China Moves To Control Sina Weibo Social Network

The logo of Sina Corp's Chinese microblog website 'Weibo' Photo: REUTERS

China Moves To Control Sina Weibo Social Network With Real Names -- The Telegraph

Hundreds of millions of Chinese faced being silenced on the country's social networks, including Sina's Weibo, after the government brought in new rules to track people across the web.

Anyone wishing to post on one of China's networks, including the enormously popular Sina Weibo (way-bore), must now register with their real names, allowing the government to easily find them if they write anything contentious.

By Friday afternoon, only 19 million of the 250 million users of Sina Weibo had registered, according to a counter on the company's website. Later in the day, the counter was disabled and Sina did not respond to requests for updated figures.

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My Comment: I can never understand government fears over privacy .... that they have to know who you even if you are a nobody with no influence or power.

Hundreds Of Elephants Slaughtered At African Wildlife Park

Hundreds Of Elephants Slaughtered At African Wildlife Park As Horseback-Riding Poachers Kill HALF The Population -- Daily Mail

* At least 200 elephants in Bouba N'Djida reserve killed since January
* 20 fresh carcasses found last week
* Demand from China driving ivory black market

These heartbreaking photos show the extent of an elephant slaughter in the troubled nation of Cameroon.

At least half the elephant population in Bouba N'Djida reserve have been slaughtered because the west African nation sent too few security forces to tackle poachers, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) said on Thursday.

In what was described as one of the worst poaching massacres in decades, and at least 200 elephants have been killed for their tusks since January by poachers on horseback from Chad and Sudan.

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My Comment: Disgusting.

Skydiver Leaps 13 Miles From The Edge Of Space At 354mph

To Infinity And Beyond! Skydiver Leaps 13 Miles From The Edge Of Space At 354mph (And It Takes Him Just 8 Minutes To Hit The Ground) -- Daily Mail/AP

Skydiving daredevil Felix Baumgartner is more than halfway toward his goal of setting a world record for the highest jump.

He's aiming for nearly 23 miles this summer. The record is 19.5 miles.

Mr Baumgartner lifted off Thursday for a test jump from Roswell, New Mexico, aboard a 100-foot helium balloon. He rode inside a pressurized capsule to 71,581 feet - 13.6 miles - and then jumped.

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More News On Skydiving Daredevil Felix Baumgartner Leap From The Edge Of Space

Skydiver passes halfway point in quest to make highest jump -- MSNBC
Test jump from 71,581 feet sets up daredevil's outer-space plunge -- FOX News
Skydiver Makes Test Jump From 13 Miles Up -- Playbook/Wired
Skydiver jumps from 13 miles above Earth in test run for record attempt -- The Guardian
Skydiver Felix Baumgartner on track for super jump -- BBC
Skydiver falls from stratosphere in preparation for 'space jump' -- Christian Science Monitor
Austrian daredevil Baumgartner skydives from 71,581ft -- The Register
Skydiver plans to jump from 23 miles to Earth, breaking sound barrier -- SI.com/AP
Supersonic edge of space base jumper Felix Baumgartner completes Roswell test jump -- The Telegraph
Base jumper and skydiver Felix Baumgartner and his Red Bull Stratos challenge -- The Telegraph (Photo Blog)

Five Southern African Nations Have Agreed To Create The World’s Largest Conservation Area

Africa Treaty Creates World’s Largest Conservation Area -- Scotsman

FIVE Southern African nations have agreed to form the world’s largest international conservation area in an effort to protect nearly half of the continent’s elephants and a vast range of animals, birds and plants, many endangered by poaching and human encroachment.

At a ceremony in Namibia yesterday, government ministers from Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe put their seals on a cross-border treaty set to combine 36 nature preserves and surrounding areas.

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My Comment: It's about time.

Google Is Now Just An Ad Company

A former Engineering Director says that Google has changed from being 'a technology company to an advertising company'

'Google Is Now Just An Ad Company': Departing Exec's Goldman Sachs-Style Rant About How Search Giant Is Now Obsessed With Harvesting People's Private Information -- Daily Mail

* Google now wants to 'learn as much about people's private lives as possible'
* Company has 'stopped' being a technology company focused on innovation
* 'When Gmail displays ads based on things in my email it creeps me out'
* CEO Larry Page on 'mission' to beat Facebook

A former Google executive has lambasted his ex-employer in a Goldman Sachs-style rant this week - claiming that the search company has been turned into an 'ad company' obsessed with harvesting people's private information.

James Whittaker, a current Partner Development Manager at Microsoft and ex-Engineering Director at Google, posted the 1328-word attack on Google on his Microsoft blog this week.

'Perhaps Google is right,' writes Whittaker, 'Perhaps the future lies in learning as much about people’s personal lives as possible.

'The Google I was passionate about was a technology company. The Google I left was an advertising company.'

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My Comment: It may just be an advertising company .... but damn .... it is a very rich advertising company.

Google Servers In The Dark

Google's new server farm in The Dalles, Oregon. Ted Blog

Super-Secret Google Builds Servers In The Dark -- Wired Science

Just how far will Google go to hide its custom-built data-center hardware from the rest of the world?

In one Silicon Valley data center, the company is apparently so paranoid about competitors catching a glimpse of its gear, it’s been known to keep its server cages in complete darkness, outfitting its technical staff like miners and sending them spelunking into the cages with lights on their heads.

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My Comment: Maybe they want to save money on the electricity? :)

CIA Chief Muses Of A World Where Everything Is Watched

CIA Chief: We’ll Spy On You Through Your Dishwasher -- Danger Room

More and more personal and household devices are connecting to the internet, from your television to your car navigation systems to your light switches. CIA Director David Petraeus cannot wait to spy on you through them.

Earlier this month, Petraeus mused about the emergence of an “Internet of Things” — that is, wired devices — at a summit for In-Q-Tel, the CIA’s venture capital firm. “‘Transformational’ is an overused word, but I do believe it properly applies to these technologies,” Petraeus enthused, “particularly to their effect on clandestine tradecraft.”

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My Comment: George Orwell's 1984 dos not even come close to this 'brave new world'.

The Ultimate Data Center Is Now Being Built For The NSA

The NSA Is Building The Country’s Biggest Spy Center (Watch What You Say) -- Threat Level

The spring air in the small, sand-dusted town has a soft haze to it, and clumps of green-gray sagebrush rustle in the breeze. Bluffdale sits in a bowl-shaped valley in the shadow of Utah’s Wasatch Range to the east and the Oquirrh Mountains to the west. It’s the heart of Mormon country, where religious pioneers first arrived more than 160 years ago. They came to escape the rest of the world, to understand the mysterious words sent down from their god as revealed on buried golden plates, and to practice what has become known as “the principle,” marriage to multiple wives.

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My Comment: Everything and anything that is communicated will probably be going through this data center .... and stored.

$2 billion to build it .... and God only knows how much to run it.

Ten Percent Never Delete Their eMail

One In Ten ‘Never Delete Email’ -- The Telegraph

A new study claims Britons are ‘digital hoarders’ who use their email inboxes to record their lives.

Larger inboxes and free email accounts mean that pressure to delete email has diminished rapidly in recent years. Although Google was the first to offer so-called ‘infinite’ storage for its Gmail accounts, all major providers now follow a similar approach.

Microsoft estimates that the average inbox will receive 14,600 emails in 2012. It says that consumers are opting in to received a growing number of newsletters, deals and updates, which it classifies as neither spam nor authentic email. The so-called ‘greymail’, makes up around 80 per cent of the average inbox. Newsletters alone have increased by 300 per cent in the last 12 months, the company claims.

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My Comment: I am one of those who is guilty in not deleting his mail (I do delete spam).

Red Meat Makes Me Happy

(Photo: Yuki Sugiura)

Red Meat Is An Englishman's Heritage -- The Telegraph

Oh dear. Once again scientists are blaming red meat for causing people to die prematurely. Actually, there seem to be two strands to Rebecca Smith's report, or, rather, two kinds of meat products are mentioned. On the one hand, you've got good old cured and processed meats – lovely smokey, salty, chewable favourites such as salami, saucisson, bacon and traditional British bangers. Those goodies have been picked on before, because of the preservative that they contain: sodium nitrite, which has two main actions: it stops the growth of the nasty bacterium clostridium botulinum, and it can bestow a nice "healthy" pink colour on preserved meats. It's not quite the same as saltpetre: that term usually refers to potassium nitrate.

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My Comment: Sighhhh .... non-meat is not for me.

All Red Meat Is Bad For You

Eating any amount and any type of red meat increases the risk of premature death, a new study says. (William Thomas Cain / Getty Images / March 12, 2012)

All Red Meat Is Bad For You, New Study Says -- L.A. Times

A long-term study finds that eating any amount and any type increases the risk of premature death.

Eating red meat — any amount and any type — appears to significantly increase the risk of premature death, according to a long-range study that examined the eating habits and health of more than 110,000 adults for more than 20 years.

For instance, adding just one 3-ounce serving of unprocessed red meat — picture a piece of steak no bigger than a deck of cards — to one's daily diet was associated with a 13% greater chance of dying during the course of the study.

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My Comment:Damn .... and I love my cold cuts and barbeque steaks.

Russia's Space Program Plans Announced (Updated)

Image: NASA

Russia Plans Moon Base, Mars Network by 2030 -- Wired Science

Russia plans to send probes to Jupiter and Venus, land a network of unmanned stations on Mars and ferry Russian cosmonauts to the surface of the Moon — all by 2030. That’s according to a leaked document from the country’s space agency.

The cosmically ambitious plans were submitted to the government by the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) this month, according to a report in the Kommersant, Russia’s business-focused daily newspaper.

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More News On Russia's Moon Plans

Space Race 2: Russia 'will send man to the moon by 2030' -- Daily Mail
Russia aims to put a man on the moon by 2030 -- MSNBC/Space.com
Russia plans moon mission by 2030 -- The Age
Russia sets sights on Moon, Mars and beyond -- Sydney Morning Herald
Russia plans man on Moon and Mars landing by 2030 -- Digital Journal
Russia to finally send man to the Moon -- The Telegraph
Man on Moon & Mars landing: Russia space plans unveiled -- RT

'Wireless' Message Using A Beam Of Neutrinos

A group of scientists led by researchers from the University of Rochester and North Carolina State University have for the first time sent a message using a beam of neutrinos – nearly massless particles that travel at almost the speed of light. (Credit: Image courtesy of University of Rochester)

Researchers Send 'Wireless' Message Using A Beam Of Neutrinos -- Science Daily

ScienceDaily (Mar. 14, 2012) — A group of scientists led by researchers from the University of Rochester and North Carolina State University have for the first time sent a message using a beam of neutrinos -- nearly massless particles that travel at almost the speed of light. The message was sent through 240 meters of stone and said simply, "Neutrino."

"Using neutrinos, it would be possible to communicate between any two points on Earth without using satellites or cables," said Dan Stancil, professor of electrical and computer engineering at NC State and lead author of a paper describing the research. "Neutrino communication systems would be much more complicated than today's systems, but may have important strategic uses."

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My Comment: Talk about expanding the communications grid.

Update On Woolly Mammoth Cloning

Woolly Mammoth Recreation Wikimedia Commons

Russian and Korean Researchers Will Inject Mammoth DNA Into Elephant Eggs, Resurrecting 10,000-Year-Old Beast -- Popular Science

First a plant from the past sprouted new life — now researchers in Russia and South Korea are moving forward with a plan to resurrect the Ice Age woolly mammoth. Scientists in both countries inked a deal Tuesday to share technology and research that could lead to the birth of a mammoth clone, gestated in a surrogate Indian elephant mother.

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My Comment: I look forward to the day when they can bring back the dinosaurs .... now that would be incredible.

Encyclopedia Britannica Ending Their Print Version (Updated)

Lamenting The Loss Of A Print Icon -- CNN

(CNN) -- Ronnie Oldham could sell encyclopedias. He was named National Rookie of the Month in 1988 for his ability to push the Encyclopedia Britannica.

He was so good, he once sold a set to a blind man.

Oldham learned the importance of brand identity, market leadership and customer appreciation as a traveling salesman for the famed company. He also knew how to close a deal.

"You had to produce, or you were gone."

It's been about 20 years since he last sold one of the iconic sets. The information age had dawned in the 1990s, and Oldham "saw the handwriting on the wall." He bolted.

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Previous Post: Encyclopaedia Britannica Stops The Print Edition After More Than 200 Years

More News On Encyclopedia Britannica Ending Their Print Version

Encyclopedia Britannica ends print, goes digital -- Reuters
Encyclopaedia Britannica ends print run -- L.A. times
Encyclopedia Britannica ceases to exist -- in print -- L.A. Times
The Encyclopaedia Britannica is going out of print -- Geek.com
The dull but dependable Encyclopaedia Britannica bows to the digital facts of life -- The Telegraph
Encyclopaedia Britannica ends its famous print edition -- BBC
Encyclopaedia Britannica: After 244 years in print, only digital copies sold -- Christian Science Monitor
Encyclopaedia Britannica Is Dead, Long Live Encyclopaedia Britannica -- Fast Company
A bittersweet bye-bye to Britannica -- CNN Money
Encyclopaedia Britannica Goes Out of Print, Won't Be Missed -- The Atlantic
Encyclopedia Britannica puts an end to print publishing -- Christian Science Monitor
Loving Encyclopaedia Britannica -- Robert Wright, The Atlantic
Britannica Print Edition Kicks the Bucket, So Is Wikipedia Our New Lord and Master? -- Time
Death of the Salesmen: Britannica's Former Door-to-Door Sellers Reminisce -- Wall Street Journal

The Most Stunning Google Earth Pictures As Voted For By You

(Click on Image to Enlarge)
Plane graveyard: Scrapped jets line the dry and dusty ground in Arizona

Oh What A Wonderful World! The Most Stunning Google Earth Pictures As Voted For By You -- The Daily Mail

A website which combines Google Earth with a simple ratings system allows users to find the most beautiful or unusual places on our planet.

Stratocam, designed by ex-Dreamworks and Google employee Paul Rademacher, takes the outstanding aerial photography employed by the search engine's mapping service and allows visitors to his site to up-vote or down-vote user-submitted 'finds'.

The photographs are randomly selected from 'snapshots' taken by users, and after a few clicks it becomes apparent just how varied, pretty, and colourful our little blue-green marble is.

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My Comment: The Eiffel Tower looks cool.

Tracing The Moon's History In A 3 Minute Video

Watch The Moon Evolve In 3 Minutes -- MSNBC

NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has traced the moon's early history as well as the latest trash left behind by moonwalkers, and now the team behind the mission has created a video smashing 4.5 billion years of the moon's existence into less than three minutes.

"Evolution of the Moon," released to mark LRO's first thousand days in orbit, starts just after the moon's congealment into a ball of molten rock, and guides you through the giant blast that formed the South Pole-Aitken Basin, through the pummeling known as the Heavy Bombardment, right through the hail of debris that resulted in the cratered satellite we all know and love.

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More News On NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Tracing The Moon's History

Incredible Nasa video shows 4.5 BILLION years of the moon's history in just three minutes - with enormous asteroids sculpting the pitted surface we see from Earth -- Daily Mail
NASA video shows the moon's 4.5 billion year evolution -- FOX News
How the moon came to look like cheese -- The Telegraph
NASA unveils video history of the moon -- USA Today
Moon History: NASA Video Shows Volcanoes, Meteorite Impacts That Made Craters (VIDEO) -- Huffington Post
The Moon’s history of violence -- Discover News
Video: The Evolution of the Moon in Three Minutes -- Popular Science

Take A Tour Of The Moon (Video)

Meditation Strengthens The Brain

Cortical Surface Shown is the lateral view of the right cortical surface. The red circle indicates where the maximum effect occurred. Top: Larger gyrification in 50 long-term meditators compared to 50 well-matched controls. Bottom: Positive correlations between gyrification and the number of meditation years within the 50 meditators. (Credit: Image courtesy of University of California - Los Angeles)

Evidence Builds That Meditation Strengthens The Brain -- Science Daily

ScienceDaily (Mar. 14, 2012) — Earlier evidence out of UCLA suggested that meditating for years thickens the brain (in a good way) and strengthens the connections between brain cells. Now a further report by UCLA researchers suggests yet another benefit.

Eileen Luders, an assistant professor at the UCLA Laboratory of Neuro Imaging, and colleagues, have found that long-term meditators have larger amounts of gyrification ("folding" of the cortex, which may allow the brain to process information faster) than people who do not meditate. Further, a direct correlation was found between the amount of gyrification and the number of meditation years, possibly providing further proof of the brain's neuroplasticity, or ability to adapt to environmental changes.

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My Comment: I have always had the altitude that doing anything that involves the higher cortical parts of the brain .... playing music, chess, etc. .... will strengthen the brain.

The Key to Using Methane as a Clean Energy Source

Scientists are looking at how to sequester carbon produced by burning methane in an ice-like state

Methane Hydrate Cages, The Key to Using Methane as a Clean Energy Source? -- SciTech Daily

Scientists at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory are researching ways to use methane as a clean energy source by capturing the CO2 byproduct in an ice-like state. The researchers are using SNAP to look at the molecular level relationship between methane and water to better understand how hydrocarbons are taken up and released in the environment.

Imagine a robot sent out on the prowl on this energy hungry planet looking for methane, the principal component of what we call “natural gas” and probably the most abundant organic compound on earth.

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My Comment: Faster please.