Jason's Blog

Sunday, May 9, 2004

The subtle detections involved using a trick developed by other researchers. After taking the first image of a white dwarf and its surroundings, Hubble was rolled slightly in space and a second image was made. By comparing the two images, scattered light created by instrument imperfections can be removed, Debes explained. That way the star is reduced more closely to a point-like source. Remaining nearby points of light then emerge as either dim orbiting companions or background objects.
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/mystery_monday_040510.html

Thursday, May 6, 2004

NASA: Antimatter Drives

The Phase I project was very successful. Our system analysis indicates that a 10mg instrument payload could be sent to 250 AU in 10 years using 30 milligrams of anti-hydrogen. This amount of antimatter is clearly within the product _on potential of the US within the next 40 years using currently accepted accelerator technologies. In addition, preliminary calculations also indicate that this architecture could enable a similar probe to be sent to the next star, Alpha Centaur, in 40 years using grams of antimatter. Previous investigations by JPL had concluded that _lograms of antimatter would be needed for an interstellar mission.
http://www.niac.usra.edu/files/studies/abstract/850Howe.html

Sunday, May 2, 2004

The Cheating Culture

Interesting, but also obvious. People are cheating more because:

Theres less to lose

Theres more to gain

The gap between haves and have-nots is widening.

... all because of the 80s boom.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0151010188/qid=1083620440/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl14/103-6057925-2666242?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

Saturday, May 1, 2004

Digital Gunfire

The best streaming station Ive found. Excellent for coding.Industrial/electronica.
http://www.digitalgunfire.com

Thursday, April 29, 2004

The Simplicity Survival Handbook

Do Less. Accomplish More.

1440. The number of minutes in the day. No more, no less. When theyre gone, theyre gone.

Do less of the corporate silliness.

Ignore more of the noise and senseless stuff that comes your way.

Spend your time and talent on what really matters.

http://www.simplerwork.com

Sweet Pic Of Saturn

Saturn and its rings completely fill the field of view of Cassinis narrow angle camera in this natural color image taken on March 27, 2004. This is the last single `eyeful of Saturn and its rings achievable with the narrow angle camera on approach to the planet. From now until orbit insertion, the rings will be larger than the cameras field of view. The image is a composite of three exposures in red, green, and blue, taken when the spacecraft was 47.7 million kilometers (29.7 million miles) from the planet. The image scale is 286 kilometers (178 miles) per pixel.
http://ciclops.lpl.arizona.edu/PR/2004D29/final.jpg