Decline in Oil Prices Threaten BioFuel Firms

Credit: Technology Review

The price of oil has dipped to levels that could be far too low for many advanced-biofuel startups to succeed, especially those that attracted investment this summer, while oil was well above $100 a barrel. Tight credit markets will also make it difficult for advanced biofuel companies to move ahead with plans for scaling up technologies and building commercial-scale production plants.

Attempts at developing alternative fuels in the 1980s largely failed after oil prices plummeted, and the recent drop in oil prices has many concerned that something similar could happen today. On Friday, the price of oil had fallen to $40.81 a barrel, down from a high of $145 in July. Those earlier high oil prices led venture capitalists to invest in many companies that would require high prices of oil to compete, says David Berry, a partner at Flagship Ventures. This summer, he says, "people were very happy to say, 'We're targeting $80 a barrel for oil, and we think we're going to make a ton of money.'"

This September, at the EmTech08 conference, Berry predicted that if oil prices were to fall, many of these companies could fold. His own company, Flagship Ventures, has invested only in biofuel startups whose breakeven requires oil prices of $45 or lower. "When we thought about investments, we said we're not going to make a single investment in something that has its break-even point above $45 a barrel," he said, speaking in September. "In that way, we think we can be pretty insensitive to what the price of oil will be over time. If the price of oil falls to $60 or $50, from our perspective, we're going to sit here and say, this is where we thought things might end up."

Berry now says, however, that most of the companies that Flagship has invested in will still be able to hit the break-even point with oil prices lower than $45. One of these companies, Boston, MA-based Mascoma, could still make a profit with oil at $20 a barrel, says Bruce Jamerson, Mascoma's CEO, but only because current government incentives help them compete with gasoline. These include a $1.01 subsidy for every gallon of advanced biofuels, fuels made from nonfood crops, as well as federal regulations that require oil companies to sell certain amounts of advanced biofuels.

In the long term, both Berry and Jamerson think oil prices will be higher. Anticipated production cuts from OPEC would likely keep oil prices above $50, Berry says. "If you look at the price points that OPEC has put pressure on, that has ranged between $50 and $80. And so that gives that range some reasonable set of legs."

"I don't think that the oil prices are going to stay this low for a long time," Jamerson says. "My view is it will probably fluctuate between $75 and $100 a barrel, once we get past the intense part of this downturn."

Even at those prices, some biofuel startups may be hard pressed to compete. This summer, Berry says, "about $200 to $300 million was going into algae companies. And algae has long been shown to have a break-even point between $90 and $120 per barrel of oil."

Jamerson is more concerned about tight credit markets than oil prices. Mascoma is still years away from commercial production, so, as with other advanced biofuel companies, today's prices don't have an immediate impact. But Mascoma is still working out the financing for a large 40-million-gallon ethanol plant in Kinross, MI. This month, it will start production at a smaller $20-million facility near Utica, NY, that will produce 200,000 gallons of ethanol annually. To save cash, the company recently laid off 10 percent of its employees and is slowing down orders for equipment and decreasing travel budgets.

Jamerson, however, remains optimistic. Concerns about financing are "tempered by increasing optimism about support for renewable fuels from the new Obama administration," he says. After the current recession, he says, "Advanced biofuels will be one of the first sectors to come back."

Broad use of Brain Boosters

Credit: Reid Parham

Off-label use of stimulants, such as Ritalin, is on the rise among college students. Studies show that 5 percent to 15 percent of students use prescription drugs as study aids, and surveys suggest the practice may be common among academics as well. The trend has sparked debates over how and when these cognitive enhancers should be used. Military personnel routinely use stimulants while on active duty, but should that practice also be permitted among surgeons working long shifts? What about scientists working late nights in the lab? Or students taking exams?

A commentary appearing today online in the journal Natureadvocates for broad access to brain-boosting drugs. According to the piece, written by a group of ethicists, psychologists, and cognitive neuroscientists, "cognitive enhancement, unlike enhancement for sports competitions, could lead to substantive improvements in the world." While opponents have argued that the use of performance-enhancing drugs is unfair and could undermine the value of hard work, the authors say that these drugs fall into the same category as more common efforts to increase brain function, such as drinking a cup of coffee, or getting a good night's sleep, and thus should be regulated accordingly.

One of the biggest concerns associated with broad access to these drugs is that people will feel pressured to take them to get ahead, or just to keep up. An informal survey conducted by Nature last year of 1,400 people from 60 countries found that 20 percent of respondents engaged in off-label use of drugs to enhance concentration and memory. Ritalin was the most popular, followed by Adderall. Both are prescribed for ADHD. The survey confirmed the potential for peer pressure; while 85 percent of respondents said that the use of these drugs by children under the age of 16 should be restricted, a third said they would feel pressure to give them to their children if others were using them.

The authors of the commentary also note that if cognitive enhancers are to be used more broadly, more extensive study of the risks and benefits of the drugs is sorely needed. The side effects of long-term stimulant use, especially in children, are not yet known. And the potential for dependence and abuse has not been well documented.

Michael Gazzaniga, director of the Sage Center for the Study of Mind at the University of California, Santa Barbara and one of the authors of the commentary, talked with Technology Review about the potential benefits and drawbacks of these drugs.

Technology Review: The commentary suggests that healthy adults should have access to cognitive-enhancing drugs. Why do you think this is a good idea?

Gazzaniga: Normal ageing finds one's memorial processes not what they use to be. If there were drugs that helped and were safe, I would certainly be for them being available to the public.

TR: The commentary argues that cognitive-enhancing drugs "should be viewed in the same general category as education, good health habits, and information technology." Why do you think this is true?

MG: All new technologies are at first resisted, even the typewriter. When changing mental states, people get antsy, especially when it appears to enhance capacity. There is somehow a sense one is cheating the system. Well, so is chemotherapy. When all of these new technologies are used in moderation and the right social context, they are a good.

TR: Do you think it's possible to avoid making people feeling obligated to take these drugs to keep up? Especially given the huge amount of money spent on pharmaceutical advertising and the broad impact it has been shown to have?

MG: Rates of off-label drug use will stabilize. I think they will stay low. One could easily obtain Ritalin now for afternoon lassitude but the vast majority of people don't. The afternoon cup of tea or coffee sustains and seems to do the trick for most of us.

TR: Really? What about in high-pressure situations, like academia?

MG: Remember, these drugs don't make you smarter. They keep you awake so you can study so you can be smarter. While there are always fads of use with such products, usage will settle down to a base rate. That base rate may be higher than some people like, but it will be established no matter what the external drug policy might be.

TR: What about the potential for abuse and dependence? How would you ensure they are used responsibly?

MG: Education is the only tool that works. As we have learned from illicit drug use, it is virtually impossible to keep drugs out of a community. The rate of demand for any given drug, whether illicit or off-label legal, is set by the local social context. One can't ensure drug products will always be used responsibly. It is up to each community to teach about the hazards of inappropriate drug use and, by doing so, control the base rate of use. It is not a perfect world!

TR: One of the major arguments against widespread use of cognitive-enhancing drugs is that it's "the easy way out." Why do you disagree?

MG: Most of these drugs are used in spurts when huge mental demands are called for. They are not for everyday mental routines. Having said that, I think it is a fair concern to make sure people don't become dependent on them as a way of life. Working above one's pay grade in the end has tremendous costs.

TR: What are some of the safety concerns? When giving drugs to healthy people, tolerance for risk is low.

MG: As it should be. Remember, do no harm. I think the concerns are on the mental states if misused. Images might be too vivid, for example. Careful tests and analysis should be run.

TR: Why do you think the idea of using drugs to enhance cognitive function makes people so uncomfortable?

MG: Messing around with the mind is a dangerous and delicate matter. None of this should be taken lightly.

Canon 5D MkII Plagued by 'Black Spots'?

By Charlie Sorrel December 08, 2008 | 6:14:16 AMCategories: Cameras

Over-zealous in-camera processing might be causing black dots to appear on images from Canon's new DSLR, the 5D MkII.

Posts on internet forums are reporting that these dots appear at the edges of over-exposed (or "blown") highlights. The dots are tiny, and can really only be noticed if you zoom right in and study the images but, for many people, just knowing they are there is annoying enough.

Over at the DPReview forums, member f_stops has come up with a temporary workaround. It involves turning off pretty much all in-camera image correction (not necessarily a bad thing as this can nearly all be done later with the right computer software):

Just picked up my 5dII, and sure enough, I see black dots out of the box.

At iso 400 and iso 6400, with a 50/1.8 and 85/1.2L II. I took a few dozen shots, and they are easily duplicated. I then turned the settings to "Disable" for highlight tone priority, lighting optimizer and noise reduction.

No black dots.

Click the thumbnail for a full sized image. This appears to be a software glitch, and other forums posters ask the obvious next question: Will Canon fix this with a prompt firmware update? For the answer, we take a look at Exhibit A, the 1Ds mk III.

Canon's flagship DSLR, which costs around $6500, shipped with a rather nasty autofocus bug which leaves the camera unable to produce a sharp image under certain conditions (for instance, "a really hot day.") After a recall and two firmware updates, the problem persists. And remember, this is Canon's top-of-the-line pro body. If it can't be bothered to fix such a big issue on such an important product line, we don't expect a fast remedy for the dreaded Black Dots.

LOOK MA, THEY'RE GONE! (How to Eliminate Black Dots) [DP Review via Slashgear via Photography Bay]

SL65 Black Series: Full Test

Recession? What recession? Not in the cockpit of this $299,000 carbon-fiber bauble. Not in the engine bay stuffed full of 661 horses. Not anywhere near the sumo crouch of the new Mercedes-Benz SL65 AMG Black Series, a limited-edition, twin-turbocharged two-seater that wards off any talk of "recession" like a mirror reflecting sunlight.

CLICK TO VIEW GALLERY

Does the world need such an extroverted, over-the-top vehicular plaything? Very much so, apparently. Of the 350 examples being built (half of which are headed to U.S. shores this year), a goodly portion were already sold well before the January release. Of course, there's no predicting how many of those buyers are overzealous, overmortgaged, and headed for a quick wheeled foreclosure, but you get the idea. The auto landscape's uppermost crust is apparently always hungry for new and extravagant playthings, financial "hiccups" be damned.

The new top model in the AMG lineup, the twin-turbo, V-12 SL65 Black Series is an extravagant plaything, indeed. If at first glance you mistook it for a DTM race car, you're forgiven. The SL65 Black Series nearly qualifies as one. Its fender flares, which jut out from the bodywork like circa-1980s David Byrne shoulder pads, stretch overall width to nearly six and a half feet. Every body panel except the rear fenders and the doors is made of lightweight carbon fiber-including the new fixed roof, which hides an integrated rollbar. The rear apron incorporates an underbody diffuser for added downforce; also assisting is a rear wing that automatically rises above 75 mph.

AMG employs 60 engine-builders, 40 of whom are trained to produce V-12s. One of those 40 assembles one SL65 Black Series powerplant from start to finish (per the AMG motto "one man, one engine"), a process that takes about seven hours, including testing. Compared with the "normal" SL65, the Black Series gets redesigned, better-breathing turbos; a modified intake tract; and a reengineered exhaust with reduced backpressure. The resulting 6.0-liter monster produces so much torque, AMG uses an electronic limiter to keep the madness in check. Without it, the blown V-12 would produce more like 885 pound-feet. Yet despite the power boost, the Black Series delivers five-percent-better fuel efficiency than the standard SL65. Black magic.

CLICK TO VIEW GALLERY

Mercedes's superb seven-speed automatic simply can't handle even the "limited" 738 pound-feet, so the Black Series gets the stouter five-speed auto with paddle shifters. The transmission offers four program modes, including two full-manual programs (M2 shifting 20 percent quicker than M1). Like an expert driver, the automatic also performs double-clutch downshifts, helping prevent sudden load changes that could diminish stability when entering fast corners or driving on slick surfaces.

An all-new coil-over suspension lies under the carbon-fiber extravaganza. Wheels are 19-inch light alloys up front and 20-inchers in the rear, with high-performance Dunlop Sport Maxx GT rubber all around. Each corner wears a vented, perforated disc brake, with six-piston calipers forward and four-piston to the rear. Stability modes include ESP On, ESP Sport, and, if you forget how it feels to drive a rocket sled on ice, ESP Off.

CLICK TO VIEW GALLERY

European buyers get full carbon-fiber door trim, but side airbag requirements in the U.S. mean we have to settle for sumptuous leather. The sport seats are deeply bolstered for excellent lateral support, and the flat-bottom steering wheel stays out of the way of your legs while looking racy. You and passenger will no doubt wax poetic about whatever's on your mind, such is the inspiring artistry of the interior design.

You'll converse, that is, until you step hard on the throttle -- at which point your vocabulary will lapse into mere grunts and screams. So much torque floods the 325/30R20 rear Dunlops, the Black Series nearly stands on end. Launched in ESP Sport, which allows a useful whiff of wheelspin, the Black Series blitzes to 60 mph in just 3.6 seconds and guns through the quarter mile in 11.6 seconds at 123.9 mph. Look elsewhere on this site, though, and you'll note that, brutally fast as it is, the SL65 Black is easily outpaced by, say, the Corvette ZR1 (3.2 sec to 60 mph, quarter in 11.2 sec at 130.5 mph). It's largely a weight issue: Even though its copious carbon fiber helps shed 210 pounds over a standard SL65, the Black Series still checks in at 4221 pounds (versus the ZR1's 3364). Think of it, then, as one of the world's quickest tanks.

CLICK TO VIEW GALLERY

Aerodynamics and power, not weight, matter most in top speed, and the SL65 Black Series would top 200 mph, Mercedes claims, if not for the standard electronic limiter. As a result, you'll have to make do with a governed top end of 199 mph.

The brakes set no standards for feel, being a bit squishy at times, but they stop hard-60 to 0 mph in 105 feet-and never fade. Handling grip is impressive, the Black Series circling our Motor Trend figure-eight course quicker than the Ferrari 599 GTB. There's no comparing the Ferrari and the Benz on ride quality, though: The Black Series rides hard. It prefers the racetrack, while the Ferrari is perfectly at home on the open road.

Will anyone who can afford the SL65 Black Series care? Not likely. This is a statement car, an "I've-got-more-power-than-you" megabruiser that screams, "Just try me." It wears its speed on its carbon-fiber sleeve, daring other sports cars to trespass, gloating over mortal automobiles in the valet lane, elevating its driver to the status of Hercules.

And for some, apparently, no recession or $299K sticker is going to keep them from a chance to play mythical hero.

2010 MERCEDES-BENZ SL65 AMG BLACK SERIES
Base Price	$299,000
Price as tested	$299,000
Vehicle Layout	Front engine, RWD, 2-pass, 2-door coupe
Engine	6.0L/661-hp/738-lb-ft twin-turbo SOHC 36-valve V-12
Transmission	5-speed automatic
Curb Weight (dist f/r)	4221 lb (52/48%)
Wheelbase	100.8 in
Length x Width x Height	180.7 x 77.2 x 51.6 in
0-60 mph	3.6 sec
Quarter mile	11.6 sec @ 123.9 mph
Braking, 60-0 mph	105 ft
MT figure eight	24.6 sec @ 0.81 g (avg)
Lateral acceleration	0.96 g (avg)
EPA City/Hwy fuel econ	12/19 mpg (MT est)
CO2 Emissions	1.35 lb/mile
On Sale In U.S.	Currently

SitOrSquat.com - Public Toilet Search with GPS Locations

sitorsquat.com — SitOrSquat is a web based index of public bathrooms. In addition to providing the basic map-mashup and rating system. Sit or Squat users can provide and browse photographs of the restrooms in question. The real selling point is the applications available for iPhones and Blackberries, enabling GPS based directions to the nearest bathroom.

click here:

SitOrSquat.com - Public Toilet Search with GPS Locations

Tony Hawk & Friends Skate Like It's 1989

See more skate, snow, surf, and moto videos at Shred or Die

This is not your typical practice session. Tony Hawk and some of his pals practice for the All 80s All Day Vert Challenge. It looks like they have to ride on their 80's equipment: ramp and board included. Bonus points for wardrobe and hair.

Stogie Guys Review: Davidoff Robusto Maduro R

Monday, December 8th, 2008

This past summer, Davidoff announced it would be releasing the first maduro cigar in the company’s storied history. The announcement caught many, including myself, by surprise. After all, Davidoff’s strength is generally considered to be its complexity and balance often in mild to medium cigars. Maduro wrappers present significant challenges to that formula, not to mention that Davidoff’s master blender Henke Kelner is reportedly not a fan of maduro cigars.

Still maybe the introduction of Davidoff’s first maduro should not have been a complete surprise. I’m just speculating here, but given Davidoff’s special connection with the Cuban Cohiba brand, maybe we should have expected Davidoff to follow when Cohiba introduced its first Maduros under the Cohiba line in 2007. (The introduction of Cohiba’s Siglo line in 1992 was widely considered to be a move to replace Davidoff’s Cuban lines, after Davidoff stopped making cigars in Cuba following disputes with the Cuban government.) More than any other non-Cuban company, Davidoff directly competes with Cohiba and other handmade Cuban cigars, so the move may be a reaction to competition from the new Cuban maduros.

But no matter the impetus for the cigar, it is one of the new releases that I was most looking forward to reviewing. The cigar is a five inch by 52 ring gauge robsuto, and it consists of a Dominican wrapper and a San Vincente binder with a sungrown Nicaraguan Cuban-seed “natural maduro” wrapper from the Jalapa Valley.

The maduro wrapper is the color of dark roasted coffee beans. Before lighting, I notice cocoa and vanilla bean flavors.

Once lit, I’m greeted with a combination of classic Davidoff flavors—balanced cedar and coffee—along with some new flavors including a little, though not an overwhelming amount, of the classic maduro sweetness. I also notice hints of charred oak, banana peel, and maybe even saffron.

Both cigars I smoked for this review developed uneven burns, but both self-corrected before they became problems. Besides that, the construction was flawless, with a predictably easy draw and firm, sturdy ash. One word of advice: Take this cigar slowly. Rush it and the rich, balanced flavors will develop a bitter edge.

While there wasn’t much variation as the cigar progressed, the complexity of the flavor was more than enough to keep me interested. And it strikes me as a cigar with some tremendous aging potential.

I paid $15 each for these cigars, which is in line with Davidoff’s MO. At that price you expect a superior cigar and it delivers, though it still doesn’t gain any points for value.

Those who enjoyed the Millennium Blend, another fuller-flavored Davidoff, should definitely give this cigar a try. As should fans of maduro cigars, particularly those who think that maduros need to have overpowering sweetness or must be one dimensional.

For this well-balanced blend of the best of maduro and classic Davidoff flavors, the Davidoff Maduro R receives a rating of four and a half stogies out of five.

[To read more StogieGuys.com cigar reviews, please click here.]

-Patrick S

Stogie Guys Quick Smoke Review for 12/7

Quick Smoke: Rocky Patel Decade Toro

Sunday, December 7th, 2008

Each Saturday and Sunday we’ll post a Quick Smoke: not quite a full review, just our brief take on a single cigar.

It’s a sin that we haven’t reviewed a Rocky Patel Decade yet. I managed to try one Toro (6.5 x 52), however, when my dad picked up a pair from a local shop after Thanksgiving. This box-pressed beauty features a gorgeous Ecuadoran wrapper with Nicaraguan binder and filler tobaccos. It draws smoothly, burns wonderfully, and tastes of spice and creamy cocoa. Big on flavor, light on strength. Forgive the comparison, but the Decade almost feels like a cross between an Olde World Reserve and a Vintage. Not too shabby.

Verdict = Buy.

-Patrick A

Drones to keep Watch on U.S. Canadian Border

On Saturday, a Predator drone touched down at Grand Forks Air Force Base, N.D. The unmanned spy plane will provide eyes in the sky for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which currently employs three Predators to monitor the U.S.-Mexican border.

The Predator's arrival was delayed by mechanical failure on Thursday -- and bad weather forced cancellation of another flight on Friday. According to the Grand Forks Herald, a Citation jet accompanied the drone on its cross-country journey from Sierra Vista, Ariz., in order to comply with FAA regulations.

Complying with civilian flight rules remains a tricky issue for the pilotless aircraft. Aviation Week reports that Customs and Border Protection has yet to reach agreement with the FAA on the flight restrictions for the Predator that will operate along the Canadian border. Initially, that drone will be controlled from North Dakota; its surveillance feed will be piped to operations centers in Washington, D.C., and Riverside, Calif.

Customs and Border Protection is planning to establish unmanned aerial vehicle operations centers for Northern Border Region and the Southeast Coastal Region. Drones in the north will focus on homeland security and defense; in the Southeast Coastal Region, they will focus on maritime security missions.

Pacquiao makes De La Hoya quit after eight

Pacquiao dominated the fight's eight rounds to win by technical knockout

LAS VEGAS – Round-by-round coverage of pound-for-pound kingpin Manny Pacquiao’s welterweight victory over Oscar De La Hoya. Pacquiao won via TKO when De La Hoya couldn’t answer the bell for the ninth round.

KEVIN IOLE’S UNOFFICIAL SCORECARD
Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Total
Oscar De La Hoya	9	9	9	9	9	9	8	9					TKO
Manny Pacquiao	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10					W

ROUND 1
De La Hoya closed as a 2-1 favorite. De La Hoya is minus-200 and Pacquiao is plus-170. The over-under is 9½ rounds. Pacquiao comes out with a slight weight advantage tonight. On the unofficial HBO scales, he weighed 148½ and De La Hoya was 147. De La Hoya is the aggressor early, but nothing lands in the first minute. Straight left from Pacquiao and then a combination from Pacquiao connects. Lead left by Pacquiao. Right to the body by Oscar. Manny misses a big hook. Straight left by Pacquiao. Combination to the head by De La Hoya backs Pacquiao up. Right by Oscar connects. Straight left by Manny.
Iole scores it 10-9, Pacquiao

---

ROUND 2
Lead right by De La Hoya and a right hook from Pacquiao. Double jab by De La Hoya. Pacquiao is circling away. Combination from Oscar but doesn’t land flush. Combination to the body by De La Hoya. Right-left from Pacquiao. De La Hoya’s face is reddened from the punches. Pacquiao left lands and then an uppercut. Lead left by Pacquiao keeps getting through. Difference in hand speed is stark. Hard jab and then a left by Pacquiao. Lead left by Pacquiao.
Iole scores it 10-9, Pacquiao.

---

ROUND 3
Lead left from Pacquiao to open the round connects. De La Hoya has to stop that. De La Hoya is doing nothing offensively in first minute of round. Pacquiao flicks a jab that is short. Right to the head and left to the body from De La Hoya. Lead left again by Pacquiao. Left to the body from Pacquiao. Oscar seems befuddled. Right hook to the body from Pacquiao.
Iole scores it 10-9, Pacquiao

---

ROUND 5
De La Hoya connects with a jab, but first 30 seconds of round are very slow. They’re circling but not throwing much. Pacquiao lands a right hook. Triple jab from Pacquiao. Combination from Pacquiao backs De La Hoya up. The way this is going, it wouldn’t be a shock if De La Hoya were to quit on the stool at some point. He’s taking a tremendous amount of punishment. Body shot by Oscar lands and then two lefts. Oscar’s left eye is closing. He looks like a beaten, old and shot fighter.
Iole scores it 10-9, Pacquiao

---

ROUND 6
Nothing happens in first minute of round. Pacquiao lands left to body and a left to the cheek. They trade in the corner and Pacquiao gets the best of it. Straight left from Pacquiao lands. Hard straight left by Pacquiao snaps Oscar’s head back. De La Hoya’s left eye is a mess. Right by Pacquiao lands on that eye. This may be stopped soon by the corner.
Iole scores it 10-9, Pacquiao

---

ROUND 7
Lead right by De La Hoya lands to open the round. Pacquiao rakes De La Hoya with a three-punch combination. Double jab by Manny. Pacquiao batters De La Hoya into the corner. He’s pinned on the ropes and Pacquiao is firing away. Fight is close to ending. Pacquiao is hitting De La Hoya hard with everything he throws. Oscar is in big, big trouble. Left to the body by Pacquiao hurts Oscar. Oscar has never been beaten like this in any of his 44 previous fights. Pacquiao is overwhelming him.
Iole scores it 10-8, Pacquiao

---

ROUND 8
Pacquiao goes to the body and is warned by referee Tony Weeks to keep them up. Lead right by Oscar connects. Combination by Pacquiao pins Oscar in the corner. Lead left by Pacquiao buzzes De La Hoya. Combination wobbles him in the corner. Double jab by Pacquiao. Combination by Pacquiao lands. De La Hoya goes to the body. Four-punch combination by Pacquiao lands and hurts Oscar.
Iole scores it 10-9, Pacquiao

---

ROUND 9
Fight is stopped just as the round is set to begin. Manny Pacquiao is the winner. Official time is 3:00 of the eighth.

What's Old is New: 12 Living Fossils

To navigate the currents of ecological fate, most creatures adapt — but a few have stuck to their evolutionary guns.

Known as living fossils, they lasted for millions of years with barely a change, even as their relatives went extinct or took different paths across the tree of life.

Many are now threatened or endangered. But with some luck and a little help, living fossils will be able to survive the age of humans, too.

The Purple frog, discovered just five years ago in western India, likely escaped detection because it lives underground, emerging for just two weeks during the monsoon season. Distinguished by a pointed snout, it's related to a family of frogs now found only on the Seychelles islands, which split from India 100 million years ago.

Image: WikiMedia Commons

Scientists disagree over whether the frilled shark has survived for 380 milllion years, or a mere 95 million years. Only two living specimens have been found — both off the coast in Japan, in the late 19th century and again in 2007 — but they are sometimes caught accidentally by deep-sea fishing nets.

Video: Xagtho Channel

Until a preserved specimen was found in the Smithsonian in 1975, the 10-footed, lobster-like Jurassic shrimp was thought to have gone extinct 50 million years ago. Living Jurassic shrimp have since been found.

Image: Census of Marine Life

What it lacks in convenient nomenclature, the Siberian Sikhotealinia zhiltzovae makes up for in uniqueness: it's the only three-eyed beetle. Some scientists consider it a forerunner of nearly all winged insects.

Image: St. Petersburg Zoological Institute

Found mostly in Southern Hemisphere rain forests, velvet worms have legs and — unlike other worms — bear live young. Closely related to tardigrades, their legs are hollow and supported by fluid pressure. After a few early adaptations for land, they've hardly changed in 360 million years.

Video: InfiniteWorld

The most widespread of all living fossils, crocodiles have barely changed in the 230 million years since dinosaurs roamed the Earth.

Image: Flickr/Keven Law

One of the relatively few mammalian living fossils, duck-billed platypuses have been weird for 110 million years: in addition to their bills, they lay eggs and have venom-filled leg spurs. No wonder they were considered a hoax by early naturalists.

Video: Springbreakwas2short

Its spiraling chambered shell was a symbol of perfection in ancient Greece, and the nautilus has changed little in 500 million years.

Image: Flickr/Ethan Hein

Found commonly on Atlantic beaches, horseshoe crabs are more closely related to spiders, ticks and scorpions than crabs. Their ancestors evolved in the Paleozoic's shallow seas, and they've evolved only slightly in the last 445 million years. If you see one on its back, flip it over: They can regrow lost limbs, but can't right themselves when tossed in the surf.

Image: Flickr/Chris Howard

Better known as the "Ant from Mars," Martialis heureka is a direct-line descendant of the last common ancestor of all ants — a subterranean forager who wouldn't go above-ground until flowering plants evolved 120 million years ago.

Image: Christian Rabeling

Coelacanth vanished from the fossil record 410 million years ago — and then one was caught in 1938 off the coast of South Africa. A second species was discovered in Indonesian waters in 1999.

Video: Pinktentacle3

Neither a mantis nor a shrimp, the mantis shrimp has changed little in 400 million years. It has the world's most complex eyes, and its prey-killing claw motion is the second-fastest animal motion. To quote mantis shrimp eye researcher Tom Cronin, "Whenever they get into any type of situation, they smash things. You can't pick these up. They're really great animals to have around."

Image: Tom Cronin

3 Charged in International Attack on Banks

Two U.S. men and a Russian face conspiracy and bank fraud charges for allegedly running a successful scheme to compromise online banking and brokerage accounts and help themselves to the cash.

In a 15-month-long caper that ended in December of last year, prosecutors say Alexander Bobnev, of Volgograd, worked with others in Russia to infect U.S. consumers with Trojan horses that let the gang swipe the victims' login credentials.

Bobnev then initiated wire transfers from the hacked bank accounts -- and liquidated stocks from compromised brokerage accounts -- and channeled the money to "drop" accounts in the U.S., according to federal indictments (.pdf) filed last week in Manhattan.

Opening the drop accounts and pulling out the cash was allegedly the job of Aleksey Volynskiy, of Manhattan, and Alexey Mineev from Hampton, New Hampshire, who got to keep a portion of the loot for their efforts, according (.pdf) to the government.

The scheme unraveled when the feds cultivated an informant in scheme in Poughkeepsie, New York. In June of last year, the informant gave the gang the routing number for a new drop account to send stolen funds into -- in actuality, the account was under law enforcement's control, and the feds watched as it received transfers of $15,400 and $4,700 from two hacked Charles Schwab trading accounts.

The informant then met with Volynskuy in Manhattan to give him half of the $4,700, according to the indictments.

The three are charged with conspiracy, and Volynskuy faces two additional count of access device fraud for allegedly giving the informant 150 stolen credit card numbers last year to get them programmed onto counterfeit cards.

Across the country in Los Angeles, seven people face charges for a series of bank heists that relied on social engineer attacks aimed at credit card customers of Chase Bank.

In a 44-count indictment (.pdf) handed down Tuesday, Arutyun Sarkisyan, Ara Sarkisyan, Asmik Sarkisyan, Giyosiddin Nizomov, Alexandr Moshkov, Bunyod Sharipov, and Parunak Tukmanyan are charged with phoning Chase customer service to have themselves added to customer charge card accounts from April through July of this year.

They then allegedly used the plastic to run up thousands of dollars in charges at high-end retailers like Saks Fifth Avenue, and to pull dozens of cash advances from Los Angeles ATMs at $5,000 a pop. They're charged with access device fraud, bank fraud and identity theft.

Also in California, three naturalized U.S. citizens are accused of setting up a front company to buy third-generation night vision goggles and illegally export them to Vietnam.

Dan Tran Dang, Liem Duc Huynh and George Kgoc Bui allegedly (.pdf) set up a Huntington Beach company called Professional Security for the sole purchase of buying the coveted AN/PVS-7 image intensifiers, made by ITT. The goggles, which retail for about $2,300, are classified as "defense articles" by the U.S. government, and can't legally be exported to Vietnam without a license from the State Department.

From October 2003 to February 2005, the three allegedly ordered at least 55 units from Win-Tron, a U.S. supplier, claiming they were for domestic use only, then smuggled them to Vietnam in their luggage, shipping the head straps and helmet mounts separately in the mail. They're charged with a single count of conspiracy to violate export laws.

In an update to the our murder-for-hire text messaging item, Robin Berry writes in to say she was never friends with convicted plotter Tonia Mullins. Mullins, you'll recall, turned to Berry in a thwarted effort to commission a hit on her Army lover's wife, authoring a string of incriminating text messages that Berry then turned over to the feds. We reported that a confidential informant brought the plot to the attention of police in the first place; Berry says that's her.

"I am not nor have I aver been a friend of Tonia Mullins," she writes. "I turned her in to the police because [neither] she, nor anyone else for that matter, has the right to decide for a baby girl that she no longer needs her mother alive in her life."

Fed Blotter is Threat Level's weekly roundup of computer crime cases in the federal courts. If you've been indicted, or are about to be, please let us know.

Images: Charles Schwab building courtesy TheTruthAbout; AN/PVS-7 courtesy Federation of American Scientists

By Kevin Poulsen December 05, 2008 | Categories: Fed Blotter

An Injection of Hard Science boosts the Prognosis for TV Shows

Photo: Dexter's Michael Hall (left) and Breaking Bad's Bryan Cranston play characters steeped in scientific fact.

Emmy winner Bryan Cranston and three-time nominee Hugh Laurie bring unquestioned acting chops to their roles as quirky men of science in Breaking Bad and House.

So do Emmy-nominated Michael Hall, who plays a police blood-splatter expert (and serial killer) on Dexter; ditto for CSI's rubber-gloved forensics geek Bill Petersen and for Simon Baker, who portrays a quack-debunking champion of observable fact in this fall's most popular new TV series, The Mentalist.

But these prime-time A-listers might be neither rich nor famous were it not for the role played by nasal granuloma, Heller's Syndrome, the Riemann hypothesis, directional analysis and scores of other esoteric methods drawn from the annals of weird science.

It's no fiction: Scientific fact has usurped science fiction as TV's favorite inspiration for prime-time story lines. And to keep everything on the up and up, show writers and producers are hiring scores of researchers and technical consultants to get the science straight.

"We try to make sure that all the science is real, that it's researched and that everything in the show could actually happen," says Cyrus Voris, an executive producer for CBS' crime-fighting biophysicist drama Eleventh Hour (pictured, right). "In some ways, it's much easier to make shit up. When you have to make it real, you're holding yourself to a much higher standard."

Why is real science so hot on prime time? Some of the credit goes to the late Michael Crichton. Ever since he introduced clinically-correct doctor speak to the airwaves with medical drama ER, story lines on science-heavy television shows have been bumping up references to astrophysics, neurobiology, quantum mechanics and other topics ripped from the headlines of obscure scholarly publications.

The geek-friendly ER, which wraps its 15-year run in May, launched a spawn of pop culture/propellerhead crossovers that engage TV viewers' brainwaves even as they're being entertained by age-old soap-opera machinations. For an increasingly tech-savvy generation of couch potatoes, factually flimsy plot details simply don't pass muster.

Science Faction on Prime Time:

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
9 p.m. EST Thursdays on CBS
Since its 2000 debut, the granddaddy of crime-scene dramas has spawned a morgue full of direct spinoffs and imitators.

Big Bang Theory
8 p.m. EST. Mondays on CBS
The babe/geek dynamic drives this college-kid sitcom, but between the punch lines, the string theory references are 100 percent correct. David Saltzberg, a professor of physics and astronomy at UCLA, checks scripts for accuracy.

Numb3rs
10 p.m. EST Fridays on CBS
Gary Lorden, chairman of the math department at the California Institute of Technology, serves as technical adviser for this drama about a crime-solving math whiz.

Dexter
9 p.m. EST Sundays on Showtime
Crime-scene investigator Kimberlee Heale, who studied forensic technology at Cal State Fullerton before going to work for the Orange County Sheriff's Department in Southern California, advises Dexter producers to ensure authenticity in the details. For example, paper, not plastic, is the material of choice for storing evidence, she told the Los Angeles Times. "Plastic is a no-no," she says. "It traps air inside and the DNA will eventually degrade."

Breaking Bad
10 p.m. EST. Sundays on AMC
Actor Bryan Cranston immersed himself in chemistry to make his portrayal of a meth-dealing former science teacher more accurate.

Eleventh Hour
10 p.m. EST Thursdays on CBS
A Princeton prof and a former NASA researcher help give this show its scientific heft.

House
9 p.m. EST Thursdays on Fox
Woven into this hospital drama's character conflicts is a weekly demonstration of the scientific method, as Dr. House and his compatriots sift through evidence before figuring out how to treat patients' bizarre symptoms.

The Mentalist
9 p.m. EST Tuesdays on CBS
Contrary to TV's supernatural Medium and Ghost Whisperer, the so-called mentalist (Simon Baker) is a former charlatan who relies on meticulous observation rather than psychic powers to solve crimes.

ER
10 p.m. EST Thursdays on NBC
"Stat!" became a household term after viewers embraced esoteric medical references in this ground-breaking series. "ER was clearly a watershed," says House writer David Foster.

Fringe
10 p.m. EST Tuesdays on Fox
The show's outlandish story twists include loads of real science, with clues in a recent episode tied to the Fibonacci sequence of numbers.

To make sure their shows ring true to prime-time couch potatoes, TV producers routinely hire scientists to vet scripts for accuracy. Princeton University professor of particle physics Andrew Bazarko reviews Eleventh Hour subject matter ranging from autism and cloning to the hallucinogenic effects that can result from licking the skin of a certain type of toad.

And the show's considerable science chops don't stop there: Writer-producer Andre Bormanis conducted NASA-funded research in physics and astronomy, then earned a master's degree in space policy at George Washington University before getting into show biz as a science consultant for Star Trek: The Next Generation.

In researching his upcoming cryonics-themed episode of Eleventh Hour about deep-freezing dead people, Bormanis got on the phone with a pro.

"I spoke to a chemist at Los Alamos in some detail about endothermic reactions," he says. "There's a little bit of a stretch involved in what you see on screen but I wanted to make sure the explanations were credible. I hope people who are familiar with chemistry and cryonics as a science will see this episode and say, 'Yeah I believe somebody could come up with that sort of a thing.'"

Similarly, Lie To Me, an upcoming Fox series about so-called deception experts, gets its reality check from behavioral scientist Paul Ekman, who has a Ph.D. in clinical psychology. And Fox medical drama House employs Harvard-trained doctor-turned-writer David Foster to come up with stories that pit a contentious crew of medicos against a weekly barrage of bizarre medical afflictions.

"House is all about the evidence and the logical piecing together of the puzzle to see what it adds up to," Foster explains. "That's the scientific method."

Crime Time

Crime dramas, a TV staple since Dragnet jumped from radio to the small screen, have also flourished due to an injection of hard science.

In 2000, former Las Vegas carhop Anthony Zuiker created a show that thrust lab techs and their microscopes into the foreground. CSI: Crime Scene Investigation captivated viewers who'd become fascinated with DNA evidence during the O.J. Simpson trial, and a slew of forensic-themed shows soon followed, including Miami- and New York-based CSI spinoffs, plus Cold Case, Cold Case Files, Body of Evidence, Forensic Files, Forensic Investigators, Cracking the Case, The New Detectives, The FBI Files and Autopsy. Showtime's killer serial-killer show Dexter often delves into the tales told by squirts and sprays of blood left behind at crime scenes.

CBS' Numb3rs, which revolves around crime-solving math genius Charlie Eppes (played by David Krumholtz), goes straight to the academic well to keep the science credible: Co-executive producers Cheryl Heuton and Nick Falacci live just down the street from Caltech's campus in Pasadena, California.

"When we started doing our research, we decided, why not use reality instead of just making it up?" Heuton says. "We wanted to get it right by talking to mathematicians about the initial ideas and then adjusting them to make it more real."

Sometimes, science can be too real for prime time.

House's Foster based an upcoming episode about a woman who ages at an accelerated rate on a case he read about in The New England Journal of Medicine. That publication also inspired his 2006 toothpick catastrophe story line.

"I read about this case where a woman swallowed a toothpick that poked a hole in her intestines," he says. "One woman swallowed a toothpick and it wound up puncturing her heart. That was too far-fetched even for me. Some things that happen in real life may be true but they are not actually believable. It's too crazy for television."

Science on the Fringe

How crazy is too crazy? Ask mad scientist Walter Bishop (played by John Noble, pictured right) Even his outrageous experiments, as featured on Fox sci-fi series Fringe, are grounded in real-world R&D. Consultants Rob Chiappetta and Glen Whitman pull from an archive of several hundred science and technology articles to make sure the scripts accurately reflect cutting-edge developments.

Fringe co-creator J.J. Abrams says some of the truly bizarre scenarios on his show benefit from a solid grounding in reality.

"The weird thing about our show is that a lot of the stuff is at least in the realm of possibility," Abrams told reporters this fall. "It's not sci fi -- it's just sci."

Referring to recent reports that Duke University researchers have invented an invisibility shield, Abrams says, "We're living in this incredibly advanced period of achievement where every week we see, hear or read about some potentially horrifying scientific breakthrough. That keeps pushing our almost-quaint notions of science fiction to a different place."

Sometimes the science spills over onto an actors' own research. Prepping last year for his Emmy-winning performance as a chemistry teacher-turned-meth dealer, Breaking Bad's Bryan Cranston took a crash course in laboratory procedure.

"I shadowed a USC professor who introduced me not only the nomenclature I'd long forgotten, but also this very intimidating elements chart," Cranston jokes. "Why is iron 'FE'? It makes no sense!"

After his Chemistry 101 sessions, Cranston suggested tweaks to series creator Vince Gilligan. "I told him, 'You'd never boil those chemicals in an Erlenmeyer flask. We've been discovering things along the way."

Photos courtesy Showtime, AMC, CBS, Fox, NBC

Ultrazoom Pocket Cam Sports Leica Lens, WiFi Connect

Serving up a hefty helping of stainless steel and Leica glass, the TZ50 seals its ultrazoom dominance with integrated WiFi for straight-to-the-web image transfers (from your nearest T-Mobile hot spot). Panasonic gives aperture- and shutter-priority modes the heave-ho to make room for the company's Intelligent Auto function. Luddites and camera snobs may whine about the loss of manual controls but can console themselves with the consistently terrific images.

WIRED Big, bright 3-inch LCD. 9.1-megapixel resolution. 10X optical zoom lens goes wide to 28 mm. Shoots HD video at 720p and 30 fps.

TIRED WiFi and HD video are $100 premium over otherwise identical TZ5. Supports uploading to Picasa only. All that metal adds up to a hefty load.

• Camera Resolution: 9.1 megapixels
• Optical Zoom: 10x
• Digital Zoom: 4x

• Style: Ultracompact, Wireless
• Media Format: MultiMediaCard, SD Card
• Manufacturer: Panasonic
• $450 • panasonic.com

  8 out of 10

ESPN's Virtual Playbook

Using an XBox to dramatize reality

By Brett Zarda Posted 12.05.2008 at 2:13 pm 0 Comments

The Virtual Becomes Real: (See it bigger!)

With each iteration, the Madden video game has inched a little closer to reality. Now reality is starting to embrace the virtual. ESPN has introduced the EA Sports Virtual Playbook in its NFL coverage this season by using green-screen technology to bring life-size Madden 3D players into the studio. We dive into the inner workings.

For several years a part of ESPN's coverage consisted of middle-aged anchors standing in the studio and demonstrating specific skills, formations, or schemes expected in a key match up.

"It used to be just Tom Jackson and the other guys playing flag football. It was four guys in their suits who were in their heyday 20 years ago," said an EA spokesman. "This gives a whole new reality."

That whole new reality allows the anchors to run through specific motions and schemes with the actual players of interest, while they critique and comment on their motions.

In the week before the show, producers request situations with specific players from the EA campus in Orlando, Florida. The engineers in Orlando then create that situation using the Madden 3D engine, down to the specific spin move, stunt move, or swim move using nothing more than the game you play every Saturday night. An EA employee will literally start up Madden '08, pick the appropriate teams, call the relevant play, and pull the trigger or press the appropriate button on the controller to move the player accordingly.

"We have all those moves at our disposal. If it's Mario Williams doing a swim move then there's a player with a controller in his hand using the certain buttons to create that motion," said Jason Parker, a software engineer with EA. "If you want the quarterback to roll out of the pocket, we rely on the actual human player to make the quarterback do that."

What's recorded though is not the video footage, but the code dictating the three-dimensional data on each player in the game. That same data is stored internally on your XBox, allowing gamers to watch instant replays from any angle and at any speed. That file is then sent to the next step in the process.

Two off-the-shelf XBoxes are linked up to two standard in-studio cameras. The play is then started in the XBox, and the players appear in the studio using basic green-screen technology which allows the anchors to look at various TV screens to see where the players are located. But where the Virtual Playbook extends beyond the weather maps on your local news is how the in-studio cameras interact with the virtual players. If a producer wants to zoom in on the left hand of a player, the in-studio cameraman merely looks at his screen (which is showing the superimposed composite image) and zooms towards the virtual hand. The camera position data is transmitted to the XBox, allowing an immediate zoomed-in view of the virtual hand. The cameras essentially become oversized XBox controllers, allowing complete seamless freedom to the producers without any additional effort. The anchors can pause, rewind, and spin around the players as if they were real.

Currently the producers need to choose the plays they want analyzed days in advance. The potential to analyze a key move or play in a game from that day would bring another level of reality to the system. There are also plans to ditch the XBox and run things off of a PC which would allow even better resolution of the virtual players. The collaboration is part of a larger focus by EA to take their technology out of the game and bring it into reality. Think the inverse of the classic tagline, "If it's in the game, it's in the game."

Hussman Funds Weekly Market Comment-

Ambiguous Conditions Warrant Moderation

Stocks Set to Rally

Obama's spending plan, signs of an automaker bailout help boost world markets and put Wall Street in a positive mood.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- U.S. stocks were set to open sharply higher Monday, lifted by President-elect Barack Obama's plan to boost the economy and signs that Detroit's automakers would stay out of bankruptcy.

"The market now is rallying on hopes that we can begin to stave off massive layoffs in the auto industry," said Peter Cardillo, analyst for Avalon Partners.

At 8:55 a.m. ET, Dow Jones industrial average, Standard & Poor's 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures were higher.

Futures measure current index values against perceived future performance and offer an indication of how markets will open when trading begins in New York.

On Friday, stocks rallied despite the Labor Department's worst monthly job report in 34 years, showing a loss of 533,000 jobs in November and bringing the total to 1.9 million lost jobs so far this year.

"You can't lose jobs at this rate for very long," said Robert Brusca, chief economist at Fact and Opinion Economics. "At this point, you have to become an optimist, or you have to become a super pessimist and say that were headed for a Great Depression."

The job losses have continued into December. On Monday, Dow Chemical (DOW, Fortune 500) said it would cut 5,000 jobs, equaling 11% of its workforce, and close 20 plants.

Stimulus hopes: Over the weekend, Obama pledged to invest in infrastructure, energy programs, and school construction projects to get people working and build a stronger economy.

"We understand that we've got to provide a blood infusion to the patient right now to make sure that the patient is stabilized. And that means that we can't worry short term about the deficit," he said in an interview on NBC's "Meet the Press."

"We've got to make sure that the economic stimulus plan is large enough to get the economy moving," Obama said.

Big Three: Signs of a deal that would keep General Motors (GM, Fortune 500), Ford (F, Fortune 500) and Chrysler out of bankruptcy court - at least through the end of March - also lifted sentiment.

Congressional Democrats and the Bush White House had reached an agreement in principle to provide stopgap support for the U.S. auto industry, congressional and industry sources said late Friday.

While the money is less than the automakers were asking for in testimony before Congress, the package is designed to keep them operating so that the new Congress and the Obama administration will have at least a couple of months to draft and pass a longer-term solution.

General Motors stock surged more than 20% in pre-market trading, and Ford jumped about 15%.

World markets: Expectations that governments worldwide will keep introducing measures to stimulate their economies helped boost investors' mood worldwide.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index rallied 8.7% and Japan's Nikkei finished the session 5.2% higher. In European trading, Britain's FTSE 100 was up more than 5% in morning trading, while the DAX in Frankfurt and the CAC in Paris were up about 7%.

Money and oil: Oil rose $2.95 a barrel to $43.76. The dollar gained versus the yen but slipped against the euro and the British pound. To top of page

Tribune Toast, NY Times Next?

alleyinsider.com) -- Tribune was toast the moment Sam Zell loaded it up with $13 billion of debt. That it is now considering bankruptcy, therefore, comes as little surprise. (Read this early prognosis from Alan Mutter if you doubt that sane industry observers saw this coming).

More startling over the past year has been the collapse of the New York Times (NYT). The New York Times Company has a $400 million debt payment due in five months, and management has not yet explained how it plans to meet this. The company is nearly out of cash, its operations are now burning cash, and its attempts to sell assets have, so far, been unsuccessful.

As we noted a month ago, the New York Times Company now has a negative current net worth: Over the next year, it will be required to shell out more than twice as much cash as it has on hand. The New York Times' long-term assets and liabilitities, meanwhile, are roughly equal: The value of the Red Sox stake and corporate headquarters approximately offset the company's long-term debt, pension plan, and other liabilities (at least according to their carrying values.)

The New York Times has an untapped $400 million credit line that could be used to meet its obligations over the next year, but we would be surprised if its banks were not looking for some way to renege on this. The company's most easily saleable asset is probably About.com, which might fetch up to $500 million (a year ago, it would have fetched a lot more--just like everything else NYTCo owns). The sale of this asset would buy the company some breathing room.

We imagine that the New York Times's cash situation is top of mind in its executive suites (we certainly hope it is, anyway). Specifically, we assume Janet Robinson and Arthur Sulzberger have a plan for dealing with the $400 million deadline. So could we maybe trouble some of the crack reporters in the New York Times newsroom to calls upstairs to figure out what it is?

(We will confess that we have occasionally wondered when the New York Times will begin covering its own situation. The potential bankruptcy or default of one of the world's most famous newspapers is a big story, especially here in New York. If the paper doesn't start covering this story soon, someone might accuse it of not being objective!)