Kickstarter crowd gives glowing plant the green light

A glowing plant that could provide a sustainable light source has caught the imagination of backers on the crowdfunding website Kickstarter.

With a month still to go, the project has raised $243,000 (£157,000). Its initial goal was $65,000.

Backers are promised seeds for glowing plants, although delivery will not be until next May at the earliest.

The “biohacking” team behind the project said that in future trees could act as street lights.

The researchers are keen that their mix of DIY synthetic biology and sustainable lighting remains open-source.

“Inspired by fireflies… our team of Stanford-trained PhDs are using off-the-shelf methods to create real glowing plants in a do-it-yourself bio lab in California,” said project leader Antony Evans.

“All of the output from this project will be released open-source, the DNA constructs, the plants etc,” it said on its website.

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Why You Should Care: Printable Guns

The future of firearms is downloadable. Tim and his robopal discuss what would happen when new 3D technologies allow people to print out whatever they want, even guns.

‘Climb stairs’: Amputee to scale US skyscraper with thought-controlled bionic leg

Mr Vawter hoped to reach the top of the tower in an hour – longer than he would have taken before his amputation, but in less time than it would take him to use his normal prosthetic leg.

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‘Human barcode’ could make society more organized, but invades privacy, civil liberties

Would you barcode your baby?

Microchip implants have become standard practice for our pets, but have been a tougher sell when it comes to the idea of putting them in people.

Science fiction author Elizabeth Moon last week rekindled the debate on whether it’s a good idea to “barcode” infants at birth in an interview on a BBC radio program.

“I would insist on every individual having a unique ID permanently attached — a barcode if you will — an implanted chip to provide an easy, fast inexpensive way to identify individuals,” she said on The Forum, a weekly show that features “a global thinking” discussing a “radical, inspiring or controversial idea” for 60 seconds .

Moon believes the tools most commonly used for surveillance and identification — like video cameras and DNA testing — are slow, costly and often ineffective.

Obama Lord of the RIAA Copyright Trolls Movie Trailer

ACTA is being Created by the Nest of RIAA Copyright Trolls the USA President Obama Hand Picked for his Department of Justice!

What on earth is a Zuba Box? Community solutions you may never have thought of

There are many innovative and inexpensive ways of making life better for more of us. Check out this initiative that is helping certain African communities.

Every now and then when we post on how solar power is bringing the internet to rural Africa, or enabling the charging of mobile phones in poor communities, I’ll hear concerns from naysayers who wonder what these technologies might mean for traditional social structures in these remote areas.

Let’s leave aside the morally questionable issue of internet-connected critics worrying about access to the internet for others for a moment, and look at the core question—does internet connectivity threaten rural communities? Actually, if UK-based charity Computer Aid is anything to go by, the reverse is true.

From helping farmers to market their crops and communicate with veterinarians, to helping nursing students keep up to date with the latest research, access to the internet is providing rural Africans with the resources they need to keep their communities viable and slow the push of urbanization. Having seen how access to the internet had help support farmers, students and community institutions in the Zambian village of Macha, Computer Aid is now looking at how to bring that access to other communities that do not have the infrastructural benefits that Macha enjoys. (Macha was the location of a research station and Christian mission that facilitated the building of satellite internet.)

The solution is what has become known as the ZumbaBox—a shipping container with satellite-enabled wi-fi and solar panels on the roof, which houses one PC and a number of “virtual desktops” that villagers can use to study, communicate and stay connected to news and cultural events.

Below is a BBC report on what looks like an awesome project, and Business Green has an excellent write up of the use of ZumbaBoxes across Africa. Oh, and if anyone is out there communicating from a ZumbaBox, be sure to drop a note in the comments and tell is how you like it.

Almost ten months on and Fukushima officials finally admit their lack of preparedness

This is an issue that is facing countries all over the world that have at some time in their history embraced a technology that is dangerous at best and potentially calamitous at worst. Read more on how they are finally admitting fault.

A lack of preparedness for a disaster and failures in the response to it exacerbated the effects of the nuclear accident at Japan’s Fukushima plant in March, a new report says.

The government-commissioned study said plant operators and regulators had failed to adequately anticipate a huge tsunami and its likely impact.

The interim findings were issued by an independent panel set up in May.

More than 20,000 people were killed when an earthquake and tsunami struck.

Tens of thousands had to be evacuated as radiation leaked into the atmosphere, sea and food chain.

The six-reactor Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant was badly damaged by the earthquake and tsunami, with blasts occurring at four reactors after the cooling systems went offline.

Last week, the authorities declared the plant had been stabilised, but said it would take decades to dismantle it completely.

Lack of precautions

The panel said its aim was not to apportion blame for the disaster, but to learn why the accident happened in the way it did, AFP news agency reported.

Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco), the company which operated the plant, did not “take precautionary measures in anticipation that a severe accident could be caused by (a) tsunami such as the one (that) hit… Neither did the regulatory authorities,” the report said.

It also accused Tepco of failing to “incorporate measures against tsunamis exceeding the design basis. This indicates the limit of voluntary safety measures”.

Further, the government’s nuclear regulatory body “did not require Tepco to take specific measures, such as additional construction, after they received simulation results from Tepco in 2008 and early in 2011 regarding the impact of tsunamis on their facilities”.

Tepco’s own report on the disaster, by contrast, said there was no way it could have been prepared for a 9.0 magnitude quake and huge waves that triggered meltdowns and explosions at the plant.

The panel’s report said the situation was also made worse by;

• delays in relaying information to the public
• managers’ lack of knowledge of procedures to deal with emergencies
• poor communications – between the workers and the government, among the workers themselves, and between government bodies.

“Collection of accurate and most up-to-date information is a pre-requisite for timely and appropriate decision-making. This issue, together with the need for providing information to the nation, is of a major concern,” it said.

It said Tepco staff at the plant were not trained to handle emergencies like the power shutdown that struck when the tsunami destroyed back-up generators, AP news agency reported.

Staff also misunderstood problems that arose with the cooling systems for reactors 1 and 3.

‘Unprepared’

The 506-page report was based on interviews with more than 450 people, including government officials and plant workers.

The 12-member panel is headed by Yotaro Hatamura – an engineering professor at Tokyo University who specialises in the study of failures – and includes seismologists, former diplomats and judges.

It was set up in May by then prime minister Naoto Kan, and is expected to issue its final report in mid-2012.

In an earlier report, submitted to the UN nuclear watchdog, the Japanese government said it had been unprepared for a nuclear accident on the scale of the one at the Fukushima plant.

Why the Mythbusters won’t do RFID (last hope Adam Savage)

Adam Savage at The Last Hope explaining why there will never be RFID on Mythbusters.

Honey I lost my nuke?

In a major and long term cover up, whose revelation has been so long in coming because of laws that would put whistleblowers in jail for life, the British government is scrambling to figure out whatever happened with their lost nukes, Yes, folks British nukes are missing. For more info read this article that appeared on the Intel Hub;

Did we the British public know that our current Prime Minister was instrumental in the loss of three illegal nuclear weapons?

Is the UK frantically trying to find out where they were sold on the “Black Market”?

We know something that you don’t…… but can’t talk about it Under the Nuclear Explosions Act otherwise we will all end up in gaol for life.

Chris McGreal of the Guardian newspaper published an article 24th of May 2010 revealing how Israeloffered to sell nukes to South Africa during the apartheid era.

What he failed to reveal was that Israel struck up a deal with South Africa to move its technicians down to the high-security weapons research and development facilities at Pelindaba.

It was at this location that the Israeli technicians managed to covertly give themselves nuclear weapons but also under the table gave South Africa its own nuclear capability but guess what?…….the US and UK knew all about the programme but the UN did not!!!…….what was even more amazing was the fact that the UN sent a team to South Africa where they were convinced that South Africa had curtailed its nuclear weapons programme when in actual fact it had not!!

It is fairly obvious why Israel is totally consumed in trying to find these stolen weapon and needless to say the US and British Governments are equally as concerned and yet are not in a position to admit to their loss as in doing so would incriminate past and current very senior politicians including our current Prime Minister David Cameron.

It always appear to be the case that your past always comes back to haunt you. So let’s just recall the history behind these weapons that were designed and commissioned all during the UN embargo years and who was allegedly involved.

I must also make it quite clear that many of the world leaders and senior members of government have been involved in these under the table deals which has resulted in many of them accumulating much wealth either for the party election funds or for their own personal gain.

When one further considers that these faceless individuals not only govern out country but are also directly responsible for the death of millions of people both military staff and civilians it is extremely hard to understand.

How can any government have such a flawed intelligence network and allow such things to take place without some sort of audit to see what is going on behind the scenes.

We have seen both the US, UK, EU and Israel transfer almost everything from chemical and biological weapons to nuclear part to countries which they have since called the “Axis of Evil.”………..that statement is not totally true because the “Axis of Evil” is right here in the heart of London!!

It was in the late 1970 when the South African nuclear programme started to go into full swing with the compliments of the Israeli scientists resulting in the first test and only test firing of a nuclear weapon.

The test took place on a moored vessel anchored off Prince Edward Island on the 22nd of September 1979 when a typical double flash was observed from a passing US satellite.

One has to understand that this was all under the radar of the United Nations with the full knowledge of selected members of the US and British Governments. The US immediately went on the defensive by creating their “False Flag” report known as the “Vela Incident” in which they explained the following:

The conclusions of the Presidential panel (the Ad Hoc Panel) were reassuring, as they suggested that the most likely explanation of the Vela detection was a meteoroid hitting the satellite – in part because of the discrepancy in bhangmeter readings Others who examined the data, including the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), the national laboratories, and defense contractors reached a very different conclusion – that the data supported the conclusion that on 22 September 1979, Vela 6911 had detected a nuclear detonation.

What I find ironic here is the fact that several agencies confirmed it was a nuclear explosion but the US Government conveniently put it to bed.

I can assure you that through my own scientific contacts in the US this did actually happen and an internal memo at the Los Alamos nuclear research facility confirmed that it had been a nuclear explosion. One has to understand the high stakes involved in such programmes, especially when vast sums of money are being banded around senior political figures. This is truly corruption at its best!

The joint venture (Israel – South Africa) created 10 Battlefield Bombs and after the first test that left nine. The bombs were designed to be highly mobile and reasonably compact and could be carried by the British Canberra bomber or the Buccaneer.

It became apparent in later years that the supremacy of white power in South Africa was about to finish and so they had to open up discussion with the Americans and British as they feared these weapons getting into the hands of the blacks.

It was during this time that a decision was made to ship all nine bombs to Chicago for de commissioning. However, our dear “Iron Lady” Maggie Thatcher decided that it would be a good idea to maybe acquire a few of the weapons for possible use against Iraq in the event Saddam did not toe the line.

Thatcher then ordered her Page Boy, David Cameron, to go down to South Africa along with what was believed to be the only technical man available (non other than the now( Sir) Kenneth Warren).

Others also believed to be implicated was David Wilshire and many other senior members of government. In actual fact as we follow this charade up to the current time we could possible include other very senior person such as Lord McAlpine, Peter Lilley, Alan Clarke and Ken Clarke and others I have previously named in other articles. The late Dr. David Kelly was also involved.

We have to remember that this was almost a private sector deal with many political figures implicated some of whom became share holders in the illegal nuke purchase. We are talking here about an extremely high risk deal, with little security for the weapons themselves as everything had to be done in a low key covert way.

As we already know David Cameron was able to secure a deal for his lady mentor, Maggie Thatcher, and returned with a deal for three nuclear weapons.

They were shipped to Oman whereby they were put in private sector storage and eventually stolen by John Bredenkamp, the arms dealer who sold them to Britain and then stole them back to sell on the Black marketand the rest is now history.

We have to understand that British Tax Payers money was then placed in the Conservative Party Electoral Fund (£17.8m) which to this day has not been accounted for and other money was made available to Tony Blair (£1m) compliments of Bernie Ecclesone.

On top of this a slush fund was also developed to silence other third parties that knew of the deal and our dear Mr. Ken Clarke then implemented his gagging orders to those involved!!

I guess you do not believe this story……why don’t you check it out yourself it is written in Hansard 22nd June 1993, and starting at Col. 197 when Lord Doug Hoyle raised the issue in the House as follows:

“Mr Hoyle: If the hon. Gentleman will allow me, I shall tell him what information is now given to us. We understand the expenditure and what Tory central office receives.

In 1992, central office received £20.7 million. When we asked about that and about company donations, the Tory party told us to look at company accounts. I repeat: in 1992, the Tories received £20.7 million. When the records were checked by Companies house, only £2.9 198million was shown in company accounts. That means that there is a deficit of £17.8 million. We want to know where that £17.8 million came from.

Mr Tim Smith: The hon. Gentleman has made the suggestion about the accounts of the Conservative party that was made by a member of the Select Committee last week: that no accounts had been published between 1979 and 1983. They were published, and I undertook to send copies to the Select Committee.

Mr Hoyle: I gave way to the hon. Gentleman because I expected him to tell me where the difference of £17.8 million came from. I shall give way again to him. I am told that he is a treasurer of the Conservative party.

I give way to him now so that he can stand up and tell us where the £17.8 million came from. Does the hon. Gentleman care to do that? I am waiting. I do not think that we shall get the information from the horse’s mouth. We certainly did not get it from the Secretary of State.”

I could write article after article on the many levels of corruption that occurred in both the US and the UK (not forgetting Israel) and the terrible consequences of this greed resulting in the death of many of our own troops and innocent civilians….all for their own pocket.

Solid evidence proves that over the period of 1982-90 Iraq was supplied by the US and UK with WMD, including biological cultures and chemical precursors of nerve gases etc.

U.S. To Arm United Arab Emirates With Bunker Buster Bombs

In this video clip below you will see how we are moving closer to war with Iran. Why else would we arm the UAE with bombs that they do not have the aircraft to use. Warmongering has become the policy of our nation while our people go hungry, our classrooms have less teachers and our workers can not find jobs. Seems like a mess to me but at least we can still talk about it and make our voices heard. As always it is imperative to stay aware of what is going on.

Watch the video here on you tube

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