Vote Green Party in the forthcoming European Parliamentary Elections!

Exotic Star Trek Locales Are All Over the California Map

The new Star Trek film transports moviegoers to dazzling locations in the far reaches of outer space. But despite their exotic look, many of the interstellar sites were filmed on California soil just a few minutes’ drive from Hollywood, since director J.J. Abrams wanted to limit the number of scenes brought to life using computer-generated imagery.

Engine Room...

Iceland was originally picked as the location for the icy planet where the exiled James T. Kirk goes wandering, but Abrams and company wound up hitting a home run close to home: They used the Dodger Stadium parking lot in Los Angeles. Filmmakers filled a 50-foot by 125-foot section of the lot with “snow” (biodegradable paper products), then used eight wind machines to create a “blizzard” in 80-degree weather.

More on wire.com

Tweet to Earth: ‘Launch was awesome!!’

One small tweet for a man; one cool leap for communications

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – That’s one small tweet for a man; one cool leap for communications.

Blast Off!!

Astronaut Mike Massimino has used Twitter to send the first tweet from space.

Checking in as Astro_Mike, he says “Launch was awesome!!” and reports he’s feeling great and working hard.

Before Monday’s liftoff of the space shuttle Atlantis to the Hubble Space Telescope, Massimino posted regular updates on histraining to the micro-blogging site via a mobile device. Such updates, or “tweets,” are limited to 140 characters.

On Tuesday, the 46-year-old from Long Island, N.Y., tweets that he’s enjoying the magnificent views from space, adding “the adventure of a lifetime has begun!”

Unlike his pre-launch tweets, the updates from space are being sent from a computer onboard Atlantis. Then the message is passed along to Massimino’s Twitter account by NASA. The space agency has also created Twitter accounts for many of its space missions, including a popular Twitter feed that was ghost-written for the Phoenix Mars Lander.

Massimino has said he’ll send Twitter updates as time allows during his busy schedule in orbit. He’s set to do two of the five spacewalks to repair and upgrade the telescope.

 

French net piracy bill signed off

A controversial French bill which will disconnect people caught downloading content illegally three times has been given final approval.

The legislation, backed by President Nicolas Sarkozy, was surprisingly voted down by the Assembly last month.

The bill sets a tough global precedent in cracking down on internet piracy, and is being closely watched by other governments as a potential deterrent.  The global music industry has been calling for tougher anti-piracy laws.  

The Creation and Internet bill was passed by a vote of 296 to 233 by the lower house on Tuesday and has now been given final approval by the Senate.

Opposition Socialist and Communist senators did not take part in the vote on the bill, which was passed by 189 votes to 14.

More at bbc.co.uk

My Top 10 Political/Corporate Corruption/Investigative/Whistle Blowing documentaries/dramatisations on DVD

This is my top 10:

1) Taking Liberties Since 1997 (Dir. Chris Atkins) www.noliberties.com

2) The Corporation (Dir. Mark Achbar) www.thecorporation.com 

3) Who Killed the Electric Car? (Dir. Chris Paine) www.whokilledtheelectriccarmovie.com 

4) Fast Food Nation (Dir. Richard Linklater) www.foxsearchlight.com/fastfoodnation 

5) Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (Dir. Alex Gibney) Enron movie on PBS web site 

6) Wal Mart: The High Cost of Low Price (Dir. Robert Greenwald) www.walmartmovie.com

7) WMD: Weapons of Mass Deception (Dir. Danny Schechter) www.wmdthefilm.com 

8 ) Steal This Movie (Dir Robert Greenwald) IMB site 

9) Death in Gaza (Dir. James Miller) Official HBO site

10) McLibel (Dir.Franny Armstrong and Ken Loach) www.mcspotlight.org

Device Turns Pee into Drinking Water – FastCompany.com

BY ARIEL SCHWARTZTue May 5, 2009 at 5:40 PM – Fast Company.

Device Turns Pee into Drinking Water

 

Designer Leonardo Manavella has come up with a concept device that turns urine into drinkable water. The H20 purifier, meant for emergency situations and areas where drinking water is unsafe, requires users to urinate on the activated carbon in the purifier to eliminate the color and flavor of urine. And voila, after squeezing the container, water is ready to drink. The technical details of the device are a little unclear due to what appears to be translation issues, but it’s an innovative idea nonetheless.
NASA has already developed a high-tech pee-cycling machine, but the $250,000 price tag keeps the device from ending up in the hands of everyday pee-cyclers. For anyone who just wants to make sure their urine doesn’t go to waste, consider a composting toilet.

Visit Fast Company for more!

Related links:

Composting Toilet World (ahem)

I want a Tesla electric car!!

If only there were more charging points, the price was lower, they made more of them and, I guess, I could generate my own electricity to charge it up!!

Could nanotech particles help treat STDs? A report from Scientific America

Researchers have already demonstrated in the lab that the materials the body uses to make proteins can also successfully suppress several different types of viruses, including HIV and influenza A, by disrupting the formation of viral proteins. Less clear, however, was how to get these virus-busting molecules where they needed to be in the body in order to keep viruses from spreading. Now a team of Yale University researchers believe they have found an effective way of delivering these special, short-interfering RNA (siRNA) molecules to specific locations within the body’s biological battlefield.

Read the full article at Scientific America

In The Loop Trailer – You’ve Got To Watch this Movie!!