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Newsgroups: Quake Shifted Axis And Shortened Day
March 2nd, 2010
Feeling behind as if time is working against you? You may be right. Due to the magnitude of the earthquake that hit Chile recently, it may have changed the planet’s rate of rotation and shortened our days. The 8.8 earthquake has been reported by NASA scientists on space related newsgroups that earth’s axis likely shifted by about 3 inches, shortening the day by about 1.26 microseconds.
USENET newsgroups have been covering this story and have been discussing on how moving hundreds of kilometers of rock underground can change the earth’s distribution of mass, and, in turn, change the planet’s rate of rotation. When an earthquake hits with the magnitude of the one in Chile, it moves this lot of rock under the ground which has caused the earth’s axis to slightly shift and shortening the day, as the rate of speed the earth spins is how we calculate how long the day is.
If you remember your physics, changes in rotating bodies affect its rotation. The huge 8.8 earthquake in Chile has affected our rotating Earth in just such a way, making it turn a bit faster and giving us 1.26 microseconds less of time.
Some changes may be more obvious, and islands may have shifted, according to Andreas Rietbrock, a professor of Earth Sciences at the U.K.’s Liverpool University who has studied the area impacted, though not since the latest temblor. She reports that Santa Maria Island off the Chilean coast may have been raised 6 feet because of the earthquake, if past quake patterns hold true.
This is not the first, or only, time an earthquake has had such an impact, USENET newsgroups notes. The magnitude 9.1 earthquake that generated the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami shortened the day by 6.8 microseconds. The consequences of both have also taken the lives of many. More than 700 people died in the Chilean earthquake, which struck on the 27 February. NASA experts have said the Chile predictions will likely change as data on the quake are further refined.
Another Meteor Hits USENET Newsgroups
December 11th, 2009
If you missed out on last month’s Leonid meteor shower, don’t worry. Space and astronomy newsgroups report what very well may be the best meteor shower of the year will occur this coming Sunday and Monday.
Occurring in mid- December, the Geminid meteor shower is often the most reliable meteor shower of the year — you may see 30 to 60 meteors an hour. This year, newsgroups are reporting that the Geminid meteor shower’s peak is the night of December 13th and 14th of this year. According to NASA related newsgroups, the shower has intensified in recent years and researchers are curious if the trend will continue this year. There are many predictable meteor showers during the year, but most of them are not very spectacular, producing only a few more meteors than the background rate of five to 10 random meteors per hour.
As comets go around the sun, they also leave tiny grains of debris along their orbits. When the Earth crosses the orbit of a comet, it encounters this debris train, and we get a meteor shower. This year, the meteor shower appears during a new moon, so the sky should be dark and meteors should be easier to see.
The Geminids were quite weak when they were first identified in the late 19th century, but have intensified in those 150 years. In 2006, NASA astronomers observed at least five Geminid meteors crash into the moon. The shower derives its name from the fact that the meteors look like they are originating from the Gemini constellation.
Evolution Newsgroups: Darwin Raises $172,000
November 24th, 2009
Today marks the 150th anniversary of the publication of one of the world’s most important and controversial books — Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species. A first edition of the book, which had been kept in a bathroom bookcase for years in southern Britain, sold for more than $172,000.00 (100,000 pounds) today after going thru Christie’s auction house.
Evolution and science newsgroups are discussing how an anonymous telephone bidder purchased the 1859 print run of the book on the 150th anniversary of the work’s original publication. It is Darwin’s seminal book that shared his theory of evolution with a lay audience.
When Darwin originally published the book, most scientists accepted his theories on evolution. The general public wasn’t as easy to convince, however, mainly due to the fact that Darwin’s theories challenged established religious beliefs. Not much has changed in 150 years.
As the USENET newsgroups point out, other events are planned around the world commemorating the 150th anniversary of the publication of “On the Origin of Species” and the 200th anniversary of Darwin’s birth, Feb. 12, 1809.
Leonid Meteor Shower Top Space Newsgroups Chatter
November 16th, 2009
Stay up late and you might believe that Aliens are arriving in drones. However, read an astrology newsgroup and find out that the night sky will be lit up in the early hours of Tuesday morning hosting the Leonid meteor shower.
The annual event, named for the constellation Leo, is a light show of comet crumbs caught up in the Earth’s gravitational pull as the planet swings through the debris field.
Discovered in 1865, the Tempel-Tuttle comet orbits the sun every 33 years, and it’s around this time every year that the Earth passes through the cometary debris. Every year at this time it happens — with tons of ice and rock vaporizing in the earth’s protective atmosphere. The last time it came by was in 1998. In 1991, 2001 and 2002, the Earth passed through concentrated dust trails, which produced a meteor storm with thousands of meteors per hour. The number of meteors this year will be above average.
According to NASA and space related newsgroups, the best time to see the most activity will be between the hours of 3:30 a.m. to 5:30 a.m. EST. The shower should produce a “mild but pretty sprinkling” of meteors over North America (20 to 30 meteors per hour) followed by a more intense outburst over Asia, where observers may see 200 to 300 meteors per hour.
Newsgroup Spotlight: Chemistry Newsgroups
November 5th, 2009
From High School Students to accredited Chemists, newsgroups have been a destination for many to discuss, interact and share almost everything regarding the world of Chemistry. USENET Newsgroups offer more than a dozen newsgroups that are home to Chemistry newsgroups.
Chemistry in general is a very diverse field with many different aspects. As USENET newsgroups are broken down to sub-categories of general categories, it has enabled focused discussions about whatever aspect of Chemistry one may be interested in. Analytical chemistry newsgroups and Electrochemistry newsgroups, as an example, each have their own subscribers that share opinions and information that further there understanding of these fields.
In many cases, these newsgroups have been known to provide more up-to-date information regarding innovations and discoveries than any conventional paper journal about the ever changing understanding of Chemistry. It also provides a way to discuss these discoveries alongside other professionals and eager minds.
As with most newsgroup categories that fall under science and technology, Chemistry newsgroup communities have existed for over 20 years and continue to host both old and new subscribers that participate in every day discussions and happenings on Chemistry newsgroups. Whatever field or particular interest in Chemistry one may have, USENET newsgroups should be a required online destination.
Newsgroup Spotlight: Nobel Prize Categories
October 15th, 2009
As many in the United States discussed Barack Obama for winning the Nobel Prize for Peace, there are other notable awards that were handed out for other categories. Multiple awards were given to groups and individuals that had been responsible for some amazing achievements.
All of these fields that these people had won in share at least one thing in common; dedicated discussion newsgroups on USENET. Thousands over time have contributed, shared and/or discussed the same topics that continue to this day for the same common goal: advancement in knowledge and application.
It wouldn’t be surprising if each of these awarded individuals had some sort of background with USENET. As the premier and prominent online source for communication and sharing ideas, it’s very possible that one, if not some, used USENET as a resource.
Here are the other winners of the Nobel Prize this year:
In the Physiology and Medicine category, the award had gone to Elizabeth H. Blackburn, Carol W. Greider and Jack W. Szostak, a group responsible for the discovery of how chromosomes are protected by telomeres and an enzyme.
In Physics, Willard S. Boyle and George E. Smith shared one half of the award for the invention of an imaging semiconductor circuit – the CCD sensor - as the other half went to Charles K. Kao for groundbreaking achievements concerning the transmission of light in fibers for optical communication, which could lead to astonishing speeds in data transmission.
In the ever changing world of Chemistry, Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, Thomas A. Steitz and Ada E. Yonath shared the award for studies of the structure and function of the ribosome, which are complexes of RNA and protein that are found in all cells.
In the Economics front, it was Elinor Ostrom for her analysis of economic governance, especially the commons and Oliver E. Williamson for his analysis of economic governance, especially the boundaries of the firm that won them the rights to share the prize equally.
Lastly, in the world of Literature, Herta Müller from Germany won who, with the concentration of poetry and the frankness of prose, depicts the landscape of the dispossessed.
The achievements each of them have been able to make have been due to the same elements that can be found on USENET: research, discovery and knowledge. With these at our disposal, future advancements are not only possible, but likely.
As many in the United States discussed Barack Obama for winning the Nobel Prize for Peace, there are other notable awards that were handed out for other categories. Six awards in all were given to groups and individuals that had been responsible for some amazing achievements.
All of these fields that these people had won in share something in common; dedicated discussion newsgroups on USENET. Thousands over time have contributed, shared or discussed the same topics that continue to this day for the same common goal: advancement in knowledge and application.
It wouldn’t be surprising if each of these awarded individuals had some sort of background with USENET. As the premier and prominent online source for communication and sharing ideas, it’s very possible that one, if not some, used USENET as a resource.
Here are the other winners of the Nobel Prize this year:
In the Physiology and Medicine category, the award had gone to Elizabeth H. Blackburn, Carol W. Greider and Jack W. Szostak, a group responsible for the discovery of how chromosomes are protected by telomeres and an enzyme.
In Physics, Willard S. Boyle and George E. Smith shared one half of the award for the invention of an imaging semiconductor circuit – the CCD sensor - as the other half went to Charles K. Kao for groundbreaking achievements concerning the transmission of light in fibers for optical communication, which could lead to astonishing speeds in data transmission.
In the ever changing world of Chemistry, Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, Thomas A. Steitz and Ada E. Yonath shared the award for studies of the structure and function of the ribosome, which are complexes of RNA and protein that are found in all cells.
In the Economics front, it was Elinor Ostrom for her analysis of economic governance, especially the commons and Oliver E. Williamson for his analysis of economic governance, especially the boundaries of the firm that won them the rights to share the prize equally.
Lastly, in the world of Literature, Herta Müller from Germany won who, with the concentration of poetry and the frankness of prose, depicts the landscape of the dispossessed.
The achievements each of them have been able to make have been due to the same elements that can be found on USENET: research, discovery and knowledge. With these at our disposal, future advancements are not only possible, but likely.
NASA Fulfills Promise Of Moon Punch
October 9th, 2009
The big news on newsgroups is that NASA deliberately aimed a rocket into the Moon to expand the search for water. NASA has said the rocket and satellite strike was a success, kicking up enough dust for scientists to determine whether or not there is water on the moon.
Nothing exploded, although two spacecraft — one about the size of a bus, the other a subcompact car — did crash on the surface of the moon. For background on the whys and wherefores, you can read more about moon exploration and the reasons for the LCROSS mission here and on some of the space and technology newsgroups.
Mission scientists said they did spy a thermal flash and spotted an approximately 20 meter sized created by the impact. They were most excited about a tiny bump in brightness seen by a mission spectrometer, which could signal the presence of water that some think exists as ice in the bottom of the target crater.
“We have the data we need to address the questions we set out to address”, said Anthony Colaprete, principal investigator for the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite mission. At approximately 5.31pm IST on Friday, a rocket called LCROSS (for Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite), traveling at over twice the speed of a bullet, traversed the nearly 375,000 km from earth to Moon and slammed into the bottom of a lunar crater bathed in a permanent shadow.
The impact sequence was followed not only by telescopic eyes in space, such as LRO and the Hubble Space Telescope, but also by hundreds of telescopes, both professional and amateur, in North America, where the skies were mostly clear.
The one-two punch of crashing a booster rocket and its mother craft near the moon’s south pole didn’t kick up dramatic and visible plumes as hoped, but scientists reported that the mission had gathered enough data to tell whether the crater contains frozen water.
Linux Kernel Turns 18 On USENET Newsgroup
October 5th, 2009
It might have been in late August 1991 that Linus Torvalds posted on the USENET newsgroup comp.os.minix about a new operating system he was developing, but it was October 5th, 1991 that Linux version 0.02, the official version of the kernel was announced and released.
Today, the Linux kernel celebrates its 19th birthday. In those nineteen years, Linux has seen an abundance of changes and improvements. As one of the first operating systems that relied on the online community to support it, it has been responsible for over 50 different versions since then.
Linus Torvalds was the originator of Linux and the initial leader of the community. As a USENET enthusiast and realizing the importance newsgroups had, he used the USENET as the first destination to announce the release of the first Linux kernel.
The open source Linux kernel was then improved upon by the USENET community as it still is today, alongside other online communities. In its now available 2.6.32-rc3 recent release, Linux demonstrates the innovation and improvement it has made throughout time due to its community contributed resources.
USENET itself celebrates its own 30th birthday this year as well. As a hub for online communities to share, develop and exchange, USENET has been an intricate part of the birth and the subsequent life that has made Linux available to this day as well as a host of other technologies in its time.
Newsgroup Spotlight: Internet Newsgroups Revisited
September 2nd, 2009
Precisely forty years ago on September 2, Leonard Kleinrock and some other associates started testing a system that would eventually become the worldwide network we know as the internet today.
Revisiting World Wide Web newsgroups, we spotlight on the history of the internet in celebration of its 40th birthday.
On September 2, 1969, two computers send out test data at Kleinrock’s lab at the University of California, Los Angeles. That was the humble beginning of what was originally called the ‘ARPANET‘ network — a government-supported data network that would use the technology which by then had come to be known as “packet switching.”
From this point on DARPA and ARPANET became the biological manufacturing parents of the internet and are two of the most important acronyms pertaining to the internet.
(DARPA) is the central research and development office for the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) otherwise referred to as The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. The ARPANET is the Advanced Research Projects Agency Network that was created by (ARPA) and it is essentially the predecessor of the global Internet.
It would be 10 years later that the USENET would come to be utilizing the ARPANET. It would be the USENET that would bring the masses online. With the introduction of newsgroups, a new online word of discussion groups arose.
Later, in 1991, Tim Berners-Lee used the USENET to announce the foundation of what we know the Word Wide Web to be today.
Tthe continuing growth of the internet community forced an expansion of its development and use. As time passed and as the popularity of the Internet grew, competition eventually made the internet more accessible and its availability even more widespread.
Len Kleinrock and his team never imagined the spread of all of the Internet trends and fads that would follow. But since using the World Wide Web became commonplace among average people, the medium has quickly evolved and gone through several different stages.
Contrary to claims once made by Al Gore, it was not invented by him.
Coincidently, the first domain name ever registered was sold on August 31st of this year.
On March 15, 1985, the Internet officially became active with the registration and use of the Symbolics.com domain name.
Said to be the oldest on the web, it has remained the property of its original owner since then. Symbolics.com was bought by XF.com Investments, which said it was “excited” about the purchase.
The address was registered by computer manufacturer Symbolics in March 1985, months before rivals Hewlett-Packard, Intel and Sun Microsystems swooped to secure their own presence on the nascent web.
Nearly 25 years later, over 180,000,000 registered domains are currently in use.
NewsDemon.com Newsgroups Announces New Website Redesign
June 29th, 2009
NewsDemon.com Newsgroups is pleased to announce the unveiling of the new website design. The URL remains the same, however, www.newsdemon.com has literally a new face in the world with the introduction of the NewsDemon.com Newsgroups mascot.
Alongside the addition of the new mascot, the re-designed website allows both members and visitors to more easily navigate and find information faster.
The website navigation was simplified and content was reorganized to better meet the needs of our customers. The changes to the website are the result of comments and suggestions from all of our members and visitors. The site is an effort to take NewsDemon.com Newsgroups to the the next level in terms of technology and functionality.
NewsDemon.com Newsgroups new website design is part of the overall collective movement to bring awareness on the valuable resources USENET is able to provide to its community. As a leading provider of USENET access, NewsDemon.com Newsgroups provides premium services to its members to thousands of uncesored newsgroups.
