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Friday, September 29, 2000
Nova Scotia Mystery
An interesting site detailing one mans research into links between ancient stone monuments and some historically new construction, all linked by geometry, Freemasonry and possibly the Knights Templar.
Mysteries in Nova Scotia, Canada
"Basically, the following pages are a few pictures of the sorts of things I have been finding in Nova Scotia, Canada. I have stumbled upon a series of very large geometric figures that are marked by monuments that are often very old {pre-Columbian} and sometimes, surprisingly, very new. In the 10 years that I have been researching this phenomenon, I have discovered a history of North America and humanity which is not told in the schools and texts. I have found a project that has been hidden from the general public, and has consumed the lives of many men throughout the ages toward a goal that, at this point, I can only make an intelligent guess."
posted at 9/29/2000 12:11:27 PM
Wednesday, September 27, 2000
Here are some awesome NASA photos and movies of coronal loops on the sun. Some of the loops are 300,000 miles high. For some reason I feel really small.
Fountains of Fire Illuminate Solar Mystery
"Fountains of multimillion-degree, electrified gas in the atmosphere of the Sun have revealed the location where the solar atmosphere is heated to temperatures 300 times greater than the Sun's visible surface."
posted at 9/27/2000 11:21:56 PM
Tuesday, September 26, 2000
See state of the art satellite photos of the grounds of the 2000 Olympics, Mecca with groups of pilgrims, Chechnya before and after, and the Millennium Wheel in London. Amazing high resolution shots.
Spaceflight Now: Ikonos Top 10 Photo Gallery
posted at 9/26/2000 07:58:07 PM
A good view of the state of the Family Farm.
Farms Around the World
"These 150 farm homepages give you a feel for life on the farm in 40 states and 18 countries around the world. Most include information about life on their farm, animals, crops, wildlife, marketing, problems, economics, soil, climate, and other information of interest to farmers, students, and the general public."
posted at 9/26/2000 04:37:05 PM
Monday, September 25, 2000
What should you pack for the Apocolypse ? Lots of paper money ? No, it will be worth little. Windup watches ? Pack several. What to bring, what to leave behind and the reasons why.
Mo Nickels
"One, do not let anyone else do the packing."
posted at 9/25/2000 09:56:31 PM
Friday, September 22, 2000
This group has tagged several marine animals, currently including Loggerhead Turtles, Harbor Porpoises and a Harbor Seal in Mexico, Florida, Maine, Canada and Norway. The site includes maps of the animals travels, and archives of previously tagged animals.
WhaleNet's STOP Data, Maps and Observations
WhaleNet coordinates the Satellite Tagging Observation Program - STOP. The goal is to enable students to participate, with scientists, in unique research using advanced technologies.
"This unique program uses advanced satellite technology and telecommunications to monitor and research the actual migration patterns and movements of selected species of whales and marine animals."
posted at 9/22/2000 03:52:38 PM
Thursday, September 21, 2000
Follow the path of an ocean-going Leatherback turtle. Her shell is about 5 feet front to back and she weighs at least a thousand pounds. Last years turtle, Sherman, travelled an average of 60km per day.
Nova Scotia Leatherback Turtle Working Group
"Meet Helen, the first female leatherback turtle ever satellite tagged at sea. She was tagged on August 8, 2000 in the waters off Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia.
The satellite tag that Helen wears like a backpack lets us follow her on her travels in the Atlantic Ocean."
posted at 9/21/2000 02:26:30 PM
Wednesday, September 20, 2000
Why flip hamburgers ? According to CNN, this kid made over a quarter of a million dollars manipulating stocks by posting messages on a Yahoo finance message board. The most incredible thing is that he made this much money in 11 transactions involving 9 cheap stocks. Unfortunately the SEC takes a dim view of such after school money making activities.
SEC charges minor with Net fraud - Sep. 20, 2000
"The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday settled civil charges against a 15-year-old boy for allegedly operating an Internet stock-manipulation scheme valued at more than a quarter-of-a-million dollars -- marking the first time in history that the SEC charged a minor."
posted at 9/20/2000 10:36:33 PM
This site has a good summary of the current state of Reusable Launch Vehicle development. I was suprised at how many different projects are currently underway. Read about, among others, the Astroliner, the Rocketplane and the Kitten spaceship kit.
HobbySpace - Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV) Information
"A fully reusable launch system will ultimately provide the low cost access to Space that is required to bring about extensive human exploration and colonization of the solar system."
"Here is a set of resources about such RLV projects present, past and future."
posted at 9/20/2000 09:41:31 PM
Five large asteroids ( avg diameter ~ 1/2 km ) have passed fairly close to Earth in the past few weeks. Two were discovered only a week before their closest approach. Luckily, "All of the asteroids missed our planet by comfortable margins of 11 to 75 lunar distances. " I think one could justifiably replace the word "comfortable" with "uncomfortable" in the previous sentence.
A Good Month for Asteroids
"September 20, 2000 : This has been a good month for astronomers studying Near-Earth asteroids (NEAs). No fewer than five sizable space rocks have flown past our planet since the beginning of September -- three of them in the last four days."
posted at 9/20/2000 07:03:10 PM
Just what kind of laptops do the Space Shuttle commuters use to write their memos? Nothing exotic. They need velcro to keep from floating away, and there are problems with cooling due to the lessened gravity and air density. Then there is the issue of secure and reliable internet access in an extraplanetary environment.
2001: A Space Laptop
"Like most busy commuters these days, astronauts need to take their laptop computers with them on the road - even if they are travelling at 17,500 miles per hour in a billion dollar space shuttle between Earth and the International Space Station. Given that NASA often touts itself as being at the cutting edge of technology you'd expect that they'd lavish nothing but the latest and speediest laptop computers on their astronauts. Alas, that isn't the case."
posted at 9/20/2000 09:54:19 AM
Monday, September 18, 2000
According to CNN, the X-32 has made its maiden flight. The X designates a Technology Demonstrator version. Follow the Boeing link to see a scary looking artists conception, and some images. Boeing is in competition with Lockheed-Martin for a $300,000,000,000 contract.
CNN Story
Boeing Joint Strike Fighter Home
"The Boeing Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) One Team is developing an affordable, next-generation, multi-role strike fighter for the U.S. Air Force, Navy and Marine corps and the U.K. Royal Air Force and Royal Navy. The Boeing JSF is a stealthy, survivable and highly lethal weapon system that meets the military services' performance requirements while achieving strict affordability targets."
posted at 9/18/2000 05:19:43 PM
Sunday, September 17, 2000
This search site has canned topical web tours, where it takes you from site to site automatically, spending about 30 sec on each site. A dashboard pops up that includes back, next and stop buttons. An interesting and original concept.
Webpilots®: Tours to the Best Sites on the Web
posted at 9/17/2000 01:35:41 PM
This is a new site, but bears further watching. It is put out by the University of North Dakota Space Studies Department. Currently it only has Vol 1 No 1, but a new monthly issue is coming out in October.
Space Anthology
"SpaceAnthology.com publishes general interest space related articles. Our goal is to attract the public to the real science behind aerospace issues, space exploration and space development."
posted at 9/17/2000 01:19:56 PM
This interesting site has sections on homemade pneumatic cannons ( aka spud guns / water cannons ), hovercraft, pyrotechnics and spy stuff. The pneumatic cannon section is very detailed. I have never seen anything on water cannons before.
X I N V E N T I O N S . C O M
posted at 9/17/2000 12:29:11 PM
Friday, September 08, 2000
Just when I thought it was safe to go outside...
Antarctica's Record-setting Ozone Hole
"Sept. 8, 2000 -- A NASA spectrometer has detected an Antarctic ozone "hole" (what scientists call an "ozone depletion area") that is three times larger than the entire land mass of the United States - the largest such area ever observed."
"Although production of ozone-destroying gases has been curtailed under international agreements, concentrations of the gases in the stratosphere are only now reaching their peak. Due to their long persistence in the atmosphere, it will be many decades before the ozone hole is no longer an annual occurrence."
posted at 9/8/2000 03:27:00 PM
Tuesday, September 05, 2000
This is quite an eclectic mixture. It contains Real Player links for many of the works.
Voting Results: America's Greatest 20th Century Music
"Here's our definition of "most important":
By virtue of its achievement, beauty, or excellence, the work is an important milestone of American music in the 20th century. It significantly changed the musical landscape, opened new horizons, or in itself had a major effect on American culture and civilization. "
posted at 9/5/2000 08:44:01 PM
Sunday, September 03, 2000
This is an evocative series of photo essays on modern American ruins. Don't miss the Girls Orphanage or the Insane Asylum.
Modern ruins project
"Welcome to my series of photographic essays on Modern Ruins. I have always had an interest in ruins of all sorts. I have done a lot of traveling to visit the great ruins of the world including the Great pyramids of Giza, the Parthenon in Athens, the Mayan ruins of Central America, the great ruined city of Pagan in Burma and others. I also spend time exploring local ruins found in the abandoned industrial fringe areas of cities and towns in my area. In many respects the local ruins are more interesting to me."
posted at 9/3/2000 12:56:35 PM
This site, found on the "Yahoo What's New, Sun Aug 27, Science" page, looks like a well put together page documenting an expedition for the search for a strange aquatic creature living in the Nile River. However, the journal it is apparently from, ASJ - American Science Journal, does not seem to exist.
Yoot.com - The Seaman Expedition
"Amid the desert heat of Egypt and the river waters of the Nile Delta, an American-led team begins the search for the elusive Seaman. Finding the legendary creature may lend clues and help raise the veil of mystery that has surrounded the Seaman for over 4,500 years. "
Seaman is actually the main character in a computer game Seaman: Forbidden Pet. Yahoo should hire some better fact checkers. Admittedly, they do not have the link in a hard science area, but have it listed under Science/Alternative/Paranormal_Phenomena/Cryptozoology
posted at 9/3/2000 12:39:35 PM
