Sunday, October 3, 2010
This Weeks Compendium
Say hello to- Rear Gear!This week on Compendium oF Strange: My favorite song and music video of all time- "Morbid Angel: God of Emptiness", Rear gear- butt hole covers for your pets, The man who owned the Segway company dies on a Segway, Solar Salamanders, "PG Porn" with Sasha Grey and James Gunn, and more! plus- I updated the page with a brand new theme, so come check it out and tell me what you think.
-CAINE-
If you're already on tumblr you can follow the Compendium directly, if not, then you should use THIS LINK to join so the Compendium gets credit for the referral or you could just follow me on twitter or like my musician page on Facebook to keep up with all my blogs, bands, etc.
Enjoy!
-CAINE-
If you're already on tumblr you can follow the Compendium directly, if not, then you should use THIS LINK to join so the Compendium gets credit for the referral or you could just follow me on twitter or like my musician page on Facebook to keep up with all my blogs, bands, etc.
Enjoy!
The UK Recognizes Druids as a Legitimate Religion
If you happen to live in the UK and you somehow haven't heard, then do I have some great news for you! Druids have officially been granted status as a "genuine" religion by your lovely, lovely, charity Commission.
That means not only will every psychic medium, con-artist, cult leader, hippie guru, and faith healer that's ever hugged a crystal, claimed to sense an energy field or communed with a rock, soon be declaring themselves a "druid". But more importantly, once they do, they'll all be eligible for tax breaks and all the other special treatment that comes with being called a "REAL" religion- just like Scientology! Isn't that great?... Oh wait.. No, I guess it isn't.
That means not only will every psychic medium, con-artist, cult leader, hippie guru, and faith healer that's ever hugged a crystal, claimed to sense an energy field or communed with a rock, soon be declaring themselves a "druid". But more importantly, once they do, they'll all be eligible for tax breaks and all the other special treatment that comes with being called a "REAL" religion- just like Scientology! Isn't that great?... Oh wait.. No, I guess it isn't.
Seriously UK, I love you guys but for now, I really think you should all just go stand in the corner and think about what you've done for a while. We'll talk later.
-CAINE-
*UPDATE* The point I was trying to make, which EnglishAtheist pointed out in the comments I completely failed at, was that by legitimizing any set of supernatural beliefs by granting them charitable status or recognizing them as a religion, you give a long list of nuts, crazies, and just plain bad people a new point to argue when trying to prove the validity of their claims and or scam people out of money and possessions, weather they are actually a part of the official organization being recognized or not.
Instead, I gave off the impression that the UK had opened up a new welfare line where any idiot in a Yoda robe could come to get a free handout, which is incorrect and not the point I was trying to make. Also, I'm told the charity commission does not recognize Scientology as a religion, so that comment was misleading as well.
See what happens when you don't research the articles you find in popular media before you comment on them, you get EVERYTHING wrong.
Oh well, 'll be in the corner if you need me.
-CAINE-
Saturday, October 2, 2010
That Glowing Green Dot in The Sky is NOT a UFO - It's a Commet
On October 20th Comet Hartley 2 will pass within eleven million miles of earth. which you probably think sounds pretty far away but is actually closer than any other comet has come to the earth in the last few centuries. But if you happen to own a telescope, then you don't have to wait until October 20th to see it because for you, the hazy green comet is already visible in the constellation Cassiopeia. But if you don't own a telescope, don't worry, because as the comet approaches it will become easier to see using less powerful telescopes, binoculars, and finally even the naked eye under the right conditions.
Or- you could do like astronomer Bill Cooke, who took the image to the right, a four minute long
exposure, using a telescope located near Mayhill, N.M., which he controlled via the Internet from his home computer in Huntsville, Alabama. Ain't technology great?
-CAINE-Source:Wired Science
Image Credit: Top:Rolando Ligustri Bottom:Bill Cooke
Artificial Black Hole May Confirm The Existence of Hawking Radiation
In 1974 Stephen Hawking showed that according to quantum theory, black holes should be emitting a steady stream of radiation, an assertion which contradicted the conventional belief of the time that nothing could escape the gravitational pull of a black hole. But according to quantum mechanics, it's possible for virtual pairs consisting of a particle and it's antimatter equivalent to spontaneously spring into existence. The field surrounding the edge of a black hole is believed to be strong enough to cause these virtual particles to become real, potentially trapping one of the pair inside the black whole while allowing the other to escape in the form of what is now called Hawking radiation.By firing a laser beam through a glass block, Italian scientists have managed to create an optical black hole capable of replicating the gravitational warping which occurs inside the event horizon of a real black hole. Repeatedly firing the laser into the glass once every trillionth of a second, researchers were able to alter it's refractive index, creating a small disturbance within the block and preventing the light from moving forward and back into the the air, mimicking the effect of the gravitational pull of a black hole. Though not an exact match, the simulation has allowed researchers to study some of the effects of matter's passage into a black hole, including observing what appears to be Hawking radiation.
If the groups findings are confirmed, this would this be the first time Hawking radiation has ever been observed and this new home made black hole might also be used to test other elements of string theory and quantum mechanics. Including- attempting to create other optical representations of even more exotic phenomena like the theoretical white hole.
-CAINE-
Source: New Scientist and:io9
For more information on Hawking radiation, check out the following clip:
Posted by YouTube user:stevebd1
Posted by YouTube user:stevebd1
I believe this clip came from the BBC documentary: " Stephen Hawking Master of the Universe", but I have yet to watch the entire documentary to confirm it contains the clip, so the YouTube commenter from which I took that information could be wrong. Regardless, the portion of the documentary I have watched is very good and you can watch it in it's entirety on turxxx'schannel on YouTube.
Friday, October 1, 2010
Eye Candy: Speaking of Exoplanets- Sunrise on Gliese 876d
In keeping with not only our exopoplanet theme but red dwarfs named "Gliese", the above is an artists depiction of a sunrise on a planet known as Gliese 876d, the third planet discovered orbiting the red dwarf Gliese 876- located fifteen light years away in the constellation of Aquarius. The rest of the text in this article as well as the image, comes directly from NASA's " Astronomy Picture of the Day" website.
-CAINE-
Illustration Credit & Copyright: Inga Nielsen (Hamburg Obs., Gate to Nowhere)
Explanation: On planet Gliese 876d, sunrises might be dangerous. Although nobody really knows what conditions are like on this close-in planet orbiting variable red dwarf star Gliese 876, the above artistic illustration gives one impression. With an orbit well inside Mercury and a mass several times that of Earth, Gliese 876d might rotate so slowly that dramatic differences exist between night and day. Gliese 876d is imagined above showing significant volcanism, possibly caused by gravitational tides flexing and internally heating the planet, and possibly more volatile during the day. The rising red dwarf star shows expected stellar magnetic activity which includes dramatic and violent prominences. In the sky above, a hypothetical moon has its thin atmosphere blown away by the red dwarf's stellar wind. Gliese 876d excites the imagination partly because it is one of the few extrasolar planets known to be close to the habitable zone of its parent star.
Gliese 581G The New Earth We'll All Soon be Living On - or Not.
Artists depiction of Gliese 581GWednesday the University of California, Santa Cruz announced the discovery of two new planets orbiting the red dwarf star known as Gliese 581, located around twenty light years from earth in what we see as the Libra constellation.
The new planets were both discovered using the Doppler method which measures the shift in the wavelength of light being emitted by a star which, changes when tugged on by the gravity of an object orbiting around it. A planet's mass, the shape of its orbit, and it's distance from it's sun, all effect how the light shifts allowing astronomers to devise specific details about distant objects like these two new Exoplanets of which, the most talked about has been designated Gliese 581G.
With a mass of three to seven times that of the Earth, Gliese 581G is the sixth to be identified orbiting Gliese 581 and is the newest planet in the system to be marked as a potential home for life. Unlike Gliese 581C - which is likely too close to it's star and therefore too hot to sustain liquid water or life - and Gleise581D - which is likely to0 far away from the sun and therefore too cold (or maybe not if it has a thick enough atmosphere) - Gliese 581G orbits it's sun in the so called "Goldilocks Zone" making it the most likely contender yet for a planet capable of sustaining life.
Like the rest of the known planets in the system, 581G follows a circular orbit around it's sun, it completes an orbit every 37 days and is, as far as we can tell, the fourth planet from it's sun. Gliese is also tidally locked to it's star. That means one side of the planet is always facing the sun locking it in a state of perpetual daylight , while the other faces away leaving it in total darkness- which would make the line between shadow and light or terminator, the most habitable place on the planets surface. Researchers also estimate the average temperature on the planet to be between -24 and 10 degrees Fahrenheit.
But contrary to the popular take on this story, which professor of astronomy and astrophysics at the University of California, Santa Cruz, Steven Vogt is not helping by saying things like:
Don't go packing your bags or planning what deep space message you'll be sending to the people of Gliese just yet. While this is an amazing discovery, aside from details about it's mass, orbit, and general surface temperature, not much else can be said for certain about what the planet is actually like. The more important point of this planets discovery is what it could mean for the odds of finding other "Earth-Like" planets capable of sustaining life. Because the fact that a planet like this has been discovered in a system not only within our own galaxy but within 20 light years of our own solar system, is a good indication that habitable planets are in fact abundant throughout our galaxy.
-CAINE-
You can read the original press release from The University of California: HERE. You should also check out Phil Plaits post on this subject as well which is the most detailed post I was able to find on the subject.
The new planets were both discovered using the Doppler method which measures the shift in the wavelength of light being emitted by a star which, changes when tugged on by the gravity of an object orbiting around it. A planet's mass, the shape of its orbit, and it's distance from it's sun, all effect how the light shifts allowing astronomers to devise specific details about distant objects like these two new Exoplanets of which, the most talked about has been designated Gliese 581G.
With a mass of three to seven times that of the Earth, Gliese 581G is the sixth to be identified orbiting Gliese 581 and is the newest planet in the system to be marked as a potential home for life. Unlike Gliese 581C - which is likely too close to it's star and therefore too hot to sustain liquid water or life - and Gleise581D - which is likely to0 far away from the sun and therefore too cold (or maybe not if it has a thick enough atmosphere) - Gliese 581G orbits it's sun in the so called "Goldilocks Zone" making it the most likely contender yet for a planet capable of sustaining life.
Like the rest of the known planets in the system, 581G follows a circular orbit around it's sun, it completes an orbit every 37 days and is, as far as we can tell, the fourth planet from it's sun. Gliese is also tidally locked to it's star. That means one side of the planet is always facing the sun locking it in a state of perpetual daylight , while the other faces away leaving it in total darkness- which would make the line between shadow and light or terminator, the most habitable place on the planets surface. Researchers also estimate the average temperature on the planet to be between -24 and 10 degrees Fahrenheit.
But contrary to the popular take on this story, which professor of astronomy and astrophysics at the University of California, Santa Cruz, Steven Vogt is not helping by saying things like:
"Personally, given the ubiquity and propensity of life to flourish wherever it can, I would say, my own personal feeling is that the chances of life on this planet are 100 percent,"
Don't go packing your bags or planning what deep space message you'll be sending to the people of Gliese just yet. While this is an amazing discovery, aside from details about it's mass, orbit, and general surface temperature, not much else can be said for certain about what the planet is actually like. The more important point of this planets discovery is what it could mean for the odds of finding other "Earth-Like" planets capable of sustaining life. Because the fact that a planet like this has been discovered in a system not only within our own galaxy but within 20 light years of our own solar system, is a good indication that habitable planets are in fact abundant throughout our galaxy.
-CAINE-
You can read the original press release from The University of California: HERE. You should also check out Phil Plaits post on this subject as well which is the most detailed post I was able to find on the subject.
*UPDATE*
Monday, October 11th, 2010 - Astronomer Francesco Pepe of the Geneva Observatory and the Swiss group announced that they had been unable to find any reliable sign of a fifth planet in Gleise's habitable zone.
Oops.
Go HERE for more info.
Monday, October 11th, 2010 - Astronomer Francesco Pepe of the Geneva Observatory and the Swiss group announced that they had been unable to find any reliable sign of a fifth planet in Gleise's habitable zone.
Oops.
Go HERE for more info.
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