Word: beams
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This week the guessing game comes to an end as Kamen unveils his baby under its official name: Segway. Given the buildup, some are bound to be disappointed. ("It won't beam you to Mars or turn lead into gold," shrugs Kamen. "So sue me.") But there is no denying that the Segway is an engineering marvel. Developed at a cost of more than $100 million, Kamen's vehicle is a complex bundle of hardware and software that mimics the human body's ability to maintain its balance. Not only does it have no brakes, it also has no engine...
...This week the guessing game comes to an end as Kamen unveils his baby under its official name: Segway. Given the buildup, some are bound to be disappointed. ("It won't beam you to Mars or turn lead into gold," shrugs Kamen. "So sue me.") But there is no denying that the Segway is an engineering marvel. Developed at a cost of more than $100 million, Kamen's vehicle is a complex bundle of hardware and software that mimics the human body's ability to maintain its balance. Not only does it have no brakes, it also has no engine...
...Taliban commander, Mohammed Haqqani. Along with his bodyguards and a Taliban judge, Haqqani is fiddling with a radio, trying to reach the BBC's Pushtu service. He finds it in time to hear that the Taliban have driven the Northern Alliance out of Maidanshahr, south of Kabul. They all beam and cheer; it reminds me a little of watching the annual Lions football game back home...
...Along the way to the house there had been a couple of massive flashes and ground shaking crumps, followed by lazy bursts of anti-aircraft guns. Also a more prosaic sight - the headlights of light trucks heading out of Kabul, on full beam. "Taliban," Khademudin said. "They head for the front whenever there is a bombing raid. They feel safer there. The cars were about a kilometer away...
According to their promoters, ion-beam (also known as electron-beam) devices are fairly safe and relatively fast, killing anthrax spores in a matter of minutes. Independent experts question whether they can do the job that quickly. The gamma rays in the competing systems penetrate more deeply into packages and piles of envelopes, but they can take hours to destroy any spores that may be in them. Also, each gamma-ray machine uses a small quantity of radioactive cobalt 60 as its energy source, posing safety and disposal risks that could make an already nervous public even more...