More Science

Still Blinded.

The Star Devourer
Or as it's more boringly referred to, BP Piscium.

An unusual star may have swallowed its stellar companion and burped out a planet-forming cloud as a result, a new study reports.

The star, called BP Piscium, is surrounded by a thick disc of gas and dust from which it appears to be sucking up new material at a prodigious rate.

MADNESS!

To explain the presence of the dusty disc, the astronomers suggest that when the star grew to become a red giant, its atmosphere engulfed a smaller companion star. The companion, orbiting inside the atmosphere of the primary star, would stir up the gas there, throwing it out to make a disc.

The disc could then form planets, just as the discs around very young stars do.

THE HORROR!

In addition to BP Piscium, the astronomers have identified another old star with a dusty disc, called TYCHO 4144 329 2, which may have gone through a similar scenario.

OH GOD IT'S SPREADING!

Source: New Scientist

Hamster Wheel Technologies
Some researchers have found a way to turn human walking into electricity generating slave labor.

Scientists in the United States and Canada said on Thursday they have developed a unique device that can be strapped on the knee that exploits the mechanics of human walking to generate a usable supply of electricity.

It generates enough power to charge up 10 cell phones at once, the researchers report in the journal Science.

Which is about how many some people have.

Arthur Kuo, a University of Michigan mechanical engineer who worked on the device, said it works similarly to the way that regenerative braking charges a battery in hybrid cars.

These regenerative brakes collect kinetic energy that normally dissipate as heat when the car slows down. The knee device collects energy lost when a person brakes the knee after swinging the leg forward to take a step, the researchers said.

I'm sure there's no negative consequence to altering the finely tuned mechanism of human walking with a brake. This won't cause strain injuries at all.

To be serious for a moment, it's neat that they're researching this stuff. I'm just not sure I see the utility... they talk about soldiers and people isolated from power generation using these, but the last thing a soldier or a hiker is going to want is another few pounds of gear that makes walking even the tiniest bit harder.

*shrug* Science marches ever forward.

Source: Reuters

Bones
No, not the show that I hate so very much. Rather, the skeleton, new uses of which an old slashdot article led me to.

Something along these lines is what Lin Zhong and Michael Liebschner at Rice University in Houston, Texas, envisage. They want to use the human skeleton to transmit commands reliably and securely to wearable gadgets and medical implants. Their research, funded by Microsoft and Texas Instruments, could also lead to new ways for people with disabilities to control devices such as computers and PDAs.

Yes, seriously, scientists are looking for ways to use your skeleton as a secure communications medium.

Combined with the knee-generator, this is starting to sound more and more like The Matrix, isn't it?

Source: New Scientist

Thunder Castle
Is it really science to design a game that a friend of mine bears an almost unhealthy love for after twenty plus years?

Sure. That's gotta be some kind of mind control, right?

Source: Intellivision Lives

Now for Some Anti-Science
The Omphalos Hypothesis, also known as Last Thursdayism (apparently), which is being modified by modern day Creationists as an attack against evolutionary biology. The idea? The entire universe is an illusion, created by God to perfectly SIMULATE rational scientific processes in such a way that you can't actually tell it's only 6 thousand years old.

Really.

Check it out.

Source: Wikipedia

Saturday Evening (News) Post

Like the cheap champagne we're going down in flames...

O'Reilly's O'Meltdown
So it seems Bill O'Reilly got into a shoving match with an Obama staffer at an Obama event, an event where the crowd was very, err, unhappy to see him to start with.

When the popular Fox News entertainer arrived at the Obama event in Nashua, people turned to him but not always approvingly. "Hey O'Reilly," yelled a man. When O'Reilly turned he got a single-finger salute. A few people approached Bill to shake his hand but the overwhelming sentiment was unfavorable. "O'Reilly hatemonger," yelled a woman. A few other people gave him the bird. "I hate you Bill," yelled a man. "You can't stop us Bill," yelled another. I thought someone might brain him with one of those Obama "Hope" signs.

A number of people shouted falafel, the word O'Reilly used in a racy set of telephone conversations with a young woman he was trying to seduce as he described a shower they might take together. He meant loofa, which is not a Middle Eastern delicacy but a bath item.

That would be a funny enough story in itself, but it seems O'Reilly lost his cool completely when the Obama staff failed to show him the deference to which he is accustomed.

The incident was triggered when O'Reilly--with a Fox News crew shooting--was screaming at Obama National Trip Director Marvin Nicholson "Move" so he could get Obama's attention, according to several eyewitnesses. "O'Reilly was yelling at him, yelling at his face," a photographer shooting the scene said.

O'Reilly grabbed Nicholson's arm and shoved him, another eyewitness said. Nicholson, who is 6'8, said O'Reilly called him "low class."

"He grabbed me with both his hands here," Nicholson said, gesturing to his left arm and O'Reilly "started shoving me." Nicholson said, " He was pretty upset. He was yelling at me."

Secret Service agents who were nearby flanked O 'Reilly after he pushed Nicholson. They told O'Reilly he needed to calm down and get behind the fence-like barricade that contained the press.

Yeah Bill, err, acting angry, agitated and physically aggressive around a Presidential candidate might not be the best move you could make. Those Secret Service guys will drop you without giving a second thought to Fox News' primetime ratings if they think you're going to go all whacko on the candidate.

Though, man, that'd be entertaining.

Source: Slate
blogs.suntimes.com

Cute Stunt, But Careful Now...
So the Lakota Sioux, after something like two decades of debate, have decided to unilaterally withdraw from their treaties with the United States and reform their nation.

At least, on paper.

In practice of course, rather a large number of other people live there now and that would make for a headache. For now one supposes they just want to set their own laws without interference on whatever reservation territory they have left.

Given that, while drawing up maps of your new country might be funny, it might not be the best idea...

Source: Jazz From Hell

So the Drama
The National Academy of Sciences puts out a book detailing the relationship between science education and evolution, which pans creationism and says it has no place in the classroom.

NBC, far from recognizing the obvious and letting the statement of said obvious things lie, decides it'd make a racier story if it was a 'controversy', so they whip one up, and have an idiot from the Family Research Council on as an opposing viewpoint to thousands of educated scientists.

This is just..... garghhg.

Source: Raw Story

Random Sweeney Related Thing
So the roommate was curious where Johnny Depp was from, and we looked up his wikipedia bio. Turns out, Kentucky, of all godforsaken places.

Later in his bio it said he played a slide guitar. I didn't know what that was, so I looked it up. Short answer: a guitar you play with a thing over your finger that you slide up and down the strings. Neato.

There's a nifty picture of how to play one using a coke bottle as the slide.
Source: Wikipedia

Rethuglican Post-Iowa Meme
So Obama's victory in Iowa has the thuggish Republicans scared, and when they get scared, they turn to conspiracy theories.

Now the theory being advanced is that the Democrats are running Obama because white people will be afraid not to vote for him, or else the big, scary black mobs will rise up and burn down their houses.

Seriously.

Source: Glenn Greenwald