Open Source Textbooks in California

In an attempt to cut out some of the education budget and save money, California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has proposed that by fall 2009, the state will be using open source math and science text books.

Warp Drive: Very Cool, Very Possible

I said possible.

That's right, a drive that allows you to move faster than the speed of light. Speeds above that which light travels at are theoretically not "possible" according to Einstein's theory of relativity, meaning that any given object can't travel above c (the speed of light). To do so it would require unlimited energy/mass. Part of some of the cool stuff we get from E = mc²

So to travel above c you would need something other than rockets propelling your spaceship...and since you can't move the actual space ship faster than light, why not just move a chunk of space-time?

Scientists have already done a few studies that suggest moving space-time might be possible, it's certainly plausible. Some have thought of harnessing dark energy, a mysterious force in the universe responsible for the universe's expansion that takes up about 74% of the universe.

Someday we may have warp drives, but then again, we may have anything in that "someday". Warp drives may not be possible, but there are many optimistic physicists out there. Even if we don't discover a way to be able to attain warp 6 or something, we will undoubtably make many discoveries a long the way.

Google Maps Tracks Swine Flu

Google Maps has a new map available to add to their glorious collection. This one is an online map which tracks confirmed cases of the swine flu, created by a biologist in Pittsburgh Henry Niman, and not by Google. (He simply used their map making tools.) This map may not be completely accurate though, as Niman gets his information from various world media which sometimes have conflicting info, and some markers on the map show a case twice.

This map may be of interest to people who'd like to see the progression of swine flu (H1N1), however for official and trustworthy information on the flu please go to the CDC site for the disease or to WHO's site.

Norway Tries Administering Final Exams via Laptop

6,000 students in Nord-Trondelag county, which lies in the middle of Norway, have been issued laptops to do their schoolwork. The laptops come with standard software like word processors and calculators, and also course specific software (like Photoshop for the media arts students.)
Now they have begun to give exams on the laptops too. (They've done this already on computers, but the administrators wanted the students to use a machine and software that they were more familiar with.) The students go to a certain website, download their exam, and do it. To prevent cheating, the laptops and the students activities on them while taking the tests on them are heavily monitored with certain sites completely blocked off. The program also acts as a keylogger (which records all the keystrokes made on a computer) and takes screenshots. This can help catch cheating so that the exam is fair for everyone, and it also can help prove to teachers that a students work is their own if suspicion otherwise arrises.

The rest of Norway is currently thinking about adopting this system, and if done, the entire country will be using laptops for tests and in schools.