LOTD for November 30

Department of Homeland Security is still apparently planning to spend $1.2 bil on radiation detector machines that aren’t ready for deployment and aren’t working properly…even though 1.5 years ago DHS claimed that they were already ready for operation. The Senate is understandably upset with the delays and wasted money:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/19/AR2007111901743.html

The new $2 trillion agreement we have with China for goods from China asks China to tighten their product safety standards:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/11/28/BUQ9TJS1V.DTL

The analyst said that AT&T disclosed the 3G iPhone coming next year, which cost AT&T and Apple a possible $1 BILLION in deferred (and possible lost) sales of current iPhones…because AT&T is upset at Apple after finding out that Apple will be teaming with Google in the 700 MHz auction!
http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/2007/pulpit_20071129_003521.html

Looks like Google is announcing that WILL be bidding in the 700 MHz spectrum auction:
http://www.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUSN2925934120071130?feedType=RSS&feedName=internetNews

Here is Google’s announcement:
http://www.fiercewireless.com/press-releases/google-will-apply-bid-700-mhz-auction?utm_medium=nl&utm_source=internal

Motorola’s CEO resigned:
http://www.fiercewireless.com/press-releases/motorola-names-greg-brown-chief-executive-officer-succeeding-edward-j-zander-who-rema?utm_medium=nl&utm_source=internal

Sprint declined a $5 bil investment by SK Telecom and a private equity firm:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119636928059308359.html?mod=telecommunications_primary_hs

Media CEOs are Facebook and Blackberry users:
http://www.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUSN2924742620071130?feedType=RSS&feedName=internetNews

Turns out that the reports that a cell phone battery explosion killed a Korean man was just media hype:
http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9826508-7.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20

LOTD for November 29

Google is expanding in a BIG way…by supporting alternative energy research. This is being funded by Google’s philonthropic arm…which has $2.3 bil at its disposal!
http://www.rdmag.com/ShowPR.aspx?PUBCODE=014&ACCT=1400000100&ISSUE=0711&RELTYPE=MS&PRODCODE=00000000&PRODLETT=AW&CommonCount=0

http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20071128/news_1b28google.html

http://web20.telecomtv.com/pages/?newsid=42284&id=e9381817-0593-417a-8639-c4c53e2a2a10

Google Maps for Mobile has enhanced location-based services. Note that GPS capability is not needed on the cell phone, as Google Maps can find the location via cell towers:
http://www.informationweek.com/blog/main/archives/2007/11/google_talks_up.html

http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/11/28/Google-service-uses-cell-towers-to-locate-users_1.html?source=NLC-WIRELESS&cgd=2007-11-29

Gmail works fine on the iPhone but has big problems on Windows Mobile:
http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/11/27/Gmail-works-fine-on-iPhone-blanks-on-Windows-Mobile_1.html?source=NLC-WIRELESS&cgd=2007-11-29

The Swiss are going to use UAVs to look for hooligans during soccer matches:
http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/blogs/defense/index.jsp?plckController=Blog&plckScript=blogScript&plckElementId=blogDest&plckBlogPage=BlogViewPost&plckPostId=Blog%3a27ec4a53-dcc8-42d0-bd3a-01329aef79a7Post%3a10fd59c6-5698-43d1-a154-a439d8ced106

Houston police test UAVs, probably to catch speeders:
http://www.click2houston.com/investigates/14659066/detail.html

Virginia karate holds a contest with her young students to see who can take the most kicks to the stomach…and she kicks an 11-year-old *200 times* in the stomach! The kid had to go to the hospital with broken ribs and some other internal injuries…
http://blog.wired.com/defense/2007/11/video-fix-kid-g.html

The Army is apparently trying to buy their own Air Force…540 UAVs:
http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/blogs/defense/index.jsp?plckController=Blog&plckScript=blogScript&plckElementId=blogDest&plckBlogPage=BlogViewPost&plckPostId=Blog%3a27ec4a53-dcc8-42d0-bd3a-01329aef79a7Post%3ae4ca8935-2746-4e59-929c-c7640054290b

Boeing successfully tested its new system for encrypted communications with satellites:
http://hsdailywire.com/single.php?id=5130

Foot-and-mouth disease could cost Kansas a billion dollars!
http://hsdailywire.com/single.php?id=5126

Verizon selected LTE for their 4G standard…earlier this year Verizon had mentioned WiMAX as a possibility for their 4G network:
http://www.fiercewireless.com/press-releases/verizon-selects-lte-4g-wireless-broadband-direction?utm_medium=nl&utm_source=internal

Verizon’s new open-access policy is praised by many of its former critics:
http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/11/28/Verizon-Wireless-open-network-earns-praise_1.html?source=NLC-WIRELESS&cgd=2007-11-29

Spint was hit with a class-action lawsuit because it charges cell phone taxes on data card users…which is incorrect! Sprint admitted the error but refused to give refunds, which prompted the lawsuit:
http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/14710429/detail.html

AT&T says that a 3G iPhone is coming in 2008:
http://blogs.barrons.com/techtraderdaily/2007/11/28/at-the-churchill-club-att-ceo-randall-stephenson/

CarPhone Wireless has apparently been lying to customers to get them to buy insurance on their iPhones:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7115830.stm

TerreStar might bid in the 700 MHz auction to become a wholesale provider of wireless network capacity:
http://www.mobile-tech-today.com/story.xhtml?story_id=13100CVR5OB0

WiMAX might be dead or near dead in Australia:
http://www.telecomweb.com/tnd/25830.html

NTT is partnering with Nintendo in Japan to push fiber-optic broadband connections for the Nintendo Wii:
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9595_22-6220426.html

Top schools are welcoming private ventures:
http://www.rdmag.com/ShowPR.aspx?PUBCODE=014&ACCT=1400000100&ISSUE=0711&RELTYPE=LD&PRODCODE=00000000&PRODLETT=AY

An exploding cell phone battery apparently killed a man in South Korea:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7117014.stm

LOTD for November 28

Verizon FiOS now has a commercially available 15 Mbps uplink and downlink capacity…with an upgraded service available at up to 30 Mbps downlink speeds! FiOS is available in Orange County and Riverside…coming soon to San Diego!
http://rfdesign.com/military_defense_electronics/news/lead-story/company_introduces_service_1128/index.html

Department of Homeland Security is focused on detecting bombs–I liked the “tricorder for evil” reference:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-11-26-bomb-detection_N.htm

Google appears to be preparing for the 700 MHz Auction and asked the FCC for some clarifications:
http://www.marketwatch.com/News/Story/Story.aspx?guid=%7BD2BBBCF6-A267-41F6-9B26-297E77223DA6%7D&siteid=nbi

An unlocked iPhone costs only $964 in France, much less than the $1500 it costs in Germany. But locked or unlocked, iPhones cannot be used for VoIP calls, reading newsgrounds, sharing files, or as a modem for a computer in France:
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,140043-c,iphone/article.html

Guitar Hero is sure selling well!
http://www.gamespot.com/news/6183425.html

You can actually take a college class that is part of a bachelor degree plan via *cell phone* in Japan!
http://www.9news.com/news/watercooler/article.aspx?storyid=81808

Shaking cellphones reveals what’s inside–that you Steve for the video link!

LOTD for November 27

Verizon Wireless to go open access:
http://www.fiercewireless.com/press-releases/verizon-wireless-introduce-any-apps-any-device-option-customers-2008-0?utm_medium=nl&utm_source=internal

Question over whether or not WiMAX is too risky now:
http://rfdesign.com/next_generation_wireless/news/wimax_too_risky_1126/index.html

Visitors to the US will have all 10 fingerprints taken now:
http://hsdailywire.com/single.php?id=5119

This poor person was tased for arguing a traffic ticket (caught on video)…the video is amazing!:
http://blog.wired.com/defense/2007/11/more-taser-abus.html

Some people die after being tasered (2 examples in this article), and some people are like this guy who has been tasered 50 times!
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5i_qln4UXVmKbqgq42Tcis4BRjxuw

Interesting analogy between Lebanon and Microsoft Windows:
http://www.back-to-iraq.com/2007/11/lebanons-operating-system.php

Al Gore’s site supporting his film was hacked:
http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/11/26/Another-inconvenient-truth-Al-Gores-Web-site-hacked_1.html?source=NLC-GOV&cgd=2007-11-27

LOTD for November 26

Analysis suggests that the facility that Israel blew up in Syria might not have been making a nuclear bomb…instead, it might have been to make a plutonium bomb, a much bigger problem!
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/926815.html

It is interesting that in the early 1980s we have 120 natural disasters per year and now we are at 500 natural disasters per year! Rising green house gas emmissions causing climate change are blamed in this article:
http://www.oxfam.org/en/news/2007/pr071125_climate_change_hits_poor_hardest

The company (Topps Meat) that was forced to recall 21.7 mil pounds of tainted ground beef products just went out of business:

Click to access Final_10_5_07_Topps_Release.pdf

French and German laws require that unlocked iPhones be made available:
http://web20.telecomtv.com/pages/?newsid=42233&id=e9381817-0593-417a-8639-c4c53e2a2a10

It is amazing that Apple is unlocking iPhones via iTunes…all it takes is a software update to unlock the iPhone!
http://www.macrumors.com/2007/11/26/german-iphones-unlocked-by-itunes/

France’s new President wants to have people who download music, movies, or other content without paying for it *banned from using the Internet*:
http://web20.telecomtv.com/pages/?newsid=42246&id=e9381817-0593-417a-8639-c4c53e2a2a10

Taiwan made a handheld PC that has WiMAX access:
http://www.techworld.com/mobility/news/index.cfm?newsID=10742&pagtype=samechan

SK Telecom is being forced by the South Korean government to expand its WiBro network:
http://www.telecomskorea.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4719&Itemid=2

It looks like T-Mobile will roll out 3G service in the US next week!
http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2007/11/22/mobile-going-3g

Nokia found that women are better multitaskers than men:
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/27613.php

Has a deal been basically agreed upon to end the writer’s strike soon?
http://www.deadlinehollywooddaily.com/dare-we-hope-a-deal-has-been-struck/

LOTD for November 21

Alion just released a solution that continuously evaluates company’s security situation and security policies:
http://www.countermeasures.com/index.htm

It appears that the NSA might have put a secret back door into a new encryption protocol…and it runs 4x slower than other alternatives probably because of that:
http://hsdailywire.com/single.php?id=5086

T-Mobile is selling an unlocked version of the iPhone in Germany for $1477 due to the lawsuit over exclusivity:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7105683.stm

List of the best selling cell phones in the US: RAZR has the top 2 spots, iPhone is at #4:
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/27577.php

After having WiBro service (not too different than 16e, what Sprint and Clearwire plan to bring to the US) up for 17 months in Korea, SK Telecom has…less than 1000 customers!
http://www.telecomskorea.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4719&Itemid=2

Article about how WiBro’s failure in Korea and Sprint’s backing away from WiMAX are bad signs for WiMAX:
http://techdirt.com/articles/20071120/124606.shtml

The Software Defined Radio Forum just revealed their 3 “smart radio challenge” winners:
http://rfdesign.com/military_defense_electronics/news/sdr-forum-smart-radio-challenge-1121/?cid=rfd112107

The most difficult toy to find this Christmas? The Nintendo Wii:
http://apnews1.iwon.com//article/20071121/D8T1OFK00.html

Firefox 3 Beta 1 was released on Monday with some interesting new features:
http://apnews1.iwon.com//article/20071121/D8T22AT00.html

Facebook users are not happy with how their purchases are being shown to their friends:
http://apnews1.iwon.com//article/20071121/D8T299IG0.html

A middle school principal is donating a kidney to one of his students:
http://apnews1.iwon.com//article/20071120/D8T1M1R00.html

High definition VoIP systems may be coming soon:
http://weblog.infoworld.com/realitycheck/archives/2007/11/voip_transition.html?source=NLC-REALITYCHECK&cgd=2007-11-21

Scientists found a fossil of an ancient sea scorpion that was about 8 feet long and as big as a car!
http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/science/11/20/biggest.bug.ap/index.html

LOTD for November 20

Industry panel casts doubt on WiMAX and says that HSPA is now the broadband standard–the conclusion was that HSPA’s ecosystem has unstoppable momentum:
http://web20.telecomtv.com/pages/?newsid=42219&id=e9381817-0593-417a-8639-c4c53e2a2a10

Vodafone’s lawsuit caused a big problem for T-Mobile’s iPhone plans…turns out that the exclusive deal iPhone gave T-Mobile might be illegal in Germany:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7103383.stm

A math error could pose a huge security threat–cyptography could be overcome with a simple algorithm in this case and placing the entire global e-commerce system at risk simultaneously. The guy giving the warning is the “S” in “RSA”:

Electrical Engineer used computer simulations to come up with a formula that improved the detection of IEDs by 75%:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/18/AR2007111801106_pf.html

New laser fingerprint scanner eliminates the need for dusting for fingerprints:
http://technology.newscientist.com/article/dn12931-laser-fingerprint-scanner-does-away-with-dusting.html

The US granted a record number of student Visas:
http://hsdailywire.com/single.php?id=5067

Discover evaluated the 8 ways to blow up a satellite:
http://discovermagazine.com/2007/dec/the-8-ways-to-blow-up-a-satellite

Unnamed foreign companies received $20 bil over the past 3 years for work in Iraq and Afghanistan. That is even more than Halliburton got($16 bil)! Blackwater has made a lot of news but they only got $485 mil in that period, placing them just 12th highest on the list:
http://www.publicintegrity.org/wowII/

Looks like the bogus IED zapper by Ionatron is getting money from JIEDDO and the Army even though their equipment is so flawed and limited that it has to be within 3 feet of an IED to work. Even worse, when it was tested in Afghanistan it failed miserably and their old contracts were cancelled…so why are they getting more money now?
http://blog.wired.com/defense/2007/11/in-2006-the-pen.html#more

Robots are now being inspired by animals in nature–check out the salamander robot video!
http://www.newscientist.com/blog/technology/2007/11/taking-inspiration-from-nature.html

SIP services are expected to account for $150 bil in revenue over the next 5 years:
http://web20.telecomtv.com/pages/?newsid=42221&id=e9381817-0593-417a-8639-c4c53e2a2a10

More on Amazon’s Kindle electronic book. It is interesting that it uses Sprint’s EV-DO network for downloads, which are included in the service:
http://www.dailytechrag.com/story/amazon-reveals-kindle-ebook-reader/2007-11-19

LOTD for November 19

Study (possibly biased) found that wireless hackers are a bigger problem than shoplifters!
http://www.unstrung.com/document.asp?doc_id=139346

The actual 4G wireless spectrum being reserved worldwide runs from 698 to 806 MHz:
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/2ece0dd2-962c-11dc-b7ec-0000779fd2ac.html

GSM operators will be pushing LTE for that spectrum:
http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/11/15/GSM-group-backs-LTE-for-mobile-broadband_1.html

AT&T says that it ins’t worried about Google Wireless, pointing out that providing cellular service is a capital-intensive business. Has AT&T seen the amount of cash that Google is sitting on? They can’t spend it all it seems and they keep making tons more!
http://gigaom.com/2007/11/19/att-wireless-google/

Interesting analysis about how Google Wireless could be a big problem for the incumbent cellular carriers:
http://weblog.infoworld.com/robertxcringely/archives/2007/11/google_spectrum.html?source=NLC-NOTES&cgd=2007-11-19

T-Mobile had to pull the Motorola Sidekick Slide because whenever the slide feature was used the phone would reboot! That design flaw also hapens with Motorola’s Slide phone in Australia. How did this feature not get found before? The Sidekick Slide will miss the entire Holiday Shopping season!
http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/t_mobile-pulls-sidekick-slide/breaking-t+mobile-pulling-sidekick-slide-from-product-line-323962.php

It looks like Garmin did a great job last week–they forced Tom Tom to increase its bid for Tele Atlas from $2.5 bil to $4.2 bil, signed a deal to guarantee access to Navteq’s maps for the next 10 years (so, they don’t need Tele Atlas), and got Tom Tom to agree to settle patent disputs in exchange for pulling out of the bidding for a company they didn’t need anymore! Garmin’s whole product line is based on Navteq, so it would have been less than ideal for them to buy Tele Atlas anyway…but the thought of losing Garmin as a customer probably prompted Navteq to be reasonable with the deal:
http://techdirt.com/articles/20071116/105507.shtml

Earthlink may completely pull out of the muni-WiFi market or sell off the unit–amazing how things changed from last year where Earthlink dominated all the big muni-WiFi networks:
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/27514.php

China really isn’t doing much about electronic recycling:
http://apnews1.iwon.com//article/20071119/D8T0JI080.html

I cannot believe that this AP photographer has been held in a US military prison in Iraq for 19 months without being charged with any crime yet! The military cannot figure out why they are holding him, as each theory they have floated so far has been discredited:
http://apnews1.iwon.com//article/20071120/D8T148900.html

VoiceofSandiego.org is an interesting new newspaper–online only, non-profit, “every penny of their budget is spent hiring reporters”. They appear to be taking away significant readership from the San Diego Union-Tribune, with the SDUT having the 2nd-worst drop in circulation among the top 25 newspapers in the US. They have NO marketing budget, they give all the money to the reporters and rely on the quality of the reporting to attract readers…and as they get more readership ,the reporters will be getting more money:
http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/content_display/digitaldownload/broadband/e3i2f0e6b205e816e63c9b3a2d52f9a4a5e

Amazon has an electronic reading device called Kindle that is supposed to look and feel like a book (it weighs 10 ounces) and 90,000 books are available for download at launch:
http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/content_display/digitaldownload/mobile/e3i00b2353c4d0fb93cbe542724a85ed8be

LOTD for November 18

British nuclear weapons were protected by *bike locks*, no fancy security codes! The UK is the only country that can launch a nuclear attack without the right code being sent to fire a weapon:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/newsnight/7097101.stm

http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2007/11_november/15/newsnight.shtml

People working in the intelligence field are not supposed to reveal anything about themselves…but the guy who is now the most senior UK intelligence person has (had) a website up that revelaed his home address, phone numbers, and private photos of himself, family and friends. I guess he’s a Dead Head and likes to windsurf, going by his website:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/11/16/nbreach116.xml

Researchers slow light down to store memory on light instead of electrons. This could increase the speed of optical networks like the Internet by 1000%!
http://hsdailywire.com/single.php?id=5059

The Chinese Communist Party has tight control of China’s industry and they do not care if they acquire technology via illegal means. Chinese espionage is considered the “single greatest risk to the security of American technologies”:
http://hsdailywire.com/single.php?id=5063

THe UN is opening up the TV spectrum for 4G wireless services *everywhere in the world*! So, one frequency band will work worldwide for 4G wireless communications:
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gz48_4bW7K5g6d6KNK1CDp5dVS3wD8SUBK182

They have found that our enemy in Iraq is adapting quickly, with Engineering training obtained overseas (I’m guessing in the US). Thank you Eric for the article!
http://www.infoshop.org/inews/article.php?story=20060105084723125

Vonage lost its $120 mil lawsuit with Verizon…Verizon gets $117.5 mil and charities get $2.5 mil:
http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/17/vonage-loses-appeal-now-owes-verizon-117-5-million/

Looks like Google is serious about bidding for 700 MHz spectrum and they may do it alone instead of partnering with a wireless company:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119517445580795065.html?mod=technology_main_whats_news

Garmin pulled out of the bidding for TeleAtlas after the bidding just got too crazy:
http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/newstex/AFX-0013-21044032.htm

Big scientific study found a link between wireless communications and the rise in autism:
http://www.emediawire.com/releases/2007/11/emw570198.htm

President Bush vetoed the National Institutes of Health budget:
http://www.rdmag.com/ShowPR.aspx?PUBCODE=014&ACCT=1400000100&ISSUE=0711&RELTYPE=LST&PRODCODE=00000000&PRODLETT=S&CommonCount=0

The Cleveland Indians, NY Mets, Boston Red Sox, and soon the Chicago White Sox all use the ProBatter pitching simulator:
http://www.rdmag.com/ShowPR.aspx?PUBCODE=014&ACCT=1400000100&ISSUE=0711&RELTYPE=SOFT&PRODCODE=00000000&PRODLETT=W

CBS will be providing free WiFi to midtown Manhattan soon:
http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/content_display/digitaldownload/mobile/e3i76626e51c49f8a0ae22d8d62898d1715

I cannot believe that a couple of families, led by adults, would purposely torment a 13-year-old girl on MySpace…leading to her suicide. The tormentors were neighbors who must have known the girl suffered from depression:
http://apnews1.iwon.com//article/20071117/D8SVCDSG2.html

US teens prefer IM over e-mail…and both over actually talking with the opposite sex. It is scary that 46% of US teens say that they text message while driving!
http://web20.telecomtv.com/pages/?newsid=42209&id=e9381817-0593-417a-8639-c4c53e2a2a10

I think that this school system in Maryland is the first that I know of that threatened jail to parents if their kids didn’t get their shots:
http://apnews1.iwon.com//article/20071117/D8SVL0MG0.html

3/4 of the farm workers in the US are here illegally:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-farmworkers7oct07,1,7969394.story

The Vatican bought a professional soccer team and their fans are now forbidden to taunt or insult the other team:
http://www.dotdsports.com/2007/10/god-bought-soccer-team.html

Chinese lawsuits are REALLY discouraging people from helping those in need. I cannot believe that someone who picks up a stranger to take them to a hospital would automatically be assumed to have caused that person’s injuries!
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/opinion/2007-10/20/content_6193261.htm

It is interesting that the US has already spent twice as much (even after adjusting for inflation) to rebuild Iraq than it did to rebuild Japan after WWII:
http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2007/10/iraq_billions200710?currentPage=6

According to this study, Miami and San Diego have the most attractive residents while Philly, DC, and Dallas/Fort Worth have the least attractive residents. This is even with me bringing San Diego’s average down!
http://www.travelandleisure.com/afc/2007/pressrelease.cfm

A British study found that swearing in the workplace actually helps morale:
http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2007/10/17/swearing-study.html?ref=rss

A sack containing $15,000 in cash fell out of an armored car and the bag burst open, scattering the money everywhere. People went wild gathering the money…and returned all they found to the armored car driver!
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/071101/koddities/oddity_traffic_cash

I wonder how many of these $1000 bagels the Westin New York sells:
http://kdka.com/watercooler/bagel.1.000.2.537871.html

Junior High girl punished for hugging a friend whose parent had just died, because Alabama school rules forbid physical contact:
http://www.wsfa.com/Global/story.asp?S=7321841

This couple was celebrating their 1-year wedding anniversary when they were driving and a 600-pound cow fell off a 200-foot-high cliff onto their Buick! One thing that the guy said (not in this article) was: “I tell my wife, ‘It’s a cow!’ It’s raining cows out here, man!”
http://www.newsnet5.com/news/14523968/detail.html

It is intersting that they found that porn on the Internet actually seems to reduce the number of rapes that occur. Apparnetly Internet porn sites provide an outlet for potential predators so they do not have to resort to rape:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/chi-oped1104chapmannov04,1,7432359.column?ctrack=1&cset=true

A study found that fat cells produce hormones that promote the growth of cancer cells, and directly links fat (and certain things like processed meats such as hot dogs, bacon, and pepperoni) to cancer:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2007-10-31-cancer_N.htm

University of Utah researchers have found that by just altering one gene in worms they could turn the gene from straight to gay!
http://www.reuters.com/article/scienceNews/idUSN2535476120071025

French scientists have actually found out how to take a nonlethal piece of HIV andhelp people with genetic diseases. So, HIV actually reprograms genes to be healthy and the results have been “exceptional.” The first beneficiaries of this treatment were two 7-year-old boys with adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD), a fatal disorder caused by a mutation on the X chromosome in certain blood cells. The bone marrow was taken from the boys, the partial AIDS virus reprogrammed the genes in their bone marrow, and after chemo killed their defective bone marrow the modified marrow was returned to the boys. The boys grew new marrow and blood cells, 20 to 30% of which were healthy and normal, which offers hope to people with ALD. If there are no serious side effectrs in the coming months (remember, they used HIV on the cells!), they might be able to use this HIV technique to treat sickle cell anemia, leukemia, and so on. Sorry this summary was so long, but they make you pay for the aritlce:
http://www.nature.com/news/2007/071030/full/news.2007.204.html

LOTD for November 16

The Agricultural Department approved the use of carbon monoxide gas to keep old cuts of meet looking red and fresh, even though the scientists that worked for the meat companies that wanted the approval said that their safety tests were questionable. Carbon monoxide gas can make 2-year-old ground beef look like it is fresh beef! I’m glad that Safeway will no longer sell the gassed meats…but this has been going on for over 3 years and I never heard about it before:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/13/AR2007111302016.html

Apparently there is a good reason that armed gunmen attacked that South African nuclear facility twice recently–they were trying to grab certain computers that apparently have the information about South Africa’s nuclear research. Terrorists would probably pay a lot of money for the instructions on how to make nuclear bombs and all of the studies South Africa has done in that area:
http://blogs.thetimes.co.za/hartley/2007/11/13/shocking-new-information-on-sa-nuke-attack/

Microwave pulses demonstrated to stop moving cars–potential application for police car chases and military security. Trouble is, any elevators or ATMs, etc. in the area will also stop working:
http://www.technologyreview.com/Infotech/19699/?nlid=662&amp&a=f

Applied Physical Devices (Austin, TX) is getting $2.5 mil to develop electronic pulse power to defeat IEDs. The same technology can potentially kill cancer cells, clean poluted air, etc.:
http://hsdailywire.com/single.php?id=5048

Smart antenna startup Pinyon Technologies (based in Reno) just got its first round of funding ($1.2 mil) from George Lauro of Alteon (I’m assuming this is an angel investor and not a venture capital company):
http://yopresto.com/CMS/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=14&Itemid=49

Verizon is providing free calls for troops stationed in Iraq during the Holiday season:
http://www.fiercewireless.com/press-releases/verizon-business-provides-free-calling-during-holidays-u-s-troops-iraq?utm_medium=nl&utm_source=internal

YouTube will start to make high quality videos available to people with fast enough internet connections:
http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9817732-7.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-5

The Nintendo Wii has the most downloadable games:
http://www.gamepro.com/news.cfm?article_id=147928

The Australian government came up with an interesting way to cut down on speeding by men:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7045178.stm

This is an old story, but I forgot to include the news before about the Pittsburgh man who tried to use a fake $1 mil bill:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,300323,00.html

Interesting scientific study found that lap dancers made a lot more money when ovulating and made half as much when having their period.
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19626255.100-lap-dancers-on-heat-are-the-ones-to-watch.html

I found it very interesting that expensive running shoes increases the risk of injury by 123% while the shoes in the cheapest category were the best shock absorbers, offering more protection against shin splints and joint pain:
http://www.newscientist.com/channel/being-human/dn12776-cheaper-running-shoes-win-comfortably.html

Interesting New York Times article about spoof ads on Craigslist–the one about a “spectacularly beautiful woman” seeking a husband who makes more than $500k per year really does stand out: