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Dwarf Dark Galaxy...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on April 18, 2016 at 6:22am


Composite image of the gravitational lens SDP.81 showing the distorted ALMA image of the more distant galaxy (red arcs) and the Hubble optical image of the nearby lensing galaxy (blue center object). By analyzing the distortions in the ring, astronomers have determined that a dark dwarf galaxy (data indicated by white dot near left lower arc segment) is lurking nearly 4 billion light-years away. Credit: Y. Hezaveh, Stanford Univ.; ALMA (NRAO/ESO/NAOJ); NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope

Topics: Astronomy, Astrophysics, Dark Matter, Einstein, General Relativity, Gravitational Lensing, Radio Astronomy


Subtle distortions hidden in ALMA’s stunning image of the gravitational lens SDP.81 are telltale signs that a dwarf dark galaxy is lurking in the halo of a much larger galaxy nearly 4 billion light-years away. This discovery paves the way for ALMA to find many more such objects and could help astronomers address important questions on the nature of dark matter.

In 2014, as part of ALMA’s Long Baseline Campaign, astronomers studied a variety of astronomical objects to test the telescope's new, high-resolution capabilities. One of these experimental images was that of an Einstein ring, which was produced by the gravity of a massive foreground galaxy bending the light emitted by another galaxy nearly 12 billion light-years away.

This phenomenon, called gravitational lensing, was predicted by Einstein’s general theory of relativity and it offers a powerful tool for studying galaxies that are otherwise too distant to observe. It also sheds light on the properties of the nearby lensing galaxy because of the way its gravity distorts and focuses light from more distant objects.

National Radio Astronomy Observatory:
Dwarf Dark Galaxy Hidden in ALMA Gravitational Lens Image

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Mune...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on April 15, 2016 at 6:02am
(Credit: CruZeWizard/Shutterstock)


Topics: Astronomy, Astrophysics, Geophysics, Moon, Planetary Science


When I saw this, it sparked a recent memory that is surprisingly related. It sounds like screenwriters with active imaginations paid close attention in science classes, another benefit of a STEM education.

Ou peut-être parce que les scénaristes et les scientifiques sont de la France ?

Mune: Guardian of the Moon (also known as Mune The Guardian of the Moon) (French: Mune, le gardien de la lune) is a 2014 French 3D computer-animated adventure fantasy film directed by Benoît Philippon (which he co-wrote with Jérôme Fansten) and Alexandre Heboyan.

In an imaginary world, a small Sun and Moon were made by the first Guardians to warm up a small planet inhabited by different marvelous people. The first Guardian of the Sun harpooned a star to keep it close to the planet, and hung it by chains to a mobile temple that is like a huge quadruped animal made of rock. The first Guardian of the Moon descended into the world of dreams and carved the Moon in a quarry of oneiric stones, and threw it into the sky. Since then, the Guardians follow generation after generation and preserve the harmony of the world. The people of the day and those of the night live in relative harmony, even though they are very different from each other. But in the depth of the planet, Necross awaits the opportunity to set darkness over the world. Wikipedia

* * * * *

To solve a mystery about Earth’s core, scientists looked to the moon.

Viewed from space, Earth is a serene blue sphere. But beneath its surface, there is a roiling mass of liquid, nickel-iron alloy and solid iron almost 6,000 miles in diameter. The inner and outer core comprise almost a third of Earth’s mass, and together they generate a magnetic field that shields life on this planet from harmful charged particles emanating from the sun.

But Earth’s core, perhaps, can’t take all of the credit for saving humanity.

In a study published Wednesday in the journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters, scientists from the National Center for Scientific Research in France say the the moon plays a key role keeping life on Earth safe. Although the moon sits some 230,000 miles away, researchers believe its gravitational tug churns iron alloy in the core, which, in turn, helps maintain the magnetic field that protects our planet.

Discovery Magazine: The Moon: Our Silent Guardian, Nathaniel Scharping

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Waves of Magnetism...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on April 14, 2016 at 5:14am

Magnetic order in (Sr,Na)Fe2As2: The crystal structure contains planes of iron atoms (shown as red spheres). Half the iron sites have a magnetization (shown as red arrows), which points either up or down, but the other half have zero magnetization. This shows that the magnetism results from the constructive and destructive interference of two magnetization waves, a clear sign that the magnetic electrons are itinerant, which means they are not confined to a single site. The same electrons are responsible for the superconductivity at lower temperature.

Topics: Condensed Matter Physics, Materials Science, Superconductors


A research team led by the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) Argonne National Laboratory has discovered that only half the atoms in some iron-based superconductors are magnetic, providing a conclusive demonstration of the wave-like properties of metallic magnetism in these materials.

The discovery allows for a clearer understanding of the magnetism in some compounds of iron, the iron arsenides, and how it helps induce superconductivity, the resistance-free flow of electrical current through a solid-state material, which occurs at temperatures up to 138 degrees Kelvin, or minus -135 degrees Celsius.

"In order to be able to design novel superconducting materials, one must understand what causes superconductivity," said Argonne senior physicist Raymond Osborn, one of the project's lead researchers. "Understanding the origin of magnetism is a first vital step toward obtaining an understanding of what makes these materials superconducting. Given the similarity to other materials, such as the copper-based superconductors, our goal was to improve our understanding of high-temperature superconductivity."

Argonne National Laboratory:
New magnetism research brings high-temp superconductivity applications closer
Angela Hardin

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Point and Click...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on April 13, 2016 at 8:46am
Image Source: Good Housekeeping


Topics: Commentary, Diversity, Education, Internet, Politics


Before the Internet, any letters to a publication had to go to its editor, with a 140-word limit (unlike 140 characters now). If you made publication, you got to see your name in print and if you were a writer, increase your notice and curriculum vitae/"clips" to showcase with potential book publishers for fiction, non-fiction, poetry you were trying to market. That process used to take weeks and a lot of patience. Editors were and are impressive, credentialed and revered. To impress one is a big deal.

There's always a downside with every technological leap. We're selecting vis-a-vis an election cycle cum reality show this country's next chief executive. Everyone promises to "bring jobs back," even if their own companies were part of the many that took advantage of trade agreements and cheaper labor overseas. What neither of them will tell you is some jobs due to robotics and software innovations WON'T ever come back because there's no need for them to. James Boggs called it "automation and cybernation" in a very prescient read. The educational system is a testing havoc, enriching test publishing companies simultaneously NOT preparing our citizens for future jobs that pay cheaper salaries offshore, nor that our democratic republic was formed before the advent of "point and click" and American Idol.  Meanwhile, we're in a cycle of ignorance about science and birth control at a present count of 7 billion people that all share the same resources - some with more success (those with lawyers; offshore tax shelters) than others.

The Internet allows writers to show their skills to potential agents and publishers through blogs and web sites. The Query Letter has evolved from hard copy to email; rejection letters however still take some time for the agent or publisher to click "send."

The comments section of this blog has some lively activity depending on the article, many of it spam that after repetition I delete without publishing; many trolls whose sensitivities I've somehow offended. It usually boils down to politics, religion or some combination of the two. Some exchanges I've had to terminate with a posted link from the FBI's cyber crime unit and a promise to meet the offender in court if they persist. I've also used the fine art of blocking that's available and empowering in social media.

This space of time we're in also warps our understanding of Civics that used to be taught in schools. Even the Governor of Oklahoma failed this test:

Gov. Fallin said she believes the final decision on the monument’s fate should rest with the people.

“You know, there are three branches of our government. You have the Supreme Court, the legislative branch and the people, the people and their ability to vote. So I’m hoping that we can address this issue in the legislative session and let the people of Oklahoma decide,” she said.

The article goes on correctly to say the legislative (Congress: Senate and House of Representatives), executive (President and Vice President) and judicial branches (HERE'S where the Supreme Court comes in), correcting the Governor's Faux Pas.

It is this lack of understanding that is frightening; this callous disregard from even elected officials knowing the simple basics of governance, not caring about important details on every level of the electorate.

I'm old enough to recall the concerns regarding the "Information Superhighway," back when a home computer cost in the range of $2,500 (my wife's then "employee discount" with Dell Computers) using a Pentium 486. That left understandingly a lot of minority households priced out of the luxury.

We now have faster, more powerful computers somewhere in the vicinity of our hip pockets. Our demand for the speedy novelty of sharing cat videos has driven economics to sweat shops where our electronic pacifiers are assembled by the equivalent of slave labor. The resources used to manufacture stolen in manufactured wars from tribes in third world countries starving, unable to benefit from the wealth beneath their feet.

This instantaneous nature gratifies us on a primal level; what used to take time to acquire we now expect in nanoseconds, be it legislation, product ordered online or pornography. Our notions of distance in the jet age similarly have succumbed to the same forces as our notions of process, rejection and time.

And sadly in doing so, we have empowered sociopaths.


As part of a series on the rising global phenomenon of online harassment, the Guardian commissioned research into the 70m comments left on its site since 2006 and discovered that of the 10 most abused writers eight are women, and the two men are black. Hear from three of those writers, explore the data and help us host better conversations online

by Becky Gardiner, Mahana Mansfield, Ian Anderson, Josh Holder, Daan Louter and Monica Ulmanu
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The Gift...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on April 12, 2016 at 4:32am
Image Source: National Geographic


Topics: Astronomy, Astrophysics, General Relativity, Neutron Stars


In this talk Dr Victoria Kaspi of McGill University, an American-Canadian astrophysicist, who primarily investigates pulsars and neutron stars, discuses the frontiers of neutron star research. Neutron stars — compact exotic objects that appear due to gravitational collapse of a massive star after a supernova — are not only of interest to astronomers. Being made nearly entirely out of neutrons, they offer a chance to investigate particle theory at high energies making them objects of special interest for particle physicists as well. Physics Database

Neutron stars are ancient remnants of stars that have reached the end of their evolutionary journey through space and time.

These interesting objects are born from once-large stars that grew to four to eight times the size of our own sun before exploding in catastrophic supernovae. After such an explosion blows a star's outer layers into space, the core remains—but it no longer produces nuclear fusion. With no outward pressure from fusion to counterbalance gravity's inward pull, the star condenses and collapses in upon itself.

Despite their small diameters—about 12.5 miles (20 kilometers)—neutron stars boast nearly 1.5 times the mass of our sun, and are thus incredibly dense. Just a sugar cube of neutron star matter would weigh about one hundred million tons on Earth.

National Geographic: Neutron Stars

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Nuclear Jihad: The Threats Are Inside Our Tent

Posted by Cortez R Law III on April 11, 2016 at 6:35pm
By Michelle Malkin  •  March 29, 2016 10:55 PM
Creators Syndicate
Copyright 2016

*Here's the follow-up article I alluded to in last week's article, "Where is the San Onofre nuclear waste going?"*


It’s not over. It’s never over. After last week’s deadly airport and subway bombings in Brussels, the Belgian government remains on high alert for jihad attacks and espionage at its nuclear facilities.

One Belgian nuke plant security guard was murdered recently and his ID is missing. Two of the Brussels bombers reportedly spied on the home of a top senior scientist in the country’s nuclear program. ISIS has been implicated in an alleged insider plot to obtain radioisotopes from one of Belgium’s nuclear plants for a dirty bomb. Two former Belgian nuke plant workers left their jobs to fight for ISIS in Syria.

This is all according to plan. The al-Qaida house organ, Inspire magazine, has urged its followers to conduct attacks using “specialized expertise and those who work in sensitive locations that would offer them unique opportunities” to wreak havoc.

Could Islamic terrorists and other criminal menaces now exploit homeland security vulnerabilities at our own nuclear power plants and other utilities here in the U.S.?

Answer: They already have.

In 2011, a little-remembered Department of Homeland Security intelligence report warned of the ongoing enterprise of jihadi infiltration at nuclear, utility and other infrastructure facilities. The memo, titled “Insider Threat to Utilities,” warned that “violent extremists have, in fact, obtained insider positions.” Moreover, “outsiders have attempted to solicit utility-sector employees” for damaging physical and cyber attacks.

“Based on the reliable reporting of previous incidents, we have high confidence in our judgment that insiders and their actions pose a significant threat to the infrastructure and information systems of U.S. facilities,” the bulletin detailed. “[I]nsider information on sites, infrastructure, networks, and personnel is valuable to our adversaries and may increase the impact of any attack on the utilities infrastructure.”

No kidding, Captain Obvious and First Lieutenant Duh!

Since the 9/11 attacks, the U.S. nuclear industry has spent more than $2 billion upgrading security — including more than doubling the number of armed guards at entrances and checkpoints surrounding the plants.
But when the threats are coming from inside the tent, all those armed forces outside the perimeters are for show.

South Jersey jihadist and al-Qaida-linked radical Sharif Mobleyheld positions at several nuclear power plants in Salem County, New Jersey, before moving to Yemen. He had passed several federal background checks as recently as 2008. In December, Mobley was sentenced to 10 years in prison after shooting a guard during an attempted escape from detention on terrorism charges.

How many radicalized Muslims — homegrown converts, foreign business visa holders and foreign students — are working inside America’s sensitive infrastructure? Thanks to our suicidal refusal to profile international visitors and workers from jihadist breeding grounds, nobody knows!

Politically correct politicians and terror-coddling grievance groupscondemn monitoring and tracking of Muslim refugees and Muslims enclaves (such as those in Minneapolis and Maine where tens of thousands of Somalis have resettled). They cried “Islamophobia” when homeland security officials wanted to interview Muslim visa holders from terror-sponsoring nations after the 9/11 attacks.

And consider this: There are now more than 100,000 Muslim students accepted into U.S. college and universities every year from the Middle East and North Africa. Nuclear engineering is one of the fields of study for which F-1 foreign student visa holders can obtain work and extended residency through the Optional Practical Training program. None are screened for jihadist loyalties and sympathies.

How many legal visa holders (let alone illegal visa overstayers) who entered through these pipelines have gained access to sensitive facilities? Nobody knows!

Earlier this year, DHS admitted it doesn’t investigate 99 percent of illegal visa overstayers who entered here on business or tourism--500,000-plus in 2015 alone, including thousands from Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Libya, Pakistan, Syria and Yemen. The feds still haven’t compiled up-to-date visa overstay data for those who came in as foreign students and guest workers (including high-tech foreigners working in science, technology, engineering and mathematics).

Then there are the security breaches involving who knows how many illegal border-crossers, fake document users and deportation violators. Dozens of illegal immigrants using fake Social Security numbers were swept up in immediate post-9/11 raids at nuclear sub bases, power plants and Navy aircraft carriers. But it didn’t take long for the feds to hit the snooze button.

In 2011, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio arrested Cruz Loya Alvares, who was working at the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station despite being a Mexican illegal immigrant who had been deported in 2000. He paid human smugglers to bring him back, secured work in construction, and somehow escaped re-deportation despite being cited by Mesa County Police for driving with a suspended license.

In 2012, another Mexican illegal immigrant, Nestor Martinez-Ochoa, who worked in construction, was arrested after trying to enter the same Palo Verde nuclear power plant with a fake ID — not by federal authorities, but again by Arpaio’s office.

These arrests are exceptions, not the rule. Worksite enforcement under President Obama is a joke.
​
The specter of nuclear jihad is terrifying, but the chilling fact is that homeland security has already been in meltdown for years. We’re doing ourselves in.

*MY TAKE: I reiterate what I stated in last week's article on San Onofre, in which I referenced my science fiction/thriller, S.Y.P.H.E.N. I was ignorant of the issue that Michelle highlights when writing the book and it already exists in the U.S.! I'm no prophet by any stretch. I knew the idea was solid and if I maximized its entertainment value, I had a compelling story. Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction, but in this case, I think the two principals are in a stalemate. 

I'm sure both political parties would love for this whole terrorism challenge to disappear, but like Michelle stated in the beginning of the piece, "It's not over. It's never over." Woe unto Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, John Kasich, Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, Congress, Homeland Security, the FBI, the U.S. Nuclear industry and others, why? Because if they choose to kick the can down the road for other administrations and generations of Americans to deal with this threat in all of its complexity, it sends the message that they devalue our National Security in favor of political correctness.

The first and most important job of the President of the United States is to defend its citizenry. But the POTUS needs those in charge of our nuclear programs to make certain they take every precaution to secure those facilities and vet every potential employee. If not, then I echo Michelle again as she concludes the article: "...We're doing ourselves in." 
Michelle Malkin is an American conservative blogger, political commentator, and author. Her weekly syndicated column appears in a number of newspapers and websites. *From Wikipedia*
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Tipping...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on April 11, 2016 at 6:16am
Image Source: Scientific American


Topics: Climate Change, Global Warming, Greenhouse Gases


Perhaps the lawsuit in Eugene, Oregon will start a trend. It's apparent our elected officials aren't concerned even with their own personal posterity; just the next election cycle: just getting reelected. Two liturgical quotes come to mind:

"The meek shall inherit the earth" (Matt 5:5) and "a child shall lead them" (Isa 11:6). For the sake of the human species, we can all only hope so.

The north pole is on the run. Although it can drift as much as 10 meters across a century, sometimes returning to near its origin, it has recently taken a sharp turn to the east. Climate change is the likely culprit, yet scientists are debating how much melting ice or changing rain patterns affect the pole’s wanderlust.

The geographical poles—the north and south tips of the axis that the Earth spins around—wobble over time due to small variations in the sun’s and moon’s pulls, and potentially to motion in Earth’s core and mantle. But changes on the planet’s surface can alter the poles, too. They wobble with every season as the distribution of snow and rain change, and over long stretches as well. Roughly 10,000 years ago, for example, Earth woke up from a deep freeze and the massive ice sheets sitting atop what is now Canada melted. As ice mass fled, and the depressed crust rebounded, the distribution of the planet’s mass changed and the north pole started to drift west. This pattern can be clearly seen in data from 1899 onward. But a recent zigzag in the north pole’s path (and the opposite movement in the south pole) suggests a new change is afoot.

Scientific American: Earth Is Tipping Because of Climate Change, Shannon Hall

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Dystopia...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on April 8, 2016 at 6:00am
Image Source: The Nation - This Is Your Brain on Climate Change


Topics: Climate Change, Existentialism, Global Warming, Greenhouse Gases


We are in an election cycle. A lot of memes have been generated, barring you support one "team" or the other. The chief concern when I was younger was "duck and cover" drills, as The Cold War and mass extinction wasn't a matter of ancient history: it was for me and my classmates our ever-present reality.

We still have those concerns as a country. We should vet our presidential candidates not just on what they can do for us locally, but what our example abroad - emulated for good or for ill - will mean to the human species.

I shuddered when I read The Nation's article: "This Is Your Brain on Climate Change" by Zoë Carpenter. If that was her intent, I think she accomplished it.

I didn't find any links to her reference to what the White House published this week, so I went searching:

FACT SHEET: What Climate Change Means for Your Health and Family was indeed published on Monday for immediate release. It is ironically my fifth year anniversary at my company, and the 48th year anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King's assassination. Also on the Fact Sheet site - Climate and Health Assessment, from its first chapter:

Summary

Climate Change and Human Health

The influences of weather and climate on human health are significant and varied. Exposure to health hazards related to climate change affects different people and different communities to different degrees. While often assessed individually, exposure to multiple climate change threats can occur simultaneously, resulting in compounding or cascading health impacts (see Figure ES2).

With climate change, the frequency, severity, duration, and location of weather and climate phenomena—like rising temperatures, heavy rains and droughts, and some other kinds of severe weather—are changing. This means that areas already experiencing health-threatening weather and climate phenomena, such as severe heat or hurricanes, are likely to experience worsening impacts, such as higher temperatures and increased storm intensity, rainfall rates, and storm surge. It also means that some locations will experience new climate-related health threats. For example, areas previously unaffected by toxic algal blooms or waterborne diseases because of cooler water temperatures may face these hazards in the future as increasing water temperatures allow the organisms that cause these health risks to thrive. Even areas that currently experience these health threats may see a shift in the timing of the seasons that pose the greatest risk to human health.

Climate change can therefore affect human health in two main ways: first, by changing the severity or frequency of health problems that are already affected by climate or weather factors; and second, by creating unprecedented or unanticipated health problems or health threats in places where they have not previously occurred.

I experienced some of this personally and recently. This was without a doubt the sickest my wife and I have ever been. I've seen it affect coworkers and neighbors, spikes in temperature with chills and respiratory symptoms. All because of a change in temperature and our insistence on continuing fossil fuels to enrich a few that know no other way to make a living without collateral damage. The above photo is the imagined exaggeration of Earth as the Sahara Desert. When it gets that bad, there's nothing we can do, Paris or Kyoto. It's then over for us as a species...curtains...finis...kaput.

As I've said, we're in an election cycle and our instincts tend us towards tribalism, teaming, "us-versus-them"; cheers and trolling when our Avatars win or lose a primary or caucus; someone who we've falsely "friended," as if we'll be invited over to their homes for tea for an online $10 donation and a "promise."

In "Branches," I made my point quite clear: it's about the Supreme Court any candidate, then president will nominate and that it could affect us generations after her/his tenure. It's about the midterms that elects the legislatures that will forward your president's agenda, or in our most recent example, callously block it.

I am sick of the soundbites, the name-calling; one accusing another of lying (when that seems from the most observable evidence part of their training and job description); the well-rehearsed litany of talking points. It is well past time our candidates showed us their own science chops, and stop sending in their answers vetted by STEM Post Docs on staff. The willful ignorance encouraged by pseudoscience, pseudo-religion; science denial to ensure the reelection of a Congress we obviously DON'T like will not only weaken us as a republic, it may be our Chicxulub meteor as a species, and like the dinosaurs we still have no star ships to escape our own sizable hubris.

Lastly, to Mr. Nick Cannon and the rights your ancestors died for: your net worth has increased after your split with Maria Carey, far beyond mine in STEM as I'm not "Wilding Out" or hosting the revamped "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous" (which includes you). You're not "too broke to vote," methinks you're just a narcissist that loves attention, and like Susan Sarandon - both of you at a net worth of $50 million - too rich to care who's president! The REST of us are voting, and demanding more from our representatives... as citizens of a republic; as humans while we still can. You nor "Louise" will be able to hide your wealth offshore on a crumbling, dysfunctional planet.

Octavia E. Butler:
Parable of the Sower
Parable of the Talents

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Latest S.Y.P.H.E.N. Review

Posted by Cortez R Law III on April 7, 2016 at 5:58pm

African Americans on the Move Book Club rated it 3-Stars

The story mixed military action with a slight bit of the supernatural/ government experimentation. A group of friends and past military squad were on vacation when their leader spots a terrorist and they follow. This leads them on a chase where the encounter terrorists and an alien/ experiment.
The story was easy to follow, but the characters didn’t seem like military trained people- too much squabbling and disrespect of their leaders order, seems counter to what was trying to be established as a top level unit. The tension falls away quickly because the dialogue tends to be overly full of acronyms and general chatter. At times it feels like the story is about frat boys instead. Overall it was a decent read- if not somewhat predictable at the end.

Jennifer Fisch-Ferguson
AAMBC Reviewer

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Where is the San Onofre nuclear waste going?

Posted by Cortez R Law III on April 7, 2016 at 5:37pm

Spent fuel staying put for now
By Rob Nikolewski | 1:34 p.m. March 25, 2016

*Here's the follow-up story on America's issue with nuclear waste from the post, "The solution to storing San Onofre's spent nuclear fuel"*

 Some 3.6 million pounds of nuclear waste is stored at the now-shuttered San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) but when the waste will be transferred and where it will end up are still very open questions.

"I think everyone can agree we want to get the spent fuel off the San Onofre site sooner rather than later," said Garry Brown, executive director and CEO of the nonprofit clean water organization Orange County Coastkeeper, Thursday night at the quarterly meeting of the Community Engagement Panel.

After the California Coastal Commission approved a site permit last October, a plan was approved to bury the waste in concrete casks within 125 feet of a seawall and the beach on a low-lying plain at the plant operated by Southern California Edison.

"We need to de-energize the plant as soon as we can," Tom Palmisano, chief nuclear officer at Southern California Edison, told the 18-member panel during a Powerpoint presentation in Oceanside.

The panel was created two years ago to advise the co-owners of SONGS and give the public updates on the painstaking and complicated process to coordinate the multiple public, private and governmental entities needed to decommission the plant.

The prospect of casks on site has generated plenty of opposition.

"We may never be able to move these," said Gary Headrick, co-founder of San Clemente Green. "These storage containers are not reliable."

Palmisano told the Union-Tribune he's confident the casks are safe. "This is a proven technology," he said, but added the plant wants the waste sent to another location as soon as possible.

Among the problems is the near-paralysis on the part of the federal government to permanently deal with nuclear waste.

Plans for a huge underground storage facility at Yucca Mountain in Nevada have been scrapped and spent nuclear fuel is being stored at various sites across the country on an indefinite basis.

Companies in West Texas and eastern New Mexico have been discussed as possible contenders for the SONGS waste but, even if those facilities are OK'd, it will take years for them to get up and running.

Community Engagement Panel chairman David Victor recently made a trip to Capitol Hill and said Thursday he's cautiously optimistic a political deal can eventually be reached on consolidated interim storage (CIS).

Under CIS, fuel storage sites would be built on isolated locations like the desert where multiple plants could deposit their waste.

"Instead of having the waste in 60 sites across the country, we have it in two," Victor said after the meeting.

"Consolidated storage is crucial for us. If we don't have consolidated storage, the earliest we can think about ways to move (waste from SONGS) is 2030 or the 2030s ... Consolidated storage very quickly makes it possible to move the fuel at least a decade earlier, if not earlier."

Bills in the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate are circulating to allocate money for CIS facilities through the federal government's Nuclear Waste Fund.

Victor said he doesn't have any illusions that something can get passed on Capitol Hill during a contentious election year but he sees support from members of both parties growing.

"The idea is to get people talking about this and create this echo chamber so when there's energy legislation in the next session, this can be included as part of it," Victor said.

Thursday's meeting came as news broke that the suicide bombers linked to the attacks in Brussels were reportedly plotting to build a dirty bomb and target a Belgian nuclear power plant.

"I don't necessarily agree that the systems are that vulnerable," Palmisano said. "The dry cask storage systems are designed and then licensed by the (Nuclear Regulatory Commission) includes consideration of natural and man-made events such as a terrorist attack that are secured in their requirements they are made to withstand."

The public comment period near the end of Thursday's meeting was punctuated by a heated exchange between Victor and San Diego attorney Michael Aguirre, whose firm has filed a lawsuit challenging the decision to place waste at San Onofre.
​
"You are playing with the future of our state," Aguirre said, accusing the Community Engagement Panel of corruption. "You are playing with the lives of millions of people in our state."

Victor pushed back.

"I think those are wild claims," Victor said. "The idea that a group of 18 volunteers is engaged in a criminal conspiracy to mislead the public about the real dangers here is not borne out by anything that has ever happened in this room."
​
The Community Engagement Panel's next meeting is June 16 in Dana Point.
*MY TAKE: This is S.Y.P.H.E.N. at its heart. It's a frightening scenario for all of America and the world. The clock is ticking on this issue and time isn't on our side. Next week I'll post an article that strikes at the endgame of these Belgium terrorists. Like the story of S.Y.P.H.E.N., that endgame is alive and well in the United States. This is scary stuff people.*
San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station D Ramey Logan.jpg
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Wendelstein 7-X...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on April 7, 2016 at 6:05am
Image Source: Science Mag


Topics: Nuclear Fusion, Nuclear Physics, Nuclear Power


The sooner we get away from fossil fuels, the sooner we get away from energy needs demanding a toll on the globe in terms of wars for those resources, and climate impact that will eventually be paid by us all. No amount of money will ever be worth that.

“Only when the last tree has been cut down, the last fish been caught, and the last stream poisoned, will we realize we cannot eat money.”

Cree Indian Prophecy, GoodReads

Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics (IPP) produced the first helium plasma in the Wendelstein 7-X stellarator last December. Since then, they have cleaned the plasma vessel with many more helium discharges. On 3 February they produced a hydrogen plasma in the world's biggest and most advanced stellarator-type nuclear fusion device for the first time. Thomas Klinger, Director at the IPP, talks about the special features of the Wendelstein 7-X stellarator and its structure, and the prospects for the construction of a fusion power plant.

Professor Klinger, will Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel launch the world's first fusion power plant on Wednesday?

No, the Wendelstein 7-X will not supply any energy yet. What we are aiming to demonstrate is that a stellarator is just as suitable a device for a power plant as a tokamak, and that it can bring its two advantages into play here: first, its plasma is fundamentally more stable and, second, it can operate in continuous mode without further intervention. In contrast, a tokamak requires pulsed operation, which is a considerable disadvantage for a power plant.

If the stellarator has such advantages to offer, why is the ITER, the world's biggest fusion device, being built as a tokamak?

A crash course in plasma physics is needed to understand this: for the plasma in a fusion device to reach the temperature of 100 million degrees Celsius required for nuclear fusion, it must make as little contact as possible with the walls of the plasma vessel. For this reason, its charged particles are captured in a ring-shaped magnetic field. And this magnetic field must be twisted into a spiral.

Phys.org: Plasma physicist discusses the Wendelstein 7-X stellarator, Peter Hergersberg

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'Courtesan' ~ A personal vision and a new 'WillowRaven Visual Writing Prompt Challenge' piece. #Drow #Courtesan

Posted by Aidana WillowRaven on April 6, 2016 at 2:39pm

Only hints: She is a Drow Courtesan, her favorite adornments are gold & rubies (gold dust on ears).
Get to writing and fave fun! 'Courtesan' *2016 WillowRaven

At MidSouthCon 34, I was confronted with the fact that I don't do enough personal work. Not only did my son make mention of the fact that he thinks my personal works are better somehow, so did other guest artists I was sharing panels with. 

So I started to pay attention a little closer and did notice a slightly larger ratio of visitors to the art room and in the panels stop and look at my personal work a touch longer than my commissioned work. Happily, both sell, so it's not like I'm slacking on my clients, but people can still somehow tell when an image is 'all me'. I can't explain the phenomenon, but apparently it's fairly common.

Yes, everybody must work and my clients and publishers will have to come first. but I'm determined to make it a point to do art just for me, not a commissioned piece, at least once a week. I'm going to be giving myself only one to two days to finish any personal artwork, and if it's not finished by the beginning of the week, it will have to wait until the following weekend.

Related text from my website:

~
Call for submissions ...


I'm creating a yearbook, of sorts, featuring my personal visions. Plans are to have enough work by November to compile them into a book to offer it here on the website, as well as, at the MidSouthCon, which I attend each year.

I thought it would also be fun to include short stories inspired by each piece. I've had a few 'visual writing prompts' cycling on twitter for the past couple years and many of my author contacts on social media seem to enjoy participating. I post their stories on my blog with links back to their profiles and pages, but this would be a chance for a few of those stories to be actually published in the going-to-be-annual yearbook.

With each new personal vision, I'll post it here to the welcome page and on my blog, alerting my followers that there is a new challenge up. Submissions can be turned in anytime between the time of posting and November 1st. Along with each new posting, there will be a twitter poll where people can vote on their favorite story submissions for each piece. Any visions or editing needed will be approved of by the authors before printing.

The winner for each will be selected according to the poll. The authors will get credited for their stories in the yearbook and given a short bio including links to their other works.





Onto wrapping up the next book :-D

Until next time ...

Aidana WillowRaven




This post edited by Grammarly* ~ NOW FREE FOR CHROME USERS!


*Blurbs and quotes provided are not edited by WillowRaven but posted as provided by author/publisher. 
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Postage Stamp Gravimeter...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on April 6, 2016 at 6:29am
Image Source: Link Below


Topics: Electrical Engineering, Geophysics, Gravitational Waves, Gravity, MEMS


UK researchers have built a small device that measures tiny fluctuations in gravity, and could be used to monitor volcanoes or search for oil.

Such gravimeters already exist but compared to this postage stamp-sized gadget, they are bulky and pricey.

The new design is based on the little accelerometers found in smartphones.

To begin with, the team - from the University of Glasgow - tested it by measuring the Earth's tides over a period of several days.

Tidal forces, caused by the interacting pull of the Sun and Moon, not only drag the oceans up and down but slightly squash the Earth's diameter.

"It's not a very big squeeze, but it means that essentially Glasgow - or anywhere else on the Earth's crust - goes up and down by about 40cm over the course of 12-13 hours," said Richard Middlemiss, the PhD student who made the new instrument.

"That means that we get a change in gravitational acceleration - so that's what we've been able to measure."

Like most gravimeters, the heart of the new instrument is a weight hanging from a spring. Unlike all other gravimeters thus far, this one is a MEMS: a "microelectromechanical system".
 

The whole sensor is carved from a sheet of silicon 0.2mm thick; the "weight" is a small slab of that silicon and the "spring" consists of several thin shafts that hold it in place.

BBC Science and Environment: Small, cheap gravity gadget to peer underground
Jonathan Webb

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2116...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on April 5, 2016 at 6:04am


Figure 1. The space elevator, supported against gravity by centrifugal force, could forge a versatile link between the surface of Earth and the reaches of outer space. To realize the concept, we will need to manufacture new, strong materials, almost certainly designed with the help of computers. (Rendition by Pat Rawlings, courtesy of NASA.)

Citation: Phys. Today 69, 4, 32 (2016); http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/PT.3.3137

Topics: Futurism, Materials Science, Physics, Science Fiction, Space Exploration


Arthur C. Clarke proposed the concept in "The Fountains of Paradise" when I was a senior in high school. He also gave us the geosynchronous orbit, also known by the name: Clarke Orbit. I titled this one hundred years into the future following the premise of "Fountains," though we may master the technology sooner. Either would be fine with me: one I might just get to see. The other humanity might survive themselves, and colonize first Mars to engineer habitats in a clearly hostile environment; the Asteroid Belt for building materials; several choice moons for water beneath their icy crusts, eventually to the stars, the "stuff" we're all made of, compelled by its call to return.

“The nitrogen in our DNA, the calcium in our teeth, the iron in our blood, the carbon in our apple pies were made in the interiors of collapsing stars. We are made of starstuff.” Carl Sagan, Cosmos

The fundamental questions of the future will be profound, sophisticated, and difficult to answer. And the great projects of the future will be grand indeed.

What will the next 100 years in physics bring? I don’t know, of course, but it is a mind-expanding question to contemplate. The considered guesses recorded here naturally reflect my own interests, knowledge, limitations, and prejudices. And to keep this article within acceptable size, I’ve had to be crazily selective in choosing what to include. Its conjectures will have served their purpose if they provoke you to think about the question yourself, even if in the end you answer it quite differently (see the announcement on page 36).

To gain perspective, let us look back before looking ahead.

A century ago physics was in turmoil. Albert Einstein had only just published his revolutionary new theory of gravity. Ernest Rutherford’s recently discovered atomic nuclei, at the heart of matter, were mysterious, almost bizarre objects—terribly small, terribly dense, and subject to a bewildering variety of causeless transformations. Quantum theory, which featured Niels Bohr’s atomic model, was a tissue of guesswork. Superconductivity was an empirical fact, but a theoretical enigma. The nature of the chemical bond and the energy source of stars—supremely important aspects of the natural world—embarrassed contemporary physics.

Fifty years ago the picture had become quite different. General relativity was an established subject with a vast literature and a handful of experimental applications. Together with Edwin Hubble’s discovery of the expanding universe, it had opened new possibilities for scientific cosmology. The recently discovered microwave background radiation, together with a successful semiquantitative theory of cosmic nucleogenesis, pointed clearly to the Big Bang. Quantum mechanics was a mathematically precise, consistent, and wildly successful theory, though it seemed strange and troubling to many. It had become, as it remains, the language through which we speak with nature.

Physics Today: Physics in 100 years, Frank Wilczek

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Hacking Living Cells...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on April 4, 2016 at 4:33am
Coding for life
Zoonar GmbH/Alamy Stock


Topics: Biology, Bioengineering, Computer Science


I'm only going to comment with one Caveat Emptor: anything that can be hacked, can be weaponized with the right (i.e. "wrong") motivation and twisted imagination.

Tinkering with life just got easier. A tool that lets you design DNA circuits using a simple symbolic language makes programming living cells as straightforward as writing code for computers.

The tool uses an existing language called Verilog, which is used by chip designers to design electronic circuits. The idea is to make programming cells more like programming a computer. “We take the same approach as for designing an electronic chip,” says Chris Voigt of Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “Every step in the process is the same – it’s just that instead of mapping the circuit to silicon, it’s mapped to DNA.”

Synthetic biology aims to make it possible to treat cells as machines that can be engineered and programmed. By altering a microbe’s native DNA, it can be made to perform a specific task, such as producing a drug or changing colour to detect a virus in blood. Off-the-shelf genetic parts that can be swapped in and out make this easier, but it is still a painstaking process.

That’s where Verilog comes in. Verilog is a symbolic language that lets you specify the function of an electronic circuit in shorthand – without having to worry about the underlying hardware – and then convert it into a detailed design automatically. Voigt’s team realised they could do the same with DNA circuits.

Their system, called Cello, takes a Verilog design and converts it into a DNA wiring diagram. This is fed to a machine that generates a strand of DNA that encodes the specified function. The DNA can then be inserted into a microbe.



 New Scientist: Bio coding language makes it easier to hack living cells, Andy Coghlan

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April 1st...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on April 1, 2016 at 6:35am
Image Source: Vanderbuilt School of Leadership Development


Topics: Commentary, Education, Physics, Research, Science, STEM




I touched down last Saturday, 2 April 2011 @ JFK at 2:40 PM EST. That was the easy part...

My turtle was shipped as Priority Parcel Post; my 92 lb lab as part of my luggage. I payed as much for the turtle as I did for my luggage: $200 each.



I had to first go get my luggage to the rental car place via the Air Train, then go get my turtle and lab: two neurotic pets that did not like the plane ride or the monorail at all...trust, me: the turtle (as turtles go) wasn't herself; the dog got car sick -- probably an extension of the plane trip -- on the way upstate.

Map Quest or Google Maps cannot tell me it's 1.5 - 2 hours from JFK...given traffic, juggling luggage, pets and my own naivete, I got where I was going by 10:15 PM.



Thank God for the GPS on my phone -- brought to us all courtesy of "The Photoelectric Effect" and a bit of quantum mechanics (of course, I had to say that...). #P4TC: New York...

* * * * *

My dog Raven passed away, but Speedy the turtle is going strong. She's managed to outlive every pet I've had since 1990.


This day five years ago was officially my last day as a high school physics and math teacher at Manor High School. Despite being a floater - no assigned classroom - I was allowed to tutor math and physics; teach martial arts one day after school and do performance poetry at school talent functions, many things that in five years I've found I really miss. I have found on reflection, all that free expression wasn't random chaos: it was me, the layers peeled of my own onion.

"This better NOT be an 'April Fool's joke, you bastard!" That was one of my students, a petite Hispanic young woman. Many students let me know I was the stability in their lives; for many the one person they could count on in their day.

"It wasn't," I said trying to choke back a lump. "Mr. Goodwin won't be here Monday."

When I called back on Monday, there seemed to be a lot of students in the office upset. I'd like to think other than my departure, I had a positive effect on them. They would be adults now, moving through life; loving, living and earning their way. I hope at least one of them found their way to a STEM field.

I've been in New York five years. I reentered an industry I'd departed August 26, 2003, a date I can't and won't forget.

I've seen changes in the industry, some by its own limitations; some by the limitations of intertwined economies that makes one think of butterflies.

I've seen changes in our climate, our country and our culture, as some petition our lesser angels to express themselves and the darkness within.

Through all of this, my students have become adults, millennials still but adults: fully functional and capable of expressing their desire as the governed by voting.

This world will be inherited by the meek, or the winds of Entropy.

Teaching is like saving one soul at a time. Despite number or technology's used or subject, it boils down to one-on-one. There is a rush when you can see the light go on in eyes that realize they've "got it." I revisited that briefly teaching at the Membership Training Academy for Kappa Alpha Psi. One of my fraternity brothers, a community college teacher complimented me. Another frat thought I had a PhD already.

Part of me is still that teacher, as my father and my grandfather before me.

I ponder the next five years. I have a graduate certificate in Microelectronics and Photonics. I am striving for more. I will let you know what shape that takes and soon.
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The Cure For Writer's Block: Finding Your Inner Mrs Miller

Posted by Gerrence George on March 31, 2016 at 1:30pm

There is a common misconception about writer’s block. When you sit down and stare at that mockingly blank screen, it isn’t the lack of ideas that stops the keys from click - clacking, its the exact opposite. For me, what keeps the screen blank is the overabundance of ideas.

            If you’re like me, you have a constant flow of images, scenarios, and characters passing through your mind like the NASDAQ ticker. The challenge is to take the raw bits of data my brain is spitting out and turn them into cohesive, fully formed, emotionally satisfying ideas. Which, according to just about everyone I talk to about writing who doesn’t write on a regular basis, is a piece of cake. If only they were right. There have been more nights than I care to admit where I have shut down the computer in defeat, unable to get my ideas to behave and form a single file line. In case you were wondering, it’s not easy to get to sleep when your thoughts are behaving like a panicked crowd clogging an emergency exit to avoid a fire. It was one such fruitless writing attempt that caused me to get fed up and invent with the following technique to beat writer’s block and get those words flowing. And I owe it all to my first grade teacher, Mrs Miller. 

            It’s weird how some memories cement themselves into your mind. Within seconds of closing my eyes I can make out the small 30 seat classroom. The class mascot bunny rabbit sitting in it’s cage contemplating an escape attempt, the walls littered with multicolored construction paper, each sheet with a drawing and child's signature underneath, the chalk smeared blackboard, and Mrs Miller sitting at her desk in the back of the class. Her build was what one might call “sturdy”. Mrs Miller had what my Grandmother used to refer to as “child bearing hips”. She stood at 4’11’’ and was constantly moving her dirty blonde hair from her perpetually exhausted face. One day, the class had come back from recess and was particularly unruly. Even though recess had officially ended fifteen minutes earlier, everyone was still buzzing from being let loose on the playground.  Everyone that is, except for me. In the household I grew up in, excessive noise and activity from a child in the presence of an adult was simply not an option. My parents made it very clear that if a child is not in any life threatening danger, there is no reason for said child to not sit still and be quiet. Apparently the entire class hadn’t learned that lesson, but I could tell from Mrs Miller’s mounting frustration after every one of her gentle “shh's” was met with more noise, that the lesson was about to be learned. I saw her slam her the notepad down that she was previously writing in and leap up out of her chair with surprising speed. The class was still so wild that her actions went unnoticed. Her substantial legs stomped down, sending the raised bungalow that we were having class in to shake slightly as she bounded to the front the of the class. When she got there, she stood for a moment to take in the chaos before her. She then filled her lungs, leaned backward, lurched  forward, opened her mouth and let out the most primal, blood curdling scream I still to this day have ever heard. 

The words “SHUT UP!!!” bellowed from her mouth, and the entire class snapped to attention. Afterwards, she calmly strolled back to her desk and returned to work as if nothing happened. The real challenge for me to suppress a giggle after seeing the confused, saucer eyed expression on each of my class member’s faces. If that tactic seems a bit excessive, keep in mind that I went to elementary school in the early eighties, which means that teachers had a little more leeway as to how children in their classes should be disciplined. Now, Mrs Miller’s class would be flooded with complaints. Then, her outburst had its intended effects. The class shut the hell up, and Mrs Miller suffered no career consequences for her actions. 

What the hell does have to do with writing you ask? Well, think of your ideas as a classroom of uncooperative children. They are all excited about being heard. They all have something to say. However, all your ideas can’t speak at once or readers will begin to question your sanity. Instead, try to find your inner Mrs Miller. Actually visualize a classroom of wild children, then picture an old teacher, authority figure, or hey even yourself, walking to the front of the classroom of your mind, and telling those rambunctious ideas to SHUT UP. Have them take their seat and raise their hands one at a time. As each idea lifts it’s hand, that’s the one to work on. Work it till the end of your allotted writing time of the day, and continue the process until the present assignment is done. Sure this process may seem silly or juvenile,  and you may question whether or not it even works. Well you’re right in the fact that it is a silly exercise, but as to whether or not it works, you're reading this post aren’t you? 

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55 Cancri e...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on March 31, 2016 at 6:13am
Animation Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech


Topics: Astronomy, Astrophysics, Exoplanets, Planetary Science


Fascinating! However, it's not exactly a planet I'd want our descendants to travel to. I'd be more partial to the planets in the Goldilocks Zone of this particular solar system.

The first super-Earth planet to get its photo taken may be superweird and superhot, and perhaps have super-runny lava in spots on its surface, researchers said.

Astronomers investigated the alien planet 55 Cancri e, the innermost of five known planets orbiting the star 55 Cancri, located about 41 light-years from Earth. This exoplanet is a super-Earth, a rocky world nearly twice Earth's width and eight times its mass. It's the first super-Earth from which astronomers have detected light.

55 Cancri e circles its star about 25 times closer than Mercury does the sun. As a result, the planet whips fully around its star about every 18 hours, while Earth takes a year to complete an orbit.


Space.com: Weird, Oozing Super-Earth Planet Has Hot Nights, Even Hotter Days
Charles P. Choi

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The Force is here!!!!!!!

Posted by Slim Jim Longfoot on March 30, 2016 at 11:00pm

Urbangod Ink presents their third release, The Force #1. Created, written and colored by Corley Alieninc Manning. Art by Jimmy King, flats, letters and edits by NorViance Henry. This celebrates superheroes in all the ways you love. Purchase digital copy via PayPal for $3.99 urbangodink@gmail.com physical copy is $5.99 at urbangodink.indyplanet.com

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