LOTD for February 28

Court official was arrested by the FBI on charges that he had sex with an accused prostitute after promising he would get the charges against her dismissed if she provided sex:
http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2009/02/chelsea_court_o.html

Dayton mother was arrested on charges of breast-feeding while driving her other kids to school. She was actually breast-feeding AND talking on her cell phone while driving! She says she did nothing wrong and won’t change her behavior:
http://www.whiotv.com/news/18813161/detail.html

Gov. Palin is a prominent supporter of abstinence-only sex education, but her 18-year-old daughter Bristol (who had a child in December) said that the abstinence that her mom preaches is “not realistic at all”:
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2009/02/16/2009-02-16_sarah_palins_daughter_bristol_palin_says.html

40% of US workers have dated an office colleague, with 31% of them going on to marriage:
http://www.reuters.com/article/lifestyleMolt/idUSTRE5197GD20090210

Des Moines County is faced with a $1.7 mil deficit and they have come up with an idea to raise money that I’ve never heard of before…charging prison inmates for toilet paper!
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20090213/NEWS/902130350

France passed a civil union law a decade ago, where it was expected that gay couples would benefit from the law…but now 92% of their civil unions are by heterosexual couple, many who now have marriage-like ceremonies. One reason why civil unions are preferred by many is that they can avoid a costly divorce proceeding if they break up. 1/6 of civil unions end when the couple gets married:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/13/AR2009021303365.html

Woman sued Disney for limiting the number of times that she could ride the Tower of Terror ride, saying that she needed repeated rides (dozens of times every Saturday) for therapy for her abdominal adhesions:
http://www.onpointnews.com/NEWS/Pain-Patient-Sues-Disney-over-Thrill-Ride-Therapy.html

LOTD for February 27

The former head of the Coalition forces in Afghanistan says that the Afghanistan war could continue until 2025:
http://blog.wired.com/defense/2009/02/the-15-year-pla.html

Withdrawing our troops from Iraq is huge logistics problem, especially considering all of the equipment our troops have in Iraq:
http://blog.wired.com/defense/2009/02/the-logistics-o.html

This report about how a lot of equipment will be left in Iraq for the soldiers who will remain indicates that the logistical problem won’t be as bad as thought:
http://blog.wired.com/defense/2009/02/us-troops-may-b.html

A Pakistani colonel was apparently involved with the Mumbai attacks:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article5806381.ece

Pres. Obama’s FY 2010 budget shows his administration’s homeland security and intelligence priorities:
http://www.securitymanagement.com/news/obama-outlines-homeland-security-and-intelligence-priorities-2010-budget-005268

The US Army is interested in sticky foam to stop hostile vehicles:
http://hsdailywire.com/single.php?id=7511

Two scientists have been in a fierce competition to see who can make the best bionic suit for American soldiers. The scientist in Utah had a big advantage because he had Raytheon backing his group, but the Berkeley scientist just got Lockheed to back his group. It is amazing that these bionic suits can enable a soldier to carry up to 200 pounds without much effort and run 10 mph:
http://hsdailywire.com/single.php?id=7512

This article seems to indicate that the Berkeley Bionics/Lockheed team is ahead right now in this work:
http://nextbigfuture.com/2009/02/incredible-hulc-lockheed-exoskeleton.html

I’m still surprised that the oldest batch of weapons-grade plutonium was found inside a glass jar buried at a dump in Washington State! One good thing is that the technique used to discover that plutonium can be used as a tool in nuclear forensics:
http://hsdailywire.com/single.php?id=7507

Commercial ships emit almost half as much particulate matter pollutants into the air as the total amount released by the world’s cars:
http://cires.colorado.edu/news/

In times of starvation, cells actually can eat themselves! This process is called autophagy, and when it malfunctions it can result in infectious diseases, as well as cancer, Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s disease:
http://www.rdmag.com/ShowPR.aspx?PUBCODE=014&ACCT=1400000101&ISSUE=0902&RELTYPE=LST&PRODCODE=00000000&PRODLETT=NE&CommonCount=0

This technique can regenerate nerves severed in accidents or blood vessels damaged by disease by using spun-sugar, a process like making cotton candy!
http://news.uns.purdue.edu/x/2009a/090226ShiNerves.html

The Obama administration is proposing to add spectrum licensing fees, as detailed in the budget they just released:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-10173072-94.html

For some reason, the BlackBerry Bolds sold in Japan have a heat problem and had to be taken off the market. The article also shows how the iPhone’s market share went from 30.1% in the 3Q to 22.3% in the 4Q:
http://web20.telecomtv.com/pages/?newsid=44591&id=e9381817-0593-417a-8639-c4c53e2a2a10&view=news

http://www.informationweek.com/blog/main/archives/2009/02/too_hot_to_hand.html

http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/192/1051192/blackberry-bold-hot-handle

Man lost his phone when it slipped out of his pocket and went into the sea…a week later a fisherman found the phone inside of a huge cod fish, and it still worked!
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article2277640.ece

LOTD for February 26

The Obama Administration released the outline of their FY 2010 budget for the DoD:
http://blog.wired.com/defense/2009/02/obama-administr.html

They appear to have found the location of a genetic material needed to cure MS! It is awesome that they have finally found the genetic material that can fully restore all the functions required for correcting a dystrophic muscle and turning it into a normal muscle!
http://www.physorg.com/news154893866.html

Inexpensive, mass-produced solar cells made from plastics would have a chance to accelerate solar adoption worldwide:
http://www.rdmag.com/ShowPR.aspx?PUBCODE=014&ACCT=1400000101&ISSUE=0902&RELTYPE=MS&PRODCODE=00000000&PRODLETT=MM&CommonCount=0

Solar companies had been really hurt by the weak economy, but the stimulus package gives them hope for their future:
http://www.technologyreview.com/business/22228/?a=f

This could become a serious problem for intelligence agencies: encrypted VoIP:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/02/26/cellcrypt_government/

This surprised me–most hacking of websites is due to political or cultural reasons instead of financial gain:
http://www.infoworld.com/article/09/02/26/Hackers_Ideology_trumps_profit_when_it_comes_to_Web_site_attacks_1.html?source=NLC-DAILY&cgd=2009-02-26

I’m surprised that the top-selling handset in December was *not* the iPhone or the BlackBerry Storm…instead, it was the BlackBerry Curve!
http://www.fiercewireless.com/slideshow/top-handests-december?utm_medium=nl&utm_source=internal&cmp-id=EMC-NL-FW&dest=FW

Nokia is planning to release a Linux-based laptop in 2011. The article also has very interesting information for Android:
http://www.unwiredview.com/2009/02/25/secrets-mwc09-nokia-sparrow-android-30-luxury-android-from-motorola-and-more/

HDTV via WiFi in a home is coming this year:
http://telephonyonline.com/video/news/hdtv-wifi-0225/

The 802.11n standard will finally be ratified in 2010:
http://www.wi-fiplanet.com/news/article.php/3806341

This software really goes after people who steal laptops:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jn731LT6lkmSHoQcMYIPuycI9hIAD96IT5LG4

The NBA borrowed $200 million because 15 of its teams needed loans due to current economic conditions:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/feb/26/nba-set-to-acquire-175-million-line-of-credit/

Nice story about parents working to make sure that their kids keep up with school. I love how the writer’s 7-year-old asked for a dog and he told her that she could have a dog when she published a paper in a peer-reviewed journal! Father and daughter worked together and 2+ years later they were able to get their dog:
http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/25/this-is-no-picnic-for-me-either-buster-obama-and-outliers/

Denver man was seriously injured when he pushed 3 people out of the way of a truck, possibly saving their lives. Instead of publicly celebrating his sacrifice, they gave him a jaywalking ticket! Couldn’t they have at least waited until he got out of the hospital before giving him the ticket?
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29406078/

The Rocky Mountain News was put up for sale in December, but since no buyer came forward they all of a sudden announced that they were folding and their last paper will come out tomorrow!
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2009/feb/26/rocky-mountain-news-closes-friday-final-edition/

LOTD for February 25

The foundation for a quantum computer has been demonstrated, the central element of a two-atom CNOT quantum logic gate:
http://www.rdmag.com/ShowPR.aspx?PUBCODE=014&ACCT=1400000101&ISSUE=0902&RELTYPE=PHOT&PRODCODE=00000000&PRODLETT=LE&CommonCount=0

The crash of this satellite really hurts NASA’s ability to monitor Earth and its environment:
http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/feb/25/1n25satel004924-nasa-satellite-crash-impairs-clima/?uniontrib

Two compounds have been found that protect against cerebral palsy:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/02/090225091529.htm

Metamaterials have reached the terahertz range:
http://www.rdmag.com/ShowPR~PUBCODE~014~ACCT~1400000100~ISSUE~0902~RELTYPE~MS~PRODCODE~00000000~PRODLETT~BG.html

Using four antennas in a random configuration can boost communications for first responders. I’ve actually studied similar things to this before at Texas elsewhere, but didn’t have the over-the-air results like they have here:
http://hsdailywire.com/single.php?id=7492

The future looks good for independent research–many areas of R&D see bipartisan support for increased funding:
http://hsdailywire.com/single.php?id=7491

The Army Corps of Engineers has found 114 more levees (in 16 states) that fail maintenance inspections, with such poor conditions that it can be “reasonably forseen” that the levees will not perform properly in a major flood. Thousands of levees in the US do not have any federal oversight, so the problem is probably much worse than this already scary report details:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2009-02-23-levees_N.htm

Iran is really determined to get nuclear bombs…in addition to their uranium path to nuclear bombs, they have just opened a plutonium reactor that could give them a plutonium path to a nuclear bomb:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/feb/25/iran-reactor-bushehr-trial

Toyota is planning to build an ultralight, superefficient plug-in hybrid with a body made of seaweed:
http://blog.wired.com/cars/2009/02/toyota-makes-pl.html

Microsoft blames netbooks for its reduced sales of Windows. Linux has 30% of the netbook market, and those users also don’t buy Office, so that is a big problem for Microsoft:
http://www.infoworld.com/article/09/02/23/Why_netbooks_are_killing_Microsoft_1.html?source=NLC-MOBILEHARDWARE&cgd=2009-02-25

The rapid increase in the use of smartphones coincides with the rapid increase in malware targeted for smartphones:
http://weblog.infoworld.com/mobile_pulse/archives/2009/02/keep_your_smart.html?source=NLC-MOBILEHARDWARE&cgd=2009-02-25

Search marketing spending is expected to increase significantly in times of recession–advertising dollars apparently get their best bang-for-the-buck there:
http://www.brandweek.com/bw/content_display/news-and-features/digital/e3i195c363ab252f976a2dabde4d8ef2549

Nice use of technology in Fresno to help avoid auto accidents in foggy conditions:
http://urgentcomm.com/mobile_data/news/technology-helps-tule-fog-0225/

Three teenagers stole a safe containing antique money from one of their parents. They were caught when one of them tried to exchange a $1,000 bill…since $1,000 bills haven’t been printed since 1945, the bank figured out something was up:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29385566/

The host of the TV show Amazing Race is cycling across the country to promote healthy living and call attention to MS. He plans to average 100 miles per day and hopes that people join him on his route:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29386083/

Orlando man impersonated a police officer, pulled someone over for speeding, and then called the police for backup:
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/breakingnews/orl-lakefalse-cop-021909,0,7709319.story

LOTD for February 24

The Department of Energy cannot accurately account for nuclear materials at 15 locations…considering that they only reviewed 40 locations with nuclear materials, that is pretty bad! Not being able to find significant quantities of uranium and other material is unacceptable! This audit was follow-up to problems that were found in 2001, and the problems haven’t been fixed over these 8 years:
http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=42100&sid=60

A common household bacteria might be the key to a cure for anthrax:
http://hsdailywire.com/single.php?id=7481

It looks like the VH-71 Presidential Helicopter program could get cut by Pres. Obama, as costs have been getting out of control on that program over the past 3 years (going from $6.1 billion to $11.2 billion):
http://blog.wired.com/defense/2009/02/arrivederci-vh.html

The Navy is trying to give away its stealth ship to a museum but nobody seems to want it:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123543023154353525.html#project%3DSLIDESHOW08%26s%3DSB123506358018524221%257Csection%253DUS%253Aslideshow%26articleTabs%3Darticle

Nokia is offering voluntary resignation packages to almost all of its employees, with the program remaining open until 1,000 employees have taken the package:
Press release

Interesting to see the trend of wireless subscribers in the US last year. Verizon has had a steady climb (with a big boost from its acquisition of most of Alltel), AT&T has had a steady climb, with Sprint having a steady drop:
http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/carrier-metrics-total-subscribers/2009-02-24

Sprint reported a $1.6 billion loss in the fourth quarter of 2008, losing 1.3 million subscribers in the quarter! Most of the subscribers Sprint lost were former iDEN customers:
http://urgentcomm.com/networks_and_systems/news/sprint-nextel-fourth-quarter-losses-0220/

Customers looking for deals at Circuit City can get burned when their merchandise is damaged…Circuit City will not replace or repair the damaged product and manufacturers are not responsible for products that are damaged:
http://www.thebostonchannel.com/asseenon5/18773855/detail.html

75% of consumers feel that being able to recycle the packaging that products come in is important:
http://www.brandweek.com/bw/content_display/news-and-features/packaging-and-design/e3ieda4f2f47125746d31795a5d71b981b8

Dunkin’ Donuts is testing out using worms to help its recycling efforts:
http://www.brandfreak.com/2009/02/dunkin-donuts-hires-80-pound-of-worms-to-lead-recycling-effort.html

LOTD for February 23

Quiznos is giving away a million subs–just go to this link and sign up for a coupon for a free sub. No purchase necessary, just print out the coupon!
http://millionsubs.com/

Nuclear waste is piling up at US hospitals. Without a way to track and inspect the multitude of locations that have nuclear waste, they are worried that the containers with nuclear waste will accidentally or on purpose show up on eBay, flea markets, or be sent to landfills or metal recycling plants. We currently have millions of radioactive devices in use with no long-term plan to dispose of them…in the past 10 years, 4,363 radioactive sources have been lost, stolen or abandoned:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26891309

Another person in Vietnam died of the bird flu–10 provinces in Vietnam now have bird flu outbreaks:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gZ14JCgxgAuwrQ03soELx23Z2rtQ

The good news is that scientists might have found a treatment that works against the bird flu *and* most strains of the seasonal flu! They hope to make a vaccine that prevents the bird flu and the regular strains of the flu…no more annual flu shots! All virus strains have the peptide machinery, so if a vaccine can target that then it could eliminate all viruses!
http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/feb/23/1n23vaccine003717-flu-virus-neutered-new-therapy/

http://www.burnham.org/default.asp?contentID=688

Half of the vehicles in the Future Combat System may be cut:
http://defensenews.com/story.php?i=3958936&c=FEA&s=CVS

Instead of outsourcing these IT jobs overseas, IBM is opening a center in Iowa–taking advantage of the lower salaries for programmers and other professionals there (average salary will be in mid-$40k range):
http://www.infoworld.com/article/09/02/23/IBM_plans_IT_center_in_Iowa__and_job_applications_pour_in_1.html?source=NLC-DAILY&cgd=2009-02-23

Republicans are pushing a bill to force all internet providers and WiFi access point providers (even coffee shops and home users!) to keep records about user’s web surfing for two years! Every home with a WiFi access point, even those that have password protection? Every hotel? How are they going to make that feasible for users that barely can install plug-and-play APs? Some Democrats tried this 3 years ago, so this bill unfortunately has support from elements of both parties…the idea might be nice in theory, but in practice it would raise costs significantly and possibly end free WiFi from coffee shops and other locations and turn millions of citizens with WiFi APs into criminals:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10168114-38.html

IEEE 802.11v should be finalized next year, but if current products cannot be upgraded to support it then it will be a long time before enterprise network managers will be able to fully utilize its capabilities:
http://www.informationweek.com/news/mobility/wlan/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=214501938

Telstra is the first mobile operator to be able to offer mobile broadband speeds that can hit 21 Mbps, via HSPA+. The Australian company will hit 42 Mbps by next year:
http://www.telecomasia.net/article.php?id_article=12447

Commentary discussing the IP battles that are expected to take place over LTE, as so many companies have patents relating to LTE:
http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/whats-store-lte-wimax-ipr-year/2009-02-23?utm_medium=nl&utm_source=internal&cmp-id=EMC-NL-FW&dest=FW

One reason that Nortel is in financial trouble right now–they bought Alteon for $7.8 billion for its network application delivery product and have to sell it now for just $17.65 million!
http://www.networkworld.com/news/2009/022009-radware-to-snap-up-nortels.html?hpg1=bn

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/Business/Alteon+deal+worth+just+Nortel+says/1317489/story.html

Huawei’s Android-based smartphone is coming to T-Mobile in the 3Q of this year:
http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20090223PD213.html

http://www.slashgear.com/huawei-android-devices-hitting-t-mobile-in-q3-2009-2335365/

LG has a watch phone that is waterproof and is HSPA-enabled with a touchscreen, bluetooth headset, and video calling:
http://www.mobilemarketingnews.co.uk/LG_Watch_Phone_First_To_Orange_2009021711062524.html

It had been expected that WiMAX would be used for fixed broadband access for rural customers in the US…but CenturyTel will be covering them with LTE instead:
http://www.fiercebroadbandwireless.com/story/centurytel-target-rural-broadband-customers-lte/2009-02-22?utm_medium=nl&utm_source=internal&cmp-id=EMC-NL-FW&dest=FBW

Facebook is trying to figure out how to make money and may start a tax or revenue sharing with Facebook application companies soon:
http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/content_display/news/digital-downloads/search/e3i6c21c5456af552195a02a4d38e37d6ea

14-year-old girl was arrested when she refused to stop text messaging in her math class. I hate that students are text messaging in class now, but don’t see why the police had to be called in–couldn’t standard discipline be used? The student was suspended from school for a week and was caught sneaking into school twice during the suspension:
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/36173.php

Be careful when using your cell phone or wireless card to surf the web when when you are docked on a cruise ship, even if you are at a US port! This guy was on a cruise ship that was docked in Miami and watched a Chicago Bears game before they set sail, where his AT&T phone wasn’t even in roaming mode…and AT&T hit him with a $27,789 bill for that wireless session!
http://www.usatoday.com/travel/cruises/item.aspx?type=blog&ak=63222417.blog

Royal Caribbean has the only mega-ship stationed on the West Coast, offering 7-day cruises to Mexico. This ship has 50% more rooms than any other ship in the West Coast, which means that they have a lot of rooms to sell and hopefully there will be great cruise deals!
http://www.usatoday.com/travel/cruises/item.aspx?type=blog&ak=63106431.blog

This guy went on that mega-ship and blogged about it with some nice photos:
http://www.joshfriedmantravel.com/blog

LOTD for February 22

Really cool story about how these guys met Shaq because they followed him on Twitter. It is awesome that he was so nice to them, and that he tipped his waiter $200. For anyone who doesn’t know, the Google phone referred to in this post means that Shaq has a G1 phone:
http://sesquipedalis.blogspot.com/2009/02/finally-use-for-twitter.html

Amazing story about how a high school team won the championship a year after 7 of their players died in a car accident. The only crash survivor from that team scored 25 points in the championship game, won the game MVP, and wore the number 7 in honor of his late friend:
http://www.totalprosports.com/blog/index.php/2009/02/bathurst-high-school-basketball-team-triumph-after-tragedy/

Employees are more likely to steal from their employers when times are tough…but I cannot believe how a man would steal 32 laptops from his company and put them on eBay! Or a VP charging $4000 of Victoria’s Secret lingerie (not for his wife) to his corporate credit card!
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/09_07/b4119052687973.htm?chan=top+news_top+news+index+-+temp_companies

The Honda Civic GX (which runs on natural gas) was named the greenest car in America, with the Prius coming in second:
http://blogs.edmunds.com/greencaradvisor/2009/02/aceee-dubs-honda-civic-gx-greenest-car-for-6th-year-prius-in-second-place.html

Pretty amazing that this prehistoric whale apparently lived in the water but gave birth on land:
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/loom/2009/02/03/the-backward-whale/

The first step towards Star Trek-type transporters was achieved when quantum mechanics was used to transport atoms from one spot to another, using the principle of entanglement. This can’t be used on people yet because people have too many atoms to keep track of for now…but since they can do it for atoms now, I’m sure they will work on expanding the capabilities quickly and it will be interesting to see what they can come up with in the future! Of course, their current technique fails most of the time, so they have to get that success rate up before they can use it on anything living!
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/03/science/03teleportation.html?fta=y

This seems like a great alternative to gastric bypass surgery–the “gastric condom” avoids any surgery at all…it is inserted in the mouth and get into the stomach. Once there, it reduces the amount of nutrients that the body can absorb, so the body takes in less calories even though the person doesn’t change his/her eating habits! It can be removed in just 10 minutes by tugging on a drawstring! It has already been shown to work in rats and in a trial with 150 people…it rapidly reverses type II diabetes, even before the rapid weight loss takes place. If the more extensive human trial is successful, this can literally change the lives of a lot of people, providing a much cheaper, surgery-free alternative to gastric bypass surgery:
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20126936.300-gastric-condoms-could-help-obese-avoid-surgery.html

Study found that all the experiences a mother has, even as a child, affects the biology of her offspring. Events that occur decades before a mother gives birth can affect her kids for their entire lives!
http://www.physorg.com/news152905156.html

Study (of 4,100 healthy non-depressed adolescents) found that each hour per day that a teenager watches TV has a statistically significant greater likelihood of developing depression in young adulthood:
http://health.yahoo.com/news/reuters/us_teen_tv_depression.html

LOTD for February 21

The Fermi telescope discovered the biggest ever gamma ray burst ever detected:
http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2009/02/19/gamma-ray-burst.html

Prisoner with a history of mental illness used a razor blade to try to castrate himself:
http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20090220/NEWS01/702209870&news01ad=1#Monroe.prisoner.amputates.own.penis

This is a great story about sportsmanship in a high school basketball game:
http://highschool.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=914609

It is nice to read that the Nerds at Heart dating service in Chicago is finding matches:
http://www.suntimes.com/lifestyles/wiser/1420181,CST-FTR-find09.article

PhD student sued his school (Leeds University) because two years ago they accidentally threw away the 77-pound bag of lizard dung that he had been collecting for his PhD thesis. He’s already completed his thesis, but he’s upset at the small amount of money he was offered as compensation for them throwing away that 77-pound bag of Butaan lizard dung:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/4524671/Student-in-legal-threat-over-excrement-blunder.html

A virus swept through Chile’s farmed salmon stock last year, killing millions of salmon. A closer look at the industry found that Chilean producers use 3 chemicals on their salmon that are supposed to be banned in the US. The farmed fish from Chile are sold in a lot of US stores, including Safeway:
http://www.iht.com/articles/2009/02/05/america/chile.1-423359.php

Honor student in a Colorado high school didn’t realize that she had had 3 fake rifles (used by her young Marines drill team) in her trunk. She parked her SUV on campus, violating a Colorado law (passed after the Columbine tragedy) that calls for expulsion if any student brings anything on campus that resembles a firearm (even a water pistol can get you kicked out of school!):
http://www.denverpost.com/ci_11693756?source=rss

Thankfully the school superintendent decided to overlook the law and let her go back to school. I think that by then the student had been suspended for 10 days, but at least she can finish the school year and graduate:
http://www.denverpost.com/ci_11698834

LOTD for February 20

It was thought that it would take a year or so for Iran to enrich enough uranium for a bomb…but it turns out that they already have a stockpile of enough uranium for a nuclear bomb!
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/1093a340-feef-11dd-b19a-000077b07658.html?nclick_check=1

An estimated 25% of Americans suffer from food poisoning each year!
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hVYMqqan0wdFQcODAzfk2rdj0GQAD96ET68G0

Researchers have found a way to turn a relatively benign virus into a technique that completely cured human cystic fibrosis lung tissue in culture. If animal trials go well, this could potentially be the cure for cystic fibrosis that so many have dreamed of:
http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2009/02/17_schaffer.shtml

Chinese auto company wants to be the world’s leader in electric cars:
http://www.rdmag.com/ShowPR~PUBCODE~014~ACCT~1400000101~ISSUE~0902~RELTYPE~IDN~PRODCODE~00000000~PRODLETT~KE.html

This new solar concentrator technology is targeting to get to less than $1 per watt by 2011 (2x to 3x cheaper than current solar options) and close to 30% efficiency (50% better than most current options):
http://www.technologyreview.com/computing/22204/page1/

Trials have begun for these new flexible, organic solar cells that can be printed like money! A banknote printing company is printing the solar cells for the trials:
http://www.rdmag.com/ShowPR.aspx?PUBCODE=014&ACCT=1400000101&ISSUE=0902&RELTYPE=MS&PRODCODE=00000000&PRODLETT=JW&CommonCount=0

Sprint’s stock rose sharply yesterday after the news came out that they will have the Palm Pre exclusively at least through 2009:
http://www.cnbc.com/id/29282064

Comcast’s 4Q profit was way down due to their write-down on their Clearwire investment:
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/36122.php

http://www.rcrwireless.com/article/20090218/WIRELESS/902189974/1082/comcast-bullish-on-clearwire-despite-q4-earnings-hit

Gov. Palin owes taxes on the $18k or so she charged the state of Alaska for living in her home:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29274669/

I guess Pres. Obama likes the Brickbreaker game that comes with Blackberry phones:
http://mobilesyrup.com/2009/02/19/15000-president-obamas-brickbreaker-high-score/

Free pancakes at IHOP from 7am to 10pm on Tuesday! They are raising money for Children’s Hospitals, so there will be donation jars set out…we like supporting Children’s Hospitals anyway, so this gives us a great way to send in our donation:
http://www.ihoppancakeday.com/

LOTD for February 19

Spending on UAVs is expected to total over $62 billion over the next 10 years, with annual spending doubling over the next decade:
http://news.prnewswire.com/ViewContent.aspx?ACCT=109&STORY=/www/story/02-17-2009/0004973602&EDATE=

Article about the base in Pakistan the US is using to launch UAVs:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article5755490.ece

Iran claims that it has developed a long-distance UAV that can reach Israel:
http://www.voanews.com/english/2009-02-18-voa33.cfm

The Air Force is adding the “Gorgon Stare” to its Reaper UAV–the $15 million sensor covers a 4km radius and can simultaneously look at 12 different angles due to its 12 cameras:
http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2009/02/airforce_WAAS_021609/

The 1.8 Gigapixel camera that DARPA is developing for the special forces has 92 cameras on the UAV:
http://blog.wired.com/defense/2009/02/gigapixel-flyin.html

The latest TSA airport security measure is a device that is supposed to sense hostile *intentions* in people. Instead of scanning baggage the device will scan emotional baggage:
http://ohmygov.com/blogs/general_news/archive/2009/02/17/homeland-security-reading-terror-on-people-s-faces.aspx

Calculations show that the rocket Iran used was more advanced than had been thought–Iran now apparently has the launch capability to deliver nuclear warheads to Europe:
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16619-evidence-is-mounting-that-iran-used-beefedup-rocket.html

Google Earth shows US UAVs at Pakistani bases:
http://blog.wired.com/defense/2009/02/pak-press-shows.html

Normally this data from NASA satellites would be ignored, but these scientists studied the ocean images and found oil:
http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/oilslick.html

Study found that these new solar cell materials could significantly reduce the cost of solar photovoltaics, potentially leading to widespread adoption of solar power:
http://www.rdmag.com/ShowPR~PUBCODE~014~ACCT~1400000101~ISSUE~0902~RELTYPE~MS~PRODCODE~00000000~PRODLETT~JC.html

Article on how the economic downturn has hurt WiMAX deployments:
http://www.fiercebroadbandwireless.com/story/wimax-deployments-hit-hard-economic-downturn/2009-02-18?utm_medium=nl&utm_source=internal&cmp-id=EMC-NL-FBW&dest=FBW

Article on how to use an iPhone as a wireless laptop modem:
http://www.pcworld.com/article/159627/article.html

Windows 7 beta testers are complaining that Microsoft is ignoring their feedback and this article concludes that it is being rushed to market without adequate testing or even acknowledgement of beta tester feedback:
http://weblog.infoworld.com/enterprisedesktop/archives/2009/02/windows_7_cutti.html?source=NLC-DAILY&cgd=2009-02-19

The mother of the octuplets lives at her mother’s home, but they apparently couldn’t afford to support her 6 kids (that isn’t counting the 8 more she just had!) because the house may be in foreclosure. The 33-year-old Mom couldn’t afford a home of her own AND has been relying on food stamps and Social Security payments for her kids…but she spent $100k on fertility treatments to get her 14 kids!
http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/feb/19/1n19octuplet231659-octuplets-grandmother-may-lose-/?uniontrib

German man was arrested for trying to smuggle *40 tons* of coral harvested off the coast of the Philippines into the port at Portland:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29222985/

If anyone reading this watches the Bachelor (I have never seen an episode), there are some major spoilers in this article!
http://community.livejournal.com/ohnotheydidnt/32322883.html#cutid1