Deep Space Network Home Page The NASA Deep Space Network – or DSN – is an international network of antennas that supports interplanetary spacecraft missions and radio and radar astronomy observations for the exploration of the solar system and the universe. The network also supports selected Earth-orbiting missions. Neato! Via Neat New Stuff from the Librarians’ Internet Index
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Wide BlackBerry Outage Is Reported – New York Times E-mail service of Research in Motion’s BlackBerry smartphones experienced a “critical severity outage†on Monday, the company told clients in an e-mail.
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Doctor visits go online — chicagotribune.com By the time San Francisco consultant Meg Young got to Boston on a chilly night last winter, she was running a 102-degree fever. She considered going to the emergency room. Instead, she went online in her hotel room.The 40-year-old technology expert booked a visit with her primary-care doctor at Stanford University Hospital. After Young filled out a form and described her symptoms, he diagnosed a bacterial infection, prescribed an antibiotic from a drugstore near the hotel and suggested she get some rest. This article says that a couple of major health insurers are now…
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Blue-eyed humans have a single, common ancestor New research shows that people with blue eyes have a single, common ancestor. A team at the University of Copenhagen have tracked down a genetic mutation which took place 6-10,000 years ago and is the cause of the eye colour of all blue-eyed humans alive on the planet today. Watch for the cranky pranksters at Discovery Institute to come out with a debunk paper any time now.
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Build-A-Bear’s private information seduction system – Boing Boing Cyberlawyer Denise Howell sez, “As far as I could tell, the same parents driving themselves to distraction with fear over their evening chardonnays about MySpace and FaceBook are willingly helping their kids fork over a slew of personal data when they visit Build-A-Bear. It’s hard to fault them too much though, as the computers there masquerade as anything but a corporate info-racket.” Read on for a slightly sobering look at the world of cybermarketing to kids: Mom and Dad don’t worry too much about personal information getting into the hands of marketeers…
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I trust this man’s judgment in all things giqueteque: He played Jeeves and Cardinal Melchett, but he’s also a whiz with personal gadgetry. Stephen Fry » Blog Archive » What witchcraft is this? What is new is that there is no secondary screen; the whole exterior of the phone is pure glossy violet plastic, giving no hint of display capability. The image appears to be going on somehow inside the very surface of the plastic cover. What’s more, if I close the phone while playing a track, a music player now appears – a touch-sensitive music player at that. It…
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Ruthed adj. A conditional identity one may encounter while traveling between realms in Second Life usually resulting in auburn dome hair, abnormal ugliness, sexual androgeny, and an overall confused sense of self. A little earlier tonight (on the 3rd of November), I attended the gallery show and dance at the closing of the Ruthed! photo exhibition, which was of images of people who had messed themselves up horribly. And here I did it to myself later that same night, because I tried logging in via Movable Life, which removes all the textures and clothes and things. At least I’ve got…
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12 Things To Do In Second Life That Aren’t Embarrassing If Your Priest Or Rabbi Finds Out – Digital Life Blog – InformationWeek I get frustrated hearing people talk about how Second Life isn’t entertaining, or it’s only useful for advertising to “freaks,” “furries, ageplay perverts and prank-loving adolescents.” I finally decided to put together a list of things to do in Second Life, as a resource for people curious about the game, and also as something I can point to next time I read one of those misguided attacks.I don’t really blame the people who think there’s nothing to…
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Curse you, amiable and erudite Mr. Fry, for being an accomplished WordPress blogger at the first attempt. Now I’ll be forced to add your feed to my “must read” list. Stephen Fry » Blog Archive » Device and Desires My husband and his best friend are seriously into cell phone technology, and they constantly compare phones and features and contracts whenever either of them get a new phone. Stephen Fry’s comprehensive look at telephonic devices he has known, loved, or loathed beats my geeky hubby and his friend and their obsession all to bits and bytes. It’s an extremely detailed…
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I finally got around to viewing the DVD, which I purchased from the Field Museum’s shop – they have an entire section of their very large shop devoted to fair trade items and environmentally-sensitive gifts. In spite of my pre-2000 dismissal of former Vice President Al Gore Jr. as a slightly dorky wonk, I was very moved by his presentation and the lifelong passion he’s had for learning about the environment, and for raising the alarm about climatic change. Yes, it’s annoying that he uses buzzwords and talking points, just like the Republicans, but also it’s incredibly frustrating and sobering…