20160710 - pokemon go

Pokémon GO (of Pokémon Go) is een spel voor iOS- en Android-smartphones ontwikkeld door Niantic en uitgegeven door The Pokémon Company in de Pokémon-serie. Het spel werd in juli 2016 in Noord-Amerika, Nieuw-Zeeland, Australië, Europa en Japan uitgebracht. Het uitbrengen van het spel in de rest van de wereld werd uitgesteld vanwege serverproblemen doordat het spel veel populairder bleek dan verwacht.
Het spel maakt gebruik van augmented reality en gps om animaties te projecteren op beelden van de camera van een smartphone. In het spel moeten spelers virtuele Pokémon zoeken, ermee vechten, ze vangen en daarna trainen. De virtuele Pokémon kunnen gevonden worden op veel plekken in de echte wereld.
Het spel werd al snel een van de meest gebruikte smartphone-apps na de lancering en het zorgde voor een enorme waardetoename van Nintendo aandelen. Het spel werd wereldwijd snel populair, waaronder in Nederland.

 https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pok%C3%A9mon_GO

20160709 - geocaching

Geocaching is an outdoor recreational activity, in which participants use a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver or mobile device and other navigational techniques to hide and seek containers, called "geocaches" or "caches", anywhere in the world.
A typical cache is a small waterproof container containing a logbook (with a pen or pencil). The geocacher enters the date they found it and signs it with their established code name. After signing the log, the cache must be placed back exactly where the person found it. Larger containers such as plastic storage containers (Tupperware or similar) or ammunition boxes can also contain items for trading, such as toys or trinkets, usually of more sentimental worth than financial. Geocaching shares many aspects with benchmarking, trigpointing, orienteering, treasure-hunting, letterboxing, and waymarking.

History

Geocaching was originally similar to the 160-year-old game letterboxing, which uses clues and references to landmarks embedded in stories. Geocaching was conceived shortly after the removal of Selective Availability from the Global Positioning System on May 2, 2000, because the improved accuracy of the system allowed for a small container to be specifically placed and located. The first documented placement of a GPS-located cache took place on May 3, 2000, by Dave Ulmer of Beavercreek, Oregon. The location was posted on the Usenet newsgroup sci.geo.satellite-nav as 45°17.460′N 122°24.800′W. By May 6, 2000, it had been found twice and logged once (by Mike Teague of Vancouver, Washington). According to Dave Ulmer's message, this cache was a black plastic bucket that was partially buried and contained software, videos, books, food, money, and a slingshot. A geocache and plaque called the Original Stash Tribute Plaque now sit at the site.
The activity was originally referred to as GPS stash hunt or gpsstashing. This was changed shortly after the original hide when it was suggested in the gpsstash eGroup that "stash" could have negative connotations and the term geocaching was adopted.
Over time, a variety of different hide-and-seek-type activities have been created or abandoned, so that "geocaching" now may refer to hiding and seeking containers, or locations or information without containers.
An independent accounting of the early history documents several controversial actions taken by Irish and Grounded, Inc., a predecessor to Groundspeak, to increase "commercialization and monopolistic control over the hobby"^. More recently, other similar hobbies such as Munzee have attracted some geocachers by rapidly adopting smart-phone technology, which has caused "some resistance from geocaching organizers about placing caches along with munzees".


 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geocaching

20160708 - future earth

Future Earth is a major international research platform providing the knowledge and support to accelerate transformations to a sustainable world.

 Launched in 2015, Future Earth is a 10-year initiative to advance Global Sustainability Science, build capacity in this rapidly expanding area of research and provide an international research agenda to guide natural and social scientists working around the world. But it is also a platform for international engagement to ensure that knowledge is generated in partnership with society and users of science. We are closely engaged in international processes such as the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals and climate and biodiversity agreements (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Convention on Biological Diversity).
Future Earth is built on many decades of international research on global environmental change carried out by projects sponsored by DIVERSITAS, the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP) and the International Human Dimensions Programme (IHDP). Over 20 projects, ranging from the Global Carbon Project to the Earth System Governance project, have joined Future Earth. From this intellectual base Future Earth is launching Knowledge-Action Networks to catalyze new research and partnerships around eight key challenges to global sustainability.

 http://www.futureearth.org/who-we-are

20160707 - andy capp

20160706 - sylvana simons

Silvana Hildegard (Sylvana) Simons (Paramaribo, 31 januari 1971) is een Nederlands televisie- en radiopresentatrice. Ze is sinds juni 2016 actief in de politieke beweging DENK.

Levensloop 

Simons volgde opleidingen aan de balletacademie van Lucia Marthas en aan een kappersschool, werkte als danseres bij zanger CB Milton en legde zich vervolgens vooral toe op radio en tv.

 

  https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvana_Simons

20160705 - naked planet

The naked planet Earth: 

Most essential pre-requisite for the origin and evolution of life

Our blue planet Earth has long been regarded to carry full of nutrients for hosting life since the birth of the planet. Here we speculate the processes that led to the birth of early life on Earth and its aftermath, finally leading to the evolution of metazoans. We evaluate: (1) the source of nutrients, (2) the chemistry of primordial ocean, (3) the initial mass of ocean, and (4) the size of planet. Among the life-building nutrients, phosphorus and potassium play a key role. Only three types of rocks can serve as an adequate source of nutrients: (a) continent-forming TTG (granite), enabling the evolution of primitive life to metazoans; (b) primordial continents carrying anorthosite with KREEP (Potassium, Rare Earth Elements, and Phosphorus) basalts, which is a key to bear life; (c) carbonatite magma, enriched in radiogenic elements such as U and Th, which can cause mutation to speed up evolution and promote the birth of new species in continental rift settings. The second important factor is ocean chemistry. The primordial ocean was extremely acidic (pH = 1–2) and enriched in halogens (Cl, F and others), S, N and metallic elements (Cd, Cu, Zn, and others), inhibiting the birth of life. Plate tectonics cleaned up these elements which interfered with RNA. Blue ocean finally appeared in the Phanerozoic with pH = 7 through extensive interaction with surface continental crust by weathering, erosion and transportation into ocean. The initial ocean mass was also important. The birth of life and aftermath of evolution was possible in the habitable zone with 3–5 km deep ocean which was able to supply sufficient nutrients. Without a huge landmass, nutrients cannot be supplied into the ocean only by ridge-hydrothermal circulation in the Hadean. Finally, the size of the planet plays a crucial role. Cooling of massive planets is less efficient than smaller ones, so that return-flow of seawater into mantle does not occur until central stars finish their main sequence. Due to the suitable size of Earth, the dawn of Phanerozoic witnessed the initiation of return-flow of seawater into the mantle, leading to the emergence of huge landmass above sea-level, and the distribution of nutrients on a global scale. Oxygen pump also played a critical role to keep high-PO₂ in atmosphere since then, leading to the emergence of ozone layer and enabling animals and plants to invade the land.

 http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1674987112001272

20160704 - juno

Juno is a NASA New Frontiers mission currently orbiting the planet Jupiter. Juno was launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on August 5, 2011 and arrived on July 4, 2016. The spacecraft is in a polar orbit to study Jupiter's composition, gravity field, magnetic field, and polar magnetosphere. Juno will also search for clues about how the planet formed, including whether it has a rocky core, the amount of water present within the deep atmosphere, mass distribution, and its deep winds, which can reach speeds of 618 kilometers per hour (384 mph).
Juno is the second spacecraft to orbit Jupiter, following the Galileo probe which orbited from 1995–2003.
The Juno spacecraft is powered by solar arrays, commonly used by satellites orbiting Earth and working in the inner Solar System, whereas radioisotope thermoelectric generators are commonly used for missions to the outer Solar System and beyond. For Juno, however, three solar array wings, the largest ever deployed on a planetary probe, play an integral role in stabilizing the spacecraft and generating power.
The spacecraft's name comes from Greco-Roman mythology. The god Jupiter drew a veil of clouds around himself to hide his mischief, but his wife, the goddess Juno, was able to peer through the clouds and see Jupiter's true nature. The mission had previously been referred to by the backronym JUpiter Near-polar Orbiter in a list of NASA acronyms.


 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juno_(spacecraft)