Feed me!

An assortment of links from syndicated feeds. (RSS is like a box of chocolates...)

From science_at_nasa: Using an iPod or any portable MP3 player, you can now explore the Universe while driving, jogging, waiting in line ... just about anywhere. It's easy: tune in to the Science@NASA podcast.


This page has links to some Congressional Research Service reports which may be of interest to some of you, such as "U.N. Convention Against Torture (CAT): Overview and Application to Interrogation Techniques" and "USA Patriot Act Sunset: Provisions That Expire on December 31, 2005" (via secrecy_news).

From nature_science: Butterfly numbers were cut by up to two-thirds and bee populations by half in fields of transgenic winter oilseed rape (canola), according to the final results of a three-year study commissioned by the UK government.... Bayer CropScience, headquartered in Monheim, Germany, already markets the winter oilseed rape used in the trial in the United States and Canada. Although the crop is grown widely in the two countries, Bayer says it has no intention of applying for a licence to sell it in Europe. Yes, I'm quoting selectively. Read the article and then feel free to argue about it.

Via rsschristdot: Satan's image on a turtle's shell. The turtle was the only animal to survive a fire at Dora's A-Dora-ble Pet Shop. His name is Lucky.

slacktivist has an interesting post on Jefferson and St. Paul (and Antonin Scalia).

Linked from languagehat2: Rotor is an experimental script created to realize the concept of letters that literally move on the “page”. It consists of seventeen minimal pairs of graphemes in which the members of each pair are identical except for the way they move... and it can probably induce an altered state of consciousness if you are even remotely susceptible. I'm just saying.

And from snopes_dot_com, we get to see some of the silly questions Snopes has gotten in their e-mail.

Ooh!

Light as we know it may be a direct result of small violations of relativity, according to new research scheduled for publication online Tuesday (March 22) in the journal Physical Review D.

In discussing the work, physics professor Alan Kostelecky of Indiana University described light as "a shimmering of ever-present vectors in empty space" and compared it to waves propagating across a field of grain. This description is markedly different from existing theories of light, in which scientists believe space is without direction and the properties of light are a result of an underlying symmetry of nature.

Instead the report, co-authored by Kostelecky with physics professor Robert Bluhm of Colby College, discusses the possibility that light arises from the breaking of a symmetry of relativity. "Nature's beauty is more subtle than perfect symmetry," Kostelecky said. "The underlying origin of light may be another example of this subtlety." (via scienceblog)

Updatish-type entry

It's a busy week, with parts of today spent on the phone while taking the Metro to get some information which the person on the phone and I both hope to make irrelevant. Tomorrow I have to get up early, but whether it'll be to do something or to postpone doing something is somewhat up in the air.

Don't know whether to be optimistic or pessimistic about things this week. So mostly I'm trying not to think about them. Instead, it's more fun to focus on things unrelated to my current major life stressors.

I have received foodstuffs from daisydumont and pnksaph so far this week. Hooray for kind friends! Hooray for foods both sensible and snackable!

Shortly I'll be trying another antibiotic for the longstanding lung gunk. Wish me luck!

Important insight into the hummingwolf personality: When I read the story linked to in the post preceding this one, I really did say "Ooh!" out loud.

Supper tonight: Fried egg, broccoli, onion, and mushroom topped with nutmeg and swiss cheese.

Reading through all the Harry Potter books got me back into the habit of navel novel-gazing, so my current book pile includes Charles De Lint's Spirits in the Wires. Am also reading some nonfiction, but it's slipping through the holes in my brain too quickly.

I am hyper again today and I don't know why. Unfortunately, my lungs wouldn't draw in enough air this afternoon for me to use the energy the way I'd like to, so I've been jittering and bouncing since I got home. Contrary to standard expectations, the cup of strong, caffeinated tea I had didn't make things any worse.

Lately, I keep getting hit by Deep Thoughts and forgetting to hit back.