Check out this guy who can summon UFOs on demand. Has a link to a news broadcast where they filmed him doing it. Shocked the hell out of the camera crew
Looks a whole lot like an iridium flare to me. Iridium flares are reflections of the sun off of satellites. Some flares can reach magnitude -8 or so, which is actually bright enough to be visible during the daytime.
It would be nice if the news crew had reported the date and time of the "sighting" so it could be cross-referenced with the predicted flares at heavens-above.com. Check out the site to catch a glimpse of flares visible in your area.
scary mosquito raging giant orange oaf sexy brassiere couple of bantu red gray and purple putrid insect larva side by side continents warrior posing for photo really deformed bird
Consider the following solution to the Fermi Paradox (i.e. why the galaxy doesn't appear to be entirely populated with intelligent life).
Well aimed gamma ray bursts from supernovae have the potential to destroy life on planet-wide scales. If the right kind of star, oriented in the right direction were to end it's life in our galactic neighborhood, bacteria might be the only survivors. For any given planet in the Milky Way, a global extinction event due to gamma ray bursts should occur on the scale of every 100 million years. Interestingly, this is roughly the time between mass extinction events in Earth's history. Perhaps the reason we don't see intelligent life throughout the galaxy is that life is recurringly wiped out before it can advance far enough to migrate to adjacent star systems.
Fortunately for us, the changing composition of the Milky Way is slowly making GRB extinction events less likely. Maybe this is why we've gotten so far. After all, it's not inconceivable to me that humanity could begin intergalactic travel within the next few thousand years. Intelligent life in our galaxy may be on the verge of a watershed.
Why do people rent videos, instead of copying them from a friend who rented it?
Because renting a video is easy and cheap.
No, people tend to rent videos instead of owning video collections for two reasons. First, most people only watch a given movie once, or perhaps a handful of times. Why own it when you'll may never even watch it again? Second, vidoes cassettes and ripped DVDs take up a lot of space compared to music storage.
Contrast that with mp3s. People listen to the same songs over and over, maybe hundreds of times. That's the point of music. Second, music is easy to store. A whole album of mp3s takes up a fraction of the space of a DVD movie on a computer, and 12 songs on a CD take up much less physical space on a shelf than 12 vidoes or even 12 DVDs.
Passion for pop culture relentlessly undermined repressive governments like Poland, East Germany and the former Soviet Union.
So, in the end it will be America's lust for half-naked teen nymphettes (I'm referring to Brittney Spears, Christina Agulera and the like -- not pr0n) that will promote the freedom of information and save us all from terrorism?
That's a good point. The Mars Society should make a deal with some sleazy network like Fox to do a Mars Project reality series. They did the live web-cam thing last time around. A reality show would make for some great funding, and the Mars Society wouldn't even have to offer a prize because people will volunteer just for the experience.
On the other hand, I am amazed at the quality and breadth of the reports streaming into/. From numerous eyewitness accounts in NYC and DC and reports from military personnel in Germany to the insughtful discussion about the causes and solutions to todays acts of terrorism, no other network or news source I've looked at today has appeared to me to be as accurate, as timely, or as intelligent.
The latest I've heard from NYC is that many people are still known to be alive and trapped in the rubble of the WTC. Additionally, the collapse of the towers has taken down some other nearby buildings. In Boston, where I live, most people have left the city, particularly anyone working in tall buildings or in the financial district. Despite the mass exodus from downtown and our fears for friends and loved ones in NYC and DC, Bostonians seem to be reacting quietly and calmly.
I have heard that the QWERTY keyboard layout was also designed so that salesmen, not terribly familiar with the typing machines they were selling, could quickly find the letters to the word "typewriter". Try typing it. You'll notice that all the letters are in the top row! Anyone else find that a bit frightening?
I switched to Dvorak for a couple of weeks once. I was really starting to catch up to my old typing speed, and I think I could have passed it eventually. Unfortunately, every time I went to use another person's computer I was unable to type. Since my job is pretty team oriented, I found it more useful in the long run to switch back to QWERTY. I'd still recommend Dvorak to other people, especially if you feel you have wrist problems. It's easily a more comfortable keyboard layout. You can learn how several places online.
A thought on "(F)rank poole". The anagram "ankle poor" immediately made me think of Achilles from the Illiad. Achilles mother dipped him in the river Styx when he was a child in order to make him invulnerable. The one part of his body that didn't get wet was the heel his mother used to hold onto him. During the battle at Troy, Achilles was shot in the heel by an arrow and killed. Interestingly, I believe that it was Odysseus who eventually won the prized armor of Achilles, before beginning his journey home in the Odessy.
In 2001, Frank Pool was one of David Bowman's crewmates. HAL cuts Pools umbilical to Discovery while his is performing a space walk, and Bowman is unable to rescue him. At the risk of going out on a limb here, is the Discovery the "armor" that Bowman (Odysseus) inherits from Pool at the beginning of his long journey? I'm sure there's more here, but that's all I've got. I wish I remembered the movie better so I could draw more parallels.
Slashdot Mirror
Check out this guy who can summon UFOs on demand. Has a link to a news broadcast where they filmed him doing it. Shocked the hell out of the camera crew
Looks a whole lot like an iridium flare to me. Iridium flares are reflections of the sun off of satellites. Some flares can reach magnitude -8 or so, which is actually bright enough to be visible during the daytime.
It would be nice if the news crew had reported the date and time of the "sighting" so it could be cross-referenced with the predicted flares at heavens-above.com. Check out the site to catch a glimpse of flares visible in your area.
scary mosquito
raging giant
orange oaf
sexy brassiere
couple of bantu
red gray and purple
putrid insect larva
side by side continents
warrior posing for photo
really deformed bird
Uh oh: sortofsecurepassword!
Here's hoping public response has progressed beyond "oh no! did he say nuclear?!"
Don't you mean, "oh no! did he say nucular?!"
Sorry, I can't engage you in gunfire right now. If I miss my 4am nap, it really screws up my whole schedule.
Well aimed gamma ray bursts from supernovae have the potential to destroy life on planet-wide scales. If the right kind of star, oriented in the right direction were to end it's life in our galactic neighborhood, bacteria might be the only survivors. For any given planet in the Milky Way, a global extinction event due to gamma ray bursts should occur on the scale of every 100 million years. Interestingly, this is roughly the time between mass extinction events in Earth's history. Perhaps the reason we don't see intelligent life throughout the galaxy is that life is recurringly wiped out before it can advance far enough to migrate to adjacent star systems.
Fortunately for us, the changing composition of the Milky Way is slowly making GRB extinction events less likely. Maybe this is why we've gotten so far. After all, it's not inconceivable to me that humanity could begin intergalactic travel within the next few thousand years. Intelligent life in our galaxy may be on the verge of a watershed.
Consider the ramifications of "One if by land, two if by sea".
Why do people rent videos, instead of copying them from a friend who rented it?
Because renting a video is easy and cheap.
No, people tend to rent videos instead of owning video collections for two reasons. First, most people only watch a given movie once, or perhaps a handful of times. Why own it when you'll may never even watch it again? Second, vidoes cassettes and ripped DVDs take up a lot of space compared to music storage.
Contrast that with mp3s. People listen to the same songs over and over, maybe hundreds of times. That's the point of music. Second, music is easy to store. A whole album of mp3s takes up a fraction of the space of a DVD movie on a computer, and 12 songs on a CD take up much less physical space on a shelf than 12 vidoes or even 12 DVDs.
So, in the end it will be America's lust for half-naked teen nymphettes (I'm referring to Brittney Spears, Christina Agulera and the like -- not pr0n) that will promote the freedom of information and save us all from terrorism?
That's a good point. The Mars Society should make a deal with some sleazy network like Fox to do a Mars Project reality series. They did the live web-cam thing last time around. A reality show would make for some great funding, and the Mars Society wouldn't even have to offer a prize because people will volunteer just for the experience.
Hell, I'd watch the first episode.
This could be a bad idea. Imagine:
"Honey, hand me a sweater. My pacemaker just ran out of juice again."
Artificial organs powered by body heat would also compound the dangers of hypothermia and frostbite.
Speaking of three towers, building 7 in the World Trade Complex just collapsed.
On the other hand, I am amazed at the quality and breadth of the reports streaming into /. From numerous eyewitness accounts in NYC and DC and reports from military personnel in Germany to the insughtful discussion about the causes and solutions to todays acts of terrorism, no other network or news source I've looked at today has appeared to me to be as accurate, as timely, or as intelligent.
The latest I've heard from NYC is that many people are still known to be alive and trapped in the rubble of the WTC. Additionally, the collapse of the towers has taken down some other nearby buildings. In Boston, where I live, most people have left the city, particularly anyone working in tall buildings or in the financial district. Despite the mass exodus from downtown and our fears for friends and loved ones in NYC and DC, Bostonians seem to be reacting quietly and calmly.
I have heard that the QWERTY keyboard layout was also designed so that salesmen, not terribly familiar with the typing machines they were selling, could quickly find the letters to the word "typewriter". Try typing it. You'll notice that all the letters are in the top row! Anyone else find that a bit frightening?
I switched to Dvorak for a couple of weeks once. I was really starting to catch up to my old typing speed, and I think I could have passed it eventually. Unfortunately, every time I went to use another person's computer I was unable to type. Since my job is pretty team oriented, I found it more useful in the long run to switch back to QWERTY. I'd still recommend Dvorak to other people, especially if you feel you have wrist problems. It's easily a more comfortable keyboard layout. You can learn how several places online.
A thought on "(F)rank poole". The anagram "ankle poor" immediately made me think of Achilles from the Illiad. Achilles mother dipped him in the river Styx when he was a child in order to make him invulnerable. The one part of his body that didn't get wet was the heel his mother used to hold onto him. During the battle at Troy, Achilles was shot in the heel by an arrow and killed. Interestingly, I believe that it was Odysseus who eventually won the prized armor of Achilles, before beginning his journey home in the Odessy.
In 2001, Frank Pool was one of David Bowman's crewmates. HAL cuts Pools umbilical to Discovery while his is performing a space walk, and Bowman is unable to rescue him. At the risk of going out on a limb here, is the Discovery the "armor" that Bowman (Odysseus) inherits from Pool at the beginning of his long journey? I'm sure there's more here, but that's all I've got. I wish I remembered the movie better so I could draw more parallels.