- Renewable EnergyArticles To Get You ThinkingVR & GamesBasketballEnvironmental DesignStar TrekSoccerArchitecture PhotographySci-FiDoodling & DrawingGenealogyBeautiful BritainAndroidThe Ancient WorldIrelandJapanAnimeDollhouse MiniaturesMilitary HistoryNorse MythologyToy Models & CraftsThe Global EconomyThe World of Maps and NavigationArtificial Intelligence & RoboticsLandscapingChessWoodworkingAmazing EarthCoffee & TeaCats and DogsCookingWeddings
Post has attachment
Yet again we have North Korea talking sense and being rational. Is Rod Sterling pranking us from the grave? It sure seems like it.
Describing the president as “a rogue and a gangster fond of playing with fire”, Kim drew a critical comparison between Trump and his predecessors in the White House. “Far from making remarks of any persuasive power that can be viewed to be unhelpful to defuse tension, he made unprecedented rude nonsense one has never heard from any of his predecessors.”
Describing the president as “a rogue and a gangster fond of playing with fire”, Kim drew a critical comparison between Trump and his predecessors in the White House. “Far from making remarks of any persuasive power that can be viewed to be unhelpful to defuse tension, he made unprecedented rude nonsense one has never heard from any of his predecessors.”
Post has attachment
Post has attachment
Battlefront II Locations Revealed
These are supposedly the planets that will have maps upon launch (at least for the Galactic Assault mode):
Naboo
Kamino
Kashyyyk
Endor
Death Star II
Hoth
Mos Eisley
Yavin IV
Jakku
Takodana
Starkiller Base
3 prequel planets. 5 original trilogy planet/locations. 3 sequel trilogy planets. (Mind that you that for the Battlefront launch in 2015 there was only four planets upon launch: Tatooine, Endor, Hoth, and Sullust)
What do you think about this initial selection?
More planets, locations, maps will be coming with the free "seasons" of content after the initial launch - the first being a TLJ season with Finn, Phasma and the Krait planet.
----------------------
Star Wars: Battlefront II will be released November 17 and the beta comes out in two weeks.
#StarWars #BattlefrontII #StarWarsVideogames
These are supposedly the planets that will have maps upon launch (at least for the Galactic Assault mode):
Naboo
Kamino
Kashyyyk
Endor
Death Star II
Hoth
Mos Eisley
Yavin IV
Jakku
Takodana
Starkiller Base
3 prequel planets. 5 original trilogy planet/locations. 3 sequel trilogy planets. (Mind that you that for the Battlefront launch in 2015 there was only four planets upon launch: Tatooine, Endor, Hoth, and Sullust)
What do you think about this initial selection?
More planets, locations, maps will be coming with the free "seasons" of content after the initial launch - the first being a TLJ season with Finn, Phasma and the Krait planet.
Star Wars: Battlefront II will be released November 17 and the beta comes out in two weeks.
#StarWars #BattlefrontII #StarWarsVideogames
Post has attachment
Post has attachment
Post has attachment
Politicians have been drawing the maps used in elections since America’s founding, a process now known as redistricting that's kicked off every 10 years by a new U.S. Census. And for more than 200 years, they've also been gerrymandering — manipulating the maps, often with a partisan goal in mind. Now that sophisticated big data has made it easier for the state lawmakers to cherry-pick each district's electorate, sometimes even house by house, the resulting maps have attracted the attention of courts that previously dismissed cases against partisan gerrymandering and only intervened when the district lines were proven to dilute the votes of minorities.
That could change this year when the Supreme Court takes up a federal court's landmark Wisconsin gerrymandering ruling — the first time in three decades a federal court has ruled against partisan redistricting — while states like North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Michigan have similar cases in their courts that could set additional precedents and end up in front of Supreme Court, too.
That could change this year when the Supreme Court takes up a federal court's landmark Wisconsin gerrymandering ruling — the first time in three decades a federal court has ruled against partisan redistricting — while states like North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Michigan have similar cases in their courts that could set additional precedents and end up in front of Supreme Court, too.
Post has attachment
Post has attachment
Post has attachment
Post has attachment
Post has attachment
ASUS Chromebook Flip C101 available for pre-order at $299
Back at Computex in May, ASUS announced a successor to the original Chromebook Flip C100 — a convertible Chromebook that achieved success thanks to its small, compact design and aluminum build. Now, the successor — the ASUS Chromebook Flip C101 — is finally available for pre-order.
The new ASUS Chromebook Flip C101 features the same overall design as its predecessor and it is still built completely out of aluminum. However, there were a few notable improvements that were made. While the display (which is still IPS) size and screen resolution remain at 10.1-inch and 1280x800, respectively, the display is actually brighter at 400 nits. Internally, you'll find an upgraded OP1 processor (which is the same MediaTek 3399 SoC used in the Samsung Chromebook Plus), 4GB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage, dual-band 802.11AC Wi-Fi. Bluetooth 4.0, and a 38Wh battery that can deliver up to 9 hours of battery life. On the outside, you'll find two USB Type-C (3.1) ports that can be used to charge the Chromebook, as well as a USB Type-A (2.0) port and a microSD card slot. The new ASUS Chromebook Flip C101 will also support Android apps via the Google Play Store.
You can pre-order the ASUS Chromebook Flip C101 today on the ASUS Store and Amazon for $299, and according to the ASUS Store the Flip C101 should be delivered by September 25th (Amazon does not have a release date set yet).
#ChromeOS #ASUS
Back at Computex in May, ASUS announced a successor to the original Chromebook Flip C100 — a convertible Chromebook that achieved success thanks to its small, compact design and aluminum build. Now, the successor — the ASUS Chromebook Flip C101 — is finally available for pre-order.
The new ASUS Chromebook Flip C101 features the same overall design as its predecessor and it is still built completely out of aluminum. However, there were a few notable improvements that were made. While the display (which is still IPS) size and screen resolution remain at 10.1-inch and 1280x800, respectively, the display is actually brighter at 400 nits. Internally, you'll find an upgraded OP1 processor (which is the same MediaTek 3399 SoC used in the Samsung Chromebook Plus), 4GB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage, dual-band 802.11AC Wi-Fi. Bluetooth 4.0, and a 38Wh battery that can deliver up to 9 hours of battery life. On the outside, you'll find two USB Type-C (3.1) ports that can be used to charge the Chromebook, as well as a USB Type-A (2.0) port and a microSD card slot. The new ASUS Chromebook Flip C101 will also support Android apps via the Google Play Store.
You can pre-order the ASUS Chromebook Flip C101 today on the ASUS Store and Amazon for $299, and according to the ASUS Store the Flip C101 should be delivered by September 25th (Amazon does not have a release date set yet).
#ChromeOS #ASUS
Post has attachment
Astronomers caught the black hole in the center of galaxy PGC 43234 devouring a nearby star before releasing a jet stream. Stars, gas and dust can orbit black holes for long periods of time, until a major disruption pushes the material in. A merger of two galaxies is one such disruption. As the galaxies combine and their central black holes approach each other, gas and dust in the vicinity are pushed onto their respective black holes. An enormous amount of high-energy radiation is released as material spirals rapidly toward the hungry black hole, which becomes what astronomers call an active galactic nucleus (AGN).
Supermassive black holes don't give off any light themselves, but they are often encircled by disks of hot, glowing material. The gravity of a black hole pulls swirling gas into it, heating this material and causing it to shine with different types of light. Another source of radiation near a black hole is the corona.
#science #astronomy
Supermassive black holes don't give off any light themselves, but they are often encircled by disks of hot, glowing material. The gravity of a black hole pulls swirling gas into it, heating this material and causing it to shine with different types of light. Another source of radiation near a black hole is the corona.
#science #astronomy
Post has attachment
Post has attachment
By Ramin Skibba
For decades, astronomers have come at that question by confining their search to organisms broadly similar to the ones here. In 1976, NASA’s Viking landers examined soil samples on Mars, and tried to animate them using the kind of organic nutrients that Earth microbes like, with inconclusive results. Later this year, the European Space Agency’s ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter will begin scoping out methane in the Martian atmosphere, which could be produced by Earth-like bacterial life. NASA’s Mars 2020 rover will likewise scan for carbon-based compounds from possible past or present Mars organisms.
But the environment on Mars isn’t much like that on Earth, and the exoplanets that astronomers are finding around other stars are stranger still – many of them quite unlike anything in our solar system. For that reason, it’s important to broaden the search for life. We need to open our minds to genuinely alien kinds of biological, chemical, geological and physical processes. ‘Everybody looks for “biosignatures”, but they’re meaningless because we don’t have any other examples of biology,’ said the chemist Lee Cronin at the University of Glasgow.
To open our minds, we need to go back to basics and consider the fundamental conditions that are necessary for life. First, it needs some form of energy, such as from volcanic hot springs or hydrothermal vents. That would seem to rule out any planets or moons lacking a strong source of internal heat. Life also needs protection from space radiation, such as an atmospheric ozone layer. Many newly discovered Earth-size worlds, including ones around TRAPPIST-1 and Proxima Centauri, orbit red dwarf stars whose powerful flares could strip away a planet’s atmosphere. Studies by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), set to launch next year, will reveal whether we should rule out these worlds, too.
Finally, everything we know about life indicates that it requires some kind of liquid solvent in which chemical interactions can lead to self-replicating molecules. Water is exceptionally effective in that regard. It facilitates making and breaking chemical bonds, assembling proteins or other structural molecules, and – for an actual organism – feeding and getting rid of waste. That’s why planetary scientists currently focus on the ‘habitable zone’ around stars, the locations where a world could have the right temperature for liquid water on its surface.
For decades, astronomers have come at that question by confining their search to organisms broadly similar to the ones here. In 1976, NASA’s Viking landers examined soil samples on Mars, and tried to animate them using the kind of organic nutrients that Earth microbes like, with inconclusive results. Later this year, the European Space Agency’s ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter will begin scoping out methane in the Martian atmosphere, which could be produced by Earth-like bacterial life. NASA’s Mars 2020 rover will likewise scan for carbon-based compounds from possible past or present Mars organisms.
But the environment on Mars isn’t much like that on Earth, and the exoplanets that astronomers are finding around other stars are stranger still – many of them quite unlike anything in our solar system. For that reason, it’s important to broaden the search for life. We need to open our minds to genuinely alien kinds of biological, chemical, geological and physical processes. ‘Everybody looks for “biosignatures”, but they’re meaningless because we don’t have any other examples of biology,’ said the chemist Lee Cronin at the University of Glasgow.
To open our minds, we need to go back to basics and consider the fundamental conditions that are necessary for life. First, it needs some form of energy, such as from volcanic hot springs or hydrothermal vents. That would seem to rule out any planets or moons lacking a strong source of internal heat. Life also needs protection from space radiation, such as an atmospheric ozone layer. Many newly discovered Earth-size worlds, including ones around TRAPPIST-1 and Proxima Centauri, orbit red dwarf stars whose powerful flares could strip away a planet’s atmosphere. Studies by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), set to launch next year, will reveal whether we should rule out these worlds, too.
Finally, everything we know about life indicates that it requires some kind of liquid solvent in which chemical interactions can lead to self-replicating molecules. Water is exceptionally effective in that regard. It facilitates making and breaking chemical bonds, assembling proteins or other structural molecules, and – for an actual organism – feeding and getting rid of waste. That’s why planetary scientists currently focus on the ‘habitable zone’ around stars, the locations where a world could have the right temperature for liquid water on its surface.
Post has attachment
Post has attachment
Post has attachment
Post has attachment
Post has attachment
Post has attachment
The senator powerfully linked domestic and foreign policy in the context of massive global inequality.
At a time of exploding technology and wealth, how do we move away from a world of war, terrorism and massive levels of poverty into a world of peace and economic security for all? How do we move toward a global community in which people have the decent jobs, food, clean water, education, health care, and housing they need?
#Bernie2020 #FeelTheBern
At a time of exploding technology and wealth, how do we move away from a world of war, terrorism and massive levels of poverty into a world of peace and economic security for all? How do we move toward a global community in which people have the decent jobs, food, clean water, education, health care, and housing they need?
#Bernie2020 #FeelTheBern
Post has attachment
Post has attachment
Post has attachment
Post has attachment
The big LEGO UCS Snowspeeder, an interesting subject to shoot. The size of this monster is very different to what I'm used to with LEGO and snow, I wasn't sure if the powder I use to mimick snow would even work. I mean, I was a little worried that if the grain was too small in scale, the snow would look like dust.
In the end, it worked quite well. I used the big scale of the speeder to find angles I couldn't easily find with the smaller speeders. Going very low with a big camera isn't always that easy, the ground gets in the way.
Shot for a review I wrote for Blocks magazine.
#lego #starwars #snowspeeder #theempirestrikesback #snow #blizzard #toy #toyphotography #avanaut #originality
In the end, it worked quite well. I used the big scale of the speeder to find angles I couldn't easily find with the smaller speeders. Going very low with a big camera isn't always that easy, the ground gets in the way.
Shot for a review I wrote for Blocks magazine.
#lego #starwars #snowspeeder #theempirestrikesback #snow #blizzard #toy #toyphotography #avanaut #originality
Post has attachment
Post has attachment
Post has attachment
Post has attachment
Post has attachment
Post has attachment
Stranded
Silhouette Island, Seychelles
At dusk and dawn, the landscape have many shapes, silhouettes and shadows that can make your imagination run wild. Here the daybreak seems to reveal a stranded whale half buried in the sand.
It is the same with some animals too – I remember one of my dogs barking incessantly to a mailbox on a pole as he could not make heads or tale of that strange shape in the low light. He might have thought it a very strange human being without arms.
In this case you can just walk up and touch to realise it is just a beautifully carved granite rock. Its smoothness is the result of aeons of sandblasting of the waves swirling the sand around on its surface.
Image Copyright © 2016 +Morten Ross
Image Capture Date: 23 November 2016 05:57
Altitude: 0 meters
#seychelles #mahe #silhouetteisland #sea
#LandscapePhotography +Landscape Photography curated by +Margaret Tompkins +Eric Drumm +Chandler L. Walker +Krzysztof Felczak +AJ Lim +Jeff Beddow +H Peter Ji +Jani Westman +Dorma Wiggin +Ranco Sevla Sevla
#hqsplandscape +HQSP Landscape
#BTPLandscapePro +BTP Landscape Pro , owned and curated by +Nancy Dempsey
Silhouette Island, Seychelles
At dusk and dawn, the landscape have many shapes, silhouettes and shadows that can make your imagination run wild. Here the daybreak seems to reveal a stranded whale half buried in the sand.
It is the same with some animals too – I remember one of my dogs barking incessantly to a mailbox on a pole as he could not make heads or tale of that strange shape in the low light. He might have thought it a very strange human being without arms.
In this case you can just walk up and touch to realise it is just a beautifully carved granite rock. Its smoothness is the result of aeons of sandblasting of the waves swirling the sand around on its surface.
Image Copyright © 2016 +Morten Ross
Image Capture Date: 23 November 2016 05:57
Altitude: 0 meters
#seychelles #mahe #silhouetteisland #sea
#LandscapePhotography +Landscape Photography curated by +Margaret Tompkins +Eric Drumm +Chandler L. Walker +Krzysztof Felczak +AJ Lim +Jeff Beddow +H Peter Ji +Jani Westman +Dorma Wiggin +Ranco Sevla Sevla
#hqsplandscape +HQSP Landscape
#BTPLandscapePro +BTP Landscape Pro , owned and curated by +Nancy Dempsey
Post has attachment
Post has attachment
Dang, Champions 3rd Ed made me work for it this week stating out a villain concept. Almost had to call off the game +Mark Delsing!
I got it worked out now, a little coffee and a little Bossa Nova to get out the box!
To wit, it would have been easier to stat this out had we used 5/6th ed.
SPOILERS FOLLOW MARK (but nothing we wouldn't talk over)
So there's a NetFlix movie called Spectral. Our first arc is the discovery of that facility and the problem is the 'specters' there. They are intangible, always and KILL when they touch you. For this session, let's call them version 1.0
They can do harm when they touch you. they glide and are intangible.
They are the manifestation of dead soldiers. They have bodies in stasis and are computer managed. They are hostile.
How would you build it circa Champions 3rd Ed?
I'll share my stats after tonight's game.
I got it worked out now, a little coffee and a little Bossa Nova to get out the box!
To wit, it would have been easier to stat this out had we used 5/6th ed.
SPOILERS FOLLOW MARK (but nothing we wouldn't talk over)
So there's a NetFlix movie called Spectral. Our first arc is the discovery of that facility and the problem is the 'specters' there. They are intangible, always and KILL when they touch you. For this session, let's call them version 1.0
They can do harm when they touch you. they glide and are intangible.
They are the manifestation of dead soldiers. They have bodies in stasis and are computer managed. They are hostile.
How would you build it circa Champions 3rd Ed?
I'll share my stats after tonight's game.
Post has attachment
Post has attachment
Post has attachment
Post has attachment
Post has attachment
Post has attachment
Post has attachment
Sleep is one of the great mysteries of biology. It's obviously dangerous to do it – you're unaware of both predators and potential food going by – and yet it's been observed in everything down to roundworms, and without it, we die. Clearly it does something extremely important.
A discovery by three Caltech grad students adds another layer to this: Cassiopea jellyfish, also known as "upside-down jellyfish," sleep – even though they don't have brains at all, just a diffuse network of neurons. They show the same symptoms that more complex animals do: reversible quiescence (they can be woken up), increased arousal threshold, (they don't jump at things they would normally notice), and homeostatic regulation of sleep (they have trouble if they don't do it regularly).
Apparently, whatever sleep does, it's so basic to survival that even diffuse neural networks need to do it.
A discovery by three Caltech grad students adds another layer to this: Cassiopea jellyfish, also known as "upside-down jellyfish," sleep – even though they don't have brains at all, just a diffuse network of neurons. They show the same symptoms that more complex animals do: reversible quiescence (they can be woken up), increased arousal threshold, (they don't jump at things they would normally notice), and homeostatic regulation of sleep (they have trouble if they don't do it regularly).
Apparently, whatever sleep does, it's so basic to survival that even diffuse neural networks need to do it.
Wait while more posts are being loaded