EXCLUSIVE space photo of the falling NASA satellite that might kill you today

And NASA has more here on the re-entry of the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite, or UARS, which is expected to return to Earth's atmosphere late Sept. 23 or early Sept. 24 EDT. That's six years after the end what was a productive scientific life.

"Although the spacecraft will break into pieces during re-entry, not all of it will burn up in the atmosphere." That means it's going to fall to land or sea, and there is some risk, though it's extremely extremely small, that it will fall on you and kill you dead.

Real serious numbers now. Scientists have calculated that there is a 1 in 3,200 chance a piece will hit someone. And there is a 1 in 20 trillion chance that it will hits *you.*

Related NYT item here. My advice? Stay indoors and look at Boing Boing.

UPDATE: Orbital debris found!

[Shoop by Xeni.]

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LA firefighters in hot water over use of f(ire tr)uck in porn

Los Angeles firefighters are under investigation by the LAFD for apparently allowing porn producers to use their fire engines (the actual fire engines, not a euphemism for their hubba-hubbas) in an adult film. This follows reports in April that two LA traffic cops from the Los Angeles Department of Transportation appeared in a porno.

In one of the movies, shot at Venice Beach, LAFD Engine 263 is used as the backdrop by an actress performing lewd acts.

“Look at this fire truck,” says porn actress Charley Chase, as she climbs on the engine and repeatedly exposes herself. “Isn’t that nice.”

It appears that a group of firefighters are watching the movie being shot.

“I know them,” one man says on camera in the reality-style porn flick. "I’m a firefighter.”

For several minutes of the movie, the actress appears to have free access to the engine, and asks numerous passersby to fondle her. “Look, I think we have more friends,” she says, as a group of men stop to fondle the actress.

I'll tell you what's a lewd act. That goddamned lousy excuse for dialogue, that's what. Seriously, why do they bother?

More at NBC Los Angeles, and an update here at the LA Times with outrage from the mayor.

The incident in question involves LAFD staff and equipment in Venice, but there's more: a second investigation is under way involving a fire engine from LAFD in Hollywood in another pornographic film.

Today on her blog, the adult actress Charley Chase apologized to the firefighters:

Check it out! I was involved in a scandle… hummmmm who would have thought! hehe

I just want to say that I am soooo sorry to the fire fighters involved. it was not my intentions for any one to get hurt or fired or whatever. I am not sure why news reporters are resorting to porn to make there stories these days, but shit… it was a fun day! The Fire Fighters watched me stroll the beach from a distance, but were NOT involved in us invading the truck. I love how news people bend and twist the stories they report to better suit there point. As I said before… there was no set up to that day at all and I tried everything I could to let that be know. That was almost three years ago and it is crazy stupid that this is a problem now. I have had Fire Chief’s come to my house, reporters contact me, and a strange amount of harassment from them both. There has been all kinds of crazy aftermath from that day and in all actuality it was a brief moment of fun. Video has a way of making time seem longer then it really is and unfortunately, in this case, it is used for the worse. I am excited for it to all blow over… Especially for the fire fighters case. I never got to meet any of those men that day, but I sure do hope they don’t hate me or porn for what happen. Again, I am super sorry to all of them involved and I promise to keep the fun we have in the future our dirty little secret.

You may now mock her typos in the comments.

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LA firefighters in hot water over use of f(ire tr)uck in porn

Los Angeles firefighters are under investigation by the LAFD for apparently allowing porn producers to use their fire engines (the actual fire engines, not a euphemism for their hubba-hubbas) in an adult film. This follows reports in April that two LA traffic cops from the Los Angeles Department of Transportation appeared in a porno.

In one of the movies, shot at Venice Beach, LAFD Engine 263 is used as the backdrop by an actress performing lewd acts.

“Look at this fire truck,” says porn actress Charley Chase, as she climbs on the engine and repeatedly exposes herself. “Isn’t that nice.”

It appears that a group of firefighters are watching the movie being shot.

“I know them,” one man says on camera in the reality-style porn flick. "I’m a firefighter.”

For several minutes of the movie, the actress appears to have free access to the engine, and asks numerous passersby to fondle her. “Look, I think we have more friends,” she says, as a group of men stop to fondle the actress.

I'll tell you what's a lewd act. That goddamned lousy excuse for dialogue, that's what. Seriously, why do they bother?

More at NBC Los Angeles, and an update here at the LA Times with outrage from the mayor.

The incident in question involves LAFD staff and equipment in Venice, but there's more: a second investigation is under way involving a fire engine from LAFD in Hollywood in another pornographic film.

Today on her blog, the adult actress Charley Chase apologized to the firefighters:

Check it out! I was involved in a scandle… hummmmm who would have thought! hehe

I just want to say that I am soooo sorry to the fire fighters involved. it was not my intentions for any one to get hurt or fired or whatever. I am not sure why news reporters are resorting to porn to make there stories these days, but shit… it was a fun day! The Fire Fighters watched me stroll the beach from a distance, but were NOT involved in us invading the truck. I love how news people bend and twist the stories they report to better suit there point. As I said before… there was no set up to that day at all and I tried everything I could to let that be know. That was almost three years ago and it is crazy stupid that this is a problem now. I have had Fire Chief’s come to my house, reporters contact me, and a strange amount of harassment from them both. There has been all kinds of crazy aftermath from that day and in all actuality it was a brief moment of fun. Video has a way of making time seem longer then it really is and unfortunately, in this case, it is used for the worse. I am excited for it to all blow over… Especially for the fire fighters case. I never got to meet any of those men that day, but I sure do hope they don’t hate me or porn for what happen. Again, I am super sorry to all of them involved and I promise to keep the fun we have in the future our dirty little secret.

You may now mock her typos in the comments.

View the original article here

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Comic about upcoming referendum on muni broadband in Longmont, CO

Chris from Telecommunications as Commons Initiative sez, "There's an upcoming referendum in Longmont Colorado on providing municipal Internet service over existing fiber. We know that the incumbents (mostly Comcast) will spend a lot to derail it, so I'm hoping this comic can make the rounds and 'prime' people so the anti-government mailers and robo-calls will be less effective."

I think it's a pretty good freshman effort; I like the GYWO style! This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 5th, 2011 at 10:31 am and is filed under Post. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

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The Engadget Show - 025: We ride an electric bike, check out the new Keepon and get serenaded by Jonathan Coulton

We've got a whole lot of show coming at you this month! Tim and Brian start things off by unveiling Distro, Engadget's new weekly greatest hits magazine for the iPad. We also take a look at Sony's new 3D-enabled video headset and the purse-friendly HTC Rhyme.

Next up, Tim takes a spin around New York City on the Grace One electric bicycle, and we try to figure out whether it's worth the rather steep price tag. Brian pays a visit to the folks at Frog to discuss the company's long history and take a look at some of its industry shaping designs.

Keepon co-creator Marek Michalowski stops by the studio to discuss the creation of his little yellow robot and explain how the dancing 'bot made the journey from research tool to retail toy.

We swing by the Maker Faire in New York to check out 3D printers, a life-size game of Mouse Trap and get stuck in the (Polaroid) Matrix. And Make: Live co-hosts Becky Stern and Matt Richardson join us in the studio to talk about some of their own favorite DIY projects.

We close the show with an interview and a few songs from Jonathan Coulton. (Spoiler: he plays the song from Portal.)

Hosts: Tim Stevens, Brian Heater
Special guests: Becky Stern, Matt Richardson, Marek Michalowski
Producer: Guy Streit
Director: Michelle Stahl
Executive Producers: Joshua Fruhlinger, Brian Heater and Michael Rubens
Music by: Jonathan Coulton

Download the Show: The Engadget Show - 025 (HD) / The Engadget Show - 025 (iPod / iPhone / Zune formatted) / The Engadget Show - 025 (Small)

Subscribe to the Show:

[iTunes] Subscribe to the Show directly in iTunes (MP4).
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[RSS MP4] Add the Engadget Show feed (MP4) to your RSS aggregator and have it delivered automatically.
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Social media expert’s “fired ghostwriter” takes over Twitter account

Sorry, I could not read the content fromt this page.

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In-app purchasing fail on iTunes is starting to bug developers

By Sharif Sakr posted Sep 23rd 2011 8:05AM In-app purchases via iTunes have apparently been failing in a big way for the last ten hours and app creators who depend on this heavily taxed income are getting antsy. We're hearing unconfirmed speculation that the problem may be connected to fake purchase receipts getting into the system. Whatever the cause, one developer told us the failure is "losing lots of sales" for apps that use receipt verification and is "threatening to more-or-less take down the entire IAP ecosystem." Seeing as Apple insists on this being the only route for in-app purchasing, they'd better fix it pretty darned quick.

[Thanks, Tipster]

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