I thought the demise of the Hubble was a done deal. It was my understanding preperations were underway to fit it with a retro-rocket for a controlled re-entry into earth's atmosphere.
Nice about the woodpecker though. How many people do you think are already itching to have a shot at one?
Posted by muckcat at April 29, 2005 05:56 AM"Theodore Roosevelt called it the 'Lord God bird,' because when people saw it, they'd be so amazed they'd say, 'Lord God.' "
There were very few dry eyes in the room when the find was announced at Thursday's news conference in Washington, D.C., he said. "This has changed people," he said.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/04/29/WOODPECKER.TMP
http://users.aristotle.net/~swarmack/sounds/Ivory-Billed%20WoodpeckerACM.wav - call of the IBW
http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/BNA/demo/media/Ivory-billed_Woodpecker_media.html#fig1 - video
http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/BNA/demo/media/Ivory-billed_Woodpecker_media.html#fig1 - another call of the IBW
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200504/s1352292.htm
Figure this one out, if you can. I'm sure it has something to do with pop-rocks:
http://www.topsecretrecipes.com/sleuth/legends/legend3.htm
Posted by at April 29, 2005 07:13 AMThe Ivory-billed is so cool. I've marveled at the big Pilleateds, and even thought I saw an Ivory-billed once.
The Hubble needs to be updated and allowed to survive. Of course, when you have a pack of dim wits who think the universe is no more than 6,000 years old, how can peering back 6 or 7 billion years be of any use? Besides that, it inspires people. No inspiration can remain or else god gets pissed. Just ask any Tali-evan-fundie about the great satan they worship.
The most interesting thing I've seen recently is the theory that because we dream, we can sleep. In the past, the thinking was that when we went to sleep our big wet-wired brains fired-off in random activity that equated to dreams. The new theory indicates that our brains, which are nothing more than big stimulus processing organs, will keep the body aroused to keep the information coming in, even when detrimental to the body. To get rest, or sleep, the brain essentially tricks itself to focus on some internal stimulus, dreams, allowing the body to get the rest it needs. We have to fool our brains with fake stimuli so it doesn't notice that the body is slacking off. Cool idea, and very compelling. It really goes well with the circadian research that shows a 90 minute cycle of 2/3rds attention, 1/3 daydreaming (yes, all you university whizzes out there. There was a reason you found yourself daydreaming about being capitan fantatstic while the physics lecturer droned on past an hour. Or you found yourself paying great attention during the first class of the day, and dropping like a stone during the second class if you had back-to-back classes).
I feel like such a heretic talking about this stuff. No doubt the Tali-evan-fundies don't need to understand this, and will eventually burn me at the stake because I don't think the earth is at the center of their great satan powered universe...and maybe that's why the Hubble is being allowed to die.
Posted by phidipides at April 29, 2005 07:38 AMThank you Mary for showcasing the sighting of the Ivory Billed Woodpecker, a bird thought extinct for 60 years!
They are not only a pretty bird, they also make a sound was distinctive as loons - a double rap.
The bird was found in - guess where - a National Wildlife Refuge - Cache River National Wildlife Refuge in Arkansas.
So doesn't this say something about how important our wildlife refuges are................???
Maybe someone from the MSM will pick up on this sighting and compare that with Cheny$Co's plans for the Artic NWR....................
"The head of the Defense Intelligence Agency said Thursday that American intelligence agencies believed North Korea had mastered the technology for arming its missiles with nuclear warheads, an assessment that if correct, means the North could build weapons to threaten Japan and perhaps the western United States," the New York Times reports. While Vice Adm. Lowell Jacoby told the Senate Armed Services Committee "that North Korea had been judged to have the 'capability' to put a nuclear weapon atop its missiles, he stopped well short of saying it had done so, or even that it had assembled warheads small enough for the purpose."
You asked what other stories we were following. I have commented numerous times over the past couple of years - indeed, at one point I was flamed so hard I quit blogging - that were N.Korea to fling a nuke tipped obsolete yet still operable Soviet ICBM willy-nilly westward the cinder cone in my back yard would just about be the limit. They've long had the technology, such as it is, they just needed a nuke.
Such an assault on the Oregon High Desert is not without precedence, in WWII the Japanese blissfully wafted bomb laden paper ballons 'cross the Pacific, one of which providing a bit excitement for a group of early morning deer hunters. The only successful Japanese assualt on the continental US.
The Ivory-billed Woodpecker is such an amazing and historic find! That a black and white woodpecker the size of a hawk can elude the countless thousands who have searched for it for over 30 years is truly amazing and hopeful.
Posted by CA Pol Junkie at April 29, 2005 11:10 AMThe most interesting science story I've come across lately is regarding a potential cause of autism, in the April 16 "Science News" issue. Here's a similar article on the topic.
The gist is that a study found that autistic kids have abnormally low levels of glutathione in their blood, an anti-oxidant. Glutathione is a big factor in breaking down toxins, like heavy metals, so autistics might not be able to process toxins like most people can.
After the brush-off that the thimerosol (mercury-containing vaccine preservative) connection has gotten from the scientific community, could it have been right all along?
I also wonder if the low glutathione levels could increase someone's risk of celiac sprue, since toxins can also damage the intestinal tract. (I have a cousin who is autistic and and a celiac.)
Thomas: in High Desert country, there's also our very own threat of the Umatilla incinerator, right in your back yard. But I'd be more worried about forest fires and the South Sister bulge than either the incinerator or nukes.
Posted by Kaleefornian at April 29, 2005 11:45 AMYellow-stickie note to self: Update alias list for Left Coaster bloggers/commenters:
Phidip = Captain Phidtastic
Posted by muckdog at April 29, 2005 11:51 AMPhidip = Captain Phidtastic
Only in my spandex undies.
Posted by phidipides at April 29, 2005 07:24 PMLOL Phidipides, thanks for the mental image.
Posted by Judith at April 29, 2005 11:14 PM