Wednesday, 30. March 2005

La Vida Robot


How four underdogs from the mean streets of Phoenix took on the best from M.I.T. in the national underwater bot championship.

The winter rain makes a mess of West Phoenix. It turns dirt yards into mud and forms reefs of garbage in the streets. Junk food wrappers, diapers, and Spanish-language porn are swept into the gutters. On West Roosevelt Avenue, security guards, two squad cars, and a handful of cops watch teenagers file into the local high school. A sign reads: Carl Hayden Community High School: The Pride's Inside.

wired

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Toshiba's 'NanoBattery' Recharges In Only One Minute


The new battery fuses Toshiba's latest advances in nano-material technology for the electric devices sector with cumulative know-how in manufacturing lithium-ion battery cells. A breakthrough technology applied to the negative electrode uses new nano-particles to prevent organic liquid electrolytes from reducing during battery recharging. The nano-particles quickly absorb and store vast amount of lithium ions, without causing any deterioration in the electrode.

physorg

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Reefer madness


Lock three men in a room, make them smoke cannabis, and then try to provoke them into being hostile. Thirty years ago a team of American doctors actually conducted this daring experiment. They then described it in a report called Marijuana and Hostility in a Small-Group Setting.

guardian

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Tankless toilet makes
And it can be yours for $2,890


A tankless toilet unveiled by Kohler Co. promises to make a fashion statement while still staying functional. The company has introduced the Purist Hatbox, a toilet that aims to bring the throne to your home into the 21st Century.

msnbc

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The Pop Culture of 9/11


"The Simpsons" never made an episode about 9/11. Jerry Bruckheimer hasn't dramatized it in a film. While politicians evoke the tragedy again and again, the entertainment industry has steered clear-- except to make the occasional hushed tribute, or blustery country-western anthem. We've undergone a shock to our system, a realignment with the rest of the world, and a clash with an enemy that we barely understand; at times like this we usually turn to pop culture to make sense of the world, through dramatization, satire, criticism, comedy, and that normalizing assurance that we're still in this together. But our pop culture has shied away.

pitchforkmedia.com

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Graffiti Hackers Project


Just imagine: graffiti artists strike the internet. Tagging homepages and online portals like it were buildings or tunnels...

Let’s take it a step further: several graffiti drawings appear on the homepage of different renowned companies. On every website a different tag, made by over 10 artists in total.

This is the Graffiti Hackers Project. An initiative of WD81.

GHP

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Quick Links


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The full name for Methionylalanylthreonyl...leucine , the 2nd longest chemical name to be written down, containing 64,060 letters

Collaborative Poster: Giant Peach

Top 100 April Fool's Day Hoaxes of All Time

Open Source books 43% off at bookpool.com

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Poll finds Americans too sleepy for sex


Many Americans are so sleepy that they are having problems in their marriages, making mistakes at work and even going without sex, according to a report.

The poll by the National Sleep Foundation found that 75 percent of adults frequently have a symptom of a sleep problem such as frequent waking during the night or snoring. But few believe they have a sleep problem and most ignore it.

reuters

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Cocaine, Not Octane Found in Car's Tank


A reliable family car suddenly developed a tendency to decelerate, leading to the discovery that it had been driven for years with $40,000 worth of cocaine stashed in the gas tank.

AP

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Women Allege Witchcraft Used As Treatment


Two women have filed lawsuits claiming a psychologist at an Illinois hospital used witchcraft during treatments and threatened patients.

The lawsuits allege Delnor-Community Hospital did not stop the unorthodox treatments. One seeks more than $50,000 and the other more than $1 million.

wtev

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Dinosaur Dung Display a Big Hit at Museum


A display of dinosaur dung is turning out to be the big draw at a local museum. Frank Callahan, the past president of the Roxy Ann Gem & Mineral Society which owns and operates the Crater Rock Museum housing the fossilized feces, suggests it be labeled "coprolite."

AP

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Image of Christ Seen in Bathroom Door


It seems images of Jesus or the Virgin Mary are showing up in everything from tree trunks to grilled cheese sandwiches. Now it's in a piece of wood taken from a bathroom door.

firstcoastnews

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