Tiny Black Holes Everywhere?

The pace of science never ceases to amaze me. That we have moved from candles and horse drawn carriages to space exploration and nuclear energy in a matter of less than a century is amazing enough, but it seems the potential for discovery and progress continues to explode at exponential rates. This latest article from Popular Science, which admittedly, has more science fiction than science fact on its pages, suggests that the tools for studying quantum realities in a regular old laboratory are getting smaller and more accessible. The concept of a desktop particle accelerator, which would allow scientists to use high-powered lasers to smash particles together in fractions of the distance needed in such monstrosities as the Large Hadron Collider, which recently made the news for the small percent chance that it might open up a black hole that could potentially swallow our solar system. Does this mean that we are on the verge of a black hole revolution? In a few years time will any adjunct professor at a community college be able to shred the confines of our quantum reality and tear the fabric of space itself? Let’s hope so.

FDA Recommends Tightening Controls of Certain Narcotics

For decades, opiate addicted pill-poppers have needed to worry about the potentially damaging side effects of their habit. Acetaminophen, one of the primary ingredients in such prescription analgesics as Vicodin and Percocet and over-the-counter medications like Tylenol, has long been known to be extremely toxic to the liver, if taken in exorbitant doses or for prolonged periods of time. This drug, while effective at alleviating pain, does not have any hallucinogenic or other fun properties when taken to excess, as can the aforementioned opioid narcotics, and may casual users of these pills don’t seem to realize how much liver-killing acetaminophen is actually in many of the recreational drugs they happily swallow or snort by the handful. New regulations would limit the amount of acetaminophen in prescription and non-prescription pain-killers, protecting future drug addicts from the severely harshed buzz of terminal hepatic failure.

Chemicals in, Chemicals out

Race Report: Lake Padden Triathlon

I have been extremely lucky with the weather at all of my races so far this year; a sun-drenched day after more than a week of rain and cold met us for the starter’s gun at 8:30am on Saturday. Normally I would have been worried at the late starting time, but the sun was mild and the race was relatively short, so the heat didn’t prove to be a problem. You could probably classify this race as a Sprint Triathlon, although all of the legs were closer to Olympic distance: 800 meter swim, 21 mile bike, 5 mile run. I came out with a decent time, third in my age group, and a new pair of socks from the after-race giveaway, so it turned out to be a pretty nice day. As per usual I had a few goals, some of which were met, some of which were not:

1) Finish in the top 10% of field; not quite, 44th out of 268. 3rd out of 18 in my Age Group.

2) Beat all the women; only 2 women were able to cross the line before me in this race. Actually, for some reason I was listed as a female on the preliminary race results. Had they let me collect my rightful prize, I would have been on the podium…

3) I didn’t really have a time goal for this race, considering the distance was weird and I’ve never run it before, but I finished in 1:56:40, which is less than 2 hours, a reasonable goal, so I’m going to say mission accomplished on this one.

Next race is a killer, The Chelan Man Half Iron on July 18th. I might die. Check back to find out.

Shark Uterus, the New Fountain of Youth

Scientists have recently developed a completely synthetic substitute for a vertebrate uterus, successfully bringing several wobbegong shark pups to term inside the acrylic tank. The ultimate goal is to revive the severely endangered nurse shark population by increasing the birth rate of live sharks in captivity, a task that has long eluded scientists.

I, of course, see this breakthrough as just another step closer to the ultimate goal of cloning myself and thereafter leading an army of my clones to world domination. Of course, one noted benefit of this particular step forward is that my clones will undoubtedly be born with gills and several rows of serrated, razor-sharp teeth, reducing the number of clones necessary for world domination by at least a factor of ten.

Path to Victory!

The debate on Sotomayor is over

In the marketplace of ideas the debate over Judge Sonia Sotomayor’s senate and congressional confirmation is over.  Conventional news outlets have presented the public and private debate not as analysis fueled processes but as mindless entertainment preferring emotion over substance. The standard media product is universally disserving customers in painting Sotomayor as either racist latina or perfectly evenhanded liberal, rather than providing hard discussion to her 28+ years of legal experience.

However, for those intrepid consumers who demand something more substantial than blue vs red trash, some products exist. For great legal analysis and commentary on the Sotomayor issue, one would be wise to check Tom Goldstein’s Scotus Blog. In this post Goldstein takes the backlog of Sotomayor’s decisions and provides a general picture of her opinion on race.

In the context of Sotomayor’s statement spoken 8 years ago, Goldstein takes a spin free stance on her track record as a judge regarding race-related cases:

“In sum, in an eleven-year career on the Second Circuit, Judge Sotomayor has participated in roughly 100 panel decisions involving questions of race and has disagreed with her colleagues in those cases (a fair measure of whether she is an outlier) a total of 4 times. “

My warning to consumers of all media is to never be satisfied with one source and always question bias. While the confirmation hearings are far from over, it sounds as if the talking heads have positioned themselves to be free from fair reporting, and have thus made final decisions. Decide for yourselves only when analysis and reason have come to party.

Bioengineered Food

Hulu has this movie available right now. It talks about the history of bioengineering food, both economic, governmental, and biological. I’m excited for when the “Terminator gene” crosses over into the natural world and every single plant stops reproducing at the same time.

http://www.hulu.com/watch/67878/the-future-of-food

I can’t oppose progress, but when progress is dominated by such a small group of corporate interests, it is no longer measurable as progress, because the pace and direction of the change is thereafter determined by the corporations themselves.

I Am a White – The new science of racism

Judged by the color of his skin.

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So if you’ve read much about The Bruce lately you’ll find that he is going back to school. As a result of this, I’ve been filling out a lot of forms and have noted a distinct change since the last time I was filling out government paperwork.

When I first started filling out these type of documents in elementary school I used to check an ethnicity box labeled EUROPEAN/CAUCASION. By the time I was in high school and college (the first time around) the box said, CAUCASIAN/WHITE. And now that I am enrolling in higher education yet again I find that I am check marking a box that has but one word beside it: WHITE.

Yes, dear friends of European decent, you are no longer completely or even half an ethnicity, you are only a color.

Race Report: Issaquah Sprint Triathlon

A beautiful day at Lake Sammamish State Park gave way to a horde of racers, swimming, biking, and running in the morning sunshine, and I was among them. For those of you who don’t know this sprint triathlon consisted of a 1/4 mile swim, 15 mile bike, and 3 mile run.  The swim was fast, and I was out of the water in under six minutes, great for me, considering my #1 goal every race is not drowning. Also, the water was warm and inviting, almost enough not to wear a wetsuit, which on the one hand I kind of which I had done, considering that my foot got stuck in transition and I lost a good 15 seconds trying to get it out. The bike was similarly fast, so much so that I doubt the 15 mile number given by the race officials; my bike computer claims it was closer to 13 miles. My race partner, Ian, and I were only 2 seconds apart after the bike leg, but luckily I beat him on transitions, getting onto the run course with a 40 second lead and holding it through to the end. I wasn’t very happy with my run time, and I definitely see room for improvement on transitions and the bike as well, but overall a great start to the Triathlon season.

Similar to the last race I had a couple of goals, mostly achieved.

1) Finish in top 10% of the field: 88th out of 929 competitors.  12th in Age Group of 69.

2) Was only beat by 9 women, with a maximum time deficit of 4:31. The women are within reach…

3) Finish in under 1:15:00: overall time 1:09:24.

Next up is the Lake Padden Tri on June 27th, a bit longer and tougher. Time to stop drinking beer and start riding my bike…

War in other words.

Theme For A Tapestry

The general has only eight men, and the enemy five thousand. In his tent the general curses and weeps. Then he writes an inspired proclamation and homing pigeons shower copies over the enemy camp. Two hundred desert on foot to the general. There follows a skirmish which the general wins easily and two regiments come over to his side. Three days later, the enemy has only eighty men and the general five thousand. The general writes another proclamation and seventy-nine more men join up with him. Only one enemy is left, surrounded by the army of the general, who waits in silence. The night passes and the enemy has not come over to his side. The general curses and weeps in his tent. At dawn the enemy slowly unsheathes his sword and advances on the general’s tent. He goes in and looks at him. The army of the general disbands. The sun rises.”  -Julio Cortázar, Historias de Cronopios y de Famas

A Slavic slap in the face to you too.

Let’s hand it to the author of this scathing editorial (read: blog) that was reprinted in the web manifestation of Russia’s storied Pravda newspaper, he performs a ruskie-style working over on American hubris. And his English isn’t bad, either.

Never mind the bizarro photo links on the sidebars. They’re for decoration. An excerpt appears below:

 

The American Response

So it should be no surprise, that the American president has followed this up with a “bold” move of declaring that he and another group of unelected, chosen stooges will now redesign the entire automotive industry and will even be the guarantee of automobile policies. I am sure that if given the chance, they would happily try and redesign it for the whole of the world, too. Prime Minister Putin, less then two months ago, warned Obama and UK’s Blair, not to follow the path to Marxism, it only leads to disaster. Apparently, even though we suffered 70 years of this Western sponsored horror show, we know nothing, as foolish, drunken Russians, so let our “wise” Anglo-Saxon fools find out the folly of their own pride.

The Strenuous Life.

Aye.

I recently read this again and found it inspiring and so, that you might be inspired as well, I now publish “The Strenuous Life,” Teddy Roosevelt’s speech before the Hamilton Club, in it’s entirety.

CHICAGO, APRIL 10, 1899

IN speaking to you, men of the greatest city of the West, men of the State which gave to the country Lincoln and Grant, men who preeminently and distinctly embody all that is most American in the American character, I wish to preach, not the doctrine of ignoble ease, but the doctrine of the strenuous life, the life of toil and effort, of labor and strife; to preach that highest form of success which comes, not to the man who desires mere easy peace, but to the man who does not shrink from danger, from hardship, or from bitter toil, and who out of these wins the splendid ultimate triumph. 1

For the urban farmer: Miniature Livestock.

Moo.

Today we hear news of miniature cattle, designed for the farmer on a budget – a demographic which will continue to grow during the current administration. (The subject of a future rant.) In any case, these mini bovine take up less space, cost less to feed, and produce less methane than your typical Jersey or Holstein – ideal for the backyard or “weekend farmer”.

And lest you turn anti-GMO, or hippie dippy naturalist on me, take a second look. These cows are actually original european domestic stock. That’s right, if you currently waste your money on organic beef or milk it’s too late, your eating and drinking cattle that’s already genetically modified. Sorry, chuck.

TSJ

Cutting Edge Medical Research

Mmmm... science.

Not really. The argument about the use of medicinal marijuana has long been a controversial, if somewhat pointless, commentary on the state of the nation. While it is a fairly harmless drug with minimal side effects, suggesting only a vague rationale for regulation, there is also little to no evidence that it displays any medical benefits whatsoever, apart from a detached euphoria that allows users to for a time forget about whatever ails them.

As the arguments for legalization of marijuana are rarely based on actual facts about marijuana, but rather on so-called “moral” or “civil rights” agendas, it can be extremely difficult to wade through the political doubletalk that surrounds the issue, even in highly scientific studies, that are nevertheless open to the interpretation of the reader. Dr. Donald Abrams states: “Although we like to say we separate politics from science, with medical marijuana, that’s really difficult. It depends on who does the study, where it’s published and what their agenda is.”

TSJ