Open Science Thread

Over half a billion¹ years ago, the super continent Rodinia began to come apart at the seams. Gigantic underground cracks formed in the tectonic plate on which the ancient continent rode like a granite raft floating in a sea of denser molten rock. Three cracks radiated away, star-like, each individual fault probing the path of least resistance through the rocky subterranean matrix. Finally, two faults prevailed, defining the jagged rift where Rodinia split in two. And the other crack? With the tension relieved, it stopped spreading, and lay buried and dormant. Paleo-geologists call these ancient scars Aulacogens.

But eons later, if pressure builds anew, deep underground in an otherwise fairly homogeneous stretch of strata, any such flaw that happens to be nearby serves as an ideal place for patches of strained earth to slip past each other. At times with a resounding jolt carried far and wide in waves born on a seismic superconductor. This failed fault theory, one of many possibilities, sounds delightfully geeky: unless you happened to be near the Wabash Valley Fault System running throughout the upper Midwest early yesterday morning. Then you called it a friggin earthquake!

• Thanks to BushCo, neocon clowns have taken over the  Environmental Industrial Protection Agency, so it's no surprise the EPA is employing neocon tactics like ignoring lawful subpoenas, followed by the obligatory nonsense that complying would 'confuse the public.'
• For what it's worth, I think Tristero is absolutely right. We've tried ignoring right-wing stupidity and hoping things like creationism go extinct. It doesn't work. Better to take the lies head on. Here's one way you can add your voice of reason, and win fabulous prizes!
• The man who saw a subtle anomaly in a few lines of data produced by a primitive computer generated climate model has passed away, but his profound insight lives forever: Etched into the very fabric of domains both natural and abstract, simple rules can give rise to infinitely complex behavior. Edward Lorenz's observation would be midwife to a new branch of mathematics/physics called Chaos Theory and the related, fascinating topology hidden in the geometry of Fractals.

Coming Up on Sunday Kos ...

• Glenn Greenwald will be here for the liveblogging that had to be postponed from last weekend. He'll talk about his new book, Great American Hypocrites: Toppling the Big Myths of Republican Politics, which mcjoan reviewed last week.
• MissLaura will wonder why there are no women bloggers why the traditional media appears to be incapable of seeing that there are in fact women bloggers.
• DHinMI will review Senate Historian Donald Ritchie's Electing FDR: The New Deal Campaign of 1932.
• brownsox will report on the abundance of credible Democratic House candidates running in overwhelmingly Republican districts.
• Hunter will write about ... something. He's not sure yet. But it will be good, we promise.
• Devilstower Devilstower will look at the relationship between Aesop's Fables, globalization, and why we might be all just-in-time to see the collapse of the world food market in a post entitled "Grasshopper Planet."

•  Ahh sweet Saturday, king of days!

  Enjoy a short trip accompanied by The Police into the infinitely regressing heart of a Mandelbrot Fractal. Every fiendishly complex image displayed is generated by one simple, elegant rule:

  by DarkSyde on Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 02:01:45 AM PDT

  •  Wabash Valley has had large prehistoric quakes

    The fault system in the Wabash Valleyis hidden under sedimentary rocks, but it's capable of producing large earthquakes.

    Even though earthquakes of the last two centuries with epicenters in Indiana have been relatively minor events, this has not always been the case. Indiana University archaeologists Pat Munson and Cheryl Munson and U.S. Geological Survey geologist Steve Obermeier have found hundreds of ancient sand blows (see Figures 3 and 4) that suggest the occurrence of at least 6 major earthquakes with epicenters in Indiana during the last 12,000 years. The largest of these quakes appears to have had an epicenter near Vincennes and has been estimated to have been many times more powerful than the quake that struck the Los Angeles area in January 1994.

    The ages of the sand blows were determined using radiocarbon dating on organic materials found in soil layers below, above, or at the same level as the tops of the sand blows. Included in the organic materials is charcoal from campfires made by people living in Indiana at that time. Other artifacts, such as projectile points, were found at many sites and helped to date the earthquakes 3. On the basis of this information, the earthquake that formed the Vincennes sand blow happened 6,100 years ago and its magnitude may have been as great as 7.53.

    by FishOutofWater on Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 05:28:39 AM PDT

  •  I remember taking an interim class on fractals.

    Blew my mind away.  SO COOL!

    by faction on Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 07:55:47 PM PDT

•  HEH! The IPA!!! Brilliant DS!!

  by borkitekt on Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 02:06:02 AM PDT

  •  It

    was either that or go with the "Environmental Destruction Agency."

    by DarkSyde on Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 02:07:55 AM PDT

    •  You made the better choice for today.

      For me anyway, I'v run out of different ways to decry and degrade the STUPID of the last 7+ years of new con influence in our world. Let that battery charge for a day or so. Thanks

      by geez53 on Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 03:01:15 AM PDT

  •  India Pale Ale - where? Where?

    j/k

    by Fabian on Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 02:50:54 AM PDT

•  The Lorenz Butterfly Java applet...

  is totally cool. Check it out here. I'm suddenly puzzled about the origin of the term "Butterfly" effect. Was a simulation similar to the applet the source (with the shape resembling a butterfly), or was it the meterological/causal link from a butterfly flap? I always thought the latter. But anyway, I'm a geek to even wonder now. :)

  by Malachite on Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 02:11:51 AM PDT

  •  Lorenz was originally going to use a

    sea gull for example but a friend convinced him to use the butterfly and he liked its alliteration with Brazil, hence, 'if a butterfly flaps its wings in Brazil...'

    by Jbeaudill on Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 10:06:39 AM PDT

•  No one is sure how tectonic action

  works because of the complexity of it.  But is does work.  Warmest regards, Doc.

  by Translator on Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 02:17:59 AM PDT

  •  If we could figure out

    a way to model what goes on in the interior of the earth - we might understand plate tectonics better.

    I get the gist of it - we live on the thin skin of the crust under a tiny bubble of atmosphere floating on the molten core of the planet.

    Feel uncomfortable yet?

    by Fabian on Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 02:54:45 AM PDT

    •  Very much so,

      especially because I am near the New Madrid fault line.  Warmest regards, Doc.

      by Translator on Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 02:56:54 AM PDT

      •  Perhaps a geodesic home?

        This one is a bit fancy.

        by Fabian on Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 03:03:18 AM PDT

        •  Buckmininister was one of

          my favorite folks, along with Brand, and, of course, Townshend.  Warmest regards, Doc.

          by Translator on Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 03:10:55 AM PDT

        •  It's not Fancy, It's just right. I could live

          there.

          by geez53 on Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 03:13:41 AM PDT

    •  Just

      think of all that energy down there. We live on the frozen skin sandwiched between a palnet of broiling rock and a one-million Km fusion reactor pouring our trillions of terrawatts a second. It's frustrating to still be poking around in the ground for caramelized algae and metamorphic mulch to power our world.

      by DarkSyde on Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 02:59:57 AM PDT

      •  Tiy are very correct. I would posit the

        following rule:  any new house to be built should have its foundation excavated to below the frost line, and heat (or a heat sink, depending on the season) be available to the house just above that foundation.  Warmest regards, Doc.

        by Translator on Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 03:04:54 AM PDT

        •  Sorry, had my fingers

          in the wrong spot to say You.  Please forgive me.  Warmest regards, Doc.

          by Translator on Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 03:07:33 AM PDT

      •  Straight Up Too

        We should also all consider that we're protected by a very thin layer of atmosphere.  Twenty miles straight up and any of us would be dead without protective gear.  Modern humans regularly commute farther to work than twenty miles. We just don't think how precious little protects our sad bags of skin and flesh.

        by PrahaPartizan on Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 04:11:50 AM PDT

      •  Problems with density

        The geological heat flux for the entire area of the yard of a typical home is on the same order of magnitude as a couple of incandescent bulbs.  It's also at only a slight differential, thermodynamics limits the recoverable energy to light a small LED lamp.

        Solar is a much greater flux, but still isn't easy to use.  The photovoltaic cells I got as a kid back around when JFK was elected might have payed back their production cost (in energy terms) around when Bush I was sworn in.  Newer PW are better, and have shorter payback periods, but still suffer from the availability/storage problem.

        Fossil fuel, on the other hand, are energy dense, having fairly high EROEI.  They are also around when you need them, a pile of coal just sits there waiting for you to burn it. Liquid fuels in your lamp to those in your automobile are similar; high density, quick and easy for the end user to restock, easy to store.

        Indirect solar, hydro and wind power, are both denser and have reasonable EROEI values, with wind's having slowly increased over the last few decades.

        by wondering if on Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 05:47:29 AM PDT

    •  Feeling very comfortable, learned long ago

      that nothing, absolutely nothing, is static except for the time frame you reference it with.

      by geez53 on Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 03:54:23 AM PDT

      •  It's the end of the world as we know it!

        Constantly.

        by Fabian on Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 07:00:21 AM PDT

•  I could post a Sunday comment, if folks ever get

  tired or sick.  Just contact me if you are in need of something silly for posting.  Warmest regards, Doc.

  by Translator on Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 02:21:43 AM PDT

•  Good Morning

  on the racing message boards the earthquake is a big topic!
  It woke up a few who haven't had that experience before!

  here on the edge of the everglades it's a very comfy 64*
  Should get to 83* & sunny

  by eeff on Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 02:27:33 AM PDT

  •  Eeff! n/t

    by DarkSyde on Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 02:28:59 AM PDT

  •  It startled some who had.

    The first shake was'nt to worrisome, because of the slower build up. The second one, while a lower magnitude was a harsher pop.

    by geez53 on Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 03:18:29 AM PDT

  •  It was very strange.

    We Midwesterners thought we had a deal of sorts - we get tornadoes, west coasters get earthquakes.  If we're going to have both, accepting the cold winters is going to be even harder.  

    by sherlyle on Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 05:46:41 AM PDT

    •  Cheer Up, Neither One Lasts More Than a Minute nt

      by Gooserock on Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 08:35:12 AM PDT

  •  I hope you

    meant 64º and 83º, respectively, I'm unclear about the asterisk.

    by Four of Nine on Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 09:30:36 AM PDT

    •  there

      isn't one of those on my keyboard   sorry

      by eeff on Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 10:18:08 AM PDT

•  If Hunter is ill, just let me know.

  I am certainly not as good as he is, but I would try to do well for him.  Warmest regards, Doc.

  by Translator on Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 02:28:21 AM PDT

•  Lorenz

  NC-08 House candidate Larry Kissell posted perhaps the finest Science Friday Congressional campaign fundraising plea ever on Daily Kos yesterday afternoon, based on Lorenz's death.

  Commenter SouthernPhilosopher tied it all together by pointing out that the sensitivity to initial conditions which is so critical to Chaos Theory also explains why it's important to give early money to progressive Democratic candidates.

  by Ray Radlein on Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 02:29:11 AM PDT

•  Dark, I need to talk with you and the

  other folks that make this site work.  I am growing, and am considering a new site of my own, not to compete, but to compliment with a different perspective.  I would like to be connected with Kos, because it seems like home to me.  Can you assist?  Warmest regards, Doc.

  by Translator on Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 02:35:00 AM PDT

•  I corrected

  "Almost a billion years ago" in the first sentence to "Over half a billion years ago" a few minutes after the post went up based on this email from Green Gabbro:

  These rift structures are Late Precambrian and Early Cambrian - ~500-600 million years ago, not really "almost a billion". They’re probably associated with later stages of Rodinia’s breakup.

  by DarkSyde on Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 02:36:50 AM PDT

  •  Just one of many different

    collisions and departures.  Not a problem.  Warmest regards, Doc.

    by Translator on Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 02:38:27 AM PDT

  •  Rodinia

    Not Pangaea?

    by gracchus on Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 02:38:36 AM PDT

    •  Pangea, as we understand,

      was just latest super continent.  Warmest regards, Doc.

      by Translator on Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 02:40:13 AM PDT

      •  I'm angling for eternal youth

        cause I want to see the mountain range formed with the Mediterranean closes up.

        by gracchus on Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 02:42:25 AM PDT

        •  WHEN not WITH nt

          by gracchus on Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 02:42:52 AM PDT

          •  Coming soon, in geoligic time.

            What blows my mind it that Scotland and North America are related.  Warmest regards, Doc.

            by Translator on Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 02:44:31 AM PDT

            •  That's what makes me hopeful

              I only have to hang around for about a million years or so to see the Mediterranean close up. Hell, Mickey Rooney is, what, five- or six-hundred thousand years old?

              by gracchus on Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 02:46:59 AM PDT

              •  No, that is McCain. Warmest regards, Doc.

                by Translator on Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 02:48:00 AM PDT

              •  A million years...

                That's not quite enough time to redeposit the excess CO2 - might be a fun ride climate-wise!

                by Fabian on Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 02:57:02 AM PDT

                •  Except for our breath, we

                  should refrain from making much more.  Warmest regards, Doc.

                  by Translator on Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 02:58:30 AM PDT

                  •  Yeah I'm kinda used to that

                    breathing habit I have and don't want to give it up.

                    Eternal youth, though? I'll just be happy if my greatgrandchildren live to have kids, the way things are going.

                    by rini6 on Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 03:51:13 AM PDT

                  •  Watch the Great Mandala Turn

                    It will just be the time for dinosaurs again.  Of course, I'm assuming their lung structures resemble their modern ancestors, the birds.  Their breathing apparatus is much more efficient than our clumsy mammalian system.  Perhaps they shouldn't have planted all of those trees back in the day and allowed the mammals to gain a foothold.

                    by PrahaPartizan on Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 06:37:13 AM PDT

                •  Luckily

                  We don't have to worry about turning Earth into Venus through burning fossil fuels alone.  While Venus has about as much carbon as Earth, it doesn't have enough water to cause it to form limestone continents like Earth.  So Venus carries all of its carbon in it's atmosphere in the form of carbon dioxide, which is why its atmosphere is so freaking dense, while most of Earth's carbon goes into making up the ground on which we stand.  Even if we burned through all of Earth's oil and coal, it probably wouldn't more than double carbon dioxide concentrations from what they are now.    While the resultant global warming would make the planet uncomfortable, it wouldn't make it unlivable.  After all, we'd only be releasing that portion of carbon that was stored during the Carboniferous Period, a minute fraction of the total amount of Earth's carbon stores.  That is, until someone figures out how to burn calcium carbonate.

                  by Nellebracht on Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 04:19:36 AM PDT

                  •  this is true

                    paleoclimatology says that CO2 levels have been much higher for much of the span of metazoic life:

                    http://www.globalwarmingart.com/...

                    pretty good evidence that going the way of Venus isn't a concern, "just" changes to species balance and our lives as a side effect.

                    by wondering if on Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 05:55:10 AM PDT

                    •  Yep

                      Pretty lucky our unique specialization, the use of socially significant symbols to mediate our interactions with the world and each other, enables us to discover and co-opt the survival strategies of any other form of life on the planet, making us the most adaptable species to have ever evolved.  We're the only species that can survive in the vacuum of space, the intense pressures of the deep sea, the freezing cold of Antarctica, and the blazing heat near an active and erupting volcano.  True, we need technology to do all that, but still, we can do it.  It gives me hope that no matter how short-sighted we are, we won't actually be able to destroy ourselves and that we stand a chance of attaining our collective destiny.

                      by Nellebracht on Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 06:38:54 AM PDT

                      •  But We've Already Begun Wars That Are Deciding

                        who exactly will be included in the "we" who get to leave descendants beyond the looming crises and bottlenecks.

                        Much of the sociopathic behavior I see in economies and nations these days has looked far to much like survivalism than ordinary greed, for my comfort.

                        by Gooserock on Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 08:39:46 AM PDT

                        •  we're still evolving

                          So natural selection and heartless Darwinism still has a great deal to say about who gets to pass on their genes, and who doesn't.  We won't be able to ensure the fitness of the least-advantaged of our species until we perfect morality, which won't occur until we perfect technology, which won't occur until we perfect science.  If it makes you feel better, at least we've evolved enough to feel bad about it, and begin to do something about it.

                          by Nellebracht on Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 10:44:46 AM PDT

        •  I'm just trying to decide between Alpine lodge

          or beach front cabana. I'm setting in one them right now and need to know how to redecorate.

          by geez53 on Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 03:25:30 AM PDT

      •  We've already been through TWO supercontinents?

        Thought we'd only been through half of one continental drift cycle....

        by gracchus on Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 02:44:06 AM PDT

        •  Hard to say, but the geoligists

          think that this might be the forth one.  Warmest regards, Doc.

          by Translator on Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 02:46:08 AM PDT

          •  Sally forth

            or perhaps, fourth.

            by gracchus on Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 02:48:59 AM PDT

            •  I apoligize for mispeling "geologists"

              that is what happens this late.  Warmest regards, Doc.

              by Translator on Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 02:50:40 AM PDT

          •  Damn, I didn't pay attention for a few

            hundred million years, so I must have missed a cycle.

            by gracchus on Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 03:06:06 AM PDT

            •  You amuse me with your wit!

              Warmest regards, Doc.

              by Translator on Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 03:09:12 AM PDT

            •  It was the Siberian magmatic event.

              All that gas made you ill tempered and forgetful.
              I remember. I had to keep mentioning that you shouldn't try hitting the beaches just then.

              by RElland on Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 03:55:52 AM PDT

              •  Yeah, let the air be created before

                you breath it.

                by geez53 on Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 04:01:11 AM PDT

                •  Like I said...

                  cranky and forgetful.

                  by RElland on Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 04:20:29 AM PDT

                  •  You're right, i was thinking of my childhood

                    atmosphere, not the one i was breathing as a teenager.

                    by geez53 on Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 04:48:04 AM PDT

      •  REUNITE PANGAEA !!!!!!!!!

        I had a t-shirt that said that.

        Nobody understood it.

        :)

        by Lenny Flank on Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 04:54:59 AM PDT

        •  My daughter worked at a shop in Cinncy

          with that name. Their t-shirt had the shape of Pangaea embroidered in color on a black background. Wore it till all the holes converged.

          by geez53 on Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 05:09:10 AM PDT

          •  Like having Gaia as a household pet? n/t

            by Jbeaudill on Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 10:12:55 AM PDT

  •  You should have asked McCain, Darksyde,,,

    After all, he was there at the time.

    by Finck II on Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 06:06:12 AM PDT

•  Noticed mcworld magazine : Fractal screensaver

  for macs called Fracture 1.4..multiple processors would make it work mo betta,
     not old like mine, I'm lucky to get a display of photos for a screensaver to work.

  by KenBee on Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 03:15:21 AM PDT

•  What is your "walkscore"?

  Go here to find out. It's how 'green' the location of where you live is. Interesting to learn. Check it out.

  by hester on Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 04:09:23 AM PDT

  •  83%. I Just Walked for Groceries and Post Office

    yesterday afternoon, 20 minute trip including the stops. We've lived very rural for 7 years, now we're in a rural village.

    But we can't afford to stay. Everywhere we've looked from the rust belt to the west coast, we can't afford to live in walkable locations.

    by Gooserock on Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 08:47:17 AM PDT

  •  That site's useless, though.

    It's only as good as the data it's calculating from, and, in our area at least, it doesn't know about most of what's here. There's no way to tell it about the facilities and businesses it's missing. It also fails to take into consideration the presence or absence of sidewalks!

    There's still no substitute for going to a neighborhood you are considering moving to and looking at it with your own eyes.

    by Canadian Reader on Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 12:09:45 PM PDT

•  apologies - this is off topic

  but there is a very interesting diary slipping down the recent diaries list that recalls Paul Robeson's experience with guilt by association before the HUAC and makes a comparison to recent media attacks on Obama - worth a read here

  by indybend on Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 04:13:50 AM PDT

•  Straight for the Yellowstone Hot Spot

  Isn't the Wabash Valley Fault System headed straight for the hot spot now residing under Yellowstone?  With the North American plate still proceeding west, it should be interesting to see what happen when that hot spot hits the remnants of that last ancient continental rift in North America.  Make you wish you could survive to the Singularity so you could observe some of the impending continental breakups.

  by PrahaPartizan on Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 04:16:16 AM PDT

  •  Speak for yourself

    I plan on selling tshirts and hotdogs that day.
    (Of course, I still have to wonder what various animals I'll be grinding up to make the hotdogs, but that's just logistics... :P

    by RElland on Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 04:27:11 AM PDT

    •  That's Easy

      "...(Of course, I still have to wonder what various animals I'll be grinding up to make the hotdogs, but that's just logistics... :P"

      The only one left - Soylent Green!

      by PrahaPartizan on Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 06:31:32 AM PDT

•  asdf

  Odd.  Been working on this for a couple of weeks; it seems appropriate here.

  <DIV ALIGN="CENTER">Limestone

  The lichen-covered limestone chunks that make
  the small stone wall in my back yard
  are common.

  They were formed in multitudes
  over eons:
  long-gone rivers carried the ground-down dust of yet older stone
  to a long-gone sea;
  plain paleozoic dirt and disintegrating corpses of extravagant mesozoic creatures
  mixed to softly, slowly settle
  as silt.

  Unimaginable years petrified the detritus of
  unimaginable years;
  laid a layer to form the backbone of the prairie --

  and then the earth
  raised herself up and
  exposed herself, trusting,
  to us.

  Cracked from the earth like a healthy tooth,
  dragged without dignity into my yard as stone shards
  the limestone is stacked, somewhat haphazardly;
  an incomprehensible monument to erosion, gravity, time and death,
  now stands sentinel
  between the lawn and a patch of garlic.
  </DIV>

  It's not done yet, but then nothing I ever write is ever "done."

  by Marc in KS on Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 04:32:24 AM PDT

  •  I freaking hate the fact

    that preview and what you see when you actually post are not the same.

    In preview, it was all centered.

    Any idea what I can do to make things centered in a blockquote?

    by Marc in KS on Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 04:34:10 AM PDT

•  One of the great things...

  About being a molecular virologist is that we can watch both natural selection and evolution occurring in "real time" as viruses randomly mutate and eventually change their genome sequences to match conditions.  We work both with RNA viruses (which can change lightning quick -- ask any poor soul battling HIV) and DNA viruses, which change very slowly.

  Gives me a very good refutation to creationists.  I tell them their deity must be very busy indeed, tweaking what amounts to a near infinite number of nucleotide sequences every day so that viruses can change their stripes!

  And in other news, just finished the draft of the second of three dissertation chapters.  Thank heavens that's over!

  by ArchTeryx on Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 05:14:08 AM PDT

•  I slept through the earthquake,

  my wife was up with the dog. She felt the shaking and noticed two distinct noises, like far off thunder or a far away freight train. The dog began to yelp and would not come back into the house. No damage around here(Champaingn IL) but from the newscast it looked liked some structural damage at the quake center.

  by irate on Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 05:23:33 AM PDT

•  The abusive Bush/USA union...

  My most recent rant:

  "From This Day Forward..."

  As described by BuzzFlash:

  ___

  Reflections upon the words of a wedding vow, and the new meanings that each line calls to mind in light of the abusive relationship that the United States has endured under 8 years of lies, treason, pillaging and unConstitutional behavior by the Bush Administration and their Republican enablers.
  ___

  Please check it out.

  Never, never brave me, nor my fury tempt:
    Downy wings, but wroth they beat;
  Tempest even in reason's seat.

  by GreyHawk on Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 05:32:41 AM PDT

  •  Whoops...

    ...here's the dKos link:

    From This Day Forward

    It's crossposted from ePluribus Media, so the first link in the post I'm replying to goes there.

    Never, never brave me, nor my fury tempt:
      Downy wings, but wroth they beat;
    Tempest even in reason's seat.

    by GreyHawk on Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 05:40:02 AM PDT

•  Man, I love fractals!

  Waaay back I was exploring psychedelics (as a novice scientist, of course) and read Thomas DeQuincy's "Confessions of an Opium Eater."  When he described the jewel-like filigree that overlay the world, I was a goner.  

  I saw the infinite, jewel-toned filigree on the world with mescaline.  The vision took my breath away, and I think that's why fractals get to me in such a hugely big way.  

  I know we humans are predisposed to see patterns, and tickled pink when we do, but the chinese box effect of fractals takes this funny kind of affection to the last degree.  I can't imagine what science could come up with that could top this visual display .... but, that may just be a failure of my imagination.

  Thanks, darksyde, for starting my saturday morning with that video.

  Man, I LOVE fractals!

  by jakbeau on Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 05:53:38 AM PDT

  •  Hm. I guess my sig quote is relevant here.

    by Canadian Reader on Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 12:11:40 PM PDT

•  i love fractals too!

  if you think about it, all politics is just fractal tribalism.
  w/e the size, the shape remains the same.
  and the supertribes are just made up of smaller tribes, all the way down

  by baliyya on Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 06:45:01 AM PDT

•  First day..Fire almost every Bush appointee

  Starting at the EPA and keep going until we have rooted out every hack. It is time to visit Karl's methods on him. That is exactly what he did within the first MINUTES of W getting the Governor's mansion in Texas. We are about to return the favor.  

  by cactusflinthead on Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 07:08:38 AM PDT

  •  Really Better Start In the Pentagon and DOJ

    first.

    I don't see that this will be done as needed, but you're right, it's an absolute emergency.

    by Gooserock on Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 08:51:01 AM PDT

    •  you are right, DOJ and the five sided thingy

      So they can start acting on cases and doing the hard tasks left undone or ignored. I hope someone is compiling a hit list RIGHT NOW. There needs to be an operational plan being developed and ready to act upon within moments of the swearing in. An entire cadre of ready agents to escort them out of the DOJ before they can destroy any evidence.

      by cactusflinthead on Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 09:19:37 AM PDT

•  The king is dead...long live the king!

  Edward Lorenz was a giant, and his contributions to mathematics and science will long outlive him. He will also be outlived by several generations of mathematicians and scientists--I am one of them--who were influenced by his work. One of the first problems I worked on as a young researcher was the Lorenz Attractor; I was captured by its beauty and the complexity of its dynamics, and the sense of wonder and awe it evoked in me at the time remains with me today.

  Edward Lorenz will be missed.

  If anyone wants to know more of the work of Lorenz and others in a field large created by Lorenz, I can't recommend highly enough the book Chaos by James Gleick. It's about 30 years old now, but still a fantastic read.

  http://www.amazon.com/...

  ~Doc~

  by EquationDoc on Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 08:14:05 AM PDT

  •  Imagine having just half the mind of

    a Lorenz or Bucky Fuller! Thanks for tip on Gleick book; had heard of it some years back and forgotten, will look for it this weekend as am in need of a good read.  Just finished biography of Abigail Adams, a read at other end of the spectrum.

    by Jbeaudill on Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 10:18:39 AM PDT

•  The Top 10 Myths About Evolution

  This is an excellent read. It presents 10 well reasoned arguments against the various lies spread by anti-evolution forces to legitimize the theory of evolution in people's minds. Should be required reading for every freshman high-school biology class.
  The Top 10 Myths About Evolution

  by Taylor on Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 09:34:25 AM PDT

  •  Um... on cxn

    should read "lies spread by anti-evolution forces to DE-legitimize the theory of evolution."

    by Taylor on Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 09:36:12 AM PDT

•  Metaphysics in a ditto-head world

                                            The "Myth" of Global Warming
  In an April 15th letter to the Tennessean, Kenneth Ray marvels at our recent cold snap, our annual "Dogwood Winter," to de-bunk "global warming acolytes."
  Mr. Ray, meteorologists tell us there is a relatively stable "dome" of cold air that hovers over the poles.  Now, whereas there are vicious storms under these domes, the interplay with the lower latitudes is limited, occurring primarily in winter.  As the Arctic melts, this exchange increases, and we may be threatened by frost in the growing season.  You see, weather in a thawed ocean migrates best over warmer, open water, and poorly over any frozen topography.  For example, many hurricanes originate in Africa, and often cross "the pond," to hit this continent.                
  The earth mother, "Gaia," is gravid, this being the optimal epoch for our species, till we screw it up.  With the gift of the hands and the intellect, art, atomic bombs and global warming were all anticipated.  Faith is not so much a one-way street, or even something that springs from each person, as much as it a reflection of a thing that was here long before us.  And, why be a caretaker of an environment when the benefits will accrue mostly after I’m gone?  "God" lent me this small piece of time and place, and, as such, I am commissioned as a citizen of the planet and a citizen of eternity.    

  by REJames50 on Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 11:41:20 AM PDT

•  How's about...

  instead of Environmental Industrial Protection Agency

  we have

  Environmental Industrial Industries Polluting the Hell Outta the Earth Protection Agency.

  Seems even more accurate somehow.

  by WSComn on Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 12:20:52 PM PDT

•  A few years ago I co-chaired a

  session in nonlinear geophysics at AGU. We invited Ed Lorenz to be our keynote speaker. We took him to lunch after, and he told us the story about the computer roundoff error that started him thinking about sensitivity to initial conditions (now part of what is called "chaos"). What a treat.

  by oxley on Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 06:11:28 PM PDT