Neat

From Reuters:

LOS ANGELES (July 31) - NASA scientists said Thursday they had definitive proof that water exists on Mars after further tests on ice found on the planet in June by the Phoenix Mars Lander. 

"We have water," said William Boynton, lead scientist for the Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer instrument on Phoenix.

"We've seen evidence for this water ice before in observations by the Mars Odyssey orbiter and in disappearing chunks observed by Phoenix last month, but this is the first time Martian water has been touched and tasted," he said, referring to the craft's instruments.

NASA on Thursday also extended the mission of the Phoenix Mars Lander by five weeks, saying its work was moving beyond the search for water to exploring whether the red planet was ever capable of sustaining life.

"We are extending the mission through Sept. 30," Michael Meyer, chief scientist for NASA's Mars exploration program, told a televised news conference.

The extension will add about $2 million to the $420 million cost of landing Phoenix on May 25 for what was a scheduled three-month mission, Meyer said.

Phoenix is the latest NASA bid to discover whether water -- a crucial ingredient for life -- ever flowed on Mars and whether life, even in the form of mere microbes, exists or ever existed there.

Neat

From Reuters:

LOS ANGELES (July 31) - NASA scientists said Thursday they had definitive proof that water exists on Mars after further tests on ice found on the planet in June by the Phoenix Mars Lander. 

"We have water," said William Boynton, lead scientist for the Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer instrument on Phoenix.

"We've seen evidence for this water ice before in observations by the Mars Odyssey orbiter and in disappearing chunks observed by Phoenix last month, but this is the first time Martian water has been touched and tasted," he said, referring to the craft's instruments.

NASA on Thursday also extended the mission of the Phoenix Mars Lander by five weeks, saying its work was moving beyond the search for water to exploring whether the red planet was ever capable of sustaining life.

"We are extending the mission through Sept. 30," Michael Meyer, chief scientist for NASA's Mars exploration program, told a televised news conference.

The extension will add about $2 million to the $420 million cost of landing Phoenix on May 25 for what was a scheduled three-month mission, Meyer said.

Phoenix is the latest NASA bid to discover whether water -- a crucial ingredient for life -- ever flowed on Mars and whether life, even in the form of mere microbes, exists or ever existed there.

Neat

From Reuters:

LOS ANGELES (July 31) - NASA scientists said Thursday they had definitive proof that water exists on Mars after further tests on ice found on the planet in June by the Phoenix Mars Lander. 

"We have water," said William Boynton, lead scientist for the Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer instrument on Phoenix.

"We've seen evidence for this water ice before in observations by the Mars Odyssey orbiter and in disappearing chunks observed by Phoenix last month, but this is the first time Martian water has been touched and tasted," he said, referring to the craft's instruments.

NASA on Thursday also extended the mission of the Phoenix Mars Lander by five weeks, saying its work was moving beyond the search for water to exploring whether the red planet was ever capable of sustaining life.

"We are extending the mission through Sept. 30," Michael Meyer, chief scientist for NASA's Mars exploration program, told a televised news conference.

The extension will add about $2 million to the $420 million cost of landing Phoenix on May 25 for what was a scheduled three-month mission, Meyer said.

Phoenix is the latest NASA bid to discover whether water -- a crucial ingredient for life -- ever flowed on Mars and whether life, even in the form of mere microbes, exists or ever existed there.

Neat II

:

From discovermagazine.com:
 X-Rays From a Particle Accelerator Reveal a Hidden Van Gogh

In a neat marriage of science and art, researchers used x-rays from a particle accelerator to reveal an early portrait of a woman by Vincent Van Gogh, which the impoverished artist later painted over with a meadow scene. The hidden image bears a striking resemblance to a series of somber portraits the artist produced in the Dutch town of Nuenen, where he composed “The Potato Eaters,” completed in 1885 and regarded as his first major work [Los Angeles Times].

An earlier analysis using conventional x-rays had shown the rough shape of a head hidden beneath the surface of a painting called “Patch of Grass,” but provided no details. To get a clearer image, the researchers used high-intensity x-rays from a particle accelerator in Hamburg, Germany to compile a two-dimensional map of the metallic atoms on the painting beneath “Patch of Grass.”… Knowing that mercury atoms were part of a red pigment and the antimony atoms were part of a yellow pigment, they were able to chart those colors in the underlying image. “We visualized — in great detail — the nose, the eyes, according to the chemical composition.” [researcher Joris] Dik said. Scanning a roughly 7-inch square of the larger portrait took two full days [AP].

Experts in van Gogh believe he often over-painted his work, doing so on about a third of his early works. Art historians think van Gogh painted the peasant’s image while staying in the Dutch village of Nuenen in 1884 or 1885 [Telegraph]. He later moved to Paris, and recycled the canvas in 1887 when he covered the woman’s face with a brighter and more Impressionistic scene.

The new imaging technique, described in a paper in the journal Analytical Chemistry [subscription required], is an improvement over art historians’ previous method of using standard x-rays to look for another picture hidden beneath a painting’s surface, a process which results in a fuzzy black and white image. However, the new technique isn’t likely to become a common practice, as it requires the use of particle accelerator.

Neat II

:

From discovermagazine.com:
 X-Rays From a Particle Accelerator Reveal a Hidden Van Gogh

In a neat marriage of science and art, researchers used x-rays from a particle accelerator to reveal an early portrait of a woman by Vincent Van Gogh, which the impoverished artist later painted over with a meadow scene. The hidden image bears a striking resemblance to a series of somber portraits the artist produced in the Dutch town of Nuenen, where he composed “The Potato Eaters,” completed in 1885 and regarded as his first major work [Los Angeles Times].

An earlier analysis using conventional x-rays had shown the rough shape of a head hidden beneath the surface of a painting called “Patch of Grass,” but provided no details. To get a clearer image, the researchers used high-intensity x-rays from a particle accelerator in Hamburg, Germany to compile a two-dimensional map of the metallic atoms on the painting beneath “Patch of Grass.”… Knowing that mercury atoms were part of a red pigment and the antimony atoms were part of a yellow pigment, they were able to chart those colors in the underlying image. “We visualized — in great detail — the nose, the eyes, according to the chemical composition.” [researcher Joris] Dik said. Scanning a roughly 7-inch square of the larger portrait took two full days [AP].

Experts in van Gogh believe he often over-painted his work, doing so on about a third of his early works. Art historians think van Gogh painted the peasant’s image while staying in the Dutch village of Nuenen in 1884 or 1885 [Telegraph]. He later moved to Paris, and recycled the canvas in 1887 when he covered the woman’s face with a brighter and more Impressionistic scene.

The new imaging technique, described in a paper in the journal Analytical Chemistry [subscription required], is an improvement over art historians’ previous method of using standard x-rays to look for another picture hidden beneath a painting’s surface, a process which results in a fuzzy black and white image. However, the new technique isn’t likely to become a common practice, as it requires the use of particle accelerator.

Neat II

:

From discovermagazine.com:
 X-Rays From a Particle Accelerator Reveal a Hidden Van Gogh

In a neat marriage of science and art, researchers used x-rays from a particle accelerator to reveal an early portrait of a woman by Vincent Van Gogh, which the impoverished artist later painted over with a meadow scene. The hidden image bears a striking resemblance to a series of somber portraits the artist produced in the Dutch town of Nuenen, where he composed “The Potato Eaters,” completed in 1885 and regarded as his first major work [Los Angeles Times].

An earlier analysis using conventional x-rays had shown the rough shape of a head hidden beneath the surface of a painting called “Patch of Grass,” but provided no details. To get a clearer image, the researchers used high-intensity x-rays from a particle accelerator in Hamburg, Germany to compile a two-dimensional map of the metallic atoms on the painting beneath “Patch of Grass.”… Knowing that mercury atoms were part of a red pigment and the antimony atoms were part of a yellow pigment, they were able to chart those colors in the underlying image. “We visualized — in great detail — the nose, the eyes, according to the chemical composition.” [researcher Joris] Dik said. Scanning a roughly 7-inch square of the larger portrait took two full days [AP].

Experts in van Gogh believe he often over-painted his work, doing so on about a third of his early works. Art historians think van Gogh painted the peasant’s image while staying in the Dutch village of Nuenen in 1884 or 1885 [Telegraph]. He later moved to Paris, and recycled the canvas in 1887 when he covered the woman’s face with a brighter and more Impressionistic scene.

The new imaging technique, described in a paper in the journal Analytical Chemistry [subscription required], is an improvement over art historians’ previous method of using standard x-rays to look for another picture hidden beneath a painting’s surface, a process which results in a fuzzy black and white image. However, the new technique isn’t likely to become a common practice, as it requires the use of particle accelerator.

Wait, Wait... What?

(Sorry for spamming. )  

I'm killing time at my desk at lunch (hence the sudden patch of posting).  Anyway, I hopped over to Audible.com to see if there were any new downloadable books to listen to, and what to my wondering eyes should appear...

Look at the bottom of the page.  The link/advert to - Pamela Aidan - Best of Jane Austen Fan-Fiction

Wha-huh?!

I'm in no way surprised that there is such a thing as Jane Austen fanfic.  I mean, I pretty much take as a given that there's probably fanfic for everything from Care Bears to the Bible.  And I also realize that due to when they were written that Austen novels have no copyright restrictions.  Still, this is a commercial site.  This stuff is being sold.  An outlet for commercial books is calling some of its offerings 'fan-fiction.'  In fact, they're selling it as an audio version of fanfiction.

Does anyone think that this may set a sketchy precedent?  I know that there  have been a ton of published faux-sequels to Austen books, and that these Audible entries are almost certainly published "sequels. "  But Audible, a commercial site, referring  to published novels as 'fanfiction' makes me uneasy.  You just know that there are fanficcers out there who think they can get book deals (Er, I mean other than the ones who already have. And I'm not talking original novelists who also happen to write fanfic.  I'm referring to some of the craziness that's happened in the Harry Potter fandom and that crazy self-published Star Wars fangirl on Amazon.com a couple of years ago).  

It seems to me that businesses attempting to blur the lines between fanfiction and commercial fiction can lead to fandom troubles.  (Of course, everything always seems to, but still...)  There truly are people who have weird thoughts that rather than writing Harry/Snape fanfic, they can publish (and profit) from Harry/Snape novels.  Commercial companies probably shouldn't encourage such people by calling published books 'fanfiction.'

Fanfiction is for fun not profit.

Wait, Wait... What?

(Sorry for spamming. )  

I'm killing time at my desk at lunch (hence the sudden patch of posting).  Anyway, I hopped over to Audible.com to see if there were any new downloadable books to listen to, and what to my wondering eyes should appear...

Look at the bottom of the page.  The link/advert to - Pamela Aidan - Best of Jane Austen Fan-Fiction

Wha-huh?!

I'm in no way surprised that there is such a thing as Jane Austen fanfic.  I mean, I pretty much take as a given that there's probably fanfic for everything from Care Bears to the Bible.  And I also realize that due to when they were written that Austen novels have no copyright restrictions.  Still, this is a commercial site.  This stuff is being sold.  An outlet for commercial books is calling some of its offerings 'fan-fiction.'  In fact, they're selling it as an audio version of fanfiction.

Does anyone think that this may set a sketchy precedent?  I know that there  have been a ton of published faux-sequels to Austen books, and that these Audible entries are almost certainly published "sequels. "  But Audible, a commercial site, referring  to published novels as 'fanfiction' makes me uneasy.  You just know that there are fanficcers out there who think they can get book deals (Er, I mean other than the ones who already have. And I'm not talking original novelists who also happen to write fanfic.  I'm referring to some of the craziness that's happened in the Harry Potter fandom and that crazy self-published Star Wars fangirl on Amazon.com a couple of years ago).  

It seems to me that businesses attempting to blur the lines between fanfiction and commercial fiction can lead to fandom troubles.  (Of course, everything always seems to, but still...)  There truly are people who have weird thoughts that rather than writing Harry/Snape fanfic, they can publish (and profit) from Harry/Snape novels.  Commercial companies probably shouldn't encourage such people by calling published books 'fanfiction.'

Fanfiction is for fun not profit.

Wait, Wait... What?

(Sorry for spamming. )  

I'm killing time at my desk at lunch (hence the sudden patch of posting).  Anyway, I hopped over to Audible.com to see if there were any new downloadable books to listen to, and what to my wondering eyes should appear...

Look at the bottom of the page.  The link/advert to - Pamela Aidan - Best of Jane Austen Fan-Fiction

Wha-huh?!

I'm in no way surprised that there is such a thing as Jane Austen fanfic.  I mean, I pretty much take as a given that there's probably fanfic for everything from Care Bears to the Bible.  And I also realize that due to when they were written that Austen novels have no copyright restrictions.  Still, this is a commercial site.  This stuff is being sold.  An outlet for commercial books is calling some of its offerings 'fan-fiction.'  In fact, they're selling it as an audio version of fanfiction.

Does anyone think that this may set a sketchy precedent?  I know that there  have been a ton of published faux-sequels to Austen books, and that these Audible entries are almost certainly published "sequels. "  But Audible, a commercial site, referring  to published novels as 'fanfiction' makes me uneasy.  You just know that there are fanficcers out there who think they can get book deals (Er, I mean other than the ones who already have. And I'm not talking original novelists who also happen to write fanfic.  I'm referring to some of the craziness that's happened in the Harry Potter fandom and that crazy self-published Star Wars fangirl on Amazon.com a couple of years ago).  

It seems to me that businesses attempting to blur the lines between fanfiction and commercial fiction can lead to fandom troubles.  (Of course, everything always seems to, but still...)  There truly are people who have weird thoughts that rather than writing Harry/Snape fanfic, they can publish (and profit) from Harry/Snape novels.  Commercial companies probably shouldn't encourage such people by calling published books 'fanfiction.'

Fanfiction is for fun not profit.