- The Curiosity rover isn't just wasting time and taxpayer money
exploring Mars, a place where no one but Newt Gingrich would ever want to live.
It is also revealing fascinating facts like the existence of water in the red
planet’s distant past. The 2,000-pound super-rover, which arrived on Mars on
Aug. 6, has discovered stones in conglomerate rock, suggesting that water must
have flowed there in the past. The rocky outcropping is named Hottah, after
Hottah Lake in Canada's Northwest Territories. John Grotzinger, lead scientist
for the Curiosity mission, announced the find at a news conference Thursday. The
consensus is that "this is a rock that was formed in the presence of
water," Grotzinger said. "We can characterize that water as being a
vigorous flow." Curiosity has come across rounded gravels, which appear to
have been subjected to a sediment transport process, carried by either water or
wind. Because the pebbles appear too large to have been carried by wind, water
is the only plausible option. A second outcropping shows similar evidence and
along with other finds, Curiosity has allowed scientists to enhance their
understanding of the area. Curiosity science co-investigator William Dietrich
of the University of California, Berkeley speculated that the water flowing in
these rock formations was probably somewhere between ankle and hip deep.
Project researchers believe the water and sediment flowed down the crater into
an alluvial fan -- a geological formation created by material that water
transports. It’s difficult to say how long ago the water flowed, but Dietrich
speculated that it was "thousands
to millions of years.” Despite other evidence of water on the planet, this is
the first direct observation of streambed material. Curiosity is now
three-quarters of the way between Hottah and Glenelg, its next official stop,
where the rover will examine three types of terrain, including layered bedrock,
making it a potentially interesting place for Curiosity to try out its drill.
Its last stop will be Mount Sharp, a 3-mile-high mountain with layers of
sediment that will offer opportunities to search for organic molecules. Did
someone say party time? Heck yes……..
- The New York Mets are one of the worst teams in baseball
this season, but their pitching staff has arguably the best individual tale in
the sport. R.A.
Dickey had the dubious honor of being the first player cut from major league
camp by the Mets during spring training in 2010, he pitches without a key
ligament in his eblow because he was born without it, prior to the season he
released a book detailing his history of sexual abuse as a child and struggles
with substance abuse and yet, the 37-year-old knuckleballer is the first
20-game winner on a sub-.500 team since Roger Clemens with the Toronto Blue
Jays in 1997 and a legitimate National League Cy Young Award contender. He
asked to start the Mets' home finale and used the opportunity to garner his
20th win by limiting the Pittsburgh Pirates to three runs in 7 2/3 innings
Thursday before departing with a three-run lead. His team held on for a 6-5 win
and Dickey improved to 20-6. He admitted after the game that it was an
emotional day for him. "It was as hard as it's ever been to not get
emotional, that's for sure," Dickey said. "I mean, from the get-go, from
the introductions to the last pitch." Dickey broke out the heat against
the Pirates, throwing his hard knuckler at about 78 mph, and tied his career
high with 13 strikeouts. His feat is all the more remarkable because he had never
had won more than 11 games in any previous season. He became the sixth Met to
win 20 games in a season, fitting to end a year in which rotation mate Johan
Santana threw the first no-hitter in Mets history. Only Washington Nationals Cy
Young candidate Gio Gonzalez (21) has more wins than Dickey, who also became
the first knuckleballer to win 20 games since Houston's Joe Niekro in 1980. The
crowd of 31,506 – buoyed by $10 tickets to boost attendance for the matinee –
was loud throughout Dickey’s time on the mound and gave him repeated standing
ovations. After Travis Snider in the eighth and being taken out of the game, he
tipped his cap to the excited fans, exchanged high-fives with teammates in the
dugout and took a seat on the bench. The joy he displayed despite it being a
disappointing season for his team made the day that much better and at least
Mets fans will have two good memories from an otherwise forgettable season………
- Pay up or you can’t send your prayers upward, German’s 24 million Catholics. Access to the Almighty
certainly seems like it should be free, but it won't be in Deutschland for
Catholics who don't pay their religious taxes. A decree issued last week by the
country's bishops threw down the faith gauntlet, putting rules in places
barring religious tax delinquents from receiving sacraments, including weddings,
baptisms and funerals. The decree highlighted a longstanding practice in
Germany and a handful of other European countries in which governments tax
registered believers and then hand over the money to the religious
institutions. Germany administers a surcharge of up to nine percent on the
income tax bills of Catholics, Protestants and Jews. Apparently giving Jews a
break after the torment they suffered at the hand of the Third Reich just
doesn’t work, so instead they and other religious groups are taxed about 56
euros a month for a single person earning a pre-tax monthly salary of about
3,500 euros. The taxes make it even more difficult for religious institutions
to keep their congregations together, but the Catholic Church in Germany
receives about $6.5 billion annually from the surcharge. Protestants fork over
$5.2 billion in taxes a year, standing in stark contrast to American churches,
which run on donations. Many church members have taken to declaring themselves
no longer members of their church in order to avoid taxes, even if they still
attend regularly. The Catholic Church has lost about 181,000 tax-paying members
in 2010 and 126,000 a year later, according to official figures. Protestants
have fared poorly as well, losing 145,000 registered members in Germany in 2010.
Many Germans are weighing being able to take nice vacations and afford other
luxuries against the cost of being a church member. Germany's Catholic bishops
know this and they are clearly targeting Catholics who still want to be a part
of the church but don’t want to declare it officially because they don’t want
to pay their taxes. "This decree makes clear that one cannot partly leave
the Church," the bishops said in a statement. "It is not possible to
separate the spiritual community of the Church from the institutional
Church." In other words, pay us our money. Protestants have been kinder, saying
non-taxpayers are still welcome to attend services and take communion.
Switzerland, Austria, Denmark, Sweden and Finland all have faiths that tax
church members, but the issue in those places has not become as contentious as
it has in Germany……..
- What the f*ck is going on in the Northeast with mayors and
their attacks on the common folks’ enjoyment of their local park? First, the
mayor of Hardtford, Conn. puts a moronic ban in place on pickup games of flag
football and Ultimate Frisbee unless players apply for a permit in advance.
Now, Rutland, Vt. Mayor Chris Louras is stepping his idiocy game up by ripping
most of the benches out of Depot Park.
Park benches are typically synonymous with parks, but Louras believes the
ability to sit down and relax in the park isn’t as important as stamping out
lawbreaking. How are the two connected? The mayor and his sycophants have
decided that the disorderly and sometimes illegal behavior in the park is tied
to people being able to sit down on a bench while they buy or use drugs, get
drunk in public or commit a lewd or perverse act. Clearly, drug dealers won’t
sell drugs if they have to do it standing up and buyers won't want to go
through the hassle of having to conduct their drug purchases while on their
feet. Oh, and hookers never solicit johns while standing up either. The idea to
yank the benches from Depot Park allegedly came from by some residents who say
they no longer use the park because they don't feel comfortable. Most cited
drug use as the primary hazard and rather than use some simple logic and
realize that removing benches isn't going to solve the problem Louras feebly
capitulated to the demands. He also suggested the powers that be have laid the
law down for the troublemakers who have turned the park into an unappealing
place to be. "We're also going to engage some of the young adults who've
been problematic," Louras said. "We want you here, but we want
everyone to feel welcome as well.” Wait….who doesn’t feel welcome in a place
where 8-balls of coke are readily available and one can pick up a dime bag of
weed while their child plays on the monkey bars? Oh, and not having benches
should also play very well on Saturdays, when the park is host to the local
farmers market. Good thinking, Mayor Ass Hat, good thinking………
- The Killers’ music may not be out of this world, but the Las Vegas rockers
would like a future concert to be. Brandon Flowers’ outfit, which released its
new album “Battle Born” earlier this month and had it hit No. 1 on the Official
UK Album charts, would like to play a concert…on the moon. Drummer Ronnie
Vannucci revealed that he wants his band to play a gig on the moon. "Lunar
rock, that is the way forward," he said. "If there was a gig on the
Moon we'd be there. I figure we're so heavy-handed as a band we could probably
be heard in space anyway." Playing on the moon seems absurd because no one
is going to be able to attend the show in person, but it is important for a
band to have goals. Playing a show in Hollywood and paying tribute to late singer Andy Williams is fine,
but playing a cover of “Moon River” is simply not the same as rocking out on
the actual moon. Williams passed away Tuesday at the age of 84 and
although he would seem to have little to do with a glitzy, polished rock band
that is all about modern style, he definitely meant something to The Killers.
“Battle Born” is the group’s The Killers' fourth studio album and the follow-up
to their 2008 effort “Day & Age.” Flowers has also been busy and released
his first solo album, “Flamingo,” in 2010. Bassist Mark Stoermer also released
a solo project, “Another Life,” last November and Vannucci recorded and
released his debut solo album under the Big Talk name earlier in the year.
Before they can set their sights on the moon, The Killers are set to tour the
United Kingdom in November, including two shows at London's O2 Arena. Maybe
they can hook up with NASA and find some zero-gravity space to practice in
after their U.K. run so they can begin preparing for their outer-space concert
in earnest……..
No comments:
Post a Comment