I haven’t had much to say about Bob Zubrin’s new book, other than to point to reviews of it. This is mostly because I haven’t read it, or even the excerpt in the current issue of The New Atlantis. Well, here are a couple more. Neither Shubber Ali, or Ken Silber are that impressed.

An interesting result I hadn’t seen before. I’ll sometimes go all day without eating, just because I don’t have the time, or get around to it. But I never do a whole twenty-four hours. I wonder if the effect works at all for a two-thirds day fast? Of course, for people with blood-sugar problems, it would be kind of tough to do. Lots of other interesting stuff over at Future Pundit as well (as usual) including robot sex, eco-disaster tourism, huge battery breakthroughs, and other things.

There’s apparently a military application for what I thought was an advertising technology:

It appears that some of the troops in Iraq are using “spoken” (as opposed to “screeching”) LRAD to mess with enemy fighters. Islamic terrorists tend to be superstitious and, of course, very religious. LRAD can put the “word of God” into their heads. If God, in the form of a voice that only you can hear, tells you to surrender, or run away, what are you gonna do?

What’s cool about this weapon is that it’s one that will be particularly effective with this enemy. If it happened to me, the voice of God isn’t the first theory that I would come up with, since I’m an unbeliever, but with these guys, it probably would be.

Ron Paul’s supporters and a former Federal Election Commissioner are turning the operation of political speech inside out by turning individual donors into political organizations and the delivery vehicle (pun intended) into a for-profit universal-access media company. Bravo! Or as On the Media puts it:

…a campaign reform loophole as big as the Ron Paul blimp.

Expect ever tighter epicycles from the FEC to try to hold back the Internet and the innovative business processes that low transactions costs make available via personal computers and the Internet. They will nullify all limitations on free speech.

To the transistor, which will be sixty years old tomorrow.

It has to be in the top five all-time inventions.

Toshiba has come up with a lithium battery that can get to a 90% charge in five minutes. This is huge for electric cars, if it pans out. Anyone want to work out how much power/voltage/current that would be for the equivalent of a tank of gas?

Toshiba has come up with a lithium battery that can get to a 90% charge in five minutes. This is huge for electric cars, if it pans out. Anyone want to work out how much power/voltage/current that would be for the equivalent of a tank of gas?

Toshiba has come up with a lithium battery that can get to a 90% charge in five minutes. This is huge for electric cars, if it pans out. Anyone want to work out how much power/voltage/current that would be for the equivalent of a tank of gas?

This is kind of disturbing:

The billboard uses technology manufactured by Holosonic that transmits an “audio spotlight” from a rooftop speaker so that the sound is contained within your cranium. The technology, ideal for museums and libraries or environments that require a quiet atmosphere for isolated audio slideshows, has rarely been used on such a scale before. For random passersby and residents who have to walk unwittingly through the area where the voice will penetrate their inner peace, it’s another story.

I predict a lawsuit at some point.

For that special geek in your life, here’s a list of Christmasholiday gift suggestions. And here’s a list of things to be sure not to get him or her–the ten worst gadgets of 2007.