The BREATHING EARTH is a simulation of birth and death with a touch of pollution added in. As it runs, the births and deaths are recorded along with CO2 emissions from around the world. Thanks to Dave and Thomas for the link to BREATHING EARTH.Thursday, November 16, 2006
BREATHING EARTH
The BREATHING EARTH is a simulation of birth and death with a touch of pollution added in. As it runs, the births and deaths are recorded along with CO2 emissions from around the world. Thanks to Dave and Thomas for the link to BREATHING EARTH.
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Map of Earthquake that prompted tsunami warnings in Japan
A powerful undersea earthquake prompted tsunami warnings Wednesday for Japan and Russia but the danger appeared to pass after a series of tiny waves hit the northern Japanese coast.
The waves did not swell higher than 16 inches and rapidly diminished in size, but Japan's meteorological agency said that it would wait for at least several hours before withdrawing its warning of possible larger waves.
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
Customers are beginning to receive ArcGIS 9.2
Keeping tabs with the new ArcGIS 9.2, I spotted a post from James Fee on an update of the shipments of the mapping software. It's starting to trickle in....
GIS Sites - GIS links from around the world
IRAN in the news
IRAN is in the news more than ever as it approaches the final stages of developing a Nuclear program. As the U.S. government stands firm against these actions, IRAN is also at odds with Israel and Google.
- Iranians outraged as Google redraws map - In a move tailor-made to wound Iranian patriotic pride and arouse a blizzard of protest, the Azeri provincial capital, Tabriz, is located "in southern Azerbaijan, currently in the territory of Iran". To add insult to injury, the ancient city is listed as being in Azerbaijan, rather than Iran. [ ...more.. ]
- Iran president to send U.S. nation a message soon - Iran's president said on Tuesday he would soon send a message on his country's policies to the U.S. people, whose government is facing calls to engage the Islamic Republic to help quell violence in the region. [..more..]
- Iran Says Nuke Program Is Near Complete - President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Tuesday said Iran would soon celebrate completion of its controversial nuclear fuel program. But Tehran claims its program is peaceful and for generating electricity. Uranium enrichment at low levels can be used to produce fuel to generate electricity but at higher levels can be use to make atomic bombs. [ ...more... ]
- Blair - we must work with 'Axis of Evil' states - Mr Blair said there could be a new “partnership” with Iran if it stopped supporting terrorism in Iraq and gave up its nuclear ambitions. Syria and Iran could choose partnership or isolation, he said. [...more...]
- Netanyahu: It's 1938 and Iran is Germany; Ahmadinejad is preparing another Holocaust - Drawing a direct analogy between Iran and Nazi Germany, Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu asserted Monday that the Iranian nuclear program posed a threat not only to Israel, but to the entire western world. There was "still time," however, to prevent Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons, he said. [ ...more... ]
Appalachian Mountain Club Mapping
Appalachian Mountain Club is an educational resource to help you understand important natural landscapes of the Appalachian region and the conservation challenges and opportunities that face them.
It includes maps that have been prepared by the AMC to illustrate a particular topic, as well as custom maps that allow you to select and view data layers of your choice from all layers available for that geographic region.
Appalachian Mountain Club GIS Sites - GIS links from around the worldMonday, November 13, 2006
Microsoft to debut wireless music sharing Zune in U.S
www.chinaview.cn
BEIJING, Nov. 14 (Xinhuanet) -- The world's largest software maker Microsoft Corp. will start selling the Zune portable music player and the Zune Marketplace in the United States on Tuesday, hoping to take a bite out of Apple's dominant iPod and iTunes powerhouse.
The rectangular "Zune" player is similar in appearance to the iPod with a round click wheel, but is slightly bulkier with a larger, 3-inch screen.
The 30-gigabyte Zune allows the device to locate other nearby Zunes and wirelessly exchange music and pictures with a few touches of the button.
The wireless sharing ability of the Zune is meant to overcome what Microsoft sees as the biggest drawback of portable players: the inability of users to share music and listen with others.
The Zune represents the software giant's most ambitious attempt to date to challenge Apple's iPod, which accounts for more than 75 percent of digital music players and legally purchased downloaded songs.
Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft has said it plans to invest hundreds of millions of dollars to develop and market the Zune, which is merely a starting point for a new entertainment platform and a "Zune community."
Microsoft said it's grown interested in entertainment because technology now plays a bigger role in the way people do everything from watch television to listen to music. Robbie Bach, president of Microsoft's entertainment and devices division, said that's a change that plays to Microsoft's strengths.
"We're moving from just a device that you use on your own to what we call connected entertainment," Microsoft chairman Bill Gates told the crowd in downtown Seattle, before demonstrating the Zune's wireless song-swapping feature. "We'll be able to upgrade the software here, connect you up to the capability you'll have in your car, your PC, your phone."
Analysts don't expect the early effort to make a serious dent in Apple's market share. "It's not even going to give the iPod a bad headache for the time being," said analyst Michael Gartenberg with Jupiter Research.
Magazine Fakes Photo of Breastfeeding News Anchor
Ha!
A picture of Elizabeth Vargas breastfeeding her child at the newsdesk is a hoot! I love the response of Elizabeth Vargas in that she wouldn't wear that blouse. Nothin' like a little Photoshop to sell a magazine! Nice touch to an unusual development. Drudge is reporting her official response as:
"Elizabeth was more than happy to sit for the interview but was disturbed that the magazine would set aside basic journalistic standards to photoshop her head onto a fake image. Vargas did joke that her real baby is cuter, that she is proud to breastfeed her newborn but wouldn't do it at the anchor desk and that she wouldn't be caught dead in that ugly gold blouse!"
Who is Lawrence Wenngrodd
From Dave And Thomas
Well, it's official. "BORAT" is a hit and like sharks smelling blood in the water, groups of people are lining up to sue for part of the profits. Lawyers are drooling at the chance of finding a loophole in the contracts signed by people who appear in the movie so they can start to repair the damage done by their clients "unwise" actions. As the media hunts down the people who were part of the prank, one common story arises: They got paid.
Dave and Thomas can't help but noticed that they got paid and signed releases, even if it were under funny pretenses. Most didn't read through the legal paperwork after taking wads of cash then putting down their "John Hancock's." These people should run for Congress, not ask for our sympathy. Dave and Thomas really like how the villagers called Sasha Baron Cohen, who plays "Borat", an 'ugly, tall, moustachioed American man', even though the 35-year-old comedian is British.
50 state capitals in 50 consecutive days
Now, here's a way to use Google Maps. 2 guys are indirectly helping internet surfers learn the 50 state capitals by using Google Maps and blogs to hitchhike to all 50 state capitals in 50 days. Here's a little about the guys:
"Our names are Scotty and Fiddy and we're hitchhiking to all 50 state capitals in 50 consecutive days or less. We started in Times Square, NY on October 10th. If you want to offer a ride, give us a shout at 310-494-8058 or hitch50@gmail.com. Our current location is on the above map. If the dot is moving, that means we're on the move. If the dot isn't moving, then this is probably what's going on right now. "
They have started to create a buzz on local media as well as the internet as they breeze through towns. Head toward their site to catch a map of where they are right now. And, if you can offer a ride they'll be more than happy to take you up on that offer. Lean more about the Hitch50
Iranians outraged as Google redraws map
- Video places ancient city in Azerbaijan republic
- Users urged to blitz search engine over 'insult'
Google has provoked the wrath of Iran's notoriously suspicious authorities by appearing to question the country's sovereignty over the province of Azerbaijan in an entry on its Google Video website.
In a move tailor-made to wound Iranian patriotic pride and arouse a blizzard of protest, the Azeri provincial capital, Tabriz, is located "in southern Azerbaijan, currently in the territory of Iran". To add insult to injury, the ancient city is listed as being in Azerbaijan, rather than Iran. Tabriz and southern Azerbaijan have belonged to Iran for more than 4,000 years.
The text of a tourist film on the site has drawn accusations that the US-owned search engine is deliberately trying to undermine Iran's territorial integrity by fomenting separatist sentiment in the mainly Turkish-speaking province.
Valiallah Azarvash, an Iranian MP, said: "An Iranian never accepts such slights. Since the second millennium BC, eastern Azerbaijan and Tabriz have never been separated from the body of Iran. How can they now belong somewhere else?" The information technology ministry has branded the entry an attempt to intervene in Iran's internal affairs and has urged Iranians to flood Google with emails.
"This act is a typical example of interference in the affairs of another country," said Samad Mohmen Bela, the IT ministry's representative in parliament. "The simplest, most effective response is for all Iranian users to reflect their objection to Google's management."
The reformist Etemad newspaper accused the company of a "strange, suspicious and dubious act" in apparently trying to relocate Tabriz - one of the major flashpoints of the 1979 Islamic revolution - to the independent former Soviet republic of Azerbaijan, to the north of Iran.
The republic consists of territory annexed from Iran by Russia in 1813. Joseph Stalin tried to seize the rest of Azerbaijan after the second world war but was rebuffed by US and British opposition.
Tabriz and other cities in the province witnessed violent protests earlier this year after the publication of a cartoon in a Farsi-language newspaper depicting a cockroach speaking in the local Azeri tongue.
Iran's Islamic authorities have shown little tolerance towards regional autonomous movements and have accused the US and Britain of trying to stir secessionist sympathies in different provinces, including Kurdistan and Khuzestan.
The row echoes a controversy two years ago when National Geographic magazine was swamped by protests after labelling the sea between southern Iran and neighbouring Arab states as the Arabian not the Persian Gulf. The magazine was banned in Iran and its reporters were barred from the country. Web surfers launched "Google bombs", causing searches for "Arabian Gulf" to produce a site announcing: "The gulf you are looking for does not exist, try Persian Gulf."
American Origins Project: 1877 Atlas
American Origins Project: 1877 Atlas
What is the American Origins Project?
Beginning in the late 17th century settlers began to establish themselves in many portions of the Delmarva Peninsula. These early settlers built a foundation for a America. To better understand the past, staff at the Edward H. Nabb Research Center for Delmarva History and Culture have initiated a web-based archive for researchers to gather information on some of the earliest settlers to the region.
Currently the on-line database includes information on some 3,000 of the earliest settlers in Somerset County with emphasis on those who lived in the Mt. Vernon region from 1663 to 1759. Plans are underway to include settler information from a wider time span and geographical location. The majority of information listed was transcribed directly from primary source materials at the Nabb Center including tax rolls, wills, personal inventories, maps, judicial proceedings as well as records of births, deaths and marriages.
The Mt. Vernon region of Somerset County includes Monie and Wicomico hundreds, specifically, those settlers who lived on the neck of land just south of the Wicomico River. Somerset County, officially organized in 1666, is on the southern portion of the Delmarva peninsula. The 180-mile peninsula lies between the Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean and is one of the earliest seedbeds of America. Today Delmarva is comprised of southern Delaware as well as portions of Maryland and Virginia.
American Origins Project: 1877 Atlas
Sunday, November 12, 2006
Democrats say will push for Iraq withdrawal
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democrats, who won control of the U.S. Congress, said on Sunday they will push for a phased withdrawal of American troops from Iraq to begin in four to six months, but the White House cautioned against fixing timetables.
"First order of business is to change the direction of Iraq policy," said Sen. Carl Levin, a Michigan Democrat who is expected to be chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee in the new Congress.
Democrats will press President George W. Bush's administration to tell the Iraqi government that U.S. presence was "not open-ended, and that, as a matter of fact, we need to begin a phased redeployment of forces from Iraq in four to six months," Levin said on ABC's "This Week" program.
Bush has insisted that U.S. troops would not leave until Iraqis were able to take over security for their country, and has repeatedly rejected setting a timetable for withdrawal because, he says, that would only embolden the insurgents. (...Continue article... )
Queues around the block as Playstation 3 hits stores in Japan
Queues around the block as Playstation 3 hits stores in Japan
Sony's PlayStation 3 made its highly anticipated debut in Japan to long lines on Saturday, with local stores selling out their supplies of the video game console in a pattern that's expected to be repeated around the world.
Throngs of people lined up for hours around Bic Camera, an electronics retailer in downtown Tokyo, to get their hands on one of the consoles.
The enthusiasm was so great, clerks with megaphones asked the crowd to stop pushing, warning that all sales would end if there were any injuries.
"Standing in line today is the only way to make sure I got one," said Takayuki Sato, 30, among the buyers who queued up at Bic Camera, snaking around the building in a complete circle.
But would-be buyers were turned away even before the store opened at 7 a.m.
The retailer refused to say how many machines it had, but a spokeswoman speaking on condition of anonymity per company policy said the store had ... (CONTINUE ARTICLE)
Saturday, November 11, 2006
GIS PILOT Official Blog
The official blog for GIS Pilot is up and running again after some technical difficulties. Blogger is becoming too slow and cumbersome to operate so I started the new blog officially for GIS PILOT. With the new roll out of Blogger Beta, however, the sluggish and difficult Blogger is showing some promises of getting useful. I have upgraded another site for Dave and Thomas to the Beta version and it is night and day when comparing to the old version.
WEEKEND LINKS -20th Century Fox Movies Next To iTunes?
Enjoy the weekend with as many ballgames as you can possibly stand. In between, here's some news and links to keep you busy.
- Microsoft: Windows Vista is done
- 20th Century Fox Movies Next To iTunes?
- In-car Internet hits the road
- PS3: The Lines Begin
- Stadium of the future swings for the fences
- Iran TV broadcasts 'US ship spy plane footage'
- Dubai Swats Pests Ogling Beach Beauties
- What American accent do you have? (QUIZ)
- The Curious Furniture of Ned Troide
- How not to wake your wife up (video)
NEW OAKLAND A'S STADIUM; GOOGLE MAPS UPDATE
This week, the Oakland A's and San Francisco 49er's announced they would be leaving the long time home on the bay to newer stadiums in the suburbs. The 49er's plan to move to nearby Santa Clara while the A's announced they would move to nearby Freemont from Oakland (above). If the A's get their way, the new stadium would be state of the art in many ways. Cisco Systems, Inc, the computer sponsor of the park has big dreams for the park which include:"Fans will swipe electronic tickets stored on cell phones. Bleacher bums will view instant replays at their seats with laptop computers. And digital advertising displays will be able to switch images based on the buying habits of the people walking by through data embedded in their cell phones."
Also, while playing around on GOOGLE MAPS, I noticed GOOGLE has posted on their site that "Search History now includes Google Maps." This allows for a personalized version of GOOGLE MAPS after you can sign in, such as:
"Personalized Search is part of Google's ongoing effort to make your search experience more relevant to you. Using Personalized Search, you can:·
Get the results most relevant to you, based on what you've searched for in the past·
View and manage your past searches, including the webpages, images, news headlines and Froogle results you've clicked on·
Create bookmarks you can access from any computerPersonalized Search orders your search results based on your past searches, as well as the search results and news headlines you've clicked on. You can view all these items in your Search History and remove any items you'd like.
Early on, you may not notice a huge impact on your search results, but as you build up your search history, your personalized search results will continue to improve." (Google Help Center)
Weekend update - Canada
Long week is now over. Updated this week on GIS PILOT were some European GIS Links and the creation of a Canada GIS Link page. The Canadian updates include:
- Alberta GIS British Columbia Canada GIS Burlington City GIS Canada GIS Canada GIS Datasets Centre Wellington Township GIS Conservation Atlas of Wetlands in the St. Lawrence Valley Municipality of Chatham-Kent, Ontario - click "maps" Edmonton, Alberta GIS Kitchener City GIS Laval, Quebec GIS Newmarket, Town, Ontario Northwest Territories GIS Atlas North Vancouver District GIS Oakville, Ontario GIS Ontario Minerals & Mines GIS Oxford County Ontario Multiple GIS sites include Groundwater, land , farm, & tourism. Quinte West, Ontario GIS Regional District of Nanaimo (RDN) British Columbia Richmond Hill Town, Ontario GIS St. John's City GIS Simcoe County, ONTARIO GIS Strathcona, AL County GIS Thunder Bay GIS Toronto GIS TRANS CANADA Trail Mapper Vancouver GIS Vaughn, Ontario GIS Waterloo Region GIS Wellington County GIS York Region GIS & Maps
Friday, November 10, 2006
Oscar-winning actor Jack Palance dies
First, we lost the Great Ed Bradley of "60 Minutes" fame. Now, Jack Palance, the Oscar-winning actor, has passed on. The resume for Jack Palance read likes a recipe for how to be a great person. He started boxing under the name Jack Brazzo, worked in the coal mines as a child, and served in WWII.
The Associated Press
LOS ANGELES - Jack Palance, the craggy-faced menace in "Shane," "Sudden Fear" and other films who turned to comedy at 70 with his Oscar-winning self-parody in "City Slickers," died Friday.
Palance died of natural causes at his home in Montecito, Calif., surrounded by family, said spokesman Dick Guttman. Palance was 85 according to Associated Press records, but his family gave his age as 87.
When Palance accepted his Oscar for best supporting actor he delighted viewers of the 1992 Academy Awards by dropping to the stage and performing one-armed push-ups to demonstrate his physical prowess. ...continue article at Washington Post
More about Jack Palance
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)