Assorted Tech photos for your amusement

Now that I'm it's time to dig through the two weeks of science feeds for interesting stuff I may have missed. Here's the first bit. As usual, click on the images to go to the source.

( 10 images under the cut )

Assorted science and news stories

California court says gay marriage ban unconstitutional - Governor Arnie vetoed two attempts to legalize gay marriage but said that the courts should decide whether the ban made law in 2000 should remain on the books. The courts, in response, found the law discriminatory. California could join Massachusetts as the only states that allow gay marriage. Found on Rick Mercer's blog.

Harper announces plan to upgrade the military - After long years of working with barely adequate equipment, the 20-year $30-billion plan is aimed at strengthening and expanding the Canadian military. Found on Rick Mercer's blog.

Want to increase your desire to succeed. Try crossing your arms - so says a recent study in which students were asked to either sit with arms crossed or on their thighs while solving difficult puzzles. They noted that the arms-crossed group, on average, spent more time working on the puzzle before giving up. Found on Rick Mercer's blog.

The rich get richer, the poor get poorer, and the rest of us stay the same - The median income of people who work full time increased by 0.1 percent between 1980 and 2005, while the upper 20 percent of earners saw their income increase by 16.4 percent. Meanwhile, the bottom 20 percent saw their income shrink by 20.6 percent. Found on Rick Mercer's blog.

Movement of solar system through galactic plain spawns extinctions - Recent simulations of how the solar system moves through the galaxy shows that periods of increased collisions between Earth and space debris coincides with when the solar system passes through the galactic plane. This occurs every 30 to 40 millions years and coincides with events such as the mass extinction of the dinosaurs more than 65 million years ago. It might be useful to note that, according to Wikipedia, we are currently passing through the galactic plane.