A STAR primed to explode in a blast that could wipe out the Earth was revealed by astronomers yesterday. That does it! I'm leaving!
It will self-destruct in an explosion called a supernova with the force of 20 billion billion billion megatons of TNT. Now, datsa kaboom!
New studies show the star, called T Pyxidis, is much closer than previously thought at 3,260 light-years away - a short hop in galactic terms. Right. The sights we're looking at now occurred 3,260 years ago...
Risk ... impression of T Pyxidis
So the blast from the thermonuclear explosion could strip away our ozone layer that keeps out deadly space radiation. Life on Earth would then be frazzled. Death and destruction have been on their way for 3,260 years, approximately the length of time from Nefertiti to our own sweet selves...
The doomsday scenario was described yesterday by astronomers from Villanova University, Philadelphia, US. Did they run around at the press conference waving their hands in the air and shieking "we're all gonna die"?
They said the International Ultraviolet Explorer satellite has shown them that T Pyxidis is really two stars, one called a white dwarf that is sucking in gas and steadily growing. When it reaches a critical mass it will blow itself to pieces. I just hate it when things suck gas and blow themselves to pieces...
It will become as bright as all the other stars in the galaxy put together and shine like a beacon halfway across the universe. Whoa! I'm shelling out for Foster Grants!
The experts said the Hubble space telescope has photographed the star gearing up for its big bang with a series of smaller blasts or "burps", called novas. A friend of mine used to own a Chevy Burp...
These explosions came regularly about every 20 years from 1890 - but stopped after 1967. Lemme see, here... What happened in 1967?... Elvis married Priscilla? Sergeant Pepper? American Samoa's first constitution?
So the next blast is nearly 20 years overdue, said scientists Edward M Sion, Patrick Godon and Timothy McClain at the American Astronomical Society in Washington. Robin Scagell, vice-president of the UK's Society for Popular Astronomy, said last night: "The star may certainly became a supernova soon - but soon could still be a long way off so don't have nightmares."
Posted by: Fred ||
01/07/2010 16:52 ||
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the only thing that will survive the heat and radiation will be Nancy Pelosi's face
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/07/2010 19:07 Comments ||
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I keep praying that the Lord will save me from Obama and his cadres. I hope this is not the answer.
The mass accretion of the white dwarf will likely not reach the supernova threshold for 5 million to 30 million years. When it does, it will be further away then it is now.
Posted by: lord garth ||
01/07/2010 22:43 Comments ||
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Two North Korean fishermen who were rescued by South Korean maritime police near the Dokdo islets earlier this week were sent back to the North on Wednesday.
The Unification Ministry said the North Koreans were handed over to the communist country at 2 p.m. through the border truce village of Panmunjom.
The fishermen were rescued Sunday while drifting on a small raft some 28 km northeast of Dokdo. They were repatriated after they expressed their wish to return home.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/07/2010 00:00 ||
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Failed their intelligence tests, I see.
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
01/07/2010 9:06 Comments ||
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Almost 1-1/2 years since she shook up American politics with her acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention, former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin is set to headline another landmark political event: the first-ever Tea Party Convention next month in Nashville, Tenn.
On its face, the gig would seem a step down for Ms. Palin, one of conservative America's most popular and polarizing figures (not to mention major thorn in the side of the Obama White House).
But with an NBC/Wall Street Journal poll ranking a generic "Tea Party" as more popular than either Democrats or Republicans, and Palin herself rivaling the charming Mr. Obama in poll popularity, many experts see the Tea Party event as a potential milestone for a mounting, even transformational, force in US politics.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/07/2010 00:00 ||
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"The Republican Party is trapped by their base, which is going increasingly conservative," says Mr. Abramowitz. "Yes, Republicans can do fairly well in the 2010 elections -- it's entirely possible that they could pick up 20 to 30 seats in the House -- but they could read the wrong message from that. In 2012, if the economy is doing reasonably well again and Obama's popularity has stabilized, that strategy is going to be very risky and this could all come back to haunt them."
Change a few words around to fit the other side, push it back a few years, and we can see it happening before our very eyes.
Posted by: Bobby ||
01/07/2010 6:50 Comments ||
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the charming Mr. Obama
Ohfergawdsake. Give it a rest.
#4
The best bet is to keep the Tea Party movement as a movement, *not* a political party. But at the same time, start putting forth a clear and concise political platform, designed like the Contract With America.
If they become a political party, they will have to field candidates. But if they remain a movement, candidates from the Republicans *and* Democrats will have to join *them*.
Importantly, I say "Republicans and Democrats", because at the State level, there is a lot of bipartisan agreement that the national government is out of control. So whether or not the national parties like it, and they don't, the State parties may embrace it.
This is already a winning strategy at the State level, with the "10th Amendment movement" going strong. So optimally, the Tea Party movement can become the elective popular wing of what the State legislatures are doing.
The trick will be to hold *all* candidates feet to the fire.
Do they, or do they not, fully support the balancing of national and State power? Do they or do they not fully support getting the out of control national government back under control?
Most importantly, Do they, or do they not, fully support the return of the national government to the originally intended constitutional framework?
#5
That was well articulated 'moose. That would be the best outcome - not for the GOP but for the nation, and that's what we really want in the end, no? As far as my participation has allowed me to see, this is in fact the case. The Tea Party movement so far is working very hard to maintain its independence. This is a very good thing.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
01/07/2010 17:29 Comments ||
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What makes the "tea party" so dangerous, is that it is ONLY about excessive government spending, taxes, debt and bloat.
This way they can be supported by BOTH sides of the political spectrum. The second any "leader" of the movement gets involved in gay marriage, abortion, chicken in every pot, etc. the movement will die since it will have alienated 1/2 of its supporters.
I would like to see it stay as it is and a endorsement, or the lack of one could spell the 10 pts needed to win or lose an election.
Proving that there's a lot of paranoia (or maybe they call it "heightened imagination") on left-wing talk radio, certifiably nutty host (and former CNN employee) Mike Malloy is at it again.
Brian Maloney at Radio Equalizer reports on his Monday show, Malloy refused to accept the premise that al-Qaeda put a young Nigerian jihadi on a flight to Detroit for a Christmas Day massacre. It was, claimed Malloy, a Republican plot:
Now, the inquiry, the questions are being raised as to whether or not this is not a deliberate attempt to embarrass... ah, that's not quite a strong enough word, but let's start there, embarrass the Obama Administration -- that there are forces at work in this country, and I believe this as surely as I put on my right shoe before my left -- that there are forces alive who are very active, very wealthy in this country, at work in this country that want Obama to fail no matter what and the idea of killing 200 to 300 people on a jetliner in order to make the point is nothing. It means nothing....
My gut feeling is this was deliberate, this was deliberately done in order to put the Obama Administration in such a vice grip, that it's impossible to get anything done, to raise so much fear, this is what Republicans do, this is what they do.
Maloney joked this was an expose on "the real killers" -- even though, mercifully, no one was harmed on Christmas in Detroit.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/07/2010 00:00 ||
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Wow.
it just doesn't seem to matter to leftists.
A republican president or a democratic president.
Republicans get the blame.
Funny how this guy confuses the insides of his "safe" regions with the offices of the Republican National Committee.
#2
No safe refuge for the left in the rational side of interpreting what happened, so they flee to the irrational and hope none of their followers notice.
Shades of what the Mullocrats in Iran are peddling.
#3
that there are forces alive who are very active, very wealthy in this country, at work in this country that want Obama to fail
Dear Comrade Malloy, this outrage is precisely why time is of the essense. We must begin wealth and property redistribution as quickly as possible to end this bourgeois nonsense. Once they have nothing and all hope is gone, they will quickly self-migrate and be gone.
#5
Blame the right wing or face the fact your messiah is not who you thought he was. Not a hard choice for most hardcore lefties. They'll continue down the path of denial while the center shaves off.
#7
I believe this as surely as I put on my right shoe before my left
Why, of course. I measure the strength of my beliefs by the order in which I squeeze into my size 7's as well. I don't have to take my feet out of my mouth before donning my Nikes though.
[Al Arabiya Latest] Orthodox Christmas celebrations kicked off in the traditional birthplace of Jesus on Wednesday to the sound of bagpipes and protests by Palestinians accusing church leaders of selling land to Israelis.
Palestinian boy-scouts played bagpipes and hundreds of pilgrims watched a colorful procession led by Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem Theophilos III through Manger Square in the Israeli-occupied West Bank city of Bethlehem.
Two columns of Palestinian riot police escorted the top Orthodox cleric in the Holy Land to the Church of the Nativity, built on the site where Christians believe Mary gave birth to Jesus after she and Joseph found no room at the inn.
Theophilos was elected patriarch in 2005 to replace Irineos, dismissed by the church over an alleged multi-million-dollar sale of church land in annexed Arab east Jerusalem to Jewish investors.
The protesters chanted slogans against Theophilos and held up signs in English, Arabic and Greek accusing him of betraying his Palestinian followers.
"He did not fulfill his promise to cancel the deal," said Marwan Tubasi, President of the Council of Arab Orthodox Organizations and Palestinian deputy tourism minister.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/07/2010 00:00 ||
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The Hollywood A-list behind militant anti-whaling group
Posted by: ed ||
01/07/2010 17:49 ||
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I'd like to see Sean Penn play Ahab in a remake of Moby Dick. Assuming he actually gets eaten by the whale, of course. And assuming he remembers to put the drain plugs in the boat before they shove off.
#2
South Park did an excellent show based on whaling this year. Assumed the Japanese hated whales and dolphins because of a photo- shopped picture of the Enola Gay had a whale and dolphin as pilots.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Almost 1-1/2 years since she shook up American politics with her acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention, former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin is set to headline another landmark political event: the first-ever Tea Party Convention next month in Nashville, Tenn.
Proving that there's a lot of paranoia (or maybe they call it "heightened imagination") on left-wing talk radio, certifiably nutty host (and former CNN employee) Mike Malloy is at it again.
