from Physorg.com

http://www.physorg.com/news96891553.html

"Nanogap-nanohole devices can be used in the manufacture of single-molecule detectors and provide new opportunities for DNA nanopore sequencing."

Scientists have developed a way to "hand craft" nano devices with features smaller than 10 nanometers for the first time. Apparently this may allow the creation of machines small enough to manipulate DNA---at least, that is the implication I draw from the above sentence. Pretty amazing possibility.

Why are printers not designed with the paper feed on the top?

Since the main problem with printers is paper jams, wouldn't it be much easier to design an efficient path for the paper that went with the force of gravity instead of moving against it?

Industries Square Off on Patent Bill

Comment on a WSJ article of that title, 4/19/07, p. A8

There is a new patent bill in Congress (not yet passed) that is going to try to protect industries that have been hurt excessively by patent battles such as the tech industry and financial services.

"The bill would require patent holders to be given a "reasonable royalty" for patent infringements, but would limit that to the economic value of the patent's "specific contribution over prior art" or the value of the new "thing" the patent reflects rather than the value of the entire product of which it is a part."

The problem is the bill is opposed by the drug companies because they fear it will hurt their ability to protect their own innovations.

It occurs to me that it may be telling to "split up" the patent law into different sections for broadly different types of products. Can one patent law really cover everything from software to drugs?

Another soup idea

I like creamy soups best. There are a lot of dry soups (add water) but they are obviously not of the creamy type. Could a dry, creamy soup be marketed---requiring the user to just add milk and butter? I would buy it as it would taste fresher than canned (see previous entry).

New Kind of Soup; Partitioned Can Attached to Package

I am a single guy who sometimes eats a lot of canned soup. Lately, however, I have been substituting a dish from my childhood---Kraft macaroni and cheese, with the addition of tuna (the tuna trick taught to me by a lovely lady I knew years ago).

I make it with butter instead of margarine, and I have found it helps to slice up the butter into thin pats before mixing it in with the macaroni. It all amounts to a little preparation before eating, which small level of work I enjoy.

But I have come to notice something else. I like this food, in part, because it tastes "fresher" than canned soup. This got me thinking. Having the ingredients of soup sit together in a can over time apparently makes the soup taste less fresh. Why not partition the can into sections, each section with different ingredients? The internal partitions would not need to be strong like the outside package. Instead of metal, the internal partition could be made of plastic bonded to metal. The user would simply pour the soup out into a saucepan, allowing it to mix. A disc-shaped plastic container could be attached to the top of the can for dried ingredients, also to be added. This would taste significantly better than ordinary canned soup, I am sure.

The Revolving Door for Predator Pilots

Strategy Page

http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htmurph/articles/20070404.aspx

"New operator equipment was developed to enable one pilot to handle more than one Predator simultaneously. But this did not work out as well as expected, and pilots were rarely able to deal with more than two Predators at a time."

In my opinion this is a clear indicator that more intelligence needs to be built into the Predator. It should do more flying of itself. While the human operators will still be making decisions, the implementation of these decisions should be carried out, by and large, by the Predator. I have a feeling these sorts of changes will be implemented very soon.