“Deep in water-filled underground caves beneath Australia’s Nullarbor Plain, cave divers have discovered unusual ‘curtains’ of biological material – known as Nullarbor cave slimes.
It is thought that the periodic inundations of the Nullarbor caves by the sea occurred a number of times in the geological past and so researchers suggest that the Weebubbie Thaumarchaeota may have a marine origin.
“It just goes to show that life in the dark recesses of the planet comes in many strange forms, many of which are still unknown,” says Professor Paulsen.”
That last quote feels a little… just a little, Lovecraftian if you ask me.
“It flies over Waziristan, then to New York City and finally to the UK, asking itself philosophical questions and gradually gaining more self-awareness. However, the Freestone Drone is fated to die by getting tangled up in a washing line — the same washing line that American drone commanders use as a sign of activity inside the homes of suspects. Along the way he also gatecrashes a wedding in Paris, and even travels through time, as part of the piece’s exploration of the changing nature of warfare.”
“Were you conflicted about writing about your friend Harris’s death, about using that as a subject?
No. I see no reason not to write whatever comes to me. There was no way I was not going to write about Harris’s death. It’s like when you’re at a cocktail party and you meet someone you know you’re going to sleep with. You might as well get it over with and sleep with them. I’m talking about my former, younger life now. But. There is no point in pretending. I no longer try to avoid the inevitability of what comes to me, writing-wise.That said, there are a lot of factoids that I opted not to include in the book. This is not a book about everything I know about Harris. There are a lot of things about myself I chose not to include. I have written two memoirs but that doesn’t mean that I want to share everything. It’s hard to make it sound as if that argument holds any water at all. I don’t have a personal Facebook page. I don’t want to divulge what I don’t want to divulge.”
- In 1926 William Douglas Burden, of the American Museum of Natural History, set out with a hunter, a herpetologist, a cameraman, and his wife to capture giant dragons they’d only heard about. Turned out they were actually Komodo dragons. No one had seen them in the Western world though, they were only a legend. Besides bringing back footage to New York, the group also brought back several Komodo’s, some dead… some living. This was the inspiration for King Kong.
- OK, What Should We Make of Benghazi? by Thomas E. Ricks. Ricks is a pretty brilliant Foreign Policy journalist, he knows his stuff. This article is filled with close calls, including one from an ambassadors mouth in 2011 Syria. Here’s a standout paragraph:
Surprisingly few of Crocker’s PRTs were killed in Iraq, primarily due to the robust US military presence there. But that is seldom the case in most unstable areas where US engagement is essential. From 1968 to 1979, a US Ambassador was killed in office on the average of one every two years, so its is not just about “our times.”
A few months ago, physicist Harold White stunned the aeronautics world when he announced that he and his team at NASA had begun work on the development of a faster-than-light warp drive. His proposed design, an ingenious re-imagining of an Alcubierre Drive, may eventually result in an engine that can transport a spacecraft to the nearest star in a matter of weeks — and all without violating Einstein’s law of relativity. We contacted White at NASA and asked him to explain how this real life warp drive could actually work.
- Last night I made the mistake of beginning to watch the Lance Bangs Pavement documentary “Slow Century”. A mistake because I should have known it would’ve been too fascinating to turn off, no matter how late the hours got. If you’ve got the time, here it is:
- Sage Francis has resurrected the Tumblr Hello There, Racists after an apparent shut down. I think it’s outrageous to say it isn’t fair to publicly chastise these people, knowing full well that Twitter and Facebook are publicly viewed domains (they’re basically the 21st Century “public square”). It also serves to remind us of some very important things, two of which: you’re not invisible on the Internet, and if you want to say outrageous shit you’d better damn well be posting anonymously (then again anyone with half a brain can trace an IP address), and yes… racism definitely still exists. Some of this shit is just disgusting.
- Very interesting article, that very well might go over your head a little (went over mine at least), on the nature of dark energy. Is it static or dynamic in its existence. If it’s dynamic… yeesh, the philosophical implications of such a thing are astronomical; a form of matter whose density and composition and structure changes as it shifts though space time??
While hypothesized dark energy can explain observations of the universe expanding at an accelerating rate, the specific properties of dark energy are still an enigma. Scientists think that dark energy could take one of two forms: a static cosmological constant that is homogenous over time and space, or a dynamical entity whose energy density changes in time and space. By examining data from a variety of experiments, scientists in a new study have developed a model that provides tantalizing hints that dark energy may be dynamic.
The results are still far from conclusive, but the scientists hope that future data might narrow down the models with greater accuracy. They hope that observations by the Planck spacecraft (launched in 2009; first data available in April 2013) and the Euclid spacecraft (launch date is 2019) could help pinpoint the dark energy models that most closely describe our expanding universe.
- Great piece of street art (graffiti, if you prefer that term; I really could care less what it’s called) from GOIN, who I believe works out of the UK:
- Oh yes. Yes, yes, yes. Christopher Waltz just signed up to star in the upcoming Terry Gilliam flick, Zero Theorem. Course, in Gilliam time “upcoming” could mean years upon years. But supposedly, the film we be going into production soonish… with Waltz fresh off his stint on Tarentino’s set. Reason I’m so excited — besides loving said star/director combination — is because SlashFilm is calling the script “a Philip K. Dick story on steroids”. It revisits the Orwellian world and themes of Gilliam’s Brazil. BleedingCool has a synopsis, if you like. The story involves virtual sex, a Big Brother-esque organization called “Management”, therapists as computer applications, and suits that allow users to explore their souls (falsely?). Not to mention the theorem (titular) Waltz’s character is working on, which will once and for all prove that life does or does not have a purpose. Wheew.
Living in an Orwellian corporate world where “mancams” serve as the eyes of a shadowy figure known only as Management, Leth (Waltz) works on a solution to the strange theorem while living as a virtual cloistered monk in his home—the shattered interior of a fire-damaged chapel.
His isolation and work are interrupted now and then by surprise visits from Bainsley, a flamboyantly lusty love interest who tempts him with “tantric biotelemetric interfacing” (virtual sex) and Bob.
Latter is the rebellious whiz-kid teenage son of Management who, with a combination of insult-comedy and an evolving true friendship, spurs on Qohen’s efforts at solving the theorem. But these visits turn out to be intentional diversions orchestrated by Management to keep control of Qohen’s progress.
Bob creates a virtual reality “inner-space” suit that will carry Qohen on an inward voyage, a close encounter with the hidden dimensions and truth of his own soul, wherein lie the answers both he and Management are seeking. The suit and supporting computer technology will perform an inventory of Qohen’s soul, either proving or disproving the Zero Theorem.
Such an event occurred in March 2011, when scientists using NASA’s Swift telescope detected a sudden flare of X-rays from a source located nearly 4 billion light-years away in the constellation Draco. The flare, called Swift J1644+57, showed the likely location of a supermassive black hole in a distant galaxy, a black hole that had until then remained hidden until a star ventured too close and became an easy meal.
The resulting particle jet, created by material from the star that got caught up in the black hole’s intense magnetic field lines and was blown out into space in our direction (at 80-90% the speed of light!) is what initially attracted astronomers’ attention. But further research on Swift J1644+57 with other telescopes has revealed new information about the black hole and what happens when a star meets its end.
- So I’ve been working very hard an album that I’m hoping to get out before I spend 3 weeks in Europe. It’s been going great; all weekend the material and ideas and notes just rolled out of me on their own. It didn’t even feel like I was manifesting all this… it just came out. And I’m getting addicted to it (not like I already wasn’t). So after spending pretty much all year without too long of absences — or posting every single day — this place has been, and will continue to be, sporadic at best. Not that it’s a big deal at all. I’m not shattering worldviews here, just sharing things I like. That being said, let’s get going.
- ARTIST OF THE DAY is absolutely Dan Quintana. Dan is one of many artists out there boldly dragging surrealism into the 21st Century, though he stands out among them. His work feels a little Francis Bacon-esque: the existentialism, the religious imagery, the filth. I’m not sure how he makes his pieces, but they seemingly use multiple forms of media. This could be a case where it’s a ruse, he JUST painting… but often times computer generated looking numerals will appear or photo realistic faces or the like.
Anyways, check out his Tumblr. He’s good. He’s an example:
- I think it’s hilarious that a bunch of God-fearing zealots are using the recent news of Higgs boson discoveries to prove that God exists. Higgs boson, which you probably know if you’re reading this, is also referred to as the “God particle”. It was dubbed that because it is so sub-atomic that it’s nearly impossible to prove of it’s existence. And I’m not even an atheist. Some of the comments sections on many of these articles must be out-of-this-world…
- More augmented reality news. This time relating to a mobile application that has just hit android devices.
““No network required,” reads the promotion. “Results appear immediately on your video screen when you need it, anywhere in the world.”
Word Lens uses text recognition to work out what the word or phrase is, and automatic-translation software translates it into the new language. The translation is then pasted over the original location. “An optical character recognition engine works with the in-built real time translator to translate foreign phrases for you. The converted text is then displayed on the screen of the smart phone.”“
- Relatedly, Warren Ellis hits it on the head by saying that by wearing contacts or eye-glasses you’re augmenting reality. The future is happening everywhere all the time, in every era:
- NPR is streaming the new Baroness record right now in its entirety. Baroness is one of my favorite heavy bands (for lack of a better term) of the last 10 years. There is no guitar duo creating sound today that gets a warmer tone than these guys. Great, great work. And their songs are so all over the map it’s hard to categorize them, though “Metal” instantly springs to mind.
“It seems obligatory for a band that wants to move forward to try to do things that seem impossible and seem way out there, because that’s going to be where you define yourselves,” Baizley says. “And that’s how you’re going to make steps forward, is by doing things that feel a little exposed and feel a little uncomfortable at first. That’s personal music. That’s where the heartbeat of this band lies. We can do something this year that we were completely incapable of doing last year. Once we’ve done this and it becomes a part of what we do, then we’re just going to look for something else. Music — it’s a super-broad thing. We are all individuals, so we’ve got broad tastes. It’s a disservice to the band, it’s a disservice to us as individuals and it’s a huge affront to our audience if we don’t try.”
“Three U.S.-born scientists won the Nobel Prize in physics Tuesday for discovering that the universe is expanding at an accelerating pace, a stunning revelation that suggests the cosmos will eventually freeze to ice. They found that the light emitted by more than 50 distant supernovas was weaker than expected, a sign that the universe was expanding at an accelerating rate, the academy said.
“For almost a century the universe has been known to be expanding as a consequence of the Big Bang about 14 billion years ago,” the citation said. “However the discovery that this expansion is accelerating is astounding. If the expansion will continue to speed up the universe will end in ice.”
“Storytelling is inherently dangerous. Consider a traumatic event in your life. Think about how you experienced it. Now think about how you told it to someone a year later. Now think about how you told it for the hundredth time. It’s not the same thing. Most people think perspective is a good thing: you can figure out characters arcs, you can apply a moral, you can tell it with understanding and context. But this perspective is a misrepresentation: it’s a reconstruction with meaning, and as such bears little resemblance to the event.
The other thing that happens is adjustment. You find out which part of the story works, which part to embellish, which to jettison. You fashion it. Your goal is to be entertaining. This is true for a story told at a dinner party, and it’s true for stories told through movies. Don’t let anyone tell you what a story is, what it needs to include. As an experiment, write a non-story. It will have a chance of being different.”
- And here’s a very Kirby-esque black and white drawing of Cpt. Marvel and a Super Skrull (by Mike Henderson):
The revelation last week that CERN physicists have recorded neutrinos traveling faster than the speed of light is incredibly important, but apparently should be taken with a grain of salt. Or sand. Something.
Lisa Randall, a physics professor at Harvard, wrote a piece just today for the Huffington Postexplaining her skepticism. Most of the article revolves around the expectations of ground-braking research, particularly with a subject like physics:
“Going beyond the well-established core of knowledge requires experiments that are often at the limit of technology. It also involves ideas that are internally consistent but that we don’t yet know to be realized in the universe. These ideas can be very different from existing scientific theories. But they can be essential in more extreme regimes of distance or precision than were previously possible to observe. Such new theories wouldn’t negate the successful predictions from before. Even if more fundamental, they would be necessary only when experiments reach the level of precision at which they could make a difference.“
Then, there’s physicists like Sascha Vongehr. He’s been studying physics for some 40 odd years, with a PhD and slew of post-doctorates (including neuroscience, nanotechnology, and the philosophy of science). Vongehr wrote an article for Science20 today, which couldn’t be farther from Miss Randall’s position (Granted, he’s probably classified as a “fringe” physicist for not outright discrediting the String Theory):
“In modern physics, it is well understood how particles can travel with superluminal velocity without violating special relativity or causality. I will discuss such a mechanism here and the novel experiments it suggest in case the recent neutrino physics observations do hold up to scrutiny.
One possibility is very intuitive: Our three dimensional universe may well be due to a three (or more) dimensional membrane inside a higher dimensional, so called bulk space. This is called “universe on a membrane” or short “membrane universe” (MU). This is a well known scenario in string theory but not restricted to string theory. In the MU scenario, our light velocity c is the maximum velocity of excitations inside the MU membrane, the latter being by the way the very reason for why the MU universe observes Einstein relativity inside of it. That velocity c may be very small compared to the maximum velocity of particles that are not bound to our MU membrane, those that speed freely through the bulk space.”
Regardless of mistakes made (if any), the accuracy of the findings within a vacuum, and all the rest… this is a big deal. Even if the findings were mistaken.
This completely blew me away today. I was talking to my Astronomy prof post-class, I had some extra questions for him simply out of curiosity for the subject matter. As simply as possible…
After the big bang 4 major forces came to be (in order of weakest to strongest): gravity, electromagnetic, weak, and strong. Now gravity’s source is mass. Gravity, and I always thought the opposite of this, is the weakest of the four. There are a total of 11 dimensions, but human beings can only see 3 of them. Via the universal “String Theory” (that every particle is a loop, EXCEPT gravity, which is a string), gravity can actually escape certain dimensions because of its shape. So gravity moves in and out of these 11 dimensions, whilst the other forces, although they may be present in all 11, must stay put where they’re at. Scientists are doing all sorts of test to try to prove this; that gravity can actually escape/wander different dimensions. So, I asked, if we were able to (although this is hypothetical, because it would be impossible for now) attach something or someone to the actual force of gravity, that object could transcend each dimension with the gravity itself? “Yes”.
Another fact worth noting is that time is relative to mass. Meaning time moves slower on say Jupiter, and faster on the moon. And I don’t mean it takes longer for a Jupiter revolution around the Sun. I mean literally time moves slower. If someone lived on the Moon, their cells would deteriorate faster than on Earth. Which is absolutely insane, and actually puts the end of 2001: A Space Odyssey into perspective.
Extra Info (not mine):
Another possibility is that we are “stuck” in a 3+1 dimensional (i.e. three spatial dimensions plus the time dimension) subspace of the full universe. This subspace is supposed to be a D-brane, hence this is known as a braneworld theory. Many people believe that some combination of the two ideas — compactification and branes — will ultimately yield the most realistic theory.
In either case, gravity acting in the hidden dimensions affects other non-gravitational forces such as electromagnetism. In fact, Kaluza and Klein’s early work demonstrated that general relativity with four large dimensions and one small dimension actually predicts the existence of electromagnetism. However, because of the nature of Calabi-Yau manifolds, no new forces appear from the small dimensions, but their shape has a profound effect on how the forces between the strings appear in our four dimensional universe. In principle, therefore, it is possible to deduce the nature of those extra dimensions by requiring consistency with the standard model, but this is not yet a practical possibility. It is also possible to extract information regarding the hidden dimensions by precision tests of gravity, but so far these have only put upper limitations on the size of such hidden dimensions.
