More big news in the world of outer space, Urban Meyer shows how low his standards are and censorship by Zune

- Big things poppin’ lil’ things stoppin’ in the world of space exploration, where the holiday season has been filled with interesting discoveries and launching expensive space thingies into outer space. While NASA has been hogging the spotlight by crashing space explorers into the moon and announcing the discovery of water on the moon, Chile got in on the act over the weekend, announcing the discovery of 32 planets outside Earth's solar system through the use of a high-precision instrument installed at a Chilean telescope. An international team of researchers announced the discovery of the so-called exoplanets -- planets outside our solar system – to the delight of space dorks everywhere. The device used to unearth the planets can detect slight wobbles of stars as they respond to tugs from exoplanets' gravity. That tactic, known as the radial velocity method, "has been the most prolific method in the search for exoplanets," according a statement. Simply put. if you’re the most prolific method in the search for exoplanets, then that’s saying something…..though I have no idea what that something is. All kidding aside, this instrument is actually pretty fascinating. It can detect movements as small as 2.1 mph. Adding these 32 exoplants to the preexisting total discovered by this international consortium of scientists, their tally now stands at 75, out of about 400 known exoplanets, the organization said. The 75 planets are in 30 planetary systems. "HARPS is a unique, extremely high precision instrument that [is] ideal for discovering alien worlds," Stephane Udry, who made the announcement on behalf of the consortium that built the instrument. "We have now completed our initial five-year program, which has succeeded well beyond our expectations." The discovery of 32 new exoplanets was also noteworthy because during their research, scientists found that three exoplanets were around stars that are metal-deficient, Udry said. Metal-deficient stars are thought to be less favorable for planet formation, but planets the size of several Jupiters were found orbiting such deficient stars. Ultimately, the discovery gives "a very strong push" to projects attempting to find and study such exoplanets, Udry said. Way to end the calendar year with a flourish, outer space community, you all aren’t so bad, no matter what everyone else says about you…………

- Keeping track of John Frusciante’s status with the Red Hot Chili Peppers is all but impossible. Dude leaves and rejoins the band at a breakneck pace and even for fans of the band, it’s tough to keep up. Nothing like buying tickets for a show and having to legitimately wonder who is going to be rocking lead guitar by the time the concert rolls around. As of now, Frusciante’s status with the band is one of being out and not expected back. The on-again-off-again announced on his Web site (johnfrusciante.com) on Wednesday that he had quit the band “over a year ago.” This marks the second time he has left the Chili Peppers, with the first coming in 1992. He originally joined the band in 1988 as a replacement for its original guitarist, Hillel Slovak, who died of a heroin overdose. Following his first departure, Frusciante returned six years later and has managed to stick and stay since then. “My musical interests have led me in a different direction,” he wrote. In other words, I had a fight with the rest of the guys in the band and we can't find a way to work together anymore, so I have to go do something else. Because they’ve done without him before, I’d expect the RHCP to be just fine. That being said, I think most fans would be happy to see them find a better replacewent than a porn-star-dating d-bag like Dave Navarro, who wasn’t exactly a fan favorite when he replaced Frusciante the first time around. The band has not named a replacement so far, but don’t expect them to take a long time on the decision. With a head case like Frusciante, they had to know him leaving/behind forced out was a possibility at any point in time and thus have a working list of possible replacements ready to roll. Stay tuned for an announcement of what’s next for the band………

- This is why friends don’t let friends go to Taco Bell drunk – or at all. At a Taco Bell restaurant (and never has that term been applied so loosely) in Sandusky, Ohio, a curious scene unfolded this week when an apparently drunk man stumbled into the restaurant and proceeded to order all of one taco. I don’t know what kind of taco he ordered, although to be honest, it doesn’t really matter. The cost could not have been more than $2 and no matter what kind of taco or burrito you order at the Bell, you will be receiving the exact same quasi-meat-like product along with semi-fresh vegetables, the same reddish-brown sauce and what are supposed to be beans of some variety. This is actually the primary reason why one should never eat at Taco Bell, but I digress. This man orders his taco and instead of forking over the correct change or anything close to it, he pays $72. When the cashier attempts to give him back the $70 or so he has coming in change, the man refuses. The manager gets involved and likewise attempts to return the extra money, only to be rebuffed. The man then proceeds to wait ten or more minutes (I’m just hypothesizing here, but it seems fairly logical, no?, takes his taco and leaves. Manager Aaron Ohm says he thought for certain the man would sober up, realize he blew $72 on a single taco and come back looking for his money, but he so far he hasn't shown up. In other words, he wasn’t just drunk – he was “don’t remember last night at all” drunk. But at least he conducted his act of drunken stupidity with some holiday cheering, wishing the workers at Taco Bell "Merry Christmas" before leaving. Police are holding on to the money as evidence and say if it's not claimed in 60 days, Ohm will get a late Christmas gift. Just one more bit of proof that as a consumer, nothing good ever happens from setting foot inside a Taco Bell………

- Keep those standards high, Urban Meyer. Show your players that if they get liquored up and get behind the wheel, they are going to face swift and serious justice from you……for all of one game. That’s the message my man Urb is sending to University of Florida defensive end Carlos Dunlap. Dunlap is back with the team, back at practice and could be back in the starting lineup in the Allstate Sugar Bowl despite getting so drunk off his ass that he actually was passed out through several traffic signals around 3:45 a.m. -- hours after a teammate's birthday party. Never mind that an officer woke up Dunlap through a cracked window, but he kept falling back asleep and flunked several field sobriety tests while reeking of booze and sporting watery and bloodshot eyes. None of that was enough to earn Dunlap more than a one-game suspension from his head coach. "He's going to play," Meyer said after practice Friday. "I met with the administration, president and also the athletic director. His first mistake. It was a real serious one, but he paid a serious price as well. Real serious mistake, but he's been a good student, good person, and represented well." A serious price? Really? Urb, I know as a college football coach and recruiter, you have to be able to lie and mislead while keeping a straight face, but this is ridiculous. Having Dunlap miss one game – albeit a 32-13 beatdown by Alabama in the Southeastern Conference championship game – is offensive and ridiculous. Just because he fell asleep behind the wheel at a traffic light before he could do any real damage while driving drunk doesn’t mean he should play again this season. Lack of opportunity to cause a serious accident or kill an innocent pedestrian doesn’t excuse him from more serious punishment. "There was a lot of discussion, and like I said, the previous track record," Meyer said. "It's case by case. If there was another issue, then there'd be an issue. And there hasn't been, and that's what basically administration let me know. They let me know." No Urb, you let them know. You let them know that your team already lost one game without Dunlap on the field, a game in which your defense was shredded like cheap tissue paper. You let them know that another embarrassing loss, especially to a Big East team like Cincinnati and in a BCS bowl game, would look very bad for the program and the school. And being the good, football-backing administration they are, the school’s brass backed you up on this indefensible decision. I don’t care if Dunlap was a model citizen and student prior to this incident; he should be done for the year, period. Thanks for showing once again that football comes first at Florida and personal conduct away from the field is a distant, distant second………

- In the current market, if you’re not busy developing an app for someone or something, you’re falling behind. Whether it’s for the iPhone or another make of smartphone, apps are a key component and it’s no different for the red-headed stepchild of the portable music player world, the Zune. A Twitter application for the Zune has been developed and is now available in the Microsoft Marketplace, but as with all things Microsoft, it is already causing problems and issues for users. The first issue is that, again, as with all things Microsoft, it is slow and extremely inefficient. But the problem that is creating more buzz is that the application censors tweets on its own, turning naughty words into stars. Never mind that users subscribe to Twitter feeds they want to read and theoretically have some idea as to the profanity that a given Twitter user might incorporate into their tweets, this app is doing the censoring for you. Why is this such a big deal? Obviously, censorship is bullsh*t anyhow, so that’s strike one. But on top of that, Twitter doesn’t censor its users and many users are asking why Zune does so. What gives Zune the right to censor? So far, I have not heard a single legitimate reason for this and if I were actually dumb and hapless enough to use a Zune or any other Microsoft product, I would probably be even more pissed off than I already am. As is, I merely view this as another opportunity to rip Microsoft, which you can never have too many of………