54774069
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braindrainbahrain writes:
Slate magazine has written the story about the only work of art placed on the Moon , the Fallen Astronaut sculpture, placed on the Moon during the Apollo 15 mission to commemorate both American and Soviet deceased astronauts. The little statue, rather than bringing fame and fortune ended up being nearly forgotten and got both Apollo astronaut David Scott and Belgian sculptor Van Hoeydonck in hot water with the US government.
35084805
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braindrainbahrain writes:
Here we go again! A Slate author, who conveniently dodged science classes, is making the claim that "America Needs More Scientists and Engineers". Some choice quotes:
"I ducked organic chemistry for economics, real science for social science"
"Instead of paying smart kids reasonable wages to design drugs and engineer cars that benefit almost everyone, we’re paying them unreasonable wages to develop financial models that benefit almost no one."
The difference this time is that the site is open to ideas to increase the amount of scientists in the US. "If you’ve got a notion...for how American can mint more scientists"
OK, so we missed the deadline. So between us (a) How would you increase scientists in America and (b) Do we really need to increase the number of scientists in the first place?
33466515
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braindrainbahrain writes:
It must be great to be in cyber security! First, Lockheed Martin announces the win of a half billion dollar contract providing cyber security services to several government agencies. At the same time, a senior adviser for innovation at the State Department, has a piece of advice for students : "If any college student asked me what career would most assure 30 years of steady, well-paying employment...I would respond, cyber security.". The latter article goes on to discuss the shortage of cyber security professionals, how the government needs to hire at least 10,000 experts in the near future, and how the NSF is trying to promote an interest in computer science at the high school level.
So, for cyber security experts out there: Is this field really all roses? Do you get frequent calls from recruiters? Big raises? Retention bonuses? Or is this all a bunch of hooey?
31758429
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braindrainbahrain writes:
Reed Hastings, CEO of Netflix, has a facebook page in which he posts a short gripe about Comcast. Seems watching video through Xfinity is subsidized by Comcast by not counting towards your cap on your data plan. All other services, Netflix included, do.
T quote him:
"When I watch video on my Xbox from three of these four apps, it counts against my Comcast internet cap. When I watch through Comcast’s Xfinity app, however, it does not count against my Comcast internet cap
29733099
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braindrainbahrain writes:
Coincidence or conspiracy? Two new science fiction magazines have just been announced and they are both being published by more serious science publications. New Scientist magazine has announced the publication of Arc, "A new digital magazine about the future". Arc features such articles as "The best time travel movie ever made" and "The future of science fiction, games, galleries — and futurism". They are advertising new fact and fiction from the likes of Maragret Atwood and Alastair Reynold.
The MIT Technology Review has announced the TRSF, dubbed "the first installment of a to-be-annual 'hard' SF collection". Some authors: Joe Haldeman and Cory Doctorow.
As an interesting note, both publications will be printed on paper for the first ("collectable") issue only, all forthcoming ones will be e-books.
27921750
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braindrainbahrain writes:
Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum has a Google problem. Due to remarks made by Santorum many years ago about homosexuality, columnist Dan Savage asked his readers for a slang to "memorialize the scandal". The result has become a website (NSFW) which ranks high enough that it shows up whenever someone google's Rick Santorum's name. Fortunately for him, people are already starting to provide advice on how he can solve this problem.
27794030
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braindrainbahrain writes:
The members of the Stuttgart Hackerspace have taken it upon themselves to launch their own space program. The immediate goal of the Hacker Space Program is to create an uncensorable internet in space beyond the control of terrestrial entities using a network of ground stations and communications satellites. In the longer term (think the year 2035), they'd like to put a hacker astronaut on the moon!
18794288
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braindrainbahrain writes:
Is it time to think out of the box for funding space exploration? Governments are reluctant to commit money, and even private space tourism will only get us to low Earth orbit, but what about beyond that? In this article from the Journal of Cosmology, the author argues for a commercial, sponsored approach to finance the trip to explore and colonize Mars using advertising, naming rights, and merchandizing to raise the cash, not to mention reality TV. FTA: "The Human Mission to Mars, can be marketed and sold as the ultimate sports and reality TV extravaganza ...What could be more "real" than a Human Mission to Mars, where Astronaut heroes must overcome a grueling, competitive ordeal, with the "survivors" winning the right to face death while taking part in the ultimate adventure of all time? "
10859460
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braindrainbahrain writes:
Photographs of the Sea of Crises on the Moon taken by The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, show the Soviet lunar landers, Luna 20, Luna 23, and Luna 24, which landed on the Moon in the 1970s. In addition to the landers, it is possible to see the tracks made by the Lunokhod lunar rover! The Soviet Lunokhod lunar rover predates the first successful Mars Rover by some 30 years
(BTW: Very kewl old-style artists drawings of the soviet crafts on the wikipedia links above)
315289
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braindrainbahrain writes:
The title says it all. Could it be true? Just read TFA here.
What does this mean for the future of Halo? Marathon anyone?
215699
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braindrainbahrain writes:
In a story carried by the wires (AP, pun intended!), it is reported that subscribers to the Verizon Fiber Optic Service FioS are getting disconnected from the conventional copper-wire phone network when the fiber is installed.
While I'm sure everyone believes fiber to the home is the future, is Verizon implementing the future, or just using the service to create a monopoly?
88894
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braindrainbahrain writes:
Yet another story about an engineering shortage, this time in Aerospace and Defense. The AIAA is claiming there will be huge shortages in those industries due to an aging and retiring workforce. Buried deep within TFA , there is talk about outsourcing design services overseas. Will the next (US) moon rocket or fighter plane be designed overseas, or by people holding H1-B visas?
83250
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braindrainbahrain writes:
Yikes! Sea Launch just blew up!
A launch of a communications satellite went wrong causing the rocket to fall back on the floating launch pad.
FYI: Sea Launch is the floating launch pad. It is used to launch satellites into orbit from the equator where they get an extra boost from the earth's rotation.
20883
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braindrainbahrain writes:
Bill Moyers will feature a discussion on Net Neutrality on his PBS TV show, scheduled for Oct 18th (that's tonight!). The trailer features representatives from MoveOn and the Christian Coalition actually agreeing on something. (I'll give you three guesses as to what that is...)
