- BBC News – ‘Tractor beam’ is possible with lasers, say scientists
- It is known that light can provide a "push", for example in solar sails that propel spacecraft on a "wind of light".
Now, in a paper on the Arxiv server, researchers from Hong Kong and China have calculated the conditions required to create a laser-based "pull".
Rather than a science fiction-style weapon, however, the approach would only work over small distances.
- New structures for helping Haiti rebuild
- …most of the Haitians that were displaced by the devastating earthquake of more than a year ago are still living in tent cities and shacks made of plywood…
Eric Klein started CAN-DO.org in 2004 after seeing the lack of organization in distributing aid to the victims of the tsunami in Indonesia…
…“We want to be giving donors and the victims of Haiti actual, tangible results.” Klein’s organization is utilizing domes made of fiberglass because of the durable nature of the material, which allows the structures to stand up to fire, rain, and winds of up to 130 miles per hour. The domes have a life expectancy of more than 25 years. …Depending on the intended use of the dome, it can easily be expanded, taken apart and reassembled. …two semi-skilled workers can put a dome together in about a half-hour.
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- O.C. cops rated on Yelp, from 1 to 5 stars | police, irvine, rev – News – The Orange County Register
- Traditionally an outlet for evaluating restaurants, mechanics and other private ventures, Yelp is increasingly home to critiques of anything with a physical location, from dog parks and freeways to beaches and entire towns. Commentary about police, it seems, was inevitable.
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- Scott Walker’s Budget Bans Birth Control Coverage And Eliminates Access To Health Care Services For Women
- In the midst of fighting his union-busting crusade, Wisconsin’s embattled Gov. Scott Walker (R) unveiled his budget on Tuesday. Insisting on balancing the budget without raising taxes or fees, Walker proposed a two-year plan in which he expects students, participants in the SeniorCare prescription drug plan, poor families receiving health care or welfare, and local schools to make sacrifices. As one state lawmaker put it, his $900 million cut in state aid to schools is “an absolute annihilation” of public education. …He is also proposing to repeal Wisconsin’s Contraceptive Equity Law…
- Why blue whales shouldn’t exist
- There's an absolutely amazing essay by Carl Zimmer that just went up on his Discover blog The Loom, about how blue whales are a seemingly impossible creature. Though they are tremendously huge and can live to be over 200 years old, they rarely develop cancer…
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- German Open Source Experiment: Things Not Going To Plan
- Recently, the Foreign Office of Germany made the announcement…that it is migrating away from Linux back to Windows as its desktop solution. We've covered the concept of national adoption of Linux at a government level a couple of times before, but this is one of the first cases of a government moving back the other way. The most important action that community can take at this point is ask, “why?”
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- Digital authors need a whole new set of skills
- [O'Reilly Radar - Jenn Webb]
In a recent interview, Dana Newman, a transactional and intellectual property attorney, talked about what authors need to do to protect themselves and their brands, in addition to their books:…
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- The Mandate Thing – NYTimes.com
- [Paul Krugman]
Voters were not, in fact, asked to vote on what Republican governors like Scott Walker are now trying to do; in a real sense what we’re seeing is a case of bait and switch.
And here again, I find myself flashing back to the Bush years…
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- Wisconsin Recall Efforts Off to Strong Start
- The Wisconsin recall effort is only a day old, but it’s going strong.
[Link-o-rama -- you can contribute, too! -L]
…One of the Republican 8, Sen. Randy Hopper, who won his last election by only 184 votes, said, “There is no backing down.” But a poll from the most Republican-friendly pollster in America may have Senate Republicans rethinking that.
…[They] know they need a speedy end to this to have any chance of regaining the advantage. That’s why today they passed a resolution finding Democrats in contempt [and ordering that they be taken into custody if they don't return.]
This is just not legal, regardless of whether Republicans got some John Yoo clone to write a memo authorizing it. The Wisconsin Constitution is explicit: it says that lawmakers can only be arrested while the Legislature is in session for “treason, felony and breach of peace,”…
- GRAPH: As Union Membership Has Declined, Income Inequality Has Skyrocketed In The United States
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- Retinal implant to restore partial sight approved for use in Europe
- After decades of development and years of clinical trials, an optical prosthesis capable of restoring at least partial vision to those suffering from retina-damaging diseases will hit the market.
- Enzyme revives long-term memories
- Boosting levels in the brain helps rats remember old times
- Global warming: Fewer believers, as harsh winter sparks more debate – Topix
- [Everyone say it with me: It's GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE. In scientist-speak, "warm" means "more energy in the system", which means "more extreme weather"... in other words, harsher winters are a likely result of climate change. -L]
[In case it needs to be said: I don't agree with every word of everything I link to. Signal boosts are awesome! --L.]
The Of interest (Thu, Mar 3rd, 1pm) by Lee Salazar, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License. Terms and conditions beyond the scope of this license may be available at leesalazar.com.