Taken at O'Hare airport in Chicago.
(More photos, as always, right here.)
Friday, November 21, 2008
Cosmic Rays from Mysterious Source Bombarding Earth
"This electron excess cannot be explained by the standard model of cosmic ray origin," said Wefel. "There must be another source relatively near us that is producing these additional particles."
Evidence of vast frozen water reserves on Mars: scientists
I just had the strangest sense of deja-vu.
Evidence of vast frozen water reserves on Mars: scientists
Ground-penetrating radar used by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter reveals numerous huge glaciers up to one half-mile thick buried beneath layers of rock and debris. Researchers said one glacier is three time the size of Los Angeles in area.
"All together, these glaciers almost certainly represent the largest reservoir of water ice on Mars that's not in the polar caps," said John Holt, a geophysicist at the University of Texas at Austin and lead author of a report about the discovery, which appears in the November 21 issue of the journal Science.
I just had the strangest sense of deja-vu.
Mac Tonnies sings while making breakfast before coming out as an Alien On Earth.
Nope, not me. But there's indeed a weird (if superficial) resemblance.
Nope, not me. But there's indeed a weird (if superficial) resemblance.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Good news -- "Darklore" (vol. 2) is out. If you're looking for an esoteric stocking-stuffer, this is the one. (Choose between paperback format or limited edition hardcover.)
Monday, November 17, 2008
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Indian Tricolour Placed on the Moon on Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru's Birthday
In a historic event, the Indian space programme achieved a unique feat today (November 14, 2008) with the placing of Indian tricolour on the Moon's surface on Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru's birthday. The Indian flag was painted on the sides of Moon Impact Probe (MIP), one of the 11 payloads of Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft, that successfully hit the lunar surface today at 20:31 hrs (8:31 pm) IST. This is the first Indian built object to reach the surface of the moon.
By now you've probably read how Google can help pinpoint flu outbreaks based on search terms submitted by users. Could a similar technique be used to track "paranormal" activity?
Friday, November 14, 2008
How Floating 'Energy Islands' Could Power the Future
One of these hexagonally-shaped islands could generate 250 megawatts (enough power for a small city), Michaelis said. Even more power is possible by mooring together several Energy Islands into a small archipelago that could include greenhouses for food, a small harbor for ships and a hotel for tourists.
Gobekli Tepe: The World's First Temple?
To Schmidt and others, these new findings suggest a novel theory of civilization. Scholars have long believed that only after people learned to farm and live in settled communities did they have the time, organization and resources to construct temples and support complicated social structures. But Schmidt argues it was the other way around: the extensive, coordinated effort to build the monoliths literally laid the groundwork for the development of complex societies.
(Via Futurismic.)
Richard Boylan Warns of Nov. 15 Asteroid Strike
Oh, boy -- party time! I'm going to blow my savings on beer and hookers right now!
First fuzzy photos of planets outside solar system
It's only a matter of time before "we get a dot that's blue and Earthlike," said astronomer Bruce Macintosh of the Lawrence Livermore National Lab. He led one of the two teams of photographers.
Less Than 20 Years Until First Contact?
No we won't, Seth. We'll be damned lucky to detect ET within 2,000 years and I can't help but think you know it.
Of course, having said that, I'll be more than delighted to have this post come back to haunt me.
Senior SETI scientist Seth Shostak said at an event in San Francisco Tuesday night that the array could become strong enough by 2025 to look deep enough into space to find extraterrestrial signals. "We'll find E.T. within two dozen years," he said.
No we won't, Seth. We'll be damned lucky to detect ET within 2,000 years and I can't help but think you know it.
Of course, having said that, I'll be more than delighted to have this post come back to haunt me.
If, like me, you consider the UFO photograph the preeminent subversive medium of the 20th century, you won't want to miss 140 years of UFO sightings - Part I.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Virtual Webcam Girlfriend Is Entrancing, If a Little Perverted
From an original short-story fragment:
From a technical standpoint, the Dennou AR Figures virtual 3D girlfriends, first announced a few months back, aren't much more impressive than PlayStation 3's Eye of Judgment. You install webcam software to that when your camera detects the special bundled cube onscreen, it fills a 3D companion into your environment. But when that 3D companion is a girl who can be dressed, tickled or, errr, spanked, the concept is born anew.
From an original short-story fragment:
Homeless people, many of them marred by cruel deformities, lined the defunct sidewalk, summoning vicarious charms from slates and projectors. A tiny naked woman with copious piercings writhed in mid-air, extremities flickering.
Scientists stop the ageing process
The researchers, led by Associate Professor Ana Maria Cuervo, blocked the ageing process in mice livers by stopping the build-up of harmful proteins inside the organ's cells.
As people age their cells become less efficient at getting rid of damaged protein resulting in a build-up of toxic material that is especially pronounced in Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and other neurodegenerative disorders.
The researchers say the findings suggest that therapies for boosting protein clearance might help stave off some of the declines in function that accompanies old age.
UN: Clouds of pollution threaten glaciers, health
A dirty brown haze sometimes more than a mile thick is darkening skies not only over vast areas of Asia, but also in the Middle East, southern Africa and the Amazon Basin, changing weather patterns around the world and threatening health and food supplies, the U.N. reported Thursday.
The huge smog-like plumes, caused mainly by the burning of fossil fuels and firewood, are known as "atmospheric brown clouds."
Iran test-fires new missile, Israel within reach
Iran said it test-fired a new generation of surface-to-surface missile on Wednesday and that the Islamic Republic was ready to defend itself against any attacker.
Iran's latest missile test followed persistent speculation in recent months of possible U.S. or Israeli strikes against its nuclear facilities, which the West suspects form part of a covert atomic weapons program, a charge Tehran denies.
Blog of the day: Little Boing Marks by friend and ufological co-conspirator Mike Clelland. Mike's drawings are delightful: R. Crumb meets Dr. Seuss.
Somebody give this woman a hand!
Eye-Cam Wanted
Eye-Cam Wanted
During our conversation she said she was looking for help in turning her artificial eye into a eye-cam. You know, a mini web cam inside an eyeball. It would capture live video and stream it to a memory somewhere and also perhaps eventually assist her own vision in real time. She confessed that she was not technologically adept enough to hack it on her own.
(Via Boing Boing.)
Pictured: The robot that can pull faces just like a human being
Well, they tried.
Scientists have created the first 'humanoid' robot that can mimic the facial expressions and lip movements of a human being.
'Jules' - a disembodied androgynous robotic head - can automatically copy the movements, which are picked up by a video camera and mapped on to the tiny electronic motors in his skin.
It can grin and grimace, furrow its brow and 'speak' as his software translates real expressions observed through video camera 'eyes'.
Well, they tried.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
The flying car
Without recent advances in flexible wing technology, the idea would barely have got off the ground. New aerodynamic profiles and materials make it possible to lift a vehicle weighing 1,500lb and passengers without dangerous instability.
"This thing will launch itself without any pilot input," says Cardozo. “You just open it up and it goes. The more power you put on, the faster you go until you come off the ground [at 35mph]. The wing will basically lock above you [once airborne] and stay there, without weaving, at speeds of up to 80mph."
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Firefighters' Manual Teaches First Responders to Deal with UFO Attacks
No, I'm not kidding: A recent ABC newscast focuses on how a commonly-used firefighters' manual from FEMA has an entire chapter devoted to UFO preparedness.
Mars Phoenix Lander Runs Out of Juice
Related:
Has Mars Science Laboratory Made the Discovery of the Decade?
Originally slated for a mere 90 days near the Martian north pole, clever NASA power engineers kept the Lander doing science for nearly two months beyond that goal. But now mission officials are certain: The lander has run out of power for its internal heater and is presumed to be frozen on the arctic plane.
Related:
Has Mars Science Laboratory Made the Discovery of the Decade?
NASA team leader Michael Mumma puts forward the idea that subterranean bacteria could be producing the noxious fumes, which periodically percolate to the surface in short lived bursts. But it could also be a geological source deep below the surface.
Monday, November 10, 2008
Chandrayaan-1 Now Successfully in Lunar Orbit
Chandrayaan-1, India’s first unmanned spacecraft mission to moon, successfully entered lunar orbit on November 8. The spacecraft fired its engines to reduce velocity and enable the Moon's gravity to capture it; engines were fired for 817 seconds when Chandrayaan-1 was about 500 km away from the moon. Next up for the spacecraft will be to reduce the height of its lunar orbit to about 100 km.
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