Time Lapse: Circling The Globe

This mesmerizing video, taken from the International Space Station, is footage of planet Earth taken at night as the ISS circles the globe.  It's pretty amazing.

Today In Neat Photos

Found via the Slog, this photo was taken from the International Space Station of a shooting star, or meteor:

Uh, The Universe Is Really Fucking Big

In case you were wondering, we're really freaking tiny.



Thanks to Wesley Darling.

Geek Shit Wednesday Vol. IXX

New Spider-Man Is Black And Latino, Possibly Gay?


In June, Marvel killed off Peter Parker via the machinations of the perennial baddie, the nefarious Green Goblin.  This month, they introduce Miles Morales, their newest alliterative superhero to don the Amazing Spider-Man's legendary costume.  What's interesting about Morales is that he is black and Latino, a mix that has led blowhard Glenn Beck to belch "this is all Michelle Obama's fault!" whatever that means.

The buzz over the newest Ultimate Spider-Man has caused Marvel artist Sarah Pichelli to hint that one of the newer superheroes in the company's pantheon is going to come out as gay.

"Maybe sooner or later a black or gay—or both—hero will be considered something absolutely normal."

This leads some to speculate that this new incarnation of the webslinger may be gay someday, but I'm not holding my breath on that.  It's enough that there will be more gay superheroes to ogle.  

Time Warner To Launch All Mags On All Tablets, Period

Thus far, the magazine giant Time, Inc. has been available exclusively on the iPad, with four apps for four publications: People, Time, Sports Illustrated, and Fortune.  Now, the heavyweight is sockin' to Jobsians everywhere by opening up their entire line of publications to the major tablets in the field, to include the Android, Nook Color, and WebOS.  While the Kindle and Blackberry Playbook are missing from lineup so far, more announcements regarding Time Inc.'s decision are expected by the year's end.  From Wired:

"Time’s also pursuing the same subscription and purchase strategy across all platforms: print subscribers get digital access for free, while readers can also buy a digital subscription or single issues through the various platforms’ app marketplaces. They also plan to incorporate the magazine’s existing print ads into the digital editions. It’s a unified, cross-platform approach to digital magazines.

"Time Warner’s other major media component is video, specifically movie studios and television networks. On Wednesday’s quarterly earnings call, CEO Jeff Bewkes announced that the company was expanding its TV Everywhere strategy, bringing the popular HBO Go service to game consoles, smart televisions and other streaming media boxes. (See Ryan Lawler’s report on the earnings call at GigaOM.)"

I don't have a tablet yet, but my addiction to all forms of news/media might drive me to beg for one for Christmas.

Lunar Highlands Possibly The Result Of Earth's 'Lost Moon'

Popular simulated models describing the arrival of the Moon in our local system describe a climactic, dramatic entrance of our lunar companion.  During the formation of the Earth, it is likely that a Mars-sized body impacted our world, thus resulting in ejecta forming the Moon and a smaller companion satellite.  What is unclear is what happened to that smaller moon, with widespread theories suggesting it merged with the Moon while it was still molten.  

A recent study suggests an altogether different picture of the early days of our solar system.  Instead, it's posited, this smaller satellite settled into a semi-stable orbit at the "Trojan point," a gravitational "haven" where the satellite could remain suspended between the gravity of the Moon and Earth for approximately 70 million years before its orbit decayed, providing more than enough time for the Moon to form a hardened crust.  

What evidence of this is there?  While the side of the Moon facing us is a crater-riddled system of maria, the far side of the Moon consists of what's called "lunar highlands," with an unusual layer of ejecta covering the entirety of the "dark side."  It's a fascinating explanation, and one well worth exploring.

Video: Rotation Of Vesta

I reported recently that the Dawn spacecraft was due to enter close orbit of the asteroid Vesta on July 16th, which was pulled off without a hitch.  Now, NASA has released a nifty video compiled from Dawn's photographs detailing the rotation of the asteroid.  Watch:

Geek Shit Wednesday Vol. XVII

Dawn Spacecraft To Visit Giant Asteroid

Vesta, the solar system's second heaviest asteroid, is due to be visited by NASA's Dawn spacecraft at 1:00 AM EST on July 16th as the exploratory vessel slides into orbit to begin a year of gamma ray and neutron surveys from 9,900 miles above the asteroid, which has a circumference of 329 miles.

"'It has taken nearly four years to get to this point,' said Dawn project manager Robert Mase of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in a press release. 'Our latest tests and check-outs show that Dawn is right on target and performing normally.'

"Dawn navigated toward the asteroid belt, a space rock-rich zone between the solar system’s inner and outer planets, using gravitational energy from Mars and by firing its ion-powered thrusters. Its arrival at Vesta is expected at 1:00am EDT on July 16.

"It will take 10 minutes and 30 seconds—the time it takes light from Vesta to reach Earth—for engineers to know if the operation succeeded."

After the survey of Vesta, Dawn is due to fire its thrusters and move on to the massive asteroid Ceres, which is so large it is referred to as a "dwarf planet."  NASA hopes to capture invaluable data from the trip, as Ceres is suspected to contain water ice and have active mud volcanoes. 

Army Testing Smartphones As Alternative To Proprietary Tech

The United States military, with its vast budget, is continually testing new expensive technology to make navigation, tracking, and reporting easier on the battlefield.  I was constantly astounded at the price tag associated with the equipment I worked on during my time in service, with simple radios (that never worked) costing in the tens of thousands of dollars.  

Often, the civilian tech market seizes a military tech concept and then markets it for civilians.  However, with increasing budget concerns in 2011, the military is now testing a simple device that has made a hit with every cell-phone user in America: smartphones.

"The results have been promising, according to program director Michael McCarthy, stating that younger soldiers who grew up with smartphones and handhelds are very comfortable using them for military purposes.

"Soldiers in the field can text GPS coordinates, send pictures of their surroundings, or file common reports directly from their phone."

The project has run across some problems, most laughably the fact that the service coverage of the iPhones tested was spotty at best in testing zones in New Mexico and Texas.  However, this seems like a cheap solution to a very expensive problem.

Even Amid TV And Twilight Madness, Comics Rule Supreme At Comic Con

Comic Con is the biggest geek convention of the year, having attracted comic nerds for four decades to San Diego California.  However, sometimes the convention sees an increased presence of other media shown on the floor, with Twilight-mania notably infecting this year's gathering.

However, comics still reign supreme, as they appear to be the media that binds the geekier aspect of the entertainment industry together.

"'The comics are what I like to call the gooey center of all pop culture,' said Joe Field, who owns a comic book store in Concord, Calif., and has gone to the convention annually for the past 25 years.

"'Movies, TV and video games all spin out of the creativity of telling stories with words and pictures,' said Field, who founded the industry's annual Free Comic Book Day. 'That's why the San Diego Con has become this sort of beehive of pop culture activity, because comics are really the genesis of visual entertainment.'"

Ugh.  I intend every year to go and never end up doing it.  Someday, Comic Con, someday.

Video: Final Space Shuttle Launch

Atlantis lifted off today, bound for the International Space Station.  This is the last launch the aging shuttle fleet will ever make, and the crafts are bound for various museums around the country.  Watch:

Fast-Moving Bus-Sized Asteroid Buzzes Earth

A 10 meter-long asteroid whizzed by Earth today at a mere 12,000 km, giving the Faulkes Telescope Project the opportunity to grab some snazzy photos of the fast-moving object (click here to see).

There was no chance the rock was going to hit Earth, as Tweeted by Nasa:

However, there is a slight chance that it will impact Earth in 2022, as the asteroid has an Earth-like orbit and passed close enough to have that orbit affected by our gravity.  Never fear, though.  Objects under 25 meters are too small to escape breaking up in our atmosphere.

Events like these always remind me of the movie-within-a-movie, "Asteroid," from "Girls Will Be Girls." If you look closely at the poster tagline in the background, it is "EARTH MIGHT GET CRUSHED!"  Watch it, it's a gross and hilarious movie.

OneAngryCultist: Weighing in on Stephen Hawking

In an exclusive interview with The Guardian, renowned physicist Stephen Hawking made some ripples in the news by announcing that, “a belief that heaven or an afterlife awaits us is a "fairy story" for people.” This, naturally, sent some cultists into an uproar and nearly flooded my Facebook feed with cross-postings for a few days. When approached by our very own Ian Awesome to weigh in on the matter, I was warned in no uncertain terms to “[not] knock him on the basis of being an atheist.” At the time, having not read the article myself, I couldn’t really see what the issue was with his statements and, to be perfectly honest, I still don’t. Now, I’m no stranger to poking at the more rabid fundamentalist atheists such as Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchins whose evangelicalism of the Truth ™ of Science borders on fanaticism however, looking at Hawking’s statement I can’t find much to fault him on other than falling into the same pit of literalism that many cultist of different denominations tend to fall. Additionally, the fundamental problem I have in this discussion is the insistence of an either/or dichotomy between science and religion as an explanation.

Personally, I love science and using the scientific method as a mode of critical inquiry. The problem with defining metaphysics and religion by the standards of science, however, is about as sloppy as using liquid measurements to calculate distance of one object to another – the two are descriptive of two entirely different sets of phenomena and one can’t use the standards of one to verify the other. That being said, I definitely think there’s a lot of room for them to complement our understanding of the phenomenological world. That being said, I did gain a new appreciation for Hawking in his comments on Science, Truth and Beauty:

What is the value in knowing "Why are we here?"

The universe is governed by science. But science tells us that we can't solve the equations, directly in the abstract. We need to use the effective theory of Darwinian natural selection of those societies most likely to survive. We assign them higher value.

You've said there is no reason to invoke God to light the blue touchpaper. Is our existence all down to luck?

Science predicts that many different kinds of universe will be spontaneously created out of nothing. It is a matter of chance which we are in.

So here we are. What should we do?

We should seek the greatest value of our action.

You had a health scare and spent time in hospital in 2009. What, if anything, do you fear about death?

I have lived with the prospect of an early death for the last 49 years. I'm not afraid of death, but I'm in no hurry to die. I have so much I want to do first. I regard the brain as a computer which will stop working when its components fail. There is no heaven or afterlife for broken down computers; that is a fairy story for people afraid of the dark.

What are the things you find most beautiful in science?

Science is beautiful when it makes simple explanations of phenomena or connections between different observations. Examples include the double helix in biology, and the fundamental equations of physics."

While I respectfully disagree with his “brain as computer” metaphor, I really don’t see much here being said from which the more religious couldn’t benefit, in particular seeking the greatest value of our actions which, much to his possible own dismay, really sums up the essence of what good theology is all about.

Geek Shit Wednesday Vol. X

We skipped last week's Geek Shit Wednesday due to an overwhelming attack of the drunkenness (IE, my birthday) but here, faithful readers, get your geek on.


US Navy Makes MMO Wargame to Combat Somali Pirates

Taking open-source to the next level, the Navy is launching a wargame allowing you to suggest solutions to the problem of real-life piracy. 


"'We want to test this proposition: can you get a crowd to provide you with good information?' Larry Schuette, the director for innovation at the Office of Naval Research, the Navy’s mad scientists, asks Danger Room. "'Is the wisdom of the crowd really that wise?'

"Working with the Institute for the Future, a Silicon Valley nonprofit, Schuette produced the Navy’s first foray into the gaming world. Other services have put together video games before, like the America’s Army recruitment game.  In fact, the Army has a whole office dedicated to gaming. But those games have been internal affairs, aimed at getting people to enlist or sharpen a servicemember’s skills. MMOWGLI wants you involved, even if your only experience with the Navy comes from Village People songs or Charlie Sheen movies."

The game sounds pretty fun-- you essentially Tweet (within the MMO interface) suggestions or ideas, have your ideas adjusted and voted on, and are awarded points based on those ideas.  What will be done with the information?  Maybe nothing.  However, if something innovative and new comes of the game, you could see your ideas adapted into Navy war doctrine.  I'm probably going to play.

[Ars Technica]

NASA Choosing Between Titan Boat, Mars Lander, or Comet Hopper

The Discovery Program at NASA has examined submissions by teams of scientists to decide the course of upcoming interplanetary investigations.  They've come up with three different proposals and will decide which one will become the Agency's next pet project.  What's on the table?  A lander which will examine the interior of the planet Mars, a hopper which will visit the same comet multiple times to measure its changes during its journey, and a boat which would visit the methane-ethane sea Ligeia Mare on the moon Titan.

"Nasa is pondering three potential missions as it picks its next interplanetary project. Depending on its final choice the US space agency could examine the interior of Mars, study a comet over time or float a robot boat in the icy seas of Titan.

"The agency's Discovery Program invited proposals for cosmic investigations in June 2010. The panel received 28 submissions and has now whittled the competition down to the final three. Each team will receive $3 million to further study, conceptualise and design their plans.

"In 2012 Nasa will pick the winner and supply the team with a sizable budget (cost-capped at $425 million) to carry out development and embark on the mission by around 2016."

Sweet!  I totally vote for the Titan boat-- the moon has always held fascination for me and is one of the top contenders in our solar system for harboring extraterrestrial life.  

[Wired UK]

Navy Advances the Science of Fusion

The Navy is innovating again, with a project moving forward seeking to produce fusion, the process (as yet unsustainable) that fuels the hearts of stars.  

"EMC2 Fusion doesn't have tens of millions of venture capital to play with — but it does have a $7.9 million Navy contract to test a plasma technology known as inertial electrostatic confinement fusion, also known as Polywell fusion. The idea is to accelerate positively charged ions in an electrical cage to such an extent that they occasionally spark a fusion reaction, releasing energy and neutrons. The concept was pioneered by the late physicist Robert Bussard, and carried forward by the EMC2 Fusion team in Santa Fe, N.M."

If fusion like this could be achieved, it would be revolutionary to the energy industry.   


[MSNBC]