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Showing posts from August, 2005
Piss Away the World Power Crisis "...To make the battery, Lee and his colleagues soaked a piece of paper in a solution of copper chloride and sandwiched it between strips of magnesium and copper. This sandwich was then laminated between two sheets of transparent plastic. When a drop of urine is added to the paper through a slit in the plastic, a chemical reaction takes place that produces electricity, Lee said. The prototype battery produced about 1.5 volts, the same as a standard AA battery, and runs for about 90 minutes. Researchers said the power, voltage, and lifetime of the battery can be improved by adjusting the geometry and materials used." This is the breakthrough by Ki Bang Lee and his colleagues from Singapore's Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology. Sooner or later, who'd need crude oil?? If the Singaporeans develop the technology even further, we might soon be able to charge our phones, PDAs, or MP3 players through a quick trip to the restroom.
Short Time Part of my rehabilitation involves getting back to that old habit of mine--downloading short stories from the Web, printing them out and reading them at my own leisure, which is usually during breaks from work. I've been going through the stories pretty slowly as I'm having a harder time digesting them compared to way back when. There's Maggot and Misogyny by Iain Grant, American Sister by Sung J. Woo, They're Made out of Meat by Terry Bisson and A Clean Well-Lighted Place by Ernest Hemingway, just to name a few. I've also gone through (and really loved) the first story of a science fiction anthology given to me by Vin. It was the lengthy and verbally-complex (at least to my standards) A New Light on The Drake Equation by Ian McLeod. If any of you would like to get into this story download thing, go to the site I frequent: Short Stories at East of the Web , or Google "short stories" to find other similar sites. Take the printed pages with y
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Queers of Pop Aren't they gorgeous? In 1999, Boyzone 's Stephen Gately announced to the public that he was gay, eliciting mixed reactions from the Irish heartthrob's fans. Yet, he got the support of family, friends, and his band fellows which, I suppose, is especially important when one reaches a ridiculous level of stardom. When Boyzone first stepped into the limelight, I must confess that I found Gately the cutest of the five. And whaddaya know? As one stand-up comedian had said, birds of the same feather have the same bird... When Westlife 's Mark Feehily did the Gately just last week, it reinforces that unwritten law that at least one member of any boyband is homosexual. It would be wise, then, for female fans to screen new bands via world-standard gaydar to avoid disappointment later on. Gately's admittance included having a relationship with Eloy de Jong, the towering member of the long-defunct Dutch boyband Caught In The Act . (The relationship ended nearly t
Mauling Today I got myself a new bag. A light blue Illustrazio shoulder bag that gives me some variety over my usual backpacks, which have begun to smell of sun and humidity like old unwashed denim. The loyal green backpack that I use more often has a few stains on it, and there's some kind of brown powdery residue inside. The resilient red one that I use on gym days deserves a break--it's my week off from iron pumping--so a massage courtesy of our able laundry woman should provide it relief. Two weeks ago, I bought a pair of jeans, straight-comfort cut by RRJ (Funk you!). The size 33 looked great on me when I tried it on. But now I have to wear it with a belt. I should flatter myself because of the rapid decrease in my waistline, but to do so would be subscribing to a big lie; my waist measurement still rests close to 36 inches (believe it or not). The fabric stretch is a phenomenon I couldn't get used to till now, and most of my pants had undergone the mutation. Days prio
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Mars, Madonna, and Men Like many of you, I got that forwarded email weeks ago about the Mars report, that the red planet will come up close and personal late this month, the closest it'll ever get in over a long, long time. The very thought of Mars being as large as the full moon to the naked eye is freaky, so I was sort of relieved when I found out it wasn't true... Stardome News: "The two planets won’t be quite as close as they were in 2003... for Mars to appear the same size as the full moon, it would have to relocate to a distance only two times further from Earth than the moon itself. An event like that really would throw astronomers into a frenzy." But I am certainly looking forward to Madonna's new "back to form" dance album Confessions on a Dance Floor , but the fact that Mirwais is in the credits disturbs me. The first single ( Hung Up as reported in the Yahoo Launch site) will be unleashed to the world come October, with the album following
Quills Award Nominees This is the book industry's version of the People's Choice Awards and American Music Awards, wherein the general public gets to choose which of five nominated books in 19 categories gets the glory as the best of the year. This year's nominees were selected by an extensive panel of approximately 6,000 US-based booksellers and librarians selected from the Publishers Weekly subscriber base. Publishers Weekly is the international industry magazine for book publishers and distributors. Nominees for the Graphic Novel category are as follows: American Splendor: Our Movie Year Harvey Pekar ISBN 0345479378 Ballantine Bone: One Volume Edition Jeff Smith ISBN 188896314X Cartoon Books In the Shadow of No Towers Art Spiegelman ISBN 0375423079 Pantheon Books Marvel 1602 Volume 1 Neil Gaiman, Andy Kubert, Richard Isanove ISBN 0785110704 Marvel Comics Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return Marjane Satrapi ISBN 0375422889 Pantheon Books Cliver Barker's Abarat: Days
I have nothing to blog about. Hmmm... Should I blog about the rain? Or the song of a blade of grass? *belch* - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Tonight I fiddled with my computer, repairing the operating system, disposing of a gigabyte worth of 'temporary internet files' and defragmenting the rest of the contents. The computer now runs a little bit smoother and faster, and all I need to do now is to find out how to get rid of those pesky pop-up adware that the security software can't seem to obliterate. Oh, and I have to pump up the RAM, too, since the whole family's taken to working on this baby. So much for having my own personal workhorse. Soon, I have to invest in one of those nifty personal digital assistants, the kind that enables me to make and receive calls, do some word processing and spreadsheets, play music, and manage my schedules. Oh, and take pictures with. Jam had shown me her PDA, a complex little bugger, which let me question again my ability to keep an