April 12th, 2006
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I’ve finally found it; a useful Web 2.0 web site. I became aware of PriceHeat.com this morning when the owner announced the beta at an online community I participate in. Right off the bat I loved what I saw.
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The basic premises is to compare item prices while shopping, not a new idea for sure, but PriceHeat does something interesting. They have used Amazon.com as a catalyst for the online shopper.
You simply add a link to your links bar on your browser and go shopping at Amazon. Once you find an item you like, simply click the PriceHeat link and you are presented with not only Amazon’s price, but the prices from competitors. Sometimes Amazon is cheapest, some times not, but you always find the best deal.
I did a search on Amazon.com for Achtung Baby by U2. $12.98 isn’t so bad for a CD, but with PriceHeat I found that Walmart had the exact some album for only $9.72
Further Reading
April 11th, 2006
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July 29th, 2003, saw the official announcement of the discovery of a celestial body which many hope will be named and granted status as the 10th planet in our solar system. Temporarily named “Xena”, the body cataloged as 2003 UB313 was discovered with the Samuel Oschin Telescope at the Palomar Observatory.
Michael E. Brown of Caltech, Chad Trujillo of Gemini Observatory and David Rabinowitz of Yale University are credited with the find. The International Astronomical Union will have to determine the final name of the body, if it concludes that UB313 is in fact a planet.
Some controversy exists as to what should be considered a planet. Besides the numerous rocks that float about our solar system, there are two areas of space in which rocks and debris converge into belts (Main Belt & Kuiper Belt) that orbit the sun. Some of these rocks, inhabiting these belts are very large, approaching the size of Pluto, the smallest planet.
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The controversy surrounds the question of what should be the minimum size for an object before it is considered a planet. When UB313 was discovered to be larger than Pluto, some in the astronomical world called for Pluto to be removed from the list of planets, stating that it was just another Kuiper Belt Object; simply a very large asteroid.
The controversy will be decided by the IAU which as no concrete definition of what a planet is.
April 8th, 2006
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Recently scientists from Conservation International and Disney’s Animal Kingdom started out on a two month expedition into six regions of the Tibetan “Sacred Lands” in the mountains of Southwest China and Nepal.
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They have found and rediscovered many species; one of which is called the “Yak Killer” by locals. The Vespa Mandarinia, or giant Asian hornet measures two inches long. Their quarter-inch-long stingers deliver venom strong enough to dissolve human flesh, and has been known to kill yaks.
Further Reading:
- The Story
- Organizations
- Photographers
April 6th, 2006
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Yesterday, Mark Stevenson from the AP wrote an article about the latest discovery in Mexico. According to Stevenson, archaeologists announced yesterday that they had found the oldest pyramid beneath the ruins of a Catholic religious site.
The structure, supposed to have been built by the mysterious Teotihuacan culture, was apparently abandoned 1,000 years before Catholics started worshiping at the site in 1800.
Further Reading:
Prices Are Heating Up at PriceHeat
