Astronomy: Where Do All the Perseid Meteor Showers Come From During August Nights?

From Denny: Have you been enjoying the meteor showers the past week? They were the best on August 12th. Unfortuately, my sky was heavy with rain clouds that night and the next so I missed the biggest show of meteors. Hopefully, some of you got a much better view than I did.

Even this morning around 4:30 AM we went out and saw a few meteors streaking across the sky! Yay! There are still a few sky crumbs left to enjoy as there have been the past few days since my sky cleared! :)

We just pull out the lawn chairs, sit in the dark with the cats who lounge around and we all sip good strong Louisiana coffee au lait to start our morning! The moon sliver was on its back today and around here that means cooler weather is coming. We are so ready for a break from this heat index of 109 degrees F. daily.

Here's what astronomer Chris Peterson from Cloudbait Observatory had to comment today about where the Perseid meteor showers originate: "In terms of direction on the sky, the pointed answer is the constellation of Perseus. That is why the last week's meteor shower was known as the Perseids -- the meteors all appear to come from a radiant toward Perseus.

"Three dimensionally, however, sand-sized debris expelled from Comet Swift-Tuttle follows a well-defined orbit about our Sun, and the part of the orbit that approaches Earth is superposed in front of the Perseus. Therefore, when Earth crosses this orbit, the radiant point of falling debris appears in Perseus.

"Pictured above, a composite image of this year's Pereids meteor shower shows many bright meteors that streaked through the sky on August 12. To the surprise of many, the next night, August 13, also showed many meteors, as demonstrated by rolling one's cursor over the above image by going here.

"This year's Leonids meteor shower in November is expected by some to be exceptionally active, perhaps producing as many as 500 meteors per hour."

Photo from Astronomy Pic of the Day This is a composite image of 96 meteors collected between sunset on August 11 through sunrise on August 12.

From Denny: Make sure you check out all the linked words in this post as there are some fabulous photos and more information, including a chart of constellations you will enjoy.

I can't wait until November for the next big show of meteor showers! Hard to imagine 500 meteors an hour...


astronomy, Perseid meteor showers, meteors, Perseus, constellations

3 Videos: How Deep Sea Coral Can Help Us Heal

From Denny: Until recently the deep sea coral was too difficult for us to reach the ocean floor to explore the possibilities of harvesting for healing benefits. Now we are able to investigate and have discovered many healing properties on the ocean floor. One is the benefit to helping heal a stubborn and highly fatal cancer: pancreatic cancer. We had better get busy on this planet lessening our pollution so we don't kill off what may be our last natural resource for healing such difficult illnesses such as cancer.

We have already devastated the Amazon forest - the lungs of our planet - that held much promise for healing until slash and burn agriculture and logging ravaged the area. These videos hold exciting news!

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

This video is only available on the web. Some of the beginning footage is the same as video one, keep watching as the detail is worth the watch.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Ocean, marine biology, coral reefs, pancreatic cancer, Breast cancer, healing, medical research

3 Videos: Violent Typhoons Affect 9 Million People in Asia

From Denny: These typhoon stories in Asia began on August 9th and the ramifications are still playing out. Over 1 million people in China had to flee the first day. Hundreds are dead from China, Taiwan, Japan to the Philippines from these two violent typhoons. Over 9 million people have been displaced or affected by these violent storms to date.

As an American teenager living in Taiwan many years ago, I went to an American school on the island. I spent two summers on the southern part of the island country helping medical missionaries for free as my boarding school roommate was the child of medical missionaries.

The second summer was cut short as a typhoon was coming your way off the water and it sure was scary. If you have never seen a typhoon coming at you, well, hurricanes are tame. It looks just like a funnel tornado only it's still connected to the sky and the water, builds up tremendous speed and starts rushing toward the shore: you! It hits with the tremendous force of both wind and water, a double whammy. No wonder you see huge homes on concrete foundations just drop off into the water and sail away in this news footage.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

typhoon, Asia, Taiwan, Philippines, China, Weather Phenomena

Video: Test Your Moon Trivia, Learn Whats In Your Night Sky

From Denny: Our Earth's moon has mesmerized humanity for thousands of years; we write childrens' rhymes and books about it. We dedicate love poems to the moon. We wonder about it constantly, both romantically and scientifically. We make jokes about it; there are incredible legends associated with lunar light. Have some fun learning moon trivia and laugh at the comments with the answers.

Try your hand at the Moon Quiz trivia.

Questions:

1 - Which mythical creature comes to life during a full moon?

Banshee
Werewolf
Vampire
Goblin

2 - New Zealand's Maori people tell the story of Rona, who was swept up by the moon after she yelled at it. Why was she angry?

She saw an ogre's reflection in the moon
The tide came up suddenly and got her wet
The moon was her father, who had punished her
She hurt her foot when the moon darkened suddenly

3 - According to folk lore: What happens if you cut your hair between the new and full moons?

It will stop growing
It will fall out
It will grow healthier and faster
It will turn curly

4 - Which Greek god was the personification of the moon?

Athena
Dionysius
Hermes
Artemis

5 - In England during the Victorian era, women would gather under a new moon and recite a verse for what reason?

Bringing good health
Ensuring a good harvest
Seeing their true love in a dream
Becoming pregnant

6 - What people call the moon Annigan?

Inuit
Aborigines
Maasai
Inca

7 - The moon has long been associated with which of the following?

Wealth
Famine
Monsoons
Madness

8 - According to Chinese lore, the Man in the Moon is responsible for what?

Creating the weather
Playing tricks on children
Marital matchmaking
Creating all animals

9 - In 1835, the New York Sun reported that what English astronomer saw what on the moon?

Waterfalls
Explosions
Skyscrapers
Furry, winged beings

10 - It's considered bad luck to do which things?

Stand with your back to the moon
Point at the moon
Get married during a waxing moon
See a full moon rise

Learn about what's in your night sky:





Answers:

1 - Werewolf - humans bitten by another werewolf or placed under a curse were reputed to undergo a hairy transformation at the appearing of a full moon. Will someone with a salon that waxes off ugly body hair please give these guys their business cards? They will keep you in business for years!

2 - She hurt her foot when the moon darkened suddenly - Roma was the tide controller and the daughter of the sea god. She was walking through the forest carrying a bucket of water. The story goes that Roma stumbled and hurt her foot in the darkenss when the moon darkened suddenly. She foolishly screamed insults at the moon until it swept down and carried her away.

Moral of the story here is to watch your temper. You never know when someone with a worse temper can be more terrifying and one-up you. Have you ever noticed how the little gods threw lots of temper tantrums and the bigger more powerful gods always had to intervene and discipline their silly offspring? They often got whisked away from the sight of mankind. No sense is airing their dirty laundry in front of the humans I suppose... It's all about your rep in the galactic neighborhood!

3 - It will grow healthier and faster - Moon lore has it that if you cut your hair when the moon is waxing, between the new and full moons, it will grow healthier and faster. If you cut your hair when the moon is waning, between the full and new moons, your hair will become unhealthy and grow slowly. So, quit complaining about your bad hair day! :)

4 - Artemis - Apollo's twin sister was the goddess of the woodland and the hunt, therefore the personification of the moon. Eternally young, she was always accompanied by her warrior virgins, the Amazons.

OK, what's the point of eternal youth if you can't have a few boyfriends? Like you need a chic brigade to keep you from going man crazy???

5 - Seeing their true love in a dream - This is the verse: "New moon, new moon,I hail thee! By all the virtue in thy body, grant this night that I may see he who my true love is to be."

6 - Inuit - They live in Alaska, Greenland and the Artic. They say he is a stubborn and cruel god who once took advantage of his sun-god sister, Malia. Annigan constantly pursues Malia through the sky without eating - which is why the moon gets slimmer over the month.

Now there's the biggest dieting excuse I've ever heard! Watch those cosmic portions on your plate.

7 - Madness - For thousands of years humanity has believed this to be true. Words like lunatic, lunacy, and looney all come from the Latin root word for the moon called luna. There have been scientific studies to link violent or unstable behavior to the moon yet still prove inconclusive.

We all need some excuse for a bad day. With scientists ruining all our fun what will be our next eternal cosmic excuse: Jupiter made me do it?

8 - Marital matchmaking - The Chinese call the Man in the Moon Yue-Laou and he is responsible for uniting men and women on Earth with silken cords. It is believed that later in life those men and women are drawn together by the unbreakable cord and eventually marry.

You had better hope this guy knows his craft. I sure would hate to be joined to someone who is totally not hot. What do you think is his success rate for marriage vs. divorce? Have you ever noticed how the gods of legend never publish their failure rate???

9 - Furry, winged beings, no kidding! Using a new telescope, Sir John Herschel claimed he has discovered furry, winged beings on the moon. America followed the series of articles with a fever pitch fervor. At the end of the series, the author, Richard Locke, said he had written the pieces as satire to mock the gullibility of the American public.

That must have been a telescope on steroids AND halluncingens! Maybe our first moon hoax in print? And you wonder why con artists declare, "There is a sucker born every minute!"

10 - Pointing at the moon - Guess it's not polite to point, folks! Folk lore teaches that hard times will follow if you point at the moon. Negative superstititions declare not to sleep in the moonlight or see a red moon because it will prepare you for war. A positive superstitition promotes shaking a quarter at the moon for it will bring you wealth. OK, everyone, get your quarters jingling because we are going out for a moon visit tonight!

Can You Really Separate the Liars from the Truth-Tellers?

Face illusion photo, take a look at the word the face spells

From Denny: Seems the deception researchers think they are on to something in the ongoing search to separate the liars from the nervous who appear to be lying but are not during interviews or interrogations. Most people don't bear up well under interrogation and are understandably nervous, appearing to be guilty when actually they are not. Therefore, the usual "tells" of nervousness or shifty eyes is not enough to determine a liar. You require more than that to make a sound judgment about the veracity of what the subject is telling you.

Scientists have a new theory they think works and it's called "cognitive load." We all know that lying (for most people) is mentally taxing just to keep up with a consistency of the lie over time. You know, get your story line straight. So, scientists think the trick to do while interrogating someone is to ask them to perform a task while lying - or telling the truth - and it will become evident which it is because lying is supposed to be more taxing on the liars.

I doubt how well this theory will hold up; I certainly have known what could be termed professional liars and they demonstrate complete ease at lying. "If their lips are moving; they're lying" is our motto. This theory may work for the majority of the population and in certain cultures. Time will tell as it is tested worldwide.

The researchers are in England and here is what they set up as a study to test their theory: One group was asked to lie convincingly and the other group was told to tell the truth. The story line was about a staged theft scenario that only the truth tellers had actually experienced.

Then the researchers, led by psychologist Aldert Vrij of the University of Portsmouth in England (a completely different culture than in America), brought in a second pair of groups to do exactly the same but with an added condition: they had to maintain eye contact while relating their stories.

When the researchers took the videotapes back to the lab to examine for "tells" and cognitive load they did find some interesting facts. Verbal signs of cognitive load were displayed as fewer spatial details in the suspects' stories. Nonverbal signs of cognitive load were displayed as fewer eye blinks. Eye blinks, you say? Yes, eye blinks when rapid suggest nervousness; fewer blinks are a "tell" displaying cognitive load. So, guess how this is useful? Liars blink less. (I could have told you that and saved you a few million dollars...)

How did the eye contact figure in? It was subtle according to this experiment but did manage to define and magnify the difference between the liars and the truth-tellers.

What to watch for when you try to apply this new theory? Be aware some people naturally blink less than others, so you really need to spend some time getting to know a person before placing them in a stress situation to determine if they are lying or not. Other people have such good and disciplined minds they can carry the cognitive load better than others can. In short, you better actually know the person before you place them in a situation like this because individual differences muddled some of the group results here.

Conclusion

Use this theory as a general baseline to measure the liars in your life. It isn't foolproof or totally accurate like most generalizations. It will help you to grow in your own emotional intelligence about relating to other people.

And, remember, some people appear to be lying because they are withholding private information. Keep that in mind when trying to determine if a person is lying to you: what is their agenda for lying? Are they private people? Are they philanderers? Are they embarrassed for others to realize they are not quite as important as they boast to others?

There are a lot of reasons people lie. Gamblers lie about what they had for breakfast afraid you will nail them down as to where they actually were at a certain time of day and the wife may find out. Other people lie to enhance their status in life and don't want to be found out. Some people lie just to appear more interesting and worthy to others. People are people; love them any way! :)



Written by Denny Lyon
Copyright 4 August 2009
All Rights Reserved



Source: Scientific American



England, University of Portsmouth, Society and Culture, science, research, Eye contact, Cognition, Social Sciences, Psychology, Cognitive load, Emotional intelligence, eye contact, cognitive science

Blogging with Ads and a Blog Store

Image via Wikipedia

From Denny: Whew! I've been blogging for nine months now (on the oldest blog The Social Poets where I started all this craziness) and am just getting into learning about ads. There are so many options and it takes a while to absorb it all. Mostly, I've waited to develop my content on each blog and then see what people find interesting.

You can develop your own aStore with Amazon Associates though it sure takes some time to develop the look you want to best complement your blog in color and design. Of course, I just wear it out trying different combinations so it takes me longer. :) I finally got around to developing this blog's own store.

Amazon is a trusted company for both the customer and the blogger. I prefer an ad company with a good reputation since it's my reputation on the line as well.

Anyway, there are ads for MP3 Music, Free Music, Sale Books, Video, Cell phones, and the The Soul Calendar Store as choices. Take a look and browse through it all for ideas. If you are like me you just enjoy window shopping! :)

What's fun about some of these ads is they add visual interest to what could be a static blog so I thought I'd try it out and see what appeals to everyone. At least they are tasteful unlike what some companies offer. The ads are placed at the top, sprinkled in the sidebar and above and below the posts area.

Oh, yes, for new bloggers, you definitely want to get Google ads. Why? Forget about making money from them as it's a joke unless you get a million hits. The only sites and blogs that get hits like that are porno and I'm not interested in writing garbage. You only make $1 for every 1,000 hits so it could take you a year or more to make $100.

When you go to join up with Google just make sure you have at least 60 to 90 posts of content. They might turn you down for less. What they are looking for is enough content to analyze to know what ads to place with you. If you post daily it won't take long to develop a theme or trend that Google will find attractive. Once you have been at blogging for a good six months and are not overwhelmed, upgrade for free to Google Analytics. Analytics goes deeper into analyzing how you are doing and what posts are the most popular. They let you know if your traffic is from search engines or direct because people already know about you.

The real reason you want Google ads is because they keep track of your numbers for you to let you know if folks are actually reading your blog. That was the real reason I activated Google ads. I wanted to see if anyone was interested in what I was offering since I was a newbie to blogging. Previously, I always kept private journals and then finally decided to go public. It was a pleasant surprise to learn the level of interest out there in web land! :) Thanks for your support, everyone!

3 Octupi Videos: Escape of the Shapeshifting Octupus

From Denny: I haven't seen this National Geographic video in a while and it turned up again today on Digg. You have to see this 600 pound octupus and how he moves into such tiny spaces, so graceful for a huge animal. Did you know an octupus has NO bones? Yes, that's how he accomplishes his amazing feats of a big body in a tiny space. Take a look.

"Talk about morphing - a 600 pound octopus shape-shifts itself to wriggle through a passageway the size of a quarter!"



Here's another video about the contest between a shark and an octupus in an aquarium tank. Unbelievable ending!



From Denny: I didn't know that octupi have poor blood circulation and that's why they live in such cold water for the oxygen-rich environment. Really creepy when a huge octupus decided to wrap itself around one of the divers while filming. Take a look.

"Watch this amazing footage as Steve Leonard gets up close and personal with a giant octopus in the freezing sea waters. Would you be happy to get this close to an Extreme Animal with giant eyes and pale blue blood? Find out now as you take a dive into this beautiful aquatic environment."