3-D Images Reveal Fossils Inside Rock
By Tracy Staedter, Discovery News

Feb. 16, 2006—What could be better for a paleontologist than finding a 650-million-year-old microscopic fossil? How about seeing it in three dimensions without ever having to extract it from the rock that preserves it?

Paleobiologist J. William Schopf of the University of California, Los Angeles, and his colleagues have developed a technique that lets them see fossilized microorganisms and their chemical makeup.

Such a method could not only help scientists settle a few disputes about whether or not certain microscopic structures are indeed fossils from the earliest days of life on Earth, but it could also be used to potentially search for long-lost life in rocks from Mars.

"You can now turn the fossil upside down. You can look at it from the side. You can look at it from the top. You can take layers off and look at its insides," said Schopf. "This is the first time anybody has been able to do that."

The technique uses two tried-and-true technologies already being put to use by biologists and chemists: confocal microscopy and Raman spectroscopy.

more on discovery.com

DPR: Tak Ada UU Bolehkan Moge Minta Prioritas di Jalan
Muhammad Nur Hayid - detikcom

Jakarta - Sikap arogan pengendara motor gede (moge) juga mendapat kecaman DPR. Dalam UU Lalu Lintas tidak aturan yang membolehkan moge meminta prioritas penggunaan jalan.

Hal itu disampaikan anggota Komisi V DPR yang membidangi masalah perhubungan, Abdullah Azwar Anas, kepada detikcom di Gedung DPR/MPR, Senayan, Jakarta, Selasa (14/2/2006).

Anas menilai tindakan kelompok moge yang meminggirkan pengguna jalan lain saat konvoi sebagai tindakan yang tidak etis. "Perlu ada regulasi dalam UU Lalu Lintas supaya lebih cepat dibuat PP agar tidak terjadi seperti ini," kata Anas.

Menurut Anas, dalam UU yang ada saat ini, tidak ada pasal yang membolehkan moge menyetop para pengguna jalan lainnya. "Yang boleh menyetop para pengguna jalan lainnya sebagaimana diatur dalam UU dengan skala prioritas adalah orang yang meninggal dunia atau para pejabat," kata Anas.

Anas mengakui para pengguna moge banyak yang berasal dari para pejabat, mantan pejabat dan para pengusaha. Namun karena jalan merupakan milik umum, maka tidak ada yang boleh bertindak diskriminatif. (iy)

detik

http://www.erabaru.or.id/k_01_art_217.htm
Lelaki dari Henan, Difoto Tak Tampak

(Erabaru.or.id) - Seorang warga dari daerah Henan, China diketahui tidak bisa difoto dengan menggunakan kamera digital. Bahkan ketika difoto bersama dengan orang lain, hanya dia seorang yang tidak terlihat. Padahal sebelumnya setiap kali dipotret, ia tidak pernah mengalami hal seperti itu. Kejadian tidak lumrah ini diberitakan oleh harian Sungai Besar di China pada 6 Januari 2006 lalu.

Peristiwa tersebut bermula saat Ye Xiangting, warga kampung Ye Lou, desa Yang Zhuang, kota Wu Gang, Provinsi Henan ingin membuat KTP baru. Untuk kepentingan itu dia harus difoto di kantor polisi setempat. Ketika ia difoto di depan kamera, gambar dirinya selalu tidak kelihatan. Juru foto itu dengan cermat memeriksa kameranya, tapi kameranya ternyata normal. Karena penasaran, Ye Xiangting difoto kembali, namun di layar komputer gambar dirinya tetap saja tidak ada—yang terlihat hanya latar belakang tempat dimana ia difoto.

Juru foto itu mengira suatu benda yang dibawa oleh Ye Xiangting, sehingga mempengaruhi kenormalan kerja kamera. Lantas, ia meminta Ye Xiangting untuk memeriksa lebih cermat lagi benda yang dibawanya tapi dia mengaku tidak membawa apa-apa. Setelah itu juru foto memintanya duduk kembali di depan kamera, lalu memotret lagi dari berbagai sudut pandang, namun hasilnya tetap saja nihil.

Heran dengan keganjilan itu, sang juru foto kemudian mencari beberapa orang untuk foto bersama dengan Ye Xiangting. Di luar dugaan, foto yang tampak di komputer hanya ada orang lain itu, sedangkan gambar Ye Xiangting tetap hilang begitu saja tak berbekas. Akhirnya juru foto itu menyerah dan membatalkan pemotretan tersebut, sambil terus berpikir apa penyebab semua itu. “Dulu saya sangat normal-normal saja ketika di foto!”, ujar Ye Xiangting .

Kepala kantor polisi setempat mengakui adanya kejadian tidak umum tersebut. Menurutnya, polisi juga pernah menjumpai hal yang sama seperti itu, orang tidak bisa difoto, namun sebab konkretnya tidak diketahui, mudah-mudahan ahli terkait dapat menjelaskannya.

(Sumber:www.epochtimes.com)

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18 Tricks to Teach Your Body

More on this in Health & Fitness Tips you need for every part of your life Find the Best Guy Wisdom Online Maximize your workout with Men's Health Personal Trainer!

1. If your throat tickles, scratch your ear.

When you were 9, playing your armpit was a cool trick. Now, as an adult, you can still appreciate a good body-based feat, but you're more discriminating. Take that tickle in your throat; it's not worth gagging over. Here's a better way to scratch your itch: "When the nerves in the ear are stimulated, it creates a reflex in the throat that can cause a muscle spasm," says Scott Schaffer, M.D., president of an ear, nose and throat specialty center in Gibbsboro, New Jersey. "This spasm relieves the tickle."

2. Experience supersonic hearing!

If you're stuck chatting up a mumbler at a cocktail party, lean in with your right ear. It's better than your left at following the rapid rhythms of speech, according to researchers at the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine. If, on the other hand, you're trying to identify that song playing softly in the elevator, turn your left ear toward the sound. The left ear is better at picking up music tones.

3. Overcome your most primal urge!

Need to pee? No bathroom nearby? Fantasize about Jessica Simpson. Thinking about sex preoccupies your brain, so you won't feel as much discomfort, says Larry Lipshultz, M.D., chief of male reproductive medicine at the Baylor College of Medicine. For best results, try Simpson's "These Boots Are Made for Walking" video.

4. Feel no pain!

German researchers have discovered that coughing during an injection can lessen the pain of the needle stick. According to Taras Usichenko, author of a study on the phenomenon, the trick causes a sudden, temporary rise in pressure in the chest and spinal canal, inhibiting the pain-conducting structures of the spinal cord.

5. Clear your stuffed nose!

Forget Sudafed. An easier, quicker, and cheaper way to relieve sinus pressure is by alternately thrusting your tongue against the roof of your mouth, then pressing between your eyebrows with one finger. This causes the vomer bone, which runs through the nasal passages to the mouth, to rock back and forth, says Lisa DeStefano, D.O., an assistant professor at the Michigan State University college of osteopathic medicine. The motion loosens congestion; after 20 seconds, you'll feel your sinuses start to drain.

6. Fight fire without water!

Worried those wings will repeat on you tonight? "Sleep on your left side," says Anthony A. Star-poli, M.D., a New York City gastroenterologist and assistant professor of medicine at New York Medical College. Studies have shown that patients who sleep on their left sides are less likely to suffer from acid reflux. The esophagus and stomach connect at an angle. When you sleep on your right, the stomach is higher than the esophagus, allowing food and stomach acid to slide up your throat. When you're on your left, the stomach is lower than the esophagus, so gravity's in your favor.

7. Cure your toothache without opening your mouth!

Just rub ice on the back of your hand, on the V-shaped webbed area between your thumb and index finger. A Canadian study found that this technique reduces toothache pain by as much as 50 percent compared with using no ice. The nerve pathways at the base of that V stimulate an area of the brain that blocks pain signals from the face and hands.

8. Make burns disappear!

When you accidentally singe your finger on the stove, clean the skin and apply light pressure with the finger pads of your unmarred hand. Ice will relieve your pain more quickly, Dr. DeStefano says, but since the natural method brings the burned skin back to a normal temperature, the skin is less likely to blister.

9. Stop the world from spinning!

One too many drinks left you dizzy? Put your hand on something stable. The part of your ear responsible for balance—the cupula—floats in a fluid of the same density as blood. "As alcohol dilutes blood in the cupula, the cupula becomes less dense and rises," says Dr. Schaffer. This confuses your brain. The tactile input from a stable object gives the brain a second opinion, and you feel more in balance. Because the nerves in the hand are so sensitive, this works better than the conventional foot-on-the-floor wisdom.

10. Unstitch your side!

If you're like most people, when you run, you exhale as your right foot hits the ground. This puts downward pressure on your liver (which lives on your right side), which then tugs at the diaphragm and creates a side stitch, according to The Doctors Book of Home Remedies for Men. The fix: Exhale as your left foot strikes the ground.

11. Stanch blood with a single finger!

Pinching your nose and leaning back is a great way to stop a nosebleed—if you don't mind choking on your own O positive. A more civil approach: Put some cotton on your upper gums—just behind that small dent below your nose—and press against it, hard. "Most bleeds come from the front of the septum, the cartilage wall that divides the nose," says Peter Desmarais, M.D., an ear, nose, and throat specialist at Entabeni Hospital, in Durban, South Africa. "Pressing here helps stop them."

12. Make your heart stand still!

Trying to quell first-date jitters? Blow on your thumb. The vagus nerve, which governs heart rate, can be controlled through breathing, says Ben Abo, an emergency medical-services specialist at the University of Pittsburgh. It'll get your heart rate back to normal.

13. Thaw your brain!

Too much Chipwich too fast will freeze the brains of lesser men. As for you, press your tongue flat against the roof of your mouth, covering as much as you can. "Since the nerves in the roof of your mouth get extremely cold, your body thinks your brain is freezing, too," says Abo. "In compensating, it overheats, causing an ice-cream headache." The more pressure you apply to the roof of your mouth, the faster your headache will subside.

14. Prevent near-sightedness!

Poor distance vision is rarely caused by genetics, says Anne Barber, O.D., an optometrist in Tacoma, Washington. "It's usually caused by near-point stress." In other words, staring at your computer screen for too long. So flex your way to 20/20 vision. Every few hours during the day, close your eyes, tense your body, take a deep breath, and, after a few seconds, release your breath and muscles at the same time. Tightening and releasing muscles such as the biceps and glutes can trick involuntary muscles—like the eyes—into relaxing as well.

15. Wake the dead!

If your hand falls asleep while you're driving or sitting in an odd position, rock your head from side to side. It'll painlessly banish your pins and needles in less than a minute, says Dr. DeStefano. A tingly hand or arm is often the result of compression in the bundle of nerves in your neck; loosening your neck muscles releases the pressure. Compressed nerves lower in the body govern the feet, so don't let your sleeping dogs lie. Stand up and walk around.

16. Impress your friends!

Next time you're at a party, try this trick: Have a person hold one arm straight out to the side, palm down, and instruct him to maintain this position. Then place two fingers on his wrist and push down. He'll resist. Now have him put one foot on a surface that's a half inch higher (a few magazines) and repeat. This time his arm will fold like a house of cards. By misaligning his hips, you've offset his spine, says Rachel Cosgrove, C.S.C.S., co-owner of Results Fitness, in Santa Clarita, California. Your brain senses that the spine is vulnerable, so it shuts down the body's ability to resist.

17. Breathe underwater!

If you're dying to retrieve that quarter from the bottom of the pool, take several short breaths first—essentially, hyperventilate. When you're underwater, it's not a lack of oxygen that makes you desperate for a breath; it's the buildup of carbon dioxide, which makes your blood acidic, which signals your brain that somethin' ain't right. "When you hyperventilate, the influx of oxygen lowers blood acidity," says Jonathan Armbruster, Ph.D., an associate professor of biology at Auburn University. "This tricks your brain into thinking it has more oxygen." It'll buy you up to 10 seconds.

18. Read minds!

Your own! "If you're giving a speech the next day, review it before falling asleep," says Candi Heimgartner, an instructor of biological sciences at the University of Idaho. Since most memory consolidation happens during sleep, anything you read right before bed is more likely to be encoded as long-term memory.

Copyright 2006 Financial Times

Tembakan pembuka dilepaskan di Capitol Hill hari Selasa, menandai pertarungan legislasi antara industri telekomunikasi dan industri internet Amerika — pertarungan yang menurut kedua pihak bisa merusak inovasi dan pilihan konsumen di internet.

Vint Cerf, salah satu perintis awal teknologi internet yang kini menjabat chief internet evangelist di Google, meminta Kongres mengesahkan undang-undang yang melarang perusahaan telko membeda-bedakan layanan internet yang lewat di jaringan mereka.

Sebaliknya, perwakilan kelompok telko besar Amerika berargumen bahwa besarnya investasi untuk memperluas jaringan broadband membuat mereka berhak menarik biaya dari perusahaan internet sebagai imbalan atas jaminan tingkat layanan tertentu.

…

Selengkapnya di MSN Money

my other side: setyadi.com

Menurut saya urusan AJAX ini agak kelewat dihebohkan. Banyak orang sudah memakai teknik serupa jauh sebelum namanya jadi “AJAX”. Dan sebenarnya tidak serumit yang digambarkan banyak orang. Ini satu contoh sederhana dari salah satu aplikasi saya…

Selengkapnya di Rasmus’ 30 second AJAX Tutorial

my other side: setyadi.com

Tulisan ini untuk siapa pun yang pernah bertanya-tanya, “Kenapa text editor KDE yang sesederhana ini makan 25 megabyte memori?” Banyak orang terlanjur percaya bahwa aplikasi Linux — terutama program KDE atau Gnome — itu “bloated”, semata-mata berdasarkan angka yang dilaporkan ps. Tergantung programnya, anggapan itu bisa benar bisa tidak, tapi umumnya tidak: banyak program jauh lebih hemat memori daripada yang terlihat.

Artikel lengkapnya di virtualthreads

my other side: setyadi.com/memory-usage-on-linux

Perbandingan antara C++, Java, Python, dan Ruby.

Tautannya:

dmh2000.com/index.shtml

my other side: setyadi.com/c-vs-java-vs-python-vs-ruby