Flying Quebecois Bananas of the Lone Star State

Source: Scientific American You may recall (unless you've been living under a rock) that there is strong evidence that reducing caloric intake increases your lifespan. Jokes about quality of life aside, recent research indicates that this lifespan extension can be partially undone by the aroma of food. At least in fruit flies, the presence of food odours informed their bodies that caloric restriction was no longer needed and returned their metabolic rates to close to normal. As a result, they died sooner than those on reduced diets but protected from food odour.

Source: Daily Tech A company by the name of Melodis has made available a unique type of search engine. Apparently, by humming or singing a bit of a song, the software will seek out the closest match in its database at return its title. It claims to be able to find songs within about 10 seconds of the user's "input". The website can be found at http://www.midomi.com/ so the more musically gifted of you (I can sing, but I lack a microphone) check it out and let me know how well it works. Users are invited to add performances of their own to add to the music database. If you wanted to have your voice immortalized, this is the way to do it.

Source: MedGadgets Medical researchers have developed a safer and more effective way to ensure oral drugs are administered on time: pack them in your tooth. The Intellidrug system uses a dental prosthetic onto a back tooth. This prosthetic is then regularly filled with the drug to be administered, which is then released at pre-programmed times. it can also monitor blood levels and adjust dosage to ensure the minimum levels are maintained, or stop administering when the levels exceed some preset value. They foresee using this system with drug addicts who are undergoing withdrawal therapy.

Source: Wired News A Montreal artist wants to build a 1,000-foot long blimp shaped like a banana and float it 100,000 feet above Texas. In a word, why?

Source: Technology Review Scientists have developed a new type of organic LED that emits in the near infrared. While a flexible display that is invisible to the naked eye might not seem to be terribly useful, if you are using night vision goggles and performing surveillance then it might be useful to have a display hidden in plain sight, such as on the outfit of someone infiltrating those you are observing.

The Interesting Case of Keith Hensen

Source 1: 10 Zen Monkeys
Source 2: Wikipedia
Source 3: LA Times

I should first noted that the first source has a political agenda so bear that in mind when reading the article. The article, though is fascinating. Caveats on the Wikipedia entry go without saying. I'll paraphrase the story as best I can piece it together after extracting the conspiracy theory parts from the sparse news sources that have covered this story:

Keith Hensen was an Electrical Engineer who was picketing a local Scientology centre. He had been connected with Eric Drexler in his early days and was associated with the Transhumanist movement. His contrary days started with being fired from Burr-Brown (now Texas Instruments) for refusing to certify a piece of equipment that did not meet the minimum safety standards. He was also associated with Cryogenics, even received enough certification to perform surgery for the purposes of preparing a body for cryogenic storage. He probably most noted as one of the founders of the L5 Society that advocates colonization of space.

His problems began when he made jokes on a blog about "Tom Cruise Missiles" which lead to his being tried on a charge of terrorist activities. The charges were dropped, but he was sentenced to six months in prison on a misdemeaner of interfering with a church. He was also successfully sued for copyright infringement by the Church of Scientology and subsequently declared bankruptcy after a lengthy court battle followed by a $75,000 fine.

He decided to make a run for Canada just before his charges were issued in California, apparently convinced that the Scientologists would kill him if he went to prison. He lived in Toronto for 5 years, continuing to picket the local Scientology church who then informed the local police force that a person previously brought up on charges of terrorism was harassing their church. The SWAT team was called in, as would be expected in the case of a person suspected of being a terrorist in the post-9/11 world in which we live.

He then applied for political asylum from the Canadian government and was released pending a ruling. When the government did not rule in his favour, he ran back across the border and was eventually apprehended in Arizona. It's expected that he will be sent back to California where he will serve time for the more serious crime of evading arrest. He, and his wife, remain convinced that if he goes into prison in California he will be coming out feet first.

It will be interesting to see what happens next.

Wiiguns and robot rides

Source: Wiimote gun mod -- pop a cap in your Wii

Source: Buffalo offers up Disney USB flash drives

Source: Robotic arm rides, 5 cents (follow this link to the video)

Source: Shower/Sauna Combo: Don't Forget to Wash

Source: Buffalo Laptop Mouse With Retractable USB Cord