This particular unit is manufactured and sold by the FastMac company and one of these babies can be yours for only $19.95.

This product also made it as one of the “best tech ideas of 2010” by the New York Times.  In my view this product is by far the most practical of the tech items discussed.

The mining rescue was equally compelling.  Incredibly the Chilean government had lowered television cameras and lights into the mine some 2000 feet below the surface of the earth, and we could see the rescue taking place in real time.

Unfortunately the mine rescue footage could not be condensed in real time, meaning that the anchormen and women had a lot of dead space to fill.  Despite exhortations from Larry King of all people to just “sit and watch” the rescue, the anchors simply could not keep quiet.

Perhaps the silliest comment of the evening, and perhaps in the top 10 all time was uttered by Gary Tuchman, a CNN anchor.  While waiting for the emergence of the rescue capsule containing rescued miner Mario Sepulveda, Tuchman and Larry King noted that one of the busiest streets in Los Angeles is called Sepulveda Boulevard and that “it is named after another Sepulveda.”

Really.  I never would have assumed than a major thoroughfare in Los Angeles was not named after a heretofore unknown Chilean miner.

Gary Tuchman followed up this compelling non sequitur with the following comment, which I am quoting directly from the CNN transcript:

“October 13th may become a national holiday in Chile, and Sepulveda Boulevard in Los Angeles may also be named after Mario Sepulveda, the second miner who’s about to come up any minute.”

Okay.  Not much I can add to that.

Larry King then quickly turned to another guest, presumably with the hope that something worthwhile might be said.

Senate Bill 474 was passed by the 2010 Georgia legislature.  It allows drivers to keep any bear or deer they might run over.  Previously, such roadkill had to be scraped off the roadway and given to the Department of Natural Resource, where the carcasses were stuff, mounted and installed in various state owned properties.

Apparently the DNR has run out of places to mount the roadkill.  Perhaps the state taxidermists were also furloughed.  I suppose all those pesky budget issues can wait until next year.  No word on whether restaurants using roadkill will have to disclose same on their menus.

Project manager Lucy Edri-Azoulay stated that installing the technology on a single traffic lane stretching one kilometer would produce 200 kilowatts of electricity hour and a four lane highway with the system implemented would produce a megawatt of electricity, enough to power 2,500 households.

Unlike solar and wind technology, this piezoelectric system would not be dependent on the weather nor would it require significant infrastructure outlays.

It is certainly too bad that so much of the world spends its time figuring out new ways to isolate and castigate Israel. Arab oil producers, fat and lazy with easy money created by exploiting the finite petroleum reserves that happenstance put under their feet certainly have no interest in supporting alternative energy technologies and, in fact, they have an incentive to stop this type of development.

Energy consuming nations, however, have no excuse. Arab oil money empowers Islamist radicals and their destructive, terrorist ideologies. When their oil dries up, the Saudis and their ilk will be back herding camels within three or four generations.

Western democracies as well as eastern regimes like China would be wise to embrace the intellectual resources that Israeli society produces in endless supply.

I understand that there is a new exception – you need not file your returns or pay any outstanding taxes due until you are formally nominated for a cabinet position in the Obama Administration.

I live in Atlanta, Georgia, but my wife, kids and I generally visit New York City at least once a year.  No stop in the City would be complete without a visit to the Carnegie for a giant corned beef sandwich.  Thanks to my friend Howard Beer for alerting me to Mr.  Parker’s passing.

Carnegie Deli Corned Beef Sandwich