The Greatest Mass Migrations That Leave Us Awestruck

These are 10 great migrations that leave us awestruck;

1. Great Migrations: Wildebeest

Seeing just one animal in the wild can be a unique experience; seeing thousands moving at one time is unforgettable. Here are 10 of nature’s greatest animal spectacles.

Text by Heidi Schuessler, Bing Travel; photo editing by Connie Ricca.

One of nature’s greatest spectacles is the migration of 1.5 million wildebeest as they move from the Masai Mara in Kenya to the plains of the Serengeti, near the Ngorongoro Crater. While drought often forces them to start moving in May or June, their journey is virtually continuous as they travel constantly in search of food and greener pastures. Safari companies in Kenya and Tanzania build trips around viewing the “great migration,” and to see the wildebeest crossing the Mara River en masse is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. 

2. Great Migrations: Monarch butterflies

Thin wings and daunting distances can’t hamper the annual winter migration of monarch butterflies to their two wintering grounds in California and Mexico. Butterflies west of the Rockies flit their way to the eucalyptus forests of southern California between October and February; towns good for viewing include Pismo Beach, Santa Cruz and Malibu. Butterflies from east of the Rockies migrate 2,500 miles to the oyamel forests of Michoacan, Mexico, and flock in such great number to the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve and El Rosario Sanctuary that the trees bend with their weight. Each year more than 200 million colorful monarchs make the perilous journey, made more difficult by destruction of habitat and drought in Texas.

3. Great Migrations: Polar bears

Each October, approximately 1,000 polar bears converge on the small town of Churchill, Manitoba, while they wait for the Hudson Bay to freeze over. Once it does, the bears walk more than 100 miles over the ice in their hunt for seals. The migration typically lasts through the end of November and makes a fabulous sight for tourists who trek to the barren tundra in hopes of sighting the white bears, usually from the safety of tundra buggies. If you can’t make it to Churchill, you can now watch the migration via streaming webcam.

4. Great Migrations: Caribou

The Porcupine caribou herd in Alaska is 150,000 animals strong, and each year the herd travels more than 400 miles between its winter grounds — in the Brooks Range and Canadian Yukon — and its summer calving ground in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The animals spend November to April foraging for food below the tree line, sometimes in temperatures as low as minus 58 degrees Fahrenheit. In spring, the pregnant cows start to move north to the calving grounds, followed by the bulls in June. The entire herd is always on the move, sometimes just to find a breezy spot where they can escape summer’s pesky mosquitoes. By September, the weather turns cool again and the animals start moving south to start the cycle over again. Migration routes vary each year, but towns like Kotzebue and Arctic Village, Alaska, are sometimes good places to spot caribou.

5. Great Migrations: Gray whales

The longest migration of any mammal on Earth belongs to the gray whale, which travels up to 7,000 miles — one way — from Alaska’s Bering and Chuchki seas, where food is plentiful, to the coast of Baja California. The whales begin moving south in October and travel along the Pacific Coast for up to three months — they’re slow swimmers, covering about five miles a day — before they reach the warm waters of San Ignacio Lagoon. The calves are born there, typically in late December and January, and in February the cycle starts all over again: The males start traveling north, followed soon after by the females and newborn calves. Whale-watching is popular all along the coast; tours are available in San Diego (January to February), to central Oregon (late March) and Washington (April to May).

6. Great Migrations: Red Crab

Australia’s Christmas Island National Park covers more than half of this tropical island in the Indian Ocean. The park is home to the Abbott's booby, the rare frigate bird — and 50 million red crabs. When these bright crustaceans migrate from the inland forests to the coast to breed, they move in such large numbers that roads around the island are closed to let them pass safely. Local conservationists have also created crab bridges and crab crossings to help them in their journey, which coincides with the start of the rainy season in October or November.

7. Great Migrations: American Bison

Yellowstone National Park is home to 3,700 American bison that migrate from the high plateaus in winter to lower grasslands in search of food. Encountering a 2,000-pound bull in the wild is an exciting part of any Yellowstone visit, and according to the National Park Service, Yellowstone is the only place in America where bison have lived continuously since prehistoric times. Unfortunately, the bison are at the center of an ongoing controversy. During harsh winters, they will often migrate beyond the park into neighboring lands, and the park service says, “Bison require special attention because many have been exposed to the bacteria that causes brucellosis, a disease that also infects domestic cattle.” Yellowstone’s two herds can be typically seen in the Lamar Valley, Upper and Lower Geyser Basins and Hayden Valley.

8. Great Migrations: Zebras

In Africa, the wildebeest migration often gets top billing for safari-goers’ bucket list, but Botswana’s zebra migration comes in a close second. Makgadikgadi National Park and Nxai Pan National Park are where visitors can see up to 25,000 zebras as they move in search of water during the dry season. From about June to September the animals leave the dry salt pans and congregate around water sources such as the Boteti River flowing from the Okavango Delta. Seasonal rains bring other animals as well, such as the greater flamingo, in large numbers.

9. Great Migrations: Ruby-throated hummingbird

Hummingbirds are amazing birds, and not just because they’re so small and beat their wings 53 times each second. The ruby-throated species is migratory, making its way from breeding grounds in Canada and the eastern United States to wintering grounds in southern Mexico and Central America. The jewel-colored birds (see photos) fatten up to fuel their flight, which usually includes a dangerous stretch over the open water of the Gulf of Mexico. Ruby-throated hummingbirds are mostly gone from the U.S. by late September, only to return again starting in February. (Some are visible in Florida year-round.)

10. Great Migrations: Pacific salmon

Talk about the circle of life: Pacific salmon begin their lives in fresh water, migrate to the ocean as adults, then return to their native freshwater streams to spawn and die. In the Pacific Northwest, British Columbia and Alaska, salmon of various species make the journey — sometimes as far as 2,000 miles — to fulfill their life cycle. Travelers to southeast Alaska towns of Sitka, Ketchikan, Juneau and others can watch massive king salmon returning to freshwater streams and rivers between May and July; silver, or coho, salmon run in the southeast from July to November.

Sources : Bing

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Mystery Pyramid Garut - West Java

Sadagurip alleged pyramids in older and larger than the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt.

Gunung Sadahurip Garut

Based on the results of active fault research in West Java to study the disaster in ancient times led to the surprising discovery: anomaly in the form of a pyramid structure on Mount Sadahurip, Garut, West Java.

Large and exceed the estimated age of the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt - which is believed to be the tomb of Pharaoh, the fourth dynasty of Egypt, Khufu, built for more than 20 years during the period around the year 2560 BC.

Now, the mystery of the pyramids in Garut, West Java, is expected to be immediately revealed. Ancient catastrophic disaster team members who formed the Office of the Special Staff of President of the Field of Social Assistance and Disaster, Iwan Sumule said, a number of foreign researchers and archaeologists have offered assistance in the process of excavation.

"Including of France, the United States, and the Netherlands expressed interest to assist excavation," he said in VIVAnews, Tuesday, November 29, 2011.

He added, based on survey results, supported by a number of data, including results of IFSAR image - five feet above the ground, discovered the existence of real structures that are man-made pyramid. "All aspects have been studied, including carbon dating. On Mount Sadahurip it shows the age of rocks over 10,000 years. This means that if the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt dating back some 3,000 years BC, we (Garut) 10,000 years," he added. "The test results of carbon can not be deceived."

The amount also exceeds the pyramids in Egypt. According to Iwan, high pyramid Garut estimated 200 feet. "So we were expecting, taller and older tripled from the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt."

Where such an advanced civilization, and could build a pyramid for it? "We excavation first and then can find out more. It will reveal, the civilization of the past which can come from the earth's amazing archipelago," added Iwan.

Asked about the agenda of excavation, Iwan explained, it is now being coordinated with all concerned parties. "When all is ready, will do the excavation. It's not easy, not like a hoe, hoe the ground. This is very valuable, thousands of years old," he said.

All aspects, he added, should be discussed with all relevant agencies - provides an understanding, that in this place found the pyramid. "For the first phase through the village, they receive, hopefully when the road excavation, is open all," he said. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has also been informed about these findings.

The existence of these pyramids, Iwan added, can provide a positive effect Garut and surrounding communities, particularly the economic and social aspects. "We are delighted to team intends to direct foreign researchers to come," said Iwan. "This will turn all people's views on world prehistory."

Previously, Tim catastrophic Purba said, building the pyramids allegedly not only in Mount Sadahurip. Also found in three other mountain in Garut. "The survey results in Gunung Putri, Mountain and Mount Haruman Kaledong can already be concluded that there was a" man made "strongly suspected pyramid," said Tim VIVAnews.

Research is also conducted at Mount Padang, Cianjur, where the rocks are widespread in the region megaliths sehektare more. Through the geoelectric tests, Team concluded on the site of Mount Padang which is also referred to as the largest megalithic heritage in Southeast Asia there are punden staircase-like structure of the pyramid.

On 5 November, the team also launched, Mount Klothok and a mountain in Sleman, also thought to keep the pyramid structure in it.

Adapted from VIVAnews

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40,000 troops to leave Afghanistan by end of 2012

Afghan villagers look on as a U.S. soldier keeps watch during a mission.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) – Drawdown plans announced by the U.S. and more than a dozen other nations will shrink the foreign military footprint in Afghanistan by 40,000 troops at the close of next year, leaving Afghan forces increasingly on the frontlines of the decade-long war.

The United States is pulling out the most — 33,000 by the end of 2012. That's one-third of 101,000 American troops who were in Afghanistan in June — the peak of U.S. military presence in the war, according to figures provided by the Pentagon.

Others in the 49-nation coalition have announced withdrawal plans too, even as they insist they are not rushing to leave. Many nations have vowed to keep troops in Afghanistan to continue training the Afghan police and army in the years to come. And many have pledged to keep sending aid to the impoverished country after the international combat mission ends in 2014.

Still, the exit is making Afghans nervous.

They fear their nation could plunge into civil war once the foreign forces go home. Their confidence in the Afghan security forces has risen, but they don't share the U.S.-led coalition's stated belief that the Afghan soldiers and policemen will be ready to secure the entire nation in three years. Others worry the Afghan economy will collapse if foreigners leave and donors get stingy with aid.

Foreign forces began leaving Afghanistan this year.

About 14,000 foreign troops will withdraw by the end of December, according to an Associated Press review of more than a dozen nations' drawdown plans. The United States is pulling out 10,000 service members this year; Canada withdrew 2,850 combat forces this summer; France and Britain will each send about 400 home; Poland is recalling 200; and Denmark and Slovenia are pulling out about 120 combined.

Troop cutbacks will be deeper next year when an estimated 26,000 more will leave. That figure includes 23,000 Americans; 950 Germans; 600 more French; 500 additional Britons; 400 Poles; 290 Belgians; 156 Spaniards; and 100 Swedes.

Gen. James F. Amos, commandant of the Marine Corps, told the AP that the number of Marines in Helmand province in southern Afghanistan will drop "markedly" in 2012, and the role of those who stay will shift from countering the insurgency to training and advising Afghan security forces.

Amos declined to discuss the number of Marines expected to leave in 2012.

There are now about 19,400 Marines in Helmand, and that is scheduled to fall to about 18,500 by the end of this year.

"Am I OK with that? The answer is 'yes,'" Amos said. "We can't stay in Afghanistan forever."

"Will it work? I don't know. But I know we'll do our part."

Additional troop cuts or accelerated withdrawals are possible.

Many other countries, including Hungary, Finland and Italy, are finalizing their withdrawal schedules. Presidential elections in Europe and the European debt crisis also could speed up pullout plans. Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard said this week that Australia's training mission could be completed before the 2014 target date.

Back in June, then-U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said that when the Obama administration begins pulling troops from Afghanistan, the U.S. will resist a rush to the exists, "and we expect the same from our allies." Gates said it was critically important that a plan for winding down NATO's combat role by the end of 2014 did not squander gains made against the Taliban that were won at great cost in lives and money.

"The more U.S. forces draw down, the more it gives the green light for our international partners to also head for the exits," said Jeffrey Dressler, a senior research analyst at the Institute for the Study of War in Washington. "There is a cyclical effect here that is hard to temper once it gets going."

U.S. Army Lt. Col. Jimmie Cummings Jr. said the cutbacks that have been announced will not affect the coalition's ability to fight the insurgency.

"We are getting more Afghans into the field and we are transferring more responsibility to them in many areas," Cummings said, adding that many leaders of the Taliban, al-Qaida and the Haqqani militant networks have been captured or killed.

Afghan security forces started taking the lead in seven areas in July. They soon will assume responsibility for many more regions as part of a gradual process that will put Afghans in charge of security across the nation by the end of 2014.

Some countries are lobbying to start transition as soon as possible in areas where they have their troops deployed — so they can go home, said a senior NATO official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss transition. The official insisted that those desires were not driving decisions on where Afghan troops are taking the lead. But the official said that because they want to leave, a number of troop-contributing nations faced with declining public support at home have started working harder to get their areas ready to hand off to Afghan forces.

"The big question (after 2014) is if the Afghan security forces can take on an externally based insurgency with support from the Pakistani security establishment and all that entails," Dressler said. "I think they will have a real challenge on their hands if the U.S. and NATO countries do not address Pakistani sponsorship of these groups."

Quoted from USAtoday

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States With the Highest Car Insurance

A national survey of premiums lists the most expensive places to get coverage. Is where you live among the leaders of the pack?

By Des Toups, CarInsurance.com

Where you pay more for coverage

You can probably get the same deal, within a few dollars, on a new car in any of the 50 states. But you can't do the same for car insurance. In some states, you'll pay nearly three times as much for the same coverage on the same car, with the same driver. Here's a look at where rates are highest.

Our data from Quadrant Information Services sampled 10 ZIP codes and six carriers in each state, calculating rates on more than 2,000 new vehicles for a 40-year-old single male driver who commutes 12 miles. Coverage limits were $100,000 for injury liability for one person, $300,000 per accident and $50,000 for property damage, with a $500 deductible on collision and comprehensive coverage. The policy included uninsured motorist coverage.

These top 10 Highest car insurance rates by state

Michigan

Insurance on a 2011 model tops out at an average of $2,541 in Michigan, the highest rate in the nation. Its no-fault system provides what amounts to unlimited medical care, and about 19% of drivers were uninsured in the Insurance Research Council's most recent survey. "Driver responsibility fees" can add hundreds of dollars to the cost of keeping a driver's license, too. 

Louisiana

Elected judges hear cases for accident claims under $50,000, and you don't get re-elected by being stingy, Louisiana car insurance experts say. That reality contributes to an average bill of $2,453 for a 2011 model car, second highest in the nation. About 13% of Louisiana's drivers were uninsured. Louisiana is one of several states with a "no pay, no play" law that limits damages uninsured drivers can receive.

Oklahoma

Wild weather and uninsured drivers forced rates for 2011 models in Oklahoma up to an average of $2,197, third highest in the nation. Hailstorms routinely pummel thousands of cars in a few moments, and their owners face decisions over whether to wait for the next time or file a claim -- if they have coverage, that is. Nearly one in four Oklahoma drivers is uninsured, the second-highest rate in the country.

Montana

Montana's a big state, and that means more miles and more risk. The cost of insuring a 2011 model averaged $2,190, fourth highest in the nation. Montana's fatality rate of 2.12 per 100 million miles driven is nearly twice the national average. About 11% of Montana drivers are uninsured. A caveat: The highways are wide open, but they do ticket, and the ticket will follow you home.

Washington. D.C.

Rates for full coverage in Washington, D.C., averaged $2,146 for 2011 models, fifth highest in the nation, and about 15% of District of Columbia drivers lack insurance, slightly above the national average. Even a bare-bones, minimum-liability-only policy on a beater car would set you back $1,172 a year.

California

California drivers pay an average of $1,991 a year to insure their 2011 models, the sixth-highest rate in the country. Rampant auto theft and a large population of uninsured motorists -- about 15% of all drivers -- push up rates for all. California does offer a low-cost program for low-income drivers, though.

Mississippi

The nation's poorest state, Mississippi, has the highest rate of uninsured drivers and the seventh-highest average premium for 2011 models, at $1,896. About 28% of drivers in the Magnolia State drive without insurance -- something that's illegal in every state except New Hampshire.

New Mexico

Premiums for 2011 models in New Mexico average $1,837 a year, eighth highest in the nation. The biggest factor? About 26% of state drivers don't carry insurance, the second-worst rate in the nation and the reason why uninsured motorist coverage is becoming more critical.

Arkansas

Arkansans pay an average of $1,836 to insure a 2011 model car, the ninth-highest rate in the country and well above the national average of $1,561. About 16% of the state's drivers are uninsured.

Maryland

In Maryland, the average premium for a 2011 model is $1,807, the 10th-highest rate in the nation. About 15% of Maryland drivers are uninsured, slightly above the national average.

Quoted from MSN

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Rats were Trained as Trackers Landmine in Colombia

BOGOTA - In a laboratory owned by the police, 11 white rats to wait its turn to impress the coach and maybe get a prize.

Ilustration

Rodents it now has an important role to make the Colombian conflict to be safe. The mice are now being trained to find landmines that have killed and injured hundreds of people each year.

Government project that began in 2006 has trained rats to detect the metal used for thousands of landmines that have been used during the conflict with my left.

Colombian scientists decided to use a mouse, like a dog that has traditionally been able to detect the presence of landmines, the rats had increased ability to smell it. Another reason is because the body of mice that light, so it will not blow up the mines.

As reported by Reuters on Thursday (24.11.2011), the rats were previously trained to obey voice commands and recognize the specific odor of the metal used for the mines.

Landmines are providing a new problem for national security, approximately 63 percent of landmine victims were from the military and police officers.

The Colombian government has said that they had cleared the land area of ​​10 hectares in 2010, but only found 194 explosive devices. (RHS)

Adapted from Okezone

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Up to 650,000 visitors a year watch the Penguin Parade

What's a trip to Australia without an encounter with its unique animals? If you're in Melbourne and have a hankering to get up close and personal with native wildlife — as well as enjoy some fabulous coastal views — make the two-hour drive southeast of the city to Phillip Island.

The Penguin Parade, Destination Phillip Island

Begin your visit at the free-range Phillip Island Wildlife Park, situated at the heart of the island — and have your camera ready. Kangaroos, emus, koalas, cassowaries, echidnas and dozens of other indigenous species roam this 24-hectare facility, presenting photo ops galore.

Fifteen minutes away, on Summerland Beach in Phillip Island Nature Park, lies Penguin Parade, the main tourist draw. There, the aptly named Little Penguins (at around 30 cm tall, they are the world's smallest) emerge from the sea shortly after dusk each day and waddle their way to sand-dune burrows to the delight of onlookers. The species is found on the coast of New Zealand and southern Australia but gathers in its largest numbers on Phillip Island.

Viewing is controlled. Ticketing options allow you to watch from tiered seats or book a private beach with your own park ranger, who will tell you everything you need to know about the penguins. Want to do it in style? Then see the parade from a VIP "skybox" with canapés and drinks. Visit penguins.org.au.

Quoted from TIME

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Cartoons of the Week

November 5 - November 11

Quoted from TIME CARTOON

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IBM Reveals the Biggest Artificial Brain of All Time

Nearly 150,000 Processors need to match the Cat Brain

IBM has revealed the biggest artificial brain of all time, a simulation run by a 147,456-processor supercomputer that requires millions of watts of electricity and over 150,000 gigabytes of memory. The brain simulation is a feat for neuroscience and computer processing—but it's still one-eighty-third the speed of a human brain and is only as large as a cat's. Will we ever get to truly capable artificial intelligence? PM reports from IBM's Almaden research center to find out.

San Jose, Calif.--Scientists at IBM's Almaden research center have built the biggest artificial brain ever--a cell-by-cell simulation of the human visual cortex: 1.6 billion virtual neurons connected by 9 trillion synapses. This computer simulation, as large as a cat's brain, blows away the previous record--a simulated rat's brain with 55 million neurons--built by the same team two years ago. 

"This is a Hubble Telescope of the mind, a linear accelerator of the brain," says Dharmendra Modha, the Almaden computer scientist who will announce the feat at the Supercomputing 2009 conference in Portland, Ore. In other words, in the realm of computer science, the team's undertaking is grand. 

The cortex, the wrinkly outer layer of the brain, performs most of the higher functions that make humans human, from recognizing faces and speech to choreographing the dozens of muscle contractions involved in a perfect tennis serve. It does this using a universal neural circuit called a microcolumn, repeated over and over. Modha hopes the simulation, assembled using neuroscience data from rats, cats, monkeys and humans, will help scientists better understand how the brain works--and, in particular, how the cortical microcolumn manages to perform such a wide range of tasks. 

But deciphering the microcolumn can also help build better computers, Mars rovers and robots that are truly intelligent. By reverse engineering this cortical structure, Modha says, researchers could give machines the ability to interpret biological senses such as sight, hearing and touch. And artificial machine brains could process, intelligently, senses that don't currently exist in the natural world, such as radar and laser range-finding. 

"Imagine peppering the entire surface of the ocean with pressure, temperature, humidity, wave height and turbidity sensors," Modha says. "Imagine streaming this data to a reverse-engineered cortex." In short, he envisions wiring the entire planet--transforming it into a virtual organism with the capacity to understand its own evolving patterns of weather, climate and ocean currents. 

The simulation that Modha will unveil today is just a starting point. It lacks the neural patterning that develops as real brains mature. Neuroscientists believe that this complexity can only evolve through "embodied learning"--stumbling around in a physical body, in which every action has instant consequences that are experienced through senses such as touch and sight. As Anil Seth, a neuroscientist at the University of Sussex in Britain, puts it, "The brain wires itself." 

Seth demonstrated this principle while at the Neurosciences Institute in San Diego using a brain simulation called Darwin. He embodied Darwin's 50,000 virtual neurons (about equal to the brain of a pond snail, or one-quarter of a fruit fly) in a wheeled robot. As Darwin wandered around, its virtual neurons rewired their connections to produce so-called hippocampal "place cells"--similar to neurons found in mammals--which helped it navigate. Scientists don't know how to program these place cells, but with embodied learning the cells emerge on their own. 

Paul Maglio, a cognitive scientist at Almaden, has similar plans for Modha's cortical simulation. He's building a virtual world for it to inhabit using software from the video shootout game "Unreal Tournament" and data from Mars. Besides topographic maps and aerial photos, Maglio plans to use rover-level imagery to create terrain with lifelike boulders and craters. 

The video-game software provides a pallet of several dozen robotic bodies for Modha's virtual cortex. Initially, it will use a simple wheeled robot to explore its world, driven by fundamental desires such as sustenance and survival. "It's got to like some things and not like other things," Maglio says. "Ultimately, it's going to want not to roll off the edges of cliffs." 

Modha's billion-neuron virtual cortex is so massive that running it required one of the fastest supercomputers in the world--Dawn, a Blue Gene/P supercomputer at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) in California. 

Dawn hums and breathes inside an acre-size room on the second floor of the lab's Terascale Simulation Facility. Its 147,456 processors and 147,000 gigabytes of memory fill 10 rows of computer racks, woven together by miles of cable. Dawn devours a million watts of electricity through power cords as thick as a bouncer's wrists--racking up an annual power bill of $1 million. The roar of refrigeration fans fills the air: 6675 tons of air-conditioning hardware labor to dissipate Dawn's body heat, blowing 2.7 million cubic feet of chilled air through the room every minute. 

Dawn was installed earlier this year by the Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), which conducts massive computer simulations to ensure the readiness of the nation's nuclear weapons arsenal. Modha's team worked with Dawn for a week before it was transitioned to NNSA's classified nuclear work. For all of its legendary computing power, Dawn still ran Modha's 1.6 billion neurons at only one-six-hundredth the speed of a living brain. A second simulation, with 1 billion neurons, ran a little faster--but still only at one-eighty-third of normal brain speed. 

These massive simulations are merely steps toward Modha's ultimate goal: simulating the entire human cortex, about 25 billion neurons, at full speed. To do that, he'll need to find 1000 times more computing power. At the rate that supercomputers have expanded over the last 20 years, that super-super computer could exist by 2019. "This is not just possible, it's inevitable," Modha says. "This will happen." 

But it won't be easy. "Business as usual won't get us there," says Mike McCoy, head of advanced simulation and computing at LLNL. Development of supercomputers in recent decades has ridden the wave of Moore's law: transistors shrank and the computing power of processor chips doubled every 18 months. But that wild ride is coming to an end. Transistors are now packed so densely on chips that the heat they generate can no longer be dissipated. To reduce heat, Dawn uses older, larger, 180-nanometer transistors that were developed 10 years ago--rather than the 45-nanometer transistors that are used in desktop computers today. And for the same reason, Dawn runs these transistors at a sluggish 850 megahertz--three times slower than today's desktop computers. 

The supercomputer that Modha needs to simulate a whole cortex would also consume prohibitive amounts of power. "If you scale up current technology, this system might require between 100 megawatts and a gigawatt of power," says Horst Simon, a mathematician at nearby Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, who collaborated with Modha on the simulation. One gigawatt (a billion watts) is the amount of power that the mad scientist Emmett "Doc" Brown needed to operate his DeLorean time machine in the 1985 movie "Back to the Future." But Simon puts it more bluntly: "It would be a nuclear power plant," he says. The electricity alone would cost $1 billion per year. 

The human brain, by comparison, survives on just 20 watts. Although supercomputer simulations are power-hungry, Modha hopes that the insights they provide will eventually pave the way to more elegant technology. With funding from DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency), he's working with a far-flung team at five universities and four IBM labs to create a new computer chip that can mimic the cortex using far less power than a computer. "I'll have it ready for you within the next decade," he says.

Quoted from Popular Mechanics

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Facebook Boston? Zuckerberg Recruits Harvard, MIT Students

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg returned to his alma mater—Harvard—today on a recruiting swing for the world's most popular social network. He made another trip to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as well. I caught the (very) brief press conference at MIT, where Zuckerberg only had time to answer a few questions.

The first was about what he meant when he recently said he would have kept Facebook in Boston—he re-clarified that Facebook couldn't have become what it became had he not gone off to Silicon Valley, but knowing what he knows now, he thinks he could have kept the company here.

The second question was something along the lines of "What can we do the next time a company like Facebook comes along to make sure it doesn't leave Boston?" Zuck gave a similar answer as the one above, saying Facebook needed to be out in Silicon Valley but that there are a lot of smart people here and, as such, cool companies can be built here.

The third question was about Facebook's efforts to curb cyberbullying. "Facebook is a product where we think a lot of good comes from it," said Zuckerberg, continuing, "And cyber bullying is one unfortunate thing online that we work really hard to prevent." He talked about Facebook's efforts to curb cyberbullying by allowing people to report abusive behavior. "We just think it's a huge problem online and one that needs to be weeded out," said Zuckerberg. "And the solutions, we think, are social."

And with that, he was gone.

Clearly none of us had enough time with Zuckerberg to really get into anything substantial, but the big story here is that he's in Boston specifically on a recruitment tour of Harvard and MIT.

At MIT, Zuckerberg first met with members of the faculty and then was on his way to talk to a group of 500 students. Those particular students were selected via a lottery process that drew from 2,600 applicants and was "sampled most heavily from electrical engineering and computer science students," which is the largest major at MIT according to the school's media relations manager, Kimberly Allen. Zuckerberg is conducting a similar recruitment tour at Harvard today as well.

There's also an invite-only event tonight for a handful of students—60 invites went out, according to Allen—from both MIT and Harvard. "The whole thing is recruiting. That's his point of being here," said Allen. And according to Harvard's press office, today marks Zuckerberg's first visit back to the campus "since leaving in 2004 to launch Facebook."

So the speculation begins as to why Zuckerberg himself would make the trip all the way out to Boston to talk to select groups of students from MIT and Harvard, and then hold an even more exclusive event tonight to talk to a hand-picked group of students. Both today and during Zuckerberg's recently-reported remarks, he mentioned Boston and New York in the same breath—so keep a close eye on both those markets.

Quoted from Time

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10 Homes That Turn Into Halloween Haunts

10 Halloween ‘Haunters’

10 amazingly decorated homes and the haunters behind them.| By Roger Fillion, SwitchYard Media

Favorite Haunts

They call themselves home haunters: People who rig up eye-popping Halloween decorations on their homes. These passionate revelers buy fancy props or make their own, like a vampire bursting from a coffin or a “scary tree” made from real bark and roots. Some go the high-tech route, wiring their homes for elaborate light shows synchronized to music. 

Tombstones, fog machines, flying ghosts, or Freddy Krueger-like images are among the props you might see when you visit the home of a haunter.  

Their ranks include men, women, young and old. Celebrities such as movie star Dick Van Dyke and Chip Davis, founder of the top-selling group Mannheim Steamroller, are among those who also like to pull out the stops. Here are 10 amazingly decorated homes and the haunters behind the decorations.

Lafayette, Colo.: Haunting via online?

“Seeing the joy in people's faces, especially the younger kids and older generation, makes all the work worthwhile,” Alek Komarnitsky says of his high-tech decorations. Komarnitsky broadcasts his handiwork on a Web site, where web surfers from around the globe can view his Lafayette, Colo., home via three Web cams. Online visitors can turn the lighting on and off via their computer. Plus, they can deflate and inflate giant air-filled figures like Frankenstein and Homer Simpson. Komarnitsky says he spends less than a $100 a year in new equipment because he has “a lot of stuff” he reuses (electricity costs are less than $1 a day, he adds). Komarnitsky puts up elaborate Christmas decorations, too. His Web site and decorating have raised more than $60,000 in donations for celiac disease research at the University of Maryland. His two children suffer from the digestive condition.

Sandy, Utah: Family friendly, to music

Greg Shoop, of Sandy, Utah, initially planted a few tombstones in his yard. “It started out just wanting to have something fun for the trick-or-treaters,” he says. For Christmas, Shoop would synchronize Christmas lights to music. A lightbulb went off. “I decided I should also synchronize my Halloween display to music,” he says.  “Each year I add or update my display a little and add a couple of new songs.” Shoop -- who spends at least $500 annually to repair, upgrade and add props -- tries to keep his display “very family friendly” so young children aren’t scared.  “No people running around scaring people, props that are designed to startle people, and no blood and guts,” he says.

New Berlin, Wis.: Plants vs. Zombies

David Stolp adores the videogame Plants vs. Zombies -- so much so the New Berlin, Wis., resident applied that passion to Halloween 2010. Stolp, his wife, and two kids hatched a plan over dinner to decorate their yard with handmade wooden objects based on Plants vs. Zombies characters -- including zombies, plants, rays of sunlight. They planted a new object daily in a way that told a story. That unfolded over 37 days, culminating on Halloween with more than 75 characters. Stolp used Facebook to explain how each object fit in the story. The family used 16 sheets of wood and six gallons of primer. It cost more than $500. “We were just doing it for fun,” Stolp says. This year: some zombies and plants, plus pumpkin decorations and mad scientist characters. 

Springville, Utah: Imagination gone scary

Snow hasn’t stopped Robert Wolf from decorating his Springville, Utah, home. In 2003, the white stuff caused a short, halting the automated kicking legs he’d installed in his front yard as well as the computer power supply that operated his props. Since then, Wolf has expanded his offerings. His yard features tombstones, fog machines, singing skeletons, and a fake fire burning in a front room window. “I always wanted to become a Disney Imagineer, but I never wanted to move to California or Florida,” he jokes. Each year he adds new props. Among others this year: a gravedigger. Wolf also tries to come up with a new theme annually. Last year it was a carnival featuring real people dressed up as spooky clowns and mimes. “I easily spend $500 to $1,000 every year,” Wolf says. 

Minneola, Fla.: Lights! Music! Scare me!

As a nightclub DJ, Jay Peterson synchronized music to light shows. The Minneola, Fla., resident transferred those skills to a computerized Halloween display. Lights and special effects are synced to music. Passersbys are so bowled over they’ve encouraged Peterson to start a business. “People would say, ‘You should be doing this for a living.’” He took the advice and launched Jayslights LLC, creating computerized Halloween and Christmas light shows for homes and buildings. Peterson estimates he spent close to $10,000 for all his equipment over the years, including new light controllers, amplifiers and outdoor speakers. His 2011 Halloween plans: “A little bit more special effects.”

Lehi, Utah: Handmade haunting

Rather than buy fancy lights and other gear, Levi Bradley makes Halloween props by hand. That means tombstones, a grave that breathes, or a zombie named Jared who rocks back and forth. “I make about 95% of all my decorations and props. I love to create things and then watch them work,” says the Lehi, Utah, resident. Bradley likes watching the expressions on tricker-or-treaters and parents. “I just love to walk around among them,” he says. This year’s theme: a Victorian-era cemetery. “Mostly with a creepy vibe and not much if any gore,” he adds. Bradley reckons he spends about $200 a year.

Kent, Wash.: A family affair

Gena Laws of Kent, Wash., says her synchronized lights and music are a family production. “Every January we have a family meeting and discuss ideas and brainstorm. We then vote on a theme for the year, changing our theme every year,” she says. “A blueprint is drawn up to reflect our theme, and I go to work programming all the lights, which can take up to 10 hours for a two-minute song.” Each “show” includes about a dozen songs. In March, the family begins building the large props, like "Bubbles" the vampire exploding from a coffin, or a horse bursting from the ground with the Headless Horseman on top. The display takes about 250 hours to complete. Laws is spending about $300 on materials this year. “The many comments, laughter, and sometime screams keep us going year after year,” she says.

Watervliet, N.Y.: Zombies and ghouls. Oh my!

Jeffrey Razzano of Watervliet, N.Y., threw himself into Halloween decorations after his daughter, then 21, became “very into” the holiday. He now installs in his backyard motion-activated lights and props, like the fictional Freddy Krueger from the “Nightmare on Elm Street” horror films, or Jason the villain in the “Friday the 13th“ films. Razzano also recruits volunteers to dress up as zombies and ghouls. Visitors are asked to donate a canned good or non-perishable food item that Razzano donates to local food banks. More than 400 people came last Halloween, and Razzano expects to open up the display for two nights this year. He estimates he spends $600 to $1,000 annually. The pay-off, aside from fighting hunger: “Seeing everybody so ecstatic and hearing their feedback,” he says.

Walden, N.Y.: Classic Halloween

Anita LaForte calls her 1870 Queen Anne Victorian house “the classic Halloween home.” While back problems have forced the Walden, N.Y., resident to scale back decorating the last two or three years, LaForte and her husband typically install tombstones in the yard. Lights, ghosts, and a fog machine complete the cemetery. Windows display skeletons, monsters made from Halloween costumes, and a cardboard cutout mimicking the gruesome “Psycho” shower scene. Spiders drop from the front porch ceiling. A voice-activated grim reaper flaps its arms and cries out on the front porch, and a screeching ghost also flies by. “Everything moves,” says LaForte, who estimates she’s accumulated “several hundred dollars” in props over the years.  LaForte hopes she can soon resume decorating in grand style. “Next year may be doable,” she says.

Omaha, Neb.: Halloween with a Christmas-y musician

Chip Davis, founder of the top-selling group Mannheim Steamroller, is known for his popular Christmas albums. But Davis also is a huge fan of Halloween, and celebrates the holiday with a big party on his 150-acre farm, 20 minutes north of Omaha. His house and barn are lit up with orange lights. Guests take a 30-minute hayrack ride where they confront a headless horseman who bursts from the woods screaming, “I lost my head!” The hayrack next stops at a huge, flaming cauldron with eight witches dancing to the beat of drums. “It takes about three cords of wood to keep the fire going inside the cauldron,” Davis says. The grand finale is a spaceship that’s crashed into a hill and is billowing smoke. Theatrical lights illuminate the spacecraft, as well as the eight-foot alien who emerges and speaks with a Darth Vader-like voice.  “I really enjoy Halloween more in some ways than I do Christmas,” Davis says.

Quoted from MSN

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Dog death row... Sunday Mirror investigation reveals 250,000 cats and dogs are gassed each year in Japan

Waiting to die: Pedigree Japanese Akita puppy scratches the window of his cage... moments later he is taken to the gas chamber

A puppy scratches at a window in a pitiful attempt to escape the horror which is about to unfold.

Minutes later the pedigree Japanese Akita is among a large group of dogs led into a “dream box”, an ­execution chamber which will be pumped full of carbon dioxide.

As the deadly gas slowly fills the box it takes 10 minutes for the barking inside to die down into heart-breaking whimpers. And as the dogs writhe in agony, it takes another 20 minutes before their twitching bodies are finally still.

The animals have just become the latest batch of the 200,000 cats and dogs which will be gassed to death in Japan this year.

Today a Sunday Mirror investigation uncovers this conveyor-belt of slaughter – which is completely legal and run by the country’s government.

The carnage is happening because of an explosion in the Japanese pet industry, which is worth £20billion a year. There are now 23 million pet cats and dogs in Japan... that’s more than the number of children.

Unregulated breeders sell the latest fashionable breeds, some costing up to £5,000, which fill the ­windows of thousands of pet shops across the country.

Yet those which can’t be sold, or are too old to be used for breeding, have a piece of red string tied around their neck and are led off to die.

The euphemistically named “dream” boxes where they spend their final moments are fully mechanised gas chambers housed in health centres called ­hokenjos.

There are 108 in Japan and they each kill an average of 550 animals a day. The gas chambers were ­invented by scientists in Japan, where Buddhism teaches that all life is sacred. Even a vet will not take an animal’s life. Yet as our pictures show, there is no room for such compassion in Japan’s ­burgeoning pet trade.

We were granted rare access to one of the execution chambers.

At the single-storey building in Chiba, 50 miles from Tokyo, six ­stainless steel walled rooms serve as death row for at least 30 dogs.

“It’s quiet now,” says Mr Nohira, the director. “We get ­especially busy just before the summer when the cages are full of puppies.” Last year more than 5,000 cats and 2,000 dogs were ­slaughtered here.

Among the dozens of animals ­frantically pacing the tiny cages are a dachshund, a miniature pointer, a ­terrier and a poodle.

The red nylon string around their necks indicates they have exceeded the maximum seven-day stay and will have to be killed. Any longer would be ­“wasting resources”. Hundreds of cats await the same ­awful fate in another room. That comes at 8.30am sharp every Tuesday and Friday when the animals are forced along a narrow ­concrete ­passage into the dream box.

Mr Ishizaki, the operator, a gentle and apologetic man, presses the green button in the control room. He then watches as cylinders release the carbon dioxide.

“When I first did it I was very sad,” he explains. “Now it’s just my job. I don’t dwell on it any more.”

The stench of death fills the air, the metal rails matted with the fur from the tens of thousands of cats and dogs that have already been through the centre.

Puppies and kittens die more slowly because the gas takes longer to penetrate their tiny bodies, Mr Ishizaki explains.

Once dead, the animals are dumped through a hatch into an incinerator. The 600C heat quickly turns them into ash, which is put into white plastic boxes labelled industrial waste.

According to official figures, 90 per cent of abandoned pets are dumped in government pounds each year.

That compares with just nine per cent in the UK.

One reason is because Japanese pedigree dogs have high rates of ­genetic defects. It means just one or two from a litter will possess the “cute factor”.

Miniature “tea cup” toy poodles are the current trend in Japan. They sell for as much as £2,500, while a puppy with “red” fur was on sale last week in Tokyo for double that. Pet shop chains make millions in profits each year.

DESIGNER GOODS

Some are open until 3am and cater to the businessmen and ­hostesses who spill out of nearby clubs and buy puppies and kittens to pop into their designer handbags.

Paris Hilton posed outside one such store, OneWan, a couple of years ago among Gucci dog collars ­selling for £1,400.

Emi Kaneko, director of the Lifeboat charity which has saved 8,000 cats from the gas chambers, says: “Buying a pet is no different to buying a ­handbag for lots of people in Japan.

“People buy them without any thought and then throw them away like toys.

“It would be better if the Japanese stopped buying pets ­altogether from the shops – then there would be no puppy mills, no hokenjos.”

Campaigners like Emi are the only hope for many cats and dogs. Small pockets of activists do all they can.

But it is a thankless task in the face of Japan’s appalling animal rights record. Fusako Nogami, of the animal rights group Alive, has spent years trying to expose the black market trade in ­pedigree cats and dogs bred in “pet mills” across the country.

These tiny pet factories, often in crudely converted houses, are stuffed with squalid cages of pets.

One campaigner, who asked for ­anonymity, spent two years trying to get the authorities to shut down a pet mill near Fukuoka in southern Japan.

“Hundreds of animals were crammed in a tiny space,” she said. “The stench was overpowering, with carcasses lying around and dead animals being dumped with the garbage.”

The campaigner was arrested and charged with trespassing as she tried to gather evidence. No action was taken against the owner.

Only one breeder has been closed down in Japan in the past five years.

“The current laws are inadequate, ambiguous and weakly enforced,” says Mr Nogami.

For now there seems little chance of that happening. Yesterday in Tokyo one designer dog selling for £4,200 was ­attracting a throng outside a pet shop window.

As he pawed at the window the ­onlookers laughed and even took a picture. Then they turned on their heels, leaving the dog scratching at his cage.

Quoted from Mirror

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