Category: interesting

There is nothing to rule out that our entire universe is inside a black hole.

Many other massive black holes might contain their own complete universe too.

We might be silly to think that the bottom of a black hole is an actual point of infinite density.

In fact, we could immediately see that our universe is just one of many inside massive black holes if we were not already inside our own black hole!

Let’s see.

There’s an angle in the spin or momentum of all elementary particles. This angular spin of matter is a torsion in the geometry of space-time. Inside a black hole, this spinning torsion prevents matter from compressing to infinite density.

Got that?

Because of spin, the bottom of a black hole is not straight-to-a-pinpoint compression, not the ‘time-arrow’ that shrinks to what we call singularity. Instead, space-time inside a black hole must instantly start rebounding, expanding into another universe. Ours is one of those.

How would we know if we are living inside a black hole?

To explain why particles in our universe show up with a ‘preferred direction’ in their spin. a spinning black hole would have imparted some spin to the space-time inside it. That immense ‘torsion’ will propel an expanding new universe inside the black hole.

Sifting huge data sets, the Annenberg Innovation Lab and IBM put together a visualization of America’s mood over 48 hours.

We are composite beings.
Each of us carries about 10 trillion bacteria in our gastro-intestinal tract. 1000 species of microbes live inside us with 100 times more genes than in all our cells. But we did not know there are around ten times as many viruses in our guts ! living a cozy existence inside the bacteria inside us.

The Guardian has posted several Scott Linstead ultra-slow-motion photos; very impressive new images of wildlife.

Wait around long enough and solutions appear. Isn’t that what they say?

The Incredible Shrinking Man project is researching genetically downsizing the human species to better fit the earth. Some say the folks at Treehugger are losing their minds.

Scientific American: How Much Global Warming Can We Take?

Are we already locked in, not just for decades and centuries, but for thousands of years?

July 16th is the 65th anniversary of Trinity, the bomb, the first nuclear test.

Robert Oppenheimer quoted the Bhagavad Gita, “Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.”

Less well-known Kenneth Bainbridge said, “Now we are all sons of bitches.”

“Humans have a tendency to overuse superlatives when it comes to history.” Ed at gin&tacos said that.

The Trinity Atomic Bomb Test on YouTube is here.

The Alamagordo News reports that persistent urging from the Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium has [finally] produced “the most comprehensive view of the secret event, the land and the people of the northern Tularosa Basin ever in the public eye”.

Corks in the bottles of beer in the basement of the home popped out from the wave of compression, a light like lightning and a roar “like a giant piece of roofing tin being shaken by a monster” moved across the land, Ruthina often told her children. She believed her cancers were from the ash that settled over the agricultural community.

…then men in funny suits came in with boxes to study.

Too late or too little for most veterans and bomb workers, the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act passed Oct. 15, 1990. Nothing for downwinders under the radionuclide ash. Funny about that.

A few extra nanosecond photos of bomb detonations here. Nuclear bombs are not easy. Think of trying to wrap jello with rubber bands:

The problem with getting a nuclear bomb to explode is bringing the fissionable materials together fast enough. Too slowly they melt and vaporize before the runaway chain reaction can take place. Rapid combination is achieved by surrounding the core with chemical explosives to create speed.  Timed to go off at exactly the same time, many detonators are used, but there’s numerous problems such as variations in detonator reaction time, delays caused by detonator cable lengths, uneven forces caused by minor variations in the explosive and a host of other issues.

“We have over 10 times more microbes than human cells in our bodies.” – George Weinstock

NYTimes: Scientists are regularly blown away by the complexity, power, and sheer number of microbes that live in our bodies. Between 500 and 1,000 species.

In 1880 the orchard farmer said, “I ordered peach trees but what I got I couldn’t sell. Nobody wants a chartreuse peach.”

As farmers expanded fruit orchards, horticulturists, agricultural colleges and vendors were bringing new varieties from foreign expeditions, developing new varieties and experimenting with biodiversity.

Prior to color photography, exact representations of fruit and vegetable crops was difficult and challenging until  artists developed superb watercolors:

More deaths than breast, prostate and colon cancer combined, lung cancer is underfunded and it’s the smoker’s fault.

But:

“If lung cancer unrelated to smoking was listed as a separate disease, it would be the sixth or seventh most common cause of cancer deaths.”

And:

One-tenth of men and one-fifth of women with lung cancer have never been smokers, and in some parts of the country — Northern California, for example — as many as 35 percent of women with lung cancer never smoked or lived with smokers.

And:

Smokers who develop lung cancer these days were hooked on nicotine long before it was recognized as an addictive drug and before smoking was clearly linked to cancer. “It’s a real dependence, like heroin or cocaine.”

Soon deployed, we must hope, is a remote sniffer that can identify a hidden explosive up to 65 feet away.

More than that, this new gizmo will pick out contraband such as anthrax, biochemicals or drugs. Pollutants in the air may someday be identified from an armchair.

Solids have a unique wave fingerprint. By sending two lasers toward a point, the detector instantly generates and measures the terahertz spectrum to compare with a library of material vibrations; the world’s first remote high resolution spectroscope.

The keywords R·e·m·o·t·e  S·e·n·s·i·n·g attract comment trolls ranting about privacy or fascist takeover. Yes, intrusive power is a dumb way to build a workable society, but there are severe threats we must address.

If this unit shrinks, someday our cellphones or a ring on our finger might detect mercury in fish or melamine in milk. That’s handy.

This pic is earning heaps of buzz, the first time we’ve seen a glowing bubble 1,000 light years across.

Whip-lashed from its galaxy, a 600,000 mph jet of hot gas and ultra-fast particles has been slamming into this interstellar balloon at least 200,000 years. Woot!

If the black hole at the center of this spinning galaxy were shrunk to the size of a soccer ball, the ‘jet’ would be traveling from our Sun to beyond Pluto.

The next mouse is no mouse. Pranav Mistry at MIT Media Lab has created a fully functional ‘Mouseless’ system that’s cost just $20 to build.

Of the approximately 750 children who will drown per year, about 375 of them will do so within 25 yards of a parent or other adult. In ten percent of those drownings, the adult will actually watch them do it, having no idea it is happening.

Drowning does not look like most people expect. Drowning in film and television is inaccurate. There is very little splashing, no waving, and no yelling or calls for help of any kind. Sometimes the most common indication that someone is drowning is that they don’t look like they’re drowning.

Scientific American on the real reason every argument between couples, from laundry to string theory, is about two fundamental complaints:

1. One person feels that he or she is being blamed or controlled, unjustly, or
2. One feels neglected.

A traditional headstone is void of personal detail for a millennium to come, but Rosetta’s Touch-to-Stone wireless headstone permanently broadcasts your obituary to any web phone.

Share your recipes and fishing spots. Full guarantee and refund. Just enter 1000+ words and a photo.

Every day each one of us turns 100 gallons or so of water into sewage. That’s a lot of sewage, requiring a lot of treatment–and very little of it is poop.

“We’re like a nation of 1-year-olds throwing everything in the toilet.”

Scientific American offers a relaxed ten page synopsis on sewers, How Does Sewage Treatment Work?

Deuteronomy urges you to dig a hole and ‘cover that which cometh from thee’.

By 1500 BC the palace of Knossos had an actual flush toilet–a seat, a pan, and a slave to pour water into a sluice.

Cesspits and privies were so offensive, in 1844 Boston tried to pass a law requiring a doctor’s order for every bath.

Most blockages are caused by grease or roots, but memorable clogs are mops, golf clubs or firewood pulled out of manholes. A refrigerator. Once a carpet remnant…

The system is not flawless–biosolids sometimes contaminate water; grease clogs cause sewage spills or system failures; heavy metals, pharmaceuticals, and personal care products build up in biosolids–but overall it works splendidly.

“It gets in your blood,” said a senior engineer and inspector… the rest of the way gravity does the work.

30,000 barbed Anti-Rape condoms were given away free at the World Cup.

And see here. Stitched within linen and cotton, teeth in the groin is not new.

“Did you pinpoint what changed in our relationship?”

A new method of capturing actors opens up games and animation production.

No white balls glued to spandex body suits. No markers or phosphorescent paint on the actors faces.

MotionScan from Depth Analysis is much more sophisticated, generating a fully-textured 3D model that incorporates every nuance, mannerism and emotional detail.

32 high definition cameras, 16 stereoscopic pairs, capture every angle of an actor’s performance at 30 frames per second.

Dutch design studio Wieke Somers offers memorable sculpture made of human ashes.

I don’t know what to say except I’m unsteady about keeping urns and slightly more comfortable spilling ashes. Yet memory is precious, even if we’ve rolled boulders uphill or threw rocks at a rubber sky.

What would you say about a latex sheath of razor-sharp barbs?

The victim looked up and said, ‘If only I had teeth down there!’

Tear-filled eyes and extreme vulnerability of rape victims is what sparked the design of this modern day invention. 30,000 were given away free at the World Cup!

Vulnerable meets its match.

Deforestation bumps up malaria by almost 50%.

Mosquitoes love the sunlit pools and puddles in a clear cut.

Into Thin Error

But you didn’t.

No. I kept saying, “Well, let me go on for another 15 minutes and then I’ll decide.” And then after 15 minutes I’d say, “Let me go on another 15 minutes and then I’ll decide.” And I just couldn’t make a decision, and I put it off so long that I got to the top.

Economists call that sunk costs—when you’ve poured so much money or effort into something that it’s hard to extricate yourself, even when you should.

Right! I can see that. In fact, I’ve seen it many times. And I’d always thought, it doesn’t matter how long you’ve been there, how much money you’ve spent, how much energy you’ve expended. If the situation isn’t good, go down. The mountain’s always going to be there. You can always go back.

It takes a long time to climb down a mountain. I’m guessing it feels even longer when you think you’ve just made the worst—maybe the last—mistake of your life.

Seals detect very tiny fluctuations of water flowing through their whiskers to track fish in dark seas.

A fish can cover hundreds of yards in half a minute, leaving a decaying underwater trail. Seals analyze the structure of the plumes, vortexes and jets to find out which direction the fin moved.

Using it’s streamlined whiskers to follow the structure of an underwater trail, a seal is able to stay right in the middle up to 35 seconds after the fish has stopped.

It turns out that sharks can detect small delays between their nostrils to turn toward whichever side picked up the scent. It’s not so much differences in the concentration of odor but directional cues based on both odor and flow.

Pause for a moment of affinity with our early brethren.

This is a 5,500 year old shoe made of a single piece of leather with a leather thong strung through a row of eyelets.

Discovered in Armenia’s highlands, used by cave dwelling herders, excavators believe where conditions are right, older shoes are waiting to be unearthed.

The world’s oldest known footwear is a 7,500 year old sandal found in Missouri.