Clipmarks | Marcariel's clips

Phoenix Lander Finds Right Conditions for Life on Mars

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 19:18:28 GMT

clipped by: Marcariel
clipper's remarks: I'm so glad the space program did not die. If we use this planet up, we have to have an alternate don't we ... unless the human race wants to perish from their own stupidity.

Clip Source: www.foxnews.com

The Phoenix lander's first taste test of soil near Mars' north pole reveals a briny environment similar to what can be found in backyards on Earth, scientists said Thursday.

The finding raises hope that the Martian arctic plains could have conditions favorable for primitive life.

Phoenix so far has not detected organic carbon, considered an essential building block of life. Last week, the lander found evidence of ice below the soil.

Scientists generally agree that liquid water, a stable energy source and organic, or carbon-containing, compounds are required for a habitable zone.

Preliminary results showed the soil had a pH between 8 and 9, researchers said. A pH less than 7 means the solution is acidic, while a pH over 7 means it is salty. Phoenix also detected the presence of magnesium, sodium, potassium and chloride in the mixture.

"It's typical of the soil here on Earth minus the organics,"

This soil clearly has interacted with water in the past

Tags: mars, phoenix lander, soil, water, organic, carbon

Changes Approved Allowing Hundreds of New Domain Names

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 19:08:06 GMT

clipped by: Marcariel
clipper's remarks: It's about time! They are also looking to clamp down on the "domain tasters" who tie up domain names seeing what the traffic is for certain names, and then they buy the domain and hold out for the highest bidders.

This is why a lot of brand names are at strange named domains ... their domain name was already bought by an investor, and they would not pay the price to buy the domain name.

Clip Source: news.wired.com

The Internet's key oversight agency relaxed rules Thursday to permit the introduction of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of new Internet domain names to join ".com," making the first sweeping changes in the network's 25-year-old address system.

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers unanimously approved the new guidelines as weeklong meetings in Paris concluded. ICANN also voted unanimously to open public comment on a separate proposal to permit addresses entirely in non-English languages for the first time.

New names won't start appearing until at least next year, and ICANN won't be deciding on specific ones quite yet. The organization still must work out many details, including fees for obtaining new names, expected to exceed $100,000 apiece to help ICANN cover up to $20 million in costs.

Domain names help computers find Web sites and route e-mail. Adding new suffixes can make it easier for Web sites to promote easy-to-remember names

Tags: domains, web addresses, internet, icann

North Pole Could Be Ice-free This Summer

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 18:56:38 GMT

clipped by: Marcariel
clipper's remarks: Global warming ... global warming ... warning ... warning!

Clip Source: www.cnn.com

(CNN) -- The North Pole may be briefly ice-free by September as global warming melts away Arctic sea ice, according to scientists from the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colorado.

Clip Source: mail.google.com

Clipmarks

Clip Source: www.cnn.com

50-50 bet that the thin Arctic sea ice, which was frozen last autumn, will completely melt away at the geographic North Pole

The ice retreated to a record level in September when the Northwest Passage -- the sea route through the Arctic Ocean -- opened up briefly for the first time in recorded history.

Specific weather patterns will determine whether the North Pole's ice cover melts completely this summer

Tags: north pole, ice, global warming, arctic ocean, northwest passage

World's First Air Powered Car

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 15:12:45 GMT

clipped by: Marcariel
clipper's remarks: I just love the comment that it will NEVER come to the USA. Come on ... give us a break from the gas prices!

Clip Source: www.popularmechanics.com

India’s largest automaker is set to start producing the world’s first commercial air-powered vehicle. The Air Car, developed by ex-Formula One engineer Guy Nègre for Luxembourg-based MDI, uses compressed air, as opposed to the gas-and-oxygen explosions of internal-combustion models, to push its engine’s pistons. Some 6000 zero-emissions Air Cars are scheduled to hit Indian streets in August of 2008.

Barring any last-minute design changes on the way to production, the Air Car should be surprisingly practical. The $12,700 CityCAT, one of a handful of planned Air Car models, can hit 68 mph and has a range of 125 miles.

Of course, the Air Car will likely never hit American shores, especially considering its all-glue construction. But that doesn’t mean the major automakers can write it off as a bizarre Indian experiment — MDI has signed deals to bring its design to 12 more countries, including Germany, Israel and South Africa.

Tags: air powered car, non-poluting, zero emissions, india

Crystal Skulls - Real or Fake?

Fri, 06 Jun 2008 02:48:59 GMT

clipped by: Marcariel
clipper's remarks: Interesting article about forgeries and the search for the true MezoAmerican artifacts.

Clipping this was inspired by the comments and discussion from a clip by invictus. http://clipmarks.com/clipmark/E2744391-1065-40C7-98A0-5A8B868ABFAA/

Clip Source: www.archaeology.org

In 1992, this hollow rock-crystal skull was sent to the Smithsonian anonymously. A letter accompanying the 30-pound, 10-inch-high artifact suggested it was of Aztec origin. (James Di Loreto & Donald Hurlburt/Courtesy Smithsonian Institution)

Crystal skulls have undergone serious scholarly scrutiny, but they also excite the popular imagination because they seem so mysterious. Theories about their origins abound. Some believe the skulls are the handiwork of the Maya or Aztecs, but they have also become the subject of constant discussion on occult websites. Some insist that they originated on a sunken continent or in a far-away galaxy.

These exotic carvings are usually attributed to pre-Columbian Mesoamerican cultures, but not a single crystal skull in a museum collection comes from a documented excavation, and they have little stylistic or technical relationship with any genuine pre-Columbian depictions of skulls, which are an important motif in Mesoamerican iconography.

Tags: crystal skulls, mezoamerican, artifacts, iconography

Biofuel Craze Could Starve Millions

Thu, 08 May 2008 07:24:40 GMT

clipped by: Marcariel
clipper's remarks: Joachim von Braun, director general of the U.S.-based International Food Policy Research Institute supports a moratorium on grain- and oilseed-based biofuels but not for sugar-cane-based fuels.

Sugar-cane is the source of many sweeteners used in breakfast cereals and soft drinks. We should start seeing those prices begin to shoot up.

I looks like we are just going to have to find another alternative to the biofuels sources.

Clip Source: dsc.discovery.com

A "biofuels frenzy" and other misguided policies have led to the global food crisis in which rice consumption is outpacing production, threatening a billion people with malnutrition

International agriculture researchers warned that farmers will need to double global food production by 2030 to meet rising demand, and said countries should impose a moratorium on grain-based ethanol and biodiesel to rein in skyrocketing prices for corn, rice, soybeans and wheat.

For the first time, it's been clear that we are consuming more rice than we are producing globally

Joachim von Braun, director general of the U.S.-based International Food Policy Research Institute, cited "major policy failures" at the core of the crisis, in which recent food price spikes have led to violent riots and threats of starvation in poor nations, and prompted United Nation calls to lift export bans.

Clip Source: dsc.discovery.com

high prices could force a billion people to limit their food consumption, leading to drastic malnutrition.

Tags: starvation, biofuels, grain, malnutrition, food

Kudzu - The Invader That Ate the South

Fri, 04 Apr 2008 20:24:45 GMT

clipped by: Marcariel
clipper's remarks: In the southern US these photos are typical of the sites you see when driving anywhere. Vines covering signs and fences ... covering poles and electric lines ... close along highways and roads as if making an attempt to grow across. There are even recipes to cook Kudzu in the South.

A very beautiful, picturesque nuisance.

Clip Source: www.yahoolavista.com

native to Japan and China, however it grows well in the Southeastern United States. Kudzu is a vine that when left uncontrolled will eventually grow over almost any fixed object in its proximity including other vegetation.

Kudzu, over a period of several years will kill trees by blocking the sunlight and for this and other reasons many would like to find ways to get rid of it.

In the south where the winters are moderate the first frost will turn kudzu into dead leaves and soon after just gray vines. The kudzu vine will continue growing the next summer almost from where it was stopped by cold weather the previous year.

No one seems to care much or even pay much attention to it. Maybe that is because we accept it since there isn't much we can do about it

Kudzu vines will cover buildings and parked vehicles over a period of years if no attempt is made to control its growth. A number of abandoned houses, vehicles and barns covered with kudzu can be seen in Georgia and other southern states.

Tags: kudzu, vine, invasive, cattle, southern

Invasive Species Flood Into China

Fri, 04 Apr 2008 20:09:46 GMT

clipped by: Marcariel
clipper's remarks: The article says this will be one of the hidden costs of the Olympics for China. Welcome to the real world of international trade.

The South (USA) has been over-run with an invader vine brought her from an Exposition (visitors pinched a piece off and took it home), and later for cattle feed.

Clip Source: dsc.discovery.com

It's not just China's economy that's booming. Invasive species are thriving there, too.

Non-native organisms are arriving in growing numbers thanks to increased trade. And they are penetrating once-isolated areas now accessible via new transportation routes

By any measure, China's trade and transportation infrastructure are growing like weeds.

This growth has brought with it exotic species -- some imported deliberately as garden plants or pets, and others introduced accidentally, hitchhiking in products or packaging materials.

Its roster of 400 invasive species costs China a minimum of $14.5 billion a year, according to an estimate cited by the researchers.

This is just what happens with international trade

For decades the United States has battled its own invaders, including increasing numbers of Chinese species like the Asian longhorned beetle, which arrived in 1996.

Aquatic plants may cause some of the worst damage

Clip Source: dsc.discovery.com

It will definitely be a hidden cost of the Olympics

Tags: invasive, species, olympics, china, international trade

"Astro Comb" Looking for New Earth-like Worlds

Fri, 04 Apr 2008 19:54:00 GMT

clipped by: Marcariel
clipper's remarks: "Those afraid of the universe as it really is, those who pretend to nonexistent knowledge and envision a Cosmos centered on human beings will prefer the fleeting comforts of superstition. They avoid rather than confront the world. But those with the courage to explore the weave and structure of the Cosmos, even where it differs profoundly from their wishes and prejudices, will penetrate its deepest mysteries." - Carl Sagan

Clip Source: dsc.discovery.com

Compared to the sun, Earth is a fleck. You would need 109 of them to cover the sun's face and another 1.3 million to fill its interior. Yet puny Earth and all its sibling planets make their presence known with gravitational tugs that cause the mother star to wobble just a bit.

The shifts are revealed by analyzing changes in the light coming from the sun.

Planets' gravitational tugs become profoundly more difficult to detect if you are far away -- like in another solar system.

Nevertheless, scientists have charted 277 extrasolar worlds, though none as small as Earth. A new technique, described in this week's Nature, adds a formidable arrow to the planet-hunters' quivers.

filter laser pulses so that infinitesimally minute changes in starlight spectras can stand out

like looking at the reflection of trees, clouds and sky in a pool of standing water. Just as water is used to bear the images, laser light serves as the reflecting pond for analyzing starlight.

Clip Source: dsc.discovery.com

Earth-like planets doing the tugging

Tags: space, worlds, sun, wobble, spectrograph, wavelength

Fossil Poop - Back Dating American Inhabitants

Fri, 04 Apr 2008 19:32:07 GMT

clipped by: Marcariel
clipper's remarks: Good to know they can tell where we came from by the s**t we leave behind. I doubt these people were considering leaving a DNA trail when they were passing through.

Interesting find providing new dates to add to our science books.

Clip Source: dsc.discovery.com

New evidence shows humans lived in North America more than 14,000 years ago, 1,000 years earlier than had previously been known.

Discovered in a cave in Oregon, fossil feces yielded DNA indicating these early residents were related to people living in Siberia and East Asia

This is the first time we have been able to get dates that are undeniably human, and they are 1,000 years before Clovis

The petrified poop -- coprolites to scientists -- is yielding a look at the diet of these ancient Americans

The oldest of several coprolites studied is 14,340 calendar years old

it isn't clear exactly who these people living in the Oregon caves were, since there were few artifacts found. He said there was one stone tool, a hand tool used perhaps to polish or grind or mash bones or fat.

they most likely came from Siberia or Eastern Asia, and we know something about what they were eating

adds to the evidence for a pre-Clovis human presence in North America.

Tags: coprolites, oregon, america, asia, diets

America is "on the wrong track"

Fri, 04 Apr 2008 14:57:22 GMT

clipped by: Marcariel
clipper's remarks: Gas prices continue to rise ... the stock market is volatile ... the dollar continues to fall ... spending is down nationwide. Yes, it's time for a change!

Clip Source: www.msnbc.msn.com

Americans are more dissatisfied with the country’s direction than at any time since the New York Times/CBS News poll began asking about the subject in the early 1990s

81 percent of respondents said they believed that “things have pretty seriously gotten off on the wrong track,” up from 69 percent a year ago and 35 percent in early 2003.

Although the public mood has been darkening since the early days of the war in Iraq, it has taken a new turn for the worse in the last few months, as the economy has seemed to slip into recession. There is now nearly a national consensus that the country faces significant problems.

A majority of nearly every demographic and political group — Democrats and Republicans, men and women, residents of cities and rural areas, college graduates and those who finished only high school — say that the United States is headed in the wrong direction.

clear risks for Republicans in this year’s elections, given the continued unpopularity of President Bush.

Tags: america, recession, poll, president bush

The Bill Gates - Paul Allen Story

Fri, 04 Apr 2008 14:49:12 GMT

clipped by: Marcariel
clipper's remarks: The story of how two tech geek friends built a billion dollar tech empire. And ... as they say ... the rest is history ... and more to come.

Clip Source: www.wired.com

1975: Bill Gates and Paul Allen create a partnership called Micro-soft. It will grow into one of the largest U.S. corporations and place them among the world's richest people.

Microsoft founders Bill Gates and Paul Allen in 1983 just after completing MS Dos for the Tandy laptop and signing a contract to write MS-DOS for IBM.
Photo: Doug Wilson/Corbis

Gates and Allen had been buddies and fellow Basic programmers at Lakeside School in Seattle.

They built a computer based on an Intel 8008 chip and used it to analyze traffic data for the Washington state highway department, doing business as Traf-O-Data.

News in late 1974 of the first personal computer kit, the Altair 8800, excited them, but they knew they could improve its performance with Basic.

Allen was 22; Gates was 19. Altair Basic was functioning by March. The "Micro-soft" partnership was sealed in April, but wouldn't get its name for a few more months.

share of that stock is worth almost 280 times its original value today

Tags: microsoft, bill gates, paul allen, computer

Suicide Machine Sparks Outrage

Fri, 04 Apr 2008 14:41:13 GMT

clipped by: Marcariel
clipper's remarks: This seems like the best of the worst in suicide machines. This one seems similar to the ones Dr. Kevorkian uses.

Dr. Kevorkian links:
http://www.fansoffieger.com/kevo.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Kevorkian
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/05/opinion/05tue3.html

Clip Source: www.cnn.com

A former top-level German politician has invented what he calls a "suicide machine" for terminally ill patients who want to die.

"It is the most bearable method for those with a death wish

a modified perfusor, a machine normally used to inject medicine over a long period of time, and Kusch has installed a button that allows the patient to set off the mechanism.

the patient is technically killing himself, protecting doctors who would assist by mixing the toxins and setting up the device.

the suicide machine would administer an anesthetic and a lethal dose of potassium chloride, which would lead to death within minutes.

society must help terminally ill patients deal with their pain rather then accepting suicide as an option.

"To those who criticize me, I say: it is none of your business," Kusch said

German politicians, the medical community and especially churches are outraged by Kusch's presentation of the killing machine. What do you think about the suicide machine?

Internet Plans Helps Man Commit Suicide

Sat, 29 Mar 2008 21:17:19 GMT

clipped by: Marcariel
clipper's remarks: This is sad ... but I know first hand that when someone makes the decision to kill themselves, they will do whatever it takes to accomplish it. The internet is a boon for any activity you want to engage in ... including (I suppose) your own death.

If someone wants to die, and is ill , I believe that is a different situation. This man was depressed because of his family wanting him to move. I would have hoped there was another way to work this out, other than his death by suicide!

Will this be the new way of the future? (See cartoon from "Futurama")

Clip Source: www.timesonline.co.uk

An elderly man has killed himself by programming a robot to shoot him in the head after building the machine from plans downloaded from the internet.

Clip Source: www.armageddononline.org

Clip Source: www.timesonline.co.uk

Francis Tovey, 81, who lived alone in Burleigh Heads on the Australian Gold Coast, was found dead in his driveway.

he had been unhappy about the demands of relatives living elsewhere in Australia that he should move out of his home and into care.

Notes left by Mr Tovey — who was born in England — revealed that he had scoured the internet for plans before constructing his complex machine, which involved a jigsaw power tool and was connected to a .22 semi-automatic pistol loaded with four bullets. It could fire multiple shots once triggered remotely.

At 7am on Tuesday he set the robot up in the driveway of his £450,000 house and activated it.

His notes suggested that Mr Tovey chose to kill himself in the driveway because he knew there were workmen building a new house next door who would find his body.

Tags: suicide, death, internet

Supernova Seen Half Way Across the Universe

Sat, 29 Mar 2008 21:00:43 GMT

clipped by: Marcariel
clipper's remarks: This is reported to be the brightest supernova explosion ever recorded. It was bright enough to be seen by the naked eye from half way across the universe.

Clip Source: www.sciencedaily.com

A powerful stellar explosion detected March 19 by NASA's Swift satellite has shattered the record for the most distant object that could be seen with the naked eye.

The explosion was a gamma ray burst. Most gamma ray bursts occur when massive stars run out of nuclear fuel. Their cores collapse to form black holes or neutron stars, releasing an intense burst of high-energy gamma rays and ejecting particle jets that rip through space at nearly the speed of light

Gamma ray bursts are the most luminous explosions in the universe since the big bang.

"This burst was a whopper,"

"It blows away every gamma ray burst we've seen so far."

This is more than halfway across the visible universe.

"No other known object or type of explosion could be seen by the naked eye at such an immense distance,"

"If someone just happened to be looking at the right place at the right time, they saw the most distant object ever seen by human eyes without optical aid."

the most luminous supernova ever recorded

Tags: supernova, explosion, gamma ray, luminous