Camera creates image from just one pixel

Another Scientific American article... http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID=0003FA95-AAB6-1526-AAB683414B7F0000

Researchers have created a single-pixel camera that can create mexapixel-sized images, using a clever mix of the way light patterns are captured combined with new mathemetical compression algorithms. Neat!

Protein gel staunches bleeding

This is a neat article on Scientific American: http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID=000D056A-AAFC-1526-AAB683414B7F0000

Basically, researchers have found a proten gel that rapidly stops bleeding with no observable side effects. It doesn't create or enhance clotting, but instead seems to just block the flow like a hair clog in a drain. Imagine the applications... for emergency workers, soldiers on a battlefield, or just home use when you cut your finger slicing carrots.

National Coming Out Day

Ah shit... I'm the worst gay man ever. Wednesday, October 11 was National Coming Out Day, and I didn't even know. =P

HRC and PFLAG have created a resource called "A Straight Guide to GLBT Americans." For all you breeders out there, check it out. I'm sure it'll provide some useful info for you. =)

MBA in Sustainable Management

Did I mention that I'm working on an MBA? And it's in Sustainable Management, no less! Yes, that's right, it's the Hippie's MBA! Yay! And yes, it's a real MBA... but they weave in the concepts of sustainability into every course. Most programs that broach the subject just add a single class, but meanwhile teach the same ol' way of doing business in all the others. The faculty are brilliant, and the students are incredibly diverse (all ages, all ethnicities, and backgrounds in Fortune 500s, start-ups, NGOs, small business).

Anyways... I'm doing the part-time program, but still working full-time. So far so good, though I'm starting to realize how precious my free time is. =P

You can read more about the program here: Presidio School of Management.

UCS: US Northeast will be totally hosed by climate change

OK, so I'm paraphrasing the summary of their findings, but the Union of Concerned Scientists (one of my favorite lobbying groups in all of time and space) just informed me of a recent study that found that the US Northeast will experience the following changes by century's end:

• Northeast winters could warm by eight to 12 degrees Fahrenheit and summers by six to nearly 14 degrees.
• The length of the region’s winter snow season could be cut in half.
• The frequency of short-term droughts could increase significantly.
• Sea-level could rise from eight inches to as much three feet.
• Many Northeast cities can expect about 25 days per year over 100 degrees. (Currently, Northeast cities experience this type of heat only once or twice a year.)

Pretty awesome, huh? Sea-level rises of 3 feet... that would be pretty devestating to NYC, the Hamptons, Martha's Vineyard, etc... maybe the richies should get off their asses and try to fight climate change...!

Anyways, much much more detail can be found at the UCS-owned website www.climatechoices.org.

omfg, how do they still have a broadcasting license?!

From salon.com's War Room:

"During Bill O'Reilly's show Tuesday night, Fox News repeatedly ran video clips of Mark Foley over a caption identifying him as a Democrat."

That is... ridiculous. Foley is 100% Republican, and in fact has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for the party and for fellow candidates. How in god's name can Fox do that sh1t and not get penalized somehow?!?! Abuse of power ftl. >:(

Now they're saying Foley was molested as a child

From a "breaking news" alert from CNN: "Former Rep. Mark Foley was molested as a teenager between the ages of 13 and 15 by a clergyman, his lawyer says."

OK, so now this seems like a pretty blatant attempt to gain sympathy for Foley. If it's true, I certainly sympathize for him. But that doesn't give him a free pass to commit the same crimes, does it?!

The great part of all of this (politically speaking) is that the GOP leadership has, as usual, gone out of its way to cover up the whole scandal. But unlike previous scandals (such as the Abramoff lobbying stuff), which are often difficult to follow due to the convoluted ethics involved and the he-said-she-said that the GOP is so good at distracting everyone with.... this Foley scandal is disturbingly easy to follow. A GOP Congressman was sexually harrassing minors *in the Capitol building* for at least three years, and no one did anything to stop it.

So the GOP has to find some way to explain why they let this continue for so long. They can't blame Democrats, because there's only one Democrat on the page board, and he was never notified about any of this. So it's 100% a Republican problem. And there are no good excuses. So in the end, the GOP is going to suffer for this, massively.

The Republicans let one of their own continue to sexually harrass children for months, if not years, in order to spare themselves political embarrassment.

There can be no clearer statement of what's happening here. And if all of the other scandals and incompetence weren't enough to tear down the GOP majority, then perhaps this one will. And how wonderfully poetic would it be for the GOP to be politically gutted by one of the very "family values" issues on which it so rabidly claims the moral high ground!!!

Rep Foley checks into alcohol rehab

So I assume you've all heard the story about Rep Foley from Florida, who has resigned from the US House of Representatives after being accused of making extremely inappropriate advances on 16-yo House pages, over the course of several years. If you haven't heard this, the story's on CNN here.

Apparently, after resigning he promptly checked himself into alcohol rehab.

Is it just me or did this strike any of you as a load of BS? As if by implying he's an alcoholic, that'll somehow soften or even dismiss his heinous actions?

I don't buy it.