Monday, January 30, 2012
Students Discover Millisecond Pulsar, Help in the Search for Gravitational Waves
Using an array of millisecond pulsars, astronomers can detect tiny changes in the pulse arrival times in order to detect the influence of gravitational waves. Credit: NRAO
A special project to search for pulsars has bagged the first student discovery of a millisecond pulsar – a super-fast spinning star, and this one rotates about 324 times per second. The Pulsar Search Collaboratory (PSC) has students analyzing real data from the National Radio Astronomy Observatory's (NRAO) Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope (GBT) to find pulsars. Astronomers involved with the project said the discovery could help detect elusive ripples in spacetime known as gravitational waves.
"Gravitational waves are ripples in the fabric of spacetime predicted by Einstein's theory of General Relativity," said Dr. Maura McLaughlin, from Western Virginia University. "We have very good proof for their existence but, despite Einstein's prediction back in the early 1900s, they have never been detected."
(...)
Read the rest of Students Discover Millisecond Pulsar, Help in the Search for Gravitational Waves (743 words)
K-NACK Reunion, Night 1 - Music Blog - The Austin Chronicle
I avoided lamestream commercial radio as well after the last independent, local station in my neck of the world after what would become Clear Channel consumed thrat frequency.I can't recall if I listened to K-NACK when it was on in the early 1990s. I must have. Any station playing Sugar and the Replacements was my kinda airwaves, and main jock "Raydog" Seggern's support of local music is still tops. That period, however, coincided with my disgust of commercial radio, so I may have tuned it out alongside KGSR, KLBJ, etc.
Thus it was less the K-NACK connection that attracted me to the ND on Friday and Saturday nights for what was billed as a 20th anniversary reunion than it was the lineup of local talent. The number of folks at the club with K-NACK badges made it feel like crashing a convention, but the reunited Austin acts booked for the weekend basically summed up my listening from those bad ol' days.First up was the long-defunct Seed, or half of them, at least. Stripped of both rhythm section and alt.radio-friendly production, singer/songwriters Chad Salls and Gabriel Ordonez revealed a fondness for Jellyfish that had been previously buried, all flower-power melody and lyrics. Ling standards "Doe" and "Kids... This is Fabulon" sounded a lot less bombastic in this context. Seed never got much respect, either at home or elsewhere, but a good pop tune is a good pop tune, and with "Rapture" Salls and Ordonez have one of those. Don't carry a torch for further gigs, though – Ordonez constantly mentioned playing the songs "one last time."
Bo Bud Greene was up next. I remember seeing the name a lot back in Ye Olden Thymes, but I don't remember ever actually hearing their music. Given how generic the group's noisy alt.rock was, I might have heard the material a million times and nothing stuck. No loss to these ears. The crowd sure seemed to dig 'em, though.
I saw Sincola many times in the 1990s, and faithfully bought their CDs and singles. I missed reunion gigs last year, so this was a real treat for me. The old interpersonal tension was still there, if more of a running gag than an actual problem, and the band's spiky post-punk pop is still as weird as it is catchy. The quintet seemed like they might fall apart any second, but that's not to say they were sloppy. Even if they had been, it was still a thrill to hear "Hey Artemis" and "Bitch" exploding off a stage again.
Night one closed out with Sixteen Deluxe, who've been doing sporadic gigs since releasing the demos/live collection Year One last spring. It showed in the quartet's tight performance – they sounded like they'd never stopped. I bought 16D's albums when they came out, but as their set unfolded I realized I hadn't seen them live during their first life. God knows why. Sometimes laziness overcame my good sense back then.
Which is why I'm grateful for the opportunity to see them now. This kind of psychedelic shoegazer squall is nearly always better on stage than on an album, and Friday was no exception. Accompanied by a shifting, filmed backdrop, 16D built up wave upon wave of distorted melody, letting it crash against the crowd with maximum impact.
Frenchie Smith used his Jazzmaster more as a pedal controller than as an instrument, even throwing in a few unselfconscious guitar hero moves. Carrie Clark was the eye of the storm, her steady voice matter-of-factly cutting through the fuzz despite being a moderate instrument. Kudos to whoever was mixing. It was pretty spectacular.
http://www.austinchronicle.com/blogs/music/2012-01-30/k-nack-reunion-night-1/
I can still remember the first trip I too to Austin, heading back to hillbilly hell with a K-NACK sticker proudly on my bumper, hoping for a day when I'd be staying in Austin.
Friday, January 20, 2012
WTFriday
I'm going to be spending my weekend wondering why this is a real thing.
Think you can explain it? Tell us in the comments.
Want to extend your weekend? Check out previous WTFridays!
Original Page: http://tosh.comedycentral.com/blog/2012/01/20/wtfriday-111/
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Congressman Lamar Smith, Author Of SOPA, Breaks Copyright Law On Campaign Website
By Jeromie Williams
On the same day that Wikipedia turned off their lights for 24 hours to protest the proposed "Stop Online Piracy Act" or SOPA as it is better known, the very politician who wrote the bill was called out by the 9GAG website for being caught redhanded breaking copyright law on his official campaign website.
Lamar Smith, the politician in question that has been pushing the bill that has even the tech Gurus over at Mashable screaming foul over SOPA's extreme overreach and censorship capabilities, has allegedly used a photograph for the background of his campaign website without giving credit to the photographer or paying for its use. That's right, the guy who wants to stop online piracy is apparently an Internet pirate himself – Arrrrrrr
Image from 9gag.com:
Read Jeromie's original article at; http://jeromiewilliams.com/2012/01/18/lamar-smith-the-author-of-sopa-breaks-copyright-law-on-campaign-website-and-becomes-a-pirate-himself/
http://www.addictinginfo.org/2012/01/18/congressman-lamar-smith-author-of-sopa-breaks-copyright-law-on-campaign-website-image/
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Chromeo on Yo Gabba Gabba! - "Nice N Clean"
CHROMEO - "Nice N Clean" - Yo Gabba Gabba - YouTube:
Leave it to our good friends Chromeo to remind us that you gotta wash your hands, especially before playing the synthesizer! http://www.chromeo.net/
extremely awesome visual weavings by the magical Joel Fox.
For more Yo Gabba Gabba! visit http://www.yogabbagabba.com and get Yo Gabba Gabba! toys and merchandise at http://www.shareasale.com/r.cfm?b=143362&u=303637&m=12990
