] "We have made a major breakthrough, discovering the
] possibility of making predictions months ahead of time,
] instead of years, as in previously known methods,"
] Keilis-Borok said. "This discovery was not generated by
] an instant inspiration, but culminates 20 years of
] multinational, interdisciplinary collaboration by a team
] of scientists from Russia, the United States, Western
] Europe, Japan and Canada."

UC NewsWire -- Earthquakes can be predicted months in advance

This is interesting. Run the program that NASA uses to plan mars rover missions. Data from the current mission is available. The software is cross platform!

Maestro Headquarters

] The Sun, the Moon, and two photographers all lined up
] last month in Antarctica during an unusual total eclipse
] of the Sun.

Wow.

An Antarctic Total Solar Eclipse

] Explanation: In 1787, astronomer William Herschel
] discovered the Eskimo Nebula. From the ground, NGC 2392
] resembles a person's head surrounded by a parka hood. In
] 2000, the Hubble Space Telescope imaged the Eskimo
] Nebula. From space, the nebula displays gas clouds so
] complex they are not fully understood. The Eskimo Nebula
] is clearly a planetary nebula, and the gas seen above
] composed the outer layers of a Sun-like star only 10,000
] years ago. The inner filaments visible above are being
] ejected by strong wind of particles from the central
] star. The outer disk contains unusual light-year long
] orange filaments.

WOW!

LB

The Eskimo Nebula from Hubble

] But what will get the scientific community to accept being
] told what to do?
]
] Catastrophe. We have scientists saying they want to publish
] pathogen gene sequences on the Net. One consequential
] accident and we'll want to throw those researchers in jail.

Bill Joy has more to say about how information should not be free. A lot of the comments in here really piss me off. He offers that no one who disagrees with him has a well thought out perspective. He also makes the generational spin:

] I benefited a lot from earlier generations' sacrifice in setting
] up the system so I could be as creative as I wanted to. It was a
] part of me giving back.

Giving back how? By creating a future where the next generation cannot be as creative because they aren't allowed to learn about, say, UNIX because they could use such information to harm someone important or powerful who relies on said technology to run infrastructure? OK, maybe not UNIX, maybe, say, how to fly an airplane?

In history, how many times have wealthy aristocrats peered out of their castle windows down at the unwashed masses and reacted with fear? How many have said, "We've got to prevent these people from getting access to knowledge. We've got to prevent these people from getting access to resources. If these people got powerful there is no telling what they might do!" The fact is that we have gone through this over and over and over again in history, and it is well understood at this point that this is counter productive to everyone but the aristocrat. If this arguement was made by anyone else we would either be angry or we would be ignoring it. Shame on those who agree to go along this time simply because "its Bill Joy."

Bill Joy is wrong.

Wired 11.12: Billl Joy - the antihacker

] Powers of Ten

This is neat...

Science, Optics and You

Microsoft may have to fork up big bounty bucks trying to unearth future hackers, particularly when they are light years away on distant worlds.

Add one more worry to the computerized world of the 21st century. Could a signal from the stars broadcast by an alien intelligence also carry harmful information, in the spirit of a computer virus? Could star folk launch a "disinformation" campaign -- one that covers up aspects of their culture? Perhaps they might even mask the "real" intent of dispatching a message to other civilizations scattered throughout the Cosmos.

These are concerns that deserve attention explains Richard Carrigan, Jr., a physicist at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, Illinois. Those engaged in the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI), he contends, should think about decontaminating potential SETI signals.

Keeping Watch for Interstellar Computer Viruses

logickal wrote:
] ] Kohl, the principal investigator for an instrument aboard
] ] NASA's sun-watching SOHO spacecraft, said the probability
] ] of two huge flares aimed directly at Earth coming so
] ] close together, as they have this week, "unprecedented
] ] ... so low that it is a statistical anomaly."

UM, OK, at this point I've got to ask what you're all thinking.... UM... this isn't the end of the solar system is it? This thing isn't going to go red giant tomorrow? Right? I got shit to do man. I don't need the damn rapture starting right now!

RE: HoustonChronicle.com - Second space storm smacks into Earth

Incredible images of this week's solar flares, some of the largest in recorded history.

Fast-moving Coronal Mass Ejection

] As of late October, sources indicate that a central
] recommendation is likely, but not certainly to be
] resumption of manned lunar flights to develop advanced
] technologies that can support U.S. astronauts working
] beyond Earth orbit to not only the Moon, but eventually
] on near-Earth asteroids and Mars.

Holy shit...

Presidential review on space policy heading to closure | SpaceRef - Your Space Reference