March 12, 2013

Mathematicians Extend Einstein’s Theory of Special Relativity beyond Light Speed

“Since the introduction of special relativity there has been much speculation as to whether or not it might be possible to travel faster than the speed of light, noting that there is no substantial evidence to suggest that this is presently feasible with any existing transportation mechanisms,” said Prof Jim Hill of the University of Adelaide’s School of Mathematical Sciences, who co-authored a paper published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society A.

“About this time last year, experiments at CERN in Switzerland suggested that perhaps neutrinos could be accelerated just a very small amount faster than the speed of light; at this point we started to think about how to deal with the issues from both a mathematical and physical perspective.”

“Questions have since been raised over the experimental results but we were already well on our way to successfully formulating a theory of special relativity, applicable to relative velocities in excess of the speed of light.”

“Our approach is a natural and logical extension of the Einstein’s Theory of Special Relativity, and produces anticipated formulae without the need for imaginary numbers or complicated physics.”

The new formulas extend special relativity to a situation where the relative velocity can be infinite, and can be used to describe motion at speeds faster than light.


snip


http://www.sci-news.com/physics/article00645.html

March 8, 2013

Privatize

José de Sousa Saramago, GColSE (Portuguese: [ʒuˈzɛ ðɨ ˈsozɐ sɐɾɐˈmaɣu]; 16 November 1922 – 18 June 2010) was a Portuguese novelist, poet, playwright, journalist and recipient of the 1998 Nobel Prize in Literature.

His works, some of which can be seen as allegories, commonly present subversive perspectives on historic events, emphasizing the human factor. Harold Bloom described Saramago as "a permanent part of the Western canon".[2]


Awarded the 1998 Nobel Prize in Literature,[3] more than two million copies of Saramago's books have been sold in Portugal alone and his work has been translated into 25 languages.


[4][5] He was a founding member of the National Front for the Defence of Culture in Lisbon in 1992. A proponent of libertarian communism,

[6] Saramago came into conflict with groups such as the Catholic Church. He was an atheist who defended love as an instrument to improve the human condition.



In 1992, the Portuguese government under Prime Minister Aníbal Cavaco Silva ordered the removal of The Gospel According to Jesus Christ from the European Literary Prize's shortlist, claiming the work was religiously offensive. Disheartened by this political censorship of his work,[7] Saramago went into exile on the Spanish island of Lanzarote, upon which he resided until his death in 2010.[8][9]


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/José_Saramago

March 8, 2013

Colbert."Yes, I used to beat my girlfriend

Stephen Colbert on challenging the Voting Rights Act: "Yes, I used to beat my girlfriend, but I haven't since the restraining order so we don't need it anymore."



http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/424438/march-06-2013/voting-rights-act

March 5, 2013

The 'habitable edge' of exomoons

The discovery of alien moons will open up an exciting new frontier in the continuing hunt for habitable worlds outside the Solar System. With the confirmation of exomoons likely right around the corner, researchers have begun addressing the unique and un-Earthly factors that might affect their habitability. Because exomoons orbit a larger planetary body, they have an additional set of constraints on their potential livability than planets themselves.


Examples include eclipses by their host planet, as well as reflected sunlight and heat emissions. Most of all, gravitationally-induced tidal heating by a host planet can dramatically impact a moon's climate and geology.


In essence, compared to planets, exomoons have additional sources of energy that can alter their "energy budgets," which, if too high, can turn a temperate, potential paradise into a scorched wasteland. "What discriminates the habitability of a satellite from the habitability of a planet in general is that it has different contributions to its energy budget," said René Heller, a postdoctoral research associate at the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics in Potsdam, Germany.


The "habitable edge"





Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2013-03-habitable-edge-exomoons.html#jCp

March 5, 2013

Not the Onion: FBI Warns Sequestration Will Hamper All Their Hard-Hitting Wall Street Investigations

WASHINGTON -- More than four years after the financial crisis, not a single Wall Street executive has been jailed for playing a role in the creation of the toxic financial products that fueled the real-estate bubble, which were in some cases designed simply to fail.

That track record may make it difficult for the Department of Justice to earn the sympathy of the public as it warns that spending cuts will hamper its ability to investigate Wall Street fraud. The Federal Bureau of Investigations told lawmakers in a recent letter that across-the-board cuts resulting from sequestration "will cause current financial crimes investigations to slow as workload is spread among a reduced workforce. In some instances, such delays could affect the timely interviews of witnesses and collection of evidence."

Investigations yet unseen may also be harmed. "In some instances, such delays could affect the timely interviews of witnesses and collection of evidence. The capacity to undertake new major investigations will be constrained," FBI Director Robert Mueller III wrote in the letter, addressed to Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.), the chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/04/fbi-sequestration-wall-street_n_2807338.html


keep those pot busts going though...what a joke.

March 4, 2013

Study finds: there is a systematic bias against liberal policies at the state/national level.

Study finds that legislators consistently believe their constituents are more conservative than they actually are. This includes Republicans and Democrats, liberals and conservatives.



http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/03/04/oneSsstudy-explains-why-its-tough-to-pass-liberal-laws/