Gravity: Strength in Weakness | csmonitor.com

Grok Gravity??: "Gravity is a big deal in our universe.

We, the land around us, and even the air we breathe are locked down to the Earth as we hurtle through space at thousands of miles per hour. Gravity molds the stars and planets into their spherical shapes, and sets them in orbits around each other. In the violent last seconds of a giant star's life, gravity can distort the fabric of space and time to such an extent that light itself is sucked into the dying star's corpse, creating a bottomless pit called a black hole. Given all that celestial drama, it may seem surprising that one of the great mysteries of modern physics is why gravity is so incredibly weak compared to the other forces of nature.

When you actually stop to think about it, gravity (despite dropped plates smashing to the floor, or certain bad-tempered 17th century physicists getting clocked by an apple) is ridiculously easy to overcome. Take ... [more]

BBC NEWS | Health | Male contraceptive '100% effective'

BBC NEWS | Health | Male contraceptive '100% effective': "Male contraceptive '100% effective'

Part of the treatment is given by injection. Scientists have developed a male contraceptive which was 100% effective and side-effect free in trials. The hormonal treatment is a combination of an implant under the skin and injections - meaning men do not have to remember to take a pill every day.

Researchers from the Anzac Research Institute, Sydney, Australia, gave the treatment to a relatively small sample of 55 men for a year - and none of their partners became pregnant. "

remembering rebecca: 10.03

remembering rebecca: 10.03: "The trade-off in jobs is not one for one. The work done here by one person often requires two or three less-efficient workers overseas. Even so, given the very low wages, the total saving for an American company can be as much 50 percent for each job shifted, even allowing for the extra cost of transportation, communication and other expenses that would not be needed if the work was done in the United States. That is the message of the nation's management consultants, who are encouraging their corporate clients to take advantage of the multiplying opportunities overseas."

CNN.com - Mister Rogers book helps fill void - Oct. 7, 2003

CNN.com - Mister Rogers book helps fill void - Oct. 7, 2003: "Mister Rogers may have left a void in millions of lives when he died but Mrs. Rogers hopes a new collection of his plainspoken wisdom will provide comfort to them as it did for her.
Joanne Rogers says 'The World According to Mister Rogers: Important Things to Remember,' from Hyperion Books, was published for people who grew up watching Fred Rogers' public television show. It serves as testament to his timeless message of love, friendship and respect. 'Most of the people who read this book will feel as if they're having a visit with him. I do, and I think that's why I cherish it so.'"

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Carnivores' need for wild walk

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Carnivores' need for wild walk: "The bigger the distance a carnivore covers in the wild, the more likely it is to suffer stress symptoms in a zoo, say Oxford University scientists.

Stress can show itself in repetitive pacing and in high infant death rates.

The researchers say their work gives the lie to the theory that the captive animal's inability to hunt is the reason for its abnormal behaviour. 'Rather it is the variety of day-to-day life that probably is missing in the zoo,' says Dr Georgia Mason. "

Research Breakthrough in Understanding Treatment-Resistant Depression

Research Breakthrough in Understanding Depression: "A pioneering research study using brain imaging has yielded new clues to help sufferers from severe depression who do not respond to conventional treatment

Now an international team of researchers have discovered that brain activity differs significantly between healthy individuals and those suffering from treatment-resistant clinical depression.

The study, the most significant to date to have investigated dysfunction in different parts of the brain in treatment-resistant depression, also heralds a new era in drug development. There are already benchmark drugs for treatment-resistant schizophrenia, but there is no equivalent treatment for treatment-resistant depression at the moment. This development in the understanding of the biological basis of treatment-resistant depression gives hope to scientists searching for a much-needed "atypical" antidepressant."

CNN.com - Discovery may spur cheap solar power - Oct. 2, 2003

CNN.com - Discovery may spur cheap solar power - Oct. 2, 2003: "A major European chip maker said this week it had discovered new ways to produce solar cells which will generate electricity twenty times cheaper than today's solar panels.
STMicroelectronics, Europe's largest semiconductor maker, said that, by the end of next year, it expected to have made the first stable prototypes of the new cells, which could then be put into production. "

Stephen Forte's WebBlog

Stephen Forte's WebBlog: "Lessons from Mt. Everest

The Buddhists say that the Earth has a song and that to hear it, you have to go to the Himalayas, away from the noise and commotion of the busy world. They also say that once you hear it, you don't want to stop hearing it. Well, I heard it and want nothing more to hear it again and again.

While I was on my trek, I learned a few lesions from the simple life of the Khumbu Valley and the power of nature on the mountain. Here they are with some commentary following:

Live your dreams
Just do it
Keep it simple
Be thankful of what you have/make the most of what you have
Its not about you

Live your dreams. The first lesson that I learned was to live your dreams the best you could. I have wanted to go to Mt. Everest since I was 7 years old. I have finally did and when I got there a little voice in my head said "What were you waiting for?" Life is too short, live your dreams. No excuses, make it happen.

Just do it. Damn those Nike people are smart. There were a few scary things on this trek. The first time I saw the Khumbu glacier, it looked very intimidating. A friend told me, "Just do it." Just have no fears and inhibitions and face your fears and challenges head on. Once again, life is just way too short.

Keep it Simple. When I was trekking in the Khumbu valley there were no cars, roads, phones, etc. I now fully appreciate the term "dirt poor."� The day of the week doesn't matter much to these people. For the first time in my life I went days not knowing what day of the week it was or the day of the month.

The folks in the valley are so poor, yet so happy. But you can see the look of joy on the kids faces living a hard but uncomplicated life. I noticed if you keep life as simple as possible, your life will"

Mortgage Blog

A mortgage blog: "The Miscellaneous Mortgage Musings of Mike "

The Whole World Wants to Be Like California

The Whole World Wants to Be Like California"The equality of the poorer countries is an equality of deprivation."

Tech Central Station - The Prophets Milton and Rose

Tech Central Station - The Prophets Milton and Rose: "The Tyranny of the Status Quo. Those words, which form the title of a 1985 book by Milton and Rose Friedman, came back to me as I sat in the Cato Institute's Washington headquarters, listening to a panel discussion entitled:

'Cancun Post-Mortem: What Next for the World Trade Organization?' The status quo is sometimes tyrannical because of dictators and their guns and truncheons. But more often, the status quo is a tyranny because it channels our thinking into familiar paths -- even when those paths can become a rut, leading to a disastrous dead end. So sometimes, every so often, a transformation is needed, as when visionaries espy new pathways to progress that others hadn't seen. And that's how we can be liberated from tyranny of the status quo.

In this instance, the issue is world trade, the $6 trillion-a-year enterprise that is now threatened by a global garrote of protectionism, a death-grip made all the tighter by cynicism and fatalism about prospects for something better. "

TCS: Tech Central Station - Shadows and Blog

more Shadows and Blog: "Blogging is a hot topic these days and grandiose claims are being made for the growing throng of on-line micro-journals.

Weblog or 'blog' websites have become a social phenomenon, rather than just an online format. They are part of an interconnected community called the Blogosphere that works in ways other on-line formats such as websites or forums do not. Blog articles are often referred and linked to by other blogs, proving a system of peer review, referral and filtering which is of key importance. It is this emergent quality of networked referral and critique that makes the blogosphere more than the sum of its parts and functionally different from the rest of the Internet.

On the face of it, a blog with a public comment section (which most have) is rather like an Internet forum and many IT professionals when confronted with this new upstart craze just dismiss blogs as 'funny looking forums.' Yet in reality a blog is significantly different. The blog format assures that article written by the blogger will always be more authoritative that the comments added by readers underneath it, standing at the top of a qualitative hierarchy with the comments clearly in a supporting role. If forums are about everyone having his say, blogs are about the blog's owner expressing his opinions much like a newspaper editorial, and others remarking on them via the comment system much like 'letters to the editor.'

Much nonsense has been written about blogs replacing 'old media journalism.' Let me make it clear that blogs are not in direct competition with reporters and the media empires that employ them. We are evolutionizing journalism, not revolutionizing it, because blogs are primarily about opinion, not reporting per se. As blogs become more ubiquitous globally, we may see more on-the-spot blogging reportage like the famous 'Baghdad Blogger' incident, but at least for now, blogs do not have embedded reporters with the 1st Armo"

Legal, Respected. Source for Everything About Law

Respected Source for Everything About Law: "The Legal Beetle Over 20,000 links to the best law sites and legal links around the world. The perfect research tool or just to browse the wealth of legal information the Internet has to offer.

Smart Communities Network

Smart Communities Network: "more and more cities, villages, neighborhoods and regions are using sustainable development as a guiding principle not only for near-term projects, but also for planning their futures. As your community's environment, economy and quality of life grow stronger, so does your future. "

The Harrow Technology Report for Oct. 6, 2003 - Changing The Way Our World Works.

The Harrow Technology Report for Oct. 6, 2003 - Changing The Way Our World Works.: "Ubiquity - Even Now.

Although you may not realize it, you've probably already been involved with Radio Frequency IDentification tags (RFID tags). Some early crude versions are buried in the paper labels attached to video tapes and other merchandise. If the cashier hasn't intentionally 'blown them out' by overdriving them during the checkout process (notice them waving your purchase over a special place on the counter?), the tag will set off an alarm when you pass through the security gate. (The tag has no battery - its circuit is powered by the transmitter within the security gate as the RFID tag passes by, which causes it to transmit its existence, or the information it carries.)

Many early tags simply signaled that they exist, but more current tags each have a unique ID number embedded within them, and they transmit that number when they're queried. So not only do these tags announce that they're 'there,' but the computer monitoring the security gate knows exactly WHICH tag (and through an inventory database 'which explicit item') has left. And that may be very handy for future automated checkout schemes where you simply roll your full grocery basket through the gates: each item in the basket spews forth its ID, and your credit card is debited automatically. (I do hope that as this is implemented, they build frames full of open grocery bags into the carts -- that way there's never an unloading at all, other than lifting the full bags out of the cart and into the car. Of course, we will have to learn not to pack the bread at the bottom of a bag...)

These Are SMALL!

Early tags were fairly large, such as the paper labels, or those annoying pincer-like plastic clamps often found on clothing. But not for anymore!

The 0.4mm X 0.4mm chip can thus operate entirely on its own, making it possible to use µ-Chip as RFID IC tags without the need to attach external devices. This breakthrough opens the door to using µ-Chips as RFID IC tags in extremely minute and precise applications that had been impractical until now. For example, the new µ-Chip can be easily embedded in bank notes, gift certificates, documents and whole paper media etc."

Google Web Search Features

Google Web Search Features: "Calculator

To use Google's built-in calculator function, simply enter the calculation you'd like done into the search box and hit the Enter key or click on the Google Search button. The calculator can solve math problems involving basic arithmetic, more complicated math, units of measure and conversions, and physical constants. Try one of the sample expressions below, or refer to our complete instructions for help in building your own."

Dictionary Definitions

To use Google to find dictionary definitions, enter your query into the search box as you would normally. Any or all parts of your query for which we have a dictionary definition will be underlined in the center text above our search results, as seen for the query "search" in the following example:

example: Searched the web for search. Results 1 - 10 of about 227,000,000. Search took 0.08 seconds.

Clicking on the link will take you to the relevant definition from a dictionary provider, which has been selected solely on the basis of its quality.

Phone Book
Google has added the convenience of US street address and phone number lookup to the information we provide through our search box. You'll see publicly listed phone numbers and addresses at the top of results pages for searches that contain specific kinds of keywords.

To find listings for a US business, type the business name into the Google search box, along with the city and state. Or type the business name and zip code. Entering the phone number with area code will also return a complete business listing.


To find listings for a US residence, type any of the following combinations into the Google search box:

first name (or first initial), last name, city (state is optional)
first name (or first initial), last name, state
first name (or first initial), last name, area code
first name (or first initial), last name, zip code
phone number, including area code
last name, city, state
last name, zip code
If your query results in business and residential listings, both categories will be listed for your convenience.

Oxford Internet

OII: "The Oxford Internet Institute (OII) is one of the world’s first truly multidisciplinary Internet institutes based in a major university. Exclusively devoted to the study of the impact of the Internet on society, the OII aims to put Oxford, the UK and Europe at the centre of debates about how the Internet could and should develop."