Views Archive
Bhopal on the BBC
Did you see that the BBC was duped by an activist group claiming to be from Dow Chemical?Last week was the 20th anniversary of one of the worst man-made disasters of all time – the gas leak at a Union…
Brain Hat Helps Control Computer Cursor
U.S. researchers have come one step closer to using brain activity to control computers, according to this BBC News story. The team reported that four subjects – including two partially paralyzed people – moved a cursor on a computer screen…
Climate Change and Heat Waves
Global warming has doubled the chances of a heat wave like that one that hit Europe in August 2003, according to new and unprecedented calculations just published in the journal Nature. That was the heat wave that triggered thousands of…
What Do You Call This Here Online Journal-like Thing?
Why, it’s a blog, of course! Which happens to be the word most often looked up online during 2004, according to dictionary publisher Merriam-Webster. The current edition of Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary doesn’t contain an entry for “blog,” but in the…
PS3 Cometh
Playstation 2’s are in such demand for the holidays that retailers reportedly can’t keep up. But gamers will soon be frothing for the next generation console, the PS3. This week, Sony, Toshiba, and IBM announced that they will reveal the…
Virtual Total Replacement Knee Surgery
You get to be the surgeon. You get to write your initials on the knee that’s going to be replaced. You get to cut! And, if you have the stomach, you get to see actual photos of total knee replacement…
Science Mags
In science magazine news, The Industrial Physicist is ceasing publication with its Dec 2004-Jan 2005 issue. Advertising revenue did not keep up with rising costs, the magazine says. Then there’s a new magazine on the horizon, titled Symmetry, about high-energy…
Martian Parks
Now here’s an idea I can get right behind – conservation parks on Mars.A pair of biologists has proposed that seven geologically unique areas on the red planet should be set aside and turned into planetary parks, similar to national…
Your Color Laser Printer May be Spying On You!
Or more accurately, your color laser printer may be printing an almost-invisible serial number on every printout that it makes. According to this PCWORLD.COM article that’s reprinted on Yahoo news, Xerox and several other laserprinter manufacturers have quietly rigged their…
AIM Global Responds
AIM, the global trade association for automatic identification, has responded to the November 2 article I wrote about RFID Rights and the rush at Wal-Mart.AIM’s November 23 editorial, “Consumer Bill of Rights,“ makes three points:1. Item-level tagging is years off….