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counting single electrons

“[...] the most sensitive ammeter to date -- allows currents to be measured in the attoampere range for the first time. Dubbed a bi-directional single-electron ammeter, the device could be used for a wide variety of applications, including nanoelectronics, calibration devices, quantum computation and biology [...]”
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“ [...] the researchers can precisely count single electrons in both directions. Moreover, they can obtain a value for the average current by counting the net electron flow -- by subtracting the number of electrons travelling backwards from the number travelling forwards.”

new computer simulation of gas planet satellite development give fair match to reality

“Each of our Solar System's outer gaseous planets hosts a system of multiple satellites, and these objects include Jupiter's volcanic Io and Europa with its believed subsurface ocean, as well as Titan with its dense and organic-rich atmosphere at Saturn. While individual satellite properties vary, the systems all share a striking similarity: the total mass of each satellite system compared to the mass of its host planet is very nearly a constant ratio, roughly 1:10,000.”
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“[...] The team [Canup and Ward] proposes that the balance of two processes -- the ongoing inflow of material to the satellites during their growth and the loss of satellites to collision with the planet -- implies a maximum size for a gas planet satellite consistent with observations.” [Quoted from physorg.com]

“The [Canup and Ward] model also solves another problem. Previous models had moons forming too quickly and too violently, making them too hot to contain the ice observed today. In the new model, the moons take about a million years to form.”
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“Solid planets like Earth and Pluto have relatively large satellites with up to 10% of their mass. These were probably formed by cataclysmic impacts that threw up material into orbit. Since it is the gas that causes the moons of giant planets to spiral in to their death, there is no equivalent upper size limit for the moons of rocky planets.” [Quoted from newscientistspace.com]

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wishing won’t make it so (fossil media watch) - the auroran sunset

Democratic Party central is trying to convince the people that there is a “culture of corruption” in the Congressional Republican Party. They won’t find me arguing. Unfortunately for their propaganda, and the country, the Democratic Party is infested to a similar degree. Fortunately, their friends in the fossil media know how to deal with inconvenient facts:

Top law enforcement officials at the Justice Department and the FBI indicated to their counterparts at the White House that they could not, and were unwilling to, return documents to the Louisiana Republican which were seized as part of a bribery investigation.

As my observant source at Power Line says:

Jefferson is, of course, a Democrat. It's common for news stories about scandals involving Congressional Democrats to omit any reference to their party, but this really is going too far!

CBS has now corrected the item and placed an apology after the editorial, but don’t worry: the story is already off the front page.

the web address for the article above is
http://www.abelard.org/news/lite0605.php#culture_of_corruption_040606

freedom tower - replacing the twin towers

The proposed Freedom Tower, set in Manhattan, New York Image credit: ower Manhattan Development Corporation and Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP

“The deal settles financing for the "Freedom Tower," the planned 1,776-foot building to be erected on the northern end of the site.

“ "We agreed to all of the port's economic terms in its proposal to restructure our 99-year lease," Silverstein said. "This is a fair deal."

“Silverstein will cede control of the Freedom Tower to the Port Authority. He will collect a 1 percent developer's fee on the estimated $2 billion project, but the Port Authority will manage the building when it is completed. It is slated to be ready for occupancy in 2010.

“Freedom Tower construction will move forward with installment of foundation footings. The building is to rise 1,360 feet, the height of the original twin towers. A spire will raise it to the height symbolic for the year of the American Revolution.

“A memorial to the 2,973 September 11 victims and six people killed in a 1993 truck bombing will be located on the southern half of the site. It is expected to be completed in 2009, financed through private donations.”

Some facts and figures:

• To be built: 2006-2011
• Cost: $2,000,000,000
• Designer: Studio Daniel Libeskind
• Building: 82-storey skyscraper
• Maximum height: 1,776 feet / 541 metres
• Location: World Trade Center, New York, United States
• Twin Tower reminders:
  Tower base: 200 feet square, like the Twin Towers.
  The 185-foot-tall base will be windowless concrete exterior wall, so as to absorb and deflect blasts from car or truck bombs
  Observation deck: at 1,362 feet, height of World Trade Center Tower Two
  Glass parapet: at 1,368 feet, height of World Trade Center Tower One

related material
twin towers replacement planned as world tallest
modern architectural art for the wtc
architectural index - architectural items at www.abelard.org

web world censorship report [153-page pdf]
“Freedom of the press worldwide in 2006”

This report looks mostly as if it is written by journalists trying to puff their own importance, and that of their colleagues, rather than making serious analysis.

Some readers may yet find it interesting.

music videos by the troops - the auroran sunset

Boy band take-off by Norwegian troops in Kosovo (4.3mb .wmv). I’m told ‘the Norwegian government’ have apologised, though I can’t work out for what, or to whom. Here is some background to the “diplomatic row” and the Norwegian ambassador’s apology, which at least attempts to explain the unexplainable. How do they manage to write this stuff with a straight face?

Compare with an earlier effort by British troops in Iraq (smallest version 13.3mb). abelard.org first suggested this item last year, the current link provides more download options. Apparently, the UK Ministry of Defence thought it “brilliant”.

Surely the American troops can come up with an entry or six for this military Eurovision song contest - come on, stop slacking you lot!

Some American songwriters have doing sterling work in the patriotic jollity department. One of the earliest and best offerings was Clint Black’s I Raq And Roll.

“You can wave your signs in protest against America takin' stands.
The stands America's takin' are the reason that you can.”

This used to be available for free download from his website. Unfortunately, the only trace I can find of either the download or the lyrics on his site is this URL-stripped sentence from a March 2003 entry in his public diary:

“As you may know, Hayden Nicholas and I have written a song I recorded called, "I Raq and Roll." You can download it here for free, along with the lyrics.”

However, there is no problem finding the related t-shirt for sale on Clint Black’s site, along with claims that he is donating the money to troop-supporting charities because he is “not wanting to profit from such a thing”. It is unclear whether the disappearing mp3 and lyrics is just bad management or some sort of funny business. There are many other sites offering the lyrics (for instance) but, unfortunately, links to the song itself elude me.

Toby Keith has done a sweet, little ballad about the trials and tribulations of being “a middle-aged, middle-eastern, camel-herdin’ man” in the Taliban’s Afghanistan, available on his Shock'n Y'all CD. Here are the lyrics, along with Japanese translation.

You can also get various ‘patriotic’ songs on this compilation, which has at least five fun songs. There is also a follow-up compilation which I have not listened to yet.

new tech higher efficiecy fridges - allegedly

“[...] could help to usher in a new type of refrigerator that is up to 40 percent more energy-efficient than conventional models[...].”
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“Such a material could act as a heat pump for refrigeration. Applying the magnetic field triggers cooling; then the field is switched off and the material absorbs heat from its surroundings, cooling them down. Once that has happened, the field is switched on again and the cycle repeats, each time sucking more heat from the surroundings.

“Sandeman and colleagues say that their new magnetocaloric material is particularly attractive because it can be tuned - depending on the strength of the applied magnetic field, as well as the way the substance is synthesized - to work over a wide temperature range, making it potentially suitable not just for a kitchen fridge working at room temperature but for other cooling applications at higher or lower temperatures[...]”

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