Smithsonian exhibit: Written in Bone

I'm thinking ahead to my Spring break in a couple of weeks. I might make it down to Washington, D.C., to see this exhibit at the Smithsonian, among other things.

From the Smithsonian web site:

James Fort skeleton. Image courtesy of Chip Clark

Written in Bone examines history through 17th-century bone biographies, including those of colonists teetering on the edge of survival at Jamestown, Virginia, and those living in the wealthy and well-established settlement of St. Mary’s City, Maryland.

The forensic investigation of human skeletons provides intriguing information on people and events of America's past. No other inanimate objects make us feel the same passionate curiosity as the remains of once-living, breathing individuals like us. And nothing else can answer our questions in quite the same ways.

The exhibit is there until February, 2011. If I go, I'll let you know what I think.

Google launches ads into news queries searches....

(image found on cnet)
Don't be suprised when the next time you do a Google search for new content you might find a new addition to the mix. With times being hard for all Google is looking at new areas of generating income. So now, Google will be introduced ads now when someone does a search query for Google News. This new venture is a bit risky because of the legalities it might bring up from assorted media outlets and newspapers from around the world wanting a taste of the new income that is greatly appreciated by anyone in these economic hard times.

Josh Cohen, a business project manager at Google, announced the change in a post on the official Google News blog on Wednesday.

"What this means is that when you enter a query like iPhone or Kindle into the Google News search box, you'll see text ads alongside your News search results -- similar to what you see on regular Google searches," Cohen wrote.

A search for Kindle, Amazon's electronic book reader, for example, returns links to news articles and a list of "sponsored links" such as Amazon's Kindle page and ads for other readers such as Sony's eBook device.

"In recent months we've been experimenting with a variety of different formats," Cohen said. "We've always said that we'd unveil these changes when we could offer a good experience for our users, publishers and advertisers alike."

"We'll continue to look at ways to deliver ads that are relevant for users and good for publishers, too," Cohen said, adding that the ads would only appear on Google News search-results pages in the United States.

Google News aggregates headlines from more than 4,500 English-language news sources around the world and provides links to articles on their websites.

The articles are selected, according to Google, "by computers that evaluate, among other things, how often and on what sites a story appears online."

The introduction of ads to Google News search is the latest attempt by the Mountain View, California-based company to monetize its various Web ventures.

With recent ad content additions to Google Finance & Google Earth something like this was bound to happen. But, this could be an interesting new way of generating possible income, i guess time will tell how litigious this idea might get. Someone is bound to get their feathers ruffled and make a law suit against the Search Engine giant in trying to get big piece of the pie too.

Personally, I think Google does a fantastic job of putting together the news in a great concise package for all to see when they want for free. I wish them luck in this new revenue venture.

something extra i found:

Google did not immediately respond to questions on the possible legal ramifications of its News search ads. Sandra Baron, executive director at the Media Law Resource Center, suggested an "economic tension" exists between publishers and Google that could bubble up into legal action.

"A significant issue for content providers is whether or not what Google provides becomes a substitute for going to the actual content providers site," she said. "When that tension becomes too great, people seek legal solutions to it."

That said, she said U.S. legal precedent appeared to offer no obstruction to content aggregators and search providers compiling headlines or short summaries along with links, regardless of whether those pages contain ads.

It's a different story beyond our borders, where Google News has faced some challenges. In one high profile court case in Belgium, a group of content owners succeeded in forcing Google to remove their content from both Google.be and Google News.

Legal issues aside, Google may face a big hurdle in achieving ad relevance in Google News search, where user intent can be very different from general search. In several tests of the new ad experience, Google's paid results seem a poor match for the apparent intent of a news query. For instance, a search for "Polo" turns up pages of news stories on the water sport, whereas the sponsored links are exclusively geared toward men's clothing.

Google introduces ads to Google News (AFP)
Google shakes AdWords snowglobe again (the Register)
Google adds ads to Google News searches (cnet)
Ads in Google News Search May Tempt Media Lawsuits (clickz)

Microsoft Cutting pay for contractors from 10 to 15 percent in the mix

(image from maximumpc.com)
In an effort to save money Microsoft is cutting pay for current contractors by 10 percent and for future contractors by as much as 15 percent.

"Microsoft Corp. is slashing overtime, hours and pay for U.S. temporary workers as part of an overall push to curb expenses during the recession.

Microsoft will cut what it pays the staffing agencies by 10 percent for current projects and won't raise the rate it pays for temporary workers who return after a mandatory annual 100-day break. The company also plans to reduce overtime and the total number of hours clocked by temporary workers.

In a statement Thursday, the company said it talked with some employment agencies before making the decision.

The move, first reported Wednesday by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, comes a month after the software maker resorted to its first mass layoffs and said it would trim travel costs, freeze wages and scale back expansion plans for its Redmond, Wash., headquarters.

As the recession has deepened, consumers and businesses have reined in spending on new computers and software. Because Microsoft sells the operating system that runs on the vast majority of computers around the world, it is feeling the pinch, particularly in its lucrative Windows and Office desktop software businesses.

Online advertising spending is also on the wane. Microsoft's online search and ad business was already losing money despite heavy spending to beef up the underlying technology. Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer said this week that the company would continue to pour money into competing with Google Inc. on this front.

Microsoft does not disclose how many contract workers it uses, and analyst estimates vary. Sid Parakh, an analyst for McAdams Wright Ragen, said he believes the number is somewhere between 40,000 and 60,000 worldwide. The company employs an additional 95,000 permanent workers globally.

The company relies on skilled contract workers for all sorts of jobs, from developing and testing software to designing Web sites to writing technical documentation. And it's not alone. Tech companies including IBM Corp. and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. routinely hire temporary workers; Google had 10,000 contractors as recently as October."

Wow, it looks like times are harder then previously revealed. I wonder how many of the people being affected by these changes that currently work for Microsoft are tempted to just make a company of their own and 86 their current ties.

There are a lot of people in some crucial development areas that could break out on their own, which could cost Microsoft more in the long run then what they hope to save by this 10 and 15 percent cut.

Microsoft cuts contractor pay (ITworld)
Microsoft slashes contract worker rates by 10 pct (AP)
Microsoft Temps Get a Haircut (WSJ)

Microsoft files Lawsuit on Netherlands-based firm TomTom

(image found on Straits Times)
Yesterday, Microsoft launched a lawsuit against the Netherlands based firm, Tom Tom for infringing on the software giant's patented technology.

Microsoft filed complaints against TomTom in US district court and with the International Trade Commission, according to Horacio Gutierrez, deputy general counsel of intellectual property and licensing at Microsoft.

'We have taken this action after attempting for more than a year to engage in licensing discussions with TomTom,' Mr Gutierrez said.

'In situations such as this, when a reasonable business agreement cannot be reached, we have no choice but to pursue legal action to protect our innovations and our partners who license them.' A spokesman in TomTom's US office declined to comment, telling AFP that it is company policy not to discuss legal matters.

Patents involved in the case relate to vehicle navigation technology and computer software that Microsoft has licensed to other firms, according to Gutierrez.

TomTom bills itself as the world's leading 'navigation solutions provider.' TomTom devices such as its popular GO guide drivers by using satellite tracking of vehicles along with a vast database built with the help of digital map firm TeleAtlas, which it bought in 2008.

Last month, TomTom launched GO 740 Live services that stream real-time traffic updates, weather, and local fuel prices to navigation devices that typically mount on dashboards.

Live also enables people to search the Internet using Google.

'TomTom is a highly respected and important company,' Mr Gutierrez said. 'We remain open to quickly resolving this situation with them through an IP licensing agreement.'

Wow, I hope they can figure out something in arbitration before it goes to court or this could be a costly case for Tom Tom.

Microsoft sues PND vendor over FAT filesystem (linuxdevices.com)
Microsoft sues TomTom: All your GPS logics belong to us (TG Dailey)
Microsoft sues TomTom (Straits Times)

Apple's Steve Jobs is on Track for returning in June of this Year...

(image found on Brisbane times)
With the latest shareholders meeting at apple people are worried about the health of Steve Jobs.

"For the last nine months, Apple has refused to get into specifics about the well-being of its chief executive, Steven P. Jobs, even as he said last month that he was taking a six-month leave of absence to deal with health issues.

At its annual shareholder meeting here on Apple's corporate campus, run by the chief operating officer, Timothy Cook, the company responded to inquiries about Mr. Jobs by saying that he still planned to return to the company in June.

"He is deeply involved in all strategic matters and has delegated day-to-day authority to Tim Cook and his team," said Arthur Levinson, a co-lead director of Apple and the chief executive of Genentech. "That's where it stands."

Mr. Levinson said that Apple's board regularly discussed the matter of succession at the company and that "if there is new information we deem of import to disclose, that will happen."

Granted things may look at bit grim or dim with the current situation of Mr. Jobs health. I still believe he will be back in June to go forward with the company... So enjoy your vacation from the company for a bit and enjoy your time away. There will be work to get done when you get back.

Jobs will be back: Apple (brisbane times)
What If Jobs Doesn't Return To Apple? (PCworld)
Shareholders Criticize Apple Over Steve Jobs' Health Disclosures (Information Week)
Jobs On Track For June Return (Slashdot)

A Letter To My Future Girlfriend

This is meant to be a love letter, but I’m thinking that if you ever read this, it may lead to you replying with a breakup letter. It does feel really weird writing to you, especially considering you do not yet exist. Or rather you exist, I am just unaware of your existence. The future tells me that will change. That we will meet. And in time, we will fall in love. Or so that is what I am supposed to believe will happen. I am hopeful that will take place. That I will find you and we will have this little fairytale romance, the kind that you read of in old leather-bound books and see on the big Hollywood screen. The kind of love the world is envious of and wishes they have what we share. The kind of love that your parents, grandparents and older relatives tell you about. The kind of love that you roll your eyes at as if to say those times just no longer apply to current day living. It’s 2009, not 1950. Needless to say, times have changed, dramatically! Chivalry is just about dead. Young people don’t court one another anymore. They don’t write love letters. They don’t perform small gestures of kindness. They just don’t pine after one another. They don’t allow nature to take its course and progress a relationship naturally, effortlessly. Instead we have drunken one-night stands. Start a new relationship before a previous relationship ends. Try to find function in dysfunctional toxic relationships. And sometimes we even shack up together or throw a kid into the mix thinking it will further a stagnate relationship or salvage a broken one. The worst of all, marry and divorce in less than 5 years. Now that really fucks things up! It should be quite clear. Living together, having a baby, or buying a diamond ring isn’t the quick and easy solution to your problems. Those are surfaces patches, mere makeup that covers the wounds left blistered and bubbling below the surface. We make poor choices along the way thinking somehow we will magically learn from our mistakes, but more often than not, we just seem to repeat our past. All of us, to some extent, fall into these same patterns. While we may toss aside a heart as if it was yesterday’s trash, we often look back, but we rarely turn back.

I’m not really sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. You see, at one point in my life I was a hopeless romantic. I understood love, had it, and really found the whole idea of being in a relationship quite easy. I never grasped how my friends could have so many love issues! All the drama, it seemed so exhausting and so not worth it. I felt they made things more complicated than need be. That if they would just learn to relax, stop over analyzing and go with the flow, that simple love would come their way too. Love would sail into their life like a gentle wave blowing in to meet the shore. Of course nobody ever tells you that eventually the winds pick up and that once gentle wave crashes into a pile of jagged rocks leaving you bleeding for weeks, months, sometimes years on end! Sure, they may try to warn you of that. But until you experience that pain firsthand, no amount of fair warning will prepare you to weather an unforecasted storm of that caliber. That is a journey you have to sail alone. So we take time out to lick our wounds before boarding the ship once more. Eventually, we are off to sea again in search of new fish. Any captain will tell you that rough patches are inevitable, and so too is the case in love.

Maybe it’s just me, but everything seems so rushed and prematurely forced. We try taking the next big step and often leap into things before we have completed the baby steps that are needed to stabilize the very ground we walk upon. It’s like we are treading thru quicksand and sinking faster by the minute. We are in a race, but to where I do not know. There’s no solid foundation to this "relationship". We jump into bed with someone before we even form a friendship with them. We want to run before we learn to fully walk. Our footing is unstable and with every shaky unsure forward step we take, we seem to tumble backward and fall an even greater distance behind. And instead of the relationship progressing, it seems to digress, or just falls completely apart. We lay there face first in the dirt wallowing in this vicious cycle of springing from one relationship to the next as if it was a game of hopscotch. I seem to lose more than I win and with each defeat, I find it harder to pick myself back up. I’ve already lost the spring in my step and I’m starting to lose my hop as well. Sometimes I wonder if all the energy put into this love crap is worth it. The cynical side of me says nothing lasts forever. So why bother to continue playing? Cut your losses now before you become too attached or even addicted to the game. Save yourself the heartache that is sure to follow. Be smart. Play it safe. Stay guarded.

I’m not a commitment phob, but can we slow this down just a tad? Let me wrap my head around exactly why you chose me. Part of me secretly does not feel worthy of this honor. I feel nervous and pressured when you want to "have the talk". Why I may not always understand a woman’s urgent need to hold the official girlfriend title, I am more than happy to give it to her, when it feels right. I can ask you to "go with me" on the back of a bubble gum wrapper 6th grade-style, or if you like, you can just read the signs. Don’t worry, they will be loud and clear. I will show zero interest in seeing other people. I won’t shut up about you to my family, friends, and co-workers. And the most obvious sign, I will casually introduce you as my girlfriend when bumping into an acquaintance on the street. I won’t even realize I’ve done it. I will just blurt it out and think nothing of it. That is when you know you have me. Well that and the swoony love sick look on my face the moment you enter a room.

Although my eyes may sometime linger, I never will stray. So rest soundly at night knowing that just like a good dog, I too will be loyal. You can count on me to be there. I can weather the storm. And I will go above and beyond my call of duty to make you aware of how much you mean to me with tokens of my love and affection along the way. Even after the initial/beginning stage of our relationship passes, I will do my best to keep it fresh, exciting, and more alive than ever. I do this not just for you, but for me as well, for us. I will work hard so that it never loses that warm, fuzzy feeling you’ve grown accustom to. The butterflies that flutter in your stomach and that tingle that shoots thru your body with just a touch of your lips, I will make sure those sensations linger on. I’m not sure if I can defy the laws of nature and rekindle all the feelings that a budding summer romance possesses, but I will do my utmost. I am willing to try. And with today’s standard of easily disposable relationships being the norm, my extraordinary effort should speak volumes.

I honestly love romance and I enjoy chivalry. A woman takes care of me, so why can’t I take care of her? I don’t see the harm in that. So let me spoil you some. It makes me happy to see your face light up, especially knowing I’m the one who placed that smile upon your pretty little face. Small surprises not just on your birthday or calendar marked holidays, but I’ll celebrate you on some idle Tuesday afternoon. Because I believe that one of the best parts of having a someone is letting them know they aren’t just anyone. They are the one. And why can’t I make any day of the week special? So please accept the yellow gerber daisy I lay on your bedroom pillow early Sunday morning before you wake. Please accept the note attached and feel me in those words. And don’t get frightened when I say I’m making you breakfast in bed. We both know I can’t cook, but for you I’ll really try. Please accept the smiley heart I draw on the foggy bathroom mirror when you are in a rush for work on a hectic Monday morning. And when Friday night rolls around and you tell me you feel like having Italian for dinner, don’t question why I want you to pack a weekend bag. Don’t question the International plane tickets for two. And don’t question that I love you.

All I ask is that you recognize these gestures and not take them or me for granted, as I promise to never take you for granted. I do my best not to show it, but if you get to know me well enough, it will soon become apparent that beneath a tough guy exterior I tend to be a little more sensitive than most men. I’m not sure if that is something I should apologize for, but I think it’s something you need to be made aware of. As a result of my soft interior, I find myself getting hurt more easily than perhaps I should allow myself to succumb to. Although when you open your heart and your life to someone, you also open yourself up to complete vulnerability. It comes with the territory, but I think I can handle it. I know at first I may come off as secretive or guarded, but please don’t take it personally. It’s just who I am and in time I will come around. I have good reason not to trust women and question their shady ways. I’ve been led on, lied to, deceived and belittled just to name a few. Although it is not fair and I do not wish to make you "pay" for the mistakes previous women before you have made with me, you must understand that these are things that have left scars on my heart and questions on my mind. So while I may keep you at a distance until a certain level of trust is formed, I warmly invite you to discover every aspect of me and my world. I wish for the same opportunity to present itself with you and I eagerly anticipate seeing all the beauty that surrounds you as well. I pray that you will be patient with me and trust in me as I wish nothing more than to trust again, this time in you.

My confidence will grow when you’re near me and your presence in my life alone will be enough to make me want to be a better man. The man I once was and the man I know I can once again become. I want to be the one that makes you happy and causes your heart to smile. That would be your greatest gift to me. Let’s celebrate together on some idle Tuesday, to the beginning of a new relationship, complete with swoony love sick faces.

PS (Will you go with me?)

***UPDATE***
See this post featured as a 20SB February Blog Carnival Winner.
http://20sb.blogspot.com/2009/03/february-blog-carnival.html

Lucy, our Australopithecus ancestor

I had somehow missed that Lucy, a 3 million year old australopithecene, had been on tour in the U.S. She's been at the Houston Museum of Natural Science, and now she is at the Pacific Science Center in Seattle. In the meantime, she stooped off at the University of Texas for a high resolution computer tomography scan as part of the Digital Morphology project. Listen to a story about the scan at NPR. Her visit has not been without controversy, as concerns have been raised about her fragility. And ticket sales have been lagging. Maybe because of the $20 price tag in these slightly challenging economic times? Now future stops on her planned 6-year sojourn in the U.S. remain unclear.

Bob Walter, a colleague who helped do the Ar-Ar dating on the rocks around Lucy, recently gave a guest lecture on that project in my Archaeometry course. What an exciting combination of paleoanthropology and geochronology!

Have a look at Lucy's jawbone in 3D:

Yahoo Celebrates Communication Evolution

Yahoo! Celebrates online communications through the years following a journey from early PC's to wireless computing. Song by Shitake Monkey "Those Days" from their Street Beef album. Classic video for all people to see.. enjoy

Apple unveils Safari 4 Beta for Mac OS X and Windows Platforms

(image found on PCworld)
Today, Apple launched its new beta version of Safari 4. The new browser is available for Mac OS X and Windows Platforms. Safari 4 introduces a few cool new features such as a smart address field, a full history search and a full-page zoom. Apple is touting that Safari 4 runs faster because of its new JavaScript Engine(dubbed “Nitro”). Also, according to the company, Safari 4 loads JavaScript "up to 30 times faster than IE7 and more than three times faster than Firefox 3." As for HTML pages, Safari, "loads [them] three times faster than IE 7 and almost three times faster than Firefox 3." Safari 4 is also the first browser to pass Web Standards Project's Acid3 test. The beta browswer is available from Apples Web site for download which will require 107MB of disk space.

Here is a review from PCworld with someone who had a chance to download and take the new browser for a test drive.

I gave Safari 4 a spin, and while I noticed quite a few elements 'borrowed' from Google's Chrome browser, I was impressed with Apple's offering.

One of the most noticeable changes is the new Top Sites feature, a page that displays your most visited or favorite sites. It can be configured as either your home page or as a page you see every time you open a new tab. Chrome offers a similar feature, but Apple's iteration offers more eye candy, with a 3D display and its iPhone-like ability to rearrange sites. Pages that have been updated since you last visited them, will be marked with a blue star in the corner.

Safari 4's title bar also gets a Chrome-like look, with new tabs displayed there, instead of in a traditional tabs bar under the address field--making better use of your screen real-estate. Tabs can be rearranged, or you can drag them out and create new browser windows. And, as in previous versions, Safari 4 can merge all of your open windows into one multi-tabbed window.

Your browsing history is now brought to life with Cover Flow, so you can flick through your recently visited Web pages like you do with your album art in iTunes. The new Full History search feature can prove to be extremely useful, as it goes through all of the pages you have previously browsed and the text they contain. If you know you saw a certain term somewhere, but you can't remember where, you can simply search for it, and all pages containing it in their body text and name will be displayed.

The Smart Search Field in Safari 4 is now integrated with Google Suggest, and one you start typing, the field suggests search strings. This means you'll no longer need Safari plugins, like Inquisitor, to get this kind of functionality. The Full Page Zoom feature lets users zoom in and out on a page (by using keyboard shortcuts or menus) without distorting a page's layout or losing quality. Mac users were able to perform a similar task before, but now it's available to both PC users, too.

As for speed, Apple claims Safari 4 is the world's fastest browser. While I can't verify that claim, I can say that the new browser, running JavaScript 4.2, surely feels faster and page-loading time is indeed shorter. Safari 4 also includes HTML 5, a technology that allows wed-based applications to store information locally without an Internet connection.

I really like the new version of Safari. It definitely feels faster--an improvement that alone should give headaches to Microsoft and Mozilla. Add in the other nifty features and eye-candy Safari 4 brings, like Cover Flow, and this browser should give them plenty to think about.

Even though some of Safari 4 new feature seem like they are borrowed from competitors' applications, it clearly sets itself apart as a top-class Web browser.

Some very interesting new things added to Safari. I will be downloading and testing it myself later on today. I will post my feelings and feedback from what i experienced using the new beta browser.

Hands On: Apple Safari 4 Beta (PCWorld)
Apple Releases Safari 4 Browser Beta (PCmag)
Apple squeezes JavaScript juice from Safari 4 beta release (the Register)

NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO) satellite crashes back to Earth

(image found on Guardian.co.uk)

Early this morning at 4:55am (ET), NASA launched a Taurus XL rocket carring the new Orbital Carbon Observatory satellite from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

Countdown had proceeded normally except for one non-threatening and unrelated glitch, said Chuck Dovale, NASA launch director for the mission.

"We did have stage-zero ignition," Dovale said, referring to the initial firing of the rocket's launch boosters.

Three minutes after liftoff, NASA officials began to get hints that something was wrong.

Computers on Earth sent the proper signals for the rocket to shed the clamshell structure housing the satellite, but the device failed to separate.

"As a direct result of carrying that extra weight, we could not make orbit," said John Brunschwyler, a program manager with Orbital Sciences Corporation, which built the Taurus rocket for NASA.

NASA's Dovale called the failure a "huge disappointment for the entire team."

This crash is estimated to have cost NASA over $278 million dollars.

The world's first satellite designed to map concentrations of carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere will be launched by Nasa on Monday. The Orbiting Carbon Observatory (Oco) will collect precise measurements of the greenhouse gas in the Earth's atmosphere, identifying where it is coming from, where it is absorbed and what happens to it in between.

This improved tracking of CO2 will help scientists develop maps how the gas is concentrated around the world and give a better picture of how it affects the Earth's climate. Policymakers and governments will be able to use the data when setting and monitoring CO2 emissions targets designed to tackle climate change.

"It's critical that we understand the processes controlling carbon dioxide in our atmosphere today so we can predict how fast it will build up in the future and how quickly we'll have to adapt to climate change," said David Crisp, principal investigator for the OCO, based at Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.

It will help scientists answer one of the biggest mysteries about the movement of CO2 in the Earth's atmosphere. Of all of the greenhouse gas emitted into the air since the industrial revolution in the 19th century, around 40% has stayed thee. Half of the remainder has been absorbed by the Earth's oceans but the rest has not yet been be accounted for. Scientists think the gas must have been absorbed on land but no one really knows where these missing carbon sinks are or what controls them.

"It's important to make clear that the 'missing' sinks aren't really missing, they are just poorly understood," said Scott Denning, an atmospheric scientist at Colorado State University. "We know the 'missing' sinks are terrestrial, land areas where forests, grasslands, crops and soil are absorbing carbon dioxide. But finding these sinks is like finding a needle in a haystack. It would be great if we could measure how much carbon every tree, shrub, peat bog or blade of grass takes in, but the world is too big and too diverse and is constantly changing, making such measurements virtually impossible. The solution is not in measuring carbon in trees. The solution is measuring carbon in the air."

Previous Nasa missions, such as the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder, have also measured the amount of carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere but only at altitudes of 5km to 10km above the surface. "Oco is the first Nasa mission that has been dedicated, and optimised to make precise measurements of carbon dioxide throughout the atmospheric column, between the surface and space, with the greatest sensitivity near the Earth's surface, where most of the carbon dioxide sources and sinks are thought to be located," said Crisp.

Oco will collect about 8 million measurements every 16 days for at least two years. It will use three high-resolution spectrometers to split light into its various constituent colours. By anlaysing this light to detect the unique signature of gases such as carbon dioxide and oxygen in the atmosphere, scientists will be able to determine their relative concentrations and identify sources and sinks of CO2.

"Oco is primarily an exploratory science mission, whose objective is to test and validate a new technique for measuring carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere from space. If we find that this approach works as well as we predict, it should provide scientists with the data that they need to produce the first global maps of carbon dioxide sources and sinks on regional scales, or spatial scales comparable to the size of Great Britain," said Crisp.

Wow, this is such a shame to have such an important instrument of Science go up in smoke.

NASA Satellite Crashes Back to Earth (National Geographic News)
Nasa to launch Earth's first carbon dioxide tracking satellite (Guardian.co.uk)
NASA climate satellite crashes into ocean after failed launch (USA Today)
NASA's Carbon Satellite Fails, See Video of Launch (Wired News)

Look-alike Contest

Most people would consider it an insult to be compared to a dog. But to be compared to my Bulldog Diesel is a huge compliment! Or at least I think so. It’s a proven fact that he is the most awesome dog in the entire world! So why wouldn’t you want to look like him? He’s a 45 pound chunk of meat packed full of power, personality and charm. The ladies want to be with him and the guys want to be him. He’s a stud. What else can I say? I’m sure you lay awake at night wondering how you could be just half as awesome as my dog. Well wonder no more. Now is your chance to compare yourself to the one and only D-Dawg. I’m holding a Look-alike Contest!

Here are the official rules...

1. Take a snapshot of yourself with your best Diesel "sleepy face" – that means tongue out.
2. Send it to diamondkt@gmail.com Subject: Look-alike Contest
3. Please specify your name/alias or if you would like to remain anonymous.
4. Also include your website/blog address so that I can plug your site for you.
5. Check my blog periodically to see all the entries and help vote for the winner.

Right now, there is no entry deadline, but I’m thinking I’ll accept the first 20 submissions and then end the contest. So what is the grand prize? Well unfortunately you don’t win anything, but you will have the satisfaction of knowing that you cheered an awfully sad guy up. I’m on day 12 of homelessness, been slapped with a $4,000 repair bill to fix the natural gas leak at my house and my home owner’s insurance isn’t paying a single cent to help me out. Plus, I’m still crunched over in pain due to a whole mess of stuff going on with my left lung. Wow, I really sound like a mess. However, if you send me your silly photo, it will help me smile again.

Cheer a boy and his dog up. Send a little happy our way by entering the Look-alike Contest and share a giggle with the world.

Google Gmail Service Crashes Today, But is Restored in a Few Hours

(image found on Telegraph.co.uk)
Earlier this morning Google's Gmail email service was hit with a major outage. The problem was fixed a few hours later. No additional information was made available about the outage. This glitch affected users in the US, UK as well as across most of Europe and even hitting people as far away as India and Australia.

"If you've tried to access your Gmail account today, you are probably aware by now that we're having some problems," Acacio Cruz, Gmail site reliability manager, wrote in a blog post. "Shortly after 9:30am GMT our monitoring systems alerted us that Gmail consumer and businesses accounts worldwide could not get access to their e-mail."

"We know how important Gmail is to our users, so we take issues like this very seriously, and we apologize for the inconvenience," Google said in a statement.

Customers who had enabled Gmail offline in the U.S. and the U.K. were able to access their inboxes during the outage, but they could not send or receive e-mail. An unrelated glitch earlier this month also sent some legitimate email to Gmail's spam folders.

Talk about a wow moment, I am glad to see they were on the ball and got things fixed quickly.

Google promises that customers paying for the Google Apps service will have access to Gmail at least 99.9 percent of the time each month or Google has to pay a penalty. So far Google hasn't dipped below that, the company said last year.

The company took advantage of the problem to tout the new Gmail Labs feature that permits offline access to Gmail for customers in the U.S. and U.K. With it, people can read, search, label, and archive their e-mail and compose new messages, but of course messages aren't sent or received until network access is restored.

Outages pose problems for Google as it tries to persuade companies to buy into its cloud-computing vision, in which applications are hosted on the Internet rather than on corporate computers. But Google argues its service availability is competitive with most organizations' abilities to run their own e-mail servers.

One good thing that came from this was that many "major companies, including Telegraph Media Group and The Guardian, have switched to using the Google Apps suite in place of conventional desktop email. Google Apps allows users to work collaboratively on documents via the web, as well as share calendars, and provides instant messaging and chat alongside Gmail email services."

So even though it was a minor inconvenience, things didn't just halt they just went to another venue until service was restored. It was a nice test under fire to see how things worked when it hit the fan. Great job getting things back up and running Google....

Google Gmail Restored After Service Outage Reported (eweek)
Google’s Gmail service crashes across world (Telegraph.co.uk)
Google Suffers Gmail Outage Early Tuesday (PCmag)
Google apologizes for Gmail outage (cnet)

Chicago's Mayor Richard Daley has a YouTube Channel now

(image found on WashingtonTimes)
Joining the ranks of other famous people in the public eye, President Obama, The Pope, The Queen of England and now Mayor Richard Daley of Chicago. It was just a matter of time until Mayor Daley got his spot on YouTube. The good thing is with Chicago being a democratic city that has options for a new mayor every 4 years. This spot gives Mayor Daley a chance to speak and be heard by the masses.

www.youtube.com/mayordaley

This site is an opportunity to talk to residents directly,” he said, noting YouTube’s wide reach.

Daley made the announcement at the Loop headquarters of Google Chicago, his partner in creating and running the site. It will promote Chicago across the globe, the mayor said.

“I guess it promotes me,” he added later, when asked about the political edge the site might provide. “Yes, I’m the mayor of the City of Chicago, and it promotes Chicago."

Asked whether the site would include videos that were critical of him, he responded, “We’ll see, I don’t know yet.”

Some of the 23 videos on the site, www.youtube.com/mayordaley, feature Daley meeting with out-of-town dignitaries and business leaders. In one, he jokes around in his office with local personality Billy Dec, co-host of NBC’s “24/7 Chicago: Secrets of the City.”

In another, a pre-election Barack Obama praises the mayor.

Obama talks about the improvements in the city since he moved there in 1985, saying they show “astonishing leadership that this man has shown over two decades. . . . He is an outstanding mayor.”

Not to be seen were any of the mayor's well-known tongue-twisters or testy exchanges with the media.

Since President Bill Clinton first held televised town hall meetings, contemporary politicians have ought new ways to bypass the often-critical coverage of the mainstream media and speak directly to voters.

When asked if he was trying to do the same, Daley said he is the only public official in Illinois to hold “a press conference three or four times a week.”

Jim Lecinski, managing director of Google’s central region, said no taxpayer dollars were used to create the site, and Daley said it did not involve spending taxpayer funds.

But some of the videos up on the site were made with city money for the Chicago Works cable TV channels. They were originally produced to be aired on the city’s municipal access channel, not for the mayor’s Web site, said Jacquelyn Heard, the mayor’s press secretary."

I was beginning to wonder when it would happen. I think its actually a very great idea for all people in the public eye to have a spot on YouTube for people to hear what they have to say. We live in a time now where we just don't have the time to put a mic under every single person and then somehow find a schedule for everyone to see what they have to say.

With having a YouTube Channel, people can make statements and also answer questions on their time and then giving the public on their time a chance to see what they have to say. The other thing is it gives them an option to hear peoples remarks and also reply back to them in either written or video blog form. Also, they did a great job on the site design too. Looks Great.

Daley has a YouTube channel (Chicago Tribune)

Yahoo - Major reorganization coming soon.

(image found on wnct)
Well boys and girls there's a new Sheriff in town and her name is Carol Bartz.

"Bartz, former CEO of San Rafael, Calif.-based maker Autodesk, took over as Yahoo's chief executive in January, replacing co-founder Jerry Yang. News reports Monday suggested she is preparing a major shuffle of top executive positions at Yahoo, though the company itself has declined to confirm those rumors.

Among the speculated changes are adding product strategy and management duties to the portfolio of Aristotle Balogh, Yahoo's chief technology officer, and making Hilary Schneider, currently in charge of the Yahoo! U.S. division's marketing efforts, the head of all North America. Bartz is also reportedly looking for a chief marketing officer and other senior executives, and could be planning to name a single executive in charge of its European, Asian and emerging markets divisions.

Bartz is preparing to "severely roll back" an earlier Yahoo organizational reshuffle by Yang last June, according to "All Things Digital." host and blogger Kara Swisher. The earlier shakeup split Yahoo into four regional entities. Bartz reportedly wants to scrap that setup and retrench corporate efforts in a more centralized way.

It should be interesting to see what Bartz does at Yahoo....

Report: Yahoo reorganization may come this week (wnct.com)
A New Sheriff In Yahoo Town Is Shaking Things Up (Channel Web)
Carol Bartz Prepares to Revamp Yahoo Management (Business Week)

Ubuntu thinking out of the box and into the clouds

Apple computer is usually known for taking things to the new level and beyond in radical ways. But, it looks like ubuntu linux is also taking a lesson or two in this venue. The new release of ubuntu ("Karmic Koala,") will be targeting cloud computing.

"Ubuntu 9.10 will give users an option to build its own Elastic Compute Cloud-style service, using open-source Eucalyptus (or another cloud provider), but the intent certainly seems to seamlessly plug users into Amazon's closed cloud:

Ubuntu aims to keep free software at the forefront of cloud computing by embracing the APIs of Amazon EC2, and making it easy for anybody to set up their own cloud using entirely open tools...During the Karmic cycle, we want to make it easy to deploy applications into the cloud, with ready-to-run appliances or by quickly assembling a custom image..."

This interesting new platform option addition could have some very amazing new options when it comes to computing in the future. Imagine doing all the grunt work that your computer is used for remotely in a cloud and then just using a simple machine like a netbook for accessing and doing the work. Gone, will be the need for making a bigger, better, box. Because the box will be in the clouds and all you need is a simple device to access it. The cloud has all the storage and processors you need for the task at hand.

"Amazon's EC2 also supports Windows Server 2003, OpenSolaris and a number of other Linux distributions, including Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Oracle Enterprise Linux."


Ubuntu's next wave: Open server, closed cloud (cnet)
Ubuntu's 'Koala' to Soar into the Cloud (Wired.com)
Ubuntu Will Target Cloud Computing With October Release (PCWorld)

Microsoft Asks 1,400 laid-off workers to return some of their Severants Pay

Over 1,400 Microsoft workers that were laid off on January 22nd received some more bad news. It turns out because of a slight accounting "Administrative Error" oversight some people were given too much of a servants pay when they left and Microsoft wants it back.

(image found on PCworld)
"The letter from Microsoft to its redundant employees, asking for part of the severance money back. The letter was obtained by TechCrunch and a Microsoft spokesperson certified its authenticity.

The letter surfaced on the Internet this weekend and Microsoft claims that an "inadvertent administrative error" caused this situation. Microsoft did not confirm how many people were affected by the overpayments but "there was certainly more than one," a company spokesperson said.

However, on the other side of the spectrum, some laid-off workers were been underpaid in their severance and Microsoft claims that it is "taking care of underpayments." Microsoft declined any further comment, saying this is a "private matter between the company and the affected people."

Microsoft paid the laid-off staffers a minimum of 60 days salary and additional compensation based on the length of their service. In January Microsoft announced that another 3600 jobs will be cut over the next 18 months. This totals 5000 jobs, or 5 percent of Microsoft's total workforce."

Wow, talk about going from bad to worse for some people.

Microsoft Asks Laid-off Workers to Return Overpaid Severance (PCworld)
Ex-Microsoft workers may not have to return severance pay (Computer World)
Microsoft has to hit up laid-off workers for money (Associated Press)

Microsoft unveils Elevate America

(image found on nydailynews)

Link to Microsoft's Elevate America

Microsoft this past weekend unveilded a new program to help millions world wide for free. In a program called Elevate America, Microsoft is aiming to give 2 milion people over the next two years technology training at regional telecenters and online too.

The online resource is focused on helping users figure out what types of technical skills are required for IT jobs, and provides resources to help acquire these skills. The Web site offers access to several Microsoft online training programs, from very basic (e.g., "How to use the Internet") to much more advanced (e.g., "Implementing and Supporting Microsoft Windows XP Professional").

To provide a variety of training, Microsoft will partner with state and local governments. Florida, New York and Washington will be the first states to offer Elevate America courses.

Some 3.6 million jobs have been lost since the recession began in December 2007 with about half of the decline occurring in the past three months, according to recent Labor Department data.

"Millions of Americans don't have the technology skills needed in today's economy. Through Elevate America, we want to help workers get the skills they need to succeed," Pamela Passman, corporate vice president of Microsoft Global Corporate Affairs, said. "We are also providing a full range of workforce development resources for state and local governments so they can offer specialized training for their workers."

This is a great program to help bring in and educate a new workforce previously untapped. Computers and technology help us in so many ways and by educating the millions lacking we will prosper in so many new exciting ways that we never thought possible.

Microsoft Offers Free Tech Training To Millions (Channel Web)
Microsoft seeks to Elevate the nation's tech skills (beta news)
Need an edge in the job market? Microsoft wants to help - for free (nydaily news)
Microsoft Aims to Provide Tech Training to Americans (DailyTech)

Google Tech Talks - The Secret History of Silicon Valley

I came across this video today that i felt you would enjoy watching. This was a video on Google Tech Talks, that was given on December, 18 2007. It gives us an idea of:

How Stanford the CIA/NSA Built the Valley We Know Today

How much does an average Googler know about the history of the place he works in? Silicon Valley. Come and test your knowledge. I have seen this talk and I assure you - even seasoned Silicon Valley veterans will find this story interesting. Silicon Valley entrepreneur Steve Blank will talk about how World War II set the stage for the creation and explosive growth of Silicon Valley, and the role of Frederick Terman and Stanford in working with government agencies
(including the CIA and the National Security Agency) to set up companies in this area that sparked the creation of hundreds of other enterprises.

Speaker: Steve Blank
Steve Blank spent nearly 30 years as founder and executive of high tech companies in Silicon Valley, most recently the enterprise software firm E.piphany. He has been involved in or co-founded eight Silicon Valley startups, ranging from semiconductors to video games, and personal computers to supercomputers. He teaches entrepreneurship at U.C. Berkeley's Haas School of Business, Columbia University and Stanford's Graduate School of Engineering.

It gives people an amazing view of technology we never knew about because the people showing us movies and other assorted shows just didn't know. Enjoy.

Step outside tonight and see the Comet Lulin...

(image found on christian science monitor)

Tonight the night skys will have a new visitor passing by its vast display. The Comet Lulin will be passing by the Earth tonight and will be so close that scientists are saying it will be visible by the naked eye for people living in the southeast portions of the United States. Nasa has suggested that the comet will be at about 45 degrees to the horizon at 11pm eastern time.

(image found on newsoxy.com)

There will be alot of astronomers in Texas and Florida bracing to get a look see as the comet comes within 38 million miles of the Earth. The comet has a green color which is being produced by various gases (diatomic carbon and cyanogen) and being illuminated by the Sun creating a glowing effect as it travels through space dropping approximately 800 gallons of water/second.

Observers will be able to view the comet over the next 3 days. The comet was actually discovered in 2007 by a Chinese teenager.

"Lulin got its name from the Lulin Observatory in Taiwan. It will mark its first visit to the inner solar system and its first exposure to intense sunlight. Most planets and objects circle counterclockwise in space, however, Lulin is so unique that it spins clockwise."

"One Astronomer in Florida is hoping to video record the eventful night. David Myers, who spend nearly $2,000 on a telescope and video equipment, works for Harris Corp during the day in Palm Bay, Florida. At night, he tracks the stars and reads about space exploration on the NASA Web site. He is one of thousands of hobby astronomers who will monitor Comet Lulin throughout the evening.

"I bought my first telescope when I was 13-years-old," Myers said. "I've been addicted to the stars ever since."

The astronomer hopes to record a video of the comet and says, "This only happens once in a lifetime. I want to preserve this moment for my grandchildren and for them to treasure it for their children," Myers said. The amateur astronomer plans to submit his work to the YouTube video sharing site."

So the good thing is if you miss the event be sure to search YouTube for peoples clips of the event. Hopefully, the footage will be of a good quality when shot by the various astronomers that are viewing this amazing event.

Comet Lulin poses for NASA's Swift (The Register)
Comet Lulin Illuminates From 38 Million Miles Away (Newsoxy.com)
Comet Lulin arrives tonight - break out your telescopes (Christian Science Monitor)
Comet Lulin Should Be Visible To Naked Eye Monday Night (Alheadnews)

Atlantis found via Google Earth.......

(images found on daily tech)

Last week an associate of mine brought this article to my attention and now its in the news in a bigger way. It turns out that last week Google turned its mapping onto the oceans floors, giving people a chance to now view the deep waters unlike ever before. As people tuned into the water maps, one viewer noticed something interesting off the coast of Africa (at 31 15'15.53N 24 15'30.53W i) about 700 miles off the coasts of Morocco and Portugal.

If you look above at the included image and map you will see that "the blurry image shows a rectangle the size of a small state made up of seemingly perfect straight lines. More lines crisscross the inside of the rectangle like streets.

The site, located in the Madeira Abyssal Plane, is being hailed by some as being possibly the fabled city of Atlantis. It was first discovered by a British aeronautical engineer Bernie Bamford. He states, "It looks like an aerial map of Milton Keynes. It must be man-made."

Google states that the lines are sonar lines based on its imaging techniques, though it could not explain why they stopped or started or featured gaps. Stated a spokesperson, "Bathymetric (or sea floor terrain)data is often collected from boats using sonar to take measurements of the sea floor. The lines reflect the path of the boat as it gathers the data. The fact that there are blank spots between each of these lines is a sign of how little we really know about the world’s oceans."

Based on Google's explanation, a possible alternative is that there are deep trenches in the area, which prevented the sonar from escaping.

However, some oceanographers, geophysicists, and other researchers aren't accepting Google's explanation and insist the image might be the long lost city of Atlantis, a staple of Greek mythology. They point out that the location in Google Earth closely echoes where Greek philosopher Plato claimed Atlantis to be located. Plato had said that Atlantis was 620 miles of Africa's coast, past the Canary Islands. He wrote that the land was home to advanced civilization before earthquake and floods sunk it into the sea around 9,700BC — nearly 12,000 years ago.

Dr Charles Orser, curator of historical archaeology at New York State University says that the discovery is "fascinating". He states, "The site is one of the most prominent places for the proposed location of Atlantis, as described by Plato. Even if it turns out to be geographical, this definitely deserves a closer look."

Given the enthusiasm it seems likely that some will investigate the site further. However, for now the so-called discovery still seems a questionable one at best. It does, however, provide Google's ocean mapping efforts with some nice publicity."

This does seem to be great timing for Google, especially with getting the word out about their new option for searching the waters. This could be a simple coincidence or maybe something else.
Regardless, of what it is, there appears to be something there. We do live in a time now where deep water research is possible. The only thing that could be holding people back might be the cost factor in starting such an endeavor.

I've always felt there was an Atlantis and that we will find it through the writings of the past if we can correctly interpret the information left behind for us to find it.

Google Sinks Atlantis Discovery Buzz (PCWorld)
Google dismisses 'Atlantis find' (BBC News)
Atlantis Claimed to Be Found Using Google Earth, Google Says Otherwise (DailyTech)
UPDATED: Google Ocean watchers may have found Atlantis (TG Daily)

Dean Radin talks at Google on "Science and the Taboo of PSI"

You can click on the photo or this wording to see the video at YouTube/Google

Last month Dean Radin spoke at Google on a great but Taboo subject. I loved listening to this lecture and i felt that readers of OMNI would enjoy it too. You will need to click on the above phototo or link below to get taken to the YouTube/Google link to view it. Google has disabled the embed link for this video clip.

"Google Tech Talks
January, 16 2008

ABSTRACT

Do telepathy, clairvoyance and other "psi" abilities exist? The majority of the general population believes that they do, and yet fewer than one percent of mainstream academic institutions have any faculty known for their interest in these frequently reported experiences. Why is a topic of enduring and widespread interest met with such resounding silence in academia? The answer is not due to a lack of scientific evidence, or even to a lack of scientific interest, but rather involves a taboo. I will discuss the nature of this taboo, some of the empirical evidence and critical responses, and speculate on the implications.

Speaker: Dean Radin
Dean Radin is a researcher and author in the field of parapsychology. He is Senior Scientist at the Institute of Noetic Sciences and four-time former President of the Parapsychological Association. He holds an undergraduate degree in electrical engineering from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and a masters degree in electrical engineering and a doctorate in educational psychology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He has worked at AT&T Bell Labs and GTE Labs, mainly on human factors of advanced telecommunications products and services, and held appointments at Princeton University, Edinburgh University, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, SRI International, Interval Research Corporation, and Boundary Institute. At these facilities he was engaged in basic research on exceptional human capacities, principally psi phenomena."

Yes we can! SAS to elect new Vice President

Every two years SAS has an election for a new Vice President. That person becomes President after two years. At this year's business meeting at the Society for American Archaeology meeting, President Thilo Rehren will step down, and current Vice President Sandra López Varela will take over as our new President. In the meantime, we are due to elect a new Vice President. We plan to have a slate ready for consideration by our members in mid-March. Please let us know if you have suggestions for whom we might consider.

Our officers have the opportunity to forge new directions for our organization. You can read the official responsibilities in our by-laws at the SAS web site.

Get ready for summer field work

Looking for a field opportunity for the summer?
Or do you have one to post? Visit the Archaeological
Institute of America's:
AFOB Online - Archaeological Fieldwork Opportunities Bulletin.

"AFOB online continues to be one of the foremost fieldwork resources. There are over 250 listings for archaeological projects around the world. Each AFOB listing features a project profile window with icons to provide information on the size of the project, age requirements, and academic credit availability. The listings continue to provide in-depth descriptions of the projects and accommodations, as well as bibliographies and other detailed information."

Widows 7 Release Candidate Build date - April 10, 2009

(image found on ARS technica)
There have been a lot of various rumors out there on Windows 7. But, Microsoft is now announcing that if all goes as planned Windows 7 beta users will be able to get the Release Candidate build on April 10, 2009 according to Microsoft.

"Microsoft is currently compiling pre-RC builds of Windows 7, the latest build being 7046. Many beta testers are frustrated that they have not received a build since build 7000, which was released to everyone on January 9, 2009.

When Ars asked Sinofsky if Microsoft Connect testers as well as MSDN and TechNet subscribers will get the RC before the public, Sinofsky told me no: "The build will be available broadly."

Sinofsky has also been talking to Geeksmack, sending them an e-mail yesterday dispelling the buzz that Microsoft wasn't paying attention to what testers were saying: "We have received an amazing amount of feedback, many suggestions for new features too, during the beta—over 500,000 suggestions just from the Send Feedback button (which is only one of many feedback mechanisms). Putting that in perspective it is 500 suggestions for each and every developer on the Windows team, just since beta!" That is a lot of feedback to go through, and it looks like Sinofsky is up to the challenge."
(image found on Amazon.com)
So it looks like the Windows 7 release is getting closer and closer. I have had Windows 7 installed on a Samsung NC10-14GB 10.2-Inch Netbook (1.6 GHz Intel Atom Processor, 2 GB RAM, 160 GB Hard Drive, 6 Cell Battery) Blue and it works great. I installed an assortment of various utilities and programs on the machine too so i can see if this version of windows will work or flop. So far it works great.
Granted its not as fast as my desktop or my full sized Lenovo x300. But, for the tasks I've been using it for, the machine works great with Windows 7. I think these netbooks that are now coming on the market are a great idea and they do perform well for basic computer use.
I look forward to seeing how the Release Candidate will perform on it as opposed to the beta since things do change from one version to the other, that i saw in Vista and it wasn't pleasent.

Rumor: public to get Windows 7 RC build on April 10, 2009 (ARS technica)