2002.11.22
BBC:
Did quark
matter strike Earth?
"A group of researchers have identified two seismic events that they
think provide the first evidence of a previously undetected form of matter
passing through the Earth." ...
"One event occurred on 22 October, 1993, when, according to the
researchers, something entered the Earth off Antarctica and left it
south of India 0.73 of a second later. The other occurred on 24 November,
1993, when an object entered south of Australia and exited the Earth near
Antarctica 0.15 of a second later."
Ars Technica:
A
new, super-human level of computing power?
"... these computers, when they are finished, will take over the top 2
spots on the `Top 500 Supercomputers' list at top500.org, to be sure.
Indeed, ... the two machines will have more processing power than the
other 498 computers on the list combined."
2002.11.17
Houston Chronicle:
Hoax
theories about moon landings persist.
"... last year ... Fox television aired a program called Conspiracy
Theory: Did We Land on the Moon? Moon-hoax proponents on the show
argued that NASA's 1960s technology was inadequate to accomplish a moon
landing, and that the U.S. government, determined to beat Russia in the
space race, faked the whole thing."
> <sigh>
Slate:
Why Does Louisiana Have Such an Odd
Election System?
"The open primary has been criticized for forcing voters go to the polls
twice in the space of a month, which tends to depress turnout. Some
academics contend that it favors incumbents (who can afford to campaign
twice) while others say it aids fringe candidates (who can get just
enough votes to force a runoff)."
Houston Chronicle:
[The]
Woodlands developer looks well down road.
"The Woodlands, which began in 1974, has racked up 24,055 new-home sales
over the years. One thousand businesses are there, employing 27,000 people.
About 70,000 people live in The Woodlands, and that number will expand to
125,000 by the time the project is completed."
> It's a great place to live. Too bad it's so damn far from work.
2002.11.12
The Observer:
Sun's
rays to roast Earth as poles flip.
"For more than 100 years, scientists have noted the strength of Earth's
magnetic field has been declining, but have disagreed about interpretations.
Some said its drop was a precursor to reversal, others argued it merely
indicated some temporary variation in field strength has been occurring." ...
"How long a reversal might last is a matter of scientific controversy,
however. Records of past events, embedded in iron minerals in ancient
lava beds, show some can last for thousands of years - during which
time the planet will have been exposed to batterings from solar
radiation. On the other hand, other researchers say some flips may have
lasted only a few weeks."
2002.11.10
Scientific American:
Making
Microchips Takes Mountain of Materials.
"According to a study recently published online by the Journal of
Environmental Science and Technology, the manufacturing of a typical
two-gram chip takes 1.6 kilograms of fossil fuel, 72 grams of chemicals
and 32 kilograms of water.... Of particular note are the thousands of
potentially toxic chemicals used in the manufacturing process."
Playboy Centerfolds. 1953
to 2002.
It's kind of interesting to track the changes over 50 years. Particularly
the hairstyles.
In truth, I've never been a big fan of Playboy pictures. As far back
as I can remember, I thought the pictures (and their subjects)
were too posed, made-up and airbrushed to be erotic.
2002.11.09
I stayed late at work last night to read a couple of technical papers.
While I read, I had big band tunes playing in the background, courtesy
of a younger coworker with excellent taste.
I heard Paper
Moon for the first time in decades, and I was
surprised by the melancholy that forms the emotional basis of the song:
It's a Barnum and Bailey world,
Just as phoney as it can be,
But it wouldn't be make believe,
If you believed in me.
> It makes me melancholy, anyway.
2002.11.07
New Scientist:
Copy
protection on CDs is 'worthless'.
"But all these measures can be sidestepped, says Halderman, thanks to
the computer industry's habit of continual upgrading and bug fixing.
Makers of CD players and CD-ROM drives only need to make `relatively
simple modifications' to their software and supposedly protected CDs
can be played with ease."
Nature:
Moon might
reveal first life on Earth.
"The surface of the moon is spattered with over 8 million tonnes of the
Earth, astronomers have estimated. A mission to collect and study this
planetary shrapnel could provide unique insights into the origins of
life and the planets, they say."
2002.11.04
Science News:
Iron-Poor Star:
Closing in on the birth of the first stars.
"According to a widely accepted theory, the Big Bang forged nearly all
of the hydrogen and helium in the universe but only trace amounts of a
few other heavier elements. In time, as star formation began, the gas
that condensed to form galaxies became increasingly enriched with
heavier elements. All stars synthesize heavy elements, but the largest
supply has come from massive stars exploding as supernovas. The very
oldest stars, born before most supernova explosions had a chance to
pop off, should therefore contain only a minuscule supply of iron and
other metals."
Scientific American:
Code
Red: Worm Assault on the Web.
"On October 21, 2002, ... hackers tried to cripple nine of the Internet's
13 root domain names system (DNS) servers, machines that form the
backbone of the net by linking all domain names to numerical Internet
Protocol (IP) addresses. For approximately one hour, these root servers
endured a bombardment of requests -- a 40 percent increase over their
normal traffic-from `zombie' machines under the hackers' control. Seven
of the machines were completely incapacitated by the deluge, known as a
distributed denial of service attack (DDoS). Had the attack lasted for
more than an hour and affected more machines, the hackers may well have
crashed the DNS servers -- and the Internet with them."
