An Astronomer on Mars

Cool image of the Earth and Moon as seen from the HiRISE instrument aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Explorer in orbit around Mars. You can see a better version of the photo and read the whole story here.

This reminds me of the somewhat famous image taken by the Voyager I spacecraft as it was headed outward in the 70s.

At the Planetary Society I found a gallery of photos of the Earth taken only from Spacecraft. Check it out!

A Hard Day's Night of the Living Dead

I love the internet. Someone has posted a fake movie trailer on YouTube for the film A Hard Day's Night of the Living Dead, a wonderful mashup of the Beatles black-and-white classic and Nigh of the Living Dead.

Excellent!

Bussard Fusion: Looking for Funding

George was telling me about a lecture he watched on the web by Robert Bussard, an aging physicist (perhaps best known for designing the Bussard Ramjet) who recently came very close to a fusion power system which generates more power than is put into it.

His small company Energy Matter Conversion Corporation (EMC²!) was funded by the U.S. Navy until recently, and he and his colleagues did not discover the amount of success they had achieved until weeks after they were forced to shut down their lab.

The reactor is constructed using six rings assembled into a box. Each ring contains copper windings, allowing a magnetic containment field to be created when power is applied. Here's a concise story at Defense News that does a pretty good job of outlining the project and its uncertain future (it looks like the U.S. Dept. of Energy doesn't like competition).

If you really want some in-depth information, check out the paper by Bussard: The Advent of Clean Nuclear Fusion: Super-performance Space Power and Propulsion.

Teri and Paul go a Cruisin'

Teri and I spent seven days aboard the Carnival Glory, touring the western Caribbean. We saw Mayan Ruins, snorkeled above a barrier reef, and rode a zip line. You can get all the details at the blog I created, Teri and Paul at Sea, which chronicled our adventure.

I never thought I was the kind of person who would take a cruise, and now that I've tried one, I'm still not sure. I created a Squidoo Lens to share my advice about cruises called Cruising for People Who Hate Cruises.

My Financial Management wish comes true: Yodlee

I was telling Teri that I wish I could log in to a single web page and see all of my financial accounts at one time. Well, along comes Yodlee (I read about it at Stop Buying Crap).

I haven't opened an account yet, but I'm gonna try it out real soon now.

Ultimate Secure Home

George alerted me to this over-the-top, off-the-grid, most secure home ever. Here's an excerpt from the website for the Ultimate Secure Home:

"Strategically located in the awesome San Juan mountains of Southwest Colorado, this patented steel-reinforced concrete earth home was built to withstand almost any natural or man-made disaster you can name. It is more secure, safe, and functional than any conventional house could ever be, yet still has a level of comfort that one might not expect to find in an underground home."

It is completely off the grid, relying on solar power for all the electrical needs. It has a safe room (i.e., "bomb shelter"), and is hardended against almost anything.

In an apocalyptic mood? Get it now for just $495,000.

Safari Bookshelf Update: Head First Books Added

I've subscribed to O'Rielly's Safari Bookshelf for a few years now (George has, too), but I was always disappointed that possibly their best series of books was not included: The Head First series.

If you want to effectively learn a new programming technology, nothing comes close to the Head First books. George recently completed the HTML and CSS book ,and I'm interested in the Ajax one.

I just read a post over at the O'Reilly Radar blog that these books have been added to Safari! For a minimum subscription of $9.99, you can have access to all of them. You can try the Safari Online Bookshelf for free for two weeks.

It's Time to Save the Internet

The House of Representatives has already killed an amendment to a bill they passed on Thursday (the Communications Opportunity, Promotion and Enhancement Act of 2006), so now it is up to the Senate to stop this bill, or amend it. Large telecom interests have spent millions of dollars lobbying Congress to gut "Net Neutrality."

Companies such as AT&T, Verizon, Comcast and Time Warner, want to give their own content preferential treatment on their own networks, and tax content providers for the privilege to be carried on their networks.

The concept of Net Neutrality ensures that the network simply moves data, without considering what it is or who is providing it. If these companies succeed, it will be good for them and bad for everyone else, especially YOU.

Visit SavetheInternet.com to learn more, and to find out what you can do.

Do your grocery shopping at... Amazon?

Aparently so. I discovered that Amazon is now carrying tens of thousands of non-perishable items in their Grocery section.

I immediately searched on my favorite energy bars (Balance), and found that they sell the 15-bar boxes for $15.35. This isn't the best price I've every found, but it beats the non-sale price at my local grocer (better selection, too).

I also looked for the new Kashi cereal I've been eating, and while the price is reasonable, it only comes in cases containing 6 boxes. So, it might be more like shopping at Costco than Safeway.

All items in the Grocery Store qualify for Super Saver Shipping, as well as Amazon Prime.

Micro$oft Beware: Google Spreadsheets is here.

Take your browser on a spin over to

spreadsheets.google.com.

I signed up for an invitation to be part of the limited evaluation (it's a new addition to Google Labs), and got my invitation only a couple of hours later.

It works just as I thought it would (i.e., the interface is intuitive and Excel-like). I'm very excited about this. You can share them with other people of you choose, even have multiple authors. VERY COOL.