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I've written here about a couple of previous "money bombs" organized by independent Ron Paul supporters-- one commemorating Guy Fawkes Night (and, oddly, the movie V for Vendetta) and another celebrating the Boston Tea Party.

There's another one scheduled for today, but it has a purpose beyond mere money-raising. As Rep. Paul has been gaining ground in the polls and primaries, opponents have revived old charges of racism based on newsletters written in his name back in 1992. The statements in the newsletters were pretty bad, but Paul didn't write them and has apologized for … Read more

Warner Bros. Entertainment may have cast the deciding vote in the Blu-ray vs. HD DVD format war, announcing yesterday-- just before the big Consumer Electronics Show opens in Las Vegas-- that Warner will support Blu-ray exclusively starting in June 2008.

I'm at CES, where I've just left the CES Unveiled press event. Although there was a lot of cool stuff in the various booths providing a sneak peek of the CES show floor (all 1.8 million square feet of it)--and I'll be covering some of this cool stuff in future blog posts-- the topic of … Read more

IdaTech, a fuel-cell manufacturer in Oregon, announced a smallish new fuel-cell power supply today, the 250-watt iGen. The announcement caught my eye because I've written here a few times about fuel cells and other alternative energy sources (including the nuclear reactor piece last week), and this time I was able to figure out the device's approximate cost of operation, something that usually isn't disclosed for fuel cells.

The iGen's 250-watt output rating doesn't sound like a lot, but it's over half an average person's home electricity consumption. A continuous supply of 250 watts … Read more

I see today's "money bomb" for the Ron Paul presidential campaign is doing even better than the Nov. 5 event. No doubt the publicity from last month is helping this time around.

According to this real-time data from RonPaulGraphs.com, contributions are coming in at a rate about 50% higher than the previous occasion. Around 3 P.M. Pacific time, the day's donations passed the total for Nov. 5.

Donations are currently on a pace to reach about $6.5 million for the day, which would set a new one-day record for actual donations. And all without the support of the official campaign organization. … Read more

Back on November 5 I wrote about an independent fundraising effort on behalf of the Ron Paul campaign. The occasion was Guy Fawkes Night, the commemoration of the 1605 attempt to blow up the Palace of Westminster in England. As I said at the time, this was a strange occasion for fundraising in a US presidential campaign, but at least it gave the organizers a convenient tagline for the effort: they called it a "money bomb".

Last Friday, not long after I posted my comments about the controversy associated with the appointment of Dr. Andrew Burt as chairman of the Copyright Committee at SFWA (the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America), Dr. Burt stepped down. He was replaced by Russell Davis, a member of SFWA's board and a former chairman of SFWA's Electronic Piracy Committee.

The statement by SFWA president Michael Capobianco announcing the change, as well as a statement from Davis explaining his plans for the committee, has been posted on LiveJournal.

It sounds like Davis will be effective in this position, … Read more

I was a big Spider-Man fan when I was a kid. I could never understand why poor Spidey was persecuted by J. Jonah Jameson, editor of the Daily Bugle. I was especially mystified by how easily Jameson could get the police to pursue Spider-Man despite all the obvious good he was doing.

I'd like to think that anyone familiar with the Spider-Man stories--and who isn't, considering that the three recent movies brought in $2.5 billion at the box office plus untold additional revenue from the DVD releases--would appreciate the irony of Peter Parker's position. He does … Read more

The Los Angeles Auto Show wraps up this weekend. I drove down to the Los Angeles Convention Center last week to check out the new BMW M3--which I hope to buy next year--and get a look at all the other new cars debuting there.

There were two clear trends at the show: higher performance and increased environmental sensitivity. The best new vehicles show improvements in both areas.

The new M3, for example, delivers 24% more power (414 hp!) from its new four-liter V8 along with 8% better gas mileage, along with more interior room than its predecessor and many new … Read more

On Thursday afternoon I was back at the Computer History Museum. The Honda Research Institute was hosting its tenth Technical Horizon Symposium and announcing this year's Honda Initiation Grant awards.

The grants are part of the Institute's efforts to stimulate collaborate research between Honda and the academic community. Since 1997, Honda says it has awarded 75 grants totalling "several million dollars" to universities in the US. This year, Honda received 300 proposals; it chose seven. This year's awards (listed here along with those of past years) cover research in safety, efficiency, emissions control, and user … Read more