Roundup for 9-13-07 part 1

Morgan Fairchild will play herself in an upcoming episode of Men in Trees.
http://community.tvguide.com/blog-entry/TVGuide-Editors-Blog/Ausiello-Report/Exclusive-Men-Trees/800022149?rssDate=12345678

Jon Stewart will host the Oscars again next year.
http://www.thefutoncritic.com/news.aspx?id=20070912abc01

Google is co-sponsoring a $20 million grand prize (with $10 million in other prizes) for an unmanned moon landing by a private industry group.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070913/wr_nm/space_prize_dc_1
http://www.space.com/news/070913_google_xprize.html

By analyzing the orbit of Mars, they think it has had 40 ice ages in the past 50 million years (approx. every 120,000 years), with the wobble causing the sun to either dry out the soil or cause ice sheets to form right under it, alternating in location. Wow, makes life seem pretty much impossible anywhere remotely near the surface.
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/070912_mars_ice.html

Not all red giant stars act the same way. And some planets could survive the death of their suns. Could Earth? Doubtful, but it allows for some interesting speculation, and none of us will be around to know for sure.
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/070912_rgiant_planet.html

Vampire star found = article about a star that siphons gas from another star close by.
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/070912_neutron_object.html

For $1.3 million a year and the loan of their planes for research missions, Google founders will get to park their planes at Moffet Field. I think it sounds like a great deal for all involved (Moffet gets more funds to stay open and active in research, and Google gets airport access right next to their headquarters), but there is concern over just how many flights will be allowed.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/13/technology/13google.html?em&ex=1189742400&en=d65a97aea29c0825&ei=5087%0A
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/09/12/BUDJS3IOT.DTL&feed=rss.technology

New water bottle filters anything under 15 nanometers (viruses are 25), so it can purify the grossest water imaginable without chemicals and can go at least 4,000 liters before changing the filter. Military agencies bought up his entire supply within 4 hours, but I'm sure he'll be making more soon (he designed it for disaster relief).
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=3R3S1NAZ1X2NVQFIQMFCFFWAVCBQYIV0?xml=/news/2007/09/12/nwater112.xml

Solar aircraft sets records
http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/09/10/1917254&from=rss

A stinky weed with an oily seed may be your next source of auto fuel. It is apparently really easy to turn into biodiesel.
http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/09/10/1734254&from=rss

Student film version of Rama. (I still need to check out.)
http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/005624.html

Roundup for 9-6-07

RIP Pavarotti. I remember listening to him sing so many times when I was a kid with Dad.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070906/ap_on_en_mu/pavarotti;_ylt=Av2JwfkqH0dHr2C14DzJtkKs0NUE

Alyssa Milano will be joining the cast of My Name is Earl.
http://community.tvguide.com/blog-entry/TVGuide-Editors-Blog/Ausiello-Report/Exclusive-Earl-Charmed/800021729?rssDate=12345678

NBC is going to encore several of its shows on other channels it owns: Bionic Woman on SciFi, pilots on USA & Bravo. Heroes may encore on NBC itself on Saturdays, but unlike last season, there are no plans for any other network to show it.
http://www.thefutoncritic.com/news.aspx?id=7450

Two telescopes have confirmed the sighting of tiny building block galaxies.
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/070906_toy_galaxies.html

Weird but true: Some eels have an extra set of teeth in their throat that reach up and pull food down.
http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_6807532

Designed to run for 3 months, the Mars rovers have been running for 3 years. (I'm used to things that work the other way round.) They just started up again after the end of dust storms that were blocking their solar panels.
http://www.computerworld.com.au/index.php/id;1211831261;fp;16;fpid;1

They've traced the origin of the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs. Who would have thought there'd still be enough evidence after 160 million years?
http://www.physorg.com/news108218928.html

Australia is considering storing stem cells from their athletes to use to help them heal faster from injuries.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/stem-cell-bank-to-help-players-heal-quickly/2007/09/05/1188783320031.html

Rapid diagnostics using nanoparticles to detect viruses and cancers.
http://www.technologyreview.com/Biztech/19343/

Using lasers to kill viruses.
http://in.news.yahoo.com/070905/139/6kddc.html

Networks are considering all sorts of weird strategies, including bringing cable shows to the networks, to fill the gap expected because of the potential writers strike in October.
http://www.afterellen.com/blog/roc/tv-writers-may-strike?comment=394509
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117971074.html?categoryid=14&cs=1

Dianne Wiest will be joining Amy Sherman-Palladino's (Gilmore Girls creator) new show at midseason.
http://www.zap2it.com/tv/news/zap-wiestjezeljamescasting,0,5682511.story?track=rss

Oregon is testing ocean wave power generators. I like the potential for more power in less space than solar or wind without the bird endangerment of the windmills.
http://news.com.com/8301-10784_3-9772850-7.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20

Biomass fuel just took another step closer to becoming a reality.
http://news.com.com/8301-10784_3-9772651-7.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20