The Cyprus government has extended the bank closure until next Tuesday, suggesting that the bailout plan proposed by the president is running into really heavy weather. The European Central Bank has apparently given the government a deadline until Monday to accept the deal or go bankrupt, so you can expect the Cypriot parliament to come under great pressure during the next few days. [Read more…]
Everyday matter is made up of protons, neutrons, electrons, and something called electron neutrinos. These particles interact with each other via one or more of four forces: gravity, electromagnetic (which is the unified force of electricity and magnetism), strong nuclear, and weak nuclear. Almost all of everyday life could be explained pretty well with just this short list of four particles and four forces. [Read more…]
Today is the spring equinox, which is one of two times in the year when the Sun is exactly above the Equator and day and night are of equal length all over the Earth. (The word equinox is Latin for equal night.) But if you look at the times of sunrise and sunset today, you will see that we actually have 12 hours and nine minutes of daylight. You have to go back to March 16 or 17 to get closest to exactly 12 hours. [Read more…]
National and even international attention has focused on the rural town of Steubenville in southeast Ohio following the rape of a young woman by two high school football players. They were found guilty yesterday but since they were juveniles (aged 16 and 17) they received lighter sentences than if they had been tried as adults. [Read more…]
Felix Salmon has been following the bizarre Cyprus bailout plan and its coverage in the US and hightlights a New York Times report that sheds a revealing light on the lens through which the elite media in the US views things. [Read more…]
Around the time of reports last year about the discovery of the Higgs particle at the LHC (Large Hadron Collider), reader Anthony in a private email to me asked a good question. The Higgs particle is repeatedly referred to as the means by which all other particles get their mass. If not for the Higgs, elementary particles like the electron, muon, and the like would be massless and like all massless particles would be zipping around at the speed of light. At present, there is no explanation for why these particles have mass at all let alone the actual values that they do have. According to current theory, it is the Higgs phenomenon that gives all the other particles their mass. So how does that happen? [Read more…]
… or maybe not. An example of why you should be wary of even animal videos on the internet. But you have to admit, it looked like people had a lot of fun making the rescue video. I am not so sure about how much the pig and goat enjoyed it, though the pig was a professional and was no doubt well paid. [Read more…]
NPR had a good report this morning on an issue that was discussed earlier (see here and here) that looked the dire straits that the visual special effects (VFX) industry is in, even though the films that they make possible make a ton of money. For example, Life of Pi has made $600 million dollars worldwide while Rhythm & Hues, the company that made it possible by producing the stunning effects and for which it won an Academy Award, has filed for bankruptcy. [Read more…]
I feel obliged to note that today marks the 10th anniversary of the beginning, in the teeth of widespread worldwide opposition, of the unprovoked war of aggression by the US on Iraq, a war based on lies and sold to us by a dishonest government, cheered on by a supine Congress, and media propaganda. All those who were involved in that fraud should not only be ashamed of themselves but should have been exposed as liars and incompetents. But many of the principals refuse to acknowledge that they participated in an awful crime and have been allowed to get away scot free. [Read more…]
In the third post in this series (see Part 1 and Part 2), I said that despite the risks presented by being blindsided with the Craig Con, it would be a pity to avoid face-to-face debates with religionists altogether because such exchanges are often sponsored by religious groups and the audience often consists of religious people. These debates can serve as a means of reaching audiences who may not otherwise hear the scientific and atheist point of view. [Read more…]