Space News Published @ DailyTech

I'm spending a couple of days at the American Geophysical Union conference in San Francisco, trying to learn some new things from a group of highly intelligent researchers.

Here are a couple of articles I have already written, with many more on the way over the next week or so:

Scientists to Test if Bacteria Survives in Space

Mars Rover Spirit Makes Important Find on Mars

International Space Updates, December 2007

NASA Mars Rovers Continue Mission on Red Planet

American Geophysical Union (AGU) Conference

Scientists and researchers from around the world are meeting this week at the American Geophysical Union (AGU) conference in San Francisco, Calif.

I no longer feel overwhelmed when I speak with people at the computer trade shows, but this is the first time I get to step into the world of scientists during such a big convention.

I know which companies and organizations I am going to speak with first, but you'll have to come back and see what kind of juicy tidbits I come up with! :)

JAXA Sets Launch Date For KIZUNA

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) recently announced the launch date for the "super high-speed Internet satellite 'KIZUNA'" satellite. It will be launched aboard the H-IIA Launch Vehicle No. 14 (H-IIA F14) Friday, February 15 2008.

As someone who is extremely interested in space technology, I am pleased to see JAXA continue to get its act together -- and even more pleased to see JAXA engaged in a very intriguing, unofficial Asian space race.

A few articles I have written about JAXA in the past:

High-definition Earth rise video

High-definition images of the moon's surface

Space cooperation in today's world

The Proper Training Guide (for athletes)

Simply training hard is no longer good enough for many endurance athletes - a proper diet is absolutely crucial. The problem most athletes run across is that while they know which foods are healthy and unhealthy, finding a useful eating guide can be rather difficult.

I recently found an awesome article/outline for athletes (PDF) who want to learn how to eat better.

Courtesy of Wenzel Coaching's Scott Saifer, I am going to attempt to follow a lot of these guidelines to hopefully become healthier, stronger athlete.

I won't try and say that I am in serious training for anything right now - though a half marathon in October will creep up on me if I am not careful - my diet has been far from lackluster as of late.

Green Card Marriage Couple Busted!

As I was browsing several web sites for research article ideas I can write over the weekend, I stumbled upon a rather interesting Associated Press article. According to the article, a young Russian lady married a man simply because she wanted a green card to live in the United States.

Here is a tidbit from her ad she placed on the Internet:

"Green Card Marriage -- Will pay $300/month. Total $15,000," the Russian national wrote in an ad placed on the Craigslist Web site. "This is strictly platonic business offer, sex not involved."

Her "husband," Benjamin Adams, apparently was willing to get paid a small amount in a business deal that surely would land him in hot water. Even though this is the first time the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement ever had a case like this, something tells me it won't be the last...

Mike's Recent Articles

Here are a couple of longer articles I've written in the past couple of weeks:

Sun Microsystems offers incentives for open source developers

Sun, Dell Announce Solaris 10 Distribution Agreement

Philadelphia Wi-Fi project now in jeopardy, EarthLink may back out

Report: Chinese espionage is the biggest threat to US technology

Sun enters a suddenly crowded virtualization market

Oracle Debuts its VM Virtualization Software Amid New Competition

Red Sox Want Santana... But Can it Happen?

The Boston Red Sox, 2007 World Series Champions, hope to add pitching ace Johan Santana to the lineup for next season. After the Yankees seemingly dropped out of the Santana lottery earlier in the week, it looks like the Sox are the front runners at the moment. As long as he doesn't want some type of contract worth $135 million over five years, it'd be great to see him pitch at Fenway.

As a Red Sox fan, the possibility of getting Santana is really exciting!

Sox management, let's make it happen!

Wine shopping in California

Anyone who has been to a grocery store in California probably knows that there is a small wine selection we get to choose from. The selection is actually so large that it is often times feels almost impossible to pick out a wine, especially if not familiar with the wine maker. I'll briefly share a story of how I stumbled upon what has become one of my favorite lower priced wines.

Seeing how the prologue (short bike time trial, I will explain later) of the Amgen Tour of California bike race conveniently takes place in San Francisco, I headed into the City to witness the best cyclists in the world first hand. The very entertaining Prologue Festival is where I stumbled upon Cycles Gladiator wines. Being a sucker for stuff related to cycling, I naturally grabbed a coupon and some information about what the winery has to offer. Initially dismissing the wine as just another mediocre bottle of cheap California wine, I mistakenly let the coupon expire without even giving the wine a try.

While walking through a local Safeway four months later (*sigh*), I came across a low priced bottle of Cycles Gladiator 2005 Central Coast Chardonnay -- I simply had to try it. Even though I was extremely skeptical of the wine, it turned out to be quite yummy! Damn myself for not trying it earlier.

I now don't pass up the opportunity to purchase a bottle or two of Cycles Gladiator when I find it on sale. (Don't get me wrong, I would still much rather have a ~$30 bottle of wine, but that gets far too expensive.)

For the white wine connoisseurs out there, I recommend staying away from Herding Cats Chenin Blanc/Chardonnay wine. :o

"Looking for a wine that all your finicky friends will love?" asks the label on the back of the wine bottle. My answer: I guess not. :/

Aside from tasting rather poorly, there is not much else I can say about this wine. My father and grandfather both confirmed that the wine simply didn't taste that great. I came to the conclusion I don't have any friends and family who are finicky enough to enjoy this wine.

I guess I will just have to finish drinking this rather pleasant bottle of Buehler Vineyards 2005 Russian River Chardonnay, then head off to bed. This particular bottle happened to be another example of a good bottle of wine we randomly found while shopping at Cost Plus World Market - thanks to the kind gentlemen at the Taylor Street San Francisco Cost Plus location, who was very helpful! :)

Mikey's Frequently Viewed Web Sites

Here is a brief list of the web sites that I find myself frequenting.

Tech Sites
DailyTech
BetaNews
TechSpot
AnandTech
TechIMO
Madshrimps
The Inquirer
X-bit labs
PC Perspective

News sites:

Daily Yomiuri
Japan Probe
The Japan Times
BBC News
MSN Mainichi
Google News
San Francisco Chronicle

I rotate through about 10-12 other news sites daily, but don't feel like putting them all in this post right now. ;)

Misc:

VeloNews
Cycling News
World Bicycle Relief -- a non-profit I am involved with
Fark