Author: Dave

IBM is doing some great work in advancing carbon transistor technology. IBM Researchers today announced that they have demonstrated the operation of graphene field-effect transistors at GHz frequencies, claiming the highest frequencies reported so far using the non-silicon electronic material. IBM is a long-time proponent of graphene — a special form of graphite, consisting of…

So what does Obama really think about marijuana legalization? “President-elect Obama is not in favor of the legalization of marijuana.” Well he was for it before he was against it. To be fair to President-Elect Obama, he never pledged to legalize marijuana. Quite the contrary, during his Presidential campaign he backtracked from his previous comments…

This is pretty amazing stuff. Former Attorney General John Ashcroft, in an entirely under-reported November interview, claimed that he makes the best decisions “when I have a lot of morphine in my system.” Perhaps some one needs to talk to Obama about this. You can watch the 5 1/2 minute video of the interview at…

I got this video from Popular Science where you can read an interesting article on the subject. At Steampunk Fusion I have a look at whether this is a scam or could it really work. The short version: the engineering is very difficult but it could work. Cross Posted at Power and Control

In his new book, What Would Keith Do?, due out in May, Keith Richards says: I’ve never had a problem with drugs, only with policemen. H/T Buford Terrell via e-mail. Cross Posted at Power and Control

Governor Bill Richardson (D-New Mexico), Obama’s Commerce Secretary designate, is being investigated for a bit of commerce. New Mexico’s Gov. Bill Richardson, who is the newly named Secretary of Commerce in Obama’s about-to-be Cabinet, is also being investigated by a federal grand jury in his home state for possibly steering state bond business from the…

It’s Sarah Palin time. Every day for the next year. Especially if you buy the Sarah Palin 2009 Calendar. And this will come as a surprise: Instapundit says it is on the Amazon best seller list – for office products. I’m still trying to figure out what that means in terms of her political future.…

Obama’s choice for Education Secretary, Arne Duncan who is currently Chief Executive Officer of the Chicago Public Schools, is presiding over one of the worst school systems in America. Anne Leary of Backyard Pundit has the scoop. Only 6 of 100 Chicago Public School students go on to get a bachelor’s degree by age 25.…

A new laboratory record in LED white light production has been reached. December 3, 2008–In the ongoing efficiency battle going on between the research labs of the leading high-power white-light LED makers, Cree (Durham, NC) has gained the highest ground, at least for now. The company just announced that it achieved an industry-best reported R&D…

Yes. Solar has a very bright future. A long as the subsidies keep coming. If estimates hold up, by 2030, 2000-GW-scale power plants will be necessary to meet new electricity demand, and a potential need will arise to replace a large number of obsolete power plants. Demand on this scale, coupled with industrial and consumer…

Laurie Anderson

There seems to be a lot of angst about wishing people a Merry Christmas. Happy Holidays seems to be in vogue. And of course we have The Holiday Season. I propose we put an end to this kind of non-sense once and for all. We should refer to the holiday by its original name. The…

Suzanne Willis sent me this e-mail. She was responding to something she read in the Dallas Morning News. If, as Mr. Schram says, drug violence is due to Americans’ appetite for drugs, drug violence would have begun when Americans began using drugs. It didn’t. Americans have used cocaine, morphine and marijuana since the first Europeans…

The speaker is Daniel J. Mitchell. He has written a book: Global Tax Revolution: The Rise of Tax Competition and the Battle to Defend It. You can also learn more at freedomandprosperity.org Cross Posted at Power and Control

Yesterday I was looking at oil prices and found something interesting. The price of WTI oil was about $7 or $8 below the price of the other two contracts listed. I asked if any of my readers could explain such a big difference in prices and reader Bill came to the rescue. Yes it is…

There are two kinds of politicians in Illinois. Crooks and those who haven’t been caught. When voting in Illinois how do you know which candidate is the most honest? The most honest candidate is not on the ballot. How can you tell which is the crookedest candidate? Easy: the crookedest candidate is the reform candidate.…

The picture you see above is a steam driven fusion reactor. I know what you are thinking. This is some kind of joke. It is no joke. General Fusion has a design that I think has an outside chance of working. I was discussing it with some of the boys at Talk Polywell and I’d…

I was just having a look at the oil market and came across something interesting. Nymex Crude Future 38.74 Dated Brent Spot 37.43 WTI Cushing Spot 30.52 Now I have been following this market intermittently for the last few months and as I recall there was at most a few dollars difference between the different…

It seems like the kids at a high school in Maryland have invented an awful new game called Speed Camera Pimping. As a prank, students from local high schools have been taking advantage of the county’s Speed Camera Program in order to exact revenge on people who they believe have wronged them in the past,…

Wind power is currently limited by the fact that there is a minimum wind speed required for a wind turbine to begin operation. We could harvest a lot more energy from the wind if that minimum speed was lower. Plus it would help a lot if the wind passing the turbine was speeded up to…