TechnoChitlins

Outstanding!

WASHINGTON (AP) - For the first time astronomers have discovered a planet outside our solar system that is potentially habitable, with Earth-like temperatures, a find researchers described Tuesday as a big step in the search for "life in the universe."

The planet is just the right size, might have water in liquid form, and in galactic terms is relatively nearby at 120 trillion miles away. But the star it closely orbits, known as a "red dwarf," is much smaller, dimmer and cooler than our sun.

There's still a lot that is unknown about the new planet, which could be deemed inhospitable to life once more is known about it. And it's worth noting that scientists' requirements for habitability count Mars in that category: a size relatively similar to Earth's with temperatures that would permit liquid water. However, this is the first outside our solar system that meets those standards.

"It's a significant step on the way to finding possible life in the universe," said University of Geneva astronomer Michel Mayor, one of 11 European scientists on the team that found the planet. "It's a nice discovery. We still have a lot of questions."

Paging Sam and O'Neill...

h/t Glenn

Posted by Jay-Dubya at 08:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I have discovered a wonderous and literate blog, Breath of the Beast - lead there by Michael Ledeen of The Corner.

A sample-

I was walking my kids to school the morning after the last Presidential election when I witnessed an embarrassing spectacle. As my sons and I approached the school I saw a neighbor of ours, a young mother of two elementary school students, jumping up and down on a map of the United States that was painted on the asphalt of the school yard. She was shouting something. As we got closer I could see that she was jumping repeatedly on Ohio and shouting “I hate you Ohio!” over and over. She looked at me, and said, “I can’t believe they did this! Can you believe it?”

Well, actually, there were two things I couldn’t believe. The first, thing I found unbelievable was the violence she displayed. Violence? Well, yes, it was minor violence but it was pretty shocking in a symbolic way, shocking in much the same way that burning the American flag is shocking.

The other thing I couldn’t believe was her presumption.
****************************************************
In my last post I quoted Milan Kundera on Kitsch. I need to go back to Kundera and that same speech, his Jerusalem Address, once again to most accurately define what I found so offensive in this presumption. Kundera uses the word agélaste. Rabelais, he tells us, coined the word to denote people who do not laugh because they have no sense of humor and “…are convinced that the truth is obvious, that all men necessarily think the same thing, and that they themselves are exactly what they think they are.” My neighbor’s behavior, that morning fit that definition to a tee.
The moderate and progressive left for all its claims of good intentions and intellectual righteousness has for some time been slipping into a form of totalitarian fundamentalism. The totalitarian progressive left is, I fear an, as yet, undiagnosed epidemic among the upper middle class and the academic and political elites of Western Civilization. As with most epidemics, it has been hard to define in its early stages. In recent years however, it has begun to manifest itself in ways that are impossible to ignore.

Read the whole thing, and I predict you be spending many hours there. A truly wise mind is a marvelous thing to contemplate.

Posted by Jay-Dubya at 11:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

...and I thought drivers here at the Little Easy were bad...

via James

Posted by Jay-Dubya at 07:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Well, do we?

Posted by Jay-Dubya at 10:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Acid attacks on two different playgrounds. In two different cities. On the same day. Draw your own conclusions.

Posted by Jay-Dubya at 10:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Truly sickening.

What jumps out to me is that apparently no one- not one person- tried to defend themself and take the guy down. I'd like to think that, confronted with my own death, I would have tried to take him with me.

Update: a rational reaction.

Update: From the comments on the above post-

I attended Virginia Tech in the 70's. Many of my friends lived in the dorm where the first shootings occured, and as I was an Engineering student, I also had many classes in Norris Hall where the bulk of the shootings took place. My first thought upon hearing the news was how awful it had to have been to be penned up in a classroom with only one door and sealed windows when someone is emptying a gun at you.

My second thought was- if only ONE person in that building had been armed, how much lower would the death count be?

When I lived in the dorms there, I abided by the "no gun" restriction- mainly because my roomate was a weenie from Annandale (DC area) that would have ratted me out to the authorities in a minute. Once I moved off-campus, my room was well-stocked with firearms of all descriptions.

I well recall the night that warnings went out all over the Blacksburg area to stay inside with the doors locked because the police were chasing an armed fugitive that had killed his wife and wounded several others.

I sat up most of the night with a .45 Ruger Blackhawk in my lap to protect myself and my 84 year old landlady. She would have been defenseless if not for me. I certainly know that she was grateful that I had a firearm handy.

The students that were shot today did exactly as they'd been taught to do. Hunker down, try to get away, and depend on the authorities to protect you.

As often happens, the authorities are only the cleanup crew. They are too far away, too badly informed, and often spend much time getting organized according to "procedure".

I'll take my chances with armed citizens TYVM.

Posted by Jay-Dubya at 07:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Remember me.

via Ace. I cried a little.

Posted by Jay-Dubya at 12:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

HE EMERGED FROM THE METRO AT THE L'ENFANT PLAZA STATION AND POSITIONED HIMSELF AGAINST A WALL BESIDE A TRASH BASKET. By most measures, he was nondescript: a youngish white man in jeans, a long-sleeved T-shirt and a Washington Nationals baseball cap. From a small case, he removed a violin. Placing the open case at his feet, he shrewdly threw in a few dollars and pocket change as seed money, swiveled it to face pedestrian traffic, and began to play.

An interesting story indeed. I like to think I would have stopped...

h/t Ace

Posted by Jay-Dubya at 11:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Someone still gets it.

via Jules

Posted by Jay-Dubya at 11:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

He. Must Run.

h/t everybody

Posted by Jay-Dubya at 09:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)