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Comment Re:My old-school wallet is already mobile. (Score 1) 194

by deep_creek (#39423177) Attached to: Will Mobile Wallets Replace Their Traditional Counterparts?

Kinda the point of a wallet. It has several virtues that these new "mobile" wallets don't.

1. The things I have in the wallet are separable. 2. I can put non-digital information in it. 3. I can store untraceable currency in it. 4. It doesn't use batteries. 5. It is completely non-volatile. 6. It is completely secured from hacking. 7. I don't have to trust any third party with the contents of my wallet, ever. 8. The importance of 6 and 7 cannot be overstated.

and (9) my wages, earning, savings, etc... cannot be garnished at will by governing/crediting/banking parties as they see fit.

Comment Re:How elastic? (Score 1) 213

by deep_creek (#31805246) Attached to: Scientists Turn T-Shirts Into Body Armor
Bone-shattering force is still applied to victim/target. The shirt may become rigid, but something has to absorb the force applied. Kind of like an extreme concussion to the head i'm thinking... your skull is fine but your brain is mush. Bullets purpose still achieves goal, now just less mess.
Image

Food Activist's Life Becomes The Life of Brian 165

Posted by samzenpus from the you-are-all-individuals dept.
krou writes "After food activist and author Raj Patel appeared on The Colbert Report to promote his latest book, things seemed to be going well, until he began to get inundated with emails asking if he was 'the world teacher.' In events ripped straight from The Life of Brian, it would seem that Raj Patel's life story ticks all the boxes necessary to fulfill prophecies made by Benjamin Creme, founder of religious sect Share International. After the volume of emails and inquiries got worse, Patel eventually wrote a message on his website stating categorically that he was not the Messiah. Sure enough, 'his denial merely fanned the flames for some believers. In a twist ripped straight from the script of the comedy classic, they said that this disavowal, too, had been prophesied.'"
Earth

Piezo Crystals Harness Sound To Generate Hydrogen 187

Posted by timothy from the what's-shakin'? dept.
MikeChino writes "Scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have discovered that a mix of zinc oxide crystals, water, and noise pollution can efficiently produce hydrogen without the need for a dirty catalyst like oil. To generate the clean hydrogen, researchers produced a new type of zinc oxide crystals that absorb vibrations when placed in water. The vibrations cause the crystals to develop areas with strong positive and negative charges — a reaction that rips the surrounding water molecules and releases hydrogen and oxygen. The mechanism, dubbed the piezoelectrochemical effect, converts 18% of energy from vibrations into hydrogen gas (compared to 10% from conventional piezoelectric materials), and since any vibration can produce the effect, the system could one day be used to generate power from anything that produces noise — cars whizzing by on the highway, crashing waves in the ocean, or planes landing at an airport."
Image

Garlic Farmer Wards Off High-Speed Internet 475

Posted by samzenpus from the attack-of-the-killer-garlic dept.
DocVM writes "A Nova Scotia farmer is opposing the construction of a microwave tower for fear it will eventually mutate his organic garlic crop. Lenny Levine, who has been planting and harvesting garlic by hand on his Annapolis Valley land since the 1970s, is afraid his organic crop could be irradiated if EastLink builds a microwave tower for wireless high-speed internet access a few hundred meters from his farm."

Comment Re:TCO (Score 1) 381

by deep_creek (#27032107) Attached to: Solar Panels Reach $1 a Watt
My future plan is to avoid the power grid and use solar to power items around the house that don't need the grid. Say an AC window unit that could run during the day on solar to supplement my central AC unit, etc... Stuff like this can be achieved as a DIY project.

Comment Re:So much for not sacrificing ideals for safety. (Score 1) 906

by deep_creek (#26581215) Attached to: Obama Sides With Bush In Spy Case
By temperament and voter registration, I'm a Republican; however, I voted for (and hope for) an Obama win because the path the government has taken over the last 7-8 years has saddened and disgusted me. I'm glad he won.
Sadly, the only way to reverse the path the government has taken the last 7-8 years is to somehow go back and erase 9/11. The economy artificially ran smoothly after the hit for so long. It had to eventually stumble. Now that we have Obama (D), the economy can crumble until it hits Carter period lows. Give him another year and it will be there.
Security

Submission + - What tech to backpack around the world with?

Submitted by ryrw
ryrw writes: I'm planning to spend a year backpacking around the world and the hardest question I have to answer is: What technology do I take with me? Aside from the obvious (digital camera, ipod, et. al.) what technological devices would you you take? Specifically, I wonder if I should bring my nice and shiny MacBook Pro. I can think of lots of uses for it (offloading pix, updating blog, email, etc.), but I'm worried it will be lost or stolen along the way. Does anyone have experience with travel while toting technology?

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