jamotto

Link quote:PARIS (AFP) - One of the world's most-read weblogs, a "tumour diary" written by a BBC journalist stricken with brain cancer, has come to an end, after its author became too sick to continue with the journal. Hundreds of thousands of people have followed the twists and turns in the life of BBC science and technology writer Ivan Noble, who launched the "blog" following his diagnosis with cancer in August 2002. He movingly described his odyssey of chemotherapy and brain surgery, his marriage, the birth of a baby son last year, and a surge of hope -- quickly dashed -- that the brain tumour was in retreat. But in a final posting on Thursday, Noble wrote: "This is my last diary. I have written it ahead of time because I knew there would be a point when I was not well enough to continue. "That time has now come." BBC Online (http://news.bbc.co.uk) told AFP on Friday that the "tumour diary" was read by 100,000 people per day on average. There had been 300,000 visitors on the day of the final posting, and many of the visitors had left messages of goodwill and support for Noble. "Judging by the enormous email response, the story has had an impact on many people," a BBC spokesperson said.

This was a good movie. Then again it had Michael Keaton in it so it couldn't be real bad. It puts forth a unique story.

quote:The Department of Defense announced today the death of a Marine who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. Cpl. Jonathan S. Beatty, 22, of Streator, Ill., died Jan. 27 as a result of hostile action in Babil Province, Iraq. Beatty was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.Link May you rest in peace...

quote:The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. Spc. Taylor J. Burk, 21, of Amarillo, Texas, died Jan. 26 in Baghdad, Iraq, when an improvised explosive device struck his vehicle. Burk was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 8th 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 soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. Pfc. Kevin M. Luna, 26, of Oxnard, Calif., died Jan. 27 in Muqdadiyah, Iraq, from non-combat related injuries. Luna was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 63rd Armor Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, Vilseck, Germany. This incident is under investigation.Link May you rest in peace...

quote:The Department of Defense announced today the death of two Marines who were supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. Cpl. Stephen P. Johnson, 24, of Covina, Calif. Lance Cpl. Fred L. Maciel, 20, of Spring, Texas Both died Jan. 26 when the CH-53E helicopter they were in crashed near Ar Rutbah, Iraq. They were assigned to 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force, Marine Corps Base Hawaii. The cause of the crash is under investigation.Link May you rest in peace...

quote:The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. Staff Sgt. Jose C. Rangel, 43, of Fresno, Calif., died Jan. 23 in Camp Arifjan, Kuwait, of non-combat related injuries. Rangel was assigned to the Army National GuardÔÇÖs 1106th Aviation Classification Repair Activity Depot, Fresno, Calif.Link May you rest in peace...

quote:The Department of Defense announced today the death of 11 Marines who were supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. Staff Sgt. Brian D. Bland, 26, of Weston, Wyo. Sgt. Michael W. Finke Jr., 28, of Huron, Ohio 1st Lt. Travis J. Fuller, 26, of Granville, Mass. Cpl. Timothy M. Gibson, 23, of Hillsborough, N.H. Cpl. Richard A. Gilbert Jr., 26, of Montgomery, Ohio Cpl. Kyle J. Grimes, 21, of Northampton, Pa. Lance Cpl. Tony L. Hernandez, 22, of Canyon Lake, Texas Cpl. Nathaniel K. Moore, 22, of Champaign, Ill. Lance Cpl. Gael Saintvil, 24, of Orange, Fla. Cpl. Nathan A. Schubert, 22, of Cherokee, Iowa Lance Cpl. Michael L. Starr Jr., 21, of Baltimore, Md. All died Jan. 26 when the CH-53E helicopter they were in crashed near Ar Rutbah, Iraq. Hernandez was assigned to Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 361, Marine Aircraft Group 16, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, Calif. The others were assigned to 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force, Marine Corps Base Hawaii. The cause of the crash is under investigation.Link May you rest in peace...

quote:Originally posted by echo: When I first started reading this thread, I thought, "Oh I should tell a cute little story about the venus fly trap I had when I was younger." Then I read more and I was totally impressed by the Ants hearding lice. It makes me feeding hamburger to a plant seem a bit boring Hamburger to a Venus Fly Trap That would have been a interesting!!!

quote:Originally posted by DocHoliday: Or, this one you probably know. Pidgeons (right spelling?), are good at what they do (getting home), because they are able to detect magnetic fields in their head and orient themselves by them. I think they actually can see them in their own way... A lot of other birds as well can do that, especially the seasonal birds. *snip* There is a thread that covers this I think, can't seem to find it at the moment. quote: The cheetah is such an incredibly specialized, optimized and fine-tuned predator machine it can actually run after its prey only for 2-3 minutes at a time and then it has to stop. In reaching speeds of up to 120km/h (hm.. 75mph?) which I believe is top speed for any land animal,It seems scientist's can't agree on the top speed of the Cheetah it ranges from as "slow" as 65mph (about 104.6km/h) to 84mph (about 135.2km/h). quote: Nature is more advanced than meets the eye indeed

quote:Originally posted by DocHoliday: heh, cool Did you know certain species of spiders with particularly long legs use a form of pneumatics to control the legs. Add some air, the leg extends, pump it out, it drops.. That's why the long-legged spiders move so clumsily And don't get my started on ants and termites.. whew No, that's a new one on me.

quote:The Department of Defense announced today the death of 16 Marines who were supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. Capt. Paul C. Alaniz, 32, of Corpus Christi, Texas Lance Cpl. Jonathan E. Etterling, 22, of Wheelersburg, Ohio Capt. Lyle L. Gordon, 30, of Midlothian, Texas Lance Cpl. Brian C. Hopper, 21, of Wynne, Ark. Lance Cpl. Saeed Jafarkhani-Torshizi Jr., 24, of Fort Worth, Texas Cpl. Sean P. Kelly, 23, of Gloucester, N.J. Staff Sgt. Dexter S. Kimble, 30, of Houston, Texas Lance Cpl. Allan Klein, 34, of Clinton Township, Mich. Cpl. James L. Moore, 24, of Roseburg, Ore. Lance Cpl. Mourad Ragimov, 20, of San Diego, Calif. Lance Cpl. Rhonald D. Rairdan, 20, of San Antonio, Texas Lance Cpl. Hector Ramos, 20, of Aurora, Ill. Lance Cpl. Darrell J. Schumann, 25, of Hampton, Va. 1stLt. Dustin M. Shumney, 30, of Vallejo, Calif Cpl. Matthew R. Smith, 24, of West Valley, Utah Lance Cpl. Joseph B. Spence, 24, of Scotts Valley, Calif All died Jan. 26 when the CH-53E helicopter they were in crashed near Ar Rutbah, Iraq. Alaniz, Gordon, and Kimble were assigned to Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 361, Marine Aircraft Group 16, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, Calif. The others were assigned to 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force, Marine Corps Base Hawaii. The cause of the crash is under investigation.Link May you rest in peace...

quote:The Department of Defense announced today the death of a Marine who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. Sgt. Jesse W. Strong, 24, of Irasburg, Vt., died Jan. 26 as a result of hostile action in Al Anbar Province, Iraq. Strong was assigned to the Marine Corps ReserveÔÇÖs 4th Combat Engineer Battalion, 4th Marine Division, headquartered in Lynchburg, Va.Link May you rest in peace...

quote:The Department of Defense announced today the death of a sailor who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. Petty Officer 3rd Class John D. House, 28, of Ventura, Calif., died Jan. 26, in a helicopter crash near Ar Rutbah, Iraq. House was assigned to Naval Medical Clinic Hawaii, Marine Corps Units Detachment, Pearl Harbor.Link May you rest in peace...

Link quote:PARIS (AFP) - American and French scientists believed they have explained how one of nature's marvels, the Venus flytrap, snaps shut to snare its victims. The plant -- described by Charles Darwin as "one of the most wonderful in the world" -- is able to enclose a fly within its clamshell-shaped leaves in just 100 milliseconds, faster than the eye can blink. Scientists have long wondered how the flytrap (Latin name Dionaea muscipula) is able to do this spectacular feat, given that it does not have the nerves and muscles of fast-moving animals. The answer, according to a study published on Thursday, is tensile strength. The plant first bends back its rubbery leaves so that they are convex-shaped, rather like half a tennis ball that has been flipped inside-out. To close the trap, the plant releases the tensed-up energy. The leaves instantly flip from convex to concave -- as if the half tennis ball has suddenly popped back to its normal shape. Their edges snap together and the insect is trapped within. "Closure is characterized by the slow storage of elastic energy followed by its release," say the authors, led by Lakshminarayanan Mahadevan, an Indian-born professor of applied mathematics and evolutionary biology at Harvard University. The researchers were able to model the change in geometry by putting microscopic dots of ultraviolet fluorescent paint on the external surface of the leaves. They then filmed the closure under ultraviolet light, using a high-speed video at 400 frames per second, which showed the leaves' sudden shift from convex to concave when the trap closed. Previous work has already established that the flytrap lures the insect with a smell exuded from the inner surface of the leaf. When the fly walks on the surface, this activates a hair trigger and causes closure. Still to be explained is the phase in between -- exactly how the signal is transmitted from the hair trigger to the closure mechanism in such an astonishingly fast time. The study appears in Nature, the weekly British science journal.

quote:The Department of Defense announced today the death of three Marines who were supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. Cpl. Jonathan W. Bowling, 23, of Patrick, Va. Lance Cpl. Karl R. Linn, 20, of Chesterfield, Va. Cpl. Christopher L. Weaver, 24, of Fredericksburg, Va. Bowling and Linn died Jan. 26 of wounds received as result of enemy action in Al Anbar Province, Iraq. Weaver died Jan. 26 as a result of hostile action in Al Anbar Province, Iraq. All Marines were assigned to the Marine Corps ReserveÔÇÖs 4th Combat Engineer Battalion, 4th Marine Division, headquartered in Lynchburg, Va.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. William S. Kinzer Jr., 27, of Hendersonville, N.C., died Jan. 26 in Ad Duluiyah, Iraq, from injuries sustained when a rocket propelled grenade hit his patrol. Kinzer was assigned to the 1st Squadron, 4th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, Schweinfurt, Germany.Link May you rest in peace...

Take Two's answer to EA's ESPN deal quote:Analysts recommended keeping a close eye on Take-Two Interactive (TTWO) following yesterday's news that the Grand Theft Auto publisher had secured a licensing deal with the Major League Baseball Players Association. The move shows Take-Two's willingness to stay in the sports-game market, just a week after competitor Electronic Arts clinched a 15-year contract with the sports network ESPN. "Take-Two appears confident in its ability to compete in the sports video game arena, and appears intent upon challenging Electronic Arts' leadership in the category," said Wedbush Morgan Securities analyst Michael Pachter in a memo released yesterday. Pachter said the deal should be "mildly positive" for the company, although he cautioned that Take-Two will have to raise its game prices and sell about 2 million games in 2006 to reap the benefits. The deal with the MLBPA won't take effect until next year. Electronic Arts (ERTS), on the other hand, was a bit cooler, even icy, in its reaction. Electronic Arts vice president of corporate communications Jeff Brown said the deal is one his company wouldn't have made. "As far as we're concerned, this looks like stupid money," he said. "They are paying an exclusive price for a nonexclusive agreement." But, Brown added, "[this] proves that there is still competition in sports games." A genre, Brown said, "we [at EA] take real serious." Elaborating, Brown said, "We really made our name on sports and now even though it's only 40 percent of our business, it is still very, very important recurring income. It's the business we built the whole idea of franchise annuities on, [where] year after year a high-quality game will generate good income." The Wedbush memo projects that Take-Two will spend between $205 and $220 million between 2006 and 2012 on baseball-related games, including the cost of the MLBPA deal, its pending purchase of Visual Concepts, and anticipated research-and-development costs. That's about $30 million a year, and about $15 per unit. If that's the case, the company will need to rethink its price of $16 per game wholesale ($20 retail) if it hopes to get ahead. Bear Stearns analysts said today that Take-Two should be able to bank on the success of a brand like Grand Theft Auto, which has sold more than 35 million units around the world. Both Wedbush and Bear Stearns said the news should mean good things for Take-Two's stock price. Bear Stearns gave TTWO an "outperform" rating yesterday, adding, "We believe that current multiples make the stock too compelling to ignore." Wedbush advised investors to consider Take-Two stock, adding that it expects the price to rise from its current position around $33.50 to about $40 by the end of the year. Yesterday, the stock opened at $34.09 and hit a peak of $34.16 before closing at $33.45, down .98 percent. TTWO stock prices rose again today. On the MLB deal, Boris Markovich of TerraNova Institutional said that it suggests more deal announcements are likely. "With the recent losses of the NFL and ESPN licenses to EA, the agreement with MLB Players indicates to us that [Take-Two] will continue to look for strategic licenses in the sports arena," he said. "We believe that both EA and Take-Two are talking to the NBA for continued licensing rights. In addition, we expect Take-Two to partner with an established sports media brand to offset the loss of the ESPN license." How badly will the deal between Take-Two and the MLBPA deal hurt EA, overall? "It's a blow, but not a fatal one," Pachter told GameSpot. Downplaying the deal, Brown contextualized, placing sports in EA's larger strategy. "Let's start with the fact that baseball is a very small part of our business," he said, adding that it is, "smaller than football, basketball, and soccer. It is also smaller than NASCAR, PGA Tour, and typically would be smaller than hockey. It is not a big piece of our business." Pachter sees the immediate impact as not necessarily affecting Electronic Arts. "EA did around $60 million from baseball last year, and should do that much every year," he said. "Assuming that EA doesn't get cute and try to copublish with Sony and Microsoft, that share is up for grabs. Sony will get some, TTWO the rest." EA offered no comment on that kind of speculation, but of note is Microsoft's acquisition of the 3DO engine for High Heat a couple of years ago. "So maybe they're planning something," said Pachter. Mike Wallace of UBS also considers a deal with a first-party manufacturer a possibility. "The loss of MLB partially hurts ERTS's near-term ability to offer a comprehensive sports-game portfolio, though a deal with a hardware company is possible," he said in a recent memo. Asked if the recent grab by Take-Two might spark EA to pursue exclusives with the NBA or NHL, Brown would only say, "We're in regular, ongoing conversations with both of those leagues." But he would not say to what ends.

I give it 6 months before crackers find a way around this.

quote:The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. Sgt. Brett D. Swank, of Northumberland, Pa., died Jan. 24 in Baghdad, Iraq, from injuries sustained when an improvised explosive device detonated near his position. Swank was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 509th Infantry Regiment, Fort Polk, La.Link May you rest in peace...

quote:Originally posted by Race Bannon IV: Obviously you didnt see her in the Next Karate Kid huh? Great Rack though.Nope, she was still flawless then too

quote:The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. Sgt. Leonard W. Adams, 42, of Mooresville, N.C., died Jan. 24 in Camp Bucca, Iraq, of non-combat related injuries. Adams was assigned to the Army National GuardÔÇÖs 105th Military Police Battalion, 18th Military Police Brigade, Asheville, N.C.Link May you rest in peace...

quote:The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. Staff Sgt. Jose C. Rangel, 43, of Saratoga, Calif., died Jan. 23 in Camp Arifjan, Kuwait, of non-combat related injuries. Rangel was assigned to the Army National GuardÔÇÖs 1106th Aviation Classification Repair Activity Depot, Fresno, Calif.Link May you rest in peace...

Their pride

quote:The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. 1st Lt. Nainoa K. Hoe, 27, of Hawaii, died Jan. 22 in Mosul, Iraq, of wounds received when he was attacked by enemy forces using small arms fire. Hoe was assigned to the ArmyÔÇÖs 3d Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, Fort Lewis, Wash.Link May you rest in peace...