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| Taking "leave" of the planet, ISS style. (Image courtesy Scott Kelly / NASA.gov.) |
Space Station Sunday: Thanks And Cornbread From Orbit
Good afternoon, space fans! Here's the latest dispatches from beyond our earthly realm...
You Better Not Pout: Santa's Surveillance Apps
Christmas is coming, so why not leverage it to exert influence on the young ones in your life? Promote politeness with a variety of Santa-approved "surveillance" apps...
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| Naughty or nice, you can use his power to keep Christmas craziness in check. (Image courtesy pennlive.com.) |
Mature Content: New "Companionship" App For The Elderly
Our current senior citizens were raised in an era with typewriters and telegrams, and now, they can add another newfangled technology to their (long) lives: a hookup app.
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| Go out with a bang. (Image courtesy get-susan.com.) |
If You Suspects Something, Text Something: New Anti-Terror App For New Yorkers
Are you remaining vigilant in these trying times, citizen? Well just in case you were thinking of keeping to yourself and minding your own damn business, the government doesn't want you to, and there's a new app to abet that.
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| Your activism needs no more than the swipe of a finger. That should probably be worrisome, right? (Image courtesy ny.gov.) |
Space Station Sunday: New Plants, New Plans, And Fresh Space Snaps
Good afternoon, space fans! Here's what was floating around this week.
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| Eight months up there, and still these guys are safe and hard at work. Well done, cosmonaut Kornienko (left) and astronaut Kelly! (Image courtesy NASA.gov.) |
Learning Is Earning: 8 Online Courses That Improve The Richness Of Your Life (And Maybe Your Wallet)
Do you like learning things, but don't want to spend thousands at college? Do you have an insatiable lust (or even mild affinity) for knowledge, but you dislike the classroom or tutor dynamic, and you don't like even just waking up in time to stuff stuff into your head? Now, you can use the Udemy website to become more intelligent on a variety of topics so vast, you'll be smarter just knowing that it's possible to study these things. Here are just a few of the new things we recently learned we could learn online...
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| If you're reading this, you may have already taken the first step towards getting really good at a new skill. How exciting! (Image courtesy extremetech.com.) |
Impersonal Shopper: New Robo-Stockboy Tallies Up Inventory
It's time once again for the Robot Replacement Roundup, in which we assess the viability of a seemingly-harmless robot taking over your job. Bartenders, pizza cooks, fast food folks, factory workers, personal chefs, and hotel staff have already been considered candidates for replacement, and now, the 'bots are taking their style to the aisles...
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| The Terminators arrived not with a bang, but with a whisper. Namely, "You need to order more Pop-Tarts." (Image courtesy zamazingodergi.com.) |
A Win For Things Lost: New TrackR Device Hunts Down Your Stuff
Quick, where are your keys? Phone? Wallet? Remote control? Dog? If you don't know the answer immediately, technology may now be able to help you fill in the blanks...
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| Did you misplace something important today? Can't quite think of where it is? Now, you don't have to. (Image courtesy curiousportraits.wordpress.com.) |
Space Station Sunday: Some Downtime At 250 Miles Up
Good afternoon, space fans! Welcome back to the week's news from outside the atmosphere.
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| Astronaut Scott Kelly said it best when posting this image this morning: "Today is a new day with limitless possibilities to do great things. Good morning from the International Space Station!" (Image courtesy Scott Kelly / NASA.gov.) |
Like Uber For Slobber: New Matchmaking App Sets Up Dogs And Humans
They say that dogs are man's best friend. So with all of the social media platforms used to make friends, why shouldn't there be one that includes canine companions?
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| This could be you. Or your dog. (Image courtesy mymodernmet.com.) |
A Wonder For Down Under: New Kegel Exerciser / Videogame App (Seriously)
Ladies, we know that "playing with yourself" is not the most delicate way to describe an aspect of maintaining healthy sexual function, but in this case, it's the literal truth...
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| We also know it's uncouth to steal other publications' headline imagery, but the Britons really nailed this one. (Image courtesy www.mirror.co.uk.) |
Mining And Shining: Updated SPACE Act Passes Congress, Bound For The Stars
Many people believe that America's space program would be greatly augmented if only we could find a space-based resource to mine for materials and subsequently sell. Well, we haven't had a gold rush for the red planet yet, but now some new guidelines for being a space prospector are in place...
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| Thar's gold in them thar hills! Well, at least, minerals in them thar asteroids. (Image courtesy ibitimes.com.) |
Space Station Sunday: Extravehicular Awesomeness And Even More ISS History
Good afternoon, space fans! Welcome back to all the best news from 220 miles up.
This week on the ISS, another sucessfull spacewalk was conducted by NASA astronauts Scott Kelly and Kjell Lindgren. The spacewalk began on Friday at 7:10 AM EST and was the second successful space venture for Kelly and Lindgren in as many weeks.
The astronauts spent six and a half hours on their EVA (extravehicular activity), attending to a port truss cooling system. Ammonia levels were regulated for both the main and backup system. The ammonia pump had been replaced in 2013 after a leak-detecting exercise in 2012 found it lacking, and the full system was now restored to its original configuration. Two previous spacewalk missions had worked on the issue.
The proper cooling of the system is important to station life, as it gathers the heat from sources on the station and disseminates it properly. According to NASA, "The Photovoltaic Thermal Control System dissipates heat generated at the space station from radiators attached to the truss structure." This includes the abundance of solar heat that the station attracts.
In celebration of the station's 15-year anniversary, NASA has compiled a great archive of the space station's stunning history and growth story. They also celebrated the milestone in a fun collection of GIFs. Keep up keeping up!
That's all for this week, space fans! We'll see you next Sunday with even more excellence from orbit. Watch this space!
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| There's no speed limits in space. (Image courtesy NASA.gov.) |
This week on the ISS, another sucessfull spacewalk was conducted by NASA astronauts Scott Kelly and Kjell Lindgren. The spacewalk began on Friday at 7:10 AM EST and was the second successful space venture for Kelly and Lindgren in as many weeks.
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| Seasoned space veterans Kelly and Lindgren take another daring walk outside. (Image courtesy NASA.gov.) |
The astronauts spent six and a half hours on their EVA (extravehicular activity), attending to a port truss cooling system. Ammonia levels were regulated for both the main and backup system. The ammonia pump had been replaced in 2013 after a leak-detecting exercise in 2012 found it lacking, and the full system was now restored to its original configuration. Two previous spacewalk missions had worked on the issue.
The proper cooling of the system is important to station life, as it gathers the heat from sources on the station and disseminates it properly. According to NASA, "The Photovoltaic Thermal Control System dissipates heat generated at the space station from radiators attached to the truss structure." This includes the abundance of solar heat that the station attracts.
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| Bust out with you truss out. (Image courtesy Alexander Gerst/ESA.) |
This was the 190th spacewalk completed on the ISS since its initial construction 15 years ago. Want to know more about the sensations involved while spacewalking? Astronaut Douglas Wheelock did a fascinating Q&A with National Geographic this week to describe some of the impressions his cavorting in orbit left him with. Turns out spacesuits are smelly, itches aren't always scratchable, and temperatures can get weird...but that it's also just as awesome as it looks (and it always looks pretty awesome.)
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| That's a lot of strolling in the stars. (Image courtesy NASA.gov.) |
In celebration of the station's 15-year anniversary, NASA has compiled a great archive of the space station's stunning history and growth story. They also celebrated the milestone in a fun collection of GIFs. Keep up keeping up!
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| Humanity's greatest work in progress. (Image courtesy NASA.gov.) |
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| The Earth approved of astronaut Kelly and Lindgrens' spacewalk. (Image courtesy Scott Kelly / NASA.gov.) |
Cultivate This: New Indoor Garden "The Grove" Gives You A Mini Ecosystem
Want a garden, but you're stuck in a postmodern (or pre-modern) cube/tomb of an apartment with no sunlight and certainly no arable land? Worry not, for a new invention called The Grove can bring you a relative abundance of plant life, all in the comfort of your own home...
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| If you traded all your bookshelves for e-reading, here's your perfect futuristic home furnishing. (Image courtesy treehugger.com.) |
X Marks The Spotted: Windows 10 Is Watching You
As citizens of the cyber-community, we've unfortunately become conditioned to seeing ads that are eerily targeted to things we say, emails that appear from long-forgotten websites, and other evidence of deep data gathering made manifest for use of moneymaking. Now, with the launch of Windows 10 becoming a necessity for some users, Microsoft seems to have pulled out even more stops to speed up their spying...
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| Seriously, what ISN'T spying on us these days? (Image courtesy hackread.com.) |
Tracked In The Sack: New High-Tech Wristwatch Delivers Your Sexual Stats
Technology has the amazing ability to provide us with abundant, seemingly boundless amounts of information. Sometimes, that also includes too much information.
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| "Hey baby...set me to LOVE MODE." (Image courtesy geeksme.com.) |
Space Station Sunday - Halloween Edition: Dark Matter, Blood Studies, And A Spooky Specter On The Station
Good afternoon, space fans! For those that celebrate it, we hope everyone had a fun and freaky Halloween. Unfortunately there's no trick or treating to the ISS (yet), but it was a great week for orbital excellence just the same.
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| This was on Earth...unfortunately open fires on the ISS are a no-go. (Image courtesy issabove.com.) |
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