Photo credit: Alaskan Dude / Creative Commons On a ridgetop preserve in Pennsylvania, conservationists and bird watchers gathered for the annual count of migrating bald eagles. It’s a tradition that has persisted for 76 years—since the founding of the Hawk Mountain Sanctuary . This year, however, was a little different: Participates were treated to a record number of sightings—a reassuring sign of the incredible success of bald eagle conservation programs across the count… Read the full story on TreeHugger
Continue reading …Bobby Jindal’s BP Spill Response a Big $200 Million Waste, Comission Finds
December 17, 2010 No Comment
Photo by me, Brian Merchant When I was down in the Gulf, one of the first things I reported on was Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal’s plan to construct giant islands to protect the barrier islands from the incoming oil slick. The plan sounded highly dubious from the get-go, and I couldn’t find a scientist or oil spill expert who thought it was a reasonable idea (seems I wasn’t the only one, either — Dr. Robert Young, a prominent coastal geologist, has noted “I have yet to speak to a scientist who thinks the pr… Read the full story on TreeHugger
Continue reading …L.A. Noire’s amazing MotionScan facial capture system demonstrated (video)
December 17, 2010 No Comment
In gaming, 3D graphics get more powerful, environments get more expansive, enemies get more intelligent, but still facial animations haven’t progressed much since Pac-Man chomped his first power pellet in 1980. Finally, a major breakthrough courtesy of Australian company Depth Analysis. It has developed technology called MotionScan, which enables a high-res 3D recreation of a person’s face — not just capturing bits and pieces of facial animation but their entire head, right down to the hairstyle. It’s getting its first use in next year’s L.A. Noire , a 1940s PS3 and Xbox 360 murder mystery game from Rockstar , and while we don’t know enough about the title to be able to say whether it’s worth plunking down a pre-order now, after watching the video embedded below it’s clear that the bar has been raised. Continue reading L.A. Noire’s amazing MotionScan facial capture system demonstrated (video) L.A. Noire’s amazing MotionScan facial capture system demonstrated (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 17 Dec 2010 15:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …
New research adds to the evidence linking obesity with lower levels of vitamin D, and the finding could help explain why carrying extra pounds raises the risk for a wide range of diseases, researchers say.
Continue reading …
No magic pill can restore youth, but some vitamins and supplements can help improve the health and quality of your skin.
Continue reading …
Image: Screenshot of Google NGram Viewer for “Peak Oil” This morning, my Twitter stream was quickly filled with tweets about this new tool from Google that allows one to search for words within the large Google Books collection. Called the Google Books Ngram Viewer , the tool has proven to be an interesting way to get a feel for how culture has changed throughout the past 200+ years, or more specifically, how that changing culture has been documented in the books written during this time. C… Read the full story on TreeHugger
Continue reading …
Today on the list: Facebook is poised to recognize faces, Wikileaks read aloud to you, and the “real” person who was Henry Kissinger. On a regular basis, Truthdig brings you the news items and odds and ends that found their way to Larry Gross, director of the USC Annenberg School for Communication. A specialist in media and culture, art and communication, visual communication and media portrayals of minorities, Gross helped found the field of gay and lesbian studies. The links below open in a new window. Newer ones are on top. Facebook To Introduce Facial Recognition for Tags Facebook announced on Wednesday that it would launch facial-recognition technology that identifies people in uploaded photos and suggests tags. Bored? Try Listening to the Wikileaks Documents If your life is too on-the-run to read the endless supply of Wikileaked documents, try listening to them instead. Fox News Boss Ordered Staffers To Cast Doubt On Climate Change Science Unsurprising news that Fox has told its staffers to cast doubt on the science around, and supporting, the phenomenon of climate change. Recovered History: The Real Henry Kissinger Henry Kissinger is a foul entity, plain and simple. But he also was a complex human being. Related Entries December 16, 2010 Everything Is Negotiable, Except Nature December 15, 2010 Time Taps Zuckerberg as Person of the Year
Continue reading …
Okay, it’s not exactly the new webOS hardware we’ve been waiting for, but we just got this shot of a Palm Bluetooth keyboard from a trusted source — we’re told it’s an accessory for Palm’s upcoming tablet , which is codenamed “Topaz.” Interestingly, we’re told the keyboard features a Windows key in addition to some webOS-specific keys — we’d guess that HP will sell it for general use as well. As for the Topaz tablet, it’s said to be extremely slick, with no hard buttons on the front and a design that echoes the design of the keyboard — we’re told it’s due out in the first half of 2011, which matches up with what we’ve heard from Palm . We’re also told Palm’s planning a low-end teen phone that’s something like a Pre with no keyboard — it’s codenamed “Castle,” (just like the original Pre and Pixi ) and due to hit Sprint, Verizon, and AT&T. That seems like a likely followup to the Pixi, but what we’re really anxious for is some news on a new high-end phone and the Topaz tablet — we’ll keep digging and let you know. Palm’s tablet is codenamed ‘Topaz,’ keyboard accessory leaks out originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 17 Dec 2010 15:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …CNN’s Spitzer Twice Refers to START Treaty as Being With the Soviet Union
December 17, 2010 No Comment
It seems that Eliot Spitzer's mind is still in the 1980s, as he twice stated on Thursday's Parker-Sptizer on CNN that the new START Treaty was with the Soviet Union. Spitzer trumpeted “the all-important START Treaty, that will finally cement a nuclear disarmament agreement with the Soviet Union ,” and then noted that the treaty would deal with the ” nuclear warheads that are pointed by the Soviet Union at us ” [audio available here ]. The former New York governor and co-host Kathleen Parker led their 8 pm Eastern hour program with the current affairs of the lame-duck Congress. Spitzer highlighted the recent Gallup poll that found that only 13 percent of American approve of the job the legislative body is doing, and bemoaned how “for the past couple of hours, they have been spending your tax dollars in a debate about- and I don't know how else to say this- how they're going to debate.” After Parker replied that the House debate was specifically about extending the current tax rates, her CNN co-host focused his attention on the Senate and made his first gaffe about the START Treaty. Parker must not have caught his error, as she didn't correct him: [ Video embedded below the page break ] read more
Continue reading …
The founder of the website WikiLeaks says he fears the US was getting ready to indict him. Assange was released on bail on from a London jail, where he was being held in connection to Swedish sexual molestation allegations. (Dec. 17)
Continue reading …