To Create Jobs, Stop Destroying Jobs

With unemployment stuck around 10 percent, President Obama has pledged "to take every responsible step to accelerate the pace of job growth." Here's a thought: Instead of trying to "create" jobs by tweaking this tax break or increasing that spending program, why not stop doing things that destroy jobs?

The author of that incredibly sensible view, Charles Lange of the Washington Post editorial staff, suggests three specifics:

End federal protectionism and price supports for sugar.

Repeal the Davis-Bacon Act. ... This law requires employers to pay the "prevailing" local wage on federally funded projects.

Reduce the federal minimum wage.

And if we start thinking this way, we can find other good examples.  For example, we could eliminate professional licensure in medicine, law, and other occupations.

No Point Hiding Your Tattoos Now Crims, as Scientists Can See Right Through Them [Infrared]

And you thought turning your "terrorism 4 eva" tattoo into "terrariums 4 eva" would stop you getting caught. Scientists are working on a new infrared camera that can detect adapted tattoos, which will help recognize crafty criminals.

Supposedly if the tattoo has changed, either by laser removal, adding more ink or even surgery, the infrared cameras can pick up on the change, and actually illustrate what the original design once looked like. It'd prove invaluable for detectives seeking criminals who may've tried disguising themselves, though reports of cameras detecting wigs and fake mustaches are still sadly unfounded. [TechRadar]



HTC Legend Creeps Out Again, Looks Even More Like The Hero Than We First Thought [Android]

That HTC Legend handset from the leaked roadmap we saw the other week has just been given another airing in public, with the Hero-esque aesthetics and specs revealed. LED flash, anyone?

Part of the "Lifestyle" range of phones HTC is cooking up, the Legend will contain a Qualcomm MSM7227 processor, which was revealed earlier this year for budget (sub-$150) smartphones. It'll be fast, but it's no Snapdragon, with the CPU clocking in at 600MHz. Internal memory is listed at 512MB with 256MB RAM, and the battery is a 1300 mAh floozy—again, nothing special, with the Hero having a 1500 mAh battery.

A 3.2-inch HVGA AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, 5.0-megapixel camera with autofocus and LED flash (a one-up on the Hero, there), microSD slot, Bluetooth 2.1, GPS, G-sensor, digital compass, 3.5mm headphone jack and microUSB port round the Legend off nicely, but it's only the addition of an optical trackpad and LED flash which are the main differences between this and the Hero. Supposedly it'll launch in March according to Ai.rs, and the leaked roadmap of launches. I've still got one more question for HTC—will the bottom of the chin actually be red or green? [Ai.rs]



A splash of colour

Stunning male Bluethroat on Brownsman in mid-May
As rare as they come - a Black-headed Bunting in mid-September

A rarity on the Farnes - a Moorhen with Puffins!

Eastern promise - a summer-plumage Red-throated Pipit
Your can't see me - a Barred Warbler on Staple Island
Five Yellow-browed Warblers graced the islands this year
Monday 14th December comments:
The festive period is upon us and to continue the overview of the season, I though I'd bring you a splash of colour with some of the bird highlights of the year. It was another good year for the range of migrants which were recorded on the Farne Islands, as 178 were recorded with the outer group edging the inner group by 159 to 158 for the total number of species seen. Without doubt, three stunning highlights captured the headlines, as the islands boasted only their second ever (and twelfth English) record of Lanceolated Warbler in late September, with fifth Fea’s Petrel and Black-headed Bunting, all three worthy contenders for ‘bird of the year’.

Although spring passage was disappointing compared with the previous season’s impressive showing, the islands produced their sixth and seventh Red-throated Pipits, both on Brownsman in late April and mid-May respectively. As well as the outstanding rarities, other birds of note included Spoonbill, Balearic Shearwater (2), Cory’s Shearwater (3), Leaches Petrel, Storm Petrel (10), Garganey, Osprey, Marsh Harrier (3), Hen Harrier, Quail (2),Wood Sandpiper, Spotted Redshank, Grey Phalarope, Glaucous Gull, Iceland Gull, Mediterranean Gull (4), Sabine’s Gull, Long-eared Owl, Wryneck, Cuckoo (3), ‘Blue-headed’ Wagtail (2), Richard’s Pipit (2), Bluethroat (2), Barred Warbler, Icterine Warbler, Yellow-browed Warbler (5), Red-breasted Flycatcher (2), Firecrest (4), Red-backed Shrike, Hooded Crow, Common Rosefinch, Common Redpoll, Crossbill (6) and Ortolan Bunting. I'm sure a lot of east coast locations would be proud of such a list!

WISE Ready to Soar Into Space

The tower around the Delta II rocket carrying WISE has been rolled back
A United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket with WISE tucked in its nose cone. Image credit: United Launch Alliance
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All systems are "Go" for the Monday morning launch attempt of NASA'S Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The weather forecast calls for 80-percent favorable conditions at launch time. A tower around the rocket that will boost WISE to space was rolled back tonight. WISE is safely tucked inside the rocket's nose cone.

The launch window opens at 6:09:33 a.m. PST (9:09:33 a.m. EST). The WISE space telescope will scan the whole sky in infrared light, uncovering hidden cosmic objects, like the coolest stars, dark asteroids and the most luminous galaxies.

More information is online at http://www.nasa.gov/wise and http://wise.astro.ucla.edu and http://jpl.nasa.gov/wise.



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Local High School Wins Invention Challenge


Students study an entry in the 2009 Invention Challenge

Crescenta Valley High School, located several miles from JPL, picked up top honors at the annual Invention Challenge, held today at JPL.

The event drew more than 200 students and teachers representing 11 schools from throughout Southern California. This year's challenge was to build the most efficient cardboard or paper bridge capable of carrying several pounds of bricks.

A total of 20 student teams competed side-by-side with nine JPL teams of engineers. Crescenta Valley High teams captured first, second and third place honors. The winning JPL team was Richard Goldstein, while second place went to David Van Buren and third place to Brant Cook.

Each year the rules change but the result is the same: Students get a better appreciation that math, science and engineering can be fun.

The requirements were that the bridges be made of cardboard or paper products, use reasonable amounts of glue, span a 1.2-meter (48-inch) gap, and have a width of no more than 45.7 centimeters (18 inches). The bridges carried standard-sized bricks (between one and 44) that weighed about 2.42 kilograms (5.35 pounds) each.



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Freezing WISE’s Hydrogen

Freezing WISE's Hydrogen
A scaffolding structure built around NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, allows engineers to freeze its hydrogen coolant. The WISE infrared instrument is kept extremely cold by a bottle-like tank filled with frozen hydrogen, called the cryostat. The cryostat can be seen at the top of the spacecraft.


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Guide to the International Space Station Laboratory Racks Interactive

The International Space Station’s coordinate system
Image above: The International Space Station’s coordinate system. Credit: NASA
The International Space Station hosts astronauts, gear and science from around the world. Three laboratories from Europe, Japan and the United States bring them all together for the most advanced research and development. More than 150 experiments involving researchers from around the world are active at any given time.

While the space station is the most advanced spacecraft ever built, its coordinate system is labeled like any sea-faring vessel on Earth using traditional nautical terms. Understanding this coordinate system will help you use this interactive and understand the relative positions of the onboard experiment facilities.

The orbiting laboratory’s left and right sides are designated as port and starboard respectively. The rear of the station is the aft section where the Russian Zvezda service module is located. The front of the station, where the U.S. Harmony module is located, is labeled the forward section. The side of the station facing the Earth is the deck and the opposite side is the overhead.

Inside the station’s three international laboratory modules are numerous racks that support science, environmental and electrical systems. Depending on which side the laboratory is facing in the station’s coordinate system the racks’ locations are labeled using nautical terms. The International Space Station Laboratory Racks interactive depicts these racks and their locations inside the orbiting lab.

> View Interactive

The Columbus laboratory is on the station’s port side and the Kibo laboratory is on the starboard side. Their labs are set up with the racks in the aft, forward and overhead, deck configuration. Both labs are attached to the U.S. Harmony node which is in the forward section of the space station.

The U.S. Destiny laboratory is just behind the Harmony Node. Its racks are set up in the port, starboard and overhead, deck configuration.


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Seagate’s Momentus Thin Drive is the World’s Thinnest 2.5" Netbook Drive [Hdd]

At a mere 7 millimeters in height, Seagate's Momentus Thin drive will be the slimmest 2.5" hard drive on the market. Not only that, but supposedly it will also be one of the lowest-priced storage options for ultra-portables and netbooks.

We don't have details as to exactly how much these drives will cost or when we'll be seeing them in our computers, but we do know that they're shipping to Seagate's OEM and integrator partners at the very beginning of 2010. If the Momentus Thin lives up to all its claims, then its 160GB and 250GB capacities should be a rather attractive option for netbooks. Definitely something to keep an eye on next year.

SEAGATE UNVEILS WORLD'S THINNEST 2.5-INCH HARD DRIVE FOR SLIM LAPTOP COMPUTERS

SCOTTS VALLEY, Calif. - December 14, 2009 - Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX) today announced the Momentus® Thin drive, the world's thinnest 2.5-inch hard disk drive for ultra-portable and entry-level laptops, high-end netbooks, backup devices and consumer electronics. At a wafer-thin 7mm in height – 25 percent slimmer than traditional 9.5mm 2.5-inch laptop hard drives – the Momentus Thin drive gives original equipment manufacturers (OEM) and system integrators significantly lower cost-per-gigabyte storage than solid state and 1.8-inch drives, enabling a new breed of entry-level thin laptops.

Of all netbook computers available today, 90 percent feature 9.5mm 2.5-inch laptop drives because solid state and 1.8-inch hard drives are largely cost-prohibitive for this market. The Momentus Thin drive provides the lowest-cost storage for netbooks and thin laptops, enabling computer makers to offer systems that reach a broader market.

"The Momentus® Thin drive promises to help computer makers differentiate on mobile-computing form factor and better compete in the fast-growing markets for thin laptop PCs and netbooks," said Dave Mosley, executive vice president of Sales, Marketing and Product Line Management at Seagate. "Seagate is committed to helping its OEM and system integrator partners meet market demand for thinner laptop PCs and plans to expand storage capabilities for thin laptops as demand for these slimmer models continues to grow."

The Momentus Thin drive rivals traditional 2.5-inch laptop drives in performance and power-efficiency, enabling thin-chassis designs in all segments of notebook computing and allowing OEMs both to design in greater value on high-end netbooks for easier upselling and to create a wider value differentiation between consumer and commercial laptop PCs. The Momentus Thin drive features two capacity points – 250GB and 160GB – an 8MB cache, a Serial ATA 3Gb/second interface and a 5400RPM spin speed. The drive is scheduled to ship to Seagate's OEM and integrator partners in January 2010.

The Seagate® Momentus® family now helps laptop makers give home and business users a sweeping upgrade path – from netbooks, often purchased as introductory, low-cost laptop PCs strictly for emailing and Internet surfing, to notebooks offering mainstream business and consumer applications, to feature-rich, high-performance laptops, all in standard-size and the increasingly popular thin models. Seagate Momentus 5400RPM and 7200RPM hard drives in the traditional 9.5mm height combine the industry's broadest feature set – including self-encryption, FIPS 140-2 certification and free-fall sensors – with up to 640GB of capacity, fast 3Gb/second Serial ATA interface speeds, cache sizes as large as 16MB, and among the highest hard drive shock-tolerance, acoustics and reliability specifications for entry-level, mainstream and high-performance laptops.

[Seagate]