Topic: =/\ fire burns differently in space, uk space based radar, largest lan party

[stoneyface]

so, in an ongoing experiment aboard the ISS, called FLEX (Flame Extinguishment Experiment), some important information is being obtained about the behavior of fire in space. there are a couple known things found and one completely unexplained phenomenon. a couple of known effects such as fire burns slower in 0g and fire burns with less oxygen has been proven. one completely new observation and still completely unexplained, is that the substance being burned ( in this case methanol and heptane) continue to burn when all flames are extinguished! bizarre! read this really interesting article here: http://www.space.com/13766-international-space-station-flex-fire-research.html
*cool video included!*

another article today talked about a new proposed project in the UK. this project would initiate a space based radar system for all types of applications. they are talking about all sorts of applications and benefits, i however remain skeptical... read here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-15899186

being from portland, i have been exposed to the well known portland lan party(PDXLAN @ http://www.pdxlan.net/portland/ ) which is quite large and held every year. this lan party has been running for 20 years now! 2012 will host pdxlan20! now i always thought that pdxlan as quite large at around 500 people.well hold onto your hats because i read an article today talking about the world's largest lan party. it's not 500 people. it's not 1000 people. this lan party hosts 12,000 people!!!! that is ginormous!!! it is called DreamHack and it is hosted in sweden (admit it, you thought china didn't you ) the largest room in convention hall included 5000 linked computers! the sheer scale of this lan blows my mind. read about it here: http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/107245-inside-the-worlds-largest-lan-party