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Submission + - Millions of spiders seen in mass dispersal event using wind currents (www.cbc.ca)

Submitted by Freshly Exhumed
Freshly Exhumed writes: A bizarre and oddly beautiful display of spider webs have been woven across a large field along a walking trail in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Canada. "Well it's acres and acres; it's a sea of web," said Allen McCormick. Prof. Rob Bennett, an expert on spiders who works at the Royal British Columbia Museum in Victoria, BC, Canada, said tiny, sheet-web weaver spiders known as Erigoninae linyphiidae most likely left the webs. Bennett said the spiders cast a web net to catch the wind and float away in a process known as ballooning. The webs in the field are the spiders' drag lines, left behind as they climb to the top of long grass to be whisked away by the wind. Bennett said it's a mystery why these spiders take off en masse. Perhaps The Green Goblin or Doc Oc are in the vicinity?

Submission + - Viruses help keep the gut healthy (sciencemag.org)

Submitted by sciencehabit
sciencehabit writes: Ebola, flu, and colds have given viruses a bad rap. But there may be a good side to these tiny packages of genetic material. Researchers studying mice have shown that a virus can help maintain and restore a healthy gut in much the same way that friendly bacteria do. The work "shows for the first time that a virus can functionally substitute for a bacterium and provide beneficial effects," says Julie Pfeiffer, a virologist at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas who was not involved with the study. "It's shocking."

Submission + - Accused Ottawa cyberbully facing 181 charges apologizes (ottawacitizen.com)

Submitted by Freshly Exhumed
Freshly Exhumed writes: The day Robert James Campbell quit his job, he went home and started plotting revenge against everyone he felt had wronged him in life. He says he didn’t leave his Ottawa apartment for seven months. The online campaign of harassment and hatred he’s accused of launching spanned more than a decade. He is accused of creating fake online profiles to destroy reputations in short order, presenting his targets to the world as child predators, members of a Nazi party, exotic dancers and prostitutes. Police roused Campbell on the morning of July 31 and arrested him on 181 charges of criminal harassment, identity theft and defamatory libel. Campbell publicly apologized to his alleged victims and says he has instructed his lawyer to file a guilty plea.

Submission + - China eyes first space station around 2022 (voanews.com)

Submitted by Taco Cowboy
Taco Cowboy writes: According to the Voice of America, China is planning to get its first space station off the ground by around 2022

China's leaders have set a priority on advancing its space program, with President Xi Jinping calling for the country to establish itself as a space power

China is taking it by the step-by-step approach:

Yang Liwei, deputy head of China's Manned Space Agency and also the country's first man in space, said the follow-up Tiangong 2 was likely to be launched in about 2016

Then, in around 2018, the core of the space station would be launched with completion set for four years later, the official Xinhua news agency cited Yang as saying

The country insists that its space program is for peaceful purposes

Despite considerable advances, China's space program still lags behind those of the United States and Russia

As the Voice of America being the official propaganda mouthpiece of the government of the United States of America, it is thus no surprising to read the following paragraph from VoA's report:

" The U.S. Defense Department has highlighted China's increasing space capabilities, however, saying China was pursuing activities aimed at preventing its adversaries from using space-based assets during a crisis "

Submission + - Microsoft Paid NFL $400 Million To Use Surface, But Announcers Call Them IPad (businessinsider.com)

Submitted by mpicpp
mpicpp writes: Prior to the season, Microsoft and the NFL struck a 5-year, $400 million deal with one of the major components being that the Microsoft Surface would become "the official tablet of the NFL" with coaches and players using the Surface on the sidelines during games.

But Microsoft and the league ran into a problem during week one of the season when at least two television announcers mistakenly referred to the tablets as iPads giving a huge rival some unexpected exposure.

The biggest blunder for the league came during the nationally televised Monday Night Football game when ESPN's Trent Dilfer joked about how long it took Cardinals assistant head coach Tom Moore to "learn how to use the iPad to scroll through the pictures."

In a separate incident, Drew Brees of the New Orleans Saints was spotted by Fox commentator John Lynch using a Surface on the sideline. Lynch remarked that Brees was "not watching movies on his iPad."

Submission + - Vancouver's SkyTrain Crashes Twice Due To No Redundancies

Submitted by Freshly Exhumed
Freshly Exhumed writes: Vancouver's automated SkyTrain rapid transit system has crashed not once but twice in one week due to single points of failure in control systems. Authorities have controversially thrown an electrician under the train for accidentally tripping a single breaker, crippling the entire control system for over 5 hours at peak ridership time. In another case, the failure of a single computer card reduced large portions of the system to a standstill for several hours, with both crashes resulting in risky evacuations of SkyTrain cars high above ground level. To go with their abysmally bad PR, the SkyTrain authorities seem to be avoiding discussing the obvious absence of uptime/availability capability.

Submission + - NOAA: Earth smashed a record for heat in May, 2014, effects to worsen 2

Submitted by Freshly Exhumed
Freshly Exhumed writes: Driven by exceptionally warm ocean waters, Earth smashed a record for heat in May and is likely to keep on breaking high temperature marks, experts say. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Monday said May's average temperature on Earth of 15.54 C beat the old record set four years ago. In April, the globe tied the 2010 record for that month. Records go back to 1880. Experts say there's a good chance global heat records will keep falling, especially next year because an El Nino weather event is brewing on top of man-made global warming. An El Nino is a warming of the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean that alters climate worldwide and usually spikes global temperatures.

Comment Poorly Designed Roadways Addressed By This (Score 4, Interesting) 243

by Freshly Exhumed (#47190961) Attached to: New Car Can Lean Into Curves, Literally

This adaptive suspension technology can be valuable for addressing poor roadway design, such as opposite-camber banking (yes, such things exist and can be very dangerous in poor weather). One of the most egregious examples of opposite-camber banking occurs in Canada between Vancouver and Burnaby, BC on Boundary Drive on which vehicles travel steeply downhill, typically in rain, and are presented with an opposite-camber dogleg turn about half the way down. So, while everyone is riding their brakes their vehicle suddenly gets crossed up. Since it is noticeably uncomfortable in a low-slung sports car, it is more than an annoyance on buses and in large trucks. Redesigning/repairing those poor roadways can take years, so any step by vehicle makers to have this kind of adaptable suspension is worthwile.

Submission + - Brownsville SpaceX space port faces more regulatory hurdles (examiner.com)

Submitted by MarkWhittington
MarkWhittington writes: It turns out that the recent FAA environmental impact statement that seemed to give a stamp of approval for the proposed SpaceX space port in south Texas is not the end of the regulatory process, but the end of the beginning. A story in the Brownsville Herald reminds us that the report has kicked off a 30 day review period after which the FAA can allow SpaceX to apply for a launch license to start work on the Brownsville area launch facility. And that in turn kicks off a 180 day process during which the FAA makes the decision whether or not to grant the required licensing and permits.

But even that is not the end of the regulatory hurdles that SpaceX must face before the first Falcon rocket roars into the skies over the Gulf of Mexico. The Longview News-Journal reports that a number of state and federal agencies must give their approval for various aspects of the space port before it becomes operational. For instance, the Texas Department of Transportation must give approval for the movement of utility lines.

Environment Texas still opposes the space port since it is close to a wild life reserve and a state park. SpaceX has already agreed to enact measures to minimize the impact the space port would have on the environment, “such as containing waste materials from the construction and enforcing a speed limit in the control center area.” Environment Texas is not impressed, however. Whether it is disposed to make trouble in the courts is an open question.

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