Tuesday, April 13, 2004
Chelios is a sissy
The Predators fed off the energy from their ecstatic fans once again. Detroit had a few more supporters in the stands this time, but when they tried to start up the "Let's go Red Wings" chant, it was quickly drowned out by "Chelios is a sissy."
What an awesome game tonight. Predators tied up the series 2-2, bring game 6 back to the GEC where Katy and I will be becoming even more hoarse than now.
Quote from ESPN.com article on the Predators victory tonight.
What an awesome game tonight. Predators tied up the series 2-2, bring game 6 back to the GEC where Katy and I will be becoming even more hoarse than now.
Quote from ESPN.com article on the Predators victory tonight.
Quick post
Quick post here - will not be posting anything regarding my normal science stuff today, mostly because I am getting ready to go to my second playoff game here in Nashville. I took the digital camera to the first game, and I promise I will post game 1 pictures sometime this week along with game 2 pictures from tonight, but as it is right now, hockey takes priority.
Not to mention today was perfect hockey weather in Nashville. Low 30's and snowing for most of the day.
LETS GO PREDS!
Not to mention today was perfect hockey weather in Nashville. Low 30's and snowing for most of the day.
LETS GO PREDS!
Quick post
Quick post here - will not be posting anything regarding my normal science stuff today, mostly because I am getting ready to go to my second playoff game here in Nashville. I took the digital camera to the first game, and I promise I will post those pictures sometime this week, but as it is right now, hockey takes priority.
Not to mention today was perfect hockey weather in Nashville. Low 30's and snowing for most of the day.
LETS GO PREDS!
Not to mention today was perfect hockey weather in Nashville. Low 30's and snowing for most of the day.
LETS GO PREDS!
Monday, April 12, 2004
Hunley Findings Put Faces on Civil War Submarine Crew
The identities of the crew of the Civil War submarine H.L. Hunley are coming to light just days before the men's remains are to be buried. The first submarine to sink an enemy ship, the Hunley itself sank off South Carolina in 1864, was found in 1995, and was raised in 2000.
On a cold February night in 1864, eight men squeezed through the tiny hatches of the H.L. Hunley, a strange new warship tied up at a dock in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina. They crawled or duckwalked through the 4-foot-tall (1.2-meter-tall) passageway to their places on a long, low bench. Each of them sat down at a hand crank attached to the Hunley's propeller shaft.
These eight men were the living power plant for a revolutionary machine—a submarine that could attack an enemy ship from underwater. Led by Confederate Lt. George Dixon, these men would literally dive into the pages of history when the submerged Hunley attached a torpedo to the U.S.S. Housatonic and blew it up. The Union warship was helping to enforce the maritime blockade of Charleston that was slowly strangling the rebellious Confederate States of America's ability to fight the Civil War.
The Hunley was a marvel of its time, being the first submarine to sink a ship. Raising the Hunley has turned out to be an amazing time capsule.
From National Geographic.
On a cold February night in 1864, eight men squeezed through the tiny hatches of the H.L. Hunley, a strange new warship tied up at a dock in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina. They crawled or duckwalked through the 4-foot-tall (1.2-meter-tall) passageway to their places on a long, low bench. Each of them sat down at a hand crank attached to the Hunley's propeller shaft.
These eight men were the living power plant for a revolutionary machine—a submarine that could attack an enemy ship from underwater. Led by Confederate Lt. George Dixon, these men would literally dive into the pages of history when the submerged Hunley attached a torpedo to the U.S.S. Housatonic and blew it up. The Union warship was helping to enforce the maritime blockade of Charleston that was slowly strangling the rebellious Confederate States of America's ability to fight the Civil War.
The Hunley was a marvel of its time, being the first submarine to sink a ship. Raising the Hunley has turned out to be an amazing time capsule.
From National Geographic.
Thursday, April 08, 2004
'First' Pet Cat Found in Tomb
What may have been one of the earliest pet cats has been found in a richly furnished tomb in Cyprus, French scientists reported on Thursday.
The 8-month-old kitten appears to have been deliberately buried alongside a human in a Stone Age grave 9,500 years ago, the researchers report this week in the journal Science.
While the finding may not surprise present-day cat lovers, the researchers at the National Museum of Natural History in Paris say it represents the earliest example of what was likely a domesticated cat.
This is one of the coolest stories I have read in a while.
From Yahoo - Science Reuters.
The 8-month-old kitten appears to have been deliberately buried alongside a human in a Stone Age grave 9,500 years ago, the researchers report this week in the journal Science.
While the finding may not surprise present-day cat lovers, the researchers at the National Museum of Natural History in Paris say it represents the earliest example of what was likely a domesticated cat.
This is one of the coolest stories I have read in a while.
From Yahoo - Science Reuters.
Quick flip of Earth's magnetic field revealed
The Earth's magnetic field takes an average of only 7000 years to reverse its polarity, but the switch happens much more quickly near the equator, according to the most comprehensive study yet of the last four reversals.
"It's important to get an idea of how fast or slow this process is because it ends up controlling our idea of how the field is generated in the first place," says study author Bradford Clement, an earth scientist at Florida International University in Miami, US.
Previous studies have reported a bewildering range of transition times, from a few thousand to nearly 30,000 years. So Clement scoured the published data on the most recent reversals to set the record straight.
No one really knows that would happen if the magnetic field was to reverse itself, and scientists still seem to be a long way away from figuring out why it does this. With the last one being 780,000 years ago, it is hard to really watch it happen (especially when it can take between 2000-11000 years to happen).
From New Scientist.
"It's important to get an idea of how fast or slow this process is because it ends up controlling our idea of how the field is generated in the first place," says study author Bradford Clement, an earth scientist at Florida International University in Miami, US.
Previous studies have reported a bewildering range of transition times, from a few thousand to nearly 30,000 years. So Clement scoured the published data on the most recent reversals to set the record straight.
No one really knows that would happen if the magnetic field was to reverse itself, and scientists still seem to be a long way away from figuring out why it does this. With the last one being 780,000 years ago, it is hard to really watch it happen (especially when it can take between 2000-11000 years to happen).
From New Scientist.
Telescopes take close-up on Titan
Astronomers at the Paranal Observatory in Chile have obtained the best images yet of Titan - Saturn's major moon.
They show what may be clouds in its thick and hazy atmosphere of nitrogen, methane and oily hydrocarbons.
The Chandra X-ray telescope in orbit also studied Titan's atmosphere as the moon passed in front of the glowing wreckage of an exploded star.
In January 2005, we may find out more when the Huygens probe attempts a splashdown onto Titan's oily oceans.
This is exciting as we await the arrival of the Huygens probe.
From BBC Online.
They show what may be clouds in its thick and hazy atmosphere of nitrogen, methane and oily hydrocarbons.
The Chandra X-ray telescope in orbit also studied Titan's atmosphere as the moon passed in front of the glowing wreckage of an exploded star.
In January 2005, we may find out more when the Huygens probe attempts a splashdown onto Titan's oily oceans.
This is exciting as we await the arrival of the Huygens probe.
From BBC Online.
Monday, April 05, 2004
Mini-mission idea for Mars' moons
British scientists want to send two mini-spacecraft to explore Phobos and Deimos, the mysterious moons of Mars.
The satellites, which are thought to be captured asteroids, have never received a direct mission - although passing US probes have taken images of them.
Dr Andrew Ball of the Open University says new technologies, such as low-mass propulsion systems, make this a good time to visit the moons.
We have visited comets, asteroids, and planets, but we have never visited the moon of another planet. This information would be invaluable to scientists.
From BBC Online.
The satellites, which are thought to be captured asteroids, have never received a direct mission - although passing US probes have taken images of them.
Dr Andrew Ball of the Open University says new technologies, such as low-mass propulsion systems, make this a good time to visit the moons.
We have visited comets, asteroids, and planets, but we have never visited the moon of another planet. This information would be invaluable to scientists.
From BBC Online.
Excited fans welcome playoff-bound Preds
A sellout crowd exited Gaylord Entertainment Center quietly after Saturday afternoon's 4-1 loss to the St. Louis Blues had put a damper on the Nashville Predators' playoff hopes.
The mood was much more festive last night when about 350 fans gathered at Nashville International Airport to welcome the Predators — who qualified for the National Hockey League playoffs for the first time in the franchise's six seasons later Saturday — from a 2-1 overtime victory at Colorado in the regular-season finale.
Good hockey mojo has followed me from Colorado to Nashville as the first year I am here, the Nashville Predators make the playoffs. And today I am cleanshaven for the first time in almost 1.5 years to make a start on my playoff beard.
Story from The Tennessean.
The mood was much more festive last night when about 350 fans gathered at Nashville International Airport to welcome the Predators — who qualified for the National Hockey League playoffs for the first time in the franchise's six seasons later Saturday — from a 2-1 overtime victory at Colorado in the regular-season finale.
Good hockey mojo has followed me from Colorado to Nashville as the first year I am here, the Nashville Predators make the playoffs. And today I am cleanshaven for the first time in almost 1.5 years to make a start on my playoff beard.
Story from The Tennessean.
Thursday, April 01, 2004
First Frontal Portrait of Pharaoh Found in Egypt
Egyptologists have pieced together fragments of the first known ancient portrait of a pharaoh drawn from the front rather than in profile, a Spanish archaeologist said on Thursday.
Jose Manuel Galan told Reuters in an interview that the portrait, which appears to show either Tuthmosis III or his mother Hatshepsut, was painted on a wooden board buried in the courtyard in front of a tomb in the southern town of Luxor.
Hatshepsut, who was often portrayed as a man, ruled concurrently with her son for about 20 years from 1503 BC. Luxor, also known as Thebes, was the dynastic capital.
From Yahoo - Science Reuters.
Jose Manuel Galan told Reuters in an interview that the portrait, which appears to show either Tuthmosis III or his mother Hatshepsut, was painted on a wooden board buried in the courtyard in front of a tomb in the southern town of Luxor.
Hatshepsut, who was often portrayed as a man, ruled concurrently with her son for about 20 years from 1503 BC. Luxor, also known as Thebes, was the dynastic capital.
From Yahoo - Science Reuters.
Ostrich beads indicate early symbolic thought
Stone Age beads revealed by archaeologists on Wednesday could be the strongest evidence yet that humans developed sophisticated symbolic thought much earlier than once thought.
The ostrich egg beads and numerous other artefacts, including ochre pencils, carved bone and stone tools, were recovered from the Loiyangalani River Valley, in Serengeti National Park in Tanzania.
The archaeologists who discovered the relics have yet to date them precisely, but believe they originate from the African Middle Stone Age - between 280,000 and 45,000 years ago. This is because they were found in a sedimentary layer along with many items characteristic of the Middle Stone Age.
This discovery could be the earliest artwork ever created.
From New Scientist.
The ostrich egg beads and numerous other artefacts, including ochre pencils, carved bone and stone tools, were recovered from the Loiyangalani River Valley, in Serengeti National Park in Tanzania.
The archaeologists who discovered the relics have yet to date them precisely, but believe they originate from the African Middle Stone Age - between 280,000 and 45,000 years ago. This is because they were found in a sedimentary layer along with many items characteristic of the Middle Stone Age.
This discovery could be the earliest artwork ever created.
From New Scientist.
'Fifty planets' could have life
Astronomers estimate there could be about 50 Earth-like planets with the potential to harbour life orbiting in other solar systems.
They say that space telescopes will be capable of observing these planets and investigating them to see if they support life in about 15 years' time.
Astronomers have recently discovered more than 100 planets orbiting stars other than our Sun.
But they are all giant planets like Jupiter that cannot support life.
I heard this report on the radio on the way to work, and had to find it and publish it here as soon as I got in.
From BBC Online.
They say that space telescopes will be capable of observing these planets and investigating them to see if they support life in about 15 years' time.
Astronomers have recently discovered more than 100 planets orbiting stars other than our Sun.
But they are all giant planets like Jupiter that cannot support life.
I heard this report on the radio on the way to work, and had to find it and publish it here as soon as I got in.
From BBC Online.
