womby.info

we are all born mad. some remain so... ch_client = "wombyinfo"; ch_width = 728; ch_height = 90; ch_type = "mpu"; ch_sid = "Chitika Default"; ch_backfill = 1; ch_color_site_link = "#0000CC"; ch_color_title = "#0000CC"; ch_color_border = "#FFFFFF"; ch_color_text = "#000000"; ch_color_bg = "#FFFFFF"; var infolink_pid = 327463; var infolink_wsid = 0;

[wombyinfo]

Happy Birthday Andy...!!!

[wombyinfo]

Global temperatures have warmed significantly since 1880, the beginning of what scientists call the "modern record." At this time, the coverage provided by weather stations allowed for essentially global temperature data. As greenhouse gas emissions from energy production, industry and vehicles have increased, temperatures have climbed, most notably since 
the late 1970s. In this animation of temperature data from 1880-2011, reds indicate temperatures higher than the average during a baseline period of 1951-1980, while blues indicate lower temperatures than the baseline average.

Source: NASA

[wombyinfo]

Noam Chomsky says: "Google Glass is Orwellian, ridiculous, and destroys people"...

Yeah... Mr. Chomsky!!! We are with you...

source: http://grittv.org/

[wombyinfo]

NASA - IBEX Spacecraft Observes Matter from Interstellar Space "We've directly measured four separate types of atoms from interstellar space and the composition just doesn't match up with what we see in the solar system," says Eric Christian, mission scientist for IBEX at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. "IBEX's observations shed a whole new light on the mysterious zone where the solar system ends and interstellar space begins." A great magnetic bubble surrounds the solar system as it cruises through the galaxy. The sun pumps the inside of the bubble full of solar particles that stream out to the edge until they collide with the material that fills the rest of the galaxy, at a complex boundary called the heliosheath. On the other side of the boundary, electrically charged particles from the galactic wind blow by, but rebound off the heliosheath, never to enter the solar system. Neutral particles, on the other hand, are a different story. They saunter across the boundary as if it weren't there, continuing on another 7.5 billion miles for 30 years until they get caught by the sun's gravity, and sling shot around the star. There, NASA's Interstellar Boundary Explorer lies in wait for them. Known as IBEX for short, this spacecraft methodically measures these samples of the mysterious neighborhood beyond our home. IBEX scans the entire sky once a year, and every February, its instruments point in the correct direction to intercept incoming neutral atoms. IBEX counted those atoms in 2009 and 2010 and has now captured the best and most complete glimpse of the material that lies so far outside our own system. The results? It's an alien environment out there: the material in that galactic wind doesn't look like the same stuff our solar system is made of. Source: NASA

[wombyinfo]

Press Freedom Index 2011-2012

Reporters Without Borders Press Freedom Index 2011-2012 Reporters Without Borders released its 10th annual press freedom index. Many media paid dearly for their coverage of democratic aspirations or opposition movements. Control of news and information continued to tempt governments and to be a question of survival for totalitarian and repressive regimes. The past year also highlighted the leading role played by netizens in producing and disseminating news.

In some countries a journalist can be thrown in prison for years for a single offending word or photo. Jailing or killing a journalist removes a vital witness to events and threatens the right of us all to be informed. Reporters Without Borders has fought for press freedom on a daily basis since it was founded in 1985.

Report and Index (PDF)

Source: Reporters Without Borders

[wombyinfo]

NASA Releases New High Definition Image of Earth A 'Blue Marble' image of the Earth taken from the VIIRS instrument aboard NASA's most recently launched Earth-observing satellite - Suomi NPP. This composite image uses a number of swaths of the Earth's surface taken on January 4, 2012. The NPP satellite was renamed 'Suomi NPP' on January 24, 2012 to honor the late Verner E. Suomi of the University of Wisconsin. 

Suomi NPP is NASA's next Earth-observing research satellite. It is the first of a new generation of satellites that will observe many facets of our changing Earth.

Source: NASA

[wombyinfo]

David Bowie today celebrates his 65th birthday David Bowie (born David Robert Jones on 8 January 1947), more than 20 albums released and 140 million sold. Personal quotes:

"I'm an instant star; just add water" "Rock has always been the devil's music" "Talking about art is like dancing about architecture"

[wombyinfo]

NASA has launched code.nasa.gov, which will become a portal for NASA's open source software development activities

NASA has launched code.nasa.gov, which will become a portal for NASA's open source software development activities. In its current form, it hosts a directory of the organization's open source software projects and provides documentation about NASA's open source software processes. Through this website, NASA will continue, unify, and expand NASA’s open source activities. The site will serve to surface existing projects, provide a forum for discussing projects and processes, and guide internal and external groups in open development, release and contribution. The site is focusing on providing a home for the current state of open source at the agency. This includes guidance on how to engage the open source process, points of contact and a directory of existing projects. NASA hopes to lower the barriers to building open technology in partnership with the public. Phase two will concentrate on providing a robust forum for ongoing discussion of open source concepts, policies, and projects at the Agency. The third phase, will turn to the tools and mechanisms development projects generally need to be successful, such as distributed version control, issue tracking, continuous integration, documentation, communication and planning/management. During this phase, NASA will create and host a tool, service and process chain to further lower the burden to going open. Ultimately, the goal is to create a highly visible community hub that will imbue open concepts into the formulation stages of new hardware and software projects and help existing projects transition to open modes of development and operation. NASA believes that tomorrow’s space and science systems will be built in the open paradigm and that code.nasa.gov will play a big part in getting us there. Source: NASA

[wombyinfo]

U.S. Chamber of Commerce allegedly fell victim to a Chinese cyber attack in 2010

Reported by The Wall Street Journal, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce allegedly fell victim to a Chinese cyber-attack in 2010. The report went on to allege that the hackers were able to access information about the institution's operations and three million members. Citing a number of unidentified sources "familiar with the matter" The Wall Street Journal reported that, though the operation had been discovered and "shutdown" in May 2010, the amount and nature of the data compromised in the hack remains unknown. "A group of hackers in China breached the computer defenses of America's top business-lobbying group and gained access to everything stored on its systems, including information about its three million members, according to several people familiar with the matter." Despite the lack of confirmed information, the Wall Street Journal went on to report that its sources had clarified U.S. authorities were working under the assumption the attack stemmed from a group with ties to the Chinese government.

Source: The Wall Street Journal

[wombyinfo]

Santa Claus using Siri Apple has debuted a clever new ad for the iPhone 4S, showing Santa Claus using the Siri voice-enabled personal assistant to help him with his important Christmas duties.

[wombyinfo]

Barely half of U.S. adults are married... a record low Barely half of all adults in the United States, a record low, are currently married and the median age at first marriage has never been higher for brides (26.5 years) and grooms (28.7), according to a new Pew Research Center analysis of U.S. Census data. In 1960, 72% of all adults ages 18 and older were married; today just 51% are. If current trends continue, the share of adults who are currently married will drop to below half within a few years. Other adult living arrangements-including cohabitation, single-person households and single parenthood-have all grown more prevalent in recent decades. The Pew Research analysis also finds that the number of new marriages in the U.S. declined by 5% between 2009 and 2010, a sharp one-year drop that may or may not be related to the sour economy.

Source: Pew Research Center

[wombyinfo]

‪Zeitgeist 2011: Year In Review‬

Music: "Sooner or Later" by Mat Kearney Directed by Scott Chan Produced by Whirled Creative

Source: Google Inc.

[wombyinfo]

Robert Mapplethorpe in Milan For the first time Milan will host a major retrospective devoted to the work and career of Robert Mapplethorpe, one of the most important photographers of the twentieth century whose perfectly composed images have influenced generations of photographers and artists. Mapplethorpe's heyday was in New York during the seventies and eighties, the age of the pop revolution, new dada and Andy Warhol; the creative and uninhibited city of sexual liberation, of performance and body art. Today Mapplethorpe is unanimously hailed as one of the most important photographers of the twentieth century because, as only the great know how, he managed to be both classic and modern at the same time: the witness of his own times yet abstract in a sort of perfect timelessness. Robert Mapplethorpe's photographs are rigorous, composed and meticulously detailed. Bodies and flowers alike are portrayed in almost aseptic environments, their movements are harmonious recalling renaissance studies for painting and sculpture. Perfection for Robert Mapplethorpe, a distant horizon for the majority of artists, was the sine qua non that had to be attained in each and every photograph. Robert Mapplethorpe in Milan, FORMA from December 2nd 2011 to April 9th 2012

Source: FORMA

[wombyinfo]

Too Cute! Baby Sloths The trailer is just a taste of the new documentary, "Too Cute! Baby Sloths" airing on Animal Planet. The show is filmmaker Lucy Cooke's follow-up to her wildly popular internet video "Meet the Sloths." Both were shot at the Aviarios Sloth Sanctuary in Costa Rica.

Source: Slothville

[wombyinfo]

Diablo III - Blizzard Announced back in 2008, Diablo III has been in the works now for some time. Since Diablo’s original release, the franchise has received all kinds of praise and people are looking forward to the newest installment, especially now that Blizzard showed off opening cinematics at Video Game Awards. Diablo, released in 1996, was an instant hit and became a favorite among computer players. Diablo II was no different with positive reception and became the fastest selling computer game at the time.

Source: Video Game Awards

[wombyinfo]

Isaac Newton Online Cambridge University Library holds the largest and most important collection of the scientific works of Isaac Newton (1642-1727). Now the Cambridge University Library publishes online an initial selection of Newton's manuscripts, concentrating on his mathematical work in the 1660s. Over the next few months, they will be adding further works until the majority of their Newton Papers will be available online.

Source: Cambridge Digital Library

[wombyinfo]

Image: the timeline depicts the approximate dates when Google launched particular search feature enhancements The Evolution of Google Search A new video released by Google uses employee interviews and graphics to show how Google’s core search product has evolved since it began in 1997. The video features short interviews from Google employees such as Vice President Marissa Mayer, Fellow Amit Singhal and Director of Product Management Johanna Wright. Each person helps explain a piece of how Google’s search evolved, including landmarks like AdWords, Google News, image search and Google Instant. The video highlights some important trends: -Universal Results: With Universal Search—which returns results like images, videos, and news, in addition to webpages—we’re helping you find all different kinds of information in the same place. We’ve continued to make search more comprehensive, enabling you to find products, places, patents, books, maps and more. -Quick Answers: Today on Google you’ll find more than just a list of links to websites. You’ll find Quick Answers at the top of the page for a wide variety of topics, including flight times, sports scores, weather and dozens more. As our technology gets better, we’re beginning to answer harder questions for you, right on the search results page. -The Future of Search: We’ve also been focused on developing faster ways to search and save time, whether we’re shaving seconds off searches with Google Instant or helping you search from your phone with Voice Search.

Source: Google