My favorite passage from that book goes something like this (paraphrased):
"Hold out your arms as wide as you can, and let that represent the entire history of the Earth. With a single swipe of a fingernail file, you could erase all of human history (and more!)"
That was a great book, if you're really into science. Others might find it a little dry - it's not his typical brand of humor. "Walk in the Woods", also by Bryson is a fabulous book.
The calendar project (aka Sunbird) got a new build the other day too. It's still in 2.0, but is very stable in my experience, and features are being added rapidly.
http://www.mozilla.org/projects/calendar/
If the author of the software had simply deleted the software itself, or disabled it in some way, this could be acceptable, but deleting a user's home directory goes WAAAAY over the line.
Craig Venter (yes, the Craig Venter of Celera/Human Genome fame) is undertaking a mission to do just that - catalog every species on earth's DNA. He's starting with the largely under-explored ocean species.
There's a great extension for Firefox called Single Window that traps windows and puts them in tabs.
http://update.mozilla.org/extensions/moreinfo.php? id=50&vid=53
Hope this helps.
That figure doesn't make sense. You have to remember that the national vote totals don't matter at all, thanks to the electoral college. The only thing that matters is winning individual states.
So, Florida had around 6 million people vote in the last election. If 200 people made the difference, then it was.006%
Either way, though, it's a damn small number of people. So no matter what your political beliefs, get out and vote this year.
" hardly think the life living
under harsh conditions in iceland evolved there. It rather gradually adapted from things living under much 'friendlier' conditions"
What you're describing there is evolution, on a small scale. The process is nothing more than a collection of adaptations over time in response to selective pressures.
And yes, I agree that Mars may never have had 'friendly' conditions. Still, this is a great example of a place where organisms might still be lurking if there ever were more hospitable conditions.
It's fairly obvious that the sumbitter is referring to the fact that the samples aren't contaminated with present-day organisms from the surface that infiltrated during the drilling or collection.
This doesn't at all imply that it's seperately-evolved life, just that it's life that's been isolated for a very long time. These kinds of conditions can often create unique selective pressures. As a result, these organisms could contain novel biochemical pathways.
A good example of a similar situation are geothermal bacteria living in underground hot springs. By finding and studying them, we found the enzymes used in PCR reactions. Without this discovery, DNA fingerprinting and genome sequencing would be much more difficult.
Actually, since 1980, cancer-related deaths have dropped over 50% in the US. Increases in medical technology and banning of mutagenic chemicals have taken care of that.
Saccharine? Preservatives? Relatively harmless, even in the long run.
I agree completely. My problem is with the original article, which states in the first sentence:
"Humans owe their big brains and sophisticated culture to a single genetic mutation that weakened our jaw muscles about 2.4 million years ago, a new study suggests."
I'm just pointing out that this statement draws an incredibly overbroad conclusion. Yes, it's possible that this mutatation left room for larger brains, but the process of developing those brains and our sophisticated culture can absolutely not eb attributed solely to this mutation, as the article suggests.
The conclusion that this mutation was responsible for the divergence of humans and apes is just plain wrong.
It is, however, one of the many hundreds of mutations that led to the differentiation of us from primate brethren. In that respect, it's an interesting find.
It's good to note that the scientific community isn't buying into the media hype though. In response to these claims, Tim White, a respected researcher of human evolution at UC Berkeley said: "We got big brains because little muscles . . . didn't hold the cranial bones tightly together? I may stop chewing tonite!"
All the more reason to participage in the Folding @ Home project.
This project is helping researchers understand and develop models of protein folding, so that someday, sythetic enzymes that create useful products may be a reality.
'Uncanny physics of comic book superheroes' Posted on Sunday, February 15 @ 16:20:59 EST by bjs
Can you teach a physics class with only comic books to illustrate the principles? University of Minnesota physics professor James Kakalios has been doing it since 1995, when he explained the principle of conservation of momentum by calculating the force of Spider-Man's web when it snagged the superhero's girlfriend as she plummeted from a great height. "Comic books get their science right more often than one would expect," said the gregarious Kakalios. "I was able to find examples in superhero comic books of the correct descriptions of basic physical principles for a wide range of topics, including classical mechanics, electricity and magnetism, and even quantum physics."
From the University of Minnesota:
Professor to describe 'uncanny physics of comic book superheroes'
Can you teach a physics class with only comic books to illustrate the principles? University of Minnesota physics professor James Kakalios has been doing it since 1995, when he explained the principle of conservation of momentum by calculating the force of Spider-Man's web when it snagged the superhero's girlfriend as she plummeted from a great height.
Kakalios will describe a freshman seminar class he teaches, "Physics of Comic Books," at 11 a.m. Sunday, Feb. 15, during the American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting in Seattle. His talk is part of the symposium "Pop Physics: The Interface Between Hard Science and Popular Culture," one of two symposia in the Science, Entertainment and the Media category.
"Comic books get their science right more often than one would expect," said the gregarious Kakalios. "I was able to find examples in superhero comic books of the correct descriptions of basic physical principles for a wide range of topics, including classical mechanics, electricity and magnetism, and even quantum physics."
Take, for example, the strength of Superman. To leap a 30-story building in a single bound, Superman's leg muscles must produce nearly 6,000 pounds of force while jumping, Kakalios calculates. The Man of Steel was that strong because he was designed to resist Krypton's powerful gravity. But for a planet with an Earth-like surface to have so much stronger gravity, it would need neutron star material in its core--a highly unstable situation. No wonder the planet exploded. Other topics considered in Kakalios' class include:
# Is it possible to read minds as Prof. X of the X-Men does? # If Spider-Man's webbing is as strong as real spider silk, could it support his weight as he swings between buildings? # Can the mutant master of magnetism Magneto levitate people using the iron in their blood? # If you could run as fast as the Flash, could you run up the side of a building or across the ocean, and how often would you need to eat?
"Once the physical concepts such as forces and motion, conservation of energy, electricity and magnetisms, and elementary quantum mechanics are introduced to answer these and other questions, their real-world applications to automobile airbags, cell phones, nanotechnology and black hole formation are explained," said Kakalios. "The students in this class ranged from engineering to history majors, and while not all were comic book fans, they all found it an engaging and entertaining way to learn critical thinking and basic physics concepts."
Before running out and unplugging your negative=ion air-freshener, keep in mind that the rats were consistently positioned extremely close to the source. This is a different condition than would be experienced in most situations.
Still, the study identifies another potential health risk. So, what are some ways that we can reduce the potential damage? Some sort of sheilding on power lines? Are there any materials that can cheaply stop this type of radiation and it's effects?
A diet high in anti-oxidants is one easy way to at least limit the damage... (Free radicals caused by the decomposition of 03 as it attacks are responsible for much of the damage. Anti-oxidants can help prevent this).
As exepcted, the official site has been slashdotted - here's the complete list of secondary mirrors from the Mozilla site. Not all of them are current, but you should be able to find one to get you your fix.
As reported earlier, Microsoft has been working on it's own anti-spam technology. Yahoo is trying to get their solution adopted by being the first one out of the gate, but since Gates and Co. have a lot of weight to throw around in any standards war, I don't see Yahoo's plan being a success.
In my opinion, Microsoft's plan seems a bit more feasible and crack-proof, too. By linking email to processing power, it makes it really expensive to send millions of emails.
Slashdot Mirror
My favorite passage from that book goes something like this (paraphrased):
That was a great book, if you're really into science. Others might find it a little dry - it's not his typical brand of humor. "Walk in the Woods", also by Bryson is a fabulous book.
Cue rabid fundamentalists... NOW!
is still found here in the USA, in eastern Oregon. It's the size of 1,665 football fields! More info here.
My only surprise was that it wasn't in Texas. Aren't they supposed to do everything bigger?
Or do people ususally go the the great outdoors to get away from this kind of stuff.
Schedules, appointments, who cares! My favorite part of backpacking is not knowing or caring what time it is!
Err... meant to say it's in its 0.2 build. My bad.
The calendar project (aka Sunbird) got a new build the other day too. It's still in 2.0, but is very stable in my experience, and features are being added rapidly. http://www.mozilla.org/projects/calendar/
If the author of the software had simply deleted the software itself, or disabled it in some way, this could be acceptable, but deleting a user's home directory goes WAAAAY over the line.
A good general guideline for ethical behavior in CS is theACM Code of ethics. This violates several points, including:
1.2 Avoid harm to others.
1.3 Be honest and trustworthy.
1.7 Respect the privacy of others.
(1.2 is the most applicable here, I think)
Craig Venter (yes, the Craig Venter of Celera/Human Genome fame) is undertaking a mission to do just that - catalog every species on earth's DNA. He's starting with the largely under-explored ocean species.
Here's the Wired News article about it.
There's a great extension for Firefox called Single Window that traps windows and puts them in tabs. http://update.mozilla.org/extensions/moreinfo.php? id=50&vid=53
Hope this helps.
For a CSS reference, go to www.w3schools.com. It's great stuff.
That figure doesn't make sense. You have to remember that the national vote totals don't matter at all, thanks to the electoral college. The only thing that matters is winning individual states.
So, Florida had around 6 million people vote in the last election. If 200 people made the difference, then it was .006%
Either way, though, it's a damn small number of people. So no matter what your political beliefs, get out and vote this year.
" hardly think the life living under harsh conditions in iceland evolved there. It rather gradually adapted from things living under much 'friendlier' conditions"
What you're describing there is evolution, on a small scale. The process is nothing more than a collection of adaptations over time in response to selective pressures.
And yes, I agree that Mars may never have had 'friendly' conditions. Still, this is a great example of a place where organisms might still be lurking if there ever were more hospitable conditions.
It's fairly obvious that the sumbitter is referring to the fact that the samples aren't contaminated with present-day organisms from the surface that infiltrated during the drilling or collection.
This doesn't at all imply that it's seperately-evolved life, just that it's life that's been isolated for a very long time. These kinds of conditions can often create unique selective pressures. As a result, these organisms could contain novel biochemical pathways.
A good example of a similar situation are geothermal bacteria living in underground hot springs. By finding and studying them, we found the enzymes used in PCR reactions. Without this discovery, DNA fingerprinting and genome sequencing would be much more difficult.
I call bullshit. You can't tell me that the government doesn't favor the religious in a lot of ways. For example:
In 1952, Congress passed a law establishing the National Day of Prayer as an annual religious observance.
Quick: give me another sentence that uses the words "Congress," "law," "establish" and "religion."
Hint (under Amendment I)
Actually, since 1980, cancer-related deaths have dropped over 50% in the US. Increases in medical technology and banning of mutagenic chemicals have taken care of that. Saccharine? Preservatives? Relatively harmless, even in the long run.
Heh. I'm not arguing with that. Damn media...
I agree completely. My problem is with the original article, which states in the first sentence:
"Humans owe their big brains and sophisticated culture to a single genetic mutation that weakened our jaw muscles about 2.4 million years ago, a new study suggests."
I'm just pointing out that this statement draws an incredibly overbroad conclusion. Yes, it's possible that this mutatation left room for larger brains, but the process of developing those brains and our sophisticated culture can absolutely not eb attributed solely to this mutation, as the article suggests.
The conclusion that this mutation was responsible for the divergence of humans and apes is just plain wrong.
It is, however, one of the many hundreds of mutations that led to the differentiation of us from primate brethren. In that respect, it's an interesting find.
It's good to note that the scientific community isn't buying into the media hype though. In response to these claims, Tim White, a respected researcher of human evolution at UC Berkeley said: "We got big brains because little muscles . . . didn't hold the cranial bones tightly together? I may stop chewing tonite!"
An appropriate quip, I think.
All the more reason to participage in the Folding @ Home project. This project is helping researchers understand and develop models of protein folding, so that someday, sythetic enzymes that create useful products may be a reality.
'Uncanny physics of comic book superheroes'
Posted on Sunday, February 15 @ 16:20:59 EST by bjs
Can you teach a physics class with only comic books to illustrate the principles? University of Minnesota physics professor James Kakalios has been doing it since 1995, when he explained the principle of conservation of momentum by calculating the force of Spider-Man's web when it snagged the superhero's girlfriend as she plummeted from a great height. "Comic books get their science right more often than one would expect," said the gregarious Kakalios. "I was able to find examples in superhero comic books of the correct descriptions of basic physical principles for a wide range of topics, including classical mechanics, electricity and magnetism, and even quantum physics."
From the University of Minnesota:
Professor to describe 'uncanny physics of comic book superheroes'
Can you teach a physics class with only comic books to illustrate the principles? University of Minnesota physics professor James Kakalios has been doing it since 1995, when he explained the principle of conservation of momentum by calculating the force of Spider-Man's web when it snagged the superhero's girlfriend as she plummeted from a great height.
Kakalios will describe a freshman seminar class he teaches, "Physics of Comic Books," at 11 a.m. Sunday, Feb. 15, during the American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting in Seattle. His talk is part of the symposium "Pop Physics: The Interface Between Hard Science and Popular Culture," one of two symposia in the Science, Entertainment and the Media category.
"Comic books get their science right more often than one would expect," said the gregarious Kakalios. "I was able to find examples in superhero comic books of the correct descriptions of basic physical principles for a wide range of topics, including classical mechanics, electricity and magnetism, and even quantum physics."
Take, for example, the strength of Superman. To leap a 30-story building in a single bound, Superman's leg muscles must produce nearly 6,000 pounds of force while jumping, Kakalios calculates. The Man of Steel was that strong because he was designed to resist Krypton's powerful gravity. But for a planet with an Earth-like surface to have so much stronger gravity, it would need neutron star material in its core--a highly unstable situation. No wonder the planet exploded. Other topics considered in Kakalios' class include:
# Is it possible to read minds as Prof. X of the X-Men does?
# If Spider-Man's webbing is as strong as real spider silk, could it support his weight as he swings between buildings?
# Can the mutant master of magnetism Magneto levitate people using the iron in their blood?
# If you could run as fast as the Flash, could you run up the side of a building or across the ocean, and how often would you need to eat?
"Once the physical concepts such as forces and motion, conservation of energy, electricity and magnetisms, and elementary quantum mechanics are introduced to answer these and other questions, their real-world applications to automobile airbags, cell phones, nanotechnology and black hole formation are explained," said Kakalios. "The students in this class ranged from engineering to history majors, and while not all were comic book fans, they all found it an engaging and entertaining way to learn critical thinking and basic physics concepts."
Still, the study identifies another potential health risk. So, what are some ways that we can reduce the potential damage? Some sort of sheilding on power lines? Are there any materials that can cheaply stop this type of radiation and it's effects?
A diet high in anti-oxidants is one easy way to at least limit the damage... (Free radicals caused by the decomposition of 03 as it attacks are responsible for much of the damage. Anti-oxidants can help prevent this).
As exepcted, the official site has been slashdotted - here's the complete list of secondary mirrors from the Mozilla site. Not all of them are current, but you should be able to find one to get you your fix.
l a/ (Mozilla only)
* ftp://ring.aist.go.jp/pub/net/www/mozilla/a /o zilla.org/pub/mozilla/ (Mozilla only)o zilla/o wsers/mozilla/b /
* ftp://ftp.uninett.no/pub/network/www/mozilla/W /clients/mozilla/ (Mozilla only)W W/clients/mozilla/ (Mozilla only)
* ftp://ftp.comp.hkbu.edu.hk/pub/mozilla/ (Mozilla releases only)
* http://www.zentek-international.com/mirrors/mozil
* ftp://ftp.cin.nihon-u.ac.jp/pub/net/www/mozilla
* ftp://ring.exp.fujixerox.co.jp/pub/net/www/mozill
* ftp://ring.so-net.ne.jp/pub/net/www/mozilla/
* ftp://ftp.jaist.ac.jp/pub/Mozilla/
* ftp://ftp.lab.kdd.co.jp/Mozilla/
* http://ftp.kaist.ac.kr/pub/mozilla/
* ftp://ftp.kaist.ac.kr/pub/mozilla/
* rsync://ftp.kaist.ac.kr/mozilla
* http://mymirror.asiaosc.org/mozilla/ (Mozilla releases only)
* rsync://mymirror.asiaosc.org/mozilla/ (Mozilla releases only)
* http://www.opensourcecommunity.ph/mozilla/ (Mozilla only)
* http://mirror.averse.net/pub/mozilla/ (Mozilla only)
* ftp://mirror.averse.net/pub/mozilla/ (Mozilla only)
* ftp://ftp2.sinica.edu.tw/pub3/www/mozilla/
* ftp://ftp.nctu.edu.tw/WWW/mozilla/ (out of date)
* rsync://ftp.nctu.edu.tw/ftp/WWW/mozilla
* ftp://ftp.belnet.be/packages/mozilla/
* ftp://ftp.uni-sofia.bg/mozilla/ (Mozilla only)
* ftp://sunsite.cnlab-switch.ch/mirror/mozilla/
* ftp://ftp.cvut.cz/mozilla/ (Mozilla only)
* http://ftp.cvut.cz/mozilla/ (Mozilla only)
* http://www.artfiles.org/mozilla.org/
* ftp://ftp-stud.fht-esslingen.de/pub/Mirrors/ftp.m
* ftp://ftp.fh-wolfenbuettel.de/pub/www/mozilla/
* ftp://ftp.uni-bayreuth.de/pub/packages/netscape/m
* ftp://ftp.leo.org/pub/comp/general/infosys/www/br
* ftp://ftp.rhein-zeitung.de/mirrors/mozilla.org/ (Mozilla releases only)
* ftp://ftp.uni-erlangen.de/pub/mirrors/mozilla/ (Mozilla releases and nightlies only)
* http://ftp.uni-erlangen.de/pub/mirrors/mozilla/ (Mozilla releases and nightlies only)
* ftp://ftp.rediris.es/mirror/mozilla/
* http://ftp.rediris.es/mirror/mozilla/
* ftp://ftp.etsimo.uniovi.es/pub/mozilla/ (out of date)
* http://www.etsimo.uniovi.es/pub/mozilla/ (out of date)
* ftp://ftp.funet.fi/pub/mirrors/ftp.mozilla.org/pu
* ftp://ftp.oleane.net/pub/mozilla/ (Mozilla only)
* http://ftp.oleane.net/pub/mozilla/ (Mozilla only)
* ftp://fr2.rpmfind.net/linux/mozilla/ (Mozilla only)
* http://fr2.rpmfind.net/linux/mozilla/ (Mozilla only)
* ftp://ftp.ntua.gr/pub/www/Mozilla/ (Mozilla only)
* http://ftp.fsf.hu/Mozilla/
* ftp://ftp.fsf.hu/Mozilla/
* http://mozilla.szentimre.hu/ (out of date)
* ftp://ftp.EUnet.ie/mirrors/ftp.mozilla.org/pub/
* ftp://sunsite.icm.edu.pl/pub/mozilla/
* http://sunsite.icm.edu.pl/pub/mozilla/
* ftp://ftp.task.gda.pl/pub/mozilla/
* http://mozilla.tsuren.net/mirror/
* ftp://ftp.fredan.org/mozilla/ (Mozilla only)
* http://www.mozilla.sk/pub/ (Mozilla releases only)
* ftp.mirror.ac.uk/sites/ftp.mozilla.org/pub/
* ftp://mozilla.teleglobe.net/ftp.mozilla.org/pub/ (out of date)
* ftp://mozilla.mirror.pacific.net.au/mozilla/
* http://mozilla.mirror.pacific.net.au/
* ftp://ftp.planetmirror.com.au/pub/mozilla/ (Mozilla only)
* http://public.planetmirror.com.au/pub/mozilla/ (Mozilla only)
* http://mozilla.fresh.co.il/ (Mozilla only)
* http://mozilla.gnusoft.net/
* ftp://ftp.ibiblio.org/pub/packages/infosystems/WW
* http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/packages/infosystems/W
* ftp://ftp.tux.org/pub/net/mozilla/ (not Mozilla Firebird)
* ftp://sunsite.utk.edu/pub/netscape-source/
* ftp://archive.progeny.com/mozilla/ (Mozilla only)
* http://archive.progeny.com/mozilla/ (Mozilla only)
* rsync://archive.progeny.com/mozilla/ (Mozilla only)
* http://mirrors.xmission.com/mozilla/
Though it's no doubt an interesting experiment that might lead to further research, it's a long way off from modeling real avalanches.
Ice and snow crystals vaprorize, recrystalize, and form bonds in enormously complex systems, unlike ping pong balls, which just bounce off each other.
An article documenting some of the research being done on avalanche snow's state changes and shifts in stability can be found here.
the problem with sodium hydroxide (lye) is that it doesn't readily break down.
Actually, the article states that they use potassium hydroxide in the apparatus.
This solves much of the environmental problem you described.
As reported earlier, Microsoft has been working on it's own anti-spam technology. Yahoo is trying to get their solution adopted by being the first one out of the gate, but since Gates and Co. have a lot of weight to throw around in any standards war, I don't see Yahoo's plan being a success.
In my opinion, Microsoft's plan seems a bit more feasible and crack-proof, too. By linking email to processing power, it makes it really expensive to send millions of emails.