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Synthetic Black Hole Event Horizon Created in UK Laboratory

Thu, 14 Feb 2008 12:01:56 GMT

clipped by: JohnWaterman

Researchers

claim to have found a way to simulate an event horizon of a black hole

in the laboratory. Using lasers, a length of optical fiber and depending on some bizarre quantum mechanics, a "singularity" may be created to alter a laser's wavelength, synthesizing the effects of an event horizon. If this experiment can produce an event horizon, the theoretical phenomenon of Hawking Radiation may be tested, perhaps giving Stephen Hawking the best chance yet of winning the Nobel Prize

two laser beams, one slow, one fast. First, a slow propagating pulse is fired down the optical fiber, followed by a faster pulse. The faster pulse should "catch up" with the slower pulse. However, as the slow pulse passes through the medium, it alters the optical properties of the fiber, causing the fast pulse to slow in its wake. This is what happens to light as it tries to escape from the event horizon

Saudi woman to be beheaded for being a "witch"

Thu, 14 Feb 2008 13:28:49 GMT

clipped by: invictus
clipper's remarks: Being beheaded by sword in a public place... For being a "witch" or practising "witchcraft"...

Welcome back to the Middle Ages: "Burn the witch!" or "Behead the witch!", by the name of God.

Correct me if I'm wrong, Saudi Arabia is a close ally of the US, who enthusiastically invaded Iraq to bring "human rights and democracy" to Arabs, right?

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Many Saudi executions are beheadings by the sword in public places

Human Rights Watch has appealed to Saudi Arabia to halt the execution of a woman convicted of witchcraft.

The illiterate woman was detained by religious police in 2005 and allegedly beaten and forced to fingerprint a confession that she could not read.

Among her accusers was a man who alleged she made him impotent.

Human Rights Watch said that Ms Falih had exhausted all her chances of appealing against her death sentence and she could only now be saved if King Abdullah intervened.

Human Rights Watch says the trial failed to meet the safeguards in the Saudi justice system.

The confession which the defendant was forced to fingerprint was not even read out to her, the group says.

Also Ms Falih and her representatives were not allowed to attend most of the hearings.

Tags: religion, bigotry, theocracy, idiocy, saudi arabia, justice, law, witchcraft

The VERY BEST Internet Catalog Page EVER! - MUST SEE! MUST SEE!

Thu, 14 Feb 2008 01:25:27 GMT

clipped by: BartendingBear
clipper's remarks: You have to go look. It's GREAT!

Clip Source: producten.hema.nl

Strange things you likely didn't know?

Thu, 14 Feb 2008 09:43:43 GMT

clipped by: Aribeth

Clip Source: www.robinsweb.com

If a statue in the park of a person on a horse has both front legs in the air, the person died in battle. If the horse has one front leg in the air the person died as a result of wounds received in battle. If the horse has all four legs on the ground, the person died of natural causes.

Each king in a deck of playing cards represents a great king from history:

Spades - King David
Hearts - Charlemagne
Clubs -Alexander, the Great
Diamonds - Julius Caesar

In Shakespeare's time, mattresses were secured on bed frames by ropes. When you pulled on the ropes the mattress tightened, making the bed firmer to sleep on. Hence the phrase......... "goodnight, sleep tight."

In English pubs, ale is ordered by pints and quarts... So in old England, when customers got unruly, the bartender would yell at them, "Mind your pints and quarts, and settle down."

It's where we get the phrase "mind your P's and Q's"

Blog warns comment meanies

Wed, 13 Feb 2008 19:43:01 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: Excellent example of what (in a more secular form) might help CM's quality and focus

Clip Source: blog.beliefnet.com

You are receiving this message because in recent weeks a significant number of your comments on the God's Politics Blog have been removed for violating the Beliefnet rules of conduct. Common rules that are violated include:

You agree that you will be courteous to every Beliefnet member, even those whose beliefs you think are false or objectionable. When debating, express your opinion about a person's ideas, not about them personally.

Disruptive behavior may include creating a disproportionate number of posts or discussions to disrupt conversation ... making statements that are deliberately inflammatory ... or any behavior that interferes with conversations or inhibits the ability of others to use and enjoy this website for its intended purposes.

Commenters of varying political views are receiving this warning, including those who are sympathetic to Sojourners but have expressed their views in ways that violate the rules of conduct.

Tags: blog, comments

Wilhelm backs Obama, "He can bring CHANGE!"

Wed, 13 Feb 2008 19:19:37 GMT

clipped by: BobbyRutan
clipper's remarks: A Wilhelm with common sense and logic.

Who knew Wilhelm ran Clinton's White House bid in 1992 and became head of the DNC?

Who knew?

Clip Source: www.breitbart.com

An aide to Barack Obama says the man who led former President Clinton's 1992 bid plans to endorse the Illinois senator.

Obama's campaign plans a 1 p.m. conference call Wednesday to announce the endorsement by David Wilhelm, who later became chairman of the Democratic National Committee.

Clip Source: www.usatoday.com

Enlarge DNC

Clip Source: www.breitbart.com

The aide spoke on condition of anonymity because the announcement would be made public later in the day.

Wilhelm plans to tell reporters that Obama can build a coalition of Democrats, independents and Republicans needed to win the general election. He also says Obama can bring the change he promises—improving the economy and ending the war in Iraq.

Wilhelm is a superdelegate from Illinois who was previously uncommitted in the race.


Clinton Ex-Campaign Manager Backs Obama

Tags: wilhelm, a wilhelm who knows something others don't

A Flawed Feminist Test

Wed, 13 Feb 2008 13:48:56 GMT

clipped by: debbyski
clipper's remarks: "As a possible first Madame President, Hillary is a flawed science experiment because you can’t take Bill out of the equation. Her story is wrapped up in her marriage, and her marriage is wrapped up in a series of unappetizing compromises, arrangements and dependencies."

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

We’re not just in the most vertiginous election of our lives. We’re in another national seminar on gender and race that is teaching us about who we are as we figure out what we want America to be.

It’s not yet clear which prejudice will infect the presidential contest more — misogyny or racism.

Many women I talk to, even those who aren’t particularly fond of Hillary, feel empathy for her, knowing that any woman in a world dominated by men has to walk a tightrope between femininity and masculinity, strength and vulnerability.

They see double standards they hate — when male reporters described Hillary’s laugh as “a cackle” or her voice as “grating,” when Rush Limbaugh goes off on her wrinkles or when male pundits seem gleeful to write her political obituary. Several women I know, who argue with their husbands about Hillary, refer with a shudder to the “Kill the Witch” syndrome.

Tags: oh, yeah

Internet Users Could Be Banned Over Illegal Downloads

Wed, 13 Feb 2008 07:19:49 GMT

clipped by: thisnamecantbetaken
clipper's remarks: Cut off. Completely. As in offline. This is going a bit far, I reckon. Slap folks with a fine, okay, but don't disconnect people. That's just cruel, excessive and inhumane punishment IMO.

Clip Source: technology.timesonline.co.uk

Internet users could be banned over illegal downloads

People who illegally download films and music will be cut off from the internet under new legislative proposals to be unveiled next week.

Internet service providers (ISPs) will be legally required to take action against users who access pirated material, The Times has learnt.

Users suspected of wrongly downloading films or music will receive a warning e-mail for the first offence, a suspension for the second infringement and the termination of their internet contract if caught a third time, under the most likely option to emerge from discussions about the new law.

Broadband companies who fail to enforce the “three-strikes” regime would be prosecuted and suspected customers’ details could be made available to the courts.

broadband users are estimated to download files illegally

a practice that music and film companies claim is costing them billions

Tags: the, o, word

Why We Kiss

Thu, 14 Feb 2008 05:32:50 GMT

clipped by: dakotayii
clipper's remarks: Studies show that as many as 80 percent of mothers, whether right-handed or left-handed, cradle their infants on their left side. Infants cradled, face up, on the left must turn to the right to nurse or nuzzle. As a result, most of us may have learned to associate warmth and security with turning to the right.

Clip Source: www.sciam.com

When passion takes a grip, a kiss locks two humans together in an exchange of scents, tastes, textures, secrets and emotions

According to Gallup’s new findings, kissing may play a crucial role in the progression of a partnership but one that differs between men and women. In a study published in September 2007 Gallup and his colleagues surveyed 1,041 college undergraduates of both sexes about kissing. For most of the men, a deep kiss was largely a way of advancing to the next level sexually. But women were generally looking to take the relationship to the next stage emotionally, assessing not simply whether the other person would make a first- rate source of DNA but also whether he would be a good long-term partner.

Psychologist Onur Güntürkün of the Ruhr-University of Bochum in Germany recently surveyed 124 couples

found that they tilted their heads to the right twice as often as to the left before their lips touched

Tags: society

Clam, 405, is oldest animal ever

Wed, 13 Feb 2008 19:20:39 GMT

clipped by: spherepet

Clip Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

Clam, 405, is oldest animal ever

By Richard Alleyne

2:08am GMT 31/10/2007

It has been christened Ming and it's officially the oldest animal to have ever lived.

A British scientific team discovered the 405-year-old clam, named after the Chinese dynasty and not the former Liberal Democrat leader, at the bottom of the ocean, and hope its longevity will reveal the secrets of ageing.

So significant is the find that Help The Aged have awarded a £40,000 grant to the team to investigate how the molusc

survived over the centuries

The record-breaking shellfish, 31 years older than the previous oldest animal, another clam, was caught last year when scientists from the Bangor University School of Ocean Sciences were dredging the seabed north of Iceland.

true age had been established Ming was already dead

3.4in clam from its shell which like trees has a layer or ring of growth for every year that the animal has been alive

grows in summer

Each year a layer as thin as 0.1mm is laid

shell in half

405 lines

Tags: molusc, oldest