It is said that these pictures were taken in Goa, India. Because cows are sacred animals, it is difficult to banish them from this beach, which they like for some reason. Tourists, on the other hand, are in the worst position because they cannot swim and sunbathe comfortably and cannot upset the feelings of the locals.
[Update: According to Carlyle (AKA Massawyrm) at Spill.com, the version of the film that's leaked online is most likely an older version that hasn't yet integrated the new material from Hood's recent reshoots.]
Gavin Hood’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine is currently slated for a May 1, 2009 release date in the U.S., but unfortunately, it looks like a few people might be getting their hands on the film a bit earlier than intended. Reports are pouring in that a full-length, DVD-quality workprint of the film has been leaked onto the internet and is quietly making its way across various bittorrent sites and other unsavory online venues. According to Drew McWeeny at HitFix, who has evidently seen parts of the video file, the copy is “near-finished…marred only by a few unfinished FX shots.” In addition, “there’s no timecode, no watermark…nothing. It’s a clean, perfect copy.”
This is perhaps the biggest leak for a major tentpole release in recent memory. Leaving aside the well-known phenomenon of Oscar screener leaks, workprint leaks have certainly happened in the past. For example, Eli Roth’s Hostel 2 leaked onto the internet several weeks before its release (in that situation, Roth was furious and blamed the leak for the film’s weak box office performance). Other films such as Rob Zombie’s Halloween and Michael Moore’s Sicko also experienced similar issue. However, those films were all relatively small compared to X-Men Origins: Wolverine, a film which 20th Century Fox was probably betting on to help revive its recent lackluster box office performance.
The film’s production has already been plagued by bad buzz, and with a fairly pristine copy of the film floating around for consumption by the very audience the film is targeted at, it will all probably combine to have a dramatic and negative impact on this film’s opening and overall box office performance.
Auction is already over $1,000 for a completely useless NES cart.
By Bryn Williams | March 30, 2009
This is a Joystick Test Cartridge for the Nintendo Entertainment System. These carts were given to game stores to test their Nintendo Entertainment Systems and were suppose to be returned to the company that provided the carts. These are very hard to find since they were never sold on the market. Any NES Collector could appreciate the value of such an item. There is wear on the label as can be seen in the picture.That's a large amount of money for something which is essentially useless, and more to the point, there's more likely a few of them hanging around in the back rooms of WallMarts all over the country.
Making its first flights to the International Space Station early in the next decade, Orion is part of the Constellation Program to send human explorers back to the moon, and then onward to Mars and other destinations in the solar system.
Click here for the picture set | digg story
By Daniel Murphy
Devised by the Irish as retaliation against English imperial rule, the first April Fool's Day prank on record occurred in 1770 when an Irish peasant persuaded his entire village to tithe the English in pence, making it impossible for the tax collectors to carry the load.* Since then, April Fool's Day has celebrated society's troublemakers -- the Alan Abels, the Harold T. Stones, and now the thousands of people who have uploaded their own pranks to YouTube for the world to enjoy. Luckily, you don't have to comb through them for inspiration -- we already did.
#5. The Maze Game Prank
It's happened to everyone -- you're in your office, minding your own business, when a co-worker approaches holding a video camera promising you that they've just forwarded you the best game. And now? You have to play it, while they videotape you. The next thing you know you're bleeding from the head. Foolish, indeed.
#4. Best Buy Improv
Remember the last time you were in Best Buy, overpaying for not exactly what you wanted because you were too impatient to buy it online? And then you got home and realized that that sales guy "Chad," who was positive you needed an SD card and not a flash card, sold you the wrong fucking card? And you spent the rest of the night thinking of some way to exact unholy, perfectly legal revenge? These guys did exactly that, dressing up as Best Buy employees, flooding the store, and causing complete chaos.
#3. The Fake Car Accident
Sometimes pranks play on people's innate phobias, such as crashing, burning and dying in a heap of twisted metal. This, combined with the element of surprise, creates the authenticity one looks for in a playful gag. Speaking of authenticity, nothing is more real than urinating one's pants after bachelor party. So much for dry humor.
#2. The Mailbox Gag
Seeing this, you could argue the entire Cold War was a well-executed practical joke that went right over America's head. But what else do you expect in a land where vodka costs less than water? This clip is Benny Hill meets Pulp Fiction. It's Mr. Bean starring in a snuff film. Wait for the ending and you'll see the kind of prank Nietzsche would pull if he wasn't so goddamned self-involved.
#1. The Mutated Rat Man
If the success of the prank is gauged by the reaction of the victim, then this hoax should be canonized in the annals of history. It should have its own Wikipedia page, and the searches "ratman," "perfect joke" and "frailty of the human soul" should all point to it. It should be dubbed in languages far and wide. For generations to come, when children reach the age of reason and ask their parents, "Why are we here?" moms and dads everywhere should sit their child down and show them this.
YouTube has been moving to bring in legitimate, licensed content from TV networks and movie studios for some time, inking deals with the likes of CBS and MGM, among others. Now, that professionally produced content is going to become the focal point of the site, as GoogleGoogle reviews
plans to launch a major redesign within the next month.
According to ClickZ, YouTube’s main navigation will soon be switched to “Movies, Music, Shows, and Videos. The first three tabs will display premium shows, clips, and movies from Google’s network and studio partners, all of which will be monetized with in-stream advertising.”
Meanwhile, the user-generated content that was the original premise for the site will be relegated to the “Videos” tab. This new navigation makes YouTube considerably more like HuluHulu reviews
, who offers two main options in its navigation – TV and Movies – from the video site’s parent companies: NBC and News Corp.
Why would YouTubeYouTube reviews want to emulate Hulu, which, though relatively popular, is still just a fraction of the size of YouTube? The main reason is that YouTube has been somewhat infamously unable to generate much money considering the size of its audience, whereas Hulu is able to attract high-end advertisers both because of its agency ties and its lack of more difficult to monetize user-generated content.
While I understand why Google might want to effectively “hide” user-generated videos from a business perspective, at the moment, it’s going to make the site a lot less engaging for users, simply because of the lack of quality pro content hosted on YouTube. Other than music videos, YouTube’s content catalog lags well behind that of its peers (I recently called it the TBS of online video). Unless deals are reached to bring its content catalog up to par – and these too are rumored – launching the said redesign would seem to be a mistake by YouTube.
Eating out invariably raises a number of tricky questions: sit down or drive through? Burgers or pizza? Thin or stuffed crust? Choosing one over the other could mean saving hundreds of calories in a single meal, up to 50 pounds of flab in the course of a year, and countless health woes over the course of a lifetime. That's why Eat This, Not That! launched an investigation and put 66 major chain restaurants under the nutritional microscope—so that you and your family can continue to eat out, but do so knowing the types of insider tips and savvy strategies that can help melt fat all year long. And the good news is that many fan favorites scored top marks!
To separate the commendable from the deplorable, we calculated the total number of calories per entrée. This gave us a snapshot of how each restaurant compared in average serving size—a key indicator of unhealthy portion distortion. Then we rewarded establishments with fruit and vegetable side-dish choices, as well as for providing whole-grain options. Finally, we penalized places for excessive amounts of trans fats and menus laden with gut-busting desserts. What we ended up with is the Eat This, Not That! Restaurant Report Card, which will show you how all of the nation's largest eating establishments stack up nutritionally.
Check out those restaurants that scored a B+ or higher:
Chick-fil-A: A-
Between the breakfast and lunch menus, there are only two entrées at Chick-fil-A that break 500 calories, a rare feat in the fast-food world. What this means is that you can't possibly do too much harm—especially if you stick to the chicken. And unlike the typical fast-food chain, Chick-fil-A offers a list of sides that goes beyond breaded and fried potatoes and onions. (Just beware the large cole slaw, which adds an extra 600 calories to your daily intake!) That's why we dub the Atlanta-based chicken shack one of our all-time favorite fast-food restaurants.
Also, be sure to check out our exclusive list of the best and worst restaurants for kids to see why Chick-fil-A receives an even higher grade when it comes to kids' meals.
Survival strategy: The worst thing you can do is supplement your meal with a milkshake—not a single cup has fewer than 600 calories. And instead of nuggets or strips, look to the Chargrilled Chicken Sandwiches, which average only 320 calories apiece.
Subway: A-
A menu based on lean protein and vegetables is always going to score well in our book. With more than half a dozen sandwiches under 300 calories, plus a slew of soups and healthy sides to boot, Subway can satisfy even the pickiest eater without breaking the caloric bank. But, despite what Jared may want you to believe, Subway is not nutritionally infallible: Those rosy calorie counts posted on the menu boards include neither cheese nor mayo (add 160 calories per 6-inch sub), and some of the toasted subs, like the Meatball Marinara, contain hefty doses of calories, saturated fat, and sodium.
Survival strategy: Cornell researchers have discovered a "health halo" at Subway, which refers to the tendency to reward yourself or your kid with chips, cookies, and large soft drinks because the entrée is healthy. Avoid the halo, and all will be well.
Jamba Juice: A-
Jamba offers a viable and tasty solution to the dearth of fresh fruits and vegetables in the American diet: Stick it all in a blender and let us slurp it up. But make this your rule: If it includes syrup or added sugar, it ceases to be a smoothie. Jamba Juice makes plenty of real-deal smoothies, but their menu is sullied with more than a few faux-fruit blends. Just make sure you choose the right one.
Survival strategy: For a perfectly guilt-free treat, opt for a Jamba Light or All Fruit Smoothie in a 16-ounce cup. And unless you're looking to put on weight for your new acting career, don't touch the Peanut Butter Moo'd, which has more sugar than an entire bag of chocolate chips!
Au Bon Pain: A-
Sure the menu has its pitfalls, but what menu doesn't? The bottom line is that Au Bon Pain combines an extensive inventory of healthy items with an unrivaled standard of nutritional transparency. Each store has an on-site nutritional kiosk to help customers find a meal to meet their expectations, and the variety of ordering options provides dozens of paths to a sensible meal.
Survival strategy: Most of the café sandwiches are in the 650-calorie range, so make a lean meal instead by combining a hot soup with one of the many low-calorie options on the Portions menu. And if you must indulge, eschew the baked goods in favor of a cup of fruit and yogurt, or serving of chocolate-covered almonds.
Boston Market: B+
With more than a dozen healthy vegetable sides and lean meats like turkey and roast sirloin on the menu, the low-cal, high-nutrient possibilities at Boston Market are endless. But with nearly a dozen calorie-packed sides and fatty meats like dark meat chicken and meat loaf, it's almost as easy to construct a lousy meal.
Survival strategy: There are three simple steps to nutritional salvation: 1) Start with turkey, sirloin, or rotisserie chicken. 2) Add two non-creamy, non-starchy vegetable sides. 3) Ignore all special items, such as pot pie and nearly all of the sandwiches.
Cici's Pizza Buffet: B+
Cici's began in Texas in 1985 and now boasts more than 600 locations, proving definitively that Americans love a good buffet. The good news for our waistlines is that the crust is moderately sized, and the pizza comes in varieties beyond simple sausage and pepperoni. But if you check your willpower at the door, you're probably better off skipping the pizza buffet entirely.
Survival strategy: It takes 20 minutes for your brain to tell your body it's full, so start with a salad and then proceed slowly to the pizza. Limit yourself to the healthier slices like the Zesty Vegetable, Alfredo, and the Olé, which is a Mexican-inspired pie with only 108 calories per slice.
McDonald's: B+
The world-famous burger baron has come a long way since the days of Fast Food Nation—at least, nutritionally speaking. The trans fats are mostly gone, the number of gut-wrecking calorie bombs are now fewer than ever, and the menu holds plenty of healthy options such as salads and yogurt parfaits. Don't cut loose at the counter just yet, though. Too many of the breakfast and lunch sandwiches still top the 500-calorie mark, and the dessert menu is fodder for some major belly-building.
Survival strategy: The Egg McMuffin remains one of the best ways to start your day in the fast-food world. As for the later hours, you can splurge on a Big Mac or a Quarter Pounder, but only if you skip the fries and soda, which add an average of 590 calories onto any meal.
Taco Bell: B+
Taco Bell combines two things with bad nutritional reputations: Mexican food and fast food. The result should be horrendous, yet somehow it works out so that a little prudence at the ordering window can bag you a meal with fewer than 500 calories. The potential for belly-building is still there, but the calorie bombs are generally easy to spot. And to limit the chances of a mistake, Taco Bell reengineered some of its classic items and listed them under the Fresco Menu for a savings of up to 10 grams of fat per item.
Survival strategy: Grilled Stuft Burritos, anything served in a bowl, and anything prepared with multiple "layers" are your worst options. Instead, order any combination of two of the following: crunchy tacos, bean burritos, or anything on the Fresco menu.
Wendy's: B+
Scoring a decent meal at Wendy's is just about as easy as scoring a bad one, and that's a big compliment for a burger joint. Options such as chili and baked potatoes offer the side-order variety that's missing from less-evolved fast-food chains like Dairy Queen and Carl's Jr. Plus they offer a handful of Jr. Burgers that don't stray far over 300 calories. And for our money, the 1/4-pound single is one of the best substantial burgers in the industry. Where they err is in their recently expanded line of desserts and a lackluster selection of beverages. But you're happy just drinking water, right?
Survival strategy: The grilled chicken sandwiches and wraps don't have more than 320 calories, which is less than even a small order of french fries. Choose the chicken or a small burger and pair it with a healthy side, and then hit the door before you receive the 500-calorie penalty for giving in to your Frosty hankering.
You can check out the complete Eat This, Not That! Restaurant Report Card here. Finally, sign up for your FREE Eat This, Not That! weekly newsletter or subscribe to the new Eat This, Not That! premium Web site. You'll get thousands of useful tips, tricks, and secret insights into everything going on in the world of food and nutrition, so you can stay lean for life while still enjoying all of your favorite foods. It's like having a personal nutritionist on call 24 hours a day!
Whether it's the giant bondage hamster wheel (huh?) or the padded cell/interrogation room, Kink.com knows how to put it's porn into perspective.
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Ancient rock art from around the world Even 15,000 years ago, humans were compelled to decorate their abodes. |
NICOSIA, Cyprus - An Italian archaeologist claimed Friday to have discovered Cyprus' oldest religious site, which she said echoes descriptions in the Bible of temples in ancient Palestine.
Maria Rosaria Belgiorno said the 4,000-year-old triangular temple predates any other found on the east Mediterranean island by a millennium.
"For sure it's the most ancient religious site on the island," she told The Associated Press from her home in Rome. "This confirms that religious worship in Cyprus began much earlier than previously believed."
But authorities on the island say they cannot confirm her claim before further study.
"That the site is dated to around 2,000 B.C. is certain, but the interpretation that it's a temple or a sacred site has yet to be confirmed," Cyprus Antiquities Department official Maria Hadjicosti told state radio.
The 200-sq.-meter (2,150-sq.-foot) building was discovered last year outside Pyrgos, a village near the south coast, where previous digs unearthed a settlement dating to 2,000 B.C. that included a perfumery, winery and a metal workshop.
Belgiorno, who heads an Italian archaeological mission in Cyprus, initially disclosed the find to English-language The Cyprus Weekly.
She said evidence points to a monotheistic temple with a sacrificial altar that resembles Canaanite places of worship described in the Bible.
"The temple has a very peculiar shape for a building, which is very rare."
Belgiorno said a key piece of evidence linking the site to Biblical accounts of temples in ancient Palestine is a pair of 6-meter (20-foot) stone "channels" extending from either side of the altar that allowed sacrificial animals' blood to flow out of the structure.
Other evidence includes a stone water basin, which she said might have been used in the ritual cleansing of the channels.
Belgiorno said the temple was situated across from the industrial area in the heart of the settlement, which she estimates covered 35 hectares (86 acres). Most of the settlement now lies under village homes and holiday villas.
The industrial area was built around a large mill producing olive oil that was used as fuel to fire up the metal workshop and as a perfume base.
Although it is difficult to say with certainty, she said the settlement was home to around 500 people. Their origins are unclear, but they had trade links with ancient Egypt and Palestine, she said.
A major earthquake destroyed the settlement in 1,850 B.C.
The earliest settlements excavated so far on the island date back to around 9000 B.C. Cyprus then saw successive waves of colonization, including Phoenicians, Mycenaean Greeks, Romans and — in the Middle Ages — Franks and Venetians. It was conquered by Ottoman Turks in 1571, and became part of the British Empire in 1878 before winning independence in 1960.
Violence between Cyprus' majority Greek community and the Turkish community broke out shortly after, and the island has been divided along ethnic lines since a Turkish invasion in 1974 — prompted by a failed coup aimed at union with Greece.
Hard economic times mean fewer consumers will shell out for expensive solar panels. Also hard hit are startups that offer no-money-down programs to lease panels or buy their power but can’t find banks to partner with. So, teaming with SunRun — one of the few outfits that still has a healthy line of financing — is a minor coup for Virgance, a company that plans to sign up thousands of new solar users.
I’ve written about what Virgance does in the past, but the quick version is that they run word-of-mouth campaigns to get hundreds or thousands of people to sign up for solar evaluations of their homes. Those that are interested in installing panels are then formed into groups, allowing Virgance to use collective bargaining to cut the total price by up to 25 percent — often saving thousands of dollars.
But it still costs many thousands more to buy a solar system up front, even with government rebates. The recession isn’t the only thing that keeps regular people from adopting solar — it’s the consistently-high price. Outside of affluent neighborhoods in San Francisco, about 80 percent of prospective solar customers said they needed financing, according to Steve Newcomb, Virgance’s chief executive. “It’s that difference between paying about $10,000 and just a thousand up front,” he told me.
From Virgance’s anecdotal experiences, it sounds like there’s a huge market of middle class customers who haven’t yet found an attractive enough financing option to seriously consider solar. In hopes of testing that theory out, the company will have SunRun back up all of its financing with the $100 million credit line the latter has from US Bank — enough for over 2,000 full-size systems.
The plan is to use this year to expand the program, run by a Virgance division called One Block Off the Grid (1BOG), outside of California (the company’s multiple other divisions will be represented at its Equinox event in a week). The Bay Area and Los Angeles have had their own successful campaigns, signing up hundreds of customers in each area, and Newcomb claims grassroots demand for 1BOG in places like Denver and New Orleans has been strong.
But there’s still plenty of work to be done. Ed Fenster, SunRun’s chief executive, points to a number of factors that will determine whether rooftop solar can be successful in other states, including the strength of sunlight, power prices and rebate programs. Also problematic are some state regulations. Colorado, for example, will need to change laws that prevent a company like SunRun from owning small solar systems.
Unfortunately, that ownership is the basis for the company’s power purchase agreement model so that the consumer only pays for the power, not the panels. Fenster says new rules are under consideration in the state. But ultimately, spreading solar across the country will require the two companies to innovate in a more outlandish area: lobbying politicians. And that may be the best indication yet that solar has finally entered the mainstream.
A brave traveller has made it all the way to New Zealand without buying a single ticket along the way.
Paul Smith - dubbed the Twitchhiker - made the 11,000-mile trip using only donations from people who use the social networking site Twitter.
He gave himself 30 days to complete the trek, and was forbidden to spend a penny on so much as a taxi journey.
On completing his epic trek he wrote on his blog: 'The Twitchhiker project showed that kindness is universal, that the whole can be infinitely greater than the sum of its parts, and that social media may begin online but it will converge with the real world whenever and wherever you let it.'
The Twitchhiker: Paul Smith made the 11,000-mile trip, relying solely on his social networking contacts, in less than 30 days
End of the road: Paul reaches Stewart Island on a cloudy day
Since leaving Gateshead on March 1, the Twitchhiker's journey has seen him cross to the Netherlands, Germany and France.
He then doubled back after being given flights from Frankfurt to Amsterdam, before crossing to New York.
Mr Smith then made his way through Washington DC, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Chicago and LA.
A final flight from LA saw the 33-year-old arrive in New Zealand with days to spare.
Paul, of Low Fell, Gateshead, told how a woman met him in Auckland before taking him home to meet her husband, who hails from Whitley Bay, North Tyneside.
Paul said: 'He recognised that my diet for the past three weeks had been lacking in bacon and egg sandwiches, and quickly righted that wrong.
'After breakfast, we disappeared into the bush on Auckland's west coast and were plunged into the richest, most spectacular landscapes of my trip so far.
Midpoint: Paul enjoys the lights of New York
'For the people of Auckland, this is their back yard. For me, it was paradise.'
Paul also featured on New Zealand radio station Kiwi FM to talk about his adventure on a breakfast show.
Paul's journey, which has already raised more than £5,000 for charity, was governed by two key rules.
He set himself the task of moving on from each destination in no less than two days, and was forbidden to plan more than three days in advance.
His job as a freelance writer and new wife Jane are waiting for him in Gateshead.
His goal was Campbell Island, a remote outpost off the south coast of New Zealand, but the final hurdle was just too high. It would have relied on a ship's captain prepared to cross treacherous seas on a six day round trip for free.
Round the world in 30 days: Paul's route from Gateshead to New Zealand
So instead he headed for Stewart Island, population of just 400.
'I wasn’t going to see Campbell Island, but it honestly didn’t matter anymore,' he said.
'The aim was to travel as far as I could from home as possible within 30 days, and by reaching Stewart Island I’d travelled to a place the majority of New Zealanders have never set foot on.'
Twitter is a social networking website which allows its users to post information about their day-to-day activities.
People can then read other users' updates, known as 'tweets', which are text-based posts of up to 140 characters.
Users can 'follow' other Twitter users if they wish to regularly view that users' updates.
In this way, senders can restrict delivery to those users in their circle of friends.
For more information on Paul's journey visit www.twitchhiker.com
Polyvore is an amazing website that’s revolutionizing the way we shop online. Their web-based application is user-friendly making it easy for you to import images from any online store and create a virtual ensemble in your browser. Each item used within a set will link back to the online store where it’s available for purchase. This makes it easy for you to track where you found the item or if you’re like me, discover new retailers from sets created by other Polyvore addicts.
One you publish a set, you can share it with your friends online to get their opinions. You can even print it out as a shopping guide or save your sets as a part of your fashion wish-list (that’s what I do).
Here’s a favorite of mine by Meg:
For an interesting post on how retailers can leverage Polyvore’s platform, read “Why should retailers pay more attention to social shopping on Polyvore?” by Sarah Simmons.
So instead of making you read, I’m going to share two videos that show you how to use Polyvore. I found these videos on Polyvore’s site here and here.
Watch how you can create sets composed of individual images using an easy to use, drag and drop editor. After you have created a set, you can publish and share it with your friends and the Polyvore community.
The Clipper easily lets you import items from other websites into Polyvore.
By Daniel Murphy
Devised by the Irish as retaliation against English imperial rule, the first April Fool's Day prank on record occurred in 1770 when an Irish peasant persuaded his entire village to tithe the English in pence, making it impossible for the tax collectors to carry the load.* Since then, April Fool's Day has celebrated society's troublemakers -- the Alan Abels, the Harold T. Stones, and now the thousands of people who have uploaded their own pranks to YouTube for the world to enjoy. Luckily, you don't have to comb through them for inspiration -- we already did.
#5. The Maze Game Prank
It's happened to everyone -- you're in your office, minding your own business, when a co-worker approaches holding a video camera promising you that they've just forwarded you the best game. And now? You have to play it, while they videotape you. The next thing you know you're bleeding from the head. Foolish, indeed.
#4. Best Buy Improv
Remember the last time you were in Best Buy, overpaying for not exactly what you wanted because you were too impatient to buy it online? And then you got home and realized that that sales guy "Chad," who was positive you needed an SD card and not a flash card, sold you the wrong fucking card? And you spent the rest of the night thinking of some way to exact unholy, perfectly legal revenge? These guys did exactly that, dressing up as Best Buy employees, flooding the store, and causing complete chaos.
#3. The Fake Car Accident
Sometimes pranks play on people's innate phobias, such as crashing, burning and dying in a heap of twisted metal. This, combined with the element of surprise, creates the authenticity one looks for in a playful gag. Speaking of authenticity, nothing is more real than urinating one's pants after bachelor party. So much for dry humor.
#2. The Mailbox Gag
Seeing this, you could argue the entire Cold War was a well-executed practical joke that went right over America's head. But what else do you expect in a land where vodka costs less than water? This clip is Benny Hill meets Pulp Fiction. It's Mr. Bean starring in a snuff film. Wait for the ending and you'll see the kind of prank Nietzsche would pull if he wasn't so goddamned self-involved.
#1. The Mutated Rat Man
If the success of the prank is gauged by the reaction of the victim, then this hoax should be canonized in the annals of history. It should have its own Wikipedia page, and the searches "ratman," "perfect joke" and "frailty of the human soul" should all point to it. It should be dubbed in languages far and wide. For generations to come, when children reach the age of reason and ask their parents, "Why are we here?" moms and dads everywhere should sit their child down and show them this.
The National Ignition Facility (NIF) laser bay at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California.
Scientists working at the National Ignition Facility of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, have built the most powerful laser in the world, capable of simulating the energy force of a hydrogen bomb and the sun itself.
“The system already has produced 25 times more energy than any other laser system,” said NIF Director Ed Moses.
The Energy Department is expected to announce Tuesday that it has officially certified the National Ignition Facility, which would clear the way for a series of experiments which scientists hope will eventually will mimic the heat and pressure found at the center of the sun.
The successful completion of the laser is the culmination of more than a decade of work at a cost of $3.5 billion.
“NIF is well on its way to achieving breakthroughs in science never imagined. Through our readiness testing we will see glimpses of what that future will bring,” said Moses.
This artist's rendering shows a NIF target pellet inside a hohlraum capsule with laser beams entering through openings on either end. The beams compress and heat the target to the necessary conditions for nuclear fusion to occur. Ignition experiments on NIF will be the culmination of more than 30 years of inertial confinement fusion research and development, opening the door to exploration of previously inaccessible physical regimes.
NIF’s 192 laser beams, housed in a ten-story building the size of three football fields, travel a long path, about 1,000 feet, from their birth at one of the two master oscillators to the center of the target chamber. As the beams move through NIF’s amplifiers, their energy increases exponentially. From beginning to end, the beams’ total energy grows from one-billionth of a joule (a joule is the energy needed to lift a small apple one meter against the Earth’s gravity) to four million joules, a factor of more than a quadrillion - and it all happens in less than 25 billionths of a second.
Each master oscillator generates a very small, low-energy laser pulse. The pulse may range from 100 trillionths to 25 billionths of a second long, and has a specific temporal shape as requested by NIF experimenters.
The laser is expected to be used for a wide range of high-energy and high-density physics experiments, but its primary purpose is to assist government physicists in ensuring the reliability of the nation’s nuclear weapons as they become older.
The Lawrence Livermore lab will be taking order of the world’s most powerful supercomputer –capable of performing at 20 petaflops (1 petaflop equals 1 thousand trillion floating-point operations per second), twenty times faster than the current record holder, and more powerful than all of the systems on the top 500 supercomputer list combined– currently being constructed by IBM under contract by the U.S. government, which will also be utilized to ensure the safety of the country’s nuclear weapons.
“We are well on our way to achieving what we set out to do – controlled, sustained nuclear fusion and energy gain for the first time ever in a laboratory setting,” said Director Moses.
The Laser and Target Area Building is the size of three football fields.
“This laser technology has the potential to revolutionize our energy future,” California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said during a tour last year of the stadium-sized NIF facility. “If successful, this new endeavor could generate thousands of megawatts of carbon-free nuclear power but without the drawbacks of conventional nuclear plants. This type of innovation is why we are a world leader in science, technology and clean energy, and I could not be prouder that this work is happening right here in California.”
The project is a national collaboration among government, industry and academia and many industrial partners throughout the nation.
The NIF’s 192 laser beams are 60 to 70 times more powerful than the world’s second strongest - a 60-beam system located at the University of Rochester.
Click here to take a complete 360° panoramic virtual tour of the entire NIF facility and their laser system.
Arkady Dvorkevich, the Kremlin's chief economic adviser, said Russia would favour the inclusion of gold bullion in the basket-weighting of a new world currency based on Special Drawing Rights issued by the International Monetary Fund.
Chinese and Russian leaders both plan to open debate on an SDR-based reserve currency as an alternative to the US dollar at the G20 summit in London this week, although the world may not yet be ready for such a radical proposal.
Mr Dvorkevich said it was "logical" that the new currency should include the rouble and the yuan, adding that "we could also think about more effective use of gold in this system".
The Gold Standard was the anchor of world finance in the 19th Century but began breaking down during the First World War as governments engaged in unprecedented spending. It collapsed in the 1930s when the British Empire, the US, and France all abandoned their parities.
It was revived as part of fixed dollar system until US inflation caused by the Vietnam War and "Great Society" social spending forced President Richard Nixon to close the gold window in 1971.
The world's fiat paper currencies have lacked any external anchor ever since. It is widely argued that the financial excesses and extreme debt leverage of the last quarter century would have been impossible - or less likely - under the discipline of gold.
Russia is a major gold producer with large untapped reserves of ore so it has a clear interest in promoting the idea. The Kremlin has already instructed the central bank of gradually raise the gold share of foreign reserves to 10pc.
China's government has floated a variant of this idea, suggesting a currency based on 30 commodities along the lines of the "Bancor" proposed by John Maynard Keynes in 1944.
OWENSBORO, Ky., March 31 (UPI) -- A gel derived from a close relative to the tobacco plant is being tested as an affordable preventative measure for HIV, U.S. researchers said.
Kenneth Palmer, a senior scientist in the University of Louisville's Owensboro Cancer Research Program, has published research that suggests growing large quantities of the protein griffithsin found in the transgenic plant Nicotiana benthamiana can prevent human immunodeficiency virus from infecting cells of the immune system, the university's James Graham Brown Cancer Center said in a release.
Palmer said the drug could be manufactured in the form of a microbicide gel or film for topical application, with a selling price comparable to condoms.
They modified the tobacco mosaic virus to incorporate the griffithsin gene and infected more than 9,300 tobacco plants. Scientists were able to extract enough griffithsin to produce about 100,000 HIV microbicide doses from the leaves. The chemical performed identically to griffithsin produced by other methods, the report said.
Written by Ernesto
In what must appear like a lifetime to his loyal fans, the popular DVD ripper aXXo hasn’t uploaded any torrents for three weeks. As always, rumors surface that claim to explain the hiatus. Has aXXo been arrested, or transferred to one of the MPAA’s covert detention facilities? Did BitTorrent’s favorite uploader fall off a cliff?
The most recent torrent uploaded by aXXo dates back to March 11. In the days that followed, millions have been waiting anxiously for fresh content, performing their daily aXXo search on their favorite torrent sites in vain.
The aXXo brand has achieved cult status and for some has become synonymous with quality. Over the years aXXo has grabbed the attention of scammers, the mainstream press and even documentary makers. So, when he goes silent it is quickly noticed and the demand from his fans for news or an update quickly grows.
This isn’t the first time that aXXo has taken a break from releasing. Last year there were no new releases for a full four months but eventually aXXo made a glorious return with the topical release of “I Am Legend.” Little is known about the reasons behind aXXo’s current absence, although he has not disappeared completely.
We can confirm that aXXo has been logging into his account at Mininova, which means that we can safely conclude that aXXo is still among us. When he plans to surface again is unclear, but time will tell.
It is fascinating to see how aXXo has gathered a following of millions of people in the years after he started uploading his first torrent. As always, opinions differ and controversy always surrounds aXXo. He is God to some, while others despise him for his lack of crediting ‘The Scene’ but it’s difficult to criticize his commitment or appreciate the pressure he is undoubtedly under on a daily basis.
Fact is, however, that every aXXo upload is good for a guaranteed entry in our movie download charts, adding up to millions of downloads in a few weeks. It may be Hollywood’s worst nightmare, but many independent film producers will dream of having their films ripped by aXXo, ensuring that they are associated with a global brand with an unprecedented reach on BitTorrent.
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| Flickr: Valerie Everett |
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