In his latest tilt at windmills, McCain, with Lautenberg’s help, has authored the Community Broadband Act of 2005 (S. 1294), which would amend the Telecommunications Act of 1996 to allow cities and towns to operate their own broadband networks. “Many of the countries outpacing the United States in the deployment of high speed Internet services, including Canada, Japan and South Korea, have successfully combined municipal systems with privately deployed networks to wire their countries,” McCain said. This, of course, flies in the face of legislation from other Republicans, including Texas Rep. Pete Sessions (a former SBC exec) and Florida Governor Jeb Bush, who are working to ban municipal WiFi networks altogether.

[ The sooner the better. -k]

McCain, Lautenberg introduce bill to allow muni WiFi nets - Engadget - www.engadget.com

Memestreams is constantly improving.

[ It sure is... good work, all! -k]

Link spammers are the sux.

Meador, who is head of operations at ClearContext, and Deva Hazarika, the chief executive officer, have been playing poker in lieu of collecting paychecks for the past year while working to get their three-person company off the ground. After logging 50 or more hours a week at the office, each one spends another 10 to 15 hours, usually on weekends and evenings, at their favorite poker sites

[ Encouraging. -k]

High-stakes start-ups | CNET News.com

[ For anyone that ever watched Alton Brown, this site's got a similar approach... -k]

Science of Cooking

In short, we don't need to reinvent the wheel or wait for sci-fi hydrogen fuel cells. The technologies we need for a stronger, more energy independent America are already here. The only thing we have a shortage of now are leaders with the imagination and will to move the country onto a geo-green path.

As Toyota Goes ... - New York Times

Very interesting, as we expect from Neal. -k

Turn On, Tune In, Veg Out - New York Times

[ follow up to previously memed article. -k]

A New Biology for a New Century -- Woese 68 (2): 173 -- Microbiology and Molecular Biology Reviews

"Between 40 and 70 minutes elapsed before the call was made, and I am aware of no explanation for the delay," Bush wrote. "In light of this new information, I urge you to take a fresh look at this case without any preconceptions as to the outcome."

[ I read that as : "In light of me effectively accusing Michael Shaivo of murder, please continue to scream your outrage and lobby congress. In no way should you permit this case to fall out of public view. It's politically very helpful to me. Thanks." -k]

Gov. Bush wants probe of Schiavo collapse

Some of these bacteria produce methane that accumulates in "gas hydrates" — a super concentrated methane ice that contains more carbon than all conventional fossil fuels and, therefore, a potentially enormous energy source. However, we know little about gas hydrates as they melt during recovery due to the fall in pressure.

There is some crap in here about the Bermuda Triangle that I strongly urgue you to ignore. The real story here is bacteria that produce methane hydrates. I was not aware of this. This means that if technology for extracting natural gas from methane hydrates is realized, natural gas will be a long term sustainable energy solution. Thats awesome. The DOE wants to be able to produce commerical natural gas from methane hydrates by 2015.

Biological Solution to Natural Gas Scarcity

The factory is the first of its kind to produce electricity by combining wind power and hydrogen, a completely pollution-free method. On a good windy day, which Utsira has plenty of, where speeds average 10 metres [33ft] per second, the turbines can power the whole island. Any surplus is used to break water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen. On days when the wind is weak, the stored hydrogen is used to produce electricity, either by burning it in a combustion engine or fusing it chemically with oxygen in a fuel cell, a kind of battery. The only by-product of the operation is water.

Cool! Totally infeasible for the domestic economy and administration, but cool nonetheless!

-janelane

[ Agreed. They're using hydrogen for what it's good for... being a very clean battery. What the rest of the world needs is a decent way to generate power cleanly... storing it hydrogen is gonna be totally doable within a few years. But how do we get it? -k]

Guardian Unlimited | Life | 'In 50 years' time no one will be using oil any more'