“Tolerance and Apathy is the virtues of a dying society” -Aristotle

Reflect, Understand, Survive

First discovered in the 1970s the, at one time theoretical, circuit named “The Memristor” works much like flash memory when storing information. Meaning it can store information even when it is turned off, and is in a solid state (not on a disk). Here is a better description:

Memristors are nanoscale electronic switches that have a variable resistance, and can retain their resistance even when the power is switched off. This makes them similar to the transistors used to store data in flash memory. But memristors are considerably smaller–as small as three nanometers. In contrast, manufacturers are experimenting with flash memory components that are 20 nanometers in size.

Read full story @ MIT Technology Review

Leading to a decrease in the amount of space needed for the storage of memory, as well as increased speed when retrieving the memory. What is makes ReRam more incredible is the durability (or amount of times memory can be stored, and then written over), is ten times that of flash memory. Not that that would effect many gadgets considering you could rewrite flash memory on an average of a hundred thousand times without wearing out the memory unit, but for items such as heavily used computers, or eventual A.I. units in the future it will allow a greatly increased capacity.

Unfortunately, even though HP hopes to release the memory as soon as 2013, HP admits it is doubtful it will be released until 2015, if it is not outdated at that point.

recommended reads:

ZDnet

MIT Technology Review

Ultimately, researchers want to use synthetic biology to design microbes that very efficiently produce vaccines, clean fuels, and other products. But they can’t engineer new genomes from scratch, because they don’t yet know enough about what genes and networks of genes are needed to sustain life and produce a desired product. “You might remove one gene and the cell lives; remove a second and it dies; then remove a third and it lives again,” says Daniel ­Gibson, an associate professor at the institute. Thus, the Venter researchers are experimenting with the sequence of a naturally occurring genome. They hope to learn more about how genomes and cells work by rapidly deleting and adding genes in different combinations, incorporating the new genomes into cells, and then observing how those genomes function or fail to function.

Read the full story @MIT Tech Review which I would highly recommend.

“The American people should not be forced to pay for experiments — prohibited by federal law — that destroy human life,” said Steven H. Aden, the group’s senior legal counsel. “The court is simply enforcing an existing law passed by Congress that prevents Americans from paying another penny for needless research on human embryos.”

Quote @ Localtechwire

I will let those of you who wish to read on, read on

@Localtechwire.com

or

@MIT Technology Reivew

Statements:

The money granted to the National Institute of Health which was ruled against was approved by congress as is all federal funds (note the quote in the argument above), also the quote “needless research on human embryos.” Leading me, at least, to the conclusion that the funding will continue.

Cars are becoming more computerized, an evolution that could have an unintended side effect: vulnerability to attacks. Researchers at the University of Washington and the University of California, San Diego, led by Tadayoshi Kohno and Stefan Savage, recently showed that by taking over a car’s computers, they could disable the brakes, stop the engine, and control the door locks. For now, most of the attacks require access to a port inside the car. But wreaking havoc could get easier as carmakers add more wireless connectivity. The researchers hope their work will motivate manufacturers to add security features.

Read full story @ MIT Technology Review

Connected to this story is Disabling cars over the internet also found @Lettergram.org:

DALLAS – A man fired from a Texas auto dealership used an Internet service to remotely disable ignitions and set off car horns of more than 100 vehicles sold at his old workplace, police said Wednesday.

Austin police arrested Omar Ramos-Lopez, 20, on Wednesday, charging him with felony breach of computer security.

Ramos-Lopez used a former colleague’s password to deactivate starters and set off car horns, police said. Several car owners said they had to call tow trucks and were left stranded at work or home.

Atlanta, Georgia (CNN) — The city of Atlanta will pay $4.9 million to the family of Kathryn Johnston, a 92-year-old woman killed in a botched November 2006 drug raid, Mayor Kasim Reed’s office announced Monday.

Johnston was shot to death by narcotics officers conducting a “no-knock” warrant. Investigators later determined the raid was based on falsified paperwork stating that illegal drugs were present in the home……

As the search warrant was being executed November 21, 2006, at Johnston’s home, she fired at officers with an old pistol, apparently believing her home was being broken into. Six officers returned fire. Johnston’s one shot went through her front door and over the officers’ heads. They responded with 39 shots, hitting the elderly woman five times.

Read full story @CNN.com

39 shots and only 5 hits?

And if the warrant was a “no-nock” warrant how did she have time to get the pistol and shot back?

This whole story just seems fishy…

WASHINGTON — Breaking ranks for President Barack Obama on a controversial election-year issue, the Senate’s top Democrat on Monday came out against plans to build a mosque near the site of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Locked in a tight race, Nevada Sen. Harry Reid became the highest profile Democrat to respond to Obama, who last week backed the right for the developers to build a mosque near ground zero. Since his comments Friday, the Democratic president and his aides have worked to explain the statement, which drew criticism from Republicans and Democrats alike.

“The First Amendment protects freedom of religion,” said Jim Manley, a Reid spokesman. “Sen. Reid respects that but thinks that the mosque should be built some place else.”

Read full story @msn.com

Following that lovely statement:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

-The United States Constitution

Not only is not allowing the mosque to be built immoral by the standards set forth by the constitution on which our country was founded (which we all agree to by simply living in the country), but also by the United States law itself. Although President Obama’s campaign of socializing america is distasteful, or should be to most American’s, what he said was simply:

“As a citizen, and as president, I believe that Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as everyone else in this country,” Mr. Obama told an intently listening crowd gathered at the White House Friday evening to observe the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

“That includes the right to build a place of worship and a community center on private property in lower Manhattan, in accordance with local laws and ordinances,” he said. “This is America, and our commitment to religious freedom must be unshakable.”

Read full article @CBSnews.com

Looking purely at what President Obama told the crowd, there is little to nothing morally, or lawfully wrong with that statement. As a nation The United States pledged to stand by the lawful code which rules the land. If an individual disagrees with the code for what ever reason, simply leave the country. However, if one wishes to be part of the United States one must also accept the code on which the country abides.

Although building a mosque near the site of a great tragedies in our nations recent past can be somewhat distasteful, or discomforting for some what are the possible reasons behind such a decision on the Islamic front?

1) To show that America continues to support freedom of religion.

2) Good location for the populous attending.

3) To show Islamic support for America.

4)  The possibility of enraging radical Islamic sects.

5) Possibly to insult American’s.

In what ever case, for good or for bad, the law is clear.

Now for my Opinion:

What I find the most despising about the whole issue is that there is an issue at all. The politicians and media are criticizing the presidents speech are either completely ignorant of what the word “freedom” means in the constitution or are simply tossing away with the code on which the United States built its reputation. Hell, the only reason I still have any respect for the United States is merely because the founding fathers set restrictions on what the government can and cannot do. Now with the media, a portion of the population, and the politicians denouncing what President Obama told the Muslim community, I’m curious, why would those who wish to hamper the building of the Mosque live in America? Republicans denounce the Mosque because the catholics and non-catholic conservatives are who they represent. The democrats denounce the building of the mosque because half of them are up for re-election. The populace denounces it because the media denounces it, and twists their minds into thinking about how insulting it would look. Funny thing though, in America no one should care about any of it. It is private land, on which citizens wish to build a place of worship, which they have chosen.

I know that each and every person who believes that that mosque should not be built is an enemy of me, because he is an enemy of my freedom.

I spit on you.

Read the story @CNN

ascagoula, Mississippi (CNN) — A lack of screening of oil spill cleanup workers meant a sex offender got a job, and left him free to rape a colleague according to a Mississippi county sheriff.

A CNN investigation into the incident reveals that basic background checks were not done on those hired to remove oil from the beaches in and around Pascagoula.

Jackson County Sheriff Mike Byrd told CNN he was shocked when he met with the head of BP security for the area several weeks before the alleged rape took place. He said the BP representative told him that only drug screenings, not background checks, were being conducted on the cleanup workers.

There are two issues that are troubling with the story above:

One – Why are background checks needed for picking up unusable oil, and unusable water? Nothing can be done with any chemicals, nothing dangerous anyways, and fairly sure that with holding an open job position simply because he/she is a sex offender is illegal. It may be distasteful to some, but after being released from prison (what ever the reason) it is required that the former prisoner is employed. Of course it may not be in association with children if they are a child molester for example, but in this case there was no way a back ground check would have done any good.

Two – Much like the Toyota media rampage about the gas peddles, BP is receiving a brutal beating through the medias influence over the opinions of ‘free thinking individuals’. BP being pegged as irresponsible, which for the oil rig collapsing, is partially true. However, with the media constantly digging up any dirty news that can be found on BP and feeding it down the publics throat people such as  Jackson County Sheriff Mike Byrd (In the quote above) look poorly upon BP as well. Likely causing a bias opinion when investigations into BP are ongoing and turning a larger portion of the population against BP without just cause.

The device relies on a physical principle discovered and demonstrated by researchers at Stanford University. In their prototype, the energy in sunlight excites electrons in an electrode, and heat from the sun coaxes the excited electrons to jump across a vacuum into another electrode, generating an electrical current. The device could be designed to send waste heat to a steam engine and convert 50 percent of the energy in sunlight into electricity–a huge improvement over conventional solar cells.

The most common silicon solar cells convert about 15 percent of the energy in sunlight into electricity. More than half of the incoming solar energy is lost as heat. That’s because the active materials in solar cells can interact with only a particular band of the solar spectrum; photons below a certain energy level simply heat up the cell.

Read full article @MIT Technology Review

Meaning the current roughly 50% efficient car engines may soon become 75% efficient at converting raw energy (gasoline) into work (driving). Leading to an increase in new cars from lets say 30 miles to the gallon to 45 miles to the gallon.