177004347
submission
alaskana writes:
In 2014 Harvard Scientist Dr. John Brandenburg published a paper that claims there is evidence of past non-natural nuclear explosions on and above the surface of Mars resulting in the eradication of a primitive civilization that once resided there. In the paper's abstract it states: "On Mars, the nearest Earthlike planet in the cosmos, the concentration of 129Xe in the Martian atmosphere, the evidence from 80Kr abundance of intense 1014/cm2 flux over the Northern young part of Mars, and the detected pattern of excess abundance of Uranium and Thorium on Mars surface, relative to Mars meteorites, can be explained as due to two large thermonuclear explosions on Mars in the past."
This claim has recently been thrust back into the limelight due to the appearance of philosophy PhD and science fiction writer Reza Jorjani on the Danny Jones Podcast. On it he stated: "Every planet has a certain amount of isotopes of different materials on it, and apparently the isotopic ratio of Xenon 129 is consistent across the entire solar system, except for on Mars." Jorjani further states that according to the paper "the isotopic signature was equivalent to ' Empire State building's worth of our thermonuclear warheads".
Adding further intrigue (and natural skepticism) to this story is the author's linking of his hypothesis to the 'face on Mars' and Mars' Cydonia region, with elevated levels of Xenon 129 found there suggesting that an ancient Martian civilization once thrived there and was subsequently wiped out by the explosions. The paper's abstract finishes with: "Taken together, the evidence suggests that Mars was the locale of a planetary nuclear massacre."
Is this fodder for tabloids or does the Harvard stamp give this claim some room to breath?
171968049
submission
alaskana writes:
In late 2022 it was revealed that early samples of what was to be the 'Pentium 5' processor, codenamed Tejas and Jayhawk was in development and made it as far as being released to board partners for evaluation. A few of these samples made it (of course) onto Ebay and then — not surprisingly — into the hands of a YouTuber. To be fair, tech site Anandtech arguably got the first scoop on this P4 successor way back in 2004, but that story seemingly never gained much traction at that time.
Intel Prescott CPUs could hit 5GHz+ but had huge power and temperature numbers, but Tejas was expected to clock higher than Prescott — with Intel chasing the huge 10GHz CPU clocks within 10 years between 2000 and 2011 — but it ended up not happening at all."
In what was supposed to be a continuation of the 'GHz is king' days of the early aughts, the Pentium 5 was in spirit a continuation of the 'faster-is-better' philosophy of the P4 architecture, efficiency be damned. Speeds in excess of 7 GHz(!), and a pipeline upwards of 50 stages were rumored to be targeted by Intel, but reality (and physics) reared their ugly heads as always.
Intel engineer Steve Fischer, who was involved with the project, added: "The thing had a pipeline depth of around 50 stages and an expected clock target at one point north of 7 GHz. I call the thing "the Death Star of processors" and half-jokingly reasoned that consumer acceptance of liquid-cooled chassis would not be a big deal." Intel kicked off Project Tejas in 2003, expected in 2004 and later pushed into 2005 after issues forced Intel to redesign the chip. Before the company could do that, the Tejas Project was shelved on May 7, 2004.
In the end efficiency and parallelization was to be the rule of future CPU development, but the fact that Intel had (at least briefly) had planned on taking the P4 paradigm just a wee bit further with a true Pentium 5 is a fascinating look into the past of a future that never was to be for the venerable Pentium line.
74263003
submission
alaskana writes:
According to this article at Starwars.com, Han Solo will be getting his own movie prequel. The film will purportedly tell the story of a young Han Solo and how he came to be the wily smuggler that shows up in Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope. The film is set to be directed by Christopher Miller and Phil Lord (of 'The Lego Movie' fame) and written by Lawrence and Jon Kasdan.
Get your popcorn and tickets ready as the movie is set to debut May 25, 2018.
