Were it not for this little problem, I’d be able to crank out an issue of US “X” P every few days, or an APR in a week…
Jan 232015
Jan 232015
Structured photons slow down in a vacuum
The claim has been made that scientists have figured out how to make photons in a vacuum travel a tiny little bit slower than the accepted speed of light in a vacuum…
The researchers created a source that emitted pairs of photons simultaneously. One of the photons went straight to a highly precise photon counter, while the other went via two liquid-crystal masks, which imparted their profile onto the passing particle of light.
Across a propagation distance of 1 m, the team found that the spatially structured photon lagged behind its partner by between 10 and 20 wavelengths. That equated to a drop in speed of about 0.001%…
As described, this sounds insufficient to me. I can see a number of reasons why they’d see a slight lag across a 1 meter gap, not least being that the photons simply rattled around a little bit in the apparatus before going on their way. The real test would be to test the lag time over *numerous* distances… 1 meter, 2 meters, five, ten. If the lag time is the same, then the speed of light is unchanged, there was just a slight delay at the beginning; if the lag time expands as the distance expands… then, yup, you’ve got yourself light that travels slower than light.
And that would be kinda… disturbing.
Jan 232015
Huh.
Jan 232015
Jan 232015
Buttons, just chillin’…
Jan 232015
On this evenings walk I saw this cloud. Do you see what I saw?
Jan 222015
It turns out that dunes can form on comets. Seems unlikely for a worldlet with such low gravity, but there it is.
The morphological diversity of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimen
and
An Unexpected Discovery On The Surface Of Rosetta’s Comet
Jan 222015
The King of Saudi Arabia (future historians note: the transitional period between “Arabia” and “South-East Province, Republic of Greater Israel), that is.
Saudi Arabia’s ‘reformer’ King Abdullah dies
Now to see who puts in an appearance at the inevitable Gathering Of Terribly Important People. Ya gotta wonder if there might be Certain Administrations who make more of an effort here than, say, showing solidarity with the French a week or so back…
Shown: a sycophant bowing and scraping before the now deceased King Abdullah.
Jan 222015
Neat:
J. Michael Straczynski To Write Spike TV’s ‘Red Mars’ Drama Series Project
“Red Mars” is quality science fiction literature. Let’s hope it translates into quality science fiction television.
Jan 222015
Two news stories about billionaires relating to regular folk:
Flight Logs Put Clinton, Dershowitz on Pedophile Billionaire’s Sex Jet
And then there’s this:
‘People need to have less things in life’, says U.S. billionaire after flying into Davos on private jet with his wife, children and TWO nannies
Jeff Greene made a fortune betting against sub-prime mortgage securities
If you haven’t heard of Jeff Greene before, neither had I. But he is a public figure. A real man of the people. Really in touch with the problems of the regular working schmoe. Sure, you might *think* that he’s out of touch, another one of the Evil Rich Guys we’re always told are trying to screw up the planet for their own gain, but he’s really a Good Guy. A hero, really. How do I know this? Well, take a look at this photo of him, and see if you can find the subtle hint that tells you that, despite all evidence, he’s really an Awesome Human Being:
