Mar 282012
 

At first…

New ‘life in space’ hope after billions of ‘habitable planets’ found in Milky Way

But then…

A total of nine super-Earths – planets with masses between one and 10 times that of Earth – were found. Two were located within the habitable zones of the stars Gliese 581 and Gliese 667 C.

First off, a “super Earth” is not necessarily a “habitable planet.” In fact… almost certainly *not.* Second, that’s kind of a small sample size…

Still, it’s looking more and more like this might be a crowded galaxy.

 Posted by at 7:21 pm
Feb 232012
 

What might have been the biggest physics story of the past century may instead be down to a faulty connection.

If true… sad, but hardly surprisingly.

No, check that. This *does* surprise me a bit. Not that there would be an issue with the instruments, but that the scientists would have staked their reputations on such a remarkable claim without having done a sufficiently complete evaluation of their system.

Sounds like someone may get their ass handed to ’em.

 Posted by at 9:33 am
Feb 222012
 

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints – also and more succinctly known as “the Mormons” – has a practice of baptizing dead folk into their religion. If memory serves, there’s something about the need to have your whole family – and that means ancestors too – baptized or else you don’t get the keys to the executive bathroom in Heaven, or something.Additionally, according to the Mormons you apparently can’t get into Heaven unless’n you’ve been baptized, so doing baptisms for the dead can obviously be seen as doing a nice thing for all those dead folks who are lurking about in limbo or purgatory or New Jersey or Hell or wherever it is the unbaptized go.

Nevertheless, some people have taken issue with this practice. You know, Jews and Catholics and such. For my own part, if someone wants to post-mortem baptize me into any religion… what would I care? Being dead and all, I kinda doubt that such things make any difference. Kinda like wondering whether the number “zero” cares if you suddenly decide to start calling it “Ralph” instead.

Still, some people are miffed about the whole thing. And so, you can now convert your favorite dead Mormons to “gay.”

All Dead Mormons Are Now Gay

Simply enter the name of your favorite dead Mormon* in the form below and click Convert! Presto, they’re gay for eternity. There is no undo.

*Holocaust victims are not eligible for conversion.

 Posted by at 10:53 am
Jul 132011
 

From the “Damn, I wish I’d thought of that” department:

How Frequent Fliers Exploit A Government Program To Get Free Trips

Step One: Buy a buttload of dollar coins from the US Government using your credit card. They are shipped to you for free.

Step two: Deposit dollar coins into your bank accouint.

Step three: Pay off credit card bill from that bank account.

End result A: You’ve spent no money, since the government shipped the coins to you for free.

End result B: Since you put a buttload of money on your credit card, collect your free airline miles and go on a trip around the world. Huzzah!

 Posted by at 7:21 pm
May 182011
 

The Bell X-14C was described in an article in Aerospace Projects Review, issue V1N3 (still available, by the way). Here is a piece of artwork from the Ira G. Ross Aerospace Museum archives in Niagara Falls, NY, depicting the three-engined VTOL X-14C in flight. Derived from both the X-14 and the T-37, the X-14C was to be an operational ground attack/troop support plane. Payload, range and speed would be limited when compared to something like a contemporary Fast Mover, but it would’ve been notable faster than something like a Cobra attack helicopter.

Hey, if’n ya like this sort of thing, why not wander over HERE and show your appreciation…

 Posted by at 3:00 pm