An Ol’ Broad’s Ramblings
Archive for Science
It Melted…It Froze…It Melted…It Froze…
Melting Swiss Glacier Yields Neolithic Trove
Some 5,000 years ago, a prehistoric person trod high up in what is now the Swiss Alps, wearing goat leather pants, leather shoes and armed with a bow and arrows.
The unremarkable journey through the Schnidejoch pass, a lofty trail 9,000 feet above sea level, has been a boon to scientists but it would never have emerged if climate change were not melting the nearby glacier.
So far, 300 objects dating as far back as the Neolithic or New Stone Age — about 4,000 B.C. in Europe — to the later Bronze and Iron Ages and the Medieval era have been found in the site’s former icefields.
“We know now that the discoveries on Schnidejoch are the oldest of this kind ever made in the Alps,” said Albert Hafner, an expert with the archaeology service in Bern canton.
They have allowed researchers not only to piece together snapshots of life way back when, but also to shed light on climate fluctuations in the past 6,500 years — and hopefully shed light on what is happening now.
“For us, the site itself is the most important find because we have this correlation between climate change and archaeological objects,” Hafner said.
“We know that people were only able to walk on this site when it was relatively warm,” said Martin Grosjean, executive director of a national network called Swiss Climate Research. “When it was too cold, the glacier advanced and it was not a passable route.”
Well now, isn’t that interesting. I wonder how many SUVs were tooling around when that Stone Age guy was wandering around. Were there traffic jams during the Bronze Age? Were the Medieval folks drilling for oil and building pollution spewing factories? Gosh! I wonder what caused those meltdowns if it weren’t evil man. Hmmm…. Perhaps….just perhaps, mind you…..it was NORMAL climate cycles?
Scientists have long known there were periods of warmer weather in the region but the artifacts allowed them to identify the exact years, when the site would have been passable on foot.
Scientists KNEW? YIKES! Did someone forget to tell the “Great and Wonderful” Boracle?
Yet even with this information, the hysteria is included. Well, what can you expect from anything associated with the NY Slimes.
A recent U.N. Environment Program report said by the end of the century, swathes of mountain ranges worldwide risk losing their glaciers if global warming continues at its projected rate.
“The ongoing trend of worldwide and rapid, if not accelerating, glacier shrinkage may lead to the deglaciation of large parts of many mountain ranges by the end of the 21st century,” the report warned.
Guess what! Obviously this isn’t the first time the glaciers have melted. No doubt, it won’t be the last. So, you losers up there at the UN? Snap out of your sleaziness. You are NOT getting my money, and you can’t have my guns!
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“Monsters” Among Us
‘Montauk Monster’ Has Hamptons in a Tizzy
What’s brownish-purple, goes to the beach and stinks of rotting flesh?
New York’s celebrity-obsessed Hamptons summer season got even sillier this week when a strange-looking, very dead creature washed up on a beach in Montauk at the far eastern end of New York’s Long Island.
On Tuesday afternoon, a photo was posted on Gawker, the Big Apple’s reigning gossip blog, which treated the Montauk monster with characteristic respect: “Good Luck With Your Hell Demons.”
Whatever it is, it’s butt ugly! Hmmm…. kind of looks like it’s flipping us all off, don’cha think? 
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Watch This
I LOVE Glenn Beck! The man speaks common sense!
H/T: Politeia via Freedom’s Cost
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Past, or Future, Vacation Spot
Ok, maybe not, but it is kind of cool!
Pictures prove Mars was once wet
NEW images from US and European spacecraft support growing evidence that Mars was once a water-rich planet, capable of supporting life.
The new views reveal details of regions thought to contain water-bearing minerals and geological formations formed billions of years ago.
Stunning images captured by the High-Resolution Stereo Camera aboard the European Space Agency’s Mars Express show the cliffs, valleys and plateaus of Echus Chasma, thought to have been one of the largest water-source regions on Mars.
Echus Chasma resembles a dry river bed 100km long and 10km wide. It cuts through the Lunae Planum high plateau north of Valles Marineris, the so-called Grand Canyon of Mars.
The images — released yesterday but taken on September 25, 2005 — show side-branching valleys roughly 10km long and 1000m deep.
The water that formed the features may have come from long-ago volcanic activity or the discharge of groundwater from beneath the planet’s surface.
The new pictures provide information that builds on the stunning detail of the land surface and minerals obtained during recent missions to the Red Planet, as well as on the analysis of images reported this week in the journals Nature and Nature Geoscience.
I can think of a few folks I wouldn’t mind sending to check it out.
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“Black Hole”
And it only took me FOUR FLIPPIN’ hours to figure out how to load this sucker on Youtube! My brain hurts!!
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Makes Perfect Sense…..
….if you live in an urban area. However, for those of us who live out in the boonies, not so much. But ain’t it cute?
Come to think of it, the guy ain’t so bad either. 
Hey, I’m married, and old, not dead!
New law will give tiny cars big push in Tennessee
Murray Huber motors around his Franklin neighborhood on weekends in his electric car to run errands or make quick trips.
Until recently, state law limited his mini Hummer H3 — and other entries in a class of cars known as the neighborhood electric vehicle — to 25 mph. Plus, he could travel only on roads with a posted speed limit of 35 mph or less.
When you live out in rural Tennessee, there is no such thing as a “quick trip”….anywhere. It’s a 10 mile drive to a decent grocery store, and the speed limit for most of those 10 miles is WAY above 35.
The wait is over. Thanks to a law that kicked in on July 1, medium-speed electric- or gasoline-powered vehicles with four wheels can travel up to 35 mph, and can use roads where the speed limit is 40. Golf carts are excluded.
Nope. Still wouldn’t work for us. The minimum speed limit is 45, but only for a short chunk of road. If we tried pulling out on TN 69 in one of those rolling tin cans, we’d be creamed! Assuming that anyone ever does the posted speed limit of course, which they don’t.
“These vehicles are economical to buy and economical to operate,” said state Rep. Glen Casada, who co-sponsored a bill with a fellow Franklin Republican, state Sen. Jack Johnson. “This is something that Tennessee needs to recognize.”
It really is a good idea….for urban areas. Now, if they come up with one that’ll do a good 60mph, we might talk. Otherwise, the only thing we could use it for is driving the quarter mile to church.
The electric vehicles range in price from about $7,000 to $17,000, depending on the add-on features. To operate on the road, they must meet federal safety standards that require headlights and taillights, turn signals, seat belts, a rearview mirror, a parking brake and a windshield.
Add on features? You mean like a brake pedal, a steering wheel? Things like that? Heh.
Nashville native Josh Womack, who plans to sell the vehicles, said they run on electricity stored in a battery. “You plug them into a standard house power outlet and let them charge,” Womack said. “There’s no carburetor, no alternator, no radiator.”
Peachy. But how much is it going to raise your electric bill? Where does THAT energy originate? Some folks might get a tad annoyed if their bill doubles or triples just to do a “feel good” thing, and impress the neighbors by just how much they “care”.
Womack said he had received a number of inquiries from interested residents since word of his company spread and since the law passed. He plans to sell four lines of electric cars, including the Zenn car — Zero Emissions No Noise — made by Zenn Motor Co. of Canada. The XG he drives can seat four and costs $10,000 to $14,000, depending on options.
And to think, our first family car cost my dad $495 dollars……right after WWII. We had that thing in the family for 35 years. Wonder how long these little babies will last….assuming they don’t get run over by a VW.
The vehicles will change the way people get around, he said.
“You can’t take it on the interstate, but you can take it all around your neighborhood all in ways you never could before,” Womack said.
You could also use your feet and a cart on wheels.
Seriously, like I said, it sounds like a good idea, for urban areas. But if you tried to get around in one of them around these parts….a four wheel drive pick ‘em up would have you as a hood ornament.
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Hmmm….
Kind of looks like a toes up alien insect to me.
Here’s the scoop.
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A REALLY Old Tree
Tree Grown From Ancient Seed Found in Jewish Fortress
Scientists have grown a tree from what may be the oldest seed ever germinated.
The new sapling was sprouted from a 2,000-year-old date palm excavated in Masada, the site of a cliff-side fortress in Israel where ancient Jews are said to have killed themselves to avoid capture by Roman invaders.
Dubbed the “Methuselah Tree” after the oldest person in the Bible, the new plant has been growing steadily, and after 26 months, the tree was nearly four feet (1.2 meters) tall.
The species of tree, called the Judean date, (Phoenix dactylifera L.), is now extinct in Israel, but researchers are hoping that by reviving the plant they may be able to study its medicinal uses.
“The medicinal plants from this region are very important because they are historically mentioned in the Bible and the Koran,” said Sarah Sallon, director of the Louis L. Borick Natural Medicine Research Center at the Hadassah Medical Organization in Jerusalem, which initiated the experiment to grow the tree as part of its Middle East Medicinal Plant Project.
“The Judean date was very valuable and very famous, not just as a source of food but as a source of medicine,” Sallon said. “When I heard there were ancient seeds found in the archeological dig, I thought it would be interesting to see if we could try to grow them.”
How way cool is that?
Methuselah, the resurrected Judean date palm, at 26 months and nearly four feet.
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Where I Want To Go On My Summer Vacation
Well, maybe not.
Historic pictures sent from Mars
A Nasa spacecraft has sent back historic first pictures of an unexplored region of Mars.
The Mars Phoenix lander touched down in the far north of the Red Planet, after a 680 million-km (423 million-mile) journey from Earth.
The probe is equipped with a robotic arm to dig for water-ice thought to be buried beneath the surface.
It will begin examining the site for evidence of the building blocks of life in the next few days.
A signal confirming the lander had reached the surface was received at 2353 GMT on 25 May (1953 EDT; 0053 BST on 26 May).
Engineers and scientists at Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California clapped and cheered when the landing signal came through.
“Phoenix has landed - welcome to the northern plain of Mars,” a flight controller announced.
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Cool!
Phoenix Lander Touches Down on Mars
PASADENA, Calif. — NASA’s Phoenix spacecraft has landed near Mars’ north pole for a 90-day digging mission.
Mission control at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory celebrated after the Phoenix Mars Lander signaled back that it had survived Sunday’s fiery entry.
Phoenix will be the first spacecraft to study the Martian arctic plains. Unlike NASA’s mobile twin rovers, the lander will stay in one spot. It will use its robotic arm to dig into the permafrost to determine if the polar environment has the ingredients needed for life to emerge.
And courtesy of Texas Fred in honor of this special occasion:
Heh.
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