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Pooua writesBecause of my father I am more than interested in the history of the Apollo missions and the design of the spacecraft. I tried downloading a lo-res movie today but it stalled. I will keep trying. If I get one, and if it is legal for me to do so, I will post it here.
"SpaceRef reports that NASA and Arizona State University have teamed up to offer all of NASA's Apollo lunar films online at no charge. The images are scanned from the original films at high resolution, then offered as 16-bit TIFF or 8-bit PNG or ISIS files. The project is expected to take 3 years, but some images are already available. The ASU-NASA website is located at the Arizona State University Apollo Image Archive."
Ten-Year Rule
Proposed by Simon and Ericsson and other researchers studying the development of expertise, the ten-year rule refers to the period of time that will typically be required to advance from novice to world-class expert, regardless of field, provided that the necessary motivation and resources are provided. In particular, regular opportunities for practice must be provided to the individual.
Please click the photo to open it in orginal size in a new window.
We had violent hail-filled thunderstorms this afternoon. We were losing power off and on all day. One bolt struck the land between us and the neighbors with the horses (about one-half mile east) and there was a lightning bolt that skittered across my front yard the whole length of the house. But it moved horizontally about six inches from the ground!
I went out after the third such storm (and before the fourth) and found that all the barn spiders were out in their webs. This is very unusual. They usually hide, out of sight, under the eaves of the house or barn.
The night is now calm with mist and fog all over the meadow and mountain, spilling down to the house. The crickets and frogs are making their noises. The snipe is still here occasionally talking. It's a beautiful night.
I am so psyched! Ten years ago I used my computers to help search for new prime numbers in the Great Internet Mersenne Prime Number Search (GIMPS). Somewhere along the way, I got a new Mac, the code was not available to run on the new Mac, and I never got back to it. Until today! I complained that there wasn't any software for the new Intel Macs and George Woltman himself e-mailed me with a link to a package and that package is working!You could discover one of the most coveted finds in all of Mathematics - a new Mersenne prime number. We've found ten already. Join in on this fun, yet serious research project. All you need is a personal computer, patience, and a lot of luck.If you don't know what Mersenne primes are, don't worry! I shall bore you with this in the future! But I have to go clean the house in preparation for the weekend. And the otters are playing in the beaver ponds so I have to keep an eye on them.
In addition to the joy of making a mathematical discovery, you might win some cash. The Electronic Frontier Foundation is offering a $100,000 award to the first person or group to discover a ten million digit prime number! See how GIMPS will distribute this award if we are lucky enough to find the winning ten million digit prime.Sad note: Wingnut is going home tomorrow. GIMPS, otters, photography, the church's Chicken Pie Supper will all keep me busy so I don't get too depressed.
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Lynne McLandsborough, a professor of food science at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, explains this oft-observed kitchen conundrum:
When an apple is cut (or bruised), oxygen is introduced into the injured plant tissue. When oxygen is present in cells, polyphenol oxidase (PPO) enzymes in the chloroplasts rapidly oxidize phenolic compounds naturally present in the apple tissues to o-quinones, colorless precursors to brown-colored secondary products. O-quinones then produce the well documented brown color by reacting to form compounds with amino acids or proteins, or they self-assemble to make polymers."I guess that's why she's the expert and I'm not.
"Over at Ashwin’s blog, you will find one crazy blog owner!! You can win $2500!! To enter just copy this text and paste it in your blog!! But hurry, this competition will not last long! So get posting!"
I took 45 photos of bumble bees on Tuesday evening.
I couldn't decide which to post, so I put them all up.
If you know what the flower is, please leave me a comment.
Above you can actually see the bee "tongue."
I am so very Rebel XTi worthy now.
One little dead brown bat (Myotis lucifugus)
Baldfaced Hornet (Dolichovespula maculata)
The Vermont Democratic Party had an informal, unscientific e-mail straw poll recently asking which candidate Vermont Democrats would vote for. I have to admit that I am really surprised at the results._/\_/\_
Outside the house door at Oasis Pet Resort, Newport. The black things are its 8 eyes. I'm finding that photographing these spiders is helping me better cope with them. I am relieved that these huge spiders don't live in the house._/\_/\_
