Assorted news items

New Oliver Stone movie to portray Bush as a young ruffian - I still don't plan to watch it.

Agarwalla Brothers pull Scrabulous from Facebook - in response to a law suit by Hasbro filed last week. This follows Hasbro's official launch of new Scrabble app on Facebook from Electronic Arts (EA), albeit a beta version, but this time available to people in the US and Canada. A seperate app ia available to those outside the US and Canada because Mattel is the worldwide license-holder. Having just checked out the game, I noted that the installation checks your IP address to confirm the country-of-origin of the computer you are using. I can't comment on game play because it was down for maintenance when I tried to use it. Not a good sign.

Women, as they age, are less happy than men - according to a recent study. In particular, they state that by age 48, men are more happy than women because women have generally fulfilled fewer of their goals, particularly in the areas of family and finances. This brings to mind the question of how they measured relative happiness, but the article didn't discuss this.

Canada's do-not-call registry starts September 30th - Those of you wanting to have your landlines, cellphones, and/or faxes added to the list need to register with the CRTC. Bear in mind that "...Charities, political parties, polling firms, newspapers and companies that have done business with an individual over the past 18 months can continue to make unsolicited phone calls..." according to CBC News.

Geocaching leads to bomb scare - Ottawa city police closed down a road for several hours while a bomb squad investigated a suspicious package that turned out to be a geocache.... after they blew it up. The police department is urging local geocachers to make sure their caches do NOT look like explosives, but should use clearly-labeled transparent packages.

Sasquatch sighting in Northern Ontario - The Truth is Out There (tm). Two women reported seeing a 8-foot tall black figure that ran into the woods when it saw them.

Tech post for 31-Jul-2008

Transsexuality gene identified... maybe - A variation in the gene cytochrome P17 leads to higher-than-average levels of both male and female sex hormones, and appears to be linked to female-to-male transsexuality. The researchers caution that this only means that there is probably a genetic component to transsexuality and that it is a complex behaviour with multiple factors involved. In fact, the gene variant is present in some women who are not transsexual, and is absent in some women who are transsexual.

New solar cell material soaks up the infrared - Almost half of energy from the sun is in the infrared wavelength, but contemporary solar cells can only capture the visible wavelengths so are limited to a theoretical maximum of 40% efficiency. A new material developed by Spanish researchers can absorb both visible light and infrared wavelengths so could boost the theoretical upper limit to 63%.

Efficiency of thermoelectric materials boosted - US researchers have boosted the zT from 1 to 1.5, a 50% improvement in thermoelectric efficiency. Although still a long way from the goal of 3 or 4 (sufficient to compete with an automobile engine), this discovery indicates that the maximum thermoelectric efficiency should be higher than 1.5. Many mechanical systems, such as steam generators and automobile engines, generate a lot of waste heat (60% in the case of a gasoline engine), so adding a thermoelectric material could increase the overall efficiency of these systems.

Former Queen guitarist completes his PhD - After a 30-year hiatus, Brian May returned to school to complete his doctorate in astronomy. His thesis is titled A Survey of Radial Velocities in the Zodiacal Dust Cloud.

Nanowires used to make large image sensor - Berkley researchers were able to build a prototype image sensor by growing two types of nanowire "lawns", then transferring them to a the same surface. Almost 80% of the elements were functional. The process can work with a wide range of surfaces, and easily scalable to large surface areas.