From javilk at mall-net.com Tue Apr 4 23:00:02 2006 From: javilk at mall-net.com (javilk@mall-net.com) Date: Tue Apr 4 23:07:08 2006 Subject: [Mad-Scientists] Trade publications Message-ID: <20060405060002.58829.qmail@mall-net.com> I don't know about you; but I learned more by subscribing to free trade publications than from attending College. Any time I saw a free subscription card, I grabed it and subscribed. I was getting a foot and a half to a foot of magazines a month, reading them and passing them around to friends for discussion. Here's a site listing a bunch of free trade publications you can subscribe to. http://matweb.tradepub.com/free/ -J- (John, Javilk@mall-net.com) CAUTION: I'm no doctor, I only tell computers what to do. Nothing in this document should be construed as medical advice. My opinions are subject to the availability of information. I learn new things each day, and so may change my opinions. For long lasting relief, consult a doctor who practices orthomolecular medicine. Ask, and I'll recommend mine. Today's Art Photo Chem / Fungus allergies Dr. Cathcart / Vit C. Arthritis Another Javilk (tm) brand post. Copyright retained. Copyright (C) 2006, Javilk@mall-net.com . All rights reserverd. From Vesta111 at aol.com Tue Apr 11 08:25:10 2006 From: Vesta111 at aol.com (Vesta111@aol.com) Date: Tue Apr 11 08:25:26 2006 Subject: [Mad-Scientists] (no subject) Message-ID: <22b.9ee06d2.316d2456@aol.com> In a message dated 4/10/2006 12:01:51 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, clydelofton@yahoo.com writes: _http://www.sntp.net/education/education.htm_ (http://www.sntp.net/education/education.htm) Clyde sent me this, and It came at a very interesting time. I have a co-worker who waited until she was 40 years old or so to have a child. The boy is now 3 years old and began Head Start in the State of Maine. She received an emergency call from the school and had to leave work. The school recommended her little boy be put on Ritilin as they claim they cannot control him. His crimes include singing Jesus Loves Me in class, possibly offending children of other religions, his best friend a boy his age is black, this child has not yet had the chance to socialize with kids of other races--- He referred to the friend as "The little brown Boy ". Worse yet he knocked over a bunch of alphabet blocks and dropped a book on the floor. To remind you this is a 3 year old child. What does this tell the Boy ??? He is learning that his family's beliefs my offend others. If there are 20 Christians in his class and one Moslem, the minority, the one pupil must be catered to. He is learning that his observations and his thoughts on an unfamiliar race of people is bad. A 3 year old tells it like it is, they see it, they call it what a 3 year olds mind sees. As for the blocks, isn't that what blocks are for, to knock over ??? And who for heavens sake never dropped a book??? He is being taught that he cannot think for himself, must follow the herd. The minority rules, and one must cater to them. HUMMMMM sounds like our problems with the illegal's from Mexico. This minority are not immigrants, they expect us to cater to them, they have no plans to become Americans. They are in my mind just SLAVE LABOR to the business men who make a ton of money off them. Clyde hit a sore spot here when it comes to education, we spend too much time on making kids think like Adults and not enough time allowing them to be children and see the world from a different angle. The children can teach us so much if we take the time to listen. Regards Vesta The greatest gift I was given as a child, was the love of the written word. The greatest gift I was given as a child, was the love of the written word. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://Mad-Scientists.ORG/pipermail/mad-scientists/attachments/20060411/308e9f37/attachment.html From javilk at mall-net.com Tue Apr 11 12:59:02 2006 From: javilk at mall-net.com (javilk@mall-net.com) Date: Tue Apr 11 12:59:35 2006 Subject: [Mad-Scientists] (no subject) In-Reply-To: <22b.9ee06d2.316d2456@aol.com> from "Vesta111@aol.com" at Apr 11, 2006 11:25:10 AM Message-ID: <20060411195902.48172.qmail@mall-net.com> > She received an emergency call from the school and had to leave work. > > The school recommended her little boy be put on Ritilin as they claim they > cannot control him. No, it is that they can not control themselves. So small minded people, people unfit for the kind of education it takes to make even an accountant, much less an engineer or scientist. reach for the handiest tool they can to smash what they can not understand, to force people into straightjackets so they can control them. It is they, who can not show the kids anything interesting enough to inspire them. Remember, Edison was labeled addlebrained. Where would we be today, if he was put in a chemical straightjacket? Ford was variously labeled as nuts, a total failure, etc. Where would we be today, if Big Business railroads ran all transit, and th personal automobile was not developed? Management thought Noyce(?) was nuts too, making a small computer on a chip to do the functions of a terminal. It didn't sell well. Not initially. But eventually, the idea caught on, and that little struggling company he worked for, Intel... and the nutcase engineers at Micro Telemetry Instrumentation Systems, Inc, MITS, who created the Altair 8800, the first real home computer. (This, after IBM produced several; but decided they were not a real market.) It is the deviant, the insane people who drag the rest of humanity, kicking and screaming toward the future. Two friends of mine are special ed people. They have gotten kicked, broken bones, etc. from their charges. One is on disability from that. Yet they would never force kids on that medication. Well, being lesbians, they don't fit anywhere either. > Clyde hit a sore spot here when it comes to education, we spend too much > time on making kids think like Adults and not enough time allowing them to be > children and see the world from a different angle. The children can teach us so > much if we take the time to listen. This is why Europeans say that one can not be intelligent unless one knows several languages. Language shapes how you think. if you think on ly in terms of one language, you can not grasp things beyond that language. If you read but one book on a subject, you can not grasp things beyond that book, BELIEVING that the one book has to be right simply because you don't have any other examples. Language shapes our thoughts. Those who know multiple languages see different cultural viewpoints from those languages. I grew up in a home where three languages were spoken, the third very seldom, mostly to keep me from understanding. (I did grasp some of it.) This gave me the depth of multiple perspectives. The bottom line is, our education system is full of one-book true-believers. And they have created a cesspool with the help of the pharmaceuticals industry and our tendency to be "politically correct." It is that, not the Mongol hoards, which will overturn America. -J- (John, Javilk@mall-net.com) CAUTION: I'm no doctor, I only tell computers what to do. Nothing in this document should be construed as medical advice. My opinions are subject to the availability of information. I learn new things each day, and so may change my opinions. For long lasting relief, consult a doctor who practices orthomolecular medicine. Ask, and I'll recommend mine. Today's Art Photo Chem / Fungus allergies Dr. Cathcart / Vit C. Arthritis Another Javilk (tm) brand post. Copyright retained. Copyright (C) 2006, Javilk@mall-net.com . All rights reserverd. From creolescience at yahoo.com Mon Apr 17 15:41:26 2006 From: creolescience at yahoo.com (j s) Date: Mon Apr 17 15:41:33 2006 Subject: [Mad-Scientists] this is kind of old but still iinteresting, if you want to date a robot ; ) Message-ID: <20060417224126.13497.qmail@web36108.mail.mud.yahoo.com> http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4714135.stm --------------------------------- How low will we go? Check out Yahoo! Messenger?s low PC-to-Phone call rates. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://Mad-Scientists.ORG/pipermail/mad-scientists/attachments/20060417/b5cbe142/attachment.html From mbest at triad.rr.com Tue Apr 18 16:26:22 2006 From: mbest at triad.rr.com (Michael Best) Date: Tue Apr 18 16:26:27 2006 Subject: [Mad-Scientists] this is kind of old In-Reply-To: <20060418190001.AF82E3AA79@kang.vjc.com> Message-ID: <000601c6633f$81537e60$e4f31c18@mikey> > From: j s > Subject: [Mad-Scientists] this is kind of old but still > iinteresting, > if you want to date a robot ; ) > http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4714135.stm But have they developed a fully operational "Unit Coupling Interface" for this model? For the money that machine would cost, it better clean my house, fix my dinner, and tuck me in bed! If it can do that, then intelligent conversation is optional. And if it DOES talk, it had better have an "OFF" switch! -Mike From mbest at triad.rr.com Wed Apr 19 20:54:53 2006 From: mbest at triad.rr.com (Michael Best) Date: Wed Apr 19 20:55:04 2006 Subject: [Mad-Scientists] The fallacy of E85 fuel marketing Message-ID: <001b01c6642e$2f9cb470$e4f31c18@mikey> The USA consumed about 143 billion gallons of gasoline in 2005. (US DOE report) One acre of corn yields about 330 gallons of fuel-grade ethanol per crop. (http://healthandenergy.com/ethanol.htm) At one crop per year, and 85% replacement of petroleum with ethanol in motor fuel (E85), it will require 368 million acres of arable land be converted to fuel production to meet domestic demand, just for gasoline (at 2005 use levels). The total arable acreage in the entire United States is 375 million acres (http://www.numbersusa.com/interests/farmland.html), and decreasing rapidly as rural areas become suburban subdivisions. This is countered by increased yield per acre obtained with synthetic pesticides, herbicides, and genetically-engineered crops. Of course, Certified Organic sustainable agriculture has lower yields per acre. Now how do we feed 300 million Americans on but 7 million acres of farmland? Soylent Green, perhaps? We must overcome prion contamination issues first. Even if this Fermi analysis is off by a factor of two, the point is still valid: we will starve ourselves. This analysis only looks at the cost to our food supply of pursuing ethanol fuel. It does NOT look at the energy balance, which is negative. It takes more total energy to produce ethanol from corn seeds than the energy found in the product ethanol. More on this later. E85 is no solution; it is a marketing gambit. Catchphrases like "Renewable" and "Sustainable" make good ad copy for General Motors and Exxon, but do nothing to solve our clear and present energy problem. We cannot starve ourselves to feed our cars! Or perhaps we should- then we will need fewer cars! The only solution I see is to use those cars less. -Mike From javilk at mall-net.com Wed Apr 19 23:36:42 2006 From: javilk at mall-net.com (javilk@mall-net.com) Date: Wed Apr 19 23:36:55 2006 Subject: [Mad-Scientists] Re: The fallacy of E85 fuel marketing In-Reply-To: <001b01c6642e$2f9cb470$e4f31c18@mikey> from "Michael Best" at Apr 19, 2006 11:54:53 PM Message-ID: <20060420063642.30269.qmail@mall-net.com> This is interesting, but is not the only thing we need concern ourselves regarding E85 -- 85% Ethanol "gasoline". > The USA consumed about 143 billion gallons of gasoline in 2005.=20 > (US DOE report) > > One acre of corn yields about 330 gallons of fuel-grade ethanol per > crop. 143,000,000,000 / 330 = 433,333,333 acres required. > At one crop per year, and 85% replacement of petroleum with ethanol in > motor fuel (E85), it will require 368 million acres of arable land be Highly impractical. Ethanol is variously reported as 20% more energy efficient to 35% less energy efficient in terms of energy required to grow and produce it. So this will not eliminate the need to import crude oil. At best, it would cut imports of crude oil by 20%. At the very best! Converting ALL our farmland to ethanol production! > The total arable acreage in the entire United States is 375 million We also need to eat, as you point out. And ethanol would require just about all our arable land be converted to a mono-crop, which depletes the soil, renders the entire production subject to THE SAME insect pests, etc. etc. (Oh yes, Roundup ready corn from Monopoly Santos working hand and foot with Art and Dan Monylanders Corp. How cozy.) But the real problem is that Ethanol produces MORE pollution than regular gasoline. And a large portion of that pollution is partially combusted ethanol -- Acetaldehyde! Acetaldehyde is what makes people drunk. It is the prime pollutant in today's reformulated gasoline which causes many of us MCS people trouble. If your Cytochrome detox systems are not fully operational, acetaldehyde will get you. It gets me. First come the subtle problems, reduction in brilliance as short term memory starts to fade; then problems with coordination, and finally, major memory deficits. When we were on MTBE, the partial combustion product was formaldehyde. You know what it did to some of us. Acetaldehyde is not that bad, but the volume is several times that with 10% ethanol. Can you imagine what will happen when we increase it by a factor of 8? The interesting question, the problem which may limit E85 adoption, will be whether a person can drive an hour or two in E85 traffic and still remain sober. I believe a noticeable portion of the population would fail the drunk driving test after Route 101 rush hour (park hour) traffic here in the San Francisco Bay area. Not to mention our Silicon valley really becoming more of a Silly Clone valley, as some of the high brows become mildly drunk and ineffective at their jobs simply because of the air pollution. This is the brain work capitol of the country. If anything starts shrinking people's short term memory, this place will start failing! Badly! > The only solution I see is to use those cars less. Unfortunately, that is not an option. The automobile has given us too much freedom to give up. Mass transit does not work, and has never really worked for the masses. Yes, it works fairly well for downtown areas; but you can't get everyone TO the trolly stations unless most of the streets have FREQUENT service, and most people work relatively nearby. Sure, New York has it's subways. Ever been in them? I have. Either you are a strap hanger, standing squashed in the isles; or you are afraid of who's going to get on at the next stop. Remember Bernard Gets? Remember Slewa's red beret wearing Guardian Angels patrolling the subways? Crime! Not nice places to be! You are far safer in your car. (I've used the trains and busses to various short projects in San Francisco on occasion too. No fun here either!) What the megalopolis' have now, is people who drive a fair distance to transit stations (Train, Bart, etc.) and then take mass transit to work. Without the cars, they would not be able to get to the transit stations. And these folks get paid rather well for their work; they are far from an average income. It is that which motivates them to take that awful, crowded, time wasting ride vs more prosaic local work.) Mass transit has only worked well when most of the workers worked at home. Historically, most of the families had only one person as the breadwinner, thus cutting the number of transported people nearly in half, and a large portion of the population was either within walking distance of work (hence the narrow row houses), or worked in and around the home, as most farm related and sales related workers did. You lived over the store or saloon you ran, next to your blacksmith's shop, etc. Local labor, local services, local products. And employment for the same firm for most of your life. It was a nice stable, if somewhat constricting society. Today's culture is different. We change jobs every three or four years. Our jobs can be close this year, far next year, making it hard to know where to live. Many people drive an hour to work these days. Nor was mass transit safe in those days. The high entry and exit numbers on trolly cars cost quite a few people arms and legs on falls. But to sustain the numbers of mass transit users in cities, getting on and off had to be more casual than today. It was also a much less time obsessed culture we lived in back then. Perhaps if we adopt a lot more telecommuting, this may improve. But so far, industry does not favor telecommuting till they run out of office space, as they did during the Dot Com boom. And telecommuting is basically white collar work. You can't telecommute if you work on a production line or in a store. So that cuts out a huge portion of the people right there. Still, there is nothing like walking around the company to meet your fellow workers, discuss the impacts of what you are doing with others who will be affected, etc. You can't do that if you telecommute. Groupware networking isn't the same as walking about. When IBM built a software research and development lab, they built it as a a bunch U shaped corridors jutting out of central cores. Energy wise, that is about the most inefficient building design you saw -- lots of outside walls! When you got assigned to a project, and your office would be moved so all of the people on the project were in offices as close together as possible. The length of the corridor was the distance an average person would prefer to walk instead of using the phone to ask a question. This got discussions going, and that was the most productive software development lab at IBM. I spent over a year working here. We talked! We got things done, real hard things! You can't get that kind of team spirit via telecommuting. (White collar work.) Telecommuting is just not that productive. It does not even work well unless the team spends weeks getting to know each other first, so there is less hesitation about picking up the phone and calling your co worker for a discussion, adding another party or two when needed, etc. So for many things, we are stuck moving bodies around. And since meetings are often spread across large areas, we need the car. Heck, in some of the IBM, SGI, and Cisco places I've worked, we needed cars just to get from our offices in one building to a meeting in another building on the same campus! Nevermind the after-work meetings, special interest groups, lectures, classes, etc. that many of us really have to attend to broaden our education and further our careers. The car. It's too useful to give up without major restructuring of our society; restructuring that would reduce our ability to compete with the rest of the world, reduce our effectiveness and our ability to earn American style wages. -J- (John, Javilk@mall-net.com) CAUTION: I'm no doctor, I only tell computers what to do. Nothing in this document should be construed as medical advice. My opinions are subject to the availability of information. I learn new things each day, and so may change my opinions. For long lasting relief, consult a doctor who practices orthomolecular medicine. Ask, and I'll recommend mine. Today's Art Photo Chem / Fungus allergies Dr. Cathcart / Vit C. Arthritis Another Javilk (tm) brand post. Copyright retained. Copyright (C) 2006, Javilk@mall-net.com . All rights reserverd. From mbest at triad.rr.com Thu Apr 20 09:36:09 2006 From: mbest at triad.rr.com (Michael Best) Date: Thu Apr 20 09:36:24 2006 Subject: [Mad-Scientists] The indispensable automobile (WAS: RE: The fallacy of E85 fuel marketing) In-Reply-To: <20060420063642.30269.qmail@mall-net.com> Message-ID: <006501c66498$883acf80$e4f31c18@mikey> > From: javilk@mall-net.com [mailto:javilk@mall-net.com] > Sent: Thursday, April 20, 2006 2:37 AM > The car. It's too useful to give up without major > restructuring of > our society; restructuring that would reduce our ability to compete > with the rest of the world, reduce our effectiveness and our ability > to earn American style wages. The Car. We cannot live without it, but we cannot live with it in its present form. We cannot continue to import petroleum to feed it; we cannot continue to deal with its waste products polluting our world. The car needs an overhaul. We need to remove the prime mover (engine) from the car, and place it far, far away. That remote prime mover needs to be pollution free, large enough to produce power for millions of cars, have great economies of scale while producing a portable energy transfer medium that can be used by The Car for propulsion. I see two transfer media at present, electricity and hydrogen. One is here now, and well proven. The other has just crossed the horizon into view. And how to produce the energy for transfer, without the use of fossil fuels or generating pollution? Nuclear energy, of course. Wind water, waves and solar combined simply haven't the ability to produce the energy equivalent of 143,000,000,000 gallons of gasoline. The alternatives are to starve ourselves growing fuel crops or gag ourselves with pollution. -Mike From javilk at mall-net.com Thu Apr 20 12:48:35 2006 From: javilk at mall-net.com (javilk@mall-net.com) Date: Thu Apr 20 12:48:43 2006 Subject: [Mad-Scientists] Re: The indispensable automobile (WAS: RE: The fallacy of E85 fuel marketing) In-Reply-To: <006501c66498$883acf80$e4f31c18@mikey> from "Michael Best" at Apr 20, 2006 12:36:09 PM Message-ID: <20060420194836.39628.qmail@mall-net.com> > > The car. It's too useful to give up without major > > restructuring of > > our society; restructuring that would reduce our ability to compete > > with the rest of the world, reduce our effectiveness and our ability > > to earn American style wages. > > The Car. We cannot live without it, but we cannot live with it in its > present form. We cannot continue to import petroleum to feed it; we > cannot continue to deal with its waste products polluting our world. Yep, especially the acetaldehyde bit. Though tires get rather bad too. In smog, a quarter to half the carbon is tire dust. Bacteria eat tire dust, or we'd have a lot of it by the roadside. Tire dust causes a lot of allergies. > The car needs an overhaul. We need to remove the prime mover (engine) > from the car, and place it far, far away. That remote prime mover > needs to be pollution free, large enough to produce power for millions > of cars, have great economies of scale while producing a portable > energy transfer medium that can be used by The Car for propulsion. Maybe, maybe not. > I see two transfer media at present, electricity and hydrogen. One is > here now, and well proven. The other has just crossed the horizon > into view. Right, transfer media. > And how to produce the energy for transfer, without the use of fossil > fuels or generating pollution? Nuclear energy, of course. Wind > water, waves and solar combined simply haven't the ability to produce > the energy equivalent of 143,000,000,000 gallons of gasoline. i don't know. That depends upon how many watts it takes to move the car and the occupants. I have two vehicles, a small car and a truck. I use the one appropriate to the task. That saves fuel. telecommuting saves even more fuel; but limits my income. What I see, is some means to accumulate the energy falling onto your property for use in moving the car. I don't think it will be solar-electric; as solar-electric is not very efficient. I think it more likely that it will be bio-generation. Not biomass; but genetically engineered algae that use sunlight to give off hydrogen gas. Or perhaps catalytically driven hydrogen generation; though oxygen must somehow be separated to prevent explosions. It will stratify on it's own.... but you have this partial mix that's a little... well, explosive . > The alternatives are to starve ourselves growing fuel crops or gag > ourselves with pollution. Most people are not that stupid. Governments, on the other hand... have a rich history of such; particularly, but not exclusively, when run by tin pot despots. -J- (John, Javilk@mall-net.com) CAUTION: I'm no doctor, I only tell computers what to do. Nothing in this document should be construed as medical advice. My opinions are subject to the availability of information. I learn new things each day, and so may change my opinions. For long lasting relief, consult a doctor who practices orthomolecular medicine. Ask, and I'll recommend mine. Today's Art Photo Chem / Fungus allergies Dr. Cathcart / Vit C. Arthritis Another Javilk (tm) brand post. Copyright retained. Copyright (C) 2006, Javilk@mall-net.com . All rights reserverd. From Vesta111 at aol.com Thu Apr 20 13:12:11 2006 From: Vesta111 at aol.com (Vesta111@aol.com) Date: Thu Apr 20 13:12:28 2006 Subject: [Mad-Scientists] this is kind of old but still iinteresting, if you want ... Message-ID: <333.3521a55.3179451b@aol.com> About 10 years ago there was a movie about the future where men met and married robot woman. For some reason society changed and all the "woman" were rounded up and placed in storage. The Hero finds a human woman and together the go to liberate the robot wife. The human woman naturally drives the Hero nuts as they battle the bad guys. Wouldn't you just know it, after they find and rescue the Heroes "wife" the Hero decides he likes the human woman better and kills the robot. Now that I think about it, the robot was like a dog. Poor Hero didn't know when he had it made. Regards Vesta The greatest gift I was given as a child, was the love of the written word. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://Mad-Scientists.ORG/pipermail/mad-scientists/attachments/20060420/d6056e76/attachment.html From creolescience at yahoo.com Sat Apr 22 05:35:30 2006 From: creolescience at yahoo.com (j s) Date: Sat Apr 22 05:36:20 2006 Subject: [Mad-Scientists] Brazil - self sufficient Message-ID: <20060422123531.8055.qmail@web36107.mail.mud.yahoo.com> So, if you read down you'll see they have flex fuel cars which run on gas and sugar cane based ethanol - so why can't we? We have the offshore and Alaskan pipelines - we can make ethanol from sugarcane and corn - we could do it but too many Americans get rich off of arabs. You think in the dust bowl areas we couldn't have large areas of windmills? Or solar paint for buildings with microcells embedded? Greed baby, greed. We like foreign dependence because Americans in charge profit from it, just like the war in Iraq . People say we can't afford the levy infrastructure or creation of windmill farms? We have one BILLION a week for ( Haliburton ) Iraq. Who is rebuilding it? Who is arming it? Uniforms for the army? Hmmmm... follow the money. So when Exxon is profitting off your blood and Bush isn't doing anything be proud you voted Republican. Because it's your fault. New Rig Brings Brazil Oil Self-Sufficiency By PETER MUELLO, Associated Press WriterFri Apr 21, 4:31 PM ET President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, dressed in an orange jump suit, drenched his hand in oil as he flipped the switch Friday on a new oil rig that will usher in overall independence from foreign oil. The start of production at the P-50 rig off Brazil's south Atlantic coast puts Brazil on track to produce as much oil as it consumes. Silva showed off his oily hand to a crowd on the rig, a gesture imitating President Getulio Vargas when he created the government-run oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA, or Petrobras, in the early 1950s. The production milestone ? coordinated to fall on a national holiday honoring 18th-century independence hero Tiradentes ? marked an end to decades of dependence on foreign oil, and fuel bills that plunged Brazil into debt when oil prices soared in the 1970s. Petrobras said the huge P-50 rig will boost national oil production to an average of 1.9 million barrels a day this year, more than average consumption of 1.85 million barrels a day. "It's an important date for the country, and Petrobras has every right to be proud," said Luiz Broad, an oil analyst at the Agora Senior brokerage in Rio de Janeiro. As more offshore rigs come online, Petrobras expects to join the ranks of the world's net oil exporters, with production exceeding demand by nearly 300,000 barrels a day in 2010. Brazil still has to import light crude oil for the refined products it needs. The country produces ? and exports ? mostly heavy crude oil, which has to be mixed with the light oil in refineries. The net-exporter status will boost Brazil's trade surplus and help shield the country from oil-price shocks. Petrobras said it won't pass on the spikes in international oil prices to Brazilian consumers. Oil prices reached a record $73 a barrel on Tuesday It's quite a change from the 1970s, when Brazil imported 85 percent of the oil it consumed, deepening a foreign debt that raised inflation to four digits and pushed the country to the brink of bankruptcy. "We have the fastest-growing oil industry in the world," Petrobras Chief Executive Sergio Gabrielli said Thursday. Brazil still depends on natural gas imported from Bolivia, on its own nuclear power and on hydroelectric dams to produce electricity, and on an abundance of ethanol, an alternative fuel made from Brazilian sugar cane. Brazil produced only 2,700 barrels of oil a day when Petrobras was founded in 1953, and consumed 137,000 barrels a day. With the slogan "The oil is ours," the company set out to find oil in a country larger than the lower 48 U.S. states. In 1968, the company began searching offshore in the Campos Basin near Macae, 110 miles east of Rio de Janeiro. The big break came six years later, with the discovery of the Garoupa field. New discoveries followed, and Macae became an oil boomtown as the Campos Basin grew to become Brazil's top oil producer. Today, more than 80 percent of Brazil's oil comes from offshore fields. Petrobras also became a world leader in deep-water drilling, developing state-of-the-art equipment and setting world records for deep-water drilling. It is Brazil's biggest and the 14th-largest oil company in the world, with operations in 15 countries. After the government broke the company's oil monopoly in 1995, Petrobras remained a top player in the market. The company snapped up exploration zones that Brazil put up for auction to international bidders. "The company did its homework, did what was possible," said Victor Martins, an oil analyst with Safra Bank. Martins said Petrobras would have to raise oil output to keep pace with demand, which is growing despite the expansion of ethanol, and the rising sales of flex-fuel cars that run on both gasoline and ethanol. "The important thing is the flexibility we have now," he said. "We can produce here or buy abroad, whichever is cheaper." --------------------------------- How low will we go? Check out Yahoo! Messenger?s low PC-to-Phone call rates. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://Mad-Scientists.ORG/pipermail/mad-scientists/attachments/20060422/13e4a609/attachment.html From creolescience at yahoo.com Sat Apr 22 05:40:15 2006 From: creolescience at yahoo.com (j s) Date: Sat Apr 22 05:40:26 2006 Subject: [Mad-Scientists] robot wife Message-ID: <20060422124015.23334.qmail@web36109.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Message: 2 Date: Thu, 20 Apr 2006 16:12:11 EDT From: Vesta111@aol.com Subject: Re: [Mad-Scientists] this is kind of old but still iinteresting, if you want ... To: mad-scientists@Mad-Scientists.ORG Message-ID: <333.3521a55.3179451b@aol.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" About 10 years ago there was a movie about the future where men met and married robot woman. For some reason society changed and all the "woman" were rounded up and placed in storage. The Hero finds a human woman and together the go to liberate the robot wife. "The human woman naturally drives the Hero nuts as they battle the bad guys. Wouldn't you just know it, after they find and rescue the Heroes "wife" the Hero decides he likes the human woman better and kills the robot. Now that I think about it, the robot was like a dog. Poor Hero didn't know when he had it made. Regards Vesta " Was that Cherry 2000? Regarding marriage, In the words of the great prophet Chris Rock " Feed me, f__ me, and shut the f__ up!" It's like it came from Einstein - so elegant and brilliant ;) --------------------------------- Yahoo! Messenger with Voice. PC-to-Phone calls for ridiculously low rates. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://Mad-Scientists.ORG/pipermail/mad-scientists/attachments/20060422/bc50cddf/attachment.html From javilk at mall-net.com Sat Apr 22 12:42:31 2006 From: javilk at mall-net.com (javilk@mall-net.com) Date: Sat Apr 22 12:42:55 2006 Subject: [Mad-Scientists] Brazil - self sufficient In-Reply-To: <20060422123531.8055.qmail@web36107.mail.mud.yahoo.com> from "j s" at Apr 22, 2006 05:35:30 AM Message-ID: <20060422194232.79209.qmail@mall-net.com> > So, if you read down you'll see they have flex fuel cars which run on > gas and sugar cane based ethanol - so why can't we? We have the Don't it look easy! > offshore and Alaskan pipelines - we can make ethanol from sugarcane > and corn - we First, we don't grow sugarcane well in the USA. It's a hotter climate crop. So that's out. Second, our farm land can produce more money growing other things. So the economics don't work out. It's all about economics. We need first to have some ability to use the fuel before we go out and risk, yes risk, making something different. Financial Risk. And at the moment, with the Japanese eating their tails, Ford and GM are just a little short on money to spend RISKING new things. Fact is, ethanol fuel 10% ethanol, pollutes WORSE than gasoline. Enough so, that in many areas the locals CAN NOT use even 10% ethanol and meet pollution standards. And we can not produce enough corn alcohol to power the majority of our cars, and eat. So if we move to high corn fuel production, our food prices will skyrocket. Economics! Lots of these technologies look good till you try to scale them up, then the limits start showing; like the number of arable acres, the growing season, etc. Big push for bio-fuels! Waste veggie oil! Ya! But how much waste veggie oil is there? Not that much! I see people selling their veggie diesels because they can't get enough veggie oil. I've seen guys destroy their truck engines with veggie oil that was not properly processed. And diesel, bio or petro, just pollutes like heck compared to gasoline engines. I've read about the toxicity of the processes, and neither I, n0or another chemist I know would DARE make their own bio-diesel, because the risk of bran damage from the chemistry is WAY out of line for what we consider reasonable safety risk. Supply is limited, so it's batch processing all the way. Batch costa far more than continuous process. We don't use enough cooking oil in the USA to fuel many cars on it. So when you buy commercialized bio-diesel, you end up paying as much or more than petro-diesel. So once again Economics is against it. Big push for propane as an alternative fuel. guess what -- propane is a by-product of cracking longer oil molecules. So when they try to produce more propane, the prices go up because it is no longer a waste by-product. Propane is now MORE expensive than gasoline per BTU delivered! I know, because I have several generators that use propane. Worse, the limited number of stations where you can get propane means you have to drive a lot more aware of the area you are driving in -- which makes it difficult to use on vacations, longer trips, etc. that many people take several times a year. Big black mark against propane cars! > could do it but too many Americans get rich off of arabs. > You think > in the dust bowl areas we couldn't have large areas of windmills? Or solar We have wind farms in Altemont Pass here in california. Lots of down time on those machines, and critical minimum air speeds which are not often met. I wanted a wind generator here, so I looked into it. Not enough wind speed, and not steady. waste of money for two-three year investment. And the animal rights folks are protesting that too many birds are killed by the spinning fan blades. Not to mention Senator Kennedy dead set against wind power in Cape Cod for the sight of it. > paint for buildings with microcells embedded? Greed baby, greed. We > like foreign dependence because Americans in charge profit from it, Never heard of microchip PAINT? The electrical connections required to get micro-chip solar to deliver would be poor, and the costs way too high. plus, running solar myself, I see that most people who have fixed mounts on their roof are not doing too well. You need to point the panels. I move mine three to five times a day. Solar takes six to ten years to pay off, and the panels are expensive. I have two. Hydro power? But that means we tie up a lot of real estate, expensive real estate with dams, dams, and more dams in earthquake areas and elsewhere that just does not pay off in the short to medium run. Dams are very, very expensive to construct. One alternative might be barges with paddle wheels. But how much energy can you create that way, vs the capital investment and the permits needed to do that? Right now, making other things, be it software or golf balls gives you a higher return on investment. Economics! > People say we can't afford the levy infrastructure or creation of > windmill farms? We have one BILLION a week for ( Haliburton ) Iraq. > Who is rebuilding it? Who is arming it? Uniforms for the army? Hmmmm... > follow the money. Government is not in the business of business. Government is in the government of government. every time the governments get involved in business, it's a disaster! Why? Because no one has authority, no one is willing to try small pilot projects for fear of failure, they are not willing to pay enough to attract the kinds of brains needed, and the technology just isn't known well enough. > So when Exxon is profitting off your blood and Bush isn't doing > anything be proud you voted Republican. Because it's your fault. That's a cheap shot, and you know it. We are moving toward more solar slowly, because it isn't that profitable. We are having second thoughts about biofuels, because they pollute like heck. The worst thing we could do, is jump on a technology that does not pan out! THAT would bankrupt our auto industries and a lot of people who buy cars that can not be driven. What we really need to do, is more research, more pilot plants, etc. to see WHAT is more economical. Right now, for the scale we need, petro-fuels are the cheapest thing available. But we are seeing that this is changing. We've tripled the price of gasoline in the past six years is it? So our economy IS looking at other ways of generating electricity. We are using more hybrid vehicles, though the investment in batteries is not cheap! Economics again. We've tried propane, and find that isn't a bargain as we started to scale that up. We're sampling biofuels; but again are finding there is limited ability, so the economics don't scale up. We're continuing to experiment with wind power, though the mechanics and availability does not pay off as well as other investments. we're working on it. We're trying it. We're watching others make mistakes. --javilk@mall-net.com---------------------------------- Life is to be LIVED regardless of what is out there. Fear destroys life. Destroy your fear and live. ------------------------------------------------------- Not to be construed as psychological advice. Void where prohibited by law. Not available in all mental states. ------------------------------------------------------- Another Javilk (tm) brand post. Copyright (C) 2006, Javilk@mall-net.com Copyright retained. All rights reserved. From creolescience at yahoo.com Sat Apr 22 13:00:08 2006 From: creolescience at yahoo.com (j s) Date: Sat Apr 22 13:00:26 2006 Subject: [Mad-Scientists] Bush Promotes Fuel Cells on Earth Day Message-ID: <20060422200008.93513.qmail@web36103.mail.mud.yahoo.com> So with fuel cell technology, domestically produced oil and corn and sugar based ethanol, solar and windmills,why can't we be self susstaining? Bush Promotes Fuel Cells on Earth Day By NEDRA PICKLER, Associated Press WriterSat Apr 22, 11:10 AM ET Unable to drive down high oil prices, President Bush is spending Earth Day promoting futuristic hydrogen fuel technology as a way to wean Americans from gas-guzzling vehicles. After a bike ride near his Napa Valley resort Saturday morning, Bush planned to visit the California Fuel Cell Partnership in West Sacramento for a tour and speech on his energy plan. The plan does not include any measures that would reduce gas prices in the short term, the White House acknowledges. But with Republicans worried that the increasing cost to drive could hurt them in the voting booth this year, Bush said he understands Americans are hurting. "I know the folks here are suffering at the gas pump," Bush told an audience Friday in San Jose. "Rising gasoline prices is like taking a ? is like a tax, particularly on the working people and the small business people." But to address the immediate problem, Bush offered only a pledge that "if we find any price gouging it will be dealt with firmly." The White House hopes the high gas prices will pressure Congress to act on the energy proposals the president outlined in his State of the Union address, such as increased federal research into alternative fuels and batteries for hybrid and electric cars. Democrats, meanwhile, contend that the Bush administration places too much emphasis on drilling reserves and not enough on alternative fuels. The promise of hydrogen fuel cell technology in vehicles is a favorite of automakers, environmentalists and politicians because it accomplishes two important goals ? automobiles that run on fuel cells would not require gasoline and emit only water. The problem with the technology is that it's many years away from widespread use. And it would require a new system of distributing hydrogen fuel to replace today's network of gasoline pumping stations. Bush used his weekly radio address Saturday to promote the idea. "These fuel cells have the potential to revolutionize the way we power our cars by giving us vehicles that will emit no pollution and will be more efficient than gas-powered cars," he said. In the Democratic response to Bush's radio address, Sen. Bill Nelson (news, bio, voting record), D-Fla., said that the Bush administration must stop being influenced by the powerful oil industry and start promoting production of synthetic fuel from coal and the use of alternative sources such as ethanol. "We cannot drill our way out of this problem," Nelson said. Prices at the gas pump have been rising, with the average price of a gallon of unleaded regular gasoline at $2.855. That's 3 cents higher than a day earlier and more than 60 cents higher than a year ago, according to AAA's daily fuel gauge report. Crude oil prices broke through $75 a barrel Friday amid concerns about the standoff over Iran's nuclear ambitions, rebel disruptions of oil production in Nigeria, and tight U.S. gasoline supplies. Analysts say they are likely to climb even higher. Bush's bike ride Saturday was no Earth Day stunt. The president rides on most weekend mornings, but made the special detour to overnight in St. Helena just to get in a picturesque ride through wine country. He had no official events there. "I can't wait," Bush told his San Jose audience. "I'll be plugged into an iPod." --------------------------------- Celebrate Earth Day everyday! Discover 10 things you can do to help slow climate change. Yahoo! Earth Day -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://Mad-Scientists.ORG/pipermail/mad-scientists/attachments/20060422/bd313905/attachment.html From Vesta111 at aol.com Sat Apr 22 18:45:57 2006 From: Vesta111 at aol.com (Vesta111@aol.com) Date: Sat Apr 22 18:46:14 2006 Subject: [Mad-Scientists] Brazil - self sufficient Message-ID: <3d0.f64860.317c3655@aol.com> In a message dated 4/22/2006 8:36:46 A.M. Eastern Standard Time, creolescience@yahoo.com writes: You think in the dust bowl areas we couldn't have large areas of windmills? Or solar paint for buildings with microcells embedded? Greed baby, greed. We like foreign dependence because Americans in charge profit from it, just like the war in Iraq . People say we can't afford the levy infrastructure or creation of windmill farms? We have one BILLION a week for ( Haliburton ) Iraq. Who is rebuilding it? Who is arming it? Uniforms for the army? Hmmmm... follow the money. The Kennedy family, et-el stopped wind farming in the bay outside their homes as it spoiled their view If people demanded that wind farming was to be done on Mt. Washington in New Hampshire, called the place of the most wind in the world-----guess what, business men would riot, realtors, tourist businesses, no way. Restrictions on just about everything, good folk trying to preserve a past way of life, can you blame their need to keep things as they are. We have to decide what is most important to us humans who do not live in city's. Do we who see beauty in our back yards want to defile it just so strangers can use their hair dryers and buy Tupper ware. Can you imagine going to the Smokey Mountains and seeing not the beauty but wind mills and miles of solar collectors ?? Take a trip to the north west, or south west, picture the Mesas topped with wind mills or huge solar generator So, what to do ??? How do we keep our hair dryers and beauty at the same time ??? I am going south to North Carolina in 2 days. Driving a good 800 miles each way. I will take my Kia instead of the Jeep because it gets great gas mileage. So, I got out my calculator and was aghast at the cost of gas, not to mention the tolls just to drive on our highways. I made the trip 8 years ago for $450 up and back. Now I have to raid my 401k plan. What's to worry, if any of you listen to Coast to Coast AM radio, 2012 is just around the corner and some say July of this year is the correct date. Regards Vesta The greatest gift I was given as a child, was the love of the written word. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://Mad-Scientists.ORG/pipermail/mad-scientists/attachments/20060422/6a7ce10e/attachment.html From rhjuliano at yahoo.com Sat Apr 22 19:48:40 2006 From: rhjuliano at yahoo.com (Robert Juliano) Date: Sat Apr 22 19:48:47 2006 Subject: [Mad-Scientists] Brazil - self sufficient In-Reply-To: <3d0.f64860.317c3655@aol.com> Message-ID: <20060423024840.77259.qmail@web51001.mail.yahoo.com> Vesta, most likely, we'll see the windmills happen... I for one thinkk that windmills are a work of art. Bob --- Vesta111@aol.com wrote: > > > In a message dated 4/22/2006 8:36:46 A.M. Eastern > Standard Time, > creolescience@yahoo.com writes: > > You think in the dust bowl areas we couldn't have > large areas of windmills? > Or solar paint for buildings with microcells > embedded? Greed baby, greed. We > like foreign dependence because Americans in charge > profit from it, just like > the war in Iraq . > > People say we can't afford the levy infrastructure > or creation of windmill > farms? We have one BILLION a week for ( Haliburton ) > Iraq. Who is rebuilding > it? Who is arming it? Uniforms for the army? > Hmmmm... follow the money. > > > > > The Kennedy family, et-el stopped wind farming in > the bay outside their > homes as it spoiled their view > > If people demanded that wind farming was to be done > on Mt. Washington in New > Hampshire, called the place of the most wind in the > world-----guess what, > business men would riot, realtors, tourist > businesses, no way. > > Restrictions on just about everything, good folk > trying to preserve a past > way of life, can you blame their need to keep things > as they are. > > We have to decide what is most important to us > humans who do not live in > city's. Do we who see beauty in our back yards want > to defile it just so > strangers can use their hair dryers and buy Tupper > ware. > > Can you imagine going to the Smokey Mountains and > seeing not the beauty but > wind mills and miles of solar collectors ?? > > Take a trip to the north west, or south west, > picture the Mesas topped with > wind mills or huge solar generator > > So, what to do ??? How do we keep our hair dryers > and beauty at the same > time ??? > > I am going south to North Carolina in 2 days. > Driving a good 800 miles each > way. I will take my Kia instead of the Jeep because > it gets great gas > mileage. So, I got out my calculator and was aghast > at the cost of gas, not to > mention the tolls just to drive on our highways. > > I made the trip 8 years ago for $450 up and back. > Now I have to raid my 401k > plan. > > What's to worry, if any of you listen to Coast to > Coast AM radio, 2012 > is just around the corner and some say July of this > year is the correct date. > > Regards Vesta > > > The greatest gift I was given as a child, was the > love of the written word. > > _______________________________________________ > Mad-Scientists mailing list > Mad-Scientists@Mad-Scientists.ORG > http://www.mad-scientists.org/mailman/listinfo/mad-scientists > __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com From mbest at triad.rr.com Sat Apr 22 22:17:58 2006 From: mbest at triad.rr.com (Michael Best) Date: Sat Apr 22 22:18:02 2006 Subject: [Mad-Scientists] Brazil Gasoline Message-ID: <003a01c66695$492a5870$e4f31c18@mikey> Gasoline in Brazil cost US$0.90 per liter ($3.40/gal) in early 2005, when US prices, including taxes, were half that. Brazil has no Sierra Club to oppose their slash and burn agricultural practices. The USA hasn't enough arable land to both grow fuel crops and feed ourselves. Brazilian gasoline is as short on octane rating as their women's bikinis are short on fabric. As Brazil has 10% of the total freshwater supply of the entire Earth, they derive most of their electricity from hydroelectric generators. I wonder why they bother growing fuel crops! They could easily convert to electric cars, and use their arable land to make REAL money growing fresh vegetables for the USA in the winter. That would make them MUCH more money! Oh, well- another example of the failings of a command economy. They place more importance on isolationism than profit. -MB From mbest at triad.rr.com Sun Apr 23 10:04:26 2006 From: mbest at triad.rr.com (Michael Best) Date: Sun Apr 23 10:04:29 2006 Subject: [Mad-Scientists] Re: [usa-tesla] [OT] economical way to crack water Message-ID: <003401c666f7$faa488c0$e4f31c18@mikey> ; sure they do .. everyone know that .. god didn't make collectors for ; sunshine .. he did make collectors for water tho ! ponds, lakes, Yes He/She did- they are called "plants." Now just bioengineer a plant (algae is easiest) that consumes CO2 and water, producing methane and oxygen with sunlight. 2 H2O + CO2 --> CH4 + 2 O2 Presto! The world's energy needs are met for a very long time, while eliminating the problem of global warming forever. -MB From creolescience at yahoo.com Sun Apr 23 12:12:19 2006 From: creolescience at yahoo.com (j s) Date: Sun Apr 23 12:12:30 2006 Subject: [Mad-Scientists] energy for the future Message-ID: <20060423191219.23448.qmail@web36108.mail.mud.yahoo.com> "Now just bioengineer a plant (algae is easiest) that consumes CO2 and water, producing methane and oxygen with sunlight. 2 H2O + CO2 --> CH4 + 2 O2 Presto! The world's energy needs are met for a very long time, while eliminating the problem of global warming forever." -MB" Nice! well, let's get to work on it. Prhaps a kudzu deriviative or alfalfa too, something also consumable so it can feed, and has the essential 8 amino acids so it will fill our protein needs so we don't need as much livestock, also diminishing bovine flatulence ;) So let's see - we have solar windmills ocean current energy dams ethanol from sugarcane and corn algae ( food source and methane source ) gas from cowdung like in Japan I think a bit of this and that would do it, instead of focussing on only one source. Throw in some nukes too. maybe a bioengineered sugarcane cactus hybrid and plant it in Mexico - they will have a booming economy from the ethanol and won't want to come to the US anymore - also solving the immigrant problem. I have solved the problems of the world - thank you ;) you know, if we could make a fuel from coffee grounds, Starbucks and Duncan Donuts would we a major player in th eenergy economy. --------------------------------- Celebrate Earth Day everyday! Discover 10 things you can do to help slow climate change. Yahoo! Earth Day -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://Mad-Scientists.ORG/pipermail/mad-scientists/attachments/20060423/a290fd71/attachment.html From javilk at mall-net.com Tue Apr 25 02:05:13 2006 From: javilk at mall-net.com (javilk@mall-net.com) Date: Tue Apr 25 02:05:38 2006 Subject: [Mad-Scientists] Newton Message-ID: <20060425090513.75080.qmail@mall-net.com> Newton said if I have seen further, it is because I have stood on the shoulders of giants. That was a put-down to Hooke, who held his theory of light was bunk. Hooke was a hunched over short guy who looked like a dwarf. ref The Prism and the Pendulum. --javilk@mall-net.com---------------------------------- Life is to be LIVED regardless of what is out there. Fear destroys life. Destroy your fear and live. ------------------------------------------------------- Not to be construed as psychological advice. Void where prohibited by law. Not available in all mental states. ------------------------------------------------------- Another Javilk (tm) brand post. Copyright (C) 2006, Javilk@mall-net.com Copyright retained. All rights reserved. From creolescience at yahoo.com Fri Apr 28 17:42:46 2006 From: creolescience at yahoo.com (j s) Date: Fri Apr 28 17:42:53 2006 Subject: [Mad-Scientists] 'Circuit Bending' Message-ID: <20060429004246.65567.qmail@web36112.mail.mud.yahoo.com> 'Circuit Bending' Lets Old Toys Play Tunes By JESSE JARNOW, For The Associated PressThu Apr 27, 4:46 PM ET The robot monkeys prepared to do battle as two dozen cracked-open toy pianos bleated a symphony of mutated children's songs. Enterprising geeks prodded the toys' exposed innards with alligator clips, soldering irons, and potentiometers. Bent 2006, a "circuit bending" festival, was underway. Clearly, there were no adults in charge. Part performance art, part basement science, circuit bending is the creative rewiring of battery-powered electronics, ranging from Game Boys to Speak-n-Spells to talking teddy bears. Bent's third annual festival, at the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council's Swing Space, spanned performances, installations, and workshops. Hundreds of attendees streamed through the former bank, including participants from England, Germany, Italy, and Japan. "I believe that a circuit bent instrument has a new synapse," said Reed Ghazala, the recognized father of circuit bending. As an Ohio teenager in the mid-1960s, Ghazala accidentally shorted out a Radio Shack amplifier when its open back brushed against something metallic in his desk drawer. "A lot of people parallel circuit bending with vivisections or some kind of horrible surgery," the 52-year old hippie polymath said, "but instruments learn new languages. It's not a negative thing." The languages of the Bent diaspora are remarkably varied. Loud Objects, the trio who opened last week's festival, elegantly brought a circuit to noisy life on an overhead projector. Shotaro Nakano of Japan, meanwhile, modified a breathalyzer test into a new kind of wind instrument. Slugging beer, he blew into the device, the sound morphing with the alcohol on his breath. In the context of Bent, the use of drums and bass by Minneapolis's Mystery Palace, a raw indie rock trio who employed modified keyboards, was positively radical. "I don't think of it as a genre. It's a type of instrumentation," said Mike Rosenthal, 27, the event's unflappably mellow camp counselor. He co-founded Bent with Daniel Greenfeld, also 27, in conjunction with The Tank, a TriBeCa arts space. "Sometimes, it's nice to reach out and touch a sound," writes Nic Collins in the introduction to his recently published "Handmade Electronic Music," which joins Ghazala's "Circuit-Bending" in the growing circuit-bending library. Both emphasize the approach's minuscule learning curve, demonstrated by a Bent children's workshop. "This makes some pretty cool noises already," enthused Benjamin Goldstone, a mulleted Englishman, holding up a frog-shaped toy phone to a dozen wide-eyed adolescents, "but I reckon it'll make some wicked noises when we get it open." Daniel Glus, 7, pressed his finger against a transistor. "It sounds like a radio show on fast forward!" he exclaimed. Some made the same frogs sound like wailing police sirens, while others created a glitchy dance beat. Daniel's father, Peter, a civil water engineer, set his sights on "the most annoying toy in the house," a bleeping clown-pushed wagon, which he'd brought with him. Daniel vetoed the idea before his father could pry it open. Despite an eBay price run on Speak-n-Spells, considered the apex of bendable analog circuitry, Ghazala says, "today is the best (time) I've seen for circuit bending." There's a robust international scene, bolstered by thriving Internet communities. Goldstone, 30, who performed at the festival under the name George Lazenbleep, traveled from England to participate and documented the festival for an Australian radio station. Around the space, installations demonstrated the idea's breadth. The robot monkeys, the brainchild of toy sculptor and lighting technician Dan Walker, 32, received the most enthusiastic response. Players yawped in delight as they pitted the remote control Frankensteins in soccer matches while Walker released miniature Godzillas and other distractions onto the playing field. As companies like Apple and Sony continually restrict users' rights with digital rights management systems, circuit bending is a powerful reminder that consumers can do what they wish with consumer electronics ? even if it means breaking them. While the instruments haven't yet had their "RockIt," the 1983 Herbie Hancock hit that propelled turntables to the mainstream, it might not be far away: Nine Inch Nails' leader Trent Reznor recently invited Ghazala backstage for a consultation. For now, circuit bending remains non-commercial, but the seeds have been planted. Daniel promised to go home and have a go at his toys: "I never knew you could make so much noise!" --------------------------------- How low will we go? Check out Yahoo! Messenger?s low PC-to-Phone call rates. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://Mad-Scientists.ORG/pipermail/mad-scientists/attachments/20060428/9d0b055c/attachment.html From javilk at mall-net.com Fri Apr 28 22:02:37 2006 From: javilk at mall-net.com (javilk@mall-net.com) Date: Fri Apr 28 22:02:46 2006 Subject: [Mad-Scientists] 'Circuit Bending' In-Reply-To: <20060429004246.65567.qmail@web36112.mail.mud.yahoo.com> from "j s" at Apr 28, 2006 05:42:46 PM Message-ID: <20060429050237.92646.qmail@mall-net.com> > 'Circuit Bending' Lets Old Toys Play Tunes By JESSE JARNOW, For The Associated PressThu Apr 27, 4:46 PM ET > The robot monkeys prepared to do battle as two dozen cracked-open toy > pianos bleated a symphony of mutated children's songs. Enterprising > geeks prodded the toys' exposed innards with alligator clips, soldering > irons, and potentiometers. > Bent 2006, a "circuit bending" festival, > was underway. Clearly, there were no adults in charge. Gee, i was doing things like this as a late teenager, modifying transistor radios, etc. many of us did things like this; but we didn't know of each other till we reached college. We were not world class "crack just about anything open" players in this field; but many of us had a little fun now and then poking around in the innards of things. I think where you'll find more folks who did this is on the ham radio circuit. --javilk@mall-net.com---------------------------------- Life is to be LIVED regardless of what is out there. Fear destroys life. Destroy your fear and live. ------------------------------------------------------- Not to be construed as psychological advice. Void where prohibited by law. Not available in all mental states. ------------------------------------------------------- Another Javilk (tm) brand post. Copyright (C) 2006, Javilk@mall-net.com Copyright retained. All rights reserved. From mbest at triad.rr.com Sat Apr 29 11:29:48 2006 From: mbest at triad.rr.com (Michael Best) Date: Sat Apr 29 11:30:04 2006 Subject: [Mad-Scientists] The true cause of the Colombia failure? Message-ID: <005401c66bba$e63d3d60$e4f31c18@mikey> Clear-sky lightning hit the plasma trail left by Colombia during reentry, and chased the ship down. It likely entered the ship's hull where the ablative tiles were damaged- that would be the lowest resistance point of entry. The damage would be indistinguishable from heat-induced failure. http://snipurl.com/ptsa (pix of the lightning hitting the plasma trail) http://www.holoscience.com/news.php?article=cc6y424y