Current Moon Phase February 7 - Full Moon 18° Leo February 21 - New Moon 2° Pisces Current Solar Data From NOAA Current Earthquake Activity USGS Earthquakes Worldwide in the Last 30 Days USGS Earthquake Project - Historical Quakes Earthquakes in 2011   Wikipedia Astronomy Picture of the Day NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day Archives NASA Website Spaceweather.com Thunderbolts Picture of the Day Thunderbolts Archives FEBRUARY 2012 Commemorative Events in February February - Black History Month February 2 - Candlemas February 2 - Groundhog Day February 5 - Superbowl Sunday XLVI February 14 - Valentine's Day February 19 - March 20 - Sun in Pisces February 20 - Presidents' Day US February 21 - Mardi Gras February 21 - Fat Tuesday February 22 - Ash Wednesday First Day of Lent February 26, 2011 - 84th Academy Awards ~ Oscars

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My sweet friends and family: This Sunday will be a really important day in my husband's life. He and his team worked so hard to get to this point and now they need us more than ever to send them positive energy so they can fulfill their dream of winning this super bowl, so I kindly ask all of you to join me on this positive chain and pray for him, so he can feel confident, healthy and strong. Envision him happy and fulfilled experiencing with his team a victory this sunday. Thank you for your love and support. Love, G :)

Ellie's World Blog
Superbowl ... Another Cultural Phenomenon

... the Unexplained ...
   Living in a space bubble
   Mysterious blue balls
   UFO on the floor of the Baltic Sea?
   Strange Noises Heard Globally
   "Weird or What" - Doing a TV Show with William Shatner
Life In Any Reality In 2012
Unexplained Discoveries and Noises 2012
Preparing for a Break-up in 2012

The 'Infinity Room': One of Many Ways to Imagine Infinity   Live Science - February 3, 2012
he Infinity Environment, an art piece by Doug Wheeler, is currently on display at the David Zwirner Gallery in New York City. It's an artist's valiant effort to realize infinity, a concept that has been known to humanity for thousands of years, but, for most of us, remains difficult to grasp. Ancient Indian philosophers understood it as the entity from which a part can be removed, or another part added, only to have it remain the same. The ancient Greeks conceived of it as the boundless set of prime numbers. Both are true descriptions, but neither evokes a visceral understanding of the true nature of the beast.

Dizzyingly Fast-Spinning Stars Slow Down by Flying Apart   Live Science - February 3, 2012
The spectacularly fast-whirling dead stars known as millisecond pulsars put the brakes on their spinning in large part by blasting pieces of themselves into space, a new model suggests. Pulsars are the super-dense, strongly magnetized cores of massive stars left behind after they go supernova. Specifically, pulsars are neutron stars made of densely packed neutrons, with each sugar cube-size piece of neutron star matter weighing as much as a mountain of about 100 million tons.

Hubble Telescope Spies Milky Way Galaxy's Twin   Live Science - February 3, 2012
An uncanny twin of our own Milky Way galaxy takes center stage in a new cosmic portrait by the Hubble Space Telescope unveiled today (Feb. 3). The amazing photo shows the galaxy NGC 1073, a barred spiral like our own Milky Way. The galaxy is located 55 million light-years away in the constellation of Cetus (The Sea Monster). By looking at cosmic wonders thought to be similar to our own galactic home, astronomers hope to learn more about the Milky Way, which we can only see from the inside.

NASA Report: Greenhouse Gases, Not Sun, Driving Warming   Live Science - February 3, 2012
A recent, prolonged lull in the sun's activity did not prevent the Earth from absorbing more solar energy than it let escape back into space, a NASA analysis of the Earth's recent energy budget indicates. An imbalance like this drives global warming - since more energy is coming in than leaving - and, because it occurred during a period when the sun was emitting comparatively low levels of energy, the imbalance has implications for the cause of global warming. The results confirm greenhouse gases produced by human activities are the most important driver of global climate change, according to the researchers.

Oldest Copy of 'Mona Lisa' Painted Alongside Original   Live Science - February 3, 2012
A copy of Leonardo da Vinci's "Mona Lisa" was painted by a pupil or follower of the artist at about the same time as the original was created, and is now considered the oldest known copy of the enigmatic piece of work, scientists announced this week. The painting was previously held in the Spanish royal collections, before it was sent to Madrid in 1819 when the Museo del Prado there was founded. Researchers studying the artwork think it is the painting referred to in 1666 in an inventory of the palace Alc‡zar in Seville as a female portrait associated with da Vinci. They suspect the copy may have reached Spain in the early part of the 17th century, according to Miguel Falomir Faus, the Prado's curator of Italian Painting up to 1700.

Is This Russian Landscape the Birthplace of American Indians?   National Geographic - February 3, 2012
Native Americans originated from a small mountainous region in southern Siberia, new genetic research shows. The work is the most targeted study yet to suggest a genetic "homeland" for North America's indigenous peoples, according to the authors. New DNA analysis of ethnic groups living in the Altay Mountains (see map) revealed a unique genetic mutation that also occurs in modern-day northern Native Americans. A possible link between Siberians and Native Americans is an "age-old question" that was first raised by European explorers in the New World. That's because some of those early explorers had also been to Asia, and they noticed physical similarities between the two populations. Now the new genetic data has allowed us to identify more precisely the founding types of these Siberian lineages that are present in North America.

Elephants Took 24 Million Generations to Evolve From Mouse-Size   National Geographic - February 3, 2012
Evolving bigger bodies takes longer than getting small, mammal study says. Some mammals need roughly 24 million generations to go from mouse-size to elephant-size, a new study says. Using both fossil and living specimens, scientists calculated growth rates for 28 different mammalian groups during the past 65 million yearsÑand found that, for mammals, getting big takes longer than shrinking. It takes a minimum of 1.6 million generations for mammals to achieve a hundredfold increase in body size, about 5 million generations for a thousandfold increase, and about 10 million generations for a 5,000-fold increase, the team discovered.

Four telescope link-up creates world's largest mirror   BBC - February 3, 2012
Astronomers have created the world's largest virtual optical telescope linking four telescopes in Chile, so that they operate as a single device. The telescopes of the Very Large Telescope (VLT) at the Paranal observatory form a virtual mirror of 130 metres in diameter. A previous attempt to link the telescopes last March failed.

I was raised in a time where children were still seen and basically not heard,

so I think a lot of us in my generation went the other way and just tried
to be as much more liberal and open, and we're still paying for it.

Blythe Danner Quotes

The doors we open and close each day decide the lives we live.

Maura Tierney

Sometimes a good sense of humor is born out of difficult childhoods,

where you have to develop a sense of humor.

Ultimately, it's a gift.

Nathan Lane Quotes 1

Nathan Lane Quotes 2

Nathan Lane Quotes 3

My fundamental purpose is to interpret the typical American.

I am a story teller.

Norman Rockwell Quotes 1

Norman Rockwell Quotes 2

Norman Rockwell Quotes 3

A rose

is a rose

is a rose.

A rose is a rose is a rose.

Gertrude Stein Quotes 1

Gertrude Stein Quotes 2

  Donald Trump endorses Mitt Romney   AP - February 2, 2012
nserting himself back into the presidential race, Donald Trump managed on Wednesday night and Thursday morning to get the nation's major news organizations in a tangle about whether he would endorse Mitt Romney or Newt Gingrich during a Thursday afternoon appearance in Las Vegas.

Hubble zooms in on a magnified galaxy   PhysOrg - February 2, 2012
Thanks to the presence of a natural "zoom lens" in space, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope got a uniquely close-up look at the brightest "magnified" galaxy yet discovered.

Brains may be wired for addiction   BBC - February 2, 2012
Abnormalities in the brain may make some people more likely to become drug addicts, according to scientists at the University of Cambridge. They found the same differences in the brains of addicts and their non-addicted brothers and sisters.

No-Fly List Of Suspected Terrorists More Than Doubled In Past Year   Huffington Post - February 2, 2012
Even as the Obama administration says it's close to defeating al-Qaida, the size of the government's secret list of suspected terrorists who are banned from flying to or within the United States has more than doubled in the past year, The Associated Press has learned.

The Buying of the President 2012   Huffington Post - February 2, 2012
The election is still more than nine months away, but it's already clear that in the race for the White House, "we the people" are running far behind "we the one percent."

Top 10 turnaround towns   CNN - February 2, 2012
Florida's cities were some of the hardest hit by the housing bust, but now they are leading the charge back. Of Realtor.com's top 10 turnaround towns, eight are in the Sunshine State.

The Demons of Don Cornelius   Yahoo - February 2, 2012
Friends of Don Cornelius say the legendary creator of the long-running television show Soul Train was dealing with significant Òdemons,ÕÕ and while they are saddened by his death, they say they arenÕt surprised he took his own life with a gunshot to the head.

  'Soul Train' legend remembered as 'pioneer'   CNN - February 2, 2012
As news spread that "Soul Train" legend Don Cornelius died Wednesday morning of a gunshot wound at the age of 75, fans and friends took to Twitter to express their grief in a stream of condolences that continued Thursday. The "Soul Train" host would sign off the show with the words "Wishing you love, peace and soul" and many, including musician Rob Thomas and actor/rapper Ice Cube, honored Cornelius' memory by tweeting his trademark phrase.

Ya'alon: Iran was working on US-range missile   Jerusalem Post - February 2, 2012
Deputy Prime Minister says December explosion at Iran base occurred where long-range missile was being developed; adds that Turkey assisting Iran to circumvent sanctions by allowing them access to banking system.

Tensions rise in Cairo over riots   BBC - February 2, 2012
Crowds are gathering in central Cairo as tension rises after riots in the city of Port Said on Wednesday which left at least 74 people dead. Angry fans closed off Tahrir Square and state TV ahead of a protest against police handling of the clashes. Three days of national mourning have been declared over the riot, in which fans invaded the pitch after a match involving top Cairo club al-Ahly. Emergency meetings of the cabinet and parliament are taking place.

Egypt's army, police blamed for deadly soccer riot   AP - February 2, 2012
Scores of Egyptian soccer fans were crushed to death while others were fatally stabbed or suffocated after being trapped in a long narrow corridor trying to flee rival fans armed with knives, clubs and stones, in the country's worst ever soccer violence that killed at least 74 people, witnesses and health officials said Thursday.

U.S. plans to halt Afghan combat role early   Reuters - February 2, 2012
The United States appears to have taken Kabul by surprise by announcing plans to end its Afghan combat role earlier than expected, and coinciding with a secret report that the Taliban is confident it can grab back control of the ravaged country.

Olympic housing crunch: London landlords evict tenants to gouge tourists   MSNBC - February 2, 2012
Landlords in Britain's capital are evicting tenants so they can cash in on this summer's Olympic Games by charging tourists many times the usual rent. Homes in the east London boroughs where many events are to be held are fetching between five and 15 times their typical rates as properties are rebranded as short-term "Olympic lets." Some landlords are also enforcing expensive "penalty" clauses for tenants who want to remain during the gathering of the world's top athletes.

Washington State Senate approves same-sex marriage bill   MSNBC - February 2, 2012
Senators voted 28-21 to approve a bill to legalize gay marriage in the state. Four Republicans crossed party lines and voted with majority Democrats for the measure. Three Democrats voted against it.

Facebook surrenders its privacy in IPO documents   PhysOrg - February 2, 2012
Facebook is baring its business soul. The unveiling came late Wednesday when the company that depends on people to share their lives online filed its plans to raise $5 billion in an initial public offering of stock. It's a revelatory moment that prospective investors, curious competitors and nosy reporters have been awaiting for two years. During that time, Facebook established itself as a communications hub and emerged as a threat to the Internet's most powerful company, Google Inc.

How Plants Helped Make the Earth Unique   Live Science - February 1, 2012
Plants have helped shape our planet. New research indicates the first arrivals on land not only helped alter nutrient cycles, but contributed to one of Earth's mass extinctions. And as plants evolved, so did rivers, creating more habitats for green things and the animals that followed. This is further evidence that the Earth has been molded by more than physical processes, write the editors of journal Nature Geoscience in an editorial accompanying two new studies. The findings help explain why Earth is probably unique in the universe: because it co-evolved with the life that inhabits it.

Humble moss helped to cool Earth and spurred on life   BBC - February 2, 2012
Primitive moss-like plants could have triggered the cooling of the Earth some 470 million years ago, say researchers. A study published in Nature Geoscience may help explain why temperatures gradually began to fall, culminating in a series of "mini ice ages". Until now it had been thought that the process of global cooling began 100 million years later, when larger plants and trees emerged. The simple plants' interactions with rocks are believed to be the cause. The humble moss has created the climate which we enjoy today.

Behemoth Seagrass Clones Among Earth's Oldest Organisms   Live Science - February 2, 2012
Seagrass meadows can be composed of ancient giant clones, organisms stretching up to nearly 10 miles wide that may be up to tens of thousands of years old, scientists find.

Stonehenge Precursor Found? Island Complex Predates Famous Site   National Geographic - February 2, 2012
On an island off Britain's northern tip, new discoveries suggest a huge Stone Age ritual complex is older than Stonehenge. But age is only the half of it. Researchers say the site may have in fact been the original model for Stonehenge and other later, better-known British complexes to the south. First discovered in 2002, the waterside siteÑcalled the Ness of Brodgar ("Brodgar promontory") lies on Mainland, the largest of Scotland's Orkney Islands. According to recent radiocarbon dating of burned-wood remains, the Ness was first occupied around 3200 B.C. and went on to include up to a hundred buildings within a monumental walled enclosure.

The complex relationship between memory and silence   PhysOrg - February 2, 2012
People who suffer a traumatic experience often donÕt talk about it, and many forget it over time. But not talking about something doesnÕt always mean youÕll forget it; if you try to force yourself not to think about white bears, soon youÕll be imagining polar bears doing the polka. A group of psychological scientists explore the relationship between silence and memories.

Child Abuse Costs US a Staggering $124 Billion   Live Science - February 2, 2012
The child abuse that takes place in one year in the United States will cost the nation $124 billion over the victims' lifetimes, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The findings reveal the financial burden of child abuse is just as high or higher than that of costly health conditions, including Type 2 diabetes.

Could brain size determine whether you are good at maintaining friendships?   PhysOrg - February 2, 2012
Researchers are suggesting that there is a link between the number of friends you have and the size of the region of the brain Ð known as the orbital prefrontal cortex Ð that is found just above the eyes.

The Higher Health -- A New Map for Prevention   Huffington Post - February 2, 2012
Wellness seems to have reached a plateau in America and other wealthy industrialized countries. The information about how to prevent many kinds of lifestyle disorders, including heart disease and Type 2 diabetes, has been widely distributed. Longevity steadily increases. Advanced research on incurable diseases moves forward, if only by small increments.

Unbinding the Heart: Put Yourself on Your To-Do List   Huffington Post - February 2, 2012
I used to be one of those people whose happiness was dependent a lot on how good I made others feel. I think this pattern started a long time ago as a child, when I saw my parents fighting and having problems with each other, so I took it upon myself to be responsible for their happiness. An absolutely hopeless task, especially since I was only 11. This pattern carried over to my adult life and spilled over to my relationships.

Sit All Day? 6 Ways To Stay Active At Your Desk   Huffington Post - February 2, 2012
We tell ourselves time and time again that we've got to stop sitting so much. It's bad for our health for a whole slew of reasons, but there's just no way we can spend eight hours a day on the solitary TreadDesk in the office. And we're lucky even to have one!

The clock is ticking. What is counting down in your life?

Rich Sommer

A man's errors

are his portals of discovery.

James Joyce Quotes 1

James Joyce Quotes 2

James Joyce Quotes 3

"Solar Systems" Common Across the Galaxy, NASA Probe Hints   National Geographic - February 1, 2012
Now, a new study based on Kepler data says that such multiplanet hauls will become more common, because multiple-planet systems are much less likely than single candidates to turn out to be false positives.

We're Living in a Space Cloud   Discovery - February 1, 2012
Our solar system is traveling slowly through an intergalactic cloud of gases that streamed in from from our galactic neighborhood. The new results also raise questions about where the solar system came from. Analysis of the interstellar gases collected by IBEX shows a shortage of oxygen, relative to the amount of neon. The local cloud is actually somewhat different in composition than the sun and the Milky Way as a whole.

Mysterious Blue Balls Fall in England   Discovery - February 1, 2012

A man in Dorset, England, recently found about two dozen mysterious clear blue gel balls in his back yard, setting off an international mystery. Steve Hornsby claimed that the globules, each about an inch in diameter, fell into his garden during a brief rain shower last week. Though Hornsby didn't actually see the balls drop during the shower, he believes they were not in his garden before the storm (since his wife didn't mention seeing them). He found the odorless globules to be very slippery and difficult to pick up, requiring a spoon to collect them. Speculation about the strange substance has run rampant; Hornsby thought they might be created by air pollution that had somehow solidified. Some speculated they were fish eggs that had somehow been picked up and dropped during the storm by a passing flock of birds. Others thought they might be related to UFOs or extraterrestrials; at least one person wondered if angels might poop clear blue gel pellets.

Behemoth seagrass clones among Earth's oldest life forms   MSNBC - February 1, 2012
Seagrass meadows can be composed of ancient giant clones, organisms stretching up to nearly 10 miles wide that may be up to tens of thousands of years old, scientists have found.

How the sun gets its spots: New theory offered for solar mystery   MSNBC - February 1, 2012
Researchers say molecular hydrogen plays an important role in their formation and evolution. Scientists may be one step closer to unraveling the mystery of sunspots - the dark and magnetic blemishes on the surface of our nearest star. These sunspots are thought to occur when increased magnetic activity inhibits the flow of heat onto a patch of the sun, causing it to darken. But the ultimate source of that boost of magnetism has remained unclear.

Enormous Antarctic Crack Is a Real Ice-Breaker   Discovery - February 1, 2012
NASA's Terra Earth-observing satellite captured this image of Pine Island Glacier in West Antarctica on Nov. 13, 2011, after a research team discovered a huge 19-mile (30-km) -long crack running across it. Members of the Operation IceBridge mission spotted the crack during a DC-8 flight over Pine Island Glacier (PIG) on Oct. 14, 2011. It's estimated to be up to 260 feet (80 meters) wide and 195 feet (60 meters) deep.

Mind-Reading May Be Reality Soon   Discovery - February 1, 2012
By linking sounds to patterns of brain activity, scientists may be on the way to helping us hear the thoughts of other people. By looking only at maps of electrical activity in the human brain, scientists were able to tell which words a person was listening to. The discovery is a major step toward being able to hear the thoughts of people who can't speak.

How antipsychotic medications cause metabolic side effects such as obesity and diabetes   PhysOrg - February 1, 2012
In 2008, roughly 14.3 million Americans were taking antipsychotics - typically prescribed for bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, or a number of other behavioral disorders - making them among the most prescribed drugs in the U.S.

Here is what real commitment to your marriage means   PhysOrg - February 1, 2012
What does being committed to your marriage really mean? UCLA psychologists answer this question in a new study based on their analysis of 172 married couples over the first 11 years of marriage. A deeper level of commitment, the psychologists report, is a much better predictor of lower divorce rates and fewer problems in marriage.

Extended synaptic development may explain our cognitive edge over other primates   PhysOrg - February 1, 2012
Over the first few years of life, human cognition continues to develop, soaking up information and experiences from the environment and far surpassing the abilities of even our nearest primate relatives.

Researchers pinpoint genetic connection to traumatic experience   PhysOrg - February 1, 2012
Rutgers scientists have uncovered genetic clues as to why some mice no longer in danger are still fearful while others are resilient to traumatic experiences - knowledge that could help those suffering with crippling anxiety and PTSD.

Same genes linked to early- and late-onset Alzheimer's disease   PhysOrg - February 1, 2012
The same gene mutations linked to inherited, early-onset Alzheimer's disease have been found in people with the more common late-onset form of the illness.

NASA probe captures first video of moon's far side   MSNBC - February 1, 2012
Twin Grail probes use novel MoonKAM camera that will eventually be used by students. A gravity-mapping spacecraft orbiting the moon has beamed home its first video of the lunar far side - a view people on Earth never see. The new video was captured by one of NASA's twin Grail probes using a novel camera called MoonKAM, which will eventually be used by students on Earth to snap photos of the lunar surface as part of an educational project. The two spacecraft have been circling the moon since they arrived in orbit over the New Year.

Russia to try again for Phobos-Grunt?   PhysOrg - February 1, 2012
Russia says "eisho odin ras"* for its Mars moon lander mission, according to Roscomos chief Vladimir Popovkin.

Where's the snow? Not in Lower 48; but elsewhere   PhysOrg - February 1, 2012
Snow has gone missing in action for much of the U.S. the last couple months. But it's not just snow. It's practically the season that's gone AWOL.

First plants caused ice ages: research   PhysOrg - February 1, 2012
New research reveals how the arrival of the first plants 470 million years ago triggered a series of ice ages.

Scientists help define structure of exoplanets   PhysOrg - February 1, 2012
Using models similar to those used in weapons research, scientists may soon know more about exoplanets, those objects beyond the realm of our solar system.

Sun delivered curveball of powerful radiation at Earth   PhysOrg - February 1, 2012
A potent follow-up solar flare, which occurred Friday (Jan. 17, 2012), just days after the Sun launched the biggest coronal mass ejection (CME) seen in nearly a decade, delivered a powerful radiation punch to Earth's magnetic field despite the fact that it was aimed away from our planet.

Physicists create first 'frequency comb' to probe ultraviolet wavelengths   PhysOrg - February 1, 2012
Physicists at JILA have created the first "frequency comb" in the extreme ultraviolet band of the spectrum, high-energy light less than 100 nanometers (nm) in wavelength. Laser-generated frequency combs are the most accurate method available for precisely measuring frequencies, or colors, of light.

Repulsive gravity as an alternative to dark energy (Part 2: In the quantum vacuum)   PhysOrg - February 1, 2012
During the past few years, CERN physicist Dragan Hajdukovic has been investigating what he thinks may be a widely overlooked part of the cosmos: the quantum vacuum. He suggests that the quantum vacuum has a gravitational charge stemming from the gravitational repulsion of virtual particles and antiparticles. Previously, he has ...

  GRAIL returns first video from moon's far side   PhysOrg - February 1, 2012
A camera aboard one of NASA's twin Gravity Recovery And Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) lunar spacecraft has returned its first unique view of the far side of the moon. MoonKAM, or Moon Knowledge Acquired by Middle school students, will be used by students nationwide to select lunar images for study.

Isolated Peru tribe makes uncomfortable contact   MSNBC - February 1, 2012
Peruvian authorities say they are struggling to keep outsiders away from a clan of previously isolated Amazon Indians who began appearing on the banks of a jungle river popular with environmental tourists last year. The behavior of the small group of Mashco-Piro Indians has puzzled scientists, who say the encounters may be related to the encroachment of loggers and by low-flying aircraft from nearby natural gas and oil exploration in the southeastern region of the country.

  Mashco-Piro 'uncontacted' Peruvian tribe pictured   BBC - February 1, 2012
Chance encounters near an isolated Amazon tribe have resulted in the most detailed pictures ever taken of them. Campaign group Survival International has released images of the Mashco-Piro tribe, which lives near the Manu National Park in southeastern Peru. The tribe has had little if any peaceful contact with the outside world, but sightings are on the rise. Survival blames the change on gas and oil projects and illegal logging in the area, pushing the tribe into new lands.

'Atlantis' volcano gives tips for mega-eruptions   PhysOrg - February 1, 2012
Around 1630 BC, a super-volcano blew apart the Aegean island of Santorini, an event so violent that some theorists say it nurtured the legend of Atlantis.

Super volcanoes 'may be predicted'   BBC - February 1, 2012
The eruption of some of the largest volcanoes on the planet could be predicted several decades before the event, according to researchers.

Science decodes 'internal voices'   BBC - February 1, 2012
Researchers have demonstrated a striking method to reconstruct words, based on the brain waves of patients thinking of those words. The technique reported in PLoS Biology relies on gathering electrical signals directly from patients' brains. Based on signals from listening patients, a computer model was used to reconstruct the sounds of words that patients were thinking of. The method may in future help comatose and locked-in patients communicate.

To be eternal fascinates me.

Rachelle Lefevre

A great deal of intelligence can be invested in
ignorance when the need for illusion is deep.

Michael C. Hall

Making good decisions is a crucial skill at every level.

Lee Thompson Young

Music has always gotten me through life, particularly honest, real music.

Lisa Marie Presley Quotes 1

Lisa Marie Presley Quotes 2

As the archaeology of our thought easily shows, man is an

invention of recent date. And one perhaps nearing its end.

Alfonso Caso

  Shipwreck hunters stumble across mysterious find   CNN - January 31, 2012
Deep down on the bottom of the Baltic Sea, Swedish treasure hunters think they have made the find of a lifetime. The problem is, they're not exactly sure what it is they've uncovered. Out searching for shipwrecks at a secret location between Sweden and Finland, the deep-sea salvage company Ocean Explorer captured an incredible image more than 80 meters below the water's surface. At first glance, team leader and commercial diver Peter Lindberg joked that his crew had just discovered an unidentified flying object, or UFO.

  If E.T. exists, he's avoiding us, cosmic number-crunchers say   MSNBC - January 31, 2012
Math suggests there's no way advanced civilizations wouldn't know about us by now. WeÕre either alone, or theyÕre out there and leave us alone, mathematician Thomas Hair, with Florida Gulf Coast University in Fort Myers, told Discovery News. Even at the relatively sedate pace of 1 percent of light-speed, the aliens would arrive at their nearest neighbor star in about 500 years. (Light travels at about 186,000 miles per second.)

Search for Aliens Is on Again, but Next Quest Is Finding Money   New York Times - January 30, 2012
Operating on money and equipment scrounged from the public and from Silicon Valley millionaires, and on the stubborn strength of their own dreams, a band of astronomers recently restarted one of the iconic quests of modern science, the search for extraterrestrial intelligence - SETI, for short - which had been interrupted last year by a lack of financing.

Does China's Cat-Eyed Boy Really Have Night Vision?   Live Science - January 31, 2012
According to a news reel from China, a young boy there possesses the ability to see in the dark. Like a Siamese cat's, his sky-blue eyes flash neon green when illuminated by a flashlight, and his night vision is good enough to enable him to fill out questionnaires while sitting in a pitch black room - or so say the reporters who visited Nong Yousui in his hometown of Dahua three years ago. The footage of Nong and his strange-looking eyes originally surfaced in 2009; it got little attention at the time, but is now making a splash all over the Web. If the boy really does have a genetic mutation that confers night vision, then he would be an interesting subject for analysis by vision scientists, evolutionary biologists, and genetic engineers alike - but does he? The experts we shared the video with say Nong does have unusually colored irises considering his ethnicity, but he's not the next step in human evolution. Night vision is made possible by a layer of cells, called the tapetum lucidum, in the eyes of cats and other nocturnal animals. This thin layer is a "retroreflector" - when a beam of light hits it, it reflects the light directly back along its incoming path. The reflected beam constructively interferes with the incoming light beam, amplifying the overall signal that hits the retina and enabling the animal to see in very low-light conditions. Retroreflection also causes cat eyes to flash when they are lit upon at night, and experts say Nong's eyes, if they are truly catlike, should do the same.

Chinese workers seized in Egypt's Sinai peninsula   BBC - January 31, 2012
Bedouin tribesmen have kidnapped 25 Chinese workers in the north of Egypt's Sinai peninsula, officials say. The technicians and engineers were on their way to work at a military-owned cement factory in the Lehfen area when gunmen stopped the bus and seized them. They are being held inside a tent and Bedouin are blocking roads in the area. The kidnappers are demanding the release of five relatives jailed after the 2004 bomb attack at the Red Sea resort of Taba that killed 31 people.

Skin transformed into brain cells   BBC - January 31, 2012
Skin cells have been converted directly into cells which develop into the main components of the brain, by researchers studying mice in California. The experiment, reported in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, skipped the middle "stem cell" stage in the process. The researchers said they were "thrilled" at the potential medical uses. Far more tests are needed before the technique could be used on human skin.

Volcanic origin for Little Ice Age   BBC - January 31, 2012
The Little Ice Age was caused by the cooling effect of massive volcanic eruptions, and sustained by changes in Arctic ice cover, scientists conclude. An international research team studied ancient plants from Iceland and Canada, and sediments carried by glaciers. They say a series of eruptions just before 1300 lowered Arctic temperatures enough for ice sheets to expand. This would have kept the Earth cool for centuries. The exact definition of the Little Ice Age is disputed. While many studies suggest temperatures fell globally in the 1500s, others suggest the Arctic and sub-Arctic began cooling several centuries previously.

Short-term memory is based on synchronized brain oscillations   PhysOrg - January 31, 2012
Scientists have now discovered how different brain regions cooperate during short-term memory. Holding information within one's memory for a short while is a seemingly simple and everyday task. We use our short-term memory when remembering a new telephone number if there is nothing to write at hand, or to find the beautiful dress inside the store that we were just admiring in the shopping window.

'Crackpot' Theory of Everything Reveals Dark Side of Peer Review   Live Science - January 31, 2012
A "theory of everything" from a scientist at Case Western Reserve University got a lot of attention for positing that inanimate objects, from planets and water to strands of DNA, are alive. Not only is the assertion bunk, but the scientific and media phenomena surrounding the study reveals how sometimes crackpot ideas can get traction. The paper, by CWRU biochemist Erik Andrulis, was published in the journal Life, and says all physical phenomena can be explained by "gyres." Gyres, according to his theory, transform energy, matter and information to create the physical systems we're all familiar with, such as the phase transitions of water and the chemicals life is made of. It also includes a few that aren't familiar, like quantum gravity (a theory which hasn't been invented yet).

Powerful Sun Storms May Sweep Away Space Junk   Live Science - January 31, 2012
Violent sun storms that shoot bursts of energy in Earth's direction have the potential to damage satellites and power infrastructures, but they can also clear the skies of dangerous space debris, NASA scientists say. The energy from these intense solar eruptions, called coronal mass ejections, causes the atmosphere to expand, creating more friction on pieces of space junk in orbit. The resulting drag sends orbital debris plummeting back toward Earth faster than trash from previous years.

Marijuana Mouth Spray: Will Cancer Pain Reliever Be Abused?   Live Science - January 31, 2012
The medical marijuana drug Sativex, which could be approved in the United States in the coming years as a treatment for pain relief, has little potential for abuse, experts say. The British pharmaceutical company GW Pharmaceuticals is currently testing the drug, which is delivered as a mouth spray and called Sativex, in clinical trials. The company plans to seek U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval for the drug as a treatment for cancer pain when the trials are completed, likely sometime in 2014.

Electronic Tattoo Monitors Brain, Heart and Muscles   Live Science - January 31, 2012
New electronic tattoos, as soft and pliable as real skin, could monitor heart, brain and muscle activity for any changes, and automatically detect any problems. "We're trying to bridge that gap, from silicon-wafer based electronics to biological, 'tissue-like' electronics, to really blur the distinction between electronics and the body," study researcher John Rogers, of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, said in a statement. Because the tattoos could monitor and deliver electrical impulses in living tissue, they will hopefully open a door to a whole range of what Rogers calls "bio-integrated" medical devices.

MtDNA tests trace all modern horses back to single ancestor 140,000 years ago   PhysOrg - January 31, 2012
For many years archeologists and other scientists have debated the origins of the domesticated horse. Nailing down a time frame is important because many historians view the relationship between man and horse as one of the most important in the development of our species. Horses allowed early people to hunt for faster prey, to wander farther than before and to create much bigger farms due to pulling plows. Now, new evidence has come to light suggesting that all modern horses, which are believed to have been domesticated approximately 10,000 years ago, descended from one mare around 140,000 years ago.

I saw Ellen and my knees were weak. It was amazing.

It was very hard for me to get her out of my mind after that.

Portia de Rossi Quotes 1

Portia de Rossi Quotes 2

Conditions for creativity are to be puzzled; to concentrate;

to accept conflict and tension;
to feel a sense of self,
to be born everyday.

Sam Lloyd

A Fresh Take on the World Food Problem   New York Times - January 30, 2012
The global food crisis has dragged on so long now that is beginning to seem less like a crisis and more like a permanent state of affairs. Prices did take a dip late last year, owing to bumper harvests. But reserves remain tight, and the Food and Agriculture Organization reports that prices are still at some of the highest levels seen in decades.

State Dept: Americans take refuge at Cairo embassy   AP - January 30, 2012
Three American democracy advocates barred by Egyptian authorities from leaving the country have sought refuge at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, officials said Monday, as tensions between the two allied nations sharply escalated over a probe into foreign-funded organizations. The unusual step comes amid a row over an Egyptian crackdown on U.S.-funded groups promoting democracy and human rights that could jeopardize more than $1 billion of crucial U.S. aid to Egypt, one of its biggest recipients.

Love Hurts (Other People), New Study Finds   Live Science - January 30, 2012
The singers who croon "Love Hurts" are right - but it's not just jilted partners and unrequited romantics who are at risk. It turns out that romantic love can also burn innocent third parties to a relationship. People who are primed to think about how madly in love they are with a partner put down other appealing members of their own sex, and are even more aggressive toward them, compared with people who are instead encouraged to ponder sex with a significant other, according to new research presented here last week at the annual meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology. Love, arguably the most positive of all human emotions, also comes with a dark side.

Virginia: Stunning Images of Rare Albino Hummingbird   Discovery - January 30, 2012

An extremely rare albino ruby-throated hummingbird was photographed ...

Everything You Thought You Knew About Learning Is Wrong   Wired - January 30, 2012
People tend to try to learn in blocks, mastering one thing before moving on to the next. But instead he recommends interleaving, a strategy in which, for example, instead of spending an hour working on your tennis serve, you mix in a range of skills like backhands, volleys, overhead smashes, and footwork. This creates a sense of difficulty, and people tend not to notice the immediate effects of learning.

Meet Bill Gates, the Man Who Changed Open Source Software   Wired - January 30, 2012
The meeting took place a week before Bill Gates retired from Microsoft, and the topic was open source software.

What If The Apollo Program Never Happened?   Discovery - January 30, 2012
n a recent debate Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingerich said that he would like to beat the Chinese back to the moon. He has even been so bold as to propose setting up a manned base by 2020, driven by empowering private industry to take the initiative.

Astronomers Solve Mystery of Vanishing Electrons in Earth's Outer Radiation Belt   Science Daily - January 30, 2012
n a paper published Jan. 29 in the advance online edition of the journal Nature Physics, the team shows that the missing electrons are swept away from the planet by a tide of solar wind particles during periods of heightened solar activity.

New study may answer questions about enigmatic Little Ice Age   PhysOrg - January 30, 2012
A new University of Colorado Boulder-led study appears to answer contentious questions about the onset and cause of Earth's Little Ice Age, a period of cooling temperatures that began after the Middle Ages and lasted into the late 19th century.

Cutting off the oxygen supply to serious diseases   PhysOrg - January 30, 2012
A new family of proteins which regulate the human body's 'hypoxic response' to low levels of oxygen has been discovered by scientists at Barts Cancer Institute at Queen Mary, University of London and The University of Nottingham.

Cloud streets off of the Aleutian Islands   PhysOrg - January 30, 2012
Strong winds polished the snow of southwestern Alaska and stretched marine stratocumulus clouds into long, parallel streets in early January, 2012. After crossing Bristol Bay, the winds scraped the clouds across the tall volcanic peaks of the Aleutian Islands. As the wind impacted the immobile mountains, the airflow became turbulent, swirling in symmetric eddies and carving intricate patterns into the clouds on the leeward side of the islands.

Japan studies flora and fauna near Fukushima plant   PhysOrg - January 30, 2012
Japanese scientists are studying how radiation has affected plants and animals living near the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, according to an official.

Asteroid to make closest approach since 1975   PhysOrg - January 30, 2012
On Tuesday, January 31, asteroid 433 Eros will come closer to Earth than it has in 37 years, traveling across the night sky in the constellations Leo, Sextans and Hydra. At its closest pass of 16.6 million miles (26.7 million km) the relatively bright 21-mile (34-km) -wide asteroid will be visible with even modest backyard telescopes, approaching magnitude 8, possibly even 7. It hasn't come this close since 1975, and won't do so again until 2056!

The Truth About Fat Women and Self-Control   Live Science - January 30, 2012
If the choice between being fat and thin were a simple, conscious decision, most of us would likely be slender. Nevertheless, new research suggests that the discrimination and prejudice faced by overweight people, especially women, are driven by the preconceived notion that body fat is somehow optional.

Future Male Birth Control May Zap Sperm with Sound Waves   Live Science - January 30, 2012
Two 15-minute tickles could be the future of male birth control. New research on rats indicates that currently available ultrasound machinery could be used to kill off sperm-growing cells, technology that could render males infertile.

Blip in night sky tells story of cosmic catastrophe   PhysOrg - January 30, 2012
NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day, taken by Adam Block of the UA's Mt. Lemmon SkyCenter, shows the aftermath of a stellar explosion that happened 25 million years ago in an odd-shaped galaxy that may have merged with a second galaxy.

Sun Unleashes Strongest Flare Yet of 2012   Live Science - January 30, 2012
A massive solar flare - the strongest one so far this year - erupted Jan. 27 from the same active region of the sun that triggered a raging solar tempest earlier this week.

Our Planet's Killer Electrons Shoot Toward Space, Not Earth   Live Science - January 30, 2012
As the sun heads toward its 2013 maximum, the corresponding increase in space weather may temporarily strip the radiation belts around Earth of their charged electrons. But a new study of data recorded by 11 independent spacecraft reveals that the deadly particles are blown into space rather than cast into our planet's atmosphere, as some scientists have suggested.

Initial research into 'Proust Phenomenon' reveals link between memories and smells   PhysOrg - January 30, 2012
Most everyone has had the occasion of breathing in an odor and suddenly finding themselves lost in the reverie of a memory from long ago; the smell of fresh baked bread perhaps bringing back mornings at GrandmaÕs house or a certain perfume that always brings back a certain time in high school. Such odor/memory links are known as the "Proust Phenomenon" in honor of Marcel Proust, the French writer who romanticized the memories evoked by the smell of a madeleine biscuit after soaking in tea, in his novel, A la recherche du temps perdu. Oddly enough, no one has until now, done much of any research into this phenomenon.

Nasa study solves case of Earth's 'missing energy'   PhysOrg - January 30, 2012
Two years ago, scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo., released a study claiming that inconsistencies between satellite observations of Earth's heat and measurements of ocean heating amounted to evidence of "missing energy" in the planet's system.

Blood Pressure Check in Both Arms Could Catch Silent Disease   Live Science - January 30, 2012
Measuring blood pressure in both the right and left arm may be an effective way of catching a silent but serious disease of the blood vessels, a new review says. The findings showed that a difference in systolic blood pressure between the arms was linked with an increased risk of peripheral artery disease (PAD), a condition that involves a narrowing of the arteries in the extremities, particularly the legs and feet.

Davos wowed by device that reads 'code of life' in hours   PhysOrg - January 30, 2012
It was the talk of Davos, grabbing the imagination of a forum otherwise shrouded in gloom: a miracle machine that cracks the code of life within hours and could revolutionize healthcare. Patients will no longer have to wait weeks to know if they have cancer and their doctors will know immediately what kind of disease they have, allowing them to target therapies precisely and to avoid harmful delays or mistakes. Health officials confronted by superbug outbreaks will be able to identify the bug's strain and begin planning treatment within hours rather than days or weeks, potentially saving thousands of lives.

The pupils are the windows to the mind   PhysOrg - January 30, 2012
The eyes are the window into the soul -- or at least the mind, according to a new paper published in Perspectives on Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. Measuring the diameter of the pupil, the part of the eye that changes size to let in more light, can show what a person is paying attention to. Pupillometry, as it's called, has been used in social psychology, clinical psychology, humans, animals, children, infantsÑand it should be used even more, the authors say.

Did Leonardo da Vinci Copy his Famous 'Vitruvian Man'?   Live Science - January 30, 2012
Leonardo da Vinci's drawing of a male figure perfectly inscribed in a circle and square, known as the "Vitruvian Man," illustrates what he believed to be a divine connection between the human form and the universe. Beloved for its beauty and symbolic power, it is one of the most famous images in the world. However, new research suggests that the work, which dates to 1490, may be a copy of an earlier drawing by Leonardo's friend.

As of March 1, 2012: One policy, one Google experience   Google - January 30, 2012

We're getting rid of over 60 different privacy policies across Google and replacing them with one thatÕs a lot shorter and easier to read. Our new policy covers multiple products and features, reflecting our desire to create one beautifully simple and intuitive experience across Google.

A Fresh Take on the World Food Problem   New York Times - January 30, 2012
he global food crisis has dragged on so long now that is beginning to seem less like a crisis and more like a permanent state of affairs. Prices did take a dip late last year, owing to bumper harvests. But reserves remain tight, and the Food and Agriculture Organization reports that prices are still at some of the highest levels seen in decades.

The world is in your hands, now use it.

Philip Collins Quotes 1

Philip Collins Quotes 2

Philip Collins Quotes 3

Theater and poetry were what helped people stay alive and want to go on living.

Vanessa Redgrave Quotes 1

Quotes 2

Quotes 3

Dysfunctional families have sired a number of pretty good actors.

Gene Hackman Quotes 1

Gene Hackman Quotes 2

Thinking can be confusing, acting difficult, and to put one's
thoughts into action is the most difficult thing in the world.

Charles S. Dutton

Edward Bransfield, a master in the Royal Navy allegedly discovered the continent of Antarctica. His discovery happened by chance while he was the master on board the frigate Andromache. It would seem that many people discovered Antarctica around that time, making it difficult to give credit to any one person actually discovering this frozen wasteland, now melting down to reveal its secrets, though one could only image how they all felt when setting eyes on the majesty of Antarctica for the first time.

I could not believe my eyes when I beheld the Great White Continent,

a frozen sculptured wasteland of endless beauty at the bottom of the world.

But was it always so?

Edward Bransfield's Journal

Hapgood's Theory of Crustal Displacement