Monthly Archives: June 2011

“Dumbocracy”

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I could not resist:

Dumb Politicians, Celebrities And Criminals: Reader’s Digest ‘Dumbocracy’ Suffers Fools Gladly

First Posted: 05-28-11 09:15 AM   |   Updated: 05-31-11 08:17 AM

‘s Memorial Day weekend, a time to remember some of the country’s heroes who have made this a great democracy. But when the Reader’s Digest gang surveyed the land from sea to shining sea, they found enough boneheaded behavior to make it seem at times as though we live in a “dumbocracy”.

You know who they’re talking about: dimwitted crooks, airhead celebrities and mindless politicians. Time and time again, these goofy citizens get away with — or at least try to get away with — the kind of half-baked ideas that make the rest of us wonder how common is common sense. (We’re looking at you, Charlie Sheen.)

“No one really feels sorry for these people,” said Reader’s Digest editor Andy Simmons. “People love to laugh at them. It makes you feel better that you’re not the only schmuck making mistakes.”

A full mind-boggling list of blunders, boo-boos and boners comes out in the magazine’s June/July issue. But while you kick back this holiday weekend, relax with a sneak peak and feel fortunate that you didn’t bungle your way into this group of clueless underachievers.

To read more, and see the images, go to /http://weirdnews.aol.com/2011/05/28/readers-digest-dumb-criminals-celebrities-lawsuits_n_867981.html#s284440&title=Dumb_Idea_Smart

 


 

Volcanic Lightning in Chile

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To See a Slide Show of Images of the eruption of the Puyehue Volcano in Chile, along with more shots of volcanic lightning,  go to http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/Volcano-erupts-Chile/ss/events/wl/060611chilevolcano#photoViewer=/110605/481/urn_publicid_ap_org4cab6a52c1d643baa3f97cf4e4ce2114
Volcanic lightning is seen over the Puyehue volcano, ...
AP

Sun Jun 5, 2:23 PM ET

Volcanic lightning is seen, miles

Volcanic lightning is seen over the Puyehue volcano, over 500 miles south of Santiago, Chile, Sunday June 5, 2011. Authorities have evacuated about 600 people in the nearby area. The volcano was calm on Sunday, one day after raining down ash and forcing thousands to flee, although the cloud of soot it had belched out still darkened skies as far away as Argentina. (AP Photo/Francisco Negroni, AgenciaUno) …

    Weekend Solar Blast

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    Large Detached Solar Prominence

    by Stephen W. Ramsden

    While displaying the Sun to 500+ kids and their families at the Virginia Highlands Summer Festival in Atlanta, GA, we were all witness to this incredible display of solar activity. Early in the morning a large magnetically supercharged chunk of Hydrogen Plasma was ejected from the limb of the Sun right before our eyes. It just hung there over the Sun almost 25 Earth Diameters high. It was breathtaking to watch and really got the attendees interested in our nearest star.


    To see more images and to read more go to:    http://www.spaceweather.com/submissions/large_image_popup.php?image_name=Stephen-W.-Ramsden-spaceweather-submission_1307328834.jpg

    Chilean Puyehue Volcano Erupts

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    Volcano in the Caulle Cordon of southern Chile erupts violently

    According to Wikipedia: Puyehue and Cordón Caulle are two coalesced volcanic vents that form a major mountain massif inPuyehue National Park in the Andes of Ranco Province, Chile. In volcanology this group is known as the Puyehue-Cordón Caulle Volcanic Complex (PCCVC). Four different volcanoes constitute the volcanic group or complex, the Cordillera Nevada caldera, thePliocene Mencheca volcano, Cordón Caulle fissure vents and the Puyehue stratovolcano.

    Reuters

    Lightning bolts strike around the Puyehue-Cordon Caulle volcanic chain in the Patagonia region at sunrise June 5. The volcano dormant for decades erupted in south-central Chile on Saturday, belching ash over 6 miles into the sky, as winds fanned it toward neighboring Argentina, and prompting the government to evacuate several thousand residents, Chilean authorities said.

    Claudio Santana / AFP – Getty Images

    Aerial picture showing the cloud of ash billowing from Puyehue volcano near Osorno in southern Chile, 870 km south of Santiago, taken on June 5. Puyehue volcano erupted for the first time in half a century on June 4, prompting evacuations for 3,500 people as it sent a cloud of ash that reached Argentina. The National Service of Geology and Mining said the explosion that sparked the eruption also produced a column of gas six miles high, hours after warning of strong seismic activity in the area.

    for more about this, go to:    http://photoblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/06/05/6790909-volcano-in-the-caulle-cordon-of-southern-chile-erupts-violently

     

    Lunar Eclipse June 15

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    And The Moon Is Eclipsed By The Earth

    by JASON MAJOR on MAY 31, 2011

     

    The Moon grows dark during a total lunar eclipse on December 21, 2010/ Credit: Jason Major

    On June 15 there will be a total lunar eclipse visible from Australia, Indonesia, southern Japan, India, a large area of Asia, Africa, Europe and the eastern part of South America. This is expected to be one of the darkest eclipses ever (with a magnitude of 1.7), second only to the July 2000 eclipse.

    to read more go to:  http://www.universetoday.com/86138/and-the-moon-is-eclipsed-by-the-earth/

    June 5-11

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    Color of the Week:   Grainy White

    This week can lead you to do things that might surprise you. Be prepared for that. There are experiences that will be coming your way that will be new to you. moreover there are people who will be coming into your field that will resonate with some deep held convictions. This is a week in which you cannot allow fear to take over. Caution is always well advised, but being overly cautious can lead to the loss of some opportunities. Continue reading →

    Jerusalem Underground

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    Beneath Jerusalem, an underground city takes shape

    AP

      • In this May 17, 2011 photo, a view of Zedekiah's Cave is seen in Jerusalem's Old City. Underneath the stone buildings and crowded alleys of old JerusaAP – In this May 17, 2011 photo, a view of Zedekiah’s Cave is seen in Jerusalem’s Old City.
    By MATTI FRIEDMAN, Associated Press – Mon May 30, 12:09 pm ET

    JERUSALEM – Underneath the crowded alleys and holy sites of old Jerusalem, hundreds of people are snaking at any given moment through tunnels, vaulted medieval chambers and Roman sewers in a rapidly expanding subterranean city invisible from the streets above.

    At street level, the walled Old City is an energetic and fractious enclave with a physical landscape that is predominantly Islamic and a population that is mainly Arab.

    Underground Jerusalem is different: Here the noise recedes, the fierce Middle Eastern sun disappears, and light comes from fluorescent bulbs. There is a smell of earth and mildew, and the geography recalls a Jewish city that existed 2,000 years ago.

    to read more go to:    http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110530/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_israel_underground_jerusalem

    Quantum Measurement Without Distortion

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    Quantum Physics First: Physicists Measure Without Distorting

    ScienceDaily (June 2, 2011) — Quantum mechanics is famous for saying that a tree falling in a forest when there’s no one there doesn’t make a sound. Quantum mechanics also says that if anyone is listening, it interferes with and changes the tree. And so the famous paradox: how can we know reality if we cannot measure it without distorting it?

    An international team of researchers, led by University of Toronto physicist Aephraim Steinberg of the Centre for Quantum Information and Quantum Control, has found a way to do just that by applying a modern measurement technique to the historic two-slit interferometer experiment in which a beam of light shone through two slits results in an interference pattern on a screen behind.

    In a new experiment, researchers have succeeded for the first time in experimentally reconstructing full trajectories which provide a description of how light particles move through the two slits and form an interference pattern. (Credit: iStockphoto/Karl Dolenc)

    That famous experiment, and the 1927 Neils Bohr and Albert Einstein debates, seemed to establish that you could not watch a particle go through one of two slits without destroying the interference effect: you had to choose which phenomenon to look for.

    “Quantum measurement has been the philosophical elephant in the room of quantum mechanics for the past century,” says Steinberg, who is lead author of Observing the Average Trajectories of Single Photons in a Two-Slit Interferometer, to be published in Science on June 2. “However, in the past 10 to 15 years, technology has reached the point where detailed experiments on individual quantum systems really can be done, with potential applications such as quantum cryptography and computation”

    to read more go to:   http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/06/110602143159.htm

    Whale Dialects

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    Whales Have Accents and Regional Dialects: Biologists Interpret the Language of Sperm Whales

    ScienceDaily (May 12, 2011) — Dalhousie Ph.D. student Shane Gero has recently returned from a seven-week visit to Dominica. He has been traveling to the Caribbean island since 2005 to study families of sperm whales, usually spending two to four months of each year working on the Dominica Sperm Whale Project. One of the goals of this project is to record and compare whale calls over time, examining the various phrases and dialects of sperm whale

    When they dive together, sperm whales make patterns of clicks to each other known as “codas.” Recent findings suggest that not only do different codas mean different things, but that whales can also tell which member of their community is speaking based on the sound properties of the codas. Just as we can tell our friends apart by the sounds of their voices and the way they pronounce their words, different sperm whales make the same pattern of clicks, but with different accents

    to read more go to:   http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/05/110512104252.htm