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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New data on our friendly neighborhood gas-giant Saturn:

those rings are bloody friggin' old...

Not surprising, really. Especially when one considers the scale of the planet and all. Most of those big ol' planets actually do have rings, even if the rings on some of them are fainter than a mosquito on a hog at sundown...

...sorry... 

Anyway, take the Earth: the prevailing science at the moment says that the Earth was friggin' smacked by extrastellar debris and that, as a consequence, the Earth itself was a ringed planetary body for awhile (...actually, an infenitesimally short period, geologically and/or astronomically speaking) however if you factor out all the variables in Saturn, and its propensity to create resonant-stablized rings (through a process I neither understand nor care to try to elaborate upon) it's small wonder that those ridiculously beautiful discs would be products of birth, and not of recent construction.

Sheesh, gas-giants; what a wierd lot, says I... 

Posted by shanekentknolltrey at 2:54 AM MNT

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Mood:  cheeky

Just throwing this out here... but has anyone ever considered giving a retroactive Nobel Peace Prize to the Benedictine Monks?

It might be sacriligeous to mention canonization, too, but still: some inventions are, undoubtedly, worthy of sainthood.

(and yes: I'm aware that it wasn't the monks who decided to blend the stuff with strong brandy to kill its wicked sweetness, but still: I can't argue for a multinational corporation to recieve the Nobel, can I?)

I shouldn't be arguing any of this at all, really...

...hmm. Oh, well: back to the snifter... 

Posted by shanekentknolltrey at 12:32 AM MNT

Updated: Sunday, 9 December 2007 12:33 AM MNT

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Mood:  chatty

I have a bone to pick with part of this Wikipedia entry...

The most prevalent view in science and the training arts says that your average dog views its human as 'part of the social pack'. That is to say: your average non-feral member of Canis Lupus Familiaris  thinks that its owner is another dog (albeit a very, very, very special one...)

I've always had problems when people talk about dogs as if the canids think of themselves as simple pack-mates in an average wolf-pack (ie: a human family). Given what I've seen in well-familiarized pooches (emphasis on well-familiarized...) I think dogs have a slightly different thought process in regards to their human housemates...

First off: dogs are smart. REALLY smart. Your average canine is easily amongst the most intelligent animals on the planet (that's not just a dog-owner's gushing: they NEED intelligence to maintain the complex social network they live by. I say dogs're smarter than cats not because I hate cats- far from it- but because cat ancestors're lone hunters who don't NEED the increased frontal lobe action that a pack-setup requrires). Dolphins're probably smarter; elephants're probably smarter; many other primates're probably smarter than dogs, but that's about it.

Again, the prevailing wisdom says that dogs see humans as a simple member of the pack and, if properly trained, they see humans as the alphas- or the most 'badass' members...

The thing is, not all humans BEHAVE as such. When I was five years old my family had a pair of gigantic Norwegian Elkhounds  who worshipped the ground my father walked on; but they also venerated the ground I... well, stumbled upon: I'd abuse those poor pooches to no end: tugging ears, running tricycle wheels over their tails and all other manner of mischief. Now, assuming dogs see humans as mere packmates, I should be disciplined for all those transgressions according to pack-law (ie: little puppies get a nipping, or even a biting, for all such serious infractions).  Not only would they never even consider biting me, but I can attest that they'd have ripped the balls off of any stranger who ever tried to touch me. If I got hurt and fell into a crying fit, they were the first to swarm me and whimper in sympathy.

 Flash forward: when I take my mutt to the dogpark she gets social with all the other dogs as usual, with all scratching and sniffing included, but like the other dogs there she does NOT go sniffing at and scratching at all the other HUMAN owners: she treats these bipedal creatures with a completely different attitude altogether.

My point is that dogs fit themselves into human households with a pack-like mentality, but they probably think of the humans around them with a very, very, very different mindset than other animals.

Ironically, I think it was Stephen King that got it right with Cujo: (sociliazed) dogs don't consider humans to be 'other dogs' (to say so actually BELITTLES the intelligence of the species) but rather as something else; quasi-divine beings, altogether separate from their own antics (as the owner of two dogs and a cat, I believe this wholeheartedly...)

Thousands of years ago, dogs learned to WORK with humans, and not so long after that they learned to LIVE with them, too. That does not mean- by a long shot- that they SEE them as comparable kin at all.

Dogs're smart enough to know better, I'd think. 

Posted by shanekentknolltrey at 6:10 PM MNT

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Mood:  spacey

So I was drinking a particularly objectionable Merlot tonight, and even while Merlot wine ain't my usual cup of tea (and yes, I've hated it since BEFORE "Sideways" came out, thank you very much...) I discovered something very interesting in the process...

Wine drinkin' is kinda an art: you can get a gem of a complex Cab that will treat you right as rain quite easily, but who can afford to shell out $25+ a pop for a casual bottle of drinkin' vino?

Shane can't...

I reserve the real goodies for fine meats and the like (I have a five-year-old bottle of Opus One squirrled away somewhere for the day I win the lottery, become a best-selling author, find Willy Wonka's golden ticket, get selected for Astronaut training, or some combination thereof...) and the rest of the time it's more modest fare.

Anyway, back to this crappy Merlot (pronounced MUR-LOT, in my book ;)...

I'm not a wine expert, not even close, but I am what I call a 'vinophile' (someone with limited expertise, but enthusiasm). Most reds, in my opinion, have a distinctly basic 'dirt' taste underneath the berries and tanins (I don't mean this in a bad way, but if it's uncontrolled... hoo-boy). And it was in this bottle: a Merlot without mellowness is like a Chauchat machine gun without bullets: sure, it's worthless even when loaded, but taking the rounds out just adds insult to injury...

...what I'm tryin' to say is that Merlot is crap, but it's claim to fame is that it is more 'mellow' and lighter than other varietals: this bottle was more tart than a rusty nail (if you're wondering whether I'm taking about the mixed drink or the literal nail itself, the answer is 'yes'...)

Alright, here's the point: 

I was eating some peanut butter and celery earlier, and I still had the munchies, so I took a break from drinking and ate some more. When I came back to my glass I was surprised: the whole taste of the wine was altered (duh...), but it was decidedly for the better.

I can't find much research on how PB affects the taste of wine, but clearly it has something to do with the lip-smacking film it leaves in the mouth after ingestion. That overpowering 'dirt' taste in my Merlot was subdued (more like put in a chokehold) and the actual berry flavors were, as far as I could tell, quite satisfactorily revealed.

I guess that the moral of the story is that crappy red wine can be de-crapified depending on what else your mouth is currently swimming in. I've been told this before, but this is the first time I've witnessed it firsthand... or first-tongue, if you will.

Still: PB and Merlot?....

You won't find this tip in 'Food and Wine' anytime soon... 

Posted by shanekentknolltrey at 11:16 PM MNT

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Mood:  chatty

This is kinda an old story, but I wanted to comment on it anyway:

Just about all the data from New Horizons' Jupiter flyby has been disseminated...

There's friggin' tons of high-detail shots of that lovely 'planet', and in more detail than we've ever seen before (the probe had some fun surfing along an ultra-active magneto-tail, too, I've read).

Funny planet, isn't it? Jupiter, I mean. I've never been comfortable thinking of it as a 'planet' in and of itself. For example: it's 2.5 times more massive than ALL THE OTHER PLANETS COMBINED, contains it's own 'mini Solar System' of moons, and posesses other abnormal properties that, considered in their entirety, make me wanna think of the big old guy as NOT a planet at all...

Personally, I think Jupiter should be classified as something very different... 

Whatever. It's really not 'fashionable' to call Jupiter a brown dwarf these days (and after the public lost Pluto to the planetary debate wars, well, who would wanna lose another one, huh?....) 

To hell with Jupiter for now. It's not even the main gist of my post, so there.

HERE'S the real topic of my post:

There it is in the distance: beautiful Europa.

Now, this baby deserves our full attention, I'd think. Sure, it's great that New Horizons is focusing on hittin' the Kuiper Belt and parts beyond, but why the obsession with Pluto, huh?

Let me try to make something clear...

EUROPA IS THE BEST CANDIDATE TO DATE FOR THE EXISTENCE OF NON-EARTH-BASED LIFE!

There's several reasons for this, the most important being a layer of good ol' dihydrogen monoxide (aq) lying right beneath the surface layers.  There's evidence for the presence of heat... the presence of water... the presence of a tenable magnetosphere...

*Sigh*... our main problem is that NASA seems to be incredibly hyperopic... 

I'm a member of the 'possible life on Europa club' (though the dues are killer...). Although I haven't fleshed out its backstory in TYPERS completely , I posit that a major Bydo-related event occurrs in Europa's vicinity and strips the planet of much of its rocky surface layers, exposing a patchwork of massive waterways called the 'Rock Candy Oceans', and if one's inclined to dive way the hell down into the depths, they can observe strange primitive critters who use crystal lattices to store genetic information (this ability would be a crucial plot point near the end of everything...)

I call these strange li'l exobiotes the 'Crystalline Entities', too (Nothing says flattery like copyright infringement, yeah?...)

Hang on a minute: Patrick Stewart is at my door for some reason... and he looks pissed... 

Posted by shanekentknolltrey at 2:27 AM ADT

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Mood:  chatty

Ever wonder what life would be like if you lived on a gigantic bar magnet?

...well, you do...

We've known for quite awhile now that most animals (li'l birdies, in particular) develop at least some kind of relationship with the Earth's freakishly hyperactive magnetic field, but it turns out that we may not know the half of it.

Apparently, birds don't just feel the Earth's magnetic field: some of 'em can even see it. And, according to the reports, we're not talkin' metaphorically, either...

Honestly, it wouldn't surprise me. The magnetic field around the Blue Marble is tops on my list of 'Natural Wonders' (and, need I remind you, is the only reason you're reading this now and not boiling away under a sea of solar fire...). 

Interestingly, when CNN ventured to make their own list of 'Natural Wonders' they didn't quite select Magnetic Earth as one (though they did give passing mention to the Auroras, which are technically a physical manifestation of the magnetosphere... but still: citing the 'Auroras' as a Natural Wonder in lieu of the whole magnetic field in general is kinda like talking about Courtney Love's career without mentioning Kurt Cobain.)

You heard me, Courtney...

Also, those idiots at CNN don't seem to realize that we've got TWO sets of 'lights', not just one (for some reason, they only cited the 'Northern Lights' as a wonder...twits)

When you think about it, it's kinda odd that any animal would patter around without the ability to somehow 'see' the show going on all around them. Sure, we've got GPS now, but wouldn't it have been nice for ancient mariners to have a little more magnetite in their heads than we humans typically have?

Thank God our frontal lobes happened to start growing over our eyeballs, or we'd have no hope at all (after all, I'll settle for a good GPS system any day). Eh, 'animal instincts'... very interesting to see what's our there, and what we don't even have a prayer of ever posessing ourselves. Evolution's full of give and take, after all, and I suppose we just didn't 'migrate' enough to warrant a powerful internal compass. Oh, well...

However, this study brings up an interesting point: granted that birds can actually see the magnetic field, how would a slightly nearsighted birdie manage to get around, then? 

 ...you never know...

Posted by shanekentknolltrey at 2:26 AM ADT

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Mood:  not sure

The common cold bug is a real pisser: it's a virus with the potential to turn a healthy adult into a sniveling wreck for a few days.

Do not put that f**ker into space, though: it might come back with the strength to put you in a pine box.

Alright, so we're not quite talking about the worst, worst-case scenario yet (though that might not be too far off, either) but it's still enough to give one pause: germs exposed to spacecraft conditions coming back with a little extra pep (not as much extra pep as if we'd intentially screwed around with them, but still, it's almost as bad a Tripp-up when you think about it...)

...sorry...

Also of note is that the affected germ, Salmonella, appears to have only coincidentally been altered as a response to weightless conditions; the change in its turgid structure just happened to make it a little more suited to environments like mammalian intestines. That is to say, this is probably just an isolated coincidence, and it doesn't necessarily mean that a test tube filled with Herpes Simplex Virus 1 (the one that gives you mouth sores, not the other one...) would come back from space as a vial of Weaponized Bubonic Plague.

Still, when you think about the fact that we've been struggling against these diseases for the past 3 billion years, it doesn't seem smart to intentionally muck-up the natural back and forth arms race we've got going: you've gotta 'keep running to stay in place', sure, but what the hell happens when you intentionally pick up one of your opponents and literally toss them out ahead of you? (as a caveat, I am totally fine with the concept of genetic engineering, as long as the people involved know what the f*ck they're doing at each locus...)

After all: if we're not careful in how we alter our microbial enemies (or how we allow them to be altered) the eventual 'Strain' could see us plagued with problems that are sure to 'Tripp' us up in the future...

again, sorry... 

Posted by shanekentknolltrey at 3:27 PM ADT

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Mood:  down

While philosophers on Earth continue debating the meaning of life, we now have an example of the universe's overall vapidity: a billion-light-year-across valley of emptiness, of nothing.

Such a void is incomprehensibly large: light itself has only had about 13 chances to cross it in the history of... uh, history (depending on your stellar reckoning) and the sheer amount of emptiness out there (don't try re-reading that: you heard me) is staggering.

Reminds me a little of a Star Trek: Voyager episode, one of the few sci-fi stories to explore the psychological ramifications of traipsing through a ridiculously-large expanse of nothingness (although, presumably, the light of the cosmos does penetrate OUR gigantic emptiness out there, even to its isolated center, but that light's gotta be none-too-bright...)

...I always though that the Pale Blue Dot was cause enough for existential introspection, but the staggering vastness of this void simply boggles my noggin.

...I really feel like going to church, now...

Posted by shanekentknolltrey at 2:33 AM ADT

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Mood:  a-ok

It's a young universe out there, all things considered, but already there are heavenly objects that are on their way out the door (the 'door' being oblivion, I suppose...)

Enter this peculiar li'l amigo: a withered shell o' a star that's out there all alone in the night. It doesn't have all the trappings of celestial fanfare about it that such a dead star typically has, nor anything at all to signify its previous brilliance...

The thing's not even in the galactic plane, anymore. It just continues drifting out into the dead of space: crusty, cold (comparatively) and solitary. 

"Nothing beside remains: round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away..."

                        (...I wish I'd wrote that, but I didn't...) 

This depressing stellar mausoleum was discovered by accident, of course. The astronomers were really looking to witness some Gamma Ray Bursts (with decent eye protection, I hope...). No one would really use advanced stellar equiptment to find such a bitterly cold, energy-spent, lifeless, faded star in space, anyway...

There are plenty here on Earth for them to study...

Posted by shanekentknolltrey at 9:58 PM ADT

Updated: Monday, 20 August 2007 9:58 PM ADT

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