Monthly Archives: January 2010

I have arrived as a skeptic, part 2 | Bad Astronomy

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sgu_logoThe Skeptic’s Guide to the Universe is one of my favorite podcasts. It’s funny, informative, goofy, but most importantly goes right to the heart of a lot of issues important to the critical thinker.

I’ve done a lot of interviews with them, and sometimes they call me at the last minute when there’s some breaking astronomy news. So a couple of weeks ago I wasn’t too surprised when Steve Novella sent me a note asking if I could record with them that evening for their annual year-end wrapup episode.

What did surprise me is why they wanted me on: the SGU listeners had voted for me as Skeptic of the Year!

Well, wow! I was really floored when they told me this during the interview. It was totally unexpected, and quite an honor. I made some jokes about it in the interview, but now that I’ve had some time to think about it, I want to reiterate how honored I am. It was a great year for skepticism and skeptics themselves, with Simon Singh publicly defending himself from craven chiropractors who tried to sue him into silence, Amy Wallace writing about antivaxxers in Wired magazine, the Australian Skeptics heroically taking on (and being attacked by) the awful antivax guru Meryl Dorey, Randi publicly fighting his cancer with medical science, and so many more.

In that company, I stand paradoxically humbled and proud. My sincere thanks to everyone who cast their vote my way on the SGU forums.

I always really like the SGU year-end wrapup; it’s fun to listen in on the rogues reminiscing on the past year. This one in particular is a great episode. Here’s a direct link to the MP3 of the show, and if you don’t already subscribe to SGU, then go do it now!


NASA Supports President’s Summer Of Innovation

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President Barack Obama annouces the Summer of Innovation at the White House on Jan. 06, 2010NASA has launched an initiative to use its out-of-this-world missions and technology programs to boost summer learning, particularly for underrepresented students across the nation. NASA's Summer of Innovation supports President Obama's Educate to Innovate campaign for excellence in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM, education.
› Transcript: President Obama's Remarks?

The Summer of Innovation program will work with thousands of middle school teachers and students during multi-week programs in the summer of 2010 to engage students in stimulating math and science-based education programs. NASA's goal is to increase the number of future scientists, mathematicians, and engineers, with an emphasis on broadening participation of low-income, minority students.

"This is an incredible opportunity for our administration to come together to address our nation's critical science, technology, engineering and math education needs," said NASA Administrator and former astronaut Charles F. Bolden. "Through Summer of Innovation, NASA is calling on our financial and human resources to align with federal, state, and local governments, nonprofit partners, universities and teachers to expand the opportunity for more of our young people to aspire to and engage in the future prosperity of our nation."

Through competitive cooperative agreements to states, and partnerships with companies and nonprofits, NASA will use its substantial STEM assets -- including the agency's scientists and engineers -- to create multi-week summer learning programs.

"NASA's Summer of Innovation will increase the scope and scale of the agency's commitment to a robust program of STEM education opportunities," said Joyce Winterton, assistant administrator for education at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

President Barack Obama helps a student with a science experiment in Summer 2009The Summer of Innovation pilot will infuse NASA content and products into existing, evidence-based summer learning programs at the state level coupled with design competitions and events open to students and teachers nationwide. The program will culminate in a national event, in partnership with other departments and agencies.

NASA will use the Summer of Innovation as a catalyst to expand, align, and strengthen existing state-based networks. Awardees will be expected to implement the Summer of Innovation program and services during 2010 through the strategic infusion of NASA content and products into existing, evidence-based summer learning programs. The pilot program will seek to improve STEM performance for a diverse population of students, placing them on a trajectory to pursue further studies in STEM fields throughout their education.

Contingent upon the availability of funding, NASA intends to competitively select district partnerships in up to seven states to pilot the Summer of Innovation during 2010. Awards will have a period of performance of 36 months. Local programs will be required to develop ways to keep students and teachers engaged during the school year and to track student participants' performance through 2012. Awardees will be encouraged to leverage the unique capabilities and resources of program partners to ensure a sustainable effort following the period of performance.

NASA will use the agency's National Space Grant College and Fellowship Program to implement the Summer of Innovation pilot. The Space Grant national network includes more than 850 affiliates from universities, colleges, industry, museums, science centers, and state and local agencies supporting and enhancing science and engineering education, research and public outreach efforts for NASA's aeronautics and space projects. These affiliates belong to one of 52 consortia in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.

Space Grant applications will be selected based on alignment with Summer of Innovation goals and objectives. Accordingly, NASA has determined that submitters for this opportunity must be Space Grant Lead Institutions, and only one proposal per state will be accepted.

The Summer of Innovation Notice of Intent will be available online at 3 p.m. EST at http://nspires.nasaprs.com and http://www.grants.gov.

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Planets Can Form Around Hefty Stars

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This artist's conception shows a Jupiter-sized planet forming from a disk of dust and gas surrounding a young, massive star.
This artist's conception shows a Jupiter-sized planet forming from a disk of dust and gas surrounding a young, massive star. The planet's gravity has cleared a gap in the disk. Of more than 500 stars examined in the W5 star-forming region, 15 show evidence of central clearing that may be due to forming planets.
Most searches for planets around other stars, also known as exoplanets, focus on sun-like stars. Those searches have proven successful, turning up more than 400 alien worlds. However, sun-like stars aren't the only potential homes for planets. New research from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope and the Two Micron All-Sky Survey confirms that planet formation is a natural by-product of star formation, even around stars much heftier than the sun.

For more details, please go to http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/news/2010/pr201001.html .

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Galaxy History Revealed in Colorful Hubble View

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Hubble mosaic image of thousands of galaxies NASA, ESA, R. Windhorst, S. Cohen, and M. Mechtley (Arizona State University, Tempe), R. O'Connell (University of Virginia), P. McCarthy (Carnegie Observatories), N. Hathi (University of California, Riverside), R. Ryan (University of California, Davis), and H. Yan (Ohio State University). Photo No. STScI-PRC10-01
 › Larger image

More than 12 billion years of cosmic history are shown in this unprecedented, panoramic, full-color view of thousands of galaxies in various stages of assembly.

This image, taken by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, was made from mosaics taken in September and October 2009 with the newly installed Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) and in 2004 with the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS). The view covers a portion of the southern field of a large galaxy census called the Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey (GOODS), a deep-sky study by several observatories to trace the evolution of galaxies.

The final image combines a broad range of colors, from the ultraviolet, through visible light, and into the near-infrared. Such a detailed multi-color view of the universe has never before been assembled at such a level of clarity, accuracy, and depth.

Hubble's sharp resolution and new color versatility, produced by combining data from the two cameras, is allowing astronomers to sort out the various stages of galaxy formation. The image reveals galaxy shapes that appear increasingly chaotic at each earlier epoch, as galaxies grew through accretion, collisions, and mergers. The galaxies range from the mature spirals and ellipticals in the foreground, to smaller, fainter, irregularly shaped galaxies, most of which are farther away, and therefore existed farther back in time. These smaller galaxies are considered the building blocks of the larger galaxies we see today.

Astronomers are using this multi-color panorama to trace many details of galaxy evolution over cosmic time, including the star-formation rate in galaxies, the rate of mergers among galaxies, and the abundance of weak active galactic nuclei.

The image shows a rich tapestry of 7,500 galaxies stretching back through most of the universe's history. The closest galaxies seen in the foreground emitted their observed light about a billion years ago. The farthest galaxies, a few of the very faint red specks, are seen as they appeared more than 13 billion years ago, or roughly 650 million years after the Big Bang. This mosaic spans a slice of space that is equal to about a third of the diameter of the full Moon (10 arc minutes).

The new Hubble view highlights a wide variety of stages in the galaxy assembly process. Ultraviolet light taken by WFC3 shows the blue glow of hot, young stars in galaxies teeming with star birth. The orange light reveals the final buildup of massive galaxies about 8 to 10 billion years ago. The near-infrared light displays the red glow of very distant galaxies -- in a few cases as far as 12 billion to 13 billion light-years away-whose light has been stretched, like a toy Slinky, from ultraviolet light to longer -- wavelength infrared light due to the expansion of the universe.

In this ambitious use of Hubble's observing time, astronomers used 100 Hubble orbits to make the ACS optical observations of this slice of the GOODS field and 104 orbits to make the WFC3 ultraviolet and near-infrared exposures. WFC3 peered deeper into the universe in this study than comparable near-infrared observations from ground-based telescopes. This set of unique new Hubble observations reveals galaxies to about 27th magnitude in brightness.

The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between NASA and the European Space Agency. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center manages the telescope. The Space Telescope Science Institute conducts Hubble science operations. The institute is operated for NASA by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc. in Washington.

Related Link

› Related images and information from Hubblesite.org

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NASA’s WISE Eye Spies First Glimpse of the Starry Sky

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Infrared snapshot of a region in the constellation Carina near the Milky Way taken shortly after NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) ejected its cover.

NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, has captured its first look at the starry sky that it will soon begin surveying in infrared light.

Launched on Dec. 14, WISE will scan the entire sky for millions of hidden objects, including asteroids, "failed" stars and powerful galaxies. WISE data will serve as navigation charts for other missions, such as NASA's Hubble and Spitzer Space Telescopes, pointing them to the most interesting targets the mission finds.

A new WISE infrared image was taken shortly after the space telescope's cover was removed, exposing the instrument's detectors to starlight for the first time. The picture shows about 3,000 stars in the Carina constellation and can be viewed online at http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/WISE/multimedia/wise20100106.html .

The image covers a patch of sky about three times larger than the full moon, and was presented today at the 215th meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Washington. The patch was selected because it does not contain any unusually bright objects, which could damage instrument detectors if observed for too long. The picture was taken while the spacecraft was staring at a fixed patch of sky and is being used to calibrate the spacecraft's pointing system.

When the WISE survey begins, the spacecraft will scan the sky continuously as it circles the globe, while an internal scan mirror counteracts its motion. This allows WISE to take "freeze-frame" snapshots every 11 seconds, resulting in millions of images of the entire sky.

"Right now, we are busy matching the rate of the scan mirror to the rate of the spacecraft, so we will capture sharp pictures as our telescope sweeps across the sky," said William Irace, the mission's project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.

To sense the infrared glow of stars and galaxies, the WISE spacecraft cannot give off any detectable infrared light of its own. This is accomplished by chilling the telescope and detectors to ultra-cold temperatures. The coldest of WISE's detectors will operate at less than 8 Kelvin, or minus 445 degrees Fahrenheit.

The first sky survey will be complete in six months, followed by a second scan of one-half of the sky lasting three months. The mission ends when the frozen hydrogen that keeps the instrument cold evaporates away, an event expected to occur in October 2010.

Preliminary survey images are expected to be released six months later, in April 2011, with the final atlas and catalog coming 11 months later, in March 2012. Selected images will be released to the public beginning in February 2010.

JPL manages WISE for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The mission was competitively selected under NASA's Explorers Program, managed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. The science instrument was built by the Space Dynamics Laboratory in Logan, Utah, and the spacecraft was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. in Boulder, Colo. Science operations and data processing take place at the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

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

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Who Says Being Snowed in Is No Fun? There’s Always Online Adultery | Discoblog

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snowedInIt snowed and snowed and snowed in Britain this week, enough that many people in the country got stuck at home. But some of those people still had a good time. A Web site intended to help restless married people meet one another called IllicitEncounters.com reports a surge in new members over the last few days—more than 2,500 in the last six days—particularly from areas hit hard by the wintry weather, like Hampshire and Berkshire. From Reuters:

“In light of these figures, I’d be interested to see how much work those ‘working from home’ have actually done,” IlicitEncounters.com spokeswoman Sara Hartley said in a statement.

“Perhaps these wives and husbands have just been waiting for a time when they could join, away from the eyes of their work colleagues and, most importantly, their partners…”

Hartley reports that IlicitEncounters.com has taken on extra workers to meet the rush. Apparently, adultery is about the only thing driving job growth anymore.

Related Content:
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DISCOVER: The Real Dirty Secret About Sex

Image: flickr / spratmackrel


Welcome to 2010

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So if there is one thing I have learned it is that the future doesn’t just come. It has to be built, dream by dream, gadget by gadget, conversation by conversation.

I got over the disappointment of 2000, the 2000 I had been waiting for since I was about 8. No flying cars, no exclusively silver wardrobes, no weekend trips to space. But what I took away was a resolve to get everyone excited not just about The Future but about being part of the group of people who are building the future. That is who we are. Never forget that. We are the music makers and the dreamers of dreams. We are the architects of a future for our species that inspires us. We build because we can, because it is our favorite game. It is not a better game than the players of the sports games, or the money game or even the video game. It is merely the one that we find the most fun. (So let’s play!)

So it seems the way to win is not only to build the most outrageous, the most exciting, the most impactful, the most inspiring future, but also to make sure that we are having fun doing it. After all that is why we picked this game- it was more fun for us than race car driving, or organic farming, or brain surgery. So the next time you are discouraged by bureaucracy, or frustrated by people who ‘don’t get it’, or at your wits end with your own seeming lack of progress. Remember, we picked this because it was fun and let the challenges and the struggles and the set backs be part of the game, just like you would in Super Mario Brothers, or Zelda, or Guitar Hero. After all if you just went back a level and got the magic sword, you probably could beat the dragon this time…and that would be fun wouldn’t it?

So this 1st week of the new shiny year, think of your life as a video game that you just took out of the package. Play it with vigor, play it with valor and with creativity, but most importantly make sure you are having fun.

I have arrived as a skeptic | Bad Astronomy

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I’ve been a skeptic a long time, maybe 25 years or more now. It didn’t happen all at once, though there have been sudden world-shift moments for me. I’ve been an active skeptic — outspoken, that is, willing to talk about this stuff — for about 10 years now.

But now, finally, I feel that I have arrived at the Holy Grail of skepticism: a goofball antiscience promoter has quote mined me.

Quote mining is a tradition among the antireality crowd: they find something a scientist has said, and then leave out certain words, or edit out the context, making it look like the quote is the opposite of what the actual intention was. Creationists are notorious for this, but others do it as well.

On a bulletin board site called Christian Forums, there is a user who goes by the name "Agonaces of Susa", and this person has the usual antiscience CV stocked with creationism and such, but also, apparently, is a supporter of Velikovsky’s ridiculous and long-ago-debunked claims about astronomy.

For those of you who are happily unaware, Immanuel Velikovsky wrote a series of books decades ago saying that the events in the Bible were literally true, and caused by various astronomical things like planets careening around the solar system like billiard balls, interacting in impossible ways, and doing many impossible things. He’d have been better off just saying those were all miracles of God, but still, a lot of people swallowed his nonsense whole. It’s mostly dead now, with just a few reality-denying holdouts. I wrote a chapter in my first book, Bad Astronomy, dealing with the Velikovsky affair.

In this post on the forums, AoS says this little gem:

You trust the pseudoscientist Phil Plait that, these are his words, “Magnetism is…a joke in astronomy”?

Wow! That makes it seem like astronomers are idiots, doesn’t it? As if we don’t believe in magnetism at all, and that we think it has no role in astophysics. But wait! Look at what he wrote. It has the magic wand of quote mining pseudoscience: the ellipsis! That means he left something out of what I said. And so what was it he left out?

Magnetism is a very important topic in astrophysics (despite some pseudoscientists lying and saying this force is ignored), but it’s not well-understood. It’s fiendishly complex, so much so that it’s a joke in astronomy: when giving a colloquium about an astronomical object’s weird features, saying it’s due to magnetism will always get a chuckle out of an audience. And it’s a standard joke that if you want to derail a talk, ask the speaker about the effects of magnetism. In three dimensions, magnetism is ferociously difficult to model.

I bolded the part that was quote mined, and as you can see, AoS completely took out of context what I was saying. He also misinterprets what I said about Velikovsky. While I did say that Velikovsky was wrong about everything, I meant that he was wrong about his science. Sure, he said Venus would be hot, but the reason he said it would be hot was completely wrong (Velikovsky claimed it was ejected whole from Jupiter, which is about the wrongest wrong you can ever wrongly wrongify). Even if you drop a shotgun you might have one pellet hit the target, but that ain’t skill.

That thread on the forum goes on and on, and AoS is joined by others who appear to willfully misunderstand what I’m saying, or at least pick and choose from what I’ve said to make it look like I’m wrong. That might work for the flock (or the Simpsons), but the rest of the world sees right through them.

But will these people listen? Of course not! Because this is their arguing tactic:

lalalala_beavercanthearyou

Still, it’s an honor to have been quote mined. Thank you, gentlemen, for reminding me just why I fight this fight every single day.


Tiny Gateway EC Series Ultraportables Find Room For An Optical Drive [Ultraportables]

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Ultraportables and netbooks with an optical drive are a rare breed. But Gateway did manage to cram a DVD drive into their 11.6-inch EC14D while keeping the overall weight at about 3.5 pounds.

Beside the optical drive, the EC14D features a 1.3GHz Intel Ultra Low Voltage processor, 320GB HDD, up to 8GB of RAM, HDMI port, webcam, card reader and Windows 7 Home Premium for $630. It's not as cheap and small as a netbook, but I think ultraportables like this one offer a better balance of functionality and portability. Expect to see it on store shelves starting this month.

Gateway EC Series of Ultraportables Gets New Model with Integrated DVD

Stylish and Slim, the Gateway EC14D is an Ultraportable Entertainer; New Gateway EC58 Models Are Sleek and Slim with an Impressive 15.6-inch Display

IRVINE, Calif.—(BUSINESS WIRE)—The new Gateway EC Series ultraportable notebook PC line is expanded today with new EC14D configurations that include an integrated DVD drive – a feature that is rarely found on compact notebooks with an 11.6-inch widescreen display.

"The integrated DVD drive in such a compact device will be a huge benefit for customers who want the flexibility to enjoy and share different movies, music, photos and more stored on a DVD or CD."

The addition of an integrated DVD drive makes the popular EC14D line even more feature-rich for students, families and anyone on the go. Designed to be the ultimate line for mobile enthusiasts, the new ultraportable line comes in a very portable form factor that weighs only 3.55 pounds so it's easy to take on the go in a book bag or backpack.

"Customers understand how convenient it is to have a notebook PC that is portable enough to take nearly anywhere to stay connected and have fun – and the new EC14 brings a new element of entertainment to customers with the ability to watch DVD movies, play games on CD and DVD and more," said John Nguyen, product marketing manager for Acer America. "The integrated DVD drive in such a compact device will be a huge benefit for customers who want the flexibility to enjoy and share different movies, music, photos and more stored on a DVD or CD."

The 8X Super Multi double-layer DVD drive lets customers read all types of DVD and CD media, so they can enjoy popular movies and games while on the go, as well as have access to music files and photos for downloading and sharing on websites.

Optimized for Mobile Connectivity

Savvy mobile PC users will appreciate that the new Gateway EC14D ultraportable was designed from the ground up to deliver the maximum battery life for on-the-go computing. Available with a 6-cell battery, the Gateway EC14D notebook line provides battery life of up to eight hours, so customers can use it nearly all day to stay in touch.(1) As a result, customers reduce their energy consumption since they go longer without having to recharge.

Poised to take advantage of this extra battery uptime, the Gateway EC14D notebooks come with the latest in connectivity – a reliable and far-reaching 802.11 b/g/N Wi-Fi connection. With it, customers can access hot spots at restaurants, coffee shops, hotels and at airports in order to browse the news, check weather, reply to email and stay connected.

Abundant Features and Technology Packed into a Compact Design

Small business owners and professionals who want to remain productive on-the-go will find the Gateway EC14 ultraportable notebook the ideal choice for them. The large 11.6-inch HD TFT LCD display delivers a 1366x768 resolution for crisp and clear visuals. Its large size relative to the form factor gives plenty of room for viewing multiple applications and documents while also making room for a full-sized keyboard for typing with ease.

Customers can use the built-in webcam to record video and photos and post them to video and photo sharing sites, blogs and social networks like Facebook and YouTube. Customers can also stay in touch via video chat, while enjoying excellent voice quality with reduced background noise through the built-in digital microphone.

Powered by an Intel® Ultra Low Voltage Pentium® Dual Core processor, the Gateway EC14D line is ready to take on web browsing, movie viewing and running everyday applications. Also, the notebooks come with a 320GB hard drive, a multi-in-1 media card reader and 4GB of memory that may be upgraded to 8GB (requires two 4GB modules).

The sleek, modern design captures the essence of mobile computing, while details such as rounded edges, engraved logo and silver trim make the design even more eye-catching. The textured palm rest provides a comfortable hand rest for consumers.

Gateway EC14D models come with Windows 7 Home Premium, which makes mobile computing more reliable and responsive, enhancing the user experience. In addition, the Gateway EC notebook line is Energy Star qualified.

Configurations, Pricing and Availability

The Gateway EC14D will be available later this month at leading retailers starting at a manufacturer's suggested retail price of $629.99.

Gateway EC14D07u:

* Intel® Pentium® ULV Processor SU4100 (1.3GHz, 2MB L2 cache, 800MHz FSB)
* Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit)
* 11.6-inch HD Widescreen Ultrabright LED-backlit TFT LCD (1366 x 768 resolution, 16:9 aspect ratio)
* Mobile Intel®GS45 Express Chipset
* Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD
* 4096MB DDR2 Dual-Channel 667MHz memory upgradeable to 8GB
* 320GB(2) 5400RPM SATA hard drive
* Integrated 8X Super-Multi DVD player
* Integrated webcam
* Multi-in-1 digital media card reader
* Intel® Wi-Fi Link 1000 802.11b/g/Draft-N WiFi CERTIFIED® featuring MIMO technology
* Gigabit Ethernet LAN
* Three USB 2.0 ports
* HDMI port
* Multi-Gesture Touchpad
* Standard 6-cell Li-ion (5600 mAh) Battery
* 3.55 lbs.
* 11.49" (W) x 1.12" to 1.18" (H) x 8.33" (D)

Full Productivity and Entertainment in a Lightweight Design and Large 15.6-inch Display

In addition to the new Gateway EC14D with integrated DVD drive, Gateway is offering new models in the rest of its EC Series notebook lines. The larger Gateway EC58 notebooks are thin and light enough to take anywhere with a slim one-inch profile, yet they have a large 15.6-inch LED-backlit display that features a 16:9 aspect ratio and 1366 x 768 (WXGA) pixel resolution.

Like all the EC Series notebooks, the EC58 provide outstanding battery life and communications. The high-capacity 6-cell Li-ion battery on these models gives users up to eight hours of uptime,(1) while integrated 802.11b/g Draft-N wireless provides a reliable untethered connection to hotspots and wireless networks. Further enhancing battery life and providing excellent performance, the EC58 notebooks use ultra-low voltage Intel® Core™ 2 Duo and Pentium® Dual-Core processors.

The new Gateway EC58 models will be available later this month at a manufacturer's suggested retail price starting at $649.99.

Gateway Limited Warranty, Service and Support

The Gateway EC Series notebook PCs are backed by a one year warranty.(3) Gateway's commitment to quality and reliability is evident in its award-winning line of PCs as well as in its exceptional service and support programs. In addition to the company's standard limited warranty options, its extensive online support center helps customers maximize their PC investment; it gives them easy access to customer support representatives and information on important issues such as warranties, technical issues and upgrading.(4)

About Gateway

Since its founding in 1985, Irvine, Calif.-based Gateway has been a technology pioneer, offering award-winning products and world-class service to customers worldwide. Gateway is a wholly owned subsidiary of Acer Inc., the world's third-largest PC company. See http://www.gateway.com for more information.

All offers subject to change without notice or obligation and may not be available through all sales channels. Prices listed are manufacturer suggested retail prices and may vary by retail location. Applicable taxes extra. ©2008 Gateway, Inc. Gateway Terms & Conditions of Sale apply. Trademarks used herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of Gateway, Inc. in the United States and other countries. Intel and Core are trademarks or registered trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries. Other product or service names mentioned herein are the trademarks of their respective owners.
(1) Your computer's battery life may vary depending on product specifications, computer settings, and applications or features launched. Gateway Power Save button must be enabled to achieve the 8+ hours. All batteries' maximum capacity diminishes with time and use.
(2) Accessible capacity varies; MB = 1 million bytes; GB = 1 billion bytes.
(3) Service methods subject to change without notice or obligation.
(4) Limited warranties and service agreements apply; visit gateway.com or call 1-800-846-2000 for a free copy. Service agreements are issued and performed by third parties. May not be available in all locations. Availability varies. Other conditions apply.

[Engadget]



Please Send "Gordo" Fullerton Your Get Well Wishes

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"Gordo is still in ICU at UCLA Medical Center from the massive (right sided) stroke he suffered last week, and probably will be for another two weeks or so; then hopefully he will have the ventilator removed and move to a regular room. He is responding on demand (i.e. if they ask him to hold up a certain number of fingers he can ... he's also giving a lot of 'thumbs up'), however he cannot speak yet due to the ventilator. He was in very good health before the stroke, so hopefully this will help him recover fully. She said it's just really too early to predict the outcome.

Marie hardly leaves his bedside and sounded very strong, but of course is worried as we all are. Many of you have asked what you can do - she said Gordo likes receiving cards and emails (he can't receive packages in ICU, but will be able to once they move him). You may send cards to their house (44046 28th Street West Lancaster, CA 93536-6026), she goes home every 3 days or so to check the mail. You may also email his son Andy at Andrewfullerton - at - sbcglobal.com which he will receive at the hospital. Marie asked that you copy her at mgfullerton - at - verizon.net , as she reads these to him. - Linn LeBlanc, Executive Director, Astronaut Scholarship Foundation"

Earthquake Spotting Comes to Twitter, Courtesy of USGS [Earthquakes]

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San Andreas fault fans, there's a new TED in town. The United States Geological Survey has developed the Twitter Earthquake Detection project, in an attempt to improve its handling of those natural disasters when they hit across the U.S.

The USGSted project relies firstly on an application programming interface that collates tweets with earthquake-related keywords. You know, like earthquake, quake, tremor, theearthmoveddarling, that sort of stuff. The USGS then gathers data from the quake, like magnitude, location, depth below the surface and number of tweets received.

While the Twitter Earthquake Detection project may not give the USGS any serious information on tremors, here it's all about the qualitative. The reaction and memory of someone caught in an earthquake can end up being just as useful to scientists as mere cold, hard science. [USGSted on Twitter Via ecopolitology]



CESpool: Haier Asks "Share Your Ideas," Wall-Writers Display (Lack of) Intelligence [Cespool]

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On Haier's stand at CES they're displaying some really innovative wireless TVs. Helping breed innovation amongst the stand-goers, they've also got a wall asking people to "share your ideas." Let's hope the following ideas came from Vegas locals, at least.

What, you mean like 3D TV? Did you even PAY ATTENTION when you walked through Central Hall to Haier's stand?!

I dunno, guess you're just not looking hard enough. I found a screen cleaner wipe in a condom wrapper.

I want whatever rock this person's living under, if he's never seen an iPod Shuffle in his life.

You mean you DON'T want to look like these guys?

I love that someone corrected the original writer, saying "it does exist," and then some lone rambler got all over-excited and had to exclaim "finally!!11!!!1!" on it. Class.

That's not necessarily a good thing, you know. Last year at CES, a friend of mine got flashed at in the men's loos. I've been holding on since I got here on Monday.

Actually...that's not such a bad idea.



Scientists Demand End to Mountain Decapitation; Mining Projects Advance Anyway | 80beats

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MTRMountaintop removal—the aptly-named mining practice that blasts away peaks and leaves piles of rubble—must stop, a group of researchers write this week in the journal Science. Taking an unusually political stance, a group of hydrologists, engineers and ecologists called for an immediate end to the practice.

“Until somebody can show that the water [that runs off mine sites] can be cleaned up . . . this has got to be stopped,’’ said Margaret Palmer, a professor at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science who is the study’s lead author. For now, Palmer said, “there is no evidence that things like this can be fixed” [Boston Globe]. The researchers contend that mountaintop removal destroys forests in the Appalachians and taints water through toxic runoff.

Mining companies have responded that mountaintop removal is better and safer than deep-shaft mining. And to the surprise of no one, they went on the offensive against the scientists’ paper. National Mining Association spokeswoman Carol Raulston also argues the scientists chose data selectively, ignoring water-quality information that didn’t support its theories. While they’re entitled to their opinion, she said, “they’re incorrect in saying this review of the literature points to any new conclusions” [ABC News].

While the scientists called on the Obama administration to halt all permits on mountaintop mining, the Environmental Protection Agency hasn’t gone quite that far. In September the agency put a hold on 79 new projects pending further review, but this week it approved one of those in West Virginia. The EPA doesn’t seem like it’s going to hold all the rest back, either, especially given the political touchiness involved. EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson said, “Our role … is to ensure that mining companies avoid environmental degradation and protect water quality so that Appalachian communities don’t have to choose between jobs and their health. Our goal is to ensure Americans living in coal country are protected from environmental, health and economic damage” [Reuters].

Related Content:
80beats: After Massive Tennessee Ash Spill, Authorities Try to Assess the Damage
80beats: Isn’t It Ironic: Green Tech Relies on Dirty Mining in China
80beats: Obama Admin. Rolls Back Bush-Era Rules on Mining & Forests
80beats: This Could Be a Find of Biblical Proportions: King Solomon’s Copper Mines

Image: Wikimedia Commons / JW Randolph


Digital Art Frame from Casio Redraws Your Photos into Something Akin to Genius [Casio]

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Digital photo frames? Errrrrrrrm, MEH. Casio's Digital Art Frame, however, I could almost write a QVC script for. It takes your own digital photos and transforms them into paintings - well, it turns them into digital images with special effects.

There are, apparently, eight art form effects, including oils, pastels and watercolors, and the frame also plays audio files and videos. But let's focus on the pictures for the moment. I reckon you wait for Digital Art Frame 2.0, which will be able to turn your pics into Van Goghs, Velazquezes, Reubens, Basquiats, Picasso, Johns and the like. Oh, and the guy who did the Dogs Playing Poker pic.

[Daily Mail]



Review: The As-Seen-on-TV Hat, an iPhone-Viewing Visor [Review]

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At least you can't see all the people around you, pointing and laughing.

Price:

$20

Design

The As-Seen-on-TV Hat (I swear to God, that's the actual name of the product) comes in a variety of colors and patterns and in both baseball-cap-style and visor. I went for the camo visor, because I'm a pretty stylish guy. Along the sides of the bill, there's a nylon guard to block out ambient light, and for your viewing pleasure, there's a magnifying glass hanging down midway along the bill. You insert your iPhone (or whatever other video-playing device you want) into a flap, where it sits at the end of the bill.

Here's how bad this product is: Not only does it ask you to stuff your iPhone into a pocket at the end of a camouflage visor, iPhones don't even fit in the pocket. Neither did my Droid, although the iPod Touch fits okay.

Oh, and it comes with a weird semicircular flap of nylon with a velcro strip that I cannot for the life of me figure out how it attaches. It's really embarrassing; that flap makes me feel like I'm too dumb to use the dumbest product I've ever seen.

Performance

The plastic window fades and distorts your video, which severely impairs the cinematic experience the As-Seen-on-TV Hat tries so very hard to provide. The magnifying glass is adjustable (you can move it closer or farther from your scared, stressed little eyes) but not removable, so you're stuck with a distorted picture that was already blurry and faded from the plastic window covering your video-playing device.

Oh, and you'll definitely go both blind and celibate if you use this too long. It's kind of a twofer that way.

Verdict

I rate this a buy if only for the name you'll make for yourself on public transit if you wear it. If you don't want to be known for your ridiculous, half-nerd half-hick headwear, it's a pass.

It's the greatest iPhone/iPod accessory ever

It's the worst iPhone/iPod accessory ever