About Anything

This is just a random post to test something

Martin — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 05:57:04 +0000

The newly-released Gonski review into school funding recommends the country’s best performing schools be studied to decide how much a good education costs per student.

That amount would be guaranteed per student, although how much governments contribute will be based on parents’ ability to pay.

Extra money would be given to schools based on their remoteness and size and whether students are indigenous, have limited English, are disabled or are of a low-socioeconomic background to help them learn.

Test

Martin — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 11:53:03 +0000

On Wednesday, the Russian federal space agency (Roscosmos) said thecargo ship was not placed in the correct orbit by its rocket and fell back to Earth. However the cause of the accident is still unknown. Emergency workers are searching for wreckage of the Progress supply craft in Siberia.

Russia is the sole nation capable of delivering humans to the ISS .. really?

Martin — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 03:47:14 +0000

The six-person multinational crew on the International Space Station (ISS) will need to wait a little longer for their comrades to come by. The next scheduled manned flight to ISS was originaly planned for 22 September followed by a cargo vessel with new supplies on 28 October. However Russia has grounded its fleet of Soyuz rockets after an unmanned spacecraft carrying cargo for the space station crashed shortly following its launch. A decision has been taken to halt the launch of Soyuz carrier rockets until the reasons for the accident become clear.

The 50th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin’s first spiced by embarrassing accident?!

Latest mishaps of the Russian space programme.

In December last year, three satellites crucial for providing Russia with global sat-nav coverage failed shortly after launch. The head of Roscosmos, Anatoly Perminov, was replaced in the wake of the accident.

This month, a telecommunications satellite was placed in the wrong orbit by its Russian Proton launcher. A fault with the booster was blamed.

One billion cars worldwide

Martin — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 00:59:41 +0000

Have you ever wondered how many cars are out there? I haven’t, at least not until yesterday. According to industry trade journal Ward’s, which added up both reported vehicle registrations and historical trends, the total crossed 1 billion cars sometime last year. (The vehicles include passenger cars, light-, medium-, and heavy-duty trucks, and buses, but not off-road or heavy construction vehicles.)

Just 40 years ago, in 1970, the world’s total was only a quarter of a billion vehicles, a number that took 85 years to achieve.

The 1970 total doubled in just 16 years, to 500,000,000 by 1986. It took 24 more years to double again, to the current 1 billion.

By some projections, the world could house as many as 2.5 billion vehicles by 2050.

Paper pinhole Leica M3

Martin — Sat, 04 Jun 2011 01:18:11 +0000

Photographer Matthew Nicholson designed and created this paper model of Leica M3. It’s actually a working pinhole camera once it’s loaded with 35mm film.

Garage Band guitar solo

Martin — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 04:17:06 +0000

This is George Lambro creating a jam track with apple’s Garageband app for the ipad and then shredding a guitar solo over it! What a great solo, the guy is Garage Band genius. Hope you enjoy!

[tube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_KYUF6pxR8[/tube]

Finally retired after 299 days in space

Martin — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 13:36:37 +0000

Space shuttle Endeavour touched down safely at the Kennedy Space Center at 2:34 a.m. ET, ending its last mission.

Endeavour’s STS-134 mission was originally supposed to be the final mission of NASA’s space shuttle program, but the STS-135 mission was approved in October 2010. Now, Atlantis will be NASA’s final space shuttle to fly into space in July.

299 days in space, 122,883,151 miles

Endeavour has spent 299 days in space, orbited Earth 4,671 times and traveled 122,883,151 miles on its 25 flights, according to NASA.

Check out the video of the landing below.

[tube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBB9sAitVTE&feature=youtu.be[/tube]

Taken from nasa.gov

More from NASA on “The NASA Universe”

Students can’t go without technology for more than 10 minutes

Martin — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 10:31:49 +0000

The study surveyed 500 American college students. 78% of them said they would not be able to study without some form of technology, and 38% said that they could not even go more than 10 minutes without checking their laptop, smartphone, tablet or ereader.

Many of the students said they used technology for learning tasks traditionally completed with paper. In addition to the unsurprisingly large majority of students who used it to research and write papers (81% and 82% respectively), 70% of the students said they use keyboards rather than paper to take notes and 65% said they use digital devices to create presentations. Technology was also a preferred method for getting in touch with teachers — 91% of the students cited email as a method for seeking extra help from their instructors.

“Kindle” isn’t quite there yet

Using an ereader for assigned reading hasn’t caught on quite as well. A 2010 study by OnCampus Research found that 74% of college students surveyed still preferred to use a printed textbook. But the survey suggests that further etextbook adoption might be on the way.

Nearly half of the 98% of students in the survey who owned a digital device said they regularly read etextbooks. 63% had read an etextbook on their device at least once, and the majority of the survey group agreed that etextbooks are easier to carry, simpler to search, cheaper and better than traditional textbooks for reading on-the-go.

For more information read original article on Mashable.com

Comet Between Fireworks and Lightning

Martin — Sun, 29 May 2011 09:54:35 +0000

Credit & Copyright: Antti Kemppainen

Sometimes the sky itself is the best show in town. In January 2007, people from Perth, Australia gathered on a local beach to watch a sky light up with delights near and far. Nearby, fireworks exploded as part of Australia Day celebrations. On the far right, lightning from a thunderstorm flashed in the distance. Near the image center, though, seen through clouds, was the most unusual sight of all: Comet McNaught.

The photogenic comet was so bright that it even remained visible though the din of Earthly flashes. Comet McNaught has now returned to the outer Solar System and is now only visible with a large telescope. The above image is actually a three photograph panorama digitally processed to reduce red reflections from the exploding firework.

Taken from NASA (Astronomy Picture of the Day)

LaCie Next Generation SSD Thunderbolt HDD

Martin — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 11:02:44 +0000

An Industry Breakthrough

Introducing the LaCie Little Big Disk featuring Thunderbolt—the next generation of storage. Developed by Intel^® and brought to market by Apple^®, Thunderbolt is a high-speed interface that lets you transfer files faster than ever before—download a full-length HD movie in less than 30 seconds. LaCie has collaborated closely with Intel and Apple to help bring the Little Big Disk featuring Thunderbolt to market, and the result is a cutting-edge product that lets both professionals and consumers get unbelievable speed.

Perfect for All of Your Peripherals

With the ability to daisy-chain up to six computer peripherals, the Little Big Disk featuring Thunderbolt puts you in control. You can connect additional Little Big Disk featuring Thunderbolt hard drives, cameras, monitors, etc.—and still enjoy the speed of Thunderbolt technology. Its two convenient ports increase reliability, without compromising bandwidth.

Work Faster, Work Anywhere

The LaCie Little Big Disk featuring Thunderbolt is compact enough to function as a mobile drive, making it ideal for photographers, journalists, or film editors who need to take it on the road. A journalist or film editor can easily upload footage and edit in the field, which saves time and gets the job done faster.