October USA – Temperature 3rd Coldest On Record, Wettest Ever On Record

From Watts Up With That?

Temperature Highlights – October

* The average October temperature of 50.8°F was 4.0°F below the 20th Century average and ranked as the 3rd coolest based on preliminary data.
* For the nation as a whole, it was the third coolest October on record. The month was marked by an active weather pattern that reinforced unseasonably cold air behind a series of cold fronts. Temperatures were below normal in eight of the nation’s nine climate regions, and of the nine, five were much below normal. Only the Southeast climate region had near normal temperatures for October.

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Psychic Spies In The Military

Psychic Spies: Any Truth in 'Men Who Stare at Goats?' -- ABC News

Movie, Book Claim Military Officers Dabbled in the Paranormal

Major Paul H. Smith calls it his "Men in Black" moment.

It was 1983 and he was working as a Middle East analyst at Fort Meade, Md., when a fellow intelligence officer approached him with a highly-classified, so-called "black project."

They couldn't tell him what it was. They just said that as an intelligent, accomplished, open-minded and creative person, he fit the profile.

Intrigued, Smith agreed to take the tests thrown at him. And when the results confirmed his competence for the top-secret task, he was invited to try his hand at a new mission: To uncover details about places and activities around the world without stepping off of a U.S. military base.

"We're basically asking you to become a psychic spy," Smith, now retired, said he was told.

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My Comment: The Americans may have extensively studied this field of interest .... it pales when compared to what the Russians were doing.

Receptor Controls Long Term Memory Formation

From Future Pundit:

A drug that turns off the nogo receptor 1 blocks long term memory formation in mice. Imagine a drug that did the same thing in humans. It would have all sorts of uses and abuses.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have discovered a mechanism that controls the brain's ability to create lasting memories. In experiments on genetically manipulated mice, they were able to switch on and off the animals' ability to form lasting memories by adding a substance to their drinking water. The findings, which are published in the scientific journal PNAS, are of potential significance to the future treatment of Alzheimer's and stroke.

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EPA Study Says Mercury-Tainted Fish Found In 49% Of U.S. Lakes And Reservoirs

From The Bloomberg:

Fish with potentially harmful levels of mercury were found in 49 percent of U.S. lakes and reservoirs studied, the Environmental Protection Agency said.

Lakes in almost half of the states had fish contaminated by toxic chemicals such as mercury, polychlorinated biphenyls or pesticides, the EPA said in a statement Tuesday on a study conducted from 2000 to 2003.

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Star Trek-like Replicator? Electron Beam Device Makes Metal Parts, One Layer At A Time

Electron beam freeform fabrication process. (Credit: NASA)

From Science Daily:

Science Daily (Nov. 11, 2009) — A group of engineers working on a novel manufacturing technique at NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va., have come up with a new twist on the popular old saying about dreaming and doing: "If you can slice it, we can build it."

That's because layers mean everything to the environmentally-friendly construction process called Electron Beam Freeform Fabrication, or EBF3, and its operation sounds like something straight out of science fiction.

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One Key Found For Living To 100

From Live Science:

Scientists have zeroed in on one apparent key to long life: an inherited cellular repair mechanism that thwarts aging and perhaps helps prevent disease. Researches say the finding could lead to anti-aging drugs.

The study involves telomeres, the ends of chromosomes that have been likened to the plastic tips that prevent shoelaces from unraveling. Telomeres were already known to play a key role in aging, and their discovery led to this year's Nobel Prize in medicine.

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Universities Reject Kindle Over Inaccessibility For The Blind

Photo: Kindle DX. (Credit: Amazon)

From The CNET:

The National Federation of the Blind is applauding the decisions of Syracuse University and the University of Wisconsin-Madison not to Amazon.com's Kindle DX as a textbook replacement.

The universities cited the Kindle's inaccessibility to the blind as the problem.

The federation said Wednesday that while it appreciates the Kindle's text-to-speech feature, the "menus of the device are not accessible to the blind...making it impossible for a blind user to purchase books from Amazon's Kindle store, select a book to read, activate the text-to-speech feature, and use the advanced reading functions available on the Kindle DX."

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Super-Sniffing Bees Combat Colony Pest

Government scientists have developed a population of honeybees that can root out the Varroa mite, a main culprit in a honeybee die-off. Getty Images

From Discovery News:

Government-developed honeybees are equipped with a keen sniffing ability to root out a deadly parasite.

In an effort to stem a massive bee die-off, government scientists have developed a population of honeybees that can root out a main culprit in the epidemic -- a parasite that feeds on pupae in nests and spreads viruses within hives.

U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists hope the population of Varroa mite-detecting honeybees could potentially improve the health of the overall honeybee population.

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Sniff Test To Preserve Old Books

From The BBC:

The key to preserving the old, degrading paper of treasured, ageing books is contained in the smell of their pages, say scientists.

Researchers report in the journal Analytical Chemistry that a new "sniff test" can measure degradation of old books and historical documents.

The test picks up and identifies the chemicals that the pages release as they degrade.

This could help libraries and museums preserve a range of precious books.

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Will Probe's Upcoming Fly-By Unlock Exotic Physics?

The Rosetta probe will fly by Earth on Friday (Illustration: ESA/C. Carreau)

From New Scientist:

What's causing spacecraft to mysteriously accelerate? The Rosetta comet chaser's fly-by of Earth on 13 November is a perfect opportunity to get to the bottom of it.

The anomaly emerged in 1990, when NASA's Galileo spacecraft whizzed by Earth to get a boost from our planet's gravity and gained 3.9 millimetres per second more than expected. And the European Space Agency's Rosetta spacecraft had an unexpected increase of about 1.8 millimetres per second during a previous fly-by of Earth in 2005.

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The Milky Way As You've Never Seen It Before: The Colourful Centre Of Our Galaxy In All Its Glory

Unprecedented: A beautiful composite image of the Milky Way centre using observations from the Hubble Space Telescope, the Spitzer Space Telescope, and the Chandra X-ray Observatory

From The Daily Mail:

Colourful, swirling clouds of cosmic dust interspersed with glowing star clusters are revealed in this extraordinary image of the Milky Way.

The dazzling image combining reds, yellows, blues and purples, was created by layering stunningly detailed pictures from the Hubble Space Telescope, the Spitzer Space Telescope and Chandra X-ray Observatory on top of each other.

The Milky Way is at the centre of our own galaxy and this image shows its core. The image was created to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first demonstration of his telescope.

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Convicted Murderer Sues Wikipedia, Demands Removal of His Name

From The Threat Level:

Wikipedia is under a censorship attack by a convicted murderer who is invoking Germany’s privacy laws in a bid to remove references to his killing of a Bavarian actor in 1990.

Lawyers for Wolfgang Werle, of Erding, Germany, sent a cease-and-desist letter (.pdf) demanding removal of Werle’s name from the Wikipedia entry on actor Walter Sedlmayr. The lawyers cite German court rulings that “have held that our client’s name and likeness cannot be used anymore in publication regarding Mr. Sedlmayr’s death.”

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The Vatican Joins The Search For Alien Life

From The Telegraph:

The Vatican's Pontifical Academy of Sciences is holding its first ever conference on alien life, the discovery of which would have profound implications for the Catholic Church.

The Pontifical Academy of Sciences is holding a conference on astrobiology, the study of life beyond Earth, with scientists and religious leaders gathering in Rome this week.

For centuries, theologians have argued over what the existence of life elsewhere in the universe would mean for the Church: at least since Giordano Bruno, an Italian monk, was put to death by the Inquisition in 1600 for claiming that other worlds exist.

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As Alternative Energy Grows, NIMBY Turns Green

An offshore wind farm in north Wales, U.K. (Credit: Vestas)

From CNET:

Painting the Golden Gate Bridge yellow might cause less fuss than trying to install a wind farm off Cape Cod's historic coast.

But when you're trying to build where the wind is strongest or the sun is brightest, you never know what obstacles you may run into.

In Massachusetts, a proposed wind farm called Cape Wind was dealt a blow last Friday that will delay what would be the first offshore wind farm in the U.S. The Massachusetts Historical Commission agreed with local Indian tribes who claim that the location for the wind farm should be considered for listing in the National Historic Register because the Wampanoags' history and culture are "inextricably linked to Nantucket Sound," according to the opinion.

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Laser-plasma Accelerators Ride On Einstein's Shoulders

Example of a laser wakefield simulated in a “Boosted Frame”. Electrons (colored tubes) are injected and accelerated by surfing the wave (blue surfaces) generated by a laser pulse. (Credit: Image courtesy of American Physical Society)

From Science Daily:

Science Daily (Nov. 11, 2009) — Using Einstein's theory of special relativity to speedup computer simulations, scientists have designed laser-plasma accelerators with energies of 10 billion electron volts (GeV) and beyond. These systems, which have not been simulated in detail until now, could in the future serve as a compact new technology for particle colliders and energetic light sources.

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Researchers Plan Ice Cream That's Good For You

From Live Science:

In what might seem to defy the laws of comfort foods, researchers are setting out to concoct a healthy, yes healthy, ice cream.

If the food scientists are successful, ice cream would become another so-called functional food, alongside whole oat products and foods made with soy protein, which have scientifically established health benefits beyond basic nutrition. (The United States doesn't currently have a formal definition for functional foods.)

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Contact Lenses That Respond To Light

Photo: Seeing the light: A new contact lens technology responds to UV light. The contact lens on the left (blue) contains photochromic dyes that darken the lens in the presence of UV light. The contact lens on the right (clear) contains no dyes. Credit: Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology

From Technology Review:

UV-responsive dyes embedded in contact lenses can quickly adapt.

Transition lenses--which darken automatically in response to bright sunlight--have been available for eyeglasses for 40 years. But adapting this flexibility to contact lenses has proven challenging. Now researchers in Singapore have developed UV-responsive, or photochromic, lenses that darken when exposed to ultraviolet light, protecting the eyes against the sun's damaging rays, and return to normal in UV's absence.

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Dream Of Solar Sailing In Space Lives On In New Project

An artists rendering of a solar sail is shown in this undated publicity image from The Planetary Society released to Reuters. Backers of a failed mission to launch the world's first solar-sail spacecraft unveiled plans on Monday to try again five years later with a smaller, swifter satellite to test the limits of sunlight propulsion. (Handout/REUTERS)

From Christian Science Monitor:

The US-based Planetary Society this week announced its second attempt to launch a small spacecraft with sails propelled by sunlight.

Its designers call it LightSail-1. And if it works as advertised, the solar sail project would represent a baby step toward humanity’s first starship.

This week, the California-based Planetary Society announced a new project to launch a small spacecraft propelled by a solar sail. In principle, the idea is simple: Use the sail to intercept sunlight, which presses on the sail much like wind on canvas. (The same pressure keeps the sun from collapsing under its own gravity.)

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Veterans Day: Why It's Today, How It's Changed & More

President Barak Obama lays a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns as part of Veterans Day services at Arlington National Cemetery, Nov. 11, 2009. VA courtesy photo

From National Geographic:

At Veterans Day celebrations and events around the country, the United States is honoring the men and women of the nation's armed forces.

So why is November 11 Veterans Day? Who is it for? And how has it changed?

In keeping with Veterans Day tradition, U.S. President Barack Obama today laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia, saying, "While it is important and proper that we mark this day, it is far more important we spend all our days determined to keep the promises that we've made to all who answer this country's call."

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My Comment: I know that the day is almost over, but this is a neat summary of what exactly is Veteran's Day.

Microsoft Cuts Off Thousands Of Xbox Players Caught Downloading Pirated Games

Popular: More than 34 million Xbox 360 consoles have been sold worldwide.
Microsoft is now clamping down on piracy

From The Daily Mail:

Microsoft is clamping down on piracy by banning up to one million customers from using its services if they are caught playing illegal games.

The technology giant said gamers who install hardware to play pirated games on the Xbox 360 console would be barred from using its Live service.

The online service allows multiple players to compete against each other over the internet and is central to the Xbox 360's popularity.

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Dinosaurs Could Have Been Hot To Trot, Say US Scientists

From The Scotsman:

LARGE two-legged dinosaurs, such as Tyrannosaurus rex, were energetic athletes with warm blood running through their veins, it was claimed today.
New evidence suggests that the ancient reptiles were endothermic – or warm-blooded – like their modern descendants, birds.

Far from being lumbering slow beasts, they were likely to have been agile and active.

But warm blood would have come at a price, because it requires more food. If food became scarce 65 million years ago, this could have been a contributory factor in their extinction.

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Japan Plans Giant Solar Power Station In Space

Jaxa's vision of a space solar power system (SSPS) Photo: AFP

From The Telegraph:

Japan’s space agency is planning to construct a solar power station in space and use it to beam energy down to Earth using lasers.

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (Jaxa) hopes that the ambitious plans will help ease the country’s energy problems as well as providing a solution for global warming.

A select group of companies and researchers have been given the task of designing and building the Space Solar Power System (SSPS).

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Modern Warfare 2 On Course To Sell $500m Within 24hrs Of Launch

From Times Online:

The debut of the video game Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 looks sure to become the most successful product launch in the history of entertainment, with global first-day sales estimated at $500 million.

Less than 24 hours after launch, first day sales of the controversial and violent new game are set to exceed the previous record set by Grand Theft Auto IV in 2008 by $200 million.

The game is expected to sell more than 3 million copies in the UK alone, with the online retailers Amazon and Play.com both reporting record sales.

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Bing Getting A Fall Refresh

Microsoft is using Wolfram Alpha to help power certain results, such as this search
for the fat content of french fries. (Credit: CNET News)

From CNET:

Unlike when you stand over your coworker's desk, Microsoft's Bing search engine actually works better when you hover.

One of the key features of the would-be rival to Google is that when you hover to the right of a result, you can get a preview of what to expect. As part of an update this week, Bing's hover result will now feature more information including a thumbnail preview of the site in question.

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AIDS Leading Cause Of Death In Women

From Time Magazine:

(GENEVA) — In its first study of women's health around the globe, the World Health Organization said Monday that the AIDS virus is the leading cause of death and disease among women between the ages of 15 and 44.

Unsafe sex is the leading risk factor in developing countries for these women of childbearing age, with others including lack of access to contraceptives and iron deficiency, the WHO said. Throughout the world, one in five deaths among women in this age group is linked to unsafe sex, according to the U.N. agency.

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Scientists Decipher The Formation Of Lasting Memories

From Science Daily:

Science Daily (Nov. 11, 2009) — Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have discovered a mechanism that controls the brain's ability to create lasting memories. In experiments on genetically manipulated mice, they were able to switch on and off the animals' ability to form lasting memories by adding a substance to their drinking water. The findings, which are published in the scientific journal PNAS, are of potential significance to the future treatment of Alzheimer's and stroke.

Read more ....

Miniature Robots To Swarm The Oceans

This digital image shows how autonomous underwater explorers (AUEs) will be used to provide new information about the oceans. Credit: SIO

From Live Science:

Swarms of soup-can-sized robots will soon plunge into the ocean seeking data on poorly understood phenomena from currents to biology.

With $2.5 million in new funding from the National Science Foundation, researchers at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography will create and deploy fleets of autonomous underwater explorers (AUEs) to explore the depths. Tens or hundreds of pint-sized robots would be deployed along with one the size of a soccer ball, in setups repeated wherever they are needed.

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Mimicking The Building Prowess Of Nature

From Technology Review:

Scientists build new materials using inspiration from complex biological forms.

Joanna Aizenberg, a materials scientist at Harvard University, has scoured the natural world for clues to biological building codes. She aims to decipher some of Mother Nature’s unique designs, including dirt-resistant sea urchins and sea sponges made of super-strong light-conducting glass, to develop novel materials that, like these organisms, can self-assemble and sense and respond to their environment.

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Human Extinction: How Could It Happen?

A nuclear bomb test is shown in Nevada, Aug. 18, 1957. Nuclear or near nuclear war/engagement between any two nations could have a hand in human extinction, research concludes. Getty Images

From Discovery News:

It would take a combination of severe and catastrophic events to drive the hardy human race to extinction, research concludes.

Humans could become extinct, a new study concludes, but no single event, aside from complete destruction of the globe, could do us in, and all extinction scenarios would have to involve some kind of intent, either malicious or not, by people in power.

The determinations suggest that the human race itself will ultimately determine its fate.

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DARPA: Inventing This Side Of The Impossible -- A Commentary

The A160 hummingbird, just one of many DARPA project that have found military
or commercial use (Image: DARPA)

From New Scientist:

ON 6 December 1957 a hollow aluminium sphere the size of a small melon burst from a blazing fireball, rose a mere metre or so above Florida before landing with a thump. The US was in trouble. A month earlier, the Soviet Union had sent a 500-kilogram capsule bearing a dog called Laika into space. But here was the US unable to even notch up its first foray into orbit.

President Dwight Eisenhower responded by creating a new research agency tasked with ensuring such "technological surprises" like Sputnik would never be sprung on the US again. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), conceived in February 1958 not only still exists, it has consistently made the US military the most advanced on Earth and unleashed life-changing technologies such as the internet, GPS and the computer mouse along the way.

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UK Government Plans to Monitor Social Networks, Chatrooms, and Online Games

London Calling Your Internet activities are no longer for your eyes only Simdaperce

From Popular Science:

UK netizens may find their online activities under ever-greater scrutiny in the near future. The UK government has pushed ahead with a proposal to require monitoring of Internet usage, including social networks such as Facebook and conversations within online games.

The new UK law would require communication firms to hold records of who contacted whom, rather than the actual contents of online conversation. About £2 billion ($3.34 billion) would go toward compensating the firms for the technical challenge of collecting the data.

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Film Crew Dives Into The Incredible Secret World Of The Giant Manta Ray

Filming a manta at a 'cleaning station'. Injured rays are frequent visitors so their wounds can be cleaned by tiny, butterfly fish

From The Daily Mail:

Gliding through the oceans like ghosts, these mysterious manta rays have been captured in unique footage filmed off the coast of Mozambique.

Biologist Andrea Marshall is shown performing a ballet-like dance with the inquisitive giant fish, which she described as 'the most beautiful underwater birds.'

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'Last Chance' For Tuna Authority

Tsukiji market in Tokyo is the final destination for a large proportion of bluefin

From The BBC:

The annual meeting of the body charged with conserving Atlantic tuna opens on Monday to warnings that this is its "last chance" to manage things well.

The International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (Iccat) is criticised for setting high quotas and not tackling illegal fishing.

Stocks of bluefin tuna are at about 15% of pre-industrial fishing levels.

US Commissioner Rebecca Lent said her country and others feel this is Iccat's last chance to put things right.

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Sustainable Salads

What foods can be grown with the least environmental impact?

From Slate:

Which fruits, vegetables, and other crops have the smallest environmental footprints?

I know you can buy local or buy organic, but I've heard that some crops are simply more resource-intensive than others, regardless of how or where they are grown. So what's the key to picking foods that have the smallest environmental footprint?

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Retiring 'Makes You Feel 10 Years Younger'

From The Telegraph:

Workers feel ten years younger after they retire, according to a study that highlights the physical toll of lengthy careers.

Researchers analysed almost 15,000 employees and found that they felt increasingly less well in the years leading up to retirement, but significantly better after they stopped work.

The team behind the study said it showed that working conditions must be improved for older people if they are to be persuaded to remain economically active.

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'Missing Link' In Immune Response To Disease: Sheer Mechanical Force

A highly focused laser beam (at right) is used to apply mechanical force (shown as a double headed arrow) to a microsphere (white) coated with histocompatibility protein. The microsphere abuts the surface of a single T cell, shown in gray (top). Activation of the T cell is measured by a change in calcium levels within the cell, which are shown by green colorization (left, prior to force application; bottom, after force application). The direction of force must be tangential, rather than perpendicular, to the T cell surface in order to trigger a rise in calcium levels. Without an application of force, the binding of the histocompatibility protein produces no such rise. (Credit: Please credit Dana-Farber Cancer Institute)

From Science Daily:

Science Daily (Nov. 10, 2009) — The immune system's T cells have the unique responsibilities of being both jury and executioner. They examine other cells for signs of disease, including cancers or infections, and, if such evidence is found, rid them from the body. Precisely how T cells shift so swiftly from one role to another, however, has been a mystery.

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Happiest States Are Wealthy And Tolerant

From Live Science:

Though you might not be able to run away from your problems, moving to another state could be good for the soul. New research suggests U.S. states with wealthier, better educated and more tolerant residents are also happier on average.

The reasoning is that wealthy states can provide infrastructure and so it's easier for residents to get their needs met. In addition, states with a greater proportion of artists and gays would also be places where residents can freely express themselves.

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Music Industry Bows To Point-And-Shoot Cameras

This photo of U2 lead singer Bono, shot during U2's Rose Bowl show on October 25, by amateur photographer Bruce Heavin, was taken with a Canon PowerShot G11, and is representative of the high-quality pictures that ticket-holders can easily take these days at concerts and other events with point-and-shoot cameras. Note the people in the picture snapping their own images of Bono. (Credit: Flickr user Bruce Heavin)

From CNET:

At last month's huge U2 show at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif., how could you tell the difference between the professional photographers and your average amateurs?

Answer: the professionals were the ones whisked away after Bono and friends finished their third song, and the amateurs were still there, happily shooting to their heart's content.

Nearly every person at any show these days is going to have some form of camera with them, be it a point-and-shoot, an iPhone or some other camera phone, and it seems that there is almost no way to imagine keeping all those devices out.

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Note To All Wives And Girlfriends: This Is What The Man In Your Life Will Want For Christmas

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Review—Heard Of It? -- Popular Mechanics

Analysts expect Modern Warfare 2's first week sales to breach $500 million. To provide perspective, The Dark Knight made $155.34 opening weekend. A movie ticket is certainly cheaper than a video game, but half a billion dollars, any way you spin it, screams mainstream hit.

So, if you're reading this, we can assume you're one of three types: One, someone who's already bought Modern Warfare 2; Two, someone who's boycotting Modern Warfare 2 for any of a number of reasons, but will still probably buy it; Or three, a non-gamer who buys three or four titles a year and has been struck with curiosity by an unavoidable hype machine, including but not limited to television commercials, online take over ads and word of mouth.

Number 3, this one's for you.

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My Comment: When I was young I was into these games .... no more now. But the young .... especially the young soldiers that I know .... for their own reasons they love these games.

So the above is my little contribution to those who may wonder what their "young" soldier will want for Christmas.

On a side note .... the Onion has done a great spoof on this fad. Check out the video below. (Hat Tip: Small Wars Journal)


Ultra-Realistic Modern Warfare Game Features Awaiting Orders, Repairing Trucks

UK Calls For A Transforming, Laser-Toting Stealth UAV

Starscream Gets An Etonian Makeover courtesy of the UK Ministry of Defense

From Popular Science:

In February, the Ministry of Defense (MOD) in Great Britain unveiled its plans for modernizing its military. Curiously similar to the US Army's recently killed Future Combat System, the British program looks to bring a new generation of unmanned vehicles, advanced sensors and energy weapons to the battlefield.

However, unlike its American counterpart, it looks like this project is a go.

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Asteroid Passes Just 8,700 Miles From Earth - With Only 15 Hours Warning

Don't panic! Although the asteroid passed within 9,000 miles of Earth it measured just 23ft across and wouldn't have dented the surface (artist's illustration)

From The Daily Mail:

You almost certainly missed it - and luckily it missed you - but an asteroid has come within 8,700 miles of hitting the Earth.

Astronomers spotted the object only 15 hours before its closest approach to our planet last Friday.

Its orbit brought it 30 times nearer than the Moon, which is 250,000 miles away.

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Plant Experts Unveil DNA Barcode

Photo: Identifying a plant's DNA "barcode" will help tell is if it is being illegally traded

From The BBC:

Hundreds of experts from 50 nations are set to agree on a "DNA barcode" system that gives every plant on Earth a unique genetic fingerprint.

The technology will be used in a number of ways, including identifying the illegal trade in endangered species.

The data will be stored on a global database that will be available to scientists around the world.

The agreement will be signed at the third International Barcode of Life conference in Mexico City on Tuesday.

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Do Wolves Kill for Sport?

A gray wolf

From Slate:

No, but sometimes they hunt down more than they can eat.

During this fall's inaugural wolf-hunting season in Montana, hunters killed the matriarch of a Yellowstone wolf pack that researchers had been studying for more than a decade. Park officials suspect that her mate and three other pack members were also killed. A Los Angeles Times story about the hunt claims that wolves are known to kill for "pure pleasure." Do wolves really attack their prey just for the fun of it?

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EU Agrees Internet Restriction Guidelines

From Times Online:

MEPs and Council representatives propose safeguards for internet access before restrictions can be imposed.

Europe’s MEPs and Council representatives on Wednesday night agreed that restrictions on access to the internet within the EU may “only be imposed if they are appropriate, proportionate and necessary within a democratic society”.

The two sides agreed in May that the internet is essential for the exercise of fundamental rights such as the right to education, freedom of expression and access to information.

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Pictured: The 12ft Leopard Seal About To Eat Penguin

The moment a 12ft leopard seal catches the penguin Photo: AMOS NACHOUN/BARCROFT

From The Telegraph:

A diver has captured the moment a 12ft leopard seal - with its mouth wide open displaying its two-inch long razor sharp teeth - prepared to lunch on a penguin.

The animal was photographed in the shallows of Antarctica's freezing Southern Ocean.

The agile leopard seal of Pleneau Island near Port Lockroy is part of a group that congregate each year on the Antarctic Peninsula to feed.

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Scientists Develop Apple That Won't Rot

The RS103-130, which is a deep red in colour, stays "crispy" for up to 14 days if kept in a fruit bowl - unlike most apples. Alamy

From The Independent:

Ever since somebody suggested that eating one a day kept the doctor away, the health benefits of the apple have been trumpeted by grandmothers and government ministers alike. The fruit's only drawback is its tendency to lose its glossy sheen and crunchy texture within a few days – a problem that a team of scientists in Australia now claims to have solved.

For the past 20 years, researchers at Queensland Primary Industries and Fisheries (QPIF), a department of the Queensland government, have been developing a new variety of apple which they claim can stay fresh for months.

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Harvesting Energy From Nature's Motions

Left to right: Assistant Professor Brian Mann, graduate student Samuel Stanton, and undergraduate student Clark McGehee. (Credit: Duke Photography)

From Science Daily:

Science Daily (Nov. 9, 2009) — By taking advantage of the vagaries of the natural world, Duke University engineers have developed a novel approach that they believe can more efficiently harvest electricity from the motions of everyday life.

Energy harvesting is the process of converting one form of energy, such as motion, into another form of energy, in this case electricity. Strategies range from the development of massive wind farms to produce large amounts of electricity to using the vibrations of walking to power small electronic devices.

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California Decision Could Limit HDTV Choices Nationwide

From Live Science:

On Nov. 18 the California Energy Commission is scheduled to vote on a proposal that would require retailers by 2011 to limit sales of TV sets to those that consume about a third less power than they do today.

Since the public hearing on Oct. 3, industry groups have turned up the volume in opposition to the new guidelines. If passed, the best value in home theater HDTVs will disappear from California shelves and, some analysts figure, will ultimately cut consumer choices across the country.

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Justice Dept. Asked For News Site's Visitor Lists

From CBS News:

In a case that raises questions about online journalism and privacy rights, the U.S. Department of Justice sent a formal request to an independent news site ordering it to provide details of all reader visits on a certain day.

The grand jury subpoena also required the Philadelphia-based Indymedia.us Web site "not to disclose the existence of this request" unless authorized by the Justice Department, a gag order that presents an unusual quandary for any news organization.

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Google: Caffeine Search Is Ready To Go

From CNET:

Google's Caffeine initiative to perk up search results is leaving the sandbox.

First revealed as a "secret project" in early August, Caffeine is intended to speed up search results and improve their accuracy. Google's Webmaster Central blog at the time described Caffeine as "the first step in a process that will let us push the envelope on size, indexing speed, accuracy, comprehensiveness and other dimensions."

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National World War II Museum: Bringing The Battle To Life

Ringside for a global fight, viewers will gain an up-close perspective in the new Solomon Victory Theater at the World War II museum in New Orleans. (The National World War II Museum)

From Christian Science Monitor:

The New Orleans National World War II Museum uses immersive tech to boost teaching power – and also entertain.

There are those who served at the battlefront and witnessed first-hand the ugliness of war. And there are the rest of us who experience it from behind exhibition glass.

This month in New Orleans, however, The National World War II Museum is opening the doors to a new $60 million complex that will feature as its centerpiece a 35-minute film designed to virtually transport viewers 70 years into the past through technology marketed as “4-D cinematics,” including special lighting, fog, stage snow, moving props, surround sound, and digital animation.

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