What could possibly go wrong.

For the first time, MIT researchers have shown they can genetically engineer viruses to build both the positively and negatively charged ends of a lithium-ion battery.

The new virus-produced batteries have the same energy capacity and power performance as state-of-the-art rechargeable batteries being considered to power plug-in hybrid cars, and they could also be used to power a range of personal electronic devices, said Angela Belcher, the MIT materials scientist who led the research team.

The new batteries, described in the April 2 online edition of Science, could be manufactured with a cheap and environmentally benign process: The synthesis takes place at and below room temperature and requires no harmful organic solvents, and the materials that go into the battery are non-toxic.

In a traditional lithium-ion battery, lithium ions flow between a negatively charged anode, usually graphite, and the positively charged cathode, usually cobalt oxide or lithium iron phosphate. Three years ago, an MIT team led by Belcher reported that it had engineered viruses that could build an anode by coating themselves with cobalt oxide and gold and self-assembling to form a nanowire.

In the latest work, the team focused on building a highly powerful cathode to pair up with the anode, said Belcher, the Germeshausen Professor of Materials Science and Engineering and Biological Engineering. Cathodes are more difficult to build than anodes because they must be highly conducting to be a fast electrode, however, most candidate materials for cathodes are highly insulating (non-conductive).

To achieve that, the researchers, including MIT Professor Gerbrand Ceder of materials science and Associate Professor Michael Strano of chemical engineering, genetically engineered viruses that first coat themselves with iron phosphate, then grab hold of carbon nanotubes to create a network of highly conductive material.

I didn't understand a word of that. Or rather I understood each words, but few of them in succession.

Near as I can tell, they're saying something about the prospect for flyin' cars.

In other tech news, a computer, supposedly for the first time, has successfully derived natural laws from a dataset, kinda-sorta mimicking human scientific thinking.

Thanks to AndreaA.

Posted by: Ace at 11:43 AM | Add Comment
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And with the power of the filibuster -- and numerous Democrats bucking his plan to make electricity costs "skyrocket" and tax coal plants out of business entirely -- it's possible, even likely, that cap and trade won't survive.

Obama had tried to get cap and trade tax through as a budgetary matter, and such bills can't be filibustered. He was voted down on this gambit.

More sensible Democrats seem to have laid down the law that he can attempt to take over the nation's health care or the nation's energy sector but he can't do both.

So the battle will be on health care, I guess, where they will try to ram through a huge new plan under the guise of a budgetary matter immune to filibuster.

Posted by: Ace at 11:21 AM | Add Comment
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Good piece. Krauthammer is somewhat dismissive about the bank and auto bailouts -- he objects to them, but he knows that Obama ultimately doesn't want to be in the car or banking business.

These are circumstantial affairs. Obama's real agenda has little to do with them:

Bizarre and constitutionally suspect as these interventions may be, the transformation of the American system will come from elsewhere. The credit crisis will pass and the auto overcapacity will sort itself out one way or the other. The reordering of the American system will come not from these temporary interventions, into which Obama has reluctantly waded. It will come from Obama's real agenda: his holy trinity of health care, education and energy. Out of these will come a radical extension of the welfare state; social and economic leveling in the name of fairness; and a massive increase in the size, scope and reach of government.

If Obama has his way, the change that is coming is a new America: "fair," leveled and social democratic. Obama didn't get elected to warranty your muffler. He's here to warranty your life.

Posted by: Ace at 11:10 AM | Add Comment
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Looks real, as clicking on buttons will take you to an Amazon ordering page. (At least that page looks real too.)

Plus, there's that risk of suit by the Chia people if it's a prank.

So, as prank-ish as this looks, at the moment it seems to be all too real.

Thanks to gg. more...

Posted by: Ace at 10:30 AM | Add Comment
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The acting director of the U.S. Census Bureau, Thomas Mesenbourg, told CNSNews.com that the bureau intends to work with community organizations to make sure every illegal alien in the United States is counted in the 2010 Census.

Ah, not just sampling. Not even just counting illegal aliens. (It should be noted that the constitution seems to demand an accounting of all persons residing in a state, whether legal citizens or not.)

But now we'll be using ACORN and other groups with serious agendas to count illegals.

Maybe La Raza? I'm sure we can get an accurate count from them.

And then, just for shits and giggles, we'll "sample" the population on top of that.

Posted by: Ace at 10:25 AM | Add Comment
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Going on right now.

A gunman entered an immigration services center in downtown Binghamton on Friday, injured at least six people and took as many as 41 hostages, officials said.

Mayor Matthew Ryan told the Binghamton Press & Sun Bulletin that there was a hostage situation involving a gunman with a high-powered rifle.

The FBI was sending hostage negotiators and an evidence response team to the scene, said a law enforcement official who spoke on condition of anonymity because the situation continued.

The newspaper reported 41 hostages in the building of the American Civic Association and said apartments were being evacuated.

FNC is saying there's some reports of multiple gunmen. Obviously a dangerous and fluid situation, so initial reports can be confused.

The building that was attacked is the American Civic Association which is described as:

Assists immigrants and refugees with immigration and personal counseling, resettlement, citizenship, family reunification, interpreters, and translators. Fosters cross cultural understanding for the entire community.

The piece of shit who did this had a plan.

A law enforcement official says the gunman entered the building firing after blocking the back door.

The official says the gunman used his car to barricade the rear door of the building and then entered through the front. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the situation continued.

FNC says 13 dead but no one really knows yet.

"Semiautomatic Weapons:" [ace] The drumbeat begins anew. A Fox reporter noted that the high number of casualties didn't necessarily mean the gunman was armed with an automatic weapon, but could be a (sinister pronunciation) semiautomatic weapon, which, he told us, was the weapon of choice in these sorts of handgun crimes. He did not go on to inform us that most handguns were now semiautomatic.

So get ready for it again: The talismanic invocation of "semiautomatic weapons" as if they're close cousins of Uzis and AK-47s.

Report: Gunman takes his own life? Update: Yes, seems so. Fox played a radio call from a cop saying so.

Posted by: DrewM at 10:15 AM | Comments (1)
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Well, Carla Bruni screwed up her courage and risked ridicule by being seen in public with Michele Obama.

It's not exactly a close call like Maryann v. Ginger, is it?

More photos here.

Posted by: DrewM at 09:22 AM | Comments (4)
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'Hey, nice company ya got there. It would be a shame if anything were to, ya know, happen to it.'

“These are complicated companies,” one CEO said. Offered another: “We’re competing for talent on an international market.”

But President Barack Obama wasn’t in a mood to hear them out. He stopped the conversation, and offered a blunt reminder of the public’s reaction to such explanations. “Be careful how you make those statements, gentlemen. The public isn’t buying that.”

“My administration,” the president added, “is the only thing between you and the pitchforks.”

That's a pretty sweet little operation Obama's got going.

Posted by: Slublog at 09:04 AM | Comments (14)
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A smokin' hot chick loving a giant bacon cheeseburger. Video below the fold. more...

Posted by: Uncle Jimbo at 08:06 AM | Add Comment
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Vista + 1G + ram robbing integrated video = lawsuit.

The whole thing is preposterous. If you buy a cheap ass machine with no memory, bogus video, and then expect it to run like a $2000 machine, then you're what's commonly known as a FUCKING RETARD.

This post was proudly generated on a living dinosaur - 350mhz Pentium II, 700M ram, and Matrox Millennium G200 card and Windows 2000. Its also 100% "green" since it came out of a dumpster and was headed for a landfill when I snarfed it up. Doing everyday stuff, this antique feels faster than all the new demo shit in the stores...the Adaptec SCSI and 3 drives may have something to do with that.

Posted by: Purple Avenger at 07:35 AM | Add Comment
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