Rumors swirling of major announcement on Higgs boson

I don’t know anything beyond that. Other than a physicist just tipped me off a major announcement would be forthcoming in the near future and there’s a lot of press speculation on it. Prepare for endless reviews of the God Particle…

Update: Here’s what I’ve been told “two experiments see a big enhancement in 2-photon production, which fits perfectly with what one expects for a Higgs at 125 GeV.    The total significance is 4.2 sigma, which is just short of the 5 sigma needed for the announcement of an official discovery.”

Kepler bags a twin earth candidate 600 light-years away!

This diagram compares our solar system to Kepler-22, a star system containing the first "habitable zone" planet discovered by the Kepler mission. (NASA/Ames/JPL-Caltech)

It may be the first of many, but it will always be the first. It was inevitable, inasmuch as we all thought it would happen sooner or later, but a chill still ran down my spine when I read what the Kepler planet finder discovered. [Read more…]

Herman Cain has feelings …

Herman Cain has feelings, and he’s discovered those feelings can be hurt by what he calls false accusations and the court of public opinion being fed by the liberal media. On Saturday the former front-runner suspended his campaign, a nifty dodge allowing the zillionaire and his agents to beg struggling middle-class people to pay off Cain’s remaining campaign debt. The hurt ran so deep he decreed it was a loss, for the American People mind you, that we would not have Cain’s ingenious solutions working for our nation. He also promised he would endorse someone soon. Today, we hear rumors it will be Newt Gingrich:

[Read more…]

Rudy Giulianni and Colin Powell don’t want you living in a van down by the river

For weeks I’ve been hearing annoying radio ads for some kind of business opportunity speaking deal with Rudy Giuliani and Colin Powell. There were some other big names too, one from sports, I think, and someone related to Warren Buffet. What surprised me was the advertised price, $1.95 per office. Not per person, per office of people, causing any skeptic’s spidey sense to tingle. The dog and pony show finally came through last month and a friend of mine went. Surprise surprise, it’s a combo proselytizing and self-help sales pitch rolled into one. [Read more…]

Herman Cain suspends campaign

Alas, woe is me, the Cainwreck has made its last stop. Speaking in front of a scattered crowd in what was to be the opening for his new campaign HQ in Georgia, the controversial former front-runner announced he was suspending his campaign for the GOP presidential nomination. Cain blamed false accusers, media frenzy, his family’s feelings, and noted several time he would never apologize for the greatness of the USA (WTF?). The pizza magnate introduced a new site called CainSolutions.com, which does not appear to do anything or offer any insight, other than a donation button hard-working people can use to pay off the millionaire’s accumulated campaign debt despite incessant bragging he was raking in the dough for the last two months. [Read more…]

New paleo-climate research threatens treasured wingnut trope

Who are you gonna believe, thousands of thermometer readings compiled by NASA experts over decades, or Tricky Rick's Perrytales?

Alas, a favorite climate change denial trope is on its deathbed. Specifically, the zombie lie that modern polar ice sheets formed during a period of rising carbon dioxide. New analysis of CO2 levels from the time, about 33 million years ago, show the greenhouse gas dropping sharply and the ice caps forming right along side: [Read more…]

The Cainwreck paints accusers as scheming “husbandless” bitches

One has to wonder who it was that thought of giving a section on the Herman Cain website over to purported female commenters voicing support for Cain against charges of harassment and infidelity, and if that person’s job will last the day. Because it devolved into a cesspool of trolls and hatred in about two minutes. Here’s a taste: [Read more…]