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There is a rumor floating around, that the U.S. Government has perfected the art of mind reading. Such rumors have been whispered about for many years. Up to now, not much credence has been given to any of them, but we are now living in a new age, the age of technology and much of which was impossible just a few years ago has become everyday reality. I want you to know that when I talk about mind reading, I am not talking about some person that can stare into your eyes and discern your thoughts, I am talking about a process that is accomplished by a machine or machines. The reason that these rumors are taking off, is the fact that science has shown that it can map certain parts of the brain. This has been proven by computers that respond to thoughts, such as those used by people that are paralyzed, who move a cursor around the screen just by thinking about it. While this is going on, science is learning what brain centers do. By knowing this information, it is said that a machine can interpret what you are thinking, since certain type of thoughts come from different areas. I find all this very complicated, but I can not argue with the results, when I see people's thoughts being carried out on a computer screen.

Is the hybrid car the answer to the oil crisis? No matter what you have heard, if an automobile uses any gasoline at all, the oil crisis will continue. By oil crisis I mean the steady rising of oil prices. The truth of the matter is that the oil companies would love nothing better than cars that get great mileage, because their oil supplies will last much longer. Think of it this way, if we all get cars that get 100 miles per gallon, the oil companies can just keep raising the price of gas and oil until they are still making the same profit and this is with using less product. Unless something is done about big oil, nothing will change. I recently saw a video on the internet, that shows a new hybrid car, which is a van, getting 150 miles per gallon and has about 330 horse power and is very fast. The trick is that the electricity is partially stored in a capacitor, which allows for instant acceleration without straining the battery and because of this, the battery lasts longer. It came from a company that employs many engineers that were formerly in the aerospace industry. When one of the company heads was interviewed, he stated that the auto companies were not interested in it at this time, but they didn't seem to have a reason why not.

This might be a little late by the time you read it, since these articles are usually written about a month in advance, but it looks like the deadlock between Obama and Hillary Clinton has finally been broken by Obama. Well it wasn't really a deadlock, but it was close. The rumor is that as of today, 4 June 2008, Mrs. Clinton had called Obama and stated that if it would help the party, she would accept the nomination for the Vice Presidency. It will be interesting to see if Mr. Obama accepts that offer. Looking at it from a political point of view, Obama might feel that he is going to get most of the votes that would have went to Clinton anyway and that he needs someone else on the ticket that will gain him those votes that he wouldn't have gotten. A southerner might be a good choice for him, because the south always seems to stick with southerners when it comes to voting time. It will be very interesting to see who he picks as his running mate. Meanwhile, McCain might be thinking of using the same strategy in his campaign.

Boy talk about a tempest in a teapot. The people that watch hockey, especially the Canadians, are very upset with Tiger Woods. He was at the Stanley Cup Finals and made a remark that no one watches hockey anymore. All I can say is, who cares what he thinks of hockey and what was he doing at the game if he felt that way?

Astronomers are continuously searching for distant supernovae. They want to use the supernovae to probe dark energy and find out more about this unusual stuff. The search has brought them to a couple of unexpected objects that might just be able to tell us something about our early solar system. One of these objects is actually in our solar system. It is located between Uranus and Neptune. When supernovae are being examined they often expose other objects in their light and these objects are sometimes in our solar system. These dark objects usually remain undetected until this happens. The team that was searching for the supernovae has reported finding 14 previously unknown objects in our solar system in the five years between 2002 and 2007. Another object was found that was much further out and the scientists theorized that it was originally closer, but was hit by a runaway planet that is long gone. What is puzzling astronomers is the fact that the object that is between Uranus and Neptune should be in an unstable orbit and yet it is so stable that it is thought that it could easily orbit for at least one billion years or more in it's current trajectory. The second object is about 225 miles in diameter and is at least 1.5 to 30 times the distance of Neptune to our sun. I would have thought that the scientific community could have got a more accurate estimate of this distance, but it is what it is. What is interesting is that gravity can not account for the orbit of this distant object. There are other objects in the universe that seem to have orbits that gravity can not account for. Let's hope that this mystery will be solved soon.

We have all heard that private companies are building space vehicles and that some of them will actually take passengers into space. I bet not many of us have given any thought to the space suits that these people will wear. The space suits developed by NASA cost a fortune. There are now private companies creating space suits for the masses. They are making space suits for the crew and passengers of those commercial flights. Orbital Outfitters stated that reservations for space flights are piling up and they intend not to only offer inexpensive space suits to the crew, but to the passengers also. The company is hoping to also get a government contract for these industrial strength suits. The company states that their suit was tested under higher pressures than NASA spacesuits are subject to and preformed well. The suits are said to be relatively light when compared to other spacesuits.

There is a crisis brewing and that crisis involves the delivery of newspapers to rural areas. It seems that there is a severe shortage of newspaper delivery boys and girls. This is hardly noticed in busy urban areas, where stores are available on almost every street corner, but it is a different story in rural areas where people depend on newspaper delivery to get their papers. Could it be that computer games are responsible for this change. Are the kids running home after school and getting on their X-Boxes and Nintendos rather than working part time jobs?

The man was a petty thief. He saw a great target of opportunity, two old guys and one was in a motorized wheelchair. What could be easier pickings? He ran over to them and took their cash. He was feeling pretty good about himself, after all what could have been easier than that? Never mind the fact that they were on fixed incomes and he might have been taking their food money. Anyway, that was one of the worst mistakes he ever made. The one old guy, who was a Korean War veteran, chased and tackled him and the guy in the wheelchair caught up with them. The two old guys were able to hold on to the him until the police got there. I have a suggestion to make to this crook, find something else to do and make sure it doesn't involve protecting yourself.