m$ fined!

The European Commission is ready to impose a fine of 2m euros ($2.5m) a day on Microsoft.

the force...

the force… i’m losing it… my midi-chlorian count is dropping i guess….

Mac vs PC

Processors
O/S

Cat vs Bear

On June 4 a black bear wandered into a West Milford, New Jersey, back yard, was confronted by a 15-pound (7-kilogram) tabby cat and fled up a neighbor's tree. Hissing at the base of the tree, Jack the clawless cat kept the bear at bay for about 15 minutes, then ran him up another tree after an attempted escape.

Pollen Coronas

"Specks of pollen are very small, and when they float through the air they diffract sunlight, forming the softly-colored rings of light in Tough's photo. Tiny crystals of ice or droplets of water in the air can do the same thing--but unlike pollen they do not cause sternutation."
Source: SpaceWeather.com: 13 June 2006 Report

Vegetarian diet linked to genital defects

"A vegetarian diet could be responsible for genital defects in baby boys, according to BBC-funded research carried out by scientists in Bristol."
Read the BBC News Article

temperature of space

i saw this "fact of the day" thing at www.coolquiz.com and it reads:
If an object has no molecules, the concept of temperature is meaningless. That's why it's technically incorrect to speak of the "cold of outer space" space has no temperature, and is known as a "temperature sink," meaning it drains heat out of things.

well this is what i have to say:

• temperature is a property of matter - there is no dispute there


• left over from the big bang, space contains matter (like stars and planets) distributed across over billions of light years


• space has a blackbody radiation (CMBR) equivalent to a temperature of 2.7 K, that is -270 degrees C


• that is, if you leave something (say soup) in space that is hotter than -270 deg C, heat energy will be transfered in the form of radiation (according to Stefan-Boltzmann law)


• so my soup will cool down and the temperature of space will increase


• the heat capacity of space is so enormous that the rise in temperature will be very small


• but there is a theory saying that... the entire universe will reach a constant temperature and all forms of energy will be converted to entropy

here are some other articles related to temperature of space

• Eddington's Temperature of Space


• History of 2.7 K Temperature Prior to Penzias and Wilson


• AstronomyCafe.net


• cosmic microwave background radiation (CMBR)


• Is Space Hot or Cold?


• Wikipedia article on CMBR