Glenn Seaborg thought it would be funny to submit it with the abbreviation Pu.
Ah yes, Mr Seaborg. My nephew's Periodic Table is autographed by the man! Here's a nice little tidbit for y'all, Seaborg is the only man whose work address is fully composed by names of elements from the Periodic Table: Seaborgium Lawrencium Berkelium Californium Americium
Don't forget the possibility of egotastic self-promoters winning the bid and making a mockery of the process. "At a press conference today, it was announced that Periodic Table element PuffDaddium now wishes to be referred to as PDiddium".
I'm mean seriously, a star exploding is a star exploding
When you've seen one redwood, you've seen 'em all, eh? Here's a quote from the first article a Google search turned up: But if SN2008ha is a Type II supernova, where did the hydrogen go? The answer might be mass loss. Some stars are so massive and luminous that they lose their outer hydrogen layers in strong outflowing stellar winds. And because they're so massive, their cores collapse into a black hole without transfering energy to the outer layers of the star, which may explain the low luminosity of the explosion. I've never read anything quite like this before.
The headline should have read along the lines of: Teen May Have Discovered Most Massive, Least Luminous Supernova
Re:Twitter's not completely useless
on
One-Tweet Wonders
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Tweets to update a statewide wrestling site.
Harkens back to the days before live radio broadcasts of sporting events, when townsfolk loitered in front of the telegraph office during World Series games, most places had a billboard updating scores every inning. The luckier towns had a diamond-shaped mechanical board facing the street, some dude pulling levers to simulate the action for spectators.
Picture a couple of baseball/tech geeks in suits and bowler hats, discussing hot shit technology in between updates (This just in: Boston Braves score run in top of ninth to overtake Philadelphia Athletics 1-0), one of them dismissing television as vaporware and declaring "just you wait until smell-a-vision comes around", then a Model T roars by the unpaved street, leaving the boys covered in a fine coat of dust. All very steampunk.
This is the right time and place for a personal anecdote, methinks.
Many years ago, my dad took me to Vegas for a full week. As I'd never been to Vegas before, I was thrilled. My dad was a disciplined yet mellow man with a hearing impairment, he'd time his gambling between slow and relaxed coffee breaks, meals and walks, then return to the casino and turn his hearing aid off, sheltering himself from the constant cacophony around him, moving slow and hunting for a "warm" machine according to his "hypothesis" (if someone has been feeding a machine and gotten no return, a jackpot is imminent, he'd say). An eye of the storm is how I'd describe him. By midnight, dad would be in our hotel room, drifting to sleep while reading a techno-thriller spy novel or Louis L'Amour cowboy adventure.
Feeling like a hyper-excited kid in a candy store, I was taking off on my own at 8:00 pm (with a generous but not excessive daily allowance) to explore, drink and smoke while feeding the one-armed bandits and playing blackjack at the one-dollar tables (with free drink service, of course), pretending to be a real man, coming back to the hotel room at the crack of dawn or beyond. Now, wasting precious cash on taxis, are you kidding? I was doing plenty of walking from casino to casino, keeping me from getting too drunk, so I didn't get into any trouble in that area. This blissful experience lasted for three days.
By Day Four, the sound of the slot machines was beginning to get deep in nerves, the thrill was fading away, and three consecutive nights of drink was beginning to take its' toll (call me a lightweight if you like, that's okay). By Day Five, I went bowling and to the movies, just to get away from the casinos for a spell or two. To give you an idea how long ago this was, the film was "Patriot Games" with Harrison Ford. By Day Six, my nervous system was screaming "Get me outta here!". By Day Seven, feeling jaded beyond my years, I indulged in one last blackjack all-nighter at a funky casino filled with college-age students, Bowie, Roxy Music and The Police playing in the sound system. On Day Eight we flew back and I wanted to play Pope and kiss the ground at touchdown.
What my old man did there, was invaluable - he placed the cookie jar in my reach and said "Have a go". What I did was stuff myself until I got sick and subsequently inoculated, gambling holds no appeal for me since then.
Now to my main point here. By Day Five, as I wandered around the casinos, the lights, bells and whistles were not a distracting factor anymore, my jolly attitude had vanished, and only then did some truly disturbing snapshots of humanity stick out in sharp relief: * People (mostly elderly) with glazed eyes focused on some point beyond the walls, a bucket of dollar coins at the side, wearing latex gloves turned filthy by feeding the coins to three slot machines at a time, for all intents and purposes turned into mechanical extensions. * Same people after running out of money, walking away in anger as if in instant withdrawal, with only one purpose in mind - scrounging more cash to feed the overlords. * Guy arrives at the blackjack table and places two black (five-hundred dollar) chips and wins. Smoking a cigarette and with no discernible emotion, bets all chips, now we're up to two thousand dollars, and wins. Once again, only now it's four thousand bucks, and wins. Once more, eight thousand dollars, loses it all. Guy turns and walks away with no emotion whatsoever. All in the span of two minutes.
I wouldn't doubt that the casinos knowledgeably use monorails, outlandish architecture, jackpot cars on display, human statues, aquariums and stuff all over the place, to keep the 2-3 day visitor distracted, hiding a dark side of Vegas in plain sight. Then visitors themselves make the damnedest effort to become part of the distraction, chicks there feel the need to expose 9/10 of their body to stand out from all that sensory bombardment (OK, I'll give that one a resounding pass, but
By the time we're technologically advanced enough to engineer a "pulsar GPS" to navigate interstellar spaces, we'll probably go one better and use a stellar spectral emissions database, taking relative movement and speed into account of course, as I'm under the impression that all stars have a unique spectral fingerprint. There will be plenty of constant reference points (visible from all points), such as the Galactic Center, the Magellanic Clouds and globular clusters.
Say it's the year 4000 AT (After Tranquility Base) and you've lost your bearings in space. Triangulate your constants and by finding just one ultra-luminous star in your database (Eta Carinae, Antares, Betelgeuse, etc), finding your way back home should be relatively easy. Or at least you'll get a pretty good sense of where Sirius or the Orion Nebula should be, navigate in that direction, and once you're in the general vicinity, ol' Sol should be within visual range, lock on that and fly like an arrow.
Now imagine a full-fledged stellar database, which is going to be a given. Using any and all stars makes it much easier because plenty of star systems are double or triple, emitting extremely specific spectral signatures.
It'd be really cool to have it done as a short film leading in to the main feature, sort of like the 007 teasers. That way, when the proper film begins, the audiences' minds are already blown and in the mood.
Now's an appropriate time for a Kids In The Hall reference:
Dear Sirs--uh, Sir,
In reference to your tomatoes--uh, question, I would like to fondle--uh, respond by copping a feel--uh, admitting it was our fault that the shipment was tits--uh, late.
They've narrowed it down to two sites. It's either going on Mauna Kea, or in Chile.
and
They haven't decided yet. Either Mauna Kea, Hawaii or Atacama Desert, Chile.
Thanks, guys. The article did not make it apparent, although many big astronomy projects nowadays end up at either site.
It's been a while since I've read about Arizona bagging a major project such as this, same with the Canary Islands. South Africa is sometimes floated around in these articles. A possibility in my neck of the woods is the San Pedro Mountain Range in Baja California. To make the pitch more plausible, the local state government has begun installing low-glare street lighting in nearby urban areas. The Mexico City based UNAM Astronomy Institute paved 120 kms of road a couple of years ago, from sea level all the way up to the astronomical village.
So you never know where these things could end up.
Reading TFA is further evidence that these so-called journalists always neglect some basic piece of information that's right in front of their nose.
- "Hey Kent, I proof-read your piece on the telescope, you forgot to indicate where in the world it's gonna be installed". - "Sorry about that, I'll get right on it, Mr White".
So what is it, Chile? Hawaii? Canary Islands? El Segundo, California?
Actually, I am aware of what you are stating, the tea parties began with libertarian, Ron Paul supporters, a main issue being the despicable Federal Reserve and its' mafia-like ways, but the point I was trying to make, News Corp being the subject of this thread, was this: Faux latched onto the movement and astroturfed it, with big support from Big Business, in the guise of lobbyist groups such as Americans For Prosperity and FreedomWorks.
Libertarian Ron Paul supporters, many of them espousing quite legitimate viewpoints, got shafted on this one, their movement marred by Faux mobilizing their mindless masses and turning it into an anti-Obama rally with thinly veiled contempt and racism, STILL bringing up the birth certificate bullshit, the "secret Muslim agenda", etc. As a side question, you think maybe Faux (or any Big Media organization, for that matter) does NOT want to talk about the Federal Reserve?
It's grotesque how Faux is all for waving banners in the streets and defending Limbaugh for his "wanting the president to fail" travesty. Now turn back the clock to Clinton with the Balkans and Somalia, and try to remember how much support "the troops" got from republicans and Faux (remember Wag The Dog?). Sandwiched in between were eight years were it was treason and blasphemy to criticize any of the Bush's policies.
It's incredible to me now how Clinton was on the same page with republicans on many key issues, such as deregulating the airwaves, energy and Wall Street (of all things), yet they still savagely crucified him over a stained blue dress, because "he was too lib'rul"?!! Bullshit arguments passing for discussion on bullshit media helped push a country to the far right beyond the breaking point, where we are now. And don't get me started on evangelical fundamentalism.
This is all like a tragically predictable caricature of humanity, harking back to the days when European peasants were whipped into a frenzy to kill all "witches" and cats as agents of the devil, opening the floodgates for rats with lice with the bubonic plague, killing two thirds of the population, through their own ignorance and cruel hysteria.
Well, the Wall Street Journal is a good paper though
Give it time; Murdoch will eventually ruin it so it has about as much credibility as his other properties.
Your statement rings completely true, reminds me of the heartbreaking day when I learned that Peter O'Malley had sold the LA Dodgers baseball team to Murdoch. Almost immediately, I predicted the demolition of almost everything that made that organization special, with the exception of Dodger Stadium, still in a class by itself. Then, here's some of what ensued:
1. The outstanding Dodger farm system fell into neglect, substituting home grown star athletes for overpaid "mercenaries". 2. As a result, ticket prices went up, shafting the fans. While the loyal base was relegated to the nosebleed section, the field level seats turned into corporate boxes for suits getting drunk while "lubricating" business deals. 3. Manager Bill Russell, groomed by Tom Lasorda, was jettisoned, replacing decades of loyalty and stability with a revolving door circus atmosphere in the dugout.
I am not going out on a limb here when I say that the #1 highlight in baseball history was Jackie Robinson breaking the MLB color barrier in 1947. It was against immense hostility that the Dodgers did this, with no small help from Walter O'Malley, then a lawyer for the franchise.
On the field, Mr Robinson galvanized MLB, bringing the Negro Leagues playing style of blood, sweat and tears, resurrecting the old school approach of unnerving opposing pitchers by exploiting every single defensive weakness, one base at a time, scoring runs by base on balls, bunts, stealing bases, etc, caviar to baseball purists, while the contemporary home run derbies are meatloaf.
A decade later, the Dodgers became the first team to bring major league baseball to the Pacific coast, admittedly a devastating blow to Brooklyn, but still a ballsy move back in the day, and a financially sound one. To boot, O'Malley erected a stadium that is still one of the crown jewels of the sport, beautiful and contemporary after half a century.
Then there's the first Mexican superstar pitcher in Fernando Valenzuela, the first Asian superstar pitchers in Hideo Nomo and Chan Ho Park.
My point here is that the Dodgers were a family owned organization with a proud history of noble and pioneering attitudes (and the best hot dogs in baseball, to boot). Now here comes Murdoch, turning the Dodgers into just another team, gold into plastic yet again, King Midas in reverse.
The only channel that provides both the "big government is the only solution" and the "government is the problem" viewpoints.
Ah yes, "big government is the only solution" as long as republicans controlled Congress and the White House, then "government is the problem" the moment Obama took office.
Yes, the channel that: 1. Cut its' teeth perfecting the propagandist ad hominem attack on Bill Clinton. 2. Led the media charge in subverting the 2000 presidential election. 3. Shifted gears by endlessly repeating that criticizing the president is unpatriotic (USA - love it or leave it). 4. Distorted public perception of Kerry in 2004 by attempting to ridicule him at every opportunity, via ad hominem attacks, of course. 5. Attacks the current president at every opportunity, organizes nonsensical, astroturf tea bag protests and openly talks of insurrection and state secession, because now, by their own amnesiac and twisted logic, it's patriotic to be unpatriotic, I guess.
Now, if someone like Olbermann or Maddow had their show on Faux (and in prime time, as opposed to buried in the 3am slot), I would concede your point, but having a mousy, token pseudo-progressive like Alan Colmes, who willingly and meekly took nightly prime-time punishment at the hands of Hannity, Coulter, Malkin, Ingraham, etc, is not a sincere execution of representing all viewpoints.
In fact, it only makes the incredible shrinking Faux audience reinforce their misguided belief on at least two fronts: 1. Them lib'ruls are creepy looking academia types in tweed... 2....who consider illogical, hysterical talking points such as "Is Kerry a flip flopper?", "Some people say that the latest Bin Laden tape is an endorsement to Kerry", as legitimate and debatable.
And then, they hire Karl Rove, of all people, the prince of fucking darkness itself, as one of their payroll spinmeisters.
Make no mistake about it, Faux was not designed to be a money making operation in and of itself, but to push an extreme right wing agenda, to create a climate where even centrists (such as Clinton, Kerry and Obama) are tagged with that tired old canard, pinko communists.
Well, no mass media corporation has lost more money in the current socio-economic climate as News Corp. I must admit, to see it collapse along with Clear Channel, who recently laid off 3000 employees while simultaneously extending Limbaugh's contract for over 200 million dollars, will create the most satisfying sense of schadenfreude, along with returning some sanity to public discourse in the airwaves.
Other channels like CNN or NBC sound like they are personal spokespersons for Speaker Pelosi.
Sad but true. I'll chip in state that you forgot the do-nothing, good-for-nothing gentleman from Nevada, Harry Reid. Yes, the system is broken and needs a spectacular shock, such as a grass roots, legitimate third party to fearlessly challenge the corporate lobbyist paradigm in Washington. In the meantime, however, in this seriously flawed world, I'll take Pelosi over Tom Delay as Speaker Of The House any day of the week.
Agreed. In my town, the state and municipal governments, eager to cut profitable deals with USA corporations, 1) Green-lighted a huge sanitary landfill very close to the sea shore. 2) Approved the construction of an industrial gas distribution center, smack in the middle of a wine valley that is gaining international recognition.
However, the local population agrees that the natural beauty of the region would be put to much better use in long-term visions of tourism, and once you mess it up, it stays messed up. Projects of an industrial nature would not only be eyesores, but would also have adverse ecological impact in areas that could be put to much better use. I mean, sure, a new garbage dump may be necessary, but within striking distance of the beach? Gas trucks roaring in and out at all hours, within earshot of vineyards, B&Bs and restaurants?
Fully aware of public consensus, willfully oblivious to any concept of "zoning", the government attempted to steamroll their agenda behind closed doors and with no public dialogue, triggering massive protests that effectively shut down both projects. In response, shocked about not getting his way and losing his under-the-table cut in the deals, our "honorable" state governor bitched and whined that the local population "seems to be against progress". Yeah, sure, pendejo, that's what it is.
Since then, the landfill has remained in limbo, but the gas plant has been redirected away from the vineyards, to the north of town, a huge complex in what used to be a pristine stretch of coastline (sigh).
Ever since the PAN has gained political power in large areas of Mexico, many of its' high-ranking officials seem to have become very, very wealthy, catering to Big Business investments of any type, with no filter and no vision, just a Rod Blagojevich, "what's in it for me", "this is fucking golden" attitude.
The Influenza of 1918 Killed two to three times as many people as died in World War I, in just two years. Tens of millions of people died in 2 years.
Yup, the Spanish Influenza is the epic mind-blower that nobody talks about, like it's been wiped from the collective memory bank, somebody should mod up both posts above this one. Cue the obligatory geek joke here, a real groaner: Nobody expects the Spanish Influenza!
For those poor, uninitiated mortals, carnitas is the ultimate bacon porn, a taco in which you pick and choose your favorite pig components fried in a lard-filled vat, such as buche (stomach), cuero (rind), cachete (cheek), tripa (tripe), corazon (heart), costilla (rib), etcetera, the most hardcore item being zurrapa, all the bits and pieces that broke away and sedimented at the bottom. Add grain salt, chopped onion and cilantro, freshly squeezed lemon, salsa, and... well, pork away!
...CURP (Unique Registration Population Code in Spanish, like the Social Security Number in the US)...
Not by a long shot. CURP consists of four sections:
1. Four letter acronym - last name, mother's maiden name, first name and second name (or second letter from first name). 2. Six digits indicating your birth date. 3. Three letters indicating your state of birth. 4. Three letters and three digits, seemingly random but actually a predictable tag, to differentiate you from others sharing the first three sections, all very similar.
Many commercial apps in Mexico have the "CURP function" installed, you just type in the first three criteria, and out comes the full CURP. I believe even some legit Mexican websites provide this function. It's not intended to be secret and it's not tied in with your personal finances in any way.
It would be like going to a Republican convention and finding someone that would enjoy Rush Limbaugh's newest book, your not trying very hard.
Tsk tsk, now look what you just did, you've started with sci-fi then strayed into politics. Allow me to bring it back by substituting "Republican" with "Dune", "Rush Limbaugh" with "Baron Vladimir Harkonnen" and "newest book" with "gluttony for power and sexual indulgences of a disgusting nature". Now we're back on track (almost).
In the link above, picture in your mind's eye a Photoshop job with "Star Trek" in the t-shirt and "GO MEGAN" in the other cardboard. Unfortunately, I don't do Photoshop.
Analogies can be drawn with the Wall Street fiasco of the past few years:
* This is a culture prone to the dangers of greedy self-serving career advancement, one ruthless 'guilty' verdict at a time replacing the profits of short-selling and put options, imprisonment of innocent people replacing the bilking of hapless investors/taxpayers. * This is a culture in which oversight to prevent and/or correct such abuses was virtually non-existent during the Bush years, actively encouraged in some highly politicized cases to break the law in order to goose-step the GOP line (cue nefarious little POS Alberto Gonzalez). * Inevitably, the system putrefied to the point that the inbreds began cannibalizing their own (cue Senator Series Of Tubes). * What they did to Stevens had become the way they operated on a daily basis. Everything these inbreds touched, turned to shit.
Now, Ol' Series Of Tubes is a high profile figure, with a couple orders of magnitude more resources than Average Joe. How voluminous is the mountain of people that have been railroaded, may be on death row even, with no chance of Holder reviewing their case?
You know, there's probably a lot of people out there who enjoy the idea of finding themselves in front of the queen, getting a framed portrait from her, which is the height of conceit, then saying "I've got something for you too, Your Highness", reaching inside the suit jacket, and coming out with an extended middle finger.
I'd rather join Prince Philip for cigars and a bottle of whiskey, provided we'd get to cruise down to the liquor store in his Gran Torino.
Check the above link, the dude's off the hook! He's like, the original, blue blooded troll of Royal Affairs, long considered a national treasure in the Isles, one of their guilty pleasures. During an appearance in some college in the UK, so the story goes, some black and handicapped students made sure to stand in his path to the podium, purposefully attempting to coax an insensitive royal remark or two. To the disappointed groans of the students and the audience alike, Prince Philip passed on the opportunity. However, when you think about it, this was about as insensitive as delivering one of his patented absent-minded insults, so score another win for the man.
Slashdot Mirror
Glenn Seaborg thought it would be funny to submit it with the abbreviation Pu.
Ah yes, Mr Seaborg. My nephew's Periodic Table is autographed by the man!
Here's a nice little tidbit for y'all, Seaborg is the only man whose work address is fully composed by names of elements from the Periodic Table:
Seaborgium
Lawrencium
Berkelium
Californium
Americium
Don't forget the possibility of egotastic self-promoters winning the bid and making a mockery of the process.
"At a press conference today, it was announced that Periodic Table element PuffDaddium now wishes to be referred to as PDiddium".
Weakest Supernova or STRONGEST NOVA?
I'm mean seriously, a star exploding is a star exploding
When you've seen one redwood, you've seen 'em all, eh?
Here's a quote from the first article a Google search turned up: But if SN2008ha is a Type II supernova, where did the hydrogen go? The answer might be mass loss. Some stars are so massive and luminous that they lose their outer hydrogen layers in strong outflowing stellar winds. And because they're so massive, their cores collapse into a black hole without transfering energy to the outer layers of the star, which may explain the low luminosity of the explosion. I've never read anything quite like this before.
The headline should have read along the lines of: Teen May Have Discovered Most Massive, Least Luminous Supernova
Tweets to update a statewide wrestling site.
Harkens back to the days before live radio broadcasts of sporting events, when townsfolk loitered in front of the telegraph office during World Series games, most places had a billboard updating scores every inning. The luckier towns had a diamond-shaped mechanical board facing the street, some dude pulling levers to simulate the action for spectators.
Picture a couple of baseball/tech geeks in suits and bowler hats, discussing hot shit technology in between updates (This just in: Boston Braves score run in top of ninth to overtake Philadelphia Athletics 1-0), one of them dismissing television as vaporware and declaring "just you wait until smell-a-vision comes around", then a Model T roars by the unpaved street, leaving the boys covered in a fine coat of dust. All very steampunk.
This is the right time and place for a personal anecdote, methinks.
Many years ago, my dad took me to Vegas for a full week. As I'd never been to Vegas before, I was thrilled. My dad was a disciplined yet mellow man with a hearing impairment, he'd time his gambling between slow and relaxed coffee breaks, meals and walks, then return to the casino and turn his hearing aid off, sheltering himself from the constant cacophony around him, moving slow and hunting for a "warm" machine according to his "hypothesis" (if someone has been feeding a machine and gotten no return, a jackpot is imminent, he'd say). An eye of the storm is how I'd describe him. By midnight, dad would be in our hotel room, drifting to sleep while reading a techno-thriller spy novel or Louis L'Amour cowboy adventure.
Feeling like a hyper-excited kid in a candy store, I was taking off on my own at 8:00 pm (with a generous but not excessive daily allowance) to explore, drink and smoke while feeding the one-armed bandits and playing blackjack at the one-dollar tables (with free drink service, of course), pretending to be a real man, coming back to the hotel room at the crack of dawn or beyond. Now, wasting precious cash on taxis, are you kidding? I was doing plenty of walking from casino to casino, keeping me from getting too drunk, so I didn't get into any trouble in that area.
This blissful experience lasted for three days.
By Day Four, the sound of the slot machines was beginning to get deep in nerves, the thrill was fading away, and three consecutive nights of drink was beginning to take its' toll (call me a lightweight if you like, that's okay).
By Day Five, I went bowling and to the movies, just to get away from the casinos for a spell or two. To give you an idea how long ago this was, the film was "Patriot Games" with Harrison Ford.
By Day Six, my nervous system was screaming "Get me outta here!".
By Day Seven, feeling jaded beyond my years, I indulged in one last blackjack all-nighter at a funky casino filled with college-age students, Bowie, Roxy Music and The Police playing in the sound system.
On Day Eight we flew back and I wanted to play Pope and kiss the ground at touchdown.
What my old man did there, was invaluable - he placed the cookie jar in my reach and said "Have a go". What I did was stuff myself until I got sick and subsequently inoculated, gambling holds no appeal for me since then.
Now to my main point here. By Day Five, as I wandered around the casinos, the lights, bells and whistles were not a distracting factor anymore, my jolly attitude had vanished, and only then did some truly disturbing snapshots of humanity stick out in sharp relief:
* People (mostly elderly) with glazed eyes focused on some point beyond the walls, a bucket of dollar coins at the side, wearing latex gloves turned filthy by feeding the coins to three slot machines at a time, for all intents and purposes turned into mechanical extensions.
* Same people after running out of money, walking away in anger as if in instant withdrawal, with only one purpose in mind - scrounging more cash to feed the overlords.
* Guy arrives at the blackjack table and places two black (five-hundred dollar) chips and wins. Smoking a cigarette and with no discernible emotion, bets all chips, now we're up to two thousand dollars, and wins. Once again, only now it's four thousand bucks, and wins. Once more, eight thousand dollars, loses it all. Guy turns and walks away with no emotion whatsoever. All in the span of two minutes.
I wouldn't doubt that the casinos knowledgeably use monorails, outlandish architecture, jackpot cars on display, human statues, aquariums and stuff all over the place, to keep the 2-3 day visitor distracted, hiding a dark side of Vegas in plain sight. Then visitors themselves make the damnedest effort to become part of the distraction, chicks there feel the need to expose 9/10 of their body to stand out from all that sensory bombardment (OK, I'll give that one a resounding pass, but
By the time we're technologically advanced enough to engineer a "pulsar GPS" to navigate interstellar spaces, we'll probably go one better and use a stellar spectral emissions database, taking relative movement and speed into account of course, as I'm under the impression that all stars have a unique spectral fingerprint. There will be plenty of constant reference points (visible from all points), such as the Galactic Center, the Magellanic Clouds and globular clusters.
Say it's the year 4000 AT (After Tranquility Base) and you've lost your bearings in space. Triangulate your constants and by finding just one ultra-luminous star in your database (Eta Carinae, Antares, Betelgeuse, etc), finding your way back home should be relatively easy. Or at least you'll get a pretty good sense of where Sirius or the Orion Nebula should be, navigate in that direction, and once you're in the general vicinity, ol' Sol should be within visual range, lock on that and fly like an arrow.
Now imagine a full-fledged stellar database, which is going to be a given. Using any and all stars makes it much easier because plenty of star systems are double or triple, emitting extremely specific spectral signatures.
It'd be really cool to have it done as a short film leading in to the main feature, sort of like the 007 teasers. That way, when the proper film begins, the audiences' minds are already blown and in the mood.
...more hot co-workers for me to daydream about.
Now's an appropriate time for a Kids In The Hall reference:
Dear Sirs--uh, Sir,
In reference to your tomatoes--uh, question, I would like to fondle--uh, respond by copping a feel--uh, admitting it was our fault that the shipment was tits--uh, late.
For your viewing pleasure, YouTube link right here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lc0O198zmUc
They've narrowed it down to two sites. It's either going on Mauna Kea, or in Chile.
and
They haven't decided yet. Either Mauna Kea, Hawaii or Atacama Desert, Chile.
Thanks, guys. The article did not make it apparent, although many big astronomy projects nowadays end up at either site.
It's been a while since I've read about Arizona bagging a major project such as this, same with the Canary Islands. South Africa is sometimes floated around in these articles.
A possibility in my neck of the woods is the San Pedro Mountain Range in Baja California. To make the pitch more plausible, the local state government has begun installing low-glare street lighting in nearby urban areas. The Mexico City based UNAM Astronomy Institute paved 120 kms of road a couple of years ago, from sea level all the way up to the astronomical village.
So you never know where these things could end up.
Reading TFA is further evidence that these so-called journalists always neglect some basic piece of information that's right in front of their nose.
- "Hey Kent, I proof-read your piece on the telescope, you forgot to indicate where in the world it's gonna be installed".
- "Sorry about that, I'll get right on it, Mr White".
So what is it, Chile? Hawaii? Canary Islands? El Segundo, California?
Actually, I am aware of what you are stating, the tea parties began with libertarian, Ron Paul supporters, a main issue being the despicable Federal Reserve and its' mafia-like ways, but the point I was trying to make, News Corp being the subject of this thread, was this: Faux latched onto the movement and astroturfed it, with big support from Big Business, in the guise of lobbyist groups such as Americans For Prosperity and FreedomWorks.
Libertarian Ron Paul supporters, many of them espousing quite legitimate viewpoints, got shafted on this one, their movement marred by Faux mobilizing their mindless masses and turning it into an anti-Obama rally with thinly veiled contempt and racism, STILL bringing up the birth certificate bullshit, the "secret Muslim agenda", etc. As a side question, you think maybe Faux (or any Big Media organization, for that matter) does NOT want to talk about the Federal Reserve?
It's grotesque how Faux is all for waving banners in the streets and defending Limbaugh for his "wanting the president to fail" travesty.
Now turn back the clock to Clinton with the Balkans and Somalia, and try to remember how much support "the troops" got from republicans and Faux (remember Wag The Dog?).
Sandwiched in between were eight years were it was treason and blasphemy to criticize any of the Bush's policies.
It's incredible to me now how Clinton was on the same page with republicans on many key issues, such as deregulating the airwaves, energy and Wall Street (of all things), yet they still savagely crucified him over a stained blue dress, because "he was too lib'rul"?!!
Bullshit arguments passing for discussion on bullshit media helped push a country to the far right beyond the breaking point, where we are now. And don't get me started on evangelical fundamentalism.
This is all like a tragically predictable caricature of humanity, harking back to the days when European peasants were whipped into a frenzy to kill all "witches" and cats as agents of the devil, opening the floodgates for rats with lice with the bubonic plague, killing two thirds of the population, through their own ignorance and cruel hysteria.
Well, the Wall Street Journal is a good paper though
Give it time; Murdoch will eventually ruin it so it has about as much credibility as his other properties.
Your statement rings completely true, reminds me of the heartbreaking day when I learned that Peter O'Malley had sold the LA Dodgers baseball team to Murdoch. Almost immediately, I predicted the demolition of almost everything that made that organization special, with the exception of Dodger Stadium, still in a class by itself. Then, here's some of what ensued:
1. The outstanding Dodger farm system fell into neglect, substituting home grown star athletes for overpaid "mercenaries".
2. As a result, ticket prices went up, shafting the fans. While the loyal base was relegated to the nosebleed section, the field level seats turned into corporate boxes for suits getting drunk while "lubricating" business deals.
3. Manager Bill Russell, groomed by Tom Lasorda, was jettisoned, replacing decades of loyalty and stability with a revolving door circus atmosphere in the dugout.
I am not going out on a limb here when I say that the #1 highlight in baseball history was Jackie Robinson breaking the MLB color barrier in 1947. It was against immense hostility that the Dodgers did this, with no small help from Walter O'Malley, then a lawyer for the franchise.
On the field, Mr Robinson galvanized MLB, bringing the Negro Leagues playing style of blood, sweat and tears, resurrecting the old school approach of unnerving opposing pitchers by exploiting every single defensive weakness, one base at a time, scoring runs by base on balls, bunts, stealing bases, etc, caviar to baseball purists, while the contemporary home run derbies are meatloaf.
A decade later, the Dodgers became the first team to bring major league baseball to the Pacific coast, admittedly a devastating blow to Brooklyn, but still a ballsy move back in the day, and a financially sound one. To boot, O'Malley erected a stadium that is still one of the crown jewels of the sport, beautiful and contemporary after half a century.
Then there's the first Mexican superstar pitcher in Fernando Valenzuela, the first Asian superstar pitchers in Hideo Nomo and Chan Ho Park.
My point here is that the Dodgers were a family owned organization with a proud history of noble and pioneering attitudes (and the best hot dogs in baseball, to boot). Now here comes Murdoch, turning the Dodgers into just another team, gold into plastic yet again, King Midas in reverse.
The only channel that provides both the "big government is the only solution" and the "government is the problem" viewpoints.
Ah yes, "big government is the only solution" as long as republicans controlled Congress and the White House, then "government is the problem" the moment Obama took office.
Yes, the channel that:
1. Cut its' teeth perfecting the propagandist ad hominem attack on Bill Clinton.
2. Led the media charge in subverting the 2000 presidential election.
3. Shifted gears by endlessly repeating that criticizing the president is unpatriotic (USA - love it or leave it).
4. Distorted public perception of Kerry in 2004 by attempting to ridicule him at every opportunity, via ad hominem attacks, of course.
5. Attacks the current president at every opportunity, organizes nonsensical, astroturf tea bag protests and openly talks of insurrection and state secession, because now, by their own amnesiac and twisted logic, it's patriotic to be unpatriotic, I guess.
Now, if someone like Olbermann or Maddow had their show on Faux (and in prime time, as opposed to buried in the 3am slot), I would concede your point, but having a mousy, token pseudo-progressive like Alan Colmes, who willingly and meekly took nightly prime-time punishment at the hands of Hannity, Coulter, Malkin, Ingraham, etc, is not a sincere execution of representing all viewpoints.
In fact, it only makes the incredible shrinking Faux audience reinforce their misguided belief on at least two fronts: ...who consider illogical, hysterical talking points such as "Is Kerry a flip flopper?", "Some people say that the latest Bin Laden tape is an endorsement to Kerry", as legitimate and debatable.
1. Them lib'ruls are creepy looking academia types in tweed...
2.
And then, they hire Karl Rove, of all people, the prince of fucking darkness itself, as one of their payroll spinmeisters.
Make no mistake about it, Faux was not designed to be a money making operation in and of itself, but to push an extreme right wing agenda, to create a climate where even centrists (such as Clinton, Kerry and Obama) are tagged with that tired old canard, pinko communists.
Well, no mass media corporation has lost more money in the current socio-economic climate as News Corp. I must admit, to see it collapse along with Clear Channel, who recently laid off 3000 employees while simultaneously extending Limbaugh's contract for over 200 million dollars, will create the most satisfying sense of schadenfreude, along with returning some sanity to public discourse in the airwaves.
Other channels like CNN or NBC sound like they are personal spokespersons for Speaker Pelosi.
Sad but true. I'll chip in state that you forgot the do-nothing, good-for-nothing gentleman from Nevada, Harry Reid. Yes, the system is broken and needs a spectacular shock, such as a grass roots, legitimate third party to fearlessly challenge the corporate lobbyist paradigm in Washington. In the meantime, however, in this seriously flawed world, I'll take Pelosi over Tom Delay as Speaker Of The House any day of the week.
Agreed. In my town, the state and municipal governments, eager to cut profitable deals with USA corporations,
1) Green-lighted a huge sanitary landfill very close to the sea shore.
2) Approved the construction of an industrial gas distribution center, smack in the middle of a wine valley that is gaining international recognition.
However, the local population agrees that the natural beauty of the region would be put to much better use in long-term visions of tourism, and once you mess it up, it stays messed up. Projects of an industrial nature would not only be eyesores, but would also have adverse ecological impact in areas that could be put to much better use. I mean, sure, a new garbage dump may be necessary, but within striking distance of the beach? Gas trucks roaring in and out at all hours, within earshot of vineyards, B&Bs and restaurants?
Fully aware of public consensus, willfully oblivious to any concept of "zoning", the government attempted to steamroll their agenda behind closed doors and with no public dialogue, triggering massive protests that effectively shut down both projects. In response, shocked about not getting his way and losing his under-the-table cut in the deals, our "honorable" state governor bitched and whined that the local population "seems to be against progress". Yeah, sure, pendejo, that's what it is.
Since then, the landfill has remained in limbo, but the gas plant has been redirected away from the vineyards, to the north of town, a huge complex in what used to be a pristine stretch of coastline (sigh).
Ever since the PAN has gained political power in large areas of Mexico, many of its' high-ranking officials seem to have become very, very wealthy, catering to Big Business investments of any type, with no filter and no vision, just a Rod Blagojevich, "what's in it for me", "this is fucking golden" attitude.
It's funny how often the unknown looked like the hills of southern California.
Hmmm, you've got the right idea, but it needs a pinch of absurd specificity, IMO. With your indulgence, my two cents:
It's funny how often the unknown looked like an hour's drive from Burbank, California.
While we're in the subject of fast food in Mexico, whatever the hell happened to Burger Boy?
The Influenza of 1918 Killed two to three times as many people as died in World War I, in just two years. Tens of millions of people died in 2 years.
Yup, the Spanish Influenza is the epic mind-blower that nobody talks about, like it's been wiped from the collective memory bank, somebody should mod up both posts above this one.
Cue the obligatory geek joke here, a real groaner: Nobody expects the Spanish Influenza!
It's not pigfluenza, it's La gripe carnitas.
Mmmm... Carnitas.
For those poor, uninitiated mortals, carnitas is the ultimate bacon porn, a taco in which you pick and choose your favorite pig components fried in a lard-filled vat, such as buche (stomach), cuero (rind), cachete (cheek), tripa (tripe), corazon (heart), costilla (rib), etcetera, the most hardcore item being zurrapa, all the bits and pieces that broke away and sedimented at the bottom. Add grain salt, chopped onion and cilantro, freshly squeezed lemon, salsa, and... well, pork away!
...CURP (Unique Registration Population Code in Spanish, like the Social Security Number in the US) ...
Not by a long shot. CURP consists of four sections:
1. Four letter acronym - last name, mother's maiden name, first name and second name (or second letter from first name).
2. Six digits indicating your birth date.
3. Three letters indicating your state of birth.
4. Three letters and three digits, seemingly random but actually a predictable tag, to differentiate you from others sharing the first three sections, all very similar.
Many commercial apps in Mexico have the "CURP function" installed, you just type in the first three criteria, and out comes the full CURP. I believe even some legit Mexican websites provide this function. It's not intended to be secret and it's not tied in with your personal finances in any way.
Little or nothing to see here, folks, move along.
It would be like going to a Republican convention and finding someone that would enjoy Rush Limbaugh's newest book, your not trying very hard.
Tsk tsk, now look what you just did, you've started with sci-fi then strayed into politics.
Allow me to bring it back by substituting "Republican" with "Dune", "Rush Limbaugh" with "Baron Vladimir Harkonnen" and "newest book" with "gluttony for power and sexual indulgences of a disgusting nature".
Now we're back on track (almost).
Get her name right, moron.
Shouldn't that be "Get A BRAIN! MORANS"?
In the link above, picture in your mind's eye a Photoshop job with "Star Trek" in the t-shirt and "GO MEGAN" in the other cardboard. Unfortunately, I don't do Photoshop.
Stole my thunder, you did.
Analogies can be drawn with the Wall Street fiasco of the past few years:
* This is a culture prone to the dangers of greedy self-serving career advancement, one ruthless 'guilty' verdict at a time replacing the profits of short-selling and put options, imprisonment of innocent people replacing the bilking of hapless investors/taxpayers.
* This is a culture in which oversight to prevent and/or correct such abuses was virtually non-existent during the Bush years, actively encouraged in some highly politicized cases to break the law in order to goose-step the GOP line (cue nefarious little POS Alberto Gonzalez).
* Inevitably, the system putrefied to the point that the inbreds began cannibalizing their own (cue Senator Series Of Tubes).
* What they did to Stevens had become the way they operated on a daily basis. Everything these inbreds touched, turned to shit.
Now, Ol' Series Of Tubes is a high profile figure, with a couple orders of magnitude more resources than Average Joe. How voluminous is the mountain of people that have been railroaded, may be on death row even, with no chance of Holder reviewing their case?
You know, there's probably a lot of people out there who enjoy the idea of finding themselves in front of the queen, getting a framed portrait from her, which is the height of conceit, then saying "I've got something for you too, Your Highness", reaching inside the suit jacket, and coming out with an extended middle finger.
I'd rather join Prince Philip for cigars and a bottle of whiskey, provided we'd get to cruise down to the liquor store in his Gran Torino.
Check the above link, the dude's off the hook! He's like, the original, blue blooded troll of Royal Affairs, long considered a national treasure in the Isles, one of their guilty pleasures.
During an appearance in some college in the UK, so the story goes, some black and handicapped students made sure to stand in his path to the podium, purposefully attempting to coax an insensitive royal remark or two. To the disappointed groans of the students and the audience alike, Prince Philip passed on the opportunity. However, when you think about it, this was about as insensitive as delivering one of his patented absent-minded insults, so score another win for the man.
"igniting a torrent of criticism in the British press"
Where can I find that .torrent?
The press of the Principality of Sealand?
Does it run Linux?
This one does.