters report said download times in Japan are 30 times faster, enough to download a movie in about two minutes.

But the speed issue affects more than just how fast you can download movies, the report says. Innovations in telemedicine, education, public safety, and home-based businesses can be hindered by the lack of widespread high-speed connections.

The U.S. median upload speed was only 435 kilobits per second, the CWA said, “far too slow for patient monitoring or to transmit large files such as medical records.” - Source

Doubtless one reason the US lags behind the world is due to the fact that we’re the only industrialized country without a national high-speed internet strategy. We’re doing little or nothing to promote adoption of broadband access, and US broadband speeds themselves are already well below the industrialized worlds average. - Source

“At this rate,” the (CWA) report said, “it will take the United States more than 100 years to catch up with current Internet speeds in Japan.”

So get used to sucking, looks like it’s going to take awhile to download a fix.

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Tags: internet speeds Japan DSL
Posted in Internet, Science | 3 Comments »

Goodbye OPEC! Hello MIT Solar Power!

Tuesday, August 5th, 2008

Major MIT Breakthrough in Solar Power

Computer World reports that researchers at MIT have discovered the “Nirvana” of cheap plentiful power, by taking a page from nature itself. Basing their new system on photosynthesis, their design virtually eliminates the needs for battery storage which has always been a major problem for generating enough power when the sun’s not shining.

“This is the nirvana of what we’ve been talking about for years,” said Nocera. “Solar power has always been a limited, far-off solution. Now, we can seriously think about solar power as unlimited and soon.”

MIT researchers Daniel Nocera and Matthew Kanan based their new design on photosynthesis, and use the sun’s energy to split water molecules into oxygen and hydrogen gases, which are later re-combined in a fuel cel.

Nocera noted that the process uses natural materials, is inexpensive to conduct and is easy to set up. “That’s why I know this is going to work. It’s so easy to implement,” he said.

The MIT Solar Power system may soon transform solar from “alternative energy” to household standard.

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Tags: alternative energy, MIT, OPEC, photosynthesis, Solar Power
Posted in Environment, Science | No Comments »