Hi stargazers,
A couple of weeks ago, i rambled semi-usefully, about the gravitational waves story that had been going around.
Well, here are some actual research physicists, doing their best to ramble semi-usefully about it. It's actually quite exciting, if it's verifiable, because it tells us more about our universal origins, and could also hint at the necessary overlap between Classical, Quantum, and Relativistic Physics... but it's also very esoteric.
'Primordial Gravitational Waves - Sixty Symbols'
http://youtu.be/q702wxf_OPw
Something to watch out for, this weekend, is this:
'ScienceCast: The Opposition of Mars'
http://youtu.be/xngUpUyyT70
Something to look for, in the night sky. Mars! This'll be the best opportunity to steal a picture, for some time.
Something to look for, down here on Earth: NOAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!
'Kermode Uncut: Noah Big Deal'
http://youtu.be/uoGQeOUFpo0
{From before he'd seen the full film}
'Mark Kermode reviews Noah'
http://youtu.be/_HCNwIZE0gw
{From after he'd seen the full film}
I think it's been made quite clear that 'Noah' is a ludicrous film, that takes a set of ludicrous myths, and does even more ludicrous things with them.
In fact, it's so utterly ludicrous, that i'm tempted to go and see it :-D
The story itself does not originate with Xtianity, though - it is a generic flooding-related story - and flooding is something that has threatened mankind for basically all time, due to its preference for living on coastlines and riverbanks.
But a global flood? Na-ah. Potholer54 has explained, very well, that global evidence says a global flood did not happen, and so the utility of a specio-holistic ark was never a real one:
'Noah's Flood - debunked'
http://youtu.be/_sD_7rxYoZY
And NonStampCollector has explored how, even if someone wanted to put two or seven of every species on a boat, for whatever reason, doing so would be utterly impractical:
'Noah's Ark'
http://youtu.be/j_BzWUuZN5w
But the most ludicrous thing about the whole Ark-based plot, is that the theological basis for it, is purported to be that god and/or gods unknown had shashed up the Earth they'd made so badly, that they had to wipe the slate clean, and start again. There are multiple problems with this entire plot...
Firstly, if you're going to start again, why not start all over again, and not preserve all of the species that went wrong the last time around?
Secondly, if you're going to preserve all of the species that went wrong, anyway, why preserve them in such tiny populations that mathematically necessitates absurd amounts of inbreeding, thereby making your problems worse?
Thirdly, why would a god shash up a universe that badly anyway. It shouldn't be necessary to have a global flood.
Fourthly, why have a global flood, that necessitates magicking water out of nowhere, when you could use the more practical method of just melting the Earth's mantle with a gigantic asteroid impact?
Fifthly, if this god or gods can magic water out of nowhere, why not just magic all the problems that purportedly necessitated the flood, away?
Sixthly, if magic's too hard, there's a whole universe of planets out there. Why not just start again, with one of them? If this one's buggered up, then forget it and play with another one!
Seventhly, why make your in-bred creations tell this whole story as if it's a lovely tale of salvation, when it's clearly a non-sensical myth.
Eighthly, why make your in-bred creations tell this whole story as if it's a lovely tale of salvation, when it clearly involves the genocide of trillions of organisms across tens of millions of species!
'Ludicrous' has to be the word for it!
Not so ludicrous - the idea that neolithic women could spray-paint their hands...
'Women in Prehistory: Who Made the Paleolithic Hand Impressions?'
http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2014/03/25/women-in-prehistory-who-made-the-paleolithic-hand-impressions/
It must be difficult to attain a reasonable sample size, for this kind of study. Especially, considering that the disparity in this sexually dimorphic feature is minute, it can't be a very statistically strong result. But...
The data seems to present a small nudge, suggesting that the paleoloithic hand-spray-paintings, were probably done by... women.
Women in history. There's one to put on your timeline.
A new dwarf-planet appears to have been found, out beyond Neptune - the outermost planet. At its farthest, it reaches 1.2 billion kilometres from the Sun!
As a dwarf planet, it is quite small - smaller than Earth's Moon - and about the same size as Ceres, displayed on this diagram.
As reported, it is suspected to have a pink tinge, due to radiative effects on its ice, methane and carbon dioxide constituents. Because it is so far away, it is very faint, so the colours can't be picked up directly. Its faintness also makes it very difficult to judge its size.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_VP113
You can see it moving, in this GIF image, here:
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap140331.html
In other news:
"56 lots" of a homeopathetic non-remedy has been withdrawn from shelves, because the manufacturer accidentally put some medicine in! The USA's FDA found that they could contain penicillin or derivatives of penicillin. This is an improvement from a couple of years ago, when homeopathetic preparations were found to have crushed glass in them, and the manufacturer did not announce a withdrawal of products. So medicine is not OK, but lethal ingredients are fine? I say stick to real medicine, folks!
http://doubtfulnews.com/2014/03/homeopathic-remedy-contains-actual-medicine-stop-selling-it/
As part of the opening ceremony for the 2014 Commonwealth Games, in Glasgow, Scotland, five tower-blocks are to be demolished. The buildings were constructed half a century ago, but were due to be demolished anyway, as part of ongoing regeneration projects. It's certainly going to make good use of the spectacle, to involve it in the ceremony!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-26857816
Two brothers are set to open a restaurant in Gothenburg, Sweden, called.. wait for it... 'A Fucking Awesome Sandwich'. Brother Ingbe says he picked up the word 'fucking''s positive connotation while living in New York. He also owns a restaurant called 'Puta Madre' which is Spanish for 'your mother is a prostitute'. Such nice boys. I imagine their mother's immensely proud :-D
http://arbroath.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/fcking-awesome-sandwich-shop-soon-to.html
A woman has attempted to smuggle more than 2 kilograms of gold into India, through Mumbai International Airport, with the gold carried... in her pants. Just the one pair would not provide the necessary fortitude, of course, and so she was wearing six. And how was she caught? Well, unsurprisingly, she was seen walking a bit funny!
http://arbroath.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/woman-having-difficulty-walking-through.html
A Polish priest has 'warned' people that Lego could "destroy" children's souls and "lead them to the dark side". He said their 'Monster Fighters' and 'Zombie' series were "about darkness and the world of death". This just goes to show that when the line between fact and fiction has been blurred sufficiently for people to believe in gods; ghosts, ghouls and children's toys are soon to follow. But if you don't laugh at this stuff, you're really missing out :-P
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/polish-priest-warns-parents-lego-destroy-children-souls-article-1.1742761
A sheep and a goat, in Ireland, have managed to produce biological progeny - the farmer and interviewer derived the name 'geep' for the goat/sheep hybrid. Such hybridization is quite rare, and not just because bestiality is uncommon with other species, too - taxonomically, different species are often demarcated by their inability to interbreed. Cases like this demonstrate that that is not always the case, however. But it's unlikely the little geep will be fertile - such hybrids rarely are. See the link for photos and a video:
http://arbroath.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/rare-goat-sheep-hybrid-born-on-irish.html
Goats, btw, are pretty smart animals, according to recently publicised research. But not as cute as mice (see the mouse-training video in 'contemporary stuff')
http://phys.org/news/2014-03-goats-clever-previously-thought.html
Sticking with the animal theme - the lawyer of a defendant in a French court case has protested a Judge's judgement that a dog is fit to stand as a witness. They attempted to introduce a scientific control by getting both 'Tango' (a labrador) and another dog, to react to meeting Tango's presumed killer. “So if Tango lifted his right paw, moved his mouth or his tail, is he recognizing my client or not?” said the defendant's lawyer. Dogs are simply unable to make definitive declarations of recognition or comprehension. Also, they are easily led by the humans around them. Any response would be as useless as any other! Introducing controls isn't going to get around that, LOL
http://arbroath.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/dog-called-to-testify-in-court-during.html
Sticking, rationally, with the animals theme - an Arts Professor at Manchester Met Uni, in the UK, has displayed clear photographs of insects in flight - possibly mayflies - but insists they're actually fairies! The mind boggles with the somersaults of self-deception that must be going on in his mind. Look at the pictures, for yourself - they're clearly insects :-D
http://doubtfulnews.com/2014/04/exhibition-of-real-fairies/
------------------------------------------------------ contemporary stuff
'La Police de l'Humour (Adrien Ménielle)'
If the humour police were real... Are they going to follow up with a grammar nazi sketch? :-D
http://youtu.be/4S1FnSdzY1c
'SIGNS OF THE TIME EPISODE 7 | The Checkout | ABC1'I recently bought a rucksack, labelled as "Up to 50% off". It was down from £27 to £11. But i suppose they have the excuse that everything had the same "Up to 50% off" label :-D
http://youtu.be/-hns3qjtmAk
'PRODUCT VS PACKSHOT: WEIGHT WATCHERS PIZZA | The Checkout | ABC1'
Yuck! This has to be the most disgusting yet :-D
http://youtu.be/pYkqZoHzlNc
'THE CATCH: WOOLWORTHS ESPRESSO GLASSES | The Checkout | ABC1'
Wings up, all those who have their espresso cold :-D
http://youtu.be/H0Zs-ULu8Ck
'Slow Life'
Beautiful time-lapse footage of the corals and sponges of the Great Barrier Reef, off Australia's coast :-)
http://vimeo.com/88829079
'Cathedral of Stars (in stunning 4k)'
http://youtu.be/zr6VQDCLdlk
So... who wins? Astronomy or Biology? Votes on a postcard :-P
'Caro Emerald - Ne Me Quitte Pas (Studio version)'
http://youtu.be/kIndlXvKib4
Ne me Quitte Pas (Don't Leave Me') is a heartfelt love song, written by Jacques Brel. Caro's is a lovely version, but i think Frida Boccara's wins for sheer hardcore emotion.
http://tapejarascience.tumblr.com/private/81607147194/tumblr_n3gzhbZ3Mu1rdco3z
Jacques' was, of course, brilliant. Shirley Bassey's English version - 'If You Go Away' - was, however, terrible! I daren't even link it here, LOL.
Damita Jo did a version with the English lyrics, and that's pretty good, and more like Caro's. Thanks, SongFacts.com :o)
http://youtu.be/XC3ThUuqNrc
'Domino Addition - Numberphile'
A long-ish video but a fascinating one.
http://youtu.be/lNuPy-r1GuQ
'Mouse Training Secret: How To Teach A Mouse To Walk Backwards'
An entire channel of videos of how to train mice to do tricks. Wonderful. I hope the mice enjoy it :o)
http://youtu.be/JqOthdX0yQg
------------------------------------------------------ of the weeks
Word Of The Week: wanklank -- Dutch for 'dissonance'
Expression Of The Week: 'morning hitler' -- the little pencil moustache left when someone shaves their top lip, doing the bit in the middle last, to see what it'd look like
Quote Of The Week: (Greg Davies' mum, about the Oscar Pistorius murder case) "Ah, dear, silly lad... he had the world at his feet"
Fact Of The Week: Some people are capable of an action known as gleeking, gleeting, geeking, gleeping, glarfing, glitting, gleaking, glicking, glything, glanding, geezing, yanging, cobra spitting, and venoming. This is the projection of saliva, in a stream, from the submandibular gland, in the mouth, under compression by the tongue. Some people can shoot saliva several feet, when they want to, but most people only do it by accident - while talking, eating, or yawning.
------------------------------------------------------ non-contemporary stuff
Is 'As It Occurs To Me' (AIOTM) ((AIOTM)) to return? I dearly hope so. Oh, if i could turn back time.... :-P
If you don't like obscene humour, don't watch these :-P
'Christian Reilly on AIOTM - 'Wonky Face'' (my upload)
http://youtu.be/pTni3DdZLSU
'Christian Reilly on AIOTM - 'My Russian Spy'' (my upload)
http://youtu.be/MSE_sAssQK0
'Christian Reilly on AIOTM - 'Cum On England'' (my upload)
http://youtu.be/ro56csq9mG4
'Christian Reilly: Three Times An Underage Lady (Live)'
http://youtu.be/yzzinVVuwVM
'Christian Reilly: The Day That Stalin Introduced His First Five Year Plan'
http://youtu.be/VaUAoth2tpk
'Lee & Herring at "Rude For A Reason"'
http://youtu.be/8bX7eT3Yfuw
'Richard Herring on Edinburgh & Beyond 2009'
http://youtu.be/6Iu7dfHhaHA
'Richard Herring "Hitler Moustache" Racist Liberal'
I love the incredibly bigoted comments, under this video! The joke lies in the false premise that non-racism is about seeing everybody as the same - it's discontinuities that make factionalism of all kinds destructive, not acceptance of variation. That is why multi-culturalism is still problematic - omniculturalism would be better. Classic Herring :-D
http://youtu.be/mwEi5Dpq6zs
'Richard Herring - relationship (rus sub)'
http://youtu.be/m8RizTJ_UmI
'You Can Choose Your Friends'
This is a film that Richard Herring wrote and starred in (69 mins) and it's pretty good :-D
http://youtu.be/80GnRgxvhjI
'Pendulum rolling ball clock (EN). Homemade 100% mechanical marble machine clock'
via cibermitanios
http://youtu.be/UHBHCsrqYMw
'Crazy Cat'
http://arbroath.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/this-is-thing.html
'Stunning contact juggling'
A staggering circles illusion. All it takes is some white rings, and some mans - hands (manus, in latin) - the bits that make hu-mans so great. Wow :-)
https://richardwiseman.wordpress.com/2014/03/19/stunning-contact-juggling/
'From the people who brought you FLOORS'
Dare i stoop to a joke, myself? :-P
http://johnfinnemore.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/from-people-who-brought-you-floors.html
'Unfortunate publishing layouts of our time'
http://www.thepoke.co.uk/2013/04/26/unfortunate-publishing-layouts-of-our-time/
'Human leather?'
http://www.ripleys.com/weird/daily-dose-of-weird-wtf-blog/unbelievable-but-true/human-leather/
'The Morale Raiser'
http://arbroath.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/the-morale-raiser.html
'I didn't even think it was possible to have a favourite page of a freezer manual...'
https://twitter.com/bitoclass/status/424660652141993984
'Boogie Plays - Goat Simulator Funny Moments and Gameplay'
Who the hell did the programming for ladder climbing, hahaha :-D
http://youtu.be/KRFZARiZKOc
'Which Eye Is The Drawing?'
http://tapejarascience.tumblr.com/post/81873484716/which-eye-is-the-drawing-image-credit-jose
'πzza'
http://tapejarascience.tumblr.com/post/81873509715/zza-via-cibermitanios
.
Oh, i feel hungry, now... :-D
..
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