An Ol' Broad's Ramblings
Archive for Science
Cosmic “Hand”
A new x-ray image has revealed an unusual hand-shaped nebula that brings a whole new meaning to the expression “reach for the stars.”
NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory recently snapped this shot of energetic particles streaming from a pulsar—the rapidly rotating core left behind after a very massive star exploded as a supernova.
Known as B1509, the pulsar is thought to be about 1,700 years old and lies roughly
17,000 light-years from Earth.
The tiny pulsar is just 12 miles (19.3 kilometers) wide. But it is spinning so fast—it makes a complete rotation about every seven seconds—that the particles it spews have created a nebula spanning 150 light-years.
The pulsar’s rapid rotation likely helped create the nebula’s odd shape. Its finger-like pillars appear to be transferring energy to a nearby gas cloud, which glows orange and red in x-rays.
Just amazing.
My 2 Cents
Why teenagers are moody, scientists find the answer
Psychologists used to blame the unpleasant characteristics of adolescence on hormones.
However, new brain imaging scans have revealed a high number of structural changes in teenagers and those in their early 20s.
Pfft! As a former teenager, the mother of a former teenager, and the grandmother of a current teenager, no amount of scientific “evidence” will convince me that teenagers are anything other than nuts!
Scientists say that at this stage of life the brain acts as sponge for learning, but the lack of impulse control may lead to risky behaviour such as drug and alcohol abuse, smoking and unprotected sex.
You can read all you want into the scientific mumbo jumbo, but the REAL reason kids are more prone to risky behavior these days, they have little to NO moral compass. Without the basics, teenagers no longer have shame. No one is telling them these behaviors are wrong. With the media pushing irresponsible behavior, and little parental guidance, the number of teens going ‘nuts’ have grown.
My Two Cents
POLLS, particularly in the US, tell us that many conservatives still distrust Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution. The bicentenary of his birth should be a fitting occasion for the Right to take another look at a man who contributed immensely to some ideas that it holds dear.
I have no problem with Darwin. I’ve no doubt he was a good guy. What I have issues with is some yahoo insisting my ancestors were swinging from the trees. Said yahoo’s ancestors might have, MINE did not.
Darwin was not an atheist but a Victorian believer. He was not a proto-Marxist but a liberal, which in 19th-century Britain meant someone who favoured individual liberty over big government.
My, my. How times have changed.
Darwin did not set out to deny God. Anyone who has read On the Origin of Species, The Descent of Man or his correspondence is immediately struck by how careful Darwin was to avoid what we would today call an ideological agenda. But this diligent student of nature did make one shattering discovery: not the theory of evolution itself, which had been proposed many times and can be traced back to the Greeks, but the fact that evolution is a random process of natural selection whereby certain variations that become well-adapted to the environment are gradually preserved through hereditary transmission. Ultimately, all species have a common origin.
I KNOW all species have a ‘common origin’. It’s just the my knowledge conflicts with those who believe it was all random. Why do you think they fear “intelligent design”?
Obviously, there is an issue of survival of the fittest. If we keep going the way we have been, unable to adapt to our surrounds, instead of trying to adapt our surrounding to us, we too, will go the way of the Dodo. In the grand scheme of things, we are insignificant. We can only control so much, and no more. That control is our behavior, not the behavior of others.
And yet science has confirmed and expanded Darwin’s theory, using it to great advantage. What he called the mystery of variation in offspring was explained by modern genetics. DNA sequencing and molecular biology have helped to understand the evolution of viruses and therefore to protect people from diseases.
Who made the DNA? What Power was able to put all these tiny little things together to create life? I’m fairly sure there wasn’t a ACLU lawyer, in some laboratory, at the beginning of time, stirring up an interesting concoction that produced some form of life.
It is fascinating that conservatives who advocate a spontaneous order, the free market, in political economy and decry social engineering as a threat to progress and civilisation should resent Darwin’s overwhelming case for the idea that order can design itself.
“Social engineering” is a WHOLE lot different than the work of the actual Creator.
The bicentenary of Darwin’s birth is a good opportunity for those on the Right who trash him as an icon of the Left to give the author of On the Origin of Species another chance.
Now, see? This is where we keep running into problems. It’s not that the Right trashes Darwin, it’s that we TRASH those who would SHOVE him down our throats, and refuse to see the obvious…there ARE varying opinions, and ALL should be investigated, and taught. The left believes that Darwin disproves the existence of God. Those, who actually use their noggin’ on the right, believe Darwin PROVES His existence. Who, but a Creator with an excellent sense of humor, could come up with a platypus?
Cool!
Such a shame we won’t be able to see it though. 
Annular Eclipse: The Ring of Fire
Explanation: Tomorrow, a few lucky people may see a “ring of fire.” That’s a name for the central view of an annular eclipse of the Sun by the Moon. At the peak of this eclipse, the middle of the Sun will appear to be missing and the dark Moon will appear to be surrounded by the bright Sun. This will only be visible, however, from a path that crosses the southern Indian Ocean. From more populated locations, southern Africa and parts of Australia, most of the Moon will only appear to take a bite out the Sun. Remember to never look directly at the Sun even during an eclipse. An annular eclipse occurs instead of a total eclipse when the Moon is on the far part of its elliptical orbit around the Earth. The next annular eclipse of the Sun will take place in 2010 January, although a total solar eclipse will occur this July. Pictured above, a spectacular annular eclipse was photographed behind palm trees on 1992 January.
Just Cuz….
…..I thought it was cool! And it’s MY blog, so I can do what I want! 
It’s A Big Eyeball!
Giant Black Hole Found at Heart of Milky Way
A swarm of stars orbiting a vast black hole at the center of the Milky Way has been mapped with remarkable precision, providing astronomers with their most detailed look yet at the heart of our galaxy.
Observations by the European Southern Observatory in Chile has found the strongest evidence yet of a supermassive black hole at the galaxy’s core, as well as charting the immense gravitational effects this has on the surrounding stars.
Over 16 years, the orbits of 28 stars in the Milky Way’s central region have been meticulously tracked by astronomers, allowing them to study the hidden black hole that influences their movements.
The black hole, known as Sagittarius A* (pronounced “Sagittarius A-star”), cannot be seen directly, but its nature can be inferred from the pattern of motion of the stars that surround it. Details of the research are published in the Astrophysical Journal.
How cool!
For Your Thanksgiving Viewing Pleasure
Jupiter, Venus, Moon to Converge
It’s not just families that are getting together this Thanksgiving week. The three brightest objects in the night sky — Venus, Jupiter and a crescent moon — will crowd around each other for an unusual group shot.
Starting Thanksgiving evening, Jupiter and Venus will begin moving closer so that by Sunday and Monday, they will appear 2 degrees apart, which is about a finger width held out at arm’s length, said Alan MacRobert, senior editor at Sky and Telescope magazine. Then on Monday night, they will be joined by a crescent moon right next to them, he said.
Look in the southwestern sky around twilight — no telescope or binoculars needed. The show will even be visible in cities if it’s a clear night.
“It’ll be a head-turner,” MacRobert said. “This certainly is an unusual coincidence for the crescent moon to be right there in the days when they are going to be closest together.”
Neighborhood Nuclear Superiority
I could have my share paid off in under 9 months at the current rate I’m charged by WE Energies.
Mini nuclear plants to power 20,000 homes
Nuclear power plants smaller than a garden shed and able to power 20,000 homes will be on sale within five years, say scientists at Los Alamos, the US government laboratory which developed the first atomic bomb.
The miniature reactors will be factory-sealed, contain no weapons-grade material, have no moving parts and will be nearly impossible to steal because they will be encased in concrete and buried underground.
The US government has licensed the technology to Hyperion, a New Mexico-based company which said last week that it has taken its first firm orders and plans to start mass production within five years. ‘Our goal is to generate electricity for 10 cents a watt anywhere in the world,’ said John Deal, chief executive of Hyperion. ‘They will cost approximately $25m [£13m] each. For a community with 10,000 households, that is a very affordable $2,500 per home.’
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The reactors, only a few metres in diameter, will be delivered on the back of a lorry to be buried underground. They must be refuelled every 7 to 10 years. Because the reactor is based on a 50-year-old design that has proved safe for students to use, few countries are expected to object to plants on their territory. An application to build the plants will be submitted to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission next year.
‘You could never have a Chernobyl-type event – there are no moving parts,’ said Deal. ‘You would need nation-state resources in order to enrich our uranium. Temperature-wise it’s too hot to handle. It would be like stealing a barbecue with your bare hands.’
Of the few countries that will be expected to object, you count on one of those being the U.S.
Obama, the democrats in congress, and the environmental wackos will see to that.
H/T: Weber
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!
“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? 
Watch This
I LOVE Glenn Beck! The man speaks common sense!
H/T: Politeia via Freedom’s Cost
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.
“Black Hole”
And it only took me FOUR FLIPPIN’ hours to figure out how to load this sucker on Youtube! My brain hurts!!
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.
Hmmm….
Kind of looks like a toes up alien insect to me.
Here’s the scoop.
