There are possible calderas in the area, see a map on p. 4 of Mineral Resources of the Charles Sheldon Wilderness Study Area, Humboldt and Washoe Counties, Nevada, and Lake and Harney Counties, Oregon," USGS, 1984.:

Three prominent closed gravity minima along the south edge of the study area may reveal underlying calderas, which are masked by younger Tertiary rocks. The largest possible caldera is about 10.52 by 15.5 mi (17 by 25 km) in size, and, if the assumed underlying tuffaceous sedimentary rocks are, on the average, 0.2 g/cm3 less dense than the surrounding volcanic rocks, the caldera extends to a depth of about 1.7 mi (2.7 km). The areas along the edges of the postulated calderas are considered sites for possible future mineral exploration.

and

In the southwestern part of the Range, gravity and magnetic anomalies of substantial size suggest the possible existence of a caldera or buried pluton. The widespread geochemical anomalies in this area are similar in size and magnitude to the mineralized McDermitt Caldera approximately 82 mi (132 km) to the northwest in the Opalite mining district. Whether a caldera or buried pluton is present in the area, the geochemical data suggest that area C shown on figure 2 has a possible potential for concealed mercury and complex precious metal sulfide deposits.

Also, the link to the McDonalds reference is: http://www.datapointed.net/201...

The area is near where the Yellowstone hotspot was over 16 million years ago.

Also, this area was the furthest from a McDonalds in 2010.

South of the swarm area, in the Black Rock Desert, was a suspected impact crater.

Sounds like the start of a bad horror movie.

Right you are! In my defense, I think contracting this out to Coverity was one of the rare things that the DHS did that was correct, or at least no horrifically incorrect. I see the DHS as an overgrown bureaucracy that is antithetical to our constitutional rights, especially the fourth amendment (searches). Bureaucracies need to grow to cover up their inefficiencies. Don't get me started on the TSA... Thanks for the correction...

I trust Coverity's Scan program far more than I'll trust the organization that continues to promote security theater. DHS has no business in this area. This is typical over expansion of a bloated bureaucracy.

Sadly, the run won't be on the Black Rock Desert, http://www.bloodhoundssc.com/p... says:

In light of this impressive record, surely BLOODHOUND will return to the Black Rock Desert? Sadly, no. A lack of rain over the last decade, together with increasingly heavy use for the playa surface (principly by the annual Burning Man festival) has left the Black Rock surface in poor condition. It is bumpy, crumbly, rutted and uneven for much of its 140+ square mile surface and is not currently a suitable surface on which to run a car like BLOODHOUND. Hence an alternative surface is required – and we need to find one, wherever in the world it may be.

I was doing research earlier this year and needed a paper summarizing a taxpayer funded project from 1967. This paper was not to be found anywhere else but at the NTIS. Libraries listed the NTIS as the place that had a copy. If the NTIS was not able to sell me a copy of the paper, then I would not have been able to get the information. Closing the NTIS only makes sense if the entire contents of the NTIS's archives are made available on the Internet.

The problem is that the most popular NTIS stuff is already on the net, but the remaining 30% (the long tail) is not.

The federally funded research was about these large (miles in radius) circles found in Nevada. There was conjecture that they were from a nuclear test. It turns out that they were from a toxic cloud test that was done using a solid rocket engine treated with beryllium. See http://pacaeropress.websitetoo..., http://aair.smugmug.com/Aviati... and http://blackrockdesert.org/wik...

The NTIS had the paper in question, which I was able to get and confirm that the semi-circles were created as part of the test. There was no mention of the test in the local papers or anywhere else I could find. If the NTIS did not have the paper, then my only hope would have been to ask Aerojet, the company contracted to do the research. The odds of them having a paper from 1967 is pretty low.

I realize that this question is not a critical, life threatening question, but determining *why* the circles where there and dispelling rumors about nuke tests is useful. The pursuit of the truth is lofty goal. Those who do not know history are bound to repeat it. In the case of this study, it turns out that there was an inversion layer that prevented a bunch of the particulate matter from reaching the ground in the test site. Maybe this is a well know mechanism now, but if I were researching atmospheric pollution, then I would want to review a study like this. If this study is not accessible, then it is like it never happened.

If the NTIS is disbanded, then we are basically tossing a bunch of tax-payer funded projects in to the shredder.

Interestingly, Canada is going through a somewhat similar issue where libraries containing research materials are being closed. Here an article from 2012: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

I'm no fan of big government, but if the NTIS is to be closed, then the entire contents of the NTIS library must be made freely available.

BTW - I thought that SS and Medicare are funded from payroll taxes, but apparently not . https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medicare_(United_States) Wikipedia says: "Parts B and D are funded by premiums paid by Medicare enrollees and general fund revenue. In 2011, Medicare spending accounted for about 15 percent of the federal budget, and this share is projected to increase to over 17 percent by 2020."

Here's video of a similar device: SRL: Weird Weapons of WWII from History Channel's Weird Weapons of WWII featuring Survival Research Laboratories' (SRL's) demonstrating the "shockwave cannon.' "

The day after 9/11, my boss was scheduled to lecture undergrads. He talked about the idea of using terrain maps to prevent planes from flying in to buildings. The system is called Softwalls, which was discussed on Slashdot. The really interesting thing about this is how strongly pilots and others objected. There is a FAQ that covers common objections.

This brings me back to the April, 1977 issue of (I think) Popular Electronics that had a recipe for creating solar cells at home using "3'7 Dimethylpentadecon-2-ol propionate". At the time, I was 13 and spent quite a bit of time bothering my science teaching trying figure out what 3'7 Dimethylpentadecon-2-ol propionate was and how to get some. Years later, I happened to look at the May issue and it turns out it was an April Fools' joke. Even at that time, I did laugh out loud. Anyway, if you want to see a description, check out Don Lancaster's "The worst of Marcia Swampfelder"

In addition, Marcia does have some suggestions about car stereo speaker orientation that are useful for winter driving :-^

A somewhat different question is: What helps acceptance of Academic Software. Off the top of my head:

• An open source license
• High quality, readable code
• An active community
• Test cases and nightly builds
• Regular releases
• A faculty member who is a programmer, or at least was a programmer.

There are many other factors, does anyone have favorites? Note that not all academic software is destined to be used outside of academia or to even survive past the end of the semester. That's ok.

I have 30874 on the Ptolemy II repository, see http://www.ohloh.net/accounts/cxbrx. Hauke Fuhrmann put up Codeswarm videos of the software evolution of the Ptolemy II project. See Chaotic, Less Chaotic. The number of commits is a poor measure though. I tend to make lots of small commits while cleaning code. A student doing a Ph.D., may make many fewer commits, but their commits have greater impact in the form of support for their Ph.D. We see software as a form of publication, see Software Practice in the Ptolemy Project.

Sandia says "along a journey by train across Kazakhstan to Kurchatov; while it was at another interim storage pad there; and along a truck route to a long-term concrete storage pad in northeast Kazakhstan." Wiki says "In its heyday Kurchatov (which was known by its postal code Semipalatinsk-16) was a closed city, one of the most secretive and restricted places in the Soviet Union."

In a few months, when new satellite data is uploaded to your favorite map site, these should be fun to find. http://www.sandia.gov/LabNews/110128.html says "transport nuclear materials 1,860 miles by train across the Central Asian country of Kazakhstan". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railway_stations_in_Kazakhstan has two maps of railways in Kazahkstan. The Sandia site also has pictures.