The bar at the center of the Milky Way.
The bar at the center of the Milky Way.
Year: 2012
Instagram has said it will withdraw language from its terms and conditions that would have given it ownership rights to users’ photography.
That didn’t take long: Instagram has said it will withdraw language from its terms and conditions that would have given it ownership rights to users’ photography.
How nice of them. But note that the article above also points out that the actual language has not yet changed.
Another Earth just twelve light years away?
Another Earth just twelve light years away?
One small dish for man
An evening pause: The title can be translated as “One small dish for man.”
The science team for Cassini has released a spectacular mosiac of Saturn and its rings, backlit by the Sun.
The science team for Cassini has released a spectacular mosiac of Saturn and its rings, backlit by the Sun.
“I want Wayne LaPierre’s head on a stick.”
Leftwing love: “I want Wayne LaPierre’s head on a stick.”
More death threats here.
The first quote is from a college professor no less. And the death threats? If accomplished, how would they be any different from the actions of the mass murderer in Connecticut this past weekend?
Facebook’s Instagram has updated its terms and conditions so that it now claims “perpetual” ownership to all photographs posted by users.
Facebook’s Instagram has updated its terms and conditions in order to claim “perpetual” ownership to all photographs posted by users.
“You acknowledge that we may not always identify paid services, sponsored content, or commercial communications as such,” the new terms say. That may let advertisers use teenagers’ photos for marketing, raising privacy and security concerns, Jeffrey Chester, executive director for the Center for Digital Democracy, told Bloomberg.
And people wonder why I am not on Facebook.
Sharon Shannon & Natali McMasters – Celtic electric
An evening pause:
NASA has named the impact site where the two GRAIL spacecraft hit the Moon today after American astronaut Sally Ride.
NASA has named the impact site where the two GRAIL spacecraft hit the Moon today after American astronaut Sally Ride.
Though this is a nice gesture, the entire public relations campaign surrounding the GRAIL impact today has been one of the more overhyped exercises at NASA. The impact is going to provide very little new science, and is necessary because no lunar orbit is stable and the spacecraft will eventually crash into the Moon anyway. Better to do it under controlled circumstances. To make such a big deal about it however is hardly interesting, especially since this has been done repeatedly by practically every lunar orbiter.
Orbital Sciences has begun testing the loading and unloading of fuel for the first stage of its Antares rocket at Wallops Island, Maryland.
Orbital Sciences has begun testing the loading and unloading of fuel for the first stage of its Antares rocket at Wallops Island, Maryland.
This is good, but the questions about the Antares’ system for ejecting its shroud after launch still remain, threatening the rest of the schedule.
A preliminary copy of the next IPCC report has been leaked.
A preliminary copy of the next IPCC report has been leaked.
In the coming days there will be much discussion of this document — such as how it appears the IPCC has finally acknowledged the importance of the Sun’s variability to climate change — but for now, I post on the right what is probably its most important admission. This graph from the leaked report shows the rise in global temperatures as predicted by all the different climate models used by the IPCC, compared to actual observed temperatures. As you can see, since the late 1990s there has been no significant increase in global temperature. Moreover, the observed data now sits outside the predicted margin of error for all the models, making every single one of these models completely wrong.
But don’t worry, these facts aren’t important. In fact, any facts that contradict the religion of global warming must be ignored. It is far more important to shut down all industry and live like cavemen, just because we have faith in our belief in global warming.
An attempt to drill down into another buried lake in Antarctica, this time by Great Britain, has encountered serious technical problems because of a failed boiler.
An attempt to drill down into another buried lake in Antarctica, this time by Great Britain, has encountered serious technical problems because of a failed boiler.