Tag: Scientists

Blow The Damn Thing Up!

Sunday and space stuff……..I have seen some really stupid ideas concerning space……but this one takes the cake…….so glad that our cracker jack scientist removed their heads in time……by now I hope that everyone has heard this story and have an idea or two about the idea……

American military chiefs allegedly devised the secret project, named ‘A Study of Lunar Research Flights’ – or ‘Project A119’ – in the hope that the Soviet Union would be intimidated by viewing the nuclear flash from Earth.

It would give the US a much needed morale boost after the Russians successfully launched Sputnik in 1957, according to physicist Leonard Reiffel, who was involved in the project.

According to the report in The Sun, the US would have used an atom bomb, because a hydrogen bomb would have been too heavy. The planning reportedly included calculations by astronomer Carl Sagan, who was then a young graduate.

Military officials however reportedly abandoned the idea, which would have taken place in 1959, because of fears that it would have an adverse effect on Earth should the explosion fail.

The project documents were kept secret for nearly 45 years, and the US government has never formally confirmed its involvement in the study.

Instead of blowing up the moon, the US intensified and eventually won the Space Race against the Soviet Union, with Neil Armstrong becoming the first man to walk on the moon in July 1969.

Looks like we have had morons in the government for a long time.

Any thoughts?

The Final Frontier

Ah…..the weekend and I do not have to think about the political, the seedy underbelly of American society….and I found the perfect sciencey thing….and we all know that I love sciencey stuff, huh?

I have always enjoyed the stuff on ocean exploration and thought that there was a better way of doing this….and voila!

How about the SeaOrbiter?

Underwater space station

Comparisons have been made between The SeaOrbiter and the International Space Station (ISS), fuelled no doubt my rumours that both NASA and ESA (European Space Agency) are interested in using it. Not just that, but Jean-Loup Chrétien, the first French astronaut, is involved in the design of the ship and its anti-collision system is based on the one used by the ISS.

Using ocean currents and wind to explore the oceans, SeaOrbiter would be unique among underwater sea stations, such as Aquarius near Key Largo in Florida, due to the fact that its mobile. Crewed by six crew members, six scientists and room for six others (perhaps astronauts in training?), the SeaOrbiter would drift across the oceans, whilst research is done below the waves. Only the lookout deck, navigation department and communications would rise about the sea, whilst the research decks would be pressurised to enable the scientists to do daily dives and other scientific missions.

The project has drawn acclaim in France, with the French State Minister of Ecology and the Sea, Jean-Louis Borloo naming the SeaOrbiter as one of the leading tools for his “Grenelle de la Mer”, saying the oceanic platform would be essential for better understanding the ocean. President Sarkozy has even mentioned the project in a speech over the summer, winning it the backing of companies such as DCNS, the shipbuilder, and Thalès, the defence electronics group.

As you’d expect however, it is not a cheap venture. Rougerie, whose love of the oceans is driving him to launch half a dozen of the vessels, says he has half the the US$52.7 million needed to build the prototype, however he is confident that support will be forthcoming.

Come on…you gotta admit that this is the coolest thing ever!

Remember When The World Was Flat?

About 500 years ago people thought that the world was flat and that if one traveled far enough then one would fall off the edge into oblivion…..Good old Chris (that would be Columbus not Krinkle) set off to prove the skeptics wrong…….and he did (probably to his amazement also)……

Now the question is, 500 years later, is the universe flat?

In a story in the BBC…..

While the idea of the Earth being flat preoccupied explorers centuries ago, the question of whether the Universe itself is flat remains a debatable topic.

Dark energy – purported to make up 73% of the known Universe – was proposed as the source of the ongoing expansion of everything in the cosmos. Astronomers have also observed that this expansion of the Universe seems to be accelerating.

Even though gravity holds that everything should attract everything else, in every direction astronomers look there is evidence that things are in fact moving apart – with those objects further away moving faster.

Dark energy is believed to pervade the essence of space and time, forcing a kind of “anti-gravity” that fits cosmologists’ equations but that is otherwise a mysterious quantity.

The results suggest that the Universe is made up of about 70% dark energy.The team’s conclusions suggest the Universe is indeed flat – an assumption first put forth by Albert Einstein and seemingly confirmed by more recent observations but that remains one of the most difficult ideas to put on solid theoretical footing.

Damn!  That Albert dude was a smart cookie!  Just think of the money they would have saved if they had just listened to the man fifty years ago…..now who will be the explorer to test the theory?

Oops! Our Bad!

You have heard all the noise about global warming/climate chane….the good the bad and the ugly……..all the scuttlebutt coming from the Right and the Left……the deniers have been pretty vocal in the last year or so…..and sadly, some of it has been promoted as truth….for instance those darn pesky emails from the climate scientist at East Anglia……

In case you were in ICU for the year……the media got hold of some emails from scientists at East Anglia that questioned the validity of the global warming debate…the emails were between scientists that showed that they were cooking the facts to make climate change more of a dire problem than it really was……the media jumped on this with both feet….it was the loudest on the Right wing, of course, they are the loudest deniers….but the so-called mainstream media was on the story just as hard as the conservs….I heard argument after argument that since the facts were being cooked how can the people be concerned with a cleaner environment…….it was an ugly debate at times and every pro climate change person was tried to dis qualify using the emails….

Why would I bring all this “ancient” history up now?   Good question!

An independent inquiry into the conduct of scientists at the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) of the University of East Anglia in Britain has found “absolutely no evidence of any impropriety whatsoever.”

The inquiry, led by Lord Oxburgh, former chair of the House of Lords science and technology select committee, was investigating allegations of scientific misconduct.

Public opinion was hugely manipulated in what is now inevitably termed “climate-gate”. Quotes were taken out of context from the emails that suggested that papers were being suppressed that were critical of the overwhelming scientific consensus that human-based emissions are responsible for increased global warming. An email that referred to a “trick” in how the data was presented was particularly singled out. Claims were made that data was being manipulated by ideologically motivated scientists.

That is why I bring up this issue now…….I have heard NOTHING in the media, Right or Left, telling the people that it was all a scam and those emails were not what they were reported to be……My question is, why did they spend so much time trying to discredit the scientists in the media and then refuse to report that they have been cleared of any wrong doing or lying to the public?

To me, it sounds like ALL media outlets wants to help KILL any clean environment initiative…….what happened to the old phrase, “Fair and balanced”……..The whole journalistic industry owes those scientists an apology for their lame attempt at discrediting them……I know….a pipe dream!

Scientist Calls For Energy CEOs To Be Held Responsible

In testimony before the US Congress on Monday, James Hansen, a leading climatologist, called heads of major energy companies criminals who should be prosecuted for deliberately spreading false and misleading information about the threat posed by global warming.

Hansen, director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS), testified before the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming to mark the 20th anniversary of his initial appearance before Congress in 1988. He generated the first significant public awareness of the issue of global warming by telling the Senate at that time that manmade greenhouse gasses were raising global temperatures.

Since then climate scientists have reached a virtually unanimous consensus that the burning of oil and other fossil fuels results in additional atmospheric carbon dioxide, trapping heat. The amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has increased greatly over the last century, and global temperatures are rising as a result.

Hansen decried the extremely limited official goals set for reducing carbon emissions calling them “a recipe for global disaster.” He called for a moratorium on the construction of coal burning power plants and the development of carbon free alternatives to coal and petroleum.

Hansen indicted the energy conglomerates for blocking action on global warming. “Instead of moving heavily into renewable energies, fossil fuel companies choose to spread doubt about global warming, just as tobacco companies discredited the link between smoking and cancer. Methods are sophisticated, including funding to help shape school textbook discussions about global warming.”

Despite Hansen’s compelling testimony, there are no indications that US policy will change. Since Hansen first appeared before Congress in 1988, neither the Clinton administration nor the administrations of George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush have passed any major legislation restricting greenhouse gas emissions. There have been 21 coal-fired power plants constructed and US emissions of carbon dioxide have risen by some 18 percent.

The domination of the energy sector by a handful of private monopolies and the subordination of both the Republicans and Democrats to these powerful interests blocks the adoption of any serious measures to deal with the looming catastrophe posed by global warming. These multibillion dollar corporations will not tolerate any measure, no matter how critical for human survival, that impinges on their profits.

Further, any strategy to oppose global warming requires a coordinated international effort. However, energy companies dominate US foreign policy as well, dictating a strategy that seeks to secure world hegemony, including the invasion and occupation of Iraq and other oil rich regions of the world.