Forget Punxatawny Phil, Look to Siberia Sam!!

Scientists have developed a model to accurately predict whether the winter in North America and Northern Europe will be more severe or less severe. Called sCast, The model uses the amount of snow in Siberia to predict the severity of winter weather in the northern hemisphere.

Apparently, severe snow in Siberia causes a warming in the upper atmosphere that pushes down on the jet stream. This causes the jet stream to move farther south, thereby bringing colder air farther south. See, it's not that we can't predict the weather. It's just that we haven't figures out what markers to look for!

How to party with hot chicks

While going to LA and New York on business all of the time can be fun, there are also few places in the world where you're so vividly reminded that you're a nobody. Even if you can find a "hot" club to go to, you usually stand outside while good (scratch that...incredible) looking women walk right by you and into the club. Next week that all changes.

PMBuzz.com will launch on August 9th as the premier website focused on nightlife. It won't just tell you where the hot clubs are, but you'll read reviews and tips on how to get in and even on the guest list. It's really a social networking site, but much more valuable.

On a similar note, Glaceau (makers of Vitamin Water) had decided to get into the club scene with a new club focused drink. Hmm, health drinks and alcohol. Now, that's adhearence to corporate values!

CSI just got even better!!!

According to Science Daily, a new fingerprinting technique could predict the diet, race and sex of a suspected criminal.

The team at Imperial College London's Department of Chemical Engineering has devised a technique which collects fingerprints along with their chemical residue and keeps them intact for future reference. The technique uses gelatine based tape to collect prints and their chemical residue for chemical imaging analysis. From this they can tell if someone is male, female, a meat eater and even how old the crime scene is.

Just think, now instead Horatio Caine (CSI Miami) of asking the incredibly hot Caleigh Duquesne (played by the gorgeous Emily Procter) if she's dusting form prints, Horatio will now walk up and ask, "Caleigh.....are you gellin?"

Finally! Toshiba is the first to build a good, mobile laptop!!!

I don't typically write about laptops, but this one had me smiling! For years I've been looking for a portable laptop with enough juice to be a desktop replacement without weighing 8.5 lbs or being so small that typing an e-mail gave me writers cramps.

I've always been a fan of Toshiba laptops. Now they've solidified me as a fan!

The Toshiba Protege R500 finally got it right! It's only 3/4" thick.....WITH THE DVD DRIVE IN IT!!!!! Others have gone this thin but then you have to carry your optical drive separately. It weights only 2.4 lbs and the battery adds only .4 lbs! Oh, and here's the real kicker.......The batter life is 12.5 HOURS!!! That means that I don't have to carry an extra 1lb battery to watch movies and work on the plane when I travel to NY!

It's also got a 12.1" widescreen, transreflective screen that won't wash out when you're poolside at the hotel working and is LED backlit. It's also built durable in case you drop it and it has built in wi-fi.

The downside? No stereo speakers and no dial-up modem. But, if you dont have an aircard, Bose headphones and an i-Pod, then you ain't a member of the road warrior's club anyway!!!

If you dig jets.....

When Boeing launched the 787, they lined up every 7 series model end to end for the first time in history. I'll let the picture speak for itself.

You bought the phone, now protect your kids!

I ran across a great software for parents the other day called Radar.

Here's the concept:

Kids won't report random phone calls, even if they're repetetive. Radar monitors incoming numbers and sends parents a text alert for any call received on the phone which comes from a number which is NOT on the call list approved by the parents. The parents can then go online and look at a record of calls, their number and duration and full text messages. Soon, it will also be able to show picture messages as well. The service costs $10 per month.

Unfortunately, the service is only available on Blackberries and other smart phones (which a kid will NOT usually have), but they say that soon it will be available on the Motorola RAZR and through Verizon.

I'm rooting for this company. This is a big problem and I regularly check my kids' phones to look at their incoming numbers and text messages. We parents need help to keep our kids safe!

One of my favorite applications for my cell phone used to be a local traffic map that I used on my Palm Treo. Unfortunately, I upgraded my phone to the Motorola Q and couldn't find the application for that phone.

However, TrafficGuage is back. They've recently announced a wider device support, service in 16 major U.S. cities and widgets that allow you go see traffic on your desktop or to integrate with Google Maps.

The service is a little clunky still, but they should work that out quickly. Check it out at http://www.trafficguage.com and give it a try.