Category: Space

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Fake Science diagrams the Types of Plugs. I’m going to have to hang on to this one for the “shameless” variety.

Nmap has a nice visualization of the Internet’s top websites: Icons of the Web

Leverage has put up a set of short video clips from their Comic-Con presentation. Let’s go steal a Comic-Con. (Interestingly enough, they picked some of the same bits I did for my own write-up of the event.)

Hilarious. People working on viruses are actually sending their crash reports to Microsoft — including the malicious code!

The Bad Astronomer presents: Top 5 Ways the Universe Could Wipe Out Humankind. He goes into these threats (some likely, some unlikely, and some certain — but not for millions of years) in a lot more detail in his book, Death from the Skies!, which is a fascinating read.

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A university library has put together a great parody of the Old Spice ad campaign: Study Like a Scholar, Scholar. (via This Is True )

NPR story: In Politics, Sometimes The Facts Don’t Matter

New research suggests that misinformed people rarely change their minds when presented with the facts — and often become even more attached to their beliefs. The finding raises questions about a key principle of a strong democracy: that a well-informed electorate is best.

This makes me feel a little less enthused about the next two items:

It’s incredibly cool that we’ve got photos of the Apollo 16 landing site. (via Phil Plait) But that won’t convince people who are absolutely certain that the landings were faked.

And a U.S. Department of Transportation investigation of Toyota crashes blamed on sudden acceleration has implicated driver error in nearly all cases. Of the 75 fatal crashes investigates, only one could be verified as a problem with the vehicle: the Lexus crash last August in which the accelerator was caught on the floor mat, leading to a recall. Of course, the court of popular opinion has already made up its mind…

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There’s a meme going around Twitter called #ZodiacFacts, mostly random astrological statements. I figured I’d post some actual, y’know, facts about the Zodiac.

  • The Zodiac is the set of constellations through which the sun, moon and planets appear to move when seen from Earth.
  • In a dark sky, away from light pollution, you can sometimes see Zodiacal light after the sun has set.
  • Due to cycles in Earth’s orbit, the present-day constellations of the zodiac no longer line up with those used by astrology.
  • In a REALLY dark sky, you can see the Gegenshein: sunlight reflecting off of interplanetary dust.