The Lizard Messiah or Parthenogenesis

LONDON, England (Reuters) -- Flora, a pregnant Komodo dragon living in a British zoo, is expecting eight babies in what scientists said on Wednesday could be a Christmas virgin birth.

Flora has never mated, or even mixed, with a male dragon, and fertilized all the eggs herself, a process culminating in parthenogenesis, or virgin birth. Other lizards do this, but scientists only recently found that Komodo dragons do too.

"Nobody in their wildest dreams expected this. But you have a female dragon on her own. She produces a clutch of eggs and those eggs turn out to be fertile. It is nature finding a way," Kevin Buley of Chester Zoo in England said in an interview.

He said the incubating eggs could hatch around Christmas.

Parthenogenesis has occurred in other lizard species, but Buley and his team said this was the first time it has been shown in Komodo dragons -- the world's largest lizards.

Scientists at Liverpool University in northern England discovered Flora had had no male help after doing genetic tests on three eggs that collapsed after being put in an incubator.

The tests on the embryos and on Flora, her sister and other dragons confirmed that Komodo dragons can reproduce through self-fertilization.

"Those genetic tests confirmed absolutely that Flora was both the mother and the father of the embryos. It completely blew us away because it [parthenogenesis] has never been seen in such a large species," Buley explained.

A Komodo dragon at London Zoo gave birth earlier this year after being separated from males for more than two years.

Scientists thought she had been able to store sperm from her earlier encounter with a male, but after hearing about Flora's eggs researchers conducted tests which showed her eggs were also produced without male help.

"You have two institutions within a few short months of each other having a previously unheard of event. It is really quite unprecedented," said Buley.

The scientists, reporting the discovery in the science journal Nature, said it could help them understand how reptiles colonize new areas.

A female dragon could, for instance, swim to another island and establish a new colony on her own.

"The genetics of self-fertilization in lizards means that all her hatchlings would have to be male. These would grow up to mate with their own mother and therefore, within one generation, there would potentially be a population able to reproduce normally on the new island," Buley said.

Role Play

This is just about one of the funniest clips I have seen in ages!!! Enjoy!

Coletonus Pointeeus

Please forgive my dog latin but I just couldn't resist!

I really like this picture of Cole. It not only shows the spontaneity and fun of the Cole we all know and love, but it also exposes his true nature.

Smeagol: You Are The One I Want!

If I Did It, Here's How It Happened

I heard this as I was getting in the shower this morning, but assumed my ears were not working correctly. However, upon arrival at work and checking out CNN’s website, I found that I had indeed heard correctly. It’s just about one of the craziest things I have heard of lately, OJ Simpson, murderer at large, has written a book and has an interview scheduled on the Fox network titled “O.J. Simpson: If I Did It, Here’s How It Happened”


LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- In a new TV interview and book, O.J. Simpson discusses how he would have committed the slayings of his ex-wife and her friend "if I did it."

The two-part television interview, titled "O.J. Simpson: If I Did It, Here's How It Happened," will air November 27 and November 29 on Fox, the TV network said Tuesday.

"O.J. Simpson, in his own words, tells for the first time how he would have committed the murders if he were the one responsible for the crimes," the network said in a statement. "In the two-part event, Simpson describes how he would have carried out the murders he has vehemently denied committing for over a decade."

"This is an interview that no one thought would ever happen. It's the definitive last chapter in the Trial of the Century," Mike Darnell, executive vice president of alternative programming for Fox, said in a statement.

The interview, conducted with book publisher Judith Regan, will air days before Simpson's new book, "If I Did It," goes on sale November 30. The book "hypothetically describes how the murders would have been committed," the network said.

The book is published by ReganBooks, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers run by Regan. HarperCollins, like Fox, is a unit of News Corporation.

Simpson, who now lives in Florida, was acquitted in a criminal trial of the 1994 killings of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman. Simpson was later found liable in 1997 in a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the Goldman family.

Messages left with Simpson and his attorney Yale Galanter were not returned Tuesday night.

Rumsfeld: 'My Half-Assed Job Here Is Done'

WASHINGTON, DC (The Onion) — After nearly six years of much-publicized service as Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld announced his resignation Wednesday afternoon, saying that he had "proudly accomplished everything [he'd] set out to bungle." "Years ago, I decided to bog this great nation down in an extended, grueling foreign occupation, and I'm happy to say that's exactly what I've done," said Rumsfeld in a farewell address at the White House, during which he urged Americans to continue waging the ill-conceived, mismanaged, and evidently unwelcome fight for democracy in the Middle East. "Each of my actions—from undersupplying troops with body armor to focusing on capturing Saddam Hussein while Osama bin Laden remained free—has led America inexorably toward our current state of extreme crisis. Well, anyway, goodbye!" President Bush expressed confidence that Robert Gates, his new nominee for Secretary of Defense, will be able to "fuck everything up the rest of the way."

Caltech Physicists Successfully Split The Bill

PASADENA, CA (The Onion) - Sequestered in a private booth at a Pasadena-area Cheesecake Factory for nearly 25 minutes, a party of eight California Institute Of Technology physicists emerged exhausted but visibly excited Friday evening after successfully splitting the bill.

"This is an important day for us, not only because it marks Professor [Wayne] Newbury's birthday, but because we have accomplished a feat thought unimaginable ever since [late computational physicist Philip] Eisenreich found that it was impossible to calculate how a group of paired bodies, set in motion by the presence of a solid-state check, could come to rest at a non-variable, evenly distributed mathematical constant," said lead party organizer and theoretical physicist Dr. Cynthia Dreyfuss.

Before the arrival of the check, several early bill-splitting theories were proposed, including a simple process of dividing it into eight identical fragments, the Random Contribution Model, and a theory posited by Newbury himself—who insisted that he was bound to treat everyone—which was widely rejected on the basis that it would undermine the whole objective of the evening.

"When the check came, we all immediately agreed that the total of $284.57 could be defined as an irrational number of dollars for a party of eight to spend at a chain restaurant," said Dreyfuss.

The team of physicists decided to test Dreyfuss's Pay For What You Ordered Algorithm, which hypothesized that it was possible to determine what each individual owed by defining variables such as the cost of one's entrée, the total number of beverages one consumed, one's percentage of the sum ingestion of the component parts of the Firecracker Salmon Rolls and Buffalo Blasts, and "six bucks toward the birthday boy's meal."

The process, however, was hindered by Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, as group members failed to document how many drinks they ordered, and those sitting in the vicinity of graduate student in particle physics Susan Politzer suspected that she deliberately falsified her findings regarding the resonant frequency with which she consumed the $7.95 El Diablo margaritas.

"According to the Distribution Of Wine Theory, everyone should chip in $5 to pay for it," gravitational-wave specialist Arjun Patel said. "But after careful observation, the theory falls apart: the bottle never moved from the other end of the table, and Tom Steinbaum was clearly seen staggering in a non-uniform circular motion whenever he got up to use the bathroom."

As the bill approached absolute zero, the scientists found that the closer they got to completely breaking it down, the more difficult it was to calculate.

"When we kept coming up short by $15, we thought the solution might lie in a damped simple harmonic oscillator, so we mapped complex modes of vibration in diatomic molecules, found the zero-point vibration of the n=0 ground state, studied the motion of atoms in a solid lattice, and formulated the theory of heat capacity," Patel said. "Turns out we were on the wrong track, but it was helpful to know what definitely didn't work."

"Then we remembered to factor in Kiminiski's Constant," Patel added, referring to the integer named after planetary-physics professor David Kiminiski, who departed before the check came but left a $20 bill.

While determining the tip would normally have been dictated by the Law Of Gratuity, which holds the sometimes volatile figure steady at 18 percent, factions within the group nonetheless argued over two competing theories for dealing with the problem: standard variations, and the newer 20 Percent Courtesy Hypothesis.

"Taking into consideration the fact that [mathematical physicist] Hideo [Akuri]'s Cajun Chicken Littles were primarily made up of dark matter, the waitress's low kinetic energy, above-average mass, and weak attractive force, we devised a formula in which we moved the subtotal's decimal point one place to the left," Dreyfuss said.

The group celebrated by making plans to all go out to Charlie's Steakhouse next weekend in an attempt to find the largest prime rib

El Meteorólogo Gay y la Cucaracha

Horror Scope - Again

Many moons ago I wrote a blog entry about my Horror-Scope. In that particular case, it was seriously written, nonetheless traumatizing for me. In this month's Stand Out Magazine they have some Halloween Horror-scopes. They are kind of mean, but fun. I was going to put some of them online today, but (a) didn't really want to re-type them and (b) left my copy of the magazine at home. So, I went in search of them online, but alas, could not find them. I did, however locate these:


Aries (March 21 – April 19)

Aggressive to the extreme, the Aries is primitive - warlike and cruel. Not the sharpest tool in the shed, he often has trouble remembering the simplest of things. The Aries will often try to backstab his peers, but luckily, he usually lacks the mental capacity to succeed. He is vulgar and blunt, and incapable of subtlety.

From early childhood, Rams aspire to be a career soldier or an astronaut - which is why they constantly go around trying to pick fights with everyone they meet.

An Aries should be kept as far away from family savings as possible - he will blow it all at the first chance, but will not remember how or why. He is unbearably dull in a conversation, mostly due to an annoying tendency to ramble on for hours about himself, completely oblivious to those around him. When drunk, an Aires will usually become rowdy and violent, often making a scene.


Taurus (April 20 – May 20)

Petty, annoying and a whiny pain in the neck, a Taurus loves to brown-nose and is often a snitch to boot. In life and work, always blows with the wind, and runs to answer to his superiors’ smallest whim.

A chronic poser (will pass himself for an altruist, or in the case of a woman - a tortured soul), while harboring contempt for those around him, and in his mind fancying himself the center of the universe.

A Taurus loves wealth, and will greedily collect it in secret for most of his life. He is willing to sacrifice the last bit of wealth for a good cause - as long as it's someone else's.

Ego-centric, with a sadistic streak, he will terrorize his family from childhood until his old age, all the while managing to project the appearance of love and kindness. Taurus loves preferential treatment, and will usurp such privileges whenever possible.


Gemini (May 21 – June 20)

Eternally childish - both intellectually and emotionally, a Gemini simply refuses to grow up, and will often mooch of off someone until old age.

His only true passion is pointless chatter, which he has mastered to perfection. A Gemini can talk for hours without ever getting to the point. He reads little, but has an opinion on every issue - even though he will change it about a dozen times a week. It is not uncommon for a Gemini to become an actor or at least a "writer".

Geminis can't stand stress - neither physical nor mental. Even though a Taurus loves to entertain guests, at best, he will have nothing more to offer than soda and chips. Usually though, it's just his endless and pointless ramblings.


Cancer (June 21 – July 22)

A failure by definition, a Cancer is both a conservative and an opportunist, stuck in a constant state of self-reflection. Nothing and no one is capable of changing his mind, but he loves to argue, just to make fun of his opponent and look better in his own bulging eyes.

Cancers are quite cowardly, which may cause them to attack first, but they will usually flee at the first sign of danger, seeking the safety of their hole - a place which they love and nurture above all else.

A Cancer will readily slander and poke fun of everything around him, always pretending to be in control of the situation, strong and sure of himself. In truth, he is deathly afraid of everyone and prefers to be left alone in quiet solitude.


Leo (July 23 – August 22)

From the early age, Leos are inclined towards drunkenness and extortion. When it comes to anything else, they show a remarkable degree of laziness. As a child, a Leo will typically demand a lot of money from parents, then from friends and even casual acquaintances.

His overly developed pride and narcissism can ruin the life of anyone who he has come into even passing contact with, while his gluttony is capable of bankrupting even the deepest set of pockets. Amazingly, even though Leos eat a lot and without stop, they never gain any weight.

They like to have the world revolve around them, which is why they strive to be the best at anything they do. If they are not successful at this, they will languish and lose weight.

A Leo's dominant character traits are usually an unshakable delusion of grandeur and an elevated feeling of self-importance.


Virgo (August 23 – September 22)

Virgos possess all the charm of an rhinoceros and the brains of a rabbit. They are petty and greedy, annoying and argumentative. Virgos' lack of knowledge and imagination makes them unbearable for colleagues and difficult for family.

With her incessant nit-picking, a Virgo is capable of grinding any endeavor to a screeching halt, and driving even a patient person to the brink of madness. She never improvises, planning out every action weeks in advance down to the most boring and minute detail, much to the chagrin of anyone else who may be involved.

Anything a Virgo does is precipitated by cold logical calculation. Every action is respectable, predictable and boring. A Virgo is a vengeful master of intrigue, and if one has enemies, she will not rest until they, their families, their friends, and the families of their friends have been made to feel her wrath.


Libra (September 23 – October 22)

You have to be a real loser to be born a Libra. Libras are born with two left hands, both of which grow out of their ass. They are tone-deaf and generally have poor eyesight. The senses of self-esteem and humor are in embryonic states at best.
Libras never have any money, their love life is usually a non-starter and they have notoriously bad luck both at work and at home. Pictures of mediocrity, they are incapable of standing out, surprising, outperforming.

Genetically unable to make any decision, they begin to convulse and sweat profusely whenever faced with a choice more important than "paper or plastic?". This is why their whole life they let others decide for them.

While they love to present themselves as patrons of the arts, their knowledge in the area runs no further than they can throw a grand piano. Libras often end up writing tear-jerking memoirs full of half-truths and embellishments.


Scorpio (October 23 – November 21)

Scorpios are highly dangerous, even at a distance. They cheat and lie, live for intrigue, and take pleasure in destroying.

Pathological sadists and masochists simultaneously, they will not find any means too low or dishonorable if it can aid in reaching their goals. Going to great lengths, they will strive to create a positive image of themselves, just so they can backstab an opponent when he least expects it.

Their career is built on the bodies of their more scrupulous victims. If a Scorpio just told you how much he values your friendship, be certain he has already ratted you out to the boss in an attempt to curry favor.

Scorpios are famous for their affinity to dirty jokes and cheap porno movies. They will spread rumors about their sexual conquests, cruelly smearing anyone unlucky enough to be involved with them.


Sagittarius (November 22 – December 21)

Usually a Sagittarius will come off as a blissfully happy idiot. In most cases, this first impression will prove accurate. His moronic enthusiasm cannot be dampened by anything - not even by a cinder block falling on his head.

After talking to a Sagittarius for five minutes, you will want to kill him quickly but painfully. From the early age, a Sagittarius will have developed the infuriating habit of forcing his stupid ideas and his company onto anyone who might so much as walk by.

An aggressive optimist, a Sagittarius will require a lot of work in a relationship.
He usually makes a habit of inventing stories and lying outright, which he rationalizes by what he thinks are good intentions.

A Sagittarius usually loves crowds and loud social situations, as well as any place where he can enjoy a meal and a drink without paying for them.


Capricorn (December 22 – January 19)

Cruel, cold and heartless, the Capricorn has all the warmth of an iceberg in January. He is a tyrant at work and an inquisitor at home.

A Capricorn sees picking on others as one of the major reasons for his existence. He will get worked up over minor infractions, and is completely devoid of sense of humor. It is not uncommon for a Capricorn to be abusive towards his (her) significant other, be it a spouse or a best friend.

Capricorns will back down only if faced with a threat of physical force, or intense psychological pressure. Intellectually primitive, lacking any semblance of imagination, he is nevertheless vengeful to the extreme - the word "forgiveness" is not in his vocabulary.

Capricorns possess the rare combination of delusions of greatness and low self esteem - all with minimal mental capacity. This is why so many are found among upper and middle management.


Aquarius (January 20 – February 18)

A hopeless and helpless dreamer, forever out of touch with reality, an Aquarius is ever lost in his own fantasy world.

He never returns money he borrows, for immediately upon borrowing it, he spends it and forgets about the debt. An Aquarius constantly breaks his promises, and hates nothing more than working.

People born under this sign love badmouthing and making fun of those that are close to them, but always behind their back. An Aquarius is drawn to greasy junk food and cheap action novels, both of which he buys in untold quantities.

His vacation is usually spent holed up in some god-forsaken bar, since he has spent all his getaway money on one of his uncounted projects destined to make the world a better place for humanity.


Pisces (February 19 - March 20)

A Pisces cannot live without lies and treachery. They often get so wrapped up in their own tall tales that they can easily forget which of their stories are true and which are not.

A Pisces constantly contradicts herself, and is always trying to wriggle out of a lie somebody has called her on. She will generally not profit from such fruitless tasks, but that's fine by her - she's doing it for the art.

Additionally a Pisces loves nothing more than to stick her nose into someone else's dirty laundry. Pretending to be a self-taught psychoanalyst she will pry into people's secrets, which she will later manipulate and trade through her own self-styled network of spies.

Incapable of working, or for that matter doing anything remotely useful, a Pisces has no interest for acquiring such abilities. Forcing her to do so is nearly impossible - she will simply wriggle out and disappear.

Torchwood

Torchwood, a spin off or Doctor Who is soon to be starting its run on BBC Three. Torchwood stars John Barrowman as Captain Jack. Russell T Davies, the current producer of Doctor Who and the creator of Torchwood says “Torchwood will be a dark, clever, wild, sexy, British crime/sci-fi paranoid thriller cop show with a sense of humor - the X Files meets This Life."

Here are some clips….

Trailer 1

Trailer 2




BBC Promo



BBC Press Release

Voyager?

David found this on the Internet....

By the Light of the Silvery Moon

Not so long ago, before electric lights, farmers relied on moonlight to harvest autumn crops. With everything ripening at once, there was too much work to to do to stop at sundown. A bright full moon—a "Harvest Moon"—allowed work to continue into the night.

The moonlight was welcome, but as any farmer could tell you, it was strange stuff. How so? See for yourself. The Harvest Moon of 2006 rises on October 6th, and if you pay attention, you may notice a few puzzling things:

1. Moonlight steals color from whatever it touches. Regard a rose. In full moonlight, the flower is brightly lit and even casts a shadow, but the red is gone, replaced by shades of gray. In fact, the whole landscape is that way. It's a bit like seeing the world through an old black and white TV set.

"Moon gardens" turn this 1950s-quality of moonlight to advantage. White or silver flowers that bloom at night are both fragrant and vivid beneath a full moon. Favorites include Four-O'clocks, Moonflower Vines, Angel's Trumpets—but seldom red roses.

2. If you stare at the gray landscape long enough, it turns blue. The best place to see this effect, called the "blueshift" or "Purkinje shift" after the 19th century scientist Johannes Purkinje who first described it, is in the countryside far from artificial lights. As your eyes become maximally dark adapted, the blue appears. Film producers often put a blue filter over the lens when filming night scenes to create a more natural feel, and artists add blue to paintings of nightscapes for the same reason. Yet if you look up at the full moon, it is certainly not blue. (Note: Fine ash from volcanoes or forest fires can turn moons blue, but that's another story.)

3. Moonlight won't let you read. Open a book beneath the full moon. At first glance, the page seems bright enough. Yet when you try to make out the words, you can't. Moreover, if you stare too long at a word it might fade away. Moonlight not only blurs your vision but also makes a little blind spot.

This is all very strange. Moonlight, remember, is no more exotic than sunlight reflected from the dusty surface of the moon. The only difference is intensity: Moonlight is about 400,000 times fainter than direct sunlight.

So what do we make of it all? The answer lies in the eye of the beholder. The human retina is responsible.

The retina is like an organic digital camera with two kinds of pixels: rods and cones. Cones allow us to see colors (red roses) and fine details (words in a book), but they only work in bright light. After sunset, the rods take over.

Rods are marvelously sensitive (1000 times more so than cones) and are responsible for our night vision. According to some reports, rods can detect as little as a single photon of light! There's only one drawback: rods are colorblind. Roses at night thus appear gray.

If rods are so sensitive, why can't we use them to read by moonlight? The problem is, rods are almost completely absent from a central patch of retina called the fovea, which the brain uses for reading. The fovea is densely packed with cones, so we can read during the day. At night, however, the fovea becomes a blind spot. The remaining peripheral vision isn't sharp enough to make out individual letters and words.

Finally, we come to the blueshift. Consider this passage from a 2004 issue of the Journal of Vision:

"It should be noted that the perception of blue color or any color for that matter in a purely moonlit environment is surprising, considering that the light intensity is below the detection threshold for cone cells. Therefore if the cones are not being stimulated how do we perceive the blueness?" --"Modeling Blueshift in Moonlit Scenes using Rod-Cone Interaction" by Saad M. Khan and Sumanta N. Pattanaik, University of Central Florida.

The authors of the study went on to propose a bio-electrical explanation--that signals from rods can spill into adjacent blue-sensitive cones under conditions of full-moon illumination (see the diagram, right). This would create an illusion of blue. "Unfortunately," they point out, "direct physiological evidence to support or negate the hypothesis is not yet available."

So there are still some mysteries in the moonlight. Look for them on Oct. 6th under the Harvest Moon.

pilfered from http://science.nasa.gov

Stringless?

Cole and David, you can stop reading right now. Cole will be bored and see a kitty somewhere before he finishes the first paragraph. David will just bitch about its length.

Mark Anderson wrote this article for Wired News. I borrowed it...

Moving Beyond String Theory

Mark Anderson

Ask any credentialed nerd what the ultimate theory of physics is, and chances are they'll reply, "string theory."

In string theory -- an idea that's been around since the late 1970s -- the universe is a 10-dimensional place, with six of those dimensions curled up inside themselves like a cat in front of a fireplace. All particles and forces are different resonances and vibrations of these 10-dimensional strings.

Strings are far from the only game in town. There are other, potentially equally promising approaches to unifying physics' two seemingly incompatible visions of the cosmos: general relativity and quantum mechanics.

This fall, Columbia University mathematician Peter Woit has published a critique of string theory (Not Even Wrong: The Failure of String Theory), pointing out that in more than three decades, string theory still has yet to make a single prediction that can be verified in the lab or through the lens of a telescope. If all scientific disciplines maintained such fluffy and forgiving standards, Woit argues, science would devolve into little more than medieval disputations about angels and heads of pins.

Lee Smolin of Canada's Perimeter Institute has taken the next step in his new book, The Trouble With Physics: The Rise of String Theory, The Fall of a Science, and What Comes Next, outlining the most promising non-stringy paths to reconciliation between Einstein and the quantum.
Oxford University mathematical physicist ,author of The Road to Reality, invented a mathematical tool called "twisters."

Smolin and Penrose take a look at the diverging paths beyond string theory.

Twistor String Theory. This retooling of string theory uses Penrose's twistors, which reduce the number of dimensions in the theory to the familiar four -- three spatial dimensions plus time. Twistors are by definition four-dimensional objects that locate not a position in space and time but rather a network of possible causal relationships between space-time events. Depicting a particle such as an electron as occupying a definite x, y, z and t gives a false sense of definiteness: Space and time are fuzzy at quantum scales. But cause and effect are not, and cause and effect are effectively what twistor space maps.

"What's rather striking about this twistor string approach is that it really is four dimensions," said Penrose just after a conference on twistor string theory. "So my objections (about string theory's extra hidden dimensions) essentially evaporate."

Pros: The mathematical beauty of string theory remains mostly unassailed, while the universe gets its four dimensions. Actual predictions for future particle accelerator experiments may yet emerge.

Cons: It's still unclear what this "theory" is -- and it may just be a sidelight on the 10-dimensional theory that yields more solvable equations. The inventor of twistors himself said, "I need to see a clear theory which I might be able to use, but I didn't get that."

Loop Quantum Gravity. If string theory evaporated tomorrow, something called Loop Quantum Gravity (LQG) would probably be the odds-on favorite to take its place. LQG, and a related approach called Spin Foam theory, posits that Einstein's theories of space and time break down at very small scales (called the Planck scale, one-billion-billionth the size of an atomic nucleus) and in its place are entities described by another mathematical tool Penrose invented, called spin networks.

These graphs represent loops of field lines that, like string theory, become the fundamental building blocks of the universe. But unlike strings, no extra hidden dimensions are needed. The end result is that LQG predicts specific, quantifiable ways in which classical Einsteinian relativity would break down -- and could soon be observable in fine-tuned measurements of the Big Bang's microwave background or in observations by GLAST, a gamma-ray telescope scheduled to launch next year.

Pros: Smolin, one of the originators of LQG, makes an eloquent and persuasive case for the theory, which has been able to make bold new predictions. And it reduces to something resembling classical, Newtonian gravity at low-energy and long-distance limits.

Cons: No one has yet been able to get spacetime itself, the stuff Einstein made famous, to emerge from LQG's spin networks.

Causal Dynamical Triangulations. Here we encounter one of a couple ideas that, if its profile ever increases, will probably need a catchier title. CDT breaks down tiny units of volume and area -- the crucial stuff that makes up any spacetime -- into tiny tetrahedra, a little like a computer graphics chip renders complex surfaces by decomposing them into many itsy bitsy squares and triangles.

CDT can be seen, says Smolin, "as a very simplified form of Loop Quantum Gravity." And even if it is not The Ultimate Theory, CDT's practitioners have developed clever solutions and approximation methods that could be used for the real thing.

Pros: Classical spacetime, as described by Einstein, does emerge from CDT models.

Cons: It's not clear yet if falsifiable predictions can be made that would distinguish CDT from LQG or other theories.

Non-Commutative Geometry. Behind this clunky name lies a clever idea, developed by a French mathematician named Alain Connes. It recognizes that observable quantities of a particle such as position and momentum cannot both be precisely measured -- a quintessential aspect of quantum systems. Connes and his colleagues have outlined the spatial geometry that would produce this kind of "non-commutative" algebra. (Technically, a non-commutative operation is one in which AB does not equal BA.)

"Connes keeps one eye on what the physics tells us and the other eye on his mathematical notions, and tries to build from these a specific ... geometry which he claims goes more deeply into how physics and spacetime structure combine with one another," said Penrose.

Pros: An extremely useful mathematical toolkit that has turned up both in string theory and in LQG.

Cons: May just be another extremely useful mathematical tool -- along the lines of twistors and spin networks -- and not a physical theory unto itself.

No Ultimate Theory. Some holdouts maintain that the universe may simply have two sets of operators' manuals -- the Einsteinian for the massive and cosmic and the quantum mechanical for the tiny and energetic.

Of course, as Smolin points out in The Trouble With Physics, science is littered with present-day commonplaces that were once radical and courageous acts of unification: Copernicus said the Earth and the other planets were not two separate things but one. Giordano Bruno said the sun and the stars were not two separate things but one. Isaac Newton said the force that makes an apple fall from a tree is the same force that moves the planets through the heavens.

Skeptics of previous scientific grand unification efforts are often, though certainly not always, proved to have been lacking only in imagination.

Today in History

On this day on 1954 the first Fortran program was executed. Fortran is a computer language whose name is a blend of the words "formula" and "translation." Developed in the 1950s by John Backus, its many versions are still in use today as the primary language for some of the most intensive supercomputing tasks, such as weather/climate modeling, computational chemistry, quantum chromodynamics, and simulation of automobile crash dynamics. The first computer adventure game was created in 1976 using Fortran.

Man Bites Panda

From cnn.com

BEIJING, China (AP) -- A drunken Chinese tourist bit a panda at the Beijing Zoo after the animal attacked him when he jumped into the enclosure and tried to hug it, state media said Wednesday.

Zhang Xinyan had drunk four pitchers of beer at a restaurant before "stumbling to the zoo" nearby and stopping off at the pen holding a sleeping 6-year-old male panda, Gu Gu, on Tuesday, the Beijing Morning Post said.

"He felt a sudden urge to touch the panda with his hand" and jumped over a waist-high railing down into the enclosure, the newspaper said. "When he got closer and was undiscovered, he reached out to hug it."

Startled, Gu Gu bit Zhang in the right leg, it said. Zhang, a 35-year-old migrant laborer from central Henan province, got angry and kicked the panda, who then bit his other leg. A tussle ensued, the paper said.

"I bit the fellow in the back," Zhang was quoted as saying in the newspaper. "Its skin was quite thick."

Other tourists yelled for a zookeeper, who soon got the panda under control by spraying it with water, reports said. Zhang was hospitalized.

Newspaper photographs showed Zhang lying on a hospital bed with blood-soaked bandages and several seams of stitches running down his leg.

The Beijing Youth Daily quoted Zhang, a father of two who was visiting Beijing for the first time, as saying that he had seen pandas on television and "they seemed to get along well with people."

"No one ever said they would bite people," Zhang said. "I just wanted to touch it. I was so dizzy from the beer. I don't remember much."

Ye Mingxia, a spokeswoman for the Beijing Zoo, confirmed the incident happened but would not give any details. She said Gu Gu was "healthy and uninjured."

"We're not considering punishing him now," Ye said in a telephone interview. "He's suffered quite a bit of shock."

China has more than 180 pandas living in captivity. A 2002 government census found there were just 1,596 pandas left in the wild.

But state media has said a new study by Chinese and British scientists has found there might be as many as 3,000.

In 2003, a college student trying to take a photo of a panda in the Beijing Zoo jumped into the enclosure and broke his bones in the fall, the Beijing Morning Post said.

It did not say which panda it was or if it attacked the student.

Office Slang

404 - Someone who is clueless. From the Web error message, “404 Not Found,” which means the document requested couldn’t be located. “Don’t bother asking John. He’s 404.”

Adminisphere - The rarified organizational layers above the rank and file that makes decisions that are often profoundly inappropriate or irrelevant.

Alpha Geek - The most knowledgeable, technically proficient person in an office or work group. “I dunno, ask Rick. He’s our alpha geek.”

Assmosis - The process by which some people seem to absorb success and advancement by kissing up to the boss rather than working hard.

Batmobiling - putting up emotional shields. Refers to the retracting armor that covers the Batmobile as in “she started talking marriage and he started batmobiling”

Beepilepsy - The brief siezure people sometimes suffer when their beepers go off, especially in vibrator mode. Characterized by physical spasms, goofy facial expressions, and stopping speech in mid-sentence.

Betamaxed - When a technology is overtaken in the market by inferior but better marketed competition as in “Microsoft betamaxed Apple right out of the market”

Blamestorming - A group discussion of why a deadline was missed or a project failed and who was responsible.

Blowing Your Buffer - Losing one’s train of thought. Occurs when the person you are speaking with won’t let you get a word in edgewise or has just said something so astonishing that your train gets derailed. “Damn, I just blew my buffer!” (Synonym: “Head Crash”)

Body Nazis - Hard-core exercise and weight-lifting fanatics who look down on anyone who doesn’t work out obsessively.

Bookmark - To take note of a person for future reference. “After seeing his cool demo at Siggraph, I bookmarked him.”

Brain Fart - A byproduct of a bloated mind producing information effortlessly; a burst of useful information. “I know you’re busy on the Microsoft story, but can you give us a brain fart on the Mitnik bust?” Variation of old hacker slang that had more negative connotations.

CGI Joe - A hard-core CGI script programmer with all the social skills and charisma of a plastic action figure.

Chainsaw Consultant - An outside expert brought in to reduce the employee head count, leaving the top brass with clean hands.

Chip Jewelry - Old computers destined to be scrapped or turned into decoration. “I paid three grand for that Mac and now it’s nothing but chip jewelry.”

Chips and Salsa - Chips = hardware, salsa = software. “First we gotta figure out if the problem’s in your chips or your salsa.”

CLM (Career Limiting Move)- Used by microserfs to describe an ill-advised activity. “Trashing your boss while he or she is within earshot is a serious CLM.”

Cobweb - A WWW site that never changes.

Crapplet - A badly written or profoundly useless Java applet. “I just wasted 30 minutes downloading that crapplet!”

CROP DUSTING - Surreptitiously farting while passing thru a cube farm, then enjoying the sounds of dismay and disgust; leads to PRAIRIE DOGGING.....

Cube Farm - An office filled with cubicles.

Dead Tree Edition - The paper version of a publication available in both paper and electronic forms.

Dilberted - To be exploited and oppressed by your boss, as is Dilbert, the comic strip character. “Damn, I’ve been dilberted again! The old man revised the specs for the fourth time this week.”

Dorito Syndrome - The feeling of emptiness and dissatisfaction triggered by addictive substances that lack nutritional content. “I just spent six hours surfing the Web, and now I’ve got a bad case of Dorito Syndrome.”

Egosurfing - Scanning the Net, databases, etc., for one’s own name.

Elvis Year - The peak year of popularity as in “1993 was Barney the dinosaur’s Elvis year”

Flight Risk - Used to describe employees who are suspected of planning to leave a company or department soon.

Generica - Fast food joints, strip malls, sub-divisions as in “we were so lost in generica that I couldn’t remember what city it was”

Glazing - Corporate-speak for sleeping with your eyes open; a popular pastime at conferences and early-morning meetings. “Didn’t he notice that by the second session half the room was glazing?”

Going Postal - Totally stressed out and losing it like postal employees who went on shooting rampages

GOOD job - A "Get-Out-Of-Debt" job. A well-paying job people take in order to pay off their debts, one that they will quit as soon as they are solvent again.

Gray Matter - Older, experienced business people hired by young entrepreneurial firms trying to appear more professional and established.

Graybar Land - The place you go while you’re staring at a computer that’s processing something very slowly (while you watch the gray bar creep across the screen). “That CAD rendering put me in graybar land for like an hour.”

High Dome - Egghead, scientist, PhD

Idea Hamsters - People whose idea generators are always running.

Irritainment - Entertainment and media spectacles that are annoying, but you find yourself unable to stop watching them. The O.J. trials were a prime example.

It’s a Feature - From the old adage, “It’s not a bug, it’s a feature.” Used sarcastically to describe an unpleasant problem you wish to gloss over.

Keyboard Plaque - The disgusting buildup of dirt and crud found on some people’s computer keyboards.

Link Rot - The process by which web page’s links become obsolete as the sites they’re connected to change or die.

Meatspace - The physical world (as opposed to the virtual) also “carbon community” “facetime” “F2F” “RL”

Mouse Potato - The online generation’s answer to the couch potato.

Ohnosecond - That minuscule fraction of time during which you realize you’ve just made a terrible error.

Open-Collar Workers - People who work at home or telecommute.

Percussive Maintenance - The fine art of whacking the crap out of an electronic device to get it to work again.

Perot - To quit unexpectedly. “My cellular phone just perot’ed.”

Plug-and-Play - A new hire who doesn’t require training. “That new guy is totally plug-and-play.”

Prairie Dogging - When something loud happens in a cube farm, causing heads to pop up over the walls trying to see what’s going on.

Ribs ‘N’ Dick - A budget with no fat as in “we’ve got ribs ‘n’ dick and we’re supposed to find 20K for memory upgrades”

Salmon Day - The experience of spending an entire day swimming upstream only to get screwed in the end. “God, today was a total salmon day!”

Seagull Manager - A manager who flies in, makes a lot of noise, shits over everything and then leaves.

Siliwood - The coming convergence of movies, interactive TV and computers; also “Hollywired”

SITCOMs - What yuppies turn into when they have children and one of them stops working to stay home with the kids. “Single Income, Two Children, Oppressive Mortgage”

Square-Headed Spouse - Computer

Squirt the Bird - To transmit a signal up to a satellite. “Crew and talent are ready...what time do we squirt the bird?”

Starter Marriage - A short-lived first marriage that ends in divorce with no kids, no property and no regrets.

Stress Puppy - A person who thrives on being stressed-out and whiny.

Swiped Out - An ATM or credit card that has been used so much its magnetic strip is worn away.

Tourists - Those who take training classes just to take a vacation from their jobs. “There were only three serious students in the class; the rest were just tourists.”

Treeware - Hacker slang for documentation or other printed material.

Umfriend - One with whom one has a sexual relationship; as in, “this is Dale, my...um...friend.”

Under Mouse Arrest - Getting busted for violating an online service’s rule of conduct. “Sorry I couldn’t get back to you. AOL put me under mouse arrest.”

Uninstalled - Euphemism for being fired. Also: decruitment.

Vulcan Nerve Pinch - The taxing hand position required to reach all the appropriate keys for certain commands. For instance, the warm re-boot for a Mac II computer involves simultaneously pressing the Control key, the Command key, the Return key and the Power On key.

WOOFYS - Well Off Older Folks.

World Wide Wait - The real meaning of WWW.

Xerox Subsidy - Euphemism for swiping free photocopies from one’s workplace.

Yuppie Food Coupons - Twenty dollar bills from an ATM.

Sweeney Todd

DreamWorks Studios has announced a February 5, 2007, start date for the film version of Sweeney Todd, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Tim Burton will direct Johnny Depp in the title role, with production scheduled for London's Pinewood Studios. Although no further casting has been announced, Burton has tapped two time Oscar-winning costume designer Colleen Atwood (Memoirs of a Geisha) and Oscar-nominated cinematographer Dante Spinotti (L.A. Confidential) for the film.

As previously reported, the script for Sweeney Todd is by John Logan (The Aviator, Gladiator, The Last Samurai, Star Trek: Nemesis, Any Given Sunday), who began his career as a Chicago-based playwright. He is the author of Never the Sinner, a well-received play about murderers Leopold and Loeb, which had a five-month run off-Broadway at the John Houseman Theatre in 1998, and Hauptman, about the Lindbergh baby kidnapping, which ran for a month at the Cherry Lane Theatre in 1992 with Denis O'Hare in the title role.

Boren: Game Should Not Go in Books

Courtesy: SoonerSports.com
Release: 09/18/2006

NORMAN, Okla. -- Today, University of Oklahoma President David Boren released a letter calling on the commissioner of the Big 12 Conference to take action related to the breakdown of officiating in the Oklahoma-Oregon football game last Saturday.

The text of the letter is below.

Dear Commissioner Weiberg:
To describe the lapses in accurate officiating at the Oklahoma-Oregon football game last Saturday as constituting an outrageous injustice is an understatement. Since officiating is a conference responsibility as opposed to an individual institutional responsibility, we must look to you to launch a vigorous effort to correct the situation.

On behalf of the University of Oklahoma, I ask that you as Big 12 Commissioner take the following actions:

• First, seek an apology from the Pac-10 Conference for the gross errors in officiating.

• Second, since institutions, players, and coaches are held responsible by conferences and the NCAA for their actions, those who officiate games should also be held responsible. At the very least, those found responsible for reviewing the onside kick call and the interference call in the closing minutes of the game should be suspended from officiating for the rest of the season.

• Third, it is my understanding that the Pac-10 Conference has a rule that they will only use Pac-10 officials at games with other conference institutions hosted by Pac-10 members. In light of what happened Saturday, the Big 12 should request that the Pac-10 change its rule to assure impartial officiating.

• Fourth, the Big 12 should request that the game should not go into the record books as a win or loss by either team in light of the level of officiating mistakes.

• Fifth, the Big 12 should place on the appropriate agendas of NCAA meetings and meetings of the conference commissioners a discussion of how the film review process should be implemented.

Since the University of Oklahoma and its officials are required by conference sportsmanship rules to limit their comments in situations like this, we must look to you as the commissioner of the Big 12 Conference to vigorously demand that our teams be treated fairly when participating in non-conference games.

It is truly sad and deeply disappointing that members of our football team should be deprived of the outcome of the game that they deserved because of an inexcusable breakdown in officiating.

Sincerely,
David L. Boren
President, The University of Oklahoma

Requiem for Goose

Found another fun thing on the web...

Reflections

As many of you know, my father has again started showing PSA levels in his blood. This is bad because about 8 years ago he had his prostate removed due to cancer. The only way he would now be showing PSA levels is if cancerous cells were left in his body and they have grown enough to once again emit detectable PSA levels. They are treating him with medication. I say this because it was my father, who in phone conversations over the last month or so has helped me to realize how important it is to be honest and open with the people in your life.

Last Friday night as I was driving home I was involved in a fairly bad accident. Fortunately, no one was seriously hurt. However, as my car spun around on the highway during Friday rush hour traffic, I literally saw my life flash before my eyes. Later that night as I was trying to fall asleep, I further realized how right my dad was. How awful would it have been if something tragic had happened and there were things I needed to tell my friends and family but had neglected due to timing or fear.

So, with that said, there are many people to whom I need to express some things. Some people may not agree with what I have to say, some may. Some may not like what I have to say. However, it is for my own mental well being and because I care very dearly about this group of family members and friends that truly composes my real family that I am doing this. No matter what each one of you may think it is all said with love. Over the next few weeks I hope to wrap-up this self appointed task. Some of you I may talk with in person, others I may address in writing. Why some in writing? Some of the things I may have trouble verbalizing; some may have a timing issue of coordinating private time; some may be the issue of fear or it could be a combination of any of these issues.

I have an incredible group of people around me, and I am very lucky to have you all as part of my life.

And The Winners Are...

The American Film Institute has released is list of the 25 greatest movie musicals of all time. I was shocked, perplexed, happy and oddly confused as I read the list. Many of the musicals on the list definitely belong there. I thought it odd that some of the honorees were considered movie musicals, namely Beauty and the Beast? Don't get me wrong, I liked it, but I don't know that I consider it a movie musical. If we are going to include this type of production in the genre, then what about including The Lion King or Aladdin?

There were also a few entries that I felt we conspicuously absent from the list. The Music Man, Hello Dolly, Victor/Victoria, The Blues Brothers, Fiddler on the Roof nor Oklahoma! made the cut.

The ballot included 180 entries for the voters to choose from. Phantom of the Opera and Rent were the only two musicals that I could think of that were not on the ballot but should have been. If you would like to see the ballot, here is a link.

And the winners are....

RANK		FILM TITLE	YEAR	MEMORABLE SONGS
1		SINGIN' IN THE RAIN	1952	"Singin' in the Rain" "Make 'Em Laugh" "Good Morning"
2		WEST SIDE STORY	1961	"America" "Tonight" "Somewhere"
3		THE WIZARD OF OZ	1939	"Over the Rainbow" "Ding Dong the Witch Is Dead" "If I Only Had a Brain/a Heart/the Nerve"
4		THE SOUND OF MUSIC	1965	"The Sound of Music" "My Favorite Things" "Do Re Mi"
5		CABARET	1972	"Cabaret" "Wilkommen" "Tomorrow Belongs to Me"
6		MARY POPPINS	1964	"A Spoonful of Sugar" "Chim Chim Cher-ee" "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious"
7		A STAR IS BORN	1954	"The Man that Got Away" "Lose that Long Face" "My Melancholy Baby"
8		MY FAIR LADY	1964	"The Rain in Spain" "I Could Have Danced All Night" "I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face"
9		AMERICAN IN PARIS, AN	1951	"I Got Rhythm" "I'll Build a Stairway to Paradise" "Our Love Is Here to Stay"
10		MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS	1944	"The Boy Next Door" "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" "The Trolley Song"
11		THE KING AND I	1956	"Getting to Know You" "Shall We Dance" "Whistle a Happy Tune"
12		CHICAGO	2002	"And All That Jazz" "Cell Block Tango" "Razzle Dazzle"
13		42ND STREET	1933	"42nd Street" "Shuffle Off to Buffalo" "It Must Be June"
14		ALL THAT JAZZ	1979	"On Broadway" "Everything Old Is New Again" "Take Off With Us"
15		TOP HAT	1935	"Top Hat, White Tie and Tails" "Cheek to Cheek" "No Strings"
16		FUNNY GIRL	1968	"People" "Don't Rain on My Parade" "My Man"
17		THE BAND WAGON	1953	"By Myself" "That's Entertainment" "Dancing In The Dark"
18		YANKEE DOODLE DANDY	1942	"The Yankee Doodle Boy" "Give My Regards to Broadway" "You're a Grand Ol' Flag"
19		ON THE TOWN	1949	"New York, New York" "Count on Me" "On the Town"
20		GREASE	1978	"Hopelessly Devoted to You" "Summer Nights" "You're the One that I Want"
21		SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS	1954	"June Bride" "Spring, Spring, Spring" "Wonderful, Wonderful Day"
22		BEAUTY AND THE BEAST	1991	"Beauty and the Beast" "Be Our Guest" "Something There"
23		GUYS AND DOLLS	1955	"Guys and Dolls" "Luck Be a Lady" "Sit Down, You're Rockin' the Boat"
24		SHOW BOAT	1936	"Ol' Man River" "Make Believe" "Why Do I Love You?"
25		MOULIN ROUGE!	2001	"Come What May" "Your Song" "Roxanne"