Hasta La Gadget!

One of the frontrunners to succeed Pope Benedict XVI has defended anti-gay legislation like Uganda’s so-called “Kill the Gays” bill.

GayStarNews notes that Cardinal Peter Turkson, 64, of Ghana is a supporter of homophobic legislation and has defended Africa’s anti-gay laws on the basis of African culture.

Turkson claimed during a United Nations summit last February that such laws are permissible in society because the “intensity of the reaction is probably commensurate with tradition,” according to the National Catholic Register. “Just as there’s a sense of a call for rights, there’s also a call to respect culture, of all kinds of people,” he said when discussing the stigma surrounding homosexuality in Africa. “So, if it’s being stigmatized, in fairness, it’s probably right to find out why it is being stigmatized.”

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Late last month, we told you about an asteroid that will fly by the Earth at close proximity on February 15. Essentially, it will squeeze its way in between the Earth and the Moon, which is actually really close, and one company is saying that the asteroid is worth $195 billion in materials, such as metals and propellants. However, others aren’t so sure about that figure.

Deep Space Industries says that they’re willing to pay whoever can go up into space and actually grab the asteroid to mine it for materials, and if that sounds nearly impossible, it probably is at this point. However, Deep Space Industries claim that there are many other asteroids near Earth that would be far easier to catch anyway.

According to DSI, if this specific asteroid contains even 5% recoverable water, that alone might be worth as much as $65 billion in rocket fuel. DSI also explains that the asteroid most likely weighs anywhere from as little as 16,000 tons to as much as one million tons, so the amount of easily-recovered metals, like iron and nickel, could be worth $130 billion alone.

Many people are skeptical about the asteroids worth, though. It’s not to say that the asteroid itself isn’t worth almost $200 billion, but the work that it would take to mine the materials would cost a fortune, as noted by Forbes. Essentially, they argue that since it’s impossible right now to mine asteroids and use the materials in space to build other things, the asteroid is worth nothing until we’re able to actually mine the thing.

[via Network World]

Fly-by asteroid said to be worth $195b in materials is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

You know those money belts over-cautious dorky tourists wear when they go to Europe? The Smuggler’s Belt is like that only much, much cooler. More »

ERIE, Pa. — More than 100 volunteers showed up in Erie, Pa. Tuesday to lend a hand in the ongoing search for 17-year-old Jacob Samusenko, who went missing two weeks ago.

“The family really appreciates the community support. It’s tough, very tough, because it’s almost like we could make peace with the fact that he might be gone, as difficult as that would be, but we just don’t know and that’s what makes this so difficult,” Lyubov Rafferty, a relative of, and spokesperson for, the Samusenko family told The Huffington Post.

Adrian Ewing, a local resident who was touched by Samusenko’s disappearance, helped organize and manage Tuesday’s search efforts.

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This year’s State of the Union address included no less than a shout out by President Obama to Apple for bringing manufacturing jobs back to the USA. In addition to speaking about several other big companies that will be doing similar things in the near future, Obama noted the positive influence Apple’s move will have on the United States. Apple CEO Tim Cook sat in the First Lady’s box for the speech, a traditional area in which guests mentioned in the address are invited to sit.

In December of 2012 Cook confirmed that Apple would be bringing Apple product manufacturing back to the USA in 2013. One of the earlier mentions of this move was made in May of 2012 where Cook made mention of “things we can do” in the future – and here it is. Parts of the newest iMac have already bore the “Assembled in USA” mark and the Mac Mini has been tipped to be coming to the USA for manufacturing as well.

The State of the Union address spoken by President Obama noted that “after shedding jobs for more than 10 years, our manufacturers have added about 500,000 jobs over the past three.” He went on to list groups like Caterpillar, Ford, and Intel who have moved (or will move soon) sets of jobs to the USA from overseas. Obama made the final mention appear most important: “And this year, Apple will start making Macs in America again.”

According to MacRumors, the Apple CEO was seated just one seat away diagonally from the First Lady Michelle Obama and one seat behind the Second Lady Jill Biden. UPDATE: maybe he moved seats? See image 7 of the box. You can also see the full list of seats in the box at The White House website – note also that Bobak Ferdowsi was there: you’ll remember him from the NASA Mars landing last year without a doubt!

State of the Union includes “making Macs in America” mention is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.