PDX Sci Tech

Quote of the Day:
"I'm a cow and I'm mad as hell."
--Howard Veal

"I'm just starting to look at the Paul O'Neill background materials which Ron Suskind recently posted...As a science guy, one of the first funniest things to me is that Chuck Hagel (or his staff) writes CO² instead of CO₂. That's the first sign that they don't know what they're talking about." --Dave Appell

"Congress deregulated the cable industry in 1996; over the next seven years rates increased by 53%, while inflation rose 19%." --itfacts

"31.69 nHz = once a year."

" This segment was not objective in its coverage of this important issue. It did not report how outsourcing has negative effects on the US economy and American workers, nor did it say how the entire IT industry is being devastated by this unethical practice. Instead, It showed outsourcing as boon for American business."..."In less than 24 hours, over 2,000 of our activists sent faxes to the lone 60 Minutes fax machine. We received a phone call from them asking us to, "knock it off." They have not been able to use their fax machine since our campaign began as it is constantly receiving our faxes. Out of respect for them, we have discontinued our fax campaign."
WashTech.org

Quote of the Day:

"I have the faint frail hope that Bush's implausible concept of a new launch vehicle by 2010 means revealing the existence of a heretofore secret military craft, but I'm sure it was really just plain old BS."

OK, they make joysticks. The shop equipment kind, not the video game kind. But they make them in Beaverton, and I did learn one thing: The kind that hang from overhead are called pendants.

I'm reading about biotech in the Portland Tribune, and discover there is a Oregon Bioscience Association.

Reading between the lines, while there is great hope for a biotech industry, right now it = OHSU. (virogenomicics and receptor biologix are both OHSU spin-offs).

I kind of doubt the claim that there are "about 180" biotech companies in Portland, but the Bioscience Association web page gives you a few links to get you started.

Altman Browning is a VC/product development firm in Portland. While I have no idea if they are a going concern or not, they have some gadgets up on their page that seem to be past the concept stage.

The Vera is a portable, lightweight hemodialysis device.

The Rigel Calibration Robot is a complete stand-alone device for integrating into an IMS probe station. Once instructed the robot conducts a series of moves to accurately position test pads onto probe pins for signal checking.

Altman Browning is designing a Horizontal/Vertical Axis Dual Rotor Wind Turbine, a 1 megawatt wind energy generation system for a Korean firm. The vertical orientation of the generator and gearbox allows the HVA System to freely yaw as the wind changes. Thus, the rotors are always aligned with the wind, the maximum power generating condition.

The URS, a stand-alone pharmaceutical unpacking and repacking tool, removes tablet and capsule medications from manufacturer’s plastic drug bottles, conveys them across an inspection area, then loads them into bulk containers.

The Avera employs the technology of acoustical holography for use in soft tissue scanning. The Acoustic Holography system is comprised of two or more acoustically matched large-surface transducers that are mounted in a transducer head. This transducer head moves through prescribed motion within a water bath and transmits a 2.7 MHz acoustic plane wave through a water path to the patient’s targeted tissues.

A list of hot springs in oregon. Couldn't find any near pds, but several near salem. The maps link to Topozone, a site that looks like it has some interesting browsing potential.

GeneForum is based in Lake Oswego. "...promotes dialogue about genetic science and its impact on our lives. We work with an unwavering commitment to non-partisanship.". Main focus seems to be ethics and privacy issues. Does not appear to be a corporate front.

I myself was not aware aquatic invertebrates needed saving, but the Xerces Society on Hawthorne Ave. can help you channel those conservation impulses.

"The Aquaic Program mission is to conserve aquatic invertebrates through educating the public and influencing policy.

The ultimate goal of our Pacific Northwest project is to: protect and restore watersheds and rivers in the Pacific Northwest.

In pursuing this goal, the Xerces Society's Aquatic Program helps watershed volunteers directly influence watershed management by training them to collect stream invertebrate data (as well as other stream data) and translate that information into a measure of the streams' biological condition, giving them the ability to influence management decisions."

I can see his "con" position coming from a mile away...

"Gilbert Meilaender, a member of the President's Council on Bioethics, will present "The Moral Meaning of Cloning" in a lecture at 6:30 p.m. Feb. 12 in Buckley Center Auditorium at the University of Portland."

...Meilaender's books include "Bioethics: A Primer for Christians"...

Oregonian

Several science fairs are coming up in March. PSU, Beaverton, Wilsonville etc.

A map of Oregon Watersheds

The EPA has a clickable, surfable map of Oregon watersheds.

WW

Willamette Week has a cover story on linux.

Linux isn't all that easy to learn, but it is worth it.

Home page of Open Source Development Labs, mentioned in the article.

OEVA

Oregon Electric Vehicle Association

Interesting collection of vehicles and owners, from around the Portland, OR area.

How many biotech companies are in Portland? I found 3:
Virogenomics
Receptor BioLogix
Znomics
Any others? leave a comment or email me: mail2004@linuxwaves.com