blogworldpeace: (via Breakthrough in hydrogen fuel production could revolutionize alternative energy market) A team of Virginia Tech researchers has discovered a way to extract large quantities of hydrogen from any plant, a breakthrough that has the potential to bring a low-cost, environmentally friendly fuel source to the world. … Zhang and his team have succeeded in using xylose, the most abundant simple plant sugar, to produce a large quantity of hydrogen that previously was attainable only in theory. Zhang’s method can be performed using any source of biomass. This new environmentally friendly method of producing hydrogen utilizes renewable natural resources, releases almost no greenhouse gasses, and does not require costly or heavy metals. Unlike gas-powered engines that spew out pollutants, the only byproduct of hydrogen fuel is water. Zhang’s discovery opens the door to an inexpensive, renewable source of hydrogen.
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blogworldpeace:

(via Breakthrough in hydrogen fuel production could revolutionize alternative energy market)

A team of Virginia Tech researchers has discovered a way to extract large quantities of hydrogen from any plant, a breakthrough that has the potential to bring a low-cost, environmentally friendly fuel source to the world.

…

Zhang and his team have succeeded in using xylose, the most abundant simple plant sugar, to produce a large quantity of hydrogen that previously was attainable only in theory. Zhang’s method can be performed using any source of biomass.

This new environmentally friendly method of producing hydrogen utilizes renewable natural resources, releases almost no greenhouse gasses, and does not require costly or heavy metals.

Unlike gas-powered engines that spew out pollutants, the only byproduct of hydrogen fuel is water. Zhang’s discovery opens the door to an inexpensive, renewable source of hydrogen.

thedailyfeed: According to a recent report by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, 70 federal agencies owe a combined $14 million in overdue taxes — and the IRS can’t even go after them. “IRS employees are severely limited in what enforcement actions they can take against these delinquent agencies,” the report states. “Federal agencies should be held to the same filing and paying standards as all American taxpayers.” If these were private, mom-and-pop shops, the IRS could fine them, put liens against them or confiscate their assets. But because of a 1978 law, the IRS is forbidden from collecting fines or penalties, or taking punitive enforcement action against delinquent federal agencies And public shaming won’t even work, as all of the delinquent agency names are blacked out. “That’s an outrage,” said Scott Hodge, president of the Tax Foundation in Washington, D.C. “If agencies can be anonymous or hide from public scrutiny, you can’t even embarrass them, and that means there’s no accountability at all now.”
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thedailyfeed:

According to a recent report by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, 70 federal agencies owe a combined $14 million in overdue taxes — and the IRS can’t even go after them.

“IRS employees are severely limited in what enforcement actions they can take against these delinquent agencies,” the report states. “Federal agencies should be held to the same filing and paying standards as all American taxpayers.”

If these were private, mom-and-pop shops, the IRS could fine them, put liens against them or confiscate their assets. But because of a 1978 law, the IRS is forbidden from collecting fines or penalties, or taking punitive enforcement action against delinquent federal agencies

And public shaming won’t even work, as all of the delinquent agency names are blacked out.

“That’s an outrage,” said Scott Hodge, president of the Tax Foundation in Washington, D.C. “If agencies can be anonymous or hide from public scrutiny, you can’t even embarrass them, and that means there’s no accountability at all now.”

Judge: An IP-Address Doesn’t Identify a Person (or BitTorrent Pirate)

New York Judge Gary Brown explains why an IP-address is not sufficient evidence to identify copyright infringers… this lack of specific evidence means that many alleged BitTorrent pirates have been wrongfully accused by copyright holders.

An IP address provides only the location at which one of any number of computer devices may be deployed, much like a telephone number can be used for any number of telephones.

Thus, it is no more likely that the subscriber to an IP address carried out a particular computer function – here the purported illegal downloading of a single pornographic film – than to say an individual who pays the telephone bill made a specific telephone call.

Source: torrentfreak.com

Man Gouges Out His Eyes During Mass

And I quote:

People gouge their eyes out for all kinds of reasons, but usually it’s because of mental illness or extreme emotional trauma. The surgeons who tried to save Bianchini’s sight say he heard “voices” that told him to rip out his eyes. In 2005, R&B singer Houston gouged out one of his eyes with a plastic fork after a suicide attempt. Also in 2005, Eugene Roman—a Florida man who’s been diagnosed with schizophrenia—gouged out his eyes while in jail; he’s now in prison for gouging out his wife’s eyes. And in 2009, Texas death row inmate Andre Thomas—who is totally sane, according to the state of Texas—not only gouged out one of his eyes but ate it. He’d already gouged out the other eye, so now he’s blind.

Wish I recorded my reaction to that paragraph.

Gamers Solve Molecular Puzzle that Baffled Scientists

Video-game players have solved a molecular puzzle that stumped scientists for years, and those scientists say the accomplishment could point the way to crowdsourced cures for AIDS and other diseases.

[…]

The feat, which was accomplished using a collaborative online game called Foldit, is also one giant leap for citizen science — a burgeoning field that enlists Internet users to look for alien planets, decipher ancient texts and do other scientific tasks that sheer computer power can’t accomplish as easily.

[…]

The game is designed so that players can manipulate virtual molecular structures that look like multicolored, curled-up Tinkertoy sets. The virtual molecules follow the same chemical rules that are obeyed by real molecules.

[…]

“This was really kind of a last-ditch effort,” he [Firas Khatib] recalled. “Can the Foldit players really solve it?”

They could. “They actually did it in less than 10 days.”

Alan Boyle for Cosmic Log

Source: MSN

Dougherty Gang: Fugitive Stripper & Bros Shoot at Cops, Heist Banks, Lead 8-Day Cross-Country Manhunt from Florida to Colorado

The Central Florida siblings—Ryan Edward Dougherty, Dylan Dougherty Stanley, and Lee Grace E. Dougherty—led authorities on a 2,000-mile, cross-country chase, collecting ammo, and a surprising number of fans, along the way. Like Bonnie and Clyde of the Great Depression, the Great Recession’s Dougherty siblings have drawn a fair number of supporters who cheered them for breaking the law.

” I love to farm and shoot guys and wreck cars. I’m a redneck and proud of it. I like milk and German engineering and causing mayhem with my siblings.” — Grace Dougherty

It’s all a little bit romantic. …in a felonious, bank heisting, cop shooting, guns blazing, wild west sort of way.

Source: thedailybeast.com