Now THAT'S An Engagement Ring!

Groundbreaking: This extraordinary creation claims to be 'the world's first diamond ring'

Now THAT'S An Engagement Ring! Jeweller's $70m Diamond Sparkler Cut Entirely From One 150-Carat Rock -- Daily Mail

A Swiss jewellery company has created a ring made from one enormous chunk of diamond.

Shawish Jewellery, a company based in Geneva, unveiled what they have billed as ‘the world’s first diamond ring’.

The 150-carat ring has been valued at around $70million and took one year to construct.

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My Comment: $70 million for a rock .... albeit a diamond one .... I have only one word for that .... ouchhh!!!!!

Is Space Junk A Threat To National Security?

Space Clutter a Growing Concern for Pentagon -- Military.com/Stars and Stripes

Space may be the final frontier, but it’s turning into a rough neighborhood — a limited number of Earth orbits increasingly crowded with satellites and littered with debris that can destroy valuable space assets.

Overcrowding in space is now a national security threat, experts say. U.S. Defense and State Department officials are grappling with the challenge of cleaning up the mess and encouraging “best practices” without compromising national defense.

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My Comment: Hmmmm .... one can only imagine the mess that will be produced if an armed conflict did occur in space. One side may win the war .... but be unable to use space for years (if not longer) because of the debris fields.

Cyber And Drone Attacks Are Changing Warfare

The new look of drone-enabled war. Reuters.

Cyber and Drone Attacks May Change Warfare More Than the Machine Gun -- Ross Andersen, The Atlantic

From state-sponsored cyber attacks to autonomous robotic weapons, twenty-first century war is increasingly disembodied. Our wars are being fought in the ether and by machines. And yet our ethics of war are stuck in the pre-digital age.

We're used to thinking of war as a physical phenomenon, as an outbreak of destructive violence that takes place in the physical world. Bullets fly, bombs explode, tanks roll, people collapse. Despite the tremendous changes in the technology of warfare, it remained a contest of human bodies. But as the drone wars have shown, that's no longer true, at least for one side of the battle.

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My Comment: Cyber and drone attacks may change warfare!?!?!?! I say that it has already changed warfare.

George Clooney's Satellites Document The Atrocities In Sudan

George Clooney's Satellite Spies Reveal Secrets Of Sudan's Bloody Army -- The Guardian

Actor and activist funds a hi-tech project that is tracking troops and warning civilians of attacks

Nathaniel Raymond is the first to admit that he has an unusual job description. "I count tanks from space for George Clooney," said the tall, easygoing Massachusetts native as he sat in a conference room in front of a map of the Sudanese region of South Kordofan.

Close by, pins and ink scrawlings on the map detail the positions of Sudanese army forces and refugee populations in the troubled oil-producing province, where the Sudanese army is carrying out a brutal crackdown.

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My Comment: I support this project wholeheartedly. Someone has to focus and document the atrocities that are occurring in the Sudan, and thank God it is someone like George Clooney.

The Satellite Sentinel Project website is here.

More Advancements In Body Armor

MetCel's body armor inserts protect soldiers against the blunt-force trauma of a bullet hitting body armor. CREDIT: MetCel

Startup's Hybrid Body Armor Softens Blow to Troops -- Live Science

Modern body armor capable of stopping bullets still can't protect a soldier from the full force of a bullet's impact — a body trauma responsible for most U.S. military gunshot injuries in Iraq and Afghanistan. That battlefield danger has driven one U.S. startup to create a lightweight, protective material worn under body armor, similar to how ancient warriors once wore padding beneath their chain mail or plate armor.

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My Comment: Faster please.

Is Nothing Off Limits?

Ear we go: Adverts could soon be produced according to environmental conditions such as background noise, if Google's patent becomes reality

Is Nothing Off Limits? Now Google Plans To Spy On Background Noise In Your Phone Calls To Bombard You With Tailored Adverts -- Daily Mail

* Patent also describes using other environmental factors such as air temperature to produce ads

Adverts could soon be tailored according to the background noise around you when using your smartphone, if a patent application by Google becomes reality.

The search engine giant has filed for a patent called ‘Advertising based on environmental conditions’.

As that title implies, it’s not just background sounds that could be used to determine what adverts you seen on your mobile phone. The patent also describes using ‘temperature, humidity, light and air composition’ to produced targeted adverts.

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My Comment: Makes you wonder if the NSA and other intelligence agencies are already using this technology to spy on certain individuals ... or are getting ready to do so.

Building A Better Brain For Memory (Video)

Bacteria May Help To Beef Up Our Immunity

A new study finds that a little bacteria is actually a good thing for the immune system. (Getty Images)

Bacteria Help Body Beef Up Immunity, Study Says -- ABC News

When it comes to bacteria, many people have a pretty simple view: Germs are bad, and our lives should be as free of them as possible.

But an alternate idea suggests just the opposite: Germs are a necessary part of a healthy immune system, helping our body's defenses beef up and fight future illnesses. When a person's exposure to germs is decreased, problems may arise.

The idea is called the hygiene hypothesis. For years, scientists have suspected that it played a role in how diseases affect people in the modern hand-sanitized world, but they never had any specific evidence.

But a new study from researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston has changed that.

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My Comment: OK ... bring on those germs.

Weather Records Tumble By The Thousand As US Swelters

Weather Records Tumble By The Thousand As US Swelters And Global Warming Wins Converts -- The Telegraph

Think the drought's getting bad? You should be in Spicewood, 35 miles northwest of Austin, Texas. In January it became the first town to run out of water in an acute dry spell in the state. Now a 7,000 gallon tanker has to roll into own each day to bring the stuff of life – there's a ration of just 50 gallons a day per household – and the regional water utility expects this to go on for months.

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My Comment: A look at the drought in Texas.

Facebook Threatens Bosses Who Ask For Facebook Passwords From Job Applicants

Facebook Privacy Chief Fires Warning Shot At Bosses Who Demand Access -- The Guardian

Social networking site warns against employers who ask for the passwords of job applicants, saying legal action is possible

Facebook has hit out at the practice of employers asking for access to the accounts of their staff and potential hires.

The social network's chief privacy officer Erin Egan called the practice "distressing" and threatened legal action against companies that violate its users' privacy.

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My Comment: So much for privacy.

The Psychological Impact Of Holding A Gun

U.S. Army Pfc. Samuel Corsolini uses his weapon's scope to provide security as a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter takes off after unloading U.S. and Afghan troops during a vehicle interdiction to disrupt Taliban activities as part of Operation Pranoo Verbena in Kandahar province, Afghanistan, March 16, 2012. Corsolini is a gunner assigned to the Company F, 2nd Battalion, 25th Aviation Regiment, 25th Combat Aviation Brigade. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Daniel Schroeder

Holding A Gun Makes You Think Others Are Too -- Science Blog

Wielding a gun increases a person’s bias to see guns in the hands of others, new research from the University of Notre Dame shows.

Notre Dame Associate Professor of Psychology James Brockmole, who specializes in human cognition and how the visual world guides behavior, together with a colleague from Purdue University, conducted the study, which will appear in an upcoming issue of Journal of Experimental Psychology: Perception and Performance.

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My Comment: We have been conditioned to expect the worse when we see guns .... holding it into our hands will probably only reinforce this impression.

New Theory On Size Of Black Holes

Image from a simulation when the inclination is 150 degrees with full 3D rendering. (Credit: Image courtesy of University of Leicester)

New Theory On Size Of Black Holes: Gas-Guzzling Black Holes Eat Two Courses At A Time -- Science Daily

ScienceDaily (Mar. 23, 2012) — Astronomers have put forward a new theory about why black holes become so hugely massive -- claiming some of them have no 'table manners', and tip their 'food' directly into their mouths, eating more than one course simultaneously.

Researchers from the UK and Australia investigated how some black holes grow so fast that they are billions of times heavier than the sun.

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My Comment: Let`s just say that they are big and heavy.

The 2012 Heat Wave

2012 Heat Wave NASA

The 2012 Heat Wave: "Almost Like Science Fiction" -- Popular Science

Today is World Meteorological Day, and there's no better time to take a serious look at our meteorological surroundings than right now, here in North America. All across the continent, records have been smashed: from the Great Lakes to the Atlantic, a heat wave like nothing we've ever seen before is hitting the U.S. and Canada, while out west, Oregon has gotten a new record for snowfall. Just what is going on here?

This past Wednesday broke records all across the Midwest and Northeast. Some stats:

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My Comment: I live in Montreal .... and yes .... we also broke records here.

Europe Launches Heaviest Ever Craft Into Space

An automated craft laden with supplies for the International Space Station (ISS) headed into space in the heaviest launch ever undertaken by Europe. The 20-tonne vessel, named after a 20th-century Italian physicist, Edoardo Amaldi, was taken aloft by a heavyweight version of the Ariane 5 launcher Photo: AFP/GETTY

Europe Launches Heaviest Ever Craft Into Space -- The Telegraph

Europe has undertaken its heaviest ever launch after an automated craft the size of a double decker bus, laden with supplies for the International Space Station, blasted off into space.

The 20-ton vessel, named after 20th-century Italian physicist, Edoardo Amaldi, blasted off atop a heavyweight version of the Ariane 5 launcher at 01:34am (0434 GMT) from the launch pad in French Guiana.

"Mission accomplished," Jean-Yves Gall, the head of Arianespace satellite launch operator, said shortly after lift-off.

About an hour later the vessel separated from the launcher and went its orbit flight path in what Gall said was picture perfect execution.

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My Comment: The part of this report that I found interesting was the following ....

.... Laden with rubbish, the craft will then detach and burn up in a controlled destruction over the southern Pacific.

Hmmm .... so that's how they get rid of the trash.

Air Force Space Command Is Looking For A Few Good Cyber Warriors

AF Cyber Boss Wants High Quality Troops -- Military.com

The Air Force’s top cyber commander warned Thursday that the military may have a tough time finding all the qualified people it needs to stay ahead in the increasingly important world of attacking and defending networks.

Gen. William Shelton, head of Air Force Space Command, said that only a small percentage of people graduate with technical college degrees every year in the U.S. and of those an even smaller percentage are eligible to get the security clearance they’d need to become Defense Department or government cyber-operators.

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Update: The cyber war after next -- DoD Buzz

My Comment: For more info on Air Force Space Command, go here.

On a side note .... 'Hacktivists' stole 58% of thieved data in 2011.

This Months Solar Flare 'Likely Knocked' Military Satellites Offline

An M7.9 class flare. A solar flare is an intense burst of radiation coming from the release of magnetic energy associated with sunspots. Flares are our solar system’s largest explosive events.

Solar Flares Likely Knocked Military Satellites Offline -- US News and World Report

Solar storms earlier this month may have caused military satellites to reboot.

Despite being made to withstand radiation emitted from solar flares, a storm caused by the sun earlier this month may have temporarily knocked American military satellites offline, according to General William Shelton, head of the Air Force's Space Command.

The energy particles associated with two solar storms March 9 and 10 may have caused what are called "single event upsets" on military satellites. "The timing is such that we say this was likely due to [solar radiation]," Shelton told reporters at a Defense Writers Group breakfast Thursday. Although it's impossible to tell exactly what caused the events—essentially a temporary reboot of satellite instrumentation software—solar storms are known to wreak havoc on satellites.

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Update: General: Recent solar storm interfered with Air Force satellite -- Stars and Stripes

My Comment: An event like this makes you appreciate on why emp weapons are feared by the military.

Germany Unprepared For A Major Nuclear Disaster

(Click on Image to Enlarge)

Germany Unprepared For Major Nuclear Disaster -- Spiegel Online

If a nuclear disaster comparable to Fukushima were to hit a German nuclear plant, authorities would be unprepared to handle it, and scientific projections show that radiation would likely spread much further than previous estimates. But government agencies have done little to address the problem. Critics call the delay a "scandal."

The projected catastrophe would begin on the cold winter's day of Dec. 1, 2010. In the scenario envisioned by scientists, fuel elements begin melting at the Philippsburg 2 nuclear power plant in the southwestern German state of Baden-Württemberg. Engineers release pressure to prevent the plant from exploding, and for the next 25 days, radioactive clouds move north toward the Rhine Valley, over the cities of Speyer and Hockenheim, toward Mannheim and Heidelberg.

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My Comment: Hmmmm .... I doubt that anyone can really be prepared for a major nuclear disaster.

Apple's iPhone 5 Will Launch This Summer

White iPhone 4S: The new iPhone 5 will have a much bigger 4.6-inch screen, and will launch this summer, according to sources in Korea

Apple's iPhone 5 Will Have Much Bigger 4.6-Inch Screen, Say Korean Suppliers - And Will Launch In Summer -- Daily Mail

* Screen would make new phone same size as Android rival Galaxy S2
* Leak from unnamed Korean source
* Release date 'in second quarter' this year

The new iPhone 5 will have a much bigger 4.6-inch screen, and will launch this summer, according to sources in Korea.

The leak, reported in a business newspaper in Korea, would make the new iPhone the same size as its cult Android rival the Galaxy S2.

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My Comment: Yup .... this will be my next phone.

Mapping The Brain

The Brain Atlas Allen Institute for Brain Science

Microsoft Co-Founder Paul Allen Invests $300 Million Into Mapping the Brain -- Popular Science

Paul Allen’s commitment to tackling big questions in neuroscience grows larger still. The Microsoft co-founder has already contributed hundreds of millions of dollars to brain science, much of it to the establishment of the Allen Brain Institute, a nonprofit charged with building a massive database of information about the brain. Now, seemingly from a frustration with the slow pace of discovery elsewhere in the field, Allen has committed another $300 million over the next decade to expanding his institute to include it’s own lab for neuroscience investigation.

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My Comment: That is going to be a very impressive data base.

Americans Now Watch More Online Movies Than DVDs

Monthly streaming subscription services like Netflix account for 94% of all paid online movie consumption. Netflix

Americans Now Watch More Online Movies Than DVDs -- CNN

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- U.S. movie buffs will pay to watch more movies online in 2012 than they will on physical video formats like DVD. That historic first marks a tipping point for Hollywood -- and its business model.

The stat comes a report that research firm IHS iSuppli released late Thursday. Online views, or paid "transactions," will hit 3.4 billion this year, compared with 2.4 billion for physical copies, according to IHS's forecast.

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My Comment: I am one of those who now watches his shows and movies on my computer screen.