In the case that simply seems to never end, Nokia and Qualcomm are at each other's throats yet again, and yes, it's still over those darned GSM / WCDMA and CDMA2000 chipsets. The latest development involves Nokia asking the US International Trade Commission to "bar the import of some Qualcomm chipsets to the United States, alleging that they are infringing five Nokia patents." Of note, it was stated that the ongoing battle is "worrying investors and the industry on both sides of the Atlantic," but at this point, we think the two are just collaborating to create the longest running, most uninteresting legal hissy fit in history.
Peer-recommendation services like Last.fm and Pandora are pretty good at leveraging the power of the community to help you discover new music, but a recent grant from the National Science Foundation to the College of Charleston aims to take the concept to the next level, by creating a search engine that "listens" to music and creates critical comparisons between works. The system, as described by Ars Technica, involves a neural network that is trained to recognized the composer and style of music, an evaluation engine that's supposed to simulate human taste, and a set of objective metrics like pitch, tempo, and and duration. The results are then combined and the system can then recommend matches to find similar music. The researchers have already demoed a similar system with good results, so here's hoping the grant money helps them refine things further -- we've been looking way too long for the next Wham!
To see the photographs, click on the related links panel, below left
Poor little Norma Jeane – a lost little girl, unloved, unwanted, abandoned by a crazy mother, dumped on foster parents. Was it any wonder she grew up into the troubled woman we know as Marilyn Monroe? Actually, yes. As these rare images show, the reality of Marilyn’s early life was far sunnier than we have been led to believe. Far from being neglected, she was well looked after. As her foster mother said later, “We treated her like our own child because we loved her.”
The young Norma Jeane Baker showed few signs of the dazzling beauty that eventually made her one of the 20th century’s most talked-about women. As these previously unpublished photographs show, she was an ordinary Californian girl who went to the beach, played with animals, married young and got herself a job at a factory. But she had extraordinary ambition. And then Hollywood got hold of her.
The Monroe we know was moulded, manufactured and processed by the Hollywood studios. The cinema tycoons even made a claim on her past: it was important, from a marketing perspective, that the sex siren be portrayed as an impoverished urchin. Marilyn was a red-hot Cinderella, plucked from a near-destitute childhood. The truth is actually more prosaic.
Norma Jeane Mortenson was born on June 1, 1926. Her father played no part in her life – some believe him to be Charles Stanley Gifford, one of the bosses at Consolidated Film Industries who had an affair with her mother, Gladys – and she took her surname from her mother’s husband, Martin Edward Mortensen (her mother changed Mortensen to Mortenson on her birth certificate). Gladys left Mortensen in 1925 and Marilyn was fostered out to the Bolender family, who lived in the blue-collar LA suburb of Hawthorne.
Contrary to the stories later put out by the Hollywood machine, Norma Jeane enjoyed a close relationship with both her mother and her foster parents; as these pictures show, her childhood was full of happy moments playing on the beach and in the fields.
Gladys, meanwhile, worked in Hollywood as a film cutter, and the attendant razzmatazz filtered down into their otherwise ordinary lives. At the Hollywood Bowl Easter Sunrise Service in 1932, Norma Jeane and dozens of her classmates formed a choir dressed in black and then white robes – pure showbiz. Yet not all was glossy contentment.
In 1933, Gladys arrived at the Bolenders to reclaim her daughter. Norma Jeane hid in a cupboard with the Bolender children, but Gladys insisted they should move in together. Financially, things were looking up – she presented her daughter with a white baby grand piano that Norma Jeane/Marilyn was to treasure for the rest of her life.
Within months, however, Norma Jeane’s world had shattered. Already troubled by the suicide of her grandfather, Gladys received another body blow when she learnt of her brother’s death from tuberculosis. The two events sent Norma Jeane’s mother over the edge; in her autobiography, My Story, Marilyn describes her mother being dragged off “screaming and laughing” to an asylum.
Her subsequent rootlessness became an imprimatur of much of Marilyn’s later life. She was moved from a succession of foster homes to an orphanage; not for the last time, she believed that marriage might offer at least a temporary escape from her unhappiness.
Her first marriage was to a local boy, James Dougherty. Norma Jeane was just 16, naive and unworldly. Neither was she housewife material – her cooking was catastrophic, and on one occasion Dougherty came home to find his wife trying to persuade a cow to come into the house so that it could get out of the rain.
The marriage soon foundered, as Norma Jeane made her first steps, initially into modelling and then on to Hollywood. The rest is well documented; the husbands, the lovers, the dependency, the squalid ending in Brentwood. Was she ever as happy as she seemed in those sun-kissed pictures from the 1920s and ’30s?
http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/celebrity/article2283663.ece
Francesca Beauman, writer, comedian, mother, is sitting in an Islington gastropub, eating goat’s cheese salad and explaining the etiquette of group sex.
“You mustn’t hog the best-looking person,” she explains in penetrating tones. “And you have to make sure everyone feels included. If you don’t fancy someone who approaches you, what you say is, ‘We’re OK, thanks.’”
I can feel myself getting slightly hot under the collar, but luckily the yummy mummies at the next table don’t seem to have heard. Or perhaps they simply agree with her, because according to Beauman, this sort of thing is part and parcel of the social scene nowadays.
Knowing exactly how to behave when, at a dinner party, the guests are expected to get very friendly (the accepted phrase is apparently a subtle “How about it?”) is just one of the nuggets of vital information to be gleaned from Beauman’s latest work, The Woman’s Book, an eclectic and entertaining collection of useful and not so useful facts – from the techniques for cardiopulmonary resuscitation and putting up a tent in the dark, to an analysis of Kate Moss’s hairdos over the years.
What you won’t find in here are the stock ingredients for a women’s style guide, as epitomised by the recent How to Walk in High Heels and The Goddess Guide. There is precious little about make-up or fashion, and nothing about keeping your man happy (unless you count the group sex).
“I just think those books are depressing,” Beauman confesses of her rivals. “They’re terribly aspirational, but they make women feel inadequate. And they’re a bit snobby; they assume all women can afford to blow £500 on a pair of Manolos. Even if you could afford to, why would you want to? Why wouldn’t you buy a beehive instead? Women aren’t just interested in bras and boyfriends.”
So her advice for brides-to-be is to be inspired by Marie Curie rather than Posh Spice in their choice of wedding dress – Curie got hitched in dark blue and then wore her dress to work in her labs until it gave up the ghost, she reveals.
In fact, what’s really interesting about Beauman’s book is what it says about the changing aspirations of young women. For nothing is quite so revelatory about an era’s zeitgeist as its style guide.
In the Mrs Beeton era, women aspired to thrift, efficiency and being able to whip up calf’s head au maître d’hôtel at a moment’s notice. By the roaring Twenties, with flappers flapping their hardest, Emily Post’s preoccupations were all about etiquette and the minutiae of party manners. In the austere Fifties, women returned to the home and learnt, in their manuals of housewifery, to scrub the floor all day, then put on their make-up and mix a Martini for the head of the house in the evenings. Then Shirley Conran invented the Superwoman (rallying cry: “Life’s too short to stuff a mushroom”), who had it all both domestically and professionally, even if she cut a few corners along the way.
More recently, two contrasting strands have emerged: the Domestic Goddess school of thought, with its emphasis on the joys of household management; and the glamour-focused guides for her single sisters. The Woman’s Book, by contrast, suggests that the twentysomething Heat generation may be rather more intelligent and socially aware than one might have previously believed.
Alongside Kinder, Kirche, Küche (here embodied in a mathematical formula Beauman has devised to work out whether you should marry your beloved or not, a guide to making a flat homely in 45 minutes using a daffodil in a milk bottle, and a fool-proof recipe for roast hedgehog), there are exhortations on one’s duty to vote, explanations of the main strands of Western philosophy and dire warnings about climate change. The book even tells you how to survive a nuclear attack – and makes it sound surprisingly easy.
“So much is expected of women today, more than at any other point in history,” explains the vivacious Beauman. “We’re expected to be able to discuss the intricacies of Barack Obama’s healthcare policy and wrestle an alligator to the ground and clean a pearl necklace, ideally in a pair of stilettos.
http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/the_way_we_live/article2236931.ece
Don't try to hack the hackers.
That's what Dateline NBC's Associate Producer Michelle Madigan learned at this year's DefCon, the largest gathering of hackers, crackers and security professionals in the world. Going undercover, she hoped to reveal cybercriminals talking openly about their illegal exploits. Instead, the sting backfired: A conference organizer outed her in a room filled with thousands of her would-be targets.
The crowd, usually a friendly group despite some vampirish clothes and complexions, wasn't pleased. As a few chanted "burn the witch," Madigan scurried out of the Riviera Hotel to her car, with about 150 hackers-turned-hecklers in pursuit.
DefCon's inhospitable treatment of Madigan wasn't just because she was missing a press badge, says one conference spokesman who goes by the handle "Priest." She had also missed the point. By focusing on the bad apples, Priest says, Madigan was glossing over DefCon's true spirit: smart people getting together to mess around with technology.
"Middle America thinks we're stealing your social security numbers, raping your children and breaking into your bank account," he says. "The reality is, we are the ultimate explorers. We see a technology, and we want to know how it works."
That exploration goes well beyond invading the closed corners of the Internet. DefCon's more than 6,000 attendees hack everything: their cars, to increase horsepower and remove pesky safety and emissions controls; their brains, using biofeedback receptors attached to videogames to relieve anxiety disorders; even the war in Iraq. One Navy engineer gave a presentation detailing the nine months he spent hacking insurgent bombs, jamming their radio frequencies to prevent detonation.
"The people who built the Mars rovers are hackers," says Jeff Moss, also known as "Dark Tangent," the hacker who has organized DefCon for the last 15 years. "We generally like hacks that aren't nefarious, that involve figuring something out from the ground up. That's what we try to reward here."
That kind of harmless hacking was channeled into a variety of competitions at the conference, including a lockpicking contest and a game of capture the flag, in which teams earned points by stealing bits of each other's data.
Of course, DefCon still attracts some true "black hat" hackers, bent on learning the newest tools for illegal intrusion, sabotage, espionage and credit card theft. And what attracts cybercriminals also attracts cybercops; any attendee who can verify the identity of an undercover cop wins an "I Spotted the Fed" T-shirt.
But as the danger of online crime shifts from amateur hackers to organized cybergangs in Eastern Europe and Asia, the Feds are increasingly cooperative with DefCon's shenanigans. This year, at least six federal employees revealed themselves in press conferences and panel discussions. More bizarrely, two federal agents were married during the conference's closing ceremony.
In fact, DefCon's species of armchair hackers are more of a distraction for law enforcement than a real menace, says Jim Christy, director of future exploration at the Department of Defense's Cyber Crime Center. He's more focused on the potential for major attacks on critical infrastructure or government Web sites, like the kind that rattled Estonia's government Web sites in May, or the "Titan Rain" attacks that penetrated the U.S. Department of Commerce and Department of State computers in past years.
"Run-of-the-mill individual hackers are just noise as we try to focus on the real problem," he says. "We have to investigate every threat, but we're often dealing with ankle biters."
When DefCon's hackers do venture into the illegal, it's often based on impulses that are more libertarian than malicious, says a hacker known as "Dead Addict," another of DefCon's organizers. "We simply don't take the law as a moral compass," he says.
Dead Addict, a lanky 34-year-old dressed in all black and a bowler hat, points out that he began using the Internet in the early '90s, even before the advent of Internet service providers. At the time, only users with university connections could legally connect. He, and many others without university accounts still found ways to borrow access, essentially breaking the law. In that sense, Dead Addict argues, Internet culture has always bent, and sometimes broken, the legal rules.
That's not to say that true cybercrime doesn't hold a certain temptation. Though Dead Addict now works for a major technology company, he says he was once offered a job with a so-called "online pharmacy."
"I politely declined," he says. "But if I'd taken that job, I'd probably be basking on some tropical beach right now."
Dead Addict says that many of the hackers that gave DefCon its renegade reputation in earlier days have now grown up and, like himself, launched legitimate careers in security with big-name tech companies. But a lucrative day job leaves DefCon's hackers to focus on what Dead Addict says is the original sense of hacking.
"It's about a passion for technology. It's thinking about what technology can do, rather than what it was originally intended to do," he says. "It's about a bunch of people with time on their hands saying, 'Wouldn't it be cool if ...?'"
25. It is illegal for a cab in the City of London to carry rabid dogs or corpses.
24. It is illegal to die in the Houses of Parliament.
23. It is an act of treason to place a postage stamp bearing the British monarch upside down.
22. In France, it is forbidden to call a pig Napoleon.
21. Under the UK’s Tax Avoidance Schemes Regulations 2006, it is illegal not to tell the taxman anything you don’t want him to know, though you don’t have to tell him anything you don’t mind him knowing.
20. In Alabama, it is illegal for a driver to be blindfolded while driving a vehicle.
19. In Ohio, it is against state law to get a fish drunk.
18. Royal Navy ships that enter the Port of London must provide a barrel of rum to the Constable of the Tower of London.
17. In the UK, a pregnant woman can legally relieve herself anywhere she wants – even, if she so requests, in a policeman’s helmet.
16. In Lancashire, no person is permitted after being asked to stop by a constable on the seashore to incite a dog to bark.
15. In Miami, Florida, it is illegal to skateboard in a police station.
14. In Indonesia, the penalty for masturbation is decapitation.
13. In England, all men over the age of 14 must carry out two hours of longbow practice a day.
12. In London, Freemen are allowed to take a flock of sheep across London Bridge without being charged a toll; they are also allowed to drive geese down Cheapside.
11. In San Salvador, drunk drivers can be punished by death before a firing squad.
10. In the UK, a man who feels compelled to urinate in public can do so only if he aims for his rear wheel and keeps his right hand on his vehicle.
9. In Florida, unmarried women who parachute on Sundays can be jailed.
8. In Kentucky, it is illegal to carry a concealed weapon more than six-feet long.
7. In Chester, Welshmen are banned from entering the city before sunrise and from staying after sunset.
6. In the city of York, it is legal to murder a Scotsman within the ancient city walls, but only if he is carrying a bow and arrow.
5. In Boulder, Colorado, it is illegal to kill a bird within the city limits and also to “own” a pet – the town’s citizens, legally speaking, are merely “pet minders”.
4. In Vermont, women must obtain written permission from their husbands to wear false teeth.
3. In London, it is illegal to flag down a taxi if you have the plague.
2. In Bahrain, a male doctor may legally examine a woman’s genitals but is forbidden from looking directly at them during the examination; he may only see their reflection in a mirror.
1. The head of any dead whale found on the British coast is legally the property of the King; the tail, on the other hand, belongs to the Queen - in case she needs the bones for her corset.
With thanks to: Donald Stewart at Faegre & Benson; John Barnett at Burges Salmon; Robert Crossley at Walker Morris; James Odds at Matthew Arnold & Baldwin; and Dan Kieran, author of I Fought The Law (Bantam Press).
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/law/article2251280.ece
There’s something fantastically wrong about taking the ephemeral world of technology and etching it into your skin. But that doesn’t stop hundreds of supergeeks from getting supergeek tattoos.
When Doug Hardman got a rainbow-coloured Apple logo in 1996, it was unusual enough to merit a story in Wired magazine. That was before the iMac and the iPod spawned legions of Apple obsessives. Today, Apple tattoos are ubiquitous in geek circles. Microsoft tattoos do exist but they’re very rare.
Just slightly less common than Apple logos are characters from the golden era of video games – Pac-Man ghosts, Space Invaders and Super Mario (and another Mario ). It’s pure nostalgia, as the TV children of the 1980s and 1990s left home, got drunk and got ink. The geek (or Emo kid) equivalent of the little blue dolphin or the tiny rose, is <3 , which means “Less than three” and looks a bit like a heart turned on its side. Bless.
Once you’ve got your geek tat, you can show it off by uploading it to Body Modification Ezine [Warning - these pages have some fresh tattoos with a little bit of blood. Other parts of the site are VERY gruesome and adult only]. Popular tats include: long strings of binary numbers , bar codes , chunks of programming code, molecular structures (mainly serotonin or caffeine) and huge pi symbols. Whatever you’re thinking, someone else has been there first. The geekiest tattoo there? “Subatomic particles in a bubble chamber .”
http://rohitbrt.blogspot.com/Lara Jade Coton, who is now 18, discovered that a photograph of her wearing a ball dress and top hat was the cover art for Body Magic, a film distributed by TVX, a Texas-based company.
Ms Coton, from Tamworth, Staffordshire, said that she was “absolutely horrified” and wrote to the company to ask for its removal and for compensation. The company responded: “Nice try, toots.”
Bob Burge, the head of TVX, said that he would remove her image from the DVD cover but not because of her claim. “Actually, removing your image will help improve the sell [sic] of the DVD,” he wrote. “So far it has bombed.”
Ms Coton told The Times that she had uploaded the image to her home page on Deviantart, a website used by artists to showcase their work. “That is the only place I put it, so they must have got it from there,” she said. “I complained directly to the company at first. I just got back a load of abuse. They blamed my picture for the poor sales of the DVD. They said, ‘You’re not even that well known. We’ve checked up on you’.”
Mr Burge, 66, acknowledged that he had used the image but claims that it is in the public domain. “The freelance guy who does the artwork for us, he says he found the picture on an adult porn site,” he said.
“I think we have been the most responsible company. I have a granddaughter, so do I sympathise? Yes. I don’t want her image used on a DVD cover.”
The company, which says it has an annual turnover of $60,000 (£30,000), removed the photograph from the DVD cover, but not from the DVD itself, according to Richard Harrison, Ms Coton’s lawyer. Mr Harrison claims to have been able to obtain six copies of the DVD despite assurances from TVX that it had removed the images. Ms Coton has filed a lawsuit in a federal court in Tampa, Florida, which accuses TVX Films and Mr Burge of copyright infringement, civil conspiracy, misappropriation of her image, invasion of privacy and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
Mr Harrison, of the law firm Allen Dell, said that when Ms Coton contacted the film company, Mr Burge had responded by ridiculing her. “Adding insult to injury, the company had the audacity to blame Lara Jade for the disappointing sales of its porn movie,” he said.
“We’re asking a jury to award damages, including punitive damages, for the outrageous conduct of Mr Burge and TVX. We’re also asking the court to stop these pornographers from using the picture and to impound any copies of the movie or other materials on which Lara Jade’s picture appears.
“If it’s not a crime to put a 14-year-old child on the cover of a porn video, it sure ought to be.”
Mr Harrison said the case showed how easily children could be victimised in the age of social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook. “This amazing technology allows us all to share our photos with friends and loved ones, but parents must real-ise that any picture a child puts on the internet is about three mouse clicks away from being stolen by anybody.”
http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/the_web/article2253721.ece
Users of Nokia mobile phones have been urged to check their handsets after the company said that it would replace 46 million batteries after at least 100 of the components overheated while being recharged.
The “product advisory” from the Finnish company will raise further questions over the reliability of the lithium-ion battery technology commonly used in mobile gadgets. Last year, Sony was forced to recall nearly 10 million lithium-ion laptop computer batteries after pictures of one machine bursting into flames in an airport lounge were posted on the internet.
Nokia said that “no serious injuries or property damage have been reported” from its faulty batteries, but a spokeswoman added that it was possible that an overheating battery could cause damage to a surface on which it was left.
The alert issued by Nokia, the world’s largest mobile phone maker, covers a batch of its most widely-used batteries, with the model code BL-5C. The affected units were supplied by Matsushita, the Japanese electronics giant, between December 2005 and November 2006.
Nokia, which is the world's largest maker of mobile phones, was not able to give details on how many faulty batteries were thought to be in the UK. It is thought a flaw in the manufacturing process may have introduced impurities into the components, which have caused short circuits and overheating.
The recall is likely to cost Matsushita tens of millions of pounds, analysts suggested, depending on how many users opt to trade in potentially faulty components. Take up of the replacement offer could be limited, however, as most of the phones affected will now be nearing the end of their lifespan as consumers trade up to new models.
A greater threat could be posed to Nokia as it battles to protect its reputation in an increasingly fierce mobile market, analysts said.
The company prides itself on never having to issue a safety recall for a handset. Yesterday it pointed out that previous battery safety scares had been limited to Chinese counterfeit components, one of which is thought to have exploded in a handset and killed a Chinese man last month.
Richard Windsor, the Nomura telecoms analyst, said: "There is a possibility of damage to the Nokia brand, after the company developed a reputation for excellent reliability in recent years."
Martin Garner, of Ovum, the telecoms researchers, said: "The impact on Nokia is likely to be limited, unless, of course, footage of one of these batteries going up in some style is uploaded onto the web."
A total of at least 300 million BL-5C batteries have been made for Nokia by several suppliers, though only a portion of them are affected.
Sony's battery recall cost the Japanese group about 51 billion yen (£215 million) last year. Last month the company was forced to recall a further 10,000 Sony-made PC battery packs supplied to Toshiba because of fire risks.
Sanyo, another battery maker, has been hit by similar problems and in March said that it would share with Lenovo, the PC maker, the cost of recalling 205,000 Sanyo-made laptop batteries.
Shares in Nokia dipped on the news and were 1.2 per cent lower at €22.35 in morning deals.
Nokia said in a statement: “Nokia has identified that in very rare cases the Nokia-branded BL-5C batteries subject to the product advisory could potentially experience overheating initiated by a short circuit while charging, causing the battery to dislodge."
The BL-5C is one of 14 battery models used in Nokia products.
The company added: “Nokia is working closely with Matsushita and will be co-operating with relevant authorities to investigate this situation.”
To check whether a Nokia battery is one of those affected, click on this link
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/technology/article2256925.ece
Skype, the online phone company, was today working to fix an outage that left its 220 million users unable to make cheap calls over the internet.
The company said this afternoon said that its service was stabilising but that it had not yet resolved the problem, which was apparently caused by a fault in its software that means users could not sign on.
"We’re on the road to recovery. Skype is stabilising, but this process may continue throughout the day - we're not out of the woods yet," a statement on Skype's website said.
Skype's chief security officer, Kurt Sauer, told the New York Times that what had happened was caused by "a unique set of events, the genesis of which is not entirely understood".
The flaw existed in every version of the Skype software that had been downloaded since 2003, engineers at the company said, but they were unsure as why the error, which had lain dormant for four years, had only affected the network now.
One theory put forward by voice-over-internet-protocol (VoIP) experts was that the network Skype users to connect its callers had been unable to cope with the problems of scale that have accompanied an increased number of users.
Skype uses peer-to-peer technology to connect calls rather than routing them through a central hub, but it also relies on a number of servers around the world, known as supernodes, which help the network run smoothly.
"There is a danger that services designed to be highly disruptive to traditional telecoms business models have been developed without sufficient regard for resilience," Mark Main, an analyst at Ovum, said.
Steve Blood, a VoIP analyst at Gartner, said Skype's innovation had been to harness the processing power of computers to make calls, but that the 'supernode technology' on which its network relied was prone to problems as more and more users were recruited.
As many as 220 million people have registered with Skype, which allows its members to call each other for free using their computer, and a smaller number also use the service to call traditional phones at cheaper than market rates.
Mr Blood said that the impact on business was likely to be minimal, however, because although many companies now advised their employees to use VoIP to make personal calls while abroad, most had not replaced traditional phone networks with VoIP.
"Businesses recognise the risks of Skype, which has been prone to flaky service - but it's a good way of keeping costs down, and now that many companies are asking employees to pick up the cost of personal calls while they're abroad, it's increasingly used for that purpose," he said.
Skype, which was bought by eBay for $2.6 billion two years ago, was not immediately available for comment today.
http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article2277632.ece
A new website built by an American technology student has uncovered the lengths that companies apparently go to improve their public image by tweaking their entries on Wikipedia, the online encyclopaedia that - famously - “anyone can edit”.
The WikiScanner site, developed by Virgil Griffith, a researcher at the California Institute of Technology, reveals changes to the online encyclopaedia by linking edits back to the computers from which they emanate using each computer’s unique IP address.
Mr Griffith, 24, says he created the site "to create minor public relations disasters for companies and organisations I dislike" - a mission he may well have succeeded in.
Among those he alleges have been updating their entries are Wal-Mart, the world’s largest grocer, AstraZeneca, the drugs giant, Britain's Labour Party, the CIA and the Vatican.
In one example he gives, a computer linked to an IP address registered to the Dow Chemical company is seen to have deleted a passage on the Bhopal chemical disaster of 1984, which occurred at a plant operated by Union Carbide, now a wholly-owned Dow subsidiary.
WikiScanner cannot identify the individuals altering Wikipedia articles. It can show only that an edit was made by a person with access to an organisation’s network.
"Technically, we don't know whether it came from an agent of that company, however, we do know that edit came from someone with access to their network," Mr Griffith says on his site.
A slew of other companies' computers are also shown to have been used to polish Wikipedia entries.
ExxonMobil, the US oil giant, made sweeping changes to an entry on the Exxon Valdez oil spill of 1989. A claim that the company “has not yet paid the $5 billion in spill damages it owes to the 32,000 Alaskan fishermen” is deleted and replaced with references to the funds the company has paid out.
A web surfer using a machine on Wal-Mart’s network has amended a passage on the rates that the retailer pays its employees - to the benefit of the world's largest retailer.
A computer registered to Disney, the media giant, was used to delete a reference to criticism of the use of Digital Rights Management software, used by the group to safeguard digital media from piracy.
According to other Wikipedia pages laid bare by the Wikiscanner site, references to claims that Seroquel, a drug developed by AstraZeneca, which allegedly made teenagers “more likely to think about harming or killing themselves” were deleted by a user of a computer registered to the drug company.
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/media/article2264150.ece
It's like blue-eyed crooner Frank Sinatra once said: "It's nice work if you can get it."
While the U.S. economy remains strong, factory jobs are being outsourced, a slowing housing market has killed construction jobs over the past several months and manufacturing employment has been on a downward trend in recent years.
Yet, there's still good money to be made in the labor and service industries, commonly referred to as "blue-collar" jobs. That is, if you can overcome the long odds of landing a job as an elevator installer and repairer, a gig that could pay more than $63,000 a year.
While some people might not immediately associate blue-collar occupations with higher-level formal education, some of these managers and supervisors must have extensive knowledge of business or sciences to perform the tasks of, for example, power plant operator or agricultural manager.
Power plant operators earn a median annual wage of $55,000, or $26.44 an hour. These workers control, operate or maintain machinery to generate electric power keeping your home or business juiced.
Farm, ranch and other agricultural managers make an annual wage of $52,070, or $25.03 an hour, to supervise the farming activities, get their hands dirty on occasion and handle some of the business and marketing. They perform all these tasks with the owner's consent, of course.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics had defined "blue-collar" and service occupations in America as precision production, craft and repair occupations; machine operators and inspectors; transportation and moving occupations; handlers, equipment cleaners, helpers and laborers; and service occupations.
The BLS data collected on these jobs after 2005 no longer categorizes them by the blue-collar moniker. The numbers shown in this article are from the most recent data collected (May 2006).
According to the BLS, the annual wages have been calculated by multiplying the hourly mean wage by 40 hours a week for 52 weeks. For those occupations where there is not an hourly mean wage published, the annual wage has been directly calculated from the reported survey data.
At one point, the BLS listed some 200 jobs as blue collar that ran the gamut from auto mechanics to crane operators, from garbage collection to pest control.
http://www.forbes.com/leadership/compensation/2007/07/23/bluecollar-jobs-occupations-lead-careers-cx_mk_0723jobs.html
Some adages have earned their distinction--like the one that says it's not what you know but who you know that counts.
Fact is, skill and grit only get you so far. "Networking is not even a question of 'Should I?' It's a lifeblood," says Susan RoAne, author of How to Work a Room. "As an entrepreneur, if you don't have a network, you will keep reinventing the wheel.”
Networking has taken on a whole new meaning in the Internet age. Keeping up with the competition demands cultivating contacts at warp speed, and that means working your shtick online.
There are plenty of tools--many of them free--and more are on the way. All help you stay connected to people you know and spark relationships with those you don't--including customers, suppliers, partners and advisers. If you aren't using these services already, sign up as soon as you finish reading this article. If you're no stranger to online networking, check out some of the more advanced services.
Online networking tools include the networks themselves--basically, webs of millions of people who are just a few clicks away from receiving an electronic message from anyone within the network--and the nifty little software applications that help to maintain and update those networks.
The most recognizable online networks are Facebook and News Corp.'s (nyse: NWS - news - people ) MySpace. Both are mainly aimed at the under-24 set, and neither is particularly designed as a business tool, though Facebook is trying to make a charge.
"There has been a lot of discussion about Facebook adding business profiles," says Austin Hill, a serial Internet entrepreneur and founder of Brudder Ventures, an angel investment firm. "The context allows for very different things. Facebook is a fun place, but I would feel awkward writing a large business proposal [in Facebook].”
As business networks go, LinkedIn trumps the competition. Formed in 2001, the free service now boasts 12.5 million users, including bigwigs at places like Wal-Mart (nyse: WMT - news - people ), Apple (nasdaq: AAPL - news - people ) and Merck (nyse: MRK - news - people ). In the handful of minutes it takes to fill out a simple profile (name, job description, contact information), LinkedIn can expand your Rolodex by thousands of names--making it just about the hottest happy hour around.
Example: Say you're looking for accounting services. Just type "accountant" into LinkedIn and up will pop a list of contacts with the word "accountant" in their personal profile. Depending on how much access that person has agreed to grant other members of the network, you may be able to contact her directly or--if you're not such a close "friend"--simply send a message via LinkedIn. Call it e-mail with a buffer.
"At my startup, there was one vendor at which we were trying to get access to one specific department, and it was impossible to find anyone who could help us," recalls Hill, who boasts more than 500 contacts on LinkedIn. "It was a large company and we just kept getting the run around. So we went on LinkedIn and started sending senior members of the company questions. Within two days we were in contact with the right group, with the right introduction and we were able to start doing business with them very quickly.”
LinkedIn's latest feature is the "Answers" section, which allows members to lob questions to their entire network; users also can tag the questions based on a particular topic. Those who answer rack up "expert" points, and responses from the most highly revered experts are featured on the "Answers" homepage.
Yet another benefit of LinkedIn: Each person on the network gets his own Web address (or URL), making him searchable by Google (nasdaq: GOOG - news - people ) and Yahoo! (nasdaq: YHOO - news - people ), so long as he includes his name in the URL.
If you run a home-based business and want to connect with millions of others like you, check out APsense.com. Launched three months ago, APsense now has a modest 13,000 users but is growing at roughly 100 users per day. Like LinkedIn, APsense lets users maintain personal profiles, and also offers access to common interest groups and a slew of business blogs.
One cool feature--called the "Hot or Not exchange"--gives members a chance to post full-page profiles of their businesses, including descriptions of products, customer testimonials and contact information. While you can't pay for such prime digital real estate (the featured businesses are chosen by algorithm), you can increase your odds by voting for other businesses that show up on the page. The more times you vote ("hot" or "not"), the greater your odds of being featured.
Then there are the nifty little applications that help you maintain those networks. One of these, Plaxo, now with some 15 million users, recognizes any changes to the contact information of any Plaxo member and automatically updates that data in, say, your Microsoft Outlook contact list. Plaxo's free service also includes birthday alerts and electronic cards. And for the height of convenience, Plaxo's Pulse service--launched this week--will aggregate all of your online social networks and send out an information "feed" that captures any new activity all on one page.
A nice complement to Plaxo is Anagram (found at GetAnagram.com). Instead of having to enter contact information into an e-mail program, this service will pull contact names and numbers right from the Web, your desktop or e-mail signatures and plunk them into the correct fields in an Outlook database or Palm personal digital assistant. The newest version of the software even gins up a digital map for a given address in your contact list. (Word of caution: The software is still a tad buggy.)
Finally, there's Twitter, a service that allows you to blast a two-sentence message via e-mail or text to all of your Twitter contacts. (Call it a mini-blog.) Like Pulse, Twitter comes in newsfeed form. If it sounds like a waste of time, some entrepreneurs swear by it. "I've used it for ad-hoc business meetings in cities when I'm traveling for a meeting," says entrepreneur Hill. "People come up to me at conferences all the time and ask me about things that I put on my feed.”
http://www.forbes.com/technology/ebusiness/2007/08/09/google-microsoft-walmart-ent-tech-cx_ll_0809networking.html
The Internet has raised some tough philosophical problems: Are you and your Second Life avatar the same person? Was BonsaiKittens.com evil, even if it was a hoax? And does your crappy MySpace blog exist when no one is reading it?
David Weinberger has hit on one such question actually worth pondering: How will computers and the Internet change the way that we organize things and ideas?
In his latest book, Everything Is Miscellaneous, he offers a new answer: We don't organize them at all. Instead, like some eccentric professor, we keep our information strewn in messy piles on our desks and bookshelves, and yet we can still find exactly what we're looking for.
Take, for example, a sonnet by Shakespeare. Back when we depended on libraries full of dusty paper, the sonnet might have been found under "poetry," and then "English poetry," and then, after several minutes spent wandering through the archives, Shakespeare's shelves in the section devoted to "English sonnets of the 16th and 17th centuries." The sonnet we're looking for has a single spot in a branching hierarchy designed by someone's great-grandfather.
In what Weinberger calls "the new digital disorder," the sonnet gets thrown into a vat somewhere on the Web. But not before it's tagged with "metadata," which is nothing more than information about information. The sonnet might be labeled with "Shakespeare," and "English poetry." It might also be tagged with "that poem that Jane likes." And "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?"
And, for good measure, the rest of the poem's text, and every misspelling of Shakespeare, and every possible association anyone has ever had with summer's days and buds of May. The result is a messy clump of metadata that dwarfs the data in the poem itself. And the more metadata, the more likely that Google (nasdaq: GOOG - news - people ) will bring a user to his or her target within milliseconds of clicking "I Feel Lucky."
That may sound like an idea that belongs in a class about library science or, God forbid, a how-to guide to Web 2.0. But Weinberger goes much deeper. Starting with Plato, he traces the evolution of semantics from its origins. In early dialogues, Weinberger points out, Plato is already looking for the meaning of meaning, declaring that individual uses of words are defined by their connection to some perfect form. The bagel I had for breakfast is, for instance, just one instance of some eternal and unchanging "bagel" idea.
About 25 centuries later, Wittgenstein finally put an end to that nonsense by pointing out that words are based on "family resemblances." We understand the word "bagel," Wittgenstein argued, by seeing a family of different examples, which include bagels covered in sesame or poppy seeds, those made with pumpernickel or eggs, and even that square-shaped monstrosity, the squagel.
Weinberger shows how that philosophical evolution is finally being played out in our organization of information, or lack thereof. For the first time, we're not pretending that ideas and objects fit into a single perfect Platonic tree. Instead, we label YouTube videos and Flickr photos with every possible piece of metadata and toss them into the void, depending on that web of associations to identify our quarry when we want to haul it back up.
Family resemblances are the new card catalog. If Wittgenstein were alive today, he'd probably write another treatise titled I Told You So.
Weinberger argues that as metadata gets more long-winded and redundant, it also gets more effective. The same maxim, however, doesn't apply to books. Everything Is Miscellaneous stretches its insights, most of which are laid out in the initial pages, into a few too many chapters. But Weinberger's story-laden writing keeps readers from straying: He pulls together interesting moments in the history of data-organizers, ranging from Mortimer Jerome Adler's battle against alphabetization to the idea of a "memory palace" that began in the writing of Cicero.
In fact, Weinberger's history ends too soon. He dedicates his book "to the librarians," but gives scant credit to the librarians of the 21st century, namely Google and Yahoo! (nasdaq: YHOO - news - people ). After all, someone has to sort through the chaos, latching onto metadata and reassembling the moments of temporary order that Web users depend on. Nor does Weinberger examine the places where metadata fails us: Image and audio recognition technologies, for instance, are only beginning to attach searchable tags to images and sounds that haven't been manually labeled with words.
But Weinberger has a real affection for the data architects of the past. Describing Aristotle's Metaphysics, he compares the book to a Bach keyboard piece, admiring both its "order and its unpredictability." And when Weinberger cites the British plant scientist Philip Stewart, he writes that Stewart's spiraled periodic table of the elements displays the "ancient and beautiful Greek idea that the microcosm reflects the macrocosm, that order is the same everywhere you look."
As the author of a book about the virtues of chaos, Weinberger may be putting the last brick in the tomb of that "ancient and beautiful Greek idea." But Everything Is Miscellaneous isn't just about the promises of a messy Internet. It's also a thoughtful obituary of history's librarians, an elegy for the last order of order.
http://www.forbes.com/technology/ebusiness/2007/08/09/book-review-miscellaneous-oped-cx_ag_0810miscellany.html"The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs," a satirical blog about Apple's iconic chief executive and purporting to be penned by him, will be published in association with Forbes.com starting Aug. 6.
"From Jonathan Swift to Jon Stewart, satire has spoken truth to power as well as amused," said Forbes.com Editor Paul Maidment. "Fake Steve Jobs will add a different voice to Forbes.com, but one that is in the Forbes tradition for both."
The 14-month-old blog has intrigued and delighted Silicon Valley insiders with its arch comments on Apple (nasdaq: AAPL - news - people ), the technology industry and the music business, and turned the hunt for the identity of its anonymous author, the Fake Steve Jobs, into a virtual party game.
Video: Meet The Real Fake Steve Jobs
A posting on the New York Times Web site Sunday named Daniel Lyons, a technology writer for Forbes, as the author who conceived and writes the blog. "I'm stunned that it's taken this long," Lyons, 46, told the newspaper. "I have not been that good at keeping it a secret. I've been sort of waiting for this call for months."
The ending of the guessing game has angered some bloggers. "With all of the real news that needs to be sleuthed by a talented reporter such as yourself, isn't it more than a little sophomoric to cover this at your paper and, at the same time, ruin a perfectly good bit of sport?" Matthew J posted to the Times' own Bits blog on Sunday.
Among those who had been mentioned by Silicon Valley gossips as possible authors were tech columnist Andy Ihnatko, comic actor Harry Shearer and tech bloggers Jack Miller, Charles Jade and Owen Thomas. (See "A List of Web Clips Speculating On Who Is The Real FSJ.")
"I have read a few of the Fake Steve Jobs things recently, and I think they're pretty funny," the real Steve Jobs was quoted as saying at The Wall Street Journal's D Conference.
What's next for Fake Steve Jobs? "Well, I'm taking a few days off to sit in a lake and do some yoga and meditation and non-thinking," he says. "Then I'm coming back next week, badder than ever."
http://www.forbes.com/technology/ebusiness/2007/08/05/fsj-blog-apple-biz-media-cx_pm_0805fsj.html
Mass (1024kg or 1021tons) - This is the mass of the planet in septillion (1 followed by 24 zeros) kilograms or sextillion (1 followed by 21 zeros) tons. Strictly speaking tons are measures of weight, not mass, but are used here to represent the mass of one ton of material under Earth gravity.
Diameter (km or miles) - The diameter of the planet at the equator, the distance through the center of the planet from one point on the equator to the opposite side, in kilometers or miles.
Density (kg/m3 or lbs/ft3) - The average density (mass divided by volume) of the whole planet (not including the atmosphere for the terrestrial planets) in kilograms per cubic meter or pounds per cubic foot.
Gravity (m/s2 or ft/s2) - The gravitational acceleration on the surface at the equator in meters per second squared or feet per second squared, including the effects of rotation. For the gas giant planets the gravity is given at the 1 bar pressure level in the atmosphere. The gravity on Earth is designated as 1 "G", so the Earth ratio fact sheets gives the gravity of the other planets in G's.
Escape Velocity (km/s) - Initial velocity, in kilometers per second or miles per second, needed at the surface (at the 1 bar pressure level for the gas giants) to escape the body's gravitational pull, ignoring atmospheric drag.
Rotation Period (hours) - This is the time it takes for the planet to complete one rotation relative to the fixed background stars (not relative to the Sun) in hours. Negative numbers indicate retrograde (backwards relative to the Earth) rotation.
Length of Day (hours) - The average time in hours for the Sun to move from the noon position in the sky at a point on the equator back to the same position.
Distance from Sun (106 km or 106 miles) - This is the average distance from the planet to the Sun in millions of kilometers or millions of miles, also known as the semi-major axis. All planets have orbits which are elliptical, not perfectly circular, so there is a point in the orbit at which the planet is closest to the Sun, the perihelion, and a point furthest from the Sun, the aphelion. The average distance from the Sun is midway between these two values. The average distance from the Earth to the Sun is defined as 1 Astronomical Unit (AU), so the ratio table gives this distance in AU.
* For the Moon, the average distance from the Earth is given.
Perihelion, Aphelion (106 km or 106 miles) - The closest and furthest points in a planet's orbit about the Sun, see "Distance from Sun" above.
* For the Moon, the closest and furthest points to Earth are given, known as the "Perigee" and "Apogee" respectively.
Orbital Period (days) - This is the time in Earth days for a planet to orbit the Sun from one vernal equinox to the next. Also known as the tropical orbit period, this is equal to a year on Earth.
* For the Moon, the sidereal orbit period, the time to orbit once relative to the fixed background stars, is given. The time from full Moon to full Moon, or synodic period, is 29.53 days.
Orbital Velocity (km/s or miles/s) - The average velocity or speed of the planet as it orbits the Sun, in kilometers per second or miles per second.
Orbital Inclination (degrees) - The angle in degrees at which a planets orbit around the Sun is tilted relative to the ecliptic plane. The ecliptic plane is defined as the plane containing the Earth's orbit, so the Earth's inclination is 0.
Orbital Eccentricity - This is a measure of how far a planet's orbit about the Sun (or the Moon's orbit about the Earth) is from being circular. The larger the eccentricity, the more elongated is the orbit, an eccentricity of 0 means the orbit is a perfect circle. There are no units for eccentricity.
Axial Tilt (degrees) - The angle in degrees the axis of a planet (the imaginary line running through the center of the planet from the north to south poles) is tilted relative to a line perpendicular to the planet's orbit around the Sun.
*Venus rotates in a retrograde direction, opposite the other planets, so the tilt is almost 180 degrees, it is considered to be spinning with its "top", or north pole pointing "downward" (southward). Uranus rotates almost on its side relative to the orbit, Pluto is pointing slightly "down". The ratios with Earth refer to the axis without reference to north or south.
Mean Temperature (C or F) - This is the average temperature over the whole planet's surface (or for the gas giants at the one bar level) in degrees C (Celsius or Centigrade) or degrees F (Fahrenheit). For Mercury and the Moon, for example, this is an average over the sunlit (very hot) and dark (very cold) hemispheres and so is not representative of any given region on the planet, and most of the surface is quite different from this average value. As with the Earth, there will tend to be variations in temperature from the equator to the poles, from the day to night sides, and seasonal changes on most of the planets.
Surface Pressure (bars or atmospheres) - This is the atmospheric pressure (the weight of the atmosphere per unit area) at the surface of the planet in bars or atmospheres.
*The surfaces of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune are deep in the atmosphere and the location and pressures are not known.
Number of Moons - This gives the number of IAU officially confirmed moons orbiting the planet. New moons are still being discovered.
Ring System? - This tells whether a planet has a set of rings around it, Saturn being the most obvious example.
Global Magnetic Field? - This tells whether the planet has a measurable large-scale magnetic field. Mars and the Moon have localized regional magnetic fields but no global field.
The term "terrestrial planets" refers to Mercury, Venus, Earth, Moon, Mars, and Pluto.
The term "gas giants" refers to Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.
http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/planetfact_notes.html
![[Global view of the Sun]](http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/image/solar/061920se.gif)
Sun Earth Ratio (Sun/Earth)
Mass (1024 kg) 1,989,100. 5.9736 333,000.
GM (x 106 km3/s2) 132,712. 0.3986 333,000.
Volume (1012 km3) 1,412,000. 1.083 1,304,000.
Volumetric mean radius (km) 696,000. 6371. 109.2
Mean density (kg/m3) 1408. 5515. 0.255
Surface gravity (eq.) (m/s2) 274.0 9.78 28.0
Escape velocity (km/s) 617.6 11.19 55.2
Ellipticity 0.00005 0.0034 0.015
Moment of inertia (I/MR2) 0.059 0.3308 0.178
Visual magnitude V(1,0) -26.74 -3.86 -
Absolute magnitude +4.83
Luminosity (1024 J/s) 384.6
Mass conversion rate (106 kg/s) 4300.
Mean energy production (10-3 J/kg) 0.1937
Surface emission (106 J/m2s) 63.29
Spectral type G2 V
Model values at center of Sun:
Central pressure: 2.477 x 1011 bar
Central temperature: 1.571 x 107 K
Central density: 1.622 x 105 kg/m3
Sun Earth Ratio (Sun/Earth)*This is the adopted period at 16 deg. latitude - the actual rotation rate varies with latitude L as:
Sidereal rotation period (hrs)* 609.12 23.9345 25.449
Obliquity to ecliptic (deg.) 7.25 23.45 0.309
Speed relative to nearby stars (km/s) 19.4
Right Ascension: 286.13
Declination : 63.87
Reference Date : 1.5 Jan 2000 (JD 2451545.0)
Apparent diameter from Earth
At 1 A.U.(seconds of arc) 1919.
Maximum (seconds of arc) 1952.
Minimum (seconds of arc) 1887.
Distance from Earth
Mean (106 km) 149.6
Minimum (106 km) 147.1
Maximum (106 km) 152.1
Typical magnetic field strengths for various parts of the Sun
Polar Field: 1 - 2 Gauss
Sunspots: 3000 Gauss
Prominences: 10 - 100 Gauss
Chromospheric plages: 200 Gauss
Bright chromospheric network: 25 Gauss
Ephemeral (unipolar) active regions: 20 Gauss
Surface Gas Pressure (top of photosphere): 0.868 mbhttp://rohitbrt.blogspot.com/
Effective temperature: 5778 K
Temperature at bottom of photosphere: 6600 K
Temperature at top of photosphere: 4400 K
Temperature at top of chromosphere: ~30,000 K
Photosphere thickness: ~400 km
Chromosphere thickness: ~2500 km
Sun Spot Cycle: 11.4 yr.
Photosphere Composition:
Major elements: H - 90.965%, He - 8.889%
Minor elements (ppm): O - 774, C - 330, Ne - 112, N - 102
Fe - 43, Mg - 35, Si - 32, S - 15
http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/sunfact.html
![[Global view of Mercury]](http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/image/mercuryfact_bg.gif)
Mercury Earth Ratio (Mercury/Earth)
Mass (1024 kg) 0.3302 5.9736 0.0553
Volume (1010 km3) 6.083 108.321 0.0562
Equatorial radius (km) 2439.7 6378.1 0.383
Polar radius (km) 2439.7 6356.8 0.384
Volumetric mean radius (km) 2439.7 6371.0 0.383
Ellipticity (Flattening) 0.0000 0.00335 0.000
Mean density (kg/m3) 5427 5515 0.984
Surface gravity (eq.) (m/s2) 3.70 9.80 0.378
Surface acceleration (eq.) (m/s2) 3.70 9.78 0.378
Escape velocity (km/s) 4.3 11.2 0.384
GM (x 106 km3/s2) 0.02203 0.3986 0.0553
Bond albedo 0.119 0.306 0.389
Visual geometric albedo 0.106 0.367 0.289
Visual magnitude V(1,0) -0.42 -3.86 -
Solar irradiance (W/m2) 9126.6 1367.6 6.673
Black-body temperature (K) 442.5 254.3 1.740
Moment of inertia (I/MR2) 0.33 0.3308 0.998
J2 (x 10-6) 60. 1082.63 0.055
Number of natural satellites 0 1
Planetary ring system No No
Mercury Earth Ratio (Mercury/Earth)
Semimajor axis (106 km) 57.91 149.60 0.387
Sidereal orbit period (days) 87.969 365.256 0.241
Tropical orbit period (days) 87.968 365.242 0.241
Perihelion (106 km) 46.00 147.09 0.313
Aphelion (106 km) 69.82 152.10 0.459
Synodic period (days) 115.88 - -
Mean orbital velocity (km/s) 47.87 29.78 1.607
Max. orbital velocity (km/s) 58.98 30.29 1.947
Min. orbital velocity (km/s) 38.86 29.29 1.327
Orbit inclination (deg) 7.00 0.00 -
Orbit eccentricity 0.2056 0.0167 12.311
Sidereal rotation period (hrs) 1407.6 23.9345 58.785
Length of day (hrs) 4222.6 24.0000 175.942
Obliquity to orbit (deg) 0.01 23.45 0.0004
Discoverer: Unknown
Discovery Date: Prehistoric
Distance from Earth
Minimum (106 km) 77.3
Maximum (106 km) 221.9
Apparent diameter from Earth
Maximum (seconds of arc) 13.
Minimum (seconds of arc) 4.5
Maximum visual magnitude -1.9
Mean values at inferior conjunction with Earth
Distance from Earth (106 km) 91.70
Apparent diameter (seconds of arc) 11.0
Semimajor axis (AU) 0.38709893
Orbital eccentricity 0.20563069
Orbital inclination (deg) 7.00487
Longitude of ascending node (deg) 48.33167
Longitude of perihelion (deg) 77.45645
Mean Longitude (deg) 252.25084
Right Ascension: 281.01 - 0.003T
Declination : 61.45 - 0.005T
Reference Date : 12:00 UT 1 Jan 2000 (JD 2451545.0)
T = Julian centuries from reference date
Dipole field strength: 0.0033 gauss-Rh3
Dipole tilt to rotational axis: 169 degrees
Longitude of tilt: 285 degrees (from Mercury I flyby)
115 degrees (from Mercury III flyby)
Note: Rh denotes Mercurian radii, 2,439 km
Surface pressure: ~10-15 bar (0.001 picobar)http://rohitbrt.blogspot.com/
Average temperature: 440 K (167 C) (590-725 K, sunward side)
Total mass of atmosphere: <~1000 kg
Atmospheric composition: 42% Oxygen (O2), 29% Sodium (Na),
22% Hydrogen (H2), 6% Helium (He), 0.5% Potassium (K),
possible trace amounts of Argon (Ar), Carbon Dioxide (CO2),
Water (H2O), Nitrogen (N2), Xenon (Xe), Krypton (Kr), Neon (Ne)
(The atmosphere of Mercury is essentially a vacuum.
Compositional values are not well constrained, values from "Mercury",
Vilas, Chapman, and Matthews, eds., University of Arizona Press, 1988)
http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/mercuryfact.html
As you go about your life today, reflect, how many electronic devices have you used ? Laptops, handphones, Blackberrys, Ipods? Now imagine, one day, what if these devices were removed from you and you still have to continued your life as per normal.
I will bet my bottom dollar that most of you will not be able to survive “efficiently”. This is the price we pay of being too reliant on such gadgets, and gadgets for being too converged. We see this devices as virtual extensions of ourselves into the realm of cyber communications.
The devices we carry today are now more sophisticated than ever before. Take the new Nokia N95 for example, it is can function as a pocket computer, GPS receiver, normal handphone, MP3 player and loads more. With such features, one would think, is there a need for me to carry another device. Herein lies the problem, having just one device means convenience. And yet at the same time, it is all too convenient to lose that one device than to lose all 4. When that happens, we “cannot survive” as long as we are unconnected, or thats what conventional wisdom implies.
But one has to admit in this growing of technologically-advanced societies world-wide, accurate information has to be obtained fast and immediate. The constant pace of information that enters sometimes reach us may possibly even “overload” us. But ironically, some people like it that way, some even arrogantly claim that if we do not have access, to ask us to prove a way to succeed in life.
Now I'm not advocating that we should throw away our handphones and laptops, my point here is that all of you should sit down and reflect upon what is really necessary in our lives. Is it really important to stay connected 24/7? Or should you allocate more time to your neglected families and personal hobbies?
How I did I know this? Because I lost my handphone for an entire day before finding it back. In that span of 12 hours, I felt emotionally lost as I lost my ability to communicate with my friends who were physically out of sight. Thus, I realised all these. The invention of digital communicative devices, has made our lives much more complicated than ever before. And most of all, made us addicted to the taste of increased communication.
The blogger is a 16-year old college student from Singapore. He has always been trying ways and means to "legally" break past any computer/network systems he encounters. But he currently lacks skills in any programming/script languages.
http://blogs.pcworld.com/communityvoices/archives/2007/08/digital_depende.html
![[Global view of Venus]](http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/image/venus_magellan.jpg)
Venus Earth Ratio (Venus/Earth)
Mass (1024 kg) 4.8685 5.9736 0.815
Volume (1010 km3) 92.843 108.321 0.857
Equatorial radius (km) 6051.8 6378.1 0.949
Polar radius (km) 6051.8 6356.8 0.952
Volumetric mean radius (km) 6051.8 6371.0 0.950
Ellipticity (Flattening) 0.000 0.00335 0.0
Mean density (kg/m3) 5243 5515 0.951
Surface gravity (eq.) (m/s2) 8.87 9.80 0.905
Surface acceleration (eq.) (m/s2) 8.87 9.78 0.907
Escape velocity (km/s) 10.36 11.19 0.926
GM (x 106 km3/s2) 0.3249 0.3986 0.815
Bond albedo 0.750 0.306 2.45
Visual geometric albedo 0.65 0.367 1.77
Visual magnitude V(1,0) -4.40 -3.86 -
Solar irradiance (W/m2) 2613.9 1367.6 1.911
Black-body temperature (K) 231.7 254.3 0.911
Topographic range (km) 15 20 0.750
Moment of inertia (I/MR2) 0.33 0.3308 0.998
J2 (x 10-6) 4.458 1082.63 0.004
Number of natural satellites 0 1
Planetary ring system No No
Venus Earth Ratio (Venus/Earth)
Semimajor axis (106 km) 108.21 149.60 0.723
Sidereal orbit period (days) 224.701 365.256 0.615
Tropical orbit period (days) 224.695 365.242 0.615
Perihelion (106 km) 107.48 147.09 0.731
Aphelion (106 km) 108.94 152.10 0.716
Synodic period (days) 583.92 - -
Mean orbital velocity (km/s) 35.02 29.78 1.176
Max. orbital velocity (km/s) 35.26 30.29 1.164
Min. orbital velocity (km/s) 34.79 29.29 1.188
Orbit inclination (deg) 3.39 0.00 -
Orbit eccentricity 0.0067 0.0167 0.401
Sidereal rotation period (hrs) -5832.5 23.9345 243.686
Length of day (hrs) 2802.0 24.0000 116.750
Obliquity to orbit (deg) 177.36 23.45 (0.113)
Discoverer: Unknown
Discovery Date: Prehistoric
Distance from Earth
Minimum (106 km) 38.2
Maximum (106 km) 261.0
Apparent diameter from Earth
Maximum (seconds of arc) 66.0
Minimum (seconds of arc) 9.7
Maximum visual magnitude -4.6
Mean values at inferior conjunction with Earth
Distance from Earth (106 km) 41.44
Apparent diameter (seconds of arc) 60.2
Semimajor axis (AU) 0.72333199
Orbital eccentricity 0.00677323
Orbital inclination (deg) 3.39471
Longitude of ascending node (deg) 76.68069
Longitude of perihelion (deg) 131.53298
Mean Longitude (deg) 181.97973
Right Ascension: 272.76
Declination : 67.16
Reference Date : 12:00 UT 1 Jan 2000 (JD 2451545.0)
Surface pressure: 92 barshttp://rohitbrt.blogspot.com/
Surface density: ~65. kg/m3
Scale height: 15.9 km
Total mass of atmosphere: ~4.8 x 1020 kg
Average temperature: 737 K (464 C)
Diurnal temperature range: ~0
Wind speeds: 0.3 to 1.0 m/s (surface)
Mean molecular weight: 43.45 g/mole
Atmospheric composition (near surface, by volume):
Major: 96.5% Carbon Dioxide (CO2), 3.5% Nitrogen (N2)
Minor (ppm): Sulfur Dioxide (SO2) - 150; Argon (Ar) - 70; Water (H2O) - 20;
Carbon Monoxide (CO) - 17; Helium (He) - 12; Neon (Ne) - 7
http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/venusfact.html
![[Toutatis]](http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/image/toutatis_radar.gif)
Closest Closest H Approx. Orbital Semimajor Orbital
Asteroid Approach Approach Abs. Diameter Period Axis Orbital Inclination Number
Number and Name Date (AU) Mag. (meters) (yrs) (AU) Eccentricity (deg) and Name
--------------- ----------- -------- ---- ---------- ------- --------- ------------ ----------- -------------
1937 UB 1937 Oct 30 0.0049 17.1 1250 2.29 1.738 0.649 6.4 1937 UB
1989 UP 1938 Nov 18 0.0052 20.6 330 2.55 1.864 0.473 3.9 1989 UP
2004 UH1 1960 Oct 24 0.0011 28.2 10 0.93 0.954 0.397 3.7 2004 UH1
1999 VP11 1965 Oct 21 0.0022 18.6 820 1.13 1.084 0.584 17.3 1999 VP11
2000 LG6 1971 Jun 3 0.0041 29.0 7 0.88 0.916 0.112 2.8 2000 LG6
2001 AV43 1973 Dec 24 0.0041 24.3 60 1.44 1.277 0.238 0.3 2001 AV43
27002 1998 DV9 1975 Jan 31 0.0045 18.1 1040 2.31 1.745 0.434 8.7 27002 1998 DV9
4581 Asclepius 1989 Mar 22 0.0046 20.5 340 1.03 1.022 0.357 4.9 4581 Asclepius
2003 SW130 1990 Sep 19 0.0015 29.1 7 0.83 0.885 0.304 3.6 2003 SW130
1991 BA 1991 Jan 18 0.0011 28.7 8 3.06 2.105 0.667 2.1 1991 BA
1991 VG 1991 Dec 05 0.0031 28.4 9 1.04 1.027 0.049 1.4 1991 VG
1993 KA2 1993 May 20 0.0010 29.0 7 3.33 2.229 0.770 3.2 1993 KA2
1994 ES1 1994 Mar 15 0.0011 28.6 9 1.68 1.411 0.588 0.9 1994 ES1
1994 XM1 1994 Dec 09 0.00070 28.2 10 2.98 2.068 0.568 4.6 1994 XM1
1995 FF 1995 Mar 27 0.0029 26.4 22 3.54 2.323 0.707 0.6 1995 FF
1996 JA1 1996 May 19 0.0030 21.0 270 4.11 2.565 0.701 22.0 1996 JA1
2000 SG344 1999 May 06 0.0038 24.6 * 0.97 0.980 0.067 0.1 2000 SG344
6489 Golevka 1999 Jun 2 0.0500 19.2 620 3.99 2.514 0.597 2.3 6489 Golevka
2000 LG6 2000 Jun 02 0.0033 29.0 7 0.88 0.916 0.112 2.8 2000 LG6
4486 Mithra 2000 Aug 14 0.0465 15.4 3000 3.26 2.200 0.663 3.0 4486 Mithra
2001 BA16 2001 Jan 15 0.0020 25.8 30 0.91 0.940 0.137 5.8 2001 BA16
1998 WT24 2001 Dec 16 0.0124 17.7 1250 0.61 0.718 0.418 7.4 1998 WT24
4660 Nereus 2002 Jan 22 0.0290 18.3 950 1.82 1.489 0.360 1.4 4660 Nereus
2002 CB26 2002 Feb 08 0.0032 26.5 20 2.73 1.953 0.723 6.8 2002 CB26
2002 EM7 2002 Mar 08 0.0031 24.4 60 0.89 0.921 0.363 1.5 2002 EM7
2002 MN 2002 Jun 14 0.00080 23.3 100 2.44 1.814 0.497 1.0 2002 MN
2002 NY40 2002 Aug 18 0.0035 18.7 780 2.91 2.039 0.710 5.8 2002 NY40
2002 XV90 2002 Dec 11 0.00078 25.2 40 1.99 1.580 0.377 10.0 2002 XV90
1993 KA2 2003 May 20 0.0027 29.0 7 3.33 2.229 0.770 3.2 1993 KA2
1994 PM 2003 Aug 16 0.0250 17.8 1200 1.80 1.479 0.753 18.0 1994 PM
2003 SQ222 2003 Sep 27 0.00056 30.0 4 1.85 1.506 0.519 3.6 2003 SQ222
2003 SW130 2003 Sep 19 0.0011 29.1 7 0.83 0.885 0.304 3.6 2003 SW130
2003 UM3 2003 Oct 12 0.0019 28.0 11 1.61 1.371 0.440 1.5 2003 UM3
2003 XJ7 2003 Dec 6 0.0010 26.3 22 1.39 1.243 0.466 18.2 2003 XJ7
2004 FH 2004 Mar 18 0.00033 26.4 20 0.74 0.818 0.289 0.0 2004 FH
2004 FY15 2004 Mar 27 0.0016 26.1 24 2.52 1.854 0.479 3.5 2004 FY15
2004 FU162 2004 Mar 31 0.00008 28.7 8 0.75 0.827 0.392 4.2 2004 FU162
2004 HE 2004 Apr 18 0.0018 26.8 18 2.36 1.774 0.608 9.5 2004 HE
2004 OD4 2004 Jul 16 0.0011 26.9 17 2.91 2.037 0.515 4.4 2004 OD4
4179 Toutatis 2004 Sep 29 0.0104 15.3 4600 x 2400 1.10 2.511 0.634 0.5 4179 Toutatis
2004 UH1 2004 Oct 24 0.0020 28.2 10 0.93 0.954 0.397 3.7 2004 UH1
2004 YD5 2004 Dec 19 0.0023 29.3 6 3.43 2.273 0.783 3.6 2004 YD5
2005 BS1 2005 Jan 13 0.0018 27.3 15 2.76 1.965 0.567 2.6 2005 BS1
2005 FN 2005 Mar 18 0.00096 26.9 17 0.90 0.934 0.330 3.8 2005 FN
2005 TK50 2005 Oct 10 0.00081 29.1 7 2.66 1.919 0.621 4.9 2005 TK50
2005 UW5 2005 Oct 30 0.0013 27.5 14 1.65 1.398 0.395 2.9 2005 UW5
2005 WN3 2005 Nov 26 0.00056 29.9 4 4.26 2.628 0.740 0.4 2005 WN3
2005 XA8 2005 Dec 5 0.0015 25.6 33 1.70 1.425 0.440 4.8 2005 XA8
2006 BF56 2006 Jan 29 0.0014 29.6 5 3.63 2.363 0.794 1.3 2006 BF56
2004 XP14 2006 Jul 03 0.0029 19.3 595 1.09 1.057 0.157 32.9 2004 XP14
4450 Pan 2008 Feb 19 0.0408 17.2 1570 3.00 1.442 0.587 5.5 4450 Pan
2001 TB 2010 Jan 15 0.0050 24.8 47 2.25 1.716 0.525 4.0 2001 TB
433 Eros 2012 Jan 31 0.1790 11.2 33000 x 13000 1.76 1.458 0.223 10.8 433 Eros
4660 Nereus 2021 Dec 11 0.0263 18.3 950 1.82 1.489 0.360 1.4 4660 Nereus
7482 1994 PC1 2022 Jan 18 0.0132 16.8 1900 1.56 1.346 0.328 33.5 7482 1994 PC1
7335 1989 JA 2022 May 27 0.0269 16.5 2000 2.35 1.770 0.484 15.2 7335 1989 JA
1999 AN10 2027 Aug 7 0.0026 18.0 1100 1.76 1.459 0.562 39.9 1999 AN10
2001 WN5 2028 Jun 26 0.0017 18.2 990 2.24 1.711 0.467 1.9 2001 WN5
2000 SG344 2029 Feb 16 0.0530 24.6 * 0.97 0.980 0.067 0.1 2000 SG344
99942 Apophis 2029 Apr 13 0.00024 19.2 620 0.89 0.922 0.191 3.3 99942 Apophis
1994 VH8 2031 Oct 29 0.0023 27.7 12 2.06 1.616 0.437 3.3 1994 VH8
2005 TA 2034 Oct 04 0.0029 27.2 15 1.45 1.281 0.251 2.8 2005 TA
99942 Apophis 2036 Apr 13 ** 19.2 620 0.89 0.922 0.191 3.3 99942 Apophis
4769 Castalia 2046 Aug 26 0.0251 16.9 1800 x 800 1.10 1.063 0.483 8.9 4769 Castalia
1862 Apollo 2046 Nov 13 0.0353 16.3 1600 1.81 1.471 0.560 6.4 1862 Apollo
4581 Asclepius 2051 Mar 24 0.0122 20.5 340 1.03 1.022 0.357 4.9 4581 Asclepius
1620 Geographos 2051 Aug 23 0.0479 15.6 2000 1.39 1.246 0.335 13.3 1620 Geographos
2004 VZ 2056 Nov 8 0.0041 24.5 54 0.91 0.940 0.244 16.2 2004 VZ
4660 Nereus 2060 Feb 14 0.0080 18.3 940 1.82 1.489 0.360 1.4 4660 Nereus
2000 QX69 2064 Aug 23 0.0025 24.2 63 1.02 1.011 0.271 4.6 2000 QX69
2004 VZ 2066 Nov 8 0.0048 24.5 54 0.91 0.940 0.244 16.2 2004 VZ
2000 SG344 2069 May 2 0.0013 24.6 * 0.97 0.980 0.067 0.1 2000 SG344
2340 Hathor 2069 Oct 21 0.0066 20.3 370 0.78 0.844 0.450 5.8 2340 Hathor
4179 Toutatis 2069 Nov 5 0.0199 15.3 4600 x 2400 3.98 2.511 0.634 0.5 4179 Toutatis
4660 Nereus 2071 Feb 4 0.0157 18.3 940 1.82 1.489 0.360 1.4 4660 Nereus
2005 UW5 2076 Oct 30 0.0031 27.5 14 1.65 1.398 0.395 2.9 2005 UW5
2002 CU11 2080 Aug 31 0.0043 18.3 950 1.35 1.220 0.296 48.8 2002 CU11
1999 SF10 2083 Oct 11 0.0042 24.2 63 1.45 1.278 0.253 1.2 1999 SF10
2340 Hathor 2086 Oct 21 0.0059 20.3 370 0.78 0.844 0.450 5.8 2340 Hathor
2005 VL1 2087 Nov 3 0.0029 26.7 20 0.84 0.891 0.255 0.3 2005 VL1
1566 Icarus 2090 Jun 14 0.0357 16.4 1400 1.12 1.078 0.827 22.9 1566 Icarus
2005 GY8 2092 Sep 23 0.0045 21.2 250 2.90 2.034 0.667 2.8 2005 GY8
2005 YU55 2093 Nov 9 0.0027 22.0 170 1.22 1.141 0.429 0.5 2005 YU55
3200 Phaethon 2093 Dec 14 0.0194 14.6 5000 1.43 1.271 0.890 22.1 3200 Phaethon
2005 AU3 2097 Jan 4 0.0036 26.0 27 1.39 1.247 0.474 3.8 2005 AU3
2000 SG344 2098 May 6 0.0050 24.6 * 0.97 0.980 0.067 0.1 2000 SG344
1036 Ganymed 9.3 32000 4.35 2.665 0.535 26.7 1036 Ganymed
9969 Braille 15.7 1000 x 2200 3.58 2.341 0.434 29.0 9969 Braille
* 2000 SG344 may be an Apollo rocket body in heliocentric orbit
** The orbit of 99942 Apophis will be altered by its close approach to Earth in 2029 and has a chance, estimated at 1 in 6250, of hitting the Earth in 2036.
433 Eros - Near-Earth asteroid studied by the NEAR mission, which went into orbit in February 2000. (2nd largest NEO)
1036 Ganymed - Largest Near-Earth Object, 32 km in diameter.
1566 Icarus - Highly eccentric Earth-crossing orbit.
1620 Geographos - Scheduled to be visited by Clementine before a computer malfunction cut the mission short.
4179 Toutatis - Double object, probably in contact, one 2.5 km and one 1.5 km diameter (estimated), imaged by Arecibo and Goldstone radar.
4769 Castalia - Double-lobed near-Earth asteroid, each lobe about .75 km diameter. Imaged by Arecibo radar.
9969 Braille - Near-Earth asteroid flown by on 28 July 1999 by the New Millenium Deep Space 1 spacecraft.
1998 SF36 - Near-Earth asteroid target of 2005 orbit and 2007 sample return by the Muses-C spacecraft.
~Age ~DiameterCrater information from The New Solar System, Beatty et al., Cambridge, 1999.http://rohitbrt.blogspot.com/
Crater Name Location Latitude Longitude (My) (km)
--------------- ------------- -------- --------- -------- ---------
Vredefort South Africa 27.0 S 27.5 E 2023 300
Sudbury Canada 46.6 N 81.2 W 1850 250
Chicxulub Mexico 21.3 N 89.5 W 65 170
Manicougan Canada 51.4 N 68.7 W 214 100
Popigai Russia 71.7 N 111.7 E 35 100
Chesapeake Bay United States 37.3 N 76.0 W 36 90
Acraman Australia 32.0 S 135.5 E 590 90
Puchezh-Katunki Russia 57.1 N 43.6 E 175 80
Morokweng South Africa 26.5 S 23.5 E 145 70
Kara Russia 69.2 N 65.0 E 73 65
Beaverhead United States 44.6 N 113.0 W 600 60
Tookoonooka Australia 27.1 S 142.8 E 128 55
Charlevoix Canada 47.5 N 70.3 W 357 54
Kara-Kul Tajikstan 39.0 N 73.5 E 5 52
Siljan Sweden 61.0 N 14.9 E 368 52
http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/neofact.html
