Link Collection

Amateur astronomy took a break from watching sports on TV on Sunday to use his backyard telescope and discovered an object hitting Jupiter...creating a scar on Jupiter the size of the Earth! With all of the expensive telescopes and professionals working around the world, some guy using a $10k telescope in his backyard was the only one to notice this object hitting Jupiter?
http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/21/amateur-astronomer-finds-new-earth-size-impact-mark-on-jupiter/


Taiwanese researchers developed an organic compound that can destroy the swine flu and bird flu:
http://homelandsecuritynewswire.com/single.php?id=8377


Global warming has resulting in European fish stocks becoming just half as big as before. Also, smaller species are making up a larger proportion of European fish stocks, which affects predators higher up on the food chain:
http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2009/07/20/fish-climate-change.html


Liverpool researchers showed that it is possible to develop an invisibility cloak to protect a building from earthquakes:
Article link


Device developed that can be implanted into a tumor to monitor how it responds to treatment:
http://nextbigfuture.com/2009/07/implantable-device-for-monitoring.html


The Obama administration declared 1 million acres around the Grand Canyon off limits to new uranium mining claims for two years. Mines already approved by the Bush Administration will get to move forward:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/21/us/21mining.html?_r=1


Study estimates that there is up to a 50% chance of fully depleting the Colorado River reservoir storage by 2057. Unless patterns change, the water supply for the Western part of the US is in jeopardy:
http://www.colorado.edu/news/r/f0f273435508fe6525e5e4903baa539b.html


Study estimates that a child born today has at least a 10% chance of dying early due to nuclear war:
http://news.stanford.edu/news/2009/july22/hellman-nuclear-analysis-071709.html


Analysis about how Middle East peace could be closer now that Israel has successfully tested their Iron Dome defensive system:
http://homelandsecuritynewswire.com/single.php?id=8380


Defense Secretary Gates wants to add 22,000 soldiers to the US Army without increasing the DoD budget--this means other programs (probably expensive weapons programs) will be canceled:
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=55190


The Senate voted to stop production of the F-22 stealth jet--Pres. Obama, Defense Secretary Gates and Sen. McCain worked hard for that 58-40 win:
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2009/07/senate-votes-to-stop-stealth-jets-continue-pentagon-overhaul/


UAV air strikes against the Taliban and al Qaeda rapidly increasing over the past year:
2004: 1 recorded strike
2005: 1 recorded strike
2006: 3 recorded strikes
2007: 5 recorded strikes
2008: first 7 months 8 recorded strikes, last 5 months 28 recorded strikes, 317 deaths over the year
2009: As of July 18 there were 31 recorded strikes, 365 deaths
http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2009/07/us_predator_strikes_3.php


Elbit just acquired BVR systems for $34 million:
http://www.asd-network.com/press_detail_B.asp?ID=21958&NID=284998


During her visit to India, Hilary Clinton said that "outsourcing is a concern for many':
Article link


For some reason, Nortel executives do not want RIM (a Canadian company just like Nortel) to buy their wireless assets. RIM apparently wants to bid $1.1 billion for the same assets that Nortel wants to sell to Nokia for $650 million...ignoring RIM doesn't make sense to me!
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/Nortel+rejects+from/1808763/story.html


BlackBerry update (not authorized or tested by RIM) in the United Arab Emirates resulted in crashes or drastically reduced battery life...because the update was not something to improve the BlackBerry performance--instead, it was spyware!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8161190.stm


Cellular South will have an Android phone by the end of this year, by far the smallest operator to get an Android phone:
http://www.fiercewireless.com/press-releases/cellular-south-offer-android-smartphone-year-0?utm_medium=nl&utm_source=internal


Qualcomm's key involvement with the Android platform may be boosting it financial results:
http://www.forbes.com/2009/07/20/qualcomm-earnings-android-technology-wireless-qualcomm.html?partner=yahootix


iPhone, iTouch, BlackBerry, and PC users who download the free eReader from Barnes & Nobles will get free eBooks--BlackBerry users will get Dracula, Pride and Prejudice, Little Women, and the Merriam-Webster's Pocket Dictionary for free:
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/ebooks/download-reader.asp?dltab=blackberry


The Oscar Mayer Wienermobile crashed into the deck and garage of a home in Wisconsin:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31975215/ns/us_news-weird_news/


I enjoyed this article about the 10 gaming gadgets that will make us hurt ourselves...and that 8-in-1 weapons bundle (sword, axe, gun, etc.) is actually a real product!
http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2009/07/gaming-gadgets


The SEC is getting $55 million per year from CBS for their college football TV rights, and whatever games CBS doesn't pick go to ESPN for $150 million per year...every year for the next 15 years! Great timing for the SEC to get that contract last year before the economy really tanked:
http://charlotte.bizjournals.com/charlotte/stories/2008/08/25/daily4.html


ESPN Regional Television is piecing together an "SEC Network" to get their games (the ones that CBS doesn't want) shown around the country. Their old syndicated deal only showed football games in the 9 SEC states, but they already have 47% of the country signed up for the ESPN-backed syndicated deal and it will be showing men's and women's basketball also:
http://blog.al.com/solomon/2009/07/sec_network_goes_national.html