Even in absurdity, sacrament. Even in hardship, holiness. Even in doubt, faith. Even in chaos, realization. Even in paradox, blessedness
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"Life expands or shrinks in proportion to one's courage." ~Anain Nin
Canto LeConte When I was little, When my hands were small and still knew innocence, What changed? It could have been a glut of wasted days, "Whatever," one can say breathlessly, This is the whim of all incarnate, the mountains seem to say, LeConte, Wayna Picchu, Looking Glass, Shasta, Olympus, Devil's Tower- jaybird found this for you @ 17:20 in Journaling the Infinite | | permalink
I am here, but... ...I am also about to go. Hiking here today, through this trail. I'll tell you about it some time tomorrow! jaybird found this for you @ 09:13 in Misc. Babble | | permalink
The Sky: Yes, it's Blue: But why? Why is the sky blue? It is a question children ask. Yet it also intrigued Leonardo da Vinci and Isaac Newton, among many other legendary thinkers. As late as 1862, the great astronomer John Herschel called the colour and polarization of skylight "great standing enigmas." Even today, our perception of sky blue is little understood by laymen. Plato speculated that the sky's colour emerged from the interaction of the air with the celestial darkness beyond. Ancient Muslim thinkers speculated that the colour came from particles or "vapors" in the air, perhaps thinking of the dust-filled desert sky. Ibn al-Haytham noted that its hue is not uniform but deeper at the zenith, and whiter near the horizon, even on very clear days. Al-Biruni climbed the highest mountain in Persia and noticed the deep blue, almost black, skies at high altitudes. These writings reached the West, where the 12th century monk Ristoro d'Arezzo connected sky blue with the way skilled painters can make the appearance of pale blue by delicately washing pure black pigment over white. Leonardo da Vinci followed Ristoro's speculations and their artistic implications. He noted the distinct blue of smoke and also the progressively deeper blue of distant mountains, the "aerial perspective" often used in the backgrounds of his paintings. He climbed Monte Rosa and speculated that its blue skies were due to "minute, imperceptible particles" suspended in the air like a fine smoke. Drawing on his love of tennis, Rene Descartes compared blue skylight to balls without spin, and analogized red sunsets to balls spinning because of their passage through a longer reach of the atmosphere. (He never seems to have questioned whether his explanation was really true or merely ingenious.) In contrast, Newton drew on the beautiful blue he noted in thin films of oil or in soap bubbles, concluding that water droplets suspended in air could explain sky blue. Yet Newton does not seem to have asked himself the obvious question: How could water droplets remain suspended sufficiently long to explain the blue sky, especially on dry days when the sky seems particularly blue? jaybird found this for you @ 20:30 in Science, Quantum & Space | | permalink
Why our intuitions about how the world works are often wrong The reason folk science so often gets it wrong is that we evolved in an environment radically different from the one in which we now live. Our senses are geared for perceiving objects of middling size--between, say, ants and mountains--not bacteria, molecules and atoms on one end of the scale and stars and galaxies on the other end. We live a scant three score and 10 years, far too short a time to witness evolution, continental drift or long-term environmental changes. Causal inference in folk science is equally untrustworthy. We correctly surmise designed objects, such as stone tools, to be the product of an intelligent designer and thus naturally assume that all functional objects, such as eyes, must have also been intelligently designed. Lacking a cogent theory of how neural activity gives rise to consciousness, we imagine mental spirits floating within our heads. We lived in small bands of roaming hunter-gatherers that accumulated little wealth and had no experience of free markets and economic growth. Folk science leads us to trust anecdotes as data, such as illnesses being cured by assorted nostrums based solely on single-case examples. Equally powerful are anecdotes involving preternatural beings, compelling us to make causal inferences linking these nonmaterial entities to all manner of material events, illness being the most personal. Because people often re-cover from sickness naturally, whatever was done just before recovery receives the -credit, prayer being the most common. jaybird found this for you @ 14:23 in Consciousness, Psychology & Philosophy | | permalink
Who's Counting? The Diebold Bombshell Recently, computer security expert Harri Hursti revealed serious security vulnerabilities in Diebold's software. According to Michael Shamos, a computer scientist and voting system examiner in Pennsylvania, "It's the most severe security flaw ever discovered in a voting system." Even more shockingly, we learned recently that Diebold and the State of Maryland had been aware of these vulnerabilities for at least two years. They were documented in analysis, commissioned by Maryland and conducted by RABA Technologies, published in January 2004. For over two years, Diebold has chosen not to fix the security holes, and Maryland has chosen not to alert other states or national officials about these problems. Basically, Diebold included a "back door" in its software, allowing anyone to change or modify the software. There are no technical safeguards in place to ensure that only authorized people can make changes. jaybird found this for you @ 08:11 in News, Opinion & Politique | | permalink
Viddy Thursday: Powerful female singer songwriters part 3 Joan Armatrading drops the pilot and delivers such soul and warmth... I discovered her by accident about 15 years ago, and so glad for it. jaybird found this for you @ 21:01 in Art, Music, Theater & Film | | permalink
Viddy Thursday: Powerful female singer songwriters part 2 I consider Carole King's "I Feel the Earth Move" to be a bit of a theme song. jaybird found this for you @ 14:56 in Art, Music, Theater & Film | | permalink
Viddy Thursday: Powerful female singer songwriters part 1 Ah, Joni Mitchell. She has given me songs to sing forso many summers now. jaybird found this for you @ 08:52 in Art, Music, Theater & Film | | permalink
Fish from heavens rain on India The people of Kerala in India's southwest are famed for turning fish into spicy feasts fit for gods, but last week the heavens turned provider as fish rained down on the village of Manna, a newspaper reported on Monday. The mad fishmonger strikes again! jaybird found this for you @ 20:24 in Forteana, Phenomena & the Bizarre | | permalink
After giving us a basic overview of what would happen, the santero began the ritual. He started by sprinkling Florida Water (an old perfume which became popular as a tool in Santeria) on the mat, in order to “sweeten the reading.” He encouraged us to apply a little to ourselves as well. Then began a long prayer in the Yoruba language. One by one, he pulled the cowrie shells from the bowl, dowsing each one with water from the bowl, and calling down the blessings of the Orishas, of spirit guides, of our ancestors, of all those who have died, of priests both living and dead. The list went on and on rhythmically. I began to feel myself fall into the rhythm of it all, my head nodding slightly almost of its own accord. I felt the distinct sensation too of a heaviness pushing slightly but not uncomfortably down on the top of my head, perhaps the beginning of a trance. He then took the shells and touched them to my feet, my knees, legs, stomach, shoulders and head – connecting them to me and my particular destiny and energy. Also mixed in there somewhere (I forget where chronologically) were offerings to Eleggua of rum sprayed from his mouth, a cigar smoked backwards so that the orisha could in effect taste it himself, and the $121 that I had been instructed to bring. I folded the money three times over, which was a sign for it to come back to me threefold. The santero kissed it, crossed himself with it and left it in Eleggua’s little dish. Thus began the ritual. The prayers and actions which we took to begin had put me into a very calm and focused state of mind, with no trace of fear or apprehension. I had chosen my santero wisely, it seemed. I trusted him completely. The Dilogun consists of two main throws of the cowrie shells. Each of these is associated with a number, an odu, and a proverb. The first throw establishes the main theme and the second describes the variations of that theme. The first throw found a number of cowrie shells sitting face up, like little mouths smiling up from the mat. The name and number of that odu I am choosing to keep hidden from the public eye, as I understand that these things are intended to be private keys to the energy currently operating in my life. As much as I feel the desire to share my experiences fully with others, I also want to respect the tradition and the spirits invoked by it. In any event, after only the first throw, the reading was already making sense to me. The next throw brought another round of shells smiling up at us. Between the two throws, a compelling picture of my life was beginning to unfold. And I’ll share as much of it as I feel comfortable doing so here... jaybird found this for you @ 14:21 in Spirituality, Religion & Mythos | | permalink
Oceans in Distress Pollution and overfishing are damaging the oceans, especially the deep oceans, the United Nations warns in a new report [1-3]. Time is running out to save them, and urgent legislation is required to halt this wanton destruction of the planet’s “cradle of life”. More than 90 percent of the earth’s living biomass (weight of living matter) is found in the oceans, and 90 percent of that is made up of single cell and microbial species. With 90 percent of the oceans yet to be explored, the scale of devastation already happening has become all too obvious In 2005, 84.5 million tonnes of fish were taken from the world’s oceans, 100 million sharks and related species were butchered for their fins, 250 000 turtles got tangled up in fishing gear and 300 000 seabirds including 100 000 albatrosses were killed by illegal long-line fishing. Nineteen out of 21 albatross species are now threatened with extinction. During the same period, 6.4 million tonnes of litter was thrown into the oceans, and 38 000 pieces of discarded plastic float on every square kilometre. There are up to 6 kg of marine litter to every kg of plankton. jaybird found this for you @ 08:21 in Environment, Ecology & Nature | | permalink
A Dying Planet (Can We Do Something About It Now, Please?) Weather-related disasters like Hurricane Katrina—or the intense heat wave now hitting the United States—are on the rise. The toll of these catastrophes is exacerbated by growing ecological stresses and the future health of the global economy. The stability of nations will be shaped by our ability to address the huge imbalances in natural systems that now exist. While governments and businesses around the world are beginning to take action to stem the damage, our future demands more aggressive responses. Earlier this month, we at the Worldwatch Institute released a new report, "Vital Signs 2006-2007," examining trends that point to unprecedented levels of commerce and consumption, set against a backdrop of ecological decline in a world powered overwhelmingly by fossil fuels. In 2005, the average atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration increased 0.6 percent over the high in 2004, representing the largest annual increase ever recorded. The average global temperature reached 14.6 degrees Celsius, making 2005 the warmest year ever recorded on the Earth’s surface. Our report shows that some 40 percent of the world’s coral reefs have been damaged or destroyed, water withdrawals from rivers and lakes have doubled since 1960, and species are becoming extinct at as much as 1,000 times the natural rate. While ecosystems can be overexploited for long periods of time with little visible effect, many ultimately reach a “tipping point” after which they begin to collapse rapidly, with far-reaching implications for all who depend on them. Abrupt change was evident in southern Louisiana and Mississippi in 2005. For decades, the flow of the Mississippi River had been altered, the wetlands at its mouth destroyed, and massive amounts of water and oil extracted from beneath the delta. Only an unheeded minority noticed that this gradual destruction of natural systems had left New Orleans as vulnerable as a sword-wielding soldier on today’s high-tech battlefields. Thanks to a combination of human and geological causes, a city that was at sea level when the first settlers arrived in the 18th century had sunk as much as a meter below that level when the hurricane season began in 2005. Weather-related catastrophes have jumped from an average of 97 million a year in the early 1980s to 260 million a year since 2001. This mounting disaster toll has several causes, including rapid growth in the human population and the even more dramatic growth in human numbers and settlements along coastlines and in other vulnerable areas. Climate change may be contributing to the rising tide of disasters as well, according to several scientific studies published in 2005. Three of the 10 strongest hurricanes ever recorded occurred last year, and the average intensity of hurricanes is increasing, recent research concludes. This is not surprising, considering the main “fuel” driving hurricanes is warm water. Temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico were at record-high levels in the summer of 2005, turning Hurricane Katrina in just over 48 hours from a low-level Category 1 hurricane to the strongest Atlantic storm ever recorded. (In September 2005, Hurricanes Wilma and Rita each broke Katrina’s record as the strongest storm ever in that region.) jaybird found this for you @ 20:48 in Environment, Ecology & Nature | | permalink
100º for the UK- get used to it On this side of the pond, 100º is all the more reason to go shopping! Ya see, Republicans do have a plan- get into some air conditioning and consume! They were the images that finally demonstrated the irreversible climate change now taking hold in Britain. Where green parklands once provided cool refuges in our cities, newspaper photographs last week showed them to be bleached, white landscapes. Reservoirs were revealed as cracked, arid deserts. And from Cornwall, pictures of the nation's first cage-diving trips for shark-watching tourists, an experience normally confined to Australia's Great Barrier Reef. jaybird found this for you @ 14:44 in Environment, Ecology & Nature | | permalink
Amazon rainforest 'could become a desert' The vast Amazon rainforest is on the brink of being turned into desert, with catastrophic consequences for the world's climate, alarming research suggests. And the process, which would be irreversible, could begin as early as next year. Studies by the blue-chip Woods Hole Research Centre, carried out in Amazonia, have concluded that the forest cannot withstand more than two consecutive years of drought without breaking down. Scientists say that this would spread drought into the northern hemisphere, including Britain, and could massively accelerate global warming with incalculable consequences, spinning out of control, a process that might end in the world becoming uninhabitable. The alarming news comes in the midst of a heatwave gripping Britain and much of Europe and the United States... jaybird found this for you @ 07:41 in Environment, Ecology & Nature | | permalink
REVERSING AND ACCELERATING THE SPEED OF LIGHT Physicist Costas Soukoulis and his research group at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Ames Laboratory on the Iowa State University campus are having the time of their lives making light travel backwards at negative speeds that appear faster than the speed of light. That, folks, is a mind-boggling 186,000 miles per second – the speed at which electromagnetic waves can move in a vacuum. And making light seem to move faster than that and in reverse is what Soukoulis, who is also an ISU Distinguished Professor of Liberal Arts and Sciences, said is “like rewriting electromagnetism.” He predicted, “Snell’s law on the refraction of light is going to be different; a number of other laws will be different.” However, neither Soukoulis nor any other scientist involved in efforts to manipulate the direction and speed of light can do so with naturally occurring materials. The endeavor requires exotic, artificially created materials. Known as metamaterials, these substances can be manipulated to respond to electromagnetic waves in ways that natural materials cannot. Natural materials refract light, or electromagnetic radiation, to the right of the incident beam at different angles and speeds. However, metamaterials, also called left-handed materials, make it possible to refract light at a negative angle, so it emerges on the left side of the incident beam. This backward-bending characteristic of metamaterials allows enhanced resolution in optical lenses, which could potentially lead to the development of a flat superlens with the power to see inside a human cell and diagnose disease in a baby still in the womb. The challenge that Soukoulis and other scientists face who work with metamaterials is to fabricate them so that they refract light negatively at ever smaller wavelengths, with the ultimate goal of making a metamaterial that refracts light at visible wavelengths and achieving the much-sought-after superlens. Admittedly, that goal is a jaybird found this for you @ 20:11 in Science, Quantum & Space | | permalink
Redesigning Life to Make Ethanol On January 31, Ari Patrinos was sitting in his living room in Rockville, MD, listening to the State of the Union speech and slowly nodding off. Suddenly, he was jolted awake. "We'll also fund additional research for cutting-edge methods of producing ethanol," President Bush was saying on the television, "not just from corn but from wood chips and stalks or switchgrass. Our goal is to make this new kind of ethanol practical and competitive within six years." Unlike most of the legislators who gamely applauded the president's words, Patrinos understood exactly what they meant. In fact, he had dashed them off himself days earlier at the harried request of his boss, unaware that they were destined for the State of the Union speech. Patrinos, then associate director of the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Biological and Environmental Research, had been touting cellulosic ethanol as an alternative energy source for years, only to be met with indifference or ridicule. Now, it seemed, even the most petro-friendly of politicians was convinced. Producing ethanol fuel from biomass is attractive for a number of reasons. At a time of soaring gas prices and worries over the long-term availability of foreign oil, the domestic supply of raw materials for making biofuels appears nearly unlimited. Meanwhile, the amount of carbon dioxide dumped into the atmosphere annually by burning fossil fuels is projected to rise worldwide from about 24 billion metric tons in 2002 to 33 billion metric tons in 2015. Burning a gallon of ethanol, on the other hand, adds little to the total carbon in the atmosphere, since the carbon dioxide given off in the process is roughly equal to the amount absorbed by the plants used to produce the next gallon. jaybird found this for you @ 14:09 in Science, Quantum & Space | | permalink
Afghanistan close to anarchy, warns general The most senior British military commander in Afghanistan today described the situation in the country as "close to anarchy" with feuding foreign agencies and unethical private security companies compounding problems caused by local corruption. The stark warning came from Lieutenant General David Richards, head of Nato's international security force in Afghanistan, who warned that western forces there were short of equipment and were "running out of time" if they were going to meet the expectations of the Afghan people. The assumption within Nato countries had been that the environment in Afghanistan after the defeat of the Taliban in 2002 would be benign, Gen Richards said. "That is clearly not the case," he said today. He referred to disputes between tribes crossing the border with Pakistan, and divisions between religious and secular factions cynically manipulated by "anarcho-warlords". Corrupt local officials were fuelling the problem and Nato's provincial reconstruction teams in Afghanistan were sending out conflicting signals, Gen Richards told a conference at the Royal United Services Institute in London. "The situation is close to anarchy," he said, referring in particular to what he called "the lack of unity between different agencies". He described "poorly regulated private security companies" as unethical and "all too ready to discharge firearms". Nato forces in Afghanistan were short of equipment, notably aircraft, but also of medical evacuation systems and life-saving equipment. jaybird found this for you @ 07:56 in News, Opinion & Politique | | permalink
Why I love this town jaybird found this for you @ 12:30 in Local- Western North Carolina | | permalink
Moments So Far  Two rainstorms, now there's sun- Such is mid-afternoon on the sixth day of the week, The cat contemplates the light through the door- jaybird found this for you @ 15:14 in Journaling the Infinite | | permalink
Viddy Thursday: Mae West jaybird found this for you @ 21:04 in Art, Music, Theater & Film | | permalink
Viddy Thursday: Marx Brothers jaybird found this for you @ 14:59 in Art, Music, Theater & Film | | permalink
Viddy Thursday: Three Stooges jaybird found this for you @ 08:51 in Art, Music, Theater & Film | | permalink
You live in the big here Wherever you live, your tiny spot is deeply intertwined within a larger place, imbedded fractal-like into a whole system called a watershed, which is itself integrated with other watersheds into a tightly interdependent biome... At the ultimate level, your home is a cell in an organism called a planet. All these levels interconnect. What do you know about the dynamics of this larger system around you? Most of us are ignorant of this matrix. But it is the biggest interactive game there is. Hacking it is both fun and vital. The following exercise in watershed awareness was hatched 30 years ago by Peter Warshall, naturalist extraordinaire. Variations of this list have appeared over the years with additions by Jim Dodge, Peter Berg, and Stephanie Mills among others. I have recently added new questions from Warshall and myself, and I have edited or altered most of the rest. It's still a work in progress. If you have a universal question you think fits, submit it to me. I am extremely interested in hearing from anyone who scores a 25 or better on the quiz on their first unassisted try. I'd like to know how you got your Big Here education. I have a few small prizes for anyone who scores (on the honor system) a perfect 30, without Googling. The intent of this quiz is to inspire you to answer the questions you can't initially... jaybird found this for you @ 20:47 in Consciousness, Psychology & Philosophy | | permalink
A complete list of things caused by global warming Here's just A through D: Air pressure changes, allergies increase, Alps melting, anxiety, aggressive polar bears, algal blooms, Asthma, avalanches, billions of deaths, blackbirds stop singing, blizzards, blue mussels return, boredom, budget increases, building season extension, bushfires, business opportunities, business risks, butterflies move north, cannibalistic polar bears, cardiac arrest, Cholera, civil unrest, cloud increase, cloud stripping, methane emissions from plants, cold spells (Australia), computer models, conferences, coral bleaching, coral reefs grow, coral reefs shrink, cold spells, crumbling roads, buildings and sewage systems, damages equivalent to $200 billion, Dengue hemorrhagic fever, dermatitis, desert advance, desert life threatened, desert retreat, destruction of the environment, diarrhoea, disappearance of coastal cities, disaster for wine industry (US), Dolomites collapse, drought, drowning people, drowning polar bears, ducks and geese decline, dust bowl in the corn belt... Each entry on the page is a link to more info. jaybird found this for you @ 14:44 in | | permalink
Watch out, AARP: Rare Whales Can Live to Nearly 200 Scientists have looked into the eyes of rare bowhead whales and learned that some of them can outlive humans by generations—with at least one male pushing 200 years old. "About 5 percent of the population is over a hundred years old and in some cases 160 to 180 years old," said Jeffrey Bada, a marine chemist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, California. "They are truly aged animals, perhaps the most aged animals on Earth," he continued. Bowheads, also known as Greenland right whales, are baleen whales, meaning that instead of teeth they have bonelike plates that they use to strain food from gulps of water. The whales live in the Arctic (virtual world: Arctic interactive feature). Adults can reach 60 feet (18 meters) long and weigh more than a hundred tons (89 metric tons). jaybird found this for you @ 08:41 in Environment, Ecology & Nature | | permalink
Happy Birthday, Little One I raise a toast of apple juice to one whose life brings great joy to a family, and great hope to the world. Happy 3rd, L. jaybird found this for you @ 00:01 in Journaling the Infinite | | permalink
The Distance from Guernica to Lebanon On April 26, 1937, during the Spanish Civil War, the German Air Force, siding with fascist dictator Francisco Franco, began a bombing campaign against the city of Guernica. Some 1,600 people were killed, and the city was reduced to rubble. Guernica is remembered as the first time air power was used against a civilian population with the intent of causing complete destruction. When it happened, Guernica shocked the world. Today, we do not shock so easily. Lebanon is being sacrificed without so much as a casual protest. Israel has bombed power plants, roads, and bridges all across Lebanon. Israel has bombed gas stations and fuel depots, grain silos, lighthouses, the seaports in Beirut, Tripoli, Jounieh and Tyre. Beirut's airport is in flames. Beirut's Shi'a suburbs have been almost completely demolished. Firefighters are pleading for help, because they do not have enough water to put out the blazes. (1) I think of Guernica. Israel has ordered all of the people living in Southern Lebanon to flee their homes and villages. Avi Dichter, Israel's Minister of Internal Security, told us that "tens of thousands of Lebanese who will flee towards the north will create the right pressure on Hezbollah." (2) Two nights ago, eighteen people in the South were burned alive when Israel bombed their fleeing convoy with incendiary shells. Eleven of the dead were children under the age of twelve. Mahmoud Ghannam, the father of two of the killed children, broke down when he saw their bodies. He struck himself in the head repeatedly and cried, "my God, my God. I can't make out the faces of my children. They are burnt black... Which ones are my children?" A copy of Pablo Picasso's famous painting of the annihilation of Guernica was hung outside the chambers of the UN Security Council, as a reminder of why the United Nations was created, and of what the Security Council is supposed to prevent. In 2003, the United States ordered the eleven foot painting covered, so as not to even subtly embarrass American diplomats pressing for a war against Iraq. Living in Lebanon today, I cannot forget. I remember Guernica. jaybird found this for you @ 20:23 in News, Opinion & Politique | | permalink
Gorbachev: 'Americans Have a Severe Disease' Mikhail Gorbachev is generally regarded as the man who broke down the "iron curtain" that separated the communist world from the West and thawed the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union. Now, 15 years after a coup removed him from power and the Soviet Union dissolved, he has some stern words for the United States, whose relationship with Russia has soured lately. "We have made some mistakes," he said, referring to recent attacks on Russia's democracy. "So what? Please don't put even more obstacles in our way. Do you really think you are smarter than we are?" The former general secretary of the Soviet Union Communist Party accused Americans of arrogance and trying to impose their way of life on other nations. "Americans have a severe disease -- worse than AIDS. It's called the winner's complex," he said. "You want an American style-democracy here. That will not work." ...The former Soviet leader had severe criticism for two of the most important people in the Bush administration: Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. "They are just hawks protecting the interests of the military -- shallow people," he said. jaybird found this for you @ 14:17 in News, Opinion & Politique | | permalink
Is he drinking again?  All of his blunders, missteps and gaffes at the G8 must leave one to wonder: is our fount of moralistic bombast sliding rather quickly off the wagon? Or is he purely delusional? The pig? The massage? The endless diversions during press conferences? His behavior is quite unpresidential. He certainly didn't have many of his handlers with him this time. Is this what happens when the man with his finger on the button rolls up his sleeves and gets to work on solving the world's greatest dilemmas? Good thing his peepee and doodoo are classified as secret.  jaybird found this for you @ 09:27 in News, Opinion & Politique | | permalink
Scientists Question Nature's Fundamental Laws Public confidence in the "constants" of nature may be at an all time low. Recent research has found evidence that the value of certain fundamental parameters, such as the speed of light or the invisible glue that holds nuclei together, may have been different in the past. "There is absolutely no reason these constants should be constant," says astronomer Michael Murphy of the University of Cambridge. "These are famous numbers in physics, but we have no real reason for why they are what they are." The observed differences are small—roughly a few parts in a million—but the implications are huge: The laws of physics would have to be rewritten, not to mention we might need to make room for six more spatial dimensions than the three that we are used to. The evidence for varying constants focuses primarily on quasar studies. Quasars are extremely luminous objects, powered by giant black holes. Some of them are so far away that their light was emitted 12 billion years ago. Astronomers study the spectra of this ancient light to determine if the early universe was different than now. Specifically, they look at absorption lines, which are due to gas clouds between us and the quasars. Astronomers study the spectra of this ancient light to determine if the early universe was different than now. Specifically, they look at absorption lines, which are due to gas clouds between us and the quasars. The lines reveal exactly what is in the clouds, since each type of atom has a "fingerprint"—a set of specific frequencies at which it absorbs. In 1999, Murphy and his colleagues found the first convincing evidence that these fingerprints change with time. Using data from the Keck observatory in Hawaii, they detected a frequency difference between billion-year-old quasar lines and the corresponding lines measured on Earth. Some of these Earth-bound lines were not well characterized, so Murphy and others recently performed careful lab experiments to confirm that there is indeed a shift in the quasar spectra. A spectra is basically light split into its component frequencies, much like when white light goes through a prism to produce a rainbow. jaybird found this for you @ 20:57 in Science, Quantum & Space | | permalink
Finches on Galapagos Islands Evolving (imagine that!) Finches on the Galapagos Islands that inspired Charles Darwin to develop the concept of evolution are now helping confirm it - by evolving. A medium sized species of Darwin's finch has evolved a smaller beak to take advantage of different seeds just two decades after the arrival of a larger rival for its original food source. The altered beak size shows that species competing for food can undergo evolutionary change, said Peter Grant of Princeton University, lead author of the report appearing in Friday's issue of the journal Science. Grant has been studying Darwin's finches for decades and previously recorded changes responding to a drought that altered what foods were available. It's rare for scientists to be able to document changes in the appearance of an animal in response to competition. More often it is seen when something moves into a new habitat or the climate changes and it has to find new food or resources... jaybird found this for you @ 14:55 in Science, Quantum & Space | | permalink
Itchy: Bacteria made to sprout conducting nanowires
Bacteria that use sugars and sewage as fuel are being investigated as a pollution-free source of electricity. They feed by plucking electrons from atoms in their fuel and dumping them onto the oxygen or metal atoms in the mixture. The transfer of the electrons creates a current, and connecting the bacteria to an electrode in a microbial fuel cell will generate electricity, although not necessarily very efficiently. A species of bacterium called Geobacter sulfurreducens, which dumps electrons onto metal, has previously been persuaded to grow nanowires to make contact with distant atoms. A deficit of metal atoms in the close vicinity of the bacteria can cause a bottleneck, so the proliferation of nanowires allows the bacteria to consume more fuel, potentially boosting the current produced by a microbial fuel cell. Now a study by Yuri Gorby of Pacific Northwest National Laboratories in Washington State, US, and colleagues reveals that several other kinds of bacteria produce similar nanowires. jaybird found this for you @ 08:52 in Science, Quantum & Space | | permalink
Alan Watts on Time Continued... jaybird found this for you @ 23:23 in Spirituality, Religion & Mythos | | permalink
Scenes from Saturday As the bike and I made our way through the intersection on this thick July moon-as-peach-half-in-syrup night, the gentleman leaned out of his car window and asked, without the typical niceties of such a request, if I "suck dick." Now that information is not typically available for public digestion, so a wry smile was the only answer I felt was needed without even bothering with introductions, or discourses upon the weather. The smile, it sees, was deemed a provocation (touché!), and the gentleman in the car sent the remainder of his icy beverage after me, with the cubes rolling down the hill by the Federal Building as I slid further into the night, unscathed by projectile refreshments or by the obvious juvenile jabe which initiated our brief interaction. Fortunately, the bike prefers speed to dilly-dally among the many struggling comedians of summer. The higher you are above water, the harder it is to get the body to cooperate and dive, all graceful and swan-like. Perhaps that's why diving is an Olympic sport. At the lake house, I tried, from varying distances, many permutations of the dive, and had many sweet successes, gliding through the water with the aquatic elegance of a carp, all the hydrodynamic pizzazz of a barge. Yet the brief flight through the many strata of the lake (dark green and cold, yellowing and warm, surface with mist atop) was an exhilerating thrill ride and gill wish. Yet many attempts to perfect the dive from higher and higher heights were comical. Socially, it's much easier to explain that you're perfecting the belly flop, and to suck up the mid-flight change of plans. This body still remembers that last year, on July 9, water almost killed it... so this skiddishness at the edge is perhaps a mechanistic response to old programming. Perhaps, however, it just isn't that into the facial shock resulting from the impacting of water schoz first from twenty feet up. I watched a Kingfisher do its thing today but its nose is rather built for parting the water below with ease. How very like me, to have bird envy. The morning was all fits and starts, bouncing from dream to dream like a debutante at the ball. Something idyllic was about the place... it was the very quintessence of Saturday morning; bright, distant sound of lawnmowers, NPR in every room, cleaning the house naked with an omelet (mushrooms, garden pick'd tomatoes, garlic and Swiss) in the pan. Yes, cleaning the house buck nekkid. Please don't feign shock because I know you've done it too. Clothed, of course, I wandered through Marjorie's garden, and was astounded atthe ecosystem that is the front of our house... bees knee deep in squash blossoms, ladybugs doing aphid drivebys, the momentary glimpse of a curious rabbit. The sunflowers were audacious in their height, let alone their broad petal finery. It was quite a way to wake up, nevermind what's in your cup. Then, I gathered myself to examine the day's news. Pitiful. Another bloody Mideast war on our hands, thanks in part to the policies on this side of the pond. Talk about ripples. I have to wonder at this point why the phrase "if it ain't broke don't fix it" does not have a contrarian relative in modern parlance. It is ALL broke, can we please fix it? We have enough tragedies going on already, quota fulfilled, do not pass 'Go.' This crude exchange has the potential to blow the lid off of the whole region, and our president (?) is busy talking about eating pig in Germany? WTF? Sorry, I forgot that the humor was meant to be 'folksy.' My omelet was slightly below par while worrying that the Neocons have finally set the stage for the Armageddon they've so thirsted for. At least the orange juice was good. jaybird found this for you @ 23:45 in Journaling the Infinite | | permalink
blogging off for Friday I'm down with allergies- know that it looks really sexy right now. jaybird found this for you @ 14:15 in Misc. Babble | | permalink
It's 2025. Where Do Most People Live?
The work, Mapping the Future, is the result of collaboration between CCSR, Hunter College and Population Action International (PAI) and was released this spring in conjunction with an update of PAI’s Web feature, People in the Balance, investigating the relationship between human population and critical natural resources. The map indicates that the greatest increases in population density through 2025 are likely to occur in areas of developing countries that are already quite densely populated. In addition, the number of people living within 60 miles of a coastline is expected to increase by 35 percent over 1995 population levels, exposing 2.75 billion people worldwide to the effects of sea level rise and other coastal threats posed by global warming. The map also projects that much of southern and Eastern Europe and Japan will experience significant and wide-spread population decline. Surprisingly, the map further suggests small areas of projected population decline for many regions in which they might be least expected: sub-Saharan Africa, Central and South America, the Philippines, Nepal, Turkey, Cambodia, Burma and Indonesia — areas that have to date been experiencing rapid-to-modest national population growth. jaybird found this for you @ 20:18 in Science, Quantum & Space | | permalink
Achoo: Allergy battle could be won in five years Researchers, working with colleagues at St George’s, University of London, are developing drugs designed to stop allergens from entering the body, so rendering them harmless. Professor David Garrod said the research – recently shortlisted for the Northwest Regional Development Agency’s Bionow Project of the Year – takes a completely new approach to the treatment and prevention of allergies. “The technology is based on our earlier discovery of how allergens, the substances that cause allergy, enter the body through the surface layer of cells that protect the skin and the tubes of the lungs,” he said. “Allergens from pollen or house dust mites are inhaled and then dissolve the binding material between the cells that form these protective linings; they can then enter the body by passing between the cells to cause an allergic response. “The drugs we are developing – called Allergen Delivery Inhibitors (ADIs) – are designed to disable these allergens so they can no longer eat through the protective cell layer and block the allergic reaction before it occurs. “The effect will be like avoiding allergens altogether. Removing carpets and rigorous cleaning of homes are established ways to avoid allergens, but they are only partially effective because their effects do not ‘travel’ with allergy sufferers. jaybird found this for you @ 14:16 in Health, Medicine & Bio-Happiness | | permalink
Bees: The Vanishing The domesticated European honeybee was introduced to North America 400 years ago by colonists at Jamestown and Williamsburg to provide their settlements with honey; few bees native to the continent produced enough honey to make harvesting viable. Since then, the honeybee has spread into every farmable corner of North America. The cultivation of honey is an age-old pursuit: To maximize its production, beekeepers in Egypt during the time of the pharaohs floated their hives down the Nile to areas of abundant bloom, with some success. Early American beekeepers also transported their colonies -- on buckboard wagons, Mississippi River steamboats, and trains -- also with mixed results; the hives could not always be moved at the right times, the wax in the honeycombs often melted, the worker bees were sometimes left behind while their homes drifted downriver. In the 1940s, when new interstate highways and reliable long-haul trucks made it practical, beekeepers began regularly migrating long distances with their hives, following the flow of nectar as crops bloomed with the changing seasons. In the boom years following World War II, large swaths of natural habitat across the United States were devoured by suburban development and agriculture. Patches of wild woodland, shrubs, and flowers that had supported native bees dwindled. The common practices of modern agriculture -- the widespread use of pesticides and the tendency to wipe out every wild flowering plant in sight -- began to destroy the pollinators that make farming possible. Beekeepers, accustomed to paying farmers for the privilege of stationing their beehives on land with blooming crops, started to receive payment from farmers for their pollination services. Today, migratory beekeepers follow this trail of money back and forth across the country as pollination fees continue to rise. The United States and Canada are home to at least 4,500 species of native bee, from the sleek, iridescent blue mason to the plump, lemon-yellow bumblebee. All are at risk. "Where we live in Minnesota," says Anderson, "the local farmers will let their second cutting of alfalfa or red clover bloom, to feed the bees. A number of those people will tell you that the native bees just aren't there anymore." jaybird found this for you @ 08:07 in Environment, Ecology & Nature | | permalink
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The discovery that a wide variety of bacteria can be persuaded to produce wire-like appendages that conduct electricity could prove vital to the development of more efficient biological fuel cells.
The innovative map shows a world with large areas of population loss in parts of Eastern Europe and Asia, but significant gains elsewhere.