making fuel from CO2 in the air

That is probably a darn good idea. Made to work by catalyst tricks, the process is very effective, and science-soon, if we are to believe the research team. This could be the pure green energy-source we have dreamt about, driven by the heat of the sun. It also spells good news for the green-house effect. Some about the stuff here.

to google or not to google?

I just stopped having Google as my preferred search engine, and switched to Ask. Why? Oh, for several reasons. One being that Google doesn't find the content I search for anymore. The once so true "I'm feeling lucky"-button is nothing more than a bad joke today. If you ask yourself, when was the last time the "I'm feeling lucky"-button took you straight to the page you wanted, I'm sure you will agree. I find that ask.com finds content a lot better.

Another thing is the targeted commercials that Google puts up on every site you visit. When I saw the ads corresponding completely with my last string of Google-searches, I got a little scared. In Denmark you are not allowed to gain access to people’s public library loan-history, because this is considered sensitive material. In the wrong hands, such material can be used for targeted persecution.

Persecution? Who would be persecuted? Well, Google’s happy helping hand in net censorship in China, should give a pointer. What would be the reason for Google’s controversial decision to help the government of China in censoring the net, other than market-cut and ultimately money?

Is it so far fetched that user-profiling could be used to help China in hunting system dissidents? Under cooperate American law no single person would be to blame, should Google decide to help China in this way. In fact the board of directors would have done their duty, by maximizing the share return. The only thing keeping this from happening is public relations, and the combined moral standards of Google itself.

Google is selling your internet habits to the highest bidder. They know your wants, as well as if you have been naughty or nice, better than Santa. This has driven me to copy my links from Google, and paste them in a new browser session, to avoid profiling. I never link out from Google. Paranoid, I know, but please consider your standing towards public libraries selling your loan-history to the highest bidder.

So what happened? My thesis is that money happened. Google was all of a sudden estimated as one of the world’s most valuable company, even though they had no production. This is due to data mining and logging of user habits. The perceived net worth, was in potential targeted marketing, and demographic profiling. Once you get money for your potential, you will have to produce.

This is a story we've heard before. Alta-Vista did the same thing, but with banner commercials, and selling search-ratings, driving their waste user base away. Hot-bot got beaten by Google's superior search routine. Now the question is: Is ask.com better at searching than Google? You be the judge.

more BCI stuff

Yes, I do get excited by small steps in controlled lab environments, and do too often take my mouth too full. But I do so knowingly, determined to maintain enthusiastic optimism for technology to make the world a happy place. So BCI is maybe not science-soon but perhaps science-rather-much-later, as roadmapped in this newsflash. Yet, who believed the computer-revolution would get such an incline back in the eighties?

While I can't help to push the development, I can stand on the sideline chanting my moronic cheers. And I will happily do so.

don't ask...

My waste network often sends me unsolicited links - I wash my hands on this.

Gotta love those Cheetahs though.

more on brain computer interface (BCI)

Exploring the plasticity of the brain, researchers at University of Washington has implanted a neurochip into monkey-brains and successfully created new pathways in the motor cortex. The brain has this lovely plasticity that allows for it to reconfigure to interpret new inputs. We will surely be able to exploit this wonderful property in a near future, giving hopes for the science-soon goals of, for instance, this company.

when I was an elite soldier...

See when I was an elite soldier, we had to drag ourselves through the mud, rain or snow (mostly head deep snow). But nowadays, you get issued these cool gadgets that make my tour in the Byronic war seem like a hike in hell. WTF??!

pure evil

I have come across the most evil link in the world!

Now my head is all fuzzy warm and soft, like the belly of Winnie the Pooh. I know there was a moral to this story, but it has slipped my mind.

against nature?

Gay relationships have long been accused of being not only against the will of God, but also unnatural, suggesting that no gay behavior is found in the animal kingdom. That is however not necessarily so.

atheism marketing crisis?

I guess that when you are an atheist, you tend to think that knowledge based belief sells itself. What rational person wouldn't demand proof of what he's told? Well, a lot it would seem based on statistics. Perhaps, one might think, it is because these good people haven't heard of evidence? Perhaps, all they need is an example? Clearly the message should be delivered in a package familiar to them.

This video of a failed attempt to market atheism by method of door to door soliciting shows us one thing: Religious people do not love to debate belief systems, dressed in slippers and morning-robe, as the rest of us do.

new catalyst reaction for polymerization

University of Penn chemists reveal way of polymerization at room temperature and in shorter time than traditional ways. The method is also said to be more environmentally friendly, due to the smaller amounts of metals involved.

bio-warfare lab bust in student housing

Earlier today, Swedish government officials raided a student apartment, and found evidence of attempts to grow weapons-grade biohazards, by means of very low-tech equipment. Unorthodoxly, the student had set up an elaborate lab of ordinary plates, pots and utensils in his room, and succeeded in growing a big payload of the still unidentified substance. “We don’t know precisely what he has been trying to grow, but it looks vile and lethal”, said a clearly taken government official at the scene. The student, still protesting his innocence, may be facing charges under the terror act.

new germinator

Californian team of researchers show new weapon of massdestruction, Platensimycin, in the War on Germs. Hailed to have germicide capacity, this baby is made from total synthesis, and is said to have stealth action, capable of bagging even multiresistant bacteria.

Patients at staph infested hospitals around the world prepare to shoot up to kill.