I wouldn’t have believed it if it hadn’t happened to me. The other night I had a little ghostly experience, on Christmas Eve in fact, apologies to Dickens and his spiritual cadres. Now, before anyone thinks I’m losing my marbles, I think I can explain what happened. But I’ll tell you this, it was terrifying. [Read more…]
There was a time when the GOP effectively hid their fealty for the robber-barons behind a facade of Jesus swaddled in small government patriotism. It worked for years. But alas, by 2008 those policies disintegrated, epic fail across the board, leaving foreign policy in paralyzed shambles and the national economy in tatters. From that point on the mask was off, the political hounds and media minions were unleashed to spread naked zombie lies and hatred, the real money behind this bizarre shit exposed: a tiny sliver of zillionaire wackos obsessed with getting every last dime they can beg, borrow, or steal and exploit a populace not just devastated by those same ideas but who bailed the wealthy out of their own sinking ship. So, seeing them get their clocks cleaned was a nice holiday surprise: [Read more…]
No doubt lots of good happened to some folks this year, but over all 2011 kind of sucked in my book. Here’s just some of what could happen in 2012 to make it a much, much better year for all: [Read more…]
The journey of the sun at the same time of day over the course of a year. The figure-eight pattern is called an Analemma
Today, December 22, 2011, is the first official day of Winter and by definition the shortest day of the year — even though it’s not the earliest sunset or latest sunrise — in the northern hemisphere. Perhaps we should mark the occasion, as our distant ancestors did, with some sort of recognition and related social ceremony, celebrating and welcoming the sun as it moves back to beckon plants and animals into the light of quickening Spring? Oh, wait, yeah, Christmas and all … well, anyway, some researchers at Notre Dame are still thinking of the hot summer sun and all the free energy, about 4 trillion terrawatts to be precise, and ways to make it easier for consumers to get at it. One solution, solar-cell paint! [Read more…]
Are Republicans about to cave on the extension for the middle class tax cut and unemployment? That’s the word from our highy credible sources on capital hill right now:
(TheNote) — My prediction: House Republicans will soon – probably within 24 hours – cave in and accept the two-month extension of the payroll tax cut passed last week by the Senate. I base this on conversations with House Republicans who know they are losing the public relations battle and losing it badly. They know they are taking the blame for a stand-off that threatens to raise taxes on 160 million Americans. And they cannot let that happen.
Scientists working in high security labs in the US and the Netherlands managed to create a deadly strain of flu virus. The artificial bug has traits that would make it a real weapon of mass destruction if it were released: [Read more…]
The first detected “mini-Earth” and an Earth-sized planet with a water-vapour atmosphere are two of five planets found orbiting Kepler-20. Image: NASA/Ames/JPL-Caltech.
Two weeks ago Kepler gave us its first probable earth-like world orbiting the habitable zone of a sun-like star. This week it’s not one but two, count ’em two, small and probably rocky worlds. And these guys are tiny by exoplanetary standards: [Read more…]
Evolution is all about sex, baby, at least for us big hulking heterotrophs. When it comes to sex, sex organs play a central role in that evolution, regardless of what cultists invested in mythical invisible sky wizards would have you believe. And new research shows size does matter — it’s just that bigger doesn’t mean better:
(MSNBC) — Using data from scarab beetle populations separated by anywhere from 50 years to millions of years, research led by scientists at Indiana University reveals that both male and female genitalia evolve rapidly and in parallel with one another. But between newly evolving species, genitals diverged faster in shape than they did in size.
If a beetle’s wee-wee doesn’t fit in Mrs Beetle’s nu-nu, evolution pronounces a harsh sentence for life and beyond. Remember that the next time you’re staring in a mirror.
Concentration camps, starving populace, brutal authoritarian regime, and loose nukes; what could possibly go wrong with North Korea?
(TimeMag) — As odd and erratic as the North Koreans might be, they are not about to inaugurate new leadership by raining nuclear destruction on their Asian-Pacific neighbors – and they probably couldn’t do so even if they wanted. While North Korea has enough fuel for six or eight small nuclear weapons, it doesn’t have the technology to put them on missiles. Nor are its missiles particularly accurate beyond a short range.
I guess we’ll find out soon enough. But the littlest Kim, Jong-Il’s son Kim Jong-un, has only been groomed for autocracy for a year or two. It’s unclear how much support the 28 year-old really has among top military brass and the handful of wealthy patrons in the nation. It’s not even certain how old he is, estimates vary from 26 to 29. And I have to admit, I have a bad feeling about this whole deal.
News that Kim Jong-il, the enigmatic leader of impoverished North Korea, died of a heart attack on Saturday has ripped through one of the last truly communist countries like a monsoon this morning. The late dictator was 69 years-old. Presidents, prime-ministers, and monarchs are watching intently to see what now becomes of the world’s most isolated nation. So far it’s a grief-fest:
(Telegraph) — There was wariness about where North Korea goes now under Kim Jong-il’s son, but Britain, France and Germany voiced tentative hope for a new dawn at the end of a tumultuous year that has seen regimes topple across the Middle East. The “Dear Leader”, according to the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), “passed away from a great mental and physical strain” at 8:30am on Saturday (23.30 GMT Friday) while travelling by train on one of his field trips. It urged people to support the Swiss-educated Kim Jong-Un, who is in his late 20s and was last year made a four-star general and given top ruling party posts despite having had no public profile.
There’s a lot of speculation on what happens next, and Odin knows I’m no expert on North Korea. Could this mark the unofficial end of the Korean War and eventual reunification of that torn peninsula? What would that mean to South Korea, to China, and the world?
Oh, and sorry about the lack of posts over the weekend. I did some well earned vacationing and I guess I didn’t understand the ghost scheduling feature as well as I should.