An ultra-strong glass that has been looking for a purpose since its invention in 1962 is poised to become a multibillion-dollar bonanza for Corning Inc.
The 159-year-old glass pioneer is ramping up production of what it calls Gorilla glass, expecting it to be the hot new face of touch-screen tablets and high-end TVs.
Gorilla showed early promise in the '60s, but failed to find a commercial use, so it's been biding its time in a hilltop research lab for almost a half-century. It picked up its first customer in 2008 and has quickly become a $170 million a year business as a protective layer over the screens of 40 million-plus cell phones and other mobile devices.
Now, the latest trend in TVs could catapult it to a billion-dollar business: Frameless flat-screens that could be mistaken for chic glass artwork on a living-room wall.
Because Gorilla is very hard to break, dent or scratch, Corning is betting it will be the glass of choice as TV-set manufacturers dispense with protective rims or bezels for their sets, in search of an elegant look.
A small PETE device made with cesium-coated gallium nitride glows while being tested inside an ultra-high vacuum chamber. The tests proved that the process simultaneously converted light and heat energy into electrical current.
ScienceDaily (Aug. 2, 2010) — A new process that simultaneously combines the light and heat of solar radiation to generate electricity could offer more than double the efficiency of existing solar cell technology, say the Stanford engineers who discovered it and proved that it works. The process, called "photon enhanced thermionic emission," or PETE, could reduce the costs of solar energy production enough for it to compete with oil as an energy source.
AP/MyFoxPhoenix.com
Drug cartel sends out audio and text messages offering rewards to anyone who will join its fight against Arizona's immigration law, including one that appears to offer $1 million for Sheriff Joe Arpaio's head.
AP
Following in the footsteps of Arizona lawmakers, Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli rules that state authorities can ask any suspects they stop or arrest about their immigration status
Federal judge refuses to dismiss Virginia challenge to ObamaCare
Sir Stirling Moss
Why They're Awesome: Though he never won a world championship, Sir Stirling had an amazing career. He won 212 of the 529 races he entered. He drove 84 different makes of car during his 14-year career. He qualified on pole 16 times in his Formula One tenure, and his successes stretched right up until the horrifying, retirement-prompting crash that almost killed him in the early 1960s.
Ballsy California photographer Brian Flanagan took these photos of NASCAR team owner and motorsport legend Jack Roush's plane crash as the plane was actually crashing. We can now see just how lucky Roush was to escape with his life.
Jack Roush is in fair condition after crashing his jet at the EAA AirVenture fly-in convention in Oshkosh, Wisconsin last weekend. Photos from the accident show a bloodied Roush walking away from the accident, which occurred following what witnesses say was a stall during a failed landing attempt.
As described, Roush can be seen here putting a wing down before the plane whips around and splits in half. Major props to the fearless Brian Flanagan for snagging the shot and not grabbing his gear and running like the photographers in front of him.
These are the stairs of the new Salvador Dalí museum in St. Petersburg, Florida. Encased in 18-inch thick concrete walls, it can resist a 165mph Category 5 hurricane without blinking.
The director of the museum says that the architecture "combines elements of the classical and the fantastical," like Dalí's own work.
The House ethics committee on Monday announced it has found Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., in violation of the rules of the House. The panel did not release the details of the violations, but most believe the charges relate to the 71-year-old lawmaker's efforts to secure federal bailout funds for a bank tied to her husband. Waters has said she plans to fight the charges, which means the panel would have to hold a public hearing, much like a trial, to determine whether she is guilty of an violations.
Waters is the second Democrat in as many weeks to call for an ethics trial. Last week, an special House panel convened to outline 13 charges against Rep. Charlie Rangel, D-N.Y., relating to unpaid taxes and using his office and power as a lawmaker to help big companies with tax legislation in exchange for large donations to a school named after him.
Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/House-Ethics-Committe-announces-chargest-Maxine-Waters.html#ixzz0vTpBnJgD
Lindsay Lohan-24, gets her name and face all over the news because she went to jail.
Justin Allen-23,
Brett Linley-29,
Matthew Weikert-29,
Justus Bartett-27,
Dave Santos-21,
Chase Stanley-21,
Jesse Reed-26,
Matthew Johnson-21,
Zachary Fisher-24,
Brandon King-23,
Christopher Goeke-23,
Sheldon Tate-27...
all gave their lives in military service.
Another 'sign' of a stroke is this: Ask the person to 'stick' out his tongue..If the tongue is 'crooked', if it goes to one side or the other, that is also an indication of a stroke.
Chrome cars are normally gaudy affairs, but somehow this chrome-wrapped Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 racer looks like liquid speed. The distillation of perfection wrought in aluminum und shteel. It almost needs a new name. "Sex on Wheels" seems appropriate.
6:48 versus the ultimate record of 6:11 means a quasi-production car is now within 10% of the time set in the fastest Porsche sports prototype
http://jalopnik.com/5599675/what-the-pagani-zonda-rs-insane-nurburgring-record-really-means
Conservatives have long claimed that the media is biased against them and tries hard to shape stories in ways that help Democrats and hurt Republicans. It turns out to be truer than they imagined.
If this were a Hollywood movie, there would have been clandestine meetings in basements or bars or parking garages. But since it was real life, it was just an e-mail list, called "JournoList," set up by the Washington Post's Ezra Klein. It had over 400 members, including reporters at top publications like the Post, the New York Times, Newsweek, Politico, PBS, Time, etc.
Like most email lists, much of the content was profane or sophomoric - like Alterman's reference to Bush supporters as "f***ing Nascar retards," public radio producer Sarah Spitz's expressed desire to stand by laughing as Rush Limbaugh expired from a heart attack, or blogger Spencer Ackerman's fantasies about shoving conservative pundits through plate-glass windows.
But there was worse. Some JournoList members talked about getting the FCC to shut down Fox News, or about denying web traffic to rivals deemed too conservative. And, most troubling, there were concerted efforts to choose a storyline and spread it across the outlets for which they all worked, so as to manipulate the public's perceptions. When John McCain chose Sarah Palin as his running mate, JournoList participants coordinated their attacks.
American researchers found that a plant extract contained in the skin of red grapes helps protect the body against ageing.
Researchers at the University of Buffalo, New York, writing in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, said they wanted to study its effect on humans.
They concluded that their findings indicated consuming resveratrol could help reduce the development of type 2 diabetes, ageing, heart disease and strokes.
Dr Dandona and his team used 20 participants where half were given a natural supplement containing 40 milligrams of resveratol while the other volunteers received an identical pill containing no active ingredient.
Participants took the pill once a day for six weeks. Blood samples were collected as the start of the trial and at week one, three and six.
The results showed that resveratrol suppressed molecules known to cause inflammation in the body.
“The federal government can do most anything in this country.”
Chelsea Clinton's $15,000 Wedding Porta-potties
If you were a guest at Chelsea Clinton's wedding, you didn't use just any porta-potty. Oh no, you used one of these: A porcelain toilet that flushes, with a stereo and hot water. The good life.
"Democracy is like two wolves & a sheep deciding whats for dinner. That's why the founders set up a Constitutional Republic."
You will simply not believe this. Our 8th District US Congressional representative, the Hon. Gabrielle Giffords, in a meeting of the House Armed Services Committee, asked General David Petraeus the following question:
"General Petraeus, what are you doing to reduce carbon emissions in the war on terror?"
JOAN VENNOCCHI: The yacht vs. the pickup truck: Democrats are now the party of perceived privilege, and GOP is the party of the people. “From Newport, R.I., where Kerry’s ‘Isabel’ was berthed before heading to Nantucket, to Rhinebeck, N.Y., where Chelsea Clinton was married in a mansion modeled after Versailles, today’s Democrats are looking more like Louis XVI than Tip O’Neill. Kick in the First Family’s vacation plans for Martha’s Vineyard, and there’s a real air of Marie Antoinette & Co. retreating to idyllic gardens, while Fox News whips up revolutionary flames. The ethics charges against Representative Charles Rangel of New York are added foie gras.”
NEW YORK TIMES: Prepare Yourself For Social Security’s Failure. So is this the hope, or the change?
Key quote: “One financial planner, who has dual citizenship in the United States and Greece, said he was not taking chances. ‘Having seen what happened in Greece, I feel even more strongly today that I should not count on any Social Security for me and my younger clients,’ said the planner, George Papadopoulos, 43, of Novi, Mich. ‘I will continue to tell clients not to highly rely on Social Security and think of any money coming their way as gravy.’”
This year's Miss Universe contest will take place on August 23. Whereas in recent years the big international pageants have been staged in exotic locations, this year's Miss Universe will be at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas.
The first controversy of the season has already erupted; it is in the entertaining rather than political category. Australians are up in arms because the "national costume" their contestant, Jesinta Campbell, will be required to wear is a "travesty:"
Now, is the outfit ridiculous? Of course! But what outraged Australians don't seem to realize is that, with rare exceptions, the getups that contestants are required to wear in the national costume portion of the Miss Universe pageant are completely bizarre.
HAVING a poor social network is just as likely to send you to an early grave as smoking or alcohol abuse.
A scientific review of 148 previous studies involving more than 300,000 people found that those with adequate social relationships were 50 per cent more likely to be alive after an average follow-up period of nearly eight years, compared to more socially isolated people.
