Kool inventions

I though these were some cool inventions. See all of them here

3. ReWalk: A Robotic Exoskeleton

Radi Kaiof tests the ReWalk. The inventor of ReWalk, Israeli engineer Amit Goffer, learned the hard way that wheelchair mobility is terribly outdated. In 1997, he broke his neck as the result of a fall, and the wheelchair's limitations were experienced by Goffer first hand. He set to work on a design for a wearable exoskeleten, kind of like a battery powered suit of armor for the lower body.

When he discovered that a whole body device would need too many batteries and be too heavy to be efficient, he decided to build instead a lower body exoskeleten that depended on the use of crutches as well as motors and batteries. Because Goffer can not use his arms to use the crutches, he will not be able to make use of the ReWalk himself.

The ReWalk is more complicated than it looks. Its 44 pounds of off-the-shelf components are controlled by hundreds of algorithms and codes and sensors that all enable standing, sitting, walking, and even climbing stairs. Radi Kaiof, a ReWalk tester had not walked in 20 years, but when he's strapped into the ReWalk, he's a different man.

"I speak eye-to-eye with people, not from the bottom up," he says. "There is one life in a wheelchair, and this is a new life."

4. Rescue Reel: Emergency Escape From Tall Buildings

Kevin Stone an inventor and orthopedic surgeon began working on the Rescue Reel after 9/11 when he vowed to come up with better escape equipment from skyscrapers. Modelled after a fishing reel, the Rescue Reel requires no special knowledge and can take less than a minute from deploying to safety.

"As the cord unwinds, a self-adjusting braking system ensures that the wearer descends at a constant rate." A Kevlar cord must be hooked to a secure object or connection point, like between a door and its door frame. Then, after sliding into the one size harness, the escapee would climb out of an open window, and rappel himself down the side of a building. Stone's Rescue Reel has a centrifugal braking system that controls the rate of descent, ensuring a smooth ride down to safety. The Rescue Reel is expected to be available in 2010 for about $1500 and will be able to lower a person to the ground from up to 100 floors.

5. GenShock: Shock Absorbers As A Source Of Vehicle Power

Zack Andersen and Shakeel Avadhany, 2 of the 5 inventors of GenShock

Five guys BS'ing late at night in their dorm room tossed around the idea of a shock absorber that produces power for a vehicle. Next thing you know, the five MIT students -- Shakeel Avadhany, Zack Anderson, Zack Jackowski, Ryan Bavetta and Vladimir Tarasov — had accomplished it, creating an electric motor generator out of a shock absorber by using a hydraulic system.

The diagram on the right shows the basic construct of GenShock: "As the vehicle moves, the shock compresses and its piston pumps fluid to drive a hydraulic motor and an electric-motor generator. The power that's produced lets the engine-driven alternator do less work, saving fuel." (Bland Designs)

Now the GenShock group, having graduated MIT are working with Humvee® on creating its version of the GenShock and they're exploring possibilities with the Office of Naval Research; the Army's Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center; and truck builders such as Navistar® and Mack® Trucks.

6. Audeo: Speech And Voice Synthesizer For Neurological Impairments

Invented by Michael Callahan, who at 17 lost his ability to speak as the result of a skateboarding accident, the Audeo is for others who lose that same very valuable ability. Though fortunately Callahan's voice returned within a few weeks, he will probably never forget the experience of losing control of his speech mechanism.

The Audeo is a speech synthesizer to help those who's neurological pathways from the brain to the lungs and speech muscles are impaired, though the pathways from the brain to the vocal cords are undamaged. The device lifts electrical signals from the cords with three electrodes at the neck, which send the signals to a computer that translates them into audible speech sounding through the computer's speakers.

There is still a bit of time before the Audeo is perfected for sale. Callahan hopes, for example, to be able to use a cell phone as a replacement for the computer to synthesize and amplify the speech.

7. Vascular Pathways: An Easier, Safer Method To Insert IV Catheters

Anyone who's been poked by a medical technician trying to find your veins will appreciate this invention: a no-fail IV! Designed by Israeli physician Amir Belson, the new catheter IV was inspired by a patient of Dr. Belson's, an infant in the pediatric ward with whom he spent an entire work shift while he tried to insert a catheter into the poor child.

In the Vascular Pathways system, once the needle has entered the vein, a guide wire is advanced from the device and a catheter slides over its curlicue shape. Then the catheter slides directly into the vein without hitting the side walls. The needle and guide can then be retracted leaving the catheter in place. The advantages of the Vascular Pathways system are time saving, cost saving, and patient saving -- as the amount of bruising to a patient by misdirected catheters can leave patients bruised, in pain, and without a fresh vein to poke a hole in....

8. Greensulate: Absolutely 100 Percent Green Insulation

An invention we at InventorSpot have covered no fewer that three times, Greensulate is the natural equivalent of plastics used in insulation and Styrofoam used in plastics. Created by Eben Bayer and Gavin McIntyre, two Rensselaer Polytech grads. this invention is already being produced and is being trialed in a school.

Greensulate is a mix of mostly mushroom roots which grows fast and clean in agricultural by-products instead of soil. The mix is pressed into the desired form and left to stand 10 to 14 days. Once dried in a 100° oven to stop its growth, Greensulate is ready to install. The whole process takes about two weeks without expensive equipment and no specific growing environment.

Bayer and McIntyre have won a $16,000 award from the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance, as well as a $700,000 prize at the PICNIC Green Challenge in Amsterdam for Greensulate.

Employer pays employees in gold coins-- LOL--

Employer's gold, silver payroll standard may bring hard time

May. 26, 2009
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Employer's gold, silver payroll standard may bring hard time

'This is a case about money, greed and fraud'

By JOAN WHITELY
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL

Robert Kahre, who owns numerous construction businesses in Las Vegas, is standing trial on 57 counts of income tax evasion, tax fraud and criminal conspiracy. If convicted on most counts, he could live out his life in prison.

But attorney William Cohan paints Kahre as an American "hero" who believes his payroll system helped keep the U.S. monetary system sound, and was also a form of legal tax avoidance.

A self-made entrepreneur, Kahre, 48, paid his workers in gold and silver coin, and said they could go by the coins' face value -- rather than the much higher market value of their precious metal content -- for federal tax purposes. He did not withhold taxes from their wages, and he provided the same payroll system to 35 outside clients, which were other local businesses.

Judge David Ezra is presiding over the criminal trial, which began May 19 in U.S. District Court. Joining Kahre as defendants are his longtime girlfriend, a sister who works in his businesses, and a former business assistant.

Three of the four present defendants were among the nine people tried on similar charges two years ago, but no convictions resulted. In the 2007 trial, four others of the nine defendants, including Kahre's mother, were entirely acquitted. Two individuals were only partially acquitted, but dropped from the indictment that forms the basis for the trial before Ezra.

This time around, the only new defendant is Danille Cline, Kahre's girlfriend of 19 years, and the stay-at-home mother of his four children. The government claims she obstructed the Internal Revenue Service by allowing Kahre to place several homes in her name, thus attempting to conceal his assets.

Cline's former brother-in-law, Thomas Browne, also was indicted this time, for his role as broker in some of the real estate transactions, but has since reached a plea bargain. He is expected to testify against the defendants.

"This is a case about money, greed and fraud." The line appeared on screen in court during the government's opening statement by Christopher Maietta, a trial lawyer from the Washington, D.C., office of the Department of Justice.

According to the government, Kahre and others concocted a fraudulent cash payroll "scheme" and then peddled it to other Las Vegas contractors. Defendants did not report to the IRS any payments made to workers, "either at the true amount or at the bogus amount, ... being the face value of the coin or coins," according to the indictment.

The now-suspended payroll service handled about $114 million over six years, according to court records. Between 17 and 25 percent of that went to Kahre or his workers; the rest went to the 35 client businesses to pay their workers, court records show.

The government did not indict most of the outside businesses or their personnel as co-conspirators with Kahre; although on May 6, Daniel McCartan of Action Concrete, which was one of Kahre's payroll clients, was finally sentenced in connection with a plea agreement reached in December 2006. McCartan received five months in prison and five months of home detention for one count of tax evasion.

Kahre contends his workers had agreed to be independent contractors, so he did not have to withhold taxes for them. His six businesses are in the trades of painting, drywall, tiling, plumbing, heating-cooling and electrical work.

Further, the $50 gold coins and the silver dollars Kahre used for payroll are designated by Congress as legal tender, so people are entitled to value them at their stamped denominations, he also contends. Taken at face value, each defendant's annual coin income placed him below the threshold for filing a federal tax return.

Earlier cases on the question of how to value gold or silver coins have focused on collectible coins that had been pulled from circulation but still have value as property, according to the defense. Kahre used coins minted after 1985, which are allowed to circulate.

"It's not whether what Mr. Kahre did was legal under the law," defense attorney Michael Kennedy told the jury in his opening statement. "It's whether he believed what he did was legal," in the absence of explicit instructions by the IRS -- on its Web site, in its publications or in response to written correspondence from Kahre -- on how to value post-1985 gold or silver coins.

"We're not here to determine if moneys are owed," said Kennedy on behalf of his client, Lori Kahre, who had relied on her brother's tax theory. A tax mistake is different from a tax crime, so the IRS can still use administrative channels to force the defendants to pay back taxes, Kennedy has noted in the past.

A sincere, but mistaken understanding of the tax-filing process is different from adopting a "pretextual" belief system in order to dodge taxes, Ezra acknowledged in court Wednesday.

Cohan described Kahre's payroll system as a "boycott of the Federal Reserve." But when the lawyer attempted to elaborate on Kahre's view that the nation has debased its paper currency by abandoning its former gold standard, Ezra added, "We're not here to convince the jury that the ... (U.S.) monetary system belongs to an international cabal."

Contact reporter Joan Whitely at jwhitely@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0268.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/FDIC-Fund-Running-zacks-15360529.html?sec=topStories&pos=4&asset=&ccode=

FDIC Fund Running Dry

• Dirk van Dijk, CFA
• On Wednesday May 27, 2009, 2:22 pm EDT

We highlight JP Morgan Chase & Co., Inc. (NYSE: JPM - News), BankUnited Financial Corp. (NasdaqGS: BKUNA - News), Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC - News) and Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC - News).

As the FDIC has had to step in to take over more and more insolvent banks, the fund has dwindled to dangerously low levels. At the same time, the number of problem banks continues to grow at a rapid pace.

At the end of the first quarter there were 305 'problem institutions' with a total of $220.0 billion in assets, up from 252 institutions and $159.4 billion in assets at the end of 2008. At the end of the quarter, the Deposit insurance fund was at just $13.0 billion, or 0.27% of insured deposits, a decline of 24.7% in the quarter alone.

The first graph (from http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/) shows the steep drop in the coverage ratio. Just a year ago, the fund was equal to 1.01% of covered deposits. The current level is its lowest since the first quarter of 1993, when we were digging out from the S&L fiasco.

However, don't worry about losing the money in your checking account if your bank goes under. Congress has already approved a $500 billion line of credit to the FDIC. Without a doubt, that line of credit is going to have to be tapped. This does emphasize the insanity of having the FDIC provide the guarantees for the PPIP [Public-Private Investment Program]. The fund simply does not have the resources available to do it. The money for the inevitable large losses that the fund will take on the program will come from that line of credit.

The prospect of the FDIC paying back that loan anytime soon from increased assessments on the banks is extremely remote. This is simply a back-door bailout of the FDIC, structured as a line of credit so it does not increase the reported budget deficit.

Using the FDIC to backstop the PPIP program is simply a way to bypass Congress. There is no way that Congress could not have approved the line of credit and let the FDIC become insolvent. By all rights, the assessments on the banks should be raised to make up for the shortfall in the FDIC, but now is not exactly the time to do it, since it would simply deplete their capital at a time when they desperately need to improve their capital base.

To bring the fund up to a more normal 1.2% of insured assets would require $44.8 billion, not counting the losses that the fund has incurred so far in the second quarter, or any subsequent losses. That would be a pretty hefty tax for the banks to pay. Still, fairness demands that it be paid by the banks, not by the general taxpayer.

During the quarter, 21 banks with $9.5 billion of assets failed, at an estimated cost to the fund of $2.2 billion. In the 12 months to 3/31/09 there have been 44 failures with $381.4 billion in assets at a total cost to the fund of $20.1 billion. The 5.3% of failed assets cost to the fund over the last year is somewhat misleading since by far the largest failure was Washington Mutual, which was bought by J.P. Morgan (NYSE: JPM - News) at no cost to the FDIC (but very generously backstopped by the Fed).

It is noteworthy that Wamu never showed up on the 'problem bank' list. This is a good reminder than not all problem banks fail, and not all failures are identified as problem banks before they go under. The 23.2% cost of failed assets in the first quarter is much more representative of a typical bank failure.

Since the end of the first quarter, 15 more banks have failed, and one, BankUnited (NasdaqGS: BKUNA - News) had more assets ($12.8 billion) and cost the fund more ($4.9 billion) than all the failures of the first quarter combined. It is thus very likely that the fund is already approaching a single-digit basis-point coverage ratio of insured deposits.

If we simply subtract out the $4.9 billion from the $13.0 billion at the end of the quarter (very generously assuming that assessments coming in equal the cost of the other 14 smaller failures) the fund is down to just $8.1 billion, or 3.7% of identified problem assets. As commercial real estate tanks, hundreds of smaller banks with massive exposure to it will be in danger of failing.

It is very likely that the list of problem banks and their assets will continue to grow. When looking at the second graph (from the FDIC, by way of http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/) note that the difference between the last bar and the second to last bar is only a quarter, while the other bars are annual differences. Thus the increase in the assets of problem banks is actually accelerating by increasing $60.6 billion in the first quarter, almost twice the $34.3 billion average increase per quarter during 2008.

Similarly, the quarterly increase in the number of problem institutions, 53, is significantly higher than the average quarterly increase during 2008, which was 44. In short, we still have many significant problems in the banking system, and the rate of increase shows no sign of slowing down.

While the big boys like Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC - News) and Bank of America (NYSE: BAC - News) may be in the process of raising enough capital to repay the TARP, there are many smaller banks which are in deep trouble. While individually they do not pose a systemic risk, collectively they will prove to be a significant drag on any economic recovery.

Read the full analyst report on WFC

Zacks Investment Research

© 2008 Zacks.com. All rights reserved.

County Trying To Stop Home Bible Studies

video here
POSTED: 5:31 pm PDT May 25, 2009

UPDATED: 1:45 pm PDT May 28, 2009

SAN DIEGO -- A local pastor and his wife claim they were interrogated by a San Diego County official, who then threatened them with escalating fines if they continued to hold Bible studies in their home, 10News reported.Attorney Dean Broyles of The Western Center For Law & Policy was shocked with what happened to the pastor and his wife.Broyles said, "The county asked, 'Do you have a regular meeting in your home?' She said, 'Yes.' 'Do you say amen?' 'Yes.' 'Do you pray?' 'Yes.' 'Do you say praise the Lord?' 'Yes.'"The county employee notified the couple that the small Bible study, with an average of 15 people attending, was in violation of County regulations, according to Broyles.Broyles said a few days later the couple received a written warning that listed "unlawful use of land" and told them to "stop religious assembly or apply for a major use permit" -- a process that could cost tens of thousands of dollars."For churches and religious assemblies there's big parking concerns, there's environmental impact concerns when you have hundreds or thousands of people gathering. But this is a different situation, and we believe that the application of the religious assembly principles to this Bible study is certainly misplaced," said Broyles.News of the case has rapidly spread across Internet blogs and has spurred various reactions.Broyles said his clients have asked to stay anonymous until they give the county a demand letter that states by enforcing this regulation the county is violating their First Amendment right to freely exercise their religion.Broyles also said this case has broader implications."If the county thinks they can shut down groups of 10 or 15 Christians meeting in a home, what about people who meet regularly at home for poker night? What about people who meet for Tupperware parties? What about people who are meeting to watch baseball games on a regular basis and support the Chargers?" Broyles asked.Broyles and his clients plan to give the County their demand letter this week.If the County refuses to release the pastor and his wife from obtaining the permit, they will consider a lawsuit in federal court.

Obama breaks his own rule

U.S. Inflation to Approach Zimbabwe Level, Faber Says (Update2)

U.S. Inflation to Approach Zimbabwe Level, Faber Says (Update2)

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NEWS

By Chen Shiyin and Bernard Lo

original source: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=avgZDYM6mTFA&refer=us#

May 27 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. economy will enter “hyperinflation” approaching the levels in Zimbabwe because the Federal Reserve will be reluctant to raise interest rates, investor Marc Faber said.

Prices may increase at rates “close to” Zimbabwe’s gains, Faber said in an interview with Bloomberg Television in Hong Kong. Zimbabwe’s inflation rate reached 231 million percent in July, the last annual rate published by the statistics office.

“I am 100 percent sure that the U.S. will go into hyperinflation,” Faber said. “The problem with government debt growing so much is that when the time will come and the Fed should increase interest rates, they will be very reluctant to do so and so inflation will start to accelerate.”

Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia President Charles Plosser said on May 21 inflation may rise to 2.5 percent in 2011. That exceeds the central bank officials’ long-run preferred range of 1.7 percent to 2 percent and contrasts with the concerns of some officials and economists that the economic slump may provoke a broad decline in prices.

“There are some concerns of a risk from inflation from all the liquidity injected into the banking system but it’s not an immediate threat right now given all the excess capacity in the U.S. economy,” said David Cohen, head of Asian economic forecasting at Action Economics in Singapore. “I have a little more confidence that the Fed has an exit strategy for draining all the liquidity at the appropriate time.”

Action Economics is predicting inflation of minus 0.4 percent in the U.S. this year, with prices increasing by 1.8 percent and 2 percent in 2010 and 2011, respectively, Cohen said.

Near Zero

The U.S.’s main interest rate may need to stay near zero for several years given the recession’s depth and forecasts that unemployment will reach 9 percent or higher, Glenn Rudebusch, associate director of research at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, said yesterday.

Members of the rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee have held the federal funds rate, the overnight lending rate between banks, in a range of zero to 0.25 percent since December to revive lending and end the worst recession in 50 years.

The global economy won’t return to the “prosperity” of 2006 and 2007 even as it rebounds from a recession, Faber said.

Equities in the U.S. won’t fall to new lows, helped by increased money supply, he said. Still, global stocks are “rather overbought” and are “not cheap,” Faber added.

Faber still favors Asian stocks relative to U.S. government bonds and said Japanese equities may outperform many other markets over a five-year period. “Of all the regions in the world, Asia is still the most attractive by far,” he said.

Gloom, Doom

Faber, the publisher of the Gloom, Boom & Doom report, said on April 7 stocks could fall as much as 10 percent before resuming gains. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index has since climbed 9 percent.

Faber, who said he’s adding to his gold investments, advised buying the precious metal at the start of its eight-year rally, when it traded for less than $300 an ounce. The metal topped $1,000 last year and traded at $949.85 an ounce at 12:50 p.m. Hong Kong time. He also told investors to bail out of U.S. stocks a week before the so-called Black Monday crash in 1987, according to his Web site.

To contact the reporter on this story: Chen Shiyin in Singapore at schen37@bloomberg.net; Bernard Lo in Hong Kong at blo2@bloombeg.net

Last Updated: May 27, 2009 00:54 EDT

This is really strange video

Crazy world out there



http://www.news9.com/global/story.asp?s=10427244


Trooper, Paramedic Fight Caught on Tape

Posted: May 26, 2009 10:18 PM EDT Updated: May 27, 2009 10:39 PM EDT

By Dave Jordan,
From the New9 website:

PADEN, Oklahoma — An Oklahoma Highway Patrol trooper and a paramedic were caught on tape scuffling Sunday while a patient was being taken to the hospital.

The fight happened on Highway 62, near Paden, after a OHP and first responders argued over a close call on the road.

OHP alleges that one of the paramedics on the video assaulted the trooper, but the assault was not caught on tape.

“We’re like trying to tell the guy, ‘Dude, my mom is in the back,’ and my stepdad was like, ‘My wife is in the back. Can we do this at the hospital?’” said Kenyada Davis.

Kenyada Davis’ mother was the woman in the back of the ambulance being treated for heat exhaustion.

He was able to shoot the altercation with his cell phone’s camera.

Davis said it all started because the ambulance failed to yield to OHP troopers, who were en route to a call along highway 62 in Paden.

Davis said the driver of the ambulance was trying to avoid hitting a car that slowed down and wasn’t aware of troopers nearby until it was too late.

“He slowed down, and as the car was getting over, that’s when he passed us,” Davis said. “I didn’t hear him.”

But after OHP troopers finished their official business, they pulled the Creek Nation ambulance over. One of the troopers chided Paul for failing to yield.

Once the ambulance was pulled over, Davis pulled out his phone and shot video of the scene.

Watch the full video of the altercation between the trooper and first responders.

According to the OHP, the paramedics assaulted the trooper just before the fight broke out.

“It didn’t look like it was being handled very well, at least form the tape I saw from the troopers’ standpoint,” said NEWS 9 Legal Analyst Irven Box.

The entire scene, including the alleged assault was captured on dash cam video and has not been released.

The Okfuskee County District Attorney’s office is reviewing all of the footage and could file criminal charges against the paramedic by the end of the week.