Decades

Visiting Sesame Street — As mentioned, yesterday we found ourselves on Sesame Street, where even the sunny days couldn't sweep the rain clouds away—but Elmo & Co. sure made it all seem a little bit brighter. Speaking of the lil red guy, he had a message for you all: The series is now filming their 40th season, which will begin airing next November. From Big Bird's doors, to the stoop, to Oscar's garbage can...the set has pretty much remained the same for all those decades, while PBS and the show remain ad-free (check out some of the brands on the shelf at Hooper's). And... [Tags: amp, big bird, decades, doors, elmo]

Eco Bikes: Foldable bike tries to solve energy crisis — Eco Factor: Concept bike generates electricity while keeping you fit. Earlier we saw the “Scarab” concept car that we thought was designed for the next James Bond flick. Now we have the Grasshopper bike that too comes from the design house of David Gonçalves. This designer bike does much more than keeping your fit and saving some cash you would have spent on fuel for your car – It generates electricity through regenerative braking and stationary bicycling. The aim of the design is to satisfy those who love to bike in normal everyday life. The Dark Side: We appreciate... [Tags: aim, capabilities, concept bike, concept car, decades]

WSJ Editor Thomson: Buy Print Ads...Because Readers Just Ignore The Online Ones — Is there hope for newspapers after all? The Wall Street Journal's Managing Editor Robert Thomson says "yes." Why? Because advertisers who tried the Internet are returning to the safety of dead trees: Reuters: [Advertisers] are seeking to spend money in ways that are proven by decades of experience, said Thomson. "People are looking for a safe harbor in times of turbulence." Thomson believes that advertisers are starting to understand that consumers often ignore ads in other media because they are doing other things at the same time that sap their attention.With papers, the ads may be more valuable because they... [Tags: advertisers, consumers, cup of coffee, dead trees, decades]

Eco Delight: 10 amazing pedal-powered machines — The day when we would be using machines that won’t be powered by the little socket somewhere in the wall is still a couple of decades away. But this does not keep some designers and inventors from thinking that the calories burnt during exercising can solve the energy crisis to some extent by powering daily use machines with pedal-power. These machines not only serve the purpose they are actually built for but they also reduce the number of hours you spend in a gymnasium. Here we have compiled a list of ten awesome machines that are powered by nothing... [Tags: calories, decades, designers, energy crisis, extent]

No relief in sight as radio ad revenue declines — NEW YORK (Billboard) - Newly released data suggests that the U.S. radio industry could be on track to record its worst annual drop in ad revenue in decades.... [Tags: billboard, decades, radio industry]

Sick Babies Denied Treatment Thanks To Patents — One of the most ridiculous extensions of patent coverage in the past few decades was the decision to allow patents on "genes" for those who discover the genes. Patents aren't supposed to be allowed for things occurring in nature, and it's difficult to see how that doesn't apply to something as basic as genes. Yet, as an anonymous reader wrote in to point out, down in Australia, a company with a patent on a specific gene is causing babies with a severe form of epilepsy to have to delay both diagnosis and treatment. In fact, the delay in treating the... [Tags: anonymous reader, australia, brain damage, decades, diagnosis]

MIT solves plasma problem for clean fusion energy, helps France —  MIT researchers have solved a major problem in the area of fusion power research - how to safely, accurately and in a controlled way, contain and stabilize the hot plasma core of a fusion reaction without losing heat or creating turbulence. While still "decades away," according to researchers, from generating more power than it consumes, this latest research takes us over one huge hurdle and paves the way for France's upcoming 10x larger fusion reactor, ITER.... [Tags: decades, fusion energy, fusion power, fusion reaction, fusion reactor]

Researchers Call For Fragile X Testing Throughout The Lifespan — Researchers urge physicians to test for mutations of the fragile X gene in patients of all ages. That's because, after decades of research, it is clear that mutations in this gene cause a range of diseases, including neurodevelopmental delays and autism in children, infertility in women and neurodegenerative disease in older adults.... [Tags: autism in children, decades, diseases, fragile x, infertility]

Migrating Marine Animals May Follow Magnetic Fields — It’s a question that has fascinated scientists for decades: When sea ...... [Tags: decades, magnetic fields, marine animals, scientists]

Recession Could Thin Auto Dealer Ranks — Domestic auto dealers face their worst market in decades. Thousands could go out of business, but that's not necessarily all bad. The domestic auto industry suffers from over-capacity. Detroit's Big Three would like to thin dealerships, but can't because of state franchise laws and contracts. » E-Mail This     » Add to Del.icio.us... [Tags: auto dealer, auto dealers, contracts, decades, domestic auto industry]

Secret Geek A-Team Hacks Back, Defends Worldwide Web [Voices] — By Joshua Davis, Contributing Writer, Wired When DNS was created in 1983, it was designed to be helpful and trusting—it’s directory assistance, after all. It was a time before hacker conventions and Internet banking. Plus, there were only a few hundred servers to keep track of. Today, the humble protocol stores the location of a billion Web addresses and routes every piece of Internet traffic in the world. Security specialists have been revamping and strengthening DNS for more than two decades. But buried beneath all this tinkering, there is an almost childlike core. Read the rest of this post... [Tags: conventions, decades, directory assistance, hacker, hacks]

New insights on fusion power — Research carried out at MIT's Alcator C-Mod fusion reactor may have brought the promise of fusion as a future power source a bit closer to reality, though scientists caution that a practical fusion powerplant is still decades away.... [Tags: decades, fusion power, fusion reactor, future power, new insights]

Shanghai abuzz over possibility of a new Disneyland — Many Chinese believe it's just a matter of weeks, if not days, before a deal is announced for a theme park in the Asian nation's largest city. But a Disney spokeswoman says there's no deal. For two decades Chinese officials and Walt Disney Co. have batted around ideas for a theme park in the eastern fringes of Shanghai, only to see them go nowhere.... [Tags: asian nation, chinese officials, decades, disney, disneyland]

Poll: Americans Remain Broadly Supportive Of Labor Unions — Americans remain broadly supportive of labor unions, as they have been over the past seven decades, including a 59% approval rating for unions in Gallup's most recent update from August. Organized labor unions played an important part in helping Democrat Barack Obama get elected president this year, by providing financial support and manpower for the campaign. Labor leaders now hope that the new administration and Congress will pass legislation favorable to their cause, including steps to make it easier for company workforces to unionize.... [Tags: approval rating, barack obama, congress, decades, democrat]

The Grinch sues Countrywide over loan modifications — Filed under: Law, Bank of America (BAC), Housing Everyone cheered when Countrywide Financial, owned by Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), agreed to modify loans under a settlement with 11 state attorneys general reached in October. Everyone, that is, except the people who held those mortgages and stood to lose hundreds of millions of dollars as a result of slashed balances and reduced interest rates. So Greenwich Financial Services has filed a lawsuit in a New York state court, arguing that Countrywide does not have the right to unilaterally modify as many as 400,000 loans. “Loan modifications have been occurring... [Tags: 401 k, bac, bank of america, contracts, countrywide financial]

Polanski seeks dismissal of decades-old sex charge — LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Oscar-winning film director and fugitive Roman Polanski asked a Los Angeles court on Tuesday to dismiss a 30-year-old charge of unlawful sex with a minor, his lawyers said.... [Tags: decades, film director, lawyers, old sex, reuters]

Just today, I ran across an article that reported that three New Jersey state legislators have introduced a bill that would prevent the state from doing business with companies that outsource jobs. This is a great recent example of a practice that is virtually guaranteed to create unintended consequences, while doing relatively little to address the social problems that prompted it. Years ago, I was quite involved with the City of New York's procurement operation. Decades of accumulated rules had built up to do everything from make sure that the bidding process was ethical to ensuring that a portion of... [Tags: business practices, checks, citizens, decades, doing business]

Does The US Need A New Kind Of Tax? — It's called a value-added tax, or VAT, and it's been used for decades to pay the bills and sustain the immense growth of governments around the world, from France to Mexico to Australia. Created in 1954 by a French economist, the VAT is the most potent, efficient machine for revenue generation yet invented. And if there's one thing the U.S. government needs as the federal budget balloons, it's a ton of new revenue. "The bottom line is that the income tax cannot support the level of spending that's projected, something other countries faced years ago," said Roberton Williams of the... [Tags: australia, bottom line, decades, federal budget, french economist]

Chasing Value: Berkshire - you’re selling, I’m buying! — Filed under: Rants and raves, General Electric (GE), Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A), Goldman Sachs Group (GS), Chasing Value, Best Stocks for 2008 It was only seven weeks ago that I posted Chasing Value: Considering Berkshire Hathaway… again. At the time, Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.B) was trading around $3,850 for the “B” shares. Well, I think the time for consideration is over and this morning I placed a limit order for the stock. I think the time is right when stories like Berkshire Hathaway at Lowest Close Since Feb. 2007 and my colleague Peter Cohan’s Warren Buffett is not perfect are... [Tags: berkshire hathaway, best stocks, brk b, colleague, decades]

First Books on Heller Published — This summer the Supreme Court had its first opportunity in seven decades to decide a question at the heart of one of America's most impassioned debates: Do Americans have the right to possess guns? Two new books now present a...... [Tags: debates, decades, first books, guns, heart]