Five-year anniversary of a ‘star quake’

 Posted by on 28 December 2009  Modern Life
Dec 282009
 

Reading about the magnetar burst that blinded satellites five years ago left me agape. Some facts, gleaned from this blog post at Discover Magazine:

If you crushed every car in the United States into the size of a sugar cube, that’s the density of this magnetar. Except the magnetar is 20 kilometres wide. That gives it a gravity that’s maybe 100 billions times as strong as Earth. And a magnetic field that may be a quadrillion times as strong.

So what happens when the surface cracks? In a ‘star quake’? Well, such a quake might have a Richter value of 32 — and remember, a Richter earthquake that’s 9 (like the one that caused the Indian Ocean tsunami, also five years ago) would be 10 times as powerful as Richer 8. A Richter 10 quake would be 100 times as powerful as a Richter 8. A Richter 11 would be a thousand times as powerful as a Richter 8. And so on. And this is a Richter 32.

The quake released a blast of energy — so much that in a fifth of a second, the magnetar released as much energy as our sun does in a quarter-million years.

It was 50,000 light years away, thank goodness. Which is really freaking far. But on some satellites, the resulting wave of photons completely washed-out their detectors — even through the photons had to travel through the satellite itself.

I can’t do it justice — and even the Discover blogger seems to struggle for superlatives to describe it — but let’s just say I’ve awed by how insignificant we are.

China’s massive investments in green technology are starting to pay off

 Posted by on 27 December 2009  Modern Life
Dec 272009
 

I was riveted by a story in the New Yorker about China’s huge shift towards renewable energy. I’ve been reading Thomas Friedman’s pieces in the New York Times about it for a while, but it’s easy to dismiss an opinion columnist as hyping something, even when you kind of agree with him.

A first-person account of the massive investment that China is making, though, made much more of an impact on me. Called the 863 Program (it was conceived in March of 1986), the Chinese initiative hasn’t been perfect, but it’s been dedicated, where in North America, the political will has come and gone, started and stopped:

In 2001, Chinese officials abruptly expanded one program in particular: energy technology. The reasons were clear. Once the largest oil exporter in East Asia, China was now adding more than two thousand cars a day and importing millions of barrels; its energy security hinged on a flotilla of tankers stretched across distant seas. Meanwhile, China was getting nearly eighty per cent of its electricity from coal, which was rendering the air in much of the country unbreathable and hastening climate changes that could undermine China’s future stability. Rising sea levels were on pace to create more refugees in China than in any other country, even Bangladesh.

In 2006, Chinese leaders redoubled their commitment to new energy technology; they boosted funding for research and set targets for installing wind turbines, solar panels, hydroelectric dams, and other renewable sources of energy that were higher than goals in the United States. China doubled its wind-power capacity that year, then doubled it again the next year, and the year after. The country had virtually no solar industry in 2003; five years later, it was manufacturing more solar cells than any other country, winning customers from foreign companies that had invented the technology in the first place.

Read the full piece here.

Choice quote about one of the world’s oldest living trees

 Posted by on 27 December 2009  Vintage/Retro
Dec 272009
 

One of the oldest living things on planet Earth is actually the only specimen of its species left. It’s related to the King’s holly, and it’s a 43,000-year-old shrub that apparently grows through cloning.

That’s not the only one — I only found out about it through this story, which details the finding of a 13,000-year-old bush, which does the same. And that’s where I found this quote:

By repeatedly cloning itself, the Palmer’s oak has lived past the separation of Britain from continental Europe, the demise of the mammoths and saber-toothed cats, and the birth of human agriculture. It is among the oldest plants in existence, first sprouting from an acorn around 13,000 years ago. According to the creationist view of history, this tree was around 7,000 years old when the universe was created.

Cloning 1, Creationists 0

Also, this gives me hope that cloning can help me in my quest for my own immortality, since I plan to live forever.

(More about longevity — 250-million-year-old bacteria were revived from suspended animation. So there’s hope for cryosleep, too.)

When did the last mammoth die?

 Posted by on 27 December 2009  Vintage/Retro
Dec 272009
 

I’ve always loved “Land That Time Forgot” or “Lost World” style fantasies, in which the (often Victorian) protagonists are stranded in an inaccessible place, surrounded by dinosaurs and other prehistoric beasties who have somehow survived to the present-day.

So I was intrigued to read about an 1899 magazine article, published in McClure’s Magazine, in which the author purported to have, during a trip to Alaska, stalked, trapped and killed a living woolly mammoth.

There’s a lengthy post going through the plot of the article at ScienceBlogs.com:

The trip was arduous but Paul and Tukeman soon found signs they were on the right track. They found a cave “paved” with the numerous remains of mammoths. Surely there would living ones nearby, and the bones provided Tukeman the chance to test the strength of the firearms he had brought for the hunt. His bullets punched right through vertebrae and skull bones: bringing down the mammoth might be easier than he thought.

Unfortunately, the article turned out to be fiction — and was marked as such, though it didn’t prevent many people from believing that it was true.

Which raises the question, just when did the last mammoth die?

It turns out that’s a difficult question to answer. The most-recent mammoth fossils we know of are dated to about 10-13,000 years ago (except for some dwarf mammoths who survived in isolated island populations — Lost World-style — until about 1700 BC). Fossils, however, aren’t very accurate in this way, because very few dead specimens ever become fossils, and who knows how many we find or don’t find — or even exist to find. For all we know, the last 1,000 years of mammoth life didn’t even produce a single fossil, let alone any that we’ve found.

But an international team of scientists — including Canadian scientists working out of the University of Alberta — have a better idea. From a related post on Science Blogs:

Mammoths were not just shuffling collections of teeth and bones. They were living creatures that bled, defecated, urinated, shed hair, and eventually decomposed, spreading their genetic material all over the land they occupied. This means that there is a second sort of record for the mammoths that, under the right conditions, might be able to provide us with a better idea of where they lived and when they disappeared, and an attempt to mine this rich source of fossil data has just been published in the journal PNAS.

In short, they were looking up north, in the permafrost, for actual preserved mammoth DNA.

And they found some (not surprising, considering that every now and then, actual frozen mammoths turn up to be defrosted).

According to DNA traces in ancient layers of permafrost, mammoths were stomping about Alaska as recently as 7,000 years ago. Which, by the way, would be almost a death blow to the theory that a comet did them all in 13,000 years ago.

It’s super-awesome that people are looking for mammoth traces as cellular evidence in ice that’s tens of thousands of years old. And it’s a reminder that, just like rain forest destruction could eliminate countless species that we’ll never know about (with all the potential medical and other applications), climate warming and the melting of the permafrost could destroy scientific evidence of stuff we don’t even know we need to know.

Read My Pins — the brooch art of Madeleine Albright

 Posted by on 27 December 2009  Everything Else
Dec 272009
 

Last night I heard a fascinating interview with former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, who was talking to someone at the BBC World Service (carried on the CBC, where I heard it). I can’t seem to find a stream to the program online, so you might be out of luck to hear it yourself, but the occasion was the release of Albright’s latest book: “Read My Pins.”

I knew (thanks to Zoolander) that fashion was a language, full of codes and hidden meanings, but I found it fascinating to hear how Albright used her trademark brooch pins as part and parcel of her diplomacy.

Apparently, she would use “happy” pins — like a sunflower or a bunch of balloons — when negotiations were going well, and other pins to send messages when things weren’t going so well — like a turtle, to show that the pace of things was slow.

According to the official HarperCollins site, it all came about because of Saddam Hussein:

When U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Madeleine Albright criticized the dictator, his poet in residence responded by calling her “an unparalleled serpent.” Shortly thereafter, while preparing to meet with Iraqi officials, Albright pondered: What to wear? She decided to make a diplomatic statement by choosing a snake pin ….

From that day forward, pins became part of Albright’s diplomatic signature. International leaders were pleased to see her with a shimmering sun on her jacket or a cheerful ladybug; less so with a crab or a menacing wasp. Albright used pins to emphasize the importance of a negotiation, signify high hopes, protest the absence of progress, and show pride in representing America, among other purposes.

There’s a slideshow of some of her pins on the New Yorker site, as well as an article about the book, which is worth the read.

And now I’ll be scrutinizing the various charm bracelets, necklaces and earrings that I see around me, every day.

Sorry vegetarians, you’re all killers, too

 Posted by on 27 December 2009  Modern Life
Dec 272009
 

Remember that old saw about people being vegetarians not because they love animals — but because they hate vegetables?

Well, now that could actually be true.

I just read a really interesting article about plants, which goes into incredible detail about how they struggle for life just as vigorously as animals do, and how it might not be any more ethical to eat plants than it is to eat meat:

Plants no more aspire to being stir-fried in a wok than a hog aspires to being peppercorn-studded in my Christmas clay pot. This is not meant as a trite argument or a chuckled aside. Plants are lively and seek to keep it that way. The more that scientists learn about the complexity of plants — their keen sensitivity to the environment, the speed with which they react to changes in the environment, and the extraordinary number of tricks that plants will rally to fight off attackers and solicit help from afar — the more impressed researchers become, and the less easily we can dismiss plants as so much fiberfill backdrop, passive sunlight collectors on which deer, antelope and vegans can conveniently graze. It’s time for a green revolution, a reseeding of our stubborn animal minds.

…

Just because we humans can’t hear them doesn’t mean plants don’t howl. Some of the compounds that plants generate in response to insect mastication — their feedback, you might say — are volatile chemicals that serve as cries for help. Such airborne alarm calls have been shown to attract both large predatory insects like dragon flies, which delight in caterpillar meat, and tiny parasitic insects, which can infect a caterpillar and destroy it from within.

There’s much more, and it really makes you think.

I remember reading, as a child, that scientists using ultrasonic microphones, could actually detect a very-high-pitched sound — like a scream — when you cut open an onion. That made a similar impression on me. Plants are living things, and we have to eat something to survive.

Mind you, I don’t have any issue with people who decide to be vegetarians, or even vegan. My mom, who was a Home Ec. teacher, exposed me to a very wide dietary variety growing up, and I’ll happily eat a meat-free diet for days on end. There are great environmental and health reasons to limit your meat intake anyway. But I like meat. And there are great health reasons to eat some animal products — especially fish and dairy.

‘The webcam does not pick up negroes’

 Posted by on 25 December 2009  Modern Life
Dec 252009
 

The facial-recognition software on the new HP laptops does not recognize black peoples’ faces.

According to this Star article, HP says the software uses “standard algorithms that measure the difference in intensity of contrast between the eyes and the upper cheek and nose. We believe that the camera might have difficulty ‘seeing’ contrast in conditions where there is insufficient foreground lighting.”

Original blueprints for the Eiffel Tower, online

 Posted by on 25 December 2009  Vintage/Retro
Dec 252009
 

At the official site for the Eiffel Tower, they have scans of the original blueprints for the Eiffel Tower. Some of them are higher-resolution than others. But they’re all pretty cool!

I remember reading somewhere, once, that the government almost tore down the tower during either World War I or II, to use the metal for tanks or something.

According to Wikipedia, the original drafts for the tower were submitted to Barcelona, which rejected them, claiming that the tower didn’t fit their city’s aesthetics. People in France didn’t initially take to it either. Apparently a notorious tower-hater, novelist Guy de Maupassant ate in the tower’s restaurant every day — claiming that it was the only place in the city where he couldn’t see the tower itself.

(via BB)

Good news, get ready to fly in your undies

 Posted by on 25 December 2009  Modern Life
Dec 252009
 

On Christmas Day, a man apparently tried to blow up a plane that was landing in Detroit.

According to the New York Times, “he had had explosive powder taped to his leg and that he had used a syringe of chemicals to mix with the powder to try to cause an explosion.”

The article makes note of the fact that this incident is reminiscent of the eight-years-ago December Richard Reid “shoe bomber” scare.

After Reid tried to ignite his shoes, we all started to have to take off our shoes at the airport.

Since this guy had explosive powder in his pants, I fully expect that our consistent and perfectly rational security apparatus will now require that travellers all drop trou before flying.

Also, I look forward to the day when some wannabe terrorist tries to blow up a plane with his passport.

Merry Christmas

 Posted by on 24 December 2009  Modern Life
Dec 242009
 

From all of us here at Absurd Intellectual, who are moving, internet-less, and spending Christmas with family and loved ones instead of blogging, have a very Merry Christmas.

Or, if you’re from that side of the pond, Happy Christmas.

Or, if you’re not Christian and/or secular Western, we’ll wish you a Happy Holidays, and please enjoy the fact that you have a “free” day off, courtesy our culture.

Bored with ordinary, everyday eggnog? Add tequila!

 Posted by on 24 December 2009  Modern Life
Dec 242009
 

(photo from mricon on Flickr.)

In French, they call it Lait de Poule, or, literally, “chicken milk” (maybe “hen’s milk”). I call it delicious. Well, sometimes.

But if you’re getting tired of eggnog the ordinary way — with rum, or dark rum, or spiced rum, perhaps bourbon or brandy on a wild night — then have I got a treat for you.

Try tequila.

I’m serious. Tequila and egg nog go together almost perfectly. The creaminess of the nog cuts through the tequila flavour, softening it just so. And tequila actually, believe it or not, tastes less harsh and alcoholic than rum does.

Now, what shall we call it? Suggested names are:

  • Worm Nog
  • Nogquila
  • Feliz Navidad
  • Agave Nog

Vote in the comments, or come up with alternative suggestions!

When building or renovating, leave a little behind for the future

 Posted by on 23 December 2009  Vintage/Retro
Dec 232009
 

Archaeologists have a tradition of tossing coins — usually pennies or other small-denomination — into any pit they excavate. Making sure that the coin is from the current year, it’s like a calling card, a “we were here” bit of info for any future archaeologists, who may dig in the same place, and then know that it was disturbed, and when.

All my life, doing home renovations, I’ve come across similar little markers from the past. Sometimes it’s inadvertent, like the brittle newspaper pages that I’ve unwrapped from old pipes in the basement; or builder’s marks, where they measured, but didn’t cut.

But sometimes it’s deliberate — a name, a date, sometimes scratched into the wood or revealed under the final layer of wallpaper. My dad always encouraged us, as kids, to write our own names and the date in places that would soon be covered by new drywall, or paint, or a staircase.

So as Amy and I move into a new place (one of those houses that’s delicately described as “a handyman’s special” in need of some TLC — and I’m no handyman) we’ve been tearing out old and restoring new. Like many old houses, it has its challenges and its charms. One of the things I love about it is the old-style kitchen cabinet.

It needed (badly) a new countertop, though, as well as a new sink and taps and faucet. So off to the store I went, and I’ve been spending Christmas Eve eve ripping out the old and (hopefully this afternoon) installing new.)

After I tore off the old counter, though, I saw that I needed to clean off tons of dirt and grime.

Imagine my delight when, under it all, some paint came through:

Hello, 1951!

I don’t know if any of the work I’m doing now will last for 60-odd years. But I can at least maintain the good stuff, and pass it on to the next owner in better shape than I found it.

Cats love honeysuckle wood

 Posted by on 23 December 2009  Everything Else
Dec 232009
 

When I was a child, my parents had a large honeysuckle bush growing next to the house. Its springy branches were perfect for a young boy to climb and scarmble on. But alas, it was too close to the verandah, and when it got too large, it had to be cut down.

My dad brought some of the wood into the house to burn in the fireplace, where we noticed that the cat went crazy for it. This, mind you, was a cat that had previously shown absolutely no interest in catnip, yet he was wildly clawing and scrabbling and pawing and biting these foot-long scraps of wood.

My mom took some branch cuttings to other peoples’ houses, to test it on their cats — universally, they loved it.

Suddenly, we had dreams of making the family fortune at craft shows, selling bundles of wood as a treat for your cat. We’d corner the market! My mom even had a clever name all thought up (wish I could remember it).

Well, a couple of decades later, and we’ve been beated to the punch. I saw this in a pet store yesterday:

Some of the best Calvin & Hobbes ever

 Posted by on 23 December 2009  Everything Else, Modern Life
Dec 232009
 

At this time of year, I always hope that life imitates art and I will see real-life creations such as appeared in Calvin and Hobbes.  I am, of course, referring to Calvin’s snowman creations.

Who hasn’t tried to recreate at least one of Calvin’s snowmen?  Unfortunately, the results are almost always disappointing.  Take heart, however.  We can always enjoy the strips themselves.

Here’s a great collection of most, if not all, of the Calvin & Hobbes’ snowman strips.

 Older Entries  Newer Entries