Sunday, August 10, 2008
The Handshake
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The Handshake
By Denny McAuliffe | Video by Troy Foster
MISSOULA, Mont.—This is what it's like to shake hands with Sen. Barack Obama, especially after thinking you blew your chances of meeting and greeting the Democratic presidential candidate by showing up late for his speech.
Obama visited Missoula on Saturday, speaking to 8,000 people packed into the University of Montana's Adams Center basketball arena.
A few hundred yards away, in the cold bleachers of the Washington-Grizzly football stadium, sat 500 disappointed latecomers and people who didn't have tickets to the event. They were relegated to the overflow seating area and watched Obama's speech on a Jumbotron at one end of the football field.
One of the bummed-out outsiders was Melissa Morgan, a member of the Ely Shoshone tribe of Nevada and graduate of the American Indian Journalism Institute. Much to her surprise and delight, Morgan got to shake hands with Obama after the speech. The candidate showed up unexpectedly in the stadium and headed for the bleachers, suddenly the luckiest place in town.
Denny McAuliffe, Osage, is the project director and founder of reznet. He is a former assistant foreign editor at The Washington Post.
Olympics Stadium… the ‘Village Version’
Olympics Stadium… the ‘Village Version’
China’s Olympics stadium, or the “Bird’s Nest”, cost around $500 million and took 7 years to build.
The stadium seats up to 91,000 people and will host both the opening and closing ceremonies, as well as all the athletic events for the 2008 Olympics.
Apparently, this award winning design has inspired some Chinese villagers in Hangzhou city to build their own smaller and cheaper version of the stadium.
10 bamboo masters spent 2 weeks and used nearly 1,000 pieces of bamboo to build the miniature “Bird’s Nest.”
They plan to use it for local sports events such as beach ball, bow shooting, loop rolling, etc…
Some synaesthetes 'hear' moving dots
Some synaesthetes 'hear' moving dots
WHAT is the sound of dots moving? Most can't say, but for those with a newly identified form of synaesthesia, "hearing" sights is the most natural thing in the world - and may make it easier for synaesthetes to recognise visual patterns.
Melissa Saenz at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena was tipped off when a grad student saw her screensaver and asked: "Does anyone else hear that?" His experience had the hallmarks of synaesthesia, in which stimulation of one sensory pathway creates an experience in another. When Saenz circulated the "noisy" image via email, three more synaesthetes came forward.
Ordinarily, people are better at recognising patterns if they are auditory rather than visual. To see if hearing-sight synaesthesia might make people better at recognising visual patterns, Saenz and collaborator Christof Koch asked the synaesthetes and a group of controls to listen to or watch pairs of sequences in the same modality and say whether they were identical; half were and half weren't. Both groups were about 85 per cent accurate on the sound patterns, but while controls got only 55 per cent of the visual rhythms right, synaesthetes remained steady at 85 - and they reported later that they were indeed hearing the flashes as well as seeing them (Current Biology, DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2008.06.014).
"You can't fake being better," says neuroscientist Jamie Ward at the University of Sussex, UK. Finding new types of synaesthesia is not uncommon, he says, and they often confer an advantage.
The Human Brain - With one hundred billion nerve cells, the complexity is mind-boggling. Learn more in our cutting edge special report.
German woman spends decade in Palma's airport
German woman spends decade in Palma's airport
Bettina sleeping at Palma de Mallorca's airport. Photograph: Jaime Reina/AFP/Getty
More than 20 million travellers pass through Palma de Mallorca's airport each year and at first glance Bettina could be just another tourist waiting for a flight home. But she never checks in.
The 48-year-old German has been living at the airport - known as Son Sant Joan - for 10 years, pushing her three suitcases, a blanket, a pile of books and her white cat, Mumu, around with her. Referred to in the airport simply as "the woman with the cat", Bettina has become as much a part of the airport as the planes and runways.
Her story recalls the Tom Hanks film The Terminal, which was reportedly inspired by the story of man who lived at Charles de Gaulle airport near Paris for 18 years after his documents were stolen.
Bettina, who refuses to disclose her full name, is from a small town in southern Germany. She arrived in Mallorca more than 10 years ago for a new start after a relationship ended and she lost her office job. She landed odd jobs working as a waitress then helping in a kitchen, but the dream of living in the sun turned sour. "Suddenly there was no work because they only give jobs to Spaniards," she told the local Diario de Mallorca newspaper. "I wanted to work in Mallorca but I got stranded here."
With no job, home or money, she began living in the airport, where she gets by on the kindness of friends or strangers. "One friend brings me something to eat twice a week. Sometimes people give me a bit of money as well, but I don't ask anyone for anything."
Amid the bustle of the airport, Bettina is often seen quietly reading, dressed smartly in jeans and a sweatshirt. She cleans herself and her clothes in the toilets, while departure lounge seats serve as beds. But she has no desire to return to Germany. "No way. Life is better for me here."
She is popular among airport staff. "She is intelligent, discreet and does not bother anyone. She says she has made this her home because she has everything she needs here," said cleaner María Jesús Rueda García, 54. "Things didn't work out so she has come to live here. She can get by and is not a beggar because she has income - I have seen her take money out of the cashpoint. This could happen to us all."
Marie-Carmen Gallárdo, 40, a cafe worker, said: "She has been here 10 years - the same as me. Perhaps at Christmas she goes home to see her family."
The airport authorities turn a blind eye to Bettina. "She has never bothered anyone and as this is a public building she can use the facilities - washing in the toilets or cleaning her clothes," said Marta Fernández, spokeswoman for Aena, the state company that manages Spain's airports.
Bettina is not the only one to live in a Spanish airport. Generally, such residents are tolerated so long as they do not bother passengers. In Britain, four people were given asbos for living at Gatwick.
Mexico Border City Fines U.S. Drivers Seeking Cheap Diesel
MEXICO CITY — A Mexican border city has begun fining U.S. drivers who cross the border to fill extra drums, tanks or barrels with government-subsidized Mexican fuel.
The city of Ciudad Acuna, across the border from Del Rio, Texas, said Friday that it fined four U.S. residents for carrying extra diesel and would impound their cars until they pay. The fines equal 70 percent of the value of the diesel confiscated.
U.S. drivers can fill up their own vehicles, but carrying extra fuel containers back across the border violates customs regulations and possibly safety rules, a report from the city said.
Mexico, one of the world's top 10 oil producers, sells diesel fuel domestically at subsidized prices of about $2.25 per gallon, about half the U.S. price.
Mexican filling stations near the U.S. border have seen an increase in American drivers who cross over to fill up. Mexican truckers and drivers complain the run on fuel is causing temporary shortages and longer lines for them.
Famous Stone Arch Collapses in Utah Park
AP/National Parks Service
The Wall Arch is shown after its collapse in Arches National Park, Utah.
The Wall Arch is shown after its collapse in Arches National Park, Utah.
ARCHES NATIONAL PARK, Utah — One of the largest and most photographed stone arches in Arches National Park in the U.S. has collapsed.
Wall Arch fell sometime late Monday or early Tuesday, though no one has reported seeing it collapse, said Paul Henderson, the park's chief of interpretation.
He said the arch, located along the popular Devils Garden Trail, was claimed by forces that will eventually destroy other arches in the park: gravity and erosion.
"They all let go after a while," he said Friday. Nevertheless, it was the first collapse major arch in the park since nearby Landscape Arch fell in 1991.
For years, Wall Arch had been a favorite stopping point for photographers. Like others, it was formed by entrada sandstone being whittled over time into its distinctive formation.
Measuring more than 33 feet tall and 71 feet across, Wall Arch ranked 12th in size among the park's estimated 2,000 arches. It was first reported and named in 1948.
Rock fall from the remaining arms of the arch has forced the closure of a portion of the trail. Henderson said it would reopen when it was deemed safe and debris had been cleared.
Officials from the National Park Service and the Utah Geological Survey visited the site Thursday, noting stress fractures in the remaining formation.Saturday, August 9, 2008
106 mpg 'air car' creates buzz, questions
By A. Pawlowski
CNN
CNN
(CNN) -- You've heard of hybrids, electric cars and vehicles that can run on vegetable oil. But of all the contenders in the quest to produce the ultimate fuel-efficient car, this could be the first one to let you say, "fill it up with air."
The compressed air car planned for the U.S. market would be a six-seater, a New York company says.
That's the idea behind the compressed air car, which backers say could achieve a fuel economy of 106 miles per gallon.
Plenty of skepticism exists, but with many Americans trying to escape sticker shock at the gas pump, the concept is generating buzz.
The technology has been the focus of MDI, a European company founded in 1991 by a French inventor and former race car engineer.
New York-based Zero Pollution Motors is the first firm to obtain a license from MDI to produce the cars in the United States, pledging to deliver the first models in 2010 at a price tag of less than $18,000.
The concept is similar to how a locomotive works, except compressed air -- not steam -- moves the engine's pistons, said Shiva Vencat, vice president of MDI and CEO of Zero Pollution Motors.
Gas still plays a role
The six-seater planned for the U.S. market would be able to reach speeds of more than 90 mph and have a range of more than 800 miles thanks to a dual energy engine, Vencat said. 
The design calls for one or more tanks of compressed air under the car's floor, as well as a tank holding at least 8 gallons of fuel.
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Whether the engine uses just air or both air and fuel would depend on how fast the car is going. It would run purely on compressed air at speeds less than 35 mph, Vencat said.
Since the car could only go a short distance when using just air, fuel is needed to get the full range, he explained.
"Above 35 mph, there is an external combustion system, which is basically a heater that uses a little bit of gasoline or biofuel or ethanol or vegetable oil that will heat the air," Vencat said.
"Heating the air increases its volume, and by increasing its volume, it increases [the car's] range. That's why with one gallon of gasoline or its equivalent we are able to make over 100 mpg." 
Vencat said an on-board compressor would refill the air tank while the car is running, or owners could refill it by plugging it into a power outlet for four hours.
Is it for real?
Experts aren't sure Americans will be zipping around in air cars and getting 106 mpg, or more than twice the fuel economy of hybrid-electric vehicles such as the Toyota Prius.
It is possible to power a car with compressed air, but the mileage claim is "at the edge of possibility," said John Callister, director of the Harvey Kinzelberg Entrepreneurship in Engineering program at Cornell University's College of Engineering.
He noted that such dramatic fuel efficiency is associated with tiny experimental cars, not bigger mainstream ones.
Who would build it?
• Production would be similar to a franchise business
• The cars would be manufactured by privately owned plants that could produce at least 4,000 vehicles a year
• The cost of a license to build the car in an "exclusive geographical area" in the United States is about $460,000
• Geographical areas are defined by 110,000 new vehicle registrations. For example, Georgia could have four plants at most, but there could be 15 in California
• The cost of a plant is $20 million
• The first plant is scheduled to be built in New York in 2010
Source: Shiva Vencat, vice president of MDI and CEO of Zero Pollution Motors
"No one's really proven a six-seater passenger car [can get] any better than 75 miles to the gallon. So this would represent a big step forward," Callister said.
"They would have to prove that before they can throw rocks at the Prius."
Another expert expressed concern about the amount of energy it would take to generate the required air pressure: 4,500 pounds per square inch, or more than 120 times the pressure inside the tires of a typical four-door sedan.
"That is above what you normally find even in an industrial setting," said William Bulpitt, senior research engineer at the Georgia Institute of Technology's Strategic Energy Institute.
"That takes quite a compressor to do. ... It takes horsepower to compress the air up to that pressure."
If you count that energy, it's hard to believe the car would be that much more efficient than an electric vehicle, Callister said.
India shows interest
The compressed air car will get a chance to prove itself next year when it competes for the Automotive X Prize. The multimillion-dollar award will go to the team that "can win a stage race for clean, production-capable vehicles that exceed 100 mpg equivalent fuel economy," according to the X Prize Foundation.
The air-car concept has also drawn the interest of Tata Motors, India's largest automaker. The company announced an agreement with MDI last year to further develop and refine the technology.
However, the cars have yet to hit the streets in India or anywhere else.
"The project is under progress. We do not yet have any timeframe for launch," said Debasis Ray, the head of corporate communications for Tata Motors.
Only prototypes exist at this point, Vencat said.
Light design
The body of the car planned for the United States would be built with fiberglass and injected foam. The chassis, composed of aluminum rods, would be glued together, not welded.
The design allows the car to be as light as possible, Vencat said.
For anyone who has doubts about its safety, he insisted computer simulations show that the vehicle would pass crash tests and meet all U.S. safety standards.
"Do you think somebody would actually put millions of dollars into making a car that will not pass safety regulations? There's no point in doing that," Vencat said.
Callister pointed out that there haven't been any lightweight, 100-plus mpg cars to pass crash tests but said it could be done through a "very clever design" of a lightweight frame.
A good prototype could dispel many of the doubts about the compressed air car, he added.
"I don't think we should discount this advance if it happens," Callister said.
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