‘We are currently experiencing a service interruption in your area…’: the recorded message at my ISP for the past several hours. Ah well, whatcha gonna do…
- March 30, 240 BC: Comet cometh to Cathay.
- Based on computer models of the interior of Saturn’s moon Iapetus, scientists come up with theory to explain the bulging ridge which encircles the moon’s equator.
- Surprise supernova: Massive star explodes despite being ‘too immature’ to self-destruct.
- Solar storm could cause planetary disaster at any time, warn scientists. New transformer hubs, needed to rebuild electrical grids, would take up to a year to make to order.
- Here we are, sitting in a tin can: Six volunteers to spend 105 days simulating trip to Mars.
- Reminiscing with Carl Sagan: Hulu has posted all 13 episodes of Carl Sagan’s Cosmos online.
- Cosmic Log: Billion-dollar pictures of the virtually complete international space station, and more.
- A history of quantum mechanics that goes beyond the point in the 1920s where most popular science books leave off. First Chapter of The Age of Entanglement (Amazon US & UK).
- Can fractals make sense of the quantum world?
- Rebuilt: See inside a Turing Bombe, forerunner of the modern computer, which cracked 3,000 messages a day sent on Nazi Enigma machines during WWII.
- Spectacular Borneo caverns are so big, British scientists look like ants.
- Lioness shows odd behaviour after killing pregnant antelope.
- Interview with Nicholas Stern about climate change.
- James Hansen launches an excoriating attack on our long love affair with coal.
- Among climate scientists, a dispute over ‘tipping points’. More views on tipping points.
- Brits hope to buy immortality for just £10 a week.
- Your toddler isn’t ignoring you: he’s just saving your advice for later.
- Vacuum cleaner senses human stress, and responds accordingly.
- China believed to be behind cyber-spy network that tapped into classified docs in 103 countries.
- Conficker worm prepares for new release on April 1.
- ‘Cybercrime exceeds drug trade’ myth exploded.
- ‘Propaganda.com’: This year’s report on ‘enemies of the Internet’ paints a very gloomy picture for freedom of thought on the Web.
- Snub of the century: TS Eliot’s snort of rejection for George Orwell’s Animal Farm.
- Bubblespeak: The Orwellian language of Wall St finds its way to the Treasury Dept..
- The question of nature vs. nurture has fuelled some of history’s fiercest scientific and political feuds. Now we have an answer.
- 35,000 protesters turn out for march in London.
- That’s no angry mob — it’s a movement.
- The ghostly images voted best in the world.
- Ultimate proof that ghosts exist, or just dust on the lens? Looks like someone in a Guy Fawkes mask to me.
- Mystery of ghostly image of ‘Mary Poppins’ in Google Street View solved — she was planted there by Google. Which could well explain why…
- A fleet of UFOs is menacing east London — in Google Street View.
- AIG Exec Whines About Public Anger, and Now We’re Supposed to Pity Him? Yeah, Right. One of the best rants to ever grace the internet, by Matt Taibbi.
Quote of the Day:
It is not getting any smarter out there. You need to come to terms with stupidity and make it work for you.
Frank Zappa