I just happened to have stumbled upon this YT channel the other day, and wound up spending nearly 3 hours on it. Obviously, I enjoy it. Since today is Pi Day (3.14), thought I'd share this one. But there's loads more interesting things to be seen on the channel, including nine more videos about Pi itself, and Dragon Curves, and base 12, and lots of other fun math-y things. Even if you're not a math geek, it's more fun than you probably think it sounds.

-CAINE-  

Image credit: Cern -simulated data modeled for the CMS particle detector

Though it has yet to be confirmed to a degree which constitutes scientific certainty, last years discovery of what is believed to the higgs bosan- the final fundamental particle described by the standard model, and the one believed to be responsible for imparting all regular matter with mass-  has brought with it  a number of new scientific possibilities. One of them, according to physicist Joseph Lykken, while speaking at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), is that the entire universe might exist within an unstable vacuum; one which could potentially someday reorganize itself into a more stable state. Which would be bad for anything existing in the current one. Which probably won't be much, anyway.Seriously, we're all gonna be long dead when and if any of this happens. So it's okay to think it's cool.

According to Dr Lykken, via BBC News:

"It turns out there's a calculation you can do in our Standard Model of particle physics, once you know the mass of the Higgs boson," - "If you use all the physics we know now, and you do this straightforward calculation - it's bad news." - "What happens is you get just a quantum fluctuation that makes a tiny bubble of the vacuum the Universe really wants to be in. And because it's a lower-energy state, this bubble will then expand, basically at the speed of light, and sweep everything before it,"

As best as I understand all of this. One of the debated physical properties of the universe in which we all live, is that the vacuum in which said universe exists, is not as stable as it could be. The notion that this instability is one of the physical properties of our current universe, isn't a new one. But determining weather or not this theory is true, is all based on a calculation involving the frequency of the higgs' own mass, versus that of the top quark's pole mass, amongst other things. If our current understandings of those measurements and calculations hold true, then it's possible that at some point in the distant future - as in, an incomprehensibly long time from now-  a fluctuation within the field which maintains said vacuum, could cause it to re-align itself into a more stable state. Meaning; The universe in which we currently live, will be no more. Which sounds bad. But, again, you're gonna be dead anyway. So don't worry too much about that. Besides which, the calculations described by DR. Lykken also bring with them another possibility: What if the end, is really just the beginning?

"It's much easier to explain a lot of things if what we see is a cycle. If I were to bet my own money on it, I'd bet the cyclic idea is right," - Dr.Joseph Lykken [BBC] 

Potential evidence of successive big bangs/Gurzadyan and R. Penrose

In other words, there have been a number of theories over the years which propose the idea that our universe is cyclical. And some have even argued that there is physical evidence which supports them. Most notably, maps of our universe's cosmic background radiation, which some have interpreted as containing rings of radiation consistent with remnants of a previous -possibly even multiple- big bang(s).[SEE: eternal inflation and bubble collision ]. So if this whole quantum vacuum bubble thing turns out to be true, it could be a strong indication that the universe we currently live in, is just one of many iterations in a potentially endless series. Then again, future measurements of the proposed higgs particle could invalidate all these things -cause that's just how theoretical physics works. Either way, I certainly can't proclaim to understand all of this well enough to speculate as to weather or not it really does lend any further validity to the idea of a cyclical universe. I just thought it was something fun to think about. Which is kind of all this blog is really about.


Source: BBC News  
Image Credit: Cern , Gurzadyan and R. Penrose

I don't know why this has been sitting my bookmarks for all this time without being posted, but it has. It's amazing, and you should watch it now.

That is all.

-CAINE-

Caption: NOAO

This image was obtained with the wide-field view of the Mosaic Camera on the Mayall 4-meter telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory. vdB 141 is a reflection nebula located in the constellation Cepheus. Sometimes referred to as the ghost nebula, its awkward name is its catalog number in Sidney van den Bergh's catalog of reflection nebulae, published in 1966. Several stars are embedded in the nebula. Their light gives it a ghoulish brown color. North is down and East is to the right. Imaged August 28, 2009.

Image: T.A. Rector/University of Alaska Anchorage, H. Schweiker/WIYN and NOAO/AURA/NSF [high-resolution] Read NOAO Conditions of Use before downloading

In this week's episode, our collective uber-ADD was in full effect. So Tara and I manage to make our way to everything from Spontaneous human combustion, UFO's and paranormal beliefs, to TMNT remakes, future technology, as well as a few other things. All in all, I think it's a fun episode. If you agree, why not Subscribe on iTunes ? Also, I had a sudden burst of inspiration during production. So those of you who make it past the outro music, will be handsomely rewarded. Well, reward might not be the right word. let's just say, something lurks just beyond the closing credits this week, and leave it at that....

In This Weeks Episode: We begin with a brief mention of Mississippi's recent decision to finally ratify the 13th amendment - I make up for last week's Pope song with a bit of wholesome x-tian rap - A Texas man does his best to make a Horseman baby - while a Florida man earns a fine for harassing (not a euphemism)  a baby manatee - an Oklahoma man spontaneously combusted, or not (not) - And Tara discovers the looming Michael Bay TMNT remake - Physicists learn to make ghosts - google glasses are finally starting to look cool - a Russian man gets caught cheating via street view- as well as a few other things along the way.

Our Favorite Things: Tara recommends the website insidedish.com, which allows  restaurant workers to rate their employer. For my pick, I've chosen to recommend Ray Kurzweil's most recent book " How To Create a mind, the secrete to human thought revealed."

Though a number of new artificial limbs have been developed which can be controlled by the brain through both direct and indirect neural interfaces -either by being wired directly into the patient's nervous system or by monitoring electrical fluctuations in the brain via an external controller or interface. Figuring out how to integrate artificial systems directly into the human nervous system to allow for communication both to and from such devices and the brain, remains a difficult problem to resolve. Which is why as exceptional a thing as they still are, even the most advanced modern prosthetic devices are typically capable of delivering either control or sensation, but not both.

One of the promising looking attempts to overcome the current limitation of advanced prosthetic replacements, are experiments being conducted by a Swedish research group called  École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL).  Having already had significant success with previous devices, the EPFL now has plans to fit an unnamed man from Rome, with an advanced robotic hand which they described as the first ever to deliver real-time sensory feedback, directly through the recipient's own nervous system.

The planned procedure -which is set to happen later this year in Switzerland-  follows the success of an earlier portable version of the hand that was tested In 2009, on a man who suffered the loss of half of one of his arms in an auto accident. After being temporarily fitted with this earlier version of the device, xxx was reportedly able to manipulate and grasp objects with his new hand, as well as being able to feel the sensation of needles pricked into it's palm. All that despite this earlier version of the prosthetic having only two sensory zones. The current model is capable of transmitting sensory feedback from all of it's fingertips, as well as it's palm and wrist, potentially providing a much more life-like feeling for it's recipient.

According to Dr. Silvestro Micera, who is Head of the Translational Neural Engineering Laboratory at EPFL and Professor at the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna in Italy, the newest version of the device will be attached directly into the patient’s nervous system via electrodes clipped onto the median and ulnar nerves in the arm. The expectation is that this method of attachment should allow for a bidirectional flow of information between the prosthetic and the patient's brain, enabling it's recipient to control the device by thought, while simultaneously receiving tactile sensations from the prosthetic itself, and all in real time.


-CAINE-

Source: independent.co.uk


Speaking of neural computer interfaces. In the above Ted Talk, brain-machine interface scientist Miguel Nicolelis, discusses his own on going research into the science behind said interfaces, using a monkey named Aurora.

It's late, so is the episode, I'm tired. The End.

In This Weeks Episode: Pope Ratzinger set to step down at the end of February - The Russian Meteor thing -  Group claims to have definitively Identified Bigfoot DNA - Counting the days till the conspiracies begin, following The conclusion of the Chris Dorner case - The world's shittiest cruise - A drunken Florida man, a car fire, and a taco.

Our Favorite things: Tara shares the rest of her comics from last week's trip to the comic shop, while recommend zefrank's True Facts videos.

Just before we set out to record this weeks podcast Tara reminded me of a story that had made the rounds earlier in the week, about a genetic study which had supposedly produced definitive evidence of the existence of Bigfoot. What I didn't realize at the time of recording, was that the "study" in question was the same one that had been announced in November of last year, by Texas Vetrenarian and genetic researcher Melba Ketchum. Once I realized this was the case, I started to wonder why it was in the news again. Turns out, after months of struggling through the peer review process, the team's research paper was finally published on Feburary 14th, in the well known and highly respected "DeNovo Scientific Journal".

What's that?  "I've never heard of the Denovo Scientific Journal."  you say? Well, that's probably because - according to the Huffpo, anyway- it was first registered with godaddy.com (anonymously) on February 4th, 2013, for a period of one year, and currently contains only one published paper "The Bigfoot Genome Paper"; AKA, the "study" in question. Seems legit, right?

Aside from the dubious method of publication, which we'll get back to shortly, the problems with the study, the likely rational explanation, as well as why the paper was rejected for publication by legitimate scientific journals, seems pretty obvious. Best case scenario, the samples were contaminated. Which the group, of course, insists couldn't possibly be the case, since they were very careful to eliminate that possibility. Which I'd be willing to give them the befit of the doubt on, had the 1,100 samples used in the study not been collected, handled, and stored, by untrained individuals, from 34 different sites across North America [Yahoo News]. Which, again, one might be willing to forgive, if their claims weren't so definitive.

Melba Ketchum's statements from DNA Diagnostics Inc's Press release on their "Bigfoot Genome Paper"

“Our study has sequenced 20 whole mitochondrial genomes and utilized next generation sequencing to obtain 3 whole nuclear genomes from purported Sasquatch samples. The genome sequencing shows that Sasquatch mtDNA is identical to modern Homo sapiens, but Sasquatch nuDNA is a novel, unknown hominin related to Homo sapiens and other primate species. Our data indicate that the North American Sasquatch is a hybrid species, the result of males of an unknown hominin species crossing with female Homo sapiens. "

"Sasquatch nuclear DNA is incredibly novel and not at all what we had expected. While it has human nuclear DNA within its genome, there are also distinctly non-human, non-archaic hominin, and non-ape sequences. We describe it as a mosaic of human and novel non-human sequence. Further study is needed and is ongoing to better characterize and understand Sasquatch nuclear DNA.”

Mmmm-kay. Maybe it's just me. But, "mosaic of human and novel non-human sequence", sounds a lot like: Collection of unrelated genetic materials most likely originating from multiple sources, some of which we can't identify. But, okay. Is there anything else we should know?

“Genetically, the Sasquatch are a human hybrid with unambiguously modern human maternal ancestry. Government at all levels must recognize them as an indigenous people and immediately protect their human and Constitutional rights against those who would see in their physical and cultural differences a ‘license’ to hunt, trap, or kill them.”
Soooo.... Remind me again why you decided to self publish? I mean, the flaws in your study's methodology seem glaringly obvious, even to a dum-dum like me. And you did just say you wanted to give constitutional rights to a creature no one other than you has ever "confirmed" the existence of. But I have a feeling you suspect more devious intentions towards your work, are to blame.

Melba Ketchum on her paper's rejection in mainstream journals (VIA Huffington Post):

"It has been a long and tedious battle to prove that Sasquatch exists... Trying to publish has taken almost two years. It seems mainstream science just can't seem to tolerate something controversial, especially from a group of primarily forensic scientists and not 'famous academians' aligned with large universities, even though most of our sequencing and analysis was performed at just such facilities."

Oh, THERE it is. It always comes down to this, doesn't it? What I've come to call "the X-files argument"; the assertion that the mean old dogmatic doctrine of the scientific establishment is holdin' ya down, cause they're all just too close minded to challenge accepted facts. In short, it's nonsense.

Even if  the "scientific establishment" did choose to dogmatically resist or deliberately deny their findings, it wouldn't matter. Because, as the saying goes: the great thing about science is that it's true, weather you believe it or not. Which really means- objective truths, are objective truths, regardless of who discovers them. So If you've done your science correctly. If what you think you've found, really is what you say it is. Then proving it's true, is only a matter of someone else looking in the same place, and seeing the same thing. And sooner or later that WILL happen regardless of weather you, or anyone else for that matter,  tells them where to look or not. But if what you've claimed to have discovered, truly is something that only you can manage to see. Then whatever it is you may think you've found, it isn't science. That's what that whole peer review process Melba's research couldn't get past, is all about. 

-CAINE-

Sources: dnadiagnostics.com,  Ben Radford: (Yahoo News)- (Discovery.com), The Huffington Post

VIA: Left Hemispheres

As you are likely well aware -because unlike me, you exist in the same time frame as most other people in the world- a large meteor went streaking across the sky in Russia early Friday morning (FEB 15th). The object is not believed to have been directly related to the much more massive -150 feet (45 meters) wide- asteroid 2012 AD14, which passed within about 17,000 miles of Earth later the same day, without incident.

NASA has estimated the size of the object over Russia, at 50-55 feet across, and 7,000 -10,000 tons, and that it was traveling somewhere in the range of 40,000 MPH, when it exploded. The blast created as the meteor impacted with the Earth's atmosphere is estimated to have been the equivalent of a 470-kiloton explosion, and managed to cause sever damage to a Zinc processing plant, as well as shattering windows throughout the city of Chelyabinsk, injuring about 1000 people. The incident is being described as the most significant of it's kind since the Tunguska event of 1908, in which an unknown object - possibly a small comet - exploded over the Russian wilderness, leveling trees for several hundred square miles. 

There are obviously LOADS of videos and pictures available of the incident. Of the two I've chosen to post, the one above is sort of a compilation, which includes bits from many of the most popular videos, along with some stuff I hadn't seen from security cameras, as well as footage of some of the damage caused by the blast. The one below, I choose because it captures the gap between the object's passing, and the sound of the explosion itself. Which, as you'll see, happens a considerably long time after the object has disappeared from view, illustrating just how fast it was actually traveling.


-CAINE-

Source: All of the Internets 
  

 

If I were better at planning posts for the site, had a different work schedule, or hadn't just spent the better part of the past four hours fighting with my internet connection, I would have prepared something of substance for Darwin day. Instead, here's my admittedly anemic, and just barely on time/on topic offering, in the form of yet another true fact video from ze Frank. This time around, evolution checks in on the Katydid. All in all,  things seem to be going well for the creature... except for where the monkeys are concerned.

-CAINE-

 

As my beloved technology continues to torment and betray me, this week's episode of My Favorite Show arrives a little over a week late. Last week, I just didn't feel like fighting with the internets, and this week, it took revenge upon me. But, I finally managed to edit what we got into submission, and I hope you'll be pleased with the result. Since it is the first show of a new month, that means, new artwork. And in case you couldn't guess by the subject mater, this month's artwork was done by me.

In This Week's Episode: We begin with the tale of Kai, the hatchet weilding hitchhiker. Who has, of course, already been remixed HERE - Tara discovers the phenomena of coffee enemas - we discuss the ongoing saga of Chris Dorner 's Vendetta against the LAPD - The real purpose of a so-called "Anti human/animal hybrid bill" in Mississippi: SPOILER ALERT: it's really about abortion -  and a company threatening to sue podcasters for trademark infringement, as well as the ongoing issue of trademark trolls in general.

Our Favorite Things: This week, Tara and I took a trip to our favorite comic shop, where she picked up an issue of the series "The Boys". Which, for those of you who prefer the digital format, you can also find on the comixology site/ mobile apps. Not to be out-geeked, this week, I have chosen one of my new favorite podcasts: Nerd Poker with Brian Posehn. In which, Posehn and friends gather to play D&D.

Subscribe on iTunes

Because I can:

Even if you know nothing about video production or computer animation whatsoever, it should go without saying that the six minute indie sci-fi short above titled "R'ha", is impressive by pretty much any metric you'd like to apply. So the fact that other than some help with the music and the voice acting, it was created entirely by one 22 year old German film student named Kaleb Lechowski,  makes it astounding. Unbelievable job.

-CAINE-

Kaleb's Blog

Is it really possible that in all this time, I've only ever even touched on the glorious disaster that is the cult of Scientology, but once? Yes, it appears that is the case. And even when I did, it was really more about Russia's banning of Hubbard's books, than it was the church itself. Time to fix that. Because as the so-called "church" has been spreading out over the years, it's hit a few... let's call them snags, along the way. In the last few years in particular, along with Russia's efforts to ban Hubbard's writings, countries like France and Belgium have attempted to eject the group, by labeling them a criminal organization, primarily based on charges of fraud. And there are rumblings abound, that similar actions are soon to follow in various other places where scientology has only just begun to spread . All of which, is well and truly deserved, in my opinion.

The newest set of fraud charges the organization is currently facing here in America, are being alleged in a lawsuit filed by a couple in Tampa Florida. Luis and Rocio Garcia claim they were mislead into donating $420,000 into the church for charity and relief efforts, as well as for the construction of  the groups "Super Power building". A building which the Pinellas county Property Appraiser's Office has valued at $80 million, but lists as fully tax exempt, and which has sat unfinished in downtown Clearwater FL, since 2003.

From the Tampa Bay Times (which wrote a surprisingly thorough article on this):

"Plaintiffs Luis and Rocio Garcia of Irvine, Calif., name five Scientology corporations as defendants, including the church's main entity in Clearwater. The former church members say they gave Scientology more than $420,000 for the massive "Super Power" building in Clearwater that has never opened, church services they never received and humanitarian projects that never materialized.

The deception went as far as producing phony videos of church earthquake relief efforts to induce parishioners to give, said the Garcias' attorney, Theodore Babbitt of West Palm Beach.

The lawsuit focuses on Scientology leader David Miscavige, saying he exerts control over an "interdependent network of entities" that extracts as much money as it can from parishioners and denies promised refunds. It alleges the church improperly uses donations to finance Miscavige's "lavish lifestyle" and to stifle critics with private investigators and lawyers.

"We believe that these lawsuits will put an end to these practices," Babbitt said.

Clearwater church spokeswoman Pat Harney said: "The church has not been served and has no comment. However, we understand from media inquiries this has something to do with fundraising, and we can unequivocally state all funds solicited are used for the charitable and religious purposes for which they were donated." "

According to the article, the couple also claims they've spoken to dozens of other former members, and similar lawsuits are coming.

Unfortunately, even if the Garcia's allegations against the church are true, and there are plenty of reasons to believe they are, how much success they'll have fighting an organization as well funded as scientology, remains to be seen. After all, we're talking about an organization whose ranks likely only number somewhere in the tens, maybe, hundreds of thousands* -despite their assertions of Tom Cruise having reached over a billion people with scientolgy's message- who still manage to find the capital and resources to defend themselves against entire foreign governments. But with the growing number of similar suits, potential suits in waiting, and the onslaught of bad publicity, criminal charges, and all of the just plain embarrassing allegations that continue to be waged against the organization, there is some hope. And while I doubt we'll ever see an absolute end to scientology as an entity, it seems to be ever more likely that we are at least seeing the beginnings of the end of what little legitimacy it's managed to create for itself in the eyes of the general public.

Now if we could just get people to apply the same critical eye to "transubstantiation" or the vatican's banking practices.

Baby stepping towards apostasy...

Ba-by steps.... (1,000,000,000 bonus points to you if you get this reference, BTW.)

-CAINE-

Source: Tampabay.com

*The actual number of "practicing" scientologist, is debatable, and ultimately unconfirmable, as the "church" goes to great links to keep said figures as vague and confusing as possible.

Finally, because I simply cannot resist any opportunity to share it, THIS mangled train wreck of crazy. Which you may have forgotten existed. But I didn't, Oh no my friend. I remember it well.

Image: T.A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage) and N.S. van der Bliek (NOAO/AURA/NSF) [high-resolution] Read NOAO Conditions of Use before downloading

Caption: NOAO

This image was obtained with the wide-field view of the Mosaic II camera on the Blanco 4-meter telescope at Cerro Tololo Interamerican Observatory on January 11th, 2012. It shows a portion of the giant Monceros R2 molecular cloud. It is a location of massive star formation, particularly in the location of the bright red nebula just below the center of the image. The image was generated with observations in the Sulphur [SII] (blue) and Hydrogen-Alpha (red) filters. In this image, north is to the right, and east is up.

Recording this week's episode of My Favorite Show was... an adventure. Unfortunately, it was an adventure primarily involving the frustration of lousy internet connections and dropped Skype calls. So, ultimately, we weren't quite able to get to all of the things we would have liked to this week. But, all things considered, I think it's still an entertaining episode. Hopefully you will agree, and reward our efforts by Subscribing on iTunes. Or not. In which case, you're dead to me. DEAD, you hear me. DEAD!

In This Week's Episode: Tara shares her encounter with a mysterious dive bombing plane - I enjoy the sweet sounds of people screaming bloody murder in the streets of Switzerland - there's a brawl at a baby shower - A teacher marries the 15 year old student she molested to avoid jail - an assault victim sues Match.com for not warning her strangers on the internet could be dangerous -A Tampa family sues the Cult of Scientology for fraud - a Catholic organization declares that fetuses are not children to avoid a lawsuit- a night of dropped Skype calls drives me to a Comcast rant- and a few other things.

Our Favorite Things: Tara manages to procure a new digital camera, while I'm still all worked up over the idea of quadruple helix DNA.

Because I love this:

 -CAINE-