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Top news on 17 October 2009 |
Ethanol Refinery Turns Wood Chips Into Fuel
Biofuel developer Coskata opened a new refinery in PA this week and says the ?semi-commercial? operation will demonstrate technology the company says can turn almost any biomass - including trash - into ethanol.
10 Most Annoying Things About Dining Out
We've all encountered an uninformed waiter fumbling through explanations of the specials, a manager who refused to correct some mistake, or watched staff members fawn over those at the next table while ignoring yours. Here are the ten most annoying things about dining out.
There's Losing Streaks, And Then There's Losing Streaks
La Salle-Peru High in La Salle, Illinois has played Geneseo High in football every year?sometimes twice a year?since 1919....and lost every single time. A 90-year losing streak. So they were probably pretty happy when they won last week.
2012: Less Recession! More Inflation!
Dennis DiClaudio picks the winning team for 2012. The Balloon boy and Mechan McCain's Boobs.
AP Asks If Obama Is "Obnoxiously Articulate"
Political reporters have now toggled from worrying that Obama gets "too much" media coverage to asking whether he is "too" good at communicating through the media. Maybe even obnoxiously good. Maybe even -- here comes that loaded word from the primaries -- too articulate.
World's oldest submerged town dates back 5,000 years
There is more than a whiff of Atlantis about the story of Pavlopetri - the world's oldest submerged town.
Just in Time for Halloween: The World's Deadliest Foods
Think last night's burrito made you sick? Even the worst food poisoning from that shady taqueria won't compare to some of these deadly eats.
Murdoch Fired Liberal Pundit. Attacking Obama Boosts Ratings
Asked about the White House's recent suggestion that Fox News is acting like an arm of the Republican Party, Murdoch simply said at a shareholders meeting that the criticism has "tremendously increased their ratings."
?Known Software Bug? Causes Drama During Brain Tumor Zapping
The maker of a life-saving radiation therapy device has patched a software bug that could cause the system?s emergency stop button to fail to stop, following an incident at a Cleveland hospital in which medical staff had to physically pull a patient from the maw of the machine.
Sex Excuse Bingo
Sometimes girls treat sex like Forrest Gump treats talking to strangers: regardless of the circumstances, they just refuse to give it up.
Proposed Anti-Piracy Legislation is Flawed, ISP Says
Cheered on by the music industry, the UK government is desperately trying to tackle the issue of online piracy.
Cash for Oldsters from the Obama Administration
A $250 bribe to help the ObamaCare medicine go down.
Cheetah, Gecko and Spiders Inspire Robotic Designs (PICS)
The wonders of the animal kingdom are not just for fans of National Geographic. Robotic designer Sangbae Kim, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is trying to understand how he can take some of the mechanisms animals use and replicate them in robots.
Vampire Movie Timeline: The Highs and Lows Before Twilight
Take a look back at the two decades of movie vampires that preceded the "sparkly" ones - a period that offers some awesome fanged films ... and a few that should have stayed buried.
How To: Be An Astronaut, the down side
Here?s the secret they don?t tell you about space travel: It hurts. Spacesickness is common, particularly for first-timers and anybody who launches into a bunch of fancy spins or soaring across the station before they?ve had time to get acclimatized.
Why Dogs Don't Like Halloween
Just look at all the crazy dog costumes!
Did Digg Buy Kevin Rose?s "WeFollow" Twitter Directory?
The following image is from the footer of WeFollow.com on March 22nd, not long after they launched. You?ll notice that the copyright is attributed to WeFollow.
Best Buy Opens First 24/7 Store - Game on!
On the ever-so-spooky Friday the 13th in November, the company's first-ever 24-hour location will open in the heart of New York City. The 48,000 square foot store will be located on the corner of 14th Street and 4th Avenue, right smack dab in the midst of historic downtown Manhattan?s Union Square.
Large Hadron Collider gets colder than deep space
The Large Hadron Collider experiment has reached its operating temperature, colder even than deep space.
Microsoft discusses Wii-esque Project Natal branding
While we may be nervous about Microsoft's Project Natal branding strategy -- remember, that's just a codename -- the suits in Redmond share no such concern. That's because the Natal project is following Nintendo's lead in more ways than just easy-to-play, motion-based technology. It's also following Nintendo's branding strategy.
Canadian health care - it's their right
In Canada, health care is viewed as a human right, not a commodity, as it is viewed in the U.S. Though there is increasing pressure in Canada to enlarge the private sector's role in medical services, Canada maintains its publicly-funded Medicare system.
10 Kids' movies that aren't for kids
Movies that either accidentally or deliberately embody a fundamentally adult understanding of the world, an ironic or tragic or frankly frightening picture of life that will either terrify the youngest viewers or sail right over their heads.
Bank of America Posts a Loss and Misses Forecast
After reporting big profits over the last six months, Bank of America reported a net loss of $1 billion in the third quarter as growing numbers of consumer loans soured and the bank paid millions of dollars to wean itself off government life support.
In-App Sales & iTablet: The Killer Combo to Save Publishing?
Apple on Thursday made a subtle yet major revision to its App Store policy, enabling extra content to be sold through free iPhone apps. It?s a move that immediately impacts the publishing industry, and it could pay even bigger dividends if the Cupertino company indeed delivers its highly anticipated touchscreen tablet.
The 10 Best YTMND Single-Serving Sites Of All Time - A Guide
YTMND (You're The Man Now Dog) is a creative community that, like the forums 4chan and Fark, starts a lot of internet memes that spread to YouTube and blogs. The first was founded in 2001 to commemorate the precise moment in Finding Forrester that Sean Connery lost his remaining dignity, but more sites grew later, and some remain gems to this day.
Why The Office Isn't The Show It Used To Be
When it started, The Office was a show about regular people like you and me working in a dead-end job at a generic company. Now, it looks like Jim and Pam are the only normal ones in the bunch. Every other character on the show has turned into an over-the-top caricature of those personality quirks that used to make them relatable.
Brutal Legend is Smart Marketing
If we are to look back in a decade, or if someone decides to do a Top 10 list of the best video game designers, I hope Tim Schafer is on that list.
Google ready to open wallet again after stellar 3Q
(AP) -- Google Inc.'s earnings and stock price are soaring again - and so is the Internet search leader's optimism.
Hydrogen Fuel Cells Aren't Quite Dead Yet
Like Mark Twain said of his misapplied obituary, the report of the death of the hydrogen fuel cell is an exaggeration. And no wonder: Take the universe's most abundant element, hydrogen, pass it and air through an on-board fuel cell, and produce electricity to power our cars.
The Most Ridiculous Fines in the United States
Society functions on a set of rules and regulations that are typically designed for our benefit and well-being as a community ? whether we like them or not, laws are in place to promote the greater good. However, every so often a nit-picky law is put in place that makes little sense to the greater public concern.
16 Most Entertaining Age Lopsided Relationships in Movies
The trend didn't begin with Ashton and Demi and it won't end just because Roman Polanski was brought to justice. This world is rife with lovers who find age is nothing but a number. Here are the 16 Most Entertaining Age-Lopsided Relationships in Movie History!
'Simpsons' Letting Fans Design New Character For Show
Fox is launching a new contest where for the first time ever fans can design a new Simpsons character that will appear on the show.
Pirate Bay Takes Bias Claims to Supreme Court
Two of the main judges appointed to the upcoming Pirate Bay appeal have been accused of a conflict of interest, since they have both been members of pro-copyright groups. The appeal court decided that the judges are not biased, but the defense has announced that it will take the case to the Supreme Court, which is likely to delay the trial.
Cell's Powerhouses Dismantled
Using yeast, Kris Gevaert from VIB/Ghent University and colleagues from the universities of Freiburg and Bochum have succeeded in making virtually the complete inventory of all the proteins in the mitochondria, the energy producers found in every cell.
Polanski finishing film 'The Ghost' in jail
Film director Roman Polanski is completing his latest film from prison in Switzerland, says screenwriter Robert Harris.
iRobot Unveils Morphing Blob Robot (w/ Video)
iRobot's latest robot is unique on many levels. The doughy blob moves by inflating and deflating - a new technique its developers call 'jamming.' As the researchers explain in the video below, the jamming mechanism enables the robot to transition from a liquid-like to a solid-like state.
Oaksterdam: How Oakland is Leading Marijuana Legalization
Welcome to Potopia. A nine-block section of downtown Oakland, Calif., has become a modern marijuana mecca?and a model for what a legalized-drug America could look like.
Will Linux be the dominant OS for consumer electronics?
Linux Foundation executive director Jim Zemlin says that mobile convergence will boost Linux adoption because the open source operating system is the ultimate enabler of consumer electronics.
Guy finds missile launcher ? finding owner not so easy
A Web application developer was out cutting trees on his Texas property when he stumbled across the weapon: ?I don?t know if it fell out of something or if somebody just dumped it. There?s some crazy whitetail hunters around here. Maybe they?re going overboard??
Ford employee arrested for stealing trade secrets for China
A Ford employee has been charged with stealing its trade secrets for the Chinese, according to the U.S. Attorney. He has been charged with theft of trade secrets, attempted theft of trade secrets and unauthorized access to a protected computer.
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