Rocky exoplanet confirmed/nerd Venn diagram
September 17, 2009
Image Via Space.com
A European satellite observatory recently discovered a very small exoplanet that is said to be the first with a proven density similar to Earth’s. Follow-up observations were done at a telescope in Chile to determine the planet’s mass, which was then combined with its radius to calculate its density. The planet has about 5 times Earth’s mass. But don’t get too excited just yet- the planet is far from habitable. It orbits VERY close to its parent star (23 times closer than Mercury is to our Sun), which not only means it’s really effin’ hot, but it also is probably tidally locked, which means the same side of the planet is always facing the star. So one side is literally boiling with molten rock, and the other side is extremely cold. There’s no way it could have any atmosphere, either. BUT this is still an important step toward finding an Earth-twin. No we know that we can find planets similar in size and density to our own. It’s just a matter of time until Kepler or CoRoT finds one orbiting in its star’s habitable zone. (Via Space.com)
Ever wondered about the difference between a nerd, a geek, a dweeb, and dork? Look no further. This pretty much nails it down perfectly. (Via Clusterflock)
New Rocksellout/Pavement Reunion/Caitlin Rose video
September 16, 2009
I’ve known Brock Sharp for quite a while now, ever since he was involved with Vacant Cage Records back in the mid 2000’s. They folded back in ’07 and since then he’s been doing all sorts of random music-related things, including starting the Dig For Fire Agency with me. Just last week he was offered the opportunity to take over the music blog Rock Sellout. He agreed, and now it’s up and running again under his command. So go check it out. I may even end up contributing to it some in the future.
Tonight Those Darlins will be joining the Dexateens, the Rustlanders, and Band of Heathens at Mercy Lounge for an Americana Music Awards showcase. They’ll also be joined by a super-secret special guest, and based on the Nashville Cream’s hints and the AMA website, I’m pretty sure it’ll be John Fogerty.
In case you’ve been under a rock the past few days, the long-rumored Pavement reunion is definitely, absolutely, 100% happening. I knew there was something to that 5 Spot almost-reunion-show for Bob N.’s wedding. Maybe they’ll either A) play in Nashville, or B) play at SXSW next year. Or both?
It should be no secret that I’m the world’s biggest Mythbusters fan. That’s why I’m very excited about some of the topics covered in the upcoming season, which debuts October 7th. Can you build a sailboat out of duct tape? Or a cannon? Does a muddy car really get better gas mileage than a clean one? (WTF?) And the one I’m most interested in: does having multiple drinks with various liquors give you a worse hangover than sticking to one liquor all night? If the episode tackling that one is half as funny as the one testing other alcohol/sobriety rumors, then it’s gonna probably end up being one of my fav episodes of all time. CAN’T. WAIT. (Via Gizmodo)
I’ll leave you today with this video containing various drunken antics and a few performance clips from Caitlin Rose’s trip to the Monolith Festival at Red Rocks, CO. Wish I could’ve gone!
NASA can’t get out of LEO with current budget/Levitating Mice
September 10, 2009
Bad news for NASA from the Augustine Commission. Under the current budget through 2015, we can’t even get out of Low-Earth Orbit. What that means is we can only go to the ISS. We can’t even get back to the moon, let alone send people to Mars or beyond. The commission’s recommendations are best summarized in a cool graphic that I found on Universe Today yesterday. See below.
Image via Universe Today
Obviously Obama has to allocate more money to NASA if we are to even think about achieving the current set of goals. (Those being: retiring the space shuttle, developing the new Ares rockets, Orion Crew Module, and Antares Moon Lander, and getting back to the Moon around 2020.) In these times that will be tough, and sadly NASA could get put on the backburner for a few years until we have more economic stability. Let’s hope for the best, though.
In some much better NASA news, the newly refurbished Hubble Space Telescope is working like a charm and is taking better pictures than ever before. Check out some of the gorgeous new images at NASA’s website. You can even download super hi-res versions. Eye. Gasm.
Who knew that we’d be able to build an actual, real-life antigravity device so soon? Scientists have found a way to levitate small creatures as big as mice. We’ve all seen the classroom science experiment where they use a superconductor in liquid nitrogen to levitate a tiny disc. But you can actually do that with almost anything. They key is getting the magnetic field to the right strength. AND there’s a practical goal of this research other than “Holy Shit! We made a mouse float in mid-air! Cool!” The practical goal is to study long-term effects of microgravity on the mice’s bodies, the results of which can be applied to astronauts in space and help NASA plan for missions to Mars and beyond. (Via LiveScience)
Here’s one of those awesome Hubble images:
Image via NASA
New WOTT mix/POBAH/BFF update
September 9, 2009
Wow. Waaay too many abbrevs in that title.
Ok so there aren’t really any updates for BFF, I’m just shamelessly plugging it. And also pointing you over to Fan Fiction’s blog where he plugged it as well. Be sure to check out the mix he did for Justin Kase’s blog Blogging Is Serious Business. That’s just a taste of the goodness he has to offer for your dancing pleasure this Friday night. Also check out my (DJ Burgers) latest mix SUMMERMIXXXX09. It starts off a little more pop/rock-oriented than anything I’ll spin Friday, but the latter 1/2 should give you a good idea of what I have to offer. Remember- it’s totally FREE, 18+ and at Mad Donna’s (1313 Woodland St.) upstairs lounge. We promise to love you long time.
We Own This Town has just posted a new mix for your downloading/listening pleasure. Go grab it now. It features some great new tracks from the likes of Turbo Fruits, Kindergarten Circus, and The Nobility, plus many more.
Speaking of great local bands, The Protomen officially released their long-awaited new album Act II: The Father of Death on Amazon MP3 and iTunes yesterday. It’s been doing AMAZINGLY well on both. But it peaked at fucking #8 on the Amazon download charts, competing with the likes of Phish, Kings of Leon, etc… Mind. Blown. Be sure to come out to their official album release party on Sept. 25th at Mercy Lounge. It will likely be the most epic thing ever to happen at Mercy Lounge. We’re talking the band plus a full string section and choir, playing both their first album and Act II: The Father of Death, in their entirety. Not to be missed. Then head over to Little Hamilton afterwards to this other party I’m DJing with Kid Chicago. More on that when it gets closer.
They Might Be Giants have released DVD children’s album called Here Comes the Science. Naturally I’m quite happy about this since it involves the two things this very blog is about. i09 posted several videos of songs from the album and it’s absolutely delightful. These guys have a long-proven record of being absolutely masterful songwriters, and to combine that kind of skill with the mission of educating our children about reality just makes me ecstatic. If I ever have kids, their first gift will be a boxed-set of all the TMBG children’s albums. John and John, you are my HEROES!!!! Check out Science is Real below, and check out the i09 post for even more.
Google UFO explained/Shuttle photos/EEstor
September 8, 2009
Image via Universe Today
Whew. That was quite an eye-gasm wasn’t it? That was taken on the current space shuttle mission (STS-128) to the International Space Station. The mission is about to come to an end, with a scheduled landing on Thursday. (Via Universe Today)
I also found on UT the final explanation of the Google UFO logo that caused quite a stir yesterday all over the interwebz. The Google tech-nerds were simply showing some love for the Japanese video game Zero Wing, the one with the famous quote “All your base are belong to us” at the beginning. Google also tweeted a mysterious set of numbers. It turns out if you insert the corresponding letters of the alphabet, you get “All your O are belong to us.” No, Google doesn’t know something we don’t. No, it wasn’t a hint that we’ll soon be visited by aliens, or that the government will finally come clean on a huge conspiracy theory. Sorry, Fox Mulder.
Until this morning I’d never heard of EEStor, but this new technology could revolutionize…. everything. But apparently it’s been met with quite a bit of skepticism. Basically it’s a new way of storing electricity, much more efficient than a lithium ion battery, and it would make storage of power generated by wind turbines and solar cell arrays much easier. The problem with power from the wind and sun is that it isn’t constant, therefore you need a way to store that power so that it can be used at all times, even when it’s dark or there’s no wind. That storage has been a big hurdle for the progress of these types of energy. Basically what they’ve done is invent a capacitor capable of storing much more energy than any capacitor before. It was once thought that basic problems with the very laws of physics prevented the development of capacitors with this much storage potential. But apparently this company has managed to convince the Zenn motor company, along with several investors with deep pockets, that they have found a way around those problems. If they’re really on to something it could make 100% green, sustainable power much closer to reality. If you’re a total electronics nerd and want to read the nitty-gritty on this, check out this article. (Via EcoGeek)
Yellowstone photos/creepy apple video
September 1, 2009
Grand Geyser
After way too long, I’ve finally gotten the photos from our trip to Yellowstone National Park on my flickr. We had a great time and I will never, ever tire of seeing that place. It is literally one of the most fascinating places on earth and everyone should go see it. It had been 9 years since I last saw it, and while reading some of the information plaques I realized that some major geologic changes had taken place just since the last time I was there. The place is just teeming with hydrothermal activity and is always changing. Not to mention that the scenery is absolutely gorgeous. So please go take a look at the photos. We also visited Mt. Rushmore, the Badlands, Grand Teton Park, and came back by driving through Colorado and New Mexico, making a quick stop at Philmont. Not only was the land beautiful, but we also got to see a pretty nice light show in the sky almost every night we were in Yellowstone. The Perseid meteor shower peaked while we were there, and with the absence of light pollution from cities, we could see them quite well. (That is, until the gibbous Moon rose around 11pm…) Literally, we could look up at any given time between sunset and Moonrise and see a meteor within a minute.
Some other random scientific tidbits:
A team of Swedish scientists, with the help of some other Chinese researchers, have discovered a very exact location and date for the birthplace of dogs. Apparently dogs originated from a group of tamed wolves about 16,000 years ago in an area of China south of the Yangtze River. Sadly, it’s also thought that those dogs met their fate in the stomachs of humans. (Via EurekAlert)
By now I’m sure you’ve heard of Apple’s new OS Snow Leopard. It’s not a total upgrade, since the last major update was called Leopard, but it is a significant advance in how the computer utilizes those multiple-core processors that have become standard over the past few years. It all boils down to the OS providing a way for applications to run multiple processes in parallel, or at the same time. Gizmodo has an article that explains it quite well, and I suggest reading it. I’ll probably be upgrading to Snow Leopard pretty soon.
And now I’m simply going to leave you with this incredibly creepy video using time-lapse footage of a rotting apple. No pun on the previous paragraph intended. (Via Kottke)
Chicxulub challenges/rocket fuel made of ice/eclectic astronauts
August 24, 2009
The theory that the dinosaurs were wiped out from an asteroid impact near the modern-day Yucatan Peninsula is beginning to face major challenges. There’s no doubt that a huge impact caused the Chicxculub Crater, but some recent findings suggest that the impact may have occurred some 300,000 years earlier than originally thought. This comes as a second blow to the impact theory, with the first being the discovery/dating of the Deccan Traps in India. This gigantic volcanic feature is the result of a huge eruption that is believed to have lasted around 30,000 years. Can you imagine a massive volcano erupting for 30,000 years and covering an area equivalent to 1/2 of modern India with lava? Trust me, something on that scale is hard for the human mind to comprehend, but that much volcanic ash and gas in the atmosphere would’ve had a devastating effect on the ecosystem, and almost certainly played a major role in the extinction of the dinosaurs. Get ready for science textbooks to be re-written, because the asteroid impact theory is about to see the same fate as the dinosaurs themselves. (Via Daily Galaxy)
NASA recently teamed up with the Air Force Office of Scientific Research to test a new, Earth-friendly type of solid rocket fuel. I’m not exactly sure of the details, but somehow they’ve managed to make rocket fuel out of aluminum powder and ice. Yes ice… as in frozen water. The secret apparently is that the aluminum powder is so finely ground that it’s considered “nanoscale.” The nanoscale aluminum has so much surface area in contact with the water ice that the exothermic reaction when it burns is more efficient than normal solid rocket fuel, which is usually powdered aluminum (not nanoscale) mixed with an oxidizer such as ammonium perchlorate and a binding agent. Seriously though, who would’ve ever thought you could make rocket fuel out of ice and aluminum? It just sounds crazy, but it’s true. (Via EurekAlert)
When you think of the type of person who becomes an astronaut, you don’t typically think of race car drivers or musicians, but two of the astronauts about to launch on Space Shuttle Discovery tomorrow morning are just that- a former off-road truck racer and a drummer. Check out this Space.com article to find out more about Commander Rick Struckrow, formerly a Baja off-road race driver, Pilot Kevin Ford who is also a drummer, and several other astronauts who come from surprising backgrounds.
NASA’s options/Zooey Deschanel dances/vacation
August 6, 2009
This will be my last post for about a week or more. Tomorrow right after work Megan and I are heading westward to spend some time at Yellowstone and the surrounding areas, and possibly Portland as well. Having to make the 34 hour drive back from Portland is looking less and less appealing, however. That being said, posting will be virtually non-existent for a while.
Photo via USA Today
As I mentioned a few days ago, we saw 500 Days of Summer last weekend. Most people would agree that there’s no such thing as too much Zooey Deschanel, and thus I highly recommend watching this cute music video put together as a promotional piece for the movie. It’s for She & Him’s “Why Do You Let Me Stay Here” and features ZD dancing with Joseph Gordon-Levitt. I have no idea how to embed USA Today videos on WordPress, so just go watch it here. (Via Stereogum)
I know I flooded you with science nerdiness yesterday, but I have to post this. I read an article this morning on Space.com containing details on the options for the future direction of NASA that Obama’s Augustine Commission are reviewing. Basically they’ve narrowed it down to 7 generalized options. They’ve been holding public hearings to get input from citizens (which is awesome) and plan to convene to make their final decisions and present them to President Obama at the end of this month. I’ve mentioned this many times on here before, but this is the first time I’ve seen the actual options that are under review. Personally, I’m torn between the “Directly Shuttle-Derived System” and relying on commercial spaceflight. It’s obvious that the current Ares I is having issues. It’s also obvious that many companies, the leader of them being Virgin Galactic, are really close to making commercial spaceflight a simple and easy solution. NASA could just buy flights from a private company to get astronauts to and from the ISS. I definitely think the US has invested way too much time and money into the ISS to end our involvement in 2015, just 4 years after it will be completed. It will still be useful and there’s no sense in abandoning it. Then NASA could possibly use the shuttle-derived plan, along with Ares V (which hasn’t had as many setbacks as Ares I because it’s not intended to carry humans; only cargo) to get to the moon and eventually Mars. Just my two cents.
See y’all in a week!
Ares I-X/Man-made Auroras
August 5, 2009
Image Via Universe Today
NASA is assembling the Ares I-X rocket currently in the the Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kenndey Space Center. This rocket is a test version for the Ares I which, under the current plan, will eventually take astronauts to the ISS and moon. They plan to do the test flight on Oct. 31st of this year. However, Obama’s Augustine Commission is currently reviewing the direction of NASA and could come out with a report that recommends scrapping the Ares rockets in favor of retro-fitting the space shuttle’s external fuel tank/SRB assembly to work with the new Orion Crew Vehicle. (I’ve posted about this before.) I’d say the test will happen regardless of the Augustine Commission’s recommendations, and furthermore I’d speculate that their findings will be somewhat dependent on the results of this test flight. Either way, it’ll be cool to see what happens. (Via Universe Today)
It’s unfortunate that most really big advances and breakthroughs in science are the result of military initiatives. (See: THE INTERNET) A scientist can ask the government for money to research a technology that could greatly improve the lives of everyone, but as soon as he/she mentions that the technology could have military applications, their chance of getting said money goes up exponentially. Such is the case with one of the most mysterious facilities ever to be built. No, I’m not talking about Area 51, I’m talking about HAARP (High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program) in Alaska. This thing is literally capable of creating its own miniature aurora in the sky. It’s a 3.6 megawatt antenna array aimed directly into the sky, and its purpose is to turn the ionosphere (a layer at the top of the atmosphere full of charged particles) into a giant low frequency antenna. I think the intent of the scientists behind this project is good, but the facility has fueled tons of conspiracy theories. Some even say it is responsible for Hurricane Katrina. I’m not knowledgeable enough to know exactly how ultra low frequency radio waves can affect the weather, but I do know that something powerful enough to blast the ionosphere and create a mini-aurora is pretty awesome, and the scientific knowledge that can be gained from such experiments is well-worth the evils of military application. The main military application in this case is the penetrating power of those ultra-low frequency radio waves generated by the ionosphere. Those waves could be used to detect underground bunkers and communicate with submarines deep in the ocean. Other radio waves are quickly absorbed by just a few feet of water or land, but these high-powered, low frequency waves have much more penetrating ability. I suggest reading this well written article on Wired about HAARP for more info if you’re interested. Here’s what the antenna array looks like:
new 5 Spot website/10 most extreme places on earth
July 30, 2009
Everyone’s favorite East Nashville dive/hangout the 5 Spot suddenly has a new website! Who knew? It’s good, because they needed one. Myspace used to be the only place to find their listings (other than the Scene and MetroMix) and now that it’s going the way of the dinosaurs, they needed another online presence. (Via Out The Other on Twitter)
I was delighted to see that the trailer for The Fantastic Mr. Fox is now out. Visually it just looks wonderful (as all Wes Anderson films do), and with the voices of George Clooney, Bill Murray, Jason Schwartzman, Owen Wilson, and Meryl Streep? YES all the way around. (Via Yewknee Twitter)
Oddee.com is hit or miss on their posts sometimes, but today they posted a blog about 10 extreme environments on Earth. Pretty interesting. They need to hire a copy editor.
Today’s a pretty slow news day, so that’s all I have for you. Weekend stuff coming tomorrow.
steve cross loves music and science 