FROM THE HINDERLANDS

OF THE NEWS

The fantasy of IRONMAN is in theaters this weekend. We've seen characters in other movies wearing exoskeleton suits to battle nefarious characters (Sigourney Weaver in Aliens II). Most modern, real-life exoskeleton suits are bulky and ponderous. Now a company from Japan has developed a robotic suit to help workers lift heavy loads and to provide mobility for those with missing or ailing limbs.

Cyberdine, inc is confident enough in its new Star Wars storm trooper looking suit to have started construction of a lab to produce 500 units a year. Whether these will progress to a cyborg robocop quality is unknown but I don't think the ability to outfly F-22 Raptors is currently part of their business plan.

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Meet the UNO. The brainchild of an 18 year old from Canada. Electrically powered, it can run for about 2.5 hours on a single charge. The proto-type has a top speed of 25 mph, which can be increased with a larger electric motor. It actually has two wheels, side-by-side and remains upright by the use of a gyroscope. To go faster, you lean forward. Do the opposite to slow down.

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While not exactly a rocket pack from the Jetsons, a company out of Mexico, Technologia Aeroespacial Mexicana, has redifined the idea of a strap-on helicopter backpack. Their Libelula uses carbon fiber technology and does not require a tail rotor for stability control, opting instead for the use of rocket motors on the blade tips.

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Remember your grade school science? In the geology section we learned a cut-away view of the Earth showed our planet as nested balls. An inner core, outer core and mantle, all wrapped in the crust. Very neat, precise and cleancut. Well, with the growing number of seismic research stations, equipment of greater sensitivity and the ability to apply computer analysis to the raw data received, it now appears the truth about our planet's guts isn't quite that strainght forward.

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With global warming, our deserts are growing. And not just the ones on land. The oceans also have areas where the free oxygen content of the water is so low that it cannot support even the simplist lifeforms. Destroying the entire aquatic food chain in those regions.

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When you're hot, you're HOT.

DeBeer's geologists announced this week that, while exploring the coast of Namibia in Africa, they discovered the wreck of a ship. A ship that had plied the waters along the west African coast some 500 years ago. Cannons, gold, copper and ivory are currently being excavated. It is unknown if there have been any sightings of Johnny Depp.

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Those of you who use Blogger, the next time you go to your "dashboard" take a moment to scroll down and read about a new feature that Blogger has added. You can now create a post and set it for automatic publishing at a specified date and/or time in the future. My first 2 posts today were done that way. Wrote them Friday evening, time stamped them and went to bed. Now I can do two things at once.

Snore AND bore.

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Just read this at Overheard In New York and it broke me up:

Kid #1: They be profiling us, though! Did you see the way the cops came directly up to us?
Kid #2: Calm down, peoples is lookin' at us.
Kid #1: That shit pisses me off though! They think we all just smoke weed and sell drugs!
Kid #2: But that's all we ever do, smoke weed and sell drugs!
[Kids laugh, onlookers try not to].

Over The Limit?
UNDER ARREST!
Please don't drink and drive

"Let's all be careful out there!"