Fermat’s Library | Why the Internet only just works annotated/explained version.

etwork was theARPAnet, which was used to come to grips with themain architectural issues that would go on to be thebasis of the Internet. The basic protocol that underlaythe ARPAnet was NCP [1], which combined addressingand transport into a single protocol. Many of the higher-level protocols that would go on to become common

Source: Fermat’s Library | Why the Internet only just works annotated/explained version.

 

Making Human Settlement of Space a Reality | NASA Administrator

Today, President Obama outlined a vision to CNN for the future of space exploration.  Echoing what he said in the 2015 State of the Union address, the President wrote, “We have set a clear goal vital to the next chapter of America’s story in space: sending humans to Mars by the 2030s and returning them safely to Earth, with the ultimate ambition to one day remain there for an extended time.”  Later this week, many of the Nation’s top innovators will come together in Pittsburgh at the White House Frontiers Conference, where they will further explore, among other things, how American investments in science and technology will help us settle “the final frontier” – space.   But today, we’re excited to announce two new NASA initiatives that build on the President’s vision and utilize public-private partnerships to enable humans to live and work in space in a sustainable way.

In April 2010, the President challenged the country – and NASA – to send American astronauts on a Journey to Mars in the 2030s.  By reaching out further into the solar system and expanding the frontiers of exploration, the President outlined a vision for pushing the bounds of human discovery, while also revitalizing the space industry and creating jobs here at home.

To achieve these mutually-reinforcing goals, the President instructed NASA to develop spacecraft and technologies geared toward sending astronauts to deep space, while at the same time partnering with American companies to build a strong space economy.  Following the President’s vision, NASA has worked over the past 6 years to help catalyze a vibrant new sector of the economy by enabling the commercial transportation of cargo and soon crew from American soil to the International Space Station.  And today, Americans are working at more than a thousand companies across virtually every state to support commercial space initiatives and with them, the growth of a new commercial market in Low Earth Orbit.

Source: Making Human Settlement of Space a Reality | NASA Administrator

 

Scientific Background on the Nobel Prize in Physics 2016

1 Introduction
In 1972 J. Michael Kosterlitz and David J. Thouless identified a completely
new type of phase transition in two-dimensional systems where topological
defects play a crucial role [35, 36]. Their theory applied to certain kinds of
magnets and to superconducting and superfluid films, and has also been very important for understanding the quantum theory of one-dimensional systems at very low temperatures.

Source: advanced-physicsprize2016.pdf

 

IRCv3

Welcome to the IRCv3 Working Group. We’re a group of IRC client and server software authors working to improve the IRC protocol.

IRCv3 Features

  • Standardised account login using SASL to speed up registration and authentication. [3.1] [3.2]
  • Providing the account information of other clients for the development of more advanced client features. [1] [2] [3]
  • Optional metadata able to be attached to each message for easier, standardised extension development. [link]
  • Instant away notifications, to let users know when other users go away or come back more quickly. [link]
  • Showing the actual time a message was received, improving history playback from IRC bouncers. [link]
  • Grouping related messages to simplify the display of those messages to users. [link]

What We’re Working On

  • Standardised account registration and verification, allowing clients to provide better interfaces for end users. [link]
  • Giving clients a standardised way to recognise, access and view chat history (provided by bouncers or servers). [link]
  • Providing a mechanism to allow clients to automatically detect, move to, and keep using secure connections. [link]
  • Client avatars for display in graphical clients.

Source: Welcome – IRCv3

 

The Prostate Cancer Test That Saved My Life

“So, yeah, it’s cancer.”

My urologist segued from talking about how inconvenient it was picking his daughter up at school that morning to dropping a cancer diagnosis on me without missing a beat. Two weeks earlier, I didn’t even have an urologist.

“Yeah,” he said, in a slightly nonplussed way, gazing at the results, “I was surprised myself.”

Source: The Prostate Cancer Test That Saved My Life – Medium