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Comment Re:Needs a caption (Score 2, Informative) 154

Double-click on the video to reach the YouTube page. To the right of the summary (left of the number of views) is a down-chevron icon. Click on that for the full description.

Or, just copy and paste that description here:

View of the solar system showing the locations of all the asteroids starting in 1980, as asteroids are discovered they are added to the map and highlighted white so you can pick out the new ones. The final colour of an asteroids indicates how closely it comes to the inner solar system.

Earth Crossers are Red

Earth Approachers (Perihelion less than 1.3AU) are Yellow

All Others are Green

Notice now the pattern of discovery follows the Earth around its orbit, most discoveries are made in the region directly opposite the Sun. You'll also notice some clusters of discoveries on the line between Earth and Jupiter, these are the result of surveys looking for Jovian moons. Similar clusters of discoveries can be tied to the other outer planets, but those are not visible in this video.

As the video moves into the mid 1990's we see much higher discovery rates as automated sky scanning systems come online. Most of the surveys are imaging the sky directly opposite the sun and you'll see a region of high discovery rates aligned in this manner.

At the beginning of 2010 a new discovery pattern becomes evident, with discovery zones in a line perpendicular to the Sun-Earth vector. These new observations are the result of the WISE (Widefield Infrared Survey Explorer) which is a space mission that's tasked with imaging the entire sky in infrared wavelengths.

Currently we have observed over half a million minor planets, and the discovery rates snow no sign that we're running out of undiscovered objects.

Comment Re:I'd rather have a netbook. iPad is a pain to ho (Score 1) 198

Its a great machine and all, but I can't imagine trying to use it on a plane for any real length of time.

That's why I bought a folio-style case with adjustable stand for mine so you can leave it propped up at a reasonable angle, making it a nice hands-free device while watching a movie or reading a book. The popular response to that is "Why not just get a netbook, since that stands up on its own already?!" Well, the iPad just does a lot of things very well that I want it to do, and with a 10+ hour battery life (generally much longer if just reading an ebook), I haven't found a better device yet. Plus, it comfortably fits on the fold-out tray on planes when the person in front of you leans back, unlike my 15" laptop.

Comment Re:Screw them ALL! (Score 1) 116

I run Boxee on a 3 year old Mac Mini, though it's Intel-based, and it works just fine. If you feel like hiring someone to update the code that's necessary for decoding everything on PPC, then feel free. I'm sure they'd be happy to help you out once you provide the resources to get someone "off of his/her non-collective butt". But, once you start wanting to view HD content that's heavily compressed, good luck using that old PPC system without massive stuttering.
Space

Submission + - Revived microbe may hold clues for ET lifeforms

krou writes: Science Daily is reporting that a microbe, Herminiimonas glaciei, buried some 3kms under glacial ice in Greenland, and believed to have been frozen for some 120,000 years, has been brought back to life. The microbe, some ten to fifty times smaller than E. coli, was brought back over several months by slowly incubating it at slightly-increasing temperatures. After 11.5 months, the microbe began to replicate. Scientists believe that it could help us understand how life may exist on other planets. Dr. Jennifer Loveland-Curtze, who headed up the team of scientists from Pennsylvania State University, said: "These extremely cold environments are the best analogues of possible extraterrestrial habitats. The exceptionally low temperatures can preserve cells and nucleic acids for even millions of years. H. glaciei is one of just a handful of officially described ultra-small species and the only one so far from the Greenland ice sheet; studying these bacteria can provide insights into how cells can survive and even grow under extremely harsh conditions, such as temperatures down to -56C, little oxygen, low nutrients, high pressure and limited space." She also added that it "isn't a pathogen and is not harmful to humans, but it can pass through a 0.2 micron filter, which is the filter pore size commonly used in sterilization of fluids in laboratories and hospitals. If there are other ultra-small bacteria that are pathogens, then they could be present in solutions presumed to be sterile. In a clear solution very tiny cells might grow but not create the density sufficient to make the solution cloudy."

Comment Re:Federal overreaching their powers (Score 1) 780

My point is, this is a FEDERAL crime they're speaking of. This is definitely something that can be handled and prosecuted at the state level. This has zero effect on national security or interstate commerce...

I'll have to disagree here. This does affect interstate commerce. Let's say that I live in Maryland, and I log into myspace.com, which is a server that's hosted by a commercial entity in Los Angeles. If I then proceed to use their commercial service to harass a person who lives in Texas, that certainly qualifies as "interstate commerce".

Not that I agree with the premise of this bill, but I would have to say that this is within the scope of the federal government's designated powers.

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