Drinking milk to ease milk allergy?

Giving children with milk allergies increasingly higher doses of milk over time may ease, and even help them completely overcome, their allergic reactions, according to the results of a study led by the Johns Hopkins Children's Center and conducted jointly with Duke University.

Despite the small number of patients in the trial – 19 – the findings are illuminating and encouraging, investigators say, because this is the first-ever double-blinded and placebo-controlled study of milk immunotherapy. In the study, the researchers compared a group of children receiving milk powder to a group of children receiving placebo identical in appearance and taste to real milk powder. Neither the patients nor the investigators knew which child received which powder, a rigorous research setup that minimizes the chance for error and bias.

The findings of the study are reported online ahead of print, Oct. 28, in the Journal of Allergy & Clinical Immunology

"Our findings suggest that oral immunotherapy gradually retrains the immune system to completely disregard or to better tolerate the allergens in milk that previously caused allergic reactions," says Robert Wood, M.D., senior investigator on the study and director of Allergy & Immunology at Hopkins Children's. "Albeit preliminary and requiring further study, these results suggest that oral immunotherapy may be the closest thing yet to a 'true' treatment for food allergy."

Currently, food allergy management involves complete avoidance of the trigger foods, waiting for the child to outgrow the allergy or treating allergic reactions if and when they occur. The latter could be dangerous, investigators say, because these common foods are difficult to avoid and some reactions can be severe and even life-threatening.

In a report released Oct. 22, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that food allergies are on the rise with three million children in the United States now having at least one food allergy, an 18 percent jump from 10 years ago. Milk allergy is the most prevalent type of food allergy.

"Given that the quality of life of a child with a food allergy is comparable to the quality of life of a child with diabetes, we urgently need therapies that go beyond strict food avoidance or waiting for the child to outgrow the allergy," Wood says.

Researchers followed allergic reactions over four months among 19 children with severe and persistent milk allergy, 6 to 17 years of age. Of the 19 patients, 12 received progressively higher doses of milk protein, and seven received placebo. At the beginning of the study, the children were able to tolerate on average only 40 mg (.04 ounces or a quarter of a teaspoon) of milk.

At the end of the four-month study, both groups were given milk powder as a "challenge" to see what dose would cause reaction after the treatment. The children who had been receiving increasingly higher doses of milk protein over a few months were able to tolerate a median dose of 5, 140 mg (over 5 ounces) of milk without having any allergic reaction or with mild symptoms, such as mouth itching and minor abdominal discomfort. Those who had been getting the placebo remained unable to tolerate doses higher than the 40 mg of milk powder without having an allergic reaction. In the group receiving milk protein, the lowest tolerance dose was 2, 540 mg (2.5 ounces) and the highest was 8,140 mg (8 ounces). Lab tests showed the children who regularly drank or ate milk had more antibodies to milk in their blood, yet were able to better tolerate milk than those who took the placebo. Researchers say, tolerance in children treated with milk continued to build over time, and recommend that these children continue to consume milk daily to maintain their resistance. The researchers caution that it remains unclear whether the children would maintain their tolerance once they stop consuming milk regularly. "It may very well be that this tolerance is lost once the immune system is no longer exposed to the allergen daily," Wood says.

The Hopkins group is currently studying oral immunotherapy in children with egg allergy to determine whether increasingly higher doses of egg protein can help resolve their allergy, and have recently started another study of milk immunotherapy.

Wood emphasizes the findings require further research and advises parents and caregivers not to try oral immunotherapy without medical supervision.

Source: Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions

Lindsay Lohan to dress up like someone she hates for Halloween....

Lindsay Lohan is planning to dress up as Sarah Palin for Halloween, a US report says.

The actress, who recently made public her dislike for the Republican vice presidential candidate, will don a red dress and glasses for a Halloween celebration later this month, according to the New York Daily News.

Lohan's girlfriend Samantha Ronson is allegedly mulling over going to the party as Palin's husband Todd.

The actress said of Palin last month: "I find it quite interesting that a woman who now is running to be second in command of the United States only four years ago had aspirations to be a television anchor, which is probably all she is qualified to be."

Previous Years Costumes:

Your 0-to-60 Time? Just Ask Your iPhone

By PETER WAYNER

Published: October 30, 2008

WHEN Greig McArthur gets in his Ferrari 360 Modena, he likes to take his iPhone along. He might have to call someone, of course, but it’s certain he’ll use the phone to see how his car is running.

Ann Johansson for The New York Times

Ian Cinnamon, 16, who created Car Finder, an application for iPhones, puts it to the test in a parking lot in Sherman Oaks, Calif.

Mr. McArthur, a programmer who lives in Scotland and works there and in New York, likes to use the Dynolicious application on his phone to test the acceleration of his car and, for that matter, anything he happens to be riding in. He says his Ferrari went from 0 to 60 miles an hour in 5.2 seconds and the Q train in Queens reached a maximum speed of 42.4 m.p.h when he rode it about a month ago.

Software like Dynolicious is now appearing as programmers begin to appreciate just what can be done with an iPhone and other advanced cellphones that know where they are and just how quickly they are going someplace else.

Dynolicious tracks the changes of speed with the iPhone’s built-in accelerometer, a silicon-based sensor that measures the motion of a vehicle. The software constantly measures these changes and converts the information into a good estimate of how fast the car is going. Another program, called G-Tac, does much the same thing as Dynolicious. Both G-Tac and Dynolicious also work with iPod Touch models. But many car lovers question the accuracy of the information provided by such software, because the measurements are so small and because any errors can be compounded as the processor adds them up hundreds of times per second. This led Mr. McArthur to buy a special bracket that holds his iPhone horizontally because, he said, his wife’s patience for being told to “hold it correctly” was wearing thin.

The iPhone is not the only place to find these sensors. Nokia includes an accelerometer in some of its more expensive phones, including the N95. Andreas Jakl, a professor at Upper Austria University of Applied Sciences in Hagensburg, Austria, has been encouraging his students to develop applications using the Nokia chips. One project, CarMeter, offers a more rudimentary measure of a car’s movement. Another, called gBoarder, uses many of the same ideas to let a snowboarder time a run and measure the longest jump.

Other developers are pushing to build deeper connections between the iPhone and the car. Rev, a package from Devtoaster, promises to track and graph data like fuel consumption, intake manifold pressure and coolant temperature. It will get this information through a wireless connection to the OBD-II socket, a standard interface that is often used by mechanics to tap into the car’s onboard computer and diagnose engine or electrical problems. The application is not ready for sale, but the company offered a free version, Rev Lite, that doesn’t require an OBD-II connection to measure acceleration.

Not every application requires sophisticated data. Ian Cinnamon, a 16-year-old junior at the Harvard-Westlake school near Los Angeles, was inspired after he and his mother could not find their car at the local mall. Ian, an avid programmer and author of “Programming Video Games for the Evil Genius,” wrote Car Finder, an iPhone application that uses the phone’s positioning technology to record where you parked with what his Web site calls “just one tap.” When it’s time to find the car again, the software offers a compass-like pointer to locate it. G-Park from Posimotion is a similar application. (These applications and many others are available from Apple’s iPhone store; Nokia’s applications are available from a number of locations on the Internet.)

Karl Becker, a systems engineer in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, developed Car Care to handle his own needs. The iPhone application calculates a car’s gas mileage if you enter the odometer readings every time you fill up the car. If you want this converted into a measurement of CO2 added to the atmosphere, the software is happy to figure it out. The package will also track required maintenance and remind you when you need to check the oil.

Other developers hope to harness the collective input of iPhone users everywhere. The free GasBag application collates reports about local gas prices to help users find the cheapest fuel near them. Mick Johnson, one of the programmers who created GasBag, said that the application already had 70,000 users, including one intrepid motorist who types in the prices of every station each morning along a commute on Interstate 5 in Southern California, from Mission Viejo to Los Angeles.

Mr. Johnson said that his software was free because he was working to build a community. Revenue will come from ads.

“We think that it’s a smart move,” he said. “All of the prices come from our users. It’s really key that we have as many users as possible and they find it as easy to use as possible.”

The End of Manual Labor? The stick-shift is a fast-fading icon.

By Lawrence Ulrich of MSN autos

Manually shifted transmissions are an endangered species. In 1980, more than 35 percent of cars sold had a stick; in 2007 the number had dropped to 7.7 percent.

Is the manual transmission — the tormentor of generations of driver’s ed students — going the way of the buggy whip, the eight-track, the Hummer? That sounds like heresy to driving purists like me, who have always assumed that automatics are for wimps, for people who couldn’t tell a clutch pedal from a daisy petal.

Yet here I am, flying at 140 mph down the banked straightaway at Pocono Speedway in the new BMW M3. This 400-horsepower beauty of a sports sedan happens to be equipped with BMW’s latest high-tech, no-clutch-pedal 7-speed automated-manual transmission — basically a manual gearbox that can shift by itself.

A right-hand turn approaches, and it’s time to stand on the brakes. But instead of mashing the clutch, yanking the stick and blipping the gas with the same foot that’s squeezing the brake — the old “heel and toe” downshift maneuver — I simply flick a little metal paddle attached to the steering column. Both hands stay put on the steering wheel, making it easier to stay on path.

With no clutch pedal to push, my left foot sits there, as unoccupied as a teenager on summer vacation. The BMW even blips its own throttle automatically, danke schoen, making sure the dolt behind the wheel doesn’t screw it up. I arrive back in the pits, and the guilty thought flashes like a checkered flag: What’s the point of a stick, if I can have a self-shifting transmission this good?

Let’s be clear: I’ve been a stick-shift disciple for nearly 30 years. In fact, I’ve never owned an automatic transmission car in my life. But these new gearboxes are just so versatile, so easy — swift, precise, convenient – that I’m considering a date with the dark side. As with similar systems, BMW’s M DCT with Drivelogic offers the best of both worlds: Sit back, relax, drive it like any conventional automatic. But when the curvy road beckons you can shift manually, even selecting settings that boost the intensity of gear changes until you’re in Speed Racer territory.

Manually shifted transmissions are certainly an endangered species. Back in 1980, more than 35 percent of all cars were sold with a stick. Because they cost less and boosted fuel mileage, manuals were more popular when gas prices went up or the economy went down, according to Mike Omotoso, powertrain analyst for J.D. Power and Associates.

Then the SUV appeared, which often came automatic-only. By 2005 only 6 percent of all buyers bothered with a stick. Skyrocketing fuel prices and more choices in small cars brought a mild uptick to 7.7 percent last year, but the trend is clear.

Porsche is one carmaker that has kept the faith. The sports car-centric brand sells a higher percentage of sticks than any other, from 60 to 65 percent on all its sports cars. Yet even Porsche officials say that automated gearboxes are a key to maintaining the brand’s appeal among new generations. “So many young people never learn how to drive a stick, unless a parent makes a point of teaching them,” said spokesman Tony Fouladpour.

Discuss: If performance improves, does the tranny matter?

As such, the German automaker expects its new PDK dual-clutch automatic to be the company's most popular automatic ever. "That's the progression even pure sports cars have taken," says Porsche spokesman Dave Engelman. As a result, Porsche anticipates that 70 to 80 percent of 911 owners will opt for the auto box, especially in the early going.

These systems are dramatically defying the old arguments for a manual transmission. For instance, it's widely believed that manuals are more fuel-efficient than automatics. Sorry, that's no longer true. The latest Porsche is one of several cars that's more economical with the automatic: 19/27 mpg in city/highway driving, compared to 18/25 mpg with the stick.

Another myth is that manuals accelerate faster. Wrong again. The Porsche and other models are faster with computer-controlled trannies. These automatics shift so quickly that no human being, not even the world's best drivers in Formula 1, can match their abilities.

Lapping the 911 Carrera and Carrera S at Miller Motorsports Park in Utah, I get my own high-speed introduction to the system's no-excuses performance. And as I segue from the track to a relaxed run to Park City, I realize the 911, which has always been one of the world's most versatile sports cars, is even more of a dual-threat machine. Porsche spokesman Bernd Harling took pains to distinguish the new breed of automatics from the "geriatric support systems" of old.

"They're faster, they make you a better driver, yet fuel consumption goes down," he said. The latter is no small matter, with automakers warily eyeing a federal mandate that will require cars and trucks to average 35 mpg by 2020.

It's the same story with the venerable Chevy Corvette. As its automatic transmissions become better and faster, more customers take the plunge. Two of every three Corvette coupe buyers choose the six-speed paddle-shifted automatic. For the convertible, 75 percent choose the clutch-free version.

Harlan Charles, Corvette product manager, notes that the ultra-high-performance Z06 and ZR1 models don’t offer an automatic at all. And the ‘Vette purist still demands a stick. “For the Corvette, there will always be sufficient demand, so the manual is here to stay,” Charles said.

One remaining hang-up is cost. Audi’s S Tronic (formerly called DGS), the pioneering dual-clutch system that’s now shared with VW models, adds more than $2,000 to the price. Porsche’s PDK will add an eye-popping $4,080. Yet some serious performance cars, including the Nissan GT-R and the $1.3 million Bugatti Veyron, are automated trannies or nothing. Among Ferraris and Lamborghinis I’ve driven lately, finding a stick shift is like finding an honest banker on Wall Street.

Honestly, I still find joy in self-shifting. One of my biggest kicks recently was testing the Koenigsegg CCX — an insanely rare, 806-horsepower, $1.1 million Swedish supercar. I jumped in and discovered a classic aluminum manual shifter, just waiting to grab my hand and go out to play.

Perhaps the only argument left for manuals that holds any water: A stick is simply more fun. It makes you feel like the pilot, in control instead of along for the ride. I’ll agree with the purists that a stick is more “involving.”

"It's not all about lap times," said Timo Resch, Porsche's North American product planner. "At least for now, some customers still want to use their left foot and shift."

Yet when technology and traditionalism fight, we know what usually wins. I’m sure twisting a crank to start your car felt pretty involving. I remember what panic stops in the rain felt like before the advent of anti-lock brakes. Those are feelings I can do without. And the older I get, the less patience I have for driving a manual in heavy rush-hour traffic — the constant shifting, the two-step polka on the pedals.

Discuss: If performance improves, does the tranny matter?

Sure, learning to drive a stick was a rite of passage, handed down for generations. Mastering a manual said not only that you knew your way around a car, but that you were becoming a man. But 20 years from now, young drivers may wonder what the fuss was about. Like kids who’ve never heard of the Beatles, they’ll give us a pitying look when we start going on about the days when “real” cars had three foot-pedals and something called a “shift knob.”

A Michigan native raised and forged in Detroit and a former auto critic at the Detroit Free Press, Lawrence Ulrich now lives in Brooklyn, New York. His reviews and features appear regularly in The New York Times, Robb Report, Popular Science and Travel + Leisure Golf.

For commentary on the latest auto industry trends or in-depth analysis of developments affecting consumers, turn to MSN Autos’ Industry Insider for the real story behind the facts and figures. Written by respected veterans in the field, Industry Insider delivers expertise and insight that helps make sense of the automotive world.

INDUSTRY INSIDER

Lawrence Ulrich

Click picture to enlarge

Porsche sells a higher percentage of sticks than any other brand — from 60 to 65 percent on all its sports cars. Yet officials say automated gearboxes are key to keeping brand appeal for new generations of buyers.

Click picture to enlarge

Porsche expects its new 7-speed PDK dual-clutch automated-manual on the 2009 911 to be its most popular self-shifter ever. The company expects up to half of 911 owners to choose the PDK tranny.

Click picture to enlarge

Like many modern sports cars, the Nissan GT-R employs a paddle-shifted manual transmission that can also be operated in automatic mode.

Click picture to enlarge

The Koenigsegg CCX, a $1.1 million Swedish supercar, has a classic aluminum manual shifter. Perhaps the only argument left in defense of manuals: A stick is more fun.

More People Watched Obama Ad Than World Series

Nielsen: 33.6 million watched Obama ad

UPDATED: If Barack Obama fails to win the election, perhaps the networks should hire him to entertain viewers on Wednesday nights.

Obama's 30-minute primetime infomercial was seen by 33.6 million viewers across seven networks -- including CBS, NBC, Fox, Univision, MSNBC, BET and TV One.

That's 70% more people than watched the conclusion of the World Series last night on Fox (19.8 million). Clearly, Obama vs. McCain is more compelling to viewers this week than Phillies vs. Rays.

Nielsen estimates that roughly 71% of viewers were white, 17% of viewers were black and 15% were Hispanic.*

Now the tricky question is: What do you compare Obama's ad to? After all, such a national pre-election special hasn’t been attempted in more than a decade.

>> A Ross Perot political special in 1996 totaled 22 million viewers. And one of Perot's ads on Nov. 2 in 1992 carried on ABC and CBS attracted 26 million viewers. Obama's ad was 30% higher but, then again, Perot only got 19% of the vote on Election Day.

>> The lowest-rated of the three recent presidential debates received a 52.4 million viewers -- but that was carried by more networks and was, after all, a highly anticipated debate instead of a paid ad.

>> Among all seven networks, the time period typically draws a total of 30.3 million -- so Obama increased their viewership by about 11%.

The entertainment programming that usually runs in the slot on NBC, CBS and Fox averages 23.1 million viewers each week since the start of the season, roughly 9% lower than the Obama ad total on those networks (which is 25.5 million).

But the usual shows are comedies and dramas. Can one realistically compare "Knight Rider" to a political ad? That would normally seem unfair -- to the politician. Obama improved NBC's time period average this season by 40% and CBS' by 19%.

And keep in mind Obama was competing against himself.

NBC was the most-viewed and highest-rated network for its presentation of Obama's ad, pulling 9.8 million viewers and a 3.0 preliminary adults 18-49 rating. CBS had 8.6 million (2.3) and Fox had 7.1 million (2.8).

Among the top 56 local metered markets, Nielsen says the Baltimore market had the largest TV audience for the ad while the Portland market had the lowest.

As for ABC's underdog "Pushing Daisies," airing on the only major broadcaster not to carry the ad, the counterprogramming tied CBS for third place in the adults 18-49 demo in the afternoon nationals. "Daisies" (6.7 million, 2.3) was also up by 21% from last week to a season high. The CW's "America's Next Top Model" (3.9 million, 2.0), also running in the time period, didn't receive a bump and was on par with last week.

Tony Hawk Interviews Michael Phelps During Guitar Hero Shoot

See more DissentTV videos at Shred or Die

I was lucky enough to be invited as one of the athletes featured in the Guitar Hero: World Tour commercial, along with Kobe Bryant... more >

I was lucky enough to be invited as one of the athletes featured in the Guitar Hero: World Tour commercial, along with Kobe Bryant, Alex Rodriguez and Michael Phelps. I managed to catch Michael in between takes (the other guys did their shoot the day before us) and ask him what he's been doing since breaking all Olympic records in Beijing. And yes, we danced around in our underwear just like Tom Cruise in Risky Business... but that's beside the point.

Powered by olive stones? Turning waste stones into fuel

Olive stones can be turned into bioethanol, a renewable fuel that can be produced from plant matter and used as an alternative to petrol or diesel. This gives the olive processing industry an opportunity to make valuable use of 4 million tonnes of waste in olive stones it generates every year and sets a precedent for the recycling of waste products as fuels. Researchers from the Universities of Jaén and Granada in Spain show how this can be achieved in a study published in the latest edition of the Society of Chemical Industry's (SCI) Journal of Chemical Technology & Biotechnology.

"The low cost of transporting and transforming olives stones make them attractive for biofuels," says researcher Sebastián Sánchez.

Bioethanol is increasingly used in cars, but its production from food crops such as corn is controversial because it uses valuable land resources and threatens food security. In addition, it makes use of only a small part of the whole crop. By contrast, extracting energy from olive stones uses food industry by-products.

The olive stone, produced in processing of olive oil and table olives, makes up around a quarter of the total fruit. It is rich in polysaccharides (cellulose and hemicellulose) that can be broken down into sugar and then fermented to produce ethanol.

"This research raises the possibility of using of olive stones, which would otherwise be wasted, in producing energy. In this way we can make use of the whole food crop," says Sánchez.

The team pre-treated olive stones using high-pressure hot water (essentially a pressure cooker) then added enzymes which degrade plant matter and generate sugars. The hydrolysate obtained from this process was then fermented with yeasts to produce ethanol. Yields of 5.7kg of ethanol per 100kg of olive stones have been reached,

The quantities of stones produced are relatively small in comparison with other agricultural and forestry wastes. However, if similar principles were employed across all agricultural industries, energy gains would be significant.

Source: Wiley

8 Things to Expect in the Next iPhone Update

By Charlie Sorrel

One of the great things about the iPhone is the regular software updates. Free and automatic improvements are piped, hot and steaming, to your pocket computer.

We don't know exactly when the next version of the iPhone operating system (v2.2) will arrive, but the leaks are springing fast, and the new OS looks like a useful update -- full of new toys.

Here's what the rumors say so far.

Google Street View

Screenshots have emerged since the first October rumors that more or less confirm that Google's Street View will be added to the Maps application. The iPhone doesn't have the built-in compass of the T-Mobile G1, so we won't be getting the nifty live detection that lets the Android phone overlay a picture of what's in front of you over what's actually in front of you, but then what's the point of that anyway?

More useful is the addition of public transport information, seen in the picture at the top of the post. We should also be getting walking directions in addition to the driving directions now available.

Direct Podcast Downloads

The screenshot above shows us an option to grab more episodes of a subscribed podcast (which we covered in depth yesterday). This is great news. Apart from charging, the only reason I connect my iPod Touch to my Mac so often is to update podcasts. Couple this with a way to delete the podcasts you've already heard, like you can do with video files, and the iPhone is one step closer to being an independent computing platform.

We also see a new Video icon at bottom right. Does this mean that video podcasts can be watched without using the video player, or that a separate video player has been abolished altogether and simply merged with the iPod?

Rating Applications on Deletion

A report from the iPhone Hellas forum tells us that, upon deleting an application for the iPhone's home screen, we'll be presented with the rating dialog above. This, combined with the App Store's new policy of limiting comments to those people who have actually bought the application, should improve the accuracy of those ratings. It could also be a big pain in the butt if you are constantly testing new apps, like we do.

Line-In Support

The Apple Blog reports that the 2.2 software will support "manipulation of line-ln audio accessories." The iPhone and the 2G iPod Touch already support input through the headphone jack. We're not sure if this new feature applies to signals coming through this jack, or to audio coming in through the dock connector -- currently third-party applications don't get access to that part of the hardware. If the latter is true, it could lead to clip-on mics and speakers like the Griffin iTalk, and it could also explain why Griffin has released a recording application to the App Store.

Emoji Emoticons

Do we really need this?

Location Sharing

The post at the iPhone Hellas forum also gives us this screenshot. You will be able to share your location details via e-mail, and when another iPhone owner clicks on a link in that mail, they'll see a map of your location in the Maps application. Sounds kind of basic, but it could be a killer feature when your friends want to know just which dark, seedy bar you're drinking in, and you can't muster the strength to stand up and take a look outside.

Safari Tweaks

Way back in September, we pointed to this shot of a redesigned Safari interface, a slightly cleaner layout where Google gets its own spot in the search bar, the loss of the search icon and the relocation of the reload arrow to inside the URL bar. Expect more interface tweaks across the whole OS.

Copy and Paste

Kidding! You didn't fall for that one, did you?

Eco Gadgets: Lawn PC - Calling sustainable future of computing

Eco Factor: Futuristic solar powered wireless PC concept.

Keeping in mind the green needs of the future, industrial designers are fast changing their mindset to machines that are efficient and reduce the user’s carbon footprint. Designer David Veldkamp is also on the same track that leads to greenery with his futuristic concept PC he calls the LawnPC.

How Parked Cars Could Power the Future

By Michael Schirber,

Caption: A modified VW Beetle supplies power to the grid in this 2002 demonstration. Credit: AC Propulsion

Editor's Note: Each Wednesday LiveScience examines the viability of emerging energy technologies — the power of the future.

Imagine running a parking meter backwards and actually being paid to park your car. Along those lines, electric vehicles might one day make money for their owners by providing electrical storage for the nation's power grid.

The monthly income could add up to a lot more than what you pay for a big-city parking ticket and many moving violations.

The concept, called vehicle to grid (V2G), is based on the fact that your car is typically not being used 90 percent of the time. "What if it could work for you while it sits there?" said Jeff Stein from the University of Michigan.

Of course the car has to plug into a socket, so that electricity can flow both into and back out of the battery. Renting out electrical storage in this way could make electric vehicles more affordable, while also removing the need for backup electricity generators.

Stein and his colleagues have just received a $2 million grant from the National Science Foundation to explore the possibility of V2G technology using plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs).

"We want to show that it doesn't have to be a one-way street between vehicles and the grid," Stein told LiveScience. "Utility companies could benefit from having a million batteries for storing electricity."

Grid operations

A network of little batteries spread throughout the grid has certain advantages over a single centralized electrical storage facility. If you can get some of the juice to run your appliances from your neighbor's electric vehicle, then that electricity doesn't have to travel as far.

"Electricity consumption is widely distributed, so it makes sense to inject electricity at multiple sites," explained Tom Gage, CEO of AC Propulsion, a California company that manufactures electric vehicles.

A number of small V2G demonstrations have taken place with cars from AC Propulsion and other companies, but the amount of electricity drawn was insignificant. Even as larger projects come on line, the goal is not to have these batteries on wheels provide the grid's primary (baseload) power, but only extra power to smooth out fluctuations.

Fluctuations can occur in the outlet frequency (60 Hertz in the United States) if supply does not match demand. For this reason, grid operators pay to have extra electricity generators that can respond to any sudden changes in electricity consumption.

This so-called "regulation" power is purchased in blocks of 1 megawatt each. One megawatt could be supplied by 100 or so pure electric vehicles (EVs) or 1,000 or so PHEVs, Gage said. It takes more PHEVs because they have a smaller battery, which is supplemented by a gas-powered engine.

(Typically, an EV can store roughly 30 kilowatt-hours on its battery from which it can supply around 10 kilowatts of electric power, while a PHEV can store about 5 kilowatt-hours and supply around 1 kilowatt, Gage said.)

Because not all the electric vehicles will be plugged in at the same time, studies are currently looking into just how many EVs or PHEVs need to be grouped together to ensure that there will always be 1 megawatt of power available to the grid from the ensemble of vehicles.

Can I charge that?

Simulations have shown that an EV owner could get $300 per month as part of a group of cars that offer their batteries for regulation power, Gage said. A PHEV would presumably earn about a tenth of this rate.

Even with that extra dough, though, no one is going to want to come out to their car and have their battery dead. This is unlikely, Gage said, because the grid operator would only be shuffling power in and out of vehicles, so the net effect would be at most a 20 percent drop.

However, a lot of the details have yet to be worked out for V2G. Gage said there will need to be some long-term field trials to see whether battery life is shortened by the constant ebb and flow of charge between grid and vehicle. And work continues on how best to keep track of which cars are supplying power to the grid and for how long.

Gage thinks it might take five to 10 years for enough electric cars to be on the road and for V2G to be truly viable.

kazakhstan's astounding futuristic pyramid

kazakhstan's astounding futuristic pyramid

since 2006, kazakhstan's new capital city of astana, itself an enormous hub of construction since it inherited the title in 1997, has been home to one of the world's most impressive and visually futuristic pyramids, known as the palace of peace and reconciliation. it was designed by british super-architects foster + partners, cost 8.74 billion kazakh tenge (i don't need to tell you bright young humans that this equates to approx. £35m) and was built to accommodate the triennial 'congress of world and traditional religions'. if there was ever a positive to be found for the existence of the idiocy we know and love as religion, this building could be it, as after an impressively rapid 2 years of design and construction, the end product is a masterpiece.

above: the visible 5-storey pyramid section of the palace is as high as its base is wide (203ft) and is to be the centrepiece of the country's 'presidential park'.

above: a plan of the pyramid. the interior is just as impressive as the outer skin. this place is like a tardis and below the above-ground pyramid itself sits, amongst other things, an enormous 1'500 seat opera house - see final photo below.

above: the pyramid's 2 storey tip is home to the congress chamber, a space which has been surrounded by 10'100 sq feet of stained glass designed by renowned british artist brian clarke.

above: inside the congress chamber, possibly one of the smartest meeting rooms on earth.

above: the dove-covered stained glass of the congress chamber.

above: the view as you look through the middle of the congress chamber's circular table. walking down to the next level takes you through nearly a whole storey of greenery, below which is the amazing atrium seen in the next photo.

above: the atrium, and another incredible conference table.

above: looking up from the atrium towards the upper section. this enormous space is surrounded by walls of rooms, 5 floors high, to be used both for meetings and accommodation.

above: the opera house beneath the atrium. the domed ceiling sits below the enormous circular table belonging to the room above.

for more detailed info about the pyramid i'd suggest reading this article by ellis woodman.

photos found here, here and here.

Blondes make good girlfriends but brunettes are better wives

Gentlemen may prefer blondes, but they really want a brunette for a wife, according to research.

By Chris Irvine

Half of the men in the survey said they thought blondes were less dependable. Photo: Pathe

A new survey has found that men think blondes are better as girlfriends, but brunettes are the best for settling down with.

Almost one in five say blondes are sexier than other girls, with just under half saying they had more outgoing personalities.

When it comes to marriage, however, more than half said they would rather wed a dark-haired woman because they were more dependable and sensible.

Hairdresser Andrew Collinge's company carried out the poll.

"It's always been said that blondes have more fun and men obviously enjoy going out for dates with blondes as well as upgrading them to girlfriend status," he said.

"But when it comes to marriage, men seem to opt for brunettes as they see them as more dependable and down-to-earth.

"This is really surprising when you think we're in 2008 and the blonde versus brunette debate is still rumbling on - I'm surprised as I thought men were more modern than this! I'm obviously in the minority as I married a blonde."

Out of a poll of 3,000 men, almost half said dark-haired women were the most loving.

Mr Collinge added: "This just goes to show how important first impressions are to men, however it doesn't mean it's time to rush to the salon for a drastic image change - at the end of the day, men marry a person not just a head of hair.

"It's more important that women are happy and confident in who they are and how they look, and make the most of what they have.

"It's all about having a good relationship with yourself that makes you attractive."

Men also felt brunettes were the best homemakers with 51 per cent thinking they were best at organising the home, while 48 per cent thought they were the best cooks.

Beefy 21MegaPixel DSLR for the Camera Geeks out there

$8,000 • canon.com

9 out of 10

Pricey 21-Megapixel DSLR Captures Beaucoup Data

Samsung GX-20 $1,400
The love child of the Samsung-Pentax partnership is an easy-to-use 14.6-megapixel charmer.

Pentax K200D $700
Pentax K200D Popular-class 10.2-megapixel shooter with body-borne image stabilization yields clear, sharp pics at a price sure to be, well, popular.

Sony Alpha A350 $800
Sneaking up fast on the major players, thanks to ease of use and feature set. But shoot above ISO 800 and quality retreats just as fast.

The super-honcho of DSLRs at 21.1 megapixels, this baby rivals monstrously pricier medium-format digitals in resolution and pummels them with its portability and ease of use. Dual Digic III processors handle the massive load of data collected by the full-frame CMOS sensor, and the resulting images make stunning large prints. The Mark III's lines approach equine elegance, and the user interface is downright refined.

WIRED Customizable one-touch menus. Outstanding battery life. Biggest, brightest viewfinder on the market. Internal sensor-cleaning system for speck-free pics.

TIRED No HDMI output. Top speed of five frames per second is pokey for the price. Eight grand for a digital camera? Tough to justify to your spouse.

• Camera Resolution: 21 megapixels, with full-frame (35mm) CMOS sensor

• Style: DSLR
• Media Format: Compact Flash, Flash, SD Card
• Manufacturer: Canon
• Price: $8,000

Ubuntu's Intrepid Ibex Brings lots of User Friendly Features

The official next generation release of Ubuntu Linux has just landed. Intrepid Ibex, as this version is known, promises a number of subtle but important feature updates that help make Ubuntu even more user-friendly.

Overall not too much has changed from the beta release we tested earlier, but there were a few last-minute additions worth mentioning: “Cruft Remover” is new utility that tries to get rid of unneeded software packages, and there’s also a new tool for creating a bootable USB stick.

Ubuntu 8.10 is already burning up the torrent tubes, but if you’re holding back here’s a few of the new features that make Ibex a worthwhile upgrade:

• GNOME 2.24 — Tabbed windows! Need we say more? See our review of GNOME 2.24 for the gritty details.
• Network Manager — now manage WiFi, 3G and other connections all in one spot. No need to mess with manual configuration files.
• Guest users — The user switching app had been moved to top right corner and now offers a guest account if someone wants to use your PC and you don’t want them messing things up.
• Xorg 7.4 — hotpluggable devices (tablets, keyboards, mice, etc) and better stability.
• More — there are some other small but nice additions — support for encrypted private directories, a new versions of Samba, LDAP and more.

Of the new stuff in Ubuntu 8.10, the most useful in my testing has been the updated version of GNOME. In addition to the tabbed file browser windows many of the GNOME panel applets have seen some very nice updates. The Deskbar search app for instance can now perform calculator operations, search Google and even update Twitter, which has made my old solution — Gnome-do — largely unnecessary.

One thing that still hasn’t changed is the Ubuntu look — the default theme remains more or less the same with some new desktop art. Experienced Linux fans are of course experts at customizing their systems so for many it probably isn’t a huge deal since they’ll change the defaults anyway. Of course there is a new dark theme (pictured above), but you’ll need to delve into the themes panel to enable it (we really like this look, it stays true to Ubuntu’s esthetics, but is considerably more polished).

However, from a new-user point of view, Ubuntu’s look is, well, looking a bit long in the tooth. And with Ubuntu founder Mark Shuttleworth publicly calling for more emphasis on interface design it seem odd that, thus far, the default theme remains nearly the same.

Still, despite the familiar look (which may be a good thing for some users) Ubuntu 8.10 is a worthwhile upgrade. You can grab the latest version from the Ubuntu downloads page. And as with all Ubuntu releases, Kubuntu and the other derivatives have been updated as well.

BOO! This should scare you

The Dow suffered one of its worst months ever in October. Down18.2%

Michael Myers Is A Softy: 7 Truly Horrifying, Real-Life Halloween Villains

By Kevin Smith

As Halloween approaches, we're constantly reminded of ghouls, witches and zombies. But the worst creatures our imaginations can conjure aren't fictional. After all, evil is an inherent part of human nature. Think about that strange old man who lives down the hall from you. You keep telling yourself he's just a kooky lost soul in need of a friend, when in reality he probably just ate a cat last night… and you’re next. Nor are maniacal, murderous impulses reserved purely for the Hitlers and bin Ladens of the world.

True evil seems to emerge when human desire is mixed with power, insanity and wanton disregard of social mores. To be sure though, it has nothing to do with the dead walking the earth to suck our blood or haunt our houses. Vampires hate mirrors, Frankenstein’s monster just wants love and Wolfman’s got nards. The living are way, way scarier then anything that bumps in the night. And here are seven truly terrifying, often overlooked figures from history that make Michael Myers look like he's merely in need of some behavioral therapy. But if you try use any of these nutjobs as inspiration for a costume idea, don't say we didn't warn you about the offended stares and vitriolic epithets.


7. James Warren "Jim" Jones

A renaissance man when it came to perversion, power, charisma and insanity, Jim Jones was a cult leader in the '60s and '70s who was able to convince 909 of his "Rainbow Family" to drink poisoned Kool-Aid as if it were in their best interests. Jones was an unbelievably creepy bastard during a remarkably scary time. Disco was king and flower power had wilted, so mass suicide seemed like a valid option. But instead of taking this truly frightening ability for mind-control on a worldwide tour, Jones put a bullet in his brain. Too bad he'd already passed out his cyanide concoction to nearly a thousand victims.

6. Josef Fritzl

From the beautiful land of the Alps and the Danube, birthplace of icons like Mozart, Freud and Schwarzenegger, comes the newest Austrian to take hold of the public’s imagination. Josef Fritzl, the world’s worst dad. How does one obtain such a lofty title? A good way to start would be imprisoning your teenage daughter for almost 25 years and then fathering seven incestuous children… with your own child. This Vincent Price-on-PCP looking motherfucker is certainly more frightful than Count Dracula. At least the Count lets you out of his cellar at night.

5. Fred Phelps

< This man hates you. He does not know you, but if he could, he would stop by your house and tell you that God hates you as well. The pastor of a small Baptist church in Kansas for the last 50 years, Rev. Phelps has been spreading the word of God, or at least if God was a disgusted, hate-filled deity. And who has angered the almighty one? Everyone! Gay people? Check. Immigrants? Si. Soldiers? Roger. Swedes? Loathes them and their silly reindeers. This man is clearly insane, but his words reach an audience. He once received 30 percent of the votes for U.S. Senator of Kansas. For fun, his followers like to picket funerals and carry along signs stating that “God hates fags” and “Thank God for dead soldiers." But thankfully, Phelps is old, and presumably near the end of his lynching rope. I’m sure his funeral is going to be a blast.

4. Josef Mengele

You can't have a list of evil bastards and leave out the Nazis entirely. Dr. Mengele, also known by the heart-warming moniker the angel of death, was an SS physician who was responsible for countless barbaric experiments he carried out on prisoners at Auschwitz for little to no scientific reasons. Why? Most likely because he was a vicious egomaniacal sociopath who wasn’t hugged enough as a child. Thankfully, in the end, Mengele was captured and tried for war crimes… except he wasn’t. Doctor Dickhead actually was able to flee Europe with help from some fellow SS cretins and set up shop in South America. Mengele lived the remainders of his days in sunny Argentina and didn't die until 1979. The fact that he was alive when Star Wars came out just adds another layer of evil to his story.

3. Oliver Cromwell "Malacht Cromail ort," or "the curse of Cromwell upon you," is a taunt that will empty out any pub from Dublin to Derry. It is the curse of the most hated son of a bitch in Ireland. Oliver Cromwell started as a simple soldier in the British army and ended up becoming the Lord Protectorate of all of England until his death in 1658. He has remained one of the most polarizing figures in history, revered by some and detested by many. He's entered popular culture in songs (Elvis Costello’s "Oliver’s Army") and verse (James Joyce’s "Ulysses"), one of which portrays him as a murderous bastard and the other as just a bastard. During his Irish Campaign of 1649-1650, Cromwell had the brilliant idea of taking away all holding from the native Irish, killing any that resisted and finally establishing the model of British dominance over the Irish for another 300 years. The silver lining is that after his death, he was dug up, hung and then had his head placed on a spike. The lesson of the day: Don’t piss off the Irish.

2. Idi Amin

As the fascist ruler of Uganda from 1971 to 1979, Amin killed between 100,000 to 500,000 of his own people during his reign, while the rest of the world snickered at him for his buffoonery and extravagant lifestyle (as documented in 2006's Last King Of Scotland). From a humble beginning in the British colonial army and rising to supreme commander, Amin set a new standard for thuggish dominance that is still being played out in various parts of Africa today. (Are we seeing a pattern with British officers or is it just me?) Rumors ran rampant of cannibalization, sex orgies, ethnic cleansing and scandalous opulence while his fellow Ugandans starved around him. Why couldn’t one of these horrible despots have read Spider-Man as a kid and realized that with great power comes great responsibility, not an immoral fuck?

1. Alexander The Great

Great? Not so much, but Alexander The Human Debaser must have not had quite the same ring. Alexander III Of Macedon is famous for his conquering the known world before his death at 32. At the age most of us are trying to figure out how to pay rent, this guy was slaughtering armies. Starting in the year 336 BC and continuing to his death in 323 BC, Alex had nothing better to do then wage constant war on all his neighbors that didn't bow to him and his Macedonian/Greek Minions. Twelve years of raping, pillaging, massacring and the occasional booze-filled celebration would take a toll on anyone, and The Great one ultimately died of either Malaria or alcohol-related poisoning. If you take into account his continuous brutality and latent homosexuality, Alexander may have been the prototype of the modern frat boy. His horrible crimes against nature did not stop at his death either, as anyone who has seen Oliver Stone’s recent biopic regarding him can attest.