Kansas needs an ocean.

The electric car may be about to make a comeback in a big way. Sure, GM, Toyota, and Honda are all working on their own version of an electric car but a company called EEstor has the most potential for a winner on their hands so far.

The company may be releasing specs well above what they can accomplish: an electric car which can go for 500 miles before recharge, recharge in five minutes with $9 worth of electricity, and the batteries do not degrade after use (lithium-ion batteries have a recharge value of about 500 times before becoming useless, whereas these guys claim they've charged their batteries over a million times without problems).

They hope to get a working model by 2008. Hopefully, they can avoid the assassins.

Don't die.

Tic-tacs are your greatest friend.

All I have to say is sweet! Mel Brooks is creating a Spaceballs: the Animated Series.

May the Schwartz be with You.

Don't die.

Java is fun. I like Java. Repeat it with me: Java is good.

Don't be poor and get arrested in Georgia. You might not get out for a lot longer than what your sentence was.

Orla Hurley needed to pay 705 dollars in fines for a 120 day sentence. To "help" her pay her fines, Orla was in a work-program were she was paid $700/month minus rent (600), transportation (52), and the amenities one needs to live on (toothpaste, soap, etc). Being generous, lets say she made $10/month in profit to pay the fine. By the end of her sentence, she'd have saved up a measly 40 dollars, which, even if you're absolutely terrible at math, everyone knows is a long ways from reaching 700. Consequently, when her sentence ended, Orla found herself detained longer.

Ouchies.

Don't die.

Clouds are bogus.

It's not really a big surprise, but George Monbiot has uncovered evidence about the financial backers of many of the so-called "grassroots" campaigns against global warming. The company behind the campaigns is ExxonMobile, who has a lot to lose if the United States moves from an oil-based economy.

Oddly, he uncovered another campaign which was started by Philip Morris in an effort to hide their true motivations, which was the anti-smoking ordinances they feared were about ready to crop up. Unfortunately for Philip Morris, their campaign has done nothing to stop the wave of non-smoking ordinances. However, it has hurt the idea that humanity is one of the root causes of global warming.

In other news, there is evidence the White House has controlled press releases regarding global warming.

Don't die.

Speak not to me about walnuts.

After 30 years of toiling, Christopher Tolkien is publishing "The Children of Hurin," a book his father began, but abandoned in 1918. So, this book has been almost one hundred years in the making. Talk about a long freaking time. Who knows if it will be any good. I am not the biggest fan of Tolkien's work, although "The Hobbit" was really, really good.

Don't die.

Sometimes, its best just to scream for a bit into a microphone.

Al Gore gave a speech on global warming and what needs to be done to combat it, today. I never actually get a chance to watch any of these speeches (they're always during the day when I am, unfortunately, at work) but I did read the transcript which is probably best anyway. A transcript can be read in five minutes, and I bet this speech went for an hour at least.

There are a couple of moments in his speech I really enjoyed:

"We in the United States of America have a particularly important responsibility, after all, because the world still regards us — in spite of our recent moral lapses — as the natural leader of the community of nations."

"When the Internet was invented — and I assure you I intend to choose my words carefully here — it was because defense planners in the Pentagon forty years ago were searching for a way to protect America’s command and communication infrastructure from being disrupted in a nuclear attack."

"When we introduce the right incentives for eliminating pollution and becoming more efficient, many businesses will begin to make greater use of computers and advanced monitoring systems to identify even more opportunities for savings."

The first quote I enjoy because he took a glorious stab at the current administration. The second because he takes a stab at himself. And the third, because he talks about using govermental incentives to get businesses to eliminate C02 emissions with the hope of triggering a type of "Moore's law" in industry.

I still think Al Gore has been replaced by an alien. The man wasn't near this good when he needed to be, years ago.

Don't die.

I am a super-hero.

Scientists have discovered a gene which causes cells to start aging, rather than splitting off into new cells. With this discovery, comes another: the aging process of cells reduces the chance of cancer.

Rats with the gene, aged normally. Rats without the gene (supressed by scientists) didn't have many of the negative aspects to aging. Unfortunately, the rats also developed cancer at a highly accelerated rate. To be sure, none of the rats lived longer than the average natural lifespan of an ordinary rat - they just lived in better health (unless the rat happened to become cancerous).

So, alas, we still have some more work on achieving Highlander status.

Don't die.

Rambo was a wuss.

An elephant in South Korea has trained itself to do a feat thought impossible: it has begun to mimic some of the commands given to it by its trainer. Of course, its vocal chords can't create the sounds. Instead, the elephant turns his trunk into a kind of trumpet and blows the commands. Watch the elephant in action at Reuters.

Don't die.