

The calendar says January 10th but the plants say middle of March. Climate craziness is sending usually clockwork plant systems into confusion as Germany experiences a blast of early spring. Temperatures which have been in the low single digits for the past month or so suddenly leapt into double figures this week, dragging some sleepy blooms from their winter rest. They, as will the people of Germany, will get a shock next week, however. Temperatures are expected to plummet again, forcing the population to grab their jackets again and the plants to battle on against the unpredictability of the seasons.
Explanation: A mere 11 million light-years away, Centaurus A is a giant elliptical galaxy - the closest active galaxy to Earth. This remarkable composite view of the galaxy combines image data from the x-ray ( Chandra), optical(ESO), and radio(VLA) regimes. Centaurus A's central region is a jumble of gas, dust, and stars in optical light, but both radio and x-ray telescopes trace a remarkable jet of high-energy particles streaming from the galaxy's core. The cosmic particle accelerator's power source is a black hole with about 10 million times the mass of the Sun coincident with the x-ray bright spot at the galaxy's center. Blasting out from the active galactic nucleus toward the upper left, the energetic jet extends about 13,000 light-years. A shorter jet extends from the nucleus in the opposite direction. Other x-ray bright spots in the field are binary star systems with neutron stars or stellar mass black holes. Active galaxy Centaurus A is likely the result of a merger with a spiral galaxy some 100 million years ago.
أعلن بيل غيتس أنه سيتفرغ للعمل في مؤسسته الخيرية التي تحمل اسم "مؤسسة بيل وميليندا جيتس". وكانت شركة ميكروسوفت قد قالت إن الخطاب الافتتاحي الذي ألقاه جيتس أمس الأحد في معرض مستهلكي الالكترونات قد يكون الخطاب الأخير له في قيادة الشركة.
مزيد من المعلومات، آنقر هنا
Explanation: Why does Jupiter have rings? Jupiter's rings were discovered in 1979 by the passing Voyager 1 spacecraft, but their origin was a mystery. Data from the Galileo spacecraftJupiter from 1995 to 2003 later confirmed that these rings were created by meteoroid impacts on small nearby moons. As a small meteoroid strikes tiny Adrastea, for example, it will bore into the moon, vaporize, and explode dirt and dust off into a Jovian orbit. Pictured above is an eclipse of the Sun by Jupiter, as viewed from Galileo. Small dust particles high in Jupiter's atmosphere, as well as the dust particles that compose the rings, can be seen by reflected sunlight. 
Explanation: Dust from curious near-Earth asteroid 3200 Phaethon seems to fall from the constellation Gemini in this fisheye skyview. The composite image was recorded over four December nights (12-15) just last year from Ludanyhalaszi, Hungary. Of course, the streaks are meteor trails from the annual Geminids meteor shower. The work of astronomer Erno Berko, the finished picture combines 113 different frames and captures 123 separate meteors. The Geminids is one of the northern skies most reliably performing meteor showers and did not disappoint last year. Under good conditions some skywatchers reported well over 100 meteors per hour near the December 14/15 peak for the Geminids in 2007. Look up tonight and you might see the 2008 Quadrantids.

For many women the threat isn't on the outside.January 1, 83 TCP/IP
This article gives a more in-depth look at what TCP/IP is. It was established as an ARPANET standard on January 1, 1983.
TCP/IP:
IP - is responsible for moving packet of data from node to node. IP forwards each packet based on a four byte destination address (the IP number). The Internet authorities assign ranges of numbers to different organizations. The organizations assign groups of their numbers to departments. IP operates on gateway machines that move data from department to organization to region and then around the world.
TCP - is responsible for verifying the correct delivery of data from client to server. Data can be lost in the intermediate network. TCP adds support to detect errors or lost data and to trigger retransmission until the data is correctly and completely received.
Sockets - is a name given to the package of subroutines that provide access to TCP/IP on most systems. (Yale.edu)
There are many layers built ontop of TCP/IP. And another protocol called UDP, which is predominatly used in games and other networking situations where low-latency is required is completely different.
The major layers on top of TCP/IP are:
HTTP: Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (for requesting webpages)
FTP: File Transfer Protocol (for uploading files to websites)
SMTP and POP3: For sending (SMTP) and receiving (POP3) e-mail
IRC: For chatting online
There are also many-non standard protocols built on top of TCP/IP. For instance, AOL Instant Messenger uses a third-party protocol to transfer chat messages between clients!
تشهد العاصمة الألمانية برلين اليوم الاثنين (31 ديسمبر/ كانون أول 2007) واحدة من أكبر الاحتفالات على مستوى العالم بمناسبة رأس السنة الجديدة، والذي سيقام في شارع 17 يونيو بين بوابة براندبورج التاريخية ونصب النصر التذكاري أهم المعالم السياحية في برلين. وسوف يبدأ الاحتفال اليوم في تمام الساعة السادسة والنصف بعد الظهر وسط حشد كبير من نجوم الغناء والفرق الموسيقية الشهيرة في ألمانيا الذين سيقيمون حفلاتهم على عدة مسارح في برلين. وبجانب ذلك ستنصب ثمانية خيام احتفالات حتى يتاح للجميع فرصة اللهو والمرح وسط تغطية إذاعية وتليفزيونية للاحتفالات في كل مكان في العاصمة. وعند منتصف الليل ستطلق الألعاب والصواريخ النارية لتسحر كل المشاركين في الاحتفالات وستغطي الورود والأزهار سماء برلين في أضواء ساحرة لمدة 12 دقيقة. ومن المقرر إطلاق الألعاب والصواريخ النارية جنوب بوابة براندنبورج التاريخية، لذلك ستكون أفضل أماكن للمشاهدة في ميدان بوتسدام وشارع أونتر دين لاين والنصب التذكاري للنصر. ويتوقع القائمون على هذا الحفل أن يصل عدد المشاركين هذا العام أيضا إلى مليون مشارك.
Explanation: This symmetric cloud dubbed the Boomerang Nebula was created by a high-speed wind of gas and dust blowing from an aging central star at speeds of nearly 600,000 kilometers per hour. The rapid expansion has cooled molecules in the nebular gas to about one degree above absolute zero - colder than even the cosmic background radiation - making it the coldest known region in the distant Universe. Shining with light from the central star reflected by dust, the frigid Boomerang Nebula is believed to be a star or stellar system evolving toward the planetary nebula phase. This Hubble image was recorded using polarizing filters (analogous to polariod sunglasses) and color coded by the angle associated with the polarized light. The gorgeous result traces the small dust particles responsible for polarizing and scattering the light. The Boomerang Nebula spans about one light year and lies about 5,000 light years away toward the constellation Centaurus.Advertising Agency: TBWA\Media Arts Lab, USA
Chief Creative Officer: Lee Clow
Executive Creative Directors: Duncan Milner, Eric Grunbaum
ACD/Art Director: Chuck Monn
ACD/Copywriter: Jason Sperling
Copywriter: Alicia Dotter
Agency Producers: Hank Zakroff, Perrin Rausch
Production Co.: Epoch Films
Director: Phil Morrison
DP: Mott Hupfel
Editorial Co.: Mad River Post
Editor: Lucas Eskin
Advertising Agency: TBWA\Media Arts Lab, USA
Chief Creative Officer: Lee Clow
Executive Creative Directors: Duncan Milner, Eric Grunbaum
ACD/Art Director: Chuck Monn
ACD/Copywriter: Jason Sperling
Copywriter: Alicia Dotter
Agency Broadcast Producers: Cheryl Childers, Hank Zakroff, Perrin Rausch
Production/Animation Co.: LAIKA/house
Director: Drew Lightfoot
DP: John Nolan
Editor: Steve Miller & Veronica Vichit-Vadakan



