Acidus wrote:
] ]
] ] The truck is hydrogen-powered and creates its own fuel
] ] from solar energy and water, a technical feat that rivals
] ] the advanced technology being researched by major auto
] ] companies and universities. The four-cylinder engine is
] ] tuned to run on hydrogen, which is produced by a
] ] hand-built electrolysis system mounted in the bed.
] ]
] ] Teacher Cory Waxman and his students took four years to
] ] build the experiment, believed to be the only
] ] self-sustaining hydrogen vehicle that uses a conventional
] ] internal-combustion engine.

Interesting... I thought of the same thing 25 years ago when I was first shown electrolyisis of water in JR High science. A car that "runs on water" (with more than a little help from the sun).

Not to rain on these kids parade, but they are wasting a LOT of energy cracking the H2O molecules to separate the hydrogen and oxygen. I seem to recall the conversion efficency for electrolyisis being less that 50 percent. Much more efficent to simply take the electricity from the photo voltaics and directly drive electric motors.

Its a neat idea though and kudos to them for doing it. Its this thinking outside the box that is needed to solve the energy crisis.

LB

RE: Hydrogen car self-sustaining

This is no longer an interesting coincidence. It is an unmistakable message from God. I hope everyone is listening.

message-from-God.gif (GIF Image, 744x900 pixels)

For those that didn't watch the VP debate last night, at one point VP Cheney tried to refute some statistic that John Edwards had dropped. Cheney invited viewers to "go to factcheck.COM" when apparently he meant to say factcheck.ORG

factcheck.COM redirects to "Billionare Bush Basher" George Sorros' website georgesorros.com and surfers are met with a banner stating "Why we must not re-elect President Bush". and headline proclaiming "President Bush is endangering our safety, hurting our vital interests and underminning American values"

Funnier still is that George Sorros states he does not own factcheck.com and was unaware of the redirect - aparently till his web stats started going balistic last night and today.

D'OH!!!

LB

] A German who had his lower jaw cut out because of cancer
] has enjoyed his first meal in nine years %u2014 a
] bratwurst sandwich %u2014 after surgeons grew a new jaw
] bone in his back muscle and transplanted it to his mouth
] in what experts call an "ambitious" experiment.
]
] According to this week's issue of The Lancet medical
] journal, the German doctors used a mesh cage, a growth
] chemical and the patient's own bone marrow, containing
] stem cells, to create a new jaw bone that fit exactly
] into the gap left by the cancer surgery.
]
] Tests have not been done yet to verify whether the bone
] was created by the blank-slate stem cells and it is too
] early to tell whether the jaw will function normally in
] the long term. But the operation is the first published
] report of a whole bone being engineered and incubated
] inside a patient's body and transplanted.
]
] Stem cells are the master cells of the body that go on to
] become every tissue in the body. They are a hot area of
] research with scientists trying to find ways to prompt
] them to make desired tissues, and perhaps organs.

Unreal! -LB

Time for a sandwich: Doctors use man's back to make jaw

] SEATTLE, Washington (Reuters) -- A black bear was found
] passed out at a campground in Washington state recently
] after guzzling down three dozen cans of a local beer, a
] campground worker said on Wednesday.
]
] "We noticed a bear sleeping on the common lawn and
] wondered what was going on until we discovered that there
] were a lot of beer cans lying around," said Lisa Broxson,
] a worker at the Baker Lake Resort, 80 miles (129 km)
] northeast of Seattle.
]
] The hard-drinking bear, estimated to be about two years
] old, broke into campers' coolers and, using his claws and
] teeth to open the cans, swilled down the suds.
]
] It turns out the bear was a bit of a beer sophisticate.
] He tried a mass-market Busch beer, but switched to
] Rainier Beer, a local ale, and stuck with it for his
] drinking binge.
]
] Wildlife agents chased the bear away, but it returned the
] next day, said Broxson.
]
] They set a trap using as bait some doughnuts, honey and
] two cans of Rainier Beer. It worked, and the bear was
] captured for relocation.

Bear guzzles 36 beers, passes out at campground

] A group of media and
] technology companies including Microsoft and Walt Disney
] have agreed in principle to allow consumers to make legal
] backup copies of next-generation video discs and share
] their content on portable devices.
]
] The group, which also includes International Business
] Machines, Intel, Matsushita Electric Industrial and Time
] Warner's Warner Bros., will not have any technology to
] license until the end of the year.
]
] But the announcement, released late Tuesday, marks a
] shift in the way the movie industry has reacted to the
] threat of online piracy of its films.

WOW! The industry is FINALLY coming to grips with the whole fair use concept and the fact that consumers have a RIGHT to legal archival copies of their media. -LB

Industry deal set on allowing limited DVD copying

] Theres a cute guy across the bar.
]
] Not really a guy youd bring home to your parents,
] but he looks like hed be an interesting Friday
] night.
]
]
] If only he knew the dirty thoughts running through your
] mind.
]
]
] Oh wait, he does.
]
] That is, if you're wearing one of motvanilla's
] new T-shirts and the dude can read Braille.
]
] The Vancouver-based company just released a new line of
] provocative T-shirts. With naughty messages written
] across the chest, the shirts encourage people to run
] their hands over them to find out what's on your
] mind.
]
] And if he can't read Braille, just flash him. Turn up the
] bottom of the shirt and the translation is printed just
] above the inside hem.
]
] They translate to "CLickable," "Use Me," "Spank It," and another
] sassy saying.

"Did you know there are 2 typos on your shirt? There are an extra 2 dots at each end of th... oh NEVERMIND! :D" -LB

Braille T-shirts let people get touchy-feely

] Seized cannabis plants. Greek police said that they
] stumbled across a cannabis plantation during the Olympic
] torch relay through the Island of Crete at the weekend.

"Duuude - cant find my zippo. Can I bum a light?" -LB

Pot Plantation discovered by greek police during Olympic Torch Run

Elonka wrote:
] ] Water owes its intrinsic blueness to selective absorption
] ] in the red part of its visible spectrum.
]
] An interesting link that was sent to me by someone who was
] intrigued by my Antarctic webpage on "Why are icebergs blue?"

OWW! My brain hurts! More than I needed to know... -LB

RE: Why is water blue?

] Da Coach is thinking of running for office.
]
] Illinois is abuzz over a fledgling effort to draft Mike
] Ditka, legendary coach of the Chicago Bears, to fill the
] Republican slot in the U.S. Senate race against Democrat
] Barack Obama.
]
] The opening was created last month when investment banker
] Jack Ryan said he was quitting the race over claims in
] his divorce records that he took his wife, actress Jeri
] Ryan, to sex clubs and asked her to have sex in front of
] other people.
]
] Many prominent Republicans have declined to step in, most
] citing a lack of financial backing from the party.
]
] Ditka met Tuesday night in Chicago with Sen. George
] Allen, R-Va., head of the National Republican Senatorial
] Committee. Allen is the son of another legendary football
] coach, the late George Allen Sr., the man who picked
] Ditka in the first round of the 1961 NFL draft. Allen sat
] down with Ditka not to recruit him but to make sure his
] family friend was aware of what might lie ahead.
]
] Ditka, who has never held elected office, has said he
] will make a decision by week's end.

Being from the Chicago area, Ditka is worshiped there and a shoe-in if he runs. I liked him as coach, but the US Senate?? He is not the brightest crayon in the box and his anger management problems are legendary. It's just a series of bad jokes that write themselves for Leno and Letterman if he makes the bid. -LB

Ditka considers bid for U.S. Senate