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Oct. 8th, 2007 03:54 pmI can't stop listening to Samuel L Jackson's version of Stack-O-Lee. Mississipi John Hurt's is the definitive version but I liking this one. There's something just so Samuel L about it that makes it appealing.
( Lyrics )
***
This is not what I like to see when I check on my Amazon account.
Items not yet shipped:
Delivery estimate: Oct 17 2007 - Oct 25 2007
* 1 of: Reflections on Violence
* 1 of: Thus Spake Zarathustra
* 1 of: Negative Horizon : An Essay in Dromoscopy
* 1 of: Caucasia A Novel
* 1 of: Strategy in the Contemporary World : An Introduction to Strategic Studies
* 1 of: On The Shores Of Politics
GodDAMNit.
***
During the past 200 years, shrubs have expanded their reach into many of the world's grasslands, reducing the amount and quality of forage available to livestock. Some scientists theorize that elevated atmospheric CO2 concentrations have spurred that growth.
New Scientist
10/08/2007
And what do we think the likely response of big agriculture will be? *wince*
For some reason this puts me in mind of the plan to pump compressed, nutrient-rich water down to the ocean floor in order to stimulate algae growth. Who else remembers this? Engineers pointed out that the plan could inadvertently raise CO2 levels. OMG fringed sage is taking over the ocean floor! Shrubs vs Coral death match? It could be funny... no? Ok, then.
But seriously, I'm not looking forward to the Monsanto vs Degradation of North America's Grasslands Via Shrub Encroachment death match. Not at all.
And now for our (now regular) quantum computing update:
How scientists realize the promise of the theoretical qubit is not clear. Various designs and paths have been proposed, and one very promising idea is to use tiny magnetic fields, called "spins." Spins are associated with electrons and various atomic nuclei.
Magnet lab scientists used high magnetic fields and microwave radiation to "operate" on the spins in the new material they developed to get an indication of how long the spin could be controlled. Based on their experiments, the material could enable 500 operations in 10 microseconds before losing its ability to retain information, making it a good candidate for a qubit.
New Scientist
10/08/2007
I don't really have anything to say about this except HOLY SHIT AWESOME, because as you might have noticed, I'm a total fangirl when it comes to this shit. You want to hear about the railcar evac system for the shuttle launcher now? No? :-(
Last entry I passed on the rumor that Facebook was going to launch a music store. That rumor has now mutated:
Facebook is said to be launching an artist platform to compete with MySpace's musician-friendly profile pages -- a feature that has been a huge part of the social network's growth. Ali says that the platform includes iTunes integration for buying music through Apple's store, special profiles for bands, and unique widgets for music promotion, tour dates, and more, all within the clean Facebook interface.
Jordan Golson
ValleyWag
10/06/2007
***
As heard in hour 17 of the 24 hour comic podcast: Brian Michael Bendis is writing an upcoming Mighty Avengers Annual with an all-female team going up against an all-female group of villains.
Yay to that, because Bendis writes female characters as being people, not female-people.
( Lyrics )
***
This is not what I like to see when I check on my Amazon account.
Items not yet shipped:
Delivery estimate: Oct 17 2007 - Oct 25 2007
* 1 of: Reflections on Violence
* 1 of: Thus Spake Zarathustra
* 1 of: Negative Horizon : An Essay in Dromoscopy
* 1 of: Caucasia A Novel
* 1 of: Strategy in the Contemporary World : An Introduction to Strategic Studies
* 1 of: On The Shores Of Politics
GodDAMNit.
***
During the past 200 years, shrubs have expanded their reach into many of the world's grasslands, reducing the amount and quality of forage available to livestock. Some scientists theorize that elevated atmospheric CO2 concentrations have spurred that growth.
New Scientist
10/08/2007
And what do we think the likely response of big agriculture will be? *wince*
For some reason this puts me in mind of the plan to pump compressed, nutrient-rich water down to the ocean floor in order to stimulate algae growth. Who else remembers this? Engineers pointed out that the plan could inadvertently raise CO2 levels. OMG fringed sage is taking over the ocean floor! Shrubs vs Coral death match? It could be funny... no? Ok, then.
But seriously, I'm not looking forward to the Monsanto vs Degradation of North America's Grasslands Via Shrub Encroachment death match. Not at all.
And now for our (now regular) quantum computing update:
How scientists realize the promise of the theoretical qubit is not clear. Various designs and paths have been proposed, and one very promising idea is to use tiny magnetic fields, called "spins." Spins are associated with electrons and various atomic nuclei.
Magnet lab scientists used high magnetic fields and microwave radiation to "operate" on the spins in the new material they developed to get an indication of how long the spin could be controlled. Based on their experiments, the material could enable 500 operations in 10 microseconds before losing its ability to retain information, making it a good candidate for a qubit.
New Scientist
10/08/2007
I don't really have anything to say about this except HOLY SHIT AWESOME, because as you might have noticed, I'm a total fangirl when it comes to this shit. You want to hear about the railcar evac system for the shuttle launcher now? No? :-(
Last entry I passed on the rumor that Facebook was going to launch a music store. That rumor has now mutated:
Facebook is said to be launching an artist platform to compete with MySpace's musician-friendly profile pages -- a feature that has been a huge part of the social network's growth. Ali says that the platform includes iTunes integration for buying music through Apple's store, special profiles for bands, and unique widgets for music promotion, tour dates, and more, all within the clean Facebook interface.
Jordan Golson
ValleyWag
10/06/2007
***
As heard in hour 17 of the 24 hour comic podcast: Brian Michael Bendis is writing an upcoming Mighty Avengers Annual with an all-female team going up against an all-female group of villains.
Yay to that, because Bendis writes female characters as being people, not female-people.