WASHINGTON (AFP) – Add music to the coffee and lunch and wireless Internet offered at Starbucks.
Starbucks announced this week it was launching a new digital music service with Hewlett-Packard that allows customers to “burn” compact disks (CDs) of music albums or personalized compilations.
I wonder when would they offer this service here in the Philippines. Then I may have some reason to go to here than just drinking coffee.
Original address: http://www.frederickcalica.com/archives/000010.html
By ANDREW BRIDGES, AP Science Writer
BARSTOW, Calif. – Looks like we won’t be seeing any robot driver’s licenses issued anytime soon. All 15 self-navigating vehicles in a 150-mile race across the Mojave Desert were knocked out within a few miles of the starting gate Saturday, victims of technical glitches, barbed-wire fences and rugged terrain.
None could claim the $1 million prize offered by a military agency seeking to develop autonomous vehicles that could be used in combat.
This boils down to 5 words: “We are not yet ready.”
Tuesday March 30, 2004, 5:56 PM
MANILA – More and more young Filipino professionals are using the Internet to shop and do business, a survey revealed.
There are about four million Filipinos wired to the World Wide Web, a fourth of whom regularly go online, according to results of the August to December 2003 survey by marketing research firm AC-Nielsen, released Tuesday.
I’m one of the four million.
Original address: http://www.frederickcalica.com/archives/000021.html
28 March 04
The Earth has only one true Moon, but astronomers have found that we also have a “quasi-moon” – a travelling companion through space that is circling the Earth while actually orbiting the Sun.
The object, the only quasi-moon discovered so far, is an asteroid called 2003 YN107 which circles the Sun in an orbit almost identical to Earth’s, but follows a corkscrew path that from time to time means that it appears to orbit Earth.
Earth’s natural satellite, the moon, affects Earth like the tides. What effect can this “quasi-moon” will have on Earth?
Original address: http://www.frederickcalica.com/archives/000020.html
Fri Mar 26, 2004, 9:58 AM ET
BEIJING – China has earmarked $170 million for a lunar probe it intends to launch by the end of 2007, as the country extends its plans to conquer space after putting a man in orbit for the first time last year.
US… Russia… now China. The Philippines? I hope so.
Original address: http://www.frederickcalica.com/archives/000019.html
Fri Mar 26, 2004
NAIROBI – Kenya plans to move 400 elephants away from a reserve where jumbos are breaking down fences and trampling crops in its biggest animal relocation exercise, wildlife officials said on Friday.
Why were they being relocated? Are they on our way, or are we on their way?
Original address: http://www.frederickcalica.com/archives/000018.html
Wed, Mar 24, 2004
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Five planets are arrayed across the evening sky in a spectacular night show that won’t be back for another three decades.
For the next two weeks, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn — the five closest planets — should be easily visible at dusk, along with the moon.
A very spectacular sight to see. Now, if only I have a telescope.
Original address: http://www.frederickcalica.com/archives/000017.html
Tue Mar 23, 5:10 PM ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – NASA’s Mars rover Opportunity is sending data back to Earth from an ancient martian seashore, scientists reported on Tuesday.
Seawater in Mars? If so, life might have sprung in this Martian oceans.
Original address: http://www.frederickcalica.com/archives/000016.html
Mon Mar 22,10:27 PM ET
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) – NASA has discovered a potentially disastrous mistake made more than 20 years ago on the space shuttle Discovery and plans to replace key parts on all three of its shuttles, the space agency said on Monday.
It is good that NASA has already found and corrected this flaw. Our space exploration must not cost another life due to some mechanical failure.
Original address: http://www.frederickcalica.com/archives/000015.html
Wed Mar 24, 7:58 AM ET
NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. fruit growers in Montreal this week will push for an increase in their use of a pesticide known to destroy the ozone layer, claiming that exemptions for developing nations on the chemical are unfair.
Methyl bromide, a fumigant that kills soil and food pests, is due to be phased out by developed nations by January 1, 2005, under the 1987 Montreal Protocol to protect the atmosphere.
There must be no exemptions to the rule. This regulation regarding the use of these chemicals must be followed. I know that farmers’ income is affected, but we must also think about the ozone. This is important, too.
Original address: http://www.frederickcalica.com/archives/000014.html