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Submission + - Near-earth asteroid, Monday June 27 (skyandtelescope.com)

TigerNut writes: Asteroid 2011 MD was discovered on June 22 by LINEAR, and its flight path will take it within 8000 miles (12000 km) of Earth. Orbital predictions indicate that its flight path will be significantly altered by this close approach.

Comment Re:Push the asteroid at the earth plz k thx bye (Score 1) 57

Ummm... orbital velocity is inversely proportional to its altitude above the earth. For LEO stuff, it's about 17,000 MPH (sorry about the units). If you want a faster velocity, you have to orbit lower, and then atmospheric drag would take it out within a few orbits. The moon's tangential velocity, relative to the earth, is only about 2700 km/h (or 1700 MPH).
The Internet

The Puzzle of Japanese Web Design 242

I'm Not There (1956) writes "Jeffrey Zeldman brings up the interesting issue of the paradox between Japan's strong cultural preference for simplicity in design, contrasted with the complexity of Japanese websites. The post invites you to study several sites, each more crowded than the last. 'It is odd that in Japan, land of world-leading minimalism in the traditional arts and design, Web users and skilled Web design practitioners believe more is more.'"
Image

Building a Homemade Nuclear Reactor In NYC 219

yukk writes "Mark Suppes, a web developer for Gucci, is working on his own personal fusion reactor. His work in a NYC warehouse using $35,000 of his own money and $4,000 raised on a website has made him the 38th independent researcher recognized as creating a working fusion reactor. How's that for a hobby?"
Space

Giant Planet Nine Times the Mass of Jupiter Found 73

cremeglace writes "In the late 1990s, astronomers noticed a distinct warp in the disk of dust and gas orbiting a young star some 60 light-years from Earth. Now, using new analytical tools, researchers have discovered a giant planet lurking within the dusty haze. About nine times as massive as Jupiter and composed mainly of gas, the planet is only a few million years old, proving that such enormous planetary bodies can form rapidly." What's amazing about this is that the images taken of the star clearly show the planet first on one side of the star, and then the other, several years later.
Earth

Sticky Rice Is the Key To Super Strong Mortar 194

lilbridge writes "For over 1,500 years the Chinese have been using sticky rice as an ingredient in mortar, which has resulted in super strong buildings, many of which are still standing after hundreds of years. Scientists have been studying the sticky rice and lime mortar to unlock the secrets of its strength, and have just determined the secret ingredient that makes the mortar more stable and stronger. The scientists have also concluded that this mixture is the most appropriate for restoration of ancient and historic buildings, which means it is probably also appropriate for new construction as well."
Image

Recession Cuts Operation That Uses Hair To Clean Up Oil 119

Matter of Trust, a nonprofit that uses human hair scraps to make mats to clean up oil spills, finds itself with 18,000 pounds of hair and nobody to process it. Lisa Gautier, who runs the organization, says that the recession has closed many of the textile makers that produced the mats and the warehouse that stored them. Unfortunately for Lisa the hair keeps piling up. From the article: "Hair is good at soaking up oil because, up close, the strands are shaped like a palm tree with scalelike cuticles. Drops of oil naturally cling inside those cuticles, says Blair Blacker, chief executive of the World Response Group. A pound of hair can pick up one quart of oil in a minute, and it can be wrung out and reused up to 100 times, Mrs. Gautier says."
Image

Beaver Dam Visible From Space 286

ygslash writes "The Hoover Dam no longer holds the title of the world's widest dam. Satellite photos of northern Alberta, Canada, show that several families of beavers have apparently joined forces to build a dam 850 meters wide, more than twice as wide as the Hoover Dam."

Submission + - XKCD Color Survey Has Interesting Results (xkcd.com)

dragoncortez writes: Randall Munroe has posted the results of his color survey and his analysis is both thorough and surprising. It turns out that men and women name colors pretty much the same as a general rule, although women prefer flower-sounding color names, while men prefer such manly sounding color names as "penis" and "dunno." It also turns out that "nobody can spell 'fuchsia'”.
Image

Woman Claims Wii Fit Caused Persistent Sexual Arousal Syndrome 380

Amanda Flowers always liked her Wii Fit but now she can't get enough of it. Amanda claims a fall from her balance board damaged a nerve and has left her suffering from persistent sexual arousal syndrome. From the article: "The catering worker said: 'It began as a twinge down below before surging through my body. Sometimes it built up into a trembling orgasm.' A doctor diagnosed her with persistent sexual arousal syndrome due to a damaged nerve."

Canadian Judge Orders Disclosure of Anonymous Posters 250

debrain writes "The Globe and Mail is reporting that Google and a newspaper called The Coast must disclose all information they have about the identity of individuals who posted anonymous comments online about top firefighters in Halifax. The story in question is titled 'Black firefighters file human rights complaint,' and there are some heated opinions in the comments."
Space

Dwarf Planets Accumulate In Outer Solar System 93

An anonymous reader tips a piece in Australian Geographic indicating that Pluto may be in for another demotion, as researchers work to define dwarf planets more exactly. "[Australian researchers] now argue that the radius which defines a dwarf planet should instead be from 200–300 km, depending on whether the object is made of ice or rock. They base their smaller radius on the limit at which objects naturally form a spherical rather than potato-like shape because of 'self-gravity.' Icy objects less than 200 km (or rocky objects less than 300 km) across are likely to be potato shapes, while objects larger than this are spherical. ... They call this limit the 'potato radius' ... [One researcher is quoted] 'I have no problem with there being hundreds of dwarf planets eventually.'"

Comment Re:Still consuming (Score 1) 496

Consider also, that you need some amount of nutrients... trace minerals and some proteins that the body doesn't synthesize itself. You can be fat from overeating simple carbs, and malnourished from a lack of essential minerals at the same time.

Solution: Eat more-than-moderate amounts of different kinds of minimally processed vegetable, meats, and fruit, and then exercise off the excess calories. You can drop the meat, if you are diligent about making up the shortfall in easily available iron, other minerals, and protein.

Comment Re:Me thinks (Score 1) 690

OP clearly said, "... that CAN lock the wheel...", not, that *will* lock the wheel. The brakes should under all circumstances be able to provide enough torque on the wheels in order to stop the car, including being able to lock the wheels. How much of the ultimate stopping ability gets used, should be up to the driver or the ABS system. The failsafe on the ABS, by the way, should be (and as far as I know, this IS the case) that it cuts itself out of the loop and allows the driver to apply full hydraulic pressure to the brakes.

A problem with current driver ed is that people are still being taught to pump the brakes to prevent a skid. With ABS, this is counterproductive. Without ABS, it can help, but it's not as effective as threshold braking. The thing with pumping the brakes is that everytime you pump, you use some of the stored vacuum in the brake booster system. If you have the throttle wide open (as in a 'stuck accelerator' case) then the vacuum is not being replenished, and you probably have only one or two assisted stops worth of vacuum in the booster circuit, and the right thing to do is to get on the brakes HARD and then switch off the ignition, taking care not to click the key all the way through to where it locks the steering column. This is a technique that can easily be practiced in a wide open parking lot or driver's ed facility and it would save lives, or at the least some cars.

Bug

Passage of Time Solves PS3 Glitch 147

An anonymous reader writes "A quick update on the widespread PlayStation 3 glitch we discussed recently: as of last night (Monday, March 1st) the problem has resolved itself. I powered up my PS3 to find the clock was set to April 29th, 2020, but once I went into the system menu and set the date and time via the internet I got an accurate date. That seems to be the test of whether your PS3 is 'fixed' or not; Sony says you should be all set."

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