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"Tube Map" Created For the Milky Way 142

astroengine writes "Assuming you had an interstellar spaceship, how would you navigate around the galaxy? For starters, you'd probably need a map. But there's billions of stars out there — how complex would that map need to be? Actually, Samuel Arbesman, a research fellow from Harvard, has come up with a fun solution. He created the 'Milky Way Transit Authority (MWTA),' a simple transit system in the style of the iconic London Underground 'Tube Map.' (Travel Tip: Don't spend too much time loitering around the station at Carina, there's some demolition work underway.)"
Linux Business

Submission + - ODSL:Desktop Linux 2006:The Year in Review

derrida writes: "The OSDL's Desktop Linux Working Group has published its first year-end report [www.desktoplinux.com]on the state of the overall desktop Linux ecosystem. The report provides insight into the year's key accomplishments in terms of functionality, standards, applications, distributions, market penetration, and more. Of great interest is the Market Growth part. Copying from there: "Most observers believe that much of the growth will take place outside of the United States.""
NASA

Submission + - NASA Commemorates Space Shuttle Tragedies

eldavojohn writes: "Space.com is covering NASA's commemoration of the Apollo 1 crew & the last shuttle crews of both the Challenger and Columbia orbiters. The Apollo 1 crew was lost forty years ago today to a fire while testing their spacecraft on a launch pad. From the article, "While the nearly two decades separating NASA's three space disasters allowed room for the agency to grow complacent, the relatively short time between the 2003 loss of Columbia and the end of the shuttle program could avoid a repeat of such behavior.""
NASA

Journal Journal: NASA to Britain: Join Us

NASA chief, Michael Griffin, challenged Britain to rekindle its adventurous spirit by joining NASA in its quest to explore the Moon and Mars. Griffin likened NASA's current mission to the maritime exploits of British pioneering explorers, Francis Drake and Captain Cook.
The Gimp

Submission + - Using The GIMP (or Photoshop) to Improve my Photos

Nom du Keyboard writes: Is it possible to use The GIMP (or Photoshop) to improve my digital photos? I have a mid-range 7.1MP Olympus camera capable of shooting in Raw mode. When I inspected a section of clear blue sky on a bright, sunny day (which I've long believed to be relatively good reference of uniform color and brightness) I was surprised (disappointed, since I expect digital perfection) at the variance in adjacent pixels. It's also a quick way to identify any bad pixels. Surprisingly, actual photos from this camera look pretty good despite this variance so far. Moving on from that point it led me to wonder that, if you shot a uniform white surface, perhaps blurred as much as possible to avoid any imperfections in the surface itself, could a correction (adjustment) layer be created in GIMP or Photoshop exactly tuned to your camera that fixed the variations in your CCD sensor and improved the image quality in the process. Any thoughts?

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