Google's Blogger Down For Over 24 Hours!

Blogger Logo - Image Credit: Blogger.com

Google's Blogger Down For Over 24 Hours!

Blogger ... Google's web log hosting portal, has been down for a full 24 hours at the time of this posting.

This seems like a modern era record for this usually very reliable communications service and personal publishing arm of the giant search powerhouse, Google.

With all of the push Google has been putting in on Chrome, one has to ask - Is Blogger now becoming just an ugly stepchild to the array of focused services that Google has to offer? What - isn't Blogger sexy enough for Google to keep outages down to a minimum?

If this is the case, Google's shine is losing its luster.

This excerpted from Blogger's Status Link:

Push-Button Publishing

Blogger Status

Friday, May 13, 2011

We’ve started restoring the posts that were temporarily removed and expect Blogger to be back to normal soon.

Posted by at 06:07 PDT

To get Blogger back to normal, all posts since 7:37am PDT on Weds, 5/11 have been temporarily removed. We expect everything to be back to normal soon. Sorry for the delay.

Posted by at 04:25 PDT

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UPDATE May 13, 2011 - 9:50am PT:

Blogger back online after nearly 30 hours of non-service.

Thanks, Google ... but we will be keeping an eye on you.

Nessie Sighting - Web Search Technology Win

Jason Cooke spotted "Nessie" while browsing the Google Earth's satellite photos. Image Credit: Google Earth - Latitude 57°12'52.13"N, Longitude 4°34'14.16"W - Image Credit: Google Earth

Nessie Sighting - Web Search Technology Win

The elusive Loch Ness Monster may finally have been sighted ... but not with human eyes. Google Earth and satellite technology combined with an astute observer of an image may have found what scientists, locals, and tourists have been claiming to exist here on this Oblate Spheroid over the centuries.

The earliest on record is from 565 when St. Columbia saved the life of a local who was being attacked by a monster in the river Ness (though some spoilsports insist it was actually a wild boar).

The modern Nessie era began in 1933 when a local paper - the Inverness Courier - reported a sighting by a local a couple, the Spicers. Whilst driving along the loch side between Dores and Inverfarigaig they spotted a large creature crossing the road in front of them. The creature disappeared into the bushes in the direction of the Loch.

This report was taken up by the national press in London and the Nessie ball began to roll.

Loch Ness is huge - the largest fresh water body in Britain. It is over twenty two miles in length and over a mile and a half at its widest. Total surface area is approximately 21 square miles. Loch Ness is also deep and goes down almost 800 feet. It has been estimated that the loch is large enough to hold the entire population of the world ten times over. Caption Credit: wyrdology.com - Image Credit: Ciclee

The next year, 1934, the most famous photograph of Nessie was allegedly taken by surgeon R. K. Wilson. This, the "surgeon's photo" has been the focus of intense debate since it was first taken. Over the years several people have "confessed" to being involved in faking the surgeon's photo.

Sightings continue to be reported and every few years an expedition obtains funding to "prove" the truth once and for all. In 2003 a BBC expedition surveyed the entire Loch using sonar. They concluded that no monster exists.

It should be remembered that it is logically impossible to prove that something does not exist - only that it has not been found.

Nessie sightings continue to be reported every year, some backed by photographic evidence. Many of the reports come from tourists who have been enjoying the justly famous Scottish hospitality.

That is, until now!

Plesiosaurus - Plesiosaurus inhabited the oceans 200 million years ago. "flying" underwater with four wing like limbs. Its sharp teeth and snapping jaws formed a deadly trap for small aquatic animals. The long necked Plesiosaurus gave its name to the plesiosaurs, a group of flesh eating marine reptiles that are extinct. Along with the dolphin like ichthyosaurs and other marine reptiles, plesiosaurs were the "sea dragons" that inhabited the seas from 200 to 65 million years ago, while the dinosaurs were dominant on land. Image Credit: Carl Buell

This excerpted and edited from FOX News -

Proof That the Loch Ness Monster Exists?
SUN Online - Wednesday, August 26, 2009

This amazing image on Google Earth could be the elusive proof that the Loch Ness Monster exists.

Sun reader Jason Cooke spotted "Nessie" while browsing the Web site's satellite photos.

The shape seen on the surface of the 22-mile Scottish loch is 65ft long and appears to have an oval body, a tail and four legs or flippers.

Some experts believe Nessie may be a Plesiosaur, an extinct marine reptile with a shape like the Google image.
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To see the object, enter co-ordinates Latitude 57°12'52.13"N, Longitude 4°34'14.16"W in Google Earth.
Reference Here>>

Graphic Searches Expand From The Earth To Include Heavens

Google Earth, Andromeda Galaxy - This tool isn't limited to stars. There are images of galaxies, clusters, stellar winds and more. Image Credit: Businesswire

Graphic Searches Expand From The Earth To Include Heavens

A couple of years ago, the ability to search the surface of the Earth with a graphic window was introduced and became all the rage. One could ask the search tool to take them to a particular location and up would pop a satellite photographic view of that specific place here on the Oblate Spheroid. If the location was a home address or business, the photo even detailed the cars that might have been parked around the area when the photo was taken. Amazing.

This last week, one of the more popular of these search tools, Google Earth, introduced a version that allows one to escape the confines of this little orb and explore the heavens around us. For additional graphic information on a particular object (planet, star, galaxy) this tool utilizes images captured by the Hubble telescope. This, along with search tools offered through other web portals, is a great way to introduce oneself and explore the worlds outside of this world!

Item from Webware Weekley -

A brief guide to the heavens on your PC: Google Earth and more
By Rafe Needleman – August 22, 2007, 2:32 PM PDT

Google just launched a new version of Google Earth (news, download) from which you gaze up from the surface of the planet, not just down on it. It's a good way to see which stars and planets are over your home, right now. You can also check out a rich database of Hubble Space Telescope images that is overlaid on the celestial map.

The new Google Earth has a lot of additional education and reference material linked to it, pulled in from the Net as needed. The program is a great way to learn about the night sky. It has two big limitations, though: your point of view is limited to Earth (you can't see the stars from other locations) and you have an extremely limited control of time. If you want to see where the planets were on your birthday, for example, you can't.

Getting to Google Sky was a little confusing, but it's actually an icon right in the middle of the page (circled). The first screen shows constellations to make it easier to find what you're looking for. With your mouse you can rotate 360 degrees around the sky and can also zoom in and out with your scroll wheel. Image Credit: Google Earth via CNET

When you find a highlighted star, nebula or galaxy, you can zoom in. The diamond shape indicates more information is available. The Orion Nebula is located in the Orion galaxy--it's the hunter's weapon. Image Credit: Google Earth via CNET

Many stars, galaxies or interstellar phenomenon contain pictures and information--some directly from the Hubble site. Image Credit: Google Earth via CNET

If your curiosity about the universe bumps into Google Earth's edges, I'd recommend also checking out these two applications:

Celestia (download) is a 3D simulation of the galaxy. Its special power is not its imagery (Google's is better, although Celestia does a good job with planets and asteroids in our solar system), but rather that you can zoom in on any object in the program's database and see the galaxy from that perspective. You can also see the position of stars at any point in time and can control the rate of time's passage to see how objects move over the millennia.

Stellarium (download) is a gorgeous planetarium for your computer. Its sky and star visuals are a lot more compelling then either Google's or Celestia's, although Stellarium does not have detailed Hubble overlays. Like Google, it's Earth-bound (you can't move your point of reference), but like Celestia, it gives you good control over time so you can see the heavens wheel about. My favorite feature is that it will also overlay constellation lines from other cultures (Chinese, Inuit, and so on); Google only shows the Western constellations.

There are also Web-based online planetaria. They have good data, but they don't give you the smooth visual controls that the downloadable applications do. See Sky-map.org, WikiSky (review), and YourSky. You can control a powerful stargazing telescope yourself via the Web at the pay site Slooh (review). There are also astronomy gadgets covered over on our gadget blog, Crave.

Finally, if the real galaxy doesn't appeal to you, check out the collaborative work of fiction called Galaxiki. Be advised that it was named one of the "Five stupidest start-ups of the summer" by Valleywag.
Reference Here>>