For the first time, scientists have documented an acceleration in the melt rate of permafrost, or ground ice, in a section of Antarctica where the ice had been considered stable. The melt rates are comparable with the Arctic, where accelerated melting of permafrost has become a regularly recurring phenomenon, and the change could offer a preview of melting permafrost in other parts of a warming Antarctic continent. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Phys.org
An extreme of winter on Earth is Antarctica, where the handful of research bases are places of solitude and waiting. The Franco–Italian Concordia outpost, seen here in this cool space wallpaper, is one of these. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Space.com
By Karsten Strauss, Forbes Staff
On paper it seems an almost impossible goal: raise $32 million in a month through a crowdfunding campaign in order to roll out a new high-end cellular phone. But that’s exactly what UK-based technology company, Canonical, is looking to do. The company created Ubuntu (pronounced Oo-Boon-Too), a Linux-based operating system that integrates PC, tablet, mobile and television formats. Its newest smartphone project – which is called The Ubuntu Edge – will be its first piece of phone hardware, if it’s funded. The phone will boast a 4.5-inch sapphire crystal screen, 720p screen with a multi-core processor, 4GB of RAM, dual LTE antennas and 128GB of storage. The Edge will run Ubuntu’s OS as well as Android, according to its campaign pitch. Price? You can buy one through the crowdfunding campaign for $830. (See Canonical’s pitch of The Ubuntu Edge below) But can the company reach its $32 million mark? As of July 23, the campaign had raised almost $3.5 million on Indiegogo. The best reason to believe that the company can is Canonical’s 39-year-old CEO and founder, Mark Shuttleworth. The successful, South African serial entrepreneur was not named one of FORBES’ “12 Most Disruptive Names In Business” this year for nothing. In a move akin to charging a heard of oncoming bulls, Shuttleworth has puts his company head to head with deeply entrenched competitors by crafting a third operating system that plays in multiple device categories. In the mobile space, Ubuntu is up against Apple’s OS and Google’s Android, among others. In the PC realm – where Shuttleworth estimates some 20 million use Ubuntu– Microsoft is king. The company also has ambitions in the TV space. Shuttleworth’s obviously not one to do things the easy way (his idea of vacation spots have included Antarctica and the International Space Station). …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Latest
In events that could exacerbate sea level rise over the coming decades, stretches of ice on the coasts of Antarctica and Greenland are at risk of rapidly cracking apart and falling into the ocean, according to new iceberg calving simulations from the University of Michigan. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Phys.org
Global warming five million years ago may have caused parts of Antarctica’s large ice sheets to melt and sea levels to rise by approximately 20 metres, scientists report today in the journal Nature Geoscience. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Phys.org
By Floyd Brown
In May, I shared with you the details about 172 House members visiting over 90 countries and every continent except Antarctica in 2012 – all on your dime. But members of the U.S. House of Representatives actually travel modestly compared to the VIP travel undertaken by Obama’s friends and appointees.
And of course, any travel review needs to start with the travel queen of the last four years, Hillary Clinton.
Hillary traveled at a record-setting pace, journeying 956,733 miles and setting foot in 112 countries. This adds up to 2,084 hours spent flying around the world, which is equivalent to 86 whole days spent aboard her government-issued luxury jetliner. And how do we know these facts? Because she likes to brag about them.
But when it comes to costs, your guess is as good as mine. Despite repeated Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, her department refuses to come clean about how much this travel cost U.S. taxpayers.
Ironically, Obama’s “most transparent administration in history” works hard to hide the details of the luxurious globe-trotting. But thanks to some hard work by lawyers using the Freedom of Information Act, some other portions of the travel details are beginning to surface.
And That’s Only the Beginning…
It’s only proper that Attorney General Eric Holder tells us how much his travels cost, since he’s the federal officer in charge of FOIA compliance. While he hasn’t been too diligent about asking others to comply, he did comply himself – to some degree.
From his disclosures, we learned that during 2011, Holder filed 62 long-distant jaunts that cost us, at a minimum, $1.45 million. However, he refused to disclose flight costs for seven major trips out, including travels to China, Hawaii, and Brussels.
Holder’s travelling includes an April 2011 sojourn to Las Vegas, mixing business and personal travel, which totaled $46,358. Other “personal” trips, including visits to Martha’s Vineyard and Miami, cost us taxpayers a whopping $169,502.
And of course there’s Joe Biden. Today, we learned that the vice-president’s six-day trip to South America and the Caribbean included one 20-hour stop in Trinidad and Tobago that cost an astounding $245,000. As has become standard, the contract was awarded without “full and open competition” because of security and logistical concerns.
Yet the scariest part is that, while the travel for administration officials sounds expensive to those of us who pay our own bills while flying coach or driving on our summer trips, these Obama appointees don’t even hold a candle to Michelle and Barack.
First, there was Michelle Obama’s 2012 President’s Day weekend ski vacation to Aspen, Colorado with her two daughters. The total cost for the Aspen ski vacation was at least $83,182.99. The bill for the U.S. Secret Service, including accommodations at the Fasching Haus deluxe condominiums and the Inn at Aspen, came to $48,950.38. The cost for the flight, per official DOD published hourly rates, was $22,583.70. Food and miscellaneous on-flight items cost $235.44. The cost for rental cars totaled $6,442.23.
But that’s nothing. A drop in the bucket. More importantly, …read more
A powerful 7.3-magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Antarctica on Monday, generating large waves but causing no injuries, seismic experts at Argentina’s Orcadas base in Antarctica said.
“At 1103 local time (1403 GMT) on Monday, the seismological station … registered an earthquake measuring 7.3 on the Richter scale in the area near the base, with an epicenter 10 kilometers (six miles) deep,” Argentina’s Antarctic management said in a statement.
The earthquake did not cause any damage to the base or cause any injuries to the staff, it said, adding there were no reports of damage or injuries at other bases on the Antarctic peninsula.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News
The guardians of Antarctica’s marine wealth gather in Germany on Sunday for a fresh round of talks on creating the world’s largest ocean sanctuary. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Phys.org
A Chilean air force plane is checking on a Chinese ship that caught fire in Antarctica.
The Kai Xin vessel burned off the coast of Antarctica on Wednesday and its 97 crew members were rescued by a Norwegian ship.
Then it began to drift unmanned, zigzagging dangerously close to sharp glaciers.
Chile‘s air force said Friday that the ship is still in flames at Bransfield Strait in the Antarctic peninsula.
A Chilean navy tugboat is on its way to tow the ship to harbor before it crashes into the glaciers and causes an oil spill.
A Panamanian-flagged Chinese ship, Skyfrost, is also nearing the area to help tow the disabled craft.
The Kai Xin left port in Uruguay. Chilean officials don’t know how much fuel it carries.
From: http://feeds.foxnews.com/~r/foxnews/world/~3/pRmrsQNBbOs/
A Chilean military tugboat is heading to Antarctica to avoid an ecological disaster where a Chinese fishing ship caught fire.
The Kai Xin vessel burned off the coast of Antarctica Wednesday. Its 97 crew members were rescued by a Norwegian ship close to Chile‘s research base near the Antarctic peninsula.
Capt. Juan Marcelo Villegas is maritime governor for Chile‘s portion of Antarctica and he says the ship has moved about 5 miles (7 kilometers) north, drifting unmanned in zigzags near pointy glaciers.
He says a navy tugboat left port near the southern tip of South America to tow the ship to harbor.
Fog forced Chile‘s air force to cancel a flight Thursday to check on the ship’s condition, but Villegas says the ship is not at risk of sinking.
From: http://feeds.foxnews.com/~r/foxnews/world/~3/j0CWDQFtFfI/
As anyone who knows me can tell you, I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with the Resident Evil series. I have invested 16 years into the franchise, most of which have been hit or miss. We’ve revisited the mansion several times, explored Raccoon City, traveled to the far reaches of Antarctica and fought our way through Africa. With the shining exception of Resident Evil 4, the franchise has slowly but surely been losing its way since Resident Evil: Nemesis or Resident Evil: Code: Veronica, depending on your feelings on the latter, story-driven affair. With Resident Evil 6 firmly behind us, it’s only a matter of time before Resident Evil 7 is teased, which makes me wonder: Is it time for a reboot?
In the last few decades, glaciers at the edge of the icy continent of Antarctica have been thinning, and research has shown the rate of thinning has accelerated and contributed significantly to sea level rise.
With the global population now well over seven billion people there are few remaining parts of the world relatively untouched by human activity. We assess the current state and future prospects of five final frontiers: rainforests, Antarctica, the Arctic, the deep sea and space.
australia will fire the opening salvoes in a legal battle before the United Nations‘ highest court in June to try to stop Japan‘s whale hunt in Antarctica.
University of Cincinnati student Shujie Wang has discovered that a good way to monitor the environmental health of Antarctica is to go with the flow – the ice flow, that is. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Phys.org
Top Yaps
…read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at AOL
China is to build two extra research stations in Antarctica, where it currently has three facilities, the State Oceanic Administration confirmed on Friday. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Phys.org
Rural residents in North America may soon get a shot at better cellular coverage with an open-source technology being used in Antarctica, Mexico and Papua, Indonesia. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Computerworld Latest
Secluded from civilisation and living in a white desert, the crew at the Concordia research base in Antarctica have settled in to their home and are ready for the cold, long winter ahead. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Phys.org
George Lowe, the last surviving climber from the team that made the first successful ascent of Mount Everest, has died. He was 89.
Lowe’s widow, Mary, said he died Wednesday at a nursing home in Ripley, central England, after an illness.
One of two New Zealanders on the 1953 British expedition, Lowe helped establish the final camp 1,000 feet below the mountain’s summit on May 28, 1953. The next day, Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay reached the peak.
As Hillary descended the next day, he told Lowe: “Well, George, we knocked the bastard off.”
Lowe directed a film of the expedition, “The Conquest of Everest,” and also made “The Crossing of Antarctica,” a movie about a trans-Antarctic expedition later in the 1950s.
He is survived by Mary and three sons.
