10 Cars for More than Commuting

By: Matt Hardigree

They're called extreme commutes. Spending 90 minutes or more getting to and from work is no one's idea of a good time. What if you could while away the traffic doing email or playing Parcheesi with your family? The Japanese already treat the car like a mobile office or living room, and automakers, in their latest attempt to actually sell some cars, are encouraging customers to "hang out" on wheels, offering amenities such as Wi-Fi, satellite TV, and seating cushier than what you have at home. Let's face it, if the economy doesn't improve soon, we're all going to be living out of our cars, so think of these vehicles as a down payment on our dystopian, post-apocalyptic future.

Nissan Cube
The Cube answers the burning question, what if Ikea designed furniture for your first car the same way it outfits your first apartment? This aesthetic is most evident in the funky Cube's "sofa-style" rear seat and cubbyholes galore for storing electronics, clothing, and toiletries. Already popular in Japan, the economical Cube enters the U.S. market later this year. Although it's highly customizable, much like Toyota's Scion vehicles, thankfully there's no assembly required.

Ford SYNUS
Had Ford commercialized this Brinks truck-like vehicle, it surely would have kept any driver's virginity secure. This fanciful but tough-looking concept notably included a "lockdown mode" for when passengers wanted to ignore the outside world and watch a movie, play a game, or relax. (Ask any dog: Nothing screams relaxation like being locked in an automobile.) As hard as it is to believe this car was never made, take heart: Its portable "lounge" eventually found its way into Ford Flex vehicles, and newer compact SUVs carry over SYNUS's smaller windows and muscular look to make the driver feel secure and comfortable.

Dodge Caravan
Soccer moms, rejoice! The first true minivan is back with innovations even cooler than tummy-control jeans. The latest generation turns the van into a portable game room, featuring its own satellite hookup and flat-screen TVs waiting to be plugged into your DVD player and game console of choice. The middle row of seats can be turned backwards, and the kids can fold out a table for a round of Monopoly.

Ford Transit Connect W/ Work Solutions
When Hollywood makes The A-Team: The Movie (and it's just a matter of time), if the gang doesn't drive the Ford Transit Connect, they should. The setup includes an integrated computer system equipped with a portable keyboard and GPS. It's also configurable to include printers, inventory scanners, and other equipment. The van is also taller, easier to park, and cheaper to operate than a full-size van. If your job involves spending more time driving to see customers than sitting at your desk, this mobile office sure beats Starbucks. Available later this year.

Maserati Quattroporte Collezione Cento
You can take the CEO out of his renovated $10 million office, but you can't take the $10 million office out of the CEO. Enter the Maserati Quattroporte Collezione Cento. For merely $142,500 of taxpayer bailout money, the already loaded sedan includes a built-in rear-seat computer system (what? You think he's giving up his driver?) with wireless mouse and keyboard. Between the rear passenger seats is a foldout table for important documents and/or a cappuccino. Check your plummeting stock, fire thousands, and still make it to lunch at the club in style.

Honda Airwave
Carpooling in Japan must be different than in the United States. Rather than pull over to pick up doughnuts, when you park the Airwave (similar to the Honda Fit), the seats can be moved to form a small seating area for groups in need of a quick meeting space.

Mobile Mini House
Living in a car has heretofore been limited to camping families, RVing retirees, and folk singers down-on-their-luck. Stephanie Bellanger, Amaury Watine, François Gustin, and David Dethoor hope to change that with this accordion-style trailer. Rather than just a large rectangular room, the Mobile Mini House is like a fold-out Airstream trailer. Unpack this small, sustainable package to get a five-room abode, including bathroom and office. Perfect for hometown-displaced employees sick of Residence Inns or hipster drifters tired of couchsurfing.

Honda Element Ursa Minor Camper
This perfect accessory for the Honda Element "lifestyle" consumers interested in extending a rock climbing or mountain-biking adventure into a weekend-long excursion. The Ursa Minor ECamper turns the little Honda into a portable basecamp. The conversion folds outwards from the roof, creating a sleeping tent for up to two people. It's small enough to still work as a convenient city car but large enough to live in temporarily in the woods.

Kia Soul
If James Brown taught us anything, it was that you've got to have soul. (Also, don't do angel dust.) The Kia Soul is a boxy little compact like the Scion xB, except that it's tricked out for Burning Man. The audio system is connected to bright red lights in the speakers, pulsing to the beat and reflecting off the glow-in-the-dark seats. It's also jammed with tech-friendly goodies such as hands-free Bluetooth connectivity, USB/Aux input, satellite radio, and power in the front and back.

Nissan NV2500 Concept
If Nissan makes its NV2500 large commercial truck, its slogan should be, If you worked here, you'd be working by now. The truck is divided into three parts: driver and passenger zone, work/design station, and conference center/cargo bay. The showstopper within the workspace is the laser-projected keyboard. The car of the future can't get here soon enough.

Everyone Gets a Bonus from Obama's Net Neutrality Plan

Timothy Karr: Campaign Director, Free Press and SaveTheInternet.com

Buried deep in President Barack Obama's American Reinvestment and Recovery Act is a line that should bring a smile to your face -- and a scowl to phone and cable industry lobbyists.

It requires that billions of dollars directed to connect more Americans to broadband be spent on services that meet "nondiscrimination and network interconnection obligations."

What this really means is the good guys have won one battle in the fight for an open Internet. According to Obama's plan, government must now require that the $4.7 billion in federal grants for high-speed services be spent the right way: building networks that abide by Net Neutrality.

In other words, this money -- your money -- cannot be used by powerful companies like AT&T and Comcast to implement plans to "manage," filter or re-route you whenever you traverse the Web.

They have been angling to do so since it became clear that people wanted to use the Internet for more than simple email, ecommerce and search.

No Blank Checks

The good news is that this stimulus money isn't going to be a blank check to big phone and cable. It comes with strings attached, requiring that all networks built with our money leave control over the Internet in the hands of the people who use it every day -- people like you and me.

AT&T and Verizon can't use our money to invest in content filtering tools similar to the Deep Packet Inspection software now being used by China and Burma to sift through Web traffic. Comcast and Cox Cable can't block file-sharing software or other popular and legal Web applications. None of them can use taxpayer funds to decide how and when we watch videos, from whom we purchase goods and services, and where we can or cannot go online.

The only bonus being handed out here is Net Neutrality, a benefit for the millions of Americans who rely daily upon the Internet to improve their economic status, better educate their children, connect with friends and family, and participate more fully in our democracy.

A Bid to Undercut Neutrality

But get this: Just as Washington is deciding how to spend your tax dollars on an open Internet, phone and cable company lobbyists are trying to water down the Net Neutrality requirements, and stamp out consumer choice.

They came out into the open during a public meeting Monday in Washington.

"The idea that we should lay additional and unknown regulations on top of the task of the people getting this grant money is, I think, troubling at best," said Jonathan Banks of the U.S. Telecom Association during a meeting at the U.S. Department of Commerce.

James Assey, of the National Cable and Telecommunications Association said that Net Neutrality requirements could create "uncertainty" in the marketplace. Chris Guttman-McCabe, speaking on behalf of the largest wireless carriers, said openness rules take away from the central focus of the stimulus package, which is "creating the most jobs and helping reverse the recession."

The Internet's Bedrock Principle

Such misleading statements are designed to make people think its in everybody's interest to hand over control of the Internet to the same companies that pay the salaries of these three lobbyists.

But what Banks, Assey and Guttman-McCabe failed to note is that Net Neutrality rules have always governed their profitable clients, such as when AT&T agreed to run a neutral network as a condition of its merger with BellSouth in 2007; or in 2008 when the FCC decided to sanction Comcast for throttling peer-to-peer protocols such as BitTorrent.

The only "uncertainty" in this marketplace would result from giving mighty network providers new powers to fiddle with our content. To do so would undercut the level playing field that has always made the Internet a great engine for free speech and commerce.

Free Press Policy Director Ben Scott just delivered 15,000 letters to the administration demanding that this basic freedom -- the right to connect to anyone, anywhere -- remains the bedrock principle of any new networks built with federal funds.

The voices of Internet users are clear and unequivocal on this, Scott told the agencies in charge of distributing the Internet stimulus. If you want to use our billions, we need to know that we're getting online freedom in exchange.

O2 offers iPhone free on £35, new Apple phone imminent?

Is O2 is clearing stock ahead of a new model of the iPhone?

Nick Spence

---

O2, Apple's mobile phone partner in the UK, is to offer the iPhone 3G for free as part of a new contract deal available from next month.

The move is thought to help encourage new users to sign up and shift stock of 3G phones in preparation for a new iPhone rumoured to be available in the next few months including speculation on a new mid-range ‘nano-style’ device.

Earlier this week Apple introduced iPhone 3.0– the next generation operating system for the iPhone – promising over 100 new features.

From 3 April, customers who sign up to the 24 month tariff can get the 8GB iPhone 3G for free at £34.26 per month and the 16GB iPhone 3G for free at £44.05 per month.

On the 18 month contract the 8GB iPhone 3G costs £96.89 for the £34.26 per month, 16GB iPhone 3G costs £155.61 for the £34.26 per month, or £57.74 for the £44.05 per month.

A break down of price plans is available on the O2 Digital News Centre blog.

"The iPhone has been hugely popular with over one million units sold in the UK," said Peter Rampling, Marketing Director at Telefónica O2 UK.

"This new 24 month tariff option will meet the demand of customers who are looking for added value in exchange for committing to a longer contract."

Meanwhile AT&T will begin selling iPhones without requiring a two-year contract also from next week, although at a price point – the 8GB iPhone for $599 and the 16GB iPhone for $699 - that makes a contract appear more attractive.

20 Unusual and Creative Ice Cube Trays

Collection of unusual and creative ice cube trays from all over the world.

Alphabet Ice Cube Tray

Float subtle messages in your friends drinks, or if you are feeling really creative, go crazy and make letters out of jelly or butter. [link]

Ice Invaders Ice Cube Tray

Did you spend a good portion of your childhood (and your allowance) blasting 2-dimensional aliens to smithereens? Now you can freeze those precious moments in time with Ice Invaders. [link]

Bone Chillers Ice Cube Tray

Chilling ice cube tray. Chill your beverages to the bone! [link]

Golf Ball Ice Cube Tray

A fun way to cool your drink, perfectly formed Ice Gold Balls. [link]

Titanic Ice Cube Tray

You get 4 ocean liners and 4 icebergs — just add gin, Leo DiCaprio, and Kate Winslet for a perfect party. [link]

Pi Symbol Ice Cube Tray

Your favorite irrational number chills your beverage of choice. [link]

Tipsy Toes Ice Cube Tray

Stylish ice cubes that won’t dilute your drink and can be used over and over. Put a pair in your punch, or dip your toes into a gin and tonic. [link]

AK Bullet Ice Cube Tray

Show James Bond how it’s done and add a little sophistication to your parties with this amazing ice cube tray. [link]

Strawberry Ice Cube Tray

These soft rubber ice cube trays allow you to have strawberry-shaped blocks of ice in your drinks. [link]

Frozen Smiles Ice Cube Tray

Freeze up a batch of Frozen Smiles and drop them into any glass - they’re the ice cubes that grin right back at you. [link]

Tetris Ice Cube Tray

Iceblox Ice Cube Puzzle Tray - the only ice cube tray that makes special puzzle shaped pieces which you can use to play a chilly version of the old classic. [link]

FOSSILICED Ice Cube Tray

Need to dig up a clever party accessory? Look no further than ice-cold fossils - these two assorted dinos will add the perfect Ice Age touch to your modern drinks. [link]

Fishbone Ice Cube Tray

Guaranteed to keep your drinks cool in more ways than one. Use them as a party piece, an icebreaker, or simply to keep your drink cold. [link]

Ice Princess Ice Cube Tray

This unique ice tray creates magic wands fit for a fairy princess - sparkly glittery reusable drinking straws with star-shaped ice cubes at the tip. [link]

Jewels Ice Cube Tray

Just fill this food-grade flexi ice tray with water or any kind of juice, and freeze. Then pop out the three-dimensional Cool Jewels and bling out your beverage. [link]

Snowflake Ice Cube Tray

Creative ice cube tray designed by Ignacio Pilotto. [link]

Guitar Ice Cube Tray

Drop one of these groovy guitars into your drink, and give it a stir. Just the thing for jazzing up your favorite beverage. [link]

LEGO Ice Cube Tray

Serve the coolest drinks around with ice that looks like LEGO bricks, or build your own LEGO ice “sculpture!”. [link]

Homemade LEGO Ice Cubes

Learn how you can make your own LEGO ice cube trays at home. [link]

Cool Shooters Ice Cube Tray

What’s cooler than a shot glass made of ice? [link]

Spider Bite Cures Paralyzed Man: Miracle or Bad Reporting?

By Christopher Wanjek, LiveScience's Bad Medicine Columnist

posted: 24 March 2009 02:48 pm ET

Buzz up!

del.icio.us

Digg It!

Newsvine

reddit

Comments (7) | Recommend (7)

Christopher Wanjek is the author of the books "Bad Medicine" and "Food At Work." His Bad Medicine column appears each Tuesday on LiveScience. [Bad Medicine Column Archive]

It sounds like something out of the pages of The Weekly World News, right next to an alien abduction story: Paralyzed California man bit by brown recluse spider walks again. Only it was reported for real last week on CNN, ABC, NBC and CBS.

Yes, a miracle — a miracle this could make the evening news, for this was a phenomenally poorly reported story bereft of the simplest of fact-checking. Of the three basic facts reported by these apparently professional journalists — paralyzed man, brown recluse spider, and walking — two are surely false.

Yet more than just another example of lousy broadcast journalism, such stories bring false hopes and even danger to those desperate enough to experiment with venom to cure their paralysis.

Talk to a doctor

Here's the full story as sort-of reported: A man named David Blancarte of either Modesto or Manteca, Calif. (reports vary), who was either paralyzed or confined to a wheelchair (reports vary) after a motorcycle accident either 20 or 21 years ago (reports vary), was bitten by a brown recluse spider two years ago and sought treatment in a hospital. An unnamed nurse there noticed muscle spasms; concluded his nerves were just "asleep"; ordered tests; got him to rehab; and got him walking again.

"Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence," the late astronomer Carl Sagan liked to say. None of the news reports, however, included a doctor or scientist commenting on the possibility of a spider curing paralysis, let alone confirming Blancarte's recollection of the medical facts.

I'm not saying this guy wasn't in a bad way for 20-some years. What likely happened was that Blancarte's legs weren't completely paralyzed and, in fact, were slowly healing. A bite of some sort — more on this below — got him to a hospital, where medical professionals realized that there was nerve and muscle activity unrelated to the bite. Through physical therapy he slowly regained the ability to walk, albeit with a walker.

Good for him. What a great stroke of luck. But that's a far cry from headlines such as "NorCal Paraplegic Cured by Spider Bite."

Talk to your local arachnologists

There's a touch of Spider-Man in this tale, with the venom of a spider imparting superhuman powers. But the journalists' spider senses weren't tingling enough to understand that there are no brown recluse spiders in California. These tiny spiders — no bigger than a quarter, legs and all — are rarely seen west of the Rockies, inhabiting the Midwest from Texas up to Canada.

Chances are, it wasn't even a spider that bit Blancarte. As reported in a 2005 article in the New England Journal of Medicine, 80 percent of patients seeking medical care for a spider bite were actually bitten by something far more benign, such as a tick, flea or beetle.

The brown recluse spider, in particular, gets a bum rap. As the name implies, these spiders aren't aggressive and don't like to be around anyone. In the states that do have lots of them, reports of bites are rare or non-existent. Yet in states that don't have them, such as California or Colorado, reports of bites number in the hundreds, according to a study in the journal Toxicon led by Rick Vetter of University of California, Riverside, who seems to be on a crusade to stop myths about spider bites.

Alas, there's a new twist to this strange story. Blancarte can walk but apparently he can't run from the law. With his sudden fame alerting police to his whereabouts, Blancarte was arrested last week on a contempt-of-court charge stemming from a domestic violence case — that is if you believe the news reports.

Playboy Enterprises closing NYC offices

(Getty Images) NEW YORK (AP) - Playboy Enterprises Inc. is closing its Manhattan office and laying off employees as it struggles with falling advertising revenue and a gloomy economic climate. Company spokeswoman Martha Lindeman says Chicago-based Playboy employed about 100 people at the Fifth Avenue office in midtown. A majority of those jobs will be lost when the office is expected to close May 1. Lindeman says some employees received letters notifying them that their jobs were eliminated. Others were given the chance to transfer to Chicago. The Manhattan office is primarily involved in publishing and licensing work. Playboy announced in February on a conference call that it would save $5 million annually by closing the office. ©2009 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Solar Racer Test Drive: Inside the U. Mich's Sun-Powered Car

It looks like a UFO, starts like a turtle, is covered with 2726 solar cells and runs as long as the sun shines. PM's Detroit editor Larry Webster goes behind the wheel of the Continuum, the University of Michigan's sun-powered car.

By Larry Webster

Photographs by Zach Desart

Continuum’s rear aluminum wheels were custom-machined with integrated hubs to reduce weight. The front wheel houses the electric motor. California-based Viper Technologies donated two sets of wheels worth more than $40,000.

The car I’m sitting in is so futuristic and so technically advanced that it would cost nearly a million dollars to duplicate. Yet this Jet Propulsion Lab on wheels lacks the basic features of even the humblest sedan: a radio, roll-down windows, a heater. I had to slither between the rails of a roll cage to access a cockpit so cramped that it feels as though I’m sitting upright in a Niagara Falls barrel.

This three-wheeled car, known as Continuum, isn’t built for comfort—and it’s not exactly built for speed. It’s built for distance. More precisely, it’s built to maximize the distance a featherlight electric car can travel in a given time powered solely by the amount of sunlight that falls on photovoltaic cells plastered all over its upper half.

Working under the supervision of two faculty advisers, more than 100 very bright and very motivated University of Michigan students took two years to build the vehicle, which is designed to compete in a pair of grueling solar-car races. It’s the latest model in a program that has racked up an impressive record since its 1990 inception: Five wins in the college-only 2400-mile North American Solar Challenge and several top finishes running against Honda, GM and Ford in the 1870-mile Australia-based World Solar Challenge.

On this chilly and slightly overcast November morning, faculty adviser Ignacio Garcia, a retired engineering school machinist, and a dozen bleary-eyed team members trailered the car to Chrysler’s Chelsea, Mich., proving grounds. Most team members have never driven Continuum, hence their nervous looks: I’m the first outsider ever to take a spin in a streamliner that cost them an awful lot of late nights and bloody knuckles. “We have a saying,” says head strategist Alex Dowling, a 20-year-old junior from Saline, Mich. “You can have a social life, get good grades or do solar car. Pick two.” A hardcore group of about 30 spends more than 30 hours per week on the project—designing, testing, fabricating and securing sponsorships for the $2.4 million two-year budget.

I’m about 6 ft tall and weigh 180 pounds, which is 3 in. and 20 pounds too much for the cockpit. After an unsuccessful attempt with shoes on, I go socks-only and clear the small carbon-fiber steering wheel. My knees are practically kissing my chin. Luckily, the controls are on the steering wheel: A lever on the right works the “throttle,” and one on the left activates the brakes. The team designed a dash that displays speed, charge state and distance traveled. They also built a rearview video-camera system and a wireless network that links the car to chase vehicles. The team remotely monitors Continuum with a Prius-like energy-flow graphic.

Once I’m buckled in, six students affix the upper part of the car’s body in a series of moves so effortlessly choreographed it would make a Sprint Cup team jealous. The top half carries the solar array; the bottom half is the carbon-fiber and Nomex-honeycomb main structure.

Photo Gallery
The University of Michigan’s solar car, Continuum, glides around Chrysler’s 4.7-mile oval.	Team members lower the top. The blue cloth in front of the driver is attached to the frame with...	The team designed the vehicle’s wheels, brakes and hubs. The three-phase, in-wheel electric motor...	The solar array charges a $17,000, 6-kwh, 66-pound lithium-polymer battery pack.

As I gingerly pull back on the accelerator, the car inches forward at a turtle’s pace. It’s so pokey that a few team members walk alongside as I get underway. Weighing a lithe 480 pounds, Continuum gets all the propulsion it needs from a 16-hp electric motor that resides in the single front wheel. The trike design lowers the car’s surface area, which in turn reduces drag. How slippery is it? “It’s a strategic advantage for other teams not to know,” a cagey Dowling says. He reveals that the team believes a Corvette has five times as much drag as Continuum. But as I am about to learn, when it comes to handling, this is no Corvette.

With a single front wheel, I fear that any turn at speed will tip the car onto its outside edge, like a tricycle turned too hard by a reckless 3-year-old. “We talked to a vehicle dynamics professor when we designed the car,” says John Federspiel, a 21-year-old junior from Rochester, Mich. “He had no idea about three-wheel dynamics. There’s not much on the subject, so we had to figure it out ourselves.” I creep up to about 30 mph and gently turn. The car responds more predictably and confidently than I could have imagined. I progressively wind in more steering angle until I feel the front end safely wash out in classic understeer. It’s not fun, but it’s stable and there is little body roll—these kids have done their homework.

Author begins the delicate entry procedure.

While crisscrossing a vast expanse of proving-ground asphalt known as Black Lake, I buzz by the students at 40 mph. In 10 minutes, my hindquarters have gone numb, but I’m in the groove and ready to head over to Chrysler’s 4.7-mile banked oval so that I can open this baby up. I pull onto a pockmarked two-lane road and brace for the first impact. There’s a loud thud, but the car isn’t bothered by bumps. It feels solid and well-built. Because of the tight confines and lack of air, beads of sweat roll down my face despite the brisk weather. It’s windy too, and I’m a little nervous about how crosswinds might affect a car shaped like a huge Delta wing. So when I get to the oval I stop and ask for a more experienced driver to try it first.

The team descends on the car. Jeff Rogers, a 22-year-old graduate student from Rochester Hills, Mich., shouts, “Waist!” and all six lift the top half about 1 ft. Someone unhooks two safety chains and disconnects the wires that connect the solar array to an electrical device called the maximum-power point-tracking system. The MPPT constantly changes the load on the solar array to extract maximum power. “Up!” Rogers barks. In another precisely timed maneuver, the team carries the top half away from the car and sets it down on sawhorses.

They’re careful with the array since any scratch could reduce the efficiency of the 2726 solar cells. (Racing rules limit the area of the array to 6 square meters—about 7 square yards.) Each $50 cell produces a maximum of 2.6 volts. In full sunlight, the array provides 2.4 hp, which is roughly what it takes to hold the car at 60 mph on a flat road—less than an eighth of the power a normal car requires.

I wiggle out, and Federspiel takes the helm. He moves out with two chase cars in tow. Dowling sits in the lead chase vehicle, staring at a laptop screen. “We monitor everything,” he says. Obsessive Formula One engineers have nothing on these guys.

Federspiel drives a lap and gives the okay. I’m strapped back in. I floor it, the car rocks back slightly on its haunches, and we’re off. The motor makes a loud growl until I clear 10 mph, and then all I hear are little pebbles zapping the bodywork. As speed slowly increases—51 mph, 52, 53—the car feels ever so slightly more eager.

The oval, with its perfectly smooth surface, is the same place Chrysler runs Chargers and Challengers flat out at supercar speeds, so at 60 mph, Continuum is, well, a bit underwhelming. It’s hard to maintain that speed because the stiff winds dramatically slow the car whenever I let out the accelerator. Too bad I didn’t learn to activate the car’s cruise control. The real thrill here is, of course, knowing this car runs as long as the sun shines and the battery has juice—never stopping for a drop of petroleum or a charge from the power grid.

My legs are numb—again—so I prepare to stop. After I climb out, Dowling asks if other team members would like a turn. I can sense their excitement. I wander over to faculty adviser Ignacio Garcia. “So, these kids really built this thing?” I ask.

“Yes. I only step in if there’s a safety issue or if they ask,” Garcia says. “The adults are there for support. It’s amazing what the students have done.”

In addition to engineering know-how, these students run the program like a Fortune 500 tech company. It’s split into four divisions, and team members have weekly progress meetings, workflow charts, a Web-based forum to catalog every move, even custom stationery. They solicit design advice from solar-car alumni and invite companies to teach them carbon-fiber construction.

Several students who have taken their first spin are giddy from the experience. Someone suggests that 6-ft 3-in., 210-pound Chris Hammond, a 21-year-old junior from Clarkston, Mich., give it a go. He makes it halfway into the cockpit before he gets stuck and yells for help. It’s the outcome everyone knew was coming. But they laugh and chide him in a way only a fraternity full of brothers could. They are, after all, still college students.

Is this woman really as old as the LIGHT BULB? 'Oldest person in the world' set to celebrate her 130th birthday

By Will Stewart

Officials in Kazakhstan say they have a found a woman who will this week celebrate her 130th birthday, making her 16 years older than the oldest known human currently living.

Sakhan Dosova - a mother of ten - says she has never visited a doctor nor eaten sweets. She is addicted to cottage cheese and puts her longevity down to her sense of humour.

Her remarkable age came to light during a census in Karaganda in northern Kazakhstan. Demographers were astonished to find that she was also on Stalin's first census of the region in 1926 when her age was given as 47.

Ten years old when Hitler was born: Sakhan Dosova, who apparently turns 130 on March 27, in a recent picture

Her date of birth is said to be 27 March 1879, and it is clearly shown on her documents including her Soviet era passport and independent Kazakhstan identity card.

Until the recent census, however, her fame did not extend beyond her far-flung city.

While some Kazakh officials are pressing for more detailed checks on her claim, fearing the country could face ridicule if it is shown to be false, she has no doubts and is basking in her new found fame.

'I don't have any special secret,' she said. 'I've never taken pills and if I was ill, I used granny's remedies to cure me.

'I have never eaten sweets, I don't like them. But I love kurt (a salty dried cottage cheese) and talkan (ground wheat).'

Gaukhar Kanieva, 42, her grand-daughter, said: 'She is a very cheerful woman. We think laughter and her good mood helped her live so long.'

Enlarge

Proof?: Note the birth date on her Kazakh identity card - March 27, 1879

Nailya Dosayeva, head of social and demographical department of Karaganga regional statistics bureau, said there is no doubt that her claim is authentic.

'Sakhan Dosova was found during our census held in February and March. She has an old passport and documents which are genuine, and based on these we can judge her age as being correct.'

The local mayor Islam Togaybayev went to visit her 'to personally congratulate her on such an achievement and show his respect', said his spokesman.

If Sakhan's year of birth is accurate, it means she was born when Queen Victoria still had 22 more years to rule in Britain and Disraeli was prime minister.

It was the year that Stalin and Einstein were born, the Anglo-Zulu war started, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle published his first story.

The year 1879 also saw Edison present his new invention - the light bulb - while the ill-fated last tsar of Russia was just 11 years old.

Sakhan's passport photo from 1979

She was ten when Hitler was born, 38 when Lenin led the Russian Revolution, and reached retirement age, 60, the year the Second World War began.

The old woman lives in poor conditions in an overcrowded flat with one of her granddaughters, though she is said to be in good health apart from some problems with her hearing.

According to one account of her life, twice-married Sarkan was widowed at the Battle of Stalingrad during the Second World War. Only three of her children remain alive.

Officially, the oldest living person in the world is American Edna Parker of the US at 114.

Some Kazakh bureaucrats want more checks to be done to ascertain the accuracy of her claim, pointing out that birth records in Kazakhstan in the 19th century are notoriously unreliable.

'We can see that this is turning into a big story and for the sake of our country, we need to be sure her claim is correct,' said one official.

According to one version of her life, she must have given birth to several children over the age of 60, he said.

'There is no doubt she is very old. But is she really 130? Or was there a white lie long ago which was never corrected? We need to find out.'

The central Asian state is only now recovering from damage to its reputation caused by Sacha Baron Cohen's film Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan.

Senior state statistician Lyudmila Kolesova said: 'We're checking the authenticity of the data on her case.'

Other historical events which took place in 1879 include:

• On January 11, The Anglo-Zulu War begins;
• On May 26, Russia and the United Kingdom sign the Treaty of Gandamak, establishing an Afghan state;
• On March 13; The Duke of Connaught and Strathearn, third son of Queen Victoria, marries Princess Louise Marguerite of Prussia.;
• On October 7, Germany and Austria-Hungary create the The Dual Alliance;
• The Pirates of Penzance is first performed in Paignton, Devon, England on December 30
• German-born physicist Albert Einstein is born on March 14 and Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky is born on November 7, followed by Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin on December 18.

How To Pick Up Girls Using Your iPhone

by Sean Percival

People Skydiving to See Space Shuttle Launch

By Jesus Diaz

People go to Florida to see the space shuttle launch live, but these guys totally own everyone: They fly next to the launch site and jump from the plane in their wingsuits to watch it.

In the video it looks like it's far away, but take into account that those are very wide lenses. Of course, they are out of the airspace exclusion area, but they are quite close. Apparently, from up there the clarity of the launch is amazing.

I so want to do this.

The Periodic Table of Game Controllers

McDonald's Testing New 'Healthy Big Mac' in Houston & Canada

By Richard Connelly in Spaced City

Photo by Chris MacGregor

Why the hell is your Big Mac so small? Because you live in Houston.

Houston is apparently the only US test market for McDonald's new "Snack Wrap Mac," which looks to be a smaller Big Mac in a tortilla.

We're sure grosser things have been contemplated before, but then again maybe not.

Nation's Restaurant News reports that Houston and Canadian markets are the guinea pigs for this attempt at healthy eating.

This introduction marries two trends in quick service that have driven many of the segment's new food offerings: portable, tortilla-wrapped snacks and miniature burgers. McDonald's rolled out its line of Snack Wraps, made with fried or grilled chicken, in 2006. Several competitors followed suit with similar wrapped snacks, including Wendy's, KFC and Dairy Queen, among others.

More recently, mini-burgers have become a popular menu addition at fast-food chains. Burger King recently introduced BK Burger Shots, miniature burgers sold in packs of two or six, and Jack in the Box said it would soon roll out Mini Sirloin Burgers.

Ummm...Great?

While we're all for healthy eating (in moderation) and we've never been Big Mac fans, the photos we've seen of this thing (which we can't post due to copyright issues) look kinda repulsive.

A hamburger patty, some lettuce and the usual goop in a tired-looking tortilla? That's good eating.

McDonald's has no word on how long the test will last, so best hurry out now.

As for us, wake us up when they put McRibs in a tortilla. On second thought, dont.

How to make an IP-Camera from scratch?

Design engineers searching a development platform for a low-power, high-performing and cost-sensitive H.264 IP network camera need look no further than Freescale Semiconductor. The i.MX27 IP Camera Reference Design furnishes the hardware engine and software applications to enable an OEM to add their differentiating IP or go straight to manufacture.

read more | digg story

Lenovo steals Apple's iPhone design for "oPhone"

China leads the world in intellectual property theft, and Apple's IP is a juicy target. But usually rip-off counterfeits are produced by disreputable, back-room shops and illicit factories nobody's ever heard of. Now, it appears, that international computing giant Lenovo is getting into the act. The company's new Android handset is called the oPhone, and the software interface looks a LOT like the iPhone's.

Towns try to punish public marijuana use

Officials want children shielded

By Jonathan Saltzman

Globe Staff / March 25, 2009

Dozens of Massachusetts cities and towns are taking steps to impose stiff new fines for smoking marijuana in public and even to charge some violators with misdemeanors, a trend that critics say subverts the state ballot question passed overwhelmingly last fall to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana.

In recent weeks, at least seven communities - Duxbury, Lynn, Methuen, Medway, Milford, Salem, and Springfield - have passed bylaws that target people who light up in public. And two dozen cities and towns expect to vote this spring on similar measures, which proponents liken to local open container laws that ban drinking alcohol in public.

Police officials say they want to discourage flagrant marijuana smoking, particularly in public parks, schoolyards, and on beaches where young children gather. While last year's ballot initiative reduced possession of an ounce or less from a misdemeanor to a civil infraction carrying a $100 fine, police say that some marijuana smokers mistakenly believe that the voters legalized the drug entirely.

"If you're smoking marijuana in front of schoolchildren, to me that's a little bit more serious than smoking a joint by yourself out in the middle of the woods," said Salem police Captain Brian Gilligan. His city recently authorized officers to fine public smokers $300 in addition to the $100 fine for possession. The Salem bylaw also lets officers give them a misdemeanor summons, although Gilligan predicted that few will get them.

Advocates of last fall's ballot initiative say the new civil fines for smoking marijuana in public are, at best, unnecessary because those individuals can already be fined for possession. At worst, they say, bylaws that treat smoking violations as a misdemeanor are a backdoor attempt to subvert the will of Massachusetts voters, who approved decriminalization in November by a margin of nearly 2 to 1.

"This seems to be much more about people who never liked the law to begin with looking for an end run around the will of the voters," said Dan Bernath, a spokesman for the Marijuana Policy Project, an advocacy group in Washington, D.C., that rallied support for the ballot initiative known as Question 2. "And it's particularly disturbing because they were wrong on this policy. The voters were right."

Question 2 passed by a vote of 65 to 35 percent, making Massachusetts one of a dozen states to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana, Bernath said. Proponents of the change, including billionaire financier George Soros, who spent more than $400,000 in favor of decriminalization, said that it would ensure that those caught with small quantities would avoid the taint of a criminal record.

The measure, which took effect Jan. 2, turned possession of an ounce or less of marijuana into a civil offense on par with a traffic violation. (Previously, simple possession was a misdemeanor that carried penalties of up to six months in jail and a fine of up to $500.) Violators under 18 must attend a drug-awareness program that includes 10 hours of community service. The fine increases to $1,000 for those who fail to complete the program within a year.

While the state law goes after those who possess marijuana, the cities and towns are now specifically targeting those who smoke the drug in public.

The ballot question passed over the objections of the Massachusetts Chiefs of Police Association, the Massachusetts Association of District Attorneys, Attorney General Martha Coakley, and Governor Deval Patrick. They said decriminalization sends the wrong message and create a bureaucratic nightmare.

Spokespersons for state public safety officials and the court system said they did not keep track of how many people have received citations so far.

The statewide referendum specifically said each city and town could pass bylaws banning public use of marijuana, and communities across the state have started doing that. They are relying on a sample bylaw provided by Coakley's office, which says fines can be imposed, a criminal penalty, or both, in addition to the $100 possession fine.

Coakley's office reviews bylaws enacted to make sure they pass constitutional muster, but takes no position on penalizing people who smoke in public, said spokeswoman Emily LaGrassa.

In recent weeks, Duxbury's Town Meeting overwhelmingly approved imposing a $300 fine on people who smoke marijuana in public. Methuen's City Council passed a bylaw to impose a $100 fine on people who light up at parks, playgrounds, on school grounds, or a public beach.

Mayor William M. Manzi III of Methuen said he sponsored the measure because he wants to keep those areas free of marijuana and alcohol. "You can already be fined under a local ordinance for having an open container of Budweiser," he said.

To show that Methuen was being even-handed, he added, the council increased the fine for drinking alcohol in public from $50 to $100, the same as the fine for public marijuana smoking.

Some communities, however, are also authorizing officers to give people who smoke in public a misdemeanor summons.

Residents attending Milford's Town Meeting, for example, recently approved such a bylaw. The measure also imposes a fine of $100 for a first offense, $200 for a second offense, and $300 for subsequent offenses.

Police Chief Thomas O'Loughlin of Milford said he favored decriminalization last fall. But he supported the local bylaw because police need a tool to contend with young people who flout state law by smoking in public, sometimes in groups that make it difficult to determine who owns the marijuana.

"In the circumstances where you have a dozen young people or two dozen young people out in a park at night, OK, who possesses what?" he said.

He said it was unlikely that officers would charge smokers with a misdemeanor, given that police have long exercised discretion when arresting someone for marijuana possession. Last year, before decriminalization, Milford police arrested only 34 people for possession, he said, a fraction of those police could have charged.

Since marijuana has been decriminalized, he added, officers have handed out only one citation, and that was to a high school student whose parents wanted him to get counseling.

"Believe me, we're not walking around town looking through people's windows to see whether they're smoking a joint," O'Loughlin said.

But critics of the bylaws are skeptical.

Steven Epstein, a Georgetown lawyer and founder of the Massachusetts Cannabis Reform Coalition, said he believes the efforts amount to recriminalization and are "all motivated by police chiefs who lost their power when they no longer had the arbitrary power to arrest people for possessing or using marijuana."

Saltzman can be reached at jsaltzman@globe.com.

© Copyright 2009 Globe Newspaper Company.