Mr. Fusion Lives

Remember a few years ago, 2002 in fact when the news media was a buzz about a scientist from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee that was claiming to have created “Cold Fusion”.

The science community took one look at his methods and results and though it appeared his method was correct, they dismissed his results as totally impossible and accused him of faking the results. Purdue even began investigating allegations of misconduct by the scientist Rusi Taleyarkhan.

Well guess what, Rusi Taleyarkhan has been cleared because his results have been independently verified by another team of scientists headed by Edward Forringer of LeTourneau University in Texas.

What does this mean, I see two huge points:

First, don’t know as much about the workings of atomic reactions, or other tenants of science as we may think. The scientific community has fallen in to the same trap of smugness that they were in prior to the discovery that the world was not flat. Chances are there is still more to learn than we already know.

Second, the possibility of small, self contained, limitless, and totally clean energy sources is alive and well. We very well may be powering our flying cars with small cold fusion reactors ala “Mr Fusion” of “Back to the Future”. Hold on to your hats.

Update....

More independent verification, the Navy's Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center (Spawar) in San Diego has just published results supporting Rusi Taleyarkhan and has revealed that they have been looking at his work since he first published results. Take a look at this Navy Heats Up. Cold Fusion Hopes

Another Update....
It starting to look like they really are trying to deprive Dr. Taleyarkhan of his discoveries, talk a look at this article in Janet D. Stemwedel 's Adventures in Ethics and Science.

She details the on going investigation of Dr. Taleyarkhan's methods by the Investigations and Oversight Subcommittee. I hope the above work by Dr Forringer and at Spawar prove accurate and Dr Taleyarkhan gets credit for his discovery.

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Home Improvement

Good news for everyone out there who were not born with a hammer and a level in your hands. And God, (and my wife) knows that includes me.

America Online has put together a do it yourself video site Home Improvements with Eric Stromer.

They are very well done and are hosted by Eric Stromer. Easy enough for a beginner they also have value to the more expert among us. There are seven different categories:

• Improvements
• Indoor
• Outdoor
• Refurbishment
• Repairs
• Starting From Scratch
• Tools and Tips

Each category has at least five different video’s. With any luck we will be seeing additional video’s in the future.

Take that Tool Man, AR Ar Ar.

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77 Surefire Ways to Increase Your Homes Value.

Of course the number one way to increase your home’s value is no doubt to get it on Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. or of the other home makeover shows out there. Once Ty Pennington sets foot in your home, its value will no doubt double, triple or even quadruple.

But there again not everyone’s home can be on TV so if you can’t talk Ty into stopping by and still need to improve the value of home check into the list of ways to improve your homes value at 1031 Exchange Lowdown’s 77 Surefire Ways to Increase Your Home's Value.

Some of them are not overly expensive or difficult to do. For example:

6. Clean, shake up your carpet, get them looking as good as new again.

Or

7. Make sure all the latches and bolts work, that the hinges are well-oiled and don’t make creaking noises.

Or even.

14. Change the filter in your air-conditioner to avoid that stale, musty smell when its turned on.

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Why Not Ban Car Radios While You're At It As Well?

While I’m not a fan of talking on cell phones and driving at the same time, but if the current policies of banning cell phone use while driving are allowed to stand I’ve got to wonder which of our in-car distractions will be next to go.

Will it be the in dash DVD’s, eating fast food, or maybe even listening to the radio, arguably all of these activities distract us from the central focus, driving the car.

Who’s to say, that talking on a cell phone is more distracting than stuffing that Big Mac in our faces, or listening to our neighbors problems on the phone is more distracting than listening to the nations problems on Rush Limbaugh.

I would not want to be the one to have to justify how talking on cell phones is more distracting than our other more common driving distractions. If we go down this road will the kids in the backseat have to be bound and gagged before they are allowed to ride along.

I have no doubt that kids fighting in the back seat is more distracting than talking to Aunt Sarah on the cell phone. For more on this debate check out Techdirt’s Why Not Ban Car Radios While You're At It As Well?

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So you want to be the next James Bond

So you want to be the next James Bond. The first step in achieving that goal is setting right in front of you. If you’re a college age student with 3.0 or better GPA and a facebook.com account, you can find out how to apply at the CIA's Facebook page.

Check out their YouTube video a 30 second promotional piece directed at college students.

But don’t worry about them spying on you while you’re there, they don’t collect any names, cookies or resumes at their sites, so you funny drinking pictures on you facebook are safe. At least until you apply but, I would suggest you clean it up before you do, because after you apply it’s fair game.

To learn more about the process take a look at Wired New’s CIA Gets in Your Face(book).

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IRS Tax Tip: 1040 Central

Access 1040 Central at IRS.gov under the "Individuals" tab and discover user-friendly tools that will make completing your 2006 tax return.

1040 Central has the links you'll need to file your tax year 2006 federal income tax return no matter which form you use. For Example you will find links for:

- Information about IRS e-file. Join the millions of people who already file their tax returns electronically. IRS e-file is the easiest and most accurate way to file and the fastest way to get your refund.

- Information about IRS Free File. Are you among the 70% of Tax Payers with Adjusted Gross Income below $52,000. You may be able to file for free.

- Check the status of your refund by clicking on the "Where's My Refund?" link on 1040 Central.

- 1040 Central highlights changes in the tax law that directly affect taxpayers

- Find Frequently Asked Questions on a broad range of tax issues.

- Quick links to the most commonly used the tax forms and all other tax forms, instructions and publications you may need.
- What Is the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) and might it apply to you. Calculate the proper amount of income tax that should be withheld from your paychecks in 2007.

- Find Information about special tax credits like the Earned Income Tax Credit.

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The Next Pandemic

In “Life in the Time of a Pandemic”, Dan Childs takes a look at the CDC recently released guidelines for handling the next pandemic. He discusses that the CDC would rate the level of infection on a 1 to 5 scale similar to the 1 to 5 scale the National Hurricane Center use to gauge the strength of Hurricanes. Also he goes into the precautions that the government would take to minimize the possible growth of a outbreak.

The probability of an upcoming Pandemic is truly frightening, as they say it is not a question of “If” it is a question of “When”. To me what is really of concern that when the last Pandemic hit in 1918 every country, every city and every family were much more independent than today. A typical family could live for days or weeks or even months without contact or resources from the outside.

Not so today, in fact most families would be hard pressed to make it for more than just a few days without needing to replenish supplies. Knowing that what happens to that food chain when fear of infection grips the population. Are they going to force truck drivers to drive their truck loads of food, when the truck drivers are afraid of contacting whatever the pandemic brings. Are they going to make supermarket workers do their jobs when they know contact with the public could likely lead to infection.

I haven’t read the actual guidelines but in reading this article and others I don’t feel confident that this issue has been adequately addressed. Take a look and see what you think. “Life in the Time of a Pandemic”

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Tapping the Power of Your Morning Routine

Want to be successful? Logic tells us that maybe the best way to be successful is to emulate someone else who is successful. Jim Citrin at Yahoo! Finance surveyed 20 CEO’s to study their daily routines to see what he could learn. Interestingly 17 of the 20 CEOs responded to his survey request. From these, He found 7 similarities in there daily routines, and of those seven I find 3 particularly interesting.

Contrary to what some experts tell us, one of the similarities is “Get a jump on email”. Not only to they handle it as it comes, they get up early to “Get a jump on email”.

Next I find it interesting that another common theme is “Exercising every morning”, I see this as meaning no matter how busy a CEO is they make time for themselves. And going along with that theme they “Make family time”, it very well may mean that doing what they need to do for themselves makes them more effective overall.

If you want to be successful take a look at Jim’s article, “Tapping the Power of Your Morning Routine”.

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Proof God Exists

For everyone who doesn't believe in God and everyone that does. Here is the most convincing proof that God is alive, well and working in our lives every day.

This is a video news story from of all places “CNN” that details the abilities and visions of a young girl of atheist parents. She had never taken an art class, attended church or even been exposed to the concept of religion of any kind prior to the onset of her talents.

Take a look and try to come up with an explanation other than God himself has visited her, and blessed her with some incredible gifts. Proof God Exists!

She also has a website that might be of interest take a look http://www.artakiane.com/home.htm

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Global Warming - So What

Alright I’ve had about enough of the Global Warming doom and gloomers. Blaming mankind for the steady increase in the earth’s temperatures is apparently all the rage. In the ABC News feature Global Warming Man-Made, Will Continue they claim global warming is apparently totally the responsibility of human kind and the United States in particular. And apparently will continue no matter what we do.

I’ll agree that it will continue no matter what we do, but I refuse to concede that mankind is totally responsible. It is possible that mankind has contributed to warming the earth in some small way. But it is scientific fact that the earth undergoes constant climate cycles. Their have been at least four global ice ages and I have no doubt there will be at least four more. And in between each of these four ice ages there has been a period of “Global Warming”. And I seriously doubt that mankind was responsible or even around for the other global warming periods on earth.

So if we didn’t cause those other Global Warming periods then what caused them. The consensus answer is that we need not look any further than the source of all heat and light on this earth, the sun. Just like the earth, the sun also goes through constant climate cycles, growing brighter and dimmer over long periods of time. The sun is not, has not and will not remain constant, a fact that the doom and gloomers seem to gloss over.

These cycles are the main cause of global warming. For example, at one point in time most of the North American continent was covered in a ice sheet up to a mile or more thick, are we to assume that the cavemen that existed at the time caused the ice sheets to melt with their campfires and uncovered the continent. No, but global warming started somehow and melted the ice sheets away, why. The sun output increased and started the melting of the ice sheets.

In fact other than a very brief period in the 1700 and 1800’s the earth has steadily warmed since the last ice age. Perhaps its rate of increase has increased in the last few years, perhaps it has increased because of man’s burning of fossil fuels, but it could just as easily be caused by the number of farm animals (they give off methane, lots of it) kept on earth or but far more likely yet another increase solar energy.

Now let me tackle the assumptions that global warming is invariably bad. We are told that costal cities will flood and millions of people will lose their homes to the rising oceans. Ok, the ocean will rise as it gets warmer I agree, but how do they know this, its because it always has in the past. This isn’t new, the ocean rises and falls during the climatic cycles and it will continue to do so. The folly is that man is stupid enough to build major cities next to the ocean, even after we knew the sea level is never constant and rises and falls with climatic cycles. If you don’t want to be flooded don’t build next to bodies of water, pretty simple isn’t it.

Next, consider for a moment the fact that vast areas of both North America and Asia are covered in ice or locked up in permafrost. As the earth warms, what happens, these vast areas become habitable and farmable by mankind. More food can be grown and more land is available for cities to be built. Far more, I argue, than will be lost to coastal flooding.

Now what about the terrible weather that is supposed to follow this global warming cycle. This is the most unreliable of all the global warming predictions, in 2005 the doom and gloomers were telling us that the spike in hurricanes was directly due to global warming and we believed them. What happened next, in 2006 we had the warmest year in the short time man has kept records, less than 200 years, and what about the hurricanes, we hardly had any, we had far fewer than we have in a “normal” year.

So how likely is global warming to create destructive enough weather to endanger us. If you look at history, not very. It is believed that during the various ages of the dinosaur, ages separated by “Ice Ages”. The average temperature was considerably warmer that now, and continued for millions of years at a time. If the increase in temperature was really likely to cause weather violent enough to endanger us how could the dinosaurs have survived. After all they didn’t have air conditioned homes to get out of the heat or away from the wind and rain.

Enough is enough the earth is going to get warmer but we all will live through it, get used to it.

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al-Qaeda is responsible for the “Civil War” in Iraq

al-Qaeda is responsible for the “Civil War” in Iraq. According administration sources fully 75% of the suicide bombers are from countries such as Saudi Arabia and Sudan. They are crossing into Iraq from Syria to insight the internal strife.

I find it disturbing that none of the U.S. news media has picked up on this and I have to find out about this from the Reform Party of Syria’s website. Maybe we need to increase pressure on Iran, Syria, Saudi Arabia and Sudan to dry up the flow of these al-Qaeda “Martyrs” and give the Iraqi government a chance to passivity the Shia-Sunni sectarian violence.

And last but not least the American people need to put pressure on our news media to tell us the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

Take a look and see what you think. Suicide bombers "entering Iraq from Syria"

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Charlize Theron Speaks Out

While the rest of Hollywood appears intent on supporting Castro's communist government in Cuba. Charlize Theron is bucking the trend in her new documentary film "East of Havana". In it she follows the lives of young Cubans, who no longer believe that communism is the way to go. She says, "I think the younger generation is starting to say, 'You know what, it doesn't work. We're not happy. We want to have freedom of speech. We want to be able to travel,'" .

Coming from South Africa, I’m not surprised that she is more sensitive to people yearning to be free that her other freedom spoiled Hollywood Contemporaries. It’s too bad that it is up to foreign citizens to teach Americans how valuable it is to be free.

I can only hope that Hollywood doesn’t black ball her for speaking out of turn. President Bush has lead the fight to free 50 million citizens of Iraq and Afghanistan but all we here from Hollywood is we need to cut and run from both countries because we have lost one tenth the number of soldiers we lost in Vietnam. All the while claiming conservatives are stupid mind-numbed robots.

I have to admire her courage in addition to her looks and acting ability. Charlize Theron Speaks Out!

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