STEALING THE NETWORK

STEALING THE NETWORK

How to own a continent

moon

Looney Moon orbit mystery solved

The Moon was pulled out of its circular orbit around Earth by the tug of gravity from Jupiter and Venus, a new study suggests.The research by Dr Matija Cuk of the University of British Columbia is published today in the journal Science.The idea that other planets can affect the Moon would seem far-fetched, since the gravity of those planets, at tens of millions of kilometres away, is miniscule.But Cuk has worked out the details of those times when the Moon's orbit and the orbits of Venus and Jupiter are in sync, and found that over the eons with repeated tugs, the two planets can have cumulative effects.These "resonance" effects have pulled the Moon out of its circular orbit and elongated it."This is the first time that anyone has shown that the Moon is affected by other planets in major ways," says Cuk. "It's a chaotic process," she says of the orbital happenings in the solar system. "Things perturb each other weakly, but when you get resonance, the perturbations keep adding up."A good way to visualise the process is to think of an adult pushing a child on a swing, explains another orbit investigator, Dr Doug Hamilton of the University of Maryland.If you stand behind the child and gently push at the right times and the child swings their legs in sync, they go higher and higher. But if you push from the side, in any direction with no rhythm, there is no cumulative effect, no swinging and you get a frustrated kid.Elongating a circular orbitWhat brought the Moon into sync with Jupiter and Venus, at different times, is nothing less than Earth's oceans. The constant tidal tug-of-war between the oceans and the Moon has caused the Moon to recede further from Earth and gradually increased the time it takes to complete an orbit. It also made the Moon's orbit more circular.But as the lengthening time period of a lunar orbit increased, it crossed into long episodes of resonance with Jupiter and then Venus. The tiny pushes upset the Moon's neat circular path, making it the elongated orbit we see today.The most visible result of this eccentric orbit, says Hamilton, is that during some solar eclipses the Moon is on the more distant part of its non-circular orbit and it doesn't quite cover the entire Sun - this is called an annular eclipse. At closer approaches, the Moon covers the Sun entirely during eclipses."This has been a mystery for a long time," says Hamilton of the Moon's eccentric orbit. "I think Cuk has got an excellent case."

ON MARS

First liquid water may have been spotted on Mars

NASA's Phoenix lander may have captured the first images of liquid water on Mars - droplets that apparently splashed onto the spacecraft's leg during landing, according to some members of the Phoenix team.
The controversial observation could be explained by the mission's previous discovery of perchlorate salts in the soil, since the salts can keep water liquid at sub-zero temperatures. Researchers say this antifreeze effect makes it possible for liquid water to be widespread just below the surface of Mars, but point out that even if it is there, it may be too salty to support life as we know it.
A few days after Phoenix landed on 25 May 2008, it sent back an image showing mysterious splotches of material attached to one of its legs. Strangely, the splotches grew in size over the next few weeks, and Phoenix scientists have been debating the origin of the objects ever since.
One intriguing possibility is that they were droplets of salty water that grew by absorbing water vapour from the atmosphere. Arguments for this idea are laid out in a study by Phoenix team member Nilton Renno of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, and co-authored by 21 other researchers, including the mission's chief scientist, Peter Smith of the University of Arizona in Tucson. The study (pdf) will be presented in March at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in Houston, Texas.

orkut

Recently Orkut updated it’s security feature and disabled Right-click on photos of friend’s album.So this makes it difficult to copy photos from Orkut.It’s a new security update made by Orkut to prevent people from copying photos from Orkut and misusing it.This may be annoying most of you! Then…

How To Copy Locked Photos From Orkut?Yes it’s still possible to copy the photos from Orkut.Here’s a step-by-step procedure to copy the photo.
1. Login into your Orkut Account.
2. Goto your friend’s album and open the photo that you need to copy.
3. Once the photo is loaded to it’s full size just place the mouse cursor on the photo.
4. Press the left click button and drag and drop the photo onto the ADDRESS BAR.I think this trick is no longer working.So I have a new trick….
Just DRAG and DROP the PHOTO onto the current/new TAB (If you have IE 7). That’s it . This trick is working now!!4. Now the photo gets displayed seperately on your browser.
5. You can Right-Click and select the Save As option to save the photo onto your PC.
The browser also displays the direct link to the photo.This link can be used to share the Orkut photos with your friends without the need to login to your Orkut account to access photos.
Please express your opinions through comments.Cheer Up..
Happy Orkut Hacking.

cellular

BlackBerry Flip 8220 - Rs. 19, 990

The Flip is a very stylish and well cut handset, which does have that certain feminine appeal in its clamshell form. Let’s not forget that RIM with its BlackBerry range has set a certain bar for the hardcore businessma... I mean business-person. It’s a comfortable-to-use business handset that also handles all the necessary business functions that a traditional BlackBerry employs.

chess

click here to download

twelfth night

Twelfth night

• Shakespeare on the Double! Twelfth Night provides the full text of the
  Bard’s play side by side with an easy-to-read modern English translation
  that you can understand. You no longer have to wonder what exactly “like
  a worm i’ the bud” means! You can read the Shakespearean text on the lefthand
  pages and check the right-hand pages when Shakespeare’s language
  stumps you. Or you can read only the translation, which enables you to
  understand the action and characters without struggling through the
  Shakespearean English. You can even read both, referring back and forth
  easily between the original text and the modern translation. Any way you
  choose, you can now fully understand every line of the Bard’s masterpiece!

lexus

Many of the world’s automobile manufacturers use the North American International Auto Show as a platform from which to unveil new design and new concepts in car design. This year’s exhibition just came to an end in Detroit, Michigan and we are happy to report there were at least a few new designs that caught our eyes. A series of concept cars comprise the Lexus LF, or “L-finesse” line – and this year the Toyota Motor Corporation introduced the LF-A Roadster – a topless version of the previously revealed LF-A coupe. The LF series represents a new direction in design for Lexus – centered around the philosophy of intriguing elegance, incisive simplicity and seamless anticipation.

click here to more details