Baby turtles at Malaysia's Ma' Daerah Turtle Sanctuary Centre and Green Turtles from Tanzania

Baby turtles crawl to the sea during their release at Malaysia's Ma' Daerah Turtle Sanctuary Centre in Kemaman, in the northeastern state of Terengganu, in August 17, 2004 . Leatherback turtles that survived the age of the dinosaurs face extinction across the Western Pacific today, even though rescue strategies could be as simple as saving their eggs from fishing nets.

(Photo: Bazuki Muhammad/Reuters)

One of 154 Green Turtles recently hatched from a single nest is seen on a beach in Rad Dege, 24 km (15 miles) south of Tanzania's commercial capital Dar es Salaam, July 28, 2007. The Green Turtles are one of five turtle species, all globally endangered, that are found on the east African coast. Their nests are protected by local villagers, who work as part of a project that has been implemented by Sea Sense, a local Tanzanian NGO. REUTERS/Sala Lewis (TANZANIA)

After Won over Saudi Arabia of 1-0, Iraqi People Celebrate Their Soccer Team

Soon after got a winning over Saudi Arabia in Asia Cup, Iraqi people celebrate their soccer team victory. Various ways the people do to celebrate this rare moment. In this fight within gelora bung karno, Younis Mahmoud was been the hero for the team after made one goal-determination.

In baghdad, Reuters said :

"Volleys of gunfire rang out across Baghdad on Sunday as Iraqis celebrated their soccer team's Asian Cup victory, a rare moment of joy and unity in four years of relentless strife."

Residents celebrate in Baghdad July 29, 2007, after the Iraq team won the final game of the 2007 AFC Asian Cup soccer tournament against Saudi Arabia in Jakarta.

REUTERS/Mohammed Ameen

















Iraq's captain Younis Mahmoud lifts the trophy after their win
over Saudi Arabia in the final match at the 2007 AFC Asian Cup soccer tournament at the Gelora Bung Karno stadium in Jakarta July 29, 2007.

REUTERS/Russell Boyce

Group of Prehistoric Fish

Prehistoric fish are various groups of fishes that lived before recorded history. A few, such as the coelacanth still exist today and are considered living fossils.

The first fish and indeed the first vertebrates, were the ostracoderms, which appeared in the Cambrian Period, about 510 million years ago, and became extinct at the end of the Devonian, about 350 million years ago. Ostracoderms were jawless fishes found mainly in fresh water. They were covered with a bony armor or scales and were often less than 30 cm (1 ft) long. The ostracoderms are placed in the class Agnatha along with the living jawless fishes, the lampreys and hagfishes, which are believed to be descended from the ostracoderms.

The first fish with jaws, the acanthodians, or spiny sharks, appeared in the late Silurian, about 410 million years ago, and became extinct before the end of the Permian, about 250 million years ago. Acanthodians were generally small sharklike fishes varying from toothless filter-feeders to toothed predators. They were once often classified as an order of the class Placodermi, another group of primitive fishes, but recent authorities tend to place the acanthodiaes or that both groups share a common ancestor.

The placoderms, another group of jawed fishes, appeared at the beginning of the Devonian, about 395 million years ago, and became extinct at the end of the Devonian or the beginning of the Mississippian (Carboniferous), about 345 million years ago. Detailed anatomical studies of fossil remains by the Swedish scientist Erik Stensiö strongly suggest that the placoderms were closely related to sharks. Placoderms were typically small, flattened bottom-dwellers, however, many, particularly the arthrodires, were active midwater predators. Dunkleosteus was the largest and most famous of these. The upper jaw was firmly fused to the skull, but there was a hinge joint between the skull and the bony plating of the trunk region. This allowed the upper part of the head to be thrown back, and in arthrodires, this allowed them to take larger bites.

The cartilaginous-skeleton sharks and rays, class Chondrichthyes, which appeared about 370 million years ago in the middle Devonian, are generally believed to be descended from the bony-skeleton placoderms. The cartilaginous skeletons are considered to be a later development.

The modern bony fishes, class Osteichthyes, appeared in the late Silurian or early Devonian, about 395 million years ago. The early forms were freshwater fishes, for no fossil remains of modern bony fishes have been found in marine deposits older than Triassic time, about 230 million years ago. The Osteichthyes may have arisen from the acanthodians. A subclass of the Osteichthyes, the ray-finned fishes (subclass Actinopterygii), became and have remained the dominant group of fishes throughout the world. It was not the ray-finned fishes, however, that led to the evolution of the land vertebrates.

The ancestors of the land vertebrates are found among another group of bony fishes called the Choanichthyes or Sarcopterygii. Choanate fishes are characterized by internal nostrils, fleshy fins called lobe fins, and cosmoid scales. The choanate fishes appeared in the late Silurian or early Devonian, more than 390 million years ago, and possibly arose from the acanthodians. The choanate fishes include a group known as the Crossopterygii, which has one living representative, the coelacanth (Latimeria). During the Devonian Period some crossopterygian fishes of the order (or suborder) Rhipidistia crawled out of the water to become the first tetrapods.

The story of vertebrate evolution started in the seas of the Cambrian period, when jawless, toothless, soft-bodied fishlike creatures wriggled through the water, sucking up microscopic food particles. Only after tough, non-decaying bone was developed (initially as a scaly outer covering and later within the body) did fossils form and become preserved in the rocks. And only then could paleontologists take up the story with any certainty.

The earliest traces of bony scales are found in rocks of the Late Cambrian period, and the first recognizable vertebrate fish has been found in Australian rocks of Early Ordovician age. So, the first chapter in the vertebrate evolution starts with the ancient Arandaspis, a fish about 6in/15cm long with no jaws, no teeth and no fins other than a tail. It did, however, have gills and a stiffening rod of cartilaginous material (the notochord) that served as a backbone.

Indonesian coelacanth Make Scientists be Exciting

Ronan Bourhis said :

French experts equipped with sonar and GPS try to reconstruct trough asked an Indonesia (Manado) Fisherman how to catch a rare coelacanth fish, an awkward-swimming species among the world's oldest. This Full Article can read in Yahoo Tech News



A very rare coelacanth fish as Indonesian, Japanese and French specialists (unseen) carry out an autopsy of in Manado, North Sulawesi, in June. Coelacanths are among the world's oldest fish species. Their fossil records date back more than 360 million years and suggest the animal has changed little in that time.(Photo credit : AFP/File/ Ronan Bourhis)





Second Indonesian coelacanth known to science, later to become holotype of new species, Latimeria menadoensis. Photograph by Mark V. Erdmann, July 1998





Relate Article :

• The Coelacanth: More Living than Fossil (http://www.mnh.si.edu/highlight/coelacanth/)
• NOVA's "Ancient Creature of the Deep" site: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/fish/
• A general information site about the coelacanth: http://www.dinofish.com/
• South African deep water dives and the coelacanth: http://www.coelacanth-diver.co.za/

From Poverty to Power-The Way Out of Undesirable Conditions

Tittle : From Poverty to Power-The Way Out of Undesirable Conditions
by : James Allen

From the most trivial thought, word, or act of man, up to the groupings of the celestial bodies, law reigns supreme. No arbitrary condition can, even for one moment, exist, for such a condition would be a denial and an annihilation of law. Every condition of life is, therefore, bound up in an orderly and harmonious sequence, and the secret and cause of every condition is contained within itself.

The law, "Whatsoever a man sows that shall he also reap," is inscribed in naming letters upon the portal of Eternity, and none can deny it, none can cheat it, none can escape it. He who puts his hand in the fire must suffer the burning until such time as it has worked itself out, and neither curses nor prayers can avail to alter it.

All these conditions of mind are rightly called "evil," for they are the efforts of the soul to subvert, in its ignorance, the law, and they, therefore, lead to chaos and confusion within, and are sooner or later actualized in the outward circumstances as disease, failure, and misfortune, coupled with grief, pain, and despair. Whereas love, gentleness, good-will, purity, are cooling airs which breathe peace upon the soul that woos them, and, being in harmony with the Eternal Law, they become actualized in the form of health, peaceful surroundings, and undeviating success and good fortune.

A thorough understanding of this Great Law which permeates the universe leads to the acquirement of that state of mind known as obedience. To know that justice, harmony, and love are supreme in the universe is likewise to know that all adverse and painful conditions are the result of our own disobedience to that Law. Such knowledge leads to strength and power, and it is upon such knowledge alone that a true life and an enduring success and happiness can be built. To be patient under all circumstances, and to accept all conditions as necessary factors in your training, is to rise superior to all painful conditions, and to overcome them with an overcoming which is sure, and which leaves no fear of their return, for by the power of obedience to law they are utterly slain. Such an obedient one is working in harmony with the law, has in fact, identified himself with the law, and whatsoever he conquers he conquers for ever; whatsoever he builds can never be destroyed.

The cause of all power, as of all weakness, is within: the secret of all happiness as of all misery is likewise within. There is no progress apart from unfoldment within, and no sure foothold of prosperity or peace except by orderly advancement in knowledge.

Perhaps the chains of poverty hang heavily upon you, and you are friendless and alone, and you long with an intense longing that your load may be lightened; but the load continues, and you seem to be enveloped in an ever-increasing darkness. Perhaps you complain, you bewail your lot; you blame your birth, your parents, your employer, or the unjust Powers who have bestowed upon you so undeservedly poverty and hardship, and upon another affluence and ease. Cease your complaining and fretting; none of these things which you blame are the cause of your poverty; the cause is within yourself, and where the cause is, there is the remedy. The very fact that you are a complainer, shows that you deserve your lot; shows that you lack that faith which is the ground of all effort and progress.

There is no room for a complainer in a universe of law, and worry is soul-suicide. By your very attitude of mind you are strengthening the chains which bind you, and are drawing about you the darkness by which you are enveloped, Alter your outlook upon life, and your outward life will alter. Build yourself up in the faith and knowledge, and make yourself worthy of better surroundings and wider opportunities. Be sure, first of all, that you are making the best of what you have.

By so ennobling your present surroundings you will rise above them, and above the need of them, and at the right time you will pass on into the better house and surroundings which have all along been waiting for you, and which you have fitted yourself to occupy.

Even poverty and lack of time and leisure are not the evils that you imagine they are, and if they hinder you in your progress, it is because you have clothed them in your own weaknesses, and the evil that you see in them is really in yourself. Endeavor to fully and completely realize that in so far as you shape and mould your mind, you are the maker of your destiny, and as, by the transmuting power of self-discipline you realize this more and more, you will come to see that these so-called evils may be converted into blessings. You will then utilize your poverty for the cultivation of patience, hope and courage; and your lack of time in the gaining of promptness of action and decision of mind, by seizing the precious moments as they present themselves for your acceptance. As in the rankest soil the most beautiful flowers are grown, so in the dark soil of poverty the choicest flowers of humanity have developed and bloomed.

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Staying Calm and Cultivating Poise

Marcus Aurelius practiced psychotherapy in the more pretentious and stilted style appropriate, perhaps, to his time and position. From this philosopher-emperor each of us will do well to absorb the following quotation: "Begin the morning by saying to yourself, I shall meet with the busybody, the ungrateful, arrogant, deceitful, envious, unsocial. All these things happen to them by reason of their ignorance of what is good and evil."

Why shouldn't we be prepared beforehand to view all these people with pity instead of resentment? Their attitude toward us and their abuse of us has really nothing to do with us, but means merely an exploitation of their peculiarities. To prepare ourselves in this way to meet ridicule, abuse, and the like means no more than for a sailor to be ready to put down the helm in a squall. If we should set about learning to sail a boat, this is one of the first things we should do, but we pay very little attention to learning how to run ourselves. On this point Epictetus says, "Cease to make yourselves slaves. Is there not some advantage to be gained from this man? From all: even a reviler. Does not the wrestler gain advantage from him with whom he exercises before the combat? The greatest. And just in the same manner I can exercise myself with this man - and the heavier he is the better for me; and it is surely an advantage to me when I am exercised in gentleness of temper. This is knowing how to gain an advantage from men."

The brief maxim should be constantly at command to clench such suggestions. Try keeping these in mind as you go about your daily live. "These are the annoyances incident to my business. To fret when they occur means that I cannot manage my business without friction." Another is this (for use when subordinates show stupidity), "If he had my brains he'd have my job". And finally (as a shield against everyday annoyances and resentments), "Never touched me."

I can think of no better illustration of the way such maxims should be ready for immediate use than the following instance, in which the laugh, by the way, was on me. I was walking with a friend one day when an automobile came up behind us, announcing its approach by one of those peculiar notes so far from the honk of a self-respecting goose that it can be described neither as a groan, grunt, growl, nor scream, but rather as possessing the discordant elements of all four. " Don't you hate those freak horns!" I exclaimed, rather petulantly. "I used to," he said, "but since reading your book I say to myself, 'Never touched me!'"

This incident marks the progress respectively of my friend and myself in mental training. For I have no hesitation in presenting myself, not as a past-master, but rather as a student-instructor in this branch of practical philosophy.

One of the principal depressing emotions we have to curb to preserve our poise are anger. And under anger we must include the moderate degree of anger known as fret. What makes us fret? We all know the expression "Mad as a wet hen". Suppose you were asked what makes the hen mad, you probably would answer, "Why, because she is wet"; but for the real reason we must go further back - she is mad because she insists on being dry. If she could forego that insistence she would remain unruffled, wet as well as dry.

Similarly, I think I am mad because so-and-so has called me a liar, a coward, or a what-not. But the underlying cause of my anger is that I can't stand being called such names. If I took a notion to practice philosophy to the extent of seeing how much instead of how little I could stand, I might finally be wishing some one would try it on, to see if I couldn't remain cool under the provocation, and simply say to myself, "Never touched me." "Any one can stand what he likes; it takes the philosopher to stand what he doesn't like."

There is no sharp line of division between the legitimate airing of a grievance and going into a state of fret. Nor is it fretting quietly to go about the adjustment of the grievance. Fret means internal turmoil externalized, not by effective work, but by wailing and gnashing of teeth.

You can spot a fretter from the tone and pitch of his voice. This test is not infallible but as a rule you can spot a fretter by his voice. When someone frets, his vocal cords tighten and produces a high-pitched, disagreeable tone which merges into the whine of chronic discontent.

I heard such a high-pitched voice inquiring the waiter one morning at breakfast, "How many eggs are there in this bacon and eggs?" "I don't know, sir, I think two... that is the usual number." "Well, I wish you would go and see"; and the waiter did so, returning shortly to announce with beaming face, "There are three, sir; they generally put in two, but this time they put in three." But even this cheerful news produced no change in the expression or the voice of the fretter, who despondently observed, "I knew the proportions were wrong." If you ever find yourself getting into this state of mind try the experiment of saying to yourself, " Don't pitch your voice so high!"

I once knew a man who was so obsessed with dust. If you inquired about his health, he would answer, " Pretty bad, thank you, and the dust is something awful!" If you admired a picture, he would say, "The composition may be good, but the frame is the kind that catches the dust." If you mentioned the Arctic regions, he would wish himself there to be out of the dust. When we finally had a fall of snow that covered the dust, I expected to find him beaming, but no - with the same tried expression and the same high-pitched voice he said the dust would be as bad as ever in a little while.

It is surprising how many things we can't stand if we cultivate our "can’t-standability." The degree of anger known as getting mad may be dismissed with an appeal to our vanity, thus: Consider the very angry woman. How unbecoming it is - how it lacks in dignity! Why, she is almost black in the face because her emotion interferes with her circulation, and causes a stasis of venous blood in the superficial vessels of her countenance! If she could look in the glass now, and if she knew enough physiology to realize that controlling the emotions also controls the circulation, she would wish never to be angry again.

It is worth while for us to profit by this observation; and if it chances that we are the object of her wrath, we shall do well to curb the natural reflex which will make our face as black as hers, and we shall maintain the role of spectator, disinterested and unaffected.

When real improvement has taken place in these directions there is not only a change in the manner of thinking, but a noticeable change of personality, which includes control of the body likewise. Indeed, to control the body or mind alone is to manage only one horse of a team.

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3 laws of memory or of thinking that you must know

There are 3 laws of memory or of thinking that you must know if you are serious about developing a sharp memory.

The first and principal thing the pupil requires to do in this lesson after learning the definition of thefollowing Three Laws - is to be able to clearly understand the examples under each Law, and whether they verify or illustrate that Law.

LAW I
INCLUSION indicates that there is an overlapping of meaning between two words, or that there is a prominent idea or sound that belongs to both alike, or that a similar fact or property belongs to two events or things as, to enumerate a few classes:- Whole and Part -

(Earth, Poles) (Ship, Rudder) (Forest, Trees)
(Air, Oxygen) (House, Parlor) (Clock, Pendulum)
(Knife, Blade) (India, Punjab) (14, 7) (24, 12)
Genus and Species. - (Animal, Man) (Plant, Thyme)
(Fish, Salmon) (Tree, Oak) (Game, Pheasant)
(Dog, Retriever) (Universal Evolution, Natural Selection)
(Silver Lining, Relief of Lucknow)
(Empress Queen, Victoria) (Money, Cash)

Abstract and Concrete. [The same Quality appears both in the Adjective and in the Substantive.] -
(Dough, Soft.) (Empty, Drum.) (Lion, Strong.)
(Eagle, Swift.) (Courage, Hero.) (Glass, Smoothness.)
(Gold, Ductility.) (Sunshine, Light.) (Fire, Warmth.)

Similarity of Sound.
(Emperor, Empty.) (Salvation, Salamander.)
(Hallelujah, Hallucination.) (Cat, Catastrophe.)
(Top, Topsy.)
[Inclusion by sound is not punning.]

Simple Inclusion embraces cases not found in either of the foregoing classes, but where there is something in common between the pairs, as
(Church, Temple.) (Pocket, Black Hole.)

LAW II
EXCLUSION means Antithesis. One word excludes the other, or both words relate to one and the same thing, but occupy opposite positions in regard to it, as

(Riches, Poverty.) (Hot, Cold.) (Old, Young.)
(Damp, Dry.) (Life, Death.) (Love, Hate.) (Joy, Sorrow.)
(Courage, Cowardice.) (Health, Sickness.)
(Righteous, Wicked.) (Beauty, Ugliness.) (Peace, War.)

LAW III
CONCURRENCE is the sequence or co-existence of impressions or ideas that have been either accidentally or causally together. It is either the accidental conjunction of experiences or the operation of cause and effect; since even in the latter case, it is merely the sensuous facts of immediate succession that we know about, as

(Gravitation, Newton, Apple.)
(Dives, Lazarus, Abraham, Bosom.) (Pipe, Tobacco.)
(Michaelmas, Goose.) (Columbus, America.)
(Bartholomew Diaz, Cape of Good Hope.)
(Grandmother, Knitting) (Socrates, Hemlock.)
(Bruce, Spider.) (Nelson, Trafalgar.)
(Demosthenes, Seashore, Stammering, Pebbles.)
(Job, Patience.) (Wedding, Slippers, Cake.)
(Wellington, Bonaparte, Waterloo.)
(Depression, Fall of Silver.) (Lightning, Thunder.)

In the case of the following pairs, one word has been so often appropriated to the other, that there seems to be something in common in the meaning of the terms - but it is not so, they are mere cases of Concurrence, but of almost indissoluble Concurrence.

For instance, a man might examine a "spade" in all its parts and might even make one after a model, and not even know what "dig" means. The mention of "dig" is as likely to make us think of pickaxe as of spade. "Spade" does not mean "dig" nor does "dig" mean spade. "Dig" merely means the action of the "spade," or the use to which it is put. Hence this pair of words does not furnish an example of Inclusion. But as "dig" is frequently appropriated to "spade" - as we have often thought of those words together - this is a case of strong Concurrence. The term "swoop" is almost exclusively applied to "eagle."

A certain action or movement of the eagle is termed swooping. But "eagle" does not mean "swoop," nor does "swoop" mean "eagle." We always think of "eagle" when we think of "swoop," but we do not often think of "swoop" when we think of "eagle." It is not In, but Con.

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Visitor Identification Methods Through Urchin

If I save an interesting-page, I see a file named "urchin" in javascript format. But I did'nt find it if I sae mine. So, I try to find more about this item in google search engine. Finally, I found a site explained about it.

I will re-write here about the explanation so that I keep it in my this dear-blog directory.

The site explanation is folowing :

Overview

Urchin has five different methods for identifying visitors and sessions, depending on available information. Of these, the patent-pending Urchin Traffic Monitor (UTM) is a highly accurate system that was specifically designed to identify unique visitors, sessions, exact paths, and return frequency behavior. There are a number of visitor loyalty and client reports that are only available when using the UTM System. The UTM System is easy to install and is highly recommended for all businesses.

In addition to the UTM System, Urchin can use IP addresses, User-Agents, Usernames, and Session-IDs to identify sessions. The following table compares the abilities of each of the five identification techniques:

Ability	IP Only	IP+User-Agent	Username	Session ID	UTM
Identifies non-proxied sessions	X	X	X	X	X
Identifies some proxied sessions		X	X	X	X
Uniquely identifies each session				X	X
Defeats session IP proxying				X	X
Defeats most provider caching				X	X
Defeats browser caching					X
Uniquely identifies visitors			X		X
Captures exact path sequence					X
Captures visitor loyalty metrics					X
Captures browser capabilities					X

Data Model

The underlying model within Urchin for handling unique visitors is based on a hierarchical notion of a unique set of visitors interacting with the website through one or more sessions. Each session can contain one or more hits and pageviews. Pageviews are kept in order so that a path through the website for each session is understood. As shown in the diagram, the Visitor represents an individual's interaction with the website over time. Each unique visitor will have one or more sessions, and within each session is zero or more pageviews that comprise the path the visitor took for that session.

Proxying and Caching

In attempting to identify and track unique visitors and sessions, we are basically going against the nature of the web, which is anonymous interaction. Particularly troublesome to tracking visitors are the increasingly common proxying and caching techniques used by service providers and the browsers, themselves. Proxying hides the actual IP address of the visitor and can use one IP address to represent more than one web user. A user's IP address can change between sessions and in some cases multiple IP addresses will be used to represent a cluster of users. Thus, it is possible that one visitor will have different IP addresses for each hit and/or different IP addresses between sessions.

Caching of pages can occur at several locations. Large providers look to decrease the load on their network by caching or remembering commonly viewed pages and images. For example, if thousands of users from a particular provider are viewing the CNN website, the provider may benefit from caching the static pages and images of the website and delivering those pieces to the users from within the provider's network. This has the effect of pages being delivered without the knowledge of the actual website.

Browser caching adds to the question. Most browsers are configured to only check content once per session. If a visitor lands on the home page of a particular website, clicks to a subpage, and then uses the back-button to go back to the home page, the second request of the home page is most likely never sent to the website server, but pulled from the browser's memory. An analysis of paths may result in an incomplete path missing the cached pages.

In the above diagram, the actual path taken through the website by the client is shown at the top, while the apparent path from the server's point of view is shown at the bottom. In this case, before proceeding to Page-3 the user goes back to the Page-1. The server never sees this request and from its point of view it appears the user went directly from Page-2 to Page-3. There may not even be a link from Page-2 to Page-3.

Visitor Identification Methods

As mentioned previously, Urchin has five different methods for identifying visitors, sessions and paths. The more sophisticated methods which can address the above issues may require special configuration of your website. The following descriptions describe the workings of each method in more detail.

1. IP-Only: The IP-Only method is provided for backward compatibility with Urchin 3, and for basic IT reporting where uniquely identifying sessions is not needed. This method uses only the IP Address to identify visitor sessions. Thirty minutes of inactivity will constitute a new session. The only data requirements for using this method is a timestamp and IP Address of the visitor.

2. IP-Agent: The default method, which requires no additional configuration, uses the IP address and user-agent (browser) information to determine unique sessions. A configurable thirty-minute timeout is used to identify the beginning of a new session for a visitor. While this method is still susceptible to proxying and caching, the addition of the user-agent information can help detect multiple users from one IP address. In addition, this method includes a special AOL filter, which attempts to reduce the impact of their round-robin proxying techniques. This method does not require any additional configuration.

3. Usernames: This method is provided for secure sites that require logins such as Intranets and Extranets. Websites that are only partially protected should not use this method. The Username identification is taken directly from the username field in the log file. This information is generally logged if the website is configured to require authentication. This method uses a thirty-minute period of inactivity to separate sessions from the same username.

4. Session ID: The fourth visitor identification method available in Urchin is the Session ID method, which can use pre- existing unique session identifiers to uniquely identify each session. Many content delivery applications and web servers will provide session ids to manage user interaction with the webserver. These session ids are typically located in the URI query or stored in a Cookie. As long as this information is available in the log data, Urchin can be configured to take advantage of these identifiers. Using session ids provides a much more accurate measurement of unique sessions, but still does not identify returning unique visitors. This method is also susceptible to some forms of caching including the above example.

In many cases, the ability to use session ids may already be available, and thus, the time required to configure this feature may be short. For dynamically generated sites, taking advantage of this feature should be straightforward. The result is more accurate visitor session and path analysis.

5. Urchin Traffic Monitor (UTM): The last method for visitor identification available in Urchin is the Urchin Tracking Module. This system was specifically designed to negate the effects of caching and proxying and allow the server to see every unique click from every visitor without significantly increasing the load on the server. The UTM system tracks return visitor behavior, loyalty and frequency of use. The client-side data collection also provides information on browser capabilities.

The UTM is installed by including a small amount of JavaScript code in each of your webpages. This can be done manually or automatically via server side includes and other template systems. Complete details on installing UTM are covered in the articles later in this section.

Once installed, the Urchin Traffic Monitor is triggered each time someone views a page from the website. The UTM Sensor uniquely identifies each visitor and sends one extra hit for each pageview. This additional hit is very lightweight and most systems will not see any additional load. The Urchin engine identifies these extra hits in the normal log file and uses this additional data to create an exact picture of every step taken by the users. This method also identifies visitors and sessions uniquely so that return visitation behavior can be properly analyzed. While this method takes a little extra time to configure, it highly recommended for comprehensive detailed analytics.

Genetic Signpost from Genographic Project

This is explain about genome in our body which is generated from our parents. The explanation is in swf format (credit : nationalgeographic)

Are you an expert in genetic? I am interesting in this field since in my junior high school. It is so wonderfull to know how is our body create by the "generated-code". How about "clonning"?. That is another higher of human achieving in science and technology. (yeah, I thought)...any opinion from you?

Oil spills into Kan. river as flooding continues

OSAWATOMIE, Kan. - An oil spill added to the misery caused by widespread flooding Monday as thousands of evacuees in Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas waited for water to recede from their homes.

Kansas got a break from the weather Monday, but more rain was scattered over Texas and eastern Oklahoma, the latest in nearly two weeks of storms. It was the 20th straight day that rain had fallen in Oklahoma City.

“It’s such a dynamic situation,” said Parker County, Texas, spokesman Joel Kertok. “We get a break, and then it starts raining again.” LINK

Kansas officials said Monday they were trying to contain damage from the Coffeyville Resources oil refinery spill in the Verdigris River in Coffeyville, Kan., that occurred over the weekend as raging floodwaters wreaked havoc through the southeast part of the state.

Anatomy of Human Genes

This is explain the anatomy of our gene from National Geographic (swf)


The swf-explanation file is a part and Credited by The Genographic Project.

Sea Urchin Genome Reveals Striking Similarities to Humans

Scientists already knew that the creatures, which resemble underwater hedgehogs, are one of only a few invertebrates (animals without backbones) on the human branch of the evolutionary tree.

Purple sea urchins feast on the remains of
a giant kelp in Carmel Bay, California.

Scientists have completed sequencing the genome of
the California purple urchin—revealing surprising
new information about just how
closely urchins resemble humans and
how vital a role the marine creatures play
in ocean ecosystems.

(credit : Photograph © Science)

But a new sequence of the California purple urchin's genome reveals that the marine creatures and humans bear a striking number of similarities. (See related photo: "Sea Urchin Genome Decoded".)

"Comparing all the genes of the sea urchin, it's actually quite similar to us," said George Weinstock, who led the sequencing project. Weinstock is co-director of the Human Genome Sequencing Center at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas.

The sea urchin is one of the few marine organisms whose genome has been sequenced. The study therefore also provides insights into the vital role of sea urchins in many marine ecosystems.

"Sea urchins are major grazers in shallow seas of many parts of the world's oceans ... and they are the main prey of many top predators," said John Pearse, a biologist at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Results from the sequencing project and accompanying articles, including one by Pearse, will appear in tomorrow's issue of the journal Science.

Kelp Forests

Sea urchins, which feed mainly on algae, live in environments that alternate between species-rich kelp forests and sea urchin-dominated "barrens."

"They are known to limit sea grass and kelp production and consequently the diversity and complexity in communities supported by these producers," Pearse said.

He compares sea urchins to rabbits and other grazers found on land.

"Sea urchins are the main prey of many top predators—including crabs, lobsters, fish, and sea otters—that directly limit their abundance, comparable to how coyotes, hawks, and owls limit the abundance of rabbits," Pearse said.

With a diminishing population of sea otters in California's Monterey Bay, for example, the population of sea urchins has multiplied. The sea urchins are reportedly chewing up the kelp forest in the area and upsetting the ecosystem. (Related video: "Killer Whale Mystery at Monterey Bay".) There are other factors that influence sea urchins' ecological role, including interactions among different urchin species.

"Populations of some species tend to explode and devastate the communities they are in, while others rarely do so," Pearse said. "Knowledge of their genome might allow people to better understand the underlying mechanisms that lead to such differences."

Sea urchins can also be used by scientists to detect toxic chemicals.

"One of the things in the genome project has been to come up with a very detailed description of the defense mechanism that sea urchins have to deal with toxic chemicals," Weinstock, of Baylor College of Medicine, said.

"Understanding their sensitivities and resistances could potentially help fine-tune our use of them, in terms of understanding the marine environment."

Humans are also directly affecting sea urchin populations. Sea urchin roe, or ovaries, are a delicacy in Korea and Japan.

The U.S. sea urchin fishery has been in decline in recent years, however, because of reduced demand from Japanese consumers. (Related: "Seafood May Be Gone by 2048, Study Says"

[November 2, 2006].)

Human Cousin?

The urchin's usefulness as a model for developmental biology was another major reason for the sequencing project.

Scientists have long used sea urchins to study fertilization and early development in humans.

"The series of steps that happen after an egg is fertilized by a sperm ... those very early events turn out to be the same in the sea urchin as they are in the human," Weinstock said.

The scientists identified more than 23,000 genes in the 814 million base pairs, or "letters," of DNA code taken from the sea urchin.

The sea urchin represents the first sequenced genome from the echinoderms, which are the closest known relatives of the chordates, the group that includes vertebrates, animals with spinal columns.

The genome includes analogs to many essential human genes that were previously thought to be exclusive to vertebrates.

But missing among the sea urchin genes are some genes found in flies and worms. This, scientists say, shows that sea urchins are closer kin to humans than beetles, flies, crabs, and clams.

"Humans and sea urchins have a common ancestor," Weinstock said.

The eyeless sea urchin also has genes associated with taste, smell, hearing, balance—and surprisingly, even vision.

Source : http://news.nationalgeographic.com

About WIRED MAGAZINE: ISSUE 15.07 - How Slick It Is! Fill 'Er Up With Cooking Oil, Not Crude Oil

John Voelcker

No need to battle other eco-warriors for a spot on the Prius waiting list. If you want to drive a green machine, just troll craigslist for an old diesel car or truck. Any diesel engine can run on vegetable oil — either used (fryer fat) or fresh out of the 5-gallon jug (Costco, baby!). The conversion process can be embarrassingly simple. Rudolf Diesel encouraged the use of veggie oil in his original engine, and later models require minimal tinkering to guzzle Wesson instead of Exxon: a booster pump here, a high-flow filter there. Los Angeles based Lovecraft, the cottage-industry leader, has modified more than 1,000 vehicles and sells DIY kits for the mechanically inclined. The company will convert almost any diesel rig, but Mercedes, Volkswagen, and Ford are optimum choices. It's the perfect excuse to fry every meal. Do it for the environment.

Mercedes-Benz 300SD, 1981 85

Blue book Value $3,200 (average)
Conversion cost $700

The 300SD can run on vegetable oil without modification — until the fuel filter chokes on the more viscous liquid (the conversion kit includes a bigger, high-flow heated filter). But Lovecraft prefers the 300SD because its fuel tank sits high up, behind the rear seat: Gravity helps the oil flow without stressing the pump.

Volkswagen Jetta TDI, 1996 2006

Blue book value $3,800 - 8,950
Conversion cost $950
Various Veedubs used this turbodiesel motor, but it's most common in the Jetta. The conversion requires changing the electrical relays, replacing the glow plugs, and various other mods. But you get startling results: It performs better on vegetable oil than on regular diesel, though Lovecraft hasn't studied it enough to say why.

Ford F250 Diesel, 1995 2000

Blue book value $6,325 - 12,900
Conversion cost $950
Need a green pickup truck or van? Ford's ubiquitous 7.3-liter Powerstroke V8 has been known to last 500,000 miles and makes for a straightforward conversion. Lovecraft installs a heat exchanger to thin the grease so it combusts easily. And although the company usually swaps in custom glow plugs, if the stock plugs are working well, the engine starts fine on veggie oil.

Photo illustration by J.F. Sebastian

Source : http://www.wired.com

Making Water From Thin Air

Audrey Hudson

A company that developed technology capable of creating water out of thin air nearly anywhere in the world is now under contract to nourish U.S. soldiers serving in Iraq.

The water-harvesting technology was originally the brainchild of the Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, which sought ways to ensure sustainable water supplies for U.S. combat troops deployed in arid regions like Iraq.

"The program focused on creating water from the atmosphere using low-energy systems that could reduce the overall logistics burden for deployed forces and provide potable water within the reach of the war fighter any place, any time," said Darpa spokeswoman Jan Walker.

To achieve this end, Darpa gave millions to research companies like LexCarb and Sciperio to create a contraption that could capture water in the Mesopotamian desert.

But it was another company, Aqua Sciences, that developed a product on its own and was first to put a product on the market that can operate in harsh climates.

"People have been trying to figure out how to do this for years, and we just came out of left field in response to Darpa," said Abe Sher, chief executive officer of Aqua Sciences. "The atmosphere is a river full of water, even in the desert. It won't work absolutely everywhere, but it works virtually everywhere."

Sher said he is "not at liberty" to disclose details of the government contracts, except that Aqua Sciences won two highly competitive bids with "some very sophisticated companies."

He also declined to comment on how the technology actually works.

"This is our secret sauce," Sher said. "Like Kentucky Fried Chicken, it tastes good, but we won't tell you what's in it."

He did, however, provide a hint: Think of rice used in saltshakers that acts as a magnet to extract water and keeps salt from clumping.

"We figured out how to tap it in a very unique and proprietary way," Sher said. "We figured out how to mimic nature, using natural salt to extract water and act as a natural decontamination.

"Think of the Dead Sea, where nothing grows around it because the salt dehydrates everything. It's kind of like that."

The 20-foot machine can churn out 600 gallons of water a day without using or producing toxic materials and byproducts. The machine was displayed on Capitol Hill last week where a half-dozen lawmakers and some staffers stopped by for a drink.

"It was very interesting to see the technology in action and learn about its possible implementation in natural disasters," said Rep. E. Clay Shaw Jr., a Republican from Florida whose hurricane-prone district includes Fort Lauderdale.

"It was delicious," Shaw said.

Jason Rowe, chief of staff to Rep. Tom Feeney, another Florida Republican, called the technology "pretty impressive."

"I was pretty blown away by the things it's able to do," Rowe said. "The fact that this technology is not tied to humidity like others are makes it an attractive alternative for military bases in the Mideast where humidity is not really an option.

"It seems like it's a cheaper alternative to trucking in bottled water, which has a shelf life," said Rowe, who described himself as a fiscal hawk.

Once deployed, the machines could reduce the cost of logistical support for supplying water to the troops in Iraq by billions of dollars, said Stuart Roy, spokesman of the DCI Group, Aqua Sciences' public affairs firm.

The cost to transport water by C-17 cargo planes, then truck it to the troops, runs $30 a gallon. The cost, including the machines from Aqua Sciences, will be reduced to 30 cents a gallon, Roy said.

Several systems on the market can create water through condensation, but the process requires a high level of humidity.

Aqua Sciences' machines only require 14 percent humidity, Roy said. "That's why this technology is superior and why they are getting the contracts."

Source : http://www.wired.com

Deathbed Confession Says Aliens Were at Roswell

xnuandax writes ;

"The army's explanation of weather balloons in the Roswell, New Mexico incident 60 years ago has been dealt a serious public relations blow. Late Army Lt. Walter Haut had signed a sealed affidavit prior to his death last year asserting that he had witnessed the wreckage of an egg-shaped craft and its extraterrestrial crew while working at the Roswell Army Air Field. An article at News.com.au reviews how Haut had worked as public relations officer for the Roswell base and was involved in the original weather balloon explanation of events at the time. This recent evidence would seem to confirm speculation that egg-shaped saucers are notoriously difficult to fly safely at low altitude." Source : Slashdot

LINK

Tangible Display Makes 3D Touchable

moon_monkey writes;

"Researchers in Japan have developed a display that makes 3D objects solid enough to grasp. The system, created by engineers at Japan's NTT, combines a 3D display with a haptic glove, making 3D items that look real but also feel solid to touch. Two cameras are used to image an object, to make the 3D image. A computer also uses this to render a solid representation. It could be used to inspect products remotely, or even to shake hands with someone on the other side of the world, the researchers say."

LINK

Taste Networking for Better Porn

Untitled, 1968.
Gerald Gooch. Lithograph.
Collection of The Museum of Sex.

The MoSex Index survey asks you
to rate sample images based on
how much it turns you on (or off).
This helps establish your "taste profile."
View Slideshow (Credit:Wired)

(Editor's note: Some links in this story lead to adult material and are not suitable for viewing at work. All links of this nature will be noted with "NSFW" after them.)

---

One frequent theme in my e-mail inbox is "Where can I find good porn?"

If you've written to me, you know that I do try to reply to everyone except the most obvious trolls, even if it takes me a while to get to you. And I answer questions as best I can.

But this is a difficult question to answer. What does "good porn" mean to you, and how much are you willing to pay for it?

Recently, one reader expressed frustration that on the occasions I do link to or recommend adult content, it's not free. "I have followed many of the links I find in your columns, but they all seem to wind up at commercial sites that want my credit card," he writes. "I don't think you want to be a shill for commercial porn, but sometimes I get that feeling."

Of course I am not a shill. I am selective, in that I rarely write about things I don't like unless I just can't keep my trap shut, but to be honest, I don't pay much attention to whether the adult sites I link to are free.

I have neither the time nor the patience to click through gallery after gallery of boring pictures or to sit through a series of low quality 1-minute clips. I'm 35, no longer on a Top Ramen budget, and frankly, what I like was hard to find even in the glory days of free porn.

If I can have a reasonable guarantee that the content I'm buying is what I want it to be, I'm willing to pay for it.

Yet I sympathize with the desire for recommendations from someone you know. Porn, like sex, can get awfully personal. If you feel an affinity for my taste, it's natural to ask me what I like and where to find it.

Daniel Gluck, executive director of the Museum of Sex (NSFW) in New York, sympathizes with the situation as well -- so much so, he's trying to do something about it.

The result is the fledgling MoSex Index (NSFW), an attempt to combine the best of social content with "taste networking."

"Our social content engine is similar to Digg or Reddit, where members can post content and others can rate it. Based on content thresholds, who is doing the rating, karma and reputation, links make it to the homepage," Daniel says.

"But -- and I think this is an extremely important aspect of the project -- we've also incorporated a collaborative filtering element. On other sites, you rate or (don't) rate; we have a degree of rating based on a 7-point Likert scale that adds weight to your like or dislike. We take that intelligence and form 'taste profiles,' which combine to form 'taste networks.' When people in your taste network find content they like, that content gets recommended to you."

The MoSex Index is barely launched, and like any community-based project, its usefulness will depend on the quality and quantity of its membership. So far, the user group has been small, with 70 testers posting links and adding ratings.

"Even with the small group, we're seeing semi-accurate predictions, on a broad scale, of what users might like," Daniel says. "Just with our museum staff, we can see who is most similar to whom. That's one of the aspects that's been most interesting to the staff, seeing whose tastes match."

When you create your MoSex Index user profile, you answer several questions about your sexual orientation, gender and preferences, then rate sexual situations based on how strongly they turn you on or off. Finally, you rate several pictures on how they affect you -- does the pin-up art thrill you or bore you? What about a Hustler photo of an all-female three-way? Or two 1950s male bodybuilders posing nude in a natural landscape?

Source : http://www.wired.com

July 2, 1928: America's First TV Station Goes on the Air

1928: W3XK, the first American TV station, begins broadcasting from suburban Washington, D.C.

The station was an outgrowth of the work done by Charles Francis Jenkins in devising a way to transmit pictures over the airwaves, a process he called "radiovision." He sold several thousand receiving sets, mostly to hobbyists, and, after receiving permission to start an experimental TV transmitting station, aired programming five nights a week until shutting down in 1932.

A 1928 television from
General Electric initially receives
alternating sound and picture.
Photo: tvhistory.tv
View Slideshow(credit:wired)

Jenkins essentially brought the wrong technology to the field: His receiving sets relied on a 48-line image projected onto a 6-inch-square mirror to create the picture, rather than using electronics, the technology that determined the future of television.

An interesting aside: Jenkins was also the first to air a television commercial. He was fined by the government for doing so, a practice that was discontinued, unfortunately, as the medium matured.

Source : http://www.wired.com

Chinese Company OKs Deal on Sudan Oil

AP Writer

China's No. 1 oil company, CNPC, and Indonesia's PT Pertamina have agreed to co-develop a Sudanese offshore oil block, ignoring international efforts to isolate Sudan over the crisis in its Darfur region, a report said Monday.

The agreement, signed Thursday in Sudan's capital, Khartoum, calls for a six-year exploration phase and shared future oil production under a 20-year concession, the CNPC-backed China Petroleum Daily reported. LINK