Mood:  cheeky

Currently, astronomers and physicists estimate that about, oh, give or take 90-percent of the mass of the universe is made up of invisible, untouchable, undetectable fluff called 'dark matter'...

They've got a new 'map' of its distribution from the Hubble...

According to the theory, this stuff causes ALL of the errors currently seen in their updated theories of General and Special Relativity. It exists not because we can detect it (we can't) or see it (we can't) or touch it (we can't) or smell it (we can't)...

It exists because, when you do complicated calculations involving huge quantities of mass (ie: a galaxy, etc...) and velocity, the numbers always come out kinda wonky...

So, of course, the answer lies not in the incompleteness of our understanding of the universe, but because... well... over 90-percent of the universe is invisible and untouchable...

Right.

Of course, I don't have a PhD in astrophysics or anything, but that sounds an awful lot like saying that the reason a feather flutters in the wind is that a bunch of ghosts (all weighing several hundred pounds) are slapping at it with their hands... or bedsheets, or whatever have you...

My only point is that the concept of Dark Matter should be seen only as a placeholder, not a scapegoat, for the shortcomings in how we understand the ideas of gravity and spacetime (I'm not averse to the idea of its existence, just like I can accept the doctrine of ultimate quantum indeterminacy, but to hear someone go on about 'Dark Matter' I get the impression that they might as well be saying that the Flying Spaghetti Monster is pushing suns and galaxies around on his noodly appendage).

I suggest that the bean counters keep crunching the numbers until there's a more likely explanation available.

Until then, Scientific Progress accidentally bonks into an invisible, undetectable, unsmellable, unseeable wall of some kind... 

Posted by shanekentknolltrey at 6:47 PM MNT

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Mood:  energetic

They grow up so fast these days...

Amazing? Incredible? Yeah: all of the above. Alot of this is indicative of a real trend over the past... I dunno, hundred-years or so (or more, I really don't know) wherein the age of puberty for girls seems to be dropping, sure and steady, while that of their male counterparts is somewhat more steady (though both are, apparently, indeed dropping...).

Of course, in this girl's case the phenotype is freakish, regardless of recent social trends. The thing to remember, of course, is that human maturation isn't a magical thing: we're all born with all the necessary chemicals and signal pathways to reach sexual maturity right out of the gate, it's just that normally we've got a regulatory system to stave off immediate development.

But that system is likely the most damn-complicated thing in the body, short of the brain itself, and it crosses paths with all the other systems, too. Problems always arise, don't they?

In fact, it should be noted that the world's youngest mother on record was a five-year-old Peruvian girl (ah, incest: it's a real bitch of a thing, huh?)

Still: it's kinda funny that the average age of puberty in the civilized world is still dropping like a stone even though modern age of consent laws dictate chastity for kids younger than 15 (etc...). Even a few hundred years ago such an idea would've been considered ludicrous to most people. As a society we're pushing back the age of sexual activity, but nature is (for whatever reason) working against us.

I'd just rather not see this precocious girl used as a decoy in the To Catch a Predator series anytime soon...

...or maybe I just wouldn't wanna see the kind of people that would show up at the house... 

Posted by shanekentknolltrey at 6:03 PM MNT

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Mood:  d'oh

Put away the teloscopes and ear-plugs (you didn't need the plugs anyway...): it seems that asteroid 2007 WD5 will not be making its final (and I do mean final) approach towards the Red Planet after all.

Too bad. That would've been one hell of a show, indeed. Given Mars' proximity to Earth this deep impact would've rivaled Shoemaker-Levy in terms of bang for our telescopic buck.

But now, eh. The show is a no-show, and that's too bad. But this whole thing does remind us of the ultimate fragility of any planetary ecosystem (yeah: Mars doesn't have an 'ecosystem' to speak of, but go along with me, here). Hell, we've seen our share of near-misses over the year, and it could very well be that the next time we start talking about a probable impact event in a planetary body, the body in question will be blue, and covered in moss.

Somebody better get on to NASA about building that EPDN thing, pronto. 

(...does Epdin even work on asteroids?... hmmm: why not?)

Posted by shanekentknolltrey at 1:39 PM MNT

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Mood:  don't ask

...*sigh*...

oh, alright, I suppose it's reasonable...

Hell, why not?

Might as well give the little harlots some time off now, since the strip-clubs/laundromats/car-washes/fast food establishments/etc they'll be working at when they graduate probably won't be so generous... I don't really care.

I'll bet politicians like Hillary Clinton care, though.

...but I think she's been stalking me: trying to steal a 'donation' for her coronation. Eh: probably just paranoia, right?

right?

*BAM* 

... ... ...

...maybe not?

(yes, yes: I try to lay off the politics. And, for the record: I'd be more sympathetic towards the little girlies' needs if any pregnant highschoolers were actually as witty or endearing as so often advertised...) 

Posted by shanekentknolltrey at 2:09 AM MNT

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For the record, my next chapter will not take several months to pen...

Seriously...

This one'll get done quickly, if for no other reason than it'll be wicked fun to write.

Posted by shanekentknolltrey at 1:51 PM MNT

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Mood:  accident prone

If you've got anything to say or do that involves electronic communication, you'd better get it done real quick:

the sunspots are back.

Right, nothing to get too worked up about, but still: this lovely little eleven year cycle has the (possible) potential to (intermittently) affect your (dubious) ability to 'reach out and touch someone'...

Just don't touch him...

(that's suitable as widescreen wallpaper, too... I'm using it myself right now (a version without the splash-mark, anyway) and it doesn't slow my computer down... well, not too much...)

Maybe a little bit... 

Posted by shanekentknolltrey at 2:03 AM MNT

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Mood:  a-ok

Shane has been wicked sick, lately...

That accounts for the lack of updates, 'natch, but I was also sanding down the next chapter of 'Typers'. What a way to work, huh? Spend five months worrying about the plot down the road, then a weekend of proofreading while one is sick as a mule.

My priorities are really screwed up, I think. But the chapter should be cogent, at least... 

It's actually up, too.

Cover your coughs, people... 

Posted by shanekentknolltrey at 8:09 PM MNT

Updated: Thursday, 3 January 2008 8:12 PM MNT

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Mood:  rushed

Ever hear of the Nazca Lines?

Well, if you haven't, then you have now... 

They've been done to death in fiction, in everything from Cowboy Bebop to SNES RPG's, but there's a reason they're so popular: they're f**king cool!

Wanna know the real reason they were created?

Why, to tell the story of the Novanjo, of course!

Yeah, I make 'em a plot point, too, but I don't mention them explicitly by name in the chapter (kinda like the way I cutely refrain from explicitly referencing the date in 'Typers'*, except in the odd piece of artwork...) 

* (It's 2111 AD, btw...)

Keep your stockings out, too: if you didn't get anything good for Christmas, you might rake in something nice on New Year's... 

Posted by shanekentknolltrey at 10:46 AM MNT

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Mood:  bright

I caught this most interesting little band on a re-run of The Chip Whitley Show.

Guess they started out by releasing half-a-dozen EP's at modest music venues before landing a big-name contract. Good for them. The song I've been absolutely smitten by is from their second album, Combinations; it's a little ditty called 'Invasion'...

Most of Eisley's songs are a little too mellow for me (but most have enough melodic resonance to keep my brain entertained, anyway). This dark-pop tune is somewhat atypical for 'em, although they're still (literally and figuratively) young as a band, and their evolution from their first album, Room Noises, to this point is, in my opinion, like changing from night into day.

Creepy video, huh? I think of it as a far more attractive version of Thriller, although without whacko-Jacko cavorting about in the frames it is far, far, far less disturbing (though I do miss the flustered discomfort of Michael Jackson trying to look convincingly interested in dating an adult female in that music video...)

hmm...this band's name is better without the 'Mos', too, I think. 

Posted by shanekentknolltrey at 2:10 PM MNT

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"The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.

Thou hast multiplied the nation, and not increased the joy: they joy before thee according to the joy in harvest, and as men rejoice when they divide the spoil.

For thou hast broken the yoke of his burden, and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, as in the day of Midian.

For every battle of the warrior is with confused noise, and garments rolled in blood; but this shall be with burning and fuel of fire.

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace."

                                                                                              Isaiah 9:2-6

Posted by shanekentknolltrey at 12:24 PM MNT

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