Techdirt. Stories filed under "sun" Easily digestible tech news... http://www.techdirt.com/ en-us Techdirt. Stories filed under "sun"http://www.techdirt.com/images/td-88x31.gifhttp://www.techdirt.com/ Tue, 20 Nov 2012 17:00:00 PST DailyDirt: Exploring Our Solar System Michael Ho http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120420/13263218589/dailydirt-exploring-our-solar-system.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120420/13263218589/dailydirt-exploring-our-solar-system.shtml
  • While the Earth and other rocky objects in our solar systems aren't perfectly round, our Sun is remarkably spherical... almost too spherical. The Sun isn't perfectly spherical, but it's actually one of the roundest objects humans have ever measured, and it's a bit puzzling why it should be so round. [url]
  • NASA's Cassini spacecraft has discovered that Saturn's moon Titan could hold bodies of liquid water under its crust. This could mean there's yet another place in our solar system with water that could possibly sustain life. [url]
  • A geochronometer is an instrument that could help determine how old various things in our solar system are. Portable geochronometers could be sent to other planets (like Mars) to improve our estimates of how long it takes for certain planetary features to develop. [url]
    • If you'd like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post.

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    ]]>     urls-we-dig-up http://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20120420/13263218589     Fri, 3 Dec 2010 07:04:10 PST Woman Claims Legal Loophole Means She Now Owns The Sun... And She Wants You To Pay Up Mike Masnick http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20101201/00035712073/woman-claims-legal-loophole-means-she-now-owns-sun-she-wants-you-to-pay-up.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20101201/00035712073/woman-claims-legal-loophole-means-she-now-owns-sun-she-wants-you-to-pay-up.shtml Xyro TR1 alerts us to the rather amusing article concerning a Spanish woman who claims to have figured out a loophole in the law that allowed her to register her ownership of the Sun -- for which she now claims she will demand payment from anyone making use of the Sun's rays. Apparently, the law says that countries cannot claim ownership of various planets or stars -- but says nothing of individuals, which means a few people now think that by simply registering an ownership claim, they get it. This, obviously, is not even close to true, but I do like the woman's quote:
    There was no snag, I backed my claim legally, I am not stupid, I know the law.

    'I did it but anyone else could have done it, it simply occurred to me first.'
    She claims that she'll use any fees she collects for various useful tasks -- giving much of it to the government (?!?) and using another chunk to fighting world hunger. She'll merely keep 10% for herself. Of course, 10% of nothing is nothing, which is pretty much about what she should expect to make.

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    ]]>     this-is-why-i-only-go-out-at-night http://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20101201/00035712073