Free Republic

Progress Toward the Dream of Space Drives and Stargates by Paul Gilster on May 23, 2011 by James F. WoodwardI first wrote about James Woodward’s work in my 2004 book Centauri Dreams: Imagining and Planning Interstellar Exploration, and have often been asked since to comment further on his research. But it’s best to leave that to the man himself, and I’m pleased to turn today’s post over to him. A bit of biography: Jim Woodward earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in physics at Middlebury College and New York University (respectively) in the 1960s. From his undergraduate days, his chief...

Techniques that reliably erase hard disk drives don't produce the same results for solid state drives, warn University of California at San Diego researchers.Solid state drives (SSDs) have a small security problem: they're tough to erase. That warning comes from researchers at the University of California at San Diego. "Sanitization is well-understood for traditional magnetic storage, such as hard drives and tapes," said the researchers' in their study summary. "Newer solid state disks, however, have a much different internal architecture, so it is unclear whether what has worked on magnetic media will work on SSDs as well." Accordingly, the researchers...

WASHINGTON, Sep. 4, 2006 -- Bruce Gorman is driven, literally, in demonstrating his belief that Americans should close ranks against terrorism and never forget the people who were killed during the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States. Bruce Gorman poses inside his 36-foot-long International bus parked on the Pentagon’s north parking lot Sept. 2. Photo by Gerry J. Gilmore  '(Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Gorman retired from the Navy in January as a petty officer first class with 20 years’ service. Since then, the 47-year-old former religious program specialist has poured time, energy and money into a...

Orange County has given birth to and/or nurtured its share of people and organizations that have powerfully impacted the Republican Party -- for good or ill. Richard Nixon was born here, and Ronald Reagan's political home base was here. The state's two leading GOP groups -- the Lincoln Club of Orange County and the New Majority -- also originated here. The Lincoln Club was formed in the wake of the bitter 1962 gubernatorial primary between Richard Nixon and Joe Schell. The purpose was to "build Republican strength by lowering the intensity of intra-party warfare and making party politics more orderly...

California's Republican governor and top Democratic lawmakers are talking tough, prompt action to battle climate change, yet unlike its pioneering restrictions on air pollutants, the state is taking more measured steps in regulating greenhouse gases. In fact, Sacramento could end up pushing Washington into action but lagging behind the federal government when it comes to curbing greenhouse emissions. Last week, Democrats led by Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez and Assemblywoman Fran Pavley, D-Woodland Hills,filed legislation calling for mandatory reporting of greenhouse gas emissions by major emitters in January 2008 and a gradual capping of those emissions starting in 2012. Gov. Arnold...

South Florida drivers who don't ''move over'' when they see the flashing lights of a law enforcement officer or medic working on the roadside may find themselves in trouble this week. While some troopers are stopping speeders on several freeways across the region, others will be lurking on nearby overpasses ready to target motorists who don't vacate the lane closest to the shoulder where officers have the speeders stopped. ''People are not aware of the move-over law, or they are completely ignoring it,'' Florida Highway Patrol Lt. Pat Santangelo said of the legislation passed in 2002. Here's how the project...

Hillary dumps Bush's 'mess' in new cartoon commercial Senator shown as pant-suited garbage lady who says she'll need 2 terms to clean up Posted: August 1, 2005 3:45 p.m. Eastern 2005 WorldNetDaily.com Hillary Clinton drives a garbage truck in new ad pushing her for president Even though no formal announcement has been made regarding a bid for the White House, Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., is starring in an animated commercial pushing for her to be the next president. The 30-second spot, sponsored by HillaryNow.com, shows the former first lady dressed up as a sanitation worker dumping what appears to be...

Tax records, resumes, photo albums--the modern hard drive can keep increasingly larger volumes of information at the ready. But that can turn into a problem when it comes to effectively erasing the devices. There are a number of options for cleansing the drives of unwanted computers, from special wiping software to destruction services to manufacturers' recycling programs. But what many PC owners don't realize, experts say, is that these methods are often not enough.

Much discussed among computer circles is the so-called end of Moore's Law and its predictions of ever-smaller, faster circuits. Less known is a challenge facing the next generation of hard disk drives: lubricant coatings that can hold up to faster speeds and denser data. Perfluoropolyethers (PFPEs), the current industry standard, are running up against the polymer's limits in protecting hard drives against daily wear and tear. So University of Illinois PhD candidate Wei Xiao developed an entirely new lubricant, based on inexpensive and abundant polyester. She presented her work today for the first time at the 228th national meeting of...

Sept. 26— On your wedding day you assume you'll have a long future together filled with love, intimacy, maybe kids, and of course, sex. Cheryl Wolfe assumed sex would be part of her marriage. Watch John Stossel's full report on 20/20 this Friday at 10 p.m. She was mistaken. "Marriage was never consummated … The day we got married there was no sexual relationship at all, no honeymoon night and from that point forward — nothing," Wolfe said. She isn't alone. Marriage therapists estimate as many as 20 percent of couples are mired in low-sex or no-sex marriages, and surprisingly...

In Southern California -- land of the motel, the drive-in restaurant, the strip mall and other trappings of the car culture -- there's nothing quite so irksome as the car tax. It's the subject of endless scorn on AM talk radio from Los Angeles to San Diego. It crops up in casual conversation at dinner parties. And, thanks largely to state Sen. Tom McClintock, it's a regular on the campaign trail in the Oct. 7 recall. McClintock, R-Thousand Oaks, has fashioned his gubernatorial campaign to tap that rich vein of anger, plastering ``Stop the Car Tax'' slogans on every poster,...

settore: Tecnologia   Evento: Nuovi Prodotti   GIBBS TECHNOLOGIES ( Ticker :  ) PRLine 03/09/2003GIBBS-TECHNOLOGIES presenta la tecnologia per mezzi anfibi ad alta velocità; dimostrazione effettuata con Aquada - primo esempio al mondo di veicolo anfibio sportivo ad alta velocità (BW) Redazione economica LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)-3 Settembre, 2003--A coronamento di uno dei progetti ingegneristici più esaltanti nella storia britannica, è stata presentata oggi dalla Gibbs Technologies la tecnologia High Speed Amphibian, o HSA, per veicoli anfibi ad alta velocità. The development of HSA technology has enabled Gibbs to turn the concept of a vehicle that can deliver high speed on both road and...