npr:
A 9-year-old boy who built an elaborate cardboard arcade inside his dad’s used auto parts store is about to have the best day of his life.
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This is fantastic. My faith in humanity is restored. — Tanya
You have to see this! Really!
Posted 2 months ago
Posted 2 months ago
npr:
Dark Energy And The Joy Of Being Wrong
Sometimes nature just throws you a loop. All your carefully laid plans, all your exquisite calculations, all your deeply held beliefs and expectations get blown away in the simple eloquence of real data from the real world. That is how Dark Energy made its appearance into the world of cosmology. Its not just that folks weren’t expecting it. They were, in fact, expecting the very opposite.
Last week I explained how Dark Matter was “discovered” (inferred really), based on observations over decades of the gravitational influence it exerts on matter we can see (the stuff we are made of). Dark Energy was discovered in a similar way, except that it arrived all at once in one big, fat surprise package.
The year was 1998 and two highly competitive groups of astronomers were each rushing toward the same goal: they hoped to hunt down the effects of gravitational braking in the universe. Ever since astronomers had accepted the idea of the Big Bang, they had been out hunting for its subsequent cosmic deceleration.
The idea was simple.
While the Big Bang blows space apart (it literally stretches all points of space-time away from each other), the gravitational pull of matter should, over time, slow down that initial burst of cosmic expansion. The two research groups, (Berkeley vs. Harvard), were racing to find the magnitude of deceleration in the universe. It was a critical project since the rate of cosmic braking is directly related to the total density of mass (and energy) in the universe. It would be a Nobel Prize-worthy result.
Things didn’t go quite as planned. -Adam Frank (Photo credit: WMAP/NASA)
Posted 9 months ago
Posted 9 months ago
More than I can handle…
The moment I stop to realize I have had more than I can handle… I frequently get a rude awakening. There is more… However, that is not the only realization. Often a quick look around shows how much more others are “handling”.
There is usually no quick solution or fix. It is often a matter of time - as in, this too shall pass. Though we cannot fix it all, I believe quick all-around relief (big or small) may come from very simple day-to-day decisions. 1) give each other a break… A quick pass for the silly things we do every day in the middle of the madness. 2) lend a hand… If you can do it, don’t think twice. 3) say something nice. As in, words of encouragement are free, use them.
-Alejandra
Posted 9 months ago
There is nothing wrong with looking back…
With all the emphasis on living in the “present”, looking back to evaluate one’s past decisions has become a little unpopular. I don’t believe there is anything wrong with looking back every so often to re-evaluate key decisions that culminated in what our lives are today. What I believe is really wasteful is spending too much time in that evaluation and not doing anything about it. So, a short look back in time, every so often, to re-calibrate your direction, I believe, is not only acceptable but many times needed.
-Alejandra
Posted 9 months ago
China and Europe Both Have Plans To Prevent Deadly Asteroid Apophis from Hitting Earth in 2029 (or 2036)
Apophis is a 46 million tonne asteroid that will pass within a hair’s breath of Earth in 2029. However, Apophis’s trajectory is likely to take it through a region of space near Earth known as a keyhole that will ensure the asteroid returns in 2036.
Nobody knows how close Apophis will come on that pass. But if there’s a chance of a collision, we’ll have only 7 years to work out how to avoid catastrophe.
Researchers at Tsinghua University in Beijing say their preference is to use a solar sail to place a small spacecraft into a retrograde orbit and on collision course with Apophis. The retrograde orbit will give it an impact velocity of 90km/s which, if they do this well enough in advance, should lead to a collision large enough to do the trick.In 2002, the European Space Agency began a program called Don Quijote to find out how best to perform such a deflection.
Don Quijote involves sending two spacecraft to a near Earth asteroid; one to smash into it and the other to watch while in orbit above the impact crater. The goal is to change the asteroid’s semimajor axis by more than 100 metres and to measure the change with an accuracy greater than 1 per cent.
Posted 9 months ago
Reminder to self
Never vent online :)… instead reflect, write, call a friend :)
Posted 9 months ago
How pleasant to sit on the beach,
On the beach, on the sand, in the sun,
With ocean galore within reach,
And nothing at all to be done!
No letters to answer,
No bills to be burned,
No work to be shirked,
No cash to be earned,
It is pleasant to sit on the beach
With nothing at all to be done!
How pleasant to look at the ocean,
Democratic and damp; indiscriminate;
It fills me with noble emotion
To think I am able to swim in it.
To lave in the wave,
Majestic and chilly,
Tomorrow I crave;
But today it is silly.
It is pleasant to look at the ocean;
Tomorrow, perhaps, I shall swim in it.
On the beach, on the sand, in the sun,
With ocean galore within reach,
And nothing at all to be done!
No letters to answer,
No bills to be burned,
No work to be shirked,
No cash to be earned,
It is pleasant to sit on the beach
With nothing at all to be done!
How pleasant to look at the ocean,
Democratic and damp; indiscriminate;
It fills me with noble emotion
To think I am able to swim in it.
To lave in the wave,
Majestic and chilly,
Tomorrow I crave;
But today it is silly.
It is pleasant to look at the ocean;
Tomorrow, perhaps, I shall swim in it.
Posted 10 months ago
