The Royal Times Online

Earth has more than one moon, astronomers confirm

2012-02-02T14:16:00.000-08:00

Researchers at Cornell University say that what we know as the Moon is in fact not the only one orbiting our planet at any given time. Smaller objects regularly inhabit the Earth's orbit, usually leaving after a few months to continue on their celestial journeys.

The discovery is considered a major breakthrough for space research because scientists had been working toward visiting asteroids outside of Earth's orbit for research. While these temporary moons are too small for a shuttle landing, they are prime for research from a relatively close distance.

However, it's still to be determined whether the announcement will capture the public's attention like previously revealed New Moons. Either way, it should be a decidedly more pleasant experience for all involved.

The new paper titled "The population of natural Earth satellites," from Cornell University's Mikael Granvik, Jeremie Vaubaillon and Robert Jedicke states that these "secret moons" enter and exit the Earth's orbit without notice.

"At any given time, there should be at least one natural Earth satellite of 1-meter diameter orbiting the Earth," Granvik writes.

Scientists have confirmed at least one such temporary moon, discovered by the Catalina Sky Survey in Arizona in 2006.

"Our results are consistent with the single known natural [temporarily-captured orbiter] 2006 RH120, a few-meter diameter object that was captured for about a year starting in June 2006," the report says.

Pfeiffer, Eric. "Earth has more than one moon, astronomers confirm." The Sideshow. Yahoo!, 07 Dec 2011. Web. 2 Feb 2012. <http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/earth-more-one-moon-astronomers-confirm-200222677.html;_ylt=AighbZzWsp_fW5qgq9f9AQISH9EA;_ylu=X3oDMTFkcWhpdTZuBG1pdANCbG9nIEJvZHkEcG9zAzUEc2VjA01lZGlhQmxvZ0JvZHlBc3NlbWJseQ--;_ylg=X3oDMTNlOGZmcmZoBGludGwDdXMEbG

'If Fred Got Two Beatings Per Day…' Homework Asks

2012-02-02T14:06:00.000-08:00

Third graders in in Gwinnett County, Ga., were given math homework Wednesday that asked questions about slavery andbeatings.

Christopher Braxton told ABC News affiliate WSB-TV in Atlanta that he couldn't believe the assignment his 8-year-old son brought home from of Beaver Ridge Elementary school in Norcross.

"It kind of blew me away," Braxton said. "Do you see what I see? Do you really see what I see? He's not answering this question."

The question read, "Each tree had 56 oranges. If eight slaves pick them equally, then how much would each slave pick?"

Another math problem read, "If Frederick got two beatings per day, how many beatings did he get in one week?"

Another question asked how many baskets of cotton Frederick filled.

"I was furious at that point," Braxton said.

"This outrages me because it just lets me know that there's still racists," said Stephanie Jones, whose child is a student at the school.

"Something like that shouldn't be imbedded into a kid of the third, fourth, fifth, any grade," parent Terrance Barnett told WSB-TV. "I'm having to explain to my 8-year-old why slavery or slaves or beatings are in a math problem. That hurts."

"In this one, the teachers were trying to do a cross-curricular activity," Gwinnett County school district spokeswoman Sloan Roach said.

Roach said the teachers were attempting to incorporate social studies into math problems.

"We understand that there are concerns about these questions, and we agree that these questions were not appropriate," she said.

ABC News affiliate WSB-TV contributed to this report.

Katrajidan, Olivia. "'If Fred Got Two Beatings Per Day…' Homework Asks." Yahoo! News. Yahoo!, 07 Jan 2012. Web. 1 Feb 2012. <http://news.yahoo.com/fred-got-two-beatings-per-day-homework-asks-230717586--abc-news.html>.

Facebook’s IPO: What to Know Before You Buy

2012-02-01T14:01:00.001-08:00

Facebook's much-anticipated IPO --which stands for initial public offering-- is a market event destined for the history books. Investor interest is at fever pitch, drawing attention from major Wall Street institutions, to individual investors on Main Street, and even people who may have never bought a stock before.

And so for that reason alone, that our next installment of "Investing 101" will tackle the ins & outs of the IPO market. With the help of acclaimed editor of IPODesktop.com Francis Gaskins, we put together a list of 5 common questions and answers about the IPO market.

1) What Exactly Is An IPO?

As the name implies, it is a stock sale that allows the public to buy shares of a company listed or traded on an exchange, usually for the first time ever. As Gaskins points out in the attached video, these may be new stocks, but they are not necessarily new companies. To use the Facebook example, the website and business has been up and running since 2004. And in rarer instances, a company like General Motors (GM) can move in and out of being a "public" company. GM reissued an IPO in November 2010 after reemerging from bankruptcy and unwinding its majority government control.

2) Why Do Companies "Go Public" --Issue IPOs?

The reasons vary, but the most common objective is to raise money, Gaskins says, which can be used for any number of things, including paying off debt or the owners of the business. Other uses of the proceeds from IPO's include expanding the business, acquiring a rival company or simply to create liquidity, which makes it easier to buy or sell your company's stock. Again, to use Facebook as an example, their IPO is partly due to federal law requiring businesses that have more than 500 investors and $10 million in assets to list their shares.

3) How Do You Buy Into An IPO?

Once you have done your research and made up your mind, the most basic step, Gaskins says is to have a brokerage account so you can put in an "indication of interest" or I-O-I, that you would like to buy shares in a particular deal.

In fact, the bigger the offering and the more buzz there is around a particular company, the lower the chances are that you will be able to get any stock at the offering price, which means you would have to buy it in the open market, frequently at a higher price, after it has started trading. As a general rule, if you are a small investor and able to actually get shares in an IPO, you probably should walk away from a deal that is likely to trade lower.

4) Are IPOs Off-Limits To Small Investors?

Not necessarily. While I wish I could tell you that it's a ''level playing field'' out there when it comes to IPO's, it just isn't. Typically, the first investors allowed in on an IPO are company executives, venture capitalists, and the banks involved in underwriting the deal.

But look on the bright side, if you miss out on a hot deal, chances are good that you might get a chance to buy it even cheaper if you wait a while. What happens after a company's first hour/week/month of trading is often a completely different experience than what goes down in a particular stock's first few manic moments of publicly traded life.

As Gaskins discovered, out of a dozen internet/social media IPO's that came public in 2011, the average decline was 12% from the IPO price, and a 34% drop from where the shares closed the first day's trading.

5) Are "Hot" IPOs An Easy Way To Make Money?

Like any investing, Gaskins points out, there are risks and rewards involved whether you are buying an IPO or shares of an established stock like AT&T (T). Generally speaking, those 20 or 30 or 50 percent first day gains that you may have read about are not only rare, but all of the shares are typically spoken for and allocated to the biggest and best clients of the investment banks that are underwriting the deal.

Nesto, Matt. "Facebook’s IPO: What to Know Before You Buy." Breakout. Yahoo!, 01 Feb 2012. Web. 1 Feb 2012. <http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/breakout/want-buy-facebook-know-ipos-185543383.html>.

SOPA and PIPA Blackout

2012-01-17T14:34:00.000-08:00

Go to these sites. I disapprove of SOPA and PIPA because in effect, they censor independent and legitimate providers like me.

4,000 Pageviews

2012-01-13T14:04:00.001-08:00

We have passed the 4,000 pageview threshold!

Happy Birthday, Royal Times Online!

2012-01-11T13:58:00.000-08:00

On January 11, 2011, the Royal Times Online was founded. In 1 year, I published 92 posts (including this one) and got 3,982 pageviews from around the world. The top views goes to 2013 CME: Worst Case Scenario, which got 2,408 pageviews and topped out Google Search for '2013 CME'. When I published that, I never thought it would get that much pageviews. So, Happy Birthday Royal Times Online!

Snowflakes!

2011-12-22T12:34:00.001-08:00

Woman "imprisoned" on Scientology Cruise Ship for 12 Years

2011-11-30T14:59:00.001-08:00

The Church of Scientology's flagship vessel, "Freewinds"

UPDATE: The Village Voice has an extended interview with Valeska Paris, which you can read here.
For most people, an extended stay aboard a luxury cruise liner sounds like a dream vacation.
But Valeska Paris says she was held against her will aboard the Scientology cruise ship "Freewinds" for more than a decade. During her stay on the vessel, she alleges, she was forced into hard labor and never allowed to leave the ship without an escort.
In an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's (ABC News) Lateline program, Paris claims that Church of Scientology leader David Miscavige sent her to the ship when she was 18 in order to prevent her family from pulling her out of the organization.
"I was basically hauled in and told that my mum had attacked the church and that I needed to disconnect from her because she was suppressive," she said. "He decided the ship, and I found out two hours before my plane left, I was woken up in the morning and I was sent to the ship for 'two weeks.' "

Paris was born into a Scientology family, but her mother quit the group after her husband committed suicide, blaming Scientology for coercing him out of a self-made personal fortune of more than a million dollars.
Instead of the promised two week stay, Paris found herself unable to leave the ship without an official Scientology escort and was often forced into hard labor on the lower levels of the ship for stretches as long as two full days. "It's hot, it's extremely loud, it's smelly, it's not nice. I was sent down there at first for 48 hours straight on almost no sleep and I had to work by myself," she said.
So, why didn't Paris simply escape from the ship when it would take port? The Freewinds has a relatively small sailing route, traveling throughout the Caribbean and occasionally docking at small islands.
"I did not want to be there, I made it clear I did not want to be there and that was considered bad ethics, meaning it was considered not right," she said. "They take your passport when you go on the ship and you're in the middle of an island. So it's a bit hard [to escape] and by that time I was 18, I'd been in Scientology my whole life, it's not like I knew how to escape," she said.
The Church of Scientology calls Paris' claims false but declined ABC requests to make church officials available for interviews for the story. The church, which has a well-known litigious history, threatened Lateline with legal action for taking part in an alleged breach of confidentiality between Paris and the church. In a statement, the Church of Scientology said Ms Paris' claims were false.
"She certainly wasn't 'forced' to be there. She was also never forced to perform labor in the engine room," the statement said. "The Freewinds is a wonderful place, as even Valeska said on numerous occasions. Her allegation that she could only leave the ship with an escort is totally false."

Quotes

2011-11-27T16:07:00.001-08:00

"Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man how to fish and you feed him for a lifetime."
-Lao Tzu

"If you chase two rabbits, you will lose them both."
- Native American saying
"The man who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones."
- Confucius
"You can't direct the wind, but you can adjust your sails."
- Unknown
"Words have the power to both destroy and heal. When words are both true and kind, they can change our world."
-The Buddha
"And on the pedestal these words appear: 'My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!' Nothing beside remains."
- Percy Bysshe Shelley
"Everything is worth what its purchaser will pay for it."
- Publius Syrius
"You should hammer your iron when it is glowing hot."
- Publius Syrus
"A multitude of rulers is not a good thing. Let there be one ruler, one king."
- Herodotus
"Banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies."
- Thomas Jefferson
"The bureaucracy is expanding to meet the needs of the expanding bureaucracy."- Unknown
"A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away."
- Antoine de Saint-Exupry
"People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public."
- Adam Smith
"I cannot live without books."
- Thomas Jefferson
"I have gained this by philosophy: that I do without being commanded what others do only from fear of the law."
- Aristotle
"No freeman shall be taken, imprisoned, or in any other way destroyed, except by the lawful judgment of his peers."
- The Magna Carta
"Corporation, n. An ingenious device for obtaining individual profit without individual responsibility."
- Ambrose Bierce
"It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried."
- Winston Churchill
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both."
- Benjamin Franklin
"I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philisophy."
- John Adams
"Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win."
- Sun-Tzu
"People can have the Model T in any color - so long as it's black."
- Henry Ford
"When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a communist."
- Dom Helder Camara
"We will make electricity so cheap that only the rich will burn candles."
- Thomas Edison
"I fooled you, I fooled you, I got pig iron, I got pig iron, I got all pig iron."
- Lonnie Donegan, "Rock Island Line"
"I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use."
- Galileo Galilei
"We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children."
- Native American Song
"Nothing travels faster than the speed of light with the possible exception of bad news, which obeys its own special laws."
- Douglas Adams
"The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about."
- Oscar Wilde
"I just want to say one word to you. Just one word: plastics."
- Calder Willingham, The Graduate
"Beep... beep... beep... beep..."
- Sputnik I

Baba Yetu

2011-11-19T14:32:00.003-08:00

Alfred Wegener Video

2011-11-19T14:32:00.001-08:00

Miles of mysterious striped network grids discovered in Chinese desert

2011-11-14T13:54:00.001-08:00

Here's a new geological conundrum courtesy of the Mysterious East: A group of people studying online maps stumbled across a series of strange patterns in the Chinese desert large enough to be seen from space. The unusual white designs appear to have been etched into the ground and their creators clearly don't lack for ambition: They are over one mile long and 3,000 feet wide. The researchers have yet to identify the silver or white material used to fabricate these outsize desert grids.

You can see a detailed satellite view of the desert pattern here.

So why would the Chinese government--or anyone, for that matter--go to such trouble to paint such gigantic stripes on such remote territory? People analyzing the photos suggest the Chinese military may have constructed them as space-targeting grids.

According to Gizmodo, the various patterned sites are located in Dunhuang, Jiuquan, Gansu, north of the Shule River. The Shule crosses the Tibetan Plateau to the west into the Kumtag Desert—meaning that the painted sites would serve as an ideal, isolated location for training in military targeting.

Slash Gear notes that in one of the grid photos, you can see three structures that are destroyed or partially standing, "as if they were for target practice." Another image of the grid clearly shows aircraft resting in the pattern's inner circle.

Pfeiffer, Eric. "Miles of mysterious striped network grids discovered in Chinese desert." Yahoo News. Yahoo, 11/14/2011. Web. 14 Nov 2011. <http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/miles-mysterious-striped-network-grids-discovered-chinese-desert-171915802.html>.

Hypothetical Planets

2011-11-07T14:01:00.000-08:00

There have been a number of objects that were once thought to exist by astronomers, but which later 'vanished'. Here are their stories.

Vulcan, the intra-Mercurial planet, 1860-1916, 1971

The French mathematician Urbain Le Verrier, co-predictor with J.C. Adams of the position of Neptune before it was seen, in a lecture at 2 Jan 1860 announced that the problem of observed deviations of the motion of Mercury could be solved by assuming an intra-Mercurial planet, or possibly a second asteroid belt inside Mercury's orbit. The only possible way to observe this intra-Mercurial planet or asteroids was if/when they transited the Sun, or during total solar eclipses. Prof. Wolf at the Zurich sunspot data center, found a number of suspicious "dots" on the Sun, and another astronomer found some more. A total of two dozen spots seemed to fit the pattern of two intra-Mercurial orbits, one with a period of 26 days and the other of 38 days.

In 1859, Le Verrier received a letter from the amateur astronomer Lescarbault, who reported having seen a round black spot on the Sun on March 26 1859, looking like a planet transiting the Sun. He had seen the spot one hour and a quarter, when it moved a quarter of the solar diameter. Lescarbault estimated the orbital inclination to between 5.3 and 7.3 degrees, its longitude of node about 183 deg, its eccentricity "enormous", and its transit time across the solar disk 4 hours 30 minutes. Le Verrier investigated this observation, and computed an orbit from it: period 19 days 7 hours, mean distance from Sun 0.1427 a.u., inclination 12# 10', ascending node at 12# 59' The diameter was considerably smaller than Mercury's and its mass was estimated at 1/17 of Mercury's mass. This was too small to account for the deviations of Mercury's orbit, but perhaps this was the largest member of that intra-Mercurial asteroid belt? Le Verrier fell in love with the planet, and named it Vulcan.

In 1860 there was a total eclipse of the Sun. Le Verrier mobilized all French and some other astronomers to find Vulcan - nobody did. Wolf's suspicious 'sunspots' now revived Le Verrier's interest, and just before Le Verrier's death in 1877 some more 'evidence' found its way into print. On April 4 1875, a German astronomer, H. Weber, saw a round spot on the Sun. Le Verrier's orbit indicated a possible transit at April 3 that year, and Wolf noticed that his 38-day orbit also could have performed a transit at about that time. That 'round dot' was also photographed at Greenwich and in Madrid.

There was one more flurry after the total solar eclipse at July 29 1878, where two observers claimed to have seen in the vicinity of the Sun small illuminated disks which could only be small planets inside Mercury's orbit: J.C Watson (professor of astronomy at the Univ. of Michigan) believed he'd found TWO intra-Mercurial planets! Lewis Swift (co-discoverer of Comet Swift-Tuttle, which returned 1992), also saw a 'star' he believed to be Vulcan -- but at a different position than either of Watson's two 'intra-Mercurials'. In addition, neither Watson's nor Swift's Vulcans could be reconciled with Le Verrier's or Lescarbault's Vulcan.

After this, nobody ever saw Vulcan again, in spite of several searches at different total solar eclipses. And in 1916, Albert Einstein published his General Theory of Relativity, which explained the deviations in the motions of Mercury without the need to invoke an unknown intra-Mercurial planet. In May 1929 Erwin Freundlich, Potsdam, photographed the total solar eclipse in Sumatra, and later carefully examined the plates which showed a profusion of star images. Comparison plates were taken six months later. No unknown object brighter than 9th magnitude was found near the Sun.

But what did these people really see? Lescarbault had no reason to tell a fairy tale, and even Le Verrier believed him. It is possible that Lescarbault happened to see a small asteroid passing very close to theEarth, just inside Earth's orbit. Such asteroids were unknown at that time, so Lescarbault's only idea was that he saw an intra-Mercurial planet. Swift and Watson could, during the hurry to obtain observations during totality, have misidentified some stars, believing they had seen Vulcan.

"Vulcan" was briefly revived around 1970-1971, when a few researchers thought they had detected several faint objects close to the Sun during a total solar eclipse. These objects might have been faintcomets, and later comets have been observed that later did pass close enough to the Sun to collide with it.

Mercury's Moon, 1974

Two days before the 29 March 1974 Mariner 10 flyby past Mercury, one instrument began registering bright emissions in the extreme UV that had "no right to be there". The next day it was gone. Three days later it reappeared, and the "object" appeared to detach itself from Mercury. The astronomers first thought they had seen a star. But they had seen it in two quite different directions, and every astronomer knew that these extreme UV wavelengths couldn't penetrate very far through the interstellar medium, suggesting that the object must be close. Did Mercury have a moon?

After a hectic Friday, when the "object" had been computed to move at 4 km/s, a speed consistent with that of a moon, JPL managers were called in. They turned the then-dying spacecraft over full time to the UV team, and everyone started worrying about a press conference scheduled for later that Saturday. Should the suspected moon be announced? But the press already knew. Some papers -- the bigger, more respectable ones -- played it straight; many others ran excited stories about Mercury's new moon.

And the "moon" itself? It headed straight on out from Mercury, and was eventually identified as a hot star, 31 Crateris. What the original emissions came from, the ones spotted on the approach to the planet, remains a mystery. So ends the story of Mercury's moon but at the same time a new chapter in astronomy began: extreme UV turned out not to be so completely absorbed by the interstellar medium as formerly believed. Already the Gum nebula has turned out to be a quite strong emitter in the extreme UV, and spreads across 140 degrees of the night sky at 540 angstroms. Astronomers had discovered a new window through which to observe the heavens.

Neith, the Moon of Venus, 1672-1892

In 1672, Giovanni Domenico Cassini, one of the prominent astronomers of the time, noticed a small companion close to Venus. Did Venus have a satellite? Cassini decided not to announce his observation, but 14 years later, in 1686, he saw the object again, and then entered it in his journal. The object was estimated to have about 1/4 the diameter of Venus, and it showed the same phase as Venus. Later, the object was seen by other astronomers as well: by James Short in 1740, Andreas Mayer in 1759, J. L. Lagrange in 1761 (Lagrange announced that the orbital plane of the satellite was perpendicular to the ecliptic). During 1761 the object was seen a total of 18 times by five observers. The observations of Scheuten on June 6 1761 was especially interesting: he saw Venus in transit across the Sun's disk, accompanied by a smaller dark spot on one side, which followed Venus in its transit. However, Samuel Dunn at Chelsea, England, who also watched that transit, did not see that additional spot. In 1764 there were 8 observations by two observers. Other observers tried to see the satellite but failed to find it.

Now the astronomical world was faced with a controversy: several observers had reported seeing the satellite while several others had failed to find it in spite of determined efforts. In 1766, the director of the Vienna observatory, Father Hell (!), published a treatise where he declared that all observations of the satellite were optical illusions -- the image of Venus is so bright that it is reflected in the eye, back into the telescope, creating a secondary image at a smaller scale. Others published treatises declaring that the observations were real. J. H. Lambert of Germany published orbital elements of the satellite in Berliner Astronomischer Jahrbuch 1777: mean distance 66.5 Venus radii, orbital period 11 days 3 hours, inclination to ecliptic 64 degrees. It was hoped that the satellite could be seen during the transit of Venus in front of the Sun June 1 1777 (it is self evident that Lambert made a mistake in calculating these orbital elements: at 66.5 Venus radii, the distance from Venus is about the same as our Moon's distance from the Earth. This fits very badly with the orbital period of 11 days or only somewhat more than 1/3 of the orbital period of our Moon. The mass of Venus is a little smaller than the mass of the Earth).

In 1768 there was one more observation of the satellite, by Christian Horrebow in Copenhagen. There were also three searches, one made by one of the greatest astronomers of all time, William Herschel -- all three of them failed to find any satellite. Quite late in the game, F. Schorr from Germany tried to make a case for the satellite in a book published in 1875.

In 1884, M. Hozeau, former director of the Royal Observatory of Brussels, suggested a different hypothesis. By analysing available observations Hozeau concluded that the Venus moon appeared close to Venus approximately every 2.96 years or 1080 days. Hozeau suggested that it wasn't a moon of Venus, but a planet of its own, orbiting the sun once every 283 days and thus being in conjunction with Venus once every 1080 days. Hozeau also named it Neith, after the mysterious goddess of Sais, whose veil no mortal raised.

In 1887, three years after the "moon of Venus" had been revived by Hozeau, the Belgian Academy of Sciences published a long paper where each and every reported observation was investigated in detail. Several observations of the satellite were really stars seen in the vicinity of Venus. Roedkier's observations "checked out" especially well -- he had been fooled, in succession, by Chi Orionis, M Tauri, 71 Orionis, and Nu Geminorum! James Short had really seen a star somewhat fainter than 8th magnitude. All observations by Le Verrier and Montaigne could be similarly explained. Lambert's orbital calculations were demolished. The very last observation, by Horrebow in 1768, could be ascribed to Theta Librae.

After this paper was published, only one more observation was reported, by a man who had earlier made a search for the satellite of Venus but failed to find it: on Aug 13 1892, E. E. Barnard recorded a 7th magnitude object near Venus. There is no star in the position recorded by Barnard, and Barnard's eyesight was notoriously excellent. We still don't know what he saw. Was it an asteroid that hadn't been charted? Or was it a short-lived nova that nobody else happened to see?

The Earth's Second Moon, 1846-present

In 1846, Frederic Petit, director of the observatory of Toulouse, stated that a second moon of the Earth had been discovered. It had been seen by two observers, Lebon and Dassier, at Toulouse and by a third, Lariviere, at Artenac, during the early evening of March 21 1846. Petit found that the orbit was elliptical, with a period of 2 hours 44 minutes 59 seconds, an apogee at 3570 km above the Earth's surface and perigee at just 11.4 km (!) above the Earth's surface. Le Verrier, who was in the audience, grumbled that one needed to take air resistance into account, something nobody could do at that time. Petit became obsessed with this idea of a second moon, and 15 years later announced that he had made calculations about a small moon of Earth which caused some then-unexplained peculiarities in the motion of our mainMoon. Astronomers generally ignored this, and the idea would have been forgotten if not a young French writer, Jules Verne, had not read an abstract. In Verne's novel "From the Earth to the Moon", Verne lets a small object pass close to the traveller's space capsule, causing it to travel around the Moon instead of smashing into it:

"It is", said Barbicane, "a simple meteorite but an enormous one, retained as a satellite by the attraction of the Earth."
"Is that possible?", exclaimed Michel Ardan, "the earth has two moons?"
"Yes, my friend, it has two moons, although it is usually believed to have only one. But this second moon is so small and its velocity is so great that the inhabitants of Earth cannot see it. It was by noticing disturbances that a French astronomer, Monsieur Petit, could determine the existence of this second moon and calculated its orbit. According to him a complete revolution around the Earth takes three hours and twenty minutes. . . . "
"Do all astronomers admit the the existence of this satellite?", asked Nicholl
"No", replied Barbicane, "but if, like us, they had met it they could no longer doubt it. . . . But this gives us a means of determining our position in space . . . its distance is known and we were, therefore, 7480 km above the surface of the globe where we met it."

Jules Verne was read by millions of people, but not until 1942 did anybody notice the discrepancies in Verne's text:

A satellite 7480 km above the Earth's surface would have a period of 4 hours 48 minutes, not 3 hours 20 minutes.
Since it was seen from the window from which the Moon was invisible, while both were approaching, it must be in retrograde motion, which would be worth remarking. Verne doesn't mention this.
In any case the satellite would be in eclipse and thus be invisible. The projectile doesn't leave the Earth's shadow until much later.

Dr. R.S. Richardson, Mount Wilson Observatory, tried in 1952 to make the figures fit by assuming an eccentric orbit of this moon: perigee 5010 km and apogee 7480 km above Earth's surface, eccentricity 0.1784.

Nevertheless, Jules Verne made Petit's second moon known all over the world. Amateur astronomers jumped to the conclusion that here was opportunity for fame -- anybody discovering this second moon would have his name inscribed in the annals of science. No major observatory ever checked the problem of the Earth's second moon, or if they did they kept quiet. German amateurs were chasing what they called Kleinchen ("little bit") -- of course they never found Kleinchen.

W. H. Pickering devoted his attention to the theory of the subject: if the satellite orbited 320 km above the surface and if its diameter was 0.3 meters, with the same reflecting power as the Moon, it should be visible in a 3-inch telescope. A 3 meter satellite would be a unaided-eye object of magnitude 5. Though Pickering did not look for the Petit object, he did carry on a search for a secondary moon -- a satellite of our Moon ("On a photographic search for a satellite of the Moon", Popular Astronomy, 1903). The result was negative and Pickering concluded that any satellite of our Moon must be smaller than about 3 meters.

Pickering's article on the possibility of a tiny second moon of Earth, "A Meteoritic Satellite", appeared in Popular Astronomy in 1922 and caused another short flurry among amateur astronomers, since it contained a virtual request: "A 3-5-inch telescope with a low-power eyepiece would be the likeliest mean to find it. It is an opportunity for the amateur." But again, all searches remained fruitless.

The original idea was that the gravitational field of the second moon should account for the then inexplicable minor deviations of the motion of our big Moon. That meant an object at least several miles large -- but if such a large second moon really existed, it would have been seen by the Babylonians. Even if it was too small to show a disk, its comparative nearness would have made it move fast and therefore be conspicuous, as today's watchers of artificial satellites and even airplanes know. On the other hand, nobody was much interested in moonlets too small to be seen.

There have been other proposals for additional natural satellites of the Earth. In 1898 Dr Georg Waltemath from Hamburg claimed to have discovered not only a second moon but a whole system of midget moons. Waltemath gave orbital elements for one of these moons: distance from Earth 1.03 million km, diameter 700 km, orbital period 119 days, synodic period 177 days. "Sometimes", says Waltemath, "it shines at night like the Sun" and he thinks this moon was seen in Greenland on 24 October 1881 by Lieut Greely, ten days after the Sun had set for the winter. Public interest was aroused when Waltemath predicted his second moon would pass in front of the Sun on the 2nd, 3rd or 4th of February 1898. On the 4th February, 12 persons at the post office of Greifswald (Herr Postdirektor Ziegel, members of his family, and postal employees) observed the Sun with their unaided eye, without protection of the glare. It is easy to imagine a faintly preposterous scene: an imposing-looking Prussian civil servant pointing skyward through his office window, while he reads Waltemath's prediction aloud to a knot of respectful subordinates. On being interviewed, these witnesses spoke of a dark object having one fifth the Sun's apparent diameter, and which took from 1:10 to 2:10 Berlin time to traverse the solar disk. It was soon proven to be a mistake, because during that very hour the Sun was being scrutinized by two experienced astronomers, W. Winkler in Jena and Baron Ivo von Benko from Pola, Austria. They both reported that only a few ordinary sunspots were on the disk. The failure of this and later forecasts did not discourage Waltemath, who continued to issue predictions and ask for verifications. Contemporary astronomers were pretty irritated over and over again having to answer questions from the public like "Oh, by the way, what about all these new moons?". But astrologers caught on -- in 1918 the astrologer Sepharial named this moon Lilith. He considered it to be black enough to be invisible most of the time, being visible only close to opposition or when in transit across the solar disk. Sepharial constructed an ephemeris of Lilith, based on several of Waltemath's claimed observations. He considered Lilith to have about the same mass as the Moon, apparently happily unaware that any such satellite would, even if invisible, show its existence by perturbing the motion of the Earth. And even to this day, "the dark moon" Lilith is used by some astrologers in their horoscopes.

From time to time other "additional moons" were reported from observers. The German astronomical magazine "Die Sterne" reported that a German amateur astronomer named W. Spill had observed a second moon cross our first moon's disc on May 24, 1926.

Around 1950, when artificial satellites began to be discussed in earnest, everybody expected them to be just burned-out upper stages of multistage rockets, carrying no radio transmitters but being tracked by radar from the Earth. In such cases a bunch of small nearby natural satellites would have been most annoying, reflecting radar beams meant for the artificial satellites. The method to search for such natural satellites was developed by Clyde Tombaugh: the motion of a satellite at e.g. 5000 km height is computed. Then a camera platform is constructed that scans the sky at precisely that rate. Stars, planets etc will then appear as lines on the photographs taken by this camera, while any satellite at the correct altitude will appear as a dot. If the satellite was at a somewhat different altitude, it would produce a short line.

Observations began in 1953 at the Lowell Observatory and actually invaded virgin territory: with the exception of the Germans searching for "Kleinchen" nobody had ever paid attention to the space between the Moon and the Earth! By the fall of 1954, weekly journals and daily newspapers of high reputation stated that the search had brought its first results: one small natural satellite at 700 km altitude, another one 1000 km out. One general is said to have asked: "Is he sure they're natural?". Nobody seems to know how these reports originated -- the searches were completely negative. When the first artificial satellites were launched in 1957 and 1958, the cameras tracked those satellites instead.

But strangely enough, this does not mean that the Earth only has one natural satellite. The Earth can have a very near satellite for a short time. Meteoroids passing the Earth and skimming through the upper atmosphere can lose enough velocity to go into a satellite orbit around the Earth. But since they pass the upper atmosphere at each perigee, they will not last long, maybe only one or two, possibly a hundred revolutions (about 150 hours). There are some indications that such "ephemeral satellites" have been seen; it is even possible that Petit's observers did see one. (see also)

In addition to ephemeral satellites there are two more possibilities. One is that the Moon had a satellite of its own -- but despite several searches none has been found (in addition it's now known that the gravity field of the Moon is uneven or "lumpy" enough for any lunar satellite orbit to be unstable -- any lunar satellite will therefore crash into the Moon after a fairly short time, a few years or possibly a decade). The other possibility is that there might be Trojan satellites, i.e. secondary satellites in the lunar orbit, travelling 60 degrees ahead of or behind the Moon.

Such "Trojan satellites" were first reported by the Polish astronomer Kordylewski of Krakow observatory. He started his search in 1951, visually with a good telescope. He was hoping for reasonably large bodies in the lunar orbit, 60 degrees away from the Moon. The search was negative, but in 1956 his compatriot and colleague, Wilkowski, suggested that there may be many tiny bodies, too small to be seen individually but many enough to appear as a cloud of dust particles. In such a case, they would be best visible without a telescope i.e. with the unaided eye! Using a telescope would "magnify it out of existence". Dr Kordylewski was willing to try. A dark night with clear skies, and the Moon being below the horizon, was required.

In October 1956, Kordylewski saw, for the first time, a fairly bright patch in one of the two positions. It was not small, subtending an angle of 2 degrees (i.e. about 4 times larger than the Moon itself), and was very faint, only about half as bright as the notoriously difficult Gegenschein (counterglow -- a bright patch in the zodiacal light, directly opposite to the Sun). In March and April 1961, Kordylewski succeeded in photographing two clouds near the expected positions. They seem to vary in extent, but that may be due to changing illumination. J. Roach detected these cloud satellites in 1975 with the OSO (Orbiting Solar Observatory) 6 spacecraft. In 1990 they were again photographed, this time by the Polish astronomer Winiarski, who found that they were a few degrees in apparent diameter, that they "wandered" up to ten degrees away from the "trojan" point, and that they were somewhat redder than the zodiacal light.

So the century-long search for a second moon of the Earth seems to have succeeded, after all, even though this 'second moon' turned out to be entirely different from anything anybody had ever expected. They are very hard to detect and to distinguish from the zodiacal light, in particular the Gegenschein.

But people are still proposing additional natural satellites of the Earth. Between 1966 and 1969 John Bargby, an American scientist, claimed to have observed at least ten small natural satellites of the Earth, visible only in a telescope. Bargby found elliptical orbits for all the objects: eccentricity 0.498, semimajor axis 14065 km, which yields perigee and apogee heights of 680 and 14700 km. Bargby considered them to be fragments of a larger body which broke up in December 1955. He based much of his suggested satellites on supposed perturbations of artificial satellites. Bargby used artificial satellite data from Goddard Satellite Situation Report, unaware that the values in this publication are only approximate and sometimes grossly in error and can therefore not be used for any precise scientific analysis. In addition, from Bargby's own claimed observations it can be deduced that when at perigee Bargby's satellites ought to be visible at first magnitude and thus be easily visible to the unaided eye, yet no-one has seen them as such.

In 1997, Paul Wiegert (et al) discovered that the near-Earth asteroid 3753 Cruithne has a very strange orbit and can be considered a companion to Earth, though it certainly does not orbit the Earth directly.2002 AA29 also has a special relationship with Earth.

The Moons of Mars, 1610, 1643, 1727, 1747, 1750, 1877-present

The first to guess that Mars had moons was Johannes Kepler in 1610. When trying to solve Galileo's anagram referring to Saturn's rings, Kepler thought that Galileo had found moons of Mars instead.

In 1643, the Capuchin monk Anton Maria Shyrl claimed to really have seen the moons of Mars. We now know that would be impossible with the telescopes of that time -- probably Shyrl got deceived by a star nearby Mars.

In 1727, Jonathan Swift in "Gulliver's Travels" wrote about two small moons orbiting Mars, known to the Laputian astronomers. Their periods of revolution were 10 and 21.5 hours. These 'moons' were in 1750 adopted by Voltaire in his novel "Micromegas", the story of a giant from Sirius visiting our solar system.

In 1747 a German captain, Kindermann, had claimed to have seen the moon (just one!) of Mars, on 10 July 1744. Kindermann reported the orbital period of this martian moon as 59 hours 50 minutes and 6 seconds (!)

In 1877, Asaph Hall finally discovered Phobos and Deimos, the two small moons of Mars. Their orbital periods are 7 hours 39 minutes and 30 hours 18 minutes, quite close to the periods guessed by Jonathan Swift 150 years earlier!

The 14th Moon of Jupiter, 1975-1980

In 1975, Charles Kowal at Palomar (discoverer of Comet 95 P/Chiron) photographed an object thought to be a new satellite of Jupiter. It was seen several times, but not enough to determine an orbit, then lost. It used to show up as a footnote in texts of the late 70s.

And then in 2000 it was found again by S. S. Sheppard et al!

Saturn's Ninth and Tenth Moons, 1861, 1905-1960, 1966-1980

In April 1861 Hermann Goldschmidt announced the discovery of a 9th moon of Saturn, which orbited the planet between Titan and Hyperion. He named that moon Chiron (!). However the discovery was never confirmed -- nobody else ever saw this satellite "Chiron". Later, Pickering discovered what's now considered Saturn's 9th moon, Phoebe, in 1898. This was the first time a satellite of another planet was discovered by photographical observations. Phoebe is also Saturn's outermost moon.

In 1905, Pickering though he had discovered a tenth moon, which he named Themis. According to Pickering, it orbited Saturn between the orbits of Titan and Hyperion in a highly inclined orbit: mean distance from Saturn 1,460,000 km, orbital period 20.85 days, eccentricity 0.23, inclination 39 degrees. Themis was never seen again, but nevertheless appeared in almanacs and astronomy books well into the 1950's and 1960's.

In 1966, A. Dollfus discovered another new moon of Saturn. It was named Janus, and orbited Saturn just outside its rings. It was so faint and close to the rings that the only chance to see it was when the rings of Saturn were seen from the edge, as happened in 1966. Now Janus was Saturn's tenth moon.

In 1980, when Saturns rings again were seen edgewise, a flurry of observations discovered a lot of new satellites close to the rings of Saturn. Close to Janus another satellite was discovered, namedEpimetheus. Their orbits are very close to each other, and the most interesting aspect of this satellite pair is that they regularly switch orbits with each other! It turned out that the "Janus" discovered in 1966 really were observations of both of these co-orbital satellites. Thus the 'tenth moon of Saturn' discovered in 1966 really turned out to be two different moons! The spacecraft Voyager 1 and Voyager 2, which travelled past Saturn shortly afterwards, confirmed this.

Six Moons of Uranus, 1787

In 1787, William Herschel announced the discovery of six satellites of Uranus. Herschel here made a mistake -- only two of his six satellites were real (Titania and Oberon, the largest and outermost two satellites), the remaining four were just stars which happened to be nearby (...I think I've heard this story before.... :-)

Planet X, 1841-1992

In 1841, John Couch Adams began investigating the by then quite large residuals in the motion of Uranus. In 1845, Urbain Le Verrier started to investigate them, too. Adams presented two different solutions to the problem, assuming that the deviations were caused by the gravitation from an unknown planet. Adams tried to present his solutions to the Greenwich observatory, but since he was young and unknown, he wasn't taken seriously. Urbain Le Verrier presented his solution in 1846, but France lacked the necessary resources to locate the planet. Le Verrier then instead turned to the Berlin observatory, where Galle and his assistant d'Arrest found Neptune on the evening of Sept 23, 1846. Nowadays, both Adams and Le Verrier share the credit of having predicted the existence and position of Neptune.

Inspired by this success, Le Verrier attacked the problem of the deviations of Mercury's orbit, and suggested the existence of an intra-mercurial planet, Vulcan, which later turned out to be non-existent.)

On 30 Sept 1846, one week after the discovery of Neptune, Le Verrier declared that there may be still another unknown planet out there. On October 10, Neptune's large moon Triton was discovered, which yielded an easy way to determine accurately the mass of Neptune, which turned out to be 2% larger than expected from the perturbations upon Uranus. It seemed as if the deviations in Uranus' motion really was caused by two planets -- in addition the real orbit of Neptune turned out to be significantly different from the orbits predicted by both Adams and Le Verrier.

In 1850 Ferguson was observing the motion of the minor planet Hygeia. One reader of Ferguson's report was Hind, who checked the reference stars used by Ferguson. Hind was unable to find one of Ferguson's reference stars. Maury, at the Naval Observatory, was also unable to find that star. During a few years it was believed that this was an observation of yet another planet, but in 1879 another explanation was offered: Ferguson had made a mistake when recording his observation -- when that mistake was corrected, another star nicely fit his 'missing reference star'.

The first serious attempt to find a trans-Neptunian planet was done in 1877 by David Todd. He used a "graphical method", and despite the inconclusivenesses of the residuals of Uranus, he derived elements for a trans-Neptunian planet: mean distance 52 a.u., period 375 years, magnitude fainter than 13. Its longitude for 1877.84 was given 170 degrees with an uncertainty of 10 degrees. The inclination was 1.40 degrees and the longitude of the ascending node 103 degrees.

In 1879, Camille Flammarion added another hint as to the existence of a planet beyond Neptune: the aphelia of periodic comets tend to cluster around the orbits of major planets. Jupiter has the greatest share of such comets, and Saturn, Uranus and Neptune also have a few each. Flammarion found two comets, 1862 III with a period of 120 years and aphelion at 47.6 a.u., and 1889 II, with a somewhat longer period and aphelion at 49.8 a.u. Flammarion suggested that the hypothetical planet probably moved at 45 a.u.

One year later, in 1880, professor Forbes published a memoir concerning the aphelia of comets and their association with planetary orbits. By about 1900 five comets were known with aphelia outside Neptune's orbit, and then Forbes suggested one trans-Neptunian moved at a distance of about 100 a.u., and another one at 300 a.u., with periods of 1000 and 5000 years.

During the next five years, several astronomers/mathematicians published their own ideas of what might be found in the outer parts of the solar system. Gaillot at Paris Observatory assumed two trans-Neptunian planets at 45 and 60 a.u. Thomas Jefferson Jackson See predicted three trans-Neptunian planets: "Oceanus" at 41.25 a.u. and period 272 years, "trans-Oceanus" at 56 a.u. and period 420 years, and finally another one at 72 a.u. and period 610 years. Dr Theodor Grigull of Munster, Germany, assumed in 1902 a Uranus-sized planet at 50 a.u. and period 360 years, which he called "Hades". Grigull based his work mainly on the orbits of comets with aphelia beyond Neptune's orbit, with a cross check whether the gravitational pull of such a body would produce the observed deviations in Uranus motion. In 1921 Grigull revised the orbital period of "Hades" to 310-330 years, to better fit the observed deviations.

In 1900 Hans-Emil Lau, Copenhagen, published elements of two trans-Neptunian planets at 46.6 and 70.7 a.u. distance, with masses of 9 and 47.2 times the Earth, and a magnitude for the nearer planet around 10-11. The 1900 longitudes of those hypothetical bodies were 274 and 343 degrees, both with the very large uncertainty of 180 degrees.

In 1901, Gabriel Dallet deduced a hypothetical planet at 47 a.u. with a magnitude of 9.5-10.5 and a 1900 longitude of 358 degrees. The same year Theodor Grigull derived a longitude of a trans-Neptunian planet less than 6 degrees away from Dallet's planet, and later brought the difference down to 2.5 degrees. This planet was supposed to be 50.6 a.u. distant.

In 1904, Thomas Jefferson Jackson See suggested three trans-Neptunian planets, at 42.25, 56 and 72 a.u. The inner planet had a period of 272.2 years and a longitude in 1904 of 200 degrees. A Russian general named Alexander Garnowsky suggested four hypothetical planets but failed to supply any details about them.

The two most carefully worked out predictions for the Trans-Neptune were both of American origin: Pickering's "A search for a planet beyond Neptune" (Annals Astron. Obs. Harvard Coll, vol LXI part II 1909), and Percival Lowell's "Memoir on a trans-Neptunian planet" (Lynn, Mass 1915). They were concerned with the same subject but used different approaches and arrived at different results.

Pickering used a graphical analysis and suggested a "Planet O" at 51.9 a.u. with a period of 373.5 years, a mass twice the Earth's and a magnitude of 11.5-14. Pickering suggested eight other trans-Neptunian planets during the forthcoming 24 years. Pickerings results caused Gaillot to revise the distances of his two trans-Neptunians to 44 and 66 a.u., and he gave them masses of 5 and 24 Earth masses.

All in all, from 1908 to 1932, Pickering proposed seven hypothetical planets -- O, P, Q, R, S, T and U. His final elements for O and P define completely different bodies than the original ones, so the total can be set at nine, certainly the record for planetary prognostication. Most of Pickerings predictions are only of passing interest as curiosities. In 1911 Pickering suggested that planet Q had a mass of 20,000 Earths, making it 63 times more massive than Jupiter or about 1/6 the Sun's mass, close to a star of minimal mass. Pickering said planet Q had a highly elliptical orbit.

In later years only planet P seriously occupied his attention. In 1928 he reduced the distance of P from 123 to 67.7 a.u., and its period from 1400 to 556.6 years. He gave P a mass of 20 Earth masses and a magnitude of 11. In 1931, after the discovery of Pluto, he issued another elliptical orbit for P: distance 75.5 a.u., period 656 years, mass 50 Earth masses, eccentricity 0.265, inclination 37 degrees, close to the values given for the 1911 orbit. His Planet S, proposed in 1928 and given elements in 1931, was put at 48.3 a.u. distance (close to Lowell's Planet X at 47.5 a.u.), period 336 years, mass 5 Earths, magnitude 15. In 1929 Pickering proposed planet U, distance 5.79 a.u., period 13.93 years, i.e. barely outside Jupiter's orbit. Its mass was 0.045 Earth masses, eccentricity 0.26. The least of Pickering's planets is planet T, suggested in 1931: distance 32.8 a.u., period 188 years.

Pickering's different elements for planet O were:

      Mean dist  Period      Mass     Magnitude  Node Incl Longitude
1908    51.9     373.5 y   2 earth's   11.5-13.4             105.13
1919    55.1     409   y                  15      100  15
1928    35.23    209.2 y   0.5 earth's    12

Percival Lowell, most well known as a proponent for canals on Mars, built a private observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona. Lowell called his hypothetical planet Planet X, and performed several searches for it, without success. Lowell's first search for Planet X came to an end in 1909, but in 1913 he started a second search, with a new prediction of Planet X: epoch 1850-01-01, mean long 11.67 deg, perih. long 186, eccentricity 0.228, mean dist 47.5 a.u. long arc node 110.99 deg, inclination 7.30 deg, mass 1/21000 solar masses. Lowell and others searched in vain for this Planet X in 1913-1915. In 1915, Lowell published his theoretical results of Planet X. It is ironical that this very same year, 1915, two faint images of Pluto was recorded at Lowell observatory, although they were never recognized as such until after the discovery of Pluto (1930). Lowell's failure of finding Planet X was his greatest disappointment in life. He didn't spend much time looking for Planet X during the last two years of his life. Lowell died in 1916. On the nearly 1000 plates exposed in this second search were 515 asteroids, 700 variable stars and 2 images of Pluto!

The third search for Planet X began in April 1927. No progress was made in 1927-1928. In December 1929 a young farmer's boy and amateur astronomer, Clyde Tombaugh from Kansas, was hired to do the search. Tombaugh started his work in April 1929. On January 23 and 29, Tombaugh exposed the pair of plates on which he found Pluto when examining them on February 18. By then Tombaugh had examined hundreds of plate pairs and millions of stars. The search for Planet X had come to an end.

Or had it? The new planet, later named Pluto, turned out to be disappointingly small, perhaps only one Earth mass but probably only about 1/10 Earth masses or smaller (in 1979, when Pluto's satellite Charonwas discovered, the mass of the Pluto-Charon pair turned out to be only about 1/400 Earth mass!). Planet X must, if it was causing those perturbations in the orbit of Uranus, be much larger than that! Tombaugh continued his search another 13 years, and examined the sky from the north celestial pole to 50 deg. south declination, down to magnitude 16-17, sometimes even 18. Tombaugh examined some 90 million images of some 30 million stars over more than 30,000 square degrees on the sky. He found one new globular cluster, 5 new open star clusters, one new supercluster of 1800 galaxies and several new small galaxy clusters, one new comet, about 775 new asteroids -- but no new planet except Pluto. Tombaugh concluded that no unknown planet brighter than magnitude 16.5 did exist -- only a planet in an almost polar orbit and situated near the south celestial pole could have escaped his detection. He could have picked up a Neptune-sized planet at seven times the distance of Pluto, or a Pluto-sized planet out to 60 a.u.

The naming of Pluto is a story by itself. Early suggestions of the name of the new planet were: Atlas, Zymal, Artemis, Perseus, Vulcan, Tantalus, Idana, Cronus. The New York Times suggested Minerva, reporters suggested Osiris, Bacchus, Apollo, Erebus. Lowell's widow suggested Zeus, but later changed her mind to Constance. Many people suggested the planet be named Lowell. The staff of the Flagstaff observatory, where Pluto was discovered, suggested Cronus, Minerva, and Pluto. A few months later the planet was officially named Pluto. The name Pluto was originally suggested by Venetia Burney, an 11-year-old schoolgirl in Oxford, England.

The very first orbit computed for Pluto yielded an eccentricity of 0.909 and a period of 3000 years! This cast some doubt whether it was a planet or not. However, a few months later, considerably better orbital elements for Pluto were obtained. Below is a comparison of the orbital elements of Lowell's Planet X, Pickering's Planet O, and Pluto:

                          Lowell's X    Pickering's O    Pluto

a (mean dist)                43.0           55.1          39.5
e (eccentricity)              0.202          0.31          0.248
i (inclination)              10             15            17.1
N (long asc node)          (not pred)      100           109.4
W (long perihelion)        204.9           280.1         223.4
T (perihelion date)       Febr 1991       Jan 2129      Sept 1989
u (mean annual motion)       1.2411          0.880         1.451
P (period, years)          282             409.1         248
T (perihel. date)         1991.2          2129.1        1989.8
E (long 1930.0)            102.7           102.6         108.5
m (mass, Earth=1)            6.6             2.0           0.002
M (magnitude)              12-13            15            15

The mass of Pluto was very hard to determine. Several values were given at different times -- the matter wasn't settled until James W. Christy discovered Pluto's moon Charon in June 1978 -- Pluto was then shown to have only 20% of the mass of our Moon! That made Pluto hopelessly inadequate to produce measurable gravitational perturbations on Uranus and Neptune. Pluto could not be Lowell's Planet X -- the planet found was not the planet sought. What seemed to be another triumph of celestial mechanics turned out to be an accident -- or rather a result of the intelligence and thoroughness of Clyde Tombaugh's search.

The mass of Pluto:

    Crommelin 1930:     0.11      (Earth masses)
    Nicholson 1931:     0.94
    Wylie, 1942:        0.91
    Brouwer, 1949:      0.8-0.9
    Kuiper, 1950:       0.10
    1965:              <0.14    (occultation of faint star by Pluto)
    Seidelmann, 1968:   0.14
    Seidelmann, 1971:   0.11
    Cruikshank, 1976:   0.002
    Christy, 1978:      0.002   (Charon discovered)

Another short-lived trans-Neptunian suspect was reported on April 22 1930 by R.M. Stewart in Ottawa, Canada -- it was reported from plates taken in 1924. Crommelin computed an orbit (dist 39.82 a.u., asc node 280.49 deg, inclination 49.7 deg!). Tombaugh searched for the "Ottawa object" without finding it. Several other searches were made, but nothing was ever found.

Meanwhile Pickering continued to predict new planets (see above). Others also predicted new planets on theoretical grounds (Lowell himself had already suggested a second trans-Neptunian at about 75 a.u.). In 1946, Francis M. E. Sevin suggested a trans-Plutonian planet at 78 a.u. He first derived this from a curious empirical method where he grouped the planets and the erratic asteroid Hidalgo, into two groups of inner and outer bodies:

   Group I:     Mercury   Venus   Earth    Mars   Asteroids  Jupiter
   Group II:      ?       Pluto   Neptune  Uranus  Saturn    Hidalgo

He then added the logarithms of the periods of each pair of planets, finding a roughly constant sum of about 7.34. Assuming this sum to be valid for Mercury and the trans-Plutonian too, he arrived at a period of about 677 years for "Transpluto". Later Sevin worked out a full set of elements for "Transpluto": dist 77.8 a.u., period 685.8 years, eccentricity 0.3, mass 11.6 Earth masses. His prediction stirred little interest among astronomers.

In 1950, K. Schutte of Munich used data from eight periodic comets to suggest a trans-Plutonian planet at 77 a.u. Four years later, H. H. Kitzinger of Karlsruhe, using the same eight comets, extended and refined the work, finding the supposed planet to be at 65 a.u., with a period of 523.5 years, an orbital inclination of 56 degrees, and an estimated magnitude of 11. In 1957, Kitzinger reworked the problem and arrived at new elements: dist 75.1 a.u., period 650 years, inclination 40 degrees, magnitude around 10. After unsuccessful photographic searches, he re-worked the problem once again in 1959, arriving at a mean dist of 77 a.u., period 675.7 years, inclination 38 degrees, eccentricity 0.07, a planet not unlike Sevin's "Transpluto" and in some ways similar to Pickering's final Planet P. No such planet has ever been found, though.

Halley's Comet has also been used as a "probe" for trans-plutonian planets. In 1942 R. S. Richardson found that an Earth-sized planet at 36.2 a.u., or 1 a.u. beyond Halley's aphelion, would delay Halley's perihelion passage so that it agreed better with observations. A planet at 35.3 a.u. of 0.1 Earth masses would have a similar effect. In 1972, Brady predicted a planet at 59.9 a.u., period 464 years, eccentricity 0.07, inclination 120 degrees (i.e. being in a retrograde orbit), magnitude 13-14, size about Saturn's size. Such a trans-Plutonian planet would reduce the residuals of Halley's Comet significantly back to the 1456 perihelion passage. This gigantic trans-Plutonian planet was also searched for, but never found.

Tom van Flandern examined the positions of Uranus and Neptune in the 1970s. The calculated orbit of Neptune fit observations only for a few years, and then started to drift away. Uranus orbit fit the observations during one revolution but not during the previous revolution. In 1976 Tom van Flandern became convinced that there was a tenth planet. After the discovery of Charon in 1978 showed the mass of Pluto to be much smaller than expected, van Flandern convinced his USNO colleague Robert S. Harrington of the existence of this tenth planet. They started to collaborate by investigate the Neptunian satellite system. Soon their views diverged. van Flandern thought the tenth planet had formed beyond Neptune's orbit, while Harrington believed it had formed between the orbits of Uranus and Neptune. van Flandern thought more data was needed, such as an improved mass for Neptune furnished by Voyager 2. Harrington started to search for the planet by brute force -- he started in 1979, and by 1987 he had still not found any planet. van Flandern and Harrington suggested that the tenth planet might be near aphelion in a highly elliptical orbit. If the planet is dark, it might be as faint as magnitude 16-17, suggests van Flandern.

In 1987, Whitmire and Matese suggested a tenth planet at 80 a.u. with a period of 700 years and an inclination of perhaps 45 degrees, as an alternative to their "Nemesis" hypothesis. However, according to Eugene M. Shoemaker, this planet could not have caused those meteor showers that Whitmire and Matese suggested (see below).

In 1987, John Anderson at JPL examined the motions of the spacecraft Pioneer 10 and Pioneer 11, to see if any deflection due to unknown gravity forces could be found. None was found -- from this Anderson concluded that a tenth planet most likely exists! JPL had excluded observations of Uranus prior to 1910 in their ephemerides, while Anderson had confidence in the earlier observations as well. Anderson concluded that the tenth planet must have a highly elliptical orbit, carrying it far away to be undetectable now but periodically bringing it close enough to leave its disturbing signature on the paths of the outer planets. He suggests a mass of five Earth masses, an orbital period of about 700-1000 years, and a highly inclined orbit. Its perturbations on the outer planets won't be detected again until 2600. Anderson hoped that the two Voyagers would help to pin down the location of this planet.

Conley Powell, from JPL, also analyzed the planetary motions. He also found that the observations of Uranus suddenly did fit the calculations much better after 1910 than before. Powell suggested a planet with 2.9 Earth masses at 60.8 a.u. from the Sun, a period of 494 years, inclination 8.3 degrees and only a small eccentricity. Powell was intrigued that the period was approximately twice Pluto's and three times Neptune's period, suggesting that the planet he thought he saw in the data had an orbit stabilized by mutual resonance with its nearest neighbours despite their vast separation. The solution called for the planet to be in Gemini, and also being brighter than Pluto when it was discovered. A search was performed in 1987 at Lowell Observatory for Powell's planet -- nothing was found. Powell re-examined his solution and revised the elements: 0.87 Earth masses, distance 39.8 a.u., period 251 years, eccentricity 0.26, i.e. an orbit very similar to Pluto's! Currently, Powell's new planet should be in Leo, at magnitude 12, however Powell thinks it's premature to search for it, he needs to examine his data further.

Even if no trans-Plutonian planet ever was found, the interest was focused to the outer parts of the solar system. The erratic asteroid Hidalgo, moving in an orbit between Jupiter and Saturn, has already been mentioned. In 1977-1984 Charles Kowal performed a new systematic search for undiscovered bodies in the solar system, using Palomar Observatory's 48-inch Schmidt telescope. In October 1987 he found the asteroid 1977 UB, later named Chiron, moving at mean distance 13.7 a.u., period 50.7 years, eccentricity 0.3786, inclination 6.923 deg, diameter about 50 km. During his search, Kowal also found 5 comets and 15 asteroids, including Chiron, the most distant asteroid known when it was discovered. Kowal also recovered 4 lost comets and one lost asteroid. Kowal did not find a tenth planet, and concluded that there was no unknown planet brighter than 20th magnitude within 3 degrees of the ecliptic.

Chiron was first announced as a "tenth planet", but was immediately designated as an asteroid. But Kowal suspected it may be very comet-like, and later it has even developed a short cometary tail! In 1995 Chiron was also classified as a comet - it is certainly the largest comet we know about.

In 1992 an even more distant asteroid was found: Pholus. Later in 1992 an asteroid outside Pluto's orbit was found, followed by five additional trans-Plutonian asteroids in 1993 and at least a dozen in 1994!

Meanwhile, the spacecraft Pioneer 10 and 11 and Voyagers 1 and 2 had travelled outside the solar system, and could also be used as "probes" for unknown gravitational forces possibly from unknown planets -- nothing has been found. The Voyagers also yielded more accurate masses for the outer planets -- when these updated masses were inserted in the numerical integrations of the solar system, the residuals in the positions of the outer planets finally disappeared. It seems like the search for "Planet X" finally has come to an end. There was no "Planet X" (Pluto doesn't really count), but instead an asteroid belt outside Neptune/Pluto was found! The asteroids outside Jupiter's orbit that were known in August 1993 are as follows:

Asteroid    a      e      Incl     Node   Arg perih Mean an  Per  Name
           a.u.           deg      deg      deg      deg      yr

 944     5.79853 .658236 42.5914  21.6567  56.8478  60.1911  14.0 Hidalgo
2060    13.74883 .384822  6.9275 209.3969 339.2884 342.1686  51.0 Chiron
5145    20.44311 .575008 24.6871 119.3877 354.9451   7.1792  92.4 Pholus
5335    11.89073 .866990 61.8583 314.1316 191.3015  23.3556  41.0 Damocles

1992QB1 43.82934 .087611  2.2128 359.4129  44.0135 324.1086  290 
1993FW  43.9311  .04066   7.745  187.914  359.501    0.4259  291 

                  Epoch:  1993-08-01.0  TT

In November 1994 these trans-Neptunian asteroids were known:

Object     a     e     incl     R Mag   Diam    Discovery  Discoverers
          a.u.          deg             km       Date

1992 QB1  43.9  0.070   2.2     22.8    283     1992 Aug  Jewitt & Luu
1993 FW   43.9  0.047   7.7     22.8    286     1993 Mar  Jewitt & Luu
1993 RO   39.3  0.198   3.7     23.2    139     1993 Sep  Jewitt & Luu
1993 RP   39.3  0.114   2.6     24.5     96     1993 Sep  Jewitt & Luu
1993 SB   39.4  0.321   1.9     22.7    188     1993 Sep  Williams et al.
1993 SC   39.5  0.185   5.2     21.7    319     1993 Sep  Williams et al.
1994 ES2  45.3  0.012   1.0     24.3    159     1994 Mar  Jewitt & Luu
1994 EV3  43.1  0.043   1.6     23.3    267     1994 Mar  Jewitt & Luu
1994 GV9  42.2  0.000   0.1     23.1    264     1994 Apr  Jewitt & Luu
1994 JQ1  43.3  0.000   3.8     22.4    382     1994 May  Irwin et al.
1994 JR1  39.4  0.118   3.8     22.9    238     1994 May  Irwin et al.
1994 JS   39.4  0.081   14.6    22.4    263     1994 May  Luu & Jewitt 
1994 JV   39.5  0.125   16.5    22.4    254     1994 May  Jewitt & Luu 
1994 TB   31.7  0.000   10.2    21.5    258     1994 Oct  Jewitt & Chen
1994 TG   42.3  0.000   6.8     23.0    232     1994 Oct  Chen et al.
1994 TG2  41.5  0.000   3.9     24.0    141     1994 Oct  Hainaut 
1994 TH   40.9  0.000   16.1    23.0    217     1994 Oct  Jewitt et al.
1994 VK8  43.5  0.000   1.4     22.5    273     1994 Nov  Fitzwilliams et al.

Diameter is in km (and is based on the magnitudes and a guess at albedo,
                   and is given to too many significant figures)

The trans-Neptunian bodies seem to form two groups. One group, composed of Pluto, 1993 SC, 1993 SB and 1993 RO, have eccentric orbits and a 3:2 resonance with Neptune. The second group, including 1992 QB1 and 1993 FW, is slightly further out and in rather low eccentricity.

Nemesis, the Sun's companion star, 1983-present

Suppose our Sun was not alone but had a companion star. Suppose that this companion star moved in an elliptical orbit, its solar distance varying between 90,000 a.u. (1.4 light years) and 20,000 a.u., with a period of 30 million years. Also suppose this star is dark or at least very faint, and because of that we haven't noticed it yet.

This would mean that once every 30 million years that hypothetical companion star of the Sun would pass through the Oort cloud (a hypothetical cloud of proto-comets at a great distance from the Sun). During such a passage, the proto-comets in the Oort cloud would be stirred around. Some tens of thousands of years later, here on Earth we would notice a dramatic increase in the the number of comets passing the inner solar system. If the number of comets increases dramatically, so does the risk of the Earth colliding with the nucleus of one of those comets.

When examining the Earth's geological record, it appears that about once every 30 million years a mass extinction of life on Earth has occurred. The most well-known of those mass extinctions is of course the dinosaur extinction some 65 million years ago. About 25 million years from now it's time for the next mass extinction, according to this hypothesis.

This hypothetical "death companion" of the Sun was suggested in 1985 by Daniel P. Whitmire and John J. Matese, Univ of Southern Louisiana. It has even received a name: Nemesis. One awkward fact of the Nemesis hypothesis is that there is no evidence whatever of a companion star of the Sun. It need not be very bright or very massive, a star much smaller and dimmer than the Sun would suffice, even a brown or a black dwarf (a planet-like body insufficiently massive to start "burning hydrogen" like a star). It is possible that this star already exists in one of the catalogues of dim stars without anyone having noted something peculiar, namely the enormous apparent motion of that star against the background of more distant stars (i.e. its parallax). If it should be found, few will doubt that it is the primary cause of periodic mass extinctions on Earth.

But this is also a notion of mythical power. If an anthropologist of a previous generation had heard such a story from his informants, the resulting scholarly tome would doubtless use words like 'primitive' or 'pre-scientific'. Consider this story:

There is another Sun in the sky, a Demon Sun we cannot see. Long ago, even before great grandmother's time, the Demon Sun attacked our Sun. Comets fell, and a terrible winter overtook the Earth. Almost all life was destroyed. The Demon Sun has attacked many times before. It will attack again.

This is why some scientists thought this Nemesis theory was a joke when they first heard of it -- an invisible Sun attacking the Earth with comets sounds like delusion or myth. It deserves an additional dollop of skepticism for that reason: we are always in danger of deceiving ourselves. But even if the theory is speculative, it's serious and respectable, because its main idea is testable: you find the star and examine its properties.

However, since the examination of the entire sky in the far IR by IRAS with no "Nemesis" found, the existence of "Nemesis" is not very likely.

Schlyter, Paul. "Appendix 7:Hypothetical Planets." Nine Planets. nineplanets.org, n.d. Web. 7 Nov 2011. <http://nineplanets.org/hypo.html

Interesting Facts

2011-10-30T09:51:00.000-07:00

1,525,000,000 miles of telephone wire a strung across the U.S.
101 Dalmatians and Peter Pan (Wendy) are the only two Disney cartoon features with both parents that are present and don't die throughout the movie.
111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321
12 newborns will be given to the wrong parents daily.
123,000,000 cars are being driven down the U.S's highways.
160 cars can drive side by side on the Monumental Axis in Brazil, the world's widest road.
166,875,000,000 pieces of mail are delivered each year in the U.S.
27% of U.S. male college students believe life is "A meaningless existential hell."
315 entries in Webster's Dictionary will be misspelled.
5% of Canadians don't know the first 7 words of the Canadian anthem, but know the first 9 of the American anthem.
56,000,000 people go to Major League baseball each year.
7% of Americans don't know the first 9 words of the American anthem, but know the first 7 of the Canadian anthem.
85,000,000 tons of paper are used each year in the U.S.
99% of the solar systems mass is concentrated in the sun.
A 10-gallon hat barely holds 6 pints.
A cat has 32 muscles in each ear.
A cockroach can live several weeks with its head cut off.
A company in Taiwan makes dinnerware out of wheat, so you can eat your plate.
A cow produces 200 times more gas a day than a person.
A dime has 118 ridges around the edge.
A dragonfly has a lifespan of 24 hours.
A fully loaded supertanker travelling at normal speed takes a least twenty minutes to stop.
A giraffe can clean its ears with its 21-inch tongue.
A giraffe can go without water longer than a camel can.
A goldfish has a memory span of three seconds.
A hard working adult sweats up to 4 gallons per day. Most of the sweat evaporates before a person realizes it's there.
A hedgehog's heart beats 300 times a minute on average.
A hippo can open its mouth wide enough to fit a 4 foot tall child inside.
A hummingbird weighs less than a penny.
A jellyfish is 95 percent water.
A "jiffy" is an actual unit of time for 1/100th of a second.
A jumbo jet uses 4,000 gallons of fuel to take off.
A male emperor moth can smell a female emperor moth up to 7 miles away.
A man named Charles Osborne had the hiccups for 6 years. Wow.
A mole can dig a tunnel 300 feet long in just one night.
A monkey was once tried and convicted for smoking a cigarette in South Bend, Indiana.
A pig's orgasm lasts for 30 minutes.
A pregnant goldfish is called a twit.
A Saudi Arabian woman can get a divorce if her husband doesn't give her coffee.
A shark is the only fish that can blink with both eyes.
A quarter has 119 grooves on its edge, a dime has one less groove.
A shark can detect one part of blood in 100 million parts of water.
A skunk can spray its stinky scent more than 10 feet.
A sneeze travels out your mouth at over 100 m.p.h.
A toothpick is the object most often choked on by Americans!
A walla-walla scene is one where extras pretend to be talking in the background -- when they say "walla-walla" it looks like they are actually talking.
A whale's penis is called a dork.
About 3000 years ago, most Egyptians died by the time they were 30.
About 70% of Americans who go to college do it just to make more money. [The rest of us are avoiding reality for four more years.]
According to a British law passed in 1845, attempting to commit suicide was a capital offense. Offenders could be hanged for trying.
Actor Tommy Lee Jones and former vice-president Al Gore were freshman roommates at Harvard.
Al Capone's business card said he was a used furniture dealer.
All 50 states are listed across the top of the Lincoln Memorial on the back of the $5 bill.
All of the clocks in the movie "Pulp Fiction" are stuck on 4:20.
All porcupines float in water.
Almonds are a member of the peach family.
Almost a quarter of the land area of Los Angeles is taken up by automobiles.
America once issued a 5-cent bill.
America's first nudist organization was founded in 1929, by 3 men.
Ancient Egyptians slept on pillows made of stone.
An animal epidemic is called an epizootic.
An average person laughs about 15 times a day.
An iguana can stay under water for 28 minutes.
An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain.
Armadillos are the only animal besides humans that can get leprosy.
Armadillos have four babies at a time and they are always all the same sex.
Armored knights raised their visors to identify themselves when they rode past their king. This custom has become the modern military salute.
Aztec emperor Montezuma had a nephew, Cuitlahac, whose name meant "plenty of excrement."
Babe Ruth wore a cabbage leaf under is cap to keep him cool. He changed it every 2 innings.
Babies are born without knee caps. They don't appear until the child reaches 2-6 years of age.
Baby robins eat 14 feet of earthworms every day.
Back in the mid to late 1980's, an IBM-compatible computer wasn't considered a hundred percent compatible unless it could run Microsoft's Flight Simulator.
Bank robber John Dillinger played professional baseball.
Barbie's measurements if she were life size: 39-23-33.
Bats always turn left when exiting a cave.
Ben and Jerry's send the waste from making ice cream to local pig farmers to use as feed. Pigs love the stuff, except for one flavor: Mint Oreo.
Bird droppings are the chief export of Nauru, an island nation in the Western Pacific.
Blueberry Jelly Bellies were created especially for Ronald Reagan.
Bubble gum contains rubber.
Camel's milk does not curdle.
Camels have three eyelids to protect themselves from blowing sand.
Canada is an Indian word meaning "Big Village".
Cat's urine glows under a blacklight.
Cats can produce over one hundred vocal sounds, while dogs can only produce about ten.
Charles Lindbergh took only four sandwiches with him on his famous transatlantic flight.
Chewing gum while peeling onions will keep you from crying.
Clans of long ago that wanted to get rid of their unwanted people without killing them use to burn their houses down - hence the expression "to get fired."
Cleo and Caesar were the early stage names of Cher and Sonny Bono.
Columbia University is the second largest landowner in New York City, after the Catholic Church.
David Prowse was the guy in the Darth Vader suit in Star Wars. He spoke all of Vader's lines, and didn't know that he was going to be dubbed over by James Earl Jones until he saw the screening of the movie.
Did you know that there are coffee flavored PEZ?
Dogs and cats consume almost $7 billion worth of pet food a year.
Dolphins sleep with one eye open.
Donald Duck comics were banned from Finland because he doesn't wear pants.
Dr. Samuel A. Mudd was the physician who set the leg of Lincoln's assassin John Wilkes Booth... and whose shame created the expression for ignominy, "His name is Mudd."
Dr. Seuss pronounced "Seuss" such that it rhymed with "rejoice."
"Dreamt" is the only English word that ends in the letters "mt."
Dueling is legal in Paraguay as long as both parties are registered blood donors.
During your lifetime, you'll eat about 60,000 pounds of food, that's the weight of about 6 elephants.
Einstein couldn't speak fluently when he was nine. His parents thought he might be retarded.
Emus and kangaroos cannot walk backwards, and are on the Australian coat of arms for that reason.
Eskimo ice cream is neither icy, or creamy.
Even if you cut off a cockroach's head, it can live for several weeks.
Every person has a unique tongue print.
Every time Beethoven sat down to write music, he poured ice water over his head.
Every time you lick a stamp, you're consuming 1/10 of a calorie.
Facetious and abstemious contain all the vowels in the correct order, as does arsenious, meaning "containing arsenic."
February 1865 is the only month in recorded history not to have a full moon.
Fingernails grow nearly 4 times faster than toenails.
Fortune cookies were actually invented in America, in 1918, by Charles Jung.
Gilligan of Gilligan's Island had a first name that was only used once, on the never-aired pilot show. His first name was Willy. The skipper's real name on Gilligan's Island is Jonas Grumby. It was mentioned once in the first episode on their radio's newscast about the wreck.
Giraffes have no vocal cords.
Goethe couldn't stand the sound of barking dogs and could only write if he had an apple rotting in the drawer of his desk.
Hang On Sloopy is the official rock song of Ohio.
Hershey's Kisses are called that because the machine that makes them looks like it's kissing the conveyor belt.
Honeybees have hair on their eyes.
Human teeth are almost as hard as rocks.
Human thigh bones are stronger than concrete.
Hydroxydesoxycorticosterone and hydroxydeoxycorticosterones are the largest anagrams.
Hypnotism is banned by public schools in San Diego.
"I am." is the shortest complete sentence in the English language.
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.
If NASA sent birds into space they would soon die; they need gravity to swallow.
If you bring a raccoon's head to the Henniker, New Hampshire town hall, you are entitled to receive $.10 from the town.
If you have three quarters, four dimes, and four pennies, you have $1.19. You also have the largest amount of money in coins without being able to make change for a dollar.
If you toss a penny 10,000 times, it will not be heads 5,000 times, but more like 4,950. The heads picture weighs more, so it ends up on the bottom.
If your eyes are six feet above the surface of the ocean, the horizon will be about three statute miles away.
In 1980, a Las Vegas hospital suspended workers for betting on when patients would die.
In 1980, there was only one country in the world with no telephones - Bhutan.
In 1983, a Japanese artist made a copy of the Mona Lisa completely out of toast.
In 1984, a Canadian farmer began renting ad space on his cows.
In 75% of American households, women manage the money and pay the bills.
In Bangladesh, kids as young as 15 can be jailed for cheating on their finals.
In England, in the 1880's, "Pants" were considered a dirty word.
In England, the Speaker of the House is not allowed to speak.
In every episode of "Seinfeld" there is a Superman somewhere.
In Kentucky, 50 percent of the people who get married for the first time are teenagers.
In Los Angeles, there are fewer people than there are automobiles.
In most advertisements, including newspapers, the time displayed on a watch is 10:10.
In space, astronauts cannot cry, because there is no gravity, so the tears can't flow.
In the 1940s, the FCC assigned television's Channel 1 to mobile services (two-way radios in taxicabs, for instance) but did not re-number the other channel assignments. That is why your TV set has channels 2 and up, but no channel 1.
In the great fire of London in 1666 half of London was burnt down but only 6 people were injured.
In the last 4000 years, no new animals have been domesticated.
In the movie "Casablanca," Humphrey Bogart never said "Play it again, Sam."
In the White House, there are 13,092 knives, forks and spoons.
In Tokyo, they sell toupees for dogs.
Isaac Asimov is the only author to have a book in every Dewey-decimal category.
It takes a lobster approximately seven years to grow to be one pound.
It takes about a half a gallon of water to cook macaroni, and about a gallon to clean the pot.
It was discovered on a space mission that a frog can throw up. The frog throws up its stomach first, so the stomach is dangling out of its mouth. Then the frog uses its forearms to dig out all of the stomach's contents and then swallows the stomach back down again.
It was once against the law to have a pet dog in a city in Iceland.
It was once against the law to slam your car door in a city in Switzerland.
It's against the law to burp, or sneeze in a certain church in Omaha, Nebraska.
It's against the law to catch fish with your bare hands in Kansas.
It's impossible to sneeze with your eyes open. (Don't try this at home!)
Ivory bar soap floating was a mistake. They had been overmixing the soap formula causing excess air bubbles that made it float. Customers wrote and told how much they loved that it floated, and it has floated ever since.
John Lennon's first girlfriend was named Thelma Pickles.
"Kemo Sabe" means "soggy shrub" in Navajo.
Kotex was first manufactured as bandages, during WWI.
Lee Harvey Oswald's cadaver tag sold at an auction for $6,600 in 1992.
Leonardo Da Vinci invented the scissors.
Lightning strikes about 6,000 times per minute on this planet.
Like fingerprints, everyone's tongue print is different.
Lincoln Logs were invented by Frank Lloyd Wright's son.
Lorne Greene had one of his nipples bitten off by an alligator while he was host of "Lorne Greene's Wild Kingdom."
Los Angeles's full name is "El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de los Angeles de Porciuncula" and can be abbreviated to 3.63% of its original size: "L.A."
Maine is the only state whose name is just one syllable.
Many hamsters only blink one eye at a time.
Mel Blanc (the voice of Bugs Bunny) was allergic to carrots.
Michael Jordan makes more money from Nike annually than all of the Nike factory workers in Malaysia combined.
Millie the White House dog earned more than 4 times as much as President Bush in 1991.
Money isn't made out of paper, it's made out of cotton.
Montpelier, VT is the only U.S. state capital without a McDonalds.
More Monopoly money is printed in a year, than real money printed throughout the world.
More people are killed annually by donkeys than die in air crashes.
More people use blue toothbrushes, than red ones.
Mosquitoes have teeth.
Most Americans' car horns beep in the key of F.
Most cows give more milk when they listen to music.
Most dust particles in your house are made from dead skin.
Most lipstick contains fish scales.
Mr. Rogers is an ordained minister.
Murphy's Oil Soap is the chemical most commonly used to clean elephants.
No word in the English language rhymes with month, orange, silver, and purple.
Non-dairy creamer is flammable.
Nutmeg is extremely poisonous if injected intravenously
On a Canadian two dollar bill, the flag flying over the Parliament Building is an American flag.
On an American one-dollar bill, there is an owl in the upper left-hand corner of the "1" encased in the "shield" and a spider hidden in the front upper right-hand corner.
One in every 4 americans has appeared on television.
One of the reasons marijuana is illegal today is because cotton growers in the 1930's lobbied against hemp farmers -- they saw it as competition. It is not as chemically addictive as is nicotine, alcohol, or caffeine.
One quarter of the bones in your body, are in your feet.
Only 55% of all Americans know that the sun is a star.
Only one person in two billion will live to be 116 or older.
Only two people signed the Declaration of Independence on July 4th, John Hancock and Charles Thomson. Most of the rest signed on August 2, but the last signature wasn't added until 5 years later.
Our eyes are always the same size from birth, but our nose and ears never stop growing.
Over 1000 birds a year die from smashing into windows.
Owls are one of the only birds who can see the color blue.
Pamela Anderson Lee is Canada's Centennial Baby, being the first baby born on the centennial anniversary of Canada's independence.
Peanuts are one of the ingredients of dynamite.
Penguins can jump as high as 6 feet in the air.
Pinocchio is Italian for "pine head."
Playing cards were issued to British pilots in WWII. If captured, they could be soaked in water and unfolded to reveal a map for escape.
Polar Bears trying to blend in with the ice will sometimes cover up their black nose with their paws.
Pollsters say that 40 percent of dog and cat owners carry pictures of the pets in their wallets.
Q is the only letter in the alphabet that does not appear in the name of any of the United States.
Recycling one glass jar, saves enough energy to watch T.V for 3 hours.
Reindeer like to eat bananas.
Research indicates that mosquitoes are attracted to people who have recently eaten bananas.
Rubber bands last longer when refrigerated.
Sherlock Holmes never said "Elementary, my dear Watson."
Sigmund Freud had a morbid fear of ferns.
Since 1896, the beginning of the modern Olympics, only Greece and Australia have participated in every Games.
Slugs have 4 noses.
Some ribbon worms will eat themselves if they can't find any food.
Some toothpaste's contain antifreeze.
Spotted skunks do handstands before they spray.
"Stewardesses" is the longest word that is typed with only the left hand.
Studies show that if a cat falls off the seventh floor of a building it has about thirty percent less chance of surviving than a cat that falls off the twentieth floor. It supposedly takes about eight floors for the cat to realize what is occurring, relax and correct itself.
Sylvia Miles had the shortest performance ever nominated for an Oscar with "Midnight Cowboy." Her entire role lasted only six minutes.
Texas is also the only state that is allowed to fly its state flag at the same height as the U.S. flag.
The airplane Buddy Holly died in was the "American Pie." (Thus the name of the Don McLean song.)
The average American drinks about 600 sodas a year.
The average American will eat about 11.9 pounds of cereal per year.
The average bank teller loses about $250 every year.
The average person falls asleep in seven minutes.
The average person has over 1,460 dreams a year.
The average person is about a quarter of an inch taller at night.
The average person laughs 15 times a day.
The average person's left hand does 56% of the typing.
The Baby Ruth candy bar was actually named after Grover Cleveland's baby daughter, Ruth.
The band Duran Duran got their name from an astronaut in the 1968 Jane Fonda movie "Barbarella.
The blesbok, a South African antelope, is almost the same color as grapejuice.
The Boston University Bridge (on Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts) is the only place in the world where a boat can sail under a train driving under a car driving under an airplane.
The characters Bert and Ernie on Sesame Street were named after Bert the cop and Ernie the taxi driver in Frank Capra's "Its A Wonderful Life".
The combination "ough" can be pronounced in nine different ways. The following sentence contains them all: "A rough-coated, dough-faced, thoughtful ploughman strode through the streets of Scarborough; after falling into a slough, he coughed and hiccoughed."
The company providing the liability insurance for the Republican National Convention in San Diego is the same firm that insured the maiden voyage of the RMS Titanic.
The condom - made originally of linen - was invented in the early 1500s.
The cruise liner, Queen Elizabeth II, moves only six inches for each gallon of diesel that it burns.
The Earth weighs around 6,588,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 tons.
The Eisenhower interstate system requires that one mile in every five must be straight. These straight sections are usable as airstrips in times of war or other emergencies.
The electric chair was invented by a dentist.
The elephant is the only mammal that can't jump.
The first Ford cars had Dodge engines.
The first known contraceptive was crocodile dung, used by Egyptians in 2000 B.C.
The first toilet ever seen on television was on "Leave It To Beaver."
The giant squid has the largest eyes in the world.
The glue on Israeli postage stamps is certified kosher.
The highest point in Pennsylvania is lower than the lowest point in Colorado.
The housefly hums in the middle octave, key of F.
The international telephone dialing code for Antarctica is 672.
The katydid bug hears through holes in its hind legs.
The "L.L." in L.L. Bean stands for Leon Leonwood.
The longest one-syllable word in the English language is "screeched."
The longest recorded flight of a chicken is thirteen seconds.
The longest word in the English language, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, is pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis. The only other word with the same amount of letters is pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconioses, its plural.
The Main Library at Indiana University sinks over an inch every year because when it was built, engineers failed to take into account the weight of all the books that would occupy the building.
The microwave was invented after a researcher walked by a radar tube and a chocolate bar melted in his pocket.
The moon is moving away at a tiny, although measurable distance from the earth every year. Do the math and you will clearly see that 85 million years ago it was orbiting the earth at a distance of about 35 feet from the earth's surface. This would explain the death of the dinosours; the tallest ones, anyway.
The most common name in the world is Mohammed.
The name for Oz in the "Wizard of Oz" was thought up when the creator, Frank Baum, looked at his filing cabinet and saw A-N, and O-Z, hence "Oz."
The name Jeep came from the abbreviation used in the army for the "General Purpose" vehicle, G.P.
The name Wendy was made up for the book "Peter Pan."
The national anthem of Greece has 158 verses. No one in Greece has memorized all 158 verses.
The Neanderthal's brain was bigger than yours is.
The oldest known goldfish lived to 41 years of age. Its name was Fred.
The only 15 letter word that can be spelled without repeating a letter is uncopyrightable.
The only nation whose name begins with an "A" but doesn't end in an "A" is Afghanistan.
The only two days of the year in which there are no professional sports games (MLB, NBA, NHL, or NFL) are the day before and the day after the Major League All-Star Game.
The penguin is the only bird who can swim, but not fly.
The Pentagon, in Arlington, Virginia, has twice as many bathrooms as is necessary. When it was built in the 1940s, the state of Virginia still had segregation laws requiring separate toilet facilities for blacks and whites.
The phrase, "It's all fun and games until someone loses an eye" is from Ancient Rome. The only rule during wrestling matches was, "No eye gouging." Everything else was allowed, but the only way to be disqualified was to poke someone's eye out.
The phrase "rule of thumb" is derived from an old English law which stated that you couldn't beat your wife with anything wider than your thumb.
The placement of a donkey's eyes in its' heads enables it to see all four feet at all times.
The praying mantis is the only insect that can turn its head.
The Ramses brand condom is named after the great pharaoh Ramses II who fathered over 160 children.
The reason firehouses have circular stairways is from the days of yore when the engines were pulled by horses. The horses were stabled on the ground floor and figured out how to walk up straight staircases.
The Sanskrit word for "war" means "desire for more cows."
The "save" icon on Microsoft Word shows a floppy disk, with the shutter on backwards.
The saying "it's so cold out there it could freeze the balls off a brass monkey" came from when they had old cannons like ones used in the Civil War. The cannonballs were stacked in a pyramid formation, called a brass monkey. When it got extremely cold outside they would crack and break off... thus the saying.
The sound of E.T. walking was made by someone squishing her hands in Jello.
The starfish is one of the only animals who can turn it's stomach inside-out.
The state of Florida is bigger than England.
The term "the whole 9 yards" came from WWII fighter pilots in the South Pacific. When arming their airplanes on the ground, the .50 caliber machine gun ammo belts measured exactly 27 feet, before being loaded into the fuselage. If the pilots fired all their ammo at a target, it got "the whole 9 yards."
The three best-known western names in China: Jesus Christ, Richard Nixon, and Elvis Presley.
The United States Government keeps its supply of silver at the United States Military Academy, West Point, New York.
The United States has never lost a war in which mules were used.
The verb "cleave" is the only English word with two synonyms which are antonyms of each other: adhere and separate.
The very first bomb dropped by the Allies on Berlin during World War II killed the only elephant in the Berlin Zoo.
The word "Checkmate" in chess comes from the Persian phrase "Shah Mat," which means "the king is dead".
The word "modem" is a contraction of the words "modulate, demodulate." (MOdulate DEModulate)
The word "samba" means "to rub navels together."
The world population of chickens is about equal to the number of people.
The worlds oldest piece of chewing gum is 9000 years old.
There are 293 ways to make change for a dollar.
There are 336 dimples on a regulation golf ball.
There are over 52.6 million dogs in the U.S.
There are more chickens than people in the world.
There are more plastic flamingos in America than real ones.
There are only four words in the English language which end in "-dous": tremendous, horrendous, stupendous, and hazardous.
There are only thirteen blimps in the world. Nine of them are in the United States.
There are two credit cards for every person in the United States.
There is a town in Newfoundland, Canada called Dildo.
There wasn't a single pony in the Pony Express, just horses.
Thomas Edison, lightbulb inventor, was afraid of the dark.
Tigers have striped skin, not just striped fur.
To escape the grip of a crocodile's jaws, push your thumbs into its eyeballs -- it will let you go instantly.
Two-thirds of the world's eggplant is grown in New Jersey.
Until 1796, there was a state in the United States called Franklin. Today it is known as Tennessee.
Until 1965, driving was done on the left-hand side on roads in Sweden. The conversion to right-hand was done on a weekday at 5pm. All traffic stopped as people switched sides. This time and day were chosen to prevent accidents where drivers would have gotten up in the morning and been too sleepy to realize that this was the day of the changeover.
When opossums are playing 'possum, they are not "playing." They actually pass out from sheer terror.
When snakes are born with two heads, they fight each other for food.
When the University of Nebraska Cornhuskers play football at home, the stadium becomes the state's third largest city.
White Out was invented by the mother of Mike Nesmith (formerly of the Monkees).
Who's that playing the piano on the "Mad About You" theme? Paul Reiser himself.
Wilma Flintstone's maiden name was Wilma Slaghoopal, and Betty Rubble's Maiden name was Betty Jean Mcbricker.
Windmills always turn counter-clockwise. Except for the windmills in Ireland.
Winston Churchill was born in a ladies' room during a dance.
Women's hearts beat faster than men's.
You blink over 20,000,000 times a year.
You can only smell 1/20th as well as a dog.
You'll eat about 35,000 cookies in a lifetime.
You're born with 300 bones, but when you get to be an adult, you only have 206.
You're more likely to get stung by a bee on a windy day than in any other weather.
Your heart beats over 100,000 times a day.
Your ribs move about 5 million times a year, everytime you breathe.
Your right lung takes in more air than your left one does.
Your stomach has to produce a new layer of mucus every two weeks otherwise it will digest itself.

Picky Toys-R-Us Clerks

2011-10-20T17:17:00.001-07:00

I had a $5 coupon off $25 of more and a $24.99 item and they wouldn't let me use my coupon because it was under $25. Annoying that people are so picky about a penny.

Dihydrogen Monoxide: A Site for the Stupid

2011-10-20T14:54:00.000-07:00

Dihydrogen Monoxide FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions About Dihydrogen Monoxide (DHMO)

What is Dihydrogen Monoxide?

Dihydrogen Monoxide (DHMO) is a colorless and odorless chemical compound, also referred to by some as Dihydrogen Oxide, Hydrogen Hydroxide, Hydronium Hydroxide, or simply Hydric acid. Its basis is the highly reactive hydroxyl radical, a species shown to mutate DNA, denature proteins, disrupt cell membranes, and chemically alter critical neurotransmitters. The atomic components of DHMO are found in a number of caustic, explosive and poisonous compounds such as Sulfuric Acid, Nitroglycerine and Ethyl Alcohol.

For more detailed information, including precautions, disposal procedures and storage requirements, refer to one of the Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) available for DHMO:

Should I be concerned about Dihydrogen Monoxide?

Yes, you should be concerned about DHMO! Although the U.S. Government and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) do not classify Dihydrogen Monoxide as a toxic or carcinogenic substance (as it does with better known chemicals such as hydrochloric acid and benzene), DHMO is a constituent of many known toxic substances, diseases and disease-causing agents, environmental hazards and can even be lethal to humans in quantities as small as a thimbleful.

Research conducted by award-winning U.S. scientist Nathan Zohner concluded that roughly 86 percent of the population supports a ban on dihydrogen monoxide. Although his results are preliminary, Zohner believes people need to pay closer attention to the information presented to them regarding Dihydrogen Monoxide. He adds that if more people knew the truth about DHMO then studies like the one he conducted would not be necessary.

A similar study conducted by U.S. researchers Patrick K. McCluskey and Matthew Kulick also found that nearly 90 percent of the citizens participating in their study were willing to sign a petition to support an outright ban on the use of Dihydrogen Monoxide in the United States.

Why haven't I heard about Dihydrogen Monoxide before?

Good question. Historically, the dangers of DHMO, for the most part, have been considered minor and manageable. While the more significant dangers of Dihydrogen Monoxide are currently addressed by a number of agencies including FDA, FEMA and CDC, public awareness of the real and daily dangers of Dihydrogen Monoxide is lower than some think it should be.

Critics of government often cite the fact that many politicians and others in public office do not consider Dihydrogen Monoxide to be a "politically beneficial" cause to get behind, and so the public suffers from a lack of reliable information on just what DHMO is and why they should be concerned.

Part of the blame lies with the public and society at large. Many do not take the time to understand Dihydrogen Monoxide, and what it means to their lives and the lives of their families.

Unfortunately, the dangers of DHMO have increased as world population has increased, a fact that the raw numbers and careful research both bear out. Now more than ever, it is important to be aware of just what the dangers of Dihydrogen Monoxide are and how we can all reduce the risks faced by ourselves and our families.

What are some of the dangers associated with DHMO?

Each year, Dihydrogen Monoxide is a known causative component in many thousands of deaths and is a major contributor to millions upon millions of dollars in damage to property and the environment. Some of the known perils of Dihydrogen Monoxide are:

Death due to accidental inhalation of DHMO, even in small quantities.
Prolonged exposure to solid DHMO causes severe tissue damage.
Excessive ingestion produces a number of unpleasant though not typically life-threatening side-effects.
DHMO is a major component of acid rain.
Gaseous DHMO can cause severe burns.
Contributes to soil erosion.
Leads to corrosion and oxidation of many metals.
Contamination of electrical systems often causes short-circuits.
Exposure decreases effectiveness of automobile brakes.
Found in biopsies of pre-cancerous tumors and lesions.
Given to vicious dogs involved in recent deadly attacks.
Often associated with killer cyclones in the U.S. Midwest and elsewhere, and in hurricanes including deadly storms in Florida, New Orleans and other areas of the southeastern U.S.
Thermal variations in DHMO are a suspected contributor to the El Nino weather effect.

What are some uses of Dihydrogen Monoxide?

Despite the known dangers of DHMO, it continues to be used daily by industry, government, and even in private homes across the U.S. and worldwide. Some of the well-known uses of Dihydrogen Monoxide are:

as an industrial solvent and coolant,
in nuclear power plants,
by the U.S. Navy in the propulsion systems of some older vessels,
by elite athletes to improve performance,
in the production of Styrofoam,
in biological and chemical weapons manufacture,
in the development of genetically engineering crops and animals,
as a spray-on fire suppressant and retardant,
in so-called "family planning" or "reproductive health" clinics,
as a major ingredient in many home-brewed bombs,
as a byproduct of hydrocarbon combustion in furnaces and air conditioning compressor operation,
in cult rituals,
by the Church of Scientology on their members and their members' families (although surprisingly, many members recently have contacted DHMO.org to vehemently deny such use),
by both the KKK and the NAACP during rallies and marches,
by members of Congress who are under investigation for financial corruption and inappropriate IM behavior,
by kids who play Beyblades,
by the clientele at a number of bath houses in New York City and San Francisco,
historically, in Hitler's death camps in Nazi Germany, and in prisons in Turkey, Serbia, Croatia, Libya, Iraq and Iran,
in World War II prison camps in Japan, and in prisons in China, for various forms of torture,
during many recent religious and ethnic wars in the Middle East,
by many terrorist organizations including al Qaeda,
in community swimming pools to maintain chemical balance,
in day care centers, purportedly for sanitary purposes,
by software engineers, including those producing DICOM programmer APIs and other DICOM software toolsincluding DICOM routers,
by popular computer science professors,
by the semi-divine King Bhumibol of Thailand and his many devoted young working girls in Bangkok,
by the British Chiropractic Association and the purveyors of the bogus treatments that the BCA promotes,
by commodities giant Trafigura in their well-publicized and widely-known toxic-waste dumping activities in Ivory Coast,
in animal research laboratories, and
in pesticide production and distribution.

What you may find surprising are some of the products and places where DHMO is used, but which for one reason or another, are not normally made part of public presentations on the dangers to the lives of our family members and friends. Among these startling uses are:

as an additive to food products, including jarred baby food and baby formula, and even in many soups, carbonated beverages and supposedly "all-natural" fruit juices
in cough medicines and other liquid pharmaceuticals,
in spray-on oven cleaners,
in shampoos, shaving creams, deodorants and numerous other bathroom products,
in bathtub bubble products marketed to children,
as a preservative in grocery store fresh produce sections,
in the production of beer by all the major beer distributors,
in the coffee available at major coffee houses in the US and abroad,
in Formula One race cars, although its use is regulated by the Formula One Racing Commission, and
as a target of ongoing NASA planetary and stellar research.

One of the most surprising facts recently revealed about Dihydrogen Monoxide contamination is in its use as a food and produce "decontaminant." Studies have shown that even after careful washing, food and produce that has been contaminated by DHMO remains tainted by DHMO.

What is the link between Dihydrogen Monoxide and school violence?

A recent stunning revelation is that in every single instance of violence in our country's schools, including infamous shootings in high schools in Denver and Arkansas, Dihydrogen Monoxide was involved. In fact, DHMO is often very available to students of all ages within the assumed safe confines of school buildings. None of the school administrators with which we spoke could say for certain how much of the substance is in use within their very hallways.

How does Dihydrogen Monoxide toxicity affect kidney dialysis patients?

Unfortunately, DHMO overdose is not unheard of in patients undergoing dialysis treatments for kidney failure. Dihydrogen Monoxide overdose in these patients can result in congestive heart failure, pulmonary edema and hypertension. In spite of the danger of accidental overdose and the inherent toxicity of DHMO in large quantities for this group, there is a portion of the dialysis treated population that continues to use DHMO on a regular basis.

Are there groups that oppose a ban on Dihydrogen Monoxide?

In spite of overwhelming evidence, there is one group in California that opposes a ban on Dihydrogen Monoxide. TheFriends of Hydrogen Hydroxide is a group that believes that the dangers of DHMO have been exaggerated. Members claim that Dihydrogen Monoxide, or the less emotionally charged and more chemically accurate term they advocate for it, "Hydrogen Hydroxide," is beneficial, environmentally safe, benign and naturally occurring. They argue that efforts to ban DHMO are misguided.Friends of Hydrogen Hydroxide is supported by the Scorched Earth Party, a radical and loosely-organized California-based group. Sources close to the Scorched Earth Party deny any outside funding from government, industry or pro-industry PACs.

Has the press ignored this web site and the Dihydrogen Monoxide problem?

For the most part, the press has not reported on the dangers of Dihydrogen Monoxide as much as some would like. Although many private individuals have put up web sites in a major grassroots effort to spread the word, major publications have not.

Recently, attention has been paid to the subject thanks to an incident in Aliso Viejo, California. This so-called Aliso Viejo Incident was widely reported in the media, although the director of DHMO.org, Dr. Tom Way, was called a "prankster." Once the Associated Press started circulating the story, it became fact, and the valuable information being provided by the DHMO.org website was deemed to be "rubbish" rather than an honest and unbiased recounting of facts about a dangerous, life-endangering chemical compound.

If you are a member of the press, you may access our online Press Kit. See the main page for access information. This resource is for members of the press only.

Is it true that using DHMO improves athletic performance?

Absolutely! With the numerous allegations of amateur and professional athletes using anabolic steroids and/or blood doping to enhance performance, virtually no attention has been paid to the performance enhancing properties of Dihydrogen Monoxide. It is perhaps the sporting world's dirtiest of dirty little secrets that athletes regularly ingest large quantities of DHMO in an effort to gain a competitive edge over an opponent.

One technique commonly used by endurance athletes in sports such as distance running and cycling is to take a large amount of DHMO immediately prior to a race. This is known within racing circles to dramatically improve performance.

Sports-medicine physicians warn that ingesting too much Dihydrogen Monoxide can lead to complications and unwanted side-effects, but do acknowledge the link to improved performance. DHMO is not currently considered a banned substance, so post-race urine tests do not detect elevated or abnormal levels of DHMO.

Can using DHMO improve my marriage?

This is a popular myth, but one which is also actually supported by a number of scientific facts. Dihydrogen Monoxide plays an instrumental role in the centers of the brain associated with feelings of emotional attachment and love. Married couples have found that regular ingestion of DHMO can improve their marriage-related activities, while couples that never ingest DHMO often find that their marriage suffers as well.

What are the symptoms of accidental Dihydrogen Monoxide overdose?

You may not always recognize that you have been a victim of accidental DHMO overdose, so here are some signs and symptoms to look for. If you suspect Dihydrogen Monoxide overdose, or if you exhibit any of these symptoms, you should consult with your physician or medical practitioner. The data presented here is provided for informational purposes only, and should in no way be construed as medical advice of any sort.

Watch for these symptoms:

Excessive sweating
Excessive urination
Bloated feeling
Nausea
Vomiting
Electrolyte imbalance
Hyponatremia (serum hypotonicity)
Dangerously imbalanced levels of ECF and ICF in the blood
Degeneration of sodium homeostasis

A recently noted medical phenomenon involves small amounts of DHMO leaking or oozing from the corners of the eyes as a direct result of causes such as foreign particulate irritation, allergic reactions including anaphylactic shock, and sometimes severe chemical depression.

What is a chemical analysis of Dihydrogen Monoxide

Recently, German analytical chemist Christoph von Bueltzingsloewen at the Universitaet Regensburg identified what may be key reasons why the dangers of DHMO are ever present. According to von Bueltzingsloewen, the chemical separation of dihydrogenoxide from the hazardous oxygendihydride is extremely difficult. The two similar compounds curiously occur in nearly equimolar distribution wherever they are found. It is not clear how the two contribute directly to the dangers inherent in Dihydrogen Monoxide, although von Bueltzingsloewen believes that a synergetic mechanism, catalyzed by traces of hydrogenhydroxide, plays a major role.

What can I do to minimize the risks?

Fortunately, there is much you can do to minimize your dangers due to Dihydrogen Monoxide exposure. First, use common sense. Whenever you are dealing with any product or food that you feel may be contaminated with DHMO, evaluate the relative danger to you and your family, and act accordingly. Keep in mind that in many instances, low-levels of Dihydrogen Monoxide contamination are not dangerous, and in fact, are virtually unavoidable. Remember, the responsibility for your safety and the safety of your family lies with you.

Second, exercise caution when there is the potential for accidental inhalation or ingestion of DHMO. If you feel uncomfortable, remove yourself from a dangerous situation. Better safe than sorry.

Third, don't panic. Although the dangers of Dihydrogen Monoxide are very real, by exercising caution and common sense, you can rest assured knowing that you are doing everything possible to keep you and your family safe.

How can I find out more about Dihydrogen Monoxide?

We would be happy to tell you more about DHMO! Send us email, and we'll gladly attempt to keep you up-to-date on current developments in the study of Dihydrogen Monoxide, its uses and misuses.

There are a number of sites on the world wide web that contain more information on DHMO and related topics. It should be noted that we do not endorse these sites, nor do we control their content or political bias.

OK, if you believe this site, you are falling for a hoax. Dihydrogen monoxide is WATER!!!!!!!!!!!

Why do we Call Berries Berries?

2011-10-15T13:59:00.000-07:00

Why do we call them berries?

October 13, 2011

75 Comments

The berry family is a linguistic invention particular to Germaniclanguages, like English. Other languages, like Spanish and French, do not combine the wide, diverse berry family into one group, but rather have very different words for blackberries, raspberries, blueberries andstrawberries. The word berry comes from the Old English berie, which originally meant “grape.” As the English language spread to the Americas with colonization, many native grape-shaped fruits that grew inbunches took on the berry suffix: blueberry, cranberry, elderberry, etc. Though the many small, delicious fruits known as berries were grouped together in a linguisticaccident, they are in fact many biologically distinct plants and fruits.

A botanist would probably tell you that grouping berries together is about as accurate as calling dolphins, tadpoles and squid “water creatures.” True berries are simply fruits in which each fruit comes from one flower, like blueberries. Even cucumbers and tomatoes are technically berries! Botanically speaking, blueberries (Latin family: Ericaceae) are more closely related torhododendrons than they are to raspberries. Strawberries (Latin family: Fragaria) are calledaccessory fruits by botanists because they grow from parts of the plant other than the flowers.Raspberries and blackberries (Latin family: Rubus) are another example altogether. They are called aggregate fruits because their flowers form drupelets instead of one whole fruit. Drupelet is the technical word for the individual morsels of blackberries and raspberries. Fruits in the Rubus family are also called bramble fruits because they grow on spiky bushes.

Grapes, by the way, are technically berries. But where did the word grape come from? In Old English grapes were called winberige, literally “wine berry.” The word grape comes from the Old French word graper, which came from the word krappon, the hook used to pick grapes. In English, the tool became synonymous with the fruit in 1300s. (What other food words havemorphed in weird ways? The history of the “hot dog” may gross you out, and the origin of eggis not to be missed.)

Luckily, the erroneous linguistic grouping of “berries” gave us great treats like mixed berry ice cream, which may confuse botanists and non-Germanic language speakers.

Word, Hot. "Why do we call them berries?." the Hot Word. Dictionary.com, 13/10/2011. Web. 15 Oct 2011. <http://hotword.dictionary.com/berries?__utma=1.943828143.1314834775.1317596121.1318711865.4&__utmb=1.1.10.1318711865&__utmc=1&__utmx=-&__utmz=1.1318711865.4.4.utmcsr=google|utmccn=(organic)|utmcmd=organic|utmctr=http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/charter&__utmv=-&__utmk=241668994>.

Carbon Nanotubes in Form of Aerogel Enable Invisibility Cloak

2011-10-13T14:53:00.000-07:00

Carbon Nanotubes in Form of Aerogel Enable Invisibility Cloak

POSTED BY: Dexter Johnson / Fri, October 07, 2011

Invisibility is becoming one of the more attractive features of nanomaterials. As evidenced here, here, and here.

The last link on that list brings you to research in which researchers at the University of Texas used graphene to build on the phenomena known as “plasmonic cloaking” and “mantle cloaking.”

It seems the University of Texas is at again, this time at the UT in Dallas. But in this case the researchers are using carbon nanotubes to exploit the single-beam mirage effect, photothermal deflection, to create an invisibility capability.

The research, which was published in the Institute of physics journal Nanotechnology, basically used a sheet of carbon nanotubes in the form of an aerogel to create the "invisibility cloak."

In the past, when I have written about these developments, I didn't have a video to demonstrate the invisibility effect. In covering this story, however, I came across a video of what this invisibility looks like when it operates.

Unfortunately, I saw that ABC News covered the story as well. The way the ABC reporter approached the story really depressed me.
Apparently, the reporter felt that he could only relate the news by making reference to Harry Potter (It's hard to write about the experiment done at the University of Texas at Dallas without invoking Harry Potter), and that he was sorry to say he could only tell the story of the breakthrough by discussing nanotechnology (If you're not into nanotechnology, read on anyhow.).
Why must every story that comes from the mainstream press on science and technology be first related through some Hollywood movie or TV show? And is it really necessary to apologize for the fact that this technology involves...technology?

Johnson, Dexter. "Carbon Nanotubes in Form of Aerogel Enable Invisibility Cloak ." ieee spectrum nanoclast. IEEE, 07/10/2011. Web. 13 Oct 2011. <http://spectrum.ieee.org/nanoclast/semiconductors/nanotechnology/carbon-nanotubes-in-form-of-aerogel-enable-invisibility-cloak

3,000 Pageviews

2011-10-07T15:34:00.000-07:00

I never thought this time would come....
I founded this blog in January of 2011 and I thought it wouldn't do so well. 771 pageviews later, last week, I thought it had surpassed my expectations, with my most popular post reaching 77 pageviews. But today, when I was looking at my stats, I could not believe my eyes. This blog had reached 3,000 pageviews! This blog is 8 months old, and Cenian Sector had oh, 1 grand around this time. I was amazed when that happened. But now I am even more amazed. This blog has surpassed Cenian Sector. 1,975 pageviews were on the 2013 CME. And when Cenian Sector had 19.8% of its pageviews from foreign countries, this blog had over 21%. And while in Cenian Sector had only 1 country (other than the US) have more that 50 pageviews, this blog had 3. I am amazed.

The Trial of Socrates

2011-09-17T13:09:00.000-07:00

The Trial of Socrates

By Josh Sanburn Friday, Apr. 08, 2011

Hulton Archive / Getty Images

It's the most famous use of hemlock in history. In 399 B.C.E., Socrates — the father of Greek philosophy — was put on trial for impiety and corrupting the youth of Athens. At the time, Socrates was a controversial figure in the city and not particularly liked. He challenged anyone's thinking through his endless and circular Socratic dialogues, and he publicly questioned the gods Athenians worshiped at the time. The only "works" of Socrates survive through the pen of his student Plato, as well as Xenophon. According to those accounts, Socrates supposedly could have escaped Athens after he was found guilty by an Athenian jury. Instead, he chose to stay on principle. He would abide by the law and apparently didn't even try to convince the jury he was innocent. Socrates performed his own execution by drinking hemlock poison.

The Great Escape

2011-09-17T13:08:00.001-07:00

The Great Escape

By CLAIRE SUDDATH Tuesday, Apr. 26, 2011

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HULTON ARCHIVE / GETTY IMAGES

The Great Escape, as it is known, was an attempt by Allied prisoners of war to escape Stalag Luft III, a Nazi maximum-security work camp, in the latter half of World War II. From April 1943 to March 1944, over 600 prisoners worked on the project. They dug three tunnels, nicknamed Tom (which was hidden in a dark corner), Dick (underneath a bathroom drain) and Harry (behind a stove), which they hoped would deliver them to freedom. The tunnels were positioned 30 feet (9 m) underground to escape detection by the guards. TIME described them in 1963 as, "a marvel of Swiss Family Robinson ingenuity." The plan, concocted by a British officer named Roger Bushell, also provided the expected 200 escapees with forged papers that would help them evade recapture once they were free. Of the three tunnels, only Harry was completed. Two hundred men tried to escape out of it on March 24, 1944, only to discover that it was too short; when exiting the tunnel, the prisoners found themselves completely visible and near a guard tower. Because of this and several other setbacks (including an air raid), only 76 men made it out of the tunnel that night. All but three were recaptured. Of those, 50 were shot by the Gestapo. Despite the plan's failure, it was bold enough to merit a 1963 movie starring Steve McQueen.

The Unabomber's Cabin

2011-09-17T13:08:00.000-07:00

The Unabomber's Cabin

By Josh Sanburn Wednesday, May 04, 2011

Elaine Thompson / AP

Ted Kaczynski lived inside a 10-by-12-ft. (3 by 3.6 m) shack he built near Lincoln, Mont., for almost two decades. It was a bombmaking, manifesto-writing shack that enabled the Unabomber to terrorize U.S. citizens through mail bombs for years. The one-room cabin — which included books, a workbench, a potbellied stove and plenty of explosive-making materials — was almost demolished after Kaczynski was arrested in 1996. But at the last minute, it was saved and was later put on display at the Newseum in Washington, D.C., just blocks from the FBI headquarters where the Unabomber was the target of an immense investigation for 17 years.

Spider on [Hex]Bug

2011-09-17T13:07:00.001-07:00

Today a spider jumped on my Hexbug, thinking it was a real bug.

Perry Mines Texas System to Raise Cash for Campaigns

2011-08-21T12:39:00.000-07:00

Two years ago, John McHale, an entrepreneur from Austin, Tex., who has given millions of dollars to Democratic candidates and causes, did something very unusual for him: he wrote a $50,000 check to a Republican candidate, Rick Perry, then seeking a third full term as governor of Texas. In September 2010, he did it again, catapulting himself into the top ranks of Mr. Perry’s donors.

Mr. McHale, a Perry spokesman said after the initial donation, “understands Governor Perry’s leadership has made Texas a good place to do business.”

Including, it turned out, for Mr. McHale’s business interests and partners. In May 2010 an economic development fund administered by the governor’s office handed $3 million to G-Con, a pharmaceutical start-up that Mr. McHale helped get off the ground. At least two other executives with connections to the firm had also given Mr. Perry tens of thousands of dollars.

Mr. Perry leapt into the Republican presidential primary this month preceded by his reputation as a thoroughbred fund-raiser. But a review of Mr. Perry’s years in office reveals that one of his most potent fund-raising tools is the very government he heads.

Over three terms in office, Mr. Perry’s administration has doled out grants, tax breaks, contracts and appointments to hundreds of his most generous supporters and their businesses. And they have helped Mr. Perry raise more money than any politician in Texas history, donations that have periodically raised eyebrows but, thanks to loose campaign finance laws and a business-friendly political culture dominated in recent years by Republicans, have only fueled Mr. Perry’s ascent.

“Texas politics does have this amazing pay-to-play culture,” said Harold Cook, a Democratic political consultant.

Mark Miner, a spokesman for Mr. Perry, said there was no connection between Mr. McHale’s contributions and the grant to G-Con. He said that the purpose of the state money was to create jobs and that it was appropriate for Mr. Perry to appoint people who support his vision and policies to state oversight posts.

“These issues have been brought up in previous elections to no avail,” Mr. Miner said.

Mr. Perry is not the first governor to have taken contributions from contractors or appointees to state commissions and boards, which oversee many of the agencies that in other states are controlled directly by the governor.

But because he has been in office more than a decade, he has had greater opportunity than any of his predecessors to stock the government with loyalists — he has appointed roughly 4,000 people to state posts — while enacting policies that have benefited allies and contributors.

And Mr. Perry has been much more aggressive than any past governor in soliciting money from them. According to a study last year by Texans for Public Justice, a watchdog organization, Mr. Perry has raised at least $17 million from more than 900 appointees or their spouses, roughly one dollar out of every five that he has raised as governor.

Among the state boards that have generated the most campaign contributions for Mr. Perry, the study found, were the State Parks and Wildlife Commission and the board of regents of Texas A&M, Mr. Perry’s alma mater. Those appointees have donated more than $4 million to his campaigns for governor.

“I know that at least some of the people who were initially approached to be regents have been later turned down because they didn’t pass what I would call a loyalty test,” said Jon L. Hagler, a prominent A&M alumnus and a major donor to the university.

Mr. Perry has also drawn scrutiny for two of his signature economic development efforts, the Texas Enterprise Fund and the Texas Emerging Technology Fund. The enterprise fund, which is intended to be a deal-closing tool for the state as it competes for jobs, has dispensed $435 million in grants to businesses since 2003. The technology fund, which has doled out nearly $200 million to companies since 2005, has a similar job creation mandate.

More than a quarter of the companies that have received grants from the enterprise fund in the most recent fiscal year, or their chief executives, made contributions to either Mr. Perry’s campaign dating back to 2001 or to the Republican Governors Association since 2008, when Mr. Perry became its chairman, according to an analysis by The New York Times.

The award to G-Con is just one example of state money paying dividends for Perry benefactors. The company is working with the Texas A&M university system on a pharmaceutical manufacturing effort toward influenza vaccines.

Gradalis’s technology fund grant came under scrutiny last year when The Dallas Morning News revealed that Mr. McHale and Mr. Leininger, both major Perry donors, had significant financial interests in the company.

Ms. Nashed said that grants from both funds must be approved by the speaker of the Texas House and the lieutenant governor and that all recipients go through rigorous reviews.

Mr. Perry has also drawn criticism for his appointees to the board of the Teacher Retirement System, a $110 billion pension fund that is among the nation’s largest. In recent years he has appointed at least four top donors or fund-raisers to the board. Mr. Perry’s trustees leaned on the fund to invest more money with hedge funds and private equityfirms, as many public pension funds have in recent years. But in some cases, the appointees appear to have pushed for firms whose investors, officers, or partners were Perry donors.

In 2009 an investment manager at the fund, Michael Green, wrote to a board trustee saying that the fund’s chief investment officer had pressed him and other employees to set aside their objections to such investments, including allocations to two firms whose partners and former partners have donated more than $1 million to Mr. Perry’s campaigns.

When Mr. Green complained about the pressure, a superior dismissed his concerns. Mr. Green’s boss, he wrote to the trustee, told him: “This is the way business is done.” An internal investigation concluded that no rules had been broken.

Philip Mullins, a trustee, said, “I think the concerns that were raised were based on a feeling that the chairman and some other people on the board were trying to set up a fund-raising campaign for the governor of Texas.”

Another instance of political donations to Mr. Perry seeming to dovetail with his policy decisions came in 2005, when the TXU Corporation, a utility based in Dallas, sought permits to build coal-fired power plants. That October, Mr. Perry issued an executive order for a review panel to fast-track the application.

In the months that followed, current and retired TXU executives, as well as the company’s political action committee, sent Mr. Perry more than $100,000 in donations, including one check dated the same day as Mr. Perry’s order. Mr. Perry’s office said at the time that the order was unrelated to the contributions. A state judge later blocked the order, ruling that Mr. Perry had overstepped his authority.

In 2003, after a rash of mold-related lawsuits against home construction companies, Mr. Perry championed the creation of a state board, the Texas Residential Construction Commission. The new commission was a priority of Mr. Perry’s most generous contributor: Bob Perry, a homebuilder who has contributed more than $2 million to the governor over his career. (The two men are not related.)

The legislation creating the board also sharply limited the rights of homeowners to sue contractors for faulty construction, shunting most disputes to the commission. After its passage, Bob Perry and his wife sent two $50,000 checks to the governor’s campaign. Three weeks later, the governor appointed an executive of Perry Homes, Bob Perry’s company, to the commission, which was abolished in 2009.

In 2009, as Mr. Perry was running for re-election, José Cuevas Jr., a restaurateur and the governor’s appointee as chairman of the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission, used a personal e-mail account to solicit donations for Mr. Perry from the owners of dozens of restaurants and bars overseen by the board.

In an interview last week, Mr. Cuevas said he saw nothing wrong with asking the owners, many of them business contacts, for donations. It was important, he said, for Mr. Perry’s appointees to support his broader mission of smaller government.

”When you personally know someone,” Mr. Cuevas said, “and know their abilities and vision, you’re willing to raise as much money as hard as you can for that person.”

Confessore, Nicholas, and Micheal Luo. "Perry Mines Texas System to Raise Cash for Campaigns." New York Times. New York Times, 20 Aug 2011. Web. 21 Aug 2011. <http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/21/us/politics/21donate.html?_r=1>.

Woman mauled by chimp shows new face in first photo

2011-08-12T07:46:00.000-07:00

A woman who underwent a full face transplant in May after being mauled by a chimpanzee in 2009 revealed her new face in a photo released on Thursday.

Charla Nash, 57, who was photographed in her hospital bed at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, appears dramatically different with a new nose, lips and facial skin.

"I will now be able to do things I once took for granted," Nash said in a statement.

"I will be able to smell. I will be able to eat normally. I will no longer be disfigured. I will have lips and will speak clearly once again. I will be able to kiss and hug loved ones."

Nash was hurt after a friend's 200-pound (91 kg) pet chimpanzee went on a rampage two years ago. She lost her hands, lips, nose and eyes, leaving her blind and disfigured after the attack. The animal was eventually shot and killed by police.

After undergoing a grueling 20-hour full face transplant at the hospital in May, Nash in the photo now has a fair, almost blushing, complexion.

Prior to the surgery, Nash was often photographed wearing a veil to hide her disfigurement.

Nash's full face transplant was the third surgery of its kind performed in the United States, all at the same hospital.

An anonymous female donor provided face, hands and other tissue material that made the surgery possible. The hand transplant was deemed successful but the hands did not thrive after complications from pneumonia and were removed.

Another hand transplant could be attempted if a suitable donor is identified, doctors have said.

Nash's face was rebuilt by a medical team of more than 30 physicians, nurses, anesthesiologists and residents in a challenging surgery made more complex by the double hand transplant.

The world's first full face transplant was completed in Spain in 2010.

(Editing by Barbara Goldberg, Peter Bohan and Eric Beech)

Goldberg, Barbara, Peter Bohan, and Eric Beech. "Woman mauled by chimp shows new face in first photo." Yahoo! News. Yahoo!, 11 09 2011. Web. 12 Aug 2011. <http://health.yahoo.net/news/s/nm/us_usa_transplant_face>.

Citation Page

2011-06-28T14:39:00.000-07:00

If you haven't noticed yet, I have created a Citations Page. It has all of the citations of the posts before I started putting citations on the posts. If I do not have your citation for an article I have posted or my citation is incorrect, please contact me and I will do something about it. Cheers!

World's Most Spectacular Pedestrian Bridges

2011-06-28T14:37:00.000-07:00

World's Most Spectacular Pedestrian Bridges

Pedestrian bridges are going to cool new heights, turning the need to get from here to there into an adventure.

By Travelandleisure.com Staff

Capilano Suspension Bridge, Vancouver

Photo Courtesy of Capilano Suspension Bridge

Capilano Suspension Bridge, Vancouver, British Columbia

Come face-to-face with wildlife in Vancouver's lush treetop ecosystem while strolling this skinny 450-foot-long canopy bridge that floats 230 feet above the Capilano River. Just 10 miles from downtown, the bridge dates back to 1889, when a Scottish civil engineer strung a hemp rope and cedar plank to his isolated cabin.

A Growing Trend: The Capilano forest also features a new 650-foot-long network of bridges and viewing platforms connecting several of the towering Douglas fir trees. And the concept has taken hold—canopy walks have lately been built in the Peruvian Amazon rainforest and Borneo's Danum Valley.

Langkawi Sky Bridge, Malaysia

Photo by: Gavin Hellier / Alamy

Langkawi Sky Bridge, Malaysia

More like an observation deck, this bridge to nowhere dangles spectacularly about 2,300 feet above sea level in Langkawi, an archipelago on Malaysia's west coast. It's reached by a harrowing cable car ride up Mount Mat Cincang, and the bridge's gently curving promenade provides tourists with dazzling views of the Andaman Sea far below. Every posted description of the bridge includes the not-entirely-reassuring phrase: "Langkawi sky-bridge is safe."

Spine Tingling: The view is impressive and so is the engineering: the bridge is suspended from a single mast that sticks up from the mountain below like a construction crane.

BP Bridge, Millennium Park, Chicago

Photo by: Patrick Pyszka

BP Bridge, Millennium Park, Chicago

Get an overview of Chicago's most impressive architecture, not to mention Lake Michigan, when you set out from the brushed-steel Jay Pritzker Pavilion and amble along Frank Gehry's 925-foot-long bridge above Columbus Drive. Clad in shiny lizard-skin-patterned steel and paid for by its oil-company namesake, the overpass's only shortcoming is that it doesn't make it all the way to the water's edge—you're left to fend for yourself on traffic-filled Lakeshore Drive.

Companion Bridge: An ultra-skinny minimalist footbridge, designed by Renzo Piano, leads from Millennium Park to the architect's new wing of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Puente de la Mujer, Buenos Aires

Photo by: Agustina Prats

Puente de la Mujer, Buenos Aires

Architect Santiago Calatrava's "Woman's Bridge" on the Rio de la Plata is female by association; the surrounding streets are named for noteworthy women such as human rights activist Alicia Moreau de Justo. The bridge faces a new crop of trendy hotels, restaurants, and condos in Puerto Madero—and can take some credit for inspiring the neighborhood's redevelopment.

Fancy Footwork: With a single mast pointing skyward at a 45-degree angle, the bridge sometimes gets compared to a couple doing the tango. We don't quite see it, but in Buenos Aires, tango dancers are never far away, especially on the streets of San Telmo.

Walkway over the Hudson, Poughkeepsie

Photo by: Alvis Upitis / Alamy

Walkway over the Hudson, Poughkeepsie, NY

It feels like you're walking in the sky. This former railroad bridge is suspended 220 feet above a wide, unusually straight stretch of the Hudson that Dutch seafarers once called "Lange Rack" or Long Reach. That means you can see up and down the river for miles—without any overhead structure to obscure the view.

Conflicting Claims: The official website states that, at 6,767 feet long, it's the world's longest pedestrian bridge. One not-so-small problem: the Anping Bridge in Fujian China, a stone pedestrian bridge dating from the 12th century, is 526 feet longer.

Henderson Waves Bridge, Singapore

Photo by: Abdul Rahman Latiff

Henderson Waves Bridge, Singapore

You can see why Singapore is nicknamed the Garden City. Crossing from one hilltop park to another, 118 feet above busy Henderson Road, its highest pedestrian bridge overlooks treetops, flowering bushes, the harbor, and the skyline. Cooler still is this bridge's resemblance to a Slinky toy. A sculptural wave of steel ribs follows the walkway, periodically curling up and over the edge to create little coves of sheltered seating.

Flora and Fauna: Singapore's Southern Ridges area is also home to the Canopy Bridge, where you'll find wild orchids, pitcher plants, and tons of birds.

Kurilpa Bridge, Brisbane, Australia

iStock

Kurilpa Bridge, Brisbane, Australia

Masts attached to cables jut out from this bridge in all directions—as if trying to distract your attention from the impressive cluster of skyscrapers lining the Brisbane River. Powered by 84 solar panels, Kurilpa looks its finest when the LED lighting system puts on dazzling shows.

Push and Pull: It may appear to be a crazy jumble, but the positions and the strength of the mast connections are the product of sophisticated calculation; this is the first major bridge built according to the principles of tensegrity.

Rolling Bridge, London

Photo: Steve Speller

Rolling Bridge, London

The payoff for pedestrians is usually the view from on high, but here the bridge itself is the sight to see. Each Friday at noon, genius architect Thomas Heatherwick's Rolling Bridge allows a single boat to pass in or out of its moorage. You'll be transfixed as the bridge, powered by hydraulic rams, levitates upward as a unit, and then curls backward, allowing its eight triangular hinged sections to roll into a wheel.

Neighborhood Facelift: The Rolling Bridge is one small element in a major redevelopment of the area around Paddington Station. Other novel canal crossings include the Helix Bridge, which screws and unscrews to allow boats to pass.

Infinity Bridge, Stockton on Tees, England

Photo by: John Devlin / Alamy

Infinity Bridge, Stockton on Tees, England

Opened in 2009, this long bowstring bridge is named for the infinity symbol formed by its dramatic double curve and reflection in the River Tees. The main arch is almost 400 feet tall and the span is nearly 900 feet, creating a flamboyant wave. Special nighttime lighting enhances the infinity effect, and LEDs built into the handrails and footpath are programmed to change color as pedestrians and bicyclists pass by.

Be Transported: Another landmark Tees crossing, the Middlesbrough Transporter Bridge, completed in 1911, carries cars and pedestrians across the river in a suspended gondola, 90 seconds each way.

Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge

Photo by: Elaine Conner (Connermajik)

Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge, Omaha, NE, to Council Bluffs, IA

The first pedestrian bridge to link two states extends for 3,000 feet over the bucolic Missouri and traces a gentle S-curve around its two supporting towers—a plaque marks the spot where you can have one foot in Nebraska and the other in Iowa. Opened in 2008 and illuminated at night, the bridge has become a teen hangout and has energized the waterfronts of two cities that haven't always been so hospitable to pedestrians.

On the Waterfront: On the Omaha side, the bridge syncs up with a riverfront trail, part of a 1990s redevelopment.

Citation
Staff, Travelandleisure.com. "World's Most Spectacular Pedestrian Bridges." Yahoo Travel. Yahoo!, n.d. Web. 28 Jun 2011. http://travel.yahoo.com/p-interests-40391866.

Citation on the Citations Page.

2013 CME: Worst Case Scenario

2011-06-19T09:22:00.001-07:00

Are We Prepared for a Catastrophic Solar Storm?

A disastrous solar storm isn't a question of if, but when--and it looks like soon

By Damon Tabor Posted 05.31.2011 at 1:54 pm 1 Comment

Sun Stroke NASA

View Photo Gallery

One of the biggest disasters we face would begin about 18 hours after the sun spit out a 10-billion-ton ball of plasma--something it has done before and is sure to do again. When the ball, a charged cloud of particles called a coronal mass ejection (CME), struck the Earth, electrical currents would spike through the power grid. Transformers would be destroyed. Lights would go out. Food would spoil and--since the entire transportation system would also be shut down--go unrestocked.
Curious about what a CME would mean for us? Check out this feature.
Within weeks, backup generators at nuclear power plants would have run down, and the electric pumps that supply water to cooling ponds, where radioactive spent fuel rods are stored, would shut off. Multiple meltdowns would ensue. “Imagine 30 Chernobyls across the U.S.,” says electrical engineer John Kappenman, an expert on the grid’s vulnerability to space weather. A CME big enough to take out a chunk of the grid is what scientists and insurers call a high-consequence, low-frequency event. Many space-weather scientists say the Earth is due for one soon. Although CMEs can strike anytime, they are closely correlated to highs in the 11-year sunspot cycle. The current cycle will peak in July 2013.
The most powerful CME in recorded history occurred during a solar cycle with a peak similar to the one scientists are predicting in 2013. During the so-called Carrington Event in 1859, electrical discharges in the U.S. shocked telegraph operators and set their machines on fire. A CME in 1921 disrupted radio across the East Coast and telephone operations in most of Europe. In a 2008 National Academy of Sciences report, scientists estimated that a 1921-level storm could knock out 350 transformers on the American grid, leaving 130 million people without electricity. Replacing broken transformers would take a long time because most require up to two years to manufacture.
"We need to build protection against 100-year solar storms."Once outside power is lost, nuclear plants have diesel generators that can pump water to spent-fuel cooling pools for up to 30 days. The extent of the meltdown threat is well-documented. A month before the Fukushima plant in Japan went offline in March, the Foundation for Resilient Societies, a committee of engineers, filed a petition with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission recommending the augmentation of nuclear plants’ emergency backup systems. The petition claims that a severe solar storm would be far worse than a 9.0-magnitude quake and could leave about two thirds of the country’s nuclear plants without power for one to two years.

Plasma Shock: Hurtling at up to six million mph through space, a coronal mass ejection produces shock waves that can damage satellites and electrical surges that can bring down the grid, potentially leading to nuclear meltdown. Paul Souders/Getty Images

Preventing a surge from a CME would be costly. With enough warning (at least a few hours, probably), power companies could shut transformers off entirely, turning them back on after the storm. But shutting down the grid on such a large scale would cost billions. To confidently do so, forecasting must be accurate.
Last October, NASA scientists announced its Solar Shield program to monitor solar eruptions and predict storms. Though a good step, the system uses a satellite that was launched in 1997 and designed to run just five years. No other country has anything similar, or as advanced.
Our backup systems aren’t in place yet, either. The Department of Homeland Security is funding the development of an emergency replacement transformer, but it won’t be field-ready for several years. Kappenman has developed a $100,000 capacitor to block storm-induced surges, but these are unproven in emergency situations. “A massive solar storm is a ‘low probability’ event the same way a 100-year flood is,” Thomas Popik, the author of the NRC petition, says. “Just as we build levees to protect against 100-year floods, we need to build protection against 100-year solar storms.”

CME: Watch Out for the one in 2013, Part 2

2011-06-19T09:17:00.001-07:00

Introduction:
Solar Storms are inevitable. You may be asking questions like, “Exactly what is a solar storm, and how can it affect me and my family?” “What emergency survival knowledge should I know about?” “If preparedness is the key, then what should I do?” In this four part series we are going to answer these questions and provide insight into the larger picture. We will give you the information that the media, and government are holding back.
Source: Coronal Mass Ejection Solar Sun Activity
What exactly is a solar storm? Well solar as you might have guessed refers to an event involving our sun. A storm is defined as a violent disturbance of the atmosphere. But instead of the disturbance occurring in the form of thunder, lightening, or precipitation, it is in the form of charged particles that are ejected from the sun. These charged particles travel in large clouds that can carry up to ten billion tons of plasma. These clouds are also called Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs), when they are released from the sun.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZ6fIbCobQ8&feature=related

Waves of charged solar particles, also known as coronal mass ejections, were emitted from the Sun in early Feb 2011 seen here.
The eruptions are thought to be larger than normal meaning the Aurora Borealis, or northern lights may be visible further south than usual when the particles hit the Earth’s magnetic shield. However, if the skies are cloudy it will hide the magnificent light display.

Cont- The particles in a CME (ions and electrons) are electrically charged, which means they also feel magnetic forces. Under normal circumstances these particles would be deflected by the Earth’s magnetic field or our shield if you will, and the survival of our way of life would not be in jeopardy. According to researches sponsored by NASAour magnetic field often develops two holes that allow huge leaks. These leaks can allow up to twenty times more particles to pass. You might be thinking that this sounds like a bit of an emergency. Hold on we’re not done yet. The number of particles breaching this shield depends on the orientation of the sun’s magnetic field. When the Sun’s and Earth’s magnetic fields are in alignment the largest breaches occur. The sun’s magnetic field changes direction every cycle.
In the summer of 1859, on August 28th, the magnetic fields of the sun and earth were in such an alignment. Solar observers of the time noted the development of numerous sunspots on the sun’s surface. Sunspots are the originating point of CME’s. They are regions of extremely intense magnetic fields that are intertwined and can suddenly release energy in a violent solar flare. There was no anticipated doom or emergency on September 1st, when the sun released a mammoth solar flare. For nearly an entire minute the intensity of sunlight produced at the region of the flare actually doubled. The CME resulting from the solar flare itself contained an extremely intense magnetic field that was oppositely charged to that of Earth’s magnetic field. The result was the Earth’s magnetic field was overwhelmed allowing charged particles to penetrate into the upper atmosphere.
There was very little need for solar storm preparedness in 1859. The only technology that was susceptible at that time was the Telegraph. The CME of 1859 or the Carrington Event, as it has come to be known, gave a jolt to some telegraph operators, and some of their offices even caught fire. So there was no emergency or threat to survival; life in 1859 pretty much went on as usual with the slight inconvenience of no telegraph messages for a while.
In 2010 NASA announced the discovery of a mild CME on August 1, 2010. The CME resulted from a class C3 solar flare and was aimed towards Earth.
The coronal mass ejection reached Earth on the night of August 3/4, 2010. The CME caused a higher than normal possibility of aurora, also called northern lights, activity on the evening of August 3 and the morning of August 4.
Imagine our society today, and how dependant we are on electronics, and power transmission. How would we react if suddenly all of that was taken away by one of these Coronal mass ejections. According to a report by the National Academy of sciences, if such a storm occurred today, we could experience widespread power blackouts with permanent damage to many key transformers. A CME could very well occur during the next solar maximum in 2012/2013 and could be more intense than what happened in 1859. Our very survival could be on the line. “When”, you ask, “is the next solar maximum?”
The sun cycles between active and dormant about every 11 years, so this is a perfectly normal, natural occurrence that we have no reason to be ashamed of. But this time, it’s waking up from its absolute minimum activity level ever on record, which leads many to believe we could be in for a crazy maximum. So if you miss the lights this time around, don’t worry. It will happen again, more than we’d like.

CME: Watch Out for the one in 2013

2011-06-19T09:15:00.001-07:00

A History of Massive Solar Storms

What Does History Tell Us About The Coming Solar Storms

By John Millis, About.com Guide

See More About:

NASA is predicting that the coming solar maximum could produce very energetic solar flares and coronal mass ejecta. These events have the potential to cause significant damage to our power grid as well as our orbiting satellites. But how do we know what to expect?

Previous Solar Storms

Should a solar storm erupt in the coming years, it will release a massive amount of high energy charged particles streaming toward Earth. Such a storm occurred in 1859.
Shortly after the Sun reached solar maximum in 1859, the Sun experienced a significant increase in sun spot activity as well as a sequence of intense solar flares. The largest solar flare on record during the maximum was then observed by British astronomer Richard Carrington. The result of the flare was a coronal mass ejection that sent charged particles streaming toward Earth, reaching the atmosphere only 18 hours after the ejection. This is startlingly quick given that the trip normally takes several days.
Once the particles reach the Earth they caused a series of phenomena to occur, the likes of which the Earth has not experienced since. First of all, charged particles are usually captured by the Earth’s magnetic field, and primarily get funneled to the poles. There, they interact with the Earth’s atmosphere creating brilliant colors known as aurorae.
In this case, however, the flux of particles was so high that the magnetic field could not shield the Earth from them all. So instead of aurorae only being created near the poles, they came into existence throughout the Earth. Reports of aurorae were common over the Caribbean, as well as the central United States. At one point the glow in the Rocky Mountains was such that it awoke the sleeping miners, causing them to begin getting prepared for the day, believing that it was in fact dawn.
Another, and perhaps more significant, problem was that the charged particle flux began to reek havoc on electronic systems. Specifically, failure of telegraph systems world wide were reported.

If This Has Happened Before, Then What’s the Big Deal?

Knowing that such an event has happened in our worlds history would surely lead the world’s leaders to prepare for another such event, right? With all of today’s advanced technology we must be prepared.
Well, no. In fact a report commissioned by the office of the President showed that in fact such a storm would not only cause problems for electronic devices, but could potentially bring down the entire power grid. And not just here, but around the world. The kind of damage that would be caused could take months to repair.
Could you imagine? No electricity for months? No phones, no computers, no internet? That is the possibility that we are facing. However, this would take a massive storm like the one in 1859 to even approach such cataclysmic events, but it is something that we need to be aware of.

What Are We Doing To Protect Ourselves From These Events?

In response to the report, scientists from around the world have been working to make our power grid more robust, and are seeking to find ways to protect our satellite systems. Also, development of other technologies could help protect electronic devices that we use every day.
Another precaution being taken by the government is to implement early warning systems. If we see such a coronal mass ejection, we may only have 18 hours or less before the particle flux reaches Earth. Therefore closely monitoring the Sun’s activity, and then being able to act on information in a short time is vital.
Monitoring the Sun is relatively easy, in fact NASA already does a thorough job of doing that. However, getting the word out to prepare for a coming solar storm is not so simple. So that is one key element that will need to be worked out.
With proper preparation the hope is that such an event will come and go with as little interruption as possible. Of course there will probably be some inconvenience due to such a storm. But ultimately, we should be able to go on normally with our daily lives.

The 5 Most Interesting Corporate Disclosures

2011-06-05T10:22:00.000-07:00

The Mile High Club. It seems that for CEOs of big companies, the use of the private jet is almost as important as the pay — or the satisfaction you get from running a global corporation. May's high-flyers include billionaire media mogul Barry Diller, who managed to get two public companies, IAC and Expedia, to pay for his private jet airfare, and Aubrey McClendon of Chesapeake Energy, whose executive compensation exploits are already legendary.
Online Security. Jeff Bezos, the founder and CEO of Amazon.com, is one of the more cuddly and well-liked executives out there. Love the site, love the guy. And yet the company feels compelled to shell out $1.6 million per year for his personal security.
The Music Man. Edgar Bronfman, Jr., helped turn his family's big fortune from the liquor and chemical businesses (Seagram's and DuPont) into a much smaller one by investing in entertainment and music. Now it seems like he's recouping some of it through the sale of Warner Music Group. Shareholders in the company have done poorly over the years, but a deal to sell the company is letting Bronfman walk away with a $21.7 million payment.
Aspirational Brands. When you think of aspirational brands, you think of Neiman Marcus, Tiffany, and. . . . . AIG? In its recent 600-page 10-Q filing, the largely-government-owned insurance company uses a strange adjective to describe its earnings.
Rumor Has It. Search juggernaut Google faces a host of risk factors: the rise of Facebook, a large-scale failure of the internet, a decline in ad sales. But as Footnoted discovered in Google's recent 10-Q, the company has recently added a new one: rumors. Apparently, corporate insiders at America's savviest company have discovered that gossip and speculation have the potential to influence the trajectory of a stock.

Taxpayer Identity Theft: Up

2011-06-05T10:16:00.001-07:00

AP NewsBreak: Taxpayer identity theft is soaring

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By LARRY MARGASAK, Associated Press Larry Margasak, Associated Press – Wed Jun 1, 4:02 pm ET

WASHINGTON – Imagine filing your tax return and learning that someone else got your refund. With your name and Social Security number, no less.
The IRS is grappling with a nearly five-fold increase in taxpayer identity theft between 2008 and 2010, a Government Accountability Office official plans to tell a House hearing Thursday. There were 248,357 incidents in 2010, compared to 51,702 in 2008.
The GAO findings, obtained by The Associated Press, don't begin to describe the pain for a first-time victim, who must wait for a refund while the IRS sorts out which return is real and which is a fraud.
Many identity thieves don't get prosecuted, according James White, director of strategic issues for the GAO..
"IRS officials told us that IRS pursues criminal investigations of suspected identity thieves in only a small number of cases," White says in testimony prepared for a House Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee.
He said that in the 2010 fiscal year, the IRS criminal investigations division initiated just over 4,700 investigations of all types — far less than the identity theft cases alone.
"We want to know why this problem is apparently getting much worse," said Rep. Todd Platts, R-Pa., chairman of the subcommittee. "By bringing these issues to the public as quickly as possible, the committee hopes to give citizens the necessary information so they can protect themselves from such identity theft."
IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman, in his prepared statement, defended the criminal investigation record. He said his criminal division concentrates on schemes of national scope and added that 95 percent of those prosecuted for refund-related identity theft go to prison.
Tax identity thieves typically submit returns for refunds early in the filing season. The legitimate taxpayer usually files later, and only then learns from the IRS that two returns were filed using the same Social Security number.
Some thieves steal a name and Social Security number to obtain a job. The employer will report the thief's wage information to the IRS, as would the legitimate taxpayer's employer. The victim then would receive an unwelcome IRS notice that he or she failed to report everything that was earned. The victim would then need to work with the tax agency to sort things out.
Shulman said the IRS can significantly increase its protection after someone has been victimized the first time.
One victim, LaVonda Rae Thompson, 52, of York, Pa., plans to tell the committee about what she calls "my nightmare."
She had to make rounds of calls to the IRS and other government agencies, sometimes repeating the same information. She spoke on the phone with an IRS employee she described as "the most rude and discourteous person I have ever spoken with in my life."
She was told her refund would take 16 weeks to six months.
She closed her bank accounts and opened new ones. She ordered new checks. She placed a 90-day alert on her credit reports. She often has to show her IRS identity theft affidavit.
"You may not be able to know how stressful this has been," she said in her statement. "I can't sleep. I wonder what the person will do next as far as trying to get credit cards or anything in my name."
Tax form 14039, the IRS Identity Theft Affidavit, allows the agency to mark an account to identify future questionable activity. A task force of the IRS and other agencies established a website, STOPFRAUD.gov, which tells taxpayers what to do if they suspect identity fraud.
The main IRS website includes "Ten Things the IRS Wants You to Know About Identity Theft."
If the IRS receives multiple tax returns for the same individuals, the taxpayer usually must substantiate identity with a federal or state-issued identification such as a driver's license or passport — together with a copy of a police report or the IRS affidavit.
This past January, the IRS developed a pilot program designed to lessen delays for victims who deserve a refund.
Victims are issued an "identity protection personal identification number," which the IRS will use to process future returns. A new PIN will be issued each year the taxpayer's account has been marked for potential fraud

How Zombie Ants Have Their Minds Controlled

2011-05-27T14:11:00.001-07:00

Home > News > Science > Nature

How Zombie Ants Have Their Minds Controlled

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May 9th, 2011, 12:38 GMT| By Tudor Vieru

Researchers say that they were finally able to gain more insight into how a fungus manages to control a certain species of ants into doing its bidding without any resistance. The finding may help understand other similar parasites as well.

A while back, the scientific community was horrified to learn about the existence of a particular type of fungus, that was capable of turning ants into zombies. Fungal cells grown into the brain of the ant and then force the insect to do whatever the fungus wants.

In addition to the mental control it exerts over the ant it infects, the organism is also capable of influencing the insect's muscles. This helps the fungus affix the ant carcass in exactly the most suitable position for its offspring to develop.

One of the most impressive things that scientists discovered in the new research is that the zombie ants appeared to clamp down on leaves precisely at noon. Furthermore, their fungal “drivers” were forcing them to into areas that researchers called zombie ant graveyards.

The team looked after about 16 infected ants, as they wandered through the forests shortly after being infected. Eventually, they settled down on a single leaf, and then bit the central vein feeding that leaf.

The Sun, temperatures and humidity are some of the factors that researchers believe could be at work in determining when the fungus sends the clamp signal to the ant's jaws, LiveScience reports.

“Synchronized arrival of zombie ants at the graveyards is a remarkable phenomenon. It adds a layer of complexity on what is already an impressive feat,” explains scientist David Hughes.

“However, although ants bite at noon they don't in fact die until sunset. Likely this strategy ensures (the fungus) has a long cool night ahead of it during which time it can literally burst out of the ant's head to begin the growth of the spore-releasing stalk.” he adds.

Hughes, who was a researcher on the new study, holds an appointment with the Pennsylvania State University. He and colleagues believe that the fungus engages in this behavior in order to ensure it secures the best possible position for itself.

In addition to taking over the ant's mind, the infecting fungus also causes muscular dystrophy in jaw muscles. “In the context of biting, it allows the mandibles, we feel, to work in one direction and one direction only,” Hughes explains.

“Normally, they open and close, but in this case they can only close,”he adds, saying that the ants can then no longer lose their grip on the leaf vein. The fungus then extracts all calcium from the ant, installing a rigor mortis-like state which freezes the ant in its final position.

“We are quite confident we could see this and similar phenomenon across a broad range of organisms, because it is such a neat evolutionary trick if you are fungus to use the muscles of an animal to transport you to another environment,” Hughes concludes.

After Doomday: How Humans Get Off Earth

2011-05-22T10:03:00.001-07:00

After Doomsday: How Humans Get Off Earth

By Adam Hadhazy, Life's Little Mysteries Contributor
20 May 2011 12:10 PM ET

Credit: Karl Tate / Life's Little Mysteries

Although "doomsday" is quite unlikely from one day to the next, a humanity-exterminating event could strike at any moment. It could happen suddenly in the form of a giant, non-catalogued asteroid, or more slowly through the spread of a mutated or never-before-encountered monster virus.

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Rest assured, however, that doomsday will not be a foretold supernatural event falling on a pre-selected, arbitrary date, such as tomorrow, May 21, 2011, despite the claims of a fringe Christian broadcaster in California. (Ditto for the 2012 Mayan calendar hoopla.) [Doomsday Facts (and Fictions)]

But should doomsday come, and the planet were to become uninhabitable, what might humanity do to survive? [Apocalypse Now: The Gear You Need to Survive Doomsday]

In the short term, with the end of days nigh, the outlook is bleak. Although the concept of a last-resort, fleeing-for-the-stars planetary evacuation has been given thought, it has not received any dedicated action.

Gaining knowledge of how to preserve our civilization down the eons has been a lesser-cited rationale for further advancing human spaceflight abilities. As theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking put it to Big Think last year, "our only chance of long-term survival is not to remain inward-looking on planet Earth, but to spread out into space."

The options at hand

That said, humankind has not yet developed the means to live off-Earth for more than a few months at a time without being resupplied with food and water. The space stations we have created — the Salyuts, Skylab, Mir and the International Space Station (ISS), the only one currently aloft — are fragile things; without the altitude boosts that visiting spacecraft give these stations, their orbits decay, and the habitats eventually burn up in Earth's atmosphere (this was the fate of Skylab and Mir, with the latter planned; the ISS gets a boost several times annually).

Getting people to the ISS is costly and, therefore, rare. About 300 people (around 200 of the same individuals) have visited it over its 14-year history. The station is set up for a "permanent" crew of only six, who get swapped out after a few months on board.

As such, the ISS would not serve well as a spaceborne "fallout shelter" above the apocalyptic fray below. "The space station is nothing ... a sinking life boat," said Thomas Heppenheimer, an associate fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics who has written books about space colonization and the space shuttle, among other topics.

To guarantee humanity's off-world survival, new sorts of spacecraft pushing the technological and engineering envelope would be needed, and slapping them together in a pinch — especially if society were crumbling — seems like an extremely tall order. [The Draw of Doomsday: Why People Look Forward to the End]

Nevertheless, a number of space habitats have been proposed over the years as a measured migration into the heavens, rather than escape pods. The various proposed designs, from spheres to rings to cylinders, would all rotate to create artificial gravity in parts of their interiors.

Systems of external mirrors would reflect sunlight into the vessels. Inside, a prescribed mix of gases to simulate Earth's atmosphere, as well as tracts of soil and waterways, and so on, would allow for agriculture and a sustainable human livelihood.

The moon, Mars and beyond

Of course, constructing these gargantuan ships would take gobs of time, money and skill, all of which would be lacking in the event of a planetary cataclysm.

Permanent moon, Mars and asteroid colonies have also been detailed, and while they are less far-fetched than futuristic, free-ranging space abodes, such residences remain entirely on the drawing board.

Another ambitious, yet figuratively more down-to-Earth proposal is to build an underground "doomsday ark" on the moon. The vault would house hard drives full of information on how to reboot human civilization, including instructions for metal-smelting and crop planting, for example, according to an article that appeared in The Telegraph. Genetic sequences, seeds and other biological stocks might also be stored in the ark and tended to by robots.

All that may sound great, but it's nowhere close to reality. If doomsday came tomorrow, humanity would be in a bit of pickle, to put it mildly. As a species, then, at least for the foreseeable future, "if we're ever going to die, we're going to die," Heppenheimer said.

Aliens and Zombies: Some Fears of Armageddon

2011-05-22T10:00:00.000-07:00

Aliens

Credit: Dreamstime.com

Aliens have kidnapped, experimented and killed us en masse — at least in fiction. Of course, no extraterrestrials have been revealed to the world at large yet, so as far as we know we are alone in the universe. If aliens do cross interstellar distances to attack Earth, one wonders if they would really land and let themselves get shot first as movies often depict. It might be more sensible for them to bombard strategic targets and population centers from orbit first and then, perhaps, descend with robots to mop up.

Credit: David P Hughes

There are brain-controlling parasites effectively capable of turning ants into zombies, but no known germs can turn people into the walking dead. Still, researchers do use the zombie scenario to study how epidemics spread.

10 Failed Doomsday Predictions

2011-05-22T09:57:00.001-07:00

Here are 10 that didn't pan out, so far:
The Prophet Hen of Leeds, 1806
History has countless examples of people who have proclaimed that the return of Jesus Christ is imminent, but perhaps there has never been a stranger messenger than a hen in the English town of Leeds in 1806. It seems that a hen began laying eggs on which the phrase "Christ is coming" was written. As news of this miracle spread, many people became convinced that doomsday was at hand — until a curious local actually watched the hen laying one of the prophetic eggs and discovered someone had hatched a hoax.
[End of the World? Top Doomsday Fears]
The Millerites, April 23, 1843
A New England farmer named William Miller, after several years of very careful study of his Bible, concluded that God's chosen time to destroy the world could be divined from a strict literal interpretation of scripture. As he explained to anyone who would listen, the world would end some time between March 21, 1843 and March 21, 1844. He preached and published enough to eventually lead thousands of followers (known as Millerites) who decided that the actual date was April 23, 1843. Many sold or gave away their possessions, assuming they would not be needed; though when April 23 arrived (but Jesus didn't) the group eventually disbanded—some of them forming what is now the Seventh Day Adventists.
Mormon Armageddon, 1891 or earlier
Joseph Smith, founder of the Mormon church, called a meeting of his church leaders in February 1835 to tell them that he had spoken to God recently, and during their conversation he learned that Jesus would return within the next 56 years, after which the End Times would begin promptly.
Halley's Comet, 1910
In 1881, an astronomer discovered through spectral analysis that comet tails include a deadly gas called cyanogen (related, as the name imples, to cyanide). This was of only passing interest until someone realized that Earth would pass through the tail of Halley's comet in 1910. Would everyone on the planet be bathed in deadly toxic gas? That was the speculation reprinted on the front pages of "The New York Times" and other newspapers, resulting in a widespread panic across the United States and abroad. Finally even-headed scientists explained that there was nothing to fear.
Pat Robertson, 1982
In May 1980, televangelist and Christian Coalition founder Pat Robertson startled and alarmed many when — contrary to Matthew 24:36 ("No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven...") he informed his "700 Club" TV show audience around the world that he knew when the world would end. "I guarantee you by the end of 1982 there is going to be a judgment on the world," Robertson said.
Heaven's Gate, 1997
When comet Hale-Bopp appeared in 1997, rumors surfaced that an alien spacecraft was following the comet — covered up, of course, by NASA and the astronomical community. Though the claim was refuted by astronomers (and could be refuted by anyone with a good telescope), the rumors were publicized on Art Bell's paranormal radio talk show "Coast to Coast AM." These claims inspired a San Diego UFO cult named Heaven's Gate to conclude that the world would end soon. The world did indeed end for 39 of the cult members, who committed suicide on March 26, 1997.
Nostradamus, August 1999
The heavily obfuscated and metaphorical writings of Michel de Nostrdame have intrigued people for over 400 years. His writings, the accuracy of which relies heavily upon very flexible interpretations, have been translated and re-translated in dozens of different versions. One of the most famous quatrains read, "The year 1999, seventh month / From the sky will come great king of terror." Many Nostradamus devotees grew concerned that this was the famed prognosticator's vision of Armageddon.
Y2K, Jan. 1, 2000
As the last century drew to a close, many people grew concerned that computers might bring about doomsday. The problem, first noted in the early 1970s, was that many computers would not be able to tell the difference between 2000 and 1900 dates. No one was really sure what that would do, but many suggested catastrophic problems ranging from vast blackouts to nuclear holocaust. Gun sales jumped and survivalists prepared to live in bunkers, but the new millennium began with only a few glitches.
May 5, 2000
In case the Y2K bug didn't do us in, global catastrophe was assured by Richard Noone, author of the 1997 book "5/5/2000 Ice: the Ultimate Disaster." According to Noone, the Antarctic ice mass would be three miles thick by May 5, 2000 — a date in which the planets would be aligned in the heavens, somehow resulting in a global icy death (or at least a lot of book sales). Perhaps global warming kept the ice age at bay.
God's Church Ministry, Fall 2008
According to God's Church minister Ronald Weinland, the end times are upon us-- again. His 2006 book "2008: God's Final Witness" states that hundreds of millions of people will die, and by the end of 2006, "there will be a maximum time of two years remaining before the world will be plunged into the worst time of all human history. By the fall of 2008, the United States will have collapsed as a world power, and no longer exist as an independent nation." As the book notes, "Ronald Weinland places his reputation on the line as the end-time prophet of God."

When Doomsday Isn't, Believers Struggle to Cope

2011-05-22T09:54:00.000-07:00

When Doomsday Isn't, Believers Struggle to Cope

Stephanie Pappas, LiveScience Senior Writer,
LiveScience.com Stephanie Pappas, Livescience Senior Writer,
livescience.com – Sat May 21, 10:31 pm ET

If you're reading this, Harold Camping's predictions that the end of the world would start Saturday (May 21) failed to pan out.
That's good news for most of us, but Camping and his followers were looking forward to the end. After all, they believed that they were likely to be among the 200 million souls sent to live in paradise forever. So how do believers cope when their doomsday predictions fail?
It depends, said Lorenzo DiTommaso, a professor of religion at Concordia University in Montreal who studies the history of doomsday predictions.
"If you have a strong leader, the group survives," DiTommaso told LiveScience. "Sometimes the group falls apart. Most often, the answer given by the group is that the prophecy is true, but the interpretation was wrong." [Read: Why People Look Forward to the End]
In 1994, Camping predicted a September doomsday, but hedged his bets with a question mark. On his website (familyradio.com), Camping wrote that he had misunderstood a key biblical passage, but since that time, biblical evidence for a 2011 end had "greatly solidified."
Doomsdays without doom
The classic study of "doomsdays gone bad" took place in 1954. A Chicago woman named Dorothy Martin predicted a cataclysmic flood from which a few true believers would be saved by aliens. Martin and her cult, The Seekers, gathered the night before the expected flood to await the flying saucer. Unbeknown to them, however, their group had been infiltrated by psychologist Leon Festinger, who hoped to find out what happens when the rug of people's beliefs is pulled out from under them.
Festinger's study, which became the basis of the book "When Prophecy Fails" (Harper-Torchbooks 1956), revealed that as the appointed time passed with no alien visitors, the group sat stunned. But a few hours before dawn, Martin suddenly received a new prophecy, stating that The Seekers had been so devout that God had called off the apocalypse. At that, the group rejoiced — and started calling newspapers to boast of what they'd done. Eventually, the group fell apart. Martin later changed her name to "Sister Thedra" and continued her prophecies.
Other failed doomsday prophets have struggled to keep their followers in line. One self-proclaimed prophet, Mariana Andrada (later known as Mariana La Loca), preached to a gang of followers in the 1880s in the San Joaquin Valley of California, predicting doomsday by 1886. But Andrada was not consistent with her predictions, and believers began to defect. Trying to keep one family from leaving, Andrada told them one of them would die on the journey. Sure enough, the family's young son soon fell violently ill and passed away. The family accused Andrada of poisoning him. She was arrested and found not guilty, but never returned to preach to her followers.
Searching for explanations
How Camping's followers will cope with a failed doomsday prediction depends on the structure of the group, said Steve Hassan, a counseling psychologist and cult expert who runs the online Freedom of Mind Resource Center. [After Doomsday: How Humans Get Off Earth]
"The more people have connections outside of the group, the more likely it is that they're going to stop looking to [Camping] as the mouth of God on Earth," Hassan told LiveScience. "Information control is one of the most important features of mind control."
In his experience, Hassan said, about a third of believers become disillusioned after a failed prediction, while another third find reason to believe more strongly. The remaining group members fall somewhere in between, he said.
Doomsday groups in history have run a gamut of responses after failed predictions, said Stephen Kent, a sociologist at the University of Alberta who studies new and alternative religions. On occasion, a leader will admit he or she was wrong; other groups will come up with a face-saving explanation. Some groups may blame themselves, rationalizing that their lack of faith caused the failure, Kent told LiveScience. Other groups blame outside forces and redouble their efforts.
"One of the options is for the group to say, 'Society wasn't ready, Jesus felt there weren't enough people worthy of rapturing. Hence, we've got to go out and convert more people,'" Kent said.
After the apocalypse
Often, a failed prediction leads to splinter groups and re-entrenchment. After Baptist preacher William Miller predicted the end of the world on Oct. 22, 1844 — a date thereafter known as "The Great Disappointment" when nothing happened — his followers struggled to explain their mistake. One subset decided that on that date, Jesus had shifted his location in heaven in preparation to return to Earth. This group later became the Seventh-Day Adventist church. [Infographic: Doomsdays Past and Present]
Sociologists and doomsday experts agree that Camping is likely convinced of doomsday rather than perpetuating a hoax or running a scam. A con artist, Hassan said, would never set himself up for failure by giving a firm date.
A belief in doomsday gives followers a clear sense of the world and their place in it, Kent said. Those comforting beliefs are difficult to maintain after the world fails to end.
"This could be a fairly sad day for these people," Kent said. "There will be some greatly disheartened people who may be terribly confused about what didn't happen."
You can follow LiveScience senior writer Stephanie Pappas on Twitter @sipappas. Follow LiveScience for the latest in science news and discoveries on Twitter @livescience and on Facebook.

2011 Doomsday: X

2011-05-21T14:44:00.000-07:00

New York: Despite the fact that the 6 pm deadline has passed in many countries without any sign of an armageddon, the debate over whether May 21 is infact 'judgement day' or 'doomsday' still rages on. All eyes are on the man who says his calculations are accurate and the world will end on May 21.
According to the New York Times, there was nothing out of the ordinary happening outside the office of Harold Camping, the man in the eye of the 'doomsday prediction' storm, except a sign saying that the offices were closed. “Sorry we missed you!” the sign concluded.
Camping is the man behind the predictions and his radio enterprise has helped pay for and promore the 'rapture' predictions. A former civil engineer, the 89-year-old Camping has built a small nonprofit empire in radio. According to report, Camping's 'empire' has grown from a single station in San Francisco to more than 200 radio stations and a pair of television stations. He has recently filed financial disclosure showing $34 million in investments, $56 million in assets and $29 million in mortgages.
According to the New York Times, Camping has used those resources to buy billboard space across the country and print millions of pamphlets warning of doomsday.
Pastor Dave Nederhood, of Christian Reformed Church in Alameda, said he had met Mr. Camping on several occasions and had followed his radio broadcasts about the apocalypse closely.
“My concern is for the people that have bought into his lie and have sold their belongings, quit their jobs, left their churches and their families and now they are sitting at home listening to Family Radio and waiting for the end,” Mr. Nederhood said. “I’m terribly concerned.”
Although the Family Radio headquarters were mostly abandoned on Friday, the company’s flagship station — KEAR, 610 AM — continued to broadcast religious music, interspersed with sermons and biblically flavored life lessons.
Doomday calculations
So what is the calculations used by Camping to arrive at May 21, 2011 as the judgement day? It is a a complex formula involving the biblical flood survived by Noah; a 7,000-year clock ticking from that moment; and the subtraction of a year due to a difference between Old Testament and New Testament calendars.
The number 5 equals “atonement”, the number 10 equals “completeness”, and the number 17 equals “heaven”.
Christ hung on the cross on April 1, 33 AD. The time between April 1, 33 AD and April 1, 2011 is 1,978 years.
If 1,978 is multiplied by 365.2422 days (the number of days in a solar year), the result is 722,449.
The time between April 1 and May 21 is 51 days.
51 + 722,449 = 722,500.
(5 × 10 × 17)2 or (atonement × completeness × heaven)2 also equals 722,500.
Thus, Camping concludes that 5 × 10 × 17 is telling us a “story from the time Christ made payment for our sins until we’re completely saved.”
However, Camping’s math has proved to be flawed before. He also predicted the end of the world in 1994. But this time around, Mr. Camping said he was supremely confident. “We’re just a few days away,” he said on Monday.
So according to the Camping, all true Christians will be snatched away and rapturously transported to heaven. Everyone else will be left to suffer the prolonged agony of "tribulation" until the final destruction of the universe on October 21, 2011, five months later.
When predictions fail
According to a report in the British newspaper, the Guardian, there have been others who have claimed that the world will end on a specific date and failed.
In 1954 the authors gained access to members of a Michigan cult who believed that there would be a great flood on 21 December, destroying everyone except the true believers, who would be whisked to safety in a flying saucer. However when this failed to happen, instead of abandoning their beliefs and being disappointed, the members of the cult stuck to their beliefs even more strongly.
According to the Guardian, When a prophesy fails, a leader needs to save face, so he denies that he ever made the prediction or that he was misinterpreted. Or he could just say that the date has been postponed. In Camping's case, for all the non -believers he has already postponed the date of 'apocalypse' to October 21, 2011.

What the nay-sayers say?
There has been a deluge of jokes about the impending 'doomsday'. There is even a Facebook page titled "Post rapture looting" which says,"When everyone is gone and God's not looking, we need to pick up some sweet stereo equipment and maybe some new furniture for the mansion we're going to squat in."

And here is a sample of the tweets on the social networking site Twitter :
'I think we should all pretend the #rapture is happening so that when Harold Camping gets left behind later today he'll be livid.'
'Anyone tweeting from Heaven yet? How's the food up there? Is TV one long loop of televangelists? #rapture.'

'I guess on Sunday when the #Rapture people feel really upset, we can't console them by saying "Cheer up, it's not the end of the world.'

2012 Doomsday: Big Fat NO

2011-05-21T14:38:00.001-07:00

2012: Beginning of the End or Why the World Won't End?

11.06.09

Scenes from the motion picture "2012." Courtesy Columbia Pictures. Remember the Y2K scare? It came and went without much of a whimper because of adequate planning and analysis of the situation. Impressive movie special effects aside, Dec. 21, 2012, won't be the end of the world as we know. It will, however, be another winter solstice.

Much like Y2K, 2012 has been analyzed and the science of the end of the Earth thoroughly studied. Contrary to some of the common beliefs out there, the science behind the end of the world quickly unravels when pinned down to the 2012 timeline. Below, NASA Scientists answer several questions that we're frequently asked regarding 2012.

Question (Q): Are there any threats to the Earth in 2012? Many Internet websites say the world will end in December 2012.
Answer (A): Nothing bad will happen to the Earth in 2012. Our planet has been getting along just fine for more than 4 billion years, and credible scientists worldwide know of no threat associated with 2012.

Q: What is the origin of the prediction that the world will end in 2012?
A: The story started with claims that Nibiru, a supposed planet discovered by the Sumerians, is headed toward Earth. This catastrophe was initially predicted for May 2003, but when nothing happened the doomsday date was moved forward to December 2012. Then these two fables were linked to the end of one of the cycles in the ancient Mayan calendar at the winter solstice in 2012 -- hence the predicted doomsday date of December 21, 2012.

Q: Does the Mayan calendar end in December 2012?
A: Just as the calendar you have on your kitchen wall does not cease to exist after December 31, the Mayan calendar does not cease to exist on December 21, 2012. This date is the end of the Mayan long-count period but then -- just as your calendar begins again on January 1 -- another long-count period begins for the Mayan calendar.

Q: Could phenomena occur where planets align in a way that impacts Earth?
A: There are no planetary alignments in the next few decades, Earth will not cross the galactic plane in 2012, and even if these alignments were to occur, their effects on the Earth would be negligible. Each December the Earth and sun align with the approximate center of the Milky Way Galaxy but that is an annual event of no consequence.

"There apparently is a great deal of interest in celestial bodies, and their locations and trajectories at the end of the calendar year 2012. Now, I for one love a good book or movie as much as the next guy. But the stuff flying around through cyberspace, TV and the movies is not based on science. There is even a fake NASA news release out there..."
- Don Yeomans, NASA senior research scientist Q: Is there a planet or brown dwarf called Nibiru or Planet X or Eris that is approaching the Earth and threatening our planet with widespread destruction?
A: Nibiru and other stories about wayward planets are an Internet hoax. There is no factual basis for these claims. If Nibiru or Planet X were real and headed for an encounter with the Earth in 2012, astronomers would have been tracking it for at least the past decade, and it would be visible by now to the naked eye. Obviously, it does not exist. Eris is real, but it is a dwarf planet similar to Pluto that will remain in the outer solar system; the closest it can come to Earth is about 4 billion miles.

Q: What is the polar shift theory? Is it true that the earth’s crust does a 180-degree rotation around the core in a matter of days if not hours?
A: A reversal in the rotation of Earth is impossible. There are slow movements of the continents (for example Antarctica was near the equator hundreds of millions of years ago), but that is irrelevant to claims of reversal of the rotational poles. However, many of the disaster websites pull a bait-and-shift to fool people. They claim a relationship between the rotation and the magnetic polarity of Earth, which does change irregularly, with a magnetic reversal taking place every 400,000 years on average. As far as we know, such a magnetic reversal doesn’t cause any harm to life on Earth. A magnetic reversal is very unlikely to happen in the next few millennia, anyway.

Earth, as seen in the Blue Marble: Next Generation collection of images, showing the color of the planet's surface in high resolution. This image shows South America from September 2004. Q: Is the Earth in danger of being hit by a meteor in 2012?
A: The Earth has always been subject to impacts by comets and asteroids, although big hits are very rare. The last big impact was 65 million years ago, and that led to the extinction of the dinosaurs. Today NASA astronomers are carrying out a survey called the Spaceguard Survey to find any large near-Earth asteroids long before they hit. We have already determined that there are no threatening asteroids as large as the one that killed the dinosaurs. All this work is done openly with the discoveries posted every day on the NASA NEO Program Office website, so you can see for yourself that nothing is predicted to hit in 2012.

Q: How do NASA scientists feel about claims of pending doomsday?
A: For any claims of disaster or dramatic changes in 2012, where is the science? Where is the evidence? There is none, and for all the fictional assertions, whether they are made in books, movies, documentaries or over the Internet, we cannot change that simple fact. There is no credible evidence for any of the assertions made in support of unusual events taking place in December 2012.

Q: Is there a danger from giant solar storms predicted for 2012?
A: Solar activity has a regular cycle, with peaks approximately every 11 years. Near these activity peaks, solar flares can cause some interruption of satellite communications, although engineers are learning how to build electronics that are protected against most solar storms. But there is no special risk associated with 2012. The next solar maximum will occur in the 2012-2014 time frame and is predicted to be an average solar cycle, no different than previous cycles throughout history.

Elizabeth Bathory's Castle

2011-05-18T13:30:00.000-07:00

Elizabeth Bathory's Castle

By Gilbert Cruz Wednesday, May 04, 2011

Rue des Archives / PVDE / Getty Images

She was said to have bathed in the blood of murdered virgins in order to maintain her youthful glow. That's pretty bad stuff. Countess Elizabeth Bathory, known as the Blood Countess, is regarded by some as one of the influences for Bram Stoker's Dracula. In the first decade of the 1600s, Bathory — a Hungarian noble — was arrested and accused of, among other crimes, murdering and torturing young servant girls and townsfolk at her castle in Cachtice, located in what is now Slovakia. Whether or not she killed hundreds or dozens of people (or any, really) will never be known. What is known is that while Bathory was not convicted of any of the crimes she was tried for, she was kept under house arrest in Castle Cachtice, where she died in 1614 after three years of imprisonment.

John Gerard and the Tower of London

2011-05-17T15:30:00.000-07:00

John Gerard and the Tower of London

By ALEXANDRA SILVER Tuesday, Apr. 26, 2011

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LONDON STEREOSCOPIC COMPANY / GETTY IMAGES

Inmates in the Tower of London may not have had to worry about advanced security technology when plotting their escapes, but then, not many prisoners today have to deal with crossing moats. The 1597 jailbreak of John Gerard, a Jesuit priest imprisoned and tortured under Queen Elizabeth I's Protestant reign, involved orange-juice invisible ink, string, rope, a boat, a little help from his friends and, as Gerard would have it, a lot of help from God.

View the full list for "Top 10 Prison Escapes"

Candidates for Names of Elements 113-116,118

2011-05-16T14:00:00.000-07:00

Newtonium
Pasteurium
Galileum
Paulinium
Brahium
Planckium
Thomsonium
Crickium
Watsonium
Kekulium
Leewenhoekium
Mendelium
Oppenheimerium
Salkium
Flemingium
Archimedium
Sangerium

Element 113-116,118 Discovered

2011-05-16T13:48:00.001-07:00

Discovery of Elements 113 and 115

Group members include (left to right): Philip Wilk, Jackie Kenneally, Ken Moody, Dawn Shaughnessy, Mark Stoyer, Nancy Stoyer, and John Wild (retired). Two retirees not pictured are Jerry Landrum and Ron Lougheed.

Two superheavy elements, elements 113 and 115, were recently synthesized through a collaborative effort between scientists from the Physical and Life Sciences Directorate at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and researchers from the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research at the Flerov Laboratory for Nuclear Reactions in Dubna, Russia. Two isotopes of element 115 survived 30-80 milliseconds before decaying into isotopes of element 113 that survived approximately ten times longer prior to decaying themselves. Following a series of alpha-decays, the element 115 atoms decayed into long-lived isotopes (multiple hours) of element 105 (Db). The great-great-great granddaughter Db isotopes were also chemically identified in subsequent experiments.

Element 114—Superheavy Element Puts LLNL on the Periodic Table

Nuclear physicists from Lawrence Livermore working in collaboration with a team of Russian scientists from the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna, Russia, have announced the creation of a new ultraheavy element—element 114. Using isotopes provided by Livermore, the Russian-U.S. team bombarded a plutonium-244 target with calcium-48 atoms to create the new element.

The excitement generated by the discovery stems largely from the stability of the new element, the nucleus of which is believed to consist of 114 protons and 184 neutrons. Unlike other manufactured heavy elements, element 114 is relatively long-lived, surviving for 30 seconds—as opposed to mere microseconds—before decaying. And some of element 114’s decay particles lived for an unheard-of 16.5 minutes.

The significance of element 114’s long life is the support it gives to the theory that the more densely packed the nucleus of heavy elements, the more stable they are. This stability should make it easier for scientists to study the chemical properties of these manufactured elements to see if they match those of more familiar, naturally occurring elements.

The Livermore team is working with their Russian collaborators, led by Yuri Oganessian and Vladimir Utyonkov, to confirm element 114’s creation and prepare a formal report on their experimental results.

Livermore Scientists Team with Russia to Discover Element 118

Sabrina Fletcher and Thomas Tegge/LLNL

Artist’s conception of calcium ions traveling down the accelerator at a high velocity toward the rotating californium target. The new element 118 travels through the accelerator to the detector. The particle begins to decay and eventually fissions. Click on the images to download high-resolution versions.

Scientists from the Physical and Life Sciences Directorate at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, in collaboration with researchers from Dubna, the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR) in Russia, have discovered the newest superheavy element, element 118.

In experiments conducted at the JINR U400 cyclotron between February and June 2005, the researchers observed atomic decay patterns, or chains, that establish the existence of element 118. In these decay chains, previously observed element 116 is produced via the alpha decay of element 118.

The results are published in the October 2006 edition of the journal Physical Review C.

The experiment produced three atoms of element 118 when calcium ions bombarded a californium target. The team then observed the alpha decay from element 118 to element 116 and then to element 114. The Livermore-Dubna team had created the same isotope of element 116 in earlier experiments.

This discovery brings the total to five new elements for the Livermore-Dubna collaboration (113, 114, 115, 116 and 118).

“The decay properties of all the isotopes that we have made so far paint the picture of a large, sort of flat ‘Island of Stability’ and indicate that we may have luck if we try to go even heavier,” said Ken Moody, Livermore’s team leader.

The “Island of Stability” is a term from nuclear physics that describes the possibility of elements which have particularly stable “magic numbers” of protons and neutrons. This would allow certain isotopes of some transuranic elements (elements with atomic numbers greater than 92) to be far more stable than others, and thus decay much more slowly.

Element 118 is expected to be a noble gas that lies right below radon on the periodic table of elements.

“The world is made up of about 90 elements,” Moody said. “Anything more you can learn about the periodic table is exciting. It can tell us why the world is here and what it is made of.”

Members of the Livermore team include: Moody, Dawn Shaughnessy, Mark Stoyer, Nancy Stoyer, Philip Wilk, Jacqueline Kenneally, Jerry Landrum, John Wild, Ron Lougheed and former LLNL employee Joshua Patin.

“This is quite a breakthrough for science,” said Associate Director Tomas Diaz de la Rubia. “We’ve discovered a new element that provides insight into the makeup of the universe. For our scientists to find another piece of the puzzle is a testament to the strength and value of the science and technology at this Laboratory.”

Xanthine/Wikipedia

A three-dimensional representation of the theoretical Island of Stability.

As for the future, the LLNL-Dubna team will continue to map the region near the “Island of Stability.” In 2007, the team plans to look for element 120 by bombarding a plutonium target with iron isotopes.

“The heavy element community will continue to search for new elements until the limit of nuclear stability is found,” Mark Stoyer said. “It is expected that limit will be found.”

Saddam Hussein's Spider Hole

2011-05-16T13:30:00.000-07:00

Saddam Hussein's Spider Hole

By Frances Romero Wednesday, May 04, 2011

Chris Hondros / Getty Images

Eight months after being ousted from power in Baghdad, the Iraqi tyrant was found in December 2003 hiding out in Ad-Dawr, a town 10 miles (16 km) south of his hometown of Tikrit. Saddam Hussein was pulled from a hole with a depth of 6 to 8 ft. (2 to 2.5 m) that was wide enough for him to lie down in. Also found in the so-called spider hole? Two AK-47s, a pistol and $750,000 worth in $100 bills. Saddam's capture came after a lengthy investigation in which intelligence officers questioned bodyguards and family members close to the deposed leader. When pulled from the subterranean hideout, Saddam seemed confused and disoriented. After the successful capture, President George W. Bush announced to Iraqis, "You do not have to fear the rule of Saddam Hussein ever again." Saddam was tried in Baghdad for crimes against humanity during his 23-year rule and was found guilty in November 2006. He was hanged the following month.

The Libby Prison Escape

2011-05-15T15:30:00.000-07:00

The Libby Prison Escape

By JOSH SANBURN Tuesday, Apr. 26, 2011

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CORBIS

Under the cover of darkness in 1864, more than 100 Union soldiers broke out of Libby Prison in the heart of the Confederacy in Richmond, Va. A group of northern soldiers inside the prison found a way to dig a tunnel from the prison basement that let out beyond its walls. The basement was so infested with vermin they called it "Rat hell." But after a couple of weeks of burrowing, they surfaced inside a tobacco shed. One hundred and nine Union soldiers eventually escaped. Though many were recaptured and a few died in their attempt to make it back north, it remains the largest prison escape of the Civil War.

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