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Skydiver Seeks New Records With ‘Edge of Space’ Fall Reaching 690 MPH
[caption id="attachment_237287" align="aligncenter" width="608" caption="Felix Baumgartner (Photo: Red Bull)"]

[/caption] A 42-year-old extreme skydiver is setting out to break four records -- one of which has been in place for 50 years -- with a jump from 23 miles up. To put this into perspective, the line between the edge of Earth's atmosphere and space is technically at about 62 miles high. Felix Baumgartner of Austria, who holds several records for skydiving already, is planning to dive out of a weather balloon because commercial planes won't reach the 121,440-foot altitude on the "edge of space" that he seeks. The Daily Mail reports that Baugartner's descent will take 10 minutes with a top speed of 690 miles per hour. [caption id="attachment_237288" align="aligncenter" width="525" caption="(Photo: Felix Baumgartner)"]

[/caption] Here are the records he hopes to break:

Highest altitude for a freefall -- currently set in 1960 by U.S. Air Force Colonel Joe Kittinger at 102,800 feet
Highest manned balloon flight
Longest distance traveled in freefall -- Baumgartner will deploy his parachute at less than 5,000 feet
Fastest freefall

[caption id="attachment_237271" align="aligncenter" width="298" caption="Details of Baumgartner's skydive. (Image: Daily Mail)"]

[/caption] The Daily Mail reports that Baumgartner, whose endeavor is sponsored by Red Bull, already holds records for lowest parachute jump at 95 feet off Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro; highest jump from a building at 1,479 feet off Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur; and first to skydive across the English Channel. Watch Baumgartner take the plunge off Christ the Redeemer:

Here Baumgartner skydives across the English Channel:

To prepare for the jump, according to the Daily Mail, Baumgartner will have two practice jumps at 60,000 feet and 90,000 feet wearing a special suit designed to help him withstand up to -70 degrees Celsius.

Feb 07 2012

3-D Printer Gives 83-Year-Old Woman a New Jaw
We've seen how a 3-D printer can make everything from Stephen Colbert's head on the body of a T-Rex to "scaffolding" to help repair broken bones. Here's another first in the 3-D printing world that also highlights its growing use in the medical field: doctors at the University of Hasselt in Belgium have created and put into use a jaw implant made with a 3-D printer. [caption id="attachment_237376" align="aligncenter" width="620" caption="The grey jaw was made using a 3-D printer. (Photo: University of Hasselt)"]

[/caption] According to the press release from the university, an 83-year-old woman's lower jaw was so infected that it merited removal. This would of course inhibit essential functions such as eating and breathing. A custom implant was made within a few hours using a 3-D printing technique, whereas traditionally made custom implants would take several days. Here's more on the implant's creation:

The company LayerWise NV Leuven (Dr Peter Mercelis, Ir Reuben Wauthle) manufactured from titanium implant by additive Laser Melting technology, a specific form of 3D printing. Both the designing, processing and making of the implant was done digitally. "Computer technology will cause a revolution in the medical world. We just need to learn to deal with, "adds Prof. Jules Poukens added," The doctor and engineer together to design computer and the operating table: that's really innovative. " The implant weighs about 107 grams. This is slightly heavier than a "natural" lower jaw, but not annoying. With other methods it can take two days for an implant is fully ready. With 3-D printing the job was done in a few hours. The company Cam bioceramics BV in Leiden (NL) foresaw an innovative artificial bone implant coating. This contributes to a good integration of the implant. The slots for the passage of the facial nerves, and the jaw cups were polished. The implant was also provided with openings in order to in a later phase artificial tooth roots, and an adequate level of false teeth to be able to affixing.

[caption id="attachment_237377" align="aligncenter" width="620" caption="Medical professionals show how the lower jaw attaches to the upper at a press conference last week. (Photo: University of Hasselt)"]

[/caption] Amazingly, near normal speech and swallowing was seen in the patient within a day of the implant surgery. The surgery was performed in June 2011, but the announcement of this custom-implant first came last week. [H/T Gizmodo]

Feb 07 2012

Ann Coulter to Romney: ‘You’d Better Be as Right-Wing a President as I Tell People You Will Be!’

During an appearance on Hannity's America, Ann Coulter shared her view that Mitt Romney is the "most conservative" candidate left out of the four and thus, conservatives "should be celebrating" the notion that he could become the Republican nominee. Coulter heaped on the praise, calling Romney "appealing" and "gentlemanly" in addition to comparing him to conservative icon Ronald Reagan. Mediaite adds:

Hannity and Coulter turned to the President for a bit after, talking about the damage money going to Solyndra and large spending numbers under the President. Coulter noted that despite this, it is still “very, very hard to take out an incumbent President,” which is why she would like to see New Jersey Governor Chris Christie as vice president. Hannity countered that he preferred Sen.Marco Rubio. Coulter liked that idea, “but Christie, that’s once in a generation.” Hannity liked him but couldn’t see him as second to anyone. “But that’s why I like him!” Coulter countered.

Coulter added that in speaking to Romney told him, “you owe me and you’d better be as right-wing a President as I tell people you will be!” Asked how Romney responded, Coulter said the GOP hopeful laughed and told her not to worry. Watch the interview below, courtesy of Mediaite:

Feb 07 2012

‘Spread the Word’: On Tuesday Beck Will Expose the Disturbing Truth Behind the Violence on US-Mexico Border

"There is going to be hell to pay in the future." Those haunting words by a former DEA chief about our painfully vulnerable borders ring of truth -- a truth you will not find in the mainstream media -- and head straight to the heart of the matter Glenn Beck will discuss on Tuesday night's episode of The Glenn Beck Program on GBTV. During his Monday evening broadcast, Glen delivered viewers a sneak peak at what he warns will be a disturbing yet vitally important segment that examines the breeding grounds of "rape, murder and dismemberment" along the U.S.-Mexico border. Without sugar coating, Glenn promises to unveil the real world of Mexican drug cartels, their collaboration with known middle east terrorist groups such as Hezbollah and the "systematic evil" running rampant, east to west, along our compromised borders with Mexico. Glenn explains that Americans have been mislead, by both the Bush and Obama administrations, into believing that the situation along the border is far better than it truly is. He will also map out how and why these insurgents ultimate goal is to cause great harm to America. Glenn will reveal what network television has yet to -- the truth about the drug cartels who are in bed with Islamic extremists. Glenn warned viewers not to watch Tuesday's segment with their children, but he urged them to carefully consider the program's content and to spread the word. Below is a preview of what is to come. Watch GBTV tomorrow at 5:00 p.m. ET to find out:

Feb 07 2012

Guess Who Openly Admits That Gov’t Intervention Increases Prices? Joe Biden
In what can be described as another “Oh, that Joe Biden!” moment, the Vice President admitted before a crowd of students at Florida State University Monday morning that government intervention in the free market and providing subsidies for students to attend college has led to an increase in college tuition. “Good morning Mr. Vice President,” one Florida State student began during a Q&A session, “I was wondering how do you feel about the idea that government subsidies and interference with the free market, for example, by artificially increasing availability of student loans is at least partially responsible for rising tuition costs." "And now we're facing a possible student loan bubble and subsequent collapse just as we're coming out of the housing crisis,” the student said. “Well, say the first part of your question again about how we're artificially creating what?” Vice President Joe Biden asked. “By manipulating variables in the free market and giving out government subsidies that maybe is partially responsible for rising tuition costs,” the student clarified. Listen to the Vice President explain how government intervention affects the markets via BreitbartNews: “By the way, government subsidies have impacted upon rising tuition costs. It's a conundrum here. But if we went the way of your view of the free market route, what we would have done is we would not have done that,” the Vice President said. “We would not have increased Pell grants, for example. And there would be 9 million fewer students in college today.” “And there would be hundreds of thousands and millions of students who would not be in college who don't get Pell grants because there was no ability for them to borrow money through Perkins loans and/or have the tax deduction,” Vice President Biden added. “So you are right,” the Vice President added, “In a pure free-market, the college tuition would have to be lower because there would be fewer people going to school, they wouldn't have as much coming in. But the end result is we would probably have -- we go for the better part, half a generation, of going 16th in the world maybe down to 20th in the world.” The Vice President went on to argue that if Bank of America, despite all of its mistakes, can be rescued by government intervention, then, naturally, America's youth should receive similar financial assistance. But outside of openly admitting that government intervention has led to price hikes, what else does the Obama administration’s proposal to expand student-aid through increases ($1 billion to $8 billion) in the Perkins student-loan program mean? “To anyone who hasn’t graduated from college recently, this might sound great. To those of us who have, it’s terrifying,” writes Ron Meyer, a program officer for Young America’s Foundation, in a recent New York Post op-ed. “Making it easier to get a student loan now is as devious as making it easier to get a mortgage a decade ago — the government is encouraging people to take on more debt than they can handle,” Meyer adds. Indeed, many critics believe that it was this type of action that caused the housing market to collapse. “Many recent graduates face the same situation as the people who took out subprime loans from 1998 to 2007; the government encouraged them to take out massive loans that they now can’t afford. Student-loan defaults hit a record-breaking 8.8 percent last year,” Meyer writes. “Growing the student-loan program means dooming more graduates to this same fate. Tuition costs continue to rise at twice the rate of inflation, and average graduating-student loan debt has grown 12.5 percent since 2008 (in real terms) to $26,300.” Although the president has promised to fight increases in tuition by reducing funding to colleges that raise it, he has failed to mention that the “vast majority of federal funding comes to colleges through student loans,” which he intends to expand. “So, even if Obama makes good on his threat to cut other funds to the schools, colleges that hike tuition will still receive more overall funding — giving these institutions little reason to reform,” Meyer writes. Therefore, as opposed to doing them a favor, it seems the Obama administration is encouraging students to take out loans that will tie them massive amounts of debt, all so that they can go to a college that has increased its tuition rates as a result of government intervention. But, this is still preferable to having "hundreds of thousands and millions" of students who can't afford to go to college -- at least it is if you're the Vice President.

Feb 07 2012