Saturday, December 29, 2007

Xbox LIVE

Xbox LIVE Service Status

Status:

Up and running

Users may experience issues performing transactions dependent on Windows Live ID availability including but not limited to Xbox 360 and Zune account creation, renewal, recovery, all DMP transactions, and logging into or creating Windows Live ID accounts. Users will experience intermittent issues including but not limited to: Tournaments, Storage Downloads, Gamer Tile, Statistics through Arbitration, Match Making, and Messaging. Additionally, Halo 3 and Call of Duty 4 users may experience issues joining matches or posting statistics. Customer Support may also experience issues referencing customer data. We are aware of the issue and are currently working to resolve it. We apologize for any inconvenience.

The above is taken from the Xbox support site which is reporting on the status of Xbox Live. The above is complete bullshit, considering I can't even log in to my fucking account on my Xbox. But for some reason the website works fine (except for obvious Microshaft related issues). Why would they say the system is up and running if all that shit is happening? Plus of course what's happening to me. They should be saying that service is extremely patchy. And most importantly, they should hurry the hell up and fix it. You'd think they would have prepared for the post-Christmas rush. But no, that would make waaay too much sense for something Microshaft would do.

Thursday, December 27, 2007

i absolutely hate iTunes

So, it's taken me like two hours to get songs on my iPod, not including transferring from my old iPod. Most of the problem has to do with the lack of ability to select a large amount of songs to click and drag to the iPod and transfer. It would be very simple if it just used the Shift+click command that most computers use, but they decided to make it really stupid. It took me 1.5 hours to get the songs to start synching to my iPod (the first half hour trying to get the fucking songs in the library).

Another really annoying thing is the fact that you "register" your iPod through iTunes. As usual, it's proven to be a completely unreliable vehicle for such a transfer of information. I have been getting the ridiculously vague message "We are experiencing technical difficulties. Please try again later". As a result of not being able to "register" my iPod, it will not allow me to view the music on the iPod, and therefore, I cannot verify that it's all there.

I have also been experiencing very sporatic messages on the actual iPod as to what it is doing. Right now, it is syncing, according to iTunes, but according to the iPod, it's not doing anything. Do I sense a bug? Or is it just the fact that my iPod isn't "registered"? I'm not sure exactly how many resources sending information to the Apple server would use. The only thing iTunes asks for is my Apple ID and password, which would give them all the other information.

I have a lot of respect for Apple. The iPod touch is absolutely brillant. But someone in the iTunes department needs to be fired. Possibly multiple people. Especially the people who decided the iPod needs to be synced with iTunes, or else your life will be made a living hell. Or they at least need to make it so that you can sync the iPod in a Windows based program.

Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Christmas

I am posting from my new iPod touch. it is sexy but not as easy to type on as a hard keyboard. I also got other fun stuff. But more later.

Friday, December 21, 2007

They're watching me

So, I got a message on Youtube regarding the videos I took off the biology textbook site. It was a warning saying that posting these videos violates copyright laws. I don't understand why. Am I profiting at all? Am I degrading the profit of the textbook company? I don't believe so. Isn't the point of the videos to help people learn? I've gotten SO many comments on these videos telling me how helpful they are, and how they saved someone's biology project. Which obviously leads me to believe that there are no good biology videos out there. Unless, of course, you pay money for a certain textbook. But some classes don't use said textbook, and are not exposed to the wonderful enlightenment of a textbook with excellent supplemental material. I'm not posting the other supplemental material from the website either, so I'm not giving away their 'secrets'. There's a lot of other stuff on that website, such as flash cards, quizzes, outside links, virtual labs, and more.

I seriously hope that the textbook companies will leave me alone. Call me ridiculously altruistic, but I am helping people learn. It's a small sample of what the textbook can give someone. It will also help people in my class, because some of them have been having trouble logging into the Mader website and can't view the videos, even though they paid good money for the textbook. Isn't the point of such videos for learning? Isn't having them accessible helping more people learn?

Saturday, December 15, 2007

Internet Trolls

Troll (Internet) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

An Internet troll, or simply troll in Internet slang, is someone who intentionally posts controversial or contrary messages in an on-line community such as an on-line discussion forum or group with the singular intention of baiting users into an argumentative response.^[1] It often has a broader meaning referring to any superfluous troublemaking Internet activity.

I truly hate internet trolls. Stupid teenage boys who sit behind their computers and say things they would never say to someone's face. Yes, they're pretty much always teenage boys. They lack the maturity, and more often than not, the brains of a mature adult. It's strange though, a teenager would have more neurons than I do, except I seem to have more common sense than them. The less brain cells, the smarter you are? I guess it has to do with the efficiency of the neural connections. In that case, we need to start killing brain cells in our children, because kids and teenagers are getting stupider by the year. I completely understand bringing up a controversial topic for purpose of a mature discussion. But posting something, having people object to what you posted, and then swearing at them and calling names for disagreeing with you; that's bullshit. I enjoy a good arguement as much as the next person, but I do it in a civilized manner. I most certainly do NOT make generalizations or racist, sexist, homophobic, or otherwise stupid comments. And yes, being racist, sexist, homophobic etc. is stupid. Because how closed someone's mind is is directly proportional to their intelligence. I especially hate when people rally their friends against me. Great, not only am I dealing with one idiot, I'm dealing with multiple idiots. How weak are you to not be able to stand up for yourself? I'm sure there are thousands of people on the internet who identify with my plight. Especially if they're like me, and hurt at the sight of stupidity. Here's to keeping this world as diverse as it should be, and accepting the differences around us.

Thursday, November 29, 2007

The 13 main problems with Vista

MediaVidea: The 13 main problems with Vista

In this age of mobile handsets, burgeoning online content, gaming consoles, iPods, it comes as no surprise that Microsoft will spend $ 500 million to market Vista.

It is currently running ads for Hotmail in India promising 1 Gb of space! Very much in the tradition of England on the eve of 19th Century and U.S. around 2000, an entity about to begin a painful and slow fall from the top, Microsoft can do as it pleases with its hoard of cash. You didn’t see Google doing that when it launched Gmail.

In words of Steve Ballmer, Microsoft will spend all money telling people that ‘buying Vista is a potentially life-changing event’.

Buying Vista is indeed life changing.
When you buy Vista, you are giving up your power over the software and hardware, you paid big bucks.

The problems with Vista will come out to the fore when it gets in hands of large number of buyers. The mainstream media has so far focused on the Bill gates personality cult rather than the negative things with Vista, other than Walter Mossberg’s ‘I am not impressed’ review.

The difference between Online and mainstream media is an old one: MSM often writes puff pieces around technology issues while there is a wealth of information online which needs to be read by actual users and the general populace.

The main problems with Vista so far:

Problems Part 1

1. Costlier than the $100 Laptop and Gaming consoles: Vista Home Premium is $239, $159 upgrade; Vista Ultimate costs $399, $259 upgrade.

2. No instant plug and play: upgrading and setting up Vista will take much of your time.

3. Expensive for normal use: Vista is probably not for you if you use the PC for normal jobs like surfing and typing. Use Mozillla Firefox for same and better functionalities than Explorer 7. Microsoft may however try to convince you otherwise showing how cool Vista looks. If you are into looks, get a skin for your desktop.

4. Too expensive for Gaming: If you are into Gaming, for the price of a Vista, get a Gaming Console.

5. No big Vista application announcements: IBM, Intuit, large software vendors and even Microsoft’s own Dynamics ERP division have so far been quiet about their software for Vista.

6. Online software providers such as Salesforce.com do not plan to modify their offerings to suit the new Explorer

Now, we come to the actual problem with Vista.
After the lukewarm response to DRM initiatives by big companies, I am positive users will not like Vista’s draconian features that threaten to take the power away from them. Vista is actually worse than DRM.

To users, Microsoft says that it wants to protect them from computer viruses. To content owners (especially big media corporations), Microsoft says it will protect copyright. Actually, Microsoft ends up on the Big Media’s side, virtually controlling how users use and control their machines.

Problems Part 2

Highlights from the Vista user agreement, which comes into force once you choose accept and install the software.

7. This agreement only gives users only a few rights to use the software. All other rights belong to Microsoft.

8. If you do not like Vista's limitations, Microsoft says in the agreement that "you may not work around any technical limitations in the software."

9. Microsoft has the right to regularly check the legitimacy of the software (which you paid for) and CAN DELETE certain programs without your knowledge.

10. Microsoft can revalidate the software anytime or it may require you to reactivate it if you make changes to ‘your’ computer components.

11. Microsoft has set significant limits on users’ ability to copy or transfer the software. It prohibits anything more than a single backup copy and has set strict limits on transferring the software to different devices or users.

12. Only Windows Defender, the much-hyped anti-virus program –will determine what constitutes unwanted software. That means Microsoft can install Spyware and Adware with impunity.

13. Vista Content protection only helps Big Media: A computer scientist in New Zealand found that Vista intentionally degrades the picture quality of premium content when played on most computer monitors. Microsoft wants you to see that content on TV or bigger, pricier displays.

Options for existing PC (not using MAC OS, Linux) users

- Continue using Win XP
- For gaming, you are better off with the consoles
- Use online office application from Google which are getting better by the day, including better integration with other online apps, in a seamless experience.
- OpenOffice is getting better by the day.
- Home Entertainment: Steve Ballmer says Vista as the center and the launching point for the next generation of connected entertainment in the home. Translation: Expensive Home Servers, premium content, all controlled by Vista’s draconian features.

The world’s needs an open source home entertainment server along the lines of Openoffice, if that is our entertainment future.

End notes
Despite having come up with a Big Brother type of software, Microsoft is sitting pretty. Microsoft knows that for Vista, it at least has the lucrative (&captive) OEM and Corporate market (which still has to show faith in online office applications).

Apple users may take heart with this article that extrapolates Apple’s current growth rate and finds that Apple may overtake Microsoft in the year 2011.

I took this from another blog (link found above). I think this stuff is almost scary. Especially the part in the Terms of Use where it says "Microsoft has the right to regularly check the legitimacy of the software (which you paid for) and CAN DELETE certain programs without your knowledge." That makes me seethe. This entire software copyright deal makes me so mad. They waste so much money trying to prevent copying (which happens anyway; if there is a way to crack it, someone will find it, and there's always a way) that that ends up being all the software is; just a chunk of $300 code that enhances nothing. What does the consumer get out of it? Distrust, privacy invasion, and endless frustration. Why can't they all just go the open source route? As anyone whose read this blog knows, I've switched one of my computers over to Linux (Xubuntu to be more specific). I think it's wonderful. It will take me a while to get used to, but the array of completely free software available won me over completely. But, to answer my own question, I know exactly why Microshaft and other such companies won't go open source. They need money. Silly me for asking such a silly question.

Monday, November 19, 2007

Menstrual blood yields stem cells

Health & Medical News - Menstrual blood yields stem cells - ...

Martha Kerr

Reuters

Tuesday, 14 March 2006

Stem cells harvested from young women's menstrual blood have a longer lifespan than those from older women (Image: iStockphoto)

Japanese researchers have harvested stem cells from human menstrual blood, a medical conference has heard.

The researchers say these stem cells could be coaxed into forming specialised heart cells, which might one-day be used to treat failing or damaged hearts.

At the meeting of the American College of Cardiology, Dr Shunichiro Miyoshi reported that he and his colleagues at Keio University in Tokyo collected menstrual blood from six women and harvested stem cells that originated in the lining of the uterus.

They were able to obtain about 30 times more stem cells from menstrual blood than from bone marrow, Miyoshi says.

The stem cells were then cultured in a way to induce them to become heart cells.

After five days about half of the cells contracted "spontaneously, rhythmical and synchronously, suggesting the presence of electrical communication" between the cells, Miyoshi says.

That is to say, they behaved like heart cells.

The researcher explains that already stem cells derived from bone marrow have improved heart function, mainly by producing new blood vessels rather than new heart-muscle tissue.

He emphasises that it is important that these cells be obtained from younger patients, because they would have a longer lifespan than cells harvested from older donors.

Hahaha for some reason I find that truly awesome. I think it has something to do with the fact that they've finally come up with some use for menstrual blood.
I also love the random stock photo of some random girl. She looks like someone I know.

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

The new “Google operating system”

As most of you know, the Windows operating system is the most popular and the most utilized personal computer operating platform in use today, and has been for many years. Windows has made Microsoft the powerhouse it is today, thanks to its user-friendly interface and a number of other features that greatly simplify your daily life.

However, there is now a new computer operating system that is taking over, and it’s not coming from inside your personal computer, and it’s not from your company’s LAN (Local Area Network) or intranet network either. What I’m referring to here is the “G” operating system, better known as the Google operating platform.

If you feel that for the past couple of years Google has managed to transform many people’s lives, you are not alone. We are witnessing a trend that will probably increase and will become even more widespread in the coming months and years. Thanks to many of its PHD’s and engineers, and using its vast research labs in Mountain View California, Google is building a gigantic information system, complete with its own computer operating system that anybody can use, 24 hours a day.

How it all began Almost without warning, engineers at the Googleplex have designed and built an extremely sophisticated computer network. What really boggles your mind is that this whole project originally took place as a simple idea, just a research initiative at Stanford University in the late 1990’s. Google’s original founders, Sergey Brin and Larry Page came up in 1998 with an experimental search engine they had developed.

Please click here to read the whole article.

Article written by Serge Thibodeau of Rank for $ales.

This kind of goes along with my Microshaft rant below. I think Google should make an operating system. Windoze (hehe) just completely sucks, and Linux might be too hard for the layperson to use (it's challenging for me sometimes). I'm a fan of Google's projects thus far; why not make it more widescale?

The new look of Windows products

So, I honestly have no idea what the hell they're smoking over there at Microsoft. But I think the new layout they're pressing is absolutely horrible. It's ridiculously glossy, and they've hidden all of the menus. Especially in Office, where now I can't seem to find any of the features I am looking for. Typing up an essay or some form of document takes on whole new realms of challenging, even though such a task should be simple and as quick as possible. I wonder how Vista works out. I've seen it, and it didn't look too bad, but using it is a whole different story. Judging by the horror stories I've heard about it, though, I'm not upgrading until I absolutely have to.

One thing I credit Microshaft for is the cosmetic upgrade of MSN Messenger (or Windows Live Messenger as they like to call it). I'm not sure what else they've upgraded on it, but I like how it looks. The only problem is my version of StuffPlug doesn't work yet. But MSN Plus works just fine. Of course without StuffPlug, I have to deal with my habit of pressing the email link in MSN and this time having Internet Exploder pop up, much to my annoyance. One of the main reasons I have StuffPlug is so that I can click on email links and the poor excuse for a browser won't come up, and Firefox will. I just know it's going to infuriate me to no end by the end of the night...

Windoze XP

Windoze XP
Frequent Crashes Edition

The Frequent Crashes Edition of Windoze XP is for power users who want an operating system that quits when they need it the most. Each user can access his or her files anywhere on your Windoze XP network with a username and password, and any 13 year old with any hacking knowledge whatsoever can access your Quicken files without a password. Since privacy is a word we are somewhat familiar with, this edition of Windoze features file encryption. For added security, no file decryption is included.

Another thing I noticed with the installation of the new version of MSN Messsenger (which is considered Windows Live Messenger 8.5.1302.1018 Beta) is the new installation program. I hate it. I liked the old click-and-it's-done method, and not this method which asks me to download a bunch of other crap as well. I installed the Mail application and the Writer application (I'm using the Writer app to write this...we'll see how that goes). The Mail application is horrendous. It's pretty much a glossified (yes, glossified) version of Outlook, minus the useful features. I guess it's more like a dumbed down version of non-web based Hotmail (which is called Windows Live Mail now). I absolutely do not like the idea of something that can't make up it's mind if it's web based or POP3/STMP based. Especially when I was looking at the interface. It hurt my head. This writer thing is okay, though, although all I'm doing is typing, really. But it's nice that it let me connect to my Google-based blog.

Aside from this Writer program thing (is it considered a program?) and MSN Messenger (I will call it that until the day I die), I think the route Microshaft is taking with the appearence of their products kind of resembles something a brain damaged ape would cough up if it was choking on a piece of hard candy. Not to mention the simple fact that I cannot find what I am looking for in these programs! I don't know for sure, but I'm going to continue thinking that might be counterproductive.

A major cosmetic change within the new Microshaft products, that I actually do enjoy, is the fact that they've added some new fonts. I don't know about anyone else, but I was kind of getting sick of seeing MS Sans Serif everywhere. Although it is throwing me off a little bit to not see it. So, a small bravo to whoever thought of that part. I'm just wondering what will happen with compatibility with people who don't have these new fonts? Maybe Microshaft should do something smart and provide a font update for those of us fortunate enough not to have Vista yet.

Oh, one more thing about Office, more specifically Word, as well as this Writer program... what the fuck is this hard return/soft return crap? If I hit enter I want the cursor to go down ONE line! If I want two lines, I'll hit the goddamn enter button twice! Even though Bill Gates owns half the world, he does not own Apple...yet!

Sunday, November 11, 2007

The Quest for Ubuntu Continues (part 5: success)

I have finally succeeded in my mission! I now have Xubuntu completely installed on my old Presario. It turns out it was because my hard drive was attached to the wrong jumper; it was attached to 1 when it should have been attached to 0. I also created only two partitions, a ext3 and a swap. It's working awesome!

Saturday, November 10, 2007

The Quest for Ubuntu Continues (part 4)

After talking to various people on forums, etc., I was alerted to the fact that my hard drive appeared to be on a secondary mounting section. At first I wasn't sure what this meant, and I resumed my natural course of things (eg. getting more and more confused as people kept trying to explain things). That is until I noticed something. The computer I am trying to install Xubuntu on doesn't have the cover on the tower (I was too lazy to put it back on), and the hard drive was disconnected before I started this whole charade. I looked closer, and noticed that the hard drive was not plugged into position 0, but was plugged into position 1. I quickly fixed this, and the problem I was having (at the time) went away. I am currently in the process of reinstalling for the last time (last as in either it will work, or I will give up), and I finally got a clear answer on what I should be doing with the partitioning. So, when this is finished, we will see...

The Quest for Ubuntu Continues (part 3)

No progress has been made on this front. I have tried many things, all of them failing. I have even tried Fedora, Kubuntu, and others, and now I am trying Xubuntu. I tried downloading the disk image on the computer in question, but it kept giving me errors about not having enough space. I must have seriously fucked up the partitioning for that to happen. I still haven't gotten a clear answer from anyone about what exactly I should be doing with the partitioning (on IRC, forums, etc.). So, if Xubuntu fails again, I will give up. Unless I can somehow find someone who will install it for me. Which is unlikely.

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

The Quest For Ubuntu Continues (part 1)

Compaq Presario 5000 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

5000Z-5UVME2 (Internet PC)

- 700-1200MHz AMD Duron/Athlon Processor
- 20-60GB Seagate IDE Hard Disk Drive
- 63-384MB PC133 SDRAM
- 8-64MB S3 or nVidia Graphics Controller
- 4 x USB 1.1 Ports (2 Front, 2 Rear)
- 15-17" Compaq CV Series CRT Monitor
- 56K Dial-Up Modem
- JBL Platinum Series, Monsoon MH-500 or Klipsch ProMedia 2.1 Speaker System
- Compaq USB Internet Keyboard/Mouse or Smart Credit Card Keyboard/Mouse
- CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, and/or CD-RW

I assume that since my computer is a plain 5000 Presario, and the processors match, that this is the correct computer. Except the hard drive doesn't match. I also don't have the said speaker system, and I most certainly do not have a dial up modem.

All of this will become relevant in the next post, as well as the knowledge in previous entries (that I am struggling to get Ubuntu on my old computer, and it's taking a lot of fucking effort).

The Quest For Ubuntu Continues (part 2)

700-1200MHz AMD Duron/Athlon Processor
63-384MB PC133 SDRAM
8-64MB S3 or nVidia Graphics Controller

Before I installed Ubuntu, I decided it would be a good idea to write down my specs, just in case I needed to reinstall drivers (which surprisingly I didn't). But I am unsmart and decided not to write down the graphics card and the memory. The above is what I pulled off Wikipedia. This information is important because, in light of the GRUB errors I keep receiving, I decided to post on the Ubuntu forum. One of the first things I was asked was the stats of my computer. Unfortunately, I could not provide the above information, well, except for the processor. *pets Dell computer lovingly* By the way, I am procrastinating....I should be studying math....

Sunday, November 4, 2007

Chemistry

I have concluded that my brain is not atrophying, as I thought it was, because I can still figure things out! As a result of certain circumstances, this week I was not able to obtain the desired amount of sleep, and therefore, after all was said and done, missed part of chemistry class. This is not good, as I am not a strong chemist. So, sitting down to do my assignment tonite, I was a tad worried. It took me a while, but I managed to teach myself the basics of what I missed. I balanced an equation which stumped me for a while. I had one of those moments where something in your brain just pops into place. It's a very satisfying feeling.

Na + H₂O ---> NaOH + H₂

becomes:

6Na + 6H₂O ---> 6NaOH + 3H₂O

That is the equation I had problems with. I doubt I'd be able to do it again. Hopefully that won't come back to bite me in the ass on the test.

Thursday, November 1, 2007

GRUB Error Messages

GRUB Error Messages

17 : "Invalid device requested"

This error is returned if a device string is recognizable but does not fall under the other device errors.

18 : "Invalid or unsupported executable format"

This error is returned if the kernel image boing loaded is not recognized as Multiboot or one of the supported native formats (Linux zImage or bzImage, FreeBSD, or NetBSD).

21 : "Unknown boot failure"

This error is returned if the boot attempt did not succeed for reasons which are unknown.

I have been dicking around with Linux lately, and I cannot seem to get it installed without requiring the boot disc to load it. I got it in my old computer and got it running off the boot disc, ran the installer, thought everything was okay, so then I got some packages, set some prefs, restarted after a package, and got Error 18 first. I went in, jostled with the partitioning a little bit, and got Error 17 after that. I went in and tried:

sudo apt-get remove --purge grub

sudo apt-get install grub

sudo grub

grub > root (hdx,y)

grub >setup (hd0)

grub > quit

But that proved completely fruitless. That's when I ended up with Error 21. So, now, I am in the process of doing a complete reinstall (which isn't bad considering what stage I'm at), and completely repartitioning (which is taking way too fucking long). I really hope it works, or else I will be severely annoyed.

Monday, October 29, 2007

ridiculousness and Trillian

It is taking way too long to load pages. My internet has been crappy since Thursday, and it's not getting any better. I even tried my dad's computer, and it's doing the same thing, so it's not my computer. It's the internet connection. Gah!!

I also cannot figure out how to use IRC with Trillian. There is supposed to be a built in feature, but I am not seeing it. I'm usually extremely good at finding things, assuming they are in fact there. My guess thus far is that it's a feature only available in Trillian Pro, which you have to pay for. I'm sorry, but I'm not paying for an IM program no matter how good it is. The only exception would be if it could teleport me.

Friday, October 26, 2007

BOINC

BOINC: compute for science

BOINC is a program that lets you donate your idle computer time to science projects like SETI@home, Climateprediction.net, Rosetta@home, World Community Grid, and many others.

After installing BOINC on your computer, you can connect it to as many of these projects as you like.

Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing (BOINC) is a non-commercial middleware system for volunteer computing, originally developed to support the SETI@home project, but intended to be useful for other applications in areas as diverse as mathematics, medicine, molecular biology, climatology, and astrophysics. The intent of BOINC is to make it possible for researchers to tap into the enormous processing power of personal computers around the world.

BOINC has been developed by a team based at the Space Sciences Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley led by David Anderson, who also leads SETI@home. As a "quasi-supercomputing" platform, BOINC has over 430,000 active computers (hosts) worldwide processing on average 663 TFLOPS as of September 8, 2007.^[1] BOINC is funded by the National Science Foundation through awards SCI/0221529, SCI/0438443, and SCI/0506411.

The software is free/open source software, released under the GNU Lesser General Public License. It is also used for commercial usages, as there are some private companies that are beginning to use the platform to assist in their own research.The framework is supported by various operating systems: Windows (XP/2K/2003/NT/98/ME), Unix (Linux, FreeBSD) and Mac OS X.

I have downloaded this, and it seems very cool so far. I haven't quite figured the entire thing out yet, but I am working on it. One of the projects I added was the SETI@Home project. I am pretty sure there is a way to see a star map, including your progress.

Either way, anyone who likes science and owns a computer should download this. What have you got to lose? It's a good way to give back to the world of science.

Thursday, October 25, 2007

Microshaft

Why is it that a find Microsoft products to be increasingly unreliable? It just took me like half an hour to load Hotmail. Or am I biased because Microshaft products simply infuriate me, and I cannot find anyone to teach me Linux? Or is it because I can't even use my Mac because the incompatibility is just that bad?

My internet is being a piece of shit too. I'll be surprised if I can save this post without incident. I have had to hit refresh hundreds of times to actually get my school website to load properly.

The weather blows too. Literally. It's ridiculously windy out. It's also cold. I do not like the cold; I believe I am wrongly coloured, and should be black, and come from somewhere that is hot but not extremely sunny. I think I should be an albino west Indian. But, I am northern European, and appear so.

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Are we not the only Earth out there?

Howstuffworks "The Goldilocks Zone"

Other Possible Earths

One of the main goals of planet hunting is to find exoplanets that have the characteristics of Earth and may consequently contain life. One of the keys to this search is the Goldilocks Zone. Also called the habitable zone or life zone, the Goldilocks Zone is an area of space in which a planet is just the right distance from its home star so that its surface is neither too hot nor too cold. That means that the planet could possibly host liquid water.

Image courtesy NASA
In surveying potential candidates for "new Earths," astronomers look for traces of biological activity, such as the presence of oxygen.

Few planets have been found in the Goldilocks Zone, but in April 2007, European astronomers announced the discovery of one. It was also, at that point, the most Earth-like planet ever found. The planet, called Gilese 581c, is 12,000 miles in diameter, or not much larger than Earth (8,000-mile diameter). It orbits a massive red star called Gilese 581, located in the Libra constellation, 20.5 light years from Earth. Gilese 581c orbits its star very closely, completing an orbit in just 13 Earth-days. This short orbit would make a planet too hot for life, except that Gilese 581's surface temperature is 1/50th that of our sun.

Because it lies in the Goldilocks Zone, Gilese 581c's surface temperature ranges from an estimated 32 degrees Fahrenheit to 102 degrees Fahrenheit. The research team that discovered it believes it has a developed atmosphere. The planet might not only have water -- it might be entirely covered by oceans.

Gilese 581c does have some things working against it. Its gravity is about twice as strong as Earth's, and it receives significant doses of radiation from its star. Both could inhibit life from developing. Even so, Gilese 581c is exciting not only for its Earth-like conditions, but also because of its relative proximity to Earth and its location in the elusive Goldilocks Zone.

As more powerful and precise telescopes go into space, future efforts will involve examining exoplanets' atmospheres for traces of oxygen and methane and looking for rocky planets that lie in the Goldilocks Zone. Scientists are also increasing their use of automated telescopes that are programmed to look for minuscule variations in a star's brightness caused by an orbiting planet passing in front of it. With a rapidly increasing pace of discovery of exoplanets and a practically infinite number of stars in the universe, many other exciting discoveries are ahead of us.

The ideal discovery would be a planet similar in composition to Earth that lies within the Goldilocks Zone and orbits a stable star. But it's important to keep in mind that popular depictions of extraterrestrial life are likely wrong. Some life forms may be no more advanced than bacteria. Others may be highly advanced but unrecognizable, a thought that has caused some scientists to advocate the search for so-called weird life.

For more information about Earth-like planets, planet hunting and related topics, please check out the links on the next page.

One of my friends happened to find this on howstuffworks.com and I thought it was pretty cool. I knew there was some range of distance in which planets would be habitable, I just didn't know it had a name.

science store

Well, I found my science store. This is pretty much going to be the closest one to me, and it seems pretty good. Again, I apologize for the crappy reproduction.

EfstonScience - The Science & Astronomy SuperStore