Month: July 2015

Frozen Carbon Monoxide in Pluto’s ‘Heart’

The latest from NASA! http://ift.tt/1fb6Vls Peering closely at the “heart of Pluto,” in the western half of what mission scientists have informally named Tombaugh Regio (Tombaugh Region), New Horizons’ Ralph instrument revealed evidence of carbon monoxide ice. The contours indicate that the concentration of frozen carbon monoxide increases towards the center of the “bull’s eye.”http://ift.tt/1fb6Vlr

The Moov Now

Maria Haymandou’s latest blog post is here!

Between the Apple Watch and the Fitbit gaining traction in the fitnessMaria Haymandou Moov Now tracking market, it might seem like a bad idea to launch another sort of app.  Which is why it seems funny at first that somebody would choose to launch yet another fitness tracking device, the Moov Now.  But when taking a glance at this device, it doesn’t look like anything that the bigger hitters have been doing, and indeed, what’s inside it could be just enough to make it relevant in such a saturated market.

While the Moov Now does both step and sleep tracking, its truly novel feature is real-time coaching feedback that comes in the form of various exercise programs.  Given its special pre-order price of just $60, it can also be a remarkably inexpensive app when compared to the commodity-level $100 price point.  When you strap the Moov Now on your ankle, choose the Run & Walk program, and the app will push real-time coaching feedback directly into your earbuds as you jog.  The wearable’s motion sensors track the position of your feet in real-time, so that Moov Now can deliver data that you simply can’t get from competitors.  Not only does the app coach you on pace, but even tries to correct bad form.

Workouts can of course be adjusted for various fitness and experience levels, although the platform goes beyond simple bipedal motion.  The Cardio Boxing workout, for example, will simulate the call-and-response shadow-boxing routines of a gym coach in the form of icons for specific punches, much in the same way that “Guitar Hero” displays visual cues for playing specific chords.  If you punch accurately and quickly enough, then you’ll earn a high score.  The Cardio Boxing workout also supports two Moov Nows, one for each wrist, for a more complete workout experience.  Out of the various exercise programs, swimming is one of its best; the Moov is waterproof down to three meters, so that you’ll be able to wear it in the pool.  While the Swim program doesn’t provide real-time coaching, you can check data once you’re out of the pool.

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Karl Rove’s New Book

Maria Haymandou’s newest blog post!

Maria Haymandou 1896 Election

A political cartoon from the 1896 election, showing McKinley and his advisor Mark Hanna

When it comes to presidential elections, they tend to be forgotten for the most part.  Chances are that most Americans don’t dwell on presidential elections, particularly any that happened before their lifetimes.  But Republican consultant Karl Rove isn’t like most Americans.  Because when he isn’t advising the super political action committee he helped to found or commenting on politics, he’s been researching one presidential election that’s fascinated him for a long time, which occurred nearly 120 years ago.  In November, he has a book coming out about the 1896 race between Democrat William Jennings Bryan and Republican William McKinley.  Today, publisher Simon & Schuster announced that the book is called “The Triumph of William McKinley: Why the Election of 1896 Still Matters”.

In a recent telephone interview, Rove said that he’d been working on the book for a couple of years, accumulating many bins of archival material.  He describes it as having violence, betrayal, ambition, integrity and “really cool nicknames”.  Rove seems to have an encyclopedic knowledge of the race, and can spout out detailed stories about the parties’ platforms, strategies and power brokers.  Since 2000, Rove has spoken about this election as a turning point that ended years of deadlock in Washington, leading to a generation of Republican prevalence, to which he had aspired while working with Bush.

In the book, Rove credits McKinley with running the first modern primary campaign, as well as the first modern campaign during a general election.  Rove has cited parallels to this election to the 2016 election, as debates on such issues as immigration and economic inequality emerged.

While William McKinley ultimately won the election, his Presidential career was cut short after he was assassinated in 1901.  He was going up against William Jennings Bryan, one of the great populist candidates in American history.  Bryan was a peace advocate, devout Christian and advocate of popular democracy.  He was a vocal opponent of the gold standard, opting instead for silver, which he felt would bring the country prosperity.  While initially not expected to earn the presidential nomination for the 1896 election, his legendary “Cross of Gold” changed all of that, and he went on to represent the Democratic Party in the race against McKinley.  While Bryan lost the election, he ended up running for President two more times.

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STEREO-A Spacecraft Returns Data From the Far Side of the Sun

The latest from NASA! http://ift.tt/1KayI36 This image of the sun was taken on July 15, 2015, with the Extreme Ultraviolet Imager onboard NASA’s Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory Ahead (STEREO-A) spacecraft, which collects images in several wavelengths of light that are invisible to the human eye. This image shows the sun in wavelengths of 171 angstroms, typically colorized in blue.http://ift.tt/1I5RgRI