20 Percent Time 6.03.08 June 8, 2008
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Today for my 20% time I read a blog post called Measure Light Pollution and Help Save Our Dark Skies that was written by Tammy Plotner, on Universe Today. In the blog post the writer mentions how half of the Earth’s population lives in or near a city. He also mentions how hatching sea turtles aren’t able to get their bearings due to beachfront lighting, as well as aquatic ecosystems. Birds have it pretty difficult seeing as they have to decide were their going to nest. The writer mentioned the International Dark Sky Association, which is a website dedicated to telling people light pollution and stuff like that. There’s also another site called G.L.O.B.E. at Night, which stands for Global Learning and Observation to Benefit the Environment. The site is dedicated to education parents, teachers, and students about space and light pollution.
I think it’s funny how people are now trying hard now, but even though this is just some trendy thing I still believe most are waiting for others to take care of that problem. No one wants to ride a bus or walk on their two unused feet. At the same time I’m glad our economy sucks, gas prices have gone up, on our ozone is falling weak. Simply because that’s what some people needed. Something other than their superficial or stupid problems to worry about, now if they don’t worry about the stuff that’s going on outside their bubble all those problems will cease to exist. They will be left with nothing to complain about.
This is pretty much my last blog post, which I’m glad that it’s over. Simply because I wont have to worry about it. Since I have the tendency to worry about something and not do it until the last minute. In the end this was an okay experience I mean I got to learn about some pretty cool things and stuff like that. I would of posted a picture too, but my stupid computer really sucks and whenever I go to the flickr website it messes up on me and closes my window.
Bye.
20% Time 5.27 June 1, 2008
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For my 20% time I read a blog post that was about Doomsday. It was titled No Doomsday in 2012 and I found at Universe Today, which was written by Ian O’Neill. In the post I read that some people believe that the world is going to end on December 21, 2012. I’ve heard about this before but there’s always some deadline until the end of the world that everyone trips out on. The whole thins based on the Mayan calander thats in the year 2012, in this blog post they mention how the Mayan theory is wrong. The calander was constructed by the Maya civilazation from 250-900 AD. The Maya empire was from most of Souther Mexico reaching down the current locations of Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador and some of Honduras. Mayans showed adanvanced writting skills and had an amazing construction sites and urban planning. The Mayans had a major impact on Central American Culture.
The Mayans used many different calendars and viewed time as a meshing of spiritual cycles. While the calendars had practical uses, such as social, agricultural, commercial and administrative tasks, there was a very heavy religious element. Each day had a patron spirit, signifying that each day had specific use. This contrasts greatly with our modern Gregorian calendar which primarily sets the administrative, social and economic dates.
Most of the calendars were short. There longest calendarwas called the “Long Count”, and it lasted 5126 years.
The base year for the Mayan Long Count starts at “0.0.0.0.0″. Each zero goes from 0-19 and each represent a tally of Mayan days. So, for example, the first day in the Long Count is denoted as 0.0.0.0.1. On the 19th day we’ll have 0.0.0.0.19, on the 20th day it goes up one level and we’ll have 0.0.0.1.0. This count continues until 0.0.1.0.0 (about one year), 0.1.0.0.0 (about 20 years) and 1.0.0.0.0 (about 400 years). Therefore, if I pick an arbitrary date of 2.10.12.7.1, this represents the Mayan date of approximately 1012 years, 7 months and 1 day.
When the calender finally reachers to its end they believe thats when the world is going to end. Archaeologists and mythologists on the other hand believe that the Mayans predicted an age of enlightenment.
There also mention Planet X hitting Earth with meteorite impacts, black holes, rapid ice age, and all this stuff. Whatever, people are debating wheterh it will continue or its just dumb stuff.
20% Time 5.20 May 25, 2008
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Today for my 20% time I read cool post about space being the ultimate euphoric experience. The article title was The Human Brain in Space: Euphoria and the “Overview Effect” Experienced by Astronauts and was written by Ian O’Neill. What I read in the article was that some astronauts have said that when they go into space experience a “cosmic connection”. The experience sounds like the ultimate high, or the ultimate enlightening; it would appear that without trying, astronauts are able to attain a similar mental state as meditating Buddhist monks. When astronauts come back to the Earth they say that the feeling changes. On March 6th, 1969, Rusty Schweikart felt that the universe was connected. The feeling is referred to as the Overview Effect.
“When you go around the Earth in an hour and a half, you begin to recognize that your identity is with that whole thing. That makes a change… it comes through to you so powerfully that you’re the sensing element for Man.” - Russell “Rusty” Schweikart. In the article I also read that two years later Edgar Mitchell who is an astronaut reported that he felt a sensation that gave him a sense of connectedness, with a feeling of bliss and timelessness. Also that he became aware that every single atom in the Universe was connected in some way and he understood that all species and system are part of the same thing, “a synergistic whole”. Mitchell said that the event changed his life.
Both experiences that Schweikart and Mitchell had weren’t isolated lianomalies because many other astronauts since them report the same effect. In the article they mention that a a neurocientist/physician by the name Andy Newberg that has experience in space medicine wants to find out whether it’s a psychological phenomenon. He believes that they’re might be a medical reason that changes the astronaut’s brain function while they’re in space.
“You can often tell when you’re with someone who has flown in space, its palpable.” - Andy Newberg
I learned that Newberg has been scanning many brains to try and understand how humans reach the state of euphoria on Earth. Also that in religious communities transcendental mediators and others also experience similar states and that’s been the focus of interest to neuroscientist. I found out that in meditation can sometimes lead people to view the whole cosmos as in interconnected quantum web where the conscious isn’t separate but part of the Universe.
Now Newberg hopes to monitor the brain of one of the first space tourists so a better grasp of the brain function of a human in zero-G can be understood.
If you want to view the source of this blog you can find it in Universe Today.
20% Time 5.14 May 17, 2008
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Today for my 20% time I read an article titled “A cosmic spider web is unraveled” that was provided Max Planck Institute. Also I found the article at Astronomy.com. So what I learned was that a team of astrophysicists from the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics (MPE), the European Southern Observatory (ESO), and two other institutes in the Netherlands have found some evidence of the missing bridge-like filament connecting two clusters of galaxies.i learned that all visible material in the Universe is arranged along the filmamentary structure of dark matter. And it hold gigantic chunks of barayonic matter that happened to be quarks and leptons. Since a long time now astronomers have suspected there was something missing and by observing it more they’ll be able to learn more about dark material.
What I also read was that the baryonic matter is figured to be hot, really thin gas haze of low density between larger structures. Scientists from SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research observed the clusters of galaxies Abell 222 and Abell 223, which are connected by a filament. In the article they mention that the gas that was found might the hottest and densest part of the diffuse gas. Which happens to be half of the missing baryons in the universe.
This is the first time that scientists have seen the bridge of gas connecting two clusters of galaxies. “So far, we could only see the clusters, the dense knots of the web. Now, we are starting to see the connecting wires of the immense cosmic spider web,” says MPE astrophysicist Aurora Simionescu.
CC: Released to Public: From the Ashes of the First Stars - An Artist’s Impression by NASA/ESA/ESO/STECF (NASA) photo by pignews.com
20% Time 5.07 May 10, 2008
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Today for my 20% I read an article titled Comet Strikes Increase as We Pass Through the Galactic Plane that was written by Fraser Cain, and found at Universe Today. In the article that I read that every time the sun rises up out of the flat plane of the Milky Way it can possibly decrease the chances of us getting protected from the intergalactic radiation and cosmic rays. I also learned that passing through the middle of the galactic plane might have some risk such as increasing the number of comets that can hit Earth, which is due to the interaction with the densest parts of our galaxy. 
In the article the writer also mentions that at the Cardiff Centre of Astrobiology have built a computer model of the Solar System’s journey around the Milky Way and instead of making a flat orbit around the galaxy’s centre it bounces up and down. Also they have calculated that every 35 to 40 million years Earth passes through the plane. I also learned that based on craters on Earth we have increased impacts every 36 million years. Also according to the calculations of the Solary System Earth will be passing through the galactic plane in the near future and an increase risk of impact can happen.
Centre director Professor Chandra Wickramasinghe said: “This is a seminal paper which places the comet-life interaction on a firm basis, and shows a mechanism by which life can be dispersed on a galactic scale.”
CC: Cygnus Galactic plane photo by ngc1039
20% Time 4.22 April 27, 2008
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Today I read an article titled Potential Global Warming “Fix” Will Damage the Ozone Layer, and it was written by Ian O’Neill at Universe Today. What I learn from the article was that one of the main solutions scientist have for global warming is to lower solar energy in the atmosphere is by putting huge quantities of sulphide particles in the atmosphere. New research have discovered that by doing that so it will mess up the ozone layer.
The effect that it can have is that it could end up imitating ejecting particles from a huge volcanic explosion. It was observed in 1991 that sulphide particles can strongly deflect sunlight, which cause cooling in the atmosphere. Pretty much saving us from global warming. The problem is that it can create another hole in the ozone over the Arctic and it can also undo the recovery of the Antarctic Ozone Layer.
Dr. Simone Times from the NCar and her team figured that by injecting the sulphide into the Atmosphere would help global warming but also set back Antarctic ozone layer recovery 30 to 70 years. Sulphates are ideal particles on which atmospheric chlorine gases held in polar clouds will attach themselves to (pictured top). A chemical reaction between sulphate particle and chlorine destroys ozone molecules (O3). The effects of this chemical reaction may cause accelerated damage in troubled polar regions.
CC: Global Warming - Cause nr.1 photo by Gunnsi
20% Time 4.15 April 20, 2008
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Today I read a post tittled “Quantum pioneer John Wheeler dies“, that was posted by Rowan , and I found it at NewScientist Blog. The blog post was obviously about a Quantum physicist, philosopher, and poet, John Wheeler dying. He died on April 13, 2008 and he was 96 years old. Wheeler mentor was Niels Bohr, whom he worked with and they both developed the theory of nuclear fission. Their theory of nuclear fission led to the involvement of Manhattan Project that later on developed the hydrogen bomb.
Wheeler and DeWitt created the Wheeler-DeWitt equation. Wheeler had a big influence on his students. Richard Feyman being one of them had developed idea that eventually lead to a new approach in quantum mechanics. Another student such as Jacob Bekenstein proposed the event horizon of a black hole is a measure of entropy. That idea lead to Hawkings discovery that black holes radiate, which Hugh Everett formulated the many worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics. It had suggested that reality is an endlessly branching tree of possibility.
Wheeler always wanted to know what was behind quantum mechanics. He believed that observers played a major role in the creation reality.
“We used to think that the world exists ‘out there’ independent of us,” he wrote, “we the observer safely hidden behind a one-foot thick slab of plate glass, not getting involved, only observing. However, we’ve concluded in the meantime that that isn’t the way the world works. In fact we have to smash the glass, reach in.”
CC: Physicist’s Campfire—φ¹⁷ by φ¹⁶ format photo by Hybridotus
20% Time 4.02 April 3, 2008
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Today I read an article at Universe Today about small black holes. The article title was “Astronomers Find the Smallest Black Hole” and it was written by Fraser Cain. I found out and learned that a while ago in 2201 Nikolia Shaposhnikov an astronomer from NASA’S Goddard Space Flight Center and some of other people from the American Astronomical Society High-Energy Astrophysics Division found out about the smallest black hole ever seen and that it’s like 3.8 times the mass of the Sun and that it has a diameter of 25km across. The black hole is called XTE J1600-500, it was discovered near a normal star in the binary system. I also found out that black hole are invisible… I never knew that. So they explained that they know where a black hole is because it’s surrounded by a disk of hot gas and dust and when the gas builds up that it releases X-rays at regular intervals. So I guess they have a way of discovering black holes now. Astronomers believe that the smallest black hole is between 1.7 and 2.7 solar masses, so its concludes that finding black holes will explain how matter behaves when it’s crushed down in a black hole.
CC:”David Deany - Black Hole Paradox back corner” photo by Angels Gate.
20% Time 3/25 March 30, 2008
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Today I read an article titled Planet Formation Revealed? written by by Nancy Atkinson at Universe Today. One of the biggest unresolved questions of planet formation is how a thick disc of debris and gas surrounding young stars eventually evolves into a thin, dusty region with planets.
Recently astrophysicists have found an image that was taken from a coronagraph attached to a telescope in Hawaii. I read that it showed like a horseshoe-shaped void in the disc materials that was surrounding the AB Aurigae. They mention how it can either be a brown dwarf or a planet.
In the article I also read about how details on planet formation is unknown. They’ve been studying the AB Aurigae star that is one to three million years old and they mention how it can provide information about how stars and objects orbit them form. I learned that stars that are a bit older than the AB Aurigae show that at one point gas was removed and that the AB Aurigae might be in the process of clearing out the gas, that will result in leaving gas behind. The more details they gather can lead to the solution on how planets form, and if it’s indeed a brown dwarf the understanding of them can renovate because brown dwafs are not believed to form in circumstellar materials.
CC: pseud_creacion3 by Rufus Gefangenen
Multitouch Computing March 23, 2008
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For web class we had to watch some videos about multi-touch computing which is pretty much a touch screen that allows you to do a lot of great things which doesn’t require a mouse or a keyboard. Jeff Hanhas was said that he was researching about touch screens and came up with a multi-touch, multi-user screen interface. It contains a specialized hardware which was designed to replace the mouse and the keyboard. It also has a horizontal touchscreen. It has things like an almost 3D Map of the world as well as high resolution and new found accessibility. The video that I watch was only like 10 minutes long.
Jeff Han Video
On the popular mechanics video I learned that Microsoft is for big business so what they are doing with Jeff Hans creation is selling it to hotels, casinos, and other similar places. What it allows you to do is re-size pictures using your hands and what is also cool is taking a picture placing it on the screen and it automatically uploads it without using any cable whatsoever. Not only that but you can manipulate things at the same time, like for example you and another person can be doing something at the same time without interfering one another. It has many other cool things, watch the video below and find out for yourself.
Here’s another Jeff Han video that I found on Google Videos, which is called Perceptive Pixel and it was hosted from Fast Company.com.
It seems pretty kool but it goes to show that sooner or later the economy will stoop down due to the lack of need of people except for repair workers, but that’s just about it. It gives off the impression that life would become more of a lazy living with eyes on our backs.
