Canonical going to dark side?

So Canonical going to dark side? Well I don't use Unity nor Dash - nor ubuntu one, and rarely their software center, though sometimes I check out which indie game devs get to go on there - so I'm barely affected (Kubuntu/Xubuntu FTW) but if they do go to the dark side, then we can always fork it (oh the joys of FOSS) and develop a Community Organisation =)
[Or just switch to fedora or arch or whatever]
 
I have been an ubuntu fan since I started linuxing mainly for its compatibility and support for other projects built on ubuntu. It sometimes irks me when they do stuff differently and directories aren't referenced properly and you have to symlink to configure/make or make something work properly. I am also an Emacs fan, as terminal based editors irks me, and nano irks me the least. 
[Remind to self to install Yakuake so I don't have at least 1 window on each of my 6 desktops dedicated for konsole]

In project news: 

yeah, the ubunchu kinda got stalled over the Christmas holidays (was busier than I thought, and getting stuck into Uni now, so maybe expect it in a couple of weeks). There's also a certain collab which is in the making stages atm =). 

Scumbag DA14

via DSI on FB

SpaceX Software

Here's some interesting stuff. Apparently they use Linux in almost everything, including their rockets (Falcon) and spacecraft (Dragon). Cool stuff.

Total Recall (1990) is totally real

New measurements of Mars' south polar region indicate extensive frozen water. The polar region contains enough frozen water to cover the whole planet in a liquid layer approximately 11 meters (36 feet) deep. A joint NASA-Italian Space Agency instrument on the European Space Agency's Mars Express spacecraft provided these data.

- JPL, NASA

We can totally terraform this stuff. (And also dump our carbon there =P).

Now I'm wondering if the moon has enough water ice to make a moon base have all their water and fuel needs taken care of.

hot young stars captured in my favourite colour ;P

blue!
http://t.co/eqMR8xQIm7

At first I thought astroid mining companies were laughable..

but then I was convinced from their business cases.
Mind you, they're still going to be like at least 50 years before massive monies get raked in, and it all depends on someone getting those earth to orbit vehicles cheap and accessible. Personally I reckon 20 years before real profit gets raked in.

Planetary Resources website doesn't have much in depth info, though they were first, and do have 'le google executive investor', if that means anything.

If everything the sleek Deep Space Industries website says is true, then the business case for one of these really will be alright, but it all depends on increased customers in space, in the long-term. Which if humanity should expand, would be the logical necessary step. DSI seems a bit more open than PR and heck, it reminds me of RSI which is always a good thing (positive reinforcement ftw). Props to them for making the "Firefly" their first spacecraft =P And if that isn't an obvious enough reference, 300+m asteroids are apparently useful for hiding from Darth Vader and Reavers". Sign me up =)

Nice surprise to see Daniel Faber is actually part of the team, heard a talk when he introduced the project he's behind - Antarctic Broadband, which in the process of their main goal, will put a "A satellite ground station capability at ANU Mt Stromlo." and also use the new space R&D space (lol) that they built for projects like these.

It's interesting to note that they are both USA companies, and will most likely be subject to Space Export laws, which means I need that citizenship if I ever work there. But I'll worry about that later.

I wonder what people would think if you meet an 'asteroid miner' and if companies like BHP will invest.
"So what do you do?"
"I mine asteroids."
"Oh, you mean on EVE? I've heard that's like, boringly grindy and tedious."
"No, like Armageddon Bruce Willis style. Except, I do the electronics and software, and no nukes... yet."


Vod:
Lol, the space colony animations reminded me of Macross and Gundam. Let's hope Gundam Earth VS Colonies wars never happens.

World's quietest place and hallucinations

Full post here: http://www.odditycentral.com/news/worlds-quietest-place-lets-you-hear-your-internal-organs.html
Also, NASA uses these rooms for Astronaut training in water.


Apparently you start to hallucinate after a while (longest someone was in the chamber for was 45 minutes), would be totally cool to hear what my body organs sound like though.

Oh, and apparently when it's pretty quiet I sometimes here these sounds: tinnitus. Most likely pulsatile, but I hear high pitched stuff which could be:

two recognized sources of very-high-pitched sounds might be electromagnetic fields common in modern wiring and various sound signal transmissions. A common and often misdiagnosed condition that mimics tinnitus is Radio Frequency (RF) hearing,^[16] in which subjects have been tested and found to hear high-pitched transmission frequencies that sound similar to tinnitus.

-le Wikipedia entry to Tinnitus

Russian Satellite Hit by Debris from Chinese Anti-Satellite Test [space.com]

Space.com story

So I feel like we're past the point where we can be passive about the problem and expect spacejunk to be negligible and avoidable.
Either PLA wanted to make space access harder for everyone once it secured manned spaceflight, or they have bigger egos than brains, or they don't understand sustainability. That graphic with the debris and ISS orbits is pretty freaky (below).

Also the tracking data seems to have large uncertainties or the statistics aren't to be trusted. -It's the 2nd time a mid-low chance of collision actually happened (there were higher probabilities of collision and closer aproaches by other objects each day).

 Also, ISS has manoeuvred as a result of avoiding this exact debris cloud's object.

If you want to learn more on the subject while being entertained, a good starting point is this movie:

http://www.lcsd.gov.hk/ce/Museum/Space/Programs/Omnimax/SpaceJunk3D/e_SpaceJunk3D.htm

This theatre highly recommended. Only criticism I have is that them red-cyan "goggles" make your FOV significantly smaller, making you have to look around a little sometimes. Non-3D shows have the advantage of filling your FOV with planetarium screen goodness, especially if you're at the back =) Also, any student ID is valid (Y)

 

Public Laboratory Spectrometer

for those who've missed the Kickstarter for Public Lab's spectrometer, here it is (the paper version):
http://publiclaboratory.org/notes/mathew/11-30-2012/final-fold-mini-spectrometer-print-files-and-instructions

Can't wait for my aluminium desktop USB one, although the first thing I want to test is HK water (and why it tastes funny, and requires boiling/filtration) and I got them to send it to Australia ...


Also on Kickstarter, Star Citizen raised 6.2mil in total for the campaign, with >$2mil from Kickstarter. Since, they've raised a bajillion dollars and are now at almost $7mil. (You can still 'pledge' and buy ships till what I'm assuming is alpha (they say "12 months from now"). However, there are less benefits than the campaign pledges like no life-time insurance on ships.) Totally can't wait for this! Especially if Oculus Rift fairs well with Star Citizen, will defs try this euphoric combo.

Star Citizen - RSI, from the makers of Freelancer etc.

from the makers of Freelancer ... THIS. http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/cig/star-citizen

• A rich universe focused on epic space adventure, trading and dogfighting in first person.
• Single Player – Offline or Online(Drop in / Drop out co-op play)
• Persistent Universe (hosted by US)
• Mod-able multiplayer (hosted by YOU)
• No Subscriptions
• No Pay to Win

Only thing missing from it is shiny MMORPGFPS gameplay on the planetary surface found in the likes of Precursors (which gameplay-wise was amazing =D).
What makes me so excited: MMO persistent universe, FPS elements, Ship combat which is like Freelancer and not MOBA-style (sorry DoTA2, D3, Torchlight, just not so into click click click =P).
Shameless plug for my favourite game of all time (Tribes 1) remade into an arcade style FPS: less gameplay complexity, and weird speed gain when skiing but nevertheless FUN.


BOARDING SHIP MECHANIC explained
Multiplayer and Single player instancing explained.
Because, FIREFLY for inspiration. =) - would love that job xD
Support Linux at the poll for stretch goals (click thru to RSI website for the poll), give CryEngine3 the incentive to go to the quickest growing gaming platform right now with Source, Steam, Unity supporting =) Linux. Speaking of Linux, Humble Bundle for Android 4 finishes in 6 days!


Final-week's (3 days left to pledge!) pitch:


FINAL WEEK PUSH from Roberts Space Industries on Vimeo.

So a few points of our next major stretch goal (from boarding ship mechanic post and RSI star citizen website):
$4.0 million Level Additions

• Melee & Heavy Weapons
• Zero-gravity Simulation
• Suit HUD Options
• Increased Customization
• Outside-the-ship combat (magnetic boots on a hull; think Moonraker)
• Pro MOD TOOLS FREE to players!
• Persistent Universe (forever instead of 30 months), 50 star systems
• More Squardron 42 campaign gameplay
• Increased community updates

- According to RSI website, we need $250k left till $4mil. Also, back on Kickstarter, your pledge will go towards stretch goals of BOTH kickstarter and the overall stretch goals at RSI.  
SO PLEDGE ON KICKSTARTER NOW =D.


I've always wanted to do Precursors MMO'd with friends. This is the closest thing I have ever seen. No amount of procedural universe generation, even if done by big industry pros would sway me. Just damn good gameplay with friends =).
That said, I've had my eye on Infinity Universe for years, because dang-it, its got great gameplay and scale, just without the FPS element >=| and definitely will be happily playing when it comes out.