Researchers Say Prehistoric Extinctions in Australia Were Mans Work, Not Natures - The Lede - Breaking News - New York Times Blog

Researchers Say Prehistoric Extinctions in Australia Were Mans Work, Not Natures - The Lede - Breaking News - New York Times Blog

A Dingo Ate My Baby!

He's back! Read above link to see how time really works! Also, see the Outsider's song, "Time won't Let Me Be"

Movie Review: Children of Men
The above review is from the Hollywood Reporter. I do not totally agree. I am a fan of the author of the original book, P.D. James. I really liked the book. I now see why all of the ads for the movie did not tout the author. She probably did not want them to. As a movie, it was pretty good, but not at all what I remember the book to be. I was disappointed.

Now, going to SF books (note: P.D. James is a high class mystery writer and not a SF writer), be sure and read books by the Australian author Greg Egan. He is a computer programmer and holds a math degree from the University of Western Australia.

So far, I have read Teranesia , a very good book based on genetics. I tried reading Schild's Ladder, but it was too highly mathematical for my meager mind. I am now reading Diaspora, a book about computer evolution, consciousness and intelligence. Be sure and see Egan's web page at http://gregegan.customer.netspace.net.au/

Hypography Science Forums - TIME EXPLAINED (v2.1)

Hypography Science Forums - TIME EXPLAINED (v2.1)
"A Dingo Ate my Baby!"
http://gregegan.customer.netspace.net.au/TERANESIA/TERANESIA.html

Mirror gives Italian village its place in the sun - Yahoo! News

Mirror gives Italian village its place in the sun - Yahoo! News

This is a great Reuters/Yahoo Story. Click above for the full article.

"A village in the Italian Alps is finally basking in winter sunlight thanks to a giant mirror installed on a mountain top to reflect the sun's rays into the main square."

SPACE.com -- NASA announces discovery of evidence of water on Mars

SPACE.com -- NASA announces discovery of evidence of water on Mars

See, I told you so! When to I get to leave for Mars? Also, don't miss the three planet display Sunday morning.

"Sunday, 12/10 Mercury-Jupiter, 11:30 a.m. Mercury, having passed Mars yesterday, grazes Jupiter by a tenth of a degree this morning. Look to the southeast about 45 minutes before sunrise. Mars, much fainter than the other two, is about a degree to the right. This is a very nice sight, but one requiring a low horizon; clear, dark skies; and good eyesight.

Monday, 12/11
Mars-Jupiter, 7:00 p.m.
Although they have been close for several days, today marks the closest approach between Mars and Jupiter, at slightly less than one degree. This is a daylight occurrence, but they appear nearly as close before down on Monday and Tuesday, low to the southeast."

Above from Space.com "Night Sky"

Image from www.duncans.tv/2006/03/

NASA - Mars Global Surveyor

NASA - Mars Global Surveyor: "11.21.06 -- Mars Global Surveyor May Be at Mission's End NASA's Mars Global Surveyor has likely finished its operating career. The spacecraft has served the longest and been the most productive of any mission ever sent to the red planet."

Ack! How could this happen? Doom? Well, no, actually, it lasted a lot longer than scheduled and continued working even with many malfunctions. NASA is pointing the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter at the spacecraft to see if they can get a picture and guess at what is wrong and try to fix it.

Technology Review: Hyperlinking Reality via Phones

Technology Review: Hyperlinking Reality via Phones: "Nokia researchers are working on a system that allows physical objects to be identified and connected to the Internet through mobile-phone screens."

Interesting this. I read a Scientific American article about this system a few years ago.

Fires in Far Northern Forests to Have Cooling, Not Warming, Effect

Fires in Far Northern Forests to Have Cooling, Not Warming, Effect

II just love all of this contradiction. Are we doomed or not doomed to global warming. What will more CO2 do? It was commonly thought that seeding the oceans with iron would increase production of organisms that would make the ocean a bigger CO2 sink. However, this may not be the case. See SOFeX2002
See also a National Academy of Science article here.

I am confused. Please help!



In a lighter vein, poetry from Ronald Hoffman, Nobel Laurete in Chemistry:

Below the fold, (http://scienceblogs.com/ethicsandscience/2006/04/a_poetrywriting_chemist_for_na.php) Hoffman's poem "An unusual state of matter":

In the beach sands of Kerala,
abraded from the gneiss, in the stream sands of North Carolina
one finds monazite, the solitary
mineral. In its crystalline beginning
there was order, there was a lattice.
And the atoms - cerium, lanthanum,
thorium, yttrium, phosphate - danced
round their predestined sites,
tethered by the massless springs
of electrostatics
and by their neighbors' bulk.
They vibrated,
and sang
in quantized harmony.
to absent listeners, to me.

But the enemy is within.
The radioactive thorium's
nervous nuclei explode
in the random thrum
of a hammer
of no Norse god.

The invisible searchlights
of hell, gamma rays,
flash down the lattice.
Alpha particles, crazed nuclear
debris, are thrust on megavolt
missions of chance destruction.
The remnant atom, transmuted, recoils,
freeing itself from its lattice point,
cannonballs awry through
a crowded dance floor.
There are no exits to run to.
In chain collisions of disruption
neighbors are knocked from their sites.
The crystal swells from once limpid
long-range, short-range order
to yellow-brown amorphousness.
Faults,
defects,
vacancies,
dislocations,
interstitials,
undefine the metamict state.

(From W. Carleton and C. Bond, eds., Bound, Cornell University, 1986.)

.

Technology Review: Charging Batteries without Wires

Nikola Tesla's ideas finally get a break! (Though I guess that Alternating Current idea did catch on!)

Technology Review: Charging Batteries without Wires

Tired of plugging in to charge your batteries. This is the Bluetooth of battery charging.

On another Science note, having the Demo's in charge in Congress might hopefully reverse the slide into the gross politicalization (a word?) of Science. One major victory in the war against superstition was the defeat of Pennsylvania Republican Senator Rick Santorum. See the article summary in the magazine Science. Unfortunately, some other senators also support ID, including Arizona Senator McCain. See the article in the New York Sun newspaper. A more comprehensive discussion of the impact of the election on science can be found at: Democratic Victory and Scientific Research

Well, that's all for now, folks! Keep those cards and letters coming. Hope the deer hunting remains good in Minnesota!

SPACE.com -- Universe Might be Bigger and Older than Expected

SPACE.com -- Universe Might be Bigger and Older than Expected

Just when you thought that cosmologists had figured out the age of the universe to be about 13.7 billion years old and 156 billion light years wide, the Hubble Constant changes. What? How can it change if it is a constant? Well, the value of the constant has changed due to new and more accurate ways of measuring the distance to a binary star system in M33.

Well, in a somewhat lighter vein: "LONDON (Nov 8, 1996 1:48 p.m. EST) - Scientists searching for one of the fundamental keys to the universe found they had been beaten to the answer by the comic cult novel "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy"; and the answer was 42." This is from the Humor Archives

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Sun probe sends back first data

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Sun probe sends back first data

Japan is one of those countries one does not always here about in regards to space exploration. They have a number of current and planned missions, though the one they sent to Mars several years ago failed. The Hinode mission described in the article linked above is meant to observe the sun. It is in a sun-synchronous polar orbit of polar orbit is about 600 km up. The Hinode mission is in conjunction with NASA and the European Space Agency. The link to NASA talks about plans to fix the Hubble Space Telescope discussed in an earlier post. It was launched by JAXA, the Japanese space agency. The Japanese are also involved in lunar, planetary and asteroid exploration. One of their projects, HAYABUSA) is a sample return mission from an asteroid. Click this SpaceRef.com link for an article about possible Japanese manned flight.

While in Asia, you might also be interested in the Chinese manned space flight program that is already operational. This is the link to the official China National Space Administration. India also has an ambitious space program and has flown astronauts on flights launched by the U.S. and Russia. One of its astronauts was killed in the Challenger disaster. This link will take you to an article about current space missions such as communications satellites and will soon launch and unmanned lunar mission.

Who knows what set me off on this strange mission. I will leave you all with a link to international space law. That will be a topic of future babblings!

Sayonara!

Orbiter to Look for Lost-To-Mars Probes - Yahoo! News

Orbiter to Look for Lost-To-Mars Probes - Yahoo! News

As noted in earlier posts, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) has entered its working orbit after a long series of aerobraking maneuvers that placed it in its working orbit around Mars. One of it's cameras may help find previous spacecraft that failed to call home. ( Mars Polar Lander , Beagle 2)
MRO will also look for potential landing sites for future unmanned and manned missions.

In other Mars news, the two vehicles exploring the surface of Mars (Spirit, Opportunity) are years beyond their life expectancy and still working. They are about to start their second Mars Spring. One, Opportunity, will explore the Victoria Crater (picture taken with the MRO Hi-Rise Camera). See also Google Mars.

In news that won't mean much to anyone not on the U.S. West Coast or somewhere in the middle of oceans, the planet Mercury will soon transit the sun. Telescopes will be set up at OMSI in Portland to watch this event, weather permitting.

Finally, SETI is still in business. Originally, the radio telescopes were tuned to the wavelength of hydrogen gas with the belief that any civilization would choose the frequency most likely to penetrate the fog of space. However, over time and distance, this frequency shifts. The next generation of radio telescopes will be better able to take this into account in the search for intelligent signals from other civilizations. If you wish to donate computer time to this search, go to SETI @ Home.

The U.C. Berkeley computer geeks hosting this program also run a system known as Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing (BOINC). Here, you can volunteer your computer time to SETI, math, biology, medicine, astronomy, physics or earth sciences. I've been a SETI @ Home participant for a number of years. However, to my knowledge, I have yet to analyze a "WOW" signal.

Well, that is all for today folks. Keep those Pink Flamingos in your yards!

Cosmopoly

Cosmopoly

Okay, this is a link to a new blog, Cosmopoly, that I started when the old Cosmical blog crashed. well, the old one is back. Click her for the two days you might have missed dealing with Mars and Hubble.

Today, however, is dedicated to the demise of the Pink Flamingo lawn ornament. One of my favorites, though my wife will not allow me to have one. I had Pink Flamingo shower curtains before I married.

RIP: Pink Flamingo, 1957-2006

The above story is published in a South Florida newspaper, naturally. " The pink plastic flamingo, a Florida-inspired icon that has been reviled as kitschy bad taste and revered as retro cool, is dead at age 49."

Pink Flamingo Desktop Wallpaper, click here
Warning, you will have to edit out fake desktop icons or you may confuse yourself! You might also go to a website specializing in Pink Flamingo items for sale. Click here!

Finally, you can't miss Pink Flamingos, the John Waters movie! Also see Sex Vixens From Outer Space in which the characters stay at the Pink Flamingo Hotel or the ever popular Maltese Flamingo!
However, the later does not appear to deal with flamingos at all, but, hey, it's in the title!
Well, that is all for now!

RIP: Pink Flamingo, 1957-2006: South Florida Sun-Sentinel

RIP: Pink Flamingo, 1957-2006: South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Google Mars

Google Mars

You just have to love Google. Click above to link to Google Mars. The maps are going to only get better now that the latest U.S. craft orbiting Mars, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. This is a picture taken shortly after the craft entered into it's final orbit after months of aerobraking. The picture above is the Valles Marineris. This is the Grand Canyon of Mars, at time miles deep and stretching thousands of miles long.

Strange Stuff!

Okay, gang! What is on for today? First, Duke University scientists, in conjucntion with a College of London physicist, John Pendry, announced the development of a "cloaking device" . Technically, they used negative-index-of-refraction metamaterials. See the EE Times article and this Blogs earlier notation "Cloaking Break through" about this fun stuff.

Also, click below to read about the Halloween postcard from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope showing a worm-like structure. Very interesting! JPL.NASA.GOV: Feature Stories

Okay, so you want more odd stuff? Earlier this year, in February, there was a conference in New Mexico of the Space Technology & Applications International Forum (STAIF). As reported by Space.com, there were discussions of the possiblity of faster than light travel using an Alcubierre warp drive using a rotating superconductor. See the Space.com article here and read about Mexican scientists warp drive proposal in an earlier post below.

HUBBLE!!!
Read about the upcoming decision to repair the Hubble Space Telescope. The previous NASA director made a bad decision to sacrifice Hubble after the last Shuttle disaster. There was a fear of more problems in orbit that would not allow an emergency docking with the ISS. A flight would allowan already built Cosmic Origins Spectrograph and the Wide Field Camera 3 to be installed. The current NASA director, a phycist and engineer may well reverse the former director's crazy decision to sacrifice Hubble.

Speaking of the Cosmos, see The Physics of Extra-Terrestrial Civilizations by physicist Michio Kaku.

An Energy Decarbonization Roadmap

An Energy Decarbonization Roadmap

I heard about this on Science Update podcast. Sounds good, a mix of existing technologies. However, see entry below re nuclear. For a good list of Science podcasts, let me know.

Anything Into Oil: Technological savvy could turn 600 million tons of turkey guts and other waste into 4 billion barrels of light Texas crude each yea

Anything Into Oil: "Technological savvy could turn 600 million tons of turkey guts and other waste into 4 billion barrels of light Texas crude each year BRAD LEMLEY / Discover v.24, n.5, 1may03: 'Anything Into Oil'"




Okay, this process claims to use thermal de-polymerization to turn anything organic (that is, containing carbon) into fuel oil and related products. All U.S. agricultural waste could be turned into 4 billion barrels per year...the same amount imported annually.

This narrowly read blog concentrates, in part, on energy and environmental issues. It is your humble bloggers opinion that there is no one magic bullet to the energy/environment dilemma. Instead, a mix of technologies and yes, changes in our behavior, could go a long way to a solution.

One thing in this mix that I thought might work would be going back to nuclear power. Nukes kill very few people per year, but the crap from coal powered plants kills many thousands. Nukes claim to be green house gas neutral. The technology, now much improved, is backed by Patrick Moore, co-founder of Greenpeace. This impressed me until I heard a debate involving Mr. Moore and opponents on an Economist magazine podcast debate. The opponents point out the hidden costs that include the dangers and environmental consequences of uranium mining and transportation and the horrendous costs involved in de-commissioning nukes. Click here for a link to this issue.

If you read this blog, please begin a dialogue! I may be crazy, but I need to know that others besides those accidentally finding me in a search for the epigram to Dante's Inferno stop by.

Remember Back to the Future II? The DeLoren was modified so it was powered by Mr. Fusion, a device that turned garbage into fusion power. Click here for more info on that wonderful car!

What's done is done… or is it? - fundamentals - 28 September 2006 - New Scientist

New Scientist sets out to discover if the future can change the past - welcome to "retrocausality"

"Ever wish you could reach back in time and change the past? Maybe you'd like to take back an unfortunate voicemail message, or rephrase what you just said to your boss. Or perhaps you've even dreamed of tweaking the outcome of yesterday's lottery to make yourself the winner."

Read this for the description of a fascinating experiment.

Wired News: Space Geeks Vie for X Prize Cup

Wired News: Space Geeks Vie for X Prize Cup

Anousheh Ansari, recently returned from a trip to the International Space Station, attends an event in New Mexico to showcase the second annual X Prize cup. The X Prize, sponsored by her family, paid the first prize last year for Burt Rutan's sub orbital flight.

In tunneling physics, a decadesold paradox is resolved

Spooky!

In tunneling physics, a decades old paradox is resolved: "As if the concept of quantum tunneling—where atoms pass through barriers—isn't confusing enough, one of the vexing questions within that area of physics is why particles seem to travel faster than the speed of light when passing through a barrier, but not when they travel through empty space."

And While we are at it, see the text of the speech by Michael Crichton, "Aliens Cause Global Warming".

http://www.michaelcrichton.net/speeches/speeches_quote04.html

Northwest Energy News + Analysis: Current Innovation: Making waves

Nouvelle Vague in tidal power!

Older projects in places like the French Atlantic coast have tried to take advantage of large tidal differences. This is a new method, much more efficient, to use buoys and the tide to create energy. Contrast this with the use of the temperature difference to create low pressure steam to electricity as practiced on the Big Island of Hawaii. See the National Energy Lab of Hawaii Authority

Northwest Energy News + Analysis: Current Innovation: Making waves

Office of Sustainable Development

THE BLOG IS BACK!
I live in Portland, Oregon. Portland is in the forefront of microbrews, designer coffee drinks and sustainable development. Below is the statement of a City Commissioner about the Portland Office of Sustainable Development. Click on the link for an interesting web page.

Office of Sustainable Development

I established the Office of Sustainable Development because it is vital that we, as a community, advance the principles of sustainability to enhance our quality of life. Sustainability is synonymous with integrating ecology, economics, and social justice. Sustainability means thinking about our behavior in a bigger context and recognizing that our choices have a profound effect on our future. Please join us in working for a better future, and a better now.

Dan Saltzman
Portland City Commissioner

Venturi AstroLab: Solar/Electric Hybrid

HE'S BACK!!!!
Venturi AstroLab: Solar/Electric Hybrid

Back to energy issues and odd science! This is a link to the first commercially available electric-solar hybrid vehicle, The Astrolab

More MacNeill Nonsense to come!

Tropical Stonehenge-Brazil

Tropical Stonehenge may have been found - Yahoo! News

Speaking of Astronomy, see the story on a Stonehenge-like artifact found in Brazil. According to at least some sources, the English Stonehenge was used for astronomical observation as outline in astronomer Gerald Hawkins’ "Stonehenge Decoded" written in the 1960’s. See http://www.qsl.net/w5www/stonehenge.html

The Baghdad Battery

The Baghdad Battery. Ancient device that produces a 2 volt electrical current.

(via StumbleUpon)

With all of this talk about energy shortages and the Iraq war, it is important to remember that electricity came well before Ben Franklin. While there is not absolute proof that this was indeed a battery, it would seem to work as one. See http://www.2atoms.com/weird/ancient/battery.htm

for more information.