NANO IS ON THE WAY

New tiny batteries are coming . They're not here yet, but they'll change the way a lot of everyday, important things will work.

Nano means: "Extremely small: one billionth."

I just recently heard about ''nano batteries'' as something marvelous and new, but "Popular Science Magazine" mentioned then a few years ago; the fact is, scientific people have been working on them since 2002, when a battery manufacturer produced the first AAAAA battery.

If you want to be able to talk about nano technology, intelligently (I do ), here's what I culled from various scientific sources. (I've learned that just a little knowledge goes a long way, especially if you're dealing with a lot of electronic stuff in your office and home, where I must be using more than a 1oo battreries -- different sizes, different types of batteries.)

According to technology experts, if you were to take all the laptop batteries that are produced in one year, in the "off" state, they're leaking, in the course of a year, an amount of power that could be stored in a small nuclear reactor -- power that's wasted just from laptop batteries.

MIT researchers, using tiny wires, known as carbon nanotubes, can now create "thermopower" a super powerful wave of energy. They're planning to refine it and make batteries to power electronics, computers and cell phones -- batteries that are 10 times smaller and hold more energy than what's used now.

I looked everywhere, to see if anyone had a picture of what a nano battery would look like. All I could find is what's in the picture.

What you're seeing is tiny wires, known as carbon nanotubes, with a diameter, roughly, that of a human hair. They're coated with a layer of fuel, and arranged in a mesh-like architecture — billions of tiny nano-components are interfaced together.

Researchers envision that other structures -- in a fiber-like configuration resembling a spider's web — might one day be woven into textiles

Importantly, the nano battery would mean a "green," recyclable, very tiny battery that would last a very long time without re-charging. Most batteries, nowadays, are made from highly toxic heavy metals (like nickel and cadmium), that are very bad for the environment.

Batteries made from this new thermopower technology would be completely nontoxic. So keep your eyes open, your ears ready, to hear that the batteries are available, the batteries are here, you can buy them!

It sounds great, but ... gee ... what are we going to do with all those old batteries? Will we have to replace most of our electronic stuff?

SARAH PALIN

I'm saying again, what I said on my blog, 11/21 -- saying it louder.

Her charm, her looks, her ability to turn negative into positive -- her ultra seductive, female skills – the stuff that little girls are made of -- "sugar and spice and everything nice "-- |Sarah Palin's got it - THE POWER.

You like her. I like her, even if we don't like her.

She gestures, smiles, chuckles, shrugs, points a knowing finger -- and what's wrong, what's making you cringe, what's making you feel like snarling at her -- zzzip – gone! You're smiling (maybe a bit ruefully), but you're marching with her down her track -- it's not your track -- she's wrong, but you're marching with her.

Those eye-glasses framing her twinkling, knowing, focused eyes that are beaming her purposeful intention -- getting her logic, her truths, her sometimes (actually most of time), all-over-the-place construct of what to do about this or that -- those gleaming, framed eyes really do seem to focus onto and into you.

Her slightly messy hair, her slightly thickened, mature look of a mother wife, ---above good legs -- no -- great legs -- holding her up, giving her that stand tall, head high, "I believe in myself" look she has, even if a tomato, or cream pie, whomps her in the face – that's POWER.

Nasty things that are said about her, Palin turns into compliments. Like home-made fudge that's better than store-bought, she eats it up. It tastes good -- insults are compliments -- my goodness, those insulters are paying attention to her.

She's amazing. She's got rebound, resilience, and instinct for survival, and wow -- what a talent she has for winning you over, if you happen to be unsure of what to believe in.

That's big talent, big power.

I know for sure that I'm scared of her.

Okay ...

So, I do not like her. I do not trust her. I am revolted by her quibbling with any statement or action that comes from the White House.

I'm cringing at her recent comments about our government "HELPING" folks be more religious.

I shriveled when she told the President he's wrong about Israel.

Her perfect-toothed, smiley, inventive ways of letting folks know that she'll probably be running for president in 2012 APPALLS ME.

Well, I've got good news. With my keen eye, my super-developed awareness of how a person looks, I am stating for the record, I think she's getting fat.

Look at two very recent pictures
of fat- faced Sarah.

Mrs. Em-Glen-Beck-Rush-Limbo says ho ho!

I see on chubby Mrs. P
A not thin chin,
Just peek at her cheek --
she's up a few pounds,
7-10, you betcha.

EMP

It's been a threat for more than twenty-years; an Electro Magnetic Pulse could shut down- hospitals, financial and transportation systems, the Internet, water and electrical grids.

I read a powerful novel by Nelson DeMille,"The Talbot Odyssey." He researches meticulously, and produces page-turning bestsellers, year after year. A massive, continent-destroying EMP was the threat hanging over the country in his book. The hero and heroine were on the verge of not being able to stop it. But, they did. For me, it wasn't a happy ending -- DeMille established that the EMP thing could happen.

Well, now it's in the news. Is it fear-mongering, or a real threat? A major foundation and a Congressman got the Pentagon to commission the Navy to study how to protect the fleet from such an attack.

What does a New Yorker do with fears added on top of fears? List them: I haven't forgotten the scenarios -- someone poisons our water; pumps poison Sarin gas in the New York subways; another Timothy McVey attacks on Wall street; another 9-11.

A young child is stunned, shocked, frightened when death enters his sphere -- a pet, a plant, a relative, gets sick and dies. And like the leaves on the ground that he can kick aside, or leaves the wind scatters -- though there's sunshine, new things to do, colorful things all around -- the fact of death is forever remembered, in the same way birthdays, time passing is a fact of life that grows, gets larger, more menacing every week, month, year.

So ...EMP ...

I looked up How to build an EMP bomb.

There were a lot of diagrams,
complicated, detailed information.
It's dangerous to build.
With supplies and tools,
you could build it for $400.

I couldn't do it, aside from the fact that I wouldn't -- it's an unacceptable, inconceivable thought. I don't personally know anyone who could. But, a nut, a mad man or woman could gain access to the button to push, to activate a home-built, EMB bomb.

Here's my private inner thought: At the end of MY life which IS approaching, I know that the bad thing will happen. And, I've figured out that the "bad" thing is already within me -- the frailty, wrong habit, disease, or the failure of a vital organ is ticking away, without my awareness of the tick-tick-ticking.

Okay. Like a child, I do better with fears, kicking , blowing, scattering them aside.

EMP is on the list. It wasn't really, already there. It's there now.

What will be, will be. I can't sing Que Sera like Doris Day, but I'm turning the page with the list, and doing my work.

GAGA REVISITED

Are you curious or do you already know who Lady Gaga is, and listen to her songs?

She is 24 , and, as she herself puts it -- she has a "monster" hunger for fame. (And fortune -- one of the videos I looked at today, has been viewed by almost 9 million fans.)

She uses "monsters," (her term) -- designers, artists, male and female friends, the wildest, most shocking props and costumes, in unexpected, often banal, far-out scenes, as well as in very ordinary locations . And fulfilling her passion for expressing herself, she creates a montage, potpourri of STUFF that intrigues her.

Is it art?

Sure it's art. It is heterogeneous -- poetry, prose, sound effects and music elements that are combined, sometimes jumbled, other times organized into 5 to 10 minute events, with herself visible, featured along with people and things, animate and inanimate.

In my post "Lady Gaga" 1/20 I said -- "I am blabbing while I'm gagging over Lady Gaga ... That the untalented, not particularly beautiful Lady Gaga is making it by publicizing her body, her soul, her music, her poetry ... well, it's sad ... it's not incredible ... just sad to think she may be inspiring the next generation of young girls with big dreams."

I'M WRONG.

I'm the older generation disparaging a creative person (female so I'm competing, comparing myself at 24 ), to an active, successful, young artist.

Even her recurring concept of monsters (that's also what she calls her fans), is an interesting, honest, artistic comment.

With an off-beat sense of humor, Lady Gaga is talking about sex, herself and others (her collaborators, casual pals and celebrities ), and telling us in her own unique way, how she sees the world.

Huh? Am I kidding? Do I have spring fever?

No. Look at the video, and factor in what I've realized -- I'm out of date. Lady Gaga is a genuine, contemporary artist.



Do I like this video? Not particularly, but I didn't like 12-tone, "modern" music till I listened to it for quite a while. A lot of people play Lady Gaga songs over and over, and over.