Cool science stuff

Everything about Dubai fascinates me.

 

Seriously.

My wife is traveling there for business in December and I'm terribly jealous I can't accompany her. Doesn't seem like a great trip with two kids, ages 3 and <1.

 

What it like for women traveling there?

I ask because a couple years back I talked to the PR director of an MLS team that spent part of its training camp in Dubai, and she was stunned by all the restrictions that were placed on her. As I recall (and this is from memory) she wasn't allowed to travel around the city unaccompanied and she could only swim in the pool at certain times (when men weren't using it), among several other things she mentioned. She came back thanking her lucky stars she didn't have to live there.

 

I'm at work. Can someone google "Dubai titty bar" for me? Just curious.

 

Yeah, it's not great. Like you said, they can't travel unaccompanied by a male, I believe they are not allowed to drink, they're supposed to wear something on their heads (this one I think is only loosely followed). Stuff like that. Her company has a security detail for her that includes a concierge of sorts who will make sure she follows local customs and laws. I haven't heard about the pool, but it sounds about right.

She's only half looking forward to it. She's a bit of an architecture junkie, so she's excited to see the Burj Khalifa and I think she's intrigued by the opulence (they serve edible gold, fer chrissakes), but she knows her male colleagues are going to enjoy it more.

 

You're in luck. The A-line just took the stage:

 

UAB archaeologist Sarah Parcak wins $1 million TED Prize to fight looting with satellites

 

An hour later, an archaeologist from the Tuscaloosa campus mugged her and tried to have her project shut down.

 

She was already well known in archaeological circles for her work using satellite imagery to discover previously unknown city structures, tombs, pyramids and the like. It's a pretty big deal in a small circle.

Actually, in a number of fundamental ways, relations between the two campuses are improving in the wake of the UAB football shutdown debacle.

 

Coming soon: Holograms you can interact with by touch.

Japanese scientists create touchable holograms

This guy is not surprised:

 

Video of a comet crashing into the sun: Comet's Death-Dive Into Sun Captured By Spacecraft | Video

 

Pretty cool, especially the second part of the video.