Science is awesome.  But slow down with the helping our future robot overlords.

Magnetic scout-bots to sneak on board ship
“Throwbots”, which can be tossed through a window or door, are standard equipment for many US police forces. These small robots – invaluable in sieges and hostage situations – are designed to always land right side up before being driven around by remote control, beaming back video from inside a building.
[full article]

Way back in 2005 when science was finally getting interesting, movies were sucking less and climate change was a thermostat brand, the good man Ross MacLeod was a regular enough contributor to our University magazine with his Captain Evil comics.

Fast forward to today and he’s reviving the ol’ bastard and spreading his evil online.  Go to https://captainevil.org/ and get your support on.

…very, very good.

Produced by the award-winning Blur Studio, David Fincher and voiced by Paul Giamatti and Clancy Brown, The Goon follows the adventures of a muscle-bound brawler who claims to be the primary enforcer for a feared mobster. The stories have a paranormal and comedic edge to them and concern ghosts, zombies, mad scientists and “skunk apes.”

It’s a slow, yet all over the show week this week…

Second experiment hints at seasonal dark matter signal
Feng suggests that the discrepancy among all the experimental results may simply be due to the assumption that WIMPs interact the same way with protons and neutrons. If this is not the case, that could explain differences in the signals from xenon and germanium detectors, which each have a different ratio of protons to neutrons (arxiv.org/abs/1102.4331). “These experiments may look inconsistent, but a small theoretical tweak can bring everything in to line,” he told New Scientist.

Sky survey maps distant universe in 3D
Past surveys have relied on galaxies to map the universe (bright dots in the image’s central region). Now cosmic cartographers have probed even greater distances – to about 11 billion light years away – using intergalactic gas clouds (pictured along the perimeter in blue). The gas clouds are detectable because they absorb light from even more distant objects called quasars, blazing beacons powered by supermassive black holes that are devouring surrounding matter.

Beating the traffic before it even exists
The Smarter Traveler Research Initiative blends real-time traffic data with past traffic patterns to predict congestion up to 40 minutes into the future. Drivers are then automatically sent an email or text message of conditions on their regular commute before their trip begins.

…is pretty sweet.  Doesn’t look like much on first glance, but it’s a picture of Obama and his team watching a video feed of the raid on Bin Laden.

And just as I’m about to hit post on this, there’s a great Times write up on it to be found here: After Uncertainty, a Moment of Triumph in the Situation Room: ‘We’ve IDed Geronimo’

The President sat stone-faced through much of the events. Several of his aides, however, were pacing. For long periods of time, nobody said a thing, as everyone waited for the next update. In the modern age, Presidents can experience their own military actions like a video game, except that they have no control over the events. They cannot, and would not, intervene to contact the commanders running the operation. So when word came that a helicopter had been grounded, a sign that the plan was already off course, the tension increased.

Been pointed to this simple, yet elegantly executed ‘game’ Every Day the Same Dream.  Definitely recommend checking it out.

One thing I’m quickly discovering about having this blog again is that I don’t feel so guilty about always closing so many tabs at the end of a web surfing session and I finally have an excuse to clear out my bookmark folders which is so backed up, it’d make the Collyer brothers blush.

Anyway, here’s some articles…

Citizen Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick’s films were landmark events – majestic, memorable and richly researched. But, as the years went by, the time between films grew longer and longer, and less and less was seen of the director. What on earth was he doing? Two years after his death, Jon Ronson was invited to the Kubrick estate and let loose among the fabled archive. He was looking for a solution to the mystery – this is what he found.

One bit in particular I loved…

(In fact, I soon discover, Kubrick did write back to fans, on random, rare occasions. I find two replies in total. Maybe he only ever wrote back twice. One reads, “Your letter of 4th May was overwhelming. What can I say in reply? Sincerely, Stanley Kubrick.” The other reads, “Dear Mr William, Thank you for writing. No comment about A Clockwork Orange. You will have to decide for yourself. Sincerely, Stanley Kubrick.”)

Also…

China unveils rival to International Space Station
The project heralds a shift in the balance of power among spacefaring nations. In June, the US space agency, Nasa, will mothball its whole fleet of space shuttles, in a move that will leave only the Russians capable of ferrying astronauts to and from the International Space Station. The $100bn (£60.5bn) outpost is itself due to fly only until 2020, but may be granted a reprieve until 2028.

Spaaaaaaaace.  It’s awesome. There’s also a further write up on the facts at bad astronomer here.  And finally…

Zaarly Makes It Possible To Buy Pretty Much Anything
That’s where Zaarly comes in. Zaarly is an almost shockingly simple app that lets you list whatever it is you’re looking for, be it a set of 17th century porcelain shepherdesses, tickets to an Evanescence concert, reservations at a fully booked restaurant or whatever else you can imagine paying for the privilege of having. Zaarly makes it so that anything–object, experience or otherwise–can be for sale.

Boston.com’s The Big Picture photo blog. If you’re not a regular visitor to this brilliant site, you should be.

This beautifully shot time-lapse video of the Milky Way galaxy shot a top of El Teide, Spain’s highest mountain.  With it’s high altittude (3718m) and lack of moisture, the images this guy has gotten are pretty damn amazing.

A large sandstorm hit the Sahara Desert on the 9th April () and at approx 3am in the night the sandstorm hit me, making it nearly impossible to see the sky with my own eyes.

Interestingly enough my camera was set for a 5 hour sequence of the milky way during this time and I was sure my whole scene was ruined. To my surprise, my camera had managed to capture the sandstorm which was backlit by Grand Canary Island making it look like golden clouds. The Milky Way was shining through the clouds, making the stars sparkle in an interesting way. So if you ever wondered how the Milky Way would look through a Sahara sandstorm, look at 00:32.

Be sure to check it out.