EPA MPG Ratings? Yeah right…

Gerald Ford was president and disco was king.And under these guidelines by the Environmental Protection Agency, car-makers are allowed to test miles per gallon by running the vehicle not on the road, but on what’s essentially a treadmill for cars.During an EPA spot check, the car ran with no air conditioning, no inclines or hills, no wind resistance and at speeds no greater than 60 mph.On a good note, Michelle contacted the EPA’s director of transportation Margo Oge to find out why this is okay,Why is this allowed?

The government has been keeping secrets from the public for the past 30 years. Ever wonder why your cars mileage isn’t even close to what the EPA rating on the sticker says? Reporter Michelle Meredith recently teamed up with Consumer Reports (the defacto authority on vehicles) to discover why there is a discrepancy. Here’s what she found:

First, Meredith took a look at how car-makers come up with these numbers because you could be in for a big surprise. The guidelines for the tests were set by the federal government decades ago, in the late 1970s. Gerald Ford was president and disco was king.

And under these guidelines by the Environmental Protection Agency, car-makers are allowed to test miles per gallon by running the vehicle not on the road, but on what’s essentially a treadmill for cars.

During an EPA spot check, the car ran with no air conditioning, no inclines or hills, no wind resistance and at speeds no greater than 60 mph.

On a good note, Michelle contacted the EPA’s director of transportation Margo Oge to find out why this is okay,

Why is this allowed? Meredith asked the EPA’s director of transportation.

“We cannot have a perfect test,” said Margo Oge.

Oge said for so long, nobody really complained. Meanwhile, everything has changed.

“All the cars today have air conditioning, which was not the case in the mid-80s, and we drive at higher speeds because we are allowed to drive a higher speeds. And technology has changed,” Oge said.

via Yahoo! News

Take a Stand Against the Madness; Stop the RIAA!

The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is on a rampage, launching legal attacks against average Americans from coast to coast. Meanwhile, music fans, like 12 year-old Brianna LaHara, college student Cassi Hunt, and parent of five Cecilia Gonzalez, are being forced to pay thousands of dollars they do not have to settle RIAA-member lawsuits, and many other innocent individuals are being caught in the crossfire.

The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is on a rampage, launching legal attacks against average Americans from coast to coast. After over 18,000 lawsuits and counting against P2P users, file sharing has continued to increase rapidly. Meanwhile, music fans, like 12 year-old Brianna LaHara, college student Cassi Hunt, and parent of five Cecilia Gonzalez, are being forced to pay thousands of dollars they do not have to settle RIAA-member lawsuits, and many other innocent individuals are being caught in the crossfire. SIGN THE PETITION!

Electronic Frontier Foundation

Blackberry 7130 GSM

The FCC approved two new GSM Blackberry handhelds: the 7130c (for Cingular Wireless) and the 7130g for other GSM carriers. This new Blackberry appears to have similar characteristics to it’s big brother, the 8700 series (Quadband GSM, EDGE, mini-USB port) but also has an upgraded bluetooth to Bluetooth 2.0.


The FCC approved two new GSM Blackberry handhelds: the 7130c (for Cingular Wireless) and the 7130g for other GSM carriers. This new Blackberry appears to have similar characteristics to it’s big brother, the 8700 series (Quadband GSM, EDGE, mini-USB port) but also has an upgraded bluetooth to Bluetooth 2.0. No carriers have announced this product and it is not shown on the RIM site. Hopefully we’ll see this device soon. Follow the link to see more information from the FCC database.
Via FCC Database

Cancer Cure? Targeted Virus Compels Cancer Cells to Eat Themselves

This is really a great article taking about a new engineered virus that’s sole purpose is to track down and infect cancer cells. The super good news is that the virus only goes after cells with a particular enzyme, telomerase, which is generally only found in cancer cells.

This is really a great article taking about a new engineered virus that’s sole purpose is to track down and infect cancer cells. While that may sound strange, it’s actually very good news. Once a cancer cell is tracked down and infected, the virus forces the cell to devour themselves in an attempt to reproduce. The super good news is that the virus only goes after cells with a particular enzyme, telomerase, which is generally only found in cancer cells. Yay for research!

via BiologyNews.net

Save the Internet

Giant tech players, such as Apple, Microsoft & Google, have voiced their support for Net Neutrality and warned against the drastic and irrevocable harm the Internet would face without it.Broad Right-Left Coalition, Consumer Groups Rally Public Behind Internet FreedomGun Owners, Librarians Unite Against BellsAverage Joe and Saving The InternetHere is a short video explaining what Net Neutrality is and what is at stake today.MoveOnSaveTheInternet.comEliminating Net Neutrality has the potential to completely change the face of the Internet as we know it.ONLY YOU CAN HELP SAVE THE INTERNET.SIGN THE PETITION and CALL CONGRESS TODAY!Your voice needs to be heard.


As I am sure you all know, Net Neutrality is a HOT issue right now. After last week, we need to take some fast action to help protect the internet. Since we, the end users (consumers) are going to be the ones screwed by this legislation, we need to speak out TODAY. If you haven’t already done so, sign the petition and PASS it on to your friends, family, EVERYONE! We all know this is an important issue, and it only takes 2 minutes to fill out the form. JUST DOOOO IT.

Not sure what Net Neutrality is all about? Think about it this way, when you visit Google or use the iTunes Music Store, your internet traffic is treated the same. The network’s only job is to move your data from Point A to Point B and all data is treated equally. This is known as Network Neutrality.
America’s largest telecom and cable operations (AT&T, Verizon, Comcast etc.) want to get rid of the Internet’s first Amendment. They want to become the Internet Gatekeepers deciding which website go fast, slow or don’t even load at all. These providers want to ensure that the content that is most financially valuable to them is the content that performs the best. Let’s take a look at a few hypothetical examples:

1.Imagine the following. You use Google as your primary search engine and you love it. One day, your ISP (ie. AT&T, Comcast, etc.) partners with MSN Search. Suddenly, Google takes 30 seconds to load, and even longer to perform a simple search, but MSN Search runs at peak performance. Imagine if the ISP started blocking Google all together! Is that what you want the future of the internet to be?

2. Let’s say you have an iPod and you use iTunes with the iTunes Music Store to LEAGALLY purchase digital music for your enjoyment. One day, your ISP announces their own online digital music store and suddenly the iTunes Music Store takes 60 seconds to load or even longer. When you purchase a song it goes almost slower than DIALUP! The ISP is almost forcing you to use their own service by severely limiting and controlling your access to competing services.

3. Suppose you are part of a local band and use MySpace to help get your name out in the world, Flickr to share pictures on the net, and YouTube to broadcast your band. What if one day, your fans couldn’t get to your Flickr page or watch a video on YouTube because their ISP is blocking adequate bandwidth to use those services.

Still think this is a joke? Let’s take a look at some REAL LIFE examples of how ISPs are already abusing their power with the internet:

• In 2004, North Carolina ISP Madison River blocked their DSL customers from using any rival Web-based phone service.
• In 2005, Canada’s telephone giant Telus blocked customers from visiting a Web site sympathetic to the Telecommunications Workers Union during a labor dispute.
• Shaw, a big Canadian cable TV company, is charging an extra $10 a month to subscribers in order to “enhance” competing Internet telephone services.
• In April, Time Warner’s AOL blocked all emails that mentioned www.dearaol.com — an advocacy campaign opposing the company’s pay-to-send e-mail scheme.

This isn’t a joke. Net Neutrality is so important, groups, organizations, and companies are all voicing their support for Net Neutrality. Giant tech players, such as Apple, Microsoft & Google, have voiced their support for Net Neutrality and warned against the drastic and irrevocable harm the Internet would face without it.
Broad Right-Left Coalition, Consumer Groups Rally Public Behind Internet Freedom
Gun Owners, Librarians Unite Against Bells
Average Joe and Saving The Internet

Here is a short video explaining what Net Neutrality is and what is at stake today.
MoveOn
SaveTheInternet.com

Eliminating Net Neutrality has the potential to completely change the face of the Internet as we know it.
ONLY YOU CAN HELP SAVE THE INTERNET.
SIGN THE PETITION and CALL CONGRESS TODAY!
Your voice needs to be heard.

Save the Net