Bits and Pieces
CUMMUNITY SERVICE - Last March, Army Specialist Michael Walker returned from a 10-month tour in Afghanistan to his wife and 4 kids. On the drive home from Fort Stewart, the family learned that their Gainesville, GA home had burned to the ground that same day. Ruled to be an accident caused by the clothes dryer, the family lost everything that day, a day that was supposed to be a joyous homecoming and reunion. Recently, Habitat for Humanity of Hall County announced that the Walker family will be the recipient of a new Habitat Home. Due to start construction soon, The Delaney Co. will be donating all of the locks, trim, hinges, and bath accessories for this family's new house. And yes, the Walker Family will be proud owners of a PRIVEX AP501 Digital Deadbolt. You can read more about the Walker's story on the Hall County Habitat for Humanity Website. http://whttp://www.habitathallcounty.org/
TECHNOLOGY - By decade's end...cars that drive themselves and fold up to fit in tiny spaces. GM's prototype EN-V (Electric Networked Vehicle) is just a third of the length and weight of today's average car, thanks to an all-electric, rechargeable power system. There's no bulky engine, transmission or braking system, plus it has built-in smarts to navigate on its own and avoid hitting other vehicles. The all-electric CityCar, developed by the Mass. Institute of Technology, can squeeze its eight-foot length into a more compact five feet for parking, allowing it to fit in teeny urban spots. Promising developments in battery technology that will advance electric cars
are closer at hand: A123 Systems is ramping up production of lithium batteries...its Michigan plant will turn out 40,000 or so a year by mid- to late 2011. Other makers, including Johnson Controls-Saft, Japan's Panasonic and Sanyo, and a subsidiary of South Korea's LG Chem called Compact Power, are also hard at work on batteries that will crank out more power and extend the driving range of cars between charges. Electric boats, airplanes and even combat vehicles are in the works as well.
LATEST POLITICAL PARTY - Tomorrow is the time to exercise your right as a United States citizen and vote. In most cases, the choice is between a Republican and a Democrat. Yes, I know...in many cases it's simply the lesser of two evils. Even so, get out there and do your civic duty. If you're in New York State you'll find a new political party is on the ballot. When you vote for the Governor of New York, you might choose the Republican, Carl Paladino, or the Democrat, Andrew Cuomo. Or if you're tired of the two-party system, consider the RDH candidate, Jimmy McMillan. What is the RDH, you say? CLICK HERE to better understand The Rent Is Too Damn High Party. Turn up the volume...
RETAIL - Retailers figure they'll have to slash prices again this holiday season. But they're hoping to make up in volume what they lose in profit margin. The strategy: Offer hefty discounts on toys, teen clothing and private-label exclusives that are sure both to draw customers in and to sell in quantity. Then hope shoppers will dole out full price for additional merchandise, such as holiday decorations. It's a risky move, but one that most retailers think they have to take. The promotional pricing could cost them up to one percentage point of sales growth. If it works, expect holiday sales to climb about 3% over last year's level. Look for early specials, too. Retailers will want to establish their low-price reputations before Black Friday. It'll also give them a chance to test various marketing campaigns.
LAW ENFORCEMENT - It no longer takes an alert police officer to spot a stolen car. In fact, it no longer takes a human at all, just a cruiser equipped with the Mobile Plate Hunter-900. Built by ELSAG North America, the system records license plate numbers and checks them against a list of stolen cars. Two infrared digital cameras mounted on the trunk of a cruiser can read as many as 3600 license plates per minute, day or night, far more than any police officer will encounter. Plate numbers are checked against a database of stolen and wanted plates. The database, maintained by local police and the FBI, is updated twice daily. When the system detects a match, an in-car notebook PC alerts the driver with a beep. The police officer can then decide what action to take. ELSAG says its system is in use by nearly 1,000 agencies in the U.S. and has helped make more than 5,000 arrests and recover more than 10,000 stolen vehicles.
BUSINESS - Personal bar codes on your business card? Yes, indeed! Putting a digital code on your business card can allow folks you meet to scan contact information directly into smart phones or other mobile devices on the spot, ensuring correct spelling and phone numbers.
BIG MOUTH - Think you've got a big mouth? Check this guy out. His name is Francisco Domingo Joaquim but he's better known as "Chiquinho." I don't actually know what that means, but I'm sure it has something to do with the fact that his mouth is nearly 7 inches long. As you can see from this photo, it's so wide he can fit a soda can inside it... sideways. That's a heckuva trick.
As Ed Mazza writes at AOL News, the 20-year-old Angolan often entertains the crowds at soccer matches and in street markets by putting various objects into his 6.69-inch orifice. Chiquinho is one of the new entries in Guinness World Records 2011, with the world's biggest mouth. That's quite a feat, particularly around Election Day.