What's up, pal!

rhamphotheca: Collision Course? A Comet Heads for Mars by Dr....

Fri, 29 Mar 2013 09:26:46 -0400

Collision Course? A Comet Heads for Mars

by Dr. Tony Phillips

Over the years, the spacefaring nations of Earth have sent dozens of probes and rovers to explore Mars. Today there are three active satellites circling the red planet while two rovers, Opportunity and Curiosity, wheel across the red sands below. Mars is dry, barren, and apparently lifeless.

Soon, those assets could find themselves exploring a very different kind of world.

“There is a small but non-negligible chance that Comet 2013 A1 will strike Mars next year in October of 2014,” says Don Yeomans of NASA’s Near-Earth Object Program at JPL. “Current solutions put the odds of impact at 1 in 2000.”

The nucleus of the comet is probably 1 to 3 km in diameter, and it is coming in fast, around 56 km/s (125,000 mph). “It if does hit Mars, it would deliver as much energy as 35 million megatons of TNT,” estimates Yeomans…

(read more: NASA)

just-eating: Like Food? This blog will make your mouth water.

Mon, 22 Oct 2012 07:43:07 -0400

just-eating:

Like Food? This blog will make your mouth water.

just-eating: Like food? This blog will make your mouth water.

Mon, 20 Aug 2012 01:52:35 -0400

just-eating:

Like food? This blog will make your mouth water.

"We must declare ourselves, become known; allow the world to discover this subterranean life of ours..."

Wed, 01 Aug 2012 10:48:20 -0400

“We must declare ourselves, become known; allow the world to discover this subterranean life of ours which connects kings and farm boys, artists and clerks. Let them see that the important thing is not the object of love, but the emotion itself.”

- Gore Vidal (via npr)

npr: Um, this has got to be the third best thing ever. — tanya...

Wed, 25 Jul 2012 21:22:34 -0400

npr:

Um, this has got to be the third best thing ever. — tanya b.

laughingsquid:

An Edible Cookie Coffee Cup

Life isn't easy for a gay walrus.

Wed, 18 Jul 2012 06:30:00 -0400

Funny!

Life isn't easy for a gay walrus.

Wed, 18 Jul 2012 06:29:39 -0400

rhamphotheca: Cannibalism Seen in Gray Mouse Lemurs by Charles...

Sat, 09 Jun 2012 03:53:07 -0400

rhamphotheca:

Cannibalism Seen in Gray Mouse Lemurs

by Charles Q. Choi

The gray mouse lemur has something in common with us—and it’s not something good. Researchers trekking through the forests of western Madagascar looking for a radio-tagged female of the species (Microcebus murinus) have found a male dining on her flesh (shown above). The cause of the female’s death is a mystery, since all of her vital organs were missing.

This lemur was not previously known to eat other mammals, much less practice cannibalism. What’s more, although cannibalism has been observed in a variety of primates, including chimpanzees, bonobos, orangutans, several monkeys, and perhaps even gorillas, all known victims of such cannibals have been infants or juveniles. Except, that is, in humans.

The findings, reported in an upcoming issue of the American Journal of Primatology, suggest that nonhuman primate cannibalism is not limited to infants and juveniles. At the very least, the menu of the gray mouse lemur—one of the world’s smallest primate species—is much larger than previously thought.

(via: Science NOW) (image: Anni Hämäläinen)

ecocides: Mount Yasur volcano at dusk - Tanna, Vanuatu |...

Wed, 30 May 2012 23:16:11 -0400

ecocides:

Mount Yasur volcano at dusk - Tanna, Vanuatu | image by Raphael Bick

ilovecharts: Stereotyping In Europe

Wed, 30 May 2012 23:14:04 -0400

ilovecharts:

Stereotyping In Europe

rhamphotheca: Plastics - When we pollute the sea, we pollute...

Tue, 29 May 2012 21:38:50 -0400

rhamphotheca:

Plastics - When we pollute the sea, we pollute for a long time…

(via: Safe Planet)

just-eating: Like food? This blog will make your mouth water.

Tue, 22 May 2012 01:40:14 -0400

just-eating:

Like food? This blog will make your mouth water.

theclearlydope: This is the realest.

Sun, 20 May 2012 20:55:44 -0400

theclearlydope:

This is the realest.

tush: Keep walking. Nothing to see here.

Wed, 16 May 2012 21:52:39 -0400

tush:

Keep walking. Nothing to see here.

Photo

Tue, 10 Apr 2012 02:09:35 -0400

npr: The practice of men taking underage boys as sexual...

Thu, 05 Apr 2012 22:45:21 -0400

npr:

The practice of men taking underage boys as sexual partners is on the rise in post-Taliban Afghanistan. This ”open secret” is rarely talked about — including by foreign powers who have neglected to draw attention to the abuse. (via Afghanistan’s ‘dancing boys’ are invisible victims - The Washington Post)

Photo

Sun, 18 Mar 2012 04:22:03 -0400

rhamphotheca: dendroica: Two Water Snakes, One Fish Two snakes...

Sun, 18 Mar 2012 04:16:35 -0400

rhamphotheca:

dendroica: Two Water Snakes, One Fish

Two snakes were spotted competing in a a tug-of-war over a catfish on the banks of the Arkansas River, America. Each firmly clamped its mouth down on the meal and refused not to let go. At one point, one of the animals appears determined to swallow the catch first. The bizarre battle was captured on camera by Steve Creek, from Lavaca, Arkansas… Picture: Steve Creek/Solent News (via Pictures of the day: 28 February 2012 - Telegraph)

* 2 Midland Watersnakes (Nerodia s. pleuralis), and 1 Yellow Bullhead Catfish (Ameirurus natalis)… ;)

rhamphotheca: ‘Mass Effect’ Solves The Fermi Paradox? by Caleb...

Fri, 16 Mar 2012 07:10:12 -0400

rhamphotheca:

‘Mass Effect’ Solves The Fermi Paradox?

by Caleb A. Scharf

Right now, all across the planet, millions of people are engaged in a struggle with enormous implications for the very nature of life itself. Making sophisticated tactical decisions and wrestling with chilling and complex moral puzzles, they are quite literally deciding the fate of our existence.

Or at least they are pretending to.

The video game Mass Effect has now reached its third and final installment; a huge planet-destroying, species-wrecking, epic finale to a story that takes humanity from its tentative steps into interstellar space to a critical role in a galactic, and even intergalactic saga. It’s awfully good, even without all the fantastic visual design or gameplay, at the heart is a rip-roaring plot and countless backstories that tie the experience into one of the most carefully and completely imagined sci-fi universes out there.

As a scientist, and someone who will sheepishly admit to a love of videogames (from countless hours spent as a teenager coding my own rather inferior efforts, to an occasional consumer’s dip into the lushness of what a multi-billion dollar industry can produce), the Mass Effect series is fascinating for a number of reasons. The first of which is the relentless attention to plausible background detail. Take for example the task of finding mineral resources in Mass Effect 2. Flying your ship to different star systems presents you with a bird’s eye view of the planets, each of which has a fleshed out description – be it inhabited, or more often, uninhabitable. These have been torn from the annals of the real exoplanets, gussied up a little, but still recognizable. There are hot Jupiter’s, and icy Neptune-like worlds. There are gassy planets, rocky planets, and watery planets of great diversity in age, history and elemental composition. It’s a surprisingly good representation of what we now think is really out there…

(read more: Scientific American)

thefluffingtonpost: Canine Construction Workers’ Union Chides...

Sat, 10 Mar 2012 02:16:52 -0500

thefluffingtonpost:

Canine Construction Workers’ Union Chides Layoffs

In a memo released today, the Canine Construction Workers’ Union of America (Local 47) repudiated The Sizemore Group for what it calls “penny-pinching layoffs.”

The real estate developer contracted union dogs to lay cement for for five new housing complexes. After only two foundations were complete, the company let go of half the contractors, citing “unnecessary labor.”

The union says Sizemore is running the workers ragged, expecting the same results and speed from half the team.

“The work will end up being shoddy” says Jim Rockland, a union representative. “I wouldn’t want to live in a shoddy house, and I don’t expect Sizemore’s clients to either.”

Submitted by Donna Mary Nicholls.