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Science
Watch this amazing time lapse video of the aurora borealis as seen from outer space, courtesy of NASA astronaut Don Pettit. I've seen this once back in my Alaska days. It took my breath away. Truly astonishing. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeAmKKrIVlc]
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This bird's-eye view of Kutztown University in Pennsylvania was the first image ever seen by the GeoEye-1, the world's highest-resolution commercial satellite sponsored by Google, when it opened its camera door earlier this week.
The 4,300-pound satellite collected the image at noon EDT on Oct. 7 while moving from the north pole to the south pole in a 423-mile-high orbit at 17,000 miles per hour, or 4.5 miles per second. The spacecraft can take photos at a resolution of up to 41 cm -- close enough to zoom in on the home plate of a baseball diamond, according to Mark Brender, GeoEye's vice president of communications and marketing.
So crisp.
I love the work produced by the graphic design firm Sam Potts Inc, especially this gallon can of gravity:
The wit! I love it.
Dear Mr Potts: Will you please design my website? Please?
The LHC or the Large Hadron Collider is experiencing some problems. Due to a recent helium leak it'll be out of service for two months.
The leak means that the LHC will be down for at least two months, because workers must now warm up the faulty sector of the tunnel in order to repair it. The liquid helium is used to cool the LHC's magnets -- which guide protons and accelerate them so they can be smashed together -- down to within 1.9 kelvins (3.4 degrees Fahrenheit) of absolute zero.
Read more here.
Holyshitholyshitholyshit. Large Hadron Collider is....going to rip a dimensional seam and open a portal into another universe which will unleash demon-ish aliens into our world!!!!
I need to unpack my anti-gravity gun for the end of times that is going to occur as a result of our hubris.
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Not only is Stephen Hawking a genius and an inspiration for all of us, he also has quite a sense of humor. Watch him get the crowd rolling in laughter: [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8AG5RPOCjA]
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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JbaM1xNIis] Conspiracy theorists (CT) believe that the NASA moon landing didn't actually take place and was instead a huge hoax created in some secret sound stage. CTs point to various supposed discrepancies as evidence of a grand NASA and government hoax. It's so asinine and yet it has persisted (sort of like the "we should teach creationism, er intelligent design in our science classes!"). Mythbusters decides to resolve this once and for all.
The shadows in the NASA photographs of the landing shows non-parallel shadows that suggests multiple light sources instead of just one: THE SUN! Right?
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wym04J_3Ls0] Myth BUSTED!
CTs point to this photo of Neil Armstrong who appears WAY too lit, especially when it appears that he is standing in...a shadow! It must be a studio "fill" light. Right?
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtWMz51eL0Y] Myth BUSTED!
Astronauts can't leave distinct footprints on the moon in the vacuum of the moon's surface which lacks moisture that is required, CTs claim, for a boot imprint.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5taIxlNA_Lw] Myth BUSTED!
The flag hoisted onto the surface of the moon waves! Flags aren't suppose to have movement in the vacuum of space. That is from a breeze in the "studio." Right?
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMBCfuKs9i8] Myth BUSTED!
Ice cream is apparently an igneous rock. The science of it frankly bores me. This entry is just an excuse to share again my all time favorite Eddie Murphy joke, which happens to involve ice cream, and it is this skit that was running through my head when I ran like Usain Bolt after the Mr. Smoothie truck a few weeks ago.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JfMCBh1sJQ]
You know the shit is hysterically genius when the dude telling the joke is wearing a full red leather jump suit and that isn't what's funny.
In yet another example that speaks to the testament of the ability of lifeforms to grow and survive in seemingly completely inhospitable climates and environments, fungi has bee, discovered at the very epicenter of what used to be nuclear reactor before its catastrophic meltdown on April 1986 in Chernobyl.
Sitting at the centre of the exclusion zone, the damaged reactor unit is encased in a steel and cement sarcophagus. It's a deathly tomb that plays host to about 200 tonnes of melted radioactive fuel, and is swarming with radioactive dust.
But it's also the abode of some very hardy fungi which researchers believe aren't just tolerating the severe radiation, but actually harnessing its energy to thrive.
Bad ass. Who knew fungi could be so fascinating. Or is that just me? I hope our military is gearing up to do battle in fifty years with a radioactively mutated fungi monster that will rise off the Eastern seaboard.
Read more here.
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Kid robot 
This is his charging station. Haha.