Check Out This Tripping New Look for the Milky Way

Check out how cosmic dust creates a fiery lion-like mane for the Milky Way!/Image: ESA and the HFI Consortium, IRAS

From Denny: The Milky Way is finally getting its "propers." This Planck telescope captured this showy fiery mane by surveying the sky in four massive sweeps. In the video clip you can see how the telescope is scanning the entire sky while in orbit.





So, what are you looking at here?

These diva style dust clouds are within about 500 lights years of the sun. The horizontal white stripe in this far-infrared photo is the Milky Way's spiral disk. What's odd in this photo is that the white stripe is warmer and all the reddish tones are actually colder.

It was the European Space Agency that put the Planck telescope into orbit back in May 2009. To date, this telescope is creating the best ever of the cosmic radiation background that is left over from the original Big Bang scientists think happened 13.7 billion years ago.


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New Finding Under Antarctic Ice: Stinky Greenhouse Gas Ready to Go Boom

Image: NASA

From Denny: When we think of Antarctica we think of frozen solid and a total wasteland. Well, waste is not far off in that line of thinking. Turns out those little microbe guys are churning out their fair share of that annoying greenhouse gas methane in the liquid water under Antarctica's massive ice sheet. Just what are you feeding them? :)

Right now scientists are just speculating because they don't know for certain. What they are thinking is that if that methane gas builds up and gets trapped over a long period of time, then when warmer temperatures come and start melting the ice sheet, they wonder if huge amounts of methane gas will be released. Just think of it like a sale on rotten meat in the hot sun at noon and you get the picture.





Image: Zina Deretsky/NSF


Apparently, scientists have not been much aware of what's been going on under the massive ice sheets. These methane producing microbes are called methanogens. A geochemist from the University of Bristol in England, by the name of Jemma Wadham, took a team out to grab samples in Antartica at the Lower Wright glacier. They also went to Greenland at the Russell glacier. She reported her findings at the American Geophysical Union conference on Antarctic lakes.

What they found trapped in the ice were very high concentrations of methane - and they also found methanogens - remember those microbe guys' proper name - at the rate of 10 million cells per gram in Antarctica. They were found at a lesser concentration of 100,000 cells per gram in Greenland.

How are these concentrations significant? "They are comparable to the amount of methanogens found in our deep-ocean sediments," she said. The species of microbes - yes, they are parsing it that much, they are scientists after all - well, these little guys are close cousins to those found in other polar regions like the Arctic peat or tundra areas.

Well, you know how curious scientists can be. They decided to farm the microbes by placing scrapings from both sites in Antartica and Greenland into bottles with water and incubate them. They wanted to know which ones might start growing.

What happened with the Antarctic samples? They were quiet for as long as 250 days and then suddenly they took off, producing loads of methane. Guess they were checking out the security of the place or if their new house had enough walk-in closets for storage.

The Greenland microbes did not produce as spectacularly. They thought they would give those guys a bit more time to pony up to the bar before giving up on them. Maybe those tiny guys in Greenland are too shy to show off like their Antarctic cousins.

Methanogens have been found in icy settings elsewhere like right here in North America in the Canadian Rockies at the Robertson glacier, as reported by Mark Skidmore, a microbiologist at Montant State University in Bozeman. "It underscores the importance of subglacial methanogenesis," according to Skidmore.

So far, scientists have found 386 lakes buried under the ice sheet, as reported by scientists from the University of Edinburgh. Of course, plans for major drilling projects are in the works.

For so long in the public mind - and the scientific one - we thought Antarctica to be a frozen static place. Recent studies are providing a new vision as a more dynamic and a watery environment.


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Comics Point of View: Our Weird Politicians

From Denny: Every Monday at The Social Poets I post the latest roundup from the late night show comics. This week was brutal for Congressman Eric Massa. He was lampooned from all sides. Tiger Woods got off easy this week.

See Cartoons by Cartoon by R.J. Matson - Courtesy of Politicalcartoons.com - Email this Cartoon

Excerpt of the quips from David Letterman:

We had a lousy audience last night. You couldn't tell if they were laughing at the jokes or if they were being tickled by New York Congressman Massa.

He admits to groping, fondling, and tickling. And I'm thinking, well, why isn't this guy governor of New York?

Massa goes on the Glenn Beck show and he says that he was having a birthday party tickling his staff. And he said one guy couldn't breathe, he was tickling him so hard. And then Dick Cheney said, 'Well, we should have done that at Gitmo.'

So now this Congressman Eric Massa is claiming that he was bullied in a gym by Rahm Emanuel. The President's guy is bullying him in a gym, naked. And I know you are thinking to yourselves, 'Well gee, thanks a lot, Dave, for searing that image into our brains because that's something we'll carry for a long time right there.'

He admits to groping, fondling, and tickling. And I'm thinking, well, why isn't this guy governor of New York?






Here is a sampling from comic Jerry Seinfeld on his take on just who "Really?!" is this guy called Massa. The messy weird news from politician Massa just keeps on giving to the comics:






*** To view the entire hilarious rocking good post that includes lots of funny quips from Letterman, Leno, Kimmel, Fallon, video clips from Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart lampooning the GOP and Fox News, go here.


*** Happy Saint Patrick's Day! THANKS for visiting, come back often, feel welcome to drop a comment or opinion, a big shout out to awesome current subscribers – and if you are new to this blog, please subscribe in a reader or by email updates!

29 Post Roundup at Dennys Blogs 14 Mar 2010

From Denny: Remember me? You know, the woman who was pining away, waiting for Winter to leave and Spring to come? Yeah, well, the past two weeks here in south Louisiana the tree pollen blast has forced me to practically buy stock in the Kleenex brand of nose tissues. :) With all the fun Spring has sprung on my immune system I had to dial it back and was not able to write as many posts. You know that amusing but true proverbial saying of "Politics is so ugly; it's like making sausage"? Writing this past week has not been much prettier. Lucky you that you don't have blogger video cam! :)

I started keeping up with the news headlines over at Dennys Global Politics, partly to go back and write an opinion piece, partly just to see what's out there across the media spectrum. There are mainstream stories along with the obscure you might not have noticed. The stories are excerpted yet provided with links so you can read in more detail if you prefer.

There are many awesome recipes to enjoy, along with the food video tutorials. There are a few poems and spiritual thoughts to consider. There is a science post about just how much the Chilean earthquake affected the planet, pretty scary stuff. And, of course, my total favorites: lots of rocking good humor posts with funny videos I find while checking in with my social sites. What would life be without friends?



Cartoonists Cajun Whoop A$$ on Everyone - 40 Funny Political Cartoons - 13 Mar 2010

Dennys Popular Poems Roundup 12 Mar 2010

Photo History: 1st Lady Gowns, Michelle Obama Donates Hers

St. Patricks Day Funnies and History - Cheeky Quote Day 10 Mar 2010

Photography: 16 Beautiful Creative Angel Photos

Funny Late Night Comedy Roundup - 8 March 2010

48 Post Roundup: Dennys Blogs 7 Mar 2010




Chilean Earthquake Shortened Earths Day

Step Out into the Unknown with Ease

Shoes in Church poem

A Poem to Think About When You Dream

30 Funny Creative Animal Ads




5 Super Easy Chocolate Desserts: Only 5 Ingredients

Warm Gooey Cheese Fondue 4 Cold Nights

Martha Stewarts 4 Fast Spring Recipes

Unusual Outrageous New Food: Breast Milk Cheese

Chef Mario Batalis Easy 3 Pork Saltimbocca Recipes

Check Out Statistics 4 Real Cost of Fast Food vs. Whole

Chef Jamie Oliver Discovers American Kids Dont Know Veggies



Some of my choices from the day's news, excerpted and with links to full stories, some video clips:

News Headlines Roundup 12 Mar 2010

News Headlines Roundup 11 Mar 2010

News Headlines Roundup 10 Mar 2010

News Headlines Roundup 9 Mar 2010

News Headlines Roundup 8 Mar 2010





7 Funny Quips 10 Mar 2010

13 Funny Quips 9 Mar 2010

Funny Music Video: Hilarious Organized Mayhem

Funny Video: Look, Ma! Eating with No Paws But Real Hands!

Outrageous Funny Video: Procrastination



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7 Funny Little Sillies 4 a Grin

From Denny: Found these quick little grinners and they are a perfect pick-me-up for the weekend!




A man in Orange County Municipal Court had been ticketed for driving alone in the carpool lane.

He claimed that the four frozen cadavers in the mortuary van he was driving should be counted.

The judge ruled that passengers must be alive to qualify.





A co-worker tells me about his son and his son's new under-wear with superheroes on it:

One morning the child comes running into the bedroom, grabs the front of his pants and announces proudly, "Ive got Superman in my pants, Daddy. What have you got in yours?"

Before checking, I turned to my wife, "Well, how should I answer him?" She was too busy laughing.





Tech Support: "OK Bob, let's press the control and escape
keys at the same time. That brings up a task list in the
middle of the screen. Now type the letter 'P' to bring up
the Program Manager."

Customer: "I don't have a 'P'."

Tech Support: "On your keyboard, Bob."

Customer: "What do you mean?"

Tech Support: "'P' on your keyboard, Bob."

Customer: "I'm not going to do that!"





Uh, oh... arriving blonde joke...

Harlan says there's a Judi who works at his place. Our receptionist, (yes, she is a blonde), often takes orders to call out for pizza on nights we work late.

One night, after placing an order for two pizza's from around the corner, we asked her how long it would be before they arrived.

She said she was told 40 minutes. When we commented to her that we thought that was a long time, she responded "That seems about right. It takes 20 minutes to cook
a pizza and we ordered 2 of them."





England: A German "tourist," supposedly on a golf holiday, shows up at customs with his golf bag.

While making idle chatter about golf, the customs official realizes that the tourist does not know what a "handicap" is.

The customs official asks the tourist to demonstrate his swing, which he does, only he did it backwards!

Turns out a substantial amount of narcotics was found in the golf bag.





Total groaner:

Did you hear about the disaster at a major U.S. University?

The scientists were cloning monkeys and one of them blew up.
The scientist are trying to determine what went wrong by sifting
through the Rhesus' pieces.

(For anyone outside America: they are referencing the American candy peanut butter and chocolate Reece's Pieces)





Back in the old days my Uncle Bucky bought a new Model A Ford.The next morning he was on his way to work and crashed into a car pulling out from a side street.

Being the witty person that he is, he wrote a letter to the Ford Motor Company..

"I blew my horn, it did no good. And now I have a busted hood". Two days later a delivery truck arrived at his residence with a brand new hood.





*** For more fun, check out the Saturday cartoons:

Cartoonists Cajun Whoop A$$ on Everyone - 40 Funny Political Cartoons - 13 Mar 2010


*** THANKS for visiting, come back often, feel welcome to drop a comment or opinion, a big shout out to awesome current subscribers - and if you are new to this blog, please subscribe in a reader or by email updates!

Saint Patricks Day Funnies Sampler

From Denny: Every Wednesday there is Cheeky Quote Day over at the flagship blog, The Social Poets, my funny quirky place that spun off 12 blogs. Here's a little sampling of what I found for Saint Patrick's Day, even some serious stuff - like the guy's real name.

Quotes

In order to find his equal, an Irishman is forced to talk to God. - Stephen Braveheart

An Irishman is never drunk as long as he can hold onto one blade of grass to keep from falling off the earth. - Irish Saying

Never iron a four-leaf clover, because you don't want to press your luck. - Anonymous





This is an excerpt from the history of the man and his experiences.

Snakes Legend

OK, moving right along to the snakes legend of driving them all out of Ireland for which he is so famous. The word is on that story that he stood on a hill and with his wooden staff like some Irish Moses he commanded the snakes to leave town and drown in the sea, banishing them forever from Ireland. It is true that Ireland has no snakes.

Another version of the legend is a bit cheeky as those storytellers like more conflict and spice to their stories. They tell it that the snakes resisted Patrick. So, Patrick tricked the snakes into entering a small box that he then threw into the garbage dump of the sea.

OK, but the snake symbolism still bothers you? Yeah, me too, so I looked into it further. Turns out in Celtic thought that snakes represent esoteric knowledge much like in the Egyptian culture. Because of this snakes were sacred to the Druids.

Snakes are also associated with the Celtic father god called The Dagda, "the good god" who is the god of good and plenty. It's what we now today call the spiritual energy of abundance. OK, that was the family friendly version. For more on this particular peculiar god, go here.





Of course, Guinness Beer has to get into the act with some cheeky ads:









*** To view the already popular full post, including a funny comedy video of a succession of stand-up comics telling Irish jokes, go here.

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