World's Sexiest Bars

by James Heidenry

A truly sexy bar is hard to come by, and even harder to define. For starters, it helps if your fellow imbibers are good-looking, super-stylish, or at the very least scantily clad. The romance of an exotic locale can help, too—and the fact that you're far enough from home to be regarded as exotic yourself can ramp up your scoring probability tenfold. Oh, and music helps, be it a seductive accompaniment to the sweet nothings you're whispering or tinnitus-inducing brilliant sounds that keep you bumping and grinding with a local beauty all night long (useful when you don't speak the language). We've tracked down a few of the sexiest bars around the world—from a chandelier-strewn Bolshevik-era bar in Moscow to a sandy-floored beach shack in Mozambique—where you can practice the art of seduction. Go to dance, drink, play, and if you're lucky, have an affair to remember.

The place: Le Ti St. Barth, St. Barths

The people: Megayacht owners, their guests, and Brazilian models who would actually date Ron Perlman

Sex appeal: Nikki Beach, down by the water, may be more famous, but the billionaires-club crowd always starts the party at this hidden hilltop venue. The local tourist information identifies Le Ti as a barbecue restaurant, which it is, but this ain't Kansas and those are Christian Louboutins dancing on the tables (the red soles are a dead giveaway). The dark wooden furniture and tiki torch lighting give the place a swanky boudoir feeling, which is why the on-site itsy-bitsy boutique selling rabbit-fur bathrobes is curiously not out of place. It's around 10 pm, when everyone is finishing off their Nymph Thighs dessert (lemon cake with custard ice cream), that the spell of European beats and bottles of bubbly transforms the place into party central. Best nights are Friday and Saturday—just pray your hotel's concierge has the juice to get you a reservation.

Pickup line: "I'm supposed to stop by Jay Z and Beyoncé's yacht for a quick glass of Champagne—wanna join me?"

The hook-up:
Le Ti St. Barth
Tel: 590 590 27 97 71

The place: Denis Simachëv, Moscow

The people: Vixens who could be cast as extras in Quantum of Solace

Sex appeal: In case you missed it on CNN: Moscow has the largest grouping of beautiful women in the world. Not Brazil, not New York—Moscow. And on any given night, a good sampling of these femmes fatales clad in skintight Kova & T jeans and spiked heels can be found at Simachëv, partying with their comrades in paperboy caps and Zegna suits. Beyond the heart-stopping Muscovites, though, Simachëv is a sultry spot in its own right. The mazelike space is a study in suggestive decor, one that meshes a Bolshevik-era wooden bar with erotic anime wall art and low-hanging chandeliers. The drinks—listed on menus designed as old-fashioned record covers—are expensive, and the music is remixed '80s disco, but what the hell, you're surrounded by the most seductive crowd in eastern Europe.

Pickup line: "I get a discount at the Prada boutique."

The hook-up:
Denis Simachëv
Tel: 7 495 629 57 02

The place: Bellini Bar, Hôtel du Cap Eden-Roc, Antibes, France

The people: The wealthiest and most beautiful monsieurs and mademoiselles in all the land

Sex appeal: If there's one place in the world where you're likely to spot a tipsy Sienna Miller thumb-wrestling with Bono, or a sparkling Paris Hilton and a sweaty Brandon Davis in party mode (okay, we realize that's always the case), it's at this glitzy sanctum for the megarich. By day, the bar is a luxurious lounge overlooking the Mediterranean, where you can nosh on spiced nuts while scanning the horizon for Stavros Niarchos's yacht. At night, especially around May, when the Cannes Film Festival and Monaco Grand Prix draw an international crowd, Bellini becomes the hottest spot in the south of France, if not the world. "Normally, we close at 2 am," says head bartender Christopher Lencioni. "But when all the movie stars are here, there are no rules and we're absolutely packed until 6 am." Not that the party ends there, as a Russian millionaire is always on hand to open up his or her $3,500-dollar-a-night hotel villa.

Pickup line: "Mind if I talk to you for a moment? I'm hiding from Harvey Weinstein."

The hook-up:
Bellini Bar
Tel: 33 4 93 61 39 01

The place: Nublu, New York City

The people: Intrepid music lovers and young masters of Latin dance

Sex appeal: You'll probably have trouble finding the unmarked, graffiti-marred door to this Brazilian bar on Avenue C in Manhattan's East Village, and once you do, you might not want to go in. But take a chance and pay the $10 cover, and you'll find yourself mesmerized by the attractive couples lost in samba on the rat-size dance floor. When the bar first opened, many predicted that it would be only a matter of time before the dreaded bridge and tunnel crowd overran the place. But five years on, there's nary a cheeseball in sight. And that's important, because guys in striped shirts with toothpicks dangling from their mouths don't know how to lead a fiery woman who can shut down a dance floor. The DJs skillfully control the ebb and flow of the Latin beats, and very often—Wednesdays in particular—they hand the stage over to forró musicians and other live acts expert at making you sweat.

Pickup line: "Let me buy you a drink—it's important to stay hydrated."

The hook-up:
Nublu
Tel: 646 546 5206

The place: Buzz Beach Bar, Ölüdeniz, Turkey

The people: The bikini and Billabong tribes from every country in the EU

Sex appeal: Sometimes a travel virgin needs to circle the globe a few times to fully appreciate what makes a bar sexy. Sure, the raves in Goa and the clubs in Amsterdam are fun, but they can be the nightlife equivalent of a one-night stand. Not so at Buzz, where owner Cem Gürkan knows just how to set the mood. Big, comfy booths overlooking the Aegean Sea and the outlying Babadağ Mountains provide the perfect spot for sandy beach bums to drink fruity cocktails and watch the sunset and the hang gliders compete for attention. The DJ gets everyone familiar with hypnotic dance music from European darlings likes Jamie T and Lykke Li at nightfall, at which point the maxi-dress set begins showing up, and getting down. The party doesn't stop until the break of dawn, giving you plenty of time to drink in the gorgeous setting and the lovely local you're sharing it with.

Pickup line: "So, Istanbul, not Constantinople? Let's grab a booth and discuss it."

The hook-up:
Buzz Beach Bar
Tel: 90 252 617 0526

The place: Moon Bar, Banyan Tree Hotel, Bangkok, Thailand

The people: International jet set and trendy locals with a good head for heights

Sex appeal: Anyone who's ever been to Thailand knows its "Land of a Thousand Smiles" sobriquet is well deserved. And you'll be grinning, too, once you walk out onto this bar, 61 stories north of Bangkok's frenetic streets, with spectacular 360-degree views over the Grand Palace, Chao Phraya River, and Emerald Buddha. This converted helipad atop the Banyan Tree Hotel is arguably the sexiest bar in southeast Asia. Sitting at one end of the aptly named Vertigo restaurant, the Moon Bar has low glass walls and tilted stemware to enhance the dizzying experience. In competition with the bird's-eye view is the up-for-it crowd of successful expats, expense-account abusers, and Louis Vuitton–lovin' locals. The constant breeze ruffles the clothing of the sultry clientele, which is just as well—it keeps the collective body heat down, too.

Pickup line: "I don't know what's hotter, you or this 96 percent humidity."

The hook-up:
Moon Bar
Tel: 66 2 679 1200

INTERESTED IN THIS DESTINATION?

The place: Nuth Lounge, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

The people: Drop-dead gorgeous and well-to-do cariocas, plus foreigners thanking their lucky stars they got in

Sex appeal: Throw together a bunch of hot, tanned bodies dressed in not very much, a potent caipirinha or two, and some seductive samba beats and you'll find that Nuth pretty much ticks all the boxes in the sexy bar stakes. You'll have to venture about 25 minutes' west of Copacabana Beach, through the expansive jungle of residential towers, to get to this two-story nightclub—but, boy, is it worth the effort. The overall atmosphere is tropical chic, with palm trees and tiki lanterns setting the laid-back mood in the open-air lounge area. Inside, the evening starts with a live band or chilled tracks, but it's not long before masterful DJs ramp up the tempo, playing samba and Latin house for hours until the whole scene reaches its peak at around 3 am. If your dance moves don't live up to the high expectations of the hip-swaying locals, then head to the lush, leafy lounge; light someone's cigarette; and talk the talk.

Pickup line: "Now I know why they say Brazil's two main exports are oil and beauty."

The hook-up:
Nuth Lounge
Tel: 55 21 3153 8595

The place: Dino's Beach Bar, Tofo, Mozambique

The people: Hard-bodied scuba-diving enthusiasts and travel frontiersmen

Sex appeal: As Mozambique's reputation as a bush-meets-beach paradise grows, more and more moneyed South Africans, European weekenders, and shirtless Aussies are heading to small resort towns like Tofo. Along this stretch of untamed coastline, Dino's is known as the place to be, in large part because it's the only place. The bar itself is rickety chic, with wood-plank floors and no walls to block the dramatic views of the Indian Ocean. The fun begins at sundown, when the DJ starts spinning world tunes and a bonfire is set ablaze. When everybody is starting to feel it—helped along by a few cans of 2M, the local beer—a staff member will break out the bongos and lure all the boys and girls onto the dance floor. And that's about the time a few of the lucky ones will realize they're dancing with a sexy stranger, on a starlit beach in Africa.

Pickup line: "I just got back from a week in the bush. Want to see some of my tribal dance moves?"

The hook-up:
Dino's Beach Bar
Tel: 258 82 410 8890

The place: Giardino d'Inverno, Hotel Principe di Savoia, Milan, Italy

The people: Female models with impossibly long legs, male models with impossibly large biceps, local model-izers hoping the impossible comes true

Sex appeal: Every year in September, Milan gets invaded. That's when the city's fashion shows suck in a global crunch of gorgeous models and the fabulously fierce who run the whole glitzy shebang. Where these trendsetters stay, dine, and party is just as important as what shows they attend, and the Principe di Savoia is the place to see and be seen. Within the 1920s neoclassical hotel is the Giardino d'Inverno, a remarkable space where 16th-century art and a spectacular glass ceiling provide a fitting backdrop for the industry's top-shelf DNA. Here, models in low-cut Versace provide the sexy; media peeps provide the prosecco; and the hangers-on provide the outrageous fun. No need to be shy—this is Italy, after all.

Pickup line: "Is it true that most people are too intimidated to approach drop-dead gorgeous models?"

The hook-up:
Giardino d'Inverno
Tel: 39 02 62301

The place: Shalvata, Tel Aviv

The people: The young and beautiful whose only worry in life is getting in

Sex appeal: To the uninitiated, a nighttime visit to Shalvata seems somewhat at odds with the whole Holy Land thing. But the scene here is one of stunning Israeli women gyrating on the seaside dance floor. And Israeli women aren't just impossibly beautiful, they're sophisticated and tough—and that's sexy. The best time to hit Shalvata (it means "peace" or "tranquility" in Hebrew) is right before sunset, when you can have a drink, listen to the waves breaking, and watch the enormous orange sun ripple away behind the horizon. And if you want to dance, consider going home, taking a nap, and coming back after midnight—things will just be getting started.

Pickup line: "Holy Land or not, it'd be a sin to let you go."

The hook-up:
Shalvata
Tel: 972 3 544 1279

NBA Rule Change: 3 pt and Shooting Foul Replay Rule

Associated Press

NEW YORK -- The NBA's Board of Governors has approved the expanded use of instant replay for this season.

Referees will be allowed to review video to determine if a field goal was a 2- or 3-point attempt, or to decide if a shooting foul was committed behind the arc and warrants three shots instead of two.

"I can see at the end of the game that's a really important aspect," Los Angeles Lakers coach Phil Jackson said Thursday night before an exhibition game against Charlotte.

"We've been playing with the 3-point line, what, 30 years? There are mistakes that happen, and there are 2-pointers that are missed. But that's also part of the game. Guys step on the out of bounds line, guys are in the 3-second lane too long, guys hang on the rim -- there are a lot of things like that."

At their meeting Thursday, owners also approved the use of replay if the game clock malfunctions in the final seconds of a quarter of overtime, helping the officials better determine how much time should have come off the clock or if the period should have ended.

Now, refs must reconstruct the play and make that determination without video -- a rule that was criticized following a clock problem during an Orlando-Detroit playoff game last season.

"The mechanics of it is always interesting, how that's going to work out," Jackson said. "I think football's been caught in a dilemma where they end up having situations that have extended their games perhaps 15 extra minutes. I'm sure ours is going to be fraught with typical details.

"The wording itself is kind of interesting. A special guy has to sit there now who's provided by the club. He's going to call back to the truck and he has to announce what's happening. The referee has to have a signal, and then they have to be able to do it during a timeout situation."

Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press

Man Restores Griff Tannen's Hover BMW From Back To The Future 2

Like all children of the Back To The Future generation, we can vividly remember the moment Marty spies his nemesis Griff Tannen in his hover BMW during the second installment of the futuristic trilogy — though we were never huge enough fans to track down the original movie car, buy it and attempt a complete restoration. Jeff Chabotte on the other hand, did just that. The fan of all things McFly bought the BMW 633-based "hover craft" from a fellow BTTF fanboy. Chabotte then restored the car to movie condition — obviously, and sadly, without flight capabilities. Like our other hero of the week who built a Lamborghini in his basement, Chabotte spent his blood, sweat and tears on this project strictly for the love of the car. We get that.

Back To The Future Rebuild

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The Final Result

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We are, of course, big fans of BTTF-related automobiles and have visited the new Delorean HQ to test drive a refurbished Delorean DMC-12. That being said, we're not quite so committed as Jeff. A funny sidenote to this story, the events that occur in the film involving the BMW are to occur almost exactly seven years into the future from this post. The story of his work below.

In late 2004, I was presented the opportunity by a fellowBack to the Future collector to acquire a huge piece of memorabilia from the films. That piece turned out to be the BMW used by the character Griff Tannen in the future sequence in the Café 80’s and hoverboard chase sequence. After making my way down the east coast from Connecticut to Georgia with my dad, we were soon in possession of the car. We ended up hauling it on a u-haul trailer on the back of a Jeep and smack-dab into the center of the blizzard of that December, right on the D.C. Beltway. We finally made it home safely and the work began.

What you’re probably interested are the details. It’s a 1976 633 CSI. This was the first year of production for the 6-series and this car was one of the first 400 off the line. From what I gather and during my restoration I found that it appeared to be originally silver. The car is a Euro-spec model with less than 75K miles on it. This was the model that BMW introduced the status panel to the left of the steering wheel. Also, that beautiful shark nose has always been my favorite BMW styling cue. The car was a gray-market import, but the paperwork has long-since been lost.

Going through the car, was quite a rush. I had approximately a month to hunt down missing parts from the movie, replace the interior, fix previous bodywork, fabricate missing bodywork and paint the car and get it ready for a car show in early February. After contacting another car guy who had some available space to work on it, the car was hauled to his garage and work was quickly started.

As you can see from some of the pics, there is a lot of one-off fabrication done on this car. The roof was chopped off and steel beams welded to the undercarriage to obtain the roadster look, without having the car fold in on itself like an accordion. Replacing where the rear window sat, was a custom deck lid that had long since disappeared. A temporary job had been put in place, but I decided to hack it to the core and build a new one out of fiberglass and bondo that more closely resembled the screen-used version.

Some hover conversion parts were scattered all the way up to New Jersey and I was able to locate those and then get them to a prop house in New York for reproduction as the originals were badly damaged. Speaking of originals, 3 of those tires are still original from the film, along with the broken taillight lens.

A few long and excitement-filled weeks later, the car was ready for showing. Think of the high-pressure you see on “American Chopper” and multiply that by like 10, remove the jerk attitudes and high-budget shops and tools and there you have it.

Currently, I’m hoping to find a dealership here in the northeast (or anywhere) that would like to display the car in exchange for working on it. There is still a lot to be done with the car, like getting the drive train straightened out, along with wiring the 320i taillights in, and making it roadworthy. Oh, that’s right, I don’t NEED roads.

If anyone knows a BMW dealership in the greater New England area don't hesitate to drop a note in the comments. Thanks to Jeff for sharing this wonderful and weird story with all of us.

Read More: DeLoreans With Doors Up Parade Down Woodward, Flux Capacitor Replicas Now Available, Plutonium Not Included, Dr. Brown, Come Here I Need You: "Back to the Future" Replica Delorean for Sale on eBay

A Better Network for Outer Space

Networking space: Vint Cerf, cocreator of the Internet and a vice president at Google, is designing protocols for a robust space-communication network, modeled on the terrestrial Internet. Cerf is working with a team at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (where he is also a visiting scientist) and at the MITRE Corporation, based in Washington, DC. Credit: Courtesy of Google

Having designed the networking protocols that launched the Internet, Vint Cerf now wants to put the same kind of robust communications network in outer space. Currently, astronauts and robotic spacecraft communicate with Earth using point-to-point radio links and communications schemes that are tailored to nearly every new mission. This inhibits interoperability and the repurposing of communications equipment, and as the number and complexity of missions increases, it will only become more problematic.

Cerf, who is Google's vice president and chief Internet evangelist, is working with a team at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), where he is also a visiting scientist, and at the MITRE Corporation, based in Washington, DC, to design and implement a revolutionary new scheme for space communication. The project, dubbed the Interplanetary Internet, will be tested aboard the International Space Station (ISS) in 2009, and Cerf hopes that by 2010, new space missions will be designed to use the protocols.

Ultimately, the network could interconnect manned and robotic spacecraft, forming the backbone of a communications system that reaches across the solar system.

Technology Review's Brittany Sauser caught up with Cerf to discuss the details of the project.

Technology Review: What's the purpose of the Interplanetary Internet?

Vint Cerf:The project started 10 years ago as an attempt to figure out what kind of technical networking standards would be useful to support interplanetary communication. Bear in mind, we have been flying robotic equipment to the inner and outer planets, asteroids, comets, and such since the 1960s. We have been able to communicate with those robotic devices and with manned missions using point-to-point radio communications. In fact, for many of these missions, we used a dedicated communications system called the Deep Space Network (DSN), built by JPL in 1964.

But one problem with space communication has been the limited use of standards. When we launch a spacecraft with a unique set of sensors onboard, we often end up writing special communication and application software that is adapted to that spacecraft's sensor systems and manipulators. In the Internet world, we use standards called the TCP/IP protocol suite--packet switching and store-and-forward methods--to allow a lot of different devices, billions of things, to interact compatibly with each other. The team set out to develop a suite of protocols that would allow us to have the kind of network flexibility in space that we have on Earth. The Interplanetary Internet project is primarily about developing a set of communication standards and technical specifications to support rich networking in space environments.

TR:What are the challenges of building such a network in space?

VC:We started by working on a set of protocols that could deal with two very important properties of space communication. The first is delay. The distances between the planets are very large. For example, when Earth and Mars are closest together, it still takes 3.5 minutes for a radio signal moving at the speed of light to propagate. If I were on Mars and you were on Earth, it would take seven minutes at best before you heard a response. When Earth and Mars are farthest apart, the round trip takes 40 minutes! The reason we can talk back and forth on Earth so easily is that propagation times are very short by comparison.

The other problem is that the planets and their satellites are in motion, and most are rotating. The rotation of the planets means that if you are talking to something that is on the surface of the planet, it may rotate out of the line of sight so you cannot talk to it anymore, until the device on the surface rotates into view again. The same could be said for some orbiting satellites. You have to develop protocols that will deal with the fact that you cannot always communicate with the other party: the communication is both delayed and potentially disrupted. So that is what we designed: a delay- and disruption-tolerant networking system [DTN]. It will allow us to maintain communications more effectively, getting much more data because we don't have to be in direct line of sight with the ultimate recipient in order to transfer data. The new protocols will be proposed to serve as a potential international standard for space networking.

TR:How does this new protocol, the delay- and disruption-tolerant networking system, work?

VC: We are using store-and-forward methods [routing information through hosts that hold on to it until a communications link can be established] similar to the TCP/IP design in order to service space-communication requirements. But our new bundle protocol is based on DTN principles. We have to cope with the fact that there is a really high potential for delay and disruption in the system. For example, Pluto is a long ways away, on the order of three to five billion miles and about 12 hours round-trip time. Using the DTN bundle protocol allows us to design more-complex mission configurations involving many devices on the surface of planets and in orbit around them. At Mars, for example, there are four orbiters and three landed and operational spacecraft. We expect to be able to use the standard TCP/IP protocols on the surface of planets and inside spacecraft, but we will use the DTN protocols for interplanetary distance communications.

TR: Is this going to require putting new infrastructure in space?

VC: The answer is yes and no. For example, the Deep Impact spacecraft [now called EPOXI] is already in orbit around the sun. It was used to launch a probe into a comet to examine its interior. EPOXI is being temporarily repurposed to test the new DTN protocols. The spacecraft has processing, memory, radio equipment, and solar panels for power so we don't have to put new hardware up. We just have to upload new software. We are lucky to not have to field any new equipment yet, but the DTN protocols eventually have to show up in a fairly significant number of devices in the system to create the kind of network that can serve space-communication needs. Some specialized spacecraft could become store-and-forward routers. Each time a new mission is launched, using the standard bundle protocol, previous mission assets that are still in operation could be used to support the communication requirements of the new mission. In this way, we hope to accrete a kind of interplanetary backbone network.

TR: How are you handling security issues?

VC: There are security concerns, and we have been very careful to build defenses into the basic design. Each bundle-aware node will verify the identity of any other nodes that it is communicating with, and it will refuse to forward data from any nodes that it does not recognize. We will be using strong authentication methods, cryptographic communication methods, to ensure that the parties that are using the resources are authorized to do so.

TR: What is the biggest advantage of building new protocols for space communication?

VC: The important part here is that we have standardized protocols that will allow internetworking of various spacecraft launched by all the spacefaring nations. Over time, as new missions are launched, you start to build up a backbone capability. Every time you put up a new mission, you basically are putting up another potential node in the network. Our hope in the near term is to start putting DTN/bundle-protocol applications up on the Internet terrestrially, and also put them up on the International Space Station for testing. Eventually, we hope to have this capability running all the time, and then, when new deep-space missions are launched using these standard protocols, they will become part of the interplanetary communications system.

Cheaper Butanol from Biomass

Credit: Technology Review

Cobalt Biofuels, a startup based in Mountainview, CA, has developed a cheap way to make butanol from biomass. Last week, the company announced that it had raised $25 million to expand from a small laboratory-scale production to a pilot-scale plant that can produce about 35,000 gallons of fuel per year.

"Our models tell us it is a very low-cost process that can be competitive with anything on the market today," says Pamela Contag, the company's founder and CEO. The process is cheaper because it uses improved strains of bacteria to break down and ferment biomass, as well as improved equipment for managing fermentation and reducing water and energy consumption, she says.

Butanol could help increase the use of biofuels, since it doesn't have the same limitations as ethanol, the primary biofuel made in the United States. It has more energy than ethanol: a gallon of butanol contains about 90 percent as much energy as a gallon of gasoline, while ethanol only has about 70 percent as much. What's more, while ethanol requires special pipelines for shipping, butanol can be shipped in unmodified gasoline pipelines. And butanol can be blended with gasoline in higher percentages than ethanol without requiring modifications to engines.

Cobalt Biofuels joins a handful of other companies developing biobutanol. The biggest such effort comes in the form of a partnership between DuPont and BP: the companies plan to be selling commercial quantities of butanol made from sugar beets by 2010. Other companies developing biobutanol are Gevo, a startup based in Englewood, CO, that is commercializing advances from UCLA, and Tetravitae, based in Chicago, which is commercializing advances from the University of Illinois. In spite of their progress, Andy Aden, a research scientist at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, in Golden, CO, says that no company has demonstrated yet that it can make butanol cheap enough to compete in the market.

Cobalt Biofuels uses the bacteria Clostridium to break down components of plant matter, including cellulose, hemicellulose, and starch, and produce a combination of butanol, acetone, and ethanol. That is nothing new: Clostridium naturally produces these chemicals and was employed in the early 1900s to make butanol for use in solvents and to make acetone for explosives and other products. What's new, Contag says, is that a combination of fuel prices, government biofuel mandates, and the company's new technology have made butanol competitive as a fuel.

One of Cobalt Biofuels' key advances is a technique for genetically engineering strains of Clostridium so that they produce a luminescent protein whenever they produce butanol. "When the Clostridium are happy and producing butanol, they're also producing light," Contag says. When they're paired with light detectors, the company can quickly sort through new strains of the bacteria, as well as tailor their environment, to increase production. The company has further increased butanol production by engineering a bioreactor in which biomass flows in, the bacteria processes it, and a mixture of primarily butanol and water flows out.

While increasing the amount of butanol produced can decrease costs, two other factors are also important: the consumption of energy, and the consumption of water. Cobalt Biofuels has reduced both of these by 75 percent. To reduce energy, the company has licensed a new technology, called vapor compression distillation, for separating the butanol and water. The addition of pressure to the distillation process, together with the use of an effective heat exchanger that reduces wasted heat, lowers energy consumption. To reduce water use, the company has turned to proprietary water purification and recycling systems.

Eventually, the company plans to produce butanol using waste from paper manufacturing and sugar refining, as well as other sources, and then sell it as a fuel additive for reducing carbon monoxide emissions. As Cobalt Biofuels scales up production, it plans to sell the butanol as a substitute for gasoline.

Comcast broadens reach of DOCSIS 3.0, 50Mbps connections

By Eric Bangeman |

Broadband junkies in the northeastern US got some good news Wednesday in the form of an announcement from Comcast that it is extending its DOCSIS 3.0 rollout to that part of the country. The company's 50Mbps "Extreme" (can we please retire the Extreme branding already?) speed tier will be launched in the Boston area (including southern New Hampshire), as well as parts of Philadelphia and New Jersey over the next few weeks.

Back in April, Comcast flipped the switch on its first DOCSIS 3.0 deployment in the Twin Cities, pricing the 50Mbps tier at $149.95 per month. Comcast's newly-renamed Extreme 50 service is now a bit cheaper at $139.95 (upstream speed is 10Mbps). The cable giant's other new service tier is Ultra, which offers speeds of up 22Mbps down and 5Mbps up for $62.95. Most current Comcast customers will also get a speed boost: Performance broadband customers will see their speeds doubled to 12Mbps/2Mbps up, while Performance Plus subscribers get a boost to 16Mbps down.

Comcast's newly-implemented 250GB monthly bandwidth caps will also remain in place for its DOCSIS 3.0 deployments. Comcast spokesperson Charlie Douglas confirmed that the new tiers are subject to the same cap, but stressed that "far less than 1 percent" of residential customers are ever affected by the cap's presence.

Within the "next several months," DOCSIS 3.0 will be rolled out to another six or seven major markets and will pass almost 10 million homes and businesses. Comcast was mum on which markets will see the speed boosts, but a reader at Broadband Reports (which was tipped off about the announcement earlier this week) found what a web page that may shed light on Comcast's DOCSIS 3.0 deployment plans. Titled "Beta Speed Test Trial," the page contains a list of 12 markets that will presumably have provisioned 50Mbps-plus downstream speeds.

It's exciting to see DOCSIS 3.0 slowly moving out of cable labs and into neighborhoods. With this round of DOCSIS 3.0 deployments, Comcast appears to be targeting markets where Verizon has a significant FiOS presence. Verizon has rolled out its 50Mbps/20Mbps tier across its entire fiber-to-the-home network for anywhere between $89.95 and $139.95 per month, so while expensive, Comcast's Extreme 50 service is priced competitively with Verizon's offering. If the Beta Speed Test Trial page is any indication, Comcast will soon be venturing into AT&T territory and a bit further into Qwest territory with its next deployments. Given that AT&T U-verse is currently capped at 10Mbps and Qwest is starting to roll out 20Mbps DSL service, Comcast will be well-positioned even with its 22Mbps Ultra offering.

Pumpkin Carving Made Easy

Dremel Pumpkin Carving Tool: Robert Bosch Tool Corporation

Are you looking for that little extra "something" to kick your entry up a notch in the upcoming PopSci/Instructables Halloween contest? Then you might want to consider some professional help. No, not a therapist, rather a Cordless Pumpkin Carving Tool by Dremel.

Carving's its name, and pumpkins are its game.

Dremel Pumpkin Carved Up: Robert Bosch Tool Corporation

Pre-supplied with ten terrifying templates, this tool can quickly transform a common gourd into a ghoulish delight. Just glue one of the supplied templates (or concoct your own devilish design) on a pumpkin, switch on the Dremel tool, and trace the template with the tool's vegetable cutting bit. Please note that you aren't trying to cut through the pumpkin -- rather, you are using the Dremel tool to sculpt the pumpkin's surface. With a little practice, your custom-cut jack o' lantern can be very impressive.

When finished, the professionally sculpted pumpkin could be a great base for housing a lighting/sound effects platform (hint, hint).

Dremel Pumpkin Ghost: Robert Bosch Tool Corporation

While the Dremel Cordless Pumpkin Carving Tool carries a list price of $44, through Amazon has it for just $20. Throw in free shipping and you can spend the extra cash accessorizing your neighborly fright night, and/or your entry for the contest.

Hussman Funds Weekly Market Comment-

Risk Management and Hooke's Law

50 Beautiful Blog Designs

50 Beautiful Blog Designs

smashingmagazine.com — We strongly encourage designers to break out the common layout conventions, experiment with new approaches and risk crazy ideas. Show what you are capable of!

TOP 10 FEMALE CELEBRITIES WHO NEED TO DO A TOPLESS SCENE ALREADY

SKIN TO WIN

It's an unwritten rule between men and hot female celebrities. We support them and their hotness and in return they eventually show us what their breasts look like. There are certain really hot celebrities with really nice boobs who are currently breaking the law. They're doing tons of movies and not taking their tops off in any of them. The situation is getting out of hand and it needs to stop right now. We had a deal!

#10 Katherine Heigl - How she managed to get through the filming of Knocked Up and not show her boobs is baffling. She even had the nerve to do a sex scene with her bra on. Nobody, and I mean nobody has sex with a girl with her bra on!

Pa. man chews through belly-busting, 20-lb. burger

In this Monday, Oct. 13, 2008 photo released by Denny's Beer Barrel Pub, Brad Sciullo of Uniontown, Pa., is seen before attempting to eat a 15-pound cheese burger with five-pounds of toppings including bun, lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, onions, mild banana peppers and a cup each of ketchup, mustard, relish, and mayonnaise at Denny's Beer Barrel Pub in Clearfield, Pa., Monday, Oct. 13, 2008. Sciullo finished the concoction in 4 hours and 39 minutes. (AP Photo/Logan Cramer, Denny's Beer Barrel Pub)

Oct 16, 2008

CLEARFIELD, Pa. (AP) — It took Brad Sciullo 4 hours and 39 minutes to finish a marathon. A meat marathon, that is. The 5-foot-11, 180-pound western Pennsylvania chef is the first person to eat a monstrosity called the Beer Barrel Belly Bruiser: a 15-pound burger with toppings and a bun that brought the total weight to 20.2 pounds.

The mountain of beef is the product of Denny's Beer Barrel Pub, about 100 miles northeast of Pittsburgh in Clearfield.

Sciullo, 21, of Uniontown, said he was surprised he finished the sandwich Monday. "About three hours into it, things got tough," he said.

When asked what possessed him to eat a burger that big, Sciullo said: "I wanted to see if I could."

The burger included a bun, lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, onions, mild banana peppers and a cup each of mayonnaise, ketchup, mustard and relish, pub owner Dennis Liegey said.

For completing the challenge in the under-five-hour time limit, Sciullo won $400, three T-shirts, a certificate "and a burger hangover, as I call it," Liegey said.

here is a follow-up article:

The Dude Who Wolfed Down The 20-Pound Burger

mouthpiecesports.com — Find out how this guy tackled this humongous burger! I love burgers but think I would stop about 19.5 pounds short!

Blue Bananas Surprise Scientists

Ripening bananas exhibit intense blue luminescence under UV light. Their luminescence arises from fluorescent chlorophyll catabolites which accumulate in the banana peels during ripening; their natural further conversion to nonfluorescent catabolites is specifically inhibited by a previously unrecognized chemical modification. Credit: (C) Wiley-VCH 2008

By Andrea Thompson, LiveScience Senior Writer

When a banana ripens, it turns yellow — unless you look at it under a black light, in which case, it appears bright blue, a new study has found.

The banana's blue glow was discovered by scientists at the University of Innsbruck in Austria and Columbia University in New York, the first team to look for this phenomenon in bananas. The researchers think the coloring is related to the degradation of chlorophyll that occurs as the banana ripens and could aid animals who eat bananas and can see in the ultraviolet range of the spectrum

Chlorophyll is the green pigment present in plants that allows them to obtain energy from light during photosynthesis.

As the banana ripens, the chlorophyll begins to break down — a process called catabolism — and the resulting products are concentrated in the banana peel. Under ultraviolet light, more commonly known as black light, these breakdown products fluoresce, or glow, blue.

"Surprisingly, this blue luminescence has been entirely overlooked," said study team leader Bernhard Kräutler of the University of Innsbruck.

Before the team's discovery, detailed in the Oct. 10 early online edition of the journal Angewandte Chemie, fluorescing chlorophyll catabolytes, or products of breakdown, had only been found in higher plants and were short-lived. While the banana's blue glow does diminish as it ripens, its catabolytes are unusually long-lived.

This long duration could be due to one of the breakdown products identified in the banana peel by the team, which has a stabilizing effect and has never been seen before as a chlorophyll breakdown product.

Just why this degradation occurs differently in the banana fruit than other plants, even banana leaves, isn't completely known, but Kräutler has a couple hunches.

"In contrast to humans, many of the animals that eat bananas can see light in the UV range," he said. "The blue luminescence of the banana fruit could give them a distinct signal that the fruit is ripe."

Another possibility is that the chlorophyll breakdown products also serve a biological function for the banana, as the stable products could help keep the fruit viable for longer, Kräutler said.