New Device Can Record and Playback Odors

I remember a Futurama episode when Professor what's-his-name looked into outer space through his smelloscope.

Well, the futurama is here:

Engineers at the Tokyo Institute of Technology in Japan are building an odour recorder capable of doing just that. Simply point the gadget at a freshly baked cookie, for example, and it will analyse its odour and reproduce it for you using a host of non-toxic chemicals.

Somboon's system will use 15 chemical-sensing microchips, or electronic noses, to pick up a broad range of aromas. These are then used to create a digital recipe from a set of 96 chemicals that can be chosen according to the purpose of each individual gadget. When you want to replay a smell, drops from the relevant vials are mixed, heated and vaporised. In tests so far, the system has successfully recorded and reproduced the smell of orange, lemon, apple, banana and melon. "We can even tell a green apple from a red apple," Somboon says.

And perhaps, as Medgadget suggests, the days of a "My Smells" folder on your PC aren't far away.


(And on an unrelated note, here's the gift I'm getting Rush Limbaugh for his birthday.)

Happy Birthday, America!

Today's July 4th reading is Robert Kennedy's speech announcing his candidacy for President.

One would hope that in the 38 years since this speech, the problems he listed would be a thing of the past. Not so. In fact, you could replace the words "Vietnam" with "Iraq" and "Riot Commission" with "911 Commission" and the speech would be just as relevant right now.

Maybe in the next 38 years...

Corporate Execs Coddled with Compensation

America doesn't have an official monarchy, but apparently we've basically created our own version:

When most working stiffs compare job perks, the topic revolves around weeks of vacation, free coffee and maybe a parking allowance. For Cincinnati's top executives, it means $6 million in company cars, air travel and tax reimbursements.

And that's just to start.

"You make a lot of money, you can buy this stuff yourself," said Frederick Cook, managing director at Frederick W. Cook Co., a New York executive compensation firm. "What are you, a baby?"

And since we're on the subject already, here's another article on how Cincinnati businesses lag behind the trend towards moving away from stock options.

Kentucky Blog Exposes Fletcher Lies

No surprise here: Kentucky Governor Ernie Fletcher, who has already joined the ranks of indicted Republicans, has been tricked into exposing himself as a liar.

For out-of-towners, here’s the recap: Gov. Fletcher was indicted for conspiracy and misconduct charges (for being what Republicans call “loyal”). Eleven others in his administration were also indicted. He pardoned nine (a move chess players call "The George H.W. Bush gambit"). In fact, he tried to issue some kind of “blanket” pardon to cover everyone whether they were named or not.

Queen Elizabeth vs. King Dubya

This Reuters article says that it costs each British taxpayer just over a dollar each year to support the royal family.

I wondered how much it costs each U.S. taxpayer to support Bush's war. According to my calculations, it's in the neighborhood of $1100.

Call it the RICE tax (Republican Incompetence, Cronyism and Evangelicalism).

It takes a hell of a bad President to make me prefer to buy another yacht for Queen Elizabeth than to continue paying the RICE tax.

Republicans to America: Blame Media, Not Us

Responding to the horrific spectre of investigative journalism, top Republicans call for throwing down the gauntlet on the media.

We're reminded yet again of one of the 14 characteristics of fascism:

Controlled Mass Media: Sometimes the media is directly controlled by the government, but in other cases, the media is indirectly controlled by government regulation, or sympathetic media spokespeople and executives. Censorship, especially in war time, is very common.

Kentucky Wingnut Doesn't Understand Law, Blames System

Surprise! Another wingnut has come out of the woodwork to claim that the system is wrong because it doesn't conform to his out-of-the-mainstream evangelical views. [The Post...]

What do you mean you're not surprised?

Local Officials Get Brazilian Soccer Names

Yesterday KatieG put up a post about this site which will generate a Brazilian soccer name from an ordinary name. I put in about a dozen names, mostly athletes, and got back some goofy names. For example, Kenyon Martin is Claudio Kenyisco.

Later I went back and played some more, this time with the names of local officials. Here's our city council World Cup team:

Laketildo
Chrildo
Tarbincha
Monzinhosa
Lesliildo
Crowlinho
Cranla
Thomisco
Jinho Da Costa

Oh, wait... that's only 9. Let's round it out with the mayor, Malliano, and 2nd district Congresswoman, Schma.

Portman Pushes Line-Item Irony

I like appreciate Rob Portman. He exemplifies the fact that intelligence and sycophancy are not mutually exclusive.

Like a good lackey, Mr. Portman is now backing the Bush administration's call for a line item veto. The reason? To curb spending.

Please try not to laugh. This is serious. Republicans are serious about curbing spending (chuckle). Remember, this is the party of fiscal responsibility (chortle). That's why they've only increased government spending by 33% (snicker). That's why Bush turned hundreds of billions of dollars of surplus revenue into the largest deficit the country has ever had (guffaw). That's why Bush has never vetoed a single bill in 5 years. Because Republicans stand for fiscal responsibility (maniacal laughter).

Allow me to translate what Rob Portman and his authority figures are telling us: Republicans can't control themselves with money. Republicans can't be trusted with money. But it's not the Republicans' fault. No, sir. It's the system that's to blame. We have to change the system, not the people.

And there you have the Republican view of life in a nutshell. When other people screw up, they are wrong and must go. But Republicans can never screw up. At times it may seem like it, but it's really the system that's wrong and has to be changed.

Examples: If judicial decisions aren't congruent with Republican ideas, then it's the judges that must be changed. If 90% of the world opposes U.S. foreign policy, then it's the world that needs to change. If the Constitution doesn't back Republican ideas, then the Constitution is wrong. If the media doesn't support the Republicans then it's the media that's wrong. If decorated combat veterans oppose the ideas of draft-dodging Republican chickenhawks, then it's the decorated combat veterans that are wrong.

And no, they're not narcissists... they're just right. All the time. And if you don't think so, then maybe there's something wrong with you.

Stem Cells Reverse Paralysis in Rats

Exciting research from Johns Hopkins, where scientists took stem cells, grew them into neurons (in the lab), and then transplanted them into rat spinal cords. Out of 15 rats, 11 regained some motor control.

It's still a big jump to go from rats to humans, but basically any time you can get stuff to work in mammals, it's very promising.

Next: using stem cells to grow neurons for evangelicals?