How to defeat a monster

Justin, Washington DC — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 02:14:38 GMT

Great links here. As far as the 30 year laptop battery, I also thought it sounded a little too good to be true. If you could charge a laptop battery for 30 years, then why couldn't you use these same principles for every day life like electric cars, powering houses, etc...

The fact that I haven't heard of this until now and it's on some seemingly obscure website (I've never seen it before) makes me doubt the claim. Unless of course its obscenely expensive.

On another note, I really enjoyed that article on video games in the next 25 years. I can't wait to enter the matrix to escape from the mutant zombie infested real world! :)

How to defeat a monster

Bob C — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 11:25:53 GMT

Underboob is apparently a very popular thing at the moment. At WMMR in Philadelphia, www.wmmr.com, the morning show, Preston and Steve, run photo contests called Philly's Hottest... The current contest is for Philly's Hottest Underboob. Glad to know that we are on the cutting edge of fashion.

How to defeat a monster

Cristy — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 13:09:11 GMT

While I haven't actually seen the latest Rush Hour movie, I have fought with the reels of film. The guy who took my Saturday's in the projection booth had a reel of film on the floor. Lucky for him, I think he's cute and decided to help him out. That being said, I think it would be a funny movie, and if the movie isn't, the outtakes certainly would be. As for Jackie Chan, he has a difficult time with the phrase "Beach Boy," why wouldn't he have diffuculty understanding the humor in the film?

How to defeat a monster

Rob — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 14:08:03 GMT

I don't have time to read a punk rockers rambling, but as long as he is for torturing the heck out of anybody that threatens America, then I agree with him

How to defeat a monster

PeaceOnYou — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 14:41:15 GMT

Regarding Bono-
Wow! Amazing speech, amazing person. Thank you for this link.

How to defeat a monster

Chris — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 15:53:49 GMT

There's a press release on betavoltaic batteries from the University of Rochester back in 2005. I don't doubt a bunch of people are trying to take advantage of the tech edgy sound of it, but given the original release was in 2005, it gives lie to the questionable article's content of 2-3 years before commercial availability.

http://www.rochester.edu/news/show.php?id=2154

How to defeat a monster

Steve, AR — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 15:58:32 GMT

Bono is one of the very few celebrities that actually puts aside partisan bickering to get things done. I'm sure he is as big a leftist as most of his music and movie industry comrades, and I don't subscribe to much of his politics, but he is able to put such things in the background and accomplish more than all the other bomb throwers combined.

If you haven't watched the Bono video, I urge you to do so.

How to defeat a monster

Don Tuite, Califonria — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 16:06:02 GMT

Compressing underboob and butt-implant in one column evokes Spinal Tap's Big Bottom: "Talk about mud flaps, my gal's got 'em."

How to defeat a monster

Michael, Halifax, Canada — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 16:06:30 GMT

Regarding Underboobery:

I hope that Reddit photo is not the current trend in fashion. I mean, not that it doesn't appeal to me (I am a young, straight, male) but I really don't think that we need to see girls running around in broad daylight with the bottom half of their breasts exposed. It's one thing to wear something like that at a dance club or something (though you might as well carry around a large, glowing, neon sign saying “Hey, look at me, I want someone to pick me up!”), but it looked like this girl was just out in the middle of the day, in a random public area, with all her naughty parts hanging out.
Can you imagine if a guy wore a pair of pants with a similar goal? (*shudder*)

I’ve always been a firm believer that, when it comes to female beauty, a little less can be a little more (I.E. a little less skin can be a more appealing). That can hold true even in those dance clubs I mentioned earlier.

Speaking of ads with Underboobery, I remember reading about a study done on the effects of using sex in ads to sell products (it might even have been on this site at one time; I can’t remember, I spend too much time on the internets). The study concluded that sex DOES NOT sell, because the only thing people tend to remember about the ads is the sex (in this case, the Underboob).

How to defeat a monster

Dan E, Chicago, IL — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 17:45:05 GMT

"I don't have time to read a punk rockers rambling..."Its an insult to punk musicians everywhere that you think Bono plays punk.

I don't get the global warming list....it seems like some of the items either don't seem to be related to atmospheric warming (volcanic eruptions?) or are actually kind of good things (an arctic sea route? a habitable inner Greenland?). Maybe I'm confused on the "scope" of what global warming/climate change is now. Seems like these people have just lumped everything that pollution/climate change/environmental disasters might effect and called it global warming....which seems like a silly thing to do.

On the 25 years of gaming, I think that you also really need to examine how the inovations that he applies to gaming, are really the evolution of our society and that gaming and how we do it is a very telling sociological factor. I think it also leaves out the idea that prosthetic technology will be reaching a level soon where it will be inexpensive enough and beneficial enough that the idea of replacing parts of your biology to increase efficency and ability will be a norm. When people start to be part technological how long till machines are part biological, and then where do you draw the line between them.

Check out the Japanese TV show Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex (Gits SAC) for some true futurism.

How to defeat a monster

Lou, Louisville, KY — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 17:48:43 GMT

I'm just curious, Will. Who's the "one" president who's as inspiring as Bono? I have my own opinions... just wondering about yours.

How to defeat a monster

Wayne, TN — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 23:43:43 GMT

Dan says
" don't get the global warming list....it seems like some of the items either don't seem to be related to atmospheric warming (volcanic eruptions?) or are actually kind of good things (an arctic sea route? a habitable inner Greenland?). Maybe I'm confused on the "scope" of what global warming/climate change is now. Seems like these people have just lumped everything that pollution/climate change/environmental disasters might effect and called it global warming....which seems like a silly thing to do. "

Around 2002 I got interested in stargazing , especially the Planets, and found that astronomers were reporting increased albedo for all solar system objects. The increased reflected light had a fairly simple explanation, the Sun was putting out more light.
Other sources revealed that Satellites had recorded a slight increase in solar output which matches almost perfectl the supposed rize in Global temperatures.
At about the same time Greenhouse Gases critics began trying to dismiss the Medieval Warming period because it didn't fit their model for Global Warming.

There may be a manmade factor in Global Warming but to ignore the effects of increased solar out put and historical proofs of earlier periods of Global Warming which predate the industrial age severely effect the Greenhouse Gases arguments.

Any claim that tiny increases in global temperatures would result in increased volcanic activity sound far fetched to me, increased magnet resonance between the Solar Magnetic field and our Iron core very well might result in an increase in surface temperatures.
Plus miles thick ice sheets don't start melting from the bottom up due to tiny increases in atmospheric temperatures. Ice is an insulator, that why Eskimos build igloos out of blocks of ice.

Some scientific facts appear counter intuitive on the surface, but the greenhouse gases crowd seem determined to substitute correlation for causation.

Regardless of the cause no technology of today can remove enough CO2 from the atmosphere to make a noticable difference even if all CO2 emissions were halted today. It would likely require centuries to return CO2 levels to preindustrial levels.

So the best thing is to start working on ways to take advantage of the warmer weather in historically frigid regions.
The russians were trying to find ways of manipulating the weather in order to increase ariable land as far back as the 60's. They've even put a giant mylar mirror in orbit to direct sunlight on frozen tundra. The mirror failed spectacularly I might add.

Canda has a huge land mass but only a tiny portion of that land is usable for agriculture.
A number of Northern european countries have to raise dairy cattle indoors due to frigid temperatures. During the medieval warming period vast herda roamed those lands where frozen marshes exist today.

Incresed biomass will be the only effective way of capturing CO2.

How to defeat a monster

Acadia, New Jersey — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 01:37:05 GMT

Intrigued by Underboob - I Googled Celebrity Underboob and got this

http://www.superficialgallery.com/Celebs/albums/index.php?cat=17

If it's sexy - it must be good. Plus, technically guys could do it...so it's not sexist?

How to defeat a monster

Matt — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 15:41:13 GMT

Regarding the underboob: I recall a VanHalen video from back in the day where there was significant underoob. I also recall Beavis and Butthead proclaiming "I like when you can see the bottoms of the thingys."

How to defeat a monster

C.R., St. Louis, MO — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 22:01:01 GMT

To Dan E. in Chicago:
If you read the content of Bono's speech, he calls himself a "punk rocker from Northern Dublin."

How to defeat a monster

Jim, Los Angeles — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 23:41:53 GMT

Re underboob: it wasn't a Van Halen video, it was for a David Lee Roth solo video. Also, don't confuse underboob with sideboob, Will.

How to defeat a monster

Fred, MS — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 01:32:31 GMT

I'm tired of the silliness about torture. Anyone in the U.S. Army that went through Escape and Evasion School (most Airborne, Special Forces, Ranger, Seal etc.)has been through plenty of torture as part of their training, including being water boarded.

How to defeat a monster

Andrea, Battle Ground, WA. — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 20:22:29 GMT

You're right, Jim.
It's not an underboob.

It's definitely a sideboob.