Intergalactic space is not at 2.7 K. Especially in galaxy clusters, the temperature of the intergalactic medium is often millions of degrees Kelvin. Even in more remote places far from galaxy clusters, it's still much warmer than 2.7 K. The 2.7 K figure is the temperature associated with the cosmic microwave background radiation, not the intergalactic medium.
Myth #1: PETA is a terrorist group.
Fact #1: PETA is a mainstream non-profit organization which acts within the law and does not condone violence. There is close to a zero chance that PETA would remain a non-profit if it participated in violent direct actions. The most extreme thing PETA does is send out scantily clad women wearing lettuce-leaf bras to try to convince men to become vegetarian. Groups that can be more accurately called as 'terrorist' include the ALF, SHAC, and the group mentioned in this article. Please provide citations if you know of any contrary evidence.
Myth #2: Animal rights activists are terrorists.
Fact #2: In my experience, roughly 99% of animal rights activists cannot by any reasonable definition be classified as terrorists. As an animal rights activist myself, the most extreme thing I have done is organize a film screening. There is a predominant selection effect in the news media that leads to extreme misconceptions. Most of the press from the animal rights movement comes from direct action such as the one in this article. When someone hands out booklets arguing why one ought to be vegan, trust me, there are NEVER reporters. Any reasonable analysis of the animal rights movement should take this media bias into account.
There are a few schools of thought in the animal rights community about tactics. First is the very vocal minority direct action contingent. The second is argued most effectively by Dr. Michael Gregor ("The Vegan MD") in an article from Satya magazine....his premise is that ethics aside, violence is a very bad tactic for the animal rights movement (leading to public opinion backlashes like this thread), and that you don't even need to consider the more elusive question of moral justification. And there are also animal rights activists (like many members of the Humane Society!) who would agree whole-heartedly that the tactics mentioned in this article are honest-to-goodness terrorism.
I'm not really surprised at how slashdot readers reacted to this article (i.e. without much critical thinking or use of facts) because of the way the article was framed. It is a very common logical fallacy to say that if some followers of a movement are terrorists, then the movement must be evil. Arguing about whether their tactics are justified is a red herring...it takes away from the real issue of whether animal testing is justified.
The origin of cosmic rays is actually pretty well understood...well, up to about 10^15 electron volts, anyway. Cosmic rays less energetic than this were almost certainly accelerated in shocks in expanding supernova remnants. A cosmic ray can pretty freely pass through the shock front, but will be reflected magnetic mirrors both before and after the shock. Every time the cosmic ray is reflected, it gains a little momentum until the shock either dies away or the cosmic ray manages to escape. The cosmic rays from supernovae are still confined to the galaxy.
The real mystery are the ultra high energy cosmic rays (UHECRs), which are more energetic than 10^15 electron volts. Past this energy, the spectrum of cosmic rays steepen, and it isn't thought that shock fronts from supernovae are able to accelerate particles this fast. They might be caused by shocks from galaxies moving in the intergalactic medium...but this is where the mystery is.
But whatever UHECRs' source, the magic number is about 16 megaparsecs (galaxies are 1-ish Mpc apart). If cosmic rays are more energetic than about 10^20 or so electron volts, then they will interact with cosmic ray photons in what's known as the GZK effect. So, cosmic rays with this much energy have to be from something relatively local in the universe...but probably not from our galaxy because the magnetic field of our galaxy isn't strong enough to confine UHECRs.
Slashdot Mirror
Intergalactic space is not at 2.7 K. Especially in galaxy clusters, the temperature of the intergalactic medium is often millions of degrees Kelvin. Even in more remote places far from galaxy clusters, it's still much warmer than 2.7 K. The 2.7 K figure is the temperature associated with the cosmic microwave background radiation, not the intergalactic medium.
Fact #1: PETA is a mainstream non-profit organization which acts within the law and does not condone violence. There is close to a zero chance that PETA would remain a non-profit if it participated in violent direct actions. The most extreme thing PETA does is send out scantily clad women wearing lettuce-leaf bras to try to convince men to become vegetarian. Groups that can be more accurately called as 'terrorist' include the ALF, SHAC, and the group mentioned in this article. Please provide citations if you know of any contrary evidence.
Myth #2: Animal rights activists are terrorists.
Fact #2: In my experience, roughly 99% of animal rights activists cannot by any reasonable definition be classified as terrorists. As an animal rights activist myself, the most extreme thing I have done is organize a film screening. There is a predominant selection effect in the news media that leads to extreme misconceptions. Most of the press from the animal rights movement comes from direct action such as the one in this article. When someone hands out booklets arguing why one ought to be vegan, trust me, there are NEVER reporters. Any reasonable analysis of the animal rights movement should take this media bias into account.
There are a few schools of thought in the animal rights community about tactics. First is the very vocal minority direct action contingent. The second is argued most effectively by Dr. Michael Gregor ("The Vegan MD") in an article from Satya magazine....his premise is that ethics aside, violence is a very bad tactic for the animal rights movement (leading to public opinion backlashes like this thread), and that you don't even need to consider the more elusive question of moral justification. And there are also animal rights activists (like many members of the Humane Society!) who would agree whole-heartedly that the tactics mentioned in this article are honest-to-goodness terrorism.
I'm not really surprised at how slashdot readers reacted to this article (i.e. without much critical thinking or use of facts) because of the way the article was framed. It is a very common logical fallacy to say that if some followers of a movement are terrorists, then the movement must be evil. Arguing about whether their tactics are justified is a red herring...it takes away from the real issue of whether animal testing is justified.
The origin of cosmic rays is actually pretty well understood...well, up to about 10^15 electron volts, anyway. Cosmic rays less energetic than this were almost certainly accelerated in shocks in expanding supernova remnants. A cosmic ray can pretty freely pass through the shock front, but will be reflected magnetic mirrors both before and after the shock. Every time the cosmic ray is reflected, it gains a little momentum until the shock either dies away or the cosmic ray manages to escape. The cosmic rays from supernovae are still confined to the galaxy. The real mystery are the ultra high energy cosmic rays (UHECRs), which are more energetic than 10^15 electron volts. Past this energy, the spectrum of cosmic rays steepen, and it isn't thought that shock fronts from supernovae are able to accelerate particles this fast. They might be caused by shocks from galaxies moving in the intergalactic medium...but this is where the mystery is. But whatever UHECRs' source, the magic number is about 16 megaparsecs (galaxies are 1-ish Mpc apart). If cosmic rays are more energetic than about 10^20 or so electron volts, then they will interact with cosmic ray photons in what's known as the GZK effect. So, cosmic rays with this much energy have to be from something relatively local in the universe...but probably not from our galaxy because the magnetic field of our galaxy isn't strong enough to confine UHECRs.