For “Summary Saturday”, News, Some New, Some Old:
Biggest Thing in Universe Found—Defies Scientific Theory
A quasar jets energy in an illustration. A newfound quasar cluster is the universe's biggest known object. Illustration courtesy M. Kornmesser, ESO
“Talk about a whopper—astronomers have discovered a structure in the universe so large that modern cosmological theory says it should not exist, a new study says. (Also see "Giant 'Blob' Is Largest Thing in Universe [2006].")
Using data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, an international team of researchers has discovered a record-breaking cluster of quasars—young active galaxies—stretching four billion light-years across.
"This discovery was very much a surprise, since it does break the cosmological record as the largest structure in the known universe," said study leader Roger Clowes, an astronomer at University of Central Lancashire in England.
For comparison, our own galaxy, the Milky Way, is just a hundred thousand light-years across, while the local supercluster of galaxies in which it's located, the Virgo Cluster, is only a hundred million light-years wide.
Giant Quasar a Head-Scratcher
Astronomers have known for years that quasars can form immense clusters that stretch to more than 700 million light-years across, said Clowes. But the epic size of this group of 73 quasars, sitting about 9 billion light-years away, has left them scratching their heads.
That's because current astrophysical models appear to show that the upper size limit for cosmic structures should be no more than 1.2 billion light-years.
"So this represents a challenge to our current understanding and now creates a mystery—rather than solves one," Clowes said. (Also see "Dark Galaxies Discovered—May Be Cosmic 'Missing Links.'")
The titanic structure, known simply as the Large Quasar Group (LQG), also appears to break the rules of a widely accepted cosmological principle, which says that the universe would look pretty much uniform when observed at the largest scales.
"It could mean that our mathematical description of the universe has been oversimplified—and that would represent a serious difficulty and a serious increase in complexity," Clowes said.” More at: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/01/130111-quasar-biggest-thing-universe-science-space-evolution/
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Under Our Skin: The Untold Story of Lyme Disease
“Chronic Lyme disease is called the "great imitator" because it is often misdiagnosed as another condition such as Multiple Sclerosis, Fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, ALS, Alzheimer’s disease, or anxiety. Misdiagnosis is a common experience for patients with chronic Lyme disease and treatments that work for these other illnesses are not appropriate for treating Lyme disease
This is the picture of chronic Lyme disease. And yet, many physicians tell their patients there is "no such thing," referring them to psychiatrists, misdiagnosing them, or even accusing them of fabricating an illness or simply seeking attention.
The award-winning documentary “Under Our Skin” exposes the hidden story of Lyme disease, one of the most serious and controversial epidemics of our time; the film exposes a troubling picture of a health care system that is far too willing to put profits ahead of patients
Lyme disease rates are climbing across the U.S. and internationally, and have reached epidemic levels in many areas; the disease is caused by the spirochete bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi, which is transmitted to humans and animals by ticks and possibly mosquitoes, spiders and mites
Borrelia burgdorferi, a cousin to the bacteria causing syphilis, has become very adept at hiding and surviving in human tissues, in part due to its corkscrew shape allowing it to burrow into tissues, and it’s ability to take on different forms, such as cysts, in order to escape the immune system, evade antibiotics, and hide from detection by blood tests
People suffering from chronic Lyme disease struggle to get help because some government agencies, insurance companies and powerful medical associations organizations have united to destroy physicians’ credibility and practice when they try to help sick patients and expose the truth.” More at: http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2012/10/13/under-our-skin-documentary.aspx
“In the early 1970's, a mysterious new ailment was discovered among a group of children living around the town of Lyme, CT. What was first diagnosed as isolated cases of juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, eventually became known as Lyme disease, a potentially serious illness triggered by spiral-shaped bacteria, similar to the organisms that cause syphilis. Today, cases of Lyme disease have been reported in all states. According to CDC estimates, over 200,000 people may acquire the disease per year--more than cases of AIDS, West Nile Virus, and Avian Flu combined. Many of those untreated will suffer chronic debilitating illness. Some unknowingly will pass the disease on to their unborn children. Many will lose their livelihoods, and still others will lose their lives.”
Under Our Skin Full Movie
“A dramatic tale of microbes, medicine and money, this eye-opening new film investigates the untold story of Lyme disease, an emerging epidemic larger than AIDS. Each year thousands go undiagnosed or misdiagnosed, told that their symptoms are "all in their head." Following the stories of patients and physicians as they battle for their lives and livelihoods, the film brings into focus a haunting picture of our health care system and its ability to cope with a silent terror under our skin.”
How to remove a tick
- Use fine-tipped tweezers to grasp the tick as close to the skin's surface as possible.
- Pull upward with steady, even pressure. Don't twist or jerk the tick; this can cause the mouth-parts to break off and remain in the skin. If this happens, remove the mouth-parts with tweezers. If you are unable to remove the mouth easily with clean tweezers, leave it alone and let the skin heal.
- After removing the tick, thoroughly clean the bite area and your hands with rubbing alcohol, an iodine scrub, or soap and water.
“Avoid folklore remedies such as "painting" the tick with nail polish or petroleum jelly, or using heat to make the tick detach from the skin. Your goal is to remove the tick as quickly as possible--not waiting for it to detach.”
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Hannah’s Law.
“An Iowa family is working to change the law to help protect other children from accidental falls.”
DES MOINES, Iowa —”An Iowa family that lost its 4-year-old daughter when she fell from a third-story window is working to pass a new law in her name. The Geneser family is hoping that Hannah's Law will prevent other Iowa families from going through the pain they had to endure.
"She had a huge smile. She did, and her smile just lit up a room," said Shanda Boone, Hannah's mother. Almost two years, Hannah Geneser died after falling out of the window. Her parents said the tears are still hard to hold back. "I think a lot of people involved just think back and say, 'What could I have done? What could I have seen? What if? If only…" said Shanda Boone.
Shanda and her husband Jamie have made it their mission in life to educate and promote window safety through their foundation in their daughter's name.” More at: http://www.kcci.com/news/central-iowa/Family-hopes-Iowans-will-listen-to-Hannah-s-story/-/9357080/18175896/-/kooafdz/-/index.html
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1 Billion Downloads
At the start of December, CCleaner was downloaded for the 1 billionth time! That's an amazing 1,000,000,000 installations of CCleaner. A milestone that only a few other software titles have hit. (Firefox to name one)
It's been 8 years since we released version 1.0 and with the help of our dedicated users, we've managed: constant improvements, 47 language translations and a massively expanding user base in over 200 countries with over 10 million new installations a month! We can't even calculate the amount of disk space saved.”
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On This Day:
Australia Day, Jan 26, 1788:
“On January 26, 1788, Captain Arthur Phillip guides a fleet of 11 British ships carrying convicts to the colony of New South Wales, effectively founding Australia. After overcoming a period of hardship, the fledgling colony began to celebrate the anniversary of this date with great fanfare.
The colony became prosperous by the turn of the 19th century. Feeling a new sense of patriotism, the men began to rally around January 26 as their founding day. Historian Manning Clarke noted that in 1808 the men observed the "anniversary of the foundation of the colony" with "drinking and merriment."
Finally, in 1818, January 26 became an official holiday, marking the 30th anniversary of British settlement in Australia. And, as Australia became a sovereign nation, it became the national holiday known as Australia Day. Today, Australia Day serves both as a day of celebration for the founding of the white British settlement, and as a day of mourning for the Aborigines who were slowly dispossessed of their land as white colonization spread across the continent.”
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Soviets liberate Auschwitz, Jan 26, 1945:
“On this day, Soviet troops enter Auschwitz, Poland, freeing the survivors of the network of concentration camps—and finally revealing to the world the depth of the horrors perpetrated there.
Auschwitz was really a group of camps, designated I, II, and III. There were also 40 smaller "satellite" camps. It was at Auschwitz II, at Birkenau, established in October 1941, that the SS created a complex, monstrously orchestrated killing ground: 300 prison barracks; four "bathhouses" in which prisoners were gassed; corpse cellars; and cremating ovens. Thousands of prisoners were also used for medical experiments overseen and performed by the camp doctor, Josef Mengele, the "Angel of Death."
The Red Army had been advancing deeper into Poland since mid-January. Having liberated Warsaw and Krakow, Soviet troops headed for Auschwitz. In anticipation of the Soviet arrival, the German Gestapo began a murder spree in the camps, shooting sick prisoners and blowing up crematoria in a desperate attempt to destroy the evidence of their crimes. When the Red Army finally broke through, Soviet soldiers encountered 648 corpses and more than 7,000 starving camp survivors. There were also six storehouses filled with literally hundreds of thousands of women's dresses, men's suits, and shoes that the Germans did not have time to burn.”
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Bush appoints Rice as secretary of state, Jan 26, 2005:
“On this day in 2005, President George W. Bush appoints Condoleezza Rice to the post of secretary of state, making her the highest ranking African-American woman ever to serve in a presidential cabinet.
A native of Birmingham, Alabama, Dr. Rice's credentials included advanced degrees in political science and international relations from prestigious schools, followed by a post as Stanford University provost. At Stanford, she honed her reputation as an expert in Soviet affairs, catching the attention of the Reagan administration. In 1986, at Reagan's behest, Dr. Rice served on the Council on Foreign Relations, and then secured an appointment as special assistant to the director of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 1989 to 1991. The first President Bush elevated Dr. Rice to director of Soviet and East European affairs in the National Security Council. She also served as the senior President Bush's special assistant for national security affairs. President George W. Bush renewed her advisory role in the White House when he appointed her national security advisor in his first term.
At Rice's swearing-in ceremony as secretary of state in 2005, an effusive Bush said, over the past four years, America has benefited from the wise counsel of Dr. Condoleezza Rice and our family has been enriched by our friendship with this remarkable person. We love her--I don't know if you're supposed to say that about the secretary of state. At the ceremony, both President Bush and Dr. Rice praised the efforts of her predecessor Colin Powell, who had been the first African-American to serve as secretary of state.”
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Yesterday:
Misty and I went to get Jay, and while we were walking the dogs, Jay got called away and handed me Maddie’s leash. Misty knows that dogs walk on the left, but Maddie went in every direction and got us all tangled up. It didn’t help that I had a cup of coffee in one hand!
After extricating myself without spilling one drop of coffee, we came back here, and Jay and I sorted out a lot of the items in the storeroom.
The weather was great, I wish it would stay this way. First, we fixed one of the drawers in an antique chest of drawers, and stacked it on top of one of those wide filing cabinets. We filled them up with some things that had been been stored in a hutch. That hutch can now be advertized. We moved a shelf unit out, got rid of it’s contents, and cleaned out that corner which hasn’t been touched for years. The shelf unit was more useful in the covered area in front of the storeroom. All this is in preparation of adding onto the storeroom when we have more time another day.
2 comments:
Thanks for e article on the quasar cluster.
I have awful spots on both my shins where the pigment is gone. This is from Lady and Mandy running around me in opposite directions and making me fall. My legs look worse every year.
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