What we’ve all suspected has been confirmed by instrumentation– there’s a big layer of ice just below the surface of Mars.
Archive for the 'science' Category
20
Jun
Finally– Evidence!
23
May
Beautiful Jupiter
More storms have appeared on Jupiter, shown beautifully by the Hubble. Here’s a pretty shot of the biggest planet in the solar system, with new storms near the Big Red Spot.
Seems these storms may be the product of planetary warming. Makes you think…
You’ve all heard it. “I’m using compact flourescent lightbulbs because they’re better for the environment.” Or “I’m going to use cloth diapers to avoid dumping them in landfills.” Or “I’m not going to buy anything plastic because it doesn’t biodegrade in landfills.” These are the statements of your “Green” friends. We’re destroying the environment through consumption. The same ideals are being applied to food, too, and “organic eating”. Eat less beef beacuse cattle are bad for the environment. Same with pigs. (Fish will be on the way out as well because we don’t want to overfish). Soon we’ll be encouraged to eat nothing but lentils and beets, and even those in short supply because farming is bad for the environment.
I’ve been to the store and I’ve seen “organic food”. It’s about double the price of the “inorganic” food. It’s supposed to be healthier for you because it doesn’t contain “chemicals”. There’s also the breads. 100% Stone ground wheat-seed fiber pods bread that costs double what wheat bread normally costs. The difference? The use of enriched flour, which is cheaper to use. Dr. Oz is on Oprah telling us that we need to eat more flaxseed oil ($15 a bottle– chump change for a heart surgeon, but for a teacher with two kids, it’s a luxury) and start eating better (many of the foods he espouses are expensive as well– again, easy for a guy who makes $400,000 as a heart surgeon).
Look, Dr. Oz knows what he’s talking about. If you’ve got the money and you want to buy the absolute best foods for you, then by all means, clean out the shelves at Whole Foods. In the meantime, don’t guilt the lower-middle class into buying all of this expensive organic and green crap while blowing a horn that they’re killing themselves in an over-consumptive lifestyle.
Organic foods aren’t better for you. Hate to say it, they may be worse for you. Beef without antibiotics are more prone to disease. If you want to eat diseased meat, go right ahead. As for the veggies– organic means no pesticides (which means lower crop yields due to greater loss at the hands of insects which means, you guessed it, higher prices). Now, the FDA is fanatic about what is used to preserve food. Do you think they’d let “harmful pesticides” get into your food? No. There’s enforcement in place that keeps our food supply safe. Going without pesticides simply means you’re willing to spend more for food that doesn’t have “chemicals’ because you have an inherent distrust of the chemical industry. Thanks, by the way.
As for Green Living, I’m more than happy to live as efficiently as possible. Recycle rainwater for garden watering– it’s a good idea. Compact fluorescent light bulbs are an energy saver (although they may be more damaging to the environment when they are disposed of). Hybrid cars save gas, but they save you no money, and they contain more materials that are environmentally damaging than normal cars. Solar energy? great idea! Too bad it takes 20 years to offset the cost of panel installation. What’s worse is shows like “Wasted” that make you feel guilty for using disposable diapers and ordering a pizza.
What does all of this do? It funnels money into the Green industry. Who’s promoting all this stuff? The people who are heavily invested in the Green industry. You may feel marginally better, but just remember that we’re in a slowing economy and you’re spending twice as much on bread. With fuel costs where they are, don’t you want to save some money?
Here’s a clue– people have been eating butter and enriched flour since the 1940s, and the country hasn’t had an epidemic of people dying in their 40’s. The key here is exercise. We’re becoming a sedentary society. Turn off the tv, grab the basketball, and shoot some hoops. Run a bit. Swim. Walk. Dance. Keep moving, and burn off all those calories you’ve been eating. And you’ll feel much better– better than you would if you shell out $5 for organic lettuce.
NASA is reporting that they’ve found something they’ve been looking for for 50 years. Speculation is running rampant around the internet, anything from “Planet X” to alien life.
I’ll be interested to see what they’ve found– perhaps conclusive proof of dark matter or dark energy. As they were using the Chandra X-Ray telescope, they’re probably probing for black holes or some other X-ray spewing hypermass. We’ll see.
UPDATE: It’s true! We found space aliens! And they were mooning us!
In all seriousness, the scientists have revealed an expanding remnant from a supernova. This supernova is only 140 or so years old. It’s pretty exciting to find such a recent supernova– especially so close to Earth.
But, it has nothing to do with aliens, or Planet X, or Nemesis, or the “face” on Mars, or any other garbage.
Sometimes the answer is right in front of you, as I called it with the X-ray spewing hypermass.
Looks like a low-angle asteroid entry may have wiped out Sodom and Gomorrah before finally coming to rest in the mountains of Austria, a new historical discovery has shown.
Burning debris and shockwaves from the asteroid may have been the residue of an asteroid that hit the Earth’s atmosphere and broken up, sending smaller particles raining down upon locations in its path, such as Sodom and Gomorrah.
Most people think that the one place you need to worry about in an Asteroid/Earth collision is the point of impact. This is not true. A massive object will leave a trail of devastation through it’s wake, the result of the speed and heat of the object interacting with the atmosphere. If the object is close enough to the ground, the shock waves can level trees and structures. In addition, the friction from the atmosphere superheats the rock and air, causing a “rain of fire” to fall along its path. Sodom and Gomorrah were just in the right (or wrong) place for that asteroid to rain destruction upon them.
Still no explanation on the “pillar of salt”, but if Lot’s wife actually ran back to the two cities, she certainly would have been turned to ash. It’s also possible the light generated from the asteroid would have given exposed flesh a serious burn and perhaps blinded her.
Some out there may be crowing that this is just more evidence that “God doesn’t exist.” Well, it’s not proof one way or another. But you may want to ask yourself, “How did they know to get out of the city when they did?”
Last night I stayed up watching the 2-hour documentary “Quest for the Lost Ark” last night. It was interesting, detailing many different possible pathways to the Lost Ark, then having the narrator, Parfitt, reveal right at the end he’s found the Lost Ark, and it’s in Zimbabwe. So, he send in a film crew to record and detail it, and they show it, explain how this tribal drum is the Ark of the Covenant, and I’m all excited about it, until he says, “Well, I had it carbon dated, and it’s 600 years old.”
600 years old? And he’s saying, ‘I found it! Check it out!’? What a bunch of crap. I mean, this is as bad as Geraldo at Al Capone’s vault.
Lost Ark indeed.
Scientists think they’ve nailed down where “natural” antimatter occurs in the universe.
It’s a good article. But someone should really clue that journalist into beta decay.
Physicists published a paper on warp drive. I kid you not.
I remember attending a seminar about batteries and charges, and even the most efficient metal hydride batteries could only give finite power.
Well, it took some thinking that was outside of the box to get around it. Or should I say, inside of the cell?
Stanford researchers have found a way to use silicon nanowires to reinvent the rechargeable lithium-ion batteries that power laptops, iPods, video cameras, cell phones, and countless other devices.
The new version, developed through research led by Yi Cui, assistant professor of materials science and engineering, produces 10 times the amount of electricity of existing lithium-ion, known as Li-ion, batteries. A laptop that now runs on battery for two hours could operate for 20 hours, a boon to ocean-hopping business travelers.
Freakin’ awesome.
I’m not nearly meticulous enough for this kind of work. But if it works, it’ll save tens of thousands of lives a year.
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