Iran Tests It's First Long Range Missiles

The nation of Iran has been feeling a little bit threatened in the last few years by The United States over it's highly controversial nuclear program and has begun testing a new batch of medium and long range missiles in an attempt to intimidate and deter the west from any aggression towards it. On July 9th they successfully tested a new and improved version of a missile called the Shahab-3. The potential range of the missile is 1250 miles which means it has the capability to strike and hit Israel, certain strategic U.S. bases in Saudi Arabia and throughout the middle east, and parts of southern Europe. The tests were carried on Iranian television and are meant to be a display of Iran's ever increasing military capabilites.

World's First Eco-club Opens In London

In the ongoing effort to save the world from a future ecological disaster even party goers will soon be able to join in on the fight simply by hitting a club and dancing the night away. It opens in London on July 10th and it is called Club4climate and its slogan is "All you have to do is dance to save the world." The way the club is hoping to manage this is with the use of new technology. They will feature a dance floor that is designed to harness the energy of people pounding their feet when they dance and convert that into electricity to run the lights and play the music and such. The dance floor is set on springs that are placed underneath it. As the clubbers dance the energy that is produced is transferred from the springs to a set of batteries that are rechargeable. The batteries can then be used to provide electricity to run the club and thereby help reduce its carbon footprint. They wont be able to eliminate their "carbon footprint" totally but the club owners are stating that the human powered dance floor may be able to provide up to 60% of the clubs energy needs. Most scientists believe that this figure is a bit high. Whatever the amount of energy is that they can produce it is a step in the right direction. The human powered dance floor is not the only step the club is taking to go green though. They will also feature "Bio-Beer", which is brewed by a process that is supposed to be less harmful to the environment, The toilets in the club will be flushed with rainwater that is stored in collection tanks, and it will offer free admission to any club goers who can prove that they traveled to get there either on foot, by bike, or by using public transit.

High Fuel Costs Forcing More Cops To Walk The Beat

You may soon be seeing more thin police officers, or at least thinner police officers, patroling the streets of your city on foot due to the rise of fuel costs nationwide. The skyrocketing price of gas is forcing many cities to get their cops out of their squad cars and put them on bike and foot patrols more often than ever before. Some places have even set targets for cutting fuel usage. The Georgia State Police for example have been ordered to cut their driving time by 25% annually. Other police departments in the country have been telling their cops to cut back on the number of donut runs using their department issue police cars. In the long term it is believed that these modest measures will lead to significant reductions in fuel consumption. An additional by product is expected to be improved relations between the local police and their communities because it will give more cops a chance to get to know some of the members of the public they serve better by walking a beat.

U.P.S. Fights High Gas Prices With Right Turns Only

In the brave new world of $4 a gallon gasoline companies and individuals alike are being forced to come up with ever increasingly innovative ways of saving on the use of fuel for their transportation needs. United Parcel Service (U.P.S.) may have one of the more interesting ways to try and do this that anyone has heard of so far. The company tries to save on fuel for its gas guzzling boxy delivery trucks by ordering its drivers to only make right turns on their routes. They even go so far as to plan the routes in advance the day before to insure that their drivers do not make any left turns. Apparently making left turns with a vehicle is wasteful and expensive in terms of the use of gas because it usually involves having to wait before you can make the turn for oncoming traffic to pass such as at an intersection. This waiting uses up fuel and ends up being very costly on an annual basis for the company. Making right turns however involves a lot less waiting and is usually a faster and more natural turn to make on the roads. The company actually studied this and found it to be true generally. U.P.S. estimates that this move will save the company about $3 million dollars a year in fuel costs.

Ebay Being Sued Over fake Goods

Everyone knows that when you are buying something on the Internet auction website Ebay that you are taking a chance. You never know what you are going to get. Its a little like the old wild west. There are some companies out there now who are interested in maintaining their good names and are now cracking down on Ebay and the amount of fake and second rate merchandise that it allows to be sold on its site. More than one company in fact has already sued Ebay successfully and there are likely more to come in the future. On June 30th a french court ruled that Ebay had to pay $63 million in damages to a group of luxury brand makers which included Louis Vuitton, Dior, and Givency. The court stated that these companies are owed the damages because Ebay was not doing enough to prevent the sale of knockoff merchandise that is being sold on its site in these company's names. A month earlier another french court ruled that Ebay owed $32,000 in damages to luxury retailer Hermes for the same reasons. Back here in the U.S. Tiffany and Company has a suit against Ebay which is currently awaiting a ruling. These companies all claim that their brand names are being damaged by Ebay because it allows cheap knockoffs to be listed on its site as genuine merchandise and that the site does little to stop it. Ebay has appealed the rulings.

The Worlds Top ten Websites

In the world of internet websites the usual suspects are king. The names of the corporations that dominate are familiar to one and all by now. There are some surprises however and there are also some newcomers who are making major waves and making their moves to reach the top. Facebook, for example is not in the top ten but it is 13th on the list currently which is not bad at all for a company that did not even exist five years ago. Here below is a list of the top ten most frequented websites on the net. They are listed in order from 1 to 10 by name and then followed by the total number of unique visitors to the site as of March 2008. (source: Comscore)

1. Google sites ----------605,576,000
2. Microsoft sites ------ 542,751,000
3. Yahoo sites ---------- 487,573,000
4. AOL ------------------- 240,810,000
5. Wikipedia ------------ 240,754,000
6. Ebay ------------------ 239,900,000
7. Fox Interactive ------158,216,000
8. Amazon -------------- 155,193,000
9. Apple sites ---------- 139,213,000
10. Cnet ---------------- 124,750,000

The Incredible Shrinking Food Products

It seems that the soaring price of fuel is not only hitting the airline industry and the driving public as hard as it can but it is also having a negative effect on industry and consumers in general in terms of the size of the products that consumers find at their local grocery stores. It has happened before in the past when economic times get hard but this time around it is expected to be worse than usual. The way food companies like General Mills and Kelloggs try to offset their rising costs due to the price of fuel is to shrink their products. Items like cereal boxes, soap, paper towel rolls, and jars of sauce all shrink in size while the price remains the same in the hopes that the buying public will not notice any difference and thereby not complain. In the industry it is known as "shortsizing" and it is happening in every isle of your local supermarket and it is happening nationwide. It is in effect paying more for less which amounts to a price increase for the consumer. Kelloggs has already announced that it will shrink the size of most of its cereal boxes by 2 ounces. Frito Lay Potato chip bags will now have fewer chips in each bag and Bounty will cut the number of paper towels in each of its quilted rolls from 56 to 48. Edie's ice cream has reduced the size of its ice cream containers by 14%. This practice has been longstanding and it works. Most consumers never notice any difference but those who do feel that it is a bit sneaky. Food companies counter by saying that it is a nessassary move to help them deal with increasing fuel costs to transport their products to store shelves.