March 21, 2013

Science Writing in the Media and Why It Sucks
— Ace

Interesting story.

I guess. I can't tell from this reporter's writing. I don't think he understands anything at all. If he does, he sure is hiding that fact.

The map, the Planck team said in news conferences and in 29 papers posted online Thursday morning, is in stunning agreement with the general view of the universe that has emerged over the past 20 years, of a cosmos dominated by dark energy that is pushing it apart and dark matter that is pulling galaxies together. It also shows a universe that seems to have endured an explosive burp known as inflation, which was the dynamite in the Big Bang.

Does that sentence clarify or obscure? He thinks his metaphors are pretty nifty; I think they're awful.

Vague bad-novelistic metaphor is the First Sin of Media Science Writing. The next sin is to just quote people talking about how awesome whatever is, without ever explaining that whatever.

You'll just have to take experts' word for it: It's awesome. For some reason.


In a statement issued by the European Space Agency, Jean-Jacques Dordain, its director general, said, “The extraordinary quality of Planck’s portrait of the infant universe allows us to peel back its layers to the very foundations, revealing that our blueprint of the cosmos is far from complete.”

It's probably time for Deepak Choprah-like How-It-All-Really-Just-Fits-Together quote, which indicates without explicating.

Marc Kamionkowski, an astrophysicist at Johns Hopkins University who commented on the work at a news teleconference sponsored by NASA, called Planck “cosmology’s human genome project,” saying, “It shows the seeds from which the current universe grew.”

You may have lost some non-science readers who want to pretend they're "pro-science" with that one. It's time to take this up to the 20,000 100,000 foot level. Let's get really basic now, and just say it's very pretty.

David N. Spergel, a Princeton University cosmologist, described the new results “beautiful,” adding that “the standard cosmological model looks even stronger today than yesterday. The universe remains simple and strange.”

After explaining the universe is slightly "lumpier" than previously thought (why? Maybe add some details here about the structure of space itself? Nah) we're back to faux-mystical take on things to comfort the liberal arts majors.

Now cosmologists will have to take them more seriously, said Max Tegmark, an expert on the early universe at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who was not part of the Planck team and who termed the new results “very exciting.” It could be, he said, that “the universe is trying to tell us something.”

Like? Ooh, good. Let's hear the details.

In fairness I think the next paragraph is supposed to add some meat to that bone, but it itself is vague. It just says that some hope to create a "new physics" to explain why space is made up of clumps of matter rather than evenly-distributed matter.

But as it stands that paragraph is just soft-soap for the Mystics who aren't reading for the science, just for the whispered It's Full of Stars drama of it. The people whose understanding of, for example, Chaos Theory, is pretty much limited to the Depak Chopra version of it: Shit happens, dude.

Read the article and let me know if you find yourself knowing anything more than you did when you read it. Or if you've just had a bunch of pop-science bookcover-blurb buzzwords tossed at you. It all just seems like hype, trying to let you know that there's a fantastic party going on -- a sentiment I don't mind at all -- but the writer himself apparently never got into the party so can only tell you about some of the music he heard out on the street.

And these guys, by the way, are the experts who tell us the Science is Settled on global warming.

A Better Account: From Business Insider.

This cosmic microwave background radiation, or CMB, is still detectable today, and interestingly, it's not evenly spread out across the universe. There are tiny fluctuations that make it "clumpy," and that shapes the universe around us. The clumpiness was the seeds of galaxies and clusters of galaxies that we see in the universe today.

It is clumpy because of fluctuations in the temperature and density of the universe at the moment the radiation waves started moving through it. Planck is able to look back at the universe when it was just 370,000 years old — when this radiation started moving.

Then they graphically illustrate the finer detail of the Planck map, comparing it to past maps of background radiation.

It does start off shaky, telling us the universe is 100 million years older than we thought -- no one sweats 100 million years in a guestimate of something 13+ billion years old. And then it tells us the early Big Bang was "white hot... blindingly bright," which is... gee thanks, I didn't figure on it being blindingly bright. I figured it was more like 300 watts, who knows, maybe even 400.

Anyway, though, after that stuff for dumb people, it does a better job than the "science" writer at the NYT.


Posted by: Ace at 01:23 PM | Comments (372)
Post contains 872 words, total size 6 kb.

1 I stopped reading when the writer conflated the Big Bang with an actual explosion, and furthermore, set the explosion off after the beginning of time. What the fuckity fuck? Who doesn't know a little about the Big Bang in this day and age?

Posted by: Truman North and his shiny new website at March 21, 2013 01:26 PM (I2LwF)

2 Now cosmologists will have to take them more seriously, “the universe is trying to tell us something.”

You're soaking in it.

Posted by: Madge at March 21, 2013 01:27 PM (bGlsD)

3 I used to subscribe to several science magazines.  But over the years as more and more of their writers were garnered from journalism school and had zero background in real science they became just like every other liberal rag.



I have quit getting ANY magazines now.

Posted by: Vic at March 21, 2013 01:27 PM (53z96)

4 What would Sheldon Cooper say about this? Besides "My show sucks."

Posted by: The Q at March 21, 2013 01:29 PM (yVmMc)

5 Don't forget the Gell-Man Amnesia Effect.

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo (will screw for ampersands) at March 21, 2013 01:29 PM (3Mkrp)

6

I thought cosmologists did makeup for a living? Is this some new makeup line from Max Factor?

 

Posted by: Bosk at March 21, 2013 01:29 PM (n2K+4)

7 I have quit getting ANY magazines now.

Posted by: Vic at March 21, 2013 05:27 PM (53z96)


----


Werd.  


And the TV shows arent any better.   Half the shows on the Science Discovery channel that I start to get into invariably turn to "global warming will be the bane of mankind" crap.


Pisses me off.

Posted by: fixerupper at March 21, 2013 01:30 PM (nELVU)

8 You rubes don't get it? Actually we don't either, which is why we obfuscate the hell out of shit we don't understand. Gives us that superior 'nose in the air' attitude our readers find so endearing.

Posted by: NY Tines [/i] at March 21, 2013 01:30 PM (feFL6)

9 It's full of stars ...

Posted by: Adriane ... at March 21, 2013 01:30 PM (TvO05)

10 Thanks. My understanding of the universe just endured an explosive burp, known as knowledge, which was the information contained in that article that exploded out of the screen, into my eyes, like 3 dimensional porn.

Posted by: Stateless Infidel at March 21, 2013 01:31 PM (AC0lD)

11 Vague bad-novelistic metaphor is the First Sin of Media Science Writing.

****

Gravity is a constant of attraction like hipsters to a vintage raincoat store.

Posted by: WalrusRex at March 21, 2013 01:31 PM (XUKZU)

12 Or it's really swiss cheese and full of holes ... I forget which ...

Posted by: Adriane ... at March 21, 2013 01:31 PM (TvO05)

13 “the universe is trying to tell us something.”


Chik-fil-a sandwiches are awesome?

Posted by: dantesed at March 21, 2013 01:31 PM (k16bb)

14 It was a dark and stormy cosmos...

Posted by: fluffy at March 21, 2013 01:31 PM (z9HTb)

15 *SPOILER ALERT crap you made me click over to the NYTimes what did you expect?

Posted by: artisanal 'ette at March 21, 2013 01:31 PM (XYSwB)

16 The only magazine I get is GameInformer. The writers know their stuff, even if they are a house organ of GameStop. But even their quality has gone downhill over the last few years, as their writers leave and are replaced by other, stupider writers.

Posted by: Truman North and his shiny new website at March 21, 2013 01:31 PM (I2LwF)

17

 

Hey, just tell us what you want us to prove...and we'll do it, and call it 'settled'.

 

 

Posted by: Whores of Science at March 21, 2013 01:32 PM (UMBJ2)

18 Barack Obama is a stuttering clusterf*ck of a malignant traitor.

Posted by: AllenG (Dedicated Tenther) Channelling Breitbart at March 21, 2013 01:32 PM (xN73L)

19 Basically, the article tells me that as much as we try (and we should always keep trying), we're never going to understand the mysteries of creation.

Posted by: The Q at March 21, 2013 01:32 PM (yVmMc)

20 “the universe is trying to tell us something.” YES! DRINK BRAWNDO THE THIRST MUTILATOR!!!

Posted by: The Universe at March 21, 2013 01:32 PM (SSWdi)

21 Ace,

These are the same assholes who reviewed Hawking's "A Brief History of Time," and claimed that it made astrophysics so simple that a child could understand it.

I consider myself an intelligent man, and I have a science background, and I barely understood a small part of Hawking's book.

They are babbling fools who hide their lack of intellectual power with the baubles of hack writing.

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo (will screw for ampersands) at March 21, 2013 01:32 PM (3Mkrp)

22 Oh, you meant Cosmetology.

Posted by: artisanal 'ette at March 21, 2013 01:33 PM (XYSwB)

23

Everything  I  know about the  cosmos  I learned from  Farscape. 

 

 

Posted by: polynikes at March 21, 2013 01:33 PM (m2CN7)

24 Has anyone been watching the Alien Encounters series on the science channel? They map out and dramatize what first contact might look like, the first part of the series last year was pretty good, but now their theory on how and why aliens would come here has kind of gone off the rails. Of course they had to pick just one reason but it seemed rather ridiculous.

Posted by: Adam Smith's Invisible Pimp Hand at March 21, 2013 01:34 PM (NzBQO)

25 Even Consumer Reports sold out to the watermelons. I dropped them when instead of rating products based on how well they worked and reliability they started rating them on how green they were and how they impacted globull warming.

Posted by: Vic at March 21, 2013 01:34 PM (53z96)

26 Yet we (well, not "we" but you know) trust these same people when they report on what's going on in (say) Cyprus. Or what the next Ford F-150 can do. Or... Yeah. You get my point.

Posted by: AllenG (Dedicated Tenther) Channelling Breitbart at March 21, 2013 01:34 PM (xN73L)

27 Time travel is impossible because I might have to live through the 2008 election again.

Posted by: WalrusRex at March 21, 2013 01:34 PM (XUKZU)

28 The science IS settled about AGW - It's bullshit.

Posted by: TexasJew at March 21, 2013 01:34 PM (lD8ju)

29

All I wanna know is when we're going to get our beloved SMOD.

Posted by: Soona at March 21, 2013 01:34 PM (CgFut)

30 Ace, remember that a majority of kids graduating from high school can't read, so their writing can't be much better.


Thank a Union!!!!

Posted by: © Sponge at March 21, 2013 01:34 PM (xmcEQ)

31 I'm a Pisces.

Posted by: artisanal 'ette at March 21, 2013 01:35 PM (XYSwB)

32
It could be, he said, that “the universe is trying to tell us something.”





"For example, notice the billion light-year tall pattern that looks like the letters "G-O-D" in Helvetica sans serif...."

Posted by: Laurie David's Cervix at March 21, 2013 01:35 PM (kdS6q)

33 Has anyone been watching the Alien Encounters series on the Science Channel?

----

That sentence right there epitomizes what's wrong with modern science.

Posted by: fixerupper at March 21, 2013 01:36 PM (nELVU)

34 Beam me up, Luke.

Posted by: Dr. Varno at March 21, 2013 01:36 PM (6Pghw)

35 DRINK BRAWNDO THE THIRST MUTILATOR!!!

Posted by: The Universe at March 21, 2013 05:32 PM (SSWdi)




Now with ELECTROLYTES!!!!!

Posted by: © Sponge at March 21, 2013 01:37 PM (xmcEQ)

36 Eh it's not just science journalists know very little about most subjects they write about. Most of them are fucking stupid, but they've got degrees so their teh smartz and shit. Just ask them they'll tell you.

Posted by: vote Lord Humungus 2016 at March 21, 2013 01:37 PM (BjJOB)

37 The universe is turtles, all the way down. No, this is not metaphor.

Posted by: Grumpy Cat at March 21, 2013 01:37 PM (j3uk1)

38 There isn't a comma he doesn't like and he loves run on sentences. This is like the shit I wrote in college when I hadn't read the book and was trying to BS the professor.

Posted by: Patrap at March 21, 2013 01:38 PM (1RXTZ)

39 The universe is big. Big like aunt mary's Easter Ham with pineapple slices and cherries in the center of those pineapple slices. Thus, if we think of the cherries as dark matter. We can understand dark energy to be the orange juice and bourbon based glaze Aunt Mary uses on the universe of Easter Ham.

Posted by: Science Writer at March 21, 2013 01:38 PM (j2lYi)

40 Because everything they write is stupid.

Posted by: traye at March 21, 2013 01:38 PM (SC4eK)

41

Soon, articles like this will be presented with deft cinematography, complete with Van Morisson score.

Posted by: Burnett at March 21, 2013 01:38 PM (bcwvk)

42 Posted by: WalrusRex at March 21, 2013 05:34 PM (XUKZU)

I was planning on using time travel to return to Illinois, Florida and California on election day 2008 and vote several hundred thousand times for McCain.

Then of course I would have to kill myself, because we would have a president McCain.

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo (will screw for ampersands) at March 21, 2013 01:38 PM (3Mkrp)

43 I've imbibed a number of cosmos.

Posted by: kathysaysso at March 21, 2013 01:38 PM (6H6o8)

44

What would Sheldon Cooper say about this?

 

Actually, you get more science on that show than from this article.

Posted by: Decaf at March 21, 2013 01:39 PM (aqwxP)

45 Everything I know about the cosmos I learned from Farscape. Boy was Spielberg ever wrong!

Posted by: Adriane ... at March 21, 2013 01:39 PM (TvO05)

46 Did they reach a consensus before they released the text?  Everyone knows it isn't real science unless it is voted on.

Posted by: Al Gore at March 21, 2013 01:40 PM (/i3Yt)

47 Yes, NY Tines was not a misprint. Because, like an AR-15, nobody really needs four prongs.

Posted by: NY Tines [/i] at March 21, 2013 01:40 PM (feFL6)

48 Soon, articles like this will be presented with deft cinematography, complete with Van Morisson John Williams score. FIFY.

Posted by: AllenG (Dedicated Tenther) Channelling Breitbart at March 21, 2013 01:40 PM (xN73L)

49 44 What would Sheldon Cooper say about this? Actually, you get more science on that show than from this article. Posted by: Decaf at March 21, 2013 05:39 PM (aqwxP) If i could get more than 1 minute in without changing the channel.

Posted by: vote Lord Humungus 2016 at March 21, 2013 01:40 PM (BjJOB)

50 "I have quit getting ANY magazines now." Eh. I just re-subscribed to The Economist. I dropped them when they got all global-warmy, but they now seem to be a bit embarrassed about that. Anathema, it's not forever.

Posted by: phunctor at March 21, 2013 01:40 PM (ozLpz)

51 "It also shows a universe that seems to have endured an explosive burp known as inflation, which was the dynamite in the Big Bang."

Like a space Bernanke on acid?

Posted by: Temper Tantrum at March 21, 2013 01:40 PM (AWmfW)

52 I think most of today's "scientists" and science writers are way too wrapped up in science fiction.  They grew up with it in books,  comics,  TV,  movies and even music.  No other generation of scientists grew up with all that.  And they've been heavily influenced by some really shitty writing and ideas.

Posted by: Dang at March 21, 2013 01:40 PM (R18D0)

53 Gravity is a constant of attraction like hipsters to a vintage raincoat store. I wear your grandad's clothes I look incredible I got this big ass coat From the thrift store down the road

Posted by: Grumpy Cat at March 21, 2013 01:40 PM (j3uk1)

54 I was planning on using time travel to return to Illinois, Florida and California on election day 2008 and vote several hundred thousand times for McCain.

Then of course I would have to kill myself, because we would have a president McCain.

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo (will screw for ampersands) at March 21, 2013 05:38 PM (3Mkrp)


Unintended consequence, Hillary would be president now.

Posted by: Adam Smith's Invisible Pimp Hand at March 21, 2013 01:41 PM (NzBQO)

55 At least they gave you a link to the white papers. Only place to go to try to make some sense.

Posted by: artisanal 'ette at March 21, 2013 01:41 PM (XYSwB)

56 Who doesn't know a little about the Big Bang in this day and age? I kmow ju

Posted by: rickb223 at March 21, 2013 01:41 PM (R6P8e)

57 The article would have been clearer except for the Sequester.

Posted by: Cicero, Semiautomatic Assault Commenter at March 21, 2013 01:41 PM (272s8)

58
eh, not my field obviously, but a the universe, which by name goes on forever, is expanding.  Ok then.

The stars sure are pretty though.

Posted by: Guy Mohawk at March 21, 2013 01:41 PM (IY7Ir)

59 This reads like a 3rd grade book report. "Albert Einstein was a famous scientist. He made great discoveries in physics. The discoveries were so great that they changed the way people looked at the universe. His great discoveries helped other scientists make other great discoveries. And that's why Albert Einstein was a famous scientist."

Posted by: Dante at March 21, 2013 01:42 PM (0m62M)

60 Perhaps the universe at one time was evenly distributed but the clumps we see now are it contracting back on itself?

Posted by: Serious Cat at March 21, 2013 01:42 PM (UypUQ)

61 Does this Dark Energy make my ass look fat?

Posted by: The Universe at March 21, 2013 01:42 PM (j2lYi)

62 "It also shows a universe that seems to have endured an explosive burp known as inflation, which was the dynamite in the Big Bang." So are we now supposed to call The Big Bang, The Big Burp?

Posted by: ExSnipe at March 21, 2013 01:42 PM (PBm/l)

63 You know... someone needs to sell a science "paper" to the NYT with lots of references to "sharp elbows" and "baby lambs." C'mon, you know they'd fall for it.

Posted by: AllenG (Dedicated Tenther) Channelling Breitbart at March 21, 2013 01:42 PM (xN73L)

64 It also shows a universe that seems to have endured an explosive burp known as inflation, which

Endured?  It was pretty much created during the bang of inflation.  That's like saying a sword endured being forged.

Posted by: rdbrewer at March 21, 2013 01:43 PM (Iyg03)

65 60 Perhaps the universe at one time was evenly distributed but the clumps we see now are it contracting back on itself?

Posted by: Serious Cat at March 21, 2013 05:42 PM (UypUQ)


Those clumps are called cellulite. 

Posted by: kathysaysso at March 21, 2013 01:43 PM (6H6o8)

66
Davidson blew a wrapped up game.  Climate Scientists predicted it.

Posted by: Guy Mohawk at March 21, 2013 01:43 PM (IY7Ir)

67 Who doesn't know a little about the Big Bang in this day and age? Damn bump in the road. I know enough to know not to prattle on like I'm an expert.

Posted by: rickb223 at March 21, 2013 01:43 PM (R6P8e)

68 I like my universes like I like my chicks. Black, quiet and a little lumpy.

Posted by: Cicero, Semiautomatic Assault Commenter at March 21, 2013 01:43 PM (272s8)

69 >>>And they've been heavily influenced by some really shitty writing and ideas. I don't know about that. Science Fiction's writing seems more marked by a lack of artfulness (metaphor, etc.) than an overabudance of it. This is a failing of novel-ish writing but not sci-fi novel writing. Orson Scott Card specifically warns against using metaphor in sci-fi --because, in the universe you're conjuring, because people don't know the rules, they might mistake your metaphor for a literal discription!

Posted by: ace at March 21, 2013 01:43 PM (LCRYB)

70 Aren't they cute? I had one person, knowing my physics background, try to hand me the latest cosmic connection snake oil book. It used the word "quantum" like the Illuminati use "fnord". "But it's science! They mention energy!" they said. "In science energy can be *measured*," I sez, trying not to grind my teeth. "Can't measure it, not science."

Posted by: bad cat robot at March 21, 2013 01:43 PM (65lpa)

71 Eh. I just re-subscribed to The Economist. I dropped them when they got all global-warmy, but they now seem to be a bit embarrassed about that. Anathema, it's not forever.

Posted by: phunctor at March 21, 2013 05:40 PM (ozLpz)

-

Who did they endorse for president last year?  I dropped them in 2008, and now have the opportunity to get a year for free, but even that is too much if they have not recanted.

Posted by: Vashta Nerada at March 21, 2013 01:44 PM (/i3Yt)

72 She thinks she missed the train to Mars She's out back
counting stars

Posted by: Tilikum the Killer Assault Whale at March 21, 2013 01:44 PM (uhftQ)

73 GET OFF MY LAWN!

Posted by: Universe at March 21, 2013 01:44 PM (AWmfW)

74 You see lousy prose. I see Dumbese. This is how you reach Dumb people.

Posted by: soothsayer, of the Righteous & Harmonious Fists at March 21, 2013 01:44 PM (DlaLh)

75 So are we now supposed to call The Big Bang, The Big Burp?

Posted by: ExSnipe at March 21, 2013 05:42 PM (PBm/l)


You just better not call it The Big Gulp

Posted by: Nanny Bloomberg at March 21, 2013 01:44 PM (6H6o8)

76 Dark matter pervades the universe. Except when it doesn't.

Posted by: somebody else, not me at March 21, 2013 01:44 PM (nZvGM)

77 uhhh... pull my finger.

Posted by: The Great Cosmic Teleprompter at March 21, 2013 01:44 PM (bGlsD)

78 What if every cell in your body was its own universe with stars and planets and shit and then every guy in that universe was like trying to figure it out.

Posted by: Gristle Encased Head at March 21, 2013 01:44 PM (+lsX1)

79 Am I the only one who thinks Dark Matter and Dark Energy are the 21st Century's Luminiferous Aether?

Posted by: Comrade Arthur at March 21, 2013 01:45 PM (TcQWW)

80 "Media carries with it a credibility that is totally undeserved. You have all experienced this, in what I call the Murray Gell-Mann Amnesia effect. (I call it by this name because I once discussed it with Murray Gell-Mann, and by dropping a famous name I imply greater importance to myself, and to the effect, than it would otherwise have.) Briefly stated, the Gell-Mann Amnesia effect works as follows. You open the newspaper to an article on some subject you know well. In Murray’s case, physics. In mine, show business. You read the article and see the journalist has absolutely no understanding of either the facts or the issues. Often, the article is so wrong it actually presents the story backward-reversing cause and effect. I call these the “wet streets cause rain” stories. Paper’s full of them. In any case, you read with exasperation or amusement the multiple errors in a story-and then turn the page to national or international affairs, and read with renewed interest as if the rest of the newspaper was somehow more accurate about far-off Palestine than it was about the story you just read. You turn the page, and forget what you know. That is the Gell-Mann Amnesia effect. I’d point out it does not operate in other arenas of life. In ordinary life, if somebody consistently exaggerates or lies to you, you soon discount everything they say. In court, there is the legal doctrine of falsus in uno, falsus in omnibus, which means untruthful in one part, untruthful in all. But when it comes to the media, we believe against evidence that it is probably worth our time to read other parts of the paper. When, in fact, it almost certainly isn’t. The only possible explanation for our behavior is amnesia." -- Michael Crichton http://seekerblog.com/2006/01/31/the-murray-gell-mann-amnesia-effect/

Posted by: Caiwyn at March 21, 2013 01:45 PM (ttktr)

81 The universe is really really big, you guys.

Posted by: Soona at March 21, 2013 01:45 PM (CgFut)

82 maybe he's trying to distinguish between the Big Bang and subsequent inflation... who knows. There was the Big Bang, which itself was an inflation (no space before it), and then subsequent inflation which continues to this day. Whatever. This guy doesn't know what he's talking about. I'm going to find a real article about this for contrast.

Posted by: ace at March 21, 2013 01:45 PM (LCRYB)

83 Think of something really big.  Then add "er" to the end of that word "big" and you're on your way to discovering exactly how big the universe really is.


You're welcome.

Posted by: Dang - in a lab coat, smoking an e-pipe at March 21, 2013 01:46 PM (R18D0)

84 I subscribed to the expensive UK "NewScientist" magazine for years. It was and is a fun magazine. Lots of humour. But the advances of science were too slow for the weekly editorial rate. There was a new physics grand unified theorem or combined cosmology model per issue. Chemistry was too boring for them, although there was much they could have used. The biology was racy, not science. It looked to me like editors took a kernel from a peer-reviewed journal and expanded it to speculation beyond the original data. Goodby "NewScientist". I miss the humour, but not the science

Posted by: NaCly Dog at March 21, 2013 01:47 PM (u82oZ)

85 Eh. I just re-subscribed to The Economist. I dropped them when they got all global-warmy, but they now seem to be a bit embarrassed about that. Anathema, it's not forever.

Posted by: phunctor at March 21, 2013 05:40 PM (ozLpz)


They are actually really flip floppy, which I guess is good. A lot of their articles tend to be very pro free market. But their bloggers, my lord are they terrible. I like their articles about Europe, I wouldn't consider them Euro skeptics but they can smell the shit storm coming.

Posted by: Adam Smith's Invisible Pimp Hand at March 21, 2013 01:47 PM (NzBQO)

86 allows us to peel back its layers to the very foundations, revealing that our blueprint of the cosmos is far from complete.”

Even the ESA director's comment here isn't worth reading.  We peeled back the layers to reveal... that we need to peel back the layers.

Posted by: rdbrewer at March 21, 2013 01:47 PM (Iyg03)

87 How far does the universe go and then what's on the other side of that? Think about it.

Posted by: Gristle Encased Head at March 21, 2013 01:47 PM (+lsX1)

88 Eh. I just re-subscribed to The Economist. I dropped
them when they got all global-warmy, but they now seem to be a bit embarrassed about that. Anathema, it's not forever.



The last issue of The Economist that I saw was in a dentist's office a few months ago. It was still just as liberal as it always has been.

Posted by: Vic at March 21, 2013 01:47 PM (53z96)

89 Was the universe mortally wounded by the dynamite in the Big Bang?

Posted by: Uncle Joe at March 21, 2013 01:48 PM (nZvGM)

90 Belched or farted?

Posted by: Tilikum the Killer Assault Whale at March 21, 2013 01:48 PM (uhftQ)

91 If your not a music geek, move along.

I'm reading an interesting book entitled Temperament: How Music Became a Battleground for the Great Minds of Western Civilization by Stuart Isacoff.  It is about how the purity of Pathagorean harmony which constituted proof that God exists and that He loves us was subjected to the heresy of other tuning systems including that championed by Galileo, equal temperament.  The various popes, of course, had to weigh in for fear of allowing chaos to reign supreme.  It is an interesting look at the scientific, philosophical, religious, and artistic implications of search for both purity and pragmatism in music.

Posted by: WalrusRex at March 21, 2013 01:48 PM (XUKZU)

92 81 "The universe is really really big, you guys."

So that's what you call it.

Posted by: The Q at March 21, 2013 01:48 PM (yVmMc)

93 Until they make an edible version, I'll never pick up another copy of Teh Ecomonist.

Posted by: Gristle Encased Head at March 21, 2013 01:48 PM (+lsX1)

94
It also shows a universe that seems to have endured an explosive burp known as inflation, which was the dynamite in the Big Bang.

This line probably came to him while he was having lunch with Rosie O'Donnell.

Posted by: Sticky Wicket at March 21, 2013 01:49 PM (0IhFx)

95
*burp*

'scuse me.

Posted by: Universe after eating CheeseSteak at March 21, 2013 01:49 PM (IY7Ir)

96 Posted by: Vic at March 21, 2013 05:47 PM (53z96)

Not fair. They are not monolithically liberal.

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo (will screw for ampersands) at March 21, 2013 01:49 PM (3Mkrp)

97 >>>How far does the universe go and then what's on the other side of that? Think about it. Think of the farthest thing you know. It goes way farther than that.

Posted by: Cicero, Semiautomatic Assault Commenter at March 21, 2013 01:49 PM (272s8)

98 Is CAC  commenting.  We won't have any confirmation on anything until CAC weighs in.

Posted by: Soona at March 21, 2013 01:49 PM (CgFut)

99 We know for certain, for instance, that for some reason, for some time in the beginning, there were hot lumps. Cold and lonely, they whirled noiselessly through the black holes of space. Those insignificant lumps came together to form the first union—our Sun, the heating system. And about this glowing gasbag rotated the Earth, a cat's-eye among aggies, blinking in astonishment acros the Face of Time…

Posted by: TxDan at March 21, 2013 01:49 PM (Vw8jy)

100 There gonna have find some of this dark matter and dark energy if they intend on using it, right now it seems like a Star Trek style plot contrivance. If they just came forwards and said, if we assume there is a lot more X then we can currently measure or estimate - then this model works, sorts of .... I would approve their honesty.

Posted by: Jean at March 21, 2013 01:49 PM (VHfsw)

101 What are the practical benefits from funding this kind of research?

Posted by: Ook? at March 21, 2013 01:50 PM (OQpzc)

102 What if every cell in your body was its own universe with stars and planets and shit and then every guy in that universe was like trying to figure it out.

***

Step away from the bong unless you have a Ph.D. in astrophysics.

Posted by: WalrusRex at March 21, 2013 01:51 PM (XUKZU)

103 On the news tonight, I forget the channel, a spectacularly bad representation of the Big Bang - a fiery orange explosion, expanding into a pre-existing blackness containing *a background of stars*.

Posted by: Botec at March 21, 2013 01:51 PM (Ix1i5)

104 *burp*

'scuse me.

Posted by: Universe after eating CheeseSteak

 

Are you ready for your 'Big Bang'  now  milady?

Posted by: Ace's pecker at March 21, 2013 01:51 PM (vN7SY)

105 It's a shame God didn't explain the dark matter and dark energy in Genesis, maybe some chapters were dropped in translation.

Posted by: Jean at March 21, 2013 01:51 PM (VHfsw)

106 I do NOT approve this messege...

Posted by: Spaceman Spliff at March 21, 2013 01:51 PM (lZBBB)

107 Sure this wasn't written by  that cute little kid Klein? Because  it reads like something he'd write. It's written on an  eigth grade level  and  I feel slightly more stupid having read it.

Posted by: BackwardsBoy, who did not vote for this shit at March 21, 2013 01:51 PM (+z4pE)

108 Yo, CBD, if you're going to use Ace's time machine that he totally doesn't have to go back in time and commit mischief, see if you can't swap out Reagan's Veep in the second term? Kemp sounds good...

Posted by: Brother Cavil, Ampersand Whisperer at March 21, 2013 01:52 PM (fMiHM)

109 Some tits are really big.  Some asses,  on some ladies,  bigger than those tits.  The universe?  Well it's even bigger.  Bigger than both of those tits and that ass combined.  So if you can wrap your head around that...  you're probably the happiest man in the universe.

You're welcome.

Posted by: Dang - in a lab coat, smoking an e-pipe at March 21, 2013 01:52 PM (R18D0)

110 What are the practical benefits from funding this kind of research?

Posted by: Ook? at March 21, 2013 05:50 PM (OQpzc)

Fewer guys programmimg high frequency trading algorithms?

Posted by: somebody else, not me at March 21, 2013 01:52 PM (nZvGM)

111 Those clumps are called cellulite.

Posted by: kathysaysso at March 21, 2013 05:43 PM (6H6o

Well, if that's the case I'm in favor of funding NASA to develop technology for galactic Spanx™ to cover over those clumps.  Or, alternatively, we could organize a competition to award prize money for the first non-government entity to develop the technology.  Call it the Space-Spanx prize.

Posted by: Serious Cat at March 21, 2013 01:52 PM (UypUQ)

112

Global warming and evolution are settled science.

 

The defense of these "facts" is always as follows:

 

"Denier" "wing-nut" "idiot" "bigot" "we all say so" "you sound so foolish to question us"  "it's outrageous you think that way".

Posted by: Prescient11 at March 21, 2013 01:52 PM (tVTLU)

113 She blinded me with SCIENCE!!

Posted by: Bitter Clinger and All That at March 21, 2013 01:52 PM (Kpn/z)

114 Yeah but have they been able to explain WHY squid fly? I mean it's a beautiful thing to see. Stunning. Awe inspiring...like at a sunset man...glistening like millions of tiny tiny crystals. But what Moves them to fly, that's what I'm talkin' about. Like imagine the first squid that DARED to fly...there so much more to learn. I rest my case. We cant just walk away from this without finding the answers.

Posted by: Guido at March 21, 2013 01:53 PM (NQq8e)

115 Everyone knows the universe does not burp.... thats what cavemen do...

Posted by: The Great Gazoo at March 21, 2013 01:53 PM (lZBBB)

116 How far does the universe go and then what's on the other side of that? Think about it. The universe goes very far. Like a Maserati speeding through a small Texas town, the universe hurls through Space as though powered by cosmic gasoline. What is on the other side of the Universe? A bug-covered grill consisting of other universes.

Posted by: Science Writer at March 21, 2013 01:53 PM (j2lYi)

117

Even worse are the bogus cancer cures. I don't mean the Kevin Trudeau frauds, but rather some legitimate academic researcher (of which I was once one) who does something or other, and the asshole mouth-breathing reporter tries to tie it in to a cure for cancer.

 

And I don't to hear about shit that cures cancer in mice. Fuckin' mice ought to live forever; everything works in mice. And forget cell tissue culture results. Petri dishes don't have livers.

Posted by: Jay Guevara at March 21, 2013 01:53 PM (IDSI7)

118 Just as scientists from 1000 years ago couldn't possibly comprehend what we now claim to know about the universe, we can't possibly understand what they will know in another 1000 years...and so on. I do think it is a necessary science, and I applaud the guys who try to understand it for a living, but anytime they say, "We think this is how is works" you just have to accept that it will be proven that they are 100% wrong sometime in the future. We have absolutely no idea what is going on and we probably never will.

Posted by: Donkey at March 21, 2013 01:53 PM (n2bsm)

119 "Within the standard cosmological framework, however, the new satellite data underscored the existence of puzzling anomalies that may yet lead theorists back to the drawing board."
***
In other words (I think?), the satellite data includes anomalies that may well prove that this "discovery" is completely wrong. So.....don't get excited just yet...or something?

Posted by: Lizzy at March 21, 2013 01:53 PM (OlKkB)

120
Based on my observation, the big bang was really a little bang.  I mean come on, most of this is still space, nothingness.  I mean that's a piss poor bang right there.

Posted by: Universe after eating CheeseSteak at March 21, 2013 01:53 PM (IY7Ir)

121 Yeah but have they been able to explain WHY squid fly? I mean it's a beautiful thing to see. Stunning. Awe inspiring...like at a sunset man...glistening like millions of tiny tiny crystals. But what Moves them to fly, that's what I'm talkin' about. Like imagine the first squid that DARED to fly...there so much more to learn. I rest my case. We cant just walk away from this without finding the answers.

Posted by: Guido

***

 

Apply for a govt. research grant. You'll probably get a few mil.

Posted by: Tilikum the Killer Assault Whale at March 21, 2013 01:54 PM (uhftQ)

122

 

Wow.

 

*blink* ...*blink*

 

Bob Beckel just declared war on CBS...called them the network of "CommunistBastardSympathizers".

 

This was in-Re to the Jerry Bruckheimer show 'Amazing Race' doing what they did in Viet Nam.

 

Posted by: wheatie at March 21, 2013 01:54 PM (UMBJ2)

123 Am I the only one who thinks Dark Matter and Dark Energy are the 21st Century's Luminiferous Aether? Doesn't Dark Matter battle Dark Energy in Star Trek XXXII?

Posted by: rickb223 at March 21, 2013 01:54 PM (R6P8e)

124 It's a shame you can't just run a CFD model replacing viscosity with gravity, and plot the whole thing out.

Posted by: Jean at March 21, 2013 01:55 PM (3f/jH)

125 Doesn't Dark Matter battle Dark Energy in Star Trek XXXII?

Posted by: rickb223

***

 

I don't know, but it's very racist.

Posted by: Tilikum the Killer Assault Whale at March 21, 2013 01:55 PM (uhftQ)

126 WalrusRex,

they used to call the tritone the 'devil's interval' or whatever.

I can imagine in Pythagorean or Just tuning it sounded pretty horrible. The irony of equal and well temperaments is that the tritone becomes workable, and the seven chord is a reality.

Posted by: RiverC at March 21, 2013 01:55 PM (El+h4)

127 The universe is as big as it is angry, and it's as angry as an old man trying to send back soup in a deli

Posted by: The Q at March 21, 2013 01:55 PM (yVmMc)

128

My theory is ,which I subsequently learned some smart astrophysics guy wrote about,  that there are multiple universes separated by some type of matter.  Like boxes spread across a floor.  Each universe is contained in that box. 

 

My doppelganger does not have a goatee though.   

Posted by: polynikes at March 21, 2013 01:56 PM (m2CN7)

129 They will probably compare the Higgs boson to a bowling ball. A really big one, larger than an aircraft carrier, that can bowl a solid 300 from the fifth dimension.

Posted by: Grumpy Cat at March 21, 2013 01:56 PM (j3uk1)

130 now if he instead meta-inflation, he woulda sounded smarter because meta is a smart prefix just like how bio is a great embellishing prefix

Posted by: soothsayer, of the Righteous & Harmonious Fists at March 21, 2013 01:56 PM (LVtr+)

131 "Space," it says, "is big. Really big. You just won't believe how vastly hugely mindboggingly big it is. I mean you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist, but that's just peanuts to space." - Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Posted by: JPS at March 21, 2013 01:57 PM (HS4aU)

132 Wow.

*blink* ...*blink*

Bob Beckel just declared war on CBS...called them the network of "CommunistBastardSympathizers".

This was in-Re to the Jerry Bruckheimer show 'Amazing Race' doing what they did in Viet Nam.

-----

evidence

Posted by: God at March 21, 2013 01:57 PM (nELVU)

133 Dark Matter is Aether. It's the invisible substance that makes up most of whatever's out there, whatever it is. They'll never say it because it's 'new' - i.e. instead based on an intuition it's based on an equation.

But really, 1000 years from now they'll be saying (if they are saying anything) that Dark Matter is essentially another way to describe the same thing they were talking about with Aether.

Posted by: RiverC at March 21, 2013 01:57 PM (El+h4)

134 Posted by: Jay Guevara at March 21, 2013 05:53 PM (IDSI7)

And extend that to environmental toxins.

Sneeze on a rat and it gets metastatic cancer. But the EPA regulates us like we are identical to rats.

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo (will screw for ampersands) at March 21, 2013 01:57 PM (3Mkrp)

135 now if he instead wrote meta-inflation, he woulda sounded smarter because meta is a smart prefix just like how bio is a great embellishing prefix

Posted by: soothsayer, of the Righteous & Harmonious Fists at March 21, 2013 01:57 PM (Ba6aP)

136 All this effort and they still haven't explained why 75% of lesbians are obese.

Posted by: somebody else, not me at March 21, 2013 01:58 PM (nZvGM)

137

How far does the universe go and then what's on the other side of that? Think about it.

Posted by: Gristle Encased Head at March 21, 2013 05:47 PM (+lsX1)


There's a restaurant at the end, it's so so.

Posted by: Arthur Dent at March 21, 2013 01:58 PM (mETGQ)

138 All this effort and they still haven't explained why 75% of lesbians are obese.

Posted by: somebody else, not me at March 21, 2013 05:58 PM (nZvGM)

 

Lack of a big bang. 

Posted by: polynikes at March 21, 2013 01:58 PM (m2CN7)

139 The Higgs boson annoys me because the Media Science Writers insist on calling it "the God Particle." I bet you like three physicists, in all of history, called it that. But the media seizes on it because it's a Hype Word and because you don't have to actually explain anything about it. Just call it the God Particle, and everyone knows it's important. I mean, God. Awesome, man.

Posted by: ace at March 21, 2013 01:59 PM (LCRYB)

140 It just says that some hope to create a "new physics" to explain why space is made up of clumps of matter rather than evenly-distributed matter.

I think that was the part of the article where my brain fell out through my face. And it was a quote from a physicist!

"Old" physics would find a large-scale even distribution of anything really strange, and there are about a dozen giant computers that use "old" physics to generate universe simulations with uneven distributions of matter in them. Because all the universes where physics works have that characteristic. No simulation could be used predictively, because the right-after-initial conditions of a Big Bang universe are indescribably complex and have no knowable initial conditions, and... BAH!

Bad science journalism is scientists' fault. They'd refuse to participate in it if they didn't like it. They say stupid "SCIENCE!"-y shit to reporters, and they don't have to. They can say science shit instead. But then they might not get quoted by name and get jobs on TV being SCIENCE! Assholes.

(In our universe, corruption may be evenly distributed.)

Posted by: oblig. at March 21, 2013 01:59 PM (cePv8)

141 On a related note doesn't dark matter/dark sound like total BULLSHIT???

Posted by: Eaton Cox at March 21, 2013 01:59 PM (q177U)

142 Wow..like far out man...I mean far OUT.

Posted by: Guido at March 21, 2013 01:59 PM (NQq8e)

143 The level of journalism at Juggs Magazine has maintained it's high, upturned, though gently bouncy, level.

Posted by: zsasz at March 21, 2013 01:59 PM (MMC8r)

144 that can bowl a solid 300 from the fifth dimension.

 

 

Posted by: Grumpy Cat at March 21, 2013 05:56 PM (j3uk1)

 

 

In the Age of Aquarius....

Posted by: The Fifth Dimension at March 21, 2013 01:59 PM (lZBBB)

145 Posted by: Jay Guevara at March 21, 2013 05:53 PM (IDSI7)

JAY GUEVARA CURED CANCER, but the Jewish bankers bought the research and are keeping it for themselves.

Posted by: NY Times science reporter at March 21, 2013 02:00 PM (3Mkrp)

146

Anytime those douches say stunning, you know they are totally full of shit, and stuck in college.



Posted by: Rev dr E buzz at March 21, 2013 02:00 PM (raGXo)

147 All this effort and they still haven't explained why 75% of lesbians are obese.

***

Which came first, the lesbian or the obese?

Posted by: WalrusRex at March 21, 2013 02:01 PM (XUKZU)

148  

Is stunning development one of those meme things?


Posted by: Rev dr E buzz at March 21, 2013 02:01 PM (raGXo)

149

132....evidence

 

Posted by: God at March 21, 2013 05:57 PM (nELVU)

 

We might wanna check and see if hell has frozen over.

 

Bob Beckel...declaring 'war'...on CBS.

I couldn't believe my eyes and ears.

 

The others on The Five were drop-jawed-gobsmacked.

But they loved it.

 

Posted by: wheatie at March 21, 2013 02:02 PM (UMBJ2)

150 This thread really makes you think about your place in the universe.

Posted by: Gristle Encased Head at March 21, 2013 02:02 PM (+lsX1)

151 our whole galaxy could just be an atom in a giant's fingernail.... (tokes).... and each atom in our fingernails could be its own galaxy...

Posted by: Donald Sutherland at March 21, 2013 02:02 PM (LCRYB)

152
Is the universe spurwing shaped or plover shaped?

Answer that and you have the answer to everything.

Posted by: Guy Mohawk at March 21, 2013 02:03 PM (IY7Ir)

153 Posted by: RiverC at March 21, 2013 05:57 PM (El+h4)

Dude....way ahead of you.

Posted by: The phlogiston at March 21, 2013 02:03 PM (3Mkrp)

154 In the beginning God created the Heavens and the Higgs Boson.

Posted by: WalrusRex at March 21, 2013 02:03 PM (XUKZU)

155 When the moon is in the seventh house
and Jupiter aligns with Mars
Then peace will guide the planets
and love will steer the stars.

Your welcome

Posted by: The Fifth Dimension at March 21, 2013 02:03 PM (Kpn/z)

156
This was in-Re to the Jerry Bruckheimer show 'Amazing Race' doing what they did in Viet Nam.

-----

evidence

Posted by: God at March 21, 2013 05:57 PM (nELVU)


Eh, they had a scene this week when they went to Vietnam and had to watch a propaganda communist type sing along and then match it to the words shown to a communist poster. Then they had to run to a check point that was a memorial of a B-52 crash. It was a little weird but I didn't consider it terrible.

Posted by: Adam Smith's Invisible Pimp Hand at March 21, 2013 02:04 PM (NzBQO)

157 Big Bang > Big Bang Theory

Posted by: zsasz at March 21, 2013 02:04 PM (MMC8r)

158 On a related note doesn't dark matter/dark sound like total BULLSHIT???

Posted by: Eaton Cox at March 21, 2013 05:59 PM (q177U)

It's not that outlandish. Dark matter is just like any other matter except for its unusually strong attraction to money in taxpayers' wallets.

Posted by: somebody else, not me at March 21, 2013 02:04 PM (nZvGM)

159 Is the universe spurwing shaped or plover shaped? Like a crossbow.

Posted by: Grumpy Cat at March 21, 2013 02:04 PM (j3uk1)

160 It's Super Strings I tells ya!!!

Posted by: Bitter Clinger and All That at March 21, 2013 02:05 PM (Kpn/z)

161 Well, if that's the case I'm in favor of funding NASA to develop technology for galactic Spanx™ to cover over those clumps. Or, alternatively, we could organize a competition to award prize money for the first non-government entity to develop the technology. Call it the Space-Spanx prize.

Posted by: Serious Cat at March 21, 2013 05:52 PM (UypUQ)

RE: Wow.  I do a simple Google search on Spanx and now all the banner ads I'm seeing make my workstation no longer work-safe.

Posted by: Serious Cat at March 21, 2013 02:05 PM (UypUQ)

162 Wow.

*blink* ...*blink*

Bob Beckel just declared war on CBS...called them the network of "CommunistBastardSympathizers".

This was in-Re to the Jerry Bruckheimer show 'Amazing Race' doing what they did in Viet Nam.

Posted by: wheatie

***

 

What, did they simply give money to his favorite child hooker without making her "earn it"?

Posted by: Tilikum the Killer Assault Whale at March 21, 2013 02:05 PM (uhftQ)

163 The purpose of these articles is usually not to enlighten, but rather to dominate. They all follow a sort of 'The (Material) Universe is big, and complex, and more-or-less completely chaotic, ergo, there is no God and you should kill yourself and/or suck my cock, you stupid Christianist' structure.

Posted by: Mirror-Universe Mitt Romney at March 21, 2013 02:05 PM (CaJnt)

164 Hey Rev... I represent that! I just said flying squid ARE stunning....like awesome stunning...

Posted by: Guido Sqphd at March 21, 2013 02:05 PM (NQq8e)

165 Where does Spice fit into all of this?

Posted by: Dr. Varno at March 21, 2013 02:06 PM (6Pghw)

166 The Spice must flow.

Posted by: Bitter Clinger and All That at March 21, 2013 02:06 PM (Kpn/z)

167 Our universe  could be a tiny drop of diesel in the tank of a Galaxy 500 limo, screaming non-stop towards Jerusalem...

Posted by: Smokey Eunich at March 21, 2013 02:07 PM (bGlsD)

168 I believe 75% of the clumpiness in the universe is due to the "Kate Upton Effect"™.

Posted by: Dr Spank at March 21, 2013 02:07 PM (3+QKS)

169 Big Bang?  Count me in!

Posted by: Sandra Fluke at March 21, 2013 02:07 PM (2jQGY)

170 The only thing being constructed that may split the Higgs boson into constituent particles is known as the SLFH accelerator, or Slice Like a Fucking Hammer.

Posted by: Grumpy Cat at March 21, 2013 02:07 PM (j3uk1)

171 Of course, what is never explained is why one should care. Aside from 'Well, it proves that there is no God AND it has absolutely no real-world applications/applicability whatsoever; therefore, it's a big fucking deal.'

Posted by: Mirror-Universe Mitt Romney at March 21, 2013 02:08 PM (CaJnt)

172 >>>he purpose of these articles is usually not to enlighten, but rather to dominate. They all follow a sort of 'The (Material) Universe is big, and complex, and more-or-less completely chaotic, ergo, there is no God and you should kill yourself and/or suck my cock, you stupid Christianist' structure. come on, be serious. For one thing, the awesome size of the universe is very easily taken as proof of god. For another thing, do not explain by conspiracy or design what can be easily explained by incompetence or a liberal arts degree.

Posted by: ace at March 21, 2013 02:08 PM (LCRYB)

173
"Inflation is a motherfucker."


----Einstein

Posted by: Dr Spank at March 21, 2013 02:08 PM (3+QKS)

174 Like a crossbow. Compound or recurve?

Posted by: rickb223 at March 21, 2013 02:08 PM (R6P8e)

175 That Higgs Boson is a figment of God's imagination.

Or the Director of CERN. One or the other.

Posted by: Bitter Clinger and All That at March 21, 2013 02:08 PM (Kpn/z)

176 Spice... the final frontier.

Posted by: Dr. Varno at March 21, 2013 02:09 PM (6Pghw)

177 To boldly blow where man has never blown before?

Posted by: Bitter Clinger and All That at March 21, 2013 02:10 PM (Kpn/z)

178 Can someone explain inflation to me? Seriously.


*waits for smart-ass responses*

Posted by: Dr Spank at March 21, 2013 02:10 PM (3+QKS)

179 Of course, science itself offers some of the answers. 'Animals are sort of curious about their environment. Intelligent animals are still animals, sort of; therefore, nihilistic science.' Then again, a more accurate approximation of the truth would probably be: 'Social animals like to play social games which "prove" who is better (a better mate); therefore, nihilistic science.'

Posted by: Mirror-Universe Mitt Romney at March 21, 2013 02:10 PM (CaJnt)

180 Here's the thing. The same rules that apply to our planet; ie gravity, magnetism, weak force, strong force, apply across some trillion X trillion X infinity-1 light years of our Universe. So, if the Universe can begin and expand with a Big Bang, it also can contract after untold eons of matter disintegration and end with collapse and an unexplained event like moments before the Big Bang. It could repeat an infinite number of times, with you continually fucking up each time, or you can rise to some higher level each time. Freedom of choice, it's part of the Universe.

Posted by: Schrödinger's cat [/i] at March 21, 2013 02:11 PM (feFL6)

181 I prefer Light Matter, but that's just because I'm racist. Dark Matter is what Holes of Color consume, right?

Posted by: mugiwara at March 21, 2013 02:11 PM (hpYnL)

182 The question is; "will this result in a longer lasting battery? or a lighter one?"

If it doesn't answer either of those questions, what good is it?

Posted by: Bitter Clinger and All That at March 21, 2013 02:12 PM (Kpn/z)

183 All this effort and they still haven't explained why 75% of lesbians are obese.


It's from eating the fat upper pussy area. My Dad painted a picture of it.

Posted by: Lena Dunham at March 21, 2013 02:12 PM (z9HTb)

184 >>>So, if the Universe can begin and expand with a Big Bang, it also can contract after untold eons of matter disintegration and end with collapse and an unexplained event like moments before the Big Bang.


The "science" says endless expansion.

Posted by: Dr Spank at March 21, 2013 02:12 PM (3+QKS)

185 The proof that science is mostly carried out by idiots and/or in bad faith lies in the fact that biology, etc is never applied reflexively, to scientists themselves.

Posted by: Mirror-Universe Mitt Romney at March 21, 2013 02:12 PM (CaJnt)

186 Liberal Arts is the God degree. It's so vaste and all encompassing. My brain has no limits, it's HUGE!

Posted by: Guido Sqphd at March 21, 2013 02:12 PM (NQq8e)

187 But of course, it can be. And the results are quite interesting.

Posted by: Mirror-Universe Mitt Romney at March 21, 2013 02:12 PM (CaJnt)

188 On a related note doesn't dark matter/dark sound like total BULLSHIT???

Posted by: Eaton Cox

***

 

So they can't see it, measure it, or really detect it. Hmmmm.

Posted by: Tilikum the Killer Assault Whale at March 21, 2013 02:13 PM (uhftQ)

189 "...do not explain by conspiracy or design what can be easily explained by incompetence or a liberal arts degree."

Posted by: ace at March 21, 2013 06:08 PM (LCRYB)

Is this original? If so....bravo sir.

Posted by: The phlogiston at March 21, 2013 02:13 PM (3Mkrp)

190 Like a crossbow. ----- Compound or recurve? Either, but with integrity. Do you like your jobs? Do you?

Posted by: Grumpy Cat at March 21, 2013 02:13 PM (j3uk1)

191 . . . . . A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away....

Posted by: The Universe at March 21, 2013 02:13 PM (SSWdi)

192

Writing down to the Lowest Common Denominator is what that was.

I have an  idea: why not write like your audience  has more  than two brain cells?

Posted by: BackwardsBoy, who did not vote for this shit at March 21, 2013 02:14 PM (+z4pE)

193 Although it should be noted that the fact that science correctly models the behavior of scientists (proving that they are, in fact, little more than stupid social animals), does not in fact prove that all human beings are stupid social animals. Or at least equally so.

Posted by: Mirror-Universe Mitt Romney at March 21, 2013 02:14 PM (CaJnt)

194 Scientists spend most of their professional time in the lab or at conferences or meetings. So they speak to each other in jargon.

Other scientists know where they are, or are not, talking bullshit. Which is why the emails coming out of the climate community are embarrassing, and the emails coming out of the biological community are not.

Anyway.

So then these ass burgers go talk to media guys. Usually to the smarter media guys and amateur science buffs, but still - guys who don't have BSc degrees.

That's how we get science writing like in that dilbert cartoon, that the dimension and flow of time is "like a donut shot out of a cannon and spinning at the speed of light, only without the donut and the cannon"

Posted by: boulder toilet hobo at March 21, 2013 02:14 PM (QTHTd)

195 It's from eating the fat upper pussy area.

Posted by: Lena Dunham at March 21, 2013 06:12 PM (z9HTb)

That's a nice part of women's bodies...except when considered in the context of Lena Dunham.

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at March 21, 2013 02:14 PM (3Mkrp)

196 "Science Writing in the Media and Why It Sucks"

Asked and answered.

Posted by: Bitter Clinger and All That at March 21, 2013 02:15 PM (Kpn/z)

197 we're cursed with children, overly self-aware and self-absorbed, telling us about things they can't even begin to understand


Medieval Europe, Catholic and 'pre-scientific', knew what it was to wonder; these modern fake-science assholes have no clue.  None at all

Posted by: John Bunyan at March 21, 2013 02:15 PM (Dll6b)

198 So. How was there stuff before the Universe? Where was it?

Posted by: zsasz at March 21, 2013 02:15 PM (MMC8r)

199

FTA: "It could be, he said, that “the universe is trying to tell us something.”

 

Yeah, and I'm thinking it isn't "How to Get Laid Anytime You Want."  Just a hunch.

 

And of course there are the sins of military reporting too, which really bring out the best in our MSM wordsmiths, and the worst of which is... calling any fucking warship a "battleship"!  For some reason almost every time I have seen this blasphemy uttered, it has been a very young female reporter, but I am sure there are plenty of reporters with tiny little penises who don't know any better either.

 

To continue this free-association comment: I recall fondly a story I heard on talk radio while visiting Portland, Oregon, about a naval destroyer that was unable to leave the port after a 4th of July visit, because high water in the Columbia River made it impossible for it to pass under a certain bridge.

 

The wag doing the story mentioned that the bridge in question was the apparently detestable "Iron Bridge", having a well-earned reputation for decrepitude and general ugliness.  He asked his audience "What the heck is the problem here?  Here we have the ugliest bridge in the country, and it is blocking the passage of a naval DESTROYER!  I repeat, this vessel is named a DESTROYER.  Are you getting my drift?  This is not a problem, folks, this is what they call an opportunity!!

Posted by: Ray Van Dune at March 21, 2013 02:15 PM (fb100)

200
A new life awaits you in the Off-World colonies. The chance to begin again in a golden land of opportunity and adventure. New climate! Recreational facilities...

Posted by: I wish I would see this blimp overhead at March 21, 2013 02:16 PM (LYwCh)

201 It looks so real I can see it And it feels so real I can feel it And it tastes so real I can taste it And it sounds so real I can hear it So why can't I touch it?

Posted by: Dr. Varno at March 21, 2013 02:16 PM (6Pghw)

202 I personally saw the edge of the Universe. Here's what I saw: 404 ERROR Yeah, Pixy is our all-powerful Creator.

Posted by: soothsayer, of the Righteous & Harmonious Fists at March 21, 2013 02:16 PM (vanqS)

203 What is on the other side of the Universe? ---------------------------------------------------------- CAKE!

Posted by: Truck Monkey at March 21, 2013 02:16 PM (jucos)

204 That's a nice part of women's bodies...except when considered in the context of Lena Dunham. Lena Dunham's FUPA extends over her entire body. Twice.

Posted by: zsasz at March 21, 2013 02:16 PM (MMC8r)

205 Posted by: Lena Dunham

Dude, there are ladies present.*


*The ladies present may in fact be prostitutes.

Posted by: Dr Spank at March 21, 2013 02:17 PM (3+QKS)

206 Late to get to this one but let me just say, in case it hasn't already been done, they're all fucking idiots.

Posted by: Captain Hate at March 21, 2013 02:17 PM (4nlVP)

207

155...Eh, they had a scene this week when they went to Vietnam and had to watch a propaganda communist type sing along and then match it to the words shown to a communist poster. Then they had to run to a check point that was a memorial of a B-52 crash. It was a little weird but I didn't consider it terrible.

 

---------

 

Gutfeld brought it up, a couple of days ago...

Now Beckel, of all people, is still steaming about it.

 

It was more than..."a little weird".

 

The thing is, Viet Nam is moving towards capitalism...and the hard line old Commies don't like it.

 

So here's CBS...coming from the US, a supposedly capitalistic society...willingly letting themselves be used as propaganda tools for the Commies.

 

Beckel ranted, rightfully so...that "Americans died in that B-52!", and that CBS shouldn't be letting themselves be used to defile it.

 

Posted by: wheatie at March 21, 2013 02:18 PM (UMBJ2)

208 In fact, evolution, correctly applied (i.e. in a Nonleftist/Communist/Egalitarian/Bullshit manner) would lead to the fact that some people are in fact "more evolved" (less animalistic) than others. (Even though this proposition causes a lot of idiots, including idiot scientists, too stupid to understand their own intellectual output, to wet themselves in bouts of hysteria.) (And of course, the fact that all people are not, in fact, equally animalistic is rather obvious, and requires "no science" at all.)

Posted by: Mirror-Universe Mitt Romney at March 21, 2013 02:18 PM (CaJnt)

209 But of course, everything is done in bad faith.

Posted by: Mirror-Universe Mitt Romney at March 21, 2013 02:18 PM (CaJnt)

210 So why can't I touch it?


Thank you for remembering.

Posted by: Pete Shelley at March 21, 2013 02:18 PM (z9HTb)

211 The purpose of modern science is, perhaps, to ensure that no useful conclusion can ever be reached, about anything.

Posted by: Mirror-Universe Mitt Romney at March 21, 2013 02:19 PM (CaJnt)

212 I just came from shooting 112 rounds at the range.  For the first time evah.  Suck it democrats and gun grabbers.

(I just wanted to say that)

Posted by: DangerGirl @deadlyestrogen at March 21, 2013 02:19 PM (GrtrJ)

213
The study of Dark Matter will eventually prolong erections, and conquer hair loss.

Posted by: Sticky Wicket at March 21, 2013 02:19 PM (0IhFx)

214 Therefore, it exists to obfuscate, rather than clarify.

Posted by: Mirror-Universe Mitt Romney at March 21, 2013 02:19 PM (CaJnt)

215 If the universe's expansion is accelerating, why does the cosmological density of assholes on the local scale seem to be increasing? Perhaps the only place free of assholes is the vast gulf between galaxies. By "vast gulf between galaxies" I mean "a liter bottle of Wild Turkey."

Posted by: Grumpy Cat at March 21, 2013 02:20 PM (j3uk1)

216 Much of occupations that employ jargon seem aimed at obfuscation rather than enlightenment.

What are they hiding?

Posted by: Bitter Clinger and All That at March 21, 2013 02:20 PM (Kpn/z)

217 the president of the us is a communist. he has surrounded himself with communists, and they are surrounding us with communists. so a little bit of good ol shitty commie agitprop is ok by the us. enjoy.

Posted by: rev dr e buzz at March 21, 2013 02:20 PM (4ZS11)

218 I wonder if ace masturbates to pictures of Plank's Constant in addition to his Star Trek collectibles.

Posted by: Dr Spank at March 21, 2013 02:20 PM (3+QKS)

219 The Super Dense Asshole theory of Matter.

Posted by: Bitter Clinger and All That at March 21, 2013 02:21 PM (Kpn/z)

220 is in stunning agreement with the general view of the universe that has emerged over the past 20 years I don't know about these Giant Discoveries whose enormous import is that, uh, the model almost everybody's been using anyway still holds.

Posted by: Waterhouse at March 21, 2013 02:21 PM (2c/9s)

221 The universe is so big that factories would have to run day and night to supply it with assault weapons.

Posted by: Space Holder at March 21, 2013 02:21 PM (8ZskC)

222 Lena Dunham's FUPA extends over her entire body. Twice. So is Lena Dunham manifold, or just ugly?

Posted by: Grumpy Cat at March 21, 2013 02:22 PM (j3uk1)

223

Some one has probably said this but.........isn't the better question, when it comes to the MSM is, what part of it doesn't suck?

 

Better or easier?

Posted by: BackwardsBoy, who did not vote for this shit at March 21, 2013 02:23 PM (+z4pE)

224 Möbius FUPA

Posted by: Dr. Varno at March 21, 2013 02:23 PM (6Pghw)

225 They need to pass a law that requires the Universe to be more simple and self explanatory.

And only 7 black holes per galaxy. (for non-assault galaxies)

Posted by: Bitter Clinger and All That at March 21, 2013 02:23 PM (Kpn/z)

226 If you took every grain of sand on Earth and shoved it up the vagina of time, you'd have something.

Posted by: Cicero, Semiautomatic Assault Commenter at March 21, 2013 02:23 PM (8ZskC)

227 If you took every grain of sand on Earth and shoved it up the vagina of time, you'd have something. Hillary Clinton.

Posted by: Grumpy Cat at March 21, 2013 02:24 PM (j3uk1)

228 "226 If you took every grain of sand on Earth and shoved it up the vagina of time, you'd have something. Posted by: Cicero, Semiautomatic Assault Commenter at March 21, 2013 06:23 PM (8ZskC) " A very sandy vagina of time.

Posted by: Mirror-Universe Mitt Romney at March 21, 2013 02:24 PM (CaJnt)

229 Lena Dunham has a Klein bottle structure for a FUPA?

Posted by: Bitter Clinger and All That at March 21, 2013 02:24 PM (Kpn/z)

230

I wanted to buy a book called "The Poisoner's Handbook" by a science writer, and was set to do so until I read the Amazon reviews. A number of chemistry professors used the reviews to point out how wrong she was on the most basic of her science. And then one adds something along the lines of "maybe the historical information is well written but the science is bunk"

 

Now I ask you, if you are a thoughtful professor of science that just finished tearing an author a new one for getting basic high school level chemistry wrong, why would you think for a moment that the history part would be any more accurate when the book is written by a supposed "science writer" not a history writer attempting science.

Posted by: ParanoidGirlInSeattle at March 21, 2013 02:24 PM (RZ8pf)

231 167 I believe 75% of the clumpiness in the universe is due to the "Kate Upton Effect"™.    

Posted by: Dr Spank at March 21, 2013 06:07 PM (3+QKS)

 

 

Hmmm.... kinda like the Cocktail Party effect?  Where the guys all clump around the Hot Chick... and the fat women all clump around bitching about the Hot Chick and the Men around her?

Posted by: Romeo13, observant as usual at March 21, 2013 02:25 PM (lZBBB)

232 You know, a coffee mug is topologically identical to a donut. Still, Chris Christie eats the mug last.

Posted by: Grumpy Cat at March 21, 2013 02:26 PM (j3uk1)

233

***

“The new data have allowed astronomers to tweak their model a bit. It now seems the universe [...]consists by mass of 4.9 percent ordinary matter like atoms, 27 percent dark matter and 68 percent dark energy.”

***

OK, so this adds up to 99.9%.  Is the article saying that the universe consists of only 0.1% ordinary energy?  That would seem to be very interesting.  Or is this just a rounding error, and ordinary energy isn't even being discussed here?  And is that significant?  Or just an oversight due to ignorance?


***

“The biggest surprise here, astronomers said, is that the universe is expanding slightly more slowly than previous measurements had indicated. The Hubble constant, which characterizes the expansion rate, is 67 kilometers per second per megaparsec — in the units astronomers use — according to Planck. Recent ground-based measurements combined with the WMAP data gave a value of 69, offering enough of a discrepancy to make cosmologists rerun their computer simulations of cosmic history.

The fact that astronomers once would go to war with one another over a factor of two in measurements of this parameter shows how cosmology has progressed over the past 20 years.”

***


Wait, this isn't a factor of two in measurements, is it?  This is just a (roughly) 3% difference between 67 and 69.  This isn't a factor of two.


My guess is the author has no idea what is going on with this theory of the universe, but doesn't want to admit that.

Posted by: Taco Stand at March 21, 2013 02:26 PM (C+qQ0)

234 ParanoidGirlInSeattle at March 21, 2013 06:24 PM (RZ8pf)

Hmmmm. The Poisoner's Handbook?

Looking for . . . tips?

Posted by: Bitter Clinger and All That at March 21, 2013 02:26 PM (Kpn/z)

235 MUMR-210- Yep...make it seem mega importante..."the answer to all questions" requiring mucho more funding.

Posted by: Guido Sqphd at March 21, 2013 02:26 PM (NQq8e)

236 "231 167 I believe 75% of the clumpiness in the universe is due to the "Kate Upton Effect"™. Posted by: Dr Spank at March 21, 2013 06:07 PM (3+QKS) Hmmm.... kinda like the Cocktail Party effect? Where the guys all clump around the Hot Chick... and the fat women all clump around bitching about the Hot Chick and the Men around her? Posted by: Romeo13, observant as usual at March 21, 2013 06:25 PM (lZBBB) " Well, that's obviously not a very good strategy.

Posted by: Mirror-Universe Mitt Romney at March 21, 2013 02:26 PM (CaJnt)

237 calling any fucking warship a "battleship"! Or any armored vehicle a "tank".

Posted by: Waterhouse at March 21, 2013 02:26 PM (2c/9s)

238 I want the Taiwan animation version.

And does this really clarify anything? 

Background radiation?  Check.
Uneven distribution?  Check.
Still groping for the inflation answer.  Check
Dark energy and matter, still no idea.  Check.

Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at March 21, 2013 02:26 PM (tkWnt)

239
Dark Energy is the attracting force that's drawing Taco Stand into the barrel.

Posted by: Sticky Wicket at March 21, 2013 02:27 PM (0IhFx)

240 My God, it's full of barrels!

Posted by: Dave Bowman at March 21, 2013 02:27 PM (j3uk1)

241 The "science" says endless expansion. But the mass of any particle does not stay the same over time. Entropy exists. Particles decay to nothingness over eons of time. The same rule of physics we may not have yet figured out that causes particles of X mass expanding, while particles of X mass-1 contracting is as yet unknown. So I'm gonna stick with a very safe theory, that I'm gonna be fucking up for infinity. I'm actually ok with that.

Posted by: Schrödinger's cat [/i] at March 21, 2013 02:27 PM (feFL6)

242 We're gonna need a bigger barrel.

Posted by: Dr Spank at March 21, 2013 02:27 PM (3+QKS)

243 The barrel is composed of dark matter.

Posted by: fluffy at March 21, 2013 02:27 PM (z9HTb)

244 And now we have a Taco Stand in the barrel.

Yo quiero, yuck!

Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at March 21, 2013 02:27 PM (tkWnt)

245 Writers struggle with Algebra I; SCIENCE writers struggle with Algebra II!

Posted by: joncelli at March 21, 2013 02:27 PM (CWlPF)

246 A very sandy vagina of time. Which I will turn into hamburger.

Posted by: Dirk Diggler at March 21, 2013 02:27 PM (ZA1As)

247 The only thing you need to know about the universe is that it is like a pie.  And the purpose of life is to get your slice before Big Oil steals it from you.

Posted by: WalrusRex at March 21, 2013 02:27 PM (XUKZU)

248 Thjs is how the world ends
This is how the world ends

Not with a bang but a whimper.

(or maybe a *poof* as we get sucked into nothingness. "WE" won't be here to see it. Thank God. SWIDT)

Posted by: Bitter Clinger and All That at March 21, 2013 02:29 PM (Kpn/z)

249 Once I had a barrel, made it roll Made it travel in time Once I had a barrel, now it's full Brother can you post in rhyme

Posted by: Grumpy Cat at March 21, 2013 02:29 PM (j3uk1)

250 "244 And now we have a Taco Stand in the barrel. Yo quiero, yuck! Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at March 21, 2013 06:27 PM (tkWnt) " Anna, do you know what Yo quiero means? :-P

Posted by: Mirror-Universe Mitt Romney at March 21, 2013 02:29 PM (CaJnt)

251 There's PIE!?

Posted by: Bitter Clinger and All That at March 21, 2013 02:30 PM (Kpn/z)

252 Awful lot of content here today. Am I on the wrong blog?

Posted by: rickl at March 21, 2013 02:30 PM (sdi6R)

253 Stephen Hawkings was supposed to be in Houston this week lecturing on some topic of his but he couldn't make it. Max Tegmark, a scientist, commented : "It could be, he said, that the universe is trying to tell us something.”

Posted by: Dr Spank at March 21, 2013 02:31 PM (3+QKS)

254 "Honey, I can explain everything..."

Posted by: Philandering String Theorist at March 21, 2013 02:31 PM (0q+4n)

255 rickl at March 21, 2013 06:30 PM (sdi6R)

Where was it you wanted to be?

Posted by: Bitter Clinger and All That at March 21, 2013 02:31 PM (Kpn/z)

256 "251 There's PIE!? Posted by: Bitter Clinger and All That at March 21, 2013 06:30 PM (Kpn/z) " 3.14 You'll have to pay me for the rest. (By the way, look at that in a mirror.)

Posted by: Mirror-Universe Mitt Romney at March 21, 2013 02:31 PM (CaJnt)

257 The widest gap in the universe yet measured is the distance between a journalism major's perception of his abilities and his actual abilities.  Journalism isn't even liberal arts, it's the application of pose and posture to any real field of human activity.

Posted by: JohnMilton'sGhost at March 21, 2013 02:31 PM (FEj0H)

258 I just came from shooting 112 rounds at the range. For the first time evah. Suck it democrats and gun grabbers.

(I just wanted to say that)

Posted by: DangerGirl @deadlyestrogen

***

 

What gun? And what were you wearing?

Ok, what gun?

Posted by: Tilikum the Killer Assault Whale at March 21, 2013 02:32 PM (uhftQ)

259 (By the way, look at that in a mirror.) I'm not falling for that. Last time I ended up talking to a giant rabbit and an egg sitting on cinder blocks.

Posted by: Grumpy Cat at March 21, 2013 02:33 PM (j3uk1)

260 I just came from shooting 112 rounds at the range. For the first time evah. Suck it democrats and gun grabbers.

You're still not ready for a phased plasma rifle in the 40 watt range.

Posted by: Cicero, Semiautomatic Assault Commenter at March 21, 2013 02:33 PM (8ZskC)

261 "Honey, I can explain everything..." Posted by: Philandering String Theorist


Hahahahaha!!!

Posted by: fluffy at March 21, 2013 02:33 PM (z9HTb)

262 "259 (By the way, look at that in a mirror.) I'm not falling for that. Last time I ended up talking to a giant rabbit and an egg sitting on cinder blocks. Posted by: Grumpy Cat at March 21, 2013 06:33 PM (j3uk1) " (grins)

Posted by: Mirror-Universe Mitt Romney at March 21, 2013 02:33 PM (CaJnt)

263 Now consider the Fermi Paradox: where the hell is eveybody?  Just askin'.

Posted by: Ray Van Dune at March 21, 2013 02:33 PM (fb100)

264 When David N. Spergel, a Princeton University cosmologist, heard of Hawking's absence he stated that is was “beautiful,” adding that “the standard cosmological model looks even stronger today than yesterday. The universe remains simple and strange.”

Posted by: Dr Spank at March 21, 2013 02:34 PM (3+QKS)

265 Hey, just what you see, pal!

Posted by: Bitter Clinger and All That at March 21, 2013 02:35 PM (Kpn/z)

266

Well supposedly the Poisoner's Handbook was about the history of forensic medicine and the detection of poisons used in crimes.

 

 

I don't know the whole thing has me now questioning every damn science book I've read in the last 10 years, and that is a lot. Have I been being bamboozled by journalists disguising themselves as science writers? Or scientists disguising themselves as writers?

Posted by: ParanoidGirlInSeattle at March 21, 2013 02:35 PM (RZ8pf)

267 &

Posted by: HoboJerky at March 21, 2013 02:35 PM (Qq/It)

268 Dark Matter = "magic beans" "Magic Beans" are causing the expansion to accelerate. For some reason we can't find any trace of the "magic beans", you see they are invisible and can't be detected in any fashion. Also: there is more "magic beans" then regular matter by a considerable margin.

Posted by: Eaton Cox at March 21, 2013 02:35 PM (q177U)

269 TBS, NOW!  (for you college basketball fans).

Posted by: Country Singer at March 21, 2013 02:35 PM (CgcOa)

270 Heh. Dolphin browser for android can do amps

Posted by: HoboJerky at March 21, 2013 02:35 PM (Qq/It)

271 Joe Biden remains simple and strange also.

Posted by: Cicero, Semiautomatic Assault Commenter at March 21, 2013 02:36 PM (8ZskC)

272 For some reason we can't find any trace of the "magic beans", you see they are invisible and can't be detected in any fashion.

----------



Probably locked away in some bank in Cyprus.  We'll get them yet.

Posted by: mama winger at March 21, 2013 02:36 PM (P6QsQ)

273 Shitty science writing makes me wanna reach for the Klein bottle.

Posted by: drunk theoretical physicist [/i] [/b] at March 21, 2013 02:36 PM (UCv7P)

274 Joe Biden remains simple and strange also.
Posted by: Cicero, Semiautomatic Assault Commenter at March 21, 2013 06:36 PM (8ZskC)

I think the needle for his plugs was set too deep.

Posted by: Bitter Clinger and All That at March 21, 2013 02:37 PM (Kpn/z)

275 Shitty science writing makes me wanna reach for the Klein bottle. If you spill, just soak it up with a Menger sponge.

Posted by: Grumpy Cat at March 21, 2013 02:38 PM (j3uk1)

276 Isn't dark matter like ancient map makers just putting in pictures of sea serpents in the unknown area?

Posted by: Ook? at March 21, 2013 02:38 PM (OQpzc)

277 Holy shit Gonzaga.  My brackets will all be destroyed but holy shit.

Posted by: alexthechick - SMOD. Totes waiting until after March Madness. at March 21, 2013 02:38 PM (Gk3SS)

278 How do we know there wasn't another bang or two or zillion just down the cosmic road out of sight?

Almost everything else in the universe is like cockroaches -- find one, you're gonna fine zillions.  Why not bangs?

Posted by: @PurpAv at March 21, 2013 02:39 PM (/gHaE)

279 Joe Biden makes a strange quark seem normal.

Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at March 21, 2013 02:39 PM (tkWnt)

280 I don't know where the heck all that other crap in my comment came from.  I typed in word, cut and pasted, and got that mess above.

I'll try again.

Posted by: Taco Stand at March 21, 2013 02:39 PM (C+qQ0)

281 The Higgs boson annoys me because the Media Science Writers insist on calling it "the God Particle." I bet you like three physicists, in all of history, called it that. But the media seizes on it because it's a Hype Word and because you don't have to actually explain anything about it. Just call it the God Particle, and everyone knows it's important. I mean, God. Awesome, man. Posted by: ace at March 21, 2013 05:59 PM (LCRYB) This is a way to trash the theory of God. Big arguments throughout the physics/quantum community of whether God exists. I remember reading, way back when sifting through a lot of this stuff, people keeping count of how many physicists believed in God. Was annoying.

Posted by: artisanal 'ette at March 21, 2013 02:39 PM (XYSwB)

282 Holy shit Gonzaga. My brackets will all be destroyed but holy shit. Posted by: alexthechick - SMOD. Totes waiting until after March Madness. at March 21, 2013 06:38 PM (Gk3SS) -------------------------------------------------------- I blame the Stockton kid.

Posted by: Truck Monkey at March 21, 2013 02:39 PM (jucos)

283 ***

“The new data have allowed astronomers to tweak their model a bit. It now
seems the universe [...]consists by
mass of 4.9 percent ordinary matter like atoms, 27 percent dark matter and 68
percent dark energy.”
***

OK, so this adds up to 99.9%. Is the article saying that the universe consists of only 0.1% ordinary energy? That would seem to be very interesting. Or is this just a rounding error, and ordinary energy isn't even being discussed here? And is that significant? Or just an oversight due to ignorance?





***
“The biggest surprise here, astronomers said, is that the universe is
expanding slightly more slowly than previous measurements had indicated. The
Hubble constant, which characterizes the expansion rate, is 67 kilometers per
second per megaparsec — in the units astronomers use — according to Planck.
Recent ground-based measurements combined with the WMAP data gave a value of
69, offering enough of a discrepancy to make cosmologists rerun their computer
simulations of cosmic history.

The fact that astronomers once would go to war with one
another over a factor of two in measurements of this parameter shows how
cosmology has progressed over the past 20 years.”***

Wait, this isn't a factor of two in measurements, is it? This is just a (roughly) 3% difference between 67 and 69. This isn't a factor of two.
My guess is the author has no idea what is going on with this theory of the universe, but doesn't want to admit that.

Posted by: Taco Stand at March 21, 2013 02:39 PM (C+qQ0)

284

Oh come on, those loosers barely know the difference between day and night and you're expecting to actually learn something from their reporting?

 

Really?

 

I would sooner stand in a rainstorm looking up with my mouth open as to read the dreck they attempt to promote as news.

Posted by: Gmac - Waiting on the Revolution, or something at March 21, 2013 02:40 PM (gBACy)

285 How do we know there wasn't another bang or two or zillion just down the cosmic road out of sight?


It's easier than you'd think to lose count.

Posted by: Sandra Fluke at March 21, 2013 02:40 PM (8ZskC)

286 "279 Joe Biden makes a strange quark seem normal. Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at March 21, 2013 06:39 PM (tkWnt) " Charming as always, Anna. ;-)

Posted by: Mirror-Universe Mitt Romney at March 21, 2013 02:40 PM (CaJnt)

287 Taco Stand, one taco with cheese, hold the semen and other stuff inside the barrel.

Posted by: Tilikum the Killer Assault Whale at March 21, 2013 02:40 PM (uhftQ)

288 Isn't dark matter like ancient map makers just putting in pictures of sea serpents in the unknown area?

^^^THIS.  Yep, its another way of saying we don't have a fucking clue, so we just make some shit up.

Posted by: @PurpAv at March 21, 2013 02:40 PM (/gHaE)

289 Jesus...it is slightly less fucked up.  But still fucked up.  Maybe I can get a job as a science writer for the NYT.

Posted by: Taco Stand at March 21, 2013 02:41 PM (C+qQ0)

290 They do give a link to the white papers in the NYT piece: http://www.sciops.esa.int/index.php?project=PLANCK&page=Planck_Published_Papers fun stuff

Posted by: artisanal 'ette at March 21, 2013 02:41 PM (XYSwB)

291 On a side note, I don't believe that disobedience to the new gun laws will be very vocal or evident.

To do so will invite automatic scrutiny and investigation so most will be closed mouth about what they're doing.

However the mask is off and NO ONE can claim that the Dems/Liberals/State Media are acting reasonably and with concern for safety.

It's a stone power grab.

The State Media may or may not report the more subtler signs of disobedience or outright defiance. There also may be an increase in trans state migration patterns.

Posted by: Bitter Clinger and All That at March 21, 2013 02:41 PM (Kpn/z)

292 Interesting, I just ate some Taco Stand food. CB X Q+OP side X

Posted by: Dr. Varno at March 21, 2013 02:42 PM (6Pghw)

293 I don't want to go back in the barrel...

Posted by: Taco Stand at March 21, 2013 02:42 PM (C+qQ0)

294 Posted by: Ook? at March 21, 2013 06:38 PM (OQpzc)

Here Be Quarkes!!

Posted by: Bitter Clinger and All That at March 21, 2013 02:42 PM (Kpn/z)

295 Maybe it was 1.2 GIGAwatts?

Posted by: Mr. Moo Moo at March 21, 2013 02:43 PM (HDgX3)

296 Taco Stand at March 21, 2013 06:42 PM (C+qQ0)

Don't cut and paste from word.

Do it in notepad.

Posted by: Bitter Clinger and All That at March 21, 2013 02:43 PM (Kpn/z)

297 Later, all. God bless. :-)

Posted by: Mirror-Universe Mitt Romney at March 21, 2013 02:43 PM (CaJnt)

298 Thanks.

Posted by: Taco Stand at March 21, 2013 02:43 PM (C+qQ0)

299 I'll take my taco on some Cool Ranch Doritos, thank you very much.

Posted by: mugiwara at March 21, 2013 02:44 PM (hpYnL)

300
What gun? And what were you wearing?
Ok, what gun? Posted by: Tilikum the Killer Assault Whale at March 21, 2013 06:32 PM (uhftQ)


100 rounds through my Walther PK 380 at 9 feet, 21 feet and 45 feet then 12 rounds through the hubby's Beretta PX4 .40 at 45 feet.  That gun is a bit too big for my hands.

Posted by: DangerGirl @deadlyestrogen at March 21, 2013 02:44 PM (GrtrJ)

301 ^^^THIS. Yep, its another way of saying we don't have a fucking clue, so we just make some shit up.

Yeah, it's a placeholder. Like "Planet Vulcan" was the placeholder they used to explain the orbit of Mercury.

The problem with dark matter is that if it doesn't exist, Einstein has to be rewritten . . . like Einstein rewrote Newton (and blew up Planet Vulcan).

All of these "physical laws" are just best-guess models. They happen to work really well, though, for what we've been using them for. Really really well in the case of Einstein. Even Newton by himself will get you to the Moon.

Posted by: boulder toilet hobo at March 21, 2013 02:44 PM (QTHTd)

302 I don't want to go back in the barrel... You did clean it before you left, didn't you? Because If you didn't...well, that would be another trip to the barrel.

Posted by: Sean Bannion at March 21, 2013 02:44 PM (ZA1As)

303 Taco Stand, you remind me of Sven the Special Snowflake Viking.

For pasting anything that Pixy-Misa can handle, first feed your theorems and quotes into Notepad.  Then take the deciphered text from Notepad and then let Pixy-Misa play with it.

Anything else, you end up raping the cows and stealing the women.

Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at March 21, 2013 02:45 PM (tkWnt)

304 "And then it tells us the early Big Bang was "white hot... blindingly bright," which is... gee thanks, I didn't figure on it being blindingly bright. I figured it was more like 300 watts, who knows, maybe even 400."

LOL.   "Blindingly bright"  LOL.    God must have had his shades on.

Good stuff, Ace.

Posted by: mrp at March 21, 2013 02:46 PM (HjPtV)

305 You did clean it before you left, didn't you?

Because If you didn't...well, that would be another trip to the barrel.

Posted by: Sean Bannion at March 21, 2013 06:44 PM (ZA1As




After two trips to The Barrel the punishment should be the Woodchipper of Doom.

Posted by: Jane D'oh at March 21, 2013 02:46 PM (UOM48)

306 >>>Lena Dunham's FUPA extends over her entire body. I hear it's gonna give a TED talk.

Posted by: Dr. Varno at March 21, 2013 02:46 PM (6Pghw)

307 Anything else, you end up raping the cows and stealing the women.

You say that like it's a bad thing.

Posted by: Blanco Basura at March 21, 2013 02:46 PM (xKC/c)

308 So here's CBS...coming from the US, a supposedly capitalistic society...willingly letting themselves be used as propaganda tools for the Commies. Jeeez....you guys just now noticing this?

Posted by: Any CBS reporter for Vietnam circa 1960-1973 at March 21, 2013 02:46 PM (ebWFJ)

309 "Sven the Special Snowflake Viking."

He's my brother from a different mother.

Posted by: Taco Stand at March 21, 2013 02:47 PM (C+qQ0)

310 And then it tells us the early Big Bang was "white hot... blindingly bright, White hot?? Racist.

Posted by: Sean Bannion at March 21, 2013 02:47 PM (ZA1As)

311 109 "Some tits are really big. Some asses, on some ladies, bigger than those tits. The universe? Well it's even bigger. Bigger than both of those tits and that ass combined. So if you can wrap your head around that... you're probably the happiest man in the universe." So...what you're saying is, is that some girls are bigger than others? Well then, some girls' mothers are bigger than other girls' mothers. QED

Posted by: Philandering String Theorist at March 21, 2013 02:47 PM (0q+4n)

312 Any CBS reporter for Vietnam circa 1960-1973

-----------




Especially Uncle Walter.

Posted by: mama winger at March 21, 2013 02:47 PM (P6QsQ)

313 Same retarded father, though.

Posted by: Taco Stand at March 21, 2013 02:47 PM (C+qQ0)

314 I know I'm going to regret this forever, but

*whispers*

what is a FUPA?

*covers eyes*

Posted by: Jane D'oh at March 21, 2013 02:48 PM (UOM48)

315

281...Big arguments throughout the physics/quantum community of whether God exists. I remember reading, way back when sifting through a lot of this stuff, people keeping count of how many physicists believed in God. Was annoying.

 

---------

 

As I recall, Einstein believed in God...and that science is the study of His creation.

 

But yeah, some use a 'belief in God' as a way to nullify or categorize the work of the physicists who believe...as though 'good science' cannot be achieved if you also believe in God.

 

Posted by: wheatie at March 21, 2013 02:48 PM (UMBJ2)

316 Walter Kronkite has a special place in Hell.

Posted by: Bitter Clinger and All That at March 21, 2013 02:48 PM (Kpn/z)

317 Fat Upper Pussy Area.

FUPA.

Posted by: Taco Stand at March 21, 2013 02:49 PM (C+qQ0)

318 Fat Upper P____ Area

You fill in the blank as there's a divided opinion on what it should be called.

Posted by: Bitter Clinger and All That at March 21, 2013 02:49 PM (Kpn/z)

319 Fat upper pussy area

Posted by: Infidel at March 21, 2013 02:49 PM (O/fK8)

320 Stephen Hawking in his quest to demystify the universe seeks to know all the equations of the universe.  By doing so he hopes to make a clockwork god.

Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at March 21, 2013 02:49 PM (tkWnt)

321 “I want to know how God created this world. I am not interested in this or that phenomenon, in the spectrum of this or that element. I want to know God’s thoughts; the rest are details.” Albert Einstein

Posted by: steevy at March 21, 2013 02:49 PM (9XBK2)

322 Fat Upper Pussy Area. FUPA. Posted by: Taco Stand at March 21, 2013 06:49 PM (C+qQ0) ------------------------------------------------------ Otherwise known as the Mons Pubis?

Posted by: Truck Monkey at March 21, 2013 02:49 PM (jucos)

323 After two trips to The Barrel the punishment should be the Woodchipper of Doom. I believe Alextopia Industries has radically improved the WOD by strapping a Pratt and Whitney F-100 turbofan to it.

Posted by: Sean Bannion at March 21, 2013 02:50 PM (ZA1As)

324 Real science writing always uses the words "robust" and "elegant".

Posted by: Ed Anger at March 21, 2013 02:50 PM (tOkJB)

325 Posted by: Taco Stand at March 21, 2013 06:49 PM (C+qQ0



Thanks.  I'll now file that information under "things I never needed to know and now can't forget."

Posted by: Jane D'oh at March 21, 2013 02:50 PM (UOM48)

326 I know I'm going to regret this forever, but

*whispers*

what is a FUPA?

*covers eyes*
Posted by: Jane D'oh at March 21, 2013 06:48 PM (UOM4


You know better.   You truly truly know better. 

Posted by: alexthechick - SMOD. Totes waiting until after March Madness. at March 21, 2013 02:50 PM (Gk3SS)

327 You're still not ready for a phased plasma rifle in the 40 watt range.

 

Posted by: Cicero, Semiautomatic Assault Commenter at March 21, 2013 06:33 PM (8ZskC)

 

Who needs 40 watts?  We're gonna limit that to 7 watts.  It's for your  own safety, you understand.  It's for all the children!!!1!!

Posted by: Da Gov at March 21, 2013 02:51 PM (BAS5M)

328 Truck Monkey at March 21, 2013 06:49 PM (jucos)

Don't ask me any tough questions.  I just got out of the barrel.

Posted by: Taco Stand at March 21, 2013 02:51 PM (C+qQ0)

329 I learn so much at this blog.

Posted by: Jane D'oh at March 21, 2013 02:51 PM (UOM48)

330 Posted by: Jane D'oh at March 21, 2013 06:48 PM (UOM4 Oddly, I can see you doing exactly this. Of course in my mind you're a slightly older Kate Upton.

Posted by: Sean Bannion at March 21, 2013 02:51 PM (ZA1As)

331

308 So here's CBS...coming from the US, a supposedly capitalistic society...willingly letting themselves be used as propaganda tools for the Commies.

 



Jeeez....you guys just now noticing this?

 

----------

 

Not us...it's Bob Beckel who is just now noticing it.

He declared 'war' on CBS today on The Five.

 

Posted by: wheatie at March 21, 2013 02:52 PM (UMBJ2)

332 EUROSEC had this problem with Doppelgänger.

Posted by: Dr. Varno at March 21, 2013 02:52 PM (6Pghw)

333 Kate Upton > Big Bang Theory *Not even close*

Posted by: Truck Monkey at March 21, 2013 02:52 PM (jucos)

334 Can we napalm CBS to save CBS?

Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at March 21, 2013 02:52 PM (tkWnt)

335 Of course in my mind you're a slightly older Kate Upton.

Posted by: Sean Bannion at March 21, 2013 06:51 PM (ZA1As



In my husband's fantasy I am.

Posted by: Jane D'oh at March 21, 2013 02:52 PM (UOM48)

336 I believe Alextopia Industries has radically improved the WOD by strapping a Pratt and Whitney F-100 turbofan to it. Posted by: Sean Bannion at March 21, 2013 06:50 PM (ZA1As)


Alextopia Industries has made great strides in many areas, yes.   Particularly in tracking technology.  


Posted by: alexthechick - SMOD. Totes waiting until after March Madness. at March 21, 2013 02:52 PM (Gk3SS)

337 I emailed a moron about this (and other topics) once.

Placeholders suck. They say "we don't know". They are, still, better than the real Theory Of Everything, which is of course Allah.

Suppose we decide that dark-matter doesn't exist and that it's just God making His presence known when the math doesn't work for this (admittedly huge) case, of galactic spin.

The problem is that God has a will of His own. If the scientists had given up and said "God did it" when they saw that Mercury or Uranus wasn't orbiting as it should, we never would have had Einstein. Sure he'd have been born, but he'd have been put under house-arrest.

Instead they just said "fuck it, we don't know, here's planet Vulcan or planet Neptune; now go find it, or get us a better theory". And they said "we'll not arrest anybody, and we won't burn too many people at the stake neither".

So, Neptune was found and the planet Uranus explained; and Vulcan was not found and relativity discovered.

Alternatively we can have Pakistani textbooks that say that the planets orbit this way "in sha' Allâh".

We're better off with placeholders.

Posted by: boulder toilet hobo at March 21, 2013 02:52 PM (QTHTd)

338 100 rounds through my Walther PK 380 at 9 feet, 21 feet and 45 feet then 12 rounds through the hubby's Beretta PX4 .40 at 45 feet. That gun is a bit too big for my hands.

Posted by: DangerGirl @deadlyestrogen

***

 

45 feet? You do like a challenge. Excellent choice of firearm too.

Posted by: Tilikum the Killer Assault Whale at March 21, 2013 02:53 PM (uhftQ)

339
Alextopia Industries has made great strides in many areas, yes. Particularly in tracking technology.


Posted by: alexthechick - SMOD. Totes waiting until after March Madness. at March 21, 2013 06:52 PM (Gk3SS




I hope you punished the ingrate who dared to suggest you'd create a Sandra Lee monstrosity of a "Christmas tree" earlier.

Posted by: Jane D'oh at March 21, 2013 02:54 PM (UOM48)

340 Don't ask me any tough questions. I just got out of the barrel. PTSD is a bitch. Perhaps our Queen will grant you the favor of a brownie.

Posted by: Sean Bannion at March 21, 2013 02:54 PM (ZA1As)

341 I'm not saying that God doesn't exist. I'm just saying the He is a shitty thesis advisor

Posted by: boulder toilet hobo at March 21, 2013 02:54 PM (QTHTd)

342 I hope you punished the ingrate who dared to suggest you'd create a Sandra Lee monstrosity of a "Christmas tree" earlier.

Posted by: Jane D'oh at March 21, 2013 06:54 PM (UOM4


Revenge is a dish best served cold.

Or bloody and screaming.  


One of those.   I'll leave it for certain people to determine which it shall be in this case.

Posted by: alexthechick - SMOD. Totes waiting until after March Madness. at March 21, 2013 02:55 PM (Gk3SS)

343 Alextopia Industries has made great strides in many areas, yes. Particularly in tracking technology. ::: shifty eyes :::: I'm not worried. Really, I'm not. .........

Posted by: Sean Bannion at March 21, 2013 02:55 PM (ZA1As)

344 God wants us to seek for answers.

Posted by: steevy at March 21, 2013 02:55 PM (9XBK2)

345 *knock knock*
Sean Bannion, "Yes?"
V.O. "Special delivery."
Sean, "I didn't order anything."
V.O. "Says Kate Upton on box."
Sean, "Kate Upton!"
*sound of dead bolts being pulled and squeal of hinges*
Sean, "Ah!! Help *$(%*$$!@!!!"

AlextheChick, "Tsk tsk, should never trust strange voices at the door.  Another happy 'raptor."

Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at March 21, 2013 02:56 PM (tkWnt)

346 I read Guth's The Inflationary Universe some time ago, and IIRC, the inflationary period was a few milli- femto-(?) seconds of expansion after the Big Bang in which the rate of growth exceeded the speed of light, so that the universe could no longer could conceivably interact with itself in toto, the SOL speed limit making most of the rest of the universe inaccessible from any given location.

Posted by: Bivalve Curious at March 21, 2013 02:57 PM (sYUAj)

347 One last point: climate-change "science" works precisely on the burn-dissenters-at-the-stake model

Posted by: boulder toilet hobo at March 21, 2013 02:57 PM (QTHTd)

348 "I hope you punished the ingrate who dared to suggest you'd create a Sandra Lee monstrosity of a "Christmas tree" earlier."

For a second, I read "Sara Lee".  That would be awesome.  And edible.

Posted by: mrp at March 21, 2013 02:58 PM (HjPtV)

349

We're better off with placeholders.

 

 

Laces out, you bastards!

Posted by: Ray Finkle at March 21, 2013 02:59 PM (BAS5M)

350 Tsk tsk, should never trust strange voices at the door. Another happy 'raptor." It went down just like that scene from A Bridge Too Far... Wounded Paratrooper: Morphine! Taffy, I must have morphine! 'Taffy' Brace: Morphine's only for the people who are really hurt. Wounded Paratrooper: I thought I *was* really hurt. 'Taffy' Brace: Well, you're wrong.

Posted by: Sean Bannion at March 21, 2013 03:00 PM (ZA1As)

351 IIRC, the inflationary period was a few milli- femto-(?) seconds of expansion after the Big Bang in which the rate of growth exceeded the speed of light, so that the universe could no longer could conceivably interact with itself in toto, the SOL speed limit making most of the rest of the universe inaccessible from any given location.


Yes, much like a large extended family whose many dysfunctions prevent them from ever speaking to each other.

Posted by: A Science Writer with a Degree in Liberal Arts at March 21, 2013 03:00 PM (8ZskC)

352 Of course FUPA is dependent on the relative size and gravitational force of the planet involved. On Venus? Big, big problem. On Mars, not so much. But the daytime high temps of -200 degrees Fahrenheit on Mars might just limit the time to properly perform a well executed 'landing strip'. Just sayin'.

Posted by: Schrödinger's cat [/i] at March 21, 2013 03:01 PM (feFL6)

353 Posted by: Sean Bannion at March 21, 2013 06:55 PM (ZA1As)

You should be.

YOU should BE.

Posted by: Bitter Clinger and All That at March 21, 2013 03:02 PM (Kpn/z)

354 lol Sean boyo.

Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at March 21, 2013 03:02 PM (tkWnt)

355 the inflationary period was a few milli- femto-(?) seconds of expansion after the Big Bang in which the rate of growth exceeded the speed of light, so that the universe could no longer could conceivably interact with itself in toto, the SOL speed limit making most of the rest of the universe inaccessible from any given location.

Posted by: Bivalve Curious at March 21, 2013 06:57 PM (sYUAj)



That's what she said.

Posted by: Michael Scott at March 21, 2013 03:03 PM (hpYnL)

356 Femtoe?  Is that related to FUPA?

Posted by: Bitter Clinger and All That at March 21, 2013 03:04 PM (Kpn/z)

357 If you excuse me Your Majesty, I must tend to my wounds, and then wash, feed, and water the Ravage. By your leave, Your Grace.

Posted by: Sean Bannion at March 21, 2013 03:05 PM (ZA1As)

358

All this effort and they still haven't explained why 75% of lesbians are obese.

Posted by: somebody else, not me at March 21, 2013 05:58 PM (nZvGM)

 

Because they eat too much.

 

What do I win?

Posted by: Jay Guevara at March 21, 2013 03:07 PM (IDSI7)

359

IIRC, the inflationary period was a few milli- femto-(?) seconds of expansion after the Big Bang in which the rate of growth exceeded the speed of light, so that the universe could no longer could conceivably
interact with itself in toto, the SOL speed limit making most of the rest of the universe inaccessible from any given location.

 

Fuckin' Bernanke.

Posted by: Jay Guevara at March 21, 2013 03:08 PM (IDSI7)

360

341 I'm not saying that God doesn't exist. I'm just saying the He is a shitty thesis advisor

 

That's not His job anyway.

 

Maybe what you're trying to say...is that some people use God, and presume to speak for him, to discourage scientific inquiry?

 

Because yeah, this has been going on down throughout the ages of Man.

Knowledge is power.

And ancient priests in a lot of societies sought to control the assimilation of knowledge...as a way of protecting their power.

 


 

Posted by: wheatie at March 21, 2013 03:11 PM (UMBJ2)

361 Where's the article about Penny's grapefruit sized breasts?

Posted by: Sheldon and Leonard at March 21, 2013 03:18 PM (kqqGm)

362 Posted by: wheatie at March 21, 2013 07:11 PM (UMBJ2) Nice comment.

Posted by: Yoshi, Aggrieved Victim of the White Man at March 21, 2013 03:24 PM (csi6Y)

363 I always be thinking that the black hole in the universe is the same black hole my daddy explores on my mama.

Posted by: LoveChildofMaxineWatersandJesseJacksonJr at March 21, 2013 03:53 PM (RMqJU)

364

then it tells us the early Big Bang was "white hot... blindingly bright,"

 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

Posted by: malclave at March 21, 2013 04:11 PM (W1Ndc)

365 Only a little more than twenty years ago, back when I was in college, the best guestimate for the age of the universe was between 13 and 20 billion years, but the consensus was that it was most likely about 18 billion years old.

So from where I'm standing, over the course of twenty years, the universe got 5 billion years younger.

Posted by: Lewis at March 21, 2013 04:44 PM (UB1pV)

366 When I transferred to Temple University back in 1978, I took a course called Science Writing (I was a Journalism major). We were told that the current state of science writing at the major dailies was dismal. We were also told that it was all the rage at the major dailies to start running a Science section once or twice a week (they were) and hiring a science writer or two (they were). It wasn't long, though, before they dropped those science sections (and switched the science reporter over to the kids and dogs beat), in favor of business sections. The CEOs were the new rock stars, the PhDs were old hat!

Posted by: Brian McKim at March 21, 2013 05:01 PM (ko1M2)

367 I worked on a couple of papers, and the reporters and editors were some of the most ignorant people I've ever met. As an intern in my third year of college I was the most scientifically literate person at the first paper, and with a history degree and a few years of writing sci-fi under my belt I was an order of magnitude more scientifically literate than anyone at the second. Journalists really are pig-ignorant. They don't know science, they don't know law, they don't know economics, their knowledge of politics is just partisan cheering, their understanding of international relations is mostly flat-out wrong, and most of them are incredibly bad spellers. Here's a simple test: ever read a news report about something you had personal knowledge of? An event you attended or an incident you were involved in? And of course the reporter got a lot of stuff wrong. That's because they get EVERY FUCKING THING THEY WRITE WRONG.

Posted by: Trimegistus at March 21, 2013 05:29 PM (hdsaA)

368 "...an explosive burp known as inflation, which was the dynamite in the Big Bang." Inelegant and incorrect. The inflationary period does not constitute the "bang", but follows it. In order: Planck Epoch Grand Unification Epoch Inflationary Epoch And so on.

Posted by: Fabio Escobar at March 21, 2013 08:19 PM (4Z36i)

369 Speaking of sucky science writing, I tuned into Jake Tapper's new show today.

Sad.

His lead story was how salt is killing us, as pushed by a skinny NYT writer who now has a book about those awful corporations who hook us on salt. I'm surprised we're not all dead. But we will be! Because of salt.

Somewhere Jay Carney is laughing diabolically. I think the WH wanted him out of their hair and now he appears to be on powerful psychotropic drugs.


Posted by: PJ at March 21, 2013 08:40 PM (ZWaLo)

370 Am I the only one who thinks Dark Matter and Dark Energy are the 21st Century's Luminiferous Aether?

Posted by: Comrade Arthur at March 21, 2013 05:45 PM (TcQWW)


I've got a strong suspicion you're right on the money with this one.

"Ooh, most of the mass of galaxies is dark!  What sort of exotic substance must that be?"


Just because it's dark, why's it got to be exotic?

Dust is dark.  So is hydrogen gas.

How do we know that the spaces in between solar systems aren't absolutely jampacked with nonluminous space junk?


Plus it's also possible that our rotational formulas are wrong, and observed galaxies aren't nearly as massive as we think they are.

Posted by: Lewis at March 21, 2013 10:28 PM (UB1pV)

371 Good science writing pretty much died with George Gamow. No one since him has been able to resist the temptation to strut his stylistic stuff at the expense of comprehensibility.

Posted by: Francis W. Porretto at March 22, 2013 12:46 AM (GCzY/)

372 220, 221... whatever it takes.

Posted by: Dodd at March 22, 2013 12:49 PM (ZC9/i)

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