Mr. Fusion Much?

All,

If any of your remember what happens at the end of the first Back To The Future, then you will know what I am talking about. For those of you who don't, here is a short recap.

Marty McFly gets home to find that things are better than he left them. He has a new car, his nemesis is now an employee of his father, his parents are happy, and his girlfriend is there too. While talking to her, Dr. Brown comes blasting in and tells them that they have to go with him because their kids in the future are in trouble. During this talk Doc grabs a banana peel and a partially full beer can. He puts the peel, the beer, and the can into a device on his car. The device is called Mr. Fusion, and was apparently a mini-fusion reactor that could turn garbage into fuel. Since that day, Sci-fi fans have been waiting for Mr. Fusion to be a real thing.

Well, very soon it will be. The company Bloom has produced a device called "The Bloom Box" that produces power from.... ??? (some sort of fuel) and produces very little carbon-dioxide waste. The goal is that each of us would have one in our yard, which would allow us to unplug from the power grid. Additionally, you could put one in the back of a truck and drive it to where ever you wanted to have power.

The Bloom Box is a private attempt to take NASA technology and make it affordable so that the rest of us can have 100% renewable energy, at a low cost, with a very low carbon-footprint. It is as efficient as solar power, but doesn't have the dependencies on the weather.

Check it out HERE. We are within 10 years of one of these Bloom Boxes being available for about $3,000 per household. It just sounds too good to be true. The fact that Colin Powell is on the board of the company encourages me to trust it. I will try to keep my ear to the pavement on this one. I will keep everyone updated on the progress of the Bloom Box (or Bloom Box imitators).

Laser Fusion will produce net energy gain

This topic is huge. Within the next 10 years they will have proof-of-concept plants functioning. These plants will take the hydrogen atoms from water and will shoot them with 53 lasers that will fuse the two atoms, and it will create more energy that it cost to create the beams and run the machine. Additionally, besides water, their main fuel source is nuclear waste, which it will dissolve. This means that these plants can work in tandem with nuclear plants and help reduce the footprint left by nuclear power, which is already potentially less than other energy's.

Check it out HERE

School Fires All It's Teachers At The Same Time

Go HERE to read more.

A school in Rhode Island fired every single one of it's teachers this week. The school has a 45% graduation rate, so the superintendent of the district mandated that teacher work more hours after school, tutoring their students. After the teachers (who each made between $72,000 and $78,000 a year in an area where the average household median is $22,000) wouldn't agree to the extra hours without a raise in compensation, the Super made a drastic decision to fix the problem.

To me, it seems extremely drastic. This doesn't mean that it is a bad thing. Considering all of the variables, I think that the Super made an appropriate decision. These children are from the highest poverty areas of RI. Their one common hope for a better future is an education. When only 55% of them can pass math and reading testings, you know that you have a problem. Anyone impeding that change would need to leave. I don't think that I would have had the stones to make that decision, but I am sure happy that there are people who will.

--
AF

Comic genius Betty White to host SNL

Coming to an SNL near you: Comic genius Betty White
See HERE:

I love this Golden Girl and am excited to see her host the show. I am amazed that is still getting funnier with age.

Windows Moble... making a comeback?

All,

I just read this article about the new and improved Microsoft Mobile Operating System. It sounds promising. Click HERE to check it out.

Just when I thought that MS was completely lost in the new world of mobile OS', they come out with this. It sounds awesome, but we will all have to keep our eyes open.