Survey Vehicle Reaches Mercury

A NASA space vehicle, New Messenger, has reached Mercury and is beaming back information to CSIRO's Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex. It has taken nearly seven years to get to the hot inner planet. A Mercury day is six Earth months long while its year is only 88 days.

There is no possibility of humans landing on this little planet as the temperature reaches 430 degrees. Its minimum is extreme as well, minus 180 degrees. The sun would look three times bigger than on Earth if you could stand on it surface and look at it that is.

An earlier exploratory vehicle, Marina 10, only gave a cursory look at the innermost planet. The whole planet is to be mapped this time. It will show whether there is ice at the poles. The sun never shines into pole craters. A mystery to be solved is why Mercury is composed mainly of metals.
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Science

Bear Dinner

"Ah, here comes dinner."
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Funny Animal Photos

Internet Companies Are Not Complying With Police

Despite calls by some countries for Internet companies to had over information on citizens' searches and email, the knowledge superhighway is moving in the other direction. Information stored in the cloud are out of reach of national police forces. Gone are the days when just about everything that a suspect has done is available recorded somewhere at sometime. Data is there but it cannot be accessed.

The ordinary person will not have much sympathy for police trying to "background" a suspect. They see authorities as being too intrusive anyway. For years Australian social security sent out "demand" forms for aged pensioners to provide up-to-date information about what they had in the bank. A court found that social security did not have the legal right to demand honest answers. The forms are still being sent out. Legally they are still suspect. Such is the quagmire authorities are in.

Anyway, back to the case in hand. Police are saying even getting data from Google is a problem. Even obtaining information Between Australians in Australia has barriers. In some cases it takes five year to get information via court processes. In that time period technology has moved on and not everything is stored for posterity.

The National police forces' desire for greater access is like smoke over a factory chimney. It will blow away with the breeze. Companies operating across national borders will never comply because their customers don't want them to play the game. The European Cybercrime Convention treaty is a furphy. Internet companies are watching with no intention of complying.
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Internet

Cat Shock

"Aah! Get it off me."
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Funny Animal Photos

Storms Are Getting Stronger and More Frequent

It is accepted that we are getting more rain though it evaporates very quickly and leads to drought. The cycle of evaporation and rain is speeding up. The planet it heating up as the poles are melting. Glaciers are reducing in size with the water flowing into the oceans thus increasing the height of the sea. There is one thing that has not been studied in depth - wind.

Tornadoes are getting stronger. Furthermore, storms with high winds are becoming more frequent and stronger. Over the last decade storm winds have become five per cent faster. The highest strength winds have increased by ten per cent. Analysis of wind change is not that easy. Wind does not show up in satellite pictures. Special equipment such as radar altimeters are put onto satellites. They get data by scanning for echoes. The frequency and strength of storms is definitely increasing.

It is not yet proven to be due to global warming. This could be a cyclical phenomenon. Nonetheless, it is drawing a long bow not to presume it is an aspect of global warming. Rising seas with stronger storms will cause more erosion in coastal regions.
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Science

Bread Is Going Stale Overnight - Sell Your Shares in Mighty Soft

Bread making companies who supply supermarkets are no longer adding calcium propionate (282) to their product. Have you noticed how your slices of bread are going stale along one side over the last month? This is due to the omission of this preservative. How can a company calling a product "Mighty Soft" possibly stay in business when its bread goes stale quick smart? Tip Top has also stopped adding 282. I have searched supermarket shelves looking at bread packaging for the additive. Unfortunately, all companies seem to have stopped using it.

Consumers will not buy bread that is virtually stale when it is purchased. Even freezing the loaves has no effect because the bread is already "dry" before you put it in the fridge. Splitting a loaf into two halves, bagging it in a brown paper bag then putting it into a plastic sandwich bag will also not solve the problem. The only answer is to do what people did a half century ago - buy bread daily or have it delivered each day.

The do-gooders will be jumping with joy saying how healthy bread has become, but this bread will end up in rubbish bins as working people nationwide open their lunch boxes to find stale sandwiches. Children will be spitting it across the table..

Calcium propionate inhibits mould. Furthermore, contrary to what is stated in information sheets, preservative 282 also keeps bread softer for longer.
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Panda Fall

"You sure got out of that tree fast son."
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~~~~~Funny Animal Photos~~~~~
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Religion is Weakening But It Will Not Die

The world is at war between those who believe in God and those who do not. Christianity is becoming less relevant to some as they lead busy lives. Islam is still strong and growing. The other religions are still important to many, particularly when there are hardships in life.

All religions are under threat as people clamber for democracy in countries where whole societies revolved around the dictates of the prevailing religion. From census data taken in 85 Western nations, it was found that the number of people ticking "unaffiliated" is increasing. Though the formula predicts total extinction of religious belief it is doubtful that this will actually occur. Even when a religion is outlawed people tend to go underground with their beliefs. It comes to life again when circumstances improve.

The thing is, we will never really know if there is a God. Many go to church as "insurance", just in case there is life after death. Religious books give us answers to the questions in life. Science may "disprove" such things as Adam being created just five thousand years ago but these books are so complex that a reader will find an answer somewhere in there amongst the complicated and confusing text.
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Chandelier Cat

"You should stop throwing us animals around, Fatso!"
http://vistacomputersolutions.blogspot.com/
~~~~~Funny Animal Photos~~~~~
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