Comment Jake, Fred, we've been found out! (Score 1) 253
Dang modern science, guys, they found us! It'll only be a matter of time before they round us up. I mean, it's not like you all should be GRATEFUL to your elders but NO
Submission + - Latest victim of Gov't Shutdown: Bill Gates
Dr. Tom writes: The National Institutes of Health (NIH) Research Festival, an annual event scheduled to be held next week, has been canceled. Bill Gates was to have delivered the opening keynote speech tomorrow (Monday):
http://researchfestival.nih.gov/
http://researchfestival.nih.gov/2013/schedule.shtml
1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.
David E. Barmes Global Health Lecture
Bill Gates, Co-chair and Trustee of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
Masur Auditorium (Videocast Overflow in Lipsett Amphitheater)
Many of us at the NIH were looking forward to attending the lecture, which was to have been videocast across the NIH campus, and are also saddened that the actions of a small minority have been able to disrupt this celebration of medical science and research.
http://researchfestival.nih.gov/
http://researchfestival.nih.gov/2013/schedule.shtml
1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.
David E. Barmes Global Health Lecture
Bill Gates, Co-chair and Trustee of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
Masur Auditorium (Videocast Overflow in Lipsett Amphitheater)
Many of us at the NIH were looking forward to attending the lecture, which was to have been videocast across the NIH campus, and are also saddened that the actions of a small minority have been able to disrupt this celebration of medical science and research.
Comment Re:Disgusting anus (Score 1) 161
sorry, I thought this was a different thread. Oops! I'm an idiot. Ha ha.
Comment Re:Disgusting anus (Score -1, Flamebait) 161
I marked this as offtopic stale troll spam under submissions, but they posted it anyway. You don't have to be a genius to predict exactly this kind of response, but noooooo, somehow Mr. Soulskill thought it'd be a laugh. Yeah, look, lots of posts! Ad revenue! I'm going to disable ads now. Thanks.
Journal Journal: People, please. 1
Before posting JEs and comments, for the love of all that is good in this universe, run it through notepad, or your favorite plain text editor to get rid of things that don't render.. You know, like 'smart' quotes and apostrophes. Don't make reading so painful
Submission + - Photographer Builds an Amazing DIY Digital Camera Stabilizer (lensvid.com)
Iddo Genuth writes: Videographer Tom Antos developed an advanced DIY camera stabilizer which can hold almost any DSLR or mirrorless camera steady for video photography. Although this surly isn’t as sophisticated (and super expensive) as the professional MVI M10 handheld 3-axis digital stabilized camera gimbal, its still quite impressive especially when you consider it only cost a few hundred dollars rather then tens of thousands — that is if you feel like building it yourself.
Submission + - Overweight and obesity rates are increasing in schoolchildren across Europe - iV (weebly.com)
iValueHealth.NET writes: A recent study published in the International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, published in the beginning of 2013 shows that overweight and obesity rates throughout Europe have increased in recent decades.
Submission + - New 10.1" Android Tablet ships with root access (indiegogo.com)
LeiraHoward writes: I ran across this on the internet today. A startup company called Tronity has a new 10.1" Android tablet ready to go. The tech specs are pretty impressive, and the devices will ship in August. The model is the "Root 101", and here are the tech specs, pulled from their website:
Tech Specs
The Root 101 has everything you need for a great tablet experience. A great screen, long battery life, a dual core processor and all the connectivity options you want...WiFi, Bluetooth, Micro USB and MicroSD slot. It even has a Mini HDMI out so you can output up to 1080P video from the tablet to your TV. Here's the full list:
- -10.1” IPS HD screen with 1280 x 800 resolution
- -Multi-touch capacitive screen
- -AmLogic AML8726-MX Dual Core 1.5GHz CPU
- -Mali-400 Dual Core GPU – up to 1080P video
- -1GB RAM
- -16GB Internal Storage
- -MicroSD slot – up to 32GB
- -Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g/n)
- -Bluetooth
- -VGA Front camera and 2MP rear camera
- -9 hours battery life (7000mAh)
- -Mini HDMI slot – output up to 1080P to TV
- -Micro USB slot
- -3.5mm headphone jack
- -Microphone
- -2 Rear speakers
- -Rear aluminum shell for strength and durability
- -Dimensions: 260mm x 173mm x 9.9mm
- And now, for a few links:
- The Tronity Root 101 website: http://tronity.com/root-101/
- The IndiGoGo page to order: http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/root-101-an-affordable-and-open-source-10-1-inch-android-tablet
- And the review article that sent me to the above links: http://www.tgdaily.com/mobility-features/72139-root-101-is-an-open-source-android-tablet
Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with the aforementioned company in any way, and have never tested or reviewed their product. I'm just a user of Android Tablets who REALLY wants to be able to buy something like this!
Submission + - Google floats balloons for free Wi-Fi
BrokenHalo writes: Google has revealed that it has 30 balloons floating over New Zealand in a project to bring free wi-fi to earthquake-stricken, rural or poor areas. Eventually, as the balloons move across the stratosphere, consumers in participating countries along the 40th parallel in the Southern Hemisphere could tap into the service. The technology will be trialled in Australia next year, possibly in Tasmania. If the latter happens to be true, then you'll probably hear the telcos' screams in New York.
Submission + - NY's Bloomberg and SF mayor announce tech summits (newsok.com)
Clarklteveno writes: New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and his San Francisco counterpart, Ed Lee, said at a news conference Friday that they are sponsoring a pair of technology summits over the next year. The mayors said the "digital cities" summits — one in New York in September and another in San Francisco early next year — will seek to find ways to use technology to solve problems the cities face. The mayors made the announcement after touring the office of San Francisco-based mobile payment company Square with co-founder Jack Dorsey, who also helped found Twitter. Bloomberg pointed to power outages and dangerous winds and flooding from Hurricane Sandy as examples of issues the summits would seek to address.
Submission + - Astronauts Must Deal with Perchlorate (piosonous soil) on Mars (space.com)
Thorfinn.au writes: The pervading carpet of perchlorate chemicals found on Mars may boost the chances that microbial life exists on the Red Planet — but perchlorates are also perilous to the health of future crews destined to explore that way-off world.
Perchlorates are reactive chemicals first detected in arctic Martian soil by NASA's Phoenix lander that plopped down on Mars over five years ago in May 2008.
It is likely both of NASA's Viking Mars landers in 1976 measured signatures of perchlorates, in the form of chlorinated hydrocarbons. Other U.S. Mars robots — the Sojourner, Spirit and Opportunity — detected elemental chlorine. Moreover, orbital measurements taken by the Mars Odyssey spacecraft show that chlorine is globally distributed.
Smith said microbes on Earth use perchlorate for an energy source. They actually live off highly oxidized chlorine, and in reducing the chlorine down to chloride, they use the energy in that transaction to power themselves. In fact, when there's too much perchlorate in drinking water, microbes are used to clean it up, he said.
Furthermore, seasonal flow features seen on Mars may be caused by high concentrations of the brines of perchlorate, which has a strong attraction to water and can drastically lower its freezing point, Smith told SPACE.com.
Devilishly dangerous
The high levels of perchlorate found on Mars would be toxic to humans, Smith said.
Perchlorates are reactive chemicals first detected in arctic Martian soil by NASA's Phoenix lander that plopped down on Mars over five years ago in May 2008.
It is likely both of NASA's Viking Mars landers in 1976 measured signatures of perchlorates, in the form of chlorinated hydrocarbons. Other U.S. Mars robots — the Sojourner, Spirit and Opportunity — detected elemental chlorine. Moreover, orbital measurements taken by the Mars Odyssey spacecraft show that chlorine is globally distributed.
Smith said microbes on Earth use perchlorate for an energy source. They actually live off highly oxidized chlorine, and in reducing the chlorine down to chloride, they use the energy in that transaction to power themselves. In fact, when there's too much perchlorate in drinking water, microbes are used to clean it up, he said.
Furthermore, seasonal flow features seen on Mars may be caused by high concentrations of the brines of perchlorate, which has a strong attraction to water and can drastically lower its freezing point, Smith told SPACE.com.
Devilishly dangerous
The high levels of perchlorate found on Mars would be toxic to humans, Smith said.
Submission + - Ancient Roman Concrete Is About to Revolutionize Modern Architecture (businessweek.com) 1
schwit1 writes: After 2,000 years, a long-lost secret behind the creation of one of the world’s most durable man-made creations ever—Roman concrete—has finally been discovered by an international team of scientists, and it may have a significant impact on how we build cities of the future.
Researchers have analyzed 11 harbors in the Mediterranean basin where, in many cases, 2,000-year-old (and sometimes older) headwaters constructed out of Roman concrete stand perfectly intact despite constant pounding by the sea. The most common blend of modern concrete, known as Portland cement, a formulation in use for nearly 200 years, can’t come close to matching that track record. In seawater, it has a service life of less than 50 years. After that, it begins to erode.
The secret to Roman concrete lies in its unique mineral formulation and production technique. As the researchers explain in a press release outlining their findings, “The Romans made concrete by mixing lime and volcanic rock. For underwater structures, lime and volcanic ash were mixed to form mortar, and this mortar and volcanic tuff were packed into wooden forms. The seawater instantly triggered a hot chemical reaction. The lime was hydrated—incorporating water molecules into its structure—and reacted with the ash to cement the whole mixture together.”
Researchers have analyzed 11 harbors in the Mediterranean basin where, in many cases, 2,000-year-old (and sometimes older) headwaters constructed out of Roman concrete stand perfectly intact despite constant pounding by the sea. The most common blend of modern concrete, known as Portland cement, a formulation in use for nearly 200 years, can’t come close to matching that track record. In seawater, it has a service life of less than 50 years. After that, it begins to erode.
The secret to Roman concrete lies in its unique mineral formulation and production technique. As the researchers explain in a press release outlining their findings, “The Romans made concrete by mixing lime and volcanic rock. For underwater structures, lime and volcanic ash were mixed to form mortar, and this mortar and volcanic tuff were packed into wooden forms. The seawater instantly triggered a hot chemical reaction. The lime was hydrated—incorporating water molecules into its structure—and reacted with the ash to cement the whole mixture together.”
Submission + - Software-Defined Data Centers: Seeing Through the Hype (slashdot.org)
Nerval's Lobster writes: In case you didn’t catch it this morning, AllThingsD ran a piece endorsing the idea of the software-defined data center. That’s a venue where hordes of non-technical mid- and upper-level managers will see it and (because of the credibility of AllThingsD) will believe software-defined data centers are not only possible, but that they exist and that your company is somehow falling behind because you personally have not sketched up a topology on a napkin or brought a package of it to install. If mid-level managers in your datacenter or extended IT department have not been pinged at least once today by business-unit managers offering to tip them off to the benefits of software-defined data centers—or demand that they buy one—then someone should go check the internal phone system because not all the calls are coming through. Why was AllThingD’s piece problematic? First, because it’s a good enough publication to explain all the relevant technology terms in ways that even a non-technical audience can understand. Second, it’s also a credible source, owned by Dow Jones & Co. and spun off by The Wall Street Journal. Third, software-defined data centers are genuinely happening—but it’s in the very early stages. The true benefits of the platform won’t arrive for quite some time—and there’s too much to do in the meantime to talk about potential endpoints. Fortunately, there are a number of resources online to help tell hype from reality.
Submission + - Draft NASA funding bill cancels asteroid mission for return to the moon (examiner.com)
MarkWhittington writes: A draft version of the 2013 NASA Authorization Bill nixes any funding for President Obama’s asteroid retrieval mission and instead directs NASA to return astronauts to the lunar surface as soon as possible, funding of course permitted.
The NASA bill is currently working its way through the House Science Committee. Thus far the Senate has not taken up NASA authorization. However the cancellation of the asteroid retrieval mission and an insistence on returning to the moon, which both President Obama and NASA Administrator Charles Bolden have opposed, would place Congress on a collision course with the White House should that version of the bill be passed by both houses of Congress.
The NASA bill is currently working its way through the House Science Committee. Thus far the Senate has not taken up NASA authorization. However the cancellation of the asteroid retrieval mission and an insistence on returning to the moon, which both President Obama and NASA Administrator Charles Bolden have opposed, would place Congress on a collision course with the White House should that version of the bill be passed by both houses of Congress.
