Soup De Jour: Hot Quark

Posted on February 15, 2010 by Thanos

At RHIC they have created some very hot Quark soup or a “nearly perfect liquid” — leading to speculation that the early universe might have been partially or all composed of it.

More at ABC and Physorg.

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Valentine’s Day Blizzard

Posted on February 14, 2010 by Thanos

We had a very short, but heavy blizard roll through the KC metro area shortly after 2 PM today, and it caused at least three large car pileups due to the sudden white out and slick conditions on an otherwise clear day.

The newscasters are saying “hundreds” of cars, but it’s likely less than 200 from the scenes I am seeing of the three separate pile ups, two of them on I-70, and one of them on I-35.  The snow was gone here in under fifteen minutes however I did get some pictures of the snowfall, and snapped a photo of the news broadcast. I was too late to get the massive pileup on the bridge, but one overpass had cars sandwiched in like tuna from one end of the bridge to the other, and they were some atop of others.

More on this at KSHB

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Kasey Helps With Laundry

Posted on February 14, 2010 by Thanos

Kasey just got in from playing in the snow, now she wants to help with the laundry.

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The Weather Report on Pluto

Posted on February 13, 2010 by Thanos

Nitrogen ice anyone?

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Happy 200th Birthday Charles Darwin

Posted on February 12, 2010 by Thanos

Today is international Darwin Day, and it’s Abraham Lincoln’s Birthday as well. It’s a great day to celebrate and I recommend going to see “Creation” tonight.

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Why We Believe in Myths

Posted on February 12, 2010 by Thanos

Michael Shermer at TED

For those who doubt the mind’s ability to create patterns where none exist I present my childhood encounter with the phenomenon, and Ladel Rat Rotten Hut.

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David Agus: A new strategy in the war against cancer

Posted on February 6, 2010 by Thanos

Ted Med talk on the future of Cancer identification, prevention, and control

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Snow Day

Posted on February 5, 2010 by Thanos

A gallery of today’s snowfall; click on the thumbnails if you want to see the larger version

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Boondock Stooges

Posted on January 28, 2010 by Thanos

James O’Keefe & Co. have reached the nadir of their fifteen minutes, and from here it is downhill. You can read about his arrest, etc here, here, here, and in this video:

Many are characterizing him as a self-styled James Bond or “Junior G-Man” however I don’t see it that way. James O’Keefe’s long conservative activism for pro life causes coupled with his overuse of the Latin “Veritas” suggest to me that he sees himself instead as a real life Holy warrior cut of the same cloth as the brothers in the fictional “Boondocks Saints”. I would wager he’s seen the movie more than once, and wonder if he has a tattoo like the brothers in the ultra violent movie: “Veritas” “Aequitas” – or “Truth” and “Justice”. If you think my speculation is a stretch, page through O’Keefe’s Tweet feed — go back to October before the Acorn sting where you can see a few asides, and a link to an article adoring Franciscan monks.

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This Afternoon’s Moon

Posted on January 26, 2010 by Thanos

Moonrise was early today in Kansas, I took this about an hour ago but it was up already when I looked at 3:30.

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