Fun & Frivolity: Tech And Other Oddities

For your happy Friday reading pleasure, here are a few fun things to check out.  First, the tech stuff...

Scientists have found a way to make energy conservationists out of all of us corporate America drones typing away on our computers all day long:

"The fact that many Americans spend eight hours or more per day typing on computer keyboards caused us to explore the feasibility of harnessing the energy being expended by computer users as they type," said Dr. Isaac M. Postor, CEO at the St. Louis-based institute which receives a majority of its funding from DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.

"What we found is that the typical American office worker executes an average of 20,000 keystrokes per day," Postor continued. "When harnessed using the nanotechnology we've developed, that number of keystrokes can power a 60-watt light bulb for one hour."

Just buy the $30 gizmo, plug it into your USB port and the power outlet in the wall, and presto!  Energy savings!

I came across this story at PC World a while back.  Apparently, Arizona State University has developed a new storage technology that could render current USB drives obsolete in the next few years:

The new memory technology, which is known as programmable metallization cell (PMC), has been developed to counteract the physical limits of current memory storage technology. The college claimed that PMC could be a 1,000 times more efficient than existing flash memory and could enable devices like USB drives to greatly increase the memory of digital cameras, MP3 players and laptops.

The problem that CANi has been tackling is the physical limit of how much storage can be crammed into any given space as pushing atoms closer together causes more heat to be formed. PMC, which has been developed in conjunction with German institute, the J|lich Research Center, works by altering the way that ions are treated.

According to the ASU's own publication, ASU Insight, the methodology involves the new technique of nanoionics, where, Instead of moving electrons among charged particles, called ions, as in traditional electronics, nanoionics moves the ions themselves.

This technology can be used with existing, readily available materials, so the cost increase should be negligible.  The first commercial products are expected to be announced in the next 12-18 months.  Wow, and you thought an 8GB flash drive was big!  This should be really, really good news for techies (also called super-nerds) who want to haul their computers everywhere with them. 

Finally, for a mental challenge, check out this link.  Here's a hint: use the current page as your clue for how to get to the next page, and see how high you can count.  This will certainly test your techie knowledge, but there are a few non-techie surprises thrown in, too.  [No cheating and looking at the page source, either...!]


Here's some fun stuff for non-techies, too...

Free speech center presents annual 'muzzle' awards

The Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression said police in Scranton, Pennsylvania had no right to issue a disorderly conduct citation to Dawn Herb, who "let loose a tirade of foul language" directed at her toilet. A neighbor who was an off-duty police officer made a complaint.

The charge was dismissed by a judge who concluded that Herb's words, though "offensive, vulgar and imprudent" to some, were nonetheless protected under the First Amendment's guarantee of free speech, the Jefferson center said.

The center also gave an award to the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles after it demanded the return of the plates reading "GETOSAMA" that had been issued to a retired police officer who wanted to express his desire to capture Osama bin Laden, the mastermind of the September 11 attacks.

The DMV argued they could be considered "lewd, lascivious, derogatory to a particular ethnic group, or patently offensive." It later offered to let him keep them to settle a lawsuit claiming violation of his First Amendment rights.

And it gave a "Lifetime Muzzle" to the Federal Communications Commission for years of applying what it said were inconsistent or arbitrary standards of indecency on the airwaves.

The center noted that the FCC had ruled in 2001 that "fleeting expletives" would not be deemed indecent but then three years later judged that both the 'f-word' and the 's-word' met its definitions of indecency.

This reminds me of the Darwin Awards.  Both are not only fun reading, but great ideas, too!


Duck gets order of protection

A pet duck named Circles, shot and wounded by a neighbor with a pellet gun, has received an order of protection to keep it safe, the first duck in New York state's Suffolk County to benefit from such an order.

"It's the first case that I know of in this area where a duck got an order of protection," Michelle Auletta, prosecutor at the Suffolk County District Attorney's Office, said. "And in Suffolk County, Long Island, it is the first case where an animal was included in an order of protection that was not a domestic violence case."

Why didn't Circles just...duck?  [I'm sorry, I couldn't resist!]


Mobile sauna

Converted from a military truck, Igor Chupin offers clients a session in the back of his GAZ-66 truck for 1000 roubles ($42.37) per hour.

"What Russian guy doesn't love his banya! One day I had the idea to put a bathhouse on wheels and to drive wherever I want!" said Chupin, a self-taught inventor from the Altai region of southern Siberia.

I'm not sure that would catch on here in America...

Have a great weekend!