jamotto

quote:The Department of Defense announced today the death of a Marine who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. Lance Cpl. Travis M. Wichlacz, 22, of West Bend, Wis., died Feb. 5 as a result of hostile action in Babil Province, Iraq. He was assigned to Marine Forces ReserveÔÇÖs 2nd Battalion, 24th Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Division, Milwaukee, Wis.Link May you rest in peace...

Wing Commander Standoff quote:What is Standoff? Standoff is a project that aims to bring new content to Origin's Wing Commander Secret Ops, a space combat game which was distributed freely over the internet a few years ago. In other words, Standoff is a Secret Ops mod. It will need the original SO files to run, but will not replace them, so you can easily switch between using the original SO game content and the Standoff game content. This mod will, obviously, be a free download to which everyone's entitled. However, each user will install this mod at his/her own risk, since as much as we will work hard to make everything work flawlessly, we CANNOT guarantee that it will. The content which Standoff is planned to add to Secret Ops is detailed below, although these features are still subject to change.

Cool, will be interesting to see what this chip can do in the real world.

Although, I will try and give this lad a fair shake. At this point and time he has nothing on Micheal Keaton who is still THE Batman. The Movie looks interesting in anycase, unlike the last two.

Link quote: The best way to make Mars habitable would be to inject synthetic greenhouse gases into its atmosphere, researchers said Thursday. The stuff could be shipped to Mars or manufactured there. Scientists and science-fiction authors have long pondered terraforming Mars, melting the vast stores of ice in its polar caps to create an environment suitable for humans. The topic is highly controversial. Some think earthlings have no right to mess with the climate of another planet. Others see Mars as a refuge for people who might need to flee this world as conditions deteriorate. Another argument holds that Mars was likely warmer and wetter in its distant past, and it might have harbored life, so bringing it back to a previous state makes sense. Among the ideas for how to warm Mars: sprinkling stuff near the poles that would absorb more sunlight; or placing large mirrors in orbit around the planet to reflect more sunlight onto it. The new research suggests that forcing global warming by injecting greenhouse gases may be the best way to terraform, should governments decide to do so. The conditions warming Earth could be harnessed to transform Mars, the scientists determined. Jumpstarting global warming in a planet-sized laboratory would be a boon to science in some respects. "Bringing life to Mars and studying its growth would contribute to our understanding of evolution, and the ability of life to adapt and proliferate on other worlds," says Margarita Marinova, at the NASA Ames Research Center when the study was done. "Since warming Mars effectively reverts it to its past, more habitable state, this would give any possibly dormant life on Mars the chance to be revived and develop further." The research is presented in the February issue of the Journal of Geophysical Research-Planets, published by the American Geophysical Union. With a very thin atmosphere and being farther from the Sun, Mars is much colder than Earth. There is no evidence for any liquid water presently on the surface. Liquid water is considered essential to life as we know it. The polar regions contain vast stores of water ice and carbon dioxide, or dry ice. Theorists have said in the past that melting the poles might thicken the atmosphere, which like a blanket would insulate the surface and eventually create a more Earth-like climate. Studies suggest Mars had surface water and bouts of rain in its early history. The new research modeled how manmade greenhouse gases would affect Martian temperature and melt water ice and carbon dioxide ice at the poles. Artificially created gases could be 10,000 times more effective than carbon dioxide in warming up the Red Planet, the study determined. The gases that would work the best are flourines and could be made from elements readily available on Mars, Marinova and her colleagues found. Adding 300 parts per million of the gas mixture into the Martian air would trigger a runaway greenhouse effect, according to the models. The polar ice sheets that would slowly evaporate. The newly released carbon dioxide would cause further warming and melting. Atmospheric pressure would rise. The process would take hundreds or thousands of years to complete, the scientists report.

Heh, could have been a rock or sometimes with the right snow if you pack it real good you can get a snowball that will bust out a window.

Link quote: A recent client my company got. Client: "We want a website that can play DVD quality video, but we don't want to use streaming video and the load time must be zero." Designer: "That's impossible. Everything has a load time. DVD quality runs about 100 megs a minute." Client: "We'll take our business elsewhere..."

Live video feed from the Anderson County Sheriff's Department has this disclaimer quote:DISCLAIMER This is a real life transmission of the Anderson County Sheriff's Department. Instances of violence or sexually inappropriate behavior by detainees during the booking process may occur. Viewer discretion is advised. This is a Jail, not a simulation. The persons in this transmission are either employees of the Anderson County Sheriff's Department or arrestees.

quote:DURANGO, Colorado (AP) -- Two teenage girls who surprised their neighbors with homemade cookies late one night were ordered to pay nearly $900 in medical bills for a woman who says she was so startled that she had to go to the hospital. Judge Doug Walker declined Thursday to award punitive damages, saying he did not believe the girls acted maliciously. Taylor Ostergaard, 17, and Lindsey Jo Zellitti, 18, baked the chocolate chip and sugar cookies one night last July. They made packages with a half-dozen cookies each and added large red or pink construction-paper hearts that carried the message, "Have a great night." The notes were signed with their first initials: "Love, The T and L Club." Then they set off to make their deliveries. Wanita Renea Young, 49, said she was at her rural home south of Durango around 10:30 p.m. when she said saw "shadowy figures" outside the house banging repeatedly on her door. She yelled, "Who's there?" but no one answered, and the figures ran away. Frightened, she spent the night at her sister's home, then went to the hospital the next morning because she was still shaking and had an upset stomach. The teenagers' families offered to pay Young's medical bills, but she declined and sued, saying their apologies were not sincere and were not offered in person. The girls declined comment after the ruling. Taylor's mother said the girl "cried and cried." "She felt she was being punished for doing something nice," Jill Ostergaard said. Young said the teenagers showed "very poor judgment" "The victory wasn't sweet," Young said. "I'm not gloating about it. I just hope the girls learned a lesson." The teens said they did not answer when the woman called out because they wanted the treats to be a surprise.

Link quote:LONDON -- It was all rather unlucky. First, Amy Hodges' snowball missed the friend she was aiming at. Then it flew on to smash the window of a passing car -- whose driver turned out to be an off-duty police officer. The sobbing 13-year-old was taken back to the police station by four police officers to be DNA-swabbed and fingerprinted. She also had to pose for a mugshot. At the station she was joined by her astonished mother. After four hours in custody, they were told if Amy did not accept a caution -- which would remain on file for five years -- she would be charged with criminal damage and taken to court. Her mother was baffled by the police reaction. "All this for a snowball?" she said. "Have they nothing better to do?"Ha, now she will think twice before see throws a snowball

quote:Originally posted by Cmdr Chavik: Need a Trekker in here to refresh us on Warp Speed. Isn't it an exponetial curve to a multiplier of the speed of light? two systems have been used. The first one was a cubed system Wf^3*c where Wf=the warp factor and c=the speed of light. This allowed the Enterprise to reach Warp factor of 14.1 in the episode called "That Which Survives"[TOS] Then by the "24th Century" a new system was adopted placing warp 10 as an infinite value. At Warp 10 you would occupy all points in universe simultaneously. Under the new system... Warp 2 was 10 times the speed of light Warp 3 was 39 times the speed of light Warp 4 ... 102 .... Warp 5 ... 214 Warp 6 392 Warp 7 656 Warp 8 1024 warp 9 1516

article over at the CIC quote:Actor John Vernon, best remembered for his role as the evil Dean Wormer in "Animal House," passed away on Tuesday. He was 72 years old. Wing Commander fans, however, knew him best for his role in Privateer 2: The Darkening. Vernon played Errendi "Fark" Farquharson, the assistant to Xavier Shondi. Fark spurs one of the game's cinematic missions, contacting the player to report that Shondi is under attack by the Kindred. Afterwards, he joins Arris and Shondi for a well deserved beaker of Cobalt Blue at the Surgeon's Blunder Bar.He also lent his voice in these games: Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel Earth and Beyond Command & Conquer: Yuri's Revenge Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 Baldur's Gate II - Shadows of Amn Star Trek: Klingon Academy

quote:The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. Sgt. 1st Class Sean M. Cooley, 35, from Ocean Springs, Miss., died February 3 in Northern Babil Province, Iraq, when his vehicle was struck by an improvised explosive device. Cooley was assigned to the 150th Engineer Battalion, 155th Armor Brigade, Lucedale, Miss.Link May you rest in peace...

quote:The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. Sgt. 1st Class Mark C. Warren, 44, from LaGrande, Ore., died January 31 at Kirkuk Air Base, Iraq from non-combat related injuries. Warren was assigned to the 3d Battalion, 116th Armor Cavalry Regiment, 116th Brigade Combat Team (Forward), LaGrande, Ore.Link May you rest in peace...

quote:The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. Sgt. Stephen R. Sherman, 27, from Neptune, N.J., died Feb. 3 in Mosul, Iraq, from wounds sustained when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle. Sherman was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division, (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) Fort Lewis, Wash.Link May you rest in peace...

quote: The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. Spc. Robert T. Hendrickson, 24, from Broken Bow, Okla., died Feb. 1 in Baghdad, Iraq, from wounds sustained when his military vehicle overturned. Hendrickson was assigned to the 2d Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas.Link May you rest in peace...

quote:The Department of Defense announced today the death of a Marine who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. Lance Cpl. Sean P. Maher, 19, of Grays Lake, Ill., died Feb. 2 as a result of hostile action in Al Anbar Province, Iraq. He was assigned to 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force, Marine Corps Base Hawaii.Link May you rest in peace...

quote:CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - Ernst Mayr, one of the world's leading evolutionary biologists, has died at 100. The longtime Harvard University faculty member died Thursday at a retirement community in Bedford. His work in the 1930s and '40s, while a curator at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, established him as a leading neo-Darwinist, supporting a theory of evolution that is a combination of Darwin's natural selection theory and modern genetics. In his travels in New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, Mayr showed, unlike Darwin, that species can arise from isolated populations. "Professor Mayr's contributions to Harvard University and to the field of evolutionary biology were extraordinary by any measure," Harvard history professor William C. Kirby said, calling Mayr a "leading mind of the 20th century." Mayr "shaped and articulated modern understanding of biodiversity and related fields," Kirby said. Born in Kempten, Germany, Mayr joined the Harvard faculty in 1953 as a zoology professor and led Harvard's Comparative Zoology museum from 1961 to 1970. He retired in 1975. Mayr throughout his career fought to make sure biology stood alongside physics, astronomy and chemistry. He is credited with pioneering the study of philosophy and history of biology. "Much as we know about the 'how' of human evolution, the 'why' is still a great puzzle," he wrote in 1963. He is survived by two daughters, five grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren.

ya, saw that Gamespy has a preview here Link

Sony PlayStation Portable is almost here! quote:By MAY WONG, AP Technology Writer SAN JOSE, Calif. - Sony Corp said Thursday it will release the PlayStation Portable in North America on March 24 and have 1 million units ready for sale in the first week. The PSP machine, a challenger to Nintendo (news - web sites) Co.'s long-standing grip on the handheld video gaming market, will be sold as a "value pack" for $250 in the United States and for $300 Canadian dollars. It will include numerous accessories and ÔÇö for the first million sold ÔÇö a copy of the "Spider-Man 2" movie on the new Universal Media Disc format that Sony designed for the PSP. Sony said it has already shipped 800,000 PSPs in Japan, where it went on sale on Dec. 12 for about $190. By comparison, Nintendo's newest product, the Nintendo DS sells for $150. It was among the must-have Christmas gadgets, with more than 2.8 million sold worldwide since its release in late November. The PSP is designed, however, with more multimedia features. It can play digital music, movies and display photos on its 4.3-inch color screen, using Sony's proprietary 1.8-gigabyte UMD discs or a Memory Stick. With the PSP, the Tokyo-based electronics giant is targeting a wider consumer base and not just young gamers. "It has gaming at its core, but it's not a gaming device. It's an entertainment device," Kaz Hirai, the president of Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. said in an interview. In addition to working with its own Sony Pictures film division, Sony is in discussions with other movie studios to support the new UMD format for future releases of movies, Hirai said. Sony said 24 game titles will be available around the time of the launch with prices starting at $40 each. According to market research firm DFC Intelligence, the DS and PSP are expected to drive the global portable games market from $3.9 billion in 2003 to $11.1 billion in 2007. The overall global video game industry saw sales of about $23 billion in 2003. Hard-core gamers will propel the initial sales of the PSP, analysts say. Its unique combination of gaming and multimedia features in a 7-inch by 3-inch device that also has Wi-Fi wireless connectivity, could spur a new market for Sony, however. "When it comes to entertainment, Sony has advantages over other players in the market," said P.J. McNealy, analyst at American Technology Research. "But success drives imitation, and if this thing is a wildly successful platform, you'll see knockoffs by the holidays in 2006."

quote:The Department of Defense announced today the death of a Department of the Army Civilian who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. Barbara Heald, 60, of Stamford, Conn., died Jan.29 in Baghdad, Iraq, when the Republic National Palace was hit by a mortar round. Heald worked for the Project and Contracting Office - Finance.Link May you rest in peace...

quote:Originally posted by DREADA: Saw your post on the summary page and said to myself "bet he says, bout bloody time!" LMAO!! Firefly?Firefly. Is that not the Andromeda knock-off, but the setting is here on earth?

Link quote:FRESNO, Calif. - A tiny pest is decimating honeybee colonies across the country, worrying beekeepers and farmers who depend on the insects to pollinate their crops. Pollinating almond orchards is the immediate worry in California's agriculture industry, but the mites' devastation of the honeybee supply is causing concern across the country. Honeybees pollinate about one-third of the human diet and dozens of agricultural crops. California produces 80 percent of the world's almond supply. A $1 billion-a-year crop, the nuts have become the state's top agricultural export, ahead of wine and cotton. Because almonds are the first crop to flower, the state's growers are the first to suffer from the bee shortage. Bees are used to pollinate the orchards from mid-February to early March. "It's simple. We can't produce almonds without bees," said Scott Hunter, an almond farmer near Merced who's getting ready to lay 2,500 hives among the bare branches of his Butte and Padre trees. While their work starts in California's 550,000 acres of almonds, the hives then move to apple orchards, cherry groves and melon patches before finishing in New England's cranberry bogs in early summer. That's why researchers, beekeepers and growers are scrambling for ways to save the honeybees. Experts think the mites may have arrived in the mid-1980s from Asia, where they coexisted with local honeybees. In their years in North America, the eight-legged pests have devastated wild bee colonies and radically altered beekeeping. The pinhead-sized mite ÔÇö the Varroa destructor ÔÇö feeds on honeybees and their larvae. In some areas, they've destroyed as many as 60 percent of the hives. Reproducing quickly and in a closed environment, the mites have developed a resistance to pesticides ÔÇö a trait they've been able to spread to their progeny faster than scientist have been able to develop new compounds to fight them off. "The fact that we don't have any compounds commercially available really is a serious issue," said Gloria DeGrandi-Hoffman, research leader at the Carl Hayden Bee Research Center in Tucson, Ariz. "This is a very serious problem." Researchers such as DeGrandi-Hoffman are looking for alternatives, working on isolating bees with a natural resistance to mites, and experimenting with elements such as plant oils and the mite-fighting compounds produced by some bees. But the process takes time, and the mites adapt very quickly, the researcher said. "You challenge them with a particular compound and, given time, they will become resistant to that," she said. Meanwhile, in California's almond orchards, the bee shortage is leading growers to offer beekeepers almost twice what they paid last year for their bees' services ÔÇö up to $100 per hive. Growers have been riding a wave of good prices and strong demand, but they say the mite crisis is squeezing their profits. Dan Cummings grows 4,000 acres of nuts in Butte, Colusa and Glenn counties. He's one step ahead of other farmers, since he's also part owner of 9,000 hives ÔÇö many of which pollinate his crops. Still, he said he's seen honeybee rentals go from being about 8 percent of his total expenses to nearly twice that. The higher prices soften the blow to beekeepers, many of whom have seen their colonies cut in half by mites. But they still worry that without a quick solution, their livelihood ÔÇö and their lifestyle ÔÇö may be in danger. Every year, Jeff Anderson and his family pack their bee colonies in Eagle Bend, Minn., to embark on a 1,900-mile trip ÔÇö one way ÔÇö to Oakdale, Calif. It's here among the Central Valley's orchards that Anderson reaps most of his income. He hauled 5,000 hives this year, most of them owned by other keepers. His California-Minnesota Honey Farm has been crossing the country since 1962, and Anderson's been traveling with it for the last three decades. But he said he's never worked with so few bees. This year, he's lost about half his hives to mites. "It's a panic situation," he said.

Quiz heh, I'm an old school geek

quote: The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. Spc. Lyle W. Rymer II, 24, of Fort Smith, Ark., died Jan. 28 in Baghdad, Iraq, when he was shot by enemy forces. Rymer was assigned to the Army National Guard's 239th Engineer Company, 39th Infantry Brigade, Booneville, Ark.Link May you rest in peace...