Category: News

One Of Our Planets Is Missing

 

It had to happen one day, that little ball of  ice and rock that just can’t keep it’s orbit to itself has been demoted to a (sniff) planetesimal. Ok, the official classification is ‘dwarf planet‘ but you know it’s still the same as being sent to eat at the kids table during the holidays. It’s a good thing that the New Horizons mission got underway before the new ruling came into being.

Officially, Pluto is no longer a planet. "Pluto is dead," said Mike Brown, a planetary scientist at the California Institute of Technology who spoke with reporters via a teleconference while monitoring the vote. The decision also means a Pluto-sized object that Brown discovered will not be called a planet.

So, is anyone holding a wake for Pluto? If not then why not? 

Pluto not a planet

Bird Flu Awareness Cosplay

Bird flu cosplayWhen I first saw this I thought it was some form of bad cosplay gone worse but then I realized it was part of an avian flu awareness campaign. Last time I was in Bangkok I did notice a definite lack of live chickens just about anywhere. There was lots of cooked chicken to be had (mumm… street food!) but I’d saw that the government is doing a good job of getting the word out. I know that you can raise those darn things just about anywhere, farms, back yards, a cage in your apartment… No, I don’t have personal experience with keeping chickens in my apartment but I just know these things. Don’t ask me why.

Officials from the department of medical sciences wear chicken outfits, while holding signs that read "eating cooked chicken is safe" in Bangkok August 23, 2006. Bird flu has spread rapidly since late 2003 from Asia to Europe, killing at least 141 people so far. In Thailand, the virus has killed 16 people including the latest one in early August since the H5N1 virus swept across parts of Asia in late 2003.

[via Neatorama]

Bird Flu Awareness Costume Party.

Apple Caught up in Sony Battery Recall


Oops. Looks like Apple is getting bit by the same bug as Dell did. Man, first weird shutdowns and screen effects and now batteries that can ‘splode? Maybe I’ll keep my old B&W G3 a little bit longer…

"The recall arises because, on rare occasions, microscopic metal particles in the recalled battery cells may come into contact with other parts of the battery cell, leading to a short circuit within the cell," Sony said. "Typically, a battery pack will simply power off when a cell short circuit occurs. However, under certain rare conditions, an internal short circuit may lead to cell overheating and potentially flames. The potential for this to occur can be affected by variations in the system configurations found in different notebook computers."

Not much chance of the effect being minor there. Well I’m sure that Sony (makers of the little sparklers) will make good and come up with a fix soon. Until then keep the battery out and keep your laptop on your desk if your not the gambling type.

Apple recalls 1.8 million iBook G4, PowerBook G4 batteries

US Offers Japan 80 Patriot Missiles

Patriot missile launching
Humm… ya know, this isn’t going to go well with Japan’s neighbors. If there’s one thing that that regions can’t stand is it’s an armed Japan. I wonder how this will play out.

 The United States has offered Japan up to 80 more Patriot interceptor missiles following North Korea’s rocket tests last month, a news report said Thursday. Japan’s Defense Agency intends to take up part of the offer as it accelerates the planned deployment of a missile defense system, the Kyodo News agency reported, citing unnamed sources.

US Offers Japan 80 Patriot Missiles

Voyager 1 – 100 AU Out and Still Going

Voyager The guys could build them pretty good back they couldn’t they? 30 years and it can still send back science data.

Voyager 1, already the most distant human-made object in the cosmos, reaches 100 astronomical units from the sun on Tuesday, August 15 at 5:13 p.m. Eastern time (2:13 p.m. Pacific time). That means the spacecraft, which launched nearly three decades ago, will be 100 times more distant from the sun than Earth is.

JPL.NASA.GOV: Feature Stories

Apple Macbooks Shutting Down?

Macbook by Gridman 

Could Apple’s Macbooks have a serious problem? I don’t mean the one where the plugs fall out or the cases turn colors when you use them, I mean that the notebooks will just up and quit on you. As documented here and here, at least one user is having just this problem. have any other of the shiny Apple users reported this problem yet, or is this smoothing that is yet to hit the blogosphere. I hope that this is an isolated event, I want to buy one of these puppies and would hate to discover that they hold some deep dark secret in the form of random power offs. That would suck, and not in a good way either.

 

MacBook Weirdness