Robert J Turner

HubbleSite - NewsCenter: “NewsCenter is the complete collection of every Hubble Space Telescope news release and its supporting materials, along with tools and resources designed to further your knowledge of astronomy.”

Very Weird, somewhat disturbing video.

WARNING, Some people may find it un-nerving or disturbing.

I liked it.

http://z.wimp.com/a/rubberjohnny.swf

T3 - Browse pics and text messages wirelessly on e-paper: “Browse pics and text messages wirelessly on e-paper
Fujitsu has announced the launch of bendy electronic paper that can store and display images wirelessly.

Bendable colour screens have been in the pipeline for some time (see related links), but Fujitsu is the first company to announce a wireless version that it hopes will hit shops sometime between April 2006 and March 2007.

According to Fujitsu its newly developed e-paper features an image memory function that enables “continuous display of the same image without the need for electricity”, although it does require a smidge of power to switch images. Plus, the images don’t warp or lose quality when the e-paper is bent or rolled up.

Fujitsu has even outlined some applications for its smarty-pants paper, including wireless transfer of photos and text messages from mobiles onto the ultra-portable e-paper. Here are just a few other uses it envisages for launch:

* It can offer more convenient digital-media devices that can be carried from room to room in the home.
* Operating manuals and other short-term information displays, facilitating the trend toward paperless offices or factories.
* Electronic shelf display tags, restaurant menus, and other in-store uses. Can also be used for pricing displays or product information displays that stand out in full color and can be readily updated.

Fujitsu is planning to showcase its smarty-pants paper at the Fujitsu Forum 2005 (14-15 July). “

Exploding Cigar: “Martha Stewart’s prison bitch name was M. Diddy

July 6th, 2005

Martha Stewart revealed to Vanity Fair magazine that her nickname in prison was “M. Diddy”. 63-year-old Stewart is serving five-months of house arrest at her Bedford, N.Y., estate following five months in a federal prison. She also complained that the electronic monitoring device she must wear on her ankle irritates her skin. Stewart is scheduled to go free early next month.”

(Reuters) — Astronomers have detected a planet outside our solar system with not one, but three suns, a finding that challenges astronomers’ theories of planetary formation.

The planet, a gas giant slightly larger than Jupiter, orbits the main star of a triple-star system known as HD 188753 in the constellation Cygnus.

The stellar trio and its planet are about 149 light-years from Earth and about as close to each other as our sun is to Saturn, U.S. scientists reported on Thursday in the current edition of the journal Nature.

A light-year is about 6 trillion miles (10 trillion km), the distance light travels in a year.

If you stood on the planet’s surface, you would see three suns in sky, although its orbit centers around the main yellow star among the trio. The larger of the other two suns would be orange and the smaller would be red, astronomers at California Institute of Technology said in a statement.

The new finding could upset existing theories that planets usually form out of gas and dust circling a single star, and could lead scientists to look in new places for planets.

“The implication is that there are more planets out there than we thought,” the commentary said.

Caltech astronomer Maciej Konacki, who wrote the research article, refers to the new type of planets as “Tatooine planets,” because of the similarity to Luke Skywalker’s view of his home planet by the same name, with its multiple suns, in the original “Star Wars” film.

The fact that a planet can even exist in a multiple-star system is amazing in itself, according to Konacki. Binary and multiple stars are quite common in the solar neighborhood, and in fact outnumber single stars by some 20 percent.

But so far, most extrasolar planets — those discovered outside our planetary system — have been detected by watching for a characteristic wobble in the stars their orbit, reflecting the gravitation pull the planets exert on their suns.

This method is less effective for binary and multiple star systems, and existing theories said planets were unlikely to form in this kind of environment.

Konacki found a new way to identify planets by measuring velocities of all bodies in a binary or multiple star system.

Copyright 2005 Reuters. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Wilderness Survival
Fire from a Can of Coke and a Chocolate Bar

Yes, you CAN make a fire from a can of coke and a chocolate bar! It really does work — there are emails at the bottom of this page verifying this.

This idea was originally proposed by Andre Bourbeau to Rob Bicevskis about 6 years ago. I don’t know if he is the one that came up with it in the first place. Thanks to Rob for bringing this method to my attention. The original concept was to investigate unique and unusual ways of making fire using everyday objects that one might be carrying around, should one be stranded in the wilderness. Of course, prudent hikers will probably be carrying a lighter or matches!
Check the full info at http://www.trackertrail.com/survival/fire/cokeandchocolatebar/