Subliminal Gary

The Musical Bests of 2011 (Part 1)

2012-01-14T09:14:00.005-06:00

I'm a little late to the party, I know. All the other Best of 2011 lists have been published and debated for weeks now. But because my music catalogue is smaller than most and my tastes quite different, I didn't feel any particular resonance with most of what I've seen.

So, I present to you my own recommendations and accolades. I hope you enjoy.

Best Album By An Artist I Never Expected To Hear From Again

The Nominees:

The Bangles - Sweetheart of the Sun
Blondie - Panic of Girls
Red Hot Chili Peppers - I'm With You
The Cars - Move Like This

The Analysis:

2011 had big shoes to fill following some of the surprise albums of 2010. The Doobie Brothers, The Steve Miller Band, and John Mellencamp all put out surprisingly good albums. So, perhaps it is not surprising that a few dinosaurs would come crawling out of La Brea to phone in an album for a quick buck. But that's not what these bands did.

Despite the loss of bassist Michael Steele, The Bangles managed to capture the honest pop energy of their 80s heyday on the two strongest tracks, Anna Lee and Ball 'n' Chain. Much of the rest of the album is unremarkable, unfortunately, but two strong tracks are two more than were expected. An A for Effort.

Blondie, similarly, made an impressive attempt to not only remind us of who they used to be, but also to show us that they are still capable of innovating. When they hit, they hit hard. Deborah Harry's voice has aged very well, losing little of what made her a great front for the band. Unfortunately, the tracks in which the album falls flat are absolute wrist-cutters.

The Chili Peppers may not belong in this category, coming only 5 years since their outstanding album Stadium Arcadium. I never expected them to put out another album, though, and certainly not one like this. It's archetypal RHCP from beginning to end, and in my opinion, that is a good thing. Every track is strong and fun.

The real surprise of 2011 was The Cars. Move Like This is their first studio album since their disappointing 1987 follow-up to Heartbeat City. From the opening synthesizer riff, you are transported back in time to a simpler world of parachute pants and silly hair. It is almost as if The Cars were kidnapped in 1984 (replaced by primitive robots who would record the 1987 failure) and sent through a wormhole to bring us their true follow-up to Heartbeat City, more than a quarter century later.

The Winner:

The Cars - Move Like This

Best Album By A Folksy Group Which Jim Bruzzese Made Me Listen To

The Nominees:

Blind Pilot - We Are The Tide
Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues
My Morning Jacket - Circuital
John Fullbright - Live at the Blue Door

The Analysis:

The sophomore effort from Oregon-based indie-folk group Blind Pilot is pretty good for a bunch of guys who went on a bicycle tour of the west coast, dragging their instruments behind them in custom made trailers. Poor drummer.

The Fleet Foxes, indistinguishable from Blind Pilot with their 47 bearded members and hallucination-inducing melodic harmonies, also score with their sophomore album.

I know. My Morning Jacket isn't actually folk. I just included them to piss off Bruzzese. And it worked. There is no debate that MMJ is the best southern indie psychedelic country roots jam band in the world these days. It's an excellent album and they easily could have won an award were they not in the wrong category. Blame Bruzzese.

John Fullbright isn't really folk either. He's blues. Or country. Or something. He's got an acoustic guitar and he can play it better than you can. He can write better songs than you, also. And he sings them very well. He wins. He's just amazing. He doesn't even have a wikipedia page yet, but he will.

Yes, yes. The Decemberists. I didn't get their album. I will. I'm sure it's great. Fucking folk.

The Winner:

Band of Blind Foxes. No, wait, just kidding. It's John Fullbright.

Best Soundtrack For A Movie Or Video Game

the Nominees:

Jesper Kyd - Assassin's Creed Revelations
Ramin Djawadi - Game of Thrones
Tent Reznor and Atticus Ross - The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
Alexander Desplat - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2
Hans Zimmer - Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

The Analysis:

Once upon a time it would have been unspeakably unfair to compare a video game soundtrack to that of a major motion picture. No longer. Video game development budgets have soared into the tens of millions of dollars and beyond. They hire top-notch talent and produce scores which are every bit as excellent as their movie counterparts.

Jesper Kyd has scored the entire Assassin's Creed series and grows stronger with each release. This title's setting of Constantinople offered Kyd new opportunities for blending eastern musical influences with the dissonant, dystopian techno-nightmare backdrop of the game. Yeah, that last sentence was pure bullshit, but it was fun to write!

The Game of Thrones was one of the great big budget experiments of 2011 and has won universal acclaim from everyone who is not a moron or an asshole. Ramin Djawadi is a name you may not have heard before, but you've heard his music. He has been nominated for Grammy awards for his scores for Iron Man, Prison Break, Person of Interest, and, of course, Game of Thrones. That was a terrible sentence. Sorry. Go back and read the one with 'dissonant' in it again.

Wait, what? Trent Reznor does soundtracks now? He does. He's older and wiser and more mature and doesn't write music that turns depressed kids into murder/suicide machines. This soundtrack is really unique. There are a lot of well-developed musical methods for building tension which have been used by symphonic composers for hundreds of years. But Reznor doesn't make us uncomfortable by using open cadences and dissonant chords. He layers disturbing ambient sounds beneath his melodies which make us squirm without knowing why. It's really quite brilliant for a guy who used to want to fuck me like an animal.

Alexander Desplat? Who the hell is Alexander Desplat? Look. You don't fire John Williams and hire a Frenchman to score your children's magical fantasy movie. Sorry, Mr. Desplat. You were only nominated so that I might taunt you. Pray I don't taunt you a second time.

Which brings us to Hans Zimmer's 74th Pirates of the Caribbean score. It's good, of course. It's Hans Zimmer, after all. But it does take some chops to vary this theme over and over again without it going stale. Zimmer manages to keep it fresh and scores bonus points for including Rodrigo y Gabriela on a couple tracks.

The Winner:

Hans Zimmer - Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (No one is more surprised than I am. It must have been the Rodrigo y Gabriela gambit.)

Best Album By Someone Who I Really Wish Hadn't Made An Album

The Nominees:

Hugh Laurie - Let Them Talk
Jeff Bridges - Jeff Bridges

The Winner:

Neither. Both albums were awful. I really with they hadn't been made.

Best Album By A Band I Expect Good Albums From

The Nominees:

Beady Eye - Different Gear, Still Speeding
Death Cab For Cutie - Codes And Keys
Foo Fighters - Wasting Light
Kaiser Chiefs - The Future Is Medieval
Panic! At The Disco - Vices & Virtues
TV On The Radio - Nine Types Of Light

The Analysis:

If there were a Best Debut Album category, I might allow Beady Eye to win that, even though it would be cheating. They aren't really a new band. They're just Oasis without the bass player, who was lost on Oceanic Flight 815. This is a new Oasis album. And it's fantastic.

Death Cab for Cutie is one of my guilty pleasures. I can't name a single one of their songs by name. But it seems like every time my iPod is shuffling and I check to see what the song is that I am really enjoying but can't quite place, it's Death Cab For Cutie. So, yeah. I like an emo indie band. Mock if you must.

Foo Fighters have consistently put out strong music since their inception, but I felt like they were peaking going into this album. And it's strong. And solid. And really good Foo Fighters. If it had come two albums ago, I might rank it as their best, but I wanted something more. I wanted them to knock my socks off. I don't know how I can be disappointed by an album I like so much, but I was really hoping they could take things up one more notch.

I don't know when the Kaiser Chiefs became my favorite band. I'm not sure I've ever formally acknowledged it. But they are, I think. I love every track off their first three albums, and they are often the first I reach for when choosing something to listen to. This latest album was an odd one. They allowed fans to custom build their own album by selecting their favorite 10 of 20 tracks from their website. Later, they sort of packaged up 13 of the songs and released them as The Future is Medieval. In a few months, they will be releasing some of the same material here in North America as Start The Revolution Without Me. So maybe this album shouldn't count. I'm confused just writing about it.

Panic! at the Disco is a pop-punk duo from Nevada who I probably never would have heard about if not for a track in the Rock Band game. On the strength of that song, I picked up their two albums and have considered myself a big fan ever since. Maybe I just love the pseudo-genre of Baroque pop, but these guys tickle me pink with every track.

It's not enough for TV on the Radio to be a critically acclaimed band that no one has ever heard of. They had to go and put out an album featuring possibly the best song (and almost certainly) the best video of the entire year. This album is fun from start to finish, but You is something special.

The Winner:

Beady Eye - Different Gear, Still Speeding

Stay tuned for the final four categories, including Album of the Year.

Lost - Season 6

2010-02-01T18:10:00.003-06:00

You asked for it. And here it is.

Did our heroes prevent the incident or cause it? (caused it) How many episodes will we get into the season before we can even figure that out? (4)

Will we ever get a satisfactory explanation of:

The Monster (not really)
The numbers (definitely not)
Desmond's role in the universe (possibly)
Claire's season 5 whereabouts (sure)
Libby's history (who?)
Radzinski's attitude problems (nah)
Taller Ghost Walt's special abilities (not a chance)
About 1000 other things (no, but Sawyer probably won't put on a shirt all season)

The beginning of the lack of answers starts tomorrow. Discussion follows immediately!

Lost - Season 5

2009-01-21T15:51:00.002-06:00

The long wait is over. Season 5 premiers tonight (1/21/09) with an hour long recap at 7 PM and then the first two episodes of the season from 8 PM to 10 PM (all times CST).

Clear your work schedule for the morning. Discussion begins promptly at 9 AM.

Science of Bullshit 19 - N-n-n-n-nineteen!

2009-01-19T12:47:00.003-06:00

Science or Bullshit!

How to play: I supply three news stories, two real and one fictional. You guess which is the fake. Using web searches to find the right answer results in you being targeted by a gypsy curse. The fictional story is often based on an actual news story, but I try to change key details sufficiently to make them completely implausible. Discuss with friends and post your answers in the comments section along with your reasoning. Link the blog to your friends and family for exciting prizes!

1. To celebrate 2009 as the Year of Astronomy, a group of radio astronomers are utilizing a technique called electronic, real-time Very Long Baseline Interferometry to effectively create a telescope the size of the earth.

2. According to a new study published in the journal Development and Psychopathology, smoking during pregnancy dramatically increases the risk of giving birth to children predisposed towards lethargy, listlessness, and passivity.

3. A long-held belief concerning human cognition was recently overturned by the discovery of an Amazonian tribe which does not have words for numbers and lacks a system of counting.

Where (and What) the Hell is This?

As a supplement to SoB, here is an image taken by a camera in space. You guess where and what the image is. Performing a right-click properties on the image to find the answer by looking at the file properties also triggers the gypsy curse.

Good luck!

SoB 18 Answers with a Side of Science

2009-01-08T10:05:00.005-06:00

I've decided to break up the posts a bit. The new plan is to post the answers to the previous SoB along with all my general linkage a day before I post the new SoB challenge. Let me know if you have an opinion about the format change. Before we get to the answers...some other stuff!

Obligatory pictures of awesome looking space thingies:

This massive image is a composite of over 2000 images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope in infrared of the core of our galaxy. Visible light is obscured by dust to a very high degree, so the infrared image brings out a lot of detail we don't normally get to see.
The glowing filaments of the Pencil Nebula are part of the Vela supernova remnant.
Spiral galaxy NGC 4945 in Centaurus.
A dune field in the Russell Crater on Mars.

And some space-related news:

The incredible strength of the magnetic field of a Magnetar, has long been a mystery. New research suggests that the answer may lie in the equally mysterious quark star.
Astronomers have discovered a new class of high velocity stars, shooting through space at 112,000 mph after being ejected from their star-forming regions.
The discovery of exoplanets has nearly become mundane over the last few years, but expect it to heat up again soon. Up until recently, all of the extrasolar planets discovered can be classified as Hot Jupiters, planets several times more massive than Jupiter orbiting very close to their parent star. Using a technique called the transit method, astronomers have begun to detect Super Earths, planets up to 10 times more massive than the Earth, but with a solid surface. By studying the chemical signature as the planet passes behind its star, we can get clues to its atmosphere and the presence of water. The next generation of space-born telescopes will allow us to image these planets directly.
Ever wonder which came first, the galaxy or the black hole at its center? Me neither. But some people did. And now they think they have the answer: The black holes.
An instrument sent to space to study the heat signatures of early stars instead discovered radio static six times louder than astronomers has predicted. Astronomers are, naturally, baffled.
And finally, let's raise a glass to the Mars rovers, entering their 6th year of science and exploration on the surface of Mars. The original missions were scheduled for only three months.

And some general science:

A recent study shows that facial expressions are innate, not learned. "The statistical correlation between the facial expressions of sighted and blind individuals was almost perfect."
Our NY readers will be happy to know that a tsunami, possibly caused by a meteor impact, flooded the Long Island region in 300 BCE.
In 1995, researchers isolated a protein, now called leptin, which acts as an appetite supression and showed great promise as a weight loss aid. Unfortunately, it was found that a leptin resistance builds up in the brain, causing the hormone to become ineffective. A new breakthrough could turn the tables in the form of an oral drug which sensitizes the brain to leptin.
The aptly-named Spookfish is the first vertebrate discovered to use mirrors rather than lenses to focus light into its four eyes. Seriously, four eyes.

And finally, the answers!

1. Physicists have created a new state of matter capable of storing an electrical charge without leakage for an infinitely long period of time. Science! The material was made from an extremely hard ceramic, titanium nitride. When researchers brought a thin enough film of the material down to a low enough temperature (.1 degree Kelvin), they were surprised to find a new state of matter capable of storing a charge indefinitely.

2. Scientists have produced a massless computer CPU capable of basic computing functions by entangling individual photons in a cyclotron. It is bullshit. I made it up, I admit. But I was inspired by another recent innovation. Physicists built a transistor 10 atoms by 1 atom out of a carbon nanomaterial called graphene.

3. Researchers have determined that a meteor which fell to the earth in the 60s brought with it nucleobases, some of the fundamental building blocks for life. So this one is science. The discovery of nucleobases on the meteor lends strength to the theory that asteroid bombardment four billion years ago could have jump-started life on Earth.

W(aW)tHiT: The central uplift within an impact crater to the west of Nili Fossae on Mars.

Science of Bullshit 18 - Barely Legal

2008-12-29T11:01:00.003-06:00

Happy Holidays! Hope everyone had a safe and enjoyable celebration of their preferred mythological superstitions!

SoB 17 answers:

1. The fossilized trail of an aquatic creature suggests that animals were walking on legs 570 million years ago, in the Ediacaran period. That's some 30 million years earlier than previously thought. And 30 million is a lot. Seriously. Science! It is true, some tiny leg-bearing wormy thing was cruising around the ocean floor 570 million years before the invention of Doc Martens.

2. A recent study shows that perfect pitch, the ability to recognize and remember a tone without a reference, is apparently much more common in non-musicians than scientists had expected. Crazy, but true. The study involves a new testing technique which previously precluded non-musicians from being able to participate.

3. New research shows that empathy in children is entirely based upon nurture, rather than any natural inclination. Without guidance, children below the age of 12, exhibit no empathy towards others in pain. It is bullshit. The study actually shows the opposite. Researchers used an fMRI to determine that empathy is 'hard-wired' in children.

W(aW)tHiT: Lake Erie in May, on a sunny day.

A few tidbits before the next SoB challenge:

Pictures of cool looking things out in space!

An infrared image of Saturn's polar cap lit up with an aurora.
A bubble nebula in Cygnus.
A pair of interacting galaxies.
The Cone Nebula looking awesome.
The Horsehead Nebula in Orion never stops being cool.
Another image of interacting galaxies.
The Carina Nebula.
Irregular galaxies have feelings too!

It's been a pretty awesome month for Astronomy news. First, the earth was bombarded by cosmic rays from an unknown source. Which is fun for everyone. Then a week later, some more were detected coming from near Orion. Probably space aliens. Maybe science. But probably space aliens. Then, scientists discovered evidence of organic sugar molecules, a key constituent of RNA, in an area of the galaxy which could harbor habitable planets. And as if that isn't enough, carbon dioxide has been detected in the atmosphere of an exoplanet. Another chemical marker for the existence of life, and a proof of concept that such detections can be made. I can't imagine that we are more than a few decades from confirming life outside of the earth. To wrap up the Life in the Universe paragraph, here's a news story about the geysers on Enceladus possibly being powered by underground reservoirs of water.

Not enough science for you? Fine!

For the first time, the genome-wide sequence of an extinct animal has been completed. Time to clone some woolly mammoths!
The remains of Copernicus have been discovered and verified through DNA analysis in Northern Poland. They've constructed an image of what he looked like from skull fragments. He looks old.
I've always been a big fan of idiots and their paredolia, but this one surpasses all previous records. Some moron thinks she sees the Virgin Mary in her MRI scan.
Transitional fossil discoveries are always very cool. The most recent big one is the Odontochelys semitestacea, a turtle ancestor with half a shell (a complete pastron, but only a partial carapace) and teeth.
New evidence strengthens the argument that the dinosaur extinction was caused almost entirely by the Deccan Traps eruptions and not the meteor strike in the Yucatan.
After 70 years, Gray's Paradox has finally been solved. Dolphins frequently swim faster than 20 mph, but their muscles are not strong enough to supply the thrust. New technology has provided the explanation.
Ant colonies are far cooler than we imagined.
If you have felt like something just is a little off with the earth's rotation lately, you're right. The earth's rotation is slowing down bit by bit. Which really screws up our clocks. A lot! To make up for this, we're going to have a leap second on New Year's Eve. An extra second will be added to 2008 at 6:59:59 EST on December 31st. Make sure to update your watch.

Alright, enough news links. Let's have some Science or Bullshit. For the droves of newcomers to the blog, here's the way we play: I supply three news stories, two real and one fictional. You guess which is the fake. If you use Google to get the right answer each week, you are a huge poser. The fictional story is often based on an actual news story, but I try to change key details sufficiently to make them completely implausible. Discuss with friends and post your answers in the comments section along with your reasoning. Link the blog to your friends and family for exciting prizes!

1. Physicists have created a new state of matter capable of storing an electrical charge without leakage for an infinitely long period of time.

2. Scientists have produced a massless computer CPU capable of basic computing functions by entangling individual photons in a cyclotron.

3. Researchers have determined that a meteor which fell to the earth in the 60s brought with it nucleobases, some of the fundamental building blocks for life.

Where (and What) the Hell is This?

As a supplement to SoB, here is an image taken by a camera in space. You guess where and what the image is. Performing a right-click properties on the image to find the answer by looking at the source site is totally lame.

Good luck, everyone!

Science or Bullshit 17 - Back in the Galapagos

2008-11-11T12:32:00.004-06:00

You know what? Science or Bullshit, that's what.

Last, er...season's answers:

#1 - Clearly inspired by Wolverine, some African species of frogs, when threatened, puncture their own skin with bones in their toes, and use those bones as claws to fend off predators. Totally science. What more needs to be said about these awesome frogs? They are unique among known vertebrates. And the claws are technically more claw-like than actual claws. Because they are not sheathed in keratin, of course. But you already knew that.

#2 - Baby Nile crocodiles communicate with their mother and each other while still in their eggs. Their calls alert the other babies that it is time to hatch and tell the mother to begin digging up the nest. Even more science! According to the article, the sound the babies make goes something like this: "umph! umph! umph!" How is that for scientific journalism?

#3 - Swedish researchers have trained dogs to identify certain radioactive materials by scent. The dogs' ability is already being utilized at European shipping hubs. Complete bullshit. I tried really hard to find something that dogs couldn't identify by scent and nearly failed. On the other hand...check this out. Go cancer-sniffing puppies!

W(aW)tHiT: This is the Dickinson Crater on Venus.

Current records with correct answer streaks in parentheses:

AIMS: 9-6 (2)
Angela: 13-3 (2)
Banjo: 9-0 (9)
Bankowitz: 11-5
Biggeth: 3-4 (3)
Bret: 4-12 (2)
Da Wiz: .5-.5
Lana D: 5-4 (2)
Marukka: 11-5 (2)
Mercurial Ohearn: 8-7 (1)
Mike Calimbas: 6-6
Pedestrian Player: 7-8 (3)
Rachel: 4-8
Sam I Am: 7-3
Seb: 9-7 (1)

I stopped saving up links to Cool Things In Space, so all I have to offer today is the Tarantula Nebula, a region of the Large Magellanic Cloud.

On the anti-vaccine front, we've seen some predictable developments over the last few months. With Jenny McCarthy scaring mothers into ignoring their pediatricians, we're beginning to see outbreaks of diseases in areas in which the herd immunization line has been crossed. In August there was a Mumps outbreak in Vancouver. It's not getting better.

Take this one with a few hundred grains of salt, but there is at least some archaeological evidence tying a copper mine in Jordan to the legendary Mines of King Solomon.

Normally, I would have saved this story for the SoB portion of the blog, but no one likes the ones dealing with human firsts. In this case it is consumption of milk. It appears that humans were hitting the udder 2000 years earlier than previously thought, around 6500 BCE in Turkey.

Alright. Your first SoB challenge of Autumn '08! Hope you're not too rusty:

1. Ok, I lied. It's another of those annoying firsts. This time...animal footprints! The fossilized trail of an aquatic creature suggests that animals were walking on legs 570 million years ago, in the Ediacaran period. That's some 30 million years earlier than previously thought. And 30 million is a lot. Seriously.

2. A recent study shows that perfect pitch, the ability to recognize and remember a tone without a reference, is apparently much more common in non-musicians than scientists had expected.

3. New research shows that empathy in children is entirely based upon nurture, rather than any natural inclination. Without guidance, children below the age of 12, exhibit no empathy towards others in pain.

Where (and What) the Hell is This?

Good luck!

Heroes - Season 3

2008-09-30T09:01:00.000-05:00

Thoughts and spoilers in the comments section...

Presidential Debate - 09/26/2008

2008-09-26T20:23:00.004-05:00

Thoughts and notes on the debate:

McCain's tie is truly awful. Obama took the center of the ring immediately. Guess he's going to take the initiative.

Q1: Where do you stand on the bailout plan?

Obama looks good. Speaking directly to the camera. Looks smooth and relaxed and prepared. Obama draws first blood by blaming the current crisis on Bush, supported by McCain.

McCain mentions Kennedy being in the hospital right off the bat. Interesting tactic. McCain appears to be looking at and speaking directly to the moderator, not the television audience. Not sure how that will play to the television audience. Obama is speaking directly to us, McCain does not appear to be doing so.

Q1a: Are you in favor of the plan, damnit?

Obama says we haven't seen the language of the plan yet and goes on the attack again. Too aggressive? At least he is wearing his lapel pin!

McCain says he will vote for the plan but basically brushes off the question. Seems a bit blase about seeing the crisis coming.

Jim Lehrer is a bit of a dork. Is he trying to increase the drama or run a debate?

Q2: Are there fundamental differences between the two candidates in how they would solve the economic problem?

McCain says we have to curb government spending. Mentions earmarking specifically. Studying DNA of bears? WTF is he talking about? Attacks Obama for wanting 900+ million for something.

Obama responds that McCain wants 300 billion in tax cuts for wealthy and corporations. Obama's tax plan gives release to 90+% of people.

McCain just doesn't look good. He points at the moderator very mechanically when he makes points and often laughs nervously.

Q3: What will you give up to pay for the economic bailout?

Obama says we have to have energy independence through alternative energy. Have to fix health care system. Education (science and technology!). Rebuild infrastructure and broadband lines. Electricity grid.

McCain says we have to cut spending. See Q2, apparently. Eliminate ethanol subsidies. Return defense spending? What? Need fixed cost contracts.

Obama insults Bush and McCain laughs. A bipartisan moment!

McCain says spending freeze is the answer except for defense and veterans. Obama says that is overkill. Obama finally plays the Iraq card.

McCain mentions climate change. Huh.

McCain doesn't seem to have any message other than cutting spending.

Orgy of spending! Obamamania!

Q4: Lessons of Iraq.

McCain: Can't have a failed strategy. Now we're winning. Huzzah!

Obama: Should we have gone into war in the first place? Nope. Obama opposed war from the beginning. Didn't finish job in Afghanistan. We've made things worse. And spending 10 billion a month. While Iraq as surplus. Have to use military wisely.

McCain is condescending towards Obama after having mistakes pointed out. That won't play well. But he's left-handed. How about that?

Q5: Afghanistan: More troops? How many and when?

Obama: Yes and as soon as possible. Safe havens in Pakistan.

McCain: Won't make mistake of...ever leaving the middle east?

Oh sweet jesus something is moving inside of McCain's face!

It sounds like McCain is making a lot of factually incorrect statements and accusations towards Obama. Hopefully there will be some fact-checking in the post-debate.

How many times now has McCain said that Obama doesn't understand something? 10?

Q6: Iran.

McCain says Iran is a threat to Israel and region if they get nukes. A second holocaust? McCain wants to replace UN with a new league that doesn't include anyone who opposes us.

Obama says Iran was made more powerful by war in Iraq. Tougher sanctions. Need support of Russia.

Q7: Russia.

Obama: Entire approach needs to be reassessed. Work with Russia.

McCain: Obama doesn't understand. Over and over again. McCain is going to get hammered for this, I gotta think.

Q8: Likelihood of another 9/11.

McCain: Much less than it was at 9/11. Long way to go.

Obama: Safer in some ways. Airport security. Securing targets. Long way to go. Need port security. Terrorism spreading. Regain international respect.

Tough to call a winner here. Obama is a much better speaker and debater, but McCain's foreign policy experience is very strong. If people believe that the war in Iraq is destroying the country, Obama should be declared the winner.

Thoughts?

Science or Bullshit 16 - Now With 16% More Bullshit!

2008-06-27T12:51:00.003-05:00

Welcome back! So much time, so little to do...Onwards!

#1 - A study performed at the University of Bordeaux has determined that the recent salmonella outbreak in tomatoes was caused by incorrectly folded infectious proteins known as prions. Yes, yes, as nearly all of you guessed, this one is complete bullshit. You're very smart. Shut up. You have likely heard about prions with regards to mad cow disease, as they are the infectious proteins responsible for all those angry bovines. The only interesting thing I have to say about salmonella is that you can contract it by handling turtles.

#2 - Researchers at the University of Southern Denmark in Odense have discovered that seals have the ability to navigate by recognizing paterns of stars in the night sky. Science. And really awesome science. Scientists simulated the night sky on a dome and trained the seals to swim towards particular stars. Later, after re-orienting the sky, the seals would find and follow the correct star. I had high hopes for this story as a spoiler.

#3 - A recent analysis by the Spitzer Space Telescope has revealed that our own Milky Way galaxy only has two spiral arms, not four, as previously believed. Also science. It's really hard to tell what something looks like if you're in the middle of it. So even after all these years of observation, it came as a surprise to astronomers when they determined that the Milky Way has only two arms.

W(aW)tHiT: There's the full image. It was the product of the Energetic Gamma Ray Experiment Telescope on the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory. It shows the emissions from interactions between cosmic rays and the interstellar gas along the plane of our Galaxy, the Milky Way. I don't understand any of that either, frankly. The new one is much better.

Current records with correct answer streaks in parentheses:

AIMS: 8-6 (1)
Angela: 12-3 (1)
Banjo: 8-0 (8)
Bankowitz: 11-4 (9)
Biggeth: 3-4 (3)
Bret: 3-12 (1)
Da Wiz: .5-.5
Lana D: 4-4 (1)
Marukka: 10-5 (1)
Mercurial Ohearn: 7-7
Mike Calimbas: 6-5 (1)
Pedestrian Player: 6-8 (2)
Rachel: 4-7
Sam I Am: 7-3
Seb: 8-7

Da Wiz sort of got it backwards, offering two bullshit and one science guesses. Since one of his bullshit answers was correct, I gave him half a point each way. Meanwhile, Seb's impressive streak went down like a lead zeppelin on a question that everyone else got right (or half-right). So I can feel good about that, at least.

Lots of pretty pictures and news links:

NGC 5907 - Streams of stars surrounding the Splinter or Knife Edge Galaxy.

NGC 1300 - An amazing barred spiral galaxy.

Twin Spiral Galaxies - A 100 million year dance.

Ice on Mars - If you look in the lower left corner of the trench in the left hand picture, you can see small chunks of ice uncovered by the Phoenix Lander's scooper. They are gone in the second picture, having sublimated directly to gas. None of the ice has yet been analyzed by the Lander's ovens, but hopefully that will come soon.

Soil on Mars Can Support Life - The biggest news yet to come from the Phoenix Lander is yesterday's revelation that Mars' regolith (soil) contains minerals found in Earth's soil and that the acidity is not a hinderance for life. Water ice and good soil. Things are looking very very promising for Mars.

The Selfish Gene - Richard Dawkins introduced the concept of a selfish gene in 1976. The theory has been accepted as fact for decades by evolutionary biologists, but a discovery by a University of Western Ontario scientist has provided conclusive proof.

Top 10 New Species of 2007 - A slideshow of newly discovered species including an electric ray, a pink dragon millipede, and a rhinocerous beetle which looks exactly like Dim from A Bug's Life.
Milk and Wine? - I recently linked to a story about how red wine has been found to be good for the heart. On the heels of that story comes a new one about how a single glass of lowfat milk per day can have a great impact upon prevention of heart disease. A word of caution: Don't try mixing them together. They taste much better apart. Seriously.

April 16th, 1178 B.C - First, thanks to everyone who sent me a link to this story. I must have received it from at least 10 sources in as many hours. I really appreciate it. I've been struggling with my response to the story, however. A few scientists have taken clues from Homer's Odyssey, compared them to known astronomical events, and derived a date, April 16th, 1178 BCE, upon which Odysseus supposedly confronted Penelope's suitors and generally kicked a lot of ass. On the one hand, it's a very fun exercise and I commend the effort of the scientists involved. However, to say that they made some leaps to tie Homer's writings to astronomical events is an understatement of epic proportions (you see what I did there?).

Enough! On to Science or Bullshit! Theme this week: Animals.

#1 - Clearly inspired by Wolverine, some African species of frogs, when threatened, puncture their own skin with bones in their toes, and use those bones as claws to fend off predators.

#2 - Baby Nile crocodiles communicate with their mother and each other while still in their eggs. Their calls alert the other babies that it is time to hatch and tell the mother to begin digging up the nest.

#3 - Swedish researchers have trained dogs to identify certain radioactive materials by scent. The dogs' ability is already being utilized at European shipping hubs.

Where (and What) the Hell is This? Sure, it's a crater. Congrats. But where is it?

Good luck!

Science or Bullshit 15 - Anung Un Rama

2008-06-18T11:20:00.003-05:00

Welcome to another installment of Science or Bullshit, which appears to have gone weekly without letting me know. Last week's answers:

#1 - By studying the size of toe bones in human skeletons, anthropologists have determined that humans began wearing shoes 40,000 years ago; 30,000 years earlier than previously believed from archaeological evidence. Science. Wearing shoes changes the way humans walk, especially with respect to the distribution of weight. This has a very specific effect upon bones and ligaments in the feet. Shrinking toes is the key.

#2 - The stirrup, which greatly enhances mounted warfare, is now believed to have been invented by nomadic warriors living in the region now known as Kazakhstan around 1200 BCE; 1500 years earlier than evidence of the stirrup being used in China. Complete bullshit. I made this one up to complement the other two stories and because Sebastian knows way too much about the history of stirrups and I thought it would drive him nuts. The first dependable evidence of stirrups comes from China in the 4th century. Back in 1200 BCE, they were still 400 years away from figuring out how to make a primitive saddle.

#3 - A 5 centimeter long bone arrow excavated from a cave in South Africa dates back 60,000 years; pushing back the origins of bow and arrow technology by 20,000 years. Incredibly, this one is science. At a time when Neandertals in Europe were using spears to hunt mammoths, an unknown people in KwaZulu Natal were using bows and arrows.

W(aW)tHiT: As Mercurial Ohearn guessed, this is a desert. The Simpson desert in Australia, specifically, as seen from the International Space Station in 2002. The orange streaks are fire scars; literally scars on the land caused by an uncontrolled fire.

Current records with correct answer streaks in parentheses:

AIMS: 7-6
Angela: 11-3
Banjo: 7-0 (7)
Bankowitz: 10-4 (8)
Biggeth: 2-4 (2)
Bret: 2-12
Lana D: 3-4
Marukka: 9-5
Mercurial Ohearn: 7-7
Mike Calimbas: 5-5
Pedestrian Player: 5-8 (1)
Rachel: 4-7
Sam I Am: 7-3
Seb: 8-6 (7)

Links of interest (to someone, somewhere; not me, of course) :

The Snow Queen - An image of the feature suspected to be ice situated just below the Mars Phoenix lander.

Ice or Salt - More images from the Phoenix Lander, the first one including a white substance revealed by the Lander's scooper which could be ice, salt, part of a giant martian skeleton, or possibly, none of the above.

No Water Yet - Analysis of the first scoop of material by the Phoenix Lander has not found any signs of water, but don't lose hope. Ice on the surface of Mars sublimates pretty much instantly. Scientists predicted that they would have to dig down a bit before they found anything.

The M51 Spiral Nebula - NGC 5194 and 5195.

The Coma Cluster of Galaxies - Just about everything in the picture is a galaxy of billions and billions of stars.

Simeis 147 - A supernova remnant.

Eta Carinae and the Homunculus Nebula - Incredible image, but I would have linked it regardless just for its name.

LOFAR - A new radio telescope that can see in the very low frequency spectrum is coming online in 2009. LOFAR offers hope to SETI enthusiasts because it can detect leakage of the kind of signals that we leak ourselves, such as television and radio.

Wooly Mammoth News - A new genetic analysis of wooly mammoths shows that there were two distinct groups of mammoths, one of which died out 45,000 years ago, well before humans showed up in the area. Removing human hunting as a factor in extinction, disease and climate change are believed to be the most likely culprits.

The Caribbean Monk Seal Is Extinct - The Caribbean Monk Seal has officially joined the extinction list. The MSNBC story features several other extinct animals including Phoberomys pattersoni, a buffalo-sized rodent, moeritherium, an ancestor to both elephants and dugongs, Volaticotherium antiquus, a gliding mammal which predates birds, and Jaekelopterus rhenaniae, a giant sea scorpion.

Brownleeite - A new mineral, a manganese silicide named Brownleeite, was discovered in dust particles captured in the Earth's stratosphere which originated from comet 26P/Grigg-Skjellerup.

Brain Connections in Autistic Adults - fMRIs of severely socially impaired adults show an abnormal patern of connectivity among a network of brain regions involved in face processing.

On to the challenge!

#1 - A study performed at the University of Bordeaux has determined that the recent salmonella outbreak in tomatoes was caused by incorrectly folded infectious proteins known as prions.

#2 - Researchers at the University of Southern Denmark in Odense have discovered that seals have the ability to navigate by recognizing paterns of stars in the night sky.

#3 - A recent analysis by the Spitzer Space Telescope has revealed that our own Milky Way galaxy only has two spiral arms, not four, as previously believed.

Where (and What) the Hell is This? (This one is rather absurd, I know. It's part of a larger image, for starters, but the entire image gives too much away. I'll throw kudos at anyone in the right neighborhood.)

Good luck!

Science or Bullshit 14 - Back in the Saddle

2008-06-11T15:02:00.004-05:00

Welcome back! Last's weeks answers:

#1 - An HIV drug, previously discarded due to harmful side-effects, has been modified to include gold nanoparticles, effectively removing the side-effects and re-enabling the drug's ability to block the HIV virus. This one is science. The original drug blocked the HIV virus' ability to enter the immune system by binding onto T-cells. Unfortunately, the part of the molecule which enabled the binding had nasty side-effects. When that part of the molecule (ammonium salt) was removed, the molecule lost it's binding ability. Gold, being non-reactive in the human body, allows the binding to take place.

#2 - A breakthrough by forensic scientists involving a method to record a fingerprint even after the print has been removed could reopen hundreds of cold cases. A lot of people picked this story as the bullshit answer, but it is, in fact, science. The method applies specifically to metal surfaces which means that even guns or casings that have been wiped down can have prints pulled from them. The procedure works by applying an electric charge to a metal which has been coated in a fine conducting powder. Even if a fingerprint has been washed off, it leaves a slight corrosion on the metal and this attracts the powder when the charge is applied, revealing a residual fingerprint.

#3 - Scientists studying bdelloid rotifers, a common freshwater invertebrate, have learned that it has the cleanest DNA of any animal yet examined. The microscopic organisms are nearly impervious to genetic mutation, even to the point that the male provides less than 0.1% of the genetic information passed along to the offspring. Which means that this story about our dear friends the bdelloid rotifers is bullshit. The actual story on the bdelloid rotifers is far cooler, however. Their genomes have been found to be filled with DNA from plants, fungi, bacteria, and other animals. During periods of desiccation (extreme dryness) the bdelloids disintegrate their genomes. When their habitat is rehydrated, they reconstruct their DNA, sometimes adopting pieces of genetic material from unrelated species in the same environment.

W(aW)tHiT: This is Saturn's moon Hyperion. It is the largest known irregular body in the solar system. It is likely that Hyperion was once part of another larger body that was fragmented by an impact long ago. The moon is 250 km across, rotates 'chaotically', and has a low enough density that it may be hollow.

Current records with correct answer streaks in parentheses:

AIMS: 7-5
Angela: 11-2
Banjo: 6-0 (6)
Bankowitz: 9-4 (7)
Biggeth: 2-4 (2)
Bret: 2-11
Lana D: 3-3 (1)
Marukka: 9-4 (3)
Mercurial Ohearn: 7-6 (5)
Mike Calimbas: 5-4
Pedestrian Player: 4-8
Rachel: 4-7
Sam I Am: 7-2 (1)
Seb: 7-6 (6)

A bit easier on the links this time:

The rings of Saturn from the other side - Normally when we see Saturn's rings we see them from the same side of the ring plane from which the Sun illuminates them. This photo was taken by Cassini from the other side of the ring plane.

A fire rainbow - Also known as a circumhorizon arc, they are only visible when the sun is at least 58 degrees high in a sky with cirrus clouds present.

The IAU has thrown a bone to Pluto. Though demoted to non-planet status, the little-planetoid-that-couldn't will now lend it's name to other bodies of it's type: The Plutoid. So far only Pluto and Eris qualify, but more will surely follow.

More good news for, well, me: Red wine is just awesome. I may live forever.

Oh, and remember those guys shooting arrows at the helicopter from last week? Peruvian authorities have decided to protect them from future intrusion.

On to the challenge! This week has a theme: Human Firsts.

#1 - By studying the size of toe bones in human skeletons, anthropologists have determined that humans began wearing shoes 40,000 years ago; 30,000 years earlier than previously believed from archaeological evidence.

#2 - The stirrup, which greatly enhances mounted warfare, is now believed to have been invented by nomadic warriors living in the region now known as Kazakhstan around 1200 BCE; 1500 years earlier than evidence of the stirrup being used in China.

#3 - A 5 centimeter long bone arrow excavated from a cave in South Africa dates back 60,000 years; pushing back the origins of bow and arrow technology by 20,000 years.

Where (and What) the Hell is This? (And yes, this is an image, not a painting, taken by a camera on a spacecraft. It has not been enhanced or manipulated in any way.)

Good luck!

Science or Bullshit 13 - Superstition

2008-06-03T13:35:00.008-05:00

Didn't think there was going to be another one, did you?

#1 - The mantis shrimp, a species found on Australia's Great Barrier Reef, has eyesight unlike any other animal known to man. They can move each eye independently, can see colours ranging from the ultraviolet all the way to the infrared, and have optimal polarization vision, enabling them to determine both the direction of the oscillation, as well as how polarised the light they see is. Science. These shrimp are pretty damned impressive. I would have used my own wording to make the story more suspicious, but that would require a rudimentary understanding of what the hell optimal polarization vision actually is. I tried. Just ain't happening.

#2 - Short people are saner. A study of 2,798 mostly white elderly people found that the shorter ones were less likely to develop dementia over a 5 year period. Women with an armspan in the lowest 20 percent of measurements were one and a half times less likely to develop dementia than other women. The risk dropped 16 percent with each reduced inch of knee height. As everyone who knows any short people can attest, this one is bullshit. In fact, the reality is exactly the opposite. I somehow lost the original article I got this from, but I have found another which explains how short people ain't got no reason.

#3 - The latest measurements suggest that Mars' moon Phobos will spiral closer and closer to its host planet, crossing the Roche limit in only about 10 million years, before being torn apart by Mars' tidal forces. 10 million years may seem like a long time, but compared to the age of our universe (~13.73 billion years), this is like being told that you have three weeks to live. Which of course means that Phobos is screwed. This is science. Crossing the Roche limit is just no fun for any planetary body. Especially one with Leather Goddesses on it.

W(aW)tHiT: Storms over Alaska. These cloud vortices are called von Karman cloud vortices, named after Theodore von Karman, co-founder of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The picture was taken on a Kodak DCS760C Electronic Still Camera by an Expedition 15 crewmember on the International Space Station.

Current records with correct answer streaks in parentheses:

AIMS: 7-4 (1)
Angela: 11-1 (10)
Banjo: 5-0 (5)
Bankowitz: 8-4 (6)
Biggeth: 2-4 (2)
Bret: 2-10
Lana D: 2-3
Marukka: 8-4 (2)
Mercurial Ohearn: 6-6 (4)
Mike Calimbas: 5-3 (3)
Pedestrian Player: 4-7
Rachel: 4-7
Sam I Am: 6-2
Seb: 6-6 (5)

So many links. So very very many links:

Pictures of things that glow in the night sky:

NGC 3199 - A beautiful nebula in the southern constellation of Carina.
A third red spot on Jupiter - It was white previously; the color change suggesting that the storm is becoming more powerful.
A coronal mass ejection - A very rare image of such a cool phenomenon.
Another shot of the CME
Dark clouds in the Carina nebula
A glory - A glory is an atmospheric phenomenon which forms when sunlight is scattered by the water droplets of a cloud.
The Dark River to Antares - Background starlight absorbed by dust creates this dark river connecting the Pipe Nebula to Antares.
An odd crater in Mars' Mamers Valles - The dark area is a bit of a mystery.
Yellowstone on Mars - The Spirit rover has a screwed-up wheel, so they've been driving it backwards. The gimp wheel just gouged out an area of pure silica. Such deposits are found around hydrothermal vents like those in Yellowstone National Park, and when active, usually teem with life.
First image from Phoenix - The Phoenix Lander...um...landed last week. These are some of the first images it sent back.
Phoenix's first dig - Images from the Phoenix's Landers first dig.
And the now-famous possible match of ice uncovered by the Lander.

Cool science things that may or may not have been SoB fodder had I not been slacking:

The photonic beetle - Researchers have been unable to build an ideal “photonic crystal” to manipulate visible light, impeding the dream of ultrafast optical computers. But now, University of Utah chemists have discovered that nature already has designed photonic crystals with the ideal, diamond-like structure: They are found in the shimmering, iridescent green scales of a beetle from Brazil.
Immune Attack - The Federation of American Scientists has developed a fun and fast-moving video game that teaches the critical scientific facts of immunology. Seriously.
Itty Bitty Exoplanet - An exoplanet has been discovered with only three times the mass of Earth orbitting a brown dwarf 3000 light-years away.
Fixing Your DNA - Some companies are predicting that the price of having your personal genome mapped will drop below $100 within 5 years. And there may be good reason to do so. Researchers believe that many small flaws in your DNA can be fixed with remedies as simple as vitamin or mineral supplements.
The Weight of the Milky Way - About 1 trillion solar masses, since you asked. The mass was measured using alot of absurdly complicated science.
Monkey cyborgs - I'm sure everyone has seen this one, but it's worth linking. For posterity.
Stonehenge! - Likewise, this story about Stonehenge being a royal cemetary has gotten a lot of press. The claims feel a little weak, though. Perhaps if they changed the choreography of the dwarves...
Six Degrees of Wikipedia - Some brilliant asshole went and played Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon with Wikipedia. Some of the key findings: The center of Wikipedia is the article on the year 2007. You can reach any of 2,111,479 articles in an average of 3.45 clicks from 2007. If you dont' count articles which are basically lists, then the winner is the United Kingdom with 3.67 clicks. Kevin Bacon, most importantly, has a Six Degrees of Wikipedia number of 3.98.
A previously uncontacted tribe was finally photograped in the Amazon - You gotta check out the picture of the natives firing arrows at the helicopter.

Finally, this week's challenge!

#2 - A breakthrough by forensic scientists involving a method to record a fingerprint even after the print has been removed could reopen hundreds of cold cases.

Where (and What) the Hell is This?

Good luck, everyone!

Lost 4.12 - There's No Place Like Home

2008-05-29T20:11:00.001-05:00

Season 4 finale. Let's hear it.

Science or Bullshit 12 - Not Dead Yet

2008-05-26T14:49:00.000-05:00

Apologies for the extensive delay. I've decided to abandon the rigorous methodologies of science for the heady freedom of religion and pseudoscience. I'm starting with a blend of Mormonism and Scientology, along with a smattering of astrology, acupuncture, and bigfoot enthusiasm added in for flavor. Hop on in! The water is blessed!

Last week's SoB:

#1 - It rains less on weekends. A study of data collected by NASA's Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission satellite from 1998 to 2005 found that summertime storms in the southeastern United States shed more rainfall midweek than on weekends. Oh, I really really really wish I had worded this one better. I think I could have caught a lot of you with this particular science story. I was not playing games with statistics at all, you see. It actually rains less on Saturdays and Sundays than it does on days of the week. The cause is likely to be air pollution from traffic and business operations. The excess particulate matter in the air helps clouds form, it seems. How about that?

#2 - The human body is more bacteria than human body. More than 500 species of bacteria live on and in our bodies, comprising over 100 trillion total cells. By comparison, there are only a few trillion human cells making up our bodies. Science! Only a few percent of us is actually us. Luckily these bacteria are all engaged in a happy symbiotic relationship with the organs in and upon which they live. Well, most of them, anyway. It's not the most pleasant thought, but it's the way it is.

#3 - We're not as different as you would think from the common fruit fly. Humans have approximately 24,000 genes to the fruit fly's 23,500. More surprising, however, is that according to new research, humans and fruit flies have approximately the same number of protein interactions. The interaction between different proteins is behind all physiological systems in the human body. Yes, yes, as most of you got, probably by googling, you cheaters, this story is bullshit. I messed around with both the number of genes in a fruit fly (14,000) and the number of protein interactions (10 times fewer than humans). Congrats to the brilliant and attractive throngs of SoB players who nailed this one. I'll get you, yet!

W(aW)tHiT: This one was Saturn's second largest moon, Rhea, taken by the Cassini probe last month.

Current records with correct answer streaks in parentheses:

AIMS: 6-4
Angela: 10-1 (9)
Banjo: 4-0 (4)
Bankowitz: 7-4 (5)
Biggeth: 2-4 (2)
Bret: 2-9
Lana D: 2-2
Marukka: 7-4 (1)
Mercurial Ohearn: 5-6 (3)
Mike Calimbas: 4-3 (2)
Pedestrian Player: 4-6 (1)
Rachel: 4-7
Sam I Am: 6-1 (5)
Seb: 5-6 (4)

Linkitude:

Astronomy pics: NGC 3628 - a spiral galaxy seen from the side, a side-by-side comparison of two logorithmic spirals - a galaxy and a typhoon, an artist's rendition of a solar flare, the Perseus Cluster - note that every blob you see is a galaxy filled with billions and billions of worlds, 47 Tucanae - a nearby globular cluster, and an artist's rendition of a sunrise on Gliese 876d.

Good news for the Little Green Men - The Vatican's Director of Astronomy says that intelligent life in the universe would not contradict Catholic beliefs. Moreover, the ETs may not have to deal with original sin! Go aliens!

A couple weeks back I mentioned a NASA press release in which they would be making an important announcement. Well, it turns out that they discovered the remains of a recent supernova in our galaxy. Scientists have known that they exist, but they've been deceptively difficult to find evidence of. Now, thanks to the Very Large Array and the Chandra X-Ray Observatory, another prediction of science has been proven.

This may hurt the brain a little: For many years it was believed that information could not be recovered from a black hole. However, in the last decade or so, many leading physicists began to doubt the conventional wisdom. Finally, a mechanism has been proposed which can explain how information can be recovered from such a fate. Read on to be confused by our old friend, quantum gravity!

Dune enthusiasts rejoice! The stillsuit is coming to an International Space Station near you!

Enough links! On to the challenge:

#1 - The mantis shrimp, a species found on Australia's Great Barrier Reef, has eyesight unlike any other animal known to man. They can move each eye independently, can see colours ranging from the ultraviolet all the way to the infrared, and have optimal polarization vision, enabling them to determine both the direction of the oscillation, as well as how polarised the light they see is.

#2 - Short people are saner. A study of 2,798 mostly white elderly people found that the shorter ones were less likely to develop dementia over a 5 year period. Women with an armspan in the lowest 20 percent of measurements were one and a half times less likely to develop dementia than other women. The risk dropped 16 percent with each reduced inch of knee height.

#3 - The latest measurements suggest that Mars' moon Phobos will spiral closer and closer to its host planet, crossing the Roche limit in only about 10 million years, before being torn apart by Mars' tidal forces. 10 million years may seem like a long time, but compared to the age of our universe (~13.73 billion years), this is like being told that you have three weeks to live.

Where (and What) the Hell is This?

Good luck, everyone!

UFC 84 Analysis

2008-05-22T17:22:00.001-05:00

Here's my picks for the UFC this Saturday:

Undercard:

Shane Carwin vs. Christian Wellisch - Carwin brings an undefeated 8-0 record against unknown fighters in semi-respectable events. He's never been taken to the second round and has an equal mix of submission and (T)KO victories. Wellisch is 8-3 with a loss to Kongo in the UFC and wins over two nobodies. I'll take Carwin by TKO in the first round.

Terry Etim vs. Rich Clementi - Etim is 10-1 (1-1 in the UFC) with his only loss being in his last fight against Gleison Tibau. Nine of his ten victories are by submission. Clementi is 31-12 and trains with Team Extreme. He's on a 5 fight winning streak including his recent decision victory over highly regarded Sam Stout. I'll give Clementi the edge due to experience. Clementi by decision.

Dong Hyun Kim vs. Jason Tan - Who? Kim is 3-1 against absolute nobodies in a crappy organization. Tan is 1-2. Can I get on the next UFC card? I got into a heated argument once. I'll give it to Kim by decision, because I don't care.

Rosimar Palhares vs. Ivan Salaverry - Palhares is 4-0 against nobodies. Poor bastard. Salaverry is 11-6; a deceptively poor record. He has victories over solid competition including Fryklund, Riggs, and Semenov. Salverry should control this fight easily. Salaverry by TKO in the second round.

John Koppenhaver vs. Yoshiyuki Yoshida - I'm not sure why War Machine is in the UFC. Must have been his stunning victory over the legendary Jared Rollins. The Not-The-Real-Yoshida is 7-2 against other JapanaCans. I can only assume they are giving Koppenhaver an easy fight because Dana likes him. Or maybe Dana dates his mom. Dunno. Anyway, let's call it Koppenhaver by decision.

Thierry Sokoudjou vs. Kazuhiro Nakamura - Sokoudjou may have a difficult name to spell or pronounce, but he sure does hit awfully fucking hard. He'd be a nobody if he didn't hold victories over little Nog and Arona, two of the best LHWs in the world. He got handled by Machida, but I don't think anyone less could do the same. And who better to stand in front of him than Nakamura. He's fought everyone with a name in Pride and lost to a fair number of them. He's experienced enough to give Soko a hard time, but dumb enough to get KTFO. Sokoudjou by TKO in the first.

Main Card:

Antonio Mendes vs. Thiago Silva - Mendes is 1-0, with a victory over a guy who is 1-1, who has a victory over a guy who is 2-3, who holds victories over guys who are 2-2 and 0-2. You get the picture. Thiago Silva is 13-0 with recent victories over James Irvin, Tomas Drwal, and Houston Alexander. I guess they want to preserve his record so he can fight Machida for a LHW contender match. Silva by TKO in the first round.

Tito Ortiz vs. Lyoto Machida - Ah, Tito. He's only looked dominant against Ken Shamrock in recent years. This is the last fight on his UFC contract and he has talked all kinds of shit publicly about Dana White. He has a tremendous opportunity to play spoiler against Machida, but he'll have to be the Tito of 2001 to do it. Machida is undefeated at 12-0 with victories over Franklin, Penn, Heath, Nakamura, and Sokoudjou. He wins a lot of fights by decision because he plays it safe. Tito is notoriously difficult to decision. My heart says Tito, but my wallet is going to go with Machida. Machida by TKO in the second.

Wilson Gouveia vs. Goran Reljic - Gouveia is carrying a good streak against relatively weak competition in the UFC LHW divison. Good JJ and heavy hands. Reljic is 5-0 against nobodies with 4 submission victories. Huge snoozefest potential in this fight which will have absolutely no effect upon the LHW title picture. Gouveia by TKO in the second round.

Wanderlei Silva vs. Keith Jardine - Before his current 4-5 run, Silva was an unholy terror with a streak of 18 fights without a defeat. And that includes two victories over current UFC LHW champ Rampage Jackson. Jardine didn't show much in his early UFC career, losing to Rashad Evans and Stephan Bonner, but his recent victory over Chuck Liddell has propelled him to the spotlight and caused him to become somewhat overrated. The pressure is on Silva to score a huge victory and this is just the fight for him to do it. Silva by KO in the first.

B.J. Penn vs. Sean Sherk - This may be the toughest fight to pick ever. Penn can beat anyone in the world when his head is in the game and he trains hard. He's undefeated in fights that lasted two rounds or less. He's 4-1-1 in fights that made it to the third or beyond. Sherk is 31-2 with loses only to Matt Hughes and GSP. His cardio is unquestionable. But can he avoid a submission for those crucial first two rounds against Penn, who is incredibly difficult to take down and is very dangerous on his feet. I'm going to go with Sherk. Penn took two rounds to defeat Pulver and Stevenson who are just not in the same ballpark as Sherk. Even with improved cardio, I don't see Penn going 5 rounds strong. Sherk by decision.

Science or Bullshit 11 - This One Goes to Eleven

2008-05-13T13:54:00.008-05:00

Welcome to a new episode of Science or Bullshit! Before we begin, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!

Last week's answers:

#1 - Scientists believe that deep inside of Mercury, iron 'snow' forms and falls like snowflakes towards the center of the planet. This is a possible explanation for the very strong magnetic field of the planet. Yes, that's right. This is science. And it really does snow iron inside of Mercury. Surely that's not the weirdest thing you've read on here, though. This theory, by the way, comes from computational models. More direct information will be available when the Messenger probe perfoms a fly-by in October.

#2 - Spectroscopic analysis performed by the Cassini space probe has revealed a surprisingly high concentration of platinum in the outermost "A" ring of Saturn’s rings. The "A" ring, being the outermost, was expected to have the least amount of heavy metals of all of Saturn's rings. This one is complete bullshit. There are no heavy metals in the rings of Saturn. The ring particles are probably composed mostly of water ice.

#3 - According to researchers, when the asteroid slammed into the Yucatan peninsula 65 million years ago, carbon in the Earth's crust was liquified and formed tiny beads that rained back down across the entire planet. The beads are known today as carbon cenospheres and are produced during the burning of coal and crude oil. This one is science. The summary is too unsummable for me to summarize, so you'll have to read the article to learn more.

W(aW)tHiT: This was a tough one. Those familiar with the storms around the north pole of Neptune were on the right track, but this image was actually of a glowing aurora spotted at Jupiter's north pole as seen by HST's Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) using an ultraviolet filter.

Congrats to everyone who choose correctly! Current records with correct answer streaks in parentheses:

AIMS: 6-3 (3)
Angela: 9-1 (8)
Banjo: 3-0 (3)
Bankowitz: 6-4 (4)
Biggeth: 1-3 (1)
Bret: 2-8
Greg: 0-3
Lana D: 2-1
Marukka: 6-3 (4)
Mercurial Ohearn: 4-6 (2)
Mike Calimbas: 3-3 (1)
Pedestrian Player: 3-6
Rachel: 4-6
Sam I Am: 6-1 (5)
Seb: 4-6 (3)

Links links links:

Astronomy Pics: Mars with Gemini, the M81 Galaxy Group, and finally, we've seen so many pictures taken by Hubble, but have you ever seen a picture of Hubble?

Holy shit this is cool: A company named Airship Ventures is bringing back the Zeppelin. This fall, "flightseeing tours" of San Francisco will be available from $250-$500. The zeppelins will be about 250 feet in length and hold 12 passengers.

Want to help find the Mars Polar Lander? It crashed into Mars in 1999. Scientists are not sure what exactly went wrong, but signals were never received after it's descent began. By looking through high resolution images of the potential crash site, you could be the one to find it.

Speaking of Mars, the Phoenix Lander will be arriving on the surface on May 25th after a 10 month flight. The probe will be searching for evidence of microbial life.

There has long been debate concerning Einstein's feelings on religion. A letter written by Einstein on January 3rd, 1954 and currently being auctioned in London, settles the debate pretty soundly: "The word god is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection of honourable, but still primitive legends which are nevertheless pretty childish. No interpretation no matter how subtle can (for me) change this."

On to the 11th SoB challenge, this week with no astronomy/cosmology!

#1 - It rains less on weekends. A study of data collected by NASA's Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission satellite from 1998 to 2005 found that summertime storms in the southeastern United States shed more rainfall midweek than on weekends.

#2 - The human body is more bacteria than human body. More than 500 species of bacteria live on and in our bodies, comprising over 100 trillion total cells. By comparison, there are only a few trillion human cells making up our bodies.

#3 - We're not as different as you would think from the common fruit fly. Humans have approximately 24,000 genes to the fruit fly's 23,500. More surprising, however, is that according to new research, humans and fruit flies have approximately the same number of protein interactions. The interaction between different proteins is behind all physiological systems in the human body.

Where (and What) the Hell is This?

This is a tough one, so I'll give you a clue: This particular body in our solar system has one of the oldest known surfaces.

Good luck, everyone!

Science or Bullshit 10 - By Grabthar's Hammer

2008-05-09T14:51:00.006-05:00

Welcome back, everyone. Let's review the last challenge:

#1 - Most of the stars in the universe end their lives as white dwarfs. Previously, there were only two known types of white dwarf: those that have an outer layer of hydrogen and those that have an outer layer of helium. Researchers at the University of Texas have recently confirmed the existence of a third type, a "pulsating carbon white dwarf". This one is science. The hot, carbon white dwarf is very real, and not just in D&D games. This is a white dwarf that has had its hydrogen and helium shells stripped away. They were found using a technique knows as 'asteroseismology'.

#2 - Geologists at the University of Houston have completed a survey of the topography and elevation of Harris County using lasers directed at the ground from airplanes. They identified more that 300 surface fault lines. Also science. I remember being told long ago that there was a fault line beneath Houston, but 300 of them? This was news to me. They apparently originated millions of years ago during the formation of the Gulf of Mexico. It's more useful to builders than anyone else since seismic activity in our area tends to make things sink rather than topple over.

#3 - The 17 year solar cycle, which determines the frequency and intensity of sunspots, is currently at the most active portion of the cycle, increasing the danger of ultraviolet radiation and global warming. I only tricked a few of you with this bullshit story. The solar cycle of sunspot activity exists, of course, but it is only about 11 years long, the latest cycle just concluded recently, and it definitely has nothing to do with long-term global warming trends.

Congrats to everyone who choose correctly! Current records with correct answer streaks in parentheses:

AIMS: 6-3 (3)
Angela: 8-1 (7)
Banjo: 2-0 (2)
Bankowitz: 5-4 (3)
Biggeth: 1-3 (1)
Bret: 2-7
Greg: 0-3
Lana D: 2-1
Marukka: 6-3 (4)
Mercurial Ohearn: 3-6 (1)
Mike Calimbas: 2-3
Pedestrian Player: 3-5
Rachel: 4-6 (2)
Sam I Am: 5-1 (4)
Seb: 3-6 (2)

I try to spot check the standings from time to time, but please let me know if your record doesn't look right.

Astoundingly cool pictures: A lightning storm generated by a Chilean volcano, the Dark Tower in Scorpius, and more galactic collisions!

Another study shows that Daylight Saving Time, in addition to being a colossal pain in the ass, actually increases energy costs.

The genome of the platypus has been decoded. And it's exactly as fucked up as you would have guessed.

A new study has found a link between autism and parents with mental disorders.

NASA is working with Intel and SGI on a supercomputer whose power will be measured in petaflops. That's 1,000,000,000,000,000 calculations per second. So many flops. The supercomputer, codenamed Pleiades, will be used for modeling and simulations. And playing Quake.

Also in NASA news, there is a press conference announced for Wednesday, May 14th at 1 PM EST, at which time they will reveal the discovery of an object in our galaxy that astronomers have been hunting for more than 50 years. Oh, please please please please please let it be the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

On the the challenge!

#1 - Scientists believe that deep inside of Mercury, iron 'snow' forms and falls like snowflakes towards the center of the planet. This is a possible explanation for the very strong magnetic field of the planet.

#2 - Spectroscopic analysis performed by the Cassini space probe has revealed a surprisingly high concentration of platinum in the outermost "A" ring of Saturn’s rings. The "A" ring, being the outermost, was expected to have the least amount of heavy metals of all of Saturn's rings.

#3 - According to researchers, when the asteroid slammed into the Yucatan peninsula 65 million years ago, carbon in the Earth's crust was liquified and formed tiny beads that rained back down across the entire planet. The beads are known today as carbon cenospheres and are produced during the burning of coal and crude oil.

And back by popular demand, Where (and What) the Hell is This?!?

Good luck, friends.

Lost 4.11 - Cabin Fever

2008-05-08T22:10:00.000-05:00

Dude.

Science or Bullshit 9 - Revenge of the Bullshit

2008-05-07T09:03:00.003-05:00

Again, sorry for the delay. It's all Biggeth's fault.

#3 - A team of scientists has discovered a new species of microbe living on the ocean floor which has the unique ability to "eat" natural gases without oxygen. The bacteria use sulfate instead of oxygen to metabolize natural gases into energy and organic matter. These microbes also have unusual and still-unknown enzymes that can break down hydrocarbons without heat and oxygen, offering potentially useful catalysts to synthesize compounds. This one is science, but it only caught two of you. I believe a lot of people discounted this one because of the Giant Tube Worms which famously live deep underwater around hydrothermal vents and tolerate high temperatures and sulfer levels. The tube worms, however, do use oxygen released by bacteria living within their plumes in a symbiotic relationship. These new microbes are something else entirely, but hey, you don't have to show your work in Science or Bullshit.

#2 - It has long been theorized that modern-day birds evolved from dinosaurs. A recent genetic sequencing of 68 million year old T Rex DNA has determined that the dinosaur's closest living relatives are chickens and ostriches. Consider that the next time you eat fajitas. No one was fooled by the revelation that chickens and T Rex are evolutionary cousins. This one is also science.

#1 - A solution to the long unsolved Valenzetti Equation has been discovered by a team of mathematicians at Princeton University. The equation, which deals with probabilistic predictions, is published in the American Journal of Mathematics, a peer-reviewed scientific journal. Which of course means that this story about the Valenzetti Equation, as most of you guessed, is bullshit. The Valenzetti Equation is entirely fictional and taken from the mythology of the tv show Lost. The Valenzetti Equation is a mathematical construct used to predict the end of humanity. The core values of the equation are 4, 8, 15, 16, 23, and 42. One of the goals of the Dharma Initiative is to change one of the core values and save the world. If you don't watch Lost you are dumb and unattractive. Unless of course you happen to read this blog, in which case you are brilliant and sexy, despite having questionable taste in entertainment.

The Where (and What) the Hell is This?!? photo, as Banjo correctly identified, is an image of Saturn's moon Titan, taken by the Huygen's probe as it descended through Titan's thick atmosphere and down to the surface.

Congrats to everyone who choose correctly! Current records with correct answer streaks in parentheses:

AIMS: 4-3 (1)
Angela: 7-1 (6)
Banjo: 1-0 (1)
Bankowitz: 4-4 (2)
Biggeth: 0-3
Bret: 2-6 (1)
Greg: 0-3
Lana D: 2-0 (2)
Marukka: 5-3 (3)
Mercurial Ohearn: 2-6
Mike Calimbas: 2-2 (2)
Pedestrian Player: 3-4 (1)
Rachel: 3-6 (1)
Sam I Am: 4-1 (3)
Seb: 2-6 (1)

Cool astronomy pictures: NGC 6188, the Milky Way above the Alborz Mountain Range, a solar eclipse in Antarctica, another image of the lightning storm on Saturn, and a galactic collision in NGC 3256.

For the Rock Jocks, the Montana Moss Agate display.

Astronomy Q&A from Fraser Cain:

How Far are the Planets from the Sun?
What is the Closest Star to Earth?
Why Does Jupiter Have the Great Red Spot?
Why Can't We Launch Garbage Into Space?

Dr. Steven Novella picks apart an essay titled Strategies for Dialoguing with Atheists.

On to the challenge!

#1 - Most of the stars in the universe end their lives as white dwarfs. Previously, there were only two known types of white dwarf: those that have an outer layer of hydrogen and those that have an outer layer of helium. Researchers at the University of Texas have recently confirmed the existence of a third type, a "pulsating carbon white dwarf".

#2 - Geologists at the University of Houston have completed a survey of the topography and elevation of Harris County using lasers directed at the ground from airplanes. They identified more that 300 surface fault lines.

#3 - The 17 year solar cycle, which determines the frequency and intensity of sunspots, is currently at the most active portion of the cycle, increasing the danger of ultraviolet radiation and global warming.

Good luck, friends!

Lost 4.10 - Something Nice Back Home

2008-05-01T22:04:00.001-05:00

Those wacky survivors. They just can't catch a break!

Comments?

Science or Bullshit 8 - The Bullshit Strikes Back

2008-05-01T10:20:00.007-05:00

Hello and welcome to another edition of Science or Bullshit. Please pass along a link to this blog to any of your friends or enemies who you believe may enjoy it, so that I may quit my job and become the Perez Hilton of the science blogging world.

We'll take the answers in order this week:

#1 - A study published in the American Journal of Human Genetics concludes that around 150,000 years ago, Homo sapiens split into two isloated groups which did not merge for as much as 100,000 years. The conclusions are based on analysis of mitochondrial DNA in present-day African populations. Only two of you picked this article which suggests that early humans were divided into two distinct and isolated groups before merging much, much later. This is science. It is thought that arid conditions drove a physical wedge between humans in eastern and southern Africa 150,000 years ago. An unrelated study has found mitochondrial evidence that these isolated groups were on the brink of extinction until they merged together.

#2 - Solar power has gotten a boost from a technological breakthrough in the configuration of dye-sensitized solar cells. A design technique clumping tiny kernals into large, porous spheres results in a doubling of efficiency in the low cost solar cells. Again, only two people picked this article about breakthroughs in solar panel technology which is also science. As I understand it, there has long been a dichotomy in solar panel constuction. "Smaller grains have bigger surface area per volume, and thus absorb more rays. But bigger clumps, closer to the wavelength of visible light, cause light to ricochet within the thin light-absorbing surface so it has a higher chance of being absorbed." The breakthrough came in clumping small grains together into popcorn-like balls. Seriously.

#3 - Astronomers studying galaxies from the early universe have discovered some suprisingly large galaxies. Using the Hubble Space Telescope, they discovered 6 galaxies which have similar mass to our own Milky Way galaxy, but are much larger, measuring up to 10 million light years in diameter. These galaxies existed 11 billion years ago, when the Universe was less than 3 billion years old. So, as many of you correctly picked, this story is bullshit. Though, as several of you guessed, it is bullshit rooted in truth. The recently discovered galaxies, rather than being super huge, were actually incredibly compact, measuring only 5000 light years across (compared to 100,000 light years for our own Milky Way) while having approximately the same mass as our own galaxy. The diameter I mentioned above, incidentally, is far in exceedence of the largest known galaxy, which measures approximately 6 million light years across.

So congrats to everyone who choose correctly! Current records with correct answer streaks in parentheses:

AIMS: 4-3 (1)
Angela: 6-1 (5)
Bankowitz: 3-4 (1)
Biggeth: 0-2
Bret: 1-6
Greg: 0-3
Lana D: 1-0 (1)
Marukka: 4-3 (2)
Mercurial Ohearn: 2-5 (1)
Mike Calimbas: 1-2 (1)
Pedestrian Player: 2-4 (1)
Rachel: 2-5
Sam I Am: 3-1 (2)
Seb: 1-6

Links for your play-sure:

This is pretty good fodder for the challenge, but I decided just to link to it directly. One of the possible outcomes of two galaxies colliding, is that one of the supermassive black holes at the center of one of the galaxies, could be flung out by the gravitational interaction. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute have observed this phenomenon for the first time.

A lightning storm has been raging on Saturn for 5 months straight. Cassini has images.

A collection of images of galactic collisions released by NASA. Have I linked to this before? It's worth taking a second look at. Some stunning pictures.

On to Science or Bullshit!

#1 - A solution to the long unsolved Valenzetti Equation has been discovered by a team of mathematicians at Princeton University. The equation, which deals with probabilistic predictions, is published in the American Journal of Mathematics, a peer-reviewed scientific journal.

#2 - It has long been theorized that modern-day birds evolved from dinosaurs. A recent genetic sequencing of 68 million year old T Rex DNA has determined that the dinosaur's closest living relatives are chickens and ostriches. Consider that the next time you eat fajitas.

#3 - A team of scientists has discovered a new species of microbe living on the ocean floor which has the unique ability to "eat" natural gases without oxygen. The bacteria use sulfate instead of oxygen to metabolize natural gases into energy and organic matter. These microbes also have unusual and still-unknown enzymes that can break down hydrocarbons without heat and oxygen, offering potentially useful catalysts to synthesize compounds.

And back by popular demand, Where (and What) the Hell is This?!?

Remember, the featured images are all taken by various spacecraft and can be from any of the 8 planets, 169 known moons, handful of dwarf planets, or abundant asteroids in our solar system.

Good luck everyone!

Science or Bullshit 7 - Insert Something Witty

2008-04-29T10:06:00.005-05:00

Sorry for the delay in posting results. My employers do not share my enthusiasm for SoB.

We'll take them in reverse order this week...

#3 - Researchers from Brown University have found evidence for thick, recurring glaciers on the surface of Mars. This means that the climate on Mars might be much more dynamic than previously believed. This one is science. The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter took pictures of a box canyon clearly showing moraines, deposits of rock marking the end of a glacier. There may have been glacier activity on Mars as recently as 10 million years ago.

#2 - Every month, just before and after the moon is full, the earth projects a magnetic 'tail' across the surface of the moon which could cause highly dangerous dust storms and discharges of static electricity, endangering any future lunar explorers. Believe it or not, this one is also science. The Earth is, of course, surrounded by a strong magnetic field. The solar wind causes the magnetic field to stretch out in a sort of tail in the 'downwind' direction. So, every month this tail sweeps across the surface of the moon. The dust storms and static electricity are caused by the rain of electrons giving the surface a negative charge.

#1 - Alpha Centauri, our nearest solar neighbor, has finally provided us with an exoplanet. Astronomer Mike Brown, best known for his discovery of Eris, found the 3-Jupiter mass planet orbiting its parent star at a distance less than 1/5 of the distance between our sun and Mercury. Congratulations to those of you who correctly identified this story as bullshit. The correct answer lay two lines above the question in the form of a link to Fraser Cane's blog article on Why Haven't Planets Been Detected Around Alpha Centauri? The good news is that since we haven't found a giant jupiter orbiting Alpha Centauri, it is far more likely that we will find smaller planets when the technology catches up, probably in 5 years or so.

The mystery image was, in fact, the Nukuoro Atoll. I'll post more of those as they come available.

Current standings with correct answer streaks in parentheses:

AIMS: 3-3
Angela: 5-1 (4)
Bankowitz: 2-4
Biggeth: 0-1
Bret: 1-5
Greg: 0-3
Marukka: 3-3 (1)
Mercurial Ohearn: 1-5
Mike Calimbas: 0-2
Pedestrian Player: 1-4
Rachel: 2-4 (1)
Sam I Am: 2-1 (1)
Seb: 1-5 (1)

Astronomy Pics: M86 in the Virgo Cluster, the Tarantula Nebula, and NGC 3582.

Fraser Cane answers some more Astronomy questions:

How Long Will Life Survive on Earth?
How Does the Earth Protect Us From Space?
Will the Large Hadron Collider Destroy the Earth?
Why are Distant Galaxies Moving Away Faster?
How Can Galaxies Recede Faster Than the Speed of Light?

Richard Dawkins writes an Open Letter to a victim of Ben Stein's lying propoganda.

On to the challenge!

#1 - A study published in the American Journal of Human Genetics concludes that around 150,000 years ago, Homo sapiens split into two isloated groups which did not merge for as much as 100,000 years. The conclusions are based on analysis of mitochondrial DNA in present-day African populations.

#2 - Solar power has gotten a boost from a technological breakthrough in the configuration of dye-sensitized solar cells. A design technique clumping tiny kernals into large, porous spheres results in a doubling of efficiency in the low cost solar cells.

#3 - Astronomers studying galaxies from the early universe have discovered some suprisingly large galaxies. Using the Hubble Space Telescope, they discovered 6 galaxies which have similar mass to our own Milky Way galaxy, but are much larger, measuring up to 10 million light-years in diameter. These galaxies existed 11 billion years ago, when the Universe was less than 3 billion years old.

Good luck!

Lost 4.09 - The Shape of Things to Come

2008-04-25T09:47:00.000-05:00

Comments?

Science or Bullshit 6.66 - SoB of the Beast

2008-04-24T14:57:00.016-05:00

Welcome back, friends. At least, those who still consider me a friend after they read the results...

Let's take them in order this week:

#1 - The Pioneer space probes were launched in the early 70s. They did their jobs and are now the most distant man-made objects in the solar system. However, both probes are 240,000 miles closer to the sun than they should be by scientists' calculations. The scientists are, naturally, baffled. This one is science. The Pioneer Anomaly is one of the most exciting topics in physics and still very much unexplained. The explanation, ultimately, could be as simple as a fuel leak or as unexpected as entirely new physics. For now, the evidence is still being gathered.

#2 - Adding 2 ounces of acetone for every 10 gallons of gas in your tanks engine will increase your MPG by 30-50%, according to studies confirmed by Chevron research laboratories. It works by decreasing surface tension which helps the gasoline to vaporize more completely in the combustion chamber and therefore burn more completely. This one is the bullshit. But, very very popular bullshit with a lot of proponents. A google search reveals a lot of links saying it's true. You have to dig a bit deep to find the science. The mythbusters took this one on a while ago, too.

#3 - The world's oldest known living tree, a 13-foot conifer, was recently discovered in Sweden. The root system has been growing for 9,550 years, since the end of the last ice age. So, sorry, guys. It's Yggsdrasil. Science! The key to this one is that the root system has been alive for 9,550 years, while the visible portion of the tree has a lifespan in the 600 year range. But everytime the trunk dies, a new one grows out of the existing root system. For those who were fooled by stories which claimed the tree is 8000 years old and thought I was messing with numbers, well, what can you do? If I mess with numbers (like I did for the starfish and exoplanet) I will try to make the numbers way out of the range of possibility to prevent confusion.

AIMS: 3-2 (2)
Angela: 4-1 (3)
Bankowitz: 2-3 (1)
Bret: 1-4
Greg: 0-3
Marukka: 2-3
Mercurial Ohearn: 1-4
Mike Calimbas: 0-2
Pedestrian Player: 1-3
Rachel: 1-4
Sam I Am: 2-1 (1)
Seb: 0-5

Links for yout pleasure:

The Fox Fur nebula, the Moon and Venus over Mauna Kea, Cygnus, and a collection of excellent new images from Hubble.

One of my favorite bloggers, Fraser Cain at Astronomy Today, has started a new feature in which he answers questions posted to his blog. Here's a few of them:

How Big Do Planets Get?
What is the Distance to the Moon?
What is the Far Side of the Moon?
What Kind of Star is Our Sun?
How Big is Apophis?
Why Do Stars Die?
Why are there Black Holes in the Middle of Galaxies?
Why Do Some Scientists Consider Pluto to Not Be a Planet?
Why Haven't Planets Been Detected Around Alpha Centauri?
Why Can't We Land on Mars?

On to the game! And we have a theme this week. Space!

#1 - Alpha Centauri, our nearest solar neighbor, has finally provided us with an exoplanet. Astronomer Mike Brown, best known for his discovery of Eris, found the 3-Jupiter mass planet orbiting its parent star at a distance less than 1/5 of the distance between our sun and Mercury.

#2 - Every month, just before and after the moon is full, the earth projects a magnetic 'tail' across the surface of the moon which could cause highly dangerous dust storms and discharges of static electricity, endangering any future lunar explorers.

#3 - Researchers from Brown University have found evidence for thick, recurring glaciers on the surface of Mars. This means that the climate on Mars might be much more dynamic than previously believed.

As an added challenge this week, try to identify what in the world this image is, taken by an orbiting spacecraft.

Good luck! And please pass along a link to this blog to anyone you think might enjoy it...

Battlestar Gallactica

2008-04-22T08:59:00.001-05:00

A discussion thread for season 4 of BSG. I'll bump it to the top after a new episode airs...

Science or Bullshit 5 - Pentagram of Awesomeness

2008-04-21T14:43:00.004-05:00

Sorry for the long weekend, there was golf to be played!

The results:

#3 - Scientists are baffled! A swarm of underwater earthquakes has been detected off the coast of Oregon, suggesting an impending volcanic eruption. The problem? There's no volcano there... No one seems worried about this news, which is science. Scientists are always baffled, you say. Underwater earthquakes off the coast of Oregon occur all the time, you tell me. Well, fine.

#2 - A new technique will impact how much we know about...impacts. By studying sediments found on the ocean floor and looking for isotopes of the rare element osmium, scientists can now figure out not only when a meteorite impact occurred in Earth’s history, but also the size of the meteorite. Only caught one of you with this story, and he was just being contrarian. This is science. It's all about the osmium.

#4 - Three more elements from the periodic table have received their official names as of April 14th, 2008. Atomic numbers 112, 113, and 114, formerly known by their temporary names Ununbium, Ununtrium, and Ununquadium are now called Feynmanium, Hawkingium, and Saturnium. Congrats to AIMS and Angela who saw through this bullshit story. I'd love for an element to be named after Richard Feynman, but so far, he's not a candidate. I made up all three of the names. Elements 112, 113, and 114 are still currently using the temporary names. I should have used Saganium instead of Saturnium. That was weak.

#1 - We have long been told by cosmologists that it is impossible to know what existed, if anything, before the big bang because no information can be carried through a singularity. A new theory involving Quantum Loop Gravity suggests that before the Big Bang, there existed a universe identical to our own, but entirely reversed. This story is actual science. QLG theory is some pretty weird stuff, but like String Theory and quarks, it's got legs. I'm not even going to try to summarize any of the science in this article.

Current standings:

AIMS: 2-2 (1)
Angela: 3-1 (2)
Bankowitz: 1-3
Biggeth: 0-1
Bret: 1-3
Greg: 0-2
Marukka: 2-2
Mercurial Ohearn: 1-3
Mike Calimbas: 0-2
Pedestrian Player: 1-2
Rachel: 1-3
Sam I Am: 1-1
Seb: 0-4

Quick links:

Pictures of things that twinkle in the night: Messier 63, the Southern Pinwheel galaxy, the Running Chicken nebula, NGC 2207 and IC 2163 colliding, and NGC 3718.

The War on Vaccines - A new vaccine was just released and is already getting sucked into the fight.

I'm going to switch to only 3 stories per Science or Bullshit challenge for a little while and see how it goes. Let me know which way you prefer. So without further ado...

#1 - The Pioneer space probes were launched in the early 70s. They did their jobs and are now the most distant man-made objects in the solar system. However, both probes are 240,000 miles closer to the sun than they should be by scientists' calculations. The scientists are, naturally, baffled.

#2 - Adding 2 ounces of acetone for every 10 gallons of gas in your tanks engine will increase your MPG by 30-50%, according to studies confirmed by Chevron research laboratories. It works by decreasing surface tension which helps the gasoline to vaporize more completely in the combustion chamber and therefore burn more completely.

#3 - The world's oldest known living tree, a 13-foot conifer, was recently discovered in Sweden. The root system has been growing for 9,550 years, since the end of the last ice age.

Good luck!

Science or Bullshit 4 in C-sharp minor, Op. 42

2008-04-16T14:26:00.005-05:00

Another day, another rousing game of Science or Bullshit.

Last week's results:

#2 - Scientists have found a way to modify skin cells so that they behave like embryonic stem cells. The technology has successfully been used to reduce symptoms of Parkinson’s disease in rats. Science. Didn't fool many with this exciting breakthrough. It's great news for people suffering or dying because Bush doesn't understand science. Or medicine. Or fractions.

#3 - Scientists discovered a huge volcano off the southwestern coast of Iceland, and think it may erupt at any time. The find is significant because scientists had previously thought that volcanoes could not form in that area of the ocean. Also science. The reason scientists would not have expected to find a volcano in that area is because it is located upon an oceanic ridge, a detail which may or may not have helped fool our resident geologist. The volcano is 1500 meters below the surface, but is absolutely massive with a caldera at its center measuring 10 kilometers in diameter. It's deep enough that it won't obliterate Iceland, but they are likely to experience resultant earthquakes.

#4 - Russia has a long history of scientific discovery and space exploration through the use of animals. Beginning with space dog Laika in 1957, the space program expanded to run tests on other dogs (many returned safely to Earth) and eventually monkeys. Although the monkey testing program was stopped through lack of funding in the mid-1990's, the nation has announced plans to send the closest relation to humans to a place where no man has gone before: Mars. Despite Rachel's warning that Russians are fucking crazy, I caught a few of you with this story which is science. Those crazy fuckers are actually planning on sending a macaque to space.

Which leaves #1 - On the island of Borneo, Indonesia, biologists have discovered a bird species which is able to absorb oxygen through its skin, allowing it to hunt for fish underwater for up to 10 minutes without surfacing. This adaptation is likely in response to the bird's habitat of rapidly flowing cold water, which holds more dissolved oxygen than warm water. As several of you recalled, the actual story I corrupted for this bullshit involved a species of lungless frogs. Although I've totally convinced myself that birds could evolve in the way described and I'm dedicating my life to either finding such a bird, or creating one in my underground laboratory.

Current records:

AIMS: 1-2
Angela: 2-1 (1)
Bankowitz: 1-2 (1)
Biggeth: 0-1
Bret: 1-2
Greg: 0-2
Marukka: 2-1 (1)
Mercurial Ohearn: 1-2
Mike Calimbas: 0-1
Pedestrian Player: 1-1
Rachel: 1-2
Sam I Am: 1-1
Seb: 0-3

Before the next SoB challenge, a few links:

Skepticism - Two hypotheses regarding the increase in rate of diagnoses of autism and Expelled Exposed, a website dedicated to debunking the lies being spewed forth by the Intelligent Design movie, Expelled.

Astronomy pictures - A collection of images hosted by geology.com and the protected night sky over Flagstaff.

On the the game!

#1 - We have long been told by cosmologists that it is impossible to know what existed, if anything, before the big bang because no information can be carried through a singularity. A new theory involving Quantum Loop Gravity suggests that before the Big Bang, there existed a universe identical to our own, but entirely reversed.

#2 - A new technique will impact how much we know about...impacts. By studying sediments found on the ocean floor and looking for isotopes of the rare element osmium, scientists can now figure out not only when a meteorite impact occurred in Earth’s history, but also the size of the meteorite.

#3 - Scientists are baffled! A swarm of underwater earthquakes has been detected off the coast of Oregon, suggesting an impending volcanic eruption. The problem? There's no volcano there...

#4 - Three more elements from the periodic table have received their official names as of April 14th, 2008. Atomic numbers 112, 113, and 114, formerly known by their temporary names Ununbium, Ununtrium, and Ununquadium are now called Feynmanium, Hawkingium, and Saturnium.

Good luck!

Science or Bullshit 3 - In 3D!

2008-04-14T16:04:00.005-05:00

Thanks again to everyone who participated!

I'll take the answers out of order, to build maximum suspense...

#2 - Stonehenge is being excavated for the first time in nearly 50 years in an attempt to more accurately determine the age and purpose of the prehistoric monument. No one was fooled by this one, which is science. In fact, the BBC is documenting it with a tv show and has a website full of details.

#4 - According to scientists at the University of Alaska museum, humans were hunting whales 3000 years ago. An ivory carving depicting whaling was discovered at the site of Un'en'en on Russia’s Chukotka Peninsula. Similarly, I didn't catch anyone with the prospect of people whaling 3000 years ago. This is science.

#3 - Last week, astronomers studying the Camelopardalis constellation discovered the largest exoplanet yet, XO-3b, measuring in at 18 jupiter-masses. I can already hear the howls crying 'foul'. This story is bullshit. And here's my defense. XO-3b is, indeed, the largest exoplanet discovered so far. It was discovered about a year ago. However, it is a mere 13 jupiter masses, and this size is so close to the theoretical maximum size of a planet, many astronomers believe that it is actually a brown dwarf. The actual story is that the smallest exoplanet yet found was discovered last week, weighing in at a tiny 5 earth masses. The team lead for the scientists believes that we are no more than a few years from discovering earth-sized planets.

#1 - A Cuneiform clay tablet that has puzzled researchers for over 150 years is now believed to describe an asteroid impact in 3123 BC in Austria. Researchers believe the tablet, which seemingly describes a cataclysmic event, may account for the biblical tale of Sodom and Gomorrah. This one, therefore, is science. And while I can apologize for a poor twist on the bullshit answer, I can not take blame for the wording of this particular story as I copied it directly from the Universe Today article. I agree with many of the comments that anything said to link to a biblical story is pretty suspect, however, the blurb did have a respectable number of believes, seeminglys, and may accounts.

I'll try to avoid controversial story tweaks as best I can, but if the Skeptic's Guide to the Universe version of the game is any indicator, there will always be howls of discontent. On to the current records!

AIMS: 1-1
Angela: 1-1
Bankowitz: 0-2
Biggeth: 0-1
Bret: 1-1 (1)
Greg: 0-2
Marukka: 1-0 (1)
Mercurial Ohearn: 1-1
Mike Calimbas: 0-1
Pedestrian Player: 1-0 (1)
Rachel: 1-1
Sam I Am: 1-1
Seb: 0-2

A few quick links...

Astronomy pictures: The earth from orbit, NGC 3199, another picture of Phobos, my favorite Martian moon, and the sky over Sweden.

For the rock jocks: Amazonite & Smoky Quartz.

On to the latest challenge:

#1 - On the island of Borneo, Indonesia, biologists have discovered a bird species which is able to absorb oxygen through its skin, allowing it to hunt for fish underwater for up to 10 minutes without surfacing. This adaptation is likely in response to the bird's habitat of rapidly flowing cold water, which holds more dissolved oxygen than warm water.

#2 - Scientists have found a way to modify skin cells so that they behave like embryonic stem cells. The technology has successfully been used to reduce symptoms of Parkinson’s disease in rats.

#3 - Scientists discovered a huge volcano off the southwestern coast of Iceland, and think it may erupt at any time. The find is significant because scientists had previously thought that volcanoes could not form in that area of the ocean.

#4 - Russia has a long history of scientific discovery and space exploration through the use of animals. Beginning with space dog Laika in 1957, the space program expanded to run tests on other dogs (many returned safely to Earth) and eventually monkeys. Although the monkey testing program was stopped through lack of funding in the mid-1990's, the nation has announced plans to send the closest relation to humans to a place where no man has gone before: Mars.

Best of luck!

Science or Bullshit 2: The Wrath of Khan

2008-04-10T12:34:00.008-05:00

I'm giddy about the response and participation. Thanks for humoring me. Hope you enjoyed the challenge. I've got plenty more news items waiting, so let's recap the previous game and get on to another challenge...

Starting from the bottom:

#4 - The ancient aztecs developed a specialized form of mathematics in order to measure tracts of taxable land. This is science. I think I could have worded this one a bit better and possibly caught a few of you with it. The arithmetic created by the Aztecs included complicated equations and fractions used to determine taxes on land.

#3 - The tuatara, a reptile species found in New Zealand, is the fastest evolving animal on earth according to DNA studies recovered from 8000 year old bones. This is also science. The twist here is that the lizards look basically the same as they did millions of years ago, but by comparing modern DNA to DNA recovered from 8000 year old bones, scientists found that the tuatara are evolving, genetically, at least, faster than any other animal studied so far.

#2 - Giant starfish, previously unknown to science, measuring up to 10 feet across were recently discovered off the coast of antarctica. As most of you guessed, this story is bullshit. But not entirely bullshit. A slew of new species were discovered recently during a 35-day census of antarctic waters. The new starfish, however, measured in at a mere 24 inches across. There's a great picture with the story.

#1 - A new study suggests that climate change caused Woolly Mammoth populations to plummet and human hunters only delivered the final death blow to an already weakened species. This, of course, is science. The theory is not so much new as the study which is the first to use combined population and climate change modeling to explain the mammoth's demise.

Congrats to everyone who choose correctly. Since a few of you asked, I will track everyone's record who participates. If you do not have the competitive drive and would like to participate without having your record posted, just let me know. Also, if you would like to be notified by email whenever a new SoB challenge is posted, let me know via email or in the comments section. Here are the current standings with correct answer streaks in parentheses:

AIMS: 1-0 (1)
Angela: 1-0 (1)
Bankowitz: 0-1
Bret: 0-1
Greg: 1-0 (1)
Marukka: 1-0 (1)
Mercurial Ohearn: 1-0 (1)
Mike Calimbas: 0-1
Rachel: 1-0 (1)
Sam I Am: 1-0 (1)
Seb: 0-1

A few quick links before the next challenge:

Some blog entries from some of my favorite skeptics on the subjects of Crop Circles, The Great Tantra Challenge, Brain Death, and Placebo Effects.

And some astronomy pictures: The Horsehead Nebula, NGC 6188, Phobos, and the Stickney Crater on Phobos.

And some pretty rock pictures: Corundumundumundums!

On to the challenge! Once again, 4 science stories. 3 real. 1 bullshit.

#1 - A Cuneiform clay tablet that has puzzled researchers for over 150 years is now believed to describe an asteroid impact in 3123 BC in Austria. Researchers believe the tablet, which seemingly describes a cataclysmic event, may account for the biblical tale of Sodom and Gomorrah.

#2 - Stonehenge is being excavated for the first time in nearly 50 years in an attempt to more accurately determine the age and purpose of the prehistoric monument.

#3 - Last week, astronomers studying the Camelopardalis constellation discovered the largest exoplanet yet, XO-3b, measuring in at 18 jupiter-masses.

#4 - According to scientists at the University of Alaska museum, humans were hunting whales 3000 years ago. An ivory carving depicting whaling was discovered at the site of Un'en'en on Russia’s Chukotka Peninsula.

Good luck to everyone!

Science or Bullshit

2008-04-09T18:50:00.004-05:00

Ok, friends. Rather than posting a bunch of links no one reads, I'm stealing a page from the Skeptics' Guide to the Universe podcast and challenging you to a rousing game of Science or Bullshit.

I will post a number of science stories. One of them is bullshit. I'm placing you on the honor system to take your best shot at an answer without simply googling all the stories. But, I guess if you do cheat, well, at least you're reading some of the science stories, right? The bullshit story may be entirely fabricated or simply twisted from an acutal science story.

After some amount of time has passed, I'll reveal the bullshit story. If you enjoy the game at all, I'll keep it up. On to your first challenge:

1. A new study suggests that climate change caused Woolly Mammoth populations to plummet and human hunters only delivered the final death blow to an already weakened species.

2. Giant starfish, previously unknown to science, measuring up to 10 feet across were recently discovered off the coast of antarctica.

3. The tuatara, a reptile species found in New Zealand, is the fastest evolving animal on earth according to DNA studies recovered from 8000 year old bones.

4. The ancient aztecs developed a specialized form of mathematics in order to measure tracts of taxable land.

Ebola Vaccine, Ancient Feces, and Levitating Frogs

2008-04-03T14:05:00.004-05:00

Haven't seen this hit the major news feeds yet (of course, I don't read the major news feeds), but some potentially awesome news on the medical front. Researchers believe they have created a vaccine for the Ebola virus. Testing has been successful in primates and they are now looking to adapt the vaccine for human testing. Even more awesomerist is the researchers hope that "the findings from their studies will provide important insights that will improve or accelerate the future development of vaccines for other haemorrhagic fever viruses like Marburg virus, and agents such as HIV and avian influenza." Go, science!

For those who need more convincing, another study has been released which shows that there is no connection between solar activity and global warming.

A cave in Oregon has yielded 14,300-year-old feces thought to be the oldest biological evidence of humans in North America. “The pre-Clovis genie is sort of out of the bottle, and there’s no way of stuffing it back in,” commented Southern Methodist University archaeologist David Meltzer. Ancient feces is exactly the kind of thing I want on this blog.

Omega Centauri is a strange thing. It's been classified as a star, then a nebula, then a globular cluster and now it's thought to be a dwarf galaxy missing its outer stars. Why is it in such a mess? How can this oddball galaxy be explained? New research suggests it has an intermediate-black hole living in its core, giving astronomers the best idea yet as to where supermassive black holes come from. Omega Centauri might hold one of the most profound secrets as to how the largest objects in the observable universe are born… (Read more)

Finally, Dr. Steven Novella has a few words about levitating frogs and free energy.

Only one pretty picture for you today, but it's a good one: South of Orion.

Earth Hour, Brain Tumors, and UFOs! Oh, My!

2008-04-02T11:20:00.004-05:00

I didn't even hear about Earth Hour until it was too late. Strange, since it appears that just about every other person in every other country on the planet participated. Noble gesture, though. I'll be on the look out for it next year. And I'll power down at least some of my computers, I promise.

A recent discovery on earth has given us a clue as to what to look for on Mars to detect past life. Cellulose, preserved in salt deposits on earth, date to 250 million years ago, making it the oldest biological substance ever recovered. This coincides nicely with the ancient salt deposits discovered last week on Mars.

FBI agents have determined that a parachute discovered in southwestern Washington did not belong to D.B. Cooper, who hijacked a plane in 1971, jumped from it, and disappeared. They'll never catch Coop.

Worried about getting brain tumors from talking on your cell phone? Here's an update on the results from the latest studies.

Finally, an excellent article dealing with the arguments of UFO believers.

This Post Owes Everything to Angie

2008-04-01T14:57:00.005-05:00

Angie's gentle taunting for a lack of geology news has prompted me to subscribe to feeds for geology and archaeology, two of my favorite branches of science that I know nothing about.

Here's a few geology-ish links:

How does the most powerful microscope in the world sound? Recently installed at the DoE's National Center for Electron Microscopy, the TEAM 0.5 microscope is capable of producing images with half-angstrom resolution. That's less than half the diameter of a hydrogen atom to you and me.

Emeralds and hiddenite in North Carolina? Huh. Some pretty impressive specimens on display.

Finally, some photos of the recent Kilauea eruption.

And some Indiana Jonesian links:

Lumps of black manganese pigment crafted into drawing implements indicate that Neanderthals communicated, and imply that they could speak, according to Francesco d’Errico of the University of Bordeaux. Such drawing tools have been found at 39 Neanderthal sites across Europe.

Scientists from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have played back a phonautograph made in 1860.

A jawbone and teeth dating between 1.1 and 1.2 million years ago were discovered at Sima del Elefante, in Spain’s Atapuerca region. “It is the oldest human fossil yet found in Western Europe,” said Jose Maria Bermudez de Castro of Spain’s National Research Center on Human Evolution.

And one last quick astronomy story for the day:

Scientists have discovered a little itty-bitty black hole. The smallest ever detected at a mere 3.8 solar masses.

Holy Linkitude, Batman

2008-04-01T10:14:00.004-05:00

I have been remiss. Lots of good articles have been piling up.

First, some science and medicine:

The fallability of memory is something that has been on my mind a lot lately. Research is showing more and more that our memories simply are not as dependable as we think we are. How many times have you argued with someone regarding a conversation you had in which you both insist that something different was said? There's a good chance that you're both wrong.

"One of the greatest challenges in medicine can sometimes be to convince patients that the results of scientific and medical research apply to them, or, at the very least, to explain how such results apply." How do we overcome the human tendency towards anecdotal evidence and convince people to accept science- and evidence-based medicine?

My dad is an Ob/Gyn, and not surprisingly, I've heard a lot of horror stories about home births gone bad. Recently there was a movie called The Business of Being Born, which takes a look at both home births and hospital births in America. Harriet Hall reviews the movie and makes some excellent points.

One area of skepticism in which I am most interested and yet have the hardest time sorting through the muck is that of supplements and nutrition. Taking useful supplements without supporting quackery is a very fine line. Recently, a popular supplement, Airborne, got a 23.3 million dollar slap on the wrist resulting from a class-action lawsuit which found the company guilty of false advertising. The product claimed to ward off the common cold. This may sounds like a small victory for science-based medicine, but it really only shows how far we have to go.

One quick note on the anti-vaccination front. The recent Hanna Poling case was an unfortunate step backwards when the government decided that "compensation was appropriate." The Vaccine Compensation Court maintains a fund to compensate anyone who is legitimately injured by a vaccine. Previously, the legal standard of preponderance of evidence was used to decide a case. However, the standard has been lowered. Petitioners no longer need to present evidence that a particular vaccine causes the type of injury alleged, they just have to present a biologically plausible mechanism for possible injury.

Dr. Novella offers an excellent summary of the thinly-veiled attempt to re-label creationism as a scientific theory called Intelligent Design, and why this can not be considered a scientific theory.

I am often told that I need to "keep an open mind" by those whose particular sacred cow is being attacked by logic and reason. My reaction is to strangle them dead while screaming, "You're the closed-minded one you ignorant fucker!!!" Novella does not endorse my approach, but he did write an excellent article on the subject of keeping an open mind.

I've got an overwhelming number of Astronomy links. A lot has happened in a short period of time. I'll try to be consise:

Researchers at the University of Hawaii have discovered deposits of salt on Mars which are very promising sites to search for evidence of life.

The Casini spacecraft has found evidence of underground oceans of water and ammonia on Saturn's moon Titan.

A missing link in the evolution of our solar system is early asteroids. 4.5 billion years ago, the first materials began to condense from gasses into solid particles. This material had a high concentration of calcium and aluminum. The current model of the formation of the solar system predicts very old asteroids with high concentrations of these materials. After all this time, scientists have finally found a few.

I've never understood the fascination with the question of whether a boomerang will work in space. Well, if it's been keeping you up at night, here's an answer.

Thanks to NASA's Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe, we have the most precise ever measurement of the age of the universe. A youthful 13.73 billion years (+/- 120 million).

In the beginning, an absolutely mind-boggling amount of matter and anti-matter was created. Fractions of a second later, they combined, annihilating each other, and releasing the incredible energy which drove the expansion of the universe. The obvious question, of course, is why is was there more matter than antimatter, resulting in the worlds we see today. Curious? Read on...

Enough thinking! Pretty pictures!

The Cat's Eye Nebula.

Galaxies M81 & M82, which have been locked in gravitational combat for a billion years. They'll effectively merge together in a few more billion.

The NGC 3576 Nebula.

The N44 complex.

Spiral Galaxy NGC 2841.

Lost - 4.08 - Meet Kevin Johnson

2008-03-20T21:20:00.000-05:00

Bwaaaaaaaaa!!!!

Toasters. I Hate These Guys.

2008-03-20T12:17:00.003-05:00

What's the matter? Too much science, not enough bubblegum? Well, here's some entertainment for you.

The 4th season of Battlestar Galactica premiers on April 4th. I was pretty tough on the 3rd season, particularly the New Caprica plot line with its fat Apollo and it's distinct lack of exploding Cyclons. But the recent Razor episode rekindled my hope for the rest of the show. I'm definitely looking forward to the final season.

Other BSG news includes the pilot for the prequel series, Caprica, finally being green-lighted and some 4th season webisodes being prepared, presumably to get us through a season break.

More information can be found here.

So Much Science, Where Does It All Come From?

2008-03-19T15:54:00.004-05:00

How about a little...

Science!

Wanna chat telepathically? Oh, yes. Technology is teh awesome. With a little practice and a neckband device from Texas Instruments, you too can chat via non-vocal nerve signals sent from your brain to your vocal cords.

Harriet Hall blogs about Neuroplasticity, the changes that occur in the organization of the brain as a result of experience. New research indicates that the brain is far more malleable than had been thought previously.

A meteorite which impacted in Peru last year appears to have been traveling 40 to 50 times faster than it should have. Looks like the conventional theory is going to have to be examined. You may recall this particular impact from the news because many people who went to the impact site became very ill. Unfortunately, it turned out that it was not a space virus, but the result of arsenic-containing water which was vaporized by the impact being inhaled by the curious bystanders. Oh, well.

In other space news, Saturn's rings are disappearing. At the current rate, they'll be gone by fall of 2009. But don't panic. It's actually an optical illusion called "ring plane crossing" which results from the tilt of Saturn's orbit and rotation allowing us a perfect side-on view of the rings. It's a 14-year cycle which astronomers get excited about because it gives them a rare opportunity to view Saturn's moons without the glare from the rings.

As long as we're talking space, the Hubble Telescope has detected organic molecules on an exoplanet. Sadly, this doesn't mean life (Jim, but not as we know it). But it does mean methane, which plays a role in pre-biotic life. It's an exciting advancement, regardless.

Coming back down to earth, or almost to earth, scientists have discovered that gravity waves in the atmosphere can energize tornados. I don't know that that means either, but there are some very cool pictures.

Moving on to some skepticism, we have a new blog post by Steven Novella concerning the stem cell pseudoscience of Dr. Hongyun Huang, who attempted to con the world into believing that he has miraculously cured his patients using stem cell therapy.

And lastly, a nod to Anonymous, taking the fight to Scientology!

As always (well, sometimes), I leave you with...

Pretty Pictures!

Mercury, in accentuated color.

M78 and reflecting dust clouds in Orion. Wow!

I'm Depressed

2008-03-18T23:20:00.003-05:00

Arthur C. Clarke, author, inventor, futurist.

12/16/1917 - 03/19/2008

Goodbye, Mr. Clarke. I hope the world starts to live up to your visions.

Biggest Blog Post Ever

2008-03-17T14:09:00.004-05:00

So many links. So very many links. Brace yourself. Let's start with some...

Medicine & Skepticism!

More misleading articles have been published suggesting that autism is caused by vaccines. Dr. Steven Novella takes them to task, but the damage is done. In an un-related post, he blogs about Jenny McCarthy's influence and the damage it has done to science. Another article by Dr. Novella discusses the unfortunate re-branding of nutrition as alternative to scientific medicine.

Harriet Hall blogs about the quackery of chiropractics. Dr. Novella reports on an illuminating study of the Placebo Effect. And then again about the effectiveness of Anti-depressives. Does Novella ever sleep?

Apparently not, because he continues his run with articles on false memories and faciliated testimonies in the courtroom.

Only other news I have on the skepticism front is that a pilot TV show is being filmed called The Skeptologists. Sort of a cross between Mythbusters and Bullshit!, it features a hell of a cast including Dr. Phil Plait, the Bad Astronomer, Dr. Michael Shermer, publisher of Skeptic magazine, Yau-Man Chan, a phycisist and veteran of the Survivor reality series, Dr. Kirsten Sanford, a physiologist, Mark Edwards, a professional mentalist, and Dr. Steven Novella, a neurologist and blogger without whom this blog entry would be much, much smaller.

Dr. Novella's prodigious blogging output is impressive, but he didn't stand a chance against all the links I've got regarding....

Astronomy!

After 5-years of collecting WMAP data, the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe has yielded some damned impressive findings, including the age of the universe, the background sea of cosmic neutrinos, and refining our knowledge of the inflationary period of universal expansion.

The current title-holder of largest telescope in the world, the Large Binocular Telescope, came online a week ago. The telescope is comprised of two 8.4 meter telescopes which are able to work together to collect the light of an 11.4 meter telescope.

Good news for those of us holding out hope of finding a nearby earth-substitute when we're done wrecking this one, researchers have concluded that using current, established techniques, we can detect if Alpha Centauri has earth-like planets. Now, all we need is the telescope time.

Unfortunately, we'll probably die trying to get there. An experiment performed on the Space Shuttle Endeavour recently found that bacteria bred in space are far more potent than those bred on Earth. I, for one, welcome our new bacterial overlords.

An image taken by HiRISE, the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment, found an excellent place to look for life on Mars. The dried-up lake bed is one of 6 possible landing sites for the Mars Science Laboratory which launches next year.

Also in the area of life in the universe is some recent data from the Spitzer Space telescope revealing huge quantities of water and organic compounds around the star AA-Tauri, a mere 450 light years from Earth. AA-Tauri is a very young star and quite like our own sun in its infancy. This is an excellent chance to study the evolution of our own solar system.

There's more evidence of panspermia, after researchers found meteorites with concentrations of amino acids ten times greater than previously measured. Also in meteor news, life apparently thrived after the earth was bombarded by meteors during the Ordovician period.

And just in case you understood all of that, here's an article about measuring the emissions from the fifth dimension when black holes explode. Seriously.

Finally, an article just for Angie...

Angie!

The earth has an inner inner core. A core inside it's inner core. Geologists determined this using science because they wanted newer textbooks.

My brain hurts. Here's a bunch of pretty pictures:

Pretty Pictures!

The M104 spiral galaxy.

An avalanche on Mars.

The South Pillar region of the Carina Nebula.

Supernova remnant N132D.

The exhaust column from the Space Shuttle Endeavour.

And a close-up of Saturn's moon Enceladus.

If you dig the pictures, check out Google Sky.

Lost 4.07 - Yi Jeon

2008-03-14T07:29:00.000-05:00

So, what did y'all think?

Lost 4.06 - The Other Woman

2008-03-06T14:11:00.001-06:00

Can it get any better than last week?

Gygax

2008-03-04T23:03:00.003-06:00

Lost 4.05 - The Contant

2008-02-28T19:54:00.000-06:00

Mere moments away!

UFC 82 Analysis

2008-02-28T10:38:00.004-06:00

For what it's worth, here's my breakdown of the fights, my picks, and how I would bet if I were so inclined (Gambling is illegal at Bushwood; and I never slice!)

Preliminary Bouts

Lightweight - Jorge Gurgel (11-4) (-250) vs. John Halverson (16-5) (+190)

Gurgel is 2-3 in the UFC, with victories over only the worst of tomato cans. He may be Rich Franklin's JJ coach with a bunch of submission victories in the minors, but he clearly can't hang even with his fellow TUF alumni. Halverson's only UFC fight was a 19 second beatdown by Roger Huerta. My gut instinct is that they've brought Halverson in to lose to a fighter that for no apparent reason the UFC wants to be successful. I'm not sure I see it happening. I foresee a snoozefest with Halverson winning on their feet and a stalemate on the ground. Halverson by decision. And definitely a good investment at +190.

Welterweight - Josh Koscheck (9-2) (-500) vs. Dustin Hazelett (11-3) (+350)

Starting in 2006, Koscheck put together a 6-fight winning streak, ending only with a decision loss by GSP. In which he was handled, granted, but he's clearly stepped up to a higher level. Hazelett is a talented up-and-comer (and a member of Team Gurgel, go figure) with excellent submissions and a UFC loss only to Tony DeSouza, the Geico Caveman. Are his subs good enough to catch a 4-time Division I All American wrestler who trains MMA as hard as anyone? Damned unlikely. Koscheck by decision in a dry-humping extravaganza. Save your money on this one.

Welterweight - Diego Sanchez (17-2) (-550) vs. David Bielkheden (10-5) (+350)

Dirty Sanchez, my least favorite fighter in the universe gets his revenge match. After being decisioned in humiliating fashion by Koscheck (ending his cherished 17-fight winning streak) and getting out-pointed by Jon Fitch, Diego will be summoning every ounce of Jesus Juice, Magic Energy, and Stupidity he can. And that's a lot. After losing 3 of his last 5 fights, Bielkheden is making his UFC debut. Don't expect it to last very long. Sanchez by TKO (ref stoppage due to strikes) early in the first round. Don't consider making even a friendly wager on this one. Unless you're betting the over/under on the 25 second mark of round one.

Welterweight - Luke Cummo (8-4) (-160) vs. Luigi Fioravanti (11-3) (+130)

Luke Cummo may be my favorite underdog fighter in the UFC. He's the scrappy nerd who learned to hit people in the face from Mr. Miyagi after getting his trombone stolen by the football team one too many times. His 4 loses are all by decision, while 6 of his wins are by TKO or submission. He always brings the fight. And he's never more than a single wacky, unorthodox strike away from victory. Luigi is 2-3 in the Octagon. No one is sure why he keeps getting invited back. If there is any justice in the world, Cummo will send him back to the minors. Both of these guys are strikers, but Cummo has a ground game which Luigi does not share. This fight is close to even on paper, but I give Cummo an advantage in skill and intelligence. If things aren't going well on the feet, expect a takedown. Cummo by decision or late ref stoppage. Or maybe TKO. At +130 Luigi isn't a terrible bet, but I don't see the payout as being worth the risk.

Heavyweight - Andrei Arlovski (11-5) (-360) vs. Jake O'Brien (8-0) (+280)

Since losing to Pedro Rizzo in 2002, former UFC heavyweight champion Arlovski has won 8 out of 10 fights, with loses only to the Shartiac, Tim Sylvia. He's a small heavyweight, but he's got great hands and killer submissions. O'Brien is a strong wrestler who blanketed Heath Herring to a decision. This is a very tough fight to pick. O'Brien will want to take this to the ground. Arlovski may or may not want that to happen. If he can keep it standing, Arlovski will likely pick him apart. On the ground, Andrei may be able to catch him in a nasty leg submission. But there is also a strong chance that O'Brien can lay on top of him for 15 minutes and take the decision. I'm going to pick Arlovski by TKO in the second, but I don't think throwing a few dollars on O'Brien is a bad call at all.

Main Card

Welterweight - Jon Fitch (16-2) (-600) vs. Chris Wilson (12-3) (+400)

Jon Fitch is one victory away from tying Royce Gracie's record of 8 consecutive UFC wins. He is next in line for a title shot in the completely befucked welterweight division, but opted to take this fight in the meantime to stay active. Chris Wilson is screwed. He's making his octagon debut against a fighter who completely outclasses him. It would take a miracle for him to win this fight. Fitch by RNC in the first round. No one but Chris Wilson's mother would bet a dime on this match.

Middleweight - Chris Leben (12-5) (-130) vs. Alessio Sakara (12-6) (100)

Leben has won 7 out of his 10 fights in the UFC, but only 2 of his last 5. He's a gamer with heavy hands who is not afraid to stand in front of a superior striker. Sakara is nearly identical, but possibly not as tough. Expect these two to stand in the center of the ring until one of them really connects. Could be either. Could be at any time. Or never. This is a total pick em. For the sake of completeness, I'll say Leben by TKO round 2. If you're a gambling man, flip a coin and make a bet.

Middleweight - Evan Tanner (32-6) (+160) vs. Yushin Okami (21-4) (-200)

Tanner is possibly my favorite fighter of all time. The guy taught himself submissions by watching videotapes and practicing in his garage. Then he won 19 of his first 20 fights. He's been a Pancrase and UFC champion. Unfortunately, he's spent most of the last 3 years drinking heavily and gambling away his life. There's absolutely no predicting which Tanner we'll see. We know exactly what we'll see in Okami, though. 5-1 in the UFC, losing only to Franklin. Logic says he'll beat an exhausted and over-the-hill Tanner into a ref stoppage. But there's a part of me that just can't bet against Tanner, no matter how many beers he drank last night. I'll pick Okami by decision, but I'd put some money on Tanner.

Heavyweight - Heath Herring (27-13) (+125) vs. Cheick Kongo (10-3-1) (-155)

Herring is another favorite of mine. He loses a lot to top competition, but he's a heavyweight with subs. He's had a rough start in the UFC, but this is the kind of fight he should excel in. Kongo has had a good run in the UFC including a victory over Crocop. But he's shown that he has absolutely no ground game at all. If Herring is smart enough not to stand in front of Kongo and get knocked out, he should easily be able to take the fight to the ground and tap him out. I'm picking Herring by first round submission (RNC). And I would definitely throw a few bucks at it +125.

Middleweight Title - Anderson Silva (20-4) (-140) vs. Dan Henderson (22-6) (+110)

Almost impossible to pick a winner. Silva is a deadly striker on a huge winning streak. His only legit loss in the last few years was to Ryo Chonan's absurd arcade game flying heel hook submission. But Silva hasn't fought a guy like Hendo. Henderson has fought and beaten some of the best fighters at the world both at middleweight and heavyweight. He's a top-notch wrestler with heavy hands and a very very solid chin. His loses are all by decision except for a pair of arm-bars from the Nog brothers. I don't think Silva can hang with Henderson for 5 rounds of war. If Henderson can stay out of the clinch and avoid taking serious damage he should be able to score a late stoppage or decision. Henderson by decision.

A Smattering of Science

2008-02-27T15:19:00.003-06:00

A few tidbits I found worth sharing....

The Encyclopedia of Life has finally launched, though it's servers are being crushed, so if you can't connect, try again later. This is a project I've been keeping an eye on for a very long time. The ultimate goal of the site is to have extensive information on every species of known life. Very cool.

One of my favorite pointless debates in science is what will happen to the earth when the sun supernovas. The simple answer is that it will be baked like Woody Harrelson. But the debate occurs over whether the earth will be physically consumed by the swelling star, like Mercury and Venus, or will escape consumption by moving to a more distant orbit as a result of the sun shedding mass during the baking process. Here's the latest best guess based on the latest best models.

Liquid Mirror Telescopes are the coolest things in the world all by themselves. But now some crazy fuckers are using nano-tech to create a tiltable LMT, which was previously assumed to not be feasible. The full article is way over my head but has a very cool picture.

According to a study published in Astrobiology, materials containing microorganisms ejected from the earth by an asteroid or comet, could seed life on other worlds. This is called lithopanspermia. Which is Greek for 'all rocks are sperm'. I think.

A handful of blog posts from my heroes at Science-Based Medicine: David Gorski blogs about the myths surrounding vaccinations. Harriet Hall writes about the overuse of antibiotics in treating sinusitis. And Steven Novella tells us about anti-scientific medicine in South Africa.

Some pretty pictures for you: The Eagle Nebula and an image of a galaxy in ultraviolet taken by the Swift satellite.

Finally, a comic depicting what I know will inevitably happen to me someday. I'll be ready.

Lost 4.04 - Eggtown

2008-02-22T08:20:00.001-06:00

Comments inside.

La Luna!

2008-02-20T09:47:00.002-06:00

There will be a lunar eclipse tonight, starting at around 7 and ending shortly before 10. Assuming we can actually see the sky, it should look fantastic even to the unaided eye. If you have a pair of binoculars or a telescope, all the better. This will be the last lunar eclipse until late 2010, so try not to miss it...

Is Science Faith-Based?

2008-02-19T15:45:00.002-06:00

Phil Plait, the Bad Astronomer, blogs about one of the typical tactics used by the anti-science, flat-earth Creationists:

Science is not based on faith. Science is based on evidence. We have evidence it works, vast amounts of it, billions of individual pieces that fit together into a tapestry of reality. That is the critical difference. Faith, as it is interpreted by most religions, is not evidence-based, and is generally held tightly even despite evidence against it. In many cases, faith is even reinforced when evidence is found contrary to it.

Read the full post.

Audrey Lee Beeton

2008-02-16T08:02:00.001-06:00

Congrats to Sebastian and Angela Beeton on the birth of their second daughter, Audrey Lee Beeton at 3:35 AM on February 16th, 2008!

Lost 4.03 - The Economist

2008-02-15T08:35:00.002-06:00

Discuss. Now! (Not you, Sam. You stay the fuck out of this thread.)

The Clone Wars

2008-02-14T17:19:00.005-06:00

The next major Star Wars tv/movie release will be hitting this summer. The animated Clone Wars will kick off with a movie on August 15th and follow with a weekly television show on Cartoon Network. The series will take place during the clone wars, obviously, and will initially focus on a new character, Anakin's padawan, Ahsoka.

(Read the full article)

Ba Da Dum Dummm, Ba Da Dummm!

2008-02-14T15:56:00.000-06:00

Lost Update: Strike Endeth

2008-02-13T11:21:00.003-06:00

The brutally long WGA strike has ended. What does it mean for Lost? Carlton will tell you.

The two main points from the interview:
1) The aim is to produce FIVE more episodes of Season 4. This is three fewer than the eight scheduled before the strike occurred; the season's total will be 13 eps.
2) The entire order of 48 episodes for Seasons 4-5-6 will still be delivered-- that leaves 35 episodes to be split between Seasons 5-6.

In other words:
Season 4 is to be re-written to end with the same storyline elements as previously written, but in only 5 episodes. The three "lost" Lost episodes will somehow fill in the story arc of the remaining last two seasons.

Another lesser point is that there will be at least a 4 week hiatus between the broadcast of 4x08 and the new 4x09.

(Read the whole interview)

Darwin Day

2008-02-12T13:14:00.000-06:00

Today is Darwin Day! And being so close to Valentine's, I give you a gift...

Lost 4.02 - Confirmed Dead

2008-02-08T09:32:00.000-06:00

Let's hear it! What did you think?

Strike Out?

2008-02-08T07:51:00.000-06:00

Looks like the writer's strike may be all but over. From what I understand, it's gone on too long to get back on track for shows like Lost this season, so it's unknown if they will shorten the season or simply delay the second half of the season. But at least the end is in sight. Here's the article.

We Are All Frank Sinatra Stuff

2008-02-05T14:11:00.000-06:00

I came across this in the Truth or Fiction segment of the Skeptic's Guide to the Universe podcast and was utterly fooled.

People with blue eyes have a single, common ancestor, according to new research.

A team of scientists has tracked down a genetic mutation that leads to blue eyes. The mutation occurred between 6,000 and 10,000 years ago. Before then, there were no blue eyes.

(read more)

Fisted, Globally

2008-02-05T09:27:00.000-06:00

The latest news on the End of Life As We Know It...

Nine key geographical factors have been highlighted as Earth's critical climate controllers most at risk of slipping past their "tipping points". This means that once damage reaches a certain point, there can be no recovery; the damage will continue in a downward spiral, amplifying global warming and environmental damage on historic scales. And as if climate news couldn't get any worse, one such tipping point is only a year away…

(read more)

Lost Fans: Start Your Engines

2008-01-29T09:00:00.000-06:00

Leading up to the 4th season premier, ABC has released a series of webisodes for Lost called Lost: Missing Pieces. Each is 2-3 minutes long and can take place at any point in the time line. Below are my spoiler-filled comments, so give the webisodes a look-see before reading.

Here there be spoilers!

1. The Watch. On the eve of Jack's wedding to Sarah, his father gives him a gift of a watch, passed to him by his own father before his own wedding. This brief scene goes a long way towards developing Jack's relationship with his father. 4 out of 5 stars just for the performance.

2. The Adventures of Hurley and Frogurt. An amusing scene between Hurley and one of the nameless survivors (well, named Neil, technically). Hurley is preparing for his picnic with Libby when he is approached by Neil who wants to take a shot at her (I'm guessing this scene takes place at about the same time that Michael is taking a shot at her). Hurley smacks Neil down with verve. 3 out of 5 stars because nothing interesting happens and it's a little weird to think about Libby getting gutshot.

3. King of the Castle. Hidden meanings! Symbolism! Jack and Ben share a quiet conversation while playing a game of chess during Jack's time spent with the Others. Brilliantly written and brilliantly acted. 5 out of 5 stars. This scene is almost too good to have appeared in the middle of an episode.

4. The Deal. Juliet accepts a captive Michael's demands for freedom on behalf of the Others. This scene reveals little that we haven't already seen about Michael's motivations for saving Walt and Juliet's reasons for staying on the island. This is the kind of scene I expect to see on the bonus disc of the DVDs, having been cut out of the show for general pointlessness. 2 out of 5 stars.

5. Operation: Sleeper. Juliet confronts Jack at the beach camp and tells him that she is still working for Ben. It fills in a gap that we already knew the basic contents of, but it's a decent scene, regardless. 3 out of 5 stars for the performance alone.

6. Room 23. There is an incident at the Hydra station (I think) where the Others are presumably holding Walt. Juliet and Ben have a conversation about Walt, how special/dangerous he is, and why is he being held there. Good scene which puts a nail in the coffin of the debate about whether Walt actually has any sort of supernatural powers. 4 out of 5 stars.

7. Artz and Crafts. Pointless scene with minimal comic relief value featuring our old friend Artz (BLAM) trying to convince Sun, Jin, Hurley, and Michael not to move to the caves with Jack, Kate, and Locke. 2 out of 5 stars.

8. Buried Secrets. Sun goes into the forest to bury the California Driver's License she would have used as part of her new identity after leaving Jin. Michael stumbles upon her while looking for Vincent (they never get tired of that plot device, do they?). Sun and Michael share a rather surprising moment. 3 out of 5 stars because I can't quite figure out how to feel about this scene.

9. Tropical Depression. Michael asks Artz about the winds for a possible launching of the raft. Artz admits that he made up his spiel about the monsoon season and bores Michael with his backstory. Highly amusing scene. 4 out of 5 stars.

10. Jack, Meet Ethan. Ethan? Jack. Shortly after the plane crash, Ethan arrives at Jack's tent to bring him a suitcase full of medicine he found in the forest. We possibly see a side of Ethan we haven't seen before. 3 out of 5 stars for not being terribly interesting.

11. Jin Has a Temper-Tantrum on the Golf Course. Jin goes positively batshit after missing a putt and losing to Hurley and Michael. Cute scene which serves to give Jin some much needed screen time. Nothing remotely interesting happens, but it's a fun bit of character development. 3 out of 5 stars.

12. The Envelope. A mystery! Juliet has an envelope with a secret. On the day that Flight 815 crashes on the island, she is about to show it to another Other when they are interrupted. Definite season 4 plot potential. 4 out of 5 stars.

The final webisode (So It Begins) has been released on Verizon phones, but will not be available online until next week.

UFC - 2008 Champions

2008-01-28T10:27:00.001-06:00

There is a thread on the MMA forum I read about who will be the champion in each weight class at the end of this year.

Current champions and situation:

Heavyweight - Randy Couture has the belt but has declined a title defense against Nogueira. Sylvia and Nogueira will be fighting on February 2nd for an interim belt. The winner will likely be promoted to full champion when Couture is formally stripped of his title.

Light Heavyweight - Quinton Jackson is the current champion and will be fighting Forrest Griffin for the title at the end of the next season of The Ultimate Fighter.

Middleweight - Anderson Silva is the current champion and will be defending the belt against Dan Henderson on March 1st.

Welterweight - Matt Serra is the current champion but has been unable to defend his title due to a back injury. George St. Pierre is the #1 contender and should get the next title shot as soon as Serra is healthy.

Lightweight - Sean Sherk had his title stripped following a positive steroid test. BJ Penn recently defeated Joe Stevenson for the interim belt. Sean Sherk has been promised the first shot at the title when his suspension is ended.

My somewhat tongue-in-cheek speculation:

HW - Herring. Sylvia decisions Nog in the snoozefest of the Millennium. Heath Herring, coming off an exciting submission victory over Kongo, gets the next title shot and puts The Oaf to sleep for the belt.

LHW - Jackson. Jackson pummels a game Forrest into Refstoppagedom. Machida, meanwhile loses a highly controversial match to Tito. Zuffa, unable to justify giving Liddell another shot, and unwilling to re-sign Tito, waffles helplessly and Jackson does not defend his title again in 2008.

MW - Filho. In a surprise move, the UFC pulls WEC Middleweight Champion Paulo Filho up to the big leagues for a title shot against the winner of Silva/Hendo. Filho shocks the world with a first round armbar victory over...whoever wins that fight. I certainly can't predict it.

WW - Fitch. GSP suffers a heart-breaking training injury mere weeks before his long-awaited title shot against Serra. Jon Fitch is moved up from a scheduled bout against Karo Parisyan to replace GSP, winning the belt in the second round by referee stoppage.

LW - N/A. After Sherk claims a training injury (rumors of a blown random drug test run rampant), Penn meanders back to Hawaii with the interim belt, eventually breaching his contract by taking a fight against Fedor in M1. Zuffa strips Penn of the title and the lightweight division wallows in eternal darkness and misery.

iLynch

2008-01-10T09:19:00.001-06:00

Hellboy 2: Electic Bugaloo

2008-01-04T09:19:00.000-06:00

Easing Back Into the Whole Blogging Thing

2008-01-02T15:51:00.000-06:00

This is of interest to at least 3 of the 4 people who come here. The return of Wu the Lotus Blossom!

The Long Awaited

2007-12-18T12:02:00.000-06:00

Hobbit zombie fans everywhere, rejoice!

Well, it may not be a hobbit zombie movie, but still, it's getting made. Jackson produces. Director to be named. How young can they make Ian Holm look?

Heroes 2.11 - Powerless

2007-12-03T09:24:00.000-06:00

Well, tonight's the night. It's been a disappointing season, but it's easy to forget that Heroes, at its absolute Season 2 Micah-infested worst is still among the best things on television. They have a lot to wrap up in 48 minutes, and sadly, a good bit of it involves a subplot I care nothing for.

Good news on the Journeyman front. Latest scheduling releases show that the rest of the season will be aired. No word on a second season. Unlikely, given the ratings. But at least we'll get some degree of closure. No episode this week, but there will be one next week, and two the following week (Monday and Wednesday, so be sure your DVR is set accordingly).

Anyone catch Tin Man last night? I recorded it, but was too wrapped up watching the first season of House to start it.

1-18-08

2007-11-30T10:48:00.001-06:00

Ok, Fine, More Movie News

2007-11-29T10:14:00.000-06:00

I've been looking forward to more Hellboy since the first movie came out. Hellboy and the BPRD have came out of nowhere to become one of my favorite comic/movie settings. Great cast, great director. I can't see this movie letting us down.

The second X-Files movie, on the other hand...well, here's hoping for the best. It starts filming in a couple weeks. Word is that the movie will be standalone from the series, so if you're a bit fuzzy on the events of the 9 seasons and previous movie, no worries.

It's Not the Years...

2007-11-28T15:16:00.001-06:00

It's the mileage.

A few more screen shots from the upcoming movie...

Heroes 2.10 - Truth and Consequences

2007-11-26T09:25:00.000-06:00

The return of Micah, Monica, Sylar, Alejandro, and Maya! Nathan spins his wheels! Matt abuses his power! Peter and Hiro share an awkward moment! Can this episode be good against all odds?

Heroes 2.09 - Cautionary Tales

2007-11-20T07:42:00.000-06:00

Wow, this episode was so good I even liked West.

Let us descend into fanboyish babbling!

Moebius Transformations

2007-11-18T11:15:00.000-06:00

Pretty colors!

Lost: Missing Pieces

2007-11-16T14:19:00.001-06:00

ABC is releasing 13 webisodes of Lost to be released one per week until the Season 4 premier in February. The webisodes are being distributed inially through Verizon, and then a week later on the ABC website, and will feature the full cast and production values. The first episode, The Watch, is now available to view. It features a scene between Jack and his Dad just before Jack's wedding.

A GUT With Promise

2007-11-16T09:50:00.000-06:00

American surfer and physics PhD Garrett Lisi has published a new Grand Unification Theory that is gaining a lot of popularity. A G.U.T. is, at its simplest, an attempt to explain everything by reconciling gravity with quantum mechanics. Most recent attempts to achieve this have centered around String Theory. Lisi's theory uses an elegant mathematical construct called E8.

Heroes 2.08 - Four Months Ago

2007-11-13T12:57:00.000-06:00

Well, it's the episode I've been waiting for. What the hell happened in between Season 1 and everything we've seen so far? And whose brilliant idea was it to put Peter and Adam in adjacent cells?

Southland Tales

2007-11-13T12:50:00.000-06:00

THE INTERNET IS THE FUTURE

THE FUTURE IS JUST LIKE YOU IMAGINED

Link

UFC 78: Validation

2007-11-13T09:40:00.000-06:00

Next UFC PPV is this Saturday, 11/17/07. The card is lacking a main event, and really, any top-tier fighters at all. It sort of resembles a Fight Night card, but I'm actually more excited about it than the last few UFCs. The match-ups are solid and competitive, and a few of my favorite veterans and up-and-comers are on the main card. Everyone is welcome at my place to watch. The show starts at 9 PM, but there will likely be food, drink, and general hanging out earlier, so come by any time.

Main card
Light heavyweight bout: Rashad Evans vs. Michael Bisping
Welterweight bout: Karo Parisyan vs. Ryo Chonan
Light heavyweight bout: Houston Alexander vs. Thiago Silva
Lightweight bout: Spencer Fisher vs. Frank Edgar
Middleweight bout: Ed Herman vs. Joe Doerksen

Preliminary card
Welterweight bout: Akihiro Gono vs. Tamdan McCrory
Welterweight bout: Chris Lytle vs. Thiago Alves
Lightweight bout: Joe Lauzon vs. Jason Reinhardt
Lightweight bout: Marcus Aurelio vs. Luke Caudillo

The Office Is Closed

2007-11-08T09:54:00.000-06:00

Yet another show stuck in mid-season limbo by the writer's strike is the US version of The Office, one of my personal favorites.

The writers and actors of The Office are taking part in the strike, but took some time to shoot a video and post it to YouTube. Enjoy!

Tim Kring Apologizes Unreservedly to Me

2007-11-07T12:25:00.000-06:00

Many thanks to my dear friend and gossip blog expert, Lisa, for this quick interview with Tim Kring, creator of Heroes.

To sum up, he says that I am smart, good-looking guy, and he wishes I were a writer on his show.

Best of the Internet I

2007-11-06T15:57:00.000-06:00

George Carlin's treatment of the Ten Commandments:

Out of Time

2007-11-05T14:13:00.001-06:00

The aptly named 7th episode of the second season of Heroes is on tonight. Tim Kring promises great things, saying that the next few episodes are the best they have ever filmed. Which is saying quite a lot.

If I understand things correctly, we should see some sort of resolution in the Hiro subplot, and some serious advancement in the Peter, Claire, and Nightmare Man threads.

Here's hoping.

Strike One

2007-11-02T10:07:00.000-05:00

The looming potential writer's strike has officially claimed a victim. Heroes: Origins, slated for an April release has been, if not canceled, then delayed indefinitely.

Far more frightening to me, is the effect the strike may have on Lost.

It's Like, Whoa, Man...

2007-11-02T09:22:00.000-05:00

Bulging Belgian scientists have accidentally learned how to trigger out-of-body sensations while attempting to treat tinnitus. Even cooler, they were able to take PET scans during the experience to determine which parts of the brain were active.

Quantajourneleap

2007-10-31T12:32:00.000-05:00

Is it just me or is Journeyman the most exciting show on the tube at the moment? It's got everything I loved about Quantum Leap with a bigger budget and semi-inappropriate use of the word 'tachyons'.

And I'm not just posting this to piss off Sebastian. It's really good.

Cheap Heroine

2007-10-29T10:48:00.000-05:00

How about a little Heroes discussion?

Personally, I thought the second season started off rather slow. The new 'heroes' are doing nothing for me. Maya and Alejandro don't interest me at all. Claire's love interest is boring me to tears. And don't get me started on Micah's cousin.

The main plotline, that of the previous generation of heroes being eliminated, has a lot of potential, but it's difficult to get into with so many subplots interrupting it constantly. I'm ready for Hiro's sidequest to end. I'm ready for Peter to end his spinoff series. And I could live a long and happy life without being updated on Micah's home life. The Sylar plot? Poo or get off the pot, I say.

All that said, the last episode showed some glimpses of what made the show great in the first season. Here's to hoping that things pull together and speed up.

Thoughts? Comments?

Update: I was going to start creating new posts for discussion of each individual episode, but last night's was not exactly awe-inspiring. Maybe discussion threads for Journeyman?

How's Your Faith in Humanity?

2007-10-29T10:00:00.000-05:00

The AP took a poll. The results make me weep.

To put the roughly one-third who believe in ghosts and UFOs in perspective, it's about the same as, in recent AP-Ipsos polls, the 36 percent who said they are baseball fans; the 37 percent who said the U.S. made the right decision to invade Iraq; and the 31 percent who approve of the job President Bush is doing.

Didn't Even Know They Were Missing

2007-10-26T08:46:00.001-05:00

Nasa's Spitzer and Chandra space telescopes have found hundreds of black holes at the centers of some of the universe's earliest (and therefore most distant) galaxies. The article says that these black holes are of a class known as quasars, but my understanding is that quasar is the term for the accretion disk around such a black hole. Without irregard, it's an important discovery for reasons that are important to people who make important astronomical discoveries.

His Last Bow

2007-10-25T18:10:00.000-05:00

Previously unremarkable Comet Holmes underwent a rather surprising transformation earlier this week, brightening almost a million-fold from magnitude 17 to around magnitude 2.8. This type of brightening is not unheard of, when a comet gets closer to the sun, heats up, and breaks apart. However, Comet Holmes is over 200 million miles from the sun.

Space aliens or a sign from God? You be the judge.

Phil Plait's Bad Astronomy blog is an excellent resource for more information.

Who Ya Gonna Call?

2007-10-25T18:03:00.000-05:00

String Duck wants to teach you String Theory.

AbsoluteCheating

2007-10-20T10:08:00.000-05:00

What you mean people cheat at poker? Looks like my guppies aren't even safe online.

Being For the Benefit of Mr. SMITE

2007-10-18T10:44:00.000-05:00

I've been training Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu at Elite Martial Arts since last summer. On October 7th, they finally lowered their standards sufficiently to advance me to the blue belt level.

It's a fun process. First, you get owned:

Then you get your new belt:

Then the photo op:

After that, things kind of go down hill. Each of the 3 blackbelts fling you to the ground for the amusement of the audience. You can imagine how this ends:

Finally, you walk the gauntlet, in which all the other ranked belts beat the living shit out of you with their belts. I was one of two stupid enough to remove the gi for maximum machismo.

Eat Steel, Mehrunes Dagon!

2007-10-17T14:46:00.001-05:00

The bestest game in the whole world just got bester. For this week only, the new Oblivion download, Fighter's Stronghold, is available for free download.

The Lesser of Two Weevils

2007-10-17T14:40:00.001-05:00

It's about time we get a serious candidate in the race. He's got my vote.

Go Sweden!

2007-10-16T13:25:00.000-05:00

The Swedes are formally banning creationism from the classroom.

"Pupils must be protected from all forms of fundamentalism," said Education Minister Jan Björklund.

Hollywood Castrates Pullman

2007-10-16T12:54:00.000-05:00

No surprises here. The Golden Compass has been watered down to avoid offending people who believe that Jesus planted the dinosaur bones in the ground to test our faith.

In Rainbows

2007-10-16T11:12:00.000-05:00

Radiohead has released a new album, In Rainbows. While worthy of a post on its own, what really floats my boat is how they have decided to distribute the album. No iTunes store, no Amazon.com, no CD release at all, in fact. The album is available only for download in standard MP3 format via their website. The cost? Whatever you want to pay.

Warning: Their website blows goats.

Hello, Cleveland!

2007-10-16T09:25:00.000-05:00

Rock and roll. Rock and roll! Too lazy to write my own blogging software, I have jumped upon the blogspot bandwagon, desperately seeking to catch up with the 2004 fad of relinking news articles that all my friends have already read.