African "sex tree" endangered by own popularity

by Patrick Metzger
Dec 17th 2007 @ 12:30PM

Filed under: Food, News, Polit-eco

An unassuming plant in the Ugandan rainforest, nicknamed the "sex tree' , risks becoming a victim of its own success. The bush has been used by local people for generations as a medicine to restore flagging male virility, but now it's being driven to extinction through over-harvesting.

In addition to the short-term trauma of unchecked ED in a society where Viagra and its performance-enhancing cousins aren't widely available, the sex tree crisis highlights the larger problem of the growing human impact on Africa's wild areas. Rainforests are key repositories of biodiversity, and an expanding human population threatens to destroy thousands of undiscovered plant and animal species.

Residents of the region are now being trained to harvest wild plants in more sustainable ways, but that doesn't address the basic issue of habitant encroachment that's happening around the world.

To see the video, go here.

Related Link

How Feds are Dropping the Ball on IPv6

IMHO, Commander Taco tends to side with the techie rather than the practical but I thought this was interesting. If so few orgs are adopting this, it seems to me that this is one of those ideas that may still be ahead of its time. There may be a reason to move in the future but I understand why CIOs are reluctant to move if what we have is meeting the needs. It is kind of like upgrading the plumbing in your house. You could and things may work better but why tear up your house and go through the headache if the toilet still flushes.

Posted by CmdrTaco on Monday December 17, @11:20AM
from the go-long-go-long dept.

BobB-NW writes "U.S. federal agencies have six months to meet a deadline to support IPv6, an upgrade to the Internet's main communications protocol known as IPv4. But most agencies are not grabbing hold of the new technology and running with it, industry observers say. Instead, most federal CIOs are doing the bare minimum required by law to meet the IPv6 mandate, and they aren't planning to use the new network protocol for the foreseeable future."

Tips for a low-carbon Christmas

by Patrick Metzger
Dec 17th 2007 @ 10:01AM

Filed under: Gadgets and Tech, Home, Polit-eco, Activism

A UK thinktank called the New Economics Foundation says that our holiday indulgences aren't just unhealthy for us, but for the whole planet, and they throw out some interesting numbers to prove it. For example, the energy consumed by in a year by all the WII game consoles sold this Christmas will lead to a rise in annual CO2 emissions that's the equivalent of 180,000 one-way flights from London to New York. To offset your guilt over the fact that you're going to buy one anyway and damn the polar bears, NEF has 10 suggestions to make the season a little greener:

• Give the gift of time - instead of something plastic flown all the way from China, give your loved one some of your time. You could promise to do the household chores, or take on a project with them.
• Turn off the TV - do you really need to watch Celebrity Santa Claus Boxing or whatever reality TV abomination the writerless networks have come up with this year? Spending time with family or reading a book is less energy-intensive and probaby better for your brain. Hell, hitting yourself in the head with a two by four is probably better for your brain.
• Don't eat brussel sprouts - not because they taste like recycled newsprint soaked in brine, but because they're environmentally unsound. They produce methane, or more accurately cause you to produce methane and that's not fun for anyone.
• Practice random niceness - this is the perfect time of year to greet strangers with a warm smile and a holiday greeting, unless you live in New York. Just kidding, jaded urbanites need friendliness too.

DDR your GBA

Posted Dec 17th 2007 9:45AM by Paul Miller
Filed under: Gaming

This one's a little messy, and involves the death of a perfectly likeable DDR pad, but it's all for a good cause. Jason1820 modded up his DDR pad to control his Game Boy Advance, and got himself a good game of Pac-Man going. The video after the break demonstrates the very type of hijinks that can ensue, and also serves as a helpful reminder why Nintendo was insane not to include a backlight in original Advance. Yeah, we're still bitter about that.

Tags: ddr, game boy advance, GameBoyAdvance, hack, mod

5 ways to recycle holiday cards

by Kelly Leahy
Dec 15th 2007 @ 1:26PM

Filed under: Home, Kids and Parenting

As the holiday cards start flowing through my mail slot I am taking mental notes on how best to reuse them once the new year arrives. I would rather store them for an entire year than toss them into the recycling bin. Here are some of the solutions I've come across:

1. Cut them into gift tags. The heavy paper used for cards is perfect for cutting into tags. A pair of scissors is all you need but you can always get a little fancier if you have scrapbook cutters on hand.
2. Create geodesic ornaments. With the help of scissors, glue and a jar lid, you can create some really beautiful ornaments to hang around the house. You don't have to be terribly crafty to do this though the result looks rather sophisticated.
3. Another craft that is good for all cards you may receive is to create a card box. These can be used to hold treasures or as gift boxes for jewelry.
4. Create a postcard by drawing a centerline on the back and adding a stamp.
5. Cut out shapes and use to decorate scrapbooks and packages or make a collage.

via two green chickens

Video: Paris Hilton runs out of gas (and hilarity ensues)

Posted Dec 17th 2007 9:28AM by Lascelles Linton
Filed under: Green Culture, Hybrid

Soon-to-be hybrid owner Paris Hilton ran out gas recently and, go figure, the paparazzi stalking helped out by picking some up for her. The video above is a Jimmy Kimmel Live routine about the incident that includes footage of the entire incident taken by the paparazzi. In the video, we hear Paris say she "has never put gas in the car" to which Kimmel comments "usually when she runs out of gas, she just buys a new car."

Now it all makes sense. I think this video explains the logic behind Paris' statement that she will buy a hybrid: they get good mileage which, ta da, means more time before you have to buy a new car. If that is not funny enough for you, what Paris does with the, well, just watch. What she does proves that the rising price of gas is not a big concern to super-rich heiresses who drive $200,000 Bentleys.

Electricity Over Glass

Posted by CmdrTaco on Monday December 17, @08:41AM
from the still-no-sandwiches-over-plastic dept.

guddan writes "Running a live wire into a passenger jet's fuel tank seems like a bad idea on the face of it. Still, sensors that monitor the fuel tank have to run on electricity, so aircraft makers previously had little choice. But what if power could be delivered over optical fiber instead of copper wire, without fear of short circuits and sparks? In late May, the big laser and optics company JDS Uniphase Corp., in San Jose, Calif., bought a small Silicon Valley firm with the technology to do just that."

[+] power (tagging beta)

Related Stories

China pulls plug on coal

by Josh Loposer
Dec 17th 2007 @ 8:30AM

Filed under: News, Alternative Energy

Not to be left out of the climate crusade, China has done a 180° on its approval of 13 small coal-power plants. Larger centralized plants, according to officials, consume less power and discharge less net pollutants. As they edge ever closer to taking the top spot as the worlds most polluting country, the Chinese government seems determined not to appear as unresponsive to world sentiment as the US -- yet I'm not sure whether Chinese internet users can legally access this website.

China's ambitious plan to cut emissions by 10% from 2006-2010 is already looking improbable at best -- although cutting down on coal consumption would obviously help. While they seem to be making an effort, with its economy growing exponentially, it looks like China will opt out of mandatory caps of greenhouse gases in Bali. Of course, so is the US -- how do we keep ending up on the same side of the debate with the Chinese?

Related Link

How We Might Have Scramjets Sooner than Expected

Posted by Zonk on Thursday December 13, @05:52PM
from the zooom-zippy-fast dept.

loralai writes "Recent breakthroughs in scramjet engines could mean two-hour flights from New York to Tokyo. This technology, decades in the making, could redefine our understanding of air travel and military encounters. 'To put things in context, the world's fastest jet, the Air Force's SR-71 Blackbird spy plane, set a speed record of Mach 3.3 in 1990 when it flew from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C., in just over an hour. That's about the limit for jet engines; the fastest fighter planes barely crack Mach 1.6. Scramjets, on the other hand, can theoretically fly as fast as Mach 15--nearly 10,000 mph.'"

Is paper recycling a waste of money?

by Kelly Leahy
Dec 15th 2007 @ 3:30PM

Filed under: Home, News

I am personally invested in my recyclables. I didn't mean for it to get this way but because I spend so much time rinsing and sorting, I get to know the contents of my bin very well. Top this off with the fact that I have to pay extra every month for curbside service and you could say that I believe that I am making good environmental choices.

But what if all of my efforts are a waste of time and money? I have heard the argument before that there are more trees now than there were in 1920 and that most virgin pulp comes from tree farms. I hadn't given much consideration to the chemical process used to turn paper back into pulp and the residue it leaves behind. Although there is less paper in the landfills, the recycling process re-bleaches the paper leaving dioxins behind.The actual process of recycling paper can cost up to three times as much as simply bringing it to a landfill.

But rather than throw our collective hands in the air and ditch the bin, there are a few things that we can do. The first is to select paper made with high post-consumer content which guarantees that what we put on the curb is getting used. Secondly, select a product that was not bleached with chlorine. Lastly, try to decrease your household waste to begin with and you won't need to fret over its use once it leaves your home.

Gallery: 5 Reasons to Ditch Unwanted Catalogs

Vista named #1 biggest tech disappointment of 2007 -- by PC World

Posted Dec 17th 2007 1:56AM by Ryan Block
Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

First PC World gets all up on the soapbox that (until a certain date) the MacBook Pro is the fastest PC the mag had tested, but consider the next step taken: PC World has boldly declared Vista #1 with a bullet in in their Biggest Tech Disappointments of 2007. Ok, sure, we get that it's "disappointments" and not "crappy products" -- the two imply very different things, and it's hard not to be somewhat disappointed by any product that took the better part of a decade to come out -- but if PC World harshing on Vista this bad doesn't smack at all of linkbait, well, we don't know what does. Oh, and here's that link.

P.S. -Seriously though, can Vista get a break here? We mean, honestly, it ain't all THAT bad.

Tags: microsoft, pc world, PcWorld, vista, windows

Are your devices really "Off"

Check out this link to see how much power your devices that are supposedly "Off" are sucking down.

http://awesome.goodmagazine.com/transparency/008/trans008vampireenergy.html

Tesla to deliver Roadsters with "temporary" transmissions?

Posted Dec 13th 2007 9:02PM by Nilay Patel
Filed under: Transportation

The Tesla Roadster was supposed to be out before the end of the year, but it looks like the wicked-fast electric car won't make that target -- apparently the company is having problems finding a transmission strong enough to handle gear shifts while the car remains at full torque. The problem is somewhat unique to electric cars, and Tesla's got two different suppliers scrambling to find a solution -- but in the meantime, the company is considering providing vehicles outfitted with "temporary" transmissions that are basically guaranteed to fail after a few thousand miles. The first of these has already been built for company chairman Elon Musk, and Tesla is deciding whether to start shipping cars with the temporary units to other customers and then replacing them when a final transmission becomes available. That's the price of progress, we suppose, but something tells us quite a few people would rather just wait for the final product.

Tags: roadster, tesla, tesla roadster, TeslaRoadster, transmission

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Cause of Aurora Borealis Confirmed

Posted by Zonk on Thursday December 13, @10:35PM
from the it's-not-eskimo-ghosts-more's-the-pity dept.

An anonymous reader writes "There are reports that satellites have aided scientists in confirming why the Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights) exists. 'New data from NASA's Themis mission, a quintet of satellites launched this winter, found the energy comes from a stream of charged particles from the sun flowing like a current through twisted bundles of magnetic fields connecting Earth's upper atmosphere to the sun. The energy is then abruptly released in the form of a shimmering display of lights.'"

[+] science, space, dust, aurora, astronomy (tagging beta)

US Government Caught Manipulating Wikipedia

Posted by CmdrTaco on Wednesday December 12, @11:37AM
from the your-tax-dollars-at-work dept.

surfi writes "As The Inquirer points out, someone with a House of Representatives IP address has been feeding propaganda into the 'invasion of Iraq' article on Wikipedia." Well at least they are in good company with trustworthy institutions like the CIA and the Vatican.

[+] wikipedia, politics, usa, propaganda, theofascistamerica (tagging beta)

Can Time Slow Down?

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Wednesday December 12, @01:04PM
from the there-is-no-spoon dept.

Ponca City, We Love You writes "Does time slow down when you are in a traffic accident or other life threatening crisis like Neo dodging bullets in slow-motion in The Matrix? To find out, researchers developed a perceptual chronometer where numbers flickered on the screen of a watch-like unit. The scientists adjusted the speed at which the numbers flickered until it was too fast for the subjects to see. Then subjects were put in a Suspended Catch Air Device, a controlled free-fall system in which 'divers' are dropped backwards off a platform 150 feet up and land safely in a net. Subjects were asked to read the numbers on the perceptual chronometer as they fell [video]. The bottom line: While subjects could read numbers presented at normal speeds during the free-fall, they could not read them at faster-than-normal speeds. 'We discovered that people are not like Neo in The Matrix,' Eagleman said. 'The answer to the paradox is that time estimation and memory are intertwined: the volunteers merely thought the fall took a longer time in retrospect'."

[+] time, matrix, waitwhatdoesthatevenmean, ignobel, duh (tagging beta)

Largest Ever Digital Survey of the Milky Way Released

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Wednesday December 12, @04:36PM
from the playing-nice-gets-you-places dept.

Several readers have written to tell us that an international team of over fifty astronomers from around the globe have created the largest ever digital survey of the Milky Way. IPHAS (INT/WFC Photometric H-alpha Survey of the Northern Galactic Plane) is an image survey designed to show large-scale structure within our galaxy. IPHAS data is being released by utilizing technology from the UK government funded open source project Astrogrid. Some of the images are quite spectacular.

[+] graphics, space, slashdotted, wouldyouliketotakeasurvey, images (tagging beta)

Boeing 12,000lb Chemical Laser Set to Fry Targets

Posted by samzenpus on Thursday December 13, @03:00AM
from the houseful-of-popcorn dept.

coondoggie writes "Boeing this week completed work on and installed a 12,000-pound chemical laser in a C-130H aircraft. Boeing's Advanced Tactical Laser (ATL) which is being developed for the Department of Defense, will destroy, damage or disable targets with little to no collateral damage, supporting missions on the battlefield and in urban operations."

[+] realgenius, military, science, sharks, deathstar (tagging beta)

USB missile launcher goes wireless

Posted Dec 12th 2007 9:22AM by Evan Blass
Filed under: Peripherals, Wireless

Never content with leaving their gimmicky products as is, the perfectionists over at Brando are prepping yet a third iteration of the wildly-popular USB missile launcher, with the new model featuring an upgrade to wireless control. Cubicle commandos now have over a 15-foot range from their workstations to wage this geekiest form of warfare, thanks to a two-part system that connects transmitter and launcher with a proprietary RF signal. If you happen to work in the type of environment that condones this sort of silly behavior, or just want to go out with a bang, the set can be yours for $45 starting on the 20th.

Tags: brando, usb, usb missile launcher, UsbMissileLauncher, wireless usb missile launcher, WirelessUsbMissileLauncher

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Engadget's Holiday Gift Guide: for dad

If your dad's anything like ours, he probably doesn't need as much help with his gadgets as you think. But he still needs someone to buy him the damn things, and that's where you and your strapping young wallet come into play. Maybe you've got some ideas in mind already for the latest additions to his power tool collection, but we've got a few selections to help you help him get his geek on, Engadget style.

$0 - $100

Oregon Scientific's Crystal Weather Station - Got a dad that's perpetually wondering if the weather's right for a round of 18? What about one's that obsessed with the slickness of his clocks and paperweights? If you answered yes to either of the above, this one's a no-brainer. Oh, and even if he hates it (not that he will) you can always plant it on your desk, instead. Then again, we say that about every gadget we recommend.
$99.99 - Shop for Crystal Weather Station

SATA HDD Stage Rack - Picking up an external HDD for pops is so played out. This year, show him you really do care with the SATA HDD Stage Rack. What multitasking hard drive-swapping father wouldn't appreciate the enormous amount of utility and convenience stuffed into this thing?
$46.79 - Buy from GeekStuff4U

Eye-Fi Wireless 2GB SD card - Granted, we didn't find the Eye-Fi to be perfect, but that's not to say your padre won't be thoroughly pleased to find one addressed to him. And hey, we totally understand if you're downright tired of getting a phone call each time he tries to upload a new batch, but handing him this sure beats fessing up to the truth.
$99.99 - Shop for Eye-Fi

Noteworthy Mention: JVC's HA-NC80 noise-canceling headphones

$101 - $250

SanDisk Sansa TakeTV 8GB - Your dad's down with downloadable video? Really? Well then, make sure he gets a high five and a hug when you hand 'em that swiftly wrapped box with a TakeTV inside, a digital media adapter that's actually easy enough for the 'rents. Of course, whether or not his other housemates will appreciate your encouragement of his TV domination is another matter entirely, but we're pretty sure that's the least of his worries.
$143.99 - Shop for TakeTV 8GB

Hawking HomeRemote system - Your papa just may not be able to shake that controlling demeanor, but thankfully you can channel that habit into something a bit more productive with Hawking's HomeRemote system. And before he asks, yes, you can indeed login and play dictator from any web browser on the planet.
Around $180 - Shop for HomeRemote

JVC HA-NC250 noise-canceling headphones - Ever wonder how he puts up with taking flack from everyone in earshot? If not, it's about time you started sympathizing. Show a little compassion by bestowing these noise-canceling cans upon him. Just make sure you pick up a AAA cell to bundle in -- no one likes battery shopping on holidays.
$199.99 - Shop for HA-NC250

Nikon Coolpix S51c - This sexy shooter just slipped down into your price range, and we've got a sneaking suspicion your old man would be delighted if you took advantage and picked one up for him. The 8.1-megapixel sensor and integrated WiFi are surefire winners, and the expansive 3-inch LCD monitor should be plenty large even for his aging eyes. We just wouldn't recommend you phrase it that way when presenting the thing to him.
$239.95 - Shop for Nikon S51c

$251 - $500

Amazon Kindle - Bestsellers? Check. Free EV-DO wireless connectivity? Check. Glorious-70s-white aesthetic that'll make give him a wishy washy way back when smile? Maybe. If you're feeling that pop's gonna need some paperless reading distraction over the holidays then Amazon's Kindle may be just the ticket. Featuring a store packed with some 88,000 books, access to news, blogs ("What the hell's a blog?"), newspaper subscriptions, and even magazines, we have a feeling this thing already sold itself.
$399 - Buy from Amazon

1TB hard drive - Nothing says I love you like a cool 1,099,511,627,776 bytes of storage for whatever digital media makes his blessed old heart sing. Seagate, Hitachi, and Western Digital all have you covered for internal drives and external options can be found from the likes of Iomega, LaCie, etc.. Of course, if you ask yourself if he needs storage for 350,000 MP3s the answer may be no, but, if you ask him, we're pretty sure you're gonna get the big thumbs-up.
$350+ - Shop for 1TB drives

AT&T Tilt - The AT&T Tilt (aka HTC TyTN II) features what a dad needs: HSDPA and WiFi connectivity, quad-band GSM for international roaming, Bluetooth, GPS, and the screen frickin' tilts. If your Dad's a cellphone geek -- or just aspires to be one, like his kid (read: you) -- there is just no better place to get started then at the very top of the Windows Mobile world. Just think, he'll never have to stop to ask directions again. Speaking of which...
$299 (on contract) -- Buy from AT&T

$501 - $1000

TomTom GO 920 T - Look, we're not saying dads constantly get lost. But, like, all of ours do. Which is why you want to hook him up with a little something featuring, say, a 4.3-inch screen, "Enhanced Positioning Technology" -- an accelerometer that helps out when your connection drops -- 4GB of internal memory, and even a Bluetooth remote. Like the GO 920 T, for example. Now, thanks to you, your father will never again get lost on the way to a family gathering -- be that for good or bad.
$595 - Shop for TomTom GO 920 T

The ultimate flight sim kit - If your dad's a jet pilot (or still has aspirations), he'll know that to get the job done in the flight sim world -- both bombing and landing -- you need quality gear. None of that kid's stuff. We've decided that by pairing CH Fighterstick Pro, Pro Throttle, Pro Pedals, Saitek Independent Flight Sim LCDs, and other like products, his buddies will be calling him Maverick faster than his wingman can pull a failed ejection.
Starting at $100 per - Shop for CH products

Teac GF-650 Vinyl-to-CD kit - If your dad's Dylan and Zep vinyl is simply gathering dust and taking up space, here's a chance to bring him into the new millennium with ease. The Teac GF-650 not only packs a retro turntable look, AM / FM Radio, and wireless remote, it'll also transfer his old tunes to CD with nary a hassle. Plus, by rounding out the bundle with a few hundred printable CDs, he'll be down in the basement converting his collection well into the new year -- and maybe even next.
$400 + shipping - Shop for Teac GF-650
$30 per hundred CDs - Shop for printable media

$1000+

Dell Latitude XT - Sturdy enough to take a beating, tablet-y enough to impress his pals, and expensive enough to show the full extent of your gratitude, the capacitive touchscreen on this bad boy will make a convert out of him yet. C'mon, do it for the old bastard -- he bailed you out of juvie for underage drinking and didn't even tell mom, remember?
Starts at $2500 - Buy from Dell in the very near future (ships before Christmas)

Optimus Maximus Keyboard -- Impressing Zeus can be complicated (just ask Hercules), but we're sure the god of keyboards is a winner. 113 fully customizable keys with their own 32 x 32 OLED can make the perfect keyboard as complex or simple as your patriarch would prefer. He won't question whether it was irresponsible to spend this much on an input device, but will instead applaud you for your forward thinking by ordering in advance. You did pre-order, right?
$1,536 - Pre-order from Art Lebedev

Steelcase Walkstation - Dad hasn't taken a break in years, and the Steelcase Walkstation can help keep the streak going. The man just needs to figure out that last step -- keeping in shape while he gets his work done -- and everyone's happy. Except us, after he creates a blogging empire and we are crushed under his incredibly-efficient and well-trained thumb.
$6,500 - Call Steelcase (800-333-9939)

Tags: holidash, holiday gift guide, HolidayGiftGuide

Flying Humans

Posted by kdawson on Tuesday December 11, @09:54PM
from the that-trick-never-works dept.

mlimber sends us to the NYTimes for a story about flying people who jump from planes or other high locations wearing a wing suit akin to a flying squirrel's. Their efforts have potential military and Xtreme sports applications. The story profiles, with video, one guy who wants to be the first to jump from a plane and land without a parachute (and live). Here's a YouTube video of another of these fliers skimming six feet above skiers in the Swiss Alps. Quoting: "Modern suit design features tightly woven nylon sewn between the legs and between the arms and torso, creating wings that fill with air and create lift, allowing for forward motion and aerial maneuvers while slowing descent. As the suits, which cost about $1,000, have become more sophisticated, so have the pilots. The best fliers, and there are not many, can trace the horizontal contours of cliffs, ridges and mountainsides."

[+] military, toy, throwyourselfatthegroundandmiss, darwin, batman (tagging beta)

Computer Model Points To the Missing Matter

Posted by kdawson on Tuesday December 11, @02:41PM
from the on-a-whim dept.

eldavojohn writes "There exists a little-known problem of missing regular matter that has perhaps been overshadowed by the mysteries of dark matter and dark energy. Computer models show that there should be about 40% more regular matter than we see... so where is it? From the article: 'The study indicated a significant portion of the gas is in the filaments — which connect galaxy clusters — hidden from direct observation in enormous gas clouds in intergalactic space known as the Warm-Hot Intergalactic Medium, or WHIM, said CU-Boulder Professor Jack Burns... The team performed one of the largest cosmological supercomputer simulations ever, cramming 2.5 percent of the visible universe inside a computer to model a region more than 1.5 billion light-years across.' This hypothesis will be investigated and hopefully proved/disproved when telescopes are completed in Chile and the Antarctic. The paper will be up for review in this week's edition of the the Astrophysical Journal."

[+] astrophysics, astronomy, science, space, whim (tagging beta)

Mars Rover Investigates Possibility of Ancient Microbial Life

Posted by Zonk on Tuesday December 11, @09:24AM
from the people-of-earth-greet-you dept.

Riding with Robots writes "The robotic geologist Spirit, now scurrying to reach a safe haven before the harsh Martian winter sets in, has found signs that explorers say point to hot springs or fumaroles in the Red Planet's distant past. That possibility is not only interesting geologically, but potentially biologically, since those kinds of environments on Earth teem with microbial life. Meanwhile, on the other side of the planet, Opportunity continues its descent into a deep crater, where it has found other clues about the ancient waters of Mars."