I thought this was another pretty cool article that I've been delayed in posting ;)
Hope you like it <3
Our Lonely Future: Stars in the Universe Flying Apart Faster and Faster
October 20, 2011 by Dan Rattiner
Last week, the Nobel Prize for Physics was awarded to three scientists who have discovered that contrary to what everybody has thought up until now, the rate of the expansion of the universe is not slowing but speeding up.
Indeed, the studies proving this were created to measure the amount of slowing. They had telescopes pointed out at a group of very bright supernovas far out at different edges of the universe. It was felt that the movements of these supernovas hurtling through the universe could be measured and the rates calculated for comparative speed.
Once they determined this rate, they could predict when the universe, which was created in a big bang with a tremendous fireworks shower, was going to either fall back into itself (the big crunch they called it) or simply fade away into the darkness—as fireworks we see on the Fourth of July do.
To determine the rate of slowing, there were two competing studies, which some said during the duration of this competition was just a waste of money since just one could do the job. But then, the first of the studies found the opposite of what they were looking for. And when the second study did so too, a whole lot of scientists got very quiet.
Why is this important? Well the rate of the increase means that as time goes by and everything gets farther and farther away from everything else, it will become more and more difficult for different occupants of different stars to communicate with or visit one another. The universe will become more and more lonely. Meanwhile, our search for life on other planets will become more and more difficult. Since that, exactly, is what we have been doing during the last 50 years, both by telescope and by rockets heading out into the unknown each carrying a coin that proclaims a message of greeting and asks for a response so far not received, this is a biggie.
This whole business where it was wrongly believed the rate of expansion was slowing down was largely the result of work done by Albert Einstein in 1917. He was, as you know, a mathematician, not an astronomer. And so he worked with formulas. With them, he theorized that with gravity, over time, the universe must fall in upon itself. But since astronomers at that time reported it wasn’t yet doing so, he introduced a “fudge factor” that would result in a calculation that someday indeed it would. However, after thinking about it later on, he changed his mind and abandoned the “fudge factor,” saying if it wasn’t there it wasn’t there and the universe in some other way would would collapse into itself. Many believe today that his “fudge factor” is this invisible force that is causing the expansion. Some say Einstein’s abandoning looking further into this was the greatest mistake of his life.
The three Nobel winners are all American citizens. They are Saul Perlmutter of the University of California at Berkeley, Adam Riess of Johns Hopkins University and the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore and Brian Schmidt, a U.S. and Australian citizen now working at Australian National University.
After the release of the two studies, scientists began to look in earnest for what they now call “Dark Energy,” the force that is causing the expansion.
They also are looking in to the possibility that there is more than just one universe. Perhaps there are other universes that have scientific laws that do not resemble the laws of our universe.
I’d like to propose a third thing to look into. The Big Bang took place only 13.4 billion years ago. Maybe, in the scheme of things, the pieces of the universe hurtling apart from one another at increasing speed are similar to the Fourth of July fireworks in that at the beginning, fireworks DO accelerate into the sky in increasing speed, but then, when they get halfway up, they lose their propulsive force and begin to slow down. Maybe the universe is only in these early stages.
In any case, what has so far been discovered resulted in a New York Times reporter, Dennis Overbye, writing “it’s as if, when you tossed your car keys in the air, instead of coming down, they flew faster and faster to the ceiling.”
In more scientific news, it was widely reported last week that scientists at the CERN Laboratory in Switzerland have discovered that a tiny particle they sent through the air at a particle detector 500 miles away traveled at a speed faster than the speed of light, something thought not possible.
The particle they sent was a neutrino, a tiny, subatomic thing that is the smallest physical particle known. It was supposed to travel at just under the speed of light. But it got there sooner. And calculations show it got there traveling 60 nanoseconds faster than the speed of light.
Other science labs are rushing to try to duplicate this finding, which, if true, would turn all science upside down. The CERN scientists themselves say they have checked things and don’t think they made a mistake, but maybe they did. They look forward, as does everybody, to see if what happened in their lab can happen in others.
Showing posts with label hamptons. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hamptons. Show all posts
11.24.2011
11.23.2011
columbus day passed- woops!
I meant to share this article with you guys on Columbus Day, but that would have cut into my Supernatural October Blog Month- so here it is...from Dan's Papers
Columbus at Montauk: He Landed Where the Lighthouse Is Today
October 20, 2011 by David Rattiner
There are three things we know about Columbus in 1492. When he got here, he thought he was in India. He was deliriously happy about that because that meant he would be rich—just as soon as he came back with the silks and spices. And though he had seen drawings of Indians by explorers who had come around the other way, he did notice these natives didn’t look much like them. They must be another type of Indians, the kind that didn’t make silk or grow spices.
Columbus did go from place to place after noticing these things. He was looking for what he had seen in these drawings. But he never found them. Finally he went home empty handed.
From our perspective, although appreciative that we were discovered in 1492, it certainly would be good if we knew where he landed. It’s a big eastern coastline, 10,000 miles and more. Numerous places claim to be the first place he landed. Montauk Point by the lighthouse, at longitude 41.05, is one of them.
You can make a good case for Montauk. We know that Queen Isabella of Portugal sponsored his journey. We know that if you follow the longitudinal line going straight across the Atlantic from Lisbon, you land at Montauk Point. That would be the shortest way across and that is what he would have wanted to do. It’s a fact.
Actually, Lisbon is at 39.60 longitude, and you have to go north 200 miles along the Portuguese coast to get to 41.05 longitude at the coastal City of Porto. But what we also know about Columbus is that after leaving the Queen and her entourage at the dock in Lisbon waving and shouting bon voyage at them, the Columbus expedition hugged the coast going north for a day, and then, by golly, when they got to Porto and picked up final supplies, including gasoline, it is indeed from there that they headed off! And Porto is at 41.05!
It is also known Columbus and his ships the Pinta, the Nina and the Santa Maria, encountered a group of small islands called the Azores about a third of the way across. Earlier explorers who did not go all the way across, told him he’d find these islands a third of the way across. There were six islands in all, named for the explorer who discovered them in 1456. He was Carlos Gamma de Azores.
Columbus landed at one. There is still Columbus’s footprint in the sand on that island, which today is known as Angra do Heroismo. (Strange name for an island.)
It is this footprint—Columbus’ second toe was bigger than his big toe—which has been found on the beach in Montauk in front of the lighthouse! And it’s still there too!
You might note that the island Columbus stopped at is back at 39.60, the same longitude as Lisbon, and 200 miles south of the route Columbus was trying to track after he left Porto and that is true. But things were different back then and with the navigational tools not quite up to snuff to what they are today, it was just one of those things, one of those coincidences it being back at the level of Lisbon.
It is also true that in the Atlantic Ocean just off Portugal, the prevailing winds go north to south, and so it’s possible the little ships got blown off course just a bit. Later when they hit the Gulf Stream, where the winds go south to north, they wound up right back at 41.05 at Montauk when they got here.
You might suggest that Columbus knew this was going to happen. But that’s a stretch.
So what is the proof, besides the single footprint on the beach at Montauk Point, that Columbus first set foot at Montauk?
There are two proofs. For one thing, numerous Portuguese coins, escudos—this was before the Euro—were found in 2005 among the rocks at Montauk. Those who knew Columbus back in Europe say that everywhere he went, you could hear coins jingling in his pockets. It was how you knew he was coming. So it makes perfect sense that he came ashore jingling and some of them fell out. The other proof we have is that recent scientific carbon dating analysis of the toe jam in the footprint reveals unequivocally that it came from October 8, 1492, which is five days before October 13, 1492, which is when he set foot supposedly on one or another of the islands in the Caribbean and which we today celebrate as Columbus Day.
We also think we know which side of Montauk Point Columbus landed on. It was the southwest beach, where the cliff rises to 60 feet and from which you cannot see the lighthouse at the top. In Columbus’ diary for October 8, he reports not seeing any lighthouse, although he did hear a series of hoots in the fog. It was indeed a foggy day.
“Whereupon between one hoot and another, I had the men row me to a shallow place where I rolled up my pantaloons and put my foot over the side and into the sand, but then thought better of it because I could not see beyond the fog and was worrisome that wolves or bears might be about and so pulled my foot back into the boat and had the men row us back to the ship.”
This was at 11:15 a.m., Eastern Standard Time. At 2:45 p.m., back on the ship, he wrote this.
“Men are getting restless. We are running out of cabbage. I have ordered a course due south. We break out the rum.”
What more proof do you need?
Columbus at Montauk: He Landed Where the Lighthouse Is Today
October 20, 2011 by David Rattiner
There are three things we know about Columbus in 1492. When he got here, he thought he was in India. He was deliriously happy about that because that meant he would be rich—just as soon as he came back with the silks and spices. And though he had seen drawings of Indians by explorers who had come around the other way, he did notice these natives didn’t look much like them. They must be another type of Indians, the kind that didn’t make silk or grow spices.
Columbus did go from place to place after noticing these things. He was looking for what he had seen in these drawings. But he never found them. Finally he went home empty handed.
From our perspective, although appreciative that we were discovered in 1492, it certainly would be good if we knew where he landed. It’s a big eastern coastline, 10,000 miles and more. Numerous places claim to be the first place he landed. Montauk Point by the lighthouse, at longitude 41.05, is one of them.
You can make a good case for Montauk. We know that Queen Isabella of Portugal sponsored his journey. We know that if you follow the longitudinal line going straight across the Atlantic from Lisbon, you land at Montauk Point. That would be the shortest way across and that is what he would have wanted to do. It’s a fact.
Actually, Lisbon is at 39.60 longitude, and you have to go north 200 miles along the Portuguese coast to get to 41.05 longitude at the coastal City of Porto. But what we also know about Columbus is that after leaving the Queen and her entourage at the dock in Lisbon waving and shouting bon voyage at them, the Columbus expedition hugged the coast going north for a day, and then, by golly, when they got to Porto and picked up final supplies, including gasoline, it is indeed from there that they headed off! And Porto is at 41.05!
It is also known Columbus and his ships the Pinta, the Nina and the Santa Maria, encountered a group of small islands called the Azores about a third of the way across. Earlier explorers who did not go all the way across, told him he’d find these islands a third of the way across. There were six islands in all, named for the explorer who discovered them in 1456. He was Carlos Gamma de Azores.
Columbus landed at one. There is still Columbus’s footprint in the sand on that island, which today is known as Angra do Heroismo. (Strange name for an island.)
It is this footprint—Columbus’ second toe was bigger than his big toe—which has been found on the beach in Montauk in front of the lighthouse! And it’s still there too!
You might note that the island Columbus stopped at is back at 39.60, the same longitude as Lisbon, and 200 miles south of the route Columbus was trying to track after he left Porto and that is true. But things were different back then and with the navigational tools not quite up to snuff to what they are today, it was just one of those things, one of those coincidences it being back at the level of Lisbon.
It is also true that in the Atlantic Ocean just off Portugal, the prevailing winds go north to south, and so it’s possible the little ships got blown off course just a bit. Later when they hit the Gulf Stream, where the winds go south to north, they wound up right back at 41.05 at Montauk when they got here.
You might suggest that Columbus knew this was going to happen. But that’s a stretch.
So what is the proof, besides the single footprint on the beach at Montauk Point, that Columbus first set foot at Montauk?
There are two proofs. For one thing, numerous Portuguese coins, escudos—this was before the Euro—were found in 2005 among the rocks at Montauk. Those who knew Columbus back in Europe say that everywhere he went, you could hear coins jingling in his pockets. It was how you knew he was coming. So it makes perfect sense that he came ashore jingling and some of them fell out. The other proof we have is that recent scientific carbon dating analysis of the toe jam in the footprint reveals unequivocally that it came from October 8, 1492, which is five days before October 13, 1492, which is when he set foot supposedly on one or another of the islands in the Caribbean and which we today celebrate as Columbus Day.
We also think we know which side of Montauk Point Columbus landed on. It was the southwest beach, where the cliff rises to 60 feet and from which you cannot see the lighthouse at the top. In Columbus’ diary for October 8, he reports not seeing any lighthouse, although he did hear a series of hoots in the fog. It was indeed a foggy day.
“Whereupon between one hoot and another, I had the men row me to a shallow place where I rolled up my pantaloons and put my foot over the side and into the sand, but then thought better of it because I could not see beyond the fog and was worrisome that wolves or bears might be about and so pulled my foot back into the boat and had the men row us back to the ship.”
This was at 11:15 a.m., Eastern Standard Time. At 2:45 p.m., back on the ship, he wrote this.
“Men are getting restless. We are running out of cabbage. I have ordered a course due south. We break out the rum.”
What more proof do you need?
8.16.2011
7.18.2011
a hamptons beach day
back in 2009,
we visited friends in the hamptons.
courteously, they took us to the most
impressive beach that we've ever been to
in new york.
being the greek babies that we are
LML and I have been very spoiled
as to what we think are good beaches...
but we're thinking that at some point this summer
we definitely have to hit this place up again!
love love love,
the globetrotting gamine
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