An icon of achievement.
On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong became the first human to set foot on the moon.
And there was much rejoicing!
From the Smithsonian, this image:
Better facial recognition algorithms through Caricatures
How does a computer recognize a face?
Since 9/11, there’s been a renewed interest in facial recognition algorithm to catch terrorists trying to slip into the country but ten years later, the system ain’t anywhere close to perfect (yes, even including Facebook’s creepy facial recognition system)
Perhaps they’re going about it the wrong way, according to Ben Austen of Wired. Rather than taking biometric measurements of the size of a person’s nose or eyes, computers would do well to learn from caricaturists instead…
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Is it too late to turn the tides on rising sea levels?
If sea levels rose to where they were during the Last Interglacial Period, large parts of the Gulf of Mexico would be under water (red areas),
Melting ice sheets contributed much more to rising sea levels than thermal expansion of warming ocean waters during the Last Interglacial Period, a UA-led team of researchers has found. The results further suggest that ocean levels continue to rise long after warming of the atmosphere has leveled off.
Continue reading… “Is it too late to turn the tides on rising sea levels?”
France launches €10 Billion offshore wind project (1,200 turbines & 10,000 jobs!)
Harvesting the wind in water.
The French government of Nicolas Sarkozy has launched a €10 billion ($14.26 billion) tender to build about 1,200 wind turbines in 5 different offshore wind farms. The goal is to diversify France’s energy generation (they are very reliant on nuclear, which accounts for about 80% of their electricity generation) with renewable sources and to have 23% of France’s energy come from renewable sources by 2020. The wind farms will be located off France’s coast on the North and West and should produce about 3.5% of the country’s electricity according to government authorities. The farms should come online between 2015-2020…
Rainbow Toad rediscovered after 87 years
The Rainbow Toad
After months of scouring remote forests in Borneo, researchers spotted three rainbow toads up a tree, snapping the first-ever photographs of this elusive amphibian species that hadn’t been seen for 87 years. Last seen in 1924, the Bornean rainbow toad (Ansonia latidisca) had been listed as one of the world’s top 10 most wanted lost frogs…
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Amazing maps show where Twitter and Flickr are used around the world
Europe and North America are the brightest spots, indicating the most concentrated use of Twitter and Flickr.
Last year photographer Eric Fischer turned a lot of heads with his Flickr set that used the site’s geotags to map various cities. Now he has posted a new set on his Flickr stream that illustrates where in the United States, Europe, and the world people tend to use Twitter, and where they tend to use Flickr. (Pics)
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“Anonymous” hackers attack Monsanto and Tar Sands Oil Companies
Anonymous has chosen to attack Monsanto and Oil Companies involved in the Tar Sands project in Canada.
The notorious activist hacking group “Anonymous” has launched two new campaigns championing a pair of green causes — helping U.S. farmers earn the right to label their food as “GMO-free” and working to obstruct the expansion of the devastating tar sands oil project in Alberta, Canada. Monsanto, the giant biotech firm, has confirmed it was the victim of a large-scale hacking attack. And the oil companies are next, Anonymous says…
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China shut down 1.3 million websites 2010
More than one million websites closed down in China last year, a state-run think tank has said.
China claims that they offer a “high level of freedom” for online speech. Hah! I don’t know what world they live in because in our world, the real world, China has shut down 1.3 million websites and routinely block websites.
The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the state-run organization who reported the figure, also said that there were were 41% less websites at the end of 2010 than a year earlier. It’s like they don’t want the Internet to grow…
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Boy regrets selling his kidney to buy iPad
In this case an iPad was worth more than a kidney. Oh, the cost of technology!
A 17-year-old student in Anhui Province sold one of his kidneys for 20,000 yuan only to buy an iPad 2. Now, with his health getting worse, the boy is feeling regret but it is too late, the Global Times reported today…
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Mongolia Unicycle Tour claimed “half as difficult as biking”
All for one and one for all!
If you ever shied away from the challenge of a long distance bike trip, well here’s a trip that really isn’t for the faint of heart — or the unskilled.
Last summer, Adventure Unicyclist, Bike Asia and Grasshopper Adventures teamed up to host a tour of Mongolia by unicycle.
The 12-day tour (with seven days of one-wheeled biking) covered 150 miles and gave athletically inclined and adventure-tuned travelers a unique way to get from point A to point B, while creating quite the spectacle in pictures. The Monguni tour group jokingly claims that unicycling is only half as difficult as biking — you only have half as much to worry about…
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Scary strain of Gonorrhea resistant to all known antibiotics
YIKES!
The widespread sexually transmitted disease Gonorrhea used to be easy to treat, but not anymore. For the first time, scientists have identified a strain of this bacteria in Japan that is resistant to all known antibiotics.
The researchers don’t know how far this strain has spread in the wild, but they fear it could be far and wide soon….
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15 suspected Anonymous members arrested in Italy
Anonymous may be slightly less anonymous shortly.
The Italian government capped off a long investigation yesterday with a series of 32 raids across Italy and one in Switzerland. Authorities arrested 15 alleged members of Anonymous and accused them with conducting denial of service attacks against government web sites and the web sites of private and state-owned media organizations…
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