Peanut Butter News

Full Story at NYTimes.com

JOSH SMITH is a large man with a shaved head, a goatee and a look in his eyes that can only be described as stoked. And he is never more stoked than when he talks about his job, one of the strangest at the General Motors Proving Grounds, here in this suburb 45 miles northwest of Detroit.

All day, he breaks G.M. parts.

Not just any parts. Mr. Smith is a member of Red X, a team of 33 engineers who study auto parts that are malfunctioning for reasons that have everyone stumped. The work is a little bit “CSI” and a little bit “MythBusters.” Red X takes working parts and methodically torments them in controlled experiments, hoping to re-enact the demise of ones that failed.

Full Story at CNN.com

(CareerBuilder.com) — Higher education isn’t for everyone, and people have a variety of paths to choose from once they graduate from high school. They might know from the start that they want to go straight to the professional world.

Other new graduates often decide to try college for a semester to see how it goes and then realize it’s not for them.

While the decision to pursue a degree or to enter the work force is fraught with pros and cons, earning a lot of money isn’t. Not that money means everything, but wouldn’t we all like to see some bigger numbers on our next paycheck?

Full Story at money.cnn.com

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — About 635,000 cribs sold at major discounters nationwide have been recalled by Dorel Asia SRL for strangulation and suffocation hazards that killed one child and injured 10 others, the government said Tuesday.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said that the hardware holding up the side of the crib can fail, causing the drop side of the crib to detach, which could trap and suffocate a child.

Full Story atmoney.cnn.com

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — General Electric said Thursday it has secured a $1.4 billion contract to supply wind turbines and provide services for what will be the world’s largest wind farm operation when completed in 2012.

The conglomerate will supply 338 of its 2.5-megawatt turbines to New York-based Caithness Energy to be installed in 2010 and 2011 at Shepherds Flat, the 845-megawatt farm that stretches across 30 square miles in north-central Oregon.

The Shepherds Flat Project will supply energy to Southern California Edison, providing enough to power approximately 235,000 California households, GE and Caithness said in a statement.

Full Story at msnbc.com

Barcelona – A company behind plans to open the first hotel in space says it is on target to accept its first paying guests in 2012 despite critics questioning the investment and time frame for the multi-billion dollar project.

The Barcelona-based architects of The Galactic Suite Space Resort say it will cost $4.4 million for a three-night stay at the hotel, with this price including an eight-week training course on a tropical island.

Full Story at msnbc.com

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – A prototype version of NASA’s newest rocket is ready for its planned Tuesday launch, mission managers said Friday.

NASA is set to test the design of its next-generation rocket, Ares I, during a demonstration liftoff called Ares I-X. The launch, slated for 8 a.m. ET on Oct. 27 from Launch Pad 39B at Kennedy Space Center here, will be a suborbital flight of the new rocket’s first stage, with a dummy second stage and mock crew capsule on top.

NASA officially gave the go-ahead for Tuesday’s launch after a Flight Test Readiness Review meeting among mission managers.
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“The team is ready to go fly,” said Bob Ess, Ares I-X mission manager, at a briefing following the meeting. “The vehicle is actually ready to go fly.”

Full Story at CNN.com

Heene is the storm-chasing father whose giant Mylar balloon ascended into the sky late last week, sparking fears that his 6-year-old son Falcon was aboard.

A dispatcher with the Larimer County Sheriff’s Department declined to release any information about the search, but said the office will hold a news conference at 1 p.m. ET Sunday. Calls to the department’s spokeswoman were not immediately returned.

“We anticipate criminal charges will be filed sometime in the near future,” Sheriff Jim Alderden told CNN late Saturday.

Speculation over whether Thursday’s incident, which prompted a widespread search, was a hoax has mounted against Heene, father of three young boys. Explainer: How ‘balloon boy’ drama began »

Full Story at CNN.com

Epcot on Wednesday opened a new attraction called “Sum of All Thrills,” which lets kids use computer tablets to design a virtual roller coaster, bobsled track or plane ride. After inputting their designs, kids climb into a robotic carriage that uses virtual-reality technology to help them experience the ride they’ve created.

“This is really the next generation — where there’s a lot more personalization involved” in the amusement-park experience, said Eric Goodman, Disney’s lead project manager on the ride.

This make-your-own-ride approach appears to be a growing trend in the world of amusement parks and museums. Taking cues from the video game industry, park and ride designers have realized that people — especially young ones — want to interact with and even design their own thrill rides.

Full Story at CNN.com

Spending a day with Fisk on his 18-acre work site outside of Austin, Texas is like riding a rocket blast into the future.

“To be free to do what we’re doing is absolute magic,” Fisk recently told CNN.

Pliny Fisk opened the non-profit Center for Maximum Potential Building (CMPB) in 1975 and he also teaches architecture at Texas A&M University.

Running around his architectural compound are some 10 interns, from around the world, always carrying out experiments. Video Watch Pliny Fisk at work in Austin, Texas »

Fisk’s mission is to develop environmentally-sustainable building materials and to fundamentally change the way we build our communities, like homes and office buildings.

Full Story at CNN.com

“We saw nothing,” he said.

Samuels is vice president of the Fremont Peak Observatory near Monterey, California, which had invited members of the public to watch Friday’s NASA mission through its telescopes.

The lunar strike happened shortly after 4:30 a.m. on the West Coast (7:30 a.m. ET).

NASA had encouraged everyone around the country to host “impact parties,” saying the plume of dust generated by the lunar impact would be visible through “mid-sized backyard” telescopes 10 inches or larger. It said the chances of seeing the plume were greater for people living in areas that were still dark.

Full Story at CNN.com

In 2011, the energy giant expects to produce solar panels made with cadmium telluride, a thin-film solar cell material, said Michael Idelchik, vice president of advanced technologies at GE Global Research at the EmTech conference here on Wednesday.

The company now sells solar panels that use silicon solar cells, but its long-term bet is on thin-film and specifically cadmium telluride because it offers the cheapest cost per watt, he said.

Last year, GE’s energy division took a majority stake in Golden, Colorado-based PrimeStar Solar, for its cadmium telluride cell technology. GE is now developing a product around that aimed at utility and commercial customers.

Full Story at CNN.com

NEW DELHI, India (CNN) — India on Wednesday launched a second satellite to study oceans.

The cube-shaped Oceansat-2 will monitor the interaction between oceans and the atmosphere, as part of climate studies, according to the country’s main space agency.

The satellite, launched from India’s southeast coast, carried six nanosatellites from European universities as auxiliary payloads, said the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO). It also is equipped with two solar panels projecting from its sides, for generating power and charging batteries.

India says it has the world’s largest constellation of remote-sensing satellites — 16, including Oceansat-2. They produce images for uses such as agriculture, rural development, water resources, forestry and disaster management.