Busy Raising Virtual Baby, Couple Lets Their Real Baby Starve [Sad]

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This is upsetting. A South Korean couple was arrested for starving their baby to death, reportedly only feeding him once a day after marathon sessions at an internet cafe. What was keeping them so busy? Their other, virtual baby.

Yeah. The couple, who met on the internet (warning sign?), dutifully raised a young girl named Anima in the virtual world of Prius Online, a sort of South Korean Second Life. Not so dutifully raised was their real daughter, a prematurely born infant who only received powdered milk feedings as an afterthought following her parents' 12 hour days at the local internet cafe.

Twelve hours of virtual escapism a day is probably unhealthy in and of itself, but when its taking the place of your real responsibilities, well, it's probably time to log off. [CNN via BoingBoing]


Scott Brown’s first act in the Senate: $80 billion Tax Cut for Jobs

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Giving a portion of the Stimulus funds back to the American Taxpayer

From Eric Dondero:

This is Senator Scott Brown's first address to the United States Senate. (And at first he seems a little overtaken and even a bit nervous).

According to NewsMax:

The Immediate Tax Relief for America's Workers Act targets mostly working class Americans, those employees making up to about $200,000, with a temporary tax cut that would, according to data released from Brown's office, save the average worker "about $100 a month for a total of at least $500 for individuals and $1,000 for working couples," Fox News reported.

Highlights (for those unable to watch the full-length 10 minute video):

* The government is spending stimulus funds on projects that in my opinion do not provide enough private sector jobs

* Tax relief for working families is not complicated economic policy... And leaders on both sides of the aisle from John F. Kennedy to Ronald Reagan have often called for across the board tax cuts to put money immediately in people's pockets to help stimulate the economy...

* This tax cut is already paid for, would not increase the deficit and would be implemented within 60 days.

* We've tried a whole host of other things, targetted tax breaks, a little bit here, a little bit there. Why don't we give it back to the American people and see what they can do with their $1,000, and see what they can do to stimulate the economy.

Are You Switching to EUV Lithography?

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Take five minutes of your time to check out this YouTube video clip to learn more about how the next generation of semiconductor chips will need to be fabricated under vacuum. In order to continue the trend set by Moore's Law, chip manufacturers will be replacing traditional photolithography systems

Reason to Keep the Curtains Closed

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A famous Manhattan hotel is defying traditional hotel design by replacing walls with transparent glass. Privacy is "optional" since anything that goes on in any given room can be viewed from the outside. The clear "water white," floor-to-ceiling glass walls are making quite a splash among hotel desi

Parents Still Influence Kids

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What is the biggest influence in a child's decision to pursue a career in science? Parents. Researchers from Michigan State University used data from the Longitudinal Study of American Youth to demonstrate that guidance in the fields of science, technology, engineering, mathematics or medicine (STEM

Who reads Libertarian Republican?

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From the Editor:

Take a look at these numbers from the past five days, Site Meter:

Fri 3/5 - 808
Thu 3/4 - 856
Wed 3/3 - 840
Tue 3/2 - 899
Mon 3/1 - 829

That means for the entire work week we had over 800 unique visitors each day. Now, we've gotten good numbers before, many times into the 1,000 to 2,000 range, and actually as high as 3,900 one day last June. But never consistently this high for five straight days.

Additionally, our Google Followers is edging towards the "magic" 200 mark. We stand at 194. It's quite exceptional for a political blog to have over 200 Followers. (If you're signed up with a Google account, please take a moment and become a Follower by clicking rightside bar at the bottom, and help us get over that 200 mark.)

In recent weeks I've learned that we've got some very highly placed and even celebrity readers of Libertarian Republican. As I've mentioned before at least one very high up Republican Inside the Beltway, who is a communications director for an extremely important organization is a daily LR reader. Another communications director for a very large State GOP is also a diehard LR fan.

But in the last 3 weeks or so, I've been contacted by radio talk show host Larry Elder, South Carolina Congressional candidate Katherine Jenerette, and California Congressional candidate David Harmer (running against Nancy Pelosi). All expressed how much they appreciate Libertarian Republican and said they are regular readers. David and Katherine especially wanted me to give a shout out to all Libertarian Republican readers.

Last night I got a call from someone representing a very prominent and somewhat controversial New York celebrity. This individual, said that the person they represented expressed support for our efforts, and is a regular reader of our blog. This person has been featured on this blog (not too mention Fox News, CNN, Entertainment Today, NY Daily News, NY Times, ect...) You'd instantly recognize her name.

One quick request; if you haven't already done it, please take a moment to add LR to your Daily Favorites bar. Visit twice or three times a day. Just click on. That will help us get over the magic number of a consistent 1,000 a day.

And don't forget to tell your friends and political associates about LR. We're mainstream libertarians. We're the perfect introduction to the libertarian movement and libertarian ideals.

The next wave | Cosmic Variance

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The New York Times has an article about stand-up paddleboarding. I guess that means it’s now officially mainstream? It’s weird to have seen a sport arise completely from scratch, over a period of just a few years. Five years ago paddleboarders were basically freaks. Now every break is teeming with them, and there’s a whole industry specifically for stand-up. Even the gray lady herself is in on the game.

For the uninitiated: imagine an oversized longboard (over 10 feet long), with extra width and stability. You stand up on the board, and use a long-handled paddle to propel yourself through the water. Sort of like a canoe, only standing up. It’s good exercise. It’s also really fun. You can really cruise. And you can enjoy it even if it’s totally flat (although the real fun is to take the big boards into the surf).

The rapid rise in popularity is almost certainly due to the fact that the learning curve for stand-up paddleboarding is shallow. The average person can be up and going in about 10 minutes. And it’s almost like they’re surfing. After all, they’re standing on a surfboard, moving through the water. However, this is a pale imitation. Until you actually get the board out in the surf, and feel the acceleration of a drop, and the exhilaration as you glide down a wall of water, you have no idea what it’s all about. Good paddleboarders can go out in big surf. But that part of the learning curve is Jaws steep.

I was in Maui this past January, and my favorite break (Kanaha) was overrun by paddleboards. At least half the people out there were doing stand-up. For a “conventional” surfer it’s a bummer, since the paddleboards catch waves early, and there’s no room to drop in, even if you wanted to. But if you can’t beat ‘em….

About a year ago I had my initiation, doing a down-winder from past Ho’okipa to Spreckelsville. It took a while to get the balance down, but eventually you figure out where to stand, and how to use the paddle for stability. And then you’re cruising. You can paddle into reasonable breaking surf, since the board has a tendency to keep going and remain unperturbed. You cut right through waves that would have tossed a longboard. However, I can tell you from painful experience that it really sucks to get Maytagged while doing stand-up. I have a nice fin-shaped scar to prove it.
no, that's not me (from Naish)


Power system harmonics

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I'd like to study on Power system harmonics. Specifically want to know about how do Harmonics get generated and how can harmonics be eliminated from the system? Pls provide me link of some literature alongwith your answers.

Televisions Are Born In Places Like This [Image Cache]

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This man is tightening a mold in a Samsung factory in Kaluga, Russia. Inside that mold is a portion of what will soon be a television. Let's take a tour of the rest of the factory.

Samsung opened this particular factory in 2008 and its been putting out products ever since. Aside from quality inspections, it appears that from the moment components arrive in gigantic sacks from Korea nearly everything is automated in this factory—from hot plastic being piped into molds to microcircuits being produced to the little logos being stamped onto panels. Humans mostly oversee the production and yes, occasionally tighten molds. Guess we're still needed for something. [English Russia]


steel composiion and its heat treatment

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Plz let em the the composition of following steel grades-
1.SCr440

2. S45BC

Want to know following things-

1. There chemical composition.
2. There comparision with SAE 8620 alloy steel.
3. Can these two grades carburised? If yes then
how and also they need water quench or o

Mindflex Hack: Relax, or Get SHOCKED [Mindflex]

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Mindflex, the brandwave-detecting game, will probably give you a headache no matter what. But Harcos Labs decided to take it further, with a hacked Mindflex that shocks you when you concentrate too hard. The result: science, and hilarious shock videos.

The original Mindflex headset indicates how hard you're concentrating with a series LEDs. But with a little ingenuity and an electroshock kit, the devilish geniuses at Harcos turned it into something of a torture device:

Harcos hooked up the leads of the LEDs to a transistor/resistor relay network so they'd instead activate an electric-shock kit made by QKit. The end result? Concentrate a little, and you'll get zapped a little. Concentrate hard, and you'll get an electrical pulse that will make you think you've wandered onto the set of Green Mile.

Of course, the more worried you are about getting shocked, the higher the voltage. Which is cruel. And unusual. And so much fun to watch. [Wired]


stepper motor

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hello sir,

my self vimal nayak from ahmedabad .i m a final year student.actully i want to know that if i want to carry approxy 2.5 to 3 kg by stepper motor with 24 steps .i want to use the 15' d step angle motor ..mean i m going to make a lift whcich has a weight of 2.5 kg so i co

Segmentus Clock Concept Is Half Digital, Half Analog [Clocks]

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First, man made the analog clock. Then he made the digital clock. Then, just because he could, he made the funky cross between the two that looks like a digital clock but has moving mechanical parts like an analog one.

Art Lebedev, the patron saint of cool concepts that will never be manufactured as real products, has applied his unique genius to the world of timekeeping. The result is Segmentus, a clock that uses swinging plastic segments to replicate LCD-style numbers.

OK, the numbers aren't always the easiest to read—this is particularly annoying for those of us who thought that digital clocks would always be a safe harbor in the confusing and often embarrassing world of analog timekeeping—but, hey, it's art. Er, Art. [Art Lebedev via SlashGear]


ESP

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Dear all,

I am searching for a complete manual which covers the entire detailed procedure of erection of esp, mechanical and electrical pre-check-ups( before and after charging of esp), pre-commissioning checks and complete commissioning procedures of esp for 600MW coal based power plant, and a

Ballmer on Xbox: We May Have More Form Factors, Price Points and Options in the Future [Unconfirmed]

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While he was talking about cloud computing yesterday, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer made a casual remark about the future of the Xbox. Apparently there might be new form factors, options, and price points coming:

In the case of the TV we've got both strategies. We actually have a TV implementation in some senses built into Windows," Ballmer said. "It works really well for small screen TVs that you might call a PC, but for that big screen device here's a piece of hardware that we build, there's no diversity. You get exactly the Xboxes that we build for you. We may have more form factors in the future that are designed for various price points and options, but we think it's going to [be] important.

This doesn't give us a timeline or even any actual details, but at least it fuels speculation about all the things we desire and may get at some point. [GearLog via CrunchGear]