Speech your mind |
- Michael Moore: Wealthy Americans’ Money is a ‘National Resource’
- Florida wildfire closes portion of I-95
- Now Time to American Idol 2011 Vote
- Why supermassive black holes are too greedy for their own good
- The Large Hadron Collider may soon prove supersymmetry theory is wrong
| Michael Moore: Wealthy Americans’ Money is a ‘National Resource’ Posted: 02 Mar 2011 01:32 PM PST
 Yesterday, Michael Moore said that the money of wealthy Americans "isn't theres, it's ours," and is a "national resource." This is why the wealthy filmmaker has taken the unprecedented step of posting his bank account numbers online so all Americans can have access to the vital national resource that is "our" money. I'm impressed by th… what? He didn't do that? I would have expected otherwise because he's usually not hypocritical that way…. It also looks as if Michael should demand that the weight loss clinic give him his money back. Whoops, I mean, give him our money back. (h/t JWF)     |
| Florida wildfire closes portion of I-95 Posted: 02 Mar 2011 01:25 PM PST
 (CNN) -- Firefighters battling a central Florida blaze were scrambling Wednesday to get ahead of gusty winds that could hamper efforts to battle the fire, which has burned more than 16,000 acres and closed a stretch of Interstate 95 Wednesday.The fire, which began Monday in northern Brevard and southern Volusia counties, has destroyed a mobile home, several outbuildings and several camp structures, the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services said. As of Wednesday, however, "no residences seem to be in immediate danger," said Sterling Ivey, department spokesman. A 21-mile stretch of I-95 in the two counties was shut down because of heavy smoke on Wednesday, the Florida Department of Transportation said. More than 150 personnel have been deployed to help fight the blaze, called the Iron Horse Fire, according to the Florida Division of Forestry. The fire is 25% contained, said Cliff Frazier, a wildfire mitigation specialist with the Florida Division of Forestry, and has burned 16,144 acres. Winds were pushing much of the smoke out to sea, Frazier said. No new structures appeared to be in danger. Winds of 15 mph were forecast Wednesday morning, increasing to 25 mph by evening, Annaleasa Winter, a Division of Forestry spokeswoman, told CNN affiliate WPBF. The winds will be out of the northeast and could threaten the western fire lines, she said. Firefighters on Wednesday were planning to help "mop up those edges" and put out hot spots, Winter said. Mike Townsend's property in Brevard County was among those scorched by the fire. "It's heartbreaking," he told WPBF tearfully. "I developed this piece of property by myself. It's a rough thing. It's a rough thing to go through." Firefighters were making progress on a second blaze that has burned close to 2,000 acres in St. Johns County, south of State Road 206 on Interstate 95 below St. Augustine, officials said. Kimberley Prosser of the Brevard County Fire Department said the agency sent two emergency strike teams as a precaution to two communities near the fire, Lake Harney Woods in Volusia County and Blountes Ridge in Brevard County. A voluntary evacuation in the city of Mims was lifted Tuesday evening and shelters were closed, according to the Brevard County Office of Emergency Management. The agency reported a Brevard firefighter suffered second-degree burns to the face. The cause of both fires is not yet known. Frazier said Tuesday the combination of severe freezes this winter that killed surface vegetation and low rain totals made conditions ripe for a fire. The South Florida Water Management District said Wednesday the central and southern portions of the state are experiencing "extreme dry conditions." The period between October 2010 and February 2011 was the driest period in southern Florida in 80 years, the district said. "Over the last five months, the district's 16-county region has received a total of 5.69 inches, less than half the average rainfall for that period, or 6.54 inches below average," the district said in a statement. Lake Okeechobee is more than 2 feet below its historical average for this time of year. Meanwhile, residents near the Iron Horse Fire recalled wildfires that swept the area in 1998, saying the recent blaze brings back their worry and anxiety. In 1998, "We left about 11 o'clock at night and then we didn't know if we had a home the next morning," Denise Kemp told WPBF. Her home survived. But she said the current blaze has her worried because of its size and the changing wind directions.    |
| Now Time to American Idol 2011 Vote Posted: 02 Mar 2011 01:02 AM PST
 Watch "American Idol 2011" season 10 episode 13 and Top 12 boys will be live tonight, plus check out the new online voting system this year. The official announcement on the voting options for the new season of American Idol was 10 last week with the news of March 1, fans of the popular show could begin voting online immediately broadcast the debate on Tuesday.American Idol has announced the launch of a voting system online news tonight after the first half of the 24 candidates complete their first performance begins announced. Fans can go to AmericanIdol.com and the choice of sign when the show begins tonight at 8 ET on Fox clock. A Facebook account is required to register, and if they would even go to the link and follow the instructions. Nigel Lythgoe, executive producer of "American Idol," said the show was really late to the table when it comes to voting online, but advanced with SMS votes. "We have it all. We did not even SMS ahead in this country. Europe. Idol territory." Lythgoe sees no change in the results of online voting and the results of the phone calls and Idol is still the greatest impact. But the line gives viewers the opportunity to Facebook and Tweeting trends announcement to extend the already happen during the show. "The main thing is to try things on Idol who can get it to the public and the public to express their feelings about Idol. In any event, they can do," he said. Texting is always a choice with AT & T Wireless, visit Idol texts in the category of "Unlimited". Text the word VOTE to 57 plus the two digit number of participants. Of course, the toll-free, old phone works well and opens when the show begins. Call 1-866-idols-01, -02, and so on. The 12 male semifinalists of the stage for the first time on Tuesday evening and the 12 female semifinalists will perform the following night, Wednesday, March 2. The finalists of the season Thursday, March 3 on FOX television show American Idol 2011 to be announced. via allvoices.com    |
| Why supermassive black holes are too greedy for their own good Posted: 01 Mar 2011 11:16 PM PST
 The galaxy Markarian 231 is dying, and its own supermassive black hole is ripping it apart. The black hole is absorbing so much material and spewing so much dust and gas back out that star formation has been completely disrupted.The black hole at the heart of Mrk 231 is about ten million solar masses, or roughly three times the mass of the black hole at the center of our galaxy. The galaxy itself is currently in the middle of a merger with another galaxy, and the collision is not going well. So much dust and gas is headed towards the Mrk 231 black hole that it can't absorb it all, sending a chunky percentage right back into the galaxy. This process has created huge quasars, incredibly bright streams of radiation travelling at about 2.2 million miles per hour. This is venting gas from the inner regions of Mrk 231 at about 2.5 times the rate stars can form. This means no new stars will be born in the inner regions, and soon enough the entire galaxy will be composed of nothing but aging, dying stars. Mrk 231 will someday be what is known as a "red and dead" galaxy, because of the reddish tinge such galaxies have when seen through a telescope. Via Space.com. Artist's conception of the center of Mrk 231 by Lynette Cook.    |
| The Large Hadron Collider may soon prove supersymmetry theory is wrong Posted: 01 Mar 2011 11:14 PM PST
 Supersymmetry holds that all the subatomic particles we know have counterparts that are almost exactly the same, only much, much heavier. But the Large Hadron Collider hasn't found any supersymmetric particles yet, and they're running out of places to hide. Will we have to come up with a new model for subatomics?The theory of supersymmetry is a favorite of many physicists because it elegantly explains a lot of basic mysteries about the subatomic world. The larger, unstable particles are responsible for the quantum fluctuations that would otherwise force the particles we're familiar with to be much, much more massive than they otherwise are. (This is a short version of the problem - for a more detailed explanation, check out this Nature article, or check out our own primer on undiscovered particles for more on the so-called sparticles.) Some of the supersymmetric particles could also be responsible for dark matter, and supersymmetry could be key to uniting all forces into one all-encompassing theory. But the Large Hadron Collider has now effectively ruled out masses for the sparticles below 700 gigaelectronvolts, and more and more mass ranges are getting eliminated all the time. This isn't just a practical problem. The tighter the mass range for the sparticles gets, the more physicists have to fine-tune their values to properly account for the observed quantum fluctuations. Scientists are averse to this sort of fine-tuning - indeed, the whole reason SUSY became popular in the first place was because it eliminated the need to fine-tune the mass value for the Higgs boson to resolve the fluctuation problem. There's a lot of personal investment in the failure or success of supersymmetry, as physicist Alessandro Strumia explains: "Privately, a lot of people think that the situation is not good for SUSY. This is a big political issue in our field. For some great physicists, it is the difference between getting a Nobel prize and admitting they spent their lives on the wrong track." Still, if supersymmetry is ruled out - and there won't be consensus on that until the Large Hadron Collider finishes up its run in 2012 - that's hardly the end of the world for physicists. All it means is that another theory will be needed to resolve the problems with the standard models. Science isn't about being absolutely right - it's about constructing the best theories from the available evidence, and being willing to revise them as new evidence comes to light. Even if that means throwing out one of the most elegant, even beautiful theories physics has ever seen. Via Nature.    |
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