Check it out. There's new research that indicates we may be using sugar-fueled batteries in portable devices like cell phones and laptops in as little as 3-5 years.
Battery Fueled by Soda Pop, Sugar to Power up Your IPod [CaribJournal]
Excellent, I say. Just one more reason to stock up on lots of sweets.
It seems that the facts are being disputed, for now, so I'll reserve comment until more reliable information is released.
One of the girls who died in Pennsylvania's Amish schoolhouse massacre asked the killer to shoot her first in an apparent bid to save younger girls, a woman who spoke to the victim's family said on Friday.Rita Rhoads, a nurse-midwife who delivered 13-year-old Marian Fisher as well as another victim, said Fisher appealed to Charles Carl Roberts to shoot her first because she thought it might allow younger girls to survive. (John Hurdle, Reuters)
I can't imagine the kind of courage it took to do such a thing. Like most, I've been following this story since it first hit the headlines, and each new bit of information I find makes it even more apparent just how strong the Amish are in their faith. What a terrible tragedy.
An attempt to carve out "Office Space" in a warehouse store setting, Greg Coolidge's "Employee of the Month" falls short of that inspired Mike Judge mark but manages to retain a certain goofy appeal thanks to the stand-up efforts of its comically adept cast members.It would certainly seem to be a ripe, untapped environment for laugh-getting, but the picture -- following the ruthless rivalry between a cocky cashier and a laid-back boxboy for those title honors -- takes a little while to find its groove. Once it does, the wry, character-driven humor picks up enough momentum to carry it through to the checkout desk. (Michael Rechtshaffen, Reuters)
I went to see this flick last night with some friends, and I agree with Rechtshaffen. It was more of a "giggles and chuckles" sort of comedy than a "gut-busting laughs" sort. Props to Jorge (Efren Ramirez, Pedro from Napoleon Dynamite) for a subtle but particularly charming and funny performance.
Oh, and the scene where Vince scans an item on a shelf from several hundred feet away... Impossible. I use one of those scanning guns at Target all the time, and they don't have that kind of range. Still, it was pretty funny when he scanned the guy in the eyes.
The third annual release of the Nielsen "Active Gamer Benchmark" study is out, and it contains some surprises. The study looked at so-called "Active Gamers" (those who play video games on a consistent basis) and found that there were currently 117 million such gamers in the United States. While the majority of gamers (70 percent) are male, the balance shifts dramatically when limited to online gamers, which comprised more than half of the total. The study found that nearly two-thirds (62 percent) of online gamers were women. This statistic challenges an earlier study issued by ComScore that had pegged the latter figure at 52 percent.This percentage is not limited to 3D action games, such as CounterStrike or massively multiplayer online role-playing games like World of Warcraft, but includes all computer and video games that feature an online component. Still, the fact that females outnumber males in any kind of aggregate measure of gaming is a massive shift away from conventional wisdom. The traditional, male-dominated games industry may have to sit up and take notice. (Jeremy Reimer, Ars Technica)
Though I play online games--especially online roleplaying games--all the time, I have to admit I'm a bit surprised. My friends and I were always convinced that most of the players we encounter online who claim to be female are actually mirls (males playing girls), but I suppose this study suggests otherwise.
Incoming freshmen at Duke University received some Apple iPods upon entering their first year of college as part of a new initiative meant to expand the curriculum with "mobile technology."
The professors record lectures using the proper software and then distribute them to students. The students also use them as recording devices and, of course, for the traditional role of playing music. Some of the students are even working on a "calendar program" for the iPods, to make them more like palm-PCs.
Being a huge fan of portable music devices, I think this sounds really cool. I doubt that Seton Hill University will be planning for iPod integration anytime soon, but this shows how new media technology (such as our beloved SHU blogs) is becoming more and more prevalent in education. I think that the more tools we have, the more opportunities we will have for enhancing our learning experiences; I love gadgets.
I was browsing Google News when I came across an article from the NY Times that brings to light one of the possible presidential candidates for 2032 and a proponent of President Bush's Social Security plan: 9-year-old Republican Noah McCullough.
(Click the link for the topmost article on the search list that appears -- that allows you to bypass the NY Times website registration in order to read the article.)