Higher and higher: HDTV resolution

USATODAY.com - Higher and higher: HDTV resolution

Hmm .... roughly 15% of U.S. homes have HDTVs.

Disk storage to increase 10x by 2009

Geek.com Geek News - Disk storage to increase 10x by 2009

The times ... they keep a changin' ....

Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer Gives Old Animals Youthful Immune Cells

Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer Gives Old Animals Youthful Immune Cells

Looks Promising.

Hibernating Spacecraft Awakens for Comet Impact Mission

Hibernating Spacecraft Awakens for Comet Impact Mission | SpaceRef - Your Space Reference

Good Thinking.

Buried Treasure

Buried Treasure - Newsweek Technology - MSNBC.com

Very Interesting Article.

Keeping It (Un)real

Wired 13.07: Keeping It (Un)real

Meet Gorillaz.

HIPerWall at Calit2's Center of GRAVITY Will Allow Unprecedented Visualization of Data

RedNova News - Science - HIPerWall at Calit2's Center of GRAVITY Will Allow Unprecedented Visualization of Data

More than Triple HUXGA resolution! Almost Triple WHUXGA resolution .... Not Too Shabby.... :)

Chinese Watermelon Art/Sculpture

Chinese Watermelon Art/Sculpture

A friend sent this to me ..... the carvings are really impressive. Have a look.

NASA - Deep Impact

NASA - Deep Impact

Play the Tempel 1 movie to see a comet "Sneeze". Quite impressive.

Estimated 4 days, 21 hrs to impact ....................

NASA'S Deep Impact Craft Observes Major Comet "Outburst"

NASA - NASA'S Deep Impact Craft Observes Major Comet "Outburst"

Explaination in this link.

Technology News: Internet : Google Launches 3D, Satellite Mapping

Technology News: Internet : Google Launches 3D, Satellite Mapping

This brings new meaning to "zooming in".

Mercury Computer Systems Teams with IBM to Build Cell Processor-Based Systems

200 GFLOPS ... very nice.

Is This a Lake on Titan?

Universe Today - Is This a Lake on Titan?

This "lake" appears to be roughly 65.5 miles across at it's widest. Probably wider, considering image geometry manipulation, and that it most likely was taken at an angle.

Boffins create zombie dogs

Boffins create zombie dogs | The Other Side | Breaking News 24/7 - NEWS.com.au (27-06-2005)

You have to keep a constant eye on Boffins ... you never know what they will do next. ;-)

Space station gets HAL-like computer

New Scientist Breaking News - Space station gets HAL-like computer

Open the Payload Operations Director's Bay-Windows Clarissa .............. ;-)

AMD reportedly sues Intel for alleged antitrust abuses

AMD reportedly sues Intel for alleged antitrust abuses - Computer Hardware - Markets/Exchanges - SEC - Market News

Hmmmm.............

Spherical Camera Features 30 frames/s Frame Rate

Test & Measurement World - Spherical Camera Features 30 frames/s Frame Rate - 6/27/2005 11:06:00 AM - Test & Measurement World - CA621635

So a Ladybug2 is an odd looking RED video camera. Nice concept though.

MIT Media Lab Researching $100 Notebook Computer

Gear Live | MIT Media Lab Researching $100 Notebook Computer

If Nicholas Negroponte can pull this off, it will be very impressive.

Google Launches In-Browser Video Player

Google Launches In-Browser Video Player

Cool.

Mystery of World's Fastest-growing Lakes Solved

Mystery of World's Fastest-growing Lakes Solved

May also explain the existance of Carolina Bays.

Hubble Sees a Jet on Comet Tempel 1

Universe Today - Hubble Sees a Jet on Comet Tempel 1

Not long now, until the July 4 or so, smackdown ... we hope. :)

And the number one cancer myth is...

Health News Article | Reuters.com

The article states that the number myth about cancer, in the US, is that the surgical removal of a tumor can cause it to spread throughout the body.

Well ... in one case, I can prove that the myth is true, or at least the net appearance would lead you to believe it was true.

A few years back, I read an article that was talking about cancers that had metastasized, and formed tumors in a range of sizes. When the doctors operated and removed the tumors, by removing the single largest tumor, and perhaps a few lesser sized tumors, they found that tumors started growing in places where the cancer hadn't been detected. The reason they determined, was that the largest tumor had been secreting a chemical, that kept the other lesser tumors in check, growth-wise and therefore size-wise. When this inhibitory agent was removed, microscopic tumors in other places started to grow unchecked.

This would give the "appearance" that the already metastasized cancer cells had been distributed by the act of operating on the patient.

AMD unveils Athlon FX-57 gaming processor --- Tom's Hardware Guide: Tom's Hard News

Tom's Hardware Guide: Tom's Hard News

Yeah .. I know ... but this is Tom's Hardware --- 'Nuff Said.

Quantum computer springs a leak

New Scientist Technology - Quantum computer springs a leak

One thousand M-i-s-s-i-s-s-i-p-p-i ----------- Oops! My qubit just spontaneously collapsed.

This IS an unexpected development.

New research looks beyond cancer's genetics

HoustonChronicle.com - New research looks beyond cancer's genetics

Interesting alternate theories other than mutation as the causal agent for cancers.

Epigenetics, related to hydrocarbons and other agents, that bond to healthy genes, and prevent them from working properly, is an important field. What happens is this --- to make the normal proteins in the human body, a process called DNA methylation occurs. This process turns protein production ON or OFF.

I wrote a multiple sclerosis researcher a few years back, on precisely this methylation-blocking issue. My chemistry is a bit rusty, and I think I called it by an incorrect name at the time, but a person knowledgable in the field would understand what I was talking about.
What triggered it was this --- I had noticed in an article about several different clusters of multiple sclerosis, in a particular state --- that they all had two elements in common ..... nearby Heavy Metals, from fires, factories, food supply, etc., AND Nitrates ....
It's a complex issue, but I always wondered if those two elements could have been blocking proper gene function, by working in tandem, some way.

HK billionaire donates Berkeley $40M for stem cell research

Xinhua - English

The donation was made by Li Ka-shing .... or as I like to call him .... Li Ka-Ching ...

Get It ... Billionaire ---- Ka-Ching ........... ;-)

WARNING: NUDE PICTURES ------- OK --- They're NOT Mr. Li ... OR is it Mr. Ka-shing .... not sure if the usage has been Americanized or not.

AMD ships world's 'fastest overclockable gaming CPU'

AMD ships world's 'fastest overclockable gaming CPU' | The Register

Zoom! -------------------------------> Whoosh! ------->

Also pretty pricey ... 1000+ bucks for a tiny piece of silicon.

Hard drive cheapness, capacity begins to be a problem

Hard drive cheapness, capacity begins to be a problem

Raises some interesting points, especially for the non-technology minded.

How Many Dots Has It Got?

How Many Dots Has It Got?

If you ever wondered about the mnemonics used for various screen monitor resolutions ... then check this guys webpage out!

HUXGA and WHUXGA ....... Drools ... Dreams .... Drools some more .....

Lucas throws fete worthy of Boba

L.A. Daily News - News

I had to use this one, just for the headline ...... ;-)

Yeah .. to work underneath the Golden Gate Bridge ---- one sweet setup! :)

Antarctic concept vehicle unveiled

CNN.com - Antarctic concept vehicle unveiled - Jun 23, 2005

A purpose-built Antarctic exploration vehicle................

Is this like a "purpose-built life" ...... ;-)

Violent jet detected spewing from brown dwarf

New Scientist Breaking News - Violent jet detected spewing from brown dwarf

Jupiter may have had such a jet in it's youth ... interesting.

The cosmic neutrino background

The cosmic neutrino background | Ripples in the sands of time | Economist.com

Have to watch those sneaky neutrinos ..... ;-)

Nano-Mechanical Memory - Nano-levers point to futuristic gadgets

New Scientist Breaking News - Nano-levers point to futuristic gadgets

It still seems bizarre to me, that this actually works.

Creature beacon reunites lost pets and owners

New Scientist Breaking News - Creature beacon reunites lost pets and owners

.. Ummm ... C r e a t u r e B a c o n ... ...

THAT's >>> Beacon <<< Homer! .....

..... Doh! .....

Group Releases Fuel Cell Specs For Notebooks

InformationWeek > Mobile Computing > Group Releases Fuel Cell Specs For Notebooks > June 24, 2005

Fill 'er up ........

Long-Lost Da Vinci Masterpiece Found Behind Palazzo Walls

Long-Lost Da Vinci Masterpiece Found Behind Palazzo Walls

Let's hope it it salvageable.

Samsung threatens to leapfrog memory market

Techworld.com - Samsung threatens to leapfrog memory market

Leapfrog! .. Go Ahead And Leapfrog! ....

Bigger memory and falling chip prices, are a Good Thing ..... :)

Samsung First to Produce 90nm 1 Gb DDR2 DRAM

Samsung First to Produce 90nm 1 Gb DDR2 DRAM

One gigabit DRAM .. that is amazing. One chip holding the equivalent of 128 Megabytes of memory.

OR ... one chip having 2048 times the total memory of the old Apple IIs, i.e., 64 Kilobytes of memory.

Fujitsu to develop 3-petaflop supercomputer by 2010

Fujitsu to develop 3-petaflop supercomputer by 2010 -report - Forbes.com

Three petaflops is 3000 X million X million floating point calculations per second.

This is 3% OR 0.3% of the processing power of the human brain ..... depending on who you are listening to.

The full processing power of the human brain, is also, either 200 million OR 2 billion times, what I read it was, back in 1983. Looks like *someone* underestimated ... ;-)

IBM Previews Faster Off-The-Shelf Supercomputer

IBM Previews Faster Off-The-Shelf Supercomputer

Lil' Sumpthin' for the home hobbyist ........... :)

TOP500 Supercomputer Sites

TOP500 Supercomputer Sites

The main website itself................

Supercomputers step up the pace

BBC NEWS | Technology | Supercomputers step up the pace

When BlueGene/L is completed, it will have about 360 teraflops of computing power. It currently stands at 136.8 teraflops. A teraflop is one trillion floating point operations per second.
That's a million X million, or 1000 Gigaflops.

The total computing power of the Top 500, is 1.69 petaflops, which is 50% greater, than the total of 1.127 petaflops, from 6 months ago.

Artificial Curiosity?

New Scientist Breaking News - Robo-pups created with curiosity in mind

These Aibo are certainly neat.

Extrasolar Planet Reshapes Ring Around a Star

Universe Today - Extrasolar Planet Reshapes Ring Around a Star

Four times larger in diameter than the Kuiper Belt.

Physicists create artificial cricket hairs

Physicists create artificial cricket hairs

" Can You Hear Me Now? " ............. :)

Extinct Mammal Had Venomous Bite, Fossils Suggest

Extinct Mammal Had Venomous Bite, Fossils Suggest

And the duck-billed platypus too, has a venomous bite ... hmmm ....

Some just have one thing in mind

Some just have one thing in mind - Science - Specials - smh.com.au

All I can say, is that I hope I have many, many Jennifer Aniston brain cells .... and not just the one. .......... :)

Intel releases open source lip-reading software

Intel releases open source lip-reading software

Article is over 2 years old........

.. but is interesting, and has links to Intel's computer vision library --- OpenCV.

Applied Minds Think Remarkably

Wired News: Applied Minds Think Remarkably

Sounds like an amazing place.

'Flying eyeball' to inspect spacecraft

New Scientist Breaking News - 'Flying eyeball' to inspect spacecraft

Saw this on NASA-TV today. The five reflectors are arranged, with four in a diamond shaped configuration, and the fifth one offset, to the upper "left". (in the on-ground test simulation)
The docking test went quite well, and it was neat to hear the hissing, from the little thrusting moments, as the "eyeball" oriented itself, and approached the dock.

Samsung Kicks Off Fast Graphics Memory Chip Production

Technology News: Hardware : Samsung Kicks Off Fast Graphics Memory Chip Production

"......benefit memory-intensive graphics applications ...."

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! ......... ;-)

Deep Impact Sees Heart of Target Comet

Deep Impact Sees Heart of Target Comet

Less than two weeks, until the comet smacks into the impactor (hopefully)!

Genes May Point Way to 'Super-Fertile' Older Women

Scotsman.com News - Latest News - Genes May Point Way to 'Super-Fertile' Older Women

Sometimes in genealogy work, you will see databases where people note women having children at unbelieveable ages. I think I read one time, that even though it is claimed much more frequently, the actual rate of birth for women, age 50, is actually something like 1 in 200,000.

Study: Extra folic acid may protect brain

CNN.com - Study: Extra folic acid may protect brain - Jun 21, 2005

And I thought that the prevention of neural-tube defects alone, was wonderful in it's own right. Now folic acid seems to have many useful effects.

Jack Kilby, inventor of integrated circuit, dies

Jack Kilby, inventor of integrated circuit, dies | Reuters.com

Contemplate for a moment, the impact that this man's life had upon the world...........

Researchers Find Evidence of Photosynthesis Deep within the Ocean

RedNova News - Science - Researchers Find Evidence of Photosynthesis Deep within the Ocean

Living 1.49 miles down in the ocean, and relying on light from the original "lava lamps" ... ok ..ok .. these are hydrothermal vents .. but still the photons are basically generated from "down below" .. i.e. the INTERIOR of the Earth.
These photosynthetic bacteria live in a razor thin interface of water, that lies between water on one side that is 662 degrees fahrenheit, and 35.6 degrees fahrenheit, on the other.

Intel touts 'tuneable' Wi-Fi radio chip

Intel touts 'tuneable' Wi-Fi radio chip | The Register

Supports 802.11n ... Good Deal.

The Earliest Predictor Of Alzheimers

CNN.com - Scientists find early signs of Alzheimer's - Jun 20, 2005

Good news.

Grant Robinson : Montage-a-google launcher

Grant Robinson : Montage-a-google launcher

This is an interesting thing. I've done searches on Google's image search, very similar to this in the past, only they weren't compact like this.
As I mentioned in a previous blog .... JUST DON'T TRY TO GET THIS PRINTED AT WALMART !! ... "TOO PROFESSIONAL" ....

New Software Language Helps Computers Better Understand Nuanced Commands

InformationWeek > Programming Languages > New Software Language Helps Computers Better Understand Nuanced Commands > June 17, 2005

Did no one ever tell them that a new computer language deserves a Spiffy New Name? In the words of "The Prisoner 2.0" ..... ""I am Not a Number, I am a Free Software!!" ..... ;-)

Nanoparticles deliver cancer breakthrough

New Scientist Breaking News - Nanoparticles deliver cancer breakthrough

The cancer cells snapped up the folic acid "Lure" at a million times, their normal uptake level.

Very promising.

Magma oceans sloshed across early asteroids

New Scientist Breaking News - Magma oceans sloshed across early asteroids

Magma oceans on asteroids ... How cool is that?

Brain cells are matured in lab

BBC NEWS | Health | Brain cells are matured in lab

Great Potential.

Artificial arteries in five years

ThisisLondon

All the good stuff is always five years away .... :)

Gosnold -- 13 Years Before The Pilgrims

Scotsman.com News - Latest News - Scientists Extract DNA in Bid to Identify US Founder

Captain Bartholomew Gosnold lead the expedition that founded Jamestown -- the first permanent English settlement in the US.

Your Photo Prints Refused --- Reason: Too Professional

RedNova News - Technology - Copyright-Worried Photo Labs Spurn Jobs

I saw a reference a few days back, about a normal Joe that had the photo lab refuse to print one of his pictures, because they said it looked "too professional". I couldn't believe it, and almost thought it was a joke. Now I see that it is an emerging crisis related to copyright law.

Something has got to change!

Deep Web Search

Technology News Article | Reuters.com

It is my understanding that the "Deep Web" is at least 300 times larger than the regular, ordinarily searchable Web.
This Deep Search (content) will cost you, as you must already be a subscriber to the particular provider, or must purchase it A La Carte.

Camcorder with 30 GB HDD

Product News from PC Magazine: JVC Says Goodbye to Tapes

Stores seven hours of DVD movie-quality video... nice.

Microscopic Coastal Marsh Critters Predict Tsunamis Years Ahead?

KRT Wire | 06/15/2005 | Research on fossils may offer clues on when tsunami will hit

This is both interesting and plausable.

Just How "Earth-like" is the Newest Planet?

Just How "Earth-like" is the Newest Planet? :: Astrobiology Magazine :: Search for Life in the Universe

Interesting read.

50X faster than a speeding bullet

New Scientist Breaking News - Superfast 'gun' addresses Jupiter's core issues

Sounds like a railgun to me .... :) ... and 76,056 mph isn't half bad either!

AMD will provide quad-core by 2007, has plans for 16 cores - TechSpot News

AMD will provide quad-core by 2007, has plans for 16 cores - TechSpot News

These quad cores will be initially targeted at servers, with desktop deployment scheduled for later dates.

Earth's �Bigger Cousin� Detected

Earth's �Bigger Cousin� Detected

With so many planets ... it sounds like Gliese 876 is a Happenin' Place.... ;-)

Prarie Dog Adjectives ....

Wired News: Rodents' Talk Isn't Just 'Cheep'

Who knew? ..... :)

Nano-toothbrush

New Scientist Breaking News - World�s smallest toothbrush scrubs capillaries clean

They used this to clean the inside of a 300 micrometre-wide capillary tube, .... then they used it to paint the inside.

China chipmaking to explode through '08

China chipmaking to explode through '08 | CNET News.com

That's 5X the Fab 4 ..... right? .... ;-)

Computer graphics card simulates supernova collapse

New Scientist Breaking News - Computer graphics card simulates supernova collapse

That's not the only good use I have found for GPUs ..... :)

Dead Star Rumbling

Press Release: NASA's Spitzer Captures Echo of Dead Star's Rumblings

Could be a magnetar.

New Advances May Slow Tumor Growth In Pancreatic Cancer

New Advances May Slow Tumor Growth In Pancreatic Cancer

The leader of the study, likens the molecular mechanism to a scorpion with newfound immunity to it's own poison, that stings itself and grows bigger and more powerful with each sting.

Martian Aurora

Science & Technology at Scientific American.com: Martian Aurora Is One of a Kind

The Martian aurora appears above remnants of magnetism in the Martian crust. It was about 18.64 miles wide, at an altitude of around 80.78 miles.

Hubble Telescope to View Comet Collision

Hubble Telescope to View Comet Collision

One that Previously couldn't focus .... focuses on one that currently can't focus .... :)

Software Sharpens Collider's Vision

Rocky Mountain News: State

This talks about fixes to the original blurry vision of the spacecraft headed to Comet Tempel 1, and the reasons behind the blurred vision.

Celestial Fireworks on July 4

NASA Announces Spectacular Day of the Comet | SpaceRef - Your Space Reference

We should be able to see the video of the collision about 5 minutes or so, after NASA receives it.

Hacking Google Maps

Google Maps Make Demographics Come Alive - Yahoo! News

This is a terrific idea!

Mapping any kind of demographic information, or anything that can be mapped by longitude and lattitude. Lots of little x,y coordinates from databases. Hmmmm.....

Dancing robot is strictly ballroom

CNN.com - Dancing robot is strictly ballroom - Jun 7, 2005

You need to see this picture, if nothing else.

Question Authorities

Wired 13.06: START

How ignoring officials can save your life in an emergency.

Titan disappoints ocean hunters

news @ nature.com�-�Titan disappoints ocean hunters�-�Saturnian moon has no seas, but may well be volcanically active.

More details and picture.

Titan�s Icy Volcano Blowing Methane

Titan�s Icy Volcano Blowing Methane

'Nuff said ... :)

IBM reveals details of new 'Cell' chips to support open-source...

IBM to reveal details of new 'Cell' chips - Tech News & Reviews - MSNBC.com

IIRC, there are 8 cores, plus a PowerPC core (9th core) that coordinates the efforts of the other eight.

Barracuda 500 GB .... 8GB 1-inch MicroDrive ...

Seagate launches 10 new hard drives, including 8GB 1-inch model for handhelds

Half a Terabyte on one HDD. Cramming about 2000+ shots from a high capacity digital camera sounds good too. (I'm thinking 8 megapixel.) Article said it would store 2400 high resolution images from a 6 megapixel camera.

Nekkid DSL .... ;-) ... OK .. Naked ....

BellSouth preps for wireless 'naked DSL' | Tech News on ZDNet:

Didn't realize at the time, that the article I mentioned yesterday, also dealt with nekkid DSL .... or as the Yankees say ... "naked DSL". ;-)


"'What we're doing is kind of like naked DSL,' said Todd Smith, a BellSouth spokesperson."


Sooo ..... I quess it's only half-nekkid ....... :)

New Scientist Breaking News - New suspect implicated in the development of cancer

New Scientist Breaking News - New suspect implicated in the development of cancer

Some more information in this one.

New cancer-causing agent revealed

BBC NEWS | Health | New cancer-causing agent revealed

Malfunctions in MicroRNA replication give rise to different cancers. This could be an important breakthrough.

Familial DNA Pegs Crime Suspects

USATODAY.com - Suspects get snared by a relative's DNA

Catching murderers and rapists ... good deal. Interesting part about them digging up that one scumbag, that had raped and murdered three Welsh teenagers. The case went unsolved for 29 years. Even though he was dead, I'm glad they proved he was a rapist and murderer.

Blow-Up: Snapshot to Poster

The New York Times > Technology > Circuits > Digital D�cor: Blow-Up: Snapshot to Poster

Make mine a Large....

The New York Times > Technology > Circuits > Less Cursing, Better Pictures: 10 Suggestions

The New York Times > Technology > Circuits > Less Cursing, Better Pictures: 10 Suggestions

Some good suggestions.

BellSouth to launch wireless broadband service - Jun. 7, 2005

BellSouth to launch wireless broadband service - Jun. 7, 2005

They start WiMax testing in Athens, Ga., in August. This boosts my hopes that broadband will be deployed in rural areas, by early in the year 2050, at least. ;-)

7Online.com: Gruesome Stowaway Death Discovered At JFK

7Online.com: Gruesome Stowaway Death Discovered At JFK

Yikes!! ... The pictures show that the leg and part of the spine, struck the back right end of this lady's garage.
I've heard of this happening before ... but usually the entire body of the stowaway strikes the ground.
For a while some years back, I think this was happening so often at Heathrow, that they figured out the areas, just past the airport, where the bodies were most likely to fall.

Higher Intelligence Via The Crucible Of Survival? ....

The evolution of intelligence | Natural genius? | Economist.com

Interesting article ....

Dolphins using Tools --- Nose Gloves ....

New Scientist Breaking News - Dolphins teach their children to uses sponges

Fascinating that the "sponger" dolphins were almost all descendants of a mitochondrial "Sponging Eve" dolphin, although the scientists concluded that the trait was culturally transmitted.

Line-Powered Voice Access --- LVPA ----

Technology News: Technology: Covad To Offer Combo Wired, VoIP Phone Service

Sounds promising!

AOL Intant Messenger (AIM) Accounts Get 2-Gig Free E-mail

News from PC Magazine: AIM Accounts Gain Free E-mail

Paying AOL customers will now get Unlimited Mailbox size. Google's Gmail now stands a 2.2+ Gigabytes, and while they were setting this up, I think they called it "Infinite+" or something like that.

Infinite + Infinite ..........

If you possesed these *two* accounts ..... Wouldn't that Violate the Space-Time Continuum .... or something like that????? ;-)

$29.95 one-time-use video camera ...

USATODAY.com - $29.95 one-time-use video cameras ready

I find this as surprising as the one-time-use Digital Camera. Guess somebody will hack these too ..... :)

Blue Brain Project .....

New Scientist Breaking News - Mission to build a simulated brain begins

It appears that they spent in excess of 8 million dollars, for this first four-rack system with 4096 Power processors.

65V-Inch AQUOS --- World's Largest LCD

Sharp Introduces 65V-Inch Digital HDTV the World's Largest LCD Model

Bigger and bigger motherglass.

These Aquos are extremely vivid TVs.

Stopping the coming Pandemic ....

USATODAY.com - Quick action may head off global epidemic

A dangerous thing is on the horizon. If bird flu becomes pandemic, some scientists estimate that (on the low end) 7.5 million people will die worldwide. The World Health Organization estimates between 2 to 50 million would die.
Humans have absolutely NO resistance to this H5N1 strain of influenza.
These viruses are constantly mutating. They are like little hackers; they just keep trying different combinations to see what will work. Sometimes a new combination allows them to jump species. In this case, from birds to humans. The next combination might allow easy spread, from human to human.
Pandemics occur roughly every 30 years. Its been about that long since the last one, and we are due for another.

CNN.com - Laugh off the extra pounds - Jun 4, 2005

CNN.com - Laugh off the extra pounds - Jun 4, 2005

Laughter really is the best medicine! Red Green had me laughing out loud today. He was helping promote his show on a local Atlanta PBS station, and they showed one scene where he created a "Mid-Engine European-Type Sports Car" by lopping off the trunk of one car, and duct-taping it to the front of another. Funny Stuff!! :)
Must have lost some weight on that one!

The Mamiya ZD: Hands-on with the most interesting digital ever.

The Mamiya ZD: Hands-on with the most interesting digital ever.

22 megapixels .... I could live with that ..... :)

The Google Astronomer

The Google Astronomer

How a 3 Gigapixel camera may clue us in, on Dark Matter and Dark Energy.

Samsung Pro815 officially announced: Digital Photography Review

Samsung Pro815 officially announced: Digital Photography Review

I know it's not a Leica, Nikon, Canon, etc., but this is one spiffy little camera. While not a true DSLR, it has 15X optical zoom (28-420mm equivalent, in 35mm terms), plus it can handle 10 frames-per-second, at 1 megapixel ! World's largest LCD in a digital camera, at 3.5 inches. I'm sure this one surprised a lot of people.

NASA frees rover from Martian sand trap - Return to the Red Planet - MSNBC.com

NASA frees rover from Martian sand trap - Return to the Red Planet - MSNBC.com

Glad to see Opportunity is now Free. The last time I checked, NASA had sent commands to move a total of 157 feet. Opportunity had spun, and managed to move a total of one foot!
This little dune was not much taller than any of the previous dunes, and only a bit steeper, so this must be some odd accumulation of a different material. Time will tell.

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Extinct cave bear DNA sequenced

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Extinct cave bear DNA sequenced

Forgot to mention the utility of this method in possibly extracting Neanderthal DNA from ancient bones.

I also find it interesting that some scientists have used a similar method to extract the DNA of numerous creatures from the soil and feces mix found in old caves. This certainly goes against the dogma of the time, that such material would be horrendously contaminated with so many strains of bacterial DNA and the DNA from other creatures.

news @ nature.com�-�Cave bear DNA laid bare�-�Sequencing technique could also work for Neanderthals.

news @ nature.com�-�Cave bear DNA laid bare�-�Sequencing technique could also work for Neanderthals.

Nuclear DNA extracted from 40,000 year old cave bears. This is pretty exciting! Before, it was considered that DNA this old had been totally degraded and the fossils totally contaminated with bacterial DNA. Sure they could extract mitochondrial DNA from bones this old ... but that is extra-nuclear DNA. Mitochondrial DNA is so ubiquitous, that it survives even say, after an individual burns up in a vehicle accident. The nuclear DNA burns up.

It's great when people tackle the "Impossible".

This DNA was extracted, and most of the usable segments were on the order of 70 bp (base pairs) long. They used the >> dog << genome, because it has already been characterized. (The Bear genome has not).
This is the reason for my BearDog reference. THAT is an amazing creature in it's own right. I sure would have liked to have seen such an animal when it was living!

BearDog Skull --- Pony Express 11.2

Pony Express 11.2

You'll see where I'm going with this in a second ......

More on the She Rex ---- New Scientist Breaking News - Bird bones offer insights to dinosaur sexing

New Scientist Breaking News - Bird bones offer insights to dinosaur sexing

Little Girl from Hell Creek --- Ancient Worlds News - Lucky break helps scientist sex T.Rex - 03/06/2005

Ancient Worlds News - Lucky break helps scientist sex T.Rex - 03/06/2005

Interesting news recently, that scientists are now able to tell the sex of dinosaur bones. At least among therapod dinosaurs. This also boosts the evidence that birds are descendants of theropod dinosaurs. This is also the amazing fossil, from which they were able to extract soft tissue.

It's a play on Shallow Hal ....

In case you didn't figure that out. I'm shallow in a few ways, but in general I'm deeper than I am shallow.

And so it begins ....

My friends suggested that I might put some of the interesting things I find on the Web, on this Blog, for public consumption ....

Hopefully, you might find something interesting here too .....