This morning, the Twitterverse was abuzz with mentions of Facebook and syphilis. The Sun published "Sex diseases soaring due to Facebook romps" (according to The Guardian, the original headline was "Facebook spreads syphilis"). So what's this all about? More »
Fox Mobile Group today announced Bitbop, a wireless subscription service that brings "premium" video content to your smartphone. It'll cost $10 per month, and it's the next best thing until a Hulu app gets here. Which, hey, still waiting! More »
You're in a military helicopter and flying through enemy territory. Someone's shooting at you, but you can't retaliate or escape because you don't know where the shots are coming from. Bet you wish you had HALTT, a gunshot location system. More »
Help 25 of the top high school innovators design the future! On March 29th, the Spirit of Innovation Awards challenges YOU to vote for your favorite teams and help select this year's "Pete Conrad Scholars!" Over the past 6 months, 25 finalist teams have created real products to solve some of the grand challenges facing society. From the depths of the oceans to the edges of space, these students will knock your socks off! Piezo-electric wallpaper, robotic astronaut assistants, advanced water purification systems, and Navajo Solar "Frybread" ovens; these are just a few of the amazing products high school students are designing. To see all of the teams check out http://www.conradawards.org, and remember, online voting is open March 29th through April 9th. Winners will be announced April 10th during the 2010 Innovation Summit at NASA Ames Research Center.
Top 4 ridiculous ways to get burned:
Bouncy castle burns.
“The bouncy castle has become a de rigeur garden accessory for children’s parties. The premise is a simple one, to contain and entertain the masses. A large and sturdy construction of a tough polymer, normally PVC, is inflated by a large air pump. The floor is the key section of the castle. Despite the appearance of being a multi-panel affair, air flows freely throughout the floor, consequently landing on one side will assist take off on the other. Any ensuing injuries would typically be the result of either colliding with fellow bouncers or awkward landings. None to date have been reported to in the peer reviewed literature. We report the case of a friction burn sustained following an afternoon in a bouncy castle.”
Face burns caused by flambé drinks.
“This study was conducted to identify the epidemiology of face burns in Korean adults caused by flambé drinks in the hope of developing preventive programs. We reviewed the medical records of 25 patients with burns caused by flame drinks that were admitted to the Hallym Burn Centre, Hangang Sacred Heart Hospital, Seoul, Korea, during the 30-month period of July 2002 to December 2004. The injuries occurred while drinking and spilling the whisky on the flame (68%) during the hours of social gathering and festivity.”
Wild water rapid burns.
“Swimming pool water slides are becoming increasingly long and adventurous. This case report and survey suggest that they may carry with them a notable risk of friction burns.”
Pavement temperature and burns: streets of fire.
“STUDY OBJECTIVE: To measure pavement temperatures over a 24-hour period to determine when patients are at risk for burns and to report cases of pavement burns with predisposing factors… …CONCLUSION: During summer days in the desert, pavement is often hot enough to cause burns and does so with regularity in the southwestern United States. No one should be allowed to remain in contact with hot pavement, even transiently.”
Photo: flickr/Foxtongue
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Joss Whedon's Dr. Horrible's Sing-a-Long Blog is a work of pure supervillian musical genius, produced for the internet during the height of the Hollywood writers' strike, starring Neil Patrick Harris and Firefly's Nathan Fillion. The iPhone comic prequel is awesome. More »
Now that Microcells are coming, it's a good time to imagine how wonderful our reception will be. And how AT&T should be giving these away for free or less than $150, despite the zero monthly rate. [Repost on Giz] More »
Wired has an incredible article on Gerald Blanchard, a young criminal mastermind with a "savantlike ability to assess security flaws." The story opens with him parachuting onto a Viennese castle to steal a $2 million diamond jewel. Yeah. More »
Freedom House strongly condemns the Chinese government's continued efforts to suppress freedom of expression in China by blocking access to Google content.
Remember Apple's peculiar ban on screen protecting film products in its stores? A recently discovered patent for retardation films which would reduce distortion when you're viewing displays in sunlight or through polarized sunglasses might be the reason. More »
We used larger size of cables because of the voltage drop but are having problem to terminate the cables at both ends because of its large size. What is best solution for this problem?
Does anyone know of contractors who specialize in refurbishing digester gas storage tanks? These are a 'wiggins' type design, primarily found on sewage treatment plants.
 Daily Caller | Fewer Deaths in Larger, Busier Hospitals U.S. News & World Report One factor that may account for the connection between volume and outcome is that larger hospitals can afford to have staff dedicated to specific medical ... Hospital Volume and 30-Day Mortality for Three Common Medical ConditionsNew England Journal of Medicine (subscription) Busy hospitals have lower death rates: studyReuters Hospital Experience Matters in Surviving Medical TreatmentMedPage Today Washington Post -TheHeart.Org -TCTMD all 56 news articles » |
The team in action preparing boardwalksHighlights: Common Scoter ca 100, Shelduck 5N also pair on island, Sparrowhawk female, Peregrine, Snipe, Sandwich Tern 4 (first of the year), Wheatear 3 males (first of the year), Chiffchaff (first of the year), Lesser Redpoll, Siskin and Reed Bunting 2
Breeding Birds: Plenty of Guillemots but Puffins have gone!
Today is the 15th year that National Kick Butt's Day has been standing up against Big Tobacco. Swan Valley Middle School is only one of many schools where students participated. How did you celebrate Kick Butt's Day? Or what information can you share with us about tobacco?
Keith's 23 Mar update: I have learned that after the President holds his summit event at the KSC Headquarters area the President will then have a town hall meeting onsite at NASA KSC where he will hear - and take questions from KSC employees. He will also tour a number of KSC facilities (VAB, OPF etc.) It would seem that the concerns of the KSC workforce have managed to trickle up to OSTP. Stay tuned.
Lt. Gov wants Obama to debate; space summit venue hunt is on, Orlando Sentinel
"It remains to be seen what exactly White House plans are for the meeting, which is now being called a "Space Conference." NASA deputy administrator Lori Garver was at Kennedy Space Center last week scoping out possible venues for the meeting. Her choices are the Operations and Checkout (O&C) building that was recently refurbished as a factory to assemble the Orion crew capsule that is now on the Constellation chopping block; the Operations Support Building 2; the Training Auditorium; the Debus Center at the visitor complex; and the Saturn Center ... The location of the meeting isn't the only aspect of the conference taxing officials' minds. Administration insiders are still discussing various formats as well as whom to invite to the event."
Keith's 16 Mar update: The story circulating at KSC is that Air Force One will land at the Skid Strip and that the President will be moved to a building on site at KSC where the Space Summit will be held. Rest assured that the audience will be scrubbed, vetted, reviewed, checked, and otherwise investigated such that no one gets in unless the White House says so - and they are certain not to cause any embarrassments for the President and his "message". Any protests that might be staged will be soooo far away from the event venue as to be imperceptible by media covering the event.
Keith's 15 Mar update: Sources now report that White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel has become personally involved in some of the discussions related to this Space Summit.
Keith's 14 Mar update: Still no word as to who will be appearing at the OSTP Space Summit or what will be said. Oh well: there are still several weeks within which OSTP can stall on this. I guess we'll just have to wait for OSTP chief of staff Jim Kohlenberger to get around to telling people what will (or won't) happen at this summit.
If the President is trully enaged in all of this - as OSTP Director John Holden is so fond of saying that he is - and if the President is indeed concerned about the NASA and contractor workforce, then OSTP needs to find a way for him to interact with people - directly - not via a scripted circus with intermediaries and surrogates. In other words, the President needs to do something in a way that resonates with how he got the job in the first place.
As it stands now, the people who are most affected by these OSTP policies are the least involved in this event. That is fundamentally wrong and inconsistent with an Administration that heralded openness and transparency as the hallmarks of their new way of doing business.
There is a Senate hearing on "Assessing Commercial Space Capabilities". So ... maybe this issue will get discussed at that hearing given that the new Obama space policy places great reliance upon the commercial space sector.
Keith's 12 March note: The "Town Hall" concept that the White House originally considered for the President's 15 April trip to Florida has been replaced with something a bit more like the recent health care summit. No word yet as to who will participate other than senior Administration and NASA officials and local and state politicians. You can bet that the White House advance team will pre-screen and hand pick almost everyone in attendance so as to limit the opportunity for random outbursts and YouTube moments. But they can't do much about what happens outside the meeting site.
Meanwhile, Stephen Metschan, one of the team of non-rocket scientists behind the DIRECT concept is out trying to organize some sort of rally or protest meeting in/around KSC to coincide with the White House event. Alas, his friends are posting notes on NASA Watch stating that he is not doing this. Well, he is - and I stand by my reporting.
Space Coast Wants Answers From Obama - Local 6 To Ask Your Questions During Space Summit on April 15, WKMG
"When President Obama returns to Florida for a Space Summit next month, the crowd may not be so welcoming. His 2011 budget killed the Constellation project, put a hold on human space flight missions and left the lives of thousands of NASA workers and their families in limbo."
Obama facing uprising over new NASA strategy, Reuters
"It is making for a potentially explosive environment when Obama travels to the Cape Canaveral area on April 15 to host a space conference with top officials and leaders in the field. "What reception will they get? Not good," said Keith Cowing, editor of nasawatch.com, a website that closely monitors the U.S. space agency. "It's a gutsy move. It's Daniel in the Lion's Den."
US panel sees anemia drug risks in kidney patients Reuters "I haven't heard anything that says higher dosing -- all things being equal -- is good," said panelist and Dartmouth Medical School Professor Robert ... |
Bolden defends decision to cancel Constellation program, SaceflightNow
"The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that NASA is "scrambling" to come up with a new plan to satisfy vocal critics in Congress, but Bolden vigorously defended the strategy outlined in the agency's budget proposal released Feb. 1. "I wish I could say it was a singular problem of funding [affecting Constellation]," Bolden said. "Funding was the principal driver in causing the Constellation program to be unsustainable. But the Constellation program had degraded to a lunar program without a lander. Those decisions, while they had to be made because of insufficient funding, put us in a situation where we almost could not recover."
NASA to Devise New Spending Plan to Placate Congress, Wall Street Journal
"The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is scrambling to come up with a new budget proposal to placate congressional critics as senior members of the House Appropriations Committee say that White House's plan for the agency won't fly on Capitol Hill. The Obama administration had initially proposed to allocate $6 billion over five years for a program that eventually would outsource manned space missions to private companies. Members of the appropriations subcommittee, including Rep. Frank Wolf of Virginia, its ranking Republican, have told NASA in recent weeks that they won't support the White House's proposed budget."
