Link up to unlink lunar financing

Hookup to Unhook the Moon

Take part in a scientific project and unhook the moon!

A crowdfunding campaign is being organized to help researchers Natural History Museum of Vienna, to acquire, display and analyze fragments of a meteorite of lunar origin found less than a year ago in Western Sahara.

Oued Awlitis 001

The main fragment of the meteorite of lunar origin Oued Awlitis 001 just after its discovery in Western Sahara on 15 January 2014.

With over 1100 samples exposed the meteorite collection of the Natural History Museum in Vienna, Austria, is one of the largest and oldest in the world. Ludovic Ferriere, a young French researcher born in 1982, Doctor of Geology and passionate terrestrial and extraterrestrial rocks, is the chief curator of collections of rocks and co-curator of the meteorite collection of the NHM since 2011. As such, he recently launched a crowdfunding campaign on the site ulule to acquire fragments of a meteorite of lunar origin.

Oued Awlitis 001

The scientific study of lunar meteorite Oued Awlitis 001 will include work to accurately determine its age, the duration of its tour in the solar system and to have an idea of the time that elapsed between its fall on our planet and its discovery.

© Ludovic Ferriere

The objective of this campaign is multiple. This is, of course, to present to the public one of the larger pieces of Moon available on Earth, but also to study in detail several small fragments of this block all scientific means of investigation available today. It is, finally, to preserve this unique sample for generations and future research. The market for meteorites is indeed very rapidly in recent years, too many samples disappear into private collections before they could be analyzed by scientists.

Oued Awlitis 001

These three small fragments of lunar meteorite Oued Awlitis 001 will be used for scientific analyzes if the Vienna Natural History Museum managed to acquire through its crowdfunding campaign.

This interest in stones fallen from the sky causes the market to rise and the NHM needs € 110,000 to acquire the pieces of this meteorite and fund their analyses. Discovered January 15, 2014 in Western Sahara and called Oued Awlitis 001 this fallen meteorite collection includes several fragments. The largest, measuring 7.7 cm in its largest dimension and weighs 362 g, will be incorporated into public collections of the NHM and may be used by scientists in non-destructive testing. Three other smaller fragments will be studied by researchers around the world under the direction of Ludovic Ferriere.

Naturhistorisches Museum

View of the hall of meteorites Naturhistorisches Museum.

€ 110,000 is a nice amount of money, but it's nothing compared to the costs involved in a mission to return lunar samples! Everyone can contribute to its means starting from  € 5 and if the amount collected is less than the expected € 110,000, donors will be refunded in full. In a recent email, Ludovic Ferriere pointed out to French science news journalist Guillaume Cannat that among the first donors, a 7 year old had contributed € 250 in order to hold the moon rock in his hand and his dream of interplanetary travel. I propose Jean-Victor Meyers switches to using scientific philanthropy in an exemplary manner, from a small share of the money he will win with the improbable sale of his cashmere sweaters, and participate in this campaign Lunar financing!

Participate in the Help us Unhook the Moon project!

For more about meteors and UFOs and how they both rock our world, see this video:

Why Yahoo's captain should take care of Starboard

Starboard vs. Marissa Mayer

The activist fund Starboard Value threatens the patron Yahoo!

Yahoo! Captain Marissa Mayer

To Starboard Value, Marissa Mayer, President and CEO of Yahoo, should focus on cutting costs and focus on reconciliation with AOL instead of continuing its acquisitions policy.

The strategy of Yahoo's chief executive office, Marissa Mayer, is increasingly resented by Starboard Value, a group of shareholders. Three months after a first attack, these shareholders have addressed this Thursday, January 8, a second open letter to Ms. Mayer.

In this letter, the fund expresses "concerns" about rumors of a big acquisition on the horizon. For them, this strategy would penalize shareholders.

According to the letter from Starboard Value, instead of making acquisitions, Marissa Mayer should instead focus on cost reductions and especially resume dialogue with AOL to negotiate a rapprochement.

"If you choose a big acquisition or a cash-rich split off, it will be a sign that a change in leadership is necessary," Starboard Value threat in his letter. A "cash-rich split off" is an operation of exchanging shares of a company against those of a subsidiary to, under certain conditions, of not paying taxes.

"We hope that our fears are unfounded and that we will continue our constructive dialogue with you. We look forward to your intentions," concludes the activist fund.

Yahoo must end its acquisitions policy!

For the group of shareholders, latest acquisitions made under the leadership of Marissa Mayer have not only been "very expensive", but most are not "directly related to its core business" of Yahoo. 

Consequences: Yahoo needs to end its all-out acquisition policy, reduce operating costs and find ways to enhance its overseas activities without tax impact.

The Fund estimates that if Yahoo was implementing his recommendations, he could achieve $ 1 billion in savings.

To Starboard Value, a reconciliation with AOL would allow both groups to better adapt to changing automatic online advertising and the migration of content to mobile devices.

Yahoo currently has a large war chest amassed after he was defeated last year is a part of its stake in the Chinese juggernaut of online business Alibaba. This was reported as 9.5 billion.

Related video:

A Google A Day Put The Fun Of Search Your Way

A Google A Day

Another fun way to help improve the Google way

Seen on A Google A Day

Don't hate the player or the game. Play with the player and go find the name.

A Google A Day is an amusing little website apparently made by the search engine behemoth, to keep you using and building their search engine technology.

By simply asking a trivia style question, users generally search around for the answer ... and where else, but on Google?  Sure, you could search in other directories or engines, or (heaven forbid) read a book to learn the answer. But with the GOOG at your finger tips, this makes the game's value proposition of instant gratification more instantaneous, and in a visual manner.

Checkout this video that explains more about A Google A Day in a visual way, and how it helps you become a smarter, savvier searcher when you play their trivia game.

We Are Charlie Hebdo

For Charlie Hebdo

Why it matters that we stand united with the French satirical magazine

Charlie Hebdo covers

It happened suddenly, in broad daylight, in the heart of Paris, France.

A group of Islamist terrorists attacked people in the offices of Charlie Hebdo, a French satirical magazine.

They murdered 12 people. Those victims included the editorial staff of the magazine, including a top editor and three illustrators, among others.

Charlie Hebdo is known for its often perturbing, even distasteful caricatures. They have a reputation for publishing comic illustrations and editorial cartoons that offend many intolerant people.

And that is their right.

Free speech.  Love it or censor yourself.

The hatred borne of ignorance and fear (as we are reading about in hundreds of articles these days) is thick in the air. It should end.

Together, united in love, we can turn hate inside out, and make the world a better, more loving place.

Vive la France! Vive Charlie Hebdo!

EDF EN announces more Wind Farm power for France

Remember when seeds mattered more than windmills?

EDF Energy News announced Tuesday, January 6, 2015, the commissioning of two wind farms in France, in the Picardie region (north) and Champagne-Ardenne (northeast), totaling a combined installed capacity of 25 megawatts (MW). Picardie, the Andigny Plateau wind farm in the Aisne, represents an installed capacity of 21 MW, says EDF EN in a statement.

Consisting of 7 Siemens turbines, the installation is jointly owned by EDF EN and Diamond Generating Europe. It is located in the communes of Vaux-Andigny, Molain, Valley Mulato and Saint-Martin-Rivière. The second farm commissioned, located in Marne, is the Trécon-Clamanges Park, in the communes of Villeseneux and Trécon. With a capacity of 4 MW and includes two 2 MW Vestas turbines.

 EDF EN has reported that the total production of these two wind farms corresponds to the annual electricity consumption of more than 22,000 inhabitants.

 While the amount of power generated may seem small compared to France's national consumption rates, anti-nuclear energy groups say that harnessing wind power is a step in the right direction towards a world that uses less toxic energy and more green energy.
Speaking of wind farms and safety, checkout this classic video clip of a Danish wind turbine exploding and basically vaporizing mid-spin. So much for safer, right? (or is it?)