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The Least of These...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on August 20, 2018 at 5:30am

Falling harvests and rising prices are in prospect. (Courtesy Morteza Rafikhah, via Wikimedia Commons)

Topics: Climate Change, Ecology, Economy, Politics

One of Mother Teresa's favorite texts in the Bible, which she often quoted to support her ministry to the poor, is "Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me" (Matthew 25:40, 45, NIV). Source: Timothy Lent, LinkedIn

An effective climate strategy to protect everyone on Earth, and the natural world as well, is what the planet needs. But Austrian-based scientists have now confirmed something all climate scientists have suspected for more than a decade: there can be no simple, one-size-fits-all solution to the twin challenges of climate change and human poverty.

That catastrophic climate change driven by “business as usual” fossil fuel energy reliance will by 2100 impose devastating costs worldwide, and drive millions from their homes and even homelands, has been repeatedly established.

So has the need to shift from fossil fuels to renewable resources, almost certainly by imposing some kind of “carbon tax” worldwide.

But a new study from the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis warns that if agriculture is included in stringent climate mitigation schemes, there will be higher costs in the short term.

If humans don’t act, then climate change driven by global warming will create conditions that will put an extra 24 million people, or perhaps 50 million extra, at risk of hunger and malnutrition.

Sadly, I think with the exacerbation of inequality; the Russian-installed occupant of the American Executive Mansion and the general disposition of self-absorbed humanity, these quotes by the author Fyodor Dostoyevsky encapsulates our current, pitiful state:

“The world says: "You have needs -- satisfy them. You have as much right as the rich and the mighty. Don't hesitate to satisfy your needs; indeed, expand your needs and demand more." This is the worldly doctrine of today. And they believe that this is freedom. The result for the rich is isolation and suicide, for the poor, envy and murder.” Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Brothers Karamazov

“I say let the world go to hell, but I should always have my tea.” Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Notes from Underground

Climate strategy needs tailoring to poorest, Tim Radford, Physics World

3D printing the future

Posted by ARCELIUS SCOTT on August 15, 2018 at 11:30am

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/114240903/drawns-3d-printed-range-of-design-furniture?ref=discovery&ref=discovery&term=3d%20printed

As of today Spacefans, the link above shows my new goal for my future in the 3D printing industry. 3D print farms are on the agenda for us to build our own, create our own, and own our own manufacturing methods and processes. After we meet the goal of 3D print farms, we should most definitely set our sights on using industrial articulating robots to "scale up" the manufacturing capability within the community.

A robot can cost anywhere between $25,000 and $100,000 but the industrious entrepreneur should be able to find one on the lower end of the spectrum. I'm not here to sell robots, just here to share vision with the visionaries. Stay tuned.

With that, can someone link a black owned robot manufacturer? There are a couple in the US and abroad.

3D printing the future

Posted by ARCELIUS SCOTT on August 15, 2018 at 11:30am

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/114240903/drawns-3d-printed-range-of-design-furniture?ref=discovery&ref=discovery&term=3d%20printed

As of today Spacefans, the link above shows my new goal for my future in the 3D printing industry. 3D print farms are on the agenda for us to build our own, create our own, and own our own manufacturing methods and processes. After we meet the goal of 3D print farms, we should most definitely set our sights on using industrial articulating robots to "scale up" the manufacturing capability within the community.

A robot can cost anywhere between $25,000 and $100,000 but the industrious entrepreneur should be able to find one on the lower end of the spectrum. I'm not here to sell robots, just here to share vision with the visionaries. Stay tuned.

With that, can someone link a black owned robot manufacturer? There are a couple in the US and abroad.

Finding your favorite indie Black Age products?

Posted by Turtel Onli on August 14, 2018 at 7:52am

At a time when the indie Black Age of Comics movement is now nation wide with indie conventions in Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, New York and San Francisco, a question emerges. Where do you find a dedicated spinning rack of indie produced / published Black Age products? Hmmmm? No where except Chicago at the Du Sable Museum and the urban internet cafe' Copy Cat. In each of the other markets listed, no rack. Not even where there is a Black owned comic book store. The internet alone will not reach the under served market.

This is a great opportunity & challenge foe legal honest industrious folks. To market and distribute the Black Age of Comics indie products.

OK..... you say were the regular stores contacted? Of course. ONLI STUDIOS even offered them spinning racks. They each said No! Every genre has its dedicated space...... Why not the Black Age? By the way, we have been selling well at the Du Sable Museum since 2009, this includes a wide range of products from various indie publishers.

Afrofuturism Lives . pt.3

Posted by Winston Blakely on August 10, 2018 at 10:52am

It's time for a 3rd installment of Afro futurism Lives... Hopefully this one will be well received.

I also have books available at amazon.com featuring these heroes

invisoned in these ads.

Today, you are looking at the Warrior Mysterian, he is a combo

of Conan and Dr.Strange. I seem to be fond of both genres

and put forth the effort to create something unique.

Here is the ad for this week.

check the link below for t shirts and posters...

https://www.teepublic.com/user/winston5

and for books,check this link..

amazon.com/author/winstonblakely

Have a great weekend.

Afrofuturism Lives . pt.2

Posted by Winston Blakely on August 3, 2018 at 2:58pm

Hello, Afrofuturistic enthusiastic fans... time for a new ad promoting this subject.

This hero is an upcoming self published character in an anthology that I will revealed in a

future blog.

But his name is on the t-shirt attributed to the genre that he is a part of.

So go ahead and take a look and see what you like.

My storefront is rapidly growing with images of great interest.

Here is the link for you to explore my archives of art images.

https://www.teepublic.com/user/winston5

Take Care and have a great weekend.

They Are Q...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on August 3, 2018 at 5:30am

Image Source: DC Villains/Anarchy Wiki page

Topics: Civics, Existentialism, Philosophy, Politics

I'm taking two weeks off before the fall semester and my sophomore year in graduate school. Tomorrow (Saturday, August 4th), I'll be giving a presentation on "How To Study" by Ron Fry, a book in its 25th edition that I still use to this day on how I get information in my brain "to stick." I'll apparently be speaking to two groups of millennials, and get a free lunch.

Definition of anarchy (Merriam-Webster) 1 a : absence of government b : a state of lawlessness or political disorder due to the absence of governmental authority the city's descent into anarchy c : a Utopian society of individuals who enjoy complete freedom without government 2 a : absence or denial of any authority or established order b : absence of order : disorder

Tampa, Fla. (AP) -- Amid the "Trump 2020" placards, the "Women for Trump" signs and the "CNN SUCKS" T-shirts, the most inscrutable message that came out of Donald Trump's Tampa rally on Tuesday evening was a letter.

Q.

People wore T-shirts with the letter emblazoned on the front. Others carried signs containing the letter: "Q WWG1WGA Trump 2020 Keep America Great! MSM is the enemy." Another held a dog-eared and slightly crumpled piece of paper in the air. It said, simply, "We are Q."

Q who?

The entire, loose movement has been called everything from "a deranged conspiracy cult" (The Washington Post) to a grassroots movement "about the covert battles being waged between the deep state and President Trump" (according to Tyler, a guy at the Tampa rally who held a metal coin emblazoned with the letter and showed it to WPLG, a TV station from Miami).

Here's a look at the trend that's sweeping certain dark corners of the Internet:

WHO IS Q?

In late October 2017, an anonymous user posted on 4chan, a shadowy site known for, among other things, cruel hoaxes and political extremism. Under the title "The Calm Before the Storm," the poster claimed to have a high-level government security clearance — Q clearance to be exact — and referred to Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, George Soros, political parties and former President Barack Obama.

Q gives readers "breadcrumbs" so they can ferret out details on their own. There's other lingo as well. Bakers are amateur sleuths who follow the crumbs. Anyone who tries to debunk Q is "a clown." (This includes CIA agents, shadowy operatives and most likely reporters, although there's separate terminology for them). Tamara Lush, Associated Press for Bloomberg News

Coincidentally, five years ago on August 1st, I posted Ab Absurdo. It was more about science denial in general, but two "tech" people fully convinced the moon landing was faked - which, I had the benefit of actually being on the planet to witness all of them, and they did not. I found it exhausting to discuss facts with them since like most cult members and social anarchists, facts are anathema to what amounts to their belief system.

"Q" is simply a continuum of anarchists that have a notion that the current situation we call governance is nonfunctional (in its current K-street lobbyist form, I would agree with that). Their action towards remedying that is to vote for and support of a conspiracy theory, barely literate or tethered to reality, tweeting nincompoop. An anarchist's general solution to anything is to tear the whole thing down, and then "magically" the plucky individual will work everything out - including, I assume food, labor, education, technology and infrastructure. Their *knowledge* amounts to a belief system cherry-picked from bits and pieces of information they have formed in dark corners of the Internet laced with bigotry, misogyny and antisemitism from like-minded addled individuals to reinforce their already ossified political beliefs. This is the same realm as abstinence-only vs. birth control and education; climate denial, "deep state" (replacing the previous "fill-in-the-blank" cabals, coined by the superior, perfect human specimen Steve Bannon); gun control opposition (but, not 3-D printed guns); science denial and ultimately, opposition to the continued, effective governance of a republic.

I will agree on ONE thing: it will be anarchy. And there is scant historical evidence anarchists have held together republics or sway in world order.

Image Source: Odin's Ravens: Give Trump a Shave with Occam's Razor

I will return 20 August. Be well.

TESS...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on August 2, 2018 at 9:58am

The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite will search more than 85% of the sky.Credit: Leif Heimbold/NASA

Topics: Exoplanets, NASA, Planetary Science, Space Exploration, Star Trek

"Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Her five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds. To seek out new life and new civilizations. To boldly go where no one has gone before." (Star Trek: Into Darkness)

Filling the shoes of NASA’s Kepler spacecraft won’t be easy. Since its launch in 2009, Kepler has discovered nearly three-quarters of the 3,700-plus known exoplanets. And there are thousands more candidates waiting to be confirmed.

So NASA is taking a different approach with its next planet-hunting mission. On 16 April, the agency plans to launch the US$337-million Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), which will scrutinize 200,000 nearby bright stars for signs of orbiting planets. TESS will probably find fewer worlds than Kepler did, but they will arguably be more important ones.

“It’s not so much the numbers of planets that we care about, but the fact that they are orbiting nearby stars,” says Sara Seager, an astrophysicist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge and deputy science director for TESS.

TESS is meant to identify planets that are close enough to Earth for astronomers to explore them in detail. Team scientists estimate that the spacecraft will discover more than 500 planets that are no more than twice the size of Earth. These worlds will form the basis for decades of further studies, including searches for signs of life. “We’ll see a whole new opening of exoplanet studies,” Seager says.

NASA’s next exoplanet hunter will seek worlds close to home, Alexandra Witze, Nature

Aura, The Art of Winston Blakely

Posted by Winston Blakely on August 2, 2018 at 6:55am

Hello, Afrofuturistic fans... We are one day away from my continued campaign for Afrofuturistic

images at tee.public.com

Yes, a new ad exploring this culturally esteem event.

But I would like to present to you a book full of such art.

Aura, The Art of Winston Blakely, by yours truly is an personal adventure

into my studio archives.

I am doubled bless to have a special introduction by the main man himself

who has dedicated himself to this site.

Oh, yes... Your commander in Chief and Prime Administrator Jarvis Sheffield

wrote an complementary foreword to my artbook.

Thank You... Good Sir.

And now here is the link to see this and other wonders... Enjoy.

amazon.com/author/winstonblakely

Graphene Black Hole Hologram...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on August 1, 2018 at 12:42pm

An image to illustrate the concept of holographic duality between a graphene flake and a black hole. Physics World

Topics: Black Holes, Einstein, General Relativity, Graphene, Nanotechnology, Quantum Mechanics

Much research on black holes is theoretical since it is difficult to make actual measurements on real black holes. Such experiments also need to be undertaken over decades or longer. Physicists are therefore keen to create laboratory systems that are analogous to these cosmic entities. New theoretical calculations by a team in Canada, the US, UK and Israel have now revealed that a material as simple as a graphene flake with an irregular boundary subjected to an intense external magnetic field can be used to create a quantum hologram that faithfully reproduces some of the signature characteristics of a black hole. This is because the electrons in the carbon material behave according to the Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev model.

Some of the most important unresolved mysteries in modern physics come from the “incompatibility” between Einstein’s theory of general relativity and the theory of quantum mechanics. General relativity describes the physics of the very big (the force of gravity and all that it affects: spacetime, planets, galaxies and the expansion of the Universe). The theory of quantum mechanics is the physics of the very small – and the other three forces, electromagnetism and the two nuclear forces.

“In recent years, physicists have gleaned important new insights into these questions through the study of the SYK model,” explains Marcel Franz of the University of British Columbia in Canada, who led this research effort. “This model is an illustration of a type of ‘holographic duality’ in which a lower-dimensional system can be represented by a higher dimensional one. In our calculations, the former is N graphene electrons in (0+1) dimensions and the latter the dilation gravity of a black hole in (1+1) dimensional anti-de Sitter (AdS2) space.

Black hole hologram appears in a graphene flake, Belle Dumé, Physics World

Downloading Death...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on July 31, 2018 at 5:30pm

Image source: the Cool t-shirt

Topics: 3D Printing, Civics, Civil Rights, Existentialism, Philosophy, Politics

I'm quoting the actress Alyssa Milano from the CNN article which went live today titled: "A 3D printed gun is downloadable death." Officially tomorrow, it's no longer fantasy.

Below is a repost of a Thursday, March 28, 2013 article "Yin and Yang." Even though the quotes attributed to Einstein I've seen questioned, please note the video embed below. It's no longer speculation. We're here now. The next mass shooting will be undetectable by standard systems; untraceable by serial numbers. Since a 3D printer is not an unsubstantial expense, it will likely be a white male, "lone wolf," but never a "thug" or "terrorist." Or maybe it will be, since an Amazon account can get you a descent one delivered to your doorstep in 2-5 days. It's just the carnage a hostile power bent to turning our daily crumbling republic into a wasteland would want.

Except...this isn't a cartoon.

*****

Yin and yang are actually complementary, not opposing, forces, interacting to form a whole greater than either separate part; in effect, a dynamic system. Everything has both yin and yang aspects, (for instance shadow cannot exist without light). Either of the two major aspects may manifest more strongly in a particular object, depending on the criterion of the observation. The concept of yin and yang is often symbolized by various forms of the Taijitu symbol, for which it is probably best known in Western cultures. (Wikipedia)

Star Trek Blog: Star Trek’s replicator is an amazing technology concept that has fascinated us for decades. Working at the molecular level to synthesize materials, the replicator is able to instantly produce nearly any object, food or medicine on demand. It is easy to imagine how the replicator would quickly change the world. Such a device could dramatically reduce or even eliminate the cost of most products. Hunger and poverty would be stamped out worldwide, and much of the time and energy spent working for a living could be used instead for pursuits of education, exploration and the advancement of society.

Star Trek envisions the future of humanity to be one of incredible achievements made possible by evolved philosophies as well as technologies. This hopeful view of tomorrow is perhaps the reason so many have dreamed of inventing real-life versions of Star Trek tech -- from the transporter to the tricorder -- and the replicator is one of the most coveted.

A process called “additive manufacturing,” or its more popular nickname, “3D Printing,” has captured the imagination of the tech industry. These machines work much like the two-dimensional printer you may have on your desk, but instead of printing a layer of ink, a 3D printer extrudes many layers of melted plastic to form a physical object. You can imagine this as similar to a hot glue gun, where the heated glue stick is carefully extruded from a nozzle. In the case of a 3D printer, that nozzle is controlled by software and digital design files that tells it how to form a shape.

The comparisons between 3D Printing and the Star Trek replicator don’t end with plastic. Other materials like wood, metal and even some foods are now being extruded in similar ways to make on-demand creations. This has led to excited speculation that soon we may see the beginnings of a new era of manufacturing in America and around the world, where small-scale production is possible at very low costs. We may even “print” biotechnologies and human organs one day.

Gene Roddenberry's underlying message of the future: eternal optimism. As much as I am a fan, I'm afraid I possess a healthy dose of skepticism. Even the Star Trek Memory Alpha Wiki mentions some rough roads prior to 1st Contact with Vulcan. I sincerely hope "life does [not] imitate art" in this case (the "rough road" part; 1st Contact would be OK).

The last five mass extinction events were completely involuntary; unassisted since we hadn't showed up just yet. I end below the embed with two quotes from Einstein:

“I don't know what weapons will be used in world war three, but in world war four people will use sticks and stones.”

"We cannot despair of humanity, since we ourselves are human beings."

Yin...Yang...

The Perpetuity of Doomsday...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on July 30, 2018 at 6:10am

A blood moon photo taken on Apr. 15, 2014. The world did not end when that blood moon occurred, and it is unlikely to end tomorrow (26 July), either. Credit: NASA Ames Research Center/Brian Day

Topics: Astronomy, Astrophysics, Moon, NASA

Tonight (July 26 - last Thursday), the moon will pass through the center of Earth's rusty-red shadow and remain there for a whopping 1 hour and 43 minutes.

To astronomers, this is a thrilling example of a total lunar eclipse — the longest one we'll see for the rest of the century. To some doom-saying YouTube preachers, on the other hand, it's a terrifying example of a "blood moon," and it may be the last one we ever see in this or any century.

"The blood moon is definitely a prophetic sign [of the end times]," one prominent YouTube preacher (whom Live Science prefers not to name) said in a recent video. "There are way too many prophecies in play here… we're in the end times."

This is not the first time a so-called blood moon has attracted prophecies of doom — not by a long shot. Throughout history, many non-Christian cultures have interpreted the disappearance of the trusty moon as a dark omen. According to National Geographic, Incan myths held that a lunar eclipse meant the moon had been eaten by a large jaguar, while ancient Mesopotamians believed an eclipse was the work of demons. With the light of the moon being so crucial to timekeeping and agriculture, it's little wonder why its disappearance or sudden blood-red makeover was a terrifying sight.

If Blood Moons Signal the Apocalypse, We Have Been in the 'End Times' for 4.5 Billion Years Brandon Specktor, Live Science

Product Review Updates #3

Posted by Stephen Alexander on July 29, 2018 at 8:30pm

Occasionally, I will alert fellow members to product updates by creators I have reviewed in the past year or so.

By the time you read this, I'll be somewhere on Kadavu island. Y'all can pitch in, in case I miss something.

Anton Marks has a giveaway of a chapter from his new book Bad 2 The Bone. Get the free chapter at his website here.
Humor: Bill McCormick, author of Legends Parallel, has a comedic book about Trump out on Amazon. You can read it here. We joke that it's fantasy, but after the Helsinki ass-kissing, it seems more prophetic.
The guy who made Bounty X-Alfa has a comic page on Tumblr. You can read his stuff here. He has a Patreon as well.
Geoffrey Thorne, author of Winterman, has published some comics since them. I hope he still publishes Winterman, but if you're curious, I suggest reading Menthu. The title sounds pretty boss.

Afrofuturism Lives

Posted by Winston Blakely on July 27, 2018 at 2:06pm

Hello... The above image is my start of promoting afrofuturistic images from my store front at

tee public.com

Every Friday, I will feature a new ad that will be or already an available t shirt for sell

on the site.

Let's start this session with an ad based on my visual interpretation of Changa.

Who is He? Well, he's a hero pretty much like Sinbad the sailor.

I thought it would be cool to featured him, since he is one of my proudest moments

as an freelance artist. You can find in him a series of novels called Changa's

Safari at amazon.com ( take note that I did the original cover for the first book which

is available but without my artwork, I am assuming that the book is in second printing. )

Below is the link to check out this and other quality images at tee public.com

https://www.teepublic.com/user/winston5

Have a great weekend.

Global Gaslighting...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on July 27, 2018 at 5:30am

Image Source: Medium

Topics: Commentary, Existentialism, Philosophy

The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command. His heart sank as he thought of the enormous power arrayed against him, the ease with which any Party intellectual would overthrow him in debate, the subtle arguments which he would not be able to understand, much less answer. And yet he was in the right! They were wrong and he was right. George Orwell, 1984

“What you’re seeing and what you’re reading is not what’s happening.” Jack Holmes (quoting drunk uncle-in-chief), Esquire Magazine

11 Warning Signs of Gaslighting (Stephanie A. Sarkis Ph.D., Psychology Today):

From the article:

Gaslighting is a tactic in which a person or entity, in order to gain more power, makes a victim question their reality. It works much better than you may think. Anyone is susceptible to gaslighting, and it is a common technique of abusers, dictators, narcissists, and cult leaders. It is done slowly, so the victim doesn't realize how much they've been brainwashed. For example, in the movie Gaslight (1944), a man manipulates his wife to the point where she thinks she is losing her mind.

People who gaslight typically use the following techniques:

1. They tell blatant lies.

2. They deny they ever said something, even though you have proof.

3. They use what is near and dear to you as ammunition.

4. They wear you down over time.

5. Their actions do not match their words.

6. They throw in positive reinforcement to confuse you.

7. They know confusion weakens people.

8. They project.

9. They try to align people against you.

10. They tell you or others that you are crazy.

11. They tell you everyone else is a liar.

Abuser? Check.

Dictator? Check.

Narcissist? Check.

Cult leader? CHECK!

The former "party of patriots" and "family values" have moved to impeach their own Deputy Attorney General because he dared to ask them post indicting 12 Russians that attacked our electoral process to "be Americans first." The problem is, the nation and our allies are being abused by a charlatan and a party that sees the fast-approaching shelf life of "The Southern Strategy." The difference is, this gaslighting is being done not as mental abuse to individuals, but to an entire planet!

Michael Lofgren got the memo early in his Internet screed: "Goodbye to All That: Reflections of a GOP Operative Who Left the Cult." This was prior to the rise of the Propecia Ferret toupee wearing, Orange Caligula. He's probably the first former Republican to use the word "cult" to describe his former party. Before Lofgren departed...before George Will...before Nicole Wallace...before Steve Schmidt... I honestly have no idea why Michael Steele hasn't gotten a clue.

Amanda Marcotte wrote Troll Nation with a simple, yet understandable thesis - the right gave up trying to make a logical argument a long time ago - trickle-down is a joke, "prosperity gospel" is an obvious hustle and "family values" picked the p-grabber to shepherd the nuclear codes. So, their reason for living is to piss off liberals, period. It means opposing anything liberals find important like civil rights, LGBT rights, women's rights, universal health care, a living wage, a clean environment and combating global warming. It's the literal equivalent of shooting yourself in the foot and laughing that someone else is concerned about the gaping hole in it! These are people we shouldn't waste time trying to convince since "critical thinking" is against the tribal rules. I'm STILL trying not to be a prick as eventually, they have to come to the conclusion from Putin or Propecia their fears have been played against them and the nation.

I wanted to put this stake in the ground to say one thing: you're NOT crazy, HE is as well as his cult following! Why you're exhausted is this is his and his followers' "normal," which is abnormal and not a way to run a democratic republic...for very long.

With luck, a few hobbies, exercise, dates you enjoy; LONG walks and frequent escapes to Roku and Fire Sticks (and VOTING November 6, 2018), we'll get through this.

For the future of the nation and the species, we HAVE to.

News of a Red Planet...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on July 26, 2018 at 5:30am

Simply go outside and look up, contact your local planetarium, or look for a star party near youIn 2018, Mars will appear brightest from July 27 to July 30

Topics: Mars, NASA, Planetary Science, Space Exploration

Mars Close Approach is July 31, 2018

That is the point in Mars' orbit when it comes closest to Earth. Mars will be at a distance of 35.8 million miles (57.6 million kilometers). Mars reaches its highest point around midnight -- about 35 degrees above the southern horizon, or one third of the distance between the horizon and overhead. Mars will be visible for much of the night.

By mid-August, Mars will become fainter as Mars and Earth travel farther away from each other in their orbits around the Sun.

Miss seeing Mars Close Approach in 2018? The next Mars Close Approach is Oct. 6, 2020. [1]

*****

A radar instrument on a European mission to Mars has discovered liquid water beneath the red planet’s south polar ice cap, raising intriguing possibilities for both astrobiology and studies of Mars’ past climate. The discovery of liquid water on Mars has huge consequences for the search for life on the red planet, and could also unveil characteristics of the ancient environment in which it formed before the water was covered with ice.

What lies beneath: liquid water has been discovered below Mars’ south polar ice cap by an instrument on the European Space Agency’s Mars Express orbiter (Courtesy: NASA)

We already know that Mars was once a wet planet and that its climate billions of years ago could support large amounts of liquid water – as shown by the myriad ancient river channels, floodplains and lake beds that can be seen on its surface. Today, however, the temperature and pressure at the planet’s surface is too low to permit the existence of liquid water. In 2006 planetary scientists operating the camera on board NASA’s Mars Global Surveyor observed changes in gullies that they attributed to liquid water flows, but the HiRISE camera on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has since revealed that these flows are small avalanches of dry material instead. [2]

1. Mars in our Night Sky, NASA Science: Mars Exploration Program

2. Liquid water discovered beneath Mars’ south pole, Planetary Science Research Update, Physics World

Great Seuss!..

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on July 25, 2018 at 9:05am

The Lorax and the patas monkey both possess distinctive facial hair. Left: Dr. Seuss Enterprises. Right: Istock/Getty

Topics: Biology, Ecology, Environment, Humor, Philosophy

Near the town of Nanyuki

No Grickle-grass grows

And the wind smells fast and sweet when it blows.

Nevertheless, some scholars propose

That this is the home of the Lorax.

Of the dozens of children’s books, Theodor Seuss Geisel wrote under his pen name — Dr. Seuss — The Lorax was reportedly his favorite. Published in 1971, it tells the story of deforestation and environmental destruction by the Once-ler and his family, despite the protestations of “sort of a man” — the curious Lorax.

Most readers have assumed that the Lorax was a character born in Geisel’s extraordinary mind. But a study published in Nature Ecology & Evolution on 23 July1 suggests that Geisel was inspired by a monkey that lives across West and East Africa.

“It began at a formal dinner,” says Nathaniel Dominy, an anthropologist and evolutionary biologist at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, where Geisel once studied. Dominy was seated beside Donald Pease, the Ted and Helen Geisel Third Century Professor in the Humanities at Dartmouth. “I have two young kids, and because he’s the Geisel professor, I figured Dr. Seuss was some common ground,” says Dominy.

He told Pease that during fieldwork in Kenya, he had often thought that the patas monkey (Erythrocebus patas) looks as if it walked off the page of a Dr. Seuss book.

'I speak for the trees': Could this monkey be Dr. Seuss’s Lorax? Colin Barras, Nature

AMOC...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on July 24, 2018 at 1:38pm

Topics: Climate Change, Existentialism, Global Warming, Research

In the 2004 climate-change disaster flick "The Day After Tomorrow," increased greenhouse gases in the atmosphere have a paradoxical effect: Rather than heating up the planet, they trigger a sudden-onset global ice age. The movie was very silly and unscientific, but there was a kernel of truth at the core of it: The Earth really does have a massive, hidden air-conditioning system that messes with the climate in paradoxical, unexpected ways and is, in turn, affected by climate change. And a new paper turns to that AC unit to, possibly, answer one of the abiding mysteries of climate change: Why did warming seem to "pause" from the mid-1990s to the early 2000s?

Earth's air conditioning system is called the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC). It's a massive, looping current that carries warm water over the sea surface toward the North Atlantic and ferries cold (denser) water south along a deeper undersea route. It's the most important reason that much of Europe — a region much farther north than most population centers in North America or Asia — is warm enough to be comfortably inhabited, and it generally moderates temperatures across the North Atlantic region.

Researchers have suspected for a long time that the fate of the AMOC might be important to the overall fate of a world subject to rapid climate change.

The new paper, published July 18 in the journal Nature, argues that things might not work that way in a world like ours, warming rapidly as it is thanks to the extreme spike in greenhouse gases. The new study follows up on earlier research published in 2014 by the same authors, which Live Science covered at the time.

Here's a Disturbing Theory About Why Climate Change Seemed to 'Pause' for 15 Years

Rafi Letzter, Live Science

Nurtured Muse...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on July 23, 2018 at 1:13pm

Credit: Getty Images

Topics: Education, Philosophy, STEM, Research

Recently a Dutch TV crew came to my home for an interview about my latest research in astronomy. When I told them I get many of my new ideas in the shower, they decided to film a scene showing the shower still running and me rushing from the bathroom, dressed in a robe, to my computer.

But despite their best efforts, there was no way for them to get a visual of my ideas and where they actually come from. The same video could have been made with the previous occupant of the house who shared none of my scientific ideas. He and I happened to use the same shower, eat in the same kitchen and sleep in the same bedroom, altogether sharing the same spaces (at different times) but with very different outcomes. Where do ideas come from?

Ideas originate from pregnant minds, just as babies emerge from the bellies of their mothers. What makes a mind fertile? For one thing, it is the freedom to venture without the confines of traditional thinking or the burden of practical concerns. If a quantum system is probed too often, it tends to stay in the same state.

The same is true for the mind of an individual if it is interrupted too often by others. Immersing oneself in the trivia of common wisdom resembles reading yesterday’s news in the daily newspaper, with no prospect for making a difference. Senior researchers aim to establish echo chambers in which their voices are heard loud and clear through their group members. This is an antidote to pregnancies with new ideas. Early career scientists might not fulfill their discovery potential if they accept the limits established by their mentors. Innovation occurs when researchers deviate from group thinking or fashion.

By its nature, persistent conservatism is ultimately doomed to a culture shock. In December 2013 I gave a pedagogical lecture on the topic of “Gravitational Wave Astrophysics” to students at the 30th Jerusalem Winter School in Theoretical Physics on Early Galaxy Formation. Some 10 minutes into my lecture a young lecturer at the school who specializes in traditional astronomy raised his hand and asked: “Why are you wasting the time of these students? We all know that this field will not be of use to them in their careers.”

In September 2015, while many of the same students were still working on their PhDs, LIGO discovered gravitational waves from the black holes merger GW150914. The subsequent detection of electromagnetic counterparts to the neutron stars merger GW170817 ushered a new era of multi-messenger astronomy, and the lecturer’s prophecy was demonstrated to be officially wrong by the announcement of the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physics. In hindsight this blunder might not be surprising. Think about how riders of horse-drawn carriages viewed Ford's Model T car or how the executives of Encyclopedia Britannica viewed Wikipedia in its early days.

Where Do Ideas Come from? Abraham Loeb, Scientific American

Occam's Centipede...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on July 20, 2018 at 5:14am

Topics: Civics, Existentialism, Politics

"Lot of shoes to drop from this centipede." - Senator John McCain (R-Arizona), Politico

We have to consider what used to be the unthinkable. Slowly, as each shoe drops we get closer to the end of living with the openly treasonous "uncle in the attic": a narcissistic, emotionally immature and challenged man whose idea of paradise on earth would be a hellscape for everyone else, at least saner citizenry.

The Manchurian Candidate is a 1962 American suspense thriller film about the Cold War and sleeper agents. It was directed and produced by John Frankenheimer. The screenplay was written by George Axelrod, and was based on the 1959 Richard Condon novel The Manchurian Candidate. The film's leading actors are Frank Sinatra, Laurence Harvey and Janet Leigh, with Angela Lansbury, Henry Silva, and James Gregory among the performers cast in the supporting roles.

The plot centers on the Korean War veteran Raymond Shaw, the progeny of a prominent political family. Shaw was a prisoner of war during the conflict in Korea and while being held was brainwashed by his captors. After his discharge back into civilian life, he becomes an unwitting assassin involved in an international communist conspiracy. Officials from China and the Soviet Union employ Shaw as a sleeper agent in an attempt to subvert and take over the United States government. Wikipedia 1962 film page

*****

Major Bennett Marco, Sergeant Raymond Shaw, and the rest of their infantry platoon are captured during the Korean War in 1952. They are taken to Manchuria, and brainwashed into believing Shaw saved their lives in combat – for which Shaw is subsequently awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.

Years after the war, Marco, now back in the United States working as an intelligence officer, begins suffering a recurring nightmare in which Shaw murders two of his comrades from their platoon, all while observed by Chinese and Soviet intelligence officials. When Marco learns that another soldier from the platoon has been suffering the same nightmare, he sets out to solve the mystery.

It is revealed that the Communists have been using Shaw as a sleeper agent who, activated by a posthypnotic trigger, immediately forgets the assignments he carries out and therefore can never betray himself either purposely or inadvertently. In Shaw's case the suggestion that he play solitaire is the trigger. Seeing the "Queen of Diamonds" playing card transforms him into an assassin who will kill anyone at whom he is directed. Shaw’s KGB handler is his domineering mother, Eleanor. Married to McCarthy-esque Senator Johnny Iselin, Eleanor has convinced the Communist powers to help her install her husband as president and allow them to control the American government through him.

By observing Shaw, Marco discovers the trigger shortly before the national convention of Iselin's political party. He uses the Queen of Diamonds card to draw out Eleanor's plan: after she obtains the vice presidential nomination for Iselin, Shaw is to shoot the presidential candidate so that Iselin can succeed him. Blaming the killing on the Communists will enable Iselin to assume dictatorial powers. Marco reprograms Shaw, although it is unclear until the final pages whether this is successful. At the convention, Shaw instead shoots and kills his mother and Senator Iselin. Marco is the first person to reach Shaw's sniper nest, getting there just before Shaw turns the gun on himself. Wikipedia novel page

There is nothing salacious that can embarrass this orange Satan. The visual everyone has of his tweeting at hours septuagenarians are relieving themselves via bowel movements doesn't stop him. The serial lies do not bother him. His cult following would still be with him if he shot someone on 5th Avenue in NYC. This is where we are. No, his biggest fear is the prospect he could be bankrupted AT WILL by Vladimir Putin and Russian oligarchs/Mafioso according to his namesake son.

The Derangement Syndrome is a plagiarism without credit of the previous one for the first and only African American president in the history of this racist republic. The Derangement Syndrome is attacking the allies we've been with since the end of the second world war and the beginning of the Cold War with Putin's nation. The Derangement Syndrome is disagreeing with the intelligence assessment of your own agencies, and agreeing with the Judo master that would knife you as soon as involuntary blinking. The Derangement Syndrome is owned by a president* that tweets the path to our adversaries coming to the seat of our power...to gloat? To inspect his new property? His Director of National Intelligence learned as we did with Andrea Mitchell. A meeting with a dictator post the assault on British soil with chemical weapons. A meeting with a dictator that ordered the attack on our electoral process that was with him 2 and 1/2 hours with only an interpreter; not a stenographer that could give us a readout of what was said; what was agreed on. A meeting with a dictator that pointedly proposed the ambassador originating the Magnitsky Act be sent to Moscow for interrogation, an interrogation he would likely not survive. There is still an insistence in this country on voter ID, which is laser-focused in North Carolina and elsewhere to diminish the votes of people of color, but beyond going to paper ballets does NOTHING about dark money from offshore accounts nor hacking of our electoral and civil commons infrastructure: aviation, power, sewer, water; food.

We cannot call ourselves a sovereign nation under these conditions.

We - along with our Putin Pinocchio puppet - are sitting duck marionettes.

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