***Maybe*** interesting background...

People think of NASA folks as, well, rocket scientists, but my experience when we lived just down the coast in Florida was entirely the opposite. When they ended the lunar landings, & budgets & priorities were cut, lots & lots of the best & brightest got out while they could move to high paying jobs/careers -- they especially left the NASA facilities in Florida, which were built in a swampy part of Florida where frankly, historically no one ever wanted to live. The folks that were left were often those that were suited to gov bureaucracies &/or couldn't find a better job elsewhere. Dealt with NASA, worked with ex-NASA people, knew several ex-NASA folks, & in most cases the myths & legends were just that.

http://www.v3.co.uk/v3-uk/news/2225129/nasa-laptop-containing-sensitive-data-stolen

Nasa has lost a laptop full of sensitive information, placing thousands of the space agency's employees and contractors at risk, according to reports.

The laptop was stolen from a Nasa worker's car and contains a slew of personal information, including employees' social security numbers, according to Reuters.

The theft is doubly dangerous as the information stored on the laptop is not encrypted, meaning the thief could easily access it.

Personal and financial information is a high value item on many cyber black markets, as it allows crooks to craft more complex and effective attacks.

Hey, this looks cool. Can't wait to check it out. :) Thanks for posting.

W.R.

World Wind (16+ Mb)

Description:
"NASA's World Wind is a fully 3D interactive globe, designed to run on recent PC hardware with 3D acceleration. Simplified controls make the program accessible to people of all ages".

Download Page:
http://worldwind.arc.nasa.gov/download.html

Online Manual:
http://worldwind.arc.nasa.gov/manual.html

Screenshots Gallery:
http://worldwind.arc.nasa.gov/screenshots.html

List of Features:
http://worldwind.arc.nasa.gov/features.html

World Wind Java SDK (for Techies):
http://worldwind.arc.nasa.gov/java/

Screenshot of Program Running in Windows 7:
http://i50.tinypic.com/29p4v43.jpg

thanks for your link.

Thanks for your help over this last year. It's been really appreciated. :)

W.R.

Next week I think I'll post just a few games, I'm not sure how many but we'll see. I'll probably post them sometime earlier next week. And thanks for the extra videos.

Wow, sounds a little bit like Osmos, which I love. Thanks for this great find rO :)

I don't know what you want to do over the Xmas and New Year period about posting games? I've decided to post a big list of games altogether either later this weekend or early next week, then I'm taking a break till its my next turn on Jan 4th. You could carry on and post as you normally do, or do something similar to me. Maybe post them early next week. Hopefully between us we will be able to eclipse last years Christmas extravagansa. I've definitely got a few games that are classics; hopefully the community will agree. :)

Here's a couple more videos of the game. One called Planet and the other Star. The one you posted was Asteroid:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1skIw5iJqBI&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrqJ4-YHmqo&feature=related

Gravmari is an unusual game where you play as a space creature that can absorb smaller objects to grow in size. Objects also need to be absorbed to provide fuel for the creature otherwise it loses energy and then dies. You can move by either thrusting or by ejecting matter, which moves you faster but decreases your size.

Become the Playertoid, endlessly roaming the galaxy in search of additional matter to fuel further exploration. In the beginning, you are a mere chunk of rock, thrusting through the lonely vacuum of space. Whenever you collide and fully encompass debris, however, they become part of you. Thus, you can reach the size of an asteroid, a planet, or someday in the distant future, a star. Beware, though, as the stellar wastes can be dangerous! This is a game about understanding and manipulating gravity, and the mysterious infinity of the universe. Inspired by Katamari Damacy, the efforts of NASA, and dreams of floating endlessly through space, Hubris Arts presents: Gravmari.

Screenshots:

Video:
http://www.igf.com/php-bin/entry2010.php?id=170

Soundtrack Download:
http://www.gravmari.com/soundtrack/

Download (51.7 MB):
http://www.gravmari.com/

Bonjour Keilaron!tu as raison, Of course Archangel it is written Canada on the arm, after all didn't we design and built it ourselves, as a matter of fact I was extremely lucky to have seen it myself really up close, I was working at CAE in Dorval for a special project, and one night there it was in the middle of the Army training shed, I was dumfounded, couldn't believe it. I was used to see all kinds of simulators and other strange planes and what not engineers will dream up, but THIS..... oh it was a night to remember. The more so since I had a civil job.
Anyhow, we also have the future Mars team training right here in Canada, and not in laboratories, nope on the terrain, apparently we do have the perfect climatic condition for humans to train for a future Mars human expedition, never thought I would see this in my own lifetime, maybe my great great grand nephews, but not me.
I think these 2 links would be of some interest to the former Army/Navy and lets not forget Air Army friends from the States

http://www.space.gc.ca/asc/eng/default.asp
http://www.cae.com/www2004/index.shtml
Just so you can see that Canada is indeed quite present in all of these missions. Along with other countries. ;-D

Yes, the Canadarm (Canada + arm, aren't we just so darn clever? :P).

nanook, l'ASC travaille avec NASA.
("The CSA works with NASA.")

Hey nanook, I did see a little something for brothers and sisters to the north. On the current space shuttle, I observed "Canada" on the arm as it worked on the space station. At least thats a little something. For those that missed it, take a close look.

@ BigThunder thanks for the info on the TOC, I hadn't seen this, but I always put credits anyways, and when not sure I do find the original source of the pictures and ask for a written permission if it is something I will post on the NET. Got some of my own stuff ripped, stolen and such, sure didn't like it. So I do respect the work of others, especially when they provide stuff none of us could ever get, well I don't have 80,000$ USD to spend on a Cosmic ride.

@ Archangel thanks for the welcome, I do like this little forum, it is relaxed and there are good info. As for the TAX cut I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you...me I KNOW I won't get one, I'm Canadian, even if we too give large chunks of $$$ to the NASA I'm sure I'll never see a dime come back, but these pictures are worth every dime...LOL

For everyone I too am having fun with the pictures, they do make a nice desktop, and some excellent texture material to use in other programs, plan to use them in fractals too, did use some of the Hubble ones site in fractals it was long redering but well worth the efforts

p.s. pls excuse some of my English as I'm a French speaking person.....so... I may sound "strange"

I posted this at a few other places, and these comments came up:

We love those pictures!

The page says, "This record includes preview images and links to full resolution versions up to 21,600 pixels across.", but sadly, the highest resolution version we could find offered for download was 2048 by 2048.

Followed by:

(LJ user) seamora found it!

http://www.visibleearth.nasa.gov/view_rec.php?id=7135

thanks for the pics!
really nice
PS: Whiterabbit-uk, it is BigThunder1 not BigThunder :)

Yes, thank you very much. I'm really impressed. I've already started downloading images to add to my wirechanger library of images. I'm looking forwards to using some of these images in conjunction with the wallpaper generator and kalaedescope engine which has already produced some beautiful patterns. Nice one BigThunder

What beautiful pictures - thanks for posting BigThunder1! When I was a kid, we lived in Titusville, Florida for a while. The whole town was employed by NASA. I got to watch Apollo 17 go up from my backyard. It was the only night launch of an Apollo and we were seven miles from ground zero. The house shook and the sky lit up almost like dawn. I was only 14, but it has remained one of the most memorable sights of my life.....and these pictures brought it all back.

nanook - i don't think you are the only one playing with the pics! Anybody into creating CG would find it hard to resist (myself included).

hamstergirl

Very nice find, BigThunder1.
I'm thinking of sharing some optimized and resized versions of these images (There's a 54px black border on each side that I find is kinda redundant). If anyone's interested, let me know.

I'm glad NASA is saying that they are license free as it should be. If they want a license fee for images, being a US taxpayer I want my cut!

I understand this was a joke, but being a taxpayer has nothing to do with it. Images often are licensed or sold.

I'm glad NASA is saying that they are license free as it should be. If they want a license fee for images, being a US taxpayer I want my cut! LOL

Glad you like this little forum nanook. Even though its not quite as big as others, it is kind of fun and some really great people come here.

All are very welcome! Thanks for the comments.

To all military members globally, past and present; "Semper Fi". (Been there myself.)

@ nanook:
No one will flame you here. These pics are available for private use with stated credit to NASA and the Visible Earth team.

From NASA's site: (for those in question)

General Terms of Use Information

With the exception of images produced by the SeaWiFS, QuickBird, and IKONOS instruments all images on the Visible Earth are governed by NASA's Terms of Use below.
NASA Terms of Use

For all non-private uses, NASA's Terms Of Use are as follows:

1. The imagery is free of licensing fees
2. NASA requires that they be provided a credit as the owners of the imagery

Visible Earth Addendum

Beyond the NASA Terms, the Visible Earth team requests, but does not require:

1. The Visible Earth be provided a credit as the location that the imagery was found at
2. A URL be provided, either to the Visible Earth (http://visibleearth.nasa.gov/) or to the page providing the link to the used image.

Thanks BigThunder1 these are incredible, and they are excellent graphic making stuff (non commercial of course don't flame me anyone),I've put this site in my custom link bar, well worth spending a bit-o-time there everyday.

Thanks BigThunder1 for the link. I have a Hubble snapshot of Mars at its closest position to the Earth as my wallpaper. Thats why I wanted to hide the desktop icons!

My son is stationed in S Korea and if the it was alittle brighter over there in this pic, oh well I'll wait on the next pass.

Thanks for serving headman. We appreciate what everyone in any service does for the rest.

Thanks for the link, BigThunder, those images are amazing. Even after spending four years on an aircraft carrier, it still blows my mind to see how much of this planet is covered with water. Now I have some new pictures for my wallpaper folder.

Most detailed pictures of Earth ever seen.

A friend sent this article with pics too me and I just had to share with all. The title says it all!

Just located the actual NASA page titled THE BLUE MARBLE. See these pics in great detail by clicking on the 2048x2048 .jpg's on this page. Unbelievable detail!

Enjoy... :)