vinces99 writes: The number of California blue whales has rebounded to near historical levels, according to new research (abstract) by the University of Washington, and while the number of blue whales struck by ships is likely above allowable U.S. limits, such strikes do not immediately threaten that recovery. This is the only population of blue whales known to have recovered from whaling – blue whales as a species having been hunted nearly to extinction. Blue whales – nearly 100 feet in length and weighing 190 tons as adults – are the largest animals on Earth and the heaviest ever, weighing more than twice as much as the largest known dinosaur, the Argentinosaurus. They are an icon of the conservation movement and many people want to minimize harm to them, according to Trevor Branch, UW assistant professor of aquatic and fishery sciences. California blue whales, most visible while feeding 20 to 30 miles off the California coast, range from the equator to the Gulf of Alaska. Today they number about 2, 200, according to monitoring by other research groups, which is likely about 97 percent of the historical levels. Read more of this story at Slashdot.
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California Blue Whales Rebound From Whaling
Since the demise of DreamScene with Windows Vista, users have been denied the option of having moving pictures as their desktop backdrop, but the hugely useful VLC Media Player provides something of a workaround. Open up a movie then choose Video and Set as Wallpaper to place it behind your program windows, audio and all. Read more… 
After nearly a decade, multiple false-starts, and many billions of dollars, the Army has finally chosen a new camouflage for its troops. Except it’s not exactly new. It was originally developed back in 2002. And it looks a whole lot like one of the patterns that the Army was in talks to adopt from an independent company. Read more… 
Welcome to Reading List , Gizmodo’s weekend collection of the best writing from around the web. Today we’ve got pieces from The Daily Dot, Motherboard, Medium, and more! Read more… 
You’ve probably never heard of Sverker Johansson, but you probably should have. He is, afterall, the most prolific WIkipedia author on the internet—having written 2.7 million articles for the online encyclopaedia. Read more… 
ygslash (893445) writes Astronomers at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory announced that they have discovered what appears to be the coolest white dwarf ever detected. The white dwarf is formerly a star similar to our own sun which, after expending all of its fuel, has cooled to less than a chilly 3000 degrees Kelvin and contracted to a size approximately the same as Earth. A white dwarf is composed mostly of carbon and oxygen, and the astronomers believe that at that temperature it would be mostly crystallized, forming something like a huge diamond. Read more of this story at Slashdot. 
Rectangular screens are so square. Which is presumably why Sharp has announced a new technology called Free-Form Display—that could allow screens to come in any space, and reduce bezel size to almost zero. Read more… 
In the early hours of June 4th, the New York Police Department raided the General Ulysses S. Grant and Manhattanville housing projects in West Harlem. Its biggest gang raid ever, it saw 40 suspects arrested—and it was masterminded by mining over 1 million Facebook posts. Read more… 