OhGizmo! � Archive � [CES 2010] RCA Airnergy Charger Harvests Electricity From WiFi Signals: "This little box has, inside it, some kind of circuitry that harvests WiFi energy out of the air and converts it into electricity. This has been done before, but the Airnergy is able to harvest electricity with a high enough efficiency to make it practically useful: on the CES floor, they were able to charge a BlackBerry from 30% to full in about 90 minutes, using nothing but ambient WiFi signals as a power source."
According to
recovery.gov, the 2nd congressional district of Utah has received $802,465,348 from the federal government in stimulus money and has saved 2,240.3 jobs. Doing the simple math with big numbers, that gives us $358,243.46 for each job. Those are some big numbers that pose lots of questions:
- How do you save 3/10 of a job?
- How do they know so precisely how many jobs were saved?
- How much are the people working these jobs getting?
- How are we going to pay for all this?
What the website does not detail is what the money is actually spent on. From the FAQ we read how the jobs saved is computed:
Recipients calculate the number of jobs created or saved by taking the total number of Recovery Act funded hours worked in a quarter, and dividing it by the number of hours of a full-time schedule in a quarter as defined by the Recipient.
In essence, a project is funded with recovery funds and then the number of hours working on the project is divided in money spent to get the number of jobs saved. What we don't know is how many of the projects would have been done anyway. Oh well, it is as good a guess as any.
Now, what if instead of funding the projects, they simply divided the money among all the unemployed in the state. Again, according to recovery.gov,
Utah has been awarded $1,502,981,542. The is one and a half billion, dollars. Then a recent
article on unemployment in Utah, 84,300 Utahns are out of work. Doing the simple math on big numbers again that means $17,828.96 for every unemployed person on Utah.
Actually, Utah has a
cool recovery site. In it we find that the Davis School District has spent $722,698 for 5 full time teaching positions. That works out the $144,539.60 for each teacher. Either school teachers are making a lot more money than they claim or where is the money going? Another $11,000,000 is being spent on
Assist in providing special education and related services to children with disabilities in accordance with Part B of the IDEA. That is a lot of assistance. Another 2.8 million is going to weatherize 300 low income homes, almost $10,000 per home.
Last example, $31,367,800 was spent to retain 174 employees of the SLCC arts program which works out to $180,274.71 per employee. Were they really going to get rid of the entire art department? Are the employees getting paid that much? Those art degrees really pay off.
These are all noble causes. But, it seems like the money could go a lot further. There are some good things being done but couldn't more be done? Teachers don't make that much money, weatherizing doesn't cost that much and jobs don't average over $300,000 a year, at least in this state.
Wireless Electricity, Explained | Design & Innovation | Fast Company: "Last month, Eric Giler, the CEO of WiTricity--the most technically advanced and ambitious company in the bunch--took the stage at TED Global to demonstrate the technology. The video has just been posted to the web, and it's amazing stuff. Watch as Giler walks through the magnectic field conveying the energy without getting fried, or even so much as tickled"
My daughters have a hard time finding swim wear. This is a good place to look.
Modest Swimwear - Juniors - Size 13: "Simply the best fabric on the market! Nice 'beefy' weight and phenomenal color absorption. Neck, back, and armholes cut a bit higher. Ties in the back. A very comfortable suit. Tops and bottoms sold separately. Choose print or solid."
