] British scientists are lobbying to build the world's most
] powerful microscope, an instrument so advanced that it
] can see individual atoms moving.
]
] The European Spallation Source (ESS) -- a type of
] instrument known as a matterscope -- would allow them to
] look at the growth of protein molecules in living human
] tissue or at the stresses deep within the wheel of a
] train or the wing of an aircraft.
]
] "This is on par with the Hubble telescope, but it's for
] looking at inner space," said Professor Bob Cywinski of
] Leeds University, which is backing the one billion pound
] (US $1.6 billion) project.
]
] A disused World War Two airfield in North Yorkshire has
] been earmarked for the matterscope's kilometer-long
] concrete tunnel and neutron research laboratories.
]
] "To look at it, you'd just see a mound of grass growing
] over the top and sheep wandering around," said Cywinski.

Big science! w00t!

Kilometer-long microscope in the works

] Their weird glowing green color makes them look like
] they've been swimming in a nuclear plant's spent fuel
] pond.
]
] But the zebra fish on sale in Taipei shops have an even
] stranger background: They're the latest in genetically
] modified fish, and their bodies contain DNA from
] jellyfish, which makes them shimmer in the dark.
]
] Shopkeepers call them "Night Pearls." Some have nicknamed
] them "Frankenfish." Their makers at the Taipei-based
] Taikong Corp. use the less catchy name of "TK-1" and say
] they are the world's first genetically engineered
] fluorescent fish.
]
] They have been on the market in Taiwan, Japan, Hong Kong
] and Malaysia for about three months, said Bill Kuo, a
] spokesman for Taikong, which owns a chain of pet stores.
]
] Now the fish are getting ready to cross the Pacific and
] swim into the U.S. market this month.

MUST... HAVE... FRANKENFISH!!!!!!

CNN.com - Glowing 'Frankenfish' swamp Taipei - Jul. 8, 2003

] LONDON - In an astonishing announcement on global warming
] and extreme weather, the World Meteorological
] Organisation has signalled that the world's weather is
] going haywire.
]
] In a startling report, the WMO, which normally produces
] detailed scientific reports and staid statistics at the
] year's end, highlighted record extremes in weather and
] climate occurring all over the world in recent weeks,
] from Switzerland's hottest-ever June to a record month
] for tornadoes in the United States - and linked them to
] climate change.
]
] The unprecedented warning takes its force and
] significance from the fact that it is coming from an
] impeccably respected UN organisation that is not given to
] hyperbole (though environmentalists will seize on it to
] claim that the direst warnings of climate change are
] being borne out).

Nope, no global warming, nothing to see here...

New Zealand News - World - Extreme weather evidence of global warming

cyantist wrote:
] ] Homeland Security Chokers made of Plexiglas and Sterling
] ] Silver - Now, you can finally express your own Personal
] ] Level of Security...
]
] Buy it now!!!

Only $250.00??? What a bargian!

LB

RE: Amazon.com -zShops: Homeland Security Choker Set (For US Customers)

This model (requires Java) lends some great insight into what causes traffic jams in various road scenarios...

Laughing Boy

Microsimulation of road traffic

] On 25 April 2003, the newspaper Dagbladet (Norway)
] published photos of armed US soldiers forcing Iraqi
] men to walk naked through a park.

] On the chests of the men had been scrawled an Arabic
] phrase that translates as "Ali Baba - Thief."

] A military officer states that the men are thieves,
] and that this technique will be used again.

The Memory Hole: US Forces Make Iraqis Strip and Walk Naked in Public

] Juszkiewicz is about to take the guitar on its biggest
] technology leap since George Beauchamp and Adolph
] Rickenbacker first added an electric pickup in 1931. In
] early 2004, Gibson will introduce the first digital
] guitar.
]
] "His notion is to obsolete all guitars," says Craig
] Devin, who worked on the technology before leaving Gibson
] to start Devin Design & Development. "And the only way he
] can do that is through a technology play."
]
] "What he's going for is pretty incredible," says Neal
] Schon, guitarist for Journey, who has test-played some of
] Gibson's prototypes.
]
] Electric guitars %u2014 like most instruments %u2014 are
] analog. The sounds come from vibrations and modulating
] electrical fields, not data and computer chips. It's hard
] to fault an instrument that has given us a range from
] John Lee Hooker's beehive licks to the sounds of Keith
] Richards, Kurt Cobain and Carlos Santana. But an electric
] guitar has some hang-ups. Like, its tone can be affected
] by the length of the cord from the guitar to the amp.
] Plus, as versatile as an electric guitar is, it's not
] always versatile enough.
]
] The guts of Gibson's digital guitar would be the few
] high-tech chips inside. The cord you plug in would be an
] ethernet cable, which would run to a digital amp, or into
] a laptop that becomes the mixing board.
]
] The sound, once set, would never alter by even a shade.
] "I tried it with 200 feet of cable, and there was no
] change in tone," Schon says ecstatically. This is a big
] deal to musicians who want to roam a large stage, which
] Schon will do this summer as Journey tours with REO
] Speedwagon and Styx %u2014 concerts sure to be packed
] with more middle-aged moms per square foot than a
] suburban bunco card-game tournament.
]
] Performers' sound checks would no longer be necessary,
] Devin notes. The artist could set up preferences for how
] the guitar should sound, then a laptop computer could
] listen to the way the guitar reverberates in that room
] and automatically make adjustments so it sounds exactly
] right. The system could adjust the sound as the number of
] people in the audience changes, thus changing the room's
] acoustics.
]
] A digital guitar could assign a different effect to each
] of the six strings, so maybe the two bass strings could
] have a crunchy fuzz tone while the four higher strings
] mimic a mellow jazz guitar. Today's electric guitars
] can't do anything like that. And no one's even started to
] talk about what it would mean if you could plug a guitar
] straight into the Internet. Could you sell guitar licks
] on eBay?
]
] Under it all, Gibson promises to preserve and even
] improve on the basic guitar that's been a part of rock
] 'n' roll

OK… not sure how I feel about this yet. Sure, it sounds like a cool idea, but there is a lot of charm in analog electrics “unpredictability” of what the sound is going to be like. And the notion of making sound checks obsolete? Complete BS – what about the vocalists and drums? Both are analog “instruments” that need to be miked and checked. And most guitarists still prefer to mic their amps rather than running direct to the board, and I don’t see that ever changing.

Oh… and tube distortion vs. digital? ‘Nuff said.

The techno and electronic musicians will love this. And it might open up some new abilities for all guitarists as an extension of the instrument. But this will NEVER replace analog electrics. “…to obsolete all guitars”? Oh, he must mean just the way electronic drum pads were supposed to replace real “skins”.

Laughing Boy

Gibson dares to make electric guitars digital

] "I would guess that you would then see stories about the
] family faced with economic ruin and the cost of having to
] hire defense counsel, settling for $10,000 or $20,000,
] and the money they were saving for Timmy's college
] education now has to go to Kid Rock," said Philip S.
] Corwin, a lobbyist in Washington for Sharman Networks,
] distributor of the Kazaa file-sharing software.
]
] "That's the kind of stuff that would scare a politician."

Labels May Face Risk in Piracy Suits

] "There are so many cartoons where press people are saying
] 'Is it Vietnam yet?' hoping it is, and wondering if it
] is, and it isn't," Rumsfeld told reporters at the
] Pentagon. "It's a different time, it's a different era,
] it's a different place."

Wow Mr Rumsfeld, thank you for the clarification on that! You’re right. Iraq ISN’T Vietnam - I see now by my atlas that Vietnam is actually a small country in the orient thousands of miles away - no where near the Middle East!

I'm so glad we have government officials with your caliber of reasoning and deduction of logic to point out stuff that might other wise confuse us helpless sheep.

Laughing Boy

Support for Iraq war slipping

] Even as NASA engineers debated possible damage, a flight
] director e-mailed Columbia's astronauts to say there was
] "absolutely no concern" that breakaway foam that struck
] the space shuttle might endanger its safe return. The
] shuttle's commander cheerily replied, "Thanks a million!"
]
] Flight director J.S. "Steve" Stich conveyed his assurance
] to Columbia's commander and pilot on Jan. 23, according
] to documents disclosed Monday. At the time, engineers
] inside NASA continued to debate and study whether foam
] that smashed against Columbia's wing on liftoff might
] have fatally damaged materials protecting the shuttle
] during its fiery descent.
]
] Such materials included the wing's reinforced carbon
] panels and insulating tiles covering other parts of the
] spacecraft.
]
] "Experts have reviewed the high speed photography and
] there is no concern for RCC or tile damage," Stich wrote
] to Columbia's commander, Rick D. Husband, and pilot,
] William C. McCool. "We have seen the same phenomenon on
] several other flights and there is absolutely no concern
] for entry. That is all for now. It's a pleasure working
] with you every day."
]
] Husband, a veteran shuttle astronaut, replied two days
] later, on Jan. 25, "Thanks a million, Steve! And thanks
] for the great work on your part."

I'd no idea the crew was even told of the foam strike. Suffice it to say if ground control felt compelled to email video clips of the incident, the crew had to know SOMETHING was up - astronauts aren't exactly mentally challenged. Wouldn't have taken them very long to put 2 and 2 together.

Laughing Boy

E-mails: 'Absolutely no concern' over Columbia foam strike