Now, you have to admit that this is a question that will twist the bawain just a bit.  Why? because if you subscribe to either Newtonian or Eisensteinian physics - your going to look at the question differently and therefore your answer is going to vary accordingly.

The question at hand is one that was posited on Slashdot

The question at hand was "How Big Was the Universe When it Was First Born?"  You would think "simple enough" at first blush, that was until it was time to actually answer.   My very first inclination was to answer like a good quantum particle man and answer "at the time of the big bang, the
structure that would come to be the universe was an infinitely small potential but still, calling it potential is really unfair.  Much as calling a Nuclear reaction, "potential" after the first control rod has been raised. Nothing has happened yet, but the release of a great amount of power is all but a given.

So considering how everything tends to be relative, we know how far or the distance covered by a contemporary light year, but what of pre-big bang?

Why?  Well according to the article - traveling back from the big bang  to the very end of inflation and the start of the hot, dense state that scientists identify with as pre-Big Bang, and ask how  big would it be? (I really have to ask here if relativity can be brought into play. If we are asked about a definitive state, isn't that state relative?)  Depending on the particulars of when inflation came to an end, the answer is somewhere between the size of a soccer ball and the size of a city block, no smaller and no larger. 

But that would almost have to be relative to where you are making the observations and could you even make an observation outside?

my bwain hurtz :(

Sorry couldn't resist

I am going to get in so much trouble for this. I didn't make this, I simply brought it here. I find it hilarious.

Cern? New Particle? Maybe....

Not so long ago we were watching CERN do it's thing and crunch it's numbers - hunting for the elusive Higgs Boson particle.   When confirmed it seemed most of the research community had a collective release, followed almost immediately with a "now what?"

I have to step back here with an observation.  Many of the news outlets treat a possible discovery as the real thing.  Not a maybe but an IS.  

Case in point.  Once the H.B. was confirmed, the data was re-examined for data that seemed to point towards another much more complex particle.   Nothing was confirmed but the data suggested a follow on particle, nothing was confirmed though.   So you can imagine my consternation when I was informed that CERN indeed HAS discovered a new ultra dense particle, leaving Higgs Boson in some sort of particle physics, jerk water by-way, buuuuuuuuuuut..... 

Reading the Wired UK article  - The team at Switzerland's Cern Large Hadron Collider may have discovered a new particle.

Since it's upgrade earlier this year, LHC researchers have observed spikes that could be the
result of particle collisions between a new boson even larger than the Higgs.  In my book, this is a MAY have not an HAS made a discovery. 

The particle -- if truly a new discovery --  would be about four times larger than the top quark,
the heaviest particle so far discovered. And it would be six times bigger than the Higgs. 

In any event, this is still an amazing piece of research on a totally amazing machine. 

To read the complete Wired article  Click Here

SW and Abrams can kiss my A..e

CHILDHOOD'S END

Not sayimg a word. Not a freaking damn word. It's been too long since I actually read the book. However, as for my personal opinion, I never did get it. And here is why. Gene Roddenberry, May he be immortal and in hiding, had it wrong. Russia is not the Klingon Empire. We are. America, Russia, China, And every other little country you can name, with the exception of a few. This is, (as the Doctor once said about his hand), is a fighting planet. No way in the universe would we ever accept the silliness that they proposed, and here is why. One statement, just one. Especially here in America, and in Russia and China, Korea, Britain, etc would mean automatic paranoia, what are you up to, screw you, fire everything. And here is that statement. “We are here to help you.” Yeah right. We are Americans. No way we believe that crap. No such thing as a free lunch. Now don't get me wrong. Old Clarke is one of my favorites of all time. I love his works, and always will, this one included. But remember, I read this when I was like 8 – 10. No way I trust an alien coming here ever. And guess what, anyone that agrees with that, is an automatic racist. Isn't that fun.

Now do I believe there are races that actually would come and help us. No I don't. Have you looked at us? No way would any superior race attempt to help us again, even if they did come here long ago and start all the crap they wouldn't come back now. Hell, we're freaking lunatics. Anyway, off to the next bitch. You all should love or hate me after this one. HEE HEE HEE.

Star Wimps, (sorry, meant Wars)

Seriously. Really. If this rumor is true, I really am done. Lucas, Disney, the whole freaking crew can kiss my Lilly white Namekian loving arse. Killing Han, really? Only guy worth shit in the first three, and now lets kill him for a story line. The character that sent me down the path I followed in life, that led me into things I didn't even imagine as a kid? (Yeah I haven't always been a good guy, but i swear to you I was never a bad guy.Well, not really.) And you kill Han for a story rating? F YOU. I HATE YOU.  Filthy little pr..k may as well be a modern day lying so called journalist.
Abrams is as ignorant as Sapir was at one time. (Ben Sapir who wanted to kill off Chiun in book five for a great ending to a story. In other words not thinking ahead. (147 books later the original book series finally came to an end). And he's the one that sent the telegram of 1,000,00 sold to every editor and publishing house that turned down the Destroyer series. (Remo)). And by the way, before you all start cursing Sapir, he left the destroyer series back in January of 1987. Only because he died. One of the two original authors of “The Destroyer.” We miss him.

Now then, lets look at this idiocy. Yeah, I am coming to despise that Abrams asshole almost as much as I want to beat the living …..........h....s......y......w/.... out of Josh Tranks the hater of the Fantastic Four. Lucas created a white hat, black hat scenario.

A fantasy.

Heros

Villians

Good guy vs bad guy fantasy. In other words, The Princess Bride sort of thing,. No bugs in the blood, it's a mystical energy field. Magic. Sorcery. Not freaking scientific explanations. You all know me. I'm sorry. Science does not belong in SW's. It's a fantasy.In other words, don't kill off the hidden true hero. Let him vanish like they did with Pegasus in the original and only worthwhile Battlestar Galactica. Abrams is an idiot if he actually did this. 

Doctor Who is more scientific that SW could ever be now. Hyperspace, seriously? Parsec as a measurement of time??????

And I finally respect Will again and if you saw tonight's big bang theory you know why. I want a trekkie shirt, (mine is seriously shot to hell), and a ticket to star wars. HEH HEH HEH. Yeah, I would. In a freaking heart beat. That you Wil Wheaton.

Now then. Yeah, I'm back, almost. Still learning some things I need to know, but back full time soon. With pics of first basic aquaponic setup, and then full info on big build of system. After that, videos of tear down, build of land, large farm aquaponic system, and building of house bus RV tutorial. It'll be on you tube folks. I'll let you know when.Always with links from here. 

Still here, still alive, and still loonie as shit. Hah. Kal never dies. He just goes a bit cuckoo at times. As in, pick a time.

And if you are interested, I can prove that the so called protectors, The Jedi Knights, are truly the evil ones, not the Sith. Ben started to prove it in movie 1. It was absolutely proven later that the Jedi are the true evil in that universe. The sith are the protectors of freedom. The Jedi are haters of free thought or expression, or action. The Jedi are the enemy, and always will be.

Canada joins effort to bring piece of asteroid Bennu to Earth

The Canadian Space Agency has  developed and delivered a  Laser Altimeter to Lookheed Martin's Space Systems facility near Denver.

It will be part of the Origins-Spectral Interpretation-Resource Identification-Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) project,  an international effort to collect a sample of Asteroid Bennu and bring it to Earth. 

Canada's laser altimeter will be integrated onto the spacecraft and undergo spacecraft-level testing, before the September 2016 launch.  

Why Bennu?  Bennu has the potential to impact the Earth in the late 2100s. Planning ahead is important.

Details of CSA's laser altimeter: Here

Details of OSIRIS-REx Here  (includes cool image of Asteroid Bennu)

WTF?!! Solar Power Would Suck Up All The Power?

I usually don't do Earth sciences as for the most part they are not my forte so to speak. But sometime not saying anything is paramount to agreeing or supporting crackpot ideas.   For example....

A recent town meeting in Woodland North Carolina heard comments on a proposed solar energy plant.

What was surprising was the number of people who spoke out against the solar farm including a retired science teacher named Jane Mann.  One of Mz Mann's  concerns was that the array would suck up all the sun energy leaving none for the plants to conduct photosynthesis. Also she was concerned about the  jump in cancer deaths in the area, might be attributed to the solar power plant.  

Bobby Mann also agreed but went on to say that with the solar farm sucking up all the energy, new businesses would be disinclined to locate in Woodland.  The array would kill the town and young people would then move away.  

I am sorry, I don't even have to try, this stuff  writes itself!

for the original Boing Boing article, click HERE

Review: Ant Man

Paul Rudd as Scott Lang - Ant-Man
Evangeline Lilly as Hope van Dyne
Corey Stoll as Darren Cross - Yellowjacket
Bobby Cannavale as Paxton
Michael Peña as Luis
Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson - Falcon

run time     117 minutes

Budget     $130 million
Box office $518.6 million

After research covering years of investigation, scientist uncover how to close gap between atoms.  Enclosed in an armored suit, it gives the wearer the very selfsame abilities. One to shrink to invisibility and second to return to normal size.  

Along the way, our hero has also garnered the proportional strength of the ant as well as the ability to speak to them fluently.

These plot devices are hung as you would xmas bulbs on a tree and in this case, a workman  plot line. 

Our scientist starts a company to study and utilizes this new discovery.  The business   partner proves to be ruthless and evil, with a healthy dose of greed mixed in.  Others in the cast are shuffled back and forth between   both extremes.   

If you havn't guessed yet, science, mostly physics are tossed almost immediately.   But mass and energy are added and subtracted on a whim.  I don't even want to allude to the instances in question.  Rent Ant Man and lets see if you see what I saw.  I can remember thinking "Oh No!  the can not be going to go there!  But they do.  

The plot is fair, The fight sceans as well as the action moments are at best workman. But it is the science that really left me cold. 

The backgrounds are nice, the CGI is grandly overdone and the acting from those like Michael Douglas was workman or better. 

So if you are looking for a comic book adaption then this film is just the ticket but as a stand alone movie it isn't working.  I would have gone a 6 if it was clear they were not tied to their junk science, but when it became clear that they were vested in it that I could not in good conscience go above 4or 5. 

It would make a neat rental and as a kids movie but I would not want friends to know I had this in my stash. 

Check out the Wiki for more info

NASA Releases New High Rez New Horizon Pics

NASA's New Horizon probe was launched January 2006 and after nine and a half years and 3 billion miles, has sent back the clearest photos of Pluto. These pics are 10 times the resolution of previous pictures, and shows, Pluto's moon Charon as well as its other satellites.

 New Horizon began its historic pass in July of 2015 and began transmitting data almost immediately. However due to its distance and small, low power transmitter, New Horizon will be sending data well into 2016 before the thousands of picture that were taken are transmitted back to Earth.

Click HERE for more photos and info