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Maybe if i'm good this year, santa will bring me one of these!

Our friends over at SF Citizen picked up on our recent post about the Great Mothball Fleet at Suisun Bay to call attention to one resident of the fleet that's in search of a good home. The vessel in question is the former Sea Shadow (IX-529), a ship built under a cloak of secrecy dur... Found via...

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Obviously, these people never saw or have forgotten the lessons from Jurassic Park...
Life finds a way.

This is unconscionable: At Tuesday's hearing, Senator Dianne Feinstein, Democrat of California and chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, asked Mr. Blair [the Director of National Intelligence] to assess the possibility of an attempted attack in the United States in the next three to si... Found via...

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Love it. I think Lessig is right on that if congress is allowed to work on policy and ignore fundraising, we'd get more bang from our buck.

From the Tea Party Right to the Progressive Left, there is agreement that something fundamental has gone wrong. But I believe that our frustrations share a common source -- an exasperation with the broken state of our political system -- even as we disagree passionately on what to do about it.

The solution to that disagreement is democracy. We should begin the long discussion about how best to reform our democracy, to restore its commitment to liberty and a Republic, by beginning a process to amend the Constitution through the one path the Framers gave us that has not yet been taken -- a Convention.

For the Framers imagined a time when the government might be captured. And they created a mechanism to respond to that capture. If 2/3ds of the legislatures of the states demand it, Congress must call a convention. That convention then must meet and deliberate about amendments to the constitution. If it agrees, it then proposes amendments to the states. 3/4ths of the states must then ratify any amendment before becomes law. Thus, 12 states of 50 have the power to veto any change, meaning no change could happen unless it appealed to a solid group of Red States and a solid group of Blue.

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Dams You Plants!! We have so much to learn!

Oh wow. Photosynthesis depends on quantum effects for its amazing efficiency: The quantum wizardry appears to occur in each of a photosynthetic cell’s millions of antenna proteins. These route energy from electrons spinning in photon-sensitive molecules to nearby reaction-center proteins, which ... Found via...

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Nice reminder from Dean Kamen that projections of the future don't include the innovations that will invariably change our lives.
His example is that diabetes accounts for some 30% of our health care dollars and if we're able to cure/reduce its impact, that will not only help our budgets but our lives.

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Shared by Jon
Nice reminder from Dean Kamen that projections of the future don't include the innovations that will invariably change our lives.
His example is that diabetes accounts for some 30% of our health care dollars and if we're able to cure/reduce its impact, that will not only help our budgets but our lives.

Found via...

Shared by Ian
They make some pretty good points in there.

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Shared by Ian
They make some pretty good points in there.

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Here's an idea for a power plant: the solar-powered sports coliseum. What if you skinned an entire stadium with solar such that it could satisfy its own ginormous appetite for power when filled with spectators, but when idle (which is usually often) its solar panels could still be at work, making and feeding electricity to the grid? Sports facility as power plant. A colossal idea not likely to be done anytime soon; a rich fantasy beyond the pale. Except that it has been done in Taiwan. Recently completed to host the 2009 Goodwill Games, the stadium will be able to supply all the juice for its 3,300 lights and two jumbotrons, or local residents when the lights and screens are off. Found via...

Here's an idea for a power plant: the solar-powered sports coliseum. What if you skinned an entire stadium with solar such that it could satisfy its own ginormous appetite for power when filled with spectators, but when idle (which is usually often) its solar panels could still be at work, making and feeding electricity to the grid? Sports facility as power plant. A colossal idea not likely to be done anytime soon; a rich fantasy beyond the pale. Except that it has been done in Taiwan. Recently completed to host the 2009 Goodwill Games, the stadium will be able to supply all the juice for its 3,300 lights and two jumbotrons, or local residents when the lights and screens are off. Found via...