An American pilot from the first all-black flying unit, the Tuskegee Airmen from World War II, will attend Barack Obama’s inauguration as an honored guest.
that served in Europe during World War II. He was one of only fifteen pilots to shoot down the advanced German Me-262 jet fighter.
All 330 surviving members of the the Tuskegee Airmen have been invited to the Inauguration Day swearing-in ceremony.
It’s every kid’s dream, but one such kid grew up an inventor and made his dream a reality. Gilo Cardozo created the world’s first bio-fueled flying car, a machine that can drive like a car and fly like an airplane.
On Wednesday, Cardozo and adventurer Neil Laughton will set off in the flying car from London. They will make an amazing 42-day expedition that will take them through the Sahara to Tombouctou. A convoy of support vehicles will accompany the team every step of the way. The journey will cover a total of 6,400 kilometres.
The flying car, better known as the Skycar has been developed and built with the help of sponsors for about £250,000. On the road, the Skycar takes barely three minutes to convert into an aircraft. Cardozo, who already invented a parajet engine that could carry him up to the heights of the Mount Everest in 2007, plans to sell the Skycar commercially to the public at £50,000 per vehicle. (Feature story at BBC News)
(Photo of Skycar is a mock up)
On the opening day of the Detroit auto show, US-based automakers touted new products with a focus on fuel efficiency that they say will help return them to financial health. For instance, a plug-in hybrid version of the Jeep Patriot compact utility vehicle, pictured at right, was unveiled by Chrysler. (More cars in vdeo below)
Also, read, “Detroit Three Change Gears to Go Green”, at Toronto Globe and Mail.
As Washington DC gets ready for the inauguration of Barack Obama as the nation’s first black President, some older Americans are moved to tears by the changes in racial equality over the years. (Video below from the AP)
The agreement on the transit of Russian gas to the European Union without any conditions has finally been signed by the Ukraine. The cut in Russian gas supplies had left hundreds of thousands of people in Central and Eastern Europe without heating, struggling to keep warm during one of the harshest winters in years.
Peru’s booming economy is expected to post its fastest annual growth rate since 1994 for 2008 — 9.1 percent, up from 8.9 percent in 2007, the central bank said on Friday. Peru has the fastest-growing economy in Latin America. (Full report from Reuters.com)
Intel Chairman Craig Barrett announced the launch on Friday of the Small Things Challenge, a one-year charity program that will cost his company a nickel every time someone clicks a button that says, “We’ll Donate 5 Cents for You.” The Intel donation this year, up to $400,000, and citizen action generated during the campaign will benefit two charities, Kiva.org and Save the Children.
The Small Things Challenge is a campaign based on the premise that every small action can make a big difference in the world. The website, smallthingschallenge.com, urges people to click, send an e-mail to their friends, and donate a small amount of money themselves, to become part of the solution to global poverty.
If an antibiotic is just what the doctor orders for your infection this winter, you can get a free prescription at either Giant food store or Wegmans pharmacies. Both east coast grocery chains have decided to offer free generic antibiotics to customers, without a limit, during the next three months.
As competition for consumer dollars increases, Wal-Mart, with it’s $4.00 generic prescriptions, will lose some ground, here, in the race for pharmacy customers. Drug sales typically make up about 10 percent of revenue at grocery stores.
“We understand the economic pressures families are facing, including the rising cost of health care, which is something I’m especially concerned about,” says CEO Danny Wegman. “We hope this program will help families better cope with those expenses.”
This is the first time Giant has offered a totally free program. In the past they have provided generic prescriptions for $3.99. “Times are tough,” said Robin Michel, executive vice president for Giant Food, which is based in Landover, Maryland. “We wanted to provide something to help customers – something they may need more of during the colder months.”
Publix, a Florida-based grocery chain, debuted a no-cost antibiotics plan for its 684 pharmacies in 2007. It filled its one-millionth free antibiotic a year ago.
Wal-Mart’s $4 plan, launched in 2006, is still extremely valuable to consumers because it includes drugs, unlike antibiotics, that are prescribed for many years on end.
Other stores that have lowered drug prices include Schnucks and Martin’s supermarkets.
Wegmans Food Markets, Inc. is a 72-store family-owned supermarket chain with stores in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Virginia, and Maryland. Giant has 184 supermarkets –164 with pharmacies — in Virginia, Maryland, Delaware and D.C.
Last week, the prospect that a 140-year-old lobster confined to a tank inside a New York seafood restaurant would ever see his ocean home again were bleak at best. Now, George, the 20-pound crustacean, will get a second shot at life after the good folks at City Crab and Seafood agreed to ship the lucky lobster to Maine, and release him back into the wild.
As long as George remains in Maine, he won’t have to worry about ending his life in a pot of boiling water. Fishermen are barred from keeping lobsters that exceed the state’s legal size limit. View related photos and Full AP story at MSNBC.com.
The Venezuelan government reversed course Wednesday, announcing that its US oil subsidiary would continue to provide free home heating oil to poor Americans two days after the government announced that the program had been suspended. Venezuela reinstated the program, which saved some 180,000 US households around $260 apiece in 2008. That covered about one month’s heating bill. (Christian Science Monitor)
A pair of red-vented cockatoos, amoung the rarest birds in the world, were discovered in the Southmead area after being stolen from Bristol Zoo in England. The Parrots, native to the Philippines, will again be properly cared for and resume their critical role in a breeding program to ensure the continued survival of the species. (Read the full story at BBC)
Green energy and proponents were elated on Thursday by President-elect Barack Obama’s economic stimulus speech, which asked Congress “to act without delay” to pass legislation that included doubling alternative energy production in the next three years and building a new electricity “smart grid.”
He said he also planned to modernize 75 percent of federal buildings, which would save billions of dollars in the long term, and improve energy efficiency in 2 million homes to save consumers billions on their own energy bills. (From Reuters News)
In times of financial hardship, it helps to have a role model like the father who was named by a UK TV show ‘The Tightest Man In Britain’.
He has worn the same shoes since 1987, does not visit the cinema or pub, and insists, “A lot of people can learn from me.” He did pay cash recently (£540) for a new HD TV after his 14-year-old model broke.
If you want to read about how tight someone can be, the full story is on BBC.
Several Japanese firms will kick off new projects to build geothermal power plans this year for the first time in nearly two decades.
With active volcanoes scattered around the country, geothermal energy has powerful potential as a domestic source of energy. The greener power plants emit far less carbon dioxide than their fossil fuel and nuclear counterparts. Mitsubishi Materials Corp, Electric Power Development Co, or J-Power, Nittetsu Mining Co Ltd and Kyushu Electric Power Co will lead the way. (Reuters News has the full report)
Remember those sweltering summer days when the air was so muggy you could practically drink it? A new home appliance is promising to make that possible by converting outdoor air into nearly 13 quarts of fresh water every day.
Originally envisioned as an antidote to the shortage of clean drinking water in the world, the WaterMill has the look of a futuristic air conditioner and the ability to condense, filter and sterilize water for about 3 cents per quart.
At $1,299, the 45-pound device doesn’t come cheap, and it is neither the first nor the biggest machine to enter the fast-growing field of atmospheric water generators. But by targeting individual households with a self-cleaning, environmentally friendly alternative to bottled water, Kelowna, British Columbia-based Element Four is hoping its WaterMill will become the new must-have appliance of 2009.
Invented in a garage, a new generator burns the used oil from restaurants’ deep fryers to generate electricity. The first Vegawatt is being tested at a seafood restaurant in Dedham, Massachusetts. So far, the system offsets about $2.50 worth of electricity with each gallon of waste oil poured into it. Vegawatt’s founder and inventor, James Peret, estimates that restaurants purchasing the $22,000 machine will save about $1,000 per month in electricity costs, for a payback time of two years. (Wired has the feature story)
On Friday, the first baby in Britain to be screened for a deadly breast cancer gene while still an embryo was born safely in London. The parents didn’t want to pass on the gene that would have ensured cancer in 80% of offspring. The technique used to ensure that the girl would be born free of the cancer gene is called pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) and has been used previously in Britain to prevent babies being born with more than 60 inherited disorders, including cystic fibrosis and Huntington’s disease. (Times of London has the story)
Also, this video below, offers another version of the uplifting aspect of the procedure.
Children in rural Mali are being given the opportunity to develop their computer skills, thanks to the charity, One Laptop Per Child. 30 laptops have arrived in one of Mali’s rural villages providing children with access to laptops — and the internet — for the first time. The pilot program was launched in November. (Reuters Video below)
Plenty of indie, hip hop, and pop artists have welcomed others to remix their songs online. Now classical music aficionados can get in on the act. Renowned cellist and 15-time Grammy winner Yo-Yo Ma is hosting an online competition, inviting listeners to add their own accompaniment to his performance of the traditional hymn Dona Nobis Pacem, from his latest album, Songs of Joy & Peace. 125,000 had already participated by the date of this WIRED magazine article of December 22, 2008.
The first major mobile company to make a significant step towards an eco-friendly cell phone has released a model made from recycled water bottles. The Motorola W233 Renew is pledged to be the worlds first carbon neutral phone. In addition it has been confirmed that the company will also offset the carbon dioxide used in manufacturing, distribution and operation by investing in renewable energy sources and reforestation. They were also able to reduce the size of the box by 22% and use recycled paper for the manual and other printed materials.
No prices have been disclosed as yet but the model is due to be showcased at this week’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.
(Info from Reuters News)
