too soon

US court charges 11 Russians with conspiracy to export high-tech electronics
 

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A US court has charged 11 people with participating in an alleged Russian network illegally exporting high-tech microelectronics and supplying them to Russian military and intel agencies. Defendants potentially face...
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The Blue wildebeest - lawnmowers of the grasslands
 

http://thewebsiteofeverything.com/we...wildebeest.jpgThe Blue wildebeest (Connochaetes Taurinus), one of two species of wildebeest, is a large mammal of the Bovid family. Muscular in appearance, this animal moves gracefully on slim legs. Although he has a reputation for stampeding, this animal generally moves quietly, but when spooked can charge across the plain at speeds up to 40 mph.

The silvery, blue luster on his short-haired hide, differentiates him from the plainer, Black wildebeest, and also gives him the distinction of his name. Parenthesis shaped horns adorn the heads of both the male and female wildebeest. Wide at the base while curving out and upward, the male’s horn span can reach 90 cm, 2.95 ft, with the female horns only half that size. Larger than the female, the male can reach a length of 2.5 meters, 7.5 ft, and a weight of 290 kg, 639 lbs, with the female slightly smaller.

Since wildebeests must have daily, lengthy drinks, they should always be within 15 to 25 kilometers of potable water. Because of their need to drink, wildebeests are extremely vulnerable at river crossings. There, they are stalked by their enemies. The main predators of the wildebeest are the crocodile, lion, leopard, cheetah, and the hyena.

The Blue wildebeest inhabits bush-covered and open savannah areas in south and east Africa, favoring a locale that is neither too dry nor too wet. Because wildebeests are grazers they prefer the grasslands of the savannah. Their diet consists mainly of short grass, but sometimes they may eat bark and leaves. The jaw structure, and their wide rows of teeth, prevents them from eating many of the longer types of grasses, compelling them to choose shorter growth. Zebras co-exist with the wildebeest for joint protection, and also allow the wildebeest to benefit from the Zebra’s grazing habits of shearing down tall grass, leaving the choice, shorter shoots behind.

While the herds are mostly migratory, they will follow a seasonal grazing and watering path. Forming some of the largest migratory herds of all animals, the wildebeest will search for more lush grasses once the rainy season has ended. Yet, some wildebeest do not migrate, and prefer to stay in one area year round, forming small herds. Very territorial, the adult males will occupy their piece of ground for a month, or for the whole year, marking the space with dung heaps, gland secretions, and pawing of the ground. Generally, territories cease to exist once the dry season begins.

Africa’s large herds of wildebeest have declined the last few centuries because of human habitat, hunting, and environmental droughts. Fencing, and lack of water due to irrigation and farming, has prevented the wildebeest from migrating and entering its usual seasonal ranges. The Blue wildebeest still numbers over a million, and continues to be wide spread throughout Africa. However because of their diminishing numbers, and fear for their survival, conservation efforts are working to repair damaged grasslands and the problems of excessive fencing.

Picture of the Blue Wildebeest by Profberger, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Generic http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/anim...qs:gIN9vFwOqvQ
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Shampooing in the Fall
 

Stop Hair Breakage Now
 

Poll: How Long Have You Been Natural?
 

Manhattan Project
 

I am really enjoying New Mexico Week, and I hope you are too. There is so much interesting history there. Normally we think of the very old and rich cultures of the Native Americans and Spanish there. What we sometimes forget is that it is one of the central locations for secret military projects.


The picture above is of Robert Oppenheimer and Leslie Groves looking at ground zero after the first nuclear bomb explosion, which was done at Alamogordo as part of the Manhattan Project.


New Mexico is still home to the Sandia and Los Alamos National Laboratories, and the White Sands missile range.
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Bourbon
 

Forum: Culture and Customs Posted By: lord flints volunteer Post Time: 10-03-2012 at 07:59 PM

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Martian Rock
 

NASA\'s Mars rover Curiosity held its Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) camera about 10.5 inches (27 centimeters) away from the top of a rock called \"Bathurst Inlet\" for a set of eight images combined into this merged-focus view of the rock. This context image covers an area roughly 6.5 inches by 5 inches (16 centimeters by 12 centimeters). Resolution is about 105 microns per pixel.

MAHLI took the component images for this merged-focus view, plus closer-up images of Bathurst Inlet, during Curiosity\'s 54th Martian day, or sol (Sept. 30, 2012). The instrument\'s principal investigator had invited Curiosity\'s science team to \"MAHLI it up!\" in the selection of Sol 54 targets for inspection with MAHLI and with the other instrument at the end of Curiosity\'s arm, the Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer.

A merged-focus MAHLI view from closer to the rock, providing even finer resolution, is at PIA14763 .

The Bathurst Inlet rock is dark gray and appears to be so fine-grained that MAHLI cannot resolve grains or crystals in it. This means that the grains or crystals, if there are any at all, are smaller than about 80 microns in size. Some windblown sand-sized grains or dust aggregates have accumulated on the surface of the rock but this surface is clean compared to, for example, the pebbly substrate below the rock (upper left and lower right in this context image).

MAHLI can do focus merging onboard. The full-frame versions of the eight separate images that were combined into this view were not even returned to Earth -- just the thumbnail versions. Merging the images onboard reduces the volume of data that needs to be downlinked to Earth.

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Malin Space Science Systems

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