Category: In the News

Did NASA say there’s a man on the Moon?

NASA released an article about the September 2007 Aurigid meteor shower.  You can read the news release for details, but I want to point out something unusual they said.  The article said it’s important to consider the dust particles because :

    * Only known case in our lifetime: crossing of the dust trail of a known long period comet.
    * Long-period comets, such as were Hale-Bopp, Hyakutake, and McNaught, tend to sneak up on us. They are a potential impact danger. What can the dust trail tell us about their physical nature?
    * Their dust is a danger to satellites in orbit and man working on the Moon.
    * Dust stream could contain material from original cosmic-ray produced crust of comet.

I emphasized part of that, because it sounds like there’s a man working on the Moon.  Could this be a major slip-up by NASA?  Supposedly we haven’t been back to the Moon since the original landings back in 1969-1972.  That’s 35 years!  Could this be the next big conspiracy theory?  Let’s consider the details.  Why would we want people on the Moon?  To mine resources, or for spying, or the start of an intergalactic military moon base.  If there are people on the Moon, why haven’t any amateur astronomers seen them?  The same side of the Moon always faces Earth, so they could be hiding on the backside of the Moon and we’d never see them.  And how many countries have any satellites or spacecraft that go outside the orbit of the Moon?  Just the U.S., as far as I know.  So if someone (or something) was hiding on the backside of the Moon, who are the only people who would know?  NASA.  And now they’ve accidentally said something about a “man working on the Moon”, which supposedly hasn’t happened in 35 years.  So why would they even mention it?  Think about it…  and leave your thoughts in the comments.  Let’s figure out what’s going on here…

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a big hole in the universe — why is this news?

According to local news sources, astronomers have found a hole in the universe.  That sounded interesting, but there’s actually nothing to it.  There’s no actual “hole” — someone just looked out in space and found an area with nothing there.  An excerpt from the article :

Astronomers have stumbled upon a tremendous hole in the universe. That’s got them scratching their heads about what’s just not there. The cosmic blank spot has no stray stars, no galaxies, no sucking black holes, not even mysterious dark matter. It is 1 billion light years across of nothing. That’s an expanse of nearly 6 billion trillion miles of emptiness, a University of Minnesota team announced Thursday. … It could also be a statistical freak of nature, but that’s probably less likely than a giant void, said James Condon, an astronomer at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory. … “It looks like something to be taken seriously,” said Brent Tully, a University of Hawaii astronomer who wasn’t part of this research but studies the void closer to Earth. … Retired NASA astronomer Steve Maran said of the discovery: “This is incredibly important for something where there is nothing to it.”

So if there’s a spot in the universe with nothing there, it’s a hole?  I can look in the night sky and see lots of empty spots.  The retired NASA astronomer’s statement is puzzling, also.  He said there’s “nothing to it”, yet it is also “incredibly important”.  What does that mean?  Is it important because this new “discovery” (or lack of discovery) might result in additional millions of dollars in research grants?  I hope not!

This seems like one of the biggest non-newsworthy discoveries ever.  They put their news-sounding verbiage to it, but consider it this way : “I was looking around the sky with my telescope and radio transmissions receiver, and I found this big spot where nothing is there.”  Since when is it big news when there’s an empty patch of space?  Are there supposed to be stars in every single part of the universe?  If so, who decided that?

If there are missing stars out there, that would be newsworthy, because it would mean something — or someone — was stealing them.  But the article did not imply that at all.  So what’s the big deal?  Can anyone explain why this is news?

random mid-week links

Here’s a few links to some random stories or news that you might’ve missed, including a video clip and a movie trailer that you’ll probably want to watch.

wrecking ball lands in trunk of carA 1,500 pound wrecking ball broke loose from a demolition crane and rolled nearly three-quarters of a mile downhill, damaging multiple cars.  It finally landed in the trunk of a car at an intersection, and it pushed the car forward about 20 feet, causing it to crash into two other vehicles.

Have you ever wondered how insects look up close?  You may be surprised.

There’s been numerous movies based on video games, and most of them have siphoned.  Think of Super Mario Bros, Street Fighter, DOOM, Mortal Kombat, etc. — none were nearly as good as the game.  None of them could really capture what it was like to play the game.  Well, someone has decided to make a movie on one of the most famous games of all time, and it’s something original.  It’s .  Follow the link to see the live-action trailer.

Some guy hacked the Nintendo Wiimote to measure g-forces and acceleration of his car.  That’s very nerdy, yet it’s cool that the Wiimote has that much technology in it.

I saw an article saying pigeon dung contributed to Minneapolis bridge collapse, but I think that’s a load of crap.

You might’ve seen this one already, as it’s making the rounds via e-mail forwards.  from the Miss Teen USA 2007 competition tries to answer a question about why one-fifth of Americans are unable to locate the United States on a world map.  I’m sure she was extremely nervous, but it sounded like her answer was a collection of catch-phrases.  What does Iraq and South Africa have to do with Americans not being able to read a map?  Anyway, it’s very much random, but that wasn’t the right place for it.  Do you feel sorry for her, or is it her fault for not being prepared enough or for being too stupid?

lunar eclipse tomorrow

There will be a total lunar eclipse here tomorrow, August 28, 2007, at 4:52 AM.  I’d like to see it, because the moon will turn to various shades of orange and red.  It would make for some interesting pictures.  However, I’ve already got plans during that time.

If anyone asks why the moon is turning red, you can tell them it’s because the sky is blue.  That’s actually true — some sunlight will still reach it due to refraction in our atmosphere.  If they want further explanation, tell them to go figure out why the sky is blue.  🙂

Or it could be the end of the world, when the moon turns blood red.  Although there will be an accompanying earthquake during that time.  And there will be some other things happening before that.  So it’s probably not that…

One could also posit this as further proof that the moon is broken.  Think about it.  If you ask anyone in the world what color the moon is, they will say white or gray (or, if it’s a woman, perhaps some obscure color name which means white or gray or some combination thereof).  See, everyone knows this, so it’s common knowledge.  So why would the moon be changing colors?

If it were normal for the moon to change colors, that would be fine.  It would be kinda neat if it glowed blue sometimes, or morphed between different colors.  But that’s not normal for our moon.  No, it’s obvious that our moon is broken.  And I’m going to keep telling people until something is done about it.  I know, some people think the moon is harmless, but it’s far from it.  The moon is capable of causing great devastation and destruction on the Earth.  Think about it.  And be afraid… be very afraid…