thebigzowie

Posts Tagged ‘odd news’

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Taking Out The Trash in Space

In Extraterrestrial, Space Exploration, Strange Oddities on May 2, 2012 at 3:19 am

This post credited in it’s entirety to: The Big Zowie

Next time you’re out on the street polling the average American about environmental concerns, you’ll probably get most people responding, “somewhat” to “very concerned” about trash littering our streets and highways as environmental pollution. And with good reason. If you drive along almost any highway in America and most rural roads, you’ll see objects d’pollution practically everywhere you look; plastic cups, beer cans, potato chip wrappers and a vast array of bottles, glass or plastic, in almost every possible configuration. Yep, people’s trash is everywhere and it isn’t pretty.

But trash isn’t necessarily dangerous. It’s just unsightly. Now poll those same people on the street again and ask them if they’re worried about trash in space – or, what the better informed refer to as Space Debris…what?? That’s right. Junk floating around in space, plastic cups, beer cans, potato chip wrappers…okay, maybe not. But believe it or not, there is a terrific amount of trash floating around in low Earth orbit, and it’s very dangerous!

It’s so dangerous in fact, we have a national office of space junk. Actually NASA refers to it as the NASA Orbital Debris Program Office, located at the Johnson Space Center. It’s the lead NASA center for orbital debris research. More than 21,000 pieces of orbital debris larger than 10 cm are known to exist. The estimated population of particles between 1 and 10 cm in diameter is approximately 500,000. The number of particles smaller than 1 cm exceeds 100 million.

Okay, that’s a lot of junk floating around up there. But dangerous? Why would it be dangerous? Well not necessarily to us down here, but can you imagine flying around up there in the Space Shuttle, or the ISS (International Space Station) having to constantly duck under flying debris?

And you better duck, because according to NASA: “In low Earth orbit (below 2,000 km), orbital debris circle the Earth at speeds of 7 to 8 km/s. However, the average impact speed of orbital debris with another space object will be approximately 10 km/s.” That’s much faster than a speeding bullet! Read the rest of this entry »

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Huge Asteroid Near Miss Nov 2011

In Extraterrestrial, Science, Wild Stuff on October 28, 2011 at 12:21 am

Mark your calendars for an impressive and upcoming flyby of an asteroid that’s one of the larger potentially perilous space rocks in the heavens – in terms of smacking the Earth in the future.

It’s the case of asteroid 2005 YU55, a round mini-world that is about 1,300 feet (400 meters) in diameter. In early November, this asteroid will approach Earth within a scant 0.85 lunar distances. Due the object’s size and whisking by so close to Earth, an extensive campaign of radar, visual and infrared observations are being planned.

Asteroid 2005 YU55 was discovered by Spacewatch at the University of Arizona, Tucson’s Lunar and Planetary Laboratory on Dec. 28, 2005. En route and headed our way, the cosmic wanderer is another reminder about life here on our sitting duck of a planet.

Close and Big

“The close Earth approach of 2005 YU55 on Nov. 8, is unusual since it is close and big.

On average, one wouldn’t expect an object this big to pass this close but every 30 years,” said Don Yeomans, manager of NASA’s Near-Earth Object Program Office and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. Yeomans said that with new radar capabilities at Goldstone in California — part of NASA’s Deep Space Network — there is a good chance of obtaining radar imaging of 2005 YU55 down to the 5-meter resolution level.

Doing so, he said, would mean obtaining higher spatial resolution of the object than that attained by recent spacecraft flyby missions. “So we like to think of this opportunity as a close flyby mission with Earth as the spacecraft,” Yeomans told SPACE.com.

“When combined with ground-based optical and near-infrared observations, the radar data should provide a fairly complete picture of one of the larger potentially hazardous asteroids,” he said. YU55 Asteroid 2005 YU55 is a slow rotator. Because of its size and proximity to Earth, the Minor Planet Center in Cambridge, Mass., has designated the space rock as a “potentially hazardous asteroid.”

Dishing it out “We’re already preparing for the 2005 YU55 flyby,” said Lance Benner, a research scientist at JPL and a specialist on radar imaging of near-Earth objects. He said part of the plan is to observe the asteroid with radar using both the huge Arecibo dish in Puerto Rico and equipment at Goldstone. Read the rest of this entry »

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What Makes People Laugh?

In Mind-Body, Quality of Life, Strange Oddities, Uncategorized on September 27, 2011 at 10:24 pm

Laughter is part of the universal human vocabulary. All members of the human species understand it. Unlike English or French or Swahili, we don’t have to learn to speak it. We’re born with the capacity to laugh.

One of the remarkable things about laughter is that it occurs unconsciously. You don’t decide to do it. While we can consciously inhibit it, we don’t consciously produce laughter. That’s why it’s very hard to laugh on command or to fake laughter. (Don’t take my word for it: Ask a friend to laugh on the spot.)

Laughter provides powerful, uncensored insights into our unconscious. It simply bubbles up from within us in certain situations.

Very little is known about the specific brain mechanisms responsible for laughter. But we do know that laughter is triggered by many sensations and thoughts, and that it activates many parts of the body.

When we laugh, we alter our facial expressions and make sounds. During exuberant laughter, the muscles of the arms, legs and trunk are involved. Laughter also requires modification in our pattern of breathing.

We also know that laughter is a message that we send to other people. We know this because we rarely laugh when we are alone (we laugh to ourselves even less than we talk to ourselves).

Laughter is social and contagious. We laugh at the sound of laughter itself. That’s why the Tickle Me Elmo doll is such a success — it makes us laugh and smile. Read the rest of this entry »

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5 Things That Just Don’t Matter

In Culture, Quality of Life, Social Media on July 12, 2011 at 11:29 pm

news that doesn't matter

The most amazing thing about news in the world today is how much of it just doesn’t matter. For the most part, it’s all just mental chewing gum.

We are inundated with news stories, local, national, international and even on occasion from the Space Station in low Earth orbit.

In fact, not only is much of it completely inconsequential in our daily lives, most of it is frankly annoying. For instance, who really needs to watch the petulant YouTube rants by the recently fired and always overpaid, sit-com bad boy Charlie Sheen? Or keep up with Lindsay Lohan’s court appearances for breaking probation?

But lots of people watch them, listen to them, forward them and even TiVo them. Talk about a waste of valuable hard drive space.

Besides the fact that this proves some people have a lot of time to waste, it says something about our insatiable appetite for spectatorism as well.

In the spirit of self-liberation, I have compiled a short but insightful list of news items, that just don’t matter, in the hope that somehow we will find it in ourselves to abstain from these spectacles of time sucking voyeurism in the future.

Examples of Things That Just Don’t Matter: Read the rest of this entry »

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110 Year Old Light Bulb Baffles Scientists

In Science, Strange Oddities, Wild Stuff on July 9, 2011 at 5:00 am

An incandescent light bulb recognized by Guinness World Records as being the longest burning is still glowing strong days after celebrations that marked its 110th anniversary.

The Centennial Light Bulb, at Fire Station No. 6 in Livermore, Calif., has been burning bright since it was first installed in 1901. (The exact date appears unknown, though the bulb’s “birthday” is typically held in June, most recently June 18th.) Since then, the 60-watt bulb has been alight 24 hours a day, operating at about 4 watts, to provide night illumination of the fire engines.

Other than a few power outages, there has only been one break in its operation, when it was removed from one fire station and fitted in another in 1976. The cord was severed out of fear that unscrewing the bulb would break it, and it was moved with a full police and fire truck escort, under the watch of Capt. Kirby Slate. It got but 22 minutes of rest during the ordeal.

The bulb is an improved incandescent lamp, invented by Adolphe A. Chaillet, and produced by the Shelby Electric Co. It is a hand-blown bulb with carbon filament. The light continues to confound scientists from across the country who have been unable to explain how it has managed to continue to glow for so long. Read the rest of this entry »

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Do You Know If Your Child Is Psychic?

In Dreams, Mind-Body, Strange Oddities on June 29, 2011 at 11:56 pm

Can children pick up another’s thoughts, know about events happening far away or even be able to know what might happen in the future?

Could the current wave of movies, such as “The Sixth Sense” or TV shows such as “Crossing Over” be influencing children? Research in parapsychology, the study of such phenomena, has come up with some answers.

What is Psychic Ability?

A psychic is said to have a sixth sense that goes beyond touch, smell, hearing, taste and sight. Someone with psychic abilities might, for example, know when a person is going to stop by before they do. These mysterious abilities have even been attributed to children.

Understanding Types of Psychic Experience

According to Athena A Drewes, Psy.D. and Sally Feather, PhD, “there are several categories of psychic experiences: telepathy, clairvoyance, precognition and psychokinesis.” A person with telepathic abilities is capable of knowing what another person is thinking.

Clairvoyance is an awareness of places, objects and events. Precognition is the ability to randomly predict events that are going to happen. Psychokinesis is the mental ability to alter the physical state of an object. Read the rest of this entry »

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Seagull Wins Best Video Ever At Cannes France

In Fun Technology, Photography, Strange Oddities, Wild Stuff on June 28, 2011 at 3:45 am

Here's looking at you kid!

A crazy new viral video shows a seagull grabbing a video camera, flying away with it and recording the trip through the skies over Cannes, France – no doubt a contender for winning the title of best Seagull Video Ever at the Cannes Film Festival.

Posted on YouTube by user opica1983, the video shows an unseen cameraman walking through a large house’s garden at night. He then places the camera on the ground, for who knows what reason?

That’s when the seagull strolls over, grabs the mini-video camera in its beak and takes off.

After the short flight, the seagull lands on a building before dropping the camera, turning it over and walking off.

The posted video includes the comment, “Seagull stole my video camera in Cannes France. I found it on the castle wall, where I had to climb”.

There are some obvious questions surrounding the video’s spontaneity. For instance, many are wondering why someone would be creeping around in the garden with a video camera at night and how they were able to track the seagull to find the camera probably nearly a mile away.

Also, the person who posted the video says it was taken with a GoPro camera. GoPro makes so-called “hero cameras.” These are cameras made for sporting applications and are designed to be used during everything from surfing to skydiving. Read the rest of this entry »

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Remember Rain Man? Meet Brain Man!

In Mind-Body, Science, Strange Oddities, Wild Stuff on June 25, 2011 at 6:32 pm

Twenty-five years ago, Morely Safer’s 60 Minutes, introduced viewers to George Finn, who many believed was immortalized in the movie “Rain Man”.

However, Kim Peek was the real life Rain Man on whom the Dustin Hoffman character of Raymond Babbitt was based in the movie.

Described as a confounding mixture of disability and brilliance, Kim was in love with knowledge and was probably the world’s most famous savant. He has even been referred to as a mega-savant due to the astounding volume of data he managed to accumulate over his lifetime.

Both George Finn and Kim Peek were diagnosed with a condition known as savant syndrome, a mysterious disorder of the brain where someone has a spectacular skill, even genius, in a mind that is otherwise extremely limited.

Years later, Morley Safer met another savant, Daniel Tammet, who is called “Brain Man” in Britain. But unlike other savants, he has no obvious mental disability, and most important to scientists, he can describe his own thought process.

He may very well be a scientific Rosetta stone, a key to understanding the secrets of the brain at long last. Read the rest of this entry »

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World’s Wackiest Vending Machines!

In Culture, Food & Drink, Fun Technology, Quality of Life, Wild Stuff on June 24, 2011 at 10:14 pm

Need a car…right now? Then you just need to jog over to your corner Smart-Car vending machine, and as fast as you can say “coin-slot”, you can be on the road in your new, very own Smart-Car.

The up-scale vending machine market is exploding with just-in-time products for on-the-go shoppers. You won’t believe what you can get out of a vending machine these days!

Eliminating the inconvenience of register lines and adapting to the needs of the modern shopper, many of these crazy vending machine concepts have taken off as successful franchises.

As much as people might not like to admit their tendencies toward instant gratification—without the salesperson hassle—it can no longer be denied.

Need a pair of sneakers, a spare pair of panties (featuring neon colors no less), live bait for that last-minute fishing trip, or maybe you just need to pick up a few bars of gold bullion to tide you over – look no further.

Practically anything that can be crammed into a machine with a coin-slot, or credit card reader is being offered through these new high-tech machines. Read the rest of this entry »

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Have You Heard About Naked Bike Day?

In Culture, Freedom, Funny Stuff, Wild Stuff on June 21, 2011 at 8:44 pm

If you haven’t, you should check this out. Obviously if you have a cause you feel passionately about, you should promote it by going naked. Just make sure to pick your weather carefully if you want a big turnout.

It was a typical early summer evening in Portland: cloudy skies threatening rain, temperatures in the mid-60s, and thousands of naked bicyclists gathered near the city’s waterfront for a clothing-free night ride.

The Portland version of the World Naked Bike Ride was about to begin.

“It is the most liberating, natural feeling possible,” said Brooklyn Jay, who came all the way from Phoenix for the ride.

World Naked Bike Ride is a globally observed event among hard-core bikers designed, at least ostensibly, to promote the use of the bicycle for transportation. But Portland cyclists have been especially adamant about making it another of the Pacific Northwest city’s quirky traditions. Read the rest of this entry »

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