The City of Houston has ordered 750 solar powered electronic parking meters for a 1.9 mile area of downtown capable of accepting credit cards, coins and paper currency as well as providing maps of the surrounding areas. WFI will design and deploy the dedicated 802.11g WiFi network, the first of its kind, to support the parking meters.

Houston Gets WiFi Parking Meters

For the next two months The Royal Society will make available the complete archive of its scientific journals online. The text is fully searchable. It's truly a gift for those who might otherwise not have access to these precious materials:

The archive contains seminal research papers including accounts of Michael Faraday's groundbreaking series of electrical experiments, Isaac Newton's invention of the reflecting telescope, and the first research paper published by Stephen Hawking.

The Society's online collection, which until now only extended back to 1997, contains every paper published in the Royal Society journals from the first ever peer-reviewed scientific journal, Philosophical Transactions in 1665, to the most recent addition, Interface.

This is an opportunity to view the dawn of modern science.

And also to revisit things since forgotten.

Royal Society Open Journals to Web

Engineers have developed a system for taking anonymous cell-phone location information and turning it into an illuminated traffic map that identifies congestion in real time.The system takes advantage of the steady stream of positioning cues--untraced signals all cell phones produce, whether in use or not, as they seek towers with the strongest signals. It is the first traffic-solution technology that monitors patterns on rural roads and city streets as easily as on highways.

Developed by IntelliOne of Atlanta, Ga., the TrafficAid system could not only help guide drivers around tie-ups, but also tell emergency responders where accidents are or how effectively an evacuation is unfolding by pinpointing clusters of cell phones.

A good demonstration would be for one of these teams to line up with Tommee Pickles and crew and see if it's possible to make the CannonBall Run even faster than presently possible.

It certainly would be funny.

More Traffic Jam Detection Technology

Obesity epidemic 'engulfing the entire world'

"This insidious, creeping pandemic of obesity is now engulfing the entire world. It's as big a threat as global warming and bird flu." This warning came from Paul Zimmet during his opening address at the 10th International Congress on Obesity in Sydney on Sunday, according to a report by the Associated Press.

Zimmet, an expert on diabetes at Monash University in Australia, said that overweight people now outnumber the undernourished. The World Health Organization's estimates agree: globally, there are one billion overweight adults, and 300 million of them are obese; in contrast, about 800 million do not have enough to eat. Today obesity is a problem mainly in rich countries, but the WHO estimates that by 2010 the developing world will have more than caught up.
“Overweight people now outnumber the undernourished”

Childhood obesity is also reaching epidemic proportions, with an estimated 22 million children worldwide classed as obese. Ailments related to obesity, such as heart disease, diabetes and stroke, could soon overwhelm health services everywhere.

Go World?

More People Obese Than Undernourished

State police hid eight ounces of plastic explosives on the back bumper of a truck Wednesday night during a drill for bomb sniffing dogs at Logan International Airport.

Before the drill had been finished, however, a Massport employee drove off in the white pickup truck, unaware that a clump of the explosive Semtex had been slapped on the back. The employee only drove about 1.5 miles, according Lieutenant Sharon Costine, but it was far enough for clay-like explosive to fall.

State Police today were still searching for the Semtex, which they say can’t explode without an ignition device, Costine said.

"It isn't dangerous if you bump it or if you drop it," Costine said. "We are still looking for it."

The search today was confined along a non-residential section of Harborside Drive and remained active late this afternoon. Officials had retraced the route that the employee drove and were in the process of checking street sweeping machines, which had been cleaning roads in the area, Costine said.

The explosive was lost or stolen when State Police assigned to Massport's Troop F were conducting the K-9 training exercise in a secure parking area by the airport and Massport headquarters.

Freakin' Awesome.

MA State Police Loose Plastic Explosive

Seems that BP may have suppressed a few complaints about corrosion which lead to eventual failure of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline, and a rather large oil spill.

Say it with me... Pipeline out of commission, gas prices on the rise...

Oil Pipeline Corrosion A Problem

Designed and built by Airquee Ltd, The pub is the latest development
from Andi Francis, who also created the worlds first Inflatable Church.

The pub is 40ft long, 19ft wide and 22ft high. It can be customised
for use as a fully working pub, with room for a bar and 30 customers.

The pub can be erected in 10 minutes with 2 small blowers
and can be sited on any firm, level surface.

An internal aluminium frame can be used to support additional
lighting, sound systems and also doubles as a safety barrier.

Inflatable Pub

This article scares me. But moreso the links within, particularly to the 2,300 cameras covering Manhattan....

Internet Attached Cameras

Truth is getting stranger than fiction.

Wrestling for Jesus

Startling research aimed at determining why Russians are among the worse drivers in Europe has revealed that it can be largely attributed to a penchant for getting their ends away while behind the wheel, Mosnews reports.

Indeed, around 25 per cent of those quizzed for the Goodyear poll admitted to mobile rumpy-pumpy, and a fair percentage of those also admitted driving while drunk and chatting on the mobile, jumping red lights, eschewing the seatbelt and breaking the speed limit. Specifically, 30 per cent have driven while drunk, while 36 per cent "regularly" exceed the speed limit.

25% of all Russians get busy behind the wheel