Hurtling Star on a Path to Clip Solar System (!)

Hurtling star on a path to clip solar system - New Scientist, 15 March 2010

"A star is hurtling towards us. It will almost certainly clip the outskirts of the solar system and send comets towards Earth.

Vadim Bobylev of the Pulkovo Observatory in St Petersburg, Russia, modelled the paths of neighbouring stars using data from the European Space Agency's Hipparcos satellite and from ground-based measurements of the speeds of stars. He found four previously unidentified stars that will pass within roughly 9.5 light years of Earth. They will tug on the Oort cloud, a diffuse cloud of icy objects around the solar system thought to be a reservoir of comets.

However, the biggest threat comes from another star, Gliese 710, an orange dwarf now some 63 light years away but zooming our way at 14 kilometres per second. Bobylev's calculations suggest Gliese 710 has an 86 per cent chance of passing through the Oort cloud. This could scatter millions of comets into paths that cross Earth's orbit..."

17 4-Ever

Just a little incentive for SAT to check her blog.

You are never too old to be a tween.

Happy Almost Birthday.

Wait, it did what?

The Chilean earthquake that killed more than 700 people on Saturday probably shifted the Earth's axis and shortened the day, according to a NASA scientist.

Richard Gross, a geophysicist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, told Bloomberg that the 8.8-magnitude quake is likely to have moved the Earth's axis by 2.7 milliarcseconds - about 8 centimetres - and shorted the day by about 1.26 microseconds.

Gross used the same model to estimate the shift caused by the 2004 Sumatran earthquake that caused the Indian Ocean tsunami. That quake had a magnitude of 9.1, shifted the Earth's axis by 2.3 milliarcseconds and shortened the day by 6.8 microseconds.

Gross said the fact that the Chilean earthquake was in the Earth's mid-latitudes, instead of near the equator, meant it will have shifted the axis further despite being smaller. Plus the fault that caused the Chilean quake dips into the Earth at a slightly steeper angle, making it more effective in moving mass.

The changes caused by earthquakes are permanent, Benjamin Fong Chao, dean of Earth Sciences of the National Central University in Taiwan, toldBusiness Week.

Skate Expectations, Part III: Curling

Skate Expectations, Part II - Curling

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What not to rent

We had three movies for the weekend: a chick flick, a black exploitation spoof, and a Ricky Gervaise comedy.

Chick flick - Coco Before Chanel, had one strike against it with Audrey Tautou, not your father's favorite. Although to be fair, he hated Amelie, not her. At least it had production value. It was beautifully filmed and the costumes were yummie. She was kind of a slut.

Black exploitation - Black Dynamite (not dy-NO-mite), it had it's moments, way over the top and not a genre I'm familiar with. Had a couple of laugh out loud scenes and the graphics were creative and fun. Rather like Airplane with huge afros and boobs.

Ricky Gervaise - The Invention of Lying, completely unwatchable. We invested anywhere form 30 minutes to several hours depending on who you ask. Had to turn it off, just couldn't take it anymore. No laughs and preachy for pete's sake. Dozens of high profile cameos couldn't make it entertaining. It was like an SNL skit that wouldn't end.

So nothing I can recommend. Rent the LeBron doc, more drama for the money and much more fun.

More Than a Game

This is a great movie. The director started this as a ten minute project for a college class. He soon realized it was much more.

I knew nothing about LeBron James before this. I've always liked him, now I know why.

I say rent it!

Modern Family

We just watched "Modern Family", here is my favorite exchange...

The kids are collecting bottles to raise money, the youngest askes his dad:

“What’s Jägermiester?”

“Well, um, you know when in a fairy tale there’s always a potion that makes the princess fall asleep and then the guys start kissing her? This is like that, except you don’t wake up in a castle, you wake up in a frat house with a bad reputation.”

Skate Expectations, Part II: Bobsled

Bobsled

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Revelations

Over the holiday LRT uploaded all of her music and left cd's like so many bones in a pile. I was perusing and found something interesting, a disc with lots of titles written in her singular style. I popped it in to see if it would appeal to me. Yes, mostly it did. I express surprise at some of the choices - Neil Diamond, John Denver and Barry Manilow. Did she make this in high school, college? Did she include this disc on her iPod? Evidence is evidence, Lauren has a mushy side. But I knew that.

Thanks, I do love me a good Kermit ballad.

Techie Heaven

I'm sure you are aware of the new iPad announced today. I wanted to post the video of Steve Jobs demonstrating his new must-have gadget but, sigh, I lack the tech ability. It's a giant iPhone and looks cool. I heard that he had some difficulties with the keyboard, so ha, not so perfect. Go get 'em, Lauren.

Skate Expectations, Part I: Skeleton

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