Ben Shoemate's Notebook

Shared by Ben Shoemate
As a planet, COROT-exo-3b would be the most massive and the densest found to date - more than twice as dense as lead

Spaceflight Now

Discovery Stirs Exoplanet Classification Rethink Science Daily (press release) - 20 hours ago This discovery of COROT-exo-3b was supported by a number of ground-based observations that made use of a network of observatories operated by different ... CoRoT discovery challenges the definition of extra-solar planets PhysOrg.com Telescope detects odd-ball object BBC News Huge New Planet Defies Explanation FOXNews all 31 news articles

matt buchanan via Gizmodo shared by 5 people

It's official. We're hosed. The National Debt Clock near Times Square has just run out of spaces to add more zeroes to its running count of our national debt, thanks to the one-two punch of the $700 billion Wall Street bailout and the $100 billion used to prop up Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac before that. If you haven't already read our guide to gadgets to get you through the Next Great Depression, how to make your current gadgets weather the storm or abandoned all hope, now's a good time to start. [WKYC]

David Pescovitz via Boing Boing shared by 5 people


My pal and IFTF colleague Jess Hemerly and her friend Chris Riebschlager just whipped up a fun new photo blog called "Sad Guys On Trading Floors."

Shared by Ben Shoemate
"Not only have we shown these fish alive for the first time, but we have multiplied by five the total number known to science," Priede said.

The fish are able to withstand pressures equivalent to "1,600 elephants on the roof of a Mini," according to a press release.

Life thrives at nearly five miles under the sea, researchers found. A group of snailfish are the deepest species ever seen alive.

"no description"

via http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/naps/

"small tree"

Michael Masnick via Techdirt shared by 5 people

From Paul Kedrosky we find one of the most idiotic theories on where the whole financial crisis came from, out of a laughably stupid interview with author Tom Wolfe. Apparently, the problem wasn't complex securities, massive leverage, unsupportable subprime mortgage giveaways or anything of the sort. No sir. It was all those flickering screens on computers that make financial types not want to pay attention:

The whole thing, starting with the subprime, is the fault of the computer. I was just talking to a banker the other day, and not that long ago, 20 years ago, an investment banking house, let's say, Lehman Brothers, when it got a package of mortgages, they would go through every mortgage, every single one, and they'd throw out the ones that just seemed absurd, they just wouldn't accept them. Things used to arrive on paper. Today things arrive on a screen, and a screen is back lit, and one of the biggest pains in the neck is trying to read something dully written and complicated on a computer screen. It will drive you nuts -- I mean, try it sometime. Now they say, "Oh, to hell with it," and they just accept the whole package. And if it hadn't been for that, they'd be going over each loan. What's happened is the backward march of technology.

So, now you know.

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Canada.com

Photos: Messenger returns to Mercury CNET News - 38 minutes ago On Monday, NASA's Messenger spacecraft drew within 125 miles of Mercury in its second pass by the planet within the past year. NASA 'Messenger' Captures Space Views Of Mercury's Surface InformationWeek NASA: Messenger sends back never-before-seen Mercury images Computerworld MSNBC - eFluxMedia - RedOrbit - Reuters all 103 news articles

Kevin Purdy via Lifehacker shared by 4 people

IBM is offering the public a peek at Bluehouse, an online office portal aimed at making it easier for employees to share documents and desktops, host web conferences, and reach out to clients from one location. Any sized business can sign up to try out the service, though not everything works at the moment. One notably cool feature is the "Live Charts," which does exactly what it sounds like. There's tagging, importing from Outlook or Lotus Notes, and a lot more to fiddle with. Bluehouse is free to use (for the moment), requires a sign-up.